Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Melanie Cap, Director of CAP Speech Therapy, located in Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I own a speech therapy practice that provides concierge speech therapy services to both children and adults via virtual therapy across the state of Florida and in-person services in South Florida.
Tell us about yourself
I may be the owner, but I am a speech-language pathologist first. After working in a multitude of settings, I realized there was a lack of quality, personalized services in my area. That's where my idea of a concierge practice emerged. With concierge services, we provide 1:1 virtual therapy or drive out to the patient, whether that be their home, school, daycare, grandparent home, etc. By gaining access to the patient's natural environment settings, we are able to tailor our sessions specific to each client's need.
This method of treatment allows for family collaborations and rapid remediation with quick carry-over because all caregivers are learning the necessary treatment and strategies to provide on a daily/weekly basis. This profession motivates me to get out of bed every morning because I know I am changing the lives of our future generation and offering a service to my community that makes a difference.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is giving other speech-language pathologists the opportunity to work for a company where their opinion matters, where they have a say over their schedule so they never feel overworked, and where continuing education is encouraged to keep each therapist knowledgeable on the latest research-based strategies and techniques in the field.
I treat all my therapists like family and am open to new, innovative ideas for doing things. The best thing about being a business owner is that you can do what you want! You can disrupt the therapy scene and offer clients new, functional ways of remediating their speech and language skills that they may not have been offered in the past.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things that come with being a business owner is pleasing everyone. You can try as hard as you can, and you will never make every single client happy. My advice would be to keep doing the work, keep doing good, and keep thinking outside the box.
If you know the services you are offering, exceed most people's expectations. You are on the right track. If there's a client or two along the way that doesn't like the way you do things, well, that's normal. As long as the other 99% are happy and finding your service to work, that's all that matters.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Find your niche. You want your company to be able to stand out from the rest.
- Always carry your business cards with you. When you're passionate about something, you tend to talk about it often, and when people realize what you have to offer, they want more information!
- Keep planting seeds. Sometimes my marketing campaigns do not come to fruition until months later, but they come. Take into account that your company may have slow months and busy months and allot for that.
- Once you find those patterns within your company, you can make adjustments on what you can do during the slow months to "plant those seeds" and WORK HARD those busy months to make up for any slow months. Just remember, believe in your dreams...they were given to you for a reason!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.capspeech.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CAPspeech/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capspeech/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/capspeech
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/capspeech/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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