Home Care U - The Pros And Cons of Becoming A Franchisee (Michelle Cone Pt. 2)

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

Every home care owner asks themselves whether to go independent or become part of a franchise. The answer depends. Michelle Cone, SVP of HomeWell and colleague Mike Condon, explain. Enjoying the show? Send me a text and let me know!Learn more about Careswitch at: careswitch.comConnect with the host on LinkedIn: Miriam Allred This episode was produced by parkerkane.co

Hey, welcome to Home Care U, a podcast made by the team at Care Switch. Nobody went to school to learn how to run a home care agency, so we're bringing the education to you. Join our live audience by going to careswitch.com slash homecareu or listen on your own time wherever you get your podcasts. Home Care U is hosted by myself, Miriam Allred, and Connor Koons of CareSwitch. Enjoy the session. Okay, welcome to Home Care U. Let's go ahead and get started.

I'm really excited for this week's guests, but before we introduce them and the topic, let me just go through a couple housekeeping things really quick. So as we mention every time, Home Care U is both a live class and a podcast. You can sign up for the live class at homecareu, that's u as in university, dot careswitch.com. Or you can listen to the HomeCareU podcast, which is the classes being recorded afterward on whatever site you get your podcasts. We've had some great past episodes. I highly encourage you to check out some of the recent ones that we've done. We've touched everything from finance to recruitment to marketing. And we really have a goal with HomeCareU of going deep and specific and granular in whatever topic we touch so that we're not going

to give you any fluff. I think today's is going to be especially useful that way. We're talking about something that's not often discussed in home care, which is the pros and cons of being a franchisee. We have lots of agencies joining and listening who either are about to start out, have just gotten started, or are at places in their growth where they're evaluating if they need a growth partner for the future. And so we'll talk about how to go about deciding whether or not to join a home care company as a franchisee. Our guests today are Mike and Michelle from HomeWell. They are both great individuals and home care experts. Mike and Michelle, do you mind introducing yourselves and your backgrounds really briefly? Awesome. Well, thanks. Thanks for having us on today.

My name is Mike Condon. I'm the vice president of franchise development here at HomeWell. I've been with HomeWell coming up on a year now. And prior to that, I've been in the healthcare space for over 20 years in a variety of capacities and excited to be here today. And the other emcee that's here today. So our marketing department was calling us MC squared the other day. I thought that was fun. So I'm Michelle Cohn. I'm the SVP of training and brand programs. Been my seventh year here at HomeWell. I just entered my 25th year operating within the home care and healthcare space. So very excited to be here with you today. And hopefully we'll give you some great content and answer a lot of questions that many may have about franchising and

what that looks like. Awesome. Thank you, Michelle. And something that I'd like to add here that makes me particularly excited to hear their thoughts on this topic is the fact that they have experience both at the franchise level and also at the business owner and operator level. And so they have the perspectives there to speak to both sides and the pros and cons and the benefits and disadvantages of both. So it's a very well-rounded experience. A couple things to think about as we get started here. The first is they are obviously slightly biased being as they're from a franchisor. That being said, part of why we selected them for this topic is because I believe they'll be really good at staying neutral here

and just being focused on delivering great content that is valuable in making that decision, whatever you decide to do. The second thing here to understand is that there are two ways of becoming a franchisee as a home care agency. The first is to become a franchisee right from the beginning. This is how it's usually done. The second that's starting to become more popular is conversion, wherein you start as an independent agency, and then at some point in your growth, you recognize that you want a growth partner to help you scale beyond the stage that you're at.

And so then you become a franchisee from there. So as we talk about this, we will kind of look through both of those lenses and discuss if there's any differences in what's being said, if you're a conversion franchisee versus if you are just starting out as a franchisee. Mike and Michelle, is there anything you would add to that part? From my perspective, it's all about what your goals are. And I think whether you're an independent or you're with a franchise, I think identifying your goals and how to get there and how to be successful will ultimately, what path is best for you. And I'm excited to kind of dive into that a little bit today and talk again, to your point, pros and cons of both, because there are definitely pros and cons to both, both of those directions.

