Why Business Experience Isn’t Enough: The Reality of Franchising Your Business

The story of how seasoned business operators discovered that franchising is a completely different game

Julie and I weren’t typical first-time franchisors. Julie had worked in management consultancy before setting up health clubs and gyms. I’d been running my own agencies for 15 years. We had Sarah Batterbury, an experienced lawyer, as our business partner.

Between Julie’s fitness industry knowledge, my agency experience, and Sarah’s legal background, we felt well equipped to handle whatever franchising would throw at us when we decided to franchise The Busylizzy Club, our fitness concept for new and expectant parents.

We were wrong. It’s a pattern we’ve seen repeatedly since: experienced business operators assume their proven skills will automatically translate to franchise success. The very confidence that made them successful in the first place can blind them to the fundamentally different challenges that franchising presents.

This is the story of what happened when we discovered that running a franchise business is an entirely different discipline and why we founded Familia to help others looking to franchise avoid the same costly mistakes.

The Business That Seemed Perfect for Franchising

The Busylizzy Club had taken a different approach to parent fitness. We were the first to allow babies directly in the classes, eliminating expensive crèche costs. Instead of rigid termly bookings with penalties for missed sessions, members could pick and mix any combination of pre and postnatal fitness sessions each week.

The concept was proving popular, with strong recurring membership revenue and high customer satisfaction. But it looked perfect for franchising for other reasons too. We had developed proprietary software that handled the flexible booking system. The business model was straightforward to replicate: rent a village hall or community centre, run classes at set times, and build a membership base around the unique proposition. No expensive equipment was needed beyond basic fitness kit. No permanent premises were required.

By any measure, this looked like a natural franchise opportunity with all the right ingredients: a unique market position, proven demand, simple operations, proprietary systems, and healthy profit margins.

The Reality Check

Our first franchise enquiry came from Anna, a passionate member who wanted to bring The Busylizzy Club to her area. Anna wasn’t some inexperienced hopeful. She had a solid corporate background and understood business operations. She’d experienced the concept firsthand as a member and was genuinely excited about bringing it to other parents in her community.

Six months later, Anna was still struggling to get properly established, and we were spending more time sorting out her business than running our own.

The problem wasn’t capability or commitment. Anna was more than capable and completely committed to making it work. But she was discovering what many corporate professionals find when they start their own business: knowing how operations should work is completely different from actually running them yourself.

In her corporate role, Anna had systems, support teams, and established processes. As a franchisee, she had all our systems and our support, but she still had to learn something completely different: how to think like a business owner. She needed to develop the confidence to make local decisions within our framework, understand her specific market in ways that no manual could teach, and build the resilience that no amount of external support can provide.

The operational side of The Busylizzy Club wasn’t the problem. Anna could run great classes and manage bookings. What she struggled with was thinking strategically about her territory, building confidence in her own judgement, and developing the business owner mindset needed to grow independently.

Here’s what we discovered: the best franchise systems don’t just tell people what to do – they develop people who understand why they’re doing it.

This changed everything. We realised we needed to stop trying to solve Anna’s problems for her and start building her understanding of how to solve them herself. We needed to teach her business alongside the day to day operations.

The Hard Won Lessons

Once we understood what we needed to do, we still had to figure out how to do it. The franchise consultants we’d tried hadn’t been much help. Their approach felt textbook – full of theories about franchise structures and compliance frameworks, but nothing that addressed the real challenge of developing business understanding in franchisees. They’d observe networks from the outside and recommend standardised solutions, but they’d never sat in our shoes trying to help someone like Anna develop the confidence to think strategically about her local market whilst staying true to our proven approach.

The breakthrough came from two realisations.

First, the most valuable guidance came from chatting directly with other franchise owners who’d built and operated their own networks. These conversations gave us real world insights and practical frameworks that only come from experience.

Second, we needed to shift from trying to personally support every franchisee to building systems that helped them understand the principles behind our approach. The goal wasn’t just providing answers but helping them develop the understanding to find their own solutions.

The Systems That Changed Everything

This wasn’t just about documentation or training materials. It was about creating frameworks that developed franchisees into confident, independent business owners whilst maintaining the spirit of The Busylizzy Club.

This might sound dangerous to some franchisors. Surely you want franchisees following your proven system, not thinking for themselves? But there’s a crucial difference between strategic thinking that undermines your brand and strategic thinking that strengthens it.

We weren’t encouraging franchisees to change our core concept or ignore our standards. We were helping them understand the principles behind our system well enough to apply them confidently in their local context. A franchisee who understands why flexible booking works can explain it persuasively to sceptical prospects. A franchisee who grasps our pricing principles can defend them when competitors undercut them.

The alternative was franchisees who could only repeat scripts without understanding, who crumbled when faced with unexpected objections, and who needed our guidance for every local decision.

This transition freed us from day to day franchise management and created a network of franchisees who understood our approach well enough to execute it successfully without constant guidance. The Busylizzy Club grew to over 30 locations with franchisees who rarely needed our direct involvement because they understood the principles behind what made us successful.

Anna, who’d struggled so much in those first six months, became one of our longest serving franchise owners. Over seven years, she expanded to own multiple territories and eventually exited with the biggest sale we’d ever seen in our network. The difference wasn’t that we’d changed our business model – it was that she’d developed a deep understanding of why our approach worked, which enabled her to execute it brilliantly and grow strategically.

Why We Created Familia

Our experience revealed a common pattern among capable business operators considering franchising: most assume their existing expertise will automatically work for franchise management. But franchising is different. You can’t just learn it as you go without making costly mistakes.

Familia was created to provide the hands on franchise support we’d desperately needed, combined with the systems building expertise that develops genuine understanding in franchisees rather than just compliance. Most franchise support focuses on operational procedures, but we learned that sustainable success comes from franchisees who understand the principles behind those procedures well enough to apply them intelligently in any situation.

But there was something else that mattered: understanding what it actually feels like to make franchise decisions when it’s your business, your reputation, and your financial future on the line. We know what it’s like when your name is on the door and every franchisee’s performance affects your reputation.

Working with Familia means accessing expertise from people who’ve made the complete journey from business operators to effective franchise managers. We work collaboratively with your existing professional support: lawyers, accountants, marketing professionals rather than trying to replace them.

Our focus is on helping franchisors develop both the franchise management skills and operational systems that create franchisees who truly understand your approach. The goal isn’t just a successful franchise launch, but sustainable franchise management that develops deep understanding in franchisees so they can execute your proven methods confidently without constant oversight.

Getting Started

The initial consultation is free. We need to truly understand your business to see if we can make a difference. You need to see whether we’re the right fit for your goals.

We start by exploring your business background, franchise objectives, and current challenges. If there’s mutual interest, we develop a support approach that complements your existing team and builds toward genuine operational independence.

Ready to explore what franchise specific support could mean for your business?