[0:02] Nirav Chheda: NEMT broker. You just kind of fell backwards into it.
[0:05] Nirav Chheda: I just did the bungee jump like an NEM superstar with me today.
[0:29] Nirav Chheda: Stephanie Harmon, also known as the NEM guru.
[0:34] Stephanie Harmon: Stephanie, how you doing? Hey, I like that intro, man.
[0:39] Stephanie Harmon: You made me feel Listen, I feel like I need to do the waves.
[0:43] Stephanie Harmon: [laughter] appreciate you. I appreciate you having me today.
[0:53] Nirav Chheda: Thank you for being with me.
[0:55] Nirav Chheda: Um, so Stephanie, you have a very interesting trajectory in the NEMT space.
[1:01] Nirav Chheda: Like like a lot of people, you ran your own NEMT business for a while, but then you know, you got these VA contracts and you started giving out ride requests to other NEMT companies and then now I mean
[1:15] Nirav Chheda: basically you've become an NEM broker.
[1:19] Nirav Chheda: Um, which is something not a lot of people have done.
[1:24] Nirav Chheda: Um, it's a really interesting story.
[1:26] Nirav Chheda: I mean, you and I were talking through it the other week, I'd love for you to share that story with our audience today.
[1:35] Nirav Chheda: Um, but before we dive into it, you know what?
[1:38] Nirav Chheda: Would you like to just give a quick background about yourself?
[1:42] Stephanie Harmon: Sure. So, um, you know, you already said my name, so I'm not gonna need to repeat that, but so I was a police officer in my previous life, like I was a police officer for about um 15 years
[1:59] Stephanie Harmon: in Winston Salem, um, North Carolina.
[2:03] Stephanie Harmon: But, you know, as you kind of think as I went through my career as an officer and kind of moved up, you know, I was like, well, I got I have three kids.
[2:12] Stephanie Harmon: They're adults. My youngest is 27, 26, 27.
[2:16] Stephanie Harmon: That's bad when you can't keep up with the age.
[2:19] Stephanie Harmon: But um I was like, man, you once I'm gone, like I can't pass my job as a police officer on to my kids.
[2:29] Stephanie Harmon: And so I wanted to be able to leave some type of legacy.
[2:33] Stephanie Harmon: Um, and so I started a side hustle with like making t-shirts and custom door mats and you know just being real crafty.
[2:42] Stephanie Harmon: Um, and at the time I had a um a mentor and like a group of business sisters and you know we me hold each other accountable but I learned the business side of it and so when I decided
[2:58] Stephanie Harmon: to add transportation I was talking to her one day and it was like a group mentoring.
[3:04] Stephanie Harmon: It was a group mentoring type of session and she mentioned transportation like non-emergency medical transportation.
[3:12] Stephanie Harmon: I was like what is that like transportation like what's it what is it?
[3:17] Stephanie Harmon: So, did some research. Fast forward, um, I added or I started a transportation business.
[3:24] Stephanie Harmon: And I tell people like, man, I did some research.
[3:28] Stephanie Harmon: Like, I felt like I did research, but I clearly didn't do enough because when I first started, I worked with brokers.
[3:36] Stephanie Harmon: Um, I did not calculate my rates.
[3:39] Stephanie Harmon: I didn't understand who my target customers were.
[3:42] Stephanie Harmon: I just thought, you know, it's transportation.
[3:45] Stephanie Harmon: Everybody need it. until I had to learn from my mentor like, well, if you don't know who your customer is, then nobody's your customer.
[3:52] Stephanie Harmon: And so, fast forward a little bit, me and my son started the transportation business together.
[4:01] Stephanie Harmon: Um, and it just really grew, but it didn't grow until I got a complete understanding of what I did.
[4:09] Stephanie Harmon: And so even before when you look at some of my previous videos, I'm like, "Oh, you know, I started my if you want to know how to start your NEMT business." And so I had to change my mindset
[4:24] Stephanie Harmon: as an entrepreneur and business owner and understand like I don't own an NEMT business.
[4:29] Stephanie Harmon: I own a passion transportation business and we offer NEMT services because there's so much that you can do in transportation.
[4:39] Stephanie Harmon: It's really just a matter of figuring out what where the need is at in the area that you're going to service.
[4:46] Stephanie Harmon: So if you thinking, okay, well, I want to do dialysis and all that, but then you like, oh man, it's a lot of methadone clinics near me.
[4:55] Stephanie Harmon: Well, then that could be that's where your need that's where you find out where your need is at.
[5:00] Stephanie Harmon: And so it kind of transitioned to you know learning and continuously being a student in it and continuing to learn and I was like well once I could learn it the other need was people are struggling to start
[5:17] Stephanie Harmon: and so you know then I had people like man you like a guru and I was like that's where Stephanie NMC guru came from.
[5:25] Stephanie Harmon: Um, and I developed the course.
[5:29] Stephanie Harmon: And so, like in my previous job as a police officer, I did training.
[5:33] Stephanie Harmon: And so, it came second nature to train and come up with curriculums.
[5:38] Stephanie Harmon: And so, then listen, I was like, well, how do I get staff and bring other people on?
[5:44] Stephanie Harmon: Like, how can we all win?
[5:46] Stephanie Harmon: Like, how can other people that are struggling with trips, what do I need to do?
