International Women’s Day has been celebrated around the world for over 100 years. Falling on 8th March every year, it aims to promote the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, to educate and raise awareness for women’s equality and call for positive change to advance women.

World Options is proud to work with a large number of female franchisees. We talk to entrepreneur, Louise Haas, about what running a World Options franchise means to her.

A new option

Louise joined World Options in 2017 alongside her business partner, Conor, who had bought the franchise the previous year. She was drawn to World Options as a career change, following a fifteen-year career in HR. Having used the portal as a customer in her previous roles, she was well aware of the benefits offered for businesses shipping goods and parcels worldwide.

It was this awareness, coupled with the lifestyle benefits that the franchise model offers, that prompted her to make the leap into the business, setting up to work from her home in the Greater Glasgow area.

She says:

“World Options is a fantastic option for businesses, helping them save money on their international and domestic parcels, whilst providing the additional benefit of unparalleled personalised customer service – no call centres and no endless wait on hold.

“If you export or import internationally we offer substantial savings, and whether you ship one item or larger volumes daily, weekly or monthly, World Options will benefit your business.

Having experienced all this as a customer myself, I was therefore very confident in my ability to build a successful business as a World Options franchisee. On top of that, it was the lifestyle benefits of running the business that really attracted me to it.

My previous role in HR could be described as a very stressful and demanding career. With my husband also having a very busy career, which sees him travelling internationally, it was starting to have an impact on our home lives. My business partner Conor was also in a similar situation, with a wife who also travels extensively for work.

So the World Options franchise is perfect for us. We can literally run the business from anywhere and to our own timetable, so it’s really easy to fit it around our family lives.”

A growing business

Louise and Conor run the business together and have chosen not to take on further staff. Though she doesn’t rule it out down the line, she and Conor feel happy running the business themselves as that currently fits best with their lifestyles.

Louise says:

“As World Options franchisees are not bound by geographic territories, we can work with businesses anywhere. Conor and I don’t specialise in any particular sectors, but we personally have found working with businesses that make a lot of international shipments allows us to form the sturdiest customer relationships.

On International Women’s Day, my advice to women thinking of setting up in business would simply be to stick at it. It can take time. And when you come into something, as Conor and I did, starting from cold with no customer base, it can be very challenging – but very rewarding when you get there too.

With grit and determination, and with a great product you believe in, success will come as long as you work hard and keep at it.”