Franchising

This week has been a week where my understandings of franchising were deepened. To quote “franchise is merely a legal document that defines a commercial relationship between the owner of a trademark, service mark, trade name or advertising symbol and an individual or group that wants to use that identification in business” Franchising depends on the trademark you have. Business franchising is the type of franchise which often provides a full range of services including site selection, training, product supply, marketing plans, and even assistance in obtaining financing.

Vanguard Cleaning Systems franchisees serve more than 10,000 commercial cleaning accounts and offers a master franchise program for experienced business people and a unit franchise program for beginning entrepreneurs. What have made their franchising successful are their janitorial franchise and a master franchise. The two opportunities are the reason the company has become so successful. Interested people can choose between hands on, owner and operator type of work or a more business minded master franchise opportunity. My $100 business is progressing steadily and and proud to be part of the team.

What really stood out to me after reading and watching the week 9  articles and the videos is adherence to principles or being obedient to the instructions given by our leaders whether in business or in the gospel of Jesus Christ. To qoute from Joseph B. Wirthlin’s Journey to Higher Ground, he says “on December 26, 2004, a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia, creating a deadly tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people. It was a terrible tragedy. In one day, millions of lives were forever changed. But there was one group of people who, although their village was destroyed, did not suffer a single casualty”. Due to the leader’s persistence and the adherence of their people to the instructions given they were saved.

In the article “What To Do When Customers Only Care About Price” I also noticed that if we adhere to principles we will improve on our performances. In the article, it says and I quote “I am, however, suggesting that if you adhere to these principles, that you’ll improve your ability to deliver results for your customers at an improved profit margin”. And the steps were given one after the other.

Adherence to principles is important to each and every one of us if we are to improve on our performances. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said “as people heed the words of the prophets, the Lord blesses them. When they disregard His word, however, distress and suffering often follow” As entrepreneurs we must conform to the principles governing entrepreneurship and made sure the right things are done as we do that prosperity await us.

On our $100.00 project we gave ourselves one week break due to fatigue on the part of all of us and took the advantage of reflecting on so far what we have done and where we have gotten to.

$100.00 challenge

So far the services we are offering in the community park is yielding fruitful result. The kids are doing their best in collecting every bin after community game or activity. Challenges: Though we had an encounter with some of the community leaders as some of them were not informed of our services, and that the project was suspended for two weeks. So far, every issue has been resolved and are in full operation. The money we were hoping to generate were not forth coming as expected, but we are working hard to resolve that challenge and hopping we will be on the part of profitability.

 

Today my journal entry will focus on what starts the cycle of mediocrity in our work places and what can be done to solve such situation when it occurs which happens to a number of businesses. HMM talks about two factors that bring about mediocrity and they are low employee job satisfaction and high employee turnover which can cause sales and profits to plummet. This in turn brings poor service attitudes and leads to low customer satisfaction. Investing in training as a business is a sure way that skills and tools they need to perform their jobs well are provided and that they are able to use those skills and tools provided satisfactorily. A degree of latitude gives them the power and responsibility to make quick decisions and to recover decisively from mistakes. My $100 project is progressing steadily and everything is on cause.

ELEVATOR PITCH

When one is trying to raise money for his/her business or wants to perfect his/her business, the strategy is elevator pitch, As I studied the elevator pitch instructions given to us by our instructor, my mine came back to what I have already learned some years back “Me in 30 seconds”. A solid elevator pitch is an essential tool for achieving our goals in entrepreneurship. I thought of it as an executive summary that provides a quick overview of my business and its details. My "Pitch" focused on my "Big Idea" with the company name C-COMM. It covered a brief idea summary of my company, business concept, model and customers. When one identify a problem that is worth solving or the product/service we have identify does not solve a problem, then there is no market for the product.

Elder James E. Faust talked about opening the windows of heaven which gave me an insight as to the need of paying an honest tithing. As he was a boy he learned a great lesson of faith and sacrifice. What made him learned these lessons, is all about paying tithe. His father paid his honest tithe with the best stand of hay when their cattle’s had nothing to feed on. This is an indication of great faith and sacrifice. How many of us can exhibit this kind of faith?

Elder Wirthlin also encouraged us to stay out of debt and to pay honest tithe, continue to save, spend less than what we earn, honor our financial obligation etc. we need to be faithful in doing all these things thought by the elder. My $100 project is ongoing. I have been able to secure funding from my own savings for the project and hope by his grace the project will succeed.