Did You Lower The Bar For Your Business?

You’ve done it. You successfully own a franchise or new business and the first three years have passed without too much trouble. Now 10 years…15…20, each with its own unique opportunity to keep your business perspective fresh and exciting. How do you stay motived and keep your passion thriving?

You’ve already overcome one of the hardest obstacles about business ownership, which is finding a business you find fulfilling and from which you gain a level of satisfaction. When your career matches up with your passions, it is hard to dread the workweek. Yet, that doesn’t mean you’ll wake up refreshed and ready to smell the roses at each ding of the alarm. While your emotions may fluctuate, you can’t lower the bar in your business relationship. It’s a constant give and take and your standards should remain resolute even in the roughest times.

• Realistic Goals: The world around you is rapidly changing, which means your business will be affected. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment, track your progress and celebrate the small milestones as well.

• Embrace Competition: Nothing like a good challenge to awaken the competitor within. Face it, we all like to win and a little healthy competition will encourage you to innovate and explore. Lacking in competition? That’s great! Challenge yourself. Let your friends and coworkers speak their mind and keep your business from becoming stale one way or another.

• Your Business is a Result of Your Efforts: That’s right. Your intentions, actions, efforts will show in your business. It is ideally an extension of you, after all. Make sure you put your best foot forward, or the lack of motivation will start to show in your work.

• Self Mastery: Continue to use the courage that got you to this point to achieve your dreams. Fear, if left unmanaged, will slowly deteriorate your business. Protect your future with courage and self-belief. Master your fears and always say you can do better. In turn, appreciate what you have accomplished and forgive your mistakes.

The bar, so to speak, is never set. It will be reached and repositioned, but only if you’re pushing professional (and personal!) boundaries. Always defy your limits and keep your passions alive.

Do you feel that you’re ready to get started? Let FranNet connect you with the business you’ve been looking for. Ask us about a free consultation. Our purpose is to connect the dots and make the transition from corporate employment to the freedom of business ownership manageable and safe.

Be The Problem Solver

Here is the situation: you own a franchise or small business. It’s the first year, so you are working through the speed bumps every business faces. You have a handful of employees that are pulling your attention to a million different things, the budget is tight but your demands keep growing, and you are still figuring out how to market your brand.

What is the one thing you have to be good at to succeed in this situation? Problem solving.

The only way your business (and your sanity) will make it is if you can take these problems and solve them -- for both your employees and your customers. The more you learn to master critical thinking and problem solving, the more time, energy and money you will save. Excellent problem solvers all go about it differently; however, there are some key steps that you can follow to find a solution.

Before you can do any solving, you must first identify the correct problem. It isn’t as simple as you may think as you need to be asking the right questions and find the root of the issue. After you’ve correctly identified the real problem, you can start the brainstorming.

You may like the idea of working alone, but the brainstorm process may better serve you if you include others. You never know, someone on your team might have the perspective that leads to a quick solution. This is the step that involves a great deal of critical thought, which is more a state-of-mind rather than techniques or tools. Looking at the issues from multiple viewpoints and remaining open minded will lead to the most creative, longer-lasting results.

Evaluate the different ideas you come up with and see how they will impact your goals within the constraints that you have. Shoot for high impact-low complexity ideas and get it done. Try to have a couple plans as a backup in case your original idea falls through; a problem can be solved many ways.

As a franchise owner, you will face many issues – some big and others little. No matter the size, you need to approach and resolve each hurdle with a sense of calm and purpose. Look for the opportunities within the problems, keep it positive and you’ll be ready for any situation.

Do you want to be your own boss? Perhaps it’s time for a free consultation! FranNet has a great track record of assisting individuals on their path to business ownership. Make arrangements to speak with one of our representatives today!

Uncover Powerful Ideas

Inspiration. It seems abundant one day and scarce the next, its unreliable tendencies taunt you constantly and it’s starting to show in your business. Take a moment and try this: stop obsessing over the need for a new idea, back away from your desk and take a walk. Powerful ideas are not hiding, they definitely aren’t avoiding you and their ability to strike fear into your heart ends now.

Inspiration is wild and trying to tame it defeats the whole purpose! The awe and wonder you feel after listening to a symphony wasn’t jotted down 20 minutes earlier, “to be felt later at the symphony.” The vibrant purples and pinks of a sunset don’t glow by appointment. Instead, you pause because it strikes you immediately and disrupts your routine in the best way possible. The connection between the two is the lack of control you have in their existence. Your mind is genuinely inspired by the new sensory input, and this is what you must accept about inspiration. It is literally all around you and cannot be planned or controlled.

Does this mean there’s no hope for your business? Certainly not! If you need more innovation, the best thing to do is cultivate an environment that will encourage these bursts of inspiration. Have creativity-boosting sessions with enticing visuals, office games/exercises and brainstorms. This will undoubtedly change up your routine, and that is just what we want it to do! Don’t stress over how to make your company more appealing, start with the little changes. With the freedom of expression churning internally, your clients will quickly pick up on the differences externally.

The last step after you decide on something is to follow through. Change can be very uncomfortable, but use the support of your team and deliver on your promises. Also remember that you aren’t alone and your coworkers are priceless when it comes to freshening up your business. They spend just as much time involved with keeping the business running and have much to offer. Get together, toss around thoughts and change your routine and inspiration will surely follow.

Do you feel that you’re ready to get started? Let FranNet connect you with the business you’ve been looking for. Ask us about a free consultation with a qualified and experienced franchise consultant. Our purpose is to connect the dots and make the transition from corporate employment to the freedom of business ownership manageable and safe.