Carol Jarred co-owns the 128-store strong national company, which specialises in professional hair care, with her husband Barry Jarred who is the Managing Director. Carol said she had already been surprised about taking out the 2009 “QLD/NT Franchise Woman of the Year” title in August and didn’t expect to win the national award due to the calibre of the other four regional award winners from Victoria/Tasmania, New South Wales/ACT, South Australia and Western Australia.

“It’s unbelievable and such an honour to be declared the winner of such a highly coveted award,” she said. “I can’t take all the credit though. This award win is thanks to all the people that have shaped and mentored me into becoming the business woman I am today.”

Kate Johnson of Women in Franchising (WIF), an initiative of the FCA, said the “Franchise Woman of the Year” Award was highly anticipated by many women within the franchising sector, and it was great to see Ms Jarred forging such amazing success in the industry.

“Carol won the award based on her outstanding business achievements, leadership philosophies and initiatives, positive influence on other women, contribution to the franchising industry, contribution to the community and professional development,” she said.

“She is such a successful business woman within franchising and a great example to other women within the industry of what they can achieve in business when they put their mind to it. I congratulate her on behalf of WIF on this wonderful achievement.”

Carol Jarred began her career in the franchise beauty industry as a Price Attack franchisee. With experience as a hairdresser and retail business owner, she was presented with the opportunity in the early 1980s to become a Price Attack franchisee in Bendigo where the beauty industry was making a roaring trade.

In 1990 the couple sold the Bendigo-based business and moved to South Australia to take up the first Price Attack Master Franchise for South Australia and the Northern Territory. “This part of our career was quite fast and exciting and we opened our first store in Adelaide, followed by a further 10 stores within 22 months,” said Carol.

Carol and Barry relocated to Queensland but continued to run the South Australia Master Franchise. After buying two underperforming stores and turning them into profitable businesses the couple realised this was where their passion for business lay, but it also became clear one of the key issues they faced was a tired brand.

“We knew it needed a refresh to sustain business growth so we met with the franchisor to discuss the options. The result was we walked away the new owners of the business in November 2007,” Carol said.

Carol and Barry’s first achievement as franchisors of Price Attack was a rebrand.

“The rollout of the new brand image began in August and it has been very well received incorporating a new logo, business cards, advertisements, store fit-outs, uniforms and computer system. Business has been great since we took over. In fact between the 2007/08 and 2008/09 financial year we have seen a seven per cent increase in.”

Commenting on being crowned Franchise Woman of the Year, Carol said she hoped her award win would help encourage other women to strive for success in all aspects of their life.

“I’m often asked if a work/life balance is achievable and my answer is yes. I raised two children while I transitioned from franchisee to master franchisee to franchisor and I can truly say I had a good lifestyle balance which came down to organisation, time management and delegation,” she said.

“In my experience women are very committed hands on operators – they simply need a system that is easy to follow and that offers them support and flexibility. At Price Attack we attract a lot of females because they feel comfortable working in the beauty industry and find our franchising model suits someone that wants to run their own business but still have the support of an experienced franchisor and time for their family.”

Without her vision and drive, the Australian home entertainment industry would be vastly different to what it is today. Keran played a vital role in the successful case brought against Warner Bros in the Australian Federal Court in 2001 that stopped two-tier DVD pricing, and has been an active board member of the Australian Video Rental Retailers Association (AVRRA) since 1998.

In regards to the 2001 Federal Court case, Keran Wicks told Australian Women Online, “When DVD first came out the studio decided to adopt a rental model rather than a retail model. When we had VHS, rental stores would pay two or three times the cost because there was a window between when a movie was released for rental and when it was released for retail.”

“When DVD was launched suppliers decided to adopt a retail model and make DVDs available to everybody at the same time. But Warner decided there was a lot of money they would be losing from rental stores because of the drop in price, so in essence, Warner wanted to charge rental stores double the price just because we rented them. We [AVRRA] took exception to that because there was absolutely no difference in the product. So we took Warner to court and we won.”

Not bad work for a lady who left school at the tender age of 13. “I don’t have any formally diagnosed learning difficulties. But I clearly learn by doing things and experiencing things, rather than reading about them,” said Keran. “In the days when I was at school there was only one way to learn and there wasn’t the understanding of different learning styles that they have now.”

A lack of formal education certainly hasn’t held her back from achieving success in business. After leaving school, Keran reached management levels in the fashion industry in only a few years.

