Part 1: Building Legacy Through Leadership: Activating Purpose in the Senior Living Industry | Isabelle Guarino

Welcome to Wickedly Branded: Marketing, Magic, and The Messy Middle, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.

From stepping into her father’s vision to scaling a company that’s changing senior care education, Isabelle shares how authenticity, courage, and systems create real growth. Together, they unpack the power of brand activation, overcoming imposter syndrome, and leading with both heart and strategy.

Three Key  Marketing Topics Discussed:

1. Authentic Leadership: How Isabelle modernized her father’s legacy and made the brand her own.
2. Confidence in Visibility: What it really takes to step into the spotlight as a visionary.
3. Systems for Sustainability: Why structure, clarity, and delegation are the backbone of long-term success.

Follow Isabelle:
Isabelle | LinkedIn
RAL Academy | Instagram
RAL Academy | Facebook
RAL Academy | TikTok
RAL Academy | Website

Dare to be Wickedly Branded

Transcript

Beverly: 0:11

Did you know that senior housing industry is one of the most rewarding, yet challenging fields to break into? Today's guest has mastered that challenge and is helping others do the exact same thing I'm your host Beverly Cornell, the founder and fairy godmother of Wickedly branded. We've helped hundreds of overwhelmed overachieving consultants, creatives, and coaches awaken their brand magic and boldly bring their marketing to life so that they have more clarity and feel more confident to attract their absolute favorite and most profitable clients. Today. Joining us is Isabelle Guarino, founder of Residential Assisted Living Academy, RAL Academy. Isabel has transformed the senior housing education market by providing cutting edge training and resources to help real estate investors and entrepreneurs create life. Changing opportunities in the senior care space. She's impacted thousands of lives and she's here to share her journey, her challenges, and her marketing wisdom with us today. Welcome Isabelle.

Isabelle: 1:15

Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Beverly: 1:17

I'm so glad you're here. I read on your website, I love this phrase that there's a silver tsunami of seniors.

Isabelle: 1:24

Yep.

Beverly: 1:24

Out in the world is happening with the baby boomers and eventually us Xers too. But let's talk a little bit about how you started,'cause you didn't start out in this field and what was the spark to start this particular business and what did those early days look like for you?

Isabelle: 1:38

Yeah, so right outta college, I actually became a flight attendant. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to travel the world and meet people and just explore. So I went that direction and quickly found out that I wasn't using my brain in the way I wanted. I'm bored and yes, I get to travel, but I really wanna do something that challenges me in it ignites, my passions. So my dad had been a real estate investor my whole life and I really didn't have any interest in what he was doing. But, I had moved back home because I wasn't making a ton of money as a flight attendant. And started quickly seeing that what he was doing at the time was very different. my grandmother had fallen and broken her hip and she needed assisted living. And so he was looking for places for her and stumbled into this industry. And instead of doing fix and flip and wholesale and multifamily and all these other things. He went all in on assisted living and I started to realize there was something here that really sparked in me and got me excited because it wasn't just houses, it wasn't just numbers on a paper. It was people and people's lives and serving people so I started asking him if I could come around more and help out and really shoved myself into his business, became his first employee. That was, almost 11 years ago. And it's been quite a journey since then. we've now built over 10 companies. We have over 50 employees. He passed in 2021 and everything got passed to me and it really has been just such a beautiful journey and I've been all in on assisted living from the moment he let me in that door.

Beverly: 3:13

that's like extremely special. Like it's a bond you guys created and then even though he's not with you, which I'm sorry he's passed. He's still with you, which is such a cool thing I love you have this connection because, I didn't have a connection to entrepreneurship like that. I stumbled into it on my own because of a necessity to create a job for myself. I love that you, have this strong familial connection that is part of your dad. I'm sure dad did things a little differently than Isabel does things, What was that like? Like you're trying to, I don't know if it was update or change or elevate the brand in that way. Talk about that process.

