Kickstart Your Assisted Living Business: The Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide
Nov 05, 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 own assisted living facility the right way.
Check out this video, too:
Why Most People Struggle to Start
Many aspiring owners never get their business off the ground because of three big roadblocks:
🚫 Confusion: Not knowing where or how to start.
💸 Funding: Uncertainty about financing options.
📑 Licensing: Overwhelmed by state requirements and paperwork.
Sound familiar? Don’t worry — we’re going to tackle each one and walk you through the process step by step.
1. Start With Your “Why” 🎯
Before you do anything else, ask yourself: Why do I want to open an assisted living home?
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Is it because of a personal experience with a loved one?
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Do you see a growing need in your community?
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Are you drawn by the business opportunity and financial potential?
Your “why” gives you clarity and motivation. Once you have it, you can build a clear vision of what you want your business to become — how it will serve residents, create income, and impact your life.
2. Build Clarity and Confidence 💡
Clarity + Confidence = Focus Zone
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Clarity comes from knowing what you want and why.
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Confidence comes from learning how to get there.
When you combine the two, you enter what I call the Focus Zone — the place where you take consistent, purposeful action and make real progress.
3. Understand the Numbers 📊
You don’t need to be a financial expert, but you do need to know the key numbers that determine if your business will be profitable.
Focus on the W.I.F.E.D. Expenses — they make up 80–90% of your operating costs:
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👩⚕️ Wages: 50–70% of expenses — your biggest cost.
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🛡️ Insurance: Property, liability, and workers’ comp.
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🍽️ Food: Meals and related costs for residents.
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⚡ Energy: Utilities like electricity, gas, internet, and waste.
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🏠 Debt Service: Mortgage or rent.
If you understand these five categories, you’ll know whether a property will make money or drain it.
👉 Pro Tip: Use the free underwriting calculator to estimate your costs and profit potential before committing to a property.
4. Choose the Right Property 🏡
There’s no one-size-fits-all model. Choose the option that fits your goals, budget, and timeline:
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Lease a property and convert it into assisted living.
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Buy a home and remodel it for residents.
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Buy an existing facility that’s already licensed and operating.
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Build from the ground up if you want full control (but more cost and time).
Think about your long-term goals:
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How quickly do you want cash flow?
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How much capital do you have?
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How involved do you want to be in operations?
Once you pick your path, do market research to confirm there’s demand in your area. Look at demographics, income levels, and local competition.
5. Overcome the Big Barriers 🚧
It’s normal to feel stuck when facing funding and licensing challenges, but these barriers are not as scary as they seem.
💰 Funding Options:
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SBA loans
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Conventional loans
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Hard money loans
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Construction loans
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Partnerships or other people’s money
📜 Licensing Tips:
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Find the correct agency in your state.
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Understand their application process and timelines.
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Learn the specific requirements for staffing, safety, and operations.
Many new owners secure hundreds of thousands — even millions — in funding once they learn how the process works.
6. Build Your Roadmap 🗺️
Success in assisted living is about having a clear roadmap — a step-by-step plan showing how to reach your goals.
A strong roadmap gives you:
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✅ Clarity on your property type, funding plan, and timeline.
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✅ Confidence to move forward with less fear.
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✅ Focus on what matters most right now.
7. Follow the F.O.C.U.S. Framework 🔑
Here’s a proven five-phase process for launching your business:
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🏗️ Foundation First: Lay the groundwork with your vision, goals, and plan.
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🏡 Optimal Property Selection: Choose the property model that fits your goals.
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💵 Capital & Funding: Secure financing and build relationships.
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📜 Understand the Rules and Regulations: Learn state regulations and licensing steps.
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🚀 Strategic Launch: Open your doors with confidence and purpose.
This framework turns a big, overwhelming project into manageable, doable steps.
Final Thoughts: You’re Closer Than You Think 💪
Starting an assisted living business isn’t about doing everything at once — it’s about taking consistent, step-by-step action. Stay focused, build clarity, and keep going. With the right plan, your dream is absolutely achievable.
📥 Free Resource: Grab Your Business Plan Checklist
Before you launch, make sure you have every piece of your plan in place.
👉 Download the Business Plan Checklist — it’s free and will walk you through all the essentials.
