How to Stay Motivated Working from Home

Tips for making it through the tough times
From Scott Allen


You're lucky. You work from home. You're your own boss and you answer to no one but yourself. You may have worked years or even decades at a regular job, but now you get to make your own rules and set your own hours. There's no need to fight the alarm clock every morning, nor is there any reason to go to bed early at night. Since you're your own boss, you don't have to worry about getting written up, laid off, or fired.

Since you're reaping all the benefits of working from home, you're also stuck with the responsibilities. You're in charge of every aspect of your home business, which means you have to handle the bad along with the good.

One of the biggest challenges you'll ever face is motivation. Many individuals working from home are content with just earning enough money to get by, and don't strive to take their small business to the next level. If you find yourself slacking from time to time, then you need a good motivation boost.

Here are some tips to help you stay motivated:

Take some time to think about why you started working from home to begin with. Was it because you wanted freedom? Was it for the money? Were you having trouble finding a job anywhere else? In other words, what motivated you to start your own small business in the first place? Try invoking the same feelings again, and you will find yourself motivated once more.

Set goals for yourself. They don't necessarily have to be large goals—in fact, you will be better off setting small and easy goals. Try to get through one step at time. Plan to work an hour more every day. Try earning an extra $100 a week. What about $200? Just imagine what all you can do with that extra $100 or $200 each week!

Create a vision board. A vision board can be a wallpaper or collage of everything you want in life. It can include pictures of your dream car, dream home, yacht, land, famous places that you want to visit, and so forth. Anytime you need a boost of motivation, just look at your vision board! It will remind you of everything you can obtain if you work hard enough.

If you're not feeling very inspired and your creative juices aren't flowing, don't force yourself. The more aggravated you become, the less motivated you'll be. You also won't be able to produce quality content when you're feeling down. It's ok to take breaks. Sometimes lack of motivation doesn't necessarily mean that you're not doing any work—it could also mean that you're working TOO hard. Lie down to read a book or take a nap if you have to. Sometimes a bit of rest is all we need to stay motivated.

Working toward goals and taking breaks may seem contradictory, but they both play an important role in motivation. You can work and still rest. There is time enough to do both. Napping doesn't necessarily equate to laziness. Laziness is when you don't even try to motivate yourself.

If you work hard and find yourself stuck, then you need to rejuvenate yourself somehow. Once you're done resting, then you can get back to work again. You will more than likely have everything sorted out in your head after resting up, and before you know it, your work will be all done!

It doesn't matter how much money you earn by working at home. Nor does it matter how successful your small business is. At some point in time, you will find yourself needing motivation. You need to: think about why you wanted to work from home to begin with, evaluate your present situation, and make plans for the future.

Never let yourself forget why you're working from home. You are luckier than most people out there. You don't have to trudge to work every day slaving away for a thankless boss. Be thankful that you have freedom and independence that most people don't. As long as you can stay motivated and focused, your earning potential is unlimited and you can live a lifestyle most people only dream about.

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Tax Tips for the Self-Employed

f you know what you're doing, you can avoid the pitfalls and leverage as many credits and deductions as possible.
By: Roni Deutch | 05/28/2009


This is the first of a three-part excerpt from The Tax Lady's Guide to Beating the IRS and Saving Big Bucks on Your Taxes, by Roni Deutch, available from BenBella Books.

"Take care of your pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves."
- Andrew Carnegie
tax-lady-book.jpg
There is a humorous story about the above quote. Apparently as a 10-year old attending Sunday school back in Scotland, Andrew Carnegie, the powerful head of U.S. Steel in the early 1900s and the son of a hardscrabble Scottish weaver, was singled out by the teacher and asked to quote a passage from the Bible.

After he replied with the above, the incredulous teacher admonished the young lad. "Surely," the teacher answered, "such an answer is not in the Bible."

"It ought to be," shot back Carnegie.
content continues below

Now there was an entrepreneur who knew the secret to running a business: Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.

That is a good lesson for today's self-employed business owners. In the tax world, the pennies can really add up in the form of the many deductions and credits available under U.S. tax laws. The trick is to know where to find them--and how to use them.

That is the aim of this chapter--to help you understand the self-employed tax picture and leverage as many of its tax favors as possible. The best place to get started doing that is to learn more about taxes and the self-employed.

What is the Self-Employment Tax?
The good news is that the income tax form for self-employed individuals is the same as just about everyone else: IRS Form 1040. In addition, the self-employment tax is the same amount for wage earners as it is for self-employed individuals. A portion is even earmarked for Social Security and Medicare.

There are some differences. First, unlike the wage earner, the self-employed individual must voluntarily make self-employment tax payments throughout the year, instead of having them passively deducted from his or her wages as they are paid. Second, unlike a wage earner, a self-employed person can deduct Social Security and Medicare taxes from his or her Form 1040 tax bill.

Fast Fact
What is Taxable

At the end of 2008, Social Security and Medicare tax rate for self-employed individuals was 15.3 percent. The IRS slices that rate into two categories--12.4 percent of it goes to Social Security (yes, as a self-employed taxpayer you pay both the employee and employer portions of that tax, or an extra 7.65 percent) and 2.9 percent of it goes to Medicare. Note that the employer half of the Social Security payment--otherwise known as the "self-employed tax"--is tax deductible. And remember, only the first $102,000 of your annual income is subject to the Social Security tax.

Estimating Your Tax Payments
As a group, self-employed taxpayers already know that tax planning is a year-round event. That is because they often pay taxes on a quarterly basis, four times a year. The self-employed pay these taxes on an estimated basis. That means "estimating" your tax bill if you anticipate owing Uncle Sam when you file your return. In general, the self-employed do so on Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, which helps figure out and estimate taxes. For example, if you estimate your tax liability to be $10,000 for the year, you can ship the IRS four quarterly checks of $2,500 apiece. Alternatively, you can wait until the following April 15 and fork over the entire $10,000 at one time--however this method may expose you to a penalty, so it is best to stick with the quarterly check approach.

Tax Tip:
$0 in Estimated Taxes

A self-employed individual need not make any estimated tax payments if the amount due after subtracting exemptions, deductions, and credits is less than $1,000.

The IRS offers several different scenarios where you can pay estimated taxes. It has a "voluntary" payment mechanism where you can pay estimated taxes based on your previous year's tax bill, even though this year's tax bill may be higher. By paying under the voluntary method, the IRS allows you to pay just the minimum amount required now and pay the rest on April 15. Voluntary payment is a good move if you have a steady flow of income and have the time and financial wherewithal to spread your tax payments out through the year.

Self-employed individuals can also make estimated tax payments even when they do not have to. Granted, this occurs only when a self-employed individual is running at a loss or an extremely low profit. But with a struggling economy, this may actually be the case for more taxpayers than it has in the past. Perhaps continuing to make your estimated tax payments allows those folks to sleep better at night knowing that April 15 will not bring a big tax burden. Alternatively, maybe these individuals are expecting a big cash crunch when the tax bill comes due. Either way, it is an option worth considering.

When deciding what method to use to pay your taxes, take your personal characteristics into consideration. If you are the sort who cannot resist temptation, pay on a quarterly basis. That way you will not be tempted to grab some of that $10,000 and buy that new big screen TV you noticed down at Best Buy. But if you can manage to leave your mitts off the money, you can gain some valuable interest on it by waiting to pay.

Also, if you have a new business, different tax rates apply. I advise my clients to put about 20 percent of their income aside to handle their tax burden.

Tax Tip
Pay or Hold?

It may be a load off your mind when you pay your taxes on an estimated basis well ahead of April 15. But Uncle Sam is not going to be paying you interest on that money in that saved time like an investment account could.

If you are confident in the stock market, you may be better served holding off on paying your taxes and making a few extra bucks for yourself in the interim. If you are not so sure about exposing your tax dollars exposed to the financial markets, just open an interest-bearing checking account at your bank. That way, you can draw your money out to pay your taxes, but keep that interest you have accrued.

Are You a Business?
How do you know if you are self-employed? The IRS has a few criteria.

In general, any commercial endeavor that attempts to make a profit is a business. That is not to say that your daughter's lemonade stand is something the IRS is interested in. But if a business exceeds certain profit levels on an annual basis, then it does become a taxable entity.

Fast Fact
Tax Dates

If you pay your taxes on a quarterly basis, the IRS is going to make you meet certain deadline requirements. Usually that means you will have to pay up on the 15 of April, June, September, and January of the following calendar year.

Once you establish a profit motive--that is, if your venture has earned any net income during three of the past five years, per the IRS' definition--you can describe yourself as a business and begin taking the appropriate deductions for what, in many cases, you used to call personal expenses.

