“We Treat Our Caregivers Like Gold”: How They Built a 170-Client Agency

In this episode, Paul and Joan sit down with Lori Dahan and Jeff Korentur, longtime home care owners in Florida whose business was built on one clear belief: caregivers are not an afterthought. They are the heart of the agency.

What followed was years of growth, hard lessons, and a caregiver-first culture that helped shape a lasting business. If you have ever wondered what it really looks like to build around the people delivering the care, this episode is worth your time.

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Your next big win starts here. Serve with heart, lead with faith, and remember… compassion is your calling, and wealth is your reward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Hello and welcome to the Home Care Millionaire Podcast, the show where compassion meets prosperity. I am Paul Timband. Alongside of you who have Joan here, we're honored to be your host. Together, John and I have built a home care agency from a little about a $12,000 credit card loan. Okay, some people call it a gambler at that time, who built into a built it into an eight-figure business serving thousands of families over the years. And now we're here to share the lessons, and the strategies, and the mindset shifts that help us together so that you can do it.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

We like this podcast because the home care industry is often misunderstood. Too many people don't see the sacrifices, owners and their caregivers make every single day, or the powerful impact agents have on our seniors and their communities. And truthfully, we looked around and realized there were not many podcasts out there shining a light on this industry. So it works hard to create the own care millionaire podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

This podcast is designed for the purpose-driven provider. For those of you who still all care, but also want to build a thriving business. Each week, we're going to share with you real life stories for strategies, a powerful mindset tips that will help you move from just surviving to thriving.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Absolutely. Compassion is your calling will eat your work. And here on the Wolfcase Millennium Podcast, we're going to show you how to operate.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

So get ready for inspiration, practical insight, and encouragement you need to impact lives, build wealth, and create a legacy through your agency. So hit subscribe, folks. Join us on this journey to transform your business, your mindset, and your future. Welcome, folks, to the Home Care Millionaire Podcast. These folks have been and have serving seniors in their communities for many, many, many years and doing it very well. You know, the folks we learn from, we lean on, we ask some questions, and we thought it'd be great to bring them on and just share with us how they do it. They operate out of Florida, which is uh a state that has zone challenges. It's different. We all have challenges, right? Jeffrey and uh and and Lori. But you guys have uh it's it's different down there. You operate differently from the way we do. We do a we're W-2, so all our folks are employees, but you guys are not. Your employees that your caregivers are not employees of yours, so that's a different take to this. And we're gonna have you share some of that with us. Joe, you wanna yeah?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So we are really excited to hear the the story, your journey, and the wisdom that you bring into home care. So let's get started.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Yes, without further ado, let's welcome Laurie and Jeff to the Home Care Military Podcast. Welcome, folks.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Thank you so much, Paul and Joan. It's wonderful to see you. We have seen you many, many years, maybe once or twice a year at conferences, but this is a little more intimate and uh is definitely, I think, a little bit more rewarding.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

That's right. We're really honored uh to be on with you and uh that you asked us. And uh, we're excited to uh to see where our conversation takes us. And if I can, just real quick, I've said to Lori for a long time uh that we're very fortunate, I think, to be in this industry uh and to provide these uh uh you know a bubble of care around folks that really need it. And we get to do well while doing good, right? Doing well, it's been financially and we get to do it by uh through providing services and really improving the quality of life for folks that uh you know need a little bit of extra help to stay at home and retain their dignity and their independence and their safety. Uh they don't want to go into a facility, they want to be in a familiar environment, and uh we've been doing it, we've been fortunate to be doing it for over 25 years now. And uh wow, where you go. Very excited. I'll I'll ask Lori, maybe if it's okay, to give a little bit of our origin story and uh how we got into the business.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

So, ironically, uh my mom started visiting angels down here in Southeast Florida. Uh, we service Palm Beach in Broward County. I I know you remember my mom well. Uh and she was a wonderful woman, great mom, great businesswoman, great friend.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Great mother-in-law. Yes, yes, I'll tell you what I really feel later.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

