If you’re serious about your business you will have to resign from your day job at some point. Making this decision is like jumping out of a plane. At first, you are eager to put on the parachute and get up in the air, the idea of free falling on your own is exciting.
You are now several thousand feet up in the air, with your feet hanging out of the plane. Then the question come into your mind. Is it safe? Am I ready? Should I wait? But if you wait too long the moment might pass completely. According to Franchise Direct, there are approximately 1,000 franchise systems employing over 621,000 people and contributing £15.1 billion to the economy. Franchising appears to be more resilient than independent start-ups as they have the benefit of the support system from the brand. Franchising is not a get rich quick scheme, it will involve hard work - maybe even blood, sweat and tears. So how do you know if franchising is right for you? Here are our top tips when thinking about franchising or becoming a franchisee
All credit to Rita Gunther McGrath on this blog. She’s the author of – The end of competitive advantage. She says that: ‘organisations need to forge a new path to winning: capturing opportunities fast, exploiting them decisively, and moving on even before they are exhausted. With this book she explains a new set of practices based on the notion of transient competitive advantage. She shows how some of the world’s most successful companies use this method to compete and win today.’
Many businesses reach a point of sustainability with regular income and want to take the next step for growth, but safely. Businesses in debt can often make bad choices because they don’t think they have any other options. At RBSS, our business consultants often get asked the question ‘how do I grow my business without debt?’ We help clients with this situation regularly enjoy creating strategies to help businesses thrive. Although debt can provide businesses with the capital they need to grow, it can sometimes be a risky option and it’s not for everyone. So how do you grow your business without incurring debt.
There are many reasons for business failure. From poor management and not following the business plan, to bad market research, to poor marketing strategies - the list goes on. From the outside, it can be easy to spot what someone isn’t doing right, but when you’re on the inside it’s not so easy to see the mistakes being made, even when you’re the one making them. Below we look at three common business mistake to avoid that could save your business from going under.
As a business, if you don’t grow or aim to grow, the business becomes stagnant, stale, just surviving and if not careful it can become irrelevant. That may seem hash, but it’s true. Having said that, some businesses want to remain small or the size they are and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as they continue to reinvent, refresh and innovate and check themselves.
When you talk to different financial and business advisors about getting access to finance, you’ll get similar but varied advice. It all depends on the business’ particular circumstances. RBSS Consulting, a business advice and consultancy firm, has helped raise funds for hundreds of small and medium size investors. The tricky, yet simple, ones are the Angel Investors.
So I put the question to a panel of professionals and these were the answers given by the panel. Similar but still different. |