The choice may be easy, particularly if you have a Great Idea you want to exploit or are highly skilled in a particular area that you want to turn into a business.

Once you know what you want to do and why you want to do it, and provided those are consistent, then your choice is straight forward.

But regardless of whether you want to turn an idea or skill into a business or want to create an Expert, Creative or Information business, you are likely to need some training and coaching to enable you to get started and get your business ‘off the ground’.

But what if you don’t?

There are three main types of business that you can ‘purchase’:

• Franchised Businesses
• Licensed Businesses
• Marketing Network Businesses

1. Buying a Franchise

As far as I am aware there are no franchise opportunities available in the life coaching, therapy and healing sector – although there are several business coaching franchises available.

The key points about franchising are

• You market your business under their brand
• You follow their process exactly
• You pay a royalty for every client you serve

If you’d like any extra information it’s in the book

2. Buying a ‘License’

In this type of business you are ‘licensed’ by a provider of products or services to sell their offering as part of your business or even the foundation of it.

You buy a License to operate an existing business system or resell an existing product or service.

Normally you would pay a one-off fee for the license which can cost from hundreds to several thousands of pounds (or dollars) depending on the organisation and the product service being licensed but which would usually include training in how to use and market the product or service.

I have three licenses to practice therapies and present coaching programmes and licensing is very common in this sector.

People like Bob Proctor, Mary Morrissey, Marisa Peer and Tony Robbins will sell you a license and the training to use their systems and once you’ve ‘graduated’ you can then use their techniques under your brand. Unlike a Franchise you do all the work but there is no royalty to pay.

Licensing a reputable product or service usually requires a significant investment of both time and money up front and an ongoing cost for products or materials you need to purchase from the license owner that should be subsumed in the fee you charge your clients.

Unlike franchises there is far less control from the brand ‘owner’ over what you choose to charge your clients and usually but not always, the only fees you pay back are for tangible ‘supplies’ that you need to run your business.

If you have the money to invest in the first place and provided you have the marketing skills to quickly gather clients then buying a License is likely to be a medium to low-risk way of starting a business.

It usually takes a lot less time, if you do the work, to recover your investment than it does with a Franchise.

3. Joining a Marketing Network

Commonly known as Network Marketing or MLM (Multi Level Marketing), this is a method whereby a ‘parent company’ can get their products or services to market. In a highly cost effective way, especially for innovative products.

There are no network marketing opportunities relevant to Coaching and Therapy although some have attempted to ‘bolt on’ certain products to their offering.

Unfortunately the work required to operate a successful network marketing business would impinge on your passion as a coach or therapist.

I do not recommend this route – we in this sector have more important things to do than sell other people’s products but if you know someone, a client perhaps, who is considering this don’t put them off as it may be right for them.

There is more information about this in the book and elsewhere in the resources section

In summary:

• If you buy a Franchise you are buying a well-established system which you operate and then pay a commission to the franchisor on the sales you make – and you may also have to buy products and services from them as well but the franchise owners will do the majority of the marketing.
• If you buy a License, you are buying a system which you operate and market within your own business brand (unlike a franchise). There is an initial cost and sometimes ongoing ‘product’ costs.
• If you join a Marketing Business you simply get paid commissions, bonuses and other rewards depending on the volume of product or service you are directly and indirectly responsible for securing for the parent company. They do the production and operations – all you do is the marketing.

Knowing what you want to do is one thing but whatever you choose, turning it into a viable, long lasting business that will generate you a recurring income is something else.

What you need now is a ‘Plan’.

Review ‘Business In A Box’ by watching this short video.