From Sewer 2 Entrepreneurs

We tell the unfiltered story of how we built Therapeutic Relations Healthcare Services LLC from nothing in Cleveland, OH. From getting certified in 2013 to waiting months for our first client and learning cash flow the hard way. 

We break down the difference between getting licensed with Ohio DODD and actually earning trust from families who have every reason to be cautious. We talk letters of interest, interviews, reputation, and why our first client came with a lesson we were not expecting. 

If you’re building a home care business, thinking about entrepreneurship, or just want the behind-the-scenes truth from two owners who lived it, press play, subscribe, and share this with someone who needs the real version.

If you enjoy the show, leave a review and tell us what part hit home for you.

Go check out our website at www.therapeuticrhs.com and schedule a tour with us today. If you're looking for services or you're looking for employment, you can give us a call at 216-712-7900, or email at info@therapeuticrhs.com. 

At Therapeutic, We Care!

Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is episode one of season two of Permission to Speak Freely Podcast. This series, we're calling From Sewer to Entrepreneur, giving you 13 years of ups and downs, ins and outs of what it is to be an entrepreneur here in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit our brick and mortar therapeutic relations healthcare services at 5273 Broadview Road. That's Parma, Ohio, 44134. You can visit us at our website at www.therapeuticrhs.com. That's T-H-E-R-A-P-E-U-T-I-C R H S dot com. Um today on my show, I have a beautiful, lovely guest, Vanessa Johnson, who is the CEO's wife, which is me, if you didn't know, and co-owner and COO of Therapeutic Relations Healthcare Services, LLC, which is a Kenwine A. Johnson Inc. company, owned by Vanessa and I. Check those tax records.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

You better say that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

But thank you for coming on the show, baby, and actually, you know, being a guest of mine and being able to support something that we are doing, but something that is that I'm doing. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

You're welcome. You know, I always support you in everything that you do. So, you know, I'm your, I always call myself your helpmate because that's what I am. Um, but you know, I'll support you in everything you do because you're my boo.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

For sure. You my partner, you my ride, die, my down ass, beesh, uh, all of those good things. You know, all of those good

Meet Vanessa And The Partnership

SPEAKER_01 1:35

things. But um, people just wanted to give you all a little bit of information about us. Uh, Vanessa and I are alumni from East High School, class of 2005 and class of 2006. Um, we rekindled a little bit after high school, after, you know, just living life a little bit. And as we got together, we decided to uh take on some lifelong journeys and lifelong tasks together, which is raising children, becoming married, and even starting multiple businesses together. So, in this segment, okay, we want to be able to give you the breakdown and the real understanding of what it is to be an entrepreneur and what it's like to have to put your uh yourself last and put everyone else first, and being able to make sure everyone else is okay before you get almost anything. And just so many, so many different things, man. But the the first nostalgic moment that's coming to mind uh when we first first started and we got the business uh well, we first started of just coming after we came up with the name, after we've uh we're in business now. So I want to just give you a little bit of information doing the paperwork to get into business, and we're um contractors with the DODD. That's an acronym for Department of Developmental Disabilities. That's the state of Ohio for us to be able to provide healthcare services to individuals and with intellectual and developmental needs. Okay. Um, we provide housing, residential care, transportation, vocational, and adult day services. Okay, so these are five

Licensing Is Easy, Getting Picked Is Hard

SPEAKER_01 3:10

different contracts that we have with the state of Ohio to be able to provide these services. So the easiest part, okay, was the paperwork. That was the easiest part out of the beginning. The easiest part was the paperwork, signing up for what you want to do and qualifying to be able to get the license and contract to do it. But now the hard part was bringing your business, business, and that's where I really would like to start. I really like to start at that point where after you got your certification, your LLC is good, you got your tax ID number. I think a lot of people forget that step. But you get your tax ID together, you went to the bank and opened you up a business checking account, all kinds of things to be able to have yourself legit. Now it's time to bring your business business. How do you market yourself? How do you advertise yourself? How do you come up with a really good letter of interest to submit over to the families for them to trust you knowing you are nobody in this industry? No one, no one knows you at all. So now you have to build up a reputation. And we started this 2013, yeah, before the real big boom of using social media platforms for business. Okay. So we started there and submitting over clients for months. We're submitting, submitting, not getting anything. Okay. Not even, not, not one little any, anything.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

And just, you know, just to take it back to at that time, we were still, um, because again, like you said, we didn't, nobody knew us. We were submitting to people that don't know us, we don't know them. We're just hoping and praying that this is is it's gonna it's gonna work out for us. So with that, heck, we was we would still work for other people. Because we had to make a living, you know, at the same time of us trying to build our business, um, we had to make a living for us and for our child. So, you know, just thinking like, you know, with us working uh however many hours we were working, and plus on top of trying to build our business from the ground up because again, you know, nothing was handed to us. This is from scratch. We had no money, no dollars, no, we had nothing to start this business. We're just on a hope and prayer that our our efforts was gonna help us get our first client, and then we landed our first client, and it was uh a five-hour a week client.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, and to give you a little information about that, uh the classifications or the acronyms that we're using. Um for clients that have a level one IO waiver or self-waiver are all paid through Medicaid, which is the Department of Development through the Department of Developmental Disabilities. Still, you know, an umbrella under Medicaid. This person was a level one, which was usually about five hours, nothing, nothing too much more, maybe six or seven, depending on if the the help is really needed, but it's it's it's very small help, okay, initially. And we started there just taking on the clients that um that were willing to work with us, that we were willing to provide a great service and quality of life to them. And all of them weren't peaches and cream, okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

So this first initial client that we had received that No, no, let's take it back first because I I want to make sure that I mention too, you got your certification. You were certified in March of 2013,

Seven Months Of Submitting With No Income

SPEAKER_03 6:40

right?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

We were certified in March, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

My bad. We were certified in March of 2013. We didn't get our first client to September of 2013. So I just want to make sure that I show y'all that that timeline of how long we had to wait and how long how much we were submitting, meaning kind of like applying is the application. We gotta get interviewed by the families so to see if we are a good fit for their loved ones. So just from March all the way into September, that's zero income. So just imagine if we just was like, we just quit our jobs like some some folks do, that just quit their jobs, like whatever. I'm I'm gonna be a boss, I'm gonna be this, I'm gonna be that, and you quit your job and now you ain't got no money. So from March to September, if we quit our jobs, we would have had no money to provide for ourselves and for our child. So just wanted to give you that timeline.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Yeah, so no, no, no income coming in from the business, and we're spending time on this business. I mean, every day. We're looking at the portal where we are able to submit our letter of interest over for uh clients that we are certified to serve. We're submitting every day as much as we can to different things that fit our scope of practice. So that's about what March, April, May, June, July, August, September. So that's seven months that we did not receive anything. And I can process it now emotionally. Like I was very depressed, very sad, hoping and wishing and praying and putting a lot of work into something, hoping that it turns into something that it manifests. And you have had naysayers and people just speaking ill, speaking negative, just on many different levels of our life and our relationship, almost sounding like they hoped that it didn't work out. Yeah, you know. So the brink so fast forwarding it when we did receive our first client five hours a week. You know, we're we're we're