🚀 Need Some Help Building Your Roadmap? Join the Next Roadmap Challenge Mastermind
Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:04
Hey friend, I am Brandon Gustafson. I help uh I help first-time assisted living entrepreneurs launch profitable purposedriven businesses in 12 months, creating prosperity, purpose, and peace uh as they're trying to launch their assisted living business. In today's video, we're going to be talking about how to kickstart your assisted living business. This is something that I think a lot of people uh are are interested in in trying to figure out and and how to get started um as they are launching
00:00:29
their own assisted living businesses. And it's it's hard. There's a lot of information out there. There's a lot of stuff and it's it's not easy to to figure all of this stuff out. And so that's what we're going to be talking about in today's video is how to kickstart that. um and some fun uh exciting things that I have coming up soon that are going to help you do just that, help you launch your own assisted living business. So, really excited to to get into that with you today. Um so,
00:00:57
yeah, I want to remind you also, go grab the free um go grab um go to assisted livinginvesting.net. I've got a bunch of free resources over there for you to help you out as you're trying to launch your assisted living business um and and help you make progress as as you're trying to to move things along. Um so that's again assisted livinginvesting.net. Um go check that out and that will help you out as you're on your assisted living journey and trying to to launch your assisted living business. Um I'm
00:01:26
using different streaming software today. So uh we're trying something new here. uh how to how to kickstart your assisted living business. Um we're sorry, I'm I'm all flustered. This is all backwards uh for me. So, there we go. Okay. Confusion. Confusion like like the start of this video. Uh it's something that uh I think a lot of you deal with. I I talked to a lot of you uh that are trying to get started. You know, you want to do assisted living, but you're you're just
00:01:55
confused. You don't know uh you're not sure how or where to get started. Like you're just confused. you don't know even know how to get started. Um, you need help figuring out funding. I hear that all the time. Um, and licensing is confusing. Those are the big three things that I hear from people as they're trying to get into this that they don't know how to do. They don't know where to get started. They um, they need help figuring out funding and the licensing process is confusing. If
00:02:19
that's you, like the video uh, first off, but uh, if it's you, type in uh, the thing that that is strug a struggle for you. like what what is it that for you has been just it's been difficult and you're trying to figure things out and you just don't know how to to move through things uh and it's and it's hard and it's confusing. Uh type those things down below in the comments especially if it is funding or licensing. I I want to hear from you because uh and I want to
00:02:47
know specifically what's going on for you that that makes it difficult um that that is making it really hard for you to launch your assisted living business cuz I want to I want to help you and and make sure that you know what you can do to to simplify this and and that's what we're going to talk a little bit about today is is how to do this and the process that I I can teach you with um and as you're trying to launch your assisted living business. Let's let's talk about um something that I think is
00:03:14
really important for you to do and that's starting with why. I don't know if any of you have ever read the book um start start with why by Simon Sim by Simon Synynic. Um it's a great book uh and he teaches us that um when we know why we're doing something um it makes it a lot easier for us to um to to progress. And um in the book uh man's search for meeting man's search for meaning there's a quote in there as well that uh he talks about how when um when when we know our why we can bear anyhow
00:03:48
I'm paraphrasing a little bit but when we know why we're going to do something um when we're progressing towards it it makes it a lot easier for us to um actually reach our goals and and reach our our full potential and and do the things that that we're trying to do um as as as we're trying to be successful. Um and that's something I I want you to just kind of pay attention to. So, as you're getting into assisted living, why why assisted living? Share it down in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.
00:04:18
Um but why why is assisted living the thing that that you want to do? Is it um because of a past experience with a loved one, uh good or bad? Um is it something that you foresee coming up? Is it because you you see the the opportunity for for this being a profitable business? What's your why for for wanting to do assisted living? You got to really solidify that. It's going to help you make some good progress. And once you do that, then you can start creating this vision for where you want
00:04:46
this to go and and how you want this to be successful. Um what what that's all going to look like, what that's all going to look like for you. creating that vision and and really solidifying it in your mind is really going to allow you to uh make some good progress and help you uh reach reach your ultimate goals. I also encourage you to get clarity on what you want to do. The reason why why you should be doing it this why and getting uh this vision is it gives you clarity and then you've got
00:05:16
to fill in the confidence by learning the the ways that you're going to get into that uh and how you're going to progress. And I call that uh when you have this really good cross function of clarity and confidence, you get into what I call the focus zone. And that's going to allow you to be successful to know what you need to be doing to act with purpose and to really make progress towards launching your assisted living business. I go through that actually in the road map challenge. If you want to
00:05:42
check that out, go to roadmapchallenge.com. Uh we'll have links down below for it, but we have challenges going on all the time. Would love to have you in there. But I talk really in depth in that challenge about the the crossroads between clarity and confidence and and getting into the focus zone and how it's going to allow you to make some progress. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the focus zone, type in zone down below and I could probably do a video on specifically on
