Join us in this episode of Talking Tech as we sit down with the remarkable Payton Bean, who opens up about his decade-long journey in the Ultrasound Business world. Payton illuminates the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, sharing his experiences with the emotional aspects of business ownership, from the leap of faith into starting his own company to the joys of delegation and celebrating milestones. Our conversation serves as a beacon of inspiration, highlighting the transformative power of taking control of your professional destiny in the healthcare and Ultrasound technology sectors.

This episode is not just about business mechanics; it’s a heartfelt exploration of confidence and expertise in business development. I recount my own growth over twenty years in the ultrasound industry, revealing how accumulated knowledge can translate into confidence with clients and colleagues. We delve into the joys of work, the use of innate talents, and the value of mentorship. Our discussion also emphasizes the collective benefits of knowledge sharing, and the fulfillment that comes from helping others in the field flourish. It’s an episode that celebrates the impact of experience and community on personal and professional development.

Listen in as we offer a comprehensive view of what it means to start and grow a healthcare business, sharing anecdotes and advice that underscore the joy and connection found beyond the hospital walls.

Chapters:

(00:11) Ultrasound Business School and Entrepreneurship Insights

(12:55) Confidence and Expertise in Business Development

(17:08) Camaraderie and Community in Ultrasound Business

(21:03) Overcoming Fear and Embracing Growth Opportunities

(25:49) Benefits of Owning an UltraSensex Business

(34:42) Start Your Own Ultrasound Business Benefits

(40:31) Starting a Healthcare Business

Follow Jen on social media!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/advancedimaginginc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdvancedImagingUltrasound 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-aic/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBpSP6v–s4xXXx2tH362ng.

Transcript:

00:11 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Hey, Sonographers, Grab a seat and a cup of coffee. Welcome to Ultrasound Business School. I’m your host, Jennifer Lindsay Employee turned seven-figure entrepreneur, and I am teaching you the tips and strategies we’ve used over the last 20 years to not only build our own business in the Ultrasound industry, but help hundreds of other Sonographers build theirs. This is Talking Tech a Sonographer’s Guide to Entrepreneurship. Welcome in to today’s episode of the Talking Tech podcast. 

00:50

I’m so excited to introduce you to my client, Payton Bean. We have worked together, for it’s been 10 years now since he started his Ultrasound business and he was kind enough to come hang out with me on one of our workshop sessions and really had so much incredible insight, and I wanted to bring this into this episode of the podcast. If you are a Sonographer who is thinking about starting your own Ultrasound business, this episode is going to be an incredible look into what life can look like when you actually step in faith into your own Ultrasound business. I want to thank Payton again so much for hanging out with me on our workshop session and would love to invite you guys to listen in on his insights into starting and operating his own Ultrasound business. Hello, my friend. Hey Jenna, Hi Jenna, Thank you so much for coming to hang out with us today. I’m so happy to have you. 

02:01 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Oh, it’s going to be perfect. I’m excited. This is awesome. 

02:04 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Payton, I was trying to remember what year it was that you started your business. Do you remember? 

02:10 – Payton Bean (Guest)

September 2014. That was an important date in my life. 

02:14 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Oh my gosh, it’s been a minute. 

02:17 – Payton Bean (Guest)

It’s been a minute. It’s been a minute, absolutely, you blink, and it’s been 10 years. 

02:21 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Isn’t that crazy, I know we will have been in business for 20 years next month. 

02:28 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Where does the time go? 

02:29 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

We started when we were 10. I said this when Beau was on the session yesterday. That’s obviously not true. I love chatting about just what you’ve been able to accomplish in the last 10 years of business. That’s funny that it’s like 20-year milestone for us, 10-year milestone for you that is cool 20-20-20. 

02:50 – Payton Bean (Guest)

That is cool. 

02:51 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

It’s so cool. You and I have built such a friendship over the last 10 years. I love so much working with you and your wife. Tell everybody just a little bit about what I’m going to. Mix up the questions, I think, here a little bit just because I’m so excited for you to tell people just about what the last 10 years have brought for you. I think we can have this dream and goal in our mind, but to see that someone’s actually taken it and done something with it and created a life that they have dreamed about. 

03:25

I think is so exciting. Share that with everybody. 

03:28 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes, absolutely. 

03:31

Thank you so much for having me on this. 

03:33

One of the things that is so exciting is you and I have talked, and you’ve talked with your ultrasound clients, about the idea of how much all the old syntax that are listening to this are have that anxiety and have those unknowns and they have these dreams and they think how exciting and unnerving it is the idea, the prospect of this, but also the idea of not living with the regret of knowing that this was something that was out of precipice and I feel like I could have taken that dive and what would my life look like if I did it? 

