Ask Brad Sugars

Brad — Do you believe some people are made for business and others are not?

I certainly believe some people are born with certain personality traits (drive, perseverance, determination) to be successful in business … but I also believe (and I think the great oil entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens said the same thing) that running a successful business and making money is a skill that can be learned – if you are willing to learn it.

Like any other skill, learning “how” to run a business takes time and effort and practice and the effective application of your knowledge, “sweat equity” and other types of capital resources.

It also takes practice, and you’ll discover that your first few businesses will teach you a lot about the “ins and outs” of business generally, and they probably won’t be as successful as your later business efforts will.

So what are the “skills” required to run a successful business?

The first is getting into a business category that is already successful, and adding value to it or solving a unique problem within it to create your own niche.

You can do that, or you can create a new category for yourself, because ultimately, you want to own and dominate your own unique and specialized niche or category.

You also want to get familiar with what I call the “5 Ways” … which I’ve also called the “business chassis” because it focuses on the five drivers that multiply profits in ANY business.

So … “how” do you grow the business and profits for any business on the planet?

Simply increase your number of leads, increase your conversion rate to customers, increase the number of times they buy from you, increase the average amount they spend with you and increase your profit margins.

Notice I used the word “simply.”

That’s key, because “simple” isn’t always “easy” … but what the “5 Ways” does is make the seemingly complex nature of business very simple to understand.

Also understand that the “5 Ways” can multiply your profits upwards of 61%, even if you increase each of the 5 factors by just 10%.

Check out more on the “5 Ways” here ….

Entrepreneur.com

And, if you have an iPhone … there’s a free “5 Ways” iPhone app you can download here …

The iPhone “5 Ways” app …

While the “5 Ways” is a great tool, you should to realize you truly need to “learn” before you “earn.”

I like to say the only place “earning” comes before “learning” is in the dictionary … so learn as much as you can about the “how” of business, and if you have the drive, tenacity, persistence and courage to succeed … eventually you will.

Especially if you have the knowledge of the systems and methods others have used before you to achieve great business wealth and success.

All the best,
Brad Sugars

Hi Brad, I have a very niche business servicing owners of golf courses. To reach these people I need to advertise – and I do the same pretty much year after year. I have been noticing that the amount of new business I am getting is dropping. Any advice here? Thanks, TM

Great question … There could be multiple reasons for the drop in response in advertising that once worked, no longer does.

There is a reason why great ads get changed every year. People will eventually block out the message because they have seen the message so many times. If you are a regular advertiser for years – I would be going and negotiating some editorial or a giveaway or competition to subscribers to renew attention to your brand and offer. Maybe the reach (circulation, audience) has changed at the places where you advertise.

Have you checked with the places where you advertise? Maybe they have an online newsletter that is read more than their magazine. Ask how can you get an advertising package that taps in this new way people choose to get their information.

I have written a few articles on the subject … please take a look here …

Entrepreneur Magazine: Make the Most of Your Advertising Dollars

Maybe even contact one of my coaches … they offer a free ad critique and maybe they will see something you are just not seeing about why your ads are no longer working.

All the best,

Brad Sugars

I am looking into buying a business and I am investigating an Action franchise. I came across some blog posts that the number of reported business coaches is incorrect. I was attracted to your franchise opportunity in part because of your 14 Culture Points – yet if these posts are true then I have to question the honesty of your company. However I am also aware not to believe everything you read – so I thought it best to go straight to the source itself. What is your explanation about this?

To be truthful – I have not seen the posts you are speaking about. I made my mind up many, many months ago to not participate in forums or blogs where people can post anonymously. My rationale for this is how can my company’s integrity and honesty be up for question – when the person posting is not under the same scrutiny?

However I can see how for someone doing their due diligence – that you would want answers.

We have three types of franchisees. Master Licensees, Firm Owners and Practice Owners.

