Alarm at 6am… commute to work… sit at desk all day… commute home… dinner… watch TV… bed. Repeat! That's the corporate rat race.
Those interested in franchising are often looking for a route out of the corporate rat race, and a way to improve their work-life balance. Most franchises are categorised into hands-on or management franchises – where you either do all the work that provides a service to customers or employ a team to do this for you. Platinum Property Partners (PPP), however, is a mixture of both. It’s a franchise with a difference.
The first phase could seem like a hands-on franchise. You’ll be provided with all the training, support and tools needed to set up a specialist buy-to-let property business (assets that you own from the outset) and, like any business, this phase will be more time-intensive. Once you’ve built your portfolio to the size you want, you enter a management phase, where your involvement can take up just a few hours a week. Which means you’ll have more time for yourself, your family, your pets… your life.
With most franchises, there are strict rules and obligations you must fulfil. For example, you may be required to provide certain services for a minimum number of hours a day, contribute to a marketing fund and meet minimum performance criteria. PPP is different. While you are, of course, obligated to comply with all regulations relating to the property sector – such as building control, planning permission, insurance and Construction Design Management (CDM) – you are given a huge amount of autonomy.
You are provided with the systems and best practice to follow, but PPP doesn’t dictate exactly how you should run your business. There are no hard and fast rules about which territory you can invest in, although you’ll be taught how to identify the best locations. Neither will PPP dictate how to decorate your property, what tenant-facing brand to use or how large your portfolio should be. PPP understands that each partner is different, and so they should be given the freedom to be creative and build a business that suits them, their lifestyle and their goals.
For most other franchises, terminating your agreement will mean you no longer have the right to operate that business in that location or use any form of branding associated with the franchise. You are usually just left with goodwill and proceeds from the sale of the franchise.
Unlike most franchises, though, PPP Franchise Partners have the option to leave at the end of their seven or ten year term while retaining their assets – their entire specialist buy-to-let property portfolio – and their business. This is because they own the properties from day one, so they can continue to receive the income from their business for life and benefit from any capital growth, as well as building a legacy for their loved ones.
In a recent survey carried out by Smith + Henderson, 95% of PPP partners agreed that ownership of their assets was one of the biggest benefits of this franchise. However, despite having built up a significant knowledge and skills base that will enable them to develop their business without PPP, over 90% of current partners choose to stay in the network, which they consider to be more like a family than a business organisation.
Would you like to build a business that will outlive your franchise agreement – one you can put your own stamp on while improving your work-life balance… or would you rather stick to your current corporate lifestyle:
Alarm at 6am … commute to work… sit at desk all day… commute home… dinner… watch TV… bed. Repeat? Thats the corporate rat race!
If you're interested in finding out more, please feel free to contact us at info@platinumpartners.co.uk or give us a call on 01202 652101.
