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The Good Oil on Franchising Australian Style
Success or Failure Via a Franchise – The Good OilFrom the outset of this article let me put this clear and simple -You and you alone are the driving force behind your success whatever the venture or event. You chart your own destiny or downfall position or disposition. Think about this, you have just been told you’re plane is not on time or your vehicle wont be ready for another 30 minutes. Your direct and applied reaction to these negative situations will affect your well being now, and in the future.Having said that let me come down off my soap box and talk about my factual experiences with Franchising. There’s a saying “Walk in the other persons shoes before you comment”. I have walked in these shoes and there are pluses and like life, aspects which are not so positive.The Franchise name will remain a blur although I will and can say my involvement was in the fields of Australian commercial mowing and commercial cleaning. Two separate businesses run by my wife and I with help from casual staff.I believe Franchises in these business areas are for first time business owners who want to work either by themselves

e. Six months later his aunt send me a clipping from their local newspaper announcing the sale of this seventy year old otherwise successful business. It was tragic for everybody.

What about your company, what is the cost of workplace conflict there? It's possible to detail the dollars and sense cost, but that may not be enough to get you to take action no matter how much it is. You may be saying to yourself that even with these costs we're still doing fine financially so why rock the boat anymore than it already is?

What about the quality of life costs to everyone involved? What about the psychic and emotional cost of wasting time dealing with the results of the conflict? What about the lowered job motivation and reduced productivity created by the confl

On The Job Training is Something You Cana(tm)t Afford to Skip
Trained employees are more productive employees; there??™s no doubt about that. Whether you??™re your only employee or whether you??™ve got a growing staff, put OJT (on the job training) at the top of your To-Do list.Every job, no matter what it is, is done better and faster when those responsible for doing it are properly trained. In theory this sounds good. But in reality, small growing companies rarely have money in their operating budgets to cover training costs.Job-related training whether for yourself or for your employees is expensive in the short run. But in the long run, not offering training often costs more. The good news is that job-related training no longer means traveling to expensive seminars and courses. A variety of affordable training tools is available today. Much of this training is available without leaving your desk.Whether it??™s learning to use the software tools you purchased to run your business, or to stay abreast of ever-changing laws covering everything from sexual harassment to homeland security, you??™ll find cost-effective training material suitable for your

Over the years I have come across several tools that will put a dollars and sense value on the matter of workplace conflict and the importance of its resolution. There are several assumptions in each of them, based on academic studies as well as national, international, and industry averages. They calculate the cost of replacing person "causing" the conflict, the number of times you must do so each year, and many other relevant factors.

In the end you can come up with an amount of money, the ACTUAL HARD DOLLAR COST of workplace conflict in your organization, that is overwhelming. So overwhelming in fact that many business owners will decide not to believe the numbers.

Instead, they end up taking the attitude that it is easier to deal with the miserable situation they're in than it is to figure a way out of the cycle of conflict that surrounds them.

Or, and this is the case with most family businesses, they can't get rid of the trouble makers anyway - because they're your kids, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, etc. so it's better not to even undertake the exercise in the first place.

We live in such a microwave environment that we have come to feel, in most situations, that if we can't see how the problem - whatever it is, can't be fixed instantly, then its not worth the trouble. And since you know you can't "straighten out" your nephew immediately you just shrug and try to deal with him as best you can.

We fail to remember that it took years, decades sometimes, to get in the situation we're in - so it follows that it will take time and effort to get out of it.

Instead of giving up and living with the conflict, even if it is just the nagging continual low grade stress caused by continual friction - stop and consider that you and everyone around you will be living the rest of their lives in the future you are creating today.

If you won't confront the matter now, you will spend the rest of your life trying to "manage" it.

In my experience the folks who are causing all the problems are not necessarily bad people. Ok, some of them are and since they were dropped on you because you're their uncle or something - you will have to do the best you can even when they are worthless jerks. It's not like they're going away or anything.

