The Power of Partnership: Jennifer and Brian Perruccio on Building HomeChoice Home Care Solutions | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care

Anthony Codispoti : Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guests are Jennifer and Brian Perruccio, the co-owners at Home Choice Home Care Solutions. They are a family-owned agency based in Raleigh, North Carolina, providing in-home senior care, companion care, and live-in care for aging loved ones since 2005.

Their mission is to promote wellness and compassionate support so seniors can remain comfortable in their own homes. Jennifer has over 20 years of experience as a small business owner, excelling in management operations and human resources. Since joining Home Choice in 2017, she’s led initiatives to expand the company’s services and strengthen community outreach, helping to maintain the company’s core values and strong operational standards.

Brian has a master’s in sports administration and began his career in sports marketing. He later transitioned into sales before helping to buy the Home Choice Home Care business. Under their collective guidance, Home Choice has been widely recognized for its personal care and dedication to enriching the lives of seniors. I’m excited to learn more about their journey and hear insights on leadership growth and building strong relationships. Now before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefits.com. Alright, back to our guest today, co-owners, husband and wife, Home Choice Home Care Solutions, Jennifer and Brian Peruccio. Thanks for making the time to share your story today. Thank you for having us. So as I understand it, Home Choice wasn’t the first entrepreneurial venture here. Is that right?

Jennifer Perruccio : No, well, it really wasn’t. You?

Brian Perruccio : Yeah, we wanted to work together as a couple, Anthony, and we just had this desire to do something on our own and be our own boss and work together. And with Jennifer’s parents, financial and emotional support, encouragement, we went down the road of looking for a business to buy in 2010. And surprisingly, we ended up buying two businesses in 2010 because they both kind of fit what we were looking for.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah, we can we went backwards. We figured out what kind of business we wanted to own and then use those criteria and went backwards to find the business that fit it. Instead of going in saying, oh, we want to own a coffee shop. We said we want to own a recurring a business with recurring revenue that is service based and that we can run together. Ironically, probably wouldn’t have said seven days a week, 24 hours a day business, which is what the home care business is. But it did lead us to made pro and to home choice at the same time. We did due diligence and bought both of them at the same time, basically about a month apart.

Anthony Codispoti : Wow, that’s biting off a lot there. It was. Was there any thought about just doing one at a time? Kind of get your hands around it or you’re just all in.

Jennifer Perruccio : We were all in and it was really I have to give my father a lot of encourage a lot of props on that because he really believed in us and our ability to take that on. So we basically I ran the cleaning agency and Brian took on home choice and we were both brand new business owners celebrating our 40th birthday and within 30 days of each other. So it was a big undertaking and we had no idea what we were doing, honestly, in the beginning.

Anthony Codispoti : So and are you still involved with the the maid service?

Jennifer Perruccio : We stole that about seven years ago to my neighbor, my neighboring territory owner wanted to expand and he had approached me and we thought it was a great opportunity and time to finally work together. I I had learned I had learned a lot at made pro and learned a lot through the franchise system and since home choice is independent, I was able to bring some knowledge from that. A ton of knowledge. Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti : Maybe pick out one thing, Jennifer, that you learned by being in that franchise system that you were able to bring to home choice.

Jennifer Perruccio : I think recruiting and marketing with the main business, we had to constantly recruit new employees and they had a they were an excellent franchise. So that I had a lot of support from them. So I really learned how to hire and aggressively hire and train. And then also they had a great marketing program that I would just set and forget. So I was able to bring that perspective to home choice.

Brian Perruccio : As well as just being Anthony, like like it was just me running home choice for a while and trying to be the CEO, CFO, marketing guy, recruiting guy. I mean, it was just a lot with with a small staff. So Jennifer’s addition really let the agency bloom. I mean, tremendously.

Anthony Codispoti : It was like sprinkling fertilizer on a little plant.

Brian Perruccio : Yeah, we were both running successful businesses, but neither one was like blowing up. Right. They were they were good, steady growth. But you know, we just you just don’t have enough time in the day to do it all. And so we finally realized that together we’d be able to really, you know, add another 40 hours a week and really help the business grow.

Anthony Codispoti : Jennifer, I’d like to explore a little bit more about sort of those understandings and that knowledge that you brought on the hiring side of things. Because, you know, it strikes me in this business model that obviously you want to go out, you want to find new new patients, new clients that need your services, that need your care.

But, you know, you’re limited in how many folks that you can deliver that care to if you don’t have the caregivers to provide that. Yes. And it’s very rewarding work, I would assume. But, you know, it’s it can be challenging work, too. And so you’ve got to find the right people who are, you know, invested in this and want to be involved. Like what what are some things that you’ve done to be able to go out and find those folks and then hold on to the good ones when you get them?

Jennifer Perruccio : I think the main thing is staying focused on it. COVID changed a lot for us. When I came on board to Home Choice, we weren’t really, we didn’t have a real active recruiting plan. We were just able to go forward with people who would walk in the door interested in working for us and keeping the people happy. But COVID changed a lot, as it did for a lot of people, but for our agency in particular and for the industry. It would the mantra really became, oh, there’s a caregiver shortage.

And we just never bought into that. We ended up creating a recruiting position. And I have to, we have a business coach, which is we can talk about that a little bit that really changed a lot for our business in a lot of different ways. But he really encouraged all of us that worked with him to really put our foot on the gas as far as recruiting and hiring. So, but part of what made Pro Top Me is the interview process, asking the right questions and the thorough training process. And also just being able to bring people on and make them sticky to our business. Bring them on quickly, bring them on in an intentional way so that they feel like they are a part of the business, part of our mission very quickly.

