LinkedIn Networking Workshop Is Mandatory!

Who Should Attend?

Join a limited-number of professionals who are ready to learn how using LinkedIn properly with the right strategies and tactics can change your business and future to win. This LinkedIn Networking workshop will bring together participants from all levels of professions, so don't worry about being out-paced - the time is now for getting everyone up to speed on this powerful channel. Don't miss this opportunity to prepare yourself and your organization for owning the business niche in your space. Start converting your LinkedIn exclusive process into bottom-line improvements in any industry. This workshop is ideal for business professionals across all industries.

I have always written about small business entrepreneurship and this LinkedIn Networking Workshop should be a Mandatory attendance if you are serious about growing your business and stepping out front of your competition. Here is a workshop I recommend and know the trainer personally being held in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada for July. Register now and get an early bird discount: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/5905464403/WSI/58856021251  - Ray MacNeil

Ask Yourself When Considering A Franchise Business!

As a follow up to my previous post, here are some questions you can ask yourself to begin your conversations with me so I can help you find your perfect franchise business.

 

1.    How many years am I prepared to work in the franchise earning less than what I earn today in my job before I can see the return on my investment?

2.    Retail franchises such as fast food tend to have lots of staff and a high turn-over of staff; do I have a recruitment and training background? Will I enjoy this as a new full time endeavor?

3.    If my store manager does not show for work or I’m short of staff for a shift, will I enjoy working behind the counter?

4.    Will my inventory have a shelf life and if so for how long, for example perishable food items?

5.    Am I passionate about this business and industry?

6.    I want to be the owner operator of my business; can I see myself in this business every day?

7.    Is this business in a highly competitive industry or location?

8.    Is this business in a high growth market?

9.    Is this a cash business and will I need a big family in the business to reduce theft?

10.Is this business contributing to the health and wellness of people and is this important to me?

11.Is this a business I will be proud to tell my family and friends about?

Email me for a free franchise fit evaluation. I have more than 12 years of international executive franchisor experience and I specialize in finding high profit/high growth franchise businesses. My email is:  rmacneil58@gmail.com

This is a great seminar happening in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and I highly recommend this for business owners and people who want to impress their boss with how they grew market share through unique LinkedIn marketing insights: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/5905464403/WSI/58856021251

QR Codes Are Here

I wrote about QR Codes back in June of 2007 when only a few insiders knew what I was talking about. Today many more people know what I'm talking about and, it really is beginning to become an integral part of a personal suite of 3G or Smart phone mobile technology applications. A must have in other words is a QR (Quick Response) Code  Reader/Scanner App on your phone. If you are a business owner, a QR Code is very easy and quick to create and should be at a minimum added to all your company branded marketing and advertising collateral. All you need do for example is search on Google "QR Code Generator" and you will see the most popular free QR Code Generators at the top of Google. For your convenience, I have included a link to the QR Code Generator I used for my blog. Click Here for QR.net's Generator.

Here is great article from the 'Business Insider' to read and begin your learning and understanding of how QR Codes can be used in business. Click here for this great article.

The Rise of Generation C

The Rise of Generation C by Roman Friedrich, Michael Peterson and Alex Koster is a great introduction to a new group of consumers that are connected to the world digitally. As business owners, we know that our customer has already gone or is going digital. So, the future, "2020", is going to be extraordinary. You will find below an excerpt from the article "The Rise of Generation C" but, I encourage you to read this article in its entirety by clicking on the author link above. WSI Digital Marketing and their WSI Franchise opportunity is clearly in the right place at the right time.

"...a new generation that will be coming into its own over the next decade. Its members are typically realists and materialists. They are culturally liberal, though not necessarily politically progressive. They are upwardly mobile, yet they live with their parents longer than earlier generations ever did. Many of their social interactions take place on the Internet, where they feel free to express their opinions and attitudes. They’ve grown up under the influence of Harry Potter, Barack Obama, and iEverything — iPods, iTunes, iPhones. Technology is so intimately woven into their lives that the baby boom–era concept of “early adopters” is essentially meaningless.


We call them Generation C — connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented, always clicking. As a rule, they were born after 1990 and lived their adolescent years after 2000. In the developed world, Generation C encompasses everyone in this age group; in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), they are primarily urban and suburban. By 2020, they will make up 40 percent of the population in the U.S., Europe, and the BRIC countries, and 10 percent of the rest of the world — and by then, they will constitute the largest single cohort of consumers worldwide.

