Lori Williams | Navigating Senior Living Facility Options
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Around Flower Mound is Lori Williams, Owner of Lori Williams - Senior Services and Creator and Host of the Podcast "Aging in Style with Lori Williams." She has lived in Flower Mound for 23 years and has worked in the senior industry for over 13 years. Lori has a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from LSU and she's a certified dementia practitioner. Her business was voted Best of Denton County 2019 and 20 for Senior Services.
We speak about Lori’s community involvement, as well as:
The multitude of options available for senior living facilities
Relatable stories of how other aging seniors have navigated their choices
The Sandwich Generation
Lori’s keys to success
Making the right financial decision to save more money
And More
Mentioned in this episode:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon
Lori’s Podcast, Aging in Style
Transcript
Nicole:: Today I'm so excited to introduce you to an absolutely fantastic Flower Mound resident. As you know around Flower Mound is all about bringing light to community leaders, business owners, parents and charities within our fantastic community. We and Flower Mound are so blessed to have a neighbor and fellow resident who is widely known as the Senior Services expert. Welcome my friend, Lori Williams.
Lori Williams: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be on your podcast.
Nicole: Well, I'm excited to have you fellow podcaster. So fun. And, you know, I was able to meet you a few years ago through different chamber functions. And it was just you are one of these people that just when you walk into a room, you just light it up. very bubbly. So I just feel like you. You're welcome. And I feel very fortunate to know you and I appreciate your time. I know how busy you are being on the podcast today. So I want to share with our audience a little bit about who you are, and then we'll dig right into the questions. So Lori Williams is the owner of Lori Williams Senior Services LLC. She has lived in Flower Mound for 23 years and has worked in the senior industry for over 13 years. Her passion for seniors began when her grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. Lori has a Bachelor of Science marketing degree from LSU. And she's a certified dementia practitioner. Her business was voted Best of Denton County 2019 and 20 Senior Services. Laurie is also the creator and host of the podcast, aging and style with Lori Williams. She's been married for 30 years and has two kids. So again, busy, successful.
Lori: Very busy.
Nicole: So start off, start us off with what is your favorite thing about Flower Mound.
Lori: So my favorite thing when we moved here, 23 years ago, it was really important for my husband and I had to find a place where we were going to put down roots. We had just adopted our son, he was right almost one year old when we moved here. And we just my husband had already always moved a lot when he was young. And we had moved on when I was young. So we just wanted them to when we had our kids just to start and you know, live in this house forever and go through school, which we've been fortunate. He's 24 now and he's only lived in this house. And so we just, we love the community, we love our neighborhood and the schools.
Nicole: I love it. I hear that a lot. For sure. Well, how fun for you. I know I see you on different social media things. And I know that you have a very full life here in Flower Mound and of course, contribute so much to the community. So what are some of the things that you're involved in? I would certainly want to visit more about your business to do some of the things you're involved in within the community, say for somebody who's thinking about moving here, or who lives here, but wants to learn more about the community, what are some of the things you recommend.
Lori: Sure and so women a Flower Mound, I've been a part of that. And really enjoyed it a lot of good way to meet a lot of really nice women and also Flower Mound women in business. If you own a business, any kind of home, you know, home based business or any kind of business that's been a really fun group to meet people through. And then of course, I mean, I'm involved in the Flower Mound, Senior Center, which you only have to be 50 to join.
And it's really advanced
Nicole: Longer and longer those seniors. That's right, so
Lori: I am a member. But it's a really wonderful organization. So I mean, there's so much to do, whether you know, our young family I mean I was involved in PTA and all that when my kids were little my old or my youngest is a senior at Carmel high school so we're almost done with the whole kid thing in school thing. But you know, if you're if you have kids, I definitely say get involved in the beat PTA and I mean, there's just so many great things you can do in this community.
Nicole: Absolutely. Also tell us about your company now I had the opportunity to consult with you believe it or not it's been a couple years ago now our my in laws precious had been playing that we're moving to Texas, just kidding game for the last few years. And, and so you were just a tremendous resource for us. They are still living in Nashville, but your best efforts and certainly ours. But anyway, I had the opportunity to experience your services firsthand, highly, highly recommended, tremendously beneficial and helpful to us. But to our audience who may not have had that opportunity. Tell us what your company does, and who y'all want to be a hero to.
Lori: Okay, so, pretty much in a nutshell what we do is we work with All different types of senior community. So anything from 55 plus to independent living, assisted living memory care and care homes. And a lot of times when you start looking for senior living, people are very confused. And they think it's, you know, everything's a nursing home or, I mean, it's just prices are all over the place, it's very confusing to try and look for that for yourself. So we am just take that part out of that, we just make it easy for you, we simplify the process. So my company has contracts with all the different senior communities.
