What’s the Secret to Launching Your Assisted Living Business with Confidence?
Nov 28, 2025
Have you ever noticed how some assisted living homes feel calm, connected, and joyful—while others feel tense or disconnected? The difference usually comes down to one thing: culture.
When you’re intentional about the values your team lives by, your home runs smoother and your staff stays longer
Want the full breakdown? Watch the video below..
Clarity gives you the confidence to move forward
When you know what you want, you know what to do next. Spend time figuring out your why — is it a family story, a love of care, or a chance to build income?
A clear why keeps you focused when things get noisy.
💡Write one short sentence that says why you want to start assisted living.
Follow a roadmap so you stop feeling overwhelmed
A step-by-step plan turns big ideas into simple tasks. Use a roadmap that lists milestones like researching zoning, running numbers, and licensing.
A plan makes progress measurable and keeps you from chasing every new idea.
✅ Pick one framework or checklist to follow for the next 30 days.
Learn from people who already did it so you avoid big mistakes
You will learn faster if you copy proven steps instead of guessing.
Ask experienced owners about things like zoning, fire rules, and licensing.
Get help so you don’t buy the wrong property or skip key inspections.
✅ Talk to one mentor or join a challenge to ask real questions.
Run the numbers so the business really works
Profit comes from knowing income and expenses.
Use an underwriting calculator to test a deal before you buy.
Think about slow months, moves, or a resident leaving. If the math doesn’t work on paper, don’t buy it.
✅ Use a calculator to check the numbers on one property this week.
Build momentum with focused hustle, not random busywork
A little focused work every day beats bursts of chaos.
Do small tasks that push your roadmap forward — call one lender, visit one property, or start your license packet.
Small wins build big confidence.
💡 Schedule three 30-minute blocks this week for action.
Get training that’s specific to assisted living so you shorten your learning curve
Healthcare and real estate both matter in this business. Find training that combines both.
Good coaching saves time and money because you skip costly mistakes.
✅ Sign up for the Roadmap Challenge or read one focused book this month.
Take action now instead of waiting for the perfect moment
Waiting for the right time stalls your progress. Do one small step today.
That first action comes from reading, calling, or signing up for an event.
Action creates momentum and opens doors.
✅ Do one thing on your roadmap right after you finish this post.
Quick resources you can use right away
If you want a fast win, grab the free underwriting calculator and test your opportunity.
If you want a guided push, join the LIVE Roadmap Challenge and get the daily help you need.
Wrap Up
Confidence in launching an assisted living business starts with clarity, a simple roadmap, and real action.
Learn from people who’ve done it, run the numbers, and take one small step today.
If you need help creating a business plan for your assisted living business, check out the Free Business Plan Checklist.
And if you’re ready to figure out your next step, join me for the next Roadmap Challenge, where I’ll walk you through how to get started.
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:04
Hey friend, it's Brandon Gustafson. Welcome into today's video. Today we're going to be talking about what's the secret to launching your assisted living business with confidence. I talked to a lot of people like you who are just like, I really want to do assisted living. It sounds cool. I don't know how to get started.
00:00:20
Where do I start? What process should I be going through? And that's really hard for a lot of people. So I wanted to really hit on that today for you to help you as you're trying to figure that out. So if that's you, make sure you stick around for today's video. Super excited to hop into that with you. As a reminder, my name is Brandon Gustafson. I help first-time assisted living entrepreneurs launch profitable, purpose-driven businesses in the next 12 months, creating prosperity, purpose, and peace in their lives.
00:00:45
super excited to be chatting with you about that today. Um, and with that, I also want to remind you to get over, we, we got our next roadmap challenge. It's coming up as of the recording of this thing, which, you know, it's live. So I'm going to tell you, um, it's next week. So get in like, it's such a fun experience. Our VIP seats where you get an extra hour with me every single day. Those are limited. Um, and if you miss this one, we'll have another one coming up soon. So go check out roadmap challenge.com. Would love to have you
00:01:13
in there with me as I help you create the roadmap, help you see and create your own roadmap to help you launch your assisted living business. So make sure you get over there and we'll see you over there. I'll tell you a little bit more about that here at the end of the video. So make sure you stick around till the end so you can learn a little bit more about what that experience actually looks like. Also, if you need some help, go over to assistedlivinginvesting.net, have some free resources for you there, get the free underwriting calculator and
00:01:40
Big blue box. You can't miss it. It says get your free underwriting calculator. So go grab that. Also, if you need some help and some guidance, make sure you go take the 30-second quiz. It's right there. Dark blue button. You can't miss that one either. Take 30-second quiz. It will help you out as you're trying to figure out where you're going on your assisted living journey and how I can help you out to the best of my ability. Now, with that, let's get into it. What is the secret to launching your assisted living business with confidence?
