[0:02] Te'ya Miles: that the driver was trying to kidnap him and murder him because they were going a different way.
[0:07] Te'ya Miles: So, um just knowing what your patients have going on, that can Welcome to NEM expert talks.
[0:28] Nirav Chheda: I'm Bambi CEO Nervchetta and I am here with a very special guest today.
[0:32] Nirav Chheda: The one and only that NEM girl, also known as TA Miles.
[0:38] Nirav Chheda: TA, how you hanging? I am doing great, Mira.
[0:42] Nirav Chheda: Thank you for that intro. I appreciate that.
[0:45] Nirav Chheda: Well, you're going to do more of an intro of yourself than I am.
[0:49] Nirav Chheda: Uh, I mean, you're popularly known online as that NEM girl and, uh, today we're going to dig into the story of how you came to be, uh, that NEMt girl.
[1:00] Nirav Chheda: Um, and TA, you've got a number of stories.
[1:04] Nirav Chheda: You know, you've put them out for the world to see.
[1:07] Nirav Chheda: I want to focus on the story of how you built this NEMt community online, this huge following and how you became to came to be that NEMT girl who helps other startup NEMt businesses become legit NEMt businesses.
[1:26] Nirav Chheda: Um, I'll let you do a quick intro of yourself and then let's dive in.
[1:31] Te'ya Miles: Absolutely. So, I have to say I started my NMC business this year.
[1:36] Te'ya Miles: will make five years that we've been in business.
[1:38] Te'ya Miles: And I just have to thank God for that.
[1:40] Te'ya Miles: Um they always say, you know, if you don't make it the first five years, then you know, your business is going to fail or most businesses fail within the first five years.
[1:48] Te'ya Miles: So I'm thankful for all of the hoops and hurdles that I have been able to go through.
[1:52] Te'ya Miles: Um and because of those hoops and hurdles, that's what brought me to bring on that and EMT girl.
[1:58] Te'ya Miles: Um, it was probably my third year that it was the most frustrating and there were a lot of things that were being put out there.
[2:07] Te'ya Miles: NMC is a very niche field and so there's a lot of information that can be misinformed.
[2:13] Te'ya Miles: Um, it's by state. every state is different and so when you're in these groups and you are, you know, doing your research and you're on YouTube or you're on Google, you're just getting all of this and you don't
[2:24] Te'ya Miles: know how to filter or use discernment to know what is right and what is wrong.
[2:28] Te'ya Miles: And so I was getting very frustrated and I could see other other providers or other newbies being frustrated.
[2:34] Te'ya Miles: [clears throat] And so I wanted to share the real um not the fluff, not the things that you see online um in terms of NEMT, but the real deal of how this works.
[2:46] Te'ya Miles: Um and also a lot of people are leaving their 9-5.
[2:50] Te'ya Miles: They didn't start uh their career knowing that, hey, I'm going to be an MMT business owner.
[2:57] Te'ya Miles: You know, they are coming from other fields and they're putting a lot on the line.
[3:01] Te'ya Miles: So it really depends on what your vision is for your life.
[3:06] Te'ya Miles: Not just with this business, but with going forward.
[3:09] Te'ya Miles: This can be the catalyst to start other businesses within the realm of um medical auxiliary fields such as DME um uh uniforms, consulting.
[3:21] Te'ya Miles: Hello. Um so it just depends, you know, what your vision is.
[3:25] Te'ya Miles: And so I wanted to share that with people because of my other stories of my life.
[3:30] Te'ya Miles: Um, I just feel that it's really important for us to own something before we leave here, right?
[3:37] Te'ya Miles: Um, you know, we are taught to go to school and go to college and get a good job.
[3:41] Te'ya Miles: Yeah, that sounds good. Um, but then you have all these student loans and you realize that your job is not going to pay what you need it to pay to live the life that you want.
[3:48] Te'ya Miles: So, you take another direction. And so ownership is something that I preach to everyone that I strive to instill in everyone whether it's a friend, a family member, a a niece, a cousin, whoever, you know, I think that
[4:02] Te'ya Miles: it's very important that we do instill that in the next generation or those behind us coming up.
