When Tammy Strickland’s father—once a top executive of a global manufacturing firm—developed Alzheimer’s, she struggled to find the in-home care he required.
So, she called in her sister, Debbie Thomason, with an idea: open their own home care franchise focused on compassion, quality and trust. When it came time to build the business behind that mission, they turned to the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) for guidance in creating their business systems.
Demand for the services offered by Acti-Kare Responsive In-Home Care in LaGrange grew quickly. So did revenue, staffing, and the need for strong systems to sustain that growth.
Strickland has crafted a simple elevator pitch for the company she owns and operates in with her sister.
“I make it simple,” she said. “We take care of people.”
However, the business of providing personal non-medical home care is extraordinarily complex. Once their franchise was licensed, the sisters contacted the UGA SBDC to help put the right operational foundation in place.
Strickland brought marketing and sales experience, but she knew they needed broader business expertise.
“Corporations do trainings, but we didn’t have that. That’s what the UGA SBDC became. They trained us, showing us what we can do and how we can do it better,” she said.
Phil Wise, area director of the UGA SBDC in Columbus, and consultant Thomas Credle began by helping Strickland set up the company’s QuickBooks.
“Tammy had a rudimentary understanding of accounting, so we worked with her to make sure she was properly interacting with QuickBooks,” Wise said. “Then we showed her how to restructure and realign financial statements to better support managerial and strategic decisions.”
Together, they built a budget process that allowed the sisters to measure actual performance against their expectations.
“We operate a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week business with a large staff,” Strickland said. “Our work with the UGA SBDC on our staffing system helped us to develop and manage a plan and to scale faster with support staff.”
Credle and Wise showed Strickland and Thomason how to use Acti-Kare’s organizational structure to elevate the responsibilities of their primary managers to strengthen organizational dynamics. Now the managers—rather than the owners—run weekly KPI meetings.
“By reallocating their time and duties, Strickland and Thomason were able to do more work on their business than in the business, fulfilling their roles as owners,” Wise said.
The results have been remarkable. Their Acti-Kare franchise, which serves an area from Peachtree City to LaGrange, has almost tripled in revenue. Employees have grown from 32 to nearly 80. The company was awarded a 2025 Certificate of Excellence from State of Georgia Compliance and named “2025 Best in Georgia” by the Georgia Business Journal and “2025 Best of Troup County in Home Health” by the LaGrange Daily News.
“Tammy and Debbie have excelled at being able to ramp up and grow exponentially while maintaining customer care and a high-quality outcome,” Wise said.
The sisters continue to work closely with the UGA SBDC to enhance their organizational dynamics, create new Key Performance Indicators, update their budget, and explore expansion opportunities into additional Georgia markets.
“Phil, Thomas and the UGA SBDC have been a real game changer for us,” Strickland said. “I didn’t need someone to teach me to be a sales and marketing expert, but I needed someone to teach me how to build a business and put things in place. Some days, it’s felt like having my dad available. They offer that level of business savvy.”
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