00:06:08
that what the focus zone is and how you get into that zone to help you launch your assisted living business. Next thing I want to teach you as you're trying to kickstart your assisted living business is you have to understand the numbers. And this doesn't mean that you have to understand all of the numbers. There's just certain numbers that you need to understand before you get into this and don't rush into something and make a horrible financial decision with it. Um, when it comes to this that
00:06:32
that's what I would call underwriting, right? So, if you go to assistedlivinginvesting.net in the big blue box in the top right corner on the website, you're going to see my free underwriting calculator. Go grab that. It's going to help you out um to learn the underwriting process and see if something's going to be profitable. So, make sure you go and grab that. But um in in addition to that, something I want you to understand is there are five main expenses. These five expenses take up 80 to 90% of of
00:06:58
what you of your operational expenses in in running an assisted living business. I call them the wife expenses because you're married to them long term. like they they're going to exist in inside of running this assisted living business uh the entire time that you own the business. WIFE is an acronym. It stands for wages uh which is 50 to 70% of your of your expenses. So you if you can hone in on that, you're you're in a really good spot. So your wages, uh you have your insurance, so that's going to be
00:07:26
your property, uh your liability, and your workers comp insurance. You're going to have food. That's the F. Um so how much food it's going to how much food you got to buy for for your residents and food related expenses. Um E is for energy which is your utilities. So your uh internet, your your television, um the uh gas, power, uh you know electrical and um uh your your waste. So those things are going to be a part of that energy um part of the expenses. And then D is for debt service. This is going to be your house
00:07:57
payment, your mortgage payment, your rent, uh whatever goes into that. If you can figure out those five expenses, the wife expenses, you're going to be so much further along than anybody else and understanding uh if this is going to be profitable for you or not. We actually go through that in the road map challenge and how to actually do that and and back your way into those numbers. And when you're buying an existing facility, those are the five things you want to make sure are there and and make sure that they are kind of
00:08:23
honed in and you know what to expect as you're as you're looking into those. When you do that, it makes your life so much easier as you're trying to uh see if something's going to be profitable. Okay? So, you need to understand the numbers. And this isn't understanding all the numbers, not understanding P&Ls and balance sheets and all the things that an accountant can look at for you. If you understand those is great. I'd encourage you to learn how to do it. But if you can figure out the five expenses,
00:08:49
it's going to make your life so much easier to see if this is going to be profitable for you or not in your situation. Next is going to be finding the right property. And now when it comes to finding the right property, there are four different models in my mind. Um there is renting, leasing a place, um and and turning it into assisted living. Uh there's buying a house and converting it into assisted living. There's buying an existing facility, which is what I did as I started on my path to launching uh you
00:09:18
know, starting my assisted living businesses back in 2020, or building something from the ground up. you have to un like try to figure out which of those models is going to work best for you because each person is going to be different for them. Um, inside the challenge, we actually go through a framework uh where I I give you a little quiz to help you figure out which of those is might be the best fit for you. But really, it's going to come down to what are your your goals? um what are you trying to shoot for uh from from a
00:09:47
from an impact standpoint, from a time standpoint, uh the time freedom that you're getting, and also the income um earning potential that you want to create with this business. So, you want to really kind of hone in on what are my goals there? Which of these options is going to help me get there? And then you start looking into doing market research to figure out which of all the markets out there are going to best help me fit that and and and reach that potential. Um, we actually did just did our updated
00:10:16
version of the market research guide where I do a lot of this market research for you. You can get access to that at the Launchpad bundle, assisted living.net/launchpad. And then if you also want some help with figuring out which of these options uh specifically um buying a home and converting it and buying an existing facility might be best for you, I've got a free tool online. If you go to assistedl livinginvesting.net/profitpath, you can go grab that free tool as well. That's going to help you out as you're
00:10:42
trying to, you know, move things along and and make these decisions. But once you have decided which of these paths you're going to go down, which of them is a is a better fit for you and what your goals are, it's going to simplify the process for how you're going to get started. It's going to allow you to be a lot more successful because you are um you're going down this one single path and that's going to really help you um reach your goals. Okay. Next uh is is the barriers. Um, these
00:11:14
are the big barriers that I hear from people. You and you need to figure out um how to how to circumvent these. And they're I've got to be honest with you, they're not as hard as as you might think they are, but they feel overwhelming. They feel heavy. They feel hard to navigate. And I get that. I I really do. Uh but it's something that I think that you'll be able to to really navigate and and figure out how um how to do all these things. It just takes a little bit of time as you get going.
