Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / The Power of Partnership: Jennifer and Brian Perruccio on Building HomeChoice Home Care Solutions | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care

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The Power of Partnership: Jennifer and Brian Perruccio on Building HomeChoice Home Care Solutions | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care · The Inspired Stories Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast
• 0:08
  where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
• 0:11
  their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
• 0:14
  adversity. My name is Anthony Cotespotti
• 0:17
  and today's guests are Jennifer and Brian Perruccio, the Co
• 0:21
  owners at Home Choice Home Care Solutions.
• 0:25
  They are a family owned agency based in Raleigh, NC providing
• 0:30
  in home senior care, companion care and live in care for aging
• 0:35
  loved ones since 2005. Their mission is to promote
• 0:39
  Wellness and compassionate support so seniors can remain
• 0:42
  comfortable in their own homes. Jennifer has over 20 years of
• 0:46
  experience as a small business owner, excelling in management,
• 0:49
  operations and human resources. Since joining Home Choice in
• 0:53
  2017, she's LED initiatives to expand the company's services
• 0:57
  and strengthen community outreach, helping to maintain
• 1:00
  the company score values and strong operational standards.
• 1:04
  Brian has a Master's in Sports Administration and began his
• 1:08
  career in sports marketing. He later transitioned into sales
• 1:12
  before helping to buy the Home Choice home Care business.
• 1:17
  Under their collective guidance, Home Choice has been widely
• 1:19
  recognized for its personal care and dedication to enriching the
• 1:23
  lives of seniors. I'm excited to learn more about
• 1:26
  their journey and hear insights on leadership growth and
• 1:29
  building strong relationships. Now before we get into all that
• 1:32
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• 1:35
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  To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
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  AD back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
• 2:03
  today, Co owners, husband and wife of home choice Home Care
• 2:08
  Solutions, Jennifer and Brian Perruccio.
• 2:12
  Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
• 2:15
  Thank you for having us. So as I understand it, Home
• 2:19
  Choice wasn't the first entrepreneurial venture here.
• 2:23
  Is that right? No.
• 2:26
  Well, it really wasn't no you. Yeah, we, we wanted to work
• 2:32
  together as a couple, Anthony. And we just had this desire that
• 2:36
  to to do something on our own and be our own boss and work
• 2:40
  together. And with Jennifer's parents
• 2:45
  financial and emotional support, encouragement, we went down the
• 2:50
  road of looking for a business to buy in 2010.
• 2:54
  And surprisingly, we ended up buying 2 businesses in 2010
• 2:58
  because they both kind of fit what we were looking for.
• 3:01
  Yeah, we went backwards. We figured out what kind of
• 3:04
  business we wanted to own and then used those criteria and
• 3:09
  went backwards to find the business that fit it.
• 3:11
  Instead of going and saying oh we want to own a coffee shop, we
• 3:14
  said we want to own a recurring, a business with recurring
• 3:19
  revenue that is service based and that we can run together.
• 3:24
  Ironically, probably wouldn't have said seven days a week, 24
• 3:27
  hours a day business, which is what the home care business is,
• 3:30
  but it did lead us to made pro and to home choice at the same
• 3:36
  time. We did due diligence and bought
• 3:39
  both of them at the same time, basically about a month apart.
• 3:43
  Wow, that's biting off a lot there.
• 3:46
  It wasn't. Was there any thought about just
• 3:47
  doing one at a time, kind of get your hands around it or you're
• 3:51
  just all in? We were all in and it was
• 3:54
  really, I have to give my father a lot of a lot of props on that
• 3:59
  because he really believed in us and our ability to take that on.
• 4:03
  So we basically, I ran the cleaning agency and Brian took
• 4:08
  on home choice and we were both brand new business owners
• 4:11
  celebrating our 40th birthdays and within 30 days of each
• 4:14
  other. So yeah, it was a big
• 4:16
  undertaking and we had no idea what we were doing honestly in
• 4:19
  the beginning, so. And are you still involved with
• 4:22
  the the maid service? We sold that about seven years
• 4:26
  ago to my neighbor. My neighboring territory owner
• 4:30
  wanted to expand and he had approached me and that we
• 4:33
  thought it was a great opportunity and time to finally
• 4:37
  work together. I I had learned, I had learned a
• 4:41
  lot at Maid Pro and learned a lot through the franchise
• 4:43
  system. And since Home Choice is
• 4:44
  independent, I was able to bring some knowledge from that.
• 4:48
  A ton of knowledge, yeah. Yeah.
• 4:51
  Maybe pick out one thing, Jennifer, that you learned by
• 4:53
  being in that franchise system that you were able to bring to
• 4:56
  Home Choice. I think recruiting and marketing
• 5:01
  with the maid business, we had to constantly recruit new
• 5:04
  employees and they had a, they were an excellent franchise so
• 5:08
  that I had a lot of support from them.
• 5:10
  So I really learned how to hire and aggressively hire and train.
• 5:14
  And then also they had a great marketing program that I would
• 5:18
  just set and forget. So I was able to bring that
• 5:22
  perspective to home choice. As well as just being Anthony,
• 5:27
  like, like it was just me running home choice for a while
• 5:31
  and trying to be the CEOCFO marketing guy, recruiting guy.
• 5:37
  I mean, it was just a lot with a with a small staff.
• 5:42
  So Jennifer's addition really let the agency bloom.
• 5:47
  I mean tremendously it. Was like sprinkling fertilizer
• 5:51
  on budding little plant. You know, we were, we were both
• 5:55
  running successful businesses, but neither 1 was like blowing
• 6:00
  up, right? They were, they were good steady
• 6:02
  growth. But it, you know, we just, you
• 6:05
  just don't have enough time in the day to do it all.
• 6:07
  And so we finally realized that together we'd be able to really,
• 6:11
  you know, add another 40 hours a week and really help the
• 6:15
  business grow. Jennifer, I'd like to explore a
• 6:18
  little bit more about sort of those understandings and that
• 6:22
  knowledge that you brought on the hiring side of things.
• 6:24
  Because you know, it strikes me in this business model that
• 6:29
  obviously you want to go out, you want to find new, new
• 6:32
  patients, new clients that need your services, that need your
• 6:35
  care. But you know, you're limited in
• 6:38
  how many folks that you can deliver that care to if you
• 6:42
  don't have the the caregivers to provide that.
• 6:46
  And it's very rewarding work, I would assume, but you know, it,
• 6:52
  it's, it can be challenging work too.
• 6:54
  And so you've got to find the right people who are, you know,
• 6:57
  invested in this and want to be involved.
• 6:59
  Like what? What are some things that you've
• 7:01
  done to be able to to go out and find those folks and then hold
• 7:05
  on to the good ones when you get them?
• 7:08
  I think the main thing is staying focused on it.
• 7:12
  COVID changed a lot for us. When I came on board to home
• 7:15
  choice, we weren't really, we didn't have a real active
• 7:18
  recruiting plan. We we were just able to go
• 7:21
  forward with people who would walk in the door interested in
• 7:25
  working for us and keeping the people happy.
• 7:28
  But COVID changed a lot as it did for a lot of people, but for
• 7:31
  our agency in particular and for the industry, it the mantra
• 7:37
  really became, oh, there's a caregiver shortage and we just
• 7:40
  never bought into that. We ended up creating a
• 7:45
  recruiting position and I have to, we have a business coach,
• 7:49
  which is we can talk about that in a little bit.
• 7:51
  That really changed a lot for our business in a lot of
• 7:53
  different ways. But he really encouraged all of
• 7:56
  us that worked with him to really put our foot on the gas
• 8:00
  as far as recruiting and hiring. So, but part of what Made Pro
• 8:05
  taught me is the interview process, asking the right
• 8:08
  questions and the thorough training process.