[5:52] Stephanie Harmon: And so I got a I started getting private pay clients.
[5:56] Stephanie Harmon: Um and then I started working with vets and and they would reach out and they was like, "Oh, we got a vet that needs transportation in Arkansas.
[6:05] Stephanie Harmon: Do you know a prov do you have a provider there or do you have a driver there?" I was like, "Damn, this that's this this might be something, you know, that I could really add to my services." And
[6:16] Stephanie Harmon: so as I started coming, you know, working with either the vets or other assisted living, nursing homes or whatever, I was like, well, I don't need that means I don't really need to drive because I didn't dream driving.
[6:33] Stephanie Harmon: And my goal was like, I ain't about to keep driving.
[6:35] Stephanie Harmon: And so then it came to what I do now, which is really it might be like a independent con independent um broker, but it's really just um out here helping everybody, man, get to that thing, whatever it is
[6:52] Stephanie Harmon: in their business where they trying to grow.
[6:56] Stephanie Harmon: And there it is. There it is.
[7:00] Nirav Chheda: Well, thank you for that intro.
[7:03] Nirav Chheda: Uh we're going to dive in now.
[7:05] Nirav Chheda: So you started out running your own transportation business like you mentioned.
[7:12] Nirav Chheda: You got these VA contracts. You were doing trips.
[7:15] Nirav Chheda: Um then there reached a certain point where you were like hey like let me start collaborating with other NEMT businesses because there's a lot of demand coming from the VA for you doing all this stuff.
[7:30] Nirav Chheda: And then you do two things.
[7:32] Nirav Chheda: Number one, you start dropping a bunch of knowledge on, you know, the social media.
[7:39] Nirav Chheda: If anyone in the audience, if they search NEM guru, you're going to find a lot of videos from Stephanie dropping knowledge bombs about NEM everywhere.
[7:49] Nirav Chheda: Um, and then you start giving ride requests out to other NEMt How did you start building those relationships with other NEMT companies and passing along trips that you were getting from the VA?
[8:05] Stephanie Harmon: So, it started with my course.
[8:10] Stephanie Harmon: So, what I did was I um I developed a course, so a six-week online course and I was like, okay, I came up with a curriculum and you know, it's like anything else when you start it, you're going
[8:24] Stephanie Harmon: to tweak it. like it's going to get tweaked, you going to add stuff, take away or whatever.
[8:29] Stephanie Harmon: And so one of the common denominators was people thought that, okay, I need to work with a broker in order to get started.
[8:41] Stephanie Harmon: You know what I mean? like I have to work with this broker because the mindset or what's been put out is saying, "Okay, well, the only way that you could really be successful and when you're starting is to
[8:53] Stephanie Harmon: work with brokers." And so I did this video on Tik Tok, like I never forget it.
[8:59] Stephanie Harmon: I did a video and I was I was frustrated with the concept of brokers and saying, I did this trip.
[9:08] Stephanie Harmon: I went well I went to pick this person up and they wasn't coming outside.
[9:14] Stephanie Harmon: I blow my horn, you know, rang the doorbell, call the broker, and they're like, "Oh, you need to wait for 15 minutes." And I'm like, "What?
[9:22] Stephanie Harmon: Got to wait for 15 minutes?
[9:23] Stephanie Harmon: What do you mean? They're not coming to the door." And so then I was like, "I'm not getting paid." So I wasted time to get to the person sitting there waiting and I wasn't getting paid.
[9:35] Stephanie Harmon: So, I did a video um and I was like, "Brokers will make you broke." And the people came for me, okay?
[9:44] Stephanie Harmon: They came for me and they was like, "Well, you know, you need to negotiate." It's like, "No, brokers will make you broke." And not necessarily in a in a monetary I wasn't necessarily speaking from a monetary place.
[9:59] Stephanie Harmon: I was speaking from as an entrepreneur your mindset when you're in this space of um being an NEMC provider what tends to happen is the it's being pushed that okay just start and then work with brokers and even
[10:17] Stephanie Harmon: though you know they're going to take 30% of your profit just work with them like just get started and I'm like well you know you remember back in the day you would find a good job as they Okay.
[10:29] Stephanie Harmon: And you know it be at the post office or UPS or something.
[10:33] Stephanie Harmon: They like, well, you know, you just start and you might start at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to your schedule, but you can work your way up.
[10:41] Stephanie Harmon: And I'm telling people like that's not this.
[10:45] Stephanie Harmon: Like I can't work my way up to, you know, they saying I need they're going to pay me $15 each way, but when I've done my expenses, it comes to I need to charge $25.
[10:59] Stephanie Harmon: So I'm coming up with a loss.
[11:01] Stephanie Harmon: And so I was like, how do I how can how can I help other business owners and entrepreneurs kind of adjust that and change their mindset?
[11:11] Nirav Chheda: So Stephanie, I want to jump in on this point because this is one that a lot of any startup businesses, they don't know what to think about.
[11:21] Nirav Chheda: Like there's advice out there that says, "Hey, just get started with a broker and even though you're losing money on every trip, it's fine because it just helps you start doing trips and getting going." And a lot of
[11:35] Nirav Chheda: people think that's okay. You're on the other side of that fence.
[11:39] Nirav Chheda: give me your thoughts on this.
[11:42] Stephanie Harmon: So, I I'm and guess what?
