Special Feature Greensleeves Helen Richardson
Helen spent 27 years managing an equestrian estate/parkland before launching her franchise, which covers Huntingdon and Kettering, in March 2016
Why did you choose to go into franchising and why Greensleeves in particular?
After 27 years managing an equestrian estate/parkland, my husband and I decided that we wanted to work for ourselves and have a business together. As we both had extensive experience in grassland care, we decided to look for a franchise that
mirrored our enjoyment of the outdoors. After exploring many sectors we felt lawn care was the best fit for us and from there we discovered Greensleeves.
What has the training and support been like?
The support we have received from the Greensleeves head office has been brilliant. It’s helpful to have someone at the end of the phone to answer any queries or questions. Despite running your own franchise business, you still feel part of a greater team that you can communicate with when needs be.
Does your franchise encourage women in business, and if so, how? Yes, definitely. Even in what is perceived as a male-dominated industry, women are not treated any differently to men and are
ActionCOACH Mitali Chopra
With an engineering degree and an MBA, Mitali worked in India with companies including Microsoft before moving to London with her family in 2015. However, a chance meeting led her to an even more fulfilling role
How did you find out about franchising and about ActionCOACH? In November 2015, I went to a business startup exhibition to understand the SME landscape. I wasn’t looking for a franchise but I happened to attend Shweta Jhajharia’s seminar on how to build a sales and marketing machine where she also spoke about her journey with ActionCOACH, and I felt a real connection with her story. Afterwards, I went over to the ActionCOACH stand and gained more information about the franchise opportunity.
How was business in the beginning? I launched my ActionCOACH business in August 2016, and within eight weeks I had signed up five one-to-one coaching clients bringing in a monthly income that was close
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to eclipsing my corporate salary. I followed the marketing advice in my training and my first customer came from ActionCOACH’s exclusive client generation centre. My next clients came from networking, social marketing and from my website, which ActionCOACH builds as part of my franchise package.
What are your plans for the future? I’d like to grow to 20 clients a month by the end of my first year and I think this is quite possible with the mix of marketing activities I have access to. This will help with my dream to give back; with every person I sign, I sponsor a child’s education. I have been working with a school in India for some time now to offer scholarships to children who would not have had the
offered the same opportunities as our male counterparts.
How is it being a woman in a male- dominated industry?
When I left school I went to work in a racing yard so I am no stranger to working in a male-orientated environment. From my experience I have found that men and women bring different skills to the business, and although there are no gender-specific roles in the company, some of the work on the lawns can be heavy and physical, so it’s helpful to have a male helping hand for that part of the job.
How has your life changed since you started running your franchise? I now have the luxury of being my own boss, so that enables me to work from home and spend more quality time with my husband and children. Prior to joining Greensleeves I worked extremely long days for someone else, whereas now I make my own timetable that works for me and my family.
What are your plans for the future? We have just celebrated our first year in business, but we intend to be a part of the overall company growth and excel our franchise to be the best it can be.
opportunity to maximise their potential without this funding. I would like to help as many children as possible to have a good education.
How do you find being a woman in a male-dominated industry? People ask me if it is harder to be a woman in business but my belief is that if you are bringing value to the table then your gender doesn’t matter. I believe more in the law of karma! ActionCOACH is another choice for me where helping others to succeed will, in turn, bring me success too.
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