04:15

That is one thing that is so exciting when I look back on my past 10 years of life is I cannot imagine my life not having done this. I cannot imagine the regret that I would have had looking back on my life and not taking this plunge, knowing that I had this chance, knowing that I had the resources with advanced imaging to bridge that gap of having these skills and ultrasound, and knowing that I love my patients, I love working with my doctors, I love medicine, but the business side of it. That is one of the main things that I would like to tell the other clients who are looking at this and the idea of taking the plunge and going with advanced imaging. 

04:59

one thing I want to say is last time we did this podcast, I did not do a good job of writing down my notes very concisely. So this time, Jennifer, I have done a better job of that, because I can ramble for hours. You know that I will go on these tansits and rabbit holes and just go all over the place, so I took it out on this. 

05:23 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

We are rambling together. 

05:25 – Payton Bean (Guest)

We have a lot of fun with that. But for everybody listening, I want to try to give the most value that I can. I do not want to get off of this and think, ah, dang it. I had so much to say. So I wrote down the idea that every ultrasound tech knows this instinctively and every healthcare professional knows this instinctively that healthcare as a whole it takes a team, no matter what. It takes a team if you are in a big hospital, it takes a team, even if you are going out and starting your own business. 

05:56

So no one can be a master of everything that is needed for a business to be very successful. There will be so even in the idea of starting your own ultrasound business. There will be a delegation for aspects of your business that are highly inefficient for you to spend your time and energy on, especially if it is work that you do not enjoy doing. Everyone knows that there are parts of your day, there are parts of your work that are they do not even feel energy draining. You love doing that aspects of your work and you feel like you are naturally gifted God gifted in certain parts of your work. And there are parts of your work in your day, even stuff in your own house, raising children or whatever you know parts of your life that this is kind of a soul-sucking thing that I have to do. I have to do it, but, man, it would be nice to delegate this part, because I am not good at that. So I want the prospects to realize that when you own your own business, you have so much more control over delegating parts of the healthcare system. 

07:03

And so one of the things with advanced imaging that is really, really cool is that you can roll the dice, because when you were talking about the option number two, where people learn some things from these golden nuggets of wisdom that you have given out on your podcast and you have given out, and then people think I am just going to go try it on my own, you can roll the dice and you can try delegating some of these other aspects of business to random people that you hire, which is going to take time, it’s going to take money and there’s risk involved with hiring people, and you or you can know the outcome of paying for expert level expertise and product to match the level of your expertise in ultrasound. 

07:53

That is just part of what you’re getting with going with advanced imaging. This is such a weird niche market and you guys are the experts in this. There is nobody else in this, and so I want the other people who are listening to this to realize that a lot of these aspects you’re going to pay other people to do a lot of this stuff anyway, because it’s healthcare, it’s business, it’s multiple jobs. It takes a team to pull this off, and so you can randomly risk it with a bunch of other people trying to hire them and explain what you need, or you can hire expert level advanced imaging to bridge that gap. 

08:30 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Thank you so much, Payton. I appreciate that so much. And it’s so true. It’s so true. This is so funny that you bring this up. I have to show everyone this book that I’m reading right now. Have you read this book, Payton? 

08:40 – Payton Bean (Guest)

I have not. 

08:41 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

You guys, it is so good. I listened to this guy on a podcast the other day. This is just. It’s sitting on my desk because I’ve been reading it every morning. I’m about halfway done with it right now, but it literally talks about getting yourself to the place where you are doing the high energy stuff that you are what they call zone of genius and you’re delegating the things that suck your soul dry. 

09:08

There are those things and you know, I just talked with someone yesterday, Payton that is. She has her own business right now and she’s in the soul sucking section of her life and she hasn’t figured out how to delegate and is looking to work with us to really streamline. How do I put all of these things together? So I’m so glad you brought that up and you mentioned this on the podcast that we did together and it was such like a light bulb moment for me because I don’t think I’d ever connected the dots there. 

09:40

Most people, when they start a business, they have to figure out what they’re going to sell and then they have to learn how to do the thing they’re selling or create the products that they’re selling. You guys are literally coming into a business as the actual expert and you’re selling an expert service that you already have expertise in. So the fact that you are coming into this and I say this to clients all the time when they’re first starting to market to their physicians because I’m sure you remember- it’s nerve-wracking it’s brand new, we’re doing something new, right. 

10:17

But I tell them to go in not with the mindset of I’m Jen and I’ve got a new business, but with the mindset of hey, I’m coming in with my X number of years of expertise and ultrasound and that’s the service I’m bringing into this particular facility or physician practice or however they’re setting their business up. Yes, not coming from the, I’m nervous because this is the first time I’m selling something. Right? Yeah, that’s perfect. I think that’s such a good thing to remember and it is so important to understand, too, that time and money will always be spent somewhere. 

10:54 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yeah. 

10:54 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Right. So to your point. If you’re doing this on your own or up-leveling on your own, you are going to spend either time figuring this out or money on someone else to help you with it. Right, absolutely. 

