It takes a lot of pressure off knowing that you have a group of support staff at head office, from marketing through to HR as well as the head office support team who are wizards with the direct debit and admin system side of things.

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

Why did you go down the franchise route?

How did you raise the finance?

What training and support did you receive initially and ongoing?

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

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

How do you retain your best staff and keep morale high and productive?

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

We’ve partnered with a local farm to help dispose of our green waste. Instead of using expensive waste disposal services, the farmer converts it into silage (cow feed). This keeps our costs down, reduces our carbon footprint, and allows us to offer free waste disposal to customers – giving us a competitive advantage over other lawn care providers.

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

Follow the model that’s set out in front of you, and you can’t really go wrong. Lean on your peers for advice.

In your opinion, what makes a successful franchisee?

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

I would get advice from existing franchisees much sooner than I did. I’d also make sure all machinery and equipment passed over from an old franchise was in good working order.