Do you already own a franchise and your seeing your sales go down? This is common whether you are selling goods or services. Consumers are cutting back on purchases, eating out, and taking a hard look at everything in the budget.
There are a few things you can do to help yourself in this economy. First, it has been proven that you have to keep marketing. This will at least replace customers you loose and keep you even.
Just like consumers, don't buy anything you don't absolutely need. If you can rent equipment, instead of purchasing, do it. Anything you can do to conserve your money to hold on another year, do it. Also if you have any extra equipment, sell it. You can use the extra cash if it is paid for or help the budget if it isn't.
Keep up the quality of whatever you do or sell so when things are better, the business will come back. I have been in several resturants lately that were so short handed the service was terrible. I have been told I would have to wait for weeks to get an estimate on services since staff had been cut. I will move on to another company and never look back at these businesses.
Fran rep
Showing posts with label franchise planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label franchise planning. Show all posts
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Monday, October 20, 2008
Starting a franchise?Better have a lot of capital backing.
All,
Working with franchisees can be very time consuming. I apologize for the long time between posts.
We all know the economy is tanking and it will probably be 5-10 years before it is completely back to where it was. Tough times brings both opportunity and risk. Warren Buffet says "Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy." Are you in a position to be greedy? There are plenty that are fearful.
As far as franchising, I think that being under capitalized is one of the biggest mistakes I see and hear about. When someone is looking at buying a franchise, they are told that they need at least a year of income set aside because it will take time to see a profit. I would make them have two years of income put away. Two years plus enough money to market through both the first and second years.
If you tell the person that is trying to sell you a franchise that you do have a years worth of money to fall back on, is that sitting in an account ready or would you have to sell a house or cash in a 401K? What if you suddenly you are up-side-down on your house like 50% of the people in America? What if your 401K is suddenly worth 40% less? THIS JUST HAPPENED!!!!! To lots of people.
Please don't tell me that you borrowed on the equity of your 401K to buy your business or to live on, and now that is gone.
Be very careful if you are thinking about starting a business. I would definately look at buying a failing business that has been running for awhile, but has been mismanaged or the people have to leave for personal reasons. A brand new business or brand new location - no way. Everyone is hanging on to their money tight and buying few new things.
Fran Rep
Working with franchisees can be very time consuming. I apologize for the long time between posts.
We all know the economy is tanking and it will probably be 5-10 years before it is completely back to where it was. Tough times brings both opportunity and risk. Warren Buffet says "Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy." Are you in a position to be greedy? There are plenty that are fearful.
As far as franchising, I think that being under capitalized is one of the biggest mistakes I see and hear about. When someone is looking at buying a franchise, they are told that they need at least a year of income set aside because it will take time to see a profit. I would make them have two years of income put away. Two years plus enough money to market through both the first and second years.
If you tell the person that is trying to sell you a franchise that you do have a years worth of money to fall back on, is that sitting in an account ready or would you have to sell a house or cash in a 401K? What if you suddenly you are up-side-down on your house like 50% of the people in America? What if your 401K is suddenly worth 40% less? THIS JUST HAPPENED!!!!! To lots of people.
Please don't tell me that you borrowed on the equity of your 401K to buy your business or to live on, and now that is gone.
Be very careful if you are thinking about starting a business. I would definately look at buying a failing business that has been running for awhile, but has been mismanaged or the people have to leave for personal reasons. A brand new business or brand new location - no way. Everyone is hanging on to their money tight and buying few new things.
Fran Rep
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What will tomorrow be like a year from now?
If you have a franchise or are thinking about buying one, or if you have any kind of business, you need to have a plan and a map.
What will tomorrow be like a year from now? If you don't have a picture in your head of what you want your future day to be like in 365 days, you can't expect things to be any different than they are now. Is it easier to put a puzzle together if you can look at the picture of what it is supposed to look like or easier to just pick up pieces and start putting together a picture? Of course it is easier to have a picture to look at! You have 365 pieces, or say 730 half day pieces to put together to make your picture look like what you want it to by this time next year.
Let's stop and make a mental picture. What is your business like? How many customers do you have, or how much revenue are you bringing in each day? What are you doing on a typical day?
OK, now let's think about where you are at now it relation to the picture of next year and let's set some goals. Let's divide the difference in customers or revenue in half and set that as a goal for 6 months from now. Let's divide it again. If you want you can map it out monthly.
We have our goals, now let's look at the time and/or money it will take to reach each of those goals and commit to expending the resources. Do you need to hire more help, or buy new equipment? Put that in the plan. Continue to fill in the variables you have in your circumstances until you see the whole picture. When will you have time off? Put that in. You have to have the details of the picture for it all to fit.
OK, here comes the hard part. Make your goals known to others. This will help you stay on track and be more committed. Tell the people you work with, your spouse, your mentor, and anyone else that will ask you how you are doing. If you have a franchise, tell your field representative your goal. Post your goals around the office, in your home office, on the refrigerator, anywhere you will be faced with them everyday.
Lastly, build in rewards along the way. Besides hating to tell people that you aren't doing what you said you would do, you need more incentive. Reward yourself with time off doing fun things, buying yourself something you have been wanting, whatever it is that motivates you.
The old saying "You don' t plan to fail, you fail to plan" has been around a long time because it is so true.
Paint a picture of your future, then make it come true.
Fran
What will tomorrow be like a year from now? If you don't have a picture in your head of what you want your future day to be like in 365 days, you can't expect things to be any different than they are now. Is it easier to put a puzzle together if you can look at the picture of what it is supposed to look like or easier to just pick up pieces and start putting together a picture? Of course it is easier to have a picture to look at! You have 365 pieces, or say 730 half day pieces to put together to make your picture look like what you want it to by this time next year.
Let's stop and make a mental picture. What is your business like? How many customers do you have, or how much revenue are you bringing in each day? What are you doing on a typical day?
OK, now let's think about where you are at now it relation to the picture of next year and let's set some goals. Let's divide the difference in customers or revenue in half and set that as a goal for 6 months from now. Let's divide it again. If you want you can map it out monthly.
We have our goals, now let's look at the time and/or money it will take to reach each of those goals and commit to expending the resources. Do you need to hire more help, or buy new equipment? Put that in the plan. Continue to fill in the variables you have in your circumstances until you see the whole picture. When will you have time off? Put that in. You have to have the details of the picture for it all to fit.
OK, here comes the hard part. Make your goals known to others. This will help you stay on track and be more committed. Tell the people you work with, your spouse, your mentor, and anyone else that will ask you how you are doing. If you have a franchise, tell your field representative your goal. Post your goals around the office, in your home office, on the refrigerator, anywhere you will be faced with them everyday.
Lastly, build in rewards along the way. Besides hating to tell people that you aren't doing what you said you would do, you need more incentive. Reward yourself with time off doing fun things, buying yourself something you have been wanting, whatever it is that motivates you.
The old saying "You don' t plan to fail, you fail to plan" has been around a long time because it is so true.
Paint a picture of your future, then make it come true.
Fran
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