Please note: The transcript below is automated by speech recognition software and may contain minor inaccuracies.

Jeff Howell (00:07): 

Hi everyone. And welcome to another addition of home health, 360, where we speak with leaders in home care and home health across the globe. Today, we have Dan Durney, who has spent almost 20 years in the franchise world and is also employed at Fran master, uh, where he takes emerging franchises to the next level. And he's the director of franchise development at assisting hands where he focuses on recruiting area representatives throughout the United States and select regions around the world. Calling in from Phoenix, Arizona. I believe Dan, uh, welcome to the show today, 

Dan Durney (00:40): 

Base Arizona, but close. Okay. 

Jeff Howell (00:42): 

Uh, much, much warmer than from where I'm sitting. So <laugh> 

Dan Durney (00:46): 

Probably thank you. 

Jeff Howell (00:47): 

And we have the CEO and president of assisting hands Lane Kofoed, uh, who is calling in from Nampa, Idaho, I believe. And, um, but more importantly, uh, I read an article on you lane in December, 2011, uh, the addition of the franchise time. So if you're wa listening to this right now, you can just Google franchise times 2011 lane coed. And, uh, I noticed that every picture, uh, of you had you on a horse at your ranch in Idaho and I couldn't help, but, uh, visualize Yellowstone with Kevin Costner is currently my favorite show. And, uh, if you don't mind, I'm, I'm going to picture you as the Jo, the John Dutton of home care. <laugh> <laugh>. 

Lane Kofoed (01:33): 

Yeah. You know, um, my wife gave me a Christmas present once, and it was a man on a suit with a suit on, with a briefcase riding a horse to work. And she said, this is you <laugh>. 

Jeff Howell (01:44): 

Well, I imagine you're not quite up to the same shenanigans as the Duttons, but I'm going to, uh, I'm just gonna picture you in that, in that role. Uh, anyways, I think the, the ven diagram of, uh, ranchers and home care executives is probably pretty small. 

Lane Kofoed (01:58): 

Yeah, that's absolutely true, but very, very unique lifestyle. Yeah. 

Jeff Howell (02:04): 

Well, Dan, um, why don't you give us a little bit of background, I, you know, in looking up your history, I'd say you're really, um, not someone who sort of got into home care and became the franchise development person, but you're really a, a franchise guy that ended up, um, serving more than more than one industry. And I'm really curious how you've sort of led ended at a, at assisting hands. 

Dan Durney (02:26): 

Well, thanks again for the opportunity to, um, come on the, uh, podcast with you today. We're excited to talk about, um, all these things that, especially in home care. Um, so I actually had an it background prior to getting into franchising for about 17 years. And, um, then I had the opportunity to transition over, uh, about 18 years ago, uh, to representing, uh, franchises with a focus on area representative, uh, model, which we can talk about a little bit later. Um, and, uh, in those early years I had the opportunity to get involved with assisting hands as, uh, at the very beginning, before it was assisting hands. And, uh, uh, it's been a company that has the values that really align with what they're, um, the franchise experience of the, uh, the management of the company, as well as the home care experience and the just salt of the earth kind of, uh, uh, life standards that translate very well into bringing people in who align with that. Um, and it just makes for a great, uh, combination of people doing good by or doing well by doing good. 

Jeff Howell (03:50): 

That's great. Uh, we're definitely going to double click on that franchise model. I think that's my first question. I'm gonna ask you. <laugh> okay. And, uh, and I don't know, you guys must know this. You both attended the same university, I'm sure. Uh, I'm, I'm sure you attended at the same time or, uh, was one a little bit, uh, earlier than the other. <laugh> 

Dan Durney (04:10): 

No, I'm older than lane. Dan's 

Lane Kofoed (04:12): 

A little older and wiser than me. <laugh> 

Jeff Howell (04:15): 

Well 

Dan Durney (04:16): 

Older anyway. 

Jeff Howell (04:17): 

<laugh> and, uh, so lane, you were actually hired by your Eagle scout leader. When I learned that that brought a smile to my face because life really is about relationships. And, uh, how cool is it that, um, you know, something from so early on in your life led to, uh, you being hired to, and, you know, carving out your path to where you are today? 