It's a beach with both. So yeah, that's, you know, exciting to get a chance to talk about that. Thanks. Appreciate that. And for people joining or listening who might be interested in HomeWell specifically, at the end of today's episode, we'll talk more specifically about HomeWell and how they do things and that kind of thing and answer questions. Just kind of one final disclaimer before we get started. And if you're familiar with our podcast, with the Home Care U class, you've heard me say this joke about 15 times. But just so that you aren't confused, I do have a stutter. Sometimes it shows up. Sometimes it doesn't. It makes things fun as a podcast host. If you hear a random pause while I'm talking, that is not Zoom buffering. That is not your internet buffering. That is me

buffering. So just be ready for that. It's all good. And let's go ahead and get started. So my first question, and this could probably be answered by either of you, is I'm just kind of laying the groundwork for people. If I'm starting out as an agency owner and I'm just starting my agency, how does my life look different for the first six months or so if I'm an independent versus a franchisee? What are some of the differences there? Absolutely. So I would say, at least speaking from my experience working here with HomeWell, is the minute you become an actual franchisee, you navigate to what we call our opening services department, and you have that high-touch support from day one. I would say that many in the

discovery process have met the leadership team or maybe other team members as they've been doing their due diligence and identifying what brand makes sense, whether it's the home care space or if they're looking at other options as well. So once that happens, we, you know, congratulate them, welcome them to the fold, and then they meet their opening services manager, which typically is the person that's going to help them navigate the process from I've signed my agreement to the actual launch of the business when they become operational. They're able to hire caregivers, they receive their license, and they're able to also hire clients, acquire those clients and

bring on their key team members as well. So everything from, you know, establishing their business, matching them with vendors and partners that are going to help them navigate the licensure process, understanding their regulations, understanding where home care fits within the health care continuum, what is the difference between home care and skilled home health? You know, understanding the role of the owner and the key team members that they're going to need to hire

in order to flesh out their team. Making sure that they are connected to their franchise business coach who is going to be there to support them throughout the life cycle of their business. Making sure all I's are dotted and T's are crossed to help them get through all of the essentials that are necessary, including training and learning so that they can launch their

business with confidence, knowing that they have received everything that they need to successfully launch that business and start providing value to their communities, employing those team members and being a valuable business owner in their local communities. Okay, love it. And how does that maybe look different on the independent side? What may be some of the benefits the independents might see, you know, taking their route where it's you know, definitely much less guided for lack of a better word?

Yeah, I think when we talk about it from an independent side, I think, again, it goes back to the lens of who's looking through it. Right. I think if you have a background in this space, the challenges to get your business off the ground aren't as daunting as it would be if you didn't have a background in this space. And we've worked with both. We work with people that have a background and not a background. Right. So I do think it really, you know, one comes down to the person who's on the other end of that, other end of that to really say, can I do this? Because no matter if you're an independent or you're with a franchise, the licensure process doesn't change. It's all the same things. And it's just whether or not you're comfortable in taking those steps to get off the ground to make sure that you're going to be launching as a success. And so that's where I think a big difference comes in when we have conversations with people all the time

that say, hey, I can do this on my own. You're absolutely right, you can. There's a lot of smart people out there that absolutely have done this on their own and are very successful and kudos to them. However, I think it comes down to them being able to execute on that and stay on task in order to do it right the first time versus having to reapply for your license two or three times. Nobody wants to do that, but depending on the state that you're in and the regulations that are in that state, it can be hard and it's a challenge. So how do you navigate those waters? And I think that's

probably to Michelle's point, two of the differences I would say, and it just comes down to the person's comfort level of being able to execute on those tasks. That makes sense. I think one thing you mentioned to me before, last time we talked also is that, you know, if you're a franchisee, like you have all this help kind of with stuff like licensure and things like that from the franchisor themselves. Then if you're an independent, typically you have a consultant or several consultants that you find of, you know, you choose the people that help you if you're going the consultant route. At the same time, you have to choose the people that help you if you're going the consultant route, you know, and so. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Sometimes you don't even know who you need, right? You don't know what to ask or what to seek because you're not sure what path to pursue. So I think that's where franchising can be extremely helpful is we have, you know, an established business model with proven systems. in Los Angeles states and have assisted owners for decades,

helping them navigate this process. So while sometimes we may get a question that we haven't had before, typically we have encountered that and we have partners that can either address those questions if we don't know them ourselves, or our franchisees who are available to answer questions, provide support, provide best practices, share their knowledge, collaborate.

