DIDDI DANCE FRANCHISE

I made a final decision to invest part of my redundancy money in buying a franchise after attending a diddi dance franchising open day with founder Anne-Marie and some of her existing franchisees. She gave me lots of insight into how a franchise works and what the diddi dance ethos is and I was able to watch a class being taught, meet staff who explained the business, admin and legal sides of things. Anne-Marie also asked me lots of questions to assess if I would make a good franchisee as it’s also very important to her that she works with the right people to fit her business model.

I was also advised to speak to my most local diddi dance franchisee, which I did in a phone call. She was very supportive and able to give me an honest review of her experience and she became an invaluable resource in my early business journey.

I knew that diddi dance was the right franchise opportunity for me as I had lots of experience teaching dance and as a mum to a preschool child, I also knew I would be great at interacting with little ones and really enjoy it.

I had researched a bit into other preschool franchises but diddi dance stood out to me. I loved their branding and lesson plans. I especially liked that they cover over 16 different dance themes and compliment the EYFS framework which would allow me to go into nurseries.

What really appealed to me was that work would mostly (if not all) be within school hours so at least I could see more of my son and once he started school I would be able to do all the drop off and pick ups like other mums and still work full time.

I was also able to purchase a territory area which I knew quite well and had huge potential to grow my business.

I was lucky that I had received a lump sum of money for taking voluntary redundancy just a few months prior to investing in my diddi dance business so I didn’t need to borrow or find finance. This gave my new business a good head start and I was able to make a profit within my first year. Out of the franchises I considered, diddi dance was probably the most affordable.

diddi dance give new franchisees a lot of helpful information regarding the legal requirements of running a business which was so necessary as I had no previous business or finance experience. The contract was explained to me but I was also given time to have it looked over by a legal professional before signing or committing to anything. They also gave me advise on how to set myself up as a sole trader, getting a bookkeeper/accountant to help with my tax return and all of the insurances and certificates I would need to work with children.

I often have people asking me what it's like running a franchise and why I chose not to just start my own dance business. I would say that there are major benefits to a franchise because you feel part of a much bigger support network of like minded people which helps so much. As diddi dance puts it you are "in business for yourself, not by yourself"

As a nationally recognised franchise the brand is already very well established and customers feel they can trust the quality and years of experience and development that's gone into creating what we offer.

You also don't feel like you are just another franchisee because you ARE the face of your business in your territory and the reason why your customers love what you do. We are definitely encouraged to bring our own personality and individual experience or skills to our businesses and grow them in the way that works best for us and our families. I'm coming up to 10 years as a successful diddi dance franchisee and would definitely recommend it to others.