Randy and Sharon Radcliff had spent their entire careers working for other companies.

They toiled through the uncertainty of corporate mergers, the drain of long hours and constant travel, the inflexibility of work schedules determined by others.

In 2004, with 1.3 million frequent-flier miles under his belt, Randy decided to leave the corporate world to run his own business. Sharon joined him.

Many employees give at least a fleeting thought to leaving corporate America for a whirl with entrepreneurship. Those, like the Radcliffs, who take the step find there are pluses and minuses to being the boss.

Though a self-proclaimed risk-taker, Randy thought starting a business from scratch was too risky even for him. So he explored buying an established business with the help of a business broker.

"It seemed like I was buying a lot of baggage," he says.

Then the broker mentioned that AristoCare, a Tucson, Ariz., home healthcare service pro-vider, was starting to sell franchises.

In April 2005, the Radcliffs opened their office in Laguna Hills, Calif.

Now, they have 150 clients and 50 caregiving employees. Recently the Laguna Hills/Laguna Woods Chamber of Commerce named AristoCare Business of the Year.

AristoCare is a good fit for the Radcliffs' experience, strengths and interests.

Both have years of experience in healthcare, and when they looked for their own business, they stayed with what they knew. They didn't try restaurants, travel agencies or financial planning.

Randy held executive jobs from marketing to operations with a variety of healthcare companies, including nine years with PacifiCare Health Systems based in Cypress.

Sharon had management jobs with commercial and hospital labs and a contract research organization.

They also had an appreciation for the growing need for in-home healthcare because of experience with the health problems of aging parents.

Randy's dad, a doctor in Modesto for 49 years, told his son, "Don't put me in a nursing home if I lose my faculties."

Sharon's mom wanted to stay in her Florida home but couldn't because in-home healthcare wasn't available.

"Putting her in a nursing home was the hardest thing we ever did," Sharon says.

The combination of management experience and passion for caring for the elderly was exactly what the franchiser was seeking.

"We turned down 91 (potential franchisees) before awarding our first franchise to Randy and Sharon ... and turned down another 120 before awarding the second," AristoCare founder Dana Rambow said. "There were people with the money and business background but not the heart for this business. ... One said he just didn't know about taking care of old people."

"We came in with a real business sense, and the franchiser had its policies and systems in place," Randy says. "We knew the franchiser would do anything it could to support us because we were the first."

While the Radcliffs are using skills honed in corporate jobs, running their own business has provided new challenges.

"I had never done community involvement," Randy says. "Now we belong to several chambers. I head up a hundred-person leads group. I joined Kiwanis. I'm involved in advocacy for the elderly."

Sharon says that their most unexpected challenge has been to build a staff of caregivers who are professional and genuinely want to work with elderly people, many of whom have health problems.

"We have set up interviews with 600 people in the past year and a half, and 300 never bothered to show up," she says.

Randy adds that they didn't anticipate the prevalence of in-home caregivers who work for cash and avoid paying taxes.

The Radcliffs pay not only payroll taxes for their employees, but they also offer benefits in an effort to build worker loyalty and reduce turnover.

"We have to create loyalty so we can have caregivers ready when clients have a need," he says.