Have hair dryer, only too happy to travel

Sharon Kenny says if you're a woman, you're either "girlie" or you're not - and she's "terribly girlie".

So it's hardly surprising that the co-founder and former co-owner of the multi-million-dollar franchise business Greenacres has turned to the beauty sector for her next challenge.

Her one-year-old franchise beauty on demand, - or b.o.d as it is better known - has just notched up $1 million in franchisee sales and Kenny, 43, is preparing to take the brand into the United States and Britain.

Just as the Greenacres home services empire was founded on something as simple as lawnmowing, b.o.d arose from another simple idea: why not put qualified beauty therapists on the road?

Provide them with specially kitted-out vehicles and top quality products and send them to the home or office. Add to the mobile beauty concept qualified nail technicians, massage therapists and hair and makeup artists - and, hey presto, you have the "b.o.d squad".

The four specialty areas are sold as separate franchises and the former model has sold 21 so far. There is also a b.o.d franchisee in Dubai. Four territory franchises have also been sold.

Mobile beauty is nothing new but Kenny claims no one else has franchised it.

She is particularly excited about prospects for the b.o.d squad in Britain and there have been inquiries from California. In New Zealand, b.o.d has given beauty therapists and beauticians, the opportunity to earn good money and buy their own business.

"The minimum they would earn is $65 an hour. It's incredibly profitable. They average $1500 a week."

The franchise has its own range of cosmetics, made-to-order in the US. Franchisees can boost their earnings by selling the makeup and a specialty line of skin products from their mobile stores. Kenny has also set up a hair and makeup school in Auckland.

So what does it take to hit the road?

A beauty therapy franchise is the most expensive of the four ($10,000 plus about $17,000 for equipment, products and training). The cheapest franchise is massage therapy ($10,000 plus about $3000 for equipment).

Franchisees also pay a weekly fee of $135 plus GST to the territory franchisee. Then there is a $25 weekly brand fee to b.o.d's Auckland headquarters and a $10 a week fee for website data. Branded, custom-designed b.o.d vehicles are leased from head office. Marketing is done by territory businesses, not individual franchisees.

Kenny is the majority owner of b.o.d but Lynn Stuart, a long-time friend, is a business partner.

Simon Lord, the former chairman of the New Zealand Franchise Association and publisher of Franchise New Zealand magazine, says Kenny is the country's most experienced woman franchisor in the mobile systems sector. He says she has a shrewd eye for a business opportunity and is a good manager.

Kenny and her former husband, Adrian sold, Greenacres in 2002. The couple split soon after starting up At Your Request, a sort of "upmarket Greenacres".

Kenny then moved to Lake Karapiro in the Waikato where, in 2004, she dreamed up b.o.d.