11:10

And so I think the ability to kind of bridge that gap with having a program like we have, where we can really walk people through step by step and all the nuance Because I mean, speak to that a little bit, Payton I mean that’s what you have access right On the back-end web portal to trainings, downloads, contracts, like all the things which is incredible but I think the real value comes in being able to have these one-on-one conversations where you can say Jen, this one thing happened. I’ve listened to all the trainings on that. How can I apply this to this roadblock that’s coming up because of what this particular doctor said? 

11:56

Or this thing that happened, or I’m adding on. Remember our conversations about you adding on staff, like what’s your insight on that? 

12:05 – Payton Bean (Guest)

right. 

12:05 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Speak to that a little bit, just in the growing part of your business too, because I think the value is so high there. 

12:12 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes, yes, absolutely. I would say that and this. I think a lot of ultrasound techs probably share a lot of the same similar personality types or character traits. Maybe that I do, I don’t know. Just as time goes on, it kind of seems like certain people gravitate towards certain professions a little bit. Right, absolutely. And so I’m a big analyzer. I like doing a lot of homework, I like reading a lot of things before I go jump into anything, especially if I’m putting myself in an awkward situation or if I’m spending time or investing money and those kind of things. And so the nuance, like what you talked about, all these little aspects of the business that I learned through advanced imaging and all of the information that you guys have spent 20 years compiling what that gave me is a lot of confidence when I go talk to doctors, when I talk to office managers, when I talk to the schedulers, when I talk about how the business part of this needs to work so that I can effectively do the part of ultrasound that I’m really good at. 

13:26

That confidence is what really advanced imaging gave me, because I was able to just dive into a pool of knowledge that you guys had compiled and I just got to absorb all of that and all of the expertise and experience that you guys have had. And so when I went into my first luncheon I already had a big wealth of experience. I had a big wealth of confidence from that. Even though it was the first time that I had ever tried to sell my own business, I knew some things you could run into. I knew exactly how the business side of this was going to work. I knew how the financial aspect of this was going to work, how the billing side of this was going to work. I knew that I had legal documents that would work to protect that doctor and myself. 

14:07

So what you’re talking about, the biggest thing that I received on the little bitty nuances of all this was a big confidence factor. Especially when you go talk, when you get your business off the ground and you start talking to possible employees, you have the confidence to know that if you’re bringing someone on your team, that you have a responsibility kind of a little bit about their life and their family, and so that confidence. You want that. You want that when you’re talking to a doctor who has patients. You want that if you’re talking to employees. So that was one of the biggest things that advanced imaging gave me that I would not have had without you guys. 

14:46 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I appreciate that so much and I truly feel I think I said this on our first session you talk about God-given talents and things like that, and I am a true believer in that and I think he uses us in the ways that he’s given us the gifts and that type of thing and I just. This is so much fun for me, so talking about the things that light your soul up this is it Like? 

15:11

do you guys see who I get to work with like Payton is amazing. My clients are amazing. Like you guys come into this with such an expertise and we do have. I’ve worked with multiple people who weren’t sonographers themselves starting the business and hiring sonographers Right. We’ve worked with we just had a radiologist sign on. He is starting a mobile business, which is so exciting. 

15:38

So most of our clients are sonographers and we do work with other professionals as well, but it is just so much fun watching People come in and say, oh man, I’m nervous about this, I don’t know this, I don’t know that, right, and then quickly gaining that confidence, because that’s the whole point. You could have figured this stuff out over 10 years, Payton, but it would have taken you so much longer to do that, and so what we’re able to kind of give inside the program is 20 years of experience plus us working not just in our own business but with hundreds of clients right In theirs, and so I think that is such, just such an incredible opportunity for people to really jump past right, gaining 20 years of knowledge like this inside the program. 

16:29

And I mean Payton, you worked with us in a just I’m going off on a tangent- we told you Payton and I warned you guys, right, we’re tangent people, so we’re going off on one here. But Payton worked with us in a multitude of ways and we’re actually in conversations right now to work with us in some other ways with our clients as well Just because he sees such a value in what he was able to gain from the program and wants to work with other people to be able to help them do the same right. 

16:58

So, it’s just been. It’s been so fun. It’s been so fun You’ve been out with clients of ours hanging out, helping them learn how to market. 

17:08 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes, yes, well, and you and I have talked about this, I think, on the podcast as well, but the the camaraderie aspect of how rare this is, like the other ol’ syntax that are going to be listened to this they’re not going to know very many people who have ever done this. If they know anyone who’s ever done this, this is a 1% of people with our profession, because this is such a this is such a rare way to use this skill. 

17:37 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Right. 

17:38 – Payton Bean (Guest)

But having that camaraderie, one thing, that one little aspect about that is keeping your own morale high. 

17:50

You know, one thing that is very daunting about starting an ultrasound business is having that fear of what if I don’t pull this off, what if I can’t figure this out, what if I can’t, what if I don’t know what to say whenever I get in front of a doctor, you know and, and all of those things can kind of eat away at your hope. 