So, what can you do? In most cases it's a simple process. Simple because it is pretty straightforward and something you can often do for yourself. But it may be far from easy, especially if the individual(s) causing the problems have become so isolated as the problem themselves that they feel an obligation to keep stirring things up. Crazy isn't it?

One time I was meeting with just such a person. I told him that based on my experience with people like his uncles that if he did not get on board and work with them to design a future they could all live together in, that it would bring down the business.

His response, "I know what you're saying Wayne" told me the future of their enterprise. He understood my words, he was a bright guy after all, but he was not going to change. Six months later his aunt send me a clipping from their local newspaper announcing the sale of this seventy year old otherwise successful business. It was tragic for everybody.

Freelancing for Dummies
Freelancing is one of the most lucrative ways to earn a living nowadays. You can do it as a side business or you can do it as your regular one. It really depends on how much you can do and how much you can earn from the assignments that you get.One thing good about freelancing is the fact that you don’t have to have any scheduled time. Unlike regular work, wherein you have to come to work at a prescribed hour and render a specific number of hours of work, in freelancing, you work only until the project is done. Afterwards, your time is free.Freelancing for the first time, however can be pretty daunting especially if you don’t have the experience to back you up. For those who is thinking of plunging in, better think twice. You must remember that though freelancing can become a career, not everyone is cut out for it. It is not a career that everybody can take on without sufficient experience and contacts. If you have to do it, make it your sideline first and then gradually ease out of your regular job if the pay is already enough to support all your monthly expenses.Below are some tips for people who are just at the beginni

tuation they're in than it is to figure a way out of the cycle of conflict that surrounds them.

We fail to remember that it took years, decades sometimes, to get in the situation we're in - so it follows that it will take time and effort to get out of it.

If you won't confront the matter now, you will spend the rest of your life trying to "manage" it.

Customer Service – the Best Way to Deal with Customers
Dealing with customers is not easy - each one brings to the transaction their own history, experiences and current state of mind. Some may, consciously or not, be seeking to let off steam, and you may be a convenient outlet!Having acknowledged that customer service is a tough job to do well, it is hardly surprising that those in the front line sometimes assume indifference and act as though they don’t care. We have all come across the ‘jobsworth’ who explains away poor customer service by blaming company policy or another department. Indifference can be a protection against what sometimes feels like a very personal attack.Without the protection of indifference, we run the risk of customers upsetting us either by hurting our feelings or by being drawn into an angry confrontation. Or we may keep our cool while speaking to the customer, but once they are out of the door or have put the phone down, we let loose with a torrent of abuse! Maybe we feel we can handle all the stress of our day, only to drive like a maniac on the way home or arrive in a foul mood.Ideally, the best possible way we can approach customer service

t follows that it will take time and effort to get out of it.

If you won't confront the matter now, you will spend the rest of your life trying to "manage" it.

How Riding a Motorcycle on the White Line is like Reaching for our Sales Goals
WOW! What a rush it is to ride the white line on a California highway. It is like living on the edge of danger. You might not know that California has an interesting vehicle law that allows motorcycles to ride between traffic. Yes, between traffic lanes, on the painted white line that separates traffic.Last week it was a typical California day. I was on my motorcycle in heavy traffic wearing protective gear such as a leather jacket, full face helmet with boots. The speedometer is wavering at 10 miles per hour and in 90 degree's it was HOT! Realizing that my destination was another 30 miles away, baking on asphalt really lacked appeal. The motivation of getting out of this situation led me to follow a passing biker who seemed to part the narrow traffic gap like Moses parted the seas.As I carefully maneuvered through the traffic riding the white line, my confidence grew. My eyes bounced around like radar as the large SUV's and 18 wheelers seemed to appear larger than actual size. I felt like a ballet dancer on a tight rope gliding through a narrow tunnel. My eyes were fixed on the opening between cars, not on the obstacles. This i

do? In most cases it's a simple process. Simple because it is pretty straightforward and something you can often do for yourself. But it may be far from easy, especially if the individual(s) causing the problems have become so isolated as the problem themselves that they feel an obligation to keep stirring things up. Crazy isn't it?