[11:44] Stephanie Harmon: I'm speaking from straight experience. Like, I'm very transparent in my humble And I worked with a broker um and I never worked with a lot, but I worked with a few brokers.
[11:58] Stephanie Harmon: And it was just this is what we're paying.
[12:02] Stephanie Harmon: And I'm like, and then you paying me 30 days later or two weeks later or whatever the is after is not went before.
[12:10] Stephanie Harmon: And I'm like, well, how do I pay my other stuff?
[12:14] Stephanie Harmon: Like, how do I pay for my insurance?
[12:16] Stephanie Harmon: How do I pay for fuel?
[12:18] Stephanie Harmon: And so, I just was like, okay, there's no way that you can think as a business.
[12:26] Stephanie Harmon: I don't care, you know, it doesn't have anything to do with taking somebody from point A to point B as a If you are if you have the mindset that working with a broker that's not going to negotiate
[12:42] Stephanie Harmon: the rate and going to pay you less than your value and what you are worth and you in the mindset saying, "Well, I just need to get going." Then you already in the red.
[12:54] Stephanie Harmon: like we ain't trying to be in the red or the yellow, we trying to be in the green.
[12:58] Stephanie Harmon: And so you starting off in the red.
[13:00] Stephanie Harmon: So then how do you catch up?
[13:02] Stephanie Harmon: And that's where I was like I was like, okay, I'm not make this.
[13:06] Stephanie Harmon: And then if the Medicaid, you know, billing part don't work out, then my deposit is not even what I was supposed to get.
[13:13] Stephanie Harmon: So now I'm even worse. And so I just tell people like this is not um I'm trying to keep it PG like this is this is not that that's this is not how you go into business but people
[13:33] Stephanie Harmon: buy vans. I talk to people all the time as entrepreneurs.
[13:36] Stephanie Harmon: They buy a van and they say oh well I saw somebody say on social media I can make 10K a month if I work with Medicaid.
[13:44] Stephanie Harmon: Oh, you probably can. Like I'm with your car, probably not.
[13:49] Stephanie Harmon: Or with one van, you're probably not gonna make 10k money.
[13:53] Stephanie Harmon: But you have to do your research to really understand because it's different for everybody.
[13:58] Stephanie Harmon: Some people, some states, you know, you live in, you can make a profit with working with brokers.
[14:04] Stephanie Harmon: But to answer your question directly, like when you start your business in passion transportation, you offer NEMT services, you never go into business saying, "Oh, I want to give this company that I don't know 30 40% of
[14:24] Stephanie Harmon: my profit. I'm just going to work and give them my money." Who goes into business thinking that?
[14:29] Stephanie Harmon: You don't. And so, why do you start your business that way?
[14:34] Stephanie Harmon: That's all I ask people like.
[14:35] Stephanie Harmon: Why do you start that way?
[14:37] Stephanie Harmon: If you know that you're not being paid what you need to be paid to pay your expenses, why do you start?
[14:44] Nirav Chheda: So, if you are making negative money on a trip, it doesn't matter is what you're saying that it helps you start your business, start getting things going.
[14:56] Nirav Chheda: You just do not do a trip if you're getting paid less for that trip than it costs you to do that trip.
[15:05] Stephanie Harmon: That's That's my opinion. Yes, I'm sticking by that thing.
[15:08] Nirav Chheda: All [laughter] right. That's cool. That's cool.
[15:11] Stephanie Harmon: Now, I'm sure I could get some tons of arguments about that.
[15:16] Stephanie Harmon: But you people think, well, if I don't if I'm not then I'm not gonna make money.
[15:23] Stephanie Harmon: Well, you can not move and lose money, too.
[15:26] Stephanie Harmon: You can go in the rear.
[15:28] Stephanie Harmon: Like, it just don't make to me.
[15:30] Stephanie Harmon: It just don't make the math ain't math.
[15:32] Stephanie Harmon: Like the math don't calculate to me, right?
[15:35] Nirav Chheda: Yeah. Yeah. All right, let's let's keep going.
[15:40] Nirav Chheda: So, you got to the point where you were, you know, facing this situation and then and then I I'll let you continue the story.
[15:51] Stephanie Harmon: So when I um once I once I understood like but I think you I also think too like people get into um any being an NEMT provider with thinking that it's not a business.
[16:13] Stephanie Harmon: You know what I'm saying? like they get I talk to people and they get into it not thinking that it's a bit like yeah I register my business with the state but it's so many people goal is just
[16:23] Stephanie Harmon: say okay I'mma work with brokers and so I'm on the complete end other end of the spectrum saying well how about start off thinking with the with the fundamentals and the foundation saying okay who is my target customer
[16:39] Stephanie Harmon: because if you think everybody's your customer then nobody's your customer and so if you don't know who you're focusing on then you don't even know how much you're going to charge them.
[16:49] Stephanie Harmon: So how are you even like how are you functioning as a business owner if you don't know how much you're charging for your service?
[16:58] Stephanie Harmon: You're basing your rates on what somebody else is paying you not what you calculated based on your expenses.
[17:07] Stephanie Harmon: And so that's where the course kind of came into play of just kind of trying to adjust and change people mindset when it comes to the business and the fundamentals of business.
