0:00

This is the Franchise QB Podcast, where we

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empower entrepreneurs to win big in

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franchising. We huddle up weekly to educate our

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audience about the most successful small

0:12

business model ever created.

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Franchise it! Welcome to the Franchise QB podcast.

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I'm your host, Mike Halpern, a 20 year

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industry veteran and entrepreneur.

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My mission is for listeners to achieve

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their American dreams of creating wealth

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and independence through franchise

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ownership.

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Every week we speak with franchisees,

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franchisors or vendors that support the

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industry. Thank you for joining us and let's get

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started.

0:43

Joining us in the huddle today is Todd

0:43

Houghton.

0:46

Brand President with Homewatch Caregivers

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and Authority Brands.

0:49

Welcome to the show. Thanks Mike, I appreciate you having me

0:51

today.

0:53

Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about your

0:54

background. You joined Homewatch Caregivers as brand

0:56

president in November of 22.

1:01

You have 20 plus years of franchise

1:01

experience with franchise brands that are

1:07

household names like Goddard School and

1:07

Camp Bow Wow.

1:11

You spent several years in the home care

1:11

sector with Bright Star and Comfort

1:15

Keepers. Now as Brand President with Homewatch,

1:16

your focus is on brand growth, quality of

1:20

care, and technological advancements, just

1:20

to name a few.

1:24

So let's, before we go into Homewatch,

1:24

tell us a little bit about the Todd

1:28

Houghton story. How did you get into franchising?

1:31

Yeah. Well, I got into franchising with my

1:32

family, literally in the seventh grade.

1:36

We started buying into a chain of cookie

1:36

stores at the time and growing that in the

1:42

Midwest. And then when I got ready to graduate

1:43

college, decision of, you know, where do I

1:47

want to go? What do I want to do? I didn't want to do that.

1:50

So I moved over to the franchise or side.

1:53

And that's really where my career started

1:53

on the franchise or side, dabbled back

1:57

into the franchisee side here and there

1:57

just to have that little entrepreneurship

2:02

closeness that I like to have.

2:05

But grew through, as you said, quite a few

2:05

household name brands and then came into

2:09

the home care space about 12 years ago.

2:12

with Comfort Keepers initially and really

2:12

saw the passion twofold.

2:18

One is I'm all about the entrepreneurship

2:18

side, as I said, and working with people

2:22

that want to get into business ownership

2:22

through franchising.

2:26

Big proponent, that's the best way to do it. So that's my first priority in life, in my

2:27

career.

2:31

Second part is in home care, specifically

2:31

what we do to change the quality of life

2:36

for people is phenomenal. So when I got into it, I'm like, yes, this

2:37

is it.

2:40

And then - You found your place. about a year and a half ago, almost two

2:42

years ago already, came over to Homewatch

2:46

and really focusing on, we've been around

2:46

for 42, 43 years.

2:51

What are we gonna do to be around for

2:51

another 42, 50, 60 years, right?

2:56

So, and really making sure that we focus

2:56

on how we are going to stand up against

3:03

technology changes, how we're going to

3:03

really focus on successful growth for our

3:07

franchisees. Yeah, that sounds awesome.

3:10

Not a lot of people I interviewed started,

3:12

in franchising in the seventh grade. So that's really cool that your family was

3:14

part of the business.

3:16

And, you know, a lot of people find out

3:16

about franchising in their twenties or

3:19

thirties. So the fact that you were aware of it as a

3:20

teenager is pretty, pretty great.

3:24

It was phenomenal. I have to thank my father for that, but it

3:25

was, it was a great experience, right?

3:28

I mean, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

3:30

And also it's kind of great that you guys

3:30

are with Authority Brands because I'm very

3:35

familiar with their model and their brands

3:35

and all the support.

3:39

that the brands within their portfolio

3:39

receive.

3:42

So that's really cool. So let's start at the beginning.

3:44

What is HomeWatch Caregivers?

3:46

It seems intuitive, but I'd like to hear

3:46

from your perspective.

3:50

What does HomeWatch Caregivers do?

3:52

So we are a home care franchise provider.

3:57

We run a full solution of service lines

3:57

from early needs all the way through

4:04

advanced care for people to age at home,

4:04

wherever home might be for them.

