Caregiving Without Going Broke: Building a Sustainable Income While Providing Care

Caregiving Without Going Broke: Building a Sustainable Income While Providing Care

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Dennis Gill: Alright guys, Welcome to CareSmartz360 On Air, a Home Care Podcast. I’m Dennis Gill, Senior Sales Consultant at Caresmartz.

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Dennis Gill: So today we are joined by the incomparable Tena Scallan, Founder and Caregiving expert at the Ultimate Caregiving Expert whose LinkedIn paints her as a true champion for family caregivers.

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Dennis Gill: So as the driving force behind the ultimate caregiving expert, she crafts clear, user-friendly resources and tools to tackle

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Dennis Gill: everyday care, challenges, harnesses SEO know-how to boost their reach, and creates vibrant visuals that resonate.

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Dennis Gill: Her passion lies in delivering hands-on guidance and fresh perspectives that uplift caregivers, well-being and simplify life’s toughest moments.

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Dennis Gill: So in caregiving, without going broke, building a sustainable income while providing care, Tena will reveal her secret sauce for turning compassion into cash flow- without selling your soul, or I would say, your silverware.

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Dennis Gill: So we’ll unpack DIY budgeting hacks, SEO amplified outreach tips and graphics, driven guides that turn confusing care plans, into clear, clickable victories.

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Dennis Gill: So grab a latte press, play and prepare to laugh, learn, and level up your caregiving game, fiscally and fantastically.

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Dennis Gill: So Welcome to the podcast, Tena.

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Tena Scallan: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Dennis. I believe caregiving is the backbone of today’s health care

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Tena Scallan: without family caregivers.

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Tena Scallan: Things would be a lot worse than what they are.

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Tena Scallan: I had a company called Independent Living Services, that I ran for 25 years.

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Dennis Gill: Okay.

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Tena Scallan: And I trained

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Tena Scallan: caregivers to be in the home to care for people in 2012. I gave up the company because it was so hard to find good caregivers to do everything that was needed in the home. So I started teaching caregivers, families how to be their own caregivers, and life got so much better.

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Dennis Gill: Very good, to hear that so obviously a drastic change that from the caregivers, and then making the people understand how caregiving is a beautiful thing that they can do.

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Dennis Gill: Okay? So, Tena , I’ll straight away jump in with the 1st question that we have for you. If you’re ready.

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Tena Scallan: Yeah.

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Dennis Gill: So what are the most common financial traps that push family caregivers into hardship? And what simple 1st steps can help them start reversing that trend today, according to you.

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Tena Scallan: Number one. The biggest one is not being prepared.

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Tena Scallan: When you don’t know when caregiving is going to happen, you can sit there and say, Mom’s turning 65. But she’s doing well, and then the next day, boom! She could have a stroke. Anything could happen. So the best thing to do is be prepared. By the time you’re 65,

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Tena Scallan: your life should be organized if it is not organized. That’s when caregiving gets into really hard, hard steps.

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Tena Scallan: because then that’s where the burnout is. That’s when you know unpreparedness comes into play, and then it just becomes one big mess and frustration finances. Everything gets turned over. But the real thing is learning how to find real expectations of caregiving.

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Tena Scallan: Let what you saw

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Tena Scallan: caregiving should be and throw it out the window and start fresh, get the home organized, write a plan

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Tena Scallan: and really focus on the future because the past is over, and whatever happened in the past, you can’t bring it with you to the future. So I’ve cleaned out about

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Tena Scallan: 500 homes, and it is not fun when you step into a caregiving situation. The 1st thing that you should do is have a plan. Once you have that plan, then you need to tackle the house, because

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Tena Scallan: when you’re sick and things are going wrong, the last thing you need to do is have a closet full of stuff.

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Dennis Gill: Yes, sir.

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Tena Scallan: So, yeah, and

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Tena Scallan: so that’s 1 of the reasons why I created a bunch of resources on my website, the latest resource that I? I have a group on Facebook. It’s a family caregiver group. And for the last year I’ve been asking them what is the biggest problems? Well, everybody’s coming back to me, saying.

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Tena Scallan: I’m unorganized.

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Tena Scallan: I’m burnt out. I’m broke. I have no money. So I created a plan heal and earn. It’s 3 little workbooks.

