The “No-Show” and “Drive-By” Reality in Home Care

Before Dean Longo ever owned a home care agency, he was on the other side of it, managing home care companies as a director at a major health insurance firm and watching the same problems repeat themselves.

In this episode, Paul and Joan sit down with Dean, a retired Air Force officer and Visiting Angels owner in Virginia, to hear how those frustrations, combined with two personal losses, put him on a path to build something better.

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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_01 0:06

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

SPEAKER_00 0:42

We launched 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 agencies have on 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 we felt called to create the Home Care Millionaire Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

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

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Absolutely. And here on the Home Care Millionaire Podcast, we're going to show you how to embrace both.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

So get ready for inspiration, practical insights, 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. June and I are so excited today to welcome a good friend, a fellow home care agency owner who serves a lot of people, a lot of people, he's done a lot of work, and he's also served our country, our great country nation in the services. And his name is Dean Longo. Let me just say a few things about Dean. I'm going to read Dean's bio here because it's quite impressive. Dean is the owner of the Visiting Angels Home Care Company serving Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, Virginia, where he leads efforts to provide compassionate, high-quality care that helps seniors and others remain safely and independently at home. His company has been identified as the best home care company for numerous years by media outlets over the past six and seven years. Over the course of his career, Dean has held senior leadership roles in Fortune 300 and Fortune 500 organizations, overseeing major healthcare, communications, government relations, and operational initiatives. His background includes leading multi-billion dollar managed healthcare implementations, turning around a high-risk Department of Veterans Affairs technology program, and directing high-level communications with Congress, federal agencies, and senior defense department leaders. Dean was a distinguished Air Force officer. Thank you for your service, Dean. He commanded a reconnaissance unit and he advised top national security officials, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense, on emerging technologies, military operations, and global crisis. Finally, he was also a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from the third Virginia's 3rd District. Well, we need you out there, Dean. We really do. Dean brings only a bunch more voters without the same. Yeah. Well, listen, we're voting for you. Dean brings a unique blend of executive leadership, public policy experience, and service-driven purpose to his current role serving seniors. Wow, wow, what is impressive.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Very, very, very impressive. We are so excited, Dean, to have you. And of course, our second polyester is saying thank you so much for serving our beautiful nation, the United States of America. Um, thank you. We salute you. We are so excited to hear your story today. Man, with such a strong background, you know, you must have some nuggets of wisdom to share with our audience. So, welcome again to the Home Care Millionaire podcast. And we'll take it from here, Paul.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Yes, thank you. Thank you, thank you both. Uh, thank you for your support. Uh, thank you for that wonderful introduction. Uh, I need my kids to be able to hear that someday.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

That's right. Well deserved, I might add. So, how did, with all your backgrounds, Joan alluded to, how did you get into home care? What brought you to this industry?

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Many years. Right? I uh, you know, I I would never in a million years had guessed that I would be doing this. Um you know, I I I flew airplanes, you know, I flew reconnaissance, I was in the military. Yes, you know, all of that. I I never had a thought about doing doing home care.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Um, but uh my my last duty station um was down here in the Hampton Roads area at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton. Okay. And at the time I was a single dad.

