Franchise - business in a box

Big jump now to full on Ultimate Tinting professional. A business in a box, a turn key business. All the initial tools and film supplied, uniforms, van livery, and marketing material. We have by far the best, most informative brochures/fliers out there. You’ll receive as much advice as you need up to the point where you can stand on your own 2 feet, but also full, on going support. BUT don’t expect me to run your business for you as has happened in the past, it’s YOUR business and if you run it to my model it WILL work.

You’ll also, if you want, get visits from myself every now and again, to perhaps help you approach main dealers to get work, or help on a stand at a show. I have plenty of different pop up stands you can borrow, which are a great way of attracting business. Basically this is the full on franchise option but with no tying contracts.

I’ve learnt from past experience, people are very unhappy being dictated to, for example:-

• YOU WILL SPEND A MINIMUM OF £5k A YEAR ON ADVERTISING
• YOU WILL GIVE ME 12-15% OF YOUR PROFIT EVERY MONTH
• YOU WILL WORK 8-6 MONDAY TO FRIDAY
• YOU WILL BUY YOUR STOCK FROM US
• YOU WILL TAKE ON A BIG SMART COMMERCIAL UNIT
• YOU WILL BUY THIS COMPUTER CUTTING MACHINE AND PAY MONTHLY FOR THE PRIVILAGE.

This is what it can be like buying into a franchise, don’t believe me, then try it! 

What I’ve learnt over the past few years is that are plenty of people who would like to get involved in this industry, they’ve got the money but are put off by either the up front cost of the “franchise” or by the restrictive contract.

• I have no contract,
• I don’t ask for a cut of your profits.
• I advise you where to buy film from not force you buy from a certain place.
• I won’t force you to buy any unnecessary computer cutting equipment.
• IT’S YOUR BUSINESS
• You will have your own clearly mapped out territory, this also means I’ll no longer train anyone else on your "patch"
• You can operate under the "ULTIMATE TINTING" trading name.
• You will receive enough film included in your package to cover the cost of your franchise.

All I ask is for a small fixed monthly fee, to cover your listing on the site, the internet advertising and on going development of marketing material. To give you an idea this fee is about the same as the profit from ONE average car tint A MONTH! A bargain yes?

There are several reasons as to why I’m doing it this was as opposed taking a cut of YOUR profits. The main reason is when your up and running, you will begrudge paying this fee, and start coming up with all sorts of reasons not to pay it. If you have a small fixed monthly fee, you can budget for that easily and also, hopefully, you see the benefits to having yourself listed on my site, by the amount of e-mails and calls you’ll be receiving through it. You’ll be happy paying the fee. There are several other reasons, just ask and I’ll explain them.

Because there is no contract, if your not happy, stop paying the monthly fee, simple, I’ll remove you from the site and you can carry on on your own, not using the Ultimate Tinting name or material but just carry on yourself. SIMPLE. SIMPLE SIMPLE.

Oh and I won’t try and sell you any smart looking cutting machines either. Hands up the professional tinters out there, who do less than 20 cars a week that use one!!  I was chatting to a guy the other day who has one. In his own words “it’s s##t”. The templates it cuts very often don’t fit . In theory it’s a brilliant idea, works great in America where just to make a profit, tint shops need to tint 5-10 cars a day and hence their work is pretty poor because they don’t have time to do a decent job. Give it a few years and they might be getting these templates somewhere near right on our European cars, but from what I understand at the moment, don’t bother, you’ll be able to do it just as quick by the time you’ve loaded and unloaded the machine with various shades of tint, and from what I hear you’ll end up doing it “ the old fashioned way” anyway. However they are good if you want to go along the paint protection route, or tint art or repetitive flat glass patterns. I personally can’t see much point for the automotive tinting, yet.