Fast Fact:
The IRS Rules

In most cases, establishing a "profit motive" is enough to determine if you are self-employed. But what specifically is the IRS looking for to confirm that you are in fact running your own business? Here is a list:

IRS Checklist to Determine if You are Self-Employed

* Manner in which you carry on the activity
* Expertise of individual and his or her advisors
* Time and effort expended in carrying out the activity
* Expectations that the assets used may appreciate in value
* Success in carrying on similar or dissimilar activities
* History of income and losses with respect to the activity
* Amount of occasional profits earned
* Financial status of individual

Source: Internal Revenue Service

Next: Set Up a Tax-Friendly Business

Roni Deutch is the founder and owner of the nation's largest tax resolution law firm, Roni Lynn Deutch, A Professional Tax Corp. She is also founder and owner of Roni Deutch Tax Center, one of the fastest-growing tax preparation franchises in the U.S.

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Do You Have Character?

A new client explains how she concluded the author had 'character' worthy of being hired.
By: Cynthia McKay | 05/25/2009


A new consulting client just signed with me to develop a distributorship program for selling home furnishings. Our initial meeting was a comfortable, quiet lunch meeting. She is a brilliant young woman with a Princeton education, extremely pleasant and easy to chat with concerning life, politics and business. We spoke for several hours, and her decision to come on board with my consulting firm was made at the time of our tête-à-tête. She requested that a contract be drawn up immediately.

This sort of reaction is highly unusual. In fact, it was so unexpected that I had no legal documents with me with which to seal the deal. I wondered why her conclusion was almost instantaneous. I wanted to know what happened so that all of my future business meetings would be this effortless.

To solve this mystery, I asked my client what made her choose my company to develop her distributorship model. She told me she thought both the company and I had character. That's an oft-used word, but I wondered how to define the term in relation to this situation.

I asked what character meant to her, and I asked her to be completely honest in her answer. After all, our conversation had run the gamut, and I felt I could trust her to provide more detail. Her response surprised me. According to my newfound friend and client, the following are the reasons for her decision:

1. My company appeared successful.
2. I was dressed well.
3. My car was impressive.
4. My staff were professional and friendly, both in person and on the phone.
5. I had a clean and concise company website.
6. I offered nice business cards.
7. My education was "trustworthy"
8. My introductory packet sent via mail was of high quality.
9. Her free consultation was informative.
10. I had nice teeth.

I was both pleased and perplexed by her explanation, and requested further clarification. I understand that the overall appearance of a company can impress or offend a client and, of course, that competent staff members--whether comprising one employee or 500--make a significant contribution to any company's success.

For my part as CEO, dressing well probably means a small victory in some personal way, and a good car can also give a client the impression that we're "doing OK." Decent stationery, business cards, website and presentation folders are an integral part of achieving credibility. That left us with a discussion of my education, free consultation and teeth.

I began the next dimension of our conversation by asking her to relate the relevance of teeth and character. She said good dental hygiene showed that I cared. I wondered what that meant. I cared about what? Orthodontics, flossing and regular dental checkups? No. She explained that, in her opinion, teeth are a telling sign of "personal care" and "business savvy." To her, teeth indicated attention to detail, lifestyle and a concern for all things relevant to an individual. So teeth are a metaphor for life and business. Interesting. Teeth equate to a philosophical trust for her, and I was lucky enough to have a great cosmetic dentist.

Back to character. Was her conclusion that my company and I had character a result of my interest in her business and her goals, or was it the accomplishments of my firm? It couldn't all be related to the aforementioned aesthetics. No, it's about "character," she said, not the car, suit or anything else. It was a culmination of things in her eyes. "Not the car?" I asked. No, apparently it was about the cleanliness and uncluttered status of the vehicle I arrived in. She was also pleased that I didn't have vanity plates.

That was close. Just last year I had a sedan sporting plates that said, "HLONWLZ" or, as one of our corporate attorneys tagged me, "Hell on Wheels." As a matter of full disclosure, I confided to her that I once had a car with vanity plates, but assured her I'd grown as a person since then. She cautiously accepted that explanation.

I asked her about the suit and education. She told me the law degree indicated I was tenacious and could finish a project. I agree with that--I'm still attending school, and find it rewarding and challenging. I suppose if you look at the fact that I've been attending one college or another for more than 20 years, you could retract that comment and wonder whether I actually have a direction in life. No matter, she liked me as I was that day.

She continued with a comment on the attire. The suit was tidy, neat and orderly; it was clearly chosen, she said, to make a good impression at our first meeting. I was struck by her contemplative method of communication. It wasn't about "stuff"--it was about how the stuff was presented in terms of delivering consideration, concern and attentiveness.

As a side note, she said she was impressed that I was on time for the meeting and, in fact, early. She had arrived 20 minutes prior to the scheduled time to meet, and I arrived 10 minutes ahead. Her early arrival was orchestrated by the need to see whether I would care enough to be there at the time I promised. Arriving early, she said, showed respect for her.

Further, I was generous with my time. She explained that I never looked at my watch or acknowledged the presence of a cell phone. I didn't care about the time, and I turned the phone off for the duration of our meeting. She appreciated that I offered her a free consultation with no time limit whatsoever and paid for lunch as well. She deemed that behavior as true character with no dollar signs.

Everything I did had a unique meaning to this individual. Her interpretation of life was influenced by her study of Eastern culture. Respect, character and consideration offer a strong basis for a relationship. I realized that character was about recognizing my own flaws, yet wanting to offer my "best side" to an individual I had never met before.

Character, though difficult to define, is about respecting others and offering your best, even though it's a bit more inconvenient than taking another, less complicated and tiring route. I learned a great deal that day.

Cynthia McKay is a business growth consultant and CEO of Le Gourmet Gift Basket, a company she began as a small home based business in 1992 and has grown to 510 operating distributorships and more than $1 million in revenue.

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Give Your Brand a Multivitamin

You'll stay healthy by reinforcing your brand promise in everything you do.
By: Lynn Parker | 05/18/2009


Most of us are looking for the magic pill to keep business flowing in the down economy. Sadly, that magic pill doesn't exist. But the equivalent of exercising and eating right can be applied to business: I call it Vitamin Brand. Taken regularly, the hypothetical Vitamin Brand can help you weather the economic downturn. Here are five ways Vitamin Brand can work for you:

1. Take Vitamin Brand to make your difference bigger. Branding is about meaningful differentiation and focus. Since so many people are hunkering down instead of getting out there, you have a great opportunity to increase awareness of your differentiation. Look for low-cost or no-cost ways either to deliver more of your unique benefit or communicate that benefit to others.

For example, Group Health Cooperative is demonstrating its brand of innovation for better health by taking a leading role in the current health-care reform conversation. CEO Scott Armstrong, recently appointed to President Obama's task force on health care, is championing electronic health records, integrated payment and delivery systems, evidence-based decisions, preventive and primary care, and universal coverage.

2. Ensure that your online presence exudes Vitamin Brand. Your entire web strategy needs to reflect your brand, from applications, user interface, navigation and content to audience gateways. You can have a great promise and deliver great value, but if your website looks and acts like everyone else's, you've lost an opportunity. If your company is branded as the friendliest, then have a friendly website. If you're the most innovative, have the most innovative one.

3. Look for more customers like those already taking your Vitamin Brand. Branding is about aligning your value with your customers--moving them from awareness through preference, loyalty and on to commitment by demonstrating how your approach and their needs are in perfect harmony. This means that for a specific set of customers--your most loyal, evangelizing ones--you provide value unlike anyone else.

By figuring out who your best customers are and specifically what they value about you, you'll have a blueprint for getting more loyal customers. At Parker LePla, for example, we discovered that nonprofits appreciated our long-term, values-based approach, so we grew a nonprofit part of our practice, with messaging, marketing and focus on that subset.
4.

Increase your Vitamin Brand-based promotions. Money-off promotions are a tried-and-true way to kick-start sales; but make sure they reinforce your brand. For example, Hyundai is offering to let people return cars if they lose their job. Very on-brand, very promotional.
5. Share how Vitamin Brand has helped. It doesn't cost money to think up brand-based stories and talk about them. If part of your brand is alternative thinking, come up with anecdotes demonstrating that quality, then tell them to your employees and have them share their own stories. Your employees are your best brand ambassadors. If you get them to tell their friends and neighbors about your company's products and services through the lens of brand promise, then you're employing the cheapest and most trusted marketing around: word-of-mouth. Create a culture of storytelling at your organization, so that every voice is reinforcing your brand difference.

So no magic pill--just advice to look long-term, continue to improve and reinforce your promise in everything you do.

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Don't Let Promising Leaders Sink or Swim

Give them your time and the guidance they need to live up to their promise.
By: Kristi Hedges | 05/06/2009


The CEO's most important job is to grow the company's people. We need to groom team members for more responsibility, for leadership roles and simply to do a better job day-to-day. We need a strong bench of talent so we're not overly dependent on one person, ourselves included.

This is true in any economic situation. In times like these, however, when companies are cutting back people and resources, it becomes imperative to get the most out of the people we have. Typically, we cut senior people and ask the team member the next level down to step up. But we often fail to give these rising leaders the mentoring necessary to do the job.

This is a major oversight. It's been a mantra in recent columns and I'll say it again--when times are tough, our people need more from us. That's especially true when we ask them to take on more duties, swim in uncharted waters and excel at everything.

