Painting with a Twist has blossomed from a single location in 2007 to the nearly 70 that now dot the nation.Such is the rationale behind a string of new businesses that seek to draw customers out of their shells through group painting and perhaps a Pinot Noir. Started in 2007, Painting with a Twist began in the New Orleans suburb of Mandeville, La., as a way to give back to the community, which had recently been pummeled by Hurricane Katrina. “We were looking for something that people could enjoy and take them away from what they had been doing, which was thinking, ‘Do I have enough insurance?’” said Cathy Deano, the company’s co-founder. The idea was a hit. “People were coming from all over,” said Renee Maloney, the other co-founder. “They were driving two bridges to come to this little town to escape, to immerse themselves in art and forget their troubles.” The pair drew seed money from their personal savings and later expanded to four stores with help from a local bank loan. “We banked with this bank for four stores so they could see the growth — they could see the momentum,” Maloney said. “We had a personal relationship with them so they believed in the concept.” The business began franchising after two married customers broached the topic of taking the concept to St. Petersburg, Fla., where they were retiring. Owners are not required to be artistic since separate instructors typically lead the group classes.The company has since painted the country with a total of 67 franchised locations. To date, the franchises have generated $20 million revenue.Deano and Maloney encourage interested applicants to send in an application via their franchise inquiry form. Potential locations then undergo a demographic study to see if they have a large enough surrounding population and do not intrude on neighboring locations’ territory. Franchises must pay up-front fees of $20,000 in addition to a 6-percent royalty fee on gross revenue and must spend $1,000 on advertising each month.
Showing posts with label Better. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Better. Show all posts
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wine and Art: What Better Franchise?
Hand a canvas and some painting supplies to a not-so-budding artist, and a blank stare may follow. But give this same Picasso in the rough a corkscrew and wine glass, and you’ve got a franchise opportunity. Painting with a Twist has blossomed from a single location in 2007 to the nearly 70 that now dot the nation.Such is the rationale behind a string of new businesses that seek to draw customers out of their shells through group painting and perhaps a Pinot Noir. Started in 2007, Painting with a Twist began in the New Orleans suburb of Mandeville, La., as a way to give back to the community, which had recently been pummeled by Hurricane Katrina. “We were looking for something that people could enjoy and take them away from what they had been doing, which was thinking, ‘Do I have enough insurance?’” said Cathy Deano, the company’s co-founder. The idea was a hit. “People were coming from all over,” said Renee Maloney, the other co-founder. “They were driving two bridges to come to this little town to escape, to immerse themselves in art and forget their troubles.” The pair drew seed money from their personal savings and later expanded to four stores with help from a local bank loan. “We banked with this bank for four stores so they could see the growth — they could see the momentum,” Maloney said. “We had a personal relationship with them so they believed in the concept.” The business began franchising after two married customers broached the topic of taking the concept to St. Petersburg, Fla., where they were retiring. Owners are not required to be artistic since separate instructors typically lead the group classes.The company has since painted the country with a total of 67 franchised locations. To date, the franchises have generated $20 million revenue.Deano and Maloney encourage interested applicants to send in an application via their franchise inquiry form. Potential locations then undergo a demographic study to see if they have a large enough surrounding population and do not intrude on neighboring locations’ territory. Franchises must pay up-front fees of $20,000 in addition to a 6-percent royalty fee on gross revenue and must spend $1,000 on advertising each month. ![]()
Painting with a Twist has blossomed from a single location in 2007 to the nearly 70 that now dot the nation.Such is the rationale behind a string of new businesses that seek to draw customers out of their shells through group painting and perhaps a Pinot Noir. Started in 2007, Painting with a Twist began in the New Orleans suburb of Mandeville, La., as a way to give back to the community, which had recently been pummeled by Hurricane Katrina. “We were looking for something that people could enjoy and take them away from what they had been doing, which was thinking, ‘Do I have enough insurance?’” said Cathy Deano, the company’s co-founder. The idea was a hit. “People were coming from all over,” said Renee Maloney, the other co-founder. “They were driving two bridges to come to this little town to escape, to immerse themselves in art and forget their troubles.” The pair drew seed money from their personal savings and later expanded to four stores with help from a local bank loan. “We banked with this bank for four stores so they could see the growth — they could see the momentum,” Maloney said. “We had a personal relationship with them so they believed in the concept.” The business began franchising after two married customers broached the topic of taking the concept to St. Petersburg, Fla., where they were retiring. Owners are not required to be artistic since separate instructors typically lead the group classes.The company has since painted the country with a total of 67 franchised locations. To date, the franchises have generated $20 million revenue.Deano and Maloney encourage interested applicants to send in an application via their franchise inquiry form. Potential locations then undergo a demographic study to see if they have a large enough surrounding population and do not intrude on neighboring locations’ territory. Franchises must pay up-front fees of $20,000 in addition to a 6-percent royalty fee on gross revenue and must spend $1,000 on advertising each month. 
