in home care franchise | Senior Home Care Franchise

8 Traits of Successful Senior Care Franchise Owners

Franchise ownership gives entrepreneurs the chance to flex their muscles with their own businesses, but with the training, support and name recognition that comes with partnering with an established brand. The senior care industry is becoming increasingly popular among new franchise owners because of its potential in the coming years — the “Baby Boomer” generation is hitting retirement age and its members prefer to age in place. The demand for excellent in home senior care will only rise in the coming years, making franchise ownership in this sector incredibly attractive. However, operating a senior care business takes inspired leadership and some important traits.

If you’re curious about getting into senior care, but you’re unsure if you possess the right qualities, read on to learn about the 8 traits of successful senior care franchise owners!

#1 — Confidence

When you own a senior care franchise, you’re running a business, and it takes a strong belief in yourself to ensure that your business succeeds. You also need to have confidence in your ability to serve the community by providing excellent senior care.

#2 — Ingenuity

As a business owner, you need to be able to generate the kinds of ideas that will make people take notice of what you’re doing. However, you have to be able to be innovative within an existing structure, which brings us to…

#3 — You Can Follow the System

Franchise ownership gives you the freedom to use your ingenuity, but it also supplies you with a system that increases the likelihood of success — if you follow it!

#4 — Passion

As a senior care franchise owner, you’ll be working directly with people who are facing challenges in their lives. If you’re not passionate about helping seniors and their families in your community, you won’t be able to inspire confidence in them about your ability to provide the best care.

#5 — You Are a “People Person”

Your senior care business isn’t a widget factory that churns out products; it’s a collection of individuals who provide outstanding care and support for human beings in your community, and you are responsible for providing leadership and inspiration.

#6 — Trust

Area Representatives and National Directors are there because they’ve proven their ability to serve your community in a way that also benefits the business as a whole. You have to be willing to listen to those experts and trust that following their advice is always in your best interest.

#7 — You Can Delegate

Franchise owners who surround themselves with good, hard-working people are more likely to succeed. But they have to be willing to delegate tasks to those people. Learning to delegate effectively is one of the most difficult things for business owners to do, but it’s absolutely essential in the pursuit of business goals.

#8 — The Belief that In Home Senior Care Makes a Real Difference

Owning a senior care franchise isn’t just about providing an additional option to seniors and their families; it’s about providing a resource that really helps people in your community. It’s about recognizing the needs and wants of today’s (and tomorrow’s) seniors, and doing the work necessary to turn those desires and values into reality.

Are you interested in learning more about what it takes to be successful as a senior care franchise owner during the aging-in-place boom? Always Best Care is here to help you navigate the industry as one of our franchise owners! Download our FREE franchising ebook today to learn more and refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

Senior Care Franchise Ownership: Providing the Light in Senior Lives

Being awarded your own senior care franchise represents an awesome opportunity for you to make a difference in your own life — you will be operating a business with amazing potential! But unlike many other opportunities for starting a business, it also gives you the chance to provide meaningful support and assistance to those in the community who might not otherwise be able to attain high-quality senior care.

In-home care and the “aging-in-place” movement are driving the senior care industry — just take a look at this recent article in the Wall Street Journal — so there’s little doubt you’re making a great decision as a businessperson. But what’s truly special about being a franchise owner is the opportunity to provide area seniors with the kind of care that helps them get the most out of their “golden years.”

What Today’s Seniors Need

Do you remember visiting your grandparents or great-grandparents when you were growing up? It’s likely that during their later years, you went to spend time with them at a nursing home or other type of senior-living facility. Years ago, it was common for seniors to leave the home when they could no longer do everything on their own.

Times have changed, though, and today’s seniors are advocating for a better quality of life and more independence. For many of them, that means saying “no” to leaving home, even if they require some assistance and care to do so safely. That’s where you come in as a senior care franchise owner!

What do today’s seniors value?