I launched the "business in a box" package in mid 2009, I wasn't sure if I wanted too as I was still licking my wounds after being stiffed by the franchise doctors and also because my competitors copy everything I do. But then I thought "I know for a fact that I do it better than them, so  pull yourself together, lets go for it". So I've applied all the best bits, halved the price, so it now costs £12,995 and er, gone for it.
Very quickly I met a chap from Nottingham. Richard had been looking around and had done an awful lot of research, visited the competition but was still unsure, I've just received this testimonial so have a read....

Richard Stanley, Ultimate Tinting Nottingham says...

"I was made redundant in April after spending over 30 years in the Motor Industry mainly in technical training and management positions. Despite my concerted efforts I failed to get permanent job offers - I was either; too old, too young or over qualified or under qualified. My confidence and savings were dwindling. After much deliberation and sleepless nights I decided to go it alone and start something on my own. But it had to be a venture that I could control and maintain without some one else calling the shots. It had to have a short but intense training period - after all I had a mortgage and bills to pay (and an extravagant wife), something that would not cost a small fortune to set up, a professional and easy to use website but most importantly, I knew I would need back up and help.

I looked at several business opportunities within the Motor Industry. The one that appealed to me most of all was Window Tinting, mainly because there were three streams of business - car, residential and commercial. I was tired of an office / managerial type job and wanted a more hands on role. I asked friends and colleagues to comment on my attributes - an excellent communicator, a person with a good reputation and who can be trusted, a hard worker and some one always up for a challenge.

I made several visits to Window Tinting web sites, arranged meetings with franchise window tinting companies but remained unsure and nervous of taking the first step of starting a new business. Large investments, high monthly franchise costs, additional and some unnecessary advertising costs and too many ties made me nervous and I did not have total trust in the companies involved. They seemed more about what was in it for them.

I then made contact with Tim Haywood at Ultimate Tinting. Tim invited my wife and I to his premises in Ruthin, Wales. We talked, asked loads of questions and I had a go at tinting for my first time. Tim filled me with confidence - he was honest, up front and very supportive. He had years of experience of tinting windows; he also ran a tinting training school and had a brilliant website that he could customise just for us. I knew from my training background that in order to train you had to know the subject inside out.

Tim offered me a "business in a box package" which fully met all my requirements. I attended a 1-2-1 training programme and by the end of the fourth day I was tinting and shrinking film on some difficult vehicles.  I was very impressed with the training I received and I left the course feeling confidant and could not wait to start tinting. I immediately started tinting cars and, on Tim's orders, practiced over and over.

I set up my business (with a lot of help from Tim) and began trading as Ultimate Tinting Nottingham. Tim supplied me with all the tools and equipment I required. He also supplies me with a good quantity film - but says if I can find as good a quality film cheaper let him know but I know I won't as Tim researches everything thoroughly!

Tim was always at the end of the phone if I required help or advice, which was reassuring.
 I advertised in local monthly magazines and work started to come in, word spread - first cars, then a narrow boat and the conservatories, what a challenge!! Business is growing and I enjoy my work and have no regrets."
Richard Stanley,
Ultimate Tinting Nottingham
August 2009.

		A comprehesive selection of class leading brochures and business cards, 2000 personalised fliers, invoice pads, enquiry forms etc etc.		Yes, custom build scaffolding as well which makes doing conservatories SO much easier. Don't worry you don't need a big van it folds away and easily fits in the back of Richards 4X4, plus it looks so much more professional when you go on jobs rather than using hop ups, and step ladders. There is also 1000sqft of flat glass film and 600 linear feet of car tint, enough to do 40-60 cars there, which in theory is more than enough to cover the cost of your "Business in a box" package.
A selection of tools and film you'll receive as part of the" Business in a Box" package. You may notice the tools are Snap On, Blue Point, and DeWalt. The uniforms are Strauss, all TOP quality gear.

Below is an fictitious example of a busy week, once your up and running . However, even though it is fictitious, there is absolutely no reason why this shouldn’t happen once you’ve got yourself established. The Total hours are based on how long it would take me to do the work. The job descriptions and how they come about are very very common and happen all the time.

