Brian Phillips buys resale business to become his own boss
Brian Phillips has owned the Bath Martin & Co office since July 2015, when he bought it after completing his MBA. Since then he’s broken many of the records set before his arrival, and he plans on opening at least two new offices. Where did his vision come from? Brian explains.
“I always had my own instincts and ideas for what I could achieve, so I gave up my job as a financial advisor in Hong Kong to buy a business and become my own boss.”
Fortunately for Brian, the perfect opportunity came around – a letting agent in his home town of Bath.
“I knew I wanted to franchise, but didn’t have much preference on where. As it turned out the Martin & Co Bath office was available and offered the best combination of value and potential."
The beauty of buying into a franchise meant that I got all the support and training I needed to be the best business owner I could be, so I was able to create a long term plan without stumbling over the day-to-day management of the office.
Equipped with the business knowledge and franchise support he needed, Brian was able to focus his attentions on growing the Bath franchise to his expectations.
“The main challenge was getting the office to meet its potential. We renovated the office, updated the branding and I spent a lot of time building a new team of staff around me – in whom I had total confidence. Once the foundations were in place, it didn’t take long for my decisions to pay dividends, as we were soon breaking financial records that the old Bath office would never have achieved.”
Brian always knew his instincts were going to be his greatest ally when he went into franchising.
“It’s ultimately a case of having confidence in your instincts. You have to focus on your strengths and build the business around those strengths. It is all too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks and organisation of the business, but it is essential to make time to plan and set targets and to have the flexibility to change those plans as new opportunities present themselves. I believe my ability to trust my gut and to keep a long-term view for my office was a big part of getting to where we are today.”
How has Brian’s role changed since he took over the office?
“I am still very hands-on but I’m able to take this approach into different aspects of the business. Before I had my new team around me I was spending a lot of time conducting viewings and appraisals, but now I have staff I can trust I now focus more on organising and growing the office for the future. I’m very lucky that I’m able to reinvest most of my profits back into the business should I choose to, so we have plenty of scope for improvement in the future.”
Brian has finally taken complete control of his career and now owns his own business – so what’s next?
“We’re expanding into sales at the moment and expect to build on this. We’re also going to look at opening new offices both within and beyond the Bath territory, as I think there’s a lot of room for growth in the surrounding towns. The franchising experience has been incredibly rewarding. I’m glad I followed my instincts."
