9 Lessons Real Estate Investors can Learn from Digital Health Entrepreneurship

Healthcare entrepreneurship is one of the most dynamic fields to invest in. Digital health entrepreneurship has led to a raft of technological advances that improved health provision, such as telemedicine and telehealth.

Although digital health entrepreneurship seems far removed from real estate entrepreneurship, real estate business people might pick up a few tips from that industry. These are the top nine lessons a real estate investor can learn from digital health entrepreneurship:

1. Start with a Problem

It seems simple, but the first step to solving any problem is identifying what the problem is. When you identify a problem, you know exactly what type of customers you want to attract. For instance, digital health entrepreneurs realized pandemic lockdowns prevented patients from visiting healthcare facilities, so they came up with telemedicine.

The same goes for real estate. It’s not enough to identify what real estate niche you want to pursue; you must choose one that serves a need.

For example, lockdown measures prevented workers from going to the office during the pandemic. Meanwhile, online businesses flourished; hence the?demand for storage facilities skyrocketed. It would have made little sense to invest in offices during that time because all the smart moves in real estate pointed toward warehouses.

2. Keep Client Data Safely

Most digital health entrepreneurship typically involves storing and transmitting sensitive patient information online, which increases the chances of hacking. Indeed, healthcare organizations have seen?instances of ransomware attacks increase by 94%?between 2021 and 2022.

In real estate, clients wholly depend on you to protect their data. You are also under a legal obligation to protect the data, and the law will hold you responsible if there is a breach. Therefore, secure your system by installing secure security software and encoding data.

3. Get Insurance

Considering mistakes happen in the medical industry, it pays to get insurance. It?costs healthcare providers $1.9 billion yearly?to cover the cost of medical practice insurance, but it costs $17-$29 billion to cover preventable medical errors. Insurance is vital as it covers the costs of liability claims that would otherwise come out of pocket.

Real estate investors will do well to get business insurance to cover costly legal claims. You might get?sued for inadvertent mistakes?such as failing to disclose a property defect, breach of duty, or giving tax or legal advice.

4. Be Patient

Building a successful digital health enterprise takes time. You can’t expect everything to work overnight. There are days when you will feel like giving up.

You may not be able to afford the best equipment or supplies when you first start. But if you stick with it, eventually, you’ll afford them. And once you’ve got the basics down, you’ll move on to more significant projects.

Similarly, it takes time to build a successful real estate brand. Keep working hard and stay focused on your goals.

5. Be Willing to Learn

Digital health entrepreneurship involves technology, and you probably know how fast that changes. Therefore, you need to keep abreast of the latest developments in the industry if you are to stay ahead of the pack.

The real estate industry is also highly dynamic, with?housing prices often fluctuating?during the past two years. Investors have had to keep a close eye on proceedings to avoid suffering losses.

6. Use Data to Improve the Business

It is vital to have essential?healthcare data sources?to be innovative. For example, the only way to determine the prevalence of a particular disease is to access its statistical information and use that for data analysis. Entrepreneurs will then estimate the potential reach and price of the solution.

Accurate data is vital to help you know what the housing market demands – the more data available, the less time and money it takes to bring solutions to the market.

Once you’ve identified the market needs and understood the user experience, you’ll have a clearer picture of what’s working and what isn’t. Armed with this information, you can make informed decisions about how to improve your product or service.

7. Set up an Accounting System

While digital health systems can incorporate accounting and tax capabilities into software, the responsibility to file accurate taxes lies with the entrepreneur. Therefore, a digital health user must set up a bookkeeping and accounting system that complies with the tax law.

Real estate entrepreneurs need to employ bookkeepers and accountants that know their way around the real estate industry to handle and file bookkeeping records professionally.

8. Prove the Importance of Your Product or Service

In the healthcare industry, it helps to find a course of action that fills a gap you have noticed. You will need to prove to healthcare institutions that you have innovated something they may need and help make their work more efficient.

Similarly, in the housing sector, your clients are people with problems they want to be solved. You need to understand their concerns to solve them effectively. If you don’t know how your customer feels about your real estate services and products, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to sell more.

Consumers don’t care about your business; they care about themselves. To succeed, focus on helping people solve problems. That’s what will make your real estate brand stand out.

9. Involve Stakeholders

Stakeholders such as patients and medical professionals are crucial to creating digital health solutions.?

Stakeholders have a vested interest in the real estate industry. These are people involved in various aspects of the business, including buying, selling, leasing, financing, developing, managing, marketing, and advertising.

Involve them in research and data collection during the pilot stage to obtain valuable feedback to enhance the usability and utility of the solution you intend to provide.

Final Words

Digital health entrepreneurship is not just about technology. It is about people, processes, and culture. You must understand how these three components interact and influence each other to improve patients’ lives.

As a real estate agent, you must understand what clients want and consider how your offering will improve their lives. You can conquer the real estate industry by using lessons from digital health entrepreneurship, such as involving stakeholders, using data to improve the business, and keeping client data safe.

By Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA