Shaneall Ferron / Windsor Homecare
Start Here Podcast | Episode #84 | 11/30/2023
Meet Shaneall Ferron, a serial entrepreneur from Jamaica who began to make her mark in Vermont just three years ago. Impressive isn’t the word—she’s not only established one, not two, but three flourishing businesses from homecare, to travel, to food industries. Join us on this episode of Start Here to uncover Shaneall’s secrets to managing it all. And here’s the kicker—aside from running these ventures, she has a full-time job and is a mom! A great morning listen to motivate you for the day!
Are you interested in learning more about Vermont’s entrepreneurial success? Make sure you check out our Instagram and LinkedIn, or simply get the scoop from our newsletter!TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIPT
Shaneall Ferron 00:00
I email the client that I’m going to be increasing my costs. And they’re like, Okay. And I was like, Wait, did they read my email? Even though they said, Okay, I send the invoice. And I was like, yeah, and they sent me the check, and I couldn’t believe it. Whatever I charge now is what I feel comfortable with. But money coming into the business and I can pay my staff and pay whatever expenses the business have. So there was a lot of things that went into my pricing. And I’m really comfortable knowing that the the care that I provide for my clients is top notch.
Sam RG 00:37
from Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies. It’s start here, a podcast sharing the stories of active aspiring and accidental entrepreneurs. Today we sit down with serial entrepreneur Shaneall Ferron CEO and founder of Windsor homecare co and go jetters travel. Welcome. This is Sam Roach-Gerber and David Bradbury recording from the Consolidated Communications Technology hub in downtown Burlington, Vermont. Hi, Shaneall.
Shaneall Ferron 01:03
Hi everybody, Whatta Gwaan. Hello in Jamaica
Sam RG 01:06
Hell yes. Like, let’s start there. You grew up in Jamaica?
Shaneall Ferron 01:13
Yes. All my life. I’ve been in Vermont now for three years, three years. So I came straight from nice warm weather to cold cold, Vermont, but I would not want it any other way. I love it.
Sam RG 01:26
Oh, my God, my heart. So tell us about I mean, that’s first of all, I didn’t realize you were only here for three years. That’s amazing. And I’m really glad you love it. Tell us about why you were like as a kid, like you have now three businesses like were you always the kind of kid that was like out with a lemonade stand.
Shaneall Ferron 01:44
Not a lemonade stand. But I was always the stubborn kid. And not wanting whatever my mom would say, this is what you’re having. I would look at it to say that’s not going to work for me. That is I’m not going to fit or that’s not going to fit. So we’re always fighting about me saying this is what I want. So I was also a track star and soccer player growing up. Um, and then I went into nursing. I couldn’t do it anymore. Because nursing was really hard. Yeah. So I had to stop playing soccer. And then I went into nursing. But I was a stubborn kid.
Sam RG 02:19
Yeah. So you like wanted to create your own solutions for stuff
Shaneall Ferron 02:20
my own things. Like, not just taking whatever is like this is for you. I wanted. That’s not for me.
David Bradbury 02:26
I never want to like use the word stubborn. Oh, yeah. With with, you know, my head’s sort of like struggling to like this picture I have. So it’s what attracted you to nursing.
Shaneall Ferron 02:42
So growing up, my cousin who was my best friend, she wanted to be a nurse. And we used to, we grew up in a countryside. So we always catch insects, and dissect them. But then she wanted to be a nurse. And I started looking into it.
Sam RG 03:02
You were like an anatomy nerd?
Shaneall Ferron 03:04
Yes. And then I did sciences in high school, I did agriculture, integrated science. And I did really well. So it was just, I was already on the path. And then I like the in Jamaica, all the nurses were full white suit, it was just like, that’s what I want to be. So that’s what kind of, you know, I was attracted to the old professional look of it. And then I started science. So it was easy. Also, like, once you’re a nurse you you know, growing up poor, like, Okay, this is this was a way out of poverty for me. So being a nurse would be I would have a short salary coming in a short job, so and also to help my family to get into poverty. So it was like that for me. Like I needed to get out of this and needed to change for myself and I needed to help my family and nursing was a way for me to do it. So
Sam RG 03:57
do you think did being a high school athlete help you kind of stay on track to get there?
Shaneall Ferron 04:02
Yes.
Sam RG 04:03
Yeah. Stay on track.
David Bradbury 04:07
You can do better than Sam Come on.
Sam RG 04:12
Don’t leave the state because of that. I’m so embarrassed.
David Bradbury 04:17
we’re gonna nail this one.
Shaneall Ferron 04:19
definitely did. In like ninth grade, I was slipping a little bit.
Sam RG 04:25
But then I think we all slip in a little bit.