Isabelle: 3:48

Yeah. when he was, here I was the integrator and I really love being in that role. I love being number two, I love taking someone else's dreams and bringing them to reality. I don't necessarily categorize myself as a dreamer, as a visionary, I really like to catch on to someone else's excitement and bring it to fruition. I felt I'm in the perfect role for me. nothing could go better. Everything is exactly as I'd want it to be. And that's hard because when you're growing up, you don't really know what you wanna be, right? and it's hard to say, this is the direction I wanna go. But what I found was it wasn't necessarily. the industry or the work? It was what I was doing every single day. I left feeling fulfilled. I left feeling proud of myself. And those are the feelings you want to feel in a job. So when he passed, it was one of those situations where it was like, can I just keep doing what I'm doing? Can someone else, fill in his role? And we tried for a while to find, the right visionary for us. And one of our business coaches really kept pushing and encouraging me, saying, it's you. You have to start believing in yourself and unlock this new version of you because you do have these skills, even though you're afraid to go see what it looks like and feels like on that side of it. And finally, I, just said, what's the worst that happens? I fall on my face, I fail everyone, and I, can't feed our 50 employees, including my family. the pressure was immense. So I decided to go all in and really take over the one piece of the business that I hadn't touched before. I'd reserved solely for him. No one had touched. And upon doing that, I really discovered a whole new side of me. five years ago, I would've absolutely hated being in the public face and having to do all of this. And it really just unlocked something new in me. And I've fallen in love with being on this side of the role as well. And so I am so grateful that I had that inspiration from him. But yeah, I do things differently. I'm a younger female and that's what I sometimes attract also, he attracted a lot of older people, and so it's just different age, race, ethnicity. There's such a different energy that's coming from the two different crowds that we've attracted. And I think that in a sense, people have shared with me over time, although he was so authentic and genuine, that they've really appreciated, my energy and how I come at, the same industry. It's just more palatable and. Easier to understand maybe. it's been a lot of fun, but I definitely had to put my own twist on it. And I think for a long time I was in denial. And now I feel like I'm fully standing in my power in this role that I never knew that I had

Beverly: 6:26

Bravo. so many of our clients struggle with this stepping in front of their brand. This idea of being the visionary, this idea of fully living in your power. for some reason for women, we carry this should suitcase, right? Like you should do it this way, you should do it that way. I always say the hustle culture is not always built for women. Like we have more of a heart culture. there's just a little difference of things. And to fully step into your power and to fully step into that vision. I hear, EOS language. Coming from You integrator, visionary. And for those of my listeners who don't know what EOS is or don't know, some of that language, EOS is an entrepreneurial operation system essentially it's just a system for you to have organization so that you can scale your business. it's very organized. and there are specific seats on the bus called Visionary Integrator, and they're very different roles and a lot of times solopreneurs carry both of those. Understand your Role in your business is critical. And one of the most important roles you can have is the visionary. cause you don't know where you're going. that it's gonna be chaos. bravo to you to get to that point and bravo to you to get a coach that's gonna help you get there. And To push you outside your comfort zone. We are always pushing our clients outside their comfort zone because we see in them but they don't see it in themselves. we have mindset issues, all the things. And so to get them to see themselves the way that we see them is crazy good. that's where the good stuff is. Isabel. so bravo to you.

Isabelle: 7:52

this brings something up in my mind because I know you have a lot of female listeners. And I think that in hiring over the years, I always find it fascinating that if a man goes to apply for it and he ticks three outta 10 boxes He's here, look, I'm qualified. I can do it. and sells you on himself. If a woman ticks nine outta 10 boxes, she'll tell me, I don't know if I'm ready yet. I find that fascinating that women so much, degrade who they are and what they bring to the table. And instead men are hyping up, not always, sometimes not even being qualified. And I always find it so shocking, but I think it just goes with what we said of, hey, if that is you and you're listening and you're saying, I don't know if I should go for this. I don't know if I'm capable of doing this. You probably are way more capable than half of the men out there trying to do the exact same thing.