But uh ironically, today is the anniversary of her passing. She passed away through. So you know a little kiss from above is what kind of brought us together today. Um, and this really is uh a huge legacy to her and also to my grandmother, her mother, who kind of started the whole thing. Uh grandma Sylvia, uh early dementia, and uh really my grandfather had no idea how to handle much of anything other than being the patriarch of the family, uh, very you know, old school. He was the the patriarch, the breadwinner, and grandma was the social calendar and the the cook and bottle washer and rearing of the kids and great things. So she got ill and they tried to find some help, and they went through eight different home care companies in 14 weeks. And every Monday was a problem that seemed to get bigger and bigger as they went on to each company. Um, and uh, I can give you some details there, maybe later on, but it was pretty scary and pretty horrific. And so my mother and my grandfather butted heads, and he said to her, Well, if you could do it any better, do it yourself. And that was all she needed. The light bulb went off. Oh the internet was pretty young at that point, back in 1998, 1999, and she found a listing of home care franchises and started to call them. There weren't that many on the list, but it was alphabetical, and she didn't like what she heard until she got to V. V is her visit, and she spoke with uh the folks up in at the time they were up by you guys in the Baltimore area, I believe. Yes, Jeff and Larry. And uh a couple of weeks later they flew up. My grandfather and my mother flew up to meet with them. And then that was it. The the it was signed, seals, and delivered. Uh, mom came back to Florida and started um, you know, getting her licensure and figuring out how to make this business work. And I laugh at your comment about starting out with you know a $12,000 credit line on your credit card. Did exactly that. Did you really? And she was terrified to do it initially. And my grandfather said to her, You got to spend money to make money. And that's how she started. And thank goodness she did that because 26, almost 26 years later, um, we have a thriving business. Oh, yeah, you got it. Like Jeff said, we we do well by doing good. I've got an incredible team in the office of about 15 staff members in the office who have been with us. My my C my COO, chief operating officer, has been with us for 19 years.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

Whoa, whoa, way to go, Laura Jeff. Way to go.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

I've got an incredible staff. Um, and uh I joined my mom about three years in. She opened up in July of 2000. I joined her in 2003, I believe. Um if my memory serves me well. And it's been uh nonstop since. And it's a wonderful roller coaster of a ride.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

Wow, congrats, congrats. I know Jeff was on the way in. Congrats. That's a that's a that's a great story, I tell you. That is really, and I gotta tell you before I'm not gonna go in here. Your mom was a wonderful teacher to us. I gotta tell you, very loving, very caring, very funny. Yes, it was funny. I tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

We called her snar's girl. That was her name, right? Yes, girl. I mean, so many funny stories.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Yes, mom was awesome. May her soul rest in peace.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah, yes, thank you very much. Thank you. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Jeff, I know you wanted to win. Go, please go ahead, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah, so uh, what's really great about the culture that uh Phyllis, uh my late mother-in-law, brought to the company is uh obviously caring for the senior was the bedrock principle that she wanted to perfect, right? It's something that she did not see carried out well with any of these other uh companies that she had hired. But the thing that she thought would make a real difference, and it has and it continues, is what grounds our business, and I think what makes us so successful is that the caregiver for us is the main attraction.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

We treat the caregiver, we recognize the hard work that they do, sometimes, actually, quite often the thankless work that they do day in and day out to elevate these seniors and to really give them the best quality of life that is possible under their circumstances. And they do this, uh, it's it's very often a calling for them. Uh it's not just a job to get a paycheck. Uh, every once in a while we run into some of those, but really we we have a pretty thorough vetting process in order to find the right personality. Once we have the right personality, uh we know that they're going to give appropriately uh I'll say loving care. They act in place of uh of a child very often. And uh and we try to treat our the caregivers that work with us like gold.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

We make a big deal every year for their birthday. Uh God forbid they experience some hardship in their lives. We we we mourn with them, we cry with them as much as we celebrate with them. And even though Florida is an interesting state in that there are a couple of different models of delivery for home care, the one that we subscribe to or that we fall under, uh, is what's called a licensed nurse registry. And so the carriers that work with us are all by state statute independent contractors. So they work with us, not for us. And so we try to be their best partner every day. Uh and we do that by treating them with dignity and respect, by honoring the work that they do, and by really recognizing it and uh and letting them know how much we appreciate them. And at the end of the day, and I think you may agree with this, the clients we could have a client that calls us on a Monday and is no longer a client on Tuesday, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:33

That's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

And then we have clients that have been with us for over 10 years. Uh so uh so obviously it runs a gamut, but the caregivers are have been with us. We have caregivers that work with us since the day that Phyllis first opened her doors. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Congrats.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

