Episode 66
Lane and Shannon Peters with Hallmark Homecare
About BizCast Greater La Crosse
We bring you news from the business community. From startups to experienced problem solvers, you’ll get in-depth insight on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Greater La Crosse. Our show is a collaboration between WIZMNews.com and BizNews Greater La Crosse ( GreaterLaCrosse.media ).
Summary / Show Notes
Hallmark Home Care: Supporting Seniors with Customized In-Home Assistance On this episode of BizCast Greater La Crosse, host Vicki Markussen interviews Lane and Shannon Peters, the husband-and-wife team behind Hallmark Home Care, serving La Crosse, Winona, Tomah, and surrounding areas. They discuss their journey from researching franchises to establishing a home care agency that matches caregivers with seniors in need. Driven by personal experiences and a desire to impact their community, the Peters detail how their business allows caregivers to enjoy flexible work schedules and pay, creating a win-win situation for both employees and families. They also emphasize the importance of early planning for senior care and the unique approach their franchise takes in providing comprehensive support for families and caregivers.
- 00:00 Introduction to BizCast and Guests
- 00:10 Founding Hallmark Home Care
- 02:54 Balancing Business and Family Life
- 04:15 Why Choose Franchising?
- 05:48 The Role of a Franchise Consultant
- 09:02 Ensuring Quality Care and Customization
- 12:12 Challenges and Surprises in Home Care
- 14:25 The Importance of Early Planning
- 16:44 Adapting Homes for Senior Care
- 18:52 Closing Thoughts and Reflections
Full Transcript [generated by AI]
[00:00:00] Vicki Markussen: To BizCast, Greater La Crosse, a weekly podcast from Biz News. We bring you news from the business community. I am your host and founder, Vicki Markussen, and we have a husband wife team for this one. Lane and Shannon Peters, and you have started Hallmark Home Care out of La Crosse, Winona, and Tomah, and everything in between.
[00:00:19] Vicki Markussen: So Shannon, tell us what the business does.
[00:00:21] Shannon Peters: Um, our business, like you said, it’s Hallmark Home Care, and we are a agency where we recruit caregivers and then match them with seniors in the area that need extra help in their homes, sometimes facilities, but usually in their homes. And so how
[00:00:39] Vicki Markussen: did this idea brew?
[00:00:41] Vicki Markussen: Cause you two had lives happening, right, and kids and what caused you to say, let’s start this up?
[00:00:50] Lane Peters: Yeah, I think over the last several years, Shannon and I have been talking about building a business together Thank you very much. And, uh, just through, you know, discussions over the years, uh, sort of coalesced, uh, recently here on, um, starting up a franchise.
[00:01:09] Lane Peters: We, um, did some research on franchising. We met with a franchise consultant and, um, just backing up, we really had a desire to You know, have an impact on the community and, um, teach our kids about business ownership, um, about entrepreneurship and just the, the nitty gritty aspects of a business like bookkeeping, you know, just using a business as a teaching tool.
[00:01:33] Lane Peters: So, uh, we jumped into the franchising world and met with a consultant that, um, interviewed us, showed us a number of options for businesses that might meet our skill sets, our, um, Our personalities and would be a good fit in the community and Hallmark was one of those thankfully and from there we Dove deep into the home care space We really had a passion for this space that was sort of like kind of lurking underneath the surface Both of my grandmothers went through struggles in the end of their life.
[00:02:11] Lane Peters: They both lived in rural areas in Iowa and they both had They both ended up in care centers. Um, one of them particularly desired to stay in their home and they just didn’t have the resources in their, in their local area to, to keep them in their home. And then just declined rapidly once they had gotten into that environment.
[00:02:31] Lane Peters: Um, my other grandmother was in a, She had dementia and she was in a care center during COVID and it just, you know, as many things in COVID were, it was just a really traumatic time for her and the, and the family. And unfortunately, she ended up passing away at that time. So it really drove us into this home care space.
[00:02:50] Lane Peters: So, yeah.
[00:02:52] Vicki Markussen: So you found it very relatable, I’m assuming. And Shannon, I mean, this is. I understand that you homeschool, so you have kiddos around constantly. How hard is it to run a business and have that active life with your kids always around?
