In the 2010 census, the United States population of seniors, or those over the age of 65 was 35 million. This number is expected to grow to 70 million by the year 2030. With children moving far away from their parents, providing assistance may be difficult, which is why senior care franchises are one of the best business investment opportunities right now.
Senior care franchises typically offer a relatively low start up cost. Companion services for seniors have an estimated value of $6.4 billion and this is expected to increase to over $8 billion. The aging baby boomer generation is the main reason for this increase in value of these services.
With these numbers, it is easy to see why senior care franchises are becoming a more popular business endeavor. In fact, senior franchises were listed in the Top 10 franchise categories in Entrepreneur magazine. The question becomes, how do I choose the right seniors franchise to invest in?
Differences in Senior Care Franchises
The main difference in senior franchise options is whether or not medical care is provided. There are medical and non-medical care franchises available.
Medical franchises provide nursing care for the aging population. This means that the employees of the business will need to be nurses, typically RNs (registered nurses). Some medical care may be provided by nurses that are LPNs (licensed practical nurses). It will be important to determine the laws within your state about the type of medical care that can be provided by employees under your franchise.
Non medical franchises provide a different type of service to the elderly. This type of franchise offers home services such as cooking, cleaning, errand running, and simple companionship. Employees that work for a non medical franchise can have any type of educational background as the main job will be to provide the senior with his or her current needs.
Choosing a Senior Franchise
The first step you will need to take when choosing a senior care franchise is to determine whether you want to provide medical care services or non medical care services. It is important to remember that a medical care service will likely cost more to start and will require more legal measures than a non medical senior care franchise. There are many different options for each type.
The second step will be to choose three or four senior care franchises that you are interested in. Talk with the franchise developers of the company. You can conduct these interviews over the phone or ask to meet in person.
Make sure you ask a lot of questions. You will want to know everything that the franchise has to offer you as an entrepreneur. If you have no experience with senior care, make sure that the franchise that you choose will provide you and your staff with the training that you need in order to become a successful business.
Senior care franchises are a wonderful business opportunity for many reasons, the main one being that it is a large industry with a lot of potential for growth.