The Easy Entrepreneur

Work the Way You Want, Live the Life You Love

Category: Keep Moving Forward

Back at the gym after COVID

Remarkable Ways Franchise Businesses Are Surviving and Thriving the Pandemic

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No one will question that 2020 is been a tough year for many businesses. Many had to shut their doors for a period of months, and some will never reopen. However, many have pivoted their business models to adapt, and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as more areas reopen.

Franchises have a distinct advantage over independent businesses in 2020. They have the collective intelligence of hundreds of business owners, plus an experienced franchisor with an MBA executive team. They can share ideas and respond quickly to challenges as they arise. They can also support each other, to help navigate the complexity of government support, and just to get through the tough times. As Walter Paton said, “We are stronger together than we are alone.”

I spent the last week meeting with over 60 different franchises, learning how they’ve adapted during the pandemic. It was full of surprises, to see how they’ve adapted and some are even thriving!

One residential cleaning company, backed by a billion dollar parent company, helped their franchisees apply for federal money quickly, before it dried up, to the tune of $700,000 per location. That’s a big cushion to get through the tough times, and much of that won’t have to be repaid!

A boutique fitness gym has already reopened 95% of their locations, some moving to outdoor classes. They didn’t have a single location permanently close its doors, though some of their independent and big box gym competitors have. They even opened new locations during the pandemic with record signups of 300-400 members before the gym even opened its doors!

One in-home tutoring company quickly pivoted to online tutoring, using software they had already been developing, and found an added benefit. Now different franchise owners can share remote tutors, helping save costs and cover when someone is out.

Another after-school enrichment franchise added a new program to teach children in small groups — their covid bubble. The client picks the group of friends and the location, and the franchise provides a safe program for the kids (and gives the parents a break for a few hours).

Some essential businesses like in-home senior care and home repair services have even seen an uptick this year. One brand has seen a 79% increase in appointments from 2019 to 2020!

So, this is not the end of the world for business ownership. It’s just changing times, and in fact it’s a great time to start a franchise business, as the independents struggle and close, and there are more retail vacancies.

If you’d like to learn more about these and other franchise businesses, let’s chat! I help people who want to learn about business ownership, but don’t know where to start, all at no cost and no obligation. Book an appointment, or contact me to set up a time that fits your schedule.

Making exercise a habit, even when traveling. Penang, Malaysia.

The Easy Way to Build a New Habit

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In order to become an Easy Entrepreneur you need to build good habits, and get rid of bad ones. This way it becomes second nature to do the things that keep you motivated and on track, and you stop doing activities that are derailing you. This guide will show you how.

What are Good and Bad Habits?

Good habits put the “easy” in Easy Entrepreneur. They take activities that used to require thinking and effort, and make them second nature. For example, getting enough sleep and picking my priorities each day are good habits that help me stay energized and focus on growing the business.

Bad habits can derail you, reducing your motivation or taking you completely off track. Procrastination is one that I faced early as an entrepreneur, and alcoholism is a good example that derails many successful executives

Here are some examples of good habits that I’ve built over my years as an entrepreneur:

  • Meditate
  • Exercise
  • Get a good sleep
  • Eat healthy
  • Pick my top priorities each day
  • Take the time to greet and connect with employees
  • Be grateful for everything I have
  • Get outside the house
  • Pay attention to my business finances (P&L)
  • Chip away at a larger project a little at a time

Here are some bad habits that I’ve reduced or kicked:

  • Procrastination
  • Stress
  • Being unfocused, lazy or unmotivated
  • Watching too much TV or playing computer games
  • Spending too much time on social media or my phone
  • Drinking too much alcohol
  • Eating out too often

I’m not here to preach specifically what are the best habits for you; that’s up to you at this point. But I am here to tell you that it’s good to evaluate your habits, get more healthy ones, and reduce or eliminate the bad ones.

Simple Steps to Build a Habit

Some of my Easy Entrepreneur habits were built/kicked naturally, but others I’ve had to deliberately practice until I learned or unlearned a habit. I’ve found a great technique to do this:

First, pick one or two habits that you want to work on at a time. These can be something you want to start doing or something you want to stop doing. For example, I am currently focused on getting exercise (of any form) and meditating every day.

Second, download the HabitBull app. It is free, simple to use, and you can customize with your own habits.

Third, enter your habit(s) into HabitBull. You can schedule whether you want to do it every day, 5x a week, or however often you want. I recommend trying to do them daily, even on weekends, to build your momentum! You can also set alerts to remind you to check off your habit.

Now you are ready to go! Check off that you completed the habit each day in Habit Bull, and see how long it takes

Finally, use HabitBull to check off every day when you’ve completed your habit (or avoided your bad habit). It typically takes me 15-60 days to make something a habit, and then I can focus on other habits.

Once you make HabitBull a habit, it becomes easy to make anything else a habit!

Bonus: Making Progress on Big Projects

This also works if you have a big project that you want to make small progress on every day. Remember, like compound interest, your progress builds on itself, so you’ll get big payout by taking small steps each day.

