That Suzanne Goddard, a franchisee for Yogabellies, is shilling for her franchisor is a sure sign of a FranWhack to any of the jaded bastards in Austalia, the US or Canada.

But still franchise salespeople continue to churn the business renters and pap.

The Problem:

I never felt like I was fully committed to my job and definitely felt unbelievably guilty that I wasn’t being the parent I wanted to be. Until one day, after much soul searching, I decided there must be another way and I turned to the internet in search of something, anything, that I could do from home, working more flexibly.

A franchise as the out-of-the-blue Solution? For the seller, maybe:

It was at this point I stumbled across a franchised network called Yogabellies, which was offering teacher training in peri-natal yoga classes, baby massage and birth education.

A few phone calls later, I was satisfied that a franchise was the way to go. I was a little apprehensive about investing the required funds towards training and setting up my business. However, Yogabellies’s approach allowed me to set up affordable payment plans towards the training, as well as being able to start with one course or qualification at a time. It also allowed me to train while still working full-time, paying for my training before I left employment.

Peri-natal yoga classes as a profitable franchise concept over a 10 to 20 year timeframe?

My oh my oh my…

– Purple Buddha Project

Generally speaking, espionage offers each spy an opportunity to go crazy in a way he finds irresistible. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1922 – 2007

Thanks to our friends down under.

Quote:

Idiot compassion is the highly conceptualized idea that you want to do good….Of course, [according to the mahayana teachings of Buddhism] you should do everything for everybody; there is no selection involved at all. But that doesn’t mean to say that you have to be gentle all the time. Your gentleness should have heart, strength. In order that your compassion doesn’t become idiot compassion, you have to use your intelligence. Otherwise, there could be self-indulgence of thinking that you are creating a compassionate situation when in fact you are feeding the other person’s aggression. If you go to a shop and the shopkeeper cheats you and you go back and let him cheat you again, that doesn’t seem to be a very healthy thing to do for others.

– Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche 1939 – 1987

Franchisors have never been shy about risking other-peoples’-money.

Quesada President Tom O’Neill in QSR magazine called Canadian Mexican Brand Plans to Hit 300 Units in 5 Years:

The company expects to open about 300 franchised restaurants in the next five years. “Our game plan,” says O’Neill, “is to double in
 size every 12 months.”

Double every 12 months? Really? Anybody’s business doubling for 2 years in a row nowadays? And the risk to every franchisee when the franchisor spins out of control?

• Brutal…all equity gone.

This couldn’t be another pump-and-dump deal that leaves the area developers and their franchisees holding the bag just like Krispy Kreme…Could it? See Burnt to a Crisp on WikidFranchise.org.

Canada Franchise AssociationListing

Quesada Franchising of Canada Corp.
Eat More Burritos
Franchise Fee: $20K
Startup Capital Required: $60K-$75K
Investment Required: $152K-$242K
Available Territories: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
Training: 2 weeks
Franchise Units Canada: 11
Corporate Units Canada: 4
In Business Since: 2004
Franchising Since: 2010
CFA Member Since: 2010

Source

Quote:

The public is not to see where power lies, how it shapes policy, and for what ends. Rather, people are to hate and fear one another.

– Norm Chomsky 1928 -

A big lie and monotonously repeated nonsense have more emotional appeal in a cold war than logic and reason.

Quote:

. . . well publicized facts are always the bane to the mind controllers.

Such is the Pavlovian device, repeat mechanically your assumptions and suggestions, diminish the opportunity of communicating dissent and opposition. This is the simple formula for political conditioning of the masses.

The flight from study and awareness is much too common in a world that throws too many confusing pictures to the individual. For the sake of our democracy, based on freedom and individualism, we have to bring ourselves back to study again and again. Otherwise, we can become easy victims of a well-planned verbal attack on our minds and our consciences.

– Dr. Joost A. M. Meerloo 1903 – 1976

Because if I told you about franchising, you would not believe me.

A boat picked me up –exhausted from fatigue –and (now that the danger was removed) speechless from the memory of its horror. Those who drew me on board were my old mates and dally companions –but they knew me no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. My hair, which had been raven-black the day before, was as white as you see it now. They say too that the whole expression of my countenance had changed. I told them my story –they did not believe it. I now tell it to you –and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden. A Descent Into the Maelstrom, Edgar Allan Poe, 1841

But that’s okay, it’s only your money.

And your mind.

Ourselves to Know, Warren Zevon, 2000

We left Constantinople in a thousand ninety-nine
To restore the one True Cross was in this heart of mine
To bring it to Jerusalem and then sail home to Rhodes

We took that holy ride ourselves to know
We took that holy ride ourselves to know

Everyone got famous, everyone got rich
Everyone went off the rails and ended in the ditch
But we had to take that long hard road to see where it would go

Yeah, we took that holy ride ourselves to know
We took that holy ride ourselves to know

Now if you make a pilgrimage, I hope you find your grail
Be loyal to the ones you live with even if you fail
And be chivalrous to strangers you meet along the road

As you take that holy ride yourselves to know
You take that holy ride yourselves to know