December 6, 2023 • 56 mins
What does it take to turn a personal passion into a thriving business that changes lives every day? Join us as we sit down with Terran Gates, the woman who's transforming the world of prosthetics through her unique clinic, Gates Prosthetic and Mobility Clinic. Raised in a small town and armed with a master's degree in prosthetics and orthotics, Terran opened up a world of possibilities for amputees, bringing an entrepreneurial vitality to the healthcare field.
This episode allows you to step into the fascinating world of prosthetics and their creation, from the technical aspects to the life-enhancing impact they have on amputees. Terran's personal journey from a corporate job to self-employment, dealing with the trials and tribulations of insurance companies, and finally establishing her own successful business is sure to inspire and motivate. Additionally, we explore the critical role of mentorship and guidance in the journey of setting up a business, a subject many entrepreneurs will find insightful.
Lastly, our conversation sharpens its focus on the future of destination care for amputees and the incredible mission behind these technological marvels. The episode concludes with a deep dive into the importance of pre-operative counseling and post-operative support in the field of prosthetics. Whether you're an aspiring healthcare entrepreneur, someone interested in the technological marvels of prosthetics, or simply searching for an inspiring story about transformation and resilience, this episode is a must-listen for you. Tune in for a truly transformative journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey everybody.
We're back again with anotherepisode of Big Talk About Small
Business.
My partner is not chiming out.
I wanted you to own it, thisepisode Come on.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Okay, big big talk about small business.
Talk about business Sorry.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I put you on the spot .
You really made thatuncomfortable, I know.
In any case, it's Eric Howertonand myself, and also my friend
Teran Gates is here with us inthe studio.
How are you doing this morning,teran?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Pretty good, it's been a good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Has it.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
We're having a piece of pie over at the pie house.
Oh nice, that's a good way tostart.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I like that.
I started out at McDonald'syeah, you did, and I went inside
.
You went to the gym and it'salways interesting when you sit
inside McDonald's the cast ofcharacters that's in there.
There's usually some old peopleand they're taking care of each
other and that's kind of cute.
And then there's the homelesspeople who are taking showers
(01:08):
and the bathrooms sink.
I had some of that today too.
That's a good way to start themorning, bro, I know this makes
me sound terrible and I knowthere are a lot of people out
there suffering, but thishomeless couple looked
absolutely normal.
They were in their late 20s.
Each one had a cell phone.
I studied them.
They had a new iPad in the boxthat they were setting up while
(01:30):
they sat at the table, and thebest accessory they had was a
fake baby wrapped up in a babyblanket, which they then shoved
into a giant black trash bagalong with the rest of their
stuff.
But I think that was probably asympathy getting tool.
I mean, you know, you've seenit.
(01:52):
It's a fact that here thehomeless people, at least in
Fayetteville, are actuallyworking shifts and they're
organized and there are peoplethat are out there pimping them
out.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Back on this conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Collecting the money.
There was a whole conversationthat was overheard recently at a
restaurant where one person wasbeing trained about how to be,
you know, the beg for money.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And policy and procedure meeting.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, it's true.
It's like we gather y'all upNow four o'clock, we have a
shift change, we got a coffeebreak from one to one-fifteen.
Anyway, it's like working, it'sworking, it is.
But anyway, that's not whatwe're here to talk about.
I'm sorry to sidetrack us.
Okay, we're here to talk aboutTeran in Teran's new business.
(02:46):
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, teran.
Teran has a business called theGates Clinic.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, that's the abbreviated, because the long
version is a little wordy.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Give us the long version.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
So it's Gates Prosthetic and Mobility Clinic.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Gates Prosthetic and Mobility Clinic and I know she's
got a lot of experience indealing with prosthetics and
prosthetic patients.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Sure, so I grew up in Batesville, arkansas.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
It's a pretty small town, very much small town
culture, and from there I wentto U of A and got my
undergraduate degree that was inkinesiology and a math minor,
and then I went on to a master'sprogram at UT Southwestern in
Dallas for prosthetics andorthotics.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
What got you to prosthetics?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, so I thought I wanted to do physical therapy,
and I worked in a clinic throughthe summer in high school and
they had a patient there thatwas an amputee, and so I started
looking into that and shadowingin those clinics and really
just fell in love with thebalance of working for people
and working with your hands.
And everything is evolving andchanging all the time, so it
(04:01):
stays very unrepetitive.
It's always adapting and you'realways having to learn new
things and keep up with the newtechnology.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I always tell people that, like I've said this to
several of my kids and I'velistened but it's like I don't
know what I want to do when Igrow up and I'm like looking to
physical therapy.
It seems so gratifying to me.
I've been through it multipletimes for one thing or another.
I got a bad knee from kickstartand old Norton motorcycles and
(04:31):
stuff like that and I haddestroyed my left hand here in a
motorcycle accident.
But it's always fun when you gothere.
It's always sort of a communityas a patient.
All the therapists they're nice.
You become friends with themand then sometimes you'll be on
the same cycle with otherpatients.
(04:53):
There's like a little community.
Everybody's talking and itseems like it's such a would be
so rewarding because it is sohelpful.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, yeah, you know, definitely is.
You don't know how helpful itis until you've been through it,
because I had no idea what theywere about.
But then, yeah, they got methrough some shoulder pains that
were pretty rowdy and some hippains too.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I had a shoulder thing where my arm just was like
numb and you know where you getthat weird yelling at it, but I
turned out to be a pinched necknerve.
Yeah, then you know, they putyou in neck traction and all.
But it is a very rewardingfield and you help a lot of
people.
So I can see why somebody wouldlike that.
Now I don't know about the mathmajor.
(05:35):
How did that work in with that?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well so I started in engineering so I went through
all of the math courses and itwas like, well, I can take one
more and have a minor, so Imight as well.
I said well, it's and it wasironically a GPA boost, because
those were all my A's andcollege.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Dumb girl.
I mean just yeah, like just areal slacker.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
You'll find how much I've inherited.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yes, so anyway, so you got your master's degree.
Then you were, you worked whileyou were in school, you said,
at a PT clinic.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yes, that was in high school.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay.
In Batesville yes, okay.
And then what happened?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So I'm from there.
I did my residency in our field.
It's a master's degree and thenat least two years of residency
.
Okay, and then you take boardexams.
So I went back to Arkansas andpracticed in Mountain Home and
finished my residency, took myboard exams and, as we say,
became a real person in thefield.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Is that it Mountain Home?
Wow, that's where I used to gowhen I was a kid.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I loved it.
Yeah, it's a beautiful thing,malware.
It's gorgeous up there it is.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
There were two bars in town, that's all I remember.
The Red Fox was at the HolidayInn and then there was something
else on the other end of townand anyway, we used to go there
as kids Most people go there forlike the lakes and rivers, yeah
the Lake Norfolk, but you werethere for the bars.
My friend's brother-in-law had acabin on Lake Norfolk.
(07:03):
That's why we went there, butit gets really boring after a
couple nights of playing cardsand drinking beer.
So we didn't have to move tothe whore, but anyway, back so
then.
So you went through thetwo-year residency and then how
did you end up here?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So I've had some family move and so I ended up
splitting my time and coveringboth clinics and Mount Home and
Rogers and that was fairlyunsustainable.
I did that for a year to a yearand a half with kids and a
family.
So you were commuting and getup at five, drive two hours see
(07:43):
a full day of patience.
We had two houses so we weresplitting our time so you never
know where any of your stuff isand you get home at nine o'clock
, you eat some Mark-A-Wave foodand you go to bed and you did
again.
So we did that for, like I said, a year and a half.
I eventually said I'm not doingthis anymore.
(08:04):
So I came over a year full-timeand in healthcare and what we do
it's really lifelongrelationships with your patients
and so part of that was reallyhard on me because there were
people that I'd seen for fouryears at this point, and I
remember actually crying on mylast day there because it was
(08:28):
saying goodbye to these peopleand not knowing whether I'd see
them again and hoping that thehands that I was leaving them in
were going to keep them asactive and healthy and mobile as
I was trying to do.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
So I came over here and built the same thing here,
and I feel that way abouteverywhere I've been and gone
and the patients that I've seen.
So now I have my patient familyhere, and I've been practicing
in this area for about fouryears now and I have to stop and
(09:03):
think about how long I've beenhere and really how many
relationships I've developed inthe area too.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Did you have your own clinic in Mountain Home?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
No, so that was when I was working with a
family-owned business there.
So that was a large reason whyI took that residency and joined
that practice was that it was afamily-owned business.
I had a really good interviewwith the CEO at the time and
really liked just the freedom ofinnovation that they offered.
(09:34):
It wasn't about how much canyou turn out and how fast can
you do it.
It was about caring.
Caring.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And then when you moved here, is that when you
opened up your own clinic.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
No, so that was again with the same company.
Okay, oh okay, so we actuallyexpanded them and opened a
clinic in this area and in part,to create an opportunity for me
to move to the issue that myfamily was in.
So that was part of the reason.
Part of the market.
Obviously it was growing andthere wasn't enough suppliers in
(10:05):
the area, so we saw a goodopportunity come.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
So what exactly do you do for your patients?
I mean, do you provide themwith the prosthetic?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Sure, yeah it's a little confusing about how all
that works.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And then I assume you give them a lot of therapy to
be able to use it effectively,right?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So what we do is we fit and customize the prosthesis
to the individual.
So the components, as far aslike the knee and the feet and
those kind of things, are madeand manufactured by facilities.
They're tested, they go throughcyclic testing.
We don't make those parts, buteverything that goes.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Do you design them?
You give them specs on what youwant.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
No, it's more about matching the person to what's
out there.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I see.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Not everybody gets a forward right.
That may not work for everybodySomebody who's a Corvette but
it's about assessing theirweaknesses, their strengths,
their goals, their surroundingsand environment and what matches
.
And then the more importantpart is the patient interfacing
(11:11):
part.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So it's more like custom modifications to that
part is completely custom fromscratch.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Something that I'm doing that's a little
differently is I'm keeping thatpart in-house and making it
myself.
A lot of that is being sent outand central fabricated and it's
a little more mass produced.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
So you're making your own press thesis, or what would
I call that press theses?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yes, that'd be plural .
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I wanna make sure I do that right.
Well done bro.
Thank you, I was the editor ofmy high school paper.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, you were.
You're one of the best writersI've ever met in my life.
Yeah, thanks, I'm announcingthat I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
But so thanks, buddy, for real.
So you're making them in-housenow.
So what kinds of equipment doyou need to do that?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So the final product is made of resin and carbon and
some other materials.
But how that works is you havea positive model, you lay your
materials over it, you have avacuum pump and actually the one
I'm using is from a dentaloffice and so it runs, vacuum,
(12:20):
pulls all the materials in, andthen you run resin through it
for a wet elimination and then,as the resin sets up, then you
take that off, you grind it outand shape it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You do this yourself.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I do.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Holy cow cool.
What are the engineeringaspirations you have back there?
You're coming in handy withthat.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
It is yeah, so I think everybody's always
surprised when I tell them thatI use power tools every day.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
That's cool.
That is your husband and I wentto that carbon fiber bike
manufacturing company.
Yeah, that's slick.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I wish it was that streamline, but because
everything is so individual andone off, it's very hands-on,
very technical.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So what does a typical carbon fiber leg sell
for?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
There's a huge variation and it just depends on
what the components are.
You have a very basic transferleg for below the amputee, maybe
$7,000.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Holy cow.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Right, and that's what you hear, and you hear
about how expensive these thingsare.
