In Episode 240 of Paper Napkin Wisdom, we’re joined by Darcel Dillard-Suite, a powerhouse entrepreneur, mental health advocate, and co-founder of Full Circle Health. With nearly three decades of entrepreneurial experience, Darcel has built a thriving business alongside her husband, a psychiatrist, focused on holistic mental wellness and support for underrepresented communities. Her impact has been far-reaching, not just as a business leader, but as a mentor and motivator helping others rise through the challenges of entrepreneurship.
Her napkin is a blueprint for success that every entrepreneur should take to heart:
“Diversify, Stay Determined, Develop Strong Financial Advisors.”
These aren’t just words—they’re lessons hard-won through years of navigating the entrepreneurial grind. And each of them holds a story that could change the way you build your business.
Diversify or Die Trying
"I learned the hard way that if I didn’t diversify this business and get income coming from other directions...we’re not going to make it," Darcel says. She and her husband took the leap to stop working for others and go all-in on their dream—but that dream needed legs to stand on.
Early on, they realized that relying on just one stream of income wasn’t sustainable. So they built multiple revenue pathways, creatively expanding their offerings to weather industry changes and market shifts. In today’s economy, this wisdom is more relevant than ever.
Stay Determined (Even When It’s Not Easy)
“It gets frustrating. It really does,” Darcel admits. Entrepreneurship can be brutal. But Darcel reminds us that perseverance is what separates those who build legacy businesses from those who burn out.
Her message is clear: grit matters. Building something that lasts means pushing through the tough moments, even when your dream feels distant.
Don’t DIY Your Finances
If there’s one thing Darcel wishes she knew earlier, it’s this: “Develop strong financia
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Govindh Jayaraman (00:02):
Darcell. Dillard, sweet! Welcome to paper! Napkin wisdom. I'm excited to have you here today.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (00:06):
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.
Govindh Jayaraman (00:09):
So actually, this is kind of fun just replaced the microphone got a new microphone. So this is the 1st podcast with a new microphone. I hope everybody listening is enjoying it, but I hope you can hear it as well. You shared with me a very interesting paper napkin, and it says, diversify, stay, determined, develop strong financial advisors.
(00:30):
Why did you share that with me?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (00:32):
You know I've been in business, and you and I've talked about businesses before
for a long time, and it's been maybe 29 years for me as an entrepreneur.
and I wrote that because, honestly, I learned the hard way that if I didn't diversify this business and get some income coming from other directions, and not just depend on the one thing we're not going to make it. And I'm in business with my husband. He's a psychiatrist, and we literally just said, they're going to stop doing the one thing and work for other people and try and do it ourselves. So I wrote diversify because we realized
(01:08):
2 or 3 years in this isn't going to cut it just doing it this way. And then I wrote, stay determined, because you can easily get discouraged when you're trying to actually lift off a business and go through the growth of the business, and it gets frustrating, it really does, and then develop strong financial advisors. Oh, my God, Evan, if I knew that
(01:32):
when we 1st started things would have been different. We were loaning ourselves money out of our mortgage out of our equity line and doing all sorts of creative things because we did not have the business acumen to actually do it the way other people start a business. You go to a bank, you get a loan, or maybe you do some other different creative things with your finances. But our creativity lent to
(01:56):
actually us loaning ourselves the money. And I just wish I had a financial advisor earlier on to teach me some things I learned later. But now I get to teach other people that.
Govindh Jayaraman (02:06):
You know, I want to start, maybe at the bottom of the list and go back up, because I think
I think that for a lot of
beginning entrepreneurs, and even for later stage entrepreneurs.
finances is a real taboo subject. People talk about revenue a lot, but
(02:27):
one of the greatest lessons I ever heard was, revenue is vanity, profit, sanity, but cash is king and man. I got that lesson
20 years into my business. I wish I wish I had that earlier.
and that's what you're kind of talking about, isn't it?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (02:43):
Exactly. It's exactly that guy, because the problem is when you're new in whatever you launch
and you're going a hundred percent gangbusters trying to make this thing work, the finances will
absolutely stop you from growing. 2020 was the perfect example for us. Here comes Covid pandemic. Most people are shutting down.
(03:07):
We saved a lot.
We still made a lot. We were stunned at how much we were still making, because we're in the mental health business.
but you can only spend it once. I always tease my husband. Say, Oh, my God! We could have Xerox that check. Just cash it again. But since you can't do that. The value of knowing where else to get some of that income or to diversify like I said before.
(03:29):
I think a lot of people starting out, you're in a fog of I can do this. I've seen some of my friends fail miserably. Take a savings account. 70 80 $90,000 start the business, and then they don't make any profit for 3 or 4 years, and then they get discouraged, and they stop.
and again, not knowing where to go to get a decent loan, or I'm going to be straight, honest with you. Sometimes you look at your brown color skin, and you're not getting a loan that fast. Anyway.
(03:55):
the system does not work for you.
Govindh Jayaraman (03:59):
Yeah, so, and that's another part of your story, right? Because you had to find some unconventional ways of raising capital to build your business in the early stages, and that's kind of why I wanted to start at the bottom up because you've got to. You did things differently. What did you do because you took
(04:20):
you took what was actually a weakness and turned it into a real strength. And I think this is really cool. So
let's talk about that.
How did you get the capital to grow.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (04:30):
Okay, I'll tell you.
We are in the mental health business. So you're dependent on a client coming in, taking their insurance
and honestly waiting 30, 40, 50, 60 days, 90 days, sometimes 2 or 3 months, before your little tiny money comes in.
Govindh Jayaraman (04:47):
And let's let's make this clear for people listening, because a lot of people think insurance is a sure path to cash like if you're billing insurance, it's sure. Not only will they take
30, 40, 60, 90 days to pay. They'll argue about how much they're going to pay, if at all, and they won't tell you until some future date. So you're you're holding capital
(05:11):
like inventory. You're holding receivables for much longer than you bargained for.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (05:17):
You're absolutely right. And the problem with that is, especially in any medical. If you ever go to the hospital or a doctor's office, and you get what they call the eob the explanation of benefits. You get that, and you look at what your doctor's getting. You should actually be ashamed that your doctor did 4 or 5 different procedures maybe clocked $120, and the insurance company didn't pay him
(05:41):
other than just all those different Cpt codes. And those are codes that you have to use to build. And you would think that they might get 5, $600 for what they just did. They're getting 120 bucks. So we learned the hard way that while the world likes to go into a medical positioning with taking the insurance because we want to help the people around us. And most people have insurance. That
(06:02):
absolutely is a very difficult way to run your business solely, and we learned that the hard way a we had to figure out how to build that was its own issue. Gavin.