Shaneall Ferron 04:29
But then soccer kind of pull me in because you need to be discipline you train every day. And you also have to keep good grades to stay on the team. So if you wanted to play soccer, and to travel all over the country, you have to maintain your grades so you don’t get kicked off. So that really pulled me in to you know, stay on track with my schoolwork. I stopped doing track and field in ninth grade because not it wasn’t the cool girls sport. Soccer was because you’re a soccer player and when you win a game You walk in and the whole school is cheering for you. So I was like, I’m cool right now, I’m not running anymore. I’m playing soccer. So that definitely helped, I calm down and stop being the crazy kid in school for a little bit. And then after a while, I really looked at my Pat. So school, then immediately after school, it was nursing, because I really wanted to get out of my community and, you know, move away. So that was really focused on that.
Sam RG 05:29
Love that. And obviously, your son got your soccer skills.
Shaneall Ferron 05:33
Oh yes he said, I want to play soccer. And you know, you don’t want to as a parent push a sport. Yeah, yes. And when he said soccer,
Sam RG 05:41
you were like, I’m fine.
Shaneall Ferron 05:42
I was celebrating silently. I was like, Yes!
Sam RG 05:46
Of course. Do whatever makes you happy. But it better be soccer.
David Bradbury 05:50
gifts, cleats and a ball. And a net
Shaneall Ferron 05:53
I went wild with it
Sam RG 05:59
So you have three businesses? Is that correct?
Shaneall Ferron 06:03
Yes.
Sam RG 06:04
Oh, my God. Well, let’s start with Windsor homecare. So is it true that you started this after caring for your own mom?
Shaneall Ferron 06:15
Yes. So the idea for Windsor Home Care came from caring for my mom. So she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2012. And multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, eventual, she lived for six years with the diagnosis. But after all that treatment, like major surgeries, now the doctors are like, There’s nothing else we can do for her. So normally send patients like those two, like an hospice to get comfort care until they pass. But we realized my mom, my mom was a farmer, very active person all her life. So having her in a facility locked away with people she don’t know. And if they say, Oh, she has six months, so might as well we took her home and say, Well, if this is your last six months, let’s stay at home with it. And we started we changed her diet. She had all of her siblings, all the grandkids, she had all her animals with her. So just the change of environment, she made a complete 360 Just from the change of diet and just doing like walking her taking her to the beach we lived close to the ocean, and giving her the things that she loved. I think just that alone allowed her to live one more year, on top of what the doctors gave her. They couldn’t believe it. So since then I’ve been having this idea of doing private home care for seniors who, you know, don’t want to go to nursing homes, because those spaces will take the life out of you. On top of what you’re already dealing with health wise. Yeah. So I came up with the idea of wanting to do that for other families, when my mom passed. But in Jamaica, it wasn’t a right place. Because we don’t have nursing homes in Jamaica, like, we care for our loved ones at home. Yeah. So it’s either you’re in a hospital or you’re at home, right. And if you’re in a if you’re in a facility, it’s an hospice facility to say you’re getting comfort care until you pass. So it wasn’t the right environment. And then moving to Vermont and looking at the the landscape of, you know, it’s an aging population here. A lot of nursing homes, I did work into nursing homes in the facilities here for one year. And that allowed me to, you know, to look at things that I would not want to do for my agency. Yeah, and things that I would want to improve for my staff, because I was working with an agency that was did not take care of their staff. It was you work and give us the money. So I was burned out for a year. But it was all in good cause because I was looking at, I’m not going to do this.. I was learning building connections with these facilities, which I did. Just looking at things that I want to do differently. So smart. It paid off really well.
Sam RG 09:13
Wow.
David Bradbury 09:14
And what so you identified the market opportunity, right, the need and how did you know it could be turned into a business that would sustain and scale because, you know, getting paid for services is tough. And you know, how did that sort of come about? It’s like, oh, this is good.
Shaneall Ferron 09:33
It was like I said working in the facilities and seeing the need it was there always need of staffing or just caring for the clients in the facilities, they would say I would prefer to stay at home. So right in my head I was like okay, so if I can provide staff for people to stay at home then that could work. I also provide staffing to these facilities, but it’s not like my major thing, my major thing is providing staff to keep for them to age in place, because that does improve their quality of life. So just looking at that just by talking to them in the facilities saying, Okay, this will work, and doing tons of research and looking at Vermont and the population, and then there was after COVID, a lot of people left healthcare because it burnt, I did quit nursing after COVID. I quit after COVID. But I didn’t want to walk away from the healthcare field. So I did something that was going to pay me and allow me to do more of what I love in a flexible way. And I have more control over it. So a lot of people left. So there’s still a need for caregivers. But I’m just doing it with a little different twist. And also making sure that staff retention is a priority for me. People are being paid well, yeah. I’m very flexible work environment. It’s not like back breaking, or is because I went through some stuff. And I don’t want to put people through that again.
