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The Everyday Millionaire and Mindset Matters Podcast
TEDM – Isabelle Guarino - Residential Assisted Living: Do Good and Do Well (Episode 209)
01:12:51
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- [00:00]
Isabel Guarino
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Patrick Francie
Welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Podcast. My name is Patrick Francie and I am your host. And I want to begin by saying thank you for listening. On this show, I am having conversations with seemingly ordinary individuals who have achieved some amazing and extraordinary results in both their life and business. My intention is to inspire and help you learn and grow by having my guests share their journey of how they face and overcome their challenges, but also how they celebrate their. Their many wins. And now let's get on with this show and have a conversation with today's guest. So are you ready to learn how to do good and to do well? Well, listen. In my latest episode of the Everyday Millionaire podcast, I sit down with Isabel Guarino. Isabel is the CEO of the Residential Assisted Living Academy and one of the nation's top influencers in senior housing. From transforming her father's vision into a national movement to coaching investors and entrepreneurs to ride the silver tsunami, Isabel is a powerhouse leader shaping the future of assisted living. She's been featured on such shows as Bigger Pockets, the Wealthy Wave podcast, and far more than all of that. And now today, she's here to share her story, her insights, and her strategies for success. Don't miss this very inspiring conference conversation with the woman who's revolutionizing senior housing and proving that impact and profit can, in fact, go hand in hand. Listen in. Enjoy. Isabel Garrido, welcome to the Everyday Millionaire podcast. Thanks for joining me.
- [01:51]
Isabel Guarino
Thanks so much for having me.
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Patrick Francie
You know, Isabel, I always open my show fundamentally the same because, you know, we do the bio. I got your bio. It's very extensive, but it never does justice to what's really going on for my guests. So, Isabelle, given all that you have on your plate and what you've accomplished, when somebody these days says to you, isabel, what is it that you do exactly? What's your answer to that question?
- [02:16]
Isabel Guarino
You know, I usually just say, I show real estate investors and entrepreneurs how to cash flow 10k a month on a single family home. That's what I do.
- [02:25]
Patrick Francie
Oh, well, now you pique my interest. Tell me more. That's a great opening line. Tell me more.
- [02:32]
Isabel Guarino
You know, we do residential assisted living, so we focus on senior housing in a residential setting. So not the typical big box that you do, assisted living style, but a residential home being used to house seniors and give them the care and assistance that they need in those last couple years of life.
- [02:50]
Patrick Francie
So when you think about or when you are doing that, does that include in home care or. I'm assuming that you're putting this property together and it's set up for whatever wheelchair ramps and handles and all the things that you need to support somebody who's aging and got to maybe has a walker and or needs to be able to grab a handle and lift themselves up or whatever that scenario is. But does it also include in home care? Do you go to that extent of arrangement?
- [03:22]
Isabel Guarino
So there's 24, seven caregivers in the home. With the seniors, there's usually somewhere between 6 and 6, 16 seniors living in the home. So this isn't you staying at your home, getting in home care. It's you moving into a residential home that has, you know, other people living in it as well. But you have your own private bedroom, private bathroom. With 247 care, they need help with feeding, clothing, toileting, you know, eating, transferring, walking. All those different things are the reasons why a senior moves into assisted living.
- [03:56]
Patrick Francie
Okay, so when I first heard the description, I was assuming something along the line of maybe six units, eight units. But you're talking about bigger than that without being 45, 50 or 100. So you've got this kind of footprint. What kind of square footage are you talking about?
- [04:13]
Isabel Guarino
Think 300 to 500 square feet per residence. So with 10 residents, minimum of 3,000 square foot house is very comfortable. Upwards of 5,000 work size as well.
- [04:24]
Patrick Francie
Now does that have a common area and all the things would it. I'm assuming a common kitchen and or common dining area, that kind of thing.
- [04:34]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah. So it's a literal regular residential home. Right. When I say single family, people immediately think a 3, 2, 1200 square foot home. That's not what we're talking about. That's a little too small. We're talking about a luxurious home in a really nice part of town. You know, lots of bedrooms and bathrooms. But it doesn't start that way. Right. You're going to have to convert it to become that way. So Maybe you're finding a 6, 5 that's on the market right now, 4,500 square feet and you're chopping it up to become, you know, a 10, 7. Still maintaining the kitchen, the dining, the living room, maybe even. A lot of these homes have libraries, movie theaters, hair salons. These are nice luxury homes, but they're not commercial, they're not facilities. They are actual residential homes. You probably journed by a thousand, you know, just this last week and you didn't even know.
- [05:24]
Patrick Francie
So what happens with, in this case, you know, depending, I guess, where are you primarily focused in terms of geographic region?
- [05:32]
Isabel Guarino
So I'm based in Phoenix. My personal care homes are here in, in Arizona. But we have been teaching people how to do this for the last 10 years. So we have students in all 50 states. This is possible anywhere.
- [05:45]
Patrick Francie
Well, I know that there's. It's starting to get some uptick here in Canada. I mean, I'm based just outside of Vancouver and I know that certainly there is a lot of demand starting to show up. I'm curious to what you're coming across or what you know about what happens in terms of zoning, for example, because you're taking a residential and turning it into a multifamily of some sort. We'll call it multifamily. Whether you put a handle on it called, you know, extended care or old age or whatever, you might. I mean, I don't know how they'll categorize. That's what I guess the question is, what have you bumped up against, if anything, around zoning and what do we need to know?
- [06:23]
Isabel Guarino
They're still zoned residential. Think of it as like an Airbnb, right? It's just another use for a home other than a regular single family living there. But it's the same thing. It's still zoned residential. Everything about it is still residential.
- [06:40]
Patrick Francie
Well, let's go back. Why don't you give me some of the story. So how did you get to this point where you're doing this, and what was the story behind the thought process, the idea that came and then the business model, if you will, how you develop that and where, where it started, where it is today.
- [06:56]
Isabel Guarino
What happened for us was that my grandmother, she fell and broke her hip and the doctor called and said she cannot go home alone. Who's going to come, you know, take care of her? Who's going to come pick her up and be with her 24 7? And right in that moment, my family face decision, oh, my goodness, is someone going to quit their job and go take care of, you know, grandma full time? Do we, you know, get her one on one in home care, which is insanely expensive, or do we put her into a home and as soon as you say it, you, like, feel that pit in your stomach. You're like, oh, we promised. We want it. We said we'd never write, like, they deserve more. She was living in upstate New York at the time, and so we went out to visit her and see what options were available. In every facility I entered, the smell was worse than the next, right? The. The. It was disgusting. The food was bad, the care was bad. I didn't want to Leave my goldfish, let alone my beloved grandmother in any of these homes. They were expensive and they had waiting lists. So we were trying to find an alternate option for her. And my family was living in Arizona at the time. And so, you know, my dad, he'd been a real estate investor for 30 years up until that point. And he said, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm going to be paying five grand a month for her to live in one of these homes or facilities. Or I could own the real estate, operate the business, cash flow, 10 grand a month and she could live for free. So we kind of stumbled into this and didn't want to go that facility route because there's such terrible care happening at that level. So we found residential homes being used for assisted living and we purchased our first one. It was existing, it was an up and running ral home. Purchased the real estate, purchased the business with the intent to move my grandmother in. She passed before we could move her in. But it really sparked this massive need and this opportunity in my dad and my family. And we realized that we loved this industry and that there was such a big need. So we started showing everybody we knew how to do this.
