Special Feature
You are all three trained as professional joiners. Did that help with the franchise and what extra support did you receive? We attended the initial training programme and found the technical side quite straightforward, as you might expect. We are not afraid to get our hands dirty and pitch in with the installations, but we appreciated the franchisor’s input on business operations and sales and marketing. We didn’t have the finances to invest in a major advertising campaign, so we built the business through leaflet drops, exhibiting at county shows and word-of-mouth recommendations, as well as passing trade.
How do you see the future and the growth of your family franchise? For now we are managing with just four full- time employees, but our growth target is to double turnover in the near future, by which time we shall be recruiting new staff. But don’t expect any fanfare and fireworks. As a family, we have always adopted a cautious attitude, building up our business gradually, and we shall be sticking to that formula.
Domino’s Pizza
Joining the company on the shop floor gave us a good grounding for the road ahead. Seeing the business from the floor up meant we could appreciate every single job role within the store and could coach and encourage our teams accordingly. We knew what it was like to be working in the rush – a Domino’s term for the peak time in a store – so we knew that every role was vital to running a smooth and efficient store.
Working together as brothers how much did your family dynamic inform your working style? Muj and myself are very passionate about Domino’s, we just think there is no business like it. It captured our attention and once we were hooked there was no looking back. When we invested in our first store it was a fantastic feeling and over the years we have seen the company grow and develop into the successful, well-known and well-loved brand it is today. We are privileged to be a part of that and have built our business based on our own experiences. We believe in our people and see all our team members as an extended family. We really do regard our network of staff as a huge team all working towards the same goal.
HomeXperts
that she excelled in. I have managed my portfolio for the past 15 years and it was my role to take on the management of the letting properties and all valuations plus day- to-day admin work.
Belinder has a flair for pr and marketing and she manages this side of the business including managing our website and especially being creative and writing our blog. We have clearly defined roles and we both know what our responsibilities are. With a young family we also recognise there are times when one half of the partnership can work on HomeXperts business and the other manages the home life. So we are always there to support each other. A recent example is when we had a landlord with a query and although it was technically part of my role to deal with his questions, Belinder spoke to him, sorted out his query all before I got back from my meeting. End result – one happy landlord!
Did you know you could work together? Yes we have been married for 14 years and we know each other really well, neither of us was worried about working together, in fact this was one of the main attractions of working with a HomeXperts franchise.
What are the benefits of working with family?
I have always wanted to work for myself and working with my wife I wanted to become a property professional and HomeXperts was ideal. This is a very flexible business for me and it works around the family.
Brothers Archie, 42, and Muj Yasin, 37, began their careers at Domino’s Pizza as in-store team members in Luton, their home town. Archie joined in 1988 as a delivery driver and Muj in 1990 as a customer service representative. Finding the fast-paced environment so appealing that they decided they wanted their own slice of this exciting business. Today they are franchise owners of 12 stores across Luton, Dunstable, Hemel Hempstead, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City and Birmingham. Archie recalls their 25 years of fraternal franchising. How did you go from working as employees to owning your own franchise?
Jasprit and Belinder Kahai brought their HomeXperts franchise in 2011 and live with their young family in Harrow, North London. Jasprit, describes how the franchise has fitted around their family life.
Why did you decide to work together? We wanted to work together in a property franchise; we are both very interested in property, but had different employment experiences. We knew we could work well as a team and we wanted to find a franchise where we could work together and be successful.
How do you share the responsibilities? From the start Belinder took on the financial side of setting up the business. With an accounting background this was an area
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Businessfranchise.com | July/August 2012
Did you look at any other franchises and what was it about HomeXpert that suited your plans for a family business? We looked at a number of other franchises. Some had higher levels of investment, however, than we were comfortable with. We also wanted a business where we could work at from home, with a low-cost investment. We also wanted a franchise that was a relatively new set up, working with the market conditions we have today and a franchise that would grow and develop with our business. We liked HomeXperts from day one, we were impressed with the professional approach and we liked the team at HomeXperts. We particularly liked that they were realistic with their business plans for us, very honest and did not sell us an unachievable dream like some other franchisees we talked to. We are very happy with the family decision we made to join HomeXperts, even with the economy the way it is at the moment, I know I have prepared well for the future for myself and my family with us both working in a business we are enjoying immensely. n
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