{"id":626,"date":"2025-12-26T22:50:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/?p=626"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:23:06","slug":"care-is-not-just-a-business-lessons-from-firstlight-sunnyvales-first-year-with-david-kim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/2025\/12\/26\/care-is-not-just-a-business-lessons-from-firstlight-sunnyvales-first-year-with-david-kim\/","title":{"rendered":"Care Is Not Just a Business: Lessons from FirstLight Sunnyvale\u2019s First Year with David Kim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was originally published by Sage<\/a> and is reposted with permission. Read the original here<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A candid talk about the realities of starting and running a home care agency. A Conversation with David Kim<\/a>, Owner of FirstLight Sunnyvale<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this interview, we talk with David Kim about the realities of starting and running a home care agency. We chat about his journey to buying a franchise, the decision-making process behind a franchise versus independent agency, surprises, magical moments and what he’s learned in a year of home care operations. David’s FirstLight agency is an exclusive early user of Sage<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Thanks so much for making the time to chat with me this morning, David. Just to start out, can you tell me why you got into home care?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: I don\u2019t think that I got into home care. I think home care got into me. I wasn\u2019t seeking it out \u2013 it fell into my lap during a career transition. I had worked in medical device my entire career and loved helping people, but I wanted a change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took time off, thinking I\u2019d return to what I knew. Then opportunities to open a business came up, which I\u2019d never considered. As I explored it, I realized if I were going to start a business, I wanted it to meaningfully impact people. Home care came across our path, and we immediately fell in love with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: So when you first started, what did you think running a home care agency would be like \u2013 and how accurate has that been?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: I never really saw myself as a business owner. My parents ran businesses growing up, but they weren\u2019t successful, so I assumed I didn\u2019t have the entrepreneurial gene. I\u2019d always been an employee and felt comfortable with that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening a business felt foreign \u2013 I didn\u2019t know bookkeeping or accounting. It was a challenge to learn things I\u2019d never done. I didn\u2019t have many expectations beyond \u201cI hope I don\u2019t fail.\u201d What kept me going was the intention: build something that helps people. Every step \u2013 forming the corporation, opening bank accounts, finding an office, setting leases \u2013 was a stepping stone toward being ready to help people. That gave meaning and perspective to everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Remind me, your one year anniversary for your agency is January, correct?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: Yes. January was when we started and signed our franchise documents. Our agency is part of a franchise \u2013 we\u2019re not independent. We chose that because we were new and felt a franchise\u2019s support and expertise would help. We have absolutely no regrets and we\u2019re coming up on a year since signing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I\u2019d like to dig in a little more on that question of franchisee versus independent agency. What led you to that decision? <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: I spoke with a lot of business owners. People tend to be in two camps: never join a franchise because of fees, or franchising is great because you have a support network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For us, it was a no-brainer. Neither my wife nor I had run a business, and independent would have been more challenging and slower. The franchise route felt right \u2013 it was just about finding the right one. We were lucky to find FirstLight \u2013 our values mesh. Now I have dozens, hundreds of partners nationwide I can call for support when I hit unfamiliar situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Zooming in on your first year, what have been the biggest surprises?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: The parallels between working at a company and running a business. I thought they were distinct, but I\u2019ve lived in the Bay Area for 25+ years and worked at small startup medical device companies. Startup is startup \u2013 your own business or a startup company \u2013 it\u2019s similar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those experiences starting from the ground up were formative, and they helped me do the same for myself. The transition from everyone wearing many hats to an operational mode with established processes is familiar. I\u2019ve navigated that as an employee; now I\u2019m learning to navigate it as an owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What advice would you give to a new agency owner?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: Be prepared for not being in control. In startup mode, despite planning, surprises come out of the woodwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an employee, there\u2019s predictability \u2013 you do your work, get a paycheck automatically. As a business owner, I realized I don\u2019t control much. I can put our agency out there, but I\u2019m at the whim of clients choosing to work with us. It\u2019s humbling and uncomfortable after a patterned environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also can\u2019t do this alone. It\u2019s not \u201cI\u2019m the owner; I make all the calls.\u201d My success depends on employees, clients, partners \u2013 everyone. I didn\u2019t anticipate how dependent I\u2019d be on others, and I\u2019m humbled by how much people have helped us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Tell me a little bit more about what that means for your caregivers.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: If you boil it down, our product is our caregivers. We provide support and care in people\u2019s homes \u2013 not with AI or technology \u2013 but with humans. FirstLight\u2019s first core value is \u201cfocus on relationships first.\u201d I love that because our work creates relationships \u2013 between caregivers and clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caregivers are our foundation. We must take care of them so they can take care of clients. We start with the relationship between our agency and caregivers. Some people think agencies are just matchmakers, but we\u2019re more than that. Clients hire an agency that cares for them, oversees their care, and supports caregivers. It\u2019s a partnership \u2013 agency, caregiver, client \u2013 working together to make care the best it can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: One major challenge for new agencies is client acquisition. Where did your first clients come from and how did you find them?