Stephanie Howe was 11 years old when her father was diagnosed with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis. His condition eventually left him bedbound, and the cost and difficulty of providing care led Howe’s mother to place him in a nursing home at just 44 years old.
Years later, Howe became a nurse and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis herself at age 26. She had four young children, including two-year-old twins, and knew firsthand what a serious diagnosis could mean for an entire family. That combination of professional and personal experience eventually led her to Comfort Keepers®.
“I started Comfort Keepers because I wanted to help families avoid going through what my family went through,” Howe said. “I also knew there was a chance I could end up needing care myself someday, just like my dad did.”
Howe has since grown her Comfort Keepers business to six territories covering much of Central New Jersey. She also founded a state-certified caregiver training academy, using lessons from her family’s experience to influence how caregivers are prepared to work with clients and their families.
Howe had been a nurse since 1994 and was working in labor and delivery when she entered franchising. She knew health care, but she had little experience with the financial and operational responsibilities of running a company.
“I started the franchise very slowly because I was a nurse, and my instinct was to give everything away because these people needed help,” Howe said. “It was a hard adjustment for me to become a business owner, but once I got the hang of it, things started to change.”
Education and support from Comfort Keepers helped Howe develop the business skills she needed. She learned how to balance the mission of caring for people with the financial and operational discipline required to build a sustainable company.
“Once I got the hang of everything and some education from the franchise itself, things started to take off,” Howe said. “It’s been life-changing.”
Howe now owns six Comfort Keepers territories and has a general manager who shares her priorities around client care. She said that alignment has been important as the business has expanded and the number of employees, clients and day-to-day responsibilities has increased.
Howe still draws on what her family experienced when her father needed full-time assistance. Her mother relied heavily on a caregiver because she could not physically care for Howe’s father on her own, creating a situation in which she often felt she had little control.
Howe later came to understand that experience differently. It showed her how vulnerable families can feel when someone they love needs significant help and how much trust they place in the person entering their home.
That perspective now influences how she trains her entire staff. Howe wants employees to recognize that every client and family is dealing with a different situation, whether that involves dementia, ALS, physical limitations, loneliness or another challenge.
“My experience has really shaped the way I train not even just my caregivers, but my entire staff to be super compassionate and aware of what the people in their homes are needing,” Howe said.
Howe also wants that approach to be evident throughout the organization. She described an office where caregivers and employees are welcomed and where building relationships is treated as an important part of the business.
“We genuinely care,” Howe said. “I’ve got an amazing general manager who shares my vision for just taking really, really good care of people.”
New Jersey’s caregiver certification requirements prompted Howe to take her approach to training a step further. She founded a state-certified caregiver training school in 2016, initially as a way to train and certify people who could work within her Comfort Keepers operation. Howe saw value in being able to teach both the technical requirements of caregiving and the interpersonal skills she expects from her team.
“The best caregivers are the ones who do it with their heart,” Howe said. “We can train the skills, but I felt like the caring piece was sometimes missing. I thought, if we have to have certified caregivers, let’s train them ourselves. That was really the idea behind the school.”
The school was not created as a major revenue source for Howe. Its primary purpose has remained helping caregivers complete the certification process while preparing them to meet the standards she expects inside clients’ homes. Howe’s daughter now runs the academy and renamed it in honor of her grandparents. Howe said her daughter chose the name because they were the reason she started the school.
Howe said Comfort Keepers has exceeded her expectations financially and personally. Building the company has also allowed her to develop long-term relationships with clients, caregivers and other members of her community.
She would, however, encourage prospective owners to prepare for the business side of franchising before they open their doors. Howe estimates it took her about five years to fully understand how to make the operation work and believes additional preparation in areas such as financial reporting could have sped up the process.
“Make sure you’re ready and maybe take a few extra courses, especially financial reporting and that kind of thing,” Howe said. “If a franchisee has the heart and the love for taking care of people, they’ll figure it out.”
Howe’s operation now reaches much of Central New Jersey through six Comfort Keepers territories, while her caregiver academy gives her another way to influence the quality of care provided in the state. The business has grown significantly since Howe’s early years as a franchisee, but her family’s experience still influences how she runs the company and cares for clients.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/comfort-keepers.
