In this episode of The Disruptive Franchise Podcast, Stacey sits down with Fay Cartlidge, finalist for Franchisee of the Year at the 2025 Disruptive Franchise Awards. Faye shares her journey from secondary school teacher and estate agency manager to becoming the owner of four Daisy First Aid territories. Together, they explore the emotional impact of teaching parents life-saving skills, the realities of running a franchise around family life, and how social media authenticity has helped Faye build trust and community online. The conversation also dives into overcoming fear, building confidence without a medical background, the power of franchise support networks, and why “present not perfect” is the key to creating engaging content in today’s AI-driven world. This is a warm, honest and inspiring conversation about motherhood, business ownership, confidence, community, and making a genuine difference. Key Takeaways Fay went from having no medical background to becoming both a successful franchisee and a Community First Responder. Strong franchise support networks can make entrepreneurship feel far less isolating. Authentic, imperfect social media content often performs better than highly polished content. Franchising can provide business freedom and ownership without sacrificing support and structure. Teaching parents first aid doesn’t just save lives — it transforms fear into confidence. Contact Fay: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daisyfirstaidleeds/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fay-cartlidge-817349106/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@daisyfirstaidleeds Keywords Franchising UK, Franchisee journey, Daisy First Aid, Mum in business, Women in franchising, Family business , Franchise support, Social media authenticity, Parenting confidence, First aid training, Female entrepreneur, Franchise community, TikTok for business, Business confidence, The Disruptive Franchise Podcast ------- A Thank You To Our Sponsors: Our headline sponsor, Bookwhen makes event booking beautifully simple. Bookwhen is a powerful, intuitive booking system that helps businesses grow by taking the hassle out of scheduling. From classes and appointments to workshops and franchise-run events, we support thousands of organisers across the UK and beyond saving time, reducing admin, and delivering a seamless experience for their customers. Whether you're running your first event or scaling a nationwide franchise, Bookwhen gives you everything you need to manage bookings in one place. Our exclusive podcast sponsor, Make Your Mark Podcast Agency are passionate about helping franchise brands and awards bodies alike amplify their visibility, build deeper connections, and stay ahead of the curve—and podcasting is a game-changing tool to do just that. This partnership is about backing a movement we both believe in—and sparking a conversation that franchisors and event organisers can’t afford to ignore. Support The Podcast Don't forget that the best way you can support us is to subscribe to the podcast - not only will you get notified of future episodes as they are released, you will also be helping us get more amazing guests to come and share their secrets in franchising!
