Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Building Homes, Not Facilities: Mark Maxfield on The Cottages' Approach to Senior Care | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care

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Building Homes, Not Facilities: Mark Maxfield on The Cottages' Approach to Senior Care | 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
0:16
and today's guest is Mark Maxfield.
0:19
He is the CEO of The Cottages Assisted Living and Memory Care,
0:23
an organization that offers assisted living, memory care,
0:27
adult day care and respite services within comfortable
0:31
residential style homes. Their mission is to create close
0:35
knit communities where each resident can receive
0:37
personalized care from dedicated staff.
0:40
Now, under Mark's leadership, The Cottages has expanded to 10
0:43
location since it opened its first home in 2001.
0:48
Mark has celebrated over 23 years of working with the
0:51
business and he has also served as the President of the Idaho
0:55
Healthcare Association. He currently holds the position
0:58
of Chair the National Center for Assisted Living's Board of
1:02
Directors, symbolizing his commitment to advancing car care
1:06
standards nationally. Mark's experience in the long
1:08
term care industry spans operations, management,
1:11
leadership, and entrepreneurship, making him a
1:14
trusted voice in senior living. He is also recognized for his
1:17
dedication to employee development and positive impact
1:20
across the senior living industry.
1:23
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1:54
Now back to our guest today, the CEO of The Cottages, Mark
1:58
Maxfield. Appreciate you making the time
1:59
to Share your story today. Thank you.
2:01
Nice to meet you, Anthony. OK, so before you started the
2:05
cottages, what did your work experience look like?
2:08
How did it kind of lead you to where you are now?
2:14
Yeah, great question. Before this, and it's been a
2:16
while, I could mention almost 24 years, I was, I guess I call
2:19
myself a social worker. I was running a group homes for
2:23
delinquent boys. You know, they're they're
2:25
teenagers. So they, they've had some
2:26
troubles in life, old enough to go into the adult system, but
2:31
definitely weren't allowed to be at home anymore.
2:33
So we put them in Group homes and I did that for about 8 or 9
2:36
years. And what what came after that?
2:41
Was it right into starting the cottages or there's something
2:44
else in between? I did some things before that,
2:46
but yeah, correct. After that, it teamed up with my
2:49
father actually, and moved back home to Idaho and opened our
2:53
first first home. So why specifically this type of
2:57
business? Yeah, so there's a real need for
3:02
assisted living out there. There was back then as well.
3:06
And frankly, I didn't know what assisted living was.
3:09
My dad, he he kind of watched my career and he said, hey, son, do
3:11
you want to come back home, do some assisted living?
3:14
And my question was, that sounds pretty good.
3:16
What's that? I didn't even know what it was.
3:19
And he he basically said, we're going to take care of people
3:22
like grandpa and my grandfather and I were very close.
3:24
He lived to be 100, was in a nursing home, fallen, died and
3:31
he would have loved to been an assisted living facility.
3:33
He was appropriate. But in that small town where he
3:35
lived, there just there's wasn't one available.
3:38
There wasn't as many around back then.
3:40
And so I thought, yeah, I want to do that.
3:42
And so did your dad have a background in the industry?
3:45
He did. He'd have some background in
3:46
development, the real estate development side of assisted
3:50
living and that's when we teamed up the same thing.
3:53
He would develop and build the property and then I would take
3:56
over and run the business side when the operations.
3:59
But who did you learn from how to run the business in the
4:02
operation side of a of a care facility?
4:05
But it's not something you had done before.
4:08
Correct. I had worked in homes and known
4:12
how to work with residents in the home.
4:15
I had worked with staff in leadership position and a lot of
4:18
it just trial by fire. One thing, probably one of the
4:21
best decisions I made though, as I said, well, OK, if I'm going
4:25
to work in the system living and work with caregivers, I need to
4:27
know what they do. So I went and got a job with the
4:31
caregiver for close to six months, just working in the
4:36
home, nights, weekends, toileting, feeding, pass meds,
4:41
the whole thing. Just so I'd have at least a
4:43
basic understanding what it is my caregivers will do and what's
4:46
the nut and bolts of the system living business itself.
4:49
So once you knew that you were going to come back home, you
4:51
were going to start this business with your father,
4:53
you're like, yeah, I got to. I got to understand this from
4:55
more of a grassroots level. You went and got a job somewhere
4:58
else. So you had kind of that base
5:00
level of experience. Absolutely.
5:03
And it's something I still draw on from today and believe it.
5:06
It gives me some credibility with with the caregivers.
5:08
Yeah, I'm the boss. You know, I'm bum thinking about
5:10
the bosses. I know what we do by saying, Oh
5:12
no, I was a caregiver. I know exactly what you do,
5:15
which is why I appreciate you so much.
5:18
Yeah. So it's just.
5:20
So you started that first facility.
5:21
What year was it 2000? I built it through 2000, open it
5:26
in 2000, towards the middle of 2001 and instrument we build it
5:32
on my grandparents land. It was kind of bringing it back
5:36
full circle. The term.
5:37
I don't know. It was just really neat though
5:38
to put on land that you know, build a place that he would have
5:42
enjoyed being at. That's kind of been my guiding
5:44
principle. You know I'm taking care of
5:46
grandpas and grandmas. Yeah, I like that.
5:50
So, OK, so you started this first facility in 2001.
5:53
What were those early days, weeks, months like, you know,
5:58
starting a new business that you didn't have a ton of experience
6:01
in? I have to imagine there were
6:02
probably some tough days. They were.
6:06
I was just young and dumb enough to not realize what I was
6:09
getting into. And thank goodness.
6:11
You know, I think a lot of good businesses are that way.
6:13
They think, yeah, I can do this. And so you dive in and not
6:16
realize what you're doing. And no doubt I made some
6:18
mistakes, but my very first hire was probably the best hire of my
6:23
life. And she had had experience in
6:26
skilled nursing facilities. And so she and I together we
6:29
wrote policies and procedures for the first, for the first
6:36
building location, which she's gone now that we've built on and
6:40
was kind of provided the framework for that first one
6:43
back then. It's just a little bit
6:44
different. Regulations were different and
6:46
allowed a little bit of room for us to make just a few mistakes
6:49
that we figured it out quick. When did you feel like you were
6:53
kind of on solid footing and you were ready to kind of replicate,
6:58
open up another location? My dad didn't wait for that.
7:03
While I was running the first building, he had already
7:07
purchased land in several other cities.
7:11
That's why I had a few months to get ready for the next one.
7:13
Another city, probably 3030 minutes, 40 minute drive from
7:18
there. And that one opened and then a
7:21
few months later, another one and then another one.
7:23
And so I just had to quickly build a team and just get used
7:26
to this growth mindset. And again, another thing that I
7:30
didn't realize how good it was for me.
7:32
I didn't have time to sit back. I just had to had to go.