Anthony Codispoti : I like that. Maybe for our listeners, we could teach them a little bit. What is your favorite interview question to ask that kind of helps you figure out if this person is going to be a fit?

Jennifer Perruccio : I think one question that elicits a lot of emotion for our employees or our potential employees is like, tell us about a time in your life where you’ve been really challenged and you’ve wanted to give up, but you didn’t.

And what made you move forward and what got you through that? You can learn a lot about people that doesn’t really have anything to do with their caregiving experience per se, but you can learn a lot about people in that answer. And sometimes we have to break out the box of tissues with that question. But I love that because you really get to know somebody in a vulnerable way. And those are the kind of people we’re looking for.

Anthony Codispoti : And then say more about how you make somebody sticky when they come in.

Jennifer Perruccio : You want to talk a little bit about that?

Brian Perruccio : Yeah, I mean, we have orientation every week, religiously. So it’s like a non-negotiable thing in our office. We’re always hiring every Wednesday we have orientation. And we try to have those employees leave orientation with a schedule of work, hopefully within 24 to 48 hours, because if they don’t get working quickly, then they’re probably working for somebody else.

So they’re thinking there’s not work at this agency and there’s nothing going on there. So if we can get them working, usually hopefully that Thursday or Friday, then we have a tendency to see them stick around a little bit.

Jennifer Perruccio : We give them home choice swag and they already have their name badges. I mean, they really become a part of us from orientation. So, you know, I would really I would say that’s an important part of it, too.

Brian Perruccio : And staying in touch with them. You know, we have all the people in the office that stay in touch with them after their first shift, their seventh shift, their 14th shift. So we just want to keep in touch with them and make sure they’re feeling like they are part of the team right from the beginning. So if they just go because this is a field, Anthony, where they’re on an island sometimes, they’re out in people’s homes all the time, but they’re not in the office. So there’s not a chance to build a lot of rapport and trust every day in the office. So you have to do it via keeping in touch with them, phone calls, text, how you’re doing, you know, our nurse supervisor goes out and sees them within the first 30 days in the field so that she can check on how things are going. So just a lot of touches to try to get them involved and feel like they’re in the home choice family.

Anthony Codispoti : I would see that being a particular challenge in the kind of business that you have. There isn’t a water cooler that everybody is congregating around on a regular basis. You know, it would be normal for somebody to feel like they’re stuck on an island if they don’t have those regular outreaches from you.

Brian Perruccio : Right. Sometimes we don’t see caregivers in the office for months because they get their paycheck electronically, their pay stub electronically. Sometimes they may come in to get supplies, but other than that, they don’t need to come in unless there’s a training or something like that. So it’s important to stay in touch with them and let them know that they are part of the

Anthony Codispoti : team. So you mentioned that, you know, one of the motivations for starting a business is that you really wanted to work together. And when you, you know, started these two different businesses separately, you didn’t really get that opportunity. I mean, it’s they’re both still in the family, but Jennifer is off running one business, Brian’s off running another business.

And one of the decisions behind selling the made business was so that you could finally, you know, come and work together and sort of, you know, have a kind of a multiplier effect there. And I have to say that that’s a little bit unusual in my experience. I mean, I love my wife and she loves me, but we do very different kinds of work and we’re happy to go to our work and then, you know, come back at the end of the day. Is this a challenge for you guys? You’re around each other all the time, all day, every day.

Jennifer Perruccio : We’ve been asked that question a number of times and we’ve realized that we are a little unusual. We do spend a lot of time together, but I would say for the most part, it’s not a problem for us, but it’s not for every couple.

And it’s not to say that we haven’t had our challenges and I haven’t had moments of, you know, like this is not fun and that it puts it can put pressure on. We talk about that, the business side of our relationship and then the marriage side of our relationship. So you don’t, you have to be very careful to protect, to me, the number one thing is our marriage. So you can’t let the business pressures or, you know, things that we’re doing or talking about and deciding on how we’re going to run the business affect the marriage part of it. You really have to be very intentional and aware about how that affects you. So, but for the most part, we love it. It’s easy. Yeah. When we joke at home like, oh, how was your day?

Anthony Codispoti : Well, you know already because you were there for it. But do you have it? So it sounds to me like you’ve just got a really good dynamic. You’re both obviously, you mesh very well together, which is important in any marriage or any work relationship. But now, you know, you’ve brought the two together. Do you have any advice for maybe some listeners out there who are considering a similar kind of arrangement or who are in a similar arrangement working with their partner? And maybe they’re having some challenges. Is there a way, any strategies that you’ve used to sort of firewall kind of the two environments?

Brian Perruccio : I mean, I would say transparency is really important across the board on the business side. I mean, always being open to what’s going on, good, bad or ugly. You know, because if it doesn’t, then if you’re not, then it can drag into the marriage side of things that, you know, affect you down the road differently. So, I mean, we work well together, Anthony, because we kind of are like a ying and yang. I mean, we look at it as Jennifer is like the visionary of the business and I’m kind of the implementer, integrator. So, we kind of know our lanes.

And I mean, there is mixing of that because it’s our business, you know, this is it. There’s no big board. You’re looking at the board. So, you know, there’s always a mixture of who’s doing what, but we kind of both know where our strengths are. And she, I can say she knows where my weaknesses are and she’ll push me.

And I need that sometimes because I can get stuck in my ways or, you know, I’m doing this longer, I’ve been here longer, you know, I just can get stuck in that.

