{"id":16480,"date":"2022-11-09T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T09:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=16480"},"modified":"2022-10-26T07:11:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T06:11:15","slug":"taking-on-the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/taking-on-the-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking on the challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

It\u2019s perhaps not that common to hear homecare franchises suggested as the ideal option for young people starting out in business. \u201cA lot of people do it as a second career, but it\u2019s often overlooked as the first. I would highly recommend it for some people as their starting career,\u201d says Hannah Drury. It isn\u2019t really a surprising comment to come from Hannah, though \u2013 she became Operations Director of Caremark Epsom & Ewell, Reigate and Banstead at the remarkably young age of 25.<\/p>\n

The reasons behind her Caremark venture involve both profound family tragedy, and a refreshingly go-getting attitude. \u201cI am quite fearless!\u201d says mother-of-two Hannah. Though, as a self-admittedly rebellious teenager, it would\u2019ve been hard to predict her current life as a business leader. \u201cI was academic, but I had my children very young, and left school early.\u201d No early hint of her future career focus? \u201cI was out partying, having fun, and looking after my kids \u2013 I hadn\u2019t really found out what I wanted to do at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

What changed things for Hannah were two terribly close, tragic events. Firstly, her younger sister was diagnosed with cancer. This led to Hannah\u2019s first encounter with homecare, and she saw immediately how valuable it was. \u201cBeing able to have palliative care at home gave her a good end-of-life experience, as far as they go \u00ad\u2013 and particularly when you’re that young\u201d. Her sister sadly died aged just 18. The whole family saw the worth of high-quality homecare in that period \u2013 so shortly afterwards her stepfather Simon decided to become a Caremark franchisee.<\/p>\n

Heartbreakingly, it wasn\u2019t long before he too was diagnosed with a terminal illness. \u201cAbout six months into starting his Caremark franchise, he got diagnosed with motor neurone disease,\u201d says Hannah. Simon\u2019s rapid deterioration was soon going to become impossible for him to bear, and he began to plan for an assisted death overseas. Up to this point, Hannah had little knowledge of Simon\u2019s business. When he was first considering joining Caremark, she had gone with Simon to a franchise expo and \u201cAlthough I was aware of things like McDonald\u2019s, I didn’t have a very deep understanding. I was just there for fun – for a day out, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then one day, while preparing for the end of his life, Simon suddenly asked Hannah to lunch. \u201cPrezzo in Banstead. I remember the table,\u201d says Hannah, \u201cAnd he asked me \u2013 at 23 with two babies and not much work experience \u2013 if I wanted to take it over\u201d. How she replied is a perfect demonstration of her fearlessness. \u201cI just said, \u2018Yeah, sure\u2019!\u201d Simon could see the entrepreneur in Hannah. \u201cI’ve got a can-do attitude and I love a challenge. He saw in me the qualities that a business actually needs, rather than just things on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that instant, she took on the Caremark franchisee experience. \u201cWe just went for it. I moved into my mum and stepdad\u2019s house, and I would learn everything from him.\u201d Just a few months after Simon\u2019s diagnosis, Hannah was undertaking the Caremark training and starting to run the operation. \u201cThe training was great. A really motivating experience, because you finish and then you’re all set free to go and do all the things that you’ve talked about. And I’m still really good friends with someone that I did the training with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy stepdad was really keen on only doing a business that was something that people needed, not just wanted. He never wanted to be in a position where you’re trying to sell something that people don’t actually need,\u201d Hannah proudly remembers \u2013 so she wasn\u2019t initially motivated by profit so much as delivering exemplary home care. However, her attitude has evolved over time, \u201cThe financial side probably wasn’t even a consideration of mine when I first started out. But when you’re running a business and you get to understand the numbers more, and then you see them growing, it’s addictive!\u201d Simon died in 2015 \u2013 several years on, and the franchise that he started is now prospering in Hannah\u2019s hands. The can-do attitude that he identified in Hannah is matched by her passion for superb quality care, and business is booming.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that the roots of Hannah\u2019s success lie in her spirited dedication to doing good work. While Hannah recommends not \u201coverthinking things\u201d, she\u2019s very thoughtful \u2013 considerate about the wellbeing of those around her and paying close attention to the smallest details of how she can best support her carers. Given that her introduction to Caremark was in her own home \u2013 Simon was even cared for by his own staff \u2013 it\u2019s also no surprise that closeness in the team is important to her. \u201cWhen you come in here, it’s like a family. And however big we get we try and maintain that.\u201d Aware of her wider family too, Hannah calls on readily-available support from the network and Caremark Franchise Support Centre \u2013 thankfully receiving the perspective of \u201cfresh eyes\u201d when a Caremark team member visited to help assess office premises, for example.<\/p>\n

Hannah may have left school early, but she\u2019s not stopped developing her talents in parallel with her business growth. She\u2019s now a yoga teacher and, having left a psychology degree to join Caremark, is now considering other courses that focus on human behaviour \u2013 all the time passing on the benefits of her self-improvement to clients and staff. With her background, she also understands the value of homecare more than most, but modestly thinks \u201cEven my understanding is lacking,\u201d and recommends that \u201cAnybody going into this industry should try and spend time on the on the frontline \u2013 understanding what you’re delivering is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast to her initial unfamiliarity with franchises, Hannah is now an enthusiastic advocate of the business model, noting how the Caremark formula delivers a perfect mix of support from the central business, plus local-level autonomy keeping \u201cthe soul\u201d of a company, that larger corporates can lack. \u201cIt gives you a solid base to be able to run a business, to test all your entrepreneurial ideas and spirit and see if you can do it \u2013 but with that safety net of a tried-and-tested model.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this in mind, it\u2019s inspiring to see that her extraordinary journey is being recognised by the franchising industry itself. Still in her 20s, Hannah\u2019s now been a \u2018Young Franchisee of the Year\u2019 an incredible four times \u2013 and has won other awards too. Her mantlepiece must be very crowded! While her younger days saw her partying for the fun of it, she\u2019s still out celebrating \u2013 but now it\u2019s about toasting her many achievements in homecare franchising with Caremark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s perhaps not that common to hear homecare franchises suggested as the ideal option for young people starting out in business. \u201cA lot of people do it as a second career, but it\u2019s often overlooked as the first. I would highly recommend it for some people as their starting career,\u201d says Hannah Drury. It isn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":16481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1468,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16480","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\/Hannah-Drury.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16480","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=16480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}