The Easy Route

Don’t get me wrong – I can see the appeal of a franchise to someone starting out who just wants to set up their virtual assistant business and get going. After all, if you’re new to the VA world and looking for virtual assistant training, a franchise promises all this and more.

You don’t need to spend hours worrying about logos and names as you’ll be buying into an established brand, and you can hit the ground running with support and in house virtual assistant training.

If you’re feeling uncertain about your own abilities or you’re facing disapproval from your nearest and dearest about giving up your job and taking a new direction, it can seem an easy route to mitigating some of the risk.

Is the cost too high?

In another blog post, I warned that cheap virtual assistant training is often a false economy – it’s too generic, often not UK specific and leaves you wide open to legal and compliance issues that you aren’t taught about.

Yet there are just as many issues with paying high franchise costs.

From the upfront franchise fee to ongoing loyalty payments and strict contracts that tie you into their suppliers, it can start to seem as if the only person making any money from your hard work is the franchise company itself.

Do you really want to face months of hard work just to break even after such high upfront costs and then face the prospect of paying a percentage of your profits to them each month once you start to succeed?

There are other methods of virtual assistant training that can give you just as much support, without chaining you to such a large financial burden.

Who is in control?

And it’s not just the monetary cost.

If the point of working for yourself is to regain control and flexibility in your working life, the cost of jumping to someone else’s tune can make you feel you’re back to square one. 

And while not every franchise is the same, the numerous stories of strict regulations and conflict with the franchise company might make you wonder if you’d be better off just staying in the corporate world.

It certainly doesn’t sound appealing to me compared to the freedom you have with our FAB-VA Programme

We designed our virtual assistant training to help you develop a business that suits you and your lifestyle – not trying to mould you to fit a generic formula where you have no say in how things are done.

Invest your money and time wisely

The key lesson here is to really do your research when you’re looking at the best route for you. Check your trainer has extensive experience, is still working in the UK VA industry so they’re up to date with the latest issues, and make sure you aren’t signing over creative or financial control to anyone else.

If you’re doing the hard work, you should be receiving the benefits! 

With our step by step FAB-VA programme, you’ll receive virtual assistant training approved by the Society of Virtual Assistants so you can be sure you’re benefitting from our experience and knowledge of the UK VA market.

And most importantly, the success is all yours – we’ll teach you how to develop and grow your business, then enjoy watching you flourish. Read more here if that sounds like a no brainer to you too!

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