Jennifer Perruccio : But you’re also open. You also listen and I mean, we’re not the kind of couple that ever have like big blowout fights or anything like that. So, I think we’re good at communicating. You’re good at listening. He’s good at listening.

Anthony Codispoti : You’re good at talking, Jennifer. He’s good at listening. Yeah.

Jennifer Perruccio : There you go. There’s the dynamic, Anthony, right there. So, yeah.

Brian Perruccio : And also, we say we’re a very low drama, we’re a low drama couple at home, but we don’t bring any of our personal drama to the office. I mean, what happens at home stays at home and people in the office, they know us and they know about our lives and our family, but we don’t keep that.

Jennifer Perruccio : We keep that person, we keep that side of we protect that part of our life. But I would say that our culture reflects us personally. Our office culture is very much reflective of that. We hire those kinds of people that we don’t have office drama. We’re good communicators.

We’re all growing in the same direction. But I mean, and I would also say, you know, you really have to really think about what your goals are and how you work together because it is a stress on a marriage and it is stressful when all your eggs are in one basket, your livelihood of your whole life and your financial well-being, it’s risky to be a business owner. So you have to have a lot of trust in your partner and you have to be open to being vulnerable and letting your partner see sides of you that might not, you know, you might want to protect. Like Brian touched on that.

So when we’re in more stressful parts of the business early on, it’s hard to say, like, I don’t know what I’m doing or I made this mistake or I think I made the wrong decision. You know, you have to be willing to do that.

Anthony Codispoti : So yeah. And you mentioned working with a business coach. Has the coach helped with sort of this married couple dynamic or do you work on other things with your coach?

Jennifer Perruccio : I think he’s helped us indirectly with that. He definitely has helped us grow our business. We will give him total props on the success of our business in the past six years. This has really been because of the guidance of Greg, Greg Mazza. He’s helped us a lot. And I think he’s helped us recognize what lanes we should be in and to really assign more definitive duties to each other, which has helped us a ripple effect. Be a better business, but be a better couple and help us run the business as a couple.

Anthony Codispoti : Why did you specifically buy home choice? I know it checked some of the boxes, right? You wanted service-based business that had recurring revenue. I’m sure you looked at lots of other opportunities. What was it about this business in particular that attracted you? You go first.

Jennifer Perruccio : You know, we’ve all, I’ve always had a soft spot for senior citizens. I just have always been the kind of person that lends a hand when you see somebody struggling across the street and that sort of thing. So when we came across this business and the owner was interested in selling, it was just a baby business. It was five years old. And I think the mission really spoke to us. And we’ve both had family members that have had to leave their homes for care in their later years.

And we’ve seen what that means to people. And I think one of the greatest joys that we have is being able to give our senior citizens and elderly folks the option of living at home without being worried about having a stranger in the home, without worrying about being a burden to their family, and being able to have an agency like ours that’s, you know, a family run and gives them a, gives them personal connection to us. It helps them build the trust. So I think it’s just a matter of service and being able to help people and help their families as well that really spoke to us. And we saw a real need for it in our area.

Brian Perruccio : It’s really, and, Anthony, when you get into people’s homes and start talking to them about what we do and how we can help them and you see the relief on, if not the seniors face, but the adult children that are also involved, it really, it just speaks to you. And it’s what we do. I mean, we’ve done some crazy things with clients. I mean, I’ve taken a client out in his convertible because he couldn’t drive anymore and he wanted to have a ride in the country and feel the wind in his hair. We helped a couple pack to go to the beach because he was incapacitated and the wife, she just couldn’t physically do it all. So, you know, but making a difference in those people’s lives so they could enjoy whatever time they have left, it’s just, it’s very rewarding.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah, I could see that. How do you find each other? How do you find the clients? How do they find you? Do you use the term clients, patients? What do you say?

Brian Perruccio : We call clients. And we get them from a number of different referral sources from rehabs and hospitals and social workers.

Jennifer Perruccio : Previous clients, internet leads. We do advertising on Google. We have a lot of great Google reviews. So we’ve really fostered that over the years. So we like to have many different avenues of referrals that it strengthens our business.

So if we have too many referrals coming from one source, we feel like that makes us a little vulnerable if that source to change or go away. So in COVID, we were a business that COVID helped us grow because people really needed us. And that was really 2020, 2021 were very challenging years for us, but they were also years of growth. So, and we’ve grown, we’ve been able to grow from that, you know, and really spread out our referral sources. But it’s really the community building relationships with the community and people who are interacting with the people who need us.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah, say more about the community aspect of all of this.

Jennifer Perruccio : So when you’re a non-medical home care agency, the people that need you are usually going from the hospital into a rehab facility. They’re recovering from a major health setback, whether it’s from a fall and an injury from that or chronic illness. And as we build relationships with, it’s a lot of social workers and case managers that we work with, they come in contact with those people. And they’re the ones that say to the families, like, you really could use some extra, could you use some extra help in the home? It looks like you’re really struggling with, you know, getting mom a bath on a regular basis, or sometimes adult children, some people are made for it and some people just are not.

And that’s okay. You know, not everybody’s cut out to give your own parent a bath. You know, so we’re able to build relationships with those people that are able to say, listen, we worked with home choice. We know they’re going to answer the phone when you call. We know that they’re going to be there for you when you need them.

