5 benefits of investing in a home-based franchise

Freddie St George, managing director of Raring2go!, highlights five benefits of investing in a home-based franchise

There are so many home-based franchise opportunities out there right now, you’re almost spoilt for choice. The Office for National Statistics recently reported that work from home franchises make up just under 14 per cent of the total UK workforce.

Part of the decision-making process you’ll undergo if you look at this sector will inevitably involve weighing up the pros and cons of working for yourself and buying into an established home-based franchise business.

The advantages of buying a franchise over a non-franchise start-up are well documented, so I’ll not outline them here. What I would like to focus on are the benefits of investing in a home-based franchise.

1. Cost of entry

The first advantage is that the cost of the franchise is likely to be lower than one where premises, staff, equipment and stockholding are required. This is just a case of simple mathematics, but the cost of entry is one of the biggest factors when determining which franchise to buy. The fact most home-based franchises tend to be lower in cost is an advantage.

As a new home-based franchisee, you’ll enjoy lower initial and ongoing overheads too and won’t be tied into a premises lease or rental agreement, as your home becomes your workplace.

The overheads of operating from home can, in many cases, be offset, so make sure you speak with your accountant about this at the outset. There are some tax benefits to be enjoyed, but again you’ll need to take sound accountancy advice on this.

2. Increased flexibility

Operating a home-based franchise gives increased/greater flexibility. As the boss of your own business, you’ll determine your working hours, patterns, timings and frequency.

You’ll have some guidelines of course, but you’re the boss, so you’ll decide. You’ll quickly understand the times during the working day that require your attention and presence more than others and you can plan you day around them.

3. Earnings potential

A higher income is another benefit to consider. Pay in the home-based franchise sector is very competitive when compared to other sectors.

According to the Office for National Statistics, home-based franchisees can expect to earn on average £2.75 more per hour than standard workers. What’s more, you’ll be earning that extra money in far nicer surrounding.

4. Work-life balance

A home-based franchise is brilliant at helping to strike a perfect work-life balance, or at the very least getting close to it.

A significant number of the home-based franchise community are new or young mums, who make the conscious decision to buy a home-based franchise because they want to be able to be a mum and spend time with their children, while also working and delivering an income into the household.

What they don’t want to do is work a job, earn a salary and then see nearly half of that salary go on childcare costs. So saving on expensive childcare costs is another advantage of a home-based franchise. It’s a consequence of it really. Not only will you have more time to spend with your family, but you’ll also have more time to pursue interests that perhaps you wouldn’t be able to if you worked ‘traditionally’.

An afternoon swim before you set off for the school run or an extended morning run once the commuter traffic subsides are just two examples of things we can do to deliver greater harmony and balance in our lives.

Whatever your particular passion, there’s no doubt you’ll have more freedom to do it if you work from home and, as a result, you might also find yourself becoming more focused and productive in your work too.

Recent research by office technology firm Altodigital has revealed that 40 per cent of workers claim their productivity increases when they work from home.

5. Saving on travel costs

Saving on travel costs is one more benefit of working from home. The fact your commute will be from your bedroom to your home office will reduce not only your travel costs, but will lower your stress levels and reduce the time you spend out of the home. The morning commute and the daily battle with traffic, buses and trains will become a thing of the past.

Just because it’s a home-based franchise and not on the high street doesn’t mean it’s not an effective business capable of delivering an income to you, while growing as an appreciating asset.

While a home-based franchise might require fewer material things to get started, you will need the gumption to get up and go, the commitment to work your business and make it a success, the understanding you have bought a business not a salary and the expectation that your success rests squarely on your shoulders.

You might be using your kitchen table as your office or have a dedicated workspace. Either way, you’ll benefit from the flexibility operating from home delivers.