CEO OF NEW DIMENSIONS HOME HEALTHCARE PLUS
I had the opportunity of sitting down with Josie Lightfoot, CEO of New Dimensions Home Healthcare which offers nursing care to the elderly, assistance with daily personal care needs, housekeeping, help during the first few days at home with a new baby, or health care assistance after being discharged from the hospital. New Dimensions under Josie’s leadership now has over 520 team members in its employ and recently won an award from the State of Texas. Enjoy the interview, you will learn a lot from it and hopefully if you are a business person you’ll learn a thing or three which you can apply.
1. Wow Josie, your journey has been amazing from your coffee table to winning the Texas Small Business Award from the Governor of Texas. Tell us a little about how you started.
I made a career change in 1998, I used to work in a law firm and felt a need to do work that impacted people’s lives in a tangible way. I had just returned from a holiday at that point and I felt very strongly that “now is the time”. My experience working at a law firm meant I was equipped to study and understand the laws regarding the part of the health care sector I wanted to work in and that helped me acquire permits that were necessary.
I also recognized where I was lacking in knowledge and filled that gap by taking courses in health care. I have been blessed with the gift of administration, so setting up though challenging, was something I felt equipped to do. I started the business on my dinning table with 3 employees in 1998 and now have about 520 employees in my team.
2. What do you know now, that you wish you had known when you first started your entrepreneurial journey?
Learning to lead is the hardest thing I have done- to be what I say I am and to ensure that everyone in the company delivers service that is consistent with our brand.
Also, keeping hope alive, recognizing that difficult times will pass… Staying encouraged, with hope you can do anything.
3. I really love that you saw a need and decided to fill it. At the time you started did you think it’ll ever be this profitable?
I started with a desire to serve. I saw these elderly people who were lonely but living alone. Who needed help with their grooming, with getting to doctors appointments and grocery shopping or whatever it was they needed to do to get some enjoyment out of life, and I felt called to meet that need.
I started business hoping it’ll be profitable, that it’ll pay my bills. I didn’t anticipate it’ll be this big. I feel like the more faith I showed, the more I did, the more I stepped out on a limb and believed God for the growth of my business; the more God entrusted me with. I kept asking God for a greater area to serve and I kept seeing more needs to fill.
4. Would you say success has changed you in any way?
At the core, I am still the same person, but success and finances make it easier it to do things. To achieve results and exert better influence.
I look at success through eyes of responsibility, it is still God’s business, the success is His and I try to be a great steward of all that He has entrusted to me. In my business, I am constantly thinking “who can we bless with our services? Whose life can be more beautiful because we are in it?”
Also, I don’t look at it like I have arrived. It is all still work for me, there are still people to serve and I feel compelled to keep going on, keep helping…
5. As a woman who has done so well, is there anything you wish you had known? Something you wish the younger you had known?
I wish I had known early enough that I have a value. That I was able to accomplish things. Growing up in a home with many children and just enough to survive, I grew up feeling invisible. That all changed for me when one day, my teacher gave me Blossoms from an Oleandar tree for no reason (she just gave me a bunch of flowers), it was that day that I felt I had a place on earth, that someone saw me, that I mattered.
This is one thing I try to leave with everyone I meet- that everybody has got worth and God put us here for a reason. You were created on purpose for a purpose! Pursue purpose and fulfill it. God sees you.
6. Wow, Josie! I met you at Entreleadership Masters Series event and it turns out you have attended this conference more than once. Please share some of the value you’ve received from it, is it something you would recommend for business leaders?
As you have learnt in the past week, Entreleadership is Dave Ramsey’s play-book. He teaches everything you need to know about running your company, from getting only the right people in the door and keeping them in, to positioning and branding, to your finances and operations. I have attended Entreleadership at various times and with other members of my team, I attend every time I felt a need to push my business to the next level.
It has also helped me in my quest to establish a leadership team that helps me accomplish more. Like Zig Ziglar said, “you build people and people will help you build your business.”
I like Entreleadership because it helps me climb the shoulders of giants, I get to learn from the challenges and processes of a company that has been consistently voted best place to work in Nashville for 7 years, that is making a certain level of income and managing a great team. That opportunity is priceless.
Every time I come, my focus is on a different area of growth for my business, because you get one part right, then notice you can improve in another and on and on.
7. Josie, I have really enjoyed my time with you, please tell us something surprising about yourself?
I run 5 kilometers every week. I am trying to increase my endurance and I am turning 67. I am trying to enjoy life and not sweating the small stuff.
I also enjoy gardening. I spend a lot of time in my garden.
I had a fantastic time talking to Josie. I found her totally inspiring, it’s her humility, drive and her total unashamed love for God, that struck me. Before I met her she had been to my blog and had great words of encouragement for me, prayers and even suggestions for how to improve.
Thank you so much dear Josie for spending time with us -my readers and I- and teaching us by your example. Check out Josie’s site at http://www.ndhhp.com. Thank you for reading and please leave your comments, how will you use this information to grow yourself? Will you take the bull by the horns and map out a plan for being the best you? What do you feel called to do? When and how will you pursue it? Think and let’s share. Be awesome this week.
Hajel's Musings 