Brand Journalists

Daniel Heacock, owner of Supplybuy.com

Daniel Heacock is a pioneer.

He is CoLab’s first tenant on the 3rd floor of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Nashville and the first tenant on the floor in more than five years.

Heacock, whose has a background in computer programming, owns and operates Supplybuy.com, a one-stop online office supply company he started in December 2009. Supplybuy.com uses third party suppliers and ships to anywhere in the continental United States. While Supplybuy.com hopes is to be on the forefront of the e-commerce supplies, the company’s main goal is to provide great service and build trust within its customer base.

“The Internet causes uncertainty among people,” says Heacock. “Some are still unsure about putting their credit card numbers online. At the end of the day, customers will use and return to your site if you have built trust.”

Like many entrepreneurs, Daniel worked out of his home at first. As Supplybuy.com expanded, the business could no longer be confined to the four walls of his bedroom, and he found a listing for CoLab of Nashville on Craigslist. He moved into CoLab as soon as the third floor was ready.

CoLab: How much did you know about coworking before moving into CoLab?
Daniel Heacock: I really didn’t know much, although it makes a  lot of sense, especially with the economy. A lot of people are self-employed because they can’t get full-time employment. Money is tight and it’s hard to get full-time benefits. Coworking is going to happen a lot more if things keep going this way.

CL: What do you like best about having an office in CoLab?
DH: The opportunity to work with other people doing similar things is great. I’ve met several people I will be working with to some extent, which is something you don’t get at all when you work out of your bedroom.

CL: How has the location helped your business?
DH: Since I just moved in, I haven’t seen much of a difference. The business is growing and we are looking at hiring more people, so an office is necessary. Moving from home into an office space was a smooth transition. Working here, the business will benefit more than from working at home. CoLab also is more affordable than a lot of the other options I was looking at.

CL: Parking downtown can be difficult. Is it worth it?
DH: CoLab helps make the parking convenient. I park less than a block away from the building and get the CoLab rate. I like the downtown location; I feel the buzz.

“For me, mentally, it’s good to go to a place where people are working hard,” says Heacock. “It is definitely a good place to network and interact. It’s neat to be part of something bigger like that.”

For more information on Supplybuy.com:
Website: Supplybuy.com
Email: Daniel@supplybuy.com
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After enjoying retirement for eight years, Collette Howell felt an urge to find a new career. More than three decades in stressful executive positions at At&T and its spinoffs made Howell certain of one thing — she wanted to be her own boss. When she found Computer Explorers, everything fell into place. Howell now owns Computer Explorers of Greater Sacramento, a franchise that consistently ranks in the Top 10 of Computer Explorers franchises worldwide.

Computer Explorers: How long have you been with Computer Explorers?
Collette Howell: Since April 2004.

CE: Why Computer Explorers?
CH: I retired after working a full career in a very large corporation for 31 years. It was a major pressure cooker job. I didn’t do anything for eight years; I was completely burned out. Eventually, I realized that I was ready to look for something to do. I wanted to augment my retirement funds. Of course, I also wanted something challenging and interesting, and I didn’t want to completely start from scratch.

At Computer Explorers I saw a way to use my career experience and add to it with new knowledge. Although I didn’t feel I would be a good teacher, I had 30 years of hiring and firing experience. I have confidence in my ability to manage quality and talent. I knew I could find the right teachers. I always felt teachers were important. I came from a pretty chaotic environment growing up, but there were a couple of teachers that really that really made a big difference in my life. That’s something you never forget. I am doing so much more than working after retirement. I’m in a position to empower great teachers and help children learn critical skills. It’s very satisfying.

CE: How did you hear about us?
CH: I worked with a franchise consultant who narrowed my choices down to about five franchises. Two of them were education franchises.  I became enamored with Computer Explorers for several reasons. They had a good strategic plan, wonderful business-to-business partnerships and a great training program. Delving into the franchise was engrossing — like drinking out of a fire hose.

