At the heart of all innovation is a single question: “I wonder what would happen if…”

I wasn’t there, but I’m willing to bet that the wheel was invented — the first time anyway — when someone said, “I wonder what would happen if I carved off those edges and made this thing round.”

But true innovation only happens when we’re in the right frame of mind when we’re doing the asking — the one that pushes us to say, “If it helps enough people, if I can articulate and demonstrate the value, if I care about it deeply enough, and if I am willing to keep opening doors and blowing up brick walls until I see a clear path, then I will be able to do the work to figure out how to bring this thing to market.” That’s the Possibilities Mindset, and it’s the stuff dreams are made of.

But sadly, there are a few other frames of mind that often doom your possibly brilliant ideas before they get off the ground. Steer clear of these 5 idea-murdering mindsets.
1. The Fear Mindset

A lot of entrepreneurs have their subconscious asking, “What’s the worst thing that could happen if…” There’s a time for risk assessment. That time is not when you’re innovating. Only when you can articulate the value of your idea, and when you want it enough to commit the energy to pursing that idea should you indulge in worst-case scenario thinking.
2. The Attachment Mindset

There are entrepreneurs who hear just one answer to the question and then stubbornly chase that single outcome, banging their heads against brick walls and their fists against locked doors while all around them, hundreds of other answers are clamoring for attention. They might succeed eventually, battered and bloodied (or they might surrender), but either way, they’ll have a story of how business is a battleground and you have to fight like a dragon for your dream.
3. The Excitement Mindset

The entrepreneur in this mindset has an idea that is so cool it defies description. It’s so amazing, fantastic and unbelievable that it has to be pursued at all costs. For a while. Excitement isn’t enough to carry an idea from innovation to execution. That takes true passion, determination, strategic thinking and, most of all, articulation. If you can’t describe how your idea will change someone’s life — if not the world — then selling anyone else on the idea is going to be tough.

And if you only care about it because it’s cool, the energy you’re willing to invest will only last until you have your next too-cool-to-describe idea.

4. The Enlightened Skeptic Mindset

This entrepreneur has probably been beaten up and beaten down for being too excited or has had too many ideas stall out because they were fueled only by excitement.

So now their mindset says that ideas are a dime a dozen, but ideas that make money are one in several million, so it’s the better part of wisdom to withhold any and all emotion until you see that this idea really could be The One that survives. There’s no excitement, desire or passion. Therefore, there’s no energy, commitment or determination available for exploration or implementation.
5. The How Mindset

This mindset insists that you know how you’re going to do it before you even articulate the value you’d bring to the world by seeing it through. This entrepreneur builds walls out of, “You don’t know how to do that,” and, “How are you ever going to get the money?” and “How do you think you’ll get in front of the people who might buy it?” Like risk management, “how” is part of the strategic phase — not the innovation phase. Don’t fall prey to the “hows” before you’ve completely explored the “whys” and “whats.”

Reinventing the wheel really does count as innovation — if it’s a better wheel. And no one wants to see an idea for a better wheel killed because you were in the wrong mindset when you asked the right question.

Our society is collectively obsessed with morning routines.

What is just as important, but often neglected, is how we manage what happens in the middle of the day.

When we wake up, our minds are clear, our bodies are rested. High willpower gives us the energy to take on the day.

The problem is that no matter how much energy we start with, it can only sustain us for so long. Without good mid-day habits, we fall prey to distraction (hello Facebook!), impulsivity, irritability, and fatigue. Or even worse, we crash and make bad decisions we regret. According to renowned willpower researcher, Roy Baumeister, “Most things go bad in the evening. Diets are broken at the evening snack, not at breakfast… Impulsive crimes are mostly committed after midnight.”

Source: The Power of an Energy Microburst White Paper by Janet Nikolovski, Ph.D. & Jack Groppel, Ph.D.

To help you nail your afternoon routine, here is some practical and science-backed advice from successful entrepreneurs who have built multimillion-dollar companies.

———————

1. Move Around And Take a Fidgeting Break

Lindsay Gaskins, CEO of Marbles: The Brain Store

When most people think about health and energy, they primarily focus on exercise. While exercise is incredibly important, our non-exercise activities (known as NEAT in the academic world) actually take up more time and burn more energy throughout the day.

