Do you need an office for your franchise?
When you start looking at franchise opportunities, you might think that many of them require you to lease office space. That can be true for many franchises in the UK; for instance, running a care franchise from home can be tough. You need to have carers come to your office and many care franchises require more than one member of staff to manage the teams.
But not all franchise opportunities require you to have an office. Some could be run from an office building on your home or from a home office in the main house.
For example, some education franchises require you to visit the student in their home or work over the internet, so you don’t need to have an office. So, what are the factors you need to consider for whether your chosen franchise needs an office or not?
Potential visitors
The first thought is whether or not you’re going to have any potential visitors. Whether they’ll be employees, potential clients or if you run services from your office, you need to think about the traffic to your business. The more traffic, the greater the need for your business to have an office.
There are many benefits in this case for leasing an office. For one, you can maintain an image of professionalism with employees, customers and others. It can also help you set up space for employees to work in a safe environment.
Another benefit is that it allows you to take time away from the business. This can be important because you need to ensure that you get downtime to recharge and reset. By having an office, employees can work while you take time away to think.
Also, if you have a lot of traffic to your office, you need a more central location that anyone can get to. A house in the suburbs is harder to find than an office in a business park or town centre.
Storage space
Another concern would be storage space. Do you have enough space at home or are you crammed in? Some businesses, like pet franchises, might have a lot of equipment that can’t be stored at home. Therefore, you will need to have somewhere to store the equipment, like an office.
It isn’t just about the space either. Most people have an attic that they can use for storage, but you also need to ensure storage doesn’t degrade supplies/equipment and that it is easy to access. Not all houses can provide this.
The service/product you’re offering
Sometimes it is about the product/service you’re offering. For instance, dog walkers go to clients’ homes. Pet sitters will need to have the clients’ pets under long schedules of checks. Therefore, a home office might be more suitable.
Other franchise opportunities might have services that need to be provided in more controlled environments, like those who do catering.
Cost
Sometimes the costs of leasing an office outweigh the benefits of having the office. But there are also going to be times when having the office space just isn’t worth the financial investment. So, it is always important to consider the costs before looking for space.
Alternatives to leasing an office
When it comes to it, the decision of whether to lease an office or not is up to you. If you’re not sure, then there are other opportunities you might not be aware of. For instance, you could use flexible office space. This is office space which is hired out when you need it. The equipment is often there for you and you can have additional services like mail collection and a paid reception team for you.
Another option is to find one of the van-based franchises like cleaning franchises or plumbing franchises.
Making a home office productive
If you do decide that you need a home office, ensure that it is established correctly. You should be comfortable, but not too comfortable that you’re too relaxed to work. It should be free from other distractions that stop you from working.
Always ensure that everything you need for the business is within the office space. This includes paper, printer, pens, paper and phones. Decorations around the office can be very handy for productivity. Pictures of family are often kept in home offices, as are plants. Plants are, in fact, found to improve productivity.
You should always make sure that you’re sitting in the office at the designated times of business. You never know when a client is going to call.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking at home based franchises or other franchise opportunities in the UK, you need to ask a question about where you’re going to run the business from. Using the clues above, you might be able to get an answer of whether you think you could run your new franchise business from an office or whether you should stay at a home office.
Whatever decision you make, there is always a chance that your new venture can be a success. Take a look at our website today to discover your next franchise venture.
