Many of you seem to be looking at franchising to get into business, while this can be a relatively painless start to your own small business, caution is essential. I thought I write down some pointers of what you should have in any franchise contract, this is not a nice to have list, but the bare essentials. This list could easily be much longer, depending the area you work in:

• Sell/transfer - you need to have the right to sell or transfer the ownership of your franchise at will;
• Products & Services - obligations to the franchisor, for example buying products and services;
• Territory - exact and precise boundaries of your franchise territory;
• Training & Support - this is why your are doing this, so make sure you get what you need;
• Pricing - exact and precise pricing, commissions or rentals of all product and services;
• Termination - make sure you can get out if you have problems;
• Investment - how much and when do you need to invest.

This all should be based on previous exhaustive research and information gathering on the franchisor.

• Companies financial health, history and management team;
• Bankers and other professional advisors to the franchisor;
• Companies track record, how long has it been going;
• failing that precise details of pilot operations;
• detailed description of franchise and territory;
• number of existing franchises and the right to talk to any of them;
• Initial and any other payments to franchisor;
• realistic business planning data, cash-flow, profit and loss;
• find out how exactly the franchisor makes their money;
• realistic working capital need, long term viability of franchise;
• take a bank reference;
• training and support guarantees from the franchisor;
• help with raising finance;
• restrictions if there are any;
• get a sample contract.

Again this list is not exhaustive, but should help you to get started. Every-time during your evaluation period if you have a question, write it down and ask. It is a bad sign if questions you have will or can not be answered. Do not fall for pressure sales tactics. You should walk if your questions are not answered without a good explanation or any of the following happens:

• Says: “Act now to get in while it is still cheap”;
• If it is all too easy with huge profits from day one;
• any problems with franchisors directors or officers;
• demands large up front license fees;
• does not know the market they are operating in;
• evasive on access to existing franchises.

A franchise can be exactly what you where looking for, but it can also turn out to be a nightmare, like any business you need to be careful and do not get carried away by the sales pitch. Talk it though with an accountant, to make sure the figures add up.

If it sounds to be too good to be true, it …….. . ST.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said he made the decision because the two private takeover offers on the table, did not offer the taxpayer “sufficient value for money”!

The problem for the chancellor, the same statement would be true if one looked his performance, he makes decisions and the taxpayer suffers - to the tune of £55bn, to be precise. Under the “new (Labour) strategy”, this will jump to a staggering £110bn - a whopping £3,500 per tax-payer. This is the first such move since the “good old days” of the 1970s, with the added spice that the shareholders have already promised legal action.

The government has recruited Mr. Sandler, the former Boss of Lloyd’s of London, to run Northern Rock. “It is business as usual, ” he said. I wonder if the tax-payers feel the same way. Or the employees for that matter, as there is the expectation of 1,000 job cuts under Mr. Sandler. In the absence of a vision for Northern Rock, there is always “restructuring”, cutting cost to you and me.

Mr Darling has seen his ratings fall, while he follows my new slogan for Labour:

• Northern Rock - Too little. Too late.
• Non-doms - Too little. Too late.
• Capital Gains on Business Sale - Too little. Too late.

I can’t stop wondering, if the tax-payer is ever going to get “sufficient value for money” out of this government, or any of these disasters caused by this Labour government.

Personally, I can’t wait for the: Darling - Too little. Too late. ST

The British Camber of Commerce - BCC reports a £10bn rise in the cost of red-tape to £66bn in the last 12 month.

In a time when our economy is in a slow down cycle, this figure is staggering. The government policies are fiscal policies are failing on a grand scale while it is spending tax-payers money through red-tape at an unbelievable rate.

Not only the cost of red-tape will be of worry to most small business, but the inherent loss of competitiveness is not to be underestimated. The biggest burden is the working-time regulation with alone £1.8bn in a year - a total of £16bn since it’s introduction.

The governments claim of an overall reduction in the cost of red-tape have been exposed as wishful thinking, once again.

Francis Chittenden of the Manchester Business School who has co-authored the report with Tim Ambler from the London Business School has the hope, that the civil servants who actually reduced their cost of red-tape a little, would be promoted, in order to achieve better results in future years. But even he admits it may be too little too late.

This, in my opinion, should be the Labour Parties new slogan: Labour - Too little, Too late. ST.

A few days ago I wrote a post about listening to your customers before you sell your product or service. You may be able to make someone buy your product/service once, but for your customers to come back for more you need to do more.

No matter how good your are at selling, no matter how smooth, slick and high-pressure you are, the fact remains you can’t make someone buy. The only way is to solve peoples problems. Which problem does your product and/or service solve?

• Easy-to-run online accounting software;
• do the job in half the time;
• lose weight while you sleep;
• easy-to-prepare gourmet meals;
• cut overheads.

You get the picture - the best way to sell is to solve. This will tell you that bombarding clients with facts about megabytes, speed, number of cylinders and so on, is not what is needed. Find out what problem your customer has, then talk about the benefits and solutions your product/service offers for the problem - that will get you a sale.

If solving is selling, what are your solutions? Let me know. ST.

I’m happy to announce that WinWeb’s OnlineOffice has become even more affordable for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants from today.

