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By Jeff Lefleur Owning a business is hard. I should know. Since I was 12, I’ve had a variety of business ventures from delivering papers to installing kitchen countertops, owning student rentals properties, investing into a Canada Bread franchise, operating [...]

An important question to ask: “what is riskier – owning a business or having a job?” The answer typically depends on someone’s experience of being an entrepreneur or being an employee. The entrepreneur says “having a job because your entire [...]

The power of visualization can never be underestimated and the most successful people the world has known have been able to look into the future and see what they were going to become.nnnThe marvelous thing is that we all have [...]

“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” is how Americans describe the high failure rate of family businesses—a phenomenon noted in many cultures.nnnBrazil “Pai rico, filho nobre, neto pobre” (Rich father, noble son, poor grandson)nnnChina “Fu bu guo san dai” (Wealth [...]

Do you sometimes feel like your emotions get the best of you? Have you ever had a moment where a gut reaction was the right reaction? We live in a business environment where both emotion and logic play a role [...]

Once you have made your phone calls and narrowed it down to a few franchises, it is time for Discovery Day (D-Day) or as some refer to it: Meet the Team Day. This might be the first face-to-face meeting you [...]

Most Americans will agree that a big part of the “American dream” is business ownership. Many believe that the percentages are as high as 70%! If this is true, why don’t most Americans actually become business owners? As with many [...]

Businesses succeed - businesses also fail.nnnWhy?nnnIn his book Small Business Management (published by West Publishing Co.), Michael Ames gives us the following reasons for small business failure:nn· Lack of experiencenn· Insufficient capital (money)nn· Poor locationnn· Poor inventory managementnn· Over-investment in [...]

There are dozens of leadership styles. Here are some questions I often see new franchise owners ask as they explore what kind of leader they will become when they own a new business. Is a franchisor supposed to be the [...]