Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise Review

Nature lovers rejoice! The Wild Birds Unlimited franchise opportunity offers you the chance to enjoy your passion for nature while earning money.

These franchises are designed for people who love the outdoors and making money! The reason that these stores work is because they offer many services.

For instance, they sell birdseed, feeders, birdhouses, and other items that help bring birds into your yard or garden.

In this article, we will explore how much it costs to start a WBU franchise, see if the investment is worth it, and whether or not owning a WBU franchise is right for you (or if you can afford it).

Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise – What Is It All About?

Whenever you think about investing money and time in a new business, keep something in mind: it is crucial to know its background.

In the case of WBU, you will find yourself with a lot of information to read and digest. After all, this retail and franchise have been around for decades.

It all started in 1981, when its founder Jim Carpenter and current CEO, decided to follow his dream of creating a store devoted to selling birding and wildlife products while also being able to obtain economic freedom.

He had both goals: focus on nature and birds while also earning money.

This is why he took the big step of using all the little money he had to open the first Wild Birds (not Unlimited yet) store in Indianapolis and started offering what he knew were the best products.

Along with excellent customer service and his heart invested in the business, it did not take too long before he started to succeed.

But before getting ourselves ahead, his success is primarily thanks to all the foundations and core values Jim Carpenter established in his company.

Honesty, ethics, respect, diversity, high-quality products at great prices, and only practical, help locals, national birds, and wildlife habitat conservation organizations.

Now, the store is essentially about selling products for animals, and this is when you must be wondering, do people invest money in this? Quite a lot.

USA residents only want the best for their birds, and many care about wildlife despite the actions some take against them.

This is why Jim was so confident about his business, and in 1983 (only two years later), he was already quite successful in the location.

There’s a lot of time invested in the store’s success, but it was worth it since the following years only involved success.

Jim was able to open new stores through the 1980s, and by 1990, the first store and small company had grown into a franchise with 25 stores in the United States and ideas of expanding to Canada.

In 1993, the company began focusing more on its franchise than just retail stores, and this was when they changed the name to Wild Birds Unlimited.

Since then, it has become a popular place for people who love nature and those looking for opportunities in franchising.

To this date, 2021, the franchise has over 350 stores between the USA and Canada, in which bird and wildlife products are continuously offered and sold.

WBU also offers services to clean up bird droppings, install or clean up feeders and houses.

How Much Does It Cost to Start A Franchise?

This is what everyone wants to know, right? Money plays a significant role in life but so does hard work.

There’s no need for you to worry about this because we have an answer! It all depends.

The decision to start a WBU franchise is an investment that pays off, but it will require you to spend some money and time.

Is this the right business for you? That depends on your skillsets, what type of person you are, and more importantly, how much you can afford to invest in one!

If you want to invest in a Wild Birds Unlimited store, the cost of purchasing one is not something that can be done cheaply.

You will need around $250.000 to purchase a franchise, and this includes the initial fee ($25K), equipment costs (approximately about $150K), and inventory prices (around $28k).

Many people refrain from investing in it due to the expenses involved with the franchise.

Of course, the benefits you obtain are worth the money and time you will put into it, but, indeed, WBU is not for everyone.

First, you need to love nature, birds, and wildlife. Otherwise, you will get tired of your business before getting started.

Second, you need to be an honest person and have ethics as well.

Third, you should know how to manage your time because it will not wait for you when the business does so well that there’s no more time needed!

If these three points are met, then congratulations: this franchise is worth investing in for you!

Those who decide to go for the opportunity will obtain several tools and have access to practices that are crucial once paying for the total fee and meet all the requirements established (which are primarily about net worth and money):

• Business coaches that will support you during your first year of operating.
• You will get trained in financial and accounting tools.
• Benefits from all WBU merchandise and purchases.
• Training and assistance in recruiting, training, and retaining staff.
• You will get the chance to grow your business with access to WBU’s strategic plan and marketing advice, as well as product development consultation.

You also have a bonus of opportunities you do not find in other franchises out there:

• Access to new technology for retail stores.
• The opportunity to help bird populations through care and conservation.
• Franchise store owner community.
• Marketing and all details about making your business grow.

