Women in Franchising presentation
Tina Huelin, HandyWoman
The National Franchise Exhibition, October 2007
Find the entrepreneur in you
Good afternoon ladies, and a few gentlemen. I’d first like to congratulate you on surviving this long. Now you can rest your feet, relax and enjoy, as the best has been saved until last………………..
I would like to introduce myself. I am Tina Huelin, the founder of HandyWoman Limited. I am delighted to have been invited to talk to you today, and I hope to inspire any entrepreneurs out there by telling you my story of how I became a successful business owner…………….
My father came to the UK from Poland at 18, with only a few words of English. By the turn of the millennium he could speak 7 different languages and he was a self taught car mechanic. I have found his determination to succeed an inspiration for my life………………………………….
I remember being very poor when I was a child. My father and I used to go and fill sacks with coal waste, and mix this with the 1 bag of coal we could afford each week to make our fire last longer. Our clothes came from jumble sales and we were so cold at night we wore layers to keep warm.
When we visited my family in Poland we took these clothes that we’d outgrown and gave them to my cousins. Even though the clothes were 2nd hand, they were more fashionable than any of the clothes in Poland. My cousins thought they’d won the lottery. It made me realise that although my own family was very poor we were rich compared to my family in Poland. I had a lot to be grateful for.
My Dad worked full time in the week, and earned extra money by working for himself repairing cars in the evening and on weekends. From all of this hard work he was able to take on his first mortgage when I was 8 years old, and we moved into our own home.
These experiences taught me that anything is possible if you work at it and really want it…………………………….
I grew up pretty fast and was very independent. I left school at the earliest opportunity so that I could start to provide for myself. I found a job as an insurance clerk and I was allowed to spend my first wages on a new coat and a pair of shoes.
I was introduced to the Territorial Army by a friend and loved it, so I decided to join the armed forces to see the world.
On my travels I met my first husband. I only knew him a few months before we got married, 4 months later I was pregnant. By the time I was 21 I had 2 children and I thought I’d made it. I was an amazing Mum and I adored my children.
Having a family, money became tight, like in my own childhood, so to make extra money I got myself a cleaning job and became a debt recovery collector in the evenings.
I was ambitious for our future and our family, and my first husband and I began to outgrow each other. At the age of 27 I took one of the biggest steps in my life and left the security of my marriage and the army property we were renting, packed a few suitcases and took the children back to my parents………………………………….
It was a hard few months for us all – but with my parents support it wasn’t long before I found my feet. I quickly learnt that being on my parent’s sofa didn’t make me a priority with the local housing authority. They didn’t consider me to be homeless. I went to my local councillor every week to make sure I was on their list and they told me there were no properties in the area. I decided to go and look for myself and hey, guess what I found!...............................
Yep you guessed it, a boarded up, dilapidated old council house. I raced to my local councillor – Paula Radcliffe had nothing on me!
It was such a wreck they didn’t want me to have it. I volunteered to do all the work, so that they had no other excuses and I got the keys within a week………………………
I didn’t have any DIY skills, so through trial and error and picking up hints and tips along the way, I rolled up my sleeves and made this ruin of a house into my family home.
My next step was to go and queue at the social security office. I looked at everyone waiting for their money and knew immediately that I didn’t want to join them. I left and went to the job centre instead. I was determined to get myself a full time job………………………………………
I loved clothes and fashion and saw a job for a sales rep. for a fashion jewellery company. Although I had no experience, my enthusiasm got me the job. When I had settled in I was able to look to the future and I wanted to buy my own home. As I was a single parent I had to prove myself with a good rent record and a reliable job, and even then I had to plead with the building society to get a mortgage. The mortgage turned out to be less than I was paying each week in rent and this success gave me the confidence to use my entrepreneurial spirit to set up my own fashion accessory business……………………………
I then met my new husband, we married and bought a house together, but I couldn’t let go of my first home as it had meant so much to me. I did a bit of research and found a housing association that rented properties to homeless people. This was important to me because of my own situation.
As the value of the property grew and the rent increased I was able to use the equity in the houses for deposits on more properties. My vision was never to sell houses, but to rent them and by 2003 I’d bought 25 properties………………………………..
My increasing property portfolio meant I was unable to maintain and develop all the properties myself. It was costing me in time and money when trades people didn’t turn up or overpriced a job – and more frustratingly they didn’t want to take on the small jobs that my properties had a lot of.
The deadlines for my property handovers to the housing association were being missed, and I had to make mortgage payments on houses that weren’t rented. It was out of my control and ever the entrepreneur I had to do something about it.
Women have always been good at multi tasking, and if I could start out maintaining my own home with no knowledge or skills – I questioned and asked myself, why couldn’t other resourceful women do the same thing?
