Our COO, Jeff Bevis, was a guest on an episode of All Things Considered Franchising Podcast, hosted by Scotty Milas. Jeff shares how there is high demand for senior care and there's plenty of room for new entrepreneurs to join the industry. Learn more about what it takes to be successful in home care by watching the podcast or reading the full transcript below.
Podcast Transcript
00:60 – Scotty
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of All Things Considered Franchising. I am your host and founder of All Things Considered Franchising, Scotty Milas. All Things Considered Franchising is powered by scottmilasfranchisecoach.com. At All Things Considered Franchising, we focus in on the entrepreneur, people who are interested in getting into business ownership, concentrating on franchise opportunities. We step outside the box every once in a while.
Scottmilasfranchisecoach.com is a consulting organization that I founded about 7 to 8 years ago that helps people develop that roadmap and introducing them to opportunities that fit. The services, guidance, and education that we provide both at All Things Considered Franchising and Scott Milas, Franchise Coach are absolutely at no cost to our clients.
Well, you know, I have been around the block for a long time in this industry and there are certain people you come across that are really kind of under the radar but that have really put a significant impact into franchising. And I want to welcome to the show certified franchise executive and also right now he is the Chief Operating Officer over Caring Senior Service. And Jeff and I have kind of a similar background because we both started in this industry in operations. Although Jeff was the smart one, he continued in operations, and I went into development. So Jeff welcome to the show.
01:34 – Jeff
Scotty, thanks for having me.
01:37 – Scotty
You know, you have an interesting background. Like I said its kind of similar to me as the operational side. And I think what you know I have found with my clients and what I kind of stress with my clients as they kind of go through that validation. A lot of people want to focus in on the validation as a numbers thing. You know, it’s how much can I sell? Or how much is the item #19 not going to sell? And what I try to do is educate to my clients that yes numbers are important, but it’s really the operational side of a franchise, the operational support and marketing falls under there. So your expertise is appreciated today. So tell us a little bit about Caring Senior Service and your background in the industry, and then we’ll kind of go from there.
02:22- Jeff
Sure, sure. Thank you. So Caring Senior Service, we have 61 territories in 17 states today. We’ve been franchising for 21 years, Scotty, so an established brand but never really gave the franchising focus. So, we've been operating for 33 years. So we were building the brand without franchising for 12 or 13 years first. I’ve been in franchising for 38 years that’s...
02:51 – Scotty
Wow.
02:52 – Jeff
That’s hard to say because I feel like I’m old. It should only be 29 but 38 years, 7 different brands, 5 different industries. I started as you mentioned in ops in the truck rental and car rental world in franchising.
03:07 – Scotty
Wow, interesting. You know, you have also spent some time helping people, guidance, research on the consulting side. I imagine you are still in it as potential franchisees come in to research the brand. You know, our listening audience is a good percentage of people who are contemplating whether to come into franchising. Do I want to be a business owner? If I want to be a business owner, do I want to get into franchising? I mean a lot of people you know think of franchising and they think of McDonalds and Subway. So there’s a lot outside that box.
So, you know, kind of putting your thoughts, your experiences together, if somebody is considering franchising, investing in a franchise — obviously there are many benefits — what are the advantages right now and continue to be in the senior care market? You know, it’s a booming industry. The population continues to age even as we come out of the baby boom industry, the baby boomer timeframe. Tell us a little bit about the industry and what you’re seeing in the senior care market.
04:21 – Jeff
Absolutely. So I have been in the home care industry or franchise world for the last 21 years. So I have seen a lot of change. And to your point, Scotty, yes the industry is booming, no pun intended. But the next 20 years, it’s actually slated to grow even faster. We have experienced tremendous growth these last 20 years. But because of the aging population, because of the desire for people to stay in their own homes as long as they possibly can, and to keep it more affordable, those are some of the key drivers. We’ve got demographics at our back, aging baby boomers at our back, are all wins that are really helping drive this entire industry. Folks may think it’s saturated or gosh there are a lot of different brands. It’s not even close to saturation. In fact, we’re having a hard time keeping up with the demand itself.
05:15 – Scotty
That’s interesting.
05:16 – Jeff
Because there are so many potential clients.
05:19 – Scotty
That is interesting that you’re keeping up with demand. I try to educate my clients that having a high demand and even touching on a saturated market is a good thing. You know, as an owner you just have to be a little bit better than everybody else or the people that you’re competing against.
One of the things I like to focus in on with my clients is a need, not a want. And senior care/home care comes into that need category. Your organization focuses on non-invasive type programs for seniors. Tell us a little bit more about those programs and services that you offer.
06:00 – Jeff
So the home care industry, Scotty, is kind of divided into home health, which is skilled care with nurses, and home care, like us at Caring Senior Service, that does non-medical or as you said non-invasive services. So, we’re providing meal preparation, errands, light housekeeping, companionship, and also what’s called personal care — so helping with bathing, feeding, grooming and continence care, but all noninvasive. So these are not nurses, these are caregivers, home care aids, certified nursing assistants. But it’s much, much longer timeframes. So where nurses go in for 15, 30, 45 minutes at a time, we’re in for hours every day or hours every single week. So a big, big difference, and I think because of that, the market, the overall demand, just continues to increase as well. Because everybody when they reach a point in age really wants or needs that type of additional assistance.