18:10

Right, and that is one of the biggest things that that advanced imaging and that you guys and that even myself getting to be a part of this right like, is having that, that camaraderie of a team in such a weird little niche part of the ultrasound profession, and having someone that you can talk to and having someone that you know can have your back, having someone you know who’s gone down that path before, and even if that person’s situation of their markets a little different. There are big strong, foundational things of how to pull this off, and advanced imaging has done it. Y’all helped me do it, y’all have a lot of clients do it. So that helps keep your morale high, your hope high whenever you’re starting this. That’s a big valuable. That’s a huge, valuable thing Besides just the actual technical things. Just that feeling, just that strong feeling in your heart and in your mind. 

19:03 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Absolutely. And you know, one of the things to that we’ve that we’ve added into the program that we’re starting this year is some additional group calls. So speaking directly to that, now you’re on sessions with everybody in that little 1% baby niche that we all have right, hanging out with people who are trying to do the exact same thing you are, who are having the same mindset problems you are. 

19:32

The same obstacles, and then we’re walking through all of those things together. So I’m super excited for that because I think that’s one of the things that is so important, and so we want to kind of hone in on that community aspect, and so we’re starting those things this year, which I am super excited about. So we need to talk about that off camera, by the way. 

19:55 – Payton Bean (Guest)

That’s super cool. Well, I love talking to people about this. I love whenever I got to talk to their ultrasound text about this, because this has changed my life. You know, this has been a life changing thing for me, so this is an easy thing to talk about. And the other one said that they go with you. They’ll feel the same thing, they’ll see that this is the real deal, they’ll see that this can alter your life and then after that, it’s very easy thing to talk about. 

20:20 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Absolutely. And you work with your wife Like how amazing I love her. I love Carlie. I know Bo asked me he’s like is Carlie coming on today? I was like we should have her too. Tell her she’s invited. 

20:36 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Okay, I will. 

20:37 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

She’s working right now, but that’s cool, she’s busy working so you can come hang on here. 

20:44 – Payton Bean (Guest)

I’ll tell you what. That’s been one really cool thing, which definitely there’s risk with mixing family and business, but Carlie and I have had some life changing fun and memories working together to help pull this off. I mean, right, when you know advanced imaging can give you so many tools and so much information, but you know, but you are still. You still have to work in your business and you still have to sell and you still have to go out and you have to grind, but you know what you have to do, that even in the hospital, you have to do that in any profession, I mean you’re making some money for somebody else, right? 

21:25 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Yeah, yeah exactly so. 

21:27 – Payton Bean (Guest)

So Carlie and I have had a blast thinking about the clinics that we have gone. Carlie has gone out and done some lunches whenever I was scanning at one clinic and a doctor wanted to meet and I couldn’t go meet with it. But Carlie came to advanced imaging whenever y’all had us there at the very first, whenever we became clients of it, and so she has worked all the information as well, and so at that time she was, she was an RN, she’s a nurse, she’s doing, she’s a nurse practitioner now, but even at that time she has had some awesome memories and some such cool experiences getting to see some of the business side of this, because, you know, this has changed her life as well. 

22:06 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

It makes me so happy. It makes me so happy and Payton and I talk all the time. Payton messages me, probably at least twice a year, about having an advanced imaging alumni get together party. I don’t know where we’re going to do it, but I’m telling you, Payton. I told him I said, I think 2024 might be the year. 

22:26 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Well, you know what? 

22:28 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I haven’t told you this yet, but I got asked to do two lectures at the SDMS conference, so I told everyone. They have to go. It gives me sweaty palms just thinking about it because I’m a comfort zone. 

22:41 – Payton Bean (Guest)

They’ll be lucky. They’ll be lucky to have you as a speaker there. 

22:47 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Okay. Well, when we talked about, we talked about mindset. Well, I talk about that a lot anyway, but we had kind of a session on mindset but I said, you know, even 20 years later, like when we first started our business, going out and talking to physicians gave me sweaty palms, right. That was out of my comfort zone. That made me nervous. Now I mean, it’s old hat and I’m sure you probably feel the same way. 

23:09 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yeah. 

23:09 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Now going and giving a lecture at an annual conference. Now that gives me sweaty palms. So I said you know it’s always about you know doing something with. But Eleanor Roosevelt quote that do one thing every day. 

23:21 – Payton Bean (Guest)

That scares you or something like that. 

23:23 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

So I’m getting out of my comfort zone. 

23:25 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yeah. 

23:26 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I got to do that every once in a while. 

23:28 – Payton Bean (Guest)

That’s going to be some cool growth for you, right? I’m excited for it. 

23:32 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

So I’ve decided everybody that’s listening to the past to come and you have to sit in the front row and we have to hang out. Cheer me on, please, because I will be up there just sweating profusely. 

23:44 – Payton Bean (Guest)

I will love to be there. I’m definitely going to be there, and that would be and that would be cool for every, every alumni client, but even prospective clients show up. You’re getting CEUs anyway. You’re learning other things, you can be getting people face to face and you’ve heard, especially some of these podcasts, that that is a great idea. 

