Ep 25 - Josh Fertel's Vision for The Angry Biller's Future

Curious about the unsung heroes who keep medical practices running smoothly? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Josh Fertel of J3 Medical Billing as he reveals the driving force behind starting the Angry Biller podcast. Hosted by Chris at Visuals by Momo Studio in ArtServe, this episode uncovers the often-overlooked yet crucial world of medical billing. Josh shares his vision to make the Angry Biller a recognizable face in the industry, celebrating the hardworking individuals behind bookkeeping, stress management, and even the critical roles played by non-profits like the American Cancer Society and Heart to Heart.
 
As we celebrate the milestone of 24 episodes, Josh discusses the strategic expansion plans for the Angry Biller brand, including a leap into video formats and inviting experts nationwide to share their stories. This episode shines a light on the importance of teamwork, structure, and the significant intersection of mental health in the medical billing world. From the benefits of an advisory board to the impact of professional headshots, Josh offers valuable insights that have not only shaped his podcast but also provided personal and professional growth. Tune in to hear success stories, lessons learned, and ambitious plans for the future that promise to educate and inspire.

THE ANGRY BILLER, powered by J3 Revenue Cycle Management

Phone: (954) 544-2706

Website: https://www.j3rcm.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-angry-biller/


Production of Podcast: VISUALS BY MOMO

Transcript

Josh Fertel

00:04

Welcome to the Angry Biller, a show where we explore the people in the businesses behind the scenes of healthcare, those men and women that are the catalysts that allow providers to concentrate on delivering exceptional patient care. 

Chris Baker

00:17

Welcome back to the Angry Biller. This is part two of my interview with Josh Fertel of J3 Medical Billing and the host of the Angry Biller. Today we are at Visuals by Momo Studio here in ArtServe and great to have Josh back again. 

Josh Fertel

00:34

Yes, thank you, chris. Again, I appreciate what you're doing for us, how you've helped, how you've done everything for the podcast, you and Momo and we can't thank you enough. So thank you. 

Chris Baker

00:47

Yeah, you're totally welcome. I'm glad that we were here to help you in this entire journey. This has been a fantastic opportunity. We're just getting started. We're just getting started, and that's actually what we're going to talk about. Next is the Angry Biller. It is now starting to gain attention no-transcript. 

Josh Fertel

01:33

Okay, so there's probably a lot of different answers to this. Why did I want to start it? To get exposure. Fair, I have a business to run. I'm trying to grow my business. I was like what's a good way to get exposure? I am not a pay-per-click kind of guy. I hate that. I know everybody and their mother has a podcast. So I was like, well, let me make a podcast also From there. I thought I was being pretty creative when I came up with the Angry Biller. Everybody seems to like that as a name. It seems like a good, not trademark. Uh, not trademark, but you know it's a, you know something that stands out and uh. So I had a good name. I had a good thought for a podcast and it's like now, what am I going to do it about? 

02:17

and, as I've said before, and I think I've said on every podcast, you know a medical practice is a small business and there's so much that goes into any business to make it run so that you can provide the service that you, that that you're providing. And so in medical office, obviously, the service is to, uh, to heal people and make make sure everybody's living their best life. But what goes on behind the scenes? Nobody sees and nobody thinks about it. Right, you know, especially with a doctor, you know we think this person is wearing a cape and they could do anything that you know we need them to do, but it's just another person like you and me, just you know, doing that thing. So I said, let me get the people that are behind the scenes and make that the focus of the podcast. So you've been here through everyone with me and from bookkeeping to marketing to stress management, we've covered so many topics and we've had so many great people on here. 

Chris Baker

03:23

You really have, yeah, you know we're really we're. 

Josh Fertel

03:25

You know, I'm very, I'm very happy with the way that things are going with. 

Chris Baker

03:29

Again, you know, with your uh, with your guidance well, and also you're bringing on non-profits that are also helping, right you know, to alleviate some of the stress that the doctors are already going through anyway. So there's other ways that just these people. 

Josh Fertel

03:44

Nonprofits. Really their focus, you know, bless them. Their focus is to help people that may not get help somewhere else. 

Chris Baker

03:52

Right, correct. 

Josh Fertel

03:53

And you know we've had American Cancer Society, we've had Heart to Heart and you know any nonprofit that wanted to be a part. We welcome them because they're all doing the same job. 