They’re not going to ghost you when they are sending a caregiver. That builds trust with those case managers and that trust is emitted to their clients or patients. So our business is a business of trust that we’re constantly working on, whether it’s with our clients or our referral sources. So it’s the hospitals, the rehabs, social workers, and word of mouth among the elderly folks in our community, like, oh, I used home choice for my family member and they did a great job. You really, they could really help you. That we’ve seen that increase a lot over the years. And we think that is a big compliment.

Brian Perruccio : We actually just got a referral, Anthony, from a woman. She lives down the street from this client, but we took care of her husband four years ago. And she knew this lady down the street needed some help. And she said, well, I used to use home choice.

You should call them. And we’re taking care of her. Another gentleman, we took care of his wife over five years ago. Now he needs help.

And he just picked up the phone and called. So we feel we do a great job of building that trust with a client. And then years later, we make it a referral that we kind of forget about.

Anthony Codispoti : I’d like to hear more about what sets you apart from other companies that are doing similar kinds of things. I mean, you talk about sort of the community building, the trust building. But if there were a way for me to sort of objectively stack you up against another provider, how would you guys separate yourselves?

Jennifer Perruccio : That is something that we come up against because you go to a large hospital and they’re like, oh, all your agencies are the same. You’re hiring from the same pool of people. So how do you differentiate yourself? So there’s a number of things that we do.

Brian Perruccio : The first is we have a wellness program, Anthony, that really focuses on the overall well-being of the client from physical exercise to nutrition to mental activities to emotional and social activities. And it’s a binder that stays in the caregiver’s or in the client’s home that the caregiver refers to about what the client has been up to and what kinds of things they want to do and should be doing. One piece of that is what we call a walk to wellness program, where we encourage our caregivers to get our clients up and moving, whether it’s doing laps in the house or Monday they walk from the front door of the mailbox and Tuesday they’re walking to the neighbor’s mailbox.

And then by a week from today they’re walking half a mile down the road. So just encouraging them. So the wellness program really focuses on the overall well-being of the person, not just, oh, we’re there to help you bathe.

Jennifer Perruccio : And it also means it’s also enables us to meet the client where they’re at because it means different things to different people, depending on what their personal situation is. So it embraces the wellness of the whole person and their family and support them to be the happiest, most secure and healthiest person that they can be within their restrictions of what’s going on with them.

Brian Perruccio : And then another one is we have some proprietary software called Home Choice Match, which allows us to make good matches between clients and caregivers based on their beliefs, their world experiences, what they really think and feel about. And so the software just is a tool in our tool belt that lets us try to make good matches off the bat when we’re pairing up a client and a caregiver. So it also really helps, Anthony, because our entire office staff gets to know our clients through these questions that they answer. A lot of times it would be me going out to meet a client, our nurse goes out, but then the rest of the office just hears what we have to say. But when they get to read these answers of these questions that a client or a client’s family does, they get to know somebody.

And I’ll hear a scheduler say, oh, Mr. Smith, he once went to Italy all by himself and traveled for a year throughout Italy all by himself when he was 30. We had another client who cooked for George Bush before George Bush was president. So that was an interesting fact that he shared with us. So we were like, oh, he’s George Bush’s cook. So it just really gives us a way to make better matches, which enables good success for a client down the road.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah. And the family submit pictures on this software. And then the caregivers that answer questions about themselves. And there are five questions each, and it requires them to answer more in more than one sentence in detail about why did they get involved in caregiving or to the client, what can we learn about you by going into your home without you telling us anything about you?

What would we learn about going into your home about you? So they’re just interesting questions that dig deep. And it uses AI technology to overlap those answers. And it helps us really see what’s important to a client instead of subjectively trying to make a match. Because we know people, but we only know them from our perspective. So it helps us just scientifically make a better match. I think.

Anthony Codispoti : That’s really cool. So you’ve got this proprietary tech and there’s some AI behind it that’s taking what the caregiver has sort of explained about themselves and what they’re like. And it’s taking what the client has said about themselves and it’s like, oh, there may be an interesting overlap here. They’ve both traveled to Italy.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah. Yeah. Or they want some more. Some people like more socialization and some people want less. I mean, it’s a balance of it’s difficult to have someone come into your home to accept that that is part of your regular routine now for some people. It’s a difficult adjustment. So we want that to be someone that they’re looking forward to having and that they enjoy and that we are adding benefit to their life.

Not that they’re like, oh, you know, if they don’t like somebody that talks a lot, oh, we’ve got this chatty person coming. She’s going to drive me crazy for the next few hours. We want it to be a good match. You know, that’s the basis of the success of the service that we provide. And it’s not always perfect, but we work really hard to find the right matches through communication.

Anthony Codispoti : Any other interesting uses of tech that you guys are employing?

Jennifer Perruccio : I think while we use our scheduling software, we use GPS where our caregivers have an app on their phone and then they clock in and clock out when they arrive at their client’s house so it can tell if they’re at the right address. The caregiver can access their care plan and make any notes about anything going on with the client. So that’s been really helpful. Back when we started, we were doing paper time sheets. So we’ve seen a lot changing technology over the years.

Anthony Codispoti : What does future growth look like? Where’s that going to come from?

Brian Perruccio : Well, continuing to grow the business here in Raleigh-Wade County, it’s one of the fastest growing areas in North Carolina. So there’s always more business, more people moving in here. But we just start talking about growth through acquisition and maybe expanding into other areas within North Carolina. Yeah.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah, we’ve talked about expanding our footprints a little bit, but really we’ve hired a salesperson, which was a big thing for us. We’ve just recently hired a salesperson. So we’re really tending to our own acre of diamonds, focusing on home care and what we do. It’s very easy when you get a business that is running successfully to get distracted and want to add a lot of other little things to it. But we don’t sell hospital beds to our clients.

