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Ladies the twenty-first century is yours!
Now is the time to leave the workforce and be a force working for yourself to achieve your dreams on your own terms.
If financial independence through expression of your innate talents is your dream, with no 'glass ceiling' to obstruct you, purchasing a franchise business which incorporates your life philosophies just might be your vehicle to a satisfying and rewarding future.
Never before have women franchisees been so actively sought out world wide by franchisors. Never before has the business climate been so amenable to women.
Franchises are no longer specifically tailored for the male population. Many are now specifically designed with women's interests in mind.
Owning a franchise means achieving independence through wearing many hats and putting in untold hours of hands-on, hard work with a devout dedication to details. It demands the sharpening of your business acumen; the honing of your organizational, managerial and people skills.
You must be undaunted by the fact that you could realize little or no monetary profit for the first year. The knowledge that you are working for yourself and your future will provide the ultimate reward. Now you are your own boss providing an essential service to your community through your business.
Today's franchise menu offers a wide selection of interesting choices for women. They range from Care Giving and Children's Services to Employment and Training; Auto Repair and Maintenance to Health, Fitness and Beauty; Gardening and Landscaping to Organic Products; Pet Services to Photography and everything in between.
If you have been considering a change of career due to an alteration in your home status (kids gone to college or moved out to start lives of their own) or are stuck on the ladder of success with too many people standing on the next rung, purchasing a franchise could be the answer.
Women are achieving success like never before in the world of franchising, here's a sampling of three wome who have blazed a path in the franchising world.
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Andrea Zecevic, Director and COO
of Cashnow.com.
Andrea Zecevic was amazed when the announcement that she had been nominated for Canada's top 40 Under 40™ Awards Programme came in the mail.
"I was totally surprised," says the Chief Operating Officer of Cashnow.com, the Toronto-based franchising firm which boasts franchise outlets in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
It should come as no surprise that this hard-working overachiever, who is constantly challenging and improving herself in her drive to succeed, should be nominated to stand among Canada's best and brightest young achievers and leaders in their chosen fields.
As head of the Research and Development wing of the Cashnow.com enterprise, Andrea persistently looks for innovative ways to enhance and expand the Cashnow.com franchises through Internet technology and shrewd business planning.
"I work constantly to keep my mind-set ahead of the curve," Andrea says. "A project must be enhanced, rethought and developed. Otherwise, it becomes stagnant, useless and part of the past."
Working in the fast-paced and pressurized atmosphere of International Franchising is not what Andrea had in mind when she graduated from the University of Toronto in l995. But, even though her inquisitive mind was immersed for three years in Virological studies for a Biological Company's Research and Development Department, her heart was searching for something else.
Business and finance courses lured Andrea away from the viruses. She loved these courses and focused on administration and business operations.
"When I began taking the business courses I realized that I was in the wrong field," she says. "Slowly I moved from that field (virological research) into the business part of internet technology as C.O.O. of a technological company."
The crash of the dot-com industry providentially provided Andrea with the opportunity to put into practice all the knowledge she had accumulated.
In April of 2000 Andrea and husband, Miro, joined forces to start the Cashnow.com franchise business.
With Miro in charge of the marketing and sales areas, Andrea employed her knowledge in technical development procedure and implementation and management techniques to put together a plan for acquiring more franchises.
The combination worked and became a phenomenal success. Today there are 100 International and Domestic Cashnow.com franchises and demand grows everyday.
"We started in April, 2000," she says. "Once I had the technical site down and the training and operation procedures in place, I instigated Market and Demographic Studies in 2001. In this business there is no time to wait. You have to stay ahead of the competition. That saying, "if you snooze, you loose" is so true."
As a working wife and mother of a young son, Andrea says that she sometimes feels that she is "a juggler on a roller coaster ride".
"I am going non-stop," she says. "There are always new challenges to overcome that push me forward. In this business there is no such thing as boredom, only procrastination."
She is, however, philosophic about her son's well-being. She knows that she cannot spend all the time with him that she would like, but she acknowledges that she was not educated to be a teacher and that the teachers at his day care are competent and experienced, enriching Nicholas's day in ways which benefit his social and learning skills.
Andrea says evenings spent with her husband and son are "extra special" in her life.
"Nicholas has been in day care since he was four months old and day care gives him the social skills and training he will need when he enters school. He's a happy, confident and social boy and I'm happy with the way that's going. "
Andrea's vision for Cashnow.com is to create teams that work together, discussing common goals and implementing the constructive ideas which evolve from these discussions.
"I believe in creating teams which achieve synergy working together, sharing ideas and not working in competition with each other. This creates an electric work environment, one that is conducive to creativity. I also love crushing beaurocracy and hierarchy. These elements can create such counter-productivity."
In spite of all she has on her plate Andrea's unquenchable thirst for knowledge has prompted her to enrol in an on-line course to achieve her MBA.
When asked where she would like to see Cashnow.com in ten years she replies. "I'd like to see Cashnow.com being a public company with an internationally recognized brand name. Ten years is a long time, but there is still a lot of work to do. By then I'll have much more knowledge to contribute to the growth and development of the company."
Her advice to prospective franchisees is to "look into each franchise very carefully. Make sure that they have a good support system in place to help you. Most importantly find a franchise that will offer you fulfillment. If you're happy, the franchisor will be happy and you will succeed."
Wise words based on experience from one who helped script them for her own franchisees.
As for the award? Andrea says that she is "proud that she was nominated" but wonders if the award came too soon.