CE: What’s your background?
CH: I have a business degree from St. Mary’s College of California. I started working at At&T and (what eventually became) Pacific Bell when I was 17. When I retired I was a regional vice president in charge of about $700 million.

Growing day spa franchise will select winner from hundreds of contestants

For the eighth year, Planet Beach Contempo Spas, the world’s largest day spa franchise, will select an international spokesmodel to represent its brand.

New Orleans-based Planet Beach hosted competitions worldwide with hundreds of competitors to select finalists for its international competition. The winner not only serves as the spokesperson and brand ambassador for the popular automated day spa franchise, she will receive a franchise license and other awards valued at $150,000. The final competition is Friday, January 21 at the New Orleans Sheraton Hotel, 500 Canal Street in New Orleans, LA at 8:30 pm. The red carpet pre-show begins at 7:30 pm. 

Planet Beach Contempo Spas is a top-ranked franchise system with more than 300 franchise locations located in six countries. Planet Beach created the ‘contempo spa’ business model which offers members unlimited access to automated and push button day spa services such as massages, facials, saunas, teeth whitening and red light therapy for low monthly membership fees.

“Our franchisees help our customers live healthier by reducing stress in their lives and our spa products have a huge following,” said Tiffany Lassiegne, Planet Beach President. “We use our competition to select an outstanding and ambitious young woman who is not only the face of our brand, but someone who can connect with our core customers. It’s a tremendous opportunity for the right person.”

Entrepreneur magazine proclaimed 2011 the year of the franchised day spa and listed Planet Beach Contempo Spas as the best bet. Despite the recession, Americans are spending more on day spa services to reduce stress as the economy struggles to recover. Planet Beach opened seven new franchise locations in the last quarter of 2010 and expects 2011 to be a record year.

“The winner of this year’s competition not only gets to open her own Planet Beach location, she will be at the forefront of our marketing campaigns,” says Steve Smith, Planet Beach CEO

This year’s spokesmodel search sponsors are Designer Skin and California Tan.

Designer Skin, a supplier for Planet Beach, produces a line of “nutrition for the skin” products that provide the ultimate in skin nutrition through the use of advanced skincare ingredients and superior formulations. Its products are in wide use in all Planet Beach Contempo Spas.

California Tan, also a Planet Beach vendor, has more than 20 years of experience in the development of innovative, cutting-edge UV therapy products and keeps Planet Beach Contempo Spas supplied with ultra hydrating formulas that produce the moisturized results customers are looking for. 

The winner of the 2011 title will receive a prize package valued at $150,000 and will include a $25,000 cash prize, three Gym Matrix franchise licenses, two Planet Beach franchise licenses, travel package including photo and video shoots, a Kevin Berlin original painting, jewelry and skincare products.  

For more information, visit: www.planetbeach.com

 

CoLab, Nashville’s first and largest coworking space, hosted a successful Wordpress Nashville meetup this week.

Wordpress has fast become the industry standard software platform for building all types of websites and blogs. Several CoLab members either work with Wordpress or help clients get better results with the popular platform including SearchViz, MetaMarketers, Brand Journalists, Collins Imagery and Kaleidoscope PR.

This week local programer and web developer Peter Mancini gave a presentation on using Wordpress plugins. To download his presentation, click here:http://nectarineimpllc.com/?p=128

Nashville programmer Peter Mancini at the Wordpress Nashville meetup

Thanks to Wordpress Nashville organizer Scott McIntosh for getting this group going. The group will meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at CoLab in the training room. If you are interested in joining this free group, sign up here:

http://www.meetup.com/NashvilleWordpress/

CoLab is a proud sponsor of Wordpress Nashville and offers free use of our training room and projector for meetup groups. Our convienent downtown Nashville location makes it easy to attend.

