Young Ones to Watch: Emily Undajon, Right at Home

Right at Home*, the in-home senior care franchise spanning 50,000 caregivers and over 650 locations in eight countries, is a leading in-home care service aiding seniors and adults with disabilities who wish to remain in their current living arrangements and live in the comfort and safety of their own homes. As the brand continues to grow, Emily Undajon, Right at Home’s vice president of strategic operations, is at the forefront, helping franchisees run their businesses more efficiently and giving them the tools they need to succeed.

As part of our Young Ones to Watch series, 1851 Franchise caught up with Undajon to discuss her role at Right at Home, the most significant challenges she faced when she first entered franchising and her advice for young entrepreneurs and professionals entering the franchising space.

1851 Franchise: Tell us a little about Right at Home and your role as VP of strategic operations.

Emily Undajon: My name is Emily Undajon, vice president of strategic operations for Right at Home senior in-home care. As a VP of strategic operations, I have the pleasure of working alongside our business performance coaching team, elevating our franchisee experience and taking care of our franchisees each and every day to help them achieve their personal and professional goals, as well as working alongside our operational excellence team to drive efficiencies within our business model.

1851: How did you first get into franchising?

Undajon: I joined Right at Home nine years ago. That was my first entry into the franchising industry. But truly, I have always had a passion for helping small business owners and entrepreneurs. So not only was I passionate about Right at Home's mission to improve the quality of life for those we serve, but I really saw an opportunity to make an impact and help independent operators. I think that them living the American dream and me being able to support them really gives me great joy. And so, being new to the industry nine years ago, I prided myself on attending the International Franchise Association conference each year, and early on in my career got my Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) through IFA, and really have enjoyed just seeing the franchise industry continue to bloom the last decade.

1851: How old were you when you first started and what were some of the challenges that you faced entering the industry?

Undajon: That's a great question. So when I started with Right at Home, I was 24 years old and had recently left an orthopedic marketing position. And one of the challenges was just understanding the franchisee-franchisor relationship and learning how to win through our franchisees. Because at the end of the day, we are most successful when we make decisions together and get buy-in and input from the people who are operating the business each and every day. So it was really just understanding the complexities of the industry and that sometimes the regulatory environment can be challenging. But again, I think the process of continuing to advocate for the franchise model and provide support in any way we can has helped me soar throughout my tenure with Right at Home and within the franchise industry.

1851: What milestones or accomplishments are you most excited about?

Undajon: One of the milestones I'm most excited about specific to Right at Home is really creating tools for our franchisees to give them a better visualization of the business model and key performance indicators to help them make quick decisions — based on data — on what levers they can pull to really make an impact. We have a proprietary dashboard that I helped create and bring to life about four years ago, and we continue to make improvements to that. That's really the roadmap for the individual franchisees and their staff to leverage. As far as franchising as a whole, I still would recommend any of my peers in the industry to get their CFE if they haven't already. I think that continues to not only give the opportunity to learn more about the franchise industry but to continue to advocate for the model.

1851: What are some of the goals you’re working toward?

Undajon: Some goals that we're really excited about include further leveraging technology within our business. Looking to the future and seeing the needs of our customer base change, as we have baby boomers and others that have prided themselves on using technology over the decades — how do we help bring that into the model? The other thing is, as costs continue to increase, how do we get more and more efficient by leveraging technology so that we can drive that bottom line for our franchisees? And at the end of the day, our jobs aren't successful if we aren't continuing to provide the best franchisee experience. So we have a lot of exciting recognition pieces that we're also looking to bring into our system.

1851: What makes someone a great fit for the franchise industry?

Undajon: That's a great question. You know, I think there’s a multitude of factors that comes to recruiting other franchisees into the model. I think it all comes down to someone who's driven, who has the heart for serving others, who wants to provide jobs and be their own independent business operator. But at the end of the day, it’s someone who wants to lean into the support of all their peers within the system and learn from them. That's the great thing about a proven business model in the franchise industry — you have decades of knowledge from people who've done it before and you can learn from them and capitalize on those opportunities to launch quicker.

1851: What advice would you give to young up-and-comers joining the franchise industry?

Undajon: To anyone that's an up-and-comer, I would say always give it your best. Each day is a new opportunity, and getting into the franchise industry, there are going to be the highest highs and lowest lows. But know that it’s the same for others — each of the independent business owners is feeling that, too. And when you see the success, it'll continue to propel you forward. Always lean into the industry as a whole and learn from other franchisors or franchisees because together, we can do so much.