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Entrepreneurs’ Kids Have More Fun

My oldest boys have their school winter break this week. Many kids are happy to be home but wind up getting shunted into temporary day care arrangements because their parents still have to work.

Grandparents across the nation get called into action to play host to their children’s children.

Day care facilities burgeon with these temporary guests.

Here’s another way that you could keep watch over your children the next time there’s a school break period. Bring them to your business and let them hang out with you there.

I used to have a bicycle retail store in Marietta, Georgia. It was a two story facility and the upstairs was a type of secondary showroom.

Without the slightest hesitation when the various days of breaks and teacher planning days came up, my wife and I brought them to the store.

We set up some of the key toys they liked from home. We set up a Lego table. We set up a TV and played a Disney movie or a Barney movie behind the checkout counter where one of us was permanently stationed. We set up their sleeping bags so they could take a nap in the office.

Upstairs, they would take piles of bicycle tires and arrange them into forts.

When it came time for lunch, we had their food in the refrigerator in the office area and we didn’t even have to travel back to the house.

The bicycle store was a home within a business. It was obvious to all that this was a family business and we weren’t ashamed to have our kids walking around.

They stayed out of the way mainly from the techs repairing bicycles in the workshop and we didn’t let them throw a football in the main showroom. At least not when customers were in the store.

I want to stretch your imagination about owning your own business with these images so you too could easily absorb your own children into your office or work the next time there’s a school break.

Involving your children in your business gives them I believe a great foundation of work ethic. And they see clearly that money comes from exchanges of value with customers, not from trees or plastic cards in their parents’ wallets.

Consider how all members of your family would interface with any business you select. It may not have crossed your mind, but choosing the right business may allow you to have an even bigger impact on your family than just providing an income. School vacations included.

Thank God It’s Monday

If you owned your own business, you’d probably be more excited about Mondays.

Why? An entrepreneur controls his or her own income. Like everyone else, he wakes up on Monday morning wanting to make more revenue.

If your income depended on your own enthusiasm and had no practical limit, don’t you think you’d start off the week in a more aggresive, positive and enjoyable mood, at least with regard to your work life?

Here’s some insight into how an entrepreneur creates money for his family.

One of the responsibilities of the business owner is to make sales.

Even if the owner of the business is a technical expert, not fulfilling the sales function in the business, he has an eye on what’s called the sales pipeline.

The pipeline is a virtual queue of potential sales. Conversations that have been started in the days or weeks prior are often recorded in a software called a CRM or customer relationship manager program.

When a business owner wakes up on Monday, he often looks at the sales pipeline recorded in the CRM first.

He will consider a plan to somehow bring those potential deals which have been started to a close in the coming week.

Some sales may be closed by finishing a custom product for a customer, or taking delivery of a product that was special-ordered the previous week.

By using a CRM to log deals that have been started but not completed, the entrepreneur is not making a 100% fresh start every Monday.

He’s not looking out his store window wondering how many sales he’ll make this week, he’s already got some almost completed. He just needs to get those over the finish line.

So it’s like getting a running start.

After carefully considering how to take care of sales already in the pipeline, the entrepreneur moves onward to making fresh new conversations that will ultimately result in sales.

That’s called Marketing. The entrepreneur will review the coming week’s planned advertisements, in-store promotions, and perhaps set up a small bonus opportunity for the sales staff to hit targets or sell featured products. He’ll consider the budget to make those things happen.

The entrepreneur then firms up the key marketing goals and executes the plan.

Are you starting to see how an entrepreneur can be excited about Mondays?

He’s got his future in the palm of his hand. He knows exactly what he needs to do to make money hit his bank account. It’s just a matter of making it happen.

My bet is that if your income was variable but depended on you to do the simple things outlined above that you’d be excited about Monday’s too.

I know I’m a true entrepreneur when I say…

Thank God It’s Monday!

What do squirrels and entrepreneurs have in common?