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Tena Scallan: Here’s the 1st one.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, okay, keep this cash flow plan. Yeah.

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Tena Scallan: And then I created the compass which.

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Dennis Gill: Us, okay.

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Tena Scallan: From burnout to balance, and then the organizational planner.

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Dennis Gill: Okay.

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Tena Scallan: And for someone who went through buyers hurricanes.

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Tena Scallan: When you lose everything, you realize you don’t need that much stuff in your life. So when you start over you keep things simple, super simple.

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Dennis Gill: -Oh!

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Dennis Gill: Got it, got it, got it? But I see that you have put a lot of time and compassion in the work that you do. That’s really good.

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Tena Scallan: I love what I do. I started off as a candy striper, taking care of my mom at age 10, so I’ve been in a long time.

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Dennis Gill: Oh, good to hear that! Good to hear that! So next thing Tena , caring for a loved one without pay, makes takes a huge emotional toll. So how do you help caregivers reframe their mindset? So they see it’s not only okay, but also essential to seek fair compensation.

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Tena Scallan: Well, the thing is that the encouragement that I offer is caregiving is love, but it’s also labor, and both can coexist. I mean, you’re not selfish for wanting to support yourself or your loved ones, because a lot of times

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Tena Scallan: you have to quit a job or do something. You know that you could no longer make money, because caregiving is 24, 7, and burnout helps no one when you crash, so

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Tena Scallan: so does the care.

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Tena Scallan: Some of the mindful shifts I see is that caregivers deserve recognition. I mean, I will not sit there and put down lpns, rns, or doctors, because without them we are in real trouble. But family caregivers

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Tena Scallan: is the beginning. It’s where everything starts, and if they’re not doing a good job in the home, that’s where hospitalizations start to go into play. That’s where home health agencies have to come into play, and if the whole system is broken, then we’re in trouble, so if we can’t fix it in the very beginning, it’ll make things a lot easier

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Tena Scallan: the higher you go.

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Dennis Gill: Right and linked to this. So next question is linked to this, so many caregivers feel strapped for time. So what are 3 highly creative, low, barrier ways. They can begin generating extra income from home, even if they only have an hour or 2 free each day.

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Tena Scallan: Wow!

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Tena Scallan: Here are 3 realistic, low, barrier ways to earn from home. And

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Tena Scallan: what kills me is this is the simplest thing that has ever happened, and I don’t know why more people aren’t thinking about this.

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Tena Scallan: When we went through Covid everybody had to work remotely.

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Dennis Gill: Yep.

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Tena Scallan: And so that’s where remote work started. But now.

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Tena Scallan: monetize what you know. I mean, if you like to cook, there’s

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Tena Scallan: Youtube videos on how to cook. I mean, there’s so many things that you could do. And if you want to be happy with what you do and work

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Tena Scallan: monetize what you know

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Tena Scallan: you already have valuable skills from caregiving. Don’t underestimate that. I mean help. Other caregivers stay organized, teach them something.

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Tena Scallan: and it may makes a win-win for both situations. Number 2

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Tena Scallan: working from home. You could work for big companies like Amazon, American Airlines, Cvs insurance providers. There’s a whole bunch of things that I could help you get into the play. All you need to work from home is a computer or a laptop

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Tena Scallan: Internet access and a quiet space. That’s it.

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Dennis Gill: That’s it.

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Dennis Gill: If the person is eager to work, there are options out there and definitely listeners. Tena is there to help you with that.

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Tena Scallan: Yeah. And the cash flow plan I created to make sure that it teaches you.

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Tena Scallan: It makes you realize what you like to do for your life, because then a lot of things that happen to is that once you stop caregiving, you’re like a lost puppy, you don’t know what to do with yourself, and while you’re caregiving whether you have 5 min or an hour each day, you could sit down, and you could journal with

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Tena Scallan: the compass, and it could teach you how to do things, or you could just start and use the caregivers cash flow because it’s a step. It’s a step by step plan that helps you figure out your passion, figures out what you want to do for the rest of your life, and trust me, it’s very simple.

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Dennis Gill: –

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Dennis Gill: Good to hear that. I think it’s really good that our listeners would be aware about that, for whomever this is a good opportunity. Please make sure that you are listening completely to what Tena is saying today.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, now. So what personal experience or Aha moment inspired you to develop the caregivers cash flow plan which you were showing me just now? And can you share one standout success story of how it’s lifted the family out of financial stress.