Lane Kofoed (04:37): 

Yeah, so, um, yeah, I was, I had been graduating, had done, gone from my hometown for 20 years and I got a call from my old scout master. And one of the men that I, you know, a great mentor of mine, one, one of the men, I most respect in this life. And, and, uh, he said, we need your help. Uh, you know, they knew my dad, my dad's an attorney and our, our town where we grew up and, and, uh, they knew I I'd, I'd been at Pricewaterhouse and had a financial career and consulting career. So they, you know, they needed some, uh, financial, uh, expertise at, at the office. And they, so they called me and asked me if I was interested and, and I looked into it and I thought, man, there's not many, many better industries than senior care mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, and, um, my dad had just passed away from cancer after battling it for 10 years. So we had been through the whole gamut of care, uh, from, you know, home care and hospice and, and, uh, family, um, and respite care, just the whole family, uh, trying to help dad through, uh, cancer battling cancer for 10 years. So, uh, when they, they called me and asked for my help on the financial side of this company, uh, it, it, it all made sense for me. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, 

Jeff Howell (05:50): 

Yeah. There's so many people in the industry that have, uh, stories where they've been touched by, you know, the, the need for care, or maybe the lack of care. Uh, um, curious the, uh, I, I don't know if COVID has affected this or maybe you guys are starting to get back to normal, but, um, I learned that, uh, you've done a number of discovery days for your franchisees, uh, at the ranch with starry skies and campfires and some whitewater rafting. Uh, are you guys sorta of, uh, trying to get back to that kind of an onboarding? 

Lane Kofoed (06:20): 

Well, still there, we never stopped, um, even through COVID, uh, you know, and Idaho's a more rural state, so we didn't have a lot of restrictions. So we had people to our ranch all last year and this year, um, and, and, and the idea is just to really get to know people sometimes out on a horse with them in the Stary skies, uh, or the, the clear skies, uh, in the, in the summer, in the Stary skies in the winter. But, uh, you just get to know somebody get to know a lot about 'em. Yeah. 

Jeff Howell (06:51): 

It's, uh, no matter what industry you're in, uh, you know, it's important to break bread with your colleagues and, uh, you know, in a remote virtual world, it's really a challenge to do that. So that's great to see that. 

Lane Kofoed (07:02): 

Yeah, we, we actually did a couple, the beginning of COVID a couple discovery days virtually, and it just doesn't have the same impact. You don't really get to fill and sense who the person, you know, you know, that there in front of you, like you do person to. So we went back pretty quickly to, uh, in person discovery days at my ranch. Yeah. 

Jeff Howell (07:23): 

That's great. 

Dan Durney (07:24): 

And those franchisees have an open invitation to come on out and ride anyway. Yeah. Cause they both, both of those scenarios, uh, they ended up becoming franchisees. 

Jeff Howell (07:34): 

Oh, that's great. Yeah. Well, I'll, uh, I'll drop a, uh, yellow in reference, I suppose you don't drop them off at the train station afterwards. So, uh, if anyone <laugh> watches the show they'll know what that reference means. <laugh> 

Lane Kofoed (07:47): 

I have had a couple people say I've never been dropped off at the airport with a horse, uh, a trailer full of horses in the back before <laugh> 

Jeff Howell (07:57): 

That's 

Dan Durney (07:57): 

Amazing. Well, and we had, and just to clarify, we do have a reputation in the franchise world of having a very unique discovery day. Uh, and it actually came out at a national conference in a breakout session for franchise development, with a panel of different franchise orders in different industries, including one of our competitors who actually, uh, made the comment, uh, that assisting hands has the, uh, unique, uh, discovery day in, in, uh, all the franchising. So it's a lot of fun. Yeah. It's a lot of 

Lane Kofoed (08:26): 

Fun. The actual, the actual panelist said you don't need to have a dog and pony show to have a great discovery day <laugh> and, and a few people in the room said, well, actually, you know, assisting hands does do a dog and pony show 

Dan Durney (08:39): 

Deal, literally. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. 

Jeff Howell (08:43): 

Well, speaking of, uh, unique, so here's what I know about, uh, your franchise framework. You have, you have four levels. This is typically seen a little bit more in the restaurant industry where location is such a factor. And here's what I know is that, so level one would be the single franchise owner. That's what we always commonly refer to, or think of as just the, the one off franchise owner who has one territory, the multi version of that, where let's say you're in a town of 80,000 people, and the franchisor has developed four territories for that city. Then, um, you could end up having those four territories as an example. And then you guys have this notion of the area developer and the area representative. So can you guys bring us through how this model works and, um, what would, what would it take for me to be a developer or an area representative? 

