List of bookreview

Franchising represents more than 10% of the private sector economy and 14% of the jobs

If you’re looking to have your own fast food franchise, here’s a typical scenario. You will have to have $175,000 that isn’t borrowed, provide 40% of the funds (also not borrowed) it takes to open the restaurant which can range from $400,000 to $750,000, and find a profitable location. Due to the complication of the franchise game, Joe Mathews, Don DeBolt and Deb Percival pulled their expertise in their new book, Street Smart Franchising (Entrepreneur Press, July 2006). It does what other franchising books won’t-it reveals the challenges within the franchise game using rare stories taken straight from the trenches.

In the U.S. alone, there are an estimated 2000 different franchisors as well as more than 770,000 retail outlets. These retail outlets employ over 8 million people, and account for more than 1 trillion dollars in annual sales. Mathews, DeBolt and Percival offer an in-depth look into what happens during the investigation and ramp up of a franchise business as well as “real world” tactics and strategies for succeeding in franchising. They also demonstrate how humanity impacts franchising. For instance, most entrepreneurs naturally resist external controls and systems, meaning the people most likely to purchase a franchise are least likely to follow the system they just invested in.

What makes Street Smart Franchising most unique is the fact that it offers “street smarts” as opposed to “book smarts.” Mathews and DeBolt realize that what’s taught in the classroom doesn’t always work in real life. Case studies can’t help a franchisee when they awaken at 1 o’clock in the morning for the third sleepless night in a row because they are consumed by the stress of a start up business. However, a franchisee can pick up Street Smart Franchising and discover high stress and loss of sleep is normal and temporary in the start up stage of the life cycle of their business as well as find successful strategies for managing stress during this critical stage and how to successfully navigate towards the next stage.

Joe Mathews has worked as a franchising manager for Subway, Blimpie, Motophoto, and Entrepreneur Source. In 2002, Mathews founded the Franchise Performance Group and became a consultant, helping franchise companies excel in the business of franchising. Mathews resides in Connecticut with his wife and three children. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Connecticut.

Don DeBolt is former president of the International Franchise Association (IFA), one of the world’s oldest and largest trade associations representing the franchise community. He has served as a member of the Committee of 100 and the Public Affairs Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; a member of the Department of Commerce's Industry Sector Advisory Committee on Wholesaling and Retailing for Trade Policy Matters; sat on the board of directors of the Small Business Legislative Council and the National Cooperative Bank's Retail Finance Corporation; and was a member of the National Congress for Community Economic Development Advisory Council.

Deb Percival works in franchise development and has an extensive background in writing. Before joining the world of franchising she worked in marketing for 20 years, owning her own public relations firm for 12 of those years. Her clients have included national and international corporations and her writing has received numerous awards for content, clarity and originality.

For more information, check out www.FranchisePerformanceGroup.com. To schedule an interview, please contact Erika Sumner, PR by the Book, (281) 895-7190, erika@prbythebook.com.

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Street Smart Franchising asin: 1599180219 binding: Paperback list price: $19.95 amazon price: $13.57

Jump on the Entrepreneur Bus!

Bill Wagner Analyzes; Is Your Personality the Ticket to Financial Freedom? 

(CALIFORNIA) Someone once said “There are no elevators to success. You have to take the stairs.” Perhaps there are no elevators, but when armed with The Entrepreneur Next Door, there are certainly escalators. In The Entrepreneur Next Door (Entrepreneur Press, June 2006), Bill Wagner analyzes the characteristics and personality traits that make up a successful entrepreneur and invites readers to take an online personality test to determine their own entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses. 

The Five-Tier Performance Pyramid outlined in this book helps the reader learn more about their own personality, job behaviors, actions, results and metrics in comparison with those of already successful entrepreneurs.  Studies have shown that a person will be five times more successful in a position if he or she has the right personality for that particular job.  In addition, research indicates that many personality types, even less entrepreneurial ones, actually do have the potential to birth a successful business.    