Secondly, once we were able to recoup what we could. You're right. Lots of write-offs, lots of excuses not to give us the money. You didn't, bill it right. You used the wrong code so
(06:24):
fast forward. Many years later we figured that part out. We still had to get creative because, coming off of 6 figure jobs coming off of hospital structure. My husband's a psychiatrist, so he's at a hospital. I was a journalist. I worked for Cbs news for years and other media outlets, and when we stopped
we were scared. But what motivated us was that creativity that we're talking about? I had to say, Okay, if I can produce a story
(06:51):
for the media, Dan rather, Connie Chung. All these folks I used to work with. I could produce this. I can figure this crap out, and I did so credit scores. And
1st thing that goes down when you start applying for loans. Oh, you're not high enough. Secondly, debt to income ratio. Oh, you got too much debt coming out of college student loans. Of course we have a heck of a lot of debt, right? So you have that against you have a credit score against you, and then you just have the lending practices of the United States of America, which are all over the map.
(07:22):
So we kept getting denied. And I said, this has to stop. We're going to have to figure something out. So we diversified. How do we do that?
We had a house never heard of equity line before.
went to the bank, figured out that there was such a thing as an equity line, and we took a hundred $50,000 out of our equity line.
(07:42):
That's what saved the business. When we were going on the rocky road of almost despair.
the second creative thing we had to do was find new income.
We're in the mental health space. So therefore you would think, all we could do is that no, now I got creative, or we could do trainings, or we could do stress workshops for churches and organizations that need help. So we developed a whole new division of just training. It was slow starting, but it became a very healthy part of the business.
Govindh Jayaraman (08:13):
And this is what I think is really.
people will hear you say, diversify and and and I
and I think this is such a really cool story, because people here diversify, and they think, Oh, you got into making widgets in addition to no, you didn't do that. You took your expertise and said, How do I find other revenue streams based on this expertise? So you found adjacent markets.
(08:42):
And, by the way, what I think is also really cool about it. Those trainings and those workshops for churches? Did they pay net 90, and then stiff you for the bill?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (08:52):
No, I got smart. 50% upfront or yeah, I don't come in your door.
Govindh Jayaraman (08:56):
Right.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (08:57):
So we had to change our practice of being nice and waiting, and do the workshop, or do the service. You know my husband and I have this running joke when we started the office, and we didn't know what the heck we were doing. Copays. Everybody has a copay on their insurance. So here we go with people coming in. Oh, I don't have the $25. Can I pay you next week? Oh, wow! My copay is 50, my husband when he 1st started. He's such a sweetheart. He was waiving the copays, and I'm at the front desk. I'm trying to watch the gate.
(09:27):
I would have arguments with people about their co-pays, but literally he was bartering copays for chicken dinners and rice. I'm like dude.
Govindh Jayaraman (09:36):
I can cook for you. We don't need their food. I want their money.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (09:40):
This office I got to pay the rent. I got to pay the man downstairs, so we actually had our landlord downstairs. We had offices upstairs, so I had to change policies, and that's tough. No, Copay, you don't see him today.
and we started taking them upfront and not wait until the end of the session. Then I had to figure out a way to diversify to the point where, even with the trainings, 50% of the invoice. Then I walk in your door, and then the check has to be ready. The day of the training.
Govindh Jayaraman (10:07):
Otherwise cash flow, and you're in business, you understand? Cash flow.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (10:12):
That's the killer. Not having enough to run the payroll, run your office, pay yourself, pay your staff, and that drought
can kill a business, and we trust we almost died several times.
Govindh Jayaraman (10:26):
Yeah, I really like.
So so let's you said this earlier on, my husband was trying to be nice.
right? And I think that this, especially for service-based businesses, people who are professionals, who are, who are
sharing expertise. There is sometimes a nice oh, we want to be a good partner. We want to be a good
(10:54):
person to deal with, so we'll be flexible on some things, and and
you don't seem not nice now.
But you're just asking for your value? Right? I mean, I think it's it's important to stand up for value, isn't it? That's what you're saying, isn't it?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (11:12):
That's what I'm saying. That's a really cool distinction you're making. Because we also are faith based. What does that mean? That means as a mental health practitioner. We did a lot of work with churches, so we used to do workshops on Prozac versus prayer and educate the church crowd. But
the problem there was, I'm a Christian. I'm a church girl. I'm a church guy.
(11:36):
I don't have it today. You're going to be nice and do it unto God. No.
the Bible says, pay a man worthy of his hire. So again, even educating from the spiritual resilience perspective of the clientele that we had, and we had a lot of church people, and that's where that kindness comes in. You feel like you got to value the fruit of the spirit in the Biblical sense of being humble, being kind, having faith, all those wonderful fruits that we actually imbibe in our medical practice, our mental health practice that won't get you paid
(12:09):
if you do not have the valuable insight that God also gave you, that is.
you are worthy of your hire, and I had to do a lot of education with even my church folks that came in. Hey? You put your tithe in the box or in the plate when you go to church, and you actually appreciate what the pastors did for you. You need to appreciate that man back in that room who just fixed your mental state
(12:34):
back who just help you with the domestic violence. So it was a lot. It was tough. But you're right. The distinction is, you're not being mean or or not kind. You're being a smarter businessperson and leveraging that relationship with saying it in a way that's firm, but saying it in a way that actually cha-ching you.
Govindh Jayaraman (12:54):
Yeah.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (12:54):
Credit, card account.
Govindh Jayaraman (12:55):
Well, and I and I think there's something also like I don't think I don't think
you have to be unkind to stand up for your value. I don't think you're saying that you all of a sudden turned into some cruel person. No, you you were kind about it.
but you were firm and fair.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (13:14):
Absolutely, and that is the distinction being fair, being intentional, and there is a purpose, and I would do it with a smile. Oh, I'm so sorry, sister. You have your copay today, please. We also have to pay our electric bills, and I would say with such a smile, and they would be standing. Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Sweet. Okay, here you go.
(13:35):
and there are a few, of course. Maybe if they didn't have it I would delay till next week, but when you do that times
50 or 60 people, your business is in trouble now.
Govindh Jayaraman (13:44):
Yeah. And and you know, one of the things that I think is also, you know, this cash runway. You talked about paying the bills, but it's not just paying the bill. If you don't have cash
it also talk about your mental state. You're in the mental health business. Talk about your mental state when
the money wasn't there to barely pay your bills or to pay your bills, and you were feeling suffocated versus afterward. Surely there's a difference to the level of work you can accomplish
(14:14):
when you are feeling unsafe about how you about
where you work, where you live, where everything am I right.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (14:22):
You're absolutely right, and it's unsafe. I love that you use that word because it's unsafe in several different buckets, unsafe in your finances.
unsafe as you're trying to run the business
as a good business leader and then unsafe around. Are you being true to yourself? You did not go to school and get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt to just sit here and not recoup some money back. So being deserving in that space and recognizing that you're deserving of getting that money from the individuals who you're helping. And then you mentioned something also. Very key, Gavin. That's the stress.
