Aspiring business owners commonly begin their business experience by buying a franchise. In Part 1 of this series, we discussed five important points one should understand before deciding upon franchise investment. If purchasing a franchise is still an attractive idea after contemplating those issues, a franchisee-hopeful may move on to the next five considerations.

Investing in a franchise is an appealing idea for aspiring entrepreneurs; after all, it seems to be an easy way to become one’s own boss. While franchises are a logical way to ease into the world of business ownership, there are many factors to consider before taking the leap.

Welcome back to the How to Finance a Business series! This series explores different ways to get the financing for your business, regardless if you’re financing your own startup or buying a business already on the market. Last time we talked about loans from the Small Business Administration, the sought-after SBA Loan. While these are a great way of getting your business up and running (or maintaining it), there are a lot of restrictions and requirements. If these loans don’t seem right for you (and you’re looking capital needs larger than a credit card could get you), you might want to think about borrowing against your assets.