Is Entrepreneurship Contagious?

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A recent survey by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation finds that exposing individuals to entrepreneurs may encourage them to start their own ventures.

The Kauffman study surveyed 2,000 Americans, asking them if they knew entrepreneurs – both in general and specifically “growth” entrepreneurs whose ventures add more employment and wealth to the economy – and if they themselves were entrepreneurs.  The data was then analyzed by age, gender, geographic region and income level.

Overall, 36.7% of respondents reported knowing an entrepreneur, but only 15.4% knew a growth entrepreneur. These differences were more dramatic when evaluated by gender: 24.8% of men claimed to know a growth entrepreneur, compared with 12.1% of women.

The results indicate a significant association between knowing an entrepreneur and being one: 37.8% of respondents who knew a growth entrepreneur were entrepreneurs themselves, as were 35.5% of respondents who knew entrepreneurs overall.

So what does an entrepreneur look like?  The Kauffman Foundation developed the infographic below on the Anatomy of an Entrepreneur:

To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path.  The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

 

How Vets Can Finance Franchises through Crowdfunding

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Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it did take a heck of a lot of people to do it.

For military veterans looking to franchise, there are significant franchise-fee discounts and other reduced costs to encourage them to become a franchisee.

But what about raising the rest of the capital needed?

In recent years, crowdfunding – gaining the capital needed to start a business from a large group of people – has become increasingly popular, and should be considered by vets looking to become franchisees.

Donor-based crowdfunding driven by good will, communal interest

For starters, donor-based crowdfunding is perhaps the most convenient for new business owners. It involves financial backers donating money to help get a new business off the ground, who often donate because they want to be part of a new and exciting idea or they believe in the product or service.

In addition, sometimes a business will offer crowdfunders products, services, or other perks in exchange for their donation.

Investor-based crowdfunding gives donors piece of the business

This type of franchising is more capitalist-rooted in nature, where investors will buy into a business to seek a share of returns and equity.

In both cases, the long-term benefits for vets becoming new franchisees are created from the communal buzz of the crowd-sourced marketing.

Crowdfunding grows buzz, facilitates community engagement

One of the major advantages of crowdfunding is the initial marketing it gives to the new franchise. From the buzz surrounding the crowdfunding campaign and engagement on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media, the community gets involved in the discussion around the new franchise.

And, if the crowdfunding campaign is a major success, it gives a huge indication to the franchisee that the franchise will be success right off the start, too.

To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path. The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

How to Tell If You Would Make a Good Entrepreneur

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Anyone with sufficient financial resources can own a company, but do you have what it takes to run one successfully?  Here are three ways to tell if entrepreneurship is the right fit for you:

Are you good at business?  Jobs are specialized, but business ownership is generalized.  Do you have the necessary business savvy to oversee all aspects of running a business?  It takes both vision and knowledge to be a successful business owner, with a skill set that enables you to create customers for your business and the financial knowhow to keep the business running smoothly.

Can you sell right now?  If all you have right now is an idea with no idea of who your customers will be or how they will receive your idea, then you can’t build a successful business.  If you want to consult, do you have a list of good prospects that you can turn into a business?  Are you in the right geographical location for your business to succeed?  Knowledge of your local economy will tell you if there is enough demand and growth potential for your business to get off the ground and keep going.

Are the numbers viable?  There are times in business when you need to trust your gut, but when you are first starting out, you need to trust the numbers.  Before you jump at an opportunity, run the numbers that will run your business.  If you need help, get a guide or a mentor to help you.

We have a free monthly online seminar that can help you learn to prepare yourself for entrepreneurship.  To attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path, you just need to click on the link to pre-register or call 866-246-2884.

 

5 Reasons Vets Should Invest in Emerging Franchises

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It’s easy to invest in a big-name franchise brand, but it takes real gusto to spot an emerging brand and invest while the iron is hot.

More risk, yes, but also the potential for more reward.


And who’s more capable of handling this risk – and more deserving of reward – than veterans of our country’s military?

After all, veterans thrive in franchising because they are highly adept in leadership situations, able to follow processes, manage teams effectively, and react under pressure to find solutions.

Here are 5 Reasons Vets Should Invest in Emerging Franchises:

1. Vets Make Key Difference Early On. It’s no secret that vets are highly sought after by franchises to become franchisees, because of their natural and military-honed abilities to succeed in this business model. For new franchises, vets are even more important to getting the first few franchises running effectively, and advising the franchisor on how to improve processes and manage growth.

2. Taking Advantage of Potential Growth. Seeing opportunity before everyone else does and jumping on it could mean significantly more success when growth begins to happen.

3. Expansion Opportunity. Once a franchise begins to take off, you could cash in on expansion opportunities in your area through multiple franchise units as success grows.

