Finding the right port in a storm

Is there a bright side to being pressured to act?

For the self-employed operating as limited companies, the good times seem to be over.

It used to be a smart idea to be a limited company. Even if you were a company of one.

Less personal tax. Limited liability. Presenting a professional, protected name to your market. What's not to like?

But the Chancellor of the Exchequer recently announced that corporation tax is going up. This is a looming threat to many small limited company owners.

As if COVID-19 and “falling through the cracks” of most government support measures wasn't bad enough.

So what are the thousands of small business owners who are bosses of their own limited companies of one to do?

It's time to find the right port in a storm.

Acting in your own self-interest

Surrender. It's the old argument if you're a franchisee. You've “surrendered” to the big names in your industry.

Weren't you tough enough to make it on your own? Didn't you think you could “stand up to the big boys”?

It's a backwards, old-school argument. But it has surprising levels of cut-through for many people. It is also one that would take a serious upset to the apple cart before it is likely to change.

According to some, finding the right franchise opportunity is tantamount to admitting failure. But a franchise could also be exactly what many small limited company owners need in a trading environment that may continue to grow more hostile towards them.

In fact, it could essentially end up forcing some people to take a step which they wouldn't have taken. But, potentially, this is a step which is in their own best interests too.

Overthrowing the apple cart

With a chancellor who has signalled on several occasions that he has it in for the self-employed, that serious upset might be here.

For some, it might arrive in the 2023/24 tax year when the new 25% corporation tax is due to arrive. For many others, it's already here. Many self-employed small businesses have “fallen through the cracks” of the coronavirus support the government has offered.

But could this – for all it is hitting people who don't deserve it and isn't to be welcomed – be an upset the industry apple cart could make use of?

Because how many people are out there working their heart out on their own? How many are their own boss as the head of their own tiny, struggling limited company?

How many are delivering services the best way they know how – unaware that most of the hard work they put in every day could be either completely automated, or done for them?

Find a port in the storm

Being part of a franchise is about more than replacing your own name with a big brand.

A good franchise opportunity does come with that household name. Yet it also comes with extensive training and access to proven processes and support. Processes that should make your day-to-day working life easier – and your customers happier.

If your franchise network is like the one we've created at Fantastic Services, it comes with other things too:

Picture your daily schedule being filled with clients. Because they've already been found for you through someone else's marketing efforts. 

Or, you don’t have to worry about hiring expensive marketing companies, because you have access to a team that built our brand on three continents. 

Imagine not needing to worry about answering the phone or dealing with troublesome clients. Because someone else is handling your customer service for you.

They're the sort of things almost every small business owner in the sectors we cover would benefit from. Things that help their businesses to grow.

From surrender to sensible moves

When we were just starting Fantastic Services, times were tough. My business partner and I worked non-stop. Those were painfully long hours with barely enough time to eat and sleep.

The competitors slashing our tires and cutting our phone lines were bad enough. If I thought we were going to be facing what amounts to government punishment for trying, I can't imagine myself sticking to it.

Especially if I knew someone had already been there and done the long nights of hard work and stress for me. Particularly if I knew I could benefit from their hard work by joining their network and still be my own boss.

It all comes down to what you want to get from having your own company:

Do you want the ability to set your own hours? Deliver the best services? Make a freer, happier life for yourself and grow your business as much as you want?

Or is it vitally important to you to have your name on the door? Are you just going to take even the biggest worries of the future “on the chin”?

More bad weather to come?

At the time of publishing this, the chancellor warned when he was eventually persuaded to introduce COVID support for the self-employed that he thought he was doing them “a favour”.

Of course, that warning clearly comes from someone with no conception of the reality which even the most hard-working self-employed people often face.

No paid sick days. No holiday pay. No cover. No real protections of any kind if you can't work one day for reasons outside of your control.

But that attitude means for many self-employed people – particularly small limited company owners – more problems are probably on the horizon.

It's a situation that calls for finding the right port in the storm. For hundreds of small business owners, that port could be the right franchise opportunity.

What do you think? Does being a small limited company still make sense when there is a better solution out there?

Comment below. Let's get the conversation started.