IAM2440 – CEO and Founder Redefines Home Care Industry and Builds a Thriving Franchise

Amrit Dhaliwal

00:00 - 00:15

And so when we're talking to care workers and clients and so on, we're not just talking about the doing, we're talking to them about how we can help them age better and, you know, talking about longevity and we're, you know, putting stuff out there for that.

Intro

00:16 - 00:41

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grist values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I

Gresham Harkless

00:41 - 00:52

Am CEO Podcast. Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh Filming, I Am CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Amrit Dhaliwal. Amrit, excited to have you on the show.

Amrit Dhaliwal

00:52 - 00:54

Great to be here, Gresh. Thank you very much.

Gresham Harkless

00:54 - 01:26

Yes, I'm super excited to have you on. Thank you. The pleasure is definitely all mine because you're doing so many awesome things. And of course, before we jump in and have that phenomenal conversation, I want to read a little bit more about Amrit so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Amrit, his story is one of resilience, innovation, and purpose. Known as the Walking CEO, he started out as a market stall trader with his Pujabi parents. Fast forward today, and Amrit is the CEO of Walfinch, a premium home care franchise headquartered in Oxfordshire that's transforming the care industry while achieving remarkable growth.

Gresham Harkless

01:27 - 02:07

With a turnover of over 18 million pounds, With 36 locations and 32 franchisees, Walfinch is not only thriving, but also redefining what it means to provide quality care. Amrit is a dynamic entrepreneur whose leadership has earned Walfinch's recognition on the 2024 UK's Fast Growth Index, placing it among the top 350 businesses out of 5.6 million nationwide. He also has been named a CEO to CEO one to watch and voted number two in the Home Care Insight Power List 2024, cementing his reputation as an industry innovator and author. His book he recently published is called Time to Thrive the Home Care Revolution.

Gresham Harkless

02:07 - 02:13

So Amrat, excited to have you on the show. Love all the awesome things you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

Amrit Dhaliwal

02:14 - 02:15

Absolutely, Gresh. Thank you

Gresham Harkless

02:15 - 02:22

very much. Absolutely. Well, to kick everything off, let's rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Amrit Dhaliwal

02:23 - 03:00

Yeah, no, great. So I started really running my own business in the playground when I was about eight years old, and I had Ryan Giggs posters. And I realized that people would exchange these posters that I had for money. And I thought, wow, this is magical. And I just got hooked on it. My parents, as you said, from an immigrant background, came over with three pounds in their pockets and just big dreams. worked in factories, markets, shops, property, and so on, and really kind of carried on building up. And I saw that and was on that journey with them.

Amrit Dhaliwal

03:00 - 03:42

And I found it supremely interesting how accidental entrepreneurialism for them showed me this world that a lot of my friends didn't get to see. And so I made the decision really early doors that I wanted to run my own business. Went to university, did all of the kind of 2.0 type stuff. But when I came out, I worked for eight months and I thought, right, this is it. This is my time. I cannot work for anyone else. got involved in restaurants, cafes, Italian delis, moved into this tea room, won some business awards when I was about 23, 24, around the time.

Amrit Dhaliwal

03:42 - 04:17

And then I met my now wife, who actually randomly recommended domiciliary care to me when I was about 25 years old. And I was like, what the hell is that? So next thing I know, I bought a franchise. But immediately after buying this franchise, two things became abundantly clear to me. That in the UK, the home care market and the franchising market within home care was broken and it needed fixing. And I thought, this is the mission I need to be on for the next 20 years. And I built that business up to a million in revenues, profitable, sold it.

Amrit Dhaliwal

04:17 - 04:30

use that as my treasure chest to start Wolfenge. And here we are today on a journey to say, right, how do we get to 200 branches in the UK and how do we plant flags internationally?

Gresham Harkless

04:30 - 04:43

Nice. I absolutely love that. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, a little bit more on how you're working with and serving your clients. That's the franchisees and also the people that they're serving as well too. Could I hear a little bit more on like how you all are making that impact?

Amrit Dhaliwal

04:43 - 05:16

Yeah, I mean, so we went through a rebrand at the end of last year. And we came up with this concept called time to thrive. And what that really means is it's talking about aging well, in a very different way. I think often when we talk about getting old or providing care, we're talking about the last chapter of someone's life. The way we look at it is very differently. This is the beginning of the next chapter of your life. It's not the end, it is the beginning of something. And it's not just about surviving, it's about thriving.

