Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Justin Ayars, Founder, and CEO of equalityMD, located in Richmond, VA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
equalityMD is the match(.)com of telehealth. Our telehealth platform connects the LGBTQ+ community and its allies with culturally competent mental health providers who deliver inclusive, personalized care.
The LGBTQ+ community (40M+ Americans, $1.7T consumer market) has endured historical discrimination, suffers from unique health concerns, and lacks adequate access to healthcare. Our telehealth platform is embedded with a proprietary matching algorithm that connects the LGBTQ+ community and its allies with culturally competent medical providers who create safe spaces where patients can be their authentic selves.
By delivering inclusive, personalized care to this NIH-designated "Health Disparity Population," we're helping ALL communities live healthier, happier lives. By helping this underserved community participate in the healthcare industry (1/5 of the U.S. economy), we're saving the U.S. $210B/year (1% GDP) and gathering valuable NEW data insights that will help patients, providers, and companies make more informed data-driven decisions. Our multiple SaaS biz model produces reliable, scalable revenue in the $216B LGBTQ+ healthcare market.
Since the LGBTQ+ community encompasses every demographic and represents the evolving DEI/ESG-minded consumer/workforce, it's the ideal beachhead market that organically opens doors to other underserved communities and additional B2C & B2B verticals.
Over the past year, we've built the foundation of a secure, comprehensive ecosystem that prioritizes individuals' personal identities and unique life experiences, makes the patient-provider relationship less clinical and brings humanity back into healthcare. Our inclusive telehealth community democratizes care, cures systemic inequities, and makes patients the superheroes of their own healthcare stories.
Tell us about yourself
This is a great question because there's the canned answer and the real answer.
I'm a recovering healthcare trial lawyer, and former history teacher turned health tech entrepreneur. My typical answer continues from there, but that's not the interesting story.
One day when I was filling out my 997th application for something or other, I was asked to describe myself. I went to my usual, saved word document, and began to copy and paste my response, but then I paused. I was tired of "describing myself." I wanted to share what makes me tick and make the reader be able to viscerally understand the very core of my being. So, I sat at my computer, closed my eyes, and these words flowed out:
I have the mind of a philosopher, the heart of a poet, and the spirit of a starship captain. In all that I do, curiosity is my true North Star.
There it was. I had typed who I am, what makes me tick, and why I do what I do. I sat back and realized that it had taken an embarrassingly long time (we're talking many years) for me to be able to describe myself in two sentences. Funny how life works.
As for what got me started on my business, that's easy: A lifetime of experience. When you graduate from law school, you become a "Counsellor at Law." What they don't tell you is that you also become a "Counsellor at Life." For years, people from all walks of life have asked me questions spanning the gamut of the human condition. However, the one question I got more than any other was this: "Where can I find a medical provider who makes me feel safe?" I'd asked myself that very question more times than I care to admit.
After leaving the practice of law to start my first business (thank you, Great Recession), I vowed never to return to the healthcare sector again. I spent the next 13 years starting companies, cultivating relationships, creating communities, and becoming quite comfortable being uncomfortable (that's the true trick to being an entrepreneur).
I'd just completed a nationally ranked technology accelerator and was about to launch an ethical shopping platform that helped consumers distinguish companies that were authentically inclusive from those that "rainbow-washed" their brands in a contrived attempt to attract the $1.7 trillion LGBTQ consumer market. Then COVID stopped the world. I had a lot of time to consider how I'd navigate the uncertain terrain of a pandemic economy. Then, just as effortlessly as I crafted my description, it hit me. I had to create a solution to the question people had been asking me for years. I had to return to the healthcare industry.
In December of 2020, I transformed my consumer behavioral data analytics company into an inclusive telehealth company, equalityMD. I surrounded myself with bright people who had experience in medicine, technology, and venture capital. We formulated a plan, raised money, and built a telehealth platform from scratch. Thanks to the pandemic, I created equalityMD. I guess the night is always darkest just before dawn.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Awards are nice. Accolades are great. But I consider real accomplishments to be inspiring others to pursue their passions and take real steps to follow their dreams.
