🎯 The business: groceries, pharmacy runs, rides to appointments, light housekeeping, a game of cards and someone to talk to, for older people who live alone. The country is aging faster than it ever has, and most families live an hour or more away. It is one person with a car and a kind manner.

Adult children who live out of town, and the older person directly. Billing runs $25 to $40 an hour with a two-hour minimum, or weekly packages. A client typically wants four to ten hours a week for years. Senior centers, churches, elder law attorneys and geriatric care managers are the referral sources.

Read your state’s definition of home care, because the line between errands and licensed care is hands-on help with bathing, dressing and medication; stay on the errand side until you are licensed. Visit the senior center, the parish office and two elder law attorneys. Start with two clients from your own circle and ask their children for a review. Keep a log of every visit.

Eight clients at six hours a week and $30 an hour is about $1,440 a week, with fuel and insurance as your only real costs. Reliability is what people pay for, so the schedule fills by word of mouth within a few months. The step up is a licensed home care agency, which is a different business with staff and a state license; many start here and grow there.

Companion and errand services are unlicensed in most states as long as no personal or medical care is provided; the definitions vary, so read yours. Rides in your car require insurance that covers paying passengers. Background checks are a selling point even where not required. Never handle a client’s money without a written arrangement.

A fall while you are there. A family dispute about money or decisions that you are pulled into. A client whose needs grow past what you can legally provide. The people who last keep clear boundaries, document everything, carry the insurance, and know which agency to refer to when it is time.