Just Shutters

Meet some of our business owners

Our business owners enjoy great financial and lifestyle success. Hear what they have to say…

Real people. Real success

Interview with Andy Cox Peel – Just Shutters Birmingham

Can you tell us what you were doing prior to buying your Just Shutters franchise business?

I was self-employed working in educational and outdoor settings using practical skills to help develop children’s and young people’s learning.

Can you also tell us about Just Shutters?

At Just Shutters Birmingham we seek to transform homes by installing beautiful Plantation Shutters, with a commitment to excellence in all that we do.

Why did you go down the franchise route? And why did you choose a Just Shutter franchise?

I wasn’t looking to set up in business nor was I looking buy a franchise, but I came across plantation shutters, and loved them! I was looking for a change for myself and my family, and an opportunity arose to enter the industry.

How did you raise the finance?

A combination of the generosity of my Nan leaving me some inheritance, and a family loan.

What training and support did you receive initially and ongoing?

All the training needed was offered – from practical instruction, to behind the scenes, sales & design training plus marketing support.

How would you describe your day-to-day role as a franchisee?

Varied. Wide -ranging in the tasks and different skills needed. Changeable!

Provide information on challenges overcome as well as your key successes to date.

Occasional difficult customers! Dealing with the public always offers these challenges, but the vast majority of my customers are a pleasure to work for. You need a mind and aptitude for continuous problem-solving – from little ones to big ones.

Developing a small team is one of the best successes we’ve enjoyed at Just Shutters Birmingham.

Has becoming a franchisee changed your life, if so how?

I have never worked harder. But I really enjoy the work and all that comes with it.

How do you achieve a work-life balance?

I’d say it’s more about priorities rather than balance. Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God, then everything else will be provided to you… Keeping work in its proper place. Because work doesn’t define who I am, I am free to work hard at it with diligence and enjoyment.

If you have staff, how do you retain your best staff and keep morale high and productive; how do you incentivise your staff and recognise success?

We have the same outlook and enjoy each other, often seeing each other outside of work time as well. We are all well-motivated and spur one another on.

What is the most invaluable piece of advice you could give someone looking to buy their first franchise?

Know why you’re doing it. Be committed. Don’t think you’re entitled to anything. Pursue humility.

In your opinion, what makes a successful franchisee?

Still trying to work that out!

What are your plans for the future?

See if we can maintain and improve our level of sales in order to keep our good work going and allow the team to flourish.

If you had to do it all again, what would you do differently?

I think having a bit more capital behind you would be useful, but we’ve learned other lessons from it being tough in the start-up phase.

Hayley and Terry Lancaster – Just Shutters Essex

Reaching the glass ceiling led to franchising and Just Shutters

Hayley and Terry Lancaster embarked upon running the Just Shutters Essex business because Terry had reached the ‘glass ceiling’ in his career and the couple wanted to build something for their own future.

On track to blast their overall targets, Hayley and Terry have shown huge commitment to their business and are reaping the rewards. Here they discuss their motivations and successes as Just Shutters Business owners.

They say: “Overall we got a very good feeling about the people, how they looked after their own. We liked the brand and knew if we liked it we can sell it. The training was first class. The office support, the fact the customers call and the phone gets answered, the brochures get sent out takes the pressure off us.”

“Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive. The support we get is overwhelming. Would I recommend a Just Shutters Business? Yes – that’s it, there’s nothing else to say.”

Simon and Gina Broadhurst – Just Shutters Surrey

Having been made redundant twice in quick succession and disillusioned with the London media landscape, Simon Broadhurst decided to get out of the rat race and grab a better work life balance with his wife Gina and young family.

Having identified the positive statistics around success rates of franchising versus independent start-ups, as well as less risk and infinitely more support, they decided to focus their research on franchise opportunities. Searching by budget available, location and sector, Just Shutters, the largest independent shutter specialist in the UK, popped up!

“Shutters was a product that we could be passionate about as we love design and interiors. It fitted my skill set as I’m practical and enjoy DIY and working with my hands.”

“We researched and established that the shutter category is a fast-growing market and we were sure it would be very appealing to our local area. We liked what we heard at the initial meeting; we bought into the brand and the way Chris (Franchisor) spoke about his aspirations for the company. We especially liked the level of support available through Sales Support and it set Just Shutters apart from other franchise opportunities on the market.”

Using their life savings and a small loan they purchased Just Shutters Surrey in March 2017. Initially Gina stayed in the Corporate world but after the first year of trading, she also made the leap to join the family business.

