Aging with Dignity: Isabelle Guarino Redefines Senior Care

0:00So, amazing episode with Isabel Garino. If you are someone who has family members that are in assisted living facilities, close to age to being in them, or if you're an entrepreneur looking for a business to get into, like this episode, we go deep into assisted living, residential assisted living. We're going to break some myths on how you could and should get into that business. But this episode, we go deep on entrepreneurship. We go deep on senior living, and it's just a pleasure to talk to my good friend, Isabelle Garino. So ladies and gentlemen, here we go. You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt.

0:45This is where purpose meets power, and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged. Isabel, how are you doing today, dear? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show. Thank you for being here. You know, I was telling you offline, I'm so honored and excited about the work that you're doing in the assisted living space. Having a mom, and my mom isn't assisted living ready or anything like that, but seeing what my grandparents went through and how my mom, aunts and uncles cared for them, it now has put me in a place where these are things I need to care about, whether my mom is ever going to need assisted living or not, whether my relatives were ever needed or not.

1:36I need to look around. And it's about what I've seen is that these assisted living facilities, and this is not a knock on anyone. I think it's just day and age and time. They seem like institutions. You walk in and it's like, I don't want to put a relative here. I don't want to come visit here for longer than an hour if I need to. And again, it's not a knock. I just think these institutions, as I'm calling them, were built at a time when that was OK. And today it's not. So I applaud you for taking this step into one, changing the viewpoint. But honestly, making sure that that people, when they need them, it feels like home.

2:17And that's what I've really been so proud of you, following you as much as I have, that the work you're doing is letting people live with dignity. So thank you for that. I think you're right on the money. What has been in the past is not what we want for the future. And it's not acceptable. And I think things like COVID shined a nice bright flashlight on what's happening in what I call the big box communities, right? The big commercial facilities with long hallways and impersonal staff. COVID let people understand and know what's actually going on there, you know, and all of a sudden, adult children started ripping their loved ones out of those care homes looking for alternatives.

3:00And we've kind of always been over here saying, hey, smaller is better. And there are other options. But we just don't have the big billboard and the big sign. But that started to kind of rise and come into more public knowledge that there are options. Staying at home one on One, being isolated isn't always the best fit, and a facility isn't always the best fit. There's something in the middle called residential assisted living, and it's just a much better option for everyone involved. So I'm grateful for COVID, and I am grateful to be in this space with the coming Silver Tsunami of Seniors because people are looking for something different and better, and they should.

3:44We all deserve to age with dignity. Absolutely. And, you know, again, following you and having this groundbreaking aha moment for me. And I was telling you, you know, I've got a friend. I'm helping on the board with starting an assisted living facility. And, again, touring all these is like institution, institution, institution. Talk to us about your breakthrough with the residential side, because I don't think a lot of people understand that that is a thing that could happen. And, you know, following your research, I realized, oh, all 50 states allow zone residential to also be assisted living.

4:23And I don't think a lot of people understood that. So talk to us about, one, the research that you and your companies have done. And then, two, how you're bringing this insight forward. Yeah. So 15 years ago, when my own grandmother needed care, we were looking for options for her and found nothing suitable. Nowhere I'd want to leave my goldfish, let alone my grandma. so my dad had been a real estate investor and he was looking for a place for her and did quick math and was like wait wait wait wait if we just owned this home we could cash flow really well she could live for free she's going to get that quality care and it just made a whole lot of sense to kind of go that direction so what we found was single family homes that were zoned residential in regular neighborhoods that house anywhere from six to 16 seniors living in the home, getting that 24 seven care, medication management activities, everything that you get in a facility, but in a home, not something home like, you know, it's an actual home, right?

5:25So he purchased an existing RAL to get started for my grandmother to move in. She passed before we could move her, but it really sparked something in my family to kind of dive all into this industry because we realized we're not the only ones going through this. Everyone is. And if they're not, they're going to one day, right? 70 % of us will need daily care for an average of three and a half years. So we wanted to be a part of that change and kind of bringing this forward. So yes, in all 50 states, residential assisted living exists. It's typically zoned residential, six to 16 seniors, 24-7 care.