[17:17] Stephanie Harmon: And so as I started doing that and I was like okay well that's where the NEMT meetup came in was how can I bring other providers together that's doing the same thing network build relationships and it just kind
[17:34] Stephanie Harmon: of blossoms. So even now I still attend Chamber of Commerce has coffee with a cop.
[17:41] Stephanie Harmon: It's very important to me anyway to network.
[17:45] Stephanie Harmon: Like networking and building relationships is how I went from owner operator and driving to con, you know, coming up with a course, developing a course to being successful in teaching other people to saying, "Oh, well, how could I
[18:05] Stephanie Harmon: built relationship with facilities, so now I can share the wealth But only way I was able to do that was to build relationships.
[18:15] Stephanie Harmon: Like that was the only way it worked.
[18:16] Nirav Chheda: So if I can break it down, I mean step one was obviously you ran your own NEMt business.
[18:23] Nirav Chheda: Step two was you developed this course which then enabled you to develop relationships with other NET businesses in your area and in other states and develop relationships with facilities um and with the VA and then step three is
[18:43] Nirav Chheda: you become the broker yourself. Can you talk about that transition from step two to step three?
[18:50] Stephanie Harmon: So what ended up happening was I was honestly I was just attended.
[18:56] Stephanie Harmon: It it was not planned. Like I knew part of my 10 year plan was like you know what I want to be a broker.
[19:03] Stephanie Harmon: Like I want to figure out what how I could become and I didn't label it like independent broker.
[19:11] Stephanie Harmon: I just like it. I just want to be a broker and, you know, be able to help not necessarily the providers that may be doing as well with private pay, but some of the, you know, business owners and
[19:25] Stephanie Harmon: providers that's not doing as well or kind of struggling with just kind of getting going with clients.
[19:31] Stephanie Harmon: Like whether it's they haven't figured out cold calling or they haven't figured out, you know, how to sell that, you know, be a salesman for their business.
[19:40] Stephanie Harmon: So, I was getting trips requests like and I and I'm going be honest like I don't even have a wheelchair van.
[19:49] Stephanie Harmon: I don't I don't but I don't tell I don't advertise that I don't have a wheelchair van.
[19:54] Stephanie Harmon: So when people call and they request wheelchair services, the relationships that I built with either people that took my course or did consultations or whatever, um I ended up reaching out like saying, "Hey, if I come across trips,
[20:15] Stephanie Harmon: you know, would you be interested?
[20:16] Stephanie Harmon: Can I give you a call?" And I didn't know how that would really look because I'm when I first started doing it, I would just give people the trip.
[20:25] Stephanie Harmon: Like I wasn't taking a portion of the money or anything.
[20:29] Stephanie Harmon: And so one of the um one of my friends slash she used she started off driving with me as an independent contractor for the school when I used to transport um students.
[20:44] Stephanie Harmon: And she was like, "Girl, you need to stop giving away these trips.
[20:48] Stephanie Harmon: Like, what are you doing?" And I was like, you know, I can't do it.
[20:52] Stephanie Harmon: So, I'm just gonna call you and say, "Hey." And so, when I would speak to the cl the client or the customer, I would just say, "The driver is going to give you a call.
[21:03] Stephanie Harmon: This is their name and information." I never said it like, "Oh, it's another business." And so, she was like, "You you keep you calling and you giving away trips.
[21:12] Stephanie Harmon: Like, what are you doing? you need to, you know, split it.
[21:17] Stephanie Harmon: And so I was like, I said, girl, I never thought about it.
[21:19] Stephanie Harmon: I never thought about it like that.
[21:21] Stephanie Harmon: Again, part of part of my plan was to say, how can I become a broker, but I'm still not like I'm in the moment, but not in the moment.
[21:29] Stephanie Harmon: Like, I'm not it's not it's not clicking until she said that.
[21:35] Stephanie Harmon: And I was like, oh. Oh.
[21:38] Stephanie Harmon: But then I work with providers.
[21:39] Stephanie Harmon: That's how that's how the relationships were.
[21:42] Stephanie Harmon: Like I would pass trips and they would just give me money.
[21:45] Stephanie Harmon: Give me a portion of it without me even saying anything.
[21:50] Nirav Chheda: So you were not even trying to become an NEMT broker.
[21:55] Nirav Chheda: You just kind of fell backwards into it.
[21:59] Stephanie Harmon: I just hit I just did the bungee jump like and it I mean but um but it was it was organically done kind of like but it just I just would say it worked out like it just ended
[22:17] Stephanie Harmon: up working out. Um, and it still went back to building relationships, whether it was with the providers that I work with or the facilities.
[22:28] Stephanie Harmon: And even with transporting the the vets, like I I have been trying to do that for years and I had gotten trips like one or two but nothing and then they just started picking up and then they was
[22:44] Stephanie Harmon: like, "Well, what other states do you have drivers in?" And I was like, well, let me let me go in my rolodex.
[22:51] Stephanie Harmon: Let me pull out my Palm Pilot and see.
[22:54] Stephanie Harmon: And I just connected with those providers and I said, hey, you know, if I seen your trips to now, um, you know, it goes pretty good.
[23:03] Stephanie Harmon: And I'm still I mean, I haven't built it nowhere near to where I want it to be.
[23:08] Stephanie Harmon: So, I still do that marketing that I tell people that you have to do every day um to build that roster or build those clients to where I'm able to say, "Listen, I have a a group of providers.