Source: The “NEAT Defect” in Human Obesity: The Role of Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis by James A. Levine, MD, PhD

Changes to these NEAT activities are easier to make since they require less willpower; yet they are still incredibly impactful.

“We also found that when sitting for prolonged periods of time, any movement is good movement, and was also associated with better fitness,” says Dr. Jacquelyn Kulinski, who has studied the link between health and physical activity. “So if you are stuck at your desk for a while, shift positions frequently, get up and stretch in the middle of a thought, pace while on a phone call, or even fidget.”

Lindsay Gaskins, CEO of Marbles: The Brain Store, is a big fan of fidgeting with a desk toy. She takes multiple fidget breaks every day to reduce stress and help her think more clearly.

“Anything I can press, bend, or manipulate makes my hands and brain happy,” Gaskins says. She recommends desk toys like wooden puzzles, Ball of Whacks, or Flingons (a flingable, flexible magnetic fidget set).

Katherine Isbister, research director of NYU’s Game Innovation Lab, affirms the importance of desk toys in reducing stress. Isbister says that being able to squish something really hard, or knock it on the table “is a great way to overcome negative emotions such as stress or boredom.” Isbister and her team are currently studying how workers use desktop toys to increase mental clarity.
2. Never Eat Alone

Elizabeth Zaborowska, founder and CEO of Bhava Communications

According to one research-backed book on the impact of face-to-face relationships, The Village Effect, spending time directly with other people and having active social lives can increase our likelihood of surviving cancer by 66%. As noted in The Village Effect, and also discussed by National Geographic researcher Dan Buettner and his team, the right social circle is an essential part of why centenarians live past 100 years old.

Elizabeth Zaborowska, founder and CEO of Bhava Communications (revenue: $5 million+), organizes an amazing 15+ informal meals per week (750 meals per year) with her employees, clients, venture capitalists, industry colleagues, and more. She invites one or two people to join her for lunch and dinner, and occasionally sets up breakfasts and weekend brunches.

Having a meal together connects people in ways that simply working together can’t. A meal creates an informal space where friendships can be formed, and sets the foundation for a deeper working relationship. In one study, employees at a tech company who rated other employees as being “especially good friends” had higher performance ratings from their bosses than those who had fewer numbers of such friendships.

Many well-known entrepreneurs use mealtime as one of the main ways they build relationships. During summers, Martha Stewart regularly entertains guests for dinner at her East Hampton estate. And Keith Ferrazzi proclaimed the power of meals, particularly dinner parties in his bestselling book Never Eat Alone.

“Today I can safely say my strongest links have been forged at the table,” Ferrazzi says. “The compan­ionable effects of breaking bread–not to mention drinking a few glasses of wine–bring people together.”
3. Set Your Timer For 5 Minutes In Order To Break Up Big, Hard Task You’re Procrastinating On

Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, You Move Me, and Wow 1 Day Painting

According to Stanford researcher BJ Fogg, the best way to change your behavior is to make the desired change easier. And the simplest way to make something easier is to reduce the amount of time it takes. For example, exercise is much less intimidating when you commit to it for one minute instead of one hour.

The same principle holds true in work. Whenever Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, You Move Me, and Wow 1 Day Painting, feels overwhelmed by a big goal or feels low energy, he sets his iPhone timer for 5-minutes and commits to focusing for that period of time on the task at hand. “What ends up happening is I build up momentum and want to keep going after the timer goes off,” Scudamore says.

While setting big, hairy, audacious goals is really good for long-term thinking, it is paralyzing when you’re at a low point in your day. Focusing on an easy, small step is powerful because it:

• Builds momentum and keeps you focused.
• Increases the odds that you’ll take action.
• Cements your own identity as someone who gets stuff done.
• Gives you the feeling of progress, optimism, control, and gratitude.

For more information on how to set easy tasks, watch this 10-minute video by Fogg.

4. Take A ‘Pocket Vacation’ In Nature

Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Network and Syfy

It turns out that exposure to all that’s green and grows is good for your immune system. Not getting out in natural surroundings, can lead to an increase of allergies, asthma and other illnesses. It even has a name;”Nature Deficit Disorder.”

Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Network and Syfy takes daily walk in New York City’s Central Park for 15 minutes, calling her daily routine her “pocket vacation.” Research indicates that a mere 5 minutes of walking in nature can produce an immense, immediate benefit of reducing stress, notably on our levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. An even more important effect is that nature restores your ability to focus with a phenomenon called Attention Restoration Theory.

If you don’t have time to take even a quick walk, just spend 40 seconds looking through a window with greenery outside .That short amount of time is enough to restore your attention span, subsequently leading to far fewer errors in your work.
5. Take Micro Naps Like These Iconic Entrepreneurs, Presidents, And Artists

Sevetri Wilson, CEO of Solid Ground Innovations

Famous individuals throughout history have sworn by the power of naps; everyone from presidents (Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Bill Clinton) to artists (Salvador Dali, Leonardo Da Vinci), to entrepreneurs (Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller) have all enjoyed midday naps. And, it’s no wonder why. According to one study, a 10 minute power nap can reduce fatigue and increase cognitive performance up to 2 ½ hours. Artist, Salvador Dali, had a particularly unique approach to naps he called “slumber with a key” that he felt increased his creativity. Essentially, he sat in a chair with a key in his hand so that he’d wake up right away when he fell asleep and the sound of the keys hitting the ground woke him.

Sevetri Wilson, CEO of Solid Ground Innovations, has adopted a schedule where she works in the early morning hours, when other people are sleeping, and takes naps in the early evening, when other people are relaxing.

“This schedule allows me to get a lot more done without being distracted by text messages or TV and while remaining high-energy,” Wilson says.

Larger companies like Google have started embracing the the proven benefits of the power of nap. For example, Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, and Brian Halligan, CEO of publicly traded Hubspot, have each created employee nap rooms.
6. Play A Musical Instrument

Joe Apfelbaum, CEO of Ajax Union

According to neuroscientist, Anita Collins, playing music is the cognitive equivalent of “a full-body workout, and it, “engages practically every area of the brain at once.”

More significantly, music playing has been highlighted as a powerful long-term strategy to improve brain plasticity, as well as overall brain’s functioning.

Joe Apfelbaum, CEO of digital marketing agency, Ajax Union, takes this research to heart, and he’s baked it into the culture of his company. “For me to keep my high energy going throughout the day, I need to do things differently,” Apfelbaum says. “When brainstorming I sometimes play guitar or other musical instruments that are in my office at all times.”

Among the most famous of all amateur music players is perhaps Albert Einstein, an avid and competent violinist. Einstein often gushed about his love for his hobby, saying “I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music…. I get the most joy in life out of music.”

Picking up a music instrument is not as intimidating as it sounds: Josh Kaufman offers tips on his website for how he learned to play simple chord progressions on a ukulele in less than 20 hours.
7. Shower With Your Eyes Closed

Jason Duff, founder and CEO of COMSTOR Outdoor

Artist, Paul Gogan, once declared, “”I shut my eyes in order to see.”

Recent research on how creative insights happen shows that he might have been on to something. In the book, Eureka Factor, researcher, John Kounios, shares the importance of inner-directed attention:

“We found that just before viewing a problem that participants would eventually solve with insight, they disengaged from their surroundings and directed their attention inwardly on their own thoughts.”

As soon as you get back from work at the end of the day, Jason Duff, founder and CEO of COMSTOR Outdoor, takes the second shower of his day. It’s 20 minutes long, and he closes his eyes and lets his mind wander.

Research shows that having your eyes closed increases alpha waves, which is closely associated with relaxation and helps new ideas go from your subconscious mind to your conscious mind.

If you want to add a second shower to your daily routine, but also want to conserve water, consider purchasing a water-efficient showerhead.
8. Create An Easy List For The End Of The Day

Emerson Spartz, founder and CEO of Spartz Inc.

Many articles and books have been written about the beginning of the workday. The predominant principle is to focus on hard, important tasks and decisions that will push your business forward.

“If you save the same activities for the afternoon, you will likely procrastinate, be inefficient, and have lower quality,” says Emerson Spartz, founder and CEO of Spartz Inc., a digital media company that owns a network of sites (like Dose.com and OMG Facts) that collectively reach 45 million visitors per month. Instead, Spartz leaves mindless tasks and easy decisions (i.e., emails that need quick responses, social media, and simple tasks) for his final hours of work.

