Hearing how others have taken their dream and made it a reality is such a driving force when considering your own business. This week on the podcast we are spotlighting my client, Payton Bean. Having put in the hard work and dedication following our coaching program, he has the successful business to prove it. Listen in as he tells you the struggles he faced in the beginning, why he opted for a coach, and the advice he gives those considering starting a mobile ultrasound business.

Transcript:

Jen (00:46):
Hey there! Welcome to the Talking Tech Podcast, a sonographer’s guide to entrepreneurship. I am your host, Jennifer Lindsey. And you guys, I am so excited for this week’s podcast because I have my first guest, Peyton Beam, one of my one-on-one clients, and he has been in business now for six years. He and I have so much fun together in our phone conversations. I knew he would be such a perfect first guest. He has the work ethic we look for when working with a client or a student through group coaching. I have been so impressed with him over the years, and I just wanted him to tell you, guys, a little bit more about the struggle in the beginning, trying to find information and looking at how to start this business. I wanted him to give you guys some insight into his thoughts on hiring a coach versus doing it on your own. I wanted him to tell you guys what a difference this has made in his life and how it changed his perspective on owning a business versus working for someone else. And then I also want you guys to make sure to listen to the end because I asked him what advice he has for you, those of you considering starting your own business. And Peyton knocked it out of the park, so I cannot wait for you to hear from him.

(02:09):
Oh, I am so excited. Because Peyton, you are my very first guest on my podcast today. That’s so prestigious. Well, I’m so excited, and I have to tell all of our listeners here I have on the phone with me, Peyton Beam. He is one of my very favorite one-on-one clients, and Peyton is going to go through with us today a few things about his business and just give our listeners some insight into what you’ve gone through Peyton, and just some of the things that you think our listeners that are considering starting their business should be thinking about. So I would love it if we started with you just telling us a little about how you got into ultrasound and what made you consider starting your own business.

Peyton (03:06):
Yes, absolutely. Okay. So let’s see. I’m 33 years old, and I went to X-ray school first, which probably a lot of ultrasound techs that are going to be listening to this probably did; I graduated from that in 2009. I went back to school for ultrasound in 2011, 2012. So I went to Echo School in Dallas, El Centro College, and it was a great program. So I graduated from that, and after I got my echo registry, the only job I could get out of school was in a smaller hospital where I was required to cross-train and everything. So I was doing x-ray for them, CAT scans, EKGs, I was doing echo, they were cross-training and vascular, babies, gynecology, thyroid, all this stuff.

(03:57)
That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that was awesome. So let’s see, I did that for my first year, then I went out of school. Then my second year out of school, I worked at a different hospital doing all the same things, all aspects of ultrasound, x-ray, and CAT scans. Then my wife and I got married and did the travel thing. She was a nurse at the time, a nurse practitioner now. And so I did the travel ultrasound thing. We did travel nursing, lived in Hawaii, got married, and then a week later moved to Hawaii for six months as a travel contract. She worked, and I worked. The working part, it was no picnic. They had her working the overnight shift and gave me all the hard stuff they didn’t want to do.

Peyton (04:48):
But all our days off were awesome; we did the beaches and everything. Seeing everything in Hawaii was cool.

Jen (04:56):
Yeah. 

Peyton (04:57):
So we did that. One of the girls I worked with was an ultrasound tech there. Her name was Maria, and she was awesome. And I became really good friends with her. She is the one who said that she did a mobile ultrasound business in New York City, where she was from. Then she moved to Hawaii and retired and all this stuff. And so that is the first time I’ve been introduced that people could do that. It never really crossed my mind to that point. So that’s whenever the seed got planted. So thanks, Maria. 

(05:41)
And I started doing my research and thinking, wow, okay. I didn’t even know that was a thing, but I want it to look into this, so my wife and I traveled for two more years. We worked in Massachusetts at UMass Medical Center. I worked at Albuquerque Presbyterian Hospital. I worked at a different hospital in Hawaii. I worked at both the Hilo Medical Center and the Kona side. Then whenever we came back to Lubbock, I was originally from Lubbock, and so was my wife. So when we came back to Lubbock, that’s when I said okay, I’m taking the plunge, and I’m starting my mobile business. And so, while we were traveling, I called you guys and talked to Advanced Imaging before I even found you all.

(06:22)
That’s one of the things that a lot of listeners running into this are running into the same thing. It’s like you said, even before this call, people run into this kind of struggle where it’s very hard to get much information or coherent information about how it’s even possible to run your own business as an ultrasound tech. And it’s very scattered. Before I found you guys, the only things I could find online were ultrasound forums, Reddit, and weird things where people are having these random conversations, and you don’t even know who these people are. And, it was information about imaging centers or these random things, and you couldn’t tell if somebody was trying to sell something or if this was a legitimate person who knew what the heck they were even talking about. So I couldn’t find coherent information until I found you guys. And at that time, Jennifer, I have to say your website was not as good as it is now. It’s better now.

Jen (07:26):
It’s much better, isn’t it?

Peyton (07:28):
It’s much better now at that when I was like, man, this website, it doesn’t say a whole lot, but I’m giving them a call.

