When Herv Breault retired from the Army in 2010, after 25 years of service, an interesting opportunity knocked on his door. Several veterans with whom he had served approached him to become a partner in a franchise they had started.

That franchise is Philly Pretzel Factory. Today, having pooled their money and talents, Breault and his six partners have three locations in Lebanon and Shippensburg, Pennsylvania and are considering what other ventures they may take on together in the future. 

What exactly is a franchise? According to the Small Business Administration, a franchise is a business model that involves one business owner licensing trademarks and methods to an independent entrepreneur. Usually they either sell the rights to own a name or trademark, which is product/trade name franchising or they sell business formats, which may include services such as location selection training, supplies, marketing plans and more. 

“Owning a franchise is a ready-made opportunity for veterans,” Breault said. “The corporate structure is similar to military units. At certain levels, units have “shops”. There is an IT shop, a marketing shop, a logistics shop, etc. With this franchise, corporate has those for us to take advantage of too.”

Owning a franchise also means you don’t have to start from scratch, but you do need a level of self-awareness to decide if you have what it takes: personality traits, skills and funding.

Personality traits

Willingness to learn. The best way to understand how to run a business is to learn as much as you can about it on an ongoing basis. Potential franchisees should look for knowledge in every nook and cranny of their world to learn about the business side, the industry aspects, financing, etc. 

“I spent a lot of time talking to my future partners about what we would be doing and where we were trying to go with this,” Breault said.

Would-be franchisees should also talk to franchisors and customers; read business and trade magazines, websites and books; seek the advice from the Small Business Association and veteran counselors, and sign up for a few courses to strengthen your business skills. 

Ability and willingness to follow the plan. “These businesses are created by someone else who has already worked out the kinks,” said Scott Lehr, senior vice president of US international development and conferences at International Franchise Association. “If you are a person who doesn't like to follow systems, you are probably better off with starting an independent business.”

Judy Scott, franchise sales director for the Zoo Health Club urged new franchisees to stick to the system that’s already in place. When asked in an interview for Franchise Direct, what is the number one mistake new franchisees make she said, “Not following the system - buying the franchise and thinking they know more than the franchisor.”

Professional skills

“Franchisors like candidates with management, communication and marketing skills, so they can go out and meet with people,” said Lehr.  “A lot of time they will teach franchisees what they need to know in terms of the hard skills of the business, like printing or home care.”

These skills, especially communication and marketing will also help franchisees network in order to build relationships with customers, staff, and the franchisor so they can grow their businesses. Management and communication skills enable them to effectively teach employees the business, delegate work and ask for help.

Funding

“Money is always an issue with any start up business. A franchise could take as little as $30,000 to as much as a million,” Lehr said. “A higher cost business usually indicates there is real estate and or equipment attached,” he added (full-service restaurants and hotels). “Lower cost businesses generally include home based businesses, commercial and residential cleaning and trucks that provide services” (like plumbing, electric, lawn care or pest control).

Lehr recommends looking into VetFran, an initiative to help veterans get discounts on the businesses. Almost half (660) of its member companies are involved in providing discounts to veterans. It has brought 238,000 vets into franchise community, 5,600 of which are new franchise business owners. IFA’s website, contains additional listing for funding sources.

“Luckily, Philly Pretzel Factory didn’t expect a king’s ransom (to buy the franchise) they offer veterans a reduced rate,” Breault said. “People think franchise owners must be wealthy, but that’s not true. Shop around to get the best loans and funding sources.

Read Part 2: Do Franchise Owners Really Need a Business Plan next Monday

Remember we had that talk about crappy books? About how a bad textbook required for an already difficult class sets us up for failure?

Well, when we are dealt a hand like that, we have two options. We can either allow our butts to get kicked and suffer a GPA drop (assuming we get a C), or we can quit whining and find better sources.

So, how can we find better sources?

Assuming the book isn't so bad that its information could be better explained by the shouting of a drunk, crazy man living under a Central Park bridge, the text should provide three valuable things:

1. A list of learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter,
2. A set of vocabulary words and/or equations for that chapter, and
3. A review at the end of each chapter.

These things are gold. Do you hear me? They are SOLID GOLD. And what you do with these solid gold nuggets of help is pretty simple. 

First, get all that info for the chapter in one place. Use a word document, take notes, make copies. Do whatever will help root the ideas into your brain. Once you’ve done that, take those learning objectives and read over them.

