Jarrad Goulding explains how to start a test-and-tag franchise, a legislated safety requirement for businesses. The franchise includes an experience day, on-site training, and pairing with technicians. Former road-painters and miners have switched to test-and-tag for better work-life balance and flexible hours.
Test and tagging is a compulsory legislated action that needs to happen by every business for their OHS purposes. So it's a very important thing for everyone to get done and we're in that game to actually fulfill that whole help businesses, help my local businesses, especially in my community, get through their OHS requirements, make sure it's all safe for their workers and their staff and the people coming into their businesses as well. So I've been with the local guys about March 2021. Now I'm just finishing up on my franchisee training. The training's been good, the on site training. I've quite enjoyed going out and meeting clients, going to different areas and finding where all the little bits and pieces are around the place. I thought there might have been 20 items in a room. There's now 60 items in a room because they're everywhere. You've just got to look for them.
In the early stages of starting a franchise, we want to get you out on an experience day so you can see what the work's all about. Meet some of our tech technicians or Jarrad, if there's a technician in your state. We'll arrange a day for you to go out with them on a couple of their jobs just so you can see what the work's all about and see if it'll be right for you.
For the last 17 years, I've been in roadworks, actually painting lines on roads no one really thinks anyone does. They won't see the lines on the road. But who's the guy that does it? Well, I'm that guy that did it and I've been doing long hours, long weeks. It's been pretty hard on me mentally and physically, on my body as well. When I've spoken to Jarrod and I've spoken to other franchisees, I was doing 60, 70 hours a week. It's too hard physically. So hopefully with test and tag, I've got that freedom to work around the hours I want to work and make my life a happier life more than anything else.
A lot of the franchise partners I speak to are wanting to get into test and tag because of the work life balance. They're usually in, you know, nine to five jobs or working overtime even, and they're just wanting to dial it back, to spend some more time with their families and be able to live their life the way that they want to as opposed to having to answer for someone else. And, yeah, they can, end of the day, be their own boss.
I'm from New South Wales, Wollongong area south of Sydney. I just wanted to spend more time with the kids. They're getting older, they're six and nine, so just missing out a lot on weekends. The work I was doing on weekends, weekend nights, was mining. Takes up a lot of time, I guess, and that's when I wanted to get a change and work for myself.
So there's not really a criteria, per se, of what's right for test and tagging. We want to bring on people that are wanting to build their own business and be successful within themselves, rather than those that are just focused on the money.
