The Franchise Blog 4 Vets

Small Business Resources for Veterans: The Small Business Navigation Program

 

Military Veterans;  if you're interested in starting a business, or growing your current VOB, there's a Virginia-based small business resource that you need to know about.

 

  

 

The Cox Small Business Navigation Program features a plethora of tools and resources for entrepreneurs....

Do You Support This Veterans Bill?

There are over 1 million unemployed military veterans in the United States. As Iraq and Afghanistan military veterans start to come home, and as Vietnam, Cold War, and Persian Gulf War veterans can’t find or lose their jobs, the economy is losing some of its best and brightest leaders and workers. 

Home-Based Veteran-Owned Businesses Have a New Resource

If you're a home-based franchise owner, you know that sometimes being a one-person show can be a little frustrating. 

Do you have days in which you'd like to learn about new things, like how to find new customers, how to manage your online presence better, or some other things that are critical to the success of your small business?

How about all those ideas that you have running around inside your head? Wouldn't it be nice to have a place in which you could bounce them off of other people, and maybe even get some incredible suggestions on how to implement them?

Finally, what if everything I just mentioned was a lot closer to you than you ever thought?

Like, at the kitchen table......

Tim Berry Writes About Business Mistakes

 

Being an active member of the small business/franchise community is fun. I have met, (and keep meeting) so many smart people. 

Now, in this day and age, the word "meet" is a lot different than it was 10 years ago.

Sometimes when I say I met him, or we met last week, it means that we exchanged information online...via email, or on any one of the social media channels. 

In this particular case, I never met Tim Berry, in person. But I will. I have to....

Are You an Optimistic Veteran Small Business Owner?

 

 

It seems like there's some positive business sentiment being bandied around in Washington DC, these days. 

The question is this; Is it real? Or, is it good, old-fashioned spin?

According to Professor Scott Shane, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University in my hometown, things may be looking up. 

In this post he authored over at Small Business Trends, he shared this; 

"The Discover Card optimism measure increased 9.4 points last month. Moreover, the share of small business owners who think the economy is improving jumped 6 percentage points, while the share who believe it is getting worse fell 10. And the share of small business owners who said that conditions for their own businesses are improving went up 6 percentage points, while the portion that said that conditions are worsening went down 5."

How are you feeling about your economy?

VOBs: Is it Time To Add an Electric Vehicle To Your Business Fleet?

 (The Chevrolet Volt is a nice-looking vehicle.)

 

The Toyota Prius. The Chevy Volt. The Nissan Leaf. Should your Veteran-Owned Business have one of these 3 vehicles?

I guess it depends on the type of business you have. For example, in the franchise world, the folks at Pizza Fusion were smart enough to make sure that Toyota Prius's were their pizza deliver vehicles. (Pretty important for image-building. They're an organic food company.)

According to Kelly Spors, a writer for Small Business Trends, "Many  businesses have adopted 'green fleets' and bought hybrid vehicles or even turned to biodiesel fuel. But the latest buzz in the auto industry is electric cars (some with zero tailpipe emissions). A few electric car models are currently being sold in the U.S. with several more expected in coming months and years."

Read more at Small Business Trends,  and see if it may make sense to add one to your fleet.

 

Home Remodeling Franchise Awards Military Veteran a Franchise

National home remodeling franchise, Kitchen Tune-Up, has awarded the first free franchise under their Veteran’s Program.

It's great to see small business opportunities that Veterans may be able to excel in. Solar businesses are also getting kind of HOT. And Hotter.

In the case of Kitchen Tune-Up, this looks like a win-win, type of opportunity...

Frank Skubel of Tallahassee, Florida is the recipient of the free franchise under the program which was launched in 2010. Kitchen Tune-Up Founder and President, David Haglund, started the program which “offers free franchises to honorably discharged veterans throughout the nation,” explained Haglund.

Does Your Veteran-Owned Business Need Bookkeeping Help?

 

 

Keeping up with financial records for your small business, can be rather cumbersome, especially if you're a young, thriving small business.

Here's some good news;

BookKeeping Express is coming to the financial-recording rescue of one lucky company. From Boston to Tacoma and everywhere in between, small businesses entering the "Great 2010 Accounting Makeover" contest stand to win a comprehensive BookKeeping Express 12-month service package.

Different businesses have different issues when it comes to proper recordkeeping.

Sometimes, recordkeeping isn't exactly top of mind when it comes to running a business.

It needs to be, because if there'e ever an "issue" a detailed paper trail can really help.

Go to Franchising.com for contest details!

Network Solutions® Small Business Success Index™ Study Shows "Strain"

The "strain" is on small business as a whole. That's probably not a big surprise, unless you're one of the lucky Veteran-Owned businesses that are showing positive growth, currently.

This recession, (which was supposedly over in June of last year) has been long, and brutal.

According to the latest installment of the Network Solutions study;

"Small businesses have taken a beating during this economic downturn—and the strain is really starting to show. They’re losing their ability to innovate and devoting less attention to developing their employees, while continuing to have a tough time raising capital. What’s more, it’s all taken a toll on their overall ability to compete and grow."  

Some Good News

The study goes states that "with expected improvements in their bottom lines for the rest of the year, they remain happy to be running their own show. And a significant minority are experimenting with the use of social media to find new customers."

Read the entire report. It's a good one. 

Here's How Veteran-Owned Small Businesses Can Lower Their Operating Expenses

 

It's important for veteran small business owners to look at the big picture, as it pertains to their their sales, as well as their expenses.

When it comes to operating expenses, there's lots of different things that can quietly suck the life out of your small business's checking accounts.

Kelly Spors, a former Wall Street Journal writer, is now doing freelance writing, and she's  focusing on the hot topic of green energy.

Anita Campbell's Small Business Trends, is one place that Kelly regularly contributes articles to, and she just wrote a great piece that features important data on energy use around a typical small business office. Here's what she wrote;

"What many business owners don’t realize is the potential electricity (and money) savings reaped by turning off equipment not in use and unplugging it.  Phantom or vampire power, the electricity drawn from the outlet when a piece of equipment is turned off, can account for more than 10% of all electricity used by equipment."

Then, she shared some specifics on watts used by various equipment in a small business office setting. The best part of this important article is her data concerning energy used when the equipment is on, and when it's off-and unplugged. 

Read the rest of her article titled, "Saving Money and Energy on Office Equipment," over at Small Business Trends. (Disclosure; I'm a regular contributor on the Small Business Trends website, and it's Community Promotions Director.)