(14:59):
the absolute stress and anxiety that I felt as a business partner with my husband. When we're in the mental health space, do we have stress? Are we going to actually go through an anxiety attack, maybe not as severe as someone who might have a mental health condition. But I kid you not. There were days that I was like. Oh, my God! I got to pay this and this, and this, and this, and this, and there's only this much left.
(15:23):
or there's not enough to even do that. That's that saying we all used to love robbing Peter and paying Paul. I mean, you get so creative. I had a banker once tell me that I was the most creative person he's ever met, and I said, What do you mean by that? He said. I have watched you navigate your account when it's up and down.
and I call it Ghetto financing, where I literally know that this check is not going to make it, but I also know they're going to charge me $35 if they pay it.
(15:50):
and they won't give me a loan. How smart would it have been, if the bank just give you the daggone loan and the and the cushion of a direct deposit, or, I think, what they call that not a credit line, but they give you an overdraft, no overdraft protection. But again, credit score is too low. I mean you. You learn as you go to protect your credit score. We had a
(16:12):
but we were sacrificing ourselves to pay the staff in the business which hurt our credit. It's not that the credit we didn't know what we were doing. We were sacrificing ourselves so that we could pay the staff. I learned the hard way. Now I put myself first.st I'm not going to sacrifice ever again and risk my credit score and make sure that the business runs. We have to somehow congruently do this together. So that stress you're talking about. It was very real, very real for us.
Govindh Jayaraman (16:38):
And putting yourself 1st doesn't mean not caring about everybody else. It's sort of like that. That idea when you're on an airplane, they say, put your mask on before helping your neighbor. It's the same thing if you're helping yourself.
aren't you better able to help others? And and if if I think about it from the from the standpoint of your experience
like before, when you were fighting for cash, I'll bet you couldn't
(17:03):
be charitable. You couldn't be as charitable as you are now. Isn't that the case?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (17:09):
That's definitely the case, and you do need to make a balance, and that putting yourself first.st Now, credit score is healthy, and we can actually get loans if we need to. We can leverage different things in our business. But that was that learning curve
that was figuring out how to do it that no one taught you my husband's a doctor. Do they teach you that medical school? No, I was in journalism. Did they teach me how to run a business in journalism school. No, I had to go to business school, and then, even when you go to business school, which I did, you still don't understand the practicality of being in that trench on your own.
(17:45):
Your back is up against the wall.
What do you do?
Figure out.
Govindh Jayaraman (17:51):
So right now, somebody's listening, and they're hearing about these anecdotes around
learning about finance and learning about, you know, learning about how to how to manage cash flow.
And and they're thinking, oh, man, I'm just in the fog of war. I just need another sale in order to make it work I need. I just need a big no, I don't need to manage my finance better. I just need. I just need to close this deal. What would you say to that person.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (18:19):
That person is very much like me, because I always look at and say I got to make more. I got to make more. I got to make more
like after you and I finish our call today because we've had some contracts that have gone upside down. Thanks to our new administration. We work in a lot in the social service space. And there's companies now that we're working for that, no longer going to be able to work with us. So you do look at yourself and say, yes, close the deal.
(18:42):
get a new deal.
and I'm motivated to get the new deal because you don't want to be stagnant in your business for me. Status quo of where we were 3 years ago. If I didn't grow that into several
thousands of dollars more by the next year. The next year, the next year. I don't think I've done my job because I have a goal. I have a financial goal. And if I haven't met that goal, I'm not satisfied. So the person listening who's wondering I just need that one more deal. Yeah. Work hard to get that other deal, and if that deal looks like it's not going to come through.
(19:16):
Go back to diversification. Figure out how else you can amortize those talents to maybe get money from another part of your
experience and be creative, that that deal may not give you because it may not come through. And I've had some deals just don't come through. So I had to think of another way to do it.
Govindh Jayaraman (19:36):
I like this idea of amortizing your talents because you know, so amortization for people listening is you take an asset, you amortize it over time, which means you spread the value out over time over its useful life.
What you just. You use that term in a very different way.
Talking about amortizing your talents. Let's build on that. What did you mean when you say amortize your talents? Because that's really kind of a creative way of thinking about amortization.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (20:02):
It is.
Govindh Jayaraman (20:02):
And the investment we make in our training right? Like that's really cool.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (20:06):
Yeah, I believe that in all of us we don't probably tap
a 3rd of what we can do in our creative space, in our creative part of our brains. So when I say that I'm saying, sit still for a minute.
visualize yourself doing something with the skill that you have.
maybe for a new client. Here's an example. We do a lot of trainings. We do a lot of workshops. It's specifically behavior based. It's not the cookie cutter professional development that you would get from certain companies we're coming from the mindset of. We understand psychiatry and psychological ways of thinking. So we could change your staffing by getting in their heads literally. So
(20:50):
look for that new client.
We just decided you know what the police department needs us. So I just went, made a meeting with the Commissioner of the Police Department in Mount Vernon.
and we're hoping to do some work with them. Why? Because, even though they have medical insurance. It probably covers their benefits when it comes to them getting therapy.
Come on. How many cops are really going to therapist on a regular basis. They're not. They don't have time. They're not thinking that way. So you amortize that talent by figuring out, what can I do with my voice? You have a beautiful voice. By the way.
(21:21):
what can I do with that voice to raise awareness, to raise my income.
to elevate myself into a new category, and you test it out. Some of the skills we have may not work in certain pockets, but you might find that niche that someone says, Oh, my God thank you for that value. Let me pay you for this, or you design it so you can get paid for it. Does that make sense.
Govindh Jayaraman (21:46):
Yeah. So what you're really doing is you're taking the value of your training, the value of your expertise, the value that you're bringing to people
and spreading it out over different verticals, much the same way that we might spread the value of an asset out over time. It's not over time. It's over verticals over and verticals means different markets, different avenues, different opportunities.
(22:12):
What do you do to do? The creative thought of? Okay, how do I go to. I'm gonna offer my services to police officers because
a lot of social services have been defunded as part of the new administration that's upside down. And now you're thinking, okay, I'm going to go over here. I'm going to reinvent a vertical over here. Where does that creative thought come from? Because sometimes people when they get
(22:42):
petrified, especially cash, petrified creativity goes away. So what do you do to evoke that creative thought? In those times.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (22:48):
You know I was in the news business for well, over 20 something years, and I covered so many stories from earthquakes to interviewing presidents
to human interest stories, and so that experience of me, delving into different subject matter over a lifetime from a journalistic perspective, taught me in the business world to look at the world differently. So while I'm not a news junkie like I used to be, because I can't stand to see all the stuff that's happening in our world right now. So I have my shutdown days. I have years where I didn't even watch the news, even though I was a journalist, because I just can't stand where the world is. But what I will do, though, is educate myself enough
(23:27):
about the community that I'm in the society that's around me to see where, and I love your word. Vertical to see where I can find a creative thought.
to do something different. Case in point. We work with young athletes, but we didn't. Used to. My husband works with professional athletes we didn't used to.
