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Bear with me during this digression: back when I was an English major, one of my favorite books was Letters To A Young Poet by the Czech poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The book essentially chronicles the written correspondence between Rainer Maria Rilke and a young poet, as the two movingly discuss the beautiful art of poetry and what a young writer must do to become a successful writer (the book is described in the film Sister Act 2 if you’d like a pop culture reference point).

Now, Rilke may not have much advice for aspiring franchisees, but I came across a franchise-related version of his text recently: letters to a young entrepreneur. Over at Inc.com, young entrepreneurial expert Michael Simmons- who’s only four years out of NYU – has been fielding questions from college students considering starting their own small business or franchise. We highlighted the Toilet Paper Book Entrepreneur last week as beneficial for young entrepreneurs, and Simmons, co-author of The Student Manifesto – also has a lot to say on the subject. Follow this discussion here.

Also, those trying to gauge the future of franchising will be heartened to read this report in The Economist. After conducting thorough, exhaustive research, The Economist arrives at this conclusion: America is still the home of entrepreneurship. Lots of interesting material here.

One can only assume the world will be looking to America’s entrepreneurs to trigger the upsurge in the global economy.

Franchising is the real economic stimulus plan. That’s an idea we’ve shared with you on this blog recently. Following on, the IFA recently released its five point plan for reviving the US economy. There are a lot of interesting ideas here for the Government to take on board, including a call for the creation of a small business franchising coordinator within the Department of Treasury.

The five points, fleshed out here, are as follows:

Increase Amount of Credit Available by Strengthening Secondary Markets – the government should authorize the TARP passed in November to expand purchases of SBA loan pools.

Increase Access to Capital through Changes to SBA Loan - Programs President Obama should use the emergency disaster loan program to help small-businesses get short-term access to capital.

Remove Tax Uncertainties and Inequities for Small Business – calls for permanent solution to the death tax plus an extension of the capital gains tax rate of 15%.

Make Small Business Health Insurance More Affordable – small businesses need a helping hand from the government to assure that they can provide health care to employees.

Support Veterans as Small Business Owners – as this blog has expounded, military veterans make up a significant cluster of franchisees but more needs to be done to encourage them to turn to entrepreneurship.

Many of these points have been raised here on this blog and in a number of other small-business related journals, blogs, and magazines. Hearing the IFA articulate these ideas gives this talk more credence and urgency.

What other suggestions might you make if you had Tim Geithner’s ear for an afternoon?

In this edition of Franchise Direct’s Business Insights video series, Franchise Direct CEO Sean McGarry talks about generating profit for your business.

Download Business Insights #10, or view in the player below

Profit, as Sean says, is “the magic word for every business”.

“Every business must create profit. That is the lifeblood of the business. These are the internal funds that are created by the business that if retained in the business, can help it to grow and develop and fund its working capitol.”

Sean urges that every businessperson, particularly during a recession, continually monitor their income and expenditure, especially in this changing business environment. It is vitally important that businesses avoid accruing the hardcore debt that could hang like a millstone around its neck.

If your profits are down, Sean urges you to address the situation quickly. If necessary, it might be essential to “cut back the size of the business, get it back profitable again, get yourselves into a position where you can expand again.”

Finally, Sean offers this bit of insight regarding profit:

“Always remember, profit is the internally generated funds, and we do mean that, and we particularly need our businesses profitable at the moment. It is critical you do get advice. You must have advisers to help you on a monthly or annual bases in regards to specific questions you may have.”

Visit the Franchise Direct blog every Friday for more advice and information from Franchise Direct CEO Sean McGarry.

“Franchising is the real economic stimulus plan,” Dina Dwyer-Owens, CEO of the Dwyer Group and incoming IFA chairwoman recently told Franchise Direct.

Ms Dwyer-Owens sat down with Franchise Direct at the IFA convention in San Diego, and in this video interview, gives a wide-ranging interview and offers her thoughts on the positive state of franchising and the continuing relevance of the IFA, amongst other things.

