Top Consultants to Hire for Your Assisted Living Success
Sep 26, 2024
Starting an assisted living facility is challenging and rewarding, requiring careful planning and skilled supervision. From negotiating legal regulations to building a sound business plan, there are numerous essential decisions to make that will have a substantial impact on your success. Selecting the correct expert to help you navigate this complex procedure is one of your most crucial decisions. With so many advisors specializing in different parts of assisted living, deciding which best meets your needs can be difficult. This blog will help you determine the type of consultant you will need to begin your adventure in the assisted living market. Understanding the major areas where consultants may provide vital support and how to discover the ideal fit for your business will enable you to make informed decisions that lay the groundwork for a successful assisted care facility.
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Assess Your Needs and Objectives
The first step in choosing a consultant is understanding your specific needs and objectives. Ask yourself what you need from a consultant and your goals in hiring one. A clear understanding of your needs will help you identify the right expert for your business.
Key Areas for Assisted Living Consultants
Consultants are commonly required in two areas within the assisted living industry. The first area focuses on the purchasing procedure. If you want to buy an existing building or get finance, a consultant with knowledge in these areas is vital. For example, I've closed two deals using SBA 7(a) loans and can guide you through the process. You can book a consultation at Assisted Living Investing and learn more about how I can help you. Joining assisted living networking or Facebook groups can also connect you with expert investors and advisors who can help you with the purchase process.
The second key component is facility setup and maintenance. If opening a new facility or revising your current policies and procedures, you should hire a specialist in these areas. A trained consultant can save you thousands of dollars while helping you become more successful and gain a competitive advantage.
Finding the Right Fit
Regardless of the type of consultant you require, finding someone who is a good match for you and your company is important. Check references to ensure that the consultant's work style matches yours and their qualifications are valid. Spending time with the consultant is important for ensuring you can work effectively together, as you will most likely be in frequent touch. Consider their personality and resources, as these will impact your working relationship and the success of your institution.
Cost Considerations
Hiring a consultant is costly, and it is important to budget for their services. Consultants rarely work for free, so you should expect to pay them adequately. While it may cost a few thousand dollars initially, a qualified consultant can save or make you tens of thousands of dollars in the long term. It is critical to ensure that you have the finances to pay your consultant in order to preserve a great working relationship and minimize financial stress.
To sum it up, investing time upfront to find the right consultant can significantly impact the success of your assisted living business. To learn more about investing in assisted living and to access free resources, visit Assisted Living Investing and download our Business Plan Checklist to ensure you have everything you need to create a successful business plan.
Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:00
there are a lot of different types of consultants out there and they all specialize in different areas so how do you know which type of consultant you should hire to get you started on your journey we're going to get into that in today's video hi everybody i'm brandon gustafson i own and operate to assisted living facilities and i created this channel to help people just like you learn the ins and outs of investing in assisted living welcome to assisted living investing [Music] hey everybody welcome back to the
00:00:35
channel in my last video i talked about should i hire a consultant to start my business so go ahead and watch that and leave a comment down below if you um have ever hired a consultant and if what your thoughts are on hiring a consultant i'd love to hear from you and get your feedback on what that process was like for you in today's video we're going to get into what type of consultant should you hire for your business now remember i'm talking specifically about assisted living in this situation and i'm talking
00:01:02
about operating an assisted living facility so as i go through this process kind of take that into context of what i'm trying to say but if you are a different business or you're trying to acquire a facility or something like that if you're in a different industry take this and apply it to the area that you're working in it's still going to be very useful information for you and kind of help you through the process and so i'm hoping that you'll get something from this
00:01:29
comment down below if it if you find it helpful comment down below if uh if you're looking for a different type of of person to help you out with things um i you know this channel is obviously about assisted living but i think there's a lot of information in here that's really good for just general business owners and so make sure you comment let me know i'd love to give you guys content even if it's not assisted living related that's going to help you through the process of getting your
00:01:54
business up and running and helping you be successful so with that said what type of consultant should you hire first question to ask yourself is what are your needs and what are your objectives now the first point that you want to consider when you're trying to identify a consultant is what do you really need from that consultant what do you need them for what are your what's your objective in hiring this consultant in assisted living there are kind of two main areas that i can think of where you might need
00:02:23
a consultant the first one is the purchasing process so if you are looking to purchase an existing facility or you want to purchase you know using a certain type of loan product finding a mentor or consultant with experience in that area will go a really long way so this is actually something that i do i have closed two deals on sba 7a loans and i'll talk about i've talked about that in a previous video about using an sba 7a loan and i know the process for obtaining this type of financing and i can coach
00:02:58
you through that process so go ahead and visit me on assistedlivinginvesting.net and we could set up a time to chat and kind of go through that process and see if there's any way that i can help you through that process and upcoming videos i'm going to be getting into some of the more intricate parts of of an sba application and things that you're going to need so make sure you keep an eye out for those videos i think they're going to be really helpful for you in learning some of those pieces you can
00:03:24
also look and find other investors in your network that have accomplished what you are wanting to do going and purchasing a facility or things like that if you join there's a ton of different facebook groups a ton of different little networking pods out there that you could join that are going to help you through this journey and kind of help you get to where you want and need to be in purchasing a facility so that's the first thing that i would say the second one is a facility startup or
