X-Press Legal Services Ltd is a specialist franchise that provides property searches and reports, working on behalf of solicitors, conveyancing professionals and specialist HIP providers. The searches and reports are a vital part of the property buying process in the UK.

“Franchising has enabled me to realise my ambition to have my own business and also allows me to manage my time effectively to achieve a good work-life balance,” says Manjit Panesar, X-Press Legal Services franchisee covering a large area of West London and parts of Middlesex.

After leaving university with a degree in computer science systems, Manjit was dismayed to find there were no jobs. “It was 1991 and there was a recession. I gave up counting how many CVs I sent out when it went beyond 600!,” he explained. “I got a job as a civil servant before becoming a partner in a D-I-Y shop, a loss-making business that I turned round into a profitable one before selling it on. Using this experience, I moved on to join my dad and brothers in a plumbing and heating shop.

“But what I really wanted was my own business. I also wanted to move out of the retail sector and do something different, ideally home-based to give some flexibility in the working pattern and enable me to spend more time with my family,” he continued.

With these priorities in mind, Manjit considered his options before deciding that franchising offered the safest route to achieving his goals. He commented: “What appealed to me the most was the fact that franchising offers a ready-made proven business model, with working processes and systems already in place. I didn’t want to start a new venture from scratch as I was aware of the initial set costs of a new business, with its associated risks.”

He began some very thorough research into franchising, approaching it with careful thought, after identifying his own priorities and what he expected from a franchise. He gathered information about all the franchises that matched his own criteria and then reviewed their details to produce a short-list of companies to contact, some of whom he visited at the Birmingham franchise exhibition in October 2007.

He met X-Press Legal at this show and shortly afterwards decided that this was the business he wanted to become part of. Manjit said: “X-Press offered just about everything I was looking for. It was an exciting new challenge but with start-up costs within my means. I did not need any additional qualifications and their training covered all elements of the business.

“The other big attraction is that I could work from home and have greater flexibility than I had ever had before. Since setting up my office I have discovered that managing my own time is brilliant and I can see more of my wife and three lively little boys.

“Now I am working hard to build my franchise into a good, solid and reputable company,” Manjit summed up.