Chris Baker

04:03

Everybody's got the same focus all on healing, all on giving back to the community and making sure that everybody's taken care of exactly yep. 

Josh Fertel

04:12

So you know it. It I'm honored when people like that come on no, that's fantastic. 

Chris Baker

04:18

So what are the future plans for the angry biller? How do you see it evolving? What would you like to see the different topics and themes that might be coming? 

Josh Fertel

04:28

I don't think we've even scratched the surface of everything that we can do a hundred percent. 

04:34

Yeah, you're right you know, to um the, the medical billing industry. It doesn't have a. It doesn't have a face to it. Right, it doesn't. There are many companies out there. They all do the same thing. Everybody's behind the scenes, everybody's under the radar, but there's no real face that says, okay, this is what medical billing is. So the ego in me says why can't we be the face? Why can't this podcast shed some light onto what medical billing? There are medical billing podcasts out there, but it's essentially how to you know. It's people on there saying this is how you do this, this is how you do this, this is how you do this. How can I? But my focus is, how can I bring this whole genre of work, you know, to the forefront to say that this exists? And here are all the people that get together to make sure that a doctor is doing what a doctor can do. 

Chris Baker

05:29

You're showcasing the ecosystem that's behind the doctors. 

Josh Fertel

05:34

Great word. 

Chris Baker

05:34

Yeah, that was the first word that came to my head. It was like you know you're showcasing the ecosystem Correct, Because there's so much happening behind the scenes that nobody sees. 

Josh Fertel

05:43

But you know I want this to be something that would continue, you know, for as long as it can, to put out something every week. You know I want us to move to video and I know you've been doing a great job with that. You and Momo have been editing that and that, I believe, is coming soon, if not up yet, and just keep getting the message out there. Um, and I and I think what will happen a lot is people will, people behind the scenes, people will see this and maybe they'll want to come on and share their stories and and that'd be great you know, um, because they're like I said, there's so many industries that we haven't spoken to yet we haven't had the opportunity to speak to yet. 

06:25

that fit in with this mold. So I don't see a limit. I don't see a limit as to what we can do. 

Chris Baker

06:34

No, I think there's a lot more opportunity, especially the more people that hear and download these episodes of this podcast, the videos that they see. They'll say, hey, you know, maybe I can get my voice to be heard. Maybe I need to be on the angry pillar to get that exposure that they're looking for. 

Josh Fertel

06:52

I didn't. I didn't set out to be a content creator, but you're a good one, so thank you. I didn't set out to do that. Like I said to me this, I was just wanting to market myself in a different way. Yeah, said to me this. I was just wanted to market myself in a different way. Yeah and uh, you know, as we've progressed, as you know, we've all uh, I guess, improved on on what we're doing here, it is really starting to get some traction, so, so I'm very thankful for that. 

Chris Baker

07:15

So, one of the things that I just want to mention. Okay, and it's a huge congratulations to you right now. So most podcasts don't make it past three episodes. So three, three, three episodes. They started, they're like I'm not really sure where to go next, or and they just stop Right, and so right now, this episode is 24. You have 24 episodes, which means you are in the top 10% of all episode podcasts that have ever been created, because most of them quit way before this. So congratulations for being huge. 

Josh Fertel

07:55

We're a team on this, but I'll tell you, chris, I get why things peter out at a short and certain time. Things peter out at a short and certain time Because I know me, if I was to sit with my iPhone at home and try to do this, I couldn't do it. That's why I needed you. I needed you to give me the structure to say, okay, come in at these times and this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to do it, and I'll bring the content. That's what it needs to be. You need to have the support team, which I don't want to. I feel like I'm diminishing you when I say support team. You need the partnership to make it happen. It's not a one person job. 

Chris Baker

08:33

Well, and that's part of the beauty of working with another company that specializes in something else, right? So it's kind of the same thing that you're doing as a medical billing company. Right, you are supplying your expertise in the medical billing for the doctors. Got it? We're helping with the content creation to make you get more exposure. So it's this beautiful Simba, kumbaya, kumbaya, kumbaya is a really good world but yeah, and actually that you kind of basically answered the next of the podcast development, like we're just right you know, this is how it all started this is. 

