Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Entrepreneur Magazine

WANT TO SEE change coming to a major industry? Just watch a little kid in front of a TV. I did it earlier this summer. My 4-year-old son and I were on a JetBlue flight, and he started flipping around the in-seat TV channels. This was a foreign experience for him; we cut the cord at home, so he’s grown up with apps like PBS Kids. Now he had dozens of live channels at his fingertips, and he landed on Nickelodeon, which was also foreign to him. SpongeBob SquarePants was on, and he was hooked. Riveted. Giggly! (Although he thought SpongeBob was made of cheese.) Then a commercial break began. “What is this?” he asked. I explained it was a series of ads. “I don’t want them,” he said. I…

Build a Mentor Board of Directors DORIE CLARK/Business professor, Duke University ENTREPRENEURS TALK a lot about mentorship. But Dorie Clark sees a problem. People often imagine “this one perfect person who is older than you, wiser than you, and who will somehow magically advise you and take care of you professionally.” That’s just not often realistic, she says. Instead, Clark suggests building what she calls a mentor board of directors: “Look for a group of people in which each person, though they may not represent the totality of your aspirations, has a trait or a skill you’d like to learn more.” Then focus on learning—spending time observing them, asking them questions, and so on, without forcing some kind of formal mentorship relationship. “That really frees you up,” she says. “You…

Nobody really wanted to fund us,” recalls Alex Kubicek, a soft-spoken Midwesterner with a shrewd scientific mind. He’s thinking back to 2013. He was 25 and had already banked dual degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, as well as a master’s in atmospheric science from top-tier UW–Madison. Then he’d created a hyperlocal weather observation company called Understory and landed it in the first-ever cohort of an accelerator in his hometown of Madison, which in turn sent him off on nearly a year’s worth of pitching to Wisconsin-based investors. But nobody put in money. Was his company the problem…or was it the stock of local investors? He decided it was the latter, and moved to Boston—where his fortunes changed. A local hardware venture firm called Bolt…

Groovy Singh, the cofounder of Glass House Brands, builds cannabis brands, and when he looks at new markets, he doesn’t think just about products—he thinks about who isn’t being served, and what message will win them over. As he explored the luxury vape business, he saw an opening. “There were limited options for new, female cannabis users who were looking for a higher-end experience,” he says. Singh imagined the ideal buyer—an independent, successful young woman “whose life revolved around traveling, exploring, and having the spirit of wanderlust.” Then he enlisted a team of designers, including creative director Hema Patel, to build Roam, which launched in November 2018. Here’s how it came together. 1/Blend names Many cannabis brands name their blends after the feelings they intend to create, e.g., Gratitude and…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. A NEW CATEGORY in this year’s ranking, franchise brokers—who often brand themselves as “franchise consultants”—help prospective franchisees find the right franchise to buy. Their services are typically free to the person seeking to purchase a franchise, and they are instead paid by the franchisor when a sale is successfully made. 1 IFPG Membership-based franchise broker organization 2 FranNet Franchise consultants that match clients to business opportunities 3 FCC, The Franchise Consulting Company Free consulting service to prospective franchise buyers 4 FranChoice Free consulting service to individuals considering franchise ownership 5 Franchise Brokers Association Franchise broker training and membership organization 6 BAI Business Alliance Inc. Brokerage services for franchise companies and prospective franchise buyers 7 FranServe Consulting services to prospective franchise buyers 8 The Entrepreneur’s…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. FRANCHISORS NEED TO MARKET to at least two groups—customers and potential franchisees. Fortunately, they have many options when it comes to marketing services and software, including traditional marketing agencies, digital and social media marketing tools, and more. 1 Scorpion Digital marketing and technology solutions 2 Hot Dish Advertising Full-service strategic marketing agency specializing in franchising 3 Wheat Creative Franchise marketing strategy, development websites, and creative and digital collateral 4 Integrated Digital Strategies Digital marketing company specializing in franchise development and franchisee marketing 5 ClickTecs Websites and digital marketing for franchisors and franchisees 6 Rallio Social media technology and local agency services for franchises 7 SOCi Social media and reputation management for multi-location brands 8 Qiigo Digital marketing for multi-location brands 9 MGH Advertising Full-service…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. FOR A NATIONAL or global brand—or one that aspires to be—a good public relations agency is essential. It can raise positive awareness with customers, potential franchisees, and investors—and help to mitigate the impact of any negative situations that may arise. 1 Fishman PR PR and content marketing for franchise lead generation and brand awareness 2 All Points Public Relations PR, social media, content marketing, digital and lead generation strategy 3 Fish Consulting Full-service national communications firm specializing in franchise PR and marketing 4 Franchise Elevator PR PR services for emerging franchise brands 5 919 Marketing Company Brand strategy, PR, social media, and digital marketing programs for franchise brands 6 No Limit Agency Full-service communications firm specializing in franchise brands 7 Powerhouse Communications PR, crisis,…