Seeking new challenges, she then began work in the movie rental business; there she learned how the industry operated and saw an opportunity to strike out on her own. Keran created her own wholesale business, selling movies from the boot of her car.

A natural aptitude for business saw Keran’s first enterprise thrive and she soon took over her own rental store, dubbed Little Monster Video, after her first son, Paul.

Keran’s innovative retail and marketing strategies were a key factor in the success of Little Monster, and the store’s turnover increased nearly 900% over the first two years.

“I bought a run down video store and built it into a very success store,” said Keran Wicks. “But just down the road from me was a Movieland store and they were able to purchase stock at half the price that I was paying, even though I was buying twice as much. Movieland was the first group in Australia to adopt a franchising business model. I spoke to them about joining Movieland but I already knew everything about running a movie rental story and didn’t need the help of a franchise. I also wanted more flexibility in my business and didn’t want to put my business in the hands of somebody else. So I decided to start my own group.”

Tackling this challenge head-on, in October 1993, Keran launched Network Video. Network’s unique business structure meant that members had more buying power without sacrificing autonomy. Keran’s initiative paid off; within a year, Network Video membership had grown from 12 to 100.

“It was clearly a business model that was right for the industry at the time. Retailers were needing to find a better way for their purchasing and their marketing to be competitive in an industry that was starting to rationalise and become a lot more professional. The Network model suited those retailers who wanted more control over their business,” said Keran.

“If you go into any of the franchise outlets, it’s hard to tell them apart. Whereas our stores are very unique. Each one is very different because it has the personality of the owner and they’re not restricted. Our stores are designed to suit the needs of the local community and reflect the owner. Network is a licensing and marketing group so in essence we do almost the exactly the same thing as franchising without a contract that restricts everybody and the exorbitant costs that can be associated with a franchise.”

The second-largest rental group in Australia, Network now has over 350 members under its umbrella. Under Keran’s stewardship, The Network Group has grown beyond just a movie rental business. Since 1993, Network has expanded into retail and business support through such enterprises as Done Dirt Cheap DVD, Network’s online retail outlet; MyVideoStore, an online information portal for all retail and rental stores; and developed a presence in online Video-On-Demand services. Keran’s forward-thinking attitude means that The Network Group is a leader in retail and rental technology, keeping ahead of the curve.

With a strong personal interest in technology, Keran embraces new technologies and applies them to her business. Thanks to its unique IT systems and innovative approach, Network is a recognised industry leader in IT infrastructure.

“I honestly believe that in running a business you need to be able to do everything, or at least have an understanding of everything even if you can’t do it yourself,” said Keran.

She is as passionate about life as she is about work. Keran is a movie aficionado, Keran’s favourite movies are 9½ Weeks; A Beautiful Mind; and Dead Poets Society. She is also a soccer fanatic (or a Chelsea fanatic, more accurately) and a car enthusiast. When she turned 40, Keran bought a sporty convertible which she still owns. The mother of two boys also took up kick boxing and at 49 years of age, Keran is still dedicated to health and fitness, training several times a week.

Today Keran Wicks lives in Melbourne with her youngest son, Chris, and her White German Shepherd, Honey.

For more information about the Network Group visit the website www.networkvideo.com.au

WIF Committee Chair Kate Johnson said the FCA’s research findings were the main reason behind WIF’s decision to form the partnership.

“Through research the FCA has found that people in franchising, and especially women in the industry, are looking for more business advice and education opportunities,” she said.

The FCA’s most recent survey was administered to 2,995 current individual members of the FCA and of those that responded 42.2 per cent wanted franchising advice, 33.8 per cent wanted webinars, 54.7 per cent wanted an online library and 50.3 per cent wanted more networking events as value-added benefits. Respondents also indicated the education courses and seminar topics of most interest to them were Strategic Management (60.8 per cent), Leadership (53.4 per cent), Financial Management (50.7 per cent) and Marketing (49.3 per cent).

Ms Johnson said the organisation’s partnership with Westpac had allowed WIF to begin to meet the need women in franchising had identified for more business education workshops and events.

“Westpac’s involvement with franchisees and franchisors in terms of lending, and also their focus on women in business through their Women’s Markets, made them a natural fit with our goals and objectives to empower women in franchising,” she said.

“In June we ran High Tea events in each state, for women in the industry, which had networking and also an educational component on superannuation. We have a number of other educational and networking events planned for the remainder of the year which Westpac is sponsoring.”