Here's what you, as the leader, need to do to make sure your next-level leaders achieve:

1. Make time. We know it's important to have regular meetings with direct reports to give direction and feedback. Yet when we get stretched, it's often the internal meetings we wipe off our schedules first. Plan to increase your time with employees when you ask them to stretch their skills. Meet at least once a week for an hour, and give ad hoc feedback frequently.

2. Foster an environment of feedback. Make it part of your company's culture to give continuous feedback, both positive and negative. If that seems out of reach, at least foster feedback with direct reports and those you mentor. Frame this feedback as a positive: You're giving these people more attention because you see that they have what it takes to succeed. Feedback is the ultimate compliment. It means someone cares about your development.

3. Don't hold back on your plan for someone. If you tell a rising leader that you see unique capabilities in her and have a plan for her growth, it's much more likely that she'll get there. It's the Pygmalion effect at work--the research that people will rise or fall to our expectations. Let your high-potential employees know what is possible for them, and you'll increase their confidence and success rate.

4. Be specific about what you need. This is neither a time to micromanage nor to sit back and see what someone can do. Be clear and specific about what the person needs to do to achieve the goals you've set for her. Lay out the vision and the skills she must develop, and have her repeat back to you what she heard. You want to avoid misunderstandings at all costs. They waste time and take you off track.

5. Match potential leaders with other mentors. Use your reach to find other performers, inside or outside the company, to act as mentors. Modeling others' behavior is one of the best ways we learn, so encourage your people to find role models. Because the CEO often has a strong network, you can be a powerful facilitator in this process.

6. Invest in training or coaching. This is what I do for a living, so I'm biased. I've seen the enormous demand--and results--of leadership development on high-potential professionals. It's much more common, and often more impactful, than corrective coaching. You can contract for a tailored leadership training program, individual executive coaching or a combination of both. There are also countless management training programs to which you can send employees. The Center for Creative Leadership provides some good ones.

As with most things in leadership or life, what's worth doing takes time. If forecasts are correct, the current economic environment isn't going to end soon. We will need our people to stretch and grow.

There may never be a more critical time to focus on developing your bench strength. Do it, and you'll emerge even stronger than you were before the crisis

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Lessons from the Amazon, Domino’s Debacles

By B.L. Ochman


These are confusing days for companies used to doing business by pre-Internet rules. We’re in an age of conversation, collaboration, and real-time communication. It’s not just how we communicate that has changed, but also how products are created, sold, bought, and evaluated.

Corporations’ old-fashioned, secretive, top-down approach to communication is being turned on its head. Power has shifted to consumers, and change is happening at dizzying speed.

Just ask Amazon.com (AMZN) and Domino’s Pizza (DPZ). Both brands have sustained heavy damage in recent days and neither company was prepared to confront or contain crises that wound up greatly amplified in the blogosphere.

As you’ve surely heard by now, on Apr. 13, two Domino’s Pizza employees turned the 50-year-old company’s reputation to toast after they filmed themselves doing nasty things to cheese and other sandwich ingredients they said were about to be sent out to customers. Within two days, the video had been viewed more than a million times on Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. As of Apr. 17, a Google search for “Dominos” still turned up multiple, prominent references to the video, including one in the third-highest spot. Late on Apr. 15, Domino’s responded with a YouTube video message from Patrick Doyle, president of Domino’s USA. By late the following day, the video had only about 66,000 views.
“Punk’d by Social Media”

Just days before the Domino’s debacle, Amazon was plunged into a controversy of its own. Overnight, sales rankings and search results for gay and lesbian books seemed to disappear from Amazon’s Web site. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other online forums erupted with criticism. Amazon said nothing for two days until it told the Associated Press that there was a “glitch” in its system. Twitter users immediately responded by attaching a tag (#glitchmyass) to their tweets that made it abundantly clear that they weren’t buying Amazon’s explanation.

In response to my AdAge post on Amazon’s silence, a commenter said the social-media firestorm might have made a million or so people aware of either problem—a number he insisted isn’t big enough to have long-term impact on the brand. But a million people are enough to swing an election, populate a fair-sized city, and turn a book or movie into a hit. And if each of those million people tells just one other person, the brand damage begins to multiply.

Domino’s quickly was added to a long, growing list of brands that have been, in the words of Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang, “punk’d by social media.”.

I’ve got some advice for companies that want to keep their brands off that list of shame.

1. Monitor your brand 24/7. We live in a 24/7 world. Deal with it. Information flows in real time. Finding out tomorrow about a problem isn’t soon enough.

There are numerous free and paid tools for monitoring social media.

But monitoring is not enough.

2. Establish a credible presence in blogs and social media. If Amazon or Domino’s had a brand presence on Twitter, either could have responded to conversation quickly. Chances are good that their participation would have been welcome. All they had to say was: “Thanks for letting us know there’s a problem. We’re looking into it.” If the issue blew over quickly, that wouldn’t hurt anything. If it escalated, at least they would have joined the conversation early.

Domino’s was right to cut the video, but it acted too late. Anyone who cared knew a full day earlier that the employees had been identified, fired, and prosecuted.

3. Acknowledge the conversation where it’s happening. When a statement is issued, don’t ignore new media. Domino’s and Amazon talked to mainstream media first, ignoring bloggers and social networks. That strategy backfired.

Endless conversations about whether blogs are journalism, or whether Twitter has any actual communication value, are moot. They’re here, they’ve got millions of readers (more than much of mainstream media), and many of the writers are trusted online influencers. The day after the crisis erupted, while the blogosphere was ablaze with the news, major news outlets had yet to contact Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre, according to Ragan.com. “Right now, it’s on Web sites and blogs,” McIntyre is quoted as telling the blog. “It’s not ABC, CNN, or USA Today.” What’s that supposed to mean? It’s not news if mainstream media ignores it? Tell that to the Tweeters.

Amazon waited three days before issuing an official statement to AP, admitting that they handled the incident in a way that was “embarrassing and ham-fisted.” While the company’s chief technology officer is on Twitter, he didn’t say a word about the incident.

4. Explain how you’ll address the problems to prevent them from recurring. Companies whose customers complain are the lucky ones. The real problem is people who get so disgusted they walk away without saying a word, never to return.

Listen. Respond. Help. Here’s a list of companies already involved in Twitter. Their approach may not be perfect, but at least they aren’t ignoring the millions of people who talk to each other online. Here are more than 35 examples from Mashable. If you are listening, responding, and yes, changing, you are more likely to keep complaining customers than to lose them.

5. Have a crisis strategy ready to roll. The main thing Domino’s and Amazon had in common is that they did not have a social-media crisis strategy in place. If you haven’t participated in social media deeply enough to know who your brand evangelists are and where they talk to each other, how are you going to be able to enlist their help in a crisis?

If you don’t have tools in place to monitor your brand—and if you’d have to scramble at the onset of a crisis to set up a blog, learn how to send a message or post a link in Facebook, develop a channel on YouTube, and follow people on Twitter—you’re already too late.

Source : BusinessWeek

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Start Your Online Business for Less Than $5,000

Create a great website on a budget--without skimping on the essentials.
By Danielle Babb | May 04, 2009


Many in today's market are turning to internet businesses as a way to make money without the overhead of a brick-and-mortar store. After all, an internet-based business grows our market place to a global one--the internet has a global presence and our customers can come from all over the world. Regardless of the economic climate, the more customers the better. And you can get started for less than $5,000.

What can you do with less than $5,000 to make a great web-based business? First, don't skimp on design. Work with a great designer who understands user experience. You should interview several web designers who are local to you so you can sit down and explain your vision to them. Logos are less important than usability-- how usable customers find your web site.

Avoid gimmicks, excessive advertising and anything that detracts from your message and consumer-based content. Customers like to be able to leave feedback on products and services, and connect with each other, so give them a way to do that. One system I personally like is Joomla. A competing product is WordPress. Your web designer may choose one of these two, but both are modular and allow you to add plug-in components to make your site consumer-driven. For instance, on my site I have user-to-user chat, user-to-user private messaging, and user forums where people can go and talk about various topics of their choice. I jump in and comment on occasion, but usually that's only in an area where I'm a subject matter expert. At some point, Joe might log in to see if Suzy is on to chat with--now you have a consumer staying on your site.

Your initial e-commerce site will probably cost between $2,000 and $3,000, and the plug-ins are between $10 and $30 each. For no cost at all, you should add all the social networking media available. Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Plaxo--you name it. Create links and RSS feeds off of your site so people can be updated on what you are doing--and it doesn’t always have to be about business.

Make it easy for people to buy. They shouldn’t have to hunt for what you're selling. Don't delete candid feedback from visitors, and make it easy for them to tell others about your site using "share" buttons.

Instead of integrating merchant accounts right away through a bank, which can drive up your startup costs, you can accept PayPal, which takes about 3 percent of your sales in fees. This requires your consumers have a PayPal account, so you might still choose a merchant system, which will run you about $25 per month. Be sure to protect your system with an SSL Certificate that your web developer can integrate.

