Franchising as a Side Hustle? It's A Thing.

As the proverbial dust settles from the ongoing pandemic recovery, the wide-reaching ripple effect continues to manifest itself with some interesting statistics. But perhaps nothing is more fascinating than the rise of the side hustle. Whatever you call it – the gig economy, micro-business, passive income, or a side venture – approximately 42% of these folks still appear to have a day job. However, the news isn’t all that shocking when you consider how our working environment has shifted.

Some of the latest data reveals that 30% of all Americans have a hybrid work schedule, and 15% never go into an office at all. These situational circumstances have created quite a favorable environment for adding an income stream, something easily accomplished through franchise ownership. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom whose kids are back in school, or an enterprise-level business owner looking to diversify your portfolio of holdings, there are many advantages of franchise ownership as a side hustle. Depending on the particular franchise opportunity, and the circumstances of your personal situation, it’s quite possible to keep your full-time “Day Job” while earning a passive income.

This extra discretionary income may come in handy for numerous projects and pursuits you might otherwise have to forego. For other franchise owners, the side-hustle is only a temporary solution - meant to function as a transitional opportunity to scale up your establishment prior to taking full-time operational control. These “semi-absentee” models succeed when you can recruit and retain talented individuals to run the day-to-day operations. It’s a situation in franchising commonly known as “managing the manager."

It’s one of franchising’s most common myths that ownership requires the full amount of your attention and resources. The truth is that, of the nearly 4,000 different franchise concepts in the marketplace, many are specifically designed to be operated as a semi-absentee ownership model.

At Unleashed Brands, we have six category-leading youth enrichment brands that all have side hustle potential:

  • Premier Martial Arts – this franchise opportunity is an extracurricular martial arts program for children and adults in a studio setting. Find yourself a qualified instructor and you can “manage the manager” of your Premier Martial Arts studio while building wealth with a passive income opportunity.
  • Snapology – is a franchise concept where owners set up a flexible curriculum of programs and workshops that enrich children’s educational experiences through innovative learning opportunities. Find the right Snapology teachers and the development of your side-hustle will be a “snap.”
  • The Little Gym – is a franchise opportunity offering educational classes that focus on active play and movement. Programs are designed for kids aged four months to 12 years, giving The Little Gym the potential to be a community hit. Owners hire a Gym Director to run the day-to-day and be present in the gym.
  • Urban Air Adventure Park – this franchise concept, billed as the ultimate indoor adventure park, isn’t just a business opportunity – it’s a destination. But for business owners, Urban Air can be a hands-off facility that requires minimal oversight – provided you hire the right staff. And, 50% of Urban Air franchisees are remote owners, meaning you don’t have to live in the territory you own.
  • XP League – is an emerging franchise in the Unleashed Brands platform that takes full advantage of the well-documented esports craze. Developed to operate like any other youth sports program, XP League is designed to operate in a series of planned events – and you control the scheduling and size of your league.
  • Class 101is a franchise concept that provides assistance, support, tools, and resources for high school students looking to apply to colleges and universities. At its heart, Class 101 is a one-on-one consultancy that can easily be accomplished according to the schedule you set.

As we’ve noted throughout this blog post, it’s not necessary to quit your day job to own a franchise. But we’ll leave you with one interesting challenge posed by side-hustlers who’ve chosen to pursue this lifestyle. By a wide margin, they report the lack of growth and marketing as their biggest obstacle.

Help with business growth and marketing just so happens to be two of the biggest advantages of franchising, thanks to the training, backing, and support provided by Unleashed Brands. And we’d love nothing more than the chance to demonstrate the ways in which we provide our franchisee partners with this type of assistance and more.

Developing a side hustle through franchising? Yeah, that’s a thing now.

The Unleashed Brands platform includes Urban Air Adventure Park, Snapology, The Little Gym, XP League, Class 101, and Premier Martial Arts youth enrichment franchises. As the parent company, Unleashed Brands was founded to curate and grow the most innovative and profitable business opportunities that help kids learn, play and grow. Over the last 10 years, the team at Unleashed Brands has built a proven platform and know-how for scaling businesses that focus on serving families. All have become first-in-category brands by providing fun, engaging, and inspiring experiences that help kids with their No. 1 development goal – to become who they were destined to be.

To speak with one of our franchise experts and learn more about our youth enrichment opportunities, simply fill out this form and an Unleashed Brands representative will be in touch shortly.

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