[4:08] Te'ya Miles: So that NMC girl was birthed.
[4:11] Te'ya Miles: And so, um, I really, and to be honest with you, me, I've told you this.
[4:16] Te'ya Miles: I didn't have a vision of I'm going to be the EMC consultant of the industry.
[4:21] Te'ya Miles: No. Um, I simply just wanted to give people the real.
[4:25] Te'ya Miles: And I think that my energy and my message and delivery has been deceived received very well, um, by a lot of people.
[4:32] Te'ya Miles: And that's what's made the group take off.
[4:34] Te'ya Miles: Um, and has allowed people to feel open with coming to me for their questions or for tips for the NMC industry.
[4:42] Te'ya Miles: And I don't take that lightly.
[4:43] Te'ya Miles: Um, and it's funny because I actually went to school to be a teacher.
[4:47] Te'ya Miles: And so I'm not a teacher at all, but it also coincides with what I'm doing with that NEMC girl because ultimately I'm still teaching every day.
[4:58] Nirav Chheda: I love it. So quick timeline about five years ago you started your NEM business under the name Leelia's Enterprise in Georgia.
[5:10] Nirav Chheda: You started running your NMT business for a few years.
[5:13] Nirav Chheda: Then you started realizing, hey, other people are asking me about tips on how to do this and that and NMT.
[5:20] Nirav Chheda: And then you started your online community under the name that NEMT girl.
[5:25] Nirav Chheda: And now you have a pretty sizable number of members in your Facebook groups and other Facebook channels.
[5:33] Nirav Chheda: And now people are just actively coming to your channel and to you with all sorts of questions related to how do I start an NMT business?
[5:42] Nirav Chheda: How do I sustain my NEMT business?
[5:45] Nirav Chheda: Um, I just love to dig into the first part of that story and then let's go to your online community.
[5:52] Te'ya Miles: Yeah. So, what exactly of the first part, [laughter] right?
[5:58] Te'ya Miles: Because there's a first part before the first part where you started your NMT business.
[6:02] Te'ya Miles: Exactly. So, which part would you like to dive into?
[6:05] Nirav Chheda: Right. Let's let's leave those story that story aside.
[6:10] Nirav Chheda: Let's let's start with the NEM business itself.
[6:13] Nirav Chheda: about 5 years ago in Georgia.
[6:15] Nirav Chheda: You start this business under Leelia's Enterprise.
[6:18] Nirav Chheda: Let's start the story from there.
[6:20] Te'ya Miles: Yes. So, I was working as a property manager for a senior citizen apartment complex and a lot of our residents were sitting downstairs for a long period of time waiting for rides.
[6:31] Te'ya Miles: And I would ask them like, "What are you waiting for?" And they would say with the most frustrated tone ever, "My ride.
[6:37] Te'ya Miles: My ride." And I'm like, "Oh, okay." So, I would sit in my office and I would see vans come and they would have like it would be a caravan.
[6:45] Te'ya Miles: They would have the wheelchair ramp attached to it and I'm like, "Okay, I could probably do this." And then one day I saw one that said NEMT and I'm like, "What is NEMT?" And I hated my job at
[6:58] Te'ya Miles: the time. I had just relocated from Baltimore down to Atlanta.
[7:02] Te'ya Miles: And um I had took over this distressed property which is the lingo in property management terms meaning that all the paperwork was wrong.
[7:11] Te'ya Miles: Um there was all the outstanding invoices were not paid.
[7:15] Te'ya Miles: Accounts vendors had stopped coming to the property to service it because they had not gotten paid.
[7:20] Te'ya Miles: So there was a lot of things that need to be caught up and I I couldn't do all of that by myself.
[7:24] Te'ya Miles: And I say by myself because I didn't have an assistant property manager.
[7:27] Te'ya Miles: I had no leasing consultant. There was just me and my maintenance guy.
[7:31] Te'ya Miles: And I'm like, okay. So, I would literally take my time, and I hate to say this, but I know there are other people out there that do this as well, but I would take my time at work to
[7:40] Te'ya Miles: research what is NMT. And so, I'm like, okay, non-emergency medical transportation.
