By Stephen Tweed

This is the time of year when most business owners are looking at their goals for the new year
and getting started on implementation.

I Have Three Goals for 2024 – There are three things I’m focused on that I want to accomplish in 2024:

• Launch the Virtual Executive Strategy Retreat.
• Increase Industry Research
• Add New Members to the Top 5% Mastermind Group

That sounds simple, right?
It is simple, but not easy. You know the difference between simple and easy.
As you probably know, I greatly simplified my life and my business at the beginning of 2023 by
selling The Home Care CEO Forum to the Seattle-based consulting firm, Jensen, Morgan,
and Jones. My friend, long-time colleague, and former Mastermind Member Jensen Jones is
now the owner and CEO of the Home Care CEO Forum.
I committed to continue working with Jensen and the team at the CEO Forum for as long as I
am physically and mentally able, and as long as they still want me. We’re headed into our
second year and so far, so good.

My Personal Goals for 2024

These three goals are my personal business growth goals for 2024. Jensen and the team at the
CEO Forum have some other goals, and I’ll let him tell you about those. We are very excited about the potential for growing the CEO Forum over the next couple of years, and Jensen has a huge vision for the future. These three things are what I’m personally focused on this year.

Why the Executive Strategy Retreat?

I’ve been leading executive retreats for Home Care Leaders since my very first client in our industry in 1982. Since then, I’ve worked with over 500 different organizations leading them
through the process of creating a five-year vision, a three-year picture, and one-year goals.
We’ve helped them create distinction in the marketplace, define their company culture, and develop strategies to grow the business. We held our first public Executive Strategy Retreat in 2019 with members from the Pennsylvania Home Care Association and their then Executive Director, Vicki Hoak. Most of you know Vicki as the amazing woman who went on to become the Executive Director of the Home Care Association of America. ( Vicki Retired just after the 2023 HCAOA Annual Conference). Since then, we’ve done ESRs with several state associations and several large home care franchise organizations.
Our Most Recent ESR was this past December with the Home Care Association of Florida. It
was such a success that we decided to take it virtual, and offer an online version for our
Mastermind Members, Strategic Business Coaching Clients, and our seminar participants.
We’ll kick this off over three Thursdays in February 2024.
Here’s a link to learn more about the Virtual Executive Strategy Retreat from the Home Care
CEO Forum.

Increasing Industry Research

As you know, I’m a bit of a “data junkie.” I love facts, data, information, and knowledge.
Several years ago, my friend and colleague, Valerie Cade, was the President of the Canadian
Association of Professional Speakers the same year I was the President of the National
Speakers Association in the USA. We were working together on a chapter leadership program,
and I did the presentations on chapter finance. She dubbed me “Dataman” and made me a
bright purple cape with the “Dataman” logo.

Since we formed Leading Home Care … a Tweed Jeffries company in 2002, we have done a number of industry research projects to better understand our industry sector and the factors affecting our future. Since 2010 I’ve worked closely with Aaron Marcum, the Founder of Home Care Pulse on the annual home care benchmarking study. I often joked that between Aaron
and me, we had more facts, data, and information about home care than any two other people on the planet. I think that’s still true.

At Leading Home Care and the Home Care CEO Forum we just launched a major new study of the factors affecting the future of the industry. We are collecting data right now, and will begin analyzing the data in the new few weeks to let you know what we find out. There’s still time to participate in our survey.

Adding New Members to the Top 5% Mastermind Group

The Home Care CEO Forum began in 2012 when we introduced the Mastermind Concept to the
home care industry, and started what was then the $5 Million Mastermind Group. We started
with five companies and eight individuals. All five companies that attended that first mastermind
meeting joined the group, and one of them – Martha’s Hands in St. Louis, MO is still a member.
We grew the group to 13 companies and renamed it The Top 5% Group, based on revenue
ranges from the Home Care Pulse Benchmarking Study.
The members and former members of the Top 5% Group are names you would recognize as
thought leaders in the Home Care Industry and many have served on the Board of Directors of
the Home Care Association of America. These former members have grown their companies
into the very top tier of our industry.
Since our peak in 2019, the number of members of this group has gone down as six of our
members sold their businesses in a 24 month period. The group is now eight companies that
generate between $10 million and $30 million in annual revenue.
We are looking for four new members this year, so if you know the owner or CEO of an
independent home care company that generates $10 million or more in annual revenue, I’d love
to talk with them. Here’s a link for more information.

The year 2024 will be an exciting time in Home Care. There are many challenges out there, and there is huge opportunity for growth. We are committed to working with owners and CEOs of home care companies in the top tier of our industry who want to grow their businesses and get ready for the future.

If that’s you … let’s talk.