EvenFooting.org was created in an effort to enable individuals to become small business owners as simply as possible. This is Open Source Franchising.

Secondly, the goal was to take the current world of franchising and challenge it in the same way that open source software has challenged proprietary software (e.g. Firefox and Internet Explorer). However, do not misunderstand the term challenge; Franchising can offer great benefits in terms of brand recognition and support systems, and these benefits should not be discarded. The expectation is to challenge the concept that similar companies and institutions need be owned and operated by a pyramid of controlling groups and individuals to provide a benefit to all those included.

Finally, to enable individuals to close the gap that has widened between the rich and the poor¹⁾ by taking the focus off of a single idea, distributed at a cost to others, and distributing it freely with the understanding that each person can benefit the other with their experiences and contributions.

Besides the obvious financial benefits from running a successful business, there are some notable benefits for society as a whole.

The following institutions/persons played a key role in this idea:

• Open Source software - Community contributed and maintained software to benefit everyone without discrimination
• Wikipedia - For familiarizing the concept of community contributed written content
• Creative Commons - For educating and enabling individuals in other copyright options besides “© All Rights Reserved”
• Lawrence Lessig - For his work in Creative Commons and for a speech on free culture that opened my eyes