Now that there are almost 50 million seniors over 65 in America, the market for senior service businesses, like a senior home safety business, is booming like never before.
One of the fastest growing senior services is providing senior home safety checks to help seniors safely remain in their own homes. It’s a wonderful way for anyone who loves helping people to earn a full or part-time income without a lot of start-up costs.
What is a senior home safety business?
According to a recent AARP article, 9 out of 10 seniors prefer to “age-in-place” and live independently in their own home as long as possible. But as those seniors grow older, the risk of in-home injuries increases.
Why? Because aging affects balance, flexibility and eyesight. As a result of this, one in three seniors has a serious fall each year, which can cause serious injury, such as hip fractures and head trauma.
Most of these injuries can be prevented, but most seniors don’t have a clue their homes may contain hazards that could cause injuries. That’s where a senior home safety advisor can help, by going through the house room-by-room with a thorough checklist to find the hazards before they can cause injury.
Then with some simple modifications, such as non-slip pads under area rugs or grab bars in shower and tub areas, injuries can largely be prevented, allowing seniors to enjoy a comfortable, safe home.
There are a few simple steps you’ll need to take before you land that first paying client. Here are the essential first steps:
Step one:
When you’re just starting out, practice on your family and friend’s homes. Offer them a free home safety survey to allow you to become familiar with the survey routine and the questions. Another approach is to offer free home safety surveys at your local senior center, but limit the number of free surveys to as many as it takes you to feel comfortable charging the customary rate. Currently, that’s $60 to $200 per survey, depending on the size of the home.
By the time you’ve completed about ten whole-house safety surveys, you’ll be more confident and capable about your skills and knowledge of fall prevention and home safety. The checklist format we use in the guidebook makes the whole process easy, with room-by-room questions and answers for every item on the list.
Step two:
Check with local and state authorities to find out what licenses or permits they require for your business. Next, update your insurance agent on your plans, to make sure your coverage is adequate, including using your vehicle for business.
Step three:
Today, a simple web site is an essential business tool that can pay for itself in short order, and help you find clients that you might never have discovered any other way. For example, many adult children of seniors routinely look for senior service providers on the internet. That’s why it is important to include the name of your town in the site’s domain name or on the home page of the site. A simple web site for your new senior home safety business, listing your services, a personal profile, and testimonials from previous customers, paying or not, is all you need to get started. A site also can build trust by helping your prospects to get to know you. Most web hosting firms offer free website builders to help you build your own site, or you can hire someone very reasonably at elance.com or upwork.com to do the whole site for you.
Step four:
Tell seniors in your area about your new home safety-check business. Almost every town has a local senior newsletter or magazine, usually available at the senior center. You can usually run a small, affordable classified in the back of the publication. Run the ad as often as you can until you have all the clients you want, because prospects will see your ad so often, they will know where to look for you when they are ready to have their home safety checked.
Step five:
Introduce yourself to all those in your town who work with seniors, such as anyone who works or volunteers at a senior center, senior living communities, senior care managers and eldercare lawyers. They often know who needs help with home safety issues and are usually happy to recommend a service that can save lives.
Starting a senior home safety business is the ideal business for anyone who wants to help others, be their own boss, and make a good income regardless of the economy. If you’ve got common sense, can stay organized and a can-do attitude, you can be a successful home safety consultant for local elders. To discover how, read Start Your Own Senior Home Safety Consulting Business.