Love and Understanding

            As a Christian I was taught to love my neighbor.  This also means respecting and understanding my neighbor, but my neighbor must also respect my rights.  The Golden Rule is “Treat others as you want to be treated.”

        In my book, Business Fits, I state that the basics for good customer service are prompt communication and the Golden Rule.  This is all most people want and will result in a satisfied customer.  There are rare exceptions when a customer is more of a problem than he is worth.  As a consumer, most businesses will treat your with respect, and an amicable solution is normally available for any problem, without resorting to legal options.

        The same is also true for your next door neighbor.  If your neighbor does not respect your rights after you have repeatedly explained a problem, there have to be legal options.  Nobody likes these alternatives, but we have the right to protect our rights and property. 

        Counties have the same rights.  We have the right and obligation to secure our borders for the safety of our citizens.  My ancestors immigrated to America from Norway.  Do you think if the Norwegian Vikings had been given more love, compassion, and understanding, they would not have raided, raped, and pillaged Europe?  I like to jokingly say the Vikings weren’t bad, they just were misunderstood. 

          We now are at war with radical Islam.  Some liberals say we just need to give them more love and understanding.  This is insane.  The bottom line is they want to convert or kill all infidels.  Some Muslim countries have been ruled by Warlords for centuries.  It is unlikely that talking to them will change that culture. 

        Some of our Native American tribes had been at war with neighboring tribes for generations.  War was an integral part of their culture.  When whites asked all the tribes to live in peace, it made no sense to them.  One comment was, “How will we choose our leaders with no war?”

           I recently saw a video of a young white woman who claimed to have been a CIA asset who had been undercover with Islam for ten years.  She made a very convincing, well written, and well rehearsed speech saying we needed to give Islamic terrorists more compassion and understanding.    What jumped out for me was how anyone could be naive enough to believe that this young white woman could have been an asset placed with radical Islam for ten years.  This was not a possibility in that Islamic culture.  The video was obviously scripted and produced with no basis in fact. 

          I agree with treating all people with understanding and respect, but if that does not work, we must take other actions to protect our rights and property.  Many brave men and women have fought for God, family, and country in the past, and we will have to again in the future because love and understanding does not always work. 

                        http://BusinessFits.com

Political Correctness is Costing American Lives

       Political correctness is costing lives of American civilians, law enforcement, and Military.  It has to stop now.  Islamic terrorist acts are becoming more frequent and deadly.  It is time to wake up and talk openly about out country's problems without feat of offending someone.  We must all take the personal responsibility of reporting these domestic terrorist threats and forget political correctness. 

      Let’s look at the facts.  Some of the worst domestic terrorist attacks have been Fort Hood, Boston, San Bernardino, and Orlando.  In all cases the terrorist(s) were Islamic.  In all these tragedies people knew the shooters were radicalized Muslims who were dangerous and did not report them for fear of not being politically correct.  They feared repercussions personally or to their career.  A few did report the danger to superiors, but the superiors did not pass on the threat for fear not being politically correct.  People died as a result. 

       Obviously the people who know the most about Muslims that have been radicalized are the Muslims in the Mosque they attend.  Any Muslim showing any signs of radicalization should be reported by other Muslims.  This is not happening. 

       Another fact is that the terrorist attacks involving firearms all occurred in Gun Free Zones.  Terrorists may be mentally unstable religious fanatics, but they are not stupid.  They and the people supporting them plan attacks where they are less likely to be stopped by the intended victims.

        Proposed gun control that comes up after every one of these shootings is totally political and would do nothing to prevent future domestic terrorist attacks. President Obama may be intentionally diverting attention from his failed policies to protect this country from radical Islam.  Talking about gun control is dangerous because it deflects attention from the real issues. 

       We are at war with Islam, and we are losing.  This is also costing the lives of our great military men and women around the world.  Did you know President Obama is the longest wartime President in the history of this country?  What happened to all the anti-war protestors before Obama was elected?  Obama ran with the agenda of world peace.  He even received the Nobel Peace Prize.  Now he can’t even say the words Islamic terrorist and is the longest wartime President in this country’s history. 

       Political correctness has to stop.  It has gotten to the point of stupidity.  I saw actor Ben Affleck defend both radical Islam and gays in the same interview.  Radical Islam wants to put homosexuals to death.  Doesn’t Affleck know anything about the Muslim religion?  He reminds me of the following quote.

        I have to stop saying, “How stupid can you be?” 

        Too many people are taking it as a challenge.

                        http://BusinessFits.com

Five Levels of Franchising

     There is no question that franchising is an important part of our economy.  The concept of franchising dates back to 2000 BC, but in the last hundred years it has expanded and become more sophisticated, and regulated.  

       The first major franchises in this country were what I call Product Franchises.  They included franchises for automobiles, tires, and gasoline.  Franchising then expanded into Business System franchises. 