7:36
And how big were each of these facilities?
7:38
How many residents were you caring for?
7:40
Roughly how many employees did you have?
7:43
Yes, good question. Because that's kind of our
7:45
model. Each building was 16 beds.
7:48
So they're smaller and you know just not as many employees.
7:52
And then that fits well because in Idaho there's a nine to 16
7:55
bed rule breakout, so 16 they must be at the highest census
8:01
count and within that rules. And so each one of our homes are
8:04
16 bed and then we come back around, we build another
8:07
building next to it so we could break it out and have one
8:10
assisted living and one of memory care.
8:14
And So what is this 9 to 16 rule?
8:16
Because it seems to me like there would be efficiencies of
8:19
scale to build much bigger facilities rather than lots of
8:23
smaller ones kind of scattered around the city.
8:26
Certainly, and there's a lot of companies out there that have
8:29
the larger buildings and that's that's fine.
8:32
It's just a different concept. Our belief has always been that
8:35
folks want to live in a home, right?
8:37
They live in a home their whole life.
8:38
They raise their family now they're coming from their own
8:42
home. They want to live in another
8:43
home. And so the 9 to 16 probably
8:46
confusing when I said that Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
8:49
has a set of rules for facilities within the 9 count to
8:53
16. You get over 16.
8:56
It's entirely different building design.
8:58
It's more of a commercial building, different set of
9:00
rules. And the buildings start looking
9:03
less and less like a home because if you're going to build
9:06
17, you might as well build 40 bed just for economies of scale.
9:10
And so they're a different building.
9:11
They still give great care, but this is a different building
9:13
design, different feel, as we've always liked that 16 bed model.
9:18
So you kind of use that limitation as you know one of
9:21
your points of differentiation and it allows you to rather than
9:25
this, you know huge sort of hotel complex looking facility
9:29
is is more of a homestyle environment.
9:33
It is, yeah. If you walk in any of our
9:35
buildings, it's going to look and feel like a very big
9:39
comfortable home, you know, with residential style kitchen and
9:43
furniture and you know, everything about it's going to
9:46
look and feel homey as opposed to, yeah, the, the larger resort
9:52
hotel feel. And you guys have stuck with
9:55
this model throughout all the facilities that you've opened?
10:00
We have and admittedly there there's some challenges to that,
10:05
but that's just kind of our philosophy is the smaller and
10:09
they work, they work well in the smaller community.
10:11
Idaho, there's a lot of rural communities, you know, 8 to
10:14
10,000 where a larger facility just wouldn't wouldn't pencil.
10:20
But we've been able to make it work with what you know, 16 that
10:23
building and then later years later, we'll come in and build
10:26
another building next to it, also 16 bed.
10:29
Then we can have an assisted living in memory care like I
10:31
like I shared a little bit ago. Yeah.
10:34
Say, say more about that and sort of the in general the
10:36
services that you offer help, you know, paint a picture of
10:39
what you guys can do for your residents.
10:42
Yeah, it's the industry is called assisted living.
10:45
But within the assisted living industry there's another
10:48
differentiation called memory care.
10:50
And I think people by now know what that is.
10:52
Those are suffering from the memory loss, Alzheimer's and
10:56
they require just a little bit different services and care.
11:00
And as when the buildings are, you know, required to be
11:03
secured, you know, where we have some flexibility on, on their
11:08
movements. And and so the rules do require
11:12
that they be separated between those who just require assisted
11:16
living services, you know, help with their activity, the daily
11:19
living versus those require activity, the daily living, as
11:23
well as memory care services because they're diagnosis,
11:26
they're they're not safe, you know, to be allowed to come and
11:29
go, obviously. No, when you were going through
11:33
this kind of rapid growth that your, your dad was sort of
11:37
driving for you by acquiring all this land and building new
11:41
facilities had to have been a ton of challenges in that,
11:45
especially as you're kind of learning your way through a, a
11:48
new business new to you business model.
11:50
What what if you could encapsulate it?
11:52
What was the one biggest challenge through that that
11:56
crazy growth period? Well, several, my dad's
12:02
challenge was finding the real estate and building an
12:07
appropriate building. I mean, they're very asset
12:10
intensive, you know, a lot of resources.
12:12
So there's the financing and all that side, which is difficult
12:15
for for any company. My as far as that time, you
12:18
know, I was operations, it was finding good quality team
12:21
members. You can't just hire anybody to
12:23
come in. I mean, these are these
12:25
residents that really need and frankly deserve people who have
12:30
a heart for caregiving. And so it's making sure you have
12:34
a team and they have to gel. And I suspect we'll talk more
12:37
about that later. But they really have to work
12:39
well together and be in it for the right reason.
12:42
And they'll find it's not the highest paying job as well.
12:46
I mean, they worked very hard for not a lot of, you know, not
12:52
a lot of pay. Some of them, it's one of the
12:55
things I've been working on, is really making sure we pay
12:57
fairly. Yeah, actually let's go ahead
13:00
and talk about that now, because this is a, you know, a key thing
13:03
in most industries and, and yours in particular, where it's
13:06
it's hard to find good folks, it's hard to hold on to good
13:09
folks. You know, the, the work is very
13:11
rewarding from what others have told me, but it's not always
13:15
easy. What, what are some strategies
13:17
that you've used, Mark, to both find these folks in the 1st
13:20
place and then once you've got them to, to do a better job
13:23
holding on to them, make sure they don't leave?
13:28
My answer is easy. I'll say with one word, but
13:30
there's a lot to that to unpack. But it's culture.
13:35
You have to have a great culture in, in this business, any
13:41
business really. And the leaders that have
13:43
figured that out, you know, have really developed great
13:46
companies. And so that has been my primary
13:50
goal, particularly since as I, my team's gotten larger, is
13:56
build a company where people want to work for you.
14:01
All of my people, they could leave and go somewhere else and
14:03
make an extra $0.25 or $0.50 an hour, You know, they could find
14:06
a job to do that. They choose to stay because they
14:09
like where they work. People don't leave bad jobs,
14:12
they leave bad managers, right? They leave bad leaders.
14:16
And so we're, I don't want to use the Word family too strong,
14:21
but really that's the kind of feeling we have is particularly
14:24
with our residents. There's, we all there have the
14:26
same mindset, the same mission. And so that's been my number one
14:31
goal is to build a company that people want to work at.
14:34
And that being said, we do try to, you know, minimum pay market
14:40
market wages, as well as other benefits too.
14:43
You know, there's good health insurance, the four O 1K, all
14:45
the other tangibles that that people people need.
14:50
There's there's other things too that they're outside of the pay
14:54
that makes that incentivize people to stay.
14:58
Can you think of a particular story that might better help to
15:04
encapsulate the culture that you've built there?
15:07
Maybe the way that you were able to help take care of a certain
15:10
employee or the way an employee was able to help the company or
15:15
to help a resident in a particular way that that kind of
15:18
stands out a little bit in your head.