Independence
Freedom
A comfortable, familiar living space
Quality time with family and friends on their own terms
Access to top-quality care in a comfortable setting
Companionship
The ability to maintain the lifestyle they have come to enjoy

Living a life according to these values is critical for an excellent quality of life. As a senior care franchise owner in your community, you can help seniors remain connected to those values, giving them the chance to truly get the most out of their post retirement years.

Be the Bridge to a Better Life for Area Seniors

Senior care franchise ownership is more than just an excellent opportunity for you, professionally. It’s a chance for you to play an important role in your community, helping people who need better options when it comes to living according to their closely held values.

As a franchise owner, you will be providing an important service, but you’ll also be providing seniors and their families with light, love and peace of mind.

How?

Your in-home care business makes it possible for seniors to retain their independence
Your franchise’s compassionate caregivers fill in the gaps, providing assistance around the house so that seniors can remain where they feel comfortable
You will provide a more flexible and affordable option for families who might otherwise struggle with affording more “traditional” forms of senior care
Your business provides the support today’s seniors need to remain independent and free

Owning your own business means making a better life for yourself, but as a senior care franchise owner, it means so much more.

Learn More

Are you interested in learning more about what it takes to be successful as a senior care franchise owner during the aging-in-place boom? Always Best Care is here to help you navigate the industry as one of our franchise owners! Download our FREE franchising ebook today to learn more and refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

Connecting With Your Community — The Key to Running Your Franchise Effectively

Being a presence in your community is a crucial component to operating an in-home senior care franchise. After all, people will be much more attracted to the services you offer if you can demonstrate that your business is — as we like to say — a resource for the community. You can become a resource by developing your skill set and putting yourself out there as a leader in senior care.

Following are just a few of the ways in which you can ensure that people look at your franchise as more than just a local business.

Find Your Niche and Show Why You’re the Expert

What is it about senior care that attracted you to the business?

You probably have a personal interest in senior care, or maybe you have expertise in a certain aspect of senior living. Perhaps you’re passionate about changing the face of senior care to accommodate the Baby Boomer generation. Or, you witnessed a relative struggle with the hard choices associated with staying at home, or entering a nursing facility.

Whatever your specific area of interest in regard to senior care, you can use it to help build your business.

How?

Carefully and steadily build your knowledge base through training, community involvement, Certified Senior Advisor certification, or any other method that helps build your competence. Partner with local thought leaders in an area of interest to you (Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Cancer Research, …) Consider becoming a SHIP (Medicare) Counselor.

Connect with local organizations and community leaders and see if there are opportunities available to give talks or lead workshops for audiences interested in your area of expertise. Doing this shows people that you’re not just a local business owner; you’re a passionate expert who is in business to truly help people and provide resources for those in the community who need them.

You can also leverage your specific expertise by writing informative blog posts, podcasting or arranging for interviews with local media. The more your voice is heard by people in your area, the more likely they are to think of you when the time comes to make decisions about senior care.

Make Sure the Rest of the Senior Care Community Knows Your Name!

Always Best Care franchise owner Susan Oderwald talked about this during our recent interview with her, and it’s something that can help you make a name for yourself — and your business: Network, network and network some more! Make a point to meet with key individuals in the greater senior care community, including hospice care providers elder-law attorneys, skilled care providers and others. Expand your sphere of contacts. These people can become amazing referral sources for you, but you’ve got to do the work to ensure that your name is always on the tips of their tongues.

When you can start showing up to community meetings knowing everyone’s name, you can be sure that you’ve made a name for yourself, helping your business immeasurably.

Follow the System

You’ve got to work hard on your own to make it as a senior care franchise owner, but you’ve also got to be able to trust the proven system that’s in place to help you grow. Area Representatives and National Directors from your franchise’s support office want you to do your best, and they will give you all the necessary tools and strategies. It’s what sets franchise ownership apart from other types of business opportunities, and it’s what’s going to give you the edge you need to make an amazing impact in your community!

