By 7:45 a.m., Ronnie Hurst is already more productive than most people. In his first fifteen minutes of work, Hurst has already delegated cleaning and restoration jobs to his three employees and begun planning for the remainder of the week. It is from his office, lined with filing cabinets and paper, that Ronnie Hurst runs his own business: the Waco Rainbow International.

Before Hurst became the owner of his own Rainbow International franchise, he already had plenty of years of experience under his belt.

“Every person who is really successful in business is a good salesman,” says Hurst. “The better at sales they are, the better their business is.”

Following a passion for sales, Hurst began his career as a salesman. Over the years he sold trailers, mobile homes and eventually franchises at The Dwyer Group franchise development office. Working closely with other salespeople and learning the inner workings of various Dwyer Group franchises, Hurst began to understand the benefits of owning a franchise over starting his own small business.

“I’ve seen a lot of guys that own businesses fail and it’s due to a lack of knowledge,” says Hurst. “There is a certain value to having a franchise rather than starting my own business.”

In 2006, the opportunity arose for Hurst to purchase the local Rainbow International franchise. Quickly seeing a great opportunity to use his skills in sales and utilize his work ethic, Hurst became the owner of the Waco Rainbow International.

A self described micromanager and hard worker, Hurst has spent the last five years growing his business. But even with all of his experience in sales, Hurst still finds he runs into trouble managing his own business.

“Business is so involved,” said Hurst. “There are so many liabilities, and to be efficient at it, you have to be pretty sharp.”

To help facilitate his success and growth in small business, Hurst credits The Dwyer Group and their excellent training methods.

“They teach you every aspect of the business, from accounting and law, to management…I couldn’t have done it without The Dwyer Group’s support.”

The future looks bright for Hurst, but he will be the first to admit his struggles with operating a business.

“Nothing is perfect and The Dwyer Group is not perfect either, but I think they continue to strive to be as good as they can be,” says Hurst. “What holds us back in business are our own mistakes, and The Dwyer Group tries to help prevent us from making them.”

Hurst doesn’t want anyone to think that he runs his business from his office. After delegating employees and getting the day going, Hurst spends the later part of the day working with customers and overseeing restorations and cleanings.

“I’m mechanically inclined so I’m out in the field working.” says Hurst.

Offering not only just restoration services, Hurst’s Rainbow International also offers carpet cleaning. Although, Hurst says they are performing restoration services around three times a week, he cites the majority of his work to be carpet cleaning jobs.

“We’ve cleaned everything.” said Hurst. “From Baylor students’ apartments to the rugs in the Bill Daniel Student Center at Baylor University, we’ve done it all.”

As his morning is beginning to start, the calls from customers start coming in. Hurst is busy answering phones and setting appointments for later in the week. He handles everything in a kind and professional manner. “Restoration really is a year round business,” says Hurst with a smile.

We all know the routine. It’s a busy day, you’re driving across town, rushing from meeting to meeting and stressing to finish that project that needs to be done for tomorrow.  Even though your mind is ready to go all day without stopping, your body will begin to tell you it needs food. With such a busy schedule, it’s very easy to do the easy thing and eat whatever is quick, cheap and filling.  Fast food fits all of the requirements for a speedy lunch, but there are other, healthier options to help satisfy your hunger without putting on the pounds.

1. Snack, Snack, Snack!

We have been incorrectly led to believe that we should avoid snacking throughout the day. That is generally true when your snacks consist of potato chips and candy bars, but when your snacks are healthy and in small portions, it’ll help control what you eat throughout the day. Try eating a handful of nuts and drinking a bottle of water the next time you start feeling a little hungry.

2. Keep an Emergency Snack

Often times, you’ll find yourself getting hungry at the most inopportune moments. To help avoid the temptation of running to grab a quick burger, keep a stash of healthy snacks at close reach. Try leaving a pack of crackers in your purse or leaving a protein bar in the console of your car or desk drawer. Knowing that you have something healthy nearby in times of hunger will help lead you to choosing healthy eating habits throughout the day.

3. Plan Your Lunches

Eating unhealthily is typically an unplanned meal. No one says to themselves, “I’m going to overeat for lunch this afternoon.” Mostly, it’s a sporadic choice to swing by and pick up that fried chicken meal during your lunch break. To help remedy this, try packing your own lunch. Choose a well balanced meal (i.e. an apple, PB&J or crackers) that will be sure to fill you up and give you that extra boost of energy you need to get you through the day.

4. Drink More Water

Stop relying on that soft drink and start drinking more water throughout the day! In fact, when you feel like your body is telling you it’s hungry, you are probably thirsty. Most people do not drink enough water during the day and confuse their body’s cravings for water as a sign of hunger. Water is nothing but good for you and will help your body perform better as the day progresses.

5. Smaller and Slower

As mentioned above, snacking will help you control your hunger so you don’t splurge on the unhealthiest option, but one of the most important things you can do is eat smaller portions. Instead of piling your plate full of food, eat a little of each thing and, if you have the time, eat slower. It’s relaxing to eat slowly and will give your body the necessary time to tell you whether it’s full or not.