00:02:09
There's so many things, right? So many things that are coming to my mind when I think of the secret that's going to help you out as you're trying to move this forward. But ultimately, clarity, when you have clarity on what you're trying to do, it's going to give you confidence.
00:02:25
Um, when you have that clarity, it allows you to know exactly what to do and when you're going to do it. Um, and, and that's so important because when you, when you have that confusion, man, it just, it feels heavy. You, you, you don't know how to progress, how you're going to move forward and what that's going to look like for you. And so you need to have kind of a path that you can follow, um, a roadmap, if you will.
00:02:49
And when you do that, it takes you from the spot where you feel overwhelmed. You go from being in this overwhelmed state of mind, this overwhelmed zone, to having really a step-by-step process that will allow you to make progress and allow you to reach your goals. When you get that clarity and you pair it with confidence, it really does allow you to catapult yourself forward and get out of this overwhelmed zone.
00:03:16
It also, when you're doing this and you are trying to create that clarity so you can gain the confidence, you need to spend some time figuring out your why. Why do I want to do this? So if you haven't done this already, I would strongly encourage you to take some time as you're trying to get into assisted living.
00:03:33
identify why why why are you passionate about this is it something you know an experience that you had with a loved one is it uh you see the the potential for profitability like what's your why because when you have that it makes everything that you are trying to move forward to as you're trying to to reach your goals it makes it that much more clear for you because you you can fall back on that why when you don't have that and it's not solid in your mind
00:04:00
it makes it a lot more difficult for you. So make sure you spend some time and think about why do I want to do this? And when you do that, it allows you to stay focused on what you're trying to move forward with. You remove the whole shiny object syndrome where you just are like, oh, I want to do that one. I have this experience in my life often where it's just like, oh, I could do that. I could do this. I want to do that. I want to try this thing.
00:04:26
And when you do that, it takes you out of focus. Um, and, and then you get off the beaten path. And that's why so many of you that are watching this video, if this is, this is you just like to type me in the comments. Um, because I feel you, you, you're like, I want to do assisted living and then stuff comes up. I'll, I'll do it. I don't know how to start, or I'll do it when this happens.
00:04:50
that that's a normal thing for you to feel um for for you to to to not take action because you feel uh confused or you get caught up in something else or life happens those things are are normal it's going to happen even when you're on the path once once you start moving down the path things are going to come up but you just have to persistently beat through it um i i have if you watch some of my older videos i've mentioned this before
00:05:15
I have a plaque behind me that says dreams demand hustle. And for me at that time in my life, that was very true. I thought you had to hustle to get anything that you wanted. And I've realized since then that that's not necessarily the case. And I still have the plaque, but I use it as a reminder to
00:05:33
slow down and not hustle so much. But I do think that there is a component of hustling, especially when it gets to the point of, this is the thing I'm going to do. And you become committed to it and you really start moving towards it. That is something that can really help you, um, help you move forward with confidence is getting a little bit into the hustle zone. You
00:06:00
still do the research. But you do have to work hard at these things. And actually, in the roadmap challenge, I talked to you a little bit about that. It's what I call the focus quadrant. So if you're interested in learning more about that, go to roadmapchallenge.com. I would love to have you in there or type in focus down below. I'll make sure we get you a link to an upcoming challenge.
00:06:20
Now, the next thing that I want you to know is you should be attempting to avoid costly mistakes. This is something as I was getting into assisted living that I just, I kind of, I was willing to make mistakes, which I think is a good thing. But the mistakes that I made were very costly.
