Chris and Sue Broadbent purchased the Home Instead Senior Care Chester franchise in January 2008. The Chester franchise was originally established in early 2007 and was Home Instead Senior Care’s first UK territory.
In February 2007 the UK’s first franchise office of Home Instead Senior Care was set up in Chester. This is already a well established, successful, and still growing business supporting 60 clients with care in their own homes.
When Chris and Sue purchased the Chester franchise Chris had 30 years in corporate sales (telecommunications) under his belt, and Sue had worked in healthcare as a qualified nurse. This gave them a great blend of experience for running their own franchise operation.
Chris was made redundant three years ago by which time he had had enough of ‘corporate life’. The couple, who have four children, saw the redundancy as an opportunity to take control of their lives and steer it in the direction they wanted it to go. Commenting, Chris said: “Looking back now, being made redundant was a great thing! With my redundancy package I had options. It really made me think – I want to work for the next 10 -15 years, what do I want to do with the rest of my working life?”
Chris and Sue had heard about the new Home Instead Senior Care operation and liked what they heard. Sue said: “We both agreed that this was a really worthwhile thing to do. With my background in nursing and Chris’ business experience I knew that we were well placed to make this a success and we haven’t looked back.”
With his background in sales Chris looks after the networking and marketing side of the business whilst Sue runs the office and looks after their CareGivers. They both enjoy keeping in touch with their clients and make regular care visits themselves.
They are never without support and Chris says: “We really feel like we are part of a network and there is always someone to call if we need advice. The franchises are split into bands depending on turnover and Sue and I meet with our peers on a monthly basis for training and to share best practice. The support we receive is second to none and although we are very much the masters of our own destiny, we never feel alone.”
The Chester franchise currently delivers 3,000 hours of care per month making a real difference to their clients’ lives.