[7:45] Te'ya Miles: H. So, I really just would do research at work on the clock.
[7:49] Te'ya Miles: I started saving money again for my business because before I relocated, I was saving money to start a vending machine business in Baltimore.
[7:56] Te'ya Miles: And when that didn't work out, I took that money and relocated.
[7:59] Te'ya Miles: So, I had to start fresh with my pot of savings for a business.
[8:03] Te'ya Miles: I knew I wanted to start a business.
[8:04] Te'ya Miles: I just didn't know what kind of business.
[8:06] Te'ya Miles: And so, once I got into researching with NEMT, I said, "Hm, I think I want to go this direction." And well, fast forward a few months later, I got fired from that job because the paperwork wasn't getting done
[8:17] Te'ya Miles: because I hated it. I didn't I didn't want to do it.
[8:20] Te'ya Miles: So, the paperwork wasn't getting done.
[8:21] Te'ya Miles: I was taking all of my time and I was studying what is NMT on the clock.
[8:26] Te'ya Miles: I don't recommend that anyone does that.
[8:28] Te'ya Miles: Um, but hey, at the time I was a free spirit, okay?
[8:31] Te'ya Miles: So, um, I left my I got fired from my job and I took that as a sign to start the business and so I literally just jumped into it.
[8:40] Te'ya Miles: I bought a 15 passenger sprinter van.
[8:43] Te'ya Miles: Um, I started posting my flyers around uh, senior citizen communities and senior centers and I wasn't really getting a lot of traction.
[8:52] Te'ya Miles: um I was literally just making enough money to cover the car note and the car insurance and so I didn't know how to get the contracts.
[9:01] Te'ya Miles: Fast forward nine months later after I actually started the business um I met a woman here in Atlanta and she had been in the industry for about eight years at that point.
[9:11] Te'ya Miles: And so um we had helped each other out with some business because she needed some funding.
[9:16] Te'ya Miles: I said, "Oh, I can I know how you get funding." And so we helped each other out.
[9:19] Te'ya Miles: She said, "Well, I know how you can get contracts." And we went from there.
[9:23] Te'ya Miles: Um, and so I learned a lot from her.
[9:26] Te'ya Miles: Um, we had parted ways, probably about maybe six months of us working together.
[9:31] Te'ya Miles: And from there, I learned a lot of things the hard way because I was still very new in the business, you know.
[9:38] Te'ya Miles: So, I'm just doing my research, learning as I go, trial and error.
[9:43] Te'ya Miles: And the trial and error is the hoops and hurdles that brought me to that indie MT girl.
[9:48] Te'ya Miles: Cuz I'm like, listen, I don't want you all to waste the amount of money that I have wasted.
[9:53] Te'ya Miles: I don't want you all to waste the amount of time that I have wasted.
[9:56] Te'ya Miles: Don't do this. If someone could have told me not to go around all of Atlanta and metro Atlanta posting my flyers and printing things off, that did not do anything, you know.
[10:06] Te'ya Miles: So, um, it sounds good in theory, but it really didn't do much for me.
[10:10] Te'ya Miles: Um, if someone could have told me not to buy the 15 passenger sprinter van, buy a wheelchair caravan, I would have did that, you know.
[10:18] Te'ya Miles: Um, and so it was just different things coming into the industry that really I felt weren't being disclosed with the sincerity that we needed in terms of being successful for this industry financially because the profit margins aren't that
[10:32] Te'ya Miles: big. Um, they can be depending on how you set your business up, but if you don't know how to set it up that way, then your profit margins aren't going to be that big.
[10:39] Te'ya Miles: So you need someone to kind of give you the game and the playbook on how to get the things going, you know, and so that was me.
[10:49] Nirav Chheda: The playbook. That's what people need.
[10:51] Nirav Chheda: Okay. So give me these quick stats on your online community.
[10:54] Nirav Chheda: Now you've got a Facebook group with how many members and not just limited to people in Georgia at all.
[11:01] Nirav Chheda: You've got other social media channels.
[11:03] Nirav Chheda: Tell me about the online communities that you have under that NEMt girl.
