One year on...
Raising the bar
Abhay Shah looks back over the past year since setting up his Caremark franchise in Hillingdon
role gave me the opportunity to visit many different businesses and learn how their operations vary. Eventually though, the numbers became too dull. I had always wanted to start my own business and whilst researching various opportunities I came across the social care sector.
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What was it about franchising that appealed to you?
As I never had any experience in the social care sector, franchising was the perfect way to enter the industry. The franchise provides knowledge, guidance, support and experience that is invaluable to the success of my business. Furthermore, the franchise provides a proven business model for you to replicate, whilst still providing flexibility for you to choose your own local strategies.
What made you decide on a Caremark franchise in particular?
Having visited a few franchises before I met Caremark, the difference in their approach was stark. Straightaway, the emphasis placed on the quality of care that’s expected of all Caremark franchises was evident. The message was to ensure the quality of our service is the best and the rest will follow. The first meeting was far from a sales pitch, like it
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Businessfranchise.com | July/August 2014
hat were you doing before buying your franchise?
I was working as an audit executive at Ernst & Young. This
had felt with other franchises. It was simply a meeting to find out if our philosophies aligned and I was certain after the meeting that Caremark was the network I wanted to be a part of.
What has been your greatest
achievement since taking on a franchise? Starting up my franchise has certainly been a roller coaster, but the ups and downs are worth it when I hear the success stories of our care and support workers (CSWs). To be able to facilitate the delivery of good quality care has definitely been my greatest achievement. A recent success story that made me smile was our work with a customer who lives in supported living for mental health patients. Due to the visits from our CSWs, the customer took his first bath in four years, has become more socially interactive and has rekindled former hobbies such as cooking. I started Caremark Hillingdon to make a positive difference to people’s lives and so it is always nice to know when we have done that.
Has running your own business met with your expectations? It has certainly been more stressful than I expected – I have had, and still have, sleepless nights. This business is my passion and I absolutely love what I do. There is certainly a lot of hard work involved, but I have an excellent team of staff to lighten the load, including Christina, our care manager and Yvonne, our field care supervisor.
Abhay Shah
What plans do you have for the future? A year on, and it feels like we are still in the beginning phase of our venture in Hillingdon. In fact, we had our official launch day in June. I hope this will spur us on to become the number one provider of care in Hillingdon. I would also like to take on another Caremark franchise in the not too distant future.
What advice would you give to anyone considering running their own business? To speak to everyone you can because you never know what can come of a conversation. I am characteristically shy, but I force myself out of my comfort zone and this has opened many doors for me. I speak as much about my business to as many people as I can, and the number of people that I come across that know someone who receives care or works in the social care industry astounds me. Challenge yourself. Get uncomfortable!
Would you do anything differently? I wish I had started my franchise earlier! It has certainly been challenging but I am proud of what we have achieved in such a short period of time. I really feel that Caremark Hillingdon has raised the bar of care provision in the borough. If we had started earlier then we would be further along in our objective to achieve greatness in the provision of domiciliary care throughout Hillingdon. n
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