For Eric Hicks, the path into home care was a very personal one. Though Erik arrived at franchise ownership with a tremendous amount of caregiving experience already under his belt, it was a health crisis in his own family that turned home care into his life’s work.
Eric started his Right at Home journey when he opened his first southern West Virginia franchise in 2005. He has since expanded into a second territory and just this past year celebrated his 20th anniversary with the Right at Home family.
Creating a Career in Care
One look at Eric’s extensive background in caregiving makes it easy to see what attracted him to home care. That background includes seven years running geriatric therapy departments for a number of long-term care facilities in Chicago.
From there, he sharpened his business administration tools overseeing sales for an eight-location chain of nursing homes in West Virginia. From the very beginning, Eric could see his future in this field.
“I just started seeing the opportunities in long-term care and geriatric care,” said Eric. “and I decided to stay in that field.”
But in 2003 the value of this work hit Eric’s family on a very personal level. As Eric shares with us, “when my stepmother had a stroke, I was looking for care, and I was just very disillusioned when I couldn’t find anyone to help her.”
Turning Frustration Into Inspiration
In his frustration, however, Eric also recognized an opportunity. He saw a serious and unfulfilled need for homecare in his region so he immediately began researching franchising opportunities. His first stop was an operation headquartered in New Jersey.
“I was underwhelmed by them,” Eric confides. “It was more like a cattle call. They brought a whole bunch of people into a room, and they just sat you there, and they talked to you for a little while – it was not the warm and fuzzy that I felt like I needed.”
It was also a night-and-day contrast from his visit with Right at Home.
“I felt like they had a plan,” says Eric. “I felt like they cared about my success. It wasn’t just ‘write us a check and buy a franchise.’ So I decided to bring Right at Home to southern West Virginia, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Climbing the Hill
Naturally, forging a new business in an underserved area is an opportunity. But it can also be an uphill climb. And as Eric tells us, the only way to climb that hill is through sales. As he explains, “You can have wonderful policies and procedures, but none of that matters if nothing’s sold.”
So Eric launched his franchise with a plan in place. He told himself, “What I have to do is – between 10am and 3pm each day – I have to be out of the office, and I have to go and shake at least 10 to 15 hands every day.”
“For the first year and a half, that’s what I did five days a week,” says Eric. “Because in order to get something to take off, you really have to put it all in, and it’s all about sales.”
Some days, the phone would ring. Some days it wouldn’t. But Eric’s persistence would soon pay off.
Running a Growing Franchise
Eric’s daily routine has obviously changed a lot over the course of two decades. With four offices across two territories, the phone rings constantly and Eric’s franchise is represented by a whole team of sales people and office managers.
“We have morning stand-up meetings,” says Eric, “and I try to participate in those via phone call. And that really works for me, because by 9:30 every day, I know what’s going on in all four of my offices.”
This frees him up to focus on broader business goals like finances and oversight. But Eric tells us that this oversight is a lot more about personal engagement than managerial formality.
“To be very honest with you,” Eric explains, “a lot of my visits to the office end up being social visits. I have found in this position that people will work hard for you, but they want to know how much you care.”
This part is easy for Eric, because he truly does care. He explains that “when I go and spend time with them and make myself a person, and really ask them about their family, not only does that make them want to work harder for me, but it’s nice to have that camaraderie.”
A Network that Nurtures Relationships
That camaraderie is actually a big part of what makes Right at Home so special. Eric notes that being a part of the Right at Home network means having access to an amazing wealth of support resources.
“The Performance Groups have worked out really well for me,” says Eric. “And so has having a good coach – an individual that is engaged, that gets back in touch with me quickly, that can help me get the things I need to run my business successfully.”
Eric also notes that these relationships are about more than just running a successful business. There’s a level of personal fulfillment in these relationships that is truly rare in any business.
“The relationships that you make by being part of the franchise system are fantastic. Those are relationships that just can’t be replaced, and are very important for quality of life in general,” Eric says.
Reflecting on the Rewards
There’s also no replacement for the gratification that comes with this type of work. Eric reflects that “what really touches me is when I get a phone call or a card from someone that says, ‘I don’t know what we’d have done without you. You made the quality of our life so much better. Or you took care of my mother and father when I wasn’t able to.’”
“Those are the things that really hit my heart,” says Eric. “So many times, we get caught up in the daily grind of what we do, and we don’t really think of the value that we’re adding for the people that we care for and their families.”
Eric does warn prospective franchisees that this gratification can only come on the heels of tremendous dedication and hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the time, tenacity and compassion, your hard word will pay off.
“You need to know that this is going to be a 24/7 job,” says Eric, “but once you get it going, the rewards, the accolades, and the fulfillment that you get in your heart by making a business like this take off – there’s no replacement for it.”
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 working in senior care check out our blog.