First A Place At Home Franchisees Hit CARE Pro Status

A Place At Home CARE Pro

A Place At Home created CARE Track, a 5-step senior-focused development program, to provide franchisees with the education and tools to grow and develop their A Place At Home franchise. The final stage of CARE Track is Step 5: CARE Pro.

New candidates enter CARE Track the minute they inquire about owning a franchise to determine Step 1: Are you CARE? Potential owners begin discussions with Jerod Evanich, President of A Place At Home. They take a free psychographic assessment to discover if they can measure up to A Place At Home’s top performers. 

“We want to find owners that can keep up with the extraordinary franchisees we already have but more importantly, we want to make sure the candidate’s values align with our “We are CARE” philosophy,” said Jerod Evanich, President of A Place At Home.

After a franchise is awarded, Step 2: CARE Launch begins. From there Step 3: CARE Coaching rolls out. After some time, once their business is operating, they begin to shine in Step 4: We are CARE. The final stage of CARE Track is Step 5: CARE Pro.

Becoming a CARE Pro

A Place At Home was established in 2012 and began franchising its successful business model in 2017. After 3 years, A Place At Home is happy to announce its first official CARE Pro’s: Alex Caudill of A Place At Home – Scottsdale, Sun City, and Chandler and George and Grace Bradley of A Place At Home – South Denver.

These franchisees have qualified as CARE Pro’s because they have been in business for a full year offering a continuum of care services. Also, their revenues have exceeded $500,000 annually, they’ve grown to at least three office employees, and have excellent customer and employee satisfaction scores. They even won Best of Home Care Provider of Choice and/or Best of Home Care Employer of Choice by Home Care Pulse. 

Dustin Distefano, CEO of A Place At Home, shared, “Owners that hit the CARE Pro milestone are in this for the long-term. They will become leaders in their market and will be positioned to build momentum over the next year.”

Alex and the Bradley’s will now begin working directly with Dustin on taking their business to the next level. They will have one-on-one access weekly to develop special projects such as developing staffing contracts, increasing additional service lines, and developing new payer sources. Dustin will also be on the ground with them during this time of growth. He will help ensure their infrastructure is strong to support the growth they are after in this next year. The goal is to triple their revenue by the end of their first CARE Pro year.

A Place At Home – Scottsdale, Sun City, and Chandler

After ten years as a sergeant in the Marine Corps, one of A Place At Home’s first CARE Pros, Alex Caudill, saw an opportunity to make a difference in the health sector. His military-taught values of duty, service, and self-sacrifice found new meaning when he became a franchisee of A Place At Home in 2018. 

Alex understood how crucial the first 90-180 days were and how they could define the route his business took. Alex said, “Those first months were the hardest. I was on my own trying to get those first clients. It’s important to have a plan, execute on it, and always push forward. I never got content because being content breeds complacency. If you’re always moving forward and pushing towards your goals you’ll move past any hurdles.”

Alex said he didn’t anticipate owning a multi-million dollar business with over 100 employees within 15 months of being open. He said, “it’s a reflection of my team. This shows me the wheels are turning as they’re supposed to be. Our client and satisfaction scores are good because we’re providing good care. We follow through on what we say we’ll do, and if there’s an issue we fix things in a timely manner.”

A Place At Home – South Denver

About thirteen hours northeast of Alex’s location is the first A Place At Home franchise in South Denver. Owners, George and Grace Bradley were the first franchisees taking the leap with A Place At Home in 2017, and it’s paid off as they’ve now hit CARE Pro status.

The Bradleys started looking for different franchises that serve the senior population. They reviewed 5 or 6 different FDD’s and were ready to schedule a discovery day with another franchise but spoke with Jerod at A Place At Home. “Jerod chatted away with me about what A Place At Home had to offer. There were several things that I really liked but thought the different sources of income were a great idea. There are 4 other ways to make money not just in-home care.”

George said, “It’s an honor to hit CARE Pro status. We pride ourselves in the quality of care we provide AND the quality of caregivers we provide. Our customer and client satisfaction scores are extremely important to us and we work hard to keep communication open. Becoming a CARE Pro is validation that everything we’ve been doing is working.”

Do you measure up to our top performers?

Ideal franchise owners are tenacious business builders, goal-oriented, and have a deep commitment to success. Our unique, scalable, and proven senior-focused development program allows owners to hit the ground running. Do you think you have what it takes to be a CARE Pro? See how you measure up and take our psychographic assessment online.

