“Serving Those Who Served For Us”

August 31, 2009August 31, 2009 ·

Here’s another fine example of how the franchise community continues to provide assistance to veterans, including transitioning military service personnel. The following is a reprint of a blog post by Cyndee Perkins, Computer Explorers Director of Curriculum and Program Development. Additional information regarding Computer Explorers veterans support may be accessed HERE.

Question: I read that COMPUTER EXPLORERS is offering classes for military veterans. What is that about?

Answer: Bud Hadfield, owner of COMPUTER EXPLORERS, is a WW2 veteran who wants to “serve those who served for us!”

As posted on Computer Explorers Blog (August 20, 2009)

COMPUTER EXPLORERS is incorporating project-based learning to help military veterans in their job-search and career placement. The first pilot program will be underway September 8-11 at Northwest Forest in Houston, Texas.

Using our proprietary curriculum to learn MS Office® applications (Word, Power Point and Excel), participants will develop their resume’s, explain their life and work experience with PowerPoint, and establish personal budgeting processes. They will showcase their “projects” via our new social media course (focusing on LinkedIn, Twitter and FaceBook) to develop business contacts and job opportunities. These practical applications will enable the vets to explore wider employment opportunities. Hadfield, who was a Dale Carnegie instructor for 20+ years, has also created a short Personal Development Workshop to help the vets speak comfortably in front of a group and to develop interviewing skills.

We’re excited about doing these classes, and are looking forward to meeting with the veterans in a couple of weeks! Let us know if you have any suggestions that you think we should include as part of the course content!

Franchise Community – This Needs Our Immediate Attention!

August 25, 2009August 25, 2009 · 1 Comment ·

Every once in a while, we come across something that makes such an impact on us that we find ourselves motivated to let other people know about our find. Well, I found one of those things. Except, it is not something that I’ve enjoyed, laughed at, or wanted to share for pleasure’s sake. However, it is something that everyone, I mean EVERYONE must be aware of. It’s something that everyone must share and spread the word about. That is, if you care about saving human lives and protecting families from absolute devastation.

The other day I was watching Rick Sanchez on CNN as they showed a Public Service Announcement video that depicted a horrendous accident which was the result of “texting and driving.” After watching this eye-opening four and half minute video, I was speechless, but knew I had to help spread the message of no texting (or emailing, tweeting, posting, etc.) and driving.

One of my social media clients, Mom Corps, happens to follow, and be followed by, @DontTwive. I had seen their posts and even before watching the PSA video, I was intrigued by their efforts. We tweeted a few things about DontTwive and retweeted some of their posts as well. But, after seeing the video, I knew I had to do more.

Today, I posted, from me, and from Mom Corps, tweets on Rick Sanchez show on CNN. Our messages ran across the screen many times during the show. Posts were also made on my personal twitter account, and that of Mom Corps. I also posted a link to the DontTwive blog on my Facebook page. But I know it’s not enough. Not even scratching the surface, but I know every little bit helps when it comes to saving lives and protecting families.

So, in an effort to take this to a new level, I invite all our site visitors to read the following blog article from DontTwive, and view the accompanying video. In addition, I implore all to please preview the rest of their site because it has a wealth of information and other articles pertaining to this horrific subject.

Upon doing so, please join me in supporting DontTwive and their efforts by sharing this information with all your friends and family, and with all your social networking connections. Also, please follow DontTwive on Twitter and make sure to tell everyone who will listen to do the same. On my end, I will look for additional ways of helping, so stay tuned for more details.

4 Minutes and 15 Seconds that can save your life

This 4:15 PSA video from the Wales Police Department is graphic and intense but left us speechless with its message. Some say this video is too gruesome and YouTube has even blocked the 18 and under group from being able to view (the target audience for this Public Service Announcement.)

Read the complete article and watch the video HERE!

This video should be watched by any driver who thinks they can text and drive. Life can change in one second. One second – less time than it takes to Tweet, text, email, or dial a phone number.

