A Reading couple, Lucy and Julian first met while working in retail on the shop floor. Eight years later and they're now married with two sons and running two successful businesses.
With combined experience in retail, sales and admin, owning their own business was not something the couple had ever really thought about.
Lucy said: "We hadn’t planned to start our own business initially. The opportunity was presented to Julian through his job at the time. As it was something that we both had experience in, we wanted to see how it would be to work for ourselves. We enjoy it so much that we now run two businesses."
With the flexibility of working for themselves, the couple are able to balance their business with family life but what is it like living and working with the same person?
Lucy said: "We really enjoy working together as we have different strengths and can use them effectively. We trust each other completely so know that we will both put our full effort into making anything we do a success. We find that the more time we spend together, the happier we are, which is not something that we expected."
As well as Fantastic Services, the couple also have two retail stores.
With both Lucy and Julian coming from a retail background, it may seem surprising that they then decided to venture out into cleaning and domestic services.
But it was after visiting a franchise exhibition and speaking to the team they knew the business was a good fit for them.
Lucy said: "We started working in the cleaning industry after speaking with Fantastic Services and feeling like they would fully support us through learning the industry. We wanted to start a business that was different from anything that we had ever done before, and the services industry was completely new to us."
It's actually the challenge of learning something new that the couple enjoy most about the business.
Lucy added: "We enjoyed not having previous knowledge about the industry so having to find out for ourselves. We have a great team working behind us at Fantastic that we have fun with."
Fantastic Services can clean both homes and businesses.
Fantastic Services is more than a cleaning company, it offers a whole array of different services for your home, garden and even business.
Lucy said: "We can do almost any task that anyone would need. Whether it’s at home, at work, gardening, oven cleaning or making the beds. All of our operators are local to the area and set themselves very high standards to make sure that all of our customers are left feeling positive about the service that they have booked.
She added: "We’re a local business and we do understand the area. We understand what people in that area need."
The couple have only been working with Fantastic Services since November last year and already they are thinking of expanding.
Lucy added: "We hope to offer the full Fantastic range of services to the Reading, Slough and Hemel Hempstead area – cleaning, gardening, handyman, removals, pest control and much more."
Jorge recently joined Fantastic Services as an Area Development franchisee after being a loyal customer for eight years.
Time & flexibility is a major thing for me. With Fantastic you can do as much or as little work as you want. It's all down to you, but it's Fantastic who give you the platform to do it.Edmund Augustin, Franchisee
The latest technology introduced - the BFantastic & GoFantastic app are really, really, really helpful! We can now do everything on the phone or the computer. This makes our lives much easier.Vanya & Hristo, Area development franchisees
Joining Fantastic Services is the best decision we've made. It seemed like a natural fit for us. We feel quite safe and secure.Julian & Lucy, Area development franchisees
100+ high-end services available to domestic and commercial customers
500+ employees supporting franchisees with sales, customer service, IT and marketing
£20 million+ invested in technological business solutions