“I’ll check email periodically throughout the day to respond to anything urgent,” Spartz says. “But I reserve the last hour just for emailing, which is easier for my mind and more likely to distract me.”
9. Exercise With A Gym Trainer or Gym Buddy

Evan Williams, founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium
Cameron Herold, author of Double Double, CEO coach, and globally renowned speaker

Evan Williams, founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium, works out in the middle of the day, contradicting the typical advice to workout first thing in the morning:

“My focus is usually great first thing in the morning. So going to the gym first is a trade off of very productive time in the office. Instead, I’ve started going mid-morning or late afternoon (especially on days I work late). It feels weird (at first) to leave the office in the middle of the day, but total time spent is nearly the same, with higher energy and focus across the board.”

Cameron Herold, author of Double Double and a CEO coach to high-growth businesses, also exercises in the middle of the day. He uses a trainer to force himself to follow through.

“I need more help stopping work, than I do getting it into it,” Herold says. “If I can force myself to stop my day for a workout, I can sustain quality output much longer. Having a trainer forces me to show up.”

A review of 29 academic studies found that exercise dramatically increases attention, processing speed, and executive function:

Source: Study: Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition
10. Save Your Meetings For The Afternoon

Benji Rabhan, founder and CEO of Apollo Scheduling

Meetings have built-in accountability, and thus limited procrastination. That makes them perfect to hold your attention during the afternoon when your mind is more likely to wander.

Benji Rabhan, founder & CEO of Apollo Scheduling, uses his AppointmentCore software to open his afternoons to meetings with clients, customers, and team members. Instead of using his precious morning time for meetings, he uses the late afternoon for simple meetings such as answering questions, status checks, or conveying information.

Rabhan still has big meetings that require difficult decisions in the morning, as several studies show that we make worse decisions throughout the day as a result of decision fatigue.

Not convinced? Meeting in the afternoon has another benefit. According to a study of best times to schedule meetings, 3:00 pm has the highest acceptance rate!

Monday June 9, 2014 is a day Lynne, my wife, and I will not forget. Supper was a little unusual, BBQ Smokies on a bun. After supper I went, as I normally do, to check what’s happening on the computer. After a few moments, I feel a little nap would take the edge off for dancing in the evening. A few moments lying in bed and I feel nauseated. My head was spinning so bad, I could not sit up on the side of the bed, so I tried to slide out of bed. The vomitting started before I could get to the floor. Lynne heard the noise and came to help. I asked her to call for help. I curled up in a ball on the floor, keeping my eyes almost closed as the room was spinning around.

The paramedics arrived. I remember them saying they thought a Gravol intervenous might help. I said to them it would be nice of them to give me a Gravol intervenous so I wouldn’t have to wait 3 hours for it when I got to the Hospital. Thankfully they complied. Then we were off to the Hospital, where I sat 3 hours in the emergency hallway. The Gravol stopped the vomitting, but the whole world was spinning continually.

Finally they found me a bed in the emergency ward. Someone came and took my vitals, to make sure my condition wasn’t related to the heart. Around midnight I was asked if I wanted to try walking. Taking barely 3 steps before grabbing onto something, they decided I should stay the night in the Hospital. Only then did Lynne leave my side, thinking I should be OK while she went home to get some sleep.

In the morning Hospital staff brought me breakfast just before Lynne arrived. I forced a few sips and bites down. Then I asked Lynne to grab me something to vomit into. All she could find was the lid for the breakfast tray. So much for trying to eat. About noon a therapist came with a walker. I could manage not too bad with the walker, as my dizziness had subsided to where the room wasn’t continually spinning. The therapist went away, returning a few hours later. I was released from the Hospital with a requisition for a wheelchair, a walker and a bathtub chair and a prescription for Betahistine Dihydroc.
Later both my therapist and neurologist said my prescription was not their recommendation for my condition. It did relieve my symptoms occassionally. The directions were “As needed”. I didn’t need them often.
That was their prescription for my future.

Imagine Lynne’s reaction. Not only was she not going to stand for a husband being in this condition for the duration, I wasn’t going to stand for it either, if help could be found. Help was found on the internet under Therapy Vertigo Winnipeg. On the first call, Creekside Physiotherapy asked if we could be there in half an hour. I was in bed and Lynne said it would take more than half an hour to get me cleaned up and be there. Did they have another time? That ended up being a couple of hours later.

