Franchise Article

A new generation of property investors is appearing in the UK, and rising to the forefront of that growing wave is a company called Platinum Property Partners, a business that has made quite a splash of late, being recently endorsed by BBC TV property presenters Martin Roberts and Sarah Walker.  Led by founders Steve Bolton and Nick Carlile, PPP is built on a system that the two entrepreneurs call “a very successful and profitable buy to let investment strategy” that manages to produce both regular profit and capital growth. 

Franchisees already jumping in to take a piece of the pie for themselves are not being let down but rather are seeing exactly what Bolton and Carlile claim.  We recently interviewed one such franchisee to get the scoop on what entering into this growing organization is like from the inside.    Gary and Sally Bassett are relative newcomers to the world of Platinum Property Partners—in fact, this is their first franchise business ever—and they’ve already learned a lot about what it takes to succeed as PPP franchisees and as budding owners of a franchise in general.  In regard to joining the PPP team, they quickly praised the company’s communal nature.  They said that PPP has “a real sense of working in partnership—not just with the franchisor, but also with the other franchisees: learning, growing and earning together.”  In ever competitive markets, this seems to be a rarity in franchise life, as everyone is looking to get themselves ahead, which often comes only at another business’ expense.  Sally even spelled it out for us, saying plainly that she “had imagined there would be a lot of competition between the franchises, and that has not been the case.”

However great—and it is great—that community-based business model is, though, it also proved to be one of the greatest difficulties for the franchisee Bassetts.  One of the most interesting features of PPP is the importance they place on marriage as a key component of a PPP franchise.  In their self-description, the company writes that any prospective franchisee “must have support from Partner/Spouse to be a Franchise Partner.”  Like most things beneficial to both a business and a relationship, the Bassetts said that “learning to run a small business and learning to do that in partnership as husband and wife” is not easy.  In fact, in recommendation to future PPP entrepreneurs, they added that it’s important to “agree [on] the rules between you for decision-making.”  A wise piece of advice for any married couple, whether or not they’re PPP co-franchisees.

PPP and its associates are all about community on levels: within marriage, within the business and between franchises, as well as between the franchises and their communities.  Being in the business of home purchases and sales, it is another essential piece of fully engaging the company’s expectation for franchisees that they make a positive impact on their respective communities.  For franchises, and PPP as a whole, to succeed, clients, neighbors, and neighborhoods must all see the organization as a benefit to them and not just to the pocketbook of the franchisee—even though, as the Bassetts mention, PPP is “a wise move toward financial freedom” for the franchisee.

What sets this business apart from the masses is this commitment to people.  And one of the most overlooked people for the average company is the franchisee himself, who some can see as only the means to a monetary end, but not so with Platinum Property Partners.  To this franchisor, the individual owners are vital to success and worth protecting from the temptation to overwork.  Key to the PPP model is a balanced life for the franchisee; work, fun, health, and relationship in proper balance are almost prerequisites for potential partners.  What the structure of this franchise promotes is not just capital gain, but overall life gain.

In all things from business to pleasure, owners of PPP franchises reap the benefits of being on the cutting edge of property investment, business structure, and community-building.  Constantly stretching, constantly growing, and constantly advancing the individual, the business, and the community are what this nationally recognized business is all about.  “Overall,” Sally Bassett said in closing, “it is fun even though you are pushing your boundaries every day.”  Perhaps, some would argue, that is precisely what makes it fun.