From Family Business to Franchise Owner: One Woman’s Journey into Senior Care

Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz – Guest: Jennifer Eastman (Jenny), President and Certified Senior Advisor at Assisted Living Locators

Meg Schmitz
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to or. Welcome back to the free agent Podcast. My name is Meg Schmitz, and if you have watched before or listened in, you know that the discussion here is all about free agency and taking control over your future. The mission of my show is to share inspiring conversations with real people who took the leap into self employment, business ownership, franchising, and freedom from corporate refugees and executive and executive. From corporate refugees and executives tired of the desk job to entrepreneurs and investors looking to share camaraderie and inspiration through their own business journey. My podcast seems a spotlight on real people who stepped into the unknown, took control over their destiny, and became their own boss. And today we’ve got a great story. Jennifer Eastman is joining me from Assisted Living Locators. We worked together not too many years ago. It was, I think, during the pandemic. So you’ve got a real story to tell and I can’t wait to have you on.

Jennifer Eastman
Well, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Meg
Yeah. So your, your navigation into independent business ownership really stemmed from a family business where you had spent much of your early career talk. Just tell the audience who you are and how you navigated through the family business and then what ultimately led you to want to strike out on your own.

Jennifer
Sure. So, so my business, as Meg mentioned, is assisted living Locators. I’m the president and a certified senior advisor. And so, yes, I started right in the middle of the pandemic in June of 2020. So it’s been about four and a half years that I’ve been doing this. But prior to this, the majority of my career was with my family business. And we had executive moving company that worked all over the country. We worked all over the country and we had a couple subsidiaries from there. 

So we sold our family business in February of 2019, and then, you know, kind of was at that point looking for what’s next and knew that I did enjoy working with seniors. We, because of our full service moving that we did, we often were moving seniors and retired baby boomers. And that was a really good niche for, for me and really loved working with seniors through those. Those transitions that we have later in life.

So I remember having lunch with somebody and I, and she worked in the senior world, very successful executive. And I, I just said, you know, I, I’m just wondering if you have any thoughts what would be next. And. And I said, and I, I love working with Seniors. And she said, I, I think there’s a space for somebody to help families more than we can in the assisted living communities. And I thought, well, I can do that. And then I find out that it’s actual, a real thing. So my industry is somewhat new. It’s a younger industry, probably about 20, 20 years old. So one of the biggest challenges for we’re called placement services for the senior industry is really getting the word out that we’re out there and doing that.

And then I started working with a career coach and then that brought me to Meg. So it’s kind of a journey, which is what happens when you network, which is so important to do.

Meg
Networking is absolutely vital. And I know the people with whom you were speaking and really great part of my network in the Milwaukee market, the, the history that you had with your family and then breaking away to do your own thing. I remember when we were first talking, I, in fact remember sitting in the parking lot at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, having my first conversation with you and thinking, oh my gosh, what a great story. This is going to be really interesting to see how it unfolds. I love how your past experience then led so neatly into where you are today. Do you remember some of the different companies that we had you comparing and contrasting against?

Jennifer
Yeah, we focused in the senior industry. One was more of like the handyman service that would be able to go in and, you know, basically be a handyman. Another one was more doing the assessment for a senior’s home to be able to put products in place, to help them be able to age in place. So whether that be grab bars and the bathroom or chairlifts or, you know, whatever else it was. So I think those were the two that kind of. I think we narrowed it. I narrowed it down to the three.

Meg
Yeah. I remember at one point we also had an estate sale company that is helping people minimize, reduce, recycle. So the space is so robust because of the silver tsunami and the desire to age in place. But you’re really helping families, not just a patient, make it. Make a pretty tough decision. How. How was your entry into the business? Was it different from the kind of advising and support that you had done during your years with the moving company?

Jennifer
Yeah, it’s a great question. I, I really thought that it would be completely different and I you know majority of the time I am working with the adult children. We’re helping their parents or loved one navigate through this time and helping with support, finding options, you know I’m a matchmaker. I help families and their loved Ones find assisted living, memory care, home care services, things like that. And no cost free community service, which of course is different. And. But one of the things that I did learn very quickly is it’s a very stressful transition in your life, such as moving. 