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Better Business Bureau Warns Employment Seekers to Look for Red Flags During their Summer Job Search - Tucson Citizen
Many students are off for summer break and find themselves searching for temporary work. Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning high school and university students looking for work this summer to avoid common job scams.
“Many students seeking summer jobs may have little to no previous work experience, And are tempted to apply for jobs that require limited work experience but offer high salaries,” said Kim States, BBB President. “However, the reality is these offers may be scams rather than legitimate work opportunities.”
Ads are posted everyday in newspapers and on the Internet that promise “Summer jobs; make $300 a day” or “last year our employees made $10,000 over the summer”. The intent of these ads generally is to gather personal identity information or to get money from job seekers.
Here are 10 tip-offs that the “employment opportunity” could be a scam:
1. Big bucks for simple tasks. Watch out if they promise to pay you a lot of money for jobs that don’t seem to require much effort or skill. If it sounds too good to be true, it might be a scam.
2. Job offers out of nowhere from strangers. If they offer you a job without getting an application from you, meeting you, or doing an interview, it’s probably a scam. Don’t hand your personal information, especially your Social Security Number or credit card information to such people. This could lead to identity theft.
3. Requests for up-front payments. If someone wants you to make an advance payment to partake in a new business opportunity – especially if it’s a big investment, or you don’t have much information about the deal – this is a red flag. “Advance fee scams” are very common and they come in many varieties.
4. They ask you to wire the money. If you wire a payment to somebody, it’s gone forever. Wire transfers of money are a convenient and perfectly legitimate service. But scam artists often ask you to wire payments that they are requesting (especially to destinations in other countries) because they know you won’t be able to get your money back.
5. High pressure to do it now. Don’t be in a hurry to accept an unsolicited offer of work, or to make a business investment, particularly if the other party is asking you to spend your money on the deal. Take your time and check it out. If somebody tries to convince you that this is a “limited time” offer and you have to act now, just tell them to forget it. High pressure is a common sign that something’s wrong.
6. Refusal to give you full details in writing. Ask for complete information in writing. Look carefully at any documentation they might provide to make sure it answer all your questions. If they won’t give details, or don’t respond to questions, don’t do business with them.
7. References are missing or a bit suspicious. A real business should be able to give you professional references, ask for references and check them yourself. Even if the references seem good, don’t make your decision based on references alone. Do a careful background check; free Business Reviews are available at www.tucson.bbb.org
8. Contact information is missing or doesn’t make sense. Be very cautious if a company is trying to get you to accept a job, but seems to lack any established physical location with a real street address. A cell phone number and website address are not enough contact information. If there is an address, it’s worth taking a moment to check it out on the Internet.
9. They want you to buy expensive items. Be cautious if they expect you to make a major purchase of equipment, software, inventory, or information in order to get started in business. It seems like it might be a real business opportunity – but it’s not; the buyer makes the purchase and never receives the things needed to set up the business.
10. It has a bad rating with the BBB! Victims do complain to the BBB about work at home scams. It only takes minutes to check a company’s record with us at www.tucson.bbb.org
Your BBB can be reached 24/7 at our website www.tucson.bbb.org. For more valuable tips, visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/soazbbb.
For more consumer tips, visit www.tucson.bbb.org
This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2012 at 5:23 pm and is filed under alert, Life, scam. Tags for this post: BBB, Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona, job hunt, job scam, job search, looking for a job, scam, summer, temporary jobs, Tucson, unemployment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Best Home Based Energy Business Just Got Even Better - Energy Is Going Global - Houston Chronicle
Making money when people pay their electric bill is an extremely attractive way to make a residual income from home. This home based energy business is going places as the opportunity is expanding beyond North America, starting with the U.K. Freedomfflow LLC's independent representatives are excited to announce their participation in the expansion of international recruitment of entrepreneurs seeking to work from home.
(PRWEB) April 23, 2012Statistics from sources like the U.S Census, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and others reveal a growing trend in home based business start ups. Two of the more noteworthy statistics found are that more than 12% of households in the U.S. have a home based business, and the annual revenue generated from home based business owners exceeds $400 billion dollars.
The economy hasn't been this bad in more than half a century and the U-6 unemployment rate has been in double digits for quite some time. The rising number of people stepping up and becoming entrepreneurs leads one to ask the question, "What is the best home based business?"
