What Makes A Good Franchise?

Having recently moved to a new County I found myself, after 7 years of stability, needing to find a new job.

Scary.

I have to say I was incredibly lucky and found an equivallent job incredibly quickly. It’s been a bit of a culture shock being the ‘new girl’ but I’m getting the hang of it all now; even if I still can’t remember everyone’s name!

The only downside for me is the school holidays, the age old problem of the children getting a million days off each year while I only get 23!

In the brief period where I was looking for a job I contemplated working for myself and, among other things, I looked at several franchise sites. I found it hard to distinguish between what could be a good franchise and what could be simply pouring money down the drain.

Which brings me to be asking the question: What makes a good franchise?

I’d love to hear about your experiences of either looking for a franchise (what criteria did you use?), or if you’ve bought a franchise – how is it going?