Approximately 10 to 18 million seniors need help with daily activities, with projections suggesting that 70% of people 65 and older will require long-term services and support at some point in their lives.
A significant number of older adults face significant unmet needs for care, and this is compounded by the growing aging population and smaller family sizes, placing greater pressure on the caregiving system
Married for 13 years, Shanticleer and Erica Graham have opened a new location for the franchise Seniors Helping Seniors. In this in-home care service, active seniors are hired to be companions or personal caregivers to other seniors who need help.
The Grahams’ serve Southwest Atlanta and surrounding communities in Douglas, Fulton, Coweta, and Cobb Counties, marking the eighth location in the state.
Seniors Helping Seniors, a franchisor with over 200 franchise partners and 400 territories nationwide, has grown rapidly in recent years by building a workforce of talented caregivers who create meaningful relationships with their senior care clients.
The demand for in-home care for mature populations continues to grow, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reporting that 70% of retirees will require some form of long-term care.
“We do careful matching through various criteria to make sure we match up our caregivers with the right client and to ensure they can have a mutually beneficial relationship,” Shanticleer said. “It’s going to feel like a friend in your house, and you folks can talk and chit chat and do all the different things that you want to do without feeling like you’ve got a nurse or someone holding your hand throughout the whole time.”
Seniors Helping Seniors offers up to 24-hour-a-day care, so the hours depend on the client and their needs. Services also include Alzheimer’s and Dementia care.
Shanticleer, a U.S. Army veteran and former medical technology executive, transitioned out of a 20-year corporate career when the couple saw an opportunity to align their personal values and professional skills through Seniors Helping Seniors, a brand that shares their passion for community-based elder care.
Additionally, Shanticleer and his wife, Erica, a former healthcare project manager and small business owner, were both inspired by their mothers, both longtime informal caregivers, and their own experiences supporting aging loved ones.
The Grahams are also no strangers to entrepreneurship as they have had three businesses together thus far. Currently, Erica has been running their travel agency, Paperplanes & Passports for the last 10 years.
“We wanted to do something meaningful that honors our parents and allows us to uplift our community,” Shanticleer said. “Seniors Helping Seniors lets us serve some of the most vulnerable people in our neighborhoods while also creating flexible and fulfilling opportunities for caregivers who are seniors themselves.”
“Shanticleer said his father-in-law has Glaucoma, and his mother-in-law has been his informal caregiver for the past 15 years. His mom also helps around the neighborhood and other family members.
When Erica told her mom she was getting into caregiving, her mom was super proud, asking where she could sign up to help.
“It felt great to know our mothers had our back and also allowed us to bring something they’ve already been doing to the community here in Georgia,” she said.
“Taking that break away from corporate America to sit back and realize what’s valuable and what’s important to me really highlighted this next journey we’re on,” he said.
Additionally, the Seniors Helping Seniors® franchise stands out from other brands in the elder-care space, according to President of Seniors Helping Seniors Namrata Yocom-Jan, through its commitment to hiring senior caregivers, which gives employment opportunities to seniors and better cultivates meaningful relationships between caregivers and care receivers.
“We’ve become a leader in this industry by prioritizing the best possible care for our seniors, and that means partnering with only the most passionate and hard-working franchisees,” Yocom-Jan said. “That’s exactly what we’ve found with Shanticleer and Erica Graham as a new franchisee Partner, who are well-equipped to provide unparalleled in-home services to those in need throughout Southwest Atlanta.”
When Shanticleer was laid off from his corporate job, he said it hit him hard because he had been with that company for 20 years, which he started from the very bottom working his way up to an executive position.
“It really hit me hard, and I had to realize that I’m not what I do, what I do doesn’t make me who I am, it’s more about my character,” he said. “I had to figure out my own identity again.”
For advice on being laid off, Shanticleer says it’s important to create a plan and figure out where you are and where you need to be. The first thing he did was put everything on a spreadsheet and look at their budget.
“I looked at how much money we bring in and looked at our savings and our entire net worth, and said, ‘Oh we don’t have to go into panic mode’,” he said. “We were really blessed because there are many families and couples who aren’t in a position to not go into panic mode and would have to get a job tomorrow.”
He also says things don’t always happen when you want them to, but it happens when they’re supposed to. He said they were ready to be able to accept the things that were.
“Yes, you work all the time but are you able to save something when you can, and if you can’t, and if you don’t have that job anymore, what can you do next, because you just never know,” he said.
For advice on entrepreneurship, Erica says to do your research and figure out what type of business you want to invest in.
“We all have 1,000 ideas in our heads every single day, and I knew I wanted to do something I was passionate about and something I loved,” she said. “You must figure that out because you’re going to be spending your whole everything building this business, this brand, so you have to be knowledgeable about it.”
Also, she said know you may not make some money up front, so she says to mentally prepare because it’s something she struggled with growing her business.
“Coming from a corporate job having a set paycheck every two weeks and then going to ‘where’s my check’ can be pretty disheartening but at the same time, you have to slow down and say to yourself, ‘I can’t spend the way I spend before’ because you must step back to reassess and reanalyze your habits,” she said.
Shanticleer adds to his wife and says always get better and reevaluate, even if you fail the first time.
“Everything you do, do it better next time. The goal is to constantly improve and evolve, but don’t get stuck on trying to get perfect right out the box,” he said.
The Grahams said that in the next five years, they see their location servicing veterans and expanding.
“We want to build trust and a quality, reliable reputation within the community and the first year is always the toughest,” they said. “Being able to teach and educate other people, especially people of color, on how to get into franchising, it’s all about pouring into the community for us.”