- [09:09]
Patrick Francie
I love that. You know, my thinking about my mother, who is 96 years old, still mentally sharp as attack, physically kind of breaking down, needs her walker, etc. She is in a, an auxiliary kind of an extended care facility, but it's quite large. But she's in a 500 square foot condo type unit, you know, gets meals once or twice a day, whatever she wants in that regard. And it's, it's really well managed in terms of that. But it's not without its, I guess, challenges given the size and the scope, which is kind of appealing. What you're talking about is an interesting concept. I really like the idea of that. And then having on site 247 care, which is what she has as well. You know, there's something interesting about aging parents or aging anybody, and that is, is that in these particular facilities while Arizona not so bad. I mean it's just a different version of the same thing. So I'm thinking about in Canada, parts of Canada, we have winter, we have aging parents or grandparents that as much as they want to stay in their little bungalow, their 1200 square foot or a thousand square foot or whatever it is, home, they become shut ins because in the wintertime they can't get out in a boat. Now the reason I'm sharing that is because I think there's a conversation that would be interesting to Hear from your perspective, which is you have these particular properties and you have multiple people living in them, you know, whatever that number is. I think you said 16 somewhere in there would be on the high end of the number of people. Or am I missing a number between 6 and 16?
- [10:41]
Isabel Guarino
Yep.
- [10:42]
Patrick Francie
But what's interesting about all of that is that as much as we sometimes see individuals or hear about individuals who, you know they're going to carry. My father used to say, you're going to take me out of this house in a box. He wanted to never have to leave his home. Now we talked him and my mother of getting out of the house because they were in fact shut ins for all intent purpose during the winter. And we were busy and got all the things going on. My point is that the social aspect of living in a smaller facility is so important and I think many overstep the need for that social interaction as people get older, as we get older, you know, we're not there yet by any stretch of the imagination. But that's also, I guess, a pretty strong component of that. Plus the. In home care, when you looked at the. As you've gone through your process now, Isabelle, and you're now teaching, coaching, these programs give me a little bit of insight of what you were surprised that you've learned along the way, maybe, or some of the things that, you know, when you first started out, you thought this and then you realized that. And what has been your learning curve? What are some of the things that you're picking up on?
- [11:54]
Isabel Guarino
I love that you said the social aspect of it, it being so important because that's truly what it is. Right. 90% of people don't want to leave their own homes. But unfortunately 70% of us are going to need help with, you know, or assistance with our activities of daily living. And most of the time people aren't moving in because one thing they need help with, it's usually three to five things that they're needing help with at this point. So it's no longer safe for them to be home alone. And you know, you reiterated that. And so I'm glad your mom's having a good experience. It sounds like it's like an independent living situation. Maybe not assisted fully yet, but yeah.
- [12:34]
Patrick Francie
It is actually quite independent. You know, my sister, fortunately, she lives in the same city and she drops by and she's an advocate and she, you know, she'll help my mom do laundry, et cetera. But for all intent and purpose, it's pretty independent. And for those individuals who are as mobile as my mom is, given that she needs a walker, it works really well. And then they have different levels and which is interesting, it comes back to the question, within your scenario, do you have a range of what services you would provide? So in other words, in this particular housing unit, I'll call it that this resident, do you have different ranges and say this residence is up to this or how do you break? Oh, gosh, I got so many questions now. I don't want to take you off track.
- [13:19]
Isabel Guarino
Go ahead, you're fine. You're fine. So what you're describing, at least what we call it here in the States, is the ccrc, a continuous care retirement center or community. Basically there's one large buy in, typically it's between 100,000 and I've seen upwards of $3 million one time upfront. You move in when you need independent living. And so they have a lot of services for you, but not everything you need. And then as things progress, then you move into assisted, maybe memory care or skilled nursing. Some even here in America have a cemetery on the campus so they can literally move from one to the other and lands in their final plot.
- [13:59]
Patrick Francie
Yeah, there you go.
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Isabel Guarino
It is wild. Those are typically very large campuses with a high buy in. So we're focused on this one piece of it, which is the assisted living. And if you need memory care, you can get licensed for that. You're allowed to do that in a residential setting, you're allowed to do independent living. But it's a lot harder, like you mentioned, to convince your loved ones to move out of their own home when they don't really need the help yet. Once they have that first fall, once they have that, oh, I drove somewhere and I forgot where I was. You know, I didn't know what I was doing and I was walking around a grocery store. Once those things start to happen, it becomes easier to have those conversations as the adult child. But what you described is like, you know, we're, we're focused on that residential or that memory care, either one of those and, or both. But it is hard to have those conversations to even, even get the ball rolling, to even get them considering this. It is easier when they're moving into a home instead of a home like scenario. Right. And so that is why we focus on that as well as the, the better care that they can get in a lot of the, we call them big box facilities, right? A Brookdale Sunrise Atria, these large commercial facilities that have 100 plus residents, they may have one caregiver for every 30 residents. That's not okay. That's legal. It was kids. It would be illegal. Right? And it's bad. You know, in our homes, we suggest a 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 ratio. So the quality of care goes through the roof. Like, the attention to detail. They're no longer being called a number. They're being called by their name. They're no longer like this nameless, faceless person where it's like, hurry, I got to change your diaper and get on to the next one. Boom, boom, boom. Or double diapering them and just leaving them because there's no time to attend. None of that is happening in our care homes. And that's what we wanted to focus on. I wanted a place that I was like, my grandma's going to love it here. She's going to be respected. She's going to have dignity. And I'm not born to be a caregiver, so it couldn't be me. But what I am born be, you know, born to do is to help open businesses. And so it was that perfect marriage of how do I fix the problem, but also do something that I know I'm good at, I know I'm skilled at.
- [16:25]
Patrick Francie
You know, I love this concept. And as you're talking about it, I got a whole list of questions that I want to get into. And I know that again, I know that you're coaching this stuff and that you teach this stuff. And we'll make sure that if people want to learn some stuff, we'll talk about that in a minute, but give me some insights. So are you looking? So you're seeing whatever listing you're seeing, however you find that listing of this particular property. Give me some idea. Number one, is that what makes for an ideal property? So all of a sudden there's this 5,000 square foot house. I think that depending on what state you're in, they're not going to have basements. Some will have what we would call walkouts or whatever it might be. Give me some of the kind of parameters that you're looking for in a property, number one. Number two, do you then have your own construction team or general contractor that you say, okay, move in, we're doing this house. Here's the layout, here's what we want to do. You go through all the things that you go through in terms of design, and so give me a little bit of understanding of what your model is in, how you're. And how you're doing it.