00:06:40
They like not only time, but also money. And, and so you need to be aware that it's okay to break a few eggs as you're as you're baking the cake here, but
00:06:53
you might as well find somebody that can help you avoid some of those costly mistakes it will cost you a whole lot less in the long run so when you do that you're going to prevent wasting money by getting the wrong property by getting something that actually doesn't work for assisted living i have talked to so many people here dozens of people where they say oh i have the perfect property i've bought this property and i want to turn into assisted living and i i've looked at them and it's just oh man they are not
00:07:22
right for assisted living. They're too small. They're not in the right area. They didn't check zoning. There's an HOA that while HOA cannot technically stop you, they can make your life difficult when it comes to trying to start an assisted living business. And those are the things that you don't foresee. And you just get caught up in this lens of,
00:07:39
I'm going to get into assisted living. I'm going to figure it out. And you can make mistakes and get yourself in a situation where you now own a property that just isn't going to meet your goals to help you create the time of financial freedom that you want for you and your family. You need to spend time early on in the process, understanding rules and regulations and zoning and what the fire department is going to tell you, what you can and can't do, the licensing process.
00:08:05
You need to figure those things out so that you don't jump into a model of home that's not right for you. In my mind, there's four kind of core ways that you can get started, and we go through that in the Roadmap Challenge. So if you're interested in learning what those core ways of getting started are, just type in core down below. We'll get you a link to the Roadmap Challenge. I would love to have you in there.
00:08:26
So I can help you identify which of these models is best for me based off of my scenario. And how can I move forward with that? I help you help you figure that out in the roadmap challenge, because it's going to let you also when you do this, when you're trying to avoid those costly mistakes.
00:08:43
you need to figure out the numbers and see if it's going to be profitable. Not only can you get stuck in the spot where you own a home that just isn't right for assisted living, you can get a deal that you think is going to be profitable, but you've not run the numbers, and so you don't understand is it actually going to be profitable or not.
00:09:01
You need to spend some time doing that because if not, you can get yourself in a really bad situation. And I want to help you walk through the process of understanding how income comes in. What are the levers you can pull when it comes to income to make sure that you have enough
00:09:15
that coming in to sustain all of the expenses you're going to have and understanding what those expenses are. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about those, I talk about the WIFED expenses, W-I-F-E-D. If you want to learn more about that, just type in WIFED down below. I can do a video that's specific to that or point you to some resources there.
00:09:35
But you need to understand those, what those look like, and then you need to kind of catapult that into, okay, how much income am I going to have? What's my gap there? How much profitability can I realistically have? And what happens in bad scenarios where...
00:09:52
I have residents pass away or residents move out or something along those lines. And that income now shrinks, but my expenses kind of don't shrink. And what's that going to look like? So I want to make sure you have an understanding of that because you should be making some very data backed decisions.
00:10:09
before you jump into something. I want you to understand the numbers. I want you to understand what you're getting into before you just jump forward. My underwriting calculator at Assisted Living Investing, it's free. Go grab it. It's the big blue box right there that says get your free underwriting calculator. If you do that, you're going to be further ahead than almost anybody that's looking at getting into this business. It's going to help you out a ton.
00:10:33
And if you need some help in understanding exactly how that works, go check out the Launchpad bundle at assistedlivinginvesting.net slash launchpad. I can help you out with that.
00:10:44
need to understand those things so you don't make those costly mistakes you also need to be doing something that is going to build momentum and help you to progress um as you get into this like these are the types of things that if you don't do this you're going to just remain confused and not know what what you're doing um so you need to follow i would say a roadmap something that is has defined milestones something that will help you make progress i have
00:11:10
The Profitable Assisted Living Facility, this book, is a great resource for you. I just put it out here a couple months ago. Make sure you go grab that, thealibook.com. I'll have links for it down below for you if you're on YouTube, and we'll put it in the podcast as well. But you need to have some kind of a roadmap. Also check out roadmapchallenge.com. We'd love to have you there.
00:11:32
When you have something that tells you, okay, this is the framework, this is the process that I can follow, that's going to give you the confidence to really launch your assisted living business and get to the point where you know where you're going. It turns your ideas from...
00:11:50
And it turns what were your ideas, your hopes, your dreams, what you wanted to do into something that is more consistent. It's measurable. It's something, okay, this is the to-do list. This is the framework that I should be working within so I can actually make progress. And I teach a five-phase framework. It's called the focus framework.
00:12:09
that I get into in the book and also go through that in depth in my success system program. I would love to have you there. If you want to see if it's a good fit for you, go to aliquiz.com and take my 30 second quiz to see if it's a good fit. But when you do those things and you have a framework and you have
00:12:27
a path, you've got a book, you've got the challenge. When you have something like that, it allows you to really move forward with clarity and confidence to take the right steps and understand what those steps are and why they're important. Not just, oh, I watched a video. I got to do underwriting. Oh, I watched a video. I got to create a business plan. Oh, I watched a video. I should go look at this property over here.