David Bradbury 11:10
That’s really great. You’re able to do that for your employees. How many folks do you have out working for you now?
Shaneall Ferron 11:16
I have eight full time employees, and four part time. And clients. I dont remember, but I have quite a bit that people I kind of give a people seven days each week. So they handle multiple Yeah, or, or I have clients who just need one on one attention, like we go in 12 hours every day, to be with them, take them for rides, take them to go shopping, just doing the things they love that families can’t do, because everybody’s busy. So that’s what we do. And sometimes it’s 12 hours a day, eight hours, 24 hours, some of our clients require that the staff lives with them. And in that case, I have three or two or three staff doing on and off. So if a staff prefer to stay five days with this client, then they go five days staying there, and then for the weekend to have somebody else go in on the weekend. So they can get, you know, days off and stuff like that. So yeah.
Sam RG 12:19
Wow. And how have you, you know, I there’s obviously a huge demand for folks that will do that type of work. How have you found your team? And how have you? I mean, obviously, you’re putting their wellness first, which I’m sure word gets around. So how have you done that just, you know, especially not having been here for very long.
Shaneall Ferron 12:41
So when I started Windsor homecare, it was just me just doing it. I started with one client, I worked with a client the year before, through an agency and you know, I shared with the family my dream of starting. And so whenever you start just let us know is like, okay, so I started and I send them an email and like I started they’re like, Okay, and they did something amazing for me, they knew that starting a business is hard, because they’re business owners themselves. And within that first six months, you need income for your business to stay afloat. So they did me a favor for of bringing their parents to Vermont, in May instead of July. So I could have a client starting June until October. So my business had income, like I kind of hit the ground running with that one client and I did. I was living with the client. So it’s a 24 hour care kind of situation. But it was perfect for me. Because I was able to just be there have money coming into my business. And then a friend of mine knew that I had the business and said I have somebody that I think would you know, work well with you. Because I know I needed a weekend or a few days off. Yeah. So I started with you know, I reached out to her we connected and started working with her. She’s Jamaican as well. And she was Heaven sent. She’s been working with me since I started she’s still working with me now full time. And yet word gets around. She’s tells Yeah, she’s like, You should work for her because you’re gonna get paid well. You don’t have it’s not like a pressuring environment. So, you know, I started with her she spread the word I you know, I’ve just been talking to people and sharing that I have a homecare company, people would recommend other folks and they find me on Google too, and just send their things in. So yeah, it’s mostly word of mouth for my staff, just my staff saying you should come and work for this company because they’re amazing. And I’ve had quite a bit of people from other agencies just like “let me know when you’re taking on”. So yeah, it’s been just word of mouth for my staff.
Sam RG 14:59
That’s so great and so powerful. And I think it’s one of the benefits of living in a sort of a small community like Vermont and gets it gets out. So obviously, the nature of what you do is highly emotional, right? It’s, it’s care for our loved ones. And that, you know, figuring out your services and pricing as a business is hard already. But when it’s something that’s so highly emotional, it’s even harder. So how did you kind of figure out that kind of logistical stuff when you’re starting out, like how much you would charge and what services you would offer and all of that.
Shaneall Ferron 15:34
So I, you know, working that one year in the field was good, because I remember getting $13 an hour, oh, my God, it was really hard. And then, you know, just talking to the facilities like, and some of the facilities were really amazing, you know, I shared my plan. And I kind of asked them, What would you pay an agency, and they said, some agency charges them up to $100 an hour when it’s like crunch time. So then in there, I knew I had flexibility. But I didn’t want to be greedy to burn a client, I wanted to be charging enough that I can pay my staff, well enough salary, and there’s money coming into the business. I also look at the going rate, what’s the market rate? And you know I, at first even do I knew that I started at a really low rate when I saw that, because I wanted to make money. But then I kind of look at my services and the quality of care and time that I put into it. And I was like, I need to charge a little bit more. So I tried it, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done.
David Bradbury 16:45
I was gonna say it’s terrifying, right?
Shaneall Ferron 16:47
I tried it. I said, I emailed a client that I’m going to be increasing my costs. And they’re like, Okay, and this was almost like, twice. And they’re like, Okay, and I was like, Wait, did they read my email? Yeah. So I was, even though they said, Okay, send the invoice. And I was like, yeah, and they sent me the check, and I couldn’t believe it. And that just showed that they appreciated the care that I was providing for their mom. And ever since I, whatever I charged now is what I feel comfortable with, with money coming into the business, and I can pay my staff and pay whatever expenses the business have. So there was a lot of things that went into my pricing. And I’m really comfortable knowing that the care that I provide for my clients is top notch.