I think it's very interesting in our system specifically that seems like every time we bring a new group of owners in, we have our existing legacy owners who are consistently reaching out saying, I'm here. If you have a question, if they're having a challenge, match them to me so that we can help them navigate that challenge because we want them to be even more successful than we were when we launched our business. So I really get to see the beauty of franchising in terms of collaboration and support. And you're in this protected environment where there's a free flow of exchange of information and proprietary information and

trade secrets and best practices that sometimes you may be a little hesitant or resistant to share outside of a franchise system. So I love that openness to collaboration and sharing of ideas. So we don't have to reinvent the wheel. But I will say that, you know, sometimes what works really well in one market may not work well in another. So we really want to hear what is happening with our franchisees. They're the boots on the ground so we can bring those insights back and share those out amongst our system. Love that. That makes sense. I've always been a proponent of the idea that there are lots of clients out there and there's no real need to think of each other as true competitors as home care agencies. But that being said, there is a peace of mind that comes with knowing that the secrets or best practices you're sharing are with

people who truly cannot be competing with you. There is an advantage to that. And I've heard that like some of the franchise Facebook groups are really, really valuable that way, even though I haven't been a part of them. So definitely, I mean, what I've heard supports that. Let's kind of move on to the next idea here, which is like, let's say that you're thinking about becoming a franchisee, whether it's starting an agency or as a conversion, walk us through the conditions or scenarios when it would be ideal and make sense to become a franchisee and walk us through the circumstances where it might make more sense to stay as an independent. There's two sides to that coin, right? so if you're looking at starting out a business right

um i think if you're evaluating do i do it on my own or do i do it with a partner like a franchise um so what are some of the pros to both right so i think if you're if you're looking to start it on your own um can you are you good at building systems to operate your business efficiently right um what type of background? Because everybody thinks they're a great business owner until they have to be a business owner. And as a business owner myself, there's a lot of things I found out about myself that I didn't think were true that are 100% true. There's a lot of little nuances that you don't think about unless maybe you have a mentor.

And I would suggest if you're going at this alone, find a mentor, somebody that can you can you can kind of ride on their coattails, at least from a knowledge perspective. That's going to help you get off the ground, because whether that's a franchise or whether that's somebody in your local community that's a business owner, they can help shorten that learning curve for you. If this is your first time starting a business. So I would help shorten that learning curve for you if this is your first time starting a business. So I would definitely encourage that to anybody out there looking at that. But I think when you're evaluating which way works best for you is really a question of how do you feel you're going to operate within a system, right? So the point of people joining a franchise is the fact that to Michelle's point, they're getting into something that has a proven concept and a proven system and you're inside of a box. And I don't mean that in

a negative way, but we've done business like this for 20 years and we're always evolving. The franchise industry is always evolving. We're always trying to find new ways to do it. But at the end of the day, there are parameters around what you can do as a business owner. As an independent, there isn't. It's your business. You do what you want. Now, there's pros and cons to both of those. And I think, you know, one of the things that as you evaluate it is you have to self-reflect on yourself and say, what am I good at?

And am I really strong in marketing? Because as a business owner, as an independent, you have to think and be creative on your feet of how are you going to market your business? Whereas as a franchisee, we do that all for you. You don't have to think about it. It's all done for you, very turnkey. So I think just evaluating yourself and knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help give you insight to say whether or not, hey, I want to partner with somebody or I think I can do this on my own.

Thanks for that. I really like how you put that for how do you operate within systems and what level of systems do you like being set for you versus what level of systems do you like to create? Um, let's dig into that a little bit deeper. So in terms of both, like what I'll call starting systems and, um, um, then also making strategic decisions, um, you know, what levels of those do you own as a franchisee typically? And what levels of those do you receive from the franchisor? Uh, what may be some examples? Yeah. So I think one of the great things about franchising, and again, we're being very biased here as I'm a franchisee of another health wellness concept. So I've seen both sides of it. Now I'm on this side. And so I think when you look at partnering with somebody, you look at the support side and what can they give you? So some of the thoughts around, okay, well,

what are they going to give me and how can I use that to build my business? But what choices do I have in that as well as important? So I think it's important when evaluating it is saying, okay, well, they're going to give me the framework. And now I want to take the framework and really grow upon that with my own little nuances. And I think, you know, Michelle will say this, she's taught me this in this industry, this business is so hyper-local and I'm sure for all those business owners out there, we'll tell you the same thing, right? As a brand, we don't look at it and say, hey, we can affect every single market because of what we do on a national level. It just doesn't happen. Right. So we want to give owners the tools and then let them choose what they want to use in

their market because they know their market the best. And I think the flexibility that comes with that allows people to make decisions, but also we're there to give them guidance on, Hey, okay, I hear you want to go down this path. Let's explore why or why not that might not be the best. If it is, great. And listen, at the end of the day, you're a business owner. You're going to make decisions based on what knowledge you have. And our job is to support that as a franchisor, right or wrong, to be honest.

