MOLLY MAID Shine in Local Business Awards
“We are stunned and thrilled, because we are women of a certain age it makes winning the New Business of the Year more special to us. It is never too late to succeed in your own business; I would advise anyone to do it.” - Lorna James, Molly Maid Franchis
Good friends Lorna James and Denise Walker business owners of MOLLY MAID Berwick, the domestic cleaning professionals, have secured first place as New Business of the Year in the very first Business Awards for Wansbeck.
All local businesses were eligible to enter any of the 5 categories, and the quality and volume of entries across all categories was impressive. The judges then had the difficult job of narrowing the entries down to just 3 finalists per category. MOLLY MAID was put on the shortlist in the most popular category, “New Business of the Year”.
As a franchise business Denise and Lorna are unique in these awards as they are the only Franchise to make it through to the finals. “Getting through to the final 3 on this award has given us such a Buzz” says Denise. On winning the award Lorna said “We are stunned and thrilled, because we are women of a certain age it makes winning the New Business of the Year more special to us. It is never too late to succeed in your own business; I would advise anyone to do it.”
Only two and a half years ago Denise and Lorna decided they wanted a new challenge, after taking redundancy from an out of hours doctor’s surgery they decided they wanted to run a business together and began to investigate franchising. “We heard of MOLLY MAID when we saw job opportunity details advertised by a MOLLY MAID Franchise Owner and wanted to know more” explains Lorna.
The opportunity seemed genuinely appealing. They knew it would be hard work getting the business off the ground, but also understood the long term benefits of being part of a well known company. Since starting the business Lorna and Denise have found that they need to be flexible and have a can-do attitude in all areas. “We both feel that this is something that we could not have done on our own as the demands in the early days are very high.”
While the success of their business is largely dependent on their own individual efforts, the guidance and support that they ¬receive from MOLLY MAID Support Office and other Franchise Owners is instrumental in the successful operation of their business. Franchise Owners benefit from the experience and support of their Business Advisor, whose sole function is to assist them in the growth and management of their business. “We never feel alone” says Denise. “You feel like you are part of the family. After the training week we started our business straight away. Even though the training week was very comprehensive, we had three days onsite support which was absolutely invaluable and our Business Advisor is never more than a phone call away”
As a result of their enthusiasm for what they do they have made a success of their business. The growth in their business year on year is impressive and shows no sign of slowing down. Their routes have increased from four to six; this means 6 rolling billboards hitting the streets in the area, all helping to increase their turnover year on year by 46%.
