Before, During and After Taking the Leap: Real Stories of Leaving Teaching to Run A Franchise

I know what it feels like to reach a point in teaching where something has to change.

For me, it was having two young children at home and realising that the job - the hours, the pressure, the constant demands that followed me home - wasn't sustainable anymore. I still wanted to work and use everything teaching had given me, but I needed to do it differently.

Maybe you're feeling it too - exhausted but pushing yourself through to each Friday. Maybe the job you once loved has started to feel like a different job entirely. Maybe you're scrolling through options late at night wondering if there's something else out there that could actually work for you and your life.

Those feelings are what led me to found Inventors & Makers in 2019. And are the same feelings I hear, in different forms, from almost every teacher who gets in touch with me. That's why I want to share what leaving teaching to run a franchise actually looks like - in the words of the people who've done it.

Our first four franchisees - Clare, Alex, Katie and Charlotte - were all in that place not long ago. What follows is their story, in their own words, from before they joined us to where they are now.

The Before: Something No Longer Felt Right

At the end of their training with us, I put some questions to Clare, Alex, Katie and Charlotte to find out more about their journey. They came from different parts of the UK, different stages of their careers, and different personal circumstances. But when I read back their answers to the question "How were you feeling before you found us?", the same words come up again and again.

Exhausted. Frustrated. Undervalued. Stuck.

All four had reached a point where the weight of teaching - the workload, the expectations, the feeling of being on a hamster wheel - had started to outweigh the parts they had once loved. For some it had been building for years. For others, a specific moment or change at work had brought things to a head.

None of them were looking for an easy ride. They were looking for something that still felt meaningful, but that gave them back some control over their own lives.

As Katie put it:

"Every year I started again - same thing, different children. But every year it was getting harder - the workload, the needs of children, the expectations of dealing with social issues, the pressure to improve results."

And Alex, who'd been teaching for 30 years, said:

"Things were getting me down and I was getting very disillusioned with the whole profession and a place that I once loved to work in."

The Hesitation: What Nearly Stopped Them

Every single one of them had doubts. I'd be worried if they didn't.

Leaving a salaried job and the security of knowing what lands in your account each month is no small thing. Neither is the idea of running your own business when you've spent your career in a classroom.

The fears our franchisees named most were:

• The financial risk of giving up a steady income.

• The unknown of running a business with no previous experience.

• And a quieter, more personal worry underneath both of those - what if I'm not cut out for this?

Clare was honest about her reservations:

"I had no previous business experience and it really felt like a leap into the unknown. I also had some negative preconceptions about franchising as a business model."

Katie named the fear that stops so many teachers in their tracks:

"Giving up a regular salary with sick pay and pension is a big risk. I've always known how much money I'm earning each month, so the idea of giving that up was terrifying."

And Charlotte, who had been thinking about a change for years, said simply:

"Something about taking the leap always scared me."

These aren't small fears: they're completely reasonable ones. But none of them turned out to be the whole story.

The Leap: What Made Them Decide to Leave Teaching to Run a Franchise

There was no single moment that pushed any of them over the line. No lightning bolt. No perfect set of circumstances that suddenly made the risk feel small.

For some it was a practical realisation - that the initial investment was low enough to be recoverable, that they could see a way back to teaching if it didn't work out, that the timing would never be truly perfect so it may as well be now.

For Katie it took something happening in her own life to make her stop and reassess:

"I realised that life is too short."

Charlotte's turning point was more instinctive — a flash of territorial energy that made her laugh when she told me:

"I knew nobody in my area had franchised and thought - why can't it be me? I honestly tell people all the time that I'm so lucky I came across this opportunity. I'd have kicked myself if someone else from Hull had beaten me to it."

Alex found her advert on Christmas Day while scrolling through Facebook and felt something she hadn't expected:

"I've always believed in making your own luck and that when you truly need the answer to a problem, it will present itself. I needed a way out - and there it was."

And Clare, practical to the last, simply decided the numbers made enough sense to try:

"The initial investment was low enough that I felt it was likely I'd at least make it back and not be out of pocket."

Different reasons, different moments, and different people. But they all made the same decision from their own personal readiness.

The Moment They Said Yes

Deciding to do it and actually signing on the dotted line are two different things. I always find it interesting to ask franchisees how they felt in that exact moment.

Katie described it as:

"Excited, relieved and terrified all at once. A big weight was lifted once I knew I was going to be leaving a job I didn't want to do anymore."

Alex felt something similar:

"I was trepidatious, overwhelmed but incredibly excited and oddly relieved."

