HITTING the ground running allowed Dream Doors franchisees Richard Marshall and Jamie-Louise Brewer to generate over £94,000 in their first month of trade.

Richard, who runs Dream Doors Wakefield with Jamie-Louise, had been looking to put his considerable sales expertise to use in his own venture.

Following a positive first meeting with the Dream Doors team in Birmingham, Richard and Jamie-Louise pulled out all the stops to get on board with the company as quickly as possible.

Richard, who previously worked as a business to business sales manager for nine years, said: “I was introduced to Dream Doors at the National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham. I had thought for a while that I wanted to run a business of my own so I started to look at franchises.

“I looked at Dream Doors’ products and thought what they offered looked unique. It clearly had the right earning potential and stood out from all of the food franchises and other businesses. I was looking for quality in the style of management too.”

Richard knew he and Jamie-Louise could make a go of their new venture but was still surprised with how profitable the move has been for them.

He said: “It’s been brilliant. We’ve followed the model set out by Dream Doors. We’ve already built up a very good rapport with customers and are generating a lot of enquiries.

“We were able to get started really quickly. We went to the NEC in February and began having meetings with Alex Waite (Dream Doors’ Director of Franchise Recruitment) in March.”

Jamie-Louise, who was a personal banker with a major high street bank for ten years before making the move, said: “It was quite hectic at the beginning. I had been enjoying what I was doing – I was very comfortable and managing my hours. But we decided: ‘Right, let’s get a business going. Who better to run it than myself?’

“I left my bank job at 7pm on a Friday and started working with Dream Doors on Monday - no rest for the wicked.”

Dream Doors’ comprehensive franchisee training scheme helped the couple settle into their new venture quickly.

Jamie-Louise said: “My initial reaction when Richard started talking about kitchens was: ‘We don’t know the first thing about kitchens.’

“But we had really good training to get us started and it alleviated a lot of our worries.

“We haven’t looked back really.”

Dream Doors is looking for more talented people like Richard and Jamie-Louise to join its ever-growing franchise network. There are just 19 franchise territories available nationwide, particularly in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Scotland.

Interested parties from anywhere in the UK are encouraged to contact Director of Franchise Recruitment, Alex Waite. Dream Doors will be attending the National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham on October 5 and 6. Find the team on stand L60.