Archive for June, 2007

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads!

Especially those new dads in the Web and Search Community…

Ahmet
Max Kalehoff
Mike the Internet Guy (Mike Belasco)
Jason Murphy
DrewÂ

…who have I missed (pls post below!)

Transportation Cabinet and Tourism Officials, State Legislators, Frankfort City Officials, Leaders of the “Share the Road” effort in Kentucky and the nation, as well as hundreds of cyclists and runners from all around the commonwealth will be at the Capitol Grounds in Frankfort KY on Saturday June 24th at 11:00 AM so we can:

• Celebrate the 2006 Issuance of a “Share the Road” License Plate in Kentucky ( I have this on my car and love it!)
• Focus Public Attention on Rails to Trails and Transportation Enhancement Programs in Kentucky
• Focus Public Attention on Safety Issues Related to the “Share the Road” Concept
• Promote Kentucky as a Tourist Destination for Cyclists
• Promote Healthier Lifestyles in Kentucky
• Support the Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeways Commission (PDF file)

There will be an official “Share the Road” Ride involving cyclists from clubs all across the commonwealth, a fun run, and information booths with info about all of Kentucky’s programs associated with cycling, running and walking.

Contact: (502) 564-2060
kytc.bikeped@ky.gov

Other events (thank God they’re not having)

Hold on to your helmets! There will be a special “dodge the redneck” exhibition ride where sprinting cyclists will try to outrun men in sleeveless flannel shirts driving 1970’s vintage 4-wheel drives on a special 3 mile stretch of 2-lane backcountry roads. There will be 4 skill levels from beginner to full race. “Git ‘er Done!” folks! Helmets and Gloves Required. 2 Beer Limit for Drivers.

This will be the first time the “throw the beer can at the bike” event is held at an official state-sponsored event also. Cyclists will ride ride by several mobile homes set up next to capital avenue and show their skills in dodging half full beer cans while they race against their competition in a 10 lap time trial. Loudspeakers will randomly blare “get a car!” to racers. Participants are required to wear protective eyeware (not provided) and a padded vest (provided.) Four skill levels will be available. The Division of Waste Management will be present to recycle the used beer cans and to show off their new larger recycling containers. Due to many concerns, officials say the winner of the Tennessee Beer Can Dodge (shown left with his secret weapon) is not allowed to compete in the beer can race. Only “common” bike geometries will be allowed.

The share the road event will hopefully make these seem even more silly than the serious problems that they really are in some parts of the state.

I looked at a franchise website’s homepage today, and found that they were all gushy about being listed on the “Franchise Times” Fast 55, so I checked that list out. It even looks like the make a plaque (see photo.)

This list, published by the Franchise Times, lists franchises based on their rate of growth and without regard for the type, size, investment or length of agreement. So, home based franchises such as in the case of Weathersby Guild, is strictly by single-person, work-from home franchisees doing highly skilled labor on site. Just to get a sense of scale for the business, I did a little bit of poking around using a few reverse phone lookups and windows live.local.com which showed me that almost all of the Weathersby folks work from home, often from apartments. There is nothing wrong with that, but consider that Mobile Attic is listed next to them in the list - naturally requiring a vastly larger capital investment (30 containers must be ordered,) a rollback truck, 1-4 acres, and a twenty year agreement. These two franchises are not even the same species. To grow Weathersby by 100%, you find some people ready to be trained in their system and equip them for the work. To do the same for Mobile Attic, you need earthmovers and a steel mill.

Entrepreneurs should try to realize that if the franchise you’re interested are not advertising in these magazines, they may actually be a lot smarter than you think - and any franchises that prominently boasts themselves in such lists could be a tad desperate for market coverage. Look for substance in the press releases. Know which magazines matter, and which are make-believe!

If you’re buying a franchise…Go visit, in person, the franchises you’re considering. I would not let the corporation call ahead - I would just GO. Talk to the owners (not the possibly underpaid staff.) Then…because some franchisees are just plain-old-grumps… go to another town, talk to those owners. And do it until you get a feeling for the company, and whether it’s compatible with your own goals (which you’ve written down, right?) Ask them if you can work for them, for free, for a couple of days.

Spend the time and you’ll not be sorry, especially with $80-100k on the line.

Postscript: While writing this I came across this little jewel of absurdity

“The first and biggest factor is finding a franchise doing something you love! If you love to cook, find a restaurant. If you like to clean up, select a carpet cleaning or maid service. Do not assume that just because you own the franchise that you won’t have to work it, you will have lots of times where an employee won’t show up and you will be doing their job. Doing something you love will make the hard work and long hours bearable!”

No… what makes a business bearable is to design yourself OUT of it. Choose a franchise where you can be profitable and expendable. You should not be required at the location much, if at all. The system should allow you the freedom to live your life the way you want it, not work “long bearable hours.”

From the “Must have been a feature they finished up on Friday” department. I bring you….. the 1 second voice mail from quickvoicemail.com

On the tail of a 2 day feature outage where my ‘out of town’ message was stuck “in place” now I am vastly less patient for these blatant time wasters.

This makes their entire engineering effort seem ridiculous. Even voice mails up to 10 seconds long are empty - every time. In fact… I have set up an Outlook rule to clean up this crap that’s forwarded to me. But it doesn’t help when I have to log in to their system and clean them up.

Outlook Rule: Yep.. forgot “1 second”.. didn’t think I needed it.. but I was wrong.

I’m definitely in the market for a new hosted voice mail. Giving Grand Central a try after a few people have recommended it.

The Flickr Version was a little dark…

A Zoomable/Pannable version coming as soon as (if) photographer sends me the high-res version.

For now… click to zoom

Search Engine Land has a SMX page with tons of links to other blogs related to the conference.

And so, for the third time in 8 weeks, I’m faced with an all-day outage of my business-class ADSL connection from Windstream Communication. No ETA. No explanation. I have to park myself at a coffee shop to do work. It seems that none of Windstream’s critical systems are redundant. Every failure is blamed on a “switch.” Aren’t these among the most reliable of network components?