Job loss victim Steve Gladwin loves the freedom and flexibility running his own Autosheen business affords him
When Woolworths closed in 2009 with the loss of some 27,000 jobs, Steve Gladwin was one of the casualties. After eight years working in a retail environment, Steve was looking for a change, but at that time was unsure of his future direction. So when the opportunity to work for a friend’s franchise business arose, he took it.
“I spent a couple of years working for my friend’s business,” Steve explains. “I’d not previously considered starting my own business, but having seen all the advantages of a franchise at first hand I became convinced that this could be the way forward for me.”
Sustainable
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26-year-old Steve knew he wanted to work with cars, so his first move was to contact Autosheen, the UK’s best known mobile valeting specialist. “It was important to me to understand how I could build a sustainable, profitable business from valeting,” says Steve. “Therefore I arranged to attend one of Autosheen’s fact finding discovery days, where they went through the business model in detail and were very open. I had a chance to meet existing franchisees and the management team were highly professional, yet very approachable.
“I was further reassured by the fact that Autosheen is part of the Farecla Group, who actually manufacture the valeting products they use.”
According to Steve, everything about Autosheen felt right - from the company’s impressive website to the comprehensive package of support - so in April last year he took the leap and invested in a franchise. He says he hasn’t looked back since; Steve’s launch was a big success and the level of support since he describes as “great”.
Steve continues: “What sets Autosheen apart is its independent accreditation by the Institute of Motoring Industries Awards, which means franchisee training is second to none. Then, as part of your launch programme, head office sets up a series of demonstrations to potential customers for you on your territory. This gets the ball rolling straight away.
“Once you’ve demonstrated the quality of the valet, the results speak for themselves - I’ve gained a lot of work simply by demonstrating in the first instance. What’s more, Autosheen’s franchise manager, Adrian Stiehl, comes with you for your first few days until you get the hang of it. No matter how well you perform in a training environment, a real life situation can throw up different circumstances and having Adrian there to show you how to handle different circumstances is a real confidence booster.”
A year on and Steve’s business is growing strongly. He has just completed his best month yet, thanks to continued promotion to his own regular customer base, as well as the local community. Repeat business and word of mouth recommendation are increasingly important too.
In year two Steve has been able to increase his prices to new customers, although his loyal customers enjoy existing rates - after all, he says, a regularly cleaned car is much easier and less time consuming to maintain. He has already benefited from the new application partnership Autosheen has forged with Tribos surface coatings, earning over £400 for each individual treatment, and he expects that income stream to increase as Tribos secures more contracts.
Autosheen’s new Tribos account is expected to generate substantial additional work for the whole network and was awarded to the company in recognition of Autosheen’s dominant national brand position, customer servicebased infrastructure, independently verified quality standards of service and the reputation of ‘Queen’s Award for Enterprise Winner’ Farecla.
National accounts
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Tribos is the latest addition to a strong portfolio of national accounts for Autosheen, which includes the Royal Mail, More Th>n, Zipcar and most of the largest leasing companies in the UK. According to managing director Paul Fennell, access to this lucrative contract work provides franchisees with a good starting point and a solid platform for future growth.
He says: “Of course, investing in a franchise is not the same as having a job and franchisees are expected, with our help and support, to develop and build their own local customer base, just as Steve has done. Having said that, our national account work certainly offers a valuable additional revenue stream.”
The emphasis from Autosheen is on quality and the introduction of new specialist services, such as Tribos, which have continued to attract affluent customers who are least affected by the current economic climate. Indeed, one of the great strengths of the franchise is its proven resilience in fluctuating business conditions.
“Joining Autosheen was definitely the right decision for me,” Steve says. “I love the freedom and flexibility of being my own boss. I’ve cut the long hours that come with a career in the retail sector, but for the hours I put in now the rewards come directly to me. It’s certainly tough to make the transition from employee to self-employment, but if you’re prepared to work hard, Autosheen the team is behind you all the way.”