15:21
Oh gosh, I suppose if I had some time I could think of some cool
15:25
stories. But I see many stories all the
15:27
time. They remind me when I go around.
15:29
I go down to like go to the staff meetings and just listen
15:33
in and just get a feel for I hear caregivers use words like
15:39
my company or my home, my residence.
15:45
You know, when they start taking personal ownership, that's when
15:48
you know that they're there. You know, burnout is when you
15:51
feel like you're working on someone else's project.
15:55
If you're working on your own goals, your own projects, your
15:59
company, you don't get burnt out as easy.
16:03
And so that's another one, you know, my goal is just to make
16:07
people feel like this is your company as well.
16:10
These are your residents. Help me.
16:12
And then I, I, I do a lot to this incentivize them and thank
16:16
them for what they do. So they feel like, and I tell
16:18
them all the time, you are what makes the company go well.
16:22
So they really feel invested, I guess, if that's the word.
16:27
I I love that because you know what you're saying there, you
16:32
know, maybe you're not thinking of a specific example at the at
16:35
the moment, but you are often overhearing how your employees
16:38
refer to my patients, my company, my organization.
16:43
So whatever it is that you're doing is clearly having the
16:46
attended effect of developing that the culture that that you
16:49
value so highly. I think that's.
16:50
Pretty well. I I try to stay present.
16:52
You know, in the early days, I was in each home every day, come
16:56
in. I knew all the employees by
16:58
name. I'd had lunch with them, I knew
17:01
all the residents by name and I was.
17:03
As we've gotten more and more building, we're up to over 20
17:06
buildings now. Admittedly, I don't know every
17:09
name, but I still reach out to them personally.
17:13
Well, here's right here. This is my task list for the
17:17
week, their name, how long they've been with the company
17:22
and where they work. And I'm going to write them a
17:23
handwritten note and send it to their to their home.
17:28
Congratulations on hitting your 5th anniversary with the
17:33
cottages. Thank you so much for what you
17:35
do. I appreciate you.
17:37
This company is great because of you.
17:39
And so, you know, I've received help.
17:41
I mean, there's someone in the office that prints this out for
17:43
me and now has all the day. So I don't have the time to do
17:46
that. But by doing that, I'm able to
17:48
just kind of stay in touch with them.
17:49
And again, I go to staff meetings and do what I can.
17:54
That's nice. Yeah.
17:56
With, with 20 buildings, with, you know, staff of over 100
18:00
people, you're clearly a very busy guy.
18:04
I, I'm curious why the motivation to, you know, join
18:09
different groups like, you know, president of the Idaho
18:12
Healthcare Association, the chair of the NCAL, you know,
18:16
board of directors. What, what, what drives you to
18:18
do that with with all the other things that you have going on?
18:22
Yeah, I asked myself that many times and clearly I couldn't do
18:28
it without a solid team behind me, you know, to carry the
18:32
water, if you will, as I go do some of these things.
18:35
But I really, I care about the industry that much.
18:38
As the industry grows, things could change, regulations
18:43
obviously with the government funding.
18:45
And so I, my objective has always been to be one of the
18:49
decision makers so that we can keep this industry, what is
18:52
intended to be great quality care for residents, patients,
18:58
whatever word you use. And as it gets more and more in
19:03
the limelight, particularly with our politicians, well intended,
19:07
they want to change it to fit what they think it should be,
19:11
not what it really should be. And so that's why I involved
19:14
myself so much first on the state level.
19:15
So I would have a voice in the state politics and be the expert
19:21
in these committee meetings and stuff.
19:22
And then I pretty much served all the positions there.
19:26
I was encouraged to run for a national seat and I've been on
19:29
that chair for I'm on that board for past 14 years.
19:34
And then I eventually ran for chair.
19:36
And so I'm taking my turn as the the voice for that.
19:41
And and I had the opportunity to be on the Hill in Washington DC
19:44
many times I meet with our senators and legislators and say
19:49
here's what that law is going to have input impact on grandpa and
19:54
grandma in small town Idaho or small town anywhere.
19:59
I can see why you like that, but it's really a dumb rule.
20:02
It's a dumb law. Here's why Recently would be the
20:06
minimum staffing rule and so. And I like that kind of thing.
20:11
I've enjoyed that process. I enjoyed the board process.
20:14
I was on school board for 15 years, on my local hospital
20:16
board for for 10 years. I enjoy the board process and
20:19
the influence and touch that gets me with decision makers.
20:26
So you feel like you're having an impact in that work that
20:28
you're doing. You feel like at least some of
20:30
the people that you're meeting with are are receptive to the
20:33
the feedback that you're providing.
20:36
Sure hope so. We definitely spent a lot of
20:38
time doing and, and to answer your question, yes, yes, I have
20:40
had an impact as long as you know, it's not just me, everyone
20:44
that's had the opportunity to serve on, on boards with me.
20:46
We're all very passionate about this industry.
20:49
Actually I've been, you know, almost 24 years.
20:52
And so if not me, who? I've always asked that question.
20:56
That's sitting around waiting for somebody else to raise their
20:59
hand, stepping down the front of the line, raising.
21:01
Yours. Yeah, and then complaining about
21:03
whatever comes down the Pike. Well, I, I don't want to be
21:06
complaining. I want to be there in the
21:08
beginning, influencing what happens.
21:13
So you've got, would you say over 20 buildings now?
21:17
Are there plans for more? What does what does growth look
21:20
like for you looking forward? Well, I currently have one
21:25
building under construction. This will be the second building
21:29
on that in that town. So we've had a systemic facility
21:33
there for several years now. We're building a new building
21:36
and we'll be able to do the assist living and memory care.
21:40
Recently closed on some land and another town.
21:42
Going to build 2 buildings at the same time there and I'm
21:45
looking for land and other places too.
21:50
So my growth strategy has always been to grow slowly and wisely,
21:56
but where where needed. I think there's a need for the
22:01
cottages. There's other companies out
22:03
there and and some do a great job.
22:05
If you truly believe in your product and what you do, then
22:08
you look for places where your company can build.
22:14
And so you know, I still got a few few years left in this
22:18
business. And so my goal is to to grow
22:20
where it makes sense. And so haven't.
22:25
It's been fun. What do you think are the
22:27
biggest differentiators between you and some of the
22:29
organizations out there? Yeah, let me see if I can
22:35
answer. I'm going to try and be polite.
22:38
Every company has their own philosophy, I guess, and how
22:41
they do things. And then there's a lot of good
22:43
other facilities out there. I don't mean to, you know,
22:46
intend anything else. Our mission statement is very
22:48
simple. We treat people right and that
22:52
you can see that from me down to the very first person here for
22:56
the first day. And that's why the mission
22:58
statement is so short. Anybody can memorize it.
