Franchise Everything

From butcher to mining hydroblaster to lawn care - the diverse careers of Ash Gulwell!

Ash is now 3 years into his journey of owning a Coochie Hydrogreen franchise region in Gladstone, QLD, with out of the ordinary levels of growth, but his career started very early and in a very different environment.

Starting out as a 14 year old running down after school in the afternoons to work in the local butchers, and then again for a few hours on Saturday mornings, Ash got to work hard and pretty early in life.

An apprentice since leaving school at the end of year 11, Ash ended up managing stores and in retail all up for 15 years. It was one of his apprentices who suggested working in and around the mining industry, which prompted him to check it out in Gladstone.

8 years later, after working in hydroblasting in a refinery, and moving into managing teams in that environment, Ash knew he wanted to get a bit of balance and control of his path back into his life.

A look around at the business market with a broker saw Coochie Hydrogreen put in front of him - a business he knew nothing about.

After a call into Head Office to talk about the business, he didn't realise he was speaking to and firing questions about the franchise to the CEO!

Impressed with what he heard, and his subsequent research, Ash finds himself 3 years later in a business and region that is growing as he adds additional vehicles to keep up with demand and opportunities.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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:35 Describing what Coochie does.

1:54 Starting as a 14 year old with a part-time job in a local butcher shop, eventually onto an apprenticeship.

4:40 After 15 years Ash was enticed to the mining industry in Gladstone, as a hydroblaster at a refinery in the mining industry, eventually leading a team there.

7:10 Wanted to find something in his own small business after 8 years in the mines, to get that personal satisfaction and balance back into what he was doing.

8:36 How he found Coochie Hydrogreen and went through selecting the best fit for him.

9:36 Coochie sounded too good to be true initially for Ash.

11:07 His research into the business, and buying process.

12:25 The fears playing in Ash's mind before he started his business, and the hardest things to learn.

13:35 What a normal day looks like in his Coochie Hydrogreen franchise for Ash.

14:26 What Ash puts his success down to in growing his business.

15:57 What new customers really want.

17:06 What are Coochie doing to the lawns? Describing the process.

17:57 What he tells people asking him about buying into the business, and the future of his Gladstone territory.

A mowing round side-hustle in school and then out into running a debt collection business, Brendan Green, CEO of the Hire A Hubby franchise network with 300+ Franchise Partners, career was on a different path until a chance connection changed it all.

Clearly an entrepreneur at heart, Brendan had a business mentor while at school, a property developer, and he was co-ordinating other students for him who wanted to earn money by working on the weekend in basic labouring jobs.

On leaving school and assuming he was going into property development in that business, Brendan was instead put into the debt collection arm of the business where he stayed for 9 years.

He opened the first inter-state branch in Melbourne, taking it from himself and a secretary, to 30 staff in around 18 months.

By chance, the lawyer to the property business was also representing Hire A Hubby that had around 30 franchises at that time in Victoria, and wanted to expand into NSW via Master Franchising.

He suggested it might be a good fit for Brendan given his capabilities and previous home services experience.

Not only did Brendan purchase the NSW rights, but not that long after, he found himself in a position to purchase the National rights with the founder of the brand running the Victorian territory only - a solution that did not hold, with the Victorian region also being purchased soon after.

With 300+ franchise locations, and international expansion of the brand into the UK, the Hire A Hubby and Brendan’s story that parallel it, is one well-timed for the explosion in home services market growth we see today.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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1:00 How Brendan started his business career in his latter years of high school guided by a business mentor who owned a property development business.

1:57 Leaving school straight into debt collecting with a job in another company of the property development business.

3:00 Starting another lawn mowing business on the side to earn more money while he was still working in debt collection.

4:00 Opening an interstate debt collection office and putting the lawn mowing side-hustle on hold.

5:18 How and why he sold the mowing business side-hustle.

6:22 Finding Hire A Hubby from the lawyer that was working with the debt collection business.

7:37 How Brendan got educated on, and his take on franchising in the late 90's at the time.

9:23 Leaving the debt collection business and commit fully to growing his Hire A Hubby NSW region for the brand.

10:38 The growth trajectory of the brand across the early years and where they were selling the territories spread throughout NSW.

12:00 How Brendan went from State Master to National franchisor and the stages and process of growing the business in the early years.