And and thank you. And we think they come back because of the way we honor them and uh you know shower them with affection and respect. And I think all too often they don't get that respect from other uh company owners. That's true. And and uh it's a shame because they they earn it every day.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Yes, yes, yes. Couldn't agree more. I mean, you know, the work, like you say, I mean, you know you both of you said the work that they do. I mean, if it weren't for the caregivers, we wouldn't have a business, right? We wouldn't be able to serve these people, and and like you said before, it's about service first. I mean, that's that's a thing that really got us really interested. John wants to kind of weigh on.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Yeah, actually, we we believe in our office that a happy employee or a happy caregiver makes a happy client. And I know you know in the corporate world the client comes first, but we had a caregiver before we had a client. That's right. So to us, they are uh raving fans, they are uh brand ambassadors, they are our company, they are the face of the company. So you've invested well in them and it shows in your results, right? In your success.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

So wow, yeah, and you know, yeah, and it's it's interesting because uh, you know, it's it's about caring for I mean, we're in the caring business, aren't we? Well, how about caring for our own? That's right. Yeah, yeah. Well, folks, I was gonna ask you guys that I know that, and I know that um any business, and and Lori and Jeffrey, you guys started with mom two years into when she was in the business. I know that there's been ups and downs. Any business has that, right? I mean, you know, and I know you you guys have been tremendously successful, like I said before in the opening that we look up to you guys. You guys are our role models. I gotta I gotta say that. And don't I proud of me, you know, looking up to you guys because uh you gotta have some you know the lead people, right? And you know, so we look up to you guys tremendously. And what has it been? I know that you have a lot of successes along, but I know you've got some challenges too. I mean, how has it been? Have you been able to navigate some of those challenges? And then we'll talk later about some successes as well. You want to go down that road with us?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

What do you think are largest uh challenges?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

I think the biggest challenge for us came about in 2013. Okay. Uh so in 2013, some of the federal laws changed uh about the companionship services exemption, right? And so just for anyone that's unfamiliar with the the companionship services exemption or the CSE, as we call it in the biz, yeah. Uh it it so there was a law that was passed by Congress that said uh for anyone working in the home that was providing care to a senior or someone that needed care. So it could be someone that had physical uh disabilities that wasn't necessarily a senior, for example, uh, that they would be exempted from certain uh Fair Labor Standards Act protections so that they could give consistent care to their charge, right? To the individual that they're caring for. Correct. And so that they could uh be uh effectively a member of the household.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Um so uh there was uh an executive decision in 2013 that effectively overturned that law. Not really sure how that all happened, but it it's you know it's fairly complex. And uh and it changed it so that that uh that CSE was done away with. And that made things quite challenging for people uh most for seniors that we service in Florida who needed significant amounts of care, but who were unable, for example, to afford overtime pay. I'll I'll use that as the easiest example. So we used to have fairly uh frequently we would have a client that would need around the clock care. So 168 hours per week. There are 168 hours in a week. So and so very often a caregiver would say, you know what, this is not moving pianos and digging ditches, right? Uh a reasonable portion of a caregiver's day is uh waiting to do something else, right? They do hard work and uh they do loving work, and I don't want to denigrate a new way the work that they do, but some of it is sitting there waiting to do the next thing. And so a lot of caregivers that we worked with asked for a 12-hour shift, similar to what nurses do, except they're on their feet all the whole time for 12 hours.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

So they they really are cranky in any case. Uh, so a caregiver may choose to work five or six. We had some that chose to work seven days a week because they became part of the family. It wasn't really work, it was where they went and where they felt comfortable. They often had their own room or their own um, you know, their own chair, you know, their own space, and they had their own food. And and it was really quite uh inviting. Well, and it was excellent for the care recipients because they had one or two, or perhaps a third caregiver. Uh and so they didn't have a uh you know, a rotating door, revolving door of people coming through their house and have to teach each new person exactly how I like my oatmeal and whatever else.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

