From franchisor to franchisee

Phil Nassau started his journey to owning an ActionCOACH franchise with an advantage over most people. He already had nearly 35 years’ experience of the franchising industry under his belt, thanks to his previous career, which saw him reach director level with a global van-based franchise brand.

So, what made him step from the franchisor’s side of the fence to become a franchisee himself?
Phil explains:

“Having seen first-hand the success that was possible for franchisees of the brand I worked for, I’d encouraged my son, Jonny, to join them. He quickly became their top performing franchisee in the UK and decided he wanted to invest the fruits of his success in a franchise with a global restaurant brand.”

“We attended The British & International Franchise Exhibition in London in early 2018 so Jonny could meet with his target franchisor and find out more. As he attended one of their presentations, I explored the exhibition.”

Phil continues:

“I’d reached a junction in my career and with my employer that meant I was ready for a change. A franchise with ActionCOACH felt like the right next step for me and I continued discussions with them after the event.”

Next steps

Those discussions and time spent on a discovery day at ActionCOACH’s UK support office only cemented Phil’s instinct that this was an exceptionally good opportunity. He comments:

“As part of the research and due diligence process, you are encouraged to speak to existing ActionCOACH franchisees. This is a crucial step in anyone’s decision making – you need to hear from the people who own and operate the franchises, not just head office’s take on everything. Having been given the contact details for all of their franchisees, I spoke with nine of them.”

“The views they shared with me were unfailingly consistent and matched the conclusion I’d drawn myself: that ActionCOACH has the franchisee’s success at the forefront of everything they do, that the franchise programme is meticulously designed and operated to the benefit of franchisees, and that there was a huge, ready-made community of support across the franchise network.”

Training and support

By June 2018, Phil was an operational ActionCOACH franchisee and can speak of his own experience as one of their franchise partners.

“It was apparent to me when assessing them and has been borne out since I’ve been a franchisee, ActionCOACH is, to use a football analogy, in the Premiership – I would say they are at the top of it. I say this as someone who once had responsibility for running a franchise network.”

“The culture is built around the franchisee being the number one priority. It’s all about making them a success. The amount of training on offer is phenomenal. After your initial pre-launch training, there is something available every week for you to learn. It’s up to you to decide what you want and need, but everything’s there.”

“Every Monday morning there is a webinar which 80 to 120 franchisees attend, where you’ll get a senior member of ActionCOACH explaining a different area of the business.”

“In addition to the training there is support available at every turn. You will always find someone to help you. As well as a support team, you have your fellow franchisees who are a great community of like-minded people who want to see each other succeed.”

Life as an ActionCOACH franchisee

“I enjoyed almost every minute of the corporate world, but the thing about corporate life is that in return for the financial rewards I found that I lost the work life balance. I felt I had to be available 24/7 and that had a negative impact on other areas of my life.”

“Now, I can choose how and when I work according to the targets I’ve set for myself. I can decide what sort of coaching I deliver and can shape my business to what is best for me. This goes for any ActionCOACH franchisee and, as long as you follow the system and work as part of the ActionCOACH community, you can mould your business to be whatever you want it to be.”

“It’s honestly changed my life. It’s the best thing I’ve done in my career and I love it.”

Interested in following in Phil’s footsteps? Find out more about upcoming Franchise Exhibitions held in exclusive partnership with the British Franchise Association.