Men are also welcome at all events. For more information about upcoming Women in Franchising / Westpac events visit www.womeninfranchising.org.au or www.therubyconnection.com.au.

Te-Anu Braidie had long wanted to see Egypt, but family and work commitments had always come first. As well as working full-time, Te-Anu is raising two sons, the oldest of whom is Autistic. During her son’s formative years, Te-Anu was a single parent and doing it tough financially. But then she met a wonderful man who loved her enough to take on the role of co-parent to her Autistic child. The couple married and eventually had a son together.

For her 40th birthday, Te-Anu’s husband surprised her with a trip to Egypt in early 2009. But an even bigger surprise was waiting for Te-Anu’ when she returned home. After maxing out the credit cards on her dream vacation, the news that she could be out of job was the last thing Te-Anu wanted to hear on her return to work.

“I had just arrived back home from a life-changing trip to Egypt to the news that I could be out of a job, depending on the new owners. They were actually selling because I had done a good job turning the business around,” said Te-Anu.

Te-Anu is no stranger to the printing and publishing industry, having worked in print management, web-printing and sales for the Hobson’s Bay Leader and whilst it was true, she had done a wonderful job turning her employer’s small business around in the preceding months, her position at Snap Printing in Williamstown was no longer secure. However, the team at Snap Franchising had other ideas.

Snap Franchising had heard about Te-Anu’s outstanding contribution to the business and they weren’t about to risk losing such a talented member of the Snap Printing family, to one of their competitors.

Te-Anu explains, “Snap Franchising suggested that I would be an ideal person to buy the business. One minute I was on holiday and the next, I was making a decision about investing in a printing business.”

Although she did take up the offer to buy the business, Te-Anu didn’t take this decision lightly.

“I did my homework. My husband and I poured over the books until we were satisfied it was a sound investment. It certainly wasn’t part of the plan – but here I am, a small business owner!”

When she was two weeks into her new career as a business owner, Te-Anu told me she was having loads of fun. And while she is confident the print and design centre would continue to do well, she was well aware of the difficulties she could face due to the economic environment.

“If I can borrow from the military, I like to think I can ‘improvise, adapt and overcome’ any problems that come my way.”

For more information about owning a Snap Printing Franchise in Australia visit the website www.snap.com.au

Pitch Club is a fun, fast and furious business networking event like no other and offers entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their ideas from a miniature boxing ring to an audience of potential investors.

A typical Pitch Club event starts with ten entrepreneurs invited into a miniature boxing ring, where they each have ninety seconds to pitch their idea to the crowd. The audience decides who makes it to the final round through preliminary voting and then the finalists have the opportunity to interact for another five minutes with the audience through their pitch and a Q&A session. The audience then votes for the winner of the night with Pitch Club dollars, signifying their endorsement of the ideas presented to them.

On 30 April 2009, Sara Redman from Launceston in Tasmania, became the first woman to win a Pitch Club event. Sara was one of three women pitching on the night and won the crowd over with her pitch for celebrity endorsement of her product, ‘Lighten Up – a new approach to weight loss.

Sara Redman told Australian Women Online, Pitch Club “was one of the best business experiences I’ve had.”

“For Lighten Up we wanted a celebrity endorsement and we had some specific celebrities we were seeking contact with and we got contacts for three of them, which is fantastic,” she said.

As the winner at a Pitch Club event, Sara Redman received: a huge bottle of Moet champagne; a one hour coaching session with KPMG; a free training program through the Tasmanian Department Economic Development; training with the co-founder of Pitch Club, Peter Cristo; and a number of books, cd’s and magazine subscriptions. The winner also receives free publicity via Pitch Club’s PR campaign.

“From Pitch Club we also raised our profile in the business community. There’s a really good representation from government, the private sector, individual entrepreneurs and investors – so it was an excellent opportunity to just to have their attention,” said Sara Redman.

With budding entrepreneurs required to pitch to a crowd from a boxing ring, it’s not surprising that initially, the concept appealed to more men than women. However, as the recent event in Launceston showed, Pitch Club is beginning to attract women in increasing numbers.

“I can’t thank them enough and I’m going to be an ambassador for the Pitch Club and encourage people to pitch, particularly women,” said Sara Redman. “I think it is a good opportunity for women.”

