From Cyclone to Confidence | The Real Franchise – Ep 50

Justin Well, welcome once again to another episode of The Real franchise. Today we’re doing one of another one of our Meet the Team. The last few meetings, where we’ve done this, we’ve talked to people in Victoria, New South Wales, when they’re coming back to the best state in Queensland. So, today we’re with Ross and Karen. Welcome, Russell and Karen.

Thank you. And I guess, where are you guys in the state? Queensland’s a pretty big place.

Ross Yeah. So we’re in, Brisbane in Manly just in, the bayside area.

Justin Okay. Yeah. And I guess. What business do you have with James? What’s your business.

Ross Lawn and care business in the long run? Yeah.

Justin Okay. So you’re doing that. And I was just thinking back before we started this, it would have been about this time last year that we first met. Is that right, Ross?

Ross That’s right. Yep.

Justin So we were going through the process. And when did you actually start your training and business?

Ross So I started the training in early February. Yep. And then hit the ground two weeks into February. But we had the cyclone.

Justin So that’s from what you’ve heard of cyclone and stuff? Yeah. Yeah. And so how did that affect? Because that’s always people’s biggest concern when starting a business. Had that affected. Yeah.

Ross Look I suppose the good thing is there was a lot of groundwork done and the training was very thorough. So even though it was a slow start due to the cyclone, once that had cleared and everyone, you know started clearing stuff up, it started to take off pretty, pretty instantly sort of thing so. I and I did I did straight off the training.

I did have one job booked in for the day after the training session, so that was nice. And then just like I hit the week after.

Justin Yeah, yeah. So I put pause on everything.

Ross Yeah it did. But you know, the good thing is that the foundations were laid. So it was just a matter it was more the wheels were spinning but not getting much traction. But once that cyclonic cleared, the traction started happening.

Justin Yeah, yeah. Now, Karen, you’ve just started your own business as well. What? What business have you started?

Karen Well, I’m a social worker, so, my business is, like counseling and, wellbeing support, and, my business is actually all online, so a little bit different, but they all the concepts of the marketing and things like that, you know, all of that, that you have to do to get started. They’re pretty well the same, which is.

Justin Interesting. Yep, yep. Yes. Absolutely. The same. Eight steps like we were just talking went way the sign marketing and things like that. And so he hasn’t got too hard on the tools too often, but working hard not all for.

Ross Lack of trying that.

Justin That.

Karen A little bit, don’t you? Yep. I’m the cleaner-upper-er and the load the trailer person.

Justin Yeah. Ronnie. Okay. And Ross. So you’re the main one running the business. What was it that made you inquire in the first place? What were you doing?

Ross So for me, I have, like, a a background of retail for 37 years. And, and then for two years, I sort of just job helped trying to find after I’d finished retail, just trying to find what I really wanted to do. And I think I just came to that decision that, it’s time to do something for myself.

I always wanted to do that. And, you know, it’s it’s easy enough to say, you know, the boss is useless and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, they’re held accountable for everything that happens. And, if things don’t happen, well, it’s my, it’s it’s on me. And, and I enjoy that, you know, and, and I, I like having that challenge of, of running the business and the steps that we’re given give us that opportunity to do my, you know, and I guess, successful in what we do.

Justin Yeah. Okay. So if you can remember back before you started, what what were you sort of most worried about? Was it anything in particular that was really more concerning for you? Look.

Ross I think the biggest one was, I think, and a lot of the lawn and garden guys have that concern is how do we survive winter? Yes. That was probably one of my biggest fears. And, sort of came in just before winter. So some as I, that was probably my biggest one. And then to be honest, just, I work indoors all my life, so to make that change, working outdoors.

Have what, what’s that look like sort of thing? So, yeah, that was probably another little concern I had in the back of the head, but, look, you just you just adjust and adapt and I’ll be honest, days like today, it was a tough one, you know, when it’s, hot out there and humidity’s on. But, yeah, you just gotta learn to pace yourself properly and just keep yourself hydrated and look after yourself.

And look. Oh. I’ll be honest, my calendar’s full, but I’ve had to do some adjustments because I was probably taking too much on, and, and I was really feeling it so that to sort of spread it out nice and evenly over, over the whole week. And, you know, like I said during the other day, If I’ve gotta work some Saturdays.

It’s just to take a bit of pressure off. Do a couple of jobs. Well, that’s what we’ll be doing sort of thing. Just some not overdoing it during that. The hot times.

Justin Yeah. And I think I remember last time we were chatting we’ve had you talked about working in the office and you’ve lost a bit of weight since.