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Tena Scallan: Oh, absolutely my Aha! Moment did come from one single event. I spent the last year listening. If you sit down and listen to what people have to say. You learn a lot. My family. They’re

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Tena Scallan: my family caregiver. Facebook group is where I uncovered heartbreak.

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Tena Scallan: and it was not surprising. So many caregivers completely are overwhelmed, emotionally burnt out and financially drowning. And it’s not just one. I mean, I have 3,000 caregivers that are saying the same thing, and it’s from New York all the way to California. I mean, our nation

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Tena Scallan: is crying, and caregivers do the work of

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Tena Scallan: social worker Lpn medical supply. I mean, they’re wearing so many hats, and you could see why they’re burnt out. But if you teach them how to get organized, how to heal and how to earn an income. Things become a lot easier. That’s why I created the Caregiver Cash Flow plan. It’s a step by step.

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Tena Scallan: guide to teach people

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Tena Scallan: their passion, what to do and how to implement everything and start making money within a couple of weeks time.

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Dennis Gill: Okay. Okay.

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Tena Scallan: I do have one caregiver in our community that was caring for her aging mother while she was trying to raise 2 children after using the cash flow plan, she started to think about her future, what it what she really wanted out of life. She began doing part-time virtual assistant work for other people. And now.

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Tena Scallan: instead of being financially strapped, she’s now confident she’s happy, and she’s also taking care of her loved one with no problems.

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Dennis Gill: Definitely. It is a great thing what you must be feeling when somebody that you are making them learn something, and they are doing something for their families. I can’t even imagine what feeling it would be. That’s really good to hear.

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Tena Scallan: It is wonderful.

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Dennis Gill: It should be, it should be definitely and lastly, caregivers often feel guilty or ashamed at the thought of charging for the time. So what encouragement or mindset shifts do you offer to help them move past those feelings and advocate for themselves very important.

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Tena Scallan: This is the problem. This is a message from my heart. You’re not asking for money. You’re asking to keep going. I mean, you deserve to thrive, not just survive. And right now they’re surviving. I mean, they’re burnt out. They’re they’re overwhelmed. They don’t know which way to go, and I’m here to help them all. I mean, I can sit down and do a zoom

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Tena Scallan: with you.

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Tena Scallan: Go through your whole house, tell you exactly what to do, how to get everything organized, how to start doing your remote work at home. I could teach you everything

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Tena Scallan: I encourage them to do. They’re doing the work of multiple professionals, and

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Tena Scallan: they’re worthy of of support. I mean

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Tena Scallan: the caregiver family caregivers. Right now, whether you’re working from an agency or you’re working on your own.

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Tena Scallan: You’re all loud, I mean you don’t you go in there and you’re doing the work of multiple people, so they deserve to be taken care of, and that’s what I’m gonna do.

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Dennis Gill: Definitely. It’s really good to hear that really good to hear that.

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Dennis Gill: So

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Dennis Gill: it was really nice talking to you. I know it was a short time today, and we would love to have another session with you someday with some more stories that you could let us know about more listeners that would be aware about that. So but thank you today. Thank you, Tena , for sharing your expertise and to our lovely audience. Thank you for tuning in, and I hope it would be a very beneficial session for our listeners today.

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Dennis Gill: So until next time I’m Dennis Gale signing off, thank you, guys.

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Tena Scallan: Where, where.

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Dennis Gill: Yeah. Sorry.

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Tena Scallan: I want to tell them where to get the bundle. You can go to the ultimate caregiving expert.com slash bundle, and you could get all 3 of them for very, very low price.

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Dennis Gill: Perfect listeners. So you have this address where you can get that. Go grab it, and it would be really beneficial for you, for your family for your loved ones. Please go through it, and Tena is always there to assist you.

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Dennis Gill: Yeah.

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Tena Scallan: It’s the roadmap. It’s the roadmap to getting organized healing from burnout and finding ways to earn some money.

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Dennis Gill: Perfect, really good, really good. So thank you. Thank you again. Thank you, Tena . Thank you for enlightening our audience today, and it was lovely talking to you. Thank you. Listeners. Thank you.