You absolutely can start a VA business yourself, and the initial cost of doing so will almost certainly be lower. You could create a name, build a website, set up some social media accounts and start looking for customers without making a significant investment. But that isn't really a like-for-like comparison. The more useful question is what you want to build, and how much you want to have to work out for yourself along the way. 

 

Pink Spaghetti started in 2009 and we began franchising in 2012. Since then, we have seen around 50 franchise businesses operating at the same time, all with different owners, territories, customers, strengths and challenges. We have seen what works, but just as importantly, we have seen what doesn't. That accumulated experience is one of the things you are buying when you join an established franchise. 

 

 

There are very few barriers to calling yourself a VA, which is one of the attractions of the industry. What is much harder is working out who your customer actually is, where to find them, what they are prepared to pay for, which services you should offer and how to price them properly. 

 

Then there is confidence. How do you sell what you do when you are still learning yourself? How do you know whether you are charging enough? What do you say at networking? What do you do when a potential customer asks for something you haven't done before? 

 

You can work all of this out yourself, and plenty of people do. The difference with a franchise is that you don't have to start with a blank sheet of paper. There are people around you who have already encountered many of those questions and can help you find the answer much more quickly. 

 

For us, that is one of the biggest advantages of franchising. We have made mistakes over the years. Our franchisees have tried things that worked brilliantly and things that didn't. Rather than every new person having to repeat that learning process, we can share it. 

 

 

If you compare the cost of a Pink Spaghetti franchise with the cost of setting up a basic VA business, the independent route will be cheaper. It has to be, because you aren't buying the same things. 

 

Our franchise fee isn't designed as a way for us to make money from somebody joining the network. A significant amount goes straight back into getting that person and their business properly established. 

 

That includes far more than a logo and a website. We bring in outside expertise, including professional photography and branding support, networking specialists and experts in areas such as resilience. There is extensive training, established systems and resources, together with our award-winning training programme. The mentoring is included too, as are the programmes we use later to help franchisees move their businesses forward. 

 

The support doesn't disappear once the initial training is over. In year two and beyond there are further development and accelerator programmes designed around the challenges franchisees face as their businesses mature. 

 

And then there is the network itself. When you join Pink Spaghetti, you aren't just getting access to the people at Head Office. You have a network of other franchisees around you who understand the business because they are running one too. That support and shared experience is part of being in Pink Spaghetti, rather than something you pay extra for every time you need it. 

 

 

I think this is an underestimated part of running a small business. 

 

When you are doing the work, finding customers, sending invoices, networking and keeping everything moving, how much time do you genuinely have left to investigate what is changing around you? 

 

At Head Office, we have the advantage of seeing what is happening across around 50 different franchise businesses. We can spot patterns that would be difficult to see from one business alone. We spend time looking at new systems, changes in technology, new ways of working, developments in the industry and things that could make our franchisees' businesses better. 

 

We can investigate something once, rather than 50 people all having to investigate it independently. We can bring in experts, create training and share what we learn across the network. It saves franchisees time, but it also helps make sure they aren't standing still while the world around their business changes. 

 

That has become increasingly important as technology and AI have developed. A small business owner cannot reasonably be expected to research every new system, understand every change and still have time to run their business. Part of our job is to keep looking ahead. 

 

 

This, for me, is one of the biggest differences. 

 

It is very easy when you start selling your own time to make being busy the goal. You find customers, fill your available hours and suddenly you have succeeded. Except you have also created a ceiling. There are only so many hours you can sell. 

 

That is why our mentoring doesn't stop when somebody becomes busy. In many ways, that is when some of the most important conversations begin. What comes next? Are you charging properly? Are you working with the right customers? Are you spending all your time delivering work and none of it growing the business? Could you bring somebody else into the business? What do you want this to look like in another two or three years? 

 

Our programmes and mentoring are designed to help franchisees keep moving forward. We want people to build businesses, not simply become VAs with very full diaries. 

 

For some people, being a successful independent VA is exactly what they want, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. For somebody who wants to build something bigger, however, having people around you who will keep asking what comes next can make an enormous difference. 

 

 

That depends entirely on what you are comparing. If the question is simply, "What is the cheapest way to start working as a VA?", setting yourself up independently will win. If the question is, "How can I build a business with established systems, extensive training, specialist expertise, mentoring, an experienced Head Office team and a network of other business owners around me?", then you are comparing something quite different. 

 

For us, the value of Pink Spaghetti isn't that we remove every challenge from running a business. We couldn't, and we wouldn't pretend to. It is that you don't have to face every challenge for the first time on your own. 

 

We have made plenty of the mistakes already. We know a lot about what works and what doesn't, and with around 50 businesses across the network, we are learning more all the time. 

 

If you are considering starting a VA business and wondering whether the franchise route could be right for you, request our prospectus and have a look at exactly what is included. Then you can decide whether you would rather build it all from scratch, or build your own business with an established network behind you. 

 

If you’re ready to learn more about becoming a Pink Spaghetti virtual assistant, simply request a prospectus here.