Do you want to start a business caring for seniors but you lack ideas? If YES, here are 50 best elderly care related business ideas & opportunities.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 20 percent of U.S. residents are projected to be aged 65 and over by 2030, compared with 13 percent in 2010.
When calculated, this estimate is roughly 65 million people. It is also said that by 2033, the population of people who are 65 and older is projected to outnumber people younger than 18 for the first time.
By 2060, the number of seniors is projected to more than double, with people 65 and over accounting for nearly one-fourth of the population.
This is a staggering number up there, and this market is only going to get bigger. One thing huge numbers project is a market segment, and the senior segment is now becoming a huge profitable niche that should catch the attention of any savvy entrepreneur.
There are indeed business opportunities that one can latch onto to take advantage of this booming senior population in the united states.
If these numbers are getting you interested, we have listed out a couple of business ideas that would enable you to profit from this segment.
Being that senior citizens are a delicate set of people that may not be easily trusting of people and their motives, there are certain things you ought to keep in mind before you start a business in this sector.
First is that senior citizens hate to think of themselves as old and invalid, so whatever you are making or selling, you should project them as healthy, active customers. You need to focus on how your product or service enables customers to stay independent, enjoy life and keep fit.
Secondly, you should be trustworthy especially if your service involves gaining access to the homes of seniors. You will need to be licensed, insured and bonded (if relevant to your industry).
Since seniors are most likely to trust companies they hear about from friends and relatives, strong word-of-mouth is essential to attract new customers.
Third, you should use a marketing campaign that speaks to them. You need to find out if your senior segment are online or if they would much rather receive mails.
Mixing things up would ensure that your marketing efforts are lost. That said, here are the business ideas that are more likely to catch on with the senior population, especially the baby boomers that are yet still active.
Best Elderly Care Business ideas
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Senior care consultant
These professionals help find the best living arrangements for seniors, whether it is staying at home, daycare or a senior living facility. Your business will require working with community services and local government agencies that help seniors to get referrals.
When people age, things change and they may not be as lithe or nimble as they once were. Seniors who want to stay in their homes as long as possible would need to have their homes retrofitted with things like wider doorways, shower grab bars and other changes that make the home safer and more accessible.
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Senior tourism
If you are good enough in organizing events and trips, you can very well start this business. Plan small trips and tours for aged people with maximum of facilities which you can offer them. The more you provide them with facilities, the more is the response for your business.
The level of comfort you give to your clients is what makes them come back to you frequently. This can be taken as a seasonal business since the trips are not planned in all the days of the year. You can make use of membership concepts to have a regular income.
Nearly three-fourths of seniors own their own homes, but as they get older, they may prefer to have others handle the maintenance.
Home-related services such as housecleaning, lawn care and handyman services aren’t just for seniors, but targeting this clientele can help you build a thriving business. Earn the trust of seniors and their adult children, and you’ll have more referrals than you can handle.
This is another profitable business idea in the seniors sector because seniors would love a place they can get some decent exercise with people of like mind and age.
You can work with physical therapists, geriatric physicians, fitness centers and other organizations targeting seniors to provide fitness and nutrition programs for their patients and/or customers. You can also market your services to individuals. Yoga, Pilates, dance and swimming are popular exercise programs among seniors.
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Non-medical in-home care
For the elderly who prefer to stay in their own homes instead of moving to an assisted living facility or retirement residence, maintenance and housekeeping may become more difficult as they age.
These challenges represent many opportunities for service businesses that help the elderly around the house, including those who do specialized renovation and contracting work.
Your service can ease their worries by helping senior clients with tasks of daily life, such as getting to and from appointments, shopping, cleaning and cooking, so they’re able to stay in their homes longer. You’ll need to market the service to adult children, since few seniors will admit they need this type of care.
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Medical claims assistance
If you’re familiar with health insurance, Medicare and the healthcare industry, you can start a business to help seniors and their families manage medical bills.
You’ll review bills and medical records to make sure seniors aren’t paying too much and are getting all of the benefits they’re entitled to. Market your services to senior centers, medical offices and financial professionals that can refer you to potential clients.
Seniors and retirees who enjoy traveling in their golden years will require extensive and regular house and pet sitting services. Contrary to stereotypes, many seniors are highly active and enjoy being able to take off at a moment’s notice.
A reliable steward of their home or caretaker for their fur babies, then, is an essential need. It is key that your house sitting service is insured.
In the event anything goes awry, you’ll want to be sure you’re protected from the sometimes steep liabilities that come along with home stewardship.
