Suzanne Joliffe, franchise owner, Bedshed joined us for a brief chat at the Sydney Franchising & Business Opportunities Expo, August 2022.

Suzanne told us about her background in work and business, what she loves about being part of Bedshed, her favourite product in the range, and some advice for anyone looking to go into business for themselves, and more…

What’s your background in business or work?

"So I started my career in the corporate world. 

So I did about 25 years in insurance, really helping customers with insurance claims. And then went into small business with Telstra and owned two Telstra stores for about 12 years and then joined the Bedshed community eight months ago. 

What do you most love about what you do?

I love helping people, really just that opportunity when people come in and they're having a bad night's sleep or really want the opportunity to make themselves more comfortable in their home. 

To me, working for Bedshed gives me that chance to make people's lives comfortable and to give them a better night's sleep. 

What’s your favourite product in the range and why?

Oh my favourite product would be our Paris Suite, which is one of our solid timber. 

That's a Western Australia Maori timber piece of furniture. It's a really solid, big, beautiful bedroom suite, and I love it because I don't have a room big enough to fit it in. 

So in the store I'm able to dress it up and make it look really nice and pretend it's my own. 

What would be your advice or guidance to people looking to get into their own business?

Yeah, I think, just be prepared for the ups and downs. It's not all smooth sailing. It never will be. 

But the rewards are fantastic when they actually come to in the end. But it is a roller coaster. You're going to have good times. You're going to have lean times, but just be persistent and stick with it. 

And the rewards are fantastic. And remember that you're doing it all for yourself, so not for somebody else, which is really nice. 

What was it about Bedshed for you?

I think the two things that attracted us the most when we first started looking was one, the model, the franchise model itself. 

It's collaborative, very much involving the franchisees in the program and organised. It was really a well organised program that was well set out and presented to us. 

So that was attractive because we knew from the start that we were entering a business that knew what it was doing. 

And the second thing was the people. We were really amazed that every time we met someone from the Bedshed family, they all loved what they did. 

They all talked about it passionately. 

They all had a smile on their face. 

So for us that said, it was a great culture. So something that we really wanted to be part of."