But a lot of people don'tunderstand that that is
all-inclusive, so we don't getpaid for time, we don't get paid
for any care after the fact, soit's all about.
All of our cost is in thedelivered product.
So that's the eval, that's thecasting, that's all the
(13:40):
adjustments and follow-ups aftergetting maintenance.
So it's a little more thanwhat's presented on paper.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Sure, that makes a lot of sense.
It's actually kind of comfortsa lot right there.
Yeah, they know what it is.
It's a yeah Cause I'm sure youhave some pre-evaluations, right
Consultations then of course.
Then you do the fitting and Imean there's a lot of work in
that, and then you're adjustingafterwards.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
So there's no co-pays for visits or anything like
that, oh wow.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
That's all.
Does the insurance typicallypay for these legs?
Yes, Does, okay.
So why are most of these?
I mean, is it mainly legs orare there other breast theses
that you provide?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Sure yeah, Upper extremity, lower extremity.
We do orthotics too.
I don't talk as much aboutthose so bracing.
As well Do pediatric and adult.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Wow Like full service .
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So why would?
Why do most of these amputeesneed limbs?
What is that driven by diabetes?
Or what is the primary driveraccidents?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I know diabetes is the leading cause in the US.
There's, in this area, I see, alot of accidents as well, and
there are a lot of differentreasons.
There's some congenital reasonsthat contribute to cancer.
Motor vehicle accidents, I seecaught a bit, of which I think
we'll actually start seeing moreof in this area.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Just because of the population growth.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yes, and the infrastructure around the roads
is gonna be a challenge, and wesee rats all day, every day,
cycling.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Really A lot of people get hurt on bicycles.
People don't realize it.
Is that true?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Is Mark right?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
And most of the time those are more neurological
injuries they may have.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Head injuries huh Wow .
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Lasting effects.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Is that mainly from like road biking, or is it
mountain biking too?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
All of them, all of the no.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Now you, I know that's like one of your
specialties that you'reproviding over there, isn't it?
Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, and that counts from.
How do you promote?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
that it's.
What specialty are you talkingabout?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Cycling related oh really Injuries.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
And prosthetics.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And prosthetics yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Activity specific prosthetics, so getting people
back into the activities thatthey wanna do.
That's something that insuranceis just starting to recognize
as a need as well.
50% of amputees actually diefive years after their first
amputation.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And that's generally from comorbidities right and so
they're not good.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
What does that word mean?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It's additional diseases and disorders that
they're dealing with, so they'renot the most healthy individual
to start with.
They have an amputation.
Now they're in a wheelchair.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And they're immobile, decline, sure, and I'm sure
there's a lot of mental factorsof that too, right, mm-hmm,
indepressed.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
So it's close to my heart to get these people up and
active again.
So, that they can work on theirhealth Cause.
For a lot of people it's kindof the wake up call I have to do
something different.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, I just noticed that on your website when I was
reading I mean just kind of yourwhich I love the mission, I
love mission based these guysreally have a real mission.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, you know, it's not just like trying to get
somebody to buy your crutch orsomething.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Right exactly, or buy a prosthetic right Right.
Bifermaza means more aboutcaring and getting them back
into a I mean really a positivemental life style in life.
Yeah, I mean I could imaginelike I mean I could imagine that
a lot of these folks are.
I mean it's like hitting with aton of bricks.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And the impact they're like.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I think what their next day looks like yeah, yeah,
and now your whole life'schanged.
You lose you've met and losesome hope, right, and but you
guys are really caring forself-esteem.
Hell yeah, man.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You can work with this.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
These are coming out yeah, yeah self-images just
completely rocked.
So, that's what I hear a lot oftimes those questions about
like, isn't it really depressingwork?
And it's not at all.
It's because we're catchingpeople on the other side.
So it's really a lot of fun tokind of guide them through the
process and say you're gonna beable to get back to what you
(17:51):
wanted to do and what you'redoing prior, and so we're really
able to kind of give them alittle hope.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, yeah, I was, I'm sorry.
No, go ahead, mark.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I just wanted to ask do you see a big difference in
like male and female patientsabout their mental state?
Related to this?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
No, I think they struggle, as there is some
gender differences, but I thinkthere's equal struggles on both
sides.
I feel like men in particularreally worry about their ability
to take care of the house, goback to work I mean, provide an
income for the family, which Ithink is true in a lot of
(18:33):
scenarios and women worry aboutkeeping up with the family and
keeping up with the kids, and alot of them are working too.
So I mean, it's the same thing,but some of them just cultural
dynamics.
There's some really deeplyingrained concerns for both
sides.
And then self-image as well,and I can't tell you how many
(18:57):
times I've talked to peopleabout is my husband or is my
wife still gonna love me?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah, oh yeah, I'm sure I believe it.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, well, that's pretty deep and a big deal,
right, I mean it is yeah, youend up being a little bit of a
counselor and a marriagecounselor while you're doing all
this too, but what I like aboutit, though, is that you're
attaching your passion behindthat, and I mean I could only
imagine going through an eventthat would create that, but then
being able to find a cliniclike yours, that, where you, as
(19:26):
the entrepreneur, leader of thatbusiness, that you actually
really genuinely care about thatand that's your mission.
I mean being able to getcoached to that.
I mean that'd be so relieving.
Yeah, I mean I was actuallyreading on the side about it,
and I just put myself in thatposition for a second, and I
actually legitimately had likean emotional relief, in a way
(19:49):
that, if something like thathappened, that there's somebody
out there that can help you.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah, we end up doing a lot outside of kind of
our spectrum of just taking oncoordinating care too, Because a
lot of times that people gohome and they don't realize I'm
gonna have to have my housemodified and I'd now need to
have my car modified.
And they're thinking that farahead.
So just making sure that peopleare making connections in the
(20:16):
right areas, getting referred tothe right places.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, it's like you had this testimony on your site
from a guy that said this is myfirst year involved in this and
he was just kind of talkingabout like I had no idea what to
expect Going in on the pre-evalbefore he had the amputation.
Like he gave him that hope andthat understanding that this
isn't going to destroyeverything like you're expecting
(20:41):
it to.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
And that's something that we it's a noble endeavor.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Totally is man.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
We believe really strongly in pre-operative
counseling Because there's not alot of resources out there.
Typically, you know yoursurgeon's extremely busy.
They're in and out of the room.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Sure right, and the questions?
Yeah, and surgeons are knownfor bedside manner.
Right yeah, Spending time withyou.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, and a lot of them don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
They do a procedure.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Too much of the process that happens after that.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Sure, well, they got something to focus on, right,
they have a lot ofresponsibility and just that, oh
that box, and I could never doit.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And then honestly I've talked to a lot of them
they feel like it's a failure.
You know, when they get to thatpoint of they're gonna have to
have an amputation.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
And so it's a hard discussion for them and they
don't.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
They don't always want to own it.
So we try to kind of take thatspace and make sure people are
taken care of and know where togo, because there have been a
lot of people to go home and sitfor six months and not know who
to call and, like we weretalking about earlier, they
deconditioned during that time.
So we take that reallyseriously.
We have a support group as well, so we try to get people.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Oh, that's good.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
In front of your advocates, so the people that
have actually been through thispersonally.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right.
Because I can tell you from aclinician what's gonna happen,
yeah, and then you can walk intothe room that's actually
missing a limb and that you'renot alone.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
You're not alone, yeah, and you can do it, I'm
sure.
So let's go back to thebusiness aspect, though.
How did you decide to startyour own business?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Sure, so both of my parents were entrepreneurs.
My dad is an attorney, my mom'san accountant.
I think back you know thegeneration before that.
My grandpa was a dentist thathad his own practice and a
family newspaper, and my othergrandparents had a western auto
(22:25):
and, yeah, I grew up watchingeverybody work really hard and I
was like this doesn't stop.
This is, you know, it's noteight to five.
I never want to own my ownbusiness, I'm just going to work
for somewhere that I, you know,share a mission with and that's
what I'm going to do Right.
But you know it's when you makedemands.
They tend to come back in yourface Right, and I am a very
(22:49):
passionate and outspoken person.
So when things start changingand I don't agree with the way
that care is provided, I justseem to continue to hit a
roadblock in not being able toprovide care the way I wanted to
.
So I really, just, like that,was forced to make the decision.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
And you know, on top of that, not only patient care
but the way that people in thebusiness that employees were
taken care of as well Was thatbecause your clinics were
acquired by private equity, andprivate equity is just purely
financially driven.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yes, I mean that was a big.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
They didn't share the mission necessarily.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I mean the culture went from a family-owned
business you know it was verymuch about the people that were
in it to a corporation and itwas then became, you know dollar
amount and profit margins andwe need people in and out of
here in 45 minutes.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Turning the tables.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, table like a restaurant, exactly Like get
them in and get them out.
Get them in and get out.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Because again, we don't get paid on time.
So the faster you can getsomebody in and out and
delivered, the more money youmake.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
So when did you decide you wanted to do your own
thing?
And how long was the gestationperiod?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Sure, this has probably been three years in the
works and I think a lot of itstemmed from burnout and we all
went through COVID and there wasa huge shift in workplace
culture at that point and I waslooking at changing degrees and
fields and doing somethingdifferent and getting out of
healthcare, which there's been ahuge shift of people out of O&P
(24:37):
, which is orthotics andprosthetics, because of the same
reasons, and we don't haveenough people replacing
practitioners now, so there's ahuge shortage, there's an
increase in amputation rate andthen people leaving the field.
On top of that, I think like25% of the graduating classes
leave.
They don't even stay.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Leave what Rheustetics and orthotics.
Wow, they get a degree and theydon't even practice what they
study.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
So I mean I was looking at that and so I was
looking at ads for working atMercedes and I'm like I could do
that.
I mean it's you know.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Sling cars.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, I've always wanted to be a car slinger.
I've always thought that womenshould be more selling cars,
absolutely, you know, because Ithink other women would respond
to that.
Yeah, not so threatening.
Yeah, exactly, I mean, it wouldbe refreshing to have an
intelligent person.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen going to a car
lot and not not seeing a bunchof guys up there.
Yeah, and you pull up andyou're like, okay, which one's
going to be the first one?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, they're like coming out in the last night and
it's just like yeah, I feellike I'm in a gym.
Yeah, which?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
is you know, right which one was less munchies man.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Anyway.
So I was looking at doing that.
I was just trying to figure out.
You know I don't want to dothis the rest of my life and
I've got 30 more years ofworking minimum.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
But what's the?
You don't want to do what like?
What's the this on that?
Because you talked about theburnout and the folks not going
into the field.
I mean, what is the that part?
The?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
this was the company I'm arguing for the what I felt
the correct way to provide care.
You know you got.
We fight insurance a lot.
As it is that I have to fightinsurance and then fight the
company and fight the policiesand, you know, sell three more
legs so we can have a pizzaparty for lunch was just I
couldn't do it, you know it'sbrutal, man I mean, but it's
(26:29):
real.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, that's what happens.
Yeah, I'm decays the purposebehind the business.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Right.
I mean, we sat here and talkedabout purpose and where it comes
from, so I just I couldn't,mentally, could not do it.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
So three years in the making.
So when did you do yourbusiness plan or did you do a?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
business.
Well, I did very, very manydifferent versions.
I was actually started as anadaptive gym, so I wanted to
open a facility that was gearedaround exercise and tailored to
people with disability, and thatthey can go in and use
equipment safely, becausethere's there's a lot of
(27:06):
variations there that you know.
