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RELATED ARTICLES
Message to Prospective Franchisees for Franchisors Many franchise companies fail to send the proper message to their prospective franchisees. This is partly due to the over regulation and intensity of litigation in the industry. Smaller franchisors are generally hurt the most from these factors and consumer or buyers of their American Dream seem to feel slighted at a the impersonal approach. Many franchise company's sales departments walk a fine line between disclosure laws and the information they are allowed to depart to the prospect franchisees. This immediately causes friction. To alleviate this problem smaller franchisees need to send a more personal message in the name of their founder to re-assure prospects that they care. Below is a sample letter our company, The Car Wash Guys, www.carwashguys.com , has used to allow our prospects to see thru the legal quagmire created by the regulatory bureaucracy and the franchise lawyers in their haste to sue franchisors. I recommend you copy this article read the letter a few times and put it into your own words so that you convey how you truly feel, make it sincere and understand that your prospect needs to know they are more than just a number. Realism vs. Optimism in the Business Plan The most important function of a business plan is to create interest among investors so that they write a check. In achieving this goal, business plan writers are often challenged by determining the proper level of optimism in their plan. That is, they must create a compelling story to investors while maintaining credibility. Pre-Money vs. Post-Money Valuation When a company decides that it must raise capital, a key question that must be answered is how much the company is worth. For example, if the business needs $500,000 to get started and/or grow, how much of the equity in that company should $500,000 command? Once this question is answered, the company will go out and try to find investors. When doing so, a key question often arises as to whether the valuation is "pre-money" or "post-money." Starting Your Business: It All Boils Down To Making Money and Saving Money Bootstrapping in the context of business start-ups refers to the use of creative financing approaches such as leveraging personal savings, credit-card debt, loans from friends and family, bartering, and other means to launch a business. Some business founders use bootstrapping because they have no other choice. Just about anyone who has approached a bank has learned that "only established businesses need apply." Bankers typically look for cash flow, assets, an established customer base, and a successful track record on the part of the business that is seeking a start-up loan. Obviously, this is a short list that is impossible to fulfill when you are just getting started. Territory Limitations Policies for Franchised Companies All franchised companies must have Territory Limitations to maintain the peace within their systems. Often the unspoken ethics of territory limitations are blurred with mobile, home based or online franchise companies. Territory limitations in fixed site franchises are fairly cut and dry. There is your store, no other stores will be placed in the surrounding area delineated on this map within your franchise agreement. Generally things run pretty smoothly in this case. However as co-branding methods, partnerships and online sales increase as consumer demand for the brand increases we often see the franchised companies embattled in encroachment lawsuits in an already litigious industry. Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles to Discovering Your Gifts What are the unique gifts that differentiate you from other solo entrepreneurs? The path to discovering your gifts may take a lifetime, but you can use the exploration process to begin to use your gifts NOW! Unfortunately, for many different reasons people get sidetracked or never even get started taking the actions that would help them discover their uniqueness. Here are some suggested strategies to help move forward and stay on the path of discovering your gifts. The Reluctant Entrepreneur It seems odd to think of a person opening a shop, knowing that they're not at all interested in selling or in face-to-face interaction with customers. But that's exactly what many Internet business owners have done. And they've done it well. Coating Service Business Case Study There are many coating businesses in the market today, but have you ever asked yourself how one gets into this line of work? How they are formed or what prompts someone or some entrepreneur to go out and start a business to fill this niche? Well this is an interesting case study that shows how we became interested in this industry from a sub market of the coating business; Spray in Bed Liners. Our company is in the auto detailing business, www.detailguys.com and we often service auto dealerships. Our customers need service for spray in bed liners for the pick-up trucks they sell. So we looked around at all the possible Biz Op companies doing this and the franchises too. The Role of Statistics in Prospect Modeling Identifying prospects has come a long way since the days of simple list buying. With the hype flying fast and furious, sometimes it's difficult to sort out truth from fiction and to put things in the proper perspective. Without worshipping buzzwords, however, two of the most important developments in recent years have been the rise of statistics and databases. These have allowed companies to create more accurate profiles of their prospects, even giving rise to the term "prospect modeling" itself. Let's see how these two developments have helped shape prospect modeling. A Startup Never Closes When it comes to a startup, the luxuries shared with established companies are few and far between. Chief among them is the luxury to close at the end of the day. Big companies have the benefits of capital, customers and receivables. Startups, on the other hand, have jack squat. They