This is a really exciting month for us as our two new franchisees Roger Johnson (Cleanhome Haywards Heath) and Paul Gold (Cleanhome Surrey Hills) are now open for business! We caught up with them to find out what they think of their Cleanhome experience so far.
Roger Johnson – Cleanhome Haywards Heath
What’s your business background?
I have a sales background in aviation.
Why did you choose Cleanhome?
I was looking for a new challenge, something I have never done before. I looked at my skills and decided that a domestic cleaning management franchise would be the perfect opportunity for me as I could use my sales skills to sell the service to clients and my people skills to recruit cleaners.
How supportive is the Cleanhome management team?
Karen is incredible. She is always there for me and she knows exactly where I am with everything. She can monitor my progress through Cleanhome’s operating system, GENESYS™, which manages the administration and finance for the business and she is there to help me refine the processes. I could not speak more highly of her.
How easy was it to set up your Cleanhome business?
The training programme was really useful, we went through the manual which has now become my Bible and Karen took me through everything I need to know about running the business including compliance, health and safety regulations, insurance, accounting, HMRC, tax etc. The training also included role-playing exercises to teach me how to sell the service to the clients.
When I was up and running on day one, I felt that I knew exactly what I was doing.
How do you think running your own Cleanhome franchise will benefit your work/life balance?
It has already benefited my work/life balance. Setting everything up on GENESYS™ has freed up a lot of time for me and allows me to run my business flexibly from anywhere I can get Internet access. I chose this opportunity because I didn’t want to work long hours and I am already benefitting from Cleanhome’s business model.
What advice would you give to a potential franchisee?
I think anyone could run their own Cleanhome franchise. It’s a fantastic opportunity with low setting up and overhead costs and you will see a return on your investment pretty quickly.
Paul Gold – Cleanhome Surrey Hills
What’s your business background?
I started out as a sales rep in the greeting cards industry for about six years and I later became self-employed as a sales agent for a year or so before becoming cabin crew, which I have done for the last 19 years.
Why did you choose Cleanhome?
I chose Cleanhome largely due to a chance meeting with an existing Cleanhome franchisee who really sold me on the idea of a Cleanhome cleaning business. I met up with Karen who is a really likeable person and went through the whole concept with her.
How supportive is the Cleanhome management team?
Karen is extremely supportive and really cares about her franchisees. I always feel able to phone her and she spends loads of time talking things though from business start-up to handling day-to day queries.
How easy was it to set up your Cleanhome business?
It was very easy to set up the business with advice from Karen on the jobs I had to do like banking and the telephone number setup.
How do you think running your own Cleanhome franchise will benefit your work/life balance?
It’s still early days but I am hoping that running my own Cleanhome franchise will provide me with a flexible working life.
What advice would you give to a potential franchisee?
You will have to be confident with sales (to clients) and people management (with cleaners).
You will need to be able to manage a limited company and all the responsibilities that come with it i.e. accounts, annual returns etc. – but the Cleanhome training gives you the tools to make you confident dealing with both the clients and the cleaners and has the expertise in all the other areas too to ensure that you stay on the right track and do everything properly
We want to congratulate Roger and Paul on taking the leap and let them know that we will be there to support them along the way.
Cleanhome UK News 