If you are interested in a tour of CoLab’s coworking spaces, contact us for a tour. CoLab is Nashville’s coolest downtown coworking space and one of the best deals in town for executive suites. Prices begin at $49 a month for full access two days a week, $99 a month for a reserved desk five days a week and offices starting at $385 a month. All memberships include Internet, coffee, copier and fax access and come with access to reserve the training room or one of our conference rooms at no additional charge.

Come by and see for yourself!

Home staging franchise company up 25% for 2010; sixth record-breaking year since 2004

Showhomes home staging continues to be one of the success stories in the slumping real estate market.

Despite a sluggish economy, the Nashville-based home staging franchise company posted a 25 percent gain in individual franchise revenue for 2010. Showhomes has posted record revenue growth in six of the past seven years.

“The fed says the recession is now over but we missed it – we’ve posted positive gains throughout,” said Matt Kelton, Showhomes’ COO. “There are more vacant houses than ever before and we are a great solution to a difficult problem. Recession or not, vacant houses are going to continue to be a problem for years to come.”

Showhomes has gained national media attention for its “home staging with a twist” business model. Focusing on vacant houses, franchisees recruit and train live-in Home Managers to help stage and maintain the home while it is on the market and for sale. The service is popular with home owners and Realtors because it lowers insurance costs, creates a model-home atmosphere and makes a vacant home far easier to sell.

A dining room before staging.

The same dining room after staging.

Another dining room after staging.

“The timing for Showhomes is especially good right now when you look at the value it offers,” said Kelton. “Home owners have less money to spend on home staging even though it makes a difference. Because our fees are mostly pay at close, we appeal to a much larger group of home owners and that’s helped drive up our numbers.”

Showhomes home staging has expanded its franchise system this year as well, adding 24 franchise units.

About Showhomes
Since 1986, Showhomes has helped Realtors and home owners sell more than 26,000 homes worth more than $8.5 billion across the U.S. by transforming high-end vacant houses into valuable homes using live-in Home Managers to occupy and stage homes so they sell faster and for higher prices. For information and franchise opportunities, visit www.showhomesfranchise.com.

Computer Explorers’ internal call center serves makes cold calls so you don’t have to

Does anyone actually enjoy making cold calls?

To get customers, especially new customers, you have to make cold calls. Lots of them. This means you have to explain what you do over and over. This means you have to trudge through hours of tedious and repetitive calling and you have to handle some amount of rejection when potential customers either don’t want to listen to what you have to say.

At Computer Explorers, we understand that franchises that get up to speed and generate revenue faster are one that make more cold calls. It is simple math: more calls equals more potential business!

Since few people are born with cold calling skills and hardly any franchise owner really wants to make calls, we realized early in our three decades of experience that using professionally trained marketers in a formal call center dramatically increases the performance of new franchisees.

Trained professionals in our Call Center make calls and appointments for new owners, who often leave their CE training in Houston armed with a list of meetings already set up. The initial franchisee fee includes a full year of calls, and owners can have the center confirm contact information of decision-makers at schools and rec centers, make appointments outright and promote new programs that Computer Explorers is offering.

“It is such an asset to owners,” says Pat Surrec. “Its like hiring a good salesperson right from the beginning who doesn’t need much training and hits the ground running.”

Surrec should know, she recently scheduled her 2,000th appointment for Computer Explorer franchisees.

She runs the Call Center and says the customer service reps really help new franchisees get a solid start. “I assign each territory to a marketer, who then becomes an extension of their business,” she says. “We correspond with our franchisees daily and get involved in helping them earn new customers. Its a very valuable service for new franchisees.”

For new franchisees, the call center makes several rounds of calls to all schools in the new territory and sets as many one-on-one appointments for the franchisee. This way, the franchisee jumps into personal meetings where they can get started building relationships and working new sales.

The Call Center staffers know the best time to reach key players at schools and day cares. “It is usually easy to get in to talk to a program director,” Surrec says. “We are definitely there to help owners in every way possible, but we don’t want them to have us become a crutch.”

After the first year is up, franchisees retain the Call Center’s services for a modest fee, often far less than adding a sales support staffer in their franchise. Best of all, Franchisees incur charges only when an appointment is made. This way, the call center is motivated to produce results.