By this time Lynne had also contacted friends and told the horror story. All offered their support. We asked friends who had offered, to meet us at Creekside with their wheelchair. There I am being wheeled into Creekside.

The Therapist asked a few questions and was shocked. She was ready to deal with a Vertigo that was intermittent, not one that lasted for hours. She shakes me up a bit to see how long it takes my eyes to react to sudden movement. With that evidence she knows what treatment is best. On the eye chart I could read only the 4th line from the bottom. I was asked to see how many steps I could take. Amazingly after just this little bit of therapy, Lynne wheeled the empty wheelchair out to our awaiting friends and their eyes were wide as saucers to see me walking out.

The Therapist gave me some exercises to do and asked me to see her in a week.

We set up an appointment to see our regular doctor. We asked her if the hospital had sent a report. No. She asked if I had seen a neurologist. No. She asked if I had an MRI. No. She requisitioned an immediate appointment with a neurologist and an emergency MRI. A week later, after hearing from no-one about the neurologist or the MRI, we call the doctor. After looking into it, I got an MRI scheduled for 2 months later and an appointment with a neurologist 3 months later. That’s emergency service.

Second visit to see my therapist, a week after my initial visit, she’s amazed at my recovery. Now I can read the bottom line of the eye chart and walk almost normally. I was given a new set of exercises. I asked about dancing.  She said to give it a try, being ready to sit if I got dizzy. Steadily I progressed from one dance – to half the dances – to a full night of dancing. Within the second week I was driving the car short distances, and gradually progressed to normal driving.

Third visit to see my therapist she’s again amazed at my recovery. She has a list of “Tests” that “Normal” people sometimes have trouble with. She tells me, the ones I have trouble with, I should practice.

Fourth visit to see my therapist she asks if I still notice any Vertigo? Yes. So we want to get rid of it all if possible. This means stirring up the crystals that are causing the Vertigo by positioning the head back and to the left or right. That stirred things alright. The body’s reaction is nausea and sweating. Fortunately not vomitting, but close to it. Because the nausea was a close call to vomitting, we decided to forego doing both sides, and next visit we’d try the other side.

Fifth visit to see my therapist we stir up the other side. Almost no reaction. Stomach doesn’t like my position, but nowhere close to nausea. The therapist thinks we have solved the problem.

Meanwhile, there’s a cancellation and I get in to see the neurologist. She is the one who diagnoses that I have BPPV. A cancellation gets me an earlier MRI. My doctor knows we can joke, and says “I hate to say this Art, but your brain is normal”.

From being assigned to what we thought was going to be life with a wheelchair, walker and a bathtub chair, I now use none of these aids. I get the odd blip, for no more than 2 seconds. I am able to continue as if nothing happened.

Since June 9th many have said to me they have Vertigo or something similar. I tell them I received very good care with my therapist, but that everybody’s Vertigo is different.       Seek the professional help of a therapist. In most cases, they will give you exercises      that if you follow the exercises, you can recover, just like I did.

Recently I read this article on How much is enough Tweeting?, > How Often to Post to Facebook, Twitter http://buff.ly/1if0aNK, so decided I’d give you my 2 cent’s worth. If it wouldn’t take so much time I’d look up and see when I joined Twitter, my first stab at Social media. Let’s say 2007. As you all remember doing, I “suffered” through the initial stage of needing 1800 followers so I could follow 2000. Then it was off to the races, following those who followed me and doing ONE RT per follower. (IF they had one). Heaven knows why some people join Twitter and do not Tweet. It makes us all different.

By April 2014 I had 9,000 followers. I noted this milestone to see how long it will take to add 1,000 more and reach 10,000. See @FranchiseMall

Each Friday I #FF all the Notifications for the past week. Each Friday I #FF 10% of my list of franchisers’ Twitter accounts. So they are exposed to @FranchiseMall about 5 times a year inadvertantly. Some of them RT. Some of them go to their accounts on www.thefranchisemall.com Some of them contact us to say their account needs adjusting EXCELLENT! That’s what we want. Interaction. Feedback. EXPOSURE.

We subscribe to Google alerts for franchise news. We post relevant news to accounts on www.thefranchisemall.com We Tweet that news to the franchisor’s Twitter page where available and post it to Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. We get many RT’s from our followers (Notifications) as many of them know that interaction is a win, win.

