{"id":1600,"date":"2020-06-05T20:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T19:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tidygreenclean-co-uk.stackstaging.com\/?p=1600"},"modified":"2024-01-19T10:03:47","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T10:03:47","slug":"buying-a-franchise-in-the-time-of-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/buying-a-franchise-in-the-time-of-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying a franchise in the time of a pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
It\u2019s been two months since I started my new business as a Regional Director and franchisee of Tidy Green Clean. The planning of it all, the discussions, the raising of finance, had all taken months and it just so happened I had decided to launch on Monday 6 April 2020, just into the third week of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was really unfortunate timing \u2013 or so I thought at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet two months on, I can see there have been both positives and negatives to starting the business then, and actually the advantages have almost certainly outweighed the disadvantages. I know lots of people have been blogging about business during this time and I wanted to share my thoughts so that people can understand what I have been experiencing in the hope that it encourages other people in a similar place to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In business, we\u2019re expected to sound hard-hitting and be quite driven in the way we behave and the language we use. I have realised that during lockdown, people have been employing different skills, perhaps our softer skillset \u2013 asking how people are doing, listening more, showing more empathy, tolerating kids or pets disrupting a call. I think that\u2019s to our benefit because it\u2019s made people more open and more willing to share things about themselves. In the end, we do business with people we like, and it\u2019s been easier to get to know, like and trust people during this time, than in previous business roles that I\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s definitely not the start I expected. Previously, I envisioned it was going to be very different \u2013 not what I thought was around the corner at all. It\u2019s made me realise the small things in life, which may sound corny, but it\u2019s made me realise that going out for a meal at the weekend is not the be all and end all of things. I have been incredibly impressed at how NHS staff and key workers have behaved with such pride and diligence and such a can-do attitude throughout this. Cleaners, and notably our cleaners working for Tidy Green Clean, particularly, have been underestimated. They are doing their work, day in day out, to maintain the hygiene and cleanliness of premises; it\u2019s been a real moment to recognise that I\u2019m \u2013 we\u2019re \u2013 in an industry that\u2019s on the frontline as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are living wage employers and it\u2019s something we\u2019re immensely proud of. Yet it\u2019s clear to see that lots of sectors are still only offering minimum wage, to vital key workers who we obviously can\u2019t do without. I would like to see that change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things I\u2019ve missed is being able to come into head office to bounce ideas off other people or just get that pick you up when you\u2019re down. Actually, TGC has had daily Zoom team sessions, which have really made us all pick each other up and encourage and motivate each other, rather than just rely on a WhatsApp group where things can be misconstrued or there\u2019s pressure to be part of the banter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve come up with a lot of ideas just through being on Zoom. In the future, Alex and Hugh, Regional Director franchisees who work further afield, and future Regional Directors, aren\u2019t going to be able to come up for meetings as much as I might be able to and I think we\u2019ve probably bonded far more quickly than we might otherwise have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, for me I wanted to share some of my experience; the good and the bad. We\u2019re all only human and it\u2019s been a difficult period for everyone. Here\u2019s to the next stage and whatever it brings, I hope we can bring a lot of the positives we\u2019ve gained with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been two months since I started my new business as a Regional Director and franchisee of Tidy Green Clean. The planning of it all, the discussions, the raising of finance, had all taken months and it just so happened I had decided to launch on Monday 6 April 2020, just into the third week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Buying a franchise in the time of a pandemic","_seopress_titles_desc":"Discover the advantages of launching a business during lockdown. Learn about increased responsiveness, building personal connections, and the importance of softer skills in the industry.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3697,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions\/3697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tidygreenclean.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}