And we've seen examples of both of that, right? So, you know, again, it really comes down to finding the right partner for you when it comes to making that decision, whether to be an independent or whether to be go with a franchise. That's really, really what it comes down to. I think that's the perfect segue into my next question, which is about identifying the right franchise partner. So let me frame this a little bit. Let's say that I've decided I probably want to become a franchisee. And I look at or talk to like five or 10 different franchisors in home care. What should I look for? What question should I ask? And what should I be hoping to hear versus

what would be a red flag? Yeah, good questions. There's a lot of options when it comes to the franchisee home care space, right? Non-medical home care space, the space we operate in. And I think one thing I always talk to people about is, one, you got to be comfortable with the people that are steering the ship, right? Who's running the company? What experience do they have? And do you feel they can help you be successful? Now, when I say that, that doesn't mean we're going to help you be successful in the sense of we're going to run your business for you, but who's going to give me the most support in the areas that I need in order to be successful?

So whether that's marketing, whether that's sales, whether that's finance, because running a business, you have to pay attention to the numbers. So I think step one is, one, do I think from a brand perspective, do I like the way they look? Could I see myself being a part of this brand? Second to that is the leadership team. Do they, do they feel, do I feel they have the best interests of their franchise owners in mind? Because I'll tell you that not all of them do. And to your point about red flag, you know, some of the things to look for is, you know, when,

when you're going through the due diligence process, one, the validation, right? I think validation and franchising will tell you everything you need to know. Talk to as many owners as possible. Get their perspective on what value does a franchise, what value does the franchisor provide? Because if the franchisees are coming back and telling you that, you know, yeah, they're okay. Or, yeah, they did A, B, and C, but I had to do all this other stuff. That might be a little bit of a red flag, especially if it's in the areas that you're not comfortable in. Right. So for, you know, again, I think we deal with, in our world, we deal with people that have a medical background. So if they come in with a medical background, we want to give them the support on the opposite side of that, that maybe they're not strong in whether that's finance, sales,

marketing, that side. If they come in with a sales and marketing background, they know nothing about healthcare. So our job is to give them the resources to learn about healthcare. And so I think if you're evaluating that, does that franchisor give you the opportunity to be strong in the areas that you're weak? Because that tells me that they're a good partner for you. Yeah, Mike is absolutely correct. And when you're going through that validation and asking to speak with those owners, you want to speak with those at different stages and scale of their business, too. So speak to those that just went through the openings or launch process. Maybe those that have just been over operational 18 24

months speak to some of those that have been operational 5 8 10 12 15 years see what that level of support looks like and what value they're receiving from the franchisor at unique stages of of their business growth and scale um because that's going to look different at the launch phase typically than what it looks like if you're a $10 million a year business, right? So you wanna hear all sides of the coin, not just in the initial startup phases, but at each piece of the life cycle of their business.

Okay, this is great. I have a handful of questions based on this. I really love the idea of understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are. And then finding a franchise partner that will complement those specifically and talking to the other franchisees to identify that. So I guess my first question here is like, if I can put you on the spot here, Mike, you know, you've been a franchisee when you were looking at becoming a franchisee. Do you have any examples of the strengths and weaknesses that you had yourself that you were looking for a franchisor who could compliment and like,

what were those? Yeah, great, great question. So for me and just to share personally, right? So I have a background in business, med device sales for a long time, worked for big companies. I understand business. I have an MBA. So I think I'm kind of smart, but business ownership is a different kind of smart. Like schooling doesn't teach you that, right? So for me, I knew that I needed to find somebody that could compliment because the compliment me in the sense of I think I understand how to run a business. I think I understand a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet. But do I really? Like, I didn't have that confidence.

