Security Vs. Freedom As we prepare for the 4th of July holiday weekend, it reminds me of the strong, independent foundation of this country.  The United States was built on the backs of freedom seeks.  People packed up their families and their meager belongings and moved to a new land.  They took...

Who Moved My Cheese? Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to reread Who Moved My Cheese with my daughter.  She is 8 years old and has become quite a good reader.  At the same time she is always interested in learning new things and discovering 'lessons'. When she found the book in my offic...

'Invest' Your Time I would like to open this newsletter by sharing a few thoughts from my good friend Ford Kyes of ActionCOACH Pinellas. Ford's firm is consistently ranked as one of the top business coaching firms in the United States.  The nexus of their exceptional success comes from the unique a...

Drivers of Success I have recently been working with a wonderful lady who has decided to become a business owner.  During a recent conversation we found ourselves discussing the drivers of success.  Is success driven by winning every negotiation and gaining every advantage prior to beginning the b...

What Makes a Great Franchise? Last week a lady considering franchise ownership asked an interesting question.  'What makes a great franchise and how will I know it when I see one?' Wow, what a question.  That is the type of question that doctoral thesis are written on.  One hundred pages later, t...

Advice From Tom Shay Last week I had the distinct honor to hear Tom Shay, CEO of Right Management, Florida/Caribbean speak on the topic of job transition and career management.  What an interesting discussion.  Mr. Shay has held this position for 31 years and during his tenure Mr. Shay has seen ex...

What Do You Want? Hard to imagine it is already November.  Thanksgiving is around the corner, the holidays, then 2011 before you know it.   Are you ready? Life is a funny thing.  It is something that happens to you when you are not looking.  Before you know it the years have gone by, the kids&h...

How To Build Entrepreneurial Children Most of you know that I feel strongly about setting a positive, independent example for our children.  This month I would like to discuss why. A little history.  Growing up I had a father who owned his own business.  At the dinner table we discussed staffing ...

Lessons Learned? Recently I received an email from an international reader whom we will call 'Bob'. Bob shared with me the fact that he is very upset with his franchisor. In Bob's email he stated that the franchisors 'system is no good', 'the franchisees are unhappy' and 'the franchisor does not lik...

The Franchisee Playbook Earlier this month I was working on The Franchisee Playbook and realized that the Preface to the workbook really connects to the 4th of July. It reminds us of a few things that are truly important. Here is a first peak into The Franchisee Playbook. "The United States is an am...