unknown 5:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

I had a uh seven-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy. Oh and my tour duty was up, and I was gonna get reassigned. And I knew if I got reassigned, I was gonna go back to flying. It was 2004, 2005 time frame. So the Iraq war, Afghanistan was kicking off. And I knew I was gonna be deploying a lot, months at a time. And I and I looked at my my daughter and my son, and I sat back and I thought, you know, I I just need to be a dad. I mean, I really just need to be a dad. Because they had really didn't have anybody else at the time. It was me. Yeah, so I couldn't be leaving for months. I mean, you know, even if I found friends, which I would have, you know, if I found friends that would have taken them while I was deployed, you know, I they still needed, they still, I still needed to be a dad. That's right. So I I decided to retire. I'd been in for 20 years, so I retired. And when I retired, I I wanted to do something different. You know, I've been I've been in the Air Force for I've been flying airplanes 20 years. I mean, my dad was in the Navy, so I'm I'm a military brat for crying out loud. Yeah. Yeah. All my life has been centered around military bases. Wow. So I just wanted to see what the real world was like, maybe once in my life, right? Get away from the military and bases and get into the real world. So I I ended up by uh working at Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance. Okay, yes, yes, yes. And while I was there, I I had a had a couple of roles. I was uh director of beneficiary relations and I was also uh director for new programs. And you know, when I was a director for new programs, my job was to put together all the new health plans for Anthem beneficiaries. You know, so we would have a health plan that we could offer our different sets of beneficiaries, and they and each plan would work for their needs. So we would put that all together. It would take like a year, year and a half, had about 100, 150 people working underneath me. And and one of the teams that worked underneath me was our provider relations team. And what they would do is they'd go throughout the state. We did state to state, you know, so they would go throughout the state and they would find providers to put them on contract to Antho. So we would have uh a network of providers we could refer our uh our beneficiaries to. And I, you know, I don't know how much you know about health insurance plans. You know, some plans you have to stay in network. Correct. Some you can go out of network, but there's higher co-pays, higher deductibles. Yeah. Well, that's what they would do. They would put together the network. So we would have these providers that we could uh refer our uh our beneficiaries to, and it would work. And it and it wasn't just primary care physicians, it was any type of specialty that people would need. So we had oncology, we had radiology, we had orthopedics, you know, we had pediatrics, we had geriatrics, we had hospitals in our network, we had hospice in our network, we had uh home health, we had rehab centers, and we had home care in our network. Okay, and we never really had any issues with any of the providers in our network except for the home care companies.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Okay, we would have constant, constant complaints about the home care companies. And I never got it. I mean, I never understood it. I mean, I'm an Air Force guy, I'm a program manager sitting in an office down here in Virginia Beach, trying to manage. I had no, I really, I honestly had no idea what home care even was. Well, you know, I knew I knew what you know radiology was, I had no idea what home care was. Yeah, but it was really frustrating because we had to put together all these programs and all these processes to be able to manage the home care companies. Because either the caregiver wouldn't show up, okay, but we'd get billed, you know, for eight hours of care. Oh boy. Or if the caregiver showed up, you know what she'd do? She'd she'd knock on the door, and and Mrs. Jones, you know, the client would open the door and the caregiver would say, Hi, Mrs. Jones, I'm your caregiver today. And and Mrs. Jones would say, Oh, come on in. And the caregiver would say, No, no, thank you. I'm just here to make sure you're okay. Here's my phone number. If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll come back and just take care of whatever you need at the time. And she oh yeah. Oh yeah. This would happen, Paul and Joan. This this would happen so often. We actually had nicknames for oh man. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, first was the first was the no show, right? Everybody's heard that. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, the second where she would knock on the door, and you know, that that was the drive-by. And and I wasn't the only director there because you know, we covered the whole United States. There was like four or five of us, and and and we would compare notes about how many uh no shows we had, about how many drive-bys were going on. If the caregiver stayed, you know what they would do? No, they'd pick up their phone and go, uh oh, Mrs. Jones, what's your Wi-Fi password? Oh no, yep, and they'd play on their phone, talk to their friends, watch TV. Uh oh, look at the time. Wow, I gotta leave and not do anything. And now you know, we weren't yeah, oh yeah, of course. And you know, we weren't getting the care, but we were paying for this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

That's right, that's right. You were, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

So we so we had to put together all of these programs, like I said, to try and manage the home care companies to get some level of quality out of them. And like I said, it was really frustrating for me because A, it was extra work, and and I'm not an extra work kind of guy if I don't have. I'm especially not an extra work guy if somebody else is putting it on me. Um and and B, like I said, I really didn't even know what was going on in home care. I mean, I just didn't know what they do. Well, in the middle of all that, my mom had been battling breast cancer.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Twice we thought she beat it. Third time we weren't so lucky. She took a pretty bad downturn.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

And my boss said Anthem told me, Go home, take care of your mom. Take your laptop, take your phone, yeah, work from home. From home, yeah. Yeah. So I took my laptop, took my phone, met my mom in the hospital. She got discharged into hospice shortly after that, and uh and she passed away soon after.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Oh, may I so rest in peace? Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Um, so I go back to Anthem, and this will tell you how little I knew about home care, right? So I go back to Anthem, and uh one of the other directors looks at me and he says, So what was it like being a caregiver?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

And and I looked at him and I said, What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

And he said, What was it like being a caregiver? And I said, Well, I mean, how would I know? When was I ever a caregiver?

