I worked in marketing for Nestle, and looked after the South Pacific Region. It was a great job, but I was working a lot of hours, it was quite stressful, and I spent a lot of time travelling - for at least four or five days at a time, week in, week out. The breaking point for me was once when I had been in Tonga for five days, and I arrived back home, and my son greeted me by saying: 'When are you going back?"
I needed a change of lifestyle; my family is very important to me, and I wanted to be able to work hard and provide for them, but also spend time with them. So I got a job managing a Woolworths Supermarket, but again, I was working about 80 hours a week. I thought if I'm going to be working these hours, I may as well be working for myself.
I investigated many different franchise and small business options: storage services, taxis, food - I spoke to the Franchise Council of Australia, which gave me a lot of help in making my decision. I had heard of
7-Eleven through my travels, I was familiar with it being a big, global brand. Having worked for Nestle, I understood the value of a good brand, which is the first thing that attracted me to the 7-Eleven
retail franchise.
What made this
food and beverage franchise my clear choice was the proven system - they have a great support network, they look after marketing, supply, logistics and, importantly, cash flow. In every business, cash flow is vitally important, and 7-Eleven looks after your cash flow, while you look after the business.
When I first started the store in Kedron, my wife still worked in a bank job. She eventually joined me in the store, just as a temporary work break from the bank. After a month, she enjoyed it so much, she left the bank and came on full time. Our son, who was eightyears-old at the time, began working in the store also: stacking shelves and cleaning. As he grew older, we gave him responsibility in looking after a section - he oved chips, so he became our own mini category manager for chips. He took such pride in that little section, and as we grew and opened stores in Oxenford and Hope Island, he helped train staff and manage stores himself. It has become a real passion for our whole family.
As the son of a 7-Eleven owner, my son was a 'big rooster' at school. The 7-Eleven store has such popularity and recognition among young people; it's so important to them as a meeting place, as a place where they feel welcome.
I was able to put my son through Brisbane Boys Grammar, and he studied mechanical engineering at QUT, before now working for Rio Tinto. He's done very well in his own field, however he is seriously considering purchasing his own 7-Eleven franchise in 2008. It's a vibrant job for a young man.
I'm in the Queensland Jet Club, which is a group o the top 10 franchisees in each state, so that means I get involved in store process and product development. Developing Powerade Slurpees with a range of rotating flavours to appeal to the sports crowd within our Slurpee fans really worked.
"Likewise our speed to market of new products at the logistics or back-end is a real advantage. We order all grocery and fresh food items at an individual store-level on a daily basis that meet the local needs of each store. This allows us to efficiently harness local trends at each store.
I'm also a 7-Eleven Super coach advising new franchisees on how to run their stores and partner with 7-Eleven most effectively.
There are three keys to being a great 7-Eleven franchisee:
Pride - pride in your shop, in your presentation, in your products, in your service.
Discipline - follow the system, have confidence in it, and do it well. It is a great system, it works very well. Ensure you follow it.
Excellence - excellence is not a task, it's a habit.
Kamal Sharma has three 7-Eleven stores in Queensland, Kedron, Oxenford and Hope Island.18-Jun-2008