So for me, it was finding a partner that I could say, I can deal with the people side of what we do. I'm really good at that. But what I didn't know is how to handle the true business side of running a business. So I looked for somebody that I could match with that had that really strong background in the operations and the know-how of the business to match with my skillset of the people side, which I'm really, I feel like I had, that's my strong, my stronger side. So I think to that

point, that's really what it comes down to is trying to find that match for you as an individual. And again, just to be across the board here, if it's not a franchise, finding a mentor that can help you in that space, because I don't care if you're a franchisee of a system or you're an independent, having somebody that you can rely on that's a good partner that can help you in areas where you're weak is only going to help your business grow. So I would encourage that across all levels, whether you're an independent or not. Great response. Love it. Thank you for that. And thanks for letting me put you on the spot a little bit. This next question, you could probably both or either of you answer.

Michelle kind of mentioned this concept of how the value proposition of having a franchisor as your partner changes over time as your business grows. And like what types of help you might be wanting in your first six months are super different when you're making 10 million in revenue, you know, or even much less than that, that being kind of an extreme example. Like, talk to me about that a little bit. And what is the value that a franchisor partner should bring at different stages of an agency's growth? This is all providing, you have to provide value as a franchisor. So when you start out, again, whether you have a background in healthcare or not, there's a lot of little things you have to do to get this business off the ground. And as an independence, those that are out there know how

hard that can be. And frankly, as a franchisor, it can be hard too, or as a franchisee, excuse me. So I think the value in the beginning is always, I think, is there a lot of the times for most people, because that's when they need the most help. Where it comes into play as somebody that's been in business five, seven, 10 years, is how do we still continue to show them that value? But that comes in a lot of different ways, right? It can come through, again, the business coaching or understanding that certain levels as you grow, you need to add certain staff. And I think a lot of the conversations we have around that is, okay, well, I'm at, you know, I'm billing a thousand hours a week. How do I scale to 2000?

It's understanding that next step. And as a business owner, it's very easy to get bogged down into the day-to-day of running a business. It happens all the time with, with every industry. I don't care what it is. And I think when you have somebody pulling you back and looking at it on top of the trees, instead of through the trees, we'll give you that reminder to say, I'm the business owner. I need to make strategic decisions on how to grow this business, not just manage the day-to-day of the business. And so that looks different to your point of every life cycle of this.

And if you're five and seven years in, now it's not about running the day-to-day, but it's about strategically setting up your business for either A, to continue to scale. B, remove yourself from it so you can free up more of your time to do the things you want to do. Or C, prepare it for a sale. And those are the things you need to look at as a business owner is, okay, as my life, as my business grows, how do I set it up in each stage? And that's where that value is going to come in from a franchisor side is, can we assist you in those different levels? Because if you're a seven, you know, if your business is in year seven and you're looking to exit in year eight, well, you have to do certain things in order to get to maximize the

value of your business so you can get the greatest return on your investment. And listen, at the end of the day, we're here to help people because that's what we do in this business, but we're also here to make a profit. And if you're ready to sell, you want to get that return on your investment. So again, I think that's where the value comes in at each stage. And I don't know, did I miss anything in that, Michelle? No, I would say you're absolutely right what's needed at the at the beginning stages is very unique and um oftentimes quite different than what we see for those large large legacy owners you know those new owners are are always looking for us at you know the organizational structure of the business when should i hire for what role

and what and when you know We have an organizational roadmap to help with that, that step-by-step process to help them. But if you're running a company in this space and you've been doing it for years and years, I doubt you're picking up the phone and calling your franchise business coach and going, should I hire my second scheduler at this point or my third? It's going to be more strategic conversations about profitability and how to drive revenue based off of certain partnerships or vendors that you can leverage, you know, insights and best practices into how, you know, looking at your budget, your P&L, hiring those internal staff members, performance reviews, making sure that you have mentorship and development programs in place and delegating those tasks to those team members as that owner that's at the very top of the org chart, who's the one focusing on the strategy and those KPIs. Love that. I think you both mentioned something really interesting to me that I hadn't considered much, which is like, we always think about the ways that a franchise can help you get off the ground, you know, but that, that concept of you need a partner or you'll benefit from having a partner to help you to exit with maximum benefit. And one of the ways to do that is with a franchise or a partner.