But back to the church story in the churches.
(23:51):
our athletes in the churches, our business people had a meeting with the pastor.
I'm like, you're probably in over your head doing all this counseling that you probably have an experience for tap us. So those Referrals begat new
clients in different walks of life. Some of them were athletes.
And now, Boom.
(24:13):
we have an athletic connection that we didn't have before. My husband actually is the Mental health director for the New York Knicks
that came out of those church meetings
and athletes coming to us and us growing that creatively by looking at what's in the church, who's in the church?
(24:33):
Different people, different walks of life, different businesses. So now we have a sports program just for young athletes. We have a not for profit, also that we didn't used to have, so that we can give back.
And the sports athletes program I'm talking about is on our not-for-profit site, where we actually give free counseling to athletes, and we raise money for that, so that they don't have to worry about not having the mental support they need as they grow into professionals, so that creative space, going back to your question. It has to come from
(25:01):
where you sit every day in your environment, and you're picking
Cherry picking, figuring out, where is there a need. Where do I see a gap? Is there a gap? Can I do that? Can I use the skill that I have to fill that gap?
And sometimes you're testing it, and there's a failure, and you have to reinvent yourself and test something else.
Govindh Jayaraman (25:22):
And that is there a gap part? You're actually out there asking people right? That's part of it. You're not just sitting there in your own. And you talked about this idea of shutdown days, this idea of shutting down things.
allowing yourself the time and space to think about things creatively. And you're doing it in that. You're so you're ideating on these options. But then you're taking the options out to the world and saying, Hey.
(25:50):
pastor, do you think there's an opportunity that we can? We can help, and we can support our community in this way? Hey, athlete that I know you from church? Is there an opportunity from us? So you're you're validating it with real people. But you're ideating it in a quiet space. That's really powerful right? That's a very powerful construct. How often do you do the shutdown days.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (26:13):
3 days a week.
Govindh Jayaraman (26:14):
3 days a week.
3 days a week, and I don't even work on Fridays anymore. I stopped. I said, Friday is my day to play tennis.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (26:22):
To have a Darcell moment to give myself a chance to rejuvenate from the business that I have to run on a regular basis, and the thought life that I have to bring to that business, so that I can have some time just to be. And then in those spaces is sometimes where the Ahas come up.
I had an Aha last week
actually, I will say, maybe 6 weeks ago, when we were looking at the business and the ebbs and flows. And I said, You know what.
(26:47):
Let me see all the intakes for the last 4 months, and I kept seeing one health insurance health 1st that we don't take.
and I counted 120 people that we turned away. Well, guess what we're on the panel now.
Govindh Jayaraman (27:02):
Yeah.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (27:03):
I'm like I'm done with this. Don't turn them away. Let's go get on the panel. Let's go get that money. Let's go help that client. Let's not say no to that person.
and so I called health 1st up, I said, we used to be on your panel, and we were years years ago something fell apart. They got bought blah blah blah.
And I shamed them by saying in an email.
how could we not be a partner again.
(27:24):
Why is it so hard to get credentialed? Because we had tried? And then we dropped it. And that's the other thing you got to complete
what you start, because sometimes you go back to, and it's even harder.
This was hard because we had to go back because we didn't complete the process. It wasn't their fault. A lot of it was my staff that dropped the ball and never finished getting us credentialed. But when I realized that the receivables were getting low, and this was a hot spot that we were turning away.
(27:49):
Not anymore. They. They're taking us back, and we probably start in 2 weeks. But this is a new revelation of 2025,
filling the gap in our own financial gaps, trying to figure out, where's my hole? So our hole was that insurance company held first.st The other hole was, the rates were too low for all the other ones we take. So I started emailing provider relations and saying, Raise my rates, let's renegotiate.
(28:15):
That's the second thing we did this year. And then the 3rd thing for 2025 that we did when we looked at. Where we're headed
is we weren't taking Medicaid and Medicare. We'd stopped that. Why? Because we got
complacent and dependent on contract money contract money was sweet.
easier than dealing with the insurance companies, but we got complacent.
(28:37):
So I said, we got to go back to Medicaid, and Medicare goes. That's what made the business grow. When we started in 1999.
Govindh Jayaraman (28:45):
It's amazing. So you got real curious about the data, found these 3 opportunities, and immediately
took action to make sure that those things were in place right.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (28:55):
Right, and I couldn't do that if I didn't have that creative space those days off those shutdown days to examine me, to examine it, and to just sort of be in a space of calm.
to not come stressed and anxious about it. But to come from perspective of I'm gonna find me a solution.
Govindh Jayaraman (29:13):
Yeah, something else I want to go back to. And you. You said it
in jest. And I think that people again. What makes you strong makes you weak. What makes you weak makes you strong? And you talked about there were some things that you did that you called Ghetto finance, that that really was important for you
(29:39):
to build to where you are.
But I think that people don't understand that you've got to use everything at your disposal
to move forward, and that's that's what I think you were saying. Right. Am I missing that.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (29:55):
No, no, you're completely right. And when I use that languaging, it's because when you look at the
playing field of lending in any country.
The criteria has never favored the low score. The challenged person who has a story behind. Why they're challenged is not that they're irresponsible.
(30:17):
So there's certain programs that might lend themselves to hearing your story. But if everything points to you just can't make the bar
got to find a way around that. And when I looked at our bank accounts on many, many levels for many, many years, and saw that
these $35
fees of funds, or they call it insufficient, or whatever the case may be. And in our business, the sad thing is, there's a lot of direct deposits, and they're just sitting in pending.
(30:48):
Well, I learned they'll pay it. If they know it's just sitting in pending, they may charge me for it, and then I get on the phone. I argue, and I get my $35 back.
So that's the Ghetto finance I'm talking about where you are. You are fighting in a different
playground around a entity called a bank or lending institution. And you're finding a spot that actually, if they close the door on you in one area, you got to work around their system. Figure out how you can still get what you need and get that check paid. Even.
Govindh Jayaraman (31:18):
Yes, because I love this, you know, that'd be.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (31:22):
$35 could have been the interest rate you paid on the loan if they give you the loan. So technically, I'm like, okay, this is a version of a loan.
Govindh Jayaraman (31:30):
Yeah.
And and you know, Banks banks are famous for
banks. Don't lend money to people who need it.
