After he was made redundant from his job as a Senior IT professional, Richard Reynolds found a new career with Auditel. Reynolds (pictured) said: “I had been an employee for almost 30 years. Several family members were self-employed. Following redundancy, I decided it was time for me to move in the same direction. Actually, I had been considering this step for several years, but not found the ‘good idea’ that would give me the income, flexibility, freedom and control for the remainder of my career.”
Reynolds initially looked at businesses for sale but quickly found franchising as an alternative. He identified a shortlist of franchisors that had interesting concepts, visiting several to understand their business models, strategy and ethos. Reynolds added: “Beyond a compelling business model, the clear factor that helped me to choose Auditel is the organisation’s professional and supportive ethos. I found like-minded people who I can happily work with for many years, earning potential, and the support of an established franchisor to fulfil my self-employment ambition. I decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and go for it!”
Reynolds, who launched his Auditel business in September 2010, was able to fund his franchise with a mixture of business loan, redundancy payment and savings.
The Auditel support for new franchise owners includes an initial 10-day client acquisition and technical training course at the Winchester head office. Further assistance is ongoing though workshops, local, regional and national meetings, business reviews and continuing advice. Reynolds said: “I found the training excellent in terms of pace and variety. The essential sales message and information were well covered with a good reminder of things learnt in the past. It was all very motivating.”
Currently in what Reynolds calls ‘client acquisition mode’, he has delivered several projects for his accountant, finding savings of 40 per cent. These have included fixed line communications, mobile phones, merchant cards, business rates and PI insurance. Reynolds added: “I have a lot of confidence in the tools and methods provided by Auditel to enable successful projects. Perhaps the most valuable resource is the combination of skills and experience of the 180 other franchise owners in the network. I intend to make my business successful, generating a good six-figure income and take control of my career through to retirement.”
Published: 11 January 2011
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