From Playdates to Profits: Kristy and Suzanne’s Journey to Business Success

Have you ever wondered if you could go into business with your best friend?  Then you won't want to miss this week's Work It Like A Mum podcast episode, where we chat with Kristy Roff and Suzanne Evett, who, after meeting at a baby class, decided to go into business together and run a successful franchise together.   If you've ever wondered about how to make the leap from parent to entrepreneur, thought about running your own franchise, or wondered if you really could set up a business with your friend, then this episode is tailor-made for you!

What You'll Discover in This Episode:

- From Playdates to Paychecks: Hear how Kristy and Suzanne turned their new-mum meetups into a thriving business partnership. They share the personal and professional shifts that led them from parenting classes to co-founding a successful franchise.

- Perfect Partnership: Explore how they split their roles to play to their strengths—Kristy’s knack for networking and business development complements Suzanne’s operational wizardry. Their complimentary skill set is their secret sauce for business success.

- Choosing a Franchise Over Fresh Start: Dive into why buying into a franchise with Get Ahead was a game-changer for them. Kristy and Suzanne discuss the benefits of stepping into an established brand with existing support systems and how this choice was pivotal in scaling their business quickly and effectively.

- Flexibility First: Learn how flexibility forms the core of their business ethos, influencing not only their personal lives but also their business model. This approach has attracted a team and clients who value work-life balance as much as they do.

- Navigating Growth and Setbacks: Kristy and Suzanne get real and hold NOTHING back. They open up about the hurdles they've faced, from navigating economic downturns to scaling their operations, and share their key strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Why This Episode Is a Must: Whether you're a parent thinking about a post-kids career or curious about the franchise route, this episode is packed with insights, inspiration, and practical advice from two women who’ve walked the path.

Favourite Quote: "We never get that Sunday night dread. We built a business that fits our lives, not the other way around."

Show Links:

Connect with Kristy Roff on LinkedIn

Connect with Suzanne Evett on LinkedIn

Connect with your host, Elizabeth Willetts on LinkedIn

Learn more about the Get Ahead franchise here

Boost your career with Investing in Women's Career Coaching! Get expert CV, interview, and LinkedIn guidance tailored for all career stages. Navigate transitions, discover strengths, and reach goals with our personalised approach. Book now for your dream job! Use 'workitlikeamum' for a 10% discount.

Transcript

Elizabeth Willetts: 0:01

Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life. I'm a working mom with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women job board and community. In this show, I'm honored to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business. They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance. We cover it all. Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED Talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, make sure you're cosy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays. This is the Work it Like A Mum podcast. This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women. Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers. Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you. They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries. Ready to find your perfect job? Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity. Now back to the show.

Elizabeth Willetts: 1:54

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Work it Like A Mum podcast. Today, I'm delighted because I'm chatting with Christy Roth and Susan Ebert, who run the Get Ahead Southern Hub. So we're going to be chatting with them all about what prompted them to start a business and a franchise through Get Ahead and how they manage the business as joint founders as well. I know that they've split their roles, so we're going to be talking all about how they decided who does what and how they balance running a business around family life. Thank you so much, ladies, for joining me today. It's a real pleasure to chat with you. Oh, thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you. So did you two know each other then before you started the business? Just for a little while? Hey, just a bit. So, christy, how did you and suzanne meet?

Kristy Roff: 2:48

um, so actually it was quite a while ago. So, um, we met, um must be 16 and a half years ago now, because our eldest kids are 16 and now doing their gcses, and we actually met at a newborn parenting group, um, when, I think my son Zach, was about three months old and Suzanne Daniel was like a couple of weeks old.

Suzanne Evett: 3:13

Two weeks old? I think yes yeah.

Kristy Roff: 3:16

So it was, um, it was one. I didn't do NCT or anything like that, and I literally wanted to kind of meet other mums in the same situation with that kind of new baby and thinking, oh, what do I do? New, new challenge? And um, so we were lucky enough to have a newborn parenting group in our local community. So, um, there was a group of eight of us that actually met at that point and it was a six-week course and we, you know, each week had a different focus, um, so went along all looking a bit like rabbits in the headlights, kind of thinking what are we doing with these little bundles that we'd got? Um, and yeah, so we met, yeah, back 16 plus years ago, um, and that's where we kind of got to know each other. But at that point I suppose the business together was never really in our sights.

Elizabeth Willetts: 4:04

And Suzanne, what did you? Were you working then, both of you at that point, and planning to go back after maternity leave?

Suzanne Evett: 4:11

Yeah, I mean we, christy said we met kind of eight. There were eight of us in that group that we kind of stayed with and we pretty much spent every day of that maternity leave together and of course, at the end people started going back to work at different times. Yeah, I was working in operational HR in corporate life and um went back into that. Christy didn't have such an easy re-entry into work after um, after the maternity leave, and that's probably where we started first talking about our careers and what we did, and I'll let you, christy, explain what happened there.