Ross Yeah. So I’ve lost 25 kilos since I’ve started. Yeah. So that that’s been a big advantage, I think, as well. And, it’s funny when you, when you start, you know, you’ve got the self-propelled mower and you’ve got your three speeds. And when I first started, number one, I thought was a bit too quick. And I’m like, had I came up with this and now it’s, you know, I’ve had it on three for quite some time and I’m like, does this thing go any faster?

Yeah.

Justin Yeah, yeah.

Ross So yeah, you know, you think it’s time for you. You know, it’s good for your fitness as well. So it’s, it’s been a, it’s a good journey.

Justin Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been thinking we should advertise the James weight loss program.

Ross Like, oh, you know, and and I’d hate to think of actually, I probably tell you that if I, you know, probably would have lost another 5 or 10 kilos, but.

Justin Yeah. Right. Oh that’s good. Well, so thinking back, you came in and your concerns, I guess a mirror probably to a lot of people that are listening to this, how did it actually go for you once you got started? You know, you’re concerned about winter. You’ve just come through your first winter. So you were ten months in. Is that right?

Ross Roughly, yeah. That’s right, ten months.

Justin Yeah.

Ross That’s right. Yeah. So winter actually was good for me. With the, with the right advertising that we did on Facebook and everything, the tiles that we’re given and everything, we just utilized those and got a couple of extra towels made up to put on the Facebook and, and actually, I had some of the, some of my biggest weeks in winter.

Yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah. So we did some big garden cleanups and, and that was, that was really good. You know, people were wanting they gardens cleaned up during that period of time. And you know, I just found that a lot of the guys around my area, the other, you know, lawn and care guys, not the times, but the other any independents.

And I didn’t want to do that sort of work that was still chasing the mowing. And, I managed to pick up a lot of that work. So, yeah, it’s just a matter of putting yourself out there and, it’s like the whole thing, just jump outside your comfort zone and just, just do it, you know?

Justin Yep yep yep. Yeah. Which ones are all over the country? So many people are just focused on cutting grass and. Yeah, that’s that’s only one part of it, isn’t it?

Ross It’s it’s a small sector of it and, you know, like, you know, the hedging part. And I must admit, I shied away from hedging because it wasn’t my, my forte. But then I just went, I’m not going to get any better for actually don’t actually start doing, you know. So I started taking hedging jobs on and and sometimes you do them at a cheaper price and decide, well I’m going to do a do your hedges and I was honest with them and just said, look, I’m not an expert on it, but I’ll give it a go and I will always happy with it and mighta taken me a

little bit longer than the normal. But now, I’m not afraid to do hedges, like, say, you know, it’s, it’s like I say, just push outside their comfort zone, and, and I think this whole journey is about that. Don’t be afraid to get uncomfortable. Yes.

Justin Yes, absolutely.

Ross You have to do different things.

Justin Yep. Now, Karen, I’ll throw a difficult question at you. This could hopefully not get anyone in trouble, but have you observed any changes in Ros from, this time last year to now?

Karen Absolutely. You know, he’s much more relaxed. You know, he’s happy. Really happy in himself. And you know, my my background is all in wellbeing, so I’m really about that. And that’s why, I did encourage him to, to give it a go, you know, and yeah, I just, I just say that, you know, he’s much more relaxed.

You know, we’ve got a little camper that we try to get away in every 2 to 3 weeks. And, haven’t, you know, we can’t at the minute because he’s so busy, but generally, we do. So it’s about lifestyle and, you know, watching Ros achieve what he really has set out to do. You know, he had this dream so long ago, he just had to find the right thing.

And I think for him, James is just a really good fit, right?

Justin Oh, that’s awesome. Awesome. Actually, Russell also had someone throw a question at me the other day. Oh my sarcastically. Could you really replace your salary in a business like this? What would you say to that question if it was thrown at you?

Ross Paisley easily? Yeah. Like yeah. And look, as much as money is great. My focus is different. Like mine’s lifestyle and having a bit more. So I mean, and look, I still I still and I. Okay money. I’m happy with what I earn. But I don’t kill myself to to, get what I am sort of thing.

So, I don’t have to work 60 hours.

Justin Yeah.

Ross You know, you can still find a really good salary easily. No problem at all. Yeah, I suppose for me, I just wish I was probably 20 years younger because. Yeah, you know, but. Yes. Yeah, you could just make an absolute monster out of it. Especially these 20, you know.

