Franchising 101: Expand Your Business Empire by Becoming a Franchisee

You’re running a successful independent business, but you’re looking to take things to the next level – a franchise could help you do just that. In this article, we debunk the myth that franchising is just for business ownership novices and take a look at the ways investing in a franchise can take your existing business to the next level or diversify your business portfolio.

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Franchising is often touted as an excellent way for people who are currently employees to make the leap to business owners, rather than a way to expand your business. And, considering there are an estimated 50,000 franchisees in the UK, it seems that lots of ambitious businesspeople have chosen this route to success. But what about if you’ve already established a profitable business – is franchising still something you should be thinking about?

The short answer is yes. Whether you choose to incorporate a franchise’s branding into your existing business, fully convert your business into a franchised outlet, or use the funds from your existing venture to open an entirely separate franchise, there are lots of ways to expand your business empire by becoming a franchisee. Here’s our guide to growing your business portfolio with a franchise.

Becoming a franchisee

Keeping it traditional

First, let’s quickly outline the traditional route that most franchisees take. Generally, most franchisees start out as employees. They might be employed by the business they eventually choose to become a franchisee for, or do something completely unrelated, before taking the leap. Why? Well, franchising is seen by many as a safer and somewhat easier route to business ownership for those previously unfamiliar with running their own business.

Lots of people choose to go down this route as they’re not confident enough to start an independent business – you can read more about this right here if you are looking to go down the traditional franchise route. But, if you’ve already struck out alone and achieved some success, you might think that the guided approach offered by most franchisors isn’t right for you.

In reality, experienced businesspeople who are already running, or have previously run, an independent business are in demand by lots of franchises.

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>> Read more:

• Is the Franchising Model Right for Me?
• A basic guide to franchising
• Franchising: An Exciting Alternative To Retirement
• Who can own a franchise?
• Franchising 101: The basics
• Understanding the Foundation of Franchising
• Franchising is on the rise: here’s why

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When does franchising suit experienced businesspeople?

Here are four of the main reasons why lots of franchise opportunities are actually better suited to those with previous, and even current, experience running their own business.

1. If a franchise opportunity requires lots of capital, it’s more likely that its franchisees are actually businesses or individuals who have already achieved success with another venture. Some may require six or even seven figure investments and ask that you have hundreds of thousands of liquid capital for further investment into the business. This is easier to guarantee if you’ve already got a good income from an existing business. Naturally, these businesses generally offer the highest returns, but they’re virtually impossible to invest in unless you’ve made some serious money from another venture first.
2. Some franchises only want to work with individuals or organisations that have direct experience operating in its sector. If you’re able to show that you’ve set up a successful independent business to a highly selective franchisor in the same sector, it’s likely you’ll go straight to the top of their prospects list.
3. Lots of franchises can be run on a part time basis and offer excellent passive income after the initial setup period without you needing to dedicated more than a few hours a week to them.
4. Not all businesses offer turnkey packages that allow even an industry novice to become a franchisee. As an experienced businessperson, you’ll have your pick of the franchise opportunities and may be able to access more profitable types of franchise agreements, including multi-site, area developer and master franchisee agreements. These will allow you to establish a network of sites and an impressive income to match your vast operations.

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>> Read more:

• Top 10 Tips for Happy Franchisees
• Innovation in franchising
• Top tips for being a productive franchisee
• Top tips for franchisees who need to secure finance
• How to keep your employees happy: Tips for franchisees
• Top Tips on How to Become a Profitable Franchisee

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How can this work if you’re already running a successful business?

Want to learn more about how you can invest in a franchise as an already successful businessperson? We’ve broken down the three main ways to invest in franchising, depending on your goals and ambitions.

Co-branding

If you’re already running a business you love, but want to make it even better, a few franchises offer the chance to incorporate their branding into your operations. This kind of structure is more common if you choose a licensing agreement, but a select number of franchises allow existing businesses to open a kind of ‘dual branded’ business.

Your logo and the franchise’s logo will be displayed equally and you’ll benefit from using its brand name while retaining a larger degree of autonomy over your business. FastSigns is pretty much unique in the UK market with this offering and will let you expand your services to incorporate the internationally successful franchise’s offerings. Learn more here.

Converting your business entirely

Let’s say you run a home care business. You love your staff, have a great network of clients and enjoy what you do, but want to make your business more efficient and benefit from the strong brand recognition of an award-winning franchise. Converting it into a franchise could be the ideal solution. You can keep your team, enjoy the day-to-day freedom of running your own business, but will reap the rewards of being part of a nationally-recognised network.

**Minuteman Press **is one of the largest franchises to offer this package. You’ll also get lots of support from your franchisor in any areas you find tricky as a business owner and will have the chance to expand your business by enjoying access to bank loans and commercial funding, which is much more likely to be approved for the purpose of expanding a franchise than an independent business.

Opening a separate franchised business

If your independent business is already doing exceptionally well, but you’d like to explore the prospect of running a franchised business alongside it, some franchises offer a management only option.

For example, many of Nationwide Cleaners’ franchisees employ an administrator to run their day to day operations and reap the financial rewards from their hands-off management approach. Similarly, a One Delivery franchise is perfectly suited to being run alongside any other operations, as it only requires a £1,995 investment and a few hours of your time every week to bring in a healthy income. Stagecoach, too, is a fully-scalable opportunity, as you’ll only need to deliver classes for a few hours a week, leaving all of your other hours free to pursue other ventures as you wish.

Franchising: Not just for business novices …

So, as you can see, franchising is a fantastic way to take your business to the next level or boost your business portfolio. Want to find out more about some of the UK’s most exciting franchises? Click here to browse our directory, where you’ll find everything from fast food franchises to beauty franchises to childcare franchises.