"There are a lot of good people out there who deserve this award. I'll be proud if I win it but, if I don't, that will be O.K. too. The satisfaction I get everyday from my work is reward enough."
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Barbara Moran, Director and President
of Moran Industries, Inc.
What does a beautiful young woman, armed with a degree from The Art Institute of Chicago, do with her life?
If she is Barbara Moran, the daughter of Dennis Moran who founded Moran Industries (the leading franchisor in the automotive aftermarket industry), she joins the family firm.
For Barbara it was a decision she made, however, after seriously exploring other avenues. It was not a foregone conclusion.
"I had never considered going into the business," she says. "I looked at working with my Dad as a summer job. I had ambitions to further my career in the legal and political arenas."
To further this ambition Barbara worked for a State Congresswoman who became a role model and inspiration.
"Working for the Congresswoman was exciting," Barbara says. "She broke through the glass ceiling and was a wonderful advocate for her constituents. If I had entered the political arena I would have wanted to be like her and make a difference in my constituent's lives on a daily basis."
The pull to work with her father, to evolve the business and develop a method for helping others to duplicate his success was, however, just too strong.
"I enjoyed working with the Congresswoman but I realized that there were more opportunities for personal growth in business than in the political arena," she says.
In l990 Barbara followed her heart and joined her father in the family business. Working together they created the largest, most efficient and effective automotive aftermarket franchise chain in the U.S. based on the simple premise that car owners will form life-long loyalties to companies who combine honesty with fair pricing, superior service and exemplary customer relations. Their l9l franchisees, who own and operate Moran Franchises which include Mr. Transmission, Multistate Transmission, Atlas Transmission, Dr. Nick's Transmission, Milex Tune-up and Brake and Alta Mere Window Tinting and Alarms, are also successful because they employ these same qualities in dealing with their customers.
This phenomenal growth coupled with a company-wide adherence to fundamental, honest values is a tribute to Barbara's determined and dedicated commitment to make a positive contribution to her family, Moran Industries and herself.
Now the successful Director and President of Moran Industries Inc., Barbara balances life as a high-powered businesswoman with life as the single mom of two children, a twelve-year old daughter and an eight year old son. This is a balance she definitely finds easier to maintain while working in the family business.
"It's easier because my children have grown up understanding that the business is part of our lives and that there are grandparents, aunts and uncles involved."
Moran Industries has developed a philanthropic arm which gives back to the community through donations to agencies such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training, the Trickle Up Program and Tornado Relief through the Tuscaloosa Chamber of Commerce. These are but a few of the worthy causes they support.
In l993 the Gary Goodgear Foundation was established with a Moran Industries donation of $2,500. Its mandate is to assist communities across the country with financial support when disaster strikes. Each donation up to $2,500 contributed by the franchisees is matched by Moran Industries.
Thus, through this Foundation and its donations to relief agencies, Barbara is making a difference in the daily lives of not only those in her community but throughout America and beyond.
Barbara plans to return to her art in the future expressing her creativity by working in various printing and etching mediums and creating sculptures in clay, marble and bronze.
At present, however, she hasn't the time to do so - even as a hobby.
"Right now," she says, "I have just two priorities, my family and my business."
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Connie D'Imperio COO
Color Your Carpet™
Connie D'Imperio, born in Columbus, Ohio, raised in Philadelphia and now a Floridian, is one of the happiest woman in the world. You know it because she radiates a positive, joyful outlook on life even though she is in a "dyeing business."
Many years ago Connie, who is called the "Godmother of Franchising", wrote a book entitled "Franchising Made Easy" which addressed a lot of issues and put fairness into the frame for franchisors and franchisees. It has helped countless people through the franchise purchase process for over 30 years.
Connie was doing her own thing in the 1970's, helping people become franchisors and franchisees, when she was asked to assist two fellows who were mixing dyes for carpets in their bathtub and thought they had an idea that would fly.
She liked the idea, even though their chemical technology, methods and results weren't dyeing the wool, and got interested in the process. Eventually she bought them out and created a business called Color your Carpet™.
"It was the first time in many years that an idea caught my interest," she says. "These two guys were mixing dyes in their bathtub to dye carpets. The dyes weren't very good but the idea grabbed me."
So, she bought them out, made up some jokes about her "dyeing business" and climbed onto the magic carpet of success. There were problems, as Connie says, however, for she had "a steamboat ... not a jet ski."
So it was that she began researching the time-honoured techniques of dyeing and devoted countless hours to the development of new proprietary dyes and a unique methodology. She created a new "language of colors" to communicate exact shades for men. She studied the techniques for coloring various types of fibres and discovered that "dyeing works best on wool or nylon fibres."
When she had all the technology and methodology in place she began to preach the benefits of "dyeing instead of buying" to people who were tired of their ugly carpets and were going to replace them with new ones.
Color Your Carpet™ offered a better, less-expensive and more eco-friendly way to bring that old, downtrodden carpet back to life by dyeing it.
"Ninety percent of all carpets can be dyed by our process. A carpet always "uglies" out before it wears out and we can save clients at least 50% over carpet replacement," she says. "Dyeing your carpet keeps it out of the landfill sites and we only use eco-friendly products."
Color Your Carpet™ surprised the hospitality industry when, after many disappointing episodes using carpet cleaners (to whom dyeing carpets is a sideline), they tried CYC™ instead. The CYC™ group came in, dyed the carpets, were done in half the time, charged half as much and left the carpets vibrating resplendently in rich, new colours.
"With millions of color choices we can match any color%
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