Justin Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We say that with but we just had one of our big businesses, a young girl, I bought it and like, it’s a big business with a quite a few stuff, and it’s instantly just going up a whole nother gear because it’s just so highly motivated.

Ross And, yeah.

Justin 20, 30 years younger than me sort of thing. So it’s. Yeah, really highly driven.

Karen Yeah. Yeah. And I think it’s about the body, you know, sometimes, you know that saying the, the flesh is. Yeah. The, you know, the, the, the mind’s willing, but the flesh is weak, Yeah. So, you know, if as you age, obviously you can, might need to modify what your business hours looked like, but that’s. Yes. The beauty of having your own business.

Justin Yeah. Do that. Yeah, it is true. And it’s something that I think people don’t realize just how physically demanding it even at cleaning businesses. You know, we’re talking about lawn and garden today, but both I think you’re going to be physically well if you’re not physically fit and raw. Also, I guess you would you would openly agree, probably before you went, but oh, very quickly I got fit.

Ross Yeah. Yeah. I mean like I said, what what I mean, you look at your jobs now too, when I first started, you know, some of the early ones and, I still remember the first one that I quoted on and I said, oh, that’s going to take me two hours. And the lady’s like, and I gave her a price, and and she went, yeah, no problem.

Well, I can do that in an hour. Now.

Justin Yeah.

Ross You know. Yeah. And a lot to say. Yeah, I just went, oh gee, that’s big job. Well, that’s going to take me. That’s in my head thinking that, you know. Yeah. Two hours. I quoted her on that. And, now I can do it in an hour. And most of my jobs like, you know, I like that.

Or wouldn’t say some of them are halved, but, you know. Yeah. You definitely shaving time off?

Justin Yeah. You get quicker and quicker.

Ross And quicker and quicker, you know, and your skill sets get better and better. So that’s the other thing too, is when you started, obviously for me, I had no real apart from around the doing the god the household loan. Yeah. I never had any other sort of skills. So, but when you’re doing it every day. Yeah.

You very quickly, sharpen your skill set.

Justin Yeah, yeah. So, Ross, before we go to some quickfire questions to wrap up one last one. Is there something, anything that you wish you’d known beforehand, like any tips, any bits of advice to people that are looking that you wish you’d known?

Ross No, I really like I said, look, I think the biggest thing that you have to be prepared to do is to be, get getting a comfort zone. And, and, and I think that’s the biggest thing. And I mean, like, doing the training and everything, but the biggest thing I really probably struggled with was the knock and drop.

Yes. Because I, I sort of had that mentality. I’m not a door salesman. I might need to go and sell, but you know, and Ian could say that I was struggling with it so way he sort of he’s restructured it rewired my brain and going, you’re not actually selling products or anything like that. We in a sense you are.

But but he rewired my mindset and it’s now like you said, it is telling you know, people about your business. And what you can, you know, help them with and one so I sort of changed it and came to that mindset. Yeah I was no problem. Yeah. So, you know, I that was probably my biggest thing that I went to that that’s not for me.

I’m not knocking on people’s doors.

Justin Yeah. Yeah.

Ross But I haven’t, I haven’t got that issue now I’m happy to, to go out and do that. Do the, you know, why not, you know, five, five down, five up across the road and. Yeah. Yeah. So the thing like it’s it’s just second nature now. But that was my biggest battle was that one like like like just yeah I just didn’t want to go knock on people’s doors.

Justin Yeah. So Ian’s your business coach. Yeah. How often, how often when you meet with him. And have you found having a business?

Ross So the first 12 weeks we were doing weekly, we, I probably even longer than that. We were doing weekly for. But now we’re on fortnightly. We don’t normally catch up. Yeah. And we so normally for at least an hour sort of thing. Yeah. But yeah. No, it’s, it’s still good to have that contact and, and sort of our spies.

Now what we talk about now is more about future and we know where we’re, where I’m heading. And I’m more of a sort of what my goals are as far as with the business, what’s next sort of thing.

Justin Yeah. Go for thank you for that. I’m just kind of. All right. Go for it. Karen.

Karen And an outsider’s point of view and someone who’s in a support role, as well as, you know, now that I’ve opened my own business, I think the beauty of, Ross being part of a franchise arrangement is the extra support that comes with that. Like this business coaching. There’s, you know, he can reach out to you.

There’s all these other people in the company that are available, and the service that they provide is just second to none. Like, you know, for me, I’m a sole practitioner. So I had to I, I and I started with no money, so I had to go and build my own website. You know, James provides a website. You know, everything I’ve had to do.

