Abbie Richie on Empowering Seniors in the Tech World

Abbie Richie built Senior Savvy on a simple conviction: older adults aren’t dinosaurs to be pitied or rushed, but scholars who deserve to learn technology patiently and from the ground up. What started as helping her in-laws and their neighbors became a company spanning 35 states.

In this conversation she and Richard Lowe, who counts older authors among his favorite clients, trade a shared belief that the later years can be a beginning, and that purpose keeps people learning.

Abbie Richie is founder and CEO of Senior Savvy, which provides technology workshops and support at senior living communities across the United States. She’s a fourth-generation entrepreneur, TED speaker, and host of the weekly Tech Tuesday livestream.

She started Senior Savvy in 2018 after seeing an unmet need for patient tech support for older adults, and grew it from five Arizona communities to 35 states during the pandemic pivot to Zoom.

DISCUSS YOUR BOOK

Full transcript of the conversation follows.

Richard Lowe: Tell me about yourself.

Abbie Richie: I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m a fourth-generation entrepreneur on both sides. We’re hardwired in our family to do things. I started Senior Savvy about five years ago, my second company. It’s truly the marriage of two things I love: all things tech and helping older adults. I grew up with my Nana and Papa and have a deep love and admiration for older adults. In 2017, I found myself unemployed and nothing was panning out. It was pretty depressing because I’d been working since I was 13. I remember talking to my dad about how distressed I was, and he said, “Abbie, there’s a golden pony under all this poop.” Things dads say, right? Not long after, I decided to just serve. My in-laws had downsized and needed help with their technology. Then their neighbor needed help. Then their neighbor. Over the course of a month, I thought, I really like this. It serves a need, and I can only do something I’m passionate about. I made five phone calls in one day to senior living communities and offered a free workshop. I called it “Cellphone Secrets for Seniors,” made it up on the spot. I hadn’t written it, never taught it, hadn’t touched PowerPoint in ten years. But I’m a teacher. I’ve always taught. That’s the entrepreneur in me. I got three bookings by the end of the day and had the other two by the end of the week. These aren’t nursing homes. These are luxury senior living communities where people with income and desire to connect with family want to use their technology. I started teaching classes, doing private one-on-one sessions, and growing services from there.

The Pandemic Pivot

Abbie: In 2020, all the senior living communities closed. One community here in Arizona called Sagewood had been doing community-wide meetings on Zoom for years because they didn’t have a large enough meeting room. They taught me how to use Zoom. And my students kept asking, “Can you just please teach on Zoom?” I hated Zoom. I thought it was excessively complicated. And getting a dozen or two people over 80 onto a Zoom call, who would want to do that? But these residents already knew the technology, so I started teaching on Zoom. I wasn’t happy with it at first. It was weird. But I got used to it and started piloting the same model in other places. We were able to get so many people on Zoom blindfolded. “All right, click here.” It became victory after victory. Senior Savvy went from five communities in Arizona to five states, to 25 states, to 35 states and international. We grew because there was such a need for this programming.

The TED Talk

Abbie: I really wanted my TED talk to be about the fact that the way we’re teaching older adults technology is dead wrong. They’re not dinosaurs. They’re scholars. People have been trying to teach older adults as if they’re 20-year-olds in the Apple Store, where it’s loud and instructors speak quickly. But older adults are traditional learners. They took notes, wrote dissertations, typed things. They want to learn from the basics and build a foundation so they can feel confident and empowered to continue learning. We’re skipping steps. The TED application process is incredibly rigorous. It’s like applying for residency, and you have to apply uniquely at all these different places. But it’s 100% possible. They’re doing TED talks everywhere, every single day. I consulted with a TED coach named Cesar Cervantes. He said I had an original idea nobody else was talking about and to just keep applying. I committed to completing three applications every Tuesday. Midway through 2022, someone from TED emailed me and said they liked my application but wanted me to talk about something different: AI. I said I’m not an AI expert, but I’m an expert on older adults and technology. Could I talk about how AI will impact older adults? They said yes. I researched every TED talk on AI, about two dozen at that point, and focused on how AI will impact the longevity of our older population and how family members can help older adults lean into AI technology instead of running from it. I recorded it from my office instead of delivering on stage because of COVID restrictions. I still have my original TED talk idea in me, the one about how we’re teaching older adults wrong. I’d still do it.

Richard: You should apply for it. A TED talk is on my bucket list too.