But with the uncertainty of the the new uh repeal of these companionship services exemption and at the time concerns over the independent contractor versus employee scenario, yeah, uh there were a lot of clients who were getting very heavy hours for a week, over 40 hours by multiple caregivers, by single or two caregivers, now had to, because they couldn't afford the overtime, now had to knock down each person's, each caregiver's uh weekly hours, no more than 40. So for example, a dementia patient who was previously getting, you know, having two or three caregivers in the house for 168 hours, you now had to have six caregivers in there because they in order to make up uh for not paying the overtime. And so for a dementia uh uh patient, that's very, very disconcerting. They're they're having a hard time remembering, you know, the one or two people, and now they're they're faced with the revolving door of potentially six caregivers in a given week. Um, and so that was probably our largest struggle, I think, over the last 10 years or so. Uh actually more than that now, 15 years. We're old. We're getting old again. Um COVID was probably the second difficulty I can remember getting that first phone call that a client of ours uh was tested positive, and we literally had uh big poster boards on a conference room table trying to trace the contact of which caregiver was exposed to that point and where else did they go? And it it was quite uh challenging getting through that. But fortunately, um we we we figured out a good process and moving forward it it worked well for us. Um that was probably the second one.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Those are probably the two biggest challenges that that we faced in the past 15, let's call it 15 years, right? Now, in the first 10 years, there was normal growing thing. Uh oh, you know, I forgot to file this paperwork with uh the IRS. So let's not say that. We never did that. That is an example.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

That's right, that's right. We all go through that. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Um running the business the first 10 years, trying to uh, you know, the name visiting angels when we first started in 2000 was not nationally known. Uh and so it was a bit of a challenge with referral sources. Now, fortunately, our and I'm sure you feel the same thing. Visiting angels, the name uh name recognition is incredible throughout the country. I walk into the supermarket at the end of a business day with my name badge on, and someone will see the logo and start singing the jingle. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Um, I mean, that's just a wonderful feeling to know that that we are so recognized. And and there's lots of uh there were some memes out there um in the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Uh even in the presidential election in the main cycle, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:29

And and uh not to endorse uh one candidate or the other, but but visiting angels did come up and uh and I've actually heard it also on uh uh call-in radio shows where uh the daughter, the adult daughter will call in and and mention that she's taking care of she's in the sandwich generation, right? She's taking care of the parents and she's taking care of her children. And uh the woman who runs that radio show said, Well, why don't you call visiting angels? I was shocked. I was driving at the time listening to the radio, and I I almost you know stopped short, thinking, uh, wow, that was some great publicity. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

Yes, yeah. And and I gotta say this, uh Lori and Jeff, that it's testament to the work we do, the work you guys do, right? The work that all of us in you know across the nation do. I mean, you know, we do great work and uh folks are attracted to that. Because as you guys said before, you know, folks don't get the loving, the love and caring that we really, you know, practice in our various offices. I mean, and because it's about service first, it's about caring first. I think once you carry that, and I again, I mean, that's what we've experienced. I'm sure you've experienced that in your in your offices, is that when you when you put that service first, you know, because one of the questions I gotta tell you, one of the questions when we were purchasing our franchise years ago, and that we asked Jeffrey, after I think we're purchased and we asked Jeffrey afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

We went to the uh open house.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

Oh, okay. Was it that what it was? I'll let you why don't you let you?

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Yeah, so we went to the open house and we were like, okay, are we really ready for this? Are we gonna do this?

SPEAKER_04 22:05

Because back then, just so back then, Jeffrey and uh Jeff and uh and Lori, we had corporate jobs.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Well, yeah, corporate we we felt we had a right for the company, okay?

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Uh corporate jobs. So we were we thought we're doing pretty well. So Joe was like, Well, Joe was like, Well, Jeffrey, we do this because I mean we started out. I don't know about you guys down in Florida, we started out, we were getting paying our rates to clients were eleven dollars something now, eleven dollars twenty-five cents. That's what we're charging the client, okay? And then you know, so uh you know, paying the cab maybe eight, something like that. So the margin wasn't too too, it wasn't huge at all. That's how we started, you know. And remember, we had borrowed money to to start this. Yeah, I mean, yeah. So so it was so john was like, well, uh, you know, and we had what two three kids under the age of five or whatever it was, under the age of seven, you know. So we're it was it was a struggle. Joan had a day job, I had a day job. So John was like, Jeffrey, are we gonna really be able to make money doing this? It was the question. I mean, you know, so you know, Jeff, well, you said Paul and Joan just provide a service, just do a good job, and the money will come. If you do a good job, the money will come. Jeff and Lori, that has not that has never we haven't straight from that. It's about service first. It's about doing it. So interesting that you say that.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

