I was recently talking to a friend of mine about a recent food franchise that had failed after being open only six months. He said, “well the food wasn’t very good and the customer service was bad.” Well there’s a surprise! Of all the components that are most important to your long term success, having a well-trained and motivated staff is numero uno. Even more so than your process, and more than your product, having the right people in place is a must.

Many business owners will often take a look at their business and ask, "how can I grow?". Friends will look at them and say "Hey!  You ought to franchise!".  Sounds good - franchise your business!  Easy, right?!  Just find some people who want to do what you do, teach them to do it, and then sit back and collect all that royalty! Wow - So Easy!

As the Director of Franchising here at Shear Madness Haircuts for Kids, one of the first questions I usually get asked is, “How much money can I make?” My response is always muted because the FTC doesn't allow us to answer that question. However, for those of you reading this who are new to franchising, you can find the answer to that question in the Disclosure Documents in Item 19 that you receive from a prospective franchise. Also, some franchises may choose to disclose those numbers but have the right not to, so that really depends on the franchise you are looking at. But at the end of the day, my typical response is to answer a question with a question, which is, “How hard are you willing to work?”

When starting a new business by yourself, sometimes it might seem like doing your own research and going at it alone is the most attractive option. But ultimately, this might not be a good idea. Not only could you possibly be doing the wrong research and making investments that might not be financially profitable over the long run, but you just might not have all the necessary information at your fingertips that can help ensure business success! You've probably heard the phrase, “You don’t know what you don’t know”. Well, once when I was out of work I went to a job fair for a major pharmaceutical company. There were perhaps around 200 people in the room, and the meeting started off something like this, “all of you who have experience in the pharmaceutical industry get on this side of the room, and everyone else stay where you are.” Needless to say, I never interviewed that day. You see, that company knew there was no substitute for experience, no substitute for having "been there, done that”, and no substitute for having to start all over training someone to learn the pharmaceutical industry.

Creating an exciting email newsletter can be an affordable and easy way to communicate with your customers on a regular basis. And if done right, it's also a great way to build trust, generate excitement, and potentially encourage customers to frequently utilize the services your business provides. However, if an email newsletter isn't done properly, it might end up being an annoyance to your customer. So what do you do? Before you begin creating that Newsletter make sure you have included the following 4 "Musts" in your process!