First Client And The Bed Bug Reality

SPEAKER_01 8:35

legitimately now an agency, okay? Respect our name now. At therapeutic, we care. All right, so we went in, was able to provide service to this this young lady who really, really needed it. Um, and went into a tragic situation that we did not was not really prepared for, but we uh grew to the challenge. This young lady uh home was overtaken by bed bugs. And if you ever worked in healthcare, primarily a direct support professional in the intellectual developmental disability fee.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

As soon as you said bed bugs.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah, in this field, you know, and during a 2008 to 2000 probably 16, the industry was really heavily infested with bed bugs. It was a large epidemic, and um, you know, it was a lot of protocol and safety measures that were set out to be able to protect yourself, a lot of, you know, uh barriers. But we went in there not knowing that until after the ink dried on the paperwork, and then the county worker was like, you know, she got them got them bed bugs, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Hey, did you know as we didn't interview, we didn't sat on this lady's couch? On her couch, sat on her couch and did not know this lady had bed bugs. Like, do you know how mortified I was, but at the same time was like, this is our first client. We just gonna have to rough it out.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Gonna have to rough it.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

We're gonna have to rough it out because we need this contract, and she will forever be in, we will be forever forever indebted to her because that was our first, very first client that solidified us as being an agency. So um, shout out to you.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Shout out to you. Uh hippou, we can't say her name.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

We can't say her name, but shout out to you for that, and that's where it took off.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Like that's where it took off. I'll say that's where it took off of building that relationship with the county worker, building that relationship with being coming the agency that did the app normal. Okay. Us coming into that situation and making the best out of that situation and brightening that young lady's life and changing just her whole dynamic, working in that, in the in probably not the best conditions, but being able to see it through that that rang bells to that family, to that county worker, and to whoever she was talking to at the water cooler. You know what I'm saying? Whoever she was talking to. But that started as we began to submit and over more, that began for us to be able to bring in some traction and the families and the county get to see us and our name and our you know reputation. So, you know, due to our reputation, we are aiming to make change because we're looking to

Cash Flow Delays And Working Unpaid

SPEAKER_01 11:10

become too large to ignore. A therapeutic, we care. Okay. So I love to, so I'm gonna slow it down here for a second, people. I love to give the back end story, like the behind the scenes a lot that people don't really get to see. They just think you get the client, you sign it, the money rolls in, you just, you know, you're good, and then you're good to go. And it's like, nah. You know, it it it um sometimes you gotta wait for the money. Sometimes it takes time for the finance to go through for the payment authorization. They could they nickname it pause, but it's a payment authorization in order for Medicaid to pay you out, EVV to pay you out, um, the Department of Aging, all of these different avenues that you know you can submit billing and claims over to. So go sometimes you're gonna have to go in there and work for free. All right. And if you, and we're speaking more to leaders, entrepreneurs, bosses, people who are going there starting things, people who are really trying to build some revenue with their LLC, you're gonna have to go in there on your own and do a lot of things on your own and put your own money up on your own. The bank is not gonna give you finance because of your passion of how great and beautiful a store you're trying to get them. They need to see that you were able to make money without them. Okay, that you are able to generate some kind of finance for them to be able to play ball with you a little bit. Just but giving you that backstory. That's soon as you get a client, the it ain't sunshine and rainbows, it's actually more work.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Yeah, because you have to think about the fact that once you go in, you have to, and this is where I feel like myself and Kenwine, we have like our our separate role, like we're together, but we have our separate roles in the company. And normally Ken Wan is the one that brings them in, and I'm the one that kind of maintains, if if that makes it. Like, do you agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

So, like, you have to, once

Care Over Money And Keeping Trust

SPEAKER_03 13:05

you bring them in, you have to maintain what you have. So you can't go in thinking the world revolves around you when in all actuality it's about the client. And so I think that a lot of times in this field, a lot of people um don't look at that. Um, a lot of people go into health care because they know that this is a field that's gonna always be around, that you go in for the money because the money can be very lucrative, you know, but they're not going in for the care. And that's the ultimate goal in this industry is the care of the client. So when you go in, you have to maintain that. That's why our clients love us. Because once we once we get them, we don't, we're not doing a lot of this just to get them in, and then we just like, all right, we got them, now we got the money. We actually are going in and we are caring for these clients. They are they are seeing that we love them, that we we care about what we do, and we put forth the effort every day to maintain what we have.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

It's a poor relationship to do all of this work to obtain somebody and then treat them poorly after you get them. That's in any realm of business or that's any realm of relationship, okay? Just using relationship broad, but we're gonna zero it in into business because we are owners, we sit in that chair. We, if we sat down with the families and telling them we're gonna take care of their loved ones 24 hours a day, or we're gonna transport them back and forth, or we're gonna have them see the world and do creative things with them day in and day out, or we're gonna take them out just here and there, whatever we're verbally stating and contracting, how would the families look and feel that we turn around and we don't hold up that end of the bargain? We will look like liars, and I feel like you can place that into any realm of relationship. If you if you're cooking food and you say they say, I mean, we got the best in the West, and then you your food is subpar, and then you can't even, you know, have a conversation about correction of how it can be resolved. Right, uh, yeah, not the best relationship. So, giving that as an example, that hey, once we've had these conversations with the family and we bring the loved ones in and they trust us, we have to keep up with that trust. We have to maintain that relationship. And I and I say I say this respectfully, I feel like a lot of times a lot of people want to jump into entrepreneurship because they feel like it's an escape from a level of responsibility or it's an escape from a level of having to answer to people. And if you've ever sat in a position where you are the H-N-I-C, all right, you have to have an answer for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Everybody.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Okay, so I have to have an answer for the clients. We have to be able to tell them certain things that they need to know. Next step up, be able to have an answer for their staff that is taking care of them, their loved one, their family, whomever we picking them up and dropping them off to. Sometimes we gotta have an answer for transportation on, hey, if we're running late, if they're running late, but being able to talk to them, gotta have a uh an answer for the county worker that's being able to orchestrate and authorize your funding and services for the loved one, being able to have an answer for the guardian, the parent who's possibly involved, always gonna be involved, always gonna be there. Gotta have an answer for the state, I mean that the county, when they come in and audit, check books, making sure all documents are correct. Gotta have an answer for the state of Ohio who you contract with, being able to authorize everything and allow you to be an establishment open, running functionally in the state of Ohio, not including people, families, uh, people who are just inquiring, not including when issues happen, not including conversations of with people at your bank, people for insurance and protection and licenses. You have to have an answer. And I'm just getting overwhelmed. Oh my God, listen.

