She grew to 10 Vans in 18 months in California without brokers! | NEMT Experts Podcast Episode 108
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In Episode 109 of the NEMT Experts Podcast, Dakota Wilkinson of Skyline Transport (award-winning NEMT business) shows to approach the good, bad, and ugly of NEMT Facebook groups, and explains how her own NEMT Facebook group, the "NEMT Standard", aims to provide a legitimate community for NEMT operators to share experiences and knowledge.
Top 3 takeaways:
1. The NEMT industry rewards people who actually do the work
You can’t shortcut your way in. The biggest mistake beginners make is asking basic questions without doing any research first. The operators who win are the ones who:
-Study the industry
-Learn from experience
-Ask better questions
Effort and curiosity separate real operators from noise.
2. Not all “experts” are real — vet everything
There’s a flood of:
-Fake “NEMT specialists”
-Spammy vendors
-Unqualified insurance providers
And they can literally put you out of business if you trust them blindly.
If they’re not:
-Active in the industry
-Transparent
-Educating publicly
…be careful. Very careful.
3. NEMT is more complex than people think (and misunderstood)
From the outside, it looks simple:
“Pick someone up, drop them off.”
Reality?
-Delays from facilities
-Patients not ready
-Emergencies mid-trip
-Traffic + scheduling domino effects
-Broker penalties (even when it’s not your fault)
Education is a massive gap — especially with facilities and new operators.
Top 3 quotes:
1.
“Anybody can sell you a policy… but in NEMT, there’s specific coverages that if they don’t understand what we do, that could put you out of business.”
-Dakota Wilkinson
2.
“You can’t call yourself an industry professional when you’re not actively engaged and involved.”
-Dakota Wilkinson
3.
“There’s a mentality of ‘tell me how to run a business’ instead of doing the research first… and that’s the problem.”
-Dakota Wilkinson