Ah, the lowly squirrel. I’ve observed traits that both squirrels and business owners share.  Some of these traits are useful and some are dangerous.

Which of these behaviors do you embody in your business? If you don’t own your own business, how many of these do you see in the businesses that you encounter in your travels?

The Darter

The first impression I get when someone mentions squirrels is represented by The Darter.

Squirrels often start out going in one direction then quickly change direction. Typically this is seen when a squirrel tries to cross the road. Often it gets two thirds of the way across, stops, changes direction then… well, you know the rest of that story.

The Darter in business starts each day in his store or office with a plan to do a certain task that needs to get done, over and above interacting with the regualar stream of clients. The day’s Big Goal may be to take inventory or to calculate and remit sales tax collected in the previous month to the local tax authority.

Once arriving at the business, Big Goal clearly in mind, reality and indecision strike quickly.

It’s 30 minutes before opening but The Darter answers the business telephone anyway. Business always can use one more customer, so why not seize that opportunity, right?

Here’s where The Darter goes off course. He stops working on his Big Goal and gets involved in a 20 minute conversation with the person that called. The only problem is that the caller was someone trying to sell him something, not an actual customer, so the time is unproductive. He’s just stopped for 20 minutes in the middle of the road.

These type of interruptions occur at the The Darter’s business 50 times each day. At the end of the day, he’s exhausted and has had several near misses.

The truck that can hit him wasn’t the variety of customers that interrupted him. It’s the penalty fine that the taxing authority now levies on The Darter because he failed to remit the sales tax due on time.

The Speedster

I’ve never seen a squirrel walking. They’re either stopped or going full speed ahead.

In business The Speedster likes to travel at high speeds towards a goal as well. In many cases this is a good squirrel-like quality for an entrepreneur to emulate. As long as quality isn’t sacrificed, having a short turn-around time for delivering a product or service can be a competitive advantage. It worked to raise Dominoes Pizza to the top of the low-price pizza chain market. Anybody remember their “Delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s free” campaign?

10-Minute Oil Changes, Same-Day Dry Cleaning, and drive-through restaurants are all examples of businesses where The Speedster makes money by delivering service rapidly.

It’s good to be The Speedster in business.

The Nester

Have you ever seen a squirrel’s nest? Most people haven’t, but if one ever gets in your attic in the winter, you’ll definitely have a big mess to clean up.

The Nester in business has made his business his home. And it shows.

Clients or customers walk in and they see a myriad of personal items interspersed throughout the office landscape.

Up by the cash register is the remnants of a take-out lunch.

The Nester likes to store paper in stacks. There are so many stacks of paper that there’s really not a clear space on the desk big enough to place an additional 8.5″ x 11″ standard page. To make room, The Nester will make a big sweeping motion across his desk with his arm, pushing scads of paper out of the way just to make room for the focus of the moment.

On and around The Nester’s desk there are several partially empty styrofoam coffee cups and what look to be dried coffee spills.

The Nester is oblivious to the fact that customers don’t want to see such personal items. In my opinion, as a customer it feels like you’re invading The Nester’s personal space. It’s not comfortable for the customer.

Don’t be The Nester in your business.

The Hoarder

Save nuts for the Winter. The lowly squirrel gives us one of the best qualities for an entrepreneur to emulate.

Squirrels know that during Winter, food is hard to find. They accumulate enough squirrel food to make it through until warmer weather.

The Hoarder in business is the business operator that knows that Winter comes every year and saves enough cash to get his business through to the next busy season.

In Business, most businesses have a winter. Winter can come at different times of the year for different businesses, and even the same business operated in a different place can experience winter in a completely different calendar month.

My personal experience years ago was running bicycle retail stores. We had locations in the Atlanta, Georgia area and in South Florida.

Winter in Atlanta can be cold, not the type of weather that most people would like to ride a bicycle in. So from January through February was the time to do building maintenance or take a vacation.

