You Could Start a Business for $0. So Why Would You Pay $60,000 for a Franchise?

It’s the number one question Emile gets asked.

Why spend $60,000 on a franchise when you can start your own thing for free?

It’s a fair question. And the honest answer is more useful than what most franchise companies will tell you.

It’s based on a recent Courtside Conversations episode by Little Boomers Basketball founder, Emile Koorey — who started the business from scratch in 2018 and franchised it two years later. He knows both sides.

Watch the Full Episode

What Most People Focus On When They Compare the Two

They look at the upfront cost.

$60,000 for a franchise. $0 to start your own.

The maths feels obvious.

But that calculation leaves out the biggest number in the whole picture: the cost of failing.

Eight out of ten businesses fail.
Twenty percent are gone within the first year.
Forty-five percent don’t make it to five years.

Not because the people behind them weren’t talented.
Because there was no market fit. No systems. No one in their corner.

The $60,000 isn’t just a fee.
It’s the price of all the mistakes, wins, and hard lessons from every business that had to learn those things the slow, expensive way.

Whether it’s worth it comes down to four things.

Point One: A Proven Product

When you start your own business, you’re making a bet the marketplace will want what you’re selling.

That bet has terrible odds.

When you buy a franchise, the market fit has already been tested somewhere else.
The product has been through the trial and error phase — sometimes years of it.

Think about opening a pizza restaurant from scratch.
You spend two years testing the recipe.
The base. The sauce. The toppings.
Finally, you nail it.
Then you open a second location in Melbourne — and they don’t want any of it.

That’s what starting from scratch looks like.

A franchise skips those years.
The product has already been refined.
You’re not paying to test something. You’re paying to deploy something that already works.

“All a franchise is, is a product or service that’s already been proven in the marketplace somewhere else.” — Emile Koorey

One important note: proven doesn’t mean guaranteed.
A franchise that works in Sydney doesn’t automatically work everywhere.
The product is de-risked. The execution still comes down to you.

Point Two: Infrastructure

Starting from scratch means building everything yourself.

Marketing. Booking systems. Sales tools. Lead generation. Accounting.

If you outsource just your marketing, you might be paying an agency $2,000 to $5,000 a month.
And you’re still starting from zero.

A franchise has usually spent years building those systems before you arrived.

At Little Boomers Basketball, the back-end enrolment platform — where parents book in, money transfers, and attendance is tracked — cost thousands of dollars and years to develop.

When a new franchisee joins, they get login access on day one.
They don’t build any of it.

The marketing levy works the same way.
Every franchisee contributes a portion each month.
That pool funds campaigns that benefit the whole network — at a scale no solo business owner could afford alone.

Before you decide the franchise fee is expensive, ask one question: how much would this infrastructure cost me to build from scratch?

Point Three: Brand

Emile puts this one simply.

Picture a parent driving home after school pickup.
Kids in the back seat, on their iPads.
They drive past Joe’s Burgers — a local restaurant.
Silence.

Five hundred metres later, they drive past the McDonald’s golden arches.

The kids go absolutely ballistic.

Same product. Completely different response.
That’s brand.

Customers in 2026 buy from businesses they recognise and trust.
When you start from nothing, you have no credibility. No trust. No recognition.
You have to earn all of it — and that takes years.

When a Little Boomers Basketball territory launches, parents already know the name.
They’ve seen it on social media. Their neighbour’s kids went to it.
Some of that trust is already there before the first session runs.

“Parents already know the brand. They say — Little Boomers is here, I’m going to enrol with them.” — Emile Koorey

Brand shortens the sales cycle.
A customer who might take three months to decide can make that decision in one.
That’s the leverage you’re buying into.

Point Four: Support

Starting a business alone is genuinely hard.

Most people who do it find a mentor, hire a coach, or white-knuckle through the first few years figuring things out by themselves.

In a franchise network, that support comes built in.

Last year, Little Boomers Basketball held its Boomers Leadership Conference.
All 24 franchisees in the same room.
Talking about their struggles, their wins, their ambitions.

“The energy in that room was electrifying.” — Emile Koorey

That kind of community doesn’t exist when you’re on your own.

Beyond the annual conference, there’s dedicated support for marketing, operations, and compliance — available day to day.
When something goes wrong, you’re not googling answers at midnight.
You have a team.

The Trade-Off Nobody Actually Tells You

Here’s where most franchise content stops.

Because the four points above make franchising sound like the obvious choice.

Emile doesn’t stop there.

When you buy into a franchise, you give up control.
And that trade-off is real, significant, and worth thinking through before you sign anything.

You buy from approved suppliers — even if your mate can get you basketballs cheaper.
You run approved products and services — even if you have a brilliant idea for something new.

At Little Boomers Basketball, if a franchisee wanted to run high school coaching and head office said no — that’s the end of the conversation.

“A franchise does limit what you can and can’t do. You lose control that you’d normally have as a business owner. That’s the big trade-off.” — Emile Koorey

If you want complete freedom to do things your way — a franchise isn’t the right vehicle.
That’s not a criticism. It’s just honest.