4:09

We have locations across the United States

4:09

and throughout Central America.

4:14

I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more

4:14

about that in a few minutes.

4:17

But we're really focused on how are we the

4:17

leader in providing the best quality care

4:23

through a franchising model.

4:25

Very cool. So something that seems unique to the

4:26

HomeWatch model is something that you guys

4:30

call total care solutions approach.

4:33

What is that approach to caregiving? Yeah.

4:35

So... We really, we just evolved into this as I

4:36

came onto the company and really looking

4:41

out into the future, right?

4:43

And we understand through our customer

4:43

journey when people typically would come

4:47

into care and how long they stay. So one of the things we needed to look at

4:49

is how do we get them earlier?

4:52

How do we keep them longer? Which is not only providing that quality,

4:54

outstanding care to them and giving them

4:58

what they need, but it also makes our

4:58

franchisees more profitable because they

5:03

have higher revenue growth through our

5:03

items.

5:05

So. The total care solutions umbrella was

5:05

bringing all of our service lines into one

5:10

place, focusing on that early care called

5:10

active care and allowing that client to

5:16

grow through their journey of aging, right? So they can move from active care, which

5:18

is tech forward, to our wellness care,

5:22

which is really focused on companionship,

5:22

but getting them out to events, helping

5:28

them to their silver sneakers class,

5:28

things like that.

5:30

Personal care where they may need a little

5:30

more hands -on.

5:34

and day -to -day assistance with activity

5:34

of daily living, and then growing through

5:38

specialized care, which focuses on chronic

5:38

illnesses, COPD, diabetes, dementia,

5:43

through skilled care and providing them

5:43

some, maybe some needed skilled care to

5:48

keep them at home. So that's where Total Care Solutions comes

5:49

in to provide a different service line for

5:54

every step of their journey that they're

5:54

going through.

5:57

Yeah, because a lot of people don't think

5:57

about it as there's this huge...

6:01

range of age that the service is needed.

6:04

But, you know, for me personally, my mom

6:04

is in her seventies and she just had knee

6:09

replacement surgery. So someone has to help her.

6:12

My brother and I did our part, but, you

6:12

know, having in home care has been

6:17

invaluable. So, you know, it's temporary, but it kind

6:18

of got us in the game.

6:21

And now we're like, okay, let's kind of

6:21

keep our eye on the ball so that mom has,

6:25

she's comfortable as she ages.

6:27

Right. And I think that's what everybody wants

6:27

for their family.

6:30

And I will interject there too. And we are more than just the senior care

6:31

scope too, right?

6:34

So about two thirds of our business does

6:34

come from that 65 plus.

6:38

Another third comes from people under the

6:38

age of 65 that may be living with a

6:42

chronic illness or recouping from some

6:42

sort of surgery or dealing with a mental

6:48

health illness. So we do have a large spectrum of aged

6:49

people that get our services.

6:57

Yeah, thanks for the clarification. So I'm excited to talk about this new

6:58

technology that you guys have launched.

7:02

It's called HomeWatch Connect. So explain to us, what is HomeWatch

7:03

Connect?

7:06

How does it help families utilizing the

7:06

technology?

7:09

And how does the franchise owner provide a

7:09

benefit from the service?

7:13

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for asking that. It's a very exciting piece that we've come

7:15

into.

7:18

So one of my passions over the last

7:21

many years is how do we bring more

7:21

technology into the point of care to focus

7:25

on keeping people connected and engaged

7:25

and the ability to monitor them as well.

7:30

So we brought to market, we did our pilots

7:30

last year brought to market earlier this

7:34

year, our HomeWatch Connect. It's a, the first piece or first two

7:36

pieces, one is a smart camera device that

7:41

interacts through the television. So who doesn't know how to use their TV?

7:44

Who doesn't know how to use a remote control? So it makes perfect sense to integrate it

7:46

into the TV.

7:49

If it, lives behind whatever they're watching on

7:51

television.

7:54

It's a secure closed network. So it's much safer than using a smartphone

7:55

that has capabilities to connect that way

8:04

or other sorts of apps that are out there,

8:04

right?

8:07

This is a mom and dad aren't going to get

8:07

spam calls through your closed system.

8:11

They are not. You're spot on, right? And we don't want to have to deal with

8:12

that.