- [17:30]
Isabel Guarino
So the first thing that you are looking for when you're choosing a home for this is the demographics. Actually I want to be in an area where you probably are. Right. You are the. We call it son Bob or daughter Judy. Right. The adult child of the senior loved one. You want to be close to them. So demographics wise, I'm typically looking for an average age population where majority of people are between 50 and 70. They're upper middle class, making twice the median income. Usually a college grad and a homeowner. Wherever they live, eat, work, sleep, play, that's where I want to be. Because they do not want to drive 45 minutes down the road just because it's cheaper. They want to drive five minutes on their way home from work because they want to believe that they're going to come visit mom or dad all the time. Right. You said your sister is able to be there and be more hands on. So she's the daughter Judy. Right. And you're involved and that's what you want. You're like convenience. Where can I go every week and where can I make it easy to come by? So demographics is that first thing because that's also going to lead us to the area where there usually are larger homes. If it's a more affluent area where people are making twice the median income, those are usually going to be a larger square foot footprint. So that demographics is going to be a number one key. And then obviously a larger home, 300 to 500 square feet per resident is good. We're looking for things zoned residential. We're looking for potentially based on which of the four routes you choose to get started. Like is okay if there's, if you're going to build custom like ground up, you're looking for land. So the land needs to be in that area with all those different stipulations. If you're going to convert a single family home, I want something already quite large to start with so that it's not taking me as long with the renovation. The third way to do this is lease a home to use for this. So someone else already fixed up all the real estate and got it ready to go and I'm just going to come in at least the business from them. The fourth is to buy an existing in the US right now there's 30,000 group homes that exist across the country. So there's a lot of them that are being run mom and pop and you could come in and you could buy their business from them. But like we did in that first, that first one we, we got started with. So depending on which of the four it's going to range, like what you then do with it. But we do have floor plans that we give our students so that they can kind of go to their architect contractor and say, this is what I'm looking to do.
- [20:07]
Patrick Francie
Got it. So number one, when you, I love the idea and the thought process of being, you know, a real geographic specialist, as in understanding the demographic that lives in any given neighborhood, you really are clear on that. And that's kind of cool. Now, are you for your particular business model? Are you now doing some development? Are you actually, or are you looking more for okay, this unit looks great. Turnkey. Somebody else has done all the heavy lifting. I'll come in, buy the unit and. Or that business and take it over. What? Or, or is it a combination of both? I guess. Isabelle?
- [20:43]
Isabel Guarino
It's a combination. I always say be open to opportunities because if you are like dead set on, I want to get the land and custom build, but then an opportunity comes up to buy one that's cash flowing really well and it's lucrative. It's like, don't, don't corner yourself. You know, you have to be open to opportunities. So I always tell people, you can have a favorite of the four methods, but be open. You don't want to say no to just something that's great right in front of you right there.
- [21:09]
Patrick Francie
Well, I guess first off, when we look at the demand, I mean the demand is not going away anytime soon. The waiting lists in the US the waiting lists in Canada, all we hear about is waiting lists, the cost, the poor care or the mediocre care. I'm very fortunate, we feel very fortunate that my mom is in the facility that she's in. She's doing very, very well there. It's affordable and yet she gets really good care. Not without its glitches, but I think it doesn't matter. Somebody's going to complain about something. Doesn't matter what you do. But then ultimately, let's go back to the business model because you're talking, let's say 16 at a max as a, as a number. You with, through your dad, he had the revelation going, what, you know, we can do this and we can charge that and we can cash flow this much. I mean, to me this is like a no brainer business model. Not to say that and, and I know that it is being done to some extent in Canada, but it's interesting is that as much as I'm in the industry, this one hasn't shown up for me a lot what has shown up for me recently is somebody who is organizing a bunch of 60 year olds to buy a property, a collective property that they set up as their forever home. But let's say there's six units in it, they collectively go in and buy those units and they live in those, that kind of common space, if you will, with the future in mind. In other words, this is what it's going to be. These are the people in the hood. This is how we're setting it up, this is how we're paying for it. And they create a model around that, which I thought was kind of an interesting way to do it. You know, they, they've got their future already lined up, their social, their layout, all of the rest of it. But this is really, really interesting. Now, where do you get your care from? So in other words, are you now responsible for the home care or are you hiring an outside source? Is that a third party source that you're bringing in?
- [23:10]
Isabel Guarino
So when you get started in this industry, the real estate is one side of it and to be honest, it's the easy side of it. Right. The business is the difficult part. So I love that you're asking about that because really you, the real estate expert or entrepreneur, you're not going to be doing any of the day to day care. You hire a licensed administrator who's going to hang their license on the wall, get approved through the state, all of that good stuff. And they run all the day to day within the home. They do the hiring, firing, onboarding, training, retaining of your caregivers. So if someone calls out for their shift, you don't get a phone call about it, the administrator does and they fill it with another caregiver or do the work themselves, you are literally not licensed to do that, right? They are and the caregivers are. So they're running all of your staffing, but they're also doing the marketing, doing tours with new families, doing resident intake, or if the residents are moving on or out, then they're dealing with that as well. So they pretty much run all the business for you. They're kind of like a property manager in the real estate world.
- [24:15]
Patrick Francie
Sure.
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Isabel Guarino
It's more of a medical license as well that they're holding. So that's your key hire. And then they are hiring those caregivers who do the 247 care with the residents, possibly the cooking and cleaning as well. And if you're a higher level home where you're going to have a private chef or activities director or all these different things that administrator is also responsible for hiring any of those independent contractors. So they are your key player and they kind of run the whole day to day for you.
- [24:45]
Patrick Francie
Well, we often in our world and what we teach and what we've been coaching for over 30 years is to treat your real estate investing like a business. However, this really is a business. I mean ultimately whatever you build, whatever size you build it is literally as much as it's a real estate play, this is a business play. And so it's got to be managed, team has to be created, somebody has to kind of oversee the vision and the marketing and all the things that go with it. So it is really a very significant operating company, if you will. And, and, and I mean it's at least the top line math looks good, at least on the surface, sounds good. But you've got quite a lot of costs against it.
- [25:29]
Isabel Guarino
Yes, yes, lots of expenses. Like for, for an average 10 resident home, very average, it could be running you 35,000amonth in expenses, not including your mortgage or lease. That's just paying for your staff, for food, activities, cable, you name it, maybe 10k in mortgage. So if you're bringing in 5,500 times each of those 10 residents, that's 10k net take home to you as the owner, operator. But expenses, they're hefty.
- [26:00]
Patrick Francie
Yeah. And, and, and from a time point of view, I think you said somebody has to be able to. Unless you're going to be that person, ultimately you have to put a management team in place of some sort. Now when I say a management team, you're going to have somebody that's the pointy end of the spear, if you will, and making sure that things are getting done and managing it. Now it's a 24 or 7 care. So that has to be some level of professional that's already doing it.
- [26:26]
Isabel Guarino
Yep. So that licensed administrator is, is that key person who's running it all and then the caregivers are doing the actual care for the residents.
- [26:34]
Patrick Francie
Now within your coaching program and what you teach, what draws me to it. So why, what is my hook to say, okay, this, like on the surface, I already love the idea and I'm already thinking about I'm going to reach out to a couple of my contractor buddies. But anyways, tell me a little bit, what's the hook? Like why, why am I interested in doing this?