Getting on a stationary bikedoes not look the same, and so I
worked with the?
U of A small business andtechnology department and set up
a business plan around that.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
What would you deal with over there?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Mary.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Beth.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Stephanie Parsons and Stephanie really championed it
for me, she met with me and we.
We did lots of differentbusiness plans and then at some
point we sat down and she saidlook, taryn, you're obviously
going to go do something.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
You need to go do it it was kind of the get off the
pot or you know, yeah, you gottahave that talk.
Yeah, you do, you do analysisforever, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
And so, yeah, we we ran a lot of numbers on the
adaptive gym, and that wasprobably 2000, early 2019.
And then COVID hit and I waslike maybe a gym is not a good
idea, and so it evolved into alittle bit of mix of both.
So we, you know, right nowwe're doing prosthetics and
orthotics, but also haveadaptive training on the side.
(28:11):
And so you know, doing thesport, specific prosthetics, and
then offering personalizedexercise plans that are adaptive
, taking into thoseconsiderations.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So you kind of have a micro market then.
I mean, you're really focusedon folks that have a need for
this, but they want to be active.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And and yeah probably don't all want to be active,
right, right.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
So like I mean you're not, I mean like that's
interesting to me because folksthat have had active lives, that
want to have active livesafterwards finding you is like I
mean it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Right, because, again , most clinics are focused on
getting you in and out.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
And so you know, it's like you know, it's like you
know, you're not just talkingabout the parts, regardless of
what that looks like, notnecessarily taking the extra
time.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
What's your, what's your tagline in your business,
to kind of identify?
Speaker 3 (29:03):
with that market, like, have you, do you have
something that, um, you know?
I think the closest I've comehas been the uniquely designed
crafting for your goals.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I'm just thinking like prosthetics for performance
.
He's a marketer.
Yeah, he's a performanceprosthetics.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, you should listen to him.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
He's, he's good, but.
But I mean because, like,because I think that if you have
an audience out there right,because they're going to have
that need and you're gettingthat need, but that's a
differentiator.
Yeah, it totally is.
And but that attachment to thattagline could make, because
people need to be able to, likeimmediately understand what your
business mission is and if theycan attach to that, then
(29:42):
they're just going to give acall and then they're going to
know they're going to go inthere with that expectation and
you guys are going to solve it.
Yeah, that's good advice, it'sreally good advice.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, you're welcome.
So, terry, where did you getthe money to start this business
?
I assume it takes a significantamount of money.
You've got to have the rightkind of facility and then all
the equipment you need to beable to make the prosthetic
prostheses.
Excuse me, that's great.
I would say prosthetic devices,I guess.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
And a lot of it was.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
So how did you finance that?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
A lot of it was just good fortune and timing and we
moved over here Again.
We had two houses betweenMountain Home and Rogers and we
sold those kind of as the marketwas booming and made some money
on that, consolidated into onehouse and again hit that and
sold it at a really good time.
So we downsized to a house thatwas a quarter of the size.
(30:39):
We pulled a lot of bills andmade a lot of decisions to say
we're not going to be tied tothis lifestyle, this house.
We want to do somethingdifferent.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
That's entrepreneurship?
Right, there, isn't it?
Sure is, you did it, we did it,we've all done it.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Second mortgage.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, and your husband's supporting you the
whole way through.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yes, tell us a little bit about him.
What's his background?
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Sure.
So we are both prosthetist,orthetist, which makes for
interesting dinner tableconversations.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
lots of legs and I just keep wanting to make a joke
it's so bad about I'd give anarm and a leg to be in that
business.
But I'm not.
But you just did it.
I know I'm sorry.
You found no way to do it.
I'm a dad.
I make dad jokes.
Yeah, that's probably.
I'm sure I'm sorry, but anyway.
So he comes from a similarbackground, then, in terms of
(31:32):
the kind of work that he's done.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, and actually he was my residency director, so
there's a little bit ofcomplicated history there.
But he is extremely skilled inwhat he does and I learned a lot
from him and I was veryfortunate to kind of come
through a time we had a lot ofreally good teachers, which is,
I think, part of my success andthe patients that have followed
(31:56):
me is because I am very good atwhat I do, because of the
experience up in the past.
So, again, he's a practitioneras well and he was the COO and
then CEO of the company that weworked for.
So a lot of experience on bothsides of practice and business
(32:18):
management.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
So he's got his own business at this point right.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yes, so he's doing some consulting work.
He has got a year left on andon compete that was.
Another big decision for us was, as we're downsizing and
thinking about you know, aboutdoing something different,
because it was eating us aliveto support a mission that we
didn't believe in.
So we made the decision ofdoing them.
(32:47):
He's a little older than me, soin 40s do I have this huge
career change and step back andtake some time to reassess what
we do, or do I stay in this kindof comfort bubble of what I
know and a steady paycheck?
So we both quit relatively atthe same time and did something
different, which was a huge leap.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah for sure.
But so what is your experienceof self-employment versus
working for the big corporation?
What's good about it and what'snot so good about it?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
You know I mean the work hours never end.
Obviously I mean anyentrepreneur will tell you that.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
But I can say Well you do get to sleep like six
hours a night.
I mean, come on.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
And then we wake up at two thinking about everything
you did today.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
And so but that was the thing to me was I have the
same work ethic and really thesame drive, regardless of
whether I'm working for somebodyor for myself.
So a lot of what I'm doing Iwas doing anyways.
I have a lot of ideas, so I wascoming up with ideas and
(33:57):
changing the way that we didthings, regardless of where I
worked.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So it's been.
It's a little easier to makethose changes, though, in your
own business, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (34:07):
I've had the control to do that.
It's been a game changer.
I was telling Kyle last nighttoo that I was as tired as I am
and as many hours as I'm working, I'm not burned out.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
You know I'm working harder than I was, but because
I'm passionate about what I'mdoing and I feel like it's right
, you know, buildingself-employed.
It's not burning me out like Iused to Plus.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'll also always call it the escape factor, right,
because you have the freedom tobounce.
Yeah, I think, mentally,knowing that you can make that
decision is a huge, huge deal,you know, whereas if you're
employed, you're, I feel likeyou're trapped, at least that's
how I feel.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I think a lot of business owners feel trapped too
.
Yeah, Because they've gotcommitments.
Yeah, right, Like this is mybad Leases and there's nobody to
turn your notice into.
True, you know, but I hear whatyou're saying, so would you?
I'm just curious because I know.
I remember when I left corporateAmerica and went into my first
(35:05):
quote real business I wassurprised by how much time I had
to work on my business becauseof all the other stuff that sort
of comes along with working incorporate America, like
pointless meetings and providinginformation to other people
that didn't benefit you and youjust caught all that I got out
(35:27):
of it.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Recaps, and four calves Exactly.
It's like expense report.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
You just caught all that out and then suddenly it's
like holy cow, I can actually dowhat I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
I was surprised at.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Was did you find?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Partly that, but also you know there were a lot of
things that you're told and Ithink to kind of keep you from
really considering opening yourown practice.
I mean you hear about how hardit is and you don't want to take
this risk and yeah, I mean it'sall these things and how
expensive it is and there's nomoney in this.
And yeah, you get on theoutside and it's like you know,
(36:02):
really, if you keep it lean andyou make smart decisions, this
is not that hard.
And you ask for help in theareas that you don't know how to
do.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
There you go.
That's big, that's a big point,that is a really big point.
So there's a lot of those areas, well, but I think that I mean
like that's a huge statement,like you're not an accountant,
don't be the accountant For us,you're an attorney, whatever,
and some people just want to tryto do everything themselves.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Because you think I can't afford not to.
You can't afford to do ityourself, and you can't afford
to make mistakes, so how manypeople do you have working for
you?
Right now I have five, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Bringing on a sixth here in the next couple of weeks
.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
And so like are these people?
What do they do?
Are they all practitioners?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
So I have.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Any support people.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Sure, I have someone that is doing billing and
insurance and she is actuallykind of a dual role.
She has a certificate in Fitterand Pedorthus, so she's able to
do certain level of bracing.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I see.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
And then I have an assistant who is able to do most
of the treatment care and it'sjust not developing the
treatment plan, so she's fairlyindependent.
And then I have an admin and apeer advocate as well, so
somebody answering the phones,making sure people are taken
care of on the schedule,requesting all the documentation
from the doctors, and my peeradvocate does some of that for
(37:29):
this area, but also justvisiting with patients during
the hospital visits, and it waskind of when you open the
business.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
How many folks did you have at that time of opening
Two?
And so you just kind of slowlyadd on.
Slow that on overhead then yeahshe's doing it.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah .
Speaker 3 (37:47):
But that's been something that I've seen that
has been really flattering andvery cool to see is the people
that have approached me, becausewe have focused on culture and
building something and I thinkour passion and our mission is
so visible that the really justthe cream of the crop has
approached me.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I really believe in that Totally.
You know you've got a realmission and you make sure you
live that.
That's right.
People respond to that.
The workers respond to thatbecause they want it Absolutely.
So now, what are your plans atthis point?
Where do you go from here?
I mean, there's obviously alimit as to how many people need
(38:30):
the services and products thatyour business provides, but this
is I think everybody asked methat because they're like well,
how big are we looking at?
Speaker 4 (38:39):
going and you know what's your?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
vision and I don't want to be a big conglomerate.
Yeah, I plan on growing tothree or four clinics and really
stopping there.
Yeah, I don't want this to beso big that it's I can't control
it and I really want it to be asmall family business.
That would mean taking care of10, 15 employees and just
(39:04):
keeping things lean and in thebusiness.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I have an idea what's that, because I can understand
what you're saying is you getbigger, you open up more offices
, you have more overhead andthen it starts turning into
what's hard out of yeah, exactly, well, I'll create that.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
I think to a certain extent, for sure.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
But I think the cool thing is is in today's time
there's a hybrid approach thatcan allow you to actually extend
your mission digitally in a wayof how you help folks right.
You can scale the pre-consult,you can scale the post-consult,
you can really help Developvideos, education yeah, man,
(39:44):
absolutely and be able tomonetize those courses and those
classes, those peer groups.
I mean kind of consider that.
And then you have your clinic,such as your foundation, but
then you can go worldwide withyour mission to community help
people.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
He's got you going worldwide.
See Worldwide.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
You can see how Eric thinks yeah, yeah, but I mean
you can scale that out, that'son your prediction, I mean.
I mean I just keep going backbecause I mean people need like
this stuff.
Obviously You're championing amarket that is actually really
really big, but to your point, Imean like you're scaling that
to go worldwide with physicallocations is a massive, indeed
(40:26):
massive, undertaking, right,yeah, and keeping that culture
that you've started, right,because I mean just an idea for
you.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
How do you Eric's got some good thought process.
How do you deal with thepersonal life and kids?
How many kids do you guys haveThree, Okay and how old are they
?
Speaker 3 (40:50):
10, eight and three.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Wow, Okay.
So how do you manage all thatwith having this business?
Speaker 3 (40:57):
That was kind of a side blessing of Kyle stepping
out of his position and,honestly, a little bit of the
non-compete ended up being ablessing as well, because he's
really stepped up at home anddone a lot of the pickup and
drop off from school and theschool activities and cooking
dinner.
I think he's cooked dinner moretimes since I quit in the last
(41:19):
four years.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Is he a decent cook?
Speaker 3 (41:21):
He is.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
That's good.
That's a surprise.
He's a competent guy.