New York State Tax Law Update and Changes

August 25, 2009August 25, 2009 ·

Recently, franchisEssentials Guest Author, Kathryn Rookes, submitted an article New York State Tax Law, which was posted on this site on July 23, 2009. The article was about a tax law passed by New York State that establishes specific reporting requirements for franchisors in the State of New York. Subsequently, Kathryn submitted a follow up article regarding updates to the state law. The update was posted on this site on August 6, 2009.

In her continuing efforts to keep the franchise community updated with additional changes to the New York State Law, Kathryn has detailed the recent changes accordingly.

New York Tax Law Changes
as submitted by Kathryn Rookes, Attorney, FSB Legal

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has made some changes to its new reporting requirements for franchisors.

First, the NYSDTF has implemented an extension procedure for franchisors that are unable to meet the deadline. The extension must be filed before the due date (first due date is September 20, 2009) and once filed, is automatic. The extension is for 90 days.

Next, the NYSDTF has waived some of the information that it previously required, including audited gross sales of a franchise if the franchisor has audited and found gross sales to be different from what the franchisee reported and the amount of sales that a designated supplier has made to a franchisee.

The NYSDTF also has made changes to reporting requirements if the royalties are not paid as a percentage of gross sales.

Finally, the NYSDTF will waive penalties in some situations, when the information filed is incorrect because the franchisee supplied incorrect information to the franchisor without the franchisor’s knowledge.

Kathryn is an experienced franchise attorney and a member of FSB Legal, a virtual law firm. She is one of the very few franchise attorneys in the United States with experience in a government regulatory practice (Maryland Division of Securities), private practice, and as in-house counsel. With this diversity of experience, Kathryn understands the issues that franchisors face on a daily basis.

Has LinkedIn Run Its Course?

August 16, 2009August 16, 2009 · 8 Comments ·

Is LinkedIn missing the boat in keeping up with Facebook? Is it due to inability to utilize various applications, tools, etc. in making the social networking experience more enjoyable and less regimented. Hey, one can’t even make text “bold” in a discussion!

Would the ability to post actual audio and video within discussions enhance the experience? Has LinkedIn just become a social networking HR site and nothing more? If, and when, the economy turns around and unemployment falls to more respectable levels, will LinkedIn activity decrease significantly?

Personally, I do believe LinkedIn is missing the boat, but I would love to hear your opinion as well.

Please Note

Within 15 minutes of posting this discussion on a Linkedin group, I received the following response that I now feel compelled to share with my readers, along with my response to the same which should clarify that I am, in fact, a Linkedin proponent and only am looking for added enhancements and features to LinkedIn.

Owner of a Marketing Group responded: “Has LinkedIn run its course? Not even close. If you feel it has, move on, and stick to Facebook, period. We have had remarkable results, 20+ new clients in 2009 alone, due to LinkedIn. But, then again, we have a tangible service. How is the “Social Media Coach” biz treating you? If it were not for LinkedIn, I doubt you would even be brandishing that fancy title. Please keep that in mind when being negative about all the benefits that a 100% no-cost LinkedIn account can produce.”

I responded accordingly: “Just because I asked a question, does not mean I am negative. If anything, I utilize social media to encourage participation, which is an integral part of successful social networking.

Further, as much as I utilize LinkedIn, I would like to see more features and enhancements, just as I would with Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media. And, the best way to get LinkedIn to take a look at adding the same, is to discuss the same within the groups. More than likely they are already considering the features I mentioned. Maybe some more discussion would move them along.

I would highly recommend you consider adding Facebook, Twitter and other social media to your LinkedIn activity and your 20+ new clients might have been 40 or more. Integrating all types of social media together, and with traditional marketing, has proven quite successful for many businesses and is advocated by many leading social media experts.

Last, I’m a firm believer in the positive, and in developing and strengthening relationships with everyone and anyone I can help, or that can help me. That being said, I’m amazed you’re as successful as you claim with such a condescending attitude and your lack of ability to see beyond the obvious. So, please consider this social media coaching on the house and with my sincerest compliments.