As the founder of travel-clothing company Pashko, I travel a lot for work. You name the far-flung city, I’ve been there. I encounter a lot of long, sleepless nights in hotel rooms, but instead of using that extra time to pore over new clothing concepts or designs, I’m online, buying woodworking tools. My passion for woodworking started when I was young. Growing up in Fullerton, Calif., I liked building those wood-and-glue model airplanes, boats, and homes. I worked really hard to adapt them to make them into whatever my imagination came up with, not just what the instructions told me to do. My dad noticed that I had a knack for problem solving and started asking me to help him with renovation projects around the house. From there, I began…

In less than five years, founders Marc Beginin and Nick Tennant took Detroit-based Precision Extraction Solutions from a novel idea to the worldwide leader in cannabis and hemp extraction technology. From its humble beginnings inside a 1,200 sq ft facility, the company initially designed, engineered, and built extraction equipment specialized for cannabis operations. Since then, Precision redeployed its operations to a sprawling 20,000 sq ft warehouse and international headquarters, expanding its offerings to include site planning and design services, primary and post-production extraction equipment, and turnkey solutions for a variety of commercial extraction applications. With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, legalizing hemp and CBD extracts on the federal level, Precision now engineers and manufactures mega-industrial scale hemp processing plants that can scale to process over 100,000 lbs of…

