While the information revolution and the Internet helped to flatten business and enable local businesses go global, it failed to offer Main Street labor, our technicians and skilled service providers to retool, retrain and enhance their businesses.

For a small manufacturing company or product reseller, the Internet enabled easy access to a global marketplace of buyers. With the advent of eBay, Yahoo and Amazon, even very small companies with a product to sell could be found by buyers all over the world and transact business.  The Internet also created a whole new series of businesses: graphic artists, web programmers, social-media consultants, and even outsourced bloggers, but little about the Internet helped the local plumber or electrician.

My meeting yesterday with Phil Baugh made it clear that being ‘green’ is no longer a life-style, it is a business opportunity now and will be a key differentiator soon.  Projects, standards and efforts such as LEED are forcing retailers, property managers, commercial builders, business owners, CEOs and Realtors to change.

During this Energy Revolution,  Green Collar workers will benefit immediately; but they must prepare and retool.  Yes, the Energy Revolution will need enterprise applications, embedded electronics, cloud computing and the rest.  But most importantly, it will demand a large pool of skilled, local, trade laborers.  From businesses that install solar systems on your roof to ones that construct entire wind farms, the end results require skilled hands and minds working at the ground level.

It is true that the past 9 months have created a new playing field for potential franchise owners – they have renew need to buy a franchise, but now have new financial rules and abilities.  The franchisor who does not change to address these shifting needs is in trouble.

Our client Oxi Fresh is just one example of a franchisor that is knocking down sales and has exceeded their sales goals.  What’s different?

In a ‘lay-off’ economy, franchise sales are historically up and the banks are willing to lend to qualified entrepreneurs starting a business with a well-known franchise brand.  In our current situation however, the banks are not lending.  Especially not to a potential franchisee.  In this economy, and in every economy for that matter, the franchise business models selling are the ones that can.  The ones that are finance-able.

Oxi Fresh has a low-cost of entry services, business franchise with centralized customer service and support.  It doesn’t take a business loan, a remortgage of a house, or a 401k redistribution to get started.  It only requires a commitment to the business model.

Intelligent.