When I was also in the corporate world, so is Jeff. Uh, Jeff actually has uh been back and forth into the company over 20 years or so based on his own career, you know, outside of home care. I came from uh 18 years of corporate world uh finance operations. There you go. And um, I actually came in to help my mom with an Excel spreadsheet. Oh, and that was it. Uh, she actually we have a recording saying something to the fact that Lori came to dinner and never left. And that was the story. I truly did. She asked me to come in to help her with an Excel spreadsheet. I was working for uh a large uh telecommunications company at the time, and I came in on my day off and was helping her, and and the phones were ringing. She only had, I think, one or two employees, and the phone kept ringing. And I'm like, Oh gosh, I gotta answer the phone. That's right. And the only thing I knew about her business was the kitchen, the name and kitchen table talk at you know, the dinners that we would have. And I answered the phone because you know, you got to answer the phone. And a woman looking for services for her mom who was ill. And um, I must have spent about 10 or 15 minutes on the phone. I got an appointment with the lady to come out and meet with her her mom. And when I hung up the phone, my mom was standing in the doorway of the office I was sitting in, and she was clapping.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

I could just see her. I could see her.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

She basically put it out there like, You are meant to do this, you know, you should consider it. And and ironically, you know, the way things work out, I think that they're kind of come from above. That's right. Um, I ended up leaving that big telecommunications company. Uh, there was some merger activity going on, and I raised my hands and I said, Uh uh, I'll I'll get out. There you go. Um, and then I came and started working for mom and uh learned the business really from the ground up. When we started, there were I was maybe the fourth employee in, and now we've got 15. I can remember at the time we had about 38 clients, right? Was that the number?

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Right, right. And it never seemed to change.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

We would get three clients in a week and we'd be so excited, and three would pass off.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

One step forward, two steps back.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

So looking back, you know, 25, 26 years later, where we have, oh gosh, I would say at any given time about 170 clients perhaps out there. Um, we've got 400 caregivers on registry.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Wow, wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Um, and and you know, they come back and forth. You know, there's there's lots of home care companies here in the state of Florida. Uh, we are licensed by the agency for healthcare administration up in Tallahassee. Uh we are licensed, as Jeff mentioned earlier, a nurse registry. Uh, and there's also a home health agency, uh, which is employee-based versus uh a nurse registry, which is which is independent contractor based. Okay. Um and uh all good.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. I was just gonna add on go ahead, Jeff. Go ahead, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

The bottom line is taking care of the folks that you know, providing the care services to the folks that need it. And we're all in that same uh, you know, we're all pulling the rope in that same. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

I never thought, never ever thought that I would come into this business. Um, you know, I was big corporate America. Uh never really thought of dealing in this type of work. And I will tell you, probably within the first three months that I was working with my mom, we had a client, I'll just say her name is Lillian.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Who we got a call from the daughter who was up north in New York. Uh mom had just come out of the hospital with a uh heart valve transplant and needed some care. So we found a wonderful caregiver for her. And Lillian used to uh like to come to my house on Sundays. I too, Joan. I had four kids under the age of 10 as I was raising. So I certainly know what it means to be uh have a circus at home. And Lillian used to come with me to my house on Sundays and would sit in the backyard while the kids would swim in the pool and laughing and splashing, and it brought her so much joy to sit on the Shays Lounge with me and listen to the kids. We would read People magazine developed such a beautiful relationship, and I'll tell you that caregiver made this woman who, when she came home from the hospital at you know, 85 pounds soaking wet and miserable, she was very unhappy, not very kind.

SPEAKER_03 27:57

She was ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

She was well, and uh this caregiver within a few weeks had her up and about so much so that she ended up volunteering at a local museum one half day a week. And she looked she went back to the beauty parlor and right, got her hair done, and really um, and I saw that change that a caregiver can make in in somebody's life, more specifically at the at the end of someone's life. Um, and it brought so much joy to me. And I said, wow, if we can do this for other people and and and make a living at it, my gosh, this is the best industry we could ever ask for.

unknown 28:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Wow, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

And that's the difference we make, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:42

That's the difference we make.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

And you know, I'll I'll just say real quick, I'll I'll uh toot my own horn for a second. Of course Lori's background was in the corporate world. Uh, I was in the military.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