SPEAKER_03 16:59

You dizzy. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

I love it. The front of my head hurt. The part where I got to think from.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

The frontal lobe, that part right here.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I feel it. Right here. But we are built to be able to sustain that, okay? We have the capacity to be able to have a sustainable answer for the families and not blow everything up. Most of the time, people just like to be included and involved and knowing what's going on with their loved one because that is somebody's life. Point blank period. That is someone's life. And because we are in business, we cannot and do not look at our clients as dollar signs. We know we can't. We know that money is the grease that keeps the machine growing, going, but it is not the fuel. We do not get up every day and do this just for the money because it comes and it goes. You've been in business long enough, it's up and it's down, it's up and it's down. Projections know projections let you know where the money gotta go. Let me repeat that one more time for you. Projections show where the money gotta go. Say it with me. Projections show where the money gotta go. All right, so once

Going Full Time And The First Van Mistake

SPEAKER_01 18:10

them dollars come in, they going out to somewhere. They gotta go to work, gotta pay the staff, gotta pay the rent, gotta pay the car notes, gotta pay the insurance, gotta pay for gas at four dollars a gallon. You wanna be the boss?

SPEAKER_03 18:25

You gotta pay the price.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah, gotta pay the costs. You wanna be the boss. And but this, but just bring it back on the nostalgic moment. Remember, even after we got our first client, if they that client was just a residential client. We're dropping off five hours into the home. We pick up another client that's about 20 hours, and then another client that's about five or 10. Then we shift gears a little bit, and I say, okay, we got enough clients bringing in enough revenue. Hey, baby. Hey, baby.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

You ain't gotta work no more.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

You ain't gotta work for somebody else. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

I'ma still work because listen, I've been working for 13 years.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

For the record.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

And then run it back.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah, yeah. We you ain't gotta work for nobody else no more. 100% self-employed. And that was at least by December of 2013.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

And that was, and that was us, and that was me working every female client we had. By December, we had how many female clients?

SPEAKER_01 19:45

I want to say six. Because we had AG, that was the first. Then we had S R, which was the second, then we had DW, D W. Then we had uh K R. Yep, and then we had F M.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

F M. And then S A. S A.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

S A. Uh, and then we had CW. He was a man. I went to go work him. CW.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Oh, and then we had another C in in North Olmstead.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Yeah. So that was, yeah, a good like seven or eight clients by December. He worked all of them the male. I worked all the female, of course.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Um then we it's coming to me. Once we made enough finance to say, okay, we can at least afford rent and some some food or whatever, it'd be tight, but as long as we keep the traction coming in, we can be able to um sustain. You were no longer working for no one else but the company, but therapeutic. I was still working for a big company. So what I had to do was try to find something else for me to do, which I jumped into transportation.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Remember, I went and bought a bought a van from Geno's out of Wycliffe or Willoughby was that. I went and bought a van.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

I didn't even know you want to even talk about this damn man. Yeah, it's a part of this a part of the trip. Listen, so he buys this van. Now, mind you, it didn't even have enough seats. It didn't even have the the amount of seats that we were supposed to have for this van. And that just just keep in mind too, when you start in business, you you really don't know what you're doing. You kind of just going with the flow and you learning as you are doing, basically. And so with that, we didn't know. We didn't buy this, it was a Dodge uh Dodge Ram 16.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Something.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

It didn't even have enough seats. It just had nothing but cargo in the back and like a row, maybe a row, I think. So like we didn't even have the recommended vehicle to do transport, but he gets this van. And as soon as he gets the van, the brakes go, the brake line go.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

The same day.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

The same as he's driving from the lot.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Mm-hmm. It was not safe. It was not safe.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

I can remember you calling me, telling me, and I'm like, dude, you just bought the dang on van. Like So you end up taking it back, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:19

No, I ended up keeping the van. He ended up calling him, letting him know that the brake lining went out. He told me to go get it fixed, and he'll reimburse me back, take it off the car note. Which he eventually didn't because we ended up getting up, ended up giving the van back because the amount of money we were putting into the van is to get it safe. Because remember, that's we had a we had a place where we're buying used vehicles. All right. So that's money that you got to take out of your own pocket and put into your equipment before you make even a dollar. So we put this money into the van and then I start doing research. I slow down and I start reading the Ohio revised code for non-medical transportation in Ohio for, you know, to get the rate that they had at that time. We had to have a vehicle that sat that seats nine individuals or more. Most vehicles go from seven to 12 or 8 to 12. So you had to get a large E150, E250 van, E350 four van or Chevy van. And we got a Dodge van that didn't have enough seats, so it didn't qualify to get that per trip rate instead of the per mile rate. So we ended up giving the vehicle back. We just drop it off at the car lot. It got brand new brakes all around. It got a new transmission mount on there. It got, we didn't clean and washed and shampooed this van. Man, man, I was driving this van as a daily driver. My daily driver.

