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September 2013 RRP $7.95
Welcome to the September issue of ISB Magazine. With the election finally over we hopefully can look forward to some confidence returning to the economy – maybe. The bottom line though is whatever happens in the larger economy it’s the same for everyone – so it’s up to us to make the best of it and stand out from the competition.
We are committed to providing the best resources and education for small business owners Australia wide. As founding members of the Small Business Owners club we will use our knowledge and resources to support members in their online business challenges whatever they may be. Feel free to contact us at any time for assistance with your online business development.
This magazine and the Small Business Owners club have been developed by the Not for Profit N.G.O. The Australia Foundation. The foundation’s work through Australian Web Marketing provides small business owners with cost effective marketing advice and web tools. This allows small business to have the best web tools and strategies at a fraction of the cost that corporate business pays. For online marketing needs contact: www.AustralianWebMarketing.com.au
Guest Feature – Brain Keen How to franchise your business simply, successfully and save tens of thousands of dollars Want to grow your business, raise capital and know franchising may be an option but you are unsure about all the legal and accounting fees and what’s really involved? Here, Brian Keen gives his advice on how small to medium sized enterprises can franchise their business. Franchising is a great way to grow your business, often allowing you to expand locally, interstate and even internationally. But it can cost thousands, involves lawyers and accountants, takes a lot of work and if you don’t get it right it can fail – horribly. So how do you:
Decide franchising is right for you and your business Find out exactly what needs to be done up front so you know what you’re up for Find out exactly how much this will cost Work out who is the right expert to help you through all the pitfalls Find out exactly what franchising is about.
If you’ve looked into franchising then you’ve probably heard the story of how I started and grew six new franchise groups with over 120 outlets over a five year period. Over the last three decades I have also helped dozens of businesses franchise successfully, increasing profits and allowing their owners to work fewer hours and get their lives back. Along the way, I discovered franchising is not just about the documentation or the product and that franchising can be made simple. Converting a business to the franchise model involves creating two new businesses – one for your franchisees, similar to your existing business, and another for you as franchisor to manage the whole group.
To do this you need to get some crucial things right before you begin, such as budgets, territories and marketing. There has to be enough money in the pot to keep you and your franchisees profitable and happy in the long term. Not getting some crucial aspects right at the beginning means your new franchised business will not succeed. But get them right and you will grow your business exponentially. After three decades of working with businesses just like yours I have developed seven simple steps to help you franchise your business. These include: 1. Learn about franchising: Before you begin, you need to know how franchising works. 2. Feasibility: Is your business suitable for franchising and do you have the business skills, the confidence and personality to make it work? 3. Develop the franchise model: A series of documents need to be prepared to help you develop the business as a franchise, guide the franchisor and the franchisee in their responsibilities and form the legal agreement between the two parties. 4. Develop the franchisor business: Before you can begin, you will need to get the various parts of the franchisor business up and running. 5. Establish a pilot franchisee operation: You will need to either systemize your existing business or develop a new one to show that you can operate the business successfully as a franchise outlet before you sell a franchise to a franchisee. 6. Recruit Franchisees: Advertise, select carefully and sell the first outlet to a separate franchisee. Keep going until you have as many as you need. 7. Manage your franchise business into the future: Now you are up and running your job is to provide on-going training for your franchisees, make sure they keep the brand alive and that they are performing well. Critically, you are also responsible for continuing to develop the franchise business as a whole, keeping it current and fresh. Brian runs a 2-day information-packed two-day workshop ‘How you can transform your family-sized business into a multi-million dollar asset through franchising’ on the Gold Coast monthly and more information is available at Web: www.howtofranchisesimply.com.au Email: brian@howtofranchisesimply.com.au PH: 1300 960 136
It may surprise you that despite the popularity of social media sites, email marketing is still a very powerful method of Internet marketing. In this issue we show you why and how you can ensure that your emails are read on all devices, especially mobile. Google’s social media platform Google+ is gaining popularity and is a very useful tool for all local businesses. Our beginners guide will show you what it can do for you and your company. Despite it being 2013 there are still some companies who have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Hopefully this edition will be able to convince you why your business needs to be online. We look forward to hearing from you.
Craig Harwood
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