Oven Wizards Peterborough franchisee Sarah Meredith

Once my youngest started school, I decided that I wanted to start my own company that would still offer me flexible hours to help with childcare etc.

I did a lot of research into different franchises and narrowed my search down to oven cleaning.

The initial investment in this type of Franchise was relatively low and the return on investment is high.

After looking into the different oven cleaning franchises and having a chat with one of the owners of Oven Wizards, John Graham, I decided to pursue my oven cleaning venture with Oven Wizards.

John answered all my questions over the phone and by email before a meeting was set up to meet face to face with both John and Mark Abbott, the business owners.

I was pleased with the level of support and advice they had given me up to this point and I could see all the benefits of investing in a franchise.

As part of the franchise package you get training on both the business development and technical side of the Oven Wizards business. The business development training was a good insight into things like ‘how Google works’ and how important advertising and business development is for your business.

The technical training was quite intense but a real eye opener into how to do the job; because it‘s hands on, you’re out there with another Oven Wizard learning straight away, and they also give you advice on how they set up their businesses.

We have an Oven Wizards WhatsApp group which is really good to keep in touch with everyone and if you do have any issues.

We normally post on there and another Wizard comes straight back with the best tip or advice to sort it out.

John and Mark keep in touch regularly too, making sure that your online presence is good, so you’re never really on your own in the business.

A lot of people ask why would I want to clean ovens. I think it’s very similar to when I go running - you start off thinking ‘what am I doing’, there are moments when you hate it, then as you get on with the (run)/job, you start to see the end point, the clean glass, the clean sides and I get a real satisfaction of a job well done.

My best piece of advice for anyone looking into a franchise is to do your research. I’m hoping within my first year to have grown enough to have a second van on the road.