Dan Durney (09:39): 

So I'll clarify a little bit on that. Um, so our territories are, uh, approximately a couple hundred thousand in total population. So that's a single unit, uh, territory, 25 minimum of 25,000 seniors over 65, uh, a multi-unit um, we allow a franchisee to cover up to three territories from one office without having to duplicate the office scenario. Um, okay. And so, and we reduce the price for that. So that would be a multi-unit owner where they secure multiple territories. And typically in a contiguous fashion, the area representative territory is typically between four and 6 million in population. They're responsible for developing between 16 and 24 units over the course of 10 years. And that's through a series of recruiting franchisees, but more importantly, they're in the role of a mentor or coach, really more of a support role. And that's the characteristics we look for as well as being, uh, financially viable to take on that bigger, uh, investment. They will still operate their own location, uh, to learn the business, which is crucial for us, but then they are able to then help recruit franchisees and support them on an ongoing basis. And that area rep shares in the royalties and the franchise fees with the franchise, or very generously for 50 50. 

Lane Kofoed (10:58): 

Yeah. This is very rare, especially in the home care space, in a lot of services industries, it's very rare to have an area rep model. And the reason is because you give away a lot of the franchise fees and the royalties. Um, and early on, we, we made the decision that we'd rather have, um, the kind of dual support cuz you have of the national support of the national company. But then you've got an area rep right there in your backyard, uh, that knows the state licensing and, and registration requirements and, and a lot of the state policies and laws of their local area. And so we made the decision early on that, um, that we would have that area rep model in this case for home care, because it would significantly help the new franchisees get a better start with the support guidance training of, of a local office, as well as the national company watching out for, you know, the national, uh, vendors and, and, and the political side and, and, you know, all the things that, uh, a national company could do for you. 

Jeff Howell (11:57): 

Mm-hmm <affirmative> so it's definitely a differentiator, definitely a differentiator for likely says 

Lane Kofoed (12:02): 

Very rare. I've had lots of, uh, competitors say, why, why do you guys give away so much? You know, why do you, uh, give, give so much of your royalties and your franchise fees to your area reps? Yeah. And I say, you know, because of the model, because the, the support, the additional, uh, training resources support of a local person, and besides we like the idea of sharing the wealth, uh, let everybody, uh, grow together, gain wealth together, your reps, uh, are all doing incredibly well with us. The kind of thing that we believe in is, uh, building wealth together and building resources together. Um, and so there really are our, you know, closest allies, uh, best partners, you know, loyal, most loyal franchisees are area reps. So 

Jeff Howell (12:53): 

Interesting. So the, if I'm a potential franchisee, what I'm hearing is that I'll probably have this accelerated path to success with, um, maybe one extra layer of a safety net that I've got this area rep that is sort of, uh, my, almost my front lines, uh, coach. Yep. That, uh, knows my area really well and has a vested interest in making sure that, uh, we succeed together. That's exactly it. Yeah. Now, and then there's about, so my understanding there's about 65 home home care franchises, only less than five are, are using this kind of an approach. That's the latest we've heard is that less than a handful of the 65 plus senior care franchises have an area rep model that's correct. And, and 0% probably would have a, uh, dog and pony show as well. 0%. Well, one, whatever the <laugh> our one percents, the math, whatever one outta 65 is percentage wise. <laugh> 

Lane Kofoed (13:54): 

Yeah, it's kind of, it's kind of funny because it's not something, uh, we do just to show off. Um, you know, I grew up, my dad was an attorney. We had horses, we had cattle, we had work to do, uh, we had people over and they dried with us and, and, uh, it's kind of a continuation of, of just extending, um, your relationship ship to another level. And when you have people next to you on horses or, or we've had franchisees, uh, that were out at discovery day, and I had 'em help me pull a calf, a, a cow that was having a hard time birthing, you know, I, I always joke around and say, well, we're put, we, you know, free labor. We put you to work at discovery days. We need help on the ranch. And, but really it's about getting to know people, uh, in a setting where you can really get to know them. Well, mm-hmm, <affirmative>, 

