The decision to open a franchise is usually the easiest part of a long and arduous process. Next you have to figure out which franchise is right for you, and this task could be as daunting as running the business itself. Where does one go to find the right franchise opportunities?

The Franchise Market is a franchise directory where you do not have to do all the research yourself. Through the franchise matching service and the help of dedicated account managers, The Franchise Market is helping to take the pain and confusion out of finding the right franchise to match your interests and business goals. Best of all the service is free!

If you are like me and still want to do a bit of your own digging for information, The Franchise Market’s website offers information on the ethics of franchising, marketing tips, as well as some encouragement through success stories. You can also do a test to see how suited you are to becoming a franchisee.

From the looks of it, The Franchise Market is a great resource for anyone considering the possibility of opening a franchise. Check the out FAQ section for more information on their services and the basics of investing in a franchise.

As stated on the Bizwiki site: “Bizwiki is focused on gathering and publishing detailed information about the world's companies, businesses, and organizations - even those without a web site or online presence of their own… the Bizwiki site is built around a self-organized and collaborative community that any of our users are invited to join. We hope to enable a thriving community to grow.”

Visitors and users of Bizwiki can do many things on the site, including finding a UK business or organization, reading information and opinions on UK companies and businesses, writing about or adding any business to the site, and providing your own review about any existing business or company on Bizwiki. You can do all of this just by registering for free on Bizwiki.

Bizwiki.co.uk soft-launched in beta status at the end of July 2007, and is currently in beta, but it is functional and expanding daily. It plans to come out of beta and have an official live launch before the end of 2007.

Bizwiki – the Business Wiki really seems to offer everything a good wiki should offer. When does a USA business wiki get created? :)

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Kapalua Resort is located on the northwest corner of the island of Maui, Hawaii. It is a classic Hawaii resort, offering a few different golf courses (I learned that the PGA’s season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship is played there every year), about 5 different pristine beaches, a bunch of accommodation options (including houses, condos, vacation rentals, and the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua), and access to the pineapple plantations of the Maui Pineapple Company. They even offer a cool tour of the pineapple fields called the Maui Gold tour (named after Maui Pineapple Company’s Maui Gold® pineapple) which includes a nice lunch and a tour of the Kapalua Resort, too. My biggest question is… When can I go?

It seems business for the Kapalua Resort is doing quite well, although the tourist season is starting to wind down now (to get the best deals, go in the winter, which is probably the best time to get away from the cold mainland weather, in any case). Kapalua’s parent company Maui Land & Pineapple recently reported a year-over-year increase of revenues from 2006, but is struggling to maintain an overall profit, mostly due to the restructuring costs and losses on the pineapple side of the company. The Kapalua side of the house seems to be better than ever, though.

Anyone willing to finance a trip for me to get a closer view of Kapalua? =)

Other resources: A visit to the excellent wikipedia page on Kapalua is certainly recommended, as is a visit to the official website of Maui Land & Pineapple (MLP).

Maui Pineapple Company has been in business for almost 100 years, constantly producing high quality Hawaiian pineapple, but it was only recently that the company started expanding its reach to include the online customer—a very wise move. The company is currently running an online promotion of its Maui Gold pineapple, which enables consumers to purchase the fresh fruit through Maui Pineapple Company’s online store at a special promotional discount and get it shipped right to their door.

I’ve found a Maui Pineapple Company listing on Wikipedia. This is a good thing for the company, since Wikipedia is a strong force on the Internet, with a great reputation and high search engine power.

Maui Pineapple Company seems set to take on another 100 years with a healthy stride. I’d love to go there and participate in one of their famous Pineapple Tours, but here I remain stuck on the mainland. I guess the next best thing will be to order Maui Gold and gorge myself on it in my own home!

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The company is created, owned, and operated by Nancy Ganz, who saw a need for trendy clothing for teens and tweens after her own daughter and her friends couldn’t find quality, comfortable teen clothing in the clothing market. As R.Lilly’s website states, “We at R.Lilly care about fostering healthy self-esteem and a positive self-image, and with that in mind have designed clothing specifically for tween girls. By encouraging them to use their imagination to create their own unique looks, R.Lilly aims to help girls feel confident and comfortable with who they are.”

R.Lilly appears to have the right combination of style, comfort, and affordability for the tween clothing market. Their website has been structured very well, making it easy to shop for tween clothing, create customized tween fashion looks by choosing a clothing attitude, such as chic, and then picking the trendy clothing that suits the attitude. It makes shopping for the tweenage girl fun and easy, as well as easy for the parents.

