A woman’s business


emale franchisees are growing in numer, rawn to the usiness moel y the support, fleiility an worlife enefits it oers, as our special report shows


FASTSIGNS


elanie artinez el has wore for T for  years  of those as an employee of T rawley, then almost four years as the franchisee of the same centre.


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aving left art college in 1994, Melanie worked as a freelance artist until she and her husband, Jose, decided to buy a house. In order to get a mortgage,


Melanie needed a regular income so she joined the same business her husband worked for – FASTSIGNS. Melanie formed a strong working relationship with the then owner of FASTSIGNS Crawley, who gave her increasing responsibility and in 2010, when that franchisee decided to sell the business, Mel was


Melanie Martinez 


offered the opportunity to take over and although she was drawn to the idea, she didn’t feel the time was right having just become a mum, and the franchise moved into new ownership. Mel continued to work for the business part-time as she brought up her young family. In 2018, the franchisee of the centre decided to retire. This time, Mel knew she couldn’t miss her chance again. Mel comments: “I was the driving force behind wanting to


buy the franchise in 2018. I knew I’d missed out on the earlier opportunity. I wish I had been braver back then, knowing what I know now, franchising could have really helped me create a positive work-life balance but the timing just didn’t feel right.” During her time with FASTSIGNS, Mel has focussed on


nurturing relationships in her local area, helping business owners achieve their signage requirements and her natural exuberant personality has helped her to make lasting connections. Mel says: “When I was just an employee of the centre, I loved my job and I loved helping business, but now it’s personal and I’m glad I was able to put the groundwork into developing relationships with my customers. We still deal with some of the businesses I worked with almost a quarter of a century ago! I must have done something right!” Mel has found stepping into ownership liberating. “When


I worked in the centre, I had so many ideas [and] had to get perission fro the franchisee. ow  have the confidence of my own convictions and can press ahead with the changes I want to implement.” One of Mel’s goals is to increase the turnover of her business


and increase its positioning in the network league tables, to do this she has invested in the marketing of her business and is already reaping the rewards. Between 2020 and 2021, the Crawley centre grew by a huge 25%, which Mel sees as proof that she made the right decision, stepping out of her comfort one and finally claiing the business as her own.


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