Both owners, this husband-wife duo find fulfillment in helping others.
Name: Jeff and Kelly Chambers
Business: Visiting Angels (3 franchises)
Employees: 252
Locations: Olympia, Washington; Tacoma, Washington; Newberg, Oregon
What’s the most surprising part of owning a business?
Kelly: After 10 years in business, I can easily say that no two days are alike. Each day poses new challenges and opportunities. From our customers, to our employees, to our referral partners, there’s always a unique situation that needs our attention.
Jeff: The perception by employees, friends and politicians that gross sales are equal to net profit. Just recently I was speaking to a friend who said he was encouraging his daughter to start her own business because business owners get to write off everything. People who are not business owners fail to grasp what it’s like to be us. My friend is a 30-year employee at a large aerospace company. When he goes home at night, he gets to leave his work at the door. Business owners are always on the clock.
What’s the most satisfying part of owning the business?
Kelly: It is very gratifying to know that we help people to live their final years where they want to be: at home. Our customers hire Visiting Angels to deliver care to them at home so they don’t have to move from the homes they love so much when the time comes that they need assistance with things like personal care and mobility. When we have cared for someone through their final days, there is a huge degree of satisfaction knowing we helped make someone’s final wishes come true.
Jeff: The most satisfying part is witnessing how our business makes a difference in people’s lives. Not just our customers and their family’s lives, but also the lives of our employees and their families. The letters we receive from families thanking us for taking care of their loved one and making a difficult season in their life easier. Notes from our employees sharing how much they love being part of our business. These letters and notes serve as welcome reminders that despite all the hassles that accompany owning your own business, someone’s life is better because we are here.
What have you not yet achieved that you would like to?
Kelly: I would like to do more public speaking that empowers women to pursue their own business.
Jeff: I’m still hoping that I will figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
To what do you attribute your success?
Kelly: I am pretty competitive and really strive to do everything to the best of my abilities. As a former single mother on welfare, I am determined to demonstrate just how much one can accomplish when they are all in, despite coming from trying circumstances.
Jeff: I believe three things have been pivotal to our success: integrity, planning and perseverance. Integrity, this attribute is in short supply these days. People do business with people they trust. Planning, we are constantly examining our processes and execution. We never know what the next challenge to the success of our business will be, so we keep pushing to be better at everything we do. And perseverance, because when I opened the Oregon office 10 years ago, few people had any idea what in-home care was. I wasn’t able to take a paycheck until my second year in business, but I believed that people needed our service, so I kept pushing on.
What kind of state is Washington for small business?
Kelly: Overreaching and over-burdensome regulation weigh heavily on us. I am thankful for some of our elected officials that understand just how important small business and their employees are to the economy and work to protect free enterprise.
Jeff: The state and local governments are not business friendly and are entirely too cozy with organized labor. Each year more impediments to success are placed in front of the business community by our legislators and governor. If my business was the type that could be transplanted to another state, I would have already done so.