15:37 The size of the Hire A Hubby business and the key areas for growth in the market including the launch into the UK franchise market with some lessons learned over an extended period.

18:20 The role of a Hire A Hubby Franchise Partner in their community with Cert 1 Handyman Licences to Cert 3 Kitchen, Bathroom, Laundry renovation licenses.

21:30 Levels of Hire A Hubby territories and their ranking depending on what the Franchise Partner wants to do in their business.

23:15 The key factors in growth for Hire A Hubby with the greatest impact being with technology and visibility in what Franchise Partners were doing with a custom job management system.

26:22 The role of the Franchise Cloud Solutions in the business as a fully integrated provider of technology to Hire A Hubby and other franchise brands.

26:58 What is attracting Franchise Partners and what has that growth looked like across the recent years.

29:41 Why regional areas can be significant turnover with exclusivity and the fact they are not competing with, but helping each other grow.

30:45 The role of Chairman of the Franchise Council of Australia, and Brendan's passion for franchising.

Franchise owner journey: Pappi Mukasa - Spent 9 years in a refugee camp before making his way to Australia, Pappi had an entrepreneurial calling even after finishing a Civil Engineering Degree with Honours. The urge to have career freedom with his own business was just too strong.

0:26 Pappi's background on arriving in Australia in 2005 after 9 years in a refugee camp in Tanzania after escaping war in 1996 between The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rawanda.

3:00 Getting assimilated into Australia, what it's like, learning english, and the help that he and his family got at the time. In comparison to support services now believing that overwhelm has seen the support services to immigrants reduced.

4:45 What school was like and finishing high school onto progression into higher education studies in pursuit of a Civil Engineering Degree.

5:55 Diverting from Civil Engineering which his dad wanted him to do, and where the passion for business began while in the refugee camp. The passion for business began when using some of the money dad was making as a security guard of $20 a month in the camp, and buying fruit and on-selling it for profit.

7:34 Why and how CouriersPlease - Working as an apprentice in engineering in Regional Victoria for 3 months, and Pappi knew at that point that it was not what he wanted to do. Starting to look for something different, his thinking was directed to online sales and logistics that he saw growing, and had a connection to a person with CouriersPlease, so he called him and understood more.

10:20 Pappi quit his job with a nervous dad worried about his path and financial security. Pappi was prepared to back himself and took the leap and bought the business 5 years ago.

12:00 What training was like and how the business operates for him, and what he found the most difficult part of the business - which was learning the territory that he needs to get around in for deliveries. This took about 6 months for him to feel really comfortable finding his way around.

14:00 Loving meeting people and being his own boss, Pappi describes what his day is like from start to finish with timings and details, the process and flexibility of the business.

15:45 Why change territories - Pappi started on one territory and ran that for about 4 years, and have now moved to the Collingwood territory - all for variety in his day and something new.

16:32 What keeps Pappi going and what he loves about the business and drives him to keep growing it every day. He loves his customers and loves giving the best possible service and support that he can.

18:00 What do people ask him about being a franchise partner with CouriersPlease.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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In this episode with Lili Shi, Master Franchisee Australia, and Eddy Xu, General Manager , we focused on a discussion on 5 key inflection points in the business that have been key in making the brand what we see today, particularly in the Australian market.

0:39 How Lili Shi found the Gong cha bubble tea brand opportunity in Taiwan after trying all different types of bubble tea offers in the market to bring it to Australia - the key moment this happened.

4:14 When Gong cha took over their first competitor location in the Australian market, which for the team was a very special moment signifying how they are making it in this market against previously well-established bubble tea franchise competitors.

6:10 Why did Snoopy approach Gong cha Bubble Tea to help celebrate Snoopy's 70th birthday? This approach by a globally recognised IP icon was a real signal to the Gong cha team that they were having a significant impact and gaining traction in the Australian market.

8:35 What other iconic IP campaigns have Gong cha had in their stores like Stranger Things, Emoji, Bond, Peppa Pig and more

10:05 What has Gong cha done to help its growth in warehousing product and supplies in order to make things more efficient for franchise owners and the team as a whole, with 3 warehouses in Sydney, Brisbane 2, and Melbourne 1. This means the brand is already prepared for 200 stores.

