Basingstoke-based businesswomen Kristy Roff and Suzanne Evett, owners of Get Ahead South, are delighted to be celebrating five successful years in business.

Friends for over sixteen years, Kristy and Suzanne founded their Get Ahead franchise in May 2019 to work flexibly around their families and gain a better work-life balance. After a successful start, they had to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and homeschooling. But with restrictions eased, they seized the opportunity to accelerate their business growth, expanding into Surrey to create a new Get Ahead South superhub in 2022 and winning the Great British Franchisee Awards in 2023.

Commenting on the milestone, Kristy said: “Becoming partners with Get Ahead was a great decision for us, and we would wholeheartedly recommend it. The freedom it has given us to balance work and family life has been life-changing.

Suzanne and I are living proof that going into business with a friend can be rewarding and highly successful. We are both mums juggling work and family life. But we boldly decided to put life in our own hands by starting our own business. It was a scary step, but we wouldn’t change a thing. There have been tough times for both the business and us personally, but it has all been part of the journey.”

Rebecca Newenham, founder of Get Ahead, said: “I am so proud of all that Kristy and Suzanne have achieved in the last five years. It was an honour to accompany them to the HSBC British Franchise Awards 2023 and see them gain recognition for all their hard work. Kristy and Suzanne have navigated all the challenges of running a business and a family, particularly through a global pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, with such resilience and professionalism. They are a shining example of how to do franchising well.

Over the past five years, they have grown their own territory and expanded into new territories to accelerate the development of their business. They launched a new monthly networking event in 2023, Get Connected, which proved to be so successful that it has now spread to seven cities across the South East. They have supported their local business community and played a vital role in supporting the Get Ahead franchise network, mentoring new franchisees and transforming our internal processes. They have so much to reflect on and celebrate. I look forward to continuing to support them in the coming years. I’m sure great things are ahead for this brilliant partnership.”

Get Ahead offers a comprehensive range of nationwide marketing and business support services designed to help businesses of all sizes and from all sectors get ahead. With regional directors in Berkshire, Bournemouth, East Midlands, Essex, Harrogate, Kent, Leeds, North Hampshire, Oxford, Southampton, Suffolk, Surrey, West London and York, Get Ahead is well-placed to support growing businesses.

To learn more, contact Kristy and Suzanne at (0118) 380 5130 or visit https://getaheadva.com/.

Women have always had something to bring to business – warmth and compassion can move mountains, build brands and achieve business success.

To mark International Women’s Day 2022, we’re going to take a closer look at what women bring to the world of work, and why their approach is so vital in these troubled times.

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How’s 2021 been for your business? We hope it’s been a good one! This was the year we thought things would be “back to normal.” In fact, we’re back to a “new normal,” but here at Get Ahead, we’re proud to say we’ve made it work for us. We’ve had an amazing year – here are some highlights:

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Tell anyone who knows Fiona Ibbetson that she’s just won a major industry award, and their reaction is likely to be “Well, of course she would. Obvs”.

And it’s easy to understand why. The owner of Get Ahead in Leeds and Wakefield made her business profitable in the first three months, created work for 22 people, and expects to triple her revenue this year.

She’s also taking on the additional territory of York and Harrogate which will generate work for many more people as well as making life easier for the business owners she serves by providing outsourced virtual assistants.

“I’d not had my own business before this,” says Fiona, who’d worked for Morrisons supermarkets for 20 years. “That’s why I went down the franchise route.

“The franchise model offers flexibility and leverages the skills of my team to help local businesses. That’s my passion.

“I’ve grown the business really well during the pandemic, despite losing three clients which halved my revenue overnight.

“I’ve had a great mentor in the franchisor, plus I use two business coaches, one for my personal brand.

“I thought networking would be a completely new skill to learn until I realised I’d been networking naturally with peers and colleagues for years.

“My husband’s still working from home as well, and I’m working on my business around my family as well as home-schooling two children. Everybody’s had to adapt.”