And so many of the skills that I knew, working with families with that transition and how to help in a situation that’s overwhelming, that I could quickly use those skills to help. And you want to be the calming influence that you know can really help them. I’m an adult child of, you know, my own parents, and I know and I have firsthand experience what that feels like as well.

Meg
The interesting thing about the timing of your move, of course, was the start of the pandemic and going into these communities, you really couldn’t, I remember this, you couldn’t go in. You had to do all these virtual tour tours and trying to get to know the administrative staff and all of it was this big pivot into the great unknown. How did you navigate such a big question mark and were you confident in doing it? All of us were trying to navigate our way into this virtual thing. Did you go into it with confidence or did you have some adjustment to that as well?

Jennifer
Well, when I purchased the franchise and started training, it was June of 2020. And at that point we still thought we were just going to be in it for a couple months and we were coming out. So I thought, perfect, I’ll use this time to train, to learn everything, get everything ready and then we’ll be coming out of it. One of my older clients once said to me that that was very courageous of me to start a business in June of 2020. And I often will say, or another C word, which would be crazy, just kind of as a joke, but that’s of course not what happened.

And so, yes, the navigating of that, I mean, full disclosure, I, I did go into assisted living communities prior to that, but not a lot. So I kind of, you know, so everything I had to learn was how to do the tours virtually. So we would have the, the director or the marketing person of the community use her phone or iPad and take us virtually with my client. One of my clients, she was in her 80s, I remember, in downtown Chicago on a high rise. It probably took us 45 minutes just to get around the zoom call so we could do the, the tour.

So you really do. You learn a lot during that time and how to build connections, which is very difficult when you can’t meet face to face with people. So that was very much a challenge. And it really is a different journey on starting any business like that because you were kind of almost handcuffed because you couldn’t meet in person. Plus then we were wearing face masks for a long time, of course, for safety reasons and assisted living communities. So, so I, I think, you know, that’s just part of my journey and my story, which kind of, it creates, I think your business, it just didn’t, it wasn’t a fast start, but I think for me that was kind of strategic as well. To be able to build those relationships and stuff and in person for what I do is so, so very important.

Meg
And, and so vital and necessary. What I have always appreciated about you and your personality is that you’re so engaging and easy, you can create a warm relationship so quickly.

Did, were any of those communities known to you? Did you have relationships or were you really starting from square one with different people who, whom you had not known during the moving years?

Jennifer
Yeah, so I did have some great relationships from being in the community. Not only having a pretty well, well known, highly respected family business in southeastern Wisconsin. I also, you know, was on a lot of boards and did a lot of volunteer and really part of my role as president was to be out there and doing that type of stuff. So, you know, I think it’s kind of a lesson in what you put out there is what you get back. Because here I’m in a position where I’m starting this business and tons of people are just wanting to help and introduce me to people.

So they’re definitely where key people in those moments that took the time to educate me and I could ask my questions about licensing and different things, what goes on in Wisconsin with assisted living and opened up the doors for me. And I think that’s a testimony of how important it is to always show up and to help others when you can, because it does and it does come back twofold and it was very humbling for me. How much of that did happen.

Meg
You also happened into a person. Catherine. Sorry.

Jennifer
Yes.

Meg
Yeah, yeah. Catherine Harris, who ended up coming to work for you in the office. And I remember talking to both of you at that time about how, how to tackle the two territories that you had purchased. And really you were finding, if I’m not mistaken, that one territory, you were really trying to go deep, not so much wide in the beginning. How did you and Catherine tag team?

Jennifer
Yeah, I really honestly didn’t know if I could make a go of it or financially with just one territory. But it Turns out that it really can’t. I could. We could. So Catherine definitely just talking about those key people that were helping me navigate through that, Catherine was definitely one of them. And I knew eventually she would join, you know, my team when she was ready. And because of the pandemic and some factors with her family, the time was right. So I work much better on a team, so it was a better strategy for us.

So, yeah, we were able to definitely assess what our strengths were. And I always kind of said I brought the business, the financial part of it, and she brought the knowledge and the experience. So there never was this, you know, and running more like a partnership. There never was this concern of, oh, I’m the boss, I should know more than she does in the senior industry, because that’s just not going to happen with all of her years. So that’s just. It’s been a great partnership for us. And, you know, I’m happy to announce we’ve brought in our next person, Michelle Road, and she is solely, for the most part, working in the Milwaukee area. So we’re really ready to, to grow that second territory at this time. So, yeah.