That's probably not talked about a whole lot, or at least not much in the circles that I see. So I appreciate that perspective. Just to add to that real quick, I think, again, I have many friends that are non-franchisee business owners, right? And one of the things that we talk about a lot is the exit of their business eventually. And listen, when you go to acquire a business, and as I've acquired them over my life cycle here, my business world, you never want to buy a job, right? You want to buy a business. And I think the thing that gets missed in a lot of this is setting your business up for success. So you don't have to be there 24 seven to operate the business. That is the, that is the goal.

Because if you did that, you're just buying yourself a job. And frankly, from an acquisition side, nobody wants to buy that or very few people want to buy that. And you're not going to maximize the value of that to be honest. So again, those are those, we love those conversations because that's how we think about this business. And again, that's not for everybody and that's okay too agreed i mean we start with the end in mind what what do you hope that this business is going to provide to you um oftentimes it's legacy they want to build a business and pass it down to their children or they want to build an asset and

scale so what does that look like we have those conversations very early on when they become a franchisee in our system so that we can help them meet those goals. You know, we don't have this one size fits all, which I think is sometimes a misnomer in our space. Like we spoke earlier about you are in a box in a positive way because we have proven processes and methods and, you know, operational manuals and all those things to help you do that. But whether you're in your first six months or year one or year two or whatever that looks like, we want to make sure that we're providing you value that you're going to be able to take advantage of and use that to grow your business and achieve what you would like for

that to be. You know, this business is more than likely some sort of opportunity for you to get what you want out of it. And what can we do to make sure that you're getting what you want out of this business? It's really interesting because I don't have a franchising background. So, you know, I had like probably many others on the call. I had this, I guess, this perception of what franchising was. I came from the corporate side of healthcare, either publicly traded or privately owned, but not franchising. So stepping into this space, I've been able to see the full beauty of the franchise model and what it provides business owners in terms of support and next level opportunities that I didn't

know existed in this space until I entered it. It is very, very unique. It's very interesting. And we see owners come into the system and flourish with the opportunities to take advantage of a proven business model with proven systems while still having the independence of being a local business owner, you know, where maybe taking risks and incurring expenses that can come with a startup can be very daunting and very challenging and very frightening and very scary, right? So making sure that we're giving you what you need to take an overwhelming task and kind of break it up into digestible pieces where you're getting the right training, the right support at that right stage of your business growth. Love that. Kind of speaking of that. So to put myself in the shoes of an agency,

that's maybe like midsize, you know, been in business for a few years. And maybe I've never even thought about becoming a franchisee. And I like stumble on this class or this episode. And I'm like, huh, what might be some things that would cue me that I should think about potentially converting to become a franchisee? Like what would be some signs in my business or my life as a business owner? Well, I think it's funny because we've had a lot more of these conversations recently than I think we've ever had. And I think a lot of people look at it and say, again, what is the end goal, right? The conversations that we've had is, okay,

I'm stuck at whatever level they are at. How do I reach my next plateau? Or how do I get to my next plateau of either business ownership, freedom from my business, or scalability, or whatever that is to them. Right. And I think looking at it and saying, can this partner help me reach those goals? I think anybody that starts a business has a goal, has a mindset of I'm going to be successful. This is a, how many people I want to help be, how much money I want to make, see my lifestyle is going to look like this. And then sometimes reality smacks people in the face and says, that's not what this is about. You got to work really

hard and make sure you have the right processes and systems in place in order to maximize that. So I think it's just evaluating either A, I'm struggling in these certain areas and B, can that franchisee or franchise or excuse me, help get me to where I can be successful? And again, that's, that's not for us to answer on this side. That's to hopefully give you insight into saying this might be the right opportunity, or it might not be because maybe you're doing everything perfectly. And you just need a mentor in your space in order to get you to that next level. But it's funny, a lot of the conversations lately have been around, I'm doing everything and I can't continue to run my life at this pace.

And again, that's not just in the home care space. That's in a lot of businesses. But I think specifically in our space here, there's a lot to do in a day as a business owner of a home care agency. And you can't do it alone. You really can't. It's really hard to do. You need help. And can the franchisor provide you with that help? Yeah, I agree. I think that, you know, the business coaching side of what a franchisor provides is phenomenal, right? Just having that person. I mean, we joke that our business coaches are counselors, they're therapists,

they're mentors, they're everything in between, right? And they're your go-to. So if there's a challenge or you want to share some excitement, I mean, they're very connected to those franchise business coaches. They know them very intimately.

