Today’s guest post is brought to us by Emma Holmes, mummy of 2 fabulous little people and founder of Mums in Franchise
For mums who want to start a business she shares with us what she did.
Do you ever dream of being your own boss? Putting a stop to working on someone else’s terms? Being more flexible and achieving that perfect work/life balance?
Think you are cut out to run a business? Do you think you have the clout? I do hope that you are not shaking your head right now!! It takes a lot of hard work, determination and a thick skin to run a business but you could do it! YES YOU.
I had always dreamed of being my own boss, working to my rules as I sat at my computer in my office or waiting in the court waiting room during my corporate career as a lawyer. Won’t it be great to take the day off if I felt like it! On a whim! Only me to answer to. I did not expect that to be the norm, but sometimes, just sometimes when the sun was shining and the kids were off school we could just go out, go away and have fun!!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a hard task master with myself, no-one has higher expectations of me than me.
After I had my two little people the corporate world did not fit anymore. My weeks became riddled with guilt. If I was at home with the kids then I felt guilty that I was not pulling my weight in office and if I was in the office I felt guilty that I was not at home with the kids. Something had to give, I could not keep going on like this. I was about to explode with guilt.
So, off I trotted to research my options
- Another job, might be a less stressful job but the same issues would remain with the guilt!
- Start a business – but what could I do?
- Buy a franchise – now I could do that, I would get help and support and guidance and be taught how to run my business
I think you can guess which way I went – I bought a franchisee business. I thought I would get bucket loads of help – unfortunately that was not the case, I had to learn as I went along. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some absolutely amazing franchisors out there and they add so much value to their franchisees. Their models are amazing and they tirelessly work to help their franchisees.
It was as a result of my franchisee business journey that Mums in Franchise was born and I now help and support franchisees to find the sparkle in the franchisee business and become more profitable.
So is a franchisee business a proper business? People will use the expressions “is it your business or is it JUST a franchise.” What do you think, is it a proper business or are you a self-employed employee? It is without a shadow of doubt a proper business. Tell me something that a “proper” business owner has to do that a franchisee does not have to do? There is nothing. A franchisee still has to be accountant, marketer, public relations, admin, deliver goods or services, Project Manager, development department to name but a few.
The similarity that I like to use is that of shopping & chefs! If you go to the supermarket and buy all the ingredients to make a cake, you still need the necessary skill to bake that cake and it will be your cake and not the supermarket’s cake. The chef who buys vegetables from the wholesaler or the cash & carry is no less of a chef than the chef who grows their own vegetables – they still need the necessary skill to make the dish yummy!
Bio-
Emma, mum of 2 left her life in the corporate world in search of a better work/life balance. After many hours of research she thought that the franchise business model would suit her best. For more information about running a franchise business contact her on www.mumsinfranchise.com