23:00
So all of our decisions are guiding by that.
23:02
We treat people right. And so it's really to say, oh,
23:06
our care is the greatest or whatever and we do have great
23:09
care. But everybody in my my company,
23:14
they know what the mission statement is.
23:16
They know how to interpret it and they know what it means in
23:19
their day-to-day activities. And so I like to think that's
23:21
what sets us apart as we're all on that same bus.
23:25
Maybe I'm the driver of that bus, but that's a big bus, a lot
23:27
of seats, and we're all on it with the same purpose.
23:33
You know, as I think about your business market, seems to me
23:36
that you kind of served 2 masters.
23:38
You've got the your patients, your, your customers, your
23:42
clients and then you've got your employees.
23:45
And I'm curious, as you think about growth, which one of those
23:50
is the more challenging aspect? Is it once the place is built,
23:55
getting the beds filled or is it getting the staff in there?
23:59
Which of those two hurdles is kind of the most challenging for
24:03
you in the current environment? Anthony, that's the best
24:06
question you've asked me yet. And I, I'm, I'm glad you did
24:09
because my business, my philosophy changed for the
24:12
better when I stopped thinking about, you know, census filling
24:18
beds, residents. And I changed my focus to my
24:22
staff. And I can't remember exactly
24:26
when that was, but I think it's probably when I realized, you
24:28
know what, I'm not in there everyday passing meds.
24:31
I'm not the one getting them out of bed, getting them dressed,
24:33
getting in the shower, doing all those things my people are.
24:38
So if I care about good care for my residents, then I better make
24:42
sure that I have the best staff. And so I have a little sign
24:47
right here that says I'm obsessed with the culture of my
24:50
company and and I know that means taking care of my staff.
24:55
And so the question was, you know, what was what's the
24:59
different? What was different between the
25:01
two? You kind?
25:03
Of yeah, which which one do you find more challenging?
25:05
And, and I think you kind of took the answer in a little bit
25:08
of a different direction, which was great in that, you know,
25:11
hey, I there was a big breakthrough for you when you
25:15
stopped focusing as much on how many, you know, what's our
25:17
occupancy percentage and focused what, what do my staff need?
25:22
What do my employees need? Yeah, once I stopped trying to
25:25
build a business and, you know, build a team, the business took
25:29
care of itself. You know, So I, my, my focus is
25:34
on building a team of people from my C-Suite folks all the
25:38
way down to, again, the very brand new person who's there to
25:41
scrub toilets. Once I what about them?
25:44
The business has taken care of itself.
25:46
So has the census, so has the cares quality of our food.
25:50
Everything that was that was a huge breakthrough for me.
25:54
This is a recurring theme from a number of my guests marks.
25:57
I'd, I'd like to maybe peel back the layer of the onion here, if
26:00
you don't mind and explore this a little bit more.
26:03
Because I, I've heard this over and over again that when I stop
26:07
trying to focus on the numbers or what was best for me and I
26:11
started focusing more on how can I help this person?
26:15
What does that employee need? You know, do you have everything
26:20
that you know, you need to be doing well at your job?
26:22
That I don't know, like the clouds just sort of parted and
26:26
things magically started to take care of themselves.
26:29
Clearly it's not magic. What do you think is going on?
26:32
What what happened when you had that mindset shift?
26:40
Stop seeing them as employees. And I know I referred to them as
26:44
that sometime just for ease, but and as people like you, they
26:49
have homes, families, dreams. They're here because they need
26:53
to work a job, they need a living and find out what it is.
26:57
They want many people. And I and I tell them that every
27:01
month I have a meeting for all new employees, new employee
27:04
orientation. I tell them, some of you here
27:07
just for a job until you're under the better one, that's
27:09
fine. Some of you here, you want a
27:11
career, some of you here, you want to move up, you want
27:13
leadership, you want to become a nurse, whatever.
27:16
I want to know what that is. My goal is to help you achieve
27:18
that. And I've had many, many people
27:21
over the years go from caregiver to leadership, caregiver to
27:25
nurse, become an RN, get some skills until they apply for
27:30
their next job. I'll help them write their
27:32
resume if they're long as they're the best here or while I
27:36
have them, I want to help them reach their goals.
27:38
And when I realized that that's the best way to lead people,
27:45
then they just, I don't know how to say they just they're better.
27:50
They're happier, which translates to retention and
27:55
happier employees and better employees.
27:57
They're not going to keep every employee the rest of their
27:59
lives. Some you don't want to, they
28:02
don't want to, but while they're here, they're going to be up to
28:05
their best because they're happy.
28:07
You're letting them know that they're valued and that's a big
28:09
part of what plays into those. You know, you overhearing those
28:12
conversations about my company, they're saying, you know, my, my
28:15
patients, my clients, my customers.
28:18
You've given them that sense of ownership because you you've
28:21
helped them and you've taken care of them, that you've
28:23
created an environment that they want to be at.
28:25
Yeah, and it's true. It is their company.
28:28
They spend as many hours here as I do.
28:31
They they work just as hard as I do to anyone else.
28:33
So they should say that. So you know, obviously you guys
28:40
have seen some significant growth, Mark, you're up over 20
28:43
different locations, you've got more that are coming.
28:49
How do you, as you know you continue to grow, continue to
28:54
maintain that close knit intimate feel inside of each of
28:59
these facilities? Yeah, it's, it hasn't been easy.
29:09
There's things that I used to do daily.
29:11
Obviously I have other people doing as well.
29:14
Now, you know, I'm not in the homes every day, but someone on
29:17
my leadership team is. And so are they.
29:23
Do they believe as I did? Are they acting?
29:25
Are they speaking? Are they doing everything when
29:30
they're in those homes as I would or as I want?
29:32
And they're going to have their own personal touch to their own
29:34
flavor. But if they're on board, if
29:37
they're living the mission statement, it shouldn't matter
29:39
if it's me or someone else. They're still seeing and hearing
29:42
the same words, the same topic, same leadership principles from
29:49
them as they did for me. And sometimes even better
29:53
because I've hired people that are frankly better than me at a
29:57
lot of these jobs. And I tell them that.
29:59
And I doesn't bother me to say that.
30:02
That should be the goal. Right.
30:06
You know, and you kind of touched on something there that
30:09
I'd be curious to get your, your thoughts on.
30:11
Is it, you know, you, when you started this business, very
30:13
small one facility, you have to wear all kinds of hats.
30:16
You have to wear every hat, right?
30:18
And you're constantly checking on everything.
30:19
You've got your hands on everything that's going on.
30:22
And as you continue to grow, that's not sustainable.
30:26
You can't do that. You don't want to do that
30:28
because you become the bottleneck for everything.
30:31
But not everybody who's a founder can continue to make the
30:35
transition into a leader of a larger and larger organization,
30:40
right? Like some people are really good
30:41
at start up stuff, but they're not good at the team building
30:45
and the delegating and putting the structure in place.
