Buying franchises in Canada, or anywhere else in the world, entails a long and difficult path to pursue for the untrained investor. However, equipped with the right information and resources, franchise buying can become less painful and a lot safer. We have broken down the process of buying a franchise into five easy-to-establish steps that serve as guidelines on the road to becoming a successful franchisee. Here are some details about these five stages of the franchise buying process:

1. Find right franchise – The course of action for franchise buying starts with determining which franchise suits you best as an entrepreneur and individual. There are thousands of franchisors operating in a wide variety of industries, which makes choosing the right franchise challenging. It is best to make an investment in an industry that you are either experienced in or familiar with rather than an industry that you have no clue as to how it works.
2. Understand your investment – Buying a franchise is a major step and a life-changing experience. It begins with large investment usually coming from your life savings. Most want-to-be franchisees think that they can make an initial investment and do not have to worry about follow-on money. This is a mistake. They need to look beyond the initial investment and ensure they have enough money left over for other costs, such as legal fees, build-out costs, working capital, supplies, franchise fees, and many other costs associated with buying and operating the franchise.
3. Investigate franchisor – Once you’ve concluded the first two steps and you know what franchise suits your budget and lifestyle, you can proceed with investigating the franchisor. Number of resources exist online and offline that can arm you with wealth of information without spending a fortune. You should investigate how the company treats its franchisees, whether or not the company supports long term relationships with their franchisees, and what is the actual approach of the franchisor to the entire process before and after the deal is closed. Talk with other franchisees and meet the executive team of the franchisor. Get your questions answered!
4. Consult with a franchise lawyer – Unless you are an expert in franchising, you cannot possibly be familiar with all the legal implications of buying a franchise. A simple meeting with a well reputed and experienced franchise lawyer will help you understand your rights and responsibilities when buying and running a franchise. You should not sign a franchise agreement prior to clearly understanding every term and every line of the documentation.
5. Establish a business plan – Your business plan is your guideline to success. It is also your best ally in getting financing in case you don’t have enough money to cover yourself. Furthermore, the business plan conceptualizes your business and personal goals. Drafting your business plan will reveal weak and strong points, allowing you to make the necessary changes prior to engaging in this experience and spending your fortune.

Operating and running a franchise has brought success to the lives of many professional individuals defined by entrepreneurial spirit. Buying an already operational and successful concept is very inviting perspective in the eyes of an investor. However, you still need to make sure that your decisions are well planned and extensively researched.

Written By: George Hillston

When it comes to promoting your small business, every cent used for marketing really counts. You’ll need to create a presence for yourself in your community as well as cyberspace. That’s where a great digital printing company comes in. Without their help, you might as well hang up your hat.

With thousands of businesses being created daily, it’s hard to set yours apart from the crowd. Without the right tools, no one will know who you are. You’re going to need to create materials that get the word out about your business and the products and services that you offer.

Some sample marketing materials you’ll want to have on hand are:

• Business Cards
• Posters
• Flyers
• Photocopies of Informational Materials

If you lack the skills needed to design your own logo and promotional products, you can find a company to do this for you. Find one that specializes in design and print solutions.

That way you can utilize their graphic design services to create business cards, print posters and flyers, and make copies of all the important documents you need to create press kits and other informational materials.

Here are some things that will help you determine which company to use for your designing and digital printing needs:

• Cost. How much will the services set you back? Are all the fees included in the initial quote you receive or will you be surprised when the products are created and printed? Is pricing competitive with other businesses in the area? Are there freebies to look forward to or is that something unheard of?
• Turnaround Time. How fast will your project be completed? How quickly do you need your project materials? Does the company you plan on working with offer a guarantee?
• Quality. Ask to see samples of the work that has been done by the graphic designers. Also, take a look at what the printers have done. Make sure both meet your high standards.
• Service and Convenience. How do the employees react to your questions? Do they have solutions for any objections you might have? What is their Better Business Bureau rating? Can you reach them by phone and email or do you have to visit their business in order to get things done?

When it comes to putting your small business on the map this year, no action is too grand. Think about the different ways you can make use of designing and printing services part of your marketing solutions. You’ll be surprised how big the return will be on your investment.