Wagner says, “Over the past eight years, I, and the members of my company, Accord Management Systems Inc., have interviewed and studied the behaviors of more than 1,500 fearless business founders and leaders. Most were under 40 years old, primarily in their 20s and 30s. They also all had annual sales of more than $1 million. What we discovered from our study is that, as different as these entrepreneurs appear, with relation to each other, they share a number of common personality traits.  These traits were the predominant indicators of their success; far outweighing what we usually rely on to determine one’s success: education, family ties, skills, and experience.” Wagner is the top expert on understanding workplace behavior and knows what successful traits entrepreneurs posses that lead to financial independence.  He can tell potential entrepreneurs how to start a business based on their best qualities and skills, and what they can do to achieve entrepreneurial success. 

Bill Wagner is widely respected speaker at more than 100 nationwide events annually.  He is a Certified Speaking Professional and a member of the National Speaking Association as well as the Institute on Management Consultants. He works daily with entrepreneur-focused organizations such as, Vistage, The Young Entrepreneur Organization, and the International Franchise Association.   Wagner is also a widely published author who has been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, California CEO, LA Business Journal, Franchise World and the Wall Street Journal.  Wagner is the CEO and co-founder of Accord Management Systems, Inc., a behavioral consultancy born on the premise of helping executives and entrepreneurs get the “people side of business right.”  His company focuses on bringing a fresh and objective perspective to the business world. Bill Wagner promises to teach both novice entrepreneurs and accomplished business leaders alike how to identify their own unique personalities and use those traits to run a successful company. 

For more information and to take the FREE entrepreneur test, check out www.theentrepreneurnextdoor.com.  To schedule an interview, please contact Erika Sumner, PR by the Book, (281) 895-7190, erika@prbythebook.com.###

The Entrepreneur Next Door asin: 1932531963 binding: Paperback list price: $19.95 amazon price: $19.95

Author's Comments: Franchising for Dummies was written by the late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's and myself as a primer for prospective and current franchisors and franchisees.  It carefully takes the reader through the legal issues surrounding franchising, helps the prospective franchisee understand how they should approach the selection of a franchise and also provides them guidance on operating their businesses and working within a franchise setting.  For more mature or larger franchisees it deals with issues related to conflicts with the franchisor, terminations, expirations and acquiring additional or new franchise opportunities.  For prospective and current franchisors it looks closely at how to become a franchisor and also how to manage the franchise relationship once you are a franchisor and how to expand their system domestically and internationally.  It does not replace the need for professional business and legal advisors but allows the franchisor and franchisee to have a solid grounding into the world of franchising that will make them better decision makers, business managers and operators.

In late September 2006, Franchising for Dummies 2nd edition will be published.  The 2nd edition is greatly expanded from the first edition.

While it contains all of the same information in an updated version, it adds considerably to the knowledge for franchisors and franchisees.  The 2nd edition also contains a vast CD Rom that also includes contributions from some of the most experienced franchise advisors in franchising.  On the CD ROM you will find a workbook entitled Making the Franchise Decision which we wrote to help franchisees work through the process of asking questions and gathering information from franchisors as they make their decision on which franchise to select.  It also contains a sample Employee Handbook, an analysis of international laws, an analysis of the construction of a UFOC, A Franchise Sales and Compliance Manual for franchisors, two real estate workbooks - one for franchisees to assist them in finding the perfect location and the other for franchisors in managing the system's real estate issues among other checklists and articles that could not be included in the written text.  We are excited about the launch of the 2nd edition and as with the first edition, all proceeds from the book that would be earned by the authors has been donated to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

Michael H. Seid
Managing Director
Michael H. Seid & Associates (MSA)
94 Mohegan DriveWest Hartford, CT  06117
(860) 523-4257(860) 523-4530 - facsimile
www.msaworldwide.com

Franchising for Dummies asin: 0764551604 binding: Paperback list price: $19.99 amazon price: $19.99

Ad veteran George Parker's "Madscam" is a common sense refresher on the basics of coming up with a solid ad program, written in a straight-up style with examples, reminders, and enough entertaining and well-deserved rants to keep it entertaining.  I liked it so much I made a little video book review. Though it's intended for small to medium businesses and entrepreneurs, most creative types I've talked with think it belongs on their bookshelves, too.