24:03 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I love that. I love that I feel like we can make a little like meet and greet type of situation or something I’m going to play in that out Definitely Selfishly, just so I have people there that I know that aren’t going to boo me in the talk. 

24:16 – Payton Bean (Guest)

You’re cheering section. You’ll have some moral support there, that’ll be fine. Well, Carlie and I are definitely there. 

24:21 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I love it. Ok, this is so perfect In New Orleans. I’ve never been there before. 

24:26 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Oh, that’s cool. Sounds fun to me That’ll be really fun. 

24:28 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I know right, Payton, what else would you like to say? Is there anything else that we haven’t covered here? That if there was a sonographer out there? That’s like. I’m nervous, I’m thinking about this, I’ve got sweaty bones. I need to know what are some pieces of advice you could give someone that’s thinking about it that it just needs a little bit of oomph to pull the trigger. 

24:53 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes, yes, absolutely. So. I hope this answers your question Because I typed it down because I thought it was important contemporarily, like the times that we’re living, a little bit different than information than I kind of gave on whenever we did that podcast. So one thing I wrote down here so, since the last time we made the podcast together, one big change that I know a lot of UltraSensex who are listening to this podcast have felt the visceral sting of inflation affecting their life. Right, that’s hitting everybody right now. That’s a big deal when you have very young people talking about remembering when food was half of the price. It is now. That’s normally something that all of us are used to, like geriatrics talking about. I got a burger and a movie for a dime and stuff like that. So that is something that is affecting everyone right now. 

25:49

It’s affecting all the UltraSensex that are listening to this, and so what they all want to say was historically, one of the biggest ways to mitigate inflation in one’s life is owning a business. This gives you the ability to raise prices that you charge for your services to dampen the effect of the rising costs of living as an UltraSensex. Owning an UltraSensex business gives you the ability to choose the price at which you sell your service and your time from a lot stronger bargaining position relative to bargaining with the hospital against all the other 99% of the UltraSensex in your area. Ok, there is a night and day difference between increasing the rate of your company that it charges to provide an UltraSensex service where you own the technical skill and the assets that go along with the business, the UltraSensex machine, the protective legal documents that advanced imaging gives you and all of the integration means that advanced imaging helps you set up, that are required to store and electronically submit the UltraSensex, et cetera. There’s a bunch of other stuff too, but you own those things. 

27:00

That is what your company is offering, where, when you’re trying to negotiate what you’re going to get paid at the hospital, they own most of that and you’re also competing with a big number of people who also have your skill too. That’s where the monopoly is on our profession is the hospital. So this is an incredibly different compared to the limited power you have when you’re talking to the ultrasound department or radiology manager at a hospital. In most cases, that manager’s year in bonus is negatively affected by increasing your pay, so they’re working a little bit against you Instead of the idea of working with a doctor and bringing a service to their clinic and you are creating a revenue stream for them that they didn’t have. It’s the difference between a negative relationship with this manager at this hospital versus a creating a symbiotic relationship with this doctor. 

27:53

Last little part on this Even if that radiology manager or some manager, if they’re the most benevolent boss in the entire world, their power to help you is still significantly limited by multiple bureaucratic levels of bosses on top of them in a big hospital setting. All of these ultrasound techs that are listening know that these hospitals largely have a monopoly on our profession and a lot of them treat us and other health care professionals accordingly. We’ve all felt that where there’s not, where you felt like a number, you felt like an expendable resource in these huge hospitals, you don’t feel any kind of community aspect of that. So that is one really big thing that advanced imaging can get you out of that. And when you’re looking around your life and you’re feeling this inflation and how it’s affecting the finances of your family, this is a big thing that you can fight against that. 

28:47 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I love that so much, Payton, and it’s so true too. I mean there’s been multiple times in our business where I have just said thank God I am in the driver’s seat for this thing that is happening. I mean I’ll go back to all of our COVID shutdowns and I know you’re in Texas and I’m in Indiana and we had it a lot less awful than a lot of states had it. I’m telling you we still had. Our hospitals were only seeing patients that were emergencies, the physician practices were only seeing patients that were emergencies, and an emergency to a patient is much different definition than it is to a physician and a hospital. 

29:36

And so I got more calls from sonographers during that time that are like I got laid off or I don’t feel like I’m being taken care of and protected the way I need to be. I mean 1,000 different reasons, 1,000 different conversations that I had. What we did in our business because we were the owners, is we said, ok, this looks like it’s not going to go well. 

30:02 – Payton Bean (Guest)

When all of this? 

30:03 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

stuff is first happening. What do we need to do? So we got together and said, ok, if they’re going to shut down physician practices, that part of our business is going to be on hold for a minute. What do we do to continue to make money so we can pay our employees, cover all of our expenses, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. 