From today the monthly subscription will be £ 9.95 / US$ 19.95 / € 14.95 / AUS$ 24.95 per small business. We no longer charge per user, but per business. For each business you can add up to 15 users and an unlimited number of quick-switch links to your and other businesses, including your accountant or book keeper.

OnlineOffice will give you access to:

• accounting software;
• invoicing & quotations;
• web-hosting, including web-builder, blog software and online shop;
• business planning, cash-flow planning and SWOT analysis;
• secure online file-store;
• address book, to-do-list, calendar and meeting organizer;
• Skype and eBay integration;
• full LiveNet access;
• and much more.

So there is even less reason not to start your own business and give it a go. All this comes with our 24/7 live support. OnlineOffice is a complete small business infrastructure, which lets you run your business from anywhere and anytime.

There is a 30 day trail period, so give it a go. ST.

Today I got an invitation from someone to link up with him via LinkedIn, the social network for professionals. So I signed in and accepted the invitation. Scanning through my LinkedIn homepage, I noticed that a “colleague” from WinWeb had signed up. Once I clicked on the link I was shocked to read that someone else was claiming to be CEO of my company, WinWeb International Limited.

As you can imagine I was a little perplexed, but then you realize that these social networks all have certain limitations, and this is one of them. Anyone can claim to be someone else and there is little you can do about it. It could also be a simple mistake, but who knows?

So be careful when you meet someone online for business, they may not be who you think they are. ST.

Currently the UK is a hostile place for micro business and small business, there is the government which seems to be hell bend on making it more and more difficult for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants to run their affairs. Unless you are Richard Branson and get invited to fly to China and India with the PM and getting your hands on the fifth largest bank in the UK with taxpayers money, you are having a tough time.

Today I travelled to Ken Livingstone’s London from the suburbs in Hertfordshire with the 11:17 train to Kings Cross, to do some business. While waiting on the platform for my train, I was reading about Ken’s plans to increase the congestion charge to £25 per day for some cars, that is about $50 per day to drive into London with your car. I’m still wondering what is happening to all the money Ken is getting from us everyday right now, since the promised travel improvements certainly have not happened.

My train arrives and is over-full, in-fact two stations on and nobody can get on the train anymore, hundreds of people are left on the platforms. If you run a small business and want to travel to London your are in trouble these days, the whole infrastructure is not functioning. On one hand we have Ken who has long lost touch with what is happening to people, charging exorbitant amounts to enter London by car, without that we have a public transport system in and around London that can cope even at non-rush-hour times.

Needless to say that I arrived late for my meeting and when I complained about the service, I was told to fill in a form.

London is my favorite city and my favorite city is in trouble, big trouble. Let’s hope Boris Johnson can sort this mess out. ST.

While we are talking about customer service and relations, differentiating yourself from your competition, here is an easy one:

TURN UP ON TIME! GUARANTEED!

The fact of the matter is, that most of us have been ad home waiting for the service man/woman to turn up, only to be disappointed in one way or another. They did not come at all, they did not call to let you know or they came far too late. The reality is often customers will sit at home, take a day holiday leave to have this work done. If then something goes wrong with the appointment customers - and so would we - get very upset, rightly so.

So why not give a written guarantee that you will be on time, no that would be an differentiator that will get you work. Believe it or not, time is not only money to you, but to your clients too.

You guarantee to be on time - I’ll guarantee you’ll get more work! ST.

In my last post I talked about bucking the trend and doing things different than the competition. One of the easiest ways to micro business success is better customer service or just a better customer experience. You know your business better than your customers do, so ask yourself what you would be worried about, if you were the customer?

• How much time is this going to take?
• Does this person know what he/she is doing?
• What is it going to cost?
• What is something goes wrong?

You can probably think of more questions for your product or service. The trick is to get rid of these barriers and differentiate yourself from your competition. Set up a criteria sheet with all the barriers (worries) your customers might have to doing business with you and try to eliminate them one by one.

You can always try something new with one customer first, see how it works and then fine tune it. If it does not work, think of it as a marketing expense, like so many ads that do nothing for you. If it works you got a new contract, maybe a new customer and most of all a competitive advantage for the future of your small business.

There really is only one definition for business:- to create a customer. ST.

It always amazes me to see how many businesses still charge by the hour - it is a business killer. How do you like it if someone comes to quote for a job and then tells you he/she is charging you by the hour. You will have all or at least some of the following thoughts:

• How many hours will it take, can I afford this?
• I don’t know this person, I don’t know how good he/she is at what they do?
• Great, I am taking all the risk here, he/she can take as long as they want and I’ll have to pay?

The truth is that charging by the hour is terribly customer unfriendly and is therefor very bad for your small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

By charging by the hour you are creating so many barriers to doing business that your chances of securing the order is very small, if you are competing with someone who offers fixed pricing you have virtually no chance of getting the order. So if you work in an industry that charges by the hour and you need more work you know what to do.

In my experience you can charge more, if you charge a fixed fee and get organized. I believe that more accountants and solicitors loose work because they charge by the hour, the client relationship sours and then break down altogether.

Get rid of your timesheet - fix prices and bill your clients upfront - your customers will love you. ST.