Meanwhile, in South Florida, January through February means… you guessed it, tourist season! This isn’t “winter” at all when compared to Atlanta. Winter in South Florida was actually August and September. All the tourist population had left until next January and February. August temperatures and humidity levels are high, and the kids go back to school in September
which together make a bicycle store a fairly quiet place to be in South Florida.

The Hoarder in business understands when winter comes in his business. He understands that it comes every year. The Hoarder plans his expenditures according to the seasonality of his business and makes sure to put enough cash away to get through to the next active season.

There’s nothing quite like having $25,000 in fixed monthly expenses and only seeing $10,000 in sales walk in the door that month to make one question his decision to open a business.

Be The Hoarder in business and leave enough cash in your business to get through seasonal curves and come out healthy and ready when Spring arrives.

There are many things we can learn from nature and use in business. Even the lowly squirrel we can learn from.

The difference between humans and squirrels is that humans have the capability to modify their behavior.

Let’s appreciate the lessons we can learn from nature and put the positive behaviors to work and avoid the negative behaviors and your business will likely be even more successful.

Can you design and open a business in 72 hours?

The people at www.StartupBus.com think you can.

Actually they think many people can. And since it’s already been done before, the fact is, you can build and launch a business in less than 72 hours!

In what seems to be the most awesome promotional event for a trade show that I’ve ever encountered, StartupBus is arranging for buses full of entrepreneurs leaving from multiple cities across the United States, headed for the SxSW trade show in Austin, Texas with a single challenge.

In coordination with the other people on the bus, come up with an idea for a new business, write the code and have the business open for trade by the time the bus arrives at the trade show… in 72 hours.

For guys like me that thrive on innovation this seems like a dream come true type of opportunity.

Deadlines are wonderful things.

Humans have an amazing capability to rise to a challenge. To work as teams when necessary. To focus and get a job done.

Observe any community that has been threatened by an oncoming flood. The people in the individual communities come together and pack sandbags, all night long, no mention of compensation whatsoever, and they just do it because they understand the power of the team and they have a white-hot desire to succeed.

Disregard what you see on reality television. Those programs not only focus on the negative, the opportunities for negative events to arise are often written into the script.

In reality, when the chips are down, people can come together and accomplish a worthy goal.

Do you think you have what it takes to get a business together in 72 hours with total strangers on a bus?

So if these guys can get a business up and running in 72 hours, the real question is, what’s taking you so long to get your business idea off the ground?

So you’re thinking of opening your own business, are you?

You probably lay awake at night contemplating how you’re going to tell your boss that you quit.

Visions of independence dance through your head.

You’re going to be an entrepreneur.

A solo gunslinger.

Master of your own domain.

Actually, you may be wrong if those are in fact your thoughts.

A business is a family affair and a community project all rolled up into one.

Michael Gerber outlined in his book series “The E-Myth” that most businesses are started after what he called an “entrepreneurial spasm.”

That’s when a technician, someone who is good at a specialized skill, suddenly takes the leap of faith and decides to open his or her own business.

The “E-Myth” as Gerber describes is when the technician fails to recognize the many varied tasks it takes to open, operate and grow the business. The technician soon recognizes that his or her expertise is not all that is necessary to operate a fully functioning business.

In many businesses there’s the accounting, the selling, the marketing, the purchasing of core products, perhaps assembly, design, hiring and training positions that need to be filled. There may be lawyers required to create contracts, to review leases prior to signing and maybe even collect from a non-paying customer or defend the business from a legal attack.

Those skills and more need to exist within virtually every business at some point.

Who do you have on your team?

Ah, back we go to those visions of yours. I’m betting when you were thinking about your being the top honcho that you didn’t envision your attorney, your accountant or your sales staff, did you?

Let’s take the view of this thought process up another 10,000 feet, shall we?

You’re going to take your business into a community of some sort.

Have you taken the time to get to know the people in the community? Do you know the economics of the area? Who are the major employers? Do people commute into or out of your targeted community during your intended business hours? You’re going to seek customers from that community so you need to understand their habits, their values and their needs.