We don’t try to serve in communities. We focus on caring for people in their homes. And we know that there’s always room for improvement for that. So we are always honing our craft and staying focused on making sure that we do that the best of anybody. So yeah, I think expansion and growth is definitely something. As we grow, it’s kind of funny because it does open up space in our hearts and our minds as the leaders of the business of where can we grow? We’re not so in the weeds of worrying about somebody is called out or, you know, I don’t know, where are we getting our gloves from?

Anthony Codispoti : So we’re able to build up the business to a point where there’s people to help support you with those kinds of things that you used to have to do all by yourself.

Jennifer Perruccio : Exactly. And it is incredibly freeing as a business owner and exciting to be able to have that mind space to really think about the future in big picture ways.

Anthony Codispoti : Have you found it challenging to sort of transition yourself into modified role as the business has grown?

Brian Perruccio : Yes, unequivocally. It was, you know, it was very hard when it was small and it was me and a part time nurse and a part time scheduler and then Jen joined. And we were still pretty small when Jennifer joined. And it’s hard to give some of those things up. And one of the challenges for me, Anthony, I mean, I know you’re going to ask about it, but I’ll just tell you was I felt like my whole identity was tied up in the business. Like the business was Brian. Brian was the business.

I mean, I would go out into people’s living rooms, talk with them and, you know, interview caregivers. So it was very, it’s like one in the same. And like when we got, if we got a poor review or a client made an anonymous comment about something, I would take it really personally. Like they were commenting that Brian did a bad job or Brian did this and it was really

Jennifer Perruccio : or if our revenue took a dip or something didn’t go quite.

Brian Perruccio : Yeah, you just take it very like, oh, that’s a reflection on me where as we’ve grown and people are now doing things that I used to do, it’s easier to not be like, oh, I am the business, the business is me. So.

Jennifer Perruccio : But delegating has been a challenge for you. We would go on our calls with our mastermind group and inevitably our business coach would ask everyone, name something that you need to offload. And I would say, always say to Brian, you are going to get our water for our office.

You need to stop doing that. So he’s finally, we finally have a delivery service. So it’s like little things like that, like releasing billing and payroll that we don’t do that anymore. So, you know, it’s just learning to trust, but verify and have processes in place that you feel comfortable that you know things are being run the way you want them to be run, but letting go of the actual process of doing it and having the right people in place. We have a phenomenal team, right?

We have a phenomenal team that are really, we feel like they’re really on board with our vision and our mission and completely and more than capable of doing the jobs that they’re tasked to do.

Anthony Codispoti : So, you know, what you’re touching on there, Brian, is is incredibly common. But little talked about is, you know, when a business owner has their identity really attached to their work. And in a lot of ways, that can be really good, right?

It you’re like, that’s how invested you are that like I am the guy who does this and I do it really well and I put everything that I have into it. The dark side of that is just as you described, it’s like revenue went down this month. Now, that’s a bummer for anybody, an employee, a business owner, but when you’ve really got your identity tied to the business, it feels like a personal reflection of your worth, your value as a person. And it’s like, how do you hold on to all the good aspects of being so invested in your business while not having sort of the dark side kind of take you down? I don’t know if you’ve come up with any answers on that.

Jennifer Perruccio : You have a wife that reminds you. How’s that work? It’s tough sometimes. It’s one of the challenges of being a married couple in this, but knowing each other so well. Yeah.

Brian Perruccio : I mean, she she will just tell me how it is.

Jennifer Perruccio : And I mean, it but just or just remind you that, you know, just because this is happening, it’s not who you are. You know, and that we stay focused on. Yeah.

Brian Perruccio : I mean, I’m, you know, I’m a lot of things besides just an owner of home choice. I mean, I’m a husband, I’m a father, son in law, you know, lots of things. So I think step stepping back sometimes and looking at that and taking a step back and being like, OK, you know, the loss in revenue was not because of me. You know, it’s just something in the business, you know? So yeah.

Anthony Codispoti : And Jennifer, you feel like you do a better job of kind of emotionally separating from some of those business ups and downs?

Jennifer Perruccio : I do. I do think it’s because some of the structure of the business, because Brian originally was the the main owner and runner of home choice. So I came in up on the back end. So I don’t feel as much personal identity connection to it.

I’m a more mature person and a more mature business owner when I came into home choice, I think. And Brian’s role is general manager and knowing everything about what’s going on and making sure everything’s happening. You know, so I think the role has also had something to do with it. I think personality has something to do with it as well. So yeah, I don’t struggle with that nearly.

I don’t struggle with that problem. I identify with the business. I take a lot of pride in what we do. And it’s very, very important to me. But the business is not me.

Anthony Codispoti : OK, so let me open it up to you now, Jennifer. What is your big challenge?

Jennifer Perruccio : What’s something that you’ve had to work for? I think letting go of control is I think that’s letting go of control. Like I like to I want to control every little detail or I’ll say to Brian or maybe to say not to control myself while we’re brushing our teeth to be like, hey, what did you think? You know, so to just try to separate that desire to control every little detail of it being our way and being OK with, you know, if this happens in this way, it might not be the way we choose to do it. But it’s still good enough and good is good enough. It doesn’t have to be our idea of perfect. I think that’s where I really struggle.

Anthony Codispoti : What advice do you have for folks who might be listening that are thinking about going out on their own buying or starting a new business? Probably a little bit scared of the prospect of it.

