Franchisers Look To Urban Areas
Why Put a Lawyer In the Crow’s Nest?
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring and Bart Jackson were
prepared for the May 15, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights
reserved.
Linking Business with Community
In an iffy economy every business has to make the most
of what is has. And for many businesses, a key strength is community.
“Since 9/11, people are staying in the community more,” says
Marsha Stoltman, owner of the Stoltman Group, an event planning
company. “We’re teaching businesses how to capitalize on the
community.”
Stoltman is organizing “Making Magic Happen. . . Connecting
Business
Success with the Community” on Friday, May 17, at 8 a.m. at
Scoozi’s
restaurant in Hamilton for the Hamilton business community. Presenting
a workshop is Allen Zingg, owner of Magic of the Imagination,
a consulting business specializing in non-traditional communication.
The event is sponsored by the Hopewell Community Bank. Cost: $25.
Call 609-588-8703.
Stoltman and Zingg are both Hamilton residents, and until fairly
recently,
New York commuters. Stoltman was the event planner for Editor &
Publisher
magazine and Zingg was working in human resources for the Children’s
Television Workshop. Stoltman, who started her company just one year
ago, admits that her timing could have been better.
“This is a terrible time to start a business,” she says, and
her type of business, drawing as it does on discretionary corporate
dollars, is particularly hard hit. “As soon as the economy goes
south, the first thing they cut is entertainment and travel.”
Nevertheless, with Editor & Publisher as an anchor client, she is
forging ahead.
Zingg has been in business for himself for three years, and is unfazed
by the economy. His business specializes in inculcating uplift, and
he says the smart company will realize it needs its troops to be
energized
and upbeat now more than ever.
Zingg has been a magician and mentalist — basically a mind reader
— since he was a small child, and he includes those elements in
his presentations. A specialty, he says, is “creating engagements
that deliver a key message in a memorable way.”
As an example, he recently was called in by a company to see if he
could get two contentious departments to work well together. His
engagement
consisted of sitting everyone together in a room and having them pass
a balloon around. The balloon obviously contained something, but it
was not clear what that something was. As each person caught the
balloon,
Zingg asked for a number or a color or the name of an animal. Every
person had to call out an answer. Then, the balloon toss over, it
was popped and there inside was a piece of paper — and on the
paper were all the random words the audience had called out.
Zingg declined to say how he had pulled off that magic trick, and
in fact seems a little uncomfortable with the notion of tricks. There
is magic all around us, he says. We ourselves are magic. That, and
not a mere trick, is his over-riding point. In the case of the feuding
departments, the specific point was that co-operation could be
effortless,
and fun. He says that his way of teaching — of engagement —
drives the lesson home in a way that team building and lectures do
not.
He will use engagement to illustrate all of his points during his
upcoming presentation to Hamilton businesses on the value of
community.
Here are a couple of those points:
Don’t just brand your toaster. Companies used to focusmightily on branding what they do or what they produce. “`We havethe best toaster,’” Zingg gives as an example. There is a newparadigm, he says. “The smart money understands we have to brandwho we are.”This is especially important for a community business. People tradewith people they like and trust. The toaster may be more expensive.There may be a longer wait for a table. The selection of pick-uptrucksmay be less extensive. None of that will matter much to the consumerif he is greeted by name by a smiling proprietor he has come to like.Think further out. Bottom-line-driven companies have beengiving short shrift to cultivating long-term relationships — withcustomers and with employees. “`There will always be anotheremployee.There will always be another customer,’” is how Zinggcharacterizesthis way of thinking.There is tremendous value, though, in working to create loyalty.Customerslike to recognize their tellers, know their waitresses by name, andgive their copy orders to the young man who graduated from high schoolin their son’s class. Employers who value their employees enough tohang on to them create these bonds, and enrich their businesses alongthe way.Capitalizing on the importance of community is not only a boonfor companies that serve consumers, but is also a tool for the servicebusinesses that vie for those consumer companies’ dollars. Knowingwhat customers want now, says Zingg, puts marketers and similarcompaniesin a position to win new clients. No obvious magic there; just commonsense.Top Of PageFranchisers Look To Urban AreasFranchisers have saturated much of suburban America,planting McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A, Jiffy Lube, and Starbucks in or nearmost every mall and highway. Now, says Gina Galli, projectmanagerwith the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, “internationalfranchisers are vying to encourage franchises in urban areas.”On Tuesday, May 21, at 8:30 a.m., the EDA holds a workshop,”FranchiseOpportunities: Entrepreneurial and Business Development” at theLafayette Yard Marriott in Trenton. Cost: $35. Call 609-341-2065.”Franchising is a great way to go into business for yourself,but not by yourself,” says Galli. Her agency held a similarfranchiseopportunities workshop in northern New Jersey in January, and shesays six to eight participants are now in active discussions withfranchisers.When people think of franchises, Galli says, they think of food —the Popeye’s Chickens and Burger Kings and Dunkin’ Donuts outletsare the first things that spring to mind. But this is just onefranchiseniche. There are automotive franchises, tax preparation franchises,dry cleaning and home cleaning franchises, and many other categories.Many companies owning these outlets are just now recognizing, Gallisays, that “urban areas are very much an untapped arena.”This opens a window of opportunity for those interested in becomingbusiness owners.Requirements for receiving a franchise license vary widely, saysGalli.In some cases, background in the business is required, in other cases,she says, franchisers prefer their franchisees to learn from them,and may even see a background in the business as a liability. Somefranchise licenses run into the millions, as would be the case forobtaining the rights to run a large hotel. In other cases, thefinancialinvestment is modest.”There are a lot of resources out there for financing afranchise,”says