5 Life Lessons for Home Care Business Owners

Jessica Nobles, founder of Home Care Ops, started her home care agency at age 18 and hasn’t stopped working to transform the home care industry since. Nobles sat down with CareAcademy's SVP of Marketing Aaron Dun to share her story as an influencer in the home care landscape, some of the keys to becoming a successful home care operator, and insights she's gathered while building a supportive online community of more than 3,000 home care operators.

Check out Jessica Nobles’ tips for home care agency success below, or listen in on the full conversation on our podcast.

1. Mentorship matters

Nobles explains that early in her career with her own home care agency she was excited to have booked a meeting with a major hospital wherein she hoped to secure an agreement as their exclusive non-medical home care referral partner. However, she was shocked to hear from the hospital administrator that “Home care is so inconsistent, we would never consider being exclusive with an agency.”

Nobles set out to change the way things are done in the home care industry, and decided to start by bringing home care agency operators together in a Facebook group with monthly trainings. By bringing over 3,000 home care operators together in one supportive digital space, Nobles has been able to connect start-up business owners with established agency leaders who bring in millions in revenue. Seeing the power of these connections has sold Nobles on the power of mentorship and community in the home care industry.

2. Set your growth expectations

Nobles explains that growth often looks very different than first-time business owners expect it to. “Even when we talk to our action leaders and master operators who have passed $4 million, $10 million in revenue per year, the advice is the same. We tell them that growth isn’t a chart where things are going up and down all over the place. Growth looks like a staircase, where you take a step, and then you grow and maintain, and build that foundation. And then you grow another step on top of that new foundation you built. We have to think about repeatable systems for long-term success.”

3. Understand the cost of doing business

Building a business isn’t easy in any industry, and just because you do good deeds doesn’t mean your business will take off. Building a sustainable and successful home care business requires investment, hard work and experience. Nobles explains, “When I first started my home care agency years ago I was so green. All I knew is that I wanted to help a lot of people. But I did understand the basics: I knew that the only way I can help a lot of people is to make sure that what I’m doing right now will turn a profit and allow me to put that back into the business.”

4. Empower your people

Your caregivers are your biggest assets as a home care operator—and training is a critical investment, says Nobles.

“You need to have training software in place,” she said. “We are only as good as the service that goes out into our communities. We need to have a system for training and backing up your people, empowering your people. Making sure that your people know what to do and feel confident in it.”

Bonus: Want to test-drive software designed to help your people provide high-quality care?

Try CareAcademy free for 14 days.

5. Feeling rewarded isn’t the same thing as being rewarded

The best piece of advice Nobles has ever received? It comes down to knowing your worth to grow your business. “For many of us in the home care industry, our business becomes our passion projects. We feel like if we’re doing good, being a good person, offering good advice, we feel rewarded. But that’s not the same thing as being rewarded. So we have to stop and evaluate: Is what I’m doing truly beneficial, not only for the people I’m helping, but for me? Is it giving me the resources and connections that I need to build on this success? We have to make sure that what we are doing is not only making an impact for others, but for ourselves.

Get the support you need to grow your business

Home care expert Jessica Nobles shares more insights on sustainable growth for home care agency operators on The Home Care On Air podcast. Listen to the full conversation for more great tips.