Miriam Allred (00:01)
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Home Care Strategy Lab. I'm your host, Miriam Allred. It's great to be back with you this week. I hope everyone's having an awesome week and it's fired up. It's February. Here we are, start of 2026. The year is off and running and it feels good. Here in the lab today, I've got Nick Bonitatibus the owner and founder of Digital Champions. Hopefully he's no stranger to any of you or many of you, but if he is, I'm excited to introduce you to Nick. Hey, thanks for being here.
Nick Bonitatibus (00:31)
Thanks for having me. I'm fired up and excited. You're amazing, Miriam. So I'm pumped.
Miriam Allred (00:37)
You're kind. Most people are listening to this, but for those of you watching this, Nick and I are both podcasters. So we've got the mics, we've got the headphones, we've got the setups. Our backdrops are a little bit minimal, but we've got the real equipment, which is always fun. So you sound good and you look good.
Nick Bonitatibus (00:53)
Love it. Yeah, this is, this is what it's all about. You know, this is, how can we share some quality content that also sounds good and looks good.
Miriam Allred (01:03)
Exactly.
And here we are. was about to say we're two 20 year olds, but I think we're both I'm about to be 30 and I think you might be in your 30s. But here we are two young ins that are I don't know about you. People call me an influencer in this space and they probably do the same to you. I just thought we should start and tell people why we're here. Like, I just want you to share why you're here, what your personal mission, vision is. And then I thought I'd share mine as well. So let's start there. Like, why are you here and what are you up to?
Nick Bonitatibus (01:31)
Yeah, no, I love that. mean, I think there's so many ways I feel like I can answer this question. And the number one thing that comes up for me is impact. You know, is how can I create the greatest impact in what I do? And I think, not just for the people that I serve, but also myself, I'm a business owner, I want to create an amazing life for myself and continue to grow and evolve and.
You know, my goal and everything that I do as I continue to grow is to try and bring people with me. You know, there's no competition in my mind. It's all about how can we all work together to grow and achieve our dreams and, you know, go after what we want and create a lasting impact on this world and everyone that we interact with.
Miriam Allred (02:25)
love it. And I think you're aligned with all of the people listening to this. Impact is probably one of the number one words that I hear when people talk about why they got into home care. I would just add to that for me, it's the people and the mission of this industry. The people being, I don't know about you, I've met home care owners from all 50 states at this point and they come from all different backgrounds, all different industries, all different walks of life. And I meet these people and I'm just like,
awestruck, like so inspired by the people that are taking a chance on themselves, getting into this business and then helping so many individuals, employees and clients and families. And they are just so humble, but also so tenacious. Like I just am in awe of the people in this industry. And I think that's what keeps me here is just the people that I meet and how much I learn from them and how much I want to be like them.
And then also the mission, people are taking care of, I sometimes say grandmas, like they're taking care of like my grandma. You know, I think of my grandma June, I think of my grandma Becky and just the women and the men that my grandparents are and how special they are and how much I value their life and their health and their wellbeing and their independence. And I just think this industry, they're just taking care of a bunch of people's grandparents, including my own and...
how valuable and important that generation is and the seniors are in our families and in our communities, and what more to life than taking care of this incredible population of people. And I just love that so much.
Nick Bonitatibus (04:05)
Yeah, I mean, I've been in the home care industry for 11 years and you know, it's so wild that I feel like everyone I meet is amazing. And there's so many other industries and like there's events that I go to for my own business and things and just meet different types of people. like, I don't really like that guy. You know, like he's in this for the wrong reasons, right? But I feel like in home care, there are everyone that I meet is in this business for the right reasons so much so when people ask me they're like, Nick, would you start a home care business? I'm like, absolutely not. Like don't have it in me, you know, like, so for all you home care owners that are listening, it's like, I commend you because I, I understand not the same way that you do, but like the difficulties of this business. And, you know, it takes a special type of person to kind of persevere through the challenges that come with this industry. And, you know, so I just, I have so much admiration. ⁓
similar to you, Miriam, in just what they're doing and this level of service that is so much greater, there's such a bigger purpose. It's a privilege to be able to serve these owners, to help them achieve their mission and goals.
Miriam Allred (05:21)
Absolutely. And perseverance is a really good word. Home care years are almost like dog years. Like people that have been doing this for one year, five years, 10 years, you get people doing this for 20 years and it's just like, wow, the level that they're at and the perseverance that they've had to get to that level in home care, it's hard. this is, it's people's lives. It's care in the home. It is so hard. There's so many nuances. I was talking to an owner last week and just, I just said to him, like, tell me the phone calls that you're still getting like day in and day out. And it's just,
It's mind boggling, you the things that they're dealing with every single day, but that's the nature of it and they are persevering, which is incredible. You said you've been in this industry for 11 years. I'm not going to lie. That's longer than I had thought. For those that don't know your story, tell us a little bit more, you know, how you got in and then how you worked your way to where you are now.
Nick Bonitatibus (06:12)
Yeah, I think people are always surprised when I say that if they're looking at my face, because people think I'm 20. ⁓ But in their defense, my first job out of college was working for a company that home ⁓ care agencies. So I worked for Hurricane Marketing Enterprises, now Home Care Evolution. That was my first job. I was like an intern ⁓ right out of college. mean, literally it was like a month from graduating to...
like getting getting started. And so I was thrown into this world of home care, having no idea what this was. I was put into a role of things that I didn't have a lot of experience in, which opened up this massive opportunity of learning where I was just enthralled. Like they didn't even have stuff for me to do always right away. So I would just be watching YouTube videos and learning things about marketing and social media and just continuing to try to immerse myself and learn as much as I could to help the business grow.