Next, compare that list of learning objectives to the vocabulary words and equations and whatever else is listed in the margins as small notes or ideas, because they will most likely match up relatively easily. If they don’t, don’t panic. You’ll find where they belong (or you’ll end up not using them, because, well … the book sucks and that’s why we’re in this mess to begin with).

Now that you have the key concepts for the chapter and the buzzwords from the margins, you can plug the area from each section of the chapter into the search engine of your choice.

My main teaching man is Sal Kahn, of www.kahnacademy.org, because he teaches things in a conversational manner and uses nifty graphs and colors and explains things in a way that doesn’t make me want to shut the computer off (as much). The videos tend to go in sequence, so the concepts from the chapter will likely line up with your chapter. Use the videos, take notes, and use whatever other results the Google machine has rendered if you need further explanation.

After all of that, take your notes from the series of Internet tubes and compare them to the learning objectives from the chapter and make sure that there aren’t any gaps in what you’ve learned and what is required to learn. If there are any missing concepts, plug what’s missing into the search engine and repeat the above step.  

If there aren’t any gaps, it’s time for the end-of-chapter review. Try and answer a few problems, and see how it works out. If your book doesn’t have an answer key (like my Microeconomics book, which is what prompted this two-part blog in the first place) then type the question into the search engine again. You’ll likely find a response that will tell you the answer of the question. If your book does have an answer key (which it should, because we’re all adults here) you can just check your work. If you got it wrong, either try it again or use the answer provided to work backward to see where you got off track.

Now, you know how to face the questions that should be explained by your horrible, evil good textbook!      

And knowing is half the battle.

By Christine Cioppa

Irritable lately? If you’re not “h-angry” (anger caused by hunger) or premenstrual and dealing with hormonal fluctuations, you might want to look at how you are managing your stress levels.

More than a third of people get irritable and angry when stressed, according to a recent report, “Stress in America: Paying with Our Health,” which was released earlier this year from the American Psychological Association. Of the more than 3,000 adults polled, six symptoms dominated in times of stress: irritability/anger, nervousness/anxiousness, lack of interest/ motivation, fatigue, feeling overwhelmed and depression/sadness.

“When you are not managing stress, it actually has an impact on productivity,” says C. Vaile Wright, Ph.D., director of research at the American Psychological Association. “We don’t get our tasks done as time efficiently or as completely as we might when we are in places where we are feeling more balanced and more in control of ourselves.”

Additionally, being chronically stressed out can have negative health consequences. “Stress can have an effect on your blood pressure, heart, weight and hormones. Stress can really impact every part of you,” says Dr. Wright.

For busy moms who are going back to school, she suggests delegating tasks and asking for help from family members or a partner/spouse. It’s also important to schedule “you time” on your to-do list. “Taking some time for yourself to recharge is not selfish,” says Dr. Wright. “Find ways to carve out that time for yourself. Maybe that means you wake up 15 minutes earlier. That may not seem like a lot. But, if you start getting these habits into your daily life pattern, then it can make a big difference over time.”

CHECKLIST FOR MANAGING STRESS

Feeling frazzled? Print out this weekly checklist (http://www.helpguide.org/misc/stress-management-checklist.pdf) from HelpGuide.org, a non-profit organization for mental health and well-being. Do any/all of these nine things daily and weekly and see what difference it makes.

Math.

Just saying the word makes some students shudder.

But, you have to take it to graduate. And, yes, believe it or not, you might just use those equations, or at least the math processes, in real life.

So, if you are sitting at your kitchen table until the wee hours of the morning scratching out problems over and over again, and find you just can’t figure it out, you may want to check out some of these free math help sites online. Each is designed for advanced high school math courses and beyond, so don’t worry about tripping over the little kid stuff.

www.mathportal.org – Designed and maintained by a professional mathematician, the site offers example problems and a very long list of formulas and how to use them. You can also email the mathematician if you have questions. He includes a link to online calculators and practice tests so you can master your new found skills.

www.mathvids.com – If you are a visual learner, this site is for you. This site, also free, was designed by mathematicians who have created videos of teachers demonstrating how to work through advanced math problems. The videos take you step by step through each math equation. And, if you don’t understand the way one teacher explains it, there are videos of the same problem, taught by different teachers. You do have to sign up for the site, but joining is free.

www.sosmath.com – Of the three this site is the least easy to navigate. The page is much more jumbled and not as professional looking as the first two. However, you can click on the topic and the page gives a very boiled down, simple explanation of how to work the problem. You just have to ignore the advertisements that frame the page.

