Franchise Friday - Episode 211 Mike Condon of HomeWell Care Services

Excerpted from post article https://futureoffranchising.com/podcast/franchise-friday-episode-211-with-mike-condon-of-homewell-care-services/ where Melissa speaks with Mike Condon of HomeWell Care Services

Mike Condon, Medical Equipment Executive Helping Others Transition Into Business Ownership.

I worked in the medical equipment industry for 10+ years where I got to develop the skills and business acumen that enabled me to succeed in my later endeavors. I’m a passionate franchise professional who cares for and loves to help people. I’ve always been enthusiastic about sharing my values and creating healthy work environments for my team and the people around me which led me to venture into franchising.

I want to pay my experience forward by helping more people understand the power behind franchising. Now with HomeWell Care Services, I am able to educate others on the opportunity within the home healthcare space with a company that is about culture, fit, and belief in their franchise owners.

Home care is never a one-size-fits-all solution.

That’s why HomeWell provides a holistic approach, resulting in a personalized experience based on individual needs. You get the qualified, professional assistance needed, along with compassion, and peace of mind—ensuring a comfortable life at home, right where you belong.

HomeWell Care Services is one of the nation’s premiere in-home care providers franchised by HomeWell Franchising Inc.

Our agencies serve seniors and others in need of home care throughout their local communities with personalized in-home care plans designed to suit each client’s specific needs. Originally founded by a caregiver, our passion to help others drives us to make a difference in the lives of our clients, their families, our owners and employees, and our communities. Our primary goal is to bring more enjoyment to the lives of those who find it increasingly difficult to function well on their own.

HomeWell Franchising Inc. prides itself on helping entrepreneurs not only realize their dreams of business ownership, but also give them the means to make a positive impact in their communities. We seek franchise owners who are committed to bringing the mission of HomeWell Care Services to life in local markets across the U.S.

HomeWell Care Services currently has over 40 open locations representing over 85 territories across the U.S. and Canada. HomeWell is focused on strategic expansion across the U.S. through franchise-owned development. With many territories available, the company expects to have over 100 HomeWell Care Services franchises by 2023.

In fact, HomeWell Care Services has been recognized as a 2021 Home Care Pulse Endorsed National Provider. This endorsement recognizes only the top home care providers in North America. This designation demonstrates our commitment to quality and providing outstanding client and caregiver satisfaction.

Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:14

Hello everyone, Melissa Pang here with the entrepreneurs source. So happy to be here with Mike Condon of home welfare services franchises. Hi. Hi, Melissa, how are you today? I am doing very well. Absolutely thrilled to be here with you. So thanks for taking some time. I know that out entrepreneur source and home Well, we've been working together for a little bit of time now maybe about a year, I would say I think like, April or May will be April will be a year. Yeah. So a little under a year. And it's been fantastic and love working with you. And the whole team over at home well. But I want to before we dive in to some of some of the topics today, I wanted to give you a chance to kind of talk to us about your background. And oh, there's a little diversity there. You have come with that. A little different spin than maybe some other people on the franchise development side. So I will How'd you get here? Yeah, that's it's always a fun story to talk about. My path has definitely been one very similar to a lot of the clients that we work with, right? So I was in the med device world for for over 15 years. And I loved it. I love the healthcare space. And I was really fortunate to have a great corporate career. But like many of the clients that we deal with, you kind of run out of runway and you look at your life and say, hey, could I do this a different way? And one of the things I love about franchising is there's always that opportunity to look at that. So after a great 15 year career, I looked at myself and my wife and said, How do we pivot. And one of those ways, we started to look at franchising. And I was fortunate enough to become a consultant, not with Te s but with another brand. But that's not neither here nor there. But it really got my foot in the door and understanding franchising, understanding the space and really what we wanted to create. And through that process, my wife and I went ahead and started purchasing franchises in the health and wellness space. And we currently still own and operate a multi unit franchise brand here in the in the Detroit, Michigan area. And so for me, it was to the point where it was very similar to a lot of our clients, tired of the corporate rat race, and how do we exit and find a build a path for ourselves. And, you know, as we've gone through that journey, I really wasn't planning on joining corporate America again, but I had a tremendous opportunity with somebody I respect very highly in this space. We've had conversations regarding regarding the home healthcare space and the brands and, you know, he kind of presented me an opportunity to get back and give back to franchising. One of the things I love about this space is we're able to help people understand that vision of being their own boss, but but also having a system to help them be successful. So I joined the hotel team back in July. And it's been a great experience ever since that so fortunate to experience all walks of life here in franchising. I love it because you bring so many unique perspectives to the table, especially in the role that you're in, you know, talking to candidates who are experiencing what you did years ago and found your path forward. That and you know, we talked about income and lifestyle wealth and equity people are like most of the stop talking about it, but it's so important because it's like that you found that and then what I find also really interesting is you did go back to a corporate like to a job, but for probably different reasons than previously. Yeah, you know, for me, it was I missed as a as a 15 year sales person, I hate the word sales, but that that's what we were and that's what we are right so for me, I missed the team atmosphere I missed the camaraderie that that a lot of the corporate side brought to me I worked for I was fortunate enough to work for some very great companies like Johnson and Johnson that that company culture was very important to them. And one of my requirements as I told my former boss and our CEO was, you know, I wanted to work for people that believed in the same thing I believed in. And and, you know, to my delight, it has been nothing short of what they told me during the interview process. So it's been a great fit for me more culturally than anything. So I really have the opportunity to Marriage Marriage, both sides of of, of my happy space of still continuing to educate and help people understand the franchise space and still run a another franchise company as well. So it's been a lot of fun. I love it. And I would love to know from your perspective div of, you know, you, you are a business owner you own there, you're a franchisee as well. And then going back to home well, there had to have been something there that really did speak to you, you touched on it, you know, culture and aligning with beliefs and things like that. But what is there anything specific about home? Well, that really speaks to you as to what they're doing in the industry or what they're doing in franchising. And then also, you know, what about that speaks to clients and candidates? Yeah, I do believe that. We all know that in the in the non medical homecare space where we live, there's a lot of options in the franchising world. You know, I think, as a franchise, E and my healthcare background, I've personally researched a lot of them because of the interest in the space and, and it just, I love this space a lot because of my healthcare background. So I've had an opportunity to evaluate a lot, what kind of drew me to home well, was really the kind of outside the box thinking that that our leadership team has brought to the space. Obviously, what we do on a daily basis is very similar from a non medical companion care side. However, I think more importantly, what we bring, the value that we bring to