He can do a lot of differentthings.
He is so meticulous yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
He's doing everything that he does.
But he'll follow the recipe tothe tee and I'm like, well,
let's see if we can have this,we'll replace it with that kind
of thing.
But I mean, I think that's beenan interesting dynamic shift
because he is very driven.
You know, he climbed the ladder, he really had a set path and
we meet as a family and say thisis how we make this happen and
(41:53):
this is what your new role lookslike, and just taking it with
strides and supportive as can be.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
That's awesome, so real quick Leck.
Whenever you're consulting withyour clients, is there any kind
of innovation that when you goback like I'm just kind of
picturing like in yourcustomizing for that certain
person's lifestyle, have you raninto like any innovative
solutions that you're like thatjust aren't on the market but
(42:24):
you like customize this and youreally like I can imagine that
and what's new?
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Yeah, what you're pushing forward yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
There are a lot of innovations and kind of the
socket technology, so theinterface, because if you think
about, you know you can have thebest knee and the foot that's
out there, but if you havediscomfort in your socket, if it
hurts every time you take astep, it's not gonna do you any
good.
So a lot of the innovation outthere is focused around socket
(42:52):
fit.
So there's some different waysto, you know, hold these things
on different suspensions andvolume management, Cause that's
the other big challenge inprosthetics is you have a static
shape that your limb goes inand it doesn't change with you.
So if you, you know, have morewater one day than the next and
(43:13):
you, you know, fluctuate or youlose 10 pounds, these things
don't fit anymore and thenthey're again very expensive,
right?
So we're trying to make themfit and last as long as possible
.
So there's been some changesand innovations on how to change
the socket and keep it a littlemore dynamic, and that's been
where I've had the most interestin focusing.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
So you're like always looking for new suppliers and
new innovations that are outthere in the world.
You're researching that andthen test those things out and
just kind of keep modifying.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
And there's a lot more technology out there than
what we're able to use becauseit's limited by insurance
coverage right, robotic arms andthings.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
What about that?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
There's sensors that you can.
That'll actually transmitsensations.
So you can have like pressureyes, yes, Recently I'm just
stumbled across videos or newsitems on that, and it's a long
ways from being you know,available, widely available
because of insurance.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
So the insurance kind of blocks innovation.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
What about, like Medicare, medicaid I mean, do
you participate in any with that?
Speaker 3 (44:26):
Yes, yeah, and that's the majority of our patients,
because they're on disabilityright.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
So there is a good chunk of private insurance, but
a lot of what we do is Medicareand Medicaid.
Medicare actually has prettygood coverage.
You can get most of thetechnology out there.
Medicaid is fairly limiting but, you know, we try to find ways
to get people what they need,whether it's vocational rehab
and different grants, and that's, I think, something that we do
(44:53):
well is try to find people andresources on getting what they
need.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
So are you saying that the private insurance is
blocking more than?
Speaker 3 (45:05):
Depends on the insurance.
Some of them are really goodand some of them are not.
Yeah, I've had conversationswith case management of you know
.
They're telling me why doesthis person need a leg?
Have you tried to hop to thebathroom recently?
Now do it for the rest of yourlife.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah, right, you're kidding Right.
Wow, that's crazy yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
So we always call it fighting the good fight and
really have to go to head withinsurance.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Are there any good innovative insurance companies
that have foresight and that can, like that, are trying to just
bring that wheel along forinnovation, I feel like Blue
Cross in Arkansas, has been oneof the better ones.
Really, that's good to know andmaybe T is listening out there.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Don't get UnitedHealthcare.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
That's what I think I have.
I mean U of A it's UMR, Is that?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
UMR is all right.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Okay, you all provide my insurance.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Our listeners are going to appreciate that advice?
Speaker 1 (46:06):
What about people who just don't have any insurance
coverage?
Is there financing available tothem?
Speaker 3 (46:11):
So we definitely do, Cash price greatly reduced.
At that point it becomes like apercentage over our cost and
you're just doing the work forfree.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
You're just trying to help the patient, you're not
making anything on it.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
And a lot of times, depending on their situation,
they can qualify and we helpthem through the process for aid
but again.
There's voc, rehab and somedifferent resources out there.
There's a few grants and somenonprofits like Steps of Faith,
and I think Wiggle my Toes isanother one.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
So you know it kind of staying in the know of what's
out there can really help a lotof people.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Are those local organizations?
No, that's right.
The Brooklyn National.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Cool.
Well, what else is in yourfuture?
Let's say, we build this up tofour clinics and you're got it
where you want it.
Then what happens?
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Yeah, something I'd want to expand into would be
destination care.
So you know, we actually liveover by Kohler and when we go on
walks I see people come andit's amazing how many amputees
I've ran into.
So you know, maybe people comein and we fit them with the bike
specific prostheses, they goride at Kohler, test this thing
out and get them and send themback to their real world and
(47:30):
that's, I think, a differentmodel of care.
Put them up at a vacationhousing, yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
That would be really interesting.
So you're telling me likepeople come from out there and
they stay at a certain place andget this Because you have a
design that plays to fit theirneeds.
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Yeah, wouldn't that be fun.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Yeah, that would be very cool.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
With having the different clinics.
I could do mountain biking here, I could do fly fishing and
mountain home, because that's abig fly fishing.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
He could do hiking, prosthetics or kayaking or
whatever, but it may be a wholeoutdoor adventure.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Eric's got an outdoor adventure company.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Well, I mean, it's not really ramping up right now.
Okay, well, you've only gotabout 10 things you're trying to
do.
But I mean, like this, is itactually Get out?
Get out, yeah, but it's alittle bit of ways from
actualizing.
There's a lot of risk in that.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
I wonder, though, if there'd be a way to integrate
that with what Terence didTotally.
Yeah, like you could have aspecial event and you could
handle a part of that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, youshould talk about that.
Yeah, we should.
Yeah, because I know that's onyour agenda for a few weeks.
Yeah, I know what to do that,along with building that castle
on the hill that you're buildingover there with the driveway
(48:48):
that's in the wrong place.
I'm just trying to get adriveway done.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Yeah, you know the castle will come later, but the
big thing is this studio right.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
You can expand that.
That's coming up next week.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
So next time you come in, you know we'll be in a
little bit more of a upgradedstudio.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Oh it's going to be fantastic.
I'm really excited, yeah.
So back though.
You guys also own somecommercial real estate, don't
you?
Yes, but your business is notlocated in your own building.
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
No, in part it was.
I wanted to serve theBentonville Bella Vista area.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
I see, so you went north of your uh-huh.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
One, there's not a provider in this area, so a lot
of people are having to travel,and if you think about people
with amputations, they reallydon't want to drive through an
hour of traffic and most of themare having to coordinate
somebody else driving them aswell.
So it's somewhat convenience ofcare.
Two, it puts me again closer tosome of the outdoor activities
(49:48):
that I want to tie into in thefuture.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yeah, so your location is kind of tied a
little bit.
I mean there's trails galore,right Got it.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
That's cool yeah.
That's really cool.
Well, it sounds exciting andyou're doing a great job,
obviously to be where you arenow.
When did you start thisbusiness?
Speaker 3 (50:06):
I signed a lease in July, so we are-.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Of 2023?
Speaker 1 (50:10):
Yeah, wow, this is the new thing.
You know what?
You've only got five peopleover there, dude, that's
impressive, yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
It's been a little bit chaotic, but it's been good
it's fun little roller coasterride.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Build all that out.
What advice do you have forpeople who are thinking about
starting their own business?
Maybe they're like you, wherethey have some kind of a
particular professional skill.
What do you say to them?
What advice would you have?
Speaker 3 (50:37):
That it's definitely a scary move, but well worth it,
and just take the plunge.
Assess your finances so thatyou aren't stressed about paying
the rent, but just go for it.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
That's cool.
Yeah, I'm with you.
You got to do it.
Yep, I could make a crudestatement, but I'll refrain.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
And I would add on to what you're doing, like the
purpose, mission driven rate,reason behind the business is so
critical, and that's somethingthat I just don't think is
missing.
You can't put that in aspreadsheet because you're going
to have to power through a lotof risky decisions, but to
believe it in your mission andyour purpose will get you across
(51:21):
.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
It gets you through.
Yeah, and the bad times we allhit.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
Yeah, believing in something.
Yeah, I'm like freaking braveheart.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
I mean, it's a tough balance of listening to feedback
and getting all the feedback.
Somebody's going to tell youthis is a bad idea.
And you have to know that andlisten, but also believe in what
you're doing and pursue.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
Yeah, and they try to sway you away from your, your
outright demographic that you'vebeen going after, and they
don't, may not even understandthat They'll be like well, what
you really need to do is turnthe tables Like.
You need to like.
You need to have 40 pages.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
Pivot, pivot, the big word of the day.
That's right, you've got topivot.
So would you say that thingspretty well worked out according
to your plan, or were there anymajor departures?
Speaker 3 (52:07):
No, I think you know it's.
It's been going pretty smooth.
I don't feel like I've had togive up or change your pivot
anywhere too majorly.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
See, I love hearing that because, yeah, a lot of
people say, well, the businessplan doesn't mean anything,
you're going to throw it all theway the day you start your
business.
I never did that.
Yeah, I felt like the businessbasic business plan still viable
35 years later.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
The timeframe you know, I think it has been
changed quite a bit.
It was accelerated and you know, and like we talked about, I've
brought on five people and it'slike I guess I will pay myself
next month.
You know, you kind of just keepkicking the kid down the road
of how long can I not collect apaycheck?
Speaker 1 (52:50):
We've all been there.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
baby, we can bring on the next member, because it's
more important to have the rightteam and bring this person on.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
It's an investment mode and for you to stay focused
on which your strength is, orget to where you're trying to
get to right, it's better topostpone getting financial
reward to get focused Too manybusinesses, I think the owners
try to extract too much tooearly and they basically kill
the business.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
They're sucking all the working capital out of it.
How do you market this business?
Speaker 3 (53:19):
We grow a lot by word of mouth.
Some of it's referral based too, and that is from doctors.
Yeah, surgeons some primary careas well, but it's it and it
varies so much based on area thesmall towns that we're in is
very much.
You can get in front of thephysicians.
They're down to earth, you havea conversation with them, what
(53:41):
you're trying to do and why.
I will say Northwest Arkansashas been very much more
political than anywhere else andit's really hard to get in
front of surgeons and say, hey,we, we offer something better
and getting them to listen andwhy they should send them to you
.
So Northwest Arkansas has beena lot more word of mouth than I
(54:01):
think you know, just proving topeople that we can do a better
job.
So, most of my patients up herehave been people that honestly,
that some of them haven't walkedcomfortably in six years.
And they come and they find meand I'm like let's give it one
more try, Let me try.
And it takes a little bit ofrisk and hope for them to say,
maybe I can hope that thisdoesn't hurt to walk and yeah,
(54:24):
but when you get them up andgoing and they're comfortable,
they won't never leave you.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
Yep Makes sense.
Well, we really appreciate yourbeing here with us today.
Yeah, absolutely Awesome,awesome business.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
All right.
Well, this has been anotherepisode of big talk about small
business.
Check out our website atwwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom.
We're on all the majorstreaming platforms YouTube,
spread the word sign up.
We have a subscribe option onour site.
(55:00):
Don't forget to ask questions.
We love your questions.
Speaker 2 (55:04):
Yeah, get ideas, we.
We love recommendations ofguests.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
Absolutely.
I'll bring it and and sponsors.
