How to Make a Career Change With a Business Coaching Franchise

In the UK, in 2021, business coaching is a growing and lucrative industry, and franchising within that industry is a great choice if you’re looking for a career change that will provide you with flexibility, excitement and the chance to profit from high levels of demand. Here’s how to make that change and kickstart your new professional life as a franchisee.

---

Embarking on a new career journey after the last year and a half can feel intimidating or risky, but in reality, franchising is one of the lowest risk investment options available to you, with only 1% of franchises in 2018 closing due to commercial failure [British Franchise Association]. In this article, you’ll discover how you can become a franchisee with a business coaching company, regardless of your current career OR your level of experience.

Why start a business coaching franchise?

The statistics on business coaching speak for themselves, and here are just a few that should show you exactly how lucrative a career in the sector could be, and exactly how much demand and need is out there for these kinds of services. According to Evercoach:

• 61% say that business coaching has increased their job satisfaction
• 22% of companies say that business coaching has increased their profitability
• 53% of business owners and executives say that business coaching has increased company-wide productivity
• 67% of business owners and executives say that business coaching has improved their teamwork skills

There are plenty more advantages to running your own business coaching franchise, including the flexibility, the access to quality support and training, the chance to build a meaningful and rewarding career, and the opportunity to keep developing and growing yourself, as you teach others to do the same.

---

>> Read more:

• Top 4 Football Coach Franchises in the UK
• Make a healthy profit owning a fitness franchise
• Small Business Coaching – How to Become One
• Personal Tutor Business: Start Your Own with a Franchise

---

Making a career change with a business coaching business

To successfully make a career change with a business coaching franchise, cover each of the following four steps thoroughly...

1. Assess whether your skills are suitable for a career as a business coach

Though most franchise opportunities will come with plenty of training and support, making previous experience non-essential, there are certain transferable soft skills that a business coach needs in order to succeed. Your first step in making this career change should be determining whether you have those skills, and whether a career as a business coach will be truly viable for you. Beneficial skills will be listed individually by different franchises, but generally speaking, a business coach should be able to:

• Communicate
• Listen
• Be patient
• Stay organised
• Set goals confidently (and then meet them)
• Demonstrate empathy
• Demonstrate business acumen
• Speak, present and act confidently

Here are a couple of more specific examples of the ‘ideal franchisee’ in the coaching sector, courtesy of two of the many brilliant franchise opportunities listed on the Point Franchise website:

• ActionCOACH - The ideal ActionCOACH franchisee would be someone who has a track record of success in any field and a demonstrable love of learning and helping people succeed.

• Chrysalis Partners - The ideal Chrysalis Partners franchisee would be someone with an entrepreneurial or managerial background, with experience in finance, operations, sales or marketing. They should also be credible, confident, professional and ambitious, with a passion for helping SMEs to grow.

2. Consider the costs involved in opportunities you’re considering as you narrow it down

Obviously, cost and affordability will be a crucial factor in narrowing down the right opportunity for you. After all, if you can’t afford an opportunity that seems perfect to you, and funding isn’t an option, is it really the perfect opportunity? The cost of starting a franchise unit varies from sector to sector and franchise to franchise, but in 2018, the estimated average cost was £42,200 [British Franchise Association].

When you’re evaluating opportunities that interest you, pay close attention to the various investments and fees you’ll be required to cover, and be sure to enquire as to any additional costs with franchisors and current franchisees so that you know exactly where you stand. Also explore your available funding options, and consider this avenue. Here are some examples of investment costs within the business coaching world to give you a better idea of what you’ll be working with:

• Business Doctors - Business Doctors requires a total investment of £44,500.

• The Alternative Board - The Alternative Board requires a minimum initial investment of £20,000, with franchisee fees of £40,000 and a total investment cost of £64,500.

• Business Partnership - Business Partnership requires a total investment of £25,000.

Get qualified for the opportunity you’re interested in

As mentioned above, most business coaching companies won’t require you to have any industry experience or, indeed, relevant qualification. That said, even if the opportunity you’re interested in doesn’t expressly require you to be qualified, gaining certain qualifications ahead of investing might well help you to succeed as a franchise business owner and stand out from your competitors.

Accredited business coaching qualifications from the Institute of Leadership and Management are a great place to start. You could do, for example, an ILM Level 5 Qualification in Coaching and Mentoring, or an ILM Level 7 Qualification in Executive Coaching and Mentoring. As a business coach, you should be open to the idea that learning is a lifelong pursuit, and you should always be ready to gather more knowledge.

CPD [Continuing professional development] enables learning to become conscious and proactive, rather than passive and reactive [...]. It’s an important part of continually making personal improvements even after finishing formal education. — BPP

---

>> 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

---

3. Create a solid business plan

There are many different reasons to create a business plan, and many different benefits to building a good one. You might need to present the plan to your franchisor during the initial recruitment stage. You might need to show a more detailed and comprehensive version of the plan to an investor in order to secure funding. You might simply want to refer to the plan yourself in order to stay on track and aligned with your goals (and the goals of your franchisor).

Whatever the reason, creating a business plan that ticks all the boxes it needs to tick will help you to avoid mistakes, set goals, secure financing and prove viability. This plan will act as a guide to you, and will show your franchisor exactly what you’re planning to do, allowing everyone to exist on the same page and reducing risk of commercial failure. Key elements to include in your business plan are:

• An executive summary
• A business description
• Product/service descriptions
• A management summary
• Market analysis
• Operational details
• Sales and marketing plans
• Business premises plans
• Financial projections and needs

Why not try running a franchise in the business coaching sector?

You should now know the first steps on your journey towards business coaching franchise success, and have a solid idea of whether becoming a business coach is a good choice for your future career. If you’ve decided you’d be best placed elsewhere, don’t stop the research there. Go back to basics and browse a wide range of exciting franchise opportunities via Point Franchise’s UK franchise directory.