• 8:13
  And also just being able to bring people on and make them
• 8:17
  sticky to our business. Bring them on quickly.
• 8:21
  Bring them on, you know, an intentional way so that they
• 8:26
  feel like they are a part of the business, part of our mission
• 8:29
  very quickly. I like that.
• 8:33
  Maybe for our listeners, we could teach them a little bit.
• 8:36
  What is your favorite interview question to ask?
• 8:39
  That kind of helps you figure out if this person's going to be
• 8:41
  a fit. I think one question that
• 8:45
  elicits a lot of emotion for our for our employees or our
• 8:50
  potential employees is like, tell us about a time in your
• 8:53
  life where you've been really challenged and you've wanted to
• 8:56
  give up, but you didn't, and what made you move forward and
• 9:00
  what got you through that? You can learn a lot about people
• 9:04
  that doesn't really have anything to do with their
• 9:06
  caregiving experience per SE, but you can learn a lot about
• 9:11
  people in that answer. And sometimes we have to break
• 9:15
  out the box of tissues with that question, but I love that
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  because you really get to know somebody in a vulnerable way,
• 9:22
  and those are the kind of people we're looking for.
• 9:25
  And then say more about how you make somebody sticky when they
• 9:29
  come in. You want to talk a little bit
• 9:32
  about that? Yeah.
• 9:34
  I mean our we have orientation every week religiously.
• 9:38
  So it's it's like a non negotiable thing in our office.
• 9:41
  We're always hiring. Every Wednesday we have
• 9:43
  orientation and we try to have those employees leave
• 9:48
  orientation with a schedule of work, hopefully within 24 to 48
• 9:52
  hours. Because if they don't get
• 9:55
  working quickly, then they're probably working for somebody
• 9:58
  else or they're thinking there's not work at this agency and
• 10:01
  there's nothing going on there. So if we can get them working,
• 10:05
  usually hopefully that Thursday or Friday, then we have a
• 10:08
  tendency to see them stick around a little bit.
• 10:12
  We give them home choice swag and they already have their name
• 10:16
  badges. I mean they really become a part
• 10:19
  of us from orientation. So, you know, I would really, I
• 10:25
  would say that's an important part of it too.
• 10:29
  And, and staying in touch with them.
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  You know, we have multiple people in the office that stay
• 10:34
  in touch with them after their first shift, their 7th shift,
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  their 14th shift. So we just want to keep in touch
• 10:41
  with them and make sure they're feeling like they are part of
• 10:44
  the team right from the beginning.
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  So if they just go, because this is a a field, Anthony, where
• 10:50
  they're on an island, sometimes they're out in people's homes
• 10:53
  all the time, but they're not in the office.
• 10:55
  So there's not a chance to build a lot of rapport and trust, you
• 11:00
  know, every day in the office. So you have to do it via, you
• 11:04
  know, keeping in touch with them, phone calls, texts, how
• 11:06
  you doing? You know, our nurse supervisor
• 11:08
  goes out and sees them within the 1st 30 days in the field so
• 11:11
  that she can check on how things are going.
• 11:13
  So just a lot of touches to try to get them involved and feel
• 11:18
  like they're in the in the home choice family.
• 11:21
  I, I would see that being a, a particular challenge in the kind
• 11:24
  of business that you have. There isn't a water cooler that
• 11:27
  everybody is congregating around on a regular basis.
• 11:30
  You're, you know, it, it's, it would be normal for somebody to
• 11:34
  be feel, you know, feel like there's kind of stuck on an
• 11:35
  island if, if they don't have those regular outreaches from
• 11:39
  you. Right.
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  Sometimes we don't see caregivers, you know, in the
• 11:43
  office, I mean for months because they, they get their
• 11:46
  paycheck electronically, their pay stub electronically.
• 11:49
  Sometimes they may come in to get supplies, but other than
• 11:52
  that they don't need to come in unless there's a training or
• 11:57
  something like that. So it's important to stay in
• 11:59
  touch with them and let them know that they are part of the
• 12:02
  team. So you mentioned that, you know,
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  one of the motivations for starting a business is that you
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  really wanted to work together. And when you, you know, started
• 12:13
  these two different businesses separately, you didn't really
• 12:16
  get that opportunity. I mean, it's they're both still
• 12:19
  in the family, but Jennifer's off, you know, running one
• 12:21
  business, Brian's off running another business.
• 12:24
  And one of the decisions behind selling the made business was so
• 12:27
  that you could finally, you know, come and work together and
• 12:32
  sort of, you know, have a kind of a multiplier effect there.
• 12:34
  And I have to say that that's a little bit unusual in my
• 12:37
  experience. I mean, I love my wife and she
• 12:40
  loves me, but we do very different kinds of work and
• 12:44
  we're happy to go to our work and then, you know, come back at
• 12:47
  at the end of the day. Is this a challenge for you
• 12:51
  guys? You're around each other all the
• 12:53
  time and all day, every day. We've been asked that question a
• 12:57
  number of times and we've realized that we are a little
• 13:00
  unusual. We do spend a lot of time
• 13:02
  together, but I would say for the most part we it's not a
• 13:08
  problem for us, but it's not for every couple.
• 13:11
  And it's not to say that we haven't had our challenges and I
• 13:13
  haven't had moments of, you know, like this is not fun and
• 13:18
  that it puts it can put pressure on.
• 13:21
  Then we talk about that the business side of our
• 13:23
  relationship and then the marriage side of our
• 13:25
  relationship. So you don't it's you have to be
• 13:28
  very careful to protect. To me, the number one thing is
• 13:34
  our marriage. So you can't let the business
• 13:37
  pressures or you know, things that we're doing or talking
• 13:43
  about and deciding on how we're going to run the business affect
• 13:47
  the marriage part of it. It really, you really have to be
• 13:50
  very intentional and aware about how that affects you.
• 13:54
  So but for the most part, we love it.
• 13:57
  And yeah, when we joke at home like, oh, how was your day so.
• 14:02
  Well, you know already because you were there.
• 14:04
  That's. Right.
• 14:06
  But do you have it? So it sounds to me like you've
• 14:09
  just got a really good dynamic and you're both, obviously you
• 14:12
  mesh very well together, which is important in any marriage or
• 14:15
  any work relationship. But now you know you've brought
• 14:18
  the two together. Do you have any advice for maybe
• 14:21
  some listeners out there who are considering a similar kind of
• 14:25
  arrangement or who are in a similar arrangement working with
• 14:29
  their partner and maybe they're having some challenges?
• 14:33
  Is there a way any strategies that you've used to sort of
• 14:36
  firewall kind of the two environments?
• 14:41
  I mean, I would say transparency is really important across the
• 14:45
  board on the business side. I mean, always being open to
• 14:48
  what's going on, good, bad or ugly, you know, because if it
• 14:53
  doesn't, then if you're not, then it can drag into the
• 14:56
  marriage side of things that, you know, affect you down the
• 14:59
  road differently. So I mean, we work well
• 15:03
  together, Anthony, because we kind of are like a Ying and
• 15:06
  Yang. I mean, we look at it as
• 15:08
  Jennifer's like the visionary of the business and I'm kind of the
• 15:12
  implementer integrator. So we kind of know our lanes and
• 15:18
  I mean, there is mixing of that because it it's our business.
• 15:23
  You know, this, this is it is there's no big board.