30:47
And, you know, these were things that you had to learn along the
30:51
way. And I'm curious to hear, how did
30:55
you learn those things? How did you make those
30:57
transitions? Did you feel like they came
30:59
naturally to you? Did you have to seek out coaches
31:02
or mentors or classes that kind of helped prepare you for this?
31:07
Yes and yes. And I made made some mistakes,
31:10
of course, but it did in some ways become natural to me as I
31:15
enjoyed the process and I spent a lot of time, you know, of
31:19
course, reading. I've gone to classes, I've asked
31:22
a lot of questions and I've done a lot of thinking.
31:26
I've over in that corner of my office, have my thinking chair
31:29
actually. And I don't take anything there,
31:31
not my phone, not paperwork. It's just thinking about where
31:35
my bottlenecks are, as you mentioned, what is needed.
31:39
And through that process, and it's been decades, I have
31:43
learned kind of what I guess not perfect, what I've needed to do
31:50
to get out of my own way to allow this building process.
31:55
As you mentioned, each, as we've grown into homes, it requires a
31:59
different leader, it requires different leadership structure.
32:02
And that's been probably one of the funnest parts of my job is
32:07
seeing myself change and more importantly, seeing my leaders
32:11
change. And that's probably where I get
32:13
to my most satisfaction is creating leaders.
32:17
I got leaders in the company now that are doing way more and
32:20
doing it better than I did 15 years ago when we were at that
32:23
point. And that's, that's frankly where
32:26
I received my, my reward is taking people who never consider
32:30
themselves as leaders and working with them like like I
32:36
had to do with myself. And as I watched my dad, he's
32:38
long since retired, but and helping them fulfill their goals
32:44
and kind of reach plateaus that they didn't think they could.
32:47
It's a lot of fun to watch that. That sounds pretty cool, Mark.
32:52
You know, a lot of growth happens from challenges that we
32:57
endure and overcome. I'd be curious to hear about a
33:00
particular challenge, whether it's personal or professional
33:04
that you've gone through, how you got through that, and some
33:07
lessons that you learned. Yeah, there's been lots of
33:14
little ones, you know, maybe not real big monumental things, but
33:20
early in my career, I just, it was my wife and I, we had two
33:24
young kids. And any new startup requires a
33:28
lot of, a lot of time. I was working a lot of hours.
33:32
And so I'm just so grateful for my wife who understood.
33:35
And she was the one taking care of things at home.
33:37
And then she was one. And then we had two more kids.
33:40
And as I watched them grow, I, I started to have this, this
33:44
feeling of a lot of regret, you know, I'm missing football games
33:49
and missing dance recitals. What can I do?
33:51
And so I had to learn to step away and trust leaders.
33:57
Hey, you got this meeting my little girl has, you know,
34:02
whatever it is you fill in the blank soccer game.
34:05
And I had to be OK with leaving for a couple hours and going to
34:12
personal things, family things and trust that the business
34:16
isn't going to fall apart. Anyone who thinks the business
34:18
is going to fall apart and they're gone for two hours needs
34:22
to get out of their own, their own head a little bit.
34:24
And I learned that sometimes it was really good.
34:26
And so I had their own personal challenge of being OK with
34:29
someone doing things that that I used to do and spending time
34:34
with my family because all my kids are grown and gone now.
34:38
Who would I be as a person, who would I be as a leader if I
34:41
didn't had terrible relations, relationships with them or if I
34:45
was absent during that time? And I can honestly say that I,
34:49
you know, I've done the best I could to, to do that.
34:53
And I just now I have that satisfaction fulfillment now,
34:56
which gives me the, the, the ability to continue to work hard
35:01
now without regret, made mistakes, no doubt, but.
35:04
Was it a gradual realization for you, you know, when your kids
35:07
were younger or was there kind of a light bulb moment where it
35:10
was like, got to change tomorrow?
35:14
Yeah, it was a couple of light bulbs, You know, when I realized
35:17
I was abandoning, you know, my own personal things I wanted to
35:21
do. Had asked my wife to again, how
35:27
was it that I run the washer, Teach me how do I change this
35:31
diaper? Just ridiculous things that
35:34
every man should know how to do. And that's why I'm like, OK, I
35:37
need to be more present. And I'm, that sounds kind of
35:41
silly, I guess. Silly, I guess, to admit that
35:43
those are the things that I had to learn back when I was a young
35:45
father and, you know, trying to do both build a business and
35:49
build a family. Well, it's, it's exactly those
35:52
kinds of things that we love to give voice to on this show, you
35:55
know, times that things that are, you know, at times
35:58
difficult to admit or, or talk about.
36:00
And there's going to be so many people who listen to this or
36:03
like, yeah, Mark, I'm the same way.
36:05
I didn't know how to change a diaper, Right.
36:06
I didn't know where the we kept the detergent.
36:09
Yeah. Thanks for giving voice to
36:10
something that I was ashamed to. Admit and thank you to a great
36:15
wife who understood at the same time knew when to to back off,
36:20
new one to push, new one to raise the alarm.
36:24
You know and understood the difference between all that.
36:27
So a good support system at home is key to be able to do the
36:32
business. Amen to that Mark.
36:36
You know you often say that if you create a great environment
36:39
for your team, you in turn create a great environment for
36:42
your residents. Can you share a real world
36:47
specific example that shows how that kind of played out?
36:50
Investing in that staff leadership and and appreciation
36:54
directly benefits the residents care.
37:01
Specific example. And that's.
37:02
That's hard because, well, and honestly, there is.
37:05
Kind of shows up every day and everything that goes on.
37:08
Yeah, if, if there's one magic bullet, I'd write a book about
37:11
it. So 1,000,000 copies and
37:13
everybody be doing it. It's the little things every day
37:17
and knowing the difference between what's important and
37:20
what isn't important. And so no, I guess I don't have
37:23
one example. If you give me some time, I
37:26
could think of probably 50 or 60 of them.
37:29
It's just something that it seems like it just kind of
37:31
permeates the culture. And so it just, it wasn't sort
37:34
of one big breakthrough thing. It's just it shows up every day
37:37
in every way. It's just being fully present in
37:40
every moment. You know, there's many times
37:42
when be real easy, just be like kind of roll your eyes and
37:46
think, Oh my gosh, this again. You know, I've already told her,
37:49
you know, that's, that's that's just a stupid question.
37:52
I don't do that. I just look at them.
37:54
What's on your mind? How can I help you?
37:57
Even it's been the same thing before and they don't know
38:00
you've dealt with that 100 times with other people.
38:02
To them, this is their crisis. This is the moment, this is when
38:05
they are looking to you as the leader for an answer.
