Your Online Masterclass host for this week: A franchising expert

Every Tuesday at 12.30pm you can watch an online business masterclass delivered by one of our Adviser Classic members.

This week franchising expert Julie Waites will host: A small business guide to franchising.

Masterclasses are now available to everyone at a cost of only £10 each. To register for this week's event at 12.30pm on 5 July, go here.

Don't forget that Classic members can watch every weekly masterclass for free! To register, log into your Enterprise Nation account and go to the events page where the discount will be automatically applied.

If you're not yet a Classic member, free masterclasses are just one of many benefits. Join now!

Company: The Franchise Company

Twitter: @franchisecomp

**Company founded: ** 1991

What is your favourite business book and why?

To Kill A Mocking Bird as it shows the futility of discrimination and the influence of the "bed that we are born into" in determining our future prospects in life.

Who is your business hero and why?

Probably Alan Sugar as he started with nothing and without an advantaged background and has become a huge success in business but doesn't appear to have forgotten his roots and his family are still the most important thing in his life.

Describe your business in a tweet:

Franchise experts with loads of experience in franchising both in the UK and internationally. We help our clients get it right first time!

What has been your biggest challenge?

Working on a project to look for franchised business opportunities to take into Saudi Arabia to assist ladies to set up businesses in Jeddah and other parts of Saudi. Challenging but very rewarding.

What has been your greatest success?

Helping people into business (often for the first time) and in doing so entirely changing their lives, expectations and aspirations. As well as setting up franchise systems we also work with many clients on an ongoing basis through the recruitment process and ongoing network development so have literally helped thousands of people (directly and indirectly) to make the move into running their own business.

What piece of advice do you wish you had known when starting out?

Don't try and achieve perfection in all areas of business. If you get a new product or service up to 98% or so then you are doing very well and to get to 100% takes huge additional time and resource and by that time the market has usually changed anyway so you need to adapt. Be flexible and make sure that you and your staff enjoy the journey of building the business together.

Why do you consider long-term strategic advice important to business success?

It's the focus that all businesses need in order to know where the business in going, what they want to achieve and when they want to reach their goals by. The strategic objectives should come from within the business and be owned by the business owners and staff. External advice and expertise can help with this process but the expertise and drive to implement the strategic plan has to be within the business.

If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

A kindness pill. It doesn't cost a lot but can make a huge difference.

Julie's Online Masterclass, A small business guide to franchising, is at 12.30pm on 5 July. To register for the Masterclass go here or log into your Classic membership account and go to the events page to join in for free.

If you're an Adviser Classic member and you'd like to host a Masterclass, apply here.