For Martyn and Carly Traber buying their own business was all about restoring a work life balance and being able to spend more time with their children. One year on after leaving the hospitality industry to launch Revive! Plymouth, the couple are feeling happy and relaxed. They’ve achieved everything they had hoped – and more.
“ The highlight for us is just being able to do stuff as a family and spend more time at home. Now I have weekends and evenings off I can enjoy special things like putting the children to bed,” said Martyn. “I am also seeing far more of my friends – I missed out on so much when I was managing hotels. Now I can make more time for myself to be able to be part of that again.”
Carly manages all of Revive! Plymouth’s social media and technology. She plans to join the business full time when finances allow. Until then she’s changed jobs and enjoying working back at the pub where she first worked as a teenager. “The hours are better and I love it! It’s far less stressful for me now. With Martin being at home more we can share everything.”
As complete newcomers to the motor industry, the couple appreciate the ongoing support given to them by the Revive! head office team. Said Carly: “They’re great. Obviously, there’s times where something’s happened and we just don’t quite know how to handle it, or just need a bit of guidance. They’re always there to support us. Just being able to talk to somebody who has been in the business for a long time is really helpful.”
So what has the couple learned about the business and themselves since starting their Revive! journey? “I’ve learned a lot about cars!” laughed Martyn. “seriously though, obviously, coming from a hotel and being a manager, you know a bit about business, but you never know the full extent of owning a business, because if you’re just a manager, you don’t see the full picture. So seeing the full picture I’ve learned a lot about owning your own business, and how you go about things. There’s so much to learn when you look at the many ‘hats’ you’ve got to put on. The biggest learning curve is how to spin all those different plates at the same time and get it all right. I’m not there yet, but I don’t think you’re ever going to be fully there, because you’re always learning. If you want to progress, you need to always learn.”
Martyn has taken full advantage of the extra training courses offered by Revive! to its network. He explained: “There’s always courses going on. I recently went to the Revive! training academy to attend Retail the Revive! Way along with all of the other franchisees who could make it. It was very informative to learn from the trainer but also learn from fellow franchisees. It gets you thinking ‘I’m going to try and implement this and try and out that to drive up my own conversion rate’ which really helps for when you get back.”
For Carly, her main take-away from the past year is the importance of building the right team. “What we’ve learned is the fact that you can’t train personality, but you can train skills. Luckily, our techs are the right people and they’re good workers, so finding the right people as we move forward has to be the way to go.”
Now that the ‘dream’ team is in place and the Trabers are actively looking for a third technician, the future is looking rosy.
As their prime motivation for buying their own business was to get a better family life, it’s no surprise that their desire to grow Revive! Portsmouth is driven by further exciting, lifestyle goals. Stage one of their life plan was to get their work life balance back, now stage two is to buy a bigger house, take their two children to Disneyland and get another dog!
Keep an eye on the latest news from Revive! Plymouth on their socials here: facebook.com/reviveplymouth
For more information about franchise opportunities in your area please get in touch with our team here: revivefranchise.com/contact-us/
