She Was $5,000 in the Red. One Phone Call Turned Her Business Around.

One of our franchisees was losing money in her second term of operation.

She’d invested $55,000 into a Little Boomers Basketball franchise. First term was promising. Second term, she was $5,500 in the negative.

She booked a coaching call. We identified five problems and fixed them.

Here’s what the numbers looked like before and after.

Watch the Full Episode

The Numbers Before the Coaching Call

Revenue: $9,000
Court hire: $3,800
Wages: $5,300
Net profit: -$5,500

Three months into the business. Second term of operation.

The revenue wasn’t the main concern. The cost structure was the problem.

Problem 1: Too Many Classes

Court hire was eating almost half the revenue.

She’d booked 4 hours on Saturday, 2 hours on Thursday, 1 hour on Monday. Her members were spread thin across all of them.

The number that drives profitability in this business is average enrollment per class.

Here’s how it works. Say you have 100 kids across 5 classes — that’s 20 per class. The same 100 kids across 10 classes — that’s 10 per class. Court hire costs are nearly the same either way. Profit is not.

You need a minimum of 8 kids per class to break even.

She was averaging 6.1.

Every class she ran was losing money.

Problem 2: Wages Were Too High

$5,300 in wages. More than half her revenue.

She’d hired a part-time coach to deliver her classes. That made sense in theory. But early in the business, when you’re still building your enrolment base, you need to keep costs lean.

$5,300 on wages was not lean.

Problem 3: No Marketing Tracking

When asked which marketing channel was bringing in the most customers — she didn’t know.

Everything was bundled together. No separation between marketing spend, accounting fees, and admin costs. No way to see what was actually working.

The Five Changes We Made

1. Focus on one number

She was spreading attention across day cares, schools, and after-school care programs.

We pulled it back to one number: enrollments.

She had 40. The target was 70.

2. Track it every day

“What gets measured gets managed.”

We told her and her husband to put a scoreboard on the bedroom wall. Every new enrollment goes up on the board — same day. They did it. She sent a photo.

Enrollments grew.

3. Cancel the empty classes

She cut every class with only a couple of kids in it.

Court hire dropped from $3,800 to $2,700.

The remaining classes started to fill up — because fewer slots were available on the timetable.

4. Remove the part-time coach

Wages went from $5,300 to $0.

She and her husband coached the classes themselves until enrolments picked up.

That saved $5,000 in a single term.

5. Double down on what was working

When she tracked her marketing sources, shopping centres were clearly working.

Face-to-face outreach was bringing people in. So during the next school holidays, she booked a 5-day shopping centre activation. Generated leads. Converted them.

The Numbers After

Revenue: $14,000
Court hire: $2,700
Wages: $0
Net profit: +$4,400
Net profit margin: 33–34%
Average enrollment per class: 10 (up from 6.1)

She went from -$5,500 to +$4,400. A $9,000 swing in one term.

For context — a 33% net profit margin is exactly what you’re aiming for in kids sports. Emile breaks this down in full detail in How a Little Boomers Franchise Makes Money (A Simple Profit & Loss Breakdown).

And if average enrollment per class is a new concept, Franchise Numbers for Dummies (No Business Degree Required) explains how the key numbers in this business work.

What This Tells You About the Support System

When a franchisee hits a rough patch, they don’t figure it out alone.

They book a coaching call. We go through the numbers. We identify what’s wrong and what to change. They implement it.

That’s how the system works.

Emile covers this kind of thing every week on his YouTube channel — real numbers, real scenarios, no fluff.

Common Mistakes People Make

“More Classes Means More Profit”

Adding extra classes before enrolments are there to support them usually increases costs faster than revenue.

“Growing Too Fast Is Always Better”

Expanding class schedules, programs, and staffing too quickly can put unnecessary pressure on cash flow.

“You Don’t Need to Track the Numbers Closely”

Ignoring key metrics like average enrolments per class makes it difficult to spot problems before they impact profitability.

“Hiring Staff Will Automatically Solve Capacity Issues”

Bringing on coaches too early can add significant costs before the business is ready to support them.

“If Marketing Is Working, I Don’t Need to Measure It”

Without tracking where enquiries come from, it’s hard to know which marketing activities are actually generating results.

“I Can Figure It Out on My Own”

Waiting too long to ask for support often turns small issues into much larger challenges.

Key Takeaways

• Average enrollment per class is the most important number — below 8 per class and you’re losing money every session
• More class slots don’t equal more revenue — fewer, fuller classes are more profitable
• You don’t need staff from day one — many franchisees coach themselves first
• Marketing spend means nothing without tracking which channel is actually working
• A 33% net profit margin is the benchmark in kids sports — it’s achievable, but the cost structure has to be right
• When something isn’t working, the system has a process for fixing it — you’re not left to figure it out alone

FAQ: Common Questions People Ask

What happens if the business isn’t performing — is there support?

Yes. This is exactly what the coaching call structure is for.

When this franchisee was in the negative, she booked a call. Emile went through her numbers, identified the problems, and gave her specific changes to make. She wasn’t left to work it out on her own.

Do I need to be good with numbers?

You need to understand one number well: average enrollment per class.

Everything else follows from that. Emile walks every franchisee through the key metrics from day one, and there are resources available to help you get across the financials before you even sign anything.

Can my partner and I run this without staff?

Many franchisees start that way.

This franchisee and her husband coached the classes themselves until enrolments grew enough to justify bringing someone on.

The business model supports it — and in this case, it saved $5,000 in a single term.

What’s a realistic profit margin?

In kids sports, you’re aiming for around 33% net profit margin.

This franchisee hit 33–34% once the changes were made. Results vary depending on enrolment growth, location, and how closely you follow the system.

We share real data from across the network — not projected figures.

How do I find out if this is the right fit?

Book a free Discovery Call with Emile.

It’s a straightforward conversation. He’ll walk you through the numbers, the model, and what running a Little Boomers Basketball franchise actually looks like day to day.

Keen to Learn More?

If you want to understand the financial structure before making any decision, Emile covers it every week on his YouTube channel — including real P&L breakdowns from across the network.

You can also start with How a Little Boomers Franchise Makes Money (A Simple Profit & Loss Breakdown) for a straightforward breakdown of how the numbers work.

The Discovery Call is free. No pressure — just a conversation to find out whether a Little Boomers Basketball franchise fits where you’re headed.