With franchises now operating countrywide, it would be reasonable to suppose that Rawson Properties is satisfied with their growth over the last few years and the general response to their expansion programme.
Not so. Bill Rawson, Chairman of Rawson Properties, says that he is actually surprised that the group nets only some 250 applications for new franchises per annum (of these, perhaps one in ten is accepted).
'Establishing a property franchise with a group such as ours,' he said, 'has the huge advantage that in fact your initial outlay is very limited. There is no stock to buy and you can initially work from your home. You are very much your own boss, but you do have day-by-day support and advice and the backup of easily understood computerised management and financial systems'
The drawback of property franchising, said Rawson, is that the hours can be long and irregular and often weekend work is essential - 'but surely this should not deter any true entrepreneur'.
Could it be that middle class South Africans are scared of a challenge? Rawson said that it does sometimes appear that this is true of a fairly large number of people.
'Those of us who enjoy independence and opportunity have to accept that there will always be many who want a steady, settled place of work with no big challenges. Some of these, however, will in the coming year find themselves redundant and perhaps it is time that they broadened their outlook and became a little bolder'
Right now, said Rawson, is an excellent time to get into the residential sector because a revival here is, in his view, likely to take place from late 2009 onwards and by mid 2010 South Africa could be back to fairly buoyant conditions in the residential sector.
'If you then decide to get in, as so many did on the last boom, you may well find that you have missed the boat. My advice would be to get established while times are hard, learn the ropes and then benefit from your experience and the training that a group such as ours can give you when times improve'
