One year on... An action-packed year


Gairn Kalla, Pack & Send franchisee for the Guildford area, on how his business has fared over the past 12 months


How have you found the past year? It’s been hugely rewarding. It is so nice to be back in control of my work life and doing something productive. It is a great feeling to be responsible for each job, from the moment you fi rst speak to the customer on the phone, through to the end when they contact you to say “thank you”. The majority of our customers struggle


to fi nd whom to turn to, and we provide them with high-quality end-to-end service and peace of mind. It is a very rewarding feeling when you get the email or phone call to say everything arrived safely.


Gairn Kalla


What did you do before buying your franchise?


I spent over 15 years in the mobile telecoms industry, starting out as a software engineer and working my way up to be the director of a product group with around a hundred engineers. It was a hugely enjoyable experience, especially my time with Nokia during the early 2000s. Eventually, however, I got to a stage where the internal challenges of working in a big company with so many confl icting personal agendas took all the fun out of going to work.


What are the benefi ts of running a Pack & Send franchise? With the mix of antiques, furniture, personal eff ects, medical equipment and even a car chassis that have come through our store over the past several months, you are far more likely to fi nd yourself pondering the best way to pack the item, rather than being bored because each job is the same. The other major plus has been the ability to spend more time with my family. After years of fl ying all over the world for work, it is lovely to have a Monday-to-Friday job in a fi xed location as it means I get to see the kids every morning and night.


What has been your most memorable moment of the past year? It was when the van came back from a medical auction collection with a ceiling- mounted microscope. It was the fi rst time we had one of these items to pack, but it was over two metres long with no way of


getting it back out. There was a very nervous fi ve minutes


before I had the idea of going to the self- storage company next door to get them to forklift it out. The great thing about this job is you will have seemingly impossible challenges every week but you fi nd a way to do them.


What are your plans for next year? Keep doing the same and keep pushing the message that we are here. We are starting to feel established with a steady stream of customers who come back again and again; when you have a couple of enquiries a week from people who you already know, then you realise the business is starting to transition from the start-up phase. We’re also getting more people who have heard about us from a friend but there’s still some work to do to get the message out there that we exist. It is such a unique service that part of the challenge is making people aware that our solution is there for them to use.


What would you do diff erently? Looking back I’m very happy with the way the start-up phase has gone. Operationally, the store is pretty much perfect and we have been able to handle a very wide range of jobs. It would have been great to fi nd a way to build some of the relationships with local businesses faster, but you have to be patient and make sure that, when you do get the opportunity, you excel.


franchises@packsend.co.uk


24 | BusinessFranchise.com | December/January 2017


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