Brian Perruccio : You have to have a support staff of some sort, Anthony, a team. I believe in you. Yeah. And, you know, we were lucky enough to have Jennifer’s parents. I mean, like they always had the belief that we could do this and grow it.

Jennifer Perruccio : And, you know, they’re the reason we started looking at businesses. I mean, I can remember the moment that it kind of clicked. I had in passing had mentioned we were at the pool with our two children who are very small at the time, and I was with my parents and I said to my father, oh, hey, this Italian cooking business that we have gone to a number of times is for sale.

I would poke around and he said, you know, you could run that, don’t you? And I thought I could. And I was about I was in my late thirties and that’s really started the ball. That was the start of it. I mean, I remember that moment. It’s one of those memories.

I can remember that moment. And we have had a lot of ups and downs in the business. Financially, it’s very stable now, but in the beginning, it was tough. And they showed up for us and believed in us every step of the way. And they put their money behind us in belief, but they also encouraged us. Even when times were bad, we never felt like, oh, they think we’re in a sinking ship. They always were encouraging.

So I would say to anybody starting, don’t think you can do it alone. And even as we’ve grown, we’ve had our coach, Greg, who’s been a phenomenal support and, you know, the people that we’ve made relationships with. But we had a great banker when we started. We’ve had great accountants.

We came across a lot of an attorney that was just had a heart of gold. So in the beginning, you have to have a team of people with the expertise that you need, that you trust and that believe in you.

Brian Perruccio : And I would also say, don’t be afraid to ask for help, you know, when you need it. Or don’t be ashamed if you don’t know stuff. I can distinctly remember, Anthony, when we bought the business and the owner was training me. And we got into QuickBooks and he’s like, so you know what you’re doing here?

And I was like, I have no idea. I never use QuickBooks in my life. I mean, and Jennifer managed our personal finances. So I was kind of like, what are you talking about?

Jennifer Perruccio : You know, so. And I was in QuickBooks.

Brian Perruccio : Yeah. So, you know, I was like, I need some help here. Like, you know, teach me. So and you also, when you buy or get into something, you don’t know what you don’t know.

And therefore, sometimes you’re not asking the right questions because you don’t know what the questions are. So, you know, and we’re a state regulated business. And so we had to call the state office a lot to be like, are we doing this right? Or is this how we should be doing it?

Or is this how we need to be doing it? So, you know, you can’t be afraid to ask a question because you just don’t. You don’t know everything. I still don’t know everything.

Anthony Codispoti : Jennifer, were your parents entrepreneurs? Were they business owners? No, no. They just they saw something in the two of you and they said, hey, you guys know what it takes. You can do this.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah, they always have. They’ve always been that way in my my whole life. That’s really cool.

Anthony Codispoti : I want to talk a little bit about the value of the coach and the mastermind, because I think that these are really underrated kind of leverage points. You know, Brian, you were sort of just touching on this. Like you can’t do it alone.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You know, the best professional athletes, they have their own coaches during the off season. The best business executives and business owners, they’re doing the same thing because we’re not an island. We can’t do it. We don’t have all the answers ourselves. What what are some of the things, the points of value that you take from that mastermind and the business coach that you’ve talked about?

Jennifer Perruccio : We’re going to get emotional talking to because I mean, between my parents and Greg, that’s those are the people that have gotten us where we are today.

Brian Perruccio : Yeah, I mean, Greg has always pushed us. And he’s always believed in us and I don’t know what he saw in us. But, you know, we went to an event of his

Jennifer Perruccio : when he was just starting as a coach.

Brian Perruccio : It was October of 2018. We drove to Atlanta to his event and his event was, you know, this is what I do. And then he wanted you to sign up for his services, which was one on one coaching and his sales process and all that. And it wasn’t cheap. And I can remember this conversation.

Jennifer Perruccio : We weren’t flush with money at that point.

Brian Perruccio : And we were talking with Jennifer’s parents that Saturday night via phone. And, you know, someone made the comment, can you afford to do this? And I said, I don’t think we can afford not to do it because we were kind of at a stagnant point. The business wasn’t growing by leaps and bounds. And we kind of we were we didn’t know where to go.

Jennifer Perruccio : We know what to do. Yeah. So we took the leap and we invested a lot of money and a lot of our time because Greg’s program was very intensive about the trainings. And the reportings and the activities that we had to do for him. And the best thing for us, Anthony, was it held us both accountable because as husband and wife, it’s very hard to hold somebody, hold your spouse’s feet to the fire. Like Jennifer, why didn’t you make 25 sales calls this week? And she would look at me and say, because your daughter was sick and your son had baseball practice and dinner was on the table every night and your clothes were clean. So it was hard. But when Jennifer had to answer to Greg on Monday morning, how many sales calls did you make last week?

She would be out Friday afternoon getting her sales calls in. So but he also told taught us the the method, the process. Yeah. And there is a distinct selling process in this industry.

Jennifer Perruccio : So we’re still that we still use and we still train and we’re still involved with Greg and still we’re going actually beginning of April to an event of his.

Anthony Codispoti : And he specifically focuses on your industry.

Brian Perruccio : Home care. Yeah. He was a former owner of an agency and then

Jennifer Perruccio : sales person at heart and had done a lot of things prior to that. But he had a franchise in Florida and sold that made it successful through processes. And he that’s how he started his coaching business. So yeah.

Brian Perruccio : And he also pushes us, Anthony, because we’re both naturally conservative by nature. So Greg will look at our business and be like, you know, you need to hire somebody to do this. And we’re like, well, we’re not financially ready. And he’s like, just just do it. Like, yeah. So he pushes us to kind of like, OK, well,

Jennifer Perruccio : or even with our goals, he pushes us, we’ll set goals and he’s like, you can do more than that. So he’ll do that too. But talk about the stretching of the with the. Yeah.

