Amy and Adam have a special place in our hearts here at the Hub Care Support franchise, not only because they were the first of our partners to join us, but also because Amy started out working for us as a Personal Assistant (PA) and Ops Manager. Her experiences with Hub Care Support led her to purchase her own territory and launch her own care business – a dream she had held for many years.
Now, after one year in business, the husband and wife team are doing fantastically well. Starting your own business is always hard work, and more than a little scary, even with our support. However, we are very happy to say that Amy and Adam have hit all their projected targets despite having to cope with a very turbulent year in the economy. We caught up with them again recently to see how they feel it is all going.
“Really, it’s going even better than we expected.” Amy told us. “I am always busy. It feels like the work has really snowballed and we’re getting at least one new referral a day now as our contacts grow, and our record was 5 in one day! I’m loving getting out and building relationships with charities and other people in the local community, and that’s been hugely positive for the business.”
While Hub Care does a great deal to support its franchisees, including a comprehensive marketing programme, we do also emphasis how important it is for our partners to get out there and forge their own links. Building trust is absolutely essential in the care industry, not just with service users and their families, but also with PAs and key figures in the community. With her natural people skills, Amy has absolutely nailed it.
“Some of the greatest moments over the last year have been when you hear people have given recommendations about you, and a lot of people start saying they have already heard of you when you contact them for the first time. It makes me think: Wow! We’ve come from not being known at all to a business that people are talking about all across the area. It is so satisfying, and I am very happy to say that we are much better off financially than before, too!”
Of course, one of the biggest challenges facing any care business is finding quality carers. We’ve all read about how many care homes and agencies are in crisis due to a lack of staff but, thanks to the unique and pioneering way Hub Care Support works with independent carers, this is simply not a problem for our franchisees. In fact, experienced carers are flocking to us in droves to become PAs!
“It’s such an attractive business model for PAs, and the benefits of working with us are so clear, it really doesn’t take long at all to recruit the people we need to meet new demand as it comes in.” Adam told us. Actually, we’ve even had to turn a few people away as we’re still building the capacity we need to take them on!”
Amy agrees: “PAs are really pleased to be working with us in this new way. They were miserable in agencies, miserable working in care homes, like I was, and then they come to Hub and say: ‘Why I have I never heard about this before? This is the best thing ever, thank you so much!’ It really means the world to me that we are making people’s lives better. Not just the service users, but our PAs, too.”
Over the next year, Adam hopes to work in the business a lot more in order to support Amy, who tells us her biggest weakness is “always trying to make people happy.” Not necessarily a bad weakness to have, but Amy plans to improve her work-life balance over the next year now that she is confident of how well she can work as a Hub Care Support business owner. The couple are already thinking ahead to how the next 3,4,5 years and beyond will shape up for them, and even talked about how they might take on another territory in the future. With how well they are both doing so far, we are certain they can achieve anything they put their minds to!
We can’t believe it has really been one year already. It seems like only yesterday that we were welcoming Amy and Adam with open arms but, at the same time, it feels like they have always been with us. They fitted into Hub Care Support’s business model and ethos quickly and seamlessly, and now they’re just part of the family!
Are you interested in being part of a close-knit network which is changing the way we thing about care? Get in touch today to learn more.