Experienced business owner Guy Morgan and his daughter Sarah Morgan have been operating their Dublcheck franchise for less than a year and are on target to reach their estimated turnover of £130,000. "I had always wanted to run my own business," reveals Sarah. "My father had run his own company before so when he said he was looking for someone to go into business with I thought he would be able to offer me the guidance and help I needed."
Guy adds: "I had recently moved to the UK from South Africa and wanted to run my own business again. I needed a business partner who I knew well and I thought there was no one better than family."
While Guy had experience of running his own business in South Africa, Sarah used to work in recruitment based in London. When they decided to go into business together they began looking into suitable franchises. Guy explains: "We looked at cleaning franchises as it doesn't matter what the economic climate is businesses always need cleaners. We looked at a number of franchises but we felt that Dublcheck were the friendliest and had a more family approach."
Dublcheck is a commercial cleaning franchise that was founded in 1993 by Carol Stewart-Gill. The company started franchising in 1994 and now has 100 franchise owners operating across the UK. New franchise owners are able to buy into the franchise at a guaranteed turnover level* as Dublcheck gets the contracts for you.
Included in the Dublcheck franchise package is a one-week training course. "The training was very thorough and covered all aspects of the business including how to do the cleaning and how to train staff," recalls Sarah. "The training really set us up for launching our business, however like running any business you learn a lot when you actually start operating it. In terms of support we were provided with a mentor and we also benefited from ongoing telephone support from head office."
With their business growing rapidly Guy and Sarah are aiming to reach a turnover of £500,000 in a few years time. "I have always been used to working behind a desk, however with this business I have been much more active," says Guy. "In time we want to build a team of supervisors so that we can concentrate more on developing our business."
Reported by Derin Clark