Brian Perruccio : I mean, so we he’s taught us that you always kind of have to hire ahead of where the growth is. You can’t wait till you’re growing and then be like, oh, my God, I got to hire this person, this person. It’s kind of too late. So we’ve hired. Never get there. We’ve hired ahead of the curve like, OK, we want to get to this goal. So we need a branch manager or we need our nurse to be full time now. And those are all big chunks that we had to swallow. That’s scary.

Anthony Codispoti : And money before you feel like you’ve got the justification for it. Yes.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yes. But you have to. We’ve learned that over the years through him is you really have to do that. It’s a risk. It’s one of the inherent risks of being a business owner. I think the full time nurse, he said that in the scheduler, because we were kind of doing everything in the business, running a little ragged with a part time nurse. And he’s like, you have got to hire a scheduler. And I know it’s a big investment, but you’ve got to hire a full time nurse. And those two things really did change a lot for us because it freed up our time and it gave us room to grow. So, yeah.

Brian Perruccio : And then the mastermind group has been tremendously beneficial because it’s just it’s other owners who are going through the same things. And sometimes it’s just reassuring that you’re not the only one getting stuck with this or that’s going through this. But there are also some business owners that are a lot bigger than us, that we can learn valuable lessons about growth and how they got there and, you know, what they did to overcome a hurdle. So it’s just it’s just incredibly beneficial because sometimes as business owners, you don’t have a big group, you know, like we have a water cooler, but it’s not like working at a company where there’s, you know, 12 different salespeople that you’re all convincing about. It’s us and, you know, it can be a little isolating.

Jennifer Perruccio : It can be a business owner.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah, it’s not. Very much so. Yeah. I think that’s why masterminds, coaches, peer groups, those things are incredibly valuable. Yes.

Jennifer Perruccio : And we have found that to be true. And I got that kind of camaraderie and support through the franchise system. So if you’re, you know, if you’re, if you end up with a good franchise, that can be worth it to you because I did get that kind of support through the franchise at Maypro. So we’ve just had to create that for ourselves.

Anthony Codispoti : Let’s talk about the power of daily habits. Do you guys have any rituals, any practices that you do every day that kind of help keep you on track and centered?

Jennifer Perruccio : Yes. So, well, I, I meditate every day and I don’t exercise every day, but it is a very important part of my life in the morning. You can speak, you have a very regimented routine.

Brian Perruccio : Yeah, I mean, I exercise almost every morning. I get up very early and just kind of get that done, get that part of my day. It helps me stay grounded. It helps me stay recharged and looking forward to it. And it’s just good to get out. I work out sometimes at the house, sometimes at a gym with other guys. So, yeah.

Jennifer Perruccio : And then for the business, we have a, you know, we do have regular meetings. It’s really based on traction by Gino Wickman. We employ the EOS system in our business. So, we have a weekly staff meeting that follows that structure. And then we have meetings with our sales team as well. And then you and I alone, we have a touch point meeting.

And we used to have these when my parents were partners in the business, we would meet with them and go over financials and everything that’s gone on with a bit like an overview. And that’s what Brian and I do on a weekly basis. Our offices are right next to each other, but we have this structured time to get together. And I have a little list of things to talk to Brian about that will go down, you know, just to touch base and do that. So, we have structured meetings and routines for sure. Go ahead, Brian.

Brian Perruccio : No, and I just, I mean, there’s other things that I do as far as like checking on the health of the business, looking at our schedule and kind of like the forecast for future things. But I mean, I don’t, you know, I don’t get into the weeds of everybody’s schedule, but I’m always looking at where we are compared to last week, the next week, and just kind of, you know, where our growth is going and what the pipeline looks like for leads and possible clients coming on board.

Anthony Codispoti : You mentioned Gina Wickman, Traction EOS System. There’s a book that goes along with it. I’m curious if there are any other books, podcasts, frameworks that have been particularly helpful for you guys that you might recommend to others.

Jennifer Perruccio : I think that, I think EOS has been particularly helpful. And we were introduced to that by our coach. We wouldn’t have known about it. So, I think that has been the main driver of the business. We do a lot of reading.

We’re going to a 10 times growth summit. I can’t remember the name of the author, but how 10 times is easier. It’s by Dan Sullivan.

Dan Sullivan with Dr. Ben Hardy. 10 times is easier than two times. So, how bigger is actually easier than smaller? So, we’re learning that now. We’re living that. It’s easier to manage. So, anything else? No.

Brian Perruccio : I mean, I listen to some podcasts that are industry specific.

Jennifer Perruccio : Home Care U is a podcast that we listen to that’s been really interesting and helpful. So, yeah, I think industry specific helps us.

Anthony Codispoti : Jennifer and Brian, if we were talking a year from now and celebrating something one year from now, what would we be celebrating?

Brian Perruccio : I’d like to see an additional office for us, Anthony. I mean, I don’t know exactly where, but maybe an acquisition. And then just breaking through the next big financial mark that we both have in our head, I think.

Jennifer Perruccio : Having the same staff in place. We celebrate that every year that we’re able to hold on to our office staff.

Anthony Codispoti : Not a lot of turnover in the administrative office staff.