00:03:53
putting your facility into maintenance maintenance mode so if you are looking to start a facility up doing a change of ownership or just updating your policies and procedures to the most current rules and regulations you're going to want to look for a consultant with that type of background and expertise hiring a qualified consultant can save you thousands of dollars and i'm not even kidding it can really save you thousands of dollars it can help you become more profitable more quickly it
00:04:20
gives you a leg up on the competition there's a lot of really good things about hiring a consultant that is going to get you to where you need to be in operating your facility now a good consultant can also help you get out of a mess that you might be in so i shared with you in the last video we found that you know we had to hire a consultant it was actually mandated to us by the state in a survey that we had and so we are now kind of working through that process if we got ourselves in a mess now we're getting out of it
00:04:50
using a consultant and um you know or it could be something that you've inherited through purchasing an existing facility which to be completely honest is kind of what happened to us and we just didn't have the know-how of how to fix it ourselves and now we're paying the price and bringing in a consultant to help us through the process it's act i i know i keep saying this it's been a really good experience so far and i'm i'm very grateful for the opportunity to do it but what is the
00:05:18
right fit so regardless of the type of consulting that you're looking for you want to make sure that you have a person that you have a good fit with um you know culturally they they match you your style of work they're going to be a benefit to your facility to your company as you get things up and running as you are trying to change things and make a difference be sure that you spend enough time with this person to make sure that they are able to give you everything that you need to be successful and also that you
00:05:46
can work with them you want to make sure that you know what you're getting into what's their personality like do they have the resources that are going to allow you to be successful you want to find out those things so take time it's okay to have a lot of conversations and talk with the consultant and see how you'll see what they can give you see what type of information they can provide you with to make sure it's a good fit you want to also check out their credentials and their references to make
00:06:08
sure that you're using somebody that can actually do what they are saying they're going to be able to do so just take time that this person make sure it's a good fit you're going to be spending a lot of money on them you're spending a lot of time with them you want to make sure that you're getting your money's worth and that you're spending your time wisely as well you want to make sure that you interview them several times and that you feel comfortable with your ability to work
00:06:31
with them because you'll be working with them a lot a lot during the time that you're working together for us we have like a i think it's 10 12 months contract that we are working with our consultant and i'm talking with her on a right now daily basis like it's a lot of work a lot of stuff back and forth and working through things and if i had somebody that i just didn't get along with or i hated every time i saw that phone number coming up on my phone um it's not worth it so make sure you
00:06:59
have somebody that you can really talk with because you're going to be working with them a lot so what about the money um consultants very rarely do their work for free so don't go into this relationship thinking that it's going to be a freebie even if it's somebody in your network somebody in your family that says they could do it for free i would suggest that you compensate them give them a little bit of something take them out to dinner if they want to accept money like do whatever you can to show your
00:07:22
appreciation for what they're working on but if you're hiring a consultant this is not going to be something that you do for free they're giving you a big service they're doing a lot of work for you make sure that you go into this knowing that you're going to be paying them some money making sure that you fairly compensate your consultant is also is also going to just make sure that they are doing a good job for you um making sure you know you don't want to say oh yeah i'll give you 300 if you
00:07:51
give me 12 months of work that's that's not cool make sure you give them enough money that's going to you know incentivize them to do a good job for you they usually are going to set their price um and if they're outside of your budget then you probably need to hire a different consultant make sure you're being wise and prudent with your funds but also go into this knowing that you're going to be paying this consultant and that's okay but in kind of in relation to that it's
00:08:17
true they might cost you a few thousand dollars especially getting up and running and putting your maintenance road and maintenance mode and things like that but just remember they're going to save and or make you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run it's well worth the investment to bring this person in and help you get up and running and get you into a spot where it makes sense to kind of work through things and and help you out and help you be successful help you run a successful
00:08:45
business if you choose to move forward with a consultant though make sure that you have the funds sufficient to pay that consultant you don't want to get have a check bounce when you send it to them you don't want to put yourself in a bad situation where you just can't afford it make sure you have the funds in place before you get started and just also recognize that there are cheaper consultants out there and that doesn't mean that they are the best deal the most expensive consultants also are
00:09:12
not always the best that's why you are taking time to really get to know this person and see how they might fit with you what types of conversations you have do you enjoy talking to this person do you not um do they have their references said that they can really get you out of the bind that you're in what type of situation are you finding yourself in and how's it going to help you learn and grow and progress make sure you just are investing the time up front to get in there and really talk to this consultant
00:09:40
and figure out how you guys can work together to build something that is just going to be an awesome product an awesome business at the end of the day in my next video i'm going to get into how to go and find a consultant what are some of those resources where you can go out and find a consultant to help you out to learn more about investing in assisted living make sure you visit me on assistedlivinginvesting.net i've got free resources out there you can set up a whole coaching call with me
00:10:07
and we can chat about your situation and see if there's anything i can do to help you out and then don't forget please don't forget that it doesn't take a lot just a little bit just keep making progress if you do it every day step by step by step you keep making progress i promise you that you will be successful thanks for watching and have a great day [Music] you
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