Mr. Rufus Van And Learning On YouTube

SPEAKER_01 23:45

All right, but we dropped the van back off, and then we end up getting, we go to Craigslist, and we ended up finding a 15-passenger van out in Oakwood Village, Ohio, by a man named Mr. Rufus. He ended up selling it to us.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

And I just passed his house the other day, and he had that big old RV. Because remember, he had bought an RV around that time when we bought the van, he had bought a new RV around that time. And I just rolled past her the other day and I was like, wait, I think I just passed Mr. Rufus' house. So that's that's one of those nostalgic moments that we talked about. Like, I that was so long ago. That was in 20, that was 2013.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

2013, 2014. No, 2014.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

2014. So at that like we're just remembering that, just going down the street and just looking like, wait, I remember that house. I remember that RV.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Yep. And he had a beautiful pit bull who was wow. He was wow. He had to keep him locked up. He was wow. But he was a beautiful red, red-nosed pit. And they had a beautiful home. They had the big RV. Um, his wife and him, I think they they both were retired. He was like, they retired. It was real into the church. They built these real big four-foot crosses out of wood, man. They just and they sold them online, man. Beautiful, beautiful couple. But Mr. Rufus allowed us to put down $900. He was selling the van for $1,500. And I was like, man, all I got is about $900 right now. And I'll come back in about two weeks and drop you off the other $500. So he was like, you know, I'm giving him everything. Like, hey, man, you can keep a copy of my license. I want to let you know I'm trustworthy and things of that nature. But he believed in us enough to give us the vehicle. We go sign the paperwork over. And he was, you know, skeptical was like, You ain't gonna come bring me that money back, is you? I'm like, nah, sir, I'm I'm I'm my mama raised me right. All right, so when we did get paid, I was able to go give Mr. Rufus back that money, and he was just kind of shocked, like, oh, I thought I thought you was just gone. I'm like, nah, man, you know, you you did look out, but thank you. So I want to be a man of my word.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Thank you, Mr. Rufus.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

That van smelled like it was a van that he said he would, because he was a contractor and he did like a lot of roofing, a lot of like outdoor work, a lot of contract, I mean a lot of carpentry, things of that nature. So it smelled like tartan, oil, grease, mechanical.

SPEAKER_03 26:01

I can't get the smell out of that van for nothing. And I could remember the time that we had got it at that time we only had that one client, and we went to Cedar Point. We drove all the way to Cedar Point with that one client, and we had what two or three staff at that time or whatever, and we all went, it was hot in the mud.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

The AC didn't work in the van. The the air didn't come through the front vents, it only went through the defrost vents. Um the carpet was ripped up, it smelled like grease and oil and uh barren green. Ever smell barren green for barren's smell like that, like kerosene. Um, the gas gauge didn't work. Yeah, yeah. So you had to gauge on what with the gas needle. So you had to, once it got to about 300 miles, I might go fill it up. Go fill it, go, go, go, go, go, go fill her up, man. Go fill her up. But us getting that van, man, I'm out there. We purchased it for Mr. Rufus. I'm out there YouTube and Google and you I'm a millennial, so I'm looking up, researching stuff on how to get this van safe. I didn't have the finance or the budget as we do now to be able to outsource that job. I had to, you know, it was dirty work, had to roll up my sleeves and get out there and did it done myself. Very proud of a lot of the um the skills that I've developed to be able to try things, you know. And I'm out there, I put the front brakes on on that van, put the rear brakes on there. Uh, I tried to recharge the air, the the the AC system. Um, what else did I do to that van, man? You know, just the comic things changed the oil on it, the rear diff oil, uh, just anything that I could to make sure that that vehicle was safe and was very, very thankful for because it started us being able to do non-medical transportation. So some of the clients we already had, and a lot, and I want to change up the term of calling them clients. We're gonna call them alumni. Okay, our alumni. Um, because we educate and we teach and we show a lot. So we're gonna call uh the our our alumni, these students, our alumni. Some of the students that we had, we were able to provide dual services to them to them now because we may have been providing just a caregiving service inside of the home, but they need a ride to work now. So now that we have a vehicle that's qualified to do it and it's safe because I did them breaks. I did them breaks. But now we're able to uh provide another service that's another contract that's more revenue for the company to be able to make another individual, another client's life, another alumni's life, another student of ours' life that we're able to add a bit of quality to. Um, and then we're able to build and reinvest this finance back into the company, which led us to Van 2. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

Yeah,

The Wheelchair Van Blessing

SPEAKER_03 28:50

Van 2. Now that was the baby. Van 2 was the baby. It was a wheelchair van, and it only had it had one seat. Um and then uh wait, no, it had, or did it have two seats? It had two seats in the back, and then the the wheelchair ramp or whatever. But that that was our baby. Like we really, we really was doing transport, and now as many people we can pick up and drop off with that van, we was doing it.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the way God works, man, God works in a mysterious in mysterious ways. Um, we were a full functioning company at this time, providing transportation. We had in-house services that we providing, and we needed to, you know, to grow. So, two clients that we provided, you know, some services to uh throughout another company, they were their own guardians when this company shut down their division of um home care, personal, home personal care, HPC services. Uh, a lot of the clients got dispersed, and these clients chose to who classified as a group home or supported living home. Um, they chose to come to our agency, and van two was the deciding piece that we needed to be able to provide them adequate service. All right, and both of these individuals were wheelchair-bound, and a car lot that we uh have built a relationship with, had this vehicle on the lot, and they usually don't have this style of vehicle. They sold a lot of cargo vans, but they did they had this van with a wheelchair lift in there. Just hey, on maintenance site, sometimes that helps. You can have, you know, put some bags of concrete on there, some pal, I mean some, but it the wheelchair is hydraulic, it it can help in any form. But it was built for wheelchairs, they had it priced out front and for a day or two, and then they moved it to the back of the lot. We go to the back of the lot and we just ask the test drive it. Can we look at it and see? We end up getting the ramp working, okay? And I want to make sure this was a key thing that we that I mentioned. The van was just give or take, the van was 10 grand to sit on the front. Usually, that was the price of it. Because they couldn't get the wheelchair ramp working, they sold the van for um less than half price.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

So, in order to, when we got there and we got the wheelchair ramp working, because they did not know how to get the ramp working. And if you ever worked in healthcare, usually it's some safety procedures that you have to use and do in order to get that wheelchair ramp working. One vehicle is in park, two, you press the emergency brake, and then three, there's usually probably a power switch or something somewhere that gives the ramp its power. They didn't know that, so they had to sell us the van for the price that they had on the dashboard. Talk about a blessing. Okay, so the couple dollars that we had, remember, we still poor, we still broke. All we had was that we had to put down $100 to be able to for them to hold this vehicle for us at least a few days until we were able to put down more money. I had $97 in my pocket. That's all I had to my name at this time. $97. And Vanessa found $3 in change somewhere in her pocket in the in her car. But we were able to give them $100.38 to hold this V.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

Talk about team, and this is normally how I go. He got the 97, and I always got the three.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

I just need you to pitch in. You ain't gotta be a baller, you just can't be broke. Okay, that's a quote. That's a rule. You ain't gotta have, you ain't gotta have no money, you just can't be broke.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