And Charlotte, perhaps surprisingly, felt something different entirely:

"I felt excited! I don't think I ever actually felt nervous - which was what told me this was meant to be."

There's no right way to feel in that moment, but they all knew they'd made the right decision.

The Reality: What the First Few Months Are Actually Like

I want to be honest here because that's the whole point of this blog.

Clare in Reading at one of her first workshops

Starting something new is hard. Even with full training, a proven system, and a team behind you, the early weeks of running your own business for the first time involve a learning curve that all of our franchisees feel.

They told me so themselves.

Alex described the early days as a steep climb:

"At first I was worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew. It was an incredibly steep learning curve, as it was all new. Gradually, as I became more familiar with everything, the worries did become fewer - but it took time."

Clare flagged something that's worth knowing before you start:

"Be prepared that initially there is a lot of unpaid work to do in terms of setting things up, doing free assemblies, sending marketing emails, training. Though this is probably the case for any new business."

And Charlotte named something that surprises almost every teacher who comes onboard - selling feels strange at first:

"One of the hardest things is learning to sell my products to teachers and to not be apologetic or embarrassed about telling people what I can offer them. It's a very different way of thinking compared to being a classroom teacher."

None of this is said to put you off. It's said because we'd rather you know it going in than be surprised by it.

What all four also said - without exception - is that they never felt alone in any of it. The support was there every time they needed it.

Charlotte said:

"I never imagined that the support and training available for marketing my business would be so comprehensive. I've learnt that there's a lot more to it than I imagined, but it's so exciting to learn new skills."

And Katie, on what the team around her felt like from the start:

"The training programme is really comprehensive and the support available from the whole Inventors & Makers team is great - we really champion each other's successes, so very quickly I felt like I'd made a good decision."

The hard early days soon gave way to something that felt like their own. And for Charlotte, there was one moment that made it all click:

"Once I got my first workshop booking, I had a little happy cry!"

The After: Where They Are Now

This is the part I love most.

Natalija in North Lincolnshire at an after-school club

Because the four people who described themselves as exhausted, frustrated and scared are the same four people who are now out in schools and nurseries every week, building something that's genuinely theirs.

Clare, who worried about having never run a business before, said:

"Just 6 weeks after starting my training I was delighted to sell out two after school clubs in just 14 hours. My time is my own and I'm loving every minute of it."

Alex, who wondered if she was too far into her career to learn something new, said:

"Now I feel confident, capable and empowered to go out and make a success of the business that I'm building. Joining Inventors and Makers has been one of the best professional decisions that I've ever made."

Katie, who was concerned about giving up her salary:

"With Inventors & Makers, you're not starting from scratch. You get a brand, great products, marketing strategies and business management support. The training allows you to hit the ground running using a tried and tested formula that has worked well in other parts of the country. You get the flexibility to build your business as quickly or slowly as you want, and the flexibility to work as much or as little as you want - it’s up to you!

And Charlotte, who just needed to back herself:

"Since starting my franchise, I’ve grown massively as a person - not just professionally, but personally too. I feel more confident, more resilient, and much stronger. It might sound cliché, but I genuinely know I've found something I love - and it doesn't feel like work at all."

Different pathways, but the same destination.

Could This Be Your Story Too?

Every one of the teachers you've just read about was sitting where you might be sitting right now - wondering if it was possible, whether the timing was right, whether they were the right kind of person.

There is no right kind of person. There's just a point where something no longer fits, and a decision about what to do with that feeling.

Here's what our franchisees would say to you if you asked them directly.

Clare: "Just go for it!"

Alex: "Please know that you are not expected to be a business expert. Laura has created a framework that supports you every step of the way, allowing you to focus on what you do best - teaching, inspiring future engineers and loving your work again."

Katie: "You get to keep using the teaching skills you’ve spent years developing, which I think is one of the best things about Inventors & Makers - we’re teachers and we loved teaching, and we still get to teach, but on our own terms!"

And Charlotte: "Stay focused and don't lose sight of why you're doing this."

Taking the leap is scary. I know that better than anyone - I took my own leap when I founded Inventors & Makers, and there were plenty of moments where the uncertainty felt very real.

But here's what I want you to know: you wouldn't be jumping alone. There's a hand to hold on the way across, and a pretty brilliant team waiting on the other side.

If you're thinking about leaving teaching to run a franchise and you'd like to find out more, download our brochure then book a call with me. No pressure or hard sell, just an honest conversation about whether this could work for you.

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