Approximately one out of every 12 businesses in the U.S. is a franchise business. It’s time to take control of your life. By becoming a business owner, you can create the time and flexibility within your day to create a balance between your career and personal life. The economy has changed lives of many individuals and families who have found that it is financially beneficial for them to stay home to care for their families as opposed to being in the workforce. As a franchise owner you will have the tools to become a successful businessperson all while enjoying the freedoms of being your own boss and working from home.  Take control of your life! Plan your business around your life to achieve a happy balance. 

Work at Home Benefits: Take advantage of all that franchising creates and allow yourself the opportunity to become the financially independent business owner you have always strived to be. There are numerous benefits to working from home; a home franchise is significantly more cost efficient versus starting your own business. Find an unused area in your home and transform it into a successful work environment you have always wanted. 

Flexible Schedules: It’s time to stop missing out on your life because of your work schedule. An at home franchise will help you to balance your personal life and career goals.  

Track Record of Success: A new franchise business opens every 8 minutes of every business day. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 95% of all franchises are still in business after 5 years. SeekingSitters Franchise System, Inc. is dedicated to helping you achieve success. There is strength in numbers and a franchise system proves just that.  It is estimated that there are over 825,000 franchise businesses within 300 business categories in the U.S. This accounts for nearly 18 million jobs and generates over $2.1 trillion to the economy. At SeekingSitters, we have grown to more than 59 locations in 23 states and continue to help business minded Moms and Dads embrace their dreams of becoming their own boss.

Take pride in your franchise and appreciate the value of investing into something for both you and your family. Purchasing a franchise will more than double your chance to survive as a business owner within this difficult economy. Stay connected with a business support system that understands your specific market and its stages of growth and development.

For more information please click here or email sales@seekingsitters.com for franchise opportunities.

I recently attended a business conference specifically targeted to women in the workforce. One woman suggested that your level of success can be defined by how ruthlessly you protect your time. While there are many benefits to owning a home franchise, it would be unrealistic to not address the most common concern, time management. It is something every professional struggles with and the one thing we never have enough of…time. We all wish there were more hours in the day to complete our daily tasks so it is important to not only use our time wisely, but to protect it. Developing time management skills can be difficult but by organizing and prioritizing your tasks- you will become organized and efficient. Consider setting aside “office hours” each day to help ensure you are allocating your time wisely.  

Don’t be afraid to analyze your time management faults. Consider taking a time management quiz.  A thorough understanding of your time management flaws will allow you to correct them and operate effectively and efficiently. Here are a few ways to help you protect your time!

• Turn off your email during a specific time of the day. Don’t allow any inbox ‘crisis’ to distract you from what is important in your personal life.

• Screen all mobile phone calls. If you don’t recognize the number, let it go to voicemail. This will allow you choose when to listen and if you need to respond to it.

• Shut your door. Just because you work from home does not mean that your work does not deserve your full attention. Close your door and embrace the time you have in your office to get the most accomplished with that time.

• Schedule wisely. Identify the periods in the day that you are most and least productive and use them to your advantage. 

And, Take Action! Protect your time so that it can be used both effectively and efficiently to maintain your successful business. As a part of a Franchise System you will be provided with the support, training, and coaching to use your time wisely.

SeekingSitters is an on-demand babysitter referral service where we do all the work for our families. SeekingSitters was founded in 2004 and became a franchise system in 2006. SeekingSitters has over 57 locations in 23 states. Among the 57 locations, Melissa Sobrin is the franchise owner for Orlando and has been a part of the SeekingSitters family since July 2010. She has become a true entrepreneur who brings enthusiasm and creativity to the SeekingSitters Franchise System. Read Melissa Sobrin story below and how owning a SeekingSitters location has changed her life.

"I was teaching when I took a leave [of absence] in order to stay at home with my son [Melissa is a mother of 2 children; daughter Gabby and son Oliver]. I was a stay at home mom for almost 2 years and although I loved spending time with my son, I felt we both needed a change. I enrolled Oliver at the same school [where I previously taught] assuming that I would be able to begin teaching again. Because the economy had taken a turn for the worse, enrollment was way down at the school so they were letting teachers go. There was no longer a position for me.

For a few months, Oliver was attending school while I was still at home taking care of the house, our rental property, and volunteering at my daughter's school. In the beginning, we were fine. However with Oliver's tuition costing almost $950 a month, I felt like I needed to contribute financially. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew that a flexible schedule was necessary as my daughter needed to be picked up by 3:00 and my son by 5:00. Also, I wanted to be able to attend Gabby and Oliver's special events, be available should they get ill, etc. My husband and I were trying to come up with ideas [and] looking back they were funny now that I think about it.

Soon, my brother called me from Albany. He had used SeekingSitters and LOVED the service. He noticed that they did not have a location in Orlando. "This company has your name all over it, he said!" He and I immediately called David [Co-Founder of SeekingSitters Franchise System] to ask 4,000 questions. Long story-short (sort of), I bought into the franchise with no business background. I had all the confidence in the world, however, I knew so many teachers that would love to babysit and I knew so many parents that needed sitters (all through the school where I use to work).