Danielle Babb is the founder of The Babb Group, an online entrepreneur, a professor, an author, public speaker and consultant. She has a Ph.D. in Organization and Management with a Technology emphasis, as well as an MBA with a technology emphasis. She is featured regularly on top networks such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business and the Today show. She is also the author of The Online Professor’s Practical Guide to Starting an Internet Business, available from Entrepreneur Press.

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Three's a Crowd? Me, My Partner and My Company

Is your business interfering with the 'life' side of the work/life equation?
By: Aliza Sherman | 05/13/2009


I'm in a strange place professionally. My newly rebranded social media marketing business is going gangbusters, but all of this business growth and success is interfering with the "life" side of my work/life equation. Namely, my husband is feeling that my work is invading our family time. Throw in a toddler who cuts into our "couple" time, and you have a recipe for tension.

My husband used to be a part owner of my company, but that didn't work out well for us. His comfort level with a freelance income was nil, so I eventually bought him out of the company to remove the stress of co-owning a business with a life partner.

Now, our stressor is that I'm spending too much time on my company (according to him) and not enough time on him or the family.

"It is a balancing act every day to keep all the balls in the air," says Katya Tsaioun, 45, president of Apredica, a clinical research organization. Tsaioun's husband, Doug, is a major investor in her company as well as part-time marketing person (he has his own marketing consulting business).

Tsaioun admits to feeling frustrated by the tug-of-war between business and her personal life and relationships.

"Like many entrepreneurs, I feel that I can do everything perfectly," she says. "But reality interferes, and something inevitably has to be dropped or postponed, and it made me very upset initially. Now I know to move on and try harder the next time."

Tsaioun says that planning for personal time helps her with juggle her priorities. "Playing it by ear [the way] I did it at first does not work for me. Personal family stuff starts sliding off the daily routine."

Jennifer Ormond, 39, co-owns Coffee Break Cafe with her husband, a business with four regional locations.

"We are complete opposites when it comes to work," Ormond says. "I want things done yesterday, and he wants to research, wait, look for a different way to do it, and goes very s-l-o-w-l-y! We communicate very differently, too--and, unfortunately for our kids, they get to hear a lot of conversations about work."

Ormond calls herself "an all-or-nothing kind of person," so when she and her husband have a heated discussion about work, she can't just skip to the next topic until they've figured out how to fix the problem. "I can't pretend that things are fine when they are not," she says.

Ormond cites brainstorming sessions and concrete plans as helpful tactics for juggling her relationship and the business.

"We always try to share a meal together, even if it is just a snack at midnight, but mostly it is dinner," Ormond says. "Our hours are crazy, so we think nothing of having dinner at 11. We try to watch TV during that time but usually end up talking and unwinding."

Ormond also says she and her husband used to be strict with the "no talking about business at home rule," but that didn't work out.

Says Ormond, "We both love what we do, so why not talk freely about it?"

For any woman embarking on working with her life partner--or struggling with the never-ending work/life balance--Tsaioun recommends establishing a plan to put your personal life on the same schedule as your business meetings.

"At first it will seem odd, but after a few adjustments you will find a personal solution to your schedule that will help you balance. You will not always succeed, and this is OK."

Ormond's advice is to pay attention to your own needs, too.

"Everything that you read or hear says 'take time for yourself.' I am a big believer in this," Ormond says. "Taking time for yourself and doing whatever is going to make you happy is a must-do. Getting a massage, going for a walk, shopping for a new bag, whatever it is, do it. If it makes you happy, you are a better boss, mom, friend, daughter, etc."

Ormond also advises that you ask for help.

"As women business owners, I feel like sometimes we put pressure on ourselves to know all the answers, but it is OK to not know it all and actually ask for help."

For me, I'm actually pulling out a calendar more often and marking off specific family and couple activities that we can plan for while also trying to stick to better-contained windows of work time. I've tried keeping my computer in the basement home office so I'm not compelled to check it after "acceptable work hours." However, that tactic isn't working yet.

More than anything, I just keep reminding my husband that there is a big difference between a 9-to-5 job and an entrepreneurial adventure, and that the income from my business--especially as it continues to grow--will help us afford many more family-only and couple-only travel opportunities and activities in the near future.

I'm also not trying so hard to find that elusive balance. I'm just happy right now to keep my head above water.

Read Aliza's blog for the husbands' point of view.

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Now's the Time to Make a Killing

This economy offers opportunities for entrepreneurs to thrive.
By: Tamara Monosoff | 05/12/2009


In today's economy, nearly everything you read, including my columns, offers advice and information about how to pull back, cut costs, avoid failure and even accept failure and close down.

Recently I have been thinking about this trend and what it means for entrepreneurs.

In even the best economic conditions, most new businesses fail. Yet entrepreneurs still start businesses.

So, recognizing that entrepreneurs tend to buck trends anyway, I want to advocate another way to view this current environment. This is a time of tremendous opportunity for those who joined this game to succeed, rather than survive.

Here are my observations on what makes the present economic environment opportune:

1. You're already living lean. Entrepreneurs tend to start and run their businesses on a shoestring. While VPs and managers at large competitors are seeking to keep their jobs and perplexed by how to create results for less, for you, living lean isn't an inconvenience: It's what you are used to.

2. Grab competitors' dissatisfied customers. As larger players lay off skilled people and cut back, they create gaps in the services they provide, leaving customers who might be dissatisfied. Both instances create opportunities a hungry entrepreneur can step into. Think about new markets that may have been out of your reach, customers you previously could not capture or services you could not deliver previously.

3. Take advantage of lower prices. Many tools that were too costly before may be accessible now. Pick up your local newspaper. Notice how thin it is? It's still being read every day. It's thin because salespeople are finding it hard to sell ads to large customers. The same is true of virtually every advertising medium--from radio and television to online ads. A small, scrappy company can now negotiate incredible advertising deals. The ads they place can make them look big and sophisticated, and generate new leads and expand market share for a mere fraction of what it used to cost.

4. Talented people are available. Extremely talented people who may have been unwilling to work with or for a small company are now willing to take on projects they wouldn't have considered previously. Today, even if you don't have the right team now, it takes only a day or two to find the talented people you need to deliver a project after you've landed the order.

In addition, many out-of-work executives are using this time to get involved in interesting projects. As a result, you may be able to find people to take on critical tasks or advisory roles in return for board seats or for shares in your company. That will help give your company a more high-powered image.

When this economy turns around, you don't want to be forced to ramp up again. You want to be running at full speed when the tide turns.

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The 106 Best Franchises

f you’re going to take the leap and invest in a franchise, you want to be part of one that’s big and strong, right?
By Emily Weisburg | May 08, 2009


Here are the 106 franchises that received top billing in their categories in Entrepreneur’s 2009 Franchise 500® ranking. Be sure to check out all the new categories we’ve added for ’09, including massage services, barbecue restaurants, cookies, and junk removal. All your old favorites, from pets to health, are here, too.

To determine who really is the best of the best, Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500® looks at franchise system size, unit growth over the past three years, financial strength and stability, and other objective factors. But this listing is only intended to get you started. You should never buy a franchise without first doing your own due diligence. Read the Franchise Disclosure Document, speak to your attorney and accountant, and make sure to call and visit existing franchisees. To learn more, go to entrepreneur.com/franzone/guide.

Click on a subject to navigate to a listing:
Automotive
Business Services
Children's Businesses
Financial Services
Food/Quick Service
Food/Full-Service Restaurants
Food/Retail Sales
Health
Home Improvements Hotels & Motels
Maintenance
Personal Care
Pets
Recreation
Retail
Services
Tech


Automotive

Appearance services
Maaco Franchising Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 127
Total cost: $296.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 473/6

Oil-change services
Jiffy Lube Int’l. Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 11
Total cost: $214K-273K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,034/0

Rentals & sales
U-Save Car & Truck Rental
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 285
Total cost: $58.4K-682.8K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 208/0

Transmission repair
AAMCO Transmissions Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 66
Total cost: $204.8K-260.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 853/0

Windshield repair
Novus Auto Glass
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 83
Total cost: $14.9K-200.3K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,025/5

Miscellaneous repair & maintenance services
Midas
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 31
Total cost: $265.9K-365.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,449/95

Miscellaneous auto products & services
RNR Custom Wheels & Tires
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 282
Total cost: $336.1K-423.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 61/8

Business Services

Advertising services - direct mail
Money Mailer Franchise Corp.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 284
Total cost: $59.97K-87K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 295/35

Advertising services - publishing
Coffee News
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 64
Total cost: $9.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,142/0

Advertising services - Miscellaneous
Billboard Connection Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 309
Total cost: $27.8K-52.3K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 103/0

Business coaching /consulting/ brokerage services
ActionCoach
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 103
Total cost: $83.8K-102.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,008/0

Shipping
Unishippers Global Logistics LLC
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 253
Total cost: $40.8K-382.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 267/5

