December 16, 2011

Today’s roundup starts with news of a startup to help foreign-born entrepreneurs and includes the hottest franchises for 2012 and tips on how to cut your meetings in half.

Foreign-born entrepreneurs to live 12 miles off shore

Here’s a hair-brained idea that could really work. As Jessica Bruder of The New York Times writes, a new startup titled Blueseed is seeking funding to create a free-floating business incubator 12 miles off the shore of Silicon Valley. The point: to allow foreign-born entrepreneurs to work close to the Valley without work visas. What do you think of this idea?

Guide to franchises and how much they’ll cost you

While owning a franchise sounds great, you may have a few unanswered questions, i.e.: which business should you choose? How much does it cost to startup? As Joel Libava of Small Business Trends writes, more than 3,000 franchises are available in the U.S. and they cost anywhere from $50,000 to $1 million. Most fit into the following categories: food service (opening a Subway can cost you from $84,000 to $258,000), retail (Supercuts can cost from $112,000 to $243,000), personal services (Molly Maid: $71,000 to $116,000), business to business and children’s services.

The most and least promising franchises for 2012

While we’re on the topic, lets discuss which franchises will do well next year and which ones will bomb. As Michelle Juergen of Entrepreneur writes, senior health services (baby boomers are, well, booming), mobile franchises (think plumbing and pet care) and business coaching are going to be big next year. Franchises on the out after Jan. 1 include eBay drop-off stores, direct mail services and meal preparation services.

How to ensure a positive ‘first day’ experience for your customers

Think back to your last first day on the job…did the company make you feel welcome or did they ignore you? As Chris Brogan writes on his blog, small business owners are smart to think of new clients, new website viewers and new social media followers as first-dayers. Make them feel welcome right away by explaining what you do and how it will help them. Then reap the rewards of lifelong customers.

12 business lessons form rock stars

Here’s a fun post for your Friday. As Steve Jones of Ragan’s PR Daily writes, small business owners are smart to be focused like Bob Marley, be human like the Beach Boys and be rare like Led Zeppelin.

 How to write the perfect e-mail subject line

It’s always discouraging when—after spending hours drafting your weekly newsletter—you only get a teeny number of click-throughs. As Corey Eridon of Hubspot Blog writes, the problem may be your subject line. To increase your open rates write in a call-to-action format, personalize the message, never use all capital letters and make sure to be clear in your message.

How to cut your meetings in half

Sounds great, doesn’t it? This is completely possible, as reported in Reuters. Just take the chairs out of the room (make everyone stand), use a timer for each agenda item and publicize the cost of the meeting (i.e. cost of everyone’s time).

Related Topics

• The World

Related keywords

Katie Morell, Article, entrepreneurs, international business, franchising, e-mail, business meetings, customer service, Blueseed

Join the conversation ( 1 )

• Drewry News Network 5 months ago

  

  if I may say, it's always a beautiful experience to work with people from all walks of life, while contributing in helping others succeed, as well as learning from foreign-born entrepreneurs. Just adding my humble 2 cents :-)http://www.DrewryNewsNetwork.com