SPEAKER_02 12:38

That's right, that's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

No, no, you were one. Yeah. And he said, Well, did you go home and take care of your mom? I said, Yeah. Well, you were a caregiver. That's a caregiver. That's what the caregivers are doing. That's what these people are supposed to be doing in the home. Oh, it goes off over my head. He says, That's home care. Wow, wow. So, you know, it helped me manage those home care companies a little bit better because I had a better understanding of what was going on now. Now I had a picture in my head of this is what home care is, right? So, anyway, um, I neglected to mention to both of you. In the interim, I had met a beautiful woman from down here in in Chesapeake. Oh, right. And we got married. So, you know, second married. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, thank you. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, it's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. But uh, so about a year after my mom passes away, um, my mother-in-law was uh battling bone cancer. So my wife and I are down there visiting her one day. Uh, my mother-in-law gets up to go to the bathroom, my wife gets up to go to help her, but when my wife gets to her, my mother-in-law falls. Oh we couldn't get her up without hurting her. So we had to call 911, EMS comes, took her to the local hospital. They discharged her in the hospice four days later and she passed away two weeks after.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Oh yeah.

unknown 13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

And while I was down there, well, let me back up. So, and and while this was happening, my boss at Anthem told me once again, you know, take your laptop, take your phone, work from home, take care of your mother-in-law. That's right. I mean, she was wonderful. My boss was absolutely, you know, I still talk to this day. I tell her that I tell this story at orientation all the time. Wow. So I want the caregivers to understand why we're doing what we're doing. Yeah, so this is the beginning of our orientation. Um, and I tell it all. So I tell my boss, you know, I you know, I tell your story every week. Wow, wow. But anyway, so uh um my boss tells me go take care of my mother-in-law. So so I'm down in my mother-in-law's house and and and my wife's down there, we're in her, we're in the living room. I'm in I'm in one couch, and my wife's in another couch on the other side, and my mother-in-law's in a hospital bed behind us. And and and you know, I would tell you that that that we were the caregivers, but it was my wife, you know. I I I just rooted her on really well, you know. You're doing great, babe. You're doing great, you know. And she'd look emotional support. She'd say, shut up, get me a towel. And I'm saying, but you're doing great. She'd get me a towel. I don't know where the towels are, just they're in the closet. Okay, I'll get it for you. Uh but you know, when I went into this, at least I understood that this was home care. So I went in with my eyes open. I was paying a lot closer attention to the details, you know, what my wife was doing, what I was doing, what my mother-in-law was reacting, how it all worked. So when I went back to Anthem again, I would have a much better and deeper understanding about how home care is supposed to work. So I did that. I did that. Um, went back to Anthem and it helped me manage the home care companies once again. Yes, yes. Well, um, make a long story longer. Um, about a year, about a year after that, um, I'm a spiritual guy. I I felt God lay it on my heart. He said, Take take the lessons you've learned, take the resources you've been given, and go help people. So we took we took the money that my mom left for me. Oh, we took the money that my mother-in-law left for my wife, which she reminds me quite often. She owns half of this too. That's right. That's right. We put it together and we decided we were gonna start our home care company, and and we were gonna do it right. You know, we were gonna provide the highest quality care we possibly could, be as reliable as we possibly could with the highest quality caregivers we we possibly could. And and and and here's what we tell everybody here's basically our motto, right? And we treat everybody like it's our mom and dad.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

There you go. That's what this is about. You know, you ask all our caregivers, they'll tell you. Yep, treat everybody like it's your own mom and dad. Um, and and that's how we go. You know, I mean, this is my mom's legacy, this is my mother-in-law's legacy, it's their money, you know, so it's a path I felt God put me on. So, I mean, we've got to do it, we have to do it right. Wow, wow. So that's how I got from airplanes to home care. Wow, wow, wow. Yeah, who to know. It was funny, yeah. Yeah, it's that's funny the path God put you on.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

