Weekly Review August 1–6

Just like an experience at your local café, I’ve planned for Acceler8Success Cafe to be conveniently located when and where you desire or need to relax, enjoy a cup of coffee, and catch up on some time for you. My goal is for Acceler8Success Cafe to be your virtual café, a place where you may frequently visit to enjoy a few minutes of leisure time to read, think and reflect about ways to improve and succeed in today’s crazy business world.

I strive for your experience to be memorable by providing learning opportunities, by presenting different perspective & insight, by spurring thought & reflection, by encouraging interaction, and by spotlighting topics that, quite frankly, may not be as front and center as they should or need to be.

Acceler8Success Cafe is open for business seven days a week. For the benefit of current & aspiring entrepreneurs, this daily newsletter is delivered each morning. As a way to jumpstart the week ahead, a weekly review is delivered each Sunday morning listing and linking to the articles you might have missed during the previous week. My objective is to provide an opportunity for you to begin your day and the week ahead informed and with ideas that possibly could accelerate your success.

So, before we jump into this week’s review, how about starting today with a smile? A positive thought? Your happy place? A tug at the child in you? And what better way than doing so with Charlie Brown & the Peanuts Gang at the beach?

Adapt to Survive. Adapt to Succeed!

Over the weekend, I was reflecting upon how things have changed and disrupted business, and life as we knew it. Buzz words were thrown around, probably more so than for anything else except to give reason to necessary changes; the same changes that were needed to be made in order to adapt to a changing business world.

Ultimately, not adapting was reason for error, and for failure. But to some, it was “okay” because there was [false] justification — the pandemic. At other times, false justification includes a plethora of reasons, well, excuses. Hey, I’ve found myself falling into that trap at times, especially when others get in your ear as a way of justifying their own actions or inactions. Of course, some are just flat-out negative.

Read the article for Monday, August 1, 2022 HERE.

Is NOW a good time to start a business?

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked of late is whether it’s a good time to start a business. I believe there are two answers to this question.

My first response is addressed from the perspective of the person asking the question. It’s actually about asking questions of that person that determines whether business ownership is right for them, regardless of what’s going on in the world at a particular time.

First, I ask about why they’re interested in starting a business. I ask them to share with me their goals, experience and skillset. The next set of questions have to do with the capital they have available, their ability to secure additional capital, their adversity to risk, and of course, whether they’re replacing their primary source of income. I also inquire if they’re going to have a partner.

Read the article for Tuesday, August 2, 2022 HERE.

Is Franchising the Right Way to Grow Your Restaurant Business?

Another question I am being asked quite a bit of late is about whether franchising is the right way to grow a restaurant business. It’s certainly good to see restaurant operators and other business owners proactively planning for the long-term. Preparing to franchise a restaurant or any business for that matter, is a good project to undertake even if franchising turns out not to be in the cards, for whatever reason. A lot can be learned from the process itself.

It was this objective of being well informed regardless of whether franchising was the right strategy or not that I had on my mind when I was asked to conduct a seminar for RestaurantOwner.com five years ago. It’s no secret that many restaurant operators have aspirations of seeing their concept grow across a state or even across the country. Most think about franchising as the vehicle to accomplish their goals for all the obvious reasons. But is franchising right for them personally? Is their business positioned correctly for franchising? And is franchising the right or only path for growth?

Read the article for Wednesday, August 3, 2022 HERE.

Is Franchising the Right Way to Grow Your Restaurant Business? (Part 2)

Today, I’ll be sharing Part 2 of the article, Is Franchising the Right Way to Grow Your Restaurant Business? An article that was based upon a webinar of the same title that I presented at RestaurantOwner.com approximately five years ago.

A restaurant operator knows the time is right to franchise his concept, ideally, after duplicating profitability and customer engagement at several locations. That proves systems and processes are working without the restaurateur being on the premises.

Slightly less than ideal, but certainly doable, Segreto continues, is having a single, highly successful location that runs like a well-oiled machine even when the owner is not on site. That said, the time can also be right when the restaurant owner wants to help others follow his vision to success, knowing that the business now is franchising as opposed to foodservice.

Read the article for Thursday, August 4, 2022 HERE.

Revisiting ‘The New Normal’ for Restaurants

Two and a half years ago, mandated lockdowns pushed restaurants (and other businesses) to shift, pivot or whatever you prefer to call it — just to survive. Sales plummeted almost overnight as dining rooms shut down, forcing restaurant operators to either think outside the box or close temporarily, if not permanently.

At that time, based upon consulting with a number of restaurants facing very desperate situations, I wrote an article, The New Normal that I’m proud to say was picked up by several restaurant and franchise industry publications. The New Normal was the foundation of an aggressive strategic plan we had developed to help restaurants quickly and cost-effectively.

Today, as restaurants (and other businesses) are again facing challenging times, I’ve been revisiting the strategy. We’ve reintroduced it to several of our clients who are quickly seeing positive results. The questions that I’m being asked by these operators is, why didn’t we continue with these good practices all along — why did we stop?

Read the article for Friday, August 5, 2022 HERE.

How did we get here?

Over the years, many of us had moved out of major U.S. cities; the very same ones that are now under attack. These cities will most likely never be the same as they were before buildings were vandalized and burned, monuments toppled, defaced and in some cases, desecrated. Neighborhoods are being destroyed.

Crime is rampant. There are shootings and stabbings in the streets, in broad daylight. Vicious crime is indescribable to anyone with the least feelings possible as a growing number of thugs and gangs have exhibited no regard for human life. Drugs. Homelessness. Filth. And a lot of frightened citizens whose personal dreams are being shattered by the day.

Read the article for Saturday, August 6, 2022 HERE.

Have a great day, and week ahead. Make it happen. Make it count!

With over 60 years combined experience focused on entrepreneurship, small business, franchises and restaurants, we know what it takes to succeed in both good and challenging times. We share our knowledge and passion to help entrepreneurs and business owners realize their success.

We have helped hundreds of franchisors & business owners achieve their business and development goals and have assisted several thousand individuals and investment groups achieve the American Dream of business ownership including franchises and restaurants.

For information about Entrepreneurship Coaching or about any services by Acceler8Success Group, please reach out to me on LinkedIn, via email to Paul@Acceler8Success.com or text or call me at (832) 797–9851. I look forward to helping you achieve your goals & objectives.