• 15:26
  You're looking at the board. So there's always a mixture of
• 15:31
  who's doing what, but we kind of both know where our strengths
• 15:35
  are. And she, I can say she knows
• 15:39
  where my weaknesses are and she'll push me and I need that
• 15:43
  sometimes because I get can get stuck in my ways or I'm doing
• 15:49
  this longer. I've been here longer, I just
• 15:51
  can get stuck in that. But you're also open, you also
• 15:54
  listen. And I mean, we're not the kind
• 15:57
  of couple that ever have big blowout fights or anything like
• 16:00
  that. So I think we're good at
• 16:02
  communicating. You're good at listening.
• 16:05
  He's good at listening. You're good at talking,
• 16:08
  Jennifer. He's good at listening, Yeah.
• 16:10
  There you go. There's a dynamic Anthony right
• 16:12
  there. So yeah.
• 16:13
  And also we're we say we're a very low drama, we're a low
• 16:17
  drama couple at home, but we don't bring any of our personal
• 16:21
  drama to the office. I mean, what, what happens at
• 16:23
  home stays at home. And yeah, people in the office,
• 16:26
  they know us and they know about our lives and our family.
• 16:29
  But. We don't keep that, we keep
• 16:31
  that. We keep that side.
• 16:33
  We protect that part of our life.
• 16:35
  But I would say that our culture reflects us personally, our
• 16:38
  office culture is very much reflective of that.
• 16:41
  We hire those kinds of people that we don't have office drama.
• 16:45
  We're good communicators. We're all growing in the same
• 16:47
  direction. But I mean, and I would also
• 16:50
  say, you know, you really have to really think about what your
• 16:54
  goals are and how you work together because it is a stress
• 16:57
  on a marriage and it is stressful when all your eggs are
• 17:00
  in one basket, your livelihood of your whole life and your
• 17:03
  financial well-being. It's risky to be a business
• 17:06
  owner. So you have to have a lot of
• 17:08
  trust in your partner and you have to be open to being
• 17:15
  vulnerable and letting your partner see sides of you that
• 17:19
  might not you, you know, you might want to protect like Brian
• 17:22
  touched on that. So when we're, so when, when we
• 17:25
  were in more stressful parts of the business early on, it's hard
• 17:29
  to say like I don't know what I'm doing or I made this mistake
• 17:32
  or I think I made the wrong decision.
• 17:34
  You know, you have to be willing to do that, so.
• 17:37
  Yeah, but and you've been working with a a business coach
• 17:41
  does has the coach helped with sort of this married couple
• 17:45
  dynamic or do you work on other things with your coach?
• 17:49
  I think he's helped us indirectly with that.
• 17:54
  He definitely has helped us grow our business.
• 17:58
  We will give him total props on the success of our business of
• 18:02
  the past six years has really been because of the guidance of
• 18:07
  of Greg, Greg Mazza. He's has helped us a lot and I
• 18:11
  think he's helped us recognize what lanes we should be in and
• 18:15
  to really assign more definitive duties to each other, which has
• 18:18
  helped us a ripple effect, be a Better Business, but be a better
• 18:24
  couple and help us run the business as a couple.
• 18:27
  Better, why did you specifically buy Home Choice?
• 18:33
  I know it checked some of the boxes, right?
• 18:35
  You wanted service based business that had recurring
• 18:37
  revenue. I'm sure you looked at lots of
• 18:40
  other opportunities. What was it about this business
• 18:43
  in particular that attracted you?
• 18:49
  You know, we've all, I've always had a soft spot for senior
• 18:53
  citizens. I just have always been the kind
• 18:56
  of person that lends a hand when you see somebody struggling
• 18:59
  across the street and that sort of thing.
• 19:02
  So when we came across this business and the owner was
• 19:06
  interested in selling, it had just was just it was a baby
• 19:09
  business. It was five years old and I
• 19:12
  think the mission really spoke to us and I, we've both had
• 19:17
  family members that have had to leave their homes for care to in
• 19:22
  their later years. And we've seen what that means
• 19:25
  to people. And I think one of the greatest
• 19:29
  joys that we have is being able to give our senior citizens and
• 19:34
  elderly folks the option of living at home without being
• 19:38
  worried about having a stranger in the home, without worrying
• 19:41
  about being a burden to their family.
• 19:43
  And being able to have an agency like ours that's, you know, a
• 19:47
  family run and gives them a gives them personal connection
• 19:52
  to us. It helps them build the trust.
• 19:54
  So I think it's just a matter of service and being able to help
• 19:58
  people and help their families as well.
• 20:00
  That really spoke to us and we saw a real need for it in our
• 20:04
  area. It's really and Anthony, when
• 20:09
  you get into people's homes and start talking to them about what
• 20:12
  we do and how we can help them and you see the relief on if not
• 20:17
  the seniors face, but the adult children that are also involved.
• 20:21
  It really it just speaks to you and it's, it's what we do.
• 20:25
  I mean, we've, we've done some crazy things with clients.
• 20:28
  I mean, I've taken a client out and his convertible because he
• 20:31
  couldn't drive anymore and he wanted to have a ride in the
• 20:33
  country and feel the wind in his hair.
• 20:36
  We helped a couple packed to go to the beach because he was
• 20:39
  incapacitated. And the wife, she just couldn't
• 20:42
  physically do it all. So, you know, but making a
• 20:45
  difference in those people's lives so they could enjoy
• 20:48
  whatever time they have left, it's just, it's very rewarding.
• 20:53
  See that? How do you find each other?
• 20:55
  How do you find the clients? How do they find you?
• 20:58
  Do you use the term clients? Patients.
• 21:00
  What do you say? We call them clients and we get
• 21:05
  them from a number of different referral sources from rehabs and
• 21:09
  hospitals and social workers. Previous clients, Internet
• 21:16
  leads, we do advertising on Google.
• 21:19
  We have a lot of great Google reviews.
• 21:21
  So we've really fostered that over the years.
• 21:23
  So we like to have many different avenues of referrals
• 21:28
  that it strengthens our business.
• 21:31
  So if we have too many referrals coming from one source, we feel
• 21:34
  like that makes us a little vulnerable if that source should
• 21:37
  change or go away. So in COVID, we were a business
• 21:43
  that COVID helped us grow because people really needed us.
• 21:48
  And that was really 2020-2021 were very challenging years for
• 21:53
  us, but they were also years of growth.
• 21:56
  So, and we've grown, we've been able to grow from that, you
• 22:03
  know, and really spread out our referral sources, but it's
• 22:07
  really the community, building relationships with the community
• 22:09
  and people who are interacting with the people who need us.
• 22:13
  And say more about the community aspect of all of this.
• 22:18
  So when you're a non medical home care agency, the people
• 22:23
  that need you are usually going from the hospital into a rehab
• 22:28
  facility. They're recovering from a major
• 22:31
  health set back, whether it's from a fall and an injury from
• 22:35
  that or a chronic illness. And as we build relationships
• 22:40
  with, it's a lot of social workers and case managers that
• 22:43
  we work with, they come in contact with those people and
• 22:47
  they're the ones that say to the families like, you really could
• 22:50
  use some extra. Could you use some extra help in
• 22:52
  the home? It looks like you're really
• 22:54
  struggling with, you know, getting mom a bath on a regular
• 22:57
  basis or sometimes adult children.
• 22:59
  Some people are made for it and some people just are not.
• 23:02
  And that's OK. You know, not everybody's cut
• 23:05
  out to give your own parent a bath, you know, so we're able to
• 23:11
  build relationships with those people that are able to say,
• 23:14
  listen, we worked with home choice.
• 23:15
  We know they're going to answer the phone when you call.
• 23:18
  We know that they're going to be there for you when you need
• 23:20
  them. They're not going to ghost you
• 23:21
  when they are sending a caregiver.