Kristy Roff: 4:43

Yeah well, I worked in radio and I did, and I'll let you, prissy, explain what happened there. Yeah well, I worked in radio and I absolutely, and I've been in radio for about nine years well, about eight years at that time and just lived and breathed it. And radio is great fun, it's it's very fast-paced.

Kristy Roff: 4:56

It's very all-encompassing and you have to be devoted to it. And, um, the radio station that I was working for would be bought out by a bigger group and unfortunately some redundancies were on the cards and I was in the position that I was made redundant right when I was just about to return to work. So my kind of plan at that point had kind of fallen apart. Um, but equally, uh, it was different back then. You know, you couldn't just go back into a flexible working solution and my hours that I was delivering before having the baby were quite long. I worked early mornings, late nights, we did events, so it wasn't your typical working pattern and on reflection I don't really know how I'd have been able to go back into it successfully with a baby or a toddler, um. So you know, it was a good thing that it happened.

Kristy Roff: 5:52

But I did feel very lost at that point and that's kind of when I turned to Suzanne because of her HR experience and kind of said what do I do? She helped me with my, my redundancy package and helped me negotiate that, which was, you know, crucial at a time. You have a bit of baby brain going on anyway, so it's a bit hard to kind of get your head around what you should be doing, um. So her support during that time was, you know, really, really, really crucial. And then it opens up that whole oh my god, what am I gonna do? Um, what can I do? I've only known this career and, and so she was really good and supportive and helped counsel me, and actually I was very fortunate because I landed another job, um pretty quickly, which did offer me great flexibility, but it was in the world of IT, which was completely new to me, and that then spanned an 11 year career.

Elizabeth Willetts: 6:43

How long did it take, then, for you then to know each other, to then decide to go into business together?

Suzanne Evett: 6:51

It was sort of quite a long process, wasn't it? I think we then most of us had our second babies around the same time as well, so we had some kind of maternity leave chats after that, and during that time Christy also started a kind of bump into mum sort of local community meetup group in our local area and I helped her sort of do a lot of that. And I think at that point we realized that we had this big network of mums who a lot of them had had big corporate jobs. I mean we're Basingstoke, very close to London. A lot of them had had big corporate jobs. I mean we're Basingstoke, very close to London.

Suzanne Evett: 7:24

A lot of them had been working in these big jobs in London, now having their first or second babies and not really knowing what to do with their career and thinking that they would just have to give up their career. The flexible working world was not what it was 14, 16 years ago to what it is now, and a lot of them just stopped their careers, went and worked as L lsas in schools brilliant but way over qualified for that and just weren't using the professional skills that they loved but also that they'd spent years building up. And at that point christy and I, um were thinking there's this amazing network of people who need flexible jobs. I'd, at that point, taken redundancy from my job and was working as a virtual assistant, setting up my own company. So I was sort of working in that world and Christy was supporting me growing my business. I don't have the commercial head that Christy has. I'm very operational and so I was doing great delivery, but I wasn't growing my business and we sort of it sort of evolved out of those conversations really.

Elizabeth Willetts: 8:29

I mean, I guess you discovered you could work quite well together if you'd set up this community hub.

Kristy Roff: 8:34

Yeah, I think it kind of it took that friendship and that focus from our babies and our young kids and family to a more professional direction and it sort of opens our eyes to the fact that actually we could work quite well. We had very opposing grounds really, but very complementary in that respect. You know, as Suzanne said, she's extremely well-versed at the operational side of things and I'm much more commercial with the marketing and relationship side of skill set. So we I mean, like I said, I'd kind of then moved into a career in the IT world which I always felt a bit lost in because it wasn't really where my heart was and I didn't. I wasn't technical. I worked with some amazingly talented technical people, um, but it just I felt like I just never really settled into it.

Kristy Roff: 9:30

But my, the company that I worked for, were fantastic. I worked as a remote worker, which was great for the family, um, but it just never sat quite right for me, um, and I'd been talking to Suzanne on and off for, like you know, what do I do? How do I get out of this? What could I do? You know, I've kind of felt a bit trapped in it, if I'm being honest, because you know you get the nice package working for a company, you get the company car, you get the, the private health benefits, and all of that is really hard to kind of walk away from and take that risk into setting up something on your own, um, so yeah, so Suzanne actually had kind of worked with some long-standing clients they'd.

Kristy Roff: 10:13

What we do as business now is we work with clients that tend to be on that growth curve and tend to get to a point where they can then recruit and employ. And Suzanne had seen that firsthand with her own clients. So she'd got to a stage where some of her long-standing clients were moving away. So she needed a bit of support with a bit of a commercial drive and a bit of a new business drive. So I sort of said, well, let let me see if I can help with that and do a bit of marketing and and business development for you. And actually it got us talking about could we not pull our resources and pull our skills and see if there was something that we could do together.

