So What? How To Communicate What Really Matters by Mark Magnacca
In this book, sales consultant Mark Magnacca answers the “So What?” questions and shows you how to answer them. Use it to help you refine your communication skills and accomplish what you’d like to achieve. If you can’t answer the “so what” questions in business gracefully, then your goals will be significantly harder to reach.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
This book has some surprising new ideas about what really motivates us. Pink uses recent scientific discoveries about the mind to discredit traditional beliefs that claim people can only be motivated by the hope of gain.

Strength-Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie
Strengths Based Leadership is full of firsthand accounts from some of the most successful organizational leaders in recent history. The founder of Teach For America, the president of The Ritz-Carlton, and many others talk about their strengths and how they used them to craft success in business. More than personal anecdotes, this great read has plenty of research and ideas that you can put into practice.

Great 2010 Goals for Franchise Business Owners

• NETWORK.
  
  Devote 30-45 min a day to networking and marketing your business. This can just be updating your profiles on social networks, attending luncheons or setting up coffee meetings with other potential business leaders.
• MAKE the ASK.
  
  Use the new year as an excuse to set up meetings with potential clients you haven’t talked to in awhile. Create a template email and just personalize with the client name and relevant info. Always remember to make “the ask” – Get them to give you 10 minutes to give a presentation about your business, to meet you for lunch or more information to build into a formal pitch for their specific business.
• MOTIVATE your employees for 2010.
  
  If the holiday season got crazy, take the time to lay out a roadmap for future growth in 2010. Share your goals for the company for the next year, and give real numbers, like a benchmark from 2009 that you’d like to beat this year. Solicit their opinions of what could be improved or their own career goals. Don’t be afraid to get personal. Sometimes helping an employee with one of her goals, like giving flex time so she can spend an extra hour a week with her grandkids, will engender deep loyalty to you and the company.
• Give yourself DEADLINES and break into achievable milestones.
  
  If you goal is to cultivate and bring on three new franchisees this year, set a deadline of one a quarter. Make yourself set two meetings a month with potential franchisors. Keep a fresh calendar specifically for this goal, separate from your day-to-day To Do list.
• DIVEST yourself of 2009.
  
  Part of starting anew is getting over the past. Though 2009 was a rocky year for many, check it off your list. Take a day off just for you – not family time, spouse time or catch up at the office time – actual mental time off for you to regroup. A business is only as strong as its leader, and your positive mindset will encourage others to set off in pursuit of an awesome 2010.
  –

Last year, Entrepreneur.com featured wise words from business leaders. Many still work today, so we thought we’d share a few… Check them out:

Don’t lose your optimism and opportunism. Someone has to be opportunistic in this market and if entrepreneurs can’t do it, who can? There’s still room for optimism.

Startup Financing
Asheesh Advani

Get more traffic. Convert more traffic. Sell more to existing customers. Put everything you can on autopilot.

E-Business
Derek Gehl

Focus on planning as management. It’s not just a plan, but a planning process including regular plan reviews with course corrections. Note changed assumptions in order to steer your business through constant change without losing sight of the long-term goals; which is, in a nutshell, getting back to the fundamentals of planning, or “plan-as-you-go” planning.

Business Plans
Tim Berry

I think mompreneurs should make just one resolution in 2009: Be present in whatever you do. When you’re working, don’t answer the home phone, change out the laundry, etc. When you’re with your children, truly be with them. Don’t answer e-mails, sort through your mail and check your phone when you’re spending time with your children. And when the best plans fall through, just laugh.

Mompreneur
Lisa Druxman

Resolve to make 2009 the year for building relationships with customers and influencers as well as offering the best value–because in a tough economic year, we’ll all choose to spend our limited dollars with the people and companies we know and trust.

Marketing
Kim T. Gordon

If you’ve been thinking about buying a franchise, make 2009 the year to stop pondering and start researching. Read everything you can about franchising, make lists of what concepts interest you, get Franchise Disclosure Documents, talk to franchisees and franchisors, look into your financing options and start taking legitimate steps toward buying the franchise that’s right for you. Many franchisees are succeeding even in this economy and will continue to succeed in 2009, but risks are arguably higher and preliminary research is more important than ever. Resolve to start this year by launching into your own in-depth, full-force franchise research.

The Franchise Insider
Janean Chun

*Get your conversation started. Sign up and learn by doing. I’m talking about Twitter and Facebook. Using social media can be the biggest impact for your business in 2009.

Search Engine Optimization
Jon Rognerud

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the COMFORT KEEPERS BLOG TEAM!

While it’s tempting to accept defeat by the to-do list and bunker down next to your space heater for the winter – take a moment to ask yourself a few quick questions as the clock ticks away the last seconds of the year.

