How to Make a Career Change With a Blinds and Shutters Franchise

If you’re interested in making a career change and starting down a new professional path, franchising could be a great option, offering you all the freedom of business ownership at a lower level of risk. Why not consider investing in a trendy, growing industry like the window coverings sector? Here’s how you can make a career change with a blinds and shutters franchise.

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Making a career change is equal parts overwhelming and exciting, but with franchising, you can assuage your fears of failure. In 2018, less than 1% of franchise units in the UK closed citing commercial failure as a cause [British Franchise Association]. With expert training and guidance on your side, you’re bound to be able to build a successful business. Now, it’s time to dive into how.

Why start a blinds and shutters franchise?

Investing in a reputable franchise in a growing industry will provide you with the recipe you need to build a successful, profitable business in no time at all. If you’re interested in the prospect of starting your own blinds and shutters franchise, here are some of the biggest advantages to doing so:

• You’ll find low-cost investment options in this industry
• You’ll be able to work with customers, seeing projects through to completion
• You’ll be able to build a scalable, profitable business
• You’ll have flexible working hours
• You’ll benefit from your franchisor’s referrals, support and training
• You’ll benefit from growing customer demand across the UK
• You’ll follow a proven and simple business model all the way to success

The industry is continuously evolving and we are not afraid to go, live and change with it. This has been one of the many reasons why for more than 40 years, we are still the top provider in window blinds. - Apollo Blinds

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>> Read more:

• Ready for a Career Change? Check Out These Five Top Franchise Opportunities in the UK
• Career Change: Start a Fresh Career with a Franchise
• Fed Up With the 9-to-5 Perhaps Starting a Franchise Business Is Your Best Next Career Move

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How to make a career change with a blinds and shutters franchise

You can make your career change successfully by covering all of the most important bases. If you want to start a blinds and shutters business with a franchise company, you’ll absolutely need to complete each of the following steps...

1. Assess your skills

As a franchisee, you’ll likely be provided with extensive training and support in return for your investment - that means that many franchise businesses don’t ask you to have any prior industry experience or specific qualifications. Still, there are certain skills that will benefit you in the blinds and shutters sector, and before you invest, you should check in with yourself and find out whether you have these important transferable skills. Skills such as:

• Communication
• Customer service
• Design and creativity
• Time management
• Intuition
• Leadership
• Technical proficiency
• Reliability
• Trustworthiness

If we take a few industry-specific opportunities as examples, we can see that for Just Shutters, the ideal franchisee would be a people person with an abundance of enthusiasm. They would also be driven and determined to succeed. Meanwhile, Shuttercraft expresses that its ideal franchisee would be someone interested in building their business from the ground up, and someone with the desire to sell quality products and truly believe in them.

2. Research your industry

There have been some big shifts in trends for blinds and shutters over the past few years. As people’s priorities change, different kinds of window blinds with different features and functions are becoming more important. - Leamington Blinds

When you know that you’d fit into the industry, it’s time to dive deep into research. Before you start looking hard at specific opportunities, get to know the blinds, shutters and window coverings landscape. Understanding the latest trends will help you to stay ahead of your competitors once you get into business, making your career change as profitable as possible. Trends to look into include:

• Eco-friendly blinds
• Soundproof blinds
• Outdoor blinds and shutters
• Faux wood shutters
• Smart blinds
• Blackout blinds
• Plantation shutters

Also take some time to examine what a day in your life as a blinds and shutters company franchisee will look like. Generally speaking, these are some examples of what your daily tasks could be (though this will of course differ between opportunities):

• Planning and scheduling meetings, calls, appointments and installations
• Attending meetings, calls, appointments and installations
• Responding to customer queries and needs
• Marketing your franchise and services
• Financial management and employee management

3. Consider the costs

Finally, you’ll come to the point where you’re narrowing down a list of franchise opportunities that you’ve come across during your previous research. As you begin to assess these investment options, be sure to account, first and foremost, for cost. Once you’ve decided on a franchise you’ll need to do your due diligence prior to investing, but before you even get to this point, you’ll need to know that every opportunity you’re looking at is financially compatible with your situation.

The average cost of starting a franchise is estimated to be £42,200 [British Franchise Association], though in many cases, funding options are available. Don’t forget to think not just about the initial cost of investing, but all the associated and ongoing costs, too. The last thing you want to do is overinvest. Here are some cost examples from the blinds and shutters industry:

• Shuttercraft - To become a Shuttercraft franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £27,495.
• Apollo Blinds - To become an Apollo Blinds franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £20,000.
• Just Shutters - To become a Just Shutters franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £27,000, with franchise fees of £20,000 and a total investment cost of £40,000.

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>> Read more:

• Q&A: Does Shuttercraft Franchise in the UK?
• Q&A: Does Marla Custom Blinds Franchise in the UK?
• Top 3 Blinds Franchises in the UK

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Start running your own blinds and shutters business today in the profitable world of franchising

There are many advantages to running an interior decorating franchise in 2021, and after reading this article, you should have a strong idea of two things: Why starting a blinds and shutters franchise is a good idea, and what you should do if you want to do that. If you’re now ready to make your next move, browse Point Franchise’s available investment opportunities in the sector to get started.