Thanks Team Subway!

What a weekend! After two presentations (one on Friday afternoon and one Saturday morning) at the Subway Worldwide Franchisee Convention, my infatuation with the power of franchising continues!!! 33,000 stores in 90 countries is almost incomprehensible for me, but Subway is "gettin' 'er done!" It was really neat to see Fred DeLuca and Pete Buck (the founders of Subway) on stage together at the opening of the Convention - history in the making.

For my part, Friday started a little slow. Energy hadn't really started to flow through the group yet as the Convention hadn't even opened, nevermind the fact that it was 95 degrees outside with 95% humidity (that can make anyone sluggish). One comment I received on the evaluations was, "Too motivational..." I didn't know a speech could be too motivational!?!? Because I am a motivational speaker who talks at the 30,000 foot level about the importance, and value, of setting goals, doing personal and business assessments, writing an action plan, completing the tasks and then realizing the goals, I learned a lot about the importance of setting the expectation for what is going to be delivered right from the get-go. Which takes me to Saturday...

Saturday was awesome! We had a nearly capacity crowd of 260 people (they had to bring in more chairs) despite the fact it was an 8:45 a.m. session and some torrential down pours had left much of the city of Chicago under water meaning buses were having to zig zag all over to get attendees from the hotel to McCormick Place. Right away you could feel a difference in the room. We set the expectation and never looked back. Here's a few of the comments I received back on evaluations:
* "Excellent and captivating, but pertinent to today's market." A. Ambrosini
* "Sounded like she really knew something about Subway and how to relate." A. Etchison
* "Easy to put into action in daily life and daily business life." Presentation Attendee
* "Good kick to organize and do." Presentation Attendee

Since what I'm most trying to achieve is getting people to commit to taking action when they get back in their markets, I was most excited by the statistic that 92% of evaluation respondents said "yes" they would take action when they got back to their market!! Now we're making progress.

There will be YouTube video of this presentation posted soon. Thanks Team Subway for making me feel welcome at your event. I was thrilled to be a part of it .

With Energy and Purpose,
Susan

Subway Day has Arrived

Tip of the Day: Never start dying your hair at home and then get caught up in working on your PowerPoint presentation! Thankfully I remembered that I was sitting with hair dye on my head before the damage was too bad. I just got swept up in the story of this Powerpoint and almost had a disaster on my hands, or head as it were. :)

I am really excited about the Subway Convention today and tomorrow. I think "Plan for Profit" will be a great program for them. They are expecting 4500 people total, with my rooms set for 300 each. It should be quite the scene. We are going to try and videotape tomorrow's gig, so hopefully we'll have some footage to share soon.

Have a super weekend!
With Energy and Purpose,
Susan

The Power of People

I give a speech entitled, "The Power of People," and in that speech I talk about the importance of building a strong network and the real and awesome value of such a network. I have been very fortunate in my life to be surrounded by many wonderful individuals and for that I am always thankful. I must say though, as I have started this new business venture, I have been truly and absolutely blown away by the outstanding people of the franchise industry. The words of encouragement and recommendation have been amazing, and I am so grateful to all who have either published comments, sent emails, gave a phone call or just wished me luck. Thank you!

I am using LinkedIn more and more these days to continue to build and keep in touch with my network. What a super tool this site is! There have been some really good discussions posted in the IFA Group and it is always fun to receive updates on what's happening with the Women's Franchise Network's around the country. If you are on LinkedIn, please look me up under "Susan Black-Beth" and let's LinkUp!

Never underestimate the power of people. One good relationship, or connection, could be the difference between a lived life and a life lived. Remember, you just never know who you are standing next to!

With Energy and Purpose,
Susan

Just 4 Open Gigs Left for 2010!

Hello Friends!

I have just four speaking spots open in my calendar for the last 6 months of 2010. I would like to say, "Thank you" to those who help me reach my goal of filling these spots by paying all of my own travel expenses for any full-fee gig booked as one of these last 4 spots in 2010. I hope this helps to relieve some of the financial pressure for franchisors as we continue to feel the force of this poor economy.

I am so grateful to all who have contacted me about speaking at your events and to all who have supported me in this journey. I will do my absolute best to make you proud! If you're interested in learning more about me, my speaking topics or how we might work together please contact me at susan@susanblackbeth.com or by phone at (815) 222-1894.

With Energy and Purpose,
Susan

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all! Be safe, and have a wonderful holiday weekend with your family and friends. Please stay tuned for the Summer Special I am going to be offering starting just after the holiday. Celebrate with energy and purpose.
Susan

Today's "Emerging Franchisors" = Tomorrow's Leaders

One of the things I most enjoy doing is helping start-up franchisors get questions answered about how to poise their business for growth. It is really rewarding, and fun, to get to know these concepts that are just coming to market and then be able to watch their steady progression over the years. Many of us experience similar challenges and opportunities at similar times in our companies' life cycle because we share the business model of franchising, so it makes perfect sense for new and seasoned franchisors alike to sit around a table and talk about how to do it [franchising] right. I had the pleasure of leading just such a discussion last week in Chicago. One of the attendees was David Lipschultz, Top Top Dog, Out-U-Go! Franchising (a pet sitting/pet care franchise) and I so appreciate the feedback he shared with me post-meeting....

