Why become a franchisee?
This is a perfectly valid question to ask and one which we would expect to hear from prospective franchisees. We are aware that when it comes to starting a business, you have choices.
Start on Your Own
You could simply decide to start on your own from ‘scratch’. Obviously, many people take this option and sadly, many people fail. Around 20% of UK business fail to make it to the 12-month mark and 60% fail within the first 3 years (Source UK Money) Franchised businesses present a totally different set of statistics as you will find out later on our site. Unless you have sufficient funds to start and support your business you may find that accessing lending through a bank is more difficult when starting on your own, especially when you may be venturing into a business sector that is new to you.
Buy an Existing Business
You could decide to buy an existing business as an option to get started. Existing businesses tend to cost more because you are not only paying for the fixtures and fittings etc but for the business ‘goodwill’. Goodwill is an intangible asset that you are paying for. It is essentially the seller putting a price on the sales from their existing clients that they estimate you will receive in the future. But who can predict the future? How do you know that those clients will remain loyal to you? A change of business ownership often means that clients will shop around for a new supplier as their loyalty was to the previous owner and not to you. You will therefore have ended up paying for goodwill that didn’t materialise. As with the first option of starting on your own, funding can be difficult to access.
Why Choose Franchising?
This is a question that might be best answered by the 48,000 plus franchisees that have started their own business under one of the UK’s 900+ franchised brands (Source, BFA/NatWest Survey into Franchising) We will, however, give you some facts to consider in order to support our argument for franchising being a great option to start your own business.
Business Format Franchising, which is the official title, involves replicating a business model that someone else has proved works. At Nurses UK we have replicated our successful method of operating in both of our company owned branches proving that our business model works in different locations. We will train you to replicate all of our procedures, systems and methods of recruiting nurses and winning clients that have made us successful.
Most of us are not by nature, risk takers and starting any business involves risk. We have already stated the percentage of failures in business start-ups but the picture in franchising is totally different. The definitive survey into franchising carried out by NatWest Bank and the British Franchise Association shows that the closure rate of all franchised businesses was 5.5% and crucially, the number of franchised businesses that closed due to commercial failure was less than 1%. So, by operating under a franchise model, you dramatically increase your chances of success.
As well as increasing your chances of success your ability to gain funding to get your business up and running is greatly increased by being part of a franchise network. All the major High Street Banks have always been very supportive of lending to franchised businesses. In fact, they all have specialised franchise departments that only deal with franchisors and franchisees. Like people, banks do not like risk and they know that franchised businesses have a very low risk of failure as our statistics prove, hence their willingness to invest. Should you need funding, we will introduce you to the Franchise Department of your chosen bank. Subject to status, a bank will typically lend 50% of the required funding including working capital.
The Benefits of a Franchise Model
You are replicating a tried and tested business model that someone else has spent time, money and effort in developing thus saving you that time, money and effort!
Whilst you 100% own the business you are not on your own. Your Franchisor is there to provide help and support for the duration of your time as a franchisee.
You will be provided with initial and ongoing training and support from people that know how to grow a Nurses UK recruitment business.
The strong brand name and reputation of Nurses UK within the healthcare sector will help to ‘open doors’ for you.
Banks support franchises so access to funding is usually easier.
You increase your chances of success as we have shown by the BFA/NatWest Survey data.
You are building an asset with an attractive future re-sale value. When you decide the time is right to move on, you have the rights to sell your franchise.