Beverly: 9:47

The statistics show that women run businesses are far more profitable, far more sustainable. the statistics show that women run businesses are pretty much badass. So I don't understand leading with like this, false bravado of I can take care of it. and I do think that imposter syndrome and perfectionism exists in men as well. and for those of our listeners who are men, I have a client who's a man who's like, why do you always talk about females? All the stuff you talk about, it relates to me too. But we have this perfectionism, I call them the flying monkeys of fear, doubt, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, that always get in our way of us fully living in our purpose and the gifts that we've been given, our zone of genius. it is a real struggle for women specifically, but men carry this stuff too. we're not a only club of imposter syndrome. like 70% of CEOs have imposter syndrome and I know there's been moments where I'm like, do I really belong at this table? there's been moments, but then I have to tell myself, you know what? If I don't, I will figure it out. I'll figure out how I can belong and how I can contribute. I'm not always perfectly ready, but I get myself ready, seniors is like a huge market, but I feel like it's still underserved market. So talk about this particular niche and why it's so important to you.

Isabelle: 10:55

it really started with that personal touch from my grandmother needing care. And when we went to go look for a suitable place for her, every single facility smelled worse than the next. The food was bad, the care was bad. They were expensive. They had waiting lists, and it was like, this is not okay. Why are more people not upset about this? Why aren't there other alternatives out there? And so as we started looking for this, we realized we're not the only ones in the world who are gonna be experiencing this. There's 76 million baby boomers who in the next five years are just starting to hit that 85. The eldest of the baby boomers. That's when you start to need assisted living. And so we've got a 20 year run that starts in the next five years where we are almost doubling the amount of seniors who need care and assistance. And yet, currently today we are 1.3 million bed short. So this is a national and actually worldwide epidemic in crisis where we don't have enough room in the end. There is not enough beds for these seniors, let alone quality care. So instead of, throwing your loved one into a large big box community, we opted to find and discover and really hone in on residential assisted living, which is a single family home being used to house six to 16 seniors. And as a real estate investor, it's a beautiful opportunity'cause you get to own the real estate, the appreciating asset hire, the people who are gonna run the day-to-day in the business. So you get to do good and do well cash flow and have a place for your community or your own loved ones when they need that care and assistance. So we really went all in because we knew that this was actually the care that the seniors want and deserved. We saw the numbers and the silver tsunami of seniors coming, the massive influx of people who need this and the opportunity. There's not enough of these beds and people aren't getting into this industry fast enough. So this is really a golden ticket for the next 25 years.

Beverly: 12:48

tell me about a favorite situation of somebody who's decided to make this leap. You've done the bootcamp or you've done the thing with them and they've fully embraced it and what their story looks like now. what was life like before and what's life like now for that particular person that you've helped?

Isabelle: 13:02

when you ask that, who comes to mind is one of our younger students, he was 27 years old when he came to the training, originally from the Dominican Republic, but was living in, New York at the time. And he shared with me a story that, he came from a family of broken dreams and every time he tried to do something, play baseball, not enough money for lessons, do salsa dancing. Oh, mom couldn't drive him to things'cause she had to go to work. it was just every single thing he wanted to do. it was a no and it was all money that was really ruining everything that he wanted to do. And he looked around and he said, everyone in my community is also struggling with this same thing. So he vowed to be the one to change his family and he worked really hard, got into school, became the first graduate, and became a nurse. And as he was travel nursing, he heard me on a podcast, just like this. And I was sharing about how you can make$10,000 a month on one single family home. And he said, what? This is crazy. This is exactly what I wanna do. So we came to our training, sat in the front row and really just soaked it all up. When he left our training in January of 2023, by September of 2023, he opened his first care home. That was cash flowing him$19,000 a month. he's able to now provide for his mother and the rest of his family members. Absolutely changed his own life. The next September he opened another home, cash flowing him$21,000 a month. So now he's under 30, bringing in 40 KA month on two doors. He decided to move from where those homes were. They're in Wisconsin, he moved. and now he's, living life somewhere else.'cause you can do this remotely. you don't have to live or work in the home. That's what we teach you how to do. This has completely changed his life. And to me, when I think of, someone I'm just so proud of and so impressed by it is this young gentleman, because he just decided to hear something like this, take action and then go out and do it. And now he gets to serve seniors and really change not only their lives, but change his entire family's life and change his own life. And to me, that's what it's all about.

