SmartPA are the leading providers of outsourced administrative, secretarial and PA support to businesses around the world.
Who are SmartPA?
SmartPA is a business support and administration franchise transforming the way professionals work.
With more than 10 years’ experience offering remote administrative support to over 5,000 business clients globally, demand for our services has grown almost 30% in the past year - now is the perfect time to launch your franchise business under our SmartPA brand. We offer lifetime business support from the minute you sign up with us.
Our business equips you with all the tools you need to succeed, including a six-week accredited training course to get you started and ongoing support from a dedicated team. When you join SmartPA as a franchisee, you become part of a supportive community of over 300 SmartPA Partners and can tap into a wealth of expertise and business knowledge. You’ll reap the rewards of flexible working and being your own boss, with all of the support and guidance you would gain from working in-house.
Why now?
Franchisees who work full-time earn, on average, between £84,000 and £120,000 each year (and those working part-time earn between £30,000 and £48,000 on average).
We don’t restrict you by geographic territory and our recurring revenue model means that you can secure repeat business, ensuring a stable source of income and limitless earning opportunities. SmartPA have worked with brands such as Krispy Kreme, BBC and Total Oil. Launching your business with us gives you the opportunity to tap into our trusted brand and achieve instant recognition.
Key Features
- COVID-resistant business
- UK funding available
- Work virtually from home
- Enjoy flexible working hours
- No restrictions on geographical territory
- Recurring revenue model
- Six-week accredited training programme and lifetime business support
- We secure your first client on your behalf for free, worth £6,000 per year
- Access to our global peer support network of over 300 SmartPA Partners
- Work under our trusted brand and achieve instant recognition
*Full UK funding is available for this franchise opportunity, meaning you pay nothing upfront. International funding pending.
To take the next step towards owning your own SmartPA franchise, request your free consultation by registering your interest below:
People culture: ‘Walking the walk’
If you’re a regular browser of social media like me, you’ll see lots of familiar quotes appear in your timeline. Like this one, which I saw again last week, and which a poster attributed to Sir Richard Branson:
“Customers don't come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the customers."
Although I’d seen it many times before, it did stop me scrolling and set me thinking. “I wonder,” I thought, “did he actually say that?” And then I compared it to the mantra we hold dear at SmartPA:
“Happy People = Happy Clients”
I like to think our line is a bit snappier (sorry, Sir Richard), but the sentiments are undeniably similar.
“But,” I hear you say, “talk is cheap. What do you do actually do to make your people happy? More importantly, are they actually happy?”
Fair questions. So let me briefly explain what we do at SmartPA to ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to creating and maintaining a happy people culture.
Firstly, we’re grown up enough to understand that a positive people culture doesn’t just magically happen. It needs clear plans, regular feedback and meaningful reviews. At SmartPA, we have a clear employee experience strategy that’s evaluated regularly to ensure it’s fit for purpose. Part of it reads as follows:
“To create workplace pride, you need your team to have: pride in work; pride in team; and pride in organisation.”
As leaders, that means we have to ensure our people are excited about our organisational purpose, thrive in our culture, and live and breathe our values. And that can only happen if we lead by example. So here are a few of the ways we do just that at SmartPA:
1. Leadership:
Every member of our leadership team receives our SmartPA leadership training, ‘Bossing-It’, which supports them to nurture effective leadership styles and create authentic and successful leaders within our teams. One thing I’m always keen to emphasise is that we don’t look to impose leadership styles on anyone. Instead, I’m a firm believer that leaders need to optimise their own natural, unique strengths to become the workplace energisers and role models that any successful company needs. This then makes them ideally placed to unlock the energy, opinions, ideas and performance in others that we need to succeed as a business and deliver value to our customers and stakeholders.
2. Recruitment:
At SmartPA, we recruit to attitude. What I mean by that, is that our priority is to hire people that align with our vision and values, and then work with them to build on what they already have.
3. Learning and development:
Our Centre for Excellence supports our people with an accredited training programme that delivers a recognised qualification. We also make sure every SmartPA team member has an individual growth plan (their own path to success if you like) and has clarity on the purpose and impact of their individual role.
4. Rewards:
As well as providing support and learning, it’s just as important to reward talent, commitment and hard work. Team members who exemplify our values can be nominated for monthly Kudos awards. And, at the end of each year, we celebrate with awards for stand-out employees.
5. Wellbeing:
We’re passionate about our people’s wellbeing and about understanding what makes them tick as individuals (and I do mean genuinely passionate). The way I see it, we can’t light you up without understanding what feeds your flame – in other words, can we do more to support you in doing the things that make you happy? (After all, what makes you happy supports your performance.) All these things are included in the personal wellbeing plan each team member has in place.