No, no, no, exactly. And uh, and thank you, Dean, for sharing it. And like you said, I think the most important thing is the fact you listen to that calling from God, you know, you didn't listen to it because a lot of us don't some some people don't, you know, but you listen to it and uh and you follow it through and uh see how blessed, see how much you've been a blessing to others.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

Oh, absolutely, and we use that with everything we do, you know. I mean, we keep that in the back of our mind. This is something that you know, the path that God has put us on. So we have to do it right. We have to treat our clients right, we have to treat our caregivers right, we have to do business right. I mean, we have to do it right. You know, it's it's not about the money. Um, if we're doing it right, the money will be there. If we're doing it for the money, and you guys know this, there's a lot easier ways. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Oh yes, yes, yeah. This is a hard business sometimes. Yeah, it is, it is. And you know, you know, I was gonna add two things on there coming from uh a family of service. You know, this is service. You used to serving the our country, our great nation. Now you're serving individuals in their time of need, right? I mean, that's isn't that I mean, that's that's really that that's something we said about what we do because we tell a lot of our folks the same thing. Say, when you come want to come in here, come here with the with the with the interest of wanting to serve. Matter of fact, if I could segue back to when we started, you know, back then it was it was Larry and Jeffrey who owned the company back then. And Jeffrey, the partner, well, because we're living our corporate jobs to do this, right? And uh, of course, we want to be able to feed our families at that point. And so John asked Jeffrey, so Jeffrey, can we really make some money doing this? And Jeffrey's question, which is what you kind of said alluded to, his answer was just do the work. If you do the good work, the money will come. And let me tell you then, dude, after what you just said, that hasn't been that's the honest truth. That's where it's worked out for us. We don't worry, we just go out and just serve people, you know. If you do the good work, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

And it's good work, and it's good.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, you know, are you making a difference?

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Yeah, and you get to see that a lot. You know, when I was in the military, you know, when I worked at the Pentagon and I worked for the chairman and the secretary of defense and all that, I mean, I was in the middle of stuff that you wouldn't even imagine, but I was in the middle of it. I wouldn't start it, I wouldn't end it. I would just put it all together, get it to them, and then they would make a decision, it would go to somebody that might have to move on to something else. So I never really got to see the the well, the the final result. I was never really there. I mean, I could watch it on the news and all that stuff, right? But I was never there. It was always somebody else who kind of was there to do it. You know, with this, with this, you know, I'm I'm standing right there, you know, I'm standing next to the hospital bed with somebody who's in hospice and you know, they they've their their terminal, uh, you know, and I can I can be there and I can, you know, I can make that impact and I can feel that. Uh so yeah, absolutely. I agree with you 100%. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

So with all the caregiving experience, right, from your mom and then your mother-in-law, you felt like you were ready, both of you felt like you were ready to go on and take take on this challenge, but you might have come through, you know, experienced some challenges, especially in the earlier years. You know, can you share some of those with us and how you navigated them to be as successful as you are today?

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Yeah, well, you know, it's funny you say that because when when we first started, you know, I was debating whether to do this as a home care company by myself or whether to tie in with uh, you know, a franchise like Visiting Angels. And and and Visiting Angels really captured my attention. I mean, they really just talked about Larry, you know, you talked about you know the the the spiritual just basis for everything we do, you know. It's I I there I I love I love Visiting Angels. I mean it's it's an incredible cover. Wow, wow, but at the same time, I I I was thinking, you know, we're gonna do this young team's home care, you know, on our own because you know, I know how to do this, right? I mean I worked at Anthem, I know these home care companies, and I know I know about caregiving, right? I you know, we could do this on our own. Oh my god. If I only knew what I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