Tech Tuesday and Smart Bathrooms

Abbie: I’ve become known as an expert in technology for older adults. It’s a niche. My messaging is very specific. I’m not talking to everyone about technology, though I do get called in to talk about consumer tech on the news. Typically the discussion I’m asked to have is on how technology is impacting older adults in senior living communities. I have a show every Tuesday called Tech Tuesday on a livestream platform that gets broadcasted to over 60,000 C-suite senior living executives weekly. This week, my topic was toilet tech, also known as the smart bathroom. I like alliteration. Senior Savvy, Cellphone Secrets, Toilet Tech. No one wants to talk about it, but it’s a massive place for data collection, like the next frontier of blood tests.

Richard: I’ve actually written articles on it. The potential of a smart toilet, it can take all kinds of data. What do you do when you go to the doctor? They do urine tests. A toilet could do that really easily. There’s not a lot of it actually built out at this point, though.

Abbie: I had a panel with two companies that have actual toilet technology. One is Toi Labs and the other is Casana Care, where they’re collecting data. The third panelist was from Dignity Lifts, which physically lifts you from the toilet seat so you don’t need a caregiver for that.

Richard: When my wife was sick, I had to help her off the toilet. That was a lot of work. She’s passed away since, but I went through the whole thing.

The People She Serves

Abbie: A lot of working one-on-one has to do with dropping my own agenda so I can be present for them. Older adults are the best people on the planet because they’re present. Anyone under 50 has a lot of things competing for their attention. My clients are present, incredibly wise, and have learned so much. The people I’ve worked with at these communities are some of the most accomplished folks I’ve ever met. Judges, an ambassador to a foreign country, the former CEO of Mayo. All these incredibly distinguished people with so much wisdom. A lot of my clients are women, they’re grandmas in there. Before COVID, I used to bring my kids with me everywhere. They’re teenagers now, but back then I’d pick them up from school and take them along. I’d say, “Go sit in the library and do your homework.” Occasionally I’d bring them into a client’s home and the client would just love on them. “Let me give you some cookies.” My kids would say, “She’s our second grandma.” There’s something completely holistic about serving older adults in their home and having this intergenerational connection. A lot of my tech support specialists are moms of school-aged children. All the tech support takes place during school hours, nine to two, not on weekends, no homework involved. It’s everything you already know, plus some grace and patience. People say, “You must have the patience of a saint.” I’d never think of myself that way. I just think of myself as someone in the right place. When you’re in the right place, you have the right mindset and spirit to help people.

Richard: A lot of my best clients have been older people too. They have lots of stories to tell and they want to write them down. They’ve built a business and they want to leave something behind. I think people fall prey to the idea that there’s nothing to do in your older years, that you’re retiring, going on cruises. I like meeting the older people who’ve rejected that. The second you’ve got your money in the bank and raised your kids, go pursue your dream. Mine was to become a writer. We look at the older years as winding down, but actually a lot of older people are winding up, just in a different phase. They know what they’re doing. My ideal client is an older person who’s created a company, isn’t distracted by the day-to-day anymore, has the means and a story to tell. When I find them, it’s a joy.

Abbie: I’d never look at someone in their older years and think it was time for them to settle down. This was modeled for me by my parents. My dad only works on days that start with T now, and he works from home since COVID because that works best. My mom is a retired interior designer. She’ll never stop working because she loves creating beautiful spaces. It’s her talent. Using your God-given talents keeps you passionate and excited for the next day. When you have knowledge to give back, it lends purpose, and we all need purpose. One gentleman I work with, Ray Gurley, was the VP of Sales for Procter and Gamble. Now he does mentoring for small businesses. He loves helping people see beyond their limitations.

Building the Team

Abbie: I hired an assistant about three years ago. I tell entrepreneurs: when you bring on a new person, it doesn’t have to be 30 hours a week. Start small, make sure you have rapport, then build responsibilities from there. That’s the model I use every time. I’ve also hired a lot of recent retirees. They’re wonderful. Motivated, self-managed people who don’t want to change the world, they want to give back and contribute. There’s a whole workforce of people who are overlooked and have so much to give.

Richard: They’re overlooked because of the old mindset. The American dream was grow up, have a family, stay at a job until you retire, and then die. I didn’t figure out that wasn’t my dream until I hit my 50s. Companies don’t work like that anymore, if they ever did. My grandfather worked on an assembly line after serving his country and spending more than three years in Japanese prison camps. Should have gotten more honors than that. But there’s this whole generation of people who are there for us, with wisdom to give back.

Abbie: And yet there’s a lot of systemic ageism out there that needs to be debunked.

Richard: They’re a wealth of knowledge. They’ve learned the hard knocks, know how to work, they’re not going to be problem employees. With modern health, they’re going to be living longer and healthier. It’s probably wise for us as a nation to put that to use and not let it disappear.