Oh, and by the way, if you truly embrace LinkedIn and all it has to offer, I would think you would have followed a very common LinkedIn tip, and check an individual’s LinkedIn profile, including connections, group membership and discussion activity, before engaging that individual. In my case, you would have certainly realized I am a LinkedIn proponent by the number of my connections and extensive group participation both in posting discussions and responses alike.”

What is Your Biggest Business Frustration?

August 14, 2009August 14, 2009 · 6 Comments ·

Recently, the question, “What’s your biggest business frustration?” was posted on Linkedin. The question was posted in the small business / franchising Q & A section. Below please find several of the responses from a cross-section of small business professionals . As I have done in the past, the names of the responding individuals will be kept confidential. Instead, they will only identified by their Linkedin statement or profile.

A small business owner provided a brief response:

Three in order….
1) government paperwork
2) employees that do not work while at work
3) taxes…really…tax the rich? Don’t you know it is the rich that pay your paychecks?

An individual that describes himself as a “Marketing Visionary” responded:

a) workers that want a job, not an opportunity
b) prospects thinking your NOT capable because your an SMB
c) vendors offering solutions – a don’t know my business
d) Clients thinking 15 days means 30 days payable in 45

Another small business owner chimed in:

Being a small business owner myself I find it frustrating that clients continually will get ripped off and not get the most for their money because they feel more comfortable going to a ‘big name’ company.

A small business owner in the graphics design business added:

My biggest frustration is clients not taking my advise. My designs are not there to look pretty, I design marketing pieces to accomplish my client’s goals. Many times, clients have a set thing they want to say. Really, they need to think about what the customer wants to hear and how they can help them. Do you want to read a mission statement on a website or do you want to see if the company you are looking at offers the service you are looking for? I get frustrated when clients waste my time and their money. I want them to get something out of their marketing.

Really? Are these really our biggest business frustrations?

Let’s keep the conversation going and get some response from the franchise community. Franchisors, franchise executives, franchisees, franchise brokers, franchise consultants and franchise suppliers, let’s hear what YOU have to say. So, what is YOUR biggest business frustration?

New York Tax Law Update

August 6, 2009August 6, 2009 · 1 Comment ·

The following article was submitted by Guest Author, Kathryn Rookes, as a follow up to her previously submitted article, New York State Tax Law, which was posted on this site on July 23, 2009.

New York Tax Law Update
as submitted by Kathryn Rookes, Attorney, FSB Legal

The IFA has received a response from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to its July 20 letter.

Reporting Deadlines: The Department is creating an automatic 90-day extension process for the initial as well as all future reporting deadlines. Prior to the initial deadline (set by the Legislature for September 20) the Department will post on its website instructions to request an automatic 90-day extension to December 20, 2009. All future annual deadlines, which were to be due March 20, will be given similar treatment, meaning that if a franchisor requests the extension all annual reports will be due June 20. Permanently moving these deadlines, rather than creating an extension process, would have required an act of the New York State Legislature.

Forms: In the coming days, the Department will post on its website the standardized form franchisors must use to report the required information.

Supplier Sales: The Department has dropped the requirement that franchisors report to the state sales made by “designated” or approved suppliers to New York franchisees. However, sales of supplies from a franchisor or its affiliates directly to a New York franchisee must still be reported.

Franchisee Gross Sales: If the franchisee currently reports gross sales to the franchisor, this information must be supplied to the state in the required reports. If a different performance measure is used (such as room-nights in lodging or cents-per-gallon of product in food service) that calculation must be explained and, where possible, the quantitative data for the relevant reporting period supplied to the state.

Franchisee Identifying Information: The requirement that franchisors report to the state the name, address and New York certificate of authority or federal tax identification number of the franchise remains in effect.