4. Excitement. Sure, owning an established franchise can be highly rewarding and fulfilling. But investing in a new franchise in the early going – just before things begin to take off – could bring a new level of excitement, purpose, and challenge as you embark on your new mission in civilian life.

5. Helping Teams Thrive. When investing in an emerging franchise, the organization will feel like a tight-knit group – similar to the relationship with your comrades in the military. Each of you will work closely together as you strive to achieve a common goal: success for each franchise and the brand as a whole.


To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path. The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

Lessons on Entrepreneurship from Diana Nyad

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Yesterday, Diana Nyad completed the 110-mile swim from Cuba to Key West, her 5th attempt at completing the feat.  At age 64, Nyad fulfilled her lifetime dream of being the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.  She first set her goal to make the swim in 1978, accomplishing it 35 years later.

Nyad said this time she found a mantra that helped her make the grueling journey in just short of 53 hours:  Find a way.  When she reached the beaches of Key West, she told the crowd assembled to watch her come ashore that she had three things to tell them:

1.  Never ever give up.

2.  You’re never too old to chase your dream.

3.  It may look like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.

Nyad’s dogged perseverance in the face of four failures is a lesson to all would-be entrepreneurs that sometimes it takes failure to succeed, that age is no barrier to success and that getting help along the way can help you achieve your dreams. 

To get the help you need to realize your entrepreneurial dreams, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path.  The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

 

5 Sales Secrets to Help Boost Franchise Profits

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Having trouble converting customers to buyers, or worried you may in the future?

Having a large number of customers and leads for a franchise is always the first goal, but all of this marketing success doesn’t matter unless you can convert on sales.

After all, how do you expect to make money?

For service- and product-based franchises, converting leads into one-time or long-term clients or customers is difficult – and hard selling and poor service isn’t a good place to start.

Here are 5 Sales Secrets to Help Boost Franchise Profits:

1. Promote One Thing at a Time. While your franchisor’s processes and main promotions will always take precedence, you can also put forth your own promotions on occasion depending on the agreement you have with your franchisor.


By implementing promotions, it limits your potential buyers’ thoughts processes to a simple “yes” or “no” – making it easier for you to convert while drawing them in with great pricing.

2. Open With Your Biggest Benefit. What’s your franchise’s unique selling proposition? For a fitness franchise, for example, be sure to succinctly communicate why your franchise is different – and better – than all the other ones you’re competing with. This will help customers make a quick-and-easy decision on whether they’d like to buy, and saves them from having to listen to all your benefits and becoming impatient.

3. Custom-Tailor Your Approach with Potential Customers. No two people are alike, and that’s why it’s hard to simply follow a sales script word for word. Instead, listen to what potential customers need and then customer tailor your messaging to how your franchise’s services or products benefit the customer.

4. Provide Clear and Concise Information. Nothing’s worse for potential customers than hearing “high quality” and “best” and “top-of-the-line,” over and over again. Instead, provide specifics on why your franchise’s products and services are superior.

5. Make Buying an Emotional Decision. The easiest sales are forged on emotions – how much a person likes their salesperson and imagining what buying a service or product feels like. While your franchisor should have significant investments made in this, be sure to train your staff about building relationships with your customers and being likeable at all times.

To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path. The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

Latinos and Seniors Lead in U.S. Entrepreneurship

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According to the recent Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the Latino share of all new entrepreneurs rose from 10.5 percent in 1996 to 19.5 percent in 2012 and entrepreneurship for Americans over the age of 55 grew from 14.3% in 1996 to 23.4% in 2012.

Highlights from the report are displayed in the infographic below, which shows that even though entrepreneurial activity declined slightly in 2012 – due in large part to a recovering job market – there are still more than 500,000 Americans starting a new business every month.

To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path.  The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

Looking to Retain Customers? Invest in Superior Customer Service

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Here’s an oxymoron for you: customer service.

It shouldn’t be that way. Customer service should never be an add-on or afterthought to take care of customers who need more than a sheet of paper printed in several languages. It should be a key part of your business and emphasized as a responsibility to your customers.

Hire Professionals to Deliver Customer Services

There are two huge mistakes businesses often do in a half-hearted attempt to provide customer service:

  1. Dump it on newer, younger, or inexperienced staff.
  2. Wing it and provide as needed.

The truth is, many employees and businesses just don’t like the idea of customer service. This is a huge mistake. Customer service isn’t something to be avoided but rather recognized as part of doing business. Employers who treat customer service like dirty laundry or make it the least desirable position are hurting themselves because today’s consumers have a lot of choices about where to spend their money. One bad experience will drive them away.

