To buy into a Franchise ?

[ohsotired2022]

*Hi
Has anyone had any experience with The Sleep Nanny Franchise ?

I’m thinking of leaving my current job in Nursing to pursue this.

It’s £9k to buy in which I could take a loan to do.
I would then have to pay £500 per month for the 1st 3 years so a further £18k.
So full amount I’d be spending on this would be £27k.

Is this crazy. When I write it down it sounds crazy. I’ve spoke to people who are working as Sleep Nanny’s and they seem happy and are saying they are making money. Working from home. Setting their own hours.

Would love to hear from anyone who has signed up to this. *

DON'T DO IT!

A lot of Macdonald's and Subways are franchises just to name the first two that spring to mind. Whoever was always telling you they were a scam is wrong, and why would they keep saying it anyway?

I haven't heard of sleep nanny but theres nothing inherently wrong with franchises if the the business model works for you

I have never met a mother in 40 years who would ever need this service! I've never heard anything so ridiculous as a 'sleep nanny!'

What a time to be alive!

No, don't waste your money on this nonsense!

Definitely not.

There is always a group of desperate parents with kids who don't sleep. Most of them can't or won't throw money at something like this.

I used to work with someone who absolutely would have used this service and did pay for some kind of sleep help

She wasn't English though so maybe its more common in other cultures

Don't touch with a bargepole OP.

You will struggle to find customers to cover the £500pm fee that you have to pay surely.

There definitely are sleep nannies and sleep trainers out there, and a market for it (mostly London) - but people will hire very experienced nannies with additional maternity or sleep training qualifications, not someone who has bought a franchise.

It's 100% a MLM model. Look at the attached screenshots from their website.
Telltale language like "empowering others" and a disclaimer about any income claims.

Don't. Do. It.

Full training costs £27,000 does it? You could do a degree for that price and do all sorts of jobs.

Dental hygienist, radiographer, electrical engineer.

Yes the 'empowering others' is the give away -

There are some good franchises out there OP - but if interested you need to have a really good look at what they are offering that you couldn't do off your own back -

If being a sleep consultant is something you really want to do id consider a different one that isn't a franchise i think and be sure t check reviews from other students

Not necessarily MLM

i bought a kids activity franchise. I made a bit of money, not much! It was fun and worth it for 4 years then I gave it up. Of the franchisees I knew a very small proportion were doing well. Quite a few were just about breaking even and about a third would quietly disappear after less than a year or so. But the amount of money I had to pay to be in was hugely less. I think it was £2/3k to start off and then a percentage of income with a minimum payment of around £1k a year .

this sounds crackers

every mum wants to do cheap activities with their preschool kids. I think very few parents would want to pay for this. In a very affluent area you might have a chance. But still no.

The Trustpilot reviews are a mix of dire/scam warning and quite polished professional sounding copy that doesn’t really strike me as written by sleep deprived parents. It’s very difficult to earn £500 per month consistently initially in any business. You will be in the red for quite a while. I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

McDonalds and Subways have a physical product that people buy and want to eat, rather than a 'service' that may or may not work.

I looked at this age year ago but I didn't get to the part where you then pay another 500 a month. Seems a huge risk OP. With your wonderful skill set you could do private nursing/work in a private hospital etc. Many doors could open. You could also do sleep training programs for a lot lot cheaper. There was a university linked program where you did it alongside a qualification (diploma) for under 1000 but it would give you the tools. Don't give these people your hard earned money!

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Think this was the reality check I needed.

I was ready to walk away from 20 years of Nursing and a good Pension.

I hadn't even read the Trust Pilot reviews.

I'm thinking I would be better off topping up my existing Degrees with a further Qualification.

This

It sounds crazy because it is crazy.

But a lot less after deducting £27,000
Don't do it.

Ask to see her accounts. Then that will give you a true idea of what she is making.

She probably is earning between three and five thousand a month...
Much closer to £3 though. Perhaps £3.50.

Theres a cracking documentary on Prime about the LulaRo leggings MLM in America which is good at showing the people like your three to five thousand woman and how they have to pretend to be successful in order to just keep their heads above water.

I think it’s a sector where word of mouth is very important. It doesn’t sound like you’re getting a lot for your money.

Thanks @PlumpUpTheJam will check this out.
I remember years ago buying into Arbonne and not making any money and it was similar that the ones at the top were spending a fortune of their own money and it was all for show.

I also bought into Neil's Yard, I genuinely really like their products but all I was doing was spending and not making any money.

If it looks too good to be true - it usually is.
I once went to a Amware meeting.
The products may have been good - washing products- but you could way cheaper at the supermarket that worked fine .....and unless you'd got a huge customer base - you'd just be selling to your friends and relatives.
My partner at the time ( who'd been to a meeting before ) asked loads of sensible questions that they just couldn't answer.....
Pyramid selling.

So up to 9 months working to get your money back… If you’re good, there’s no way you’d have to work for very long before you’d start earning a good salary through word of mouth.