Meg
Fabulous, I was thinking about you too. Not when we first got on, we were talking about your trip to Iceland. We both had such an amazing experience in that country. So looking at your, your pictures on Facebook and LinkedIn, it was just so great to know that you were able to break away and take the time off when you first got started there a couple of things running through my mind.

Number one, you had your daughter who was still at home pre college, and then two, you had that catastrophic fall at home. You had some as a single parent. And I want the audience to listen to it this way. Jennifer is a, a strong single woman who is a mother first. and then as you’re moving into your business years, you had a situation, a fall at home, you are the pandemic. You have had a lot of shoes dropping that could have really taken you out, and it was heavy.

And I remember talking to you a couple of times and you were frustrated. And, and then there was the one time you called, you got on my calendar. I thought, oh, no, this is going to be the end, Jennifer. It’s not gonna. And you said, no, no, no, it’s completely the opposite. Everything is awesome.

And so as, as potential business owners, I wanted the audience to hear you tell that part of your story too, as a single parent. And then the pandemic, and then something that really set you back for a while. Where did these reserves come from Jenny.

Jennifer
Yeah. I don’t know. Right. I mean, there’s been a lot of moving pieces and I think at the time, it’s hard to see where the miracles happen and the successes.

I mean, selling a very large commercial property in downtown Racine during a pandemic, it was very stressful at the time because we did not have anybody leasing it. It was empty, you know, large square footage warehouses, a historic building. I was used to having a whole team. I, you know, never really paid a lot of attention to the upkeep of a facility like that. But you work hard and you use your network and you just.

I think somebody actually said that to me during that time of, you know, you never gave up, you didn’t quit. And I thought to myself, was there an option? I didn’t know there was. I maybe would have. Would have taken that. Yeah. I think, you know, for a lot of us during, especially the pandemic, just added a whole nother layer on and, you know, navigating through that, navigating through that with a teenager. Teenagers need to be social and be out there navigating, becoming an empty nester at that time and, you know, having other things happen and including catastrophic injuries.

So I think, you know, the, the lessons that you learn and particularly through this healing journey physically for me is you can do hard, I can do hard things, you can do it, and you, it builds your confidence for the next, the next challenge that you have, and you learned a little bit. I often would say to my daughter, you don’t learn from your successes. You just pat yourself on the back and you tell yourself what a great person you are. It’s your failures and it’s the, the things that maybe you gave it your all and you tried your best and it just, just didn’t work. And those are the lessons and the things that you learn, you learn through and you grow through.

And when it really comes down to it, I think for everything I’ve been through, it’s people that is the common denominator is having people in your life and people that you can support and they can support you. Because during my injury time and healing, they just came out of the woodwork helping me anyway, including, you know, Catherine stepped right in. What can I do to help with the business? When I was really out of commission there for months and months and months, and those are things that relationships go through that just builds that loyalty and trust going forward.

So then I could go to Europe for two weeks. I’m not going to say, oh, I just left with A light heart. I have so much guilt. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that because when you own businesses, you don’t. We think the last time we did that was when we were in the uk in Scotland, which was a long time ago.

So I really, I struggled, struggled with that and I’m so glad I did it. And I encourage everybody to get away, even if it’s, you know, it’s not going to be every year, maybe every five years, do that two weeks. That just gives yourself that time to step away from your business a little bit more. Especially if you’re a different time. Change is very helpful. You can’t be in it real time and it gives you thinking time and time to just decompress, but also time to think about, you know, where you want your business to go and that those things that are hard to do when you’re in the day to day of it.

Meg
Yeah, you really do tend to get so mired in the details and the weight of it all. Going away for one week is nice, but it’s not the real unplug that you get with two weeks.

Were you in Iceland only for the two weeks?

Jennifer
No, I met my daughter in London first. Okay. And so the other part of this is that I’m flying solo, still kind of uncomfortable walking and navigating that because I have injuries in a leg and an arm.

So having to do that, trying to navigate snow and ice in a situation that I kind of developed sort of an anxiety about, which is very uncommon with injuries. So. So we met there and then went to Scotland, to Edinburgh, which is one of our all time favorite places. We did do a tour up into the Highlands to go see if we could find, you know, old Nellie and Nessie and Loch Ness.