“But all my staff are trained to provide customer service,” you may insist. Fine, but do you really want employees working on production or shipping deadlines to drop everything when there’s a consumer problem? Or do you want a professional to take charge and make your business a pleasure to deal with? Once it’s more than a few emails or phone calls a day, it’s time to hire dedicated staff, notes Alley Watch, a news service for New York-area entrepreneurs.

Get a Customer Service Solution That Works for Your Customers

The solution, many experts say, is to hire dedicated customer service staff. They can devise solutions that work for your specific customers. For example, modern consumers value their time, so customer service delivered online through chats are valuable and particularly appealing to Millennials, suggests Forbes. Or outsource to professional customer service providers. Today’s contact centers, which provide these services, “are righting mistakes of the past,” says Entrepreneur, which notes that they offer several ways customers can reach them, including:

  • Website chat agents.
  • Interactive voice response (IVR) phone lines.
  • Automated callbacks.
  • Sophisticated call routing that ensures timely responses to callers.
  • Email management.

Analyze your customer service requests so far. Did they call, text, email or contact you on Facebook? Good providers will create solutions that focus resources where they are needed most and have agents who can work on multiple platforms, including mobile.

There’s a ROI in Customer Service

Investing in customer service will bring an ROI (return on investment) in several ways. For starters, good customer service is strongly associated with customer loyalty, according to a report conducted for Oracle that looked at 273 U.S. and British companies with various levels of customer service expertise. U.S. firms with experienced customer service enjoyed:

  • A 16 percent competitive advantage.
  • An 18-point loyalty advantage.
  • Up to 10 percent more chances to earn customer recommendations.
  • Less “churn” (abandoning the business for a competitor).

U.S. companies can earn back “hundreds of millions of dollars” with modest investments into customer service, according to the report. Retailers were the second largest beneficiaries of good customer service, just behind fast-food chains in terms of additional purchasing, lower churn, and new business from customer recommendations.

Entrepreneur recommends that in addition to ROI, business owners should do a risk benefit analysis when considering a professional solution for customer service. For example, do you know if late or poor customer service cost you a sale or return customer? Are all your staff good at providing customer service or do they do it because they’re told to? (Sometimes, we should just let accountants do accounting).

And finally, are staff stressed out by the demands of customer service, particularly during busy seasons? Stressed staff do not make good customer-facing decisions.

How to Tell If You Have a Great Startup Idea

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Do you think you have a killer idea for a business startup?  Before you invest in your idea, you might want to peruse the checklist below to see if your idea will pass muster with the marketplace:

You don’t need a great idea to start a new business.  Franchising can be a great way to channel your entrepreneurial spirit into a tried-and-true business model that can support you and your family for years to come.

To learn more about investing in a franchise, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path.  The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.

HR Bootcamp: Top HR and Payroll Tips for Franchising Vets

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Amidst all the details of seeking out and purchasing a franchise, some new military veterans becoming franchisees can forget the importance of Human Resources and their payroll.

Once you think about how important your staff is to the success of your business, though, it’s hard to forget.

Hiring the right people is integral

For starters, you need the right pieces in place to creative maximum efficiency. One small mistake every day can have a large impact on the success of the unit, so it’s crucial to hire the right people for your franchise from Day 1.

As a military veteran, look for the same traits in others that you’ll be managing your franchise with: leadership, respect, and the ability to follow processes. You can also use your excellent leadership skills to train your staff to work as efficiently as possible.

Make sure you appreciate your employees

Saying thank you can go a long way to boosting your bottom line. By showing your franchise you care, it will in turn want to work harder, stay longer, and even go the extra mile when serving customers or clients.

You can also perform regular performance evaluations to give your employees positive and constructive feedback, and reward them for making improvements along the way.

Be sure to outsource your payroll

In the military, multitasking under pressure was a regular occurrence and it’s no different in franchising. However, for some things, such as payroll, it’s better to outsource it so that you free up time to focus on what you do best: leading your business.

Besides this, there are also tight payroll regulations that need to be adhered to, so make sure you take care of your employees and franchise by hiring an experienced professional for this.

Build and grow relationships with franchisor staff

As part of your franchising agreement, you’ll be entitled to a number of services from your franchisor, including legal resources, HR management, and accounting managers.

Don’t wait until a crisis to build a rapport – touch base as soon as possible, and work towards building a supportive relationship so that you can benefit as much as possible when you really need it.

As a military veteran, you command the respect of a nation – but you’ll also command the respect of your staff through mutual respect and understanding.

And your increased business will thank you for it.


To learn more about entrepreneurship through franchising, attend our free monthly webinar, Franchise Ownership as a More Stable Career Path. The webinar is free, but you need to pre-register, which you can do online by clicking on the linked seminar title.

You may also register by calling 866-246-2884.