Jeff Howell (14:44): 

Uh, I saw in 60 minutes recently, there's actually a university that's on a ranch now and you have to apply to get into it. Hmm. And they go through academic learnings, but you're also living ranch life. You're up at the crack of Dawn you're you're milking cows. And I thought it was really fascinating that they're, uh, combining academics with, uh, just the life skills that you learn on, uh, for being on a ranch. Yeah. I 

Lane Kofoed (15:08): 

Grew up with milking a cow by hand every morning and night. And you can't miss, if you, if you don't milk the cow in the morning and you don't milk it after school every day, then, you know, the cow suffers. And so, uh, it's something that teaches a lot of responsibility, cuz it's always gotta be milked day and you know, day in, day out 

Jeff Howell (15:28): 

Well lane, I love your quote in a 2018 home health, your news article where you say that, um, you folks are between being a tortoise and a hair <laugh> uh, and so <laugh> how, how is, uh, being patient and, and not growing too quickly, how has that benefited your network? And can you give us an example of that? 

Lane Kofoed (15:46): 

Well, so our belief is that every new franchisee we want to have them, uh, give them the kind of knowledge and skill and understanding of the business that we all have. And you can't do that in a rush. You can't, you can't rush that process. You can't, uh, put in too many at to times where you don't have those kind of resources. Uh, we could double or triple our resources. Uh, but again, you know, the, the idea is that we wanna grow responsibly and we wanna know everybody, we wanna know their challenges. We wanna, you know, have that kind of relationship with them and it's paid dividends. Uh, we've never had a lawsuit. We've never had anybody say that, that we didn't do our part as a franchise or to support and train and guide them. Um, I think that's pretty rare. Our Ernie tell us that's really where, uh, in the world of franchising, that, that we've never had any legal, uh, battles in our FTD. 

Jeff Howell (16:42): 

Hmm. Yeah. It's very unusual. You read an article as well that, uh, I think it was Mike drum accused you of being the nicest CEO, uh, as well. So yeah. 

Lane Kofoed (16:50): 

Yeah. He does gimme a hard time about that. He says too soft on people too. Nice. But yeah, 

Jeff Howell (16:56): 

<laugh> do you guys, um, have you grown by acquisition, do you plan on growing by acquisition? How does, how does that look if you guys are either on the hunt for acquiring agencies in that fashion, or is that, uh, just not on the radar screen? 

Lane Kofoed (17:14): 

We've thought about it. Some, uh, conversion is what is called in franchising, but, um, but you know, every time we've kind of worked towards that, um, you know, there's obstacles there. Of course they've got, uh, uh, you know, franchising is, um, zip code based demographic, um, um, protected territories. And a lot of times that doesn't quite work with the existing businesses. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, there's some, a few obstacles, so we're not opposed to it, of course. Um, but we're growing, uh, incredibly well. We just, um, mostly with the broker networks and word of mouth, uh, people have come to us and, and wanna be part of this industry, good hearted people that wanna care for people in their communities and they wanna be, uh, do something good in the, and, and, and, you know, close to home, not have those commutes. Uh, so we found a lot of success just in, in word of mouth actually. And, and also the brokers are really good to us. 

Dan Durney (18:10): 

I would just say that we've had some, uh, folks that we've talked to about doing conversions and exactly what lane said, the, uh, territory restrictions, um, that they haven't been used to. I mean, there's a reason they were operating as an independent business is because they, uh, didn't want to have, uh, restrictions. So con versions are difficult and some industries much easier to do, like in real estate, it's a lot easier to do, um, conversions and other kinds of service based companies. But, uh, when you have, when you have territory restrictions, it, it has another level of difficulty for, 

Jeff Howell (18:44): 

Yeah, sure. I would imagine the easier conversion is just someone who wants to sell and retire. And you've got a, uh, a superstar franchisee who wants to expand their territory and, and you give them the right of first refusal to absorb that, uh, acquisition. Yeah, 

Lane Kofoed (18:59): 

Exactly. And we, we call that a transfer. We're not necessarily converting their business to assisting hands, but I, I mean, we are, but another assisting hands is basically taking over clients and, and their caregiver lists. So, uh, it's not quite, uh, an acquisition like acquiring a, a building and, uh, and a lot of fixed assets. It's more of a, uh, consumer, um, your clients and caregivers, uh, lists that are being acquired. 

