Meet the Franchisee: Dan Tifft

Dan Tifft had done a little bit of everything before joining the Right at Home system. The UNC Chapel Hill grad spent a stint working abroad with Teach For America, followed by a decade in marketing for the Keurig brand coffee company, and a subsequent tenure as a Navy supply officer. In fact, Dan is still an active member of the Navy Reserves today, even as he navigates the early stages of home care franchise ownership. 

Listen to learn more about the franchise process and what drove Dan to launch a career in health care.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me today for this 15-minute franchise interview. My name is Jenna. I am the director of franchise development here with Right at Home. And so looking forward to talking with you today. So let's get started with introductions. Go ahead and share a little bit about yourself, your territories, where you're located, and when you became a Right at Home owner.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Yeah. Thank you, Jenna. And uh thank you for having me here. Uh so my name's Dan. Uh I'm in Virginia Beach, uh, and I have uh several territories, uh, three, in fact, in the uh what's known as the Hampton Roads area of Southeast Virginia. That includes Chesapeake, uh, Norfolk, uh, Virginia Beach, and some of the surrounding areas as well.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

And I've been an owner for about a year, just a little over a year.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

All right. Well, congratulations on your one year.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Exciting. All right. Excited to hear some insights from a newer owner in the system. So um, talk to us a little bit about your background uh before you became an owner.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, so uh I went to UNC Chapel Hill. That's with my undergrad. And after that, um had uh a couple different careers. I was a teacher, would teach for America for uh a couple of years, uh as well as abroad. Uh and then I went to business school and ultimately ended up in marketing and brand management. Uh, first with uh Keurig, uh the coffee company, did that for about 10 years, and then with a uh small startup uh out of the Netherlands uh specializing in espresso machines. So pretty much all sales and marketing. Uh along the way, I was also in the Navy. Uh so I was a uh Navy supply officer, uh, still am in the Navy reserves. Uh and uh and that's what I was doing uh just immediately prior to uh becoming an owner here in the system.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

All right. So talk to us a little bit about that background and going into senior care, right? So so talk this, talk to us a little bit about that pivot in your life.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Yeah, it it definitely was an industry pivot, uh, but it it was something that was very familiar to me from uh terms of service. And that's really what I was looking for when I was uh looking at buying a business, something that had always been um of interest to me, um, getting in business for myself. But whatever I did, I wanted to make sure that it was service-oriented, that it had a mission focus, and that it was connected to the community. Uh, you know, when I look back at my corporate career, I had a great time in coffee. You know, coffee's a fun business. People love coffee.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Uh, but what really drove me was my time in the Navy. Um, and what what really uh set it apart is something that, you know, knowing that I was contributing to a greater mission, that I was working with a great team of mission-focused people. Uh, and so that's really what I wanted when I was looking at at businesses. And the opportunity came to buy this territory. Um, it was a resale um from it was actually a right-home owned franchise area. And uh, you know, really from the very first time I started talking to other owners, I realized that this was um exactly what I was looking for. Uh, in addition, my family had had some experience with home care. My grandfather was a World War II veteran, uh, lived all the way to 101 years old. And uh up until the age of 99, he was uh living independently in his home, thanks in part to uh the care that was provided by really high quality caregivers in our community. Uh and so just reflecting on that and realizing just how important that had been to our family and to my grandfather, but also, you know, being able to provide a home for our family to go back to, right? Because he was in the home, he was happy, he was thriving. And so that allowed us a place to go as a family and for my own children to have memories uh with him. And so I wanted to bring that type of experience to my community. And so it became kind of a natural fit um from a mission standpoint uh to be able to uh say, hey, this is something that I think my my business skill set um as well as my my mission-oriented uh drive can kind of come together in the form of this home care business.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that and thank you for your service to our country. Um, you know, what a neat story for your children to be able to have that relationship with their grandfather because of the care that that he deserved and and received as well. So um, and so I know mission is really important to you as you stated. So, what was it about right at home that made you decide to pick right at home over the others?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, I think it was the authenticity. I mean, the the the words, right? We want to you know improve the lives of of everyone we touch, right? And we want to to you know be able to give back to our communities. Um, but for me, it was every uh owner uh that I had spoken to along the journey as I was doing my investigations and and um kind of understanding more about the franchise, as well as staff members within Right at Home Corporate, uh led me to believe it wasn't just you know a phrase. These people believed it, right? That was um, you know, there there may be easier ways to make you know uh a dollar in and in uh many other industries one could go into, but everyone said, hey, this is not only you know uh financially fulfilling, but it's personally fulfilling, right? And that was where they led, right? It wasn't just about the the economics of the business. People loved going to work because they loved what they did and it it had a purpose. And so understanding that this was a team of people who really believed in that. And also kind of looking at the right at home um corporate structure, right? See uh right at home's uh CEO, right, been in there for 15 years, right? Uh and she's from a medical background. So, you know, not just a franchise background, that really made impact to me. That like this whole team from the top down believes in this mission, right? It's not just about um, you know, franchise growth and and and the the economics of it, even though those are um also obviously very, very attractive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

All right. Well, thank you. And, you know, being new into the business, as you mentioned, one year, um, talk to us a little bit about what your typical day looks like.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah, I mean, it can vary. Uh so for me as a newer owner, uh, uh and coming from a sales and marketing background, a lot of my time is spent on sales and marketing. Uh so I am kind of the face of the company. I go out, uh, we just hired our first full-time marketer, actually. Uh and so I've been kind of onboarding her. But generally speaking, I try to actually start my day outside of the office. So I'll you know, start just going to uh uh referral sources. So that could be rehabs, it could be hospitals, could be uh assisted livings, or you know, uh networking events, going to these throughout the community, trying to build those relationships, maintain those relationships with the ultimate goal of getting those referrals for seniors who are in need of care. Uh then I usually come back into the office. I mean, there's always something to do, right? There, there could be HR things. Uh uh, you know, I also handle the financials, so always uh trying to stay on top of that. Uh you know, making calls to, you know, for referrals that we have gotten come in and scheduling those uh client assessments and ultimately getting them started with care. Uh and there's checking in with the team and just making sure, you know, hey, what what's the hot buttons? What do we need to uh take care of today to make sure that we're you know providing quality care?