our franchise owners is something that that we do very well and it's something we're focused on daily, from from the ELT all the way down, even through Fran dev of when we talk to clients as they go through our discovery process and our their education journey with us. It's about taking them, what we say is we're able to back it up on the franchise services side. And I think aligning those two missions is is something that our clients as they go through the journey, and then they end up signing with us, we hear that repeatedly that those two lineup that we didn't, we didn't talk about something on the front end that we can't deliver on the back end. So as I went through my evaluation journey with home, well, that's something that stuck out to me and said, Okay, I can believe in this because as a franchisee, and as a consultant in this world before that doesn't always match up. So I think that's really important to me that when we talk about recruiting the right type of owners into our franchise, that we can match those two up so they can have, you know, success with us. And we know we can deliver success to them. I again, that's just it's funny, because it's almost like yeah, of course, you're gonna have like those two sides talking to each other. No, no, no, yeah. Not always like that. And it is really important, because, you know, I've talked to other I forget exactly who it was, but he was speaking about, you know, we actually have our teams like meet to get like, we're on the same page. So that once again, it all comes down to client candidate experience. Yeah. Which we talked about a lot. But I think it's really interesting that that's one way you provide a great client experience, candidate experience, what they hear from you, they, they're going to get it and you also have that like, trust in your own team. What I'm saying to this candidate, it's going to get delivered. Yeah, I think that's a great point. Right. And we talk about a lot about that on our on our same thing. We have a franchise development call with our franchise, operation side, right, a weekly call, and we talk about a lot of these things. Because the last thing we want to do is mislead anybody. And I think that's very important when you're when you're talking with and dealing with people that are choosing to make a huge investment and change their life because of and I think we take that, you know, probably, obviously we take it very seriously. But we we also want to make sure we're saying the right things that align with, you know, what we're delivering on the back end. So that continuity of language across the board is really important to us and making sure we're delivering on that. And no, I love that. I'm saying about our own like, like, do we do that? And it's a Is that something that was already in place? Like how did they get to that point? Is that something that home? Well said when they began franchising? This is what we want to do, or has it developed over time, like Yeah, I think it's definitely developed over time. You know, home well, homos been through a transition, you know, 2018 we had a new new ownership come in. And I think what what Bruce, when he came in and he purchased the company really brought to the table were how to think about franchising as a franchisee not just a franchise or what support systems do we need, what type of resources can we bring to them to ensure their success? Now, we all know in franchising, you still got to go out there and do the work, that franchisors job is not to do the work for you but to give you every resource to help you be successful. And I think making sure those align when we talk about that in the franchise development side and talking candidates through the journey, making sure they understand But then showing them how we're going to support them to be successful those how those two came together. And I think Bruce and and our leadership team when they came in in 2018, and 2019, kind of reform the company to really that's the main focus outside of that. So it's been a nice transition. And I think that's now why you see our company going through this nice growth phase, because those are much more aligned than they ever were, you know, prior to 2018. That's really cool. And that also explains a lot of why out like entrepreneur, source and home well just mesh so well together, because you're focused on the franchisees journey and their success. And the coaches on our side are focused on their clients, like journey and their success. So it just pairs up so beautifully. What I find sometimes, is franchises. I mean, we all love our brand. And so it's really easy to get into all the like features and benefits. And, you know, I was, you know, like, how many toppings are on the pizza, or the brand of like cleaning stuff that we're using and these things, and that's great. But that doesn't speak to a candidate or to a client, like, wow, now I know, I'm going to be successful because of this laundry list of items. And so you guys, I do see that as like very actually quite forward thinking. While it's like it is something that maybe shouldn't be, but not everyone does it that way, like people lead with sometimes that features and benefits laundry list as opposed to here's your success and how you're gonna get there, which and I do think the important part of of when we talk about franchise development as a whole, right, I think especially working with with coaches, and people that are referring their relationship to you, I think one of the most things, important things we really talk about and we work on with our team is, listen, we want that person to have a great experience, right? We want them to learn whether they ended up purchasing a home well, franchise or not, is I will say is almost irrelevant. Because at the end of the day, they have a great franchising experience