With a career in recruitment behind him, Neil Hatt was looking for something that would offer him a little more progression. He bought his Birmingham South InXpress franchise in 2006 and has worked his way up to the top 20 in the global InXpress franchise. With plans to keep growing his business even further, Neil is certain it will give him the freedom, rewards and flexibility he was looking for.
He explained: “I left my last job because I wanted to take the opportunity with InXpress. It’s fantastic and I couldn’t see any progression in my previous role because the whole industry was saturated. It was perfect timing for me and franchising is a great step into self-employment so it was a no-brainer for me to give it a go.
“With franchising a large portion of the business is looked after by the franchisor so you’re not on your own and have assistance and guidance. If you can follow the model you can make a success of it – it’s like a halfway house. I just had to take the opportunity and go for it.”
Neil chose InXpress because he could see how much potential the business could have if he added his skills and motivation to a successful and proven business model. He has made a huge success of his business so far and is still looking to push it even further.
“InXpress has completely exceeded my expectations. When I first started I had a figure in mind and thought it would be good to hit it but now I’m five times above it. We’ve just rocketed past where we thought we’d go. The market is extremely lucrative at the moment and I can’t see an end to it. I do keep some money aside for backup but I love the business to the degree that, unless something happened to InXpress, I wouldn’t do anything else.
“With this business, the income is residual which was something that really attracted me to the business. You’re not selling the same thing every month so every time you bring in a new customer who ships more, you build on the income you already have. InXpress gives you the opportunity to build margins quickly and securely – it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.
“I set myself a target of what I wanted to achieve in the business and when we surpassed it, I pushed it higher. I’ve got a very comfortable life with a lot of money coming in and, before my young son came along, the business had got to a point where we had so much freedom. We had a few holidays a year and went to the Caribbean, Africa and Dubai, we could go where we wanted! We put our targets up each year and hit them.”
Aside from the financial rewards and freedom, to his surprise, Neil has also found other rewards within the business. Is there anything better than seeing someone you have trained and help develop also reap the reward of their own hard work?
“It’s been great to train my sales rep up and see him and his life improve, I enjoy that more than I could have imagined. Helping someone else grow and develop has given me two levels of enjoyment from my business. The business is rewarding because we often deal with clients who are just starting up a business and they can’t get the rates they need so we give them better rates and it helps them to grow their business.”
With support in setting up his business and training in the products and service on offer at InXpress, Neil was ready and raring to go with his business. Having got over the initial doubts of going it alone, it only took one customer to help Neil find his stride and he hasn’t looked back since!
“Before I started my business, InXpress gave me sales and product training to learn about the carriers and how to sell their products. When I started we only had three carriers but every time a new carrier or system is introduced, we receive new training but it’s easy to pick up because it’s just in addition to what you already know.
“I was terrified when I first started and I sat at my desk and panicked! However, by the end of the first week I’d managed to sign my first account. Once I’d got the first one I knew the business would work. Now I absolutely adore my business. It’s given me and my family a great life and freedom and I really enjoy it. I’ve had some clients for over nine years now and I’ve built good friendships.”
Although he’s made a success of his business so far, Neil is still looking to achieve even more and help more people share his rewards and benefit from his InXpress business.
“My plans for the future are to keep growing. We’re doing well at the moment but we’re online in the top 10 of the UK leaderboard and we’re 17th globally. We want to double what we’re achieving, take more staff on. I’ve got a vision of the business being 2-3 times the size it is now. If we hit that then I might go and live on a beach somewhere!”