8:15

So we set out to look at like what were

8:15

some of the things we're trying to solve.

8:19

One is, you know, Two thirds, I'm sorry, 50 % of the world

8:20

suffers from loneliness and isolation.

8:26

That's the biggest contribution to

8:26

suicide.

8:29

The numbers even go higher on people 65 or

8:29

older.

8:33

So we wanted to understand how do we get

8:33

them engaged and keep them monitored and

8:38

keep them at home. So the technology allows for that client

8:39

to be connected with their family, with

8:45

their friends, with their local HomeWatch

8:45

caregiver office.

8:48

with any of their providers, so their

8:48

doctors or nurses, things like that, that

8:53

they can be connected to on a day -to -day

8:53

basis as they need.

8:58

So that was the most critical component,

8:58

right?

9:00

That helps keep them at home in that safe

9:00

environment.

9:03

Another opportunity was that adult child,

9:03

or we call it the care influencer, they

9:08

live more than, the majority of them live

9:08

more than 60 miles away, so they can't be

9:13

there all the time. So they want peace of mind.

9:15

So this provides that safe environment to

9:15

keep them connected and be able to view

9:19

mom or dad or understand what's going on

9:19

in the life of mom and dad.

9:23

And then that last piece, well not the

9:23

last piece, but the third piece is we had

9:28

to figure out how to improve our

9:28

efficiencies of caregivers.

9:30

We need about 2 .5 million more

9:30

caregivers, not just at Homewatch, but in

9:34

general in the next five years. So we had to figure out how to improve

9:36

efficiencies.

9:38

So what this allows for is the ability to

9:38

be connected 24 seven.

9:43

and provide opportunity for some services

9:43

when a caregiver can't be in the home.

9:48

So we can improve the efficiencies of

9:48

caregiving that way as well.

9:52

And at the end of the day, all of this

9:52

helps to drive more profit for our

9:56

franchise owners because it ends up being

9:56

a higher margin item as we - Yeah, and I

10:01

read, I watched the video to learn about

10:01

and educate myself and it has a lot of

10:06

really interesting applications such as -

10:08

You know, distributing medications as to

10:08

when that takes place with reminders,

10:12

appointment reminders, wellness

10:12

activities, you know, dashboards that

10:17

monitor things in the home, like humidity,

10:17

motion, temperature, just really cool

10:22

stuff that I'm sure that the influencers

10:22

and the, you know, the seniors really

10:27

enjoy. Absolutely. You're spot on.

10:29

It really does help with, you know,

10:29

touching base on that, like the reminders

10:33

that can be on there so they can get

10:33

their.

10:35

their daily reminders to pop up on the TV

10:35

screen.

10:38

Everything from take a medication or you

10:38

have a lunch date today at this time.

10:44

Like all of that can be integrated into

10:44

the system as well.

10:47

So they get those reminders right on the TV. It's pretty cool stuff to be able to do

10:48

that for that aging population and they

10:53

can really be connected and feeling like

10:53

life is much easier for them.

10:58

Yeah. And I was talking to Jenna Parisi who

10:59

connected us and...

11:02

She was mentioning the price point, which

11:02

is really affordable.

11:06

Cause when you think of the technology and

11:06

the monitoring service, you think, well,

11:09

is this cost prohibitive? And she kind of explained that it's pretty

11:10

affordable.

11:13

So I think that's very affordable.

11:15

Important to make it scalable. It's very affordable.

11:17

And so that does make it very scalable as

11:17

well.

11:20

And, and as we look at, as we look at home

11:20

or care coming back to the home, it's a

11:26

big component to, to help agent home

11:26

safely and with dignity as well.

11:30

So that's what we're excited about. Yeah, I think if it's executed properly,

11:32

it's a game changer.

11:35

It's a big differentiator for your brand

11:35

and a crowded space.

11:37

So that's really cool. So let's kind of switch gears.

11:40

Now, go ahead. No, I was just going to add in there real

11:41

quick, Mike.

11:43

I just came off of a home care innovation

11:43

conference last week as well.

11:48

And so we're about 12 to 18 months ahead

11:48

of a lot of other home care comes with the

11:52

technology piece, but everybody's trying

11:52

to work on something to figure it out.