Kristy Roff: 10:49

So that's kind of where we those conversations, then evolved again and we did a bit of research and we came across Get Ahead.

Elizabeth Willetts: 10:57

Yeah, suzanne, how did you find out about Get Ahead?

Suzanne Evett: 11:01

then, as Christy said I mean that of of christy doing that to us, kind of deciding to go off on our own probably took about 18 months for it to be right, the right point in my career, the right point in christy's career where we were, and it was the january of 2019 and we're like, right, this is the year we're going to do it. So by the summer we're going to have started this business and we and we were absolutely going to run it as our own business. We hadn't considered the franchising route at all, but we knew of Get Ahead. We knew it was similar to what we were wanting to do, so we'd started following on social some of the people that were doing what we wanted to do, and it was one, I think, one Wednesday morning in March and we're flicking through Facebook individually in the morning and we literally saw that the Reading franchise for Get Ahead was available and the person was walking away from that franchise. She was moving to North Wales so it wasn't going. She couldn't be running the Reading franchise and so the franchise was available and we both headed off.

Suzanne Evett: 12:06

I had meetings all morning, christy, we both had the same thoughts that this was something that felt really quite fortuitous for us. I then got out of my meetings about 11.30 to about six messages from Christy She'd already spoken to Rebecca, the founder of Get Ahead, and yeah, it sort of all snowballed from there really and everything just fell into place. We met Rebecca, I think the next day, next couple of days, just to have a coffee, really really fast, because it just felt right. It just really fell into place, place and as soon as we met Rebecca and realized that we could run our a really autonomous business with the support of a really strong supportive franchise, it just was a no-brainer to us yeah, and I guess you knew that the business was established and had made money if someone else had run it and yeah, yeah, that was a real bonus due diligence process was we met Rebecca very quickly and then we took a kind of four to six week really long due diligence process.

Suzanne Evett: 13:05

Was we met Rebecca very quickly and then we took a kind of four to six week really long due diligence process where we obviously looked into the business, looked into what we wanted, had those really open discussions between us around you know personal things, how we would run a business, what would happen if one of us wanted to walk away all of those things that you really should discuss up front rather than just being giddy in the excitement of it. We took a really strong process at that point which I think has stood us really really well, especially when, um, we had quite a tumultuous first few years with pandemic and other things, so having had, those conversations up front really valuable yeah.

Elizabeth Willetts: 13:42

So, christy, did you make you know like two lists on, like, the pros and cons of running a franchise and maybe starting something from scratch?

Kristy Roff: 13:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah, literally we did, and we sort of did that separately and then came together with those lists as well, because it was important that your kind of values aligned. Because you know, like, um, you know, suzanne and I had met as new mums and, yes, we were friends but we weren't necessarily best friends, um, and we still aren't necessarily best friends. But you know, we're great friends and we're great business partners. But there are a lot of people that I would consider as really really close friends that I couldn't ever go into business with because we just it just wouldn't work. You know, the dynamic wouldn't be right.

Kristy Roff: 14:28

But for us it was like making sure that our values were aligned and they are. Our priorities are very aligned as well, and what we wanted out of running our own thing was to have that control over our, our schedule, control over our success. You know, we weren't we both come from quite pressured roles where we had that kind of that horrible feeling where on a Sunday night, you're like, oh, I've got to work again tomorrow and it just didn't feel good. We never wanted to feel like that and I can honestly say we don't ever feel like that. Now, five years down the line, I never get that Sunday feeling um, which you know.

Kristy Roff: 15:09

So it had to be right and we had to go into this you know, knowing that it would be a risk and we'd have to put a lot of effort in to make it a success.

Suzanne Evett: 15:19

So, um, and we were both prepared to do that at that point, um, which is that swayed you to a franchise, then, rather than setting something up from scratch, susan, I think I mean it was a couple of things the franchise would would get sold and would go to somebody locally who would then take and who would be an instant competitor of ours.

Suzanne Evett: 15:40

There was that was, I guess, an obvious, an obvious negative point to us in that, you know, there were clients already within that franchise and it would be an instant they would be hitting the ground running, whereas if we'd gone off on our own we would be at the point when they were starting that we would be considering our branding and choosing a business name and setting up the business and starting from scratch.

Suzanne Evett: 16:02

So there was that kind of obvious practical advantage. But I think the overall thing was we only wanted to run our own business. We wanted to do it in our own way. But having met Rebecca and absolutely then talking to some of the other franchisees and seeing their growth journeys and the support that they got and the other franchisees, and seeing their growth journeys and the support that they got and the support that we would naturally give each other, and Rebecca was really open about wanting to use the skills that we had from our, our different careers to grow, to grow the franchise as well. So it doesn't feel it feels like we run our own company, but it absolutely feels that we are part of something bigger and that's really really, really valuable to us did you consider any other franchises?