David Bradbury 17:48
what was challenging about starting out, like, you know, having to get your own paycheck, right, versus going back to work for somebody else. I mean, it’s not for everybody, right? It takes some bravery. And some, stubborness maybe? Right?
Shaneall Ferron 18:07
There were many quitting moments. So starting on the artists part for me, I when I think when I was doing my business plan, I set it up where I did not need any kind of overhead to start, because I was providing a service. So I knew that, okay, if I sell my services well enough, somebody’s gonna hire me, and they’re gonna have to pay me. And one of the things I started doing was charging a one week deposit. So I had, if I took on a client, at least I had that deposit to start. So if I need to travel, I was Ubering a lot at that time, I didn’t have a car. So I needed a lot of money. Plus, I didn’t have any income coming in from anywhere else. So I started it, my business plan, knowing that there’s not going to be any overhead, and I was able to sell my services well, so people were confident enough to pay me a deposit equivalent to a week, and then I had that money to, you know, pay all my expenses. And then I was really good at saving, you know, because starting out you have to save like, what if they say, in two weeks, we need our deposit back. So that deposit went into that first week expense, but that first paycheck, I was really good at making sure it went back to deposit so if any time they say I want this money back, there was money in the account that I could write him a check back. So it was hard like that first month of doing that and catching up was a little bit hard. But you know, being determined and wanting it. It was just that alone knowing that after these first few months is going to get so much easier, and it’s been smooth flowing ever since I’ve been able to maintain that, sell myself and you also, you know, like not taking clients that I know it’s gonna go against my standards, and especially not sending my staff in a space where they’re gonna feel uncomfortable. I’m now able to decide like this client is not gonna work for me.
David Bradbury 20:15
And that’s a big deal, right? You’re choosing your clients.
Shaneall Ferron 20:19
You know, I’ve been in situations or met with clients where after doing that assessment, I said, this is not a good fit. And I’m, I can I can walk away from it, because I know, I’m not going to be the one going there. And I don’t want to send anybody there.
Sam RG 20:34
if you feel uncomfortable there. Like, I mean, that’s leadership right there. Yeah. Right. Like making sure that your staff feels comfortable taking care of yep, that’s awesome. So are you currently hiring?
Shaneall Ferron 20:46
I’m always hiring, because I get clients now. So I’ve been working with a facility while I been hired by the families to go into facilities like a Assisted Living School. Okay. Yeah. And I built a really great relationship with the facility. So now they’re refering. Like, oh, you need private care for your mom or dad Windsor home care. So I always just want to have a backup of staff just in case because some weeks I have three new clients like, oh, we need a 24 hour shift. So I need two people to do that. So sometimes I just need to be able to pull. So I’m always hiring. I have a website. So folks can visit my website and I have a form on it. They can submit.
Sam RG 21:31
Okay, thats awesome.
David Bradbury 21:33
Okay, now we’re going to talk about business number two.
Sam RG 21:35
Oh, my god. I can’t, on top of your full time job that you have. Which I just I just found out. Amazing. Okay, so you have a travel agency?
Shaneall Ferron 21:50
I do.
Sam RG 21:51
Go jetters travel, which is one of my favorite business names I think I’ve ever heard. That’s so good. I’m curious about how this started. But I’m also like, you started it directly before the pandemic, is that right?
Shaneall Ferron 22:06
Yes
Sam RG 22:06
My god. Okay, so give us, yeah obviously, this is a little removed from your typical area of expertise with healthcare. So how did this come up?
Shaneall Ferron 22:17
So growing up in Jamaica, you know, it’s a small country girl. Where we grew up, it’s going to the city, Kingston was like, a big thing for anybody. And I never got to go travel around Jamaica a lot. And one dream that I always had is to travel the world like I want to be in an airplane. I want to go to different countries. Like I want to experience all that good stuff. So I remember in November 2019, October 2019, my mentor, Ashley McDonough reached out to me on Instagram, so she was building melanin on the map. So she reached out to me and she’s like, Hey, I can show you how to be a travel agent. It was like what it was like, and then there were many, there are many perks of being a travel agent, you get so many discounts with everything. And she started showing it to me, I’m like, I’m sold, but this was October COVID was coming, it was right around the corner. So I started it, I saved up you know, 200 US dollars in Jamaica is a lot of money because of the exchange rate, but I did I saved it up. I paid for my startup and access to all the travel vendors, there’s in the world. And I jumped right into learning about a travel industry then COVID came my way it was a shutdown. It was really hard but I use that time to learn about the travel industry and get certified with major hotel brands and destinations because they provide courses so you can sell the destination so I did all that research during COVID Which was amazing.
Sam RG 24:04
kind of perfect, you never would have had the chance to do that.