6. Doing good with our business:
We engage with our team in maintaining and updating a clear Corporate Social Responsibly (CSR) plan. And we hold ourselves accountable to that.
And how do I know that it’s working? Well, the great thing about SmartPA is there’s no place to hide. Our people are out there working as part of our clients’ teams, every day of the week for 52 weeks of the year. We can only be successful if our people really are aligned to our organisational purpose and living our values.
Feeling really valued, feeling indispensable, and feeling like you are making a difference to people.
Life challenges took me to move home and hence change of job back into the Administrative sector. When I really understood I had the experience and ability to do this for myself - after all there wasn’t anywhere to go in my current job. I always had a deep desire to be a business owner, but just didn’t know in what field. When I found out about the support and guidance that SmartPA supplies, I didn’t look back
I was made redundant and had come across adverts for SmartPA but wasn't sure it was for me. A friend bought into SmartPA and I had seen lots of her posts. After 6 months of no luck with getting a job other than temping, I decided to take the plunge. My biggest achievement? Completing accreditation and launching it in lockdown.
“I had been toying with the idea of starting my own business for a couple of years. In all the industries I’d worked in there was always the same issue that senior management didn’t really understand the importance of good administration or what was really involved in keeping an office running smoothly. I knew about VA’s but I wasn’t sure if it was something I could really do on my own so kept putting it off. When I came across SmartPA and read more it lit up a light and made me realise that I could start my own business but not be totally on my own, there would be support AND be part of an already established brand. The best- selling point of the SmartPA brand is our fabulous head office and support network and access to a vast talent pool of accredited, professional partners from a wide variety of backgrounds offering a variety of experience and skills. Yes there are other VA’s out there and other VA franchise companies, but SmartPA is nearly 6 times the size of competitors… so to me it is definitely THE brand in this industry.”
I have found the support from SmartPA's Business Support Team to be invaluable, and my monthly call with them enables me to stay focused. It helps to put together an ‘Action Plan’ to ensure that I am taking all the steps necessary to help grow my business. They’re always quick to respond with any queries I might have, and are always friendly, helpful, and approachable.
"I certainly have that Friday Feeling this eve! I have just finished my first week as a fully accredited SmartPA Partner and am so blessed to have some fab clients already and amazing support from the Business Support Team and the SmartPA community. I was so worried about making the move into having my own business and now I feel so positive and ready for anything!!!"
“Having researched various startup options offering business support, I chose SmartPA for their professional approach from the outset. At no point did I feel under pressure to purchase the franchise and I subsequently received excellent advice and support throughout my training and recent launch. The training programme is the most thorough and enjoyable I have ever completed and receiving accreditation gave me the reassurance I needed to start my business. The on-going support from the Business Development Team and other SmartPA partners ensures there is always someone to help if you require assistance or you just need a bit of moral support. During the Covid 19 pandemic, the world is becoming accustomed to remote working and the SmartPA model is a fantastic, flexible option for anyone looking to start a rewarding new business that fits in with their lifestyle.”
"I have to say, everyone that I have spoken to so far has just been so reassuring and helpful and I really feel that if at all I start to struggle, I can contact someone for help and advice and not feel awkward about it... It's really strange, as I know I am only just starting out, but already I feel I am becoming 'part of the family' - and this is because everyone is so helpful and approachable. I have that nice warm fuzzy feeling - it's great! I really do mean everything that I say as the team is just amazing!"
My journey with SmartPA has been brilliant! I can't fault the whole process. Jo was amazing to deal with, I loved speaking to partners and Andrew the CEO. My workshop was really valuable too - it was all very reassuring. Training - I loved it!! Steven was brilliant, I'd always feel anxious before training but by the end I was absolutely buzzing! I signed up when my little one was really little and I had my hands full, but I haven’t stopped since I launched. SmartPA was the best thing I've done for myself and my children. The whole onboarding process, speaking to people - you feel so included and part of the community from the start."
My SmartPA journey from discovery to accreditation was possibly rockier than most, as we moved house 3 times, renovated one of them and began a new life in Hong Kong, all in the space of 9 months! The training team was unfailingly supportive and gave me all the time and encouragement I needed to persevere through the process. I was in the interesting position of learning about SmartPA’s culture and values while receiving that support from the Head Office at the same time! It gave me a great deal of confidence that I am investing in the right company.
Monica's Story | SmartPA Partnership
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SmartPA Testimonial | Angela Dewitt
Sarra Bejaoui | SmartPA Founder
SmartPA’s bespoke Insourcing model…
SmartPA Partner Nicola Connor | Testimonial
SmartPA Partner Angela Dewitt on working under the global brand name SmartPA
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Meet our Partners | SmartPA
SmartPA Partner Spotlight | Tracey Jones