The website also offers fun items and opportunities, like becoming an R.Lilly “style girl,” and playing the “Fashion Fantasy” game, which lets the girl design her own clothes and run her own fashion store. R.Lilly Tuckerwear also makes it simple to contact them, listing a toll-free phone number as well as various contact emails.

R.Lilly Tuckwear, at www.RLillyTuckerwear.com, seems to be doing all the right things to break into and establish themselves in the teen fashion market and create the tween fashion market.

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A business that has come to light recently is the commercial real estate financing and investment company named CFA Capital Partners. Managing partner and co-founder, Steve Anello, is a driving force behind the success of CFA Capital. Anello possesses much experience in the real estate industry, having personally earned a real estate broker license in the state of New York.

CFA Capital provides many funding services, with its stated goal “to be recognized as innovators in the commercial real estate industry.” Many of the services CFA Capital specializes in are home mortgages, bridge loans, transitional loans, consumer loans, equity loans, and various such loan and financing solutions.

Steven Anello is the Chief Operating Officer of CFA Capital, and also directs the sales and marketing functions for the company. Anello has worked with many companies in his long career in corporate finance as the head of the sales and sales processes. As it says on his Steve Anello website, “With his philosophies of goal-oriented acts, motivational leadership, open lines of communication, and value of experience, Steven Anthony Anello is an inspiration within the fields of finance and real estate.”

CFA Capital Partners strives to serve their client with the highest level of satisfaction. As is stated on their CFA corporate site, “Our main focus is to deliver the appropriate financial solution with the understanding that each of our client's requirements is unique… Our advisors are trained to close complex transactions with consistency, speed and reliability.”

Ok, I know there's a bunch of web hosting review sites to choose from, and I figure they're all pretty helpful. Top9Hosting stands toe to toe with them all, and does a fine job. The information they offer in terms of the current hosting prices and other hosting features that web hosting providers supply does appear up to date, so that's good. And this information is quite detailed and thorough, so that tells me an actual human being is behind this all... another good thing.

I do like the reviews for each hosting provider that Top9Hosting writes--yes, they're pretty general and basic, but they're accurate and it's helpful to find all these reviews in one place.

I definitely like the charts they provide that you can sort by feature, so you can compare the main features from one hosting company to the next--an extremely helpful tool. Kudos.

In all, Top9Hosting.com seems a worthwhile site to help cut through all the jumble of disparate information about web hosting on the Internet. It's all in one place, helping the consumer compare effectively. I'll be interested to see what the future brings for Top9Hosting. Will they flesh out their Glossary and Articles?

In a blow to Airbus SAS, German airline Lufthansa AG said Wednesday it would order 20 Boeing 747-8 planes, with an option for 20 more, becoming the first passenger airline to order the new long-haul jet.

Industry speculators are saying this bodes well for the US aircraft maker.

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Bank of New York Co. has agreed to take over Mellon Financial Corp. in a $16.5 billion all-stock deal that will create the world's largest securities servicing company and one of the biggest asset managers.

In an unrelated note, I think they should name the new company, New York Mellon. Lots of interesting imaging possibilities come to mind.

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A senior marketing executive hired by Wal-Mart to help sell more high-end products has left the company after less than a year on the job, the world's largest retailer said...

It's kind of a corporate "Peter principle".

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Though free shipping offers tend to dwindle during the rest of the year, they will return in force this holiday season, with 83 percent of online retailers surveyed offering the promotion, according to a study released by Shop.org, an association of online retailers.

Hey, I'll take whatever I can get.

Three-fourths of shoppers surveyed in the eHoliday Mood Study said free shipping offers are one of the most important factors when they decide where to buy online. Consumers are expected to spend as much as $32 billion online this holiday season, up 18 percent from 2005, according to JupiterResearch.

Spend, spend, spend. Except on UPS, USPS, and Fed Ex.

“Online retailers see free shipping as a necessary evil during the holidays,” said Ellen Davis, spokeswoman for Shop.org. “They know it motivates customers.” 

Motivate away. Happy Holidays!

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Many companies are starting to sound like moms: They’re pushing employees to eat their vegetables and go outside and play. And they’re not being gentle about it.

Personally, I prefer my mother.

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Five of the nation's largest employers plan to soon give their workers a unique health care benefit — their very own electronic medical record that they can take when they travel, change jobs or see a new doctor.

Anyone seen Pandora's storage container?

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Shoppers have been able to review and rate purchases on online-only retailers like Amazon.com for more than a decade. This year, a number of traditional retailers like Federated Department Stores’ Macy’s and Home Depot Inc. have added the feature, while destinations such as Yahoo! Shopping have made customer reviews more central.

Are opinions worth dollars? We'll see.

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