Duration: 18m 01s
Description
Rosaleen Doherty, Jay Kenney, and their daughter Gabrielle Kenney operate four Right at Home territories across eastern Massachusetts and into the Portland, Maine area. Their franchise has been a part of the Right at Home network since 2002.
This makes their operation the 25th franchise in a network that is now over 750 franchises strong. Despite their tremendous success over the last 23 years, Gabrielle admits that when she joined the Right at Home family, she had absolutely no home care experience.
In her defense, she was just six months old at the time.
“To say I grew up with Right at Home is a little bit of an understatement,” she says.
Riding the Tech Wave
Gabrielle wasn’t the only newcomer to the home care franchise business. It was also uncharted territory for her parents. Rosaleen added that “both my husband and I were in the tech field during the dot-com boom of the late 90s and early 2000s.”
As a national sales force manager, Rosaleen Doherty traveled frequently, even while she and Jay raised two young children and balanced two successful careers. But September 11th, 2001, changed everything. The infamous terror attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center served as an inflection point for a lot of Americans.
Rosaleen and her family were among them.
“I’m a New Yorker,” she states. “A lot of things were changing in our country, and I really started to feel like, you know, I want to run a business that is part of my community.”
Looking for a Change
Rosaleen and Jay knew that in order to act on this ambition, they needed to be part of a broader network with a proven strategy for success. But finding the right opportunity was a bit of a process.
“Jay researched all the different franchise systems at that time,” Rosaleen recalls, “because for us to try to do this on our own–it just was an impossibility. We really needed people with a track record on board.”
After performing their due diligence, Rosaleen and Jay concluded that Right at Home offered them their best opportunity to help people, make a positive impact on their community, and build a profitable business.
Putting in the Hard Yards
Success was not immediate for Rosaleen and Jay, nor was it easy. At first, the young parents found it difficult to juggle a budding family, a new business, and an unfamiliar industry.
“My husband will tell you,” says Rosaleen, “when we were in our first year, he was a salesperson, and it wasn’t working for him. And he really was like, ’we made a terrible mistake.’”
But this is where being a part of the Right at Home network made all the difference. Rosaleen and Jay turned to the corporate office for support. They quickly found that they had access to a deeply supportive and knowledgeable network of pros.
“They have so much experience,” voiced Rosaleen. She and her husband made the wise decision to tap that experience for advice, for guidance, for startup support.
“And then,” says Rosaleen, “all of a sudden, bang! It takes off. That is the story of how most Right at Homes work.”
But the key, declared Rosaleen, is “don’t give up.”
Leaning Into the Support
As a beneficiary of Right at Home’s tremendous support structure, Rosaleen has a particular appreciation for the incredible value of shared experience and knowledge. She has shown her appreciation by becoming actively involved in Right at Home’s Performance Groups program.
“The Performance Groups are an amazing gift to us,” shares Rosaleen. “I’ve been in a performance group since they started…I’ve seen people come into our performance group that have gone from zero to 60.”
After receiving a boost from Right at Home during those tough early years, Rosaleen works regularly today to provide that same boost to other ambitious franchise owners through her participation in Performance Groups.
It feels like a fitting role for Rosaleen, whose work has been inspiring future home care providers since the very beginning. After all, her first protege was her own daughter.
Raising a Right at Home Family
Gabrielle is a recent college grad and in her first few years of full-time work with the franchise; she is taking the time to learn every aspect of the business–scheduling, sales, finance, etc.
But the truth is, Gabrielle knew from an early age exactly what she wanted to do.
“Some of my earliest memories are going to assisted living facilities and going to rehabs,” she remembers. “And so I was able to see the impact that we made just by walking in the room.”
Inspired by the work her parents did, Gabrielle boldly declared her intention to be a part of the family business when she was just 10 years old.
“I remember going to my mom and my dad saying, ‘This is what I want to do.’ And they’re like, ‘Okay…you’re 10. You might want to be a doctor tomorrow. You might want to be an actress.’ And I said, ‘No, this is what I really want to do.’”
Gabrielle kept her word. As she tells us, “I went to university to get my business degree, to be sitting where I am today.”
Doing It For The Right Reasons
Rosaleen and Gabrielle share an appreciation for the challenges that come with both home care and business ownership.
“I think you have to love the idea of what we’re doing,” stated Rosaleen. “It is hard work…but what we do is so important.”
“You have to put in the sweat,” says Rosaleen, “and then it can be a successful business.”
Of course, it helps a lot to have an amazing partner in Right at Home. Rosaleen tells us that, above all else, “I feel that, for 23 years, I’ve been dealing with people with integrity, and in the end, that is what matters.”
Visit our available territories, or you can click the link if you are interested in franchise opportunities in Massachusetts.
If you would like to listen to other franchise owners’ stories, click the links below:
Meet the Family | Vladimir Zarkhin
Meet the Family | Carla Shepherd
If you are interested in joining the Right at Home family or just want more information, please submit the form below.
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