20 years ago a franchise would have cost you an arm, a leg, and probably your house. However things change and technology now means we can work from home without the need for expensive offices. Types of franchises have changed also and the widespread use of the Internet now presents us with a whole new range of online franchises.

A low cost franchise is generally anything under the 15k mark. Still a lot of money but compared with the shop front £250k franchises they are well shy of the hundreds of thousands it can cost to buy into the likes of McDonalds or Burgerking.

The myth that a low cost franchise is unlikely to bring you in much money is true in ways but quite simply you get what you pay for, however I would be wary of unsubstantiated claims of earning £150,000 per year for a franchise that costs £7,000. However as with many franchise you get what you work for and it is very possible to pay from 3,000 - 15,000 for a franchise and with a lot of hard work have a business with £30,000 + per year returns.

Some low cost franchises are nothing more than a system, you can pay a few thousand pounds for someone else's business plan and method and you are then given limited training to go out and follow the plan. although there is nothing wrong with this type of franchise there are certainly many out there who make money from selling the system only and not by running the system itself. Be careful of anything which looks to be multi level marketing opportunities as these in many cases just do not work and you will find yourself in the position where you have just lost your franchise fee and have no way of getting it back. I do use the word "franchise" very loosely for all multi level marketing "opportunities"

As with all franchises you really do need to do your research before diving in head first. Contacting other franchisees to ask them how they are getting on with their franchise is an absolute must and asking the franchisor how long they have been in business before and after franchising will give you an idea on whether this is simply a fresh start up on a long established company. We highly recommend you make a list of up to 10 franchises and start whittling them down to three or four that you find are genuine opportunities, once you have your short list you can then really start to put some proper research into action and make a decision on which is the right franchise opportunity for you.

Low cost franchises give everyone the opportunity to be in business for themselves and in this day and age not everything costs several hundred thousand pounds, even many shop front franchises come in at very reasonable rates now so look at your available capital and make your choices partly based around that. Here is to your success!