Caremark employee takes leap to franchise owner

From Regional Support Manager to Franchise Owner

We sat down with Paul Harvey-Matthews, the new owner and director of Caremark Harrogate to learn about his big leap from Caremark Limited employee to franchise owner.

“I’m still pinching myself,” begins Paul, “it was only a few months ago when I was at the Caremark conference in January, listening to the new and exciting plans for Caremark’s path for 2022 and thinking what a bright future the brand had ahead of it. It was there that the idea of buying a franchise really took shape. “I became quite emotional thinking about the exciting possibility of buying my own business,” he said pensively, his mind rolling back to that moment.

Early beginnings

Paul’s life with Caremark Limited began in July 2018 when he took up the post of Regional Support Manager (RSM) for a number of businesses in the north of England. His background in care and business development fitted well for his new role, as did his experience in supporting poor performers to grow and develop into profitable enterprises.

Paul continues: “Whilst I was waiting to be interviewed, I picked up Caremark’s Culture booklet and read it. I was certainly impressed by Caremark’s values and felt at once they were a good fit with my own. Although my background was care and care related, I knew nothing about franchising, so this job was a whole new world to me. It was certainly a big learning curve and very different to anything I had previously done.

Challenges and benefits

“As a regional support manager, it is all about the relationships you forge with your franchise owners. I had to learn which bit of myself I needed to use to engage effectively with the person sitting in front of me. “At first, I didn’t always get this right,” he says smiling wryly, “and I had to negotiate a few thorny paths before I understood the delicate psychodynamics of different people and how they respond to being supported, guided, and nudged to grow their businesses.

The best bit of the job was building those positive, respectful relationships with my franchise owners and understanding how they ticked. As time went on, it became easier and easier to achieve those results because I had built up the respect of these people and got to know them.

“I also really loved working with the ‘newbies’. It was great seeing new, inexperienced franchise owners go from being slightly terrified, green professionals to competent, confident and happy business owners as they gained experience and grew their care business.”

Supporting the launch and growth of Julie Oomen’s new business at Caremark Wakefield in 2020 was the point when he realised this could be his dream too.

Paul picks up the story: “The trigger came during my early days with Julie. We would speak several times in the day as I guided her, step by step through the start-up process. At first, there was lots of handholding and encouragement. Julie was hungry for knowledge, and she wanted every bit of information possible that was lodged in my brain!

Paul pauses for a moment as he reflects on that pivotal moment.

“I stood back from the situation and thought, I could do this. I could take this business and turn it around. I had done it previously in another job role and loved it, so I thought, why not go for it? “I was excited by the challenge and knew I would love benefiting both the customers and the staff. “I was also impressed with the existing Harrogate management and care team. They were really dedicated and hard-working.”

Making the leap

With Caremark Harrogate up for sale again, Paul knew he needed to move quickly. Confident that his decision to offer on Harrogate was a fantastic opportunity not to be missed, he also felt reassured by the level of knowledge and support he would be offered by his fellow professionals in the field-based team as well as from the franchise support centre.

Why Caremark?

“It was an easy decision for me really,” he continues, “because I was impressed by Caremark from the word go; their culture, values, vision and mission statement all resonated strongly with me, plus the success of their network. So, I never bothered even considering another care provider.

“I still remember to this day some powerful words from our late CEO Kevin Lewis when I was going through my induction training alongside new franchise owners, shortly after I joined Caremark.

He said: “We know the Caremark model works; we have lots of successful businesses in the network. Whether your business is successful or not – well, that’s up to you.”

Buying a franchise

We also spoke to Paul’s team who are all very excited about the journey ahead under new leadership. Care Manager Shelly Phillips said she couldn’t be any happier working with Paul, “I’ve never met such a genuine, considerate, kind, open and structured person. His outlook is so refreshing, I’m excited for the future of Caremark Harrogate.”

Vanessa Ho, Care Co-ordinator, is looking forward to learning more from Paul and working together to keep the company growing. Field Care Supervisor Rosie is an ex-employee of Caremark Harrogate who made the decision to leave her secure job at the NHS to come back and work for Paul because she believed in him and his commitment to the business and supporting his team.

Caring about your team

Staff recruitment and retention is never far from any franchise owner’s thoughts and Paul too, as a new business owner has his own thoughts on this challenging topic.

Final thoughts

The last few weeks have certainly been hectic for Paul as he gets to grips with re-building his new business and consolidating his team. But despite the mountain of tasks to be completed, his enthusiasm and steely determination shine brightly.

For more information about the Caremark franchise opportunity, visit the profile page>>