Learn More

Are you interested in learning more about what it takes to be successful as a senior care franchise owner during the aging-in-place boom? Always Best Care is here to help you navigate the industry as one of our franchise owners! Download our FREE franchising ebook today to learn more and refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

Success Rate of a New Franchise Business vs an Independent Start Up

If you are considering starting your own business, you must decide if you want to start your own independent start-up business or invest in a franchise. Both types of businesses have qualities you will need to consider carefully when making this decision. Certainly with an independent start-up you are able to make all the decisions on how to run the business, but with a franchise you gain brand name recognition and supportive assistance. One of the main points you will need to look at is the success rate of both types of businesses. Below is a look at the success rate of starting a new franchise business vs starting an independent start-up business.

Success Rate of a New Franchise

A new franchise is associated with a main brand name company. The new franchise owner must purchase the rights to open their business from the main company. While start-up costs for a franchise may be less expensive than an independent business, franchise owners may incur added costs further down the road.

A study by the International Franchise Association (IFA) suggested that at many as 95 percent of new franchises were still in business after five years, and 91 percent after seven years.

As a way to further support IFA’a figures, FranNet completed another survey where it followed 1,260 new franchises from 2006 to 2010 to see what the success rate was. According to this survey, 91 percent of the new franchises were still in business after two years, and 85 percent of these franchises were still in business at the end of four years. Both studies show a very high success rate for new franchise owners.

Success Rate of an Independent Start-up

An independent start-up is a business that is built from the ground up and is not associated with any other brand name company. Typically, the start-up costs for these independent businesses are slightly higher and require the business owner to have an in-depth knowledge of how to manage and operate a business.

Statistics show the success rate for independent start-up are much lower than those for franchise companies. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the US Small Business Administration, 70 percent of independent start-ups are still in business after two years, and 50 percent of still in business after 5 years. This number drops to just over 30 percent for independent start-ups that last longer than 10 years, and 25 percent for those lasting more than 15 years.

The success rate for a new home care franchise seems to be much higher than those for an independent start-up business. This large difference may be because franchises offer a vast amount of supportive services to new business owners to help them start and operate their businesses, which many new start-up owners just do not have.

Learn more about senior care franchising and download our FREE senior care franchising E-book today!

Please refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

How to Avoid Franchise Owner Burnout in Your First Year

Have you just begun your journey as an in-home senior care franchise owner? The first year of running your business is going to go by incredibly quickly! But how you look back upon your initial 365 days of franchise ownership will largely depend upon the actions you take right now and the habits that you instill in yourself today. One key thing to remember at this time is that owning and operating your franchise effectively is much more like a marathon than a sprint, so you’ve got to be able to pace yourself properly. Otherwise, you may become a victim of entrepreneurial burnout.

As you look at the road ahead in your role as a new franchise owner, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind so you don’t wear yourself out and put your business in jeopardy.

Here are some tips that can help you endure your first year effectively so that you can ensure that your franchise sticks around to serve your community with terrific senior care options!

Don’t Allow Hesitation to Paralyze You

Have you ever heard of the concept of the “seal of hesitation”? Basically, it describes the scenario in which business owners feel like they can’t take the next step because there’s more research to do, or the business plan needs to be rewritten — essentially, it’s all about employing delay tactics in order to avoid the stresses associated with facing risk.

When you’re in your first year as a franchise owner, it’s easy to get stuck in patterns of hesitation. After all, at this point, your dream of a successful franchise is still perfect in your mind. Taking action requires you to test your vision and come face to face with the associated risks. But it’s what you have to do to move forward effectively.

Take action when the time is right and you will avoid the pitfalls of procrastination. You’ll also give yourself the chance to learn from mistakes you make before the pressure of time has built to a crescendo. It might be difficult to take those first steps, but by doing so now, you’ll build some great habits that will carry your business forward.

