Why I Bought My Franchise: David Caughey, Home Helpers

David Caughey left behind a lucrative career in telecom sales and marketing to become his own boss after looking at assisted living facilities for his mother. Caughey, like many investors these days, is predicting a “silver tsunami” as the Baby Boomer generation ages and begins to need care. 

Once he identified the market segment he wanted to do business in, it was all about finding the right franchisor to partner with. Because senior care is, after all, a deeply personal and nurturing line of work, he went with a brand that had a strong reputation and the ability to support him in his local area. That’s why Caughey partnered with Home Helpers, a home-care franchise with 300 locations in the U.S. 

1851 Franchise caught up with Caughey to learn about how and why he made his decision. 

1851 Franchise: Tell us a bit about your background.

David Caughey: Most of my work has been in telecom. I was one of the first reps that went out and sold cell phones to businesses. I worked for U.S. West Wireless, which became Qwest Communications. I was a key account manager and then worked in marketing agreements between apartment complexes, or multi-dwelling units, and Qwest. Basically having the apartments refer Qwest on the lease agreements instead of Comcast for utilities. 

Home Helpers provides in-home, non-medical care for seniors. They provide personal care (showering/restroom/dressing help), light housekeeping, meal preparation, transportation, med reminders and companion care.  Home Helpers calls itself an "extension of the family when the family can't be there.”

1851: How did you get interested in franchising?

Caughey: I think I wanted to become my own boss probably like every franchisee. I worked in corporate for many years. 

As far as this franchise, I had looked at Brookdale Assisted living because my mother was looking for an assisted living community. I was in the process of helping her find assisted living, and I thought this would be an interesting business. I figured that with the aging population, it would be a good business. They call it the “silver tsunami.” This is a business that’s only going to get bigger. 

1851: Why was this brand a better fit than other brands in the segment? 

Caughey: One thing that caught my eye was Home Helpers also provides emergency pendants to wear around your neck. I’ve been in telecom sales, and I thought I could sell a pendant. It seemed easy to me. Home Helpers had both products: emergency pendants and home care. Since then I’ve discontinued the work on the pendants and only work on the home care. 

Home Helpers has a great reputation. Another franchise publication voted them one of the top franchisors in the senior space. As far as price was a consideration, I looked at Visiting Angels and Home Instead and thought Home Helpers was priced pretty well compared to some of the others. 

1851: What made you buy the brand?

I think what made me buy was the national name recognition. They were a larger franchise, I think that had something to do with our decision. They had other offices in Colorado, so I could be mentored. I called the other offices before, and they were very friendly and open about what to expect. I thought they were very good about just going through what the process looks like in real life.  

In addition to price, it was customer reviews and franchise reviews that help make my decision to go with Home Helpers.

1851: Did you do a Discovery Day? How did that go?

Caughey: I took a trip out to Cincinnati to meet with the management team. It was a two-day visit to Home Helpers’ headquarters. They have 330 franchisees, so they’re one of the largest nationwide senior care businesses. 

When I decided to go to Cincinnati, that was on my dime, an expense I had to take. But it was very well organized, and there were probably 12 potential franchisees and the owner of the franchise, Emma Dickinson. She was like, “Be here at 8 o’clock,” and sure enough, I was an hour late. My phone was still on mountain time. 

Before that, we went to dinner at a very nice steakhouse. That was something they paid for. They had about three of us come out to meet the person in our region who managed the company for corporate. That was a two-day meeting for discovery day.

1851: Walk us through your journey as a franchisee candidate with the brand. What happened between your first inquiry and opening your first location?

Caughey: After that, it then became a training event where we would actually get licensed by Home Helpers. We had to go through a four-day seminar where we met all the Department Managers in the corporate office. It was very organized. We had marketing, we had Emma first talk about why home care is important. After that, you’d take a test to get your certificate. 

1851: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs thinking of buying a franchise?

Caughey: What I’ve learned and what I would pass on to others, is it’s not really easy year one or year two. You need your savings for those years. You’re going to put a lot of expense without getting a lot of return right away. For me, I don’t know if I made anything my first year. I paid my caregivers and paid my staff and drew maybe $20,000 for myself. Each year got better after that.

But I’m very happy where I’m at. I’m glad I made the decision because the corporate help in Cincinnati is always there, I have a territory coach who comes out here too. That helps a lot. 

I’m happy that we can help seniors stay in the comfort of their own homes and make a positive difference in their lives.