And, you know, also our franchise business coaches know our business owners very well too. So if we run across a trend or an insight or an opportunity, we want to make sure that we're sharing that with a franchisee that might, you know, receive they've been growing their private pay side, but they don't know how they're interested, but they don't know how to venture into long term care insurance or Medicare Advantage or VA or Medicaid or vice versa. They're doing a successful business in the VA or Medicaid space and they want to enter into private pay and they don't know how to go about doing that. And with that comes, you know, a sales process and what accounts do you call on and how often do you see them and how can you leverage our marketing materials and our website and your social media page and all the things that the franchisor provides so you can access these resources and these tools and, you know, pull from this toolkit and build a business that makes sense

for you. So what are the gaps and what are the challenges and how can the franchisor solve for that or point you in the right direction so that you're not trying to, you know, try to figure it out yourself when you don't even know where to go or what direction to pursue. So, I mean, our franchise business coaches are just like this with our franchisees

and know them very intimately, know their business, know their operation, and we're there to support them in whatever way success looks like for them. Love that. Just as a reminder for those who are listening, feel free to drop your questions in the chat. We'll address those in just a minute here. We do have one question that is about HomeWell specifically. So in just a minute here, we'll kind of get to the more Homewell specific part of this and we can dive into the specifics of Homewell. One more question first, though, that's kind of going back in the conversation, but I think it will, I think it's useful for people.

I think it needs to be asked and I think it will produce maybe some amusing responses. So which is, you know, kind of going back to the idea of trying to vet different franchisor partners, going beyond the red flags idea. Is there anything like if I'm going to vet a bunch of franchisor partners, what should I be listening for that if I hear it, I just need to run in the other direction? On that first call, if they say, hey, I'm going to send you a franchise agreement, run away. You know, I think, you know, I in cheek, but they're out there, right? Nobody or very few people wake up in the morning and say, hey, I'm going to go out and start a home care franchise today. That doesn't typically happen. So I think as you're evaluating and starting to look at opportunities, I think it's making sure that they're asking you the right questions in order to make sure you're going to be successful within their system,

along with you asking them questions about how they're going to help support you and your growth, right? So, you know, again, it's this business is a people business. When we talk to potential candidates who are interested in our model, we want to get to know them to make sure that our goals can match their goals and vice versa, right? And I think if you're evaluating a concept and they're just trying to move you through a process and not understand what your goals are, I think that should be a red flag to a lot of people. I also think, you know, again, in this space, there are a lot of, and not saying that all of them are bad, but there are a lot of smaller new franchise ores in this space that say, home care, I can do it. I'm going to start

a franchise. At the end of the day, not saying that they're all bad, but you have to believe in what they're doing and they have to be able to prove that to you. And I think in franchising, everybody wants to be a part of the next great emerging brand, right? Hey, I want to be the first one that bought into McDonald's back in the fifties, right? Everybody thinks of that. The reality is with over 7,000 franchise brands across franchising, man, there's a lot of them out there that are just there to sell you a territory and not give you the support. So I think you have to be comfortable with, they're going to give me the best support possible in order for me to be successful.

And sometimes you don't know that till you get in there. And that's the truth. Even with homeowner, listen, you have to believe it 80% because if you get to 80%, that's as far as you're ever going to get until you become a business owner. That's the reality. And I don't care if you're an independent or not, that's, that's what's going to happen. So I think again, red flags in your senses very much. It's a gut feel. It's looking at the data. It's trying to compile all of this and saying, am I making the best decision? And do they have in their mind,

are they trying to position me in a sense of helping me be as successful as I can be? Yeah, I agree. I know that we as a brand, we're vetting those candidates as much as they're vetting us. And that's the way that it should be. Right. We're very protective of our system and who we let into our franchise brand. We have, you know, business owners with with high integrity who are, you know, amazing in their local communities, building those relationships. They have excellent reputation and we want to we want to be protective of that. We want to make sure that as a system, we're growing our brand. But as individual business owners, that you're able to tap into that and grow your business as well. So we want to make sure that it's a good fit for you. It's a good fit for us. And we both feel good about this relationship because that's what that is.