This is the first generation that has never known any reality other than that defined and enabled by the Internet, mobile devices, and social networking. They have owned various handheld devices all their lives, so they are intimately familiar with them and use them for as much as six hours a day. They all have mobile phones, yet they prefer sending text messages to talking with people. More than 95 percent of them have computers, and more than half use instant messaging to communicate, have Facebook pages, and watch videos on YouTube. Their familiarity with technology; reliance on mobile communications; and desire to remain in contact with large networks of family members, friends, business contacts, and people with common interests will transform how we work and how we consume."

The Dirty Little Secrets of Search Optimization

Bravo to The New York Times for exposing to Google the dirty little secrets of J.C. Penney and their #1 spot in Google for many different search terms. They were exposed for "Black Hat" tactics. When BMW was caught for "Black Hat" tactics they were penalized to the bottom of the Google search engine. J.C. Penney however has only been recently manually moved down the page rankings one search criteria at a time. Considering J.C. Penney has now been caught 3 times for these unethical tactics why is it their punishment pales in comparison to the treatment experienced by BMW from Google. Read the New York Times article and form your own opinions. Many lessons to be learned here: Cheaters will be caught. Google has to watch the perception real or not of favoring the big spenders of ad space on their search engine and; businesses need to ensure they are using a reputable Digital Marketing firm. From small business to as large a business as J.C. Penney who spends millions on Digital Marketing, the best in the business isn't always based on price. There is no substitute for experience and ongoing learning from a Global perspective. This is where WSI Digital Marketing beats everyone else hands down. WSI is a franchise model and have hundreds of offices globally. For WSI Digital Marketing Franchise Information click here.

The Franchise Show Excel London

I'm off to The Franchise Show in London, UK which runs from Friday, February 18th through Saturday the 19th. This is an exciting show with many exhibitors, seminars and workshops. This is a great opportunity to learn about the many franchise choices and listen to industry keynote speakers introducing Master Franchise opportunities. I will be there with WSI conducting seminars at the Crown Plaza Hotel. With what happened recently in Egypt, the Digital Marketing and Internet Industry is exploding with opportunities and high growth. The WSI booth will I'm sure be busy and the limited seats at the seminars are filling fast. I will keep you posted on WSI's success in London.

Egypt Has Harnessed The Power Of Social Networking

If anyone hasn't grasped the power of the Internet and how it works they need only look to Egypt to see the impact of Digital word of mouth referrals, customer testimonials and viral marketing. The eruption of unrest in Egypt that quickly took hold of this country that brought fear to the government was organized by people talking to each other via the social network:

"Security firm Zscaler noted Sunday that the top sites visited by Egyptian Web users on January 27 – the day Internet access went dark – were Facebook, Al Jazeera, and Google. In fact, social media and news sites accounted for about 65 percent of Web browsing that day. Zscaler also saw a 68 percent increase in transactions on Egyptian Web servers on January 26, and the spike was also most notable on news and media sites." - PCMAG.com

My sincere best wishes go out to all Egyptians for their safety and quick National stability. For all businesses globally who are not harnessing the power of Digital Marketing with an expert in this industry, you will lose out to your competition who will. The evidence of its power is too over whelming now in light of the recent events in Egypt. This is the equivalent of hitting you over the head with a ton of bricks to help you see what is clearly impossible to deny. The world of advertising has gone digital.

Canadian Tire and "Our Policy Is..."