Jeff Howell (19:28): 

And then the numbers, um, of approximately 20 200,000 of a population and seniors being 25,000. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, I'm curious what your thoughts are on, uh, what you see out there as maybe what the average is in the industry. 

Dan Durney (19:44): 

Well, we're pretty similar to, um, many franchises. What's interesting though, is for example, we have a franchise Z in a market that has about 300,000 total population. They've been around about 12 years. They do over 5 million a year. And in, uh, 12, 13 years, cumulatively, they've only served 5,000 people, just a little over 1% of their total population. Okay. So it doesn't take that many clients to have a very viable business. So there's plenty, plenty of business. Uh, as everybody knows, 10,000 people a day, turn 65 in this country, that silver tsunami is, is not gonna stop anytime soon. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Jeff Howell (20:25): 

So if I'm a new, uh, potential franchisee and, uh, whether I would go with assisting hands or another, a agency, what are the common mistakes you guys see that, uh, new franchisees make 

Dan Durney (20:36): 

<laugh> well, I'll I'll yeah, go ahead, lane. And then I'll weigh in. If it's different, from what I hear, 

Lane Kofoed (20:42): 

Really the, the, um, the mistakes are not quite following our model and doing things outside of, uh, things that we've learned over a lot of years and with a lot of experience. And, uh, we happened to have a franchisee, uh, was a big, uh, corporate executive, uh, over marketing used to spend a lot of money marketing a certain way. And we trained her and we taught her this, you know, this, this type of marketing doesn't work well in this industry. Um, but, but here's some other ways to market that are gonna be really successful and, and, and are proven. And, uh, she, she later she had struggled and she later, she said, man, I should have listened to you guys. I just thought I knew better than you I've had a career in marketing. And, and I thought I better than you guys. And I wish I'd listened more to, to what you're trying to guide me, but, you know, we're also very open to new ideas and new, uh, technologies, uh, new ways of marketing. Um, and, and we're always, uh, willing to say, Hey, you know, test that out. If it works for you, then we'll pass it on to everybody else in the company. Uh, uh, but there are some things that we've learned over the years that, um, uh, you know, if, if people just follow our model, they'll, they'll be, we know they're gonna be successful. 

Dan Durney (21:57): 

I would add to that, uh, not properly staffing and trying to do everything themselves. Um, you've gotta be able to delegate you, can't be out doing marketing and then also, and to run back and do a home assessment and, you know, you've gotta be able to divvy up the assignments within the, uh, office. Mm. So try and do it all themselves as, uh, not a good recipe for success either. Right. 

Jeff Howell (22:21): 

How do you find your area representatives by the way, would they, would a high, high number of them be sort of gradual its from, uh, one off franchisees or are we talking about a holy whole different persona that, that people come in as that role, 

Dan Durney (22:36): 

Right. To begin with? Most of our, uh, well, it's probably an even split of those that came in as their area reps from the GetGo, uh, versus those that came in as franchisees and then became area reps. Uh, if those territories were still available to them. So we have some of those that start out as franchisees and then became area reps. But the bulk of our leads come from, uh, franchise brokers and coaches and consultants mm-hmm 

Lane Kofoed (23:01): 

<affirmative> yeah. And the area reps, um, you know, they have to have a, uh, much higher net worth, uh, some minimum requirements to take on that kind of responsibility. Um, may maybe, um, uh, you know, everybody's high caliber in, in their own ways, but people have had some, uh, business experience in growing wealth, uh, and helping others grow wealth. They are ideal area rep candidates and, and then they also open their own franchise business. And so they get the hand, uh, hands on experience that, uh, is necessary to help others in the future. 

Jeff Howell (23:38): 

Well, I counted about 22 awards, I think, uh, guys, when I went to your website, including, uh, most, most profitable franchises, most innovative top franchises for women, top low cost franchises, there were all kinds of categories I didn't even know existed. Yeah. <laugh> what would you say, give us some secrets to winning so many awards. 