and educational experience with us. And they end up not making the decision to purchase a home. Well, we want them to go back to a te s coach, right and say, Thank you, that was awesome. But for whatever reason, it wasn't right for me, what else do you have? And I think that is something that is probably missed a lot in this space from a franchise development side, because we're so focused on, hey, listen, I got to sell so many territories, I got to do that. And from our perspective is it's more about how do we give them a great experience? And if they end up buying, that's awesome. But if they don't we want them to have that great experience, because there is a franchise probably out there that's right for them. At this time, maybe it's just not ours. And that's okay. And I think being okay with that is probably the hardest part for any salesperson, right? You, you, you have a number and yet you want to hit it, let's be honest, but at the end of the day, that's that's, that is not the goal, you know, because more times than not if we do the process and journey the right way, they're probably going to end up staying with us. But if they don't, that's okay, too. So, again, just thinking about it in a little bit of different context, I think is is important. And that's how we think about it here at home well, and how we're going to think about moving forward. And you mentioned in the beginning to were with home, well, you like that, like more out of the box thinking if you want to say it that way. And I think just hear you talk about the way that you approach, franchise development, franchisee success, and even looking at just franchising in general definitely speaks to that being out of the box. And it's not necessarily like we have the most out of the box technology. And we're doing all of these wild things. It's like, these components that are, you know, what it, you're not looking short term, you're looking long term. And I think that actually does set you apart from a lot of other brands who want that quick, like flash in the pan like, Yeah, so 100 territories, and then we're good to go. But that's not no and, and, you know, I mean, we're in the home, non medical home healthcare space, not everybody wakes up and says, I want to open up a non medical home care. I mean, that doesn't happen, right? I mean, and if you do send them our way, we'll be happy to take care of them. But But in all honesty, you know, the opportunity they have to a lot of the candidates that go through with us, they, they hadn't think about this, but then they they look at it and say, Hey, this is an awesome opportunity to provide for my family build a legacy, whatever their goals are, and are we able to match those and they end up finding out that Yeah, well, there's a lot of things that check the box with with home well versus, you know, some other concepts that maybe we're looking at. And I think in in doing that, you know, our goal is also to give them options, right. And so, I know you know, we had some great success last year with the zero franchise fee. And you know, something that says, hey, we're going to kind of put our money where our mouth is. And our support system is going to produce people that have great outcomes, right? So let's give people less reason to go somewhere else and give them options to, to buy into our system. We know that franchise fee scares a lot of people, it scared the heck out of me when I was looking at franchises, right? I mean, that's, that's a big check, too, right? No matter what the amount is up. So how do we give people options to feel comfortable to say, I know I can be successful. And as a brand, we know we can we can deliver on that success? Yeah, I think that is, I actually had forgotten that you guys do that. And that is a massive thing. Because in addition to I think, you know, when you're working with coaches, or whatever, a lot of times people are like, hey, we want to do an incentive, you know, we want to do these different things. But it's okay, what actually are you providing for the franchisee you don't like, that's actually the important thing there. And that will actually bring you get you're able to work with I feel like the ones who may be you're gonna find a great franchisee short term, okay, you're not getting the franchise fee. For long term, you're getting someone who get you're gonna get the royalties, you're gonna have them be successful, great validation, and you're able to bring them into the system. So that is really interesting. When did you guys put that into place? So we launched that July of last year, it did expire at the end of at the end of the year, and we will be bringing it back in a little bit of a different form, but very similar. And, and as soon as that is rolled out, we'll be be happy to announce that and everybody will know, but it's it is coming back. You know, as we revamp our FTD this year, but But yeah, it's been hugely successful. And again, it just gives people options. You know, that's, that's the goal, we find the right candidate that matches our criteria, and they we match theirs and vice versa. And it just gives them options to deploy their capital as they see fit versus how we think it should be used. No, that's very admirable. And and yeah, it's just as great. So and as you were talking, so I've many, many questions I wanted to just touch on, I always love hearing like stories. Because you are working every day with these people with these individuals. And yes, they move they move forward with home welfare, I'm sure many different reasons. But yeah, is there any kind of example or story that comes to mind of candidates who, again, didn't wake up saying I want an in home medical franchise? But through going through the journey, you saw them? Switch over? And so any examples of what that looked like? And and what was it