[23:21] Stephanie Harmon: You let me know what trips or how often you need trips and then we go from there." I haven't I haven't gotten that part, you know, concretely done, but by next year, my goal is to have it a
[23:34] Nirav Chheda: little bit more brokering NEMT trips for?
[23:52] Stephanie Harmon: two years. You know what? Because I I had drivers for um student transportation.
[24:03] Stephanie Harmon: So, it's been at least a couple years.
[24:06] Stephanie Harmon: But when it ca when it comes down to like the private pay piece like that piece maybe maybe a year maybe not quite a year I've been doing it.
[24:19] Stephanie Harmon: So, um that's the part that's part of my um goal for 2024 is to add more facilities or contracts to where I could be a little bit more, you know what I'm saying, consistent because it might, you know,
[24:38] Stephanie Harmon: I I'll pass along or um give other providers, I won't say pass along, but give other providers trips at least three four days a week.
[24:52] Nirav Chheda: and that's across the states of North Carolina primarily and you also are in a few other states.
[25:00] Stephanie Harmon: Which ones? So I I um South Carolina, it's not so many in South Carolina.
[25:12] Stephanie Harmon: And I've had a c I have a couple of providers that I've connected with um for trips in Arkansas.
[25:21] Stephanie Harmon: Um and I think that's about it.
[25:23] Nirav Chheda: But mostly it's mostly it's in North So I'm going to ask you a question that I know the answer to, but just for the sake of the audience, Stephanie, what separates you and your broker business from the other
[25:39] Stephanie Harmon: brokers that are out So, first I think in my opinion because I've done it.
[25:46] Stephanie Harmon: So, I feel like I'm on more of the side of the provider and making sure because I'm always talking about and explaining to people like, you know, understand your worth.
[25:59] Stephanie Harmon: And so even um and I was just telling one of my friends I was like you know one of the providers I sent her some information for a trip on maybe Thursday and I was like you know send
[26:13] Stephanie Harmon: me just send me a quote because I just started working on her.
[26:16] Stephanie Harmon: [snorts] send me a quote and I know she low I know she's lowballing herself and so as a I feel like the other brokers or other companies would be like well that's what she sent me so that's what
[26:32] Stephanie Harmon: I'mma pay her um but I know that she's just starting and she's really just trying to um and get the calculation of how much she should charge.
[26:44] Stephanie Harmon: So when I calculated it, I'm just gonna say numbers for example.
[26:49] Stephanie Harmon: I calculated it and the trip was [between two nearby cities], which is 60 miles or something like that each way.
[26:59] Stephanie Harmon: And I calculated like $480 something dollars.
[27:03] Stephanie Harmon: Well, she sent me how much she would charge was like 190.
[27:09] Stephanie Harmon: And I was like, that's a huge difference.
[27:12] Stephanie Harmon: So tomorrow I'mma get on the wire.
[27:14] Stephanie Harmon: I'm get on the horn and I'mma call her and we going to sit down because I can't consciously know that she should be making more and not pay her that because I know how that feels.
[27:28] Stephanie Harmon: And so even though I could pay her what her invoices, that's what her invoice says, but I know that her time is way more valuable.
[27:38] Stephanie Harmon: That's, you know what I'm saying?
[27:39] Stephanie Harmon: That's a hour and some change drive each way.
[27:43] Stephanie Harmon: then you have to wait. And so I'mma give her a call tomorrow first thing like what's what's happening?
[27:50] Stephanie Harmon: I got this invoice and this thing is let's talk about it.
[27:53] Stephanie Harmon: But it's coming from a good place, you know?
[27:55] Stephanie Harmon: I mean I wouldn't I couldn't I couldn't in my conscious I couldn't do that.
[28:00] Stephanie Harmon: Like that's not what I'm here for.
[28:02] Stephanie Harmon: And I think that's kind of what sets me apart from everybody from other people or everybody I love that Stephanie.
[28:10] Nirav Chheda: It's business is all about relationships.
[28:15] Nirav Chheda: And when you build the trust of the NEMT businesses that you broker out to, you're never going to lose them.
[28:24] Nirav Chheda: Like you're like, "Hey, you're not getting paid a fair rate.
[28:28] Nirav Chheda: I'm going to pay you more than what you're getting paid right now, even though you're not demanding it." And then, you you just keep building on that.
[28:39] Nirav Chheda: You get more facilities, you get more NEMT businesses, and nobody turns away from you.
[28:44] Nirav Chheda: Nobody leaves you because they can trust you.
[28:47] Stephanie Harmon: Yeah, it's all about that. That trust and and even when you think about it, how you saying the trust piece like that that is just organically like in me as a business owner.
[29:00] Stephanie Harmon: So, even my relationships with facilities, even thinking about long-term, like how can I be like I don't want to say like the the one-stop shop thinking.
[29:18] Stephanie Harmon: So if you want to start your business and you need you know those those fundamentals and starting but what a lot of providers also need is resources.
[29:30] Stephanie Harmon: So it goes back to what we talk about is relationships building relationships with insurance agents that can work in multiple states.
[29:39] Stephanie Harmon: So when you attend my boot camp or you know join my mentoring program you're going to have access to those resources.