     Franchising success is phenomenal.  Franchises are involved with hundreds of industries and thousands of brands.  The International Franchise Association (IFA) says franchising had a great year in 2015, and 2016 looks even better.  The IFA also says franchise employment rose 2.9% in 2015 compared to 2.4% growth for the total non-farm private sector.  The IFA estimates that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the franchise sector is forecast to increase 5.2% to $521 billion as compared the U.S. GDP of 3.3%.  Franchising is big business, but is a marketing system that allows an individual entrepreneur to be the owner.

    The first level of franchising is the Franchisor.  This is the person(s) who has a successful business model and chooses to franchise the concept.  Normally, two or three current operations must be showing strong success to prove the concept is franchisable. 

      Franchising a concept requires an investment of several hundred thousand dollars.  Manuals and training programs have to be developed, as well as completing and filing the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular, which is required by the Federal government and all Registration States.  The Franchisor then collects an initial franchise fee and a royalty fee from the franchisee.     

     The second level of franchising is the single-point franchise.  Some franchisors want the owner personally involved in the business and will not award more one franchise initially to an individual franchisee.  

       The third level of franchising is the franchisee that owns multiply locations.  This is becoming very common.  A successful franchisee may be awarded a second franchise.  Some franchisors require a prospect to commit to 2, 3, or even 6 locations initially.  The International Franchise association says 40,000 franchisees operate 200,000 franchises. 

       The fourth level of franchising is the Regional Franchisor.  This is an investor who buys the rights to sell and supervise franchises in a specific area.  The Regional Franchisor then shares the initial franchise fee and royalty fee with the Franchisor.  The Franchisor may require the Regional Franchisor to own and operate one location as a sales and training tool. 

      The fifth level of franchising is the Area Developer.  This is where one deep-pocket individual or cash-rich corporation buys the rights to an area and agrees to build-out all locations without selling any franchises. 

    Selling regions or areas for development might achieve faster growth for the Franchisor, but gives up some control and income. 

     The term Master Franchisor is sometimes used to refer to the Franchisor and sometimes it refers to a Regional Franchisor.  Clarify how the term is used.

     To learn more about franchising, read Business Fits by Terry Oliver Lee.  The book is available as an e-Book or a paperback on Amazon.  

        I also give talks on The Five Levels of Franchising.

                        http://BusinessFits.com

Rewrite History

       One of the primary premises in George Orwell’s book, 1984,  was that the government had to rewrite history in order to promote their political agenda.  We see more and more of this happening today.  I think it has always happened, but it is being exposed more today.

    The State Department intentionally deletes portions of press interview tapes in order to cover up lies.  When exposed, they try to keep it hidden by saying it was a technical glitch.  Even when they admit it was intentional, they refuse to say who gave to order to alter the tape.  Deleting tapes caused one President to leave office, but this cover-up will probably just blow over. 

       Editing tapes drastically changes history.  Katie Couric produced a so-called documentary on guns.  This anti-gun film gave a totally misleading conclusion of an interview by inserting a long pause where none existed.  Ms Couric has apologized for the action.  Is she sorry for her actions, or is she just sorry she got caught?  She may have been caught, but the film is still unaltered and will become a fraudulent part of history.

      Many so-called documentaries play loosely with the facts to reach conclusions supporting a political agenda.  Some other “documentaries” that have employed such tricks are Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.  These films are obviously scripted and rehearsed to reach a foregone conclusion.  The only thing resembling a  documentary is the poor quality production. 

      Government and politicians often lie and we are too ready to accept it.  I am concerned that it is becoming more frequent and flagrant.  The media should do a better job of exposing political lies, but they seem more interested in promoting lies if the lies can create a headline.  At the same time, the media does not do the necessary work to expose actual crimes committed by politicians.  This requires time and investigative reporting. 

        The holocaust was one of the darkest times in the history or the world.  Nazi Germany killed six million Jews.  General Eisenhower ordered extensive photos and documentation because he knew someone would eventually try to rewrite this page in history.  We have already seen Islamic leaders claim the holocaust never happened. 

       Many people do try to rewrite history for political reasons.  Some of these lies actually become part of the curriculum in our education system.  Because the lies are taught in our schools, they are accepted as true. 

     Our schools teach that white hunters almost exterminated the American Bison when that is a statistical impossibility, but it fits the environmental agenda.  We teach that President Jefferson had a child with a black slave when that allegation has been totally disproven with DNA testing.  But, the lie fits a popular agenda of criticizing our Founding Fathers, and that fits the agenda of discrediting them in order to rewrite the constitution. 

     I see the same thing in business.  New ideas try to change history.  Technology changes, but sound business principals do not change.  Smart entrepreneurs do not try to reinvent the wheel.  All new and aspiring entrepreneurs should take a quick review of the basics.  That is one of the reasons I wrote Business Fits.

         

http://BusinessFits.com