I just I got us. I always, I always come in on the end and part and get us going.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah, yeah. So we were able to obtain that van. We were able to get it insured, drive off the lot with it, get the ramp working, and then be able to pull up to the interview for um to take on the clients, the two clients that lived in their home.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

And I remember the county worker was like, is that your van outside? Or no, no, he was like, Do you have a wheelchair van? We're like, Yeah, it's our van outside. That's your van outside, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Yup, yeah. But van two and that route was born. So now that we are transporting, we're well, this was for the 20, this was a 24-hour home. Two clients living in a 24-hour home. That made us a big company now. We had drop-in sites that range from five hours up to 20, 25 hours per week. Now we gotta, then we had transportation that we provide in transportation to Monday through Friday, good healthy routes. Now we have a 24-hour supported living home that put us on the map.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Now let's let's dig in and tell everybody what we had to go through to keep this home.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

So when once we were chosen, the the clients had chosen said, We're going to Kansas. My man, we were very, very adamant about where he wanted to go. Um, shout out to him and RIP to my other guy. Um, but they chose to come aboard to our agency and allow us to be able

The 24-Hour Home And Paying Upfront

SPEAKER_01 34:52

to provide this care to him. The situation that they already were in, they it was it was a sticky one. They all, everyone still has to uh amount to life, pay bills. No one is excluded from that. And if you've ever worked in this industry, a lot of our clients receive uh some type of subsidy living, Section A, food stamps, um, social security, things of that nature, that these financial things that come into play to help them sustain and live.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

And then they had to go through a pay-e-service. Well, normally they are going through pay-e services, especially if they can't, you know, um, they don't have the mental capacity to take care of their own bills, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Exactly. So someone else appointed to be able to assist them. So a lot of times that takes time to find someone, appoint someone, have them uh accept, go through all of the, you know, the red tape to be able to uh pay for their style of living and their things of that nature. So in the meantime, it was left on therapeutic to pay their rent, to pay their utilities, to pay for their food, all of the things that they were subsidized, and we were not paid from this this home at all. So we had to continuously come out of our own pocket with no no uh finance coming in from the services that we are providing. So, and that went on for about two and a half, maybe three months. So that's just say on three months, that's about six payrolls, six or seven payrolls. Can most people maintain the pay people for that long without the substantial amount of finance coming in? And at this time, we giving the gritty. Man, we we were not financially savvy as we are now when it comes to the dollars. We know how we know how to understand our bands now compared to then. We were just young, making finance, doing things creatively with the company. But that being said, it it be it was a lot of stress to be able to maintain financially for the team without the being paid for the work that was being serviced.

SPEAKER_03 36:57

And let's make sure that we um sorry cut you off, but let's make sure that we we're letting you guys know too. At that time, it was just me and him working. We didn't have staff, we started out with just us as far as like going into um the 24-hour service. Now, we did have to, because we were 24 hours, we did have to to hire staff. So we're going in and asking people if they can work for us with no pay. Because just with on the strength of like the um some of the staff knew Kim from the agency before. So just on the strength of they know him, they know his, you know, uh who he is as a person, and knowing that he's a a good guy and and just trusting that he is going to give them their money once we get our money.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Yeah, so I say this no nobody that we did hire to come and work over there to support the living home ever missed the paycheck. Nobody, nobody ever missed. Nobody ever missed the paycheck, even though I'm having a conversation with them, I'm letting them know, being transparent, hey, we're not being paid for this home at this time, but we should be able to give you something. So they were able to still get paychecks and everything, but what we ended up doing was giving them we gave both of them staff $1,500 bonuses out of our own pocket, which is a bad business move. Don't run bonuses and stuff through payroll.

SPEAKER_03 38:17

Don't do that. Learn from our lesson. Yeah, don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Yeah, yeah, run it through payroll. But we we were just very thankful. That was the way we showed our thanks for them believing in us and trusting in us and showing up to you know to provide the service to that we that we contracted to do. So once we got in there, we got the van, we can take them back and forth to work now. Um, and then we got a call, we had another uh person to add to this route who was in a wheelchair young lady because she was already previously receiving services from this prior company. Once we took on the two gentlemen in their home, she just was the the you know the ad-along because they were all the package deal when it came to transportation. So that was just the extra kicker to be like, hey man, we're this is what we're supposed to do. We are moving in the right direction. Yeah, yeah, we had some bumps and bruises to make sure that they still had their home to sustain, but a lot of people don't know. I lived with them for about four, four and a half months, working 24 hours a day. Okay. We had to send our oldest son.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Shout out to our oldest, our oldest boy. AKJ.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

What up, KJ Baby? Big handsome. We uh my mom had agreed to provide care to our son to love him while his parents went out and hunted and came back with something great. So thankful to my mother, Miss Kimberly Johnson. Thank you, mommy, for doing that for us and being able to come back and show hey, your son's a man, and he came back and brought brought home the bacon in bulk. You know, but was thankful for that because we were able to, like I said, really bring home something big. Enough, our cup is running over for us and for others now.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

So was very, very thankful for that. So as we're beginning to grow and we're being we're learning the administrative side of business, okay? Remember, I'm telling you, this is when we're learning to bring

Selling Without Social Media Through Relationships

SPEAKER_01 40:17

our business, business, having a politic with people, talk to them. Families weren't choosing us because we had so many followers or our social media was up. It was because we were shaking hands, sitting on their couch, talking to them, drinking a lot of their nasty coffee or nasty tea, and to and telling them how great we will if they give us the opportunity to, you know, love their loved one, how great we can do.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