Kristy Roff: 16:52

no, it's always thought yeah, I think you know it just felt right and and I think it all kind of it felt like it all came at the right time and it was a bit like fate really it all kind of fell into place for the right reason and, no, when we hadn't really we hadn't considered any other franchise.

Kristy Roff: 17:10

It was kind of get ahead on or doing something separately or independently and, um, it just felt right, you know, to be able to kind of hit the ground running, get started. You've got an amazing brand there. The cost of going down the franchise route versus the cost of setting up your own brand and your website and all of that, you know.

Elizabeth Willetts: 17:31

Just, it made perfect sense for us to do it via get ahead and we're really pleased that we did so, susan, tell me about the early days then of the business, how you I mean you know did you walk in and there was a book full of clients, how did it sort of work when you first started?

Suzanne Evett: 17:47

so we were. You know, we'd really looked at what we wanted to do in that first 90 days and a lot of that was about going out and and reaching out to what we call champions so very much those people that we knew from our history that could promote what we do and actually would be a real champion of us. So we thought that was a kind of an easy win for us. We were fortunate that there were existing clients within the Get Ahead franchise we took on, and then I had legacy clients from the business that I had been running that I brought across as well. So we did have clients. Initially we went networking, we chose different groups. We very much decided we would try a lot of things and we actually were bringing clients in quite quickly. I took on some operational work as well.

Suzanne Evett: 18:41

Beginning of the business we were in partnership. It allowed us to get some cash flow into the business, with me doing probably 30% of my week as delivery. That wasn't our business model, but it was our short-term business model to be able to support our first year of growth. And we paid each other, we paid ourselves each month. So we have been able, right from month one, to be having a business that allows us to pay our salary to each other each month. And we did do a piece of delivery and I ran quite a big project in that first six months which just allowed us to do that. So I also got all of the business processes and everything ready operationally whilst Christy was still doing a lot of the commercial and new business side. But it just allowed us to kind of do that right from the beginning.

Elizabeth Willetts: 19:27

So I was going to say, christy, how did you split the roles? I know you've sort of said you've got different skill sets and so how have you split the responsibilities within the business?

Kristy Roff: 20:41

So it kind of happened quite organically, based on our skill sets and our experience and where we felt most comfortable. And so we currently and it's been for quite some time so my role is commercial director and Suzanne is operational director, and it just felt, I mean to be fair, there are things that Suzanne does operationally that I wouldn't even go near because it just is out of my comfort zone. Anything official, you know, contractual, all of that sort of stuff, financial Suzanne's bag, me I worry about what's coming into the business.

Kristy Roff: 21:19

So I'm all about building relationships and that's been my background. You know it's kind of getting. I love talking to people I can't help that and and I just get to, I get to know people and I talk and I spot opportunities and and that's kind of where my skills are, I guess, and and that's what I love doing, that's what I'm passionate about. So we've both kind of lent to our passions and our interests and our and what we're good at we feel comfortable with, which is really nice to be able to do that as business owners, because if I was doing this on my own to be able to manage all of that would become stressful. And I'm sure vice versa, with Suzanne it's like you know, I remember a while ago we would be like I'll be like Suzanne, can you just phone that person?

Suzanne Evett: 22:02

you'd be like um, and that's it, and and you know I mean Christy's playing down her operational skills, because she is operational and she can do a lot of what I would, what I do every month. But but equally, you know, I can pick up client stuff and there are some existing clients that I've got ongoing relationships with, and when we have new opportunities, I will do the commercial side of that. But I will always run my numbers past Christy because she does have a more commercial head than I. So it's about knowing where we can support each other and where we just need that tick piece. I mean, gosh, for the first year we probably did our month end billing and invoicing together, and then, after about a year, we're like there's got to be a better process to this. So, and now you know, christy inputs to one area and then I take that data and we, so we don't have to both do it together. We're both then on top of our numbers, but we do it in the way that then works systematically for us.

Elizabeth Willetts: 22:57

So we've just evolved our processes um to what works, what works best for us you sound like I mean, it sounds like such a good idea like two people starting a business and actually two people with very different skill sets. You're really selling it to me now.

Suzanne Evett: 23:13

I've got to be honest people say that to us it didn't seem like something we wanted to do on our own. So most people seem to do it on their own, but for us it just felt like it would just have to be done together. Really it was sort of that no-brainer. But you're right, a lot of people do seem to kind of go into on their own and or they're not fortunate enough to have the other, the other half, that that makes it work for them.

Kristy Roff: 23:40

I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't have done this without Suzanne. I really don't think I would. I think now we've kind of been established for five years and I think we've found we're comfortable and we're confident about what we do. I think we do a lot more separately now and I think that's probably fair to say that we don't kind of.