[29:46] Stephanie Harmon: So, you're not going to be calling around saying, "Well, I need um insurance for da da da." I'm just going to say, "Okay, reach out to this person.
[29:56] Stephanie Harmon: You need a website. Reach out to this person.
[29:59] Stephanie Harmon: You need um policies and procedures.
[30:02] Stephanie Harmon: I'mma provide you with a template." And so then you're going to you're you're going to want to be a part of this tribe because I'm giving you the information that you need to be successful.
[30:13] Stephanie Harmon: not to just say, "Okay, well, here is a here's a course.
[30:17] Stephanie Harmon: Here's information. Like, go figure it out." No, because I didn't have that when I first started.
[30:23] Nirav Chheda: And speaking of joining your tribe, in the description of this video, uh, everyone, I'm putting Stephanie's contact info and website.
[30:32] Nirav Chheda: She's always super accessible, super responsive.
[30:37] Nirav Chheda: Um, reach out to her, learn from her, join her tribe.
[30:42] Nirav Chheda: That's Stephanie Harmon guru. Look in the description of this video.
[30:48] Stephanie Harmon: Stephanie, back to you. We gonna [clears throat] have I think I think if most of us think like that like you understand even when me and you had our first conversation and I was like man I don't meet
[30:59] Stephanie Harmon: strangers like I'm talking we talking like we you know and I just on just somebody in my Facebook group just said hey has anybody heard of Bambi Software and I was like well no but let me do some
[31:12] Stephanie Harmon: research cuz I'm curious I want to know like and so I went on y'all website filled out the contact information and you called and here we are a week later having a conversation but again it's relationships.
[31:28] Stephanie Harmon: So I'm like well listen I got a whole group of providers that would love to hear about your you know your software whether they purchase it or not.
[31:40] Stephanie Harmon: But it would make no sense to me if I had providers I reached out to you and knew about Bambi and I had providers that I know needed the information and I kept it like that don't even that
[31:54] Stephanie Harmon: would that don't make no sense.
[31:55] Stephanie Harmon: And so I'm like, man, listen, you can you come on and talk to let's have a conversation in the Facebook group.
[32:02] Stephanie Harmon: And it just kind of blossomed to LinkedIn.
[32:05] Stephanie Harmon: And I think the number is is consist is still going up.
[32:10] Stephanie Harmon: But you know, if you don't know how to build relationships and talk to people and be open and ask for what you want, if you need help, say, Stephanie, I need help.
[32:21] Stephanie Harmon: Now, I might tell you, I might answer some of your questions.
[32:24] Stephanie Harmon: more than likely I will. But if you really want help, you have to be willing to invest in yourself and invest in your business.
[32:31] Stephanie Harmon: Like there's no way that you could be an entrepreneur by yourself.
[32:36] Stephanie Harmon: There's no way that your business is going to grow without getting some help.
[32:40] Nirav Chheda: Like it's impossible. Amen. Amen. And amen.
[32:46] Stephanie Harmon: And amen. So here we are like you know and so I'm still listen I'm still a student and I'm always trying to learn.
[32:56] Stephanie Harmon: Um I was just on Tik Tok like 3:00 and met some more and I met some more people.
[33:04] Stephanie Harmon: Oh sorry and met met another provider like in California and guess what she does on she does She does interpretation and for workers comp.
[33:19] Stephanie Harmon: So when we talk about passion transportation, I we could we could have conversations all day it's so many different like areas of passion transportation.
[33:33] Stephanie Harmon: So when people say, "Well, I want to get into private pay." And I just be like, well that's I can't answer that in a Facebook like because it's not just say, "Oh, I want private pay.
[33:45] Stephanie Harmon: Go to go to dialysis clinic.
[33:47] Stephanie Harmon: Go to the hospital." It's bigger than that.
[33:49] Stephanie Harmon: It's way bigger than that. And so if you think about students and you know that need to go special needs students that go to school.
[33:58] Stephanie Harmon: And so I just always say um NEMT is really a service like and brokers are just one type of customer.
[34:05] Stephanie Harmon: If you want to work with five brokers, that's just one one piece of the pie.
[34:10] Stephanie Harmon: But if you live in an area where there's, you know, um, drug alcohol treatment centers or weight loss centers or plastic surgeons or if you in Vegas and you near with a Super Bowl, why can't you reach out
[34:26] Stephanie Harmon: to hotels and say, "Listen, I'm offering transportation.
[34:29] Stephanie Harmon: I got five 12 passenger vans.
[34:32] Stephanie Harmon: If any of your guests need a ride to the Super Bowl, I'm your guy.
[34:37] Stephanie Harmon: I'm your girl. You know what I mean?
[34:38] Stephanie Harmon: But Passion Transportation is open. And it's really just a matter figuring out or doing your research.
[34:47] Stephanie Harmon: I won't even say figuring out like finding the need.
[34:51] Stephanie Harmon: If you if if we don't take nothing else from this, if you want to stay in business, you better find a need.
[34:59] Stephanie Harmon: You better find a need. Cuz if you just kind of like, you know, oh, I'm just transporting people, but you haven't figured out like the need and how your services can come to the need and bring your services
[35:12] Stephanie Harmon: in front of those people that need it.
[35:15] Stephanie Harmon: You're not your business won't sustain.
[35:17] Nirav Chheda: It's all about solving problems. That's it.
