We were very interested in something that would take us outdoors more

Jimmy and his wife, Judy, who run our Richmond franchise, are among our longest standing and most successful franchisees. They were only the 3rd team to join us way back in 2002, and though we now have nearly 100 franchisees around the UK, they have played a huge part in helping us grow Greensleeves to where it is today.

After economic circumstances forced them to reconsider their careers, they were first introduced to the idea of franchising after speaking to a friend of theirs who had been very successful in their own hair salon franchise. They were intrigued and began researching their own way to benefit from the system.

“We thought it would be easier for us to buy into a system that had already been tried and tested than doing something ourselves.” Jimmy told us. “We didn’t really have a clue what we wanted to do, but after being office bound for so many years, we were very interested in something that would take us outdoors more. We very nearly went with one of their competitors, and thank God that we didn’t! Greensleeves was a lot smaller, and just starting out, but something really drew us to them.”

That gut instinct paid off for Jimmy and Judy, and they were able to grow their franchise into one of our most successful and profitable centres. Though they are semi-retired now, and have passed on a large part of their territory to another franchisee, at its height, the Richmond franchise was employing more than a dozen operatives with their own vans and could boast more than 7000 customers. A real testament to just how much can be achieved with hard work and the right business model behind you! 

Jimmy continues to go out on contracts himself, and his wife continues to handle the admin and finances. A dream team that are very happy with the career that has taken them nearly to retirement.

With almost 20 years’ experience under his belt, Jimmy had this advice for new franchisees:

“There is no easy way in any business. You can’t just buy into it and expect it to happen. You have to put in the hard work – but Greensleeves has it there for you if you want it. Stick to the system. Greensleeves has developed the way it works over many years of experience. If you stick to the plan, and put in the work, there’s real good money to be made.”