Accounting/P.82 Banking/Financing/P.84 Franchise Brokers/P.86 Franchise Consulting/Development/P.88 Legal Services/P.90 Marketing/P.92 Merchant Services/P.94 Other Technology Services/P.96 Public Relations/P.98 Real Estate Services/P.100 When we refer to the franchise industry, we usually mean franchisors, and maybe franchisees. But the truth is, there are many other businesses that play a part in the franchise world and in making franchising such a successful business model. That’s why we’re proud to present our second annual ranking of the top franchise suppliers—companies that provide services to franchisors and franchisees. To create this ranking, we surveyed more than 500 franchisors, from emerging brands that just got started to established companies that have been franchising for decades. We asked them to tell us which service providers they and their franchisees use, and to rate their satisfaction with the quality, cost,…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. ACCOUNTING SERVICES ARE VITAL to every business—especially franchises, which must include audited financial statements in their franchise disclosure documents (FDDs) every year. Franchisors have a host of options in this category, from the “Big Four” firms to smaller ones that specialize in serving franchises. 1 BDO USA, LLP Professional services firm serving franchises worldwide 2 Deloitte Audit and assurance, tax, legal, risk and financial advisory, and consulting services 3 Grant Thornton Professional services firm offering audit, tax, and advisory services 4 KPMG LLP Professional services firm 5 PwC Audit, assurance, consulting, and tax services 6 Citrin Cooperman Accounting, tax, and advisory services 7 RSM US LLP Audit, tax, and business consulting 8 EY Advisory, assurance, tax, and transaction services 9 Kezos & Dunlavy Full-service…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. OUR SECOND NEW CATEGORY in this year’s ranking, these are companies that work with business owners who want to turn their brand into a franchise, or that offer other consulting or development services to established franchisors to make their operations more successful. 1 iFranchise Group Franchise consulting and development for startup and existing franchisors 2 SMB Franchise Advisors Franchise consulting services for emerging brands 3 FranWise Operations and compliance consulting 4 Franchise FastLane Franchise sales organization 5 Franchise Creator Franchise development, marketing, and sales 6 Helgerson Franchise Group Development, management, and consulting services for emerging and established franchisors and suppliers 7 Pinnacle Franchise Development Franchise development services, including sales, strategy, and consulting 8 DCV Franchise Group Franchise consulting services and financing 9 Franchise Performance…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. SECURE PAYMENT PROCESSING is critical to just about every franchise business. With many options to choose from, franchisors and franchisees can consider both the reliability of the primary service as well as what additional services are offered, such as analytics, loyalty programs, and consulting. 1 TSYS Integrated payments and point-of-sale solutions 2 Stripe Payments infrastructure and business applications 3 Franchise Payments Network Payment processing and gift and loyalty programs for franchise chains 4 PayPal Payment technology and software solutions 5 Square Payment processing, reporting and analytics, POS software, and business services 6 Authorize.net, a Visa Solution Payment processing and management system for businesses 7 Toast Cloud-based restaurant point-of-sale and management system 8 Bank of America Merchant Services Multi-channel payments, e-commerce, and security solutions 9…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. It can mean the difference between success and failure for a restaurant or retail franchise. In our third and final new category for this year, these are the companies that franchisors and franchisees rely on to help them find or develop the right site for a new business. 1 Retail Solutions Analytics and brokerage services for tenants 2 Keyser Commercial real estate tenant representation 3 RPM Real estate and project management consulting for franchises 4 CDS Development Site planning, property development, and construction management 5 Morrow Hill Real estate technology and services for corporate and franchise organizations 6 Colliers International Global real estate services and investment management company 7 Catalyst Commercial Group Retail and restaurant tenant representation 8 Baum Realty Group…

Nicci Levy knew that women are willing to pay to look their best. She was a Botox sales rep in Beverly Hills, after all—and business was booming. But then she spotted a bigger opportunity. “People were spending thousands of dollars on these injections, but the experience was like going to the doctor to get a flu shot,” she says. Levy envisioned a business that would do for Botox what Drybar did for blowouts, creating an experience that customers crave as much as the service they’re paying for. But… how could she build it? It would take her years—but in 2016, she finally opened the doors to what she calls her “aesthetics bar,” named Alchemy 43, in Beverly Hills. With investor backing, she’s since opened three more Los Angeles locations and…

When you hire, you often think—or hope!—you’ve found the perfect person. You sifted through résumés, interviewed diligently, and picked the best of the best. You feel great! But six months later, things change. Your great hire isn’t hitting their numbers. They seem unhappy. Maybe they’re even heading for the exit. What do you do? Here’s one thing to consider: You may have put your great hire in the wrong role. And it happened because you didn’t understand what kind of worker they truly are. You may balk at this. “How could he be in the wrong role? It’s the job we hired him for!” There are all sorts of reasons. A role can be “wrong” if it is unduly stressful and takes too great a toll on their mental well-being.…

“Being an entrepreneur means doing a little bit of everything.” Caroline Bercaw, 17, and Isabel Bercaw, 18 Cofounders and co–chief creative officers, Da Bomb Bath Caroline and Isabel Bercaw were once obsessed with bath bombs. This was back in their middle school days, when their peers were equally obsessed with the bombs—powdery, fist-size balls that, when dropped in a tub, release an eruption of fragrance and color and fizz. And because the Bercaw sisters were student athletes, they’d spend a lot of time soaking after practice to soothe their sore muscles. Which meant even more time with bath bombs. And that led to a giant mess. “A lot of times the bath bombs would stain our tub, or even our skin, which was kind of scary for us,” says Caroline,…