You’re going to become kin with the other business owners in that community.

Have you taken the time to interview other business owners in the community? They could help you or help sink you. Some of your best customers can come from referrals from the existing business owners of the community. They can advise you of things they’d do differently if they could start anew.

You’ll be subject to the laws and policies of that community.

Have you taken the time to learn the local laws and policies? How about the governing local politicians? They can give some great advice. Take the advice early in your endeavor and it could save you a lot of money. Take the time to reach out and learn the local laws and the local lawmakers.

By now you should be getting the idea that you’re not really going to be alone as an entrepreneur. Heck, you may be even more dependent on others as an entrepreneur than as an employee in someone else’s business.

There’s another type of team that is optional. That is a community of your business peers.

What’s that you say? You don’t intend to build a community of your business peers? You intend to smash them all to smithereens with your superior products and service, right?

This last community can be a real benefit to you if you open your mind up to the idea. Through a trade association you could garner tips and tricks about operating exactly your envisioned type of business and have access to others that are in your line of work. Often the association members are more than willing to give you insight they’ve acquired by learning things the hard way. These fellow entrepreneurs may be direct competitors or they may be in other markets. Either way you may find assistance from them if you choose to become a member of their community.

Another variation of this business-peer community is a franchise organization. Along with the benefits of the name and system, by being accepted as a franchisee you’re automatically inserted into a group of peers that are very interested in helping you succeed.

Still think you’re going to be a “sole-proprietor?”

A business is a part of many communities or villages. That’s what I mean when I state that it takes a village to raise a business.

After reading this article, your next dream about being an entrepreneur may include a whole lot more people in it, wouldn’t you think?

FranchiseOpportunities.com has received notice from Lil’ Angels Photography (Lil’ Angels, LLC) a franchise organization which outlines a new photography format newly available to Lil’ Angels customers.

The new format is being introduced as Kids E-Motion.

Kids E-Motion photography combines professional high-key lighting with action photography in a temporary studio setting often set up for a day at a child-care center.

The subject child is photographed using an active prop, like a boy shooting a basketball or a girl watering a flower garden with a sprinkling can.

In Kids E-Motion, special photography equipment is utilized that allows rapid shot taking which captures many photos for the parent to select from.

Lil’ Angels Photography is already known for their signature item called Fashion for Kids that uses fashion outfits such as a cowboy vest, racing jacket, or glamor-related outfits for girls.

Mike Sondag, General Manager at Lil’ Angels Photography states “Kids E-Motion is another innovative product that makes us different. We do professional quality portraits at school picture prices.”

Lil’ Angels Photography is a home based franchise offered as a franchise. The studio is set up and Kids E-Motion photographs are taken at business locations such as day care centers. Lil’ Angels Photography franchisees manage their businesses from their home offices.

“We have over 75 franchise locations, each independently owned and operated. We already offer Kids E-Motion in most states in the U.S. but we have markets nationwide where we have openings for new franchises as well.

“Other photography franchises require a retail studio and that costs a lot more to operate.

“The Lil Angels Photography franchise system is designed to be very efficient to start, own and operate. Lil Angels Photography franchises are clearly focused on being the best child photography franchise” says Jim Palmer, Chief Manager of Lil’ Angels, LLC and the developer of the new Kids E-Motion Photography program.

“The great thing about this children’s franchise is that no photography experience is necessary, We teach you everything you need to know to be in business today” adds Palmer.

For more information about the Lil’ Angels Photography program visit FranchiseOpportunities.com.

Franchise companies will lead America out of the slow economy.

Why franchise companies?

There are several reasons innate to franchise organizations.

Companies that expand their businesses by franchising (otherwise known as the franchisor) get the capital to open a new unit or location from the franchisee, not their own pocketbook, so they can grow as fast as franchisees line up and bring their investments.