Common Questions About Opening a Home Care Business or Franchise

Thanks in no small part to an increasing amount of digital technologies, more and more seniors are choosing to age in place — in other words, choosing to live in one’s home as they go in and beyond their golden years. New technologies have enabled more seniors to be more self-sufficient, however, it also means an increase in the demand of home health care services to bolster senior needs. This makes now a great time for entrepreneurs to invest in and become a part of the home care industry. It also means that there are a lot of questions newcomers to the industry have, like the following:

Is experience in the healthcare or senior home care industry a necessity to open a home care franchise?

Absolutely not. While with any business having a passion in the area you’re looking to invest in is important, it’s not necessary to have direct experience. However, it is very helpful for those considering opening a franchise or starting a business to have some leadership or management experience. Such experience helps you lead and manage the employees who do have the experience necessary to make a home care business succeed.

How do I find and hire the right people for my senior home care business?

Finding experienced and high-quality caregivers is one of the first and arguably most important tasks you’ll take on as a home care franchise owner. For franchisees, the parent company will often assist you in this department and may even have a starting list of applicants who are in your area. When researching this or taking in open applicants, it’s important to be thorough and find candidates who have the training and experience to exceed state and local standard for caregivers. When you start out, you want to be the best and this begins with hiring the best.

What’s the benefit of going with a franchise rather than beginning my own independent company?

With a franchise home health care company, the investment and royalty fees may seem cumbersome but most franchisees find the benefits well worth it. Franchisees enjoy key business assets like marketing assistance, legal aid, and recruitment assistance — invaluable ongoing support that can take your business to the next level.

Considering a Senior Care Franchise?

When you join our group of dynamic business owners, as franchisees of A Place at Home, you’ll have strong support, thorough training and valuable business resources to help you succeed. Contact us to learn more.

Senior Care’s Growing Demand

Today, 10,000 baby boomers are reaching retirement age every single day. Add to this number the fact that we’re living longer, and the growing desire for seniors to age in place, and you have the recipe for a growing business opportunity.

The home healthcare industry is growing by leaps and bounds every year. If you’re looking for a business opportunity that has a built-in growth factor in the coming years a home healthcare franchise offers excellent opportunities.

The Growing Market For Home Healthcare

A  home healthcare franchise offers a unique opportunity to enter this fast-growing sector and give back to your community. Here a quick look at some of the benefits home healthcare offers.

As more baby boomers enter retirement every day, home healthcare spending is projected to outpace all other types of health care. According to Grand View Research, the market for home healthcare is expected to grow 7.8% a year for the foreseeable future, reaching a value of $517.23 billion by 2025. Demand is growing strongly thanks to benefits like improved patient outcome, elimination of unnecessary hospitalization, improved patient outcomes, and cost efficiency. It also offers patients, who choose to age in place, excellent care in their preferred setting.

A Lower Entry Point

If you’re looking for a franchise opportunity, home healthcare is a great choice. It can cost $500,000 or more to open a fast-food franchise. Most home healthcare franchises cast $150,000 or less to start. This investment includes and is primarily used for hiring, marketing, recruiting and training staff, and for office space.

High Demand = High Revenue

For a relatively low investment, a home healthcare franchise can be a revenue generator, once you’ve ramped up your operation by making connections with key referrers like social workers, and elder-law attorneys. Home Care Plus, an industry research firm found that the median income for a home healthcare franchise is close to $2 million annually. Home Care Plus also found those franchise operators brought in much more than independent operators.

Help With Compliance

Independent healthcare operators are struggling to stay ahead of changes in local, state and federal laws. Insurance to cover worker activities in clients’ homes is another challenging area. Franchises are well known to insurers, and that can help franchisees when it comes to obtaining insurance. As for HIPAA compliance and other regulations, Most franchises offer help to their franchise owners when it comes to understanding compliance and systematizing record keeping.

A home healthcare franchise is a great way to enter into a growing market with a proven business model and the business support you need to succeed. Beyond that, a healthcare franchise is an excellent way to give back to your community and offer help to people who have entered their golden years and their families.

