The Franchise King Blog

100 Business Movers And Shakers That Should Be Followed On @Twitter

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The bloggers over at AccreditedOnlineCourses.org have put together an impressive list of business experts that you may want to follow on Twitter.

• You are on Twitter, right?

• You do want to learn about every aspect of business you can, right?

• You want to hang with the movers and shakers...right? 

The list starts out with;

Inspiring Entrepreneurs and CEOs

1. @zappos: Hear from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh on this feed for personal and professional news.
2. @richardbranson: One of the richest and most successful businessmen in the world, Richard Branson talks about his business on this feed.
3. @jeremys: Co-founder and CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stoppelman talks about business on this feed.
4. @arrington: The founder of online site TechCrunch, Michael Arrington maintains this feed full of online business news.
5. @timoreilly: Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Tim O’Reilly shares his opinions and interesting news bits here.
6. @RickM: Rick Myers owns and operates the job site Talent Zoo. Use this feed to follow his moves around the nation.
7. @Schooley02: This feed will help you learn more about Internet marketing and entrepreneurship.
8. @ev: What would a list of business experts on Twitter be without including the CEO of Twitter?
9. @gcolony: CEO of Forrester Research George Colony posts on social media through this feed.
10. @kevinrose: Embrace your techie side with tweets from this feed by the founder of Digg, Kevin Rose.
11. @mashable: This account from the CEO of Mashable posts all kinds of tips and tools for making the most of Twitter and other social media.
12. @pierre: Learn more about Pierre Omidyar’s philanthropic projects as well as his role in founding and running eBay.

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Do you want more? Do you want to follow some folks that you may not know about?

The rest of the list is over at AccreditedOnlineCourses.org

The Small Business Advocate Radio Program Turns 12 Years Old This Month

Jim Blasingame (Holding A Cleveland Indians baseball bat)

As a small business owner, I love the fact that there are actually radio programs that discuss one of my favorite topics..small business.

Not only is Jim Blasingame celebrating his 12th year of broadcasting, but his producers reached out to me a few years ago, and asked me to be a guest on Jim's show. Jim even liked me enough to invite me to be a member of his "Brain Trust." (That's a little scary)

From Jim;

"This Monday will be my 3,121st live broadcast since we began -- including all the holidays -- even when I was on the road. I've conducted almost 12,000 live interviews with small business experts and entrepreneurs, and next week I'll broadcast my 13th consecutive live Thanksgiving Day show. When you hear me talking about making sure that you're passionate about the business you start, now you know that I practice what I preach.

From the beginning, my primary programming goal was to focus on the fundamentals that are important to successfully starting, operating and growing a small business, and to make all of the things we do available to you for free.  On that last note -- the free one -- I must say thanks to our outstanding corporate partners, without whom the free part would not be possible.  

Along the way, we've received a number of awards and recognition for our work on behalf of small business. All were accepted in honor of our heroes, small business owners."

Way to go, Jim. 12 more please.

Here's an archive of radio interviews Jim and I have done together, on the topic of franchising.

They're suitable for weekend listening. (At least)

Social Media Marketing By Franchise Companies Can't Be A Part-Time Gig

             


If you are an executive, or even the owner of a franchise concept, don't worry about all the buzz around social media. Don't pressure yourself into doing social media, just because a growing number of other franchisors have started getting their feet wet. Just keep doing what you're doing. I'm sure that you are totally euphoric about your current franchise marketing successes...

Being the Community Promotions Director for a powerful and influential website like Small Business Trends has some perks. One of them includes spending a great deal of time actually reading what some of the columnists on the site are writing about. In this case, what Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media just wrote about social media marketing...

Work At Home Opportunities; Which Ones Are Genuine Franchise Opportunities?

Make Money Online. Riiiight.

Let's stuff some envelopes, transcribe some medical information, become Google specialists, make money online, or assemble cheap jewelry. These can all be our own businesses. Awesome!

But exactly what types of businesses are they? Do any of these "opportunities" sound like they could be franchises?

I always tell people that one way to tell if an "opportunity' is a franchise or not, is to look at the start-up costs involved. Please allow me to be blunt, here;

If the total up-front investment is $185, it's not a franchise offering. 

It's usually one of two things. It's Multi Level Marketing, or as some like to call it, Network Marketing, or it's a Business Opportunity. (It may even be what's called, a distributorship)

I need to share some very important information with you. Some Network Marketing companies are calling their little opportunities "franchises." Don't get scammed. They're not franchises. (If you know of any, call them out in the comment section, please)

Here's the definition of a scam, by the way;

A scam is a scheme for making money by deceptive, dishonest, or fraudulent means.

So, how can you tell the differences? How can you prevent getting burned? Which is which?

Go to this article over at Small Business Trends, that's how!

I'm an affiliate for this company. They offer some freelancing opportunities;

Write for Discussion Boards: $1200 per week... 
Administer a Web Business from Home:  $4000 per month...
Transcribe Authors' Notes: $80 per hour...
Find thousands of freelance jobs like these: Click here
 

Buying A Franchise; It's The System

Most of the folks that I consult with in their quest for the best franchise business opportunity to invest in, are looking at franchising for one reason; There is already a "system" in place. 

However, some of those systems are better than others. Some of the top franchise systems are from these franchisors;

• McDonalds
• Subway
• ServPro
• Great Clips