As a child Dan Cahill found school a challenge. But the veteran franchisee-turned-franchisor has proved an appetite for learning can help build a mega business.
“I did badly at school; I got expelled in year 9, moved to a different high school, then dropped out in year 11,” Dan reveals. “I struggled to concentrate in the classroom.”
Seven years ago he was a store manager for McDonald’s with a thirst for knowledge that was about to lead him to an exciting future.
“I felt I couldn’t really learn too much more where I was and I was ready for something new,” Dan says. “I loved the idea of running my own business and looked at a whole bunch of different business models.”
The one that struck a chord was Jim’s Mowing.
“I looked at this and thought I might actually be able to pull this off. I didn’t know anything about business but I’d heard about teenagers doing lawn mowing runs and doing really well.
“I’m a very energetic person and this seemed like a good idea. I realised that if I was to mow a lot of lawns I’d make a lot of money,” he says.
Buying a franchise
Dan acts on his intentions, so rang the franchisor straight away. He was impressed with the swift response – within a couple of hours the franchisor was sitting down with him at home to explain the franchise model.
He was also excited by the paid-for-work guarantee, realising that he could cover his mortgage even if he got off to a slow start.
The biggest obstacle for Dan to overcome to forge a new path as a business owner was finding $36,000 to buy the business. His in-laws came to the rescue, providing the upfront funds required and Dan bought an existing Jim’s Mowing business in Melbourne.
From the get-go, Dan proved just how much he could achieve with hard work.
“I invoiced $3,600 in the first week! I had worked my way through the client list which was supposed to last me two weeks,” he reveals.
Scaling a Jim’s Mowing franchise
Dan and his wife Melissa turned to letterbox drop marketing in the local area and Dan took steps to boost his client base. He made himself available to take on more work from within a 20km radius, accepted every gardening job except landscaping, built up a client base with real estate property managers, contacted Jim’s Mowing’s unserviced leads and offered to take up excess work from fellow franchisees.
“I was hungry for work so I was doing whatever it took, working long hours, seven days a week. I only stopped mowing when I could no longer see the grass!” Dan says.
After a phenomenal first week, Dan was keen to maintain the momentum, and in the second week beat his initial revenue by $50.
“That gave me confidence that I could make this work, and support my family,” he says.
Dan’s capacity to repeat his success at scale has marked his journey as a Jim’s franchisee. He built up his first round and after six months brought on his younger brother as his first employee with a $3,500 revenue the weekly target.
“I gave him about 40 hours of push-mowing jobs which is $700 per day revenue, and I did all the extra work.”
Six months later Dan employed a second employee. In three years he had scaled his business to six mowing rounds, each earning $3,500 a week.
A lifestyle shift to a franchisor role
While he loved what he was doing, he realised his obsession with growing the mowing rounds meant he was missing out on time with his young daughters.
“So I spoke to Jim Penman, who started Jim’s Mowing and now runs the Jim’s Group, about becoming a regional franchisor. He recommended an established opportunity in the Brisbane area.”
Dan lacked the financial resources to fully fund the $1 million business, and persuaded Jim to put up half the money in a joint venture profit share.
Dan had already done some training for the Jim’s Group, and had a library of YouTube videos which franchisees could access so he managed the business remotely, flying up regularly to support franchisees.
Following his system of repeating success, Dan replicated the regional franchisor joint venture model with Jim.
“Within three years we had six regions together, which we then merged. I was looking after 200+ franchisees and had a regional manager to help provide support.”
With the business growing so well, it was easy to recruit franchisees, he says.
Taking on the top job
Dan’s ambitions were set to take him to the US next, to introduce the brand to the American market. Instead, Jim asked him to take over the entire mowing business.
Dan still has five regions under his wing as a regional franchisor. But he now sits in the boss’s seat as divisional franchisor for Jim’s Mowing, with responsibility for more than 2000 franchisees and 35 regional franchisors.
“As divisional franchisor, I run the business on four key pillars: supporting franchisees, ensuring there are enough new clients, retaining franchisees, and recruiting franchisees.
“I love it and I want to focus on growth of the division; I’d like to see even more work for franchisees. Jim’s Mowing is the largest mowing company in Australia, and the world. I’d like to double our numbers within 10 year period.”
Dan is clear about the root of his success.
“My trick is whatever is in front of me, I do straight away; there’s no reason to delay. Once these are done, if I have spare time, I look for different ideas to improve the business.
“I’m very quick at what I do, and effective with the knowledge I have now. My job is teaching other franchisors how to teach franchisees to grow and multiply mowing rounds.
“I knew my hard work would pay off, and I know other people are willing to work just as hard. And there are no limits to what they can achieve with Jim’s Mowing,” Dan says.