From Care Manager to Franchise Partner

Sam Jones, Co-Owner of GoodOaks – East Dorset and GoodOaks – Salisbury, started his career in care as a childcare apprentice aged 16. Over the years he has gained experience in a wide range of areas within health and social care from working with young adults, people with mental disabilities and working within the ambulance services.

“Working in health and social care is a very tough but highly rewarding sector. We constantly make a difference to clients and their loved ones’ lives.”

Sam first joined GoodOaks – Bournemouth and Poole as a care professional and was promoted to Deputy Manager to run the visiting care side of the business. During his time with GoodOaks Sam witnessed franchise partners from different backgrounds joining the network and saw how with the training and support from the head office team new branches were able to grow quickly and sustainably even with no previous experience in the sector.
He recognised that with his care experience and the head office team to help fill the gaps in the other areas of running a business such as marketing, technical support and business planning, that he would be able to run a branch himself.

“One of the biggest expenses within the first year is hiring an experienced Registered Manager, knowing that I could successfully take on this role myself I felt I was one step ahead of the game already!”

Sam and Adam had previously worked together within the sector and knew that they would work well as business partners, and in April 2020 they opened their first branch GoodOaks – East Dorset. After a successful couple of years of operation and growing rapidly despite the pandemic the team expanded and opened GoodOaks – Salisbury and Amesbury in February 2022.

From starting work in the sector as a care professional and now running two successful branches, they really go to show how with the experience, dedication and support from the head office team you can quickly succeed with GoodOaks.

“I feel because we had the previous knowledge of the sector head office were able to tweak some of the training so that we concentrated on the other areas. Although I had no experience of marketing or preparing a business forecast I already knew about the day to day running of a care service and the basic knowledge of how to recruit for the right candidates. I really would encourage experienced care managers to – I would say take the risk (but it’s not even that much of a risk!), and go for it!”