Shaneall Ferron 24:07
I would have been just winging it. So I was able to study and get certified in meat like everything that I wanted to sell and travel and then I came here and it was hard because people were like I’m not sure if we should use you are like how do we know if you’re real because I did not have an online presence. So then I got my website which was professionally built amazing website and then I got amazing SEO is done so now if you type in Vermont travel agency go jetters travel will pop up. Yeah and most of my client I don’t mark it go generous travel anymore because you know because of all the things that I do and it’s like an hobby for me. Yeah. So I I have clients who I’ve started with that I booked their trips. Where do you want to go?
Sam RG 25:01
Kind of an ideal side hustle?
Shaneall Ferron 25:03
It’s perfect. And then I people will just find me on Google. Yeah. And we’re like, oh, we have 20 people wanting to go to Europe for a week. So flights, hotels, like everything. So I know I’m getting a nice commission from that. Like so. Those are my ideal. Yeah, like a big group and I do solo trip. I do everything. And anywhere in the world like I book anywhere in the world.
David Bradbury 25:31
Hold on. Are you traveling now?
Shaneall Ferron 25:38
I don’t travel. But I plan travel. I’m not traveling right now. Because I’m like, juggling a lot. Which is good because I ever early retirement plan.
Sam RG 25:51
Okay, can I jump in now? Yeah. I realized right now, after you said 20 people going to Europe that being a travel agent is quite literally the thing I’m least qualified for in the world that likes that the stress level the heart rate that just elevated when you mentioned that and like, Oh my God, that sounds like my nightmare.
Shaneall Ferron 26:11
It is my fate. Like when I get those inquiries coming in? I was like, Oh, yeah. Wow.
David Bradbury 26:17
You know, planning good travels, like sort of a nightmare.
Shaneall Ferron 26:22
Yeah, it’s good for me.
David Bradbury 26:23
You know, you’re really like a therapist for the group. And yeah, then a booking agent. I love it.
Break 26:30
You’re listening to start hear a podcast from Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies. V set is a public benefit corporation serving Vermont businesses from start to scales. We provide no cost strategic business advising for any business owner, regardless of stage or industry, as well as venture capital for early stage tech or tech enabled businesses. You can find us online at VCET.co. That’s V, C, E, T dot C O. If you like what you’re hearing, please help us out and rate review and subscribe to our podcast today. Now back to the show.
Sam RG 27:11
So how I mean Okay, so, Windsor, homecare go jetters travel? What’s number three?
Shaneall Ferron 27:19
Thingz from Yaad.
Sam RG 27:23
And this is catering? Correct?
Shaneall Ferron 27:26
Yeah. The best Jamaican food you’ll ever have.
Sam RG 27:29
It looks so good that I started to look at the website and I had to just literally close it because I was like, I can’t even look at this right now.
David Bradbury 27:36
Why don’t we take these around lunchtime?
Sam RG 27:40
I know, it’s, it’s killing me. Like, okay, I first of all, I want to know, just like logistically how you manage three businesses, a full time job and a child. So we can kind of get back to that, but tell me about how the catering started.
Shaneall Ferron 27:55
So cooking is again, back to my childhood. Yeah, in Jamaica. You have to learn how to cook. especially if your mom’s a farmer. Exactly. I mean, a very like, at a very young age. You’re pulled in a kitchen with your mom, and they show you how to cook. I’m not a chef, but I know how to cook really well. And all the Jamaican food there is because that’s what we eat. Like this is what we eat daily. So cooking for me is an escape. Like, if I’m stressed, I cook if I’m if I’m having a hard day, I put on some Dancehall reggae music, and I cook some curry goat. I’m okay. So that’s how cooking came from me. And I remember just normally just cooking and posting it on my Instagram. And people would be like, can I buy a plate? I’m like, I’m not selling food. I’m just cooking my dinner. And then it kind of came. Maybe I should sell my food, you know? But then I was like, who’s gonna buy? So I just started cooking for my friends and I started offering weekly meals. So I cook a weekly amount of food for someone that would pay me and I’d cook five days worth of food. Oh my that went that went well. But then I wanted to expand and the amazing VTPOC. They had August kickback and they asked me to cook. And of course I cooked and that was how it really got out there like because a lot of people at August kickback and they’re like, Oh my God. What is this food? We’ve never had coconut curry chickpea. I was like what? Yeah. And it was like, it started like that. Then I did some small caterings in between and my biggest catering was Juneteenth of this year. I did over 400 servings of food. Yes. But it was like amazing. It was just being able to cook because people I don’t want to cook like single plates. I don’t have time for that. Yeah. And if I if I started doing that it’s going to burn me out then I’m not going to enjoy cooking anymore so I’m really picky with what I cook and where I cook for because I don’t want it to burn me out. I love cooking. So Juneteenth was another springboard for me to bring my food to Vermonters and we were supposed to be there like for two and a half hours. Within an hour. All 400 servings of food was done. And it was packed up and out. It was an i, i think i everything on on my menu I made that day. So people tried a little bit of everything. And then folks who tried it at the VTPOC events reached out like can you do a catering? I can’t if I cook my son’s birthday party. Then I invited a few people. Of course, he’s going to have the best food it says yeah, I have to cook. Then a few folks came there and they’re like, oh my god, can you do this work event for us? So it’s just been like word of mouth and yeah, word of mouth.
