"My friend owned a Cleaning Doctor franchise and, as I had been looking for an opportunity after being made redundant I asked him about it. I was immediately attracted by the amount of money I was told it was possible to earn - I'd had no idea how profitable it could be! I thought: 'If it's half as good as he's telling me, it would equal any other small business opportunity with the added advantage that I'd be up and running from day one enjoying instant cashflow."

Formerly a sales executive for a blue chip company, redundancy caused Peter to re-examine his goals. "To be honest I'd been counting the days to retirement - I'd lost my spark," he reflects. "Cleaning Doctor have put that back. Since launching my business last October, I've spoken with the head office and William Little every single day and they give me a lot of confidence - what an inspirational team! Their honesty and sincerity go without saying - they're genuinely interested in the success of my business."

Peter launched his business in October 2004 and reports performing £1,000 worth of work in his first two weeks. "I was earning net profits of 90 per cent, which was nice spending money to take on my Christmas holiday in Australia," he observes. "Since January and I've worked full-time five or six days a week. Thanks to the knowledge, training, skills and equipment I have as a Cleaning Doctor franchisee, I win 95 per cent of the jobs I go for."

Peter plans to take on a member of staff full-time and is employing his son over the summer to boost his business, but hasn't yet decided beyond that how far to expand his business. "I'm really enjoying taking a hands-on role in the business, but the profitability of developing the commercial cleaning side of the business may tempt me into taking a management role, or I may employ a manager and job-share to retain an hands-on element. The beauty of the concept is it's totally flexible."