From Retail to Repair: Harry’s Leap from Employee to Lounge Repair Business Owner
Episode Timeline
- 0:00 – Intro
- 0:23 – Territory area covered on Northern Gold Coast
- 0:38 – What Lounge Repair Guys does in the business
- 1:34 – Describing the types of work that gets done and those that can’t be fixed
- 2:55 – The skills needed, being good with your hands
- 3:35 – How Harry started in his career
- 5:25 – Trialling in the job of fixing lounges
- 6:24 – Other jobs at the time considered by Harry
- 7:13 – First thing he fixed
- 9:00 – Warranty work for retailers
- 10:31 – Started as an employee for 18 months then transitioned into franchise owner
- 11:42 – What could happen if Harry didn’t buy the franchise off the owner
- 12:15 – How he approached finance and how to purchase the business
- 13:46 – Effectively ended up doing an 18 month paid trial in the business
- 14:07 – Describe a typical day
- 15:53 – Managing his time through the day
- 16:50 – Having a dedicated person doing bookings and admin with multiple technicians on the road
- 17:26 – The key takeaways going from employee to business owner
- 19:46 – The challenge of leading teams if you haven’t prior
- 20:27 – Most enjoyable part of the business
- 21:58 – What the future looks like after 2+ years in the business
- 22:58 – What expanding the business looks like practically
- 23:47 – Wrap up
While working in retail, out of the blue, Harry got asked if he’d like to trial a job repairing lounges on the road. He loved it and after 2+years as an employee, he got the opportunity to buy the business he worked in.
The Lounge Repair Guys get the opportunity to work miracles and some much-loved items in your home that many thought they’d have to throw out!
Sometimes with up to 10 or so jobs in a day, with the pre-requisite basically being that you just need to be good with your hands, Harry had 2 good years to see the business from the inside.
When the owner wanted to sell, and finance was tight, a vendor finance arrangement got Harry secured in his own business. Running a small team on the Northern Gold Coast, and looking to add to that team, Harry has made a great transition from employee to business owner with some lessons and insights along the way!
