Natalie and Nathan East

In the space of just four years since opening their Right at Home franchise in Chichester, husband-and-wife team Natalie and Nathan East have accomplished some incredible things.

Not only has their business achieved phenomenal financial growth and picked up multiple awards, their team of care professionals have also made a lasting, and sometimes even life-changing, impact on the people they support.

As any successful business owner will admit, Natalie and Nathan’s journey hasn’t been without its challenges, but with bags of determination and hard work, along with the backing of an established and trusted franchisor, they’ve bounced back every time.

“If we look back on what we’ve achieved over the last four years, it’s been amazing. The journey has been up and down, but I can honestly say we’ve given it everything we’ve got, and we’ve smashed it,” Nathan says.

Starting out

Natalie and Nathan both have their individual reasons for entering the care sector, but it was a personal life event that cemented their decision to travel on this path.

Natalie spent most of her career in service management, working in various roles for Total Jobs, where she met Nathan, before becoming the Technology Operations Director for publishing company, HarperCollins.

Nathan worked in online recruitment advertising and was one of five people to set up Indeed in the UK in 2013.

Four years later, the couple decided to start a family and made the move from London to the South coast after their daughter, Dulcie, was born.

There, Nathan set up a media buying agency specialising in supporting clients in the health and care sectors to reach talented recruits.

“I got to know our clients’ businesses and realised that they weren’t running them in the best way possible to attract the right staff. So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to set up my own care business with Natalie and build a strong team and positive workplace culture,” Nathan explains.

Meanwhile, whilst on maternity leave, Natalie joined local groups in an attempt to integrate into her new hometown and got to know and understand some of the challenges faced by vulnerable residents.

She had been considering a move into care for a while and was presented with the perfect opportunity in 2019.

Despite working with several homecare providers in his former profession, Nathan only became aware of RaH UK when researching franchising opportunities in the sector and, like Natalie, was impressed by the brand’s reputation, growth potential and stringent franchise selection process.

“We wanted our values as individuals and owners to be aligned with that of a franchise that is very protective of their brand and won’t just let people in for the sake of it because they’ve got £120,000 in the bank. Right at Home ticked those boxes for us,” Nathan explains.

It was at the tail end of this research that Natalie’s father sadly passed away, after being moved from hospital into a hospice.

“We know now that even if someone’s at the end of their life, they can still receive good, or in most cases outstanding, care in their own home. But we weren’t offered those choices as a family,” Natalie says.

This experience has helped shape the culture of Right at Home Chichester & Bognor Regis and the type of customer service it delivers.

“We’re very consultative in our approach, so even if we’re not able to help someone, we’ll still spend time on the phone, signposting and guiding them through their options and emailing them information, even if it’s just from a council website,” Natalie explains.

“That’s born from the experience that we had with my dad when we weren’t given that information. If we had, we may have made different decisions.”

Why franchising?

So why, after already building a successful business from the ground up, did the couple choose to go down the franchising route upon entering the homecare sector?

“It’s a good question, and one which Ken [Deary, RaH UK Chairman] asked us when we first met,” Nathan recalls.

“We wanted to learn best practices from other franchisees and be a part of an established brand that had tried-and-tested processes and systems already in place,” he explains.

“Natalie and I both have a lot of skills and are very driven, but the care sector is heavily red taped and there’s a lot of hoops you have to jump through, so having experienced people within a network guiding you through the process made it much more attractive to us.”

Joining the Right at Home network turned out to be the best decision for the husband-and-wife team, given the challenges they faced in their first one to two years of building their business.

Just six months into opening the franchise, the team received their first inspection from the Care Quality Commission.

“Within hours of being notified and with just four days to prepare, Tyler [Haldane, Quality and Compliance Manager at RaH UK] was parachuted in and helped us get ready,” Nathan recalls.

Like many new RaH Franchise Owners, Nathan and Natalie also faced the challenge of building the foundations of their business, including recruiting a strong team, whilst going out and delivering care in the community.

“At one point we were working 16-hour days, seven days a week and it was difficult on our family life – we have two small children,” says Nathan.

Natalie adds: “At times we had to employ childminders so we could cover care visits and enable our rapid growth. But on the flip side, our team respect us more, knowing that we have delivered care ourselves and we know what we’re talking about.”

Natalie and Nathan at the
2022 Sussex Business Awards 

Proudest moments

It seems that the couple’s hard work has paid off as, despite the challenges, RaH Chichester and Bognor Regis has won multiple awards, including the Best Customer Service accolade at the Sussex Business Awards in 2022 and the WorkBuzz 5 Star Employer Award for three consecutive years.

The franchise has also witnessed exceptional growth, with revenue rising by 420% in its first year and 19% in 2023.

But what gives Natalie and Nathan the most pride is knowing the difference their team is making to their Clients’ lives every day.

“Our Registered Manager, Sammy, and I recently visited someone in hospital who was in a really bad way. He was very poorly and had lost his mobility,” Nathan explains.

“We delivered 24-hour care in his home for eight weeks and, all of a sudden, he started to get his mobility back and even drive a car. He then reduced his care down to morning and evening visits, and now doesn’t even have the evening visits anymore. We’ve changed his life, and I said to his family ‘this is exactly why Natalie and I do this job’.”

The Franchise Owners also support people in the community, hosting Love to Move exercise classes every week.

“We have one couple who said the sessions have really paid off because their ability to move their fingers has really improved. One lady couldn’t open a carton of milk before she attended, and now has much more dexterity. Love to Move is something that we provide for free in the community. Nathan and I pay for the hall, refreshments and training for Katrina - our office administrator who runs it. We’re both really proud of this initiative.”

Supportive network

Nathan and Natalie are now in a place where they can take a step back from the day-to-day running of their RaH franchise and think strategically about further growth, having built a strong team who deliver around 550 hours of care per week.

“Last summer we went to France for a whole month and the team absolutely smashed it back home,” Nathan says. “But we’re still both very active in the business and the team still rely on us. We never switch off, but that’s part and parcel of being a business owner.”

The couple have found their feet in their role as Franchise Owners, but they both know that they can always call on the National Office team for support.  

“We see the National Office team as an extension of our business,” Nathan says. “On a couple of occasions, we’ve worked with Lucy [Campbell, CEO] and she’s been fantastic in guiding us through any challenges and is always accessible. If we’re in a critical situation she will get the right resources to us and her team will be straight on it.”

He adds: “What sets Right at Home apart is its responsiveness. If I phone Alan, our Business Support Manager, and he doesn’t answer, he’ll text me to say he’s on a call and will call me back as soon as he has a free moment.”

Natalie agrees, adding: “It’s clear that for the folks at National Office, supporting Franchise Owners across the network is not just a job for them, it’s a vocation. It’s really evident in all the communication that they have with everybody across the team. And it’s clear that Ken [Deary, founder and Chairman] and Lucy set the bar high in terms of the employees they bring on board. For me, that really shines through.”

To discover how Right at Home can support you in a homecare business venture, call Kate or Chrissie on 0151 305 0770 or email franchising@rightathome.co.uk.

Natalie and Nathan East

Owners, Right at Home Chichester & Bognor Regis