And with yeah, and then with that, you get that word of mouth. A lot of our um alumni that we had then um came from just the conversations from families, families talking to other families, or even our county workers, like he always say, and at the water cooler, talking to each other. Like we had one county worker. She, I mean, she was bringing us clients, like I mean, alumni like this, like back and forth. Like we just had so many because it was the families are speaking such so highly about, you know, the services that we provide and how much we care and you know, just the way that as y'all know, the way that Ken Wan had conversations with people, how he can talk and you know, make people feel comfortable, the cadence of his voice, things like that. Like a lot of that helps a lot. A lot of honeyes and baby and and you know, little I mean, I do it too, you know. I call everybody boo, and the clients love being called boo. I don't know what it is about that, but okay, okay, boo. She called me boo. Yeah, I called you boo. Like they love things like that, just and not be so we're corporate, but not be so corporate too much to where, let's just say, for instance, we just had um uh this is off topic, but how you know our new um alumni that we have now, how the mom said that when she went to go tour at other um adult day centers, how they were just so, you know, corporate like that. It was like they just wanted to hear, say things, make it seem like it's stuff that she wants to hear, if it makes sense. Like saying things that they think that she wants to hear compared to actually having a conversation with her son, getting to know her son, and you know, calling him buddy and bucko and things like that. Like you don't want to fake what you're trying to provide. You want to actually tell people what you're providing and show them how you care as you're doing your tours or as you're talking to them, show them your personality and how you can be as you know, someone that's gonna take care of their family because they're looking for that. They want to know that the person that's taking care of them really care about them and not fake caring because you want the contract.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Yeah, yeah. Too much of a um, too much business, being too much of a soup. And I and I constantly always say, like, hey man, I have the portion where I have to be the suit. Of course, when I'm going to lobby for um, you know, advocate for the industry or advocate for equal pay, rights, services, things of that nature. Yeah, I go put on my my put on my chinos or I put on my little suit and I and I go speak uh in my interview voice. You know what I'm saying? I go handle that. But when I am amongst the people and I'm amongst the alumni, amongst our team members, uh Jesus walked amongst the people. Remember that, okay? So I walk amongst the people and I hang out and I communicate, and I can't be a suit in this industry. And I always use it very I be I'm very transparent with it, and I'll tell the families, man, I just wiped your son behind, boo-boo and all. You think that I'm a you had to give me a hug now. We close. We closer than close.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

We like this.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

We like this. So yeah, we, and I have to speak to you in that that demeanor of a human being as a person, as you would love for me to do that for your loved one. So that being said, it it I'm thankful that we get to be able to exercise the different skills of a human being every day of what we are to the alumni and of the team that that we are growing and developing every day. The families have to feel safe. They have to feel safe. It's more in and one of the things we offer is relief, not just a job. Sometimes just doing what we do offers relief to the family in so many different ways. To some people, this is just a job, and that's all it'll be. Great, man. I hope that you, you know, you you you lead better than you came. Um, but while you're here, you gotta give

Why Fake Caring Breaks Healthcare

SPEAKER_01 45:06

that that legitimate work. You gotta care. This is an industry that if you don't care, don't involve yourself.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

Yeah, that's one of my pet peeves is someone going into um healthcare and not really caring about people because that's what healthcare is about. It's about the people. So, you know, if you don't have patience, this is not the industry for you. If you don't like people, this is not I I'm gonna tell you like this. I say this all the time that I don't like people. It's not that I don't like people. It's is I don't like some people. I love my clients. I could deal with them all day, every day. But it there is some people out here that I just don't like. But like in this, I say that to just say, in this industry, you gotta really care about the elderly, the sick, the mental and physical uh people with mental and physical disabilities, because at the end of the day, like these are are people's lives that you have in your hands. And so every day that when you're taking care of them, like you have to, your mind, you have to think about what you're doing and how you're doing it because their lives are in your hands. It's a it's a matter of life and death, seriously.

SPEAKER_01 46:20

Yeah, and to some people, it they they won't see it like that. To some people, it's you know, I'm I'm working third shift, I'm catching up on my shows.

SPEAKER_03 46:29

Or I'm catching up on my sleep.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

On my sleep. It's not really a taken serious, can it can be not taken serious because a lot of the services are inside of their home, not inside of a facility. Um, it is a very relaxed industry, it is a very relaxed set, it can be a very relaxed setting. Um, but that doesn't make the quality of work or service or care to be relaxed. It's actually, I feel like, amplify because you are in their home.

SPEAKER_03 46:55

Yeah. What was the quote we always use?

SPEAKER_01 46:58

We work in their living space, they don't live in our workspace.

SPEAKER_03 47:01

Exactly. And we we need we need uh what's the name that that because I ain't never heard nobody say that. We need a uh what you call it?

SPEAKER_01 47:10

Uh trademark. Yeah, we need a trademark. You heard it here first on permission to speak freely podcast, streaming everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

But for real, like you you literally are in somebody's home caring for them, and a lot of times you get to see, you know, you go in their homes and you taking your shoes off, you know, you you making your food either in a microwave or on their stove, you know, using their bathroom, using all of their products, their paper towels, holiday paper, all of that stuff. And it's like you go into their home and then you in there doing things that you shouldn't be doing to them.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Or doing things for them, doing the things that you're supposed to do for them. And then you then you stealing time, you're stealing uh uh detergent from the from the house, you're stealing their food, you you use an update, you're washing your clothes and they house sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

Like you put you putting their heat on 80 degrees, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Driving the company van, going to go run your own errands, okay, and then all of these things that we offer, and then you still feel like the company don't care. That's that's what's what's the phrase they've been saying, man. That's insane. Okay. All of these things that the company Diabolical. Yeah, diabolical. All of the things that the company is taking, all the things that the company offers to its uh alumni, to its clients, to you know, the people that we care for, and to the hands that offer, mean that do that work too, from competitive wages to insurance to uh supplemental insurance, life insurance, dental, glass, all of the different things, tuition reimbursements, uh, discounts of a Verizon, all of these different things to say that the company don't care. That I never I never get it, man. So, one of the things I always push, and let me let me speak directly to, like I said, leaders, entrepreneurs, people who are looking to scale up. You hoped, you hope and pray that whatever you're working on, you become big enough that you need help. Okay, that way you'll be able to learn and feel some empathy for the company that you used to screw off on. Okay, that company time. Now that you're getting so big and your things is getting so popular that you need to hire somebody, you hope that this person buys out buys into your ideology and your teachings of no, this is the plan, this is how it's gonna go. I need you to handle this and not be so combative with you as you may once were with other previous employers now that you are sustaining yourself. So I always say, man, you really, really want to be an entrepreneur, you gotta constantly convince the world and people that you are right, that your way is a good way. Okay, that hey, almost like you a fool not to not be using these tools I'm dropping, I'm using these tools I'm giving you. You feel me? So I always say that, like, hey man, you hope to grow and get that big that you need help. Now that you, you know, your your stuff is taking off, man, and you you will really get a chance to see because now you sit in that seat that you gotta count all them twos and fuse, gotta count all that time, you gotta count all those materials, you gotta count all uh expenses for everything, especially when you're not bringing nothing in yet. How can you afford to grow and you got people taking from you? Yeah, okay. So this is the real transparency, man. That from a sewer to entrepreneur, we've had to go through all of these multiple different channels to be able to sustain, knowing that you always got somebody trying to take.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

