01752 905790
info@extra-help.co.uk
In this week’s blog, we’re delighted to welcome Rakhi Patel to the Extra Help family. Rakhi is the proud owner of Extra Help Wembley, which launched at the end of October last year.
Extra Help Wembley covers a large territory, including HA0 (Wembley), HA9 (Wembley Park), HA0 (Stanmore), HA8 (Edgware) and NW9 (Kingsbury and Colindale).
Rakhi lives in Wembley Park with her partner, three-year-old daughter and her partner’s mother. With an impressive background in domiciliary care, Rakhi started her career 15 years ago, working as a care assistant in a care home.
Upon moving to London, Rakhi joined an agency as a care assistant. However, within two months, she was promoted to Care Co-ordinator; then Care Supervisor and, finally, Care Manager, all whilst also studying for her NVQ Levels 3 and 5.
In 2020, Rakhi gave birth to her daughter and decided not to return to work straight away.
“The role was very stressful and I knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with it now that I was a mum, especially during lockdown,” says Rakhi.
Instead of returning to her role, Rakhi decided to help her partner for a while, who had recently invested in a children’s digital coding franchise business.
However, Rakhi aspired to run her own care agency and began to research franchises. After considering a few opportunities, she realised running a care agency and becoming CQC registered would be somewhat demanding with a young child. She could see that Extra Help, which provides home-help and domestic cleaning services, but not personal care, would be more suitable.
She says: “It was actually my partner who discovered Extra Help. He suggested it would be perfect for me, as I had all the knowledge and experience from my care work, but wouldn’t have to deal with the red tape or become CQC registered. Although I’d love to run a care agency one day, it’s just not the right time.”
Since joining the Extra Help family, Rakhi says she has received excellent support from the Extra Help team, as well as the other franchisees.
“I know I can contact Claire and Sarah if I need anything, which is very reassuring when you’re starting a new venture. Plus, we have a franchisee support group on Facebook, which can be used if you have any queries or need advice. I couldn’t be happier with the support I’m receiving!” she says.
Rakhi hit the ground running from Day 1 and, as a result, her business is already doing incredibly well!
As part of her franchise package, she received 5,000 leaflets, which she distributed immediately within the Wembley area. She also advertised in her local hospital magazine and newspaper.
Although she has acquired a few clients via her leaflet drop, Rakhi says the majority of her clients have come from Facebook and a local, neighbourhood, buy and sell app, as well as word of mouth. She says her clients have a mixture of cleaning, meal preparation and companionship requirements and the majority are aged 60+.
“I believe the key to success in this business is giving it your full attention, especially in your first year, while you build your client base. And you shouldn’t be picky – take anything that comes along, even if it’s just a one-off clean,” she says. “If you do a great job and they’re happy with your work, they’ll come back, or at least will recommend you to others!”
Rakhi feels confident her business will continue to be successful, as it fills a gap in the market for those who need help with everyday tasks but don’t need personal care.
She says: “As an ex-carer, I know many people are paying a premium for care services that they don’t really need. Apart from personal care, we offer many of the same services as care agencies, but at a more affordable rate. Why should anyone pay for personal care when they don’t actually need it? Extra Help is also more flexible as you can change your day or number of hours per week at any time.”
Extra Help Wembley offers our entire range of services, including:
- Domestic cleaning, including Airbnb, end of tenancy, spring and deep cleans
- Laundry / ironing
- Gardening and household maintenance
- Companionship – spending time with clients and providing respite for carers
- Transport to/from appointments and social events
- Meal preparation
- Shopping services
- Help and support for busy parents, e.g. school runs and helping out after school and during holidays.
Rakhi is a trained Dementia Friend and has encouraged her team of home-helpers to do the training too, so they understand the illness and know how to help affected clients get the best quality of life.
We wish Rakhi the best of luck with her new franchise and look forward to celebrating her future achievements!
If Rakhi’s story has inspired you and you’d like to run your own home-help and domestic cleaning franchise business, with all the support and advice you need to succeed, why not call us on 01752 905790 for an informal chat? You can also visit our website for information about our franchise opportunity.
