So, you are thinking of swapping teaching for tutoring – but why buy a franchise to do it?

Why not just find some materials, place an advert online and wait for the phone to ring?

Let’s look at some practicalities.

Materials

So, you are a teacher and you know about the National Curriculum. Wonderful! You may well feel that you can find enough online to get you started with some key materials to teach maths and English to kids in your local area. These have the benefit that they are often free or very low cost – so why pay a franchisor for them?

What is your current specialism? Can you find enough tutees in that subject/at that level to build a good business? If you come out of teaching – how will you keep your knowledge of the curriculum current? How will you know that the sheets you downloaded from a website two years ago are still relevant today?

Franchisors in the education sector have to ensure their materials are kept relevant, fresh and updated to support the latest changes in the National Curriculum. After all, that is the main benefit to you – the assurance that you are working with only the best materials – and that you have not had to write them or source them yourself!

Marketing

How much experience have you got in designing adverts, writing press releases, setting up websites, and so on? Perhaps you have a background in marketing – but perhaps you don’t. Even if you do – have you a brilliant company name and brand ready to go? A franchisor has spent decades (in many cases) building a brand, website, PR, advertising, social media campaigns, and so on!

Business Management

Do you know what the legal requirements are around registering to work for yourself? What about DBS checks? Insurance? Premises? A good franchisor will help you with all of this and more.

Training

Nobody is an expert from Day One. Class management, curriculum planning, individual support for each and every child – the list can seem endless and is subtly different every day. As education franchisors are all about education – so they are also all about training. Training to ensure you have all the knowledge you need to successfully launch, run and build your own, local education centre.

Support

A good friend of mine always talks about the ‘back door’ to your home office. He describes being a franchisee as a small business owner with direct access to a ‘back door’ – a virtual portal that opens to reveal an office full of experts in their field. Whether it is someone who really knows about one of the elements already mentioned, or something else such as training staff and managing HR issues, a franchisor is your virtual ‘back door’ and the best franchisors will ensure you have access to their expertise, whenever you need it.

The Bonus – Flexible Working

There are a vast range of franchise opportunities out there, everything from fast food to ethical baby clothing, with investments from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands. But what is important to you? Is it profit (although that is of course great!) or is it the opportunity to work within a system that allows you to enjoy the satisfaction of a teaching job well done, but without the inspections and regulations that seem to take up more and more time?

This is the main reason why many teachers looking to exit the profession find an education franchise is the best option for them – the flexibility. Don’t get me wrong – it is hard work – but it’s hard work that can be done on your terms.