Monday.

Hyundai  Santa fe, To protect the kids in the back from the sun. From the web-site £240.00.
BMW, 5 series touring M-Sport. For the looks,  referral from previous customer £280.00.
In Total 4 HOURS WORK

Tuesday

Price up a conseratory job on way into work. Seen the advertising on your van in Tesco’s.
2 X Range Rover sports from a local dealer £520. Internet search, regular work now.
In Total 5 HOURS WORK

Wednesday

Provide privacy tinting for Office other side of town,£600. From BNI networking meeting.
Renault Clio  £180 friend of Hyundai person from Monday
In Total 7 HOURS WORK

Thursday

Friday

Fit film to the conservatory you priced on Tuesday £850
In Total 6 HOURS WORK

Saturday

Was to be a day off but had a call from a friend of the person you did the Corsa for on Thursday, wants his doing ASAP, so £180 for 1 ½ HOURS WORK

I’ll let you add  that up, and the hours, and call me and I’ll give you the price of the film you’ve actually used. You’ll be amazed.  These aren’t pie in the sky figures, they’re taken from a busy weeks work. But hey, say you only get ¼ of that, that is still serious money.

• Now add to this 4-6 phone enquiries from the internet
• And 7-8 e-mail enquiries
• 2-3 drop ins
• 2 enquiries off the van
• 1 enquiry from your t-shirt

You see how it works? This won’t happen over night but it does happen, over and over again, week in week out. Yes you do get quiet weeks but who doesn’t.  Even if at the start lets say you ONLY get 2 average cars a week, that’s £440.00, how long does it take you to earn that now? That’s an easy mornings work. Some people think this is a get rich quick scheme, it isn’t, it takes a lot of hard work, lots of blood, sweat and tears, particularly at the start while your finding your feet, but work through it and you will get there.

Here’s another couple of ways of looking at it. Valeting, HARD WORK, how many proper, full valets you can do in a day? 3 lets say 4. That’s a competitive market so the most you can charge is £40, no say £60 each, so your ceiling for earnings is capped at £240. That’s the most you can physically earn in a day without being silly and working till midnight. That’s a  hard days work, trust me, my first stab at being self employed was as a valetor. Anyway, that’s assuming you have 4 cars in and are able to charge £60 each. If it’s only 2 full valets at £40 each, that’s £80 for a days work…£240 is the same money as a 5 door Ford Focus tinted in 2 hours!!

Wheel Referbishment  and dent repair. What can you charge for that? £20-£40 a wheel. £20-£50 a dent, even flat out you’d be VERY lucky to do more that £250 a day there.

I think you’re starting to see where I’m coming from now. With a lot of businesses out there, there is a physical ceiling to the amount you can make in a day, and you’d have to work bloody hard, day in day out to make decent money. Also it’s very hard to up sell in the majority of these businesses. This is where you provide a service for your customer then when you’ve done that service, you can sell them another of your services. As an example, once I’ve tinted someone’s car,  I’ll ALWAYS leave one of our excellent residential tinting brochures in their car for them to read. Sometimes you’ll get a phone call a couple of days later saying “ I’ve read your brochure, what a good idea , never thought of that. Can you please come and give me a price to do our conservatory”.  Because you’ve  done a good job on their car, they already trust you, your 9 tenths there. See how it works.

Wheel referb’ guys, what is your target and ONLY market? People with damaged alloy wheels.

Valeting guys, who is your target? People with dirty cars and if your adventurous you might do the odd carpet or curtain.

Window tinting guys, who are your target customers? ANYONE WITH GLASS, you show me a piece of glass and I’ll give you a reason to film it!!

This is such an interesting business to be in, everyday is different and you get to see some wonderful and interesting things.

For more information on any of the above , just call me for a chat or even come and visit me which would be better. As I’ve said before all my testimonials are up to date and TRUE!!! Please do speak to some of the guys who’ve done my courses, for your own piece of mind.