There is a seemingly endless debate going on about how to stimulate the economy, but Ms Dwyer-Owens has a clear idea about the best way to get the nation’s finances back on track: franchising.

“We’re creating jobs, we’re creating businesses. Franchising is about stimulating our economy,” she says.

This isn’t just wishful thinking. Ms Dwyer-Owens quotes a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report that shows that franchised businesses outperformed non-franchised businesses during the last economic downturn, the four-year period after the 9/11 attacks.

And despite the economic hardships of the moment, Ms Dwyer-Owens is confident that franchising will quickly rebound and guide the rest of the economy towards a path of success.

“I think it’s going to be positive at the end of the year. We have some members who are struggling, but they have an optimistic outlook. The IFA is going to provide some incredible things to get them through this challenging time.”

As Ms Dwyer-Owens clearly demonstrates, franchising is an important lynch-pin of the US economy, and is primed to succeed as other businesses struggle. Learn more about the many different opportunities available in franchising today with Franchise Direct.

The business world is fixated with entrepreneurs like Matt Zuckerberg of Facebook or Muziic’s 15-year-old founder David Nelson. These are prodigious young talents, 21st century businessmen, changing the world with a new technological concept. But these are not the only types of entrepreneurs. As Mike Michalowicz would like us to remind us, there is another type of business person out there, toiling outside of the limelight, a person he portrays in his new book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

Michalowicz brands the Zuckerberg’s of the world as Media Darling Entrepreneurs (MDE’s). They won the plaudits of the media with their lucrative and trend-setting ideas. In his book,  Michalowicz tells the story of the everyday entrepreneur, someone who struggles in order to make their business work, starting with little more than a dream,  forced to do more with less. His book is a primer for these entrepreneurs, people who don’t have millions in their savings account or investors lining up outside their house.

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is an insightful and irreverent take on entrepreneurship.  The ‘how to become a successful entrepreneur’ market has long been oversaturated and it’s nice to finally read a fresh voice. One feels that entrepreneurs, especially young ones, could learn much, much more from someone like Michalowicz than any MDE.

In his book, Michalowicz charts his own career arc, from the owner of a small computer programming company, which he started from scratch, to the founder of Obsidian Launch and a multiple winner of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Along the way, Michalowicz discusses the various attributes that he thinks are necessary for becoming a successful Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. Belief is crucial, as is passion, the desire to succeed and the ambition to work in a career that you actually love. At the same time, Michalowicz is crystal clear that entrepreneurs are born, not made. If you don’t have an instinctual drive towards entrepreneurship, odds are, you will be lost at sea.

Throughout the book, Michalowicz filters in the life stories of other Toilet Paper Entrepreneurs, people like Bill Hewlett and David Packard, who started their famous company with only $538 and a ‘beat-up drill press’. Or Simon Sinek, who stared failure straight in the face and emerged as ‘the leading authority for entrepreneurs who seek their purpose’. Or David Tyreman, who after seeing his antique business fail, spent his last $20 on beer. He woke up the next day satisfied with himself and ready to start from scratch. From there, he founded successful branding companies like Propaganda and World Famous. In their meager beginnings and flirtations with failure, each of these entrepreneurs discovered the blueprint to their own success.

These inspiring anecdotes are almost as important as the entrepreneurial advice that Michalowicz offers. If you’re passionate, driven and ready to succeed, you’re probably a Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, even if you wouldn’t describe yourself as such. This book offers a guide to rewriting the rules of business and a path to becoming a resilient and driven entrepreneur.

Finally, if you’re curious about the origins of the title of the book, we recommend you purchase the book for the introduction alone.  Michalowicz defines the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur in truly vivid detail.

Find out how to buy The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur here. In the mean time, check out Michalowicz’s blog and especially this post on the 163 ways to become a successful entrepreneur.