Determining the best home based business opportunity is somewhat subjective, as there are many factors that can be weighted differently by each individual. These include the following:
Start up costInventory requirementsMarket sizeProduct or service fulfillment requirementsCompensation plan and profit potentialResidual income potential and attrition ratesComplexity of sales cycle
The best home business opportunity would include a low start up cost, no inventory requirements, a massive and ubiquitous market, a simple sales process that is easily duplicated, a compensation plan that leverages the work of others, and the potential for a large residual income with a very low attrition rate for the monthly services that contribute to that residual income.
From the many home based business opportunities that have been reviewed by Freedomfflow LLC, they have chosen Momentis as the best one as it has all of the metrics described above.
Let's examine some of these items a bit more closely.
Most times the bulk of the start up cost is for purchasing inventory. More and more businesses do not require the business owner to hold significant inventory as the product is typically housed and fulfilled by a parent company the home business owner represents. Yet many of these same businesses require a monthly inventory purchase, typically called an "auto-ship," by the business owner to maintain their status as a representative of the company. More than 90% of home based businesses that require such an auto-ship fail within the first six months as the business owner quits due to the monthly cost of purchasing this inventory and their inability to recoup that cost by selling it.
The market type and market size must be considered closely. Clearly, the bigger the market, the easier it should be to find customers. However, products considered luxury products or non-essential products are risky because they are the first to be cut when consumers tighten their budgets. These types of products also will have a higher attrition rate which leads to a short residual income potential. Health and wellness products are very viable as the massive baby-boomer segment of our population is focused on staying healthy and looking younger. Although these products and services are considered essential by many of the people who use them, in a very tough economy the juices, vitamins, and supplements are also likely to become expendable.
The best product for a home based business would not be a product at all. It would be a service, and it would be a service that the potential customer is already paying for. In this case, there is no new bill. To attract a customer for a service they are already using requires a better price or a better service, or both. Energy deregulation is creating that choice for a massive market place.
The Momentis opportunity enables a home based business owner to enter into the home energy market place. This market is over $500 billion dollars strong in North America. Momentis is soon to be expanding into the United Kingdom, expanding this massive market even further.
The basic concept is to direct a potential customer to a website where they can see the options they have to purchase electricity and natural gas. Deregulation of the energy industry allows competition and competition will drive down prices. The same infrastructure and local companies still deliver, bill, and service the energy buyer. However, the actual energy can be purchased from different suppliers at different rates.
Deregulation only happens once to an industry. It is happening right now to the energy industry. Momentis offers a very attractive vehicle to work from home in this market place. Momentis is looking to expand its energy customer base and has embraced relationship marketing as the vehicle to reach its expansion goals. This has opened the door for a growing number of people to start a home based business that offers many advantages including market size, product appeal, and earnings potential.
Furthermore, this opportunity is expanding from the North American continent to the European continent, starting in the U.K., and the current success and other signs point to a broader global expansion in the months ahead.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebbest_home_based_business/homebasedenergybusiness/prweb9430000.htm
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Perfect Franchises Debuts Innovative Website for Better Franchise Business Opportunities Search - Times Union
Perfect Franchises LLC invites investors and first time entrepreneurs to visit their new website for their next franchise business opportunities search. It features a more graphic, interactive design than most in the category and provides detailed information, including financial requirements for their portfolio partners.
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 28, 2012Perfect Franchises is debuting its new website to help new and experienced investors find the perfect franchise business opportunity. The new design provides a rich franchise shopping experience for people looking to buy a franchise. It has more specific information than many franchise websites offer, including franchise backgrounds, financials and even training info that prospects can easily scroll to learn more about.
“Our new website design makes it easier for prospects to find the perfect franchise today,” says Caleb Hanson, Lead Web Designer for the project. “We’ve also included a new Facebook Fan Page featuring videos and podcasts. It’s a launching pad to the main site. In the works as well is a blog which will break in a couple of weeks.”
“We’re very excited by the response the new site is receiving,” states Terry Yormark CEO of Perfect Franchises. Our partners really like it too".
“It’s more alive than many sites I’ve seen. Lots of personality.”, according to Lynn Patrick SVP of Franchise Sales at American Business Opportunities Inc.
Rather than sell the concept of franchising itself, Perfect Franchises prefers to focus on select franchise business opportunities that respect its high standards. With more and more business concepts entering the marketplace today it can be overwhelming and intimidating for investors.
Perfect Franchises is a national and global franchise brokerage and representation firm. It’s a one-stop resource for investors interested in buying a single or multi-unit franchise.
“We’ve had clients come back in as short a time as six months and add another unit to their investment package.” says Yormark.
Perfect Franchises LLC is riding the wave of increased demand for entrepreneurship in an economy that is bringing forth more people who want the stability and security of business ownership with a proven business model. Plans for the remainder of 2012 call for the addition of a social marketing division to help its franchise partners branding efforts and an expansion of their International Division.