And then we decided to have another adventure and then we went to Iceland for almost. We almost spent a week in Iceland. And I can’t say enough about it. Yeah, as we talked about prior, how, how just wonderful.

Meg
That was the restorative nature not only of going someplace that’s restorative. Did you do, by the way, did you do any of the salt baths or swaz?

Jennifer
No, unfortunately there was still an active volcano when we were there. So one of them knocked out the parking lot. And I think just for this journey, I. There was things I was not going to be able to do. So we, you know, and one of the lessons is, is we had a lot, lot more downtime. Usually we go or go go and we’re exhausted at the end of the trip, this one was different. We, we spent downtime and just strolling the streets and doing things.

But one of the reasons that we went to Iceland is it was on my bucket list to see the northern lights. And as you know, that is not as easy to do and people can travel all over to look for them and never see them. And we went on a tour one night. It was the only clear night and it was actually was my birthday as well. We got to see the northern lights. So that was really special and was very cool.

Meg
That was. Your pictures were reminiscent of the ones that we got. Yeah, they ring the bell at the hotel or at least for us to let us know that the light, the northern lights were, were visible. So you could tell the front desk, yes, let me know or no, don’t.

So after our third time seeing them, we thought, okay, we’ve got the pictures, we’ve got the video now. And looking back, we live, we live on the east side of a lake. So I get the sunset every night in the west and I have all these beautiful pictures and people. My husband will make fun of me for taking pictures of another sunset.

It’s kind of like seeing the northern lights every night is different, the colors are different. It’s just so magnificent. It’s really mind boggling to stand there with the majesty of it all. Which by the way is better picked up on your iPhone than with the naked eye. Did you know that?

Jennifer
Well, we didn’t until we started the tour. So that was a little unfortunate that we..

Meg
Still had great pictures.

Jennifer
Yeah. And it was, we went, you know, December, it was so cold was. It was very, very cold in. But it was so worth it. We actually stayed in Reykjavik, the capital. So we did not have northern lights too light there with you know, other things. So we had to leave the, the capital to be able to see the northern lights.

Meg
Got it. Yeah, that does make a difference. Well, back onto your business journey.

Looking back on the last four years, is there anything that you wish you had a do over or you would if you could go back and do it again? You thought I wouldn’t have done that. Things that you would like to go back and improve on?

Jennifer
Yeah, I, I guess I’ve kind of learned through my journey these last 10 years is like, you know, not going to spend a lot of time thinking about the past because you go forward, I think, you know, thinking about this and I probably answered this question differently every time but I think really I do not take things so serious.

We had a moment where Somebody from our assisted living locators corporate came to kind of do like an on site training visit, which of course happened probably a year and a half later because of the pandemic. And it was nice because Katherine was able to be there with me and we just had, there was four of us. We had so much fun that day. And it was a reminder to have fun to, to, to not always take everything so serious and you’re not going to be perfect. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to screw up and to not, you know, to not take it, take everything so serious that it is okay to have fun when appropriate.

Laughter, you know, and, and it’s a serious topic that I’m, I’m working with families with dementia and things like that. So, you know, definitely there’s a time and a place for humor, but it is, it is important and it’s important to love what you do, believe in what you do. For me, it’s very important that I believe that I’m making a difference.

Meg
Yeah. Which you did in your family business. I remember that so clearly. Talking to you early on how, you know, you talk to some people and it’s such an emotional journey, their parents or their mom, and it’s still so fresh that that’s what’s driving it vers something that’s really deep seated in your soul that you and I are wired up very similarly by the one you, by the way, you just used one of my favorite words in business, which is fun is not what people think about with a business.

But yeah, to do something that you get up every day and say, I wear this mantle. It doesn’t wear me, I’m wearing it. And I’m really proud to be out there wearing this logo and doing this work. And I’ve always admired you for that.

Jennifer
Yeah, I, you know, while we’re vetting which franchise I wanted to work with that was really important was those core values and that they would align with mine. And I can’t say, oh, I, you know, I think in a way it was kind of just a happy chance. But I really did find a great organization and it’s not easy as any business isn’t.