07:01 – Scotty
That’s interesting. Your franchisees, you mentioned 61 territories, 17 states, a pretty good achievement over the timeframe as you start to really aggressively start offering franchising. But where are you seeing your franchisees coming from, the characteristics of your franchisees? Any similarities between franchisees in those 61 territories? I mean, if somebody is listening to us today, you know, and they’re saying, "hey, I don’t know if this fits in." Where are you seeing the background, what kind of franchisee are you looking for at the organization to award a franchise?
07:47 – Jeff
Well I think, first of all, there is a common thread that many of our franchisees have experienced the need for this type of care themselves for a mother, father, grandparent, aunt, uncle, family member. That oftentimes enables them to discover our industry, if you will. So that’s one common thread.
The other common thread is really that there is no single or even small group of occupations, Scotty. We’ve got teachers, telecom, banking, engineering, sales and marketing, HR backgrounds. So it’s really a business where, if you have strong management skills, great organizational skills, presentation skills, communication skills which can come as you know from any real business and you want to give back to the community, you want to create and have a purpose-driven service, this is a great, great business. So it really encompasses many different backgrounds and just those core skills that people can bring from almost any prior experience.
08:54 – Scotty
You know, one of the common questions that I get in any organization or franchise that has what we call W2 employees or contractors is how to go about getting labor today. You know, again I think a lot of this is blown up in my personal opinion, but it is a question and I’m sure it is a question some people that are listening to this are saying, "well okay great, yeah get the need part but how do I find the people to bring under my umbrella to work with me and not with somebody else?" Maybe talk a little bit about that component and what services that you’re providing as an organization that operational support that helps people with the hiring, whether it’s W2, hourly, some contractors.
09:45 – Jeff
Sure, yeah this is a big, big area for us because as we mentioned earlier, Scotty, the demand is there. Our biggest challenge as an industry is labor. It’s not really quantity, its quality, having enough quality caregivers. All of our caregivers are all direct employees so they’re all W2 with the franchisees. No 1099 or contract employees, and that’s just to make sure the quality of the person going into the home to help the senior or the disabled population has had a background criminal credit check and is very reliable overall.
We find our caregivers through what we call more grassroots recruiting. We do use job boards, but as you probably know or have seen the stats, the job board turnover numbers are pretty horrific...
10:35 – Scotty
Right.
10:36 - Jeff
...70-80%. So we see grassroots recruiting as being the key, and that’s how we have been successful. So going into local markets, churches, nursing schools, community colleges. Those are the big drivers of really trying to keep up with the quality caregivers overall. We do provide a great service that is very unique to Caring. It’s called our Hub Services where we will field incoming inquiries, email or phone, for the franchisees on behalf of recruiting or even services. So we try to take that off the franchise owner’s plate.
11:13 – Scotty
Interesting, interesting. A couple of last questions here regarding the brand itself. You know, a lot of people today are looking to get involved in businesses that are work-from-home. From my understanding of the home care category, most states require some type of remote office so that files can be locked up — those confidential files as far as employees. Is that still the case with your organization?
11:47 – Jeff
Yes, it is. And it’s also for interviewing purposes primarily. You’re exactly right on the file side. But also when you’re interviewing caregivers, it’s pretty tough to do that from a private address. So just having a small storefront — it doesn’t have to be retail space — typically 800 to 1,000 square feet, it’s more for interviewing and training.
12:11 – Scotty
So it could be kind of a workspace share, rent the workspace share, not necessarily going there every day maybe but at least being able to conduct the interviews and the other requirements that states may have that certain practices be done in an office and not in a home.
12:33 – Jeff
Yes.
12:34 – Scotty
Good. We’re talking with Jeff Bevis who is a certified franchise executive, CFE, also Chief Operating Officer of Caring Senior Service, a franchise opportunity. I’m Scotty Milas, the host of All Things Considered Franchising.
Jeff, let’s switch gears a little bit. You have a lot of expertise in the franchising industry. You’ve seen a lot of changes in the franchising industry. The labor movement, we’ve all seen that, what’s been going on in California. But, we touched on this earlier in the conversation, that franchising is still a very strong option for people who are looking to get into business or even to diversify a portfolio. I mean, I work with a lot of people that are multi-brand operators. Where are seeing the industry today? Where are you seeing its strengths? Are you still a believer that this is a strong viable option for the entrepreneur? And if somebody is considering, what kind of skill sets you know or mind sets should someone have coming into the investigative process?
13:40 – Jeff
Yes, this is absolutely still a vibrant industry. And I think franchising as a whole is still very much a great opportunity for the right, as you said, the right mindset and what people are really looking for. I think we would both agree, Scotty, it’s not for everybody. You know, if you’re looking to follow a system, follow a proven model, be part of a brand, be part of a network, have a lot of peer-to-peer best practice sharing, that’s exactly the wheelhouse for a franchisor, especially a successful franchisor. But again, it’s not for everybody. So if somebody really wants to go it on their own, build it their way, build it from scratch, which you and I both probably know takes actually more time...
