Your Resident Experience Matters

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Elizabeth Audette-Bourdeau, Founder of Welbi, located in Ottawa, ON, CA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Welbi helps staff at senior living communities personalize the experience for residents. The software allows staff to get to know residents better by suggesting questions and helping them fill out an assessment. Then it can match them with other residents who have similar hobbies, are from the same town, or speak the same language. Welbi will make recommendations for events that new residents should join to maximize their engagement and get to know others. It also allows staff in senior living communities to track who attended activities and who hasn't so that nobody's forgotten.

Tell us about yourself

After my grandpa's health started to decline in 2016, my family moved him into a senior living community where he could meet other residents and where staff would look out for him. Sadly, the opposite happened, and he ended up being socially isolated. He passed away a few months later. For me, that was an awakening. Even though the staff truly wants to provide residents with a personalized experience, they don't have the resources to do so.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Being able to make a real difference in society - senior living community staff are superheroes. They want to do everything they can for residents, but they're overwhelmed. It's an incredible accomplishment to see the Welbi team's work free their day, so they can spend that time with their residents instead of sitting behind a desk.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Welbi was originally launched as a wearable technology that connected to smartwatches and sent alerts to caregivers whenever there was a change in the wearer's habits. But we detected that the residents were either not wearing the bracelets or forgetting to charge them so we couldn't provide the caregivers with the necessary insights. It just wasn't working. Then we realized that the issue wasn't about keeping track of residents' vital signs or habits that way — the issue was that the staff was completely overwhelmed. But failing is a good lesson.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

You need to have motivation, vision and a mission that drives you (beyond just making money) because it does get hard — running your startup is not easy, and entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. You need a reason to get up in the morning, help you go to bed late at night, and persevere whenever it gets hard.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.welbi.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/welbi.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/welbi.co/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eabourdeau
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-audette-bourdeau/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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