Tag Archives: advice

September 4, 2019 · 9:47 am

For Yourself, Not By Yourself

I left corporate America at the end of 2007. In the dozen years since I’ve worked for myself. Oh sure, I have always considered the clients for whom I consulted to be my bosses, but at the end of the day, I was on my own.

If any of you have been, or are, in a similar circumstance, you know that it’s both a liberating and terrifying feeling. There is the freedom to spend a beautiful day at the beach or on a golf course instead of working. After all, you’re the boss. Along with that freedom, at least for me, there was always guilt that I had taken the day to play or run errands rather than grinding it out as I had done for the 30+ prior years of my business life. I guess the Protestant work ethic applies even to Jews…

While I’m still working for myself, the last year I’ve not been BY myself. As a franchise consultant, I’m a part of a much broader network of several hundred other coaches. We share information, I have access to ongoing education about franchises and how to do my job more effectively, there is someone doing collections for me, and the network actually even finds leads for me if I want. I’m in business for myself but not by myself, as is the case with any franchise.

Candidates (people considering investing in a franchise) sometimes ask why they should go with a franchise instead of using their capital to start up their own business. The statistics answer that question for me. 90% of new businesses fail in anywhere from the first five years to as little as the first four months. 90% of franchises are still in business after five years. There is a reason for that, which is that you’re investing in a proven concept. The mistakes have been made, the operation has been refined, marketing plans have been tweaked, and all of that is being handed to you as part of your investment along with training that can last from a few days to weeks, with ongoing mentoring and education for much longer. Pretty spiffy, and a route I wish I had taken a dozen years ago instead of trying to figure it all out on my own.

So what can go wrong with a franchise? I think the two biggest sources of problems are when franchisees don’t follow the model or when they are undercapitalized. In the first case, ignoring the model is basically throwing away what you paid for and diminishing your success rate quite a bit. In the second case, ANY business will fail if it’s undercapitalized no matter how well-run it is. Counting on immediate cash flow to support the operation (or your ability to eat!) is short-sighted. That’s why franchising makes even more sense since there is a track record of what capital is needed to get the business up and running for the first few months. It’s actually so clear that the franchises put those costs in their Franchise Disclosure Document (item 7) and those are numbers I have and discuss with folks as they are looking at investing.

Being in business for yourself is great. It’s even better when you’re not by yourself. I can show you how to make that happen for you. Just click here and let’s get started.

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August 5, 2019 · 8:24 am

When I’m…

Most of the time, this blog is about you, or at least about something that I think could be helpful to you. Today, if you’ll indulge me since it’s my birthday, it’s mostly about me, although maybe there’s something you could take away as well.

When I was 12, The Beatles put out the Sgt. Pepper album. It had a little ditty called “When I’m 64” on it. While to most of us the song was brand-new, it turns out it was one of the first songs Paul ever wrote and was in The Beatles performance repertoire quite early on (they played it when their amps went out). It seemed kind of hokey to 12-year-old me and the lyrics about being old and losing my hair seemed very far off.

Well, that was in 1967, and if you can do the math, it’s 52 years later. So let’s see – I was 12 and if add 52 that’s OMFG – I’m 64! Well, happy frickin’ birthday, old man. Yep, the future is now. My hair is mostly gone too. I don’t, however, ask myself if I’m still needed (nor do I have Vera, Chuck or Dave as grandchildren). I also realize the song is about getting old together and is sung by a young person. 64, by the way, is still pretty young. That said, may I impart a little wisdom from this almost-aged one?

I try to live in the moment. I’ve made an effort to stop looking back and wanting things to have been different and I try not to look too far forward because things happen each day that affect what the future might hold. That’s not as easy as it sounds, at least not for me. When I do look back, I try not to think of things I would do differently as mistakes but as lessons. I’ve always been a pretty good student and have never had to repeat a class so learning those lessons thoroughly prevents the outcomes I might change from happening again.

Like most of us, I’ve experienced unbelievable joy and unbearable sadness. The trick isn’t, as some folks say, not to get too caught up in either. I think experiencing them fully is the best (and worst) part of being human. It’s when we stop feeling and are emotionally dead to the world that we have problems. I just try to remember that the highs and lows will pass and while each of those extremes affects us in some way, the changes they bring make each day more interesting than the last.

Mostly, what I’ve learned is exactly that: it’s about constant curiosity and learning. Growth and wisdom come from that learning and we’re all in this together, like it or not. Helping others to grow and to learn, as I set out to do as a teacher 40 years ago and still do now in a different way, assures that the world answers the “will you still need me” question in the affirmative. Does that make sense?

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Filed under Helpful Hints, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud, What's Going On

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July 19, 2019 · 1:07 pm

Foreign Flavors

This Foodie Friday, let’s think about the Black Cheese donut. Yes, there is such a thing although unless you live in Jakarta you’ve probably not sampled one. It’s a donut that’s glazed in chocolate icing and then rolled in parmesan cheese. No, I’m not making this up – you can find them at Dunkin’ outlets in Indonesia.

Then there is the Thai snack food of BBQ-flavored fish. They’re bite-sized – yum! You can buy a creamed corn pie (think apple pie but creamed corn) at KFC outlets in Japan or haggis-flavored potato chips in Scotland. If you want a brief around the world tour of some odd food products that will probably seem strange to those of us with American palates, click here and scroll through 46 of them.

The thing is that they’re not odd, not to the people in the areas where they’re made and distributed. As with most things, if there wasn’t demand the product wouldn’t continue to exist. The fact that they got made in the first place is a tribute to anyone who was involved in the process but for whom the product has no appeal. Ignoring our own prejudices is something that helps us succeed in business. Most of us aren’t the typical consumer of our product and, therefore, must keep an open mind where research or other data tells us that there is a market opportunity.

You might not need to be reminded that not everyone sees the world in the same way. One glance at the evening news or even your own social media stream will confirm that for you. Not everyone will love a Black Cheese donut but apparently, enough people do to justify their continued presence on Dunkin’s shelves. We need to try some flavors that are foreign and, even if we don’t like them, remind ourselves that others do.  Crab flavored Pringles might not be your thing. Maybe you prefer the Iberian ham chips. I had my first ketchup flavored chips when I was in Canada. They seemed like a good idea – ketchup goes on french fries which are potatoes, so… Well, they weren’t, but I don’t think any less of our Canadian brethren for making them popular.

Want to keep your business open? Keep your mind open as well. The flavor might only be foreign to you!

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