Being your own boss comes with lots of benefits — like being able to spend the day tending to your vegetable garden.
“We spend a lot of our spare time gardening. My wife loves flower gardens and I mainly grow vegetables. During the summer I plant a lot of the vegetables which we used to grow in Fiji, that don’t grow here in the winter. Vegetables are quite expensive to buy, but we have our own fresh vegetables,” says CrestClean franchisee Binesh Naidu.
Binesh and his wife Nag Mani bought a franchise in Tauranga in 2012, and a decade later they are still enjoying the lifestyle benefits.
Previously a cabinet maker, Binesh joined CrestClean as the building slump hit and his hours started to wane.
“I needed to get something to make the money we needed to survive. At that time, I was cabinet making and finishing at 3pm, so I bought a small franchise, and started with one school site. I did both jobs for about a year, and then I left my cabinet making job,” says Binesh.
“I got more money working 30 hours in my CrestClean business than 50 hours a week as a cabinet maker.”
Over the past 10 years, Binesh and Mani have tripled the size of the business, which has enabled them to buy three brand new cars and make a sizeable dent in their mortgage.
But mostly, they enjoy being able to manage their own time.
“We get more time together. We work together and we are both home at the same time, so we can enjoy our time off together. It’s a good lifestyle and we are proud of what we have achieved. We look forward to continuing for as long as we can,” says Binesh.
In recognition of their 10-year milestone, Tauranga Regional Master Franchisee Jan Lichtwark presented Binesh with a long service award.
“Binesh and Mani are great franchisees. They were one of my very first franchise teams and have had some of their customers for the whole 10 years. They are always happy to help and have referred their friends into CrestClean as well, who are still franchisees today. Congratulations to them both on 10 successful years in business.”
