Robert Wall worked as a milkman for 30 years before he decided to move areas and needed to look for a new job. He had considered self-employment in the past, and after hearing about the benefits of an Ovenclean franchise from a friend, decided to join the network in 2016.
“A friend of my wife had recently bought an Ovenclean franchise-and was doing very well from it. Knowing that he was successful within his first year, and after carrying out my own research, I felt convinced that Ovenclean would be a good business to start up.”
Once Robert spoke to existing franchisees and attended the open day in Worcestershire, he was ready to start his business. Ovenclean franchisees benefit from fantastic job satisfaction due to being able to fit the flexible opportunity around their lifestyle:
“What appealed to me about Ovenclean was being independent – working to my own hours and days so that I could have a better work-life balance with my wife. Overall, Ovenclean looked like a great business proposition with good support.
“The benefits of joining a franchise rather than going it alone is the backing of a well-established brand and the support of Head Office.” All Ovenclean franchisees receive two weeks on-the-job training with a business mentor, who is a current franchisee. As well as on-going and consistent support from a specialist team, franchisees can also attend 1-day sales, marketing and social media courses.
“The biggest tools of growth have been doing a good job to get recleans, recommendations and reviews. This is invaluable because word of mouth goes a very long way” Robert continues. “Use of social media has also been a huge benefit to us, as well as leafleting, advertising in local magazines and running supermarket promotions. As long as you do a great job, you’ll get those repeat bookings.”
“You definitely need to be willing to put the work in if you want to be successful. It took time to get into a routine to keep on top of the admin, banking, marketing etc., but now my wife works with me one day a week doing this, and this works really well for us. Sometimes it only needs a couple of hours, but it’s a good idea to keep on top of it.
“I work five days a week, which allows me to adapt my working week to fit in with my wife’s job, as her rota changes weekly so we can get days off together. It’s great being in charge of my own schedule and knowing I can take the time I need to for me.
“My advice to prospective franchisees would be to go for it, be prepared to work very hard and don’t give up. Keep doing a great job and the recommendations WILL come in!”
Find out more about what it means to run your own oven cleaning business, and explore what it means to be an Ovenclean franchisee today.