Signs
Sign-A-Rama Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 82
signarama.com
Total cost: $84.6K-154.8K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 905/0

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Staffing
MRI Network
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 69
Total cost: $76.5K-125.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,009/0

Training programs
Leadership Management Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 231
Total cost: $35K-42.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 497/1

Miscellaneous business services
Proforma
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 101
Total cost: $4.7K-38.1K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 667/0

Children's Businesses

Child care
Goddard Systems Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 105
Total cost: $632.3K-679.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 297/0

Enrichment programs
LearningRx
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 322
Total cost: $73K-150K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 72/1

Children's fitness programs
The Little Gym
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 126
Total cost: $127.5K-294K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 315/0

Identification services
Ident-A-Kid Services of America
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 252
Total cost: $34K-44.2K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 253/0

Tutoring
Kumon Math & Reading Centers
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 27
Total cost: $30.96K-129.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 25121/30

Miscellaneous children's businesses
Pump It Up
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 195
Total cost: $266K-715.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 171/1

Financial Services

Business financial services
Expense Reduction Analysts
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 124
Total cost: $65.1K-81.3K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 206/0

Check cashing
Mr. Payroll Check Cashing
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 347
Total cost: $75.3K-151K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 130/5

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Tax services
Liberty Tax Service
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 3
Total cost: $53.8K-66.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,579/85

Miscellaneous financial services
Property Damage Appraisers
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 262
Total cost: $21.9K-43.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 266/0

Food/Quick Service

Baked goods - bagels
Bruegger’s
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 306
Total cost: $376.6K-563.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 95/185

Baked goods - cookies
Nestle Toll House Cafe by Chip
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 232
Total cost: $152.3K-420K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 107/0

Baked goods - donuts
Dunkin’ Donuts
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 36
Total cost: Varies
Total franchises/co.-owned: 8,082/0

Baked goods - pretzels
Auntie Anne’s Hand-Rolled Soft Pretzels
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 73
Total cost: $197.9K-444.1K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 979/10

Baked goods - miscellaneous
Cinnabon
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 114
Total cost: $192.2K-317K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 763/4

Chicken - wings
Buffalo Wild Wings
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 87
Total cost: $842.2K-2.98M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 363/197

Chicken - miscellaneous
KFC Corp.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 14
Total cost: $1.2M-1.8M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 11,553/3,339

Coffee
Scooter's Coffeehouse
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 340
Total cost: $38K-444.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 78/0

Hamburgers
McDonald’s
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 2
Total cost: $950.2K-1.8M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 25,465/6,502

Ice cream & frozen desserts
Baskin-Robbins USA Co.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 13
Total cost: $121.3K-419.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 5,889/2

Juice bars
Smoothie King
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 67
Total cost: $148K-299K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 563/1

Mexican quick service
Taco Bell Corp.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 20
Total cost: $1.3M-2.5M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 4,516/1,304

Pizza
Pizza Hut
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 7
Total cost: $638K-2.97M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 10,239/2,638

Pizza - take & bake
Papa Murphy’s
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 51
Total cost: $203.7K-348.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,166/56

Salad-only restaurants
Saladworks
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 272
Total cost: $238.9K-558.2K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 101/2
Sandwiches - philly cheesesteak

Charley’s Grilled Subs
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 132
Total cost: $146.5K-554.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 329/32

Sandwiches - pita
Pita Pit Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 157
Total cost: $220.7K-357K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 267/6

Sandwiches - submarine
Subway
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 1
Total cost: $78.6K-238.3K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 29,612/0

Sandwiches - miscellaneous
Arby’s
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 18
Total cost: $336.5K-2.4M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,558/1,169

Miscellaneous quick service
Long John Silver’s Restaurants Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 32
Total cost: $879.5-1.3M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 791/328

Food/ Full-Service Restaurants

Barbecue restaurants
Famous Dave’s
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 216
Total cost: $905K-4.2M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 125/47

Family restaurants
Denny’s Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 25
Total cost: $1.2M-2.6M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,226/315

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Italian restaurants
CiCi’s Pizza
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 91
Total cost: $417.95K-659.2K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 613/21

Pub-style restaurants
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 190
Total cost: $348K-786.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 264/4

Steakhouses
Golden Corral Franchising Systems Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 125
Total cost: $2.1M-5.9M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 382/103

Miscellaneous full-service restaurants
The Melting Pot Restaurants Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 203
Total cost: $876.7K-1.5M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 136/6

Food/Retail Sales

Candy
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 162
Total cost: $152.98K-544.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 324/4

Food-design businesses
Edible Arrangements Int’l. Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 40
Total cost: $147.5K-307.98K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 750/3

Health

Health products
Relax The Back Corp.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 267
Total cost: $227.5K-371.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 125/0

Health services
HealthSource Chiropractic & Progressive Rehab
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 109
Total cost: $50.95K-249.3K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 234/0

Home Improvements

Building & remodeling
Kitchen Tune-Up
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 180
Total cost: $83.1K-91.1K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 271/0

Decorating services
Interiors by Decorating Den
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 165
decoratingden.com
Total cost: $49.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 468/0

Organization systems
Closet Tailors
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 356
closettailors.com
Total cost: $95.6K-197.99K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 115/0

Painting
CertaPro Painters Ltd.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 88
Total cost: $119K-144K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 439/0

Surface refinishing/restoration
Re-Bath LLC
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 186
Total cost: $67.98K-249.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 207/0

Window & floor coverings
Budget Blinds Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 63
Total cost: $82.4K-173K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,035/1

Miscellaneous home improvements
Mr. Sandless Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 227
Total cost: $25.4K-53.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 124/9

Hotels & Motels

InterContinental Hotels Group
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 5
Total cost: Varies
Total franchises/co.-owned: 3,498/582

Maintenance

Carpet, upholstery &drapery services
Chem-Dry Carpet Drapery & Upholstery Cleaning
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 54
Total cost: $25.3K-120.8K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 4,131/0

Commercial cleaning
Jani-King
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 15
Total cost: $11.3K-34.1K+
Total franchises/co.-owned: 12,980/21

Duct cleaning
Ductz Int’l. Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 218
Total cost: $59.9K-89.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 138/2

Grout repair
The Grout Medic
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 453
Total cost: $21.3K-52.7K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 68/0

Handyman services
Mr. Handyman Int’l. LLC
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 106
Total cost: $91.5K-132.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 315/0

Home repairs - miscellaneous
Aire Serv Heating & AirConditioning Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 143
Total cost: $57.2K-170.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 180/0

Lawn care
Lawn Doctor
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 131
Total cost: $107.6K-110.7K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 484/0

Plumbing
Rooter-Man
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 96
Total cost: $46.8K-137.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 462/0

Residential cleaning
The Maids Home Service
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 48
Total cost: $105K-155K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,033/26

Restoration services
Servpro
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 28
Total cost: $100.3K-159.2K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,420/0

Window cleaning
Fish Window CleaningServices Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 238
Total cost: $57.5K-131.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 223/2

Miscellaneous maintenance businesses
American Leak Detection
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 171
Total cost: $83.3K-233.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 334/11

Personal Care

Fitness businesses
Snap Fitness Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 24
Total cost: $71.1K-241.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 701/10

Hair care
Supercuts
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 29
Total cost: $95.6K-219.2K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 996/1,137

Content Continues Below

Massage services
Massage Envy
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 58
Total cost: $291.9K-469.8K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 457/0

Senior care
Home Helpers/Direct Link
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 70
Total cost: $42.2-78.3K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 750/0

Tanning salons
Palm Beach Tan/Desert Sun Tanning Salons
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 156
Total cost: $368.3K-824.8K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 175/67

Miscellaneous personal-care businesses
Merle Norman Cosmetics
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 34
Total cost: $33.3K-168.7K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,779/5

Pets

Pet products
Wild Birds Unlimited
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 239
Total cost: $99.4K-148.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 286/0

Pet services
Aussie Pet Mobile
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 79
Total cost: $62.9K-125.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 534/7

Recreation

Recreational rentals
Wheel Fun Rentals
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 294
Total cost: $85K-259K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 77/8

Sports businesses
GolfTEC
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 184
Total cost: $111.5K-427.7K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 105/28

Sports equipment & apparel
The Athlete's Foot
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 153
Total cost: $249.5K-529.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 618/0

Travel agencies - cruise-only
Cruise Planners/American Express
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 85
Total cost: $1.9K-19.6K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 725/0

Travel agencies - miscellaneous
Results! Travel
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 65
Total cost: $25-10.7K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 914/0

Retail

Convenience stores
Circle K
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 9
Total cost: $161K-1.4M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 4,143/2,627

Hobby stores
HobbyTown USA
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 302
Total cost: $177.6K-478K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 164/1

Tools distribution
Snap-on Tools
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 37
Total cost: $16.7K-278.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 4,318/77

Vitamins
GNC Franchising
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 23
Total cost: $165K-205K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 2,182/2,770

Wireless stores
Wireless Zone
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 185
Total cost: $65.3K-193.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 287/1