Brooke Collier is a small business consultant and online marketing blogger. As a new mom, she loves writing about balancing business and family. Her most recent collaboration was 5 Reasons Why You Need to Build Your Online Business.

Whether you’re a small business owner, aspiring entrepreneur or hard-working professional, the battle to constantly produce good work is ongoing. Maybe it’s the monotony of workloads or effort we put forth to get better, but seasons of high productivity seem to come and go. If you’re stuck in a slump, you’re not alone. Millions of professionals struggle to meet expectations every day. Luckily, the parade of employees and entrepreneurs hoping to boost their output has led to helpful tools and strategies.

On the Clock

Productivity doesn’t just depend how you spend your time on the clock. It’s also reliant on healthy time off the clock. According to Nytimes.com, working in 90-minute intervals followed by 15-minute breaks is a recipe for productivity. Elite athletes, musicians, chess players and performers often mimic this pattern. Unlock the genius within and take a load off after an intense period of work. Take a walk, have a chat or watch a bit of TV.

Disconnect

Your lack of productivity isn’t generally for lack of effort. Professionals with ability and good intentions feel helpless against the barrage of emails, tweets, posts, pics and articles streaming toward them in real time. The biggest antagonist in the battle for productivity? Social media. While platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin have a place in many offices, too often they distract employees and interrupt deep focus. If you’re constantly checking your social media feeds for updates, call on reinforcements to keep you focused. Anti-Social is a program that blocks social media websites and disables social feeds. Keep your pulse on the day’s news at lunch. Work is a time for focus, and Anti-Social can help.

Hope for Work

Employers point to time management, work ethic and perseverance as productivity ingredients, but psychologists suggest a surprising trait could lead to more effective employees: hope. According to Psychology Today, the structure that leads to hope also leads to productivity. Elements of hope include setting goals, feeling empowered to accomplish them, and identifying avenues to make them happen. Maintain a hopeful perspective and you’ll feel more inspired during the daily grind.

Save Email for Later

How did we live before email? This simple tool for electronic communication saves time and, in the long run, money. Email is a double-edged sword, though. While it can vastly improve communication, it can also keep professionals from doing tangible work. You’ve had those email-centric days when it seemed like all you’re doing is explaining what you’re doing. Microsoft manager of development Scott Hanselman has a drastic tip for those bogged down by email: Don’t check it in the morning. “Email in the morning is how you time-travel to 2 p.m.,” Hanselman said . Urgent matters will make it to your desk eventually. Focus on actual work in the morning and you’ll get the day started on the right note.

Guest post writer Tim Owens is a bank manager and freelance writer living in Los Angeles.

When turmoil strikes and everyone around you is losing their head (and money), it’s hard to stay calm and find solutions. Egypt is one such place where entrepreneurs have had to breathe in deep and think smart while revolution and financial turmoil increased unemployment and caused businesses to think hard about their economic future.

Faced with unemployment, many Egyptians have rolled up their sleeves, started their own business, and tried to make things work. But what about the SMEs that existed before the revolution and the financial crisis broke out?

Here are some of the problems they’ve faced, and how they’ve handled them.

 

Finding funds

Finding someone who believes in your business and is willing to invest in it is always tough. This has especially been the case for SMEs in Egypt, as banks apply lending criteria that suit multinationals more than SMEs, forcing the latter to miss out. Furthermore, SMEs don’t always have the confidence of banks, which see them as less profitable and worry that they’re being run incompetently. Lending to SMEs is expensive to banks, so they avoid taking the risk of giving loan to a potential defaulter and losing money.

Nevertheless, SMEs haven’t given up on banks or on borrowing money. They prefer it, in fact. Time is money and tough times call for tough measures. Business owners don’t always have time to lock horns with investors over downsizing, strategy changes, re-investing money, etc. Lenders argue less. Between the banks and state lending schemes, SMEs have been able to find extra capital.

Getting in the know

Another big problem, according to business analysts, is that lots of SMEs in Egypt need to become more sophisticated. The lack of business sophistication is a real problem considering that more than 90% of businesses in Egypt are SMEs or microenterprises. Financial literacy for business is an issue — this includes producing financial statements and sourcing legal assistance where required, which, if the business runs into legal problems, is when a good liabilities insurance policy can help.