[11:08] Te'ya Miles: Yes. So, Nerv, honestly, I will say Facebook and YouTube are my biggest platforms.
[11:13] Te'ya Miles: The Facebook group, we're at 2,000 members, and I'm like, "Wow." Okay.
[11:17] Te'ya Miles: And literally, you're right. They're from all over.
[11:20] Te'ya Miles: Um, I'm actually working directly with clients in Washington, in Florida, and Mississippi.
[11:26] Te'ya Miles: And it's great because, like I said, every state is different.
[11:30] Te'ya Miles: So just to see and hear the feedback from these individuals of the research they have done and the direction they were thinking about going.
[11:39] Te'ya Miles: I'm like okay you I don't know.
[11:42] Te'ya Miles: So let's bring it back to the board because I don't think you want to go that way.
[11:45] Te'ya Miles: It's been really good and it's also fueled a fire in me because again I still run my business full-time so it gives me different ideas and things that I I didn't think about or may want to implement with
[11:55] Te'ya Miles: my team. And so I think it's a great way to just stay fresh on your toes.
[12:00] Te'ya Miles: Um, so with Facebook, like I said, we have 2,000 members in the Facebook group.
[12:04] Te'ya Miles: On YouTube, I'm at 850. I'm not really big on Instagram and Tik Tok.
[12:10] Te'ya Miles: We talked about this new rap.
[12:11] Te'ya Miles: I have to get more consistent.
[12:13] Te'ya Miles: But, um, face in, uh, Instagram is 300 and Tik Tok, I literally just started that a few like two months ago and we're at like 150.
[12:23] Te'ya Miles: So, Tik Tok and Instagram need some growing.
[12:25] Te'ya Miles: So, if you all see this, make sure you all follow me there at that NMT girl.
[12:29] Te'ya Miles: It's all it's the same handle on all platforms.
[12:32] Te'ya Miles: Um, but because I started off with YouTube and Facebook, those are my biggest platforms now.
[12:37] Te'ya Miles: And it has grown a lot and I'm very interactive.
[12:40] Te'ya Miles: Like I don't like to see people put out content for anything.
[12:44] Te'ya Miles: If it's cooking, if it's fashion, whatever.
[12:46] Te'ya Miles: and they're not consistent or interact with their following like respond back or answer questions because that's how you get people and you know honestly get them to trust you with their questions and your Yeah.
[13:00] Nirav Chheda: So like for me you know let's say I'm an NMT startup business owner.
[13:05] Nirav Chheda: I'm one of the 2,000 members of your Facebook group.
[13:08] Nirav Chheda: I go in that group and it's curated contents and questions.
[13:12] Nirav Chheda: you know, like if there's any random posts about this or that aren't relevant, like you filter it out, like you're really active and m making sure that Facebook group is just full of relevant stuff and content for business
[13:24] Nirav Chheda: owners. And it's not just you having to answer every question, right?
[13:27] Nirav Chheda: Like you have a curated community where someone posts a question, there's a number of other people who can respond and you're making sure that those answers are relevant.
[13:37] Nirav Chheda: Um, so, so tell me this, like you've got your social channels, you know, I can ask questions, get answers, see your content on YouTube.
[13:48] Nirav Chheda: Then there's this other piece of it where you are directly consulting any empty business owners, right?
[13:53] Nirav Chheda: They come to you and it's like a one-on-one thing.
[13:56] Te'ya Miles: How does that work? Yes. So, that is my package called Business in a Box.
[14:01] Te'ya Miles: And so with business in a box is essentially for people who are ready um not the fluff of well I have a few questions.
[14:08] Te'ya Miles: No, you are ready to start your business and you need a coach or a mentor to help you get into this industry.
[14:13] Te'ya Miles: And so that is the uh business the business in a box package that I offer.
[14:17] Te'ya Miles: And so with that, I get your business established.
[14:19] Te'ya Miles: We make sure we walk through the vehicle purchasing process if you don't have one already.
[14:23] Te'ya Miles: I also have a team for marketing for your website, for your logo designs, for your uh letterhead designs and business card designs.
[14:31] Te'ya Miles: You get all of that in one.
