$45k/Month from Dating Events - Is Franchising the Right Move?
Apr 20, 2025
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Explore a $45k/month dating events business contemplating franchising. Delve into unique strategies that fueled growth from one event to 28 across multiple countries. Uncover the challenges of maintaining gender ratios, enhancing marketing tactics, and navigating the emotional complexities of business ownership transitions. Learn the ins and outs of franchising, including relationship management with franchisees and the importance of engagement for attracting sponsorships. A lively discussion blends humor with serious insights on entrepreneurship!
Cheeky Events has rapidly scaled from one monthly event to 28, highlighting the potential of niche markets in the dating industry.
Sherry faces significant challenges from established competitors and social stigmas, emphasizing the importance of strategic marketing and brand positioning for growth.
As Sherry considers franchising, she must balance expansion with maintaining quality service and protecting the unique integrity of her business model.
Deep dives
Introduction to Cheeky Events
Cheeky Events, founded by Sherry from London, focuses on organizing singles events across Australia, New Zealand, and London. After Sherry broke up with someone in London, she backpacked across Australia and fell in love with the country, leading her to create events that cater to serious singles looking to settle down. The business initially began with one event per month, but it has rapidly expanded to 28 events each month, accommodating up to 70 attendees at various locations. This unique business model prioritizes creating a welcoming atmosphere for individuals to mingle and potentially find long-term partners.
Challenges in Growing the Business
Sherry faces significant challenges, particularly related to time zone management while operating in multiple countries. Competitors often have larger marketing budgets, making it difficult for Cheeky Events to keep up, especially in terms of search engine optimization, where competitors possess thousands of keywords against Sherry's 200. Additionally, a past incident involving missed payments has prevented her from advertising through Google Ads, limiting her promotional options. Despite these hurdles, Sherry aims to further expand her events to the US and UK beyond London within the next year.
Running the Daily Operations
On a daily basis, Sherry juggles various tasks, including content creation for social media where she has amassed a following of 22,000 on Instagram. She oversees two full-time admin support staff and coordinates with casual speed dating hosts and part-time graphic designers. Sherry devotes time to replying to emails, managing event logistics, and enhancing marketing strategies to increase engagement and attract participants. The business heavily relies on word-of-mouth referrals, although promoting singles events on social media presents challenges due to the social stigma surrounding dating events.
Financial Insights and Revenue Streams
Cheeky Events generates revenue primarily through ticket sales, with prices averaging around AUD 50 for participants, which can be reduced through newsletter discounts. Despite her current monthly revenue of AUD 42,000, Sherry expresses the need to improve profit margins to fund personal goals, such as buying a house and supporting her family back in the UK. She recognizes the potential in expanding her revenue streams by exploring partnerships and sponsorship opportunities, but acknowledges the difficulty in attracting bigger companies to invest. As she considers franchising her business model, Sherry seeks a balance between growth and maintaining quality service.
Exploring Franchise Opportunities
As Cheeky Events aims for expansion, Sherry is deliberating on the prospect of franchising her business model to existing hosts. This route could potentially alleviate some operational burden, allowing her to maintain a better work-life balance while capitalizing on regional market strengths. However, she is hesitant due to the low barriers to entry for competitors, which could risk her business structure and customer relationships. Sherry is focused on ensuring that any franchising agreements are beneficial and do not compromise the integrity of Cheeky Events or its unique offerings.
This week, James and JB dive into a $45k/month dating events business that’s thinking about franchising. But is it the right move? They’ll explore the risks, alternatives, and what it really takes to scale a business like this the smart way.
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Welcome to the Business Broadcast Podcast! Each week James brings on the show an entrepreneur who shares their biggest challenges and struggles in business.James coaches the business owner through these challenges by asking those hard hitting questions in order to get to the bottom of these problems and help the business owner soar to success.
Find out more from Cheri here: www.cheekyevetsaustralia.com
Who am I?
My name is James Sinclair and I'm the founder and CEO of The Fabadousa Group of Companies. I started building my business when I was just 16 as a family entertainer after that I built up an entertainment agency, then moved into building a leisure and day nursery businesses. Today we operate a £40 million business which includes leisure, childcare, outdoor attractions, commercial property, arts and crafts manufacturing as well as one of the UK’s oldest Ice cream companies; The Rossi Ice Cream Company.
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