Kristy Roff: 23:57

In the earlier days we probably spent quite a lot of time working together, working in my home office together, um, and now we probably don't um, you know we speak an eye on every day, um, but we don't work together closely like we used to. We do run it, and I think that separation has become out of a sense of scaling as well, because we also use other people within our virtual network of experts to support our business. So it's that whole growth process that we're going through, that we go through with our own clients, is actually let's bring in resource to help pick up some of the slack so that we can actually then focus even further on the bits that we're good at doing to continue that growth curve.

Elizabeth Willetts: 24:42

Yeah, so how have you grown the business, christy, from where it was when you first started to where it is now, five years later?

Kristy Roff: 24:52

Well, so I suppose it started in terms of geographical growth because when we took over what was the original Reading region, we grew it straight away to incorporate Berkshire and North Hampshire because it just felt like a more familiar area for us. We've both worked and lived in and around this area all our lives. So it felt it felt right to kind of broaden that geographical patch. And then, in 2022, we took on Surrey as well. So we grew again geographically, almost like doubling our area, because Surrey is a huge patch.

Kristy Roff: 25:34

Um, so in terms of growth, we've got to that point where it's like we've got the model right. We knew our processes, we knew how we worked, we knew the messaging and actually it didn't seem too difficult to take on Surrey as well. So we've kind of doubled overnight in 2022, and that was November. So we've been doing that for over a year now and it just feels like that growth is working. You know, as we grow, we kind of grow our resource to be able to facilitate that growth. And you know revenue, know revenue wise, we're growing year on year 50 plus year on year.

Kristy Roff: 26:11

Our revenue and turnover has just kind of gone like that, which is great, but obviously costs are increasing. Um, we've got a big team and our costs are quite high, so that all comes into account.

Kristy Roff: 26:24

So so yeah, and we we're just seeing the progress now and the rewards to enable us to kind of think about that next five years. And actually how can we turn some of that growth into generating us more of a passive income so that we can take our foot off the gas a little bit? But, just you know, keep the business thriving. So it all feels quite grown up really.

Elizabeth Willetts: 26:51

I tried five years, don't they say. A lot of businesses fail, in fact, in the first five years yeah, up to this.

Suzanne Evett: 26:55

Yeah, they do. I think, yeah, that's that's kind of late 2022 point. Was that september in 2022 we'd sat down and said, right, what do we want? So that was the September that our youngest started secondary school. So we suddenly had longer days. You know they, we weren't ferrying to different schools all the time we had we had longer days. The kids were that much older that were much more self sufficient. So so we actually sat down and did that re-evaluation, that kind of due diligence we'd done right at the beginning.

Suzanne Evett: 27:26

We did it again in September 22 and said, right, what do you really love about what you do? What do I really love what I do? How could that shape us scoping? And we kind of decided at that that time that we wanted to really kind of we were really set to work really hard for the next five years. So we were three and a half years in. We were really set to work really hard for the next five years. And then the five years after that kind of see where we were and maybe move to a much more kind of passive income stream, ideally. And then, of course, when Surrey became available and we took on Surrey two months later it again just felt like that fate piece for Get Ahead was falling into place for us, because it gave us that automatic scope and scale that we were we'd been looking to start building anyway how do you win new business then?

Elizabeth Willetts: 28:13

so you obviously take on a territory and you know it's all very well saying you've got territory, but until you're actually doing something with it, you know it's just you know it is.

Kristy Roff: 28:23

It is and we're very fortunate with Ahead that you know we get some really really good marketing support from Rebecca and our marketing team at Get Ahead from head office.

Kristy Roff: 28:33

So that is amazing. So we have to promote our own social media in our own region. So we do that and we use one of our team, melanie. She does a lot of social media stuff for us, which is fantastic, but it is really about getting out there, building your brands in your local area and building your reputation and making connections. Because it's about that referral piece, isn't it? You hope that somebody is going to refer us, um, and, and that's the way that it works, we get 50.

Kristy Roff: 29:06

I think I did the last question with a patient. Something like 58% of our leads come in via referral or recommendation, which is quite high, and our conversion rate is pretty high because we offer a really bespoke solution. So, every client, we will go through the process of understanding what their needs are and we'll provide them with a bespoke solution, which isn't you know, a here, buy a load of virtual hours and here's a BA and this is what you're going to get. It is, you know what do you need and let us provide you with that right solution for you. So, um, in terms of kind of making those connections, we network a lot, you know, we we were both a bit new to networking when we started the business and we tried lots and lots of groups and were a bit like, oh, what felt right? And, to be honest, nothing really felt hugely comfortable. We're not a fan of too sort of highly formatted networking. You know, the 60 second piece always felt uncomfortable.

Kristy Roff: 30:06

No matter how good we were talking to people on a one to one, it just always never felt quite right. And actually we've established our own networking group now that we run weekly but in different locations across our area, and that's proved really, really successful. And it's not commercial. It's not a commercial venture for us, as in we don't charge for it, it's free, um, there's no membership fees or anything like that.