Jen (07:34):
Yeah. I love it. I love it. And I think that’s what we’ve tried to do over the years, too, because, like you mentioned, it can be so confusing. And I know speaking with techs regularly, that’s why they call and are so frustrated because they’re trying to find that information there. There’s just not kind of a one-stop place for them to be able to do that. And I think over the years, that’s what we’ve realized is just trying to give as much information as possible so that people can do that research they need to do to decide whether or not, you know, this is something that they want to move forward with. And so, you answered my second question: I know many of our listeners think the same thing. Where do you find all of this information? And I know you mentioned you have some struggles, and you started your business six years ago.

Peyton (08:28):
Exactly six years ago, in September 2014.

Jen (08:31):
So, I don’t think finding this stuff is any easier today. Cause we still have techs, you know, that I talk to on a regular basis that are having the same, the same struggles. I think that leads me to my next question: people start businesses on their own, and other people would use a coach like you did. What do you think your reasoning was behind considering using a coach instead of just doing it on your own? And give our listeners some idea of how that helped you in the process.

Peyton (09:10):
Yes, absolutely. So, I weighed all the different options, and I weighed the pros and cons of both of them. I’m a big analyzer, and I will go down these freaking rabbit holes, Jennifer, where I will study and learn and watch YouTube videos and Google for hours. Yeah. Like the tiniest insignificant dumb things. My wife will be mad at me for spending hours researching something I’m going to spend $10 on or something. I don’t know why I get into these things where I just want to know the start to the very end before I ever commit a dollar or a minute of my time.

(09:53)
And that was one of the biggest things at the start of this; I had a lot of anxiety about it: there was no clear picture of how to do this from start to finish. I had that same kind of yearning that I know a lot of ultrasound techs who contact you. The fact that they searched you out and contacted you is like all of us already had that kind of yearning of knowing, like, I know that I want to look at all the possibilities I can do with this career. I know a lot of people are just set up to want something more. It’s like we’ve all worked at all these different hospitals, and we’ve seen how that plays out where you’re going to work at this hospital for your whole career. You’re going to always have to take calls, and you’re going to always be shifting the holidays around with these other ultrasound techs.

(10:41)
And so, maybe you’ll move up the chain, you know, over 10, 15 years and become ultrasound manager. And even that job doesn’t look that good. All of us have that same kind of yearning where we’re like, man, I want to look and see the possibilities of me running my own business. But the things that I struggled with and why these other people are going to struggle with is like, you start, like, you have to weigh those pros and cons where you look at the opportunity cost. So you’re saying: okay, if I take the plunge, quit my job that I’ve invested all this time in and these years in, and I’m no longer the low person on the totem pole anymore. I go out on my own; how much money will I lose?

(11:21)
How long is it going to take before I start making money? And am I losing my spot in the hospital that I’ve built up this tenure and this kind of stuff that was, those were my two big anxiety kind of things that I was struggling with at the start of this. But I chose Advanced Imaging at the end of the day because I weighed all the pros and cons and looked at it like I had spent all these years learning and becoming proficient at ultrasound. And that, to me, my product, that was what I was good at. And I looked at it like this; some people have spent equal amounts of time, years, and energy becoming proficient and good at the other aspects of a business, right?

(12:10)
So like I have, I have this ultrasound product that I can give, and I’m good at that. But if all the other aspects of the business model, if some link in the chain is weak or fails, then I just looked at it like that. Like, all of this time’s going to be a waste. All this money’s going to be a waste. So it’s like if I’m going to do it, I don’t want to put a toe in the pool; I want to freaking dive in. I’m either doing it, or I’m not doing it. And that, so that, that was my, what I weighed on if I’m going to, you know, figure this out on my own or if I’m going to do this for you guys. And so another thing that was sure, that was valuable, that was just kind of an example of what you guys offered me that was super valuable versus doing it myself was, let’s say, the actual healthcare attorneys documents written up for your business, I looked at it like what you guys were offering that. Me doing it on my own, I feel like I would’ve spent thousands of dollars, if not ten thousand, like I would’ve spent probably more in consulting just spending time consulting lawyers about what I kind of wanted and having them type it up for me randomly. They’re trying to figure out what I want, and I don’t even know what I want.

(13:27)
Cause I haven’t exactly gone down this. I don’t know what a doctor wants on these business documents for him to feel secure. It’s not just me, you know what I mean? Covering my, you know, like legal actions of it. So that, to me, was extremely valuable that you guys already had. And so when I was looking at the prices of me paying those healthcare attorneys versus what you guys were offering it, I was already, it seemed like I was already saving money just on that part, let alone all the other stuff I was getting. So that was big. And this is another reason that was big to me when you start any business; it’s like the amount of money you have to have saved up and the amount of money you’re going to spend on all aspects of getting your business going.

(14:14)
And this isn’t just even, you know, mobile ultrasound. This is any business that anybody you try, it’s like right To me, I look at it like, it’s like there is a timer that starts right when you yes. Quit your job or, you know, or start investing money or, you know, in getting your business going. And that timer starts, and it’s counting down until there will be a certain point where you will run out of money or you will run out of hope or motivation or something. And it will cause you to quit your dream, go back to the hospital, take out loans, or change, right? But it’s like, but, at some point, money and your motivation will run out. So to me, I had to get that figured out from when I decided to pull the trigger until I started making money with my business.

