Do Business Well

Retirement is a joy to some and a misery to others. The reaction for the latter group can be so extreme that retirement can almost be seen as a death sentence. Without getting too moribund, let me say that retirement is a concern which all too often is put on the shelf until the retirement period arrives. If not sufficient forethought has been given to this important period of one’s life, the retired individual can sit perplexed and despondent, wondering how to occupy each day.

The ideal preparation for retirement is performed during the working years when the vigour is there to establish hobbies and interests and make productive plans. Continue Reading »

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Income statement. You’ll want to produce one every month. Your business can be in big trouble for a long time and you won’t even know it without an income statement. We have fully detailed the income statement in section 2, part 6.

Inventory. This is the value of all merchandise that you carry for resale. It does not include office furniture, production equipment, or other items that aren’t being offered for sale. As mentioned above, there are some very sophisticated aspects to placing a value on that inventory. Continue Reading »

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The best benefits are those that favorably affect either people’sfeelings or their pocketbooks. Entrepreneurs who can express the market impact of their business in those terms usually have an advantage. For example, I read a local newspaper article about two women who had started a highly successful mail-order business selling clothing for overweight children. The children were thrilled with the product because of the difficulties—and the humiliation—they encountered shopping for clothes at traditional retail outlets. As one of the women observed, “What we’re really selling is dignity for these children.”

And so this company was. Sure, their clothing was of high quality and they delivered in a timely way. But the real reason for their success was they made children feel better. That pleased both the children and their parents. Continue Reading »

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It is not at all unusual for newcomers to franchising to go into a state of shock when they first realise the complexity of a typical franchise t agreement. But whilst efforts to draft franchise agreements in plain English, thereby enhancing their user-friendliness, are laudable, attempts to keep them “short and sweet” are generally doomed to failure. The reason for this is that unlike other legal agreements that will deal with one specific transaction, a franchise agreement has to cover an entire portfolio of commercial arrangements of varying complexity that may appear to be almost unrelated, yet, by virtue of the fact that they are part of one specific franchise arrangement, they are in fact closely intertwined.

To illustrate this point, let us look at just one of the areas that are dealt with in a typical franchise agreement, namely the grant of the franchise.

The Grant

A franchise is granted, never sold. Typically, franchisees will be licensed to operate one unit of the franchise, either at a specific address or within a clearly defined territory, using the system’s brand name(s) and corporate mage, sometimes known as the get-up, as well as its know-how as described in the franchise agreement and the operations and procedures manual. Continue Reading »

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