Pitch Club events costs just $25 to attend and are held in Brisbane, Launceston, Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Sydney and Adelaide. For more information visit the website www.pitchclub.com.

While much of the retail sector is feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis and in cut-back mode, Bakers Delight is trending positively against the economic downturn. As part of an aggressive growth campaign, the company is looking to recruit 150 new franchisees across its international network and will also hire 500 apprentice bakers to help facilitate this growth.

Bakers Delight says it continues to enjoy steady growth and is on track to post global revenues of $570 million in the Financial Year ending 2009 and over six per cent growth in Australia alone.

Roger Gillespie, co-founder and CEO of Bakers Delight announced, “Our business is in growth, despite economic pressures. We provide households with a staple product offering and are seeing more people go back to basics rather than splurging on big ticket items.”

The fresh bread market in Australia is currently worth $2.69 billion and Bakers Delight currently holds a 14.6 per cent share of the Australian market.

Bakers Delight’s expansion plans in 2009 will see it look for franchisees for new and existing sites across the network. Opportunities include 25 across NSW and ACT, 19 in WA, 18 across VIC and TAS, 18 in QLD, 15 across SA and NT, five in New Zealand and 50 in Canada, where the company trades under COBS Bread.

“It represents a great opportunity for anyone looking to operate a business or work in a thriving retail environment that can withstand even the toughest of economic times – our business continues to demonstrate this 28 years on,” Roger said.

Bakers Delight boasts a franchise success rate of over 90 per cent and 40 per cent of its bakeries are owned by franchisees with more than one site.

For the 500 apprentice bakers Bakers Delight intends to recruit during 2009, good news also abounds. “Over 30 per cent of our franchisees started their career as an apprentice so an apprenticeship with Bakers Delight is more than just a job; it’s a starting point for a career that can often lead to bakery management and ownership,” Roger said.

Prospective franchisees can source further information and the opportunity to speak to existing franchisees by contacting Bakers Delight on Tel: 1300 309 759 or www.bakersdelight.com.au

Half of the floor space at the Sydney Expo has already been sold, despite the event being still four months away. Interest is also running high in the Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth legs of Australia’s premier franchising exhibition series, as savvy investors look to escape the current trend of job cuts, foreclosures and stock market losses.

“Bad news for the economy can often mean good news for franchisors. With the ongoing threat of job cuts and stock price plunges, more people are deciding that the best way to control their own destiny is through franchises and small-business ownership,” said Jon Perry, Exhibition Director, Franchising & Business Opportunities Expos.

“A franchise, with its proven systems and support, offers a safer and potentially high return alternative. We experienced a wave of enthusiasm from visitors at this year’s Melbourne Expo following the economic downturn and there is a real buzz surrounding the 2009 events.”

From young professionals to families to empty nesters, visitors from all walks of life flocked to the Franchising & Business Opportunities Expos between March and October in 2008, with the Franchising Boot Camp and Franchising Advice Centre proving particularly popular.

Another huge draw card was Jim Penman, founder of Jim’s Group, who spoke to packed theatres in both Brisbane and Melbourne.

With organisers busy recruiting a host of new and compelling speakers for the Franchising Theatre, Perry said the 2009 Expos promised to be the best yet for both visitors and exhibitors.

“We are also looking at some exciting inclusions around the ‘women in franchising’ theme and are in the process of creating a new visual look for the Expos, so there is a great anticipation building around 2009,” said Perry.

The 2009 Franchising & Business Opportunities Expos will kick off at Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre on 20-22 March, before moving on to Perth in May, Melbourne in August and Brisbane in September.

For further information visit www.franchisingexpo.com.au

When husband and wife team, Gary and Diane Heavin (pictured) opened their first Curves club in Texas in 1992, little did they know it would become the largest fitness franchise in the world and the tenth largest of all franchise companies globally. Today there are more than 10,200 Curves clubs in 55 countries, and 5 million members, including 400 clubs in Australia. But behind the Curves story of success is one of personal tragedy and past failure.

Born in 1955 in Houston, Texas, Gary Heavin was just 13 years old when his mother, who struggled with weight issues and high blood pressure, died in her sleep at the age of 40. Gary became convinced that diet and exercise could have saved her life. The premature death of his mother would have a profound effect on Gary Heavin and led him to develop a passion for promoting fitness among women to help prevent deteriorating health and thus, extend their lives.

