My journey to Jigsaw Franchising started when I was 12 years old and was awarded a scholarship to their branch in
Ilford. This was when the head office had 13 schools across London. Fast forward to the end of my second year of
University. I was studying abroad in Chicago and my lecturer from back home had forwarded an advertisement for
Jigsaw Performing Arts who were seeking new teachers. My thought was “Not my Jigsaw?”. I hadn’t been in touch since
my early teens but instantly sent my CV over to head office. To come full circle, a few months after returning home from
my studies I was sat in the head office with Nicola the founder interviewing for a role. A year later, after enjoying
teaching at both the Broxbourne and Ilford schools in my final year of University. I was posed with the question- what
next?
Jigsaw was somewhere I felt I belonged. I knew that I wanted to build my career in the Performing Arts industry with a
company that had the same ethos as Jigsaw. So why leave Jigsaw to find it? When I had already found it. Cue a
discussion about owning my own Jigsaw school. Jigsaw had been franchising for a few years before I spoke about my
own journey with franchising, so they already had an established franchise model and excellent training in place. In
2018, I opened my Jigsaw school in Chelmsford. A daunting task at only 21 years old, but I had the backing of Jigsaw to
always steer me in the right direction. I trusted that whatever was happening with my business had happened before
and that the right people were there to give me advice.
At Jigsaw we have our own franchise support manager, who is there to enable us to get the best from our business. A
personal support line, who has their own experiences of running a Jigsaw school, so you feel supported in their
knowledge and personal experience of the business. I don’t feel that having started a performing arts school
independently I would have experienced the same feeling of belonging and understanding that I do at Jigsaw. Being a
business owner, can make you feel overwhelmed and alone at times when things go wrong. I started my business just
before Covid-19 and that proved that having a network of other franchisee’s who were experiencing the same pandemic
meant I was not alone.
Jigsaw was the best decision in creating a career whereby I feel privileged that I get to do what I’m passionate about
everyday. I have the flexibility with Jigsaw to still pursue other work in the Performing arts industry whilst building my
business, plus enjoying my other passions such as travelling. If you asked would I choose Jigsaw again- yes, I would
and I did as I’ll be opening a new school in Brentwood in September.
