Andy and Rebecca Beard of Augusta, GA didn’t expect to be opening their new business venture in the midst of a global pandemic. But, that is what happened!
Instead of letting Covid-19 derail their plans for a successful grand opening, they made the best of it. Originally, Andy thought his background and contacts in the senior living communities around him would make for a quick start to quoting and winning jobs.
Relocating—and dealing with the estate—is tough, especially when you get older. When I was working in a senior living community, I would get several calls a week where a senior was looking to move into our facility, but they didn’t know where to start with their current home. I realized that not everyone has family who can help or who wants to help, which is what led me to Caring Transitions. Andy said.
However, the shutdowns early in the pandemic crisis temporarily kept the couple from capitalizing on these contacts.
The communities closed their doors to new move-ins for a few months and that meant no referrals from this source. So instead, Andy and his wife, Rebecca, turned their attention to gaining referrals from local real estate agents. It was a seller’s market at the time and houses were off the market quickly. Many owners didn’t have time to go through their belongings and get the house ready for the move out.
That’s where Andy and Rebecca’s team came in. They were able to organize, pack and clean out these homes in less than two weeks. And, they were able to leverage the CTBIDs online auction platform to host virtual estate sales at a time when no one wanted hundreds of strangers walking through their home at a traditional estate sale.
According to Andy, The beauty of the Caring Transitions model is the ability to shift and adjust to the needs in your market. You can truly make the business what you need it to be. We weren’t going to let Covid scare us and slow us down. We knew we had to find a way.
Their persistence paid off and Caring Transitions of Augusta was consistently among the top 5 rookie territories for the brand in 2020.
With the senior living communities relaxing their restrictions later in the year, Andy and Rebecca have been able to shift back to the original plan of capitalizing on his industry contacts. More importantly, they not only thrived during a time when other businesses didn’t, they also built an entirely new network of referral partners that will be a benefit long into the future.
Helping them along the way were all the other franchise owners, especially two new franchisees that they met during their initial training in November 2019. These new owners have kept in close contact with weekly phone calls and almost daily texts of encouragement and ideas. All three locations are among the top rookie performers.
Andy said, We wouldn’t be on the top performers list if it weren’t for Margo Gonzales (Caring Transitions of Moore, OK) and Lisa Malvea (Caring Transitions of Roswell, GA).
This is a terrific example of how a business model that attracts people with both business experience and the desire to help others has created an environment in which franchisees are encouraged to work together and help each other be successful. And it pays off!
Get to know Andy and Rebecca Beard:
Andy was born and raised in Augusta, GA and has an extensive background in customer service management. He has a master’s degree in museum education from The George Washington University and has worked in museums, retail establishments, home health and senior living.
Rebecca, who is from Hampton, SC, has a master’s degree in reading education from Johns Hopkins University and has been a reading specialist and teacher for the last 18 years. They were married in 2015 and have a blended family of four children.
Caring Transitions is lucky to have such resilient, collaborative, and hard-working franchisees as Andy and Rebecca Beard, and would like to congratulate them on an impressive first year!