Hear From Franchisees

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So, if I was giving some advice to someone who was thinking about becoming a franchisee, I would probably say have a really good think about it first of

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all. Um, it's quite a big move and obviously financially have a think about whether it it's for you, but I would say

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the benefits I think definitely outweigh the negatives. So for example, having that network and having that support

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from people who um you'll be working with people who kind of set the organization up whole wealth of experience. Um they're going to make it

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easier for you to sort of get up and running and like hopefully finally become sort of profitable a lot lot quicker than if you were doing it by yourself. If you're looking to join uh

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Sparks as a franchisee, I think you do have to think about your time and I think you really have to think about how you do want to grow it. It's all good

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and well saying this is all what I want to do at the beginning, but I think you do have to have a plan and um and also

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have goals of what you want to achieve with that. But I think that just comes down to yeah having a good plan and understanding your time.

Okay. So, the things that I enjoy most about being a franchisee is the support of my colleagues, um, my fellow sort of

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franchisee owners. Um, the fact that I don't feel like I'm alone. Um, it's the first time that I've sort of started my

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own business and I just like the fact that I got that support around me and I know that if I have can't find the answer to it, I know that someone will.

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Yeah,

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being a franchisee is I think is you've got the model there, you've got the branding, you've got everything is kind of really helpful to set up. You've got

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great connections. Like we're now sitting here with all the rest of the franchises at the moment bouncing off ideas, bouncing off what they do. So,

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it's a really good I think support.

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Yeah, there's a Yeah, it's team there's a team behind you. You don't come into it cold. It's not setting up a business all on your own. You've got a lot of help along the way. a lot of people

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who've been through the same kind of issues, questions can always be answered. So, yeah, it's really helpful.

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What I enjoy most about being a franchisee is first of all, there's a bit of control having, you know, your own place and your own venue, which means you get to get um really close

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with the families that you meet and um you get to see all aspects of working with kids and film making and for me

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being kind of part of the center is so important because you do feel really part of the community. So, I think being a franchise actually uh brings you

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closer to whatever area you're in as well. I don't know if that was a good answer, but it came to me.

So the thing that makes it easier running a business being a franchisee is I guess the support mechanisms that are

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in place. So having things like um a database of resources. So I've never had to make my own lesson plans, never had

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to make, you know, my um own marketing materials.

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um having a manual there with all like sort of safeguarding information and think things that if I was doing this by myself I wouldn't know where to start.

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Um just so in terms of experience I'm kind of relying upon other people's experience and I just find that invaluable.

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It's easier running our business as franchises because we have got the support network behind us. We I don't have to come up with the lesson plans every week of what we're going to learn.

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um they're down in a concise work plan that's easy to follow. Um

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resources are kind of highlighted and allocated. Um and we've like you said, you got the backing of a lot of people,

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not just the guys from head office, but also other franchises who will have had similar issues as us. Um all will have

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had better times or worse times than us.

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Everyone's stories kind of add to the background that you Yeah. the support network that you've got.

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What's great about being um part of a franchise and being a franchisee is you have support from an entire network who

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have done it before you and know what they're doing and they can give you the tools to start off with which would normally be really expensive or

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timeconuming and it actually makes it easier on you. um which means that you can focus on the important work you want to do which is teaching kids film making

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and animation. So you have more time to focus on that um rather than the the tougher aspects such as building a website or um where to get equipment,

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things like that.

Sync to video tim

So, I think it's just made my life more interesting, more varied. Um, I don't feel like I'm in a rut.

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Uh, I think I think it's best captured by what Christine said on our first ever camp was, um, she came out of her office room with a big beaming smile. She said,

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"It's just lovely hearing kids screaming, quiet on set. We're going for a take." And doing this every Saturday kind of reminds us that we're giving

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kids a creative outlet. And we're giving them an opportunity to have their voices heard in a way that they're not necessarily going to have at home or at school.

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Oh, well, mine starts a bit earlier cuz uh I did start as a workshop assistant and then a leader in London. Um I think

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Spark showed me what working with kids can be like. I never thought I'd want to do something like that. Um, and so it

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took the creativity that I love about film making um, and actually telling everybody that you can have your own imagination. So by sticking with Sparks

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and now being, you know, part of a franchise, um, I get to see all that on more of like a global scale and that's

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really amazing. I think it actually I I realized I don't even need to make a film myself anymore. It's more fun having kids make a film or an animation.