WBU Franchise Takes Over A Month

What does this mean? Do not expect to get started in only a few days.

There’s a lot of training involved and needed and organizing, building, details to keep in mind, and processes to solve.

You might invest your money today (for example), but you will have to wait over a month to have your franchise or store operating finally.

Overall, starting a new business is not something that gets done in a matter of hours or a few days. Instead, you have to put a lot of time into it.

If we consider the investment you will be making, it is best to take your time and know what you are getting into.

But if you are worried about it being worth it or not, we can say without a doubt that it is. But again, everything depends on the person as well.

Some find themselves not enjoying the business and giving up before even starting.

You can have your money returned, but not all of it when this happens, which is already a reason to think carefully.

Pros & Cons of Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise

We all love focusing on the pros of a business, and when they blind us, we forget about going over the cons.

This is why we want to make sure you are making a well-informed decision after you go over all these points:

Pros of WBU:

• Access to all their products and excellent distribution + pricing.
• Opportunity to work close to nature and take care of it (if you love doing so).
• Favorable reputation thanks to the franchise history and years in business.
• Online sales opportunities.
• You do not need to start from zero in this profitable business.

Cons of WBU:

• It isn’t cheap. You have to invest between $150k to $300k.
• It is not for everyone. Unless you are a nature lover, you might get tired of it.
• Continuous training is needed. The initial one is perfect for getting started and takes the reigns of the business, but you need to learn about new products for specific animals/birds constantly.
• It can take over a year to get your ROI and revenue.
• Despite all the training and options included in the franchise deal, it does not mean it will undoubtedly be successful.

More Money with Less Investment

Let’s face it, we all want a business and investment that does not take all our savings with it.

WBU franchise is an excellent option for bird and nature lovers who want to make money and are excited about business and store.

However, as we previously mentioned, it is not affordable for everyone but rather expensive.

$150k (minimum) is an amount of money that not everyone has, and you can lose it if you do not put in enough effort.

Of course, every business requires time and dedication, but some are a bit less time-consuming than others, and you might not be up for the challenge WBU represents.

Then, what can you do? Should you give up on the idea and go for something else? Or maybe find a way that can simplify the process?

Regardless of what you choose, we believe that alternatives like local lead gen and the structure of this business are ten times better.

Now, does this mean that the WBU franchise is a bad option? Not at all, but it takes a lot of money and time. We don’t want these two as a combination, especially if we are either broke or close to it when deciding to invest in the business.

When we compare it with local lead gen, this is the BIGGEST difference: you don’t need the fortune to get started, and it is all thanks to the model of this business.

It is online, you can work from home or anywhere in the world, and years later, you can still make money with old projects.

How is that possible? Simple, because local lead gen is all about creating websites for specific clients that can be small businesses or people YOU choose to work with.

And the best part is, you always have clients from where you can choose.

Unlike the franchise option, you don’t deal with anyone else. It is you and the client most of the time. Nothing else unless you decide to hire more people to help you on the projects later on.

But what if you want to bet for the franchise? Lead generation is still as crucial as the investment you will make in order to bring clients your way.

How Do You Make Money with Lead Gen?

It’s simple:

• Create a website for the client (you sometimes do not even need to pay anything).
• Get organic (free) traffic with SEO to rank the site at the top.
• Make money with leads you bring and on each sale/conversion of the site.
• Continue making money after months or years by just maintaining the site live.

Sounds great so far, right?

You will also avoid the usual problems with other businesses:

• Market saturation.
• Lots of competitors.
• It is hard to stop getting revenue when you do your job right.

Is it as simple as reading a few posts about local lead gen and working around the websites and clients? Not quite.

You need the knowledge to get started and make this business work. Random posts with general information and tiny details won’t help.

We highly recommend this top training for lead generation that puts you on the road even if you don’t have a single idea of what leads are, SEO, or even simple terms as traffic (or if you chose to invest in WBU as well).

Stop working for someone else, start making your own money and work with who YOU want to.

To learn more, just click here…

Here’s Our #1 Recommended Online Business Model:

Interested in starting an online business to build passive income? Check out the local lead gen business model. Click here to learn more.