About Perfect Franchises
Perfect Franchises is a US based franchise brokerage and consultation group focusing on solid franchise business opportunities across the US and select global locations. Representing a wide variety of categories, Perfect Franchises strives to deliver the perfect franchise for entrepreneurship including financial assistance.
Investors interested in learning more about the many franchises offered at Perfect Franchises LLC, can visit http://www.perfectfranchises.com or contact Terry Yormark at 1-888-328-8279 for more information.
Media Contact:
Terry Yormark
1-888-328-8279
770-881-8242
terry(at)perfectfranchises(dot)com
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/3/prweb9269780.htm
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Perfect Franchises Debuts Innovative Website for Better Franchise Business Opportunities Search
Perfect Franchises LLC invites investors and first time entrepreneurs to visit their new website for their next franchise business opportunities search. It features a more graphic, interactive design than most in the category and provides detailed information, including financial requirements for their portfolio partners.
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 28, 2012
Perfect Franchises is debuting its new website to help new and experienced investors find the perfect franchise business opportunity. The new design provides a rich franchise shopping experience for people looking to buy a franchise. It has more specific information than many franchise websites offer, including franchise backgrounds, financials and even training info that prospects can easily scroll to learn more about.“Our new website design makes it easier for prospects to find the perfect franchise today,” says Caleb Hanson, Lead Web Designer for the project. “We’ve also included a new Facebook Fan Page featuring videos and podcasts. It’s a launching pad to the main site. In the works as well is a blog which will break in a couple of weeks.”
“We’re very excited by the response the new site is receiving,” states Terry Yormark CEO of Perfect Franchises. Our partners really like it too".
“It’s more alive than many sites I’ve seen. Lots of personality.”, according to Lynn Patrick SVP of Franchise Sales at American Business Opportunities Inc.
Rather than sell the concept of franchising itself, Perfect Franchises prefers to focus on select franchise business opportunities that respect its high standards. With more and more business concepts entering the marketplace today it can be overwhelming and intimidating for investors.
Perfect Franchises is a national and global franchise brokerage and representation firm. It’s a one-stop resource for investors interested in buying a single or multi-unit franchise.
“We’ve had clients come back in as short a time as six months and add another unit to their investment package.” says Yormark.
Perfect Franchises LLC is riding the wave of increased demand for entrepreneurship in an economy that is bringing forth more people who want the stability and security of business ownership with a proven business model. Plans for the remainder of 2012 call for the addition of a social marketing division to help its franchise partners branding efforts and an expansion of their International Division.
About Perfect Franchises
Perfect Franchises is a US based franchise brokerage and consultation group focusing on solid franchise business opportunities across the US and select global locations. Representing a wide variety of categories, Perfect Franchises strives to deliver the perfect franchise for entrepreneurship including financial assistance.
Investors interested in learning more about the many franchises offered at Perfect Franchises LLC, can visit http://www.perfectfranchises.com or contact Terry Yormark at 1-888-328-8279 for more information.
Media Contact:
Terry Yormark
1-888-328-8279
770-881-8242
terry(at)perfectfranchises(dot)com
Terry Yormark
Perfect Franchises LLC
770-881-8242
Email Information
Perfect Franchises Debuts Innovative Website for Better Franchise Business Opportunities Search - DVD Creation
Perfect Franchises Debuts Innovative Website for Better Franchise Business Opportunities Search (March 28, 2012) 
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 28, 2012
Related Keywords:family, family planning, lifestyle and leisure, lifestyle (house and home), computer crime, freedom of religion, religion and belief, nature religion, education, adult education, further education, religious education, society, economy, business and finance, financial and business service, business enterprises, business (general)
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Related Newsletter: Timeline Newsletter , Pixels Newsletter , DVD Viewpoint , DMNForums , Tutorial Finder , Review Seeker , IBN - IT Weekly Newsletter Source:PRWEB.COM Newswire. All Rights Reserved
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 28, 2012 Perfect Franchises is debuting its new website to help new and experienced investors find the perfect franchise business opportunity. The new design provides a rich franchise shopping experience for people looking to buy a franchise. It has more specific information than many franchise websites offer, including franchise backgrounds, financials and even training info that prospects can easily scroll to learn more about.
Our new website design makes it easier for prospects to find the perfect franchise today, says Caleb Hanson, Lead Web Designer for the project. Weve also included a new Facebook Fan Page featuring videos and podcasts. Its a launching pad to the main site. In the works as well is a blog which will break in a couple of weeks.
Were very excited by the response the new site is receiving, states Terry Yormark CEO of Perfect Franchises. Our partners really like it too".
