Road to Ambition What's it really like to buy a franchise? Read part one of our ongoing series following one couple's exciting trek to entrepreneurial success.

With all requisite apologies to songwriter John Mellencamp, thisis a little ditty about Jack and Diane--two American kidsgrowin' up in the Heartland. Jack wants to be a franchisestar--Diane will keep her job so he can change oil in cars. Yes,there are millions of franchise stories in the naked city. This isjust one. Reality TV has transcended its boundaries, and nowwe'll deliver the play-by-play of what it takes to investigate,purchase, open and run a franchised business. Step right up, folks,and feel their pain.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but thehopes and dreams of the franchisees we're following for thiscolumn, Jack and Diane, are no different from the hundreds of otherfranchisees I have worked with in my 14 years as a franchiseattorney/consultant. Believe me, they're just like you: chasingthe American dream of financial independence armed only withlimited resources and the gumption to persevere. Indulge yourselfas we unpeel the onion over the next few months and examine whathappens to Jack and Diane--in franchise land. We don't knowwhere this trip will go, but please put your chair in the full andupright position, because Jack and Diane are going to encounter alittle turbulence.

Paying TheirDues
Jack and Diane are both college grads in their early 40s who havespent years working for corporate America. Jack is a marketing andsales guy who is extremely outgoing and routinely calls on smallbusinesses to sell advertising media. Every day of his "realjob," Jack can see the prosperity that comes from owning abusiness, and like a burr in the saddle, it hurts him to work forsomeone else. Diane, on the other hand, is conservative by natureand prefers the solid foundation of her substantial duties insoftware and computer systems consulting for one of thenation's larger consulting firms. The couple is verywell-spoken, intelligent and hard-working. They've built whatit takes to be entrepreneurs, but it's Jack who's thedriving force in finding a franchise. "In the back of my mind,I have always wanted to be my own boss," he says. "I wantto be successful enough to be able to control my own destiny--I getfrustrated at work." Married for 15 years with no children,our couple has been able to salt away some cash. If only they couldfind a good business to spend it on.

Jack Misses theSubway
Franchising works, in part, because of our insatiable need ashumans to be in familiar surroundings. The fact that a Big Mac is aBig Mac everywhere you go eliminates stress from our lives."Thank you, drive through" is now ingrained in ourcollective psyche. Because fast-food establishments dominate ourlandscape, it's typical for nouveau franchise shoppers to begintheir quest for a franchise in this domain. Ten years ago, Jacktried to make the leap and catch a Subway franchise. To his credit,he first visited with a number of Subway franchisees. When some ofthese youngsters arrived at the meetings in new BMWs, Jack'sinterest was piqued. "I was excited about the opportunity, butwhen we took a step back to look at it, we did not have the dollarsto move on it," he says.

That's the problem with dreams--they often check out whenreality knocks. This couple might have made a go of it with Subway,but it would have stretched them to the breaking point if anythingless than the best-case scenario transpired after the purchase.Jack and Diane had the foresight to know that buying a franchise islike buying a boat--it's not the initial cost, brother;it's the upkeep that kills you. So, wisely, they passed. Butthe fire was still in the belly.

Teeing Off asEntrepreneurs
When you're in your 30s, you still have plenty of time toexperiment with finding your dream, and once you've cast yourlure into the glimmering pool of opportunity, trying to land thebig one becomes a compulsion. Jack and Diane are golfers, so itmakes sense that Diane had an entrepreneurial flash of brilliancewhile in a pro shop. "All the golf apparel for women lookedlike it was made for old ladies," she says, "and Ithought we could certainly do better." Jack needed no furtherencouragement, and a new business was born making mock turtleneckgolf shirts for women.

Let's call this new affair the "sideline"business. A sideline business is an idea that appeals to theentrepreneurs' belief that if they just work a little harder,they can start a business while keeping their full-time jobs.It's the lure of the ads that say something like "work athome part time and make hundreds a day." On the surface, theconcept makes sense, because you can retain your base income whileyou launch missiles at the moon.

My personal experience (see www.teamtigereye.com) is that running a sidelinebusiness has about the same effect as drilling a hole in yoursubmarine for some fresh air--pretty soon, you're just swamped.The experience for Jack and Diane was no different; they createdletterhead, made banners, prepared artwork, sewed mockups,conducted focus group studies, bought fabric, found a sweatshop,rented a display, attended trade shows and took orders. At night,after working all day, commuting and inhaling their dinner, theycreated invoices, set up accounting and packaged orders, until lateone night, they looked at each other and said, "Now what arewe going to do?" before falling into dreamland, totallyexhausted without a whole lot of new money in the bank.

Making the DreamReal
It takes sacrifice to realize a worthy goal--so stay tuned whennext month, our intrepid couple searches for a franchise, arguesabout pledging their home as collateral and writes a big check topursue their American dream.

Todd D. Maddocks is a franchise attorney and founder ofFranchisedecision.com. Write him at yourcounsel@attbi.com.