As some of you may know, I have two personal care home health care companies. One is a franchise model called Homewatch CareGivers that I own in Plymouth Michigan where I live and the other is in Moscow Russia. I am 49% owner of First Home Care

These are GREAT businesses to be in because the world continues to age!! Baby boomers began turning 65 in January, heralding a seismic shift in demographics worldwide. In the United States, by the year 2035, 1 in 5 people are expected to be age 65 or older. America’s aging population has profound implications for society, as well as for policy makers and businesses.

The question for your business is not should you get into the personal care home health but how. I’m asked all the time whether to buy into a franchise model or start my own. Or another approach is a partnership or joint venture. I have done the first two approaches successfully and there are pros and cons with both approaches. With a franchise model you get all you need in every way to start a company now. But you pay for it. You will pay about $35,000 per territory you own and pay 6 to 3 % monthly Royalty payments. In a “build it on your own” approach, you need to develop your own infrastructure in your operation and business development model. If you have the intellectual ability to do that, this is not a bad way to go. Otherwise you will need to pay one way of the other to get into the business.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself of your company to help you determine if you “buy” or “build”

• Do I or my organization have the intellectual knowledge to start my own company?
• Would my company be a stand-alone or integrated into an existing health system?
• Do I truly understand the challenges in managing a caregiver work force?
• Do I have the back-office support, i.e. billing, HR, etc. ?
• Do I have any pre-established referral sources like a group of physicians, a hospital, senior living communities etc. ?

If you answer NO to most of these questions, you might be better off looking at a franchise model. The money you would spend on a franchise approach might be twice that if you need to build a sustainable model.

I would be more than happy to talk through my experiences with both approves. Drop me a line or give me a call 734-658-6162.

The Best!