6:04And what we show people how to do is not be the caregiver and work in the home or live in the home. We show them how to own the real estate and kind of do it as an investment play. But it's still really cool because then it's an option for your own family members if and when they need it. Yeah. And so I want to talk to you just for a moment on the entrepreneur side. So I know you're doing it from the investment side, but let's just say you are that person that's like, I have this vision of a 66 or 70 bed facility, the traditional mindset. How do you switch that into, okay, let's do this through properties, whether you're leasing some of your properties or you're going through your program and you own and you're going to operate.

6:50How does that work on the healthcare side? So again, you've got a home, six to 16 residents that are living there, 24-7 provider. Is it just, hey, you've got to staff each home as if you were going to do the big box facilities you're talking about? Talk to me a little bit about that. Yeah. So staffing is very different. In the smaller homes, you don't have a doctor or nurse on call or they're a part of the monthly salary. You have a licensed administrator who is licensed through the state. And in the real estate world, we kind of call them the property manager, right? So they might do the hiring, firing, scheduling of the caregivers.

7:31They do the marketing and the tours of the new families coming in and they take care of all the day-to-day. You can be that person, right? Become a licensed administrator. It's just a quick license you get through the state. But that is one role that you'd be hiring if you're not gonna do it yourself. They're hiring those licensed caregivers who again are not nurses. They're actually typically LPNs or CNAs, but licensed caregivers again through the state and they're doing the 24 seven care of the seniors. They might be in charge of cooking and cleaning as well if you don't have a private chef in the home.

8:08But that's really kind of how staff is structured versus in a large community. You've got the owner, the executive director, the activities director, the chef, the janitorial, the landscape, you've got all sorts of categories of people. So a lot higher bills really at the end of the day. Yeah, more cost, right? Yeah. But there's more seniors. So more income, more expenses, it kind of all evens out in the wash. No, I like that. And then I guess you're looking at true assisted living. Do you have any of your folks that are doing anything on the memory care side with that as well too? Yeah, you can get licensed for memory care in an RAL.

8:46And it's actually a really great way to go because the reality is we're all dealing with some point, the transition, right? Yeah. So if you're not licensed for it, then legally, when someone kind of goes beyond what you can handle in the home, you have to transition them. So I really recommend everybody get licensed for it regardless. So what I'm hearing, and this is more selfish for me, sorry for my viewers and listeners. I know you, you were out there too, and you want to hear this too, but it sounds like Like a good alternative to at least consider or ponder is if you wanted, if your vision was 66, 70 bed facility, maybe look at a few residentials and almost package it together.

9:29You have better cost control, it sounds like. Things like the private chef. So some of those expenses can be shared. So let's just I'm making this up. If you had four homes for residents, right, some of those expenses can be shared amongst those four. Like a chef doesn't have to just be at one home, right? That chef could go to three or four homes. Yep. And I think what you're kind of starting to think about is what if you bought a large plot of land and you built 10 of these that had 10 beds each instead of one commercial facility, you had 10, 10 beds. You can absolutely do that. You can share staff.

10:08You can share resources. Many people are kind of going that direction. That's one way to do it. I really recommend at least three homes within 20 to 40 minutes of each other because of the ability to share resources. That is the best way. You're right. And I can break this down for people that are listening that are like, why are Mickey and Isabel having this type of conversation? Because, again, the current and this is not a knock, but the current look of assisted living feels institutional. I know there are a handful that don't, but a lot of them do. It's just tough. And when you look at building an assisted living facility from the ground up and the zoning and all the things that you have to do in the land, like you're looking at 14, 15 million.

10:52Easy, easy, easy just to do that versus building homes or buying homes that already exist and doing some things like Isabel's talking. I mean, that is a much more cost effective way to look at it. And to the point that Isabel's making, if you have a big plot of land and you've got enough that you can put homes on now, your activity centers can all be centralized. So your activities director doesn't have to travel 20 minutes per location per day like it could just be there. So, Isabel, this is eye opening for me and this conversation is needed. So I thank you for this part. This the first 10 minutes was personally asking questions.

