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Director of Price Attack Franchising, Carol Jarred (pictured), has been declared the 2009 “Franchise Woman of the Year” at the Franchise Council of Australia’s (FCA) Awards Evening.
Carol Jarred co-owns the 128-store strong national company, which specialises in professional hair care, with her husband Barry Jarred who is the Managing Director. Carol said she had already been surprised about taking out the 2009 “QLD/NT Franchise Woman of the Year” title in August and didn’t expect to win the national award due to the calibre of the other four regional award winners from Victoria/Tasmania, New South Wales/ACT, South Australia and Western Australia.
“It’s unbelievable and such an honour to be declared the winner of such a highly coveted award,” she said. “I can’t take all the credit though. This award win is thanks to all the people that have shaped and mentored me into becoming the business woman I am today.”
Kate Johnson of Women in Franchising (WIF), an initiative of the FCA, said the “Franchise Woman of the Year” Award was highly anticipated by many women within the franchising sector, and it was great to see Ms Jarred forging such amazing success in the industry.
“Carol won the award based on her outstanding business achievements, leadership philosophies and initiatives, positive influence on other women, contribution to the franchising industry, contribution to the community and professional development,” she said.
“She is such a successful business woman within franchising and a great example to other women within the industry of what they can achieve in business when they put their mind to it. I congratulate her on behalf of WIF on this wonderful achievement.”
Carol Jarred began her career in the franchise beauty industry as a Price Attack franchisee. With experience as a hairdresser and retail business owner, she was presented with the opportunity in the early 1980s to become a Price Attack franchisee in Bendigo where the beauty industry was making a roaring trade.
In 1990 the couple sold the Bendigo-based business and moved to South Australia to take up the first Price Attack Master Franchise for South Australia and the Northern Territory. “This part of our career was quite fast and exciting and we opened our first store in Adelaide, followed by a further 10 stores within 22 months,” said Carol.
Carol and Barry relocated to Queensland but continued to run the South Australia Master Franchise. After buying two underperforming stores and turning them into profitable businesses the couple realised this was where their passion for business lay, but it also became clear one of the key issues they faced was a tired brand.
“We knew it needed a refresh to sustain business growth so we met with the franchisor to discuss the options. The result was we walked away the new owners of the business in November 2007,” Carol said.
Carol and Barry’s first achievement as franchisors of Price Attack was a rebrand.
“The rollout of the new brand image began in August and it has been very well received incorporating a new logo, business cards, advertisements, store fit-outs, uniforms and computer system. Business has been great since we took over. In fact between the 2007/08 and 2008/09 financial year we have seen a seven per cent increase in.”
Commenting on being crowned Franchise Woman of the Year, Carol said she hoped her award win would help encourage other women to strive for success in all aspects of their life.
“I’m often asked if a work/life balance is achievable and my answer is yes. I raised two children while I transitioned from franchisee to master franchisee to franchisor and I can truly say I had a good lifestyle balance which came down to organisation, time management and delegation,” she said.
“In my experience women are very committed hands on operators – they simply need a system that is easy to follow and that offers them support and flexibility. At Price Attack we attract a lot of females because they feel comfortable working in the beauty industry and find our franchising model suits someone that wants to run their own business but still have the support of an experienced franchisor and time for their family.”