Your Name: Tawanda Story
Business Name: Better Days Adult Care Center, an in-home private duty home care agency
Type of Business: Senior Care
Business Location: Granite City, Illinois, United States
Website www.BetterDaysAdultCare.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/Better Days Adult Care Center
Reason for starting
Better Days was started because of after 10 years of working as a geriatric nurse, I had finally had enough. I knew that seniors had worked too hard for too long and needed to be provided for in better ways than what was being offered. I didn’t feel that nursing homes were the best options for some, and others couldn’t afford assisted living facilites. Families were at their breaking points and felt they had no ther options. I wanted to provide a safe and home-like place for seniors to come while their families were away working or just taking a break from being the 24 hour care giver.
Biggest Success
My biggest success was overcoming fears of failure and turning a deaf ear to what “statistics” said I couldn’t do. I opened Better Days Adult Care Center in July 2012 with my own personal funds;there was no loans available to me.I worked 40+ hours a week and then came to my facility and painted walls and cleaned sometimes until almost midnight. Even though I know that opening the doors was just the beginning, I feel a sense of success just because I’ve made it this far and having that faith will get me to the next mountain!
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
My biggest challenge so far has been staying in business.Sometimes others think that once you have opened for business, it’s all uphill from there and that is such a misconception. As the sole proprietor, I am the marketer, the owner, the caregiver, and the business mind behind it all. Getting others to see your vision can sometimes be very trying.
Who is your most important role model?
My mother passed when I was 15 years old and I truly beleive that God has placed so many women in my life from that time to help mold me into the woman I am becoming. Every job that I’ve worked has resulted in a new mother or grandmother figure and relationship that I still hold dear to this very day. So I would have to say that there is not just one person, it’s the “village” of strong and beautiful women that has gotten me to this point.