Doncaster Free Press – Thursday August 31st 2006

Job rethink was winner for John

An ex-mining engineer has proven he can dig just as effectively for business success after he was nominated as one of the UK’s top ten franchisees. John Heslop was nominated as a national finalist for the British Franchise Association’s Franchisee of the Year Award after an impressive six years of sale sand growth for his franchise of Chemex.

Mr Heslop, who used to work as a mechanical engineer in the Selby coalfield, set up his own franchise in 2000 after he came across an article in the Daily Express. The father-of-two of High Street, Hatfield realised that as the coal industry continued to decline he would have to rethink his business plan and decided to sink £20,000 into a Chemex franchise selling cleaning and hygiene products, despite having no previous experience of sales.

Mr Heslop said: “I had concerns when I started. Obviously I was putting a lot of money into the business but when you put that much money into it you’re determined to make it succeed. It helped that is was a non-seasonal product too, every business is a potential customer because everyone needs to keep things clean.”

Six years on and John now has two other employees working for him, including his brother Peter, and three vans on the road with a sales patch stretching as far as Hull. He is one of Chemex’s top performing franchisees and regularly wins company sales contests. Mr Heslop said: “ I have grown from a one man his van to three vans on the road. I would have thought in another eight to ten months we’ll be looking to put another van on the road.” He added: “The secret of my success is hard work. I believe in my products, I believe in my service, I believe in my franchisor and I believe in myself. If you believe you can do it, you can do it. It’s very rewarding I’d highly recommend franchising, it’s hard work but I have loved every minute of it.”

The award for franchisee of the year with a first prize of £5,000 will be decided at a special event in Birmingham on Thursday October 5.

Also featured in the Selby Times