- [26:54]
Isabel Guarino
I think the main reason why most people come to us is two big things. One, the real estate investments that they have right now, what used to work 10, 15 years ago just not paying the bills anymore. It's just not working the same. So they have properties or they're, they're used to this space. They are real estate investors and they just can't make it work. So they're looking for new opportunities. They're opportunity seekers. And that's really who we often see, come to us and say, I can't cash flow like this with anything else right now. This is the only thing that's, you know, actually working. And so that's exciting. The other person who comes to us is oftentimes someone who has a loved one who needs care and assistance. They have just like we were thought out all of the options. They're disgusted, they're pissed off and they want a better solution. And so they're coming saying, I need to open one of these so that I can put my loved one in it and I can cash flow and I can have a place for myself. So I'm not leaving my children a burden. Instead I'm leaving them a blessing. You know, my father passed in 2021 and he left me and my siblings three of these cash flowing businesses. I spend five hours a week on them. I visit them every other month. They are as passive as you can get when it comes to real estate investing, in my opinion. Right. Some people say five hours is not passive. Whatever, okay, whatever. Yeah, they're quite passive. And that's a beautiful thing to pass to your kids to say, hey, I've got a place for grandma, for me and a business that you can just pretty much maintain and cash flow well. And now it becomes the family thing where whoever needs it, an aunt or uncle calls, you know, I ever need it one day, great, I've got a bed waiting for me. It's all set up and ready to go. So oftentimes we see opportunity seekers in the real estate space and people who realize that this is going to be a coming issue or it currently is an issue in their life and they're seeking, you know, a solution for that.
- [28:59]
Patrick Francie
Well, I guess there's a possibility that somebody who's in a. Depending on what they have for a portfolio, there may be some existing units to your point that they can go, you know, let's just convert these. Let's actually shift the model to being, you know, forget or not forget, but let's not, let's focus on accommodating this level, the senior citizen, if you will, who needs this level of care. So there's, it gives you another option, another way to actually increase cash flow. And. Or repurpose the property and make it work. Now, is there some economies of scale that you've learned, Isabel? In other words, you know, a four plex. Nah, doesn't make sense. 10 works. 16 is ideal or whatever that number is. Is there some numbers in there that you've discovered that work best? Or even property types, for example?
- [29:51]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah, I don't want any duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, no plexes at all whatsoever. I don't want hotels, motels, nothing commercial.
- [30:00]
Patrick Francie
Why? Why? Okay, stop. Why Stop. Tell me why.
- [30:03]
Isabel Guarino
For single family residential homes, you have to think a duplex. It's two individual units next to each other. You just screwed over the caregiver. They can't take care of person A and person B. That's not how this works. If it's think of a mom sitting in the kitchen, the four kids playing around the house, she needs to have her eyes on all of them at one time. It's the same for those caregivers. We don't want individual units. These people cannot live alone. They are like a danger to themselves.
- [30:33]
Patrick Francie
Understood. Got it. Yeah.
- [30:36]
Isabel Guarino
So single family homes in residential neighborhoods is all I'm looking for, nothing else. I'm looking for large footprints. So usually that 3,000 to. We have students who have homes that are 12,000 square feet. Like it's. It just ranges like 3 to 12 is, is pretty reasonable. Lots of bedrooms, lots of bathrooms. The more bathrooms the better because it's, you know, a lot easier to make a room than it is to make a bathroom. So the more bathrooms, the better. Open floor plans. No stairs if possible, because if you have stairs, you have to add a residential elevator into the home or a chairlift. So preferably single level. And then like I said that demographics, that's like, I won't even look at a property unless I've done the demographic research.
- [31:23]
Patrick Francie
Well, you know, it's something you said there, which is, you know, single level is ideal. The last thing you want to put in is an elevator. I don't know what it's like in the US But Canada is crazy when you start putting elevators in and the hoops you got to jump through. And anyways, we don't need to go down that path. But so tell me a little bit as well, in terms of when you look at these units, are you, for example, saying, you know, it'd be great if you had a nice big backyard or a big yard, so you really want to. What you're really trying to do is create a great environment for People to live in. And so a thing like a backyard would be probably pretty ideal as well.
- [32:05]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah, definitely. You want all the things that a regular home has. When you walk in, you want that wow factor. You want the beautiful dining room or sitting room, you want the gorgeous kitchen. You want a backyard, you want. You know, the most used amenities are libraries and hair salons. So if you can add a little small room, nothing crazy, 10 by 10, that's got some little sinks where the ladies can put and the men can put their heads back and get a hair wash or get a little pedicure, like, that's a great amenity to have within the home. Movie theaters. Home movie theaters. That's a great thing to add in. You don't need like a full gym, right. With like a squat rack and a peloton. They're not doing that. They have recumbent bikes and pool noodles that they usually play with while sitting on the couch in the living room. So all those different things are good to have within the hall. Backyards are great because, you know, especially in the spring and summer, having people go outside and get that vitamin D, if there's walking paths, if there's a little garden outside or fresh flowers that they can walk by, a tree they can sit under, all those different things are amazing. You don't want to be like, up against a wall. It's not.
- [33:11]
Patrick Francie
Not.
- [33:11]
Isabel Guarino
It's just not a good selling feature. So definitely a backyard's amazing. And then other little amenities within the home go a long way.
- [33:18]
Patrick Francie
I guess I gotta ask the question, what about small pets? Because, you know, small dogs, a cat. Do you. Within your own model, do you allow some pets? Is there a qualification to maybe consider a pet or not at all?
- [33:30]
Isabel Guarino
Personally, we don't allow pets in our homes, and I don't suggest that you allow them either. And I'll say this, if the senior can't wipe their own situation, they probably aren't bending down to pick up little Fido's doo doo. Yeah, so now who is? Oh, my caregivers. Well, my caregivers, I'm paying them to take care of humans, not dogs. That's one side of it. The second side of it is it's a massive trip hazard. You know, when. When you're walking as a senior, it's not the way you or I walk, right? We have steady steps. We know what's coming. They kind of shuffle. They kind of shuffle with their feet, especially if they're in a walker or something like that. It's not the same Pace that you walk a little dog, a little cat, you know, goes underneath and trip hazards. So boom, to keep the senior safe. It's not the right move. And it's also not great because now my caregivers are dog watchers instead of human caretakers.
- [34:28]
Patrick Francie
So if somebody's looking and considering this, you know, what is some of the. I guess what is one of the. If you're pitching this deal and you're going, guys, you really need to consider this. What is your pitch to a potential investor saying, you know, you need to consider this model, this strategy? I mean, I'm also looking at it right now and maybe you can comment on this, Isabel. U.S. and Canada, different mortgage, different financing and how we do it, and problematic more in Canada than the U.S. but having said that, when we look at interest rates the way they are, when we look at certain US Markets and even in Canada, it becomes cost prohibitive. In terms of. My point is this, is that when we look at real estate, let's say what you're talking about in Canada is probably, depending on what province you're in, your point of entry is going to be like 1.5, 1.7, depending on what city you're in. You know, you're into some big numbers right off the bat, plus a renovation. Da, da, da. So if I'm looking at it, do you see opportunities, given the current market conditions, do you see more opportunities showing up in that higher end? Because you're looking at whatever footprint you're looking at larger. So are you seeing more opportunities or less? How's the model working in this current climate?
- [35:58]
Isabel Guarino
Let's just say that mortgage, maybe it's $12,000. Or are you thinking it'd be more?
