Helen Harrison
Helen, 32 years old and a graduate in Food and Consumer Sciences, was, until very recently, the Consumer Researcher at The Good Housekeeping Institute. Here she tells in her own words why she quit her top job in the publishing world and invested in a franchise with The Mattress Doctor.

“Working as a Researcher for the Good Housekeeping Institute, a large part of my role was answering readers’ queries about hygiene and household cleaning. We received so many questions on bedding, dust mites and allergy control that when I came across the Mattress Doctor system, I was keen to try it out for myself."

"In addition, a contamination test on my own mattress for a feature we were then doing on beds revealed it to have a high level of dust mite allergens, so I also had a personal reason for hoping the service would work! When it did, I was delighted and not only felt a lot more comfortable sleeping in my own bed, but also that I had an effective treatment I could recommend to readers. However, it didn’t stop there.

My work at Good Housekeeping had shown me that people were very concerned about bedding hygiene, but that there were very few companies offering comprehensive dust mite treatments, and I felt certain there was a huge and virtually untapped market out there ready to use the Mattress Doctor service. I just couldn’t stop thinking about what a fantastic business opportunity it was and wishing I had come up with the idea myself! That’s why I decided to give up a great job in publishing and become a Mattress Doctor Franchisee.

After only 6 weeks, during which time I had taken things fairly easily and taken advantage of not being a full-time employee any more, I earned over £1000, which is great. And I only worked about 25 hours! Certainly beats working for someone else.”

David Robson
“I first read about The Mattress Doctor in an article in The Times magazine, and remembered thinking what a good business that could be. A few months later, when I had decided to make a change, I saw that the company was looking for franchisees, and arranged a meeting with Bruce King, the Franchise Director. I knew of Bruce through his sales and marketing seminars, and was impressed not only with the professionalism of the operation, but also their belief in the effectiveness of the service and the enthusiasm shown towards franchisee training, support and development.

I decided to take up a franchise, and during the first few weeks, while I was building up my territory, received excellent support from head office, not only with market research and appointment making, but also the forwarding of enquiries from potential customers, resulting in jobs worth over £700 in the first month. They continue to be helpful and responsive, and there is also good interaction between franchisees, where experiences are shared, so it feels like being part of a supportive extended family.

Building your own business can be hard work, especially during the first few months, and you need to be determined and resilient. You do however have the advantage of a great product and support service, and the knowledge that your future success lies in your own hands, and no one can take that away”.