There are still a lot of seniors who, while enjoying retirement, still have a passion for business. They have the wisdom, knowledge, and expertise, but just don’t quite have the energy they used to. I have worked with seniors and have come across many who fit into this category. I decided to put my thinking cap on and do some research to see just how feasible it would be for a senior to start their own business even though they are in their golden years. What I discovered was most interesting.
Seniors Helping Seniors
One of the problems I thought that might come up is lack of trust. If a person was looking for a service or product that a senior could offer through a business, would they be trusted? Would their age become an issue? Would prospective clients be worried about the quality of the product or be concerned that the senior would not have a sound judgment about what they were bringing to the public? Maybe, a customer or a client has no problem with the business owner unless and until they are served well. Doing business as a senior may not be common in today’s world but it is not impossible either. Seniors can easily run a company with great business ideas. For instance, they can adopt missional entrepreneurship, as people are often interested to learn about religion from the older, as what they present would be a combination of religion and their own experience. Apparently, there are many ideas out there, it’s just about picking the right one and being active and passionate about it. To begin, a retired person can go to the bank, take a loan, and start a firm. If they have fear about the repayment of bank loans, they can reach out to key person life insurance companies and subscribe to a life cover. If they will die before repaying the loan, their insurance amount can be used to pay it back.
To get past this and not have to deal with this problem, I thought that if the senior’s target market were also seniors, this might create more credibility. A thriving market for seniors can be in their own ‘backyard’, so to speak. If they live in assisted living facilities in Omaha or wherever they are based, they have a rich customer pool right there that they are able to reach out to and connect with to build on their business.
Nowadays, elderly people can even start their own business from the comforts of their home. Many seniors are able to keep up their social lives because they stay at their own home for as long as they can. Medical equipment can now be fitted in the home itself, which makes it much easier for them to maintain their neighbourhood friends. The main physical issue that elderly people struggle with is slower movements and mobility. In this day and age, there are options for that as well. They can simply Rent A Stairlift or buy a motorised scooter and continue living life as usual. This would help them even from the business sense, as they have their own home with its creature comforts, and also a customer pool in the form of a neighbourhood that they already know well.
An Example
Like any business, it would mean finding out if there was a need that could be met. With the target market being seniors, what needs would they have that another senior could meet? There was one that came to mind immediately.
Savvy Shopping For Seniors
One of the big problems that many seniors have is the quantity of food they must buy if they want to eat healthily. The biggest problem with this lies with the veggies and the meats.
If a senior wants to have carrots with one of their meals, they have to buy them in bunches. Each bunch has no less than six carrots. A senior for a single serving might eat one of these at most. The other five end up sitting in the fridge for up to five weeks. By this time, they are anything but fresh. The same can be said about root veggies and cabbage: even lettuce and salad mixings.
Seniors hate to waste food, so rather than buy these veggies, they will do without.
The same with meat. It is difficult for seniors to find one or two servings of different meat choices.
They could indeed buy regular meat sizes and freeze them individually, but I disagree with this for seniors. I have found that this age group prefers fresh foods as opposed to frozen. Many of them live in small quarters and don’t have room for even a small freezer. Their apartment sized fridge does not have a good-sized freezer capacity.
The Business Solution
I felt that a great business idea would be for a senior to meet this need for other seniors. They are the perfect person for this. They have first-hand knowledge about the types and quantities of foods that a senior needs to be themselves.
The Business Operation
All it would take is for the senior running the business is to go out and do regular shopping for meat and veggies for a week that the average senior would do if they were going to eat healthily.
They would then take these items and break them down into individual sizes to serve six, which is what the average purchase of a vegetable could easily serve.
These vegetables could be cut into six senior sized service sections:
- Turnip
- Carrots
- Squash
- Lettuce
As well as several others.
When it comes to meat, regular quantities of the following could be purchased:
- Chicken
- Hamburg
- Sausage
- Pork Chops
These too could all be re-packaged into single services, making a total of six.
Meeting The Demand
The senior who is now operating this business could make up weekly boxes of this collection of individual servings of food. It could then be sold to seniors who have an interest. Which there should be many of. Not only are they going to get all the nourishment they need, but the veggies are prepared and ready to cook or serve. The overall cost would be less than if they were to shop for themselves, even with paying for this service.
This potential ideal alone has brought me to the conclusion that they may be several other business opportunities for seniors.