Jennifer Perruccio : And that hasn’t always been true. I think we’ve learned as we’ve grown and then it started really with our branch manager has worked her way up through. She’s worked all the positions in our business. She started out as a scheduler with us and now she’s managing our branch. And, yeah, I mean, really having sticky employees really helps with a consistent, steady flow of the business.

There’s not so much disruption. So, yeah, I mean, we’re big on celebrating our own personal milestones and we keep a bottle of champagne in our fridge that we pop a bottle. When something happens, we have to make sure, though, I mean, we have to make sure to remember to do that.

Anthony Codispoti : Because when was the last time you opened the bottle? This week. Is it a milestone that you want to give voice to or not so much?

Jennifer Perruccio : No, it’s just a victory.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah, it’s just something that we have been struggling with in the business that got resolved. We’ll leave it to that. So, yeah, good for you.

Anthony Codispoti : A little pop of the cork to celebrate. Exactly. It deserved it. You know, I’m talking with a lot of business owners. I hear stories sometimes where there’s, you know, they look back and there was something that they viewed as just a terrible mistake that they made. And now they look back at it with some appreciation or gratitude because it helped point them in a new direction or served as a launchpad into something else. Can you think of a moment like that for you guys?

Jennifer Perruccio : I wouldn’t say, I don’t know that. I mean, would you say that we have one like event, a bad decision? I think holding on to bad employees for too long. I mean, it’s not, we’ve had a couple of them that were like, oh, dang, we should have done that sooner.

I think that, like, I mean, that’s for me because once you let go of that person, you, even before you replace them, you see the blooming of the business and, you know, the relief. Can you think of?

Brian Perruccio : I can’t really think of anything else. I’ve hung on to a few clients too long when things have not been good. You know, they’re not a great match. Not a great match. And, you know, it’s sometimes hard to think about losing that revenue. But, you know, when you after you do it, you’re like, oh, we should have done that earlier.

Jennifer Perruccio : Well, because you lose caregivers, you send them to a specific place and it’s not good for whatever reason. And then you start losing caregivers and then you start losing the confidence of your staff who’s worked so hard to bring them on. But you as a business owner, you see that revenue. But once you release them, you get the respect of your staff and there’s always more clients.

Brian Perruccio : Yeah. I mean, I think a big lesson is like kind of to do things a little quicker instead of holding on thinking it might get better or, you know, on either side, clients, employees who aren’t really working out that it’s okay to release and let go.

Anthony Codispoti : What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your industry?

Brian Perruccio : I mean, this is kind of basic, but that it’s out there. I mean, that’s one of our biggest hurdles, Anthony, is sometimes people don’t even know that home care exists and that there’s these agencies out there that do this. And I don’t really know how that changes from a societal point of view, but I think it’s getting better.

Jennifer Perruccio : And I think that we’re not that I think that what we do is there to support the person, not to take anything away from the person that if you can do X, Y, Z for yourself, we’re not going to come in and do that for you.

We are there to support you so you can continue to do that. You know, so a lot of times I think elderly people are reluctant to accept help because it’s seen as a step down that road of not, I don’t know, of decline. But what our job and what our mission is to do is to preserve what they can do and to help them live out their lives in a healthy way where they choose to live. And without causing familial stress, allowing their adult children to remain their children instead of their caregivers, you know, we bring so much more than just helping somebody get dressed and taking them to a doctor’s appointment. I think that’s I think that’s a big part that’s missed in society about what we do. Anything you want to add to that, Brian?

Anthony Codispoti : No, I think she’s coming up. Yeah, fair enough. I just have a little more question for you guys. But before I ask it, I want to do two things for everyone listening today. I’ll invite you to hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app so you can get more great interviews like the one we’ve had today with Jennifer and Brian Pruccio.

And I also want to let people know the best way to continue to follow your story and or get in touch with you guys. What would that be? You can go on our website.

Jennifer Perruccio : It’s homechoicehomecare.com. And you can see our team and see all the things we do. We keep a very active blog. So yeah, check this out. Great.

Anthony Codispoti : Well, make sure we include that in the show notes. So last question for the both of you as we look to the future, what exciting changes do you see coming to your industry over the next few years?

Brian Perruccio : I think there’s going to be a lot more automation of monitoring of seniors in their homes, whether it’s just being able to keep an eye on them from afar or having an automated system do medication reminders for them or remind them to call their daughter at a certain time. We’re seeing more and more type systems come in, but I think that’s going to be a way that allows people to stay in their home even longer. If there’s, you know, a way to do it, maintaining some privacy, but still being able to let people, whether it’s an agency or their family, just be able to check in and monitor what they’re doing and how they’re doing. Yeah. I agree.

Anthony Codispoti : Is this tech that you guys are currently exploring, implementing, thinking about? What stage are you in with it?

Brian Perruccio : I think the thinking about looking at, you know, there’s some things out there that we’ve seen. And I think there’s more coming that we just have to make sure it’s the right fit with our processes and our software. Yeah.

Jennifer Perruccio : But our mastermind group, there’s always things about that people are sharing that they’re trying. And Home Choice Match is a direct result of that, you know, using AI and technology to help us just be a better agency and provide better service.

Anthony Codispoti : Yeah. Obviously, you’re not looking for technology to replace the human element, but how do you augment it? You know, how do you have sort of eyes and ears sort of metaphorically speaking there when somebody can’t be there in person? Yeah. Yeah. Just sort of extend that care for your clients.

Jennifer Perruccio : Yeah. Yeah. Well, Jennifer, Brian, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it. Well, thank you for having us, Anthony. It’s been a pleasure. It’s been great.

Anthony Codispoti : Thank you. Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories Podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.