Gary Heavin told Australian Women Online, “Women didn’t like going to conventional gyms because it’s intimidating, they felt like they had to lose ten pounds before they could join a gym. A lot of our members are also married and have children and they don’t want to go to a conventional gym, which is often more like a nightclub than a health club.”

The concept of a 30 minute workout came about when the couple discovered that one of the other reasons women were not joining traditional gyms was because most women are time poor and don’t have an hour and a half to spend at the gym three days a week. So Gary and Diane set about developing a program where women could get all the benefits of regular exercise in the shortest possible time. At Curves they call this ‘efficient fitness’.

Gary and Diane created the Curves business model at a time when the fitness industry was experiencing a significant downturn after the bottom fell out of the fitness boom in the late 1980s. Gary had already gambled and lost everything on a chain of fitness clubs due to too rapid expansion, but he was determined not to repeat his past mistakes.

“Franchising is one of the things I learned from it. I had fourteen clubs run by fourteen managers and you’re scrambling around trying to get them to do their jobs and to care about the business as much as you do,” he said.

The Curves concept of a community of women helping other women to stick to a diet and exercise program was the first of it’s kind and the concept was spread quickly by word of mouth. “By growing by word of mouth, most of our franchisees were actually members first and were passionate about the program and wanted it to be part of their [professional] lives too.”

Gary says the secret to the Curves success is that it’s more than just a fitness club, it’s a community of women supporting each other. “All our franchisees are women who are passionate about helping other women and that’s what our business is really all about.”

“There was a time when we were opening a new Curves every 3 hours. Now that our franchises have pretty much sold out in Australia, the United States, Canada and in lots of other countries, our growth rate has slowed.” Gary laughs and says “Now we’re only opening a new Curves every 11 hours.”

Although passion is certainly one factor in the Curves success story, Gary says “At the end of the day you have to take care of business.” And here he has made it a point to use his past failures as lessons, not only for himself, but for the entire Curves community of franchisees.

“People frequently thank me for the opportunity to own a successful fitness club. But I always say, ‘Look, all I did was figure out every wrong way to do this. I once lost everything I owned, and that’s good news for you, because you don’t have to suffer and learn things the hard way. I’ve done it for you.’”

Gary Heavin told Australian Women Online, “I’ve learned much more from failure than I’ve ever learned from success. “I made enough mistakes in my twenties, that I really ran of them. I’m really not all that smart, just persistent.”

When I asked Gary to comment on Contours and their ’29 minute workout’ for women, he laughed and said, “They’re trying to be Curves and they’re just about out of business. In America they’ve closed 40 per cent of their locations in the last few years. But they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery and there have been a number of knock-offs of Curves. There was another one called Slender Lady which I like to call ‘slander lady’. But there have been lots of others.”

“All of them have been able to build up to a point entirely from the people who couldn’t buy a Curves. In franchising you can only sell one per territory and these people were looking for what would be the next best thing and so Contours and the other knock-offs have been riding the Curves wave of success all over the world.  The problem is that there are two different philosophies – theirs and ours.”

“They are looking for somebody who wants to own a business and then they have to try and teach them passion.  We’re looking for people who have passion and all we have to do is to teach them how to run a business.  So as a result, they’ve never created a community of passionate people that really show up for the right reasons.”

Gary added, “It’s a shame because some of their franchisees are going to be financially hurt. I hate to see it, but that’s business.”

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Part of the Frontline Recruitment Group, Bronwyn will now compete with Brisbane’s Frontline Retail agency owners Colleen and Mark Hart for the national title to be announced on Saturday 18 October 2008 in Sydney.

The FCA is the peak body for the $128 billion franchise sector in Australia, making the awards the most prestigious in the national franchise industry.

FCA Communications Manager Alex Doran said it was the first time in the award’s history that two states under the one franchise banner would compete for the national title.

In a glowing endorsement, FCA judges said that as a multi unit franchisee “Bronwyn has an absolute passion for providing the upmost motivating culture which is anchored by results orientation and team work. Bronwyn is also committed to her team’s personal development. In fact, each team member has their very own vision board above their desk. Not only does Bronwyn focus on her people but every aspect of their business to achieve excellent results.”

“It is an incredible achievement for the Frontline Recruitment Group as an entire franchise system,” explained Group Managing Director Peter Davis.

“Regardless of what happens from here, the ramifications of such an award will be very positive for all franchisees. Awards such as this will greatly enhance our profile both in the franchise world and to the general public including clients and job candidates. Australia is the most heavily franchised nation in the world with greater than 14% of our gross domestic product coming from franchises. It is a big and serious industry in this country so to have not one but two of our own recognised is a massive achievement,” he said.

