Building a Balanced Lifestyle with Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning
Shaun Tucker first brought the Mackay Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning Franchise in 2014 and he hasn’t looked back. Working with Elite has given him the chance to create a lifestyle that suits him and balances work with the needs of his family.
How Shaun Started with Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning
Before Shaun started with Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning, he worked in the mines and was away all the time. This wasn’t an ideal situation. Shaun had a wife and a young baby at home, and the situation became even harder with the birth of their second child. Tired of missing all those important milestones and of putting the pressure of two young babies on his wife, Shaun needed to make a change.
Family connections gave Shaun a unique opportunity. His brother’s father-in-law had owned an Elite franchise in Mackay for 18 years and was thinking about selling. With the chance to be his own boss and have control of his own hours in front of him, Shaun started working with the owner, just to see if he enjoyed the job. He bought the business soon afterwards.
Getting Started with Elite
Many potential franchisees worry about the difficulty of setting up a franchise. However, Shaun found it remarkably easy. Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning Mackay was first established in the 1980s. Shaun bought it off his brother’s father-in-law, who had owned it for 18 years. The owner before that had run the business for 12 years. This history was important. It meant that the business already had steady clients and a good reputation in the local community.
This made it remarkably easy for Shaun to step in. Everything was already ready for him, and as he put it, “The whole purchase process was pretty easy, to be honest. The business was already set up, it had been set up for 30 years, and with the clients they had and the people I knew, it all went smoothly.”
The Benefits of Being a Franchisee
Shaun enjoyed numerous benefits when he became an Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning franchisee, some expected and some not. Firstly, he had the opportunity to set regular work hours for himself and to be at home more with his growing family.
One benefit that he hadn’t really anticipated was that it also provided his wife with a job. Nicole started working in the office handling the phones and administrative tasks. As the children grew, she took advantage of the flexibility to return to school. She is now studying bookkeeping to manage that side of the business.
Shaun appreciates the freedom of working in a mobile and dynamic environment, stating, “You’re not stuck in one place. I’ll go into five or six different places, so I’m always catching up with people and not confined to an office or a workshop for months at a time.”
However, the most significant advantage was the ability to be his own boss. He could set his own work targets and enjoy the fruits of his labour rather than watching them benefit someone else. This led to a realization about the key element to making a carpet dry cleaning franchise successful.
An Old-Fashioned Kind of Business
As an Elite franchisee, Shaun’s workdays typically include travelling to 5 or 6 different workplaces. This constant change keeps the work interesting and exposes Shaun to a variety of new people. Meeting new clients and forming personal connections has proven to be one of the best ways to sustain business growth.
“It’s all about making people comfortable when you’re in their house. If you can build connections with people, everyone knows someone, and people remember you and recommend you. It’s a bit of an old-fashioned sort of thing,” he notes.
This traditional approach to business seems to be working well for Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning in Mackay. Shaun now owns 3 vans and collaborates with retirement homes, schools, and real estate agencies across Mackay City, Mackay Marina, Northern Beaches, Ooralea, Pioneer Valley, Sarina Beaches, and Walkerston.
The Future for Mackay Carpet Cleaning
Shaun has successfully expanded the business and now manages 3 vans and employs staff. He continues to drive one of the vans himself and is satisfied with the current state of his business. As he puts it, “We could get bigger, but that would mean taking me off the road and putting me to work in the business.”
This level of control is nearly unheard of when working for someone else. By owning his franchise, Shaun has been able to manage his business’s growth to align with his desired lifestyle.
The Takeaway
Owning a franchise has provided Shaun Tucker and his family with the control, independence, and work-life balance that many aspire to but few can achieve. With Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning as their partner, their franchise continues to thrive, regardless of external circumstances.
If you’re interested in exploring the potential of an Elite Carpet Dry Cleaning franchise, please call us on 131580 or contact us today to learn more about franchising opportunities.
All services are performed by fully trained, certified in-house technicians in accordance with Australian Standards and IICRC guidelines, ensuring compliance and quality in every aspect of our operations.