Miscellaneous retail businesses
Ace Hardware Corp.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 6
Total cost: $400K-1.1M
Total franchises/co.-owned: 4,581/0

Services

Dry cleaning & delivery services
Martinizing Dry Cleaning
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 200
Total cost: $363K-550.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 512/0

Framing
Fastframe USA Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 247
Total cost: $105.7K-150.2K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 318/1

Home inspections
HouseMaster Home Inspections
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 154
Total cost: $37.5K-61.5K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 396/0

Junk removal
1-800-Got-Junk?
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 370
Total cost: $112.4K-145.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 310/1

Photography & video services
Home Video Studio
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 415
Total cost: $120.7K-226.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 43/1

Postal & business services
The UPS Store/Mail Boxes Etc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 8
Total cost: $171.2K-280K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 6,034/0

Printing
Minuteman Press Int’l. Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 55
Total cost: $72.7K-243K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 973/0

Real estate
RE/MAX Int’l. Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 44
Total cost: $35K-200K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 6,988/42

Storage & moving services
Two Men and a Truck Int’l. Inc.
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 212
Total cost: $150K-412.9K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 172/6

Miscellaneous services
EmbroidMe
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 123
Total cost: $66.3K-187.4K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 457/0

Tech

WSI Internet
2009 Franchise 500 ranking: 57
Total cost: $60.4K-166.7K
Total franchises/co.-owned: 1,681/2

Listing compiled by Tracy Stapp

Readmore »»

Baby Steps

Creating a family-friendly fitness class won an entrepreneur the mothers' seal of approval.
By April Y. Pennington | December 01, 2005


Vital Stats: Lisa Druxman, 35, of Stroller Strides
Company: San Marcos, California, business offering group exercise for mothers and babies
2006 Projected Sales: $2 million

It's a biz!: After the birth of her son in 2001, Druxman's decision not to return to her position as general manager for a high-end health club brought about a new quandary: how to work part time, spend time with her newborn and stay fit. The former fitness instructor started a small, neighborhood group-exercise class targeting moms with infants. Through word-of-mouth and local TV publicity, 40 people came to the kickoff class of her second location, in San Diego. Says Druxman, "That's when I knew I had touched on something big."

Family Time: Stroller Strides are hour-long classes taught by certified instructors who combine fast-paced walking with several body-toning stops. The classes take place in parks, near lakes or even inside malls, depending on the location. While working out is the focus, Druxman maintains children are the number-one priority. Songs and activities are weaved into the class to entertain kids, and mothers of fussy babies are credited a class if they need to leave.

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Baby Steps
Creating a family-friendly fitness class won an entrepreneur the mothers' seal of approval.
By April Y. Pennington | December 01, 2005
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Vital Stats: Lisa Druxman, 35, of Stroller Strides
Company: San Marcos, California, business offering group exercise for mothers and babies
2006 Projected Sales: $2 million

It's a biz!: After the birth of her son in 2001, Druxman's decision not to return to her position as general manager for a high-end health club brought about a new quandary: how to work part time, spend time with her newborn and stay fit. The former fitness instructor started a small, neighborhood group-exercise class targeting moms with infants. Through word-of-mouth and local TV publicity, 40 people came to the kickoff class of her second location, in San Diego. Says Druxman, "That's when I knew I had touched on something big."

Family Time: Stroller Strides are hour-long classes taught by certified instructors who combine fast-paced walking with several body-toning stops. The classes take place in parks, near lakes or even inside malls, depending on the location. While working out is the focus, Druxman maintains children are the number-one priority. Songs and activities are weaved into the class to entertain kids, and mothers of fussy babies are credited a class if they need to leave.

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Globe-Trotting: When, a year into the business, one instructor had to move, she convinced Druxman to let her test-market the concept in her new city. Its transplanted success made Druxman realize she had a very special and real opportunity. "There aren't very many careers out there supportive of motherhood," says Druxman. First offering licenses in a few markets, Stroller Strides now has over 100 franchisees nationwide, with 300 U.S. locations and one in Canada. International expansion is underway. New classes are in the works, and products like a Stroller Strides stroller are already available in stores and through online retailers. Druxman is also penning a book on fit and healthy motherhood.

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Natural Instinct

Thanks to Mark Laska, the urban jungle is getting a little greener.
By JJ Ramberg | Entrepreneur Magazine - August 2008


When Mark Laska walks through the streets near his office in New York City, he doesn't look at the buildings and the sidewalks. "I look at the landscape and imagine what was here before and what could be here again," he explains.

The CEO of Great Ecology and Environments, a consulting firm dedicated to repairing the world by restoring habitats, Laska works with developers and corporations looking to offset the environmental impact of their projects, governments looking to restore public lands, and nonprofits focused on saving the environment.

"I have a passion for natural areas," says Laska, who launched his company in 2001. "If we can bring a representation of natural space into an urban area, that will educate urban kids and also provide a place for wildlife to take refuge." His favorite project has been working on Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City to help create a habitat for fish and wildlife. Other local projects include a stream and lake restoration along a 6-mile stretch of river in Westchester County, reviewing the impact of a marina expansion on Staten Island and working with the owners of a golf course to reverse the effects the course had on an existing stream.

His company has also branched out West, recently opening an office in Grand Junction, Colorado, which led to the restoration of over 10,000 acres of land. "In urban settings, there's a lot less land, so we're restricted in terms of scale,"says Laska. "In the West, we have projects that are many hundreds of acres."

Laska has also launched an investment business in conjunction with GEE called Ecology Venture Partners. He's focusing on creating a fund to invest in degraded habitats. The goal is to generate environmental credits and sell them to corporations and governments to offset any adverse environmental impacts they've made. Says Laska, "This is an emerging market we're helping to build."

GEE expects sales of $2.4 million this year, and there's only room for growth. "When you hear a guy like me talking, you often think he works for the Nature Conservancy or the Forest Service, but we're doing this for profit, as a business," Laska says. "We're trying to demonstrate that market forces can help in the preservation of habitats. We really think we can have a profitable company and do good things by putting together the best of environmental stewardship and entrepreneurship."

JJ Ramberg is the host of MSNBC's small-business program Your Business and co-founder of GoodSearch.com.

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Testing your Values, Living Your Brand

Build your business plan around core values and never forget what those values are.
By Tim Berry | April 21, 2009

Value-based marketing can help you flesh out your business plan with a better sense of what to do and why. You don’t just design your logo. You live it. You become what you say it stands for.

For example, take the computer dealer whose self-image and marketing literature are based on providing extra service for small business customers. The value proposition is about reliability, reassurance, competence and building relationships with clients instead of just selling boxes to customers; there is an implied price premium. That business can’t just assert that position, it has to live it in all phases of the business. For example:

* A business like this needs a visible service area with service technicans behind a wide counter wearing professional-looking long white robes.
* This company needs to install systems -- not just sell them -- and train people to use them.
* They need to live out their pricing strategy, sell the relationship, not the specific product, and charging more. You can’t claim to be about reliability and reassurance and then match the lowest discount price. That’s not credible. It’s also not financially sound.
* Even in the allegedly unrelated areas -- like finance -- the business needs to live out the value proposition. Finance might normally be about collecting late bills from clients who are paying slowly. But with this kind of value proposition, finance should link back to sales, installation, support and training to make sure those foot-dragging clients aren’t unhappy with what they got.

Many businesses are in danger of forgetting what they’re about. You can’t advertise “friendly skies” and not make every effort to have friendly employees. You can’t advertise hospitality and offer hostility. You can’t advertise service and offer long lines and frustration. You can’t have gourmet pricing and bad fast food.

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How does that work into business planning? Frankly, very well.

Start by defining your value proposition. Ask yourself what benefit you offer, what need do you fulfill, to what kind of customer and at what price level. That’s your value proposition.

If you’re going to be good at this, stay skeptical. Test it. Could your competitors say the same thing? Would it be as true for them as it is for you? If the answer is yes, then you don’t have it right yet. When you feel like you have the value proposition right, build your strategy around it. How do you deliver on your promise? How do you get the word out?

This is where most businesses stop. Be better than most. With your value proposition in hand, go department by department, function by function, through your business. Look at every function you have -- all the way from the top and the marketing and sales areas, through your operations, fulfillment and even finance and accounting -- and check for whether what you’re doing supports, ignores or takes away from your value proposition.

Then turn that into concrete action points, steps to be taken, milestones, dates and deadlines – then you’ll have a better business plan.

Tim Berry is the "Business Plans" coach at Entrepreneur.com and is president of Palo Alto Software Inc., which produces the industry's leading business planning software, Business Plan Pro, as well as other popular planning applications for businesses. He is the author of The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan and co-author of 3 Weeks to Startup with Sabrina Parsons, both published by Entrepreneur Press.

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E.W. Scripps

E.W. Scripps 1854-1926
Edward W. Scripps built a media empire that includes daily newspapers in 20 markets stretching from Washington to Florida, Scripps Howard News Service, United Media, and the worldwide licensing and syndication home of PEANUTS and DILBERT.