[00:03:07] Shannon Peters: I mean, there’s a lot of working in the car, but, I mean, they’re 14, and we’re, over the last few years, we’ve gotten really good at teaching them to be independent in their school, um, you know, to, Be able to, you know, motivate themselves and get their work done and they each have a list that they have to do a day and, um, so it hasn’t been bad, um, Some days are more harder than others.
[00:03:34] Shannon Peters: I would, you know, like anything, I guess, but
[00:03:37] Lane Peters: yeah. And with Shannon, uh, jumping back into the workforce with our business, I think, um, we’ve just had to get together on our schedules and have, have myself share in the, The load of schooling and, you know, running kids around, things like that. And the best I can, I try to schedule my day around, you know, Oh, this kid needs to be, you know, here.
[00:04:01] Vicki Markussen: Yes. Swimming and more swimming. Yeah. Yes.
[00:04:05] Lane Peters: Swim team all summer long, so.
[00:04:07] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. It’s teamwork, right? Right. Yeah. So what’s fascinating about your story, you’re the first people that I’ve heard that started. Looking for a franchise. Like, what, what was it about franchising that appealed to you?
[00:04:20] Shannon Peters: Sure.
[00:04:21] Vicki Markussen: I
[00:04:21] Shannon Peters: think it was, you know, you don’t have to start it on your own.
[00:04:25] Shannon Peters: You get a playbook for back, you know, lack of a better term. You kind of, like, we have a whole We have a whole recruiting team that we can dip deep into. We can have, I mean, we have corporate, you know, and they all have experience in the home care world so that, you know, it’s a great resource. You know, when we get stuck, it’s like, Hey, so that’s kind of why it was better or for us to do franchising so that we didn’t have to start on our own.
[00:04:52] Shannon Peters: You know, like you said, we have three kids, so to do it all on our own would have been a lot more stressful, I think.
[00:04:58] Lane Peters: And it’s. I view it as kind of like a fast forward button of, we thought for years about different businesses, um, real estate businesses, you know, service businesses locally here, and just didn’t get a lot of traction with any of those ideas, so.
[00:05:14] Lane Peters: The franchising really jumped out as, A way to jump in with, like Shannon said, a playbook, and really a method to get started quickly.
[00:05:25] Vicki Markussen: Yeah, and some people to catch you, right? Like, oh, don’t go down that path, we’ve gone down that path, and that’s, you’re going to run into this, this, and this. We have
[00:05:34] Shannon Peters: other franchise owners that, you know, have come before us, you know, and they’re like, oh, don’t do that, that didn’t work.
[00:05:40] Shannon Peters: You know, so we kind of have, like, a step ahead of those guys, because You know, they already made some mistakes that we get to learn from.
[00:05:47] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. And so the other thing that’s fascinating is there’s a person, whoever that person was, who’s familiar with franchises and does a matchmaking, it sounds like. Can you explain that process?
[00:05:59] Lane Peters: Yeah. Um, yes, that process is just as you, as you said, um, I forget even what they call them, a franchise broker or something to that effect, but they work with. Thousands of brands, um, you know, probably more like a hundred or so on any given day, but, you know, they represent any, any franchise in the country.
[00:06:23] Lane Peters: And I believe in the non food franchising world, which is what we focused on, there are something like 4, 000 franchises in the United States. So, yeah, like I said, the franchise consultant interviewed us, um, kind of understood what What we stood for, what our values were, who we were as people, the type of impact we wanted to have on the community, and then presented us, um, options that in his view was a good fit.
[00:06:51] Lane Peters: And then it was, you know, it was totally on us to take it from there.
[00:06:55] Vicki Markussen: So it’s a great fit for you. How did you know it was going to take off?
[00:07:02] Lane Peters: This particular idea?
[00:07:03] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. A lot of prayer. That matters, trust me.
[00:07:08] Lane Peters: Yeah, I think we knew, we just knew in our hearts that this was, this was the right thing for us. Um, it really resonated with, you know, our past experiences, like I said, with, with our, some of our family members in the home care space.
[00:07:21] Lane Peters: And then Hallmark in particular, once we dove deeper into the home care space, we looked at a lot of different approaches to home care, that there’s other franchises, and, and, A lot of them are great businesses. Um, Hallmark is, is different, kind of like Shannon was describing, where we are like a care concierge, we recruit and vet and insure a caregiver, and then we, um, place them directly with the family.
