We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shalonda Blake a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shalonda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I’ve always wanted to have my own business. I always wanted to help people and often thought of better ways to complete certain tasks. As a young adult, I started my own home daycare. I cared for children and supported the families of the children I cared for and the community. Later in life, I became a nurse. I loved it because this too, gave me an opportunity to help others. Fast forward, I started having some health issues which caused me to take a lot of time off work. While I was in recovery, I thought to myself, “I should start my own home care business.” So I did just that. In the beginning, it was very difficult. I had no money, I didn’t even have my own computer. I spent countless hours at the public library researching and putting together the required documents and other things needed to open. I finally finished and ALL IN PERSONAL CARE SERVICES, LLC, was born! We offer, assistance with activities of daily living, light housekeeping, meal prep/feeding, medication management, companion/sitter services, post op care and errands/appts. We also offer job training and CPR classes. All In Personal Care Services, LLC was needed because it uplifts the community by providing care and support to the sick and elderly and also by providing jobs to people who are interested in starting a career in the healthcare industry. We have been in business since May 2018.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I got into home care because I wanted to combine my passion for helping others and being an entrepreneur. We serve the sick and elderly community. We also help our community by providing training services and employment. Our passion for helping our clients and potential clients is what sets us apart from the others. We serve out of passion, not out of obligation. We want to help, and to me, that’s what makes the difference.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I first started All In Personal Care Services, LLC, I was working nights as a nurse and didn’t have any employees at the time. I worked from 11pm to 7am and went from there to a clients house at 8am and stayed there until 1pm. After that, I had to work on paperwork and growing my business. I was extremely tired. But it was worth it. Eventually, my business started to grow and I got some employees.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I first started, it took me a long time to find a client. I did everything from visiting hospitals, nursing homes, passing out flyers, business cards and sending emails. Even though I didn’t have any clients, I would still show up to the office everyday ready to work and take on whatever came my way. After about 6 months, I finally got a client. Needless to say, I was so happy. I believed in myself and All In Personal Care Services, LLC and refused to give up.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.allinpcs.com