David Bradbury 31:20
And you can you can scale it up or down depending on what the other businesses are doing.
Shaneall Ferron 31:26
right. So that is it. I have big plans for thingz from Yaad, but right now I’m just you know,
David Bradbury 31:34
Are you cooking out of your home?
Shaneall Ferron 31:35
I cook go to my home, when it’s a small catering. But my amazing friend, Maria from Cafe Mamajuana.
Sam RG 31:41
Yep,
Shaneall Ferron 31:44
she opened up her space for me, I’m like, I need a bigger space. And she’d be like, Girl, come on. And she would come and help me and you know, so really grateful for Maria from Katherine, for saying, Here’s a space come and cook. And we would cook together. If she needed needed my help. I put on my boots and we go play music and cook and it’s just been like that. So I’ve been the VTPOC very supportive Maria and my friends when it’s a big one, I have big catering so I’m like Guys, I need help. All hands on deck Weiwei would come and she’s like, I’m good at cutting veggies. And you know, and she would cut veggies she but she’s pretty fun roll roll the jerk corn for me. She’s good at that. So it’s been really great. Just being able to call in my community and my friends for support with Thingz from Yaad. But like I say, I have big plans.
Sam RG 32:40
I mean, I can’t help the thing that must really make it feel more like home to when you’re able to share that food.
Shaneall Ferron 32:46
Yes yes it’s so thingz from yaad in Jamaica yard means home, and things from home. All the ingredients that I use in my food, I support the local shops and markets here to get like my goat meat or my fish. And whatever else I can get my and then I order, like my special seasonings come straight from Jamaica. So it’s, I wanted to be as authentic as possible. The only thing I toned down in my food is a spice level.
Sam RG 33:20
Vermonters aren’t quite ready.
Shaneall Ferron 33:22
And sometimes they try it. Yeah. And they’re like, we want it spicy. Yeah. You know, like, okay, yeah, so I was like, I mean, you asked for spicy, but I’m still not going to give you the real spicy. Yeah. So that is the only thing I change in my recipes is the spicy level. But I keep everything the same. Like how my mom taught me how to make it. I keep all of that the same. And it’s been amazing. Just one of my favorite things is when I cook and I see they take their first bite. Or you’d be in a room. And everybody it would just be so silent, you can hear a pin drop. Yeah. Or you could hear just mouth munching. That is my favorite board scraping scraping like they’re doing this. Yeah. And it’s like, it just warms my heart. Yeah, you know, cooking and sharing food in Jamaica is a big thing. Like it’s a big part of who we are. My mom was every morning. We make this special tea in Jamaica from the kola nut. And my mom would make it at 5am in the morning before she would go off to her farm. And when we get up for school or outside would be filled with just people coming in for a cup of tea before they go to their farms. And same on a Sunday. We call it Sunday dinner. It would just be rice and peas and some jerk chicken or some curry goat or something. And my mom always made a big pot of food because she know she don’t know who’s coming. Yeah, but we know we’re gonna get about 10 people. Yeah, and it was just always Just cooking and making people feel comfortable and just sharing like that is me. Sharing. That is my love language like sharing food is something that I owe really special to me. And even when I get paid to do it, I do put put a lot of time and attention in my cooking and making sure that it is not just cooking for the money when you’re really experiencing something that is that was built in me from like a baby, you know, so? Yeah, my food is really special.
Sam RG 35:36
consider us on the list.
David Bradbury 35:39
We have to come up with an event. We have to build an event around your cooking. Oh, yeah. I should say VT POC is Vermont professional colors network.
Sam RG 35:50
Yes, yes. And they’re amazing. Amazing. Totally amazing.
David Bradbury 35:55
What resources if any, have you used either in the community here in Vermont, or back in Jamaica or some other place that helps you as a business owner? Along the way?