Its more alive than many sites Ive seen. Lots of personality., according to Lynn Patrick SVP of Franchise Sales at American Business Opportunities Inc.
Rather than sell the concept of franchising itself, Perfect Franchises prefers to focus on select franchise business opportunities that respect its high standards. With more and more business concepts entering the marketplace today it can be overwhelming and intimidating for investors.
Perfect Franchises is a national and global franchise brokerage and representation firm. Its a one-stop resource for investors interested in buying a single or multi-unit franchise.
Weve had clients come back in as short a time as six months and add another unit to their investment package. says Yormark.
Perfect Franchises LLC is riding the wave of increased demand for entrepreneurship in an economy that is bringing forth more people who want the stability and security of business ownership with a proven business model. Plans for the remainder of 2012 call for the addition of a social marketing division to help its franchise partners branding efforts and an expansion of their International Division.
About Perfect Franchises
Perfect Franchises is a US based franchise brokerage and consultation group focusing on solid franchise business opportunities across the US and select global locations. Representing a wide variety of categories, Perfect Franchises strives to deliver the perfect franchise for entrepreneurship including financial assistance.
Investors interested in learning more about the many franchises offered at Perfect Franchises LLC, can visit http://www.perfectfranchises.com or contact Terry Yormark at 1-888-328-8279 for more information.
Media Contact:
Terry Yormark
1-888-328-8279
770-881-8242
terry(at)perfectfranchises(dot)com
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9269780.htm.
Page: 1Related Keywords:family, family planning, lifestyle and leisure, lifestyle (house and home), computer crime, freedom of religion, religion and belief, nature religion, education, adult education, further education, religious education, society, economy, business and finance, financial and business service, business enterprises, business (general)
Related Sites: Digital Producer , Audio Video Producer , Corporate Media News , Digital Post Production , DVD Creation , VideoBasedTutorials
Related Newsletter: Timeline Newsletter , Pixels Newsletter , DVD Viewpoint , DMNForums , Tutorial Finder , Review Seeker , IBN - IT Weekly Newsletter Source:PRWEB.COM Newswire. All Rights Reserved
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Better Business Bureau: New 'work at Home' laws - Victoria Advocate
By Alan BlighOriginally published March 10, 2012 at midnight, updated March 10, 2012 at midnight
Today we start with a review of two new federal laws that hopefully will help consumers avoid those pesky scams we are always talking about.
First, new regulations to address the problems with those "work-at-home" scams. On March 1, new amendments to the Federal Trade Commission's Business Opportunity Rule went into effect. The changes implement new disclosures that work-at-home businesses must provide to consumers to help consumers make informed decisions. There are five key items work-at-home businesses must now disclose using the FTC approved disclosure form: • The name, business address, and telephone number.
• The basis for any earning claims.
• Whether the company has been involved in certain legal actions.
• Whether the company has a cancellation or refund policy.
• A list of people who bought this business opportunity within the previous three years.
In the past 36 months, more than 10,000 complaints have been filed with Better Business Bureau against "work at home" companies.
Second, new regulations governing the operation of "credit repair companies." One of the fallouts from the sluggish economy is an increase in people needing and wanting to fix their bad credit. Con artists know that and are offering too good to be true "opportunities."
There are many credit repair services that are scams. Under new FTC guidelines credit repair companies cannot legally: • Misrepresent the amount of money or percentage of debt amount that a consumer may save by using their service.
• Misrepresent the amount of time necessary to achieve the represented results.
• Misrepresent the amount of money or the percentage of each outstanding debt.
• Lie or advise you to lie about your credit history. And the most significant one
• Charge an up-front fee prior to obtaining a settlement or reducing a consumer's debt.
These new regulations will cause the schemers some headaches, to be sure. I can't wait to see how they will circumnavigate the rules.
Good news: consumer savvy, smart shopping and common sense all had a great year in 2011. Consumers asked BBB for help more than 103 million times, up from 87 million in 2010 and the highest rate in the organization's 100-year history. Conversely, filings of formal complaints against businesses were down; 927,000 in 2011 compared to just over one million in 2010.
Consumers are less likely to need BBB dispute resolution services when they come to us first. BBB maintains business reviews on more than 4 million businesses and grades them based on complaint histories, responsiveness to customers, licensing, legal and government action, and other factors.
In closing, I have a question for you today. Have you secured a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies in the past year?
Now let me ask you, have you obtained these reports on each of your children? That's right; the bad guys love the Social Security numbers of minors from birth to 17 years old. These numbers normally have clean records and are used for setting up fake identities in order to perpetrate various frauds. Remember to use annualcreditreport.com to obtain the reports.
