Small nursing and care staff agency

Private retirement and long-term care homes, clinics, home care providers and other healthcare employers that need short-notice or ongoing cover.

You bill the client an hourly rate for each shift worked and pay the worker a lower hourly wage. The difference covers payroll costs, insurance and your own income.

• Recruiting and vetting people
• Scheduling and quick problem solving
• Building relationships with care managers
• Careful record keeping and paperwork

• Some provinces licence or restrict staffing agencies, and some limit agency use in publicly funded care, so check your provincial rules before you start
• Verify every nurse's registration with their provincial college, plus police and vulnerable sector checks and any required vaccinations
• Decide carefully whether workers are employees or contractors; check employment standards and WCB/WSIB coverage rules in your province
• Commercial general liability and professional liability insurance, and who is covered when a worker makes a mistake
• Cash flow: you pay workers weekly or biweekly, while clients may pay 30 days or more later
• Privacy rules for health and personal information, which differ by province

Startup costs are typically around $8,000 to $35,000, depending on your recruiting, credential checking, insurance and systems for scheduling and invoicing. These are estimates, and cash flow matters because you pay workers before clients may pay you.

Monthly revenue is typically around $6,000 to $30,000, depending on how many workers you place and how many shifts clients book. Clients may pay 30 days or more after you pay your workers. These are estimates, not guarantees.

Things to check: whether your province licenses or restricts staffing agencies, verifying each nurse's registration with their provincial college, police and vulnerable sector checks, employee versus contractor status, WCB/WSIB, insurance, and health privacy rules.