More Protection for Georgia Franchisors Author: Janet Sparks
A new bill passed by the state of Georgia that prohibits franchisees from being considered the employees of their franchisor ensures that franchisors will not be held liable for worker compensation claims made by franchisees. Although House Bill 548 does not make clear other protections it may provide, such as claims involving agency and tort, the new law is viewed as a victory for franchisors. The International Franchise Association, which had a hand in getting the bill passed, congratulated Georgia lawmakers and franchisors, stating that the measure would help broaden the state’s franchise market.
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Company ‘Culture’ Critical to Success Author: Laurie Kulikowski
BlueGrace Logistics CEO Bobby Harris says ‘company culture’ is more than a catchphrase, and is in fact very important to the success of any business. He argues a positive company culture improves the workplace experience, increases employee retention and boosts sales, and that’s why he employs a full-time culture coordinator who organizes company large and small company events, and makes sure employees are informed about internal activity through social media initiatives. Harris claims the success of company culture depends on daily action, and must be more than a mantra to foment positive change.
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Lessons Small Business Owners Can Learn From Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Author: Laurie Kulikowski
As Facebook fast approaches the release of its $100 billion IPO, more and more business leaders and market observers are questioning CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ability to lead a public corporation of such size. Some question his age while others question his presentation (Zuckerberg’s business attire often consists of a hoodie and sneakers). There are those, however, who see a spark of genius in the young business innovator, and include among his attributes an unwavering commitment to the corporate vision, a hunger for knowledge and a willingness to stick to his own sense of style despite criticism – including wearing a hoodie.
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Women-Owned Businesses Suffer Stunted Growth Author: Laurie Kulikowski
Statistics show that women-owned businesses rarely grow past the point of $50,000 in gross annual income and a new non-profit called Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence is setting out to change all that. Women own nearly 50% of privately-held companies in the U.S., yet more than three-quarters of them ever break through the glass ceiling. Two major hurdles for women is that many of them have a hard time thinking of themselves as a leader in the workplace, which in turn hampers their desire to expand through increased employment.
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Gas Station Franchisees Feeling Squeeze Author: Paul Steinberg
Petroleum franchisors are shifting strategies in how they distribute gas and the new plan is likely to hurt franchisees. Franchisors like BP are beginning to sell gas stations with restrictive covenants that stipulate that the purchaser must buy the franchisor’s product for a particular term, which eliminates a franchisees rights to convert the property to more profitable use if need be. What’s more, franchisors are relying more on the “jobber” model, which involves selling the rights to sell gas to a middleman (jobber) who then marks up the price for the franchisee. The double whammy is expected to impact interest in the industry.
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5 Mistakes People Make With The Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS) Structure Author: David Nilssen
The usage of rollovers for business startups, or ROBS, is growing at a rapid pace and sadly, many financial professionals attempting to provide oversight do not properly understand the ERISA and Internal Revenue Code guidelines.
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Benefits of a Business Plan Author: Ed Teixeira
One franchise executive notes the importance of all franchise candidates to write a business plan, although it is common for this to fail to occur. Ed Teixeira believes this is likely because prospective franchisees don’t see franchises as capable of failure, although this is obviously untrue. Top reasons why he believes writing a business plan is critical to success is because writing the plan will help the franchisee focus on key operational details, it can serve as a checklist for essential procedures, it can give the franchisee a better understanding of finances and costs, and perhaps most importantly, writing a business plan can be instrumental in obtaining funding from a lender.
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Motivate Your Sales Force Author: Laurie Kulikowski
The most common answer to the question of how to better motivate a sales team in a small-business environment (or any business environment, really) is to provide monetary incentives. Experts don’t argue the benefits of using money to motivate sales, but note there are other areas managers and owners can address to further improve the process. A few suggestions include setting and clarifying goals, making sure those goals are not so easily reached for all members of the staff, keeping communication clear and transparent, providing educational opportunities and offering lots of positive reinforcement.
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One Key to Business Success Author: Brad Hall
Independent investor and market observer Brad Hall argues that there is only “one thing” needed to unlock the secrets of business success, and that is honing four fundamentals: managing a business strategy, maintaining a nimble organization, cultivating a high-performance culture and executing with discipline. Hall draws his theory from the Evergreen Project, a study of the performance of four companies in each of 40 industries from 1986 to 1996. “Winners” in these groups demonstrated great skill in managing the four fundamentals.
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Key to Business Success: Likeability Author: Blue MauMau
Dan Kim, founder of Red Mango frozen yogurt desserts, says the key to business success is likeability, and will tell his audience as much as the featured speaker at the first annual Likeable U Awards on May 15 in New York City. Kim opened his first store in the U.S. in 2007 and has since expanded his empire into 170 stores across North American via franchising – and being nice. The founder is a strong supporter of social media as a way to engage customers, and strives to make them feel like they can speak directly to him by responding to questions and entering into dialogues with as many frozen yogurt lovers as possible.
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