One Mistake Is not the End of the World

In your first year, flaws and mistakes can stand out like sore thumbs, and they can seem much more damaging than they actually are. Just keep in mind that although you will certainly suffer some setbacks in your franchise’s first year, it’s highly unlikely that you will experience outright failure. When a setback occurs, take a breath and assess what you can do to overcome it. Chances are, you will not only overcome the setback; you’ll find a way to create new opportunities that would not have presented themselves otherwise.

Be Good to Yourself

The importance of this one cannot be overstated! Your first year in business will be intense and almost completely focused on your franchise. But you need to stop every once in a while to smell the roses and take care of your needs as a human being. Being a workaholic might seem like the correct approach, but overdoing can leave you feeling like a car without any gas in the tank — you aren’t going anywhere!

Learn to treat yourself, and balance your work with time to reflect and recharge. That way, you stand a great chance at avoiding the burnout that so often accompanies the first year of franchise ownership.

Franchise With Always Best Care

Are you interested in learning more about what it takes to be successful as a senior care franchise owner during the aging-in-place boom? Always Best Care is here to help you navigate the industry as one of our franchise owners! Download our FREE franchising ebook today to learn more and refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

Three Reasons to Start a Senior Assistance Services Franchise

According to the Administration on Aging, as of 2009 there were 39.6 million people in the US aged 65 or older, which represented 12.9 percent of the population at that time. These numbers are expected to increase dramatically by 2030, to around 72.1 million. The growing demographic of seniors in this country translates to a growing need for senior assistance services.

There are many reasons to consider starting a senior care services franchise. Here we discuss a few:

Fulfilling a Growing Need — With the aging Baby Boomer population, the number of elderly folks in the US is expected to double over the next 15 years, which will dramatically increase demand for in-home assistance. Many seniors would prefer to stay in their homes and maintain as much independence as possible, rather than live in an assisted living facility. By starting an in-home assistance franchise, you will be fulfilling a growing need in this country.

Doing Meaningful Work — A growing number of seniors will need both non-medical and in the coming years and decades. By starting a senior care franchise you’ll make a real difference in the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of seniors who will need help with daily activities.

Working in a Recession-Resistant Market — Unlike many consumer products that people often go without during times of recession, medical and living assistance are essential services. Considering the fact that seniors are the fastest growing segment of the population, and considering the numbers of seniors who will require assistance in the coming years, elder care services is considered to be a recession-proof industry.

As with starting any business, there are many considerations, and careful planning is required in order to be successful. If starting an assisted living franchise appeals to you, considering franchising with Always Best Care, consistently ranked among the top 100 franchises in the United States. Learn more on our website.

To learn more about franchising in the senior care industry, download our FREE eBook today!

Please refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

Top Five Home-Care Myths and How to Dispel Them

Most seniors, when asked, respond that they would prefer to remain in their homes as they age, rather than move to an assisted living facility. Often, however, the homes in which they have lived for many years have become too big to maintain, or they begin to have health issues, and their family members can’t always be there to help. Still, many seniors and their family members remain wary of hiring help from a home care business, largely due to a few misconceptions surrounding in-home care. Here are five of the most common myths regarding non-medical home care:

Only very sick people need home care.

While it’s true that very ill people may seek in-home care, non-medical home care businesses also provide simple services, like homemaking, personal care, or companionship.

Home care is too expensive.

Compared to other senior care services, home care is one of the most affordable options. A large percentage of family caregivers over-estimate the costs of non-medical care by as much as $6.00 per hour. Additionally, some clients of in-home care franchises only require services for a few hours per week.

Home care clients have no say about who comes into their homes.

Caregivers are often carefully matched to clients’ needs and interests, and professional home-care workers are carefully screened.

In-home care will reduce the client’s independence.

