I’m delighted to welcome Carol and Richard Waterhouse to Extra Help. Carol and Richard will be running our new franchise in East Cheshire and are based in Macclesfield …
Prior to joining us, Carol had worked for thirty-five years as a registered nurse, most recently in a hospice, and Richard enjoyed a solid career in IT, working for twenty-six years for the Co-Operative Group in Manchester.
“A family bereavement in 2015 prompted the couple to re-evaluate their lives!”
“One or two things happened in our personal and work lives that made us decide to try something new,” says Richard, “We both felt that it was the right time to find something we could do that would actually make a difference.“
Carol and Richard wanted to concentrate on providing services to their local community. However, as neither had run a business before, they were reluctant to start from scratch and decided to look into franchising, in order to take advantage of an established business model and receive additional support from the franchisor.
They attended several exhibitions to find the right franchise and, at one particular event, read an article about Extra Help, the home-help and domestic services franchise network, in a trade magazine they picked up.
“We could instantly see that there was a gap in our local market for Extra Help’s services and knew that my experience as a nurse could be extremely useful,” says Carol. “We were also particularly attracted to Extra Help as it only offers home-help and cleaning services, rather than personal care.“
“Carol and Richard contacted Extra Help and, after an extremely positive meeting, decided it was the right franchise for them!”
The process of becoming a franchisee was fairly straightforward, and Carol and Richard say that the most time-consuming part of the process was checking the Franchise Agreement via a specialist franchise solicitor. They would always recommend that prospective franchisees invest the time and money to do this before signing any agreement with a franchisor.
Carol says, “It was definitely worth doing. You would never invest in a house without getting the contract checked by a solicitor and it should be the same when investing in any franchise.“
Carol and Richard also took the time to speak to several of our other franchisees, whose feedback was extremely positive, and then made the final decision to go ahead. They attended a two-day, residential training course in December 2016, which they describe as ‘very informative and useful’ and returned to Macclesfield, feeling energised and ready to get going.
“Since starting in December, they have been busy promoting their business!”
They have already organised one leaflet drop and advertised in a local magazine. Carol has made contact with Social Services, as well as their local council’s dementia service.
They have lots of other ideas to promote their business too, including attending networking meetings and running a stand at their local doctor’s surgery. Their immediate plan is to primarily target the elderly, due to an apparent gap in their immediate area. However, they have already received several enquiries and predict that the cleaning and general home-help side of the business will be just as lucrative.
So far, Carol and Richard are pleased with their decision and are looking forward to the future. “What I like the most is that every day is going to be different,” says Richard, “I’m used to pen-pushing and doing the same thing, day in day out, and I love the idea that each client will have their own, unique requirements. We’re planning to start small in Macclesfield and grow our business at our own pace.“
“A huge welcome to Carol and Richard from everyone at Extra Help!”
If you’re thinking of starting your own business but would like the support of an established franchise network, call me at Extra Help on 0845 618 2904 or click here to drop me an email enquiry and let’s talk.
Until next time …
CLAIRE ROBINSON
PS:Why not visit www.extra-help.co.uk and find out more?