[NamesCody]

I'm a High School senior and plan on becoming an entrepreneur a short period after graduation (less than a year). I will have a partner and we have been looking into some franchises, one of the franchises that is high on our later is in the vending industry another is iSoldIt (selling peoples items on ebay). with the vending industry we are planning on having the machines in all of Place Properties apartment buildings and CBL malls in the south easy (over a long period of time, of course) and with the iSoldIt just having one in our local city.

iSoldIt takes royalties (3% of gross profit), is this an instant avoid?

The vending machine we are planning on putting out is just getting started in the United States (less then 75 nationwide), would this be hard to market? easy to market? Good Idea, Bad Idea?

Should I get a degree in business administration? or just take some small business management classes?

I realize we aren't going to have instant profit and its going to be hard to build up to where we want to be but I think we both are determined to do so.

If it helps, We both have family who own their own businesses (my dad - an insulation business, his dad a concrete business, my uncle is part owner of CCI - some business that works closely with IBM)

Thanks for everyones help in advance.

[akula]

welcome to ye

cody, what question would you like to cover: the isoldit royalty fee, the vending machines, or the college thing?

it's difficult to write replies when there's more than one question

[EntrePR]

Hey, congrats on your ambition and welcome to the board

I can take the royalties question. I personally think relatively low cost franchises can be a great way to break into the entrepreneurial world. Basically, what you are buying for the franchise fee are this. 1) A proven detailed business model. (don't underestimate the power of this) 2) National or regional advertising (depending on how the franchise is set up) 3) An operations manual that should answer most day to day problems that arise. 4) Logo design, a good name, web and ebay templates, etc... 5) Easier sale of the business when it comes time (if the franchise reputation is good) Basically, you are buying an increased (possibly greatly) chance of success.

There are also negatives involved, mainly surrounding giving up control of your business.

As far as the 3% goes, franchise fees can range from nothing to 20% of gross, depending on the type of business. Average is probably around 5%, but I am going by my gut there. Go check out a franchise bible at your library to see the range of startup costs and ongoing fees.

[EntrePR]

Should I get a degree in business administration? or just take some small business management classes?

My two cents. If your end goal is knowledge, which is great, then I suggest an alternate route. Find the best business college in your area and just audit the classes. Shoot, even if they don't let you audit, freshman and sophomore classes will all be huge lectures anyway. Just show up.

The great part about auditing officially is that if you ever do decide to get a degree, you can just test out of the class and get full class credit.

Now, the value of general business degrees is debatable for those not looking to go into management. I recommend starting to read as many business books as you can get your hands on (again, the library is your friend). Many are BS, but there is a lot of wisdom buried in there.

[mnt11592]

Knowledge is Power. Get the degree and you will have an strong education backing you.