- [36:04]
Patrick Francie
Oh, I mean, I'd have to do the math. But you know, ultimately, depending on what you do for financing, assuming that you're putting at least 20 or 25% down, let's say your mortgage is going to be one. I don't know. I'm just throwing numbers around. I have no idea. I'm just thinking through it. You know, let's say Your mortgage is 1.5, and then the best you're going to do on a mortgage with it in terms of a rate is probably six and a half, or let's say six and a half. That's going to be the best you're going to do. So let me think and do some quick math. Six, you're looking at probably 10 grand. Eight grand. Yeah.
- [36:44]
Isabel Guarino
So let's just call it 12. Okay. Let's throw in more, if you had a, if you had a mortgage for 12, your expenses like we talked about were around 35. Right. For, for those 10 residents and you're charging $6,700 per month per resident, that home would still be cash flowing you 20k a month take home. So it actually, the real estate going up, it doesn't really impact our industry as much because the cost of care goes right up with it. Right. So a couple years ago, if we were talking even a year and a half ago, average rates were 4,500.
- [37:22]
Patrick Francie
Yeah.
- [37:22]
Isabel Guarino
Now they're 5,500. So asking 67 common. Common is the sky is blue. Right. We have, we have students who are getting 7, 8, 9, 10, $15,000 a month per resident and people don't even blink an eye. They write the check every month and it is no big deal. So for you to have a mortgage, that's 10, 12, 15, 20, we can still pay the bills and cash flow really well. The, the reality is there's 76 million baby boomers. And, and I'm one of them.
- [37:55]
Patrick Francie
I'm one of them. I know.
- [37:57]
Isabel Guarino
So the, the Silent Generation, 44 million of them. Right. That's who's in assisted living right now. The boomers aren't there yet. They're just going to be starting. The oldest are just going to start getting into the market in the next five years. This is a 20 year wait that we're about to start riding and we're currently 1.3 million beds short. So when we talk about waiting lists, the NIC is projecting we're only building 50,000 beds per year. We are almost doubling the amount of seniors who need care and assistance and we do not have enough beds. The cost of care is going to continue to rise drastically. It's gone up 87% in the last 20 years and it's only going up crazier and crazier. So to me, if you're going to get into any industry over the next 20 years, follow the money. And who has the money? The boomers. So what do they need? Where are they going? That's what you want to get involved in. And so it, it's Ariel all day for me. But anything that the boomers are going to need over the next 10, 20 years is where you want to be, that's where you want to invest.
- [39:07]
Patrick Francie
I love this concept and I don't know why it hasn't shown up in my awareness. I think it has in kind of the back of my mind, but it hasn't really come to the forefront until we're having this conversation right now. And I love it on the surface, I'm definitely going to be unpacking this a little bit more. What's it like in the US right now? Because of course on top of all of this, one of the things that here in Canada we are really facing is the cost of insurance. And the cost of property insurance is just crazy off the charts. And, and especially when you get into a, you know, let's say a condo complex where some, over the past couple of years some of those insurance rates have doubled or more in terms of what it's costing for insurance. Given all of the things that are happening not just within Canada, but even globally and the challenges of insuring now, I'm assuming that there's a lot of cost to liability insurance because you're going to have your property insurance. That's pretty straightforward, relatively straightforward. Now then we have liability, which I think is probably the bigger issue, I'm guessing. But what is the insurance parameters around that? Isabelle?
- [40:21]
Isabel Guarino
Definitely people think that it is a lot, it's going to be a lot higher than it actually is. Typically right now it's about two to three dollars per resident per day. So with 10 residents, 900 bucks a month, it's a line item. You definitely want it, you definitely need it. Reality is these people, they are not leaving you and going back to who they were 50 years ago. As I say, they're going to heaven or heaven, like most of them are moving on to the next light within your home. It is not a shock when that happens. And that is what happens. We all go away at some point. You don't move into assisted living and think you're going to become someone else. You're not. This is end of life care. That being said, the average stay is three and a half years. So most of the time people aren't. It's not like a six month stint or, or a two week stint. It's a while that they're with you and you want to make their stay as comfortable as possible. So you also want them to be as safe and protected as possible. So having cameras in the home interior and exterior, no bedrooms or bathrooms, that's a HIPAA violation. But within the home, being slow to hire and quick to fire any funny business they are out of there. Like you have to put the senior safety first. Having really strong, you know, culture within your home, company culture to say like we don't do this, this, you know, isn't going to happen here. And having continual Onboarding, training, recruiting, all of that stuff is so important to make sure that the seniors are safe and respected. But cameras, insurance, training, all those things can try to protect you as a business owner. We live in a very litigious world. I'm not saying, you know, nothing is going to happen to you, but the more you care, and even you asking that question tells me that you're a caring person who's thinking about this. Because people who don't think about it, I'm a little scared for them. Right? Like it's this thing to think like, well, what happens if. And that tells me you're going to be the type of business owner who says, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn't, you know, and, and that's what's important at the end of the day, to be the right type of person to get into this. People should not just do this for the money. You do have to care. It has to, you have to have a heart. This is a very heartfelt and people focused business.
- [42:47]
Patrick Francie
Well, you know, this goes back to what we talked about earlier. This is a business. And so with any business, if you're just doing it for the money, you're really setting yourself up to fail. Ultimately, there's got to be some care, some compassion, some, what are we delivering? Who is our client? What is it that we want to stand for? I mean, that's all part of running a successful business. If it's just for the money, that doesn't ever last. And I think more than any, well, I mean, certainly a business like this really requires that you have some real compassion and understanding. I mean, I don't know that I think probably at this point in my life I have a lot more compassion for it being, you know, seniors. I'm a senior citizen technically, officially a senior citizen, so. But when I look at my mom, I go, I want to make sure my mom is looked after, you know. And so for me, you know, that kind of business model means that what can I stand for? How do I look after people? And I think I love the whole concept around it. And when you look at what you're doing right now, Isabel, you know, when you got into this, I mean, you, I don't know that you were so you worked with your dad originally on the thought and the concept. When he passed, you were, took over those three existing businesses, what I heard you say, those three properties that you've got, if you looked at, when you look at what you're doing now, is it Your intention to grow that portfolio or is your intention to teach people how to do it? What's your kind of main focus these days?
- [44:19]
Isabel Guarino
We've transitioned a bit instead of opening more ourselves because we are the, you know, the nation's leading experts on this and we train hundreds of people every single month how to do this. Now I get a lot of amazing deals that come my way, so I've transitioned into the investor realm. So when we get great deals, I love to invest in them. So my three homes, cash flow, well, love them, they run and everything's good. We have about 50 other homes that we invest in across the country and those bring in other forms of income as well as it's a great opportunity to help somebody who wants to get into this business. So I love being able to do that. That's kind of the angle I've gone. But we're always teaching and training real estate investors, medical professionals, any entrepreneurs, entrepreneur helped to get into this business. So I love the coaching aspect and I love the investing aspect too.
- [45:10]
Patrick Francie
Okay, well let's talk about that a little bit more. I don't normally unpack this stuff with my guests, but I think it's really would serve my listeners and you to tell me a little bit about your business, your coaching business, the education component of it. If somebody's listening to this and they go, that's a cool idea, I think it's a great idea. By the way, tell me a little bit about what your program is costs related. How do we do it? Is it in person? Is it virtual? Is it, what is it? Tell us a little bit about your program.
