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5 Star Home Health & Hospice, LLC

Bringing Comfort Home

  • Owner:

    Jorge Gustavo Gonzalez

  • Location:

    Orem, UT

  • Industry:

    Home Health Care

  • Year in Business:

    2012

Jorge Gustavo Gonzalez lives to help others and was able to turn that calling into a successful business. After working as an office manager and in marketing for a large home health care company, he and a friend decided to strike out on their own. Together, they founded 5 Star Home Health & Hospice, LLC in 2012.

“We started from scratch…I thought ‘why should I do this for someone else when I can do this for myself?’”

The company experienced solid, organic growth in the first two years, providing needed in home health care services for residents of Utah and Salt Lake Counties in Utah. Their specialties include hospice, clinical social services, speech therapy, occupational therapy, diabetic management and physical therapy.

In early 2014, the two friends recognized that their views for the direction of 5 Star Home Health were differing and they decided to part ways amicably. Gustavo agreed to buy out his partner and began to research his options for small business loans to finance the transaction.

It wasn’t long before Gustavo found that his business wasn’t bankable. Traditional banks were requiring that companies be in business for three years or more and have an established business credit history. 5 Star Home Health & Hospice had only been in business for two years but was growing and profitable. In addition, since the company had grown organically, never taking any financing, there was a lack of a business credit history. These factors conspired against Gustavo qualifying for a traditional loan. He began to research alternatives and after a great deal of due diligence, found Dealstruck.

“Dealstruck was like a miracle for me; it was a great option. I found it on the internet
while I was looking for another option. Then I found a newspaper article [in the New
York Times] and felt comfortable about them after reading that and doing so much
research.”

Working with his Dealstruck team, Gustavo secured an initial $223,000 term loan at 20% APR to complete the partner buy out. After finalizing the transaction, he realized the time was right to expand his business even further and secured another term loan of $26,000 also at 20% interest, and a working capital line of credit for $50,000 at 18.99% APR. These new sources of cash allowed Gustavo to increase the number of home health care professionals under contract to service his growing clientele, expand his office space and open a second location. Since taking the initial funding from Dealstruck, 5 Star Home Health saw revenue grow 40% in one year. Gustavo believes hard work is the key to his success, along with a good lending partner, and shared a favorite quote:

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and
hard work.” – Colin Powell

2015 saw another milestone for the company when Gustavo was able to use his now three years in business, coupled with the good business credit he built by responsibly managing the Dealstruck loans, to graduate into the traditional small business lending world. Pacific Premiere Bank recently approved a $225,000 SBA backed term loan at 6% – 6.5% APR. We take pride in helping our customers move into the traditional bank arena and are pleased to have been an important part of 5 Star Home Health & Hospice’s journey to being bankable. Congratulations, Gustavo!