This would have been a lot more scarier, let's put it that way. That's what I said, right? If I knew now what I knew, what I didn't know then. Um so yeah, I mean, so it was a challenge. It was, but it was it was kind of cool too. You know, I mean, we started with nothing. I mean, we're walking around looking for offices. Where we're gonna have an office, uh, where we're gonna get the chairs. I know, you know, where you know, where do we get a phone and how do we get a phone number? And I mean, everything. I mean, it was everything. Um, and you know, it's it's funny because one of the things that I did learn is, you know, to be successful in business. Business, you have to be good at everything because you're responsible for making sure everything works. Now, nobody's good at everything. That's right. So as to be a successful businessman, you have to be able to understand, recognize, and admit the things you're not good at and get that covered. Somebody who's good at it to do that. Because I, you know, I I I bet you most businesses don't fail because the business is bad. The businesses fail because the person running it could not see areas he was bad at and it never got it taken care of, and it ended up I that's right. So that was one of the lessons that I learned going through this. Um but uh you know, early on, uh early on, I you know, I it was tougher then than it is now, obviously. But um the the struggle was having enough um cash, cash flow, you know, making sure there was enough cash to be able to take care of the things we were doing and still grow and and not grow too not to grow too fast, but not too sink too much cash into overhead. Yes if I didn't have to, because I may need that cash to get through you know tough times.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 23:18

And you know, going back to the spiritual nature of all this, um, we actually got to a point where uh we we were short money, we were short of our payroll. Okay, it was like the second year in, I think. We were short of our payroll. So I got I got a loan to cover the payroll.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

So, you know, we go two more weeks and we're up to the next payroll, and and I'm short again. I'm short by like $2,500, which now you know seems like nothing. But back then, of course. Oh yeah, you know, back then my payroll was like five thousand dollars. Now my payroll is God I don't even want to look at it, but nonetheless, so we were short. We we were short by about $2,500. Okay. And I didn't want to get another loan again. I you know, I didn't want to get loans and drive us into bankruptcy. You know, I didn't want the business to fail and at the same time, you know, have my my my my private life fail on top of it because you know we're draining everything to save the same shit. Yes, yeah, I didn't want to do that. Um and so uh I remember coming to the office, I talking to my wife and saying, I I don't know how to make these numbers work. I mean, I just I don't know how to make these numbers work no matter how I work it, no matter how I manipulate it, I just I don't know how to make it work. I can't. So I said, Well, I gotta go in, I gotta lay off my staff. You know, that's that's the that's the first thing I can do. Yeah, and that really isn't gonna help us for this payroll because I still owe them the money, you know. But at least if I laid them off and I got uh another loan, I would be able to float us through that would lower our overhead and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

So uh it was a Friday because it was the Friday was the end of our pay period. And uh um I remember actually it was Thursday night, I remember, you know, feeling like God had talked to me and said, Don't lay anybody off. Don't lay anybody off. Oh wow. So I came to the office, talked to my scheduler, talked to my nurse, talked to my you know, director, and had a good day, you know, and I didn't lay anybody off. And the day comes, yeah, now it's four o'clock, they all leave. I'm sitting in my office by my desk and trying to figure out all right, well, where are we? Yeah, where are we? You know, God, you told me not to do this, so I didn't do it. I don't know, but where are we? And you know, there is this envelope that had been sitting on my desk all week, and it was from the unemployment commission.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

And I didn't want to open it because, you know, I didn't want another bill. I just, you know, the unemployment commission, it's another bill. I just didn't, you know, I just wasn't in the mood for another bill at this point.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

So I hadn't opened it, and and and so Friday comes, everybody leaves. It's like five o'clock now. I'm I'm sitting at my desk and I thought I might as well open this envelope now. You know, I got nothing to lose at this point. So I opened it up, and it was a letter from the unemployment commission that said that I had been overpaying our unemployment tax for the past two years. I had a credit of like $3,500. How did they want me to how did how did I want them to pay me? Wow.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

Yeah. So I called my wife. I said, you will not believe what is sitting on my desk right now. And she laughed. And you know, we've never had an issue since then. It's all been it's all been good since then. I mean, I've never been close again. I've never had never had never had an issue. I mean, it's just everything is worked. Wow. But you know, it was you know, faith, faith in God, faith, faith in in what we're doing, and just pushing through the tough time and knowing that the good times on the other end. Wow. Wow. You know, yeah, yeah. Wow. Well, and here we are.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

You know, go sorry, Dean, please go ahead. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yeah. So then here we are. Here we are now.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