14:26 – Scotty
Oh yeah.
14:27 – Jeff
...Then you know franchising is not for that person. But most of the people we talk to at Caring Senior Service understand that or, at least quickly from our initial conversations, we’re able to reinforce the fact that that’s really the benefit of franchise versus independent. Our industry, just as an aside, the home care industry, almost half of our industry is mom-and-pop independents. So again, based on keeping up with increasing demand, but we do think those independents are opportunities to potentially convert to become a franchisee.
15:04 – Scotty
So you would consider a conversion, somebody that has an independent business and the services that you provide that would be looking for a little bit stronger support, guidance, that marketing plan, that operational support that we had touched on? I mean, that is a viable option for people?
15:22 – Jeff
Yes, because it’s really a matter — in the franchising world, you’re in business for yourself not by yourself, right? So if you’re an independent, you’re out there on your own so you have to go find your own resources. I think again that’s one of the many benefits of being part of a franchise system. You’re not in it alone. You’re able to work with your fellow owners, work with a franchisor, get all that added support.
15:47 – Scotty
Yeah, I kind of chuckle every once in a while when I have that conversation with a client, you know, who says, "The reason I don’t want to consider a franchise is because of the royalties." And I go, "Well do you think if you owned your own business as an independent, you’re not paying royalties?" "Well, no I’m not." I said, “you’re right. You’re not paying royalties but you’re paying that royalty another way.” I mean you still need to spend your time, money and energy and efforts developing your systems and you’re going to need somebody to pay somebody to manage those systems and best practices, and a royalty, that’s what the franchisor is doing. You know it’s kind of a give-and-take. Do you want to sit behind your desk developing everything or do you want to sit behind your desk and manage and delegate the business and build the business? So, it’s an interesting topic.
Jeff, if somebody was interested in learning more about the organization, is there a website that they can go to, someone they can contact? I mean, obviously, they can reach out to me directly but anybody, anywhere they should go. I mean LinkedIn, website, anything you want to share with us at this point?
16:55 – Jeff
Yes, thank you. So they would absolutely go to caringseniorservice.com would be one source, Scotty. We also have caringfranchise.com. I would be happy to speak with anybody myself. I’m at jbevis@caringinc.com. We also have Del Salinas who is our Director of Franchise Development at dsalinas@caringinc.com. We both again have strong LinkedIn presence, so we welcome the fact of just having conversations whether it be email or phone or video call just to try to help candidates who are trying to figure out, "Is franchising right for me? if so, is there a sector or industry or brand?" Because you know as well as I do that’s really nine-tenths of the battle is trying to make sure that we help people find the right fit, the right match of what they’re looking for that fits their actual background too.
17:57 – Scotty
Right, right. I always tell my clients, "Put yourself in a position to education yourself. You know, come from a position of strength to make a sound and validated decision by educating yourself." It’s okay to say no. I mean a lot of people think that once you starting talking to a franchise development person or recruiter sometimes they’re known as development or someone like me that there’s going to be this strong-arm tactics. Do you want red or white? Do you want it on Wednesday or Thursday? Well, most people don’t understand that it can take 90 to 120 days before someone can come to a validated decision, and of course, the brand deciding. A lot of people have to remember that franchises are awarded. Just because you have the financial means doesn’t mean that you’re going to be accepted or awarded a franchise.
Jeff, I appreciate your time. We hope we can get you back you know 6 months from now and get us caught up on the brand. But any closing statements? Anything you would like to share before we sign off here?
19:02 – Jeff
Scotty, it’s been my pleasure, my honor to join you today. Let me just say one parting comment to tail on to what you just said. Again, if people just take the time to find the right fit, it is oftentimes the Item-19, the financials, the numbers, but it’s also culture and leadership and operational platform, operational support and just make sure that they are finding the right fit for them based on the industry and the brand.
19:32 – Scotty
That’s great advice. And you know, it’s really funny because I just got done doing an analytical report with my clients over the last 24 hours, and I’ve been doing this a lot longer than 24 months. But 78% of my clients who I started with that thought they wanted X ended up investing in something in Y. Totally outside of what they thought they wanted. And after building that model, that roadmap and really taking a deeper dive, and surprisingly some of those people went into senior care and they didn’t think it. So you’re absolutely right. Take the time to research and learn about the organization. Don’t worry about the numbers. The numbers will come.
I always tell people make believe you’re walking into a bar, and you’re sitting next to somebody. And the first question they ask you is how much money do you make. Well, you’ll probably get up and go to the other side of the bar. Well it’s the same thing.
Jeff, we appreciate your time. Like I said I hope we get you back. We’ve been talking to Jeff Bevis, Certified Franchise Executive and Chief Operating Officer over at Caring Senior Service. I am your host, Scotty Milas, of All Things Considered Franchising and owner and CEO of scottmilasfranchise.com. If anybody is interested in reaching out to me, feel free to. Check me out on LinkedIn. You can email me, scott@scottmilasfranchisecoach.com. Of course check out all the episodes and podcasts that we have on All Things Considered Franchising .com. This is Scotty Milas, until next time, make it a great day.