- [45:40]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah, we have two different options. We have an online training. It's about 12 hours of content, 46 modules. It comes with quizzes to check comprehension along the way, transcripts and a Q and A area where you can chat in with me and I write back to any questions that you have throughout, you know, the experience. We also have kind of our full throttle A to Z training which is a three day training hosted here in Phoenix, Arizona. It is all encompassing. We're showing you how to find the homes, fund the homes and fill them. We go through memory care tours, marketing, we talk about raising the capital, what you need in your business plan and your proforma. We show you how to do syndications, get legally protected, I mean everything A to Z, how to do this. I'm the lead educator there, but then I have about seven others who were students who sat in class, soaked up the info, they went out, got their care homes up and running and now they're back to teach and train you through that. We host those about every six to eight weeks. So we have eight total events per year and both of them are great opportunities. It's really just do you want to dip your toes or do you want to go backstage and hang with the band? You know, it's whatever it experience suits your needs.
- [46:55]
Patrick Francie
Cool. And what's the cost associated with the programs?
- [46:58]
Isabel Guarino
Online course is 1497 live trainings 4997.
- [47:04]
Patrick Francie
And does that include follow up stuff? So in other words, are you actually got a community that is working around it? So in other words, you know, within the real estate investment network, one of the companies that I own is that we have a community of like minded. We believe that environment and culture is really important so we're sharing insights and lessons with others. So even with this particular podcast, I'll be pushing this out to our rain community hard and really shining a light on it because I think given what's happening in the real estate world, I think it's important for people to look and understand and really kind of go wow, there's some options here that I may need to consider that. So is that kind of the model that you've got going on, Isabelle?
- [47:49]
Isabel Guarino
We do have a bunch of free ways to connect after we created the only RAL National association that represents all 30,000 of those group homes across the country. So we have that as a community that you can join. We do free monthly meetups. We've got all sorts of an amazing connections and resources, group purchasing power and and all of that over there. We also have one on one coaching and mentoring. So I've got a team of 15 who's available 24, seven for those people who've gone through the online or the live training. We have softwares, we have apps, we have documents, we have of all the heavy duty stuff that you need when you're really starting a business. So we show you how to create your own in those trainings. But if you kind of want the more done for you, then we do have that coaching and mentoring available as well.
- [48:38]
Patrick Francie
That's fantastic. And when you start to look at that kind of coaching, is it important or what I'm saying is is that do we need to have some real estate investing experience? I know that would certainly be helpful and would be beneficial but is it necessary within program?
- [48:57]
Isabel Guarino
You know, we had students who are 22 years old who never owned their own home, lived in an apartment, never bought a piece of real estate in their life, open multiple care homes and be incredibly successful. We've had others who are 72 who've been real estate investors their whole life, done everything you could say and have done it as well. It ranges the gambit. We get a lot of medical professionals, we get a lot of all sorts of industries that people. So you do not need real estate background, it is helpful. It is. You do not need medical background, it is helpful. Right. But the programs are meant to help you through all of those things that may be a point of weakness for you so that nobody feels left in the dark and everybody really understands all that's included. I always say if there's one quality trait that I'm looking for in a student, it's grit. It's somebody who's willing to get punched in the face and get back up and keep going. Because this is not an easy industry. There's. You have to get licensed, you have to do all this renovation. You've got to deal with people. Your neighbors might be mad. This, that and the other. Right. There's so many things that happen along the way. And if you are somebody who just is like, oh, I just want the easy breezy life and I, and I, yeah, cash flow sounds great, but I don't want to work that hard for it. Don't do this.
- [50:18]
Patrick Francie
Right.
- [50:19]
Isabel Guarino
It's not for those who are lazy. You have to have grit. Doesn't matter. Your age, doesn't matter. Your background, grit. What matters?
- [50:26]
Patrick Francie
Well, I love that you're straight up and honest about that because we often see these programs come out and everybody's talking, well, it's easy. And you're going to make $10,000 a month cash flow. Okay, yeah, well, let's see what it, you know, what it really takes. And that's what stops many people from just investing in real estate, full stop, let alone investing in real estate and then adding a real strong business component to it, which is an operating company. How have you been in terms of finding the. I guess we'll call it the in home care management, that management or that in home care team. I don't know what it's like in the US I haven't. Or in. I don't know what it's like in the US I don't even know what it's like in Canada, to be honest with you. You know, how is it. And I know that in home care is available. I don't know what it would be like to have an administrator who does that as a full time and then manages a Team of people coming in and out of that property. How is it for you in finding that? Because I would imagine that's one of.
- [51:23]
Isabel Guarino
The challenges, one of the biggest challenges. The number one most in demand job right now, at least in the US is health care workers. So this is a huge nationwide and I'm going to guess worldwide because it's the world war that sparked off the baby boom. I'm going to guess worldwide. There are not enough people getting, getting into that industry and there are not enough people who, who are currently in it. So unfortunately the younger generations that they're not excited about that, they don't want to do that and so they're avoiding that. And right now in, In America about 80% of the industry is run by immigrants. It's people who come from other countries and they love seniors and they treat them so well and that's who's kind of, you know, doing this job. And so it's important to know that getting in because that is kind of who you're trying to attract and how you're going to best serve the seniors. I wish more people would step up countryside but it doesn't look like that's happening. So I'm not sure what's going to happen and the future of this because it looks scary. What I do focus on is how do we find the best of the best and train people who have the right heart to have the right skills to do this. And we focus really heavily on that because really if you're not going to be in it on a day to day, your team is everything. So you have to build the right team. So yes, there is a lack, yes there is a shortage. I will not deny that we have a massive worldwide crisis that I don't know how we're going to solve. But what I can control is what's going on in my businesses and what's going on in the students who I work with their businesses. So that's what we try to control and help improve day over here. It's the question I ask myself every morning. I don't know what we're going to do.
- [53:20]
Patrick Francie
Yeah, I think there's an interesting component of this which is, you know, what is the level of care and, or what is the level of I guess, skills or ability that somebody might need. So in other words you can train somebody in fundamental, really adequate first aid. You don't need a registered nurse or that degree of education perhaps, or perhaps you do and you may want somebody with that kind of talent on site at any Given time or access to that, I guess really it is. Goyles goes back to how are you training your team? I think you really shone a light on it. I know people who've gone through recent training, first aid training here in Canada and the qualifications have gotten quite extensive. In other words, you know, from CPR to different treatment. In terms of first aid, if somebody was in an accident or falls down, whatever the case may be, it's pretty extensive. I mean it's a two day course I think is what they're, what I was hearing that they were taking. But they come out pretty confident on the other side of being able to deal with a lot of things. Would that be the level of care that you would have in or do you want want higher than that?
- [54:35]
Isabel Guarino
You don't have to have a nurse. In most all of the 50 states they do not require a nurse to be on staff 24, 7. What they may require is, hey, you know, there needs to be a nurse who comes to pass the pills. The caregivers are not licensed to do that. So typically you'll have somebody who's like a retired nurse or whatever and their job is to kind of go around to all the local care homes, they count and pass the bills, go to the next home, count and pass the pill. You're not paying them a full nurse's salary. They're in your home for no more than 20 minutes. Right. You're just paying them to do that one duty. For the most part. The caregivers, they are licensed CNAs or HHAs. You can get those sometimes online, depending on your state, and a lot of times at like a community college or like a trade school, you can get that degree, diploma, qualification, whatever we want to call it. And it ranges, but for the most part they're just licensed HHAs or CNAs. And oftentimes they're paid a couple dollars more than minimum wage, maybe three bucks more the minimum wage. It's not a high paying job and it's hard work. Which is also part of the problem is, well, why is someone going to work super hard and not get paid? Well, I'd rather go work at Chick Fil A where I get paid the same, you know.