No, I was just, I mean, Dean, I tell you, you know, uh, you the again, this is another time where you listen to God's voice, you follow what He directed you to do and see what became of it. You know, it's interesting. Um, that um, you know, I think I think a lot of times the big challenge a lot of us have in life and in business is that we don't listen enough to his voice. Yeah, you know, I I think I think we need to spend more time connecting to for us as God, some folks some folks call it source, whatever they want to call it. But I mean that connection is super important because that's where that's the beginning end, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 27:50

There you go. There you go.

unknown 27:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

And now I'm sitting here on a laptop that's cracked, that's four years old because I don't want to buy anywhere. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

There you go. But it works, so it's good for me. That's it. That's it. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

What I was just gonna ask uh Dean, what systems have you put in place that have really helped you to survive and be successful? Maybe during COVID, with your experience getting a loan, maybe you got a business line of credit. What what um strategies or systems have you put in place to help you um grow your business? Significant ones that you want to share with us.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Sure. Well, and it goes back to what I just said. The first thing for me is just managing overhead. Um you know, I am I am very overhead averse. Oblivion, oblivion. Almost to a fault, you know, because sometimes you do have to invest in the business to make it grow. So uh I I've just been very overhead averse and I probably waited at times a little too long before I, you know, brought in uh uh another staff person to take care of something. Um so for me that that was number one, um, just being overhead averse. Um well, and that's in the micro sense, you know. I guess now as I'm thinking about it, uh more than anything is just you know the the obvious, right? Just always ensuring that we're providing the highest quality care. You know, we got a great reputation, uh, following through on the things we're doing, you know, just just making sure people trust us um and building that reputation so so you know that you know we're we are doing well. Um, but you know, from a from a pure you know business mechanics side, it's for me just managing managing overhead.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Okay. Wow, wow, wow. That that that is awesome. I think as we close that uh meeting, you know, and thank you for sharing so much. What are some nuggets that you want to leave with us for someone who is uh looking to get into this industry and serve, you know, uh, or someone who's in the industry but struggling, having challenges, you know, what would you say uh some words of wisdom, if you will, lessons learned that you may want them to take, you know, take take into consideration as they navigate the challenging times. Because as you said, sure.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

Well, I mean, the first is find your passion. Find your passion and follow your passion. If this isn't your passion, then find your passion. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

I like that. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Yeah, I mean, if this isn't your passion, it's just always gonna struggle for you and it's just never gonna be rewarding, and you're not gonna want to do all the work that you need to do to make it work. And um, you know, I told my I told my son one day, you know, I told him the same thing, follow your passion. Yeah, I said if you're trying to follow the money, you're never gonna get there. You know, you can take these jobs that you know pay lots and lots and lots of money, but you're never gonna get there and you're gonna get yourself frustrated because the people that are really making the money there are the ones where who are doing it because it's their passion. Yes, not because it's their money. You know, but if you follow your passion to a place that doesn't pay as much money, you know, you're gonna do very well and you're gonna do better because it's your passion. Yeah, so the first nugget I would tell people is you know, just find your passion. If this was your passion at the beginning, go back to why you started this, you know, why are you here? What are you trying to do? Um, and and and and find that and follow that. Um and and have have faith in what you're doing, um, and just follow, follow through. Um do the work, just like you guys said at the beginning. You gotta you gotta do the work.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yes, yes, yes. Wow, this is awesome. Awesome, awesome. No, no, you I think you've you've nailed it, uh Dean. It's it's about you're right, it's about finding what you believe in, what you what you believe your call is to do. Yeah, you know, and whatever it is, I mean, you know, because you know, as you know, no job is is is insignificant. I mean, they're gonna pay for and in God. I also believe that I our God, you know, who's almighty, equips us to you know, for these for these these callings that he calls us to. I mean, when he calls you something, he's gonna equip you to exercise to the best that you can, you know. Sure. But like you said, sure. Like you said, it goes down to finding out what are you uniquely cut out to do? Yeah. Oh, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

And exactly. Exactly. And it goes back to the things that we were just talking about. You know, um, you know, I come and I do this thing, right? I start this business, it's me, right? Oh, me and my wife. It's me and my wife. And and and we're trying to do everything. And and and and and Paul and Joan, like I said, I I'm not good at everything. I'm really not. I'm a disaster at a lot of things, right? But I still had to do it.