38:08
And so, and I will say that's one thing I, I think I've been
38:12
very good at just being fully present for every person,
38:16
whether it's a family member, a staff member, of course,
38:19
residents, you know, if I'm sitting across the table or
38:23
standing next to them, they know I'm, they're the only person I'm
38:27
thinking about in that moment. And it has been easy at times,
38:31
but man, it's paid huge dividends.
38:33
And now it's easy and fun because I, I see it that works.
38:37
I had to learn that I don't know what, but help me realize that
38:40
unless I just maybe I just do it naturally or just kind of
38:43
learned over time what's what's best.
38:45
And I paid pay a lot of attention to things that work
38:47
and things that don't work done a lot of things there in the
38:50
trash can now didn't work, but the but the good ones and I keep
38:53
them. And now my leaders are doing
38:56
those same things. I don't have to.
38:59
They've watched they've watched me and I've instructed it and
39:02
now they're instructing their leaders how to do it and they're
39:06
they're teaching. That's been the magic of this
39:07
company is just to see people become leaders.
39:10
Now they're leading leaders and those leaders are developing
39:13
leaders. They're in in the home level and
39:17
perpetuates. Yeah.
39:19
So on and so forth. You know, in talking about.
39:21
Yeah, you know, you threw a lot of the things in in the garbage,
39:24
garbage can, things that you tried and didn't work out.
39:27
And you know, my experience, our mistakes, what appear to be our
39:31
mistakes in the moment, end up becoming our greatest teachers.
39:34
Can you think of one of those things that you tried and I was
39:38
like, man, that didn't work, but, you know, ended up kind of
39:40
fueling a better path for you ultimately.
39:45
Oh, gosh, I knew you were going to ask for one again.
39:47
There's there's been some money. I think a lot of it's just been
39:52
my focus, you know, am I focused on the financials?
39:59
Yeah, and I got them right here. But you have to look at the
40:02
financials, make sure that you're running a business, but.
40:06
Outside of that, what drives your business?
40:12
What are what are some of the key, the key drivers in your
40:18
business? And, and I've outlined the
40:19
formula and now I teach that if you concentrate on this, this
40:23
and this, you will be successful success in these areas right
40:29
here. We'll cover up a lot of sins.
40:33
It was a bad word choice, a lot of mistakes over here.
40:36
And so basically it's just learning what things to focus
40:38
on, not just financials, but in the day-to-day day leadership.
40:42
And so I've just identified some key areas where this is where
40:46
your attention needs to be. And if you if you do so, it
40:50
works out. Any particular daily practices
40:54
or rituals that are helpful to you and setting your day right?
41:01
Yes, I spend time on myself every morning.
41:04
I, I rise at 4:30 in the morning, which is early, but I
41:07
have a 45 minute drive from my home in the town here and I, I
41:13
do my hardest things first thing in the morning.
41:16
My very hardest thing that has been in my life has been my Jiu
41:20
jitsu. I trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in
41:23
the morning. You know, I'll be 56 next, next
41:26
month, so I'm rolling around with these 20 and 30 something
41:29
guys. And it's hard, but I do it
41:33
because it's good for me mentally, of course, physically,
41:35
and it's learning a good skill. And I go from there and I do
41:39
some workout or ride my bike, whatever, come into the office,
41:43
get cleaned up, get ready for the day.
41:45
And I do the things I don't want to do first, you know, and then
41:50
the rest of the day goes great. And so I just really make sure
41:53
that I get my day started right by doing those hard things
41:56
that'd be real easy to sleep in or, or skip.
42:00
And of course, it's help me, help me stay healthy, help me
42:03
stay strong and, and present. And I allow other people the
42:06
same same thing. Hopefully it's a good example
42:09
for them as well. So the hard thing for you in the
42:12
morning is the jujitsu with these guys that are half your
42:14
age. You come into the office,
42:16
there's a space for you to get cleaned up there.
42:18
And then do you continue to start your day with or or
42:21
continue into your day with the hardest things in terms of like
42:24
the work things that you have to do, like, all right, where's my
42:27
list? Let's let's get to the hard one
42:29
first. Yeah.
42:31
It's that one e-mail that you got 2 days ago that you know,
42:34
you need to answer. You haven't done it yet, you
42:36
know, but it's open here. It's open on the other screen
42:39
over here to remind you. I got to get to that.
42:42
It's that phone call you don't want to make.
42:44
It's that call with your banker, right, that you don't not
42:49
looking forward to. I don't know, It's different for
42:53
everybody looking at the calendar, look at the schedule
42:57
and just kind of deciding what it is.
43:00
That's what's your day gonna look like, what's your week
43:03
looking like? And I keep notes.
43:04
I have a little thing over here at the end of the week, I have a
43:07
color code if there's a good medium or bad week.
43:10
So I kind of know how to reschedule my week for the next.
43:13
And then I have my thinking time as well.
43:15
Make sure I have my thinking time.
43:17
Normally after lunch I'm feeling kind of feeling good and relaxed
43:22
and it just helps me focus on the rest of the day and then
43:24
when I go home I'm happy rather than bummed out about the things
43:29
I still have left to do. And so the thinking time, this
43:32
happens after lunch, this happens in the the chair that
43:34
you described earlier, there's no notebook, there's no phone
43:37
that goes with you. It's just sort of quiet time.
43:40
And are you going in there with something specific to think
43:43
about? Is it more like a meditation
43:45
where you're trying to clear your mind or what?
43:47
What's the agenda? Yeah, sometimes there's
43:50
something very heavy on my mind, something my girls like, Oh my
43:53
gosh, you know, like to get that two weeks of my life back, it's
43:58
time to time to think about it. Other times, not so much.
44:02
There's usually always something you can think about.
44:04
It's a very comfortable chair, you know, and sometimes I'll
44:07
even doze off for 1520 minutes. And I had to learn how to not be
44:10
guilty about that. You know, sometimes a little 15
44:14
minute exercise with yourself that ends up maybe close your
44:21
eyes and really get deep into it is OK.
44:24
Because I have some pretty big heavy things I need to do.
44:28
If I get those problems solved, that enables my people to have
44:31
the resources and tools they need to do their job.
44:34
If there's some things I don't do and get taken care of here,
44:38
it's going to manifest itself down to the ranks low.
44:41
So I just had to learn how to be OK with just thinking and come
44:46
under terms with some heavy stuff with just myself.
44:50
What's the best decision you ever made for your company?
44:53
Well, that's easy. Hire a company president.
44:57
I was, you know, as I worked up, you know, I was operations
45:01
manner, then Director of operations and chief operations
45:04
officer and then and then dad left, I was able to able to buy
45:10
him out since I was president and CEO.
45:12
I'm very proud of that. I'm an operator and I'm running
45:14
this company and look at the great job I'm doing.