11:57

And I think like, you know, it's great

11:57

that we're leading that path, if you will.

12:02

and doing it because that's the way care

12:02

is going to be delivered as we move into

12:05

the future. Yeah, yeah. And I could see for the franchise owner to

12:06

be able to rely on less caregiver labor is

12:13

really beneficial and really helps.

12:17

The care, the people receiving care don't

12:17

necessarily want someone in their house 24

12:21

seven. So to be able to kind of defray some of

12:22

that with the technology, I think is kind

12:26

of a win win. So let's talk about.

12:28

switch gears and talk about the franchise

12:28

opportunity overall.

12:32

You know, what makes Homewatch Caregiver

12:32

is a great franchise opportunity in your

12:36

view. I think, you know, first, let's look at

12:37

how long we've been in business.

12:40

So we've been around for 40 plus years at

12:40

this point.

12:44

Been franchising, been franchising for

12:44

about 40 of the 40 plus years.

12:48

We've got a proven model, you know, and

12:48

that's what's important in franchising is

12:52

you want something that's proven and

12:52

that's, you know,

12:56

been repeated over and over again. So I think that is one of the big things.

13:00

The other thing is we take a different approach. So our total care solutions, our Home Much

13:02

Connect is all part of our person

13:05

-centered care approach that we have.

13:08

Home care in general has always been

13:08

dollars per hour per hour of service and

13:13

people are unique. They don't all fit into that same box.

13:16

So we're different in the fact that we

13:16

want to be able to customize and create

13:20

the appropriate care plans for each person

13:20

that comes into care, but that also

13:24

drives. different revenue levels for our

13:25

franchisees that are part of our system.

13:28

So that's one of the exciting things about

13:28

that.

13:31

We do uniquely have a proprietary practice

13:31

management platform.

13:36

Some people refer to it as an ERM as well,

13:36

but we call that Care Plus.

13:40

That's been developed for us, which really

13:40

helps us collect data, which is critical

13:47

for us to go to payers sources on behalf

13:47

of our franchisees and talk about.

13:51

our outcomes through the data that

13:51

supports it and be able to get better

13:55

reimbursement rates and things like that.

13:57

The other piece is really around our

13:57

technology advancements.

14:01

So our, you know, obviously our HomeWatch

14:01

Connect, with ABE behind us, we've really

14:05

been afforded the opportunity to move

14:05

quickly, to bring some of these technology

14:09

solutions to market, which really

14:09

differentiates us from others in the

14:14

market and their ability to do that.

14:17

We also have our own LMS platform,

14:21

called the Homewatch Caregiver University,

14:21

which we really put a big emphasis on the

14:26

training of our caregivers, getting them

14:26

certified in different specialties,

14:31

chronic illnesses, things like that, that

14:31

really can differentiate us as well.

14:35

And then really just how we focus on our

14:35

client acquisition and the time from

14:40

inquire to getting them into service.

14:43

So we can do that much quicker now as well

14:43

with our technology.

14:47

So they're in some sort of service almost

14:47

upon the end of the call.

14:51

Right. That's awesome. So those aren't just some of the points

14:52

that really separate us from some of the

14:57

other people out there. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that with us.

14:59

So let's talk about revenue streams. How does a Homewatch caregivers franchise

15:01

owner generate revenue?

15:05

Like I'm sure there's a few different

15:05

tentacles out there, but what's kind of

15:08

the primary few that they rely on?

15:10

Yeah. I think, you know, so in our model, the

15:11

primary model is when there's direct care

15:17

going on in the home. That's the good driver.

15:20

That's one of our caregivers in there. We have our technology now that's part of

15:21

another revenue driver.

15:27

And then we do a virtual care as well

15:27

through our technology.

15:29

So that's another revenue driver as well.

15:32

So those are the three big components that

15:32

help drive revenue for our franchisees.

15:36

Yeah, very cool. Yeah. And it's just a great model in that

15:37

aspect.

15:41

And the in -home, the direct care is the

15:41

one that does cost the most for...

15:48

our franchise owners because of the labor, right? And then as we look at our virtual care,

15:50

our technology that really helps drive

15:55

their margins. The unique thing that we do moving forward

15:56

too is under Total Care Solutions is our

16:02

franchisees bundle all of that into a

16:02

person -centered price for a client.