If anybody wants to sponsor theshow, yeah.
Whoever wants to reach out toan audience of small business
owners who are smart and tryingto run their business more
effectively Yep In their livesContact us.
(55:29):
Well done, mark.
Thanks buddy, take care.
Thank you, taren.
Thanks Taren.
Speaker 4 (55:41):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of big talk
about small business.
If you have any questions orideas for upcoming shows, be
sure to head over to our website,
wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscomand click on the ask the host
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Stay connected with us onLinkedIn at big talk about small
(56:02):
business and be sure to headover to our website to read
articles, browse episodes andask questions about upcoming
shows.
Hey everybody.
We're back again with anotherepisode of Big Talk About Small
Business.
My partner is not chiming out.
I wanted you to own it, thisepisode Come on.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Okay, big big talk about small business.
Talk about business Sorry.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I put you on the spot .
You really made thatuncomfortable, I know.
In any case, it's Eric Howertonand myself, and also my friend
Teran Gates is here with us inthe studio.
How are you doing this morning,teran?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Pretty good, it's been a good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Has it.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
We're having a piece of pie over at the pie house.
Oh nice, that's a good way tostart.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I like that.
I started out at McDonald'syeah, you did, and I went inside
.
You went to the gym and it'salways interesting when you sit
inside McDonald's the cast ofcharacters that's in there.
There's usually some old peopleand they're taking care of each
other and that's kind of cute.
And then there's the homelesspeople who are taking showers
(01:08):
and the bathrooms sink.
I had some of that today too.
That's a good way to start themorning, bro, I know this makes
me sound terrible and I knowthere are a lot of people out
there suffering, but thishomeless couple looked
absolutely normal.
They were in their late 20s.
Each one had a cell phone.
I studied them.
They had a new iPad in the boxthat they were setting up while
(01:30):
they sat at the table, and thebest accessory they had was a
fake baby wrapped up in a babyblanket, which they then shoved
into a giant black trash bagalong with the rest of their
stuff.
But I think that was probably asympathy getting tool.
I mean, you know, you've seenit.
(01:52):
It's a fact that here thehomeless people, at least in
Fayetteville, are actuallyworking shifts and they're
organized and there are peoplethat are out there pimping them
out.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Back on this conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Collecting the money.
There was a whole conversationthat was overheard recently at a
restaurant where one person wasbeing trained about how to be,
you know, the beg for money.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And policy and procedure meeting.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, it's true.
It's like we gather y'all upNow four o'clock, we have a
shift change, we got a coffeebreak from one to one-fifteen.
Anyway, it's like working, it'sworking, it is.
But anyway, that's not whatwe're here to talk about.
I'm sorry to sidetrack us.
Okay, we're here to talk aboutTeran in Teran's new business.
(02:46):
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself, teran.
Teran has a business called theGates Clinic.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, that's the abbreviated, because the long
version is a little wordy.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Give us the long version.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
So it's Gates Prosthetic and Mobility Clinic.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Gates Prosthetic and Mobility Clinic and I know she's
got a lot of experience indealing with prosthetics and
prosthetic patients.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Sure, so I grew up in Batesville, arkansas.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
It's a pretty small town, very much small town
culture, and from there I wentto U of A and got my
undergraduate degree that was inkinesiology and a math minor,
and then I went on to a master'sprogram at UT Southwestern in
Dallas for prosthetics andorthotics.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
What got you to prosthetics?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, so I thought I wanted to do physical therapy,
and I worked in a clinic throughthe summer in high school and
they had a patient there thatwas an amputee, and so I started
looking into that and shadowingin those clinics and really
just fell in love with thebalance of working for people
and working with your hands.
And everything is evolving andchanging all the time, so it
(04:01):
stays very unrepetitive.
It's always adapting and you'realways having to learn new
things and keep up with the newtechnology.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I always tell people that, like I've said this to
several of my kids and I'velistened but it's like I don't
know what I want to do when Igrow up and I'm like looking to
physical therapy.
It seems so gratifying to me.
I've been through it multipletimes for one thing or another.
I got a bad knee from kickstartand old Norton motorcycles and
(04:31):
stuff like that and I haddestroyed my left hand here in a
motorcycle accident.
But it's always fun when you gothere.
It's always sort of a communityas a patient.
All the therapists they're nice.
You become friends with themand then sometimes you'll be on
the same cycle with otherpatients.
(04:53):
There's like a little community.
Everybody's talking and itseems like it's such a would be
so rewarding because it is sohelpful.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, yeah, you know, definitely is.
You don't know how helpful itis until you've been through it,
because I had no idea what theywere about.
But then, yeah, they got methrough some shoulder pains that
were pretty rowdy and some hippains too.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
I had a shoulder thing where my arm just was like
numb and you know where you getthat weird yelling at it, but I
turned out to be a pinched necknerve.
Yeah, then you know, they putyou in neck traction and all.
But it is a very rewardingfield and you help a lot of
people.
So I can see why somebody wouldlike that.
Now I don't know about the mathmajor.
(05:35):
How did that work in with that?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well so I started in engineering so I went through
all of the math courses and itwas like, well, I can take one
more and have a minor, so Imight as well.
I said well, it's and it wasironically a GPA boost, because
those were all my A's andcollege.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Dumb girl.
I mean just yeah, like just areal slacker.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
You'll find how much I've inherited.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yes, so anyway, so you got your master's degree.
Then you were, you worked whileyou were in school, you said,
at a PT clinic.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yes, that was in high school.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay.
In Batesville yes, okay.
And then what happened?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So I'm from there.
I did my residency in our field.
It's a master's degree and thenat least two years of residency
.
Okay, and then you take boardexams.
So I went back to Arkansas andpracticed in Mountain Home and
finished my residency, took myboard exams and, as we say,
became a real person in thefield.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Is that it Mountain Home?
Wow, that's where I used to gowhen I was a kid.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I loved it.
Yeah, it's a beautiful thing,malware.
It's gorgeous up there it is.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
There were two bars in town, that's all I remember.
The Red Fox was at the HolidayInn and then there was something
else on the other end of townand anyway, we used to go there
as kids Most people go there forlike the lakes and rivers, yeah
the Lake Norfolk, but you werethere for the bars.
My friend's brother-in-law had acabin on Lake Norfolk.
(07:03):
That's why we went there, butit gets really boring after a
couple nights of playing cardsand drinking beer.
So we didn't have to move tothe whore, but anyway, back so
then.
So you went through thetwo-year residency and then how
did you end up here?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So I've had some family move and so I ended up
splitting my time and coveringboth clinics and Mount Home and
Rogers and that was fairlyunsustainable.
I did that for a year to a yearand a half with kids and a
family.
So you were commuting and getup at five, drive two hours see
(07:43):
a full day of patience.
We had two houses so we weresplitting our time so you never
know where any of your stuff isand you get home at nine o'clock
, you eat some Mark-A-Wave foodand you go to bed and you did
again.
So we did that for, like I said, a year and a half.
I eventually said I'm not doingthis anymore.
(08:04):
So I came over a year full-timeand in healthcare and what we do
it's really lifelongrelationships with your patients
and so part of that was reallyhard on me because there were
people that I'd seen for fouryears at this point, and I
remember actually crying on mylast day there because it was
(08:28):
saying goodbye to these peopleand not knowing whether I'd see
them again and hoping that thehands that I was leaving them in
were going to keep them asactive and healthy and mobile as
I was trying to do.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
So I came over here and built the same thing here,
and I feel that way abouteverywhere I've been and gone
and the patients that I've seen.
So now I have my patient familyhere, and I've been practicing
in this area for about fouryears now and I have to stop and
(09:03):
think about how long I've beenhere and really how many
relationships I've developed inthe area too.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Did you have your own clinic in Mountain Home?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
No, so that was when I was working with a
family-owned business there.
So that was a large reason whyI took that residency and joined
that practice was that it was afamily-owned business.
I had a really good interviewwith the CEO at the time and
really liked just the freedom ofinnovation that they offered.
(09:34):
It wasn't about how much canyou turn out and how fast can
you do it.
It was about caring.
Caring.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And then when you moved here, is that when you
opened up your own clinic.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
No, so that was again with the same company.
Okay, oh okay, so we actuallyexpanded them and opened a
clinic in this area and in part,to create an opportunity for me
to move to the issue that myfamily was in.
So that was part of the reason.
Part of the market.
Obviously it was growing andthere wasn't enough suppliers in
(10:05):
the area, so we saw a goodopportunity come.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
So what exactly do you do for your patients?
I mean, do you provide themwith the prosthetic?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Sure, yeah it's a little confusing about how all
that works.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And then I assume you give them a lot of therapy to
be able to use it effectively,right?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So what we do is we fit and customize the prosthesis
to the individual.
So the components, as far aslike the knee and the feet and
those kind of things, are madeand manufactured by facilities.
They're tested, they go throughcyclic testing.
We don't make those parts, buteverything that goes.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Do you design them?
You give them specs on what youwant.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
No, it's more about matching the person to what's
out there.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I see.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Not everybody gets a forward right.
That may not work for everybodySomebody who's a Corvette but
it's about assessing theirweaknesses, their strengths,
their goals, their surroundingsand environment and what matches
.
And then the more importantpart is the patient interfacing
(11:11):
part.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So it's more like custom modifications to that
part is completely custom fromscratch.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Something that I'm doing that's a little
differently is I'm keeping thatpart in-house and making it
myself.
A lot of that is being sent outand central fabricated and it's
a little more mass produced.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
So you're making your own press thesis, or what would
I call that press theses?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yes, that'd be plural .
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I wanna make sure I do that right.
Well done bro.
Thank you, I was the editor ofmy high school paper.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, you were.
You're one of the best writersI've ever met in my life.
Yeah, thanks, I'm announcingthat I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
But so thanks, buddy, for real.
So you're making them in-housenow.
So what kinds of equipment doyou need to do that?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So the final product is made of resin and carbon and
some other materials.
But how that works is you havea positive model, you lay your
materials over it, you have avacuum pump and actually the one
I'm using is from a dentaloffice and so it runs, vacuum,
(12:20):
pulls all the materials in, andthen you run resin through it
for a wet elimination and then,as the resin sets up, then you
take that off, you grind it outand shape it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You do this yourself.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I do.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Holy cow cool.
What are the engineeringaspirations you have back there?
You're coming in handy withthat.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
It is yeah, so I think everybody's always
surprised when I tell them thatI use power tools every day.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
That's cool.
That is your husband and I wentto that carbon fiber bike
manufacturing company.
Yeah, that's slick.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I wish it was that streamline, but because
everything is so individual andone off, it's very hands-on,
very technical.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So what does a typical carbon fiber leg sell
for?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
There's a huge variation and it just depends on
what the components are.
You have a very basic transferleg for below the amputee, maybe
$7,000.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Holy cow.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Right, and that's what you hear, and you hear
about how expensive these thingsare.
But a lot of people don'tunderstand that that is
all-inclusive, so we don't getpaid for time, we don't get paid
for any care after the fact, soit's all about.
All of our cost is in thedelivered product.
So that's the eval, that's thecasting, that's all the
(13:40):
adjustments and follow-ups aftergetting maintenance.
So it's a little more thanwhat's presented on paper.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Sure, that makes a lot of sense.
It's actually kind of comfortsa lot right there.
Yeah, they know what it is.
It's a yeah Cause I'm sure youhave some pre-evaluations, right
Consultations then of course.