Thankfully, the Egyptian Government has lent a hand by setting up one-stop-shops (OSSs). Although geared towards startups, OSSs help businesses that wish to expand or relocate within Egypt, by providing advice on acquiring properties for business operation.

Getting priorities straight

One thing that SMEs have acknowledged in Egypt is the importance of business development assistance, placing this on an equal par with long-term funding, for business success. Young SME owners especially believe in this. Meanwhile, business analysts and seasoned entrepreneurs have highlighted SMEs as the key to improving Egypt’s economic situation. This awareness-raising has favored SMEs, which are seeing more cooperation between the Egyptian Government and countries like the US on providing business grants.

What has become clear is that, despite some of the chaos that revolution and the international financial crisis have caused the economy, Egypt’s SMEs refuse to take it all lying down. They find solutions. They ask for help. They make themselves heard. It’s that or let the economy steamroller over everything they’ve worked for, but as any businessperson will tell you: failure is not an option. It never was.

If you’re thinking of starting a business in Egypt and want some advice on legal requirements and registration, you may wish to visit Egypt’s General Authority for Investment website.

Every business undergoes a lull at some point. Even the most trailblazing, rip-roaring successes either see a period of plateau in the sales figures, a drop off in engagement online, an unexpected downtime or a hush in the office.

But don’t panic.

Quite periods can be caused by a variety of factors – seasonality, block holiday periods, geo-political changes, strikes, illness, market uncertainty, recessions – you name it.

The fact is – it happens; it’s part of the cycle.

It can be incredibly frustrating, primed as you are with all that energy ready to channel into your business, only to be denied when you try and side-step the inevitable.

But, knowing their inevitability, you can prepare for these periods with a strategy of how to use them productively and constructively.

Here are some little nuggets to think about when that next low wave rolls in.

Refresh Customer Contact

Sometimes your head is so deeply immersed in the multiplicity of projects you have going on with new additions to your client portfolio, or those in the medium term whose accounts have mushroomed, that you simply don’t get a chance to get back in touch with accounts which have been there since the rough and ready early days.

Those earlier accounts might well have helped you get on your feet as a fledgling business, but now their spend has either lapsed or reduced to a mere trickle as you have found juicier fruits to pluck from the tree.

But just as your business may have changed, so might theirs. Take this open period to get back in touch on an informal basis, find out what’s been happening at their end. Explain, diplomatically of course, your own successes.

Are there ways you can work together again? There probably are. Now’s the time to find out, not when you’re two days pre-deadline on a huge project for another client.

Financial Fastidiousness

Yes, it’s everything you have been putting off, but it needs to be done, and a little lull offers you ample time to fastidiously go through all your accounts and financial admin with a small toothcomb.

By taking this opportunity to really get into the nitty-gritty with your accounting hygiene, you will save so much stress and effort at a later date when the taxman comes a-calling. And the taxman always comes a-calling.

By the same golden token, that minor invoice you sent out in the last quarter which still hasn’t been paid? That would still be better sitting in your revenue pot wouldn’t it? Then make the call.

IT Security

Being a small business, your eye may well have been on one of the many other balls you have to juggle.

A downtime is a good time to bolster your security defences against hackers who see SMBs as easy targets. Let’s face it, you may well have been allocating your budgets to other things – marketing to get your product out there and in front of the right audience, staff to get fill the skills gap your client’s requirement demands, maybe even just on office equipment. But you may not have put any investment into safeguarding the key documentation, research and development files, or precious data which separates you from your competitors that, should it fall into the wrong hands, would spark disaster.

Then use this quiet time wisely – make sure your unique business assets have the protection they deserve.

Brave New Worlds

Another by product of being so absorbed in your current slate of projects is that forward-planning can be pushed over to the sideboard. But emerging markets, flexible web-based technologies and changes in world politics are constantly shifting the sands of potential commercial markets for you and your product offerings. So what are you doing about it?

Another way to take full advantage of your down time is to really give some thought to the analysis of potential new markets for your products and how to get them there. That way you can add another layer to your marketing plan for the coming 12-18 months and really have a crack at opening up new streams of revenue.

