The $100,000 Partnership Mistake I Was Too Stubborn to Quit – Clayton Foutch
Release Date: 09/23/2025
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On Death and Dying in Home Care Part 1 – Gabrielle Pumpian and Nicole Soares
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Gabrielle Pumpian returns, joined by death doula and end-of-life consultant Nicole Soares, for a profound conversation about the one thing every home care agency deals with but few are prepared for: death. They explore a common operational mistake: failing to align a caregiver's duties with a client's core values, leading to disengagement and a reduced schedule. Nicole shares her powerful personal journey that led her to become a "one-stop death shop," while Gabby reflects on the costly mindset of viewing a client's passing primarily as a revenue loss. The discussion offers actionable advice...
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Hiring the Wrong Person Taught Me About Building a Better Team – Becky Reel
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In this re-released episode of Home Care Hindsight, host David Knack sits down with Becky Reel, founder and CEO of Reel Home Care Consulting and former owner of a top-rated home care agency. In their conversation from 2024, Becky vulnerably shares the story of her biggest hiring mistake: bringing her nanny into the office during COVID-19. She details how she overlooked numerous red flags, which led to a toxic work environment and significant business disruption. From this experience, she learned invaluable lessons about the importance of thorough reference checks, truly listening to her team,...
info_outlineIn this episode of Home Care Hindsight, host David Knack is joined by Clayton Foutch, a home care veteran and founder with over 18 years in the industry.
Clay opens up about the costly mistake of stubbornly pursuing a major partnership that was a poor strategic fit for his company's "Four Seasons" vision. He shares how his refusal to listen to his team and cut losses earlier resulted in a significant financial and reputational hit.
Clay also dives into the importance of revenue diversification for stability, the collaborative nature of the home care industry, and how to thoughtfully integrate new technology without losing sight of your core mission: serving caregivers and clients.
Lesson Takeaways:
1. Know Your "Lemon Meringue": Identify your core business which is the thing you do best, and avoid cluttering it with distracting "knick-knacks" (like ill-fitting partnerships) that drain resources.
2. Diversify Your Revenue Streams Early: Relying on a single referral source (like skilled nursing facilities) makes your business vulnerable. Explore concierge care, veterans' programs, and other payer mixes before a crisis forces you to.
3. Surround Yourself with Contrarians: Your biggest weakness might be your own stubbornness. Build a team of trusted, objective advisors (like Clay's partner Jeff) who aren't afraid to tell you when your "kid is ugly."
4. Embrace Mistakes as Tuition: View business missteps not as failures, but as paid education. This mindset shift allows for quicker pivots and reduces the emotional cost of being wrong.
5. Lead with Humility Through Change: When implementing new technology or processes, be honest with your team that you don't have all the answers. Frame it as a collaborative journey to better serve clients and caregivers, and be willing to backtrack if you take a wrong turn.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction and Clay's background in home care
04:30 - The story of the "Australian pirate" secret shopper call
11:10 - Clay's biggest mistake: The stubborn pursuit of a costly, misaligned partnership
16:45 - The "Lemon Meringue" lesson from The Profit that sparked a pivot
20:15 - How to evaluate partnerships against your core mission and values
25:30 - Underrated or Overrated? Balancing tech innovation with the human element of care
33:00 - The critical need for revenue diversification (and the mistake of not having it)
39:00 - A small mistake owners make: Trying to do everything themselves instead of delegating
43:30 - What Clay is most excited about now: Mentoring other entrepreneurs in the franchise network
46:45 - The importance of finding mentors and building a personal "board of directors"
51:20 - Clayton shares two of his recent successes and the reason behind them
Quotes:
Clay: "I get so dug in on maybe not being wrong that I just kept persevering and persevering on trying to make this work... It cost us a ton of money, really reputation."
Clay: "Having some diversification in revenue is really important because things do change. My entire business was built on walking into skilled nursing facilities... and then in one minute that ended."
Clay: "I’m not afraid to just say like, I don't know. I’m not afraid to say I need help. I think when you share that with your team... you can genuinely be humble."
David Knack: "We don't have good change management muscles in this industry... because we move so fast every day, reacting and putting out fires."
Resources:
1. Home Matters Caregiving: https://homematters.com/
2. Connect with Clayton Foutch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-foutch
3. Connect with David Knack on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-knack/
4. Powered by Zingage: https://zingage.com
5. Watch Episode on Zingage’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Zingage