by Barbara Ward
(Hamilton, Georgia)
I had my own business twenty years ago and retired when I sold to a national firm. It was temporary help, executive search, full time placement and on site staffing. I had three offices in three cities and went from 5500.00 start up to 4 million in sales and a debt free company. Due to losses in real estate and the market I must find a job and this sounds perfect. I am concerned about the client sale and how long it takes and are doctors receptive.
I need to get up and going fast….I am so glad I found your web site..there is everything from thousand of dollars to a few hundred dollars to help you set up the business. Please if you have the time let me know how long it could take and what to expect. I am a hard worker so I will be giving it my all. I thank you so much for sharing all this info with others. I served on two national boards and that was our mission to help others be the best….again I am grateful that you care enough to help others…
Response:
Barbara,
Thanks so much for the kind words and for visiting the site. I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with the real estate mess – it’s really hit Atlanta hard.
To be honest with you, if you don’t already have clients lined up, marketing can take a while – to convince physicians to outsource their billing – and convince them you know how to get them paid.
Many people who start a billing service do so after working in the field a while – and they already have contacts in the field and maybe a client lined up. It’s also very beneficial to know health care reimbursement and have some experience in the field.
If starting from scratch it can take a while to get trained and do the marketing – realistically a year or so depending on how hard you work it. When I started in the Atlanta area (Buford/Suwanee), I actually worked for another billing service for a while before starting my own. It really helped me learn the process. And I had to do a lot of marketing to get that first client – it seems like the market was very competitive there and pretty saturated.
One of our objectives in starting the site was to help people determine if this is the career or business for them. I was so hungry for information when I was getting started – and I got a lot of bad info. There are so many sites that try to sell a training program or book or software and make it sound easier than it really is just to take advantage of people’s enthusiasm and lack of knowledge on the subject.
Hope this helps answer your questions and figure out if this is the right choice.
Thanks,
Gina