"Thanks for moderating the round table discusstion last Wednesday and specifically for facilitating the conversation to address my questions about building an infrastructure and corporate team. Every time I hear you speak I'm always extremely impressed. The thoughts and insights you shared last week were extremely helpful to me. In fact, I took the handout you included and passed it on directly to my COO. You really bring a refreshing sincerity and transparency to the business world. Between the roundtable and your article, I am much closer to knowing what my organizational chart looks like. Thanks again for everything!"

Take a minute to check-out Out-U-Go! Franchising's website at: www.outugo.com, you're likely to be hearing more about David and his company in the near future!

With Energy and Purpose,
Susan

Subway Worldwide Franchisee Convention

It is with great excitement I get to share that I will be presenting "Plan for Profit: 6 Actions for a More Rewarding (and Profitable!) Tomorrow" two different times at the 2010 Subway(r) Worldwide Franchisee Convention. I am very grateful for this opportunity and will be anxious to share news of how the sessions go. Stay posted for updates after July 23/24, 2010!
With Energy and Purpose,
Susan

Praise for "Plan for Profit"

One of the programs I give is titled, "Plan for Profit: 6 Actions for a More Rewarding (and Profitable) Tomorrow". I recently did this program for our franchisees at Super Wash and I was blown away by some of the comments we received after the session. It is truly inspiring to hear things like, "Your message of 'make time to do the things that are important to us' was a strong wake-up call. Yes, I have heard it many times but know in my heart that I must 'plan for life' so that it doesn't plan for me. Thank you for that kick in the pants, positively driven encouragement." To be able to offer encouragement to not only a franchisee, but to someone who's a mom, a wife, a daughter, a volunteer, a community leader is really special to me.

From another franchisee, who had been struggling with their business due to a detrimental family health situation that had taken precedence in their lives, we heard, "I am knee-deep in doing things at the wash from my list I made at the meetings. I have to say I truly enjoyed the franchisee meetings. I learned a lot and the best part is that I now have 'renewed energy'." Could it be that we have the ability to not only help people with their business life, but their personal life too? What an beautiful opportunity!!

In my opinion, part of the responsibility of a great speaker at a franchisee meeting or a company convention is to compel the audience to want to make improvements. To that end, I smiled ear to ear when we received this email, "I was, and still am, pumped from the meeting. Both of our minds were clicking the whole way home. Thank you for the support, encouragement and comfort of being there when we need help...I have so much 'Renewed Energy,' everyday I am doing something new."

I am so thankful for the opportunity to speak with franchisees of different systems and inspire them to renew their spirit and "Plan for Profit"!

The "Closer"

We had a super Franchisee Homecoming a couple weeks back and I learned something about myself as a speaker - I LOVE to be The Closer! Many professional speakers only want the opening keynote slot, I would guess because it is considered the most prestigious. The opening slot is the one that gets everyone fired up and ready to go, it is also the slot that gets the highest, most-focused attention. Okay, I can give you all that, and I certainly do enjoy being the lead and getting everyone fired up. But, what about the closing slot? The slot that can transform a good event into a phenomenal event! As a speaker, I love the challenge of the closing slot. People are tired, they are on information overload, many have caught early flights out or have decided to start their personal time early but, as The Closer you have the opportunity to make the pieces come together to show the beautiful picture of the overall event. The closing slot is an opportunity to grab attendees by the shirt collar (metaphorically, of course) and say, "Hey! Pay attention here. You can leave this event totally pumped, with a plan in hand of how to better your operation, better your staff, better yourself, but you gotta give me this last hour." I get very excited when I see an audience transform right in front of me from worn out and ready to leave to pen in hand and heads nodding along with what I'm saying - that's when I know I'm making a difference! I hope you'll think of not only Kyra Sedgwick, but Susan Black-Beth too, when you think of "The Closer". With Energy and Purpose, Susan

Gettin' Started

I am so pleased to be up and running as a professional inspirational speaker. My focus will be on two things I feel very strongly about: franchising (improving franchisee performance and franchisee/franchisor relationships specifically) and family businesses. I am very grateful to be able to keep my day job as the COO of Super Wash car washes AND speak to franchise companies and family businesses.

Next week is a big speaking week for me as I will be the closing keynote for the Super Wash Franchisee Homecoming Meeting. We have been working hard for weeks to get ready for our annual meeting. My goal for our franchisees is the same as it is for any other group I speak to: that they leave inspired and ready to take action!

As I try to learn more about Chicago's network of speakers, I attended my first Toastmasters meeting yesterday. This was a valuable experience for me. The meeting I attended was very agenda-driven and finished exactly on time (which was much appreciated by all the professionals in the room who had to get back to work). There was a portion of the agenda entitled "Table Topics". There is a general topic and then five specific questions that volunteers get to pick at random to give an impromptu speech about. After all five volunteers have gone, each individual votes who's presentation they liked best and that person wins "Best Table Topic" for that meeting. Well, I don't want to brag, but I've got a shiny white ribbon that says, "Best Table Topic" sitting right here beside me! :) Thanks to the Toastmasters for welcoming me to their meeting.

With energy and purpose,
Susan