How a Lockforce franchisee achieved greater flexibility and better work life balance

We caught up with Mark Hodge, Franchisee at Lockforce, to hear more about why Lockforce is such a great franchise to start.

Why did you go down the franchise route? And why did you choose your franchise? I choose the Lockforce Franchise for the support network it offered, that was really important to me and stood out from the other Franchises I looked at. I’ve always been interested in locks and security and locksmithing.

What did you do before taking up a Lockforce Locksmith franchise? Before taking the Lockforce Franchise I was in IT How did you raise the finance?** I raised the finance from savings

What locksmith training and support did you receive initially and ongoing? I received a week of business training and a week of initial locksmith 1:1 intense training including on the job locksmithing experience. In addition I then had further locksmithing training of high security locks.

What is a typical day for you as a Lockforce Locksmith franchisee? Every day is different, it always varies but typically will include on call work, planned work, digital marketing. I also spend at least 1 hour of locksmith practice at home

What challenges have you faced? Getting used to the flexible working hours and that some days can be quiet whilst others very busy Has becoming a Lockforce Locksmith franchisee changed your life, if so how? Yes, I have a greater flexibility and control on my work life balance. What marketing/promotional tools do you use to grow your franchise? A variety of tools that Lockforce supports me with including, website, checkatrade, Google ads etc. What differentiates your franchise from the competition? Many things…but the major one is our reviews from customers, over 4,500 positive reviews. In your opinion, what makes a successful franchisee? To be successful as a Franchisee you need to be, open minded, hard worker and persevere.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of buying their first franchise? You need to do your research, make sure you are self-motivated and be realistic on what you want to achieve and when.

What are your plans for the future? I want to continue growing the Lockforce franchise, having focused on the Chester area successful in the first year I will look to continue with this model over in the Wirral area. Exciting times. Would you do it again? Yes!