One year on... A golden year
Natalie Cooper runs an Extra Help franchise covering Stevenage and the surrounding area. Here, she discusses her business journey since launching a year ago…
offi ce; they are always there when I need them and respond quickly to queries. You feel like you have the best of both worlds – you’re your own boss but have the backup of the rest of the team if you need it.
“Everything is in place to enable you to start immediately; even your email address, web page and marketing literature is provided for you”
Natalie Cooper
What did you do before buying your franchise?
I had always worked in caring and support- type roles, fi rstly as a support worker helping disabled young adults, and more recently, as a teaching assistant in a local school.
How have you found the past year? At fi rst, I admit that it was hard work but it was totally worth it! In the beginning, I worked long hours and put in a huge amount of eff ort into building my client base, but, one year down the line, all the groundwork has now been done and things are a lot less frantic than they were. My fi rst year has been exciting, challenging, empowering and totally fulfi lling – I’d even go as far to say it has been life-changing!
What are the benefi ts of running an Extra Help franchise? The benefi ts are numerous but the main one is that the business model has already been set up and proven to work, so it’s
a lower risk than if you were setting up a business entirely on your own. Everything is in place to enable you to start immediately; even your email address, web page and marketing literature is provided for you. The branding is perfect and I’ve found that it literally sells itself!
“My fi rst year has been exciting, challenging, empowering and totally fulfi lling – I’d even go as far to say it has been life-changing”
Also, the training I received from Extra Help was invaluable – I returned from the course feeling so inspired and motivated to get started straight away. I receive fantastic support from the Extra Help team at head
What has been your most memorable moment of the past year with Extra Help? There are so many to choose from! However, one moment that particularly springs to mind is when I recently spoke to my fi rst ever client, who is still with us. She told me she feels so lucky to have found Extra Help and that her home-helper has become like a daughter to her – she couldn’t be happier with our service! I truly feel that we are making a diff erence to our clients’ lives, and that was exactly why I wanted to start an Extra Help franchise in the fi rst place.
What are your plans for next year? My objective is to continue to build my client base and become the home- help service of choice within my local community. The cleaning side of my business is growing rapidly, but I still need to focus on building up the home-help services side in general, with an emphasis on delivering quality home-help services to the elderly.
What would you do diff erently? Honestly, I wouldn’t change a single thing! I’ve learned from any mistakes I’ve made and consider them to be part of building my expertise as an Extra Help franchisee within the industry.
info@extra-help.co.uk October 2016 |
BusinessFranchise.com | 85
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