National Career Development Month 2023: Why Choose A Franchise?
With this annual event shining a nationwide spotlight on careers, could investing in a franchise be the right career move for you?
Established by the National Career Development Agency in 1967, National Career Development Month is a month-long awareness campaign designed to improve career development among people of all ages and encourage employees and students to focus on their future career choices.
With the opportunity to think about your future career prospects comes the opportunity to consider changing jobs but while changing your employer but remaining within the same industry has long been an everyday occurrence, today more and more people are considering leaving their current career behind in favour of becoming a franchisee.
So what benefits does choosing a franchise have over simply getting a new job? We take a look.
You are your own boss
In recent years, work models like the gig economy and zero-hours working have become more prevalent in the UK than ever before. But with people now realising the limitations of these ways of working, many people are choosing to become a franchisee in order to take back control of their career development.
Franchisees are essentially self-employed, so becoming one gives you the autonomy to make your own decisions on a huge variety of issues, including where, when and for how long you work each week, giving you a flexible job that fits in with your lifestyle and improves your work/life balance.
With working from home now the 'new normal', running a business that can adapt to different locations and settings is a great idea and one that is likely to see the franchising industry continue to flourish over the coming months.
You can get started quickly
If you want to get a new business off the ground as soon as possible, franchising is an effective way to do so.
Becoming a franchisee is a simple process that involves an interview between the franchisor and franchisee to ensure suitability, the drawing up and signing of a contract, buying into the franchise and then training for the new role, which may only take a matter of weeks. After that, you're up and running!
It's low risk
It seems like the last few years have been fraught with risk at every turn, with everything from the pandemic to the cost of living crisis putting a dampener on people's ambitions.
However, with the British Franchise Association estimating that approximately 97% of UK-based franchisees currently run in profit and fewer than 1% of franchisors are closing due to commercial failure, it's clear that one thing that is relatively low risk is investing in the franchising industry, especially when compared to the fact that only 38.5% of businesses launched in the UK in 2016 were still operating five years later.
Becoming a franchisee also increases your chance at enjoying a successful career because your customers are likely to already be aware of your brand and its reputation (which, hopefully, will be positive), meaning you get the benefit of an established customer base that would otherwise take years to establish, saving you both time and money on costly promotional activity designed to raise brand awareness.
It's typically profitable
Many people change careers in order to increase their earning potential and the franchising industry is profitable to say the least. Consistently good performances will see your income increase directly, meaning the sky's the limit when it comes to your earning potential.
With many people's finances in need of a shot in the arm after years of economic uncertainty, the franchising industry's profitability makes it a great place for people looking for a career change to start their search.
Is a Cafe2U franchise right for you?
At Cafe2U, we have a network of circa 100 franchise partners, with new franchisees joining every month. If you're interested in developing your career by becoming the owner of a mobile coffee franchise and a qualified barista operating in your own exclusive area, you can find out more about our franchise opportunities here.