30:22

So, we got together and started writing stuff down OK, well, if they’re not going to let them come into the physician office, they can come here. So we had a big campaign talking to patients specifically right out at physician practices saying you guys can come in here, here are the things we are doing to make you feel safe and comfortable in the office. And yes, our revenue went down for the offices that we were going out for our physicians, but it went way up in our facility and we got to decide how that worked. 

30:51 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes. 

30:52 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

We got to say OK, we’re not going to take a nosedive for our company because I’m not having my boss tell me what we’re doing for the company. We’re the boss. We get to decide yeah, this is going to be difficult, but we have the trajectory to make it out of. Whatever type of thing comes our way right, and so I know that’s a big, big, big deal to talk about, but that can happen daily in our business. We’re the ones who get to say you know what, I’m going to work this until it works. 

31:25 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes. 

31:25 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I’m going to make this work because I have every asset and opportunity to be able to do that. 

31:31 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Absolutely being in the driver’s seat. 

31:33 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

There’s no other place. I’d rather be, and I know you just said this too. You can’t imagine Looking back 10 years saying I’m so glad I did this. 

31:41 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes, absolutely, and you bring up a good point, and I don’t know if I said this on the podcast or not I might have. But one thing about what you said that is very important and it’s very strong is being able to control your destiny and the destiny of your family and your kids. Right, there have been times in this business that people have this kind of assumption that being self-employed is more of a precarious way to kind of live your life. Like that there might be more risk, right, you know, with your profession and at times, in certain circumstances, yes, of course that can be true. But here’s an example in my own life where and I know a lot of old subjects have experienced this as well when you have all of your eggs in one basket and you work at the hospital, you can get relationship crossways with one wrong person and then it is hugely disruptive to your life and your family’s finances If you have to leave that hospital because of you know, get along with the manager or another ultrasound tech, or you just don’t like something because all your eggs are in that one basket at the hospital. One really cool thing about starting your own ultrasound business is, once you have gotten to the point. Once you have gotten to the point to where you have multiple clinics right and that is one of the biggest things that vanishing helps you get is it gets you off the ground quickly you can start marketing so fast and you can start really telling these doctors I know exactly what we’re going to do, I know exactly how we’re gonna start this business, so you can start marketing really quick. 

33:33

And once you get multiple clinics, then, strangely enough, you don’t have your eggs on one basket necessarily. 

33:42

If you have a clinic that you don’t get along with the doctor or an office manager, or maybe if the business arrangement is not exactly what you wanted, it’s not as good as maybe some other people who are vying for your business because you offer a valuable service. If you have, let’s say, five, six, seven, eight, 10 clinics, if you close one of them, if you stop going to one of them, or if it’s not working out and the doctor doesn’t wanna do it and you lose one of those clinics, your financial boat of your family has not been sunk. You have five or six or seven other revenue streams and clinics that are bringing in paychecks. So changing that one clinic is a hell of a lot less disruptive than leaving an entire hospital to go to a whole new job and hoping you’re taking all your eggs out of that basket. You’re going with this basket. You’re hoping all that works out. So that is one really cool thing that you touched on about control and your destiny for you and your family. 

34:40 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I love that so much, Payton. And that brings up a story I’ve told multiple times where we had a clinic that we worked in that they were just terrible to work with. 

34:53 – Payton Bean (Guest)

It happens. 

34:53 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Terrible People and they were super mean to me, right, and I’m not a sonographer, so we have always hired our sonographers from day one, so I didn’t mind as much that they were awful to me. But when they started being mean to my sonographer, that’s going there, that’s when we had to draw the line, and you’re absolutely right. It was hey, we’re gonna finish out. Our 30 days Contract has been canceled, right, and we were done. And you’re right, it didn’t hurt anything because we plopped that sonographer for that day. She was going in there into another clinic, and so I love that you bring that up, because that part is so true you get to choose who you work with. 

35:36

You get to choose the culture that you’re creating inside your own business, even if you are going around to multiple clinics and multiple facilities, or however you’re setting up your specific ultrasound business and it’s just that man again, just being in the driver’s seat right has so many benefits, so big. 

35:58 – Payton Bean (Guest)

So big. 

35:59 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Beyond just being your own boss. I mean, it’s all these little things that you don’t think about until they actually come up and it’s like, wow, okay, this is something that’s so important to me because you see the ramifications of it not being that specific way. 

36:16 – Payton Bean (Guest)

So I love that you brought that up, huge. I still have some more notes, I don’t know how much time. 

36:22 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

It is with a date and I’m like we’re good, we’re good, I don’t mind how long this goes, it’s such great information. 