Elizabeth Willetts: 30:30

It's purely about getting out there, making connections and building relationships have you noticed that the business has been perceived differently since covid, because I know you provide growing businesses with virtual experts and you know work from home really took off during the pandemic. Did you notice a shift like pre and post pandemic?

Suzanne Evett: 30:53

it definitely became a an easier sell. It wasn't a difficult sell before, but it was um. People were very, very open to taking virtual resource and seeing that as a positive. They didn't feel they had to have somebody local and in the office and our model has always been that we have a central team of resource who could be anywhere in the UK and that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where they are, it matters what they can do and how they can support each client and and I guess post pandemic that just became a bit of a no-er to people and that was probably the biggest shift from a client perspective. They just felt really really normal for them to be to be doing that. There was also a lot of new people who had left employment and starting their own business as well, and it had support in their corporate world and then still required that accountability or a PA, and so they said actually they still wanted to continue that, so it all just benefited us really.

Elizabeth Willetts: 31:58

Yeah, absolutely so. Who recruits for the pool? Christy, yeah.

Kristy Roff: 32:04

So over the years we've kind of also both got quite heavily involved with the GetAhead business itself. So we both have roles within the GetAhead network. So Suzanne actually is the resource manager for GetAhead, so she's probably better to answer this, but she looks after the resourcing for GetAhead network overall.

Suzanne Evett: 32:26

I was like a little side, you know not side you know, I think this was probably maybe probably the big, that first kind of january after covid had started and we realized that we'd had new franchisees, the business you know the, the franchise network that we were in had grown and and actually we weren't able to be facilitating the way. We did a lot of our central functions in the same way and Rebecca very much listened to all of us as franchisees in our monthly meetings and we took a few different work streams centrally. So marketing became much stronger centrally. We brought in somebody dedicated, rebecca brought in somebody dedicated to run marketing. Christy actually does some franchisee mentoring so for new franchisees she talks them a lot through the commercial aspect, how she, how they can really run their business.

Suzanne Evett: 33:21

And my background is recruitment and operational HR. So I sort of naturally fell into leading the resourcing work stream when we did all of that activity and whereas we had been recruiting quite local teams. So we would meet people at local networking and we would kind of onboard them to our team and then maybe one of our franchisees in another area would say, oh, I need a bookkeeper, have you got someone? We would kind of say, oh, yes, here's this person. What we did was central, centralize everything. So all of our team are now centrally onboarded.

Suzanne Evett: 33:52

Everybody go through a completely identical process where they fill in an application form. They have a I wouldn't say it's an interview they have a chat with me where we just look at their skills, look at how they work with small businesses, what they do. They fill out a lot of documentation, we ensure that they have all of the relevant insurances, and then they fill out a very, very bespoke online form which loads all of their data into a database, which then becomes our area where we can shortlist candidates. So Christy will take a client scoping call, fill in everything she wants, shortlist candidates. So christy will take a client scoping call, fill in everything she wants. So she might want a bookkeeper that's well versed with using zero and has 10 hours available each week, for example, and our very dynamic system that we've built will then spit out candidates that are available to us, which are, which has speeded up our matching process.

Elizabeth Willetts: 34:45

So all of that we've brought in, that has been kind of heavily invested in by Rebecca um to help us as regional directors and that's good, and so if somebody bought a franchise in a completely different area, in Devon or whatever they would have access to that same database.

Suzanne Evett: 35:02

All of that is available and that's you know that's a really big selling point for joining. Get Ahead, everything is there. We've done. You know we've done the work from experience. You know we live and breathe this every day. I was a virtual assistant independently beforehand, so I bring that knowledge as well, and we just managed to build that network in the way we can. We've got brilliant freelancers that we work with, and not everybody is right for working with our team, and we know that, and that's why we go through this process. But those people that are onboarded with us are those that are really dedicated to working with small business clients like ours, and everybody goes through that process and and I know that I would place every person with one of my clients and I know if I can tick that box then then all my, all my colleagues will be happy yeah, because that's good.

Elizabeth Willetts: 35:52

That's the worst. You don't want to play somebody with a client and then that person might be very good. So it's good to know that they're all vetted and they're not going to let you down or your clients down it's really good for them as well.

Kristy Roff: 36:03

You know they get a huge amount of value about from being part of the get ahead community because it means that they get fed opportunities that they might not normally have access to. So if they were a virtual expert based up in leeds but then actually there's client opportunity down here, then they might never come to get introduced to that piece of work, um. But obviously being part of get ahead means that they've got access to a lot of opportunities, um, and they can also feel part of something and part of a team because obviously, as a freelancer so if you were to take a bookkeeper or a graphic designer or something might be absolutely skilled in what they do and extremely, extremely well qualified and and credible they might not have the confidence to go out there and find their own clients. So it's a really good way of bringing them client work, um, so they can just focus on what they do best absolutely yeah.