Update Your Skills and Knowledge

Attending a management training session, a meet-up with other entrepreneurs in the same boat as you, or even a totally objective look at your market and product offering can revitalise your approach.

Similarly, it is highly likely that you will have by now noticed areas in your own skill set which are lacking or which could use a turbo boost in some respect. So why not take some time away from the usual workspace and take that training course you have been craving, or allow your staff a similar opportunity which could improve your business offering?

And what about your own marketing? Could that do with a re-appraisal now you have some time to think about it? The answer is usually yes. Step back and analyze its effectiveness to date. What new tools, channels and media are available to you to talk to your audience? Now’s the time to try them out and, if warranted, assimilate them into your marketing strategy.

So, though a lull in your business might feel a little disheartening, turn the experience on its head and make it work to your advantage. Who knows, it may just give your business that extra edge when the tide changes again and the ebb is replaced by flow.

Making an impact on the World Wide Web can be daunting for small businesses. The initial instinct is often to appeal to the largest audience possible online. However, when your brick and mortar business is located in a provincial town, small businesses can benefit better from local SEO than an all-encompassing search strategy. Optimising local search listings can help small businesses increase their online presence with limited budget.

Optimise Locally

Small businesses can compete with big brands if they optimise locally. You can grow your brand online by taking a more targeted approach to SEO. Small businesses have better chance of gaining visibility in the organic search results if they target areas where competition is lower. This means targeting long tail key phrases relevant to the local area or areas where consumers are more likely to be interested in your products. For example, businesses selling farming equipment may want to optimise for local rural locations rather than urban city areas.

Geo-Specific Keywords

Small businesses competing in their local area, both on and offline need to optimise their website for local search. It makes sense to target people most likely to do business with you. Unless it is a big brand, people prefer to buy locally as businesses closer to home develop a sense of trust amongst locals who can recommend them. Perhaps your business can’t compete with the big brands for search terms like “wedding dress agency”, but “TOWN wedding dress agency” may be a better option for you. You can even narrow it down further and select phrases that target specific areas within your town.

Google Places

97% of consumers search for local businesses online even if they intend to purchase their products online too, so it makes sense to go local with your SEO strategy. If your business has a physical location, it is even more important to register with Google Places. Consumers will be searching for businesses around them on a map on their phone, which means they are more likely to convert. Additionally, it is easier for small businesses to rank higher on this type of online places compared to traditional local directory listings.

Mobile Ready

More and more people are searching on the go so it is important for small businesses to catch their customers when they are in the vicinity. You can make sure your business appears right when customers are ready to purchase by making your site locally optimised for mobile searchers.

Going Social

For small businesses it can be difficult to find the marketing budget to spread the word about their products. Embracing social media platforms can help your site perform better in the search engines when it comes to local listings. Often your address, a map and local friends will be shown, helping to increase consumer trust in your brand and products. It is a great platform for complementing your local SEO strategy.

James Raglan writes for a local SEO company in Leeds, UK

Many small business owners make the mistake of assuming they can’t afford to hire a recruiting firm. In reality they cannot afford not to retain expert assistance when it comes to expanding their labor force. Not only can busy small business owners save time and money, but they can also be relieved of a stress by delegating recruiting to the professionals who can provide qualified candidates both quickly and efficiently.

Recruiting firms help small businesses in multiple ways as shown below.

Focus on Critical Tasks

Many small business owners lack skills to recruit effectively. Even when they do possess recruiting skills their time is better spent focusing on other critical tasks that are instrumental for the success of their business. Recruiters are experts at finding qualified candidates that will fit the requirements of a specific role. Most business owners don’t have expertise or time to properly source and qualify – or disqualify – potential candidates. Staffing agencies already have the resources such as database, LinkedIn profiles, etc. in place to immediately screen recruiting qualified candidates.

Eliminate Unqualified Applicants

Making a wrong hiring decision can be expensive for a small business.  A qualified recruiter can focus on quickly narrowing the list of potential candidates who have necessary skills so that more time can be spent with each qualified candidate, while screening out those who wouldn’t be a good fit with the role, the team, or the company’s culture.