[00:07:47] Lane Peters: So the family actually employs them, um, as an independent contractor. Hallmark, um, And Shannon and I stick around during that relationship for the duration of the relationship. We provide payroll and timekeeping services on a weekly basis. We do the tax reporting for the family. So it’s really a turnkey solution package for the family.
[00:08:09] Shannon Peters: And we support the family and the caregivers throughout too. If they need help, if there’s questions, you know, kind of like help facilitate. their relationship, especially, you know, starting off because they don’t know each other yet.
[00:08:21] Lane Peters: Yeah. And with the independent contractor and direct hire relationship, it really opens up a lot of doors in terms of the caregiving where the caregiver works at the direction of the family so that the family is directing the care.
[00:08:36] Lane Peters: Um, so that’s, that resonated with us because we believe, you know, just as your health decisions, you are the smartest person in the room about your own health. and your own care, right? So, you might seek expert advice, um, but you’re the, you’re the smartest person in the room, so.
[00:08:54] Vicki Markussen: And you don’t want to have regrets, right?
[00:08:56] Vicki Markussen: As the family member is taking care of someone else, you want to make sure you want to know you’re in control, right? And so explain how you find in this job market, first of all, the caregivers, like everybody here is healthcare is so stressful and that doesn’t sound like that’s a problem for you. What do you think?
[00:09:17] Vicki Markussen: Why do you think that is? I think, well,
[00:09:20] Shannon Peters: we, you know, we’re not like a traditional agency. We really are able to pay the caregivers, you know, usually a couple dollars more than they usually can make and they have complete control over their schedule. You know, when I, when I interview them or speak with them, you know, we really try to figure out like what location they want to work in because sometimes, you know, they have to travel a lot for other places that they work for and they don’t want to do that.
[00:09:49] Shannon Peters: Um, and then, you know, if they have a that they want to stick to, or, um, a certain wage that they want to, you know, make sure they make. You know, we, so far, have been able to, um, make that happen for them.
[00:10:07] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. So it seems like it’s very customized. Like you said, they’re in control versus I’m getting the sense of if they worked for someone else, it’s you need to be at this place at this time and much more structured and rigid.
[00:10:21] Vicki Markussen: And, and so that’s how you’re attracting people.
[00:10:24] Shannon Peters: I think so. I mean, we’re, we’re able to find people, great caregivers, lots of experience. I mean, a lot of them have, you know, their CNAs and. Impressive.
[00:10:33] Vicki Markussen: And then the, on the flip side, so then you have these families that know that they have individuals who probably aren’t bringing all of this, these stressors of working for a different organization and being told what they have to do.
[00:10:45] Vicki Markussen: Like this is a choice. It’s a little bit, I hate to use the word again, matchmaking though, right? Like that you found the right caregiver with the right. Family, is that what happens? It
[00:10:53] Lane Peters: really is, you know, our process starts with the family, where we will sit down with the family, understand what the ideal care situation looks like for them, and then we will seek to find them, um, that ideal caregiver, uh, you know, to the, to the most degree that we can.
[00:11:12] Lane Peters: Um, and the, the approach that we take, um, our overhead is just lower than a lot of, a lot of traditional home care companies. So, we’re able to pass savings along to the family, uh, in addition to paying the caregiver more like, like Shannon was talking about. So it’s really, it’s really a win win relationship for the family and the caregiver.
[00:11:32] Vicki Markussen: And so what’s a little bit different about you as well as the pay structure, is that how you get paid and like you were saying, you don’t apply for state funding and things of that nature?
[00:11:42] Lane Peters: Yeah, homework is just a private pay or a private long term care insurance. Those are the types of payment that we’re accepting.
[00:11:49] Lane Peters: We don’t, um, I don’t work with any of the state aid in Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin currently, so.
[00:11:56] Vicki Markussen: And so that helps you with your overhead, because we were talking about, you know, government entities can be slow paying and then you have the cash flow issues of, okay, but I have someone to pay and I haven’t gotten paid yet, and so I’m sure that helps you keep your costs low as well.
[00:12:09] Vicki Markussen: It
[00:12:09] Lane Peters: does. It really does.
