ALAN BRIDGEMAN

When Alan Bridgeman decided to take his life in a new direction after he was made redundant, he recognised that his previous experience as a production manager in a lithographic and digital printing & finishing business might not provide him with all the skills he needed. He had been in the print business for over 40 years – all his working life. Alan knew that it would be difficult to find another position at the same level of income so he started looking for new opportunities. Knowing that he was not a natural salesman, he was looking for an opportunity to run his own business but with support from an existing brand.

“I looked at a lot of different franchise models that I researched on the internet,” says Alan. “The Jani-King franchise seemed to do more for you than some other models. Obviously you had to do the work and put a considerable effort into that, but the appeal of a brand that did the sales for you in particular, was attractive as I had no direct sales experience.”

Alan is building the business for his daughter who also works with him, and acknowledges that a large part of his motivation is the desire to hand something on to her.

Alan signed his franchise agreement in October 2006. The training he admits he found difficult – he opted to do the training programme twice. “For someone who has never been in business for themselves before not only learning a new trade and new types of machinery, there is a lot of new learning; everything from VAT and PAYE to employment law, legal and health and safety issues. It’s a lot to learn.”

But being part of the Jani-King family of franchisees has also been really useful. “It’s valuable to meet with other franchises at the Quarterly Review Meetings. It gives you a chance to share information and resolve problems with people who have the same experiences as you do.”

Alan’s franchise includes all London’s South East postcodes and WC2 so it is a vast ocean of opportunity. He recently signed up his first contract and is getting up and running. “I really want to make a success of the business,” he states. “I want to be able to say I handed over something worth having to my daughter.”