Huh? Franchise the Internet?

But then people started asking "why not?" Almost everything else is franchisable, so why not the internet.

I mean think about it for a second. Everything from sandwhich shops, to gyms, to coffee shops, to car repair chains, to clothing lines and fast food restaurants can be franchised.

One of my primary objectives with ClickBricks has always been to be truly local. And what better way than to put the development of each city in the hands of like minded and talented entrepreneurs, businessmen and sales executives?

A few reasons for it:

1) We are committed to building a sustainable, family-owned business. In my estimation, going after VC money works against this goal. However, we are at a stage where a solid growth strategy is needed and I think this model makes sense.

2) We are committed to building a truly local site that helps facilitate better relationships between businesses and customers. As localized spending increases there is a tremendous opportunity to do this correctly.

3) We are committed to growth. Yellow Pages has somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 full time sales people. VC backed sites offer their use for free hoping to sell their user base to the highest bidder. Considering we don't have the capital to compete with Yellow Pages sales staff and pursuing VC money doesn't fit our business model, this seems like the best scenario to usher in continued growth.

A few thoughts on the franchise pricing:

1) Although the upfront franchise fee depends on the size of the city/region under consideration, general thoughts behind the pricing are as follows:

• price it reasonably enough to compare with the development and startup costs associated with launching a site/online business;
• structure the annual fees in a way to keep as much money in the franchisee's pockets as possible thus giving them maximum free-market incentive for profit and continued growth;
• structure it to facilitate continued improvement of feature offerings, traditional and non-traditional marketing endeavors and building of strong community and public support.

2) Compete with and beat other franchising opportunities on the front of startup costs, franchise support, training, brand development, profitability potential and general well-being of franchise partners.

Common Questions

1) ClickBricks' monthly subscription fees (for businesses listing on the site) are less than other directories. Can I make any money?

While it is true that our fees are less than, say Yellow Pages, you keep up to 92% of the total revenue for the region you franchise. We believe this provides comparable profitability potential to other franchise opportunities.

2) Franchising the internet has never been done before. I'm skeptical.

Yes, it hasn't been done before - on the internet. The model has proven very successful in other mediums and while we are making no guarantees it will be successful, we believe the idea warrants concerted pursuit. As with all franchised endeavors, we recommend that only serious/experienced entrepreneurs apply.

3) What are my startup costs?

In addition to the franchise fee, traditional franchising also requires significant capital for property, plant, equipment, staff and overhead. Because of the nature of our business model, many of those additional costs associated with traditional franchising do not exist.

We have developed a guideline for extra costs such as local marketing, customer relations and community involvement. However, you decide how much you want to invest beyond the standard fees. Again you can modify it however you wish, but we think you'll find the cost of entry much more paleatable than other franchising opportunities.

4) What revenue do I get credited for?

You get credited for all revenue in the city/region you purchase. This means that in addition to the businesses you directly recruit, all other signups in your city/region including customer acquisitions that are the result of word of mouth and ClickBricks central marketing efforts.

5) Are you for real?

Although our model might be viewed as "new", we are convinced that "new" is not bad. And, yes, we are most definately "for real." We've been building this site for some time now and are developing new features and marketing ideas as we speak. Regardless of how you feel about the model, we are always here to say hi and shoot the breeze - just shoot an email to brandonmuth [at] gmail [dot] com .

6) What are the risks?

Well, to be honest, there are quite a few. Economic volatility, failure to acquire sufficient market share, competing websites and fluctuating marketing budgets, among several other factors, are elements that could negatively impact ClickBricks. As with any business endeavor, loss of money and other investments is always a possibility. We believe the potential upside warrants the risk, but we recommend that only serious/experienced entrepreneurs and business people apply. Cheers!