When you imagine starting your own business, a franchise opportunity likely doesn’t even enter your mind.
When we think of franchise, big names like McDonald’s or Subway usually come to mind.
As a stay at home mom, this is not the kind of business that interests us, and is certainly not the kind we can afford.
But a franchise business provides some tremendous advantages to the new entrepreneur.
Before discounting it as a possible business model, let’s look at some of the realities of franchising and the unique franchising opportunity available with Kids Party Characters.
The Costs of Traditional Franchising
New entrepreneurs are usually closed out of the franchise market from step one.
The initial investment for a single franchise averages between $20,000 and $35,000. Fees can be as low as $10,000, or as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Whatever the exact number, even the low end of the range is enough to make most of us quickly turn in another direction.
The initial investment of course is just the beginning of the costs associated with franchising. There are ongoing franchising fees, royalties on your gross sales, mandatory marketing fees that can range from 1-4% of your revenue, and often requirements that you purchase specific products and services through the franchise, which may not be offered at competitive rates.
With all of the outlay, many franchisers feel lucky if they’re turning a profit after being in business for three years.
Home Based Business Franchising
As working from home becomes more popular, so has the increase in home-based business franchises.
Most franchises that advertise as being home-based businesses, don’t require an actual brick and mortar store.
The most popular services provided through home-based franchising are in the areas of education and tutoring, senior and in-home care, financial and marketing consulting, cleaning services, and other home services such as lawn care, decorating, and home improvement services.
One of the draws of a home based business is lower start-up costs, but this does not hold true when it comes to franchising fees.
The average franchising fee is still in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, with very few offerings as low as $5,000-$10,000, and several in the $50,000 plus range.
The Advantage of Franchising
How can franchises get away with charging such huge start-up (and ongoing) fees?
Let’s say I decide as a stay at home mom, that I’d like to open my own tutoring business.
I can start by spending a couple hundred dollars getting a website for my newly-founded “Mary’s Tutoring Services” and a couple hundred more on some local and online advertising.
Or I can hook up with one of the well-known tutoring services and pay a franchise fee ranging from $15,000 to over $100,000 depending on which company I choose.
Why would I ever choose even $15,000 over what I can do on my own for about $500?
Because of what the franchise can give me that I can’t get or don’t have on my own.
The big advantage is simply having a household name.
When you eat at McDonald’s you know what you’re going to get. At Mike’s Hometown Deli, you’re taking your chances the first time you walk in the door.
In addition to name recognition, the franchise has a proven marketing plan, all the materials you need to run your business, and proven results.
In the case of our new tutoring business, you don’t have to come up with all the curriculum and convince people you know what you’re doing.
It’s all provided for you, along with a fancy company website and lots of personal testimonials from students whose academic careers have been saved by your new company.
In short, franchises provide all of the things that small independent businesses struggle to create, often resulting in failure for the “little gal,” with a dream business but without deep pockets.
Because the franchise provides you with a “done for you” business, and takes much of the risk of failure away, it can demand the high fees because those who can afford them see the value in paying them.
What’s a Mom To Do?
So we’re back to the stay at home mom who wants to start her own business.
And it’s pretty clear that despite how much easier the franchise experience would make her new business journey, it doesn’t seem very realistic.
This unfortunate position new entrepreneurs are put in, especially stay at home moms, got Kids Party Characters owner Cheryl Jacobs thinking about how she could give back some of the success she’s found as an entrepreneur.
Cheryl was once a struggling young mom who needed to feed her kids. And she knows how hard it can be to start a successful business and get into profit quickly.
Her passion to mentor other aspiring entrepreneurs led Cheryl to create a unique franchise opportunity by offering memberships to KidsPartyCharacters.com.
Cheryl cut out the expensive franchising fee and settled on a low, affordable cost, a ridiculously low yearly renewal fee, and no requirement that you invest in any additional marketing or product purchases through KidsPartyCharacters.com.
In fact, with membership you get the right to use all of the 200 plus costumes we have at Kids Party Characters.
In addition, your membership includes an exclusive territory in which to book parties, access to our casting director and acting coach, and initial business training as well as ongoing support from Cheryl and the entire team at KidsPartyCharacters.com
Cheryl has done exactly what the big name franchisers do for a fraction of the cost.
Your KidsPartyCharacters.com membership hands you the keys to your own version of an already established, successful business.
Want more information? Schedule a free, no-pressure call with Cheryl right here and she’ll answer all your questions and walk you through exactly how to get started.
You can also learn more about how fun and rewarding your children’s entertainment business will be by visiting KidsPartyCharacters.com and by joining us on Facebook for daily updates.
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