11:32Now we'll get into the show, ladies and gentlemen. How about that? You know, I think, though, it's it's great that you're talking about this because a lot of people do want to go bigger. Right. And then they say, well, why why can't I? Why shouldn't I? And they understand the institution. They understand the expenses. But there's really this whole other piece of it, which I call the heart part of it. Right. In in a traditional big box facility, you'll have 30 seniors to one caregiver. in an RAL, you might have four to one or five to one. So if you fall and break your hip and press your call button, you're getting a response in 90 seconds, right?

12:10When you go to a large facility, the typical response time is over 90 minutes. That is a huge difference, right? That could be, if you fell and got a brain bleed, that could be the difference between life and death. And it's not that those caregivers don't care and don't want to be there and don't want to help. Of course they do. They're doing this because they love seniors and they want to do that. But if you're paying the same as a senior living in those homes, you want to get the care. So an RAL becomes a much better option for the senior and the family members and the caregivers because they can actually do the job that they're getting paid to do versus a big community.

12:48So, yes, the money, the staffing, the this, the that, but also the senior and the care, which is what it should be about at the end of the day. Absolutely. Absolutely. So thank you for that insight. So now we get to ask Isabel questions about Isabel and Ariel and all that. So Isabel, I love asking my guests about what I call your because, that thing that's deeper than your why, right? Like to me, your why is a little superficial. I could probably guess it. But why something is your why, again, I call it your because, is always unique. So I'm going to ask you, Isabel, like all the amazing things that you do, right?

13:23The mentorship that you provide, the strategy that you give, the heart that you have, what is your because? Why do you do the things that you do? I love that. I love the perspective of it's deeper than your why. Right. You know, when I got started in this space, it was really just to help my dad. I saw what he was doing and I saw that it was exciting and cool. And I think that's kind of where it started. but to see other families become fully financially free, quit their jobs, go travel and hang out with their kids and do all this fun stuff because of a choice to invest in this space. It absolutely changed my perspective of why I'm here on earth.

14:07And I think that I am here to help people create businesses, whether it's RAL or any other type of business to become financially free and get time freedom so that they can go do whatever God put them on earth here to do. You know, when we're breaking free of those chains and we can live in abundance, the whole world opens up to us. So I feel like my because is because I want to make as many people financially free as I can. That's why I love you, Isabel. That right there, that's the ticket, right? The impact to change lives and impact lives. Like that's, you know, my because is a promise that I make to people to do those same things, to impact and change lives.

14:48And if I give you a promise, I'm always going to deliver. Like that's always been my mission. Let's talk about RAL a little bit. So, you know, you're helping people become entrepreneurs. You're helping people understand this game. And we have a lot of viewers and listeners that are just that. They're like, how do I take something that I'm passionate about, turn it into an actual career, into a business for me? And you've done that really well. And I think that RAL, like what you're doing is something that everybody that's watching or listening should consider because you are actually making impact.

15:24And that's what I love about businesses that are designed to make impact. To me, it's fulfilling, right? It's not about joy. It's not about happiness. It's fulfilling. So talk to us a little bit about RAL, the academy that you have, and just feel free to go wherever you want with that. Yeah, I love that because our motto is to do good and do well, because in the reality, like you can make money so many different ways. That's what's so cool about our world nowadays. It's not cookie cutter. There are people making millions of dollars on YouTube that didn't even exist 50 years ago. So it's beautiful.

16:00There's so much opportunity. So finding what suits you is the best thing. And if you do love seniors and you do understand this coming silver tsunami and you're like, oh, my gosh, timing's never been better, then it's a great way to have impact investing. Because not only are you providing a better community for that senior, you are allowing the daughter or son to be a daughter or son once again. Many times people try to do in-home care where they care for their own loved one for a while. And I talk to people who do that every single day. It is tough, man. It is so tough. And it strips away your ability to be that daughter or son.