⁓ which later led to me speaking for the first time in 2016. And that was where I kind of got the bug. They say that, you know, you're born twice the day of your birth and the day you figure out why. And that was my second birth where I just, I fell in love with speaking and teaching. And that became something that I really wanted to continue to pursue. so I, Hey, I want to speak more. I want to speak longer.
And what I found is that the things that I was teaching were things that I wanted to help people to do, but I couldn't, because I had a full-time job. So it's like I'm teaching them how to do all this stuff, but I wasn't giving them actually any other support or resources to help them actually execute on any of things that I was teaching about, which later led to me going off on my own, starting my own business. I've been in my own business for over six years now.
approaching seven. But it's been, it's one of those things where seeing kind of how things have evolved is the vision that I always had. Like I always wanted to, you when I first started speaking, I wanted to speak at Home Care Association of America. That was such a big deal. And then I got it I spoke this past year. was like, oh my gosh, like these, it's crazy when you're living the things that you always hoped that you could do while also.
Nick Bonitatibus (08:38)
hopefully helping other people to continue to grow and thrive in what they do. ⁓ it's just, it's been a wild journey and I'm grateful for every step, the highs and the lows.
Miriam Allred (08:52)
Yes, you and I have always been aligned on that of you can achieve whatever you set your mind to. Like you and I are both believers of that. And look at us both like here we are out on our own doing this thing. And it's like no dream is too lofty to accomplish. Like I genuinely think that whatever you set your mind to, you can absolutely achieve that. And you and I are both like testaments of that. So you started 11 years ago tinkering social media, YouTube, like digital advertising, marketing, the landscape.
has changed significantly in the last 10 years? I guess I your take on that of like what you got into 10 years ago in the landscape of like online versus what it is today. Would you actually say it's changed a lot or there's more like parallels and similarities than one might actually think?
Nick Bonitatibus (09:37)
That's a really great question. And my initial thought is that it hasn't changed that much. know, one thing that I always, you I preach and you you and I even talked about this before jumping on here is this idea of social media around building relationships. And that has not changed. That is, the platforms may be changing and evolving as these new platforms come out, but...
the general aspect of that social media is designed exclusively for building relationships. When Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook with the intention of connecting people at Harvard, then leading to more universities to then what it is today, it was based on that fundamental principle of just building relationships. So even though algorithms have certainly changed and
business pages don't work the same way that they used to. But those fundamental principles of just providing value and building relationships are still the number one foundational principle.
Miriam Allred (10:47)
Yeah, I agree. And that's kind of why I wanted to ask you that because I, one might think, okay, what Facebook was 10 years ago, the lack of AI 10 years ago, like, everything's changed, but you're right. Like the backbone of social media has stayed the same, which is connection. And I'm going to break out the hot takes already here. You're going to bring this out to me. Normally I'm pretty like conservative, but I feel like this is a topic you and I are both passionate about and interested in. So we're just going to get to it. ⁓
But if you don't have an online presence, you're nobody. if you're not, you and I were talking, joking about this before. If I search you on LinkedIn and you're not there, you don't exist. And I say that half jokingly, half serious, but like if you are a business owner, if you are, if you are anybody, let me just actually backtrack. It's like if you're anybody that wants to be somebody and wants to connect with people personally and professionally, like you need to be on social media. So today we're gonna.
Nick Bonitatibus (11:21)
Yeah.
Miriam Allred (11:45)
We're going to focus on LinkedIn because that's a platform you and I both know a lot about, are passionate about, and also there's true value there for home care leaders. Like true value, tangible value, that's what we're going to talk about today. Let's just start right out of the gate. If there's a skeptical home care executives listening to this that are like, ⁓ LinkedIn, you know, I don't need to spend my time there. Like my team spending time there, like I don't need to.
that are opting themselves out of LinkedIn like right off the bat.
Nick Bonitatibus (12:18)
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that comes up is really understanding what is your goal, right? And the aspect, and I wanted to touch on this, because I think it's funny when you're talking about not existing. To me, like not having a personal brand is like a business not having a website. You know, when someone's going to check you out. So it's like, okay, well you have a website for your business, but what about you? Right, what is your personal brand? What are you about? And so the way I always explain it to no matter who you are,
whether you're a marketing rep, whether you're an agency owner is if you want to grow your wealth, your business, your life, having a personal brand helps you to do that. so let's say you are building your home care agency and you have people that are running it for you already. was like, well, what's the next step? What happens when you sell your home care agency and now you have no audience, no nothing because you just sold what's next for you? And I think so often,
you know, you know, high level CEOs that are thinking about selling, like there has to be a next thing. There's always a next thing. You can't, you're just going to retire for one month and then you're going to be on board because you're an entrepreneur. There's no, there's no getting out of this. We work forever, get used to it. You know, it's coming. ⁓ And so when we're able to build our own brand, opens us up for whatever venture that we want to take forward and be able to not start from the ground up. Why should you, why should you start a business from the ground up when you've already built one?
leverage your connections, you've heard the quote, your network is your net worth. so social media and LinkedIn is your network. So if you believe that your network is important to grow as an individual, to grow your wealth, to grow your business, then LinkedIn is the tool, or social media is the tool to help you to continue to do that and build that.