Despite the face-to-face networks she relied on for new business vanishing overnight in the pandemic, Fiona built the business up to a team of six plus 16 virtual assistants, and she’s taking on a Business Development Manager to help with the new territory.

“Winning the award is amazing,” she says. “I’m thrilled to be recognised and it puts me up there with other great franchisees which is fantastic.”

The Great British Franchisee Awards recognise franchisees’ exceptional performance and business experience, ability to drive business growth, staff retention, customer satisfaction, community involvement, inspired leadership, and franchise involvement.

The awards are run by whichfranchise, supported by Lloyds Bank, BDO, AMO Consulting and Chantry Group.

• Read more about the awards at https://www.whichfranchise.com/awards

• For over 25 years, whichfranchise has promoted ethical franchise opportunities in the UK. Learn more at https://www.whichfranchise.com/

Tell anyone who knows Fiona Ibbetson that she’s just won a major industry award, and their reaction is likely to be “Well, of course she would. Obvs”.

And it’s easy to understand why. The owner of Get Ahead in Leeds and Wakefield made her business profitable in the first three months, created work for 22 people, and expects to triple her revenue this year.

She’s also taking on the additional territory of York and Harrogate which will generate work for many more people as well as making life easier for the business owners she serves by providing outsourced virtual assistants.

“I’d not had my own business before this,” says Fiona, who’d worked for Morrisons supermarkets for 20 years. “That’s why I went down the franchise route.

“The franchise model offers flexibility and leverages the skills of my team to help local businesses. That’s my passion.

“I’ve grown the business really well during the pandemic, despite losing three clients which halved my revenue overnight.

“I’ve had a great mentor in the franchisor, plus I use two business coaches, one for my personal brand.

“I thought networking would be a completely new skill to learn until I realised I’d been networking naturally with peers and colleagues for years.

“My husband’s still working from home as well, and I’m working on my business around my family as well as home-schooling two children. Everybody’s had to adapt.”

Despite the face-to-face networks she relied on for new business vanishing overnight in the pandemic, Fiona built the business up to a team of six plus 16 virtual assistants, and she’s taking on a Business Development Manager to help with the new territory.

“Winning the award is amazing,” she says. “I’m thrilled to be recognised and it puts me up there with other great franchisees which is fantastic.”

The Great British Franchisee Awards recognise franchisees’ exceptional performance and business experience, ability to drive business growth, staff retention, customer satisfaction, community involvement, inspired leadership, and franchise involvement.

The awards are run by whichfranchise, supported by Lloyds Bank, BDO, AMO Consulting and Chantry Group.

• Read more about the awards at https://www.whichfranchise.com/awards

• For over 25 years, whichfranchise has promoted ethical franchise opportunities in the UK. Learn more at https://www.whichfranchise.com/

While Get Ahead greatly increased its number of franchises during 2020, some of our regional directors have been up and running for some time now. One of these is the outstanding Fiona Ibbetson who has been running Get Ahead Leeds since January 2018.

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While Get Ahead greatly increased its number of franchises during 2020, some of our regional directors have been up and running for some time now. One of these is the outstanding Fiona Ibbetson who has been running Get Ahead Leeds since January 2018.

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How will you be celebrating Christmas with your team this year? If you usually organise a party or a meal for your employees, you might be wondering how to mark the end of the year in a pandemic-friendly way – and you may be lamenting the loss of the traditional Christmas party this year. 

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Thanks to the pandemic, we are all using Zoom and online meeting platforms far more than we used to. There are many applications for online meetings that we’d never thought of until this year, and holding networking events online is one of them. While many of us prefer real-life networking, we have also seen the advantages of online networking – not having to travel makes networking more cost-effective, and we are also able to attend events that are outside our usual patch. You never know – even when the working world returns to normal, we might carry on networking online.

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As we go into autumn, it’s impossible to ignore the warnings of a second coronavirus wave, predicted by health experts during the summer and now back in the press. But what will happen to UK businesses if we do go into a second lockdown?

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