At 29, Nathanael Farrelly has sold a nursing business for $12.5 million and stepped away from full-time work to focus on family, real estate and angel investing.

But back in 2017, he was a newly licensed nurse working long shifts in a hospital step-down unit — and adjusting to the chaos and intensity of the job.

"I remember waking up every morning nauseous and just sick to my stomach," he says of those first few weeks. "That start really opened up a lot of anxiety and stress."

He says he was grateful for the experience and learned a lot, but that early pressure stayed with him and ultimately shaped how he thought about nurse staffing and care delivery.

"I began praying for clarity... and I started to ask myself where else I could make an impact," he says.

The stress led him to rethink his future in nursing, setting him on a path that would ultimately bring him financial independence.

Becoming an entrepreneur

In 2017, a nursing classmate told Farrelly about infusion therapy, which involves administering IV treatments, often in patients' homes. The work offered nurses far more autonomy with their schedule compared to hospital shifts.

Farrelly transitioned from critical care into home infusion while finishing his bachelor's degree and starting a master's program. He was drawn to the one-on-one care and slower pace and soon began to notice a gap in how care was delivered.

"That opened my eyes... there are not enough nurses and too many patients going into the hospitals when this can be done at home," 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 in-home IV treatments. What set the business apart was its focus on efficiency: minimizing travel time by hiring locally and giving nurses more control over their schedules.

To fund it, he used about $80,000 in personal savings and proceeds from selling a Rhode Island home he and his wife had bought for $140,000 and flipped for $310,000. They invested roughly $175,000 in the business.

Demand for in-home nursing surged during the pandemic, which allowed Farrelly's business to grow very quickly. One of his first cold calls led to a contract covering 50 patients overnight.

With the sudden success of his business, he was able to avoid outside investment, though he did accept $111,000 in PPP loans in 2021 to hire more nurses. The loans were later forgiven.

Selling the business

In May 2023, Farrelly sold Revitalize to Option Care Health, one of the largest infusion providers in the country for $12.5 million in cash. He stayed on for about a year before stepping away in 2024.

"That was the true exit for me," he says. "It allowed me to really focus on family."

Now based in Pensacola, Florida, Farrelly spends his time managing real estate, coaching his kids' soccer team and backing other entrepreneurs, including a friend's coffee company and a health-focused app.

He says he's open to launching another company someday, but for now, he's focused on protecting what he's built.

"Eight figures can either last generationally or disappear really fast through bad investments and lifestyle creep," he says. "My personal definition of retirement is financial freedom — not necessarily retirement from doing work that fulfills you. And with that... I can focus on helping others and being available with my family."

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