Banks lend money to people who don't need it. And and if if entrepreneurs get that in their mind, you can start to think about other ways. And one of the ways that you did that in a really creative way is
(31:51):
diversifying how you amortized your talents as an organization across different verticals. I'm really grateful for your story, Darcell. What a beautiful story! You also have a great shout out. So what we've been doing
this season in paper napkin wisdom is a nod to a dear friend of show Paper Nap, who was there in the 1st season of paper, napkin wisdom. His name was John Ruland. He passed away, and his napkin to us was what you appreciate appreciates. So in honor of him, in honor of
(32:25):
spreading more gratitude into the world, we ask our guests to shout out someone to close the show. Who would you like to shout out today?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (32:34):
I would shout out, my business partner and my best friend, who is my husband, Dr. Derek sweet, and he has a podcast, called the sweet spot. But what I love about what he does with it is he has one line. This is the shout out, and his line is where science meets the soul.
and I love that because when you think about science and you think about our souls, and he's a psychiatrist, there's an incredible blending there that sometimes can be an oxymoron and fight each other to science and the soul. So I shout him out today because I love that his brainpower allows me and everyone who listens to him
(33:10):
to really stretch ourselves in our scientific body and in our spiritual mindset.
Govindh Jayaraman (33:16):
I love that. Thank you so much, Darcell.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (33:19):
Thank you. Pleasure.
Darcell. Dillard, sweet! Welcome to paper! Napkin wisdom. I'm excited to have you here today.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (00:06):
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.
Govindh Jayaraman (00:09):
So actually, this is kind of fun just replaced the microphone got a new microphone. So this is the 1st podcast with a new microphone. I hope everybody listening is enjoying it, but I hope you can hear it as well. You shared with me a very interesting paper napkin, and it says, diversify, stay, determined, develop strong financial advisors.
(00:30):
Why did you share that with me?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (00:32):
You know I've been in business, and you and I've talked about businesses before
for a long time, and it's been maybe 29 years for me as an entrepreneur.
and I wrote that because, honestly, I learned the hard way that if I didn't diversify this business and get some income coming from other directions, and not just depend on the one thing we're not going to make it. And I'm in business with my husband. He's a psychiatrist, and we literally just said, they're going to stop doing the one thing and work for other people and try and do it ourselves. So I wrote diversify because we realized
(01:08):
2 or 3 years in this isn't going to cut it just doing it this way. And then I wrote, stay determined, because you can easily get discouraged when you're trying to actually lift off a business and go through the growth of the business, and it gets frustrating, it really does, and then develop strong financial advisors. Oh, my God, Evan, if I knew that
(01:32):
when we 1st started things would have been different. We were loaning ourselves money out of our mortgage out of our equity line and doing all sorts of creative things because we did not have the business acumen to actually do it the way other people start a business. You go to a bank, you get a loan, or maybe you do some other different creative things with your finances. But our creativity lent to
(01:56):
actually us loaning ourselves the money. And I just wish I had a financial advisor earlier on to teach me some things I learned later. But now I get to teach other people that.
Govindh Jayaraman (02:06):
You know, I want to start, maybe at the bottom of the list and go back up, because I think
I think that for a lot of
beginning entrepreneurs, and even for later stage entrepreneurs.
finances is a real taboo subject. People talk about revenue a lot, but
(02:27):
one of the greatest lessons I ever heard was, revenue is vanity, profit, sanity, but cash is king and man. I got that lesson
20 years into my business. I wish I wish I had that earlier.
and that's what you're kind of talking about, isn't it?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (02:43):
Exactly. It's exactly that guy, because the problem is when you're new in whatever you launch
and you're going a hundred percent gangbusters trying to make this thing work, the finances will
absolutely stop you from growing. 2020 was the perfect example for us. Here comes Covid pandemic. Most people are shutting down.
(03:07):
We saved a lot.
We still made a lot. We were stunned at how much we were still making, because we're in the mental health business.
but you can only spend it once. I always tease my husband. Say, Oh, my God! We could have Xerox that check. Just cash it again. But since you can't do that. The value of knowing where else to get some of that income or to diversify like I said before.
(03:29):
I think a lot of people starting out, you're in a fog of I can do this. I've seen some of my friends fail miserably. Take a savings account. 70 80 $90,000 start the business, and then they don't make any profit for 3 or 4 years, and then they get discouraged, and they stop.
and again, not knowing where to go to get a decent loan, or I'm going to be straight, honest with you. Sometimes you look at your brown color skin, and you're not getting a loan that fast. Anyway.
(03:55):
the system does not work for you.
Govindh Jayaraman (03:59):
Yeah, so, and that's another part of your story, right? Because you had to find some unconventional ways of raising capital to build your business in the early stages, and that's kind of why I wanted to start at the bottom up because you've got to. You did things differently. What did you do because you took
(04:20):
you took what was actually a weakness and turned it into a real strength. And I think this is really cool. So
let's talk about that.
How did you get the capital to grow.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (04:30):
Okay, I'll tell you.
We are in the mental health business. So you're dependent on a client coming in, taking their insurance
and honestly waiting 30, 40, 50, 60 days, 90 days, sometimes 2 or 3 months, before your little tiny money comes in.
Govindh Jayaraman (04:47):
And let's let's make this clear for people listening, because a lot of people think insurance is a sure path to cash like if you're billing insurance, it's sure. Not only will they take
30, 40, 60, 90 days to pay. They'll argue about how much they're going to pay, if at all, and they won't tell you until some future date. So you're you're holding capital
(05:11):
like inventory. You're holding receivables for much longer than you bargained for.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (05:17):
You're absolutely right. And the problem with that is, especially in any medical. If you ever go to the hospital or a doctor's office, and you get what they call the eob the explanation of benefits. You get that, and you look at what your doctor's getting. You should actually be ashamed that your doctor did 4 or 5 different procedures maybe clocked $120, and the insurance company didn't pay him
(05:41):
other than just all those different Cpt codes. And those are codes that you have to use to build. And you would think that they might get 5, $600 for what they just did. They're getting 120 bucks. So we learned the hard way that while the world likes to go into a medical positioning with taking the insurance because we want to help the people around us. And most people have insurance. That
(06:02):
absolutely is a very difficult way to run your business solely, and we learned that the hard way a we had to figure out how to build that was its own issue. Gavin.
Secondly, once we were able to recoup what we could. You're right. Lots of write-offs, lots of excuses not to give us the money. You didn't, bill it right. You used the wrong code so
(06:24):
fast forward. Many years later we figured that part out. We still had to get creative because, coming off of 6 figure jobs coming off of hospital structure. My husband's a psychiatrist, so he's at a hospital. I was a journalist. I worked for Cbs news for years and other media outlets, and when we stopped
we were scared. But what motivated us was that creativity that we're talking about? I had to say, Okay, if I can produce a story
(06:51):
for the media, Dan rather, Connie Chung. All these folks I used to work with. I could produce this. I can figure this crap out, and I did so credit scores. And
1st thing that goes down when you start applying for loans. Oh, you're not high enough. Secondly, debt to income ratio. Oh, you got too much debt coming out of college student loans. Of course we have a heck of a lot of debt, right? So you have that against you have a credit score against you, and then you just have the lending practices of the United States of America, which are all over the map.
(07:22):
So we kept getting denied. And I said, this has to stop. We're going to have to figure something out. So we diversified. How do we do that?