Alan Bligh is the executive director of the Better Business Bureau in Corpus Christi. Contact him by email at abligh@corpuschristi.bbb.org.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Yelp soars, Facebook a better opportunity - Marketwatch
Nigam Arora is an engineer, nuclear physicist, author, and entrepreneur and the founder of two Inc. 500 fastest growing companies. He is also the developer of the ZYX Change Method to profit from change by investing. The premise is that most money is made by predicting change before the crowd. Arora is the chief investment officer at The Arora Report and the editor of four newsletters that track the ZYX Change Method. Nigam can be reached at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.
/conga/trading-deck/bios/arora_nigam.html 174410 The trading deck is powered by
By Nigam Arora Yelp /quotes/zigman/9021597/quotes/nls/yelp YELP +61.32% , an online review site that publicizes itself as connecting “people with great local businesses,” is soaring in a 1999-style move on its first day of trading, but I believe there are better opportunities in this space. Yelp’s mainstay is restaurant reviews, with the shopping category, mostly of local businesses, right behind. The company has three revenue streams: advertising, local subscriptions and daily deals.
Yelp’s IPO was marketed in the range of $12 to $14. Last night, the stock was priced at $15, higher than expected. It started trading about an hour after the market open, opening at $22 and, as of this writing, is at $24.65, up almost 65%.
Yelp offered 7.1 million shares and at $15 per share raised $106.5 million. At the current trading price, the company is valued at about $1.5 billion.
This is an expensive stock considering revenue in 2011 was only $83.3 million. The company lost $16.7 million last year. However, the market is excited about the potential for fast growth; revenue in 2011 was 74.6% higher than the prior year.
Yelp claims it attracts 66 million unique visitors a month. The company also claims that it generated revenue from 24,000 businesses.
But there is no arguing it is in an extremely competitive space. Based on our analysis using the ZYX Change Method , Google Places from Google /quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG -0.29% has a better model for local businesses. Of course, implementation by Google on top of the base model leaves much to be desired. But Google has the money and intellectual capacity to catch up.
In addition, an important arrow in Google's quiver is Zagat, a very popular restaurant review service that provides ratings on a 30-point scale. Ratings include food, cost and service. In 2011, Google bought the company for $151 million.
Other competitors include Open Table /quotes/zigman/113163/quotes/nls/open OPEN -0.88% , which is also well situated to compete with Yelp, and in the daily-deal business, Groupon /quotes/zigman/7212269/quotes/nls/grpn GRPN -1.49% and Living Social.
Investors who were able to get Yelp in the IPO may consider taking profits on Yelp and work toward getting shares of Facebook /quotes/zigman/8607696 FB 0.00% .
Yelp can be easily replaced, but Facebook cannot be recreated.
In our opinion, investors with serious interest in this space may consider selling Groupon, Yelp and Angie's List /quotes/zigman/7312483/quotes/nls/angi ANGI -2.85% . The companies we feel are the strongest and potential buys are Renren /quotes/zigman/5001751/quotes/nls/renn RENN +6.20% , GSV Capital /quotes/zigman/5327596/quotes/nls/gsvc GSVC +1.16% , Sina Corporation /quotes/zigman/82699/quotes/nls/sina SINA +8.26% , Zynga /quotes/zigman/7720406/quotes/nls/znga ZNGA +1.59% and Facebook /quotes/zigman/8607696 FB 0.00% .
These shares can be highly volatile. It is critical that investors properly time their buys and sells using a proven method with a track record of generating profits in the technology sector.
Disclosure: Nigam Arora, his hedge fund and subscribers to the ZYX Buy Change Alert are long RENN and GSVC.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Small Business: Low Hanging Fruit for Better Margins
Do small businesses have a lot of low-hanging fruit? You bet they do. Owners and managers ask me about the economy, then I ask about their business, and I’m often stunned by the opportunities being missed. So I asked some sharp consultants about the most common low hanging fruit. This article is about their advice regarding profit margins. Later this week I’ll post their comments about sales.
“Obsessing about revenues instead of margins” was Victor Diercksen’s response. Victor is a senior guy at eSoftware Professionals, a company which helps businesses use sophisticated software. That brought back a couple of memories of my own work. One client is a job shop in which customers describe their needs, an estimator bids the project, the work is performed and money is collected. This missing step: comparing actual costs with the estimated costs used to bid the project. Imagine a basketball player practicing free throws, but never seeing or hearing whether the ball went through the hoop. The company’s estimators never received feedback on their performance. As a result, the company won the contracts that it underbid. A further result: lower profit margins.
With that story in mind, I strolled through the trade show when I was speaking to another industry comprised of job shops. I stopped by the table of a vendor selling cost accounting software. I asked the guy how many of the companies in the industry were using any kind of software to help them track costs by project. He told me that about 50 percent were tracking their costs, and the rest were running blind.