09:08

We sat down, we had an idea and I said, hey, this, what if we added, you know what, if we videotape these and make the shorts right a little bit more different, and then we can get more exposure that way. 

Josh Fertel

09:18

So it was and I couldn't even imagine I'm not that creative where I could do that myself. So let me ask you now I'm going to put the question back on you when do you see us going? 

Chris Baker

09:29

I see us inviting people from all over the country. I want to bring other people in that are working in that ecosystem that you have started to unfold. So I look at it as a bigger scale. Like, how do we reach out to some of those other people? You're talking about going and being a nationwide company. Let's get somebody different from every state. Let's talk to them. Let's bring them here, whether it's on Zoom, if they're traveling here, hey, can you stop over at the studio. Let's get an actual beautiful video created and get that out on social so that you can get found. 

10:07

Um, it's making sure that we have the tags. We're moving everything forward. Everybody's sharing, right, let's get, let's increase these downloads. I mean, we're doing really well with the downloads. Like I'm looking at these stats in the background, going, oh, this is going really good, like we're're going to hit some more achievements here. It's going to be great. So, yeah, I do see a lot more. I believe you're correct Adding in full video of all the episodes we've videotaped, and that was the one thing that we do differently is we videotape the whole entire episode, yes, so that at any point we can create the full episode for youtube. 

10:47

but right now everything is on just on spotify and apple podcast and any other podcast platform that you want. They're all there, correct, um? 

Josh Fertel

10:56

but there is more opportunities to move it in different directions yes, that's why I have to get dressed every time we come, and I can't do this in my t-shirt. You? 

Chris Baker

11:03

gotta look your best, you gotta look your best, you got to look your best. So, again, we're going to take just a quick break, okay, and then when we come back, we'll talk more about the Angry Biller and where it's going. 

Josh Fertel

11:13

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Chris Baker

11:44

Welcome back once more to the angry biller. My name is Chris. I'm being the host for the day, taking Josh's space instead, but we're actually talking here about the angry bill. I like sitting in this chair. It's a different chair for you, isn't it? It's great? It's a different chair for you, isn't it? It's great, it's great. So how do you balance the business side of your operations and the creative demands of creating this podcast? 

Josh Fertel

12:10

Great question. Have the answer Surround yourself with the right people, okay, okay. So if we think of it as two different entities, I am again fortunate enough to to have you, to have you and Momo handling this. You know the logistics part of the angry biller podcast where I just have to, you know, come up with people that I think would be interesting and and that I know I can count on to come and share their stories on the J three, which which really is, you know, which is my business. 

12:40

You know I've made a point to surround myself with the right people, where I can go for a few hours or a day and or spend the time, you know, working on content, and I know that my business and my clients are being taken care of. So the answer is you just have to have the team, you have to build the team and you have to make sure you have the right team. It's not just plug and play. Really, you have to go out. There's a thing that says slow to hire, quick to fire, and I believe in that. I've learned that over a bunch of years. You have to really go out and look for the right person. 

Chris Baker

13:19

Well, you have to be able to trust them, and so that's. You know, when you're building a partnership, a collaboration unit, right, you know, there has to be the give and take and there has to be that trust. Yes, like, one of the things that you mentioned in our last podcast is you mentioned that you respond to every text. Right, and like I'll text you with a question. Yeah, you're on top of it, you answer back and we can move the creative process moving forward. And even if we're not available, we just touch base and say, hey, I'll get the back to you on Monday and we move forward that way. So we always at least have that open communication, which is extremely valuable, no matter in whatever business we're working in. 

Josh Fertel

13:54

Right up until the time, my wife tells me to put the phone down. 

Chris Baker

13:58

Fair enough. 

Josh Fertel

13:58

Fair enough right up until the time, my wife tells me to put the phone down. 

Chris Baker

14:00

Fair enough. Fair enough, yes, put the phone, just the only thing I would worry about. So I would love to hear you know you've had a lot of people on this podcast. This, uh, for the last 20 24 episodes. This is 20, the episode 24, actually. Yes, so the last 22 episodes, besides these last two that I've interviewed you, what has been the feedback that you've gotten from the people you've had on the show? 