He started the business in 1878, borrowing $10,000 to launch a newspaper in Cleveland called "The Penny Press." It was aimed at an unserved market of urban workers, and quickly became the model for the nation's first mass medium. He found a successful formula, and started to build the first chain of newspapers under common ownership.

Today, the E.W. Scripps Company is "a diversified media concern with interests in newspapers, broadcast television stations, cable television networks and other media-related enterprises."
Ethics was important to Scripps, and he strived to keep his money, business, and life in proper perspective. Learn the 23 code of conduct that E.W. Scripps used in both his life and his business in excerpts from his essay "Some Outlandish Rules for Making Money."


1. Never spend as much money as you earn. The smaller your expenditures are in proportion to your earnings the sooner you will become rich.


2. It is more blessed to pay wages than to accept them. At least, it is more profitable.


3. Never do anything yourself that you can get someone else to do for you. The more things that someone else does for you the more time and energy you have to do those things which no one else can do for you.


4. Never do anything today that you can put off till tomorrow. There is always so much to do today that you should not waste your time and energy in doing anything today that can be put off till tomorrow. Most things that you do not have to do today are not worth doing at all.


5. Always buy, never sell. If you've got enough horse sense to become rich you know that it is better to run only one risk than two risks. You also know that just as likely as not the other fellow is smarter than you are and that whether you buy or sell, in each case you run the risk of getting the worst of the bargain. By adopting my rule you will diminish by one-half your chances of loss.


6. Never do anything, if you can help it that someone else is doing. Why compete with one person or many other persons in any occupation or line of business so long as it is possible for you to have a monopoly in some other field?


7. If circumstances compel you to pursue some occupation or to follow some line of business which is being pursued by some other person, then you do your work in some other way than that in which it is done by the other. There is always a good, better and best way. If you take the best way then the other fellow has no chance of competing with you.


8. Whatever you do once, whatever way you undertake to do a thing, don't do the same thing again or don't do the thing in the same way. If you know one way to do a thing you must know there is a better way to do the same thing.


9. If you're succeeding in anything you are doing, don't let anyone else know of your success, because if you do some other person will try to do the same thing and be your competitor.


10. When you become rich, as you will become rich if you follow my advice, don't let anyone know it. General knowledge of your wealth will only attract the tax gatherer, and other hungry people will try to get away from you something they want and some-thing you want to keep.


11. One of the greatest assets any man can secure is a reputation for eccentricity. If you have a reputation of this kind you can do a lot of things. You can even do the things you want to do without attaching to yourself the enmity of others. Many an act which, if performed by an ordinary person, would arouse indignation, animosity and antagonism, can be per-formed by a man with a reputation for eccentricity with no other result than that of exciting mirth and perhaps pity. It is better to have the good will than the bad will, even of a dog.


12. Never hate anybody. Hatred is a useless expenditure of mental and nervous energy. Revenge costs much of energy and gains nothing.


13. When you find many people applauding you for what you do, and a few condemning, you can be certain that you are on the wrong course because you're doing the things that fools approve of. When the crowd ridicules and scorns you, you can at least know one thing that it is at least possible that you are acting wisely. It is one of the instincts of men to covet applause. The wise man regulates his conduct rather by reason than by instinct.


14. It is far more important to learn what not to do than what to do. You can learn this invaluable lesson in two ways, the first of which and most inspired is by your own mistakes. The second is by observing the mistakes of others. Any man that learns all the things that he ought not to do cannot help doing the things he ought to do.


15. Posterity can never do anything for you. Therefore, you should invest nothing in posterity. Of course your heirs will quarrel over your estate, but that will be after you're dead and why should you trouble your mind over things which you will never know anything about?


16. A man can do anything he wants to do in this world, at least if he wants to do it badly enough. Therefore, I say that any of you who want to become rich can become rich if you live long enough.


17. After what I have said it goes without further saying that you should save money. But no man can save himself rich. He can only make himself rich. Savings are capital. It is only by doing things that one learns how to do things. It is only the capitalist who handles capital that learns how to handle capital profitably. The more capital you have the more skillful you become as a capitalist.


18. Fools say that money makes money. I say that money does not make money. It is only men who make money.


19. There are two cardinal sins in the economic world: one is giving something for nothing, and the other is getting something for nothing. And the greater sin of these is getting something for nothing, or trying to do so. I really doubt if anyone ever does get some-thing for nothing. (Don't marry a rich wife. Women are what they are. At best they are hard enough to get along with. They are always trying to make a man do something that he doesn't want to do, and generally succeeding. When a woman is conscious of the fact that she has furnished all or any part of your capital, her influence over you will be so great as to be the worst handicap you can carry.)


20. If you're a prospective heir of your father or some other relative, you should also consider that a handicap. I would advise you to refuse to be an heir.


21. Despise not the day of small things, but rather respect the small things. It is far easier to make a profit on a very small capital invested in any business than it is to make the same proportion of profit off of a large capital. It is true that after you have learned how to make a profit on a business that shows small capital, successively, as your capital grows, you learn how to handle it profitably. Then the time will come when the greater your capital becomes in this way the greater your pro-portion of profits on it should be. And, for an added reason, as your wealth and skill grow rapidly, your so-called necessary expenses grow much more slowly and in time cease to grow at all, so that beyond a certain limit all your income and added income becomes a surplus, constantly to be added to your capital.


22. It is far easier to make money than to spend it. As it becomes more and more difficult to spend money, you will spend less and less of it, and hence there will be more money to accumulate.


23. The hardest labor of all labor performed by man is that of thinking. If you have become rich, train your mind to hard thinking and hold it well in leash so that your thinking will all be with but one object in view, that of accumulating more wealth.

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$45 Million So Far--and No End in Sight

This $45 million web-hosting company has grown at a breakneck speed--and it all started in an apartment with no outside financing.
By Amanda C. Kooser | June 17, 2005

Description: Web-hosting and data center infrastructure provider
Founders: Christopher Faulkner, 37
Location: Bedford, Texas
2004 projected sales: More than $45 million
http://www.cihost.com

What's the Score? C I Host commands some impressive figures: 210,000 customers, as many as 5,000 new customers every month, 8,000 resellers around the world, a 37,000-square-foot data center and 9,000 servers. Another interesting number: 15. That's the age at which Christopher Faulkner started his first business selling baseball cards and sports memorabilia out of a small storefront in Bedford, Texas. Now he helps businesses like that one get online.

From Fanzine to Business: There have been a few stops along the way. "I've started 201 corporations, and 197 of them failed miserably, which is a life lesson that I learned. To be successful, you have to fail along the way," says Faulkner. He built his first website as a fanzine for the band Pearl Jam in 1995, and by the end of the year, he was running a fledgling version of C I Host out of his apartment.

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Growth Spurt: C I Host soon outgrew Faulkner's apartment and today has offices and data centers in Bedford, Texas, as well as Chicago and Los Angeles--and soon, London. And Faulkner has done it all without the help of VC financing or loans. "We're debt-free," he says. Bootstrapping and growing at a breakneck pace aren't the easiest things to reconcile.

The Host With the Most: Faulkner keeps the ship sailing smoothly by maintaining 15-hour workdays. Busy as he is, he always has time for his customers. How many CEOs do you know who conduct their own weekly internet chat for all comers? Faulkner's experience and business savvy belie his age. Fortunately for C I Host, he could be at the helm for a long time to come.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A DEFINITION REVISITED

For many, the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to starting a business while still employed.
By Mark Henricks | Entrepreneur's StartUps - March 2009

When injuries from a motorcycle crash made it difficult for Nanda Holz to ride a bicycle, the Petaluma, California, engineer found that pedaling a recumbent-style bike let him get back on the road. When he moved on to crank-forward bicycles and his local bicycle dealer showed no interest in selling the distinctive bikes, Holz, 34, became a part-time entrepreneur. "I saw an opportunity," he says, "and started dabbling."

Today, Holz still works full time as an engineer, but he's also the founder and owner of Spin Cyclz, selling bicycles to Northern California locals and to customers worldwide via his website, spincyclz.com. Selling bikes gives him something to do in his off hours besides ride, he says. It's also starting to turn a profit: Holz brought in 2008 sales of about $100,000, with a $16,000 profit. "I'm starting to turn the corner," Holz says of his part-time venture.

"Entrepreneurs have good reason for working full time at a job and part time on their businesses, say experts."

There may be almost as many part-time entrepreneurs holding down full-time employment as those whose business is their full-time job. In 2002, as part of its decennial survey of business owners, the U.S. Census Bureau found that nearly 9.6 million of the more than 20.5 million business owners surveyed didn't consider their business their primary source of income. Even among the roughly 5.6 million businesses that were substantial enough to have employees, nearly 1.6 million business owners said their enterprise wasn't their primary source of income.