45:17
And I was, I was doing OK. In the meantime, I had somebody
45:21
that had been with me for 15 years that just day in, day out
45:25
was just getting stuff done, helping me do things, making me
45:29
look better than I was. Frankly, I'm like, you know
45:32
what? If I really care about culture,
45:33
I really care about growth and make sure this company is ran
45:40
properly, I can't do both. And so I just pulled her aside
45:44
one day and I said, I said, Jamie, you, you know what you're
45:48
doing. There's things I need to work on
45:51
the only I can do, but I can't if I'm in the day-to-day as much
45:56
as I am, I'm in the weeds. And she said, I got this.
46:00
And from that very next day, she took off running my job to stay
46:03
out of the way, frankly. And she is doing better than I
46:08
did as president. And I tell her that and I tell
46:12
everyone else who will listen to me that too.
46:14
So when they look at her, they see her as so I don't want
46:17
people coming to me as the boss with these problems about this.
46:21
They go to her one, because she probably knows how to deal with
46:22
it better anyway. And I'm able to work focus on
46:26
these higher issues that really need my time and attention that
46:29
I as as the owner and CEO need to work on.
46:33
Frees up my time, frees up her time.
46:35
Very clear line of authority who who does what.
46:38
And so they go to her for for a lot of things as they should
46:42
because she's the one taken care of it.
46:43
So when I hired a company president, realized that there's
46:48
people out there that know what they're doing, made my life so
46:52
much better and my culture has gotten better.
46:55
My growth has been faster and better since then.
46:59
I'm happier. She's happier because, you know,
47:02
she's able to play in the space that she probably wanted to
47:06
anyway for a while and is doing well and make more money for her
47:09
and the company that more profitable.
47:10
I can't really think any negatives about it unless, you
47:14
know, unless someone has an ego wants both titles.
47:17
I'd be the only negative and I it took me about two days to get
47:20
over that. Tip of the hat to you, because
47:24
that's, yeah, I mean, it goes to what you were saying before
47:27
about trying to hire people that are better and smarter than you
47:30
for the roles that they're filling.
47:32
Yep. Yeah.
47:32
And then get out of their way. Get out of their way and it
47:34
clears out headspace for you to be able to do the things that
47:37
you're better at that you need to focus on.
47:40
Yeah, but my thinking time, my exercise time, you know, I
47:44
don't, there's some days I just, I don't make it in here at 8:00
47:47
anymore. Sometimes it's 9930 because I'm
47:49
just in a real groove at the gym or on my bike ride.
47:54
And of course I'm thinking about work stuff.
47:56
So it's my thinking time on my bike, for instance.
47:59
And you have to be OK with riding your bike on the
48:02
Greenbelt for next hour. And you're not the office I used
48:07
to identify myself, how many hours I could put in.
48:10
Well, I'm the first one there. I'm the last one to leave.
48:13
Yeah. So what?
48:15
You know, how effective are you? Are you doing the right things?
48:19
Are you making the right decisions?
48:20
And I'm better at that now because I had got myself that
48:24
flexibility to be where I need to be.
48:25
I hope that makes sense. I don't know like this.
48:28
Makes a lot of sense. I mean, I think there's a a lot
48:30
of entrepreneurs, I've certainly found myself guilty of this
48:33
where, I don't know, it's like we're competing for this
48:35
invisible trophy of right, how many hours did I work?
48:38
How how hard did I work? How stressed did I get?
48:41
You know, like, yeah, nobody, nobody's handing out a medal for
48:45
that. No, nobody cares.
48:47
Nobody's impressed, particularly your family and wife back home.
48:52
And So what are you going to do? Yeah, figure it out.
48:56
Yeah. Mark, is there a particular
48:59
book, a podcast, a course that's been really helpful for you and
49:04
your development that might be good to recommend to our
49:06
listeners? Well, I got I got many here that
49:10
have done this is a good one right here.
49:16
Here's another good one, crucial conversations.
49:20
This is one that I read called Leadership Isn't for Cowards I
49:26
Mike Saver. It's a pretty simple read,
49:29
frankly, but it's become my textbook to teach other leaders.
49:35
I've done a lot of things to help me in my leadership and
49:37
this book helped me as well. But I use this book for my once
49:41
a month leadership meeting for all aspiring leaders in my
49:44
company. They come here to the Home
49:46
Office and they each get their own book and we go through it
49:49
like a textbook and have a several 4 hours of of training.
49:57
And like I mentioned earlier, my success as a company has come
50:02
from taking people and building them to leader they want to do.
50:05
So this is one of the one of the tools I use and it's been a lot
50:09
of fun. What's 1 big lesson that you can
50:12
teach us from that book? You have to make the hard call
50:17
sometime. The title is appropriate.
50:19
Leadership isn't for cowards, because you have to realize that
50:24
as the boss, as a leader, you're screwing up people's lives,
50:27
right? You're telling them sometimes
50:30
things they need to do, they don't want to do.
50:32
You're responsible for what they make, for the performance
50:35
evaluations for, you know, people spend more time at work
50:40
than they do it anything other single activity in their life,
50:43
maybe except for, you know, sitting at home.
50:46
And so you have a lot of authority and influence over
50:52
them and you can make life pretty miserable for them or or
50:56
good. And it's your and it's your
50:57
choice. And once I learned that I had
51:00
the opportunity to make life better for them, it just made me
51:03
a better leader. Mark, what's something that you
51:07
wish more people knew about your industry?
51:11
Well, it's not going away. In fact, it's growing the silver
51:14
tsunami. You've heard that, right?
51:17
I mean, I think, I think it's next year.
51:19
The oldest baby boomer turns 80 and that's when they start
51:23
coming my direction. So for the next 25 or whatever
51:26
years, we're having just the massive amount of people that
51:30
are going to be needing assist living services.
51:34
And the challenge will be will there be access enough for all
51:38
of them, particularly in rural communities?
51:40
Will they be able to afford it? Will we have the staff available
51:44
to take care of them? That's, that's always constantly
51:48
on my mind is making sure that we have opportunities and places
51:53
for seniors to go and there's a need for it.
51:56
And I, I really want people to understand that there's a lot of
52:02
opportunities for, it's a, it's a field or an industry that a
52:06
lot of people maybe don't think about.
52:08
No one really thinks about assist living until they have a
52:10
mom or a dad that needs it or grandparents or they themselves.
52:15
And so I would hope people consider it as a, as a career
52:17
track for someone. They can start as young as
52:20
they're 18 as a caregiver and work their way up and really get
52:24
some good skills and have a good career in this field, whether
52:29
it's assisted living or skilled nursing or, you know, that's why
52:34
I really hope people remember and they will remember as
52:39
society is getting older, they'll definitely become more
52:42
on topic of conversation. So.
52:45
I'm glad that we touched on this because, yeah, there's a lot of
52:49
sort of fear about, especially with AI coming into play and
52:52
like, you know, what, what are the future jobs going to look
52:55
like? You know, maybe I'm a younger
52:58
person, maybe, I mean, even in the middle of my career and, you
53:01
know, thinking about a career change and like, where can I go?
