Efficiency & Excellence: Meet Jordan Barlow, Franchise Operations Manager

“Though she be but little, she is fierce!” So said William Shakespeare (in A Midsummer Night's Dream). The line could have been written for new Franchise Operations Manager, Jordan Barlow. Although just 5’2”and seven and a half stone, she has surprised the easyStorage team with her strength and determination – and her ability to drive a counter-based forklift truck.

And fierce she is, in her determination to have everything well organised and streamlined for the franchisees, and in her approach to solving small, everyday problems in the fastest, most efficient way possible, without wasting senior management time.

She joined easyStorage a month ago from another self-storage company where she was Assistant Manager of their flagship store in Slough. The difference is vast. There is less reporting to layers of senior management to do, less to do for ‘show’, less unnecessary meetings, meaning she can spend her days productively. The role is a lot less full of ‘busy’ work, and much more full of ‘productive’ work.

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This is just as well: her role is a wide one, offering support to the easyStorage franchises across the UK, from support with apps and troubleshooting, through to helping source new sites and bringing new franchisees on board.

She’s loving the fact that she’s mostly office based. Her roles since leaving full time education include not only the self storage role, but prior to COVID an array of hospitality roles, including looking after Hilton Honours top tier Gold and Diamond customers.

The marketing team have quickly cottoned on to the fact that she loves technology in general, but principally graphic design, meaning she’s already designed some new leaflets for the franchisees.

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It’s no surprise that she’s getting on well across the various ‘departments’ in easyStorage. Jordan gives off an air of being ‘a people person’ and getting on well with people. It was small surprise to discover that her fiancé of eight years, Jared, was her childhood sweetheart (although she remained schtum about when we should all buy our hats for!)

They live together just ten minutes from the office. Although she can claim some truly European roots, she considers herself very English, although that international spin – and the fact that her boyfriend is South African - must surely help her have empathy with people (a key easyStorage value).

That empathy clearly also extends to animals: after lockdown, she and her fiancé adopted a Romanian rescue dog at four months old, an odd mix of Chihuahua and hound. And they have also been adopted by two British shorthair cats.

Jordan’s thoroughly enjoying her new role. Her line manager is founder and Franchise Director, Nigel Dawson, and she is doing her utmost to ensure that problems are solved before they reach him.

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On the one side, she’s winning with more regular hours, a shorter commute, less wasted time, great teams to work with – franchisees and head office teams alike - and a more empowered role; and on the other, easyStorage has someone with ‘chalk face’ experience of storage and great customer care skills.

Whilst, after just a month, she’s clearly still learning, she has plans to streamline, organise, plan and generally improve efficiency. As we noted above, “Though she be but little, she is fierce!”

To contact Jordan about joining the growing ranks of easyStorage franchises, call 0330 165 9347, or sign up for a Discovery Day here: Franchise with easyStorage

Read about what it’s like to be an easyStorage franchisee here: What’s it like to be an easyStorage franchisee?

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