We had a house never heard of equity line before.
went to the bank, figured out that there was such a thing as an equity line, and we took a hundred $50,000 out of our equity line.
(07:42):
That's what saved the business. When we were going on the rocky road of almost despair.
the second creative thing we had to do was find new income.
We're in the mental health space. So therefore you would think, all we could do is that no, now I got creative, or we could do trainings, or we could do stress workshops for churches and organizations that need help. So we developed a whole new division of just training. It was slow starting, but it became a very healthy part of the business.
Govindh Jayaraman (08:13):
And this is what I think is really.
people will hear you say, diversify and and and I
and I think this is such a really cool story, because people here diversify, and they think, Oh, you got into making widgets in addition to no, you didn't do that. You took your expertise and said, How do I find other revenue streams based on this expertise? So you found adjacent markets.
(08:42):
And, by the way, what I think is also really cool about it. Those trainings and those workshops for churches? Did they pay net 90, and then stiff you for the bill?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (08:52):
No, I got smart. 50% upfront or yeah, I don't come in your door.
Govindh Jayaraman (08:56):
Right.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (08:57):
So we had to change our practice of being nice and waiting, and do the workshop, or do the service. You know my husband and I have this running joke when we started the office, and we didn't know what the heck we were doing. Copays. Everybody has a copay on their insurance. So here we go with people coming in. Oh, I don't have the $25. Can I pay you next week? Oh, wow! My copay is 50, my husband when he 1st started. He's such a sweetheart. He was waiving the copays, and I'm at the front desk. I'm trying to watch the gate.
(09:27):
I would have arguments with people about their co-pays, but literally he was bartering copays for chicken dinners and rice. I'm like dude.
Govindh Jayaraman (09:36):
I can cook for you. We don't need their food. I want their money.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (09:40):
This office I got to pay the rent. I got to pay the man downstairs, so we actually had our landlord downstairs. We had offices upstairs, so I had to change policies, and that's tough. No, Copay, you don't see him today.
and we started taking them upfront and not wait until the end of the session. Then I had to figure out a way to diversify to the point where, even with the trainings, 50% of the invoice. Then I walk in your door, and then the check has to be ready. The day of the training.
Govindh Jayaraman (10:07):
Otherwise cash flow, and you're in business, you understand? Cash flow.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (10:12):
That's the killer. Not having enough to run the payroll, run your office, pay yourself, pay your staff, and that drought
can kill a business, and we trust we almost died several times.
Govindh Jayaraman (10:26):
Yeah, I really like.
So so let's you said this earlier on, my husband was trying to be nice.
right? And I think that this, especially for service-based businesses, people who are professionals, who are, who are
sharing expertise. There is sometimes a nice oh, we want to be a good partner. We want to be a good
(10:54):
person to deal with, so we'll be flexible on some things, and and
you don't seem not nice now.
But you're just asking for your value? Right? I mean, I think it's it's important to stand up for value, isn't it? That's what you're saying, isn't it?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (11:12):
That's what I'm saying. That's a really cool distinction you're making. Because we also are faith based. What does that mean? That means as a mental health practitioner. We did a lot of work with churches, so we used to do workshops on Prozac versus prayer and educate the church crowd. But
the problem there was, I'm a Christian. I'm a church girl. I'm a church guy.
(11:36):
I don't have it today. You're going to be nice and do it unto God. No.
the Bible says, pay a man worthy of his hire. So again, even educating from the spiritual resilience perspective of the clientele that we had, and we had a lot of church people, and that's where that kindness comes in. You feel like you got to value the fruit of the spirit in the Biblical sense of being humble, being kind, having faith, all those wonderful fruits that we actually imbibe in our medical practice, our mental health practice that won't get you paid
(12:09):
if you do not have the valuable insight that God also gave you, that is.
you are worthy of your hire, and I had to do a lot of education with even my church folks that came in. Hey? You put your tithe in the box or in the plate when you go to church, and you actually appreciate what the pastors did for you. You need to appreciate that man back in that room who just fixed your mental state
(12:34):
back who just help you with the domestic violence. So it was a lot. It was tough. But you're right. The distinction is, you're not being mean or or not kind. You're being a smarter businessperson and leveraging that relationship with saying it in a way that's firm, but saying it in a way that actually cha-ching you.
Govindh Jayaraman (12:54):
Yeah.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (12:54):
Credit, card account.
Govindh Jayaraman (12:55):
Well, and I and I think there's something also like I don't think I don't think
you have to be unkind to stand up for your value. I don't think you're saying that you all of a sudden turned into some cruel person. No, you you were kind about it.
but you were firm and fair.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (13:14):
Absolutely, and that is the distinction being fair, being intentional, and there is a purpose, and I would do it with a smile. Oh, I'm so sorry, sister. You have your copay today, please. We also have to pay our electric bills, and I would say with such a smile, and they would be standing. Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Sweet. Okay, here you go.
(13:35):
and there are a few, of course. Maybe if they didn't have it I would delay till next week, but when you do that times
50 or 60 people, your business is in trouble now.
Govindh Jayaraman (13:44):
Yeah. And and you know, one of the things that I think is also, you know, this cash runway. You talked about paying the bills, but it's not just paying the bill. If you don't have cash
it also talk about your mental state. You're in the mental health business. Talk about your mental state when
the money wasn't there to barely pay your bills or to pay your bills, and you were feeling suffocated versus afterward. Surely there's a difference to the level of work you can accomplish
(14:14):
when you are feeling unsafe about how you about
where you work, where you live, where everything am I right.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (14:22):
You're absolutely right, and it's unsafe. I love that you use that word because it's unsafe in several different buckets, unsafe in your finances.
unsafe as you're trying to run the business
as a good business leader and then unsafe around. Are you being true to yourself? You did not go to school and get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt to just sit here and not recoup some money back. So being deserving in that space and recognizing that you're deserving of getting that money from the individuals who you're helping. And then you mentioned something also. Very key, Gavin. That's the stress.
(14:59):
the absolute stress and anxiety that I felt as a business partner with my husband. When we're in the mental health space, do we have stress? Are we going to actually go through an anxiety attack, maybe not as severe as someone who might have a mental health condition. But I kid you not. There were days that I was like. Oh, my God! I got to pay this and this, and this, and this, and this, and there's only this much left.
(15:23):
or there's not enough to even do that. That's that saying we all used to love robbing Peter and paying Paul. I mean, you get so creative. I had a banker once tell me that I was the most creative person he's ever met, and I said, What do you mean by that? He said. I have watched you navigate your account when it's up and down.
and I call it Ghetto financing, where I literally know that this check is not going to make it, but I also know they're going to charge me $35 if they pay it.