Josh Fertel

14:27

Well, it's been positive. At least in my face it's been positive. Everybody enjoys it, which is important because you can tell when you're listening that somebody's enjoying it or not. You know, most people have been sharing it, which is really was my, you know, first intent was to have my guests share with their network of people, and so I take a little pride in that that they think that it's worthy of sharing with their friends and their colleagues. So the feedback has been has been, very good. Um the you know some of the episodes have, uh have really drilled down into mental health yes you know that that's come up a lot. 

15:16

There are some things that come up a lot, I think you and I have noticed mental health really does you know that that's come up a lot. There are some things that come up a lot, I think you and I have noticed mental health really does you know? Again, you know we're talking about um, a provider, it's just. It's just a person who has their own stresses and how. Who's taking care of those that are taking care? 

15:32

right right and uh, and I get a lot of good feedback on the mental health one, which which really makes me happy. Um, you know, as might know, my wife is in the field, so she likes hearing that and I like the fact that I've had a few of our guests ask to come back on that's huge. 

15:52

And they've had updates to their services and we talk about education to their services and you know we talk about education. So if there's an update to a service in accounting or bookkeeping or whatever it is that we can share that with the people that are listening and hopefully move that on to the providers that we're hoping to help. 

Chris Baker

16:09

Yeah, One of the other ones that I remember. You reached out to me and said oh my God, this was really cool. 

Josh Fertel

16:15

Yes. 

Chris Baker

16:15

Is another medical billing company. Shared your podcast. Yes Post on social. Yes, I was like they took yours and was like no, I'm going to reshare this, I've you know. 

Josh Fertel

16:26

going back to what we said a few minutes ago, is you know? Is there a? Is there a face to medical billing? And in two scenarios, one company that that is actually larger than mine has asked me to come on and be a speaker as a leader in medical billing. 

Chris Baker

16:42

Isn't that amazing. 

Josh Fertel

16:43

Yes, so that's exciting and, yes, other medical billing companies are sharing our message. I don't know if that's good or not, you know, but I do make sure I tag myself underneath that. 

Chris Baker

16:54

You know, this is my content Well, but I mean, if your face is on there and you have your logo on there and it has the green logo. 

17:01

It's got the green logo. So it's always good to have that moment of where like, hey, they see you as that expert and they're sharing it because you have something important to say. They may still get some of the business, but they're actually using you as the expert. So that's huge. Thank you for saying that. That's huge. Share some of the success stories that you've had on the podcast. 

Josh Fertel

17:28

You know what I would say the biggest success that I've had is, while I'm listening to the stories and while I'm listening to the success stories of the guests, I'm able to apply those to our business. So I would think the biggest success to me is what I'm getting out of it. We had, uh, josh blum, and josh blum talks about an advisory board and how, you know, you surround yourself with your peers and you use it as a think tank, and I was like that's great. That's kind of exactly what we're trying to do with. J3 is a doctor. I'm going to have a different view of a practice than the doctor is going to have, and so together we can come up with solutions. I think that was great. Another example of me picking up things from this podcast. Another example of me picking up things from this podcast was Orlando. 

Chris Baker

18:19

Espinoza who? 

Josh Fertel

18:20

really is a marketing and training guru. Yes, I mean, he works for the state and he came in and he was very nice to come and share some of his thoughts about how a practice should be run and how a practice can grow, and so, again, I took away from that and I shared that with my clients. But one of the best stories was one recently with Daniel Wakefield, who he's a headshot photographer and I really couldn't figure out how to incorporate. And then he told me a story about how the practice that he helped, that he took the pictures of the doctor. It changed the practice and it grew because the patients were able to see that this was a real person and a patient. That's like the ultimate bit of sharing is you and your medical provider and that made a difference to his practice. So success stories. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna say that that I've had the the best uh time doing this because I'm learning. I'm learning as I go and and I'm picking up things well, and you're going back to your comment on daniel. 

Chris Baker

19:31

It's so important, like if you're going to your doctor's website right and you're trying to see who this person is right, and you don't have a picture of the doctor himself. Skip right over it. It's who am I going to visit. You know who is this person and you don't have anything. So having an updated head headshot looking like you, right? You know, we recommend every two years at minimum, right, always get a new headshot because you want it to look like you, so that when you're out in public, like, oh yeah, I do know who you are. I checked out your website and I saw you, so, yeah, it does make a difference. 