It's down to the wire. Resumes were reviewed. Interviews were conducted. Thank you cards were received. All the top contenders are great candidates for Company X. But, there's only one position to fill. Let the reference checks begin!

How many times have you been holding your breath, hoping your references will get you over the top?

What happens when you are that hope for someone else?

When a friend asks you to be there reference, you might want to just say, “She's awesome! Hire her.”

Well, don't. That's not what the employer wants, and, it could cost her the job.

Great references are a must for job hunters. Be great by using these tips to validate the strength of her hard skills, soft skills and enthusiasm for the job.

Hard skills

Nothing is more important than having relevant technical skills to do the job because it conveys that one needs minimal training and orientation to hit the ground running. As a reference, take time to review the resume and the job description so you can hone in on whether that is the case.

If you don't know much about the field, call the job candidate or a colleague in the field and discuss with them the day-to-day work of a person in that job. It only takes a few minutes to gather the information that would make it an easy conversation with the employer.

After all, the employer's goal at this point is to confirm a match, not to be convinced of one.

Soft skills

Also known as people skills, soft skills involve managing people, including oneself. These general work characteristics make employees who have job-specific skills even more valuable to the team.

Since proof of people skills doesn't always come through on paper or in an interview, the employer and the job seeker are counting on you to turn the words into a living, breathing, get-the-job-done employee. Your interactions with the candidate can give you instant credibility as to why she is a great person for the job.

Use examples to put relevant people skills into context. For example, you might say, “I have worked with her on three complex projects and no matter how tough it got, she kept the team calm and focused on the priorities. Therefore, we always met timelines and our work products were error-free. To me, that is a sign of a great leader and she was widely recognized for it.”

Enthusiasm for the job

In a tough job market, people tend to apply for jobs even when they aren't excited about them. However, employers want candidates who want the job because they love it, or at least strongly like it.

Get this point across by mentioning what the person has done to prepare herself for such a job. Has she volunteered for assignments, attended training or engaged in professional opportunities?

If you aren't sure, ask the candidate, “What excites you about this job? Why do you think you are a good match for it? What have you done professionally to prepare for this job? How does it connect with your career goals?”

You don't have to spend a lot of time preparing to be a great reference. Just stay focused on information that makes you comfortable enough to have an honest, accurate conversation that will confirm your candidate is the right one for the job.

By Mandy Rebmann

A couple of months after closing on our new house, my husband had a troubled look on his face. He was working on the monthly budget. 

“So, how soon can you go back to work,” he asked.

I knew it was coming. I had already been working on getting a job with my old company, which I was lucky enough to do.  Hello paycheck. Goodbye stay-at-home mommy, “free” child care.

Figuring I would be going back to work, I had already registered my little one at the daycare on post. I knew we would be put on the wait list.  The DC-area is notorious for its waitlists for daycares and preschools; they are expensive and hard to get into, particularly for infants.  With the wait for a two-year-old being 4 to 6 months, I knew I’d have to arrange an alternative while we waited.

Word of mouth among the other military spouses sent me to the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) childcare subsidy program for federal employees.  Particularly for us, the Army Fee Assistance (AFA) program helps working Army families by reducing the cost of off-post child care if on-post care is not an option.  The program buys down the higher costs of non-installation childcare to what you would pay on post.  The Army believes programs like this positively impact readiness and retention by minimizing conflict between work (mission) requirements and the home.

Who Is Eligible?

• Families of Active and activated Reserve Soldiers
• Department of Army Civilians
• Wounded Warriors
• Survivors of Fallen Soldiers

The spouse of those eligible must be working, actively looking for work, or enrolled in school.

AFA Program

• Parent Responsibilities- After determining eligibility, parents must complete the application (paperwork), meet the requirements and enroll with a qualifying provider.  They must sign all invoices and attendance forms (more paperwork) to certify child care given, and pay the provider their share of the costs.  They must also immediately report any family or financial changes to the provider and GSA (even more paperwork).
• Provider Responsibilities- Providers must meet AFA’s licensing and accreditation requirements to maintain participation in the program and receive payments directly from the GSA.  

The GSA works as third party administer for the Army determining eligibility, providing payments and acting as customer service agent for parents and providers.

