👥 Meet the Team Jonelle | The Real Franchise – Ep 66

Justin So hello and welcome to another episode of The Real Franchise. If you’re watching this, this is the video series designed to deliver real information, real answers, and real insights into franchising. And this series is brought to you by James Home services Australia. I’m Justin Kelly, I’m one of the owners of the company and today we are joined by Jonelle.

Janelle, thank you for coming on today. Oh yes. And you are one of our business owners. So in this so this episode is really what we call it, meeting some of the take. So, Janelle, where in Australia are you based?

Jonelle I’m in Brisbane, Albany Creek. So that’s, more north side.

Justin North side of Brisbane. Right. I just drove through there yesterday, actually. Traffic was actually good for a change.

Jonelle Yeah. Right.

Justin Yes. And what made you, I guess. Wait, what sort of. What was your previous role and what made you want to make a change?

Jonelle I used to work a trade, so I used to do pest control and aircon cleaning, and I think I just got a little fed up working for somebody else. And I was thinking about the numbers, and the days were hard. The sun’s coming down on you. And so it’s time to do this for myself.

Justin All right. And so how long have you been doing it for yourself?

Jonelle Not long. Oh, I want to say four months.

Justin Four months in, wow, that’s gone fast.

Jonelle Yeah, yeah. It really has flown by

Justin Yeah. So I walked you through the information session like most people that join us. And then you did your training, I guess starting out. Can you remember? Was there any things that you weren’t expecting that sort of surprised you through the process?

Jonelle Well, not gonna lie, I felt like a lot of it was almost too good to be true. Okay. Just just starting up, usually I, like I did a bit of research in a few different spots. There were big deposits, and I just wasn’t sure about the support system there, but, as soon as I spoke to you guys, I noticed it was very hands on, very, communicative face to face on it.

Yep yep.

Justin Yep. Right, right. And how did your business go? So you did the training. This was something you you started. What? Can you remember what happened? Week one.

Jonelle Week one. Week one was, a bit busier than I expected as well, actually. I managed to get a head start. I got a few clients, through DVA.

Justin Yes.

Jonelle And I was just scouring the social media, looking for any odd jobs to pick up. So I managed to fill in a few gaps. All right.

Justin All right. So did you earn any money that way? Can you remember in your first week?

Jonelle Yeah. I can’t remember how much, but I want to say, we hit the minimum, which is nice. Like the, guaranteed.

Justin Yeah, yeah, the 1500 plus. Yep.

Jonelle That’s it.

Justin Yeah. Yep, good, Yeah, yeah. And you’ve been really consistent and sort of growing from because I just had a sneak a peek in our system before just to see how you’ve been traveling and, and I guess, has it been what you were hoping.

Jonelle Yeah. 100% and more. Really. You know, I expected a real struggle to build up that client base and, you know, just fill in the gaps in the schedule. But the marketing, the support, you know, help for my business coach, though, just so many options, so many avenues. And yeah, I was scared that I would just have no idea what to do because I’ve never started a business.

So these are my baby steps.

Justin Yeah. Good. And you’re doing it on your own. So everything you’re doing, all the quotes and things like that, is that right?

Jonelle Yes.

Justin Yeah. Yeah. And how did you find that? Because I know for most people when I meet with them they’re like, oh, really scared about the quoting side of it. And so how did you find that in the beginning.

Jonelle It is a bit intimidating. Especially sort of knowing that the numbers are right. And then I guess having the confidence to set it in stone, that kind of thing, like how do I explain it sort of pushing that this is what the work is worth? Yes. Yeah.

Justin Yeah, yeah. I guess this is a bit of an awkward question. I’ll try and frame it. Right. But one of the concerns sometimes that gets raised with me through the sales process, particularly from from ladies, is, you know, you’re working on your own, you’re going and doing quotes, you’re meeting people, strangers. Does that make you nervous?

Have you found that? Have you had any awkward situations?

Jonelle Sometimes the, like the quote appointment, the first sort of interaction, face to face, can be a bit nerve wracking just being in somebody else’s home, not wanting to overstep, things like that. But they’re they’re really nice. Yeah, a lot of them are just mums or, a lot of retirees. I’ve had. Yeah. So they’re very kind.

Always up for a chat. Yeah. Very welcoming.

Justin Good, good. Okay. And I’m sorry, I’m focusing. Seem to be on all the concerns that just come to mind. One of the concerns also I had often raised is, you know, I’ve heard Justin, that when you have your own business. Yes. You might be working this time, but then you got all this, all this time at home and you sort of never get to really knock off because it’s just business.

Business, business how, four months in. And how we find it, are you getting that work life balance? Do you feel like you have control?

Jonelle Yeah. And I think with the, system we have set up, it’s just a few easy clicks. Send the invoice and then check the box. You know. Yeah, yeah. So it’s really 30 minutes, barely an hour a day of office work. Yeah. Check your emails. You know, sending it away. Surprisingly, it doesn’t chew up much time.

Justin Yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, do you think you’ve learned any new skills since you’ve been, in as a business owner?

Jonelle Yeah. Even the practical, like, actually cleaning, you know, the methodical steps.

Justin Yes.

Jonelle The most efficient way to go to the next station. Next station? Next station. Yeah. I’ve started using that in my own time, so it’s nice.

Justin Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we were the same. Like, I had a cleaning business for many years, and we still use all the James chemicals, you know, even though we don’t have cleaning business. So yeah, I went to do some polishing and went out of the, the stainless steel, you know, the tap polisher, everything. So I’m gonna have to order some more from Coast Clean so that’s brilliant.

But yeah, the products still use them. Well, just sort of coming to the end, I guess, for anyone watching, because most people looking at this are considering doing something for themselves. I guess four months in there, any things you’ve learned, anything that you think that people should be asking, should be looking for any bits of advice that you would pass on to people?

Jonelle I think the advice, I would say trust yourself. Yeah. You know, as much as a second opinion is helpful, trust what you know you’re capable of how you can apply yourself. Listening to the coaches, you know, they’re there to help. They want you to succeed just as much as you do.

Justin Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s good, because I remember when we went through the journey, my wife and I looking at buying a James franchise. I mean, a bit scary now 15, 16 years ago. Yeah. We had family saying to us, oh, don’t touch one of those things, you know, and we now own the company, you know, obviously changed our world.

So if we hadn’t taken obviously you want to get advice from people, but yeah.

Jonelle Yeah. Recent I can think is I wish I did the sooner.

Justin Yeah.

Jonelle Yeah. That was years ago. Yeah.

Justin Well yeah. Congratulations on doing so. Well, because it just seems like yesterday that you and I walked through that information process, and I don’t think. I don’t think we’ve actually called it up like this since, since you started. Yeah. So. Yeah. So it’s awesome to see you doing so well. So thank you for coming on today. And look forward to you watching you continue to grow and kicking you goals.

Jonelle Yes.

Justin Awesome. Well, that’s probably a good place to wrap up this episode of The Real Franchise and feel free if you’d like. For those of you watching, if you’d like to hear more or have specific questions, feel free to drop the comments in, the box below, and we will do everything we can to get information to you and answer questions.

Do episodes, maybe on titles that you would love, to find out more about. Thanks very much for joining us.

Jonelle Thank you for having me.