If you’re looking to be your own boss, franchising is a fantastic option. Working with children is very rewarding, but business ownership through franchising, for many, has been in itself, a step that they haven’t looked back from. If you’re looking to leave the constraints of employment and regain control then business ownership is a good pathway to go down. Business ownership can sound daunting, but the franchising route makes it a lot less stressful. In this article, we’ll look at some of the top ten benefits and reasons to invest in a children franchise. If you’re not sure what franchising is, we’ve written a guide that covers the basics.
1. A Diverse Sector
There are over 1,000 franchise opportunities UK out there. That’s around 1,000 franchisors actively franchising their business. Children related businesses form a generous part of that, and there are a lot of different kinds of opportunities within. Ask yourself – what do you enjoy? What can you see yourself doing? What is your ideal children related business? There’s a good chance that whatever the answer, there is some form of franchise out there that caters for what you love doing. Do you enjoy getting active? There are many different children’s sports franchises out there. From little ones football to more diverse activities such as fencing and swimming. Do you enjoy making babies smile? How about a sensory or baby movement franchise? From theatre schools to nursery and day care; tuition and education to soft play centres and party franchises – there are franchises out there for almost everything related to children.
2. Inspiring the Next Generation
If you like the idea of making a difference in your community and inspiring the next generation of people, you don’t need to look any further than working with children. From tuition and education franchises to sports, after school clubs and out of school activities are increasing in popularity. The demand for these types of businesses is also in proportional demand and its thanks to franchising that so many people are able to follow their dream and get into business, doing something they love.
Both parents and children are eager to stay active and by running a sports club franchise, not only will you be keeping fit, but you’ll be helping children in your local community stay fit too whilst delivering exciting and engaging activities. It is frequently in the news that around 2 in 3 people are above healthy weight, and by encouraging children to keep fit at a healthy age, you’ll be contributing to a happier and healthier society.
Tuition in the UK is becoming more and more popular, as parents seek to help their kids through education and exams. From Maths and English centres to home based tuition franchises, there are education related businesses that cater for all age groups. Be it early years to teens, franchising is helping to inspire the next generation.
3. A Business in a Box
One of the main benefits of franchising is that almost everything you need is included. Yes there will be an upfront investment, and usually an ongoing fee, but this is not an expense and shouldn’t be seen as one. In exchange for the investment, you’re getting a business in a box. That includes everything from your business branding, to marketing materials, operational equipment and stationery. Training and support is usually included as part of the investment as well but we’ll cover that in point 4.
By investing in a franchise, you’re eliminating a lot of the risks associated with starting up a business alone. Just think, you’ll have your logo to design and trademark. Depending on the business, you might have suppliers to find and so much more. With a franchise, that’s already done for you. The business is more likely to be successful when you’re not making the mistakes you would if you were starting up a children related business alone. Once you’re up and running as a franchisee, it’s only a matter of time before your franchise investment is made back and you start profiting – that’s why you shouldn’t consider it as an expense, just an investment that should soon be made back.
4. Full Training and Support
A considerable advantage over starting up alone is the wealth of training and support you receive as a franchisee. The knowledge of running a successful business is passed on to you by the franchisor. Everything from business ownership, administration, finance and day to day running – it will all be delivered to you as part of the initial training. Ongoing, the monthly service fee contributes to a group marketing fund which helps promote the franchise network as a whole, and finances further research and development to ensure that franchisees stay on top of, or ahead of the game.
When investing in a children franchise, the franchisor will be there if you have any doubts or troubles, but you’ll still enjoy being your own boss. Franchising isn’t employment, it is business ownership, but with the support of the franchisor and an entire franchise network. After all, the franchisor will want you to be successful because you’re a part of their brand. If you’re successful, the franchise network is successful, and this has a positive effect on brand recognition.
5. Brand Recognition
As a franchise network grows, so does its prominence. The branding becomes stronger and more resonant, and this has a positive impact on the franchise network as a whole. Franchisors are often finding that once the first franchisees are on board, the increase in brand recognition has a strong impact on franchisee recruitment and lead generation.