I think once at some point you had sent me some sort of a funny graph about the business owner, the highs and lows and I used to share that with people and then I would say, and that’s just was last hour. Right. It could happen so fast. You’re like, I love this. This was the best thing I did. And oh, My gosh, what was I thinking? I shouldn’t have been doing this.

And that’s that part of the business owner, which I think me having experience with that was helpful to remind myself that there are those highs and lows and there is, it’s risk, there’s. It’s a risk adventure. But you know, at some point you can think to yourself, what are you to lose? You pick up and you move on. Right. You reidentify yourself. But you certainly picked up a lot of skills and different things to be able to go forward.

And I wanted to make sure that I was in a business that I could, I could scale it real. I could scale it up and be as large as I wanted to, or I could just do this with one or two people. That, that was important to me because of past businesses that I didn’t want to have to focus so much on employees and recruiting, retaining retention. Because being in the trucking industry, you know, that’s been a challenge for a very long time.

Meg
Yes, it has. You’ve got a beautiful scalable model and as you have grown your business. So now you’re fully into both territories.

Jennifer
Yes. I think, you know, part of me is wanted to grow slow.

Meg
Yeah.

Jennifer
And just because that reputation is so important and you can’t get that back or it’s hard to get back. So it’s definitely. And it’s finding the right person because I didn’t, you know, I didn’t have a timeline.

So we found the right person and she’s, you know, very connected and highly regarded in the senior industry in the Milwaukee area particularly. So it was the perfect fit. And our values are the same and aligned. I don’t have to worry about things like that. That we’re really focused on helping seniors and their families and success comes from that, I believe.

So my focus isn’t sales, Sales, sales. It’s really doing the right thing helping our seniors. And you know, that’s, that’s why I hope that, that’s why I think some of the best business I get is from my. Our past clients. Then they refer family members or friends or colleagues. And I think, you know, there’s no other, there’s no higher compliment than that, that they know that we did the best that we could, you know, for their, for their loved one.

Meg
Absolutely vital. My mom was a hospice nurse and then founded a hospice 40 something years ago. And at age 87, she’s still participating in community education. It’s not even so much hospice as the whole notion of palliative care.

I interviewed Angela, founder of Assisted Living Locators last year. We had a really interesting podcast interview about her view of Assisted Living Locators. Support mechanisms for people who need very particular types of support. And being really careful not only with you, her franchisees, but understanding too how variable the emotions are when you get to different types of diagnoses and the sensitivities that those family members have.

You’re really the perfect person for this business.

Jennifer
You know, there are times when I’m working with a family and it turns into more of a conversation about hospice that they’re having with their medical staff. And they’ve asked me to sit in on that meeting because I’ve been their person. And I feel that is such an honor for me to be able to continue to help the family in any way that I can. So maybe that’s not a financial gain, but is a gain in other ways, which I think is just as important.

Meg
Well, I’m just thinking about the people sitting around the table. Then you’ve got the medical team as well as the family and the importance of you being there as an objective listener. Because doctors are not the most dialed in with transitional care, even if they are hospice.

It’s a real interesting dynamic. I’ve got a dad who’s a doctor and my mother is a nurse. So I know what’s happening in the medical field. The sort of the blinders that the doctors put on and the nurses are so much more integrated into the navigational tools that need to be given to those patients.

It’s not just care and treatment or throwing, throwing in the towel and saying, no more oncology now we’re just were in decline. It’s a real skill for you to be in that room with those people and then knowing that the family needs real information on the prognosis of that patient.

It makes a huge difference, I would think, to where you can direct the family to go then.

Jennifer
I think as part of that role as an advisor, because we do tour 99.9% of the time we’re touring with the families in the assisted living communities. And you know, there’s a couple of reasons why we do that, but one is that we make sure that the questions are asked.

And I look at those, the hospice meetings or any meetings that we have is maybe there’s questions I’m going to throw out there to make sure because I think there’s so many different options out there, whether it’s hospice or assisted living.

And in some respects, especially in hospice, you don’t have a do over. And you just want to make sure that you know what you’re signing up for. And I am surprised sometimes that families don’t. They don’t know that the treatment will discontinue and things like that.