(15:04)
That time needs to be as low as possible. And that’s what you guys helped me with. Looking back, I think there was an extremely low probability that I would’ve been able to figure out all of these extra things that you all helped me within the amount of time it would’ve taken to have it all together to start officially marketing my business. You have to have all these little things, too; when you talk to a doctor to say, I’m ready to go. If you want to start the day, I’m ready, man. You know what I mean?

Jen (15:35):
Absolutely. And I appreciate that so much because that’s what we try to put together. I love that idea of a timer because that’s so true that, you know, you’ve, you’ve got to, as quickly as possible, figure out all of the details you need to be able to move the business forward. And you’re right; if you go out to a physician’s office before you’re ready and they’re asking you questions that you need to know, you need to know information about the contract. You need to know how you will implement things in their office. And if the answers to those questions are, I have no idea; I’ll have to get back to you; that’s not good, right? We want to be able to go in there and move them through that sales process as quickly as possible.

(16:22)
And I just appreciate that so much, Peyton. Because that’s our whole goal, with our coaching, is to save people as much time and money as possible. Because so many times when people hire consultants, it’s usually an extra fee. And I tell people that, call us this all the time because it’s, you know, they get a little nervous like, well, what will this cost? And all of that. And say, you know, our point is to save as much money as possible as opposed to a lot of business consultants where you’re already doing all the things, but you need extra help to be able to do that. So I love that, and it’s been our goal, and I love hearing that that’s been your experience. I know that our listeners are going to be dying for me to ask you those questions. So I have to know, what are a few of the ways that now that, you know, you’ve got into the business, you’ve gotten those clients, you’ve been in business now for six years, how has owning your business changed life for you and your family? What are you doing now that you couldn’t have been doing in the hospital?

Peyton (17:31):
Ok, this aspect of it is the absolute coolest part. And it’s one of those things that, like I didn’t, it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know how good your skills could be sold or provided for you until you see it yourself. I feel like there are things that have completely blown my mind on what was even possible in terms of finances and being able to control my time and schedule. Wow. So I would say the number one thing this has, that going through you guys and successfully getting my ultrasound business going, has given me control over my time. So I do no call, no weekends, no holidays. I sold this to my wife at the beginning even if I made the same money I would’ve made at the hospital.

(18:39)
Or even if I took a pay cut, having that for the rest of my life would be worth it. Like, for the rest of my life at the hospital, I was going to have to take a call, and I was going to have to shuffle around holidays because the hospital doesn’t close, and these other old sound techs know that. Then it’s like you take an even bigger pay cut going to normally go from like a hospital job to kind of a job. You know? And so like, and so like, you kind of as an ultrasound tech in the hospital setting, you think, and this is how I was. I mean, I don’t know everybody’s situation. It’s also different in terms of demand here and there and whatever, but to me it was like, it, it was like I had, it was like as an ultrasound tech, it kind of seemed like the very top earning that I could possibly do was around $50 an hour.

(19:26)
It’s kind of an arbitrary number. But, that in my mind was like, okay, if I made that hell, I’m top of the food chain in the ultrasound world, like that’s good. Sure. You know, whatever. And then it’s like when you get out in the business side of it; you start realizing that your skill can be marketed and sold at, I’m talking exponents more than that. You don’t even contemplate making over a hundred dollars an hour or, at times making $150, $200 an hour. There are a lot of situations, and there are a lot of things that go into it. And there are times where this happened, that happened, and at times you’re, you know, possibly making less money than you would at the hospital, but you don’t understand the potential of what this could do for you financially.

(20:16)
And so, to me, the time thing was number one. So I have a four-year-old, a one-year-old, and my wife’s pregnant with our third. And you know, there’s not any person out there listening to this who will say, man, at the end of my life, I’m going to be laying there in that bed thinking, dang, I wish I’d worked more. You know what I mean? Like, nobody thinks that every single person is would; that’s what money gives you: being able to control your time. A lot of times, yes. But this business where you can say, here are the days I’m working, here are the times I’m working. I can call or text the people who do the scheduling at my clinic and say next week, make my last patient at this time so I can go to this little appointment or whatever.

(21:05)
Or I can just say, next week I’m taking off, don’t schedule any patients. And at the hospital, when you do that, you hurt the department. Like you’re hurting your coworkers. Because then they have to cover the stuff that you didn’t cover. Whereas, like with my clinics, and this is just a small example, but it’s like they just put my patients on one week out or whatever, different day, you know, the next time I jump there or, or put them on my employees schedule where she could take care of me. You know, so it’s like, just that financially for me was like, even if I made the same money, I will never return to working at the hospital. I’ve already decided in my heart it doesn’t matter what happens; I’m never going back to working at the hospital.