00:12:53
you, you watch all my YouTube videos. You could take action on all of those things and you could launch your own assisted living business. I've had people do that. People have reached out to me and said, thank you so much. Like I learned enough that I got from you what I needed. I just started my assisted living business. And that for me is super rewarding. But also I realized there's like almost 500 videos on this channel. Um,
00:13:16
there's a few hundred podcasts that are out there and trying to remember like what he said, this, how does that connect with this? It's so hard to, to, to kind of put those things together. And so you need something. I would strongly encourage you. I would love to work with you. If you work with somebody else, it's fine. You need, you need a guide. You need somebody to help you out in, in making the right steps at the right time so that you don't,
00:13:41
Don't make these costly mistakes and put yourself in a really bad situation because you can if you do that. But when you have that guy, when you have that thing that's going to be there for you, it allows you to have clarity and execute with confidence so you can move forward and achieve your goals and your dreams. That's what's going to help you really create real traction as you're starting to move towards launching your first assisted living business.
00:14:08
It also, when you do those things, is going to help shorten the learning curve. It makes it that much easier because you have somebody that has gone through it before and they're sharing their wisdom. They're sharing proven frameworks, things that actually work, things that you can implement and get into. You can skip the trial and error that comes from
00:14:29
uh from a lot of us trying to bang your head against the wall and get it to work um gives you the clarity uh to to get the funds that you need how to get the funds uh what that's going to look like the licensing process um exactly what that's going to look like when you start discovering honestly this is this is i think one of the the best ways that you can get confidence as you're trying to launch your assisted living business
00:14:54
Get in the same room with people that have already been where you want to be.
00:15:00
And learn from them. Start asking them questions. Start seeing what they did, what mistakes they made, what mistakes you should be avoiding, how you should be moving forward. When you do that, it opens up a world of possibilities because it is just shrinking your learning curve significantly. It just makes it so much faster for you. I went about it kind of a different way. I invested in education.
00:15:30
for real estate. Uh, that was the thing that I needed experience with because I have a master's in healthcare administration. I have worked in the healthcare industry since 2013. The healthcare part of it for me was not something that was confusing, but I didn't understand the real estate aspect of it. And I spent $20,000 on real estate education. And that for me helped me understand how to look for properties, how to go out and talk to, um, talk to lenders and, and talk to, um, brokers and people like that.
00:15:59
And that I truly believe is what allowed me to catapult myself into where I'm at today. And it was a lot of money, right? That $20,000 is a lot of money to spend. Plus, however much it was for grad school, $60,000, $80,000. Like I've spent over $100,000 in educating myself on how to do this. And that's what I share with you inside of my programs. So you don't have to pay that much because I don't cost that much.
00:16:26
Um, but also sharpen the learning curve because it is so specific and honed into assisted living that it will allow you to reach your goals and achieve what you want to do. So make sure you find somebody. I would love to be that person, but if it's not me, then find somebody that works.
00:16:42
for you that you can work with because it will save you time and money and make your life so much easier if you just find somebody that can help you just reduce that learning curve. Oh man, it's so worth it. I promise you that.
00:16:58
So the last thing that I want to tell you when it comes to having the confidence to really move forward with this is you have to take action. Stop waiting. Stop sitting and thinking, oh, well, maybe the next time I do that or once I get paid this Friday or once my parents have enough money or once I save up enough money here that
00:17:24
Stop saying, once this thing happens, that's when I'll do it. Or if only this would happen. Stop saying those things because it puts you in this state of mind where you're just very restrictive. You're not thinking abundantly. You're thinking very like, man, the world's against me. Nothing's ever going to get better. You have to start taking action. It's when you start taking action that things will start falling into place for you.
00:17:52
That that's what happened to me when I was getting started in assisted living. Um, if you've read my book or watched some of my videos, I, my, my daughter was sick. Um, and I, I was staying home from church. It was a Sunday. I stayed home from church with her. And, um, I read rich dad, poor dad in one day, uh, rich dad, poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It talks a lot about real estate investing. And I could have read that book and been like, oh man, that is such a good book. Um,
00:18:20
one day I'm going to do that but that's not what I did I immediately after reading the book got on my phone and I looked up Rich Dad Poor Dad Salt Lake City and there was an event happening in about a week from then and I signed up for it immediately it was a free event to go to ultimately tried to sell you into their program and that's not the $20,000 real estate education I got into different program, different story
00:18:50
But I immediately, after reading the book, got on to their website and signed up for an event to go and learn more. I did not wait. I didn't say, oh, man, once this thing happens. And I'll tell you what, the day that that event was, it was my anniversary. And so I had to have a conversation with my wife. But I took action.
