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.

Legal Basics For Running Your Own Franchise

 Knowledge needed to start Businesses

By Ronna Kaleah 

The dream of owning a business is one shared by millions of people. Getting out of the traditional workforce and securing a piece of the entrepreneurial spirit is a driving force for many, but oftentimes potential business owners have no idea where to start. If you want to run a business, but do not have a product or service of your own to market, you may want to consider owning a franchise. In simplest terms, a franchise is a business that markets an already existing product or service that is owned by another company.
The franchisor will grant the franchisee a license to market their product. Notable examples include popular fast-food chains, such as McDonalds and Starbucks. The individual companies are selling a product that is not owned directly by them, but they get a portion of the profits. Franchises are very popular among start up businesses, because they allow new owners a quick opportunity to start earning their own income. The legal relationship can be a bit complicated, however, so if you are considering starting your own franchise, here are some helpful tips to remember.

The legal basics of owning a franchise
Get all agreements on paper
Obligations
Can you renew your license?
Territory
Provisions for termination

After hiring an attorney that specializes in franchise law, you will want to get all of your agreements with the corporate headquarters in writing. A contractual agreement is binding; you should never accept or agree to any terms verbally. This is the cardinal rule of doing business, so make sure all of you have all of the proper documentation.
When you own a franchise, you are subject to certain obligations put in place by the franchisor. Their may be restrictions put in place that prevent you from outsourcing the business operations to another entity. You also may be restricted from partnering with other franchises. Knowing what the terms are to your contract will better help you understand what you capabilities are.
Given that you will be granted a license to run your franchise, you will want to know the terms of your renewal. All licenses expire, and there may be conditions put in place that can restrict you from renewing them. For instance, if you do not meet a certain quota for product sales, your contract could be terminated.
When you run a franchise, you are assigned a specific territory for running your operations. Make sure you select a location that is going to be profitable, because there will likely be provisions in place that restrict you from expanding your operations elsewhere. Franchisors are strict when it comes to territory, and may even require you to relocate your business if it is not meeting certain profit margins. Will you have the ability to move if need be? Lastly, when you sign the contract with the franchisor, you are legally obligated to run the business. This means you cannot simply close up shop when you feel like it. The legal ramifications of doing so can be very serious, so know what provisions are in effect for terminating the contract on both ends.

Siskinds represents financial institutions, businesses and individuals by providing the right blend of service providers, such as paralegals, bankruptcy trustees and bailiffs to help recover defaulted accounts in a sensible and speedy manner.

Incredible Advantages Unique To Franchise Businesses

 By Christopher Joseph Smith

Entrepreneurs are some of the most celebrated people in Western society. This is mainly because we all dream of starting our own business with no money and ascending to the heady heights of the millionaire lifestyle; every year, thousands of people set about making their own business dreams come true and most fail. Yet these failures are still celebrated as 'eccentric' or 'a good try'; it's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all, after all.
So why is it that people who choose to franchise their own business aren't quite as celebrated as entrepreneurs? Perhaps it's because they operate under the banner of a wider company but there are a lot of similarities between franchisees and straight-down-the-middle entrepreneurs, including the fact that both oversee the day-to-day operations of their own business.
However, the distinct lack of celebration for hard-working franchisees in contrast with the high-flying glamour of the entrepreneurial lifestyle can make the latter route seem far more appealing. If you're currently thinking of starting your own business, don't be blinded by this idealistic view of starting from scratch; franchising, too, offers some unique advantages.
Easier To Secure Funding For
In the current economic climate, securing funding for a largely speculative venture is incredibly difficult as banks simply aren't willing to take the kind of risks they were in the past. In contrast, lenders will be willing to loan money to someone with an established brand with an established track record behind them. Running your own business under the banner of a brand with a proven business model that works makes securing essential funding a lot easier.
More Support
One of the most daunting aspects of starting your own business from scratch is the lack of dedicated support for your particular business - as you are pitted in direct competition with other business operating in your field, you'll probably find them less than willing to dish out advice.
Franchisees, by comparison, benefit from a whole network of people who've been through exactly the same experience and will be more than willing to advise on issues relating to the business as your success directly impacts upon them. Similarly, a franchisor will also be on hand to steer your business to success.
Quicker To Get Off The Ground
A common misconception among potential entrepreneurs is that starting your own business is as easy as coming up with a great product, registering a name and getting to work. In reality, there is months worth of paperwork to fill out and legal loopholes to jump through; actually getting to work is an arduous and long process.
Franchising, while not a direct-to-market solution, is a much shorter process; with a business model, branding and a store in place, all getting to the marketplace requires is extensive training and proving yourself as a franchisee!
More Likely To Succeed
While it's not an absolute given that a franchise business will survive where a startup would fail, franchise businesses offer an excellent chance at succeeding in business despite a competitive market. The established business model and marketing of your franchisor will have succeeded in other markets, which is why they are looking to expand. With this proven track record of success behind you, your own chances of succeeding improve too.
So franchising; while there are some creative compromises to be made and a certain degree of control to relinquish to your franchisor, there's no doubt that opening your own franchise represents a fantastic opportunity to be your own boss - and make a lot of money in the process.