Eating healthier doesn’t have to be a chore. Find healthy options that you enjoy. Not every food needs to taste like plastic. It may be hard to make the switch to healthier portions (especially if you’ve been living off of a strictly fast food diet), but soon you’ll find yourself feeling better and having more energy throughout the day.

You are sitting at your desk, working on the computer, and a layer of stress seams to never leave you once you enter your office. What could be the problem? More than likely, it’s a cluttered desk that keeps reminding you of things you need to do. By cleaning up your desk, you could take one small step to helping reduce the stress in your work life and become more productive.

1. Organize all of your papers

There are undoubtedly some papers on our desk, more than you may realize. Just look around. There are papers with things to be signed, bills and to-do-lists. Whether you realize it or not, every time you look down and see all of those papers around you, it reminds you of all of the things you need to be doing and distracts you from focusing on what you are doing right now. Put them in files, scan them and put them on the computer-just organize them!

2.Remove distractions

Some of us have things on our desk that cause us to daydream or become distracted. Get rid of all of the action figures and toys you have; those things will only distract you. All they do is give you an excuse to not work, to take a break and spend valuable time “playing”.

3. Less=better

The less amount of clutter you have on your desk, the better. Think about it, when you remove everything from the surface of your desk and organize it all in drawers, all you have to focus on is what is directly in front of you. What is in front of you now? Well, you choose that part, and hopefully it is the most important that needs to get done quickly.

Although a simple idea, cleaning up your desk can help clear your mind and allow you to work more productively. Having a clean, well-organized area to work in gives you a place to concentrate and be productive. There are any number of things to organize the area that you consistently work in, so do not feel limited to these three ideas!

We make life busy, but if we manage our time correctly, we could avoid the stress that seems to come along with the busyness. Here are some simple tips to help you improve your work life.

1: Wake Up Earlier

Ever feel like there are never enough hours in a day to finish what you’ve started? Experts say one of the most important things we can do for our bodies is to have a regulated sleep schedule. To add more time to your day, try waking up earlier than you have been. When you wake up earlier, even if it’s just 15 minutes, the world is quieter. What should you do with that time? That’s up to you, but even if it’s just making a nice breakfast for once, having that time is always beneficial.

2: Throw Out All of Your Lists and Stop Multitasking

We live in an age where technology and speed dictate our lives. The faster things are done, the better. To do this, people have fallen into the trap of multitasking things throughout the day. Throughout the day, you may find yourself talking on the phone, sending emails and eating lunch all at the same time. We have multiple “big” things that we must get done today, no exceptions. What if you didn’t have five things to do at once? Instead of focusing on getting five things done half heartedly, what if you completed just one task at a time with excellence? You’ll find it easier to finish something with all of your focus directed at it, than doing five things in small increments.

3. Figure out Whats Really Important

The sad fact is, some things aren’t as important as we make them out to be. We are constantly putting expectations on things, telling ourselves that if this doesn’t get done today, it will come back to haunt us. The truth is, most things can wait. When we put the utmost importance on every small thing, we are only adding stress to our already stressful lives.

4. Plan Ahead

Everyone feels like they are playing catch-up at some point. Everything seems to be piling up and you can never seem to finish anything before the next load of work comes in. To remedy this, try planning ahead. Make a schedule for when you will do something; fight the urge to overload yourself. Instead, break off work into segments, finishing some here and there. If you plan on getting things done at a specific time, you will hold yourself accountable to that. Soon things will start getting done on time and your life will become less stressful along the way.

5. Relax

Sometimes we get too wrapped up in our jobs. It’s easy to get into the mentality that work is the most important thing in your life. You say to yourself that it isn’t, but take a step back and look at where you devote most of your time and energy. That’s not to say that working is a bad thing, it’s an honorable thing that is a necessity to raising a family and providing for your needs. But every once in a while, take the day off and spend time with your family or give yourself a day to yourself. We all need those breaks from our hectic schedule. Just take a deep breath and relax.

Have you just opened your small business and hired a fresh batch of employees that you need to train? Are your meetings not as effective as they could be? It’s difficult to use the allotted time and produce the most successful results possible for your business. Here are some tips to help stimulate learning and make meetings enjoyable.

1. Warm up exercises

More often than not, when an employee enters a training session, whether it is a seminar or just a meeting, they are preoccupied. They’ve had a bad morning, got stuck in traffic and spilt coffee on them self. That is why it is vital that you must break them out of their thought process with a warm-up exercise. Have them introduce themselves to the group or have a small group exercise to get them stimulated. The most important thing is to break them out of their previous though process and get them ready to learn.

2.  Use segments

Studies have shown that for every 90 minutes adults listen to something, they can only effectively retain 20 minutes of information. To break this habit and help them learn effectively, break up your material into segments. Every 10 minutes or so, change the subject, insert a funny story or ask the audience questions.

3. Communicate effectively

Don’t be boring. It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But we’ve all been there, sitting through those meetings where your mind seems to wander away and never comes back. Granted, some things are more interesting than others, but you can always try your best to make things entertaining and spark some life into employees. Try including interesting pictures on PowerPoints and be as engaging as possible.

