The right partners make the difference

STEPHANIE HEACOX is launching a great new business, Senior Homeshares.  It’s built on a powerful personal motivation to address pain and reduce anxiety.

You see, a few years ago, her mother was in the usual end-of-life bind about housing.  She couldn’t sustain the family home, but didn’t want to move into Assisted Living or one of the other services for people who need support.

The financial burden was part of it, of course, but also the difficulty of making decisions to become dependent on others.

It’s a tough stage that many people deal with, and they need help.

Steph is an experienced web consultant with a diverse background, so she came up with the brilliant idea to match elders who have room to spare, with others who need a place to live.

Think of it as a roommate-finding service, specifically serving the elderly population.

I first found out about this as part of a competition she applied for, the SBA’s InnovateHER award.  They’re in the process of selecting finalists right now.

For Steph, that’s just another step in the long string of marketing activities she’s put together.  It includes reaching out to a wide range of partners (more on that in a moment) as well as directly educating the market – seniors and their children – about the availability of this innovative service.

You can check out the specifics of her service yourself.  Here, I’d like focus on the powerful business that she’s building behind it.  She has a far-reaching vision, because she’d like to be able to serve many thousands of people.  Millions – who knows?

You do that by developing a service which is well thought out, robust, and has scalability behind it.

You do that with great partners.

I was particularly impressed with Steph’s attention to picking the right partners for her technology development, for handling payment processing, for sorting out the legal side, and the wide array of marketing efforts she’s starting.  For that, she pulled on some connections she’s had with local libraries and then their national association.  She’s developed interesting possibilities with her local co-housing community.

For her bookkeeper, she picked the right technology first, then found someone who was well versed in using it.  But she also listens to the advice of her partners and is learning rapidly.

Of course, I asked her about what her focus is on next.  The top priority is a re-branding which was JUST done, and the far-reaching implications of this name change.

Next will come launches of her two strong marketing thrusts:

1. Reaching her target customers, elders and their kids who are usually a part of the decision-making
2. Spreading the word to a broad range of marketing partners, including senior assistance agencies, home health care businesses, InterAgency Network, and other national players.

But again, Stephanie is seeking out the highest quality partnerships, the ones where she has the deepest alignment of values and missions.

That’s what will make this business skyrocket in the next few years!

As a side note, we spent a few minutes talking about another business that Steph has created to help people with estate planning and executorship.  You can see there’s a strong connection – but through her heart and passion.  They’re separate businesses.

This is what happens when you have such a deep passion around an important cause.  It can make an amazing difference to the world.

And your life.