It was Don Gunasekara’s neighbour who inspired him to step up to a new adventure by buying an Appliance Tagging Services business.

At the time Don was working all hours as a partner in a phone accessories distribution business. The former chef and hospitality worker had been keen to start his own business but found the work load and constant demands had become never ending.

A few conversations with his neighbour, who owned an ATS business himself, convinced Don the model could be just what he was looking for.

“I was looking for a new adventure, but for something with flexibility and fewer demands. ATS is a brilliant model; the franchisor handles all the admin, the invoicing, and the marketing, so that’s a huge burden removed from you as a franchisee,” Don explains.

He took advantage of the neighbour’s enthusiasm to find out as much as he could about how the system worked before he approached ATS about buying a territory.

Starting out with the franchise

In 2018 Don purchased the Oakleigh territory, a 20-minute drive from his home in Narre Warren. It was an existing business with a small but established customer base which Don has significantly developed.

“I’ve grown it to a fairly large customer base, through luck and hard work!” he says.

ATS supports its franchisees not just with admin support but by providing some client leads.

“I have a mix of direct leads, referrals and leads from head office. Some of my major business clients have come from personal connections. Connecting with commercial electricians has helped me build up a lot of referrals – they like my work, so they recommend me to their clients.”

He has seen first-hand how excellent customer service brings repeat business, and builds the client base.

“I’m punctual, polite and do the job well. I look after my main clients, give them a Christmas card and gift; people like acknowledgement,” Don says.

ATS support is high level

Don offers the full suite of ATS services: test and tagging, fire checks and exit lighting.

He reckons it took a few weeks to absorb all the technical information, and about three months to be fully comfortable with the processes and systems.

“If you get stuck, we have support staff who can answer technical queries on anything from test and tagging to accounting. This makes a massive difference to running a business – they are my on-hand experts,” he says.

“I’ve met some great people in ATS; we have really good franchisees in our network willing to help their peers. And our franchisors, Sarah and Ainslie, look after everyone and give the business a family-feel, a personal touch. We can all see they want us to succeed in our businesses,” Don says.

He chose the ATS business model as a tried and tested route to a successful business, and in a short time he’s built up the business beyond his expectations.

Don also chose ATS as a way to achieve a more flexible lifestyle.

“I usually work 7am until 2pm Monday to Friday, and some Saturdays. There is plenty of flexibility because we manage our own scheduling, so if you don’t want to work at a particular time you can block the calendar,” he explains.

With two young children family time is precious and Don carefully guards his free hours.

“I don’t want to miss any more time with my kids,” he says.

Don is already planning how to keep growing his ATS business in a family-friendly fashion.

“I’m doing well enough to be ready to hire someone to help me out, which is good,” he says.

“I wanted the lifestyle and I’m still trying to achieve it because the business is getting busier!” Don says.