Ward-Lucey boosts turnover for Medicare
A businesswoman from Shropshire has told Insider how she transformed an ailing company into a business with a projected turnover of £250,000 in less than 18 months. Jayne Ward-Lucey, director of washroom service company Medicare, says it is now preparing to expand as the order book grows.
Ward-Lucey, a former national account manager for mobile phone company Samsung, bought Cannock-based Medicare after deciding “there must be more out there” than her then sales job.
She says: “An opportunity came up from a colleague of mine who knew of a company which was going to be closed down. The company was doing okay and it provided good services but there was no-one marketing and selling to its full potential."
Ward-Lucey resigned from her sales job and bought the ailing firm, which she admitted was “a huge risk”.
“I had never thought of doing anything like this before but I liked the idea of saving a small business. I knew I had a lot to offer with my sales background and had so many ideas.”
Medicare, which provides washroom care and specialises in short-term contracts for clients, underwent a website redesign and marketing plan under its new directorial control.
The business recruited its seventh staff member this week and Ward-Lucey says that further expansion will begin soon.
“We currently have about 400 clients on our database and it’s growing. I think people recognise that we’re a small, local firm, and if we can compete with the prices of the bigger companies, they will come to us," she says.
And although the past year has been a tough journey, Ward-Lucey says the rewards far outweigh the downsides of the job.
“It’s difficult – you have to put a lot of hard work and effort in," she says. “But the firm is doing really well – we currently have a turnover of £170,000, and expect this to reach £250,000 by the end of the year.”
And the businesswoman adds that she would recommend a similar venture to anyone who is unhappy in their job.
“In life, you have to take risks to get to the next stage – you only get one life, and I certainly didn’t want to regret not having taken the plunge to own a company," she explains. “You have to get up in the morning and want to go to work – and I do that every day now.”