In addition to calling new schools, call center staff makes calls to announce new programs, do follow up for trade shows and help franchisees with rounds of follow up and prospecting calls to existing customers.

Love the idea of owning a franchise but not sure you can handle the routine cold calling? A Computer Explorers franchise has you covered and our internal call center can help you through a speedy rampup.

Want to learn more? Fill out the contact form and start a conversation with us about opening your own Computer Explorers franchise.

At Brand Journalists, we’re fans of the Engage 121 (one-to-one) social media platform and we use it with all of our clients to help manage the flow of conversation over social networks. It’s the Cadillac of social media tools.

There is a good reason Mashable listed Engage 121 as one of the top 5 social media management tools and had this to say:

‘Franchise companies looking to maintain consistent messaging while giving local branches a hand in social media strategy should give Engage121 a shot. Though its competitors are few, Engage121 is best in its class at encompassing monitoring, broadcasting and engagement.’

We were excited to listen in to Social Geek Radio yesterday to hear Engage 121’s Jack Monson talk about what they do.If you work in a franchise company, a large corporation with multiple locations or deal with social media and PR, this is a must listen:

To listen to the show, click here

Jack is one of the premier PR and social media experts in the franchise industry and a champion of Brand Journalists. He and his company get how important and powerful good content is to fuel social media platforms.

To connect with Jack, visit his blog at http://jackmonson.com/

To learn more about Engage, visit http://www.engage121.com

The spectacular $855,000 home in Las Sendas with breathtaking views, travertine floors and a pebbletec pool complete with a a waterfall was priced right and had every amenity possible. The home had a lot going for it; it was far less expensive than the one and two million dollar homes in the neighborhood and was brand new. Despite this, the home had over forty showings in three months without a single offer. Tons of interest and not a single nibble.

The homeowner hired Showhomes Home Staging in the East Valley section of Pheonix to fully stage the home with one of its live in home stagers, believing that a the home’s vacant rooms might be the problem. Showhomes’ Janelle Joyce moved in an expert Home Manager and staged the entire home.

“The house had a few minor flaws, and the furniture was able to highlight the beautiful features, not the flaws,” says Janelle Joyce, who owns the Showhomes franchise.

The most difficult part of staging this house was finding the furniture to occupy all 6200 sq. ft. It took a lot of work moving the furniture in and unpacking the house, but they completely staged the entire house in only five days.

“Agents who showed the house before it was staged and after called and said what an amazing difference the staging made in the home,” said Joyce.

Within a short period, the home had an accepted offer that came within 1 percent of the list price. In foreclosure-torn Phoenix, currently one of the toughest real estate markets in the country, this is no small feat.

The Realtor of the house was thrilled about the sale. He was part of an investment group that has bought a number of high end homes, and they plan to stage more homes with Showhomes East Valley. The fact that the staging fees are paid at close makes it possible to stage more homes.

The Phoenix home is the first staged home Showhomes sold for 2011.

Great work, Janelle!

Home staging franchise ranked highly in all categories

With six years of double digit growth, Showhomes home staging ranked 214th in Entrepreneur Magazine’s popular list of the top 500 franchise companies for 2011.

The magazine ranked the home staging franchise in the top 50 low-investment businesses, in the top 100 fastest growing franchise systems and in the top 100 home-based businesses.

Entrepreneur magazine has been evaluating the top 500 franchise companies for 31 years and examines important criteria such as financial strength and stability, growth rate and system size to determine rankings. The list is highly competitive and dominated by large, well known franchise brands. This is Showhomes’ fist ranking on the annual list.

“We are well positioned to be a top player in real estate-related franchising, and for good reason,” said Matt Kelton, Showhomes ‘ COO. “We have low entry level costs; we are a home-based business; we are in a hot category of small business and we have a very high potential return on investment.”

