We are told every single day how lucky we are to have the jobs we have. How it must be 'the best job in the world' and how our customers would 'give anything' to work where we do. Well - it got us thinking. What if we really could offer this fortunate position further afield? Well we decided to do just that by opening up our business to a few other lucky lucky people.
At the end of last year through our social channels we introduced you to our lovely new franchisee - Niamh! Niamh was the first one to take this step, and what a journey it is turning out to be! Niamh has undergone our entire onboarding process and is now super busy setting up her BRAND NEW SHOP so make sure you keep your eyes peeled - ROCKAMILLY BRISOL is on it's way!
To prepare Niamh for business ownership, she under went our intensive in house training programme set out to enable her to be a Rockamilly superstar!
This training programme is specifically designed to give our new franchisees all the 'know how' on how to own and operate their very own Rockamilly Businesses. We delve into everything from business start up, finance, running your business, suppliers, PR, marketing, managing your business, technical training and set up, visual merchandising, content creation and so much more!
But anyway, enough of the 'jargon'. Here, Niamh has kindly shared a few words on how she found her few days away in sunny Essex!
"I recently went on a journey to Leigh-on-Sea to meet the wonderful team at Rockamilly. While I was super nervous to begin with, they let me into their group like one of them and I was easily under way with my training. Kirsty prepared a well structured list of what we’re doing throughout the week. I spent time working alongside Kirsty going through the structure of Rockamilly and the business. There was a lot of information to take in but it was never an issue, if I didn’t understand something or was a bit confused, Kirsty simplified the situation and just made every little detail click into place.
I spent some time with Callum and Stacie on marketing and PR. While I had a little experience in this from my previous job, they asked what I knew and what skills I had and then developed them. It’s surprising how much goes into marketing and PR. They showed me loads of new skills and techniques that can improve that branding, entice the audience and promote the business. The techniques they showed me really helps with putting a few hours into the social media side of things that helps you out over the next few days. It’s a winning situation. It’s always great to be shown the best ways to interact with your audience and to use popular hashtags and working with the imagery that works within the season.
When I worked alongside Jo, this was the biggest eye opener about how I wanted to represent my shop and the products I wanted to sell. While I have worked in retail, I’ve never had control over the layout or the products that come in. Jo really opened my eyes to getting to know the business and if customers ask, you have information about the business. She also explained which brands you buy from can represent you. I’m very much a person who works with the community, supporting local businesses and charities and companies that help towards the environment. Jo and I then came up with the idea of having a section of my shop dedicated to local businesses that want to sell their products and that thought never occurred to me and I think it’s a brilliant idea.
One of my biggest weaknesses is that I struggle to show myself within the business. Trying to do lives with Stacie and Callum was one of my biggest challenges as I’m not very good at thinking on the spot. While Stacie and Callum drove the lives, they allowed me to be involved and to interact with the audience which really helped to put myself out there. This is something I still need to develop on but having that help to begin with is amazing because if I had to do that on my own now I would run the opposite way.
The best way to sum this all up is to say that it was an educational experience that has helped me to develop and sharpen my skills while also exploring different options and products without feeling overwhelmed. While I still sometimes struggle or feel a bit lost or confused on anything, I can contact any of the team and they always go out of their way to help me out and I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to work alongside with,
Also, there was a surprise cake. That instantly won me over."
We have our next franchisee intake coming up - if you would like to know more about becoming a Rockamilly business owner - please download our prospectus here.
You can also email Kirsty direct on hellokirsty@Rockamilly.com for any questions you might have. We're looking forward to revealing our next branch opening sometime soon...
Also, we would love you to follow Niamh's journey here