AMERICAN HOME COMPANIONS

When Jim Mark began the process of purchasing American Home Companions (AHC) from his father-in-law in early 2004, the company was a small scale family-owned business struggling to compete in the home care market. And yet, within three years Jim turned the company around to achieve 65% revenue growth, $4.2 million in sales and the position of market leader for the live-in home care industry segment in the State of Florida.  Jim credits much of the company’s success to the assistance he received as an Advisory Board Council client. “I would have given up on the company had it not been for my board. The transitional problems were overwhelming. The board helped me work with my father-in-law to effect a successful transition.”    

When Jim took over the leadership of AHC he was an accomplished businessman with nearly 20 years experience in the software industry but had no experience in the home care industry. He knew he needed expert advice to turn the company around and went to the Small Business Development Center at UCF for assistance. Jim had had a positive experience with SBDC services when he was COO of a software company in Alabama and was pleased when he read a news article about the Disney Entrepreneur Center and the availability of SBDC services in downtown Orlando. Jim soon learned of the Advisory Board Council and applied to the program in November 2003. Created in 2003 and funded by Orange County Government, the SBDC at UCF’s Advisory Board Council provides established businesses with no-cost advisory boards comprised of experienced professionals in order to help a company grow its business. 

Although in its infancy phase, the Advisory Board Council accepted American Home Companions as its second client and selected a custom-fit advisory board to address the company’s diverse needs. AHC’s board started meeting in March 2004 and consisted of eight volunteers, each a highly experienced professional from the fields of human resources, accounting, law, banking, sales, strategic planning and organizational development. The board guided Jim through the company acquisition and business transition issues and also assisted with the development of a much-needed infrastructure in order to facilitate growth. AHC graduated from the Advisory Board Council program in September 2005 and shortly thereafter Jim finalized the business purchase.  Due to the success AHC experienced with the first board, Jim applied for a second term with the program. AHC’s second board met throughout 2006, concentrating on the company’s sales and marketing to further grow the company. According to Jim, “The second board was great for the honest feedback and making those hard decisions. They helped me close poor performing districts and better focus the firm’s resources on those areas that had the best potential for growth.” To further assist Jim and in order to carry out some of the board’s recommendations, the SBDC at UCF arranged for a group of UCF students to prepare a competitive market analysis for AHC, an exercise Jim credits as being instrumental in positioning his company for growth. 

Today, as the market leader in live-in companions for the state, American Home Companions is well positioned to take advantage of the aging of the baby boomer market. Known as the “live-in experts,” AHC offers an alternative to assisted living facilities by providing in-home elder care services for aging and disabled persons. The company works with medical professionals and home health care nursing agencies to allow elderly individuals to remain living in their own homes.  Currently, American Home Companions serves 17 counties across Florida with 13 full-time and two part-time employees, as well as a network of 180 independent contractors.  One of the successes of Jim’s work with the Advisory Board Council was the development of a scalable business model which enabled AHC to expand profitably. When asked to sum up his feelings about the Advisory Board Council Jim remarks, “It’s a great program. It would be hard to imagine not utilizing the program.”   

Although he receives great satisfaction from serving the elder population and improving his clients’ lives, Jim’s desire to give back to the community, serve as a role model and utilize his leadership skills extends far beyond his own company. Industry peers elected Jim a Director of the Private Care Association of Florida, which makes him the only companion agency representative to serve on the board of an association of primarily skilled care providers. Jim is a Scoutmaster for his son’s Boy Scout troop and serves as Committee Chairperson for two local Scout troops. He is also a graduate of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Orlando program.   

As part of the Leadership Orlando curriculum, Jim toured the Orange County Jail. Because of this tour and due to the extensive screening and background checks that AHC conducts during their hiring process, Jim realized that in order for these repeat offenders to have a legitimate life upon release they would need to become entrepreneurs. So, Jim conceived the idea of offering entrepreneurship classes to incarcerated juveniles and developed “On the Mark”, a business and entrepreneurship class designed to help rehabilitate the offenders and offer them options for their future. Through “On the Mark”, Jim is able to share some of the knowledge and expertise that his advisors shared with him. As he prepares to teach his third group of prisoners, Jim offers the young men a bit of advice which offers a glimpse into his own drive and ambition as an entrepreneur: “You have got to absolutely believe that you are going to succeed and have something better in the future than you have now.”

Jim Mark

“It’s a great program. It would be hard to imagine not utilizing the program.”

“The second board was great for the honest feedback and making those hard decisions. They helped me close poor performing districts and better focus the firm’s resources on those areas that had the best potential for growth. ”