Showhomes has gained national media attention for its “home staging with a twist” business model. Focusing on vacant houses, franchisees recruit and train live-in Home Managers to stage and maintain the home while it is on the market and for sale. The service is popular with home owners and Realtors because it lowers insurance costs, creates a model-home atmosphere and makes a vacant house easier to sell.

“I’m not surprised by Showhome’s ranking,” says Joe Mathews, franchising expert and author of the top-selling book, Street Smart Franchising. “This is a franchise that ‘gets it,’ meaning they concern themselves with the sales, profitability and relationships with their franchisees.”

Amy Cosper, VP and editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur, called the 2011 Franchise 500 “a must-see list for anyone searching for the right business.”

About Showhomes
Since its founding in 1986, Showhomes has helped Realtors and home owners sell more than 26,000 homes worth more than $8.5 billion.The Showhomes business model is based on the fact that staged and occupied homes kept in show-to-sell condition sell faster, and for higher prices, than vacant houses. For information and franchise opportunities, please visit www.showhomesfranchise.com.

Tighter Rules for NYC Co-op Insurance Follow Banking, Mortgage Crisis

The financial meltdown of two years ago caused banks to tighten their requirements for Manhattan co-op insurance — and they want new to buy more coverage to insure any improvements they may make to their homes.

In recent months, banks have begun requiring condo and co-op buyers to purchase insurance coverage for improvements or renovations equal to at least 20 percent of the unit’s fair market value. Buying a condo worth $650,000? You’ll need at least $130,000 in insurance — and that’s over and above what your condo or co-op board might require you to hold in liability insurance. It’s an extra expense, but imagine what you might lose if, say, smoke damage from a fire ruined your home’s interior. We’re talking hundreds of thousands in losses.

The banks are basically following the lead of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on this. The federal mortgage lenders suffered huge losses in 2007 and 2008 when the mortgage-backed securities market collapsed; borrower after borrower defaulted on mortgage loans, meaning the lenders could not recover their money. Plenty of private banks ran into the same problem.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began requiring the extra insurance last year, and the private banks fell into line behind them. The insurance helps protect against damage from a fire, windstorm or other unforeseen circumstance that could wipe out a homeowner financially. The bank has an incentive to keep their clients solvent and paying their mortgages.

Just a few years ago, banks didn’t care whether individual units in a condo or co-op building were insured; they generally assumed a building’s master policy would protect their interest. But that’s no longer true, especially in New York City, where 99 times out of 100, individual condo or co-op owners are responsible for covering their homes’ interiors.

Gotham Brokerage Co., Inc. knows about all the insurance issues you have to worry about in New York City, where you face insurance challenges you just don’t see anywhere else. We’ve served the five boroughs for more than 50 years.

Fill out our quote request form or give us a call at the number above to learn more about how we can help properly insure your new condo or co-op.

Barry Frost, Vice President, Gotham Brokerage Co. Inc.

CoLab, Nashville’s first coworking space, reaches out to mobile workforce, creative professionals

Ever struggled to work from home or at a coffee shop? You are not alone!

The mobile workforce is now the norm and America is quickly becoming a freelance nation.

Research firm IDC recently predicted that more than 75 percent of American workers will be mobile by 2011. Thanks to technology that didn’t exist five years ago, many workers now need nothing more than a laptop, cell phone and a Wi-Fi connection to do business.

Downsized and laid off workers have created a large talent pool of out-of-work professionals. Some have become entrepreneurs and consultants out of necessity. Many are freelancers or small business owners in creative fields such as marketing, web design, PR, graphic design or photography who took control of their careers and turned the recession into a business opportunity. Others are working for traditional companies out of home offices.

Many, especially those in creative fields, crave interaction and the use of facilities that a traditional employer would provide. Working from home can be lonely and distraction-filled. Working from a public space is just plain difficult.

This is where coworking comes in, as the next generation of work space that fits a need between working from home and a traditional executive or office space.

