Today we’d like to introduce you to Sherri Combs.
Sherri, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Working in banking and insurance most of my life I worked with a lot of local businesses from startups to large corporations. I love the entrepreneurs, but especially have a fondness for local business owners and their grit and drive and passion. I’ve also been a long time Senior advocate and have more volunteer Hours logged in local communities all over the United States trying to build better and stronger communities wherever I go most recently, many of my clients have needed help more than ever as they’ve faced aging and I’ve seen the long-term care nightmare unfold before my eyes. I see how much suffering Seniors and their caregivers go through how difficult it is to find trusted local quality services and care and how hard it is on the family relationships I’ve often tried to help, but it is so frustrating. Like searching for needle in a haystack. I find that most seniors find the help they need through word-of-mouth And I looked at my husband one day and said it just cannot be this hard. We need a search engine design just for seniors and senior care and so I decided to create one which meant I would have to quit my job tap into my retirement step outside of my comfort zone And learn everything I could as fast as I could about website design, digital marketing SCO optimization, but I know people and I know my people. I know my business owners and I know my seniors and I know what motivates them and I know the problems they have and I know how to solve them so I put that all together and created Silver Streak Senior Services so think of a blend between google and Angie’s list but just for seniors with a little bit of Facebook in there too it will be a one stop shop hub where we’ve lifted up local quality businesses from Handyman to rehab centers from senior living to Senior. Medical Center’s to travel excursions Chiropractor‘s dental vision centers caregivers realtors estate planners mobile notaries you name it if they can pass a background check and they have good ratings. Their licenses are in order. Their insurance is in order we check and that all of the people on the site if you’re on our site you’re one of the good guys And seniors and their caregivers can trust that you’re committed to take care of them so you might not find 100 plumbers on our site but you’re gonna find 15 of the best ones in the area. It’s a badge of honor to be on our site and the seniors rate you and they’re very loyal to the people who give them quality services and treat them with kindness and dignity and respect. I want to elevate the good guys in business that are local and give seniors and caregivers peace of mind and this is the platform that can make that happen. I want to see the way our culture view seniors is not something to be Inconvenienced by but rather to be celebrated for their wisdom and their contribution so this site is more than just a directory or search engine it’s a community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Setting up the legal structure was easy for me because I’ve done that for so many other business owners so I knew right what to do but what I did not know is website design and development so I took a lot of classes and took the time to educate myself, I knew this was an area that I wasn’t gonna do myself, but I wanted to speak intelligently to the people and the teams that I hired to work with me so I had to spend a significant amount of time leveling up my skill set in those areas the challenge that I’m facing now is trying to grow both the vendor list and the membership list simultaneously so since I have two avatars or audiences, I have to develop two completely different strategies and everything that I do, but I don’t mind. I’m up for the task. I think trying to get business owners to see the value in having a loyal senior market is more challenging than the seniors themselves when I go to senior centers and I talk about the program. They’re very excited and they embrace it wholeheartedly, but the businesses you know advertising is tricky and can be very expensive and they’ve tried Google and it’s let them down so I don’t think they trust that our site will be different that we are going to boost them. There won’t be as much competition as there is on Google, but they’ll actually be an audience of people that will use them because remember we have the caregivers and the seniors and not everyone can get on our site so they’ll really stand out and have a fair shot and because we’re digital platform, we plan on highlighting them and helping them in their own digital platforms as well and we can drive a lot of awareness to them and we want to do that for them so our site will have a place for National advertisers, but that’s for people who do big National things we still need all the little businesses like the sand around the big rocks the glue that holds us all together as a community. The larger company see the value in this, but the smaller companies are having a hard time with it so we’re working on our own advertising to help convey the value to the small business owner.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’m so proud of our platform and our brand we want people to really equate it with trustworthiness and care and kindness. Every single person on our team is so passionate about this project and so committed to making it work because they truly believe in the mission of serving others taking care of our seniors and saving our smaller local business communities. We have a very affordable platform for local small businesses to be found for his littlest $45 a month and seniors can join as members for as little as one dollar for a lifetime membership. We have so many amazing ideas to build out still once we get the momentum going, but we will have a place for seniors will think of first and we love to hang out in our digital space because there will be lots and lots of content for them things that they find interesting so they don’t have to sit through reels and reels of mind numbing content to find what they need everything about the site is user-friendly for seniors large buttons, easy to font high contrast, colors and definition. Inspiring stories and content from other seniors, inspiring stories and content of how golden the golden years really can be so this is not a sad site, but rather a happy thriving Senior site. I really like our community page where we highlight local seniors, and our ambassadors in the different senior citizen community centers, and how we have the listings of all the government buildings county by county and free services that they can have access to truly making it a valuable resource for them.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think that people see the passion I have for this project and the focus that I have and that I’m really serious about it, but I think people would be surprised at my sense of humor. I really can be quite funny and I love to make people laugh, and I love doing domestic things around the house. I bake my own sourdough bread. I grow a lot of my own fruits and vegetables even tropical ones right here in Texas, I am crazy about birds and bees ( the real ones) and I have little critters in my backyard that eat right out of my hand now I’ve birds who come visit me and fly down and sit on my shoulders and take food right out of my hand and fall asleep on my lap It’s the craziest thing but I really feel honored that they trust me that much and it’s just the coolest thing ever I know I spent a lot of time in the senior space right now, but I also love children. I love to teach highschoolers and college students about finance and cooking (I was a chef for 5 years) . I’m a big advocate for that and I’ve spent a lot of volunteer time doing that. I read about a book a week on average and I love sharing the knowledge about what I’ve learned to help improve the lives of everyone around me.
Pricing:
- Founders Special 1.00 lifetime membership
- Limited time for business owners 4 months free with no obligation except the 99.00 background and ad set up fee
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.silverstreakseniorservices.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deannsherrilegacy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sherri.combs.5
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherri-combs-12b259b0/
- Twitter: @sherric43044
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SilverStreakSeniors
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580172133946
Image Credits
Me and Husband Dean happily married 25 years. Me and my newest adopted Grandson Jensen, I am the photographer on all of them.