[00:12:12] Vicki Markussen: So what has surprised you in this? Is there anything, whether it’s about how you two work together or the franchise, like what has surprised you in this? For me, it’s
[00:12:24] Shannon Peters: probably going back to work . You know, I’ve been a stay at home mom since our youngest was three, so 11 years. 11 years, yeah.
[00:12:36] Shannon Peters: Yeah. So it’s, you know, our oldest was three, I guess. Um. So just like going back and like the mental exhaustion, like, you know, in, in school when your kid is kindergarten and they start going to school, you know, they’re exhausted every day, right? And the teacher’s always like, oh, just give it a month. I was like, well, that’s what I feel like because I’m exhausted.
[00:12:56] Shannon Peters: Um.
[00:12:58] Lane Peters: Yeah, for me, I think the surprise has been just how big the need in the community is of, you know, I’m talking with, um, partners in the healthcare community that might be interacting with seniors that need more help and then talking directly with seniors and families and the need is just huge. So, that’s, that’s a big surprise.
[00:13:20] Lane Peters: I knew that, you know, just while we were doing the due diligence, starting the business, I knew that, um, but it’s one thing to look at it as, you know, government statistics and population statistics, but it’s another thing to have, sit in a living room and talk to a family or multiple families every day and, and see and hear that need.
[00:13:39] Shannon Peters: And we are the first franchise to be in a rural area. Oh. Okay. So that was, like, I agree. Like, there was surprise, you know, you always hear, you know, we hear these other franchisees doing great in these larger communities, and it was like, man, you know, I really hope we can do that in our own community so we can help.
[00:13:58] Shannon Peters: And, you know, it’s, it has been amazingly, surprisingly awesome that we can find the caregivers because they say there’s a caregiver shortage. you know, and have the families too.
[00:14:10] Vicki Markussen: Talk about this in, like, I, I hate to use the word like spectrum though, but like there’s a progression of people aging and they’re aging in place or they may at some point need to go into assisted living.
[00:14:20] Vicki Markussen: Where do you fall in this and how do people know when it’s time to call you?
[00:14:25] Lane Peters: Yeah, that’s a great question. I think I would encourage families to call sooner than they think they need to. And we actually work with financial planners and wealth managers because they have clients that are trying to plan for this in their finances and they bring us in as like a consultant almost to just discuss with families that maybe at age.
[00:14:49] Lane Peters: you know, 70 or if their children, you know, are age 60, and mom and dad are age 80, you know, We can come in as just a consultant, maybe not providing care. And, you know, their mom and dad might live in Chicago or New York or wherever. Um, yeah, I would on the spectrum, I would encourage Discussions sooner than later.
[00:15:11] Lane Peters: It’s better to know the field of options out there and not need care than to be, um, in a hospital, you know, and have your insurance company or Medicare say, Oh, by the way, you’re getting discharged, you know, in 48 hours and you’re going home. And that’s unfortunately a lot of the calls that we receive are of that nature.
[00:15:34] Lane Peters: And we do our very best to help all those people. And we oftentimes are able to help them, but, you know, what a different conversation to have if you did that even a week before, you know, you went into the hospital and maybe you wouldn’t have had the event or a fall or something like that, that led to the hospital visit that led to the need for, for, you know, more higher level of home care than what you maybe would have otherwise needed.
[00:16:00] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. And, you know, you talked about, you talked about your, your grandparents and that desire to Yeah. And then that sounds like then they went into assisted living. And it just very quickly just that quality of life piece, just Yeah. Yeah, it happened.
[00:16:18] Lane Peters: Um, statistics nationwide show that about 75 percent of seniors want to be in their home as long as they can.
[00:16:25] Lane Peters: Um, and I, we are not a proponent for everybody staying in their home. You know, that there are people that just aren’t suited to stay in their home. Right. But. A lot of people are. perfectly able to stay in their home with just a little bit of assistance. So yeah, that’s where we can step in and help them out.
[00:16:44] Vicki Markussen: So do you find that you start to become adaptation experts as well as saying yes, we can come in here and provide this assistance, but you might need this, this, this and this to make that happen.
[00:16:56] Lane Peters: That does happen. And there’s a lot of great resources in the Greater La Crosse area. Both paid resources and free resources, volunteer based resources that can help a senior or a family make some of those modifications.
