Company: Action International, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Company Description: Action International, headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, is one of the fastest growing franchises and is the largest business coaching company in the world. The company was established in 1993 by young visionary, Brad Sugars. The company began franchising in 1997, and now has 700+ offices in 22 countries around the globe.

Nomination Category: Company, Office & Product Awards Categories

Nomination Sub Category: Best Overall Company

Nomination Title: Action International Business Coaching

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Action International is the world leader in business coaching as well as the largest franchise export out of Australia. This Aussie success story had the

only the humblest of beginnings. Starting from the back bedroom of a suburban home in Brisbane in 1993, our founder Brad Sugars, started teaching business owners how to grow their sales and marketing results.

For the first time, these business owners had access to powerful, yet relatively simple and affordable sales, marketing and team building strategies that brought about dramatic improvements in their revenues and profits.

For the first four years the company was based purely around the seminars and business coaching provided by Brad Sugars and with limits on his time and endurance after providing advice to business owners worldwide – Brad and Action made the decision to franchise in 1997.

Since that time, Action has expanded rapidly with head offices in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and Richmond, London, UK. Action’s franchisees and master franchisees are located in 22 countries with our 800th franchisee joining the system in March 2006.

Action is currently ranked number one business consulting franchise in the world, one of the top 100 franchises overall and one of the top 20 home based franchises by Entrepreneur magazine. Our franchise system in 2005 won Franchise of the Year in Ireland and early this year won Franchise of the Year in Britain.

Early this year, Action’s Chairman and Founder Brad Sugars secured an international publishing contract with the world’s leading business publisher,

McGraw Hill. All 14 of Brad’s Instant Success titles have been released in bookstores throughout the USA.

Just last month, Action made the Top 50 Franchises in the 2006 Franchisee Satisfaction Awards conducted by US based Franchise Business Review. Those awarded in the Top 50 were based on the confidential survey responses from their respective franchisee network in the areas of training and support, franchise system, franchisor relationship and financial opportunity.

These achievements and accolades received from industry groups from all over the world reflect the company’s vision of “World Abundance Through Business Re-education”. Small to medium sized businesses are the engine room of many economies of the world. Statistics show that one third of businesses fail in the first five years. The impact on GDP and job losses caused by small to medium sized cessations is considerable. Imagine a world where the number of business failing is dramatically reduced and the number of businesses thriving increased dramatically and you can see the vision of Action International.

Each year, a conservative estimate is an Action business coach will positively impact 20 small to medium sized businesses. By the end of 2006, Action will help 23,200 businesses around the world achieve their goals.

In five years, with current growth and numbers of business owners assisted by Action business coaches remaining stable, Action will help at least 164,000 business owners around the world survive and thrive.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, http://www.youraddress.com:

Entrepreneur Rankings

http://www.entrepreneur.com/franzone/details/1,5885,12-12---282069-3,00.html?section=rankings

http://www.actioncoaching.com/medias/2006%20Entrepreneur%20Rankings%20Release.pdf

Franchise 50

http://www.franchise50.com/Default.aspx

McGraw Hill Book Deal

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=br_ss_hs/002-5606079-9516848?search-alias=aps&keywords=
%27bradley%20j%20sugars%27

Service Franchise of the Year – Ireland 2005

http://www.actioncoaching.com/medias/Action%20Wins%20Irish%20Franchise%20Awards%202005.pdf

http://www.actioncoaching.com/medias/Inside%20NI-Dec05.pdf

UK Franchise Provider of the Year 2005/2006

http://www.actioncoaching.com/medias/Action%20Wins%20UK%20Franchise%20Provider%20of%20the%20Year.pdf

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

Brad Sugars is a world-renowned Australian entrepreneur, author and business coach who has helped more than a million clients around the world find business and personal success.

Financially retired at 26, Brad is a trained accountant, but most of his experience comes from owning his own companies. His main company, Action

International, has more than 800 offices in 22 countries and is ranked in the top 100 franchises in the world by Entrepreneur Magazine.

Brad’s most recent personal achievement is having 14 book titles in his Instant Success Series published by world leading publisher, McGraw Hill.