And okay, well, thank you for your service, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Thank you for the service. Thanks. I know I had a I had too fun of a career to be thanked. Uh, but uh I was a helicopter pilot and I wound up doing some uh some other work anyway. Um but what what a common theme that I found for folks that were uh career military is that they had something that I refer to as a servant's heart. Uh so a servant's heart and is something that I find I've brought forward into this industry as well. And it's it's not a a uh a term of denigration in any way, it's a term of uh enlightenment, recognizing that uh you can do for others. And in a very selfish way, it was quite fulfilling for me. So whether I was in the military and uh serving my fellow soldiers uh or here in our industry and serving both our caregiver population and our client population and our employees, obviously, uh our day from the time we wake up till the time we go to sleep is what can we do for them? And because that is part of who we are and what we do, it shines through, and I think that has brought us uh a measure of success um that we're willing to work with and for people uh to help them achieve uh the you know the ends that that they want. Well said. Wow. We should get married.

SPEAKER_04 30:32

Wow. So you said it all, dev. You said it all. You said it all. I mean, you know, you you said it all. It's about service, it's about service, putting putting putting others first. I mean, you know, because that's I mean that's and you know, and I gotta tell you, you know, I mean, um, I came into the industry the same way. I did not believe in it, you know. I mean, I was for server, I wanted to serve, but I did not believe that it could really morph it to what it's become, you know. But to your point, Jeff and Laura, you've said the same thing. We just go ahead and decide to just serve, you know, be a servant leader, as it were, right? I mean, try to look out for these people out there because the work we do is so important. I mean, you know, you guys employ north of 400 caregivers. Hey, you're putting food on these people's family's tables, you're serving north of 200 clients, they're being kept because of what you guys do, where mom started and what you guys are doing today. I mean, it's pretty amazing when you put it like that. Yeah, seriously. I mean, we're making a difference. Go ahead, Dave.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah, it's not lost on me. Uh, as uh, you know, we just closed out uh 2025, and as we uh, you know, review the numbers from the previous year and set forecasts and budgets for the following year, which she does. She's the finance.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

But as we look at the millions of dollars that go back into the community through us, um it is a significant point of pride. Uh, sure, we do we do okay, right? We're uh you know, we're we're very happy and proud of the business that Lori has built, and I have just uh hung on to. But uh, but the reality is that we have elevated lots of folks, and uh we provide uh a necessary service, important service, and um you know our demographics here in Palm Beach and Broward counties are pretty optimal for our industry, right? We have a significant senior population, we have a significant caregiver population. We are just we're very fortunate. Um, the challenge, one of the biggest challenges that we face, however, is that how many nurse registries are there in our county?

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Uh I don't know about in our county. In the state of Florida, there's just over 1,300 nurse registries, with the majority of them being in the what we call the Tri-County, South Florida area. So Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County. Um, and that's not to include the home health care agencies, who there's lots of them as well. In fact, in our building, we are on the first floor of a six or seven uh story building. When we first moved in, there were six home care companies in the building.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Just in the building. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Talk about competition. It's uh what we've seen lately is a lot of private equity firms coming in. I don't know if you've seen that in your area. Um, and so at first it was a little nerve-wracking thinking, wow, they're coming in, they've got tons of cash. And uh, but I I I am not so afraid of them anymore. I think that uh this is a very intimate industry, it's very personal, and I think that it needs to um be given the qualities of uh that of that nature. Um it's not just about money.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

100%, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

It's about making sure that it's a right match with the caregiver and the client, making sure that uh everyone, all caregivers are thoroughly vetted and trained, and um, and that clients uh as best as they can uh treat the caregiver with respect.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

Yes, yes, yes. No, I agree 100%.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Yeah, we have actually uh we've fired um, I'd say over 25 years, maybe a handful of clients who we felt didn't work with our philosophy and culture.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

They weren't they weren't uh kind to the caregivers, and we told them you have you have many, many other options, go find them.

SPEAKER_04 34:47

That's right, that's right, that's right. Let me just thank you, thank you guys. This has been awesome. This is awesome. Jeff, Jeff and Lori. I mean, uh just to close us out, you know, we've taken so much of your time today. What key pieces of advice would you say you want to you know put out there for folks who are uh looking to start this business or who already know existing home care owners who are looking to scale the business? What what pieces of nuggets, say two or three would you want to share with our audience the other day?

