What is an educational franchise and is it right for you?

If you are looking for a new job or thinking of starting your own business, a franchise represents an exciting but safe opportunity. It has many, if not all, the benefits that come with running your own business but without the risk and isolation. It’s also a flexible alternative to full or part time employment and freelancing.

There are franchises in many different sectors, including education, and franchises can be small and local, to national or international. 

MagiKats Franchisees

So, what is a franchise?

A franchise is a type of business model which includes a franchisor and several franchisees. The franchisor has a successful and well-established business model which is capable of being replicated. A franchisee buys the rights (normally by way of a license) to use that business model, including its branding, working practices and systems. 

Each different franchise license will set out the specific terms of that franchise depending on the industry and the specific venture. 

A franchise example

Let’s put that in plain English. Imagine, Jane sets up her own dog walking business in Surrey called Dog Trails. She runs it for over 20 years during which time Dog Trails becomes well known with its distinctive logo and Jane builds up a wealth of experience and information about how to run it successfully.

Jane’s friend Susan lives in Yorkshire. She’s seen Jane’s success and would also like to run her own dog walking business. But she is nervous about the risks involved in starting her own business and has no previous business experience.

For an agreed price, Jane gives Susan permission (a license) to set up Dog Trails in Yorkshire. It has the same name, provides the same service in the same format and Susan is allowed to use all the materials that Jane has collated over the years – that might be her marketing system, management and admin system and all her processes. In short Susan has become a franchisee and owns a franchise and as such, she will have the support of her Jane, the franchisor.

What’s an educational franchise?

An educational franchise may operate in a number of ways, but it will normally involve providing tuition and support to school children and students. It won’t necessarily focus on the National Curriculum, but it will usually support core subject skills. Importantly, you don’t have to be a teacher or have any experience in education to run your own educational franchise.

An educational franchise example

At MagiKats, our private tuition workshops support the core subjects of maths and English for any child from pre-school to GCSE and National 5. However, it’s a comprehensive programme that also teaches problem solving and study skills. It helps develop thinking skills and helps students build their social skills.  It’s an interactive programme with lots of practical work and not just theory.

What that means is, that we can support children at important stages like GCSE, or children who don’t have English as a first language or are either struggling or even excelling, and need to be challenged. Most importantly, however, we can support ANY child, no matter their individual needs.

You don’t have to be a teacher

The great thing about a well-run and established educational franchise is that you don’t have to have a background in education to run one successfully. The teaching materials will be provided by the franchisor. Which means if you have interest in education, enjoy working with children or giving back to your community, and want to take a new direction in your career, an educational franchise presents an ideal opportunity.

After all, education will always form an important part of society and with the increasing strain on UK schools, educational franchises have an increasingly important role to play.

The advantages of a franchise: support and systems

As a franchisee you are running your own business. You are responsible for the day-to-day management, operation and success of your businesses. That comes with all the usual advantages – flexible hours to suit your lifestyle and as your business grows and succeeds, you reap the rewards rather than some corporate boss.

But as a franchisee, you get lots of other benefits. When you start your own business from scratch, you have to develop your brand and product, develop your own systems and marketing strategy, the list goes on. With a franchise, the hard work has been done for you and you will normally be provided with operating manuals, training, a brand, a marketing strategy and business advice and support from the franchisor. 

In return of course, you have to comply with the franchise requirements. That may mean how you deliver the product and service – and that could mean anything from the language you use, the service you provide, to the clothes you wear and the materials you use.

Choosing the right educational franchise

If you’d like more information about how to research and choose an educational franchise, then you are in the right place - this site has lots of information!

You will need to be able to fund the purchase of your franchise, but we can advise you about what help may be available for this. You also need to evaluate both the ethos of the franchise you’re looking at (and whether their values match yours) and the amount of support you will get from them. Of course, you need to be the right kind of person too, with the drive and commitment to launch and grow your own business.

But what about our franchisees?

We recently conducted a Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark Survey, in partnership with WorkBuzz.  We were delighted to reveal that 100% of our members were proud to be involved in the company and this motivated them to go that extra mile for their customers – something that is an integral part of the MagiKats ethos. As a result, we won an award for demonstrating continuous improvement in the support we provide our network.

We are also members of the British Franchise Association, which means we follow their code of ethics and business practice policies - ensuring that all our franchisees receive the best training and support possible.

If you’re looking for something new, why not have a look around our website and take a closer look at what you can expect from our educational franchises.