The Frontline Group has operated for 13 years and has a network of 34 franchised specialist recruitment agencies across Australia and New Zealand. It is the largest franchised recruitment system in the country. For more information visit www.frontlineretail.com.au

Mrs. Fields Cookies commenced operations in Australia in the 1980s, as a subsidiary of the Franchisor, Mrs. Fields Cookies of the United States. In December 1994, Cookies Australia Pty Limited acquired the Australian Master Franchise rights to Mrs. Fields Cookies from the United States.

Seeing an opportunity for growth of the concept in Australia, Debbie Benefield (pictured) and her husband Andrew acquired the Australian Master Franchise from the previous owners in 2006.

Mrs. Fields Cookies Australia is proudly a 100% Australian owned company based in Sydney. It has set about rationalising, revitalising and “Australianising” the business and a totally new look concept was developed specifically for the Australian market.

Debbie Benefield told Australian Women Online, “We have refined the systems that were in place when we bought the business and introduced new products into our stores.”

Debbie’s knack for marketing and consumer relations brought a refreshed presentation to the stores, a more Australian flavor. Some of her new concepts include the Cookie Club (free membership) which gives customers a special deal every time they shop at a Mrs Fields store; the Kids Holiday Pack, which includes a Disney Character Drink and three mini bites; and an array of gift packaging ranging from heart shaped cookie tins to porcelain Santas full of cookies for the festive season.

“We are just about to completely revamp our coffee. Our new supplier has a world champion Barista to help train our staff,” she said.

Another exciting product introduced into the Australian stores is the ‘Cookie Cake‘.

Debbie explains, “The Cookie Cake is a big cookie the size of a pizza and you decorate it with whatever you like and it’s all iced for you in the store. You can go off and do your shopping and when you come back, it’s ready.”

The Cookie Cake is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to traditional cakes at birthdays and other celebrations.  Since it’s introduction into Australian stores, Mrs. Fields Cookie Australia has experienced 15% growth in the first 3 months of 2008.

“The cookie cakes make up thirty per cent of sales in the United States. The previous owners of the master franchise did try to introduce the concept into the Australian stores but didn’t implement it well,” said Debbie.

Debbie revealed that 10 out of the 17 Mrs Fields stores are managed or operated by women.

“Mrs. Fields stores are great businesses and a lot of them are run by women and our best performing stores are all run by women. We offer flexibility for women because if you can manage your staff effectively and we’ll be there to help you with that, you don’t have to be there all day. Quite a few stores have managers in them and their is the potential to own more than one store.”

“With Mrs Fields franchise Kiosks starting from just $199 000 and Cafes from $240 000, they are affordable and are easily managed by women due to the excellent systems in place. I truly believe that women are actually better at creating that warm and homey atmosphere for customers to relax in, which is a key ingredient to the success of our stores,” said Debbie.

“My vision is to triple our store count in 5 years with 10 new stores due to open in the next 12 months alone.”

“We have a new store in Plenty Valley (Vic), which opened in late May and have already got two other ones in operation since we took over.”

And new franchisees couldn’t be in better hands.  Both Debbie and Andrew have an extensive background in running successful businesses in Australia.

After working for her father as a radiator repairer, Debbie went on to manage the second location of the family business. Then shortly after her marriage to Andrew, Debbie started a bridal ware business from home.

“I started a bridal business with $200 and turned it from a small business selling second-hand bridal dresses out of my lounge room into a two store operation turning over $1 million per annum in less than 5 years. I employed not only a manager and sales staff, but also Andrew,” said Debbie.

The couple sold the bridal ware stores when their two children, Sabine now aged 8 and Darcy aged 5, were born. As a stay-at-home mum, Debbie started an online scrap booking business whilst husband Andrew worked his way up the corporate ladder, becoming the national retail manager for Caltex with over 800 stores to look after. Andrew has also worked for a number of other well known franchises in Australia.

With a background in franchising, Andrew was the obvious choice to run Mrs. Fields Cookies when the couple acquired the Australian Master Franchise from the previous owner in 2006. These days Debbie works as the national marketing manager for Mrs. Fields, dividing her time between working in the office and working two days a week at home.

I would like to thank Debbie Benefield for speaking with Australian Women Online.