Assisted Living Startup Basics: A Beginner's Guide to Success
Mar 11, 2025
Starting an assisted living business can feel exciting but also overwhelming. Where do you start? What steps should you take?
Good news—you don’t have to figure it out alone! This guide breaks down everything you need to know to launch your assisted living facility within a year. From choosing the right location to securing funding and attracting residents, we’ve got you covered.
Let’s dive in! π
Check out the video, too:
Why a Strong Foundation Matters
Every successful business starts with a clear plan. If you don’t define your goals, mission, and vision, you might feel stuck before you even begin.
Ask yourself:
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Why do I want to start an assisted living business?
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Who do I want to serve—seniors, those with disabilities, or another group?
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What kind of environment do I want to create?
Taking time to get clear on these questions will make every step easier. If you need help, check out the Success System for expert guidance.
Step 1: Create a Winning Business Plan
A business plan isn’t just a document—it’s your roadmap to success. It helps you stay focused and attract lenders, investors, and partners.
Here’s what to include:
π Goals, Mission, and Vision – What is your long-term vision for your facility?
π Operations Plan – How will you handle staffing, resident care, and daily tasks?
π Financial Projections – Show how your business will make money and stay profitable.
π‘ Need help? Download our Business Plan Checklist for a step-by-step guide!
Step 2: Get Your Numbers Right (Financial Underwriting & Modeling)
Investors and banks won’t take you seriously if your numbers don’t add up. That’s why financial projections (also called underwriting) are so important.
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Estimate Your Costs – Licensing, property expenses, staff wages, food, and utilities.
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Project Your Income – How many residents will you serve? What will they pay?
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Underwrite Conservatively – Be realistic so you don’t run into surprises.
π‘ Use our free underwriting calculator to set up your financial model quickly!
Step 3: Conduct Market Research (Find the Perfect Location)
Picking the right location can make or break your business.
π Key things to research:
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Demand – Are there enough seniors needing care in your area?
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Competition – Are there already too many facilities, or is there room for more?
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Zoning & Regulations – Make sure the city allows assisted living in your chosen area.
π‘ Our Launchpad Bundle includes a full market research section to help you find the best spot!
Step 4: Set Up Your Business Entity (Legal & Compliance)
Don’t skip this step! Setting up the right legal structure protects your business and personal assets.
πΌ Popular Business Structures:
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LLC – Most common for assisted living businesses due to liability protection.
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S Corporation – Can offer tax benefits but requires more paperwork.
βοΈ While you can use LegalZoom, working with an attorney ensures everything is done correctly. A good attorney can help with contracts, licensing, and liability protection.
Step 5: Access Resources to Speed Up Your Success
Starting a business is harder when you go it alone. That’s why we’ve put together free resources to help you launch faster:
π Business Plan Checklist – Step-by-step guide to writing a solid business plan.
π Financial Planning Guide – Learn how to structure your startup costs.
π Grant Writing Template – Get funding to support your business.
π Sample Lease Agreement – Protect yourself when leasing a facility.
Next Steps: Take Action Today!
π Want to launch your assisted living business in the next 12 months?
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Step 1: Download the Business Plan Checklist to start planning.
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Step 2: Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
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Step 3: Follow this guide, take action, and bring your vision to life!
Got questions? Drop them in the comments below! β¬οΈ
Show full transcript π
Transcript
00:00:00
hey friend I'm Brandon Gustafson I help beginners like you launch their Assisted Living business in the next 12 months in this video we're actually going to be getting into the beginners basics for launching your Assisted Living business so if that's you make sure you stick around for today's video and comment beginner down below let's get into today's [Music] video hey friend welcome to Assisted Living investing before we get started I want to remind you to get over to the
00:00:28
website Assisted Living investing. net we have our free underwriting calculator there so make sure you go and grab that we have links down below it will be the thing that is going to be kind of a catalyst getting you to the point where you are confident in your ability to launch an assisted living business so check that out now let's get into the video today these are the beginners basics for launching an assisted living facility want to get into that with you today as a beginner you're going to need
00:00:51
to be building that foundation for what you're going to be doing so why do you need to build this Foundation number one it's going to give you Clarity it's going to give you the the and we've talked about this in a previous video about like doing your vision um so make sure you go and check that out cuz it's going to give you a little bit deeper view of exactly what that looks like you're trying to build that foundation and help you solidify your goals so you know what you want and should be working
00:01:15
towards um in my Mastermind program the Assisted Living investing Mastermind we take you through a vision exercise it's one of the first things that we do and the reason why is I want you to have Clarity on where you want your life to be and how assisted living is going to fit into that so make sure you go and check that out um the The Mastermind program we will link that down below because it is something that could give you the guidance that you need to get that Clarity and set those goals so you
00:01:38
need to get those things in place otherwise you're just going to be kind of floating down a river and not taking action and it's going to get you stuck in the analysis paralysis phase so I don't want you to do that I want to make sure that you are making the progress that you need to make so you can actually be successful and once you do that floodgates are going to open you're going to have opportunities com to you all over the place by working with different people as they want to work
00:02:01
with you because they see your underwriting they see all the things and they're excited to work with you as you get started on launching your Assisted Living business the other reason why you want to build this Foundation is it actually gives you something tangible whether it's digitally tangible or physical that you can give to other people other stakeholders business partner this could be partners lenders investors could be any number of people that want to see this information but you can grab all of that you can hand it
00:02:25
to them and you know it lets them see and catch your vision and feel really excited about this what you are trying to build so as you start building this base for everything that you want to do there's a few things that you need to get done number one is your business plan you need to craft that you need to have it hit all of the things if you need help doing that actually go check out the business plan checklist we'll link this down below as well uh go to Assisted Living investing. netb