[00:17:11] Lane Peters: You know, maybe you just need a grab bar in your shower installed to help make showering safer. Maybe you need a whole new shower that you can walk into instead of stepping over. So yeah, you do need to look at your environment and make sure it’s set up for success. If you’re, let’s just say you’re coming home from, you know, a major surgery, you know, your home just says, you know, myself or yourself would want to make sure you’re set up for success if you came home from a major event.
[00:17:43] Lane Peters: Uh, like that.
[00:17:43] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. Whether it’s temporary and you’re just getting over something and need help or whether it’s more permanent and, and I would imagine what it sounds like is there’s a deep relationship that’s built between the caregiver and the families. And so I’m guessing there’s conversation happening between those two individuals, uh, or multiple individuals saying, yeah, maybe we should be thinking about this adaptation because that caregiver, I’m sure can say.
[00:18:12] Vicki Markussen: They can tell something’s coming and can advise? Is that something that they do?
[00:18:16] Lane Peters: Absolutely. And that’s something that our approach to caregiving, uh, facilitates is really a high continuity of care, where a lot of times multiple caregivers are involved with the home care. We seek to just have one caregiver, you know, complete an entire shift.
[00:18:34] Lane Peters: Um, whether that shift is, you know, two hours or 10 hours long, um, We really try to have that continuity so that relationship can be built, that trust can be built with, between the caregiver and the senior.
[00:18:49] Vicki Markussen: Fantastic. What am I missing, anything?
[00:18:54] Lane Peters: No, I really appreciate the opportunity to come on and talk about home care.
[00:18:59] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. I have a common closer question. You want my common closer question? Sure it is. And you can eat, you can eat to answer it. So I’ll start with you, Shannon. Okay. What makes you, she’s like, Oh, great. Thanks for making me go first. What makes you passionate about what you do? Just
[00:19:15] Shannon Peters: helping the community. I mean, our, our parents are aging, you know, we’re going to be close to that, you know, having our parents need help someday.
[00:19:25] Shannon Peters: And, you know, it’s just really great to see. You know, the clients and the families who thought that they would have to leave their home when they didn’t want to, you know, that we are able to provide them a solution so that they can stay in their home and enjoy it. And, you know, if they, we have one that had, you know, they’ve lived alone for a long time by themselves.
[00:19:48] Shannon Peters: So just to have somebody come in and, you know, engage in them, you know, have them do things, you know, it kind of brings life back into them. So. To see that and to know that we were able to help that person is pretty cool. And, you know, our kids get to see hard work, you know, and helping the community rather than just have, you know, a job where you go, um, you know, I don’t know.
[00:20:14] Shannon Peters: Somewhere and show up afterwards. Right. Yeah. You know, they can kind of see the ins and outs and, you know, how just, you know, taking a little bit of time, you can help somebody else out.
[00:20:24] Vicki Markussen: Yeah. And as we all learned during the pandemic, that’s. Social interaction piece is not to be underestimated, right? Mm hmm.
[00:20:32] Vicki Markussen: Yeah.
[00:20:32] Shannon Peters: That’s really like all the, you know, if they live alone, that’s really all they need is just somebody to play a game with them. Mm hmm.
[00:20:40] Vicki Markussen: Yep. Makes their day, probably. Oh, totally. Yeah. How about for you Lane?
[00:20:46] Lane Peters: I’d really echo what Shannon said. I think just seeing the impact you can have, um, every day on an individual, a family, and then hopefully, you know, the community as we grow larger, uh, it’s really, it just brings joy to your day.
[00:21:02] Lane Peters: Um, that would just be great. Thanks. Thanks. Leave it just that simple.
[00:21:07] Vicki Markussen: Absolutely. Yeah. And the caregivers, obviously they should, I always say they should be sainted, right? But they are amazing. And so the fact, I mean, it speaks to your model that they are coming to you and they’re grateful and that they serve the people, the families that you’re serving.
[00:21:24] Vicki Markussen: It’s like a, it’s a win win, right? Yeah. You’ve been listening to Lane and Shannon Peters. They are with Hallmark Home Care out of La Crosse, Winona, Tomah, and everywhere in between. You’ve been listening to BizCast, Greater La Crosse. We’ll catch you next week.