Franchise Failure: A Dose of Reality

August 3, 2009August 3, 2009 · 1 Comment ·

success or failure The other day, Donald Cranford, Editor at Franchise Direct, posted an article about the benefits and risks of multi-unit ownership. Subsequently, he followed it up with the post, “Considering Franchise Failure” and referenced one of my articles that related to my own experience of franchise failure, and the fear and consequences thereof. I cannot thank Donald enough for posting these articles as they may assist franchisees that are experiencing difficulties, explore their options and keep their heads out of the sand.

Considering Franchise Failure
by Donald Cranford
as posted July 30, 2009 (Franchise Direct)

Yesterday we wrote about the benefits and risks of multi-unit franchise ownership. With a bit of research and pragmatism, multi-unit ownership can work for you. That said, business can be difficult sometimes and sometimes franchises fail.

Especially given the state of the economy at the present, failure is something that every franchisee and franchisor must confront. There’s no point in tip-toeing over the truth. Times are tough in the small business world. Only by acknowledging the chance of failure can we overcome it.

For a thoughtful meditation on the causes of failure in franchising and ways of overcome the stigma of watching your business collapse, we’d like to recommend the writing of Paul Segreto, who has a run multi-unit franchise and now blogs at franchiseEssentials.

We recently came across Paul’s thoughts on the subject of franchise failure and thought they were illuminating.

In this blog post, Paul frankly discusses how his franchise failed, and does not avoid pointing the blame at himself.

“Let me clarify something. I failed as a franchisee. Not because of anything the franchisor did or didn’t do but because I put and kept my head in the sand and did not face reality. I could go on and make excuses about things that happened around me but at the end of the day I could have turned things around if I got my own head out of the sand, made some difficult decisions and took full, immediate responsibility.”

Ultimately, though, having experienced the ups and downs of franchise ownership, Paul states that failure is something that he has learned from and the experience has inspired him in business.

“Yes, it was a tremendous learning experience but not one I would bestow or wish on anyone. Now, all I can do is to offer my experience to anyone in the franchise industry that needs assistance. As we’ve entered 2009 in the realms of economic uncertainty, I’m certain already difficult situations have been compounded but I’m confident a snap back to reality could only help. If just one franchise business is saved from the consequences of failure, then we’ve made progress. Progress we’ll continue to build upon.”

A dose of reality can prove quite beneficial when considering buying a franchise.

New York State Passes Tax Law For Franchisors

July 23, 2009July 23, 2009 · 1 Comment ·

The following article was submitted by Guest Author, Kathryn Rookes. Kathryn is an experienced franchise attorney and a member of FSB Legal, a virtual law firm. She is one of the very few franchise attorneys in the United States with experience in a government regulatory practice (Maryland Division of Securities), private practice, and as in-house counsel. With this diversity of experience, Kathryn understands the issues that franchisors face on a daily basis.

New York State Tax Law
as submitted by Kathryn Rookes, Attorney, FSB Legal

New York state has become the first state to pass a law that requires franchisors to provide detailed information on their franchisees and their franchisees’ operations to the state, so that the state can compare the submitted information to the tax returns that the franchisees file with the state. Complying with this new law can be quite burdensome and many franchisors do not even collect some of the information that must be submitted to the state of New York.

Who Must File?

The New York law applies to every franchisor that has at least one franchise in New York state that is required to be registered as a sales tax vendor. The law does not require that the franchisor itself be physically present in New York and applies even if the franchisor does not conduct any business in New York, other than having New York franchises.

The actual franchisees have no reporting responsibility under this new law, however, each reporting franchisor should let its franchisees know that it will be providing information on its New York franchises in its annual report.

What Must Be Reported?

