Is 2023 the year you... Make your hobby a side hustle? Start your own business? Or work on taking your business to the next level?
The "Small Business and Side Hustles" newsletter connects you to Library and community resources and programs to help you start or build your business! Read it here on the library website or sign up for the newsletter on our Library U enrollment page!
In April, we're looking at franchises. Is your business ready to expand? Or are you thinking about buying into a franchise? We asked a few local franchise owners a few questions. Plus, we've highlighted some books and other resources you might want to check out!
Q&A with Local Business Owners:
What book did you use when buying into your franchise? A local sandwich shop owner said, "There were no good books when I started my franchise business 30 years ago." She decided to buy into the franchise through an article she read in Entrepreneur magazine. We've added a link to a few current Entrepreneur articles in this newsletter.
What advice would you give someone who wants to buy into a franchise? A frame shop franchisee said, "Make sure the business model is one you can get behind." They enjoyed the art of framing. "I also recommend that you work with a lawyer and accountant who knows the franchising business. A lawyer will help you understand the contract."
Why did you enter a franchise and not start your own business? "The business model is done for you. The leg work is done for the most part, and your job is to take what the franchise offers and create an excellent experience for the customer," said another local franchise owner. "The brand recognition is already there with the customer."
Featured Digital Resource
Listen to audiobooks or music, watch movies or TV shows, and read popular e-books and comics with Hoopla Digital – free from your Library! You can stream instantly or download something to enjoy offline. There are no waitlists and no holds to pick up! You simply get 16 titles a month with immediate availability.
Each of your items will have an expiration date and be automatically returned once that date passes. Audiobooks and e-books are rented for 21 days, while music has a 7-day rental period. Movies and TV shows are available for 72 hours.
Download these books instantly from Hoopla:
Comprehensive and applicable to domestic and international franchising initiatives alike, this go-to guide remains the industry standard for insights on expanding your business. As an experienced corporate and transaction lawyer, author Andrew Sherman offers insider insights into unique opportunities for business growth--specifically, leveraging your intellectual capital through franchising and licensing. By helping you understand what intellectual capital is, what revenue your company is entitled to, and how to manage these intangible assets, he provides knowledge and tools to keep your business not only operating, but growing in any economy.
Written in the style of a business 'tell-all', Adventures in Franchise Ownership lays out what successful franchisees do that you won't find in most owner's manuals and includes franchisee Christy Wilson Delk's good, bad, and really tough days before her successful exit 15 years later. Franchisees, like most small business owners, experience times of extreme frustration, lapses in motivation, and often exit before reaching their potential and their goals. With humor, candor, and relatability, Christy fills in the gaps in the franchise owner's manual by providing a constructive framework for finding professional satisfaction and attaining the financial success franchise owners everywhere want and deserve.
The Franchisee Handbook shows listeners how to take a systematic approach to assess and invest in franchise opportunities so they end up with the right fit for their entrepreneurial style. Sharing tales from the trenches and real-world anecdotes from successful franchises (and a few cautionary tales from those who didn't make it), Siebert lays out everything you need to know before signing with well-known franchises from locally-owned names to global brands. As an expert witness, he has seen a number of failed franchisees (especially in the last ten years) and will dish the dirt on what successful franchisees have in common and how they play to win. And those cautionary tales? Many went into franchising with the expectation that franchising was a silver bullet that did not require hard work or skills. Siebert will dispel that myth and show prospective franchisees a proven, logical, step-by-step method to close the sale and set themselves up for long-term franchise success.
Investing in a proven food franchise does not guarantee success for the franchisee. To be a successful franchisee, franchisees must set up the right management systems to support their business as well as take advantage of everything the franchisor has to offer. The Franchise Fix is a step-by-step guide that shows franchisees how to do exactly that! Covering the winning systems and processes that food industry veteran Aicha Bascaro discovered from working with hundreds of successful franchisees across the US and around the world, The Franchise Fix helps franchisees take control of their food franchise and increase their profits.
Articles We Recommend
The Fastest-Growing Franchises by Tracy Stapp Harold Entrepreneur Magazine, March 2023.
Should you Buy a Franchise During a Bad Economy? by Kim Kavin Entrepreneur Magazine, January 2023.
Other Books We Recommend
Learn twelve key lessons from Dunkin' Donuts former CEO Robert Rosenberg that offer critical insights and a unique, 360-degree perspective to business leaders and managers on building one of the world's most recognized brands. For entrepreneurs fighting for survival and leaders in growing businesses facing critical strategic decisions, competition is always fierce and the future is never certain. Throughout all the chaos, you need a mentor that has seen a business through the ins and outs and can offer guidance that will exponentially tip the odds in your favor to succeed.
Just as The Color of Law provided a vital understanding of redlining and racial segregation, Marcia Chatelain's Franchise investigates the complex interrelationship between black communities and America's largest, most popular fast food chain. Taking us from the first McDonald's drive-in in San Bernardino to the franchise on Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri, in the summer of 2014, Chatelain shows how fast food is a source of both power--economic and political--and despair for African Americans. As she contends, fast food is, more than ever before, a key battlefield in the fight for racial justice.
In 2008, Howard Schultz, the president and chairman of Starbucks, made the unprecedented decision to return as the CEO eight years after he stepped down from daily oversight of the company and became chairman. Concerned that Starbucks had lost its way, Schultz was determined to help it return to its core values and restore not only its financial health, but also its soul. In Onward, he shares the remarkable story of his return and the company's ongoing transformation under his leadership, revealing how, during one of the most tumultuous economic times in history, Starbucks again achieved profitability and sustainability without sacrificing humanity.
Take Your Business from Average to Extraordinary. The Wealthy Franchisee pulls concepts from cognitive behavioral therapy, brain science, interviews, and Scott Greenberg's firsthand experience as a franchisee to help listeners replicate the mental habits, tactics, and financial results of high-performing franchisees. As a franchising consultant, Scott Greenberg has helped franchise owners and franchisees improve their performance. Readers will learn how to: Explore their own mental responses and become more self-aware, bring out the best in employees to build superstar teams, dazzle customers (and increase sales) with emotionally satisfying experiences, and optimize the human elements of their operation so they can grow into a next-level enterprise and become wealthy.
