At 29, Nathanael Farrelly sold her nursing business for $12.5 million and left her full-time job to focus on family, real estate and Angel Investing.
But in 2017 he was a newly licensed nurse with a long shift in hospital, adapting to the disruption and intensity of his job.
“I remember having a nausea every morning and getting sick in my stomach,” he says of the first few weeks. “It really started to have a lot of anxiety and stress.”
He appreciated the experience and learned a lot, but that early pressure stayed with him and ultimately shaped how he thought about staffing nurses and providing care.
Natanael Farrely at home.
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“I started praying to be clear…and I began to ask myself where else could it have an impact,” he says.
The stress made him rethink his future with nursing and ultimately set him on the path that would bring him financial independence.
Become an entrepreneur
In 2017, nursing classmates told Farrelly about infusion therapy, which often involves administration of IV treatments at patients' homes. This job provided far more autonomy on schedule compared to hospital changes.
Farrelly went from critical care to home infusion while earning her bachelor's degree and starting her master's degree. He was attracted by one-on-one care and slow pace and soon began to notice the gap between how care was delivered.
“It opened my eyes… There aren't enough nurses and when this can be done at home, there are too many patients going to the hospital,” he says. “That's when my entrepreneurial side just expanded.”
In March 2020, Farrelly launched Revitalize Specialty Infusion, a company that hired nurses to provide home-based IV treatment. What set the business apart was its focus on efficiency. It's about minimizing travel time by hiring locally and giving nurses more control over their schedules.
To fund it, he spent about $80,000 on personal savings and used the proceeds after selling his Rhode Island home. They invested around $175,000 in the business.
Natanael Farrely in his home office.
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The demand for home care has skyrocketed during the pandemic, allowing Farrelly's business to grow very quickly. One of his first cold calls led to a contract that covered 50 patients overnight.
The sudden success of his business allowed him to accept $111,000 on PPP loans in 2021 to hire more nurses in 2021, but avoided external investments. The loan was later allowed.
I sell my business
In May 2023, Farrelly sold Revitalize to Option Care Health, one of the nation's largest injection providers, with $12.5 million in cash. He stayed for about a year before resigning in 2024.
“It was a real exit for me,” he says. “It allowed me to really focus on my family.”
Now based in Pensacola, Florida, Farrelly spends time managing real estate, coaches children's soccer teams and helps other entrepreneurs, including friends' coffee companies and health-focused apps.
He says he's open to starting another company one day, but for now he's focused on protecting what he's built.
“The eight numbers can go away very quickly through generations at the end or through bad investments and lifestyle creep,” he says. “My personal definition of retirement is financial freedom. I don't necessarily retire from doing work that fulfills you. And so… I can focus on helping others and being with my family.”
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