The information that franchisors must report on their New York franchises includes:

· Each franchisee’s legal name
· Each franchisee’s phone number
· Each franchisee’s d/b/a name, if different from its legal name
· The owners’ names of each franchisee (e.g., principal shareholder, LLC member)
· Each franchisee’s Federal Employer Identification number (for an individual franchisee, this will be each franchisee’s social security number)
· Each franchisee’s New York Sales Tax Certificate of Authority number
· The beginning date of each franchisee’s unit
· Each franchise unit’s physical address
· Each franchise unit’s mailing address, if different
· Each franchisee’s gross sales, as reported under each franchise agreement
· Any discrepancies between each franchisee’s reported gross sales and gross sales of any audit that the franchisor conducted
· If known, the amount of New York state and local sales tax that each franchisee collected at each franchised unit
· The amount of royalty payments each franchisee paid to its franchisor
· The percentage of royalty that each franchisee pays to its franchisor
· The amount of sales the franchisor or its affiliates made to each franchisee
· The amount of sales each of the franchisor’s designated suppliers made to each franchisee

As you can see, the information required is quite extensive. Many franchisors will have to amend the manner in which they capture data on each New York franchise, as they may not currently be gathering all of the required information.

When Are Reports Due?

The first report under this new law is due September 20, 2009 and must contain information from March 1, 2009 to August 31, 2009. After that, franchisors must file by March 20 of each year, and each report must contain information from the end of the previous report to February 28 of that year.

Franchisees Must Be Notified

By March 20 of each year, the franchisor must provide each New York franchisee with a statement that includes all of the information that the franchisor submitted as part of its report. The statement may be in summary form, as long as certain of the required information is included. Each franchisor should send this statement to its franchisees in such a manner as to be able to verify that each statement was sent in a proper and timely manner.

Where Do You File?

Franchisors must file their information return electronically with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. To file a return and for additional information go to the Tax Department’s Web site. Information on how to file will be available at this site after September 1, 2009.

What Happens If You Don’t File?

Violations of the law can result in a penalty of $500 for 10 or fewer failures and up to $50 for each additional failure. If a franchisor fails to timely file an information return under the new law, additional penalties of not less than $500 but up to $2000, will apply to each failure. The total penalties assessed for each reporting period may not exceed $10,000.

Social Media Training For Employees

July 23, 2009July 28, 2009 · 1 Comment ·

Yesterday, I read an informative article by Ben Parr (Mashable) about training new employees in social media. The article, “How to Train New Employees in Social Media” was posted on the American Express Open Small Business site and included the following seven tips to social media training:

1. Consider writing guidelines or a social media policy: A policy can clear up confusion and help you keep employee focus away from what they shouldn’t do and towards what they should be doing. We wrote great guides on whether you should have a policy and 10 must-haves for any social media policy over at Mashable.

2. Make it clear you aren’t policing: The focus is on ways to use social media to promote the business, rather than ways to avoid embarrassment. Make that clear to new recruits and stress that you won’t be policing. Rather, you’ll be trusting in their good judgment and their ability to control privacy settings. The Associated Press quickly learned what happens when you become overbearing.

3. Test their social media knowledge: You’re going to have to individualize each employee’s social media training. While one may have 10,000 followers on Twitter, the other may have no idea what a blog even is. Don’t assume everyone’s at the same level.

4. Have them start their own blog: If your employees have writing-specific duties, give them a homework assignment: start your own blog. The practice of setting up a WordPress account, writing posts, and promoting them is real-world education.

5. Give them required reading: Give them a good book or two on using Twitter or pitching to blogs. Give them a set of blogs (don’t forget Mashable!) that they need to read. Have them subscribe via RSS for efficiency’s sake. Finally, encourage them to subscribe to other blogs and explore their interests.

6. Hand them the reigns: They can read and learn, but you have to trust them eventually with the reigns. Once your new employees are getting comfortable, have them tweeting, making videos, and coming up with initiatives. The more they submerge themselves, the faster they’ll learn.

7. Impress upon them the importance of social media: Yes, some employees simply won’t get it unless you put it into context. Explain how far your reach goes with a single tweet, or provide examples of how businesses were hurt by an inability to understand Facebook.

Acceler8Success Cafe

Powered by Acceler8Success America

Franchise Community – This Needs Our Immediate Attention!

New York State Tax Law Update and Changes

New York Tax Law Update

Franchise Failure: A Dose of Reality

New York State Passes Tax Law For Franchisors