The Secret to Success in a Slow Economy

Jennifer — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:36:03 +0000

Invest in an Industry that’s Seeing Growth

(ARA) – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” In the first few lines of “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens was referring to conditions in the years leading up to the French Revolution; but he could just as easily have been writing about society today.

While we live in one of the most prosperous countries in the world, many Americans have in some way been negatively affected by problems with the current economy. The credit crunch has persisted despite aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate cuts; retail sales are down; thousands are concerned about losing their homes due to the sub prime mortgage crisis; and gas is so expensive, a lot of people have been forced to park their cars for the foreseeable future.

As if those problems weren’t bad enough, many Americans go from day to day fearing they may lose their jobs. For Shawn Crawford, 38, of Brownsburg, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis, you could say the writing was on the wall. He used to be the director of operations for a physician group that operated 30 doctor’s offices across the state of Indiana.

“I was responsible for set up, business development and customer service,” he says. “At first I found the job very rewarding, but once the economy started to get bad and the rapid expansion stopped, it reached a point where I feared my own job was about to be eliminated.”

Instead of waiting around to see what would happen, Crawford decided to follow his dream to start his own business. In July of 2006, he quit his job with the physician’s group and became a consultant; but spent every spare moment researching business opportunities.

“I wanted to do something that would capitalize on my experience and help people at the same time,” he says. “I figured people want to look good, feel good and be healthy, so why not open a gym?” But when he started looking into the costs involved in such a venture he became discouraged, that is until he came across some research that showed huge growth potential in health and fitness franchising. According to the International Health and Racket Sport Club Association, while the average growth rate for fast food franchises stands at 20 percent, the fitness sector’s five-year growth has been an impressive 144 percent.

There are a lot of health and fitness franchises out there, but the one Crawford decided to go with was Snap Fitness, a Minnesota-based fast-growing franchisor of compact, state-of-the-art 24/7 fitness centers in Canada and the United States. “The thing I liked best about Snap initially was their business model was pretty much turn-key,” says Crawford. “Unlike a traditional business start-up which would have required a lot of research, development and capital investment on my part, they did all the work for me.”

After he paid his franchise fee and found the perfect location, Snap Fitness provided the blueprint he needed to follow to get his business up and running. He was assigned a project manager who helped him every step of the way.

“The process was laid out and very easy to follow,” explains Crawford. “Snap provided everything I needed to get started – plans for the club design, access to vendors who would sell me the right equipment at a deep discount, all the tools I needed to set up my company Web site and the marketing materials I needed to get the word out.”

Snap also provided the financing, and today handles billing, security and other operational and marketing support for Crawford’s club, which opened for business in October of 2007 and now has about 900 members.

When people ask him for advice about franchising, Crawford advises them to do some investigative work. Talk to a business broker, pick up and read copies of Entrepreneur and the Wall Street Journal, and when they’re ready to proceed contact a franchisor like Snap Fitness directly. Most franchisor Web sites provide rich information about the business model, financial requirements and much more, and they grant access to executives and franchisees during your discovery process.

“We understand what a big decision opening a franchise can be, and that’s why I personally meet weekly with prospective franchisees to answer questions and help them make a decision that’s right for them,” says Snap Fitness CEO Peter Taunton.

“I followed the plan Snap gave me, and I’m quite pleased with my financial success, says Crawford, who is set to open his second Snap Fitness club sometime in April of 2008.

To learn more about this business opportunity, log on to www.SnapFitness.com and click on the link that says “Franchise Opportunities.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

EDITOR’S NOTE:

If you would like help localizing this story, contact Snap Fitness’ marketing communications director Patrick Strait at 952-426-7173 or via e-mail at pstrait@snapfitness.com.

Fast Food Business Seeks Employees Who Seek Careers, not ‘McJobs’

Jennifer — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:05:05 +0000

Fast-food companies have known for decades that it isn’t hard to find good workers. It’s hard to keep good workers from leaving. The national employee turnover rate in the quick service restaurant industry rose to 130 percent last year, according to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Industry Operations Report.

With the industry expected to create an additional 2 million positions over the next 10 years, companies are looking for new ways to recruit, train and retain dedicated employees.

McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain, says it wants to spotlight career opportunities available within its company and, in turn, drive out the dead-end job perception of its restaurants.

“In 1975, I began as a swing manager in Georgia,” says Karen King, east division president of McDonald’s USA, who appeared in a TV commercial as part of a campaign to emphasize career opportunities at the fast-food chain. “Now I oversee 5,200 restaurants between Maine and Florida. I truly believe that with hard work, anyone at McDonald’s has the chance to excel.”

The campaign that features King is designed to showcase career growth at McDonald’s. In addition to the advertisements, it features a Web site, www.mcdonald.com/careers, which details King’s career path as well as success stories from other employees across the country.

Professor Jerry M. Newman, author of “My Secret Life on the McJob,” said in a recent news release that the best way to change the negative image of the “McJob” is to positively redefine the perception of the fast-food worker.

“A fast-food worker is able to handle a variety of demands and produce under pressure, a veritable Big Mac of reliability, integrity and workplace maturity,” says Newman, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the University at Buffalo School of Management.

Fast-food employees today receive flexible schedules, rising wages and health insurance. Career training and even college-accredited courses are now available. According to King, the McDonald’s campaign is intended to help current and potential employees realize and seek out those benefits and rewards.

“One of the things that is important about this campaign is I want employees to have that same sense of pride that I do and to understand they have the opportunities that I have,” King adds.

The latest employment figures show that 30 percent of McDonald’s franchise owners, 50 percent of its corporate staff, and 70 percent of restaurant managers started as crew. Additionally, 40 percent of McDonald’s top management started behind the counter, including CEO Jim Skinner.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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The Secret to Success in a Slow Economy

Fast Food Business Seeks Employees Who Seek Careers, not ‘McJobs’