Shurguard Self Storage

Shurgard Self Storage

Shurgard Storage Centers based in the USA was one of the Self Storage pioneers both in North America and in Europe and is now wholly owned by Public Self Storage; however this was not always the case. The company was founded by Chuck Barbo. Chuck Barbos Grandfather emigrated from Norway in 1871to start a logging business and starting businesses was certainly in the blood. However Chuck did not start his career early he first got his education at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he tried to earn a business degree. However he lost interest in this after a very short time and switched to history. He qualified as a teacher and went off to teach kids at a high school in Seattle. This never lasted to long and the draw of business soon resurfaced.

Chuck got the property bug in 1966 when he sold a property north of Seattle and learned that he would earn much more money selling property than teaching kids. Chuck then moved to Olympia, Washington where Shurgard was born. Chuck like Bradley Hughes of Public Storage started off as a property developer and went into partnership with other property developers. In 1971 both Don Daniels and Chuck formed a business called the Barbo-Daniels Group. It was then that they opened a Self Storage facility called B-D Mini Storage. Although Chuck was convinced about the merits of Self Storage it was much more difficult to persuade the banks. With a background in high school teaching it was particularly difficult for Chuck to convince the banks to lend him money. Un-deterred Chuck managed to grow the business and during the 1970s and 1980s but had further problems raising capital via the banks for Self Storage. It was during this time that Chuck found another way f developing the business growth by entering public partnerships to fund construction. Chuck raised over $700 million allowing for another 20 years worth of growth.

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All About Franchising And Starting Up A New Franchise Business

Copyright 2006 Peter Hayes

Franchise business opportunities are expanding rapidly. If you look at the most famous franchise in existence today is the McDonalds corporation. McDonalds has established itself around the world and is one of the leading business organizations. Opportunities in franchising continue to develop as the franchise industry develops.

What is a franchise?

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Popularity Of Food-cart Franchise Businesses In The Philippines

What are the kinds of businesses are popular in the Philippines today? According to many experts, franchise businesses had become a popular trend in the Philippines. And part of the reason why businesses is because of the many new franchise available in the market, such as food-cart and food-stall businesses which are considered today as some of the most wide-spread businesses in the Philippines today.

Popularity of Franchise Businesses in the Philippines
According to many experts, franchise businesses became popular in the Philippines because of the many new franchising concepts which gave Filipinos the opportunity to own a profitable business. This is when food-cart and food-stall businesses were introduced in the Philippine market. And unlike other franchise businesses, these franchises are far simpler and smaller.

Benefits of Small Franchising Businesses
Unlike in the past in which most franchise businesses in the Philippines were large businesses, such as convenient stores, fast-food restaurants, and many more, food cart-and food-stall businesses are smaller, which could only occupy a small space in a high foot-traffic location, such as in malls, shopping centers, bus and train terminals, and even in wet markets and sidewalks.

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Franchising a Unique Way of Business Expansion

If you have set your mind for franchising your business then you have taken right decision as franchising the existing business is the fastest way of expansion. It is a natural and fast method for growing business. The next thing that you want is to do it properly as small mistakes can lead you in big trouble in future. Try to counsel it with experts before deciding anything.

Franchising a unique way of business expansion as here you partner your existing business with someone else. You sell your business and strategies to new business owner. This requires utmost care and discipline. You should be clear on everything whether it’s your expansion plan, business strategies or future plans. You should be clear at every point. An experienced franchise consultant can help you and show you the right way to do the things. They can assist you in many ways like creating operations and other franchise manuals, solving different questions that generally come on when you go for franchising, making your attorney and planning franchise system and many more.

There are many franchise consultant out in the market but do go for anyone offering you to open your franchise. There are many people who just managed to add the company name in their client list to as they have done franchise work for them but have little knowledge. So decide your consultant wisely. Always try to cross check his knowledge by asking few questions and give your contact to him once you are satisfied.

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Routing Biz Success Via Franchising

Accessibility of diverse business opportunities is creating a lot of confusion among aspiring entrepreneurs to zero down on a single business opportunity. To add to this confusion is the increasing trend among brands whether service or product to opt for franchise route for expansion. No doubt taking up a franchise business opportunity is always preferred over opting for an independent business, still it is difficult to zero down whether to get associated with service franchise brand or retail franchising one. Franchising provides all the know-how and expertise of running a business successfully, which an independent business can never provide. From selecting the right location to recruiting the staff and from designing the logo to creating a brand image, everything will be done by the business owner which in not a case with franchising. No doubt franchising is successful business formula yet selecting the right business opportunity needs lot of care.
Franchising is divided into two major categories: Business or service franchising and the second one is Retail franchising. The brands that are providing services to the consumers are called service franchises and the brands that are providing product or are selling products or merchandise from a retail outlet and is expanding via franchising is called retail franchising.
The major sectors or industries that may fall under service franchising include food and beverages, education, health and beauty, play schools and activity centres, pre-school education, IT education and training, business services, consumer services, car care services and school education.
Retail franchising mainly include industries like apparel, footwear, jewellery, pharmacies, FMCG, consumer durables, furniture, electronic goods, home appliances and so on.
Some factors need to be considered before taking up a final call on the franchise business opportunity by the aspiring entrepreneur. Right business selection would definitely decrease the risk of failure and would elevate the levels of success. The article presents some measures; if taken care of at the initial phase of selection of business opportunity, the percentage of success is higher at least, if not guaranteed.
Search and research: Talk to various business owners for experience and knowledge in the areas that interests you. Understand the need of the market and ask questions.

Analyse yourself: It is very important to find out if you are a business person or not. Write down on a paper describing why you want to take up the business opportunity at all. Know your marketing and sales qualities and understand your family obligations.

Check your finances: Take a note on the kind of investment you can make. After having analysed the budget search for the business opportunities that suits you.

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