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: Client acquisition is hard. Home care is crowded \u2013 search Google and you\u2019ll find dozens or hundreds of providers. The challenge is how people find you. Our first clients were mainly from paid leads \u2013 aggregators like A Place for Mom, AgingCare, Care.com. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People submit their info; those sites sell it to multiple agencies, and prospects get bombarded by contacts, often simultaneously. It\u2019s overwhelming \u2013 they go from \u201cI need help\u201d to \u201ctoo many options.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I try to be empathetic. We offer support without pressure. If a client gets the help they need, I\u2019m happy. If it\u2019s with us, even better; if it\u2019s with another agency they feel comfortable with, I\u2019m pleased. There\u2019s so much need that no single agency can serve everyone. I don\u2019t see clients choosing another agency as \u201ccompetition\u201d \u2013 I see it as them finding support. If they\u2019re happy, I\u2019m happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What have you learned about the senior care industry since getting started?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: It\u2019s complex, fragmented, and challenging. I empathize with people in tough situations \u2013 navigating multiple providers who aren\u2019t coordinated: home health, hospice, facilities, hospitals, home care. People expect everyone to be aligned; in reality, each provider handles their contracted piece and hopes others do theirs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients and families end up coordinating everything, which is overwhelming. I\u2019m grateful for partners in home health, hospice, and geriatric care management. No single agency can do it all; it has to be a team approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: And what does partnering look like at your agency?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: My goal is providing the support clients need. Some needs are out of bounds for home care \u2013 we\u2019re strictly non-medical. When medical needs arise, I don\u2019t just point it out and walk away; I offer vetted options clients can trust. I look for like-minded agencies and people with a service level I feel comfortable referring to \u2013 folks I know and work well with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of options; the challenge is choice overload. Helping clients find the right options is part of our support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How do you vet your partners?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: The same way I vet caregivers: I want to work with people I want to work with. It\u2019s about their heart. Training skills is the easy part \u2013 we can train quickly. You can\u2019t train someone\u2019s heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a disposition that makes a good caregiver; it\u2019s innate. Beyond background checks, drug tests, and skill checks, I add a personal criterion: if I don\u2019t feel comfortable with this person caring for me or my loved ones, I won\u2019t hire them. If they\u2019re not good enough for my family, they\u2019re not good enough for our clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I apply the same standard to partners \u2013 competent, dependable, and people others will enjoy working with. Great heart for clients is what distinguishes experience; we want that for our partners too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Can you share a moment when you really felt the impact of what you do at FirstLight Sunnyvale?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: I\u2019ll channel my wife, Ruth. Even as owners, we fill in and do shifts. After one shift, her client asked repeatedly, \u201cCould you please be my caregiver?\u201d The son said, \u201cNo, Ruth is the agency owner; she\u2019s here as a favor.\u201d The client asked multiple times. Ruth finally said, \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll come back next week.\u201d The client cried  \u2013  she was so thankful. We literally impact people\u2019s days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, a few months ago, we visited a home where a son sought care for his mother. She was isolated and didn\u2019t want to be bothered; she hadn\u2019t eaten in a day or two. We suggested going to the hospital; she refused, saying she didn\u2019t want to get better, she wanted to be done. The son said, \u201cMom, don\u2019t talk like that. I need you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the help of one of my lead caregivers, we convinced her: \u201cLet\u2019s try one more time \u2013 for your son.\u201d We got her to the hospital; they helped her. The son had tried for weeks and couldn\u2019t make it happen. She didn\u2019t become our client, but intervening to help the family \u2013 that\u2019s what this is about: helping people in their time of need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: That\u2019s a beautiful story, thank you so much for sharing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final question: What advice would you give someone thinking about starting a home care agency?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A: If you\u2019re going to do it, do it fully. Put your whole heart into it. Do it excellently \u2013 better than everyone else. Don\u2019t be lost in the sea of sameness. If you\u2019re just following the standard playbook, you\u2019ll probably do fine by metrics, but you won\u2019t stand out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, this isn\u2019t just about making a living; it\u2019s about making an impact on our communities. The need is great \u2013 do your market research, but aim higher. If you\u2019re going to spend the blood, sweat, and tears anyway, build something excellent. Don\u2019t just do what everyone else is doing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been an incredible journey so far, and we are grateful for the chance to share our journey. A heartfelt thank you to Sage<\/a> for the thoughtful conversation and for giving us the opportunity to reflect on the impact of this work. We\u2019re proud to share this journey and to continue raising the standard of care together.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article was originally published by Sage and is reposted with permission. Read the original here A candid talk about the realities of starting and running a home care agency. A Conversation with David Kim, Owner of FirstLight Sunnyvale. In this interview, we talk with David Kim about the realities…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,23],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-home-care-in-sunnyvale-mountain-view","tag-how-we-started"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-sunnyvale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}