Franchisors espouse aggressive growth. They’re always looking to improve same-store sales or find new franchisees to open units in all the corners of the globe. They’re never satisfied with the status quo.

Even though we’re living through a down cycle in the world economy, franchisors remain infatuated with plans to expand their concept globally.

Here are a few specific actions that franchisors execute to keep the pedal to the metal during bad and good economies:

- Opening smaller locations that cost less to open and serve smaller markets;
- Selling company owned stores to franchisees at reduced rates while offering financing;
- Innovating new products;
- Identifying new sources of franchise financing;
- Reducing costs of materials or services that make up the end product.

In each of these ways, franchise organizations continue to operate in the proverbial “two minute offense” mode.

Franchise companies are the team you want to bet on to bring the small business sector back from the doldrums and on into the future.

If you latch yourself onto their train you could potentially wind up in a better place financially than if you opened an independently owned, non-franchised business.

This morning we received word that a gentleman in Michigan purchased a Floor Covering International franchise after viewing our site.

We receive word like this on a regular basis and it satisfies us greatly to know that FranchiseOpportunities.com was a part of this life changing, life improving event.

We’ll call this fellow Peter for the purposes of this discussion.

Peter is just like you. He visited our site and made inquiry using our forms to franchise companies.

Initially, Peter inquired about a different type of franchise than the one that he ended up buying. His investigation process led to conversations with various franchise organizations over time.

Ultimately, he chose Floor Covering International.

Allow me to illustrate for you the significant changes that will take place in the Michigan neighborhood where Peter lives and will be opening up his store.

First we’ll look at the changes initially in Peter’s household.

Peter will be going to school at the franchise headquarters. I’m going to assume that Peter doesn’t have any knowledge about flooring so at first, he’ll likely be instructed about the myriad products and features that are prevalent in the modern flooring business.

He’ll also be going to school for business operations such as hiring and managing installers, marketing for customers and selecting a retail location.

Once Peter gets his business ducks in a row, he’s got to get down to providing value to his customers in exchange for money.

In this case, Peter will be installing new flooring in various homes and businesses around his Michigan neighborhood.

Envision with me a Michigan household that selects Peter’s Floor Covering International to install new wood flooring in the main floor of their two story home. This home is owned by Bartholomew Higgins, a local dentist and his wife Julianne.

Imagine the pride that Julianne will have when it comes time for the next big family get-together, perhaps this coming Easter.

Bartholomew’s Mom will enter the house and marvel at how warm the house feels with the glistening wood planking. She’ll likely make eye contact with Julianne and communicate her sincere admiration of the selection, perhaps without saying a word.

Peter will enjoy the rewards of both the Higgins’ satisfaction as well as the profit from the sale to the Higgins.

Peter’s family will share in the conversion of those business profits into food on their table and perhaps a lift in the college savings account for Peter’s kids.

They will also share in the pride that their patriarch, Peter, made a decision one day to venture out into the world of entrepreneurship.

They will look back and marvel at the courage that Peter mustered in what was considered to be a down economy, disregarding the naysayers and taking control of his life and putting his future and his family’s future into his own hands.

This is a glimpse into what is going on Peter’s household and neighborhood as a result of Peter’s attitude, conviction and perseverance.

As you read this, you’re in the exact spot that Peter was in October of 2011.

You’re staring at the web site FranchiseOpportunities.com and in front of you perhaps is one single window, one single franchise concept, through which you can, if you squint, catch a glimpse of your own future.

THINGS YOU NEED TO CONSIDER

Before signing a franchise agreement

1. Length of the agreement.

a. What is the duration of the franchise agreement?
b. How many times can it be renewed?
c. Who has the option to renew?

2. Fees and Expenses.

a. What are the levels of the initial fee, continuing payments (including advertising contribution) and any other contribution payable by the franchisee?
b. How are they calculated and how frequently are they paid?

3. Termination by Franchisor.

a. What are the “non-curable” grounds for immediate termination of the agreement?
b. What are the other, “curable” grounds for termination?