Amrit Dhaliwal

05:17 - 06:24

And thriving might be getting out of bed today and walking to the bathroom yourself. It might be going to one of our Thrive Clubs around the country, which are free donation-based exercise classes or art classes or just community clubs where people can come in and not only start working on building muscle mass and to really working on actual physical stuff, but also helping to omit loneliness. And I think that is a really kind of key part of it. And so when we're talking to care workers and clients, and so on, we're not just talking about the doing, we're talking to them about how we can help them age better and longevity and we're putting stuff out there for that i have every other wednesday i have something that comes out on my youtube channel called wellness with wall finch it's me and an exercise class with various different people within that community putting this out for people at home that want to do something.

Amrit Dhaliwal

06:24 - 07:03

And it might be chair yoga, it might be the UK's strongest disabled person doing this with me. And it's just kind of putting that out there and saying, you know, just because you're older, it doesn't mean it's the end. So let's really kind of focus on that part. The other bit of that is what we do with franchisees and refocusing on being super selective when we are recruiting franchisees. I say no a lot. In fact, in the last year, I said yes, signed a contract. I realized that the decision wasn't quite right, handed that money back and I was like, actually, I don't think this is right for us.

Amrit Dhaliwal

07:03 - 07:39

I think we're in the wrong marriage here. It's really understanding that and saying it's not just about the sugar hit money now, it's about the long-term growth and impact together. We really work with franchisees to say, if they are gritty and well-funded, we will support them all the way through that journey. and really get them going from full-time employment to realizing their dreams of full-time self-employment quite often. And it's really just sort of saying, where are the roadblocks? We have this replicable system that can be tailored for the individual.

Gresham Harkless

07:39 - 08:00

Yeah, that ends up being such a huge thing. And I almost wonder if that's like part of your secret sauce. I like to say it might be yourself, the business, or a combination of both. But is it that ability to kind of understand that human part, understand, you know, how you're communicating, what you're ultimately doing, and then be able to kind of marry that to the system that people can execute? Do you feel like that's what sets you apart and makes you unique?

Amrit Dhaliwal

08:00 - 08:31

What I understand is that I'm big on gut feeling. I'm big on gut reactions. I've just taken on a site today. I went along and my wife asked me this morning, she said, what are you going to do with this place? Are you keeping it? Are you building it? Are you selling it to another franchisee? I'll tell you when I come home tonight. I'll take one look at the situation and I'll know. And you can go in and think, gosh, how do I feel about this? What do people like? What's the vibe? How's the internal culture here?

Amrit Dhaliwal

08:31 - 09:13

Is it going to work for me? And the problem with that is that's hard to systemize and replicate. And so what I've done is I've turned it And so we've systemized and replicated what we can, people go through that, and then I'm free to make my gut reaction. And then it's like, hey, gosh, you know, they're on the fence, but I think they'll really do it. Or, you know, they've got everything, but they can't do it. you know, and what certainly they can't do with us. And I think that's, you know, for me, the really interesting part is honing in on that gut feeling and then training your team to get good at sort of sniffing out issues and just instinctively being able to kind of follow your nose on that.

Amrit Dhaliwal

09:14 - 09:25

And it's a really interesting piece because that is the thing that you want from franchisees often as well, so that they can see an issue before there's an issue three months before it even is something that we talk about.

Gresham Harkless

09:25 - 09:35

Absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or even a habit that you have, but what's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

Amrit Dhaliwal

09:36 - 10:19

Get a coach or a mentor. And that might be someone different over time. And I've had multiple people that have impacted me. I've always got someone that is there. I've got someone right now. And I think having someone as that coach, mentor, advisor that has maybe worn the t-shirt or a similar t-shirt that you can just pick up the phone to and say, hey, what's going on here? It might start with structured things and then fall into a much more unstructured relationship. But I think having that is really interesting because it allows for someone else to hold a mirror up to you and hold you accountable and keep you moving and tell you about issues that you're going to have before those issues come along.

Amrit Dhaliwal

10:20 - 10:54

Which is actually how we position ourselves as guides, as a franchisor. We're a guide through your business journey. So it's kind of the same thing. For a franchisee, we act as that. But I have people that act as that for me. So I think that is a super important thing. And I think if you did nothing else apart from got someone that was two levels ahead of you, at least, and got them to just give you nuggets, you would go somewhere with that. The second thing I would say, which I find really quite interesting, is time.

