If you’re looking to buy an insurance company, you no doubt already know that you have a huge market that demands what you’ll be able to provide. A large percentage of the population buys multiple forms of insurance, which means that no matter what type of company you buy, you will have a large target audience. One of the first and most important decisions you’ll need to make when deciding if buying this type of business is right for you is choosing between an independent business and a franchise.

While all businesses are inherently risky in one way or another, you can offset a lot of the risk by considering buying a business that is set up as a franchise. By now, loyal customers form a foundation for the company, and the brand is already in place. Franchises place a great emphasis on brand recognition. Also, the trial and error phase of the business will be long overdue. Many franchises have a training opportunity for you, so you don’t need to learn the ropes yourself. Once you become a franchise owner, you get a lot of support from the franchise company in general.

On the other hand, you can choose to buy a company that is an independent business. With this decision, you will have more freedom as to where you want to take the business because there will be no franchise regulations. You also won’t have to pay the fees charged by franchise insurance companies. Franchise fees exist to pay for advertising and other elements of a franchise that you can avoid with an independent company. However, remember that your services will be less well known and it may be more difficult to get clients.

No matter which one you choose, any company you find for sale will be backed by the familiar insurance products the company represents. What this means is that you can build the company from the point of purchase instead of starting from scratch. The fact that a lot of the work has already been done for you is a huge advantage of buying an insurance company instead of starting one from scratch. This is the case with any business venture, whose knowledge you can use to make sound business decisions, even if you are not an ambitious entrepreneur.