Business Coaching

For any business to be successful, you have to find your niche, that space that no other business occupies but yours. But not every niche is the same.

Some are smaller than others and some are bigger, but can any niche be a business?

From adult kickball leagues to dog-waste pickup and dart-league franchises, there are business opportunities that are extremely niche-oriented.

But, the question is, do these kinds of businesses really have a big enough niche to make money?

Some of these businesses are clearly part time, like the Dart Leagues. You can own a franchise for a one-time fee of $500 and are only obligated to spend six hours per week on the business.

There is very little risk in a venture like that, but what’s the payoff?

But if you investigate WAKA, the World Adult Kickball Association, you’ll find that the buy-in for a franchise can cost as much as $50,000 and any franchisees are required to work full-time in the kickball business.

That’s quite an investment, both in resources and time, and it remains to be seen how successful their franchising model will be, considering they’ve only been franchising since early 2011.

The fact is WAKA has been around since 1998. It is currently in 35 states with about 4000 teams participating, so, obviously, the company is doing something right.

But are the fees paid by players and teams and the sponsorship of local bars enough to make this a legitimately good franchising deal for prospective entrepreneurs?

Once you’ve invested your $50,000 or so (depending on market) how long will it take you to recoup your investment?

And what are they doing differently that any person could do, without buying into a franchise? After all, couldn’t anyone organize a league without buying a franchise?

And finally, what proprietary advantages does the company have that individual operators wouldn’t?

These niche businesses, like WAKA, have managed to generate revenue and grow by focusing on a small, “hungry” segment of population. But does that translate into real cashflow and profits?

Time will tell.

The main lesson is to really investigate your narrow niche.

Is it really enough to support sustainable growth, cashflow and profit?

Is it something people already buy and is the niche a unique segment of a larger proven segment?

One of the indicators that tell about the growth and health of a franchise is franchisee satisfaction.

It comes down to one simple factor.  If franchisees are happy, then things within the entire franchise system are probably running smoothly. When this is the situation, the systems within the franchise make sense and, more importantly, they do what they are supposed to do.

That’s why it was such an honor that ActionCOACH was ranked 31st in the latest Franchise Business Review in the large systems category for the most recent poll.

“This is an award we strive for every year. We are proud to be recognized by the Franchise Business Review,” ActionCOACH CEO Jodie Shaw said. “No matter how great your company is, if your franchisees aren’t happy, growth simply isn’t possible. Our franchisees are our business partners, so the fact that they are happy speaks volumes.”

To review the entire list of businesses that ranked on the list, just click here.

For the second consecutive year The Home Depot will be providing “Spring Black Friday” sales.

The big difference this year is that the company will be hiring as many as 60,000 workers nationwide to deal with all of the customers expected to take advantage of the sale.

Home Depot is able to hire so many new workers because it has done its due diligence in regards to its customer base.

The company knows that many of its customers use the spring to make renovations to their homes.

They are using this knowledge to generate strong sales numbers in what is typically a down time of year in the retail industry.

According to Home Depot spokesman Craig Fishel, “You have folks who have been for several months sitting around planning the projects they want to do in the spring or the summer. They are finally able to get out in the spring and do that.”

So do you target your ideal customers the way Home Depot does? Do you know when they will buy from you and when you should add staff to deal with more customers?

McDonald's is an example of successful franchising.

What is the best way for a budding entrepreneur to break into business?

Buying a franchise is a great way to start for a number of reasons. Franchises have clear strategies and systems to lead to success. There is also a support structure built into franchise models that individually owned businesses don’t have. Brand recognition is also a plus . Basically, when you own a franchise, you don’t have to build a better mousetrap, you just have to follow the instructions.

Of course, like everything else in the world, franchising is changing with the times. Most franchisors are moving away from the single owner franchise model that we have grown up with and moved to a more modern form of franchising which takes multiple systems into account. This can be a boom to the right entrepreneur but a real problem for a person looking to open up just one or two stores.

Multi-unit franchising is the fastest growing aspect of the franchise market. Today, 50% of all franchises are owned by just 20% of franchisees. Most of these franchisees aren’t just holding numerous businesses under the same corporate umbrella. Instead they are straddling many different corporate lines to create more efficient, leveraged units, through their own management companies.

The benefits work both ways. Franchisors are embracing multi-unit franchising because it helps them open stores more quickly and efficiently. Some franchisors, like a certain popular bagel chain, use only multi-unit franchisees because it helps them save on training and capital.

Multi-unit franchising allows franchisees to work within the guidelines set up by their franchisor, but also offers many ways to leverage your business because you are working with multiple units.

For the small business owner, or the entrepreneur just starting out, understanding the business landscape is vitally important. How can your business compete with these new forms of franchising? How does this shift affect your bottom line?

Obama talked small business with those who are directly affected: small business owners.

Imagine getting a call from President Obama? And not just any call, but a call that he wanted to meet with you, a small business owner, and talk about issues affecting small businesses?

That’s what happened to Steve Wheat and Bobby Pancake, partners in High 5 LLC, a six-unit franchisee of Buffalo Wild Wings based in Bear, Delaware.

The meeting took place on June 11th, and included Obama, Pancake, Wheat, a general manager of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Dover, Delaware, and two owners of a technology company in Rockville, Maryland.

Pancake called the meeting “intimate.”

“We talked about getting the banks to loosen up so business can grow,” he said. “We told him that if Congress were able to make changes, we would like to build a couple more restaurants and add more jobs. He was really interested in what we had to say.”

Specifically, Wheat said, the president discussed the need to raise the cap on SBA loans from $2 million to $5 million.

Following the meeting in the Oval Office, the group convened for a press conference, during which the Obama discussed the Small Business Jobs Initiatives and the need to “make it easier for smaller firms to hire and to grow.”

Noting that small businesses historically have created two-thirds of all new jobs in the country, Obama said, “we’re going to need to make sure that small companies are able to open up and expand and add names to their payroll” in order to replace the millions of jobs lost during the recession.

Think Obama’s meeting with small business owners will jump start any changes for small business?

We just found out that ActionCOACH was ranked No. 1 in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500’s Business Coaching category again!

The company also ranked No. 65 out of 500 franchises…up substantially from its ranking of No. 103 last year!

ActionCOACH has been ranked number one since January 2004 … so congratulations TEAM for continuing to maintain leadership in the category!