16:08

So as I mentioned earlier, as opposed to

16:08

dollars per hour, it's really about these

16:12

are the service offerings that you're

16:12

going to get.

16:15

So presenting that value to the client as

16:15

well.

16:18

Very cool. Thanks. So what does a new franchisee joins the

16:20

Home Watch Caregiver system?

16:24

What's their team look like when they

16:24

launch the business?

16:27

What are the number of people and what

16:27

seats are they sitting in to kind of get

16:32

this thing off the ground? Great question.

16:34

So one thing that is unique with us is we

16:34

are the franchise support center.

16:38

We're not a corporate office. Everybody within the franchise support

16:40

center has some sort of supportive role

16:44

that they're giving to our franchisees.

16:47

So that's That's just a critical component of how we

16:48

operate.

16:50

But from the day somebody signs a

16:50

franchise agreement with us, they're

16:54

assigned to an onboarding manager.

16:57

The onboarding manager is their concierge,

16:57

if you will, helps them through every step

17:02

from where they need to get licenses,

17:02

because a lot of states do require a

17:06

licensure. They help them work through that. They help them with all their pre -opening

17:07

requirements through all the systems

17:11

processes that we have and through our, we

17:11

call it our map.

17:16

to some market action plan, their business

17:16

implementation plan, different things that

17:21

they have to go through, that onboarding

17:21

team helps them with that.

17:25

And as I mentioned, they're also the concierge. So if they need more support in marketing

17:26

or looking how to hire, we have our

17:34

marketing team. And we have probably about 80 people

17:34

through our shared services that work on

17:39

our marketing team for us. And we have our workforce solutions team,

17:41

which really helps with that educating on.

17:46

How do you establish your culture? How do you go to market to hire?

17:49

How do you focus on retention? We have our growth team that really helps

17:51

on the training and development of sales

17:57

skills, how to go out and work with your

17:57

referral sources, how to go into that

18:01

hospital. Also, we have our care delivery and

18:02

quality team that focuses on how do you

18:07

start to develop the person -centered care

18:07

plans, getting that comfort level to go

18:13

into a home, do an in -home evaluation.

18:15

I remember when I started in the business,

18:15

one of the first days, like, here, you're

18:19

going to go out and do this as part of

18:19

your training.

18:21

I'm like, if you're going into someone's

18:21

home, I was scared to death.

18:23

So we have a team that helps with that.

18:26

We call it our vendor relations team, but

18:26

really what that team does is focuses on

18:31

those relationships with the third party

18:31

payer sources.

18:34

So like the VA, other third party lead

18:34

generation companies that are out there,

18:41

and backup care companies and insurance

18:41

companies, all of that.

18:44

is done through that. Then we have our, once they are open and

18:46

they graduate from our onboarding team,

18:52

they move over to our business operations

18:52

team and then they're assigned a business

18:56

operations manager. And the business operations managers,

18:58

again, are their point of contact, really

19:03

help them on a day -to -day basis, but

19:03

also work with those additional companies

19:07

within the, or companies, I'm sorry,

19:07

people within the support center that they

19:12

need for marketing or whatever it might

19:12

be.

19:14

But the business operations manager really

19:14

focuses on doing financial reviews, making

19:20

sure that they're doing well and they're

19:20

being successful, meeting the goals they

19:24

want to meet to just day -to -day pieces.

19:27

And in franchising in general, a

19:27

franchisee often feels like they're alone

19:31

and we always want to make sure that they

19:31

don't feel like they're alone.

19:34

We have so many people on our team that

19:34

can help them throughout the day and help

19:39

be a mentor if that's what they need.

19:41

Yeah, it sounds it sounds like there's

19:41

like a ton of support, you know on the

19:46

onboarding the training the launch If I'm

19:46

an owner like what is my payroll look like

19:52

to kind of get this going? Who do I need in the right seats to kind

19:53

of?

19:57

From the from the onset we do have a two

19:57

-person FTE requirement In in the office

20:06

and one is really focused on the the

20:06

operations aspect

20:10

The other one is focused on that community

20:10

relations, the sales, building the

20:14

referral sources. That's the intent from the early onset

20:15

when franchise agreements signed.