But I digress. So we're gonna shift gears just a tiny bit. Yeah, once we take had taken on the group home, now we get into tic-tac a little bit with staffing. Staffing is one of those sticky situations where you know, now that we got uh some traction, people are trying to show up. Everybody, hey, what's up, man? I'm willing to work, or people trying to throw astronomical prices out there or rates at you to come and work when it's really like you're trying to take advantage of our desperation because we didn't need the help. But now you're

Staffing Drama And Leadership Pressure

SPEAKER_01 51:11

with people who have a staff, you're managing their personalities. You got staff bickering back and forth between each other, looking for hierarchy and jocking for position in the company above somebody else. People bringing their emotions and their problems into the company and making the company have to bear them, or at least trying to. All right, managing people is a skill, and more than just paying bills, because you can kind of predict what that's gonna be. With staff, man, is it sometimes you do not know. So we try to build and grow and offer services to be able to be that entrepreneur company that takes away the negative narrative of employee versus employer, but we constantly under attack no matter how well you do, no matter how good you treat people. As an entrepreneur, sometimes you just constantly under attack. People usually default to oh, they got it, they straight, they good, they're good. But it's like, how could I ever give back or give discounts or give just you know things to you if I don't make enough to be plentiful? You just you you getting what you getting, and then you still taking from us on the back end. Diabolical. But I digress once again. So managing staff, managing people, it is a skill that you only can exercise by dealing with people and having those difficult conversations that may come about. So let me ask you, let me ask you something real quick. From us doing business, as long as we've been doing business, what is one thing that you like repetitively see that you dislike when it comes to like our industry?

SPEAKER_03 52:53

Um It goes back to what I said before about people only in the industry for the money, um, and just not caring about not caring about the job itself, but only um about the money and when the the next time they're gonna get um a raise or when the next time the company is gonna do something for them, um that's one of that's one of my pet peeves in this industry. Um again, like I said, if if you don't if you don't like wiping ass, don't come into this industry because you gonna wipe some ass. Um if you don't like um communicating with your clients, or if you don't like taking them out in the community, if you don't like working with another staff, or you don't like number one, you don't like listening to your manager. That's another that's another one. That not listening to your manager and every j every job has rules. Let's put that out there. Every job has rules. If you if you're working at a job and then you go to another job, that job gonna have rules, and the one after that is gonna have rules. You're gonna have your responsibilities that you have. So one of my things um that I don't care for when it comes to this industry is when it comes to um employees and stuff in this industry, is and I use this as an example before. If you go to the post office and they tell you this is you have to package this up, and then you have to put it on a conveyor belt, and then it has to, you have to put a stamp on it, and you have to do this next. You will do all of that in that order of how it's supposed to go. But in this industry, people just think that they come in, they sit on the couch, they flip through the TV, they, you know, and give them their food, give them their medicine, and that's all you gotta do. There is no, you need to clean up, you need to, you know, your step by step that you need to do every day. It's like that goes out the window when it comes to this industry. It's like you you you going into your your uncle's house and you just gotta make sure that he eats and go to sleep and take his medicine. But there is no step-by-step like any other job. It is. You have rules that you have to follow. There's things that you you have to do every day in order to maintain your job, just like any other job. But I digress. That's my issue.

SPEAKER_01 55:39

I I can agree. I can piggyback off that. One of the things I guess that I that I dislike is the the uh the fake caring. Um and the because we are entrepreneurs and people, we're personable, and people, uh, we've hired family, friends, alumni, you know, um you've even hired our mamas. You know what I'm saying? That's a buggerless type of you ever put your mama on for real, for real, like for real paycheck, like for real? You really like uh people, I feel like when people ask us for jobs and they're like close to us, it's to me, I feel like it's people taking the easy way out. Feeling like it's gonna be less rules, less restriction, less um like we're gonna be friends, that they're not gonna get this ferocious leader of a of an entrepreneur we are, keeping things in line and then check as we should, that they feel like they get a just chance of being laxadaisical with the job. Because anywhere else, as you mentioned, they got rules, they got policies you gotta follow. You can't just do whatever you want to do. But because they know us or they they can relate to us or we're like I said, we're peers, we're alumni.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Remember, we used to hang out at 17?

SPEAKER_01 56:43

You're like, mmm.

SPEAKER_03 56:46

Yeah, that definitely goes into what I'm saying. Like they just disregard everything else, everything that you did at the previous job. When you come to this one, you just like, oh, I ain't gotta do nothing. I ain't gotta follow no policies, I ain't gotta follow no rules. I'ma just come in, get my paycheck and go home. As you should, but while you're on the job, do your job. Do your work because you're getting paid for it. And that's my thing. It's like, I literally, every any job that I've ever worked at, I've always did my best. I've never just did the bare minimum as I worked. Like I never just did enough for me to get my paycheck. I've always did above and beyond what I was supposed to do because I just feel like at the end of the day, and I think that's another reason why I was supposed to be an owner, because I can look back at what I've done as an employee and now as an employer and be like, I wasn't like that as an employee. I was a great employee. I got fired one time, and that was when I worked at Menorah Park, but it wasn't because of my job duties or nothing like that. It's just that I ain't come into work one day on accident. It wasn't because, you know, but anyway. Yeah. But like I when I come to work, I showed up. People were always, they came up to me, asked me for help all the time, or things like that. Like, I don't understand people coming in to work and not really want to work, but still think that you're supposed to get a paycheck.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

Nah, that's earned. That's earned. So I because I sit in the seat now of an entrepreneur, I get to look at uh things in retrospect. I was not, I was a great person to have on your team as an employee, but I wasn't a great employee. I was very wild, I was very immature, I was very um just loose, you know what I'm saying? I was just untamed. I was I could do the job, but I was just how can I put it? I was so good at doing my job, I would have free time to screw off. Okay, so I'll handle what I need to do, but then I'm messing with people stopping them from doing their job. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 58:56

Oh wait, all you so you always been the class clown then, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

Now I'm high class. Now I'm a high class clown.

SPEAKER_03 59:03

High class clown.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

Yeah, but um, yeah, so I'll so I had to learn that and get critique it as I got bigger and got better at it, and I found myself in leadership roles at different companies, different agencies. I usually found myself in charge. Um, so I had to start practicing what I preach. I had to start like mimicking and showing that role, knowing that a lot of times, say me and you working together at a place, and then hey, I get a raise or I get a bump, not just a raise, I get a bump in responsibility. So now, you know, I'm your manager, I'm your supervisor. At one point in time, we used to be screwing off together doing doing the shenanigans. Now it's my job to make sure that the shenanigans don't happen because it goes against the everything that the company is standing for at this time. So a lot of times people bump heads like that. And I was one of them that people will bump heads. Like, man, you were just doing this stuff with us. I'm like, not on duty. Not on duty.

