Networking Today targets franchises Mon, December 22, 2008
By CHRISTOPHER CLARK, LONDON FREELANCE WRITER

Susan Regier never knew what a savvy businessperson she could be until she started asking others for help.

Now, after some coaching, a good idea and some timely encouragement, Regier is poised to transform her growing 10-year-old business into a franchise special to Canada.

Regier, 49, is a jack-of-all-trades. She's a writer and operates Vantage One Writing. Wearing that hat, she writes news releases and other materials for businesses of all sizes and shapes. More than a few of the businesses profiled on this page over the years have come via Regier's desk.

A decade ago, in a bid to help her writing business flourish, Regier started networking with business owners and managers.

"I was shy at the time," she says with a laugh. "I had to force myself to . . . do it, but the results were almost immediate."

In fact, she was so good at drumming up business through networking that she started fielding questions about her own networking strategies and successes. That's when she decided to launch a networking newsletter, the purpose of which was twofold. She hoped the publication would turn a profit by signing up advertisers, and she hoped to use the newsletter to promote her writing business.

That was 10 years ago, and things have changed dramatically since then.

She did, in fact, launch Networking Today, and for a year or so she published it in the traditional fashion, mailing it to subscribers and working hard to attract advertisers. Soon, however, the business threatened to consume her.

"The time commitment was overwhelming," she recalls. "I quickly got to the point where I had to either fold it or try something different. I decided to put it online."

In hindsight, going online is an obvious move, but 10 years ago -- when people were still dialling up for Internet access through Compuserve and America Online, when few businesses had websites and the Internet simply wasn't a central part of life as it is today -- it wasn't a slam-dunk decision.

For several years, Regier operated the networking website, slowly building its base of contributors, advertisers and readers. Her belief in networking and learning from the best practices of others was more than just a theme of her site. It was her own mantra, something she adopted for her own businesses.

"Three years ago, I started working with a business coach in Vancouver," Regier says. "She changed the way I do business. I started to delegate more, I hired someone to look after the website, and I focused a lot more on growing the business."

Because of that contact, Regier found herself meeting a year ago with a local coach who provided a eureka moment. "It was just a half-hour meeting, but she suggested I franchise my networking website. I had never considered doing that, but she could see the value of what I had and how I could make it grow."

She went to the Franchising Department, a local resource for would-be franchise owners, and spent the last year planning in great detail how to build a franchising model. This month, she launched the idea.

Conceptually, the idea is not much different than her original newsletter idea, when she was working all hours to fill a traditional printed publication.

Franchise owners buy the rights to a given city, then tap into Regier's Networking Today website to create a local version of the site for their city or region. They have access to Regier's vast stable of contributors, and make money by attracting advertisers who want to reach local eyeballs in that area.

For someone with sales and people skills, there's no limit to the profit they can generate because Regier collects a flat fee from franchise owners, not a percentage of advertising dollars. Once that fee is paid, all the local ad revenue belongs to the franchise owner.

Even the buy-in costs are reasonable compared to many franchises. They vary by city size; a city like London goes for $12,500.

After attending a franchising trade show in the fall, Regier came home convinced she has a winning formula. And she's looking forward to the new year, when she starts to sell her idea across the country.

 

A Vantage One Writing Project