I have been involved with an on going sequence of escalating frustration of events with a Canadian institution in the automotive retail industry, Canadian Tire. I purchased months ago 4 new all season tires with full replacement warranty and dynamic balancing which cost me close to $1,000. At first I notice that two of the tires kept losing air faster than normal. Being proactive I brought the car back to Canadian Tire. They checked the tires and said nothing was wrong and charged me for the labour and balancing. I found this doubtful but off I went after reluctantly paying this small bill. Then a couple of months later, while I was out of the country, my wife who was just minutes from entering a busy highway on-ramp found herself driving on the rim. The tire was flat and was now being damaged by the rim. She called a road side assistance company who charged her $70. to change the tire. She went to Canadian Tire and they very quickly replaced the tire and paid the bill for the road side assistance but charged us for the labour, balancing and a new replacement warranty. They claimed that the seal on the rim was the problem and promised that they used more sealant this time. 1 month later, the other tire moments before entering the same on-ramp is flat and coming off the rim. We called Canadian Tire this time from the road to come help us and they said they can't it is not "Our Policy to do service for you at the road, bring the tire to us and we can check it.." "I understand was my response but you need to understand the history before you say no and she interruptted me again with "Our Policy is..." I was short with her and disconnected our call. We then called the same company as before and went to Canadian Tire with the flat tire and a new $70. bill for road side service. Now this time we got attitude from the young girl at the desk who said "Our Policy" numerous times as a method to interrupt my explanation of the series of events. I suspect she is the same girl we spoke to on the phone days earlier. The end result, they did not replace the tire, they resealed it and charged me for labour and balancing again. We paid and left to experience a flat again two days later driving home from the office. We pulled into a nearby Active Green and Ross tire center and incurred a $34. bill but well worth it, these guys stayed late after their posted hours to help us out and provided a free 6 month warranty that this tire will not leak air. Wow! I write this post not to complain because we have done this already to Canadian Tire weeks ago in writing and they didn't even have the customer service responsiveness of a top notch company like Active Green & Ross to even reply to our letter. Their lack of response says it all.

I have written about the importance of great customer service before in my blog. It is not only a great differentiation from your competition, customers are prepared to pay more for high level service and they will become repeat customers and refer your business to their family and friends.

With the explosion of the Internet Socialization with the advent of such online venues as YouTube and Facebook and my blog, businesses need to understand that the consumer is now in control of your image and your brand. They can create an online viral marketing campaign that can kill your brand over night. As business owners, we need to ensure we are using a professional that can manage our online brand. The world has changed and there are new rules to marketing today because of the Internet. The days of the amateur is over. Like my business with Canadian Tire is now over. I hope the small money Canadian Tire makes on the labour they charge customers will help them grow their business against the loss of thousands of dollars I would spend in a lifetime multiplied by how many people read my blog post and Facebook rants.

How Unique Is Your Business idea?

I was recently in Germany and met with a new franchisor of a fast food concept. I actually met with many new fast food franchisors. They all had what they believed to be something unique and special to differentiate them from the hundreds of other fast food franchise opportunities. Sure, the food was good, for fast food. The marketing was slick. The store layout and look had some thought behind the finished product. But, so what! I've see it all before. Call me crazy but shouldn't a unique idea have little to no competition. Shouldn't a unique idea have the potential for high growth. And, wouldn't it be nice to enjoy, at a minimum, nice profit margins with a quick return on my investment. The idea of working 6 to 7 days a week and long hours just so I can keep more money in my pocket does not excite me. Call me lazy but, I like the idea of working towards fewer hours in the business with the business continuing its growth and still enjoying time for a much improved lifestyle. If you ask does this exist? Sure it does. It is called Digital Marketing and WSI is the leader in this industry with a franchise opportunity in most cities and most countries around the globe.

What is a franchise? It is a proven system with training and support that allows someone from a different background and coming from a different industry to enter into a new business and industry with little to no experience in their desired industry of choice. If you have been watching from the sidelines others take the step into business ownership and you have watch others succeed in the Internet and presumed you missed this opportunity because of a generation gap... then think again. WSI is looking for business executives for their Digital Marketing Franchise. Perhaps, at a minimum, I have left you with some fast food for thought. If you find you have some interest to learn more then contact me by email at: rmacneil@wsidigitalmarketing.com

Google TV, Brilliant!

More and more of us, consumers and customers alike are spending more and more time on the Internet. We have become multi-taskers. We have the attention span of a spoiled child. Our time is precious and we want answers to our questions now, not later. The Internet has changed the way we live our lives and as a result; has caused business to move their advertising budgets online. We have all seen how hard hit the publishing industry has been over the last couple of years. In addition, in the UK last year, more time was spent on the Internet than was spent on TV. The reality is, publishing and TV has changed, we are all publishers through the explosion of blogs and other social media portals. Everyday people can and are becoming a more believable champion of our products and services than the overpaid actors touting our claims on TV, Radio and in Print. We have already seen print and radio move to the Internet and as well TV. Well, leave it to Google to recognize this opportunity to be the search engine for all your social media searching. Check out this short Google TV video. We are here, we have come, now business where are you?

Will Twitter Survive?

