When Clive and I found we were expecting twins nine years ago, we decided that our lifestyle needed to change. At that time I worked in publishing and Clive worked in sales, so the hours were long and the pressure was high. I really wanted to be at home with my children and Clive was determined that working late into the evenings and at weekends should be a thing of the past.
We started to look for a business opportunity that would allow us to work together and deliver the flexibility we needed to put our family life first - when we spotted the Ovenclean franchise, we knew it was for us!
Overclean is the longest established and most successful domestic oven cleaning franchise in the UK, providing specialist oven cleaning services to a large, virtually untapped market place.
The plan was for me to work from home, handling bookings and paperwork, while Clive would be out at the 'sharp end' cleaning ovens and building the business. It was hard work at first, as you would expect building a new business, but we were surprised at how quickly it took off.
Within 18 months of our launch, we had put a second Ovenclean van on the road and took on an employee to help Clive, then a couple of years after that, we added a third van and recruited another member to our team.
Our Ovenclean business has been perfect for us. Personal happiness was at the top of our agenda when we made the decision to invest in the franchise, and it has delivered everything we'd hoped for. We have built a successful, rewarding business with more security and much less stress than we would have had if we had remained employees in our respective sectors; we have a great work/life balance but most importantly of all, we've been able to put our family at the centre of our lives, thanks to Ovenclean!