• 23:25
  That builds trust with those case managers and that trust is
• 23:29
  admitted to their their clients or patients.
• 23:32
  So our business is a business of trust that we're constantly
• 23:36
  working on, whether it's with our clients or our referral
• 23:39
  sources. So it's the hospitals, the
• 23:41
  rehabs, social workers and word of mouth among the elderly folks
• 23:46
  in our community like, oh, I used home choice for my family
• 23:51
  member and they did a great job. You really they could really
• 23:54
  help you that we've seen that increase a lot over the years
• 23:57
  and we take that as a big compliment.
• 24:00
  We, we, we actually just got a referral, Anthony, from a woman.
• 24:04
  She lives down the street from this client, but we took care of
• 24:06
  her husband four years ago and she knew this lady down the
• 24:10
  street needed some help. And she said, well, I used to
• 24:12
  use home choice, you should call them.
• 24:14
  And we're, we're taking care of her.
• 24:16
  Another gentleman, we took care of his wife over five years ago.
• 24:19
  Now he needs help and he just picked up the phone and called.
• 24:21
  So we feel we do a great job of building that trust with a
• 24:25
  client and then years later we may get a referral that kind of
• 24:29
  forget about. I'd like to hear more about what
• 24:33
  sets you apart from other companies that are doing similar
• 24:37
  kinds of things. I mean, you talk about sort of
• 24:39
  the community building that, the trust building, but if there
• 24:44
  were a way for me to sort of objectively stack you up against
• 24:49
  another provider, how would you guys separate yourselves?
• 24:53
  That is something that we come up against because you go to a
• 24:55
  large hospital and they're like all your agencies are the same.
• 24:58
  You're hiring from the same pool of people.
• 25:00
  So how do you differentiate yourself?
• 25:01
  So there's a number of things that we do, yeah.
• 25:04
  The first is we have a Wellness program, Anthony, that's really
• 25:08
  focuses on the overall well-being of the client, from
• 25:12
  physical exercise to nutrition to mental activities, to
• 25:17
  emotional and social activities. And it's a, it's a binder that
• 25:21
  stays in the caregivers or in the client's home that the
• 25:24
  caregiver refers to about what the client has been up to and
• 25:27
  what kinds of things they want to do and, and should be doing.
• 25:30
  One, one piece of that is what we call a walk to Wellness
• 25:33
  program where we encourage our caregivers to get our clients up
• 25:38
  and moving, whether it's doing laps in the house or, you know,
• 25:42
  Monday they walk from the front door of the mailbox and Tuesday
• 25:44
  they're walking to the neighbour's mailbox.
• 25:46
  And then by, you know, a week from today, they're walking half
• 25:49
  a mile down the road. So just encouraging them.
• 25:52
  So the Wellness program really focuses on the overall
• 25:56
  well-being of the person, not just, oh, we're there to help
• 25:59
  you bathe. And it also meets them.
• 26:01
  It's also enables us to meet the client where they're at because
• 26:04
  it means different things to different people depending on
• 26:07
  what their personal situation is.
• 26:09
  So, you know, it embraces the the Wellness of the whole person
• 26:13
  and their family and support them to be the happiest, most
• 26:17
  secure and healthiest that they can be within their restrictions
• 26:22
  of what's going on with that. And then another one is we have
• 26:27
  some proprietary software called Home Choice Match, which allows
• 26:31
  us to make good matches between clients and caregivers based on
• 26:37
  their beliefs, their world experiences, you know, what they
• 26:43
  really think and feel about. And so the software just is a
• 26:47
  tool in our tool belt that lets us try to make good matches off
• 26:51
  off the bat when we're pairing up a client and a caregiver.
• 26:54
  So it also really helps, Anthony, because our entire
• 26:58
  office staff gets to know our clients through these questions
• 27:01
  that they answer. You know, a lot of times it
• 27:04
  would be me going out to meet a client or nurse goes out, but
• 27:07
  then the rest of the office just here's what we have to say.
• 27:10
  But when they get to read these answers of these questions that
• 27:13
  a client or a clients family does, they get to know somebody.
• 27:17
  And I'll hear a scheduler say Mr. Smith, he once went to Italy
• 27:23
  all by himself and traveled for a year throughout Italy all by
• 27:26
  himself. When he was 30.
• 27:28
  We had another client who cooked for George Bush before George
• 27:32
  Bush was president. So I mean, that was an
• 27:34
  interesting fact that he shared with us.
• 27:36
  So we kind of would like, oh, he's the, he's George Bushes
• 27:38
  cook, you know, So it just really gives us a way to make
• 27:43
  better matches, which enables good success for a client down
• 27:46
  the road. Yeah.
• 27:47
  And they, the families submit pictures on this software and
• 27:50
  then the caregivers answer questions about themselves.
• 27:53
  And they're five questions each. And it requires them to answer
• 27:56
  more in more than one sentence in detail about why did they get
• 28:01
  involved in caregiving or to the client.
• 28:03
  What can we learn about you by going into your home without you
• 28:06
  telling us anything about you? What would we learn about going
• 28:08
  into your home about you? So they're just interesting
• 28:12
  questions that dig deep. And it uses AI technology to
• 28:15
  overlap those answers. And it helps us really see what
• 28:21
  what's important to a client instead of subjectively trying
• 28:25
  to make a match. Because we know people, but we
• 28:29
  only know them from our perspective.
• 28:30
  So it helps us just scientifically make a better
• 28:34
  match, I think. That's really cool.
• 28:36
  So you've got this proprietary tech and there's some AI behind
• 28:40
  it that's taking, you know, what the caregiver has sort of
• 28:43
  explained about themselves and, and what they're like.
• 28:46
  And it's taking what you know, the client has said about
• 28:49
  themselves. It's like, oh, there may be an
• 28:52
  interesting overlap here. They've both traveled to Italy,
• 28:55
  or. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 28:57
  Or they want some more. You know, some people like more
• 29:00
  socialization and some people want less.
• 29:03
  I mean, it's a balance of it's difficult to have someone come
• 29:06
  into your home to accept that that that is part of your
• 29:09
  regular routine. Now for some people, it's a
• 29:12
  difficult adjustment. So we want that to be someone
• 29:15
  that they're looking forward to having and that they enjoy and
• 29:18
  that we are adding benefit to their life.
• 29:22
  Not that they're like, oh, you know, if they don't like
• 29:25
  somebody that talks a lot, Oh, we've got this chatty person
• 29:27
  coming. She's going to drive me crazy
• 29:29
  for the next few hours. We want it to be a good match.
• 29:32
  You know, it's that's the basis of the success of the service
• 29:36
  that we provide. And it's doesn't all, it's not
• 29:38
  always perfect, but we all, we work really hard to to find the
• 29:41
  right matches through communication from the any
• 29:44
  other. Interesting uses of tech that
• 29:46
  you guys are employing. I think while we use our
• 29:52
  scheduling software, we use GPS where they are, our caregivers
• 29:57
  have an app on their phone and then they clock in and clock out
• 30:01
  when they arrive at their client's house.
• 30:03
  So it it can tell if they're at the right address.
• 30:05
  The caregiver can access their care plan and make any notes
• 30:10
  about anything going on with the client.
• 30:12
  So that's been that's been really helpful.
• 30:14
  Back when we started, we were doing paper time sheets, so
• 30:18
  we've seen a lot of change in technology over the years.
• 30:23
  What does future growth look like?
• 30:25
  Where's that going to come from? Well, it's continuing to grow
• 30:31
  the business here in in Raleigh, Wake County, you know, it's one
• 30:34
  of the fastest growing areas in North Carolina.