“My initial training was excellent.  The team were all very accommodating and helpful. Even down to the master fitter from Dorset coming out with me on my first few fits. Then when Gina joined the business, she also visited the team in Dorset and did some further training in product knowledge and the back-office products.”

We asked them to describe their day-to-day role as a franchisee, “It is busy but rewarding. When I was running the business single-handedly the days became long, but it was very satisfying doing the job beginning to end. Having the satisfaction of a job well done and the 5-star customer reviews and recommendations. Now we are a team (including our two Fitters), we can carve out clear roles for each person and divide the workload to grow the business.”

Like with any new business start-up, challenges exist.  Simon and Gina gave us a good outline of the challenges they overcome.

Rapid growth – In Year 1, if I was fitting shutters, I could not be selling shutters, as time moved on there was a chance that we were going to grind to a halt, so we needed to create more capacity. In the space of 18 months we moved from being a one-man business run solely by myself to a company actively run by its two Directors and with an Employee.  We have learned that you need to be brave and take calculated risks, have the vision to spot potential problems and mitigate them well in advance.  The recruitment and training process took time so if we had waited until the recruitment need was urgent, we would have seriously handicapped our business.

Sticking to your budget – we regularly review our budget and reconcile against actual performance so we can identify any over/under spend.  It is crucial that we cut costs when necessary but also release more funds into the budget if we over perform.

Marketing ROI – it can be counter-intuitive, but we have learned to spend on Marketing even when there is a dip in revenue.  We are a relatively new business and we need to build brand awareness and visibility in the local market, though Marketing can be viewed as a cost to a business, we have concluded that it is an important investment. That said, we regularly review the ROI on our Marketing activities, channel by channel, and if something isn’t working, we cut if off the plan.  Equally if it is bearing fruit, we will release more funds to expand this channel.”

Life has changed for Simon and Gina since becoming franchisees. “We no longer commute to London nor use childcare for our children before and after school.  We have more flexibility to see those all-important assemblies and school plays whenever they come up. We are building something for ourselves and have the satisfaction of employing two people. We work hard but feel proud of our achievements and a greater sense that we are the masters of our own destiny. We won Best Home Improvement Provider in the Essential Surrey Awards 2019 which is something we are immensely proud of.”

For anyone else thinking of buying a franchise, Simon and Gina give this advice, “Do your research, be realistic with your business plan and ensure you have enough working capital to get up and running. If you believe in what you are doing – be brave.”

“We believe a successful Just Shutters franchisee is committed, hard-working, buys into the master brand, is prepared to take controlled risks, has a sense of humour and is a team player.”

The future looks very bright for Simon and Gina with them outlining a several achievable objectives:

• Become the No 1 choice for shutters in Surrey
• Continue to grow the business with higher turnover and consistent margin
• Increase our conversion rate and average order value
• Drive growth though more commercial work and higher levels of affiliate partnerships
• Hit £1 Million turnover by Y5

So, if you had to do it all again, what would you do differently? “Be braver. Take on a part time Fitter earlier in the process. Define the role of the Sales Manager, someone in the office to chase up quotes and speak to customer’s every day, put this into action earlier on. Put simply, accept this can be a one-man business but to deliver our ambitious growth plans this was not the best option for us.”

Paul & Lisa Wells – Just Shutters Yorkshire

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you were doing prior to buying your Just Shutters franchise business?

I grew up in a warm, hugely supportive, and loving home. I went to college and then to university to study a BSc in Biology. However, university wasn’t for me – socially it was great, but the self-led studying part was something I was not ready for. I left university and went into the world of food retail, starting at the bottom as a store assistant – filling shelves and occasionally serving customers. I worked hard and rapidly got promoted. In my final employment, I was a General Manager and Regional Project Manager, meaning I would often leave my team to manage the store whilst running large regional projects.

From this employment I gained several skills that leant very well towards starting my own business.

During this time, I got married and had 2 daughters.  I then got divorced and met Lisa, who already had a son. Lisa and I then had another daughter. All 4 of my daughters and my stepson are a huge part of my life, they are also a large part of me/we making the decision to leave the world of working for someone else.

Can you also tell us about the franchise you have bought? 

We bought a franchise with Just Shutters, the UK’s largest independent retail Plantation Shutter specialist. We design and install internal shutters for homes and businesses.

We spent 2 years looking into my retail exit and looked at lots of different franchises. Our main aim was to find something that could be developed into an actual business, with a clear opportunity for growth and ongoing scale.

