Life is Like a Cup of Coffee Revisited

The following was originally posted on this site several months ago. Since then, I have discussed the same with many individuals claiming that it has helped them cope with difficult times. Here’s hoping that posting it once again may help some others that need some inspiration and hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday.

Life is Like a Cup of Coffee

As one might imagine, I spend a great deal of time seeking out articles and information that may be of interest to the franchise industry, and readers of this site. Most of the time I’m looking for things relevant to franchising, entrepreneurship and small business.

Recently, I came across an inspirational video, “Life is Like a Cup of Coffee.” I watched the video several times, as I’m sure most of the people that have already seen this video have done. The message conveyed by the video made me think long and hard about the current economy and how it might be affecting people within the franchise community.

I thought about the franchise executives, who may be wondering when and where they’ll work next. Or, the entrepreneurs who invested large amounts of money developing new franchise systems, only to find themselves anxiously waiting for credit markets to ease up just a bit. And, I could not help think about the many franchisees, with life savings invested, watching their personal lifestyles drastically change, as they try to squeeze dollars out of cents.

This video provides a simple, yet profound look at life that may shed light on how challenges being faced today need to be addressed, and hopefully, resolved. Maybe, just maybe, it can be looked at as the simple approach to tackle complex problems. And, I’ve asked myself if it could really be instrumental in making people look at things differently and provide hope, where hope was not even considered before.

I know that hope is not a sound business strategy, but neither is waiting. At least with hope, it may provide inspiration to do things that may help in turning things around.

Anyway, take a look at the video and give this some thought. Then, please share it with your family and friends and request they share it with people they know. If we can ultimately help just one person, or just one family, we will have made progress. Progress that’s necessary to survive this rough economic storm.

Employer Social Networking Policies: Part II

The following was written by franchisEssentials Guest Author, Megan Erickson of the Dickinson Law Firm as follow up to Employer Social Networking Policies that we reposted on this site last week. As you may know, Megan is the author behind the recently launched Social Networking Law Blog.

In response to last week’s post, one of our readers commented, “I look forward to your further insights in this area. It is something that “MUST” be thought out by companies today. They really have two choices. A policy of engagement in the Social Networks or staying out altogether. And if they engage they need to seriously engage their employees and impress upon them how being active in social networking sites means that they are a representative of their company and that in the long term their actions will affect the company’s rep in the world.”

Employer Social Networking Policies: Pre-Drafting Considerations, Part II
by Megan Erickson of the Dickinson Law Firm

As [recently] noted, I plan to write a series of posts addressing social networking policies in the workplace. In [recent post] post, I discussed some things an employer may want to think about before drafting social networking policies — including some things to keep in mind when starting with a sample policy. I’ll build upon that by offering a few considerations here for employers to ponder as they begin thinking about drafting, updating, or maintaining a social media policy. This list is by no means exhaustive, but is meant to help employers focus on personalizing social networking policies (and hence, make them more effective).

* Don’t be afraid to take care of some groundwork before involving an attorney, but focus these initial efforts on identifying the company’s business interests, needs, goals, and expectations as they relate to the policy. This will make your lawyer’s job much easier, and may save your company time and money. For example, if you want to encourage social media use among your employees for marketing purposes, your policy will set the parameters within which your employees operate. The framework for such a policy will significantly differ from an employer whose primary goal in establishing a policy is something else (such as the protection of confidential information).

* Brainstorm how the policy should address both: (1) online activity which occurs on company time or using company resources (i.e., blogging at work, Facebooking on company laptops, etc.), and (2) online activity, regardless of when or where, which may have implications for your business (i.e., complaining about work on personal blog from personal computer after-hours that discloses trade secrets).

* Thoughtfully consider how far the restrictions should go. Keep in mind practical considerations. Not only do many studies suggest it’s not good for morale or recruiting to ban all social networking sites or Web 2.0, an all-out ban will be difficult to enforce. Take a realistic approach, and bear in mind ad-hoc policing could easily lead to selective enforcement issues down the road.

* How do you monitor employee technology use? Federal and state privacy laws should shape your policy.

* Consider quirks of your particular workplace technology that might present special considerations. For example: Do employees have company-issued web-enabled cell phones? Do you want policies addressing text messaging? Pagers? Off-duty conduct on company laptop during non-work hours?

Franchise Facts for Canada

As I continue to work with franchise organizations north of the border, I’m excited by the facts about franchising in Canada.

-The Franchise industry in Canada represents over $100 billion in sales annually
-Franchised businesses account for 40% of all retail sales
-There are over 78,000 franchises across Canada
-Canadian Franchise Association membership grows at a rate of 10% per year
-Franchising directly employs over 1,000,000 people
-Every year, thousands of Canadians are improving their lives by becoming franchisees
-Franchising accounts for $90 billion per year in sales nationally or 10% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
-Franchising has been reported to account for one out of every five consumer dollars spent in Canada in goods and services

About the Canadian Franchise Association

With almost 500 corporate members nation-wide, representing many of Canada’s best-known brands, the Canadian Franchise Association is the national voice for Canadian franchising and works with all levels of government to ensure the development of industry-made solutions. The CFA promotes ethical franchising and educates Canadians about franchising, specific franchise opportunities and proper due diligence through its many events, programs and publications.