Comfort Keepers
SPONSORED
Stephanie Howe's experience with her father's multiple sclerosis led her to home care and later to open a caregiver training academy in New Jersey.
Stephanie Howe was 11 years old when her father was diagnosed with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis. His condition eventually left him bedbound, and the cost and difficulty of providing care led Howe’s mother to place him in a nursing home at just 44 years old.
Years later, Howe became a nurse and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis herself at age 26. She had four young children, including two-year-old twins, and knew firsthand what a serious diagnosis could mean for an entire family. That combination of professional and personal experience eventually led her to Comfort Keepers®.
“I started Comfort Keepers because I wanted to help families avoid going through what my family went through,” Howe said. “I also knew there was a chance I could end up needing care myself someday, just like my dad did.”
Howe has since grown her Comfort Keepers business to six territories covering much of Central New Jersey. She also founded a state-certified caregiver training academy, using lessons from her family’s experience to influence how caregivers are prepared to work with clients and their families.
Howe had been a nurse since 1994 and was working in labor and delivery when she entered franchising. She knew health care, but she had little experience with the financial and operational responsibilities of running a company.
“I started the franchise very slowly because I was a nurse, and my instinct was to give everything away because these people needed help,” Howe said. “It was a hard adjustment for me to become a business owner, but once I got the hang of it, things started to change.”
Education and support from Comfort Keepers helped Howe develop the business skills she needed. She learned how to balance the mission of caring for people with the financial and operational discipline required to build a sustainable company.
“Once I got the hang of everything and some education from the franchise itself, things started to take off,” Howe said. “It’s been life-changing.”
Howe now owns six Comfort Keepers territories and has a general manager who shares her priorities around client care. She said that alignment has been important as the business has expanded and the number of employees, clients and day-to-day responsibilities has increased.
Howe still draws on what her family experienced when her father needed full-time assistance. Her mother relied heavily on a caregiver because she could not physically care for Howe’s father on her own, creating a situation in which she often felt she had little control.
Howe later came to understand that experience differently. It showed her how vulnerable families can feel when someone they love needs significant help and how much trust they place in the person entering their home.
That perspective now influences how she trains her entire staff. Howe wants employees to recognize that every client and family is dealing with a different situation, whether that involves dementia, ALS, physical limitations, loneliness or another challenge.
“My experience has really shaped the way I train not even just my caregivers, but my entire staff to be super compassionate and aware of what the people in their homes are needing,” Howe said.
Howe also wants that approach to be evident throughout the organization. She described an office where caregivers and employees are welcomed and where building relationships is treated as an important part of the business.
“We genuinely care,” Howe said. “I’ve got an amazing general manager who shares my vision for just taking really, really good care of people.”
New Jersey’s caregiver certification requirements prompted Howe to take her approach to training a step further. She founded a state-certified caregiver training school in 2016, initially as a way to train and certify people who could work within her Comfort Keepers operation. Howe saw value in being able to teach both the technical requirements of caregiving and the interpersonal skills she expects from her team.
“The best caregivers are the ones who do it with their heart,” Howe said. “We can train the skills, but I felt like the caring piece was sometimes missing. I thought, if we have to have certified caregivers, let’s train them ourselves. That was really the idea behind the school.”
The school was not created as a major revenue source for Howe. Its primary purpose has remained helping caregivers complete the certification process while preparing them to meet the standards she expects inside clients’ homes. Howe’s daughter now runs the academy and renamed it in honor of her grandparents. Howe said her daughter chose the name because they were the reason she started the school.
Howe said Comfort Keepers has exceeded her expectations financially and personally. Building the company has also allowed her to develop long-term relationships with clients, caregivers and other members of her community.
She would, however, encourage prospective owners to prepare for the business side of franchising before they open their doors. Howe estimates it took her about five years to fully understand how to make the operation work and believes additional preparation in areas such as financial reporting could have sped up the process.
“Make sure you’re ready and maybe take a few extra courses, especially financial reporting and that kind of thing,” Howe said. “If a franchisee has the heart and the love for taking care of people, they’ll figure it out.”
Howe’s operation now reaches much of Central New Jersey through six Comfort Keepers territories, while her caregiver academy gives her another way to influence the quality of care provided in the state. The business has grown significantly since Howe’s early years as a franchisee, but her family’s experience still influences how she runs the company and cares for clients.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/comfort-keepers.
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