[14:32] Te'ya Miles: And you also essentially get uh approved with two brokers by the end of our process.
[14:37] Te'ya Miles: So, you come out the process with brokers ready to go.
[14:40] Te'ya Miles: And I also preach [clears throat] private pay and broker.
[14:44] Te'ya Miles: Um, the reason why I have the two brokers in included in the package because let's be honest, when you first start off in this industry, you have to take the time to build up your private pay.
[14:56] Te'ya Miles: And sometimes people who are investing into this business and this industry don't have the time it takes to see that return on their investment.
[15:03] Te'ya Miles: So, you do need the brokers to make sure that you have a consistent flow of clients coming in and also while you're diversifying your financial portfolio for your business.
[15:13] Te'ya Miles: So, you definitely want to do private pay and I will coach you through that and make sure you have all the materials to have your private pay marketing ready, but we're also going to make sure you have your
[15:22] Te'ya Miles: broker pay so you're seeing some return on your investment because you're ultimately spending money to get your business going.
[15:29] Nirav Chheda: Makes sense. So, let's say I'm thinking about starting an NMT business.
[15:36] Nirav Chheda: Like, what stage in the cycle is best for me to come to you?
[15:40] Nirav Chheda: And I would assume it's right now before I even start the business when I'm just thinking like hey how do I even start like from the point of like zero.
[15:49] Te'ya Miles: Is that right? Yes. So if you are just thinking about it book a 15minute consultation call with me.
[15:56] Te'ya Miles: It's free. You can ask whatever questions that you want to ask surrounding the thinking about starting the business.
[16:03] Te'ya Miles: Um, if you want to know how much money you can make, if you want to know, should you leave your nineto-five, give me the real of what you currently have going on and I can advise you on that.
[16:12] Te'ya Miles: Um, I don't say just come to me and say, "Hey, I want to do business in a box." Okay.
[16:15] Te'ya Miles: Well, I don't work with just anyone.
[16:18] Te'ya Miles: I want to make sure that you're serious about getting in this industry and that your time and your scheduling and your lifestyle right now is conducive with what you need to have going on to start this business.
[16:29] Te'ya Miles: Some people are working two jobs and they don't want to leave their two jobs, but they also want to drive.
[16:34] Te'ya Miles: Well, how is that going to work?
[16:35] Te'ya Miles: Because [laughter] at some point, you know, you're going to have to leave one of the two jobs or both jobs or hire someone to do that.
[16:41] Te'ya Miles: And people don't really know what that looks like until you have that conversation with them.
[16:45] Te'ya Miles: So, I do offer that option because 15 minutes, we can get a lot covered in that time.
[16:50] Te'ya Miles: It seems short, but when you come ready with your questions, we can get a lot covered in that time.
[16:55] Te'ya Miles: So, you can know the direction in which you should go at that point.
[16:58] Te'ya Miles: So, if you're thinking about it, book the free call and we can talk about what you have going on.
[17:03] Nirav Chheda: Perfect. And in the description of this video, I'm leaving TA's contact info, website where you can directly reach out and book that 15-minute call.
[17:13] Nirav Chheda: Um, and TA, now it's story time.
[17:17] Nirav Chheda: Can you tell us some stories of clients that you've consulted for and the fun things that have ensued?
[17:26] Te'ya Miles: Yes. So fun things, lots of fun things, right?
[17:30] Te'ya Miles: Um, now in terms of because right now we have some things some fun things going on.
[17:38] Te'ya Miles: As we know, Dodge has discontinued the fifth generation caravan.
[17:44] Te'ya Miles: And so that's why the prices are pretty fair for those wheelchair vans right now because some of the uh add-on equipment that you may need is not easily accessible.
[17:54] Te'ya Miles: So the fun stuff is finding materials that you may need directly from the manufacturer.
[18:01] Te'ya Miles: Um and again that's not something that someone coming into the industry or newbie would be able to easily find or know which direction to go, right?
[18:11] Te'ya Miles: So they need someone to hold their hand through that process.