Beyond pet sitting services, dog-walking services are also in high demand. Whether it’s the spontaneous day trippers or even just someone who needs a hand giving their canine companion the exercise they need, a compassionate and attentive dog walker can turn a decent profit while helping support the community.
This segment is quite profitable because a lot of elderly people may not have the strength to give their energetic canines their daily dose of exercise.
The financial aspects of retirement are important issues both for retirees and families with elderly members, who may require expensive care.
Financial planning for seniors has several niches, including educating seniors who want to learn about financial and investment management.
It has been discovered that a lot of seniors feel ill-prepared for making the very important financial decisions that could determine whether they’ll have a successful retirement, or whether they’ll end up living well below the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
You can help them discover where they stand in the financial lather, and as well help them learn how to find solutions to their financial-planning problems.
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Selling or storing possessions
Not all seniors stay in the home where they raised their kids because of certain circumstances. They may downsize, or eventually move to a nursing home.
If so, they’ll need help either selling their lifelong possessions, or storing them. You can set up self-storage units where these boomers can keep possessions that they don’t want to part with, everything from antique furniture to treasured sets they got from trips.
Entrepreneurs seeking to capitalize on the boomer market, especially entrepreneurs with experience in commercial real estate would be wise to take a look at buying or developing self-storage facilities.
Another business idea in this segment is to set up a service that allows antique dealers, estate sales managers and others in the antique community to connect online with seniors who wish to sell off some of the antiques they have acquired in their time.
A lot of seniors can no longer transport themselves to their daily activities because of one reason or the other. Thus far, the options for seniors have been slim, with transportation generally coming in the form of an impersonal ride in the back of a van provided by a senior center or a community-based service.
Losing the ability to drive can be devastating, and it will benefit you if you can find ways to provide seniors who can no longer drive with the ability to get where they want to be-and get there in style.
For the wealthier seniors, you can provide specially outfitted limos to replace the local taxi, and for seniors who live in small towns or parts of cities, you can provide small buses that would transport passengers on a flexible schedule.
To get ahead of the competition, you should not limit your transport services to just daytime as there are still seniors that go out for dinners and parties. Yes, most of them are still active.
The elderly population is growing steadily as baby boomers age, creating a solid market for senior concierge services. This service provides an extra safety net for families and seniors who live in separate parts of the country.
A concierge service for seniors could both provide escorted transportation and bring services into the home, depending on what the client requests.
Think beautician services, dry cleaning, mobile vets, domestic help-again, anything that makes seniors’ lives easier and also makes use of their disposable income.
Many senior citizens may need a concierge service to handle errands that carry a certain amount of legal risk such as performing bank transactions or picking up prescription medications.
Depending on the medication, you may need to sign forms, present identification or even receive clearance from the client’s physician prior to being allowed to pick it up on behalf of the elderly client.
An adult daycare center is typically a non-residential facility that supports the health, nutritional, social, and daily living needs of adults in a professionally staffed, group setting.
Adult day care facilities can provide a variety of services and activities, including assistance with eating, taking medicines, toileting, and/or walking, counseling, educational programs or mental stimulation.
The primary purpose of adult day care is to provide caregivers, who are usually the spouse or an adult child, with relief. Knowing their loved ones are in a safe, stimulating place for the day, caregivers can run errands and even enjoy a little free time.
Adult day cares offer seniors the ability to socialize with their peers and engage in activities that they might not otherwise have an opportunity to do.
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Tech Training
A lot of seniors are not tech dependent enough being that they now live alone with no one to help them out with such activities.
Since seniors long to maintain their independence in as many areas of life as possible, they would most likely jump on the idea to be trained on how to operate the various tech devices they own.
To run this business, you may not need to be savvy with coding and other such network antics, you only need to have knowledge of the basic workings of the computer and the internet. Your clients are likely not going to ask for more.
Helping seniors feel successful is key to luring the other 78 percent of seniors who, due to lack of access, lack of skills or intimidation, have yet to make use of the Internet technology. These services are critical to help seniors who have been left off the information highway.
Tech-savvy seniors aren’t stopping at e-mail as online dating is getting its share of attention too. Because single seniors tend to be quite bored most of the time, they would much rather try out dating or just seeking friends online to keep them company.
The concept of a matchmaking service, run professionally and personally dedicated to their individual needs, is a welcome service to them.
