Franchise Essentials

No Excuses Series: Part One

You want to own your own business and take control of your future. So why haven’t you? Our guess is that you’ve come up with a list of reasons not to take the plunge. Well we’re here to help.

Excuse #1: Owning my own business will take up all of my time.

Let’s be honest: it’s true that you will invest a significant amount of time in your business in the beginning; no successful business builds itself. But if you’re looking into franchise business ownership, you’re on the right track: a key advantage of franchising is that if you implement a proven business system correctly, there will come a time when you will be able to set your own schedule and take time for yourself. To help you get over your fear, remember to do the following:

Find An Industry You WANT to Work In
Franchise businesses come with proven business systems. This means that you don’t need to have the industry knowledge you would if you were opening up a business on your own. Use this freedom to find something you WANT to do, not something you think you would be best at. It may sound hokey, but you do things faster if you want to be doing them. Do something you love and save yourself the time.

Select Your Perfect Match
Not all franchise businesses are created equal. Are you willing to work weekends or do you prefer to spend that time with family? Would you prefer to work nights or are you an early morning riser? Choose a franchise that has hours and seasonal trends that run parallel to your lifestyle.

Learn to Delegate
As a franchise owner, just as for any other professional position, if you can’t delegate, you’ll find yourself constantly tied up. Franchise ownership provides the possibility of having a flexible schedule; you’ll have to be a confident and effective delegator to take advantage of it.

It’s important to remember not to neglect your business, either. You get out of it exactly what you put into it. You may have to make lifestyle adjustments, but always remember the ultimate goal and the reasons why you are doing it: to build a better lifestyle for yourself. We’re pretty sure you’ll have fun doing it, too.

Post your answers, questions and comments below. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see discussed here, email us at blog@kiddieacademy.com.

Posted on May 14, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged business, business owner, entrepreneurs, franchise, franchise business owner, franchisee, industry, opportunity | Leave a comment

Effective Business Ownership: The Art of Speaking Up

You’re sitting in a meeting. In front of you is a stack of notes, ideas and thoughts you plan on contributing. You were confident when you walked into the conference room. Now you find yourself sitting quietly, saying nothing and feeling anxious. You’re fixated on the fact that you aren’t saying anything and you’re convinced everyone notices. You’re frozen. The meeting ends, and you haven’t said a word.

Sound familiar?

It does for many people, particularly women and the high IQed. Why?

1) They constantly worry about others’ perceptions of them.

2) They are intimidated by people who think out loud and dominate conversations.

3) They overthink things, which shuts down the brain’s processing functions.

The good news is that there are some useful methods to untie that tongue in these situations, and prepare you to become the leader of your franchise business:

Practice what you’re going to say. This will take the anxiety out of not being sure how you want to say what you have to and get you ready for those talks with your future employees.

Own up to not knowing something. Acknowledging a knowledge gap will serve two purposes. It will give the impression that you are so focused on your area of expertise that you’ve left the subject in question largely unexplored, and invite those in-the-know to teach you something new. Being open to constant learning will make you a much more effective franchise business owner.

Keep your head still when addressing people. Military officers are trained to do this when giving orders. It will give what you are saying the perception of being more authoritative than saying it while making casual head movements, helping you get across the importance of what you are saying to your future employees.

Are you the silent, aspiring franchisor in your office? Then put these tricks to use. And remember, you’re not alone. There is an entire silent army of us out there, just waiting to rise up and take over the conference room.

If you have any questions, comments or advice on this subject let us know. Post them below, or email us at blog@kiddieacademy.com

Posted on May 1, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Building Your Business, Business Education, Franchisee Perspectives, Making the Decision | Tagged business, business owner, confidence, experience, leadership, meetings, presenting, public speaking | Leave a comment

A day in the life of a Kiddie Academy Franchisee

By Kathy and Pam, Kiddie Academy Franchisees, Upper Freehold, NJ

“Hello! Good morning! How are you?!” I’m convinced that my business partner Pam’s ultimate goal in life is to be the good morning girl – that’s her favorite part of the day. We arrive at the academy, every morning, between 6:30 and 7:00 and we make sure that everybody who walks through that door gets a very warm good morning.