• 30:36
  So there's always more business, more people moving in here.
• 30:40
  But you know, we've just started talking about growth through
• 30:43
  acquisition, you know, and maybe expanding into, are there areas
• 30:48
  within North Carolina? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:50
  We've talked about expanding our footprint a little bit, but
• 30:53
  really we've hired A salesperson, which we had.
• 30:57
  That's was a big thing for us. We've just recently hired A
• 30:59
  salesperson. So we're really tending to our
• 31:02
  own acre of diamonds, focusing on home care and what we do.
• 31:08
  It's very easy when you get a business that is running
• 31:11
  successfully to get distracted and want to add a lot of other
• 31:14
  little things to it. But we don't sell hospital beds
• 31:17
  to our clients. We don't try to serve in
• 31:20
  communities. We focus on caring for people in
• 31:23
  their homes. And we know that there's always
• 31:26
  room for improvement for that. So we are always honing our
• 31:29
  craft and staying focused on making sure that we do that the
• 31:32
  best of anybody. So yeah, I think yeah, expansion
• 31:38
  and and growth is definitely something as we grow, it's kind
• 31:42
  of funny because it does open up space in our hearts and our
• 31:45
  minds as the leaders of the business of where can we grow.
• 31:49
  We're not so in the weeds of worrying about somebody's called
• 31:53
  out or you know, I don't know, where are we getting our gloves
• 31:59
  from so. You've built up the business to
• 32:02
  a point where there's people to help support you with those
• 32:04
  kinds of things that you used to have to do all by yourself.
• 32:07
  Exactly, and it is incredibly freeing as a business owner and
• 32:10
  exciting to be able to have that mind space to really think about
• 32:14
  the future in big picture ways. Have you found it challenging to
• 32:20
  sort of transition yourself into modified role as the business
• 32:26
  has grown? Yes, unequivocally yes.
• 32:32
  It was, you know, it was very hard when it was small and it
• 32:37
  was me and a part time nurse and a part time scheduler and then
• 32:41
  Jen joined and we were still pretty small when Jennifer
• 32:43
  joined. And it's hard to give some of
• 32:47
  those things up. And one of the challenges for
• 32:51
  me, Anthony, I mean, I know you're going to ask about it,
• 32:53
  but I'll just tell you was I felt like my whole identity was
• 32:57
  tied up in the business. Like the business was Brian,
• 32:59
  Brian was the business. I mean, I would go out into
• 33:02
  people's living rooms, talk with them and, you know, interview
• 33:05
  caregivers. So it was very, it's like 1 and
• 33:09
  the same. And like when we got, if we got
• 33:11
  a core review or a client made anonymous comment about
• 33:15
  something, I would take it really personally like they were
• 33:19
  commenting that Brian did a bad job or Brian did this.
• 33:22
  And that was really. Or if our revenue took a dip or
• 33:25
  something didn't go. Quite.
• 33:27
  Yeah. You just take it very like, oh,
• 33:30
  that's a reflection on me where, you know, as we've grown and
• 33:33
  people are now doing things that I used to do, it's it's easier
• 33:38
  to not be like, oh, I am the business.
• 33:40
  The business is me, right, So. But delegating has been a
• 33:44
  challenge for you. We would go on our calls with
• 33:46
  our mastermind group and inevitably our business coach
• 33:50
  would ask everyone name something that you need to
• 33:51
  offload. And I would say always say to
• 33:54
  Brian, you are going to get our water for our office.
• 33:57
  You need to stop doing that. So he's finally, finally have a
• 34:00
  delivery service. So it's like little things like
• 34:02
  that, like releasing billing and payroll that we we don't do that
• 34:07
  anymore. So you know, it's just learning
• 34:09
  to trust but verify and have processes in place that you feel
• 34:14
  comfortable that you know things are being run the way you want
• 34:17
  them to be run. But letting go of the actual
• 34:21
  process of doing it and having the right people in place.
• 34:23
  We have a phenomenal team, right?
• 34:25
  We have a phenomenal team that are really, we feel like they're
• 34:28
  really on board with our vision and our mission and completely
• 34:33
  and more than capable of doing the jobs that they're tasked to
• 34:36
  do so. You know what you're touching on
• 34:38
  there, Brian is, is incredibly common, but little talked about
• 34:44
  is, you know, when a business owner has their identity really
• 34:49
  attached to their work. And in a lot of ways that can be
• 34:54
  really good, right? But that's how invested you are
• 34:58
  that like I am the guy who does this and I do it really well and
• 35:01
  I put everything that I have into it.
• 35:04
  The dark side of that is just as you described, it's like revenue
• 35:08
  went down this month. Now that's a bummer for anybody,
• 35:13
  an employee, a business owner, but when you've really got your
• 35:15
  identity tied to the business, it it's a, it feels like a
• 35:18
  personal reflection of your worth, your value as a person.
• 35:22
  And it's like, how do you hold on to all the good aspects of
• 35:26
  being so invested in your business while not having sort
• 35:30
  of the dark side kind of take you down?
• 35:32
  I don't know if you've come up with any answers on that.
• 35:36
  You have a wife that reminds you.
• 35:39
  How's that working? It's tough sometimes.
• 35:42
  It's one of the challenges of being a married couple in this
• 35:45
  but knowing each other so well. Yeah, I mean she, she will just
• 35:49
  tell me how it is and I mean it. But just or just remind you
• 35:53
  that, you know, just because this is happening, it's not who
• 35:56
  you are, you know, and that we stay focused on.
• 36:00
  Yeah, I mean, I'm a, you know, I'm a lot of things besides just
• 36:04
  an owner of home choice. I mean, I'm a husband, I'm a
• 36:06
  father, son-in-law, you know, lots of things.
• 36:09
  So I think step stepping back sometimes and looking at that
• 36:12
  and taking a step back and be like, OK, you know, the loss in
• 36:16
  revenue was not because of me, you know, it's just yeah,
• 36:20
  something in the business, you know, So, yeah.
• 36:23
  And Jennifer, you feel like you do a better job of kind of
• 36:26
  emotionally separating from some of those business ups and downs.
• 36:30
  I do. I do think it's because some of
• 36:33
  the structure of the business because Brian originally was the
• 36:37
  the main owner and runner of home choice.
• 36:40
  So I kind of I came in up on the back end.
• 36:42
  So I don't feel as much personal identity connection to it.
• 36:49
  I I'm a more mature person and a more mature business owner.
• 36:52
  When I came into home choice, I think, and Brian's role as
• 36:57
  general manager and knowing everything about what's going on
• 37:03
  and making sure everything's happening, you know, so I think
• 37:07
  the role has also had something to do with it.
• 37:09
  I think personality has something to do with it as well.
• 37:12
  So yeah, I don't struggle with that nearly.
• 37:17
  I don't struggle with that problem.
• 37:18
  I identify with the business. I take a lot of pride in what we
• 37:21
  do and it's very, very important to me.
• 37:24
  But the business is not me. OK, so let me open it up to you
• 37:29
  now. Jennifer, what is your big
• 37:31
  challenge? What's something I think letting
• 37:35
  go of control is I think that's letting go of control.
• 37:39
  Like I like to, I want to control every little detail or
• 37:41
  I'll say to, or maybe to say not to control myself while we're
• 37:45
  brushing our teeth to be like, hey, what did you think of blah,
• 37:49
  blah, blah. And, you know, so to just try to
• 37:51
  separate that desire to control every little detail of it being
• 37:59
  our way and being OK with, you know, if this happens in this
• 38:03
  way, it might not be the way we choose to do it, but it's still
• 38:06
  good enough and good is good enough.
