We know a little about WSI – we actually own a franchise unit in our home state of Washington. What we love about this concept is the ability to build the business as we see fit, and the daily challenge of staying ahead of Google and the other search and social media services like Facebook. My wife runs this business and is succesfully building a business without sales or technical experience – the reason why this is possible is WSI is about relationships and solving business problems. While I wouldn’t recommend this business to everyone, it certainly does match the skill set of anyone who is a good people person and loves to learn new and interesting things every day.
How does this business work?
The WSI consultant (the franchisee) performs an IBA (Internet Business Analysis) for their clients, and through this process they learn together what the challenges of the business are – both as normal business challenges and those they face from the internet. The consultant then prepares a solution proposal for the customer, this includes setting prices appropriately and presenting the solution concept to the customer:
- Social Media Marketing
- Pay Per Click
- New or redesigned website
- Search Engine Optimization
- Content copywriting
- and the list goes one…
The work is then performed by “production centers” which are smaller companies that specialize in completing jobs for WSI consultants
The profit margin is built into the mark-up over the production center- pricing and markup are under the control of the WSI consultant
Overall, we would say this is a challenging franchise, but we will say that WSI Corporate is excellent to work with, and their Franchise Disclosure Document contains the “Item 19″ earnings claim which proves this business has a ton of potential for the right candidate.
Financials:
- Franchise Fee: $39,000+
- No other financial requirements, although we recommend (from personal experience) to have $15,000 liquid for miscellaneous expenses during ramp-up period.
This is an excellent concept – and we are excited you found it. Please contact us – and remember we have many funding options for you if you do not have cash on hand.