Then you do the fitting and Imean there's a lot of work in
that, and then you're adjustingafterwards.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
So there's no co-pays for visits or anything like
that, oh wow.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
That's all.
Does the insurance typicallypay for these legs?
Yes, Does, okay.
So why are most of these?
I mean, is it mainly legs orare there other breast theses
that you provide?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Sure yeah, Upper extremity, lower extremity.
We do orthotics too.
I don't talk as much aboutthose so bracing.
As well Do pediatric and adult.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Wow Like full service .
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So why would?
Why do most of these amputeesneed limbs?
What is that driven by diabetes?
Or what is the primary driveraccidents?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I know diabetes is the leading cause in the US.
There's, in this area, I see, alot of accidents as well, and
there are a lot of differentreasons.
There's some congenital reasonsthat contribute to cancer.
Motor vehicle accidents, I seecaught a bit, of which I think
we'll actually start seeing moreof in this area.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Just because of the population growth.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yes, and the infrastructure around the roads
is gonna be a challenge, and wesee rats all day, every day,
cycling.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Really A lot of people get hurt on bicycles.
People don't realize it.
Is that true?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Is Mark right?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
And most of the time those are more neurological
injuries they may have.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Head injuries huh Wow .
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Lasting effects.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Is that mainly from like road biking, or is it
mountain biking too?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
All of them, all of the no.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Now you, I know that's like one of your
specialties that you'reproviding over there, isn't it?
Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, and that counts from.
How do you promote?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
that it's.
What specialty are you talkingabout?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Cycling related oh really Injuries.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
And prosthetics.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And prosthetics yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Activity specific prosthetics, so getting people
back into the activities thatthey wanna do.
That's something that insuranceis just starting to recognize
as a need as well.
50% of amputees actually diefive years after their first
amputation.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And that's generally from comorbidities right and so
they're not good.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
What does that word mean?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It's additional diseases and disorders that
they're dealing with, so they'renot the most healthy individual
to start with.
They have an amputation.
Now they're in a wheelchair.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And they're immobile, decline, sure, and I'm sure
there's a lot of mental factorsof that too, right, mm-hmm,
indepressed.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
So it's close to my heart to get these people up and
active again.
So, that they can work on theirhealth Cause.
For a lot of people it's kindof the wake up call I have to do
something different.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, I just noticed that on your website when I was
reading I mean just kind of yourwhich I love the mission, I
love mission based these guysreally have a real mission.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, you know, it's not just like trying to get
somebody to buy your crutch orsomething.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Right exactly, or buy a prosthetic right Right.
Bifermaza means more aboutcaring and getting them back
into a I mean really a positivemental life style in life.
Yeah, I mean I could imaginelike I mean I could imagine that
a lot of these folks are.
I mean it's like hitting with aton of bricks.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And the impact they're like.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I think what their next day looks like yeah, yeah,
and now your whole life'schanged.
You lose you've met and losesome hope, right, and but you
guys are really caring forself-esteem.
Hell yeah, man.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You can work with this.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
These are coming out yeah, yeah self-images just
completely rocked.
So, that's what I hear a lot oftimes those questions about
like, isn't it really depressingwork?
And it's not at all.
It's because we're catchingpeople on the other side.
So it's really a lot of fun tokind of guide them through the
process and say you're gonna beable to get back to what you
(17:51):
wanted to do and what you'redoing prior, and so we're really
able to kind of give them alittle hope.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, yeah, I was, I'm sorry.
No, go ahead, mark.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I just wanted to ask do you see a big difference in
like male and female patientsabout their mental state?
Related to this?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
No, I think they struggle, as there is some
gender differences, but I thinkthere's equal struggles on both
sides.
I feel like men in particularreally worry about their ability
to take care of the house, goback to work I mean, provide an
income for the family, which Ithink is true in a lot of
(18:33):
scenarios and women worry aboutkeeping up with the family and
keeping up with the kids, and alot of them are working too.
So I mean, it's the same thing,but some of them just cultural
dynamics.
There's some really deeplyingrained concerns for both
sides.
And then self-image as well,and I can't tell you how many
(18:57):
times I've talked to peopleabout is my husband or is my
wife still gonna love me?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah, oh yeah, I'm sure I believe it.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, well, that's pretty deep and a big deal,
right, I mean it is yeah, youend up being a little bit of a
counselor and a marriagecounselor while you're doing all
this too, but what I like aboutit, though, is that you're
attaching your passion behindthat, and I mean I could only
imagine going through an eventthat would create that, but then
being able to find a cliniclike yours, that, where you, as
(19:26):
the entrepreneur, leader of thatbusiness, that you actually
really genuinely care about thatand that's your mission.
I mean being able to getcoached to that.
I mean that'd be so relieving.
Yeah, I mean I was actuallyreading on the side about it,
and I just put myself in thatposition for a second, and I
actually legitimately had likean emotional relief, in a way
(19:49):
that, if something like thathappened, that there's somebody
out there that can help you.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah, yeah, we end up doing a lot outside of kind of
our spectrum of just taking oncoordinating care too, Because a
lot of times that people gohome and they don't realize I'm
gonna have to have my housemodified and I'd now need to
have my car modified.
And they're thinking that farahead.
So just making sure that peopleare making connections in the
(20:16):
right areas, getting referred tothe right places.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, it's like you had this testimony on your site
from a guy that said this is myfirst year involved in this and
he was just kind of talkingabout like I had no idea what to
expect Going in on the pre-evalbefore he had the amputation.
Like he gave him that hope andthat understanding that this
isn't going to destroyeverything like you're expecting
(20:41):
it to.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
And that's something that we it's a noble endeavor.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Totally is man.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
We believe really strongly in pre-operative
counseling Because there's not alot of resources out there.
Typically, you know yoursurgeon's extremely busy.
They're in and out of the room.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Sure right, and the questions?
Yeah, and surgeons are knownfor bedside manner.
Right yeah, Spending time withyou.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, and a lot of them don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
They do a procedure.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Too much of the process that happens after that.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Sure, well, they got something to focus on, right,
they have a lot ofresponsibility and just that, oh
that box, and I could never doit.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
And then honestly I've talked to a lot of them
they feel like it's a failure.
You know, when they get to thatpoint of they're gonna have to
have an amputation.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
And so it's a hard discussion for them and they
don't.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
They don't always want to own it.
So we try to kind of take thatspace and make sure people are
taken care of and know where togo, because there have been a
lot of people to go home and sitfor six months and not know who
to call and, like we weretalking about earlier, they
deconditioned during that time.
So we take that reallyseriously.
We have a support group as well, so we try to get people.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Oh, that's good.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
In front of your advocates, so the people that
have actually been through thispersonally.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right.
Because I can tell you from aclinician what's gonna happen,
yeah, and then you can walk intothe room that's actually
missing a limb and that you'renot alone.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
You're not alone, yeah, and you can do it, I'm
sure.
So let's go back to thebusiness aspect, though.
How did you decide to startyour own business?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Sure, so both of my parents were entrepreneurs.
My dad is an attorney, my mom'san accountant.
I think back you know thegeneration before that.
My grandpa was a dentist thathad his own practice and a
family newspaper, and my othergrandparents had a western auto
(22:25):
and, yeah, I grew up watchingeverybody work really hard and I
was like this doesn't stop.
This is, you know, it's noteight to five.
I never want to own my ownbusiness, I'm just going to work
for somewhere that I, you know,share a mission with and that's
what I'm going to do Right.
But you know it's when you makedemands.
They tend to come back in yourface Right, and I am a very
(22:49):
passionate and outspoken person.
So when things start changingand I don't agree with the way
that care is provided, I justseem to continue to hit a
roadblock in not being able toprovide care the way I wanted to
.
So I really, just, like that,was forced to make the decision.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
And you know, on top of that, not only patient care
but the way that people in thebusiness that employees were
taken care of as well Was thatbecause your clinics were
acquired by private equity, andprivate equity is just purely
financially driven.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yes, I mean that was a big.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
They didn't share the mission necessarily.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I mean the culture went from a family-owned
business you know it was verymuch about the people that were
in it to a corporation and itwas then became, you know dollar
amount and profit margins andwe need people in and out of
here in 45 minutes.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Turning the tables.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, table like a restaurant, exactly Like get
them in and get them out.
Get them in and get out.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Because again, we don't get paid on time.
So the faster you can getsomebody in and out and
delivered, the more money youmake.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
So when did you decide you wanted to do your own
thing?
And how long was the gestationperiod?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Sure, this has probably been three years in the
works and I think a lot of itstemmed from burnout and we all
went through COVID and there wasa huge shift in workplace
culture at that point and I waslooking at changing degrees and
fields and doing somethingdifferent and getting out of
healthcare, which there's been ahuge shift of people out of O&P
(24:37):
, which is orthotics andprosthetics, because of the same
reasons, and we don't haveenough people replacing
practitioners now, so there's ahuge shortage, there's an
increase in amputation rate andthen people leaving the field.
On top of that, I think like25% of the graduating classes
leave.
They don't even stay.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Leave what Rheustetics and orthotics.
Wow, they get a degree and theydon't even practice what they
study.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
So I mean I was looking at that and so I was
looking at ads for working atMercedes and I'm like I could do
that.
I mean it's you know.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Sling cars.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, I've always wanted to be a car slinger.
I've always thought that womenshould be more selling cars,
absolutely, you know, because Ithink other women would respond
to that.
Yeah, not so threatening.
Yeah, exactly, I mean, it wouldbe refreshing to have an
intelligent person.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen going to a car
lot and not not seeing a bunchof guys up there.
Yeah, and you pull up andyou're like, okay, which one's
going to be the first one?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, they're like coming out in the last night and
it's just like yeah, I feellike I'm in a gym.
Yeah, which?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
is you know, right which one was less munchies man.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Anyway.
So I was looking at doing that.
I was just trying to figure out.
You know I don't want to dothis the rest of my life and
I've got 30 more years ofworking minimum.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
But what's the?
You don't want to do what like?
What's the this on that?
Because you talked about theburnout and the folks not going
into the field.
I mean, what is the that part?
The?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
this was the company I'm arguing for the what I felt
the correct way to provide care.
You know you got.
We fight insurance a lot.
As it is that I have to fightinsurance and then fight the
company and fight the policiesand, you know, sell three more
legs so we can have a pizzaparty for lunch was just I
couldn't do it, you know it'sbrutal, man I mean, but it's
(26:29):
real.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, that's what happens.
Yeah, I'm decays the purposebehind the business.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Right.
I mean, we sat here and talkedabout purpose and where it comes
from, so I just I couldn't,mentally, could not do it.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
So three years in the making.
So when did you do yourbusiness plan or did you do a?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
business.
Well, I did very, very manydifferent versions.
I was actually started as anadaptive gym, so I wanted to
open a facility that was gearedaround exercise and tailored to
people with disability, and thatthey can go in and use
equipment safely, becausethere's there's a lot of
(27:06):
variations there that you know.
Getting on a stationary bikedoes not look the same, and so I
worked with the?
U of A small business andtechnology department and set up
a business plan around that.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
What would you deal with over there?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Mary.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Beth.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Stephanie Parsons and Stephanie really championed it
for me, she met with me and we.
We did lots of differentbusiness plans and then at some
point we sat down and she saidlook, taryn, you're obviously
going to go do something.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
You need to go do it it was kind of the get off the
pot or you know, yeah, you gottahave that talk.
Yeah, you do, you do analysisforever, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
And so, yeah, we we ran a lot of numbers on the
adaptive gym, and that wasprobably 2000, early 2019.