36:29 – Payton Bean (Guest)

So whenever you were talking about like the insights into what my business looks like today and how it’s kind of how my workflow is, when I compare that to working at the hospital or before I kind of had my old son, there was one really cool thing that some ultrasound techs have kind of experienced. This whenever you talk about, whenever you’re working in the hospital and you have a big, huge bulk of your work being ICU patients and hospital floor patients and that type of level of sickness versus the times when old son tech does more outpatient and that more on the side of preventative kind of healthcare or the walkie-talkie outpatient not high level of difficulty, and there’s absolutely our profession needs to be able to meet both of those needs. But one really cool thing about whenever you start your ultrasound business is the relationships that you start building with your patients. Right, one thing that when you’re in the hospital and every situation is different but mine was you’re providing a big care and a big service but there’s a lot of patients that you’re not building any kind of relationship with because these hospitals are humongous and there’s so many patients and it’s very rare that you see a patient twice. If you do see him twice or multiple times. A lot of times it’s not the patient that you that you know, like they’re frequent flyers or whatever, and a lot of times it’s not this good, cool relationship that you have with them. But when you start your ultrasound business and you’re going into these smaller clinics, not only are you building a really cool relationship with these doctors a lot more intimate, a lot more intimate relationship than the relationships I had with doctors in the hospitals, just because the turnover and the doctors are, you know, pushed to the end degree and you’re taking call and all this relationship is so different. 

38:34

But when you are in the trenches and you are a small business owner and they are a small business owner and you are working together to help this a lot smaller group of patients, I have experienced some really amazing relationships that I have built doing this with certain patients who are they aren’t just happier, they’re more thankful. It’s this routine kind of thing. It’s more on the preventative side and most old syntax know this. When you have patients that are outpatient, they’re typically you get patients who are a lot more thankful for what you do and a lot more thankful for helping you, versus you know patients who are you know it’s very possible in the hospital that you know patients and God love them, they’re in a bad situation or they’re really sick or you know these things. But, man, you can just get really worn down on your data data whenever one really bad patient can just suck a whole day’s worth of energy out of you, right? And so that is something every old syntax who’s listening to this knows that feeling intimately, and I feel like I have so much less of that in this smaller outpatient family practice kind of setting where the bulk of most of my clinics is at. So that’s one really cool thing. That is just kind of a caveat to some of the things that you, that old syntax kind of know this. 

39:56

But when you start looking at how setting up your job and your career and also the ergonomics, you have patients in the hospital setting that cannot help you. They can’t roll a certain way, they can’t lay a certain way. There’s machines all the way and you are just leaning over these beds where you’re really pushing into these really big patients, and God love them, they need help. But you also have to look at you wanna be doing this career for 20 years, 30 years, when you’re able, when the patient’s able to help you and you’re able to have them lay a certain way and you’re able to get your setup the way you want it. It’s a lot easier to do this career long-term Okay. 

40:31

Every other thing has kind of felt bad. Also, yeah, the relationships with other healthcare professionals when you started, just like you, my relationship with you, relationships with radiologists and telemedicine kind of cardiologists and radiologists I have built some really cool relationships just in the healthcare professional side that I don’t think I would have ever met these people or been exposed to these other aspects of my career. There’s really cool facets to this and there’s really cool things that you learn and people that you meet that in a hospital you’re not gonna run into these people, you’re not gonna meet these people because you’re in this tiny little insulated thing that the hospital kind of has you in this whole. 

41:15

We can go down the whole rabbit hole with that, but okay, so another thing, let’s see. Yeah, what do you think about that? 

41:25 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I love this, Payton, it’s great. 

41:27 – Payton Bean (Guest)

It’s so great. 

41:28 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

And it is. It’s all these. I love having this insight because it’s all these little things that I don’t think you think about when you’re getting ready to start your business. You’re so you know, honed in on how do I get things set up, how, what do I need to have in place, what vendors do I have to have, how do I get my contracts Like you’re worried about all of those other things. Can I actually do this Right? Like all of that is what’s in your mind. So, to hear from someone who’s had their business for 10 years, has built a successful company and then can come at it with that like 2020 hindsight, to say these are some of the things that I have loved, that I didn’t even probably realize, right when you first started your business, that wow, this is, this is really great and it’s a lot different than the experience that I had previously as an employee right. 

42:22

Because it’s these nuanced things that that just come with the experience of actually owning the business and actually being out there and and working with these types of groups and facilities and physicians and all of that. 

42:37 – Payton Bean (Guest)

And I love what you said too about. 

42:39 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

You know, we’re really building those partnerships with the, the local medical community, right, yeah, you get so wonderful. 

42:48 – Payton Bean (Guest)

No, so one thing I do want to say to anyone considering joining those some business Academy program about you specifically, jennifer and this is new since the last time that that we did the podcast is on is I want the other synonymous who are considering this to realize Well, so I talked about, you know, not having a regret and just how possibly usually fulfilling this could be, not taking a chance. Okay. So one thing about your podcast, though, to take today. I would tell them listen to your gut about how they felt when they’ve listened to all the immensely valuable information that you have put on your podcast over years. Now, that is a strong way for people who don’t know you to get an understanding of your credibility and your expertise in the field. I’ve seen it firsthand because I’ve been a client there, yeah, all these years that I’ve been blessed enough to get to work with you guys. 