Of course this business is run online so you have to get a neat and easy to navigate website. You have to ensure that your website is protected so as to discourage predators. If promoted effectively this is a great niche service to go into.
It is important for anybody to stay neat and groomed and same applies for the elderly too. The inability of elderly people to move out of their place, play a major role in stopping them from having all these essentials. You can be a game changer by providing this unique service to elderly people.
All you need is a very comfortable and suitable vehicle with salon essentials like scissors, combs, etc. And with this, you will need a professional hairdresser, beautician or take any person in the field of beauty services.
This crew together will lift your business to heights while netting you profits a few days after the start of the business. This strong statement is due to the insufficiency in the number of services like this. Demand for a particular service will always take it to the next level, and mobile salon is no different from this rule.
Like all the other websites for shopping, senior citizens too deserve a website to shop their essentials. The need for creating a special business website here is that not all the websites supply essentials for elderly. You can create one that provides all the essentials at one place.
Thus, the chances of playing monopoly business are high and the prices can also be higher due to lack of supply in the market.
This is a business which runs with skilled people. You will have to procure medical necessities or equipment in order to carry out this business.
The main element of this business is the skilled nurses. Since this business is something which is related to medical care, maximum attention should be given to the quality of the service. Elderly people who require medical assistance or care at home can benefit from this business.
The nurses in your service firm will be sent to the client’s place for special care. You can charge your clients on monthly basis.
So, this business is just like a home care business but the assistance is by trained and experienced nurses. This sector will come next to hospitals and is more like a middle business giving care during the post treatment period. Make sure you select only certified and experienced nurses to run your business.
This service is similar to helping individuals in packing and moving for house relocation. The difference is that there you will have to take up the entire responsibility by engaging yourself in serving elderly people. Your clients will be the ones who do not have anybody to assist them in relocation.
When these people approach you, you will have to take care of all the work included in shifting. It starts from packing the items from the previous house to the new house. At times you will have to have a complete control of the documents if your client is buying or selling a house.
The last part will be making the new house ready for living and for this you might have to cover all the work from milkman to electricity bill.
In this business, the income you earn is generally high because the service is of high engagement. You will need to hire enough of workers to serve your clients better.
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Wheelchair Manufacturing
Invest your money in wheelchair manufacturing and contact NGOs or Hospitals to supply these to the elderly who need them. By this you will get profits in bulk since the count of orders will usually be more.
Even if you don’t have enough contacts to sell your manufactured wheelchairs, you have opportunities to use them for events where people rent your wheelchairs.
Thus, chances of loss are very less. Another option is to sell it on websites which has special category for healthcare devices.
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Alarms and GPS Enabled Equipment Manufacturing
A new technique to give maximum attention to elderly people is the use of technologically rich devices. You can manufacture a hand held device with alarm, GPS and torch which will be used to locate seniors.
Same works with GPS, where senior citizens are tracked if they go missing. This business is purely based on the specification of your client.
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Produce devices that make life easier
A lot of seniors may find themselves incapacitated in one way or the other, and these seniors would welcome any invention that would make their lives easier.
You could start a business meeting this need by producing handcrafted canes or operating a retail store that sells and/or rents medical equipment such as wheelchairs, oxygen delivery systems, mobility assist devices etc.
Electric scooters sales and service is another possibility. Products such as walk-in baths, and furniture with lift-assist built in are also in ever-increasing demand.
You can also think up devices that close and open things at the touch of a button: blinds and canopies, hot tub covers, pocket doors, garage doors, windows etc. can all be controlled this way.
There are also video security door phones, keypad door locks/deadbolts and other devices to make seniors’ lives easier and more secure.
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Offer special services
As people age they have a greater need for healthcare services such as physiotherapy, massage therapy, orthotics, etc. These require specialized skills and training but are excellent business opportunities given the demographic trends of today.
There are also growing opportunities in alternative medical services such as acupuncture, Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, and naturopathic medicine, and you can take advantage of this.
Gardening is something that many people enjoy but can be physically demanding for seniors. Arthritis can make gardening chores such as weeding, putting in a vegetable garden, or mowing the lawn very difficult, creating the need to have someone else do all these things and more.
Even younger, busy folks don’t necessarily have time to do basic yard maintenance. Many locales are banning pesticide use and pushing homeowners to reduce water usage, so offering services such as green weed control and drought-tolerant landscape design can be attractive to customers.
House cleaning services are also popular with seniors and younger folks with mobility problems or people who just dislike housework. Like pet/house sitting businesses, if you plan to start a housecleaning business it will need to be bonded and insured.
