Duration: 25m 30s
Gulraj and his wife are approaching their fifth year of franchise ownership in the San Francisco Bay Peninsula Area. And as Gulraj tells us, it was actually the opportunity to run this Right at Home franchise that drew him to California. He explains, “I moved here from the other side of the world, literally, to take up this franchise, and it was resale that my wife and I stepped into.”
It turned out to be well worth the relocation from India. Gulraj notes that the Bay Area was already brimming with potential. And his newly-purchased two-territory franchise was already performing quite well. But Gulraj saw an opportunity to take the business to the next level.
“The previous owner was doing a good job so far,” said Gulraj, “but I think what got her here wasn’t going to get her much farther. And I think fresh blood was infused at the right time so we could take off.”
Even before seizing this opportunity, Gulraj knew that he would dedicate his career to home care. But it was only when he connected with Right at Home that this ambition became a reality.
From Coaching to Taking the Field
Perhaps one of the reasons that Right at Home immediately felt like such a great fit was because of Gulraj’s background.
“I was a business coach,” says Gulraj. “I was helping others get their businesses more optimized and teaching them personal leadership skills so that they could be better entrepreneurs. I was loving what I was doing.”
Of course, business coaching is a vital part of our model, as anybody who owns a franchise with Right at Home can tell you. Right at Home franchise owners work closely with Right Start Coaches and long-term Business Performance Coaches every step of the way. Gulraj joined the Right at Home family with a unique perspective, having been on the other side of this relationship.
Still, Gulraj tells us, “I didn’t know that one day I’d be part of Right at Home. This was always a dream of mine – not Right at Home specifically, but home care.”
“Right at Home, just happened to be a stroke of luck,” recalls Gulraj. “It was a meeting of the right type of business with the right type of ownership group, and that’s why it turned out to be such a success.”
Driven By a Personal Mission
For Gulraj, success was always defined by something more than profit. He came to home care from a very personal place. As Gulraj tells us, “This is what I wanted to do because I was my own parents’ primary caregiver when they were unwell. And this is something that was dear to me.”
Gulraj poured his time, energy and heart into caring for his parents. Even still, he reflects on his own limitations at the time.
“I used to look back and feel that I could have done more,” says Gulraj, “The regret was eating at me slowly. I didn’t know if there was any solution, until one day it just hit me. I certainly can’t become a caregiver and sustain my lifestyle and family, so why don’t I do something bigger and own a home care agency?”
Then COVID struck in 2020. Amid the global health crisis, Gulraj saw an opportunity to make the leap. As he tells us now, “I think it was the right place at the right time, meeting the right franchise broker, because Right at Home came along and it was wonderful.”
Spinning Plates
While it may have been wonderful, Gulraj certainly had his work cut out for him. Obviously, there are a lot of advantages to starting with a franchise that is already up and running. There are already procedures, caregivers, and clients in place. In this respect, the experience is quite different from building a successful franchise from scratch.
But there are also some challenges that are specific to taking over an existing operation. As Gulraj explains, “when you buy a running business, there are two things that are very important. You have to keep all the plates spinning, even the ones that you don’t understand. And the second thing is, you can’t afford to lose any clients that you have.”
So for Gulraj, the early days were a bit of a grind as he learned the ropes, met face to face with clients, and attempted to master a whole new array of responsibilities. So what kind of day-to-day work did he take on at the start? In a word, says Gulraj, “everything.”
Nurturing the Business
But over five years of nurturing his team, his client list, and his operation, Gulraj says, “I don’t have that problem anymore. We have very stable clients. The business is segregated into different departments. I oversee operations, which basically oversees three important departments.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean Gulraj is any less busy. In fact, while he may have the ability to delegate responsibilities, he still finds himself driven to provide a deeply personal level of care.
“Most weeks, I like working Saturday or Sunday,” Gulraj tells us. “It’s not because of huge paperwork piles or leads or anything like that. I like to come into the office and just keep an eye on the clients. I’m an empty nester, so I can give all my time to my seniors.”
Tapping Into the Support Network
Gulraj may have started his career as a business coach, but now, as a Right at Home franchisee, he has access to some of the very best business coaches working today. In fact, Gulraj says that this high-touch support was one of the primary reasons he chose to go with Right at Home.
Today, he says, he works closely with his Business Performance Coach all the time. But Gulraj admits that when he first acquired his franchise, he may not have taken full advantage of all the support at his fingertips.
“The first year, the coaching that was provided was unsurpassed. It was so incredible, but I didn’t make use of it. I was just so busy with everything I was doing that I wasn’t really writing down all my questions and asking them,” says Gulraj.
He relates that after six months in operation, when things finally calmed down, he began to connect more regularly with his Right Start Coach. That’s when he really saw the value this support represents. If he could go back and do it all over again, Gulraj says he would have tapped into this value on Day 1. Today, he recommends that new franchisees do exactly that.
Receiving Recognition
Gulraj also highlights the role of his Performance Group in his recent success. He was just named a Rising Star in the Right at Home franchise network – an honor reserved for those who reach a certain revenue level. Gulraj explains that he couldn’t have earned this honor without the input and support of the fellow franchise owners who make up his Performance Group.
The Performance Group helped Gulraj more clearly articulate his business objectives and plot out the roadmap for getting to those objectives.
“You have to have goals and they have to be reachable goals,” says Gulraj. “But the other side of it is that you need to staff accordingly.”
Doing It For the Right Reasons
Clearly Gulraj has also done an exceptional job at building his team. A member of his franchise was just named 2025’s Caregiver of the Year. This annual award is reserved for just one person in our nationwide network who best exemplifies the commitments and values of Right at Home. To put it plainly, this is a really big deal! Gulraj attributes the honor to his caregiver’s deep personal passion.
“She frequently tells me ‘I just love it here, and I love what we do,’” says Gulraj, of the top caregiver. Gulraj, in turn, believes that this type of commitment begins with a culture of care and compassion.
“You have to do it for the right reasons,” says Gulraj. “There are no guarantees in life. But I can guarantee that if you’re the right person who loves seniors and likes to work hard and is going to be incredibly proud of these achievements, I think there’s no way you can fail.”
If you are interested in learning more about franchising with Right at Home, visit https://rightathomefranchise.com/. To hear from other franchisees on their experience with Right at Home, visit our blog.