[35:20] Stephanie Harmon: Solving problems. And we always have, that's simple as that.
[35:24] Stephanie Harmon: But we always got transportation problems.
[35:26] Nirav Chheda: You know, people always need to go So Stephanie, you're building relationships with facilities across North Carolina and other states.
[35:38] Stephanie Harmon: Just curious like how are you doing So I only I kind of branched out to South Carolina.
[35:47] Stephanie Harmon: Um I haven't figured I haven't really completely figured out I because I I mean it might sound crazy but my goal is to touch every state.
[35:57] Stephanie Harmon: Now it might you know it might not happen but my goal you gotta think make it be you gotta scared you can't be scared.
[36:08] Stephanie Harmon: I'm saying I'm claiming it like I want to be able to touch every state and so I got work to do.
[36:16] Stephanie Harmon: That's all I can tell you is I got work to do.
[36:18] Stephanie Harmon: I got I know facilities like in South Carolina cuz it's just from relationships of course North but even in Georgia, Virginia like I'm working my way up and to the left up and then I'mma go I mean and
[36:41] Stephanie Harmon: I and I have conversations with providers like in Florida and so I was like wait I'm going to try to do like a um a one day like a one-day workshop cuz I do them in Georgia and North
[36:56] Stephanie Harmon: Carolina, but kind of spreading out those one-day workshops.
[36:59] Stephanie Harmon: And in those one-day workshops where you kind of you're learning about becoming a provider or starting your transportation business um passion transportation business.
[37:10] Stephanie Harmon: But that is how I'll be able to build relationships and then connect with facilities like I feel like if I start with the provider and go from there like reach the provider and then kind of go from there.
[37:27] Nirav Chheda: Yeah. That's what we're trying to do at Bambi, too.
[37:30] Nirav Chheda: Add value to those then you can build up from there.
[37:35] Nirav Chheda: So, your broker business, SNS, Courier and is on it way to becoming a national Yeah, I'm claiming it.
[37:46] Stephanie Harmon: So my what I did was when I started transportation it was it's SNS car and transportation but I've since done an umbrella and making Stephanie R.
[38:00] Stephanie Harmon: Harmon professional services and resources. So my broker services would fall under that.
[38:09] Stephanie Harmon: And then I added my other two businesses that I already had, which is the SNS carrier.
[38:15] Stephanie Harmon: And I still make like custom shirts for businesses, custom shirts and hats.
[38:21] Stephanie Harmon: And so I just put all of that under one bit under my incorporated name.
[38:28] Stephanie Harmon: And so that way I got to have three LLC's.
[38:30] Stephanie Harmon: Like I just need one business and everything just fall under that.
[38:34] Stephanie Harmon: And so the transportation I haven't figured out like would I put my um the broker piece or the in you know those services under Stephanie R.
[38:48] Stephanie Harmon: Harmon or under I haven't figured that part out yet cuz right now it's still under SNS carry and transportation cuz it just seems it kind of flows better when I'm working with facilities when I send you an invoice
[39:02] Stephanie Harmon: or with the vets that is coming from SNS care and transportation.
[39:11] Nirav Chheda: you know, but the thing I like about you and the way you're growing your business is you're doing it organically by building relationships one after the other, right?
[39:24] Nirav Chheda: rather than, you know, going out and trying to force someone to take trips or take control of an area like step by step.
[39:32] Nirav Chheda: When you're getting to each and every one of these 50 states, it's through personal relationships we're building with transportation providers and with facilities.
[39:42] Stephanie Harmon: it's gonna be awesome. Yeah, it's gonna be it's and the but and the goal too is when you think about it is that it's no it's no need to think that you have competition like I I despise I
[39:57] Stephanie Harmon: won't say despise but I don't like when people say well call your competition and see how much they charge you know is when you're thinking about your rates and I'm like well it's not really competition like cuz it's
[40:10] Stephanie Harmon: enough business for everybody to be successful in whatever you consider successful.
[40:17] Stephanie Harmon: But I don't that's why I reach out to I reached out to every provider in Charlotte and invited them sent an email invited them invite them to the meetups and when we at the meetups like we have a
[40:35] Stephanie Harmon: good time like you know we doing the Soul Train line like we're having a good time because that is how that's how you build a relationships like you know okay I'mma come in here and I could be myself.
[40:49] Stephanie Harmon: I can have a good time.
[40:51] Stephanie Harmon: We definitely going to learn and we're going to have good food, you know, a little bit of good food.
[40:56] Stephanie Harmon: But when I started doing the um the NEMT meetups, I was like, man, how could I get people to introduce their business?
[41:05] Stephanie Harmon: And you'd be amazed at how many people are nervous about that 30 second pitch or that elevator pitch just to introduce yourself like, and so I was like, well, how can I make it fun?
[41:16] Stephanie Harmon: And and so we did like a soul train line kind of like musical chairs a little bit.
[41:22] Stephanie Harmon: And so you get the providers, you play some, you know, some nice little jazz groovy music and when we stop the music, whoever's at the top, like the soul train line, you have to introduce yourself and we just
[41:34] Stephanie Harmon: keep going. But if we keep doing it, then you'll when it's time to talk to providers, when it's time to talk to facilities, you're feeling way more comfortable about talking about your And that's what you have to get
[41:49] Stephanie Harmon: past being able to say, you know, my name is Stephanie.