• 38:08
  It doesn't have to be our idea. Perfect.
• 38:12
  I think that's where I really struggle.
• 38:14
  What advice do you have for folks who might be listening
• 38:16
  that are thinking about going out on their own, buying or
• 38:20
  starting a new business, Probably a little bit scared of
• 38:22
  the prospect. Yeah, certainty of it.
• 38:28
  You have to have a support staff of some sort, Anthony.
• 38:32
  A team A-Team. Yeah, and you know, we were
• 38:36
  lucky enough to have Jennifer's parents.
• 38:38
  I mean, like they always had the belief that we could do this and
• 38:42
  grow it and you know. They're the reason we started
• 38:45
  looking at businesses. I mean, I can remember the
• 38:47
  moment that it kind of clicked. I had in passing had mentioned
• 38:51
  we were at the pool with our two children who were very small at
• 38:54
  the time. And I was with my parents.
• 38:55
  And I said to my father, oh, hey, this Italian cooking
• 38:58
  business that we have gone to a number of times is for sale.
• 39:02
  I would poke around and he said, you know, you could run that,
• 39:04
  don't you? And I thought I could and I was
• 39:09
  about, I was in my late 30s and that's really started the ball.
• 39:13
  That was the start of it. I mean, I remember that moment.
• 39:16
  It's one of those memories. I can remember that moment.
• 39:19
  And we have had a lot of ups and downs in the business.
• 39:22
  Financially, it's very stable now.
• 39:24
  But in the beginning, it was tough.
• 39:26
  And they showed up for us and believed in US every step of the
• 39:31
  way. And they put their money behind
• 39:33
  us in belief. But they also encouraged us even
• 39:37
  when times were bad. We never felt like, oh, they
• 39:39
  think we're in a sinking ship. They always were encouraging.
• 39:42
  So I would say to anybody starting, don't think you can do
• 39:45
  it alone. And even as we've grown, we've
• 39:48
  had our coach Greg, who's been a phenomenal supporter and you
• 39:51
  know, the people that we've made relationships with.
• 39:54
  But we had a great banker when we started.
• 39:57
  We've had great. We came across a lot.
• 40:00
  Of an. Attorney that was just had a
• 40:04
  heart of gold. So in the beginning, you have to
• 40:07
  have a team of people with the expertise that you need, that
• 40:13
  you trust and that believe in you.
• 40:18
  And I would also say don't be afraid to ask for help, you
• 40:23
  know, when you need it or, or don't be ashamed if you don't
• 40:27
  know stuff. I, I can distinctly remember
• 40:29
  Anthony when we bought the business and the, the owner was
• 40:32
  training me and we got into QuickBooks and he's like, so you
• 40:36
  know what you're doing here. And I was like, I have no idea.
• 40:38
  I, I never used QuickBooks in my life.
• 40:40
  I mean, and Jennifer managed our personal finances.
• 40:44
  So I was kind of like, what are you, What are you talking about,
• 40:46
  you know? And I was an encrypt books.
• 40:48
  Yeah, So you know, it, I was like, I, I need some help here,
• 40:52
  like, you know, teach me so and you also when you buy or get
• 40:56
  into something, you don't know what you don't know.
• 40:58
  And therefore sometimes you're not asking the right questions
• 41:01
  because you don't know what the questions are.
• 41:03
  So, you know, and we're a, we're a state regulated business and
• 41:07
  so we had to call the state office a lot to be like, are we
• 41:11
  doing this right? Or is this how we should be
• 41:14
  doing it? Or is this how we need to be
• 41:15
  doing it? So, you know, you, you can't be
• 41:17
  afraid to ask a question because you just don't, you don't know
• 41:20
  everything. I still don't know everything.
• 41:24
  Jennifer, were your parents entrepreneurs?
• 41:26
  Were they business owners? No.
• 41:28
  No, they just, they saw something in the two of you and
• 41:31
  they said, hey, you guys forgot what it takes.
• 41:33
  You can do this. Yeah, they always have.
• 41:35
  They've always been that way my my whole life.
• 41:40
  That's really cool. I want to talk a little bit
• 41:43
  about the value of the coach and the mastermind because I think
• 41:46
  that these are really underrated kind of leverage points.
• 41:52
  You know, Brian, you were sort of just touching on this like
• 41:54
  you can't do it alone. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
• 41:59
  You know, the best professional athletes, they have their own
• 42:02
  coaches during the offseason, the best business executives and
• 42:05
  business owners, they're doing the same thing because we're not
• 42:08
  an island. We can't do it.
• 42:09
  We don't have all the answers ourselves.
• 42:11
  What, what are some of the, the things, the, the points of value
• 42:15
  that you take from that mastermind and, and the business
• 42:18
  coach that you've talked about? We're gonna get emotional
• 42:21
  talking to him too, because I mean, between my parents and
• 42:23
  Greg Maza, that's those are the people that have gotten us where
• 42:27
  we are today. Yeah.
• 42:28
  I mean, Greg has always pushed us.
• 42:32
  Yeah. And he's always believed in US.
• 42:33
  And I don't know what he saw in US, but you know, we went to an
• 42:37
  event of his in. When he was just starting as a.
• 42:40
  As a coach, it was October of 2018, we drove to Atlanta to his
• 42:44
  event and his event was, you know, this is what I do.
• 42:48
  And then he wanted you to sign up for his service, which was
• 42:51
  one-on-one coaching and his sales process and all that.
• 42:54
  And it wasn't cheap. And I can remember this
• 42:57
  conversation. And we weren't flush with money
• 42:59
  at that point. And all, and we were talking
• 43:02
  with Jennifer's parents that Saturday night via phone and you
• 43:05
  know, someone made the comment, can you afford to do this?
• 43:09
  And I said, I don't think we can afford not to do it because we
• 43:12
  were kind of at a stagnant point.
• 43:14
  The business wasn't growing by leaps and bounds.
• 43:16
  And we kind of we were we. Didn't know where to go.
• 43:19
  We didn't know what to do. Yeah.
• 43:21
  So we took the leap and we invested a lot of money and a
• 43:24
  lot of our time because Greg's program was very intensive about
• 43:28
  the trainings and the reportings and the activities that we had
• 43:33
  to do for him. And the best thing for us,
• 43:35
  Anthony, was it held us both accountable because as husband
• 43:40
  and wife, it's very hard to hold somebody hold your spouse's feet
• 43:44
  to the fire. Like Jennifer, why didn't you
• 43:46
  make 25 sales calls this week? And she would look at me and
• 43:49
  say, cuz your daughter was sick and your son had baseball
• 43:52
  practice and dinner was on the table every night and your
• 43:55
  clothes were clean. So it was hard.
• 43:57
  But when Jennifer had to answer to Greg on Monday morning, how
• 43:59
  many sales calls did you make last week?
• 44:01
  She would be out Friday afternoon getting her sales
• 44:03
  calls in. So but he also told taught us
• 44:07
  the the method, the process, Yeah.
• 44:10
  And and there is a distinct selling process in this
• 44:12
  industry. So we're still that we still use
• 44:15
  and we still train and we're still involved with Greg and
• 44:18
  still we're going actually beginning of April to an event
• 44:20
  at his. And he specifically focuses on
• 44:23
  your industry. At home care, yeah, he was a
• 44:26
  former owner of an agency and. And then?
• 44:29
  And the salesperson at heart and had done a lot of things prior
• 44:32
  to that, but he had a franchise in Florida and sold that made it
• 44:35
  successful through processes and he that's how he started his
• 44:39
  coaching business. So yeah.
• 44:41
  And he, he also pushes us, Anthony, because we're, we're
• 44:44
  both naturally conservative by nature.
