When you choose to dream, some people will be jealous of your courage and try to tell you it’s senseless. Don’t listen.

When you find the beginning of your road, some people will be jealous of your accomplishment and try to tell you the road doesn’t go anywhere. Don’t listen.

When you’re clearing the path to build your road, some people will be jealous of your progress and stand in the way, so you can’t leave them behind. Keep clearing.

When you’re leveling your path to pave it, some people will be jealous of your discipline and spread lies about you so nobody helps. Keep hammering.

When you’re paving your path to walk it, some people will be jealous of your beautiful creation and destroy your work. Rebuild it.

Then walk your path with your head held high. Because you made it, and nobody can take that experience of creation from you.

Now you can create anything you want – nevermind what you “set your mind to do.”

Setting your mind on something implies that it already exists.

But — you have a unique dream, if you dare to dream it. And it requires creation. It requires the pain of birth in order to come to life and exist in this world.

Make no mistake, success is powered by a history of supposed failure. Every hit you take is one step closer to a win.

And if you truly, deeply, believe that, you’ll find it’s true.

“For they can conquer, who believes they can.” — Virgil

Patricia Mayo

In my conversations with CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners, I frequently hear about individuals within the organisation whose performance is (euphemism alert) sub-optimal. Digging a little deeper, I hear about the behaviour traits that make their contribution to the organisation questionable.

A Few Archetypes:

• The Bully – angry and threatening
• The Gossip – undermining relationships
• The Vampire – needy, persistent and draining
• The Victim – blaming everyone else
• The Rebel – challenging, adversarial and uncooperative
• The list goes on but that will do for now. And of course, the people concerned are often a toxic mix of 2 or more of these types.

Now, these traits do not, on their own, make someone unemployable. And I know that I can exhibit some of these in certain circumstances, as are many of us. So let me give you some specific examples that I have met:

• The IT guy that shouts, swears, hurls his mug of coffee and punches the wall when things don’t go right for him. (Victim/Bully)
• The manager that has created her own fiefdom within the organisation and will protect it from any intervention with angry threats. (Bully/Rebel)
• The receptionist that is constantly taking stress-related leave, but when at work blames, gossips and latches on to anyone that will listen. (Vampire/Victim/Gossip)
• The craftsman that thinks he knows it all but takes twice as long to complete his work and will not listen to any criticism. (Rebel/Victim)

There are many more too. And in each case, the boss had failed to take decisive action over a long period. Why? Because in each case, the individual still brought some perceived value to the business. And because the fear of losing that value, and fear of the unknown, was greater than the prospect of something better.

Fear is crippling, preventing us from seeing what’s going on, hearing what’s going on and calling it out, just like the 3 monkeys in the picture. Failure to take action against this kind of behaviour supports and condones it – you become complicit in the problem. Hence the adage:

Evil prospers when the good man does nothing.

So how do you determine whether you are better off retaining these people or letting them go?
Fortunately, there is a killer question that helps clarify the thinking around this subject:

If the person concerned were to resign on a Friday and ask for their job back on Monday, would you re-employ them?

If the answer is NO, you can be quite clear that you need to take action now, either by initiating a development plan for the individual or terminating employment.
Believe it or not, I have spoken to leaders of organisations that have replied NO for each individual when asked about their entire management team. How you can run a business on that basis beggar’s belief, but it happens. And, of course, this puts the leader in the spotlight as much as any member of their team.

So, if you’re running an organisation or part of one, and you answer NO to this question regarding any of your reports, I suggest you need to take action now, as it only becomes more difficult as time passes.

Terminating employment, except in the most extreme cases, raises ethical/moral questions that, without clarity, can bog the process right down – we all want to do the right thing.

I’ll shortly be writing another article on that very subject, so watch this space…

I’m Chris Pearse. I work with CEOs/MDs, Directors, Boards, and Owners to transform leadership and renew business across all sectors, from FTSE100s to SMEs. Clarity Space
Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter if you are interested in #management #leadership #conflict #resilience #emotionalintelligence #strategy #selfawareness

Your checklist – everything you should do before buying a franchise

We started Business for Breakfast (BforB) in 2001, with the first breakfast meeting held in Manchester at the Worsley Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club. Since then, the business network company grew rapidly, with new referral marketing meetings opening across the region. BforB soon accepted its first franchisee with a proven business model, rapidly adding a further ten franchisees whilst expanding across the UK and internationally.

Having been on the front line whilst developing BforB as a successful franchise business, I’ve been able to help a wide range of potential franchisees understand what they are looking to get out of a franchise. During this time, I have refined my understanding of the vital considerations that a franchisee needs to decide before buying a franchise.

Firstly, any successful franchise should start with an in-depth and systematic period of research and preparation. This preparation will allow anyone interested in starting a franchise business to fully understand the business opportunity and investment (of both time and money) required. If you follow these seven steps during your preparation, then you will be well on your way to identifying the right franchise business for you.

Seven steps before buying a franchise

1. What are your skills?

There are over a thousand franchise concepts in the UK alone. You need to find one that closely fits your skills. Should you decide to venture into a new and more lucrative franchise opportunity away from your core skills, look out for the product or service that you would enjoy doing. You will spend much of your time at work, especially in your first couple of years in business. I always believe that your chance of business success is much higher when you enjoy what you do.

2. What is your financial expectation from the business?

What motivates you? Is it money, or are you looking for a lifestyle business to work around other commitments? Franchise concepts offer a wide range of potential or actual earning. Identify what you want out of your franchise and set your realistic financial expectations, and then assess whether the franchise opportunities you are considering match your expectations.

3. Can you build, and work as, part of a team?

Are you a team player or work well under pressure on your own? Running your own business will inevitably put you in situations where you need to work independently and with other people. What is the structure of existing franchise businesses? Are you going to be managing a team or working independently? What interaction is there with other franchisees? Are all questions to ask the potential franchisor.

4. Where will you be based / what is your territory?

The success of a franchise business can be dependent on your local knowledge of the industry. There are territories in the UK that could be harder to develop than others. It’s therefore vital to consider where your franchise will be based as part of your research and planning.

5. Should you get input and support from your family?

Some say ‘never tell anybody what you are going to do, just do it; some say ‘tell your family and friends about what you are planning to do and listen to their feedback’. Both are true in my experience; however, it is always important to discuss it in detail with your partner. When you are sharing financial responsibilities with another person, you must secure the necessary support.

6. Do you understand the processes?

Running a franchised business can be compared to ‘implementing a series of tried and tested processes’. Is this you? Some franchisors welcome innovators and radical thinking and usually adapt quickly. However, most successful franchised brands have gained their ‘Unique Selling Propositions’ due to the processes and systems they have put in place to deliver their product or service. Entrepreneurs are naturally creative and innovative; however, sticking to the systems has its own merit – after all, a franchise is a process of replicating an already successful business model.

7. What time can you put to the business?

Having a good idea of what time you prefer to work can be helpful. Different franchisees will have different requirements in terms of when the work needs to be undertaken. Franchise concepts can be tailored from full-time to part-time or a work-around-your-family level of commitment.

On average, it takes about three months to find a franchise from enquiry to application. This can be affected by the way you are going to fund your new business. Allow additional time for securing bank funding. Launch processes can also be affected by site availability for shops and delivery schedules for van based franchises. Some business can be up and running in eight weeks and some in eight months. Factor this in your planning time.

Good Luck in your business venture, and we hope you see you networking with BforB soon.

Mel Fisher