Beverly: 15:01

Oh my gosh. That is all it's about like when we help our clients, it's about how we help them, their teams, their community, and this ripple effect that happens when you can fully live in your purpose and make those impacts and you have the kind of profit And generating ability to be able to even contribute to your community in ways you never thought possible. I love this so much because I feel like, I saw that you did some missionary work and I am a Stevens minister and so my faith is really important to me and how I give back and with the gifts I've been given and how to use them and all the things are driving factors for me. And this idea of how they can show up differently for themselves, for their family, for their communities, it's impactful, it's powerful, but it's also an incredible legacy that you're leaving, while you're, while you're here. Like it's exactly what I think we were supposed to do with the time we have on this world. And I do think that when you can help. The least of these, which a lot of, elderly are in that space. They're widows, they're people who are often, don't have a lot of family or they don't have a lot of support when you can help them live in more of a residential, like familial type experience. It still feels like a home, which is so powerful. I love that concept so incredibly much. My in-laws are in their late eighties and are in a facility. It's rather small, but it's still a facility. but they say the thing that they miss is like a home, like having their apartment is nice, but they miss idea. to have somebody there just in case and all the things, but not necessarily, Be like a facility in some way, although the facility is pretty darn nice. I feel like They're living their best life right now. this season's, whole focus is on the idea of activation, brand activation. This activation idea is often the hardest part of branding for people. It's the biggest challenge that they face is now they have this message, now they have this vision now, but like, how do I bring it all to life? How do I make it happen? you stopped forcing money and started embodying wealth. What belief or pattern do you think did you release in order to step into that? to really activating your brand in a different way?

Isabelle: 17:05

that is a good one. I think that there is a lot of things that you could do to really start activating, yourself and your brand and becoming that. And I think one of the things is, not mentally separating yourself from this, you now need to become this as much as people listening are in that solopreneur world, it's not going to work if you treat it other than I think that there is a part of entrepreneurship where you have to commit and go all in, and it needs to be the number one priority. Work-life balance is a lie. I don't think that there's much balance in life, especially for entrepreneurs, and that's one of the sacrifices that you make, is that there's gonna be seasons of your life where work is number one. And that might be hard for people to hear that hey, work might come before your family for a certain season, but if you don't give it your all, you will never see how far it can express itself and how far it can grow. And so I do think you have to live in it and really become it and give it your 110%. It's shocking how many entrepreneurs want to see success and want to grow and want to do all this things, but They never actually give it the effort and energy that it deserves. And what you focus on grows. What you focus on, really becomes what you need and want it to be. Focus, intentionality, and really becoming who you need to be and who your brand and your business needs you to be is of the utmost importance when you're first starting or when you're making that leap from, Hey, this is my side business, this is my little thing I have going on. Even speaking about it that way, your words are so powerful. Like you can't use words like that. This is your brand, this is your business. This is who and what you stand for. It's not some little, some side, some fun project. no. Delete those words from your mind, right? You've gotta go all in if you really wanna see it. Get to that next level.

Beverly: 18:57

There's so much of what you said is so powerful there. I do believe you can find some balance, but that's because you're intentional and focused about it, not because you let your business take you wherever you decide. The more intentional you're about your time and where you put your energy. All those things can drive it for you. but if you don't have the clarity, you don't have the focus, you don't have all that, your business will drive you and then you will be, completely out of balance. that intentionality, all of those things, that's what makes it more balanceable in this world. So I agree with you. You have to have clarity in all that. You have to know how you're gonna show up. those guardrails help you have the balance when you are growing your business. I was at a season in my life for 10 years where I was not in balance and I was completely burnt out and I was completely dissatisfied. Although I loved marketing. I was doing all the things for everyone, but I wasn't doing the things for myself. have that clarity and that intentionality to take back, to take control of your business and the destination you want to arrive to, how has your brand evolved as you've gotten clearer and more focused and more intentional?