00:11:43
Okay. So, uh with that, the things that you want to really be focusing on are your funding options, understanding what those options are. Uh you know, are you going to go SBA? Are you going to go conventional? Are you going to get hard money? Are you going to need a construction loan? Um what if you don't have money for a down payment? Do you need to create partnerships? How are you going to use other people's money? Uh what's that going to look like? uh when it comes to licensing, it's
00:12:09
understanding where to go to uh find the licensing process in your state and and how to fill out those applications. And we go through all of that actually in the roadmap challenge as well. So, go check it out, roadmapchallenge.com. Uh it's going to help you as as you're trying to just figure all of these things out. I've coached dozens of people into securing funding, hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've done it myself. I've secured $1.5 million in SBA funding for my own businesses. Um, and
00:12:39
so I know the process. I know how to do it. I know how to to help you make progress and and get to where you are going uh as you're trying to launch your assisted living business. And we go through that in the challenge. Um, also when it comes to licensing, it's just a matter really at at its core. You got to find the right place that's going to do the licensing for you. And when you do that, it all of a sudden becomes a lot more clear. um as you're getting into this. Okay, so that's what you're going
00:13:05
to do there. You need to create a road map in in there. You're going to get the clarity. Uh I've been talking a little bit about the roadmap challenge, right? Um in there, we're going to give you the clarity on the things that you need to be doing, the things you need to be focusing on, how to remove some of those barriers so that you know which path you're going to go down. And when you have that clarity and that road map for where you're going to go, it makes your life that much easier. Uh it makes it so
00:13:33
much more fun because you know what you're doing. It simplifies the process. You have clarity on where you're going to go. Also, inside the challenge, we help you build confidence, help you know, okay, I I know which direction I'm going to go on the type of property I'm going to select. I know what type of funding um option I want to pursue and how I'm going to do that and how I'm going to build the relationships to help me get that. And then it all comes back to focus. I talked about the focus zone. Um
00:14:00
focus is actually another acronym. I call it my focus framework. Um it is the process of launching an assisted living business. My five phase framework. First um is foundation. Foundation first. You got to build that. Next is optimal property selection. Then it's capital and funding. um understanding the rules and regulations and having a strategic launch. Um that's the five-phase process for helping you make some progress to get to where you want to go. It all starts with building a road map and
00:14:29
knowing what direction you're going to go, how you're going to get there. And when you have those things in place, it makes your life that much easier as as you're trying to move things along. So encourage you to to go check that out. You can do that at the roadmapchallenge.com. I would love to have you in here. This is something we are are starting um to do on a regular basis. Um so make sure you check out the website for the the most um current version of of this that's coming up. We
00:14:57
have one uh coming up in just a few weeks. And so I would love to have you in there to help you build the road map that you need so that you can kickstart your assisted living business and start making the progress that that you want to make. We have two options in there. One is general admission. Um, this is this is, by the way, it's a weekly it's a week-l long challenge. Um, hour hour per day. Uh, it's live. You're going to have me teaching you, interacting with you, and helping you along your path and
00:15:26
helping you build your road map that's specific to you. Uh, I've got workbooks and and and it's it's just going to be incredible. I'm super excited for it. And then if you want some extra time and attention and get your questions answered, we have our VIP session as well, which is also throughout the entire week. You just come an hour early and you get time with me uh to ask me whatever questions you have as you're trying to do this. Uh VIPs will also get the entire all the
00:15:55
recordings for the week. Um for the for the entire week. Um so you're going to get extra time with the recordings if you can't make it live. Um, so you're going to get answers to your questions and help you make things along. There's a community. Like, it's going to be I'm super excited for it. It's going to be incredible uh to help you get there. Make sure you go check it out. It's roadmapchallenge.com. And uh see which of those options is going to be best for you. And if one of
00:16:18
those options is just not going to make it for you this time, you can't make it live. Um you can't afford it. And I've made this super affordable. So, make sure you go check it out because it is not expensive uh to get in there and work with me. I I charge people $15,000 a year to work with me um and and to help them move along their their journey towards launching their assisted living business. This is a fraction of that. Um so make sure you go check this out. But if you can't afford it, doesn't work
00:16:44
for you, timing is not right, whatever, make sure you go check out the book as well. As the the book.com, uh we have the profitable assisted living business. Would love to help you out through the book as well. There's a bunch of free resources in there to help you kickstart your assisted living business as you're going through things. I want to thank you for watching and for struggling with me at the beginning of the video with all the the kind of technical issues. If you made it through to the end, make
00:17:08
sure you like the video, subscribe, and ring the bell as well so you get notified every time we put out content like this. We go live on Tuesdays, which is today. We put out content on on Thursdays as well. Uh we're we're we're putting things out in into our uh you know, we're putting things out into uh Facebook and Instagram and and all of the places as well to help you as you're trying to launch your assisted living business. It's something I I absolutely love doing and would love to help you
00:17:35
out with that. Um curious about assisted living but not sure how to get started. I help first-time assisted living entrepreneurs launch profitable, purpose-driven businesses in 12 months, creating prosperity, purpose, and peace. And I love coaching people. I would love to have you in the challenge. And I want to remind you that it doesn't take a lot, just a little bit. Just keep going step by step by step. And I promise you, if you do and you are consistent and persistent, you are going to be
00:17:59
successful. Thanks for watching and have a great
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