by Stephen Tweed, CSP

Since 1999, my wife and business partner, Elizabeth Jeffries, and I have been traveling around the world with two other couples who are members of our professional speaking mastermind group.  We call our group The SoulJourners, and every year or every other year we plan a trip somewhere in the world where we have not been.  As part of our time together, we plan some type of study related to our destination.  We also share strategies and insights about the professional speaking business, as five of the six members of our group are award winning professional speakers.

Several years ago, our journey took us to Ft. Myers, Florida and the Thomas Edison Museum.  While visiting the museum, we learned more about another amazing mastermind group known as “Uncommon Friends.”  The group started when Henry Ford decided he wanted to know Thomas Edison, so he bought the little house next door in Ft. Myers.  They became great friends and were joined by three others; Harvey Firestone, Charles Lindbergh, and Dr. Alexis Carrel.  The five of them met frequently to share ideas, solve problems, and support one another in business and in life.

Elizabeth and I have been blessed to be part of several other mastermind groups in the professional speaking business.  We have learned much and owe our success to these friends and colleagues who have shared openly with us over the years.

In 2012, Leading Home Care introduced the mastermind concept to the home care industry by starting the $5 Million Mastermind Group.  This was a group of five companies who were generating $5 million or more in revenue, and who wanted to come together to share ideas and support one another.  This group has grown and prospered, and today is known as the Top 5% Mastermind Group.  There are eleven companies that generate between $6.5 and $12 million in revenue who meet twice a year.  According to the 2016 Home Care Benchmarking Study from Home Care pulse, the top 5% of home care companies had a median annual revenue of $7,383,142.

The Top 5% group spawned two more groups;  the Top 10% Group, and the Strategic Focus Mastermind Group. The Top 10% group are companies between $3.5 million and $7 million in revenue, and the Strategic Growth Group is made up of companies who generate between $1.5 million and $3 million and who want to be in the top 5%.  The Median revenue for the top 10% in the home care industry was $5,108,665 in 2015.

All three of these groups are having their face to face meetings this spring.  The Strategic Growth Group met in the offices of Home Care of the Rockies in Boulder, CO in late march. The Top 10% group met in the offices of Cypress Home Care Solutions in Phoenix, and the Top 5% group will be meeting next week in New Orleans.  While the top 5% group is full, there is one space available in the Top 10% group, and several spaces available in the Strategic Growth Group.  If your company fits one of those groups and you are interested in exploring membership, let us know.

Two New Home Care Mastermind Groups

Because of the amazing success of these first three home care mastermind groups, Leading Home Care has started two new virtual masterminds.  These two groups will meet virtually by video conference, and will focus on Conquering the Caregiver Recruiting and Retention Crisis.  All of our research shows that the biggest challenge to growing your home care business in 2017 will be finding and keeping enough caregivers.

We just got a sneak peak at the data from the 2017 Home Care Benchmarking Study from Home Care Pulse.  Again, Caregiver Shortage is the number one threat to agencies, and caregiver turnover has gone up again, this year to 65.7%.

To help home care companies conquer the crisis, we have formed two Caregiver Quality Mastermind Groups. One is for independent agencies, and one is for franchise agencies.

How Caregiver Quality Mastermind Groups Will Work

These are “virtual mastermind groups”.  That is, the groups  meet online using our new video platform that enables every member to see and get to know every other member.  It’s almost like meeting in person except you don’t need to leave your office. And, it means you can bring in your HR professional and your recruiter without having to pay for travel and lodging for a face-to-face meeting.  While our face-to-face mastermind meetings are amazing, we are confident that this virtual format will work great for sharing ideas and solving problems related to Caregiver Quality.

The first group, the Caregiver Quality Mastermind for Franchises .

The second group, the Caregiver Quality Mastermind for Independent Agencies.

Each virtual meeting of the Mastermind Group is focused on a specific topic related to caregiver recruiting and retention.  In some cases, I will be leading the discussion and sharing information and data from our ongoing research into caregiver quality.  In other cases, we will invite outside experts to join us to share their insights and experience. And in still other cases, members of the group will volunteer to lead the discussion based on their own research or best practices.

To register for this first meeting, click on this link and fill out the form. We’ll register you in a group and give you instructions on logging in to the virtual video meeting.

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First Come, First Served

There will only be one company per local market.  In order for you to participate, you must be the first one to register from your local market.  Here is a list of local markets that are already taken:

Independent Agency Markets spoken for:

• Atlanta, GA
• Bernardsville, NJ
• Charlotte, NC
• Chicago, IL
• Howell, NJ
• Los Angeles, CA
• Orlando, FL
• Philadelphia, PA
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Riverside, CA
• Ventura, CA

Franchise Agency Markets spoken for:

• Atlanta, GA
• Big Island, HI
• Canton, OH
• Kirkland, WA
• San Mateo, CA
• Sarasota, FL

If you are located in a city other than those listed above, we invite you to explore the opportunity to become a member of one of these two Caregiver Quality Mastermind Groups.

No Obligation.  When you register, you will be invited to visit your Mastermind Group as a guest.  You are under no obligation to continue as a member of the group. You’ll be able to visit and evaluate before you make a commitment, as long as you understand that another company from your local market could come in and sign up first.