- [55:52]
Patrick Francie
Sure.
- [55:53]
Isabel Guarino
And I don't have to work that hard. So it is a systemic problem that we have. And even if I fix the problem in my world, okay, I'll pay my caregivers seven more dollars, you know, plus minimum wage. It doesn't fix the problem. Right.
- [56:08]
Patrick Francie
Like, yeah, I think that the real that, you know, there's part of it, which you mentioned earlier, which is culturally, you know, when you look at the immigrants that are coming into either Canada or the U.S. you know, certainly culturally, you have to look at the culture. And then by just the, just by the nature of that culture, they're more caring than others. I mean, that's a. That's a pretty obvious one. But having said that, then you have to be able to find the people. That culture aside, they have that. That's kind of how they're hardwired. That's their operating system is to be caregivers, to be givers. And I think that's really an interesting aspect of it. I had a whole other question that I wanted to go on, so I'm finding this really interesting. I love the conversation, by the way. So when you, when you look at the. I mean, so at that point, it really is that main administrator. Having somebody with some experience along that line would be really important. And then the. That from a business model point of view, because I'm in my head putting my team together already. But then the other question that I have is that when you look at the aging process, you know, let's say somebody comes in, there's certain qualification. Maybe they come in at 75 years old or 70 years old because they want to stay ahead of where they're going. I've seen that scenario before. But is there qualifications when you look at some of the health. Maybe they're, you know, they come in at 70, seems really good at 75, at 76. Oh, all of a sudden we're seeing dementia show up or Alzheimer's show up or some other level of mental health care that is really challenging. So do you have a box that you kind of check and saying, okay, that works, that works. This no longer works because we can't support it. What's. What's the model in that regard, Isabel?
- [57:56]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah, if you're licensed only for assisted living and not memory care, if someone's dementia progresses too far along, you are not legally allowed to keep them. So you would have to go recommend that they go to a home that is licensed for memory care or a facility of that nature. Physically, people are going to decline, typically, as they age a bit. Obviously, we want to stop that. I want them to all live forever, but you know, it. Aging happens to everyone. No matter how hard we try not to, things decline. You know, you do need to be very communicative with the family about what's going on and their health situations. The resident is still seeing a doctor Typically a lot of times they switch to like an in house doctor, somebody who will come visit the home, kind of run vitals, do checkup, check on medication, kind of get them all sorted and then the doctor goes to another home and same thing. Kind of like the nurse we, we just talked about so many times. They'll do that because it's a lot of effort for that senior to get up, get in the car, drive 20 minutes, you know, go up the elevator to see the doctor. Okay and then, but it's a lot. So it's easier for them when the doctor can come to them and help out. But things do progress as people age and if you can no longer safely take care of them, you have a couple options. Number one, you can obviously recommend them to go to another home. Or number two, you can offer to the family, hey, we don't have the support and system to help your loved one, but I'm willing to bring on an extra caregiver to be with your loved one. One on one. The cost is going to increase because I need to be able to pay for them. So either you can go to this other home or facility or you can, you know, pay for this extra caregiver to come in so we can support your loved one's specific needs. Sometimes that happens off the bat. If somebody comes in and they're 500 pounds, they're a two person assist. So you need an extra caregiver to be there to help them do certain things. So it, sometimes it's in the beginning where you have to have that conversation, other times it's later on. But if you're not licensed to take care of something or it's going to disrupt the whole home, like now you have everybody who's a two person assistant, that's a lot going on. You, I usually like to accept a full, a variety of acuity. So a bunch of people who are walkie talkie, they don't need as much help. You know, a couple people who are higher need and maybe one or two people who are extremely high need. This helps within the home. It helps kind of vary for the caregivers and it gives, you know, an opportunity. Because somebody who's high need, even though we say the average they might be paying is that 6500, that means some, someone might be paying 4, but someone else might be paying 10 in the exact same home. Because it's not just bedroom, bathroom, it's level of care and that varies greatly.
- [60:59]
Patrick Francie
So you've been really generous with your time, really generous with Your information. And as we start to kind of wind down, just I want to start heading that direction. There's a couple things I want to ask you about. And, and as much as it's about somebody else, it's a little bit about you as well. You know, you said something earlier that, you know, if somebody is interested in this, you gotta be willing to do the work. This is a business, you gotta take it on as a business. You gotta be excited about the model, the mission, the purpose, you know, what's behind it. You have to have certainly some compassion, some empathy. You gotta look at that client that you have and go, how can we look after this client in a really powerful way from a business model? I'm going, gosh, you know, we talk about what's going on in the real estate investment world right now. I mean, as rental housing providers, you know, in any business. What do we want to know? Well, we want to know that we've got a lineup of clients who want our services. All we have to do is make sure we're providing. Well. We've got a never ending lineup of clients that are coming our direction more and more on an ongoing basis. None of it's easy, but conceptually it's simple. Tell me a little bit about, you know, when you look at your own journey, Isabelle. I mean, you're still young, you came into it honestly through your dad. And what was your own kind of journey? So what kind of individual, you know, to your point, you need grit, you need tenacity, you need resilience, you need some business savvy that you either have or that you're willing to take on. But that's any entrepreneur's journey, you know, that really is any entrepreneur's journey. I don't see it any different for this business, as I would say, or coach anybody in on an entrepreneurial journey. But for you, what have you learned along the way? That for yourself, your own evolution, what has shown up for you that you're going, you know, if you're going to do this? Here's what I've learned myself.
- [62:55]
Isabel Guarino
You know, for us, it, it started with family. Like I shared my grandmother needed the care. And my dad without hesitation jumped up and got into a brand new industry knowing nothing, no one there to guide him or show him, figure out, right? And, and to watch. That was amazing because he'd been a real estate investor my whole life, but I wasn't excited about what he was doing. Like, it was just like, okay, cool, like, I don't know, you make money on homes, right? Like, you do this, you do. You're fixing, flipping, you're wholesaling, you're doing whatever he's doing. It wasn't. It didn't feel like it was meaningful. It didn't feel like that. I was happy for the, the money that afforded us a beaut life growing up, but it wasn't calling me to that. So I went to college. I, I did teach for America. I became a flight attendant. I was doing my own thing, and I moved back to Phoenix. And as a flight attendant, you don't make much money. And so I had moved in with my parents at post college, right? All these, all these careers, and then, you know, I'm back with them. And on the days that were off, I would just sneak into my dad's office and be like, what are you doing? What's going on there? What.
- [64:05]
Patrick Francie
What's.