(21:49)
I’m going to be doing this for the rest of my life forever. I love it. So that was another thing to me: not having any regrets. Like to me, it was like, I golly, like I didn’t want to get to a point in my life where the window of opportunity to try this I arguably had closed on me. You know what I mean? I got too sure invested in these other things, and I, like whatever my time had gone. Even if it didn’t work out, I told, in my heart, I was like, I don’t want to like, I want to know that I gave this shot no matter what. I didn’t want to have any regrets at the end of my life. Especially one as big as being a successful business owner and having more control over what you do with your time and how much money you can demand from the market.

(22:41)
It’s so important. It’s so important. And here’s another example. Yes. Yes. Go ahead. Oh, I’m sorry. No, well, I was going to, so here’s another example of something that was like how this has kind of changed my life, like you can’t do this at the hospital. And this is something that you can do when you own your own mobile ultrasound business; I had a doctor’s office that after scanning them for about a year, I had to weigh the pros, cons, the good, the bad, the volume, how much I was making, how much time I was spending in there, the, you know, the office manager, all these things together. And it had just come to a point where more work I had gotten to where this clinic was somewhat replaceable.

(23:32)
There was more work out there, and the amount I was making from this clinic, the amount I was charging them, you know, so I just set up a meeting with the doctor, and at this point, the doctor and I were cool. And so I just set up a meeting with him. I went into his office; I talked to him, and I said, so, all things considered, I love working with you. I love this clinic but in terms of a supply and demand thing with my time and the other clinics that I have and other doctors that are calling me about this, for me to be able to continue coming out here and doing the amount of ultrasounds that I’m doing and the amount of times I’m coming out here, I’m going to need you to meet me halfway on something.

(24:15)
And for me to be able to continue coming out here, I’m going to need about a 15% raise in terms of how much I’m charging you. And he didn’t blink an eye. He said, man, I appreciate all you’re doing. My patients love being able to do the ultrasound here, not having to go anywhere. Yes. You’ve got it—15% to you. And so I walked out of there with wait, wait, wait. With like an epiphany of how many years I would’ve worked at the hospital, making my little two to three, maybe 4% raise annually. And you kind of have to, you know, I don’t know, it’s always this little weird, are you brown nosing or kissing butt or whatever, and then you see on the other side that it’s possible to just go in and say, hey man, I think my services are more valuable. Hopefully, if you think this is still valuable to you at this rate. Are you cool with that? And so in one day, one conversation, not having to wait on anyone else, I walked in and got a 15% raise. I mean, I love that. That’s one of the opportunities that it’s kind of life-changing. You know what I mean?

Jen (25:23):
Absolutely.

Peyton (25:24):
You have that within.

Jen (25:29):
That’s perfect. Because I love that because I think those are things you don’t realize or understand until you get in the business yourself. And so I love that you’ve mentioned that. Cause I’m sure so many people listening are going to say, oh my gosh, I wouldn’t even have thought about that being a possibility.

Peyton (25:48):
Yes. That

Jen (25:49):
I love that.

Peyton (25:51):
So, another cool thing about this is that it is kind of like a, I mean, it’s not necessarily like life-changing, but in terms of your career in comparing it to changing your career versus what you’re going to do at the hospital. At the hospital, you have, I mean, I don’t know about everybody else’s and whatever, but, but for me, it’s like, me and my peers in the techs in Texas here, it kind of seemed like you had very little say in what you were going to do and what you weren’t going to do. It was like, this is the job, and if you are not going to do X, Y, Z, we’re going to find someone else who does. Because that’s the job. Yep. Where, and that’s kind of something that you have to accept when you’re kind of working for somebody else. Yeah. Then you get on the flip side of that, and whenever you own your own business, and you go into these clinics, and you have the power to tell them, my company offers X, y, we don’t do Z that will be referred out. So it’s like, it’s like if there’s, if there are exams or if there’s something about your job that you just loathe, you just despise doing this or that, it’s like, it’s like this gives you the power. That’s a good point.

(27:01)
This gives you the power to just say, you know what, I’m not doing that. I don’t care about anything else. These couple things I hate doing that they’re causing me. I’m not going to stress sadness in my life. I’m not doing them. And so that’s one thing this gives you the power to do. And you know, as a business owner, you’re always balancing like, okay, well, I don’t want to hurt my brand or business. Sure, by not doing something that maybe somebody else does. But at the same time, if there’s something you hate doing, this gives you the power to say; I’m not doing that.

Jen (27:30):
Yep. And you have the power to do that, to your point. You know, that’s what I think is so great about it. I mean, I know your experience with that physician, you gave us an example a little bit ago, was a good experience. But for us personally, just to kind of piggyback on that, for us personally, we’ve had a couple of clients over the last 16 years that were just absolute dares to work with and didn’t treat our employees well. And so on the flip side of that, we were able to say, we’ve got other places that we can go, and we don’t have to be treated the way we’re being treated. And to your point, when you work for someone else, that’s a big decision to make. Like, do I quit my job and get a different job?

(28:11)
Yes. But for this, it was, you know, this is not the type of culture that we want to have in our business. And so, we’re putting our 30 days notice in our contract and just added another client to take their thoughts. And Yeah. You know, I think our staff appreciates that so much because, you know, they want to work in an environment that they’re happy to go into. And so that’s something I think that’s nice. On the flip side, there can be situations like you’ve had with that physician where you love the office; you just want it to be more worth your time because, you know, you would have the opportunity to make more money time-wise going to another clinic. Hey, I love working with them. So here is my suggestion, you know? Yeah. I’m going to raise it 15%; if this works for you, let’s do it.

