Small Business

Finding the right business to franchise requires a lot of research and consulting with experts. But it does not need to be expensive. You do not want to be spending all your money when you do not have a business to run yet.

One of the best sources for ideas and contacts for business opportunities is the annually-published and updated Franchise Opportunities Handbook, prepared by the United States Department of Commerce. It contains descriptions of more than a thousand companies and businesses that offer franchise opportunities.

Always compare the opportunities. These companies differ in the level of support and the gravity of their legal demands on the franchisor.

The world of franchising opportunities, however, is not exclusive to big companies with established brand and corporate equities and identities. Small businesses can offer franchising opportunities too. In ...

Best customers.

Most small business marketing efforts simply don’t lavish enough attention on their best customers. Either the small business doesn’t know who its best customers are, or it doesn’t believe it’s important to “love them up”.

Well, your competition loves either of these marketing mistakes. Each is especially effective at driving your customers into their waiting arms. Why hand over your best customers to your competitors? Why not make your competition earn their customers the old-fashioned way, with costly advertising campaigns and sales promotions?

Best customers may be just 20% of the total number of your customers--but they can easily drive 80% of your profits. Not sales--profits. It’s the classic Pareto rule of 80/20. To leverage these best customers, you must first identify them. If you don’t know who your best customers are, then how can you...

Earlier we discovered some of the reasons our customers came to our store; plus we unearthed some of the alternatives they have to shopping us. Now, it’s time to start to create a story from this. Remember, we want to interact with the customer’s story. What emotional content can you use to make them feel better? Can you somehow make them feel that yes, they really do deserve to treat themselves to the finest? Right now, list 3 emotions your customers feel about your store:

• ___________
• ___________
• ___________

After you’ve listed these, think about your competitors. Are they adding value in ways you aren’t? Sometimes a quick fix is to copy something a competitor is already doing. It isn’t what you can build a brand on, but it can help bond you to the customer.

Then, after you’ve explored the obvious, turn to your ally, the ...

Lots of businesses rave about "going the extra mile". Few do.

In reality, just a few inches are often more than enough to differentiate your small business from the competition. A couple of travel examples from a recent trip to Japan illustrate this.

The Westin Osaka is a great hotel to stay in. It's clean, and fairly new. The price is right. We'd call the Westin a nicely packaged hotel.

But what really makes the Westin special are the barely seen little extras Westin staff provide. There is a shuttle to the Osaka train station--pretty standard in large hotels in Japan, where trains are one's best bet for transportation. But at the Westin the bus driver immediately sets a small stool out for the passengers to alight on when they get on or off the bus. That little footstool isn't very tall--just eight extra inches-but it makes a difference in two important ways. First...

Story.

Story is so important to word of mouth advertising that we are devoting several articles to it. Story is vital for small business marketing. You want--you need--to have your customers pass on the essence of your brand for you to succeed.

Earlier we discussed the concept of “sweet somethings”--little phrases which describe your brand. You can tactically place these all about your business to reinforce what you stand for to your customers and prospects. The use of these whispered reminders of what your small business does for its customers will remain critical for your marketing, whether or not you try and move on to the next step--the use of story.

The relationship is similar to a newspaper headline and the accompanying story…the headline is important, because it snags our attention and draws us in. The story is important, because it keeps us inte...

If you are a company raring to go full blast on your growth plans, explore the possibilities of opening your business to franchise opportunities. It will allow you to establish your presence anywhere, faster than your competition.

By allowing others to put up outlets for you, you not only encourage and support entrepreneurship but give yourself more time to focus on more important concerns of growing the business. While franchisors take care of managing those outlets, from taking care of operational concerns to ensuring continued patronage and sales, you, as the owner, devote time and resources to product development, launching marketing campaigns, as well as building your corporate reputation, identity, and equity.

To be successful in the franchise mode, you must be able to standardize and document your business systems, processes, and policies first. By formalizing these...

Home health care businesses are becoming more popular these days and may offer a range of services. They are usually relied on by the elderly, those who have disorders which limit their movements and require constant medical attention, or those who are recuperating from an illness or from surgery. Their services include proper health management, meal planning and preparation and may even include light chores such as keeping the house clean and running some errands. Home health care businesses are quite easy to start cost-wise since they only require minimal start-up costs and may even be started from the house, which obliterates having to rent your own space.

Although it helps if the prospective business operator has a background in health care, home health care business operators are not required to be trained formally in areas of health care. There are countless operations man...

Have you just decided to open your business for franchising? Let the right people know. Advertise that you are selling franchise rights at the right venue. While you may begin approaching friends and family, you may want to go beyond that scope of influence into a wider audience. You may want to join conventions for the small to medium scale entrepreneurs and pass out flyers. Or post announcements on your shops or offices or on your website.

For faster results, you may post on independent websites that specialize in providing business ideas, assistance, and listings of opportunities to entrepreneurs. They can include you in their search engines and advertisements.

If you are on the other side of the fence and are searching instead for a franchise business for sale, inquire with your local chamber of commerce or the center for small to medium scale enterprises. Most likely,...

For those who want to start their own business immediately, either to invest idle cash or just fulfill a lifelong dream, getting a franchise may be an excellent option. Almost all industries offer a myriad of franchise opportunities. This is just a sample list of industries you may want to get into: advertising and promotions; automotives; building and renovations; business services; business to business; computer-related ventures; crafts and wares; distributorship and dealerships; education and training; financial services; food and hospitality; food outlets and restaurants; hiring services of formal wear; health, lifestyle, and personal care; home wares and home decors; staffing for household services; information technology and telecoms; landscaping and garden services; leisure and entertainment; mobile services; music-related services; real estate; retail of clothing, food, bever...

The vending machine business generates annual sales of $22 billion in the US and $40 billion worldwide. What's more a vending machine business is easy to start, and enjoys a 90% success rate as compared to 85% failure rate for most other start-ups. Further, the vending machine works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; so you are actually earning cash even while sleeping. Also, your overheads are virtually negligible and your returns start coming from day one.

Benefits:
A vending machine business comes with following benefits:

Not everyone has space in their homes for an office, though. For others, a home office is the biggest nightmare, as you can never get away from the paperwork. Garden offices are becoming a good option. And from just a few thousand pounds you can set yourself up with something that’s insulated, double-glazed, and has all the electricity and telephone connections you’ll ever need. New technologies like wireless broadband are also contributing to the trend.

Garden wooden sheds will require some initial investment, but unless you have the room in your home already, the cost and effort of construction is usually cheaper than other options like a loft conversation or extension. The other great thing about garden constructions is that you won’t usually need local authority planning permission if it’s made from timber – unless it’s a fairly big building (over four metres tall), it’s clo...

If you haven't yet thought of going global and having your data translated into other languages, now is the time to jump right in, as a matter of urgency, because there has never been such a huge amount of opportunities in the history of Humankind.

This is also the fastest and most cost-effective way to boost your income, build global networks, and/or construct alliances and collaborations.

This will propel you way ahead of all your monolingual competitors.

And it works for all types of businesses, even SMALL businesses - no need to be Microsoft or Coca Cola to start expanding abroad!

It is now possible to find excellent translators on the Internet and then expand and globalize without having a single representative in a foreign country.

All you have to do is have your website translated and localized, then make arrangements to have em...