The face of cremation has changed dramatically. At least that’s the case at Smart Cremation of Redmond, Washington. Meet Jill Larson, Senior Vice President of Smart Cremation who is announcing that her company is the first to have a “true” online sales component. Jill is a part of a new generation of eco-focused and technology [...]
Tom & Pam Newell, Award Winning Ohio Gift Basket Designers and Founders of the National Gift Basket Professional Convention have chosen to host again this year the “2011 National Gift Basket Convention” in OHIO. They have kept the convention in Ohio to keep it affordable and allow more Gift Basket Professionals to attend. They have [...]
The Pew Charitable Trusts commissioned a poll by Hart Research and American Viewpoint that indicates 66 percent support additional funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to carry out new responsibilities related to food safety. Seventy-four percent feel it is worth a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in the cost of food to [...]
Susan Rakowski, editor of Small Business Opportunities, is proud to be on the judging panel for 1and1 Candada’s My Business Heroes Contest. 1&1 Internet Inc. is a leader amongst global Web hosts, supplying personal and business users with reliable online solutions including data servers, email solutions, domains, website tools and ecommerce solutions. According to 1and1, [...]
Comedian Marla Schultz www.marlaschultz.com turned a mishap in a ladies room into a business opportunity—one she hopes will prove beneficial not only to her and her partners — but also to millions of women who can now be liberated from schlepping large handbags — thanks to her bra pocket invention, The Racktrap.™ Schultz, a professional [...]
From hair salons to real estate firms, fast food chains and interior decorators, franchisors are reporting a surge in the percentage of older owners in recent years – at Great Clips alone, the number of owners over 50 increased by more than 15% last year. Today’s 50-plus Americans are wealthier, healthier and more active than [...]
Quick-service operators such as Chick-fil-A, KFC and Subway have recently embraced higher efficiency components. Meanwhile, McDonald’s, which began testing carbon footprint-reducing practices across its entire global system in 2007, has a handful of franchisees in its system exploring green innovations. For example, Cary, N.C., owner/operator Ric Richards installed NovaCharge electric vehicle charging stations at his McDonald’s unit in [...]
Want to improve your customer service and build your business? Check your Facebook and twitter pages for comments. Seventy percent of Americans said they are willing to spend more money at businesses that provide good customer service, according to the February survey. That’s up from 58% who said the same in 2010. Today, social media [...]
Military service is highly correlated with self-employment, according to a new study from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. The study found that veterans are at least 45 percent more likely than those with no active-duty military service to become entrepreneurs. And rank does have its privileges, as least when it comes to exercising [...]
Being pet-friendly makes sense to thousands of hotels. The “Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook” lists more than 13,000 AAA-approved pet-friendly properties in the U.S. and Canada. A pet friendly hotels website claims a list of 25,000 properties. Caesar Millan, The Pet Whisperer, is a Best Western spokesperson who touts the chain’s pet-friendly policies [...]
As president of National Restaurant Development Inc., a board member for the International Franchise Association, and owner of more than 50 quick-serve restaurants, Aziz Hashim is a veteran of the franchise business. With brands like Popeyes, Checkers/Rally’s, Subway, and Moe’s Southwest Grill under his watch, Hashim has the know-how to obtain the finances needed for [...]
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Dairy Queen promoted the baby Blizzards last month, giving diners about half the calories of the small 12-ounce size. In March, Starbucks Corp. unveiled the “petite” line of mini cupcakes, whoopie pies and lemon squares for $1.50 each; the junior lemon square has 120 calories, compared with 490 for Starbucks’s lemon pound [...]