Marketing plays an important role within franchising. There are a lot of marketing opportunities available through a franchise network which wouldn’t be viable if you had started up alone. One such example would be national ad campaigns such as TV and newspapers. That management service fee you’ll be paying each month gets spent by the franchisor to help promote franchisees, to generate them business. This might be ads promoting tuition services or local newspaper articles for soft play or sensory, whatever the franchise deals in.
With a franchise, you’ll be benefiting from the power of a brand, harnessing the positive reputation each and every franchisee is contributing to.
6. A Business You’ll Love
When it comes to business ownership, you’ll only be successful if you enjoy what you do. If you can’t see yourself enjoying running a business then franchising likely isn’t for you. However if you relish the idea of making a difference and owning your own business, then business ownership is certainly a viable option. Maybe you’re a parent that simply loves spending time with children or you’re someone with a background in education or working with kids. If you can see yourself enjoying what you do, then a franchise business may be right for you.
7. Flexible Working Lifestyle
For a lot of people, one of life’s biggest hindrances is employment. A fixed working schedule with limited flexibility. Or a morning and evening commute which when you add it all up, it’s taking a considerable amount of time out of your life. Not only expense. Your employer probably isn’t paying for your fuel – you are. Am I right? £50 a week? £100?
Franchising doesn’t just unlock more choices when it comes to working hours, it unlocks more time in your day too. Many children businesses can be run from home, for example nurseries. If you’re running a swimming or dance franchise, you might employ a teacher but not need to do any teaching yourself. You’d run office tasks such as marketing and finding clients, on a management basis. But while that is true of some franchises, many children franchises do enable you to get involved, running classes to your own schedules. Run classes at times that suit you, maybe weekdays for Monday to Friday franchises, or if you prefer to run classes after school or at weekends on a part time basis that’s entirely up to you. Thanks to this, many children franchises are family friendly franchises. Children franchises are very flexible, but contact the franchisor to find out exactly what options are available to you because there are so many franchises out there.
8. Affordable Franchise Opportunities
Continuing on from a flexible lifestyle, children franchises are often very low cost. Mainly due to their low overheads, but equipment costs are usually reasonably low as well. Where some franchises require you to employ staff or recurring equipment costs, most of what you need will be a one-off investment with children franchises. It might be footballs and activity equipment, or it might be musical instruments for baby music classes. All of which only need to be purchased infrequently, keeping ongoing expenses to a minimum. This is in contrast to for example a coffee shop franchise or cleaning business.
9. Simply Recession Proof
One of the main reasons to invest in a children franchise is its constant demand. Even in times of financial struggle, one of the last things any parent will want to do is axe support for their child’s education and wellbeing. During the COVID pandemic, feedback from a number of children related franchises was consistent in that they continued to offer classes that were COVID friendly. One such example is via video call. Many schools adopted this mechanism for delivering classes and so did franchisors. From dance clubs to tuition, theatre school franchises to baby movement, many children related franchises remained resilient during a global pandemic.
As part of a franchise network, there are many things your franchisor can do to help you during a financial crisis. Whether its cutting monthly management service fees, boosting social media, there is a lot out there to help you that simply wouldn’t be there if you’d started up alone.
Many types of franchises are recession proof, and this is certainly one of them.
10. An Asset You Can Later Sell
After the franchise agreement ends (usually 5-year blocks), you’ll have the option to renew or continue for another term. If you choose not to continue and wish to pursue other avenues, you can go down the route of offering a franchise resale. This enables you to sell the franchise business as it is, with the existing client base, business marketing and history, in exchange for a lump sum. As your franchise business builds and develops reputation and authority, the amount you sell the franchise for can definitely add up. So sit back and enjoy retirement after you’ve enjoyed the luxury of business ownership.
Interested in being your own boss? Discover the many types of children franchises out there and take your first step to business ownership by exploring franchise opportunities on Franchise Planet.
