Around Town Community Magazine vs The HomeMag Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Around Town Community Magazine vs The HomeMag including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees

 
Around Town Community Magazine Franchise
The HomeMag Franchise
Investment $37,600 - $54,800$250,000 - $350,000
Franchise Fee $25,000$30,000 - $100,000
Royalty Fee 5%6%
Advertising Fee --
Year Founded 19962002
Year Franchised 20032006
Term Of Agreement 5 years10 years
Term Of Agreement 5 years10 years
Renewal Fee -$5000


Business Experience Requirements

 
Around Town Community Magazine Franchise
The HomeMag Franchise
Experience -The Ideal Candidate Will Have * Strong Business and/or business-to-business sales experience * Desire and Talent to lead an Effective and Productive Team * Working and Applicable Knowledge of your Desired Market * A Full-time Commitment to your Success * The Commitment to follow our very Successful and Proven Systems

Financing Options

 
Around Town Community Magazine Franchise
The HomeMag Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees No/No-/-
Start-up Costs No/No-/-
Equipment No/No-/-
Inventory No/No-/-
Receivables No/No-/-
Payroll No/No-/-

Training & Support

 
Around Town Community Magazine Franchise
The HomeMag Franchise
Training -No publishing experience is required; we train your entire team at our Franchise Support Center and in your Protected Market. We even help you hire your personnel and find the right office space.
Support Meetings, Internet, Field operations/evaluationsVendors are in Place � your Printers are pre-negotiated with nationally managed pricing and Quality Control. The US Postal Service is ready with your National Account status and pre-arranged postal discounts. All other Vendors including Call-Tracking, CRM/SFA system, Residential List, and a few others are in place, pre-negotiated, and waiting for you. We're involved with you from day one throughout the life of your magazine. From the initial training to your first issue and throughout every magazine thereafter, we'll be involved along the way. Our industry leading support team works with you to ensure that every Ad is created to generate leads � every Issue. Our job is to Support your efforts, and that includes keeping you on task toward producing the biggest and best magazine possible month after month. We develop marketing collateral, your web presence, digital magazines, new-hire and personnel management techniques, and we also work and refine your mailing lists, your call-tracking system, and provide regularly scheduled email campaigns on your behalf � to name a few.
Marketing --
Operations Franchise can be run from home.

100% of all franchisees own more than one unit

Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 2

Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

-

Expansion Plans

 
Around Town Community Magazine Franchise
The HomeMag Franchise
US Expansion Yes-
Canada Expansion No-
International Expansion No-

Company Overviews

About Around Town Community Magazine

Around Town Community Magazine, Inc. ("Around Town") began franchise operations in September 2002 in Woodstock, Georgia. Around Town franchises niche community magazines, each has a goal of "strengthening communities."Around Town was founded by Gina Carr and Don Kyle. Gina has a BA from Georgia Tech in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from Harvard. Don has a BS in Accounting from Florida State University and also is a CPA. Together they started The TowneLaker magazine in June 1996 and Sixes Living magazine in June 2000. After many years of practice, they decided to franchise the niche community magazine concept through Around Town Community Magazine, Inc.

About The HomeMag

The Magazine is the FranchiseTheHomeMag is your leading local home improvement direct mail Magazine. The Magazine is the Franchise, and its success is directly connected to each Publisher - our franchisee. Our franchisees publish their local edition of TheHomeMag by leading their team of sales consultants and office staff toward the best publication each month. TheHomeMag is the leading advertising vehicle for home improvement professionals available and under your direction, guidance and effort, is the ideal business opportunity. Our Product is AdvertisingTheHomeMag is comprised entirely of advertisements with absolutely no articles, editorials or advertorials. We create our advertising through a unique process designed to specifically generate consistent home improvement leads for our clients. By combining a great looking magazine with local home improvement businesses, the homeowner receives a consistent and reliable resource for updating and improving their home without ever lifting a finger - with the exception of dialing a phone number.
Why TheHomeMag? * Innovative & Proprietary Lead Generating, Call-to-Action Ad Design Process. * Home Improvement is currently a $300B/year industry, projected to reach $380B/yr by 2013. * Protected full-market territories with only 72 very viable markets remaining (09/09). * Unique and one-of-a-kind Support system. We are your back-office. * Price of a Sandwich shop, but with the Revenue of a 5-star Restaurant. * 5-Day work week: you can Work to Live well, not Live to Work more. * Minimum overhead while your Operating Capital remains yours. * Proprietary Call-Tracking System means you and your clients measure real advertising results. Who Are We Looking For? We are seeking Intrapreneurs: those that thrive in an existing system yet are still driven by an entrepreneurial spirit. Do you have that ambition to launch a new venture in your local market? Are you a visionary that sees potential when others see risk? Are you ready to drive a system designed for success? If this speaks to you, then we encourage you to explore a little further into TheHomeMag, the nation's leading home improvement publication.
 
The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Standard Market TheHomeMag franchise is $250,000. This includes $61,485 that must be paid to the franchisor. The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Hometown Market TheHomeMag franchise is $175,000. This includes $31,485 that must be paid to the franchisor. The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Double Market TheHomeMag franchise is $350,000. This includes $101,485 that must be paid to the franchisor.