Business investors often look at buying existing businesses to help them step into an existing market, with existing customers, reputation, inventory, and brand image. But the cost of purchasing a business can be costly, and it might take a long time to realize a profit.

A different approach to entering into a niche market is to purchase a franchise, a strategy that allows the business investor to buy into a marketing entity that has already established itself.

Some franchises, such as painting franchises, allow the investor to jump right into a market where the expertise and knowledge of the industry have already been realized, and the business owner doesn't have to waste time, energy, and most importantly money, on marketing ideas that may or may not be effective.

A painting franchise company will have already worked out the "best practices" of the painting industry, allowing the owner to focus on those strategies that have been proven to work. The owner of the painting franchise then ends up spending less time on unnecessary details, because the franchise operating plan has already worked those out.

Whether you decide to start up your own business from scratch, buy an existing business, put your money behind a franchise, be certain to have at least some understanding of the economy and the market of the industry you are pursuing.