So if you were to call and say, you know, my mom has dementia, I don't know where to start. That's what we do. So we really look at it as like a whole process. So maybe mom does, you know, early dementia, we might find g some, you know, a support group, or maybe some day stay program something to you know, just kind of get your feet wet. If the dementia is progressing, then we may be looking more like a memory care community or if you know, maybe you want to stay home longer, we can help you find homecare.
So it's just, we want to find you solutions, wherever you are, and whatever, whatever that looks like, if you're a senior who wants to stay home, we'll help you find those resources. But if you're ready to move somewhere, we help you with that. And it's a completely free service. And we're able to do that, because we do have contracts with all these senior community. So if someone were to move into a place that we referred you to, then they would pay a fee. And we can, you know, the beautiful thing is it's free to you. And then that's how we keep it free to you.
Nicole: Amazing, that is wonderful. And also I think the value that I felt like was. So prior to starting this company, you were also intimately involved in the Senior Services world, correct?
Lori: Yes. Mm hmm. So I started off working in a retirement community, and absolutely fell in love. And I became interested in working with seniors, because my grandmother had dementia. And unfortunately, she didn't have much in the way of financial resources. So I saw the struggle that my mother and her sister went through, trying to figure out how they were going to pay for care and what they were going to do.
And this was, you know, in the 90s. So things have changed a lot since then. But it always, you know, when my kids got a little bit older, and they were in school, I thought that's what I want to do. So I started with the retirement community and loved it. And then I went to work for a national placement service, which was such a great experience, because I learned about not just retirement communities, but every kind of senior living that there is and, you know, plus everything that relates to seniors, whether it's VA hospice, Medicare, you know, just where to find those resources.
Nicole: You really are a one stop shop. I mean, I think that's what impressed me so much is, I felt like you had because you had been involved in the industry, you had behind the scenes, knowledge or information, or are you even knew what, what we don't know? We don't know. Right? But you knew what questions to tell us to ask. And, and so because because of your experience, so really just really truncated what's already a very stressful process of making sure you're making a good decision or making sure you have all the information you need to make a good decision. Mm hmm.
Lori: Exactly. And I think because over the years, I really don't even know how many families that helped. I'm gonna say thousands, but I've heard every kind of story. And you know, there's always a new one that I'm sure I'll hear, but, you know, I know how to help someone when they say, Okay, my dad has dementia, and he's not supposed to be driving, what do I do? So I can give you advice on some things to do with that.
You know, so there's just so many different things that come up that people just don't know how to deal with it. Sometimes there's family dynamic dynamics involved, where you know, one child wants, you know, mom to stay at home, and the other knows it's dangerous, she needs to go. It's time for assisted living. So I'd like to, you know, be that resource and just lay out here. Sure. Here's the information. And sometimes, you know, I may give them a story of someone that I've come across in the past and how things worked out for them. And that, I think that really seems to help people.
Nicole: Well you mentioned being a resource, and you definitely are and a lot of what you share is available on your website. Certainly through social media at the end, I'm going to make sure we have you know, your contact information for everyone to go through. But do you find that there is some universal themes to what it is people need and or are looking for?
Lori: I think, I mean, there's a lot of memory loss dementia, so that comes up quite a bit. And, you know, sometimes people are financially able to go into, you know, one of the really fancy nice memory cares and sometimes they don't quite have enough resources. So I work a lot with these residential care homes which are less secure. expensive and people don't know about them. And they can be just a fantastic option for someone with dementia or for someone who has a lot of health issues.
So that's a question I get a lot. I get a lot of questions where people are confused about, maybe they want meals included, and there's independent living for that you don't have to go all the way to assisted living. So there's confusion, you know, when they'll come, they'll say, I need assisted living. And I asked, Why do you need assisted living? Well, I'm just tired of cooking. Well, you can spend a lot more money and go to assisted living, or I can save you some money and will go all inclusive, independent living that has meals included. And there's just so many options out there. And I mean, I know because I'm in the industry, but people who are not, you know, you have no idea that this one down the road does two meals a day or this one, you buy a package of meals, I mean, there's just so many different variables involved.
Nicole: It's amazing. It's amazing. Now you one of the ways you bring a lot of the information to our world is through your podcast. So talk to us a little bit about your podcast, who your audience is, some of the guests that you've had on, what do you just, what do you love most about hosting your own podcast?