16:42You are now a caregiver. You grow a lot of resentment, a lot of anger. There's a lot of guilt that even got you started doing that. There's so many emotions bottled into these moments of life. and to be able to kind of burst that bubble, pop that bubble and say, we've got mom. We're going to love her the same way you do, if not even better, because we're trained professionals. You get to be the son. You just come and love on her and hang out with her. And that's all you need to do from here forward. That is so beautiful to give back to families in this way, to provide jobs to caregivers who are being used, abused, neglected in these larger facilities.

17:20It's just all the way around. it's one of those things where you're cash flowing, but you feel good at night. You feel proud of the work that you're doing. That's hard to do in a lot of industries. And yet in ours, it's like you you're just proud of yourself, proud of what you're bringing to the market. And that's a beautiful thing. Amen. Amen. And so talk to us about the program a little bit. Like how how do people get selected to be in it or what's the process? Like talk to us about that journey a little bit. Yeah, so we have online courses and live trainings in Phoenix, Arizona, where we show people basically step by step how to start, own and operate care homes, whether they want to be on the landlord side, whether they want to be involved in the day to day or owning and operating kind of passively.

18:07We really go through all aspects of this industry and what it looks like. We've been teaching and training for, gosh, almost 11 plus years. And so we've got thousands of students who own and operate these homes across the country now. and it's so much fun. I love just being able to see the light bulb and having fun in that moment to really just impart knowledge on them and get them to say, oh my gosh, it goes from idea and exciting thought to, I have the plan. I know the steps. I can do this exactly. Just follow the steps. Yeah. How do you take, because I do coaching and entrepreneurship as well too.

18:42And I always have to go through, everybody wants to do it. And then when they really commit, they have that fear and anxiety almost. Right. It's like, OK, this is real. What I just do. Why am I doing this? I love to hear from you. How do you get people past that initial stage? Right. Like it's like, yeah, they're going to do it. They're all in. And then all of a sudden it's real. And it's like, wait, wait, wait a second. I know I always like joke with people. So I used to be a flight attendant and I had this guy. I was sitting in first. I was up in first class and he comes up to me and he goes, are you afraid of heights?

19:18And I was like, what a weird question. Like we're 30 ,000 feet in the sky. Why are you asking me this? You know? And I'm like, no, I'm not afraid of heights, but if you push me out this plane, I'd be terrified. Right? So it's not necessarily the heights that scare us. A lot of times it's the edge. It's what happens when I have to go take action, when I have to go get alone, when I have to go talk to people and make this happen. that's what scares people is the action part of it. So we can talk theory and knowledge all day, but action is really what scares a lot of people. And that's what makes the difference between the 1 % who actually goes and does stuff than the people who sit back and don't.

19:57So a big thing we talk about, you know, in our training, but also just with clients who want to work with us is, are you coachable? And are you an action taker? And I'll ask them about other experiences in their life and see if they've taken action or not, because it tells me a whole lot if they're going to be successful in this space or any space. If there's someone who just talks, talks theory, thinks about things, you're probably not going to be successful. That's just the reality of it. Yeah. I, I'm the same way all the time, right? Like action breeds actions. And most of the time, as simple as this sounds, you just have to do it.

20:36And there's not a guru, there's not a coach, there's not a consultant that should tell you anything different. Are there systems? Yeah. Are there processes? Yeah. But none of that matters if you don't take, not even just the first step, but it's usually like the third and fourth step after that. Because that second step, there's usually like a challenge, an obstacle that nobody could see for you. And you've got to be able to push through that. And that's one of the things that I know that you also help people with is like, how do you push through? Because scaling, and when you talk about generational wealth, like none of that's possible without those breakthroughs.

21:14Totally. We were just at our assisted living conference a couple of weeks ago and some of the students, you know, haven't taken much action yet. Naturally in a coaching program, you're going to have those who are super successful in those who sit on the sidelines, right? And there was a lot of students who in the room who were like, we opened a home, we closed on this, we accepted residents, you know, sharing their wins and success. And every single one of them, when we asked, well, what did you do? How did you make it happen? They're like, I leaned into the coaches. I did the calls. I went above and beyond.