4. Termination by Franchisee.

a. Can I terminate the agreement early?
b. Will I owe damages for early termination?

5. Transfer.

a. Do I have the right to sell the business?
b. Does franchisor have right of first refusal?
c. What if I become incapacitated or die? Will the agreement be terminated? Will the franchisor appoint new management? Will my family have the option of continuing in the business or selling the business?

6. Disputes.

a. Do I have a right to a jury trial?
b. Will I have to travel to a distant state?
c. Are there any caps or limits on the type of amount of damages that either side may recover?
d. Is there a prevailing party clause (where the loser pays the winner’s attorney fees)?

Buying a franchise can be an expensive, long term proposition. Before investing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in a franchised business, it is important that you understand your rights and obligations. If you would like legal assistance consider contacting Randy Edwards at Cochran & Edwards, LLC, www.cochranedwardslaw.com or info@cochranedwardslaw.com.

In yet another first for my writing career, I’m interviewing today Bobby Nugget, the official spokesperson for chicken planks (aka chicken strips, chicken nuggets) who is the first and only food product that I’ve ever conducted an interview with. At least that I’ll admit publicly.

Matt: So Bobby, tell me about this new “Top Chicken Plank USA” contest that you’re promoting.

Bobby: Sure, Matt. What we’re doing is having a beauty contest essentially. We’re looking for the best forum for our show and once we find that we’ll announce a date for the contest.

Matt: What makes a good forum for a good-looking, good tasting chicken plank beauty contest?

Bobby: Well, Matt, it starts with the oil. We’re looking for the best oil in use in a fryer system.

Matt: Does the oil really matter?

Bobby: It matters a lot.

There’s a chef in every restaurant. He’s made a choice of what oils to use in the production of the foods he’s (or she’s) going to use when he prepares your meal.

Frying is one area where oil is used until it gives its last dying breath.

It’s heated to hundreds of degrees and food is dropped into it and pulled out of it time and time again until it can’t yield any more positive benefits.

Use the oil too much and the food cooked in it begins to taste like shoes and gets worse with every extra use.

Matt: I think I’ve experienced what you’re referring to, but I didn’t understand why.

Bobby: Right. Here’s where it gets interesting.

Many franchise restaurant systems face a choice with their frying systems that involves tension between quality and price.

The chef wants to provide pristine food product that has you collecting your friends and relatives and bringing them into his restaurant. So he selects a good oil.

If he uses the oil too little, the restaurant has a cost of operation that is right up there with energy costs. If he uses the oil too much, well, you get the idea. My chicken plank buddies won’t jump into just any oil, Matt. Only the best will do.

Matt: So what to do?

Bobby: There are franchise business systems that revolve around this core need. The oil can be cleaned to extend its usable life.

Cleaning fryer oil makes a restaurant’s cash stretch a little further. That means that the patrons of the restaurant can enjoy a renovation a little more often. The chef can perhaps start buying those really billowy pants you see them wearing with interesting prints on them instead of just plain ones.

Matt: I find it fascinating to learn that there are several different franchises that offer services in this area. How do these work?

Bobby: Right. One franchise system offers a guy in a van to show up at your restaurant on a regular basis to clean your frying oil, then put it back in your holding tanks.

Another franchise offers portable oil-filtering units that can be rented by the restaurant on a monthly basis to purify the oil at the intervals that the chef decides.

Matt: In the scheme of things, this is a very “inside baseball” way to make a living.

Cleaning oil.

Bobby: The palates of busy moms with their mini-vans full of children will never appreciate the oil cleaning franchise owner.

But these very same moms reward the owners and operators of restaurants across the nation with their patronage.

Matt: Thanks, Bobby. Good luck with your “Top Chicken Plank USA” contest.

Do you want to do something that will make moms in mini-vans full of children happy? Take a look at franchises that offer unique methods of filtering cooking oil.

Kids everywhere on their way to and from soccer games will appreciate you, if ever so indirectly.