Our Master Franchisees generally own a country or state. Their job is to recruit Firms and Practice Owners and help them be successful.

Firm Owners are sort of like Accountancy Firms. They employ Business Coaches inside their firm.

Practice Owners are sort of like independent consultants – often working from a home office.

Our early Practice franchises (some still in existence) allowed nominated operators – where multi-unit owner franchisees contracted or employed Business Coaches who were nominated operators of the franchise.

The number of franchises are reported to Entrepreneur once a year. The number of franchisees differs from the number of Business Coaches   because many of our Firm Owners employ Business Coaches who are Nominated Operators of the franchise. In the case of the current Firm agreement  – the license is counted as one franchise even though there could be 8 or more business coaches.

There are many benefits to an employee/ contractor model. It is easy to find employees/ contractors than business investors. Plus there are many great prospective coaches out there – who want to be part of a team rather than work from home or own their own business. However employees/ contractors are a lot more fluid than a franchisee. They move around (sometimes into another Firm in another State) or they move on. In fact one our nominated operators from Perth, Australia took our concept to Kenya, Africa. Another coach moved from Brazil to Canada (updated his address) and guess what – he disappeared from Brazil (temporarily) and showed up in Canada – although his business and coaches operated in Brazil. In our system – we close out licenses for many reasons. Sometimes exiting coaches are employees or team members of coaches. Sometimes the franchisee had to close out an old license and move to a new state or country.

From what my TEAM tells me – the data does not take this into account. It also doesn’t take into account that the main database on our website sometimes redirects to regional and firm websites and non-english websites host an entirely different database.

At the end of the day – here is what I can tell you. We report our numbers yearly. The franchising industry is highly regulated. We tell the truth.

If you really want to know about me, or my business – then please go to my coaches (www.actioncoach.tv) or better still our clients (www.actionspeakslouderthanwords.com) That is where you will find out about the culture of my company and its’ people.

All the best,

Brad Sugars

For the last six years my wife and I have enjoyed an income well above what we could have earned working for someone else. Our customers love what we do. We have written a franchise agreement that we think is as success filled (for the franchisee) as our business is. Our franchise has all the benefits of real estate investing if not more. We know that our business can be successfully duplicated by others because we now have three other people in different parts of the country running businesses equally as successfully based on our model and using our products and systems. The problem is that we don’t seem to be able to sell a franchise. We spent ten thousand dollars having a marketing company prepare a campaign for us but I am now of the view that we would have had better value for money if we had thrown a ten thousand dollar party. We don’t have unlimited money to throw at this and even if we did there wouldn’t be any point we are in business to make money not spend it. We would be happy to have a partner take over the marketing and sales under some sort of business arrangement or we will keep trying ourselves, but where do we get a campaign that we know will work before we have to throw more money at it? The frustrating thing is that we know of a massive market opportunity that we are ready willing and able to share with others under an arrangement that is a win for us, a win for them and a win for the customers but no one seems to want to know. Is success out of fashion?

Just because you think that a particular business model will make a great franchise doesn’t make it so … and your inability to sell your concept as a franchise means you need to go back a couple of steps and re-evaluate the premise of your model.

First, know that individual franchise units are tested in a lot of different markets and geographic areas before they go national or international. And that is based on a lot of up-front knowledge, research and information about the market that needs to be served.

You can also get great information from what is already working. What is working for the three people who are using your system? Do you have their testimonials? Are they using your products and systems exclusively or their own under your banner?

Also, what doesn’t work about your system based on the feedback of people who didn’t buy?

Find out what is working from three people who are using the system, and a better approach may be to simply sell the products and system as a “turn-key” business practice versus a full-scale franchise.

Know that so-called professional services and “white-collar” franchises are tough to leverage because you don’t have “ brick and mortar” and you rarely have a “product” to sell. You are selling the “invisible” – even if it’s a “relationship”— which is what real estate (as business coaching) tends to be.

All the best.
Brad Sugars