Dawn Hardenburg is co-owner of the Right at Home franchise for the Northeast Mississippi territory alongside her parents-in-law – Carla and Robert Strickland. Though Dawn just became part owner in 2024, she is by no means new to the Right at Home network.
She’s worked within the franchise since Carla and Robert opened their doors in 2014. “We learned everything from the ground up,” Dawn recalls. “So when I say I have done everything, I have done everything.”
Today, Dawn and her franchise are an absolute fixture in her community. But her path into franchise ownership was an unusual one.
Banking on a Big Change
We often hear from franchise owners who find their way to Right at Home after exploring numerous other franchising options. For many, finding Right at Home is like reaching the light at the end of a long tunnel.
But Dawn’s story is a little different.
“I always say, Right at Home found me. I did not go looking or searching,” says Dawn, who was working as a banker at the time. “It was truly an opportunity.”
Dawn simply had the courage to seize it. Back then, Carla and Robert were neither her business partners nor her in-laws. They were her boyfriend’s parents.
“I was dating their son at the time,” Dawn remembers, “and I was there for dinner. We had heard about this investment that they were doing in their life as kind of the last stage of their career.”
Though Robert was a co-owner, only Carla planned to work in the business. She would need an active partner. Perhaps surprising even herself, Dawn volunteered her services during that very dinner.
Becoming Part of the Family
“As we left that night, I told my now-husband how crazy I was for saying that to her. I knew that she was very smart and very serious with work and had high expectations, and she had always done a really good job. And so that was a little intimidating,” says Dawn.
This would also be a complete left turn in Dawn’s career. Dawn had actually quite enjoyed her work as a banker. She didn’t necessarily see herself making a career transition at that point, let alone joining her boyfriend’s new family business.
It turns out, Dawn had little reason to be intimated.
“Needless to say, things went very well,” says Dawn. “We got married. My mother-in-law and I worked very well together for many years. Then they started getting ready to step into retirement. So the plan was always that I would carry it on.”
So far, that plan is also going well.
“It’s been very successful,” says Dawn. “We’ve been very blessed to have a really good working relationship and be like-minded in where we saw the business headed.”
Becoming Part of the Right at Home Family
So what has Dawn’s experience been like — both as part of the braintrust for a brand new franchise and as an owner-in-the-making?
“I started as a scheduler,” she recalls. “And I have done every single position in this office and grown with it because we started brand new – with no clients, no caregivers. We did not buy an existing franchise. And so that was very tough with neither of us being in this industry whatsoever.”
Fortunately, they were never alone on this journey. Dawn credits the business coaches she worked with through Right at Home for their unwavering support and genuinely helpful insight. Every franchisee gets access to personalized business coaching, whether you have decades of experience as a home care franchisee or you’re brand new to the business like Carla and Dawn once were.
“Your business coaches are there for you,” says Dawn. “They’re rooting for you. I can text, email, call. They’re always available. And they want to see us succeed.”
Paying It Forward
In turn, Dawn extends this very same level of high-touch support to everybody on her team. In fact, she says that this is the key to achieving success for any franchisee.
“Focus on the caregiver,” Dawn advises. “You need real good caregivers. Take care of them. Show them love. Even if it’s just with check-in calls, you’d be surprised how far they go. If you can win with your caregivers, you will win with your clients.”
The proof is in her franchise’s success today. Carla and Dawn may have toiled in those early days to recruit caregivers and build a client list. But today, the real challenge is managing that client list.
“We’re blessed to need a second scheduler,” says Dawn. “That’s just due to growth. Right now, a lot of my day is kind of helping with overflow.”
The Face of the Business
Even today, Dawn does a bit of everything for her business. However, she really prefers to spend as much of her time as possible nurturing the relationships that have helped her franchise thrive.
“I am very close with a lot of our referral sources, and have really grown with them over the years,” she says. “So I do try to get out and see them.”
It’s impossible to overstate the value of this in-person engagement. In fact, this approach has helped to make Dawn’s franchise a vital part of the Northeast Mississippi community she calls home.
“In this type of field, you see a lot of turnover. But they know me. They trust me,” says Dawn. “They have seen the same face for 11 years now, and that really stands apart from the others.”