Source: Canadian Franchise Association

Franchise Success: The New Formula

Recently, as I was preparing for the Frantelligence Webinar series with Franchise Business Review, Lizette Pirtle, the author of various blogs including Small Biz Franchise and International Expansion Experts, contacted me to discuss franchise client support, and being able to provide information to her franchise clients. I could immediately tell that she had a definitive passion and desire to help her clients and provide them the resources necessary to continue to build their brands.

Since then, Lizette introduced me to her new blog and book, Franchise Success: The New Formula. Clearly, Lizette is an expert in franchise operations and training at franchisee and franchisor levels. Her more than 20 years franchise experience is expansive covering daily operations, marketing, communications and training. She is passionate about designing franchise operational and training systems that allow franchisees and franchisors achieve the success they seek. With a knack for breaking concepts down and creating efficient and effective processes, Lizette derives tremendous joy in assisting her clients discover and implement their vision. A preview of the book confirmed my thoughts about Lizette’s passion and desire. The book is a definite must-read for anyone in franchising.

Would You Like a Complimentary Copy?

To download a complimentary copy of the book, please click HERE. Once you’re directed to the “Get the Book” page, scroll down to the “Do You Have a Gift Code?” section and look for the “Courtesy of Paul Segreto of franchisEssentials” link. Click the “Download” button and when prompted, type in the case-sensitive Gift Promotion password, “franchisEssentials1” to receive your complimentary copy. All we ask is that once you read the book, please let Lizette know your thoughts, comments, suggestions or stories HERE.

Would you like more than an e-copy? If so, the actual book may be purchased on Amazon.com!

Local Business Listing, Search Engine Rankings and Mobile Devices

The following article has been submitted by Guest Author, Melih (“may-lee”) Oztalay. Melih is CEO of SmartFinds Internet Marketing, an internet marketing company known for developing very creative marketing strategies. Before starting SmartFinds, Melih ran one of the Detroit Metropolitan area’s premiere Internet Service Providers (ISP), SpeedLink, from the early 1990’s where he served for nearly a decade as President and CEO. In the new century he has pursued taking the creative and marketing services from his experience in the 1990’s to businesses via SmartFinds Internet Marketing. franchisEssentials is honored to have Melih as one of its Guest Authors.

Local Business Listing, Search Engine Rankings and Mobile Devices
by Melih Oztalay, CEO at SmartFinds Internet Marketing

There has been an ongoing difficulty for small local businesses to benefit from the Internet. Particularly if they are completely dependent upon the local market. Yes, those businesses still do exist and will continue to exist. As technology has been developing, there is an answer for the local business. It comes in the form of the major search engines having free local listings.

What Are Business Local Listings? In summary this is your free yellow page listings by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Do you still need to advertise with the Yellow Pages? This need is definitely dwindling. The upcoming generations are using the Internet and their mobile phones. Most probably are not familiar with the hard copy yellow pages. Baby-Boomers are a growing group of mobile device users…and certainly EVERYONE is using the Internet.

Why Use the Local Business Listings? There are a number of reasons why the Internet local business listings are important to the local business.

1. Listings can show up in search results
2. Helps advertise business for free
3. Helps promote any discounts, offers, promotions
4. Displays on Mobile maps (e.g. iPhone)

The benefits help to increase your exposure through the Internet with this free listing. It can help you reduce your yellow page costs and makes sure you can get in front of your customers when they need you through the Internet or their mobile devices as they are around town.

Additionally these local listings help give you the opportunity to get more information in front of your customers than the yellow pages can ever offer. This would include your menus, your products, services, photos, videos, coupons, offers, promotions to mention a few.

Did we mention this was a free listing? Did we also mention you can update this listing anytime you want? And, lastly, you get statistics about your statistics. Now we’re confident the yellow pages cannot provide statistics. The benefits far outweigh the costs from the hard copy yellow pages.

Do you need your own website? No. Would it benefit you? Possibly, but dependent upon your business. Your free local business listing could be your website. The reason for having your own website would be because the free local business listing is not allowing you to add everything a customer may wish to see.

Like everything else on the Internet, it is best to work with a professional firm that can help get this setup for you. You have to be sure to have the right keywords for your business, along with knowing how to get the listing up to date so it benefits with immediately. Once the local business listing has been updated you can either maintain the information yourself or continue having a low cost monthly fee to have it maintained and monitored for you.

Monitoring your listing is very important as customers have the ability to post reviews about your products, services and business. Of course their ability to review you are not limited to the local business listing and include everything from Angie’s List to Complaint Boards on the web. While this may sound like a negative, you can turn customers with problems and complaints to long term relationship. You have to address their concerns and have them reach out to you instead of the Internet with their emotional frustrations.

Whether you are a single store, have multiple locations, are a franchise or a bank with multiple branches, you will want to learn more about local business listings. Learn more about Local Business Listings and submitting them to the search engines and other local related business websites and directories at SmartFinds Local Business Listings.