• 44:48
  So Greg will look at our business and be like, you know,
• 44:51
  you need to hire somebody to do this.
• 44:54
  And, and we're like, well, we're not financially ready.
• 44:56
  And he's like, just just do it like and, and yeah, so he pushes
• 45:00
  us to kind of like, OK, well. Or even even with our goals, he
• 45:04
  pushes us. We'll set goals and we'll be
• 45:06
  like, you can do more than that, so he'll do that too.
• 45:10
  But talk about the stretching of the with the.
• 45:13
  Yeah, I mean, so we, he's taught us that you always kind of have
• 45:16
  to hire a head of where the growth is.
• 45:19
  You can't wait till you're growing and then be like, Oh my
• 45:21
  God, I got to hire this person. This person.
• 45:22
  It's kind of too late. So we've hired, never get there.
• 45:26
  Yeah, we've hired ahead of the curve.
• 45:28
  Like, OK, we want to get to this goal.
• 45:30
  So we need a branch manager or we need our nurse to be full
• 45:34
  time now. And those were all big chunks
• 45:37
  that we had to swallow. That's that's scary money before
• 45:41
  you feel like you've got the the justification for it.
• 45:45
  Yes. But you have to.
• 45:46
  We've learned that over the years through him.
• 45:49
  You really have to do that. It's a risk.
• 45:51
  It's one of the inherent risks of being a business owner.
• 45:53
  I think the full time nurse, he said that in the scheduler
• 45:56
  because we were kind of doing everything in the business,
• 46:00
  running a little ragged with a part time nurse.
• 46:01
  And he's like you have got to hire a scheduler and I know it's
• 46:05
  a big investment, but you've got to hire a full time nurse.
• 46:07
  And those two things really, it did change a lot for us because
• 46:12
  it freed up our time and it gave us room to grow.
• 46:15
  So yeah. And and then the mastermind
• 46:19
  group has been tremendously beneficial because it's just
• 46:23
  it's other owners who are going through the same things.
• 46:26
  And sometimes it's just reassuring that you're not the
• 46:30
  only one getting stuck with this or that's going through this.
• 46:34
  But there are also some business owners that are a lot bigger
• 46:37
  than us that we can learn valuable lessons about growth
• 46:40
  and how they got there and you know, what they did to overcome
• 46:44
  a hurdle. So it's just, it's just
• 46:47
  incredibly beneficial because sometimes as business owners,
• 46:50
  you don't have a big group, you know, like they're, we have a
• 46:55
  water cooler, but it's not like working at a company where
• 46:57
  there's, you know, 12 different salespeople that you're all
• 46:59
  convincing about. It's it's us and you know.
• 47:04
  It can be. Isolating, yeah.
• 47:06
  To be a business owner. Very much so, yeah.
• 47:09
  I think that's why masterminds, coaches, peer groups, those
• 47:12
  things are incredibly valuable. Yes.
• 47:15
  And we have found that to be true and that I got that kind of
• 47:18
  camaraderie and support through the franchise system.
• 47:21
  So if you're, you know, if you're, if you end up with a
• 47:24
  good franchise, that can be worth it to you because I did
• 47:28
  get that kind of support through the franchise at May Pro.
• 47:30
  So we've just had to create that for ourselves.
• 47:38
  Let's talk about the power of daily habits.
• 47:40
  You guys have any rituals, any practices that you do every day
• 47:45
  that kind of help keep you on track and centered?
• 47:49
  Yes, so well, I, I meditate every day and I don't exercise
• 47:57
  every day, but it is a very important part of my life.
• 48:00
  In the morning you can speak. You have a very recommended.
• 48:06
  Yeah, I mean, I, I exercise almost every morning.
• 48:08
  I get up very early and just kind of get that done, get that
• 48:11
  part of my day. It it helps me stay grounded, it
• 48:15
  helps me stay recharged and looking forward to it.
• 48:18
  And it's just good to get out. I I work out sometimes at the
• 48:21
  house, sometimes at the gym with other guys, so.
• 48:24
  Yeah. And then for the business, we
• 48:26
  have a, you know, we do have regular meetings.
• 48:31
  It's really based on traction by Gina Wickman.
• 48:35
  We employ the EOS system in our business.
• 48:37
  So we have a weekly staff meeting that follows that
• 48:41
  structure. And then we have meetings with
• 48:44
  our sales team as well. And then you and I alone, we
• 48:47
  have a touchpoint meeting and we used to have these when my
• 48:50
  parents were act were partners in the business.
• 48:52
  We would meet with them and go over financials and everything
• 48:57
  that's going on with the like an overview.
• 48:59
  And that's what Brian and I do on a weekly on a weekly basis.
• 49:02
  Our offices are right next to each other, but we have the
• 49:04
  structured time to get together and I have a little list of
• 49:07
  things to talk to Brian about that will go down, you know,
• 49:11
  just to touch base and do that. So we have structured meetings
• 49:15
  and routines for sure. Go ahead, Brian.
• 49:20
  No. And I just, I mean, there's
• 49:21
  other things that I do as far as like checking on the health of
• 49:23
  the business, looking at our schedule and kind of like the
• 49:26
  forecast for future things. But I mean, I don't, you know, I
• 49:30
  don't get into the weeds of everybody's schedule, but I'm
• 49:32
  always looking at where we are compared to last week, the next
• 49:35
  week and just kind of, you know, where our growth is going and
• 49:39
  what the pipeline looks like for, for leads and possible
• 49:42
  clients coming on board. You mentioned Gina Wickman
• 49:46
  Traction EOS System, there's a book that goes along with it.
• 49:50
  I'm curious if there are any other books, podcasts,
• 49:53
  frameworks that have been particularly helpful for you
• 49:56
  guys that you might recommend to others.
• 50:01
  I think that I think EOS has been particularly helpful and we
• 50:05
  were introduced to that by our coach.
• 50:08
  We wouldn't have known about it. So I think that has been the
• 50:11
  main driver of the business. We, we do a lot of reading.
• 50:16
  We're going to a 10 times growth summit.
• 50:19
  I can't remember the name the author, but how 10 times is
• 50:24
  easier? It's by Dan Sullivan, Dan
• 50:27
  Sullivan with doctor Ben Hardy. 10 times is easier than two
• 50:30
  times. So how bigger is actually easier
• 50:33
  than smaller? It can you know, so we're, and
• 50:36
  we're learning that now we're living that, that it's easier to
• 50:40
  manage. So.
• 50:43
  Anything else? No, I mean I listen to some
• 50:44
  podcasts that are industry specific.
• 50:46
  Home Care U is a podcast that we listen to that's been been
• 50:49
  really interesting and helpful. So yeah, I think industry
• 50:53
  specific helps us. Jennifer and Brian, if we were
• 50:58
  talking a year from now and celebrating something one year
• 51:03
  from now, what? What would we be celebrating?
• 51:08
  I'd like to see an additional office for us, Anthony.
• 51:11
  I mean, I don't know exactly where, but having maybe an
• 51:16
  acquisition and then just breaking through the next big
• 51:20
  financial mark that we both have in our head, I think.
• 51:23
  Yeah, having the same staff in place, we celebrate that every
• 51:29
  year that we're able to hold on to our office staff and.
• 51:34
  Not a lot of turnover in in the administrative.
• 51:37
  Office staff. Yeah.
• 51:38
  And that hasn't always been true.
• 51:40
  I think we've learned as we've grown and you know, then, you
• 51:44
  know, it started really with our branch manager worked, has
• 51:47
  worked her way up through. She's worked all the positions
• 51:50
  in our business. She started out as a scheduler
• 51:52
  with us and now she's managing our branch.