Elizabeth Willetts: 36:56

Yeah, I guess you know, if you're a bookkeeper, it probably doesn't come all that. I mean, I'm generalizing here, but it might not come all that naturally to you to then market and sell your, your service.

Kristy Roff: 37:05

Yeah yeah, and it can be quite an isolated place as well when you're working from home and you're working on your own. So it's really nice to kind of know that you're part of a team, but you're still, very much, you know, doing your own thing, and we do um coffee and chats every month, we do lunch and learn sessions online so you can really kind of get to know the people that are working within the get head family, if you like, and get to make some really good friends and connections and feel part of something that's bigger than you know, trying to grow something independently, which is hard, because you know it is quite. You know it's quite hard going at the moment with a lot of businesses that are trying to get out there and get their names out there get out there and get, get their names out there, absolutely so you alluded.

Elizabeth Willetts: 37:50

I've heard a lot about some of the different support you've got from Rebecca and obviously we talked just now about support that your experts have. But what about you? What sort of support have you had since joining from Rebecca and from the wider get ahead family?

Kristy Roff: 38:03

where do we start?

Suzanne Evett: 38:04

I know I was about to say I don't know where to. I don't know where to start.

Kristy Roff: 38:08

I think there's obviously there's kind of a lot of structured format, uh structured support that we get. You know, we have a monthly regional directors meeting, which is always a really nice touch point because it kind of goes through everything that we're doing in terms of our marketing plans, um any sort of changes within, you know, the the market, that we're seeing any trends, that sort of thing. We have discussions. We always have like a hot topic discussion on those calls. So in addition to those so we have those monthly meetings we have monthly um lunch and learns or or just chat sessions, um, a lot of the regional directors are in contact anyway, so we'll kind of, you know, get in touch, pick up the phone and say, oh you know, I've got this client, what do you think about this? And we have whatsapp group chats. So we're always kind of communicating.

Kristy Roff: 38:54

That communication piece is so key to it all, but in terms of, you know, other support. Rebecca is always at the end of the phone. You know she's always on the end of a whatsapp message. We get together socially when we can. A couple of weeks ago we had one of our team was had a big birthday, so we went out for a nice boozy lunch. Um, we celebrated our kind of business birthday as well.

Kristy Roff: 39:18

Sadly, suzanne was really poorly missed it, um, but we do get together socially as well when we can. Obviously, geographically that can prove a bit of a challenge, um, from time to time, christmas, we're trying to get everyone together as if we if that's possible in. You know, in terms of support, rebecca's our biggest champion. She'll kind of always put us forward for awards. Um, she, she celebrates us on LinkedIn, you know, she celebrates us within our group. You know we couldn't ask for more support really. Um, we're part of the bfa as well, so we get a lot of support from that element. Yeah, it's just, you know, it's, it's, it's really positive oh, it sounds it, and what sort of hours.

Elizabeth Willetts: 40:02

If I know you started the business because you, you know you both wanted something that you enjoyed, that was fulfilling, that challenged you, but in a good way, but it's something you could do around your children. And so talk me through the hours that you work and how it has fitted around family life.

Suzanne Evett: 40:18

I think it's just really flexible.

Suzanne Evett: 40:20

I mean, we don't clock watch our hours, you know. But I phoned Chrissy and I to chat this morning it was about 20 past nine, I was on my dog walk. So you know, sometimes I phoned Chrissy and I had to chat. This morning it was about 20 past nine, I was on my dog walk. So, you know, sometimes I try and walk in before the school run. Didn't happen this morning so I, you know, was on my dog walk at 20 past nine, um, but then Sunday night I was matching a client to um, a team member that needed some support early on a Monday morning.

Suzanne Evett: 40:44

So it we very much feel that we don't have to ask each other's permission for when we need to be off.

Suzanne Evett: 40:52

We know what we need to get delivered and we make sure that that gets delivered. And we do work every day, unless we take a day off, um, but we're at our desks every day. We have funny school hours that we have to drop off and pick up to and you know, we just we manage that around around putting our family first, and that was always, always the way that we'd set it up was that, you know, whatever family need happened, that would come first. Um, you know, over the over the five years, we've both had situations where we've had to take short-term time out of the business to support either ourselves or family members, and that hasn't been a problem because there is the two of us and we can do that, and, and even once the company's grown, we've still been able to do that. And that still has to be our priority, and that's what we also want to offer to our team members as well that ability to run their own businesses and use the skill sets that they've got.

Elizabeth Willetts: 41:48

Wow, that is so, sounds so good. Is there any regrets that you have Christo?

Kristy Roff: 41:53

any regrets? Um, probably. Why didn't we do it sooner?

Elizabeth Willetts: 41:57

yeah, I was gonna say you really told it to me.

