Creating a System Where Everyone Wins: Lessons from Business Builder Prentis Hall
Greetings wonderful reader,
Welcome to another edition of PIE, where we interview the brightest entrepreneurs and VCs from Princeton and beyond. For this issue, I spoke with Prentis Hall, Co-owner of Royal Home Care Services, a personal home care agency stationed in Pennsylvania. While we usually showcase startups with incredible inventions, innovative technological implications, or some purely scientific component, Hall’s company is a human-focused servicer, the likes of which will be difficult to replace with technology anytime in the predictable future. Customers are given the option to interview different caretakers to potentially hire from the company, as well as training from the company for friends or family members in order to take care of loved ones, ensuring that everyone gets the royal treatment. From his business so heavily invested in people, as well as his time as a once-student CEO and a marketer for various companies for over 30 years, Hall shares reflections from his diverse experiences as well as advice for current and future entrepreneurs.
What business strategies did you find most effective in growing your Home-Care company given that it was service based?
My philosophy from the beginning was to build a business that was a win-win-win. I want clients to win, I want the employees to win, and I want to win. This helped me shape the kind of policies (like policies around pay and benefits) that make the company a good company to work for. Because the workers are happy, they often go the extra mile to make customers happy. A second lesson was not new to me, but I applied an old learning: who is the customer? In my business, one customer is the person getting the care. Another customer is the family. But an equally important customer is the Medicaid case manager assigned to that consumer. if the case manager is happy, she will recommend us to her other consumers, and our business will grow. I think that’s a big part of why I grew over 100% last year.
What experience from your education have you found most useful during your time as an entrepreneur?
Learning that I could work really, really, really (really) hard.
At what point in life did you realize you wanted to be your own boss?
I don’t think of it as being my own boss. It’s more about being part of something meaningful. I really enjoy starting new companies and nurturing them to success. I enjoy providing employment and giving people the opportunity to improve their lives. Being “the boss” isn’t that important but working with good people is extremely important. Another thought to keep in mind that one doesn’t really have a business until the operation can run on its own without your daily involvement. In order for that to happen, employees must be empowered and committed to the company. I think people who are bossed around are less likely to feel empowered.
Considering your time as a leader for numerous startups, what singular challenge did you learn and grow from the most?
Predictably, I learned a lot from my failures. The most important learnings were things I learned about myself and my limitations and strengths. I grew most from our acquisition we made in 2010. I had a very rosy picture of how that business would operate. My wife and others had serious questions about its viability, but I was so committed to success….so totally committed to making it work and believing in myself…that I failed to listen to good advice. I paid way too much for the business, and I didn’t examine the cost stack carefully enough. I’m still paying for that mistake, but I learned that when I’m getting excited about a business, that’s when I need to slow down and share my ideas with other people. I try to stay in touch with people who are not like me, who are more conservative and risk averse.
What approaches should college students interested in running their own company take to get the most out of their education?
Well… oddly enough, what you are learning in school is relevant in that Princeton is pushing you to higher levels of critical thinking and thinking clearly in general. When you start a company, you wear a lot of hats. I think a broad set of skills is essential. You would be surprised (or maybe not) how many people come looking for a job and don’t know have basic computer skills. They don’t know how to attach a document to an email, for example. Many cannot write a grammatically correct paragraph. They have low emotional maturity, meaning they cannot accept constructive feedback or deal with normal office relationships. If basic thinking skills are present, it increases the likelihood of success, in my opinion. At Princeton, I was surrounded by people who were very smart and who also worked very hard. I met people who were not afraid to set ambitious goals and then attempt to achieve those goals. So I think college students interested in running their own company should focus on being good students, and then develop the habit of setting ambitious goals that they then work to achieve.
What is one crucial piece of advice you wish you had been told as a young and inexperienced entrepreneur?
It is exceedingly important to write a business plan and have that plan vetted by a variety of people. Why? First, so many people start out with no real plan at all. They just have an idea. They focus on the part of the idea they like, and if that part seems like a good idea, they move forward. But a formal business plan forces the entrepreneur to look at the business from several aspects. It forces the entrepreneur to develop a 5-year financial forecast, and then explain clearly how those numbers will be achieved. When we write our first draft of the plan, we are telling ourselves the story we want to be true. When we have other people read the plan, we find out if our story makes any sense. If someone had told me the importance of the business plan, I would have avoided many problems. I should also add that for me, the business plan starts with the 5-year cash flow projection. After I do that, I write the narrative that explains how that projection will be achieved, and what factors would improve or weaken the projection. As I write, I am thinking and researching the space as I go. I will revise the 5-year projection several times in this process. The vetting of the plan actually begins in this phase. When the 5-year projection looks solid — meaning that new research does not reveal information that changes the projection — then the first draft of the plan is complete. This plan, which is the projection and the narrative that explains it, is then subject to further, careful vetting.
For more information on Mr. Hall, you can check out his LinkedIn account:
That’s the issue folks! If you have any questions or comments about the piece, or to simply reach out, you can email me at fawaza@prinecton.edu. Au revoir~