After my undergraduate studies at William & Mary and Cambridge University, I served as a history teacher at a naval boarding school in rural England. That one-year experience prepared me for law school, entrepreneurship, and life. I loved making history come alive for my students! However, no matter how much I taught them, they always taught me more.
As a business owner in multiple industries, I've had the pleasure of working with diverse groups of people ranging from high school to retirees. Whenever possible, I try to instill in them a new (or newfound) sense of curiosity and self-confidence. Armed with those two things, I believe that people can truly reach for the stars. Even if you don't touch that star, you'll end up somewhere in the clouds, way above the place that used to define you.
I've had the pleasure of inspiring former colleagues to join the military, be the first member of their family to go to college, learn new skills/trades, go back to school to finish their degree, form employee resource groups within their corporations, and yes, some have even started their own businesses.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Solitude. For those who've never owned a business or been an entrepreneur, you can't explain the ungodly hours you must work or the endless turmoil you must face to make your business get off the ground and thrive. Every person, and every business, is different. However, unless you have gone through the ups and downs of owning your own company—strike that—let's get real.
Owning a business is not for the faint of heart. You don't just need a thick skin; you need to be able to deftly compartmentalize your emotions in order to bear the death-defying lows and highs that come with holding your life—and the livelihoods of others—in your hands on a daily basis. Be prepared for the gut-wrenching heartache when you don't have the time to commit to a romantic relationship, the uncertainty of whether you're going to make your mortgage payment (or any payment) on time, and the headache-inducing frustration when your family and friends try to console you or, worse yet, suggest, "Why don't you get a 'real' job?".
Then again, be prepared for the childlike wonder of landing your first investor, the giddy feeling of making your first sale, the inexplicable satisfaction of your business humming along on its own without you there overseeing things for a day (or even a few hours), and the knowledge that no matter how things go, you will emerge from your venture smarter, stronger, and more resilient than you ever thought possible.
Oh, and what's fun is that these crazy highs and terrible lows can all occur on the same day… sometimes in the same hour. If you're ready for this rollercoaster, hop on and brace yourself. As I said, it's not for the faint of heart.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Don't do it. Try something else. I'm quite serious. You must dig deep within your mind, heart, body, and soul and determine whether or not you have what it takes to start a business. It sometimes takes several tries, years of work, and a loss of both your financial security and social life to get it right. But when you do, there's nothing better in the world. There's an old saying I like: "Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."
- Be persistent. If you're crazy enough to dive in knowing that your decision is entirely irrational because the odds are never in your favor, then you must be persistent. Have a laser focus. Learn from your failures (after all, they're life's best lessons). Never lose enthusiasm for what you're doing. Sure, you'll wake up some mornings wondering why the hell you made the ridiculous decision to start a business. On other days, you'll jump out of bed before your alarm goes off, ready to tackle the challenges ahead. Embrace the good and the bad, but never give up hope. Only then will you find success (and be sure to define "success" however you want to, not how others do). As Winston Churchill said, "Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."
- Be authentic and build meaningful relationships. Your success is entirely dependent upon you being yourself and forging personal and professional relationships that speak to who you are as a person.
3.b.) Give first. If you're going to build the critical relationships you need to succeed, you must give first. This means that you give your time, talent, and treasure to others in need, even when they don't ask. Your goodwill will be priceless, and the rewards you reap will be bountiful.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
I believe everyone SHOULD be an entrepreneur. This may seemingly go against everything I've said thus far but hear me out. You don't have to start a business to be an entrepreneur. You can embrace an entrepreneurial mindset in your everyday life.
What does that mean? It means that you are naturally curious. You embrace the unknown. You seek out novel solutions to everyday problems. You navigate life as your authentic self and treat others as they would like to be treated. You listen more than you speak. You communicate your ideas in ways that your intended audiences receive your messages as you want them to be received (it's harder than it sounds). You look for new challenges. You never find yourself bored. You travel. You learn. You teach. You think critically. You live deliberately.
And most importantly, you become comfortable being uncomfortable such that you present calm, cool, and collected in any situation.
Do these things, and you'll not only make a fine business owner, but you'll discover that star you covet is actually within your reach.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://equalitymd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justinayarsjd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justin_ayars/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/justinayars
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinayarsjd/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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