20:20

Once you get closer to opening, you're

20:20

gonna start bringing in caregivers.

20:23

So we have a best practice of having 15

20:23

caregivers lined up when you're ready to

20:30

open. Now, caregivers aren't necessarily on

20:30

payroll until you start servicing clients

20:34

and then they come on to you, right? So do you have a recommendation for like,

20:39

Is the owner better to be the sales and

20:39

business development and referral builder

20:43

or are they better to be the operations

20:43

implementer customer service side or does

20:48

it not matter as long as they fill one of

20:48

those roles?

20:51

I always have two parts on that, right?

20:53

One is I would say higher to your

20:53

shortcomings.

20:56

So if you're better at operations, do

20:56

operations.

20:58

If you're better sales sales, but then on

20:58

the other side of it, I always say on the

21:02

sales side early on, it's your business.

21:04

You're going to be the most passionate

21:04

about being out there and being engaging

21:07

in selling. So. I always prefer to see the owner on the

21:08

sales side, but if you're not good at it,

21:12

understand that and get somebody to do it

21:12

for you.

21:15

That's how you're going to be successful. Okay. That's good advice.

21:17

So, who is the ideal candidate to become a

21:17

Homewatch Caregivers franchise owner?

21:23

I'm sure there's gotta be an element, like

21:23

for me, when I'm presenting different

21:27

concepts to candidates, and I hear someone

21:27

say, I really want to give back to the

21:32

community. I want to help people.

21:34

My mind goes right to some type of

21:34

caregiving.

21:38

And it sounds like that works. Obviously you want business people that

21:39

know how to run a business, but from your

21:42

perspective, who's an ideal candidate to

21:42

join the team?

21:45

Yeah. I mean, you're spot on there, Mike, right?

21:47

So the first thing is like, are they

21:47

mission and passion driven?

21:50

Right. Because we are, we're providing a very

21:50

personal type of service and you have to

21:56

be passionate about that and you have to

21:56

be mission driven about it.

21:59

We're not making sandwiches. I'm just in all honesty, you know, we're,

22:00

we're changing lives.

22:03

So, that's, that's the, the.

22:06

Key element, second one is really having

22:06

them understand it is a 24 seven business.

22:12

Not to say that they're in an office 24

22:12

seven, but you know, things can go wrong

22:16

in the middle of the night. If you have caregivers out in the home and

22:17

you know, early on, typically it's the

22:22

owner that is, is handling those things

22:22

until you get to a certain point where you

22:26

obviously you can have your staff, you

22:26

grow your staff to do that.

22:29

But early on, they just have to be aware

22:29

of that.

22:31

And then really like driven, right? You want somebody who has got.

22:35

lofty goals who wants to have a better

22:35

quality of life through franchising and

22:40

franchise ownership and really

22:40

understanding that it's going to be hard

22:44

in the beginning, but the rewards that

22:44

come if you follow the system and do the

22:48

right thing are tremendous.

22:50

I mean, uniquely in the home care space

22:50

and home watch caregivers is that

22:53

investment is relatively reasonable for

22:53

the return that you're going to get in the

22:58

long run as opposed to. I don't mean to pick on my sandwich

23:00

friends, but you know, you're like, you

23:03

know, half a million or a million dollars

23:03

to get into a sandwich business.

23:06

Right. And so, I was talking to a friend of mine

23:06

earlier today who I haven't spoken with in

23:11

a while. He's about to open his 12th Dunkin donuts

23:11

in California.

23:14

And we had the same conversation.

23:16

I was saying, you know, there's a lot of

23:16

really interesting, you know, service

23:20

concepts where for one of those Dunkins,

23:20

you can own a market.

23:24

And he's like, yeah, with the cost of

23:24

labor and minimum wage where it is, he's

23:27

like, let's talk. Yeah.

23:29

Yeah. It's true. So, you mentioned you guys have been

23:30

around 40 plus years.

23:35

So, you're pretty mature in the space.

23:37

So, how many franchise owners are

23:37

currently open or, you know, signed but

23:42

onboarding? What's that look like in terms of the

23:42

geographic reach and all that?