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And you know, when you think of the support structure right at home does provide our owners, which part have you felt um to be the most valuable to you?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Yeah. For me, I'd say especially at the start, it was the coaching, right? Um so having onboard and coach, uh, and then uh, you know, ultimately now I just recently joined a performance group. Uh, I think some of that formalized coaching um is really great, not just to have an individual, but those coaches, uh, they know other members, right? And so they know if they don't know somebody within the system, uh, another owner who's gone through the same thing or might have some information, they can put you in touch with somebody who does. Uh, so having those folks to help us navigate all the different resources, because with a franchise as large as Right at Homes, that's really the, I'd say the main struggle is where do the information's there, is how do you access it? And to have someone who's you know really only an email or a call away to uh be able to help me get in touch with folks uh who you know have gone through the same thing. They might have a vendor that they really like that you know I'm looking into, or you know, they might have a certain way of billing, or they might, you know, have a whole different revenue stream that I haven't even thought of. It's just having those resources uh put together. That's really what um has been most valuable to me.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

That's great. And so then really the coaches allow you to collaborate with others in the system based on what your needs are. So I love that. And then can you speak a little bit more to what a performance group is?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Yeah. So a performance group is is really a group of like-minded owners uh who uh, you know, the my group is about eight, uh, and uh what we do is we come together multiple times a year uh to obviously talk about our business, uh, to investigate each other's businesses and to understand what our goals are uh so that we can kind of um in a more formal way than than through the informal collaboration um uh that I mentioned before, uh, really get to the heart of whatever issue or roadblock or thing that we want to tackle to accelerate our growth. And uh so it's mutually supportive uh community. We all sign NDAs, so we all see each other's financials, and we're able to kind of really um act as almost like an informal board of directors for each other to um, you know, help each other with whatever goal that might be. It might be growth, might be um, you know, profitability, could be um any number of things that that we as individual owners want to uh uh attain for our business.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Wonderful. Okay, thank you for sharing that. And then um when you think of the business we're in, as you mentioned, it's about building those relationships in your community and then serving the clients and the families um as well as your staff. Um, I'd love for you to share a recent story of um a moment that made you really feel good or where you really knew that you made an impact or a difference in someone's life.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Uh yeah. Um well it's it's it's funny. Uh actually, I mentioned we just hired a uh um a full-time marketer. Um so I I wasn't actually uh I I had the goal of hiring one at some point during this year. Um, but um I got a call out of the blue from uh the daughter of one of our uh clients uh who is uh on on hospice. And uh she asked, hey, is there an opportunity to work with with your company? Uh you guys have been such a blessing for my father, you know, and we love our caregivers, we love the time. She had a sales background, she was working kind of uh in our industry or tangential to our industry, and she said, I I know what I want to do. I want to work for someone like you, and I want to work for someone like right at home that, you know, seeing what you all have been able to do for my father, I want to bring that to other families. And, you know, it just serendipitous, right? That uh I would happen to be looking for someone. And here came someone with a background in sales who um who saw the uh everything that we can provide, what home care can provide, uh and whose family had such a positive experience, she wanted to, you know, really change the trajectory of her career and join our team, which is uh um amazing to me. So I feel that we're both.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Absolutely. Kudos to you and your team for delivering that excellence. And uh, you know, um I've really enjoyed our time together and it's already coming to an end. And um, but you know, as candidates are thinking about that next step, just like you were a year ago, um, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to someone who is, you know, currently looking at the right at home system?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah, I would say uh certainly, you know, do all your research that you can. Um I would say, you know, uh do those um investigatory calls, you know, calling through the um, you know, obviously looking through the FDE or FDD and and you know, looking at the names in the back. Call call as many owners and staff members as as you can. Uh everyone I've talked to in our system has been super helpful, more than willing to talk. Uh and uh those were were folks who I I just found it gave me not just validation around the concept of the franchise, but also of the culture. And I think that's so important. Uh you have to have a good culture and and people who who feel that they're truly part of a team that we're all rowing in the same direction. Uh, and so regardless of whether you know they're looking at the right at home franchise or or a different opportunity, I would say you know, talk to the people who are already doing it uh because you know uh more than likely they're they're gonna give you their time and uh you're gonna get a lot of uh crucial insight into the opportunity by by talking to those folks.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Great advice. Thank you. And thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. I know you're wearing a lot of hats to share your story with us. And um, we're really grateful for you and again your service to our country. So thank you again for that and um really your commitment to helping seniors and adults with disabilities with the care and support that they need to be able to remain at home. And um we're so very thankful that um we have you as a part of the Ride at Home family, and it's evident you align with our mission to improve the quality of life for those that we serve. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Thank you, Jenna. I appreciate the opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

All right, thank you. Bye bye.