Right at Home franchisee set to celebrate a year of being her own boss

Right at Home franchisee Julie Houston, whose homecare business covers North Cheshire and Leigh, is reaching the one-year anniversary of being her own boss.

Julie saw success early on, as she hit monthly break-even point after just five months, and now employs a care team of 18, alongside her registered manager and two office support staff.

Describing a typical day in her business, Julie says: “We get a lot of early morning calls. I employ a registered manager who oversees care delivery, but at this stage I like to stay close to operations and make sure she is well supported. We have a daily planning meeting to identify priorities and review outcomes; we’ll discuss any training or communication needs and go over the weekly care schedules.

“I’ll work alongside my manager and office staff to bring on new clients and caregivers, and ensure our clients are receiving the level of support that makes Right at Home stand out from other providers.

“As we are heavily regulated, we also need to be extremely focused on compliance – this is one of the areas where Right at Home’s initial training and support has been invaluable.

“Finding the right caregivers is such an important part of the business. I block off part of each day to implement the recruitment marketing strategy, which has been developed from our initial training. We are picky with who we employ – it needs to be someone you would trust to go into your own parents’ house.

“At this stage we are still building our reputation, so I spend a lot of time meeting potential referral sources. This is where being part of a franchise really opens doors and gives you confidence, because you’ve got a strong set of brand values and an established identity from day one.

“A typical late afternoon may include pricing packages, completing contracts, invoicing and tracking the financials. As we are operating near capacity at the moment, it’s not uncommon for me to cover the occasional care shift. I feel it’s important for me to roll up my sleeves and help when it’s really needed.

“I spend some time on social media in the evenings, and in the early days I would have the carers’ on-call phone. I’ve never found it easy to switch off and I try to make sure I am always contactable, but I’m building a good team to share the responsibility.”

Looking back on her first year, Julie says: “I’ve loved every minute of it. Seeing my business grow, giving people jobs and treating them well, while seeing the impact our services have on clients and their families, has all been enormously rewarding.”

Julie is now outperforming her business plan projections.

Right at Home, which has had no financial failures in its seven years of franchising, has over 50 businesses following its franchise model of providing an alternative to government-funded care.