Entrepreneurs have good reason for working full time at a job and part time on their businesses, experts say. "For some people, especially in economic times like these when they're worried about their regular job, starting a part-time business gives them a safety net," says Paula Englis, an associate professor at Berry College and the University of Twente. Part-time startups by full-time employees may also offer a source of extra income when future pay raises are likely to be infrequent or nonexistent, she adds.

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Running a business while still employed can also make good business sense. An entrepreneur with a full-time job to fall back on is under less pressure to make a venture succeed quickly, Englis notes. "It also gives you the opportunity to make a few mistakes and not have that mean the end of the business."

Part-time businesses can also be easier to start because they require less funding and the entrepreneur can raise the necessary funds by diverting earnings from a full-time job. "Given the financial environment now," says Englis, "it's going to be hard to go out and raise capital to start a full-time business."

Before you rush out to start a part-time venture, however, consider the potential downsides. Perhaps the worst would be if your part-time enterprise interferes with your full-time job. "You can't burn the candle at both ends without some risk," warns Bruce Kemelgor, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Louisville. If the time and energy you're devoting to the business results in poor attendance or impaired performance, you could lose your job.

Some part-time entrepreneurs find the best way to manage the potential for interference is to get a different job. In 2005, Jewel Ragsdale was working full time in corporate America when she started Classic Calendar Co., a Richmond, Virginia, manufacturer of customized calendar frames and plaques, as a part-time venture. "I was always trying to go to meetings and network [for my business] when I should have been at work," says Ragsdale, 48. "It was too stressful. So I transitioned into a career that gave me a little more flexibility." Her new job with a mortgage broker gives her the time she needs to devote to her business.

Holz takes care to put his employment responsibilities before those of his life as a bicycle entrepreneur. "I try to keep the e-mails down to lunchtime," he says. "I may take a phone call or two, but I keep them brief. As long as I'm on time with my projects, [my boss] is OK."

If you're concerned that your business might pose a problem, Englis recommends consulting with your company's HR department. You may have signed a noncompete agreement as a condition of employment that could influence what kind of business you start. Unless you plan to go into business in competition with your employer, however, few companies have ironclad prohibitions against sideline ventures, Englis says.

Perhaps the biggest problem with part-time businesses is that it's hard for them to reach their potential when they receive only a portion of their founders' attention and effort. While Holz has doubled his annual sales volume since the first year, he says he still feels the pinch of having to work full time during the week.

And what if your business doesn't do as well as you hoped? Be wary of committing too much or you could find yourself in Ragsdale's shoes: The calendar entrepreneur took out a loan to finance manufacturing her initial inventory, but the business has grown more slowly than she anticipated and has only turned a small profit. With sales lower than expected, Ragsdale has been unable to fund marketing to help the business grow faster and she still has to repay the loan. Ragsdale's advice: "Avoid taking out a loan without carefully calculating your expenses." In retrospect, Ragsdale wishes she'd more carefully researched the markets and distribution methods for high-end calendar products to help determine the likely demand. She also wishes she'd considered marketing needs as well as manufacturing costs when deciding how to capitalize her business. "If you borrow only enough to cover one part of [the equation]," she says, "you may have a factory full of product but nobody knows about it but you."

For Holz, his part-time business provides just about the right mix of income and interest to keep him happy. But he still wants more. So he's moved the business out of his home and into a rented storage unit, where he has room for more inventory, custom assembling, home deliveries and a convenient place to meet customers for demos. His next step: possibly renting a small retail space in the same development. With a full-time job to cover the bills, the future of Spin Cyclz all depends on Holz. "I have total control over it," he says. "As much work as I put into it, I get that much reward back."

Mark Henricks writes on business and technology for leading publications and is author of Not Just a Living.

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Three startups make all the right moves

While venture money dries up for thousands of would-be start-ups, the three young firms who pocketed the most new funding in the last quarter got more than $100 million each — seven times more than the average.

Unlike dot-coms that dominated venture-capital funding in recent years, these startups won over investors because they're in promising sectors, such as biotechnology or broadband networking. Their business models are based on real products and revenue growth. And veteran managers run them.

These firms are showing others how to thrive, even in tough times. And when the market for initial public offerings returns, they are expected to lead the pack. USA TODAY's Edward Iwata in San Francisco looks at the big bets that venture capitalists, who invest funds from wealthy investors and institutions, are making and why.

Sigma Networks

Even as the telecommunications market crashed, Sigma persuaded investors in February to pour nearly a half-billion dollars into the San Jose, Calif.-based firm — one of the first to sell broadband network links to Internet and telecom firms.

How did Sigma do it? It didn't hurt to sign on executives with powerful telecom and Internet ties. Former Federal Communications Commission chairman Reed Hundt and Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen, both on Sigma's board, gave instant credibility to the start-up.

Two-year-old Sigma sells high-speed, fiber-optic networks that link the Internet to computer networks of businesses in urban areas. That helps firms fill in gaps or shortfalls in telecom networks.

During tough economic times, Sigma's services hold great appeal for cash-strapped telecom and Internet firms who cannot build out or improve networks, analysts say. The market for Sigma's business is projected to grow to $10 billion by 2005. That's up from $2 billion this year, Sigma CEO John Peters says.

When the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index crashed last year, Peters, 53, didn't panic. The Navy veteran ran computers on a cruiser during the Vietnam War, and he's been an executive at six startups, most recently Concentric Network.

Peters didn't want to repeat the errors of dot-com and telecom firms that grew too quickly. So he shrank his original plan to raise $2 billion and move into 40 U.S. markets. Sigma aimed for $500 million in funding and will target five markets this year. So far, the 50-worker firm has rolled out a network in Washington, D.C. "They're keeping their business model real tight," says analyst Mark Langner at Epoch Partners.

Investors liked what they saw. Sigma got $150 million in venture money last March from Frontenac, Oak Investment Partners and others. About $290 million in loans from Cisco Systems and others should keep Sigma running for 18 months. Peters wouldn't say when he expects Sigma to turn a profit. Sigma also has signed deals with AOL Time Warner, Cable & Wireless and other telecom and Internet giants, adds Andy Rachleff of Benchmark Partners, a lead investor.

"We're moving conservatively in a high-risk field," says Peters, a Stanford MBA who rides Harley-Davidson motorcycles when he isn't cutting deals. "We've learned from the mistakes of others."

Sanrise Group

The explosion of Internet data and complex computer storage systems is driving businesses batty. Sanrise CEO David Schneider estimates there are at least 58,000 possible permutations of hardware and software products and protocols to store information.

Downturn or not, companies are crying for help, and investors see an opportunity. Last month, Sanrise — touted as a simple, one-stop solution to data-storage chaos — raised $115 million in venture funding from Crosspoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, Exodus Communications and others.

Imitating Dell Computer's model of selling built-to-order PCs directly to customers, the Dublin, Calif.-based Sanrise offers data-storage equipment that is preconfigured and shipped to corporations worldwide within 30 days. The model saves customers 30% to 40% in storage costs and spares them from dealing with storage systems that may take months for delivery and setup.

"Sanrise has put together all the pieces of the puzzle into a very customer-friendly package," says analyst David Wilson of the Aberdeen Group.

Sanrise and its 250 employees — including executives from AT&T, IBM and Cisco Systems — are gaining momentum. The company has 600 customers, including Fidelity Investments and General Electric, and it has moved into Europe and Japan.

Schneider predicts revenue of $39 million this year and $94 million in 2002. Profitability? Sometime next year, he says. When the IPO market rebounds, he hopes to go public. "This is just the beginning," Schneider says.

Perlegen Sciences

A decade ago, Perlegen Sciences CEO Brad Margus, 40, was a Harvard MBA running a thriving food-processing firm in Florida. Then his two boys were diagnosed with a fatal genetic disease called A-T, or ataxia-telangiectasia.

It's too late to cure his boys. But Margus' passion to find a cure for genetic ills has led him to raise millions of dollars for medical research — and to head Perlegen Sciences, a biotech firm in Santa Clara, Calif., with top researchers from Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Perlegen will scan the chromosomes of 50 people and build a vast database to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms devise drugs and diagnostic tests.

Perlegen raked in $100 million in April from investors such as Alejandro Zaffaroni, who has founded seven startups, including Alza, a $2 billion pharmaceutical firm. "He's a money-maker who's done it again and again," says John McCamant of the Medical Technology Stock Letter.

It also helped to have a world-class executive and director lineup, including Perlegen co-founder David Cox, former co-director of Stanford Human Genome Center, and Paul Berg, a Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher at Stanford's School of Medicine.

Another plus: Perlegen was a spinoff of Affymetrix, a firm that makes microchips used to study genes. The close tie helped Perlegen buy $100 million of Affymetrix technology, giving Perlegen ammo against rivals Gene Logic and Celera Genomics Group in genomics, a potential multibillion-dollar industry. Affymetrix owns 45% of Perlegen.

Margus says Perlegen's cash will last 18 months, and he declined to predict when the firm would be profitable. He said the firm, with 48 employees, hopes to go public in a year or two. "Investors are always looking for solid technology and companies with solid valuations."

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