Lane Kofoed (23:58): 

Well, last year I'll tell you alone with COVID. Um, we want, we were in the top 500 franchise companies and, but we're always down closer the, in the four hundreds and three and four hundreds, uh, list, but because of COVID, um, you know, franchise companies were hurt pretty hard. Um, yeah. Even haircut places when were outta business for months. Yeah. With time and they're usually the steady eddies of the industry, but with COVID, um, when, when COVID hit, we have a, a great group of attorneys. Um, and we got right on that. How do we help our caregivers, uh, go care for clients that may have COVID? How do we help our clients, uh, have a caregiver in their home that may have COVID? How do we do this legally in a way that we can still get there and be, be there for, uh, the elderly and disabled and, and especially the people who need the help when their families can't help because of COVID restrictions. 

Lane Kofoed (24:54): 

And so we jumped on it with our attorneys in a week, we had, um, a legal, uh, platform out for our franchisees and this gave them a big advantage, uh, when, when all their competitors or throwing their hands up in the air and saying, you know, I don't know if we can care for your mom or not. We knew exactly what we had to do. We had the legal forms to go and say, Hey, you know, we're gonna indemnify you. If, if we get COVID from your client or vice versa, um, you've gotta be willing to sign this if we're gonna care for your, your parents. And, uh, and you know, we, we want to care. We we'll do everything we can to protect them. Uh, we masked up and wore gloves and did all those things, especially, uh, protect the susceptible populations, uh, which are more of the elderly and disabled. 

Lane Kofoed (25:39): 

And so we did all the right things and we got out to the legal, uh, forms quickly to our franchisees. And, and, and, and there was a lot of, uh, people in our, you know, in our competitive industry, uh, that just didn't know what to do during that time. And so we gained a lot of ground and, uh, we went, uh, in our awards, we went from, uh, 400 and something, the top 500 franchise companies up to 163, um, big, huge leap LA last year. Um, partly because of COVID and we grew, uh, 16 million, uh, in revenues that year because of COVID. So, so that's one example of, of winning awards. We, you know, we jumped on, uh, you know, the requirements with our attorneys and made it happen for our franchisees. And we grew substantially because of that. Uh, but also, you know, like the, uh, top women franchisee award, um, we have a lot of women franchisee. They tend to have tender hearts and they tend to wanna care for people. And, and, uh, we, we add the business skills and the resources and the care and the compassion that they bring in. So it, uh, we've got, uh, uh, two sisters that work together in partnership and, and we've got a lot of husband and wife combos, and we got a lot of, uh, single combos and a lot of those women. So we win awards for that. We win awards for growth every year we win for, uh, veterans. And, uh, 

Dan Durney (27:05): 

We, I think we added three veterans last year. 

Lane Kofoed (27:08): 

Yeah. Yep. And we add, we win awards for, um, uh, you know, our franchisee feedback. Our people, uh, validate really well for us and, and are grateful for the resources we provide to them. So yeah, we've had a good <affirmative> stream of awards and, and we're grateful for them. 

Dan Durney (27:26): 

And I would add not just in the franchise realm, but also in the industry itself, home care, uh, awards from the, uh, home care industry, in addition to franchise satisfac, uh, franchisee satisfaction awards and things like that too. So, yeah. 

Jeff Howell (27:40): 

Yeah. Well, in the case of, uh, you, uh, moving really quickly to get all those legal documents in a row, that would be more a case of you being much closer to the hair than the tortoise. Yeah. <laugh> 

Lane Kofoed (27:52): 

Right. In the support, the support and the guidance and the training side, you can't. Yeah. And that's part of not growing too fast. Um, we have the resources, we have the people we get, we get the help that's needed right. To that. Yeah, sure. Yeah. And that's a, you can be nimble. Yeah. That's a big part of our belief system. We just don't wanna let anybody down. 

Jeff Howell (28:15): 

Yeah. And I guess one of the other advantages is that, uh, as per your website, you still have some, a territories up for grabs because you don't have, you know, 900 T already, um, taken, taken up. Uh, Dan, can you run us through, uh, what the focus is on your growth now in the us? 

Dan Durney (28:33): 

So in the us, I would say some of our territories that, uh, California is wide open with the, the west coast for area representatives, Oregon, Washington, um, uh, St. Louis in the, a, uh, center of the comp country and then great territory, uh, and the Carolinas, uh, South Carolina and, uh, Charlotte area. Um, the east coast is pretty well, um, solidified for area reps, but lots of great territories in the Boston, Connecticut area markets, New Jersey, uh, and then very strong opportunities still in Florida, uh, and in Texas to markets where we have strong area reps, uh, in those areas. 