00:19:12
And while that action didn't immediately lead me to getting assisted living, it wasn't like, oh, cool. I went to this Rich Dad Poor Dad event. And then two weeks later, I had an assisted living facility. It took a lot of time.
00:19:25
But the catalyst to doing it was not just reading a book and thinking, oh, this is a really cool idea. It was reading a book and then immediately taking action and then following through on that action. That's something that you need to do. So if this is resonating with you, type in roadmap down below because I'd love to get you the link to the roadmap challenge.
00:19:49
And I'll make sure I get that over to you if you type that in. If you're watching live or watching this right now, go to roadmapchallenge.com and sign up. This is your sign to be like, oh man, I do need to take action. That's the next action for you. The Roadmap Challenge, it's a live event. It's not a sales call. It's not a webinar, like a little cheap webinar or anything like that. It's a paid challenge. It's very affordable.
00:20:17
Go check it out. You can get in there. You can work directly with me the entire week. We go in live. It's such a fun experience. We teach you all of the things that you need to have to create a roadmap so you know which way to go and what things you should be doing so you can actually make real progress. This is the thing where you're just like, I don't know how to get the confidence. I don't know how to start. I'm not even sure where to go.
00:20:43
This is the thing that you need. Go check it out. Roadmap challenge.com. Um, I would love to have you in there. It's so much fun for me to, to see light bulbs going off in your eyes and helping you just make connections like, Oh, that's why, that's why you do that. That's, that's the reason why we do it this way. That's the process I need to follow. That's how this thing works.
00:21:04
I love doing that. I taught at the university of Utah prior to getting into assisted living and I loved teaching. It was, it was one of my favorite things to do and I just couldn't fit it into my schedule. Once I started getting into assisted living and my family was growing and it just didn't work out. And this is my way of like getting into that again. And I love it. It's so much fun. So I would love to have you there. Roadmapchallenge.com.
00:21:25
yeah it's a week-long live experience we get to work together be in the same virtual room uh it's virtual it's not in person uh so you come in your pajamas if you want i don't care but i would love to help you out there so make sure make sure you do that this is the action that you need to take
00:21:41
If that doesn't work for you, timing doesn't work, the cost of it doesn't work for whatever reason at this point, then go grab the book, thealibook.com, the Profitable Assisted Living Facility. I have put my entire brain in there. It has so much information. It will help you out as you're trying to launch your assisted living business. But regardless of what you do, you have got to take action. You've got to move forward.
00:22:05
So that's the thing that's going to give you the clarity, give you the confidence, help you avoid making those costly mistakes. It's going to reduce your learning curve significantly. It's going to help you build some momentum so you can make real progress. So make sure you do those things, take action, take the right action, and make sure you're moving things forward, moving things along.
00:22:24
If you haven't already, make sure you like the video, subscribe, ring the bell so you get notified every time we put out content like this. We go live on Tuesdays. We put out content on Thursdays as well. Trying to put out as much information for you as I can get. I had somebody on YouTube reach out to me this past week.
00:22:41
As somebody that loves to teach and help people, what she said to me was so rewarding. She said, I'll paraphrase because I don't remember exactly, but she was watching and she said, I'm in tears right now watching this because I can't believe you're giving this stuff away for free. Because this is something I've been trying to get into this for so long and you're answering all my questions.
00:23:03
And that's what I do this for, for people like you that, um, that are looking for answers and trying to get things along. That for me was like, I did it. I like it was, and it was an old video that I'm sure was a horrible quality. It was three years ago probably. And I didn't know what I was doing when I was the recording piece of it, but the information is there and it's solid. I would love to help you out and help you answer your questions. So go check out the roadmap challenge.com.
00:23:30
Are you curious about assisted living, but you're not sure how to get started at assisted living investing? I help first time assisted living entrepreneurs launch profitable purpose driven businesses, creating prosperity, purpose, and peace in their lives. And I would love to do that for you and help you out along your way. And remember, you just got to take action. 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 successful. Thanks so much for watching and we will see you next time.
Download Your FREE Calculator
Stay connected with news and updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.