This is often the top concern of seniors who are considering home care, and it’s tough to convince them that, in fact, the opposite is true. A professional caregiver can help the client remain in the home, while helping to keep them socially engaged, providing transportation to favorite activities, and helping prevent falls and other accidents which can reduce a senior’s mobility.

If a family caregiver is present, there is no need to hire a home care worker.

If a family caregiver is on-call 24 hours a day, this can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion. Burned-out caregivers cannot provide quality care, no matter how much they may wish to. By hiring a home-care worker, families can give the primary caregiver crucial respite and relief, without having to remove the senior relative from his or her home.

For franchising opportunities and information on the senior care industry, download our FREE eBook today!

Please refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

Life Experience: How Your Story Can Inform Your Senior Care Franchise

If you’re considering senior care franchise ownership, you’ve probably thought a lot about how your experience qualifies you to operate your own business in this growing industry. For instance, if you come from the corporate world, you probably have a clear understanding of how your franchise should be run, operationally. If you are a skilled networker, for instance, you might be considering the ways in which you can promote your franchise through reaching out to individuals and other businesses locally. Your professional experience will certainly go a long way in helping you to run your franchise effectively, but what about the other types of experience and expertise you possess?

What about your life experience?

As it turns out, your personal life experiences can come in handy as you navigate your way through the senior care world as a franchise owner.

Lessons Learned from the Seniors in Your Life

Everyone has parents and grandparents, and even though each individual’s family experience is different, there’s no doubt that you have learned a thing or two from interacting with older individuals in your life.

Think about your relationships with your parents, grandparents or other older loved ones: is there anything that stands out? Like many family members of older individuals, you’ve probably experienced some of the hardships associated with finding quality senior care.

Now that you’re considering senior care as a franchise opportunity, you have a chance to provide solutions to the issues you’ve witnessed in your own life with seniors. You can take what you know about how your loved ones have been cared for and use those lessons to help make your business a real, helpful resource for the elderly (and their families) in your community.

Empathy for Families of Seniors

Children and other family members of seniors who require non-medical in-home care face special challenges. And for many of them, it feels like they’re doing it all alone.

As a senior care franchise owner, you can show families in your community that you understand what they’re going through. Finding high-quality senior care is not always easy — families need to know that they can trust providers fully. If you’re able to get on the same page with your potential clients by relating stories from your personal experience, you can help them understand what makes your business so special.

Your Life Experience Can Set You Apart

Owning a franchise in the senior care industry is a great way to be in business these days, but it also presents countless opportunities for you to take what you’ve learned in your personal life and apply it in a way that immeasurably helps other families in your area. And when you can combine your professional and personal experience effectively as a senior care franchise owner, you can truly set yourself apart from the competition — there is no one like you, and there is no business that can offer the specific attributes you bring to the table!

Are you interested in learning more about what it takes to be successful as a senior care franchise owner during the aging-in-place boom?

Always Best Care is here to help you navigate the industry as one of our franchise owners!

Download our FREE franchising eBook today to learn more and refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.

4 Ways to Boost Your Franchise Blog

One of your responsibilities as a senior care franchise owner is to market your business effectively. These days, the most powerful marketing is done online, often through various social media platforms, email newsletters and — especially — blogging. Having a blog on your website ensures that you always have fresh content for the search engines and potential clients to find. It also helps you establish your voice as an authority in senior care.

Senior care franchise owners need to be focused on their businesses, so blogging isn’t always in the forefronts of their minds. However, maintaining a blog doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. And the benefits associated with establishing a strong voice in blogging are tremendous compared to the relatively small effort needed to do so.

If you’re a franchise owner — or are interested in becoming one — in the senior care industry, here are four tips to help you maximize your online marketing efforts through your blog!

Tip #1 — Keep a Content Calendar

To be effective with your blog, you can’t just log into your website and start typing away. Instead, generate some topics and themes that you want to cover. Then organize those topics in a calendar format so you can see what you’ve got coming up. This helps you maintain a consistent schedule while enhancing your ability to cover a wide range of topics.