This post is an observation. We all know that Social Media and Digital Marketing is changing the face of traditional marketing and advertising mediums. If you are in business you need to go where your customers are and that is on the internet. You need to go where they are on the internet and you need to get your message in front of your target market in an engaging and interactive way. Twitter is a major player today in this arena. But, who is on Twitter? Is it your target market? Is it the next generation of 30 somethings? My two children, son and daughter in their early to mid twenties, are not on Twitter. In fact, they are not on the internet. Certainly not as much as they use to be. You need to understand that they are the generation who grew up with a computer and the internet. They were power users. Today they are mobile and they are mobile telephony power users.

They took me and my fiance to dinner on Saturday and the conversation turned to Twitter and Facebook. I noticed they were not on these platforms as much if at all anymore. They looked at me like I was a freak. "Dad, cool people don't use Twitter. As for the internet. who has the time."


My son just bought his first home and didn't even bother to install the internet. He will eventually but it was not a priority. He is too busy and he lives on his mobile phone. He can access the internet through his mobile phone. In fact, as he said; "...no one calls on the phone anymore, we text". My daughter agreed.


This got me to think how fast the internet and the technologies it has spawned has changed so fast and is changing faster. In other words, is it possible a power house like Twitter can grow so quickly in 4 to 5 years can actually die a slow death or go dead like a super nova? Now I know that Twitter adapted and just became mobile. What I'm talking about is the possibility that the future of the internet is we may see new internet businesses come from no where, grow quickly and then disappear just as quickly.


I don't have a crystal ball to see the future. This is just speculation based on a casual conversation and observation. If this becomes reality it means, our business needs to adapt to change quickly to survive. Are you ready for this new changing and evolving economic future? Are you working with Digital Marketing Professionals to ensure you are taking advantage today of Digital Marketing? And, are you preparing for change? If not, you may become the next Dodo...extinct.

Travelling in the 21st Century

I'm in Estonia and then travelling to Latvia, Lithuania and then a few days at the end in Frankfurt, Germany on business and pleasure for 2 weeks. I'm amazed at how easy it is for me to continue doing business with my office at home. The internet has reached many parts of the world with high speed reaching even remote parts of the world. The time zone difference allows me to act on questions and issues while my customers sleep and when I work in the night while they are awake.

Another aspect of the world is that business is the same the world over. We all want to grow our business and do it with the most cost effective marketing methods available today. Internet marketing is growing as more and more of us use the internet and with the ease of access to the internet for our customers growing globally, the internet has become the wrapper of the worlds economy.

We are and will continue to grow to be a digital world. I booked my airline tickets online. I reserved my rooms online. I even made last minute changes online. I stayed in touch with my business online and even with my family online (facebook). And now with you through my blog and Twitter. If you are in business you should already know that the internet is where your customers are and as a result you need to be marketing to them online. But do it right and hire a professional who can build a long benefiting online marketing strategy. Check out this offer from WSI: Click Here

WSI #1 Internet Services Franchise in 2010 - 10 Years Running

WSI Corporate has released a press release sharing this newsworthy announcement about their 2010 Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500 Rankings...
Franchise 500® rank:

#56 (2010); #57 (2009); #46 (2008); #42 (2007); #46 (2006);

Top Homebased Franchises:

#13 (2010); #12 (2009); #9 (2008); #12 (2007); #9 (2006);

America's Top Global Franchises:

#49 (2010); #49 (2009); #26 (2008); #36 (2007); #6 (2006);

Blog Management Is A Full Time Job

Although I have written many posts and imported some posts and articles, my time is very limited to keep a daily monologue going. I do my best to submit a blog post with ideas and thoughts, information of relevance to business owners and budding entrepreneurs that I believe are of quality and substance. For me, this means less than the average bloggers number of posts. However, to generate repeat traffic to your blog with a loyal following and to support any internet marketing strategies you have in place, Blog Management Is A Full Time Job.

A blog for your business website is a powerful tool to help with your Search Engine Optimization 'SEO'. But, you should consider hiring someone as an employee or by contract to work with you on the content writing and helping you to stay in touch with your customers. Otherwise, you come out of the gate with your blog launch fully committed but like many before you who have tried, you may fizzle out to nothing. This may in fact cause you harm to your online marketing strategy as customers may interpret your now stale blog as an attitude of lack of caring for your clients.