For a lot of parents, it’s already been a hectic morning. It’s 7:00am and they’ve been fighting with their child over shoes, or breakfast, or what to wear. If they’re frustrated or stressed when they come in, we like to break that up right there at the door.

We’ll dive into our work around 9:00am, developing staff meeting agendas, website updates, summer camp planning and all the good stuff that holds this fun house together. Of course, we’re always looking forward to the wanderers that come in throughout the day, the potential new families looking for a place like ours. We love to talk to them whenever they come by.

The end of the day is not really the end of the day. We like to check in on all our classrooms to see if anything really great happened that we can tell the parents about when they come back. We’ll say, “Hey! How was your day? Make sure you take notice of the such-and-such on the wall!” For the most part, we are here for 95% of the time that families pick up and drop off. We love that daily interaction; we can’t get enough of it.

Most people think we’ve built an amazing life for ourselves and we’ll gladly agree. We try not to get caught actually working. The more routine nuts and bolts of the business, we take that home with us to do. When we’re here we have a lot of fun, and it starts early. Whoever the 6am girl is, the 8am girl brings her breakfast and that’s how we start each day.

My son joined me at work one day and asked, “This is what you do all day? And you tell Dad you’re working?” and I say, “I sure do!”

Please feel free to post your ideas, questions, and comments below, or email us at blog@kiddieacademy.com.

Posted on April 26, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Franchisee Perspectives | Tagged business owner, child care, franchisee, Kiddie Academy, operations, opportunity, success, team | Leave a comment

Buying vs. Leasing: The Case for Owning the Property for Your Franchise Business

Whether your still vetting franchise business opportunities or you’ve already chosen one, at some point you are going to have to decide whether to buy or lease the property it will live on. Thinking about this aspect of the franchise process sooner, rather than later, will help you more thoroughly evaluate franchise concepts and begin appropriate financial planning early, if appropriate. David Schuman, a franchisee with Kiddie Academy, has some helpful insights into why he made the decision to purchase and renovate the space where he will be opening his franchise in July 2012.

Q: Tell us about the advantages of buying vs. leasing.

We decided that a mortgage gave us a much lower debt service, and buying was more profitable. We wanted to have some equity in the property when all was said and done. We don’t have any landlord hassles. I’m enjoying the freedom I have to remodel my center inside and out, which I plan to open in July 2012, AND we will never have to worry about rent increases.

Q: It’s been said that purchasing options are less abundant than leasing opportunities. How did you go about your search to find a location for purchase?

We began searching newspapers and the Internet for available properties. Many were going to require significant changes and, in a lot of cases, didn’t provide the space we were going to need.

The lesson to be learned is to be patient in your site selection process. Think forward. The cost implications for remodeling may cost you more than the time it takes to find the right site.

Every type of franchise business has different needs and requirements when it comes to choosing real estate, but the benefits of owning outweigh those of leasing in many cases. Our advice is to learn from the experience of franchisees already in the system, discuss options with your franchisor’s real estate team, and be patient. A great location that builds the strength of the business is one of the most important assets for your franchise.

Do you have any advice or thoughts about leasing vs. buying a property? Post your comments below.

Posted on April 19, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Building Your Business, Business Education | Tagged business, business owner, growth, lease, opportunity, purchase | Leave a comment

2012 Annual Kiddie Academy Franchisee Conference

We’re gearing up to head out to sunny Orlando! Why? Because the 2012 Annual Kiddie Academy Conference will be held at the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort May 3-5. This event is one of our most important events of the year, because it gives franchisees a chance to:

Attend events and educational sessions that will help franchisees improve their business
Hear from other franchisees about challenges they’ve faced and solutions they’ve come up with over the past year
Listen to motivational speakers whose stories will provide inspiration for franchisees and their staff
Network with fellow franchisees and get to know corporate staff even better

Our franchisees say, “There’s networking, there’s great breakout sessions… the vendor expo is phenomenal. We look forward to conference every year.” There is much to see and do, but we know from experience that sometimes even just one new idea helps a franchisee take their business to the next level.

This year, we’re proud to feature keynote speaker Dennis Snow, who travels the world to share the lessons he learned during his 20 years as a Disney executive. He’ll give our franchisees the tools they need to enhance their customer service skills and reveal the formula for creating magical experiences with customers.