(28:57)
If not, you know, it’s been a wonderful experience. And on the flip side, you can also say, Hey, this is not working out for us, and we’re getting our notice. So I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with that. And I love the points you’re making on these because having that freedom of choice is so awesome when you’ve got your own business, and it’s up to you. And I want to bring this up too because I want all of our listeners to know you and I chatted; gosh, has it been a month ago, maybe about your new employee? Yeah. This was so exciting. You hired your first employee, Peyton; this is a big deal.

Peyton (29:38):
I do. I took kind of a long time to do that. I was at the point, and this is something that I told you. I was at the point where everything was good, like the work I had and the amount of money that I was making, and everything was good. I was at a point where I had a lot of reserve and anxiety about looking for employees or anything. I was always a little afraid of giving away any power to anyone else. Like, what if his employee doesn’t show up to work? Or, what if they give my business a bad name?

(30:22)
So I went over five years just doing my thing. And it was just me and everything, and everything was fine. Everything was perfect. And so she had contacted me kind of out of the blue, and she was the one who, and I had known her a couple of times, ultrasound is a small world. All these people listening are exactly that, the medical field in your town is a small world, let alone ultrasound and radiology and everything. So everybody kind of knows everybody. And I knew this role before, so she had contacted me and was like, Hey, you know, I kind of heard through the grapevine, you know, you’re running your business and doing the mobile thing. Here’s the kind of modalities that I do. And I didn’t know if, you know, she was like, I’m taking a little call here and there, but if you had any kind of extra work.

(31:04)
And I was like, you know what, actually, those skills that you have perfectly complement my skills. So like, she did breast ultrasound, gynecology, she did general. So it was a good compliment to me doing more of the echo vascular side of it. That’s one cool thing: if you get your business going, just you on your own, then, I mean, you can just do that. You don’t have to find other employees or whatever. If you get to a point where you’re happy, then I mean, it’s mission accomplished, and you’re going to do your thing. And then if a huge opportunity falls into your lap like that, it’s one of those things that you can, you have the ability to, to choose to expand your business.

(31:53)
You can choose to delegate some of the things. Exactly. It gives you the ability on that. And like, that’s one of the things also that’s the flip side of having parts of your job or your career that you don’t like. If there are parts of your job and the career that you love and are good at, and you want to double down on those, you can delegate some of the other things that need to be done. Exactly. You know, find some other people who, you know, have that same kind of like-mindedness. They’re kind of in a situation where they would rather have, you know, more control over their time and be able to kind of do the mobile thing with you, and you can delegate some of the stuff for them that they’re good at. And you do some of the stuff that you’re great at.

Jen (32:29):
Exactly. And I was going to make that point, so I’m so glad you said that because I think that’s something that people get a little nervous about too. So I have techs that ask me this question quite often. You know, what if I only do echo vascular? And you know, my answer, just like you said, is you can start with your skill set and what you are good at. And if you decide later that you’ve got enough physicians saying, Hey, I would love for you to also be able to do general or gynecology or those types of things, you can always add on staff later. You’ve got things going and are ready to take on that responsibility. But that’s always something that you can do to expand, you know, your service offerings or do some of the things you don’t particularly love and focus.

(33:22)
Like you said, more on the things that you do. Yeah. So I think that’s great, and I’m so excited that she’s, that she’s working out for you because I loved our conversation that we had about that because I just think that’s an exciting thing and also a nerve-wracking thing, like you said, kind of giving away some of the control you have over your own business. But when you find those great employees that are going to represent your company well, it’s just such a great addition. and take some of the load off of your plate too, I’m sure.

Peyton (33:53):
Absolutely. And it’s exciting. Like, Cindy, the girl who came on with me, she is amazing. She’s a great personality, and I’m excited to work with her. I’m excited about us doing this together. It’s exciting for you to get to the point where you’re like, you know what I’m doing, and my business is providing a lot to the community, and I feel like I’m, you know, like all the other stuff aside. As you get to the point where you can help tons of people who, otherwise, wouldn’t have been able to get this exam for whatever reason. You’re making people happier that they can have it here and not there and things like that.

Jen (34:40):

It is. And I know we feel like that in our mobile ultrasound business because you know when it’s. Some of our listeners may not realize this, but when an ultrasound is done in a physician’s practice instead of a hospital, it’s much less expensive for the patient—even those with insurance. And so obviously, everybody knows patients love coming back to their doctor’s office so they don’t have to drive somewhere, find parking, and fill out a bunch of extra paperwork. They want to come back where they feel comfortable. And so, like you said, it’s so nice to be able to offer that service right in their office. And we’re just kind of an extension of the staff that that particular office has. And it allows the practice too to be able to, you know, market additional services and enhance their practice without having a bunch of overhead. Cause we’re providing the services, you know, right there in their practice, and they’re just paying us for the time that they’re using us. So I think that’s a great point to make because I think it might be something that not a lot of people realize. There are so many benefits to the physician practice to have a group like ours, you know, come in and be able to do those.