• What 3 major things did you accomplish this year?
• Have you learned any new skills this year that have helped you improve in your business or career?
• What goals did you have at the beginning of the year?
• Which of those goals still need to be accomplished?
• which of these goals can you feasibly accomplish before the end of the year?

• Keeping in contact with your network and touching base frequently may yield future referrals. Word of mouth is a powerful force in business, so keep your business relationships current.
• Developing a proactive sales or networking plan will allow you to strategize. Who do you need to contact? What audience needs to know about your business or service? Take some time to answer these questions and then strategize about how you might connect with them.
• Being proactive in your sales strategy will also help give you a solid business reputation. Other business owners and consumers will start to see your business as a valid, respected presence in the business community.

Keep it family-focused.
Many Comfort Keepers are intimately involved with their clients’ lives – so much so that they are considered not just a caregiver, but part of the family. While it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, remember that relationships with adult children and their parents end up generating word-of-mouth marketing and referrals. Make a special effort to continue a great level of communication with families of seniors during the holidays, and relieve a little of that end-of-year stress for all.

Give thanks.
If you do send out marketing materials at the end of the year, one of the best reasons is to give thanks to your customers. A real, sincere human sentiment is more motivating than any commercial note or promotion. Cards and letters should be personalized — tell a story, show photos of real people or be in first-person (“I’m so thankful this year for you.” not “The business is thankful for its clients.” A handwritten signature is a must.

Make it a gift of your time or experience.
The holidays are a time to give back to your community, and you can use your expertise in working with seniors to educate others. Maybe someone has a church group who would love to hear your perspective on aging gracefully, or a gym club who wants ideas for senior exercise techniques. Be generous with your time, even during the busy holiday season, when time is a hot commodity.

Recognize individuals.
Your staff can be the most important grassroots marketing tool in your toolbox. Paying attention to their ideas and needs can not only help you keep improving your services, they can spread the word about the great work you do. Make time to ask other franchisees or staff for 2010 ideas — you never know what will come up. Recognize outstanding 2009 employees. Validating their concerns, thanking them for their hard work and truly listening is the best gift you can give.

Don’t be afraid of the tough stuff.
Your positivity and optimism can be infectious. For seniors who may be a long ways from family, you play a crucial role in connecting them with good things of the season. It’s been a tough year for many across the country this year and travel may be especially difficult. Recognizing that and showing compassion and understanding are important. Expect extra requests from families and do your best to accommodate them.  They’ll remember your kindness long after the holiday season ends.

In the article “Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China,” writer Bill Powell listed “Look After the Elderly” (pg. 3 online) as the third lesson to learn – which so many of us at Comfort Keepers know firsthand is vitally important to the future of our country.

Powell gave his own personal perspective on the difference between each country’s treatment of seniors, saying:

“It’s hard to imagine two societies that deal with their elderly as differently as the U.S. and China. And I can vouch for that firsthand. My wife Junling is a Shanghai native, and last month for the first time we visited my father at a nursing home in the U.S. She was shaken by the experience and later told me, ‘You know, in China, it’s a great shame to put a parent into a nursing home.’

In China the social contract has been straightforward for centuries: parents raise children; then the children care for the parents as they reach their dotage. When, for example, real estate developer Jiang Xiao Li and his wife recently bought a new, larger apartment in Shanghai, they did so in part because they know that in a few years, his parents will move in with them. Jiang’s parents will help take care of Jiang’s daughter, and as they age, Jiang and his wife will help take care of them.” 1

The writer goes on to examine some of the reasons for increased national need for in-home senior care, especially as the U.S. becomes what he characterizes as a “mobile and rootless society.” High costs for nursing home care and soaring numbers of elderly citizens are paired with many adult children’s desire to provide parents with the kind of love and support that many Chinese citizens consider a matter of duty.

The TIME article continues, speaking with Arnold Eppel, a leading researcher and expert on America’s aging population:

“Home care for the elderly will most likely make a comeback in the U.S. out of sheer economic necessity, however. The number of elderly Americans will soar from 38.6 million in 2007 to 71.5 million in 2030. But, says Arnold Eppel, who recently retired as head of the department of aging in Baltimore County, Maryland, ‘There won’t be enough spots for them’ in the country’s overwhelmed nursing-home system. Appreciating the magnitude of the coming crisis, the U.S. government has begun to respond. Two new initiatives — Nursing Home Diversion and Money Follows the Person — expand subsidies for home elder care, and the Veterans Health Administration has just put in effect its own similar initiative. ‘The whole trend will be into home care, because nursing homes are too expensive,’ Eppel says, noting that nursing-home care in the U.S. costs about $85,000 annually per resident.” 2

When thousands of American readers of TIME consider these statistics – both in the context of cultural background and as simply a matter of caring for one’s own –  it becomes clear that we’re on to something here at Comfort Keepers. Franchisees, employees and clients already know how important service to seniors is today.