Make A Difference With A Place at Home

A Place at Home is a franchise that is poised to deliver. They offer franchisees help throughout the process, from working with you to find and negotiate the perfect office space and assisting franchisees to cut through the healthcare red-tape, to providing marketing materials and strategies. One of the significant benefits of buying into a franchise is that the business model has been proven. With A Place at Home, you are buying into a franchise that not only has an established model; they help you with every step including offering training assistance, marketing, and helping owners/operators to make a difference in their communities.

A Place at Home Macomb franchisee Melissa Shevela says the opportunity to create a positive impact on her community is the most rewarding part of being in the home healthcare business. “We have an opportunity to make things better for other people’s loved ones. Seniors deserve respect, compassion, and high-quality care during their golden years. A Place at Home emphasizes high-quality caregiving and on ensuring seniors can thrive in a safe, happy environment,” Shevela said.

If you’re considering a franchise in the fast growing home healthcare industry, give A Place at Home a call. We offer our partners support with every stage of the start-up process including marketing support, training, and a proven business model. You’ll not only grow your business, but you’ll also be giving back to your community by providing high-quality care and support to your clients and their loved ones. A Place at Home is one home health care business that gives it’s franchisees a chance to do well while doing good.

Find the Right Suppliers to Help Expand Your Brand

Excerpt from the October Issue of Franchising World:

A successful business depends in part on selecting the best cast of cohorts for your brand.

It takes a village to run a franchise brand, yet many emerging franchisors run a lean operation. A Place at Home is one of those franchisors. Every department and division relies on numerous suppliers. Doing everything internally is nearly impossible, which is why it’s important to rely on these third-party partners. Currently, we work with more than 40 suppliers who support our business through payroll services, scheduling, training, digital marketing and advertising, legal, accounting, CRM, and the list continues to grow.

There are so many options for suppliers and it can be a very time-consuming process to narrow them down. It’s certainly been a learning process since co-founder Dustin Distefano and I established A place at Home six years ago, but today we’re incredibly confident in the dozens of strong supplier partnerships we’ve established. Here we’ve identified some best practices emerging franchisors can use to help in their search for top-flight suppliers.

Explore Options

The biggest supplier isn’t always the best one. Always look at more than one option to ensure the product or service you are considering is competitive and fully meets your needs. Ask to speak with one or more of the company’s current customers. If this is not an option, ask for data on a client whose business is similar to yours.

Find Great Partners

Simply being able to execute what you hire them for shouldn’t be your only criteria. Vet companies that have franchise knowledge, an ability to scale as you grow, outstanding customer support, the ability to talk with a live person to get questions answered, competitive pricing, and specific experience in your industry. Also, suppliers who offer discounted pricing to franchisees increases its value to a franchisor.

For us, it was important to find suppliers that had a history working with franchise companies, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. Every supplier starts somewhere. Suppliers that have a proven track record working with multiple locations, even if not franchises, are essential.

Seek Recommendations

Other franchisors or IFA recommended many of the suppliers we use. Lean on your network to help identify and evaluate potential suppliers. Our experience with the NextGen in Franchising Global Competition also proved beneficial. During a round table discussion with one of the NextGen advisers, we received some great counsel. But the advice that really stuck took place during a special session with the former CEO of Great Clips, who said his longest-lasting relationship and most valuable supplier resulted from a handshake and never anything more than that.

Consider Goals & Evaluate

One thing that was non-negotiable as we were vetting suppliers was their ability to help A Place at Home grow nationwide. Coast-to-coast growth is crucial to complete our mission. As of July 2018, we had four franchisees operating in Colorado, California, Michigan and Oregon, and our supplier partners have been instrumental in helping us scale.

Even after you have selected your suppliers, your work is not complete. It is important to collaborate with these partners and your franchisees to ensure that the product or service they are providing is consistent and in line with the expectations that were set forth. If a supplier is falling short of these expectations, within reason, give them a chance to make it right. If their performance proves to be inadequate, part ways. There are many other suppliers that want your business and far bigger concerns than under-performing partners.

Going Back to Mission, Values

Whether deciding on awarding a franchise, hiring an employee or even selecting your supplier partners, it’s important that the supplier shares your brand’s core values. Partner with individuals and companies that align with these values, and you will grow and succeed the right way.

Considering a Senior Care Franchise?

When you join our group of dynamic business owners, as franchisees of A Place at Home, you’ll have strong support, thorough training and valuable business resources to help you succeed. Contact us to learn more.