Peyton (35:49):
You are; I love that. You are right. And that’s one thing that you don’t see that or hear about it until, you know, like you’re starting to scan these patients in your own business. Yeah. Like, you’ll start having tons of patients say, oh my gosh, this is so nice you all do this here. I’m so glad I could just come back here. And that’s one thing is like, you’ll run into doctors who they like financially, let’s say even if they didn’t make a dollar on this, or even if it cost them a little bit either way, some doctors are just, it gives them an edge to be able to be one of the practices where a patient can come here and get all these things done. Like if you go and, you know, it’s, it’s a patient word of mouth kind of thing where if, you know, this patient tells their friend, Hey, I know you’re going over there, and they send you out for your ultrasound. If my doctor, they do it in-house; I do everything in there. And like, so that to the doctors, that’s one of the big selling points about this that is a huge benefit to these doctors that you don’t think about when you’re like, okay, how is this going to work? Why would the doctors want to use me? And not that it’s like that is a thing that doctors freaking

Jen (37:01):
That’s a great point. And you’re right. I’ve got a lot of physicians here with our mobile business that is kind of the same way. Is that one of the biggest draws for them is just the convenience and the fact that, you know, patients love coming back to their office, and that patient satisfaction is there along with the fact that they can follow the whole part of the imaging process now. Because of how it is when they send somebody out to the hospital, they give them an order and don’t know whether they got it done until they get it back. But man, if they can schedule them right in their office and they know, you know, the day that you’re coming in, you provide the service, the report comes right back to them, it’s just nice for them to follow all that. Because, when they get an ultrasound, it’s because something is needed, and they need to be able to find that, you know, that information to be able to, to do a treatment plan for them. So I think that’s a great point. And it is, there are so many different benefits beyond just them making a revenue that they have by bringing these patients back in and having us do it.

Peyton (38:10):
You would think in 2020, with electronic medical records and all this, that it would be more streamlined. But it’s not; I don’t know about everybody else listens to it, but I have patients all the time who are like, well, I went over here, got this exam done, no one ever told me anything. I don’t know. Right. I mean, that happens all the time. Whereas like, it completes the whole circle for the doctor’s office. Yeah. But it gets their test ordered. We did it here; we have to report right here. We know exactly who did it, who to call, and the patient’s right here. Nothing left.

Jen (38:43):
Exactly. You’re right. That’s a great way to put it. It completes the circle. Cause it does. Yeah. I love that. Well, Peyton, can you advise those listening people who are considering starting their own business right now but are kind of scared to take that plunge into business ownership? Because I think we all are before; if you’re not scared before you start your own business or something wrong with me, we all are.

Jen (39:11):
Give us give us some advice,

Peyton (39:12):
Yes, absolutely. Well, okay, so my biggest advice on that is for ultrasound techs to realize that the years that you’ve already spent in your field training your eyeballs to see what’s normal, what’s pathology training, your hand-eye coordination, how fast you are with these buttons and how to manipulate the machine in terms of manipulating ultrasound physics to be able to, you know something’s an artifact or something, you know, a big deal or something normal. If you look at it like that is your product, it is a hugely valuable product, and you already have it. You have the product. I feel like so many people; I love that they want to start a business like, you know, they’re trying to think of something to sell and a good product, and what’s this thing?

(40:08)
Well, in this business, your product is something that has already separated you, and you already have it. It’s already separated you from the other 99% of all humans on Earth. That you can give these good ultrasound studies and help a doctor in the medical continuum of care be able to go to that doctor, most of them can’t take an ultrasound machine and do anything with it. Exactly. Most people in the medical field can do nothing with that. So that’s your product, and you already have that. You’ve got it. So you already have the most valuable part of the business you will sell. That’s something that people looking into this need to have a little more, you know, confidence in if, if you are proficient at your job, then you have a good product that you can go market and be able to sell another thing.

(40:56)
Right. That is good advice, and it kind of was like if throughout human history, like, if something hasn’t ever been done, there’s always been a mystique about it. There’s always been a well; maybe it can’t be done. Maybe that’s why no one’s done it. You know, this kind of thing. Like I, you know, like you hear all these, you know, motivational speeches or whatever, and they bring up Roger Bannister who, the guy who broke the four-minute mile and before him, before he had done it, there was like medical PhDs and doctors who said, the human body cannot run faster than a four-minute mile, not humanly possible. And then Roger Banister did it, and after he did it, it was like 20,000 high school kids had done it in the next five years or something.

Jen (41:48):
Crazy. Oh, my goodness. And that’s insane.

Peyton (41:51):
Yes. It was like; it was like the main thing about it was realizing if somebody else could break that four-minute mile, then I can’t do if it’s been done, heck, I can do it. And that’s one cool thing to tell people who haven’t, who are thinking about taking that plunge, is if there are all these other people like the other people that, that you have worked with who have pulled it off and me, then I guarantee you it’s possible, and you can pull it off.