- [64:05]
Isabel Guarino
What's happening? And eventually I'm like, you need an assistant? And he's like, no, no, no. I'm like, yeah. So I just started slowly kind of doing assistant duties for him, right. On my off days. And it became this beautiful relationship where, you know, finally he did see my worth and said, okay, I, I get it. I. I think I do need you. I'm like, yep. So I, I was one of his first employees. There was only three of us. And just, just the one business, the one home. Since then, you know, the, the following eight years working by his side, you know, we opened all three of those care homes, we launched seven other businesses. We became the nation's leading expert in this and went from a team of three to a team of 50. And it's incredible. And then to have, you know, that relationship with him, that turn from father, daughter to mentor, mentee turn to best friends, turn to, you know, all these different things, it was, it became about legacy and family for me too. You know, for him, it was his mom. And then when my dad passed, it was like, hey, I've got enough cash flow. I don't need to keep showing people how to do this. Like, we have the investments, we've got the three homes. I'm good. And it all came back to that moment of saying, it's about family and it's about living a legacy, not just leaving one. Like every day of your life saying, how can I serve others? And it would be very selfish for me to say, oh, I could, I could have. I was just going to shut down and take it all, and I'm good. I don't need to show anyone else how to get financial freedom. I don't need to show anyone else how to become, you know, a rich dad, a rich mom. Robert Kisaki's book, I'm Good, I Got what I Need. That's so selfish. And it became like. Like the best and most important thing I can do is show others how to get what I got, what my dad passed to me, and pass that on for more and more people. So I love what I do every single day. I get to live in my legacy. I get to help honor my father, my grandmother, and all the family that came before me. And hopefully I just had a son like seven months ago. Hopefully one day he wants to take on the reins and we can just keep this going and keep paying it forward and showing people not only how to be financially free, but how to do good and do well. That combination.
- [66:30]
Patrick Francie
You know, there's lots of wisdom in all of the things that you just shared there, not the least of which is a realization at some point, whether lesson learned from your father or just your own operating system, where you start to realize that if it's about you, life is pretty unfulfilling. And you know what really is? I think most many people don't get to it soon enough. I think so. That's been my experience over the years and a lot of the coaching that we've done, which is understanding that when you really do have a purpose, when you understand what your purpose is, what lights you up, what it means to actually be a contribution to. Has significance, to wake up going, oh, boy, I get to provide something for somebody else. And, yeah, you're getting paid for it, but that's not the driving factor. It's like, that's part of what you get for bringing that kind of value. And in the meantime, you're living a great life and living your dream of supporting others and being a contribution. You know, there's a phrase that I learned from Dr. John Demartini, which was, and I don't think it's his, but he shared it often, which was, when your vocation becomes like your vacation, you'll never work another day in your life. And there's a lot to be said with that. When we love what we do and we get to show up. And I really like this business model, and I can see your own passion for it, which is to say that you're being a contribution in a meaningful way to a cohort, a demographic that is in desperate need of this particular care. So not only is it, you know, providing a lot of things, it's a great business model, and if you deliver it well, you'll do exceptionally well. So I love that. So thanks for sharing all of that, by the way.
- [68:13]
Isabel Guarino
Yes.
- [68:14]
Patrick Francie
As we kind of get down to the wire here, you know, Isabel, is when you look into the future, do you see this growing and do you see it being. When you look into the vision of your business model the way it is now, is this going to be a billion dollar business? You have dreams and aspirations of rolling out globally. What's your kind of vision around that kind of stuff? Do you have one?
- [68:39]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah. Our mission is to positively impact 10 million seniors by providing high quality residential assisted living in a home, like environmental. So I. I want to encourage as many people as I come into contact with to do something right for seniors. They need us. This is an opportunity like no other generation has ever had before us and may never have, you know, after us. So it is one of those times where it's like we have a crystal ball and if you just look into it, you can see what's coming. It's the silver Tsunami.
- [69:14]
Patrick Francie
It is.
- [69:15]
Isabel Guarino
Is right about to hit the shore. There is no better time. So I'm really excited for the future in this. I want to keep growing, keep showing as many people as we can how to do this, keep investing in these homes, and hopefully make a big dent in an industry that really needs good people getting involved.
- [69:35]
Patrick Francie
I love it. Okay, so as we wind down, I like to have what we call rapid fire questions. They're maybe not so rapid fire, but it's just to kind of have some fun as we wind things down. You ready? Ready.
- [69:45]
Isabel Guarino
I'm ready.
- [69:46]
Patrick Francie
Okay. Android or Apple?
- [69:49]
Isabel Guarino
Apple.
- [69:50]
Patrick Francie
Okay. Are you Apple? Through and through, through and through. Always been Apple?
- [69:55]
Isabel Guarino
Yeah, pretty much.
- [69:58]
Patrick Francie
So you're not a born again Apple person? Okay, got it. That's very good. Do you have a favorite tune, favorite band, or you have music file? What are you.
- [70:06]
Isabel Guarino
You know, it's embarrassing to admit, but I'm like a pit bull girly. Like, I want, like, some club music.
- [70:14]
Patrick Francie
Really? Okay, well, that's. Okay. Favorite movie? You have one.
- [70:20]
Isabel Guarino
Maybe the Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio. I like that one.
- [70:23]
Patrick Francie
Okay. I used to be a Leonardo fan. Now I'm not. He's gone too woke. He's gone way too woke for me. I don't like him. The. You know, usually with my guests, especially when they have kids, they're going, I say favorite movie and they go, whatever the kids are watching. My most recent favorite movie. Your room, your desk or your Car. What do you clean first?
- [70:47]
Isabel Guarino
They all stay meticulously clean. But my desk, I can't work with a messy desk.
- [70:52]
Patrick Francie
Oh, are you. Are you a little bit of a OCD on the clean things?
- [70:55]
Isabel Guarino
Ocd? The whole house is spotless at all times.
- [70:58]
Patrick Francie
Well, good for you. Okay, well, that's good. That's a. You know, that's even with a little.
- [71:03]
Isabel Guarino
And that's a feat, so we'll see.
- [71:06]
Patrick Francie
How long that test lasts. But then again, you know, you just have to put good people in place. That's all that really, really matters. And so if God exists, what do you want to hear him or her say when you get to the gates?
- [71:19]
Isabel Guarino
Oh, well done, my good and faithful servant, Beautiful.
- [71:23]
Patrick Francie
And, Isabel, what are you grateful for today?
- [71:27]
Isabel Guarino
I am so grateful for. You know, I'll say this, actually. I'm really grateful for opportunities to speak with people like you who are genuinely curious, who want to Lear, who want to know more. This is so fun for me just to have these conversations and hopefully everyone listening. If this is intriguing to you as well, you know, you check it out and. And do something, you know, to help this community. So I'm. I'm grateful for this podcast today. Thanks for having me on.
- [71:52]
Patrick Francie
Yeah, beautiful. And I would be remiss to say that I'm not grateful for. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have this conversation with you, spark some great ideas, by the way. Way, I'm always grateful for my help and my family and again, the opportunity to meet individuals like you who have a real passion and a real purpose. And thanks for joining me today.
- [72:15]
Isabel Guarino
Thanks for having me.
- [72:17]
Patrick Francie
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening. If you found value in the podcast, please take the time to rate and review and share with others. Share with your friends, as it is my goal to always improve and to provide the highest value for you, the listener. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions you'd like answered, please email me@ceoraincanada.com that's ceor.com I look forward to hearing from you. And until next time. Patrick. Oh.