Challenging times call for innovative thinking and problem solving.  I was interested to read in a section of the Wall Street Journal that Dominos Pizza is considering making loans available to its franchisees. This will allow franchisees to gain access to capital and not suffer from the limiting affects of the credit crunch in the US economy.   “Domino’s Pizza Inc. discussed how its borrowing capacity has been hampered by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy filing.  With the credit crunch weighing heavily on the restaurant industry, Domino’s said it will save its cash and potentially make loans directly to its franchisees.”

In fact Domino’s is the only franchisor so far committed to offering some of its own money to cash-strapped potential franchisees, though Burger King Corp., Tim Hortons Inc. and Sonic Corp. also appear open to the idea of stepping in to help franchisees, according to industry experts.

Franchisors can become well capitalised due to the nature of how capital flows though franchise networks.  It functions in the following way.  A franchisee will purchase his franchise business and in return gain access to the franchise owners know-how and use of protected trade marks.  It is by following this know-how or system that will help secure the franchisees business success.  In addition to the know-how the franchisee will also receive support and training from the franchisor.  For the services and benefits outlined above the franchisee will pay a management service charge (MSC) or royalty to the franchisor each month.  This system helps ensure a win-win relationship between the franchisor and his franchisees as both gain as incomes rise.

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Colonel Harland Sanders has one of the most recognisable faces in the world today, but many people would not actually know it if they saw it. This is because it has long been the face of KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken to give the company its full name. The red and white KFC icon features the face of the entrepreneur that made it the global force it is today. Much can be learned from Sanders and his example is certainly one that solicits respect from those that have effectively followed in his footsteps.

The Child Cook

Colonel Harland Sanders was born in Henryville, Indiana on September 9, 1890 into a working class family. His parents worked hard, but Sanders virtually had to bring himself up from the age of six when his father died suddenly. The entrepreneur helped around the house because his mother was forced to work to support the family as a result of his father’s absence. He learned how to cook at an early age and found that he enjoyed it. However, he was forced to stop cooking for others for a while when he was old enough to go out to work himself.

Sanders dropped out of the seventh grade, never to return to school because his education was perceived as less important than supporting the family. Between then and 1918, the entrepreneur went from job to job earning whatever money he could to help out at home. Those jobs included a farmer, a steamboat driver, an insurance salesman and a railroad fireman. In 1918 he enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed in Cuba. However, none of the career paths he had begun to journey along appealed to him. Instead, the entrepreneur decided to go back to his roots and cook.

The Start Of KFC

In 1930, Sanders took over the ownership of a service station in Corbin, Kentucky. It was extremely small and did not even have a dining section but the entrepreneur resolved to serve food nevertheless.

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Dave Thomas has one of the most recognizable faces in America, despite the fact that he died on January 8, 2002. This is largely because he appeared in over 800 commercials between 1989 and his death to advertise his entrepreneurial venture, Wendy’s. Dave Thomas was a born entrepreneur and exhibited the signs of that from an early age, despite the fact that he ended up getting fired from his first job in the food industry. As such, he is an example of why you should never give up your dream.

An Early Start

David Thomas was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on July 2, 1932. However, he was never to know his real parents. He was adopted by Rex and Auleva Thomas and raised as their own. He did have a happy childhood and was taught the core values of respect, hard work and treating others as you would want to be treated yourself. Whether his parents knew it or not at that time, Dave Thomas was to be an important and esteemed entrepreneur that lived and worked by those very values, and it was those values that made him as successful as he was.

Dave Thomas has little in the way of an education because he did not graduate high school until much later on in life. He was working from the age of 12 in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. The entrepreneur’s first job was actually at a restaurant but did not last for long because he was fired after just a few weeks. Promising himself that he would never lose another job, the entrepreneur went on to another restaurant when his family moved to Indiana and then dropped out when they planned to move again to take care of himself from then on. At the time, he was just 15 years of age.

The Army And Beyond

As he was old enough to be drafted at the time of the Korean War, Thomas decided to go into the US Army on his own terms and chose to join the Cooks And Baker’s School at Fort Benning.

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Going to work first thing in a morning is never the same unless you stop for a cup of coffee on your way into the office, and the most common outlet to stop to get your caffeine hit is probably Starbucks. Having visited at least one of the world’s favorite coffee shops, you may be surprised to find out that Starbucks was the brainchild of one man. That man is Howard Schultz. The entrepreneur started out in Seattle in 1982 and is today worth $1.1 billion. It has certainly been a long journey for him and one that budding entrepreneurs can learn from.

The Boy From The Projects

Howard Schultz was born on July 19, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. He was actually born into the projects and so his family had no money when the entrepreneur was growing up. His parents often struggled to make ends meet and so his childhood can only be described as uneventful. The struggles the entrepreneur saw his family go through made Schultz determined to make a better life for himself any way he could, which is why he worked so hard to earn a football scholarship to Northern Michigan University.

Although not an absolute academic, Schultz did well enough to graduate from Northern Michigan University with a degree in Communications in 1975. However, he worked a series of jobs in the years immediately after graduation to ease the burden on his family. Although the money was nice to have and was a great help, the entrepreneur was not happy with his lot. He wanted to be successful above all else, and it was this overriding ambition that took him directly to Starbucks in 1982.

The Beginning Of A New Era

Although Starbucks was already a business in Seattle when he joined in 1982, it was far from the global power that it is now.

