In today’s episode of A Drink With The Hurricane, Steve discusses the struggles of working in this industry and how to overcome them.
Hi folks, Steve The Hurricane here on today’s episode of A Drink with the Hurricane. We’re gonna talk about staying motivated as we grow our business because this is a very tough business to be in. Today’s topic, staying motivated through this business, there are so many times I can remember in my home care business that I had where I wanted to throw in the towel.
I know what it’s like to get thrown out of a referral source. I know what it’s like to speak to people and they don’t take you seriously, or they don’t want to hear what you have to say. I know what it’s like to go marketing into accounts again, and again, and again, and again, and not get business. I know what it’s like for people to say, flat-out, “We don’t refer home care.” I know what it’s like for the state to come in, and you freak out when they’re doing their survey, and they’re combing through all the files, and they wanna find something to charge you a penalty for, to make money, and to drive you crazy.
I know what it’s like when you go to start up a case and a caregiver doesn’t show up, and you have to go walk into this house now without a caregiver, and you promised the family that you would take care of them. I know what it’s like to get a phone call when the 11 o’clock to seven o’clock in the morning shift starts on a 24-7 case, and the relief person didn’t show up and you can’t get ahold of her, and there’s nothing to do, and it’s almost midnight.
I know what it’s like when the caregiver injures a client and the client ends up in the hospital, and you’re freaking out. Am I gonna be sued? Am I gonna lose everything? I know I have bonding and insurance, but what could happen? I know what that’s like first-hand. That is very difficult, and I know every one of you, you’re dealing with this every single day. Compliance, nurses, staffing, restaffing cases again and again, hiring caregivers over, and over, and over, and over again.
Yeah, this is a tough business. Yes, this is a hard business to thrive in. No wonder so many businesses close down. No wonder so many people don’t make it. Now I’m gonna tell you, that’s any business. My business, Hurricane Marketing Enterprises, when I first got started, we came this close to not making it in 2014, and anything short of a miracle saved my company and helped me to get it to the multimillion-dollar empire that it is today.
You have to push through. You have to be able to have it. One thing that I highly recommend doing is going to events like this one. I go to conferences. I go to events. It helps recharge my battery because the business world breaks us down, and every day it erodes, and it erodes, and it erodes, and it erodes, and then you get to a point where you question if this is something that you should’ve done in the first place. I also recommend taking vacations, and long, extended vacations.
One of my buddies who’s in my mastermind group has a ten-plus million dollar home care business, and when we were at a mastermind meeting last year, in September of 2017, two years ago, I’m talking with him. And as he’s growing this business, the business was worth about eight million dollars a year at the time, and he’s talking to me, and I said, “When was the last time you went on a vacation?” Because he’s telling you all this great stuff about his business, but he didn’t seem to be enjoying it. He didn’t seem to be enjoying his life. He’s always flying here, doing this, working, working, working, 80 hours a week, and he’s got young kids, and he’s got a beautiful wife.
And I said, “How often do you go on a vacation?” And he goes, “Well, our kids are young, “and we go on vacation maybe three times a year, “but we do long weekends. “We don’t really do a long vacation. “We do like a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, “and then I’m back in the office on Tuesday.” And I said to him, “That’s not how to live. You have an eight million dollar a year business. Why are you a slave to your business? You have all of this development, all of these clients, all of these caregivers, all of these offices, all these locations, but you’re killing yourself, and your kids are only gonna be this little now.”
“They’re gonna grow up before you know it, and they’re gonna be out of the house, and you’re gonna miss out on things that could only. The business will still be there. The opportunity will always be there, but your kids are only gonna be this age once.” My challenge, I threw this out to him, over the next 12 months, is for you to take a two-week vacation. Just do one and see what happens.”