Jen (42:14):

Yes. I love that Peyton. I love that. I’m telling you what I think those two points are two points that I have never brought up to people, and the over a decade that I have been talking to people, I love that so much. And that’s why I wanted to have you on this podcast so badly because I knew it would be a different perspective from someone. You’ve been in business for six years; that’s a long time. And we talked before, we, you know, started the podcast today about how, you know, it’s not like either of us just started doing this, and we’re kind of right hawing around the information and all of that. We have both been in the trenches for a long time. And I just was excited to have a different perspective from you. Absolutely. You are talking to people who want to plunge into business ownership because it is scary. And I think having multiple people be able to give their points of view besides myself is awesome. Yeah. And so I love those two points because, honestly, those are two that I have never thought about or brought up to anybody. So this is a big deal, Peyton. I love it.

Peyton (43:27):
And you know me, I can keep talking. I have a couple more points that I think are valuable.

Jen (43:33):
Please, I would love it. I would love it. Give us the value. Peyton, I’m loving this.

Peyton (43:40):
Well, this is one thing that I wrote down that I wanted to, that became a huge deal that I hadn’t thought about much before. And it’s just kind of a little side note on the life-changing part of it was, yeah, when you switch from working in a hospital to owning your own business, you now are in the category of tax write-offs. And so there are so many things that are in your life. It, I mean, it’s like, I like to me, this is how I am. And I analyze all this stuff and like them, and it’s like the biggest killer of most people’s financial wealth is taxes, right? So this puts you in, in this realm where everybody knows somebody who owns their own business and they have this big nice truck was a tax write-off, or whatever tax write off this and that.

(44:36)
Wow. So this now puts you in the realm where, like your vehicle, it is a hundred percent deducted from the money you make from your clinic. You’re able to write off your home office, you’re able to write off parts of, you know, like remember to write-off vacations if they, you know, if you did work-related stuff, had work-related talks on them. I mean, it’s like there are tons of opportunities that get opened up that, that just like, you know, going back to how you don’t think of these things until you kind of get on this side and you see the wealth of opportunity that gets opened up to you when you cross over, that’s done. So that’s one cool thing I wanted to say also. Wow. I want to make sure that people know because one of the things that I didn’t know about Advanced Imaging until after I’d gone through it is like you guys, Jennifer, you have continued to help me.

(45:29)
I have talked to you an average of three or four times a year. And even after my business is successful and I’ve completely taken care of everything, you continue to support me. Like you do a fantastic job; the camaraderie of this journey is because when you start making your own mobile ultrasound business, you are now in such a niche market. Yeah. And the amount of people that you can talk to about and can kind of empathize and talk about what’s going on and bounce ideas off of or talk about some things that were successful for you or some things you struggled with, but all of your clients, including me, it’s like I have felt so taken under your wing.

(46:24)
It’s like me and you have become friends. We have talked for years after I was just like the right up front, and you taught me what I needed to know to get my business going. You have continued to support me, and you’ve never said, sorry, Peyton, I have to charge you. You’re long-winded, and you’ve been on this call for an hour of my time. Peyton, I have to; you’ve never charged me anything for any continuing help or support or anything. So I want the listeners to know that this isn’t a thing that you sign up for, and you know, you go to Advanced Imaging, and they say, okay, here’s all the stuff. Goodbye. Don’t call us again. You’re on your own. It’s literally like a little family business. You got our back; everybody’s in different situations. It’s like you’re over there in Indiana; I’m in Texas. You got people from all over the United States. So that part is cool. And that’s one thing I wanted to advise people thinking about signing up for that.

Jen (47:21):
I appreciate that.

Peyton (47:22):
That, to me, is huge. That’s what I wanted to know, 

Jen (47:27):
For sure. Absolutely. Well, that brings me up to another point that I had to make and tell our listeners because Peyton and I talk about this every time we talk is that Peyton has decided that we need to have an Advanced Imaging alumni meet-up once a year. Something we’ve decided on is Vegas or somewhere with a pool.

Peyton (47:51):

I want us to do it so badly. I just want to get all these like-minded little mastermind group of people together.

Jen (47:59):
Cause No, this is wonderful.

Peyton (48:01):
That because I’m telling you, like the camaraderie part of it, whatever, you’re kind of out on your own. It’s possible to feel like you don’t have any support. I’m kind of on my own. I don’t have anybody to call. But with Advanced Imaging, one of the biggest unseen parts you don’t know is you can always call. I’ve been able to just text questions in the middle of the day. Wow. Patients, you’re taking care of business on your end. Just a quick text, Hey, this and that, what do you think about this? And whenever you get to it, you text me back, and we go; we get into these calls. I feel bad for you because I’ll go down a rabbit hole and talk to you for over an hour, and I’m like, Jennifer’s got crap to do.

Jen (48:41):
Always, we have fun, though, Peyton. I’m telling you.

Peyton (48:44):
We do. We absolutely do. And I want alumni, everybody, all the people who successfully pulled this off, and all of us just talk about their area. It’s crazy stories and what works for them, and I want us to do that.

Jen (48:59):
I think that we should because I think it would be something that, like you mentioned, I mean, this is such a niche group of people, and to be able to get into yeah, like what, what works for people, what hasn’t worked, different things they get into and I mean, I think that brings up a good point, you were talking about the fact that over the years we’ve, you know, we speak multiple times because as you grow your business. Different things come up, and this happens with, you know, I mean tons of other clients too, is those weird things come up, or a certain contract question comes up, or you have one doctor that, you know, kind of out on a limb with questions about or ideas about how he wants to set things up. And you know, I’ve gotten calls like that with people too.

