Turn your life around with London House

By investing in a London House franchise, Simon Moppett has turned his life around and now has complete control of his work/life balance.

Juggling spending time with his young family while working shifts as a nightclub manager was difficult for Simon Moppett who often came home in the early hours of the morning. Eager to rectify the situation, Simon decided to start his own business and in February launched a London House franchise. Now he is able to spend quality time with his two-year-old son and wife and is on course for a first year turnover in the region of £30,000. 

'I had been a nightclub manager for 16 years,' reflects Simon. 'I really enjoyed the work because I was always on the go and it was a fun environment to work in. However, working split shifts became difficult when I married, because my priorities changed and spending time with my family came first. 

'As I had been in a position of authority for many years I did not want to work for someone else and could not face the structure of a nine-to-five routine. I was drawn to the idea of running my own business and knew the benefits of franchising - so purchased a copy of The Franchise Magazine for inspiration. An advert for commercial investigation franchise London House caught my eye immediately.' 

Established in 1995, London House provides a range of services to banks, law firms, other blue chip organisations and private individuals. Services vary from debt recovery and witness statements to missing persons, fraud investigation and pre-employment screening for drugs and alcohol. The role of the franchise owner is to collate the information requested by the clients and report back to them. 

'I had never done any work like this before,' continues Simon. 'So I knew I would find the work both challenging and stimulating especially as I would be offering clients a variety of financial and investigative services. I met London House founders Godfrey Lancashire and Brian Hughes at their head office and was overwhelmed with their honesty and knowledge of the business. Godfrey and Brian encouraged me to contact existing franchise owners, which I did and they too gave positive and honest feedback. Confident with my decision I went on to launch my franchise which covers Preston, Blackburn and Fylde.' 

As part of the franchise package Simon completed a two-week comprehensive training course conducted by Brian, who also went through the operations manual and gave him on-the-job training. 'I cannot fault the support,' says Simon. 'Someone is always at the end of the phone if I have a problem and I have made friends with several franchise owners. 

'As my own boss, working from home, I now have complete control over my work/life balance, which is great as it means if I want to take a day off I can. I love the fact that the harder I work and more I achieve now the bigger my rewards will be in the future. It is a great incentive. Right now my aim is to continue building up the business in my territory with the intent of taking on a second territory in the next couple of years.' 

Reported by Jess Sturman