Our challenge is to continue to study best senior care practices, publicize our role in this increasingly important societal change and truly serve our mission by providing excellent service to seniors.

Read the whole article from TIME here.

Reference:

Powell, Bill. ““Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China.” TIME Nov. 12, 2009. Time.com. 20 Nov. 2009. <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1938671-3,00.html#ixzz0XE0k5INy>

Independence has always been important to baby boomers in every stage of life – from the hippies of Woodstock to eco-friendly businesspeople to “can’t stop me” grandparents  –  the evolution continues, but the moral of the story stays the same. Independent thinking and action is crucial for a fulfilling life for boomers.

But the health limitations that come with advancing age threaten to stop these freewheeling folks – and they are worried about it.

This generation of people value various types and elements of independence:

• Financial
• Residential
• Emotional
• Transportation & mobility
• Healthcare

As the number of seniors living in America grows (that number is expected to double to an estimated 71.5 million by 2030) and baby boomers become the seniors of today, new services like Comfort Keepers emerge to help by providing in home care and adult care services.

A key for businesspeople looking to attracting this distinctly independent audience is to be cognizant of the unique characteristics of boomers.

“Seniors, particularly baby boomers, each believe they belong to a market segment made up of exactly one person,” said Blaine Branchik, an associate professor of marketing at Quinnipiac University said to The New York Times.

Ways to Attract Baby Boomers:

• Treat older consumers as adults, not teenagers
  …but don’t call them ‘old,’ either.
• Speak to their need for individuality:
  Be flexible, willing to customize, and creative about problem solving.
• Listen to them.
  This is a generation of strident voices that want to be heard, no matter their life stage. Be immediately responsive to expressed needs.
• Teach, don’t preach.
  Boomers have a history as resistors and agitators. Make sure your marketing takes a non-authoritative tone, focusing on teaching these life-long learners.
• Project energy and activity.
  Even as they age, boomers are part of one of the most productive and entrepreneurial generations. Show them how you can help them keep their energy up and stay connected to their passions and hobbies.

1. What hours do you want to do business?

2. Do you want to sell a product or would you like to provide a service?

3. Do you like working with people?

4. What businesses are you already interested in?

Comfort Keepers offers a variety of resources for people who are thinking about franchising. Whether you are an experienced in the business world or just beginning your research process, visit our site to find out more about the franchising industy.

First, take advantage of your parent company’s training programs. Comfort Keepers^® offers all franchisees a comprehensive training course so that they can become familiar with the business philosophy and most effective business practices. Find out what your potential franchisor has in place to train you once you get started.

Also, learn how the parent company’s marketing department can help you. Most franchisors offer extensive marketing communications documents and literature that you can use to market your business. Develop a good relationship with the people in your marketing office and let them help you build a strong brand presence in your area.

You should also use the network of fellow franchisees to gain business insight. These people are facing very similar challenges and issues that you are facing. If your parent company offers franchisee conferences or meetings, take advantage of these opportunities to connect with your franchise-mates.

1. E-mail on a schedule. Resist the temptation to check your e-mail incessantly. Instead, plan to check 3 or 4 times a day. Set aside a small chunk of time when you check to respond to urgent e-mails.
2. Take a break every hour. If you stare at your screen too long, you’ll start to get drowsy and work slower. Plan to get up and walk around the office or the building every one or two hours.
3. Don’t keep comfortable chairs in your office. Beware of having extra comfortable seating in your office because your co-workers will likely come in often to sit down to chat. Try keeping a small side chair or folding chair in your office. People will be much less likely to stay and shoot the breeze if they have to sit in an uncomfortable chair.
4. Keep cool. If your office is warm and stuffy, you’re more likely to feel tired and work more slowly. Keep the office temp cool or bring a fan if you need to.
5. Avoid the afternoon sugar crash. Around 3 p.m. when that morning coffee has finally worn off, most of us experience a sugar low. Bring an apple to work to stave off the afternoon slump.
6. Send calls to your voicemail when you’re working on a big project or when you’re working on a deadline.
7. Prioritize your tasks. Many times, we choose the easy & unimportant tasks first because we don’t want to deal with the bigger ones. Instead you should make a list in the morning of the most important things to get done and then work on them first.
8. Allot segments of time for each task. Allotting a specific amount of time will help you to stay on task and motivated. If you have a competitive nature, you may enjoy pushing yourself to accomplish your timed tasks.
9. Take a real lunch break. Don’t work through lunch. Get out of the office and take a break so that when you come back you are ready to make the most of the afternoon work hours.