At face value, franchising appears the ideal means to achieve the goal of self-employment and the mission of becoming your own boss. Then the reality kicks in. You’re tied to a franchisor and their brand. You’re bound by their rules and regulations and obliged to read those most weighty of tomes – the operations manuals – thrown your way. You could be trapped in a market in which consumer demand dries up, hit by the next recession that’s always just around the corner. Worst of all, you might be stuck with a business you can’t sell on.
When you weigh it all up, who in their right mind would look at a franchise and throw the kitchen sink at making the business a success? Who would take on the commitment of an ongoing service charge, which still applies even when the business has found its wings? Who would want a business whose reputation could be affected by other franchisees actions and practices?
The answer is … plenty of people. The problem isn’t franchising, but the fact that franchisees don’t always find a partner that’s the right fit for them. They don’t join a franchisor that has really thought through its business model and made it suitable for a variety of different business personalities. They don’t always enter a sector that suits their experience and skills set and they don’t always ask the right questions that will assist their exit strategy planning.
Franchisees of Aspray, a vibrant property repair and insurance claims management business, are testimony to the fact that one franchise model can work for a wide variety of personality types, from a number of different backgrounds. The Aspray model also demonstrates that there’s a flip-side to every negative you can throw at franchising.
Aspray’s Award Winning Success
Aspray is a successful award-winning brand that brings the halo effect to its franchisees and which expects them to uphold its high standards. It knows its business inside out and has a wealth of knowledge within its Lancashire head office. It disseminates this through its excellent in-house training programme, ensuring its franchisees are both poised and professional when they head out into the field. It leads by example and mentors its franchisees, rather than leaving them to wade through training manuals. It ensures that quality is the hallmark of the brand.
Aspray Franchise Opportunity
Whilst no business is completely future-proofed, Aspray franchisees enter a sector that’s growing all the time. Global warming and its associated weather impacts are escalating the number of property insurance claims emanating from incidents such as flooding and storm damage. An ambitious construction programme is underway, to house the expanding population and that means more households that could need to claim on their home insurance. The number of vehicles on the road, which could potentially damage property, grows year-on-year. Then there are the impacts caused by people who wish people and property harm.
Aspray helps its franchisees during every stage of their journey, because it’s not just the first few years that can be tricky. Franchisees may require new mentoring support once the business begins to plateau and they need to kick start its next period of growth.
The fruits of franchising are abundant, if you get it right, whether you long for independence and the sense of achievement that comes from building a successful business, or extra family time. The rewards can be financial ones – great earning potential and profitability – or emotional ones relating to self-esteem and sense of purpose.
So next time deep-rooted fears and negative thoughts about franchising take hold, stop and consider things in more depth. Have you been looking at the wrong franchise opportunities? Maybe by contacting Aspray on 0800 077 6705, emailing recruitment@aspray.com or visiting www.asprayfranchise.co.uk, you can view franchising as a huge opportunity.