Jeff Howell (29:16): 

And if I'm, uh, a potential franchisee out there and I'm evaluating, uh, home care versus other industries, mm-hmm, <affirmative>, uh, not withstanding the, uh, the trip to the, the Dutton ranch. Um, why would I consider home care versus other, uh, franchises out 

Dan Durney (29:32): 

There? Well, part of it comes down to when we talk with the candidates about what their reason is even for looking at senior care number one, and why they're even looking at a, uh, doing a business. And I hear over and over again, people, especially they're in corporate America that are either seeing their job coming to an end, or they're about to get acquired. The company is, and they're not gonna be needed anymore. And they just don't want to go through that again with another company. And they want to do something that leads the legacy and does has some kind of impact, uh, in their community and do something good for people. And so, you know, with all, like I say, with all due respect, a Coldstone Creamery, this isn't chop and ice cream, this is taking care of someone's mother. Uh, and so if <laugh> hope Coldstone creamy, doesn't listen to this, but anyway, <laugh> sorry, brands <laugh>, they'll do just fine. 

Dan Durney (30:24): 

They'll do just fine. Uh, but yeah, you've got, you've gotta have a heart for the business and, uh, there's very few businesses in general that you can put your heart and soul into and provide a good living for your family, a good return on your investment and be able to, uh, answer the call that that many people have innately to contribute to their community and do something good. And the impact that these caregivers have on the lives, not of only of the seniors, but of the extended families that are impacted in a positive way to allow their parents and grandparents to age in their home for as long as possible. That it's just hard to compete with that. So if people don't want to, they just wanna do something, you know, like maybe vending machines, or it's just a side hustle. That's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. Um, but for an opportunity to do really well in a very scalable business, that's the other big advantage home care. It's a very scalable business. It's not limited to a FAC uh, you know, a facility that gets filled up, um, and can contribute to their, uh, community. That's, it's a great opportunity now to mention the fact that we've already said, ad nausea, 10,000 people a day turned 65 in this country. So, 

Lane Kofoed (31:40): 

Right. Yeah. And to that point, um, you know, the baby boomers, we we've talked about 'em for the last 20, 30 years, how powerful, you know, an audience they are, uh, for care for, for all, all types of services. But the truth is, um, the oldest baby boomers were born in nineteen forty six, sixty five years later, that was only 2011 in 2021, only 75. We're not caring for people in their early seventies and their sixties. We're caring for mostly people in their older seventies, eighties, nineties. And so those 78 million baby boomers, they're still gonna need care in the future. We, we haven't gotten to them yet. Really? Yes, we will. And, and so when people say air industry saturated, or there's too many of you already, we say, uh, we haven't even started caring for 78 million people that are coming and we're still on the forefront of this. And so we're glad to be where we're at in the industry. We've got a stronghold in the industry, but the pie's just gonna get bigger and bigger. 

Jeff Howell (32:43): 

It was probably 20 years ago. I think that boom bust and echo came out. If you guys have ever read that book and, uh, the, the, the number or the stories that, that are in that book, that show you, uh, the impact on, and, uh, you know, when that generation, you know, left tennis because they got into their forties and couldn't play tennis anymore. And, uh, there's just, it's an undeniable, uh, force that, uh, you know, they'll, they'll definitely need care as they age. Uh, a lot of them will have the money for, you know, private services as well. And, uh, you know, the challenge will be to sort of figure out how the it's a weird industry, where the number of clients is not the problem. That's usually the problem with a business is you don't have enough customers, <laugh> 

Lane Kofoed (33:29): 

Customers, clients problem. And, and the other side of things is the more that there's, um, you know, dementia Alzheimer's is growing in our country. And, and with home care, you know, the more you can keep them stable in the home where they raise their family, where they know, or they have all their experience, uh, the better you can pre preserve their health. And so that's another big factor in the home care industry is that we, yeah, and we try to keep people healthy, safe at home where they, uh, are the most healthy, 

Jeff Howell (34:03): 

Well, gentlemen, we're bumping up against our time. So I'll, uh, I'll get you outta here on this two part question, Dan, we'll start with you, give us a reason to be, um, concerned about the future of, uh, care in the home, and then a reason, uh, why we should all be optimistic, 