So sometimes I think when we’re in the industry and we do it day in and day out, we think everybody else knows everything. And that’s why when we start working with the family, it’s about 45 minutes to an hour, that first call, to really, you know, delve deep into what their needs are, but also to do some educating right from the front so they know when we’re going to, you know, find some suitable matches for them, that, that they have an understanding, you know, why, why, why are we not going to look at the one down the street? Well, you know, it’s a different license than what your loved one needs or things like that, so.

Meg
Yeah, yeah, it’s complex. Are you glad you’re on this side of senior care versus 24/7 in home companion or so?

Jennifer
Yeah, yeah.

Meg
Tell me, tell me what your preferences are.

Jennifer
Yeah, I, I think it’s interesting because I, I kind of always kind of looking at how can we do things better, put processes in place. So I, I appreciate being on this side of it.

And I think, you know, kind of goes back to not having a big staff and having to navigate through that or who called in this morning. And particularly when we’re looking at caregivers, majority of them are younger, they might have kids at home. I mean, so they’ve got a lot going on in their personal lives that doesn’t always lend them to be able to come in every day.

So I think there’s a lot of challenges in assisted living, but there’s a lot of assisted living communities that do it absolutely right. But it kind of comes down to that whole theme of people. Right. I’ll tell my families we have to look past the shiny chandeliers and the beautiful wallpaper because it really is the caregivers that are going to make or break this community. And that starts at the top. That starts with leadership and that culture that they’re trying to build there.

So I appreciate that I can do that in my small business and keep us to have a good reputation and to do it the right way. You know, there’s three women. This is a small company that we’re going to support each other and have each other’s back.

Meg
Yeah, I love it. And my business model right now is very similar with my franchise. No employees, but I’ve got two people who kind of like your two. My team is like your team and an integrated whole and all waving the same banner and have the same mission, vision, values.

We all make decisions a little bit differently, but in the end we’re all pulling on the same rope and trying to win the same, the same wars. But it’s so much easier this time without a lot of employees having done that before. You have too. The things that we’ve learned, Jenny, the things that we’ve learned in business and the different angles.

Your daughter is Emma, is that right?

Jennifer
Yes. Yep. She’s 20 years old and a junior in college. Can you believe it?

Meg
And so her, her point of view, have you two had conversations about the business and what does she think about you owning your own business? She knew where you come from, had come from. What’s, what’s her take on you in business?

Jennifer
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we’ve had conversations over the years and she certainly had a front row street seat, excuse me, to the stress. And you know, I think, you know, I remember at one point while we were making decisions what to do with the family business, she’s like, no, no offense, but I have no interest. And I thought to myself, well, of course you don’t. This is stressful. There’s a lot going on.

And I think, I think she’s proud of me. You know, I think she, she knows that I found a passion and I hope I’ve been able to role model that for her. That you just have to find your passion. I think what I do, assisted living locators, is more aligned to my personality. I can show up more as myself than I ever been able to before. And there’s a level of peace that goes in that when, when you can do that.

I think I, I hope I’ve role modeled to her. To pick yourself up in the bootstraps, it’s okay to have a meltdown and, and have a cry or whatever you need to do and then you pick yourself up and you go forward and you just keep on trying, keep on pivoting, keep on trying.

And yeah, and we, you know, we talk a lot about, I think I, my passion and is dementia. I’m dementia care certified. I just think this, this is a whole avenue that’s going to be very concerning for this whole country. There’s, you know, discussions about it really bankrupting Medicare altogether. So, and, and families, they need a lot of help and support and so there’s a lot of discussion about that as well, so she’s, she’s in the sciences herself right now, so we’ll see what she ends up doing with that.

Meg
Well, good for her. And yeah, I was listening to something the other day. They were talking about early onset dementia. Is the numbers are really going to rise rapidly based on hypertension and other weight and health related issues that Americans are carrying.

And yes, the burden then that that’s going to put on the medical system and also advancements though in treatments that are coming which have been very exciting. So we’ll see how it all plays out. But it’s, it, it’s great that you have that passion just like I’ve got the passion for hospice. It’s, it’s these, the hard thing about hard things is that somebody’s got to talk about them and tackle them and help the family get through it. So.

Good for you. Is there anything that you specifically want to comment on regarding your business or business ownership? Anything that I didn’t ask you about? Feel free to plug yourself as well because that’s why you’re here. But I want to make sure that, that we’ve covered all the topics that you thought were important.

