Founder and CEO of ERG Enterprises. Nationally recognized thought leader on entrepreneurship, investing and leadership.
Success as an entrepreneur depends on being in the right place at the right time.
You buy a hospital from a terminally ill colleague who has mentored you and trusts you. You take over as CEO while practicing medicine full-time, balancing the responsibilities of caring for your patients while leading an organization with a dozen doctors and 100-plus staff members. You make this life-changing decision when reimbursements are high and the market conditions are ideal. It becomes a success and affords you a springboard for other ventures.
This is my story, and it follows a common career arch for many successful entrepreneurs. One business, and often one decision, leads to a windfall and opens the door of opportunity. My decision to buy a hospital enabled me to start an investment company, which allowed me to own and operate businesses in more than five different industries.
Today, “being in the right place at the right time” is more obvious than I can remember. We’re facing one of the biggest socio-economic crises in our history, with a large population of senior citizens unable to afford their most basic needs of healthcare and housing.
For entrepreneurs, I think this presents the perfect conditions to introduce innovations that can make a meaningful difference. And for investors, this also provides the perfect vehicle in which to inject capital. Here are three reasons why senior living presents opportunities to build your career as an entrepreneur or investor.
1. Senior living is essential and at severe risk.
Seniors are among the fastest-growing populations, with nearly 81 million projected to become age 65 or older by 2040. And nearly two-thirds of older Americans report that healthcare costs are a financial burden, with nearly one in four calling it a major one.
Seniors also struggle to find adequate housing. The number of seniors renting versus owning property is expected to increase and reach nearly 25% by 2035. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies also predicts that in more than 31 million households, at least one person will be dealing with a major disability, while fewer than 4% of residences can accommodate seniors with mobility disabilities.
And affording healthcare and housing is becoming more challenging for seniors. Despite social security income increasing 8.7% in 2023, inflation continues to eat away at the fixed earnings seniors depend on. This increases the affordability problem when it comes to healthcare and housing.
What does this all mean? The situation is growing dire for the second-largest segment of the U.S. population. That presents the ideal scenario for entrepreneurs, who by definition take risks and solve problems. The industry is primed for disruption and needs it badly—a perfect opportunity for those aspiring to build a successful business.
2. Technology hasn’t yet disrupted the industry.
Prior to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, healthcare lagged in terms of technology adoption. Paper medical records were largely the norm, and everyone from hospitals to medical practices operated in ways that other industries made obsolete.
Senior living is more advanced than healthcare these days, but I still haven’t seen it embrace its full potential. Many communities still haven’t adopted the smart innovations that could help solve their greatest headaches. For example, many continue to neglect technology that can manage and monitor everything from seniors’ vitals to the operating time of a hot stove.
Many also have yet to implement solutions that can monitor important considerations such as the factors that increase fall risk. In my observations of communities across the country, this technology has yet to cross the chasm in senior living from the early adopter to early majority phase.
To ease the pains of labor shortages, providers can embrace smart technology that eliminates the need for human intervention. This technology can also supplement the need for healthcare services by empowering senior living professionals and seniors to better understand and manage conditions and avoid costly healthcare expenditures, such as a trip to the hospital.
Where we find adversity, we also discover opportunity. And here, adversity is abundant. This presents entrepreneurs with the upside of opportunities to model smarter senior living communities that can improve the efficacy of healthcare or supportive services.
3. Labor is a major problem.
Senior living has long dealt with a labor problem. In fact, nearly half of senior living providers with multiple properties report staffing shortages at all their locations, and nearly all of nursing homes (98%) struggle with hiring new staff. Recruitment is difficult—retention equally so.
This provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to again disrupt the market, but this time from a different lens: labor.
By leveraging technology to eliminate low-level tasks, I see an opportunity for senior living providers to create more fulfilling careers for their candidates. They can further improve conditions by enhancing the overall efficacy of the system. If seniors gain better access to healthcare, they can live healthier and more satisfying lives. That contributes to more welcoming communities and more favorable work environments in which to retain staff.
Advancing Senior Living
Success as an entrepreneur calls for a pinch of luck but also an understanding of the major problems that need to be solved. From my perspective, the right time is now, and the right place is senior living. Because of its opportunities, it is an area I have started to focus on. We must act now, and that includes entrepreneurs and investors.
If you call yourself an entrepreneur or investor, your next big break may not require the ingenuity or innovativeness you’ve come to expect. instead, it may call for rolling up your sleeves and delving into an industry that, while it might not appear thrilling on its face, it can certainly be fulfilling and rewarding. Are you up for it?
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