Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Laura Geissert, Owner of Springboard Speech Therapy, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Springboard Speech Therapy provides in-home speech therapy support to preschool-aged children who stutter and their families in the North Los Angeles area.
Tell us about yourself
I began my career as a school-based speech-language pathologist working in a very large school district. Although I loved my students, I became increasingly overwhelmed with a workload that seemed to grow each year exponentially. After six years working in the schools, I made the difficult (but liberating) decision to start my own private practice. I have a family history of stuttering; right off the bat, my first clients were children who stuttered. I quickly made the decision to specialize in preschool stuttering and have absolutely found my passion. Working closely with the families I serve and watching my clients grow into more confident communicators is incredibly rewarding.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Making the decision to specialize in preschool stuttering and then putting all my energy and focus into it has been my biggest accomplishment. Specializing in a particular area when you're first starting out as a speech therapist means turning away a lot of potential clients. That was hard for me, and I sometimes wondered if I had made the right decision. Ultimately, I recognize that I can best support the families I work with if I stay focused on my area of expertise.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
For me, it's making the main thing the main thing. That might not make a lot of sense to everyone, but I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to being multi-passionate and to feeling pulled in a lot of different directions. In addition to my private practice, I have a blog and an online shop where I sell materials to other speech therapists. It can be difficult to balance the creative aspects of what I do with the practical aspects of running my private practice.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
First, don't let perfectionism stand in the way of getting started. It's never going to be the perfect time, and things aren't ever going to be set up perfectly. Just start anyway. Publish your website. Advertise your services. Get started, and you can figure out the rest later.
Second, get support wherever you can. My friend and I took an online course specifically geared toward speech therapists starting private practices. We supported each other along the way and were members of a private online group full of other speech therapist business owners. You don't have to do it alone!
And finally, make sure you're truly passionate about your business. When you love what you do, your clients or customers will feel it and will keep coming back.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.springboardspeechtherapy.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/springboardspeech/
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.
Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.