Madscam asin: 1599180421 binding: Paperback list price: $19.95 amazon price: $14.96

If you have not read this, and are either a part of the franchise industry, or you want to be in the future, this Gerber is a must read!

A story of a shop owner who needs to "work ON the business, as opposed to working IN the business"

The book teaches you the importance of systems.

Franpro

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It asin: 0887307280 binding: Paperback list price: $16.95 amazon price: $11.53

This book gives you 21 ways to out-think and out-perform your competition. Gives great advice on networking, and marketing.

Franpro

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Ea asin: 0312284543 binding: Paperback list price: $15.95 amazon price: $10.85

MOBY-DICK'S LEADERSHIP LESSONS FOR A FRANCHISE OWNER

Maybe it's a sign of getting old but works of literature that speak about tragedy and redemption resonate well with me. It has taken me a couple of decades of adult life to re-discover the great American novel, Moby-Dick.

It is a quintessential American tale that takes place around the whaling ship Pequod. The MBA graduate in me, the Starbuck in me, warms to to the Americanness of community being a business -- not a castle with vassals, not a warring ship -- and the lessons learned of a failed business and the weaknesses of its stakeholders in being able to stop a boss run amuck.

The ship Pequod, which Ahab captained, was a business within a business, much like a franchise that operates within the business of a franchiser. Likewise, at the time Melville wrote Moby-Dick, America was at the height of its world's leadership position in whaling for oil, much like the bulk of the world's major franchisers are centered in America today.

Yet, despite all the ships coming back to New England laden with lucrative whale oil that fueled the economy, the Pequod met with disastrous results. Ahab ignored the operations manual and system standards. He thought he knew better. Instead, he set out on a different path than the franchiser (the brand investors back in HQ). 

There is something hypnotic about Ahab and the White Whale. We understand Ahab's desire not to accept the status quo, to tame the very whale that had maimed him and so many others. How many of us would like to be able to control a nature that destroys blindly or a market that also can bring low rich men? Ahab is such an individual. If God does not want us to build a tower of Babel or travel to the moon, Ahab is someone that takes no heed of such things. He doesn't seem to know the meaning of "don't rock the boat" as others might and pushes that ship to its limit. As he hunts the unattainable Moby Dick, one cannot help but admire his chutzpah and his leadership skills in rallying the crew to this "unholy" act.

And poor Starbuck, the family man. He knows if Ahab does not change his course, all of them are on a one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean. He tries in vain to use his business analytic skills to persuade the stubborn captain to focus back on the company mission and to comply with system standards. He even has an opportunity to terminate Ahab the hard way (by bullet), but he has no stomach to pull the trigger.

And in the end, the Pequod and most of its crew are destroyed.

Favorite Moby-Dick Quotes By Topic:

•  On Making Do With What We Get (Ishmael)
  "And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this:
  GRAND CONTESTED ELECTION FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES
  Whaling voyage by one Ishmael
  BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN

• On Diversity & the Ability to Step Into Another's Shoes (Ishmael)
  "Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed."

• On the Wonder of the Grand Prize (Ishmael)
  "...the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air."

• On Revenge & Stubbornness (Ahab)
  "Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"

  Other resources:

• Moby-Dick: Franchisee Failure. (podcast 14:15 min) Blue MauMau's interview with Dr. Beth Schulz and CEO Shaun Higgins
• PRI’s entire Moby-Dick radio broadcast (22:38 min)
• PRI’s Studio 360, American Icon, Moby-Dick
• Famous quotes from Moby-Dick
• Wikipedia on Moby Dick

Moby-Dick (Bantam Classics) asin: 0553213113 binding: Mass Market Paperback list price: $4.95 amazon price: $4.95

I liked Peter Birkeland’s book Franchising Dreams: The Lure of Entrepreneurship in America so much that since reading it years ago, I have recommended it to corporate franchise officers, master franchisees, franchise owners, franchise developers and of course, those thinking about owning a franchise. It’s just plain good reading because it tells franchising through the viewpoints of its various players and through their stories. I consider it one of the top books on franchising.

