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Why a financial service business has worked for these franchisees

Sarah Stowe

Do you like working with numbers? Many would-be franchisees are drawn to the range of benefits offered by financial services brands.

The most obvious is a relatively low cost of entry, with a typical purchase price of between $30,000 and $40,000. There’s often an option of working from home so you can avoid office rental and fit-out costs. Many require little or no previous experience in the area. And, while there’s often enough flexibility to attract people with a family or other commitments, there are opportunities for growing a seriously large business.

FIRST CLASS ACCOUNTS

Michelle Timperley enjoyed working in an accounting firm and knew she wanted to be a bookkeeper. The question was should she buy a franchise or go it alone?

“I did a lot of research and, in the end, the promise of ongoing training and support convinced me that a franchise would be the better option,” she says.

“I then did due diligence on a number of brands and chose First Class Accounts because I felt they were particularly strong in this area. The biggest influence for me was their intensive eight-week training program and the opportunity to attend quarterly regional training sessions and a national conference every year. The support is outstanding and there’s lots of knowledge to be gained.”

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Fellow First Class Accounts franchisee Ann King was also attracted by the quality of the training and the strength of the brand.

“The franchisor won’t certify you or let you start trading until you’ve been through their training, which is a really good thing as it protects the brand.” she says. “There are some bookkeepers out there who shouldn’t be doing the job because their knowledge and skills aren’t up to scratch so it’s good to know that everyone under the First Class Accounts name really is top notch.”

King [pictured left] has worked in accounting for the whole of her career so she found the financial aspects of training easy but she was still surprised by how much she was able to learn.

“I had been using MYOB for about eight years, working for a company with an $8 million turnover,” she says. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about MYOB but I found there were quite a few helpful things I didn’t.”

However, it was training in sales and marketing that she found most valuable.

“I don’t have a sales or marketing bone in my body so this was my biggest fear,” she says. “In the initial training sessions, they were talking about ways of growing a business I’d never thought of or even heard of. I could never have done it on my own.”

She was clearly paying attention. After just 12 months with First Class Accounts she received the network’ award for the Best Emerging Franchisee and, 12 months later, was named Franchisee of the Year.

COUNTING THE COSTS

“Given the calibre of the other franchisees I was thrilled and honoured to be recognised in this way,” she says.
When King was originally considering a franchise she spoke at length to her accountant, a man who had chosen to travel a different path.

“He had taken a redundancy package from one of the big five firms and then started his own suburban practice,” she says. “At first, he was concerned about the amount of money that I was going to spend on purchasing the franchise but, by the end of our meeting, he realised that he had spent about the same in setting up his own business.

“He’d also had to work a lot harder because he was doing everything from scratch. Everything I needed was provided – a brand, logos, stationery, templates, manuals and procedures. All I had to do was run the business according to the guidelines and provide services to my clients.”

King also disagrees with the people who consider royalties to be an unnecessary ongoing cost.

“Things are changing rapidly in this industry and it’s easy to get left behind but, if you don’t get things absolutely right, you could be breaking the law or, at the very least, making life difficult for your clients,” she says.

“First Class Accounts keep me up to date with everything from changes in legislation and software products to the latest developments in cloud accounting. If they didn’t, I’d have to employ a really top operator to do the same job for me so I consider that my royalties are very well spent on a valuable support team.”

BUSINESS GROWTH

Now into her fifth year of business, King has started to increase her billable hours by hiring part time contractors. She is also moving closer to her goal of opening a commercial office on a main road.

“I started out working at home in the fourth bedroom then moved the office downstairs where there was enough space to accommodate more desks, chairs and computers,” she says.

“But I do believe that street exposure will help me to grow the business to the level I’m aiming for and, at the moment, I’m learning how to be a more effective manager in preparation for taking on more staff. One franchisee in our group has something like 20 contractors, so I know that there’s a lot of scope for growth.”

Timperley, who bought her franchise in 2010, is also keen to grow her business.

“I’ve got to the point where I’m working full time hours plus, so I’m ready to start employing other people” she says. “In a few years’ time I’d like to step back from the bookkeeping to run and manage the business, still having face-to-face contact with clients but having someone else behind the computer doing the data entry.”

ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

Despite her own success, Timperley [pictured left] can see that a franchise isn’t right for everyone. “While you’re making the decision you can’t ask too many questions,” she says.

“When I did my due diligence I wanted to speak to a franchisee who was new, someone who had been in the business for two years and someone else who had been in it for five years so I could get an idea of how it might develop.  It was really important to me that the feedback I got from all them was positive.”

King believes that the secret of success is to love what you do.

“I often talk to prospective franchisees and I’m really concerned for those who simply want to buy a job,” she says. “All business owners will periodically come up against hurdles and there will be times when you have to work very hard for extended periods. If you’re not passionate about accounts, what you do and the services you provide to your clients, I think it will be a lot harder to overcome those challenges.”

Image: First Class Accounts