“What are you doing this month to get January off to a fast and solid start?” It’s not easy to get past being busy and instead get focused and proactive - especially at Christmas when there’s so much going on around us. Perhaps, like me, you have heard people say things like: “I’m finishing projects and getting my desk clear ahead of the holiday.” “I can’t think about the new year, I’m too busy getting through December.” “Yes, I want to look into [insert your ‘should’ of choice] in the New Year.” All...

One of the benefits of running your own franchise business is you have the ability to make things happen. You are responsible. Yet that can also lead to thinking you have to do everything - and the more you get involved the harder it can be to step back. Of course, we know there are certain key things we should be spending our time on; the parts of the business where we make the most difference. Still, most of us have a tendency to ‘take it all on’, especially when a business is just starting off. Here are two ways to spend less time on the low payoff activities and create...

Has time pressure caused you to wonder whether to attend a training event or franchise meeting? Each of us has the same 1,440 minutes available in a day and choices about how we invest them have a great impact on franchise business success. While webinars, intranets and social media like Facebook and Twitter provide very effective ways to connect and learn, face-to-face meetings are still important. However, with the time required for travel and the daily demands of business, many find it a challenge to commit time to attend. Benefits of franchise meetings Meetings and conferences give...

In franchising, as with in any business the goal is to make a profit and generate cash. Of course, it’s important to enjoy what you do, but performance is reality. Whilst it seems obvious that profit is what we are aiming for, at the start of the financial year, attention turns the question of how much tax we’ll have to pay. And it’s understandable we want to pay as little as possible. Unfortunately, things can become tricky if we get caught up in the idea of paying less tax rather than making more profit and cash. For some franchise business owners, the instruction to...

Benchmarking can be dangerous for the financial health of your franchise business. This might seem a curious suggestion. The benefits of thoughtfully executed franchise benchmark programs are significant since they highlight opportunities for improvements in revenue, cost control, productivity and cash flow. How could something so useful be dangerous? As with any ‘tool of the trade’, we need to use it, and use it appropriately, to get the result we desire. Here are some of the dangers to watch out for and tips for success when it comes to using benchmarks in your franchise...

What will sustain your business in 2009? Whatever label we attach to the current economic situation - recession, depression or reset button - it will surely take herculean effort to weather the next 12 months. Perhaps you, like many business owners, find yourself planning for hard times ahead or even in survival mode: searching out cost savings and fighting for the next sales dollar. Once your business is leaner and positioned to do more with less, what comes next? Businesses must move forward if they are to thrive. While there’s no doubt that cost control is an essential driver of...