And then COVID hit and I waslike maybe a gym is not a good
idea, and so it evolved into alittle bit of mix of both.
So we, you know, right nowwe're doing prosthetics and
orthotics, but also haveadaptive training on the side.
(28:11):
And so you know, doing thesport, specific prosthetics, and
then offering personalizedexercise plans that are adaptive
, taking into thoseconsiderations.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So you kind of have a micro market then.
I mean, you're really focusedon folks that have a need for
this, but they want to be active.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And and yeah probably don't all want to be active,
right, right.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
So like I mean you're not, I mean like that's
interesting to me because folksthat have had active lives, that
want to have active livesafterwards finding you is like I
mean it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Right, because, again , most clinics are focused on
getting you in and out.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
And so you know, it's like you know, it's like you
know, you're not just talkingabout the parts, regardless of
what that looks like, notnecessarily taking the extra
time.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
What's your, what's your tagline in your business,
to kind of identify?
Speaker 3 (29:03):
with that market, like, have you, do you have
something that, um, you know?
I think the closest I've comehas been the uniquely designed
crafting for your goals.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I'm just thinking like prosthetics for performance
.
He's a marketer.
Yeah, he's a performanceprosthetics.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, you should listen to him.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
He's, he's good, but.
But I mean because, like,because I think that if you have
an audience out there right,because they're going to have
that need and you're gettingthat need, but that's a
differentiator.
Yeah, it totally is.
And but that attachment to thattagline could make, because
people need to be able to, likeimmediately understand what your
business mission is and if theycan attach to that, then
(29:42):
they're just going to give acall and then they're going to
know they're going to go inthere with that expectation and
you guys are going to solve it.
Yeah, that's good advice, it'sreally good advice.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, you're welcome.
So, terry, where did you getthe money to start this business
?
I assume it takes a significantamount of money.
You've got to have the rightkind of facility and then all
the equipment you need to beable to make the prosthetic
prostheses.
Excuse me, that's great.
I would say prosthetic devices,I guess.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
And a lot of it was.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
So how did you finance that?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
A lot of it was just good fortune and timing and we
moved over here Again.
We had two houses betweenMountain Home and Rogers and we
sold those kind of as the marketwas booming and made some money
on that, consolidated into onehouse and again hit that and
sold it at a really good time.
So we downsized to a house thatwas a quarter of the size.
(30:39):
We pulled a lot of bills andmade a lot of decisions to say
we're not going to be tied tothis lifestyle, this house.
We want to do somethingdifferent.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
That's entrepreneurship?
Right, there, isn't it?
Sure is, you did it, we did it,we've all done it.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Second mortgage.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, and your husband's supporting you the
whole way through.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yes, tell us a little bit about him.
What's his background?
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Sure.
So we are both prosthetist,orthetist, which makes for
interesting dinner tableconversations.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
lots of legs and I just keep wanting to make a joke
it's so bad about I'd give anarm and a leg to be in that
business.
But I'm not.
But you just did it.
I know I'm sorry.
You found no way to do it.
I'm a dad.
I make dad jokes.
Yeah, that's probably.
I'm sure I'm sorry, but anyway.
So he comes from a similarbackground, then, in terms of
(31:32):
the kind of work that he's done.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, and actually he was my residency director, so
there's a little bit ofcomplicated history there.
But he is extremely skilled inwhat he does and I learned a lot
from him and I was veryfortunate to kind of come
through a time we had a lot ofreally good teachers, which is,
I think, part of my success andthe patients that have followed
(31:56):
me is because I am very good atwhat I do, because of the
experience up in the past.
So, again, he's a practitioneras well and he was the COO and
then CEO of the company that weworked for.
So a lot of experience on bothsides of practice and business
(32:18):
management.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
So he's got his own business at this point right.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yes, so he's doing some consulting work.
He has got a year left on andon compete that was.
Another big decision for us was, as we're downsizing and
thinking about you know, aboutdoing something different,
because it was eating us aliveto support a mission that we
didn't believe in.
So we made the decision ofdoing them.
(32:47):
He's a little older than me, soin 40s do I have this huge
career change and step back andtake some time to reassess what
we do, or do I stay in this kindof comfort bubble of what I
know and a steady paycheck?
So we both quit relatively atthe same time and did something
different, which was a huge leap.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah for sure.
But so what is your experienceof self-employment versus
working for the big corporation?
What's good about it and what'snot so good about it?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
You know I mean the work hours never end.
Obviously I mean anyentrepreneur will tell you that.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
But I can say Well you do get to sleep like six
hours a night.
I mean, come on.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
And then we wake up at two thinking about everything
you did today.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
And so but that was the thing to me was I have the
same work ethic and really thesame drive, regardless of
whether I'm working for somebodyor for myself.
So a lot of what I'm doing Iwas doing anyways.
I have a lot of ideas, so I wascoming up with ideas and
(33:57):
changing the way that we didthings, regardless of where I
worked.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So it's been.
It's a little easier to makethose changes, though, in your
own business, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (34:07):
I've had the control to do that.
It's been a game changer.
I was telling Kyle last nighttoo that I was as tired as I am
and as many hours as I'm working, I'm not burned out.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
You know I'm working harder than I was, but because
I'm passionate about what I'mdoing and I feel like it's right
, you know, buildingself-employed.
It's not burning me out like Iused to Plus.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'll also always call it the escape factor, right,
because you have the freedom tobounce.
Yeah, I think, mentally,knowing that you can make that
decision is a huge, huge deal,you know, whereas if you're
employed, you're, I feel likeyou're trapped, at least that's
how I feel.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I think a lot of business owners feel trapped too
.
Yeah, Because they've gotcommitments.
Yeah, right, Like this is mybad Leases and there's nobody to
turn your notice into.
True, you know, but I hear whatyou're saying, so would you?
I'm just curious because I know.
I remember when I left corporateAmerica and went into my first
(35:05):
quote real business I wassurprised by how much time I had
to work on my business becauseof all the other stuff that sort
of comes along with working incorporate America, like
pointless meetings and providinginformation to other people
that didn't benefit you and youjust caught all that I got out
(35:27):
of it.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Recaps, and four calves Exactly.
It's like expense report.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
You just caught all that out and then suddenly it's
like holy cow, I can actually dowhat I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
I was surprised at.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Was did you find?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Partly that, but also you know there were a lot of
things that you're told and Ithink to kind of keep you from
really considering opening yourown practice.
I mean you hear about how hardit is and you don't want to take
this risk and yeah, I mean it'sall these things and how
expensive it is and there's nomoney in this.
And yeah, you get on theoutside and it's like you know,
(36:02):
really, if you keep it lean andyou make smart decisions, this
is not that hard.
And you ask for help in theareas that you don't know how to
do.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
There you go.
That's big, that's a big point,that is a really big point.
So there's a lot of those areas, well, but I think that I mean
like that's a huge statement,like you're not an accountant,
don't be the accountant For us,you're an attorney, whatever,
and some people just want to tryto do everything themselves.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Because you think I can't afford not to.
You can't afford to do ityourself, and you can't afford
to make mistakes, so how manypeople do you have working for
you?
Right now I have five, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Bringing on a sixth here in the next couple of weeks
.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
And so like are these people?
What do they do?
Are they all practitioners?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
So I have.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Any support people.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Sure, I have someone that is doing billing and
insurance and she is actuallykind of a dual role.
She has a certificate in Fitterand Pedorthus, so she's able to
do certain level of bracing.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I see.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
And then I have an assistant who is able to do most
of the treatment care and it'sjust not developing the
treatment plan, so she's fairlyindependent.
And then I have an admin and apeer advocate as well, so
somebody answering the phones,making sure people are taken
care of on the schedule,requesting all the documentation
from the doctors, and my peeradvocate does some of that for
(37:29):
this area, but also justvisiting with patients during
the hospital visits, and it waskind of when you open the
business.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
How many folks did you have at that time of opening
Two?
And so you just kind of slowlyadd on.
Slow that on overhead then yeahshe's doing it.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah .
Speaker 3 (37:47):
But that's been something that I've seen that
has been really flattering andvery cool to see is the people
that have approached me, becausewe have focused on culture and
building something and I thinkour passion and our mission is
so visible that the really justthe cream of the crop has
approached me.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I really believe in that Totally.
You know you've got a realmission and you make sure you
live that.
That's right.
People respond to that.
The workers respond to thatbecause they want it Absolutely.
So now, what are your plans atthis point?
Where do you go from here?
I mean, there's obviously alimit as to how many people need
(38:30):
the services and products thatyour business provides, but this
is I think everybody asked methat because they're like well,
how big are we looking at?
Speaker 4 (38:39):
going and you know what's your?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
vision and I don't want to be a big conglomerate.
Yeah, I plan on growing tothree or four clinics and really
stopping there.
Yeah, I don't want this to beso big that it's I can't control
it and I really want it to be asmall family business.
That would mean taking care of10, 15 employees and just
(39:04):
keeping things lean and in thebusiness.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I have an idea what's that, because I can understand
what you're saying is you getbigger, you open up more offices
, you have more overhead andthen it starts turning into
what's hard out of yeah, exactly, well, I'll create that.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
I think to a certain extent, for sure.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
But I think the cool thing is is in today's time
there's a hybrid approach thatcan allow you to actually extend
your mission digitally in a wayof how you help folks right.
You can scale the pre-consult,you can scale the post-consult,
you can really help Developvideos, education yeah, man,
(39:44):
absolutely and be able tomonetize those courses and those
classes, those peer groups.
I mean kind of consider that.
And then you have your clinic,such as your foundation, but
then you can go worldwide withyour mission to community help
people.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
He's got you going worldwide.
See Worldwide.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
You can see how Eric thinks yeah, yeah, but I mean
you can scale that out, that'son your prediction, I mean.
I mean I just keep going backbecause I mean people need like
this stuff.
Obviously You're championing amarket that is actually really
really big, but to your point, Imean like you're scaling that
to go worldwide with physicallocations is a massive, indeed
(40:26):
massive, undertaking, right,yeah, and keeping that culture
that you've started, right,because I mean just an idea for
you.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
How do you Eric's got some good thought process.
How do you deal with thepersonal life and kids?
How many kids do you guys haveThree, Okay and how old are they
?
Speaker 3 (40:50):
10, eight and three.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Wow, Okay.
So how do you manage all thatwith having this business?
Speaker 3 (40:57):
That was kind of a side blessing of Kyle stepping
out of his position and,honestly, a little bit of the
non-compete ended up being ablessing as well, because he's
really stepped up at home anddone a lot of the pickup and
drop off from school and theschool activities and cooking
dinner.
I think he's cooked dinner moretimes since I quit in the last
(41:19):
four years.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Is he a decent cook?
Speaker 3 (41:21):
He is.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
That's good.
That's a surprise.
He's a competent guy.
He can do a lot of differentthings.
He is so meticulous yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
He's doing everything that he does.
But he'll follow the recipe tothe tee and I'm like, well,
let's see if we can have this,we'll replace it with that kind
of thing.
But I mean, I think that's beenan interesting dynamic shift
because he is very driven.
You know, he climbed the ladder, he really had a set path and
we meet as a family and say thisis how we make this happen and
(41:53):
this is what your new role lookslike, and just taking it with
strides and supportive as can be.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
That's awesome, so real quick Leck.