So I think Mike hit the nail on the head. If they're sending you an agreement right away without any getting to know you, what is your desires? What are your goals? Who are you? What is your background? What is your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What do you hope to achieve? We have to figure all of that out and build a relationship together to be able to support each other, to make sure that this relationship is going to be beneficial for both parties. I really like hearing that. And I think you two pointing out all those things also speaks volumes about HomeWell. You know, I kind of mentioned at the beginning, this is not a conversation that we would invite

just whoever, you know, whatever franchisor to be on. Not all franchisors are created equal, as we all know. And the right franchisors are those that are dedicated to helping support them and grow and not just, like you said, not just to sell a territory. I think oftentimes you hear the bad stories, right? Well, if you can breathe on a mirror and you can write a check and you're going to write that check to some brand, it might as well be us. And that's not where we are. That's not what we want. So we absolutely, just like what Mike specifically, which is, I guess, like what type of businesses are your franchisees? So they're asking, is it homemaker and companion care, nurse registry, or home health? I think I know the answers to this, but I'll let you guys answer. Yes, it is non-medical home care. So personal care support, it's not the skilled home health side nor a registry.

Oftentimes the non-medical licensure part will also take care of the homemaker companionship. So that's tucked in as part of that. So yes, the homemaker companionship, the personal care, non-medical support is what we do. Okay, cool. And then I think for kind of the rest of this, you know, let's make it HomeWell centered at this point. I appreciate both of you being on here, sharing your wisdom. You know, let's talk more specifically to what HomeWell can bring to the table for someone who might be looking at franchise or partners. What are the advantages of HomeWell? And why should people consider HomeWell? We don't, you know, everybody thinks you sell a franchise. No, we want to recruit the right type of people to Michelle's point into our franchise that are going to be great partners, right? This

is a relationship. And so when we have that conversation and we have that first conversation, it's about, hey, again, what are your goals? How can we help you be successful? Because that's what this is about. It's about helping you as a business owner to be successful. And more importantly, it's about putting a business in a community that's going to help a lot of people, right? Because what we do is we help you. And whether it's on the franchisor side of helping the business owner be successful and as a business owner with a home, while helping them run a great agency that's going to provide that true care and trusted companionship out into the community, right, is really important. So we want you to be a part of that if you want to be. This isn't one of those things that, you know, listen, we're going to we're going to allow you to do your due diligence on us. We're going to do your due diligence on,

we're going to do our due diligence on you. And at the end of the day, we got to make a mutual decision. Does that make sense for both of us? That's what this process is about it. And that's how we treat it. And our goal is to give you the knowledge to make an educated decision. And if you decide at the end of the day, Hey, this isn't right for me, at least you know more now than you did at the beginning of the process. And I think that's what lens we always try to look at it through is not about what is the end goal. The end goal is not to sell a home well agency in a certain territory. The end goal is to educate as many people as possible on the opportunity in the home care space and how we feel we do it the best, to be honest. But at the end of the day, if you don't feel that way,

that's okay too. So let's just have that conversation. And we have franchisee agreements that we'll send out here in the chat for everyone on the call to sign right now. Absolutely. I have them templated off it. No, but I really appreciate that. And I think that's, you know, that's something that I would be hoping to hear if I were looking to start a franchise, which I may at some point. For those who want to reach out, is the best way to go to homewellfranchising.com? Yeah, I'd say that that's the easiest way on our page there. There's a bunch of different opportunities to get in touch with us, to learn more about us. You know, we'd be

happy to follow up with any conversations. And again, our goal here at Homewell is just to educate, you know, educate you on the opportunity and educate you on how we feel we might be able to help you be successful in this space and whether that is in terms of starting a new business and venturing out on your own and being that business owner, or if you are an independent looking for help in certain areas, have a conversation. Let's see if it makes sense. And if it does, great. And if it doesn't, hey, there's no harm, no foul, but it never hurts to have conversations. And I think that's, again, where we come from. And so I encourage everybody to check out our HomeWell franchising page to learn more. Okay, sounds great.

And just to repeat that, that's homewellfranchising.com. We'll also include that in the show notes when it's published as a podcast. Well, thanks again, Mike and Michelle. It's been great to have you both on. Learned a lot here, had a good conversation that I don't think is content that we hear often enough in the industry and I hope is useful to agencies who are deciding what to do about this important decision. So thanks again for your time and thanks for joining us. Thank you so much. That's a wrap. This episode was made by the team at CareSwitch, the first free home care agency

management software. If you're tired of running your agency on an outdated software that looks and works like Windows 98, and you want to save a little money for your bottom line, check us out at CareSwitch.com. Thanks for listening. See you next time.