I love my job blogging with easyStorage. Over the past year it’s allowed me to interview people from all walks of life who have become easyStorage franchisees, from Scotland down. Each of them brings something special, and the new franchisees for the Leicestershire area are no exception.

I was lucky enough to interview owner Sam Hunt, and frankly, she’s Wonderwoman!

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An ex-police officer, she and her husband, retired police officer, Gary Hunt, were both with Leicestershire Police.  He is currently working with the local authority, but will be officially joining easyStorage in November.

Sam left the police force after losing the nanny to her four children (yes, you read that correctly, four children!) and realising that she and Gary needed to do things differently. Policing isn’t a job you where can clock off on the dot. It’s a little hard to say to those breaking the law ‘sorry, can you come back tomorrow, I’m off home for tea’, or to ask Royal visitors to the county to reorganise their schedules because it’s gymkhana day. Sam and Gary were working opposite shifts so that they could ‘tag’ each other to take responsibility for the family whilst the other was on shift. They were often sat in the Police Station car park waiting with the children to be able to ‘swap’ shifts for childcare, and vice versa.

The loss of a nanny to help them meant something had to give, so Sam stepped out of her career and into civilian life.

The couple are already entrepreneurial, with properties in the area, and many of their tenants know Sam, her family, and even the family’s menagerie of pets. To be able to juggle so much, Sam is super organised and thinks laterally to solve problems. She once had to call in to see a tenant shortly before a vet’s appointment, so she simply took the horse in a horse box with her.

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And, of course, that experience with trailers and horseboxes means Sam is already a skilled driver. That and the fact that she used to run a mobile gin bar means she can turn a trailer on a pin. Whilst she’ll be helping out with the moving goods, it is their eldest son Francis who’ll be doing most of the driving once they’re fully operational and can all take their assigned roles. He’s already been out training with other easyStorage teams, notably in Uxbridge team, to get a feel for how things work.

Their bright orange easyVan has arrived and will be named after their first customer, in line with easyStorage tradition (although we do have to forgive some for breaking with tradition when deciding on names like Russell and Fiona!)

On top of four children, the family have a pony; a horse; two laying hens; two dogs (a Labradoodle and a Shih Tzu Poodle cross - a Shihpoo); and a lizard called Seymour. With all of this going on, I asked Sam how she stays organised. She’s a woman after my own heart when it comes to putting things straight onto a pen and paper diary (all electronic diaries store dates in different places), and she keeps a whiteboard so that all of the family can see who needs to be where, when, and even meal plans for the week. (The youngest Hunt is eleven years old.)

And just because all of this isn’t enough, Sam also helps out at her local Jubilee Harborough food bank.

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Whilst most franchisees attend a ‘Discovery Day’ before joining, the COVID epidemic ensured that this wasn’t a possibility for Sam and Gary, who had phone conversations and interviews with the Franchise Manager, before presenting their business plan to the board. Despite having nerves of steel, Sam laughs at just how nerve racking she found it. Her last interview was to join the Police Service, so her CV still had her swimming awards on it (invaluable for a role in the Police, perhaps less so for a storage operation.)

Like many people with property businesses, she knew that there was a shortage of storage facilities in the area.  She and Gary had been looking to set something up when they chanced upon easyStorage. Not only was the operation something they could relate to, but the eight easyGroup values aligned closely to their own:

·       great value;

·       taking on the big boys;

·       service for the many not for the few;

·       relentless innovation;

·       keeping it simple;

·       entrepreneurial;

·       making a difference in people’s lives; and

·       being honest, open, caring and fun.

Service folk understand community, and the need to support each other, and Sam and Gary have found that in the easyStorage ‘family’ (and of course the ‘easy’ brand helps!).

From their base in Market Harborough, they’ll be serving homes right across the region including, of course, both Leicester and Coventry.

This hard-working husband and wife team, along with their family, deserve every success. Before too long, when his current contract ends, Gary will join Francis at the operations end of the business and Sam will focus on the business side. This determined, organised couple deserve all the success in the World. To read more about the dream duo, you can read their recent feature in the Harborough Mail here.

For a no obligation quote on self-storage in the Leicester or Coventry area, there’s a price calculator here: https://book.easystorage.com/

Not only does easyStorage come to collect, and later return, your belongings, they can also pack for you!

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If you are interested in running an easyStorage franchise, particularly in the North of England, you can find out more here!