sixtypoundhound

Why not Upwork? Or investing some time in studying up on digital marketing and building your own products?

It isn't easy but you should be able to clobber $5/hour. Two questions which my customers have never asked me:

- What school did you go to? - What country do you live in / are a citizen of...

Be careful what you wish for.

Commercial ads aren't perfect but they represent a decent middle ground for content creators. And have a powerful moderating effect on webmaster behavior.

If you want a nasty experience, look at any non-sponsored digital eco-system which doesn't qualify for display ads. Things tend to get pretty raw in a hurry. (and most nice content creators stop wasting time and get regular jobs)

I'll be in touch (sorry, wandered off to deal with life)

And ability to execute consistently across the chain. That's the real miracle here. Everyone else is hit or miss.

I don't think I've ever seen a bad Chick-fil-A...

Sure - and franchises are actively marketed, by a commission sales force and any number of people who get a 'finders fee' should you happen to sign up through their channel. There is an active push to herd people into franchises.

They tend to target unemployed middle-aged managers, since that audience is often driven by ego to "be the boss" and has the disposable funds to pony up a large setup fee. I was aggressively targeted when I was laid off last year.

What they didn't know - until we got on the phone - is I'm the target prospect from hell. I certainly have the funds; however, I got them via two decades of finance and strategy work. Old habits die hard. Due Diligence? Don't mind if I do...

I was polite but I laid out my expectations in financial terms based on investments in businesses of similar size. Actual deals which I had managed. Made it clear I had the funds to deliver if they could meet my goals in writing.

They ran like hell.

Uh...this is a common conflict between owner-operators and franchise groups.

Also a common area of abuse. There was a sandwich shop chain in the US where this got very ugly a few years ago...

Politics aside, the food is awesome, fast, and polite.

And generally better for you than the major chains...

I'm not really sure what MacDonald's actually serves anymore... much less any of the others...

This is a secret weapon.

Most organizations lose 30% - 50% of their "mojo" with each layer of separation from an "engaged stakeholder". Generally meaning someone with equity or substantial profit sharing.

I'd also bet that the majority of their owners only own one business, which means they are even more engaged.

Compare that with the typical master franchise operator, who may be running multiple locations and multiple brands. Unless they have an awesome process and technology team, their operational efficiency is probably a full order of magnitude below the typical highly engaged Chick-fil-A...

I love it - any restrictions on setting up an ad program on my blog and feeding candidates into the process?

(I've got a relevant audience, so not spam)

That is what is politely referred to as a "cost of doing business"....

Get ready for ads to get more annoying. The hidden benefit of using personalized data to target and track prospects was an advertiser could use "soft sell" to build a brand over time.

As that market gets shut off, we're back to aggressively using interruption marketing "shock jock" ads and auto-play video. Click now or forever hold your peace...

The problem with contextually targeted ads is there is no real guarantee of repetition and brand building...

Whoa there... you've got a blessing in disguise... use it wisely before you scamper off.

I've had two of these in my career - extended stays in a role which is "naturally prestigious" but had minimal actual challenge or operational responsibilities. They're fantastic...

The first one (at about your age) I used to court my wife and read / think EXTENSIVELY about business and life. It let me get my shit straight before the next leg up.

Rolled off that into a super-intense turnaround role and fatherhood (also super-intense) which took about 5 years. At the end of that, wound up as an "executive caretaker" managing group with instructions not to disrupt anything while they sold the company. So 3 - 4 years of sideways action with no meaningful opportunities for promotion.

Which turned out to be a MASSIVE gift. My bosses basically didn't care what I did with my time, so I learned how to code (full stack + database management) on company time and leveraged that into a successful side business. They funded me through the low-return slog of learning a new industry and starting a new business....

THANK GOD they didn't make me a fucking VP....