Dan Durney (34:18): 

A reason to be concerned about the care in the home. Well, um, the only thing that I hear right now is concerns about, uh, recruiting caregivers and finding the right people and caregivers are a little bit different type of person than, uh, someone, uh, you know, working in a restaurant, they have more of a nurturing heart. Um, they won't necessarily jump ship for 50 cents an hour type of thing. And I think finding the, those people and being focused on, you know, assisting hands is only as good as the caregiver that you send into their home. So the focus needs to be on taking good care of the caregivers and the caregivers will take great care of the clients. So I think as long as we stay focused on bringing the right people in and, and paying a little a bit more, if we need to do that, um, but I think that would be maybe the, uh, concern, um, but that's across multiple industries. 

Dan Durney (35:11): 

Uh, and I, and I, uh, again, I think that's something that we have a leg up on because of our focus on taking good care of the caregivers. Um, and then, uh, optimism is <laugh>, as we've talked about, it's a great growing industry. Um, I think you mentioned something about focus on, uh, boomers when, uh, I think that's how the, uh, Dodge caravan came about when Leia Coca was evaluating, uh, people who would drive a minivan. Now, you couldn't drive one on a bet, uh, with the boomers <laugh>. Um, so it's a, it's a great opportunity to be involved with a company that especially that's, uh, if you're aligned with the same values, um, then you don't have that in internal conflict of, well, I kind of like what I'm doing, but I, I can't stand the people I'm working with. So if you can take that out of the equation, uh, I think that's goes a long way toward being, uh, having optimistic opportunity to work with assisting hands. 

Lane Kofoed (36:09): 

Yeah. You know, as far as challenges in our industry, um, I used to joke that, you know, the only thing that would destroy our industry, if there was a global pandemic and the senior populations of the earth were wiped out, and that would definitely harm our industry. And now I can't use that joke anymore, cuz it actually happened. Um, but uh, we found that, um, but because uh, people couldn't get to their loved ones, they couldn't go into facilities to nursing homes, to hospital, those, to assisted living facilities and help them visit them, give them the care that they need. Uh, we became even more essential and more critical, uh, during a pandemic. And uh, and it also, uh, gave us a reason to, um, you know, to continue to strive, to give that compassionate care, to help people maintain their dignity and independence, uh, to, to care for them like their family. 

Lane Kofoed (37:04): 

We care for them. And, uh, so, so our challenges, uh, like Dan said with caregivers, we have, we focused a lot on the kind of training and resources that we can give them, uh, that create loyalty that educate them, that create, uh, good ill with them and that, and they, they become, uh, loyal partners and, and close, uh, close workers for us. And then, so we focused on that as well as, uh, providing the kind of care that families are looking for, the kind of care they can trust, uh, the kind of care that they, uh, would, would hope that, um, they would receive. And part of that is training caregivers to not just be babysitters, but to go in there and, uh, and, and help the help, the people that they're caring for to help them better their lives have better nutrition, uh, have exercise, uh, do the things that will, um, give them health and strength and, um, our day brighter rather than just be a babysitter or, or just sit with them. And so, yeah, uh, we focus on those things as a company, uh, and as a way to overcome the challenges for our industry, uh, but truly, uh, we feel that the, the future's very bright, uh, for senior care home care. Uh, and, and partly because of, uh, just the aging populations, but also, uh, partly because, um, all the, the economic and political, uh, chaos of our world, uh, we feel like we can be a strength there for families that need 

Jeff Howell (38:35): 

Our help. Yeah, sure. The, uh, one of the silver linings of the pandemic is, uh, home care has never had higher brand awareness mm-hmm <affirmative> and, uh, and you know, with the silver tsunami, uh, necessity is the mother of invention, right? Yeah. So, uh, the gap of, uh, too many customers and, and not nearly enough, caregivers has to be solved at some stage. And, uh, I'm sure we'll, we'll continue to try to bridge that gap. So that's right. Well, thanks guys. I've learned a lot about assisting hands today. Uh, this has been incredible. I'm definitely gonna keep an eye on you guys, and I want to thank you for, uh, coming by and, uh, hopefully one day we'll catch up at a conference someday soon. That'd be great. Thank you, Jeff. Okay. Take care guys. Take care. Bye.