In my early 20s, while completing my psychology degree, I lived in a small flat attached to the Yoga Education Centre in Melbourne, Australia. Each week over 1000 students attended classes at this Centre. In lieu of rent I assisted the Centre’s caretaker, David, with the evening routine of folding hundreds of blankets and the morning routine of cleaning the Centre’s seven b 
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I’ve just returned from the Australian National Franchise Convention on the Gold Coast. Each elevator in the resort had a comfortable leather seat at the back. It’s an unusual but nice touch. On the second evening of the Convention, when going up to my room on the 17th floor, the elevator suddenly shuddered and stopped. A red light began to flash and the lady who usually so 
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Earlier this week I attended an excellent business breakfast on mental health in franchise networks as part of an Australian initiative called R U OK Day. This is an important topic. As a psychologist who has spent most of his life working in the franchising sector, I can tell you that the gremlins of stress and worry are constant companions to most franchisees and franchis 
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I have been on a week’s holiday at the beautiful beaches near Cairns with my wife, Ann. Most people go on a holiday to enjoy themselves so, for the fun of it, I decided to measure how many people appear to be experiencing this sense of enjoyment. Walking along the beach promenade from our apartment at Palm Cove, definitely a piece of paradise, I began sorting people’s faces 
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A few years ago, on a long haul flight back to Australia, I decided to review what helps field managers to achieve superior performance in their job. This is to help franchisees maximize profits, stay aligned with the brand, and participate constructively in the franchise network. Part of my review involved cross referencing the findings from several FRI studies where we ha 
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“I am saying a journey is called that because you cannot know what you will discover on the journey, what you will do with what you will find, or what you find will do to you.” These words by the African-American social commentator, James Baldwin, resonated deeply as I sat in the darkness on a flight to the USA, watching an enthralling documentary on his life. While jo 
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I have just come out of two intense days of professional development. The first day involved a presentation to 70 franchising professionals on The Science of Successful Franchising. To prepare for this session, I reviewed FRI’s latest data on what creates an ACE Mindset in franchisees. This is where they Advocate the franchise to others (essential for a network’s growth), a 
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There’s a story of a Prince who had taken over the running of the Kingdom after the sudden death of his peace-loving father. The Prince was inexperienced in the ways of leadership and wanted to prove his worth. His power-hungry generals suggested an invasion would show others his strength (and of course increase their power). So he led his army into battle to take over  
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Last year Aziz Hashim, Chairman of the IFA, addressed our annual Multi-Unit Summit to an audience of 130 franchisees and franchisor executives. Because Aziz is, amongst other things, a highly successful multi-unit franchisee, he spoke with passion and credibility. His clear and direct message was this. If you are going to take on additional franchise units, do it  
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In this Tip I'll share 11 growth strategies to emerge from a franchise operations leadership breakfast we held on the topic “How to Encourage Franchisees to be Growth-Minded”. Steve Rafsky, a former franchisee of Padgett Business Services, a 50 year old franchise network with 400 franchisees in North America, first spoke of how the company was facing serious financial p 
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