CEO of Multimillion Dollar Enterprise Sounds Off: Secrets to Running a Successful Home Health Care Business

When asked about the source of her passion for elder care, Andrea jokingly replies that it might have come from the fact that her parents had her when they were both over 40. She grew up in New Jersey with a specific and unusual idea of what she wanted her future to hold. “I always knew I wanted to work with seniors.” She refers to her undergraduate and graduate studies programs as ‘broad’ in the sense that both allowed her to build her own curriculum and employ the acquired skills in any area she wished. Her first job was in the non-profit sector, where she worked for 10 years in support of seniors wanting to stay at home, as well as the families caring for them. Following this phase of her career, Andrea accepted a job offer from ADS Group, a for-profit elder-care company.

Shortly after its sale in 1993, Andrea and two partners found an opportunity to buy a small home-repair business at an attractive valuation. The three new owners of HouseWorks quickly understood the need for home care, and proceeded to add this component to their program. Andrea believes HouseWorks owes a significant part of its success as being pioneers within the industry. The other prerequisite for success in the home-care business is truly caring about clients. “Our private home care has been running for almost 15 years. “Some do it for the money, but in order to be successful, you have to care. This is a business where you pay attention from the minute someone calls you on the phone to the moment you’re no longer providing services to that person. Some home-care companies that start with a small office and grow quickly can lose hold of their customers and all the details.” Reliability and motivation are key. “When people are paying that much out of pocket, they don’t want someone who doesn’t show up, or someone who doesn’t take initiative and just sits there and watches TV; they want someone to respond to them or their parents’ needs in a very professional way.” Andrea recognizes that the biggest challenge lies in not losing sight of the customer. Achieving consistently high levels of professionalism remains a prime distinguishing factor from any organization’s competition.

In common with many other types of enterprises, the home-care business is volume driven; margins are not very high per individual client, so a large clientele becomes necessary in order to make profit. Despite few benchmarks for determining how long it generally takes to achieve profitability in this field, Andrea pegs it at about three years. Like most entrepreneurs, she reiterates the value of passion in being successful. “What matters to me the most is that I can have a huge impact on the way people are able to age. Using the success of my company to make a difference is the biggest reward; doing well as a business is just an extra bonus.”

Andrea has come a long way as a CEO. Since initially pursuing her dream of being a social worker, she had to learn required entrepreneurial skills necessary to HouseWorks’ success. As in most careers, hard work and passion are a must, and having mentors is always beneficial. However, entrepreneurs need not necessarily know every small detail of the business. Hiring an expert in a particular area is often preferable to spending long hours trying to become one. “As a CEO, I thought I should know how to do everything, and do it well. In fact, you have to know what you’re good at and what you need help with.” Partners and co-workers complete each other; the best work is done when everyone gets to practice what they’re best at doing.

As in any endeavor, mistakes are made in the business of helping people. Andrea’s was that she neglected profit in favor of community service. “As tempting as it might be, helping everybody is not a reality. You can’t run a successful business and do everything for everybody; instead, you should focus on your core.” Successful ventures may also stem from devotion to a seemingly unprofitable activity. Andrea’s efforts to bring assisted living into communities resulted in the creation of intentional communities, a nationwide trend that started with Boston’s Beacon Hill Village.

Today, HouseWorks has two offices, in Boston and Washington, D.C. The Boston office saw annual growth of about 20% every year before the recent 2008 recession; current clients, although similar in number, are asking for fewer services. Andrea sees any recessionary period as an opportunity to look inward instead of concentrating on growth. “In a time like this, we can focus on all the things that we put off. If you don’t do that periodically, the detail will run away from you, and not just the detail of your customer, but also that of your staff. When it comes to communication with staff and referral sources, we want to make sure that everyone involved enjoys doing business with us.”

Andrea is clear about both her mission and the resulting success: “Even when you feel lost as an entrepreneur, you should not be worried. Having your passion as a career, and mentors who understand you, are the best safety networks you can build in the business world. As an entrepreneur you feel that you should always have a clear path, and sometimes you don’t. When I’m feeling unsure of what I’m doing, I call one of my mentors. Being on a long journey, you really need someone to be there and support your goals.”

Andrea and her company represent a model for socially responsible entrepreneurship, with success the inevitable byproduct of inherent passion.