Flexible and scalable business model supports busy family life

With the arrival of their baby daughter, Rob Radford and his wife needed to reassess their demanding work lives.

Rob decided to step back from his career as a manager at Tesco to look after his young daughter and family life for a few years. In 2016 he started assessing ways to get back into work while still fulfilling all the demands of raising a family.

Rob comments: “I knew that working for myself was the way to take control of my working hours but I didn’t have a trade that was immediately transferable to self-employment, so I started investigating franchising as a way into being my own boss.

“I felt a franchise could allow me to hit the ground running with a proven business model and the training and support to make it a success.”

Rob investigated several sectors and brands but decided to go to the National Franchise Exhibition in Birmingham so that he could meet a variety of franchisors in one place. It was there that he came across van-based franchisor Oven Wizards and was able to meet with both directors, John Graham and Mark Abbott, as well as an existing franchisee.

The flexible and accessible business model offered by Oven Wizards appealed to Rob, as did the fact that he could get ongoing support directly from founders John and Mark. Rob launched his own Oven Wizards business in February 2017, becoming the brand’s 50th franchisee.

Since then, Rob has enjoyed building up a base of satisfied customers and being in complete control of his work schedule.

Rob summarises:

“Being a franchise owner has provided exactly the flexibility and work-life balance I need at this point in my life, while allowing me to lay the foundations of a business I can scale up as soon as I am ready.”

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