At Kiddie Academy, we know that the strength of our franchisees is dependent on the strength of our whole business system. That’s why we hold our annual conferences. We provide our franchisees and our corporate staff with invaluable resources and networking opportunities. After all, it’s all about our franchisees and what they need.

See what our franchisees have to say at and learn more about the conference at educationaldaycare.kiddieacademy.com/2012conference.

Share your thoughts and questions, and if you’re one of our franchisees, tell us what you’re looking forward to at this year’s convention!

Posted on April 12, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Business Education, Uncategorized | Tagged business, business owner, child care, employees, franchise, franchise support, growth, industry, Kiddie Academy, marketing, new franchisees, opportunity, sales, success, team | Leave a comment

Avoiding Mistakes When Opening a Business

By Kathy and Pam, Kiddie Academy Franchisees, Upper Freehold, NJ

Our favorite guest bloggers are back and ready to dazzle you with their exclusive insider information and advice.

Hire Right Away

We hired early. In fact, we hired before we opened. We interviewed at the local pizza parlor and ice cream shop, identified our people, and started training them right away. And we hired a lot of people. If anything, we hired too many people – we didn’t know who we’d need right away, and we had so many good candidates – but that’s a lot better than having the opposite problem and ending up understaffed.

Have Realistic Expectations

Starting out, we kept a realistic outlook. Some people have the idea that they can put in a few hours and make a lot of money, but we knew that results require effort. Was it humbling to go from being vice president of a financial services firm to pushing around a snack cart? Maybe a little bit. Was it worth it? Absolutely! One thing we didn’t expect was recession. That caught us off guard, so things didn’t ramp up as quickly as we’d hoped they would.

Keep the Momentum

We can see how people might lose momentum if they don’t have somebody to support them through the tougher periods. To be honest, we’re not quite sure how we kept it up, because we did it all day long! It was “full speed ahead” for 65 hours a week, but we were having a good time. That’s the secret: if you’re going to put in all that time, money, and energy and make it pay off, you have to love what you’re doing. Without that love, we would have been done a long time ago.

Please feel free to post your ideas, questions, and comments below, or email us at blog@kiddieacademy.com.

Posted on April 5, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Building Your Business, Business Education | Tagged business, business owner, franchise, growth, hiring, Kiddie Academy, opportunity, staff | Leave a comment

Why Starting My Own Business Was a Brilliant Idea

Q&A with Kiddie Academy franchisee, Carol Haynes

Is it smart, brave or just plain crazy? Is it risky or worth the reward? Today, people everywhere are enthusiastically embracing new business ventures and everyone has a different reason for going into business for themself. For those of you thinking about becoming your own boss, Carol Haynes is here to tell us why starting her own business was a brilliant idea.

Q: When did you start thinking about the possibility of owning your own business?

I have a background in quality improvement and performance management. I’m also a realtor so I’ve always been attracted to business. Our current center director approached me 4 years ago with the opportunity, but the timing just wasn’t right. When my daughter was getting ready to have her first child, we began searching for childcare centers. We realized that what we were looking for was just not available. So I decided to be apart of the change that I thought was necessary for our local community.

Q: What has been the single best thing about owning your own business?

Definitely the interaction and smiles that I’ve been able to get everyday. But I also think it’s the autonomy of being in business for myself and having the ability to develop different programs that will benefit the children in my community. Things like that are really important to us.

This has been a choice my husband and I made together to start our own business. I think we couldn’t have made a better lifetime decision.

Q: It sounds like owning your own business is something that you’re really meant to do.

Absolutely. I was at my mom’s 65^th birthday party and one of her friends approached me and said, “I’ve always picked you as one of those people that just knows what they want to do and where they’re going.”

Carol and her husband have recognized the value in owning their own business and the result is more than tangible. Aside from a structured income, Carol and her husband have built something that not even financial security can give you, and that’s a true passion for getting up each morning and loving what you do, for yourself and your community. (We think the pint sized hugs that she gets help too).

Look out for more Q&A with Kiddie Academy franchisees as the year goes on. Please feel free to post your ideas, questions, and comments below, or email us at blog@kiddieacademy.com.