The people who thrive in a franchise want to run a proven system.
Not design one.

If you want to build the system, start from scratch.
If you want to run a well-built system and grow it — a franchise makes a lot more sense.

What This Means If You’re Considering a Little Boomers Basketball Franchise

The question isn’t really “franchise or my own business?”

It’s: what kind of builder are you?

Little Boomers Basketball has grown to 25 active territories across Australia — with an average of 154 enrolled members per territory and grand openings regularly hitting 48 to 80 enrolments in a single day.

That didn’t happen by accident.
It happened because the product, systems, brand, and support were refined over years before the first franchise was sold.

But none of that matters if the model isn’t the right fit for you personally.

Emile turned down 12 potential buyers last year.
Not because the business wasn’t for them — but because the trade-off wasn’t something they’d thought through honestly.

The franchisees who do best walked in already asking themselves the hard question: do I want to build a system, or do I want to run one?

Emile covers topics like this every week on his YouTube channel — because he believes the conversation has to be honest before it can be useful.

Common Mistakes People Make

“Comparing the Franchise Fee to Starting From Scratch”

Many people compare the $60,000 franchise fee to a $0 startup cost. What they often overlook is the cost of trial and error, failed ideas, and the time it takes to build a successful business from scratch.

“Assuming a Proven Product Guarantees Success”

A proven business model reduces risk, but it doesn’t remove it.

The system gives you a head start, but your success still depends on how well you execute it.

“Underestimating How Long It Takes to Build a Brand”

Building trust and recognition from zero can take years.

A franchise gives you an established brand, helping you earn credibility much faster.

“Thinking the Franchise Fee Is Too Expensive”

Before judging the cost, ask yourself what it would take to build the same systems, technology, marketing, and support network on your own.

“Expecting Complete Freedom Within a Franchise”

Franchises are built on consistency.

While you own your business, you’ll still need to follow the systems, suppliers, and processes that make the brand successful.

“Not Understanding the Franchise Agreement”

Many people focus on the opportunity but don’t fully understand the responsibilities.

Reading the agreement carefully helps you understand exactly what you can—and can’t—do.

“Choosing a Franchise for the Wrong Reasons”

Liking the product isn’t enough.

It’s equally important to evaluate the training, support, systems, and long-term partnership behind the franchise.

“Starting Without Enough Financial Buffer”

Even with a proven system, every new business takes time to grow.

Having enough savings to manage cash flow during the first six to twelve months can reduce unnecessary financial pressure.

Key Takeaways

• Eight in ten businesses fail — the franchise fee is partly the cost of learning from those failures without living them
• A proven product reduces risk but doesn’t guarantee success — execution still comes down to you
• Brand recognition shortens the customer decision process in a way skills and pricing alone can’t
• Infrastructure that took years and serious money to build is ready to use on day one
• A franchise network gives you peer support that solo business owners have to find and pay for separately
• The real trade-off is control versus flexibility — and it’s bigger than most people admit before signing
• If you want to design the system, start from scratch. If you want to run a proven one and grow it, consider a franchise
• Honesty about which kind of builder you are will save you from the wrong decision either way

FAQ: Common Questions People Ask

1. Do I need business experience to buy a franchise?

Not necessarily. Most Little Boomers Basketball franchisees came from professional careers outside sport and business.
What they brought was commitment and the ability to follow a proven system.
The model provides the rest.

2. How do I know if there’s demand in my area?

Territory selection is taken seriously.
Not every suburb or area is the right fit — and Emile is direct about that on a Discovery Call.
A territory without the right demand profile doesn’t get sold, regardless of how committed the buyer is.

3. Is losing control over suppliers and products a big deal in practice?

It depends on your personality.
Franchisees who trust the system and focus on growth rarely raise it as a frustration.
People who instinctively want to do things their own way find it creates real friction.
Be honest with yourself before the call — not after.

4. What makes a franchise different from starting a kids sport business from scratch?

The product is proven across 24 territories.
The systems are built. The brand is recognised.
And Emile built the original from scratch himself — so the model was shaped by real experience, not theory.
Franchisees get the lessons from those early years without having to live them.

5. How selective is Little Boomers Basketball with new franchisees?

Very.
Twelve potential buyers were turned down last year.
Emile looks for people who genuinely understand the trade-off — who want to run a proven system, not reinvent it — and who have the right support at home to handle the demands of the first year.
The selectivity is intentional.

Keen to Learn More?

If you want to understand how a Little Boomers Basketball franchise works in practice — the time commitment, the financial structure, and what the support looks like day to day — the franchise overview page is the right place to start.

Emile also releases a new Courtside Conversations episode every week on his YouTube channel, covering the kind of practical, honest content most franchise material avoids.

If this raised questions about whether a franchise is the right move for you — that’s worth sitting with before you do anything else.

The people who do best in this network are the ones who come into the Discovery Call already thinking carefully about these things.

The call is free, there’s no pressure, and it’s just a conversation to find out if this fits your life.