Cannabis is an ever-growing, ever-changing, ever-crazy industry—so anyone who jumps in must be prepared to pivot fast, react faster, and go with the flow. In other words, they must do what all entrepreneurs do…but, at times, more intensely. How do the best manage? That’s what we asked—by calling 10 of the companies on our first-annual top 100 cannabis companies list. The list was produced by our sister publication Green Entrepreneur, which evaluated companies based on four I’s—influence, innovation, impact, and inspiration. You can read it all at our site GreenEntrepreneur.com. And here, on these pages, executives from 10 companies on that list share their biggest lesson from the journey so far. Future State Brands HQ/Los Angeles “Focus on delivering a tangible benefit to your target customer. How? Ensure that your…

When Jonathan Barnett launched Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning in 2006, at the age of 26, he had one goal in mind: Make enough money to be able to explore his true passions—which, truth be told, did not include carpet cleaning. (He was more of a basketball kind of guy.) Still, he took his new business seriously. He knew he’d entered a crowded marketplace, so to differentiate himself, he enlisted chemists to help him develop a cleaning system with a one-hour drying time that uses just two gallons of water per home. That was a big improvement over the industry standard of 40 to 60 gallons. Customers came calling—and so did franchising. Today he has nearly 400 Oxi Fresh franchisees, and he understands if carpet cleaning isn’t their lifelong dream. But…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. NEW FRANCHISEES OFTEN need thousands or even millions of dollars to get their businesses up and running, so a reliable financing source is indispensable. Banks remain a popular choice, but in this year’s ranking, a funding company specializing in serving franchisees climbed to the top. 1 FranFund Funding solutions including 401(k) business financing, SBA loans, unsecured business loans, and equipment leasing 2 Guidant Financial 401(k) business financing, SBA loans, unsecured business loans, business valuations and appraisals, and other business services 3 Benetrends Financial 401(k) rollover funding, SBA loans, and equipment leasing 4 Bank of America Small-business banking, credit, digital investing tools 5 ApplePie Capital Franchise financing 6 U.S. Bank Business banking, conventional and SBA financing, credit card and payment solutions, wealth management services 7…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. LEGAL SERVICES IS one of the most competitive categories in our ranking, and one of the most important. Franchisors face unique legal requirements and challenges, and there are multiple law firms specialized in working with them. 1 FisherZucker LLC Full-service law firm focusing on franchising and licensing matters 2 DLA Piper Legal services including franchise law compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and dispute resolution 3 Gray Plant Mooty Full-service corporate law firm with a franchise practice 4 Drumm Law LLC Full-service franchise law firm 5 Faegre Baker Daniels LLP International law firm with a full-service franchise practice 6 FranchiseSmith LLC Nationwide and international practice specializing in franchise law 7 Spadea Lignana LLC Full-service franchise law firm 8 Plave Koch PLC Franchise legal services, including dispute…

Service descriptions come from respective suppliers. TECHNOLOGY HAS MADE IT easier than ever for franchisors to expand widely and rapidly while monitoring and maintaining consistency across all their locations. Companies in this category offer solutions for CRM, sales, accounting, business management, and more. 1 HubSpot CRM, marketing, sales, and customer-service platform 2 Salesforce CRM, cloud computing, sales, service, marketing, commerce, and analytics apps 3 FranConnect Franchise management software 4 Vonigo Business management software for mobile service franchises 5 Naranga Franchise management solutions 6 Zoho Cloud software suite and SaaS applications for business 7 Microsoft Intelligent cloud, CRM, and software solutions 8 Intuit Quickbooks Franchise Program Cloud-based software for accounting, time-tracking, payroll, and payments 9 Infusionsoft by Keap CRM, sales, and marketing software 10 MINDBODY Technology platform for the wellness industry…