{"id":16477,"date":"2022-10-26T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=16477"},"modified":"2022-10-26T07:08:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T06:08:02","slug":"opening-up-in-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/opening-up-in-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening up in lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\u201cI do believe in fate,\u201d says Barney Davis of Caremark Warwick. \u201cThings happen for a reason.\u201d But when he chose a particularly significant moment to start up as a homecare franchisee, it seemed luck wasn\u2019t on his side. \u201cI was looking for offices and trying to recruit a care manager,\u201d he says \u201cThen COVID struck! I had a few weeks of thinking, \u2018Oh my god, what on earth have I done? This is the worst possible time to be starting a new business.\u2019\u201d. Happily, it turned out that homecare was in fact one of the best industries to be joining at this time. Looking back, he reflects that \u201cI’ve not got a single regret. I’m really glad I went with Caremark.\u201d It\u2019s been a remarkable journey.<\/p>\n

Rewinding to just a few years previously \u2013 Barney was working in the wine business, and the question \u2018Is this really the most rewarding thing I could be doing?\u2019 was playing on his mind. It was a vision of career change that, funnily enough, was inspired by an optician. \u201cA friend of mine. He’s making a decent living from that, but he\u2019s also doing something of value to the local community. It just got me thinking \u2013 selling wine, is this really the be-all and end-all?\u201d And while trips around the world to sample various wines might sound appealing, all that travel (including an exhausting office commute) meant spending precious time away from his wife, two daughters, and much-loved Yorkshire Terriers. A keen golfer, Barney\u2019s clubs were also feeling distinctly neglected.<\/p>\n

However, you can understand why he proudly believes in fate, because a chance remark at a crucial moment led to Barney\u2019s present position as a thriving Caremark franchisee. In 2019, he was suddenly made redundant, and although his first thought after that bombshell was relief \u2013 \u201cThank God I\u2019m not getting the 6 o\u2019clock train in the morning\u201d \u2013 it left him with huge decisions to make. With his experience, he could easily get another job in the wine trade. But did he want even more working under a boss, no equity, little fulfilment, exhaustion \u00ad\u2013 all while heading towards the end of his 40s? Standing at this crossroads, Barney decided to call an old friend with previous experience of redundancy, who just happened to be a now-successful Caremark franchisee.<\/p>\n

Tactfully, that friend didn\u2019t push Caremark \u2013 but did provide an all-important nudge in the direction of franchising. \u201cI was just having a chat with him, and he said, \u2018Well, look, there’s a franchise exhibition at the NEC tomorrow\u2019. I mean, literally, the day after I got made redundant!\u201d. Barney immediately went along. \u201cGiven my background something in food or drink seemed logical \u2013 but I just wasn’t taken by those\u201d. It was dawning on Barney that his friend\u2019s chosen field of homecare \u2013 doing great work in your community while running your own profitable business \u2013 ticked all the boxes.<\/p>\n

Barney went on to conduct thorough research with different homecare franchises \u2013 and Caremark\u2019s quality and integrity stood out. \u201cI met a few other operations \u2013 but one of the things I really liked about Caremark was I never felt like I was being sold to. Other options were full-on, and that’s just a big turn-off for me. Caremark, almost the opposite \u2013 they wanted me to be 100% confident and happy that I was doing the right thing. I really liked that honest approach, with no hard sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

After signing the franchise agreement, Barney enjoyed both a positive training experience \u2013 \u201ca lot to learn, but good fun as well\u201d \u2013 and very soon after, the Caremark Annual Conference. \u201cI got a really positive feel for the network \u2013 very, very supportive.\u201d However, this was early 2020 and another twist of fate was lurking around the corner \u2013 a global pandemic. Unavoidably, COVID did interrupt Barney\u2019s plans with unpredictable consequences \u2013 furloughed employees being able to provide their own family care, for example. But as the country emerged from lockdown, so did the business positives. \u201cPeople’s attitudes towards care have changed now. They\u2019re thinking \u2018Crikey, my mum was left on her own for all that time, maybe I need to put something in place?\u2019\u201d. So even though he launched a business in a pandemic, Barney realises his timing was strangely fortuitous. \u201cIf I\u2019d stayed in the wine business, I definitely would have been made redundant again. I didn’t think so at the time, but with hindsight, I was very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in contrast to many other industries, homecare is \u2013 as Barney says \u2013 \u201calmost recession-proof\u201d. With support from the Franchise Support Centre, and the network too, his Caremark office is now flourishing. There\u2019s a waiting list of private clients to call on, well-planned marketing is paying off, and his determined but careful networking has unexpectedly won a contract from the local authority \u2013 having kept in touch but \u201cstaying just on the right side of not annoying them!\u201d Barney\u2019s office has now got the Caremark award for 500 hours of care.<\/p>\n

What about other challenges? Many employers have faced recruitment struggles, and the care industry has been no exception. However, Barney expresses great appreciation for his staff \u2013 which leads to improved retention. For example,\u00ad on National Homecare Day as his team walked into the office to do their regular COVID tests, they were also invited into the boardroom \u2013 Barney had organised for a local beauty therapist to set up a treatment area for them all. He\u2019s clearly a people person, preferring to be in the office to make sure his staff are okay, to help problem-solve \u2013 and because he simply enjoys their company.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the Caremark formula, plus the positivity of Barney and his team, clients are happy too \u2013 he has a suite of across-the-board \u2018Good\u2019 ratings from the CQC and tons of praising reviews. As he says, \u201cTracy Major, the care manager, and I are absolutely focused on quality. There’s no point doing it unless it’s going to be the best possible care, we both strongly believe in that.\u201d For Barney, the most rewarding outcome of all this has been a great word-of-mouth reputation that\u2019s now starting to develop around his patch.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s working hard of course \u2013 the Caremark franchise is just a year into operation and the business needs careful attention. But the rewards of his efforts are already coming through. He is enjoying a far better work\/life balance, and able to spend more time with his family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI do believe in fate,\u201d says Barney Davis of Caremark Warwick. \u201cThings happen for a reason.\u201d But when he chose a particularly significant moment to start up as a homecare franchisee, it seemed luck wasn\u2019t on his side. \u201cI was looking for offices and trying to recruit a care manager,\u201d he says \u201cThen COVID struck! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":16478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1468,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-caremark","category-care-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Barney-Davis.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}