The National Franchise Exhibition  is going to be  at the NEC in Birmingham on the 01st & 02nd of October 2010. It is the main franchise exhibition in the UK and the only one to be officially supported by the British Franchise Association. The exhibitor list includes McDonald’s, Thorntons, Subway and a host of smaller franchisors. Tickets cost £8 for one - – - read more >

Some common business dangers 1. Failure to sell New businesses should concentrate on winning their critical early customers before anything else. If you are uncomfortable with selling, try another approach. Selling doesn’t have to be the traditional hard sell, but it does need to be done. Even if you are busy now, set time aside - – - read more >

If you are thinking of becoming a self-employed sales person, distributor or agent then it’s worth reading the Trading Schemes Guide on the Department of Trade and Industry’s web site. It gives an idea of some of the pitfalls, and what is and what is not currently permitted. You need to be aware that in - – - read more >

PRIME has issued a revised, shortened and updated guide to franchising that you can download for free from here. Buying a franchise – a brief guide to the over 50s from PRIME 2007 is based on a much longer research report we published in October 2005 which contained results from polling nearly a thousand people - – - read more >