Duration: 10m 04s
Description
Barry Paxton and his wife, Sandy, are veterans of the Right at Home network. They launched two Central Michigan franchises in 2012 and added another the following year. Today, they cover the Lansing area in Shiawassee County, Brighton in Livingston County, and Metro Detroit. But before becoming a fixture in their region, the Paxtons lived quite a different lifestyle.
For 20 years, Barry worked a corporate gig in the pharmaceutical industry. It was a job defined by near-constant travel. As Barry explains, “I did about seven relocations throughout that time with my family–back and forth between Michigan.”
So when Barry ultimately made the move to Right at Home, it marked not just a major career transition, but also an opportunity to finally lay down roots in his own community.
Making the Move to Home Care
Ultimately, Barry’s new career would combine his professional passions with something a bit more intrinsically rewarding.
“One of the things that I really enjoyed most about my corporate career was leading and developing teams and running businesses,” says Barry.
But the decision to move into home care was a deeply personal one.
“Both my grandmothers, unfortunately, have now passed away, but they had Alzheimer’s and dementia,” Barry confides. “And so I saw the experiences with my parents taking care of my grandparents, and that gave me a real sense of the industry and what we can do to help people.”
But why Right at Home?
Choosing Right at Home
Barry recalls that he conducted an extremely thorough vetting process before choosing his next step. He explored a number of businesses, looking broadly across the home care industry for the right opportunity.
“There were a number of things that kept pulling me back to Right at Home,” he explains. “First and foremost, I was introduced to the brand by friends of the family that I had known. In addition to that, as I reached out and started to get to know a number of the other owners, I was really impressed with their background, their skill sets, the friendships, and the relationships that they had, and the way they really support and work with each other.”
After a number of site visits and personal meetings with corporate staff, Barry was convinced that Right at Home had the infrastructure and model to support successful business development. And perhaps even more importantly, Barry was drawn to Right at Home by the uniformly high quality of the people he met during the vetting process.
Initial Support
These same people more than lived up to Barry’s initial expectations. Barry remembers the onboarding stage–now more than a decade in the past–as an auspicious start with Right at Home. He saves particular praise for the support he received through the RightStart Program.
This is an onboarding program designed to guide and support new franchise owners during their first six months of operation. As Barry explains, “team members in different positions along the way from corporate leadership, all the way down to the day-to-day sales training team, really lend a lot of support.”
As time has passed, this support has only grown. Clearly, Barry is well beyond the startup stage as a franchisee, but he says that corporate remains just as accessible, helpful, and committed to his success as they were more than a decade ago. Barry is particularly glowing in his praise for his franchise’s Business Performance Coach, Jaime.
“If there is an issue or a concern, however large or small, he follows up on it,” says Barry. “He’ll also get the leadership team involved. And everyone at corporate is very receptive to not only feedback, but also to helping ensure we’re successful.”
Day-to-Day Operations
So how have things changed for Barry in the years since launching his franchise?
“Dramatically would be the first word that comes to mind,” says Barry. “As you start a new business…there’s a lot of activity in the weeds. And what I mean by that is that you absolutely, without a doubt, work in the business every day–from my wife and I covering shifts personally to scheduling, recruiting, hiring, onboarding–all aspects of the business.”
But things are quite different today. Barry acknowledges that as the business has evolved and grown, he has taken less of a hands-on role in those day-to-day tasks. The best way to describe the change, says Barry, is that “it’s really going from being in the weeds to being more on the strategic side. Now we have an operations team that we have to train and develop and rely on so we can work, instead of in the business, on the business.”
Building a Team You Can Trust
Of course, for this to be possible, it’s important to build a team that you can trust to handle the day-to-day. Barry and Sandy spent a decade establishing a management team, an administrative structure, and, most importantly, a staff of amazing, committed, and compassionate caregivers.
Barry admits that moving into a more strategic role does come with some drawbacks. “One of the things that I miss about the business being smaller was that I knew all the caregivers. I knew all the clients. And now, when you have 100 plus caregivers on 100 plus clients, unfortunately, the business has to evolve.”
Adjusting to this evolution has been both challenging and rewarding for Barry. But the key to making it work, he says, is that “you have to consistently build, develop, and lead a team so you can continue to be successful and grow the business.”
Barry notes that at the end of the day, this strategic role has been a good fit for his personality. “It’s really been a nice evolution over time,” he says, “And honestly, I will say that I don’t miss being in the weeds anymore. I really love working more on the strategy and the growth of the business.”
Advice to Potential Franchisees
This passion for strategy and business growth is clearly part of the recipe for success. But Barry highlights another key ingredient–the incredible knowledge and experience contained in the Right at Home network.
To those considering a Right at Home franchise, Barry advises, “Leverage your resources and the success that others have had.”
Make sure you tap into the wisdom of those who have been there before. The more you lean into the support structure at Right at Home, the better your odds are of long-term success.
“One of the most important things you can do is work very closely with your onboarding coach, with your performance coach, with Right at Home corporate,” says Barry. “You don’t have to have all the answers. But collectively, we can get the answers. People here are more than willing to help.”
Visit our available territories, or you can click the link if you are interested in franchise opportunities in Michigan.
If you would like to listen to other franchise owners’ stories, click the links below:
Meet the Family | Rosaleen Doherty
If you are interested in joining the Right at Home family or just want more information, please submit the form below.
#Franchising #Leadership #GreatCareer #SuccessWithSignificance #QualitySeniorCare