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Okay. You want to go first?

SPEAKER_00 35:17

No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

You can all right. Uh you have to come into it for the right reasons. We have seen folks in our area that have come to us and asked questions about startups uh starting this type of company. And they think, especially here in South Florida, because of the demographics here, uh all I have to do is file the paperwork with the state, and then I should go find a private wealth manager because the money bags have to dodge the money bags all down to the sky so I don't get a concussion, right? That's right. Um, so well, that's not the case. It's a lot of hard work, it's a lot of nights and weekends. That's something that nobody really thinks about, right? It's a lot of being responsive to not only the clients and the caregivers, but the family members that are worried about uh their loved ones and are listen, when they call us, and you probably experience this as well, it's the first time, very often, most often, it's the first time that they've ever been in this circumstance like this. They don't even know what questions to ask. And you have uh someone that's looking to come into the business, and they think that that all just handles itself, and it doesn't. So the business is it's a one can achieve great success in this industry, but you have to come to it from a very uh grounded and rational point of view and perspective. Um, you have to be willing to sacrifice your nights and weekends. And unfortunately, we had four little kids, um, you know, that that uh sometimes we missed a hockey game, and some, you know, not not often. I go to the hockey.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Right. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

But that's probably the biggest uh challenge and the biggest piece of advice I would say is it's like any other business, it's going to take way more effort than you ever contemplated. But if you stick with it and persevere, you can achieve great success. Awesome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

The only thing I would add to that is it is a balancing act. Yes, we are in this with heart and soul and wanting to take care of people. Um, but it is also a business.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

And business comes down to the numbers, and so you've got to pay attention to the numbers uh just as much as you're paying attention to the Lillians of the business. That's right, that's right, that's right. And I think some people uh stick to what they know best, which is wonderful, but then find the professional who can come work with you who can handle those other things. So if you're not great at marketing, get a good marketer. Uh, if you're not good at finance and accounting, find yourself a really good uh finance person. Um that's that's I think the the toughest thing uh was to balance things.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Thank you for such wonderful nuggets. You know, coming with the right mindset and get the help where you need it, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_04 38:21

That's right. And also that it's a process. Go ahead, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Can I add one more thing? Please, please, Jeff, please. Work with your spouse. So Lori and I are very fortunate that uh we uh we like each other and we love each other, that's right, and we are a couple that can handle being around each other most of the day every day, or at least I can handle it. Sometimes she gets annoyed with me.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

The joke is he works for me at the office and he works for me at home.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

Hey, listen, you and I this we're the same boat here, so you know right. I hear you, my brother. Same thing.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

That you know, it's interesting that you bring that up, and then I'll kind of wrap this up. It was it was challenging with when I worked with my mom. The mother-daughter thing is not easy, as much as we respected and loved each other, and it's similar with with a spouse, you know, we love and respect each other, uh, but it is uh it takes a little bit to kind of get that groove going in working with with your family member or your spouse. Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

It does one amazing lady called Padre, whom they know, they all know she said, stay in your lane, stay in your lane. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

She was my absolute amazing mentor. Uh when mom was still here, and she would get the phone calls from my mom, and she'd get the phone calls from me, and she really helped mediate a lot of this.

SPEAKER_04 39:42

There you go, there you go. Wow, thank you also, Lori and Jeff. Thank you again so much. Our pleasure to be and share. And uh, so we can't thank you enough, really. We can't thank enough. We're the wisdom you've shared with us here today. I know our audience is gonna benefit from this. And we just we just thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Our pleasure.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Thank you for having us. We'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

We'll see you soon. Bye-bye now. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us today on the Home Care Millionaire Podcast. We hope you found inspiration, encouragement, and practical tools you can apply right away in your own journey. I'm actually simple, folks, to shine a light on the incredible impact that home care owners and their caregivers make every single day. And to give you the mindset, strategies, and faithful wisdom to build both purpose and prosperity.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Because here's what we believe. Compassion is your calling, wealth is your reward. If this episode spoke to you, I would love for you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you like more resources or have questions for Paul and I, just head over to askjune and call.com. We'll be honored to connect with you there.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

Until next time, folks. Remember, you have what it takes to build wealth, create freedom, and live a legacy through your agency. We're here carrying you on every step of the way. Bye for now.