Fee assistance may be full-time or part-time determined by the status of the spouse.  If the spouse works more than 25 hours a week or is enrolled full-time in college (or a combination of work and school), the family would receive full-time eligibility.  The spouse may also be in the first 90 days of looking for work.  Part-time eligibility can be determined by working between 16 and 25 hours a week or being enrolled in school part-time.

How Much Do I Pay?

• An Army-approved fee calculator determines the amount of fee assistance for each family by taking into consideration total family income, employment/school status of the spouse, and hours of care. 
• The “provider rate” is an amount calculated based on geographic location that is comparable to the rate paid on post by families of similar income.  This amount is paid directly by the family to the provider.
• The provider then bills the GSA for the difference and is paid directly.  The payments are then made directly to the provider.

Simple, right? 

I should note the website currently warns there is a three month backlog in evaluating applications, but is retroactively providing benefits.  So the benefit is there, but it is not a seamless process.  But at a time of skyrocketing child care costs, it’s worth the time.

Mandy Rebmann

Planning a family road trip? 

Your first stop should be your base’s PX to pick up your copy of United States Military Road Atlas.  Sold for around $20 in the PX or the book section of Clothing and Sales, this book is an invaluable source for the military traveler.  Just about everything you need to know about saving money on the road is in there. 

Our family loves to travel.  For me, nothing beats the freedom of the open road.  It’s not for everyone, but I love spending hours in the car seeing America. 

About a year ago, when our daughter was just over one, we took our first family vacation and visited the amazing state of California.  Wanting to hit as many of the major cities as possible in the nine days we were there, we planned a whirlwind tour starting and ending in San Francisco - the most expensive city for both housing and hotels, where even “cheap” hotel rooms can run you upwards of $200 a night. 

After a couple days visiting California’s truly awe-inspiring National Parks, Yosemite and Sequoia, we spent a couple days in Los Angeles then headed up the coast and flew back out of the city by the bay.

A 1,000 mile drive in nine days in a compact car with a one-year-old in the back?  It may not have been the best idea we’ve ever had, but we forged ahead. 

When it came time to plan, we went right to the atlas to plot our course.  In addition to all the usual information on the map, the atlas also showed us the location of all military bases.  Most bases have lodging available, which based on availability, can be reserved for leisure travel.  So instead of paying $200-$300 a night for a hotel in San Francisco, we stayed nearby at Travis Air Force Base and paid less than $70. 

The quality of the hotels varied from base to base, but ranged from acceptable to quite nice in some cases.  It took a bit of planning, and sometimes the bases we stayed at were slightly out of the way.  But,by using military lodging for seven of the nine nights, it saved us over a thousand dollars. 

The atlas is pretty easy to use. Once you determine where you want to visit, just identify a nearby base.  Then you can look up in the back of the book what recreation and travel options they have.  It lists other travel-friendly features, such as fitness facilities, food options, car rentals, and ticket offices.  We were able to get our tickets to Disneyland right at Travis AFB. 

And as it turned out, our daughter was a great traveler.  The only time she ever gave us any grief was in San Jose, at the Winchester Mystery House.  Apparently, a walking tour of an old Victorian house wasn’t the most fascinating thing for a one-year-old.  Who would’ve guessed?

Happy Travels!

Autumn Lotz was pregnant with her second child when she went back to college.

She was doing well in her classes, but she was exhausted.

“The hardest part was dealing with homework, pregnancy and a toddler,” said Lotz, a Navy spouse. “Pregnancy brain is a serious thing.”

She dropped an 8 a.m. class because she was worried about her exhaustion affecting her grade.  Taking that class online would have been easier, she said, but she also admits that she doesn’t thrive in online classes.

“I’ve yet to finish my college degree,” she said. “Because of when I was due, in the middle of the semester, I had to take a whole semester off.  Then I had to take another semester off because she [my daughter] was too young for me to leave several hours at a time.”

Lotz is in her fourth year of working on her associate’s degree, and she still has an estimated two years left.

Lotz is also part of a growing trend of undergraduate college students who are considered “non-traditional,” which can mean, in a lot of cases, that they have at least one child.

While college enrollment can be considered advantageous for a family’s future economic prospects, a child can also present a blockade to finishing education, according to The Wisconsin Financial Aid Study, “Managing to Make It: The College Trajectories of Traditional-Aged Students with Children.”

Still, with the proper support, a college degree can be attainable for a student with children, according to the study.

