High-flying investment banker, Paul Tame, has found outstanding job satisfaction pursuing a second career as a franchisee with the UK’s largest provider of homecare for the elderly with its Epsom and Mole Valley territory.

Now Paul and his wife Jill have become Home Instead Senior Care’s 11th franchise to receive an Outstanding Rating, the highest ranking possible, from the health and social care regulator the Care Quality Commission in its Ofsted-style system.

Receiving the Outstanding Rating illustrates that franchisees don’t have to have a background in care to run a successful management franchise with Home Instead Senior Care. All the support, access to peer collaboration and expert counsel needed to steer a profitable business in the care sector is provided by Home Instead’s 42-strong National Office team and its 190-strong franchise family.

From investment banking to senior care

After 22 years as a high-flying investment banker in the City of London, Paul had the opportunity to pursue a second career when he was offered voluntary redundancy. His choice was perhaps as far from his comfort zone as it is possible to go – from investment banking to senior care.

Seven years on, 52-year-old Paul says he has never looked back. Gone are the stressful commute, long hours and international travel. Instead, he walks 500 yards from his front door to work each morning, running a team that provides a vital service in his local community together with his wife Jill.

The husband-and-wife team are a shining example of what can be achieved under the Home Instead franchise model. Their business provides around 6,000 hours of companionship-based care each month for 180 clients.

A profitable business

Today, Paul and Jill are an employer of choice in their locality, with 115 CAREGivers and an administrative team of 12 people. Their franchise is on course to turnover more than £1.6 million in the current financial year and was profitable from month 10.

For Paul and Jill, the business has provided the perfect opportunity to satisfy their entrepreneurial ‘itch’ and just as importantly, to put something back into the local community in which they already play an active part.

Paul said: “I have never looked back. While it has certainly been hard work, the rewards of being your own boss are immense and I have the added satisfaction of knowing that the service we provide is making a positive difference to people’s lives every day.”

Added Jill: “To receive an Outstanding Rating from the Care Quality Commission endorses what Paul and I believe in from the bottom of our hearts. That’s dignified care and companionship that changes seniors’ lives and gives their families peace of mind that their loved ones are in the safest of hands.”

The franchise culture

The opportunity to take redundancy gave Paul a chance to review his 22-year career in banking and to realise that it wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. After taking some time to recharge his batteries and spend more time with his young family, he started to research potential options.

Very quickly, he knew that franchising was the route he wanted to pursue – because it offered the autonomy of being your own boss but the security of working within a proven business model.

The more obvious franchise opportunities were in the financial services field but Paul, an active volunteer with the Samaritans for more than 25 years, soon felt that the social care sector was ‘calling’ him.

He said: “Being able to put something back into the local community was very important to me, and that’s how I came to look at social care. The opportunity to run a business like that with Jill was also a big incentive. Joining a franchisor with a strong culture and a clearly defined mission to change the face of ageing, made the decision to join the Home Instead network a perfect match with our personal values.”

Home Instead – the clear choice

After careful research, Paul and Jill, who have been married 18 years and who have three children, put their faith in Home Instead Senior Care after meeting the company’s franchise team at a major exhibition.

“Home Instead were head and shoulders above others because of their ethos of ‘people first’ care. That really resonated with us,” said Paul.

He continued: “Buying a franchise is not just a financial investment, it is an emotional one too and we felt comfortable making that emotional investment with this brand. We felt that we shared the same values and I could see that robust support was there at National Office that would evolve as our franchise matured. I could also see that peer collaboration and peer support from fellow franchisees genuinely happened. I knew from day one that I could call on support from fellow franchisees to discuss any challenges I faced in my territory and learn from their experiences. I return that now by providing counsel to younger franchisees in our network.”

Paul served on Home Instead Senior Care’s Franchise Exchange Council (FEC) for a total of five years. Franchisees are voted onto the FEC by their peers to act as their representatives and to contribute to the business development of the Home Instead franchise network.

Paul and Jill are also huge ambassadors for the business potential of the Home Instead franchise model. They recommended six franchisees into the network, referring owners of the Reigate, Lewes, Guildford, Maidstone, Exeter and Wimbledon territories to the Home Instead brand, which recently received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of the innovation its model has brought to the care sector.

Home Instead Senior Care has 120 territories available for people who want to run a successful business and make a difference to society at the same time by making dignified care for seniors a tangible choice in their community. Fill out an enquiry form for more information.