The Digital Legacy

Abbie: Because I work with so many older adults, I’m always talking to them about making their files, passwords, and accounts as easy as possible for a grieving family member. I call it the digital legacy. I remember when my grandparents passed away 20 years ago. They’d planned for years. They had a meeting with my mom and uncle: here’s where all the documents are, here’s the title, everything in a portable metal file cabinet. Even so, there was still a lot of unraveling. I’ve had calls from adult children saying, “My mom passed away. Do you know how to get into her computer?” I keep meeting people with passwords written under here and there with no system. A lot of what we do is help clients come up with a password strategy and track it. You’d think we’d say use a password manager, but a lot of older adults don’t trust them or don’t completely understand them. So we teach alternatives, unique and secure passwords for every account. I’ve found so many students reusing the same password across multiple accounts. Statistics show people typically reuse the same password across three accounts. I’ve built a theory and teach it so they can remember passwords without always relying on a book.

Richard: When my parents passed away, my dad from COVID, my mom earlier, they lived in California and I’m in Florida. I wasn’t going to fly during COVID. Turns out he was a hoarder, a little apartment up in Big Bear Lake just full of God knows what. Nobody knows for sure what happens after death, but we do have the ability to leave a legacy. If your legacy is being a hoarder and a cranky old man, that’s how you’ll be remembered. If you want something different, change it. I’ve become the family photograph person. Tens of thousands of photos all scanned, on the computer, on the cloud, my sister has the passwords. But my parents didn’t label theirs. Just 10,000 photos of people I’ll never identify because the older generation who knew them is gone. All they needed to do was leave a diary.

Abbie: I really do encourage my students to make the whole password thing more transparent for the people they love.

Scam Savvy

Abbie: I started a new series I’m going to begin teaching next month called Scam Savvy. It’s a three-part series on awareness, avoidance, and action. The more you bring awareness to the various scams out there, the better everyone is.

The Veterans Heritage Project

Abbie: My daughter joined a high school program called the Veterans Heritage Project. It’s been around about 18 years at different high schools. Students interview a veteran and write their story. For a lot of these veterans, no one has ever asked them to tell it. The story gets published in a book with about 30 other stories and sent to the Library of Congress. The high schooler becomes a published author. The first year, they matched my daughter with someone and she went to the book signing ceremony. It was wonderfully patriotic, intergenerational, and brought you into a space where you could be proud for the high schoolers and the vets. Last year, she interviewed my sister-in-law’s father, and it was the first time my sister-in-law and her mom had ever heard his story. How beautiful to have my daughter writing about it. This year, she’s interviewing Bill, one of my clients who’s a veteran and medic, and another friend who served as an OB in Vietnam helping women working in the rice paddies. I can’t wait to hear both stories. It’s a fascinating way to bring honor and preserve people’s legacy.

Richard: That’s what I do for a living sometimes. Older people hire me because they want to tell their story and leave a legacy for their children. They want their children to learn the morals and ethics of the older generation. I got my first taste of working with an older person at 17. My grandfather was in World War Two, captured on Corregidor and marched through Manila, then spent more than three years in POW camps. I wrote a memoir about his experience called Behind the Wire. The family just saw him as grumpy and weird. One day I boldly went up to him and asked his story. First thing he did was teach me how to cook. Turns out he was a cook on the Yangtze River Patrol before the war. After talking with him and reading his journals, I realized that if I’d spent more than three years in Japanese prison camps watching people die around me, I’d be a little off too.

Abbie: You’d be, that’s for sure.

Show, Don’t Take

Abbie: This is something I mentioned in my TED talk: when you’re helping an older adult with their technology, rather than taking it from them, show them how to do it instead. That’s my biggest takeaway.

Richard: In writing, we say the same thing. Show, don’t tell. Show them how to do it. Show them again if you need to. They’ll get it. They’ve lived an entire life. They’re still alive. That means they got something right. Learn more about Abbie Richie at srsavvy.net or connect with her on LinkedIn. Find Richard Lowe at TheWritingKing.com.

Quotable moments

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Senior Savvy do?

Founded by Abbie Richie, it provides patient, personable technology workshops and one-on-one support to residents of senior living communities, delivered both in person and over Zoom.

What is her approach to teaching older adults?

She treats them as traditional learners who want to build a foundation from the basics, instead of being rushed the way a twenty-something might be at an Apple Store. Patience and respect are the method.

What was her TED talk about?

At TED’s request she spoke about how AI will affect older adults, focusing on longevity and on how family members can help older people lean into the technology instead of running from it.

How did the pandemic change her business?

When communities closed, residents pushed her onto Zoom, which she initially resisted. It became a growth engine, taking Senior Savvy from a handful of Arizona communities to 35 states and international.