[Jack Wallace]

I have been approached by someone wanting to start a new window cleaning business under my banner.
My business is fairly successful mainly concentrating on domestics. The proposal is to use my company name, branding, logo, website etc, and operate along the same lines but in a different town. (about  50 miles away)
I am happy to give as much support as I can to get the venture off the ground and running, but am wondering if there are any implications I should be aware of which may affect me or my business.
I guess this is a form of franchising, I realise there are guys out there doing this kind of thing and making money out of it but have to admit I don’t understand how it works.
On this occasion it’s a very good friend who wants to set up so making money out of the situation is not my priority however if successful I don’t see why it can’t be repeated with a more business approach.

[Slash]

Well I would'nt,I personally think they could give you a bad name and possibly ruin your buisness no matter how good a mate they are

[Ian Lancaster]

I think you should either just offer to help him get off the ground, trading under his own (or his chosen) name or...

offer him a master franchise where he replicates your business exactly, under your guidance and to a strict pre-agreed formula.  For this you need a proper franchise agreement so you both know and understand the conditions under which you are trading.   You would also require a percentage management fee for your services.  If you envisage your brand going nation (or even world) wide, then it makes no sense to allow a huge organisation to grow from your business format without having a lot of control over how it's done and drawing a fair return for your input.

[Sean Dyer]

they wont damage your rep from 50 miles away ??

get some money together and either a, read up everything you can on franchising now and diy

or b, if you can afford get a lawyer to help you but that is gonna be big bucks

either way however is both risky and expensive

BUT If you do it seriously you can charge a franchise fee to cover costs, if its such a good buy then the person will understand this dont do it for free!!

Good luck

its some thing i have looked into but doesnt appeal to the way i want to take my business but it can and has worked

search for posts from "ian lancaster "

he did it with great success

in fact if you google him and ring him im sure he will answer questions hes a nice guy

as long as your not in same area lol

good luck

[Sean Dyer]

been beaten to it lol

didnt think he was about on here anymore

[wizard]

Very good advice from Ian as some time people can detroy your name and reputation.

[Jack Wallace]

Thanks guys, some good advice.
I will be looking into this a bit more carefully as I don’t want to make any mistakes, I think I will give the accountant a call this week to pick his brains.

Ewan, can you expand on your statement please, are you saying it is illegal to start a company with the same name?  I could see it may cause problems but didn’t realise it was illegal. I was not going to let him trade under the exact name anyway. Maybe add the name of his town or something to distinguish between the two.