Dear Philip
Seemingly I lost your contact details so I contacted Steve Hansen and he was kind enough to give them to me as I wanted to thank you for helping me through the process and decision to take on a Forte School of Music Franchise.
We now have over 800 enrolled students!! We have a manager on board and I am spending more time working on the business - not in it - as you suggested should be the aim. I really felt that week that you had a crystal ball and you were genuinely excited at the journey I was about to embark on. I have learnt so much since getting into the Forte franchise. It has been a huge learning curve and I have felt like I've been living the dream.It was a tough decision at the time and we were putting a lot of investment into the business. It turned out just as you predicted, a lot of hard work to start and quite frightening in those early couple of years, but as history shows we have now grown to quite a substantial business and we are looking to set up our next school. One of the most important keys to our success is the location - if you re-call, I was thinking of another location. You took the time to investigate statistics and drive around physical locations - I am so glad I listened to your counsel here.
The Forte Music system has endured time and we love to see children growing and learning to play music. This is a business that produces returns both financially and socially through the education of children.I want to thank you for your professional behaviour in explaining the business system to us and also representing all facets of the business so that we could make an informed decision.
One of the strangest things happened on the day we opened. A disgruntled franchisee, phoned me as I am putting the flags out the front, and spent 15 minutes in my ear telling me that whatever I do, I must not start a Forte School. After letting him verbally vomit on me for 15 minutes, I responded by suggesting that he would have been better off using the last 15 minutes to pursue more students. I've later heard that he was a real problem child for Paul and Gillian - thankfully he and a couple of other "bad eggs" are no longer in the group and we now have a really positive energy and belief in a big future for what is a great brand.Forte Music is a great system and your professional conduct was warm, friendly, open and honest. Anyway, I hope all is well in your world. My number is below, if you get a spare moment, feel free to give me a call and I can tell you a little more about our journey.
Yours Sincerely,David Statham
