The National Minority Franchising Initiative estimates that there are no more than six percent of franchises currently owned by Hispanics. Considering that Hispanics make up  approximately 15 percent of the population, this is an unacceptable balance. In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Christopher Conneron president of the Franchise Marketing Systems offers steps Latinos should consider using when opening up a franchise.

Some of Conneron’s clients include:  of Total Gym (Gravity), Blimpie, COSTCO,Allscripts, and Romeo’s Pizza.

While having a trillion-dollar customer base, the Hispanic population in the United States has its own unique preferences and cultures when it comes to shopping and, more importantly, when deciding where to spend their money.

When Latinos decide to buy a franchise, they can often can sell goods and services that have instant name recognition, and also get the training and support they need to succeed as a business owner. However, when many aspiring entrepreneurs decide to purchase a franchise as opposed to starting a own business, they are not sure where or how to start.

Before one makes that “jump” to buy a franchise, they should consider the following:

Get a good understanding of where you are financially, timeline-wise and from an interest standpoint.
You need to assess not only yourself, but your financial position, what kind of cash you have in place, what is your liquidity, what is your net worth?

Know who YOU are.
Before selecting a franchise brand or concept you need to fully understand your own interests, background and business abilities. are your hobbies and interests outside of work or professional life? What are your strengths and weaknesses from a business or personal standpoint?

Research the market and as many franchise opportunities as you can.
Unless you have a specific company in mind or are using a franchise broker or consultant who is helping you through the process and researching, this could be a lengthy, frustrating process. There are dozens of franchise Web sites and thousands of franchise opportunities out there – there are many sites out there which provide a wide variety of information on franchises.

Research your financing options.
Once you have made your selection, you may need financing….in fact, even if you don’t need financing, it’s good to understand what your options are and what capital/cash is available for you should you need working capital or resources to launch your franchised business. There are numerous options, including conventional bank loans, SBA guaranteed loans, 401k rollovers, alternative financing channels and home equity loans.

With over a decade of experience in building and developing franchise brands Franchise Marketing Systems (FMS) continues to pride itself on structuring and modeling various organizations appropriately for replication into new markets.