Kristy Roff: 42:00

It sounds so good uh, yeah, I think I mean the. I don't have any regrets at all. I think you know, in terms of the hours, I'd be wrong to say that I don't work. You know, I work harder now probably than I ever have done, purely because it's because I choose to and I want to. It's not because I'm being held to account. I haven't got a big target that I've got to try and meet every month and I haven't got that pressure, but we really wanted to make a success of month and I haven't got that pressure, but we really wanted to make a success of this and I feel that we have that's still got to continue.

Kristy Roff: 42:34

Um and um, I mean I can't believe it's been five years and it still feels like a new business for us, um, but I think you know we do work hard and I just think you know we're learning all the time. Every day we learn something new and every day we think we should have done something slightly differently. You know, one of our biggest learnings in all of this is actually we were so kind of desperate at times, kind of win clients and win work, that we should have probably taken a step back on some occasions and gone. Actually, is that client right for us, and that was a big learning that we've kind of now realized is that not everybody can be your client yeah and because we don't have to take that stress that some clients bring.

Kristy Roff: 43:21

We're very lucky, all of our clients are amazing, um, but there have been the odd client that we've kind of gone oh oh, this might not work out very well. And it's kind of knowing that actually those are the situations when we can walk away and we don't have to work with certain people. And again that comes back to a we're in control of this. Yeah, it sounds like we can control freaks, but it is. It's quite refreshing, it's quite energizing to know that actually we've got choices and we can make the positive choice for our business. And we're not doing this because we want to make, we want to retire and buy a yacht and a holiday villa in the south of france.

Kristy Roff: 43:58

We're doing this because we want that balance in our lives and we want that flexibility and we want to be able to not have that guilt that I think I certainly felt in my past career. If I took a longer lunch break to go and see the kids do a performance at school or you know, it just felt like, oh no, what if somebody calls and I'm having my hair cut or something? I just wouldn't do it, whereas now it feels. It feels like there's work, there's hard work, there's success, there's no guilt, and I really like that. Yeah, and we get to do work that challenges us. You know, running a business is a challenge. Like there's work, there's hard work, there's success, there's no guilt, and I really like that yeah, and we get to do work that challenges us.

Suzanne Evett: 44:31

You know, running a business is a challenge every day, um positive challenge often. But you know, actually we could do something that's a lot easier probably, but it wouldn't challenge us and it wouldn't wouldn't give us the that sense of pride that we feel yes.

Elizabeth Willetts: 44:49

So if anyone's listening to this and is thinking about maybe running a get ahead franchise, what would you say to them?

Kristy Roff: 44:58

I would say um, yeah, no really do you think about.

Kristy Roff: 45:01

It is a fantastic opportunity, but it has to be the right opportunity for you. It isn't right for everybody, um, and I think you know it is. We're not joking. You know you have to take it seriously. You have to be comfortable financially to make it work. Um, because we were very fortunate that it was two of us to be able to kind of focus on that business development in those early days and exploit our own networks as well. Um, but it it's hard work and it might not come as quickly as you like, it doesn't. Business doesn't just fall in our laps, um, at all. It's hard work. So I would say be open-minded. But if you're happy to go out there and promote something that you feel that you believe in and that you're passionate about, then it should be a success.

Elizabeth Willetts: 45:49

Oh, brilliant. So, Suzanne, where would you recommend people find out more about a Get Ahead franchise?

Suzanne Evett: 45:56

All the information is on the Get Ahead website. So there's a section about Join Us and that is around joining us as a freelancer or joining us as a franchisee, and the first step of that is really finding out as much as you can follow us on our socials and, if anybody is interested, Rebecca is a great person to just chat to and scope out whether actually the opportunity is right and we're always around to have a chat as well. So, yeah, Rebecca will always put you forward to other franchisees to tell you how it really is brilliant.

Elizabeth Willetts: 46:30

So how can people connect with you too then, if they have any questions, both all over?

Kristy Roff: 46:34

LinkedIn. So, um, yeah, so my, my name is Christy Roth and I'm on LinkedIn, um, and Suzanne Evers on LinkedIn as well, so that's probably the easiest way to connect with us. If you've heard and seen what you like today, um, and we're happy to chat to anybody about this further, or you can email us at, um, we have south office at getaheadvacom I think it's such a good opportunity and I always say to rebeccai kind of wish I'd known about it before I started my business.

Elizabeth Willetts: 47:04

I think you know what you do is brilliant and I know you help. You know is brilliant and I know you help. You know you obviously help businesses, but you also help individuals as well that want to work for you as well, as you know, providing a really good opportunity for yourself. So thank you.

Kristy Roff: 47:17

Thanks.

Elizabeth Willetts: 47:17

Liz, thank you for listening to another episode of the Work it Like A Mum podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend. If you're on LinkedIn, please send me a connection request at Elizabeth Willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode. You can also follow my recruitment site Investing in Women on LinkedIn, facebook and Instagram. Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dreams.