Russell already had provided for him as part of his franchise face. And I’ll say to him, how did how did you do this is like, I don’t know how I didn’t have to do that. So, you know, maybe I should have, I, as a social worker.

Justin James, nice looking franchise. Well, but the. That’s good. Yeah. I think.

Karen You know it really, and I think that’s one thing that is really, it it should be, highly valued by everybody because I think, you know, there’s people who think that they can go and do the, the lawn mowing by themselves, or they can, but standing behind a brand as well, you know, it gives a real credibility.

Justin Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have so many people, not so many. But I’ve had people say to me, you know, it’s mowing grass. How hard can it be? And and yet I say to those very same people, well, if you’re looking to buy low and trial, one of the best places to go is a marketplace. But there’s usually heaps up for sale for people who’ve had a go, couldn’t make it work, and now they’re trying to sell if they get it right.

So it’s it’s a business. It’s it’s more than just cutting grass. It’s all like like you just said, Karen, there’s all the other stuff which for you is the same processes that Ros is used. It’s just in the franchise. As you said, he’s had someone do most of that for him. Yeah. So it really accelerates. People start up oh I guess.

Ross Oh absolutely.

Karen And and in the marketing, you know, you know, any ideas that we might have had together where Russell said, oh, I don’t have anything. I don’t have a phone out or anything. I was like, go get a tall night up. And literally the next day, Atol lands in his inbox. It’s amazing. Yeah. Really great service.

Justin Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Well, to close today I’m going to throw some quickfire questions at you. Sorry 3030 second to a minute answer just to give people just some to give you an idea. First question what does your typical day in your business look like?

Ross Typical day in business is, a try and schedule 5 to 6 jobs down, on the right at 7:00. Yeah. Generally, most jobs take between 45 minutes to an hour. So I try to behind by one, 2:00 at the latest. Yep. And, if not, just keep on keeping on.

Justin And how long? This is not on the list, but along with the book work tag for you, for you, on average, don’t look like it’s it.

Ross You do it. Do it as you go. So it depends on really busy. Like if you really busy, don’t do it at the end of the day. But really I generally try and do is as I go do an invoice. So book work is really not a lot. Yeah. Unless you’ve got some quiet and you plug them into your system.

Justin Yep. Yeah.

Ross It’s it’s very simple.

Justin Yep. What’s the most rewarding part of owning your gems and services franchise.

Ross Well thank you. Satisfaction and the knowing that you’re helping people. And I think when you. You do get that big thank you from somebody. Yep. That, you know that you’ve really helped them. So the thing I think that’s my biggest satisfaction is knowing that I’ve helped someone.

Justin Yep. That’s good. That’s for what skills have you developed since becoming a franchise?

Ross Yeah. Well, obviously all the all the gardening. So lawn mowing, edging, hedging, waiting, mulching, chainsawing, all the garden to. But they know obviously the accounting side of it. So learning how to do your in you know balancing of your books and best statements and all these sorts of things. It’s definitely was something new to me.

So that that’s another one.

Justin Awesome to ask questions. What key factors do you think make a successful franchise?

Ross Well, I think good communication is one, like if you communicate well. So as soon as you get a call or, an email or a message, you know, for questing to have a look at someone’s, you know, don’t get on to it straight away. I think the, the difference between us and the others is, if you can do that 99% of the time, you’ll convert that into, into a customer straightaway, because I think they’re not used to people getting back to them straight away, especially trading to people.

Yeah. So I think that’s the big thing is, is quick response, good communication and, and just say what you’re going to do. Like if don’t, don’t say I’ll be there tomorrow and not turn up right.

Justin Yeah.

Ross If you’re going to be somewhere, be there.

Justin Yeah. Yeah. So true. One last question. What advice would you give someone considering buying a franchise?

Ross Look, for me I would say don’t hesitate. It’s it’s the best opportunity that I’ve ever had. And I don’t regret any second of the opportunity that I’ve got. I think the biggest thing is, is just in a 100%, don’t, don’t be half baked about it.

Justin Yep.

Ross Just commit and just going 100% all the training and everything that you get will get you when the support is there. You just commit.

Justin Yep, yep. No. That’s excellent. Thanks. Very good. Well, thank you so much for coming on tonight.

Ross No problem.

Justin I hope, well, I’m sure there’s a lot of good stuff in there for the people that are thinking about taking on the franchise. So. Yes. Thank you, Ross and Karen.

Ross All right. No problem. Thanks, Justin.

Karen Thank you.