This works for us.  Your winning combination will be different, when you find it.

So, How much is enough Tweeting?

To each his/her own. I see many who Tweet every time they scratch their head.
>Too often ! I see those that do not Tweet at all, just have an account >Not enough.

Here I’ve shown you the balance that works for me. What works for you will be different.
It’s kind of a common sense thing.

The video is explanation enough. This would be a once in a lifetime adventure, a dream come true. Unfortunately not all scenerios like this end successfully. Is commercial fishing so important that these risks must take place? Is it just greed? Is there a way that’s safer for the big fish? Is the safer way too expensive?

My hope is that no big fish goes through this. As in any of life, it seems you must hit a low before you hit a high. Unfortunately many lows are terminal. It’s God’s way.
This whale was chosen to survive and we are blessed with a spectacular sight.

Whale Rescue

Carol Tice, Contributor

The franchise world has grown over the past 60 years to encompass nearly every type of business — if you want your taxes done, your sidewalk pressure-washed, your windshield repaired, your house cleaned, your dog walked, or a fast-food burger, franchise owners can do that for you.

Out of all the different franchise types, one franchise sector is growing at an amazing rate right now: the senior care or home-healthcare niche. Of Forbes 2014 Best Franchises list for up to $150,000 investment, three of the top ten are home-health brands: BrightStar, Right at Home, and Synergy HomeCare.

These three are the cream of a growing crop. While there were just 13 home-health franchise brands in 2000, that’s shot to 56 companies today, industry research firm FRANdata reports. The growth is even more striking by location — currently, the 45 franchise brands that are members of the International Franchise Association operate 6,000 locations, says IFA Educational Foundation president John Reynolds. In 2001, member franchises operated barely more than 300 locations.

Why is home healthcare franchising on the rise? Here’s a quick snapshot of the unique opportunity in this fast-growing sector:

• Lower investment. While it can cost $500,000 or more to open a fast-food franchise, most home-healthcare franchises cost $150,000 or less to start up, a feature that attracted Right at Home Seattle franchisee Ben Solomon, who owns two area territories and is buying a third. The investment is primarily for hiring marketing, recruiting and training staff, and for office space.
• High revenue. From that relatively low investment, home-health franchises can drive a lot of volume, especially after the first year’s ramp-up making connections with key referrers such as elder-law attorneys and social workers. Territories are usually large. Industry research firm Home Care Pulse found median franchise home-health revenue was nearly $2 million. What’s more, franchise owners brought in substantially more than independent operators, Home Care found, giving their businesses a resource advantage over the competition.
• Growing demand. Demand is forecast to grow sharply, thanks to the aging of baby boomers. The number of people over age 60 is set to triple to 2 billion by 2050, the UN estimates.
• International opportunity. Most US franchises are just beginning to look overseas at opportunities, with Right at Home being one of the leaders — it recently became the first US home-healthcare franchise to enter China. But the rest of the world is aging, too, to there is still plenty of growth opportunity in new markets.
• Help with red tape. Mom-and-pop home healthcare operators struggle to keep up as national, state and local laws evolve. For instance, my home base of Seattle is currently debating a possible $15-an-hour minimum wage law. Independents are also hard-pressed to obtain insurance to cover their workers’ activities in clients’ homes. By contrast, franchises become well-known to insurers, smoothing the way for policies, says Right at Home CEO Allen Hager. National chains also have the money to do lobbying and advocate for favorable laws — most recently, against the proposed federal minimum wage increase.
• Chance to do good. Seattle Right at Home franchisee Solomon says helping seniors stay in their own homes affordably is more than a business — it’s a community service. “I feel great doing this,” he says.

With home-health franchises booming, how can you spot the best one? Ask lots of questions. Franchise contracts vary widely, so read carefully. Solomon said the contract “is like a marriage.” Most franchise contract terms are at least 10 years.

Not all chains are created alike — for instance, Right at Home provides skilled nursing services, while many other franchise chains do not.

One great way to learn about a franchise opportunity is to ask current franchise owners how satisfied they are with their business. To see the home-healthcare franchise chains rated tops by their franchise owners in a recent Franchise Business Review survey, check out The 10 Best Senior Care Franchises to Own.

For more on the best and worst franchises, click here.