Shaneall Ferron 36:07
So for me here, I’m resources, I’m pretty. I’m a self starter kind of person. And starting my business here was really scary. You know, immigrant. I don’t know, I was scared of everything. Like, am I making the right choices? Um, so I wouldn’t say I had access to or use a lot of the resources here available. Because I was just afraid. I just went ahead and did all of it myself. Like every little piece of my business I created that. It’s a 32 page business plan. I created it. And then I sent it to my friends way, way and everybody like, can you just look at this and tell me, is it okay? So there were I only there’s this organization here call the Center for Women in enterprise, you know, they offer courses on business or just how to be a being an entrepreneur, and I didn’t one of their classes, but everything else. I’m just always on Google. Always researching, always trying to make something better. Always like putting myself out there talking, hey, this is why I am this is what I do. Just you know. So yeah.
David Bradbury 37:30
Do you sleep?
Shaneall Ferron 37:33
I do sleep. So one of the things I do is plan, plan, plan and organize. I was never an organized person. I was never a planner. I used to always just go with the flow. Yeah. But I see a sign out there that says only that fish go with the flow. And I can’t keep I can’t forget it. Oh here and the visa and the visa. Like I’m not a dead fish. So I’m not going to go with this flow anymore. I need to plan or else everything is going to crash and burn. But all for Windsor home care and go generous travel. They’re fully online and self sufficient about 70%. Yeah. So if someone wants to inquire about me providing service for Windsor homecare, they visit my website, I use multiple software’s I use like three software’s for Windsor home care. So from someone submitting a form on my website, to going into my client management system and creating a file for them and letting me know I have a client and just me clicking a button to send him an A questionnaire. And that takes me a minute to do. And then my staff I have a software that manages that didn’t need to clock in clock out and I just go on it on a Sunday to send invoices, collect payments to payroll. So I have I did a lot of research and making sure efficient Yeah, it is and it works amazing, go jetters travel the same. I have one that is just for travel from the going online submitting that form. And just me looking at it to see if this is a trick that I want to be the travel agent for, to asking more questions. So I did in such a process. Yes, I have really, that there was a big learning curve. But once I once I had it down, it’s been working amazing for me. So doing that I’m able to focus on a full time job. That I know is I’m also really big on community building, whatever the community that I’m a part of I want to see thriving and this program administrator job that I took is because I’m I was able to. I took it when I stepped away from working physically from my businesses because now I was able to hire more people and not physically go to work and manage my businesses more. So I did have time in my schedule because I was home most of the days. Yeah, just waiting on my son. So I had time to take this job. And then it was a really flexible job. I work remotely from home. I also invested in really great working nice desktop. I speed internet comfortable seating a nice desk. So once I have that, like once I’m in that space, I’m in that space and I’m pretty efficient when I have what I need.
Sam RG 40:30
You really are going to retire early aren’t you.
Shaneall Ferron 40:31
Oh, yes.
Sam RG 40:32
Well, then you’re coming here and you’re going to be a mentor advisor. Actually, I’m gonna get Dave an internship with you. Is that cool? Yeah, I think he could learn a thing or two.
David Bradbury 40:42
That would be most welcome for sure.
Shaneall Ferron 40:46
I’d be more than happy to
Sam RG 40:47
what’s your next business?
Shaneall Ferron 40:49
Right now I’m just cruising. Also, you know, being a soccer mom, it’s amazing.
Sam RG 40:59
You got to enjoy it while he’s still little.
Shaneall Ferron 41:02
Right now he’s telling me that he needs privacy. My heart.
Sam RG 41:07
I’m dreading that moment.
Shaneall Ferron 41:08
“Mommy I need some space” shuts his door in my face but It’s temporary. He’s just nine, telling me to call him a preteen. But but you know, now I’m really enjoying what I’m doing. I like I say, my next big thing would be for thingz from yaad. I don’t have another business plan right now, or do I want to. I mean, there are many other things that I can do. But I don’t, I wouldn’t do it. Because I really love it. Whatever I’m doing now is I is really right here in my heart. And it’s just perfecting it, perfecting it like, Okay, this is how I started. Know I need to evolve here and make changes there and make changes here. So I’m just working on you know, making things better. You just have so much opportunity with within those existing businesses like you know, Windsor homecare. As Vermont continues to age, that issue is not going to go away and having folks that are professional and empathetic like you, is such a gift to our community. Yeah, it’s, it’s amazing. Are
David Bradbury 42:15
there we have one final question before we wrap up. But are there other things that groups like VCET or other support organizations could do for other entrepreneurs that you think would be particularly helpful and accessible?