Jennifer
Yeah, I, I think I, you know, I just, I think owning a business is not for everybody. It, there’s, there’s definitely highs and lows. I think from an outsider, you know, all you see is that the, what we want to put out there. Right. You know, we’re the successes and things like that.

But I’ll tell you, you know, I’ve been a part of my family businesses for, for many decades and to get my first check in the mail from assisted living locators was the best feeling in the world. It’s the best feeling to be able to grow this myself. Not taking away from anything and the successes that I did have in a family business.

But to be able to do this and, and to be self employed is for me means, means that I can do things the way I want to do it. I don’t have to be so focused on numbers and things like that. That, and those are important. But to be able to do the right things and especially in this population and family that really needs us.

And you know, I’m kind of excited where we’re going to take assisted living locators and you know, what we’re going to do next. And we’re always looking at ways to provide more value to the families and also to the assisted living communities. Where, where’s our area where we can really, you know, help support them in what we do, yeah.

Meg
Yeah, it is. One of my favorite concepts in our portfolio is the silver tsunami, the number of people aging every day. I love this business model for the Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. Few employees in such a vital needed area that Angela really was one of the founder of it very early on, recognized such a huge demand and she did such a great job.

I know that she is now moving into some other business endeavors. And how has the transition been since Andrea more or less stepped out of her role?

Jennifer
Yeah, so Angela announced in. I think actually I was in Europe and she was trying to get a hold of me to tell me and so we could talk about it. You, you could, I could kind of sense that feeling because I’ve been there. Right when you know, you’re selling or you’re retiring or you’re moving on and nobody else can know yet. And I was, we were, I was starting to feel that.

And so she. It’s just been a short month that Felicia has taken over the reins as a CEO. Still, you know, the same support staff is there at the corporate office. And I, you know, she’s a well earned break for her and she’s worked really hard and extremely hard and to, to build up assisted living locators, not only to make it a successful franchise, but to, to build us with integrity and honesty and doing the right thing and to have a great reputation out there, which she, you know, so she’s, she’s been a great leader, but we’re, we’re, you know, all ready to take on the reins.

And I’ll tell you, when you’re looking at, you know, franchise options, that culture is so important. The other franchise owners, I mean, I have some that have become my close friends. They’re, they’re just a really great group of people. We can ask, hey, do you have a PowerPoint on this or do you have this? And everybody will jump in and offer their stuff.

I’ve heard that’s not always common in the franchise world. And so I’m, I’m really, I’m very blessed that I’ve, I’ve got such a support. So you own your own business, but you have this whole team around you. I know Angelica, Angela’s daughter. I said to her at one point, oh, I just figured it’d be like a business in a box. You could just open it up and start it.

Which of course is not the case. You still have to work very hard and, and work it. But unlike, you know, just owning, starting your own business with a franchise, I imagine you can get started faster and you’ve, you’ve got so much more support in a lot of different areas. So. So, yeah, we certainly are going to miss her. Maybe it hasn’t exactly sunk in yet, but I’m very excited for her.

Meg
Yeah. Well, I think it’s a testament too, to the strength of the system, the training, but also the, the training and op support, but really the, the integral relationships amongst you franchise owners. That is what I talk about on the front end.

We spent a lot of time on it as well. You’re, you’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself. So since you’re not by yourself, make sure you’re in a culture of other owners that you want to be in relationship with.

There are some that have a culture that they’re territorial and they don’t share as easily. And I’m, I’ve been delighted with everything that I’ve heard about assisted living locators throughout the years. And I’m glad that you’re happy and thriving and successful.

I’m so glad. Able to come through the other side of some of these really challenging moments in your life. But just like you, I’m wired up the same way to say there’s, there’s no other way but forward and we’re going to get through it. So thank you for, for talking about some of those tougher moments as well.

I thank you for joining me today. We did a little bit on short notice. I think that was probably better. There was no time for nerves. This is perfect. Everything went great. So thank you so much joining me today. Jenny and I will let you know when this episode is posting.

Jennifer
Wonderful. Great, thanks. Thanks again and so, so great to see you and catch up.

Meg
I know we should do it more often.

Jennifer
We should.