Through interviews, one gets an overview of the different types of franchise systems, franchise basics and what many franchisers consider an “ideal” franchise owner. Having spent countless hours researching, interviewing, mingling, and working with owners, chain executives and support staff, Birkeland tells the story of franchising by letting its players tell their story. In so doing, the reader learns about the technical aspects of franchising risks, the pitfalls and the challenges.

Birkeland is the CEO of his own business consultancy. A professor and lecturer at the University of Chicago and Minnesota, he has been featured in print and radio.

Don Sniegowski

Franchising Dreams: The Lure of Entrepreneurship in America asin: 0226051919 binding: Paperback list price: $15.00 amazon price: $15.00

There’s a new book out that you should place at the top of your “must read” list if you are searching for a franchise opportunity. Franchise Times Guide to Selecting, Buying and Owning a Franchise gives an overall view on buying a franchise and includes the results of many interviews. The author, Franchise Times journalist Julie Bennett, interviewed owners after their “honeymoon” stage. Franchisees were asked when their business broke even, whether they were making a good living, what was the hardest part about owning their business and more.

Various insiders, such as franchisee attorneys Michael Dady and Justin Klein, point out pitfalls to be wary of when selecting a franchise. There are also brief descriptions of what it’s like to work in some franchise industry segments, such as fast-food restaurants or quick-print shops.

Surprisingly, at close to 400 pages, there just isn’t enough space to cover topics in depth. The 2006 directory of the top 300 franchises by system-wide revenue takes up almost a hundred pages. Some paper could have been saved by just linking to Franchise Times' updated 2007 online directory. It is also not apparent why the franchise candidate needs to look at this list. After all, some on the list could have become big the bad way—by gouging franchise owners.

A few unsupported myths are passed within its pages. For example, one firm gives an easy self-test to determine if you have the right stuff to be a franchisee as opposed to a more free-wheeling "entrepreneur" (defined as an owner of an independent business). E.g., a franchisee was an A student, while an entrepreneur was a C. A franchisee drives a family car, but an entrepreneur drives a sports car. Which one are you? And remember, "operating a franchise is never a replacement for a job."

Despite such nuances that come with interviewing a lot of people, this book is still one of the best introductions to selecting and buying a franchise. I appreciated the cost comparisons throughout the book. For example, you can compare the land, build-out, equipment and fees between a family or casual restaurant. Considerable talent and publishing know-how are brought together to create a well laid out book with good content.

Click the link below to buy the book via Amazon.com. 

Franchise Times Guide to Selecting, Buying & Owning a Franchise asin: 1402743939 binding: Paperback list price: $17.95 amazon price: $13.28

When we have needed to understand the empirical evidence and realities of a certain aspect of franchising, Blue MauMau has sought out Scott Shane.

In his latest book, The Illusions of Entrepreneurship, Shane declares, "The information in this book will help you to get the facts right and disabuse you of many of the myths about entrepreneurship." And after reading his book, I am convinced he is right.

As a publisher, I hear stories like franchise investors walking into a sandwich shop and deciding on the spot, "I'm going to own one of these." They are in pursuit of a dream. Consultants and journals publish such myths to help build heroic entrepreneur stories and dreams. It sells magazines while pleasing franchisor advertisors.

Shane, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University, shares with us that most entrepreneurs do not engage in due diligence and writing business plans. And unfortunately, their bad information and over-optimism will lead them to make poor investment decisions. Shane makes a simple argument: Entrepreneurs should focus on industry segments that have higher profit and higher potential. He shares how to identify them.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship is written in an easy to read and direct style. Besides charts and supporting evidence to explain why a particular myth isn't valid, all busted myths are summarized at the end of each chapter.

If you are interested in making informed investment decisions based on better evidence and less conjecture, then Shane's The Illusions of Entrepreneurship is an indispensable handbook to help point you in the right direction to make more profitable decisions.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers asin: 0300113315 binding: Hardcover list price: $26.00 amazon price: $17.16