Adam Bannister: What sparked the urge to relocate back home?
Chris Bartozewicz: I’m a Yorkshire lad through and through. I bought a house but still commuted to London every day.
It was about the time I started getting itchy feet to move back up to Leeds. It was a hell of a slog for a year and a half.
I met my wife to be and decided to knock it on the head.
AB: How did running a Pitman Franchise come about?
CB: I’d wanted a trade in my own local area. I know a lot of people and lived there all my life.
I’d wanted a trade in my own local area. I know a lot of people and lived there all my life
This seemed a really good opportunity. I had maintained all the PC systems for my companies down in London.
I’ve been repairing my own computers at home for the best part of 20 years. I had an interest in them.
AB: How did you find this franchise?
CB: Through a franchise show.
AB: What made you pick this one?
CB: It was very affordable. It was a figure you could generate from a loan or savings without having to get a business loan.
I did look at other franchises and a few of them were out of my price range.
AB: What are the advantages?
CB: You can run it from home, generating revenue from minute one. You finish your training and you’re running straightaway.
You’ve got a readymade marketplace. Everyone has friends and relatives needing their computer fixing and early on you decide that you’re not going to do them any favours. This is your livelihood now.
I have to pay about £160 a year for professional and public liability insurance, but if I were broken into while carrying a customer’s computer, I’m covered. My competitors, driving round in their battered old Vauxhall Estate, won’t have that level of cover.
AB: Why did you not start your own business?
CB: A lot of my work comes from the fact that people know Pitman: it’s a very well known name.
Our engineers are CRB-checked, which I don’t think any of the competition are doing.
If I was a sole trader, I would have had to think about whether I could brand the car up like I have. Would I wear a uniform?
Would I have had an ID badge? Would I have gone down the route of getting public liability and professional indemnity insurance?
Would I have registered for data protection? Would I have got a CRB check?
Would I have got qualified? Possibly not: I might have learnt as I went.
