Blog | Franchise Grade Team (2) | FranchiseGrade.com, Inc.

Common Misconceptions About Buying a Blue-Collar Franchise

April 8, 2021

So-called "blue-collar" businesses used to be defined a little bit differently than they are today. The term originally came from the color of the shirt collar worn by manual laborers, but over the years the term has evolved. Now, instead of just mine workers, plumbers and electricians, it’s come to include delivery services employees, taxi drivers, house cleaners and more.

10 Essential Skills Every Executive Needs to Become a Successful Entrepreneur

April 1, 2021

Moving from a stable executive job to becoming an entrepreneur can be a challenging, yet rewarding prospect. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work, but for those who have the drive and ambition it's well worth the time and money invested. While the two positions are fundamentally different from one another (one is focused on systems and processes, while the other is more risk oriented), they are both leadership positions that require transferable skills. Here are some of them:

How To Start Your Home-Based Franchise

March 29, 2021

As a result of the pandemic, home-based franchises are more popular than ever. From low start-up costs to convenience and flexibility, there are plenty of benefits that have attracted entrepreneurs to the model for a long time. Now, however, they are paying even closer attention to them.

Top Home-Based Franchise Industries to Consider

March 5, 2021

When considering which home-based franchise to invest in, entrepreneurs may find themselves a little overwhelmed. After all, there are thousands of franchises to chose from in hundreds of industries. While some franchises, like restaurants, generally won’t work based out of your home and can automatically be passed by, there are still plenty of options to choose from. Home-based franchises give you the best of both worlds, namely being able to work from home, while enjoying all the benefits of owning a franchise. While several industries offer home-based franchise options, here are some of the most common.

What Is a Home-Based Franchise?

February 26, 2021

Even before the pandemic struck, people were starting to look at the benefits of working from home. It was convenient, saved time and money, allowed for cheaper child-care options, and even helped them schedule personal appointments or accept home deliveries during working hours. On top of these benefits, owning a home-based franchise also gives the entrepreneur much lower overhead because they don’t need to lease office space to run the business out of. While many people tend to have a limited view on what type of business can be run out of the home, there is a much wider array of choices than you might think.

How to Fund Your Franchise

February 18, 2021

After years of working for someone else and having gone as far as you can, it’s time to move on. You know it, and your employer knows it. You’ve decided that running a franchise is the best way to go, because not only does it give you the flexibility and independence of being a small business owner, but you get the support and infrastructure of a larger business behind you. It’s an ideal opportunity, and it’s time for you to seize the day and take a chance at being the boss. There’s only one thing left to decide however, how to fund it.

12 Franchise Opportunities No Blue-Collar Executive Should Overlook

February 13, 2021

Opening a franchise can be a difficult process. From finding one that is the right fit, to arranging funding and more, it can be tiring and a lot of hard work. But, hard work is something blue-collar executives are used to, having climbed the ladder from the bottom and gotten their hands dirty along the way. It may have even given them a good sense of what industry they’d like to continue their career in as well. While those executives looking to make the jump to owning their own franchise may have a better idea of what type of business they want to own, it can still take plenty of time to find it. With so many options to choose from, we’ve made it easier by highlighting some of the highest graded blue-collar franchises available.

5 Ways to Find a Mentor for Your Entrepreneurial Career Transition

February 5, 2021

When you’re looking to transition from an employee to an entrepreneur, one piece of advice you hear repeatedly is: “find a mentor”. It makes perfect sense, after all a mentor is a guide, a teacher and an advisor all rolled into one. A mentor is someone new entrepreneurs can look to when they have questions and someone who can guide them objectively when they aren’t sure which way to turn.

The Unexpected Pros and Cons of Moving from Executive to Entrepreneur

February 3, 2021

From the outside looking in, the roles of an executive and an entrepreneur look to be similar. After all, both positions rely on strong leadership and management skills, with the weight of their decisions affecting the success of the business they work for or own. Typically, that’s where the similarities end, and although there are a lot of people who successfully move from one to the other, many struggle with the transition and find it more difficult than they imagined. One of the reasons for their struggle is they haven’t properly looked at the pros and cons between the roles of each position.

Who is the Blue-Collar Executive?

January 25, 2021

The term blue-collar worker has been around since the 1920s, and at the time it was coined due to the color of shirts manual labor workers were wearing in a mid-western United States newspaper story. Today, it typically refers to manual labor jobs that are compensated by an hourly wage. Some industries known for their blue-collar workers include construction, manufacturing, plumbing, maintenance, mining, telecommunications and more. In other words, they are known to be members of the working class.