Margins are also emphasized by Lonnie Sciambi, who calls himself “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” : “For a start-up, revenue is critical. For an ongoing small business revenue is still critical, but determining how to wring more margin out of that revenue becomes equally so.” He advises determining the three to five numbers that really drive a business, then track them on a weekly or monthly basis.
Before we turn to the sales opportunities, let’s turn to one more element of operations: procedures. Tash Hughes, a writer from Melbourne, Australia, told me that one low hanging fruit was , “not having procedures and methods that can be followed easily by others – if one person has the skills and is unable to do the job, the business is in trouble; if a new person starts, a lot of training time is required; the resale value of the business is limited as no one can duplicate current practices; writing and reviewing processes can highlight areas for improvements.”
That brings to mind another consulting story. A real estate company wanted me to evaluate the long-term growth potential for three different metropolitan areas. The executive I was working with believed that he could do the evaluation himself, but he didn’t want to spend hours and hours getting the data. So he asked me not only to evaluate the three metropolitan areas, but to also document thoroughly the data sources so that on future projects, his assistant could gather the data. I did that and discovered an interesting result: I was using that data documentation myself. I usually grab data on the fly, sometimes stumbling around a bit. (“Where do I get the regional location coefficients?” Is it BLS or BEA?) Now I turn to the binder with my data documentation and move more quickly. Yep, written procedures can be an efficiency tool, which means better profit margins.
Read more by Bill Conerly about improving profit margins:
The Importance of Feedback
Is Your Incentive System Working for You?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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A few months ago I had the opportunity to sell one of our database software products to a prospect with about thirty users. My heart sank when I learned that the prospect was the Department of Justice. No, I don't have anything to hide from the DOJ. Except for that one time years ago when I wrote off those Phillies tickets against my business after they had blown a late lead. Look, they played terrible and I needed a break, OK?
The reason why my heart sank is because whenever I hear of a potential for doing business with the government I have to turn down the business. The paperwork, the certifications, the bidding, the bureaucracy...for a small business who's not familiar with the system it's almost impossible. I'm not alone. Most of my clients hate working with the government. Any government. I had to turn down this opportunity because frankly, I'd have more luck doing business with the Justice League than the Department of Justice. Other than the constant splashing from Aquaman, it's just easier.
Last week, the President announced a reorganization of certain Federal agencies and that he would elevate Karen Mills, the current chief of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to his cabinet. Unfortunately, elevating the chief of the SBA to a cabinet position has no affect on my business, or most small businesses.
I'm sure the President has good intentions. He wants to help small businesses. He has a record of supporting legislation that is small-business friendly. But this is a political move that only says to me "hey... I care about you. Please vote for me this November." I count 22 people as part of the President's current cabinet. This group includes Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, Tim Geithner and the heads of the Justice, Labor, Transportation and Energy departments. And that doesn't include his wife. Do you really think he's going to have a lot of time to listen to what Karen Mills has to say? Frankly, I'd prefer that the President pay more attention to the Transportation guy -- maybe my flights will arrive on time more often.
Not that the SBA doesn't do great work. They do. For the first time in memory I can actually name their chief (Karen Mills...see?) from memory. She's competent. She's a tireless cheerleader. Under her watch the organization hit an all-time record in small-business lending this past fiscal year: over $30 billion in lending supported to over 60,000 small businesses. That's good stuff, but what about the other 29,353,039 firms/establishments?
The SBA doesn't need to be in the President's cabinet to be more effective to all those millions of small businesses. It just needs to do other, more important things.
First, the SBA needs to better define its market. They have already set standards for defining what a small business is -- but only if they're looking for government work. Does my business qualify? I've never applied to get government work, so I'm not really sure.
The SBA should be more clear as to who is their customer (and who is not). How about this: "A small business is any organization (for or non-profit) with less than 200 employees which is located near an airport industrial park and is managed by someone who wishes he were doing something else anywhere else." That definition, or something close to it, would pretty much cover most of those 29,353,039 All kidding aside, I want to know if I'm an SBA customer or not so I can make use of their services.
And what would those services be? If I fall within the definition I would expect the SBA to be the government's customer service arm for small businesses. To me, that should be their main function. What do just about all small business owners have in common? Yes, we hate collecting accounts receivable. We don't like being forced to contribute to our customers' stupid charities. And we're definitely paying our computer guys way too much money to fix problems. But it's not just that. We all have, at some time or another, the distinct displeasure of having to do business with the Federal government.
