Franchise Partner Ken Jenson, on how he became the 2nd franchise partner in the history of Amada and how that happened.

 

Marcos Moura: 00:28 So I've probably told this story a million times, but it never gets old. Today. I'm here with Ken Jenson, who is our very second franchisee ever. So the story goes that we had a one franchise partner, Robert Christianson, who really was one of the main reasons why we started franchising Amada Senior Care and after Robert we had one franchisee and we all looked at each other going, what the heck do we do now? How do we go and find our second franchisee? So Ken Jenson, welcome to the show.

Ken Jenson: 00:56 Hi, how are you Marcos?

Marcos Moura: 00:57 Doing good. So I, I wanted you to share how the heck do we go from having one franchise partner we're brand spanking new and you somehow found us. Can you tell us how that happened?

Ken Jenson: 01:10 Yes. So I knew I wanted to get into the home care industry. I had done some research, I'd actually gone to the, uh, what do you call it, the days where, you know, the day where they teach you all about their franchises.

Marcos Moura: 01:20 Oh, discovery day discovery, yeah discovery days

Ken Jenson: 01:23 I went to discovery day for Right at Home, Home Instead, and Visiting Angels. And I sat there and listened to those guys talk for between six and eight hours.

Marcos Moura: 01:32 All great, wonderful companies by the way

Ken Jenson: 01:34 Yeah, they're awesome, but I owned my own business for 20 years. So I knew what I was looking for and what they were offering me was not what I was looking for. I wanted an opportunity to grow a company and make a big difference in where I lived. So I decided that that wasn't what I was going to do. I actually bought an agency in a box and was going to do this on my own.

Marcos Moura: 01:57 And how much was that? Do you remember how much you spent on it?

Ken Jenson: 01:59 It was $999. So if you wanna buy it, it's for sale my friend.

Marcos Moura: 02:03 You'll sell it?

Ken Jenson: 02:04 Yes. But anyway, um, so I went and I was, I was going to start my own business and some guy came up to me one day and said, hey, I hear there's a new company franchising out of southern California. And so I said, okay, I'm, I'm always willing to listen. So I called up Amada Senior Care and I said, hey, this is Ken Jenson. I live in Colorado. I'd like to talk to somebody about maybe franchising with you guys. And the girl that answered the phone said, yeah, I'll let you talk to Chad. So all of a sudden I hear this voice is this Ken Jenson from Newhall, California, and I'm going, what? I had moved from Newhall about 15 years ago.

Ken Jenson: 02:40 And so after the big earthquake in southern California. And then I said, yes. He says, this is Chad Fotheringham. And I said, oh my gosh. I had been Chad Fotheringham's scout master when he was 16 years old. And so I knew him instantly. In fact, we almost named one of our kids after him. We thought so highly of him. And so I said, Chad, tell me about what you're doing. And he started talking to me about Amada and the difference between what I had heard before and what I was listening to was incredible. I said, Chad, I'm going to fly down tomorrow. I'd like to meet with you and talk to you about becoming a franchisee. And he said, alright. So I flew to Orange County the very next day. I stayed with Chad for three days and we talked about everything. And when I left I said I want to buy. And it was the greatest decision of my whole life. I absolutely love Amada and I love what I do and what I do is so unique and so different from every other home care company. I get people in the industry walk up to me all the time, say, how in the world are you doing what you do?