12:30 When Gong cha started to get multi-site franchise owners re-investing into the business and adding 2nd, 3rd, 4th and more stores for individual owners. The scalability and ease of running the business sees many owners having family members also buying stores as well after seeing first-hand how the business runs.

14:10 Gong cha has 7 stores opening within the next handful of months, of which 5 are existing owners buying another store.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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How often are you revisiting your franchise trade area assumptions?

Is it as often as every 12 months?

It feels like many brands haven't revisited their trade area assumptions since they did their first territory mapping perhaps even a decade or more ago.

Jeff Vassel, Global BDM for geotech, explains that brands who are actually serious about maximising opportunities, are constantly using performance data from new franchise locations opened, and cross-checking it with existing location data to see if the trade area assumptions are still correct!

Further, many emerging brands (young and smaller), are likely using tools like Google and Apple Maps as a beginning point, and ABS Census data to give themselves some data to act upon.

However, that this data mostly doesn't go deep enough or interactive enough for most brands needs, nor are the conclusions from them likely to be robust enough with which to base an entire brand trade area strategy on.

The dangers of getting this wrong at the start, without a scientific approach is a threat to a brands growth plans and achieving its market potential.

Gathering data in the first place at store / trade level, is a critical input, and then the other sources on top of it, such as the Mastercard Merchant Activity data that Jeff raises in their partnership with Mastercard.

According to Jeff, it is not uncommon to see brands carving out territories / trade areas that are perhaps in the realm of 5 times the size than they should be, resulting in significant unrealised opportunity. And in practical terms this might see a franchise with 40 instead of 100 locations as a result.

It's the interpretation of the data that also becomes equally as important given the impact of the decisions made, as it is pretty clear that unravelling poor trade area mapping is almost impossible without significant implications, once a franchise gets to significant size.

0:37 What is mapping?

3:45 How mapping is being used at the moment in franchising

4:39 What people are getting wrong in their mapping activity for their franchise trade areas

5:53 How franchise trade area errors are made

6:55 The lack of science behind franchise trade area modelling for many brands and how often it should be assessed and revisited for accurate assumptions

8:45 What a franchisor could do to improve, and how to start with revisiting their territory assumption data

10:00 Destination v Impulse type of business and the impact on territory mapping planning

12:20 The process of building franchise trade zones with data

13:20 Consequences of franchise trade areas that are far too big

15:00 Peoples behaviour patterns and what they look like since covid period

15:53 The importance to keep reviewing franchise trade area assumption data

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):

www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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Where do you even begin in starting a major events company, booking large exhibition halls years in advance, and filling them with exhibitors and thousands of attendees?

From a franchise perspective, Tim's Specialised Events company, owns and runs the Franchising & Business Opportunities Expo, and has done so for 10+ years now.

In addition to the Franchising Expo, Tim and his team run both the Foodservice Australia Show, and the Food and Hospitality Queensland shows. So his industry experience, knowledge and presence is substantial.

Tim started out working in, and becoming immersed in 10 day long boat shows while still at Uni, which upon finishing realised that live shows were his calling.

After years of experience working for larger companies, (Tim recalls his first franchising expo where he attended as fresh new events team member in Brisbane back in 1993) including foreign owned events businesses, Tim took the leap and bought his first show in 2011, as he launched his Specialised Events business.

The franchising expo came later in 2013, buying the show off another event company - a show that he worked on for many years prior!

Tim articulates the immense stress and uncertainty of running an events business during the covid pandemic period, and the pain of cancelling a fully-ready-to-go Sydney Franchising Expo, mere days before it was due to open, with the business having hundreds of thousands of $ on the line.

The weight and impact of this difficult period is clear, while retaining all staff and an office running an event business - with no events.

Tim's story is one of entrepreneurialism, experience and patience in methodically building a successful events business over a sustained, and at times, challenging period.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):

www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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YouTube: https://youtu.be/Td9kL7QKeFQ

Franchise owner journey: Suzan Lindsey - From a Sonographer to owning and running her own Kwik Kopy Print Solutions franchise with her son, while husband Paul runs another one 2 hours away with another son!

With Suzan's husband, Paul, a printer by trade, originally an employee in Kwik Kopy franchises in both Regional Victoria and then Sydney and back, Suzan opened her own business as a Sonographer, ultra sound 4D babies.