Why did you go down the franchise route? What made you choose your industry? And why a Just Shutters franchise?

The main why is simple. Leaving a £70k salary package along with the desire to be self employed meant franchising was a safer route, a route that gave an accelerated start, with support.

Choosing an industry wasn’t relevant, it was very much about the right business opportunity – one with a high value product, a product with future growth potential and something that could be a sustainable growing entity.

After looking at several different franchises we accidentally stumbled upon Just Shutters (on LinkedIn). We did some research into the window covering market and specifically shutters.

We then spoke with the Just Shutters team, then met them face to face. The rest is history.

How did you raise the finance?

A comprehensive business plan presented to parents. Hoping for some capital, allowing an approach to a lender. Parents offered the entire funds required – but with a hint of Dragons Den!

What training and support did you receive initially and ongoing?

Fully comprehensive training in both the sales aspect and the installation aspect.

However, if anyone thinks they can just start something new with some training and that is that then they are very naive. Initial knowledge and a start point can be garnered from training, the real training comes from being there, doing the job/running the business.

I personally know this from my retail career – new starter training systems that cost a fortune to develop. Gave them some basic knowledge and skills. Only doing the job / role day in day out actually trained them.

I got excellent foundation knowledge, I then used that to really learn. I has become we as Lisa is fully involved now in the business.

Ongoing – We have a wonderful team of people to give advice, help and even big project support if required.

Almost 5 years in, we do not need to ask for help or support much. If we did need to, we know it would be there with a smile.

How would you describe your day-to-day role as a franchisee

Happily, and brilliantly busy! Totally autonomous.

With the confidence of excellent back up when/if needed.

Provide information on challenges overcome as well as your key successes to date.

Formed the company in 2019 – then COVID!

However, we class COVID as our most significant success. All competitors stopped advertising. We closed fully for the 9-week first lockdown but ramped up advertising. Once allowed back into the world we had a full diary of pricing/measuring remote sold projects.

Other challenges:

Going from a fixed and known monthly income to self-employed. That was really hard for the first 2 years – but worth it! (and educational, it made us appreciate what we had and who we had much more).

Successes:

Rapidly rising to the top turnover range of franchisees!

Growing from just myself as an employee to myself, Lisa and 2 employees.

Further to the above, Lisa being able to leave work to support the business but mainly be a mum at home for our large, combined family.

Being able to spend a full Christmas together – in retail I was always at it nonstop over the Christmas period, with only Christmas Day and Boxing Day at home.

Has becoming a franchisee changed your life, if so how?

Enormously!

Self-controlled destiny – both financially and in day to day life! But with someone there to help, pick you up when worried, to guide and support.

Working hard for your own reward is so very different to working hard for a wage / career progression!!

How do you achieve a work-life balance?

Good planning – financial growth plans, growing the team at the right time.

Remembering “why we started this”!

If you have staff, how do you retain your best staff and keep morale high and productive; how do you incentivise your staff and recognise success?

After 23 years in food retail, I could write a significant essay on this question!

It boils down to simple things:

• Pay them well (above the expectation in the locality)
• Ensure they have everything they need for every eventuality
• Trust and respect them to do a good job, give clear and constructive feedback when something could be done better.
• Understand that you can only achieve your goals with happy and loyal people around you

Can you tell us about any community involvement, including any local partnerships, incentives or charity work you are involved in? 

Business wise we have affiliated with lots of interior designers, as well as other window covering companies that do not want to enter the shutters arena.

We also do charity sponsorship for small local charities, very much in our post code area. Currently talking to The Yorkshire Air Ambulance about how we can support them.

What is the most invaluable piece of advice you could give someone looking to buy their first franchise? 

• Look at the business as a whole, will it provide for you and your family?
• Does it have the potential to grow and scale?
• Could you retire and the business still exist with trained people running it?

In your opinion, what makes a successful franchisee?  

This is a hard one! Are you buying a job or are you buying a business!?

You have to be prepared to sacrifice somethings in the early days – graft, network, grow your brand, build reputation, be better than your competition. And quality of life due to having less money, what you bring in needs to be reinvested in marketing and growth.

• Total commitment
• Tenacity
• Integrity
• ENERGY!!

What are your plans for the future?

To keep growing. To have at least 1 of the 5 children wanting to get involved off their own back (so I can eventually retire, only 46 now so lots of time yet!

If you had to do it all again, what would you do differently?

With complete honesty – nothing!