Expense Reduction Analysts Franchise case study
Neil Cullen
Neil has now been a part of the Expense Reduction Analysts team for over 14 years. He comments on what first attracted him to Expense Reduction Analysts, his initial training and the progress to date. "In 1993, following 17 years in engineering, I was made redundant. At that point I decided that it was now or never as regards for building and running my own business, so I researched the market for 6 months for a suitable business opportunity.
Having looked at all the normal suspects, ie enameling baths, selling tools from the back of a van, I found Expense Reduction Analysts and immediately felt very comfortable with the whole concept. I felt that working for yourself, but not alone and having the backup and support, was an ideal style of business for me" Neil comments.
"The training 14 years ago was very much different to today, whereby we had a 2 day training programme, this is now effectively 5 weeks. However, this 2 day course gave me the grounding to start my own business.
In 1996, I became a franchisee. This led to a further training course and much more help and support from within Head Office. Even today, I still need the support that is available from Head Office for various elements of my business. One of the great things about being self-employed within Expense Reduction Analysts is being able to choose the hours I work and when I work them, however, I have to say I do work longer and harder than I have done in previous careers, although the rewards are all mine.
On a day to day basis, I use various in-house experts over a range of categories on areas such as telecoms, reprographics, logistics, etc. Using these experts enables me to earn income and concentrate on the categories that I feel I have expertise in. I truly do believe a client could not throw a category at me that we at Expense Reduction Analysts could not find some success in. I see my role in running my business as an all-rounder. I like the day to day interaction with prospects, clients, suppliers and fellow consultants, I also enjoy elements of the audit side. I wont hesitate to involve fellow consultants on a JV basis on areas of expertise that are not mine or indeed, as frequently happens, to lighten the workload when I get too busy. I also find that working with a fellow consultant and building a relationship certainly makes the business more rewarding and fun, but still very, very professional.
The cost of running the business is another plus side, as any expertise I need to call on is remunerated out of any savings we achieve. My other costs within the business are travel, marketing literature, telecoms, however, as we carry no stock there is minimal risk. Because we are paid on a contingency over a contract period of 18 months, I can at any given time forecast what my virtual guaranteed income will be at any time over the next 18 months, and there are not many businesses where you can say that. The business is very varied day by day, sometimes quite hectic, sometimes wondering where you are going to fit all the different elements of the business in.
My medium and long-term goals are to continue to achieve the financial and work life balance I have always desired and am currently enjoying, in addition I also would want to push the business a bit further to enable me my ultimate goal of early retirement, spending 6 months in the UK and 6 months overseas.
I always remember when I was made redundant in 1993, there was a very popular song in the charts which at the time was my thinking, this song was called ‘Things Can Only Get Better' by ‘D:Ream', well things certainly have got a lot better and continue to get better still" Neil concludes.
