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  • Aging in Place - Building Your Golden Rolodex Part 2

    Aaron D. Murphy

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    How would it feel to solve a huge problem for a close friend helping their family immensely in a time of absolute crisis? I can tell you, it feels really damn good. I want to talk from the founders focus perspective today, part two of building your golden Rolodex. I want you to be the problem-solving hero for your clients, friends and family so that you can actually be the resource people rely on. Your ability to make connections is the link to your future income. Be the quarterback and the concierge of aging and place solutions for your clients. This is another personal story. Yet again, it's happening all around us. You need to be able to connect people to answers through who you know. That next lead is a real paying job based on a referral from somebody that got to trust you. So here's my second scenario: Inbound phone call from one of my best friends in college at the University of Washington. We talked quarterly, we snow skied together, we'll grab a drink once in a while. But on this phone call that he requested by text to me, and I responded within 24 hours, he filled me in that mom has fallen at 81 years old and spent most of the last month in either the ER or the hospital room. Now she's coming back home in 48 hours, but the adult children, he and his brother, don't know what's next. The sister-in-law is a primary care family physician, so she's helping mom with discharge and meds management and things like that. But as my buddy continues talking to me, dad is frail and forgetful. He couldn't remember her meds or couldn't help her in the shower. He said, I want to plywood the door to the basement shut because they're 1940s Seattle home with the open riser between each tread that goes down to the basement where the washer and dryer are. He's so scared that dad's gonna fall down those things any day. He's upset, he's full of anxiety and he's feeling sad and hopeless. I jumped into action on multiple levels. He called me because he knows I own Forever Home. First, I'm a friend. Dude, you'll be okay. I got you covered. I have a plan. Just listen to me and take notes. Then I would like you to give me your brother's and his wife's email addresses also. And then I'm gonna need you to check your email in the next 24 hours regularly. I watch his breathing slow down on the other end of that line. We were on FaceTime, so. Thanks brother, I love you man. There's the dude talk sign, okay? That helped him relax. Step two, I moved to quarterback. I called the play. I'm gonna get you in touch with two to three in-home care agencies so you can interview them in the next 72 hours. They will be the third party stranger and expert, but a warm referral from a family friend, me, who's known your parents for over 30 years. I want you to call your brother and put him on the task of finding pickup off-site laundry services in their area so that they can start that tomorrow. That way dad's not going downstairs one more time. Okay, he won't keep trying to do laundry in the basement. Tell him it's a Father's Day gift. Birthday, Christmas, I don't care, from the boys. Number three, I moved to Concierge. And one afternoon I make three phone calls, trade emails two or three times with agencies. And before 5 p.m. I have two companies heading to their parents' house the next day and coordinating with the adult children by email and text to get up to speed on the situation at home. But this folks, the power of connectivity. Did I get paid my Seattle architect rate of $215 an hour for my time during my busy work day? Nope. Did I ask for a consulting flat fee? Of course not. Will I get paid back with good sleep, good karma and future paying clients based on the experience they had when they called me? Absolutely. I'll say it again. A free problem solved is a future three referral clients with zero ad spend. For us somewhere like our local NAIPC, the National Aging in Place Council, our chapter in Washington is one of those places that I was able to look up agencies in their area and make phone call connections and that's a warm referral because we're both in that group in the local area where his parents' house is. You can do this, you can do it, just like me. You can do it too. You can do it with support and accountability. It's what we offer. If you wanna get coaching or take classes, we've got all that online under our professionals section on our website at foreverhome-us.com. Get in touch with us if you're ready to be this person for the people you know. Thanks so much and take care.

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