A blog is great if done right. Do it right by first seeking out professional advice from a specialist in Internet Marketing and Social Internet Marketing. For example; search out a WSI Internet Marketing Consultant near your business. They have been in this industry since the beginning and working with Small and Medium size Businesses Globally since 1995.

Innovation In Franchising

Here is a great blog article from Daily Franchise News on how franchisors accept or don't accept innovation from their franchisees Click Here

Smart Companies Flourish Online

The following article appeared in the Emirates Business online paper written by a WSI Internet Consultant in the UAE. Clearly what I read is that there is a gold mine of oportunity for businesses in the Middle East and North Africa to grow with Internet Marketing. This WSI Internet Consultant, Mr. Husam Jandel, and other WSI Internet Marketing Consulting Franchisees are in the right place at the right time.

Click Here to read the Emirates Business article written by Mr. Husam Jandal

What Makes The Web Different From Other Media?

I love the following image to answer the question 'What Makes The Web Different From Other Media'. A picture really can be worth a thousand words:

Does The Internet Have a Future?

'Does the Internet have a future' seems like an odd question to ask considering I'm writing on a blog offered for free through Google Blogger and the people reading my posts are from around the world and in most cases I have not met or will never meet. The history of the internet is short in comparison to other economic world events and industries that have preceded the internet. Such as the first flight or the first land line telephone call. It would be 50 plus years for these industries to go from critical event to profitable business and industry.

The internet has achieved this in far less time. But, is this a Super Nova event like an exploding sun? Is the internet glowing so bright that it will feed off its own energy thus killing itself off? I think not. It is reasonable to ask these questions because we have no other historical benchmark. Our traditional thinking and views don't apply...anymore. The internet is changing the way we live our lives and as high speed internet, wireless and Mobile technologies reaches more and more people everyday, it is changing the way we communicate at all generational levels. Thus, it is changing the way we conduct and do business.

From a marketing perspective, the future of the internet might mean an end to marketing to demographic groups. For example; if globally our children and their Grandparents, regardless of culture, all use the internet for the same reasons and in the same way then how can user habits be different from age group to age group and so on. As a result, a new type of marketing is emerging on the internet; Social Media Marketing or Social Media Optimization. Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, eZine, etc., all fall within this category. This is where we are all going to and as advertisers we need to be aware of this and therefore ensure our marketing dollars are moving to the internet with the basics (SEO/PPC/Email/Web Analytics) but also learning and marketing in the Social Media arena.

The biggest message I have here is that as a business owner, the changes are happening fast, too fast for a business owner to do internet marketing without expert Internet Marketing advice, guidance and consultation. Search out an expert in your community such as a WSI Internet Marketing Specialist and beat your competition to the punch by not only maintaining your market share but perhaps taking some away from your competition.

Your Business Will Fail Within 24 Months

Imagine reading in the papers, hearing on the radio and watching on TV everyday business investment and economy experts claiming that your business will fail within 24 months. What would you do? Would you curl up in the fetal position and wait for doomsday? Or, would the fighter in you do everything and anything to prove them wrong and keep your business alive? I would venture to say that most business owners are fighters. If we were not fighters we probably would have caved in against all the negativity we heard before we got into business.

So, if we are fighters why are we allowing the media to promote negativity? Sure, investment portfolio's have taken a hit and people have lost their home due to mis-guided sub prime lending strategies in the US but can we get through all this? Of course we can. Big business, employees of big business will be impacted by this first. The suppliers of big business will be impacted next. If you are an employee of a big business then you should look at getting into a business. A franchise business is a good decision. If you are a supplier to these big businesses then you need to get all your eggs out of the one basket. You need to fine new clients. The most value for your marketing dollar is Internet Marketing. Ask anyone who has moved part of, or most of, their marketing budget to the Internet why they did this and they will all tell you that it is because the Internet, if done right, will get you better results.

Don't do this yourself. Seek out a professional in Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing is much more affordable than you might have been led to believe given leaders in the industry such as WSI Internet Consulting who leverage their Global Presence to bring the costs down. But it is not about cost. It is about value. What will be the value, impact to your business. The cost is not as important as the value of the new business brought to your business. What is the cost to your business if you don't act now and seriously do something on the Internet? Do you take charge of your life, your business, or do you let life take charge of you? Perhaps the cost of not taking action now, not fighting, and thus curling up in defeat in the fetal position is as significant as; Your Business Will Fail Within 24 Months.