Emmie Knox had a career as a licensed master social worker with a broad range of experience in skilled nursing facilities, hospices and crisis intervention. While she enjoyed her work, she found the freedom and flexibility of owning a business appealing, so she and husband Louis LeSassier decided to explore franchise ownership. By Nancy E. Williams

Emmie Knox had a career as a licensed master social worker with a broad range of experience in skilled nursing facilities, hospices and crisis intervention. While she enjoyed her work, she found the freedom and flexibility of owning a business appealing, so she and husband Louis LeSassier decided to explore franchise ownership.

“Louis was in the oil and gas industry at the time, and it was declining. We were on our honeymoon and decided it was time for us to go out on our own,” Knox said. “And while I liked the position I was in as a social worker, I was looking for something more challenging.” After the discussion, they zeroed in on the nonmedical home-care business.

After vetting several franchise brands, Knox and LeSassier chose Assisting Hands® Home Care, a leading in-home care franchise, which emphasizes exceptional customer service and personalized care, provides franchisees with a proven and scalable business model, and has a leadership team that is second to none in the industry.

“We liked Assisting Hands because during validation, they asked us why we felt we would be a good fit for their franchise. The other brands we spoke with focused more on simply acquiring new owners, while Assisting Hands made us feel confident about the brand,” Knox said.

The couple opened their West Austin, Texas, location in 2016. “The steady growth has been great because it’s manageable. We’ve done a great job of putting our administrative structure in place, and we currently have 38 home-care workers on the team,” Knox said.

Knox and LeSassier are working on growing a second office in South Austin, as well as the one in West Austin, and they recently became area representatives for the greater Austin and San Antonio markets.

To learn more about Assisting Hands, visit assistinghands.com/franchise.

– Nancy E. Williams