Posted on March 29, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Building Your Business, Franchisee Perspectives | Tagged business, business owner, child care, community, franchise support, franchisee, franchisor, growth, Kiddie Academy, team | Leave a comment

The Portrait of U.S. Child Care Services

The educational daycare business is growing by leaps and bounds as the economic reality of working parents meets their increasing preference for higher-quality child care focused on education and early childhood development.

As a result, this industry is on a rapid rise as more and more parents opt for the superior services of a child care learning center franchise over a conventional preschool business.

To illustrate this shift, Kiddie Academy® created an informative infographic that shows the factors, figures and future conditions driving the popularity of this booming industry.

Continue reading →

Posted on March 23, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Business Education, Franchise Trends, Making the Decision | Tagged business, children, early childhood, economy, franchise, growth, industry, Kiddie Academy, preschool | Leave a comment

Getting More by Giving Back

Corporate professionals and business world academics have long debated the bottom-line merits of corporate social responsibility. In the realm of large corporations trying to tackle issues on a scale with their company’s breadth, this debate can and will go on ad infinitum. On the scale of a franchise business investing in a local issue in their community, there is no debate. In this case, the health of your business and its surrounding community are intertwined.

As a franchise business owner, you get to decide how to leverage your success to become an involved member of your community. The question this raises is does it make sense for me as a franchise business owner to invest financially in a community issue? In our experience, the answer is a resounding YES.

Here are two simple rules for ensuring that your social responsibility initiative serves its purpose:

1. Build in brand resonance. Make sure that your initiative has a palpable connection to your brand identity. For example, at Kiddie Academy, we have developed a strong partnership with First Book. Their mission is to provide books to children in need, and to date they have given away more than 65 million books. The mission of First Book falls directly in line with the Kiddie Academy mission to provide quality educational experiences to children. When your initiative and brand mission are in line, you strengthen both your reputation and brand image.

2. Make it hyper local. As a franchisee, you have the incredible advantage of being able to undertake a social initiative that directly involves your potential clients. So if you’re in the tutoring industry, head off to help out your local school! You’ll not only be helping people right in your community, but you’ll also have the opportunity to build direct and personal connections that will help your business grow.

In short, as a franchise business owner, it literally pays to give. Find a local issue or cause that resonates with your franchise business and invest time and money in helping fix or further it and you will see positive bottom-line results.

If you have any questions, thoughts or insights on social responsibility in franchise business ownership, post your comments below or email us at blog@kiddieacademy.com.

Posted on March 16, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Building Your Business, Franchisee Perspectives, Marketing | Tagged business, child care, community, growth, Kiddie Academy, success | Leave a comment

Building Your Business, Literally

Finding and building a location for a franchise business can be fun and exciting. It should be. This week our guest bloggers Kathy and Pam, Kiddie Academy Franchisees in Upper Freehold, NJ, weigh in on how they got the space they wanted.

Where To Build: Keep your potential client base in mind. Remember, it needs to be convenient for parents to get to. Our location, for example, is near a highway. Not right on top of it, but close enough that it is easy to pull off, drop off the children, and get back on the way to work without losing time. (We are on two acres of land in a horse-farming community) This particular location makes it convenient for parents that don’t live in our community, but commute past it on the way to work, to become clients. No matter how wonderful a site you choose, if it is inconvenient to get to it wont be a viable option for parents.

What to Build:

Rule one – Do your research. Visit every competitor you can. See what you like about their buildings, and what you don’t. This will inspire good ideas for your location, and give you the ability to take what they did poorly, and do it well.

Rule two – Don’t be scared of the initial investment. Think about it like you’re designing your dream home. Anything you don’t do the way you want during the building process will be something you regret down the road. Also, people notice when you skimp on the details, and it says something about you as a business owner if you don’t; you care.

Remember, in the child care industry your office is both a business and a school/home away from home for the children. You have to build a location that is, at the same time, professional, comfortable and relaxed. Our solution was to design the main entry with a more office-like feel, and the back of our building, where the classrooms are, with a school-like feel. This gives the parents the comfort of knowing that they are sending their children to a reputable professional establishment, while giving the children the sense of comfort they need in order to be fully engaged.

If you have any questions, thoughts or insights on choosing and building a child care business location, post your comments below.

Posted on March 6, 2012 by wmagus

Posted in Building Your Business | Tagged build, business, child care, day care, franchise, opportunity, research | Leave a comment