American Home Companions
The "live-in" experts.
When Jim
Mark began the process of purchasing American Home Companions
(AHC) from his father-in-law in early 2004, the company was a
small scale family-owned business struggling to compete in the
home care market. And yet, within three years Jim turned the
company around to achieve 65% revenue growth, $4.2 million in
sales and the position of market leader for the live-in home
care industry segment in the State of Florida. Jim credits much
of the company’s success to the assistance he received as an
Advisory Board Council client. “I would have given up on the
company had it not been for my board. The transitional problems
were overwhelming. The board helped me work with my father-in-law
to effect a successful transition.”
When Jim
took over the leadership of AHC he was an accomplished
businessman with nearly 20 years experience in the software
industry but had no experience in the home care industry. He
knew he needed expert advice to turn the company around and went
to the Small Business Development Center at UCF for assistance.
Jim had had a positive experience with SBDC services when he was
COO of a software company in Alabama and was pleased when he
read a news article about the Disney Entrepreneur Center and the
availability of SBDC services in downtown Orlando. Jim soon
learned of the Advisory Board Council and applied to the program
in November 2003. Created in 2003 and funded by Orange County
Government, the SBDC at UCF’s Advisory Board Council provides
established businesses with no-cost advisory boards comprised of
experienced professionals in order to help a company grow its
business.
Although in
its infancy phase, the Advisory Board Council accepted American
Home Companions as its second client and selected a custom-fit
advisory board to address the company’s diverse needs. AHC’s
board started meeting in March 2004 and consisted of eight
volunteers, each a highly experienced professional from the
fields of human resources, accounting, law, banking, sales,
strategic planning and organizational development. The board
guided Jim through the company acquisition and business
transition issues and also assisted with the development of a
much-needed infrastructure in order to facilitate growth. AHC
graduated from the Advisory Board Council program in September
2005 and shortly thereafter Jim finalized the business
purchase. Due to the success AHC experienced with the first
board, Jim applied for a second term with the program. AHC’s
second board met throughout 2006, concentrating on the company’s
sales and marketing to further grow the company. According to
Jim, “The second board was great for the honest feedback and
making those hard decisions. They helped me close poor
performing districts and better focus the firm’s resources on
those areas that had the best potential for growth. ”To further
assist Jim and in order to carry out some of the board’s
recommendations, the SBDC at UCF arranged for a group of UCF
students to prepare a competitive market analysis for AHC, an
exercise Jim credits as being instrumental in positioning his
company for growth.
Today,
as the market leader in live-in companions for the state,
American Home Companions is well positioned to take advantage of
the aging of the baby boomer market. Known as the “live-in
experts,” AHC offers an alternative to assisted living
facilities by providing in-home elder care services for aging
and disabled persons. The company works with medical
professionals and home health care nursing agencies to allow
elderly individuals to remain living in their own homes.
Currently, American Home Companions
serves 17 counties across Florida with 13 full-time and two
part-time employees, as well as a network of 180 independent
contractors. One of the successes of Jim’s work with the
Advisory Board Council was the development of a scalable
business model which enabled AHC to expand profitably. When
asked to sum up his feelings about the Advisory Board Council
Jim remarks, “It’s a great program. It would be hard to imagine
not utilizing the program.”
Although he
receives great satisfaction from serving the elder population
and improving his clients’ lives, Jim’s desire to give back to
the community, serve as a role model and utilize his leadership
skills extends far beyond his own company. Industry peers
elected Jim a Director of the Private Care Association of
Florida, which makes him the only companion agency
representative to serve on the board of an association of
primarily skilled care providers. Jim is a Scoutmaster for his
son’s Boy Scout troop and serves as Committee Chairperson for
two local Scout troops. He is also a graduate of the Orlando
Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Orlando program.
As part of
the Leadership Orlando curriculum, Jim toured the Orange County
Jail. Because of this tour and due to the extensive screening
and background checks that AHC conducts during their hiring
process, Jim realized that in order for these repeat offenders
to have a legitimate life upon release they would need to become
entrepreneurs. So, Jim conceived the idea of offering
entrepreneurship classes to incarcerated juveniles and developed
“On the Mark”, a business and entrepreneurship class designed to
help rehabilitate the offenders and offer them options for their
future. Through “On the Mark”, Jim is able to share some of the
knowledge and expertise that his advisors shared with him. As he
prepares to teach his third group of prisoners, Jim offers the
young men a bit of advice which offers a glimpse into his own
drive and ambition as an entrepreneur: “You have got to
absolutely believe that you are going to succeed and have
something better in the future than you have now.” |
“I would have
given up on the company had it not been for my board."
Jim Mark
American Home Companions
| 
SBDC