23:46

Yeah. So, right now we're actually in 33 states

23:46

across the United States with 230 plus

23:52

locations. And then we're throughout Central America

23:53

and a little bit into South America at

23:57

this point. And we have... 14 locations operating down in Central and

23:58

South America as well.

24:04

So continue to focus on our growth.

24:06

We have pulled back a little bit on our

24:06

international growth.

24:10

We want to really focus on the US and

24:10

filling what we call the white space in

24:15

the US because we have so many people that

24:15

are aging turning 65 every day that the

24:20

opportunity that exists just here in the

24:20

States is phenomenal.

24:23

And we want to be able to grow that.

24:27

footprint and be able to service more

24:27

people so they can live at home.

24:30

But yeah, you mentioned. Yeah, you mentioned to me in the green

24:33

room that you employ over 15 ,000

24:38

caregivers. I mean, that's an astronomical amount of

24:38

caregivers in just your system.

24:42

So you must have some pretty big businesses. I'm imagining that you come into this

24:44

space and you have enough geography and

24:48

you scale it. You can build a pretty big business. Is that the case with some of your owners

24:50

that have been in it for a while?

24:53

Absolutely. Absolutely is. I mean, you.

24:56

You know, really, it's really you set your

24:56

own destination in our business.

25:00

The way we create our territories are such

25:00

that we look at senior counts along with

25:04

population and household income. But it's really about, you know, where do

25:05

you want to go with your business when you

25:09

come in? So, you know, right out of our item 19,

25:09

last year we finished at 2 .2 million

25:14

average revenue per unit, which is

25:14

phenomenal growth from the year before.

25:19

You know, this year we are experiencing

25:19

tremendous growth again in our same store.

25:25

unit growth, which is, which, you know,

25:25

we're, we're exceeding the industry

25:30

average by about four times right now for

25:30

this year.

25:32

Wow. That's impressive. Well, yeah. I mean, you jumped ahead to the FPRs,

25:34

which is really great 2 .2.

25:38

and the item seven, I might have numbers

25:38

from the previous FDD, but I'm seeing a

25:43

total investment between 92 and 154.

25:46

Is that relatively consistent? It's, it's pretty consistent.

25:49

It's more, we've got it listed now at 95

25:49

to 160, but.

25:54

Okay. But still under 200K and you have an AUD

25:54

of over 2 million.

25:57

That's a pretty interesting. And that's for an owner operated as well.

26:01

I was just to say that, right? In case somebody is ever looking for

26:03

passive and be absentee, it's obviously

26:07

going to be higher if they're looking at

26:07

doing that just because they're going to.

26:10

Yeah. And your item 19 also has a lot of

26:11

interesting detail that some brands don't

26:15

have. It shows average franchisee revenues,

26:15

caregiver wage as a percentage of that

26:20

revenue. average client service hours per month and

26:21

a detailed snapshot of benchmark data.

26:24

So that's a pretty robust item 19 that I

26:24

think paints a picture.

26:28

And then obviously when, you know,

26:28

candidates talk to you owners, they'll be

26:32

able to fill in the blanks. Absolutely.

26:34

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we're big on that. Like when candidates are looking like the

26:36

validation process really is where it's

26:39

going to uncover a lot of things as well.

26:42

you know, they can, they, they have the

26:42

item 19, if they're a candidate, they can

26:45

look at it, but they're always free to ask

26:45

any questions they want when they're

26:48

validating. Yeah, absolutely.

26:50

Well, this has been great, Todd. I appreciate you sharing all this

26:51

information about Homewatch with us.

26:54

Anything else you'd like to share today

26:54

before we wrap up?

26:57

I just appreciate you hosting me today,

26:57

Mike, and for people that are out there

27:01

looking for a passion, mission -driven

27:01

business, Homewatch Caregivers is the one

27:05

they should be looking at. Awesome. Well, I really appreciated it.

27:08

Todd, if anyone listening would like to

27:08

connect with Todd and his team to discuss

27:11

Homewatch Caregivers, contact me at

27:11

franchiseQB .com or on Twitter at QB

27:15

franchiseQB. I'll get you guys connected. Thanks Todd so much for taking the time to

27:17

get in the huddle and speak with us about

27:21

Homewatch Caregivers. Yeah, thanks again, Mike.

27:23

I appreciate it. Absolutely.

27:25

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