Meet the Family | Paul Blom

Duration: 11m 50s

Description: Paul Blom owns three franchises in Minneapolis MN, and has been involved with Right at Home for over 21 years. Prior to Right at Home, Paul had been working in the IT industry. When the IT industry started  falling apart, Paul and his husband started thinking about home care as something meaningful to do. Then they came upon the Right at Home franchise model.

Paul made the decision to proceed with Right at Home over twenty years ago.  He went to Omaha and met with Alan Hager and his wife, and Brian Petranick at Alan’s franchise office.  Paul felt from that meeting they were the kind of people he wanted to be associated with.  They wanted franchisees who really cared about making a difference in the quality of life not only for seniors, but for their families and our employees. They were about improving the quality of life for everyone they touch

Paul will admit a typical day is not the same as 21 years ago when they were all about educating the public what public duty home care even was. Today, after building a reputation, referrals come in sometimes ten inquiry calls a day. The struggle is finding enough caregivers he trusts to hire to fulfill the need. It includes a lot of talking to families, assessing situations, and figuring out whether we can help them potentially or provide them with other options or solutions.

Paul discusses managing capacity expectations upfront, making sure they are not over promising. They try to keep the barriers to entering services low. Sometimes it’s a matter of perception to the clients of  the level of can they can afford.  Paul continues, “What really has changed is juggling caregivers’ schedules more. A caregiver may lose a client because they go to a nursing home or assisted living, which opens up some time slots for the caregiver. ” Paul discusses the need to figure out a way to maneuver the schedule so a new client will fit in based on their requirements.

The main difference Paul sees is how he now manages his time versus 20 years ago.  At first it was all about educating people about the need for in-home care, now it is more about recruiting and trying to find caregivers. Client acquisition is not a struggle. It’s getting the right staff. Paul discusses how families are having to dig deeper than the referrals they are getting from their elder care attorney, social worker or hospice program as our franchises can’t staff it. Then we get a call from them wanting to be put on our waiting list because they used another agency and never want to work with them again. 

Paul says Right at Home wants you to know the owners of other franchise system territories and compare notes from a support and systems perspective. Paul doesn’t think there’s a franchise system out there that provides the level of support and system support as Right at Home. It is evident by all the actions of the corporate office during the pandemic. The support received didn’t exist in a lot of the other systems.

Paul added that he would advise prospective franchisees considering the purchase of a home care franchise to look at Right at Home.  They should look at their reasons for pursuing this industry and make certain your intention is to improve the quality of life for everyone you touch. If that’s where you’re at, Right at Home will support you in being successful.

#Franchising #Leadership #SuccessWithSignificance

Learn more about their overall experience of being part of the Right at Home family!