With over 130 franchisees, experienced franchisor Ryan White, MD of pet care franchise, We Love Pets, who recently reached the finals of the BFA HSBC UK Franchisor of the Year Awards, describes the top 5 gifts potential franchisees can expect to receive when they buy a franchise in 2025.
“I was going to start this piece with a joke about what rubbish Christmas presents you might be expecting this year, socks, soap, rude shaped pasta? But then I realised, although many of us are in a jovial ‘end of term’ mood, with Christmas on our doorstep, this isn’t a ‘funny’ subject at all. Far from it, it is potentially one of the biggest decisions you will ever make in your life, so I’ll put away my festive jokes and take a serious look at how buying a franchise and becoming self employed next year, could benefit you in a way that socks with your dog’s face on never could.
Gift No. 1: Regaining control of your life
It is possible, that like many you are stuck on the employment train, unable to get off. Like staying in a bad marriage, you are wondering if it is better to stay or leave? Is it a case of ‘better the devil you know’ or is there a better life on the other side? If you feel you are working increasingly long hours, with no autonomy over your own life and absolutely no idea if or when the redundancy or unemployment axe will fall, then it might be time to regain some control over your own life.
Buying a franchise gives you complete control over your own life. Complete. Within reason, as long as you follow the franchise model, it is up to you how and when you get the job done (apart from shop or restaurant-based franchises; not sure a 3pm opening time would work for a coffee shop!)
Interestingly, franchising sees an uplift in recruitment during economically turbulent times; people leave their jobs and buy franchises because they want to take back control of their lives and be able to navigate difficult times on their own terms; drive the train themselves, not wait to find out the first carriage derailed two miles ahead and you’re all going down with it.
Gift No. 2: Regaining control of your income
As you regain control of your life you will also, possibly for the first time in your life, be directly in charge of how much you earn. Some franchisees coast along very happily, doing ‘just enough’ to give them a nice salary and an easy life, and that’s great for them, but in the neighbouring territory there could be someone absolutely smashing it, working harder and smarter than anyone else, with a P&L sheet to prove it. If you want to earn the big bucks and build a really solid business, you’ll have all the support and training you need to do so, with a franchisor cheering and championing you from the wings. The only one who will restrict your future earnings will be you.
Gift No. 3: Regaining control of your future
When you are stuck in an employed job, chasing the next promotion, you never quite know when it’s going to happen do you? As a franchisee, you know exactly what is happening, because you make it happen. Want to double the size of your business? Buy the neighbouring territory. It is almost as simple as that. Do you want to own one territory or 12? The choice is yours. At the recent BFA HSBC UK British Franchise conference we heard from a franchisee who went from owing one territory to now owning 19 territories with a £6 million+ turnover. When we say anything is possible, it really is.
Gift No. 4: Time
For many people, time is the most precious gift there is and the one they are most grateful for when buying a franchise. Finally, they can make every Christmas play, sports day and class assembly. No longer do they have to decline multiple invitations to spend time with family and friends because they are ‘at work’. I’m not saying running your own franchise won’t require hard work, it 100% will, but when you own your own business, you have the flexibility to fit things that are important to you and your loved ones around your working day.
Gift No. 5: Hope
And finally hope; franchisees often come into the sector pretty burnt out from the rest of ‘life’. They may have had extremely stressful jobs (the number of nurses, teachers, social workers and ex police and military who buy franchises is proof of that). They have ‘done their time’, given their all and now, understandably, they want a complete change of direction and pace. We welcome them with open arms as we know they make some of the best franchisees and it is a pleasure to work alongside them, as they discover their new lives.
I fervently hope, if you are looking to take the leap into self-employment in 2025, you will consider franchising. Visit the BFA website for more information and take their free prospective franchisee certificate so you are aware of what it means to own a franchise before you make that first phone call. Good luck and Happy Holidays!