The opportunity appeared for the family to move back to Sydney with Paul opening his own Kwik Kopy franchise in Five Dock which was underperforming at the time - to now a very successful business.

Suzan got a little bored after a while doing the bookwork from home for the business, and decided that she needed to do something else - 'whatever that is', be it a retail employee or similar.

Paul suggested opening another Kwik Kopy Centre but closer to home (Shellharbour), as Paul had been commuting to the Five Dock location in Sydney for work for 9 years now.

Suzan did not think she would be capable to run the full operation and production side of a Kwik Kopy business, as the prospect was daunting for her for all sorts of reasons.

The brand new Shellharbour location they decided, would be fully Suzan's to run, she went through all the training to get ready, and both Paul and Suzan run their respective locations quite independently.

Opened right at the start of lockdown during covid, which was challenging for a while, Suzan and her son Damien have grown the business and made a great success supporting local small businesses.

An interesting family business set-up, with two of three kids involved, running quite separate, firstly, in an established location with existing clients, and adding a brand new location that Suzan has had to build from the ground up while learning to run the entire business herself.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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When Sam became the franchisor of the brand, the business was no different in his words to any other 24/7 gym in the marketplace. The concern was it had no point of difference.

Embarking on a journey of immense change, the brand now looks entirely different to what it did only a handful of years ago.

This discussion with Sam, focused on a handful of key components as he sees them, of the franchise business model specifically.

These key aspects to the franchise model are;

• The fact it is a hybrid business model (now) gym and functional fitness,
• Affordability and flexibility,
• Advanced fitness programs and technologies adopted,
• Unique aesthetics and designs,
• Franchise support and real estate guidance for locations.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Franchise owner journey: Michael Morrison - An ex-automotive retail manager and corporate banker going in an entirely different direction when a redundancy led to building a large, multi-territory lawn care franchise business.

On the surface, taking a looking at the career path of Michael Morrison, you would likely not have picked multi-region lawn care franchise owner to be amongst it.

Building a significant career in automotive retail in varying management roles with Valvoline oils, then in corporate banking with HSBC, Michael lived the corporate life with significant hours and travel.

Giving an insight into his thinking and career approach, he had what could best be described as an epiphany one day when his 3 year old daughter asked him a question that has impacted his life significantly.

"Daddy, are you coming home in the dark tonight, or the dark tomorrow?"

From that moment Michael began planning his own exit strategy from the traveling  corporate life. Rebounding into a less demanding role and spending a number of years in corporate banking, then putting his hand up for a redundancy offer.

Then in his late 40's Michael had some concerns about where he'd fit going forward. This led him to a desire to work for himself (after being urged to), and looking for a business, which eventually led him to discovering Coochie Hydrogreen.

In a strange twist, Michael already had an interest in turf, curating cricket wickets as a volunteer at Club Cricket for 20 years as part of his stress relief from work.

Now with 750+ customers across the region, Michael has two vehicles, team members on the road, and growth aspirations of 1,000 clients within 5 years in the business. He has also acquired 3 exclusive regions within the brand as part of his future growth plans.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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From a franchised cafe owner to leading the Asia Pacific Region for one of the fastest growing bubble tea brands globally, Ben Flintoff's CV alone makes for interesting reading.

Ben's passion for exceptional service to both the end consumer and business partnerships, mixes well with an obvious desire to challenge himself across the professional realm by going all-in on whatever he is doing while chasing his dreams.

This 'dream chasing' has seen him shift his career multiple times starting with commercial and private banking from Darwin to London, to resort managing Canadian ski resorts, financial planning, franchised cafe owner, to cellar door manager at a prominent winery, then into key corporate operations roles in national and global franchised brands.

Not to mention successfully becoming an Ironman Triathlete amongst it all along the way!

A huge shift into a passion project area of renewable energy for a short period of time that Ben reflects on as a 'failure', saw him re-enter the franchise sector more recently in a key global brand role.

Ben's outlook on life and business is also partly framed in context of how he lives and effectively functions with Type1 Diabetes.

An inspiring business leader and much-admired franchise sector personality, please enjoy learning more about, Ben Flintoff...

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):

www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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Apple Podcasts:

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