Franchisors and Their Peanut Gallery Detractors of Low Intellectual Ability
For over a decade I ran a Franchising Company, as its founder. Your basic rags to riches story, although the amount of hard work was a lot tougher than any one would believe. During this time I encountered many detractors to the franchising model and competitors who wanted to knock me off in a Mafia Style hit, I am sure. One gentleman, turned out to be a franchise attorney, decided he wanted to challenge me on my industry knowledge and the franchising sector. He started by stating;“Franchisors are nothing more than gold plated used car salesman”Well I believe that if you are constantly referring to franchisors as used car salesmen then you are not really serious about debating issues, but rather solely interested in trying to show all franchisors as bad. In fact it has been my experience and I would say that more times it is a franchisee that does not clearly represent himself. Not the franchisor and that has been my experience.If a franchisor has a salesman the does the paper napkin trick (writing unsubstantiated earnings claims on a cocktail napkin), then that franchise salesman should be fired. My choice not to discuss franchisors in th

Do You Know How Google AdWords Can Grow Your Business?
Whether or not you are currently using advertising as one of your marketing strategies, I want to share a fabulous way to make the most of the money you do invest in advertising.You probably know Google as a popular search engine that is used to find all kinds of information. They have more than 80 million unique visitors per month, could some of them be interested in what your business has to offer?In addition to information that appears on the left of the page when you do a search in Google, there are also ads on the right side. Go to your internet browser right now and type in some key words related to your business to see what I mean. In the right column you’ll see ads listed under ‘Sponsored Links’ – these are Google AdWords. Imagine having an ad for your business here.Here is an example of just one of my ads on Google AdWords:Coach for Business OwnersGrab Your Free Monthly Profit Tips+ Bonus Report & Grow Your Businesswww.fireflycoaching.comWhat do you currently spend to attract one new client? Look at each of your marketing strategies and divide the amount of money you have invested by the num

Customer Service for Chambers of Commerce
Customer service is important in any business, we all know that and there can be no relevant debate. However what about the groups that the businesses all belong too? What about the Industry Associations or those small business chambers of commerce in each town; do they give good customer service? Should they? Do they have that as part of their mission statement? Sure their vision statement includes supporting their members, but do they give them good customer service.Recently I was in North Carolina and I talked to a regional Chamber of Commerce and we discussed how their Chamber of Commerce was better than other regional Chamber of Commerce is across the country. She was the director of membership and she told me that sometimes there was not the participation that they had hoped for from some of their top businesses in town. Often some of the businesses would fail to renew their membership unless the Chamber of Commerce went and told them that it had expired.She said; do not ask what your Chamber of Commerce can do for you ask what you can do for your Chamber of Commerce. Then he stated that you only get out, which he put in and to those bus

Every MLM Or Network Marketing Business Needs to Have a Plan
Would you consider signing a five year retail lease, sinking your hard earned cash into lease-hold improvements and head to your bank to finance the purchase of all the supplies and equipment you are going to need in order to open a beauty salon or some similar venture in your home town, without first having prepared a Business Plan?Of course not.And besides, there isn’t a single financial institution out there willing to advance the funding you are after if you haven’t taken time to prepare a proper Business Plan that demonstrates your thoughtfulness, capacity and viability to repay that loan.It is not that the banks or other finance mediums are trying to make life difficult for you by asking for such supporting documentation. By insisting to be shown just how it is you plan to be successful enough to repay them, they are helping to assure your own success. They know that if your business grows, you will be back looking for even greater sums of money to keep your good thing rolling and that is good for them. Look at the document preparation as a mutually beneficial exercise.Take it a step further and think of your bank as a partne

Seven Steps to Building a Successful Internet Home Business
The following steps are a proven formula for building a profitable Internet Home Business. All successful Internet Home Businesses implement these steps in one way or another.1. Determine what kind of Internet Home Business you want Do you want an Internet Home Business that produces extra income that supplements your current job? Or do you want to build an Internet Home Business Empire that replaces your current job and puts you on the path to financial independence?2. Write Down Your Goals Spend some time planning your short-term and long-term Internet Home Business goals. Put them on paper. It has been said that “a goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all”.3. Set Deadlines Set Deadlines for your short-term and long-term goals. Setting goals will give you the motivation to do the things necessary to achieve success. For example: A short-term goal may be deciding on what domain name to use. A long-term goal may be deciding what car you’re going to buy or where you’re going to go on vacation.4. Compile a List of Tasks and Activities Write down everything that you need to do to achieve your goals. Cont

Establishing Security in Iraq
The war in Iraq is going badly. That's what the news media tell us. That's what the Iraq Study Group said in its "bipartisan" report. Even former Senator John Edwards, who just threw his hat into the ring for President after falling into political obscurity after the 2004 election, and Democratic upstart and Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, have told us that now is the time to get out before it gets any worse. But what are our military commanders and soldiers in Iraq saying?Most of the reports I have read, both in the mainstream media and in some nontraditional media, have all said the same thing: our commanders and soldiers say that we are making progress, but we need more time. Over the past three years, the men and women that we as a nation have trained, schooled, and selected to lead our military forces have been implementing a strategy in Iraq that is centered on training Iraqi military and police forces to take over responsibility for the security of their country.Progress has been slow, to be sure, but progress is being made nonetheless. The situation in Iraq requires more time to establish capable security forces than may be the case in