• 51:55
  And yeah, I mean, really having sticky employees really helps
• 52:00
  with, with a consistent steady flow of the business.
• 52:05
  There's not so much disruption. So, yeah, I mean, and I mean,
• 52:10
  we, we, we're big on celebrating our own personal milestones and
• 52:13
  we keep a bottle of champagne in our fridge that we pop a bottle
• 52:16
  and something happens. We have to make sure though, I
• 52:18
  mean, we have to make sure to remember to do that.
• 52:20
  Because when was the last time you opened the bottle?
• 52:23
  This week. Is it a milestone that you want
• 52:28
  to give voice to or? Not so it no.
• 52:31
  It was just a victory. Yeah, it was just.
• 52:33
  A victory. Yeah.
• 52:34
  It's just something that we had been struggling with in the
• 52:37
  business that got resolved. We'll leave it at that.
• 52:40
  So yeah, yeah, good for you. Little pop of the cork to
• 52:42
  celebrate, yeah? Exactly.
• 52:44
  It deserved it. You know, I talking with a lot
• 52:47
  of business owners, I hear stories sometimes where there's,
• 52:51
  you know, they look back and there was something that they
• 52:52
  viewed as just a terrible mistake that they made.
• 52:55
  And now they look back at it with some appreciation or
• 52:59
  gratitude because it helped point them in a new direction or
• 53:02
  served as a launchpad into something else.
• 53:04
  Can you think of a moment like that for you guys?
• 53:15
  I wouldn't say I, I don't know that.
• 53:21
  I mean, would you say that we have one like event a bad
• 53:24
  decision, I think holding on to bad employees for too long?
• 53:29
  I mean, it's not we've had a couple of them that were like,
• 53:33
  oh Dang, we should have done that sooner.
• 53:35
  I think that might, I mean, that's for me.
• 53:38
  Because once you let go of that of that person, you even before
• 53:43
  you replace them, you see the blooming of the business and you
• 53:48
  know the relief. Do you can you think of?
• 53:52
  I can't really think of anything else.
• 53:55
  I mean. I've hung on to a few clients
• 53:57
  too long when things when things have not been good, you know?
• 54:01
  They're not a great match. Not a great match and you know,
• 54:04
  it's sometimes hard to think about losing that revenue, but
• 54:10
  you know, when you after you do it, you're like, oh, we should
• 54:12
  have done that earlier. Well, cuz you lose caregivers,
• 54:15
  you send them to a specific place and it's not good for
• 54:18
  whatever reason. And then you start losing
• 54:21
  caregivers and then you start losing the confidence of your
• 54:23
  staff who's worked so hard to bring them on.
• 54:26
  And but you as a business owner, you see that revenue, but once
• 54:30
  you release them, you get the respect of your staff and
• 54:33
  there's always more clients. Yeah, I.
• 54:36
  Mean, I think a big lesson is like kind of to do things a
• 54:39
  little quicker instead of holding on thinking it might get
• 54:42
  better or you know. On either side.
• 54:45
  On either side, clients, employees who aren't really
• 54:47
  working out that it's, it's OK to to really, yeah, to release
• 54:52
  and let go. What's one thing you wish more
• 54:55
  people knew about your industry? I mean, this is kind of basic,
• 55:01
  but that it that it's out there. I mean, that's one of our
• 55:03
  biggest hurdles, Anthony, is sometimes people don't even know
• 55:06
  that home care exists and that there's these agencies out there
• 55:11
  that do this. And I don't really know how that
• 55:16
  changes from a societal point of view, but I think it's getting
• 55:20
  better. And I think that we're not that
• 55:23
  I think what that what we do is there to support the person, not
• 55:28
  to take anything away from the person that if you can do XYZ
• 55:33
  for yourself, we're not going to come in and do that for you.
• 55:35
  We are there to support you so you can continue to do that.
• 55:41
  You know, So a lot of times I think elderly people are
• 55:45
  reluctant to accept help because it's seen as a step down that
• 55:50
  road of not, I don't know of decline.
• 55:55
  But what our job and what our mission is to do is to preserve
• 55:59
  what they can do and to help them live out their lives in a
• 56:04
  healthy way where they choose to live and without causing
• 56:12
  familial stress, allowing their adult children to remain their
• 56:16
  children instead of their caregivers.
• 56:18
  You know, we bring so much more than just helping somebody get
• 56:22
  dressed and taking them to a doctor's appointment.
• 56:27
  I think that's, I think that's a big part that's missed in
• 56:30
  society about what we do. Anything you want to add to
• 56:35
  that, Brian? No, I think summary, yeah.
• 56:39
  Fair enough. I just have a little more
• 56:41
  question for you guys. But before I ask it, I want to
• 56:43
  do 2 things for everyone listening today.
• 56:45
  I'll invite you to hit the follow button on your favorite
• 56:47
  podcast app so you can get more great interviews like the one
• 56:51
  we've had today with Jennifer and Brian Peruccio.
• 56:53
  And I also want to let people know the best way to continue to
• 56:57
  follow your story and or get in touch with you guys.
• 57:01
  What would that be you? Can go on our website, it's home
• 57:06
  choice homecare.com and you can see our team and see all the
• 57:11
  things we do. We keep in that very active
• 57:13
  blog. So yeah.
• 57:14
  Check this. Out great.
• 57:16
  We'll make sure we include that in the show notes.
• 57:18
  So last question for the both of you.
• 57:20
  As we look to the future, what exciting changes do you see
• 57:23
  coming to your industry over the next few years?
• 57:28
  I think there's going to be a lot more automation of, of
• 57:32
  monitoring of of seniors in their homes, whether it's just
• 57:36
  being able to keep an eye on them from afar or having an
• 57:42
  automated system do medication reminders for them or remind
• 57:46
  them to call their daughter at a certain time.
• 57:49
  We're seeing more and more type systems come in.
• 57:52
  But I think that's going to be a way that allows people to stay
• 57:55
  in their home even longer if there's, you know, a way to do
• 57:59
  it, maintain some privacy, but still being able to let people,
• 58:03
  whether it's an agency or their family, just be able to check in
• 58:06
  and monitor what they're doing and how they're doing.
• 58:11
  I agree. Is is this tech that you guys
• 58:15
  are currently exploring implementing?
• 58:18
  Thinking about what stage are you in with it?
• 58:21
  I, I think the thinking about looking at, you know, there's,
• 58:25
  there's some things out there that we've seen and I think
• 58:28
  there's more coming that we just have to make sure it's the right
• 58:32
  fit with our processes and our software.
• 58:35
  Yeah. But our mastermind group,
• 58:37
  there's always, there are always things that about come that
• 58:41
  people are sharing that they're trying and home choice matches a
• 58:44
  direct result of that, you know, using AI and technology to help
• 58:48
  us just be a better agency and provide better service.
• 58:53
  Yeah, obviously you're not looking for technology to
• 58:56
  replace the human element, but how do you augment it?
• 59:00
  You know, how do you, how do you have sort of eyes and ears, sort
• 59:05
  of metaphorically speaking there when somebody can't be there in
• 59:08
  person? Yeah, Yeah.
• 59:10
  Just sort of extend that care for the for your clients.
• 59:13
  Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 59:15
  Yeah. Well, Jennifer, Brian, I want to
• 59:18
  be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your
• 59:20
  story with us today. I really appreciate it.
• 59:23
  Well, thank you for having us, Anthony.
• 59:25
  It's been a pleasure. It's been great.
• 59:26
  Thank you. Folks, that's a wrap on another
• 59:29
  episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
• 59:32
  Thanks for learning with us today.