Money Making

INTERVIEW
[ DUBLCHECK ]
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
WITH DUBLCHECK
Dublcheck gives franchisees a guaranteed income and the
flexibility to have a life as well. John and Jan Power tell us why they’re
so happy with the Dublcheck commercial cleaning franchise
When John and
Jan Power decide
they want to do
something, you can
be pretty sure it’s going to happen.
The husband and wife team, who
have been married for 48 years, decided
to quit their jobs as an insurance broker
and a librarian 17 years ago.
WORKING TOGETHER
As Jan explains: “We had an insane
idea to do something together,
something to do with food and
drink, something we were
interested in and knew
we were good at.”
The result of
their “insane idea”
was owning and
managing a 15-room
Carol Stewart-Gill:
Dublcheck
founder
and
chairman
WE HAVE GUARANTEED
INCOME, YET WE ALSO
HAVE TIME TO DO THE
THINGS WE WANT
TO DO”
boutique hotel just outside Swansea,
which they proudly admit was a
huge success and had a clientele that
included superstars and politicians.
After many years in the hospitality
business, in 2006 they decided to sell
up and retire. However, the dynamic
couple realised after a few years that
they missed working and needed a new
project.
John takes up the story: “After seven
years of retirement, we decided we
wanted to do something again. We
missed the excitement of running our
own business, but after the intensity
of running a hotel we felt going into
franchising, with the obvious advantage
of less risk, was the best plan.
“When you’ve been running a
business that’s really busy and then
suddenly you’re not really doing
anything, let’s say you can only play so
much golf.
“We knew we needed more money to
maintain our lifestyle and had elderly
parents and an aunt who needed our
support, so we decided to look for a
franchise.”
ATTRACTIVE OPPORTUNITY
The couple read about Dublcheck in
Making Money magazine and were
attracted to the company, but at first
weren’t 100 per cent sure a cleaning
franchise was right for them. It didn’t
take too long for them to change their
minds.
“We looked the length and
breadth of the country, but none of
the franchises we looked at floated
our boat,” John says. “Then Dublcheck
came to the fore again.”
The couple attended a franchise
exhibition in Swansea in 2013 and were
immediately drawn to the Dublcheck
stand.
“We talked to the Dublcheck team
on the stand and were very impressed,”
John says. “We liked the company’s
guaranteed turnover scheme. We
decided we had to follow it up this
time.”
That was the turning point for John
and Jan.
PREMIER SERVICES
Founded in 1993 by Carol Stewart-
Gill, Dublcheck has been providing
premier cleaning services for offices,
showrooms and health facilities
throughout the UK for over 23 years.
The company operates a guaranteed
turnover scheme and support to enable
franchisees to concentrate on customer
service and develop their business
further.
“We went to Chester to meet
Dublcheck and found out they were
such nice people - that was the
clincher,” John explains. “At our time
of life, we want to enjoy what we do and
like the people we work with.”
The couple invested in a Dublcheck
franchise and were guaranteed £3,000
worth of business per month.
John adds: “At our age [John is 69
and Jan is 68], we put parameters on
things such as travel distance, as we
wanted to work in the local area. We
now have 10 staff working for us and
the next plan for development is to
get more business and make one staff
member a supervisor, so they can be
responsible for providing cover.
14 MAKING MONEY