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There are various entrepreneurs that are alive and well in the world at the moment, making their fortunes and enjoying their fantastic lifestyles. However, there are very few that give up their entire business portfolios to dedicate themselves wholly to philanthropic interests. Tom Monaghan most definitely falls into the latter category. Monaghan is an excellent example of a businessman and entrepreneur turned benefactor and can be held up as an example of a dedicated citizen as well, and thus how to avoid the greed that afflicts some after the arrival of success.

It’s A Hard Life

Thomas Stephen Monaghan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 25, 1937. His father died during his early years of life and so the family struggled as his mother tried to raise him alone. Although she tried her best, she ultimately failed to quell the rebellious streak that Monaghan displayed from an early age. As a result, the entrepreneur ended up in the St Joseph’s Home for Children in Jackson, Michigan under the care of the Felician Sisters of Livonia. They instilled a firm sense of Catholic devotion in him, so much so that he decided to become a priest. At least, that was his chosen career path until he was asked to leave for persistent rule breaking.

Instead, in 1956 the entrepreneur enrolled in the United States Marine Corps by complete mistake. He had planned to enlist in the army but had a good military career until 1959 regardless. Following his honorable discharge, Monaghan attended the University of Michigan to study architecture but decided to invest in a side venture while there. He and his brother bought DomiNick’s, a pizza place in Ypsilanti for $500, although the entrepreneur offered a VW Beetle for his brother’s half a little later on.

Domino’s And Beyond

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Today, McDonald’s is synonymous with fast food throughout the world. No matter where you go on your travels, you are likely to find a McDonald’s restaurant somewhere nearby. It is one of the biggest global brands in the world alongside Coca Cola and it may be hard to believe that it was the work of one man that made it so. Ray Kroc was the extraordinary entrepreneur that turned one restaurant into a global franchise.

Through The World Wars

Given his humble beginnings, it may be difficult to see how Ray Kroc turned himself into entrepreneur extraordinaire. Born on October 5, 1902, Kroc did not even begin to amass his fortune until after the close of World War II. He had taken part in both World Wars and had failed to adapt to any of the trades he attempted to forge a career in between them. He had been a travelling salesman, a pianist and an ambulance driver and failed at all three. However, not to be disheartened and believing that his big break was out there, Kroc persisted in trying various jobs until he found his niche.

Ray Kroc met Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California in the early 1950s. The brothers had opened their first restaurant in 1948 and business was good because the hamburger restaurant concept was relatively untried until that point. As a milkshake mixer salesman, Kroc saw a chance to put his entrepreneurial skills to the test and went into partnership with the brothers so that his sales numbers soared. When the first opportunity arose to buy the small chain they had though, he grasped it with both hands.

The McDonald’s Years

Unlike the brothers, the entrepreneur in Ray Kroc had great hopes for expansion of the trade. Kroc had worked hard for everything he had achieved until that point and saw the chain as a chance to really achieve entrepreneur status. He bought the chain for $2.7 million in 1961.

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Debbi Fields is currently one of the best known and best loved entrepreneurs in the United States today. Not only has she introduced amazing baked goods for people of all ages to enjoy, but she has also proved that it is possible to live the American Dream in this modern day and age. Unlike other entrepreneurs of her age, Fields did not start a business while still in her teens nor did she have plans to do so. She just wanted to bake for a living. As such, she not only proves that starting with nothing and creating an empire is possible but also that anyone with drive and ambition can do it, regardless of age.

Humble Beginnings

Debbi Fields was born on September 18, 1956 in California and had a relatively normal childhood. She did well at school but soon found that her passion lay in one particular part of the school - the kitchen. She found that she loved to bake at an early age, so much so that all of her wages were spent on the ingredients that were required to make cookies! In 1969, she got a job as a ball girl in Oakland for major league baseball teams. Every penny she earned from it went into her hobby but it was not until 1977, eight years later, that the entrepreneur would start her own bakery and embark upon her journey to Mrs Fields fame.

Debbi Fields was a housewife when she began thinking about owning her own cookie business. At that stage, she had no knowledge of business and how to make one work. However, it was her passion for her unique recipes that spurred her on. It was this passion that helped her to convince the local bank manager in Palo Alto that her vision for a cookie shop could actually work. On paper the idea looked very much like a plan that was doomed to fail, but the entrepreneur soon proved the doubters wrong.

The Mrs Fields Chocolate Chippery

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There comes a time in the evolution of every business that a decision needs to be made concerning whether or not to expand to reach a larger marketplace and, if so, the best method to achieve that goal.

Franchising, which is one method of expansion, has become increasingly popular in the past three decades. There is no doubt as to its success but the important questions are whether it is right for you and whether you are ready to be a franchisor. To help you answer those questions, let’s explore what being a franchisor requires, mentally, physically and financially.

You first need to understand that franchising is a business in and of itself. Your existing business (the underlying concept which you want to franchise) is another business. It is necessary, therefore, for you to begin adjusting your thinking to the new business at hand. It is, of course, advantageous to have a unique or superior product or service concept to offer to the public; however, it will not hold up well without a good franchise system built around it. Conversely, some less than outstanding concepts have made a name for themselves as a result of a superior franchise system.

The single most important aspect of any franchise system is the trademark or service mark which is being licensed to the franchisee. Your first priority should be to design a unique mark by which your franchise system and its products or services will be identified. You then must search the files of the federal government and the states in order to determine whether anyone else is presently using the same or a similar mark. If you have a green light, you must proceed to secure a registration of that mark for yourself. Your franchise agreement must protect your interest in those marks and you must set up strict and well enforced standards for the franchisee to follow so as not to endanger those marks.

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