53:04
We're going to have some job security and it seems like, you
53:08
know, senior care this, as you said, it's not going away.
53:11
It's becoming bigger. And in all likelihood, we're
53:14
going to have a shortage of care providers.
53:17
And so for people who are looking for a good, safe career
53:23
path, it, it seems to me that this would be something that
53:27
they would want to choose. And particularly as I hear you
53:29
talk about how you like to help people inside your organization
53:35
with personal development. So they come in and they're kind
53:38
of a front line, you know, care provider.
53:40
And there are opportunities for them to, if they choose to, to
53:44
advance their career into, you know, positions of leadership.
53:48
Yeah, AI is going to be wonderful and it's going to do a
53:51
lot of great things for people. You know, it's, it's we're
53:54
already starting to see some of the benefits here and assist
53:56
living with, you know, note taking as far as documentation
54:01
for on the clinical side and things.
54:04
But until they build a build a robot, I guess AI is not going
54:08
to give your mother, your mother a shower or help her take her
54:12
meds. It'll help us document and
54:13
record it quicker. But we're you're always going to
54:16
require that personal touch, that face to face human
54:20
interaction. It's going to be a while before
54:22
I think AI replaces that. So there's always going to be a
54:25
need for good people that like to connect with people that have
54:28
big hearts. And so I think we'll just see
54:32
the benefits of AI in the industry for a while.
54:35
I think it'll be a while for replaces.
54:37
Replaces people. Are you already using AI to help
54:42
with some of the note taking and other sort of, I don't know,
54:45
more mundane tasks like that? Yeah, we're just starting to do
54:50
that, just going to be switching CRM platforms.
54:55
So to kind of help replicate some of the documentation that
55:02
we're doing, making it quicker, easier.
55:04
I've already seen some white people use it with some of their
55:07
emails. They need long detailed emails.
55:09
They can tell they're using AI to kind of help formulate some
55:12
of those things, which is which is fine.
55:18
Just a few things particularly in our software management that
55:22
we use for our resident documentation, you know as far
55:27
as their cares, the medication, some of those things that's
55:31
really going to I think revolutionized industry in that
55:35
regard as far as time saving. Yeah, and and then giving the
55:39
care providers more time to spend with the people who need
55:43
their time, right? Less time with keyboard, or less
55:47
time with pen and paper, and more time with the human beings
55:50
that need their support. Less time with the computer,
55:53
more time with the bedside. That's always going to be best
55:57
thing, yeah. Yeah, Mark, I've just got one
56:00
more question for you. But before I ask it, I want to
56:02
do 2 things. First of all, everyone listening
56:04
today, I know that you liked today's content.
56:06
Mark's been a great guest, shared a lot of wonderful
56:08
stories. Please hit the follow or a
56:10
subscribe button on your favorite podcast app so you
56:13
continue to get great content like this.
56:15
Mark, I also want to let people know the best way to either get
56:19
in touch with you or to continue to follow the Cottages or your
56:23
story. What would that be?
56:26
Yeah, I welcome anyone to reach out.
56:27
Obviously my website www.thecottages.biz.
56:30
You look me up on LinkedIn, Mark Maxfield.
56:33
I'll get my e-mail Mark at the Cottages dot biz.
56:37
Terrific. Lots of lots of ways to reach.
56:39
Out to mark there. Yeah.
56:41
So last question for you, Mark, as you look towards the future,
56:43
what's the biggest thing that has you excited about this
56:47
space? What?
56:48
What are you excited about that's coming around the corner?
56:55
Well, it used to be that all the problems and things, not
56:59
problems, the issues and concerns kept kept me up at
57:01
night. Now I realize it's about what
57:03
gets me up in the morning. You know, what gets me up in the
57:06
morning is really thinking about all the the lies that that I get
57:12
a touch every day. It's the families, it's the the
57:16
staff. As I mentioned, that's really my
57:18
passion is working with staff and helping them and of course
57:21
my residence and there's going to be a lot more coming.
57:24
So my job has been to find smart growth.
57:26
The challenge of course is financing and finding funding
57:30
land, but it's building this company that people well,
57:37
building the team that's that's built this company that's been
57:41
been great. So your question of what's
57:43
what's coming that excites me now.
57:47
I've been excited for 20 years and so it's just doing doing
57:51
more of this. As I tell my team, you know,
57:55
it's what got us here. It's not going to get us there
57:59
wherever there is. But because we made it here, I
58:03
know we'll make it there. So it's just been learning what
58:07
needs to change, what needs to shift, working with my team and
58:11
together just being able to adapt with the industry, which
58:17
has certainly changed over the past quarter century.
58:20
Well, I liked what you just said, that it used to be about
58:23
what keeps me up at night. Now it's my focus is more on
58:26
what gets me up in the morning. And it's not like the things
58:30
that kept you up at night had suddenly gone away.
58:33
You know, it's not like there aren't any problems in the
58:35
business. As the business grows, you've
58:37
got more opportunities for for more problems.
58:40
But I think what I hear you saying is it's more about where
58:43
you're putting your attention. Do you want to grunt?
58:45
You, you want your metal gears to grind away at night on those
58:49
things that need to be solved, problems that are coming up,
58:52
issues that need to be resolved? Or do you want to, you know,
58:55
turn your attention to what's going to what's, what am I
58:58
excited about? What's the fun thing that is
59:00
going to help me hop out of bed in the morning?
59:02
Am I hearing you right? That's right.
59:04
And those same concerns that supposedly keep you up at night
59:07
are now the exciting things that I got to deal with in the
59:09
morning because I've learned how to think, how to, how to work
59:13
with them. So they're not problems anymore.
59:15
They're they're challenges. And there's nothing more
59:18
satisfying than seeing the challenge, kicking his butt,
59:22
learning from it, and then just applying that to the the next
59:25
challenge and just building and growing.
59:27
And I have the most fun when I'm sitting in meetings with my
59:32
leadership team and I just sit back and I just hear him talk
59:36
back and forth about issues. And I used to do a lot of
59:39
talking. I do a lot of listening and
59:40
nodding and and great job and and just kind of challenge a
59:44
little bit. OK, very good.
59:46
Now what are we going to do with that?
59:47
And then see the conversation build and flow again.
59:51
It's just sometimes it brings tears of eyes actually just
59:55
seeing the way that again, these people that never envision
1:00:00
themselves as leaders solving problems for their company.
1:00:06
Their company. That's a great way to wrap it
1:00:08
up, Mark. I want to be the first one to
1:00:10
thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us
1:00:12
today. I really appreciate it.
1:00:14
Thank you, Sir. It's been on there.
1:00:16
Appreciate it. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:00:18
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:00:21
Thanks for learning with us today.