Save Money

The company will also save money on advertising for new employees, which in most cases brings in sub-par or unqualified candidates. While they do have to pay fees to the recruiting firm, the amount paid is made up in getting the qualified candidates who will help grow your business quickly.

Expand Growth to Meet Demand

Getting a critical role filled quickly is necessary for expanding small business operations. Failing to do so can lead to loss of sales and deterioration of business operations. When your small business is going to hyper growth period you cannot afford to waste time in filling the critical needs. Recruiting firms can help meet the demand so your business can stay on the growth curve.

Save Time

In small businesses every employee plays pivotal role and performs multiple tasks. Small business owners cannot afford to lose time in bringing new employee onboard. Any extra time spent in hiring new employee impacts the business. Hiring external recruiters can save time since they already have pool of qualified candidates that can be interviewed quickly.

Decrease Liability

Recruiters can target the best talent working at your direct competitors without legal liability, something a business owner or employee can’t always do without attracting unwanted attention.

In order to receive the very best service possible, small business owners and managers should try to find a recruiting firm that specializes in their specific industry. Finance recruiters can help companies in fields related to accounting and finance. Semiconductor and computer hardware start-ups and software companies can benefit greatly by using a recruiting firm that focuses on recruiting high-tech engineers and technical specialists. There are recruiting agencies that concentrate on hospitality workers, doctors and nurses, retail employees or even very narrow niche industries. Most of these experts can be found in online directories or have profiles on social media websites.

Relocating your business office requires a lot of planning and attention to details. You may have to temporarily close or scale down your operation, which can result in financial loss. Your new location may inconvenience your existing customers and business associates. In your hurry or enthusiasm, you may overlook many things crucial to the success of your business. Therefore, you must plan your business relocation with utmost care and execute every step meticulously.

Here are 6 tips on how to relocate your small business office:

1. Select a better location: Regardless of why you have decided to relocate your office, select a location which is better than your current location. This doesn’t necessarily mean a bigger and better office; it means a place that will be more easily accessible to your existing and new customers. Of course, it has to have all the services, facilities and amenities necessary to run your business smoothly.
2. Create a plan and execute it: After you have found the right place, create a plan with a precise timeline for moving. If you are not being evicted or compelled to move out due to unavoidable circumstances, then plan at least 4 – 6 months ahead. Set a start and end date for everything including commencement of lease/rent, furnishing, decoration, packing, moving and inauguration. Delegate responsibilities to your staff and make sure they meet all the deadlines.
3. Inform your staff, customers and business associates: Unless you are running away, anyone who is connected to your business in anyway should know when and where you are relocating. Inform your employees, customers and business associates well in advance. Explain to them why you are moving to make sure there are no speculations and rumors that may be detrimental to your business.
4. Do not move before the office is ready for operation: Do not be in a hurry to move without your new office being ready for operation. Make sure all the furniture, decorations, equipment and services (electricity, telephone, internet, water, etc) are in place. Doing interior decoration, electrical fittings and plumbing after you have moved obstructs your work and also costs more.
5. Make sure you don’t have any unpaid bills: It’s unethical to move without paying all of your bills or fixing anything you may have damaged. Make sure that you do not have any unpaid bills and maintenance issues. Make a clean exit so there is nothing to worry about when you leave.
6. Use relocation as an opportunity to upgrade and advertise: Relocation gives you an opportunity to upgrade your office and advertise your business. Replace all your old equipment and furniture if you can afford to do so. Announce your new location and invite the locals as well as existing customers to grand opening. Give promotional discounts to attract new customers for a limited period.

Relocating your business office can be challenging, but it can also provide you with new opportunities. How you overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities will have important implications for the success or failure of your business.  Be sure to consult with the city’s business economic development centre to help guide your business through a successful relocation.

About the author: John Hallinston is a professional career management consultant who helps business and individual take the right path.  You can find more his work on his blog, Career Focus Café.

Most companies now use at least some level of social media to promote their business. Assuming your company uses this method of promotion, it is important to ensure that your online message is professional and consistent.

Large companies create detailed social media policies to make clear to staff exactly how their businesses can and should contribute to these online platforms. This ensures that the company creates the correct impression across all of their online presence – from blog posts to Twitter “tweets.”