Whenever you're consulting withyour clients, is there any kind
of innovation that when you goback like I'm just kind of
picturing like in yourcustomizing for that certain
person's lifestyle, have you raninto like any innovative
solutions that you're like thatjust aren't on the market but
(42:24):
you like customize this and youreally like I can imagine that
and what's new?
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Yeah, what you're pushing forward yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
There are a lot of innovations and kind of the
socket technology, so theinterface, because if you think
about, you know you can have thebest knee and the foot that's
out there, but if you havediscomfort in your socket, if it
hurts every time you take astep, it's not gonna do you any
good.
So a lot of the innovation outthere is focused around socket
(42:52):
fit.
So there's some different waysto, you know, hold these things
on different suspensions andvolume management, Cause that's
the other big challenge inprosthetics is you have a static
shape that your limb goes inand it doesn't change with you.
So if you, you know, have morewater one day than the next and
(43:13):
you, you know, fluctuate or youlose 10 pounds, these things
don't fit anymore and thenthey're again very expensive,
right?
So we're trying to make themfit and last as long as possible
.
So there's been some changesand innovations on how to change
the socket and keep it a littlemore dynamic, and that's been
where I've had the most interestin focusing.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
So you're like always looking for new suppliers and
new innovations that are outthere in the world.
You're researching that andthen test those things out and
just kind of keep modifying.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
And there's a lot more technology out there than
what we're able to use becauseit's limited by insurance
coverage right, robotic arms andthings.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
What about that?
Speaker 3 (43:59):
There's sensors that you can.
That'll actually transmitsensations.
So you can have like pressureyes, yes, Recently I'm just
stumbled across videos or newsitems on that, and it's a long
ways from being you know,available, widely available
because of insurance.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
So the insurance kind of blocks innovation.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
What about, like Medicare, medicaid I mean, do
you participate in any with that?
Speaker 3 (44:26):
Yes, yeah, and that's the majority of our patients,
because they're on disabilityright.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
So there is a good chunk of private insurance, but
a lot of what we do is Medicareand Medicaid.
Medicare actually has prettygood coverage.
You can get most of thetechnology out there.
Medicaid is fairly limiting but, you know, we try to find ways
to get people what they need,whether it's vocational rehab
and different grants, and that's, I think, something that we do
(44:53):
well is try to find people andresources on getting what they
need.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
So are you saying that the private insurance is
blocking more than?
Speaker 3 (45:05):
Depends on the insurance.
Some of them are really goodand some of them are not.
Yeah, I've had conversationswith case management of you know
.
They're telling me why doesthis person need a leg?
Have you tried to hop to thebathroom recently?
Now do it for the rest of yourlife.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah, right, you're kidding Right.
Wow, that's crazy yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
So we always call it fighting the good fight and
really have to go to head withinsurance.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Are there any good innovative insurance companies
that have foresight and that can, like that, are trying to just
bring that wheel along forinnovation, I feel like Blue
Cross in Arkansas, has been oneof the better ones.
Really, that's good to know andmaybe T is listening out there.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Don't get UnitedHealthcare.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
That's what I think I have.
I mean U of A it's UMR, Is that?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
UMR is all right.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Okay, you all provide my insurance.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Our listeners are going to appreciate that advice?
Speaker 1 (46:06):
What about people who just don't have any insurance
coverage?
Is there financing available tothem?
Speaker 3 (46:11):
So we definitely do, Cash price greatly reduced.
At that point it becomes like apercentage over our cost and
you're just doing the work forfree.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
You're just trying to help the patient, you're not
making anything on it.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
And a lot of times, depending on their situation,
they can qualify and we helpthem through the process for aid
but again.
There's voc, rehab and somedifferent resources out there.
There's a few grants and somenonprofits like Steps of Faith,
and I think Wiggle my Toes isanother one.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
So you know it kind of staying in the know of what's
out there can really help a lotof people.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Are those local organizations?
No, that's right.
The Brooklyn National.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Cool.
Well, what else is in yourfuture?
Let's say, we build this up tofour clinics and you're got it
where you want it.
Then what happens?
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Yeah, something I'd want to expand into would be
destination care.
So you know, we actually liveover by Kohler and when we go on
walks I see people come andit's amazing how many amputees
I've ran into.
So you know, maybe people comein and we fit them with the bike
specific prostheses, they goride at Kohler, test this thing
out and get them and send themback to their real world and
(47:30):
that's, I think, a differentmodel of care.
Put them up at a vacationhousing, yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
That would be really interesting.
So you're telling me likepeople come from out there and
they stay at a certain place andget this Because you have a
design that plays to fit theirneeds.
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Yeah, wouldn't that be fun.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Yeah, that would be very cool.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
With having the different clinics.
I could do mountain biking here, I could do fly fishing and
mountain home, because that's abig fly fishing.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
He could do hiking, prosthetics or kayaking or
whatever, but it may be a wholeoutdoor adventure.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Eric's got an outdoor adventure company.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Well, I mean, it's not really ramping up right now.
Okay, well, you've only gotabout 10 things you're trying to
do.
But I mean, like this, is itactually Get out?
Get out, yeah, but it's alittle bit of ways from
actualizing.
There's a lot of risk in that.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
I wonder, though, if there'd be a way to integrate
that with what Terence didTotally.
Yeah, like you could have aspecial event and you could
handle a part of that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, youshould talk about that.
Yeah, we should.
Yeah, because I know that's onyour agenda for a few weeks.
Yeah, I know what to do that,along with building that castle
on the hill that you're buildingover there with the driveway
(48:48):
that's in the wrong place.
I'm just trying to get adriveway done.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Yeah, you know the castle will come later, but the
big thing is this studio right.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
You can expand that.
That's coming up next week.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
So next time you come in, you know we'll be in a
little bit more of a upgradedstudio.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Oh it's going to be fantastic.
I'm really excited, yeah.
So back though.
You guys also own somecommercial real estate, don't
you?
Yes, but your business is notlocated in your own building.
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
No, in part it was.
I wanted to serve theBentonville Bella Vista area.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
I see, so you went north of your uh-huh.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
One, there's not a provider in this area, so a lot
of people are having to travel,and if you think about people
with amputations, they reallydon't want to drive through an
hour of traffic and most of themare having to coordinate
somebody else driving them aswell.
So it's somewhat convenience ofcare.
Two, it puts me again closer tosome of the outdoor activities
(49:48):
that I want to tie into in thefuture.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yeah, so your location is kind of tied a
little bit.
I mean there's trails galore,right Got it.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
That's cool yeah.
That's really cool.
Well, it sounds exciting andyou're doing a great job,
obviously to be where you arenow.
When did you start thisbusiness?
Speaker 3 (50:06):
I signed a lease in July, so we are-.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Of 2023?
Speaker 1 (50:10):
Yeah, wow, this is the new thing.
You know what?
You've only got five peopleover there, dude, that's
impressive, yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
It's been a little bit chaotic, but it's been good
it's fun little roller coasterride.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Build all that out.
What advice do you have forpeople who are thinking about
starting their own business?
Maybe they're like you, wherethey have some kind of a
particular professional skill.
What do you say to them?
What advice would you have?
Speaker 3 (50:37):
That it's definitely a scary move, but well worth it,
and just take the plunge.
Assess your finances so thatyou aren't stressed about paying
the rent, but just go for it.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
That's cool.
Yeah, I'm with you.
You got to do it.
Yep, I could make a crudestatement, but I'll refrain.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
And I would add on to what you're doing, like the
purpose, mission driven rate,reason behind the business is so
critical, and that's somethingthat I just don't think is
missing.
You can't put that in aspreadsheet because you're going
to have to power through a lotof risky decisions, but to
believe it in your mission andyour purpose will get you across
(51:21):
.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
It gets you through.
Yeah, and the bad times we allhit.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
Yeah, believing in something.
Yeah, I'm like freaking braveheart.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
I mean, it's a tough balance of listening to feedback
and getting all the feedback.
Somebody's going to tell youthis is a bad idea.
And you have to know that andlisten, but also believe in what
you're doing and pursue.
Speaker 2 (51:43):
Yeah, and they try to sway you away from your, your
outright demographic that you'vebeen going after, and they
don't, may not even understandthat They'll be like well, what
you really need to do is turnthe tables Like.
You need to like.
You need to have 40 pages.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
Pivot, pivot, the big word of the day.
That's right, you've got topivot.
So would you say that thingspretty well worked out according
to your plan, or were there anymajor departures?
Speaker 3 (52:07):
No, I think you know it's.
It's been going pretty smooth.
I don't feel like I've had togive up or change your pivot
anywhere too majorly.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
See, I love hearing that because, yeah, a lot of
people say, well, the businessplan doesn't mean anything,
you're going to throw it all theway the day you start your
business.
I never did that.
Yeah, I felt like the businessbasic business plan still viable
35 years later.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
The timeframe you know, I think it has been
changed quite a bit.
It was accelerated and you know, and like we talked about, I've
brought on five people and it'slike I guess I will pay myself
next month.
You know, you kind of just keepkicking the kid down the road
of how long can I not collect apaycheck?
Speaker 1 (52:50):
We've all been there.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
baby, we can bring on the next member, because it's
more important to have the rightteam and bring this person on.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
It's an investment mode and for you to stay focused
on which your strength is, orget to where you're trying to
get to right, it's better topostpone getting financial
reward to get focused Too manybusinesses, I think the owners
try to extract too much tooearly and they basically kill
the business.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
They're sucking all the working capital out of it.
How do you market this business?
Speaker 3 (53:19):
We grow a lot by word of mouth.
Some of it's referral based too, and that is from doctors.
Yeah, surgeons some primary careas well, but it's it and it
varies so much based on area thesmall towns that we're in is
very much.
You can get in front of thephysicians.
They're down to earth, you havea conversation with them, what
(53:41):
you're trying to do and why.
I will say Northwest Arkansashas been very much more
political than anywhere else andit's really hard to get in
front of surgeons and say, hey,we, we offer something better
and getting them to listen andwhy they should send them to you
.
So Northwest Arkansas has beena lot more word of mouth than I
(54:01):
think you know, just proving topeople that we can do a better
job.
So, most of my patients up herehave been people that honestly,
that some of them haven't walkedcomfortably in six years.
And they come and they find meand I'm like let's give it one
more try, Let me try.
And it takes a little bit ofrisk and hope for them to say,
maybe I can hope that thisdoesn't hurt to walk and yeah,
(54:24):
but when you get them up andgoing and they're comfortable,
they won't never leave you.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
Yep Makes sense.
Well, we really appreciate yourbeing here with us today.
Yeah, absolutely Awesome,awesome business.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
All right.
Well, this has been anotherepisode of big talk about small
business.
Check out our website atwwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom.
We're on all the majorstreaming platforms YouTube,
spread the word sign up.
We have a subscribe option onour site.
(55:00):
Don't forget to ask questions.
We love your questions.
Speaker 2 (55:04):
Yeah, get ideas, we.
We love recommendations ofguests.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
Absolutely.
I'll bring it and and sponsors.
If anybody wants to sponsor theshow, yeah.
Whoever wants to reach out toan audience of small business
owners who are smart and tryingto run their business more
effectively Yep In their livesContact us.
(55:29):
Well done, mark.
Thanks buddy, take care.
Thank you, taren.
Thanks Taren.
Speaker 4 (55:41):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of big talk
about small business.
If you have any questions orideas for upcoming shows, be
sure to head over to our website,
wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscomand click on the ask the host
button for the chance to haveyour questions answered on the
show.
Stay connected with us onLinkedIn at big talk about small
(56:02):
business and be sure to headover to our website to read
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