43:55

But people who are considering becoming the client AIC can get a better sense now, getting to hear how passionate you are and how knowledgeable you are about the field, than every prospect who came before you started that podcast, because when I first started talking to you, you know you were nice enough to take a ton of calls from me and answer a ton of questions about this before I ever pulled the trigger on all this. Right, really cool thing is all of the hours you put into your podcast any, any tech like any of these guys who will listen to it. They haven’t listened to all those podcasts you will get a sense of okay, jennifer, advanced imaging, they’re the real deal. Those are expert level expertise and answering questions that wow, okay, that is mind blowing. Yes, these people know their stuff. This is the kind of people that I want on my team. This is kind of people I want to invest my money to get that expertise from me, from my business. 

44:50 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Thank you so much, Payton. I am so glad that you said that, and that’s the reason that I started the podcast was because you cannot find this information anywhere. I guarantee everyone who’s watching this has at some point if not, you know, right before you found this workshop Googled how do I start an ultrasound business? 

45:11 – Payton Bean (Guest)

It’s a mess. 

45:13 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

Yes, it was a mess 20 years ago when we started our business. It was a mess 10 years ago when you started your business, and it’s still a mess. There’s not concise information and at this point in 2024, anybody can put anything on a website or Wikipedia, right? I mean, the information you don’t know is actually accurate information, and so that’s really why I started the podcast was because I wanted a place where people could go and close the knowledge gap, because when you come from healthcare you don’t even know where to start. I had you know a client come on and that was her thing. Was she’s like? I felt like I was looking up something that didn’t even like no one had ever even done before. Yes, I was like does? Has an ultrasound tech ever even started their own business? Like, from the infusion she was getting, it seemed like this was a brand new thing that she just made up in her head, right? 

46:07 – Payton Bean (Guest)

Yes. 

46:07 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

And so that’s how she ended up finding you know, me and the company was that she just had done so much research, and so I love that you say that and I want to, you know, talk about that a little bit is that you can’t fake as expertise when you talk that much. 

46:25 – Payton Bean (Guest)

I talk a lot on the podcast about a lot of podcast episodes. 

46:29 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

You can only fake expertise for so long and you’re right just having like a quick call with somebody. They can sound like they know what they’re talking about. But understanding that what you guys hear on the podcast and then what you’re getting when you’re actually a client of ours like imagine the value going from a free podcast to having us one on one with you, working with you in your business, you know, customizing all of those frameworks specific for you and your business and what you want it to look like. 

47:03

You know what you want your lifestyle to look like, all of those things. I’m so glad you brought that up. And, yes, if anybody’s listening didn’t realize that we have a podcast, please go listen to it. Yeah it’s all talking tech on. You can find it anywhere Apple, spotify, all the places. Hezel can drop maybe one of our podcast episodes in the link so that anybody can go kind of check the actual show out. But we have so much information on there. 

47:31 – Payton Bean (Guest)

And just to further that point, one thing that’s really cool about this is the last thing I’m gonna say, because I know people got to get you to get off at everything. 

47:38

So so I said this last time. But the text, who are calling you are? They are people who have that internal yearning and they have that fire, or or they wouldn’t have found you like on the internet or this whole type of thing. These are the kind of people they want a different life for themselves, a proficient ultrasound tech already have, when you know, we talked about how you have the product, the product that the business needs. 

48:04

But think about how lucky you are to live in times where there is even an option like advanced imaging to bridge that gap between you having the skills to own your own business and Jennifer and her team offering all the business expertise and the nuance to bring this dream to fruition. Think of all the ultrasound tech since the beginning of our profession who could not find any resources to team up with to make this kind of dream of a reality. I mean these this is really amazing times that we just happen to be born in, where, if you love this type of technology and you love this aspect of medicine, that there even is an option like advanced imaging to make it a reality. There’s tons of people who have, I’m sure, throughout the inception of our career, that have thought man, I’d love to do something other than the hospital, but there is no one else and there is no one you can talk to, and there is no one who has figured this out. That’s the last thing I want to leave you with. 

48:59 – Jennifer Lindsey (Host)

I love that Payton so much you have been so inspiring today. Like if I hadn’t already started my business. 

49:06

I would want to do it right this minute, so I hope that everyone else feel the same way and this has just been so incredible and I told you when I, when I emailed and asked if you would come on, I said I will take 10 minutes tops of your time and it’s been an hour almost. I appreciate you very, very much. I know everyone here and everyone who’s going to listen to the replay is going to appreciate you so much, because there is nothing like seeing someone who’s done the thing you want to do and successful at it and has advice for you Like you can’t pay money for that. 

49:41

Thanks everybody so much. Thank you, Payton. Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode. If you enjoyed the information, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode and help us reach other sonographers by leaving us a review. We truly appreciate it and until next time I’m over here cheering you on.