Category: Outsourcing

There are many advantages to buying a franchise. You get to buy into an existing brand instead of trying to start from scratch. You can join a team of other franchisees, sharing experiences and supporting each other. But there are many choices out there and it’s important to find the right franchise for you. Only when you do your research thoroughly and consider what you want to get from franchising will you find a business that’s the right fit for you.

In this blog, we break down the franchise-choosing process to help you make the right decision.

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Christmas is time for giving, sharing and being with people we care about. In the same spirit, it’s a great time to nurture our business families too. In this blog, we look at how to do it generously and effectively, to benefit everyone involved. 

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Happy birthday to us! Get Ahead turns eleven this autumn and we are so proud of how far we’ve come. Of course, we don’t just want to keep our success to ourselves.

Here’s what we’ve learned in the last eleven years – we hope our experience will help you too!

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Most of the time, clients and customers pay on time, cash flow is steady and all is well. But sometimes, invoices go unpaid. Perhaps the client is trying it on; perhaps there’s a genuine reason why they’re struggling to pay. Whatever the reason, unpaid invoices can hold up your business, reduce your income and restrict your business growth. In this blog, we look at how best to chase unpaid invoices, and how to avoid the situation in the first place.

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Many businesses have welcomed apps like Xero and Quickbooks. They have definitely made life easier, and empowered entrepreneurs to manage their own finances. Xero is certainly making life easier for the Get Ahead regional directors! But how far can you go with finance software? When do you need to hand over to an accountant?

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Why are financial goals important for my business?

It’s a good idea to set fresh goals every quarter, but it’s also important to be smart, strategic and focused in your approach. Done well, goal setting will keep your business on track and heading in the right direction. You’ll also be able to measure your success and see how far you’ve come, which may motivate you to go further in the next quarter.

We love goals at Get Ahead. As we begin the last quarter of the year, we thought we’d share our views on why goal-setting is important, and how to set achievable goals that will move your business forward.

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Get Ahead is growing, with new franchisees steadily joining the family. As the business expands, our new regional directors bring virtual expertise to more and more areas of the UK and beyond.

Something that sets Get Ahead apart from other franchise offerings is the amount of support we give to our regional directors. We believe you should work for yourself, but not by yourself – it’s important to us that we should always be there for our RDs.

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If you’re a business owner, you’ve probably been told that you should have a blog, or publish regular articles or news items. But what about the detail? What’s so great about blogging? And what part could blogging play in your marketing strategy?

It’s time to demystify blogging and answer the questions. Let’s explore the role blogging can play in getting new clients to notice your business…and then make it happen!

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Tell anyone who knows Fiona Ibbetson that she’s just won a major industry award, and their reaction is likely to be “Well, of course she would. Obvs”.

And it’s easy to understand why. The owner of Get Ahead in Leeds and Wakefield made her business profitable in the first three months, created work for 22 people, and expects to triple her revenue this year.

She’s also taking on the additional territory of York and Harrogate which will generate work for many more people as well as making life easier for the business owners she serves by providing outsourced virtual assistants.

“I’d not had my own business before this,” says Fiona, who’d worked for Morrisons supermarkets for 20 years. “That’s why I went down the franchise route.

“The franchise model offers flexibility and leverages the skills of my team to help local businesses. That’s my passion.

“I’ve grown the business really well during the pandemic, despite losing three clients which halved my revenue overnight.

“I’ve had a great mentor in the franchisor, plus I use two business coaches, one for my personal brand.

“I thought networking would be a completely new skill to learn until I realised I’d been networking naturally with peers and colleagues for years.

“My husband’s still working from home as well, and I’m working on my business around my family as well as home-schooling two children. Everybody’s had to adapt.”

Despite the face-to-face networks she relied on for new business vanishing overnight in the pandemic, Fiona built the business up to a team of six plus 16 virtual assistants, and she’s taking on a Business Development Manager to help with the new territory.

“Winning the award is amazing,” she says. “I’m thrilled to be recognised and it puts me up there with other great franchisees which is fantastic.”

The Great British Franchisee Awards recognise franchisees’ exceptional performance and business experience, ability to drive business growth, staff retention, customer satisfaction, community involvement, inspired leadership, and franchise involvement.

The awards are run by whichfranchise, supported by Lloyds Bank, BDO, AMO Consulting and Chantry Group.

• Read more about the awards at https://www.whichfranchise.com/awards

• For over 25 years, whichfranchise has promoted ethical franchise opportunities in the UK. Learn more at https://www.whichfranchise.com/

SEO stands for search engine optimisation, which is the fine art of helping Google find your website. Many factors play a part in getting your website to the front page of Google, including keywords and the way your website is constructed. SEO may seem overwhelming, but by understanding what Google is trying to get out of the deal, you will start to understand how SEO and keywords work too.

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