Gareth Mahon is the co-founder and CEO of The CareSide. The company provides home care and home nursing services for seniors in Australia. Gareth lives in Perth, where the company is headquartered. Prior to launching The CareSide, he worked as a technology director for several financial institutions like KPMG and ANZ Bank.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is The CareSide all about?
We offer a variety of different healthcare services (e.g. companion care, respite care, nursing care, palliative care, etc.). However, we group these into two divisions because of how the healthcare system is organized in Australia.
The first is home care. In this area, we help caregivers take care of their loved ones. Our typical client is someone in their 30’s, 40’s, or 50’s who is responsible for taking care of their aging parent or relative. Our goal is to help seniors maintain autonomy so they can enjoy themselves and continue to be productive members of society. The second service area is disability care. This is new for us since we just passed all the qualifications to be able to offer disability care. Our focus is helping individuals with mental or physical handicaps. We’re responsible for people’s health and overall well being. It’s an important job and one that we take seriously.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
We just opened a new office in Adelaide. Previously, we’ve only operated in Perth. However, we’re now in a position to be able to scale since we have streamlined our operations and can reinvest our profits back into the business. It’s a cost expanding into new markets. But we believe it’s a risk worth taking.
As part of streamline our services, we have developed our own software platform. It helps us efficiently manage our payroll, sales, and HR. We’re planning to roll this out into its own product and offer it as a SaaS platform to other home care providers.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
We offer the best value care. That means clients receive more care and pay less for our services than at our competitors. We are able to keep our costs low because of the software we developed. And we pass that savings onto our customers. We have a page on our website that compares our prices to other home care providers. That’s how we distinguish ourselves. It’s our USP.
How do you go about marketing your business, and what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
Our marketing strategy has shifted over the years. As a nascent company, we invested in advertisements in local newspapers. However, this wasn’t effective. It didn’t generate quality leads or new clients. Eventually, we tested out PPC ads on Google and Facebook. This was more fruitful and continues to be a channel that we invest in today. We have iterated our approaches and learned which keywords and ads are most effective at driving conversions. It took time and we made plenty of mistakes. But we’ve made continuous improvements.
Over the past 6 months, we’ve started investing more in inbound channels like SEO, social media, and PR. And we’re starting to see some traction. Our organic web traffic has increased significantly this year. We know there’s a risk relying solely on paid channels because bigger competitors could bid up the prices.
Up to this point, pad ads have been our most successful form of marketing. But our long term goal is to reduce our CAC by prioritizing organic channels.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge we have faced so far is the regulatory requirements. We’ve been audited seven times in the past three years. As a healthcare company, our industry is highly regulated by the government. That’s probably a good thing for society. But it means we have to deal with more paperwork and bureaucracy than businesses in most other sectors.
We overcame this challenge by hiring a consultant to ensure we have all the required paperwork to be able to offer home care and disability services.
If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently?
I would have spent less time in academia. My initial goal was to earn a PhD in mathematical physics. But I dropped out to work in the private sector as a management consultant. If I could go back in time, I would have gotten involved in entrepreneurship earlier in my career.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Build a business that makes a profit. It sounds simple, but too many startups today focus on raising money and scaling. They’re either spending someone else’s money or reinvesting all of their profits back into growth. Running a company that spends less than it makes requires discipline. And this discipline means you have a lot more flexibility. You’re in control of your own destiny.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
- We use the Google Suite (e.g. Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc.) for internal and external communications.
- We use CanIRank to manage our SEO marketing
- We use our own CRM software for payroll, sales, and billing
What is your favorite quote?
“If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.”
– Tim Ferriss, 4-Hour Work Week
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
- Marketing. Without new leads coming in that can be converted to sales, cash will dry up quickly and then the pain will start!
- Being agile. The market will push you where it wants you. You need to be prepared to pivot and take advantage of opportunities and compete where you have some kind of natural advantage and where competition is not as fierce.
- Delegate wisely. So much needs to be done. You can’t do it all on your own. Don’t be the bottleneck. If you can get someone else to do it for you, then you are better off delegating and working on your unique value add.
With the game on the line and 5 seconds on the clock, who takes the last shot? Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or Lebron James?
MJ all the way. Just ask Bryon Russell.
How can we get in touch with you?
The easiest way to get in touch with me is by email at gareth@thecareside.com.au. You can also check out our company website, Thecareside.com.au. Our blog covers home care and other related topics in case you’re interested in learning more about our industry and the Australian healthcare system.
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