For example, I used HabitBull to start this website and blog. I added a habit of “write” to my daily tasks. Since I do want to give myself some days off, I only require it 5x a week.

What habits are you working on? Do you have any other tips to share with readers?

Resources

Perched 4800 feet above the valley floor.
Half Dome, Yosemite, California.

How To Conquer Fear

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Fear is one of the biggest obstacles in business and in life. Most of the time, we avoid what we are afraid of, and miss out on great opportunities. What if you could change that?

For example, I was really afraid the first time I had to fire someone at my business. I hate confrontation and I was so afraid that I chickened out. I let that employee keep working until they finally left on their own, even though we had a lot of customer complaints and it was bad for business.

The second time, I faced my fear. It was an HR issue and I had no choice. I rehearsed what I was going to say ahead of time, and surprisingly it went far better than I expected. While I still felt bad about firing anyone, it was the right thing to do for the business.

Fast forward a few years and a few more firings, and I have conquered my fear. I actually felt good the last time I had to fire someone. It was a new employee, who came in with a bad attitude and lazy work ethic. After giving her coaching and a few chances, it was clear that she was bringing down the rest of the team. It was a simple decision, painless process, and the right thing to do for the business. I felt good that I stood up for my business and the rest of my team.

Conquering fear is one of the most powerful tools of any entrepreneur. When you get good at recognizing fear and beating it, it becomes fun!

Understanding F. E. A. R.

My favorite definition of fear is that it’s “False Evidence Appearing Real.”

Fear is a strong emotional response to a threat. It comes from an evolutionary response to real dangers. However, unless there is a tiger chasing you right now, that threat is usually something that you imagine could happen in the future. It hasn’t happened, and in fact there is a good chance that it will never happen.

Unfortunately most people’s response to fear is usually to avoid the situation completely. They are afraid to ask out that boy/girl in high school, so they never try. They are afraid of looking stupid, so they avoid that networking event where they could meet their next client. They are afraid of failure, so they never start a business. In the end, they settle for mediocrity and miss many opportunities to live a great life!

How We Handle Fear

There are three ways to handle fear:

  1. Avoid it completely. This is the most common response. Live a sheltered life and never try anything out of the ordinary. Definitely don’t be an entrepreneur! Please stop reading this blog if you prefer to take this approach, and I suggest to hide under your desk in case an asteroid falls on your house.
  2. Mitigate the risks. Think about the worst outcome, and think of ways that you can avoid it. This is useful when the thing you are afraid of is out of your control, like a recession or a key employee leaving.
  3. Overcome your fear. Face your fear, learn new skills, and expand your comfort zone so that it stops being something you are afraid of. This is useful when your fear is something that’s out side your comfort zone, but in your control, such as a fear of public speaking or that you’re not good enough to succeed.

Mitigating Fear

This process works best when the fear is something that’s out of your control, such a key employee leaving. Here is an easy process to mitigate fear:

  1. Identify your fear and write it down. Specifically, what can go wrong? Write this in the first person, with as much detail as possible. For example, “I’m afraid of losing a key employee. Bob, because he handles all my marketing. His mother is sick and he wants to move to Seattle to take care of her.”
  2. Brainstorm solutions to stop or lessen the damage, should this event occur. Write these down. For example: “1. Pay Bob more, so that he can’t afford to leave. 2. Spend time with Bob to understand what he’s doing with marketing so that I can carry it forward if he leaves. 3. Hire someone right away to learn what Bob does and take over his work. 4. Let Bob work remotely.”
  3. Pick the best solutions and write them out as a positive affirmation. For example, “If Bob leaves, I will let him work remotely to carry on his work while I hire someone to take his place.”
  4. Remember, fear is usually of things that haven’t happened yet! So you may not need any of these solutions, but now you have them in your back pocket in case you need them. You can even implement one as a pre-emptive strike, to keep your fear from happening.

Overcoming Fear

This process works best when your fear is something that’s outside your comfort zone, such as a fear of public speaking or a fear of failure. Here is a simple process to overcome your fear:

  1. Write down what you are afraid of. Write it in the first person, so that you own it. For example, “I’m afraid of going to networking events because I feel awkward.”
  2. Brainstorm ways you can improve your skills and expand your comfort zone to conquer your fear. For example, “I can read blogs or a book on making small talk, and practice asking questions. I can come up with a slick 30-second pitch to describe my business with passion. I can go to a Toastmaster meeting where I can practice speaking in front of others until I’m comfortable.”
  3. Now imagine the new you who’s conquered this fear. Write this down, using the first person and present tense, such as “I love going to networking events because I get to learn so much about people.”
  4. Take action! Pick something small to start, such as Google “how to make small talk” or “toastmasters near me.”

Now You Try

Think about your biggest fear as an entrepreneur. What’s holding you back? Now decided whether you want to mitigate or overcome this fear. Follow the process and write the results in the comments.

There is no judgment here! The only way to move forward is to move forward.

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