For this correspondent, this article represents franchising revisited, having written on the subject five years hence. What has changed since then is that an increasing number of window cleaning companies have been established via the franchise route and a few more players have entered the franchisor arena. While those offering franchises have owned and operated their own window cleaning companies, by and large, the majority of their franchisees had never cleaned windows professionally. Without exception, all wanted to own and grow the business through sales and marketing following a business model that kept squeegees and waterfed poles only in the hands of their employees.

For months it seemed like health care reform was all anyone talked about. It dominated newspaper headlines, political commentary, and C-SPAN. It was the center of everything happening in Washington D.C., and it was the source of some of the most heated debates and violent opposition that our nation had seen in decades. It wasn’t just an issue on the agenda—it was the agenda....

After graduating from high school many years ago, I had no ambition to continue my education because class was boring and I fancied myself as a radio DJ or even a TV news correspondent. However, before beginning to pursue those dreams, I was back in the classroom, this time at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta where I hoped to learn enough to pass the Georgia Bar Exam and become a rich southern lawyer. However, once again, I was bored to death, this time from hearing lectures on bails, bonds, criminal justice and litigation. While becoming a lawyer was not in the cards, I did learn enough to avoid lawsuits by reading the fine print on any document I had to sign as a business manager and later as a business owner. Even so, some contracts I faced, such as those prepared for physician groups, were filled with so much legal mumbo jumbo that my attorney’s eyes were required. None of what you read herein constitutes legal advice, only a bonafide lawyer is empowered to do that, but it’s food for thought because, like it or not, we live in litigious society where lawsuits are brought at the drop of a hat.

Even in this family-oriented industry where agreements are consummated with a handshake, there have been horrifying cases where poor little David was nearly crushed by the giant Goliath with deep pockets. Herein are a few examples....