Shaneall Ferron 42:33
Yeah one of the things that I that that is really lacking here, especially for somebody like me, want to start a business that don’t need it? Well, I started without an overhead. But you know, there are other people who has business plan that need a lot of money injected in their business, so access to capital, or, you know, like, Okay, this is where you can get $1,000 to start your business. You know, like, that is easy that people won’t have to jump through hoops. And after jumping through the second hoop, you’re burnt, before even starting your business. So making that process easier to say, Harry, something for you to start, because I remember how important it was for me, when that family gave me two extra months with their parents just so I could have money coming in. So access to capital and not a lot of people will go ahead and do research like me to see, okay, this is how I do a business plan. This is how I find clients. This is how I market this is network go out talk and I’m making space more inclusive, like okay, you’re welcome. Because I remember coming to the going to that first Female Founders event. And my now boss, Melissa Bounty, I invited her to that event the first time. And then she invited me to this roundtable talk at it was a really nice roundtable talk, but I was able to network and I’ve met amazing people that are now really, they played really important roles in who I am today. Just sometimes if just even sending me an email to say, We’re proud of you, here’s somebody that would love for you to connect to it. And you know, just that. So creating more inclusive spaces, easier access to funding, you know, I’m not saying give somebody 100k I mean, sometimes do give somebody 100k because that’s what they need, but simpler things to just to encourage and to push and say, You can do it or like my friends did look at my business plan and they read it for me and they’re like, Okay, you need to change this, or they just listened to me talk about my businesses like they’re like practice with us. How would you talk about Windsor homecare to sell it and they listen, you know, just so that for me, those are the two things that I when I was starting that I looked at that weren’t really I mean for me I was new, so maybe it was there, but it wasn’t easily accessible. I couldn’t find it. I wasn’t able to find it.
David Bradbury 45:10
that’s really really helpful.
Sam RG 45:17
Magic wand question. If you could change one thing about Vermont today, what would you change?
Shaneall Ferron 45:28
One thing I would change is
David Bradbury 45:33
You have superpowers.
Shaneall Ferron 45:40
I would try to make people work together a little bit more and not be so it’s counterproductive the word or they work against themselves? Yes. Where, you know, there would be an issue, but instead of working on ways to fix it, they talk about it and add more to the issue. And I’m always like, why not just get together and fix it or find somebody to fix it instead of putting more gas to the fire and making it a bigger one? So I mean, that’s what I would change because, well, I avoid those situations, because I don’t like stress. Yeah, I, I have a lot going on. So I want anything outside that is going to cause me stress, I stay away from it. So I’m always home working. And just as just to avoid those situations. Because if I’m not able to fix something, or to be a positive part of what is going to fix it, I try not to get involved. And people do get involved in things that they’re not adding anything good to it, but just making it a bigger problem.
Sam RG 46:51
right? Like, let’s be solutions oriented. Yeah, use our community to solve these.
Shaneall Ferron 46:56
Right so that is what I would change because Vermont is it’s an amazing place. I love Vermont, and I came here and I was like, um, its role. Its country like, we’re where I grew up. It reminds me so much of my home minus the snow. It’s cold.
David Bradbury 47:11
I was gonna say, the temperature difference.
Shaneall Ferron 47:13
Yeah and I grew up right next to the ocean. And I live right next to the lake right now. And the trees and it’s farming. And it’s rural. It’s I live in it. I grew up in a small town. And I mean, Vermont is much more developed, developed, but it has the same bones. Yeah. And one of the things that where I’m from is is the community, and how people work together. I always tell people that whenever there’s an arcade in Jamaica, we never, we don’t have anybody coming to help to rebuild. But the community would get together if 20 houses were destroyed, we would get together as a group and tackle one house at a time. So people would gather whatever they could, and just know there’s a big group of community members coming around. And we’re going to cook a big pot of food, play some music, and we’re going to rebuild a house. And we would do that day by day until the communities thriving again. And I still have that in me to like, what’s the solution? How can we fix this? And I’m always looking for and if I can’t I try not to add any more to it than is already there.
David Bradbury 48:29
We could use some of that around here now. So thank you so much.
Sam RG 48:32
We’re glad you’re here.
Shaneall Ferron 48:33
Thank you. Thank you for having me. I’m excited. I can’t I can’t believe I’m here.
Sam RG 48:41
I’m just glad to hear you’re sleeping at night.
David Bradbury 48:44
Maybe were sleeping too much.
Shaneall Ferron 48:47
I go to the gym at 5am. And I sleep now I started going to my bed at like around seven eight. Okay, good. And then I go to the end. It’s really it’s been really great. Just being in the gym lifting weights, like energy.
Sam RG 49:03
Oh yeah, same.
David Bradbury 49:05
you are human, superhuman but human. And thank you again for joining me and Sam here today.
Shaneall Ferron 49:11
Thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure. I’ve been always wanting to be here. The next thing I’m going to be on the Female Founders panel.
Sam RG 49:19
Yay. I’m stowing that one away.
David Bradbury 49:25
This has been Start Here a podcast sharing the stories of active aspiring and accidental entrepreneurs. The series supported by the Vermont Technology Council, and Consolidated Communications. Sam you know we’re having for lunch today. Curry goat. We’re out of here.
