Things to Watch Out for Being an Entrepreneur

By Linus Felix Awengen 

I mainly grew up in Switzerland in a very nice surrounding. My father was a doctor and my mother was a nurse. When I was two years old, my parents decided to move to Silicon Valley due to some research of my dad. Having settled everything down after a while in Silicon Valley, my dad and a colleague of him came up with a business idea: Inventing a new hearing aid. He started his project with a colleague in a hospital. Consequently they worked for almost two years on this project with investors and having their business idea patented. When I look back at that time I remember barely having seen my dad and if so, he was working on the computer and writing on the business plan. My brother, my mom and I enjoyed an excellent time in California with a lot of going to the beaches. Although I was very young, I consider it one of the best times of my life.
However, there came the time where our green card was no longer valid. After two years of living in Silicon Valley, we had to move back to Switzerland. At that time, I remember not understanding why. Consequently, up to the age of 10 years I only spoke English to my parents and my brother.
What now happened concerning the business idea of producing a new hearing aid is really scandalous. When my father started his new job in the hospital in Switzerland, he had an extremely selfish boss. This boss wanted to have all the recognition for this revolutionary new product. Therefore the boss didn't let my dad work and do any research any longer on creating the hearing aid. That is what made it possible for his colleague back in Silicon Valley to become the proper owner of the company. And that is exactly what happened. As the company got through the FDA, it had a worth of $ 20 million. My dad received 60000 shares whereas his colleague had 1 million shares.
What do I want to tell you with this short story?
When you are working on a business idea with one or more partners, make sure that you can cooperate throughout the whole project. You don't want to lose such a great opportunity to become a millionaire as my dad did! Pay attention to whom you are working with and don't trust your colleagues blindly.

This is an impressive story about how entrepreneurialism can work. It is all about having an excellent idea but not going the extra mile to finish it.

3 Ways to Meet Your Franchise Growth Goals in 2013

By Sherri M Starcher 

As we already head into our second week of 2013, it is likely that you've already got some pretty lofty goals lined up for your franchise this year. A new year is a great time to challenge yourself, start fresh, and accomplish great things.
We think 2013 will be a great year for franchise growth. But, getting there won't be a simple process. As always, we've got some tips to help you meet your own franchise growth goals this year.

Don't be afraid to seek out financing.
Whether it's a working capital loan to add some additional employees or equipment financing to add another ice cream machine, you're almost certainly going to need some help from a lender to allow your franchise to grow and prosper. There is almost never a bad time to seek out financing, as there are continues to be a plethora of lenders willing and ready to offer financing to franchisees. Don't let your worries of taking on more debt hold you back from your dreams of expanding or tackling a new project. After all, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

Make use of technology.
Technological improvements will likely allow you to work smarter, faster, and even save money in the long run at your franchise. Consider implementing an iPad ordering system, a more efficient POS, or even scheduling and book keeping software. You can't expect to grow if you're barley keeping up with your current operations.

Take advantage of opportunities from your franchisor.
When shooting for growth, it is almost always a good idea to jump on any opportunity that your franchisor throws your way. Do you have the chance to opt into a brand new product or undergo a brand reimaging? Take it! These are the things that will set you apart from your fellow franchisees - in your concept and beyond - and is ultimately what will bring new customers into your franchise location

Be Realistic
It's great to aim high, but sometimes setting reasonable expectations can save your sanity. Take a careful look at your business and your previous growth patterns before you decide you'd like to grow 40% over last year (wouldn't we all?). Aiming too high is only setting yourself up for failure and major headaches in the long run.
What are your growth goals for 2013? Let us know how you plan to get there in the comments!

The Engine for Business Growth: 4 Smart Things You Should Consider Before You Pursue