Galli. “There is equity financing and financing from thefranchiser is sometimes a possibility.” In addition, the EDAoffersloans to new and existing businesses. “We do half-a-billion infinancing each year,” Galli says. “We have well over 20programs.”Banks are another source of start-up capital for a franchise.”Thereare banks out there that are very interested,” says Galli. Infact, she adds, PNC is the sponsor of the May 21 event.Franchisees may have to come up with collateral for a loan, and goodcredit is a plus, but, says Galli, less than perfect credit is”notnecessarily a deal stopper.There is lots of help available for new franchisees. Organizationslike Downtown New Jersey might help with finding a location, forexample.And the EDA, through its entrepreneurism workshops, prepares thosethinking of striking out on their own, with or without the help ofa franchise license.For a franchisee, just as for the owner of a stand-alone business,the most important factor — by far — is “sound businessplanning,” says Galli. “You need a solid business plan, theability to stick to it, and the ability to understand thebusiness,”she says.Insight will be available on May 21 as representatives fromfranchises,including Dunkin’ Donuts and Ramada address attendees. Also speakingare business owners who have chosen the franchise route. They willshare their experiences and give those who are thinking of takingthe same route to independence an inside look into the challengesand rewards of operating a franchise.Top Of PageWhy Put a Lawyer In the Crow’s Nest?Gingerly your vice president places the threateningdocument on your desk. Five million in damages is demanded from yourcompetitor claiming that you pirated his employee who had beenshackledby a non-compete agreement. Swiftly you swing into action and heapall the blame on your in-house lawyer. But alas, it is too late andthe wrong target. You might as well blame your personal trainer foryour obesity-engendered heart attack.Those seeking a more judicious path toward business health might wantto heed the advice of attorney Alina Denis Jarjour, who speakson “Uncovering Discrimination: A Self-Audit,” on Thursday,May 23, at 7:30 a.m. at a meeting of the Employers Association ofNew Jersey at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Also speaking areJohnSarno and Robin Ross of EANJ and Diana Krajewski,founderof Luminara, a human resources consulting firm. Cost: $55. Call609-393-7100.Born and raised in a Miami business family, Jarjour earned a B.A.at Florida International University and a J.D. from the Universityof Pennsylvania. She founded her solo practice in Florida, but forthe past 12 years has been based in Parsippany, where her specialtiesinclude telecommunications, professional services, healthcare, artsand entertainment, and retail. She has also served as Verizon’sin-housecounsel, guiding the telecommunications giant through many contractualmazes.Jarjour sees a corporate attorney as someone who advises the captainto put a man in the crow’s nest because there might just be an icebergout there. The captain grumbles about wasting an able bodied man.”But however remote the possibility,” says Jarjour, “you’dbetter have someone to warn you and help plant some safeguards.”Currently, most larger firms willingly invest in ample in-house staffand available outsources to establish a preemptive legal fortresssurrounding all their activities. However, small and mediumbusinesses,Jarjour points out, frequently and wrongfully regard preventativelegal care as beyond their means.Visions of a trusted legal retainer being cashed in for a batteryof high-priced specialists make most owners (and their accountants)blanch. But full legal foresight is less a matter of quantity, saysJarjour, than of proper initial selection. “There is still a rolefor the lone general business counsel,” she insists. “Thegoal is to select an attorney who has primary expertise in two orthree of your highest use areas and enough ready contacts to outsourcethe rest.”As international and high tech trading link onto traditional businessmodes, our law’s specialties and specialists explode. Jarjour actuallysees this specialization as a benefit to the client. “Somewherenearby awaits an absolute expert in the field you need,” she says,”who constantly keeps abreast of that body of law.”Once an owner has selected counsel, the first joint task must be afull legal audit of the entire breadth of the company’s transactions.Red flags will doubtless pop up in areas the firm probably never evenconsidered.Intellectual property. “Digitalization has made thiswhole topic an incredible mine field,” says Jarjour. Websiteownershipfrequently bounces about like a baseball batted into the stands. Theculprit? Imprecise contractual terms. A site that the business ownercommissioned for his company can default to the employee or the workerfor hire who designed it if the terms do not otherwise specify.Equally common is the problem of slander. If an employee sends aslanderousE-mail on his employer’s computer, is he assumed to be speaking forthe company? Is the company as liable as the employee for the damagingaccusation? Several corporations that have not spelled out exactcomputeruse rules have been named in similar suits.Consultant vs. employee. Many an owner who has broughtin a consultant and listed her compensation on a 1099 form has foundhimself in tax trouble when the IRS judges this worker to be anemployee.”If your behavior toward this consultant is reflective of anemployertowards an employee, regardless of intent,” warns Jarjour,”youmight be crossing the legal line.” This is a combined tax,accounting,and management issue with nuances that must be understood in detail.Employee rights. Severance packages, hiring terms,promisesof promotion, illegal demands, or allowances are contractual itemsthat tend to be left alone to grow rigid and inoperable. Under certaincircumstances, you may not, for discrimination reasons, be able todemand a high school degree for all your line workers. Jarjourinvariablyasks her clients if there is an employee manual that covers fullyand specifically the situations owners often lay at her door.Restricting contractual employees. Are you able to locka valued employee into an agreement forbidding him to work for acompetitorfor six months? Longer? And even more insidious, how far do you haveto go in checking on new employees to make sure they are notconcealingsuch agreements?A full legal audit and establishment of a preventive checklistmay seem a bothersome and expensive investment for your company.However,it usually takes just a twitch of a contract or small addition tothe employees’ manual to eliminate the risk of massive damages toyour firm from some blind side. After all, you never know when an$5 million iceberg may be looming just beyond the horizon.— Bart JacksonPrevious StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
