Luke Stevens is an avid supporter of the Amber brand. He previously managed one of the company’s stores and invested in its Kotara franchise in April 2009.

It seems the company was impressed with Luke’s performance when he was store manager, as head office actively sought him out.  

“I was approached by head office to see if I was interested in trying to turn around a store that had been somewhat run-down. We jumped at the opportunity!” he says.

RESEARCH

While Luke was obviously familiar with the brand, the role of store manager and franchisee are very different, so he devoted much of his time to researching the brand from a franchisee’s perspective.

“I was unsure about the changes involved when a franchise goes from a private ownership to being owned by an equity group.

“I approached several of the existing franchisees and had one-on-one discussions with them in order to gain an extensive franchisees’ perspective on the issue. The feedback I received from the talking to other franchisees was honest – warts and all,” he explains.

Luke worked in the store for one month prior to investing in it, an invaluable experience that helped him determine whether the move was a good idea.

“It allowed me to have a thorough look through the books and understand how the store functioned. The process I underwent before committing to purchasing the franchise and putting the pen to paper was excellent,” he says.

In the end a number of factors influenced his decision. “Amber presents itself to the public as a much larger group than it actually is. This is a huge advantage of the company and a credit to its hard-working marketing team.

“Also, knowing and being employed with the brand for some time gave me peace-of-mind as I already had a thorough understanding of the brand and its systems,” he explains.

CHALLENGES

While Luke describes himself as “a born salesperson” those less exciting, yet equally important administrative tasks are not his strong point.

“The biggest challenge was realising that I am not an expert at everything! Accounting is not my strong point so employing a good book-keeper was crucial to the success of the business.

“Make sure you are aware of your own areas of expertise and utilise them to your benefit. If necessary, seek expert advice to help manage areas that you recognise as a weakness,” says Luke.

ADVICE

He advises new franchisees think about how they would like to structure their business from the very beginning.

“Make sure your initial set-up, whether it is a trust, Pty Ltd company or other, is best for you. In our case, my wife works outside the business meaning it was not essential for her to be a director. As a result we could have streamlined a majority of the paperwork if we had structured our franchise differently,” he explains.

He encourages franchisees to go above and beyond when they conduct their research. “Speak to existing franchisees beyond the list the franchisor provides you in order to obtain as many different franchisee perspectives as possible.

“Also, have a significant discussion with your solicitor regarding the Franchise Agreement and how to structure your company to suit your personal situation,” Luke adds.

GOALS

Luke has literally kicked a number of goals since he took the struggling store over four years ago.

 “We renovated the store and have managed to maintain a strong and experienced core team of staff since purchasing the store. I believe keeping good and trustworthy employees is a sign that the business is going well and you are headed in the right direction,” he explains.

Luke will continue to rebuild and improve the store, and he hasn’t ruled out investing in another.