00:02:53
checklist but it's a checklist I created that's just for you to help you understand all the important pieces that you need to have in your business business plan and if you need some help writing that business plan and with the underwriting which is the next thing that you need to do here go check out the business planning guide Assisted Living investing. netb PG for business planning guide and it will give you a perfect template that works really well for assisted living and getting funding
00:03:17
gives you the underwriting um piece calculator and goes really deep into that and gives you some education there and also a market research guide plus my financials from my facility so you can see exactly how much it costs you to run a facility so go check out the business planning guide uh something that's going to help you out along the way but after you grab that that business plan checklist you're going to see that there's a few things in there that you need to do you've got to have your goals
00:03:40
your mission and vision how you're going to operate the facility we have a video that goes through all of the the things about a business plan and everything that you need in there so we will link that up above so you can go and watch that but I go through and break down every single section of a business plan that you need so you can be successful so go check that out the second piece that you need in this foundational phase of your business it's all about getting your underwriting correct you're doing
00:04:03
your financial modeling your financial projecting this is such an important part as you get started because it's going to give the bank the confidence in you from a financial standpoint and they're going to want to work with you because you are showing that this business is actually profitable it's going to cover the debt and everything is going to be fine so when you are working through and trying to get funding you really need to spend a lot of time on your financial modeling um you need to spend a lot of time doing
00:04:30
your underwriting and when you do this it's going to make Banks and other people excited to work with you because they can see exactly how financially beneficial this opportunity is going to be so make sure you spend a lot of time on your underwriting make sure you get that right be conservative in your underwriting so that you're confident that you'll actually make money but doing that is such an important piece of getting things up and running check out the assisted Livin investing. netal down
00:04:54
below link and we'll give you a free underwriting calculator to can really help you make some progress as you're trying to launch this Assisted Living business now the third thing is going to be your market research you have to create your criteria that criteria is going to be a number of things number one geographically where are you going to be there's a lot that goes into the research there you want to look at where people are retiring how much money people make you want to look at the
00:05:16
politics you want to look at crime statistics you want to look at all of those things and to get a holistic view when I look at market research to find a geographic location I hit on about 10 different data points to make sure I'm confident in where I am investing if you want to look at what I've done with market research go check out the business planning guide again we'll link that down below because it's a really great resource to help you understand you know exactly where you should be
00:05:41
where you should be investing the other piece of that is you want to set your criteria for how many beds the type of person that you want to serve in the facility there's so much that goes into this and you have to think about this upfront because it will really give you guidance on you know what types of opportunities you want to be looking at As you move move things forward on your investment Journey the more time you spend thinking about this and getting this piece right the more successful
00:06:07
you're going to be and the fourth thing that you want to do it just make sure you have the correct entity set up I'm not an attorney so qualifiers there but I highly suggest that you get with an attorney to set these things up we have set it up so we have entities that own real estate entities that own the business there's you know contractual agreements that that go into place there so those are some of the ways that we've done it based off of conversations with our attorneys you are going to have
00:06:31
something that's specific to you you could go and set something up on Legal Zoom you really could I don't recommend that you do that I recommend that you spend time talking to attorneys it's going to cost you some money but then you have the confidence that things are in place and and it's set up properly in the event that something bad happens with the business or a resident or a liability claim or whatever it is helps give you added protection and make sure you've done this right so that's my two
00:06:56
cents again not an attorney go talk to One highly recommend that you do now if you are a beginner you've been watching this and you found this to be helpful I would love for you to comment number one beginner and number two I would love for you to comment the thing here that you learned that was the most beneficial to you was it building a business plan was it underwriting was it market research or was it setting up that entity which of those four things is like the most important to you in your mind and and
00:07:20
why comment that down below I'd love to learn from you a little bit and if you have any questions specific around any of those things comment those down below as well cuz I can do some one-off videos for you or we do our lives on Tuesdays as well so I can throw that in there and make sure that I am answering your questions from that standpoint as well so comment those things down below and if you like the video make sure you like the video subscribe and ring the bell as well so you get notified like I
00:07:43
mentioned we do these lives on Tuesdays and we have content that goes out on Thursdays and and then if you get in our ecosystem go grab the business plan checklist or the calculator or any of the other free things that I give out down below grant writing templates we have things about lease agreements we have all kinds of templates and and free resources down below go grab them and that will get you in our ecosystem so you get notified about all the videos and blogs and and everything else that
00:08:06
we're putting out here inside of the Assisted Living investing group and and community that we're working on building and if you need some help you need some guidance in getting through all of this go check out the Assisted Living investing Mastermind program as well um we'll link that down below as well Assisted Living investing. netmaster mind it's a program that kind of takes you through things and phase one of that is all about building the business Foundation we're going to link up a
00:08:30
video up above about the five-phase approach and that's going to give you some guidance on exactly how this what we've been talking about today the foundational piece is going to help you make some progress there does residential Assisted Living sound interesting to you but you don't know how to get started at Assisted Living investing. net I help beginners like you launch their Assisted Living business in the next 12 months we' love to help you out through the process go check us out
00:08:52
at The Mastermind and remember it doesn't take a lot just a little bit keep going step by step by step I promise that if you do and you're consistent consistent and persistent you are going to be successful thanks for watching and have a great day [Music]
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