(15:50):
and they won't give me a loan. How smart would it have been, if the bank just give you the daggone loan and the and the cushion of a direct deposit, or, I think, what they call that not a credit line, but they give you an overdraft, no overdraft protection. But again, credit score is too low. I mean you. You learn as you go to protect your credit score. We had a
(16:12):
but we were sacrificing ourselves to pay the staff in the business which hurt our credit. It's not that the credit we didn't know what we were doing. We were sacrificing ourselves so that we could pay the staff. I learned the hard way. Now I put myself first.st I'm not going to sacrifice ever again and risk my credit score and make sure that the business runs. We have to somehow congruently do this together. So that stress you're talking about. It was very real, very real for us.
Govindh Jayaraman (16:38):
And putting yourself 1st doesn't mean not caring about everybody else. It's sort of like that. That idea when you're on an airplane, they say, put your mask on before helping your neighbor. It's the same thing if you're helping yourself.
aren't you better able to help others? And and if if I think about it from the from the standpoint of your experience
like before, when you were fighting for cash, I'll bet you couldn't
(17:03):
be charitable. You couldn't be as charitable as you are now. Isn't that the case?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (17:09):
That's definitely the case, and you do need to make a balance, and that putting yourself first.st Now, credit score is healthy, and we can actually get loans if we need to. We can leverage different things in our business. But that was that learning curve
that was figuring out how to do it that no one taught you my husband's a doctor. Do they teach you that medical school? No, I was in journalism. Did they teach me how to run a business in journalism school. No, I had to go to business school, and then, even when you go to business school, which I did, you still don't understand the practicality of being in that trench on your own.
(17:45):
Your back is up against the wall.
What do you do?
Figure out.
Govindh Jayaraman (17:51):
So right now, somebody's listening, and they're hearing about these anecdotes around
learning about finance and learning about, you know, learning about how to how to manage cash flow.
And and they're thinking, oh, man, I'm just in the fog of war. I just need another sale in order to make it work I need. I just need a big no, I don't need to manage my finance better. I just need. I just need to close this deal. What would you say to that person.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (18:19):
That person is very much like me, because I always look at and say I got to make more. I got to make more. I got to make more
like after you and I finish our call today because we've had some contracts that have gone upside down. Thanks to our new administration. We work in a lot in the social service space. And there's companies now that we're working for that, no longer going to be able to work with us. So you do look at yourself and say, yes, close the deal.
(18:42):
get a new deal.
and I'm motivated to get the new deal because you don't want to be stagnant in your business for me. Status quo of where we were 3 years ago. If I didn't grow that into several
thousands of dollars more by the next year. The next year, the next year. I don't think I've done my job because I have a goal. I have a financial goal. And if I haven't met that goal, I'm not satisfied. So the person listening who's wondering I just need that one more deal. Yeah. Work hard to get that other deal, and if that deal looks like it's not going to come through.
(19:16):
Go back to diversification. Figure out how else you can amortize those talents to maybe get money from another part of your
experience and be creative, that that deal may not give you because it may not come through. And I've had some deals just don't come through. So I had to think of another way to do it.
Govindh Jayaraman (19:36):
I like this idea of amortizing your talents because you know, so amortization for people listening is you take an asset, you amortize it over time, which means you spread the value out over time over its useful life.
What you just. You use that term in a very different way.
Talking about amortizing your talents. Let's build on that. What did you mean when you say amortize your talents? Because that's really kind of a creative way of thinking about amortization.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (20:02):
It is.
Govindh Jayaraman (20:02):
And the investment we make in our training right? Like that's really cool.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (20:06):
Yeah, I believe that in all of us we don't probably tap
a 3rd of what we can do in our creative space, in our creative part of our brains. So when I say that I'm saying, sit still for a minute.
visualize yourself doing something with the skill that you have.
maybe for a new client. Here's an example. We do a lot of trainings. We do a lot of workshops. It's specifically behavior based. It's not the cookie cutter professional development that you would get from certain companies we're coming from the mindset of. We understand psychiatry and psychological ways of thinking. So we could change your staffing by getting in their heads literally. So
(20:50):
look for that new client.
We just decided you know what the police department needs us. So I just went, made a meeting with the Commissioner of the Police Department in Mount Vernon.
and we're hoping to do some work with them. Why? Because, even though they have medical insurance. It probably covers their benefits when it comes to them getting therapy.
Come on. How many cops are really going to therapist on a regular basis. They're not. They don't have time. They're not thinking that way. So you amortize that talent by figuring out, what can I do with my voice? You have a beautiful voice. By the way.
(21:21):
what can I do with that voice to raise awareness, to raise my income.
to elevate myself into a new category, and you test it out. Some of the skills we have may not work in certain pockets, but you might find that niche that someone says, Oh, my God thank you for that value. Let me pay you for this, or you design it so you can get paid for it. Does that make sense.
Govindh Jayaraman (21:46):
Yeah. So what you're really doing is you're taking the value of your training, the value of your expertise, the value that you're bringing to people
and spreading it out over different verticals, much the same way that we might spread the value of an asset out over time. It's not over time. It's over verticals over and verticals means different markets, different avenues, different opportunities.
(22:12):
What do you do to do? The creative thought of? Okay, how do I go to. I'm gonna offer my services to police officers because
a lot of social services have been defunded as part of the new administration that's upside down. And now you're thinking, okay, I'm going to go over here. I'm going to reinvent a vertical over here. Where does that creative thought come from? Because sometimes people when they get
(22:42):
petrified, especially cash, petrified creativity goes away. So what do you do to evoke that creative thought? In those times.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (22:48):
You know I was in the news business for well, over 20 something years, and I covered so many stories from earthquakes to interviewing presidents
to human interest stories, and so that experience of me, delving into different subject matter over a lifetime from a journalistic perspective, taught me in the business world to look at the world differently. So while I'm not a news junkie like I used to be, because I can't stand to see all the stuff that's happening in our world right now. So I have my shutdown days. I have years where I didn't even watch the news, even though I was a journalist, because I just can't stand where the world is. But what I will do, though, is educate myself enough
(23:27):
about the community that I'm in the society that's around me to see where, and I love your word. Vertical to see where I can find a creative thought.
to do something different. Case in point. We work with young athletes, but we didn't. Used to. My husband works with professional athletes we didn't used to.
But back to the church story in the churches.
(23:51):
our athletes in the churches, our business people had a meeting with the pastor.
I'm like, you're probably in over your head doing all this counseling that you probably have an experience for tap us. So those Referrals begat new
clients in different walks of life. Some of them were athletes.
And now, Boom.
(24:13):
we have an athletic connection that we didn't have before. My husband actually is the Mental health director for the New York Knicks
that came out of those church meetings
and athletes coming to us and us growing that creatively by looking at what's in the church, who's in the church?
(24:33):
Different people, different walks of life, different businesses. So now we have a sports program just for young athletes. We have a not for profit, also that we didn't used to have, so that we can give back.