Maid businesses are easy to expand as the customer demand grows. Lawn care services can be turned into an all-season business idea by adding snow removal in winter where applicable.
From cleaning out a garage through putting up blinds or moving furniture, there are all kinds of chores around the home that older folks may not want or be able to do for themselves.
If you have the skills to do household renovations, things that make it easier for seniors to get around their homes, such as front-walk ramps, bathroom renovations, installing grab bars, etc., could provide endless work.
Falling is the leading cause of unintentional injury for seniors, so any activity that might involve climbing on ladders is not a good idea for the elderly.
In fact, most people don’t want to do these chores, so why would seniors? One of the most successful businesses you can engage in is window, siding, and gutter cleaning, and you can be booked up months in advance.
If you want to start a window/gutter cleaning business make sure you think safety first, and have the appropriate insurance in place for yourself and any employees.
If you are looking to start a business that requires zero skills and capital, this is a good option for you. Most baby boomers need help with certain chores and errands and they, or their children would gladly pay you to help them with these tasks.
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Life Enrichment Coach
The lifestyle changes that occur with aging can cause problems ranging from loneliness and isolation to depression. As a life enrichment coach for elderly people, you can help your clients find new meaning in their later years.
To be successful, you should have a thorough knowledge of the issues faced by senior citizens in your area; talk to social workers, elderly people and nursing homes to get a better idea.
As a coach, you can provide suggestions for alternate activities find companionship, direct people to community resources and help clients find ways to fill their days.
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Store for Seniors
As people advance in age, their needs become peculiar and items they seek-out in stores and shops begin to change. Unfortunately, some of these items are hard to find in general stores.
So a store dedicated to supplying all items suitable for the special needs of elderly people will be a vibrant business. Some of such items include; walking aides, adult diapers, supplements, magazines, health-friendly beverages and snacks.
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Run a Drivers service
Ease of movement is important to everybody, including the elderly, but at advanced ages, it becomes difficult for people to drive themselves or board public transport, and even to maintain the car(s) they have. So here is the opportunity.
You can run a business that enlists drivers trained to attend to the peculiar needs of senior customers. The drivers would have to sign a contract with you while you hire their services out to seniors that need them. You have to know that you would be held responsible for any and every misconduct of any driver under you.
You may also experience situations were drivers just don’t show and it may be that they have resigned without notice, such a situation can be forestalled by immediately sending a replacement.
If your driver loots their employer, you have to bear the brunt of payback, so you need to properly access the people you employ for this service.
Yoga is an excellent exercise for seniors. It increases flexibility and strength; it also helps people sleep better and increases their sense of well-being. A certified yoga teacher can often adapt the movements to meet the needs of seniors.
Special classes on teaching yoga to seniors educate yoga teachers on the medical conditions that affect seniors and how to safely adapt the poses when working with aging bodies.
Then the yoga teacher can offer specialized classes for seniors, work with individual clients in their homes and contract with nursing homes to teach classes on site.
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Investment Advisers
Investment advisers help senior citizens manage their financial resources so they can enjoy lifetime income and leave money to their families and communities.
Becoming a financial adviser doesn’t necessarily require earning a degree in finance: some people coming into the business have degrees in fields such as education or psychology. While working their day jobs, they take classes to qualify them as financial advisers and gradually make the career change.
Seniors who are unable to get out and about can benefit from a home pickup and delivery service. Possibilities include groceries, dry cleaning, laundry and veterinary visits for pets.
A van, station wagon or pickup truck can be helpful, especially if your plan to transport larger items or pets. Gain clients by leaving business cards at senior centers or living communities.
During your senior years many things begin to change, including your living arrangements. Some seniors look to relocate to warmer climates upon retirement and need assistance selling their home and purchasing a new one.
Career possibilities include helping seniors sell their existing selling home or serving as a buyer’s agent if you reside in states like Florida or Arizona.
You should also keep in mind that finding a retirement home doesn’t necessarily mean finding a stand-alone home you need to buy or mortgage.
It can mean finding a condo or finding an apartment to rent. There are just as many options for seniors, if not more, as there are for everyone else out there who is house-hunting.
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Sell Fashion and Entertainment Memorabilia
Some seniors lived vibrant social lives when they were younger, and would jump at any opportunity to relive such experiences again.
One can run a store that collects and sales “blasts from the past”- music, artifacts, books, electronic gadgets, etc. An entertainment firm or store dedicated to this would surely thrive.