We caught up with Karen Mosley, shareholder and one of the founding partners of Cargo2Go Yorkshire.
Cargo2Go’s franchised Yorkshire operation was starter over 10 years ago, with Karen being involved from day one. It’s been an eventful and challenging 10 years and Karen tells us why she wanted to get involved.
“I’d been working in Leeds for a large multinational plc Building Services Consultancy, which was good use of my Geography degree from Leeds University. However I was finding the work was becoming a bit stale and the mood within the industry was gloomy with the financial crisis of 2008 leading into the recession which hit the sector especially hard. On top of that, my daily commute into Leeds was always a bind and I seemed to be spending a large chunk of my day sat in traffic!
The prospect of starting a business appealed to me and the franchise route could facilitate this. It meant we had the help of a proven system, an established business model, and the scope for earnings and growth was open ended. The transport & logistic sector was also a good fit as I’d done plenty of traffic impact studies during my consultancy days, so I had a bit of a head start.
We’ve been able to build the business from zero to over £3m turnover in the last ten years, which is hugely satisfying. I’ve done every role there is within the company from operations to planning and marketing. I was also heavily involved in the sales effort in the early days and there aren’t many industrial estates in the region that I’ve not traipsed round – not much fun in winter let me tell you!
More recently I’ve mainly been involved in the book-keeping and finance side of things and I’m currently studying for my AAT accreditation which I will complete this year. In addition, the flexibility that franchising and being my own boss gives me has worked great for my family commitments and overall work-life balance. Choosing the right franchise will enable you to do this too.
My advice would be to do your research thoroughly, choose a franchisor that has a proven track record and pick a growing sector. Then work hard to make your goals and objectives come true. There are a lot more women in transport than you would think!
