From London employee to New Zealand franchise owner

After a few visits to New Zealand with his Kiwi wife, Andy Johnston decided it was time for the family to leave the UK.

Originally from New Zealand, Megan Johnson spent a decade working in the UK. The couple had their first baby, Luca, when they were still living in London and quickly realised that a small flat in London was not the idea place to bring up a child, especially since they had better alternatives.

The Johnsons had visited New Zealand a number of times on holidays, before making the decision to finally move. “The first time I came to New Zealand on a holiday I thought that if I didn’t have to go back to the UK, I wouldn’t,” recalls Andy.

Making the move

It took about one year to get everything organised for the move. “If it had been just the two of us, it would have been quicker, but we had the baby,” adds Andy. Shortly after making the decision to leave the UK, the couple attended one of Working In’s Opportunities New Zealand Expos in London, where they had access to precious information to help with their move.

The couple started looking for jobs in New Zealand while still in London, and Megan got a job with Air New Zealand. After living in a managed apartment for a month after their arrival, the Johnsons rented a house for a while before finally purchasing their own home in Auckland. Andy and Megan have since had another boy, born in New Zealand.

Purchasing a franchise

When looking for baby car seats, Andy and Megan stumbled upon Baby on the Move and were impressed with the quality of the service they received. “We talked to a lady who happened to mention that they were looking for a franchisee in our area (Mount Eden) so we kind of look at each other and thought that it was something we could do,” explains Andy.

Back in the UK, Andy’s work experience was in the online marketing department, having worked as a web manager for Royal Mail for a few years. As unfortunate as a redundancy situation is, the money Andy received ended up helping with the costs of the move.

Having never owned a business prior to opening the Baby on the Move franchise, Andy has trouble pointing out comparing the realities of the two countries. However, he stresses that opening his franchise in New Zealand was quite easy and straightforward. “It was easy to set up and it’s not like starting a business from scratch. For example, the suppliers were already there so the hard work was done for us,” comments Andy.

Making adjustments

Andy Johnson recommends that business migrants looking to move to New Zealand “do as much research as possible” before committing to that decision. “People from the UK or Canada have an advantage as the culture is similar but, just because it’s similar, don’t assume it’ll all be the same,” warns Andy.

As for Andy, the biggest adjustment he had to face was not having two good salaries coming in every month. The couple now lives with less money, but still says that the move was worth it. “We weren’t counting the pennies before and now it’s a tight budget. But New Zealand is really good because there are a lot of free things to do, a lot of parks and a reserve in just about every corner.”

Despite having planned to move only for 18 months to two years at first (having even kept their home in London), the couple now intends to stay in New Zealand permanently. Time flew by and Andy and Megan went past the 18 months to two years date they’d set for themselves to revise and assess their decision. No revision was needed and the couple couldn’t feel more at home.