My previous career was with Budgens, where I worked my way up from a shop floor grocery worker to Area Manager.

However, by mid-2004 I was looking to get out and run my own business and at that point I was advised by a mentor of mine to look at franchising. I focused on the cleaning market because I feel it is an industry that will never go under, and I knew there is a good market out there by talking to people in the know.

I visited a number of companies and chose Ecocleen. The company was more established, its approach was honest and professional, the profit projections looked good and there were already franchisees making a success of it.

Most importantly, I just got a gut feeling it was right for me. I signed the franchise agreement in August 2004 and spent some time researching the market, putting together a business plan and prepping myself. In addition, I received the two week franchisee training from Ecocleen which gave me a good expectation of what running the business would be like. I launched in January 2005 and started winning contracts pretty much straight away. The key is to get out there and bang on doors building up contacts and feeding through leads. Once the first contract comes in you start building and in the first six months I got on a really good roll.

The business is very hands-on early on, but the more contracts you get the more you concentrate on putting staff in, managing them, and visiting sites to make sure the standards are being kept. I've just employed a trainee manager, and have between 60 and 70 staff providing the cleaning.

The support on the credit control side is brilliant. Ecocleen get the money in and retrieve an average of 90 per cent of the debt every month - which is good for the cleaning industry. I would say the head office support team is moving forward now with the recent appointments of a Franchise Director, Sales Director and a National Sales Manager demonstrating the growth prospects and we are looking to grow the franchise network.

My first year projection was to win £120,000 worth of business and I reached £170,000 that year. From there I'm looking well on course to hit seven figures in year five. I have just joined my local Chamber of Commerce, and am taking part in as many networking opportunities as possible to pursue new business.