Teacher-Turned-Tech Entrepreneur: How Ben Ford Discovered His Ideal Career with ComputerXplorers
Finding the right career change that aligns with your expertise, skills, and ambitions can be a challenging process. For some, however, a franchise or ‘business in a box’ model offers an appealing solution. New ComputerXplorers franchisee Ben Ford explains why dedicating time and effort to thoroughly researching and identifying the right brand is essential for achieving success and fulfilment in an exciting new career venture.
Meet Bristol native and recent new entrant to the franchising world, Ben Ford. Ben came across the franchising concept by chance and found the British Franchise Assocation (BFA) website a useful tool to carefully research his way into becoming one of the latest franchisees at international children’s computing education franchise, ComputerXplorers.
Ben began his career as a primary school teacher, but after the birth of his first child, decided to return to university and complete a Masters degree before becoming a lecturer in Psychology and a psychology researcher. During his time in this field, he learnt to code and program for virtual reality (VR) and data science purposes in a number of different coding languages.
It was when his sister-in-law started her own business as a Time for You franchisee that Ben first heard of the franchising world and as he began to learn more about it, the idea of being able to run his own business with the support and experience of a franchisor behind him began to take root.
Ben knew where his strengths lay and was keen to find a business model that would combine his experience in the education sector with his skills in computing and coding. What he didn’t know was where to find this type of franchise.
At his sister-in-law’s suggestion, he made the BFA website his first port of call.
“I looked the BFA up and found it to be a great resource for researching and finding the type of franchise I was looking for,” said Ben. “I shortlisted a number of different franchises, but ComputerXplorers kept jumping out to me, and it was through the BFA that I found the contact details and website for them and was able to get in touch to find out more.”
“Having worked as a primary school teacher, I’m fully aware of the importance of extracurricular activities in our children’s lives. It is a big challenge for schools to be able to keep up with the ever-changing nature of software and computing tech, and that is where ComputerXplorers seemed to really add value.”
Ben, who had no experience of running his own business prior to launching ComputerXplorers Bristol, has found the support of both the ComputerXplorers head office team and franchisee network to be an integral part of successfully getting his business up and running.
Following the launch of his business, Ben has set up after school clubs at Victoria Park Primary in Bristol, St Francis in Nailsea and Two Mile Hill Primary, as well as activity sessions with local Scout groups.
“I am in no doubt that becoming a franchisee has been the best way for me to get my own business up and running,” Ben said. “I could not have done it without drawing on the knowledge and expertise of the ComputerXplorers team and my fellow franchisees. With their backing, my aim is to do anything we can do to raise the profile of computing education for youngsters – providing a fun and engaging learning environment for children to learn and use computing software safely and creatively.”
To learn more about ComputerXplorers, visit www.computerxplorers.co.uk