Amrit Dhaliwal

10:55 - 11:37

And time is always limited. We all have 24 hours in a day. But how do you time chunk and block that out? And I'm in my personal life, terrible with timekeeping. I cannot I don't fathom getting anywhere on time. In my professional life, I'm there, as you saw today, three minutes early, and it's prepare, because if you prepare really well and you can time chunk it, you will go very far. What I've done over the years is I have blocked my diary into 30-minute segments, really hammering things down into 30-minute segments or whatever works for you, and then I mean, working through that.

Amrit Dhaliwal

11:37 - 11:44

And I think, so I'd say those two things are really important. Get an advisor and be really, really brutal with your time.

Gresham Harkless

11:44 - 11:57

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So what would you consider to be a little bit more of what I like to call a CEO nugget? So this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite franchisee or if you hopped into a time machine and you might tell your younger business office.

Amrit Dhaliwal

11:58 - 12:38

I mean, probably very similar things, really. I think not limiting yourself. is a really interesting thing. I think when you're younger, you sort of look at other people and think, oh, gosh, well, they've done that. But they've got X, Y, and Z behind them. They've got more capital. They've got more people. They've got knowledge or different education. And I don't have any of those things. But I think Telling your internal story differently and telling yourself that you can do it all, and it's really about figuring out how you can do it, as opposed to the alternative.

Amrit Dhaliwal

12:39 - 13:14

I think that, for me, is a really important piece of really just looking at it and saying, well, if somebody else can do it, so can I. And what is the difference, Gresh, between you and Mark Zuckerberg? actually, it's laser focus, probably. It's just that really. And all the rest of it, as you grow, you acquire great people around you to do it, you know, Steve Jobs once said, in fact. And so for me, I think it's really just don't limit yourself just because someone else's story feels too big. Do not limit yourself.

Gresham Harkless

13:14 - 13:24

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to ask you now one of my absolute favorite questions, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and our goals that have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Amrit, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Amrit Dhaliwal

13:24 - 14:12

You are the leader and it is, I think leadership is a key part of being a CEO. I think somebody that understands Resource and resource allocation, whether that is money, people, effort. I think that probably is one of the key parts of it. And also a problem solver. I'd say those three things for me, it's leadership, it is being a problem solver, and it is resource allocation. I have to give you this fourth. It's talent acquisition as well. I think some of the best people or best businesses are the best businesses because there was a good leader that got great people to come and work for them.

Amrit Dhaliwal

14:12 - 14:21

And that made the business great. And if you think about Good to Great by Jim Collins, for example, it's very much like get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus.

Gresham Harkless

14:22 - 14:37

Absolutely. Well, Amrit, truly appreciate that definition. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get a hold of you, find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Amrit Dhaliwal

14:37 - 15:17

Always keep learning regardless of where you are in your journey. There's always somebody out there or something out there that you can learn. There's a new system. There's a new piece of technology, there is a new thought process. It's just keep that hunger of learning alive always, because that will keep your business young at heart and keep it really kind of thriving. So the best way to get a hold of me, I'm on LinkedIn as Amrit Dhaliwal. I'm on Instagram as Amrit Wolfinch, underscore Wolfinch, I think. And I have a YouTube channel called Amrit the Walking CEO.

Amrit Dhaliwal

15:18 - 15:57

And I think there's underscores on all of that. And you can contact the franchise team on our website, Wolfinch Franchising. And yeah, please, I'd love to hear from people. I'd love to hear from anyone that this impacts at all. Because I think often you put these things out there and there's invisible ears on the other side. And sometimes it's really wonderful to hear when people kind of pick up with us. And if anyone does get the book, all of the profits go to the care workers charity. And that is a charity that we support as well, quite actively with lots of different activity.

Amrit Dhaliwal

15:57 - 16:01

And that is a charity that supports care workers that are in need.

Gresham Harkless

16:02 - 16:05

In order to get the book, it's the best place on your website.

Amrit Dhaliwal

16:05 - 16:12

Amazon is the easiest place to get it. It's Time to Thrive, The Home Care Revolution by Amrit Dhaliwal.

Gresham Harkless

16:12 - 16:22

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Amrit. Of course, to make it even easier as well too, we'll also have the links and information. in the show notes that everybody can click through, find out about all the awesome things that you're doing, but I mean, I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Amrit Dhaliwal

16:22 - 16:23

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me on.

Intro

16:24 - 16:53

Thank you for listening to the I Am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at ceohacks.co. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.