SPEAKER_00 59:59

When you see that, that therapeutic relations healthcare services. Start that van and get on the road. Therapeutic, therapeutic relations, healthcare services. L C L C1 A Johnson cover.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

I had to get myself

What They Hate About Industry Culture

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

together and I did. So now when I sit into this uh this seat when people are looking to me, people will look up to me even if I don't want them to, they do. I'm watched very often, you know. It's almost a shame to tell the kids not to look up to me. Don't do that now because you're jealous. Don't do that now. But that bringing it full circle, I can understand, though I don't agree with how some of the staffing or people look at their jobs. Uh, the opportunity was I like to call it the opportunity. Um, I don't like how they treat it because they got the mindset, hey, I can go get another when I can. It's like, and you're right, we're not the only people who are offering opportunities, but there are limited opportunities. Some remember it's a relationship. Sometimes you the best that the company can do, and you know, you we the best that you can do as an employee, you know what I'm saying? So we understand it, but don't come in here being funky, don't come in here with a chip on your shoulder because we are the best that you can do because the job or relationship you really wanted, what didn't call you back. Right. So now you being mad at us because we're trying to be good to you. What how is that relationship going to work? It don't. So people we people open up the door for themselves to find opportunities elsewhere. And we just sweep in front of it when they leave. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:49

AKA resignation or termination, resignation or termination.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:55

Not not afraid to bring you on board and not afraid to let your tail go. Okay. So today's episode of Permission to Speak Freely Podcast has been brought to you and sponsored to you by Ben Boston Entertainment, Therapeutic Relations, Healthcare Services, LLC, and Johnson's group management team. Is your loved one looking for direct care services, transportation, vocational, or adult day services? Go check out our website at www.therapeuticrhs.com and schedule a tour with us today. If you're looking for services or you're looking for employment, you can give us a call at 216-712-7900, or you can give us an email at info.therapeuticrhs.com.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

All right, so I got a question for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:43

What is your favorite? Can you tell me what your favorite thing about being an entrepreneur is? And uh and being an entrepreneur and being in this industry.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

That's actually that's a pretty, pretty good question. Um my favorite thing to what I like about this, or my favorite thing I like about being an entrepreneur is, and

What They Love About Entrepreneurship

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

in this industry, it's a dual thing. I get to be something different every day. I get to exercise different parts of who I am, my personality, my character, my intellect to be able to provide a service to someone. Um, I love being of service. I love being able to help my cup run it over to be able to do for me and others. As an entrepreneur, I got tired of trying to find stability, so I felt like I needed to create it and enough for myself and for others in abundance. Um, I love the love that I received back, being able to uh show respect and hospitality and care to family, alumni, their loved ones and alike. Uh being able to win people over with my charm and personality and being able to stand on truth of you, I asked to provide this or asked to do this, and you believe me, and you allow that to grow for the families to, I guess, trust us or believe us with their loved ones. Um, I feel extremely powerful being able to see things come full circle, being able to say what we said and it and it turns into something and manifest. That's why my confidence is so big and it's so strong because it comes from proof. Yeah, it comes from proof. I'm I've proven that I can to myself and to others. So why not shine? Too big to eclipse. You know what I'm saying? You can't eclipse eclipse no beacon. So I love it that I get to be me authentically.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:41

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:43

Thank you. What about you? You have been on this journey with me. What is something that you love about being an entrepreneur, and what is something you love about being in this healthcare industry?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:55

It's similar to what you said. Um I I will take it back to I've never been a person that is very, I'm very introverted. And so this being an entrepreneur and being in this industry allowed me to be both. I could be an introvert and an extrovert. Um, so if somebody asked me that, I am both now because I wasn't like that before. And I know that being an entrepreneur, it all started with, you know, just me and myself and Kenwine together, um, starting on this journey. And prior to that, um I I wasn't able to, you know, vocalize the things that I I enjoyed doing or wanted to do and things like that. I so be and being an entrepreneur, like I gotta have words. I gotta be able to talk and to, you know, have the conversations not only with my um the clients, the alumni, but with their families, with the county workers, or even having communication with Kenwan as being, you know, us being partners. So I think that um with being an entrepreneur, it it gave me a chance to get out of my shell because I was truly in my shell. And so I love the fact that now every day I get up and I am having those conversations with people. Um, my clients adore me. And I adore them. I love the love that they give me every day. I put that on social media before. Like, if you don't love me the way my clients love me, then stay away from me. Because they absolutely adore me. And I just I love being able to get that love from all over, not just my family with Kenwan and, you know, my kids and my, you know, my other family. But I'm getting it for other people from other people too. And you're getting it from the people that they they don't lie about how they feel about people.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:58

They do not lie about how they feel about people.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:00

They gonna let you know how they feel about you, and you have some, they will just love you even if you abuse them and that it sucks that people do are out here abusing them. But even if you do, they still love you. Like they have this unconditional love for people. And that's what I enjoy about that unconditional love that I get from my clients.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:21

That's a that's a beautiful thing, and that's something I feel like a lot of people do miss in this world is somebody that unconditionally loves them.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:31

Okay, so in this episode of Permission to Speak Freely Podcast, uh, this segment of Seward the Entrepreneur giving you real life information and stories from our nostalgic books of life. That, hey, we started this, we built this, this was something that was once an idea, and we want to be able to share it with you, our listeners, our fans, people who are, you

Sponsors, Where To Find Us, Closing

SPEAKER_01 1:07:56

know, interested in what we're doing. Please go check out my Instagram at Permission the number two underscore speak freely podcast on IG. And you can find me on TikTok at Permission and number two underscore speak freely, and you can find me on Facebook at Kenwan Authentic Johnson.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:15

You can find me on Instagram at Moco Chaka underscore latte. Um, I said on Instagram and on Facebook, Vanessa Nicole Johnson. And then you can also find um our first baby therapeutic relations healthcare services on Facebook and also on TikTok. Um, so if you have not followed us, definitely do that because we be outside.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:42

We be outside. All right, thank you for tuning in to this episode of Permission to Speak Freely. I am your host, the highest, also known as Chief Ali.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

And I'm Vanessa.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:53

And now you have been granted the permission to speak freely.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:58

Keep me from only