By Alam Qureshi 

If you are an entrepreneur with a booming business, franchising could take your business to the next level. Franchising does not always offer any straight forward guarantees. However, if done right the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. If you want to throw open your doors and turn your business into a household name, here are 4 smart things you should consider before you pursue.
Product Recall
Great things usually have humble beginnings. But that does not mean that you can start a franchise without gaining some recognition for your business first. You must have built a name for yourself locally before trying to market your business nationally or even internationally.
People, who purchase the rights to sell a product or service, want something that people are already familiar with and not something they have to huff, puff and convince people to patronize.
Where is Your Competition?
If you want to sell a franchise, you should zone into areas where there is little competition. If your franchise is to spread quickly like wildfire, it helps for you to work with franchisees in locations that are not under the might and rule of other franchises that sell similar products or services.
A Network of Suppliers
If you are going to sell replicas of your business to other people, you need to unearth a crack team of suppliers who understand your brand ideals and who are always on hand to offer the best prices for you and your franchisees. If you work with different suppliers, their interpretation of your franchising system will be different and it would definitely cost you more. A system should be in place before a franchise agreement. Franchisees just need to sign up and follow a laid down set of rules and regulations rather than rack their heads on how to make the most out of the business.
Marketing Support
Do you have the machinery to offer ongoing support? Franchising is not all about collecting money and allowing people figure out how to run an extension of your business. You need to offer valued assistance towards every franchise location to ensure that the franchisees are not stuck in rut.
This might require you boosting your staff numbers in order not to disturb the daily running of the parent company. The support people are to be on hand to answer questions and offer assistance in procuring supplies, training franchisees and much more.
This might prove to be a daunting task in the beginning. But it is all worth it in the end because it accelerates sales for your franchise and this in turn allows you to jack up your fees if need be.

Mom and Pop Mentality - 10 Things Sure To Kill Your Business

In no particular order, the results of my recent survey indicated a lot of employee frustration out there in the Small-Medium sized privately owned business market. Companies which ran perfectly well up to a certain level of sales, completely fail when attempting to expand.
While simple to fix, many just fail because of the simple-minded (or stubborn) nature of the business owner. Sometimes it's the children of the original owner that assumes control. What worked as a small business, could not possibly work as growth continues. Often the owner is not adequately trained or educated to maintain this control and is reluctant to yield. Proper procedures and processes, human resource policies and quality control processes are essential, but often neglected. It's easy to listen to 1 or 2 people. It's easy to manage a few people, but 50 employees or 100 employees or more require a management team - the operative word being "team".
The entrepreneurial spirit that once existed, may now be focused exclusively on money - making more money at any cost. The result is a dictatorial, micro-managed company. Product quality suffers, customers complain, employees leave.

• It costs 5 times more to obtain a new customer than it does to retain an existing Customer
• 96% of Customers who are not treated with respect never return
• Unsatisfied customers rarely complain, they just leave

The top 10 surefire ways to wind down your business:

1. Lie to your employees
2. Lie to your lawyer
3. Lie to your banker
4. Flatten a great Org Chart [make everyone report to you]
5. Employ uneducated/unqualified family members
6. Take extravagant vacations disguised as business trips, while telling employees times are tough
7. Don't listen to your top talent, humiliate them
8. Don't pay suppliers
9. Don't pay the government
10. Listen only to Confucius

Do you have any other? I'd like to hear about them from you.
So, what can you do to recover from this abysmal situation? Well for one thing, if you are the owner, wake up! If you have hired good people, recognize that the reason you may have hired them was to supplement what you could not do. You hired them based on their education, experience and expertise specifically for the position you posted. Let them do their job!
If they have already left, then rebuild your team. Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself specifically in areas for which you are not strong.
Treat employees as if each is special. Treat them as you would like to be treated.
Take a serious look at your business and prepare a solid business plan. Make sure you have a grueling 100 day plan as part of or separate from the business plan. Depending on the state of the company, re-branding may be necessary to add that fresh, new look to the company.
The plan must be signed off by Legal, Finance, Engineering, Marketing and all the members of your senior management team. Share the plan with your banker and seek their advice.

Sustained growth is the vision of one, but the effort of many.

Conduct a state of the union address and present the plan to your employees. Gain consensus. Reward positive contributions.
What next? Follow the plan! Just Follow the plan!

Terry Fagen, entrepreneur and founder of FirstQuintile Information Technologies has lived through many of the experiences he describes. What they never taught me in school, I have learned in a real-life MBA experience spanning more that 20 years in various businesses. What better way to help others, than by showing proof of what works and what does not work.
FirstQuintile is a digital communications company specializing in engineer-quality Web Sites, eCommerce - B2B and B2C websites, Web design, development and maintenance, Digital Marketing, SEO campaign creation and execution, software development and engineering consulting. FirstQuintile provides full-service technical & interactive marketing communications, pr, copy-writing, trade-shows, engineering, product and project management, strategic analysis, creative web and online advertising.