4. Use your time wisely

Meetings shouldn’t take all day. Figure out what the most important things that you want to let people know are, and make it a priority that they are the most discussed and well understood subjects of the meeting. Don’t spend the whole meeting going off in a tangent on one subject and be forced to speed through the rest of your talking points.  Make things simple, the harder and more complicated a subject is, the less likely employees will pay close attention.

Meetings are often automatically assumed to be boring, but as a boss, you can change that assumption. The better you are at communicating to employees, keeping them entertained and paying attention, the more effective your business will be.

Thinking about starting your own business? Sure, it all sounds great on paper. Why wouldn’t you want to be your own boss, work the hours that you’d like and have fun doing what you love, right?

That’s what most entrepreneurs think before they take the leap of financing their startup, only to discover that things are more expensive and complicated than expected. There is lots of planning, hurdles to jump over and time and energy required just to open a business.

Feeling a little bit overwhelmed? Investing in a franchise can help ease that stress and help guide you along the way.

How do I attract customers?

One of the most important aspects to opening a small business is getting your name out there. Each franchise as The Dwyer Group has its own, established brand name. The Dwyer Group also employs its own, specialized marketing team to handle the national marketing of their franchises. Now, all you have to do is market locally. With tips and help from The Dwyer Group, you’ll learn how to reach and keep new customers.

Hiring the right people

Are you unsure of who to hire? The Dwyer Group will help guide you into hiring and retaining the best employees for the job. Whether it is what to look for when hiring employees or tips to attracting the best people for the job, The Dwyer Group has its own employee retention tools to help with the process.

Staying up-to-date

One of the great things about investing in a Dwyer Group franchise is the continued training and support you’ll receive. From the beginning, The Dwyer Group will walk you through the necessary steps to opening a business and running it successfully.

You don’t have to do this alone. Opening a small business can be stressful, but The Dwyer Group will help support and coach you throughout the process, allowing you to reach your goals. Franchising is a powerful option that takes a lot of the guesswork out opening a business.

Have any questions? Contact us at (866)696-1504 for more information on the benefits of opening a franchise, along with more detailed information on each of The Dwyer Group franchises.

One of the biggest problems for small business owners is generating the sales that they would like to see. What sort of steps should you take to market your business, and which will give the biggest return?

Sponsor, sponsor, sponsor!

It may seem obvious, but sponsoring events is one of the best ways to get your business out there. Whether it be supporting a local breast cancer drive or donating shirts with your logo to the runners in a local marathon, all are sure to be seen by potential consumers. Not only does sponsoring events help you garner attention and hopefully drive sales, but it will also give your company a positive image, allowing you to control the way your business is perceived.

Loyalty members only

One classic marketing technique is offering discounts to customers. Discounts come in many forms, some obvious and others not so much. The most popular discount would be the “sale” or “coupons” by retailers. Those are great to drive customers into your store, but the probability of keeping those customers and turning them into loyal ones, is low after the sale ends.

One under looked method is developing a loyalty program. Many restaurants and retailers have had great success with promoting discounts in their stores, while still creating a positive consumer base with a loyalty program. Customers are given rewards for their loyalty to a location, providing them with an incentive to keep returning. When consumers have the choice between two similar stores, they’ll be more prone to spend their money at a business where they know they are appreciated and feel as though they are receiving something in return.

Social networking

By now, you have probably been beat over the head about the importance of social networking for small businesses. Sign up for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Create a company blog and post funny anecdotes about work or your job. Keep consumers interested in what you and your employees are doing and how they benefit from frequenting your business.

In a world where advertisements and marketing campaigns may seem to drown out all of your attempts to market your small business, don’t get discouraged. It’s always a struggle trying to break into the consumer conscience. Market yourself online, start a loyalty program, put your name on anything, sponsor a charity event; just make yourself known. After all, that’s the whole point of marketing!

It’s that time: the one time each year it gets really, really cold. While you are putting on five layers of jackets and heating up your third cup of hot cocoa, it’s easy to forget about your plumbing. Mr. Rooter has a few tips on making your life a little bit easier during these cold winter months.

Protect outdoor faucets

With the extreme temperatures we are experiencing, the last thing you want to think about is going outside to fix a burst pipe. One simple thing that you can do is to cover all exposed outdoor faucets or pipes. Wrap a towel over the faucet and duct tape it in place. The towel will dry up any leaking water and will keep the pipes from being susceptible to the cold.

Open up sink cabinets

Once you have the outside faucets covered, don’t forget about the inside of your home. If the water inside your pipes becomes frozen, a pipe could burst, not only causing a huge mess, but also costing you for repairs. One of the best things that you could do to prevent bursting is to open the cabinets around each sink. Exposing the pipes to the warm air inside your house allows them to warm up and prevent them from bursting.

Trickle a slow stream of water inside

After you have opened up the cabinets around the sinks in your home, turn on the water for each faucet and allow only a small trickle to run. This small trickle will keep the movement of the water in your pipes, making it more difficult for the water to freeze inside.

By doing just these few, simple steps, you can avoid plumbing repairs and save yourself time and money in the long run.  It’s cold outside, so stay warm and keep drinking that hot cocoa!