The concept of HandyWoman was born……………………
My brilliant business idea was to provide opportunities for women in an industry where traditionally they have been seriously under represented. The construction industry. The concept fills a gap by providing trades people to carry out non-emergency small jobs. At this stage my idea had no value, it was just an idea…………………………..
I had been asked to take part in an article for a national newspaper called Mrs Mop to Millionaire. The article profiled the stories of several successful entrepreneurial women.
On the photo shoot I found myself chatting to another entrepreneur who gave me the advice that if you have a brilliant idea – go and put value on it. I asked her what she meant by that.
Her answer was – “Register the company name and register any trademarks that you need.”
When I had done this my HandyWoman idea immediately had a value………….
The entrepreneur that I chatted to that day took her own advice.
She sold her business for millions and is now a shareholder in a business connected to franchising.
She swapped her cramped 3 bed semi in the UK for a grand home in the Bahamas with her husband and 4 children……………………….
You may ask, so how did I start to add value to my business idea?
First of all I needed some help to put together a business plan.........
I had a flyer through my door from a company advertising government funded business support.
It was 7 o’clock in the evening, but I thought I’d try my luck and see if anybody was there.
My call was answered by a real person not a machine so I knew they would be there to support me not just 9-5.
I made an appointment and spent some time talking to all the mentors they had available to find the person that was right for me. I made sure the mentor was my choice rather that the choice being dictated to me, as I wanted to make sure I could really get on with them.
It was important for me to have a real understanding of my business plan, so working with a mentor meant I could get involved with writing it.
Armed and ready with the plan I made an appointment to see my bank manager. My mentor and I thought it was a good business plan and that we’d done all our homework.
Unfortunately my idea was considered a high risk because of the market trends at the time. The bank wanted to squeeze a bit more from me by putting more properties against the loan as security. I stayed confident, but I wasn’t sure I wanted this, so as the bank had said no to my plan I decided to think about it – I didn’t have to decide there and then.
I knew the bank wanted my business – they have to make money! I decided to go for a smaller loan. I rewrote my business plan to show the bank I was serious. I took a big risk on my part by using the equity in my properties to finance my business idea.
It was a great feeling to know I was in control and not them. The end result was I only needed to negotiate a large overdraft facility.
In my business plan I had to give details of the company director and management team. I already had a self-employed book keeper working with me, and I found a marketing consultant through networking with my mentor. I also employed a general manager.
The bank looked closely at their CV’s, as it’s these people that run the business. The bank wanted to make sure they’d get their money back.
From my previous experience I knew I needed key people to make my business a success, and create a stable platform from which to grow.
The directors CV showed I only had 2 ‘O’ Levels from school – but my life experience and confidence showed how strong my other skills were……………….
My next challenge came when I knew the team around me could do the job. All of a sudden I had to let go and delegate so that they could use the skills I had employed them for……………………………………
Things were going pretty well.
It was time to tell my family and friends all my good news. I could never have imagined the response I was about to receive………
Here’s a few of the things they said that made my heart sink.
Is now a good time?
Is it really a good idea?
Do you think you should be taking that risk? What about your commitment with your family?
Hasn’t that been done before?
Where will you find the time to do it?
I was gutted and shocked by their response. I had to take a step back and challenge myself to really think about the way they reacted, rather than becoming defensive.
I realised they were reacting from the heart and were concerned for my welfare. None of them were in business and they could see I was taking a risk and didn’t want me to fail………………………………
I thought about their concerns and realised there’s never a right time, it’s easy to put things off. I had done my research and knew that my ideas were unique.
Starting a business is risky – I’m no good with a crystal ball, but all the risks I was about to take were calculated risks.
I thought my business idea was unique. My mentor had taught me about SWAT analysis, and my idea had its own unique selling points.
And as for finding the time, I knew my main priority had to be employing the people that would make my business run efficiently, and then if I needed time off I could take it and my business would carry on without me……………………..
My friends and family eventually came round, but it made me realise I needed to network with like minded business people. I knew there would be highs and lows along the way. It was reassuring to know that through networking I could share those highs and lows with other business people.
Networking is one of the most valuable tools I have found in business – so long as you play the game and learn how to find the right groups.
I always make sure I listen to see how we can gain from each other. If not, I move on, as when I first started networking I wasted too much time with little result.
Networking can really help your business grow – people are in business to make money, so remember to give a little to receive a lot………………………
Now it’s time to find out if there’s an entrepreneur in you. Let’s have a show of hands to see how many people here feel they are entrepreneurial………………………………..
I have a questionnaire from…………….for you to complete, just for yourself to find out what makes an entrepreneur. These are for you to keep.
I’ll read out the questions, and from your score you’ll find out more about what makes and entrepreneur.
Carry out questionnaire.
Thank you for your time. I hope you’ve all heard something of value to you today. I wish you all the very best for the future, and a safe journey home.