And we're all under-resourced. Ever get a notice from the IRS? Or a "regulatory guidance" from the EPA? Or lose a passport? Or a letter from the immigration department about that guy working the slitting machine out back? Or have to fill in the forms required to ship a product to China? We can't afford lawyers to do this for us. We don't have people to figure out the answers. We're small business owners. We try to avoid dealing with the government. It's part of our DNA. And when we do have to deal with the government few of us know where to begin.
Which is why if I'm a certified, card-bearing "small business" as defined by the SBA, I should be able to call them and say "I've got this problem -- please deal with it for me." The SBA should be the one-stop shop I go to whenever I have to communicate with Washington. Their employees, who are representing their small business customers, should be experts at this. They should be trained to handle the problems that a small business owner has when working with the government. They should be allowed to make the calls and speak to agencies on our behalf. They should be authorized to explain to our twelve year old kids why they can't go to that rap concert in the city this Saturday night. They can get the information we need. They can help clear the paperwork and make our lives easier. Now THAT'S a service!
And not just with our government; for any government. Small businesses are told all the time about the opportunities for doing business overseas. How there are markets dying for our products. How riches await for anyone willing to sell American goods to a hungry foreign market. Really? Ever try this? The guys that have figured out how to profit in China, India and Australia (yes Australia, you think it's easy understanding those guys after all those beers they drink at lunch?) are themselves pioneers. They make their own contacts. They figure out the rules independently. They get some, but usually little, help from the government.
And yet the U.S. government can provide a lot of help for those of us looking to do work overseas. So can many states. But figuring out their resources needs, well, resources. Who do I call? What do I need to do I want the SBA to be my resource for this. I don't want advice from them. I want them to do some of the work. Again, if I'm defined as a small business then by definition I don't have the resources to do this myself. I need help -- a person to help fill out the forms, make introductions, move the paperwork along both internally and with other governments.
This is all nice, but how can the SBA pay for these services in these times of limited cutbacks? Here's my advice: stop with the advice!
When you visit their website you'll see all sorts of links to articles, seminars, programs and partners who can help us run our businesses. No offense, but I don't know many business owners who pay much attention to the advice of a 50 year old lifetime government employee on how to run his business. The SBA shouldn't be in the business of telling us how to run our business. There are plenty of experts, teachers, coaches, consultants, brothers-in-law, next door neighbors, uncles from Minnesota and other highly qualified professionals available to provide this kind of help. The SBA should be in the business of helping us do business with the Federal government. By re-allocating its efforts to this end, I'll bet there will be plenty of resources available to provide this much needed service.
The SBA has done an amazing job helping small businesses get financing. This is mostly through the guarantee of bank loans. But they can do more. I don't want to go to FedBizOpps and be forced to enter GSA-hell (that's the General Services Administration certification you need to do business with the Federal government). I need an advocate who will streamline this for me.
As a qualified "small business" in the eyes of the SBA, I should be directed to them first when I want any money from the U.S. government. That's not just loan guarantees. That's grants and government contracts too. One of my perks for putting up with all the headaches of running a small company is that the SBA will help me -- no guide me like a blind man -- through the process of getting a government contract or grant. Again, I'm not looking for advice. I'm looking for feet on the ground assistance in talking to agencies, filling out forms, working the system.
I heard that Karen Mills' time in the President's cabinet may be limited. If his proposed re-organization gets approved then she'll be replaced by someone else representing whatever is going to come out of the re-organization. It's kind of a bummer for her I'm sure, because if you're going to take a meeting you might as well take it in the White House, am I right? Maybe a few less cabinet meetings will give her time to ponder the future of the SBA. Because there's so much more to do.
Another version of this post appears on The Philly Post.
Follow Gene Marks on Twitter:www.twitter.com/genemarks
#ad_bottom_article_text {margin-bottom: 15px} Small Business AmericaA few months ago I had the opportunity to sell one of our database software products to a prospect with about thirty users. My heart sank when I learned that the prospect was the Department of Justice...A few months ago I had the opportunity to sell one of our database software products to a prospect with about thirty users. My heart sank when I learned that the prospect was the Department of Justice... More in Small Business...Facebook IPO: The Facts and Figures Behind...Starting A Business After 50: How I...5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make While Raising CapitalSomething Old, Something New, Something To Solve... Comments0Pending Comments0View FAQ Previewing Your Comment. This comment has not yet been posted You have exceeded your word limit by words. Please click the "Edit" button and shorten your comment.Post Comment Edit Cancel Click here to leave a comment.HuffPost High School welcomes a lively, thoughtful debate in the comment section. Keep in mind that the articles here are penned by young authors, so please keep criticism respectful, and help us to keep this a safe and supportive place for writers of all ages to contribute.Post CommentPreview Comment To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to. Post Comment Preview Comment To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to.
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