[41:53] Stephanie Harmon: I own this business. I service these type of customers in this area.
[41:58] Stephanie Harmon: How can we partner? And people, you know, we don't they don't think about that.
[42:02] Stephanie Harmon: And that's why I said I really focus on um the business piece of it because you can hire it don't take a genius to transport people like it don't you can hire somebody and train them.
[42:16] Stephanie Harmon: You know what I mean? You can hire people and train them to drive people but how are you treat how what kind of culture does your business have?
[42:25] Stephanie Harmon: Like are you making sure that you're being on time that you're being courteous?
[42:29] Stephanie Harmon: You know what I mean? like you are you incorporating these things in your um protocols and so that's why I think it's important you know that we build these relationship because everybody don't know you know what I mean
[42:40] Stephanie Harmon: and it's okay but you got to want to know it you got to want to do better if you're not doing I think the main thing about you Stephanie and everything that you do your brokering business your online
[42:54] Nirav Chheda: courses your inerson courses is you know there's a lot of info especially nowadays about NEMT all over the internet.
[43:02] Nirav Chheda: People have a hard time figuring out, do I trust this source or that source, It's really easy to know that you can trust Stephanie.
[43:12] Nirav Chheda: And I can just put it in like one, you know, simple sentence.
[43:17] Nirav Chheda: NEMT company comes to you and says, "Hey, you know, Stephanie, here's our rates that we're gonna, you know, as a company." and you as a broker say, "No, I'm going to pay you more money because that's what
[43:32] Nirav Chheda: you're worth." That alone just demonstrates an NEMT company can trust you with whatever it is.
[43:42] Nirav Chheda: Like, you're paying them more than they're asking.
[43:46] Nirav Chheda: Like, that's I was kind of blown away.
[43:49] Stephanie Harmon: And I'm not going to lie, I was like, "Now, do I pay her?" like would she invoice me?
[43:58] Stephanie Harmon: But I wouldn't I think I feel like that's where leadership comes into play and saying like, "Okay, I'mma make this a moment where I'm I want you to see that I could have paid you because you sent me
[44:12] Stephanie Harmon: and I asked you for an invoice and you just sent me a email that say, "Oh, it's I'mma charge 195." And I'm like, "No, I need a detail.
[44:20] Stephanie Harmon: I need an invoice." But I think it's a teachable moment because again nobody pulled me to the side when I first started and said like no this is not how you do it.
[44:31] Stephanie Harmon: I had to learn you know but if you again it go back to if you understand foundation of business like business not NEMT not taking people to the doctor.
[44:46] Stephanie Harmon: If you understand business, you understand marketing, you understand customer service, you understand relationships, and so you can go anywhere.
[44:56] Stephanie Harmon: I was telling them at the um meetup Saturday, I was like, if you understand business and how to start, grow, or you know, bottom line, people say you know how to make money, then you can you can run
[45:10] Stephanie Harmon: a business in any state. you can start I can go I can be here in Philadelphia and say oh okay because I know the fundamentals of business and what it would take and so I know okay if I
[45:24] Stephanie Harmon: want to do this I got to do this this to me it's the same thing so when she when when I talk to her tomorrow I'mma say now listen when we get off this phone you going to send
[45:35] Stephanie Harmon: me another you going to send me an invoice with a better with the right amount [laughter] but I'mma I wouldn't dare like [snorts] and I was having the conversation myself like good God like if I paid her like
[45:48] Stephanie Harmon: I that would I think I feel like that would block my blessings like God would be like Stephanie now you know better bless your heart Stephanie thank you so much for your time for sharing your story and what
[46:04] Stephanie Harmon: you do um any last thoughts you want to leave the audience with I would definitely say this the two these two words that are like on my um goal list for the year 2024 is being consistent and being
[46:24] Stephanie Harmon: persistent. And so consistency means I'mma keep doing it like I'm coming.
[46:31] Stephanie Harmon: I'mma keep doing the same thing.
[46:32] Stephanie Harmon: Whether it's you need marketing, whether whatever it is to grow your business, you're going to be consistent.
[46:40] Stephanie Harmon: Do you need to be on social media?
[46:41] Stephanie Harmon: Whatever that thing is, you're going to be consistent.
[46:44] Stephanie Harmon: But sometimes as entrepreneurs, being persistent, we struggle with because you have to do these things in your business regardless of what's happening in your real life because life beings sometime.
[46:59] Stephanie Harmon: And so you have you may be struggling financially in your business.
[47:04] Stephanie Harmon: You may have family issues, death in the family, vehicles, all these different things.
[47:10] Stephanie Harmon: But at the end of the day, you have to be persistent.
[47:15] Stephanie Harmon: And so those are two things I would tell people like and It's not going to be perfect.
[47:22] Stephanie Harmon: Like it's never going to be perfect, but you have to start.
[47:26] Nirav Chheda: And um you know, go on and reach out to Stephanie, reach out to me if you need some help.
[47:32] Stephanie Harmon: You know, my um next boot camp starts February 20th.
[47:37] Stephanie Harmon: And so that's right around the corner.
[47:40] Nirav Chheda: And like I mentioned before, Stephanie Harmon, NEM guru, her contact info and website are in the description of this Run, Bambi, run.
[47:56] Nirav Chheda: Ryan Bambi.