about either the journey that you guys provided the experience or home well itself as a brand that really got them to say, Yep, I'm ready. Yeah, you know, I, we had a gentleman last year, I and I'll just use a personal story, because I worked with them. That, you know, when I think a lot of people think of homecare, there, there has to be a compassionate side to them. And so, you know, a lot of the people we talked to have have that compassion side, but they don't, they don't really under necessarily understand the business upside of it. Right, the opportunity. So I did work with a gentleman last year out of out of Virginia. And, and, you know, one of his, you know, our first calls was was, listen, you know, I'm working with this coach, I didn't really want to talk to you. But I'm trying to be open minded, like a very and not abrasive in any way, but very much like, this isn't what I want to do. But I'm going to do this anyway. And I think, you know, the approach that we try to take with everybody is, again, going back to, I want to give you a great experience, and at least show you the opportunity, because now you're going to have a better education at the end of the at the end of the journey. So, you know, we took them through, you know, I took them through that journey. And by the end, you know, he was like him and his wife, both were, you know, we this is the last place we thought we'd end up. But because because there was this, this one side of us that do want to give back to the community and want to help. And now we see that there's this business opportunity to really build something special for our children, they wanted to they want to build a business and they want to end up being a legacy business for their kids and build that asset. They saw that opportunity. And we were able to kind of show them that is there in this space. So you know, they ended up signing November, I think it is and there'll be opening here and in 23 and, you know, it's just one of those stories that again, a lot of people don't think of the space as something they want to do until they really start to understand the opportunity and so, so yeah, Was it was great, but it was it was definitely that first call is always, you know, Hey, I didn't want to talk to you. But I guess I'm here. So let's talk. So I love that intro for me. I love that that's the foot we're starting on persuade you over to my side. No. And I think too is that it's not it's not even the persuading, you know, if someone like let me make you make you fall in love with my brand. And let me like force feed you how great the brand is. It's a you know, just from our conversation today. And for what I know of you. Again, it's the experience. So the education at the end of it, you don't have to make a decision, you don't have to move forward with home well, or whatever your brand may be, right. I'm here to just help you learn about it. And oftentimes, to your point, they end up learning. Wow, I actually, yep, this is what I want to do. Which is just probably such a great conversation on the tail end to have when they're like, I never thought I'd be here. But I want to move forward with you guys. And you're like, I can love that we went from I don't really want to do this. Yes. Well, this is business isn't the shiny object. Right? There are a lot of great franchises out there that are new and up and coming that are kind of the next thing we hear about that all the time and into your point, kind of like what's the future? Like, right? I mean, there I think, you know, I reading the entrepreneur 500. You know, I have it on my desk, curios, browsing through that, and how many franchises are out there and not saying that that's a bad thing. But there's so many choices, how does a candidate narrow it down? Right, and I think helping them and where I think we work really well, with with you guys at Te ES is, you know, it's about the client, it's about the candidate and their journey. It's not about the destination, so to speak. And I think that's one of the things where we align really well is that mindset with it's about the candidate, it's about getting them in a spot to make a decision, whether it's buying a franchise or not, I think it's giving them clarity. And and that's the most important thing, as we work with people is how do we give them clarity on a decision, period, and whether that's good or bad for us, that should be the goal. And I again, this is why we do work so well together. Because I mean, we say 95% of our clients end up, if they do move forward with a business, it's in something they either never would have thought of, to your point, or they would have prematurely dismissed it on their own. And it was said, ya know, in home medical care, or dog training or whatever. I don't want to do that. And so that's why it works so well. Because coach is able to present something that hey, you know, this is gonna be a little left field, but I want you to keep an open mind. And then on your side, you kept an open mind, not just saying, okay, you don't want to talk to me, fine. I'll move on to someone who does. But you had an open mind as well to talk through that and say, Hey, I'm just, you know, it is about the education. And so that is, it's just so important on both sides. Yes. You can't make somebody sign a franchise agreement, right? Like, we've all had those, those candidates that get to the end, and they're like, Yeah, I'm gonna do it, and then you never hear from them again, right? So that's not the goal. If you make it that far, at least they have a great educational experience with you, right? And they might come back or they might not. But at the end of the day, we're not holding their feet to the fire saying if you don't sign a BMC I mean, that's just nobody does that. And hopefully nobody does that in in the franchising space, because that's