In the blink of an eye, I changed from a bored, laundry folding housewife to an entrepreneur: "Mompreneur". The pride I feel is indescribable. Although my house is a mess and I grocery shop once every 6 months [at least this is how I feel at times], I now get out of the house (networking, brochure dropping, and PTA functions) and meet so many wonderful parents, women, sitters, and Mompreneurs. I've only just begun and I have already learned so much. Not to mention, I’m finally able to contribute to our household income while still being able to take care of my family. Some days I work so many hours I forget what day it is. Other days, I don't need to. I love the flexibility of owning my own company and I love the service that I provide. Every single day, I get a compliment from a member, from a sitter, or from a stranger about how amazing the concept is or how cute my truck looks or how much the sitters love working alongside me. I'm fulfilled! The best part is my husband and I have sitters to turn to for a date night and my children feel like they're getting a treat. My children think the sitters are a lot more fun than we are.”

Interested in having the camaraderie of fellow franchisees across the nation who live your life as you do? Why not a SeekingSitters franchise? If you are interested, click here to learn more about a SeekingSitters franchise opportunity.

Ever felt overwhelmed with the pile of business cards gathered from a business convention or networking event?  A stack of cards, no idea where to start or not even able to remember the individual and their needs.

I had these exact thoughts as I returned from the Spark and Hustle conference  in LA and unloaded the business cards, flyers and product examples I gathered throughout the three day event.  During the event I was able to meet many amazing people and gathered their business cards but then came without a plan and wasted time sorting through cards and contacts.

I realized that for the next Spark and Hustle I attended or any networking event, I had to Get Organized!

A quick trip to staples with an idea in mind: A three ring binder notebook, a pack of 3-ring letter size business card holders, clear binder pocket sleeves, black magic marker, some assorted colored marking tabs and pop-up tape and started assembling. What came out of it was a well-organized system to gather contacts and organize them for an easy and expedited follow-up.  And as my husband coined, a mighty fine looking Trapper Keeper. 

Whether you utilize a Trapper Keeper or other note taking system, prepare ahead and make notes so that your event will be worth the time and money spent by allowing for the most effective follow-up.  Here are some tips you can implement while you get organized.

Immediately Take Notes
As soon as you meet someone and have gathered their business card, file the card away in a business card holder and jot down notes on the plastic insert. (If you don’t have a filing system on hand, jot notes directly on the card.) 

Referencing the day you met them, where you met them and brief detail about your conversation.   Draw diagrams where they sat at your table to help reference them personally while making your follow-up contacts.

Plan your Follow-Up 
As you take notes on each card you should also be planning your follow-up.  Write down the business collaborations discussed, what interests they had about in your business or unique products they offer.  This will help you with a faster and more effective follow-up.

Categorize your Contacts
As you gather contacts, organize them by your business needs for a more streamlined follow-up.  My categories to reference were:  
• Business Interest: contacts that were interested in my services
• Collaboration: contacts that for business collaboration
• Communication: contacts that did not meet an immediate specific need
And also note Immediate Follow-up if there is urgency with the contact.

If you receive flyers or information from different speakers, take notes on their speech to reference in your follow-up and label them in the pocket sleeves.

It is imperative that you get organized before any conference or networking event so that you get the best value for your money spent – what was your time worth if you weren’t able to effectively follow-up?

We were truly honored this year to be named both in the Inc. 500 as one of the country's fastest growing businesses and in most recently in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, as one of the world's fastest growing franchises. These honors are a true testament to the success and sustainability of our business model, but mostly, it's because of the success and hard work of all our franchisees.  

We've expanded into 20 new locations in 2010.  A really remarkable number for a system that's been franchising since 2006. And, we're doing it a time where people are supposedly more reluctant to invest.  No business is "recession proof," but people will always have young children and therefore always need babysitters. That's a pretty sustainable business model.

What a terrific 2010. We're looking forward to an ever more productive 2011.

Whether you're starting your own business or investing in a franchise, you have to have a foundation and source of support.  For start-ups, this is a little more difficult of a task.  One of the great benefits of a franchise is, the answer to your question is usually just a phone call away. At SeekingSitters, the person on the other end of that phone call is Christina Oliver, our Operations and Development Director.  From the time you come on as a franchisee, Christina is the one that trains you and offers ongoing support in running your franchise. 

There's certainly nothing wrong with starting your own business from scratch, but sometimes the answers aren't always a phone call away. This goes along with my last post, "Why Franchise?". The support is by far the most important asset you receive with your investment because, most of the time, the answer is a phone call or email away. There's no business plan to write, no special formula, it's all given to you: a tried and true business model.

What makes Christina so good at training our franchisees? She runs SeekingSitters locations also, so she faces the same issues our franchisees face. She knows what works and in turn, hands that information over to our franchisees. 

Our franchisees don't start up without Christina and really, you shouldn't either.  Click on the interview below to learn a little about Christina and what she does for our franchise system.

This is the one questions I get most often: "Why invest in a franchise? Why not just do this myself?"  My answer is always, "Why on earth would you want to?"

In this economy, why take the risk? According to a research by the American Bankruptcy Institute, consumer bankruptcy filings for the first half of 2010 were considerably higher than any six-month period since 2005. Now isn't the best time to take huge risks with your investment. That's the beauty of franchising: you can own your own business without the risk of a normal start-up. Additionally, there are costs savings  you get with the buying power of a franchise system as opposed to going solo.

You look at SeekingSitters system, and the money invested in programming and development of our website would far exceed the franchise fee if you were to try to start up on your own. But, you're investing in other attributes as well: a proven brand, a proven business model and a full plan of attack after you open your location. Most important though is trial and error. Starting from scratch is a ton of trial and error: what advertising will work best? who is my target market? What's the best formula for my pricing? These questions can sometimes take years to answer, but with a franchise, it's handed to you. 

So, if you're looking to start your own business. Why not look at a franchise? If you can find something that fits you well, it's a good, secure option. You don't have to go into business for yourself, by yourself.