need to work twice as hard to make half as much, and even then they're not working nearly enough. Entrepreneurial Emotions or It Seemed Like a Great Idea at the Time It's your first business or the next Great Idea in your ongoing business, online or offline, it doesn't matter. The roller coaster ride is a theme and variations on the same experiences. First the exhilaration -- THIS idea, or THIS business is THE one. It'll put you on the map with lots of money in your bank account. It can't fail. It's just too good. Have you said this? More than once? I have, and several times during my life, with numerous businesses and varying levels of success. The Entrepreneurs Dilemma In business, you plan to protect your inventory, your unique ideas and approach, and your money. It's easy to replenish inventory, come up with new ideas and make more money. What isn't renewable is your time. On that premise, time is your most valuable commodity. Business victory requires an appreciation and respect for your own intrinsic value. A Secret To Extraordinary Accomplishments I sat watching a documentary on U.S. Navy SEAL Team Training on the local exercise channel. It showed young men, mostly in their early 20's, enduring grueling ocean swims in near-freezing water. It showed these same young men forced to swim underwater (holding their breaths) until a major percentage of them passed out and had to be rescued by their instructors. It showed weeks of grueling training in which ordinary men are transformed into incredible machines with wills of steel and unshakable discipline. Starting Your Business By The Book I've gotten several questions recently about the legalities of starting a business. So, this week I thought I would address a few of the more common legal issues most new businesses face. But first, let's get the mandatory legal disclaimer out of the way: the advice dispensed by this columnist is probably no better or worse than the advice dispensed by other columnists. Do not take the following advice as gospel or bet the future of your business on any advice given herein by said columnist. Hearing That Entrepreneurial Voice? Women business owners are our only clients, so naturally we celebrate and support female entrepreneurship. Operating in this market gives us the good fortune to learn about some of the deeper themes in the lives of women business owners. It gives us insights into what really matters to women, and to what contributes not only to their success, but more importantly to their happiness and gratification in their professional lives. Differentiation Strategies for Franchise Companies With the growing number of franchise offerings recently it is difficult for the smallest franchise companies to compete. They generally do not have the advertising budgets to pick and choose which markets the franchise prospects will be calling from. Many rely solely on Internet Marketing; unfortunately 80% of such leads are not so good. On top of this obstacle they must compete with sales departments of larger franchise companies, which have lots of experience. The New Paradigm for Entrepreneurial Success Entrepreneurship is a great magnet to deliver new ideas, unique approaches and innovative technologies. When conducted in a proper way, turning people into entrepreneurs improves a country's economic situation and aids sustainable progress. However, transition to become an entrepreneur is not that aspiring to all. Risks and uncertainties involved in starting a new business coupled with stagnant economy discourage people to step up the plate and take a swing. Entrepreneurship Story; Over Regulation in Franchising Part I Jim and Sally run a successful auto business, which they have built up over two decades and have expanded to three stores and many of their friends keep saying, "You should Franchise." They think about this for about five years read a few books, like "Franchising for Dummies," The "E-Myth", "The Franchising Bible" and many others on the shelves of the new big book store in town with the coffee shop inside. They finally decide that it makes sense especially as they have friends and loyal employees who wish to be associated with them and even own the first franchises. So they set out to franchise. They visit an attorney since that says in all the books to do. Most books about franchising are, at least in part if not whole, written by S2D2s (lawyers: S2P2s; Self-Serving Parasites of Planet) anyway, so they take that advice and visit an attorney. The S2D2 explains the MUD and helps by charging them a good chunk of change; $35,000 to prepare a boilerplate document which is so complicated they could not do it on their own without years of study. They give the S2D2 (scoundrel) the money and they look at the document and start asking questions. They do not ask him about the price gouging laws that their state has after all the flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan, although they feel severally violated in the outrageous costs to prepare the documents. After all there is some new shop equipment they need to test cars to stay in compliance with the latest smog certificates and they are not cheap either. So they ask some typical questions instead of why they had to pay so much. If It Was Easy Everybody Would Do It Q: I started my business about a year ago and everything is going fine. We're growing and making a profit, but the stress of running the business is really starting to get to me. I spend more time worrying than working. Sometimes the pressure is almost more than I can take. I'm starting to think that I'm not cut out to run my own business. Do you have any advice that might help me decide what to do? -- Steven S. Three Cs - What Startups Need to Get a Business Loan, Part 1 You want to get a good, solid overview of what it takes to acquire that business loan you need, especially if you are a startup. The essential element of what the lenders out there require of you can be wrapped up in the acronym, C. C. C. These are...
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