Coworking is a style of professional workspace that involves a shared working environment, sometimes an office, yet independent activity. Unlike a typical office environment, coworkers are usually not employed by the same company.

Coworking spaces have a mix of shared desks open for daily or weekly use, shared meeting spaces, lounge areas where members can work on couches and in comfy chairs. It often has large open spaces and most coworking spaces offer small, private offices for those that need them. The approach is designed to fit the needs of a wide range of workers.

Need a desk once a week? No problem. Need to use conference rooms for group sessions? Got you covered. Need a small office as a base for you and a partner to  but need space for larger meetings? Coworking could be the answer.

Coworking is typically less expensive than traditional office space. It can be a good first step out of a home office for many. For a monthly membership fee, you can get a business address, access to the Internet, access to meeting rooms and a desk to use if you need it.

CoLab is Nashville’s first and most successful coworking space. Located in the Wells Fargo building on 4th Avenue in downtown Nashville across from the Arcade, CoLab opened in early 2010 and quickly filled the first floor to capacity, prompting expansion to the 3rd and 4th floors. It is currently home to more than 30 businesses.

“We are on the ground level of something that’s going to go really big,” says Joseph Conner, account executive at Kaleidoscope Media, CoLab member.  “It’s great to be surrounded by creative people. It leads to a great exchange of ideas.”

At CoLab our workspace is integrated mix of options. A large, common coworking area provides space for freelancers, sole proprietors and entrepreneurs to work alongside others who may share similar interests. Affordable office suites are interconnected to our large coworking areas. Everyone shares the same amenities: printer, copier, fax, high-speed Internet, training room, conference room, kitchen and lounges.

Oh, and one more thing. Everyone shares the ping pong table at CoLab. That’s important in the brave new world of working.

One attractive aspect of Computer Explorers franchise is that it is a home-based business. This does not mean it has to be run out of your home; it means a franchise owner is not required to lease commercial space. With CE, you simply don’t assume the risk of signing a long-term commercial lease for professional retail or office space.

This can save you thousands in your first year of operation; a normal lease can cost $12-20,000 a year plus the cost of furniture and improvements. That’s money you’ll save by running a smart and lean business out of available space in your home. It’s also a good reason home-based businesses are thriving in today’s economy.

Those who are entrepreneurs and have run a business from home likely know what a home office is and understand how it works. For those without such experience, the idea can be confusing.

Computer Explorers is an on-site business and in many ways, it is a mobile business. We provide education services on site at schools, day care facilities and recreation centers. We bring what we do to our customers so they don’t have to come to us.

When you open your Computer Explorers franchise, most of your teachers will be subcontractors. They’ll pick up the equipment they need from you. Your home office will need storage for the equipment - laptops, projectors and iPads used in CE courses. With electronic equipment, climate control is important so the gear can’t be stashed in a garage or attic.

Much of your work will be on the phone and on the Internet. You’ll need desk space and file storage for your records. You’ll need a fax machine, phone lines, printer and high-speed Internet access. For many people, buying a communications bundle from your cable company that includes phone and Internet makes the most sense.

A spare bedroom, bonus room, flex room or den works great. Using a home office significantly reduces your costs, too. Ask your accountant or other financial advisor about tax savings you might be eligible for if you do use a room in your home for your CE office.

Clients don’t come to your office; you meet them where they work. A CE home office does not need a reception area or meeting room, but it does need to be a place where you can work productively. If your home is full of distractions, you might want to explore an executive suites or coworking spaces, which provide a business address and a small suite or desk along with access to a conference room and other amenities.

To start, talk with Computer Explorer franchisees and ask about their office space. Did they start out in a home office and move to an executive suite? Are they still in a home office? Why? What works for them and what doesn’t?

One size does not fit all, and a Computer Explorers franchise is flexible. It easily can be run from home, which is the most affordable option. It can be run from an office or executive suite. We leave that choice up to you.

If you want to explore opening your own Computer Explorers franchise, fill out our contact us form and begin a conversation with us.