Hi, my name is Kev Popat and I am the Managing Director of Right at Home Solent, which opened in June 2015.

I was brought up in a joint family home and spent most of my early years with my grandparents. I have so many fond memories of these initial years. Imagining my Gran receiving care from someone who has no interest in her is the reason I’m here today.

My wife Amy comes from a family of entrepreneurs. We both had great jobs, but after a few years in the corporate world, I believed we had gained enough experience to start a successful venture of our own.

A family member suggested the care industry, and going through the various websites and articles, I remembered how upset my family were at the poor care my Grandad received when he had a stroke. Amy and I began to feel that this was something that we could perhaps do ourselves – provide a great service that we would be happy to offer our own families.

We called a lot of companies and couldn’t believe how much they all sounded the same! Initially they all talked how much they cared, yet it became clear they weren’t actually focused on quality of care at all – just growth for the company.

It was on a visit to the National Franchise Exhibition that we found Right at Home. They were exactly what we were looking for. The entire ethos of the company matched ours, believing that quality of care came first every time. They clearly demonstrated that they weren’t just paying lip service – striving for excellence was non-negotiable and they weren’t interested in giving a franchise to anyone who wasn’t on exactly the same page.

There has been so much to learn in the last 18 months and so many regulations to comply with that I simply don’t see how someone could do this successfully on their own.

The Head Office support team has grown quite a lot in the last year; it’s become more structured, everyone has their areas of expertise and it works really well.

Although I don’t need the same kind of guidance now as I did in our first weeks of trading, I’ve chosen to maintain my weekly calls with my Business Support Manager, because I like to use him as a sounding board.

He’s also very good at pointing us towards other franchisees to discuss things, it’s very helpful being able to pick up the phone to other owners and talk to them in confidence – for me I’d say that’s one of the biggest assets to being part of a franchise.

Since we hit our month-on-month break-even point at around month 11, I’ve felt confident that if we follow the business model we can achieve our business goals. But the biggest rewards are the phone calls we get from clients. There is no better feeling in the world than making someone’s day. When someone says what a difference we’ve made to their lives, then you realise why you are in this business.

Right at Home is an industry leader and they work around the clock to make sure they are not just on top of changes in the industry, but also shaping them. With them behind us, our team can concentrate on what we are here to do – provide a phenomenal service to our clients, one our families can be proud of, and to run the most professional business we can.