[18:14] Te'ya Miles: Hey, let's contact Striker directly. Hey, let's contact the regional commercial commercial director um of mobility works directly and see what they have in their inventory to see what we can pull out.
[18:24] Te'ya Miles: They're not thinking about that, right?
[18:25] Te'ya Miles: So, they need someone to assist them with that.
[18:28] Te'ya Miles: And that's what I've been here for.
[18:30] Te'ya Miles: Um the beauty of it, I will say, is the end the weaning period when they've gotten approved by their brokers and they are like, "Okay, well, day-to-day operations.
[18:40] Te'ya Miles: I did this. Did I do this right?
[18:42] Te'ya Miles: All right. Well, I had a driver come in and he we did great.
[18:45] Te'ya Miles: I had great feedback from my clients.
[18:47] Te'ya Miles: So, what should I do for my driver?
[18:48] Te'ya Miles: That is the heartwarming fluff that I get on my end because I'm like, "Yes, we got to this point." And it's so beautiful because, you know, again, people are leaving their jobs.
[19:01] Te'ya Miles: People are in having their plans within six months to leave their job and they have brought someone on to build their business and it's just a beautiful thing to watch be birthed.
[19:12] Te'ya Miles: Um, so I hope that answered your question in terms of the fun stuff because it it's fun, you know, but you got to have a little runaround sometimes.
[19:20] Nirav Chheda: But again, that's with any business that you're going to Ta, what makes you such a great NMT consultant is that you've actually gone through some crazy experiences and gotten some pretty extreme learnings, right?
[19:40] Nirav Chheda: that [laughter] that help you figure out, okay, you know, anything anyone else faces not as crazy as what I've been through.
[19:47] Nirav Chheda: You want to pick one or two of the of the craziest things you've been through that makes you one or two girl consultant.
[19:57] Te'ya Miles: Oh, they need more than one or two, nav.
[19:59] Nirav Chheda: Wow. [laughter] I know, right? Take your time.
[20:05] Nirav Chheda: Pick the juiciest thing. [laughter] Okay.
[22:52] Te'ya Miles: So, that's one thing. um you know, oh there's another another time there was a patient that had dementia.
[23:02] Te'ya Miles: This is something a little smaller, not as big as the crunch vehicle.
[23:05] Te'ya Miles: Um but there was a patient that had dementia and he was used to a certain route going home and to the his appointment each day.
[23:13] Te'ya Miles: And so we had multi-loaded him this particular day with another client.
[23:17] Te'ya Miles: So, we took a different route and he called his insurance company and said that the driver was trying to kidnap him and murder him because they were going a different way.
[23:27] Te'ya Miles: So, um just knowing what your patients have going on, that can help as well because again, no uh I don't think my driver wanted to kidnap or murder him at all.
[23:40] Te'ya Miles: [laughter] Again, everything is not a walk in the park, but you know.
[23:51] Nirav Chheda: Do your do your clients come to you with anything as crazy as that kind of stuff?
[23:58] Te'ya Miles: Um, no. Honestly, we have we have some really great clients.
[24:02] Te'ya Miles: We do. But you are not everyone's not going to be great.
[24:05] Te'ya Miles: Okay, let's just people are human.
[24:07] Te'ya Miles: Okay, we're dealing with humans here, Narav.
[24:09] Te'ya Miles: So, everyone's not going to be great.
[24:11] Te'ya Miles: Um, but you know, we get some in between far and few that are like, "Okay, we're just going to keep it moving today." You know, just preserve your energy and make sure they have a great experience.
[24:23] Te'ya Miles: That's it. Because you can't please everyone, you know?
[24:26] Nirav Chheda: So, Yeah. You, right? I know you live an interesting life, but wow.
[24:38] Te'ya Miles: [laughter] That's a That's a short version of it.
[24:42] Nirav Chheda: I like that. You live an interesting life.
[24:44] Nirav Chheda: Absolutely. Absolutely. [laughter] with us. Run, Bambi, run.
[24:53] Te'ya Miles: You all have this, Nv. I told you this is going to be a great year for you all.
[24:57] Te'ya Miles: I It's already written, right? It's already written.
[24:59] Nirav Chheda: It is. It is.
