#13 Everyone talks about revenue, but rates, wages, margins, taxes, travel time, mileage, shift durations, overhead… these are the real numbers behind your top line. Dana Charumbira, Managing Director of The Home Care CPAs, breaks down gross margins across common shift types—1, 4, 8, and 12 hours—and shows how each impacts your bottom line. Then we dig into overhead: how to calculate it, how to allocate office salaries, and how return on sales plays into smarter financial planning.

• Dana Charumbira on LinkedIn
• The Home Care CPAs website
• Key Metrics Calculators—gross profit per hour, gross margin, breakeven rate, overhead per hour, and target rate calculator

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#12 Jeff Stevens, Co-Founder and CEO of Village Caregiving, shares how they grew from a single office in Barboursville, West Virginia to become the largest privately held home care company in the U.S. He breaks down two unique formulas: one for growing from 1 to 8 offices, and another for scaling from 8 to 60. Jeff dives into the strategies, decisions, and defining moments that shaped their growth—and offers a candid look into his leadership style and what’s driven the company’s success.

• Jeff Stevens on LinkedIn
• Village Caregiving website‍
• Corporate Lifecycles by Ichak Adzes

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Village Caregiving
05:15 Scaling the Business: From One to Many
20:36 The Four Pillars of Early Success
26:17 Indicators for Scaling Across States
36:09 Navigating Expansion: Factors for Growth
41:44 The Formula for Scaling: Agility, Velocity, and Integration
51:06 The Importance of Culture and Integration in Leadership
59:05 Future Vision: Where to Next for Village Caregiving?

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#11 Mike Hoskin shares why he started a home care franchise as a third career—and what surprised him most along the way. He talks about managing a business from afar, hiring with heart, and the systems that keep things running. Mike opens up about the emotional side of caring for older adults, the pressure of account receivables, and why good caregivers make or break the business. He also touches on KPIs, marketing, and his vision for scaling to 4-6 locations. 

• Mike Hoskin on LinkedIn
• A Better Solution website

Chapters:
(0:00) Introduction and Background 
(5:00) Transition to Home Care
(10:00) Exploring Senior Care Options
(15:00) Franchise vs. Independent Route
(20:00) Business Growth and Challenges
(25:00) Hiring and Team Building
(30:00) Operational Strategies and KPIs
(35:00) Future Plans and Expansion

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#10 Christian Alaimo, Co-Founder of Caribou unpacks the caregiver shortage and what it will really take to fix it. We explore practical ideas—from performance scorecards and milestone tracking to tech and culture shifts—that will help make caregiving a respected, rewarding career. We highlight the opportunity and optimism about the future of caregiving, emphasizing the role of technology in transforming the caregiver experience and improving outcomes for clients and caregivers. 

• Christian Alaimo on LinkedIn
• Caribou.care website
• Mini FAQ Podcast with Caribou 

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#9 Pansy Home Care was founded by Jonah's Francis’ mother, Pansy, a CNA who immigrated from Jamaica. Initially, the agency provided general home care services before specializing in dementia care. In recent years, they’ve gone all in on being the Dementia home care agency in CT. They’ve refined marketing strategies, built strong relationships with GCMs and memory care communities, shifted their payer mix away from Medicaid Waivers, identified their right fit client and caregiver, and built every aspect of their operations around their Dementia-first identity. Jonah shares the strategic decisions they’ve made the past three years and their future goals of expansion while maintaining operational excellence. 

• Jonah Francis on LinkedIn
• Pansy Home Care website 
• Purpose-Filled Care Guide for Dementia PDF resource
• Purposeful Pairing Assessment - Pansy’s quiz for prospective clients
• A Better Way - mental health services & dementia consulting
• $100M Leads - book 
• Let’s talk about it - Pansy’s social media segment 
• Second Wind dementia training
• Myers Briggs personality type testing
• Home Care CEO forum - home care mastermind groups

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#8 Deanna Keppel, Vice President of Assisting Hands Corporate Office joins the Lab to unload lessons learned from 16 years in home care operations—from office manager at a franchise to VP at the corporate office. We talk about leadership styles, time management, underutilized KPIs, job descriptions for owners, time in the business vs on the business and so much more! 

She also shares how Assisting Hands focuses on the importance of adaptability, leadership, and leveraging peer networking with their approach of being "guard rails, not train tracks" for their franchisees.

• Deanna Keppel on LinkedIn
• Assisting Hands website
• AC INC - Training & Education for Franchise Operations Teams

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#7 Laura Coyle, the CEO of HomeWell Care Services of New Jersey, shares her unique journey from a nurse to home care CEO. She shares how she applies the 'Nursing Process' to operational strategies and decision-making. We break down the five stages: Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation and Laura explains how she applies these principles from small operational problems to large scale strategic planning. 

• Laura Coyle on LinkedIn
• HomeWell Care Services of New Jersey on LinkedIn
• HomeWell Care Services of New Jersey website
• Nursing Process Applied to Leadership PDF Download

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#6 Alex Chamberlain, Owner of Easy Living, closes the distance between leadership and his Care Partners by drawing on his own experience in various roles, including as a CNA. He shares his strategies for "speaking caregiver" by creating detailed care plans that function as job descriptions and implementing a thorough "show and tell" orientation process. Alex dives into Easy Living's core values— consistency, setting yourself up for success, setting and meeting clear expectations, providing feedback early and often, and over-communicating—and explains how these principles are not just words but are actively lived by him, his office team, and his Care Partners to ensure everyone wins. 

• Easy Living Website
• Alex Chamberlain on LinkedIn
• A Job Description for the Care Partner - More Than Just a Care Plan

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#5 Kevin Smith, CEO of Best of Care, unpacks the significant growth and diversification of his home care agency over the last 7 years. Kevin explains his entry into the family business and highlights the evolution from a primarily Medicaid-funded agency to one that now encompasses care management, move management, a home care acquisition, and private pay nursing. We discuss the strategic rationale behind these expansions, building key relationships, the challenges of integration, and Kevin's role as CEO amidst the growth. He also shares what he’s got his eye and pressing concerns for his business going into its next era.

• Best of Care Website
• Kevin Smith on LinkedIn
• HHCN Article - From Family Roots to Industry Leader

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#4 "I had to learn the language of healthcare from the outside looking in." Kelly Adams, Owner of Beyond Home Care pulls back the curtain on what it really took to build trust with hospitals, discharge planners, and other professionals without a clinical background. From overcoming early knowledge gaps to creating her own seat at the table, she shares the practical strategies and mindset shifts that helped her position Beyond as a respected resource in her community.

• Beyond Home Care Website
• Kelly Adams on LinkedIn
• kellyadamsonline.com
• The Aging Parent Blueprint

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.