Given the high visibility and spontaneous nature of social media, it is fair to say that creating a social media policy is equally important for a smaller business, to ensure that costly mistakes are not made when interacting with customers online.

What Should a Social Media Policy Include?

Your social media policy should consider:

1. Tone

Do you want your business posts, updates and tweets to be formal and business-like or more conversational? Consider your audience, along with the impression you wish to give – are you providing information or do you wish to encourage online interaction?

2. Frequency

It is widely considered that the frequency of published blog posts, tweets and updates should remain consistent to avoid confusing or alienating audiences. You should ensure your social media policy takes this into account to avoid your company being over-active or (worse) dormant on social media.

3. Responsibilities

Who is responsible for maintaining your social media presence? Is it the duty of a specific member of staff? Are other staff allowed to communicate via your company’s social media channels? These issues must be clearly defined.

4. Restrictions

It is advisable to decide exactly what your staff can and cannot do online in the name of your company. For example, you may decide to forbid staff from getting dragged into online disagreements or from commenting or contributing to the blogs or newsfeeds of key competitors.

Similarly, you may decide to instruct that no staff may discuss your company online, other than those specifically tasked with maintaining your social media channels.

Launching your Social Media Policy

It’s important that your staff understand the reasoning behind your social media policy. For this reason, it is wise to formally launch it internally and perhaps carry out some training to ensure staff understand the need for it.

Staff may think that contributing to online discussions in the name of your business is harmless, or perhaps helpful, without considering the need for consistency of tone and message. Employees may not consider the data protection implications of informally helping customers online.

The purpose of the social media policy is not just to give staff a list of restrictions – it is to ensure they understand the importance of social media as a very visible public face of the company. If your small business doesn’t yet have a social media policy, it’s time to add the task to your “to do” list.

Debbie Thomson is a Content Marketing Specialist at GFI MAX, she is also a keen blogger and enjoys writing about many topics including business, technology and marketing.

Image Courtesy:   ShutterStock

According to a nationwide survey conducted by the National Cybersecurity Alliance, 73 percent of small businesses rely on trusted Internet connections and 77 percent report that information security is of the utmost importance. Despite this, over 87 percent of small businesses are unprepared for data breaches that may occur online or through other, traditional methods.

The Risks of Tax Season

One of the worst times when it comes to security risks is tax season. In the weeks leading up to tax day, business administrators, bookkeepers and accountants begin pulling files and documents from cabinets and start sorting and transferring electronic files to various hard drives. Documents with sensitive company or customer data that were once in secure locations may wind up in places that are easily compromised.

The aforementioned chaos of tax season creates perfect environment for data theft. Some businesses may take care to lock up paper documents and forget about computer files while others secure hard drives but leave paper files in areas accessible to just about anyone. In addition, some companies may keep their paper files secure while they are still in use, but when they are finished with them, they are tossed in the trash instead of going through security shredding.

Computer Network Security

Cyber threats during tax season are becoming increasingly common each year, and among all types of businesses, small businesses are those hit the hardest. This is because most small businesses do not have the money in their budgets to hire a fulltime IT staff or to purchase the latest security equipment.

Combating online attacks during tax season starts with securing company email accounts and email servers. One of the ways thieves get into computer networks is through phishing attacks. Phishing occurs when data thieves send emails that appear to be legitimate but trick recipients into inadvertently giving up security data or installing malware programs.

The next important step in online security is to use a reputable firewall. Software firewalls are powerful tools that can keep hackers out of computer networks and prevent them from removing any data they find if they do get inside the network. Along with a firewall, a small business must have an antivirus suite installed so that hackers cannot use malware to obtain access to sensitive information.

Paper Document Security

While many businesses are attempting to go paperless, very few are able to do so completely. Whenever sensitive documents are not in use, they should be safely secured in locked file cabinets, closets or safes. When the documents are being used, a trusted individual should always be present.
 

The easiest way to steal information on paper is to wait until sensitive material is thrown in the trash. It is not too difficult to take full bags of documents from dumpsters in a search for valuable data. The best defense against this is shredding. Businesses that do not have their own shredders or that have too much paperwork for employees to shred can look into hiring a reputable company that specializes in security shredding.

About the author: George Hillston is an information security specialist who loves to write any about business.