Isabelle: 20:06

Yeah. our brand, from a marketing perspective has evolved a lot. So we started with lighter colors, I'm gonna say more aged or more mature looking. And now it's a lot younger, fresher, a lot brighter. We even have some neon green, on our website and things like that. Our voice and our presence went from extremely. professional and cookie cutter to being a lot more authentic and real, for years they were telling me, don't do TikTok. Wrong audience don't do TikTok. And I'm like, I really do think our people are there. I grew that from zero to 60,000 followers in literally less than four months because I knew our audience was there, and when I could speak to them in the way that they wanted to be spoken to, it worked. It clicked, and that's what they actually wanted to hear. They didn't want this cookie cutter professional message. that works better in certain places when you're in a live presentation. you can show that professional side, As you get to TikTok, it needs to be even more fun and silly and just like connecting with the human aspect of it. I think colors have evolved over time. I think the voice has evolved over time, the messaging in general. the more real you are in your branding, the easier it is for you to maintain a brand over time. And the more that you can really be authentically you, the longer you can last.

Beverly: 21:28

This idea of authenticity, it's like a word that's really overused, I feel like, be authentic. Be authentic. like a flashing neon sign. being real and truthful to you. The thing that I found, in my journey to authenticity, the end result it was almost like I didn't know who I was. I had to figure out who I was. I call that process even a little bit therapeutic because I just wanted to do the work, and it's cha for itself. I didn't wanna have to name it, say it, show up as it all the things. And so for me, I had to take some time to develop that out. I was so stuck in the weeds that I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I had to step away to get some clarity in that and then start showing up and just saying, you know what? If they don't like it, it's okay. If I'm too much, it's okay. Those aren't my people anyway. Those are self differentiators and they're self selecting themselves away from my aura or my sphere of influence, when you have some of those things that you have to get through those first few steps can be really hard to activating and bringing the brand to life in a way that does feel real and true and has that sustainability that you're talking about, 11 years of sustainability. it can be a little bit therapeutic and cathartic and all the things at the same time because it is really about living in your purpose. And it is such an exercise in just being true to you. I used to wake up at 3:00 AM and be completely stressed out. Now I wake up at 3:00 AM and I'm awful of ideas and cannot wait to do the things that I wanna do. And that living in your purpose does that to you? It brings you more joy, more contentment, more calm, all those things. Finding that it's the elusive thing, but it is the thing that's going to change your business forever. And you, because I agree with you that There's gonna be all part of, you's gonna be part of your business. I'm actually, so I'm scaling right now, Isabel, you're a little bit younger than I am, I believe. And I'm scaling my business, but I'm at a point now what does my life look at without my business? who am I without my business? if I sell this business, what does that look like? What do I, what will I do with myself because I'm so entrenched in my passion and my purpose. it's my baby. there comes another part, another evolution, Isabel, of who am I without this? And what does my life look like and what parts of it am I gonna take with me? And what parts am I gonna let go of entirely? So it's interesting as a business owner when you have these different, where you like start the business, then you fully integrate with the business and find yourself genius and all the things, and then you have to separate from your business at some point. That's an insane thing. Yes. It's so good though. There's so much in it. It's so good. Okay. So if you're listening to this chat today and you're finding some things like about I need to get clear, I need to get more intentional, or, someone who needs to get clear and more intentional about their business, the focus that activating their brand needs to happen. They live more authentically, and in their purpose, then please share this episode or leave us a comment and review. Let us know that this is like hitting home for you, that you've needed to hear this right now. we'd love that if you did that, you'd tell us your biggest takeaway. because other people to discover more of this kind of magic so that more women can find their power, sit in their power, and do that thing. such great insights. Isabel. Hey there, you've just finished part one of the episode. How are you feeling? Excited, inspired, but we're just getting started. Next Thursday we're dropping part two, and you won't wanna miss it. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, so you'll be the first to know when it goes live. Until then, take a breather, let those ideas simmer, and we'll see you next week.