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Found a franchise I like the sound of, what do you think?

MoominMama
Posts: 71 Forumite
I have found a local woman who has spent the past year setting up her own networking business specifically for parents with school age children who want to work from home with their own business. It has proved so popular she can't keep up with demand and is now selling franchises in it for £150 for the year and £30 a month.
The work entails organising at least one networking event a month where these people pay £10 each, can bring their children and spend the time networking and mixing with other people in the same boat as them, there are also guest speakers and a light lunch thrown in. These events are always during school hours, 10-2. It is up to the franchisee to advertise it, network on social media and organise the whole event, they also take all of the money after taking the overheads out i.e advertising costs, hall rental and food.
I am seriously considering this and was just wondering if this sounds like something that can become a success, as with everything, networking and business related things are new territory for me so I was wondering if someone with more experience of these things had any views?
I don't have a lot of money at all so I really can't afford for it to go badly wrong.
The work entails organising at least one networking event a month where these people pay £10 each, can bring their children and spend the time networking and mixing with other people in the same boat as them, there are also guest speakers and a light lunch thrown in. These events are always during school hours, 10-2. It is up to the franchisee to advertise it, network on social media and organise the whole event, they also take all of the money after taking the overheads out i.e advertising costs, hall rental and food.
I am seriously considering this and was just wondering if this sounds like something that can become a success, as with everything, networking and business related things are new territory for me so I was wondering if someone with more experience of these things had any views?
I don't have a lot of money at all so I really can't afford for it to go badly wrong.
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Comments
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The first thought that comes to my mind would be why you have to pay this woman every month, why couldn't you set up the networking events yourself? What exactly does your £150pa/£30pm get you?
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What is the work from home business?
Would you not be competing with the woman selling you a franchise?
If you know what they are doing what isto stop you from doing it yourself?0 -
Sounds like a feasible business for the woman selling the franchises, for everybody else, not so much.0
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The £150 is the franchise license and the £30, I'm not 100% sure about.
It wouldn't really be competing with the woman selling the franchise because, if I did it, I wouldn't be in the same area as her, nobody would, we would all have our own areas. I'd be miles away in a different county.
I'm assuming it would be like her being the area manager and having people report to her?0 -
MoominMama wrote: »I have found a local woman who has spent the past year setting up her own networking business specifically for parents with school age children who want to work from home with their own business. It has proved so popular she can't keep up with demand and is now selling franchises in it for £150 for the year and £30 a month.
The work entails organising at least one networking event a month where these people pay £10 each, can bring their children and spend the time networking and mixing with other people in the same boat as them, there are also guest speakers and a light lunch thrown in. These events are always during school hours, 10-2. It is up to the franchisee to advertise it, network on social media and organise the whole event, they also take all of the money after taking the overheads out i.e advertising costs, hall rental and food.
Do I understand correctly that the original woman is running a business franchising other people to run businesses getting other people to network regarding running their own business? Because that sounds like a disaster for everyone except the original woman.0 -
Thinking about it, you are right, there's nothing to stop me just setting up my own networking meetings once a month on my own I suppose.
I really don't have much money to spend and the £30 a month would be a struggle.0 -
This is a bit like Dragons Den!
Sometimes you need people who aren't involved to look at it from an objective point of view.0 -
Yes, I think you're wise to be sceptical. This woman gets a guaranteed £150 per year plus £30 per month from people desperate to run their own businesses. You get a guaranteed ... nothing. In fact, since you pay all the overhead costs in addition to the franchise fee to the original woman, you could end up significantly out of pocket. Congratulations on saving yourself the £150 a year and £30 a month.0
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tiger_eyes wrote: »Do I understand correctly that the original woman is running a business franchising other people to run businesses getting other people to network regarding running their own business? Because that sounds like a disaster for everyone except the original woman.
When you put it like that......0 -
tiger_eyes wrote: »Yes, I think you're wise to be sceptical. This woman gets a guaranteed £150 per year plus £30 per month from people desperate to run their own businesses. You get a guaranteed ... nothing. In fact, since you pay all the overhead costs in addition to the franchise fee to the original woman, you could end up significantly out of pocket. Congratulations on saving yourself the £150 a year and £30 a month.
Yikes, yes, you're right!
I kept thinking, what if only 3 people turn up, that won't even cover the cost of the hall!0
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