How to Start a Home-Based Senior Care Business: *Develop a winning business plan *Market your unique services to families *Create a fee structure *Develop ... care manager (Home-Based Business Series)

Description

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-06
Summary: "An Invaluable Guide for Both New and Established Eldercare Entrepeneurs"

New business start-ups providing services to the elderly is one of the fastest growing sectors of the 21st century. Would be eldercare entrepreneurs look at the abundance of demographic data and see a well-documented need for services to elders and their family caregivers.

While operations requiring large capital investments such as nursing homes and retirement communities are developed by investors with deep pockets, a wide range of specialized eldercare services is still very much a "cottage industry". Professional membership organizations such as the National Association of Prtofessional Geriatric Care Managers, and the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys,have a membership consisting of either solo practices, or are very small business ventures with only a few owner/employees.

It is tempting to look at the research data and conclude that the market for services to an aging population is vast. The National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with AARP published a study last year (November 2009) that estimates there are at least 43.5 million caregivers age 18 and over, equivalent to 19 percent of all adults, who provide unpaid care to an adult family member or friend who is age 50 years or older. ."

After all, isn't the basic formula for building a successful business "find a need and fill it?" Although "find a need and fill it" sounds like a logical approach to a prospective market niche, it is not a sound revenue model for an eldercare business. It's clear that the need for eldercare services is huge and growing rapidly. But to survive as independent business owners, eldercare entrepreneursl must look more closely at the data and embrace a more realistic philosophy.

Need doesn't pay the bills, Demand" does.

And the size of the market of those who can actually pay for eldercare services out of pocket is a much smaller number.

James L.Ferry's How to Start a Home Based Senior Care Business is a must read for anyone contemplating an enterprise aimed at providing services to elders and their family caregivers. In less than 150 highly readable pages, Ferry a successful eldercare entrepreneur for nearly two decades, covers everything from turning your personal experiences into a business, the income realities of a new business in this very competitive marketplace,the variety of business models to consider and more than 2 dozen succintly written chapters that cover everything from developing your business plan,marketing the business on a shoestring budget, setting up your office, keeping the books, setting fees, building a referral network using guerilla marketing techniques and using the latest technology to build a successful business.

In my 25 years as an eldercare entrepreneur I've reviewed dozens of books that offer lots of advice to family caregivers and eldercare professionals. How to Start a Home Based Senior Care Business Start is by far the most practical handbook for the small eldercare business owner I have seen.
Bob O'Toole, President
Informed Eldercare Decisions, Inc.
Dedham, MA