SPEAKER_04 32:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

And and and if I and if I didn't recognize that and get people in to do those things that I am not good at, that I struggle at, I would spend so much of my time doing the things I'm not good at.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

And it would, and it would just drive me into the ground. Yeah. I mean, it would it would. I would just get frustrated, I get depressed, I'd get, I can't do, you know, I can't do this. But there are lots of parts of this that I am very good at. Yeah, you enjoy. So so when when I started to bring people in that were able to do the things that I'm really bad at, it freed me up to do the things and the parts of this that I am really, really good at. And and and as I started doing that more and more, you know, uh more and more weight was lifted off of my chest. You know, I mean, I became freer. Um, I could start thinking more and start doing, you know, what what I am good at and let them do the things I'm bad at, but they are really good at. Um so that that was a turning point for me as well. Um I look back, you know, and and I I mean, I could I can't go back to some of those things, you know, if I if I were to really, I mean, really, even some of the things that were kind of fun, but I just wasn't good at, you know, if I were to release some of the the staff that do that now, I I just look and go, God, you know, my my energy level is just it's I can't, you know, because I'm not good at it. And yeah, I want to do the parts of this that I am good. And once I I was able to do that, you know, man, things have just been taken, you know, things are taken off because I'm doing what I'm good at, but things are taking off because I got really good people doing the things that I need to be. Yes, yes, and I'm at and I get out of the way, right? That's that's my job. My job is to hire them and get out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah, and Dean, I think you're so right, Dean. I think I think a lot of us also just to add to your point here. I know Joe wants to weigh in too. I think a lot of times what happens is that you know, we don't give the business whatever it is, in this case it's our home care business. We don't get enough enough time for it for don't invest enough time for it to get to a point where we can bring you people in to help us because you're not gonna do it for you're not gonna do it by yourself for for forever, right? I mean, when June and I started, you know, it just feels that way sometimes, yeah. Exact, exactly, exactly. You know, when June and I started 24 24 years ago, I tell you, let me tell you, Dean, we were a nutcase, okay. I mean, she had she still kept her job, I was not working, I had just left my job at that time, so I focused on this, and so we were just doing it. I mean, I were what would we were the uh I was the um care coordinator, staffing, in tech, nurse, I mean, HR, marketing. I mean, I got so many doors closed in front of my my face, man. I'll tell you what, you know, you know, but I kept going, I just kept showing up, and eventually, because we knew that one day, yeah, one day, indeed, we'd hire someone who would go out there, knock on those doors and let them in. Yeah, okay. One day, that day did come. It did come. So eventually, so like you said, when we start out, we'll do everything, but then along the way, as we build momentum as business grows, we can then bring so those people to take on those tasks that we don't like, and then we'll focus on what we enjoy. John, did you want to?

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Yeah, I just want to say thank you for following your calling, your passion, your passion. If you know, God called you and your wife to do this, and you've just followed it and you've listened for guidance, you've listened for guidance. So that those that's really important because if you want to be given the opportunity, yes, but then if you don't follow the guidance, you don't do what you need to do with the passion and you know conviction that you're doing a good thing, then things will come falling apart, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Sure, absolutely, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

And also the the big thing there I like also is the fact Dean recognized that he had to go through a phase where he did everything, even the things that he was not comfortable doing. Yeah, oftentimes we don't rec you know, we say, Well, I want to want a good stuff. No, no, you do everything that I've well go ahead. No, no, you're right. You're just you're just I'm just you do everything up to a point where you even you know, because the fact that you're called or we're called to do something doesn't mean that it's not gonna be messy, it doesn't mean that it's not gonna have challenges, okay? There's gonna be challenges as well. A learning curve is involved, right? But we'll go through our learning curve, we'll learn in the process, and then we'll come up on the other side. Yeah, you know. So well, Dean, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, thank you, you guys. Thanks for having me. This has been awesome, Dean. I thought you think we could, you know, you you know you run a very busy office, and to take the time to share with us your your wisdom, your story has really been uh office. Thank you so much. 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. Our mission is 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_00 37:35

Because here is what we believe compassion is your calling, wealth is your reward. If this episode spoke to you, we'd 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 askjoanandpaul.com. We'll be honored to connect with you there.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

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 cheering you on every step of the way. Bye for now.