Why You Don’t Need to be Alan Sugar to Own a Business Franchise

The concept of owning your own business might be a scary one if you haven’t had any previous business experience but the reality is that you don’t need to be Alan Sugar or have a degree in business studies to own your own business with a franchise and in this post we will tell you why you already have many of the things you need to make it a success (and how we can help you with the rest).

What is a franchise and why is it different?

When you buy a franchise you invest in a proven and tested business model. You get access to training, marketing materials and support. Unlike starting a business from scratch alone, you become part of a network of people who also own the same franchise and work within the same business model.

The owner of the franchise, or franchisor, will usually be the person who started the business initially. They had to go through the trial and error phase to understand what would work, they invested in branding, websites and marketing. They took the risks and learnt from the natural mistakes that all businesses experience before they find their feet. They made the business model a success.

All that experience was then used to put together a package of information, training, resources and support designed to enable others to replicate that model and create their own successful business under the umbrella of the franchise brand.

Within any franchise network you will find a variety of people with an entirely unique set of skills and strengths, each of which adds to the experience of being part of the franchise. Even if you haven’t got a background in business, you have other skills and a lifetime of experience that you can draw upon in your new adventure, and to share with your fellow franchisees. It really is the case with a franchise network that the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts and everyone's contributions are valuable and help everyone else be successful.

The video below introduces you to a few of our franchisees, and as you can see they come from a wide range of backgrounds.

What business skills do you need?

It doesn’t matter what you start with but you will certainly learn from the training, support programme and the other franchisees. The truth is when you own a franchise you do own your own business but it isn’t half as scary as you might think, and you never need to feel like you are on your own.

All the skills you might be worried about you can learn if you are willing to put in a little time and effort to do so;

• You will learn how to market your business

• You will learn how to set your pricing

• You will learn how to plan and set targets for your business

• You will learn how to keep the records and accounts you need

These are all learnable skills.

What is more important in determining your success in business are the skills we can't teach you.

The most valuable of these are people skills. You see people like to do business with people, whether you are networking with your local community business group, negotiating prices with a venue or speaking to potential customers, knowing how to build relationships and communicate is extremely valuable and more important than a business qualification.

Overcome your fear

Starting a new venture may feel overwhelming and fear can get in your way of trying new things. It is always important to remember that anything you do that is new will require you to learn new things, this will feel uncomfortable for a time but without stretching yourself and exploring your possibilities then you are effectively setting limits on your life.

If you are considering a franchise business but worried about all the things you don’t yet know, think instead about what you do know and what you can bring to a business, focus on your strengths and remember other times in your past that you have overcome fear to learn new things to remind yourself you can do it again.

It is also important to connect with the reasons you want to run own your own business in the first place, instead of thinking about what you have to learn, think about why you want to learn it. Will it give you more freedom? More flexibility? More time with your family?

Passion for the business itself

The best quality you can bring to a franchise is passion for the business itself. If you love what you do and believe in it then this will take you further than any business degree.

The franchisees at Tots Play come from a wide variety of backgrounds and brought with them a wide range of experiences but they all shared a love of working with babies and their parents/carers. This is what has enabled their success.

If you are also willing to work hard, committed to your goals, and determined to create and grow a business that works for you then you have everything you need to be a successful franchisee.

For more tips on what it takes to be a business owner through franchising take a look at our special report, How to Be a Super Successful Franchisee. You can find it HERE.

The Tots Play Franchise Programme

The Tots Play franchise programme provides the opportunity to use our proven business model and systems to run your own Tots Play business offering our classes and services in your local area at times that suit you.

Our franchisees come from a wide variety of backgrounds but all are achieving success on their own terms, around their family and other commitments, with no boss to answer to, and enjoying the support and encouragement of an experienced head office team and wider network of existing franchisees who know exactly what you going through at every step and are able to give you that helping hand just when you need it.

Why not take the first step towards joining them? To learn more about the Tots Play franchise with no obligation, click HERE and request our comprehensive Franchise Information Pack, it could just be the best thing you ever do!

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