It Takes One Grump to Spoil a Brand!
Companies invest millions to create, design, fine-tune, build, promote and extend their brands. Think Nike, Virgin, Versace, Raffles, Amazon.All your investment brings customers to your door (or website) with expectations matching your promotional promise. But when customer meets company ‘face-to-face’, everything hinges on that critical moment.A friend recently moved to Singapore from Australia and went shopping for an appropriate wardrobe. I saw her several hours into the spending spree and heard her say, ‘I love Liz Claiborne, but E––T (a competing brand) can take their clothes and shove it.’ (Australians can be oh-so-delicate in their speech.) She continued, ‘I won’t ever go in one of their stores again.’Wow! That’s strong stuff. Turns out a sales lady at ‘E’ couldn’t be bothered to say hello or help my friend with her questions. She was too busy with a personal call on her mobile phone. And when she hung up, she chatted about the call with her colleague (distracting the colleague from yet another customer) rather than responding to the queries of my friend.To this day, the ‘E’ brand of clothing is like an enem

e. Six months later his aunt send me a clipping from their local newspaper announcing the sale of this seventy year old otherwise successful business. It was tragic for everybody.

What about the cost in terms of production and performance when people take sick days when they are not sick, just in conflict. The resulting loss of productivity is the same whether or not the person missing work is the one causing the conflict or the one effected by it.

Have you done this, restructured the business around the problems or the people "causing" them? This is a frequent tactic with family businesses when the offender can't be fired. The result is a sub-optimized organization with extra steps being added to the process, making it all the more difficult to sustain growth and profitability.

No matter how you try to remove them from the loop, they still figure out how to insinuate themselves into the situation in ways that cause problems. And if you are still able to be successful, they end up taking the credit for it.

Now if these are not enough reasons to get up and do something about the workplace conflict at your place, perhaps this will.

Often the most devastating cost of conflict comes from the degraded decisions that are being made, by the person "causing" the conflict as well as the innocent bystander. People who make the decisions in your business must have all the honest well considered input possible, in order to weigh the options, consider legitimate alternatives, and come to a conclusion.

If the process is being sabotaged with faulty input on purpose the decisions will be flawed. If the person making the decisions has a hidden agenda even though the input is accurate they can still make bad choices for the business.

Imagine the results if a decision inflates your overhead by twenty percent? Or if your profit margin is reduced by ten percent? In every business there are key decisions being made routinely that dramatically impact the future of the business. Normally we believe that they are being made honestly based on the relevant information. What if that's not the case? What if someone feels that this is there chance to get back at you?

Are you motivated to do something now? Ok, let me tell you how I work, because in most cases you can do it yourself.

The first thing I do is talk to everyone - individually, confidentially, and in private. And that included the spouses. What I am looking for is to uncover what is really important to each of them? What they want the future to be for them and their family. This is pretty simple but sometimes very hard to do because they may never have thought of things in these terms.

However when enough effort is put into figuring out and articulating what's important, people often begin to see that since the business is the vehicle for them to achieve their objectives, the conflict and disagreements that negatively impact it - hurt them too.

In the process of isolating what's important I look for their opinion of the situation currently. As they talk about the way things are now, in light of their own future goals and objectives, they may begin to see the reasoning and importance of t

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Create and tweak solo advertisements for ezines. While this form of advertising is no longer as effective as it used to be, it can still generate a lot of subscriptions and sales, provided that the list is still active.

In real estate, farming postcards have become a core part of the agent's marketing program. Agents use postcards to announce their listings, build their brand and attract new clients. But why is it that some agents enjoy such success while others fail?

Winning a government contract can be lucrative for your small business - IF your business is prepared. Once you're ready and understand a few basics, you can build long-lasting and profitable relationships with government agencies in your area.

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