And the sports athletes program I'm talking about is on our not-for-profit site, where we actually give free counseling to athletes, and we raise money for that, so that they don't have to worry about not having the mental support they need as they grow into professionals, so that creative space, going back to your question. It has to come from
(25:01):
where you sit every day in your environment, and you're picking
Cherry picking, figuring out, where is there a need. Where do I see a gap? Is there a gap? Can I do that? Can I use the skill that I have to fill that gap?
And sometimes you're testing it, and there's a failure, and you have to reinvent yourself and test something else.
Govindh Jayaraman (25:22):
And that is there a gap part? You're actually out there asking people right? That's part of it. You're not just sitting there in your own. And you talked about this idea of shutdown days, this idea of shutting down things.
allowing yourself the time and space to think about things creatively. And you're doing it in that. You're so you're ideating on these options. But then you're taking the options out to the world and saying, Hey.
(25:50):
pastor, do you think there's an opportunity that we can? We can help, and we can support our community in this way? Hey, athlete that I know you from church? Is there an opportunity from us? So you're you're validating it with real people. But you're ideating it in a quiet space. That's really powerful right? That's a very powerful construct. How often do you do the shutdown days.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (26:13):
3 days a week.
Govindh Jayaraman (26:14):
3 days a week.
3 days a week, and I don't even work on Fridays anymore. I stopped. I said, Friday is my day to play tennis.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (26:22):
To have a Darcell moment to give myself a chance to rejuvenate from the business that I have to run on a regular basis, and the thought life that I have to bring to that business, so that I can have some time just to be. And then in those spaces is sometimes where the Ahas come up.
I had an Aha last week
actually, I will say, maybe 6 weeks ago, when we were looking at the business and the ebbs and flows. And I said, You know what.
(26:47):
Let me see all the intakes for the last 4 months, and I kept seeing one health insurance health 1st that we don't take.
and I counted 120 people that we turned away. Well, guess what we're on the panel now.
Govindh Jayaraman (27:02):
Yeah.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (27:03):
I'm like I'm done with this. Don't turn them away. Let's go get on the panel. Let's go get that money. Let's go help that client. Let's not say no to that person.
and so I called health 1st up, I said, we used to be on your panel, and we were years years ago something fell apart. They got bought blah blah blah.
And I shamed them by saying in an email.
how could we not be a partner again.
(27:24):
Why is it so hard to get credentialed? Because we had tried? And then we dropped it. And that's the other thing you got to complete
what you start, because sometimes you go back to, and it's even harder.
This was hard because we had to go back because we didn't complete the process. It wasn't their fault. A lot of it was my staff that dropped the ball and never finished getting us credentialed. But when I realized that the receivables were getting low, and this was a hot spot that we were turning away.
(27:49):
Not anymore. They. They're taking us back, and we probably start in 2 weeks. But this is a new revelation of 2025,
filling the gap in our own financial gaps, trying to figure out, where's my hole? So our hole was that insurance company held first.st The other hole was, the rates were too low for all the other ones we take. So I started emailing provider relations and saying, Raise my rates, let's renegotiate.
(28:15):
That's the second thing we did this year. And then the 3rd thing for 2025 that we did when we looked at. Where we're headed
is we weren't taking Medicaid and Medicare. We'd stopped that. Why? Because we got
complacent and dependent on contract money contract money was sweet.
easier than dealing with the insurance companies, but we got complacent.
(28:37):
So I said, we got to go back to Medicaid, and Medicare goes. That's what made the business grow. When we started in 1999.
Govindh Jayaraman (28:45):
It's amazing. So you got real curious about the data, found these 3 opportunities, and immediately
took action to make sure that those things were in place right.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (28:55):
Right, and I couldn't do that if I didn't have that creative space those days off those shutdown days to examine me, to examine it, and to just sort of be in a space of calm.
to not come stressed and anxious about it. But to come from perspective of I'm gonna find me a solution.
Govindh Jayaraman (29:13):
Yeah, something else I want to go back to. And you. You said it
in jest. And I think that people again. What makes you strong makes you weak. What makes you weak makes you strong? And you talked about there were some things that you did that you called Ghetto finance, that that really was important for you
(29:39):
to build to where you are.
But I think that people don't understand that you've got to use everything at your disposal
to move forward, and that's that's what I think you were saying. Right. Am I missing that.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (29:55):
No, no, you're completely right. And when I use that languaging, it's because when you look at the
playing field of lending in any country.
The criteria has never favored the low score. The challenged person who has a story behind. Why they're challenged is not that they're irresponsible.
(30:17):
So there's certain programs that might lend themselves to hearing your story. But if everything points to you just can't make the bar
got to find a way around that. And when I looked at our bank accounts on many, many levels for many, many years, and saw that
these $35
fees of funds, or they call it insufficient, or whatever the case may be. And in our business, the sad thing is, there's a lot of direct deposits, and they're just sitting in pending.
(30:48):
Well, I learned they'll pay it. If they know it's just sitting in pending, they may charge me for it, and then I get on the phone. I argue, and I get my $35 back.
So that's the Ghetto finance I'm talking about where you are. You are fighting in a different
playground around a entity called a bank or lending institution. And you're finding a spot that actually, if they close the door on you in one area, you got to work around their system. Figure out how you can still get what you need and get that check paid. Even.
Govindh Jayaraman (31:18):
Yes, because I love this, you know, that'd be.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (31:22):
$35 could have been the interest rate you paid on the loan if they give you the loan. So technically, I'm like, okay, this is a version of a loan.
Govindh Jayaraman (31:30):
Yeah.
And and you know, Banks banks are famous for
banks. Don't lend money to people who need it.
Banks lend money to people who don't need it. And and if if entrepreneurs get that in their mind, you can start to think about other ways. And one of the ways that you did that in a really creative way is
(31:51):
diversifying how you amortized your talents as an organization across different verticals. I'm really grateful for your story, Darcell. What a beautiful story! You also have a great shout out. So what we've been doing
this season in paper napkin wisdom is a nod to a dear friend of show Paper Nap, who was there in the 1st season of paper, napkin wisdom. His name was John Ruland. He passed away, and his napkin to us was what you appreciate appreciates. So in honor of him, in honor of
(32:25):
spreading more gratitude into the world, we ask our guests to shout out someone to close the show. Who would you like to shout out today?
Darcel Dillard-Suite (32:34):
I would shout out, my business partner and my best friend, who is my husband, Dr. Derek sweet, and he has a podcast, called the sweet spot. But what I love about what he does with it is he has one line. This is the shout out, and his line is where science meets the soul.
and I love that because when you think about science and you think about our souls, and he's a psychiatrist, there's an incredible blending there that sometimes can be an oxymoron and fight each other to science and the soul. So I shout him out today because I love that his brainpower allows me and everyone who listens to him
(33:10):
to really stretch ourselves in our scientific body and in our spiritual mindset.
Govindh Jayaraman (33:16):
I love that. Thank you so much, Darcell.
Darcel Dillard-Suite (33:19):
Thank you. Pleasure.
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