not what it's about. It's scary. It's terrifying to sign on the dotted line and say, I'm going to be a business owner. It is so how do we how do we give them that great experience? So they're confident that they're going to be successful? And the theme really is something over a conversation and just, yeah, which I, you know, love all of it. It's more. It's like, how do you make franchising, business ownership, but specific to us franchising? Like, human? You don't I mean, because I think so many times in the past. It is kind of that sales mentality of like, let's sell, let's sell out territory. Let's just get franchise agreement signed, collect franchise fees, and then we move on. I do think that's what it has been. And so now even just our conversation, it's like, okay, how do you make franchising all about like, it's human, it's personable. It's a relationship. It's connectivity, a community. So to your point, the candidate you're talking to, like, connect with that, yeah. And see themselves doing that. So that's just kind of, you know, what I've gotten? Yeah, it's education. Right. I think it's education, education, education. And I think that really is the driver of everything that we need to do from a franchise development side is if we educate the person well enough, there'll be there'll be in a confident position to make a decision. That's it. And so the more content we can give them, the more more resources we can give them to help them learn through through that journey, I think helps them be better prepared, right to do that. And just like as you become a business owner, the more prepared you are, and the better your business plan and you're going to be more successful than just trying to fly by the seat of your pants. So we kind of take that same approach with with the front end as our owners and our business coaches do on the back end, right so that's where that's where it aligns aligns pretty well for us and and why we've had such great success over the last few years and excited about kind of where the future is going. Yeah. Yeah, love it. Awesome. Grant Cardone. 10 exit, let's go. Yeah, I think one of the things that has popped out to me over the last several years is this concept of passive franchise business ownership. You know, we talk about it a lot in this space, because I talked to a lot of candidates that are like, you know, is it semi absentee? Is it absentee and, and, I do believe that in any franchise model, or I will say the majority of franchise model, nothing is passive, you have to put effort in. And, and I think that that buzzword of semi absentee, or, Hey, we're going to just give us some money, and we're going to, we're going to run your franchise for you. I'm not saying it can't work, because there are several models out there that it has worked, and I give them a lot of credit for that, I think it's a lot harder to execute from the franchisor side than a lot of people realize. So I'm always very cautious that I see that as a trend, because I talked to a lot of of coaches and other others in the space that, that that's the hot thing, because people want that side hustle or that second income, right? That's a huge thing these days. And, and with business ownership, it always doesn't work out that well. You got to be careful. And I've I've learned through my personal experiences with with owning businesses, you have to be plugged into a degree, I think you can set up systems and processes where you can get there and we teach our owners, that's where we want them to get. But in the beginning, yeah, it's it's work, it's a business, you're investing, you know, hundreds of 1000s of dollars possibly into something, make sure it's going to be successful. So I think that's one thing to me, that's, that's, I would say a little bit scary about where things are going is just the concept of passive investments in franchising. But but you know, the excitement of it is you get to have those honest conversations. And I think once once you talk to those type of people, they they really understand that, hey, I, you know, I have to be active in some form or fashion to be successful. If you don't put it in the stock market and see what happens. I mean, I think that's kind of what I requested to write is, if you want to just invest it and not think about it, put it in the market. And good luck. Let's see what happens. So, you know, that's a trend that I'm hearing a lot lately and talking with coaches and others in the industry, that's a little bit disturbing to me. And I hope we're being honest with the candidates as they go through saying it's still a business, you still have to know what's going on. And be cautious of the ones that are telling you that just sit back and you're going to collect a check every month. I don't know it's a little scary to me. Yeah. Well, thank you for bringing that up. Because 100% It is. And I don't think we talk about it a lot because we just say okay, how can we make the business passive? Or how can we make it semi absentee as like, Okay, should we be doing that or back to your point education? And maybe someone gets educated and says, Okay, well, I Okay, then I will put in the work because investing in the stock market didn't really help me. Or whatever. At least last year didn't but no, it's it's kind of a toss up here, at least I can control my I can control to some extent and take ownership of the career part of it, as opposed to just throwing my investments wherever and hoping something, you know, the market changes or whatever it is. So anyways, and I don't wanna take away too much from from what you said, because you said it so well. So we of course, could chat like, yes, forever. Or too well. Awesome. I appreciate that. Yeah. So thank you so so much. It's been lovely. So again, my conduct with home health care services. Thanks, Melissa.