Guest: Peter Rosenberger from Bozeman, Montana (Mountain Time)
We’ve all seen Amazon boom with the advent of online shopping. Next, we saw Uber ride the wave of the new app-driven gig taxi parade. Now the law of unintended consequences from the coronavirus is now kicking off the largest untapped growth sector for future entrepreneurs. Family Caregivers, working from home with one hand on their keyboards and the other hand on a thermometer.
And with the coronavirus keeping millions more at home, we welcome the new normal that is expected to outlast the very virus that is launching this new breed of at-home, online entrepreneurs.
We welcome Peter Rosenberger, host of the national syndicated show on Sirius-XM, “Hope for the Caregiver,” and author of the book “7 Caregiver Landmines and How to Avoid Them.”
Q&A:
- How solid is your number of there being 43 million unpaid home caregivers in The United States today?
Answer: It’s accurate but the larger figure including those currently being paid is an estimated 65 Million Americans who are Currently Family Caregivers.
- What direction is this likely to take with more people staying at home?
Answer: There’s only one place to go: Up. According to AARP, nearly half the workforce expects to serve as caregivers for aging loved ones in the next five years. Add to this the spread of COVID-19, it’s conceivable that 100% of us may become Caregivers sometime this year.
- What types of businesses can be run from the home?
Virtually anything, from web design to payroll management, and since this new under-tapped work force are already high-functioning, multi-taking individuals, they are already performing at higher levels than most workers—and their bosses.
- And what will happen after the coronavirus fades from our collective memories?
Answer: Still huge because once these caregivers who by necessity took up some form or entrepreneurship, they likely won’t want to give it up and may very well continue even in a climate of wellness. Imagine that: wellness around the corner.
- You personally became a caregiver for your wife Gracie 30 years ago and had to find a way to make a living from home. Is that how you became a book author and a talk show host?
Answer: Yes, I had to dismantle the way I used to work and evaluate my skills set and somehow managed to pay off all of the $10 million in medical bills my wife had amassed, and in the seven difference insurance companies we’ve hand, we’ve never had a gap in coverage. Double duty indeed, working and caregiving, but you do what you have to do!
- Do you have any closing remarks on why family caregivers make better entrepreneurs?
Answer: As caregivers, we daily face fears that quell some of the stoutest entrepreneurial hearts, yet we soldier on. Ponder the significant value of that kind of perseverance to any business. Recognizing our worth is the first step towards successful entrepreneurship through a product or service of our choice. Harnessing that value to a bit of courage and elbow grease, allows caregivers to turn our obstacles into our own ladders of success.
- Where may we get more information no cargiving, your talk show and your book?
Answer:
Reference article written by Peter Rosenberger:
https://www.newsmax.com/Finance/streettalk/caregivers-unpaid-entrepreneurs/2019/03/12/id/906557/
ABOUT PETER ROSENBERGER…
Peter Rosenberger is the host of the national radio program, HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER and the author of several books including 7 Caregiver Landmines And How You Can Avoid Them. He’s cared for his wife, Gracie, for more than 30 years through her 80+ operations and multiple amputations. www.hopeforthecaregiver.com @hope4caregiver