Tip #2 — Establish Your Voice

Whether you’ll be the one to actually write the posts, or if you have a designated writer, it’s important to establish the “voice” of your blog. It should have a point of view that tells readers that you’re an authority in senior care and the various subjects you are covering.

Tip #3 — Space Is Your Friend

There’s plenty of content on the internet to read, so people aren’t going to waste time with blogs that consist of long blocks of text. Break your posts up into bite-size chunks by adding headings, lists and plenty of “white space” between paragraphs. When you organize your posts this way, they are much more easy on the eyes and more likely to inspire readers to come back for subsequent posts.

Tip #4 — Add Images!

The internet is increasingly becoming a visual medium. Your words are important, but your blog will perform much better if you add some images. Better yet, find a way to include video content to your blog, and you’ll see a significant uptick in engagement.

Consistency Is Key

Getting your blog set up will be the most challenging part of the process, but once it’s set up, all you have to do is keep updating your content calendar and follow it so that your posts get published regularly and consistently. Keep it consistent and be sure to follow the tips above, and you’ll see just how effective blogging can be in effectively marketing your franchise!

Franchise Ownership — Amazing Opportunities for Military Vets

Veterans of the United States Armed Forces are some of the most skilled, dedicated, selfless and hardworking people in the country, but they often experience difficulty transitioning back into civilian life once their military service has come to an end. For many veterans, the seeming lack of opportunity can be incredibly frustrating, especially when they have so much to offer. Certainly, there are jobs out there to be had, but what many veterans desire is the chance to operate businesses that allow them to continue to provide service. For many returning veterans, owning a senior care franchise represents the ideal opportunity.

Veterans Have All the Right Traits for Franchise Ownership

As it turns out, the skills required to own and operate a senior care franchise effectively have a lot in common with those that are developed through military service. Let’s take a look at a few of them:

*Focus
Franchise ownership requires people to wear a number of hats, but that’s only done well if a person can prioritize and focus their concentration on what needs to be done in the here and now. Through their training and experience, military veterans are some of the most focused individuals on the planet, making them excellent candidates for senior care franchise ownership!

*Leadership
Military veterans understand what makes teams work well, and they know what it takes to provide excellent leadership. Mostly, it’s all about understanding people and motivating them, which is something with which most military veterans are very familiar.

*Strategy
Seeing the entire “chess board” and being able to plan several moves ahead (while accounting for possible surprises along the way) are traits that are highly developed among military veterans. Strategic traits are crucial when it comes to successful franchise ownership; marketing, accounting for growth, dealing with competition and a number of other aspects require an ability to strategize effectively.

*Following Orders
A successful military operation requires that people understand the chain of command and can follow orders. In franchise ownership, it’s important to be able to lead, but it’s equally as critical to be able to take direction and follow the system. Military veterans are ideally suited for this type of professional scenario, given their backgrounds.

Continuing Service

In senior care, franchise owners work toward various professional goals, but they also experience something rare in the business world — the chance to give back to their communities.

Seniors everywhere are living better lives thanks to the “aging in place” boom, and senior care franchise owners are making it possible. Franchise owners provide options that help families care for aging loved ones, and they act as vital resources in their communities. Military veterans who wish to continue their service can find a rewarding outlet through senior care franchising.

Why Always Best Care?

Always Best Care has been consistently ranked as one of the top franchises for veterans. In fact, Military Times has called Always Best Care one of its “Best for Vets” franchises on multiple occasions. For those veterans interested in franchise ownership, Always Best Care should be at the top of the list!

Are you interested in learning more about what it takes to be successful as a senior care franchise owner during the aging-in-place boom? Always Best Care is here to help you navigate the industry as one of our franchise owners! Download our FREE franchising eBook today to learn more and refer to our most recent Franchise Disclosure Document for important details.