“Schools need a published policy that respects pregnant women, whether they are faculty, staff or student,” said Serrin M. Foster, president of Feminists for Life, an organization that operates with the goal of meeting the needs of women, so as to lesson abortions.

Foster said that different institutions have different solutions, and it isn’t always “happening all over the place yet.”

“You’re your own advocate,” Foster said.

Inform professors ahead of time about your pregnancy and how it may affect your future in their course, even if you just need more breaks from sitting due to a baby dancing on your bladder.

“I mean, you can’t stop a pregnant woman from going to the bathroom,” she said.  “They have to accommodate this.”

Advocate for access to handicap parking or an elevator key, if it’s necessary, she added.

For the most part, though, things are getting better, Foster said.  And, if you will ask for support, people will provide what they can.

Still, the struggle is that “perception is reality,” Foster said. “We think that pregnancy means your education is over.”

But, even legally speaking, it doesn’t have to be.

Title IX means any educational program that receives federal funding cannot discriminate based on sex, including pregnancy.

This means pregnancy-related absences are excused; when you leave school, you can return and be reinstated.  Your grades can’t be penalized for pregnancy, and you cannot be harassed in any way for your condition.

“Under Title IX, schools must offer pregnant students the same benefits they offer to students with other temporary medical conditions,” according to the National Women’s Law Center.

Colleges take care of STD education, alcohol abuse and suicide prevention, she said.

“The last thing they talk about is pregnancy and parenting,” she added.

Some schools have childcare centers and childcare financial assistance in place for when the baby is born, she said.

“Who in college can afford an au pair?” she said.

Housing near or on campus for families is available at some places, compared to 20 years ago, when pregnant students watched “new housing go up for basketball players,” but nothing for them, Foster added.

Foster and Feminists for Life advocate for each campus to have a central place for pregnant and parent students to go for support.

They push for universities to allow places for breastfeeding, pumping, and breast-milk storage on campus, as well as helping parents have parental leave and health insurance coverage for themselves and their dependents.

“Pregnancy discrimination is against the law,” Foster said.

We know many of you are caring for a spouse who was severely injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And the struggle has been long, and hard.

For those who suffer from traumatic brain injury, returning to everyday life may have at first, seemed impossible.

As they improve and progress, the Department of Defense has offered a series of classes for caretakers and family members to help these veterans in their recovery.

This week, they are hosting an event that specifically addresses helping your veteran take the next step toward regaining their everyday life.

On Thursday, Aug. 13 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. EST, the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury will talk about helping your veteran go to college.

Karen Hux, Ph.D., a professor in the department of special education and communication disorders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will discuss the challenges these students face and ways to overcome them.

This includes discussing:

• Support strategies and accommodations to make note-taking easier
• Ways to maximize reading comprehension
• How to balance educational, social and daily living activities

To register for the webinar, please visit http://dcoe.cds.pesgce.com

Once you register, you will receive an email confirmation and directions on how to log in to the session.

Returning to school this fall?

Chances are you are shopping for books, paper, pens and scholarships.

With enough digging around base, your hometown and the internet, you will find that there are thousands upon thousands of dollars in scholarship money. And many of them are only given to very specific types of recipients.

Luckily, there are a lot of benefactors out there who think women and moms deserve an extra hand when it comes to finishing their college degrees.

Google the term, scholarships for women, and you will find thousands of hits.

One of our recent favorites comes from a list published by www.nerdwallet.com

The money expert site can guide you through choosing the best credit card, the best mortgage and applying for the some of the biggest scholarships available, nationwide.

The site’s round-up of scholarship dollars that are specifically awarded to women seems tailor made for military spouses.

The Emerge Scholarship, for example, is designed to specifically help women who education has been interrupted and who understand the power of giving back to their community. Sounds like a lot of military spouses we know! Learn more at: http://www.emergescholarships.org/index.php/apply

The Philanthropic Educational Organization Program of Continuing Education awards money to women who are earning a degree to support their family. For the spouses of many injured service members this type of scholarship may be the help they need to make their dreams a reality. Learn more at: http://www.peointernational.org/sites/www.peointernational.org/files/content/psa-info-card_updates_2013-02-11_low-res.pdf

To read nerdwallet.com’s full list, check out the entire article here: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/nerdscholar/2012/10-fantastic-scholarships-women-returning-education/

Get those applications filled out and sent in!