21:45They talked about all of this action that they took. And the ones who were sitting there who hadn't done anything, when they'd come up and say, well, I haven't made any progress. And I'd say, what did you hear that everyone else did. And they were like, Oh, they've done a lot more support calls than me. They've done a lot more, you know, meetings than me. They've done more of this, more of that. And it's like action. So what are we going to do this week so that you can take action? Cause we, as a coach, it's so frustrating because you can't push a rope. You can't force someone to do it. As much as I meet someone, I'm like, they're going to be so successful.

22:19And then they don't reach out. They don't even try. They don't do this stuff. It's so frustrating. It's beyond because you want them to win. And sometimes it feels like more than they want to win, you know? So that is prerequisite for me to work with me. I've established a really good question slash interview process that's deeper than just some basic info or some mid-level info. So if I sense that I want it more than you want it, we don't work well together because, again, everybody wants the end result. Right. We all want the end result. But there's a lot of crap that goes on in between there.

23:01There's a lot of sacrifices. There's a lot of mindset shifts that you have to make. And there's a lot of obstacles. And I can tell really, really quickly if you just want to win or if you want the journey. And if you're not ready for the journey, it usually doesn't work well because when you want the win, what I typically hear is you want the quick tips. You want the shortcuts. You want the instant gratification. And Isabel, you know, just like I do, there's really no such thing in that journey. So I care more about the journey than I do anything else. Yeah, it's so important. And I think no coach, if they're a good coach, wants to take someone's money when they're not going to do anything.

23:45So it doesn't make anyone feel good. It's like the client thinks, oh, you just did this. You just care about that. No, actually, I don't. Like, I'm mad that you didn't do this. No one wants to work with someone who doesn't want to take action. That's not why we become coaches and mentors, you know? Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So I teased earlier that, you know, you've written some amazing books. What I didn't say in the opener is that you are a multiple time New York Times bestselling author. So let's talk about your latest book a little bit, like give the floor to talk about the purpose, the strategy behind the book and who the ideal audience is for that.

24:26Yeah, most of my books have been business books, but this latest one, Assisted Living Revolution, is it's fiction. It's actually more like chicken soup for the soul vibes. And I really wanted to kind of take my my whack at that to see how that went. And based on the stories I've heard over the years of families not knowing about assisted living options, not knowing where to go, who to call, who to talk to, who to trust. I kind of put all of those thousands of stories I've heard together in three different stories of families who are going through that decision of how to choose assisted living for their loved ones and kind of breaking down the pros and cons of all the options and giving readers resources on what they should be asking, where they should be looking.

25:13And so I really enjoyed writing that book, but I've been enjoying even more having people read it and be able to relate to it and say, I wish I had this earlier. And it's kind of a good book to read and then pass to a friend who you know is going through that or going to be going through that. It's a very shareable resource. And so I'm really proud of that one, Assisted Living Revolution. I love it. I love it. And I usually do this, Isabel, is for books that I like and that I'm intrigued by. I usually purchase 20 copies, one to support the author. So I'm going to do that. So I think the first 20 people that message me, the letters R-A-L, right?

25:55And people get mad at me all the time because I say the first 20. These episodes release at 4 a.m. Eastern. So I always go through the first 20. And I don't care if that's Instagram, LinkedIn, if you have my email, if you personally know me, text me, whatever it is. R-A-L, the first 20. I'm going to make sure that I get you a copy of this book. So Isabel, thank you for that. Well, thank you for the support. I appreciate that. No, absolutely. So speaking of RAL, your books, your sites, where can people find and follow you personally? Yeah, Instagram, the Isabel Guarino. And if you want to schedule a call with me or the team, RAL101.com is a great resource to kind of dig into.

26:34There's boot camps and information on there and you can schedule a call. So RAL101.com. Love it. This has been so insightful. Like, I think I need to have you back on just because I personally have some meetings or actually I'm going to book a consultation. I have questions. Let's do it. Let's chat. But I want to, I want to end this with my quick five. So rapid fire, five questions. You got to answer honestly. You ready? Okay. All right. Question number one. I know you're in Phoenix. Are the Suns ever going to win in basketball again? No. At least you're honest. I like it. I like it. Question two, what the heck is wrong with the Cardinals?