Case Study - Tim Billingham and Alex Stewart

Tim Billingham and Alex Stewart have acquired the biggest territory in X-Press Legal Services' rapidly-growing franchise network. Their area covers a large part of South East England.

Colleagues originally and now friends and business partners, Tim and Alex each had ambitions to run their own business but had reservations about starting a venture entirely alone. They considered many different possibilities and concluded that franchising was the best route forward.

With 22 years' senior level commercial banking experience, Tim already knew and understood the franchising concept. Alex had worked for franchised businesses and also had been self-employed, so he had a different perspective on franchising.

Tim had been head-hunted away from the bank to join an environmental waste management company as Director of Operations and Strategy. He worked hard with his co-directors over the following four years to triple the size of the business.

In fact, the company was so successful that it was soon acquired by another business and Tim and his Board colleagues were invited to move on, despite their huge contribution.

Facing redundancy for the first time in his career, Tim believed that he had a positive opportunity with total freedom to choose a new direction. "I was certain that, given my experience, now was the right time to branch out with my own business," he said. "At the same time, Alex was looking around for a new opportunity and franchising was just one of many options he was considering."

Alex commented: "Being my own boss again was important to me but, with a young family, I was wary about investing significant time and money into a new start up business, whereas buying a franchise and following a proven business model gives a head start."

Tim said: "We believed we could combine talents and strengths to work as an effective team. We wanted a business to business franchise but, at that stage, it was a question of which type we should research and there were so many to choose from."

o-incidentally, both Alex and Tim were in the process of buying houses and on the receiving end of the searches and reports procedure. Tim said: "I rediscovered how protracted and frustrating this is but also realised how much more efficient it could be. I thought about the type of service that I, as a customer, would like to receive – professional, fast, accurate and cost-effective. I recognised that this would need back-up support from a strong national provider and so I was delighted when Alex read about X-Press, a CoPSO executive member, in a franchise magazine. The very next week, at the franchise exhibition I Birmingham, we entered the arena and X-Press was the first stand on the right.

"It was a 'we believe in fate' moment," Tim continued. "Alex and I both saw a great future for this business, especially all the new opportunities created by the government's plans to revolutionise the system for homes purchase in mid-2007 when home information packs are introduced," he added.

Once they had decided to go into business together, they realised how the X-Press model would enable them to capitalise on their respective expertise. Tim had a solid background in banking and business and Alex had considerable sales and marketing experience, especially in the property sector.

They met X-Press for the first time at a franchise exhibition, followed by in-depth meetings at the franchise's headquarters and further local research. "The X-Press team addressed all our questions and concerns, dealing with each very thoroughly," Alex said.

"We realised that working under the umbrella of a known brand has big advantages and saw the huge potential for growth in the searches sector. We decided to go ahead, talked to other franchisees and began our training. We opened our new offices in Crowborough and Burgess Hill in January 2007. Everything is set up and now it is up to us to maximise the potential of the business and the X-Press brand by using all our skills and experience. And, with hard work and good luck, we are sure we will prosper," Tim and Alex agreed.