Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with John Gwin, Founder, and CEO of The Auctus Group, located in Chicago, IL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are a financial and operations consulting firm for aesthetic medicine. With Rev Cycle Management as our core competency and a suite of accompanying services such as contracting, authorizations, bookkeeping, consulting, and more, we serve plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and medspas.
Tell us about yourself
I took a job off Craigslist while applying to med school, which led me to a job in medical billing for about a year, at which point I took yet another job off Craigslist for a plastic surgeon in Chicagoland. My charge there was to bring services in-house from being outsourced, so the opposite end of the spectrum from my previous role. After a year or so, I decided practice management wasn't for me, so I took my $700 bucks, my laptop, and called it consulting! I love being able to take the breadth/depth of the experiences I have been afforded to help my clientele succeed. What really motivates me is building a business where the team is happy, excited about their job, and fulfilled. My number one job as a business owner, above serving my clients (which is huge, obviously), is supporting my team.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My two biggest accomplishments as a business owner would be that after just about ten years in business, we have a 90% client retention rate and a 95% employee retention rate. We can talk about client satisfaction and employee culture until we're blue in the face, but those numbers don't lie.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Learning when to turn it off. It is your baby. There's always something you can do. Entrepreneurs are at least some percentage nuts/risk takers/hustlers...the blessing is what gets you to take the leap...the curse is figuring out when to walk away at the end of the day/on the weekend/on vacation.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Fail fast, and learn from it/enjoy it.
- Everything is your fault at the end of the day. Take extreme ownership of everything.
- Put your team first. They'll put your customers first. Growth will come.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://auctusgroupconsulting.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theauctusgroup/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gwin/
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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