And so, following up, August of 2018, when I saw him and we were out of our mastermind, and I do my mastermind. Day one is personal development. Day two is business development. Day three is a fun day. So on the fun day, we’re out dolphin-watching in Clearwater, Florida, with all the masterminds. We’re out, laughing, and my kids are running around the boat. He and I are having a drink. And he said to me, he goes, “Steve, “last year you challenged me to go on a vacation, “and I gotta tell you that I went “on a two-week vacation with my family in May “and it was the best thing I ever did.
“I got to unplug. “I got to forget about the business. “Nothing happened in the business “that my staff couldn’t handle without me. I think that’s the big message here, owners, that we think that, oh, no! Something could happen! And we get this anxiety built up in us, but he said, “Nothing happened “that my staff couldn’t handle. “The business was the same as when I left it. “I came back and it was fine. “But more importantly, I got “to spend quality time with my wife. “I got to spend quality time with my children, “and after the first three days, it was hard, “but by the fourth day, I was relaxed “and I was totally in the zone. “And then when the vacation ended, “I was sad to go back to the office, “but it reminded me of why I’m doing what I do. “Because it’s for them.” And that’s exactly why I, personally, here I am.
I do all these videos. I have these bootcamps. I speak 25 times a year at conferences and conventions. I’m gonna be gone from my family almost 100 days this year, 2019. But every August, I take the entire month off. I go down to a place that we rent in the Clearwater area and I just sit on that beach. I don’t call my office. I email, but I do like one day where I do some Hurricane stuff, and six days out of seven, for 30 days, I’m with my wife and my kids. We’re in the pool. We rent boats. We go to the beach. We go to dinner. We go to lunch. We go for walks. We work out. We have a blast. And it recharges my battery. I get to think about the business, not from being in it, but just think about what I could do, or how I could tweak things, and when I come back, I’m recharged, I’m refreshed, and I’m ready to run the marathon for the fall season.
And then when December comes, and all of the holiday parties, and the festivities and stuff happen, again, I pull back from my business. I let my staff run things in December and I become super dad, and I’m at school all the time with my kids, and I’m with my wife, and we go out for lunch, and we go to the gym, and we work out, and we go out to see movies, and then do all of this, go to the tree in New York City, and everything else. That’s why I run my company. It’s for them. It’s so that I can retire one day. I don’t let my business run me, and that’s the message here to you. Your business is probably running you.
This is a business, all businesses can run us, but this business specifically, home care, hospice, home health, it will run you and run you into the ground. I’ve seen it happen. I have literally had clients drop dead. I’ve had clients die because of the stress of this business. I’ve had clients end up in the hospital because of the stress. The one thing that you can’t change is your body, and yourself. If we don’t take care of ourselves and we let the stress of this business affect us, your body will say enough, and you’ll end up in the hospital. I don’t want that for anybody. Yeah, this is a tough business, but you need to remind yourself why you’re doing this.
Now, some of us, I’m a religious person. Some of us are doing this for a higher power, a higher purpose. I’m here to serve my fellow man and keep them out of the hospital. Well, if that’s your reason, remind yourself of why you do this, so that when you have those difficult moments, and they happen every single day, as I said at the beginning, when you have those difficult moments, your reason for doing this is strong enough to fuel you through the down moments.
And before long, before you know it, your business is successful, you’re thriving, you’re doing the things that you want to, you’re fulfilling your mission, you’re fulfilling your purpose, for both your fellow man and for yourself and for your family, and living the American dream. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why we do this. And we have to remind ourselves of this.
So like I said, if you find yourself in any of these situations, come to a bootcamp. Go to a conference. Go to any event that’s gonna help you motivate yourself. Take that vacation that you haven’t taken in three or four years. You need it. It’s not just about wanting a vacation. We need that time away to recharge our battery, to go at it 100% when we come back. So there’s the tip for the week, folks. I can’t wait to see you at the next bootcamp. I’ll see you in Colorado, where I’m gonna give you everything you need to BLOW AWAY THE COMPETITION.
https://www.homecaremarketing.net/hurricanebootcamp/
