Editorial

Catch the Tidal Wave of Growing Demand for Senior Care.

Home Care Assistance Franchise

Seniors are "good as gold."

In January of 2004, Entrepreneur magazine declared senior care to be "the hottest franchise idea for 2004." They point out that this senior opportunity is only in its first inning, and dramatic explosive growth is still to come in the decade ahead.

Home Care Assistance is uniquely positioned in the industry to take advantage of the senior market. It is based on a new, powerful business concept—targeting the more lucrative 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, live-in consumer rather than providing hourly home care services. This focus results in greater profits per client and shorter time to profitability.

The beginning.
For those of us with aging parents, we know there will come a time when it is necessary to look for someone to help them as they grow older. Kathy Johnson, Founder and CEO of Home Care Assistance, faced just that problem with her parents. She lived on the West Coast, and her parents lived in the East. When their health started to fail, Kathy couldn’t be with them each time they needed help. It was then that she first faced the difficulty of finding quality home care.

Kathy and her partner, Cathy L. Phan, who worked in the home care industry for the past 15 years, had many discussions about how hiring compassionate, conscientious home care was a challenge for most people.

Taking a hard look at the industry, Kathy and Cathy found a large number of home care agencies without brand or name recognition. In fact, according to The Wall Street Journal, general awareness of the average home care business is less than 1%. athy and Cathy went one step further. They surveyed California consumers on their feelings toward home care, and discovered that most people don’t even know that home care services exist. And of those who did, few had knowledge of the agencies involved.

Kathy and Cathy also recognized the existence of a huge under-served market segment: people who have chronic, low-level health problems, but who are quite capable of living at home. “These people simply need additional support to continue to live independently,” says Kathy. To meet this need, they started Home Care Assistance in 2002.

Unique concept.
“What makes us different from other home care companies is that we target consumers who need 24 hour, 7 days a week, live-in care."

"Our unique selling proposition is that we are the 24/7 live-in specialists," said Kathy. "24/7 live-in services are easy to manage from a business standpoint and more profitable than hourly service. Best of all, we are providing a needed service for seniors who want to live independently and avoid moving into a nursing home."

“We are committed to building brand equity as the 24/7 live-in specialists. So we secured a nationwide toll-free phone number for consumers to call about our service: 1-866-4-LiveIn. And we trademarked our unique service. We call it In Home Assisted Living,™” said Kathy.

Growing company stores.
Based on their own early success with this concept, the founders decided to develop the entire state of California, opening offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Los Angeles. To meet the national demand for In Home Assisted Living, they decided to construct a proprietary franchise system and offer franchises in other states.

“Our plans are to grow only as fast as "best of breed" franchise buyers are available,” reports Cathy. “To us the quality of the franchise buyer is more important than any preset geographical planning.”

Home Care Assistance is dedicated to providing the highest quality caregivers anywhere. They have the inside track here because of their proprietary employment methodologies and industry leading selection process.

Home Care Assistance Provides Training for Franchisees Honesty and good communications skills are essential. Medical or nursing background is not required. The capital needed to cover estimated start-up costs ranges from $48,950 to $117,950 (including franchise fee).

Advertising and training programs set a new standard in the industry.
When you become a Home Care Assistance franchisee, you’ll gain access to the most effective advertising and marketing materials available in the home care field. The company provides franchisees with proven direct mail programs that get results. They are continuously developing new advertising programs and testing them in their own markets to achieve even greater success.

Training is one week at the California Headquarters. The franchisee (or spouse, if involved in business) must have a successful management or sales background and be prepared to be actively involved in this people oriented business.

“Retirement Magnet” locations now available.
Prospective franchisees can take advantage of the fact that Home Care Assistance is a new franchise provider and get the best possible territories. Franchises are available for a number of retirement magnets—cities that are especially attractive to the older, affluent population—as well as in the most desirable business cities.