Lori: Well, so I started the podcast, right? When COVID started, I had been thinking about it and timing worked out, you know, so I was able to kind of have a little have a minute to kind of think about it, do I really want to do it, and things just fell into place. And my whole goal with the podcast was it's called Aging in Style with Lori Williams. And it's putting a positive spin on things. Because a lot of times people think negative when you're thinking about aging, and I mean, we're all we're all aging, so you know, it's really, let's not be negative about it, let's find the positive. So. So it's really, it's about education, it's about staying positive. And some of our guests we've had on just last week, we had Jackie Archer, who does fall prevention, and that is so important. It's so huge, because a fall is what will take someone from being independent.
And you know, they may end up assisted living or you know, nursing home care. So it's just, it's so important to learn how to keep your house safe, keep from falling. And so she gives some great tips on that. And also one that probably one of my favorite ones was a dear friend of mine, her mother had dementia. And so I was with her kind of through the whole, you know, the whole journey.
So her mother started with in-home care, and she did assisted living, and then she went to memory care. And then she was in hospice. And she tells the story from a daughter's perspective. And it's really beautiful that what she can share. And I think I like stories like that, because I think it helps people who are going through the same journey. It just lets them know they're not alone. So those are probably my two favorites. But I've done 20 shows. We do them every week.
Nicole: That's exciting. Well, you're obviously an expert and being of service to families who are looking for the perfect scenario for their seniors. Why do you think this is so important your service that you provide?
Lori: I think it's important because I see people really struggling with it. And we call the sandwich generation, because you've got an I get these calls all the time. So you have a daughter who is looking for help for her mom or dad. And then she's also working, and she's raising kids who are maybe middle school or high school, and they're just cut cut in the middle like a sandwich.
So that's why it's the sandwich generation. She's trying to take care of, you know, parents and kids. And so I think it causes a lot of stress, it causes people, you know, to not be able to be at work miss time at work. And it's just sometimes they'll make a decision where they end up putting mom, maybe not in the right place. Maybe their friend said oh, this go to this assisted living. But maybe they didn't even need assisted living. Like I said earlier, maybe they needed independent meals. And it makes me really sad when I get a call where someone has been in assisted living for three years. really didn't need it. Now they need it, but they're running out of money. So those are the kind of things if I can, I just want people to go to the place that they're going to get the right care what they need. And then also let's make it where to financially make sense. And they're not going to spend all their money before they actually need it.
Nicole: Wow, that is amazing. Well, switching gears for just a second, you've had some real success personally, certainly and professionally. So what do you think it is that makes some people successful while others struggle?
Lori: I think it's finding your passion. I mean, that's like you have to be passionate. I love what I do. And I probably shouldn't say it but I work seven days a week. But I mean, you know yesterday, I was putting up my credit Miss decorations and a lady called and she was in crisis. And to me, I mean, I'm like, okay, you know, I, this is fine, I'm ready to help you because that's what it's all about. And I know with what I do the crisis, it's not just going to happen nine to five during the weekday, so I always like to be available to people to help them. But I think that's, you know, I'm very passionate about it.
So it doesn't feel like work to me, I just, it's what I love to do. And I think also always wanting to grow and, you know, push yourself to do new things like podcasts was kind of out of my comfort zone. I push myself to do it. But just, you know, always feel like I'm trying to take the next step to grow my business, and what can I offer to that would help people, you know, more. So I think those are the main keys to being successful. And of course, just being consistent as well.
Nicole: Mm hmm. Well, I definitely can vouch for you on that, I definitely see a lot of your information and just your willingness to give and to serve. And I love that. So now you and I talked earlier, you're a reader just like I am. So what book or books are you currently reading that you would recommend to others.
Lori: So I am actually in a book club and Flower Mound, and it's a business book club. And it's been really great because we started it because we all buy I have like a shelf full of business books. And we buy these great business books to you know, help grow, who we are, and then maybe read three chapters and stop. So we have this book club. And it says the book club for people who don't like to read, except I really do like to read but so we just read atomic habits, which I thought was a fabulous book. And then another one, which was a really easy read and so good was called the energy bus. And it's all about being positive. And so I just, I liked both of the books, because I felt they were, you know, great for anyone who has a business or anyone in general.
Nicole: I agree. I agree completely. Well, very good. Well, I just appreciate you and your time so much today and for joining us on the around Flower Mound podcast. So how can people connect with you if they want to learn more about your services or about who you are as a person?
Lori: Okay, well, you can go to my podcast, which is Aging in Style with Lori Williams, and it's on Apple, Google Spotify. I Heart Radio, you can even say Alexa, play the podcast. Yeah, and that's pretty fun. I had to try it out. It does work. So you can also find me and the podcast on my website, which is www.loriwilliams-seniorservices.com. And that's really long. And I'm also on Facebook, you can find me under Lori Williams Senior Services.
Nicole: Fantastic. Well, again, I sincerely appreciate you for being on the podcast today. And I look forward to seeing you again soon.
