It’s undeniable that franchising is a rewarding and thriving industry in the UK. However, many people believe the myths, rumours, and the plain and simple untruths surrounding it, running for the hills before the terrifying mythical corporate dragon of franchising can snatch away all their life savings. The reality is far less scary and more imaginative and flexible than you probably realise. This isn’t a simple case of a “business in a box” that’s straightforward to build like a piece of Ikea furniture that all looks the same as everyone else’s. It’s actually one of the most robust ways to build wealth and make a meaningful impact on local communities.
Still not convinced? We at More Than Loft Ladders (MTLL) don’t just talk about why these myths and legends are nonsense; we’ve built our entire business model on destroying the imaginary franchising dragon so it can never harm or scare away any heroic entrepreneurs ever again – and we don’t even use swords or anything.
We’ll start with quite possibly the biggest scale of the franchise dragon’s armour – that franchisees are not “real” entrepreneurs. It’s not hard to imagine why this has come about. It’s easy to assume that a partner is simply a site manager with a clipboard and high-vis vest (or a snazzy tie if they’re feeling particularly fashionable), that simply follows a corporate script with absolutely zero initiative. We at MTLL chuckle to ourselves whenever we hear this, because our business model completely leaves this notion face-down in the dust. Whilst it’s true that we provide the magical potions of technical training, branding, and a lovable mascot named Larry, you truly are the Managing Director of your own limited company. You decide for yourself whether you want to be a “man in the van” or scale up into a massive multi-vehicle empire with a snazzy office on the high street that includes a massive desk with your own name etched in a wooden block. You own the assets, you hire the staff, you fire the staff, and you alone build the local reputation. MTLL gives you the land, but you’re the one who decides how big your castle is, and how wide the moat is. You can even give your limited company any name you want. We at MTLL make your dreams of running a loft ladder company called Custard Cream Ltd a reality.
Our next part of the mythical franchise dragon is how much money you need to get started. There are many who believe that you need a six-figure sum or a call from a high-street bank for us to even consider you a partner. This might be true for some franchises with “Golden Arches”, but the industry is actually a spectrum. Taking us as an example, MTLL are a low-overhead, high-margin business. Due to our business being serviced-based and operated from a trusty van, you’re not throwing hundreds of thousands of your hard-earned cold coins into retail leases (even if they do come with a massive desk thrown in), or expensive stock that just sits in a warehouse collecting dust. Ours is a lean model specifically designed for a quick ROI, making business ownership much more accessible to hard working simple folk like you and me – and not just the “cash rich”.
There’s not only the fear of the mythical franchising dragon, there’s also the fear that, by joining a home improvement franchise like MTLL, you must already be a master carpenter extraordinaire or a loft insulation executive. Our success is built on the fact that all the technical skills are teachable. Rather than testing your knowledge on how many types of insulation you can name, we look for people with the right “soft skills” – including leadership, communication, and a hunger to grow – not just someone who has a master’s degree in spirit level application. Our bespoke one-to-one training transforms motivated squires into mighty lofting knights.
This video provides a first-hand look at how MTLL handles training, showing that we prioritise individual development over a “one size fits all” approach. We prefer this approach because your individual circumstances or experiences might be different from others.
We’ve now arrived at possibly the most persistent and strongest part of the dragon’s armour – the “royalty fear”. Prospective business owners are terrified that once they’ve paid their fees to us, there’s nothing left for mead or a new drawbridge for your castle. We want to quash this once and for all – as the MTLL model is designed for scalability. A strong foundation of high turnover with lower royalites (some as low as 6%) is specifically weighted in the franchisee’s favour. You are the one who benefits most from your hard work. You aren’t simply lining the corporate coin purse; you’re in fact leveraging our national purchasing power to keep your own costs down and your margins up.
Franchising isn’t an industry where you can sit back in your castle watching bags of coins pile up, but we do want to make this very clear – it isn’t a corporate trap set up by the dragon either. It’s very much a living, breathing partnership. MTLL proves that if you value a robust and proven system, but you still want to build a kingdom of your very own, the mythical franchise dragon is well and truly slain.
It’s highly likely that you might have your own specific questions or doubts. Franchising is a rewarding but serious investment, and you mustn’t be afraid to ask a potential franchisor about any concerns that you might have. We’re anything but shy, so why not ask me to draft a list of specific questions you should ask during a discovery day to vet a franchise’s claims? Email me directly – [email protected]