(49:44)
Like, do you think this is okay to set it up today? Or, you know, have you guys ever had this question? And so I think it’s so nice to be able to bounce those questions, you know, off of each other because, you know, we’ve been in business for a long time. Likely we’ve heard something or had another client who that has happened to that we can kind of, you know, reference those types of situations. So I think it’s so nice to be able to do that. And I’m glad you brought that up cause that is something, you know, we love. And like you mentioned, you become friends. I mean, we’ve been doing this for a long time, and when you start helping people grow their businesses, I mean that is, it becomes an intimate relationship in that regard, right? I mean, it’s kind of like helping someone with their brand-new baby.

Peyton (50:30):
Oh, man. Oh, it, that’s exactly how it feels. It’s like that switch makes; it’s like that jump off the ledge. It’s like you’re clinging to a life raft, and you’re just hoping everything works out and you have these dreams and these plans, and it’s such a bonding experience. To go through it, and you guys were there to help at any facet of the way and all these fricking questions I had and all these things. And so at the end of it, we get to this point, I’m like, God, me and Jennifer have been through all these things.

Jen (51:10):
Love that.

Peyton (51:11):
Have someone to talk about these, these weird things about; it’s fricking cool. Yes. And you brought up a good point; this is the last point I’ll make because I know you have your family and everything. The cool part about what Advanced Imaging offers and what you guys have is it’d be one thing if you guys used to have a mobile ultrasound business. You quit that, and now all you do is the consulting, and all of your experiences are kind of getting older, and maybe things are, the market’s changing, things are changing. But you, what’s cool about you guys is you have a mobile ultrasound business today, right now. That is out in the field seeing doctors, changes, and stupid coronavirus and what is going on with all this crap.

(51:58)
It’s like, it’s like you guys, so like there are things that like your advice to people and your consulting ability is continuing to grow in value because you’re in the trenches as of today, just like with all these people who are going to be going through things. Like if they said, okay, well, I don’t know, it’s coronavirus a good time to start my business or a bad time. It’s like, right, if you no longer had a mobile business, you wouldn’t be able to see the changes happening. So that is one thing. Super valuable that you guys have. 

Jen (52:26):
Oh, I love that. And I mean that is, that’s very true. And I still, you know, that has always given us the confidence to kind of work through these questions and problems that our clients have because it’s a big deal to be in the day-to-day is so different than having a bird’s eye view of everything. And you’re right. I mean, things change from year to year. I mean, not a ton, but you have to be able to kind of be in, I think those, those minute details to be able to be able to help on such a specific level. So I love that, and I’m glad you see that too because I know that’s something that we feel is a huge benefit. And so it makes me happy when our clients feel the same way too. Yes, absolutely. Super. This has been so fun. I love this. 

Peyton (53:18):
This has been fun.

Jen (53:20):
So many good points and options for our listeners as they consider starting their own business. And I just really, really appreciate you being on as my very first guest,

Peyton (53:35):
Such a prestigious title.

Peyton (53:42):
You and I talked about that before we started recording; this is something I could speak for hours on. This isn’t something that you and I had to write anything down; this has been such a life-altering, life-changing experience. It’s so exciting. It’s changed every single day for the rest of my life kind of thing. Like, it’s very easy for me and you to talk about something we’re very passionate about and something that I could go for hours talking like this, but that’s what I’m saying is just like you’re saying is I think people listen to this will be able to tell like, dang, those are just two genuine people. Yes. They’re just literally chit-chatting about things that they’re doing every day in their life.

Jen (54:31):
Love. I know. And that’s so true. That brings up a good point: I think we are so passionate about it because we know the change for the better that it’s made in both of our lives. And we want other people who are thinking about doing it to know this is possible and this can happen and here are the things, here are the kind of ways to get you there. And here are the things you can expect after you know you, you do make that plunge, and you work hard at it and get things moving. These are the benefits that you can see. And I think that’s probably why both of us are just so passionate about it and can talk about it forever because it’s something that’s changed our lives, and we want other people to have that same opportunity.

Peyton (55:15):
Absolutely, sister. Well, thank you so much for having me on your first. Thank you.

Jen (55:20):
I love it.

Peyton (55:20):
You’re so honored.

Jen (55:22):
This is very exciting. I will send you a certificate or something you can hang up.

Peyton (55:27):
Oh, that’s funny. No, I loved it. I love getting to talk to you. Everybody’s lives are so busy. Nobody sits down and has any kind of long-form conversations. It’s so rare to hear two people just get to talk about a weird topic you can’t find anywhere else. There are no YouTube videos. I know nothing else has this kind of answering the legit questions. Yeah. People are thinking. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much, Jennifer.

Jen (55:51):
Absolutely. Thank you, Peyton. I appreciate your time so much.

Peyton (55:55):

All right, girlfriend, I’ll let you go. I’m sure I’ll be talking to you soon.

Jen (55:58):
Absolutely. Thanks.