Josh Fertel

20:09

We've had two technology companies we had Amy and we had Jen, two different companies who deal with patient payments, which is so important because one of the biggest flaws that a practice has is that they don't collect patient payments, and to get their word out and then use their services has been a great success. So I can't think of anything negative that's come out of this, and really I've grown. I can't think of anything negative that's come out of this, um, and and really I, I, I've grown, you know, I think I'm better at what I do because of it, absolutely Um so I have a question about your personal experiences and the challenges. 

Chris Baker

20:51

Okay, um, that motivated you you know beyond to create the angry beller. So what challenges have you faced in the creation of the angry beller? So what challenges have you faced in the creation of the angry beller, basically that you didn't really think about when you're like hey, I want to make a podcast yeah gee, that's I will tell you, the challenges have been minimal. 

Josh Fertel

21:14

I'm, you know, finding the right people to come on as guests actually a little bit easier than I thought it was going to be. Oh good, and as we're growing and as we're getting more traction, it seems to be getting easier Coming up. You know, the one thing I don't do is I don't pregame with anybody, I don't go over the questions. I want it to be a conversation that we're having over the questions. I want it to be a conversation that we're having. So I want to make sure that I'm prepared and that I'm listening, to make sure that I can respond to questions where it's not me just drilling, drilling, drilling. What about this, what about this, what about this? I want to have a conversation. 

21:51

So we don't prepare, so it's not scripted, it doesn't sound canned, because it's not, it's not. Even. I had my wife, lisa, on and she asked me what are you going to ask me? I was like I'm not telling you, I'm not telling you, and you know she did a great job, she did. That episode was great. Yeah, because like her, just like everybody else there, you know, I seem to be lucky enough, passionate about what they're doing. 

Chris Baker

22:16

It's true, yeah, and I didn't actually give you any of these questions at a time either, so this is completely unscripted. 

Josh Fertel

22:24

That's what it is. 

Chris Baker

22:25

But it's the raw authenticity that really makes a difference. When you're actually like getting the question, you sit back and you think, right, how am I going to respond to that? I mean just taking that extra five, 10 seconds to just think about it for a second, yes, and then respond Right, it's you like, it's 100% authentic. You, right, there's answering this question and that, I think, is what stands out on this podcast, because nothing is scripted and that's the most that is very, very, except for the magic wand question. I mean that is very, very, except for the magic wand question. I mean that one, like, if you've listened to any of the episodes, you know that one's coming, right, you know that one's coming, but other than that, like even some of the people that have been on the show, they're like oh, how do I even answer that? Like, step back and they're just not even there. My favorite the. 

Josh Fertel

23:14

My favorite thing that I hear when we're doing this is that's a great question. Yes, I love that it comes out always with the magic wands. That's a great question. But even during the podcast people say that's a great question. That is my favorite thing to hear. That means that I'm sort of doing my job. 

Chris Baker

23:30

You are doing your yeah you're doing the job. So I'm not going to ask the magic wand question because we did that in the last episode, but I would like to ask one final question for this episode, and that is what advice would you give to any business owner, anybody in this ecosystem? You're trying to help on creating a new podcast. 

Josh Fertel

23:55

Okay, you have to come up with what is going to be your mission. I listen to a lot of podcasts now because I like to pick up pointers, I like to hear how other people come, I like to hear the sound of it, right, which you know I'll come back to the question, but I think our podcast sounds good, sounds great, actually, and that's again's you, you and momo, doing that. Some are hard to listen to because maybe they're talking into their phone, so so I listen to a lot of things. So, getting back to the question is is what are you going to talk about? Right? What is it that you want? What message do you want to display? What? Uh, you know, how are you going to promote yourself? What, like? I said what? What do you? Like? I said, what do you want to accomplish? What do you want the end result to be? And then build around there. 

24:47

I've, I've always wanted, I've always known that I had to do a blog, sure, and I've been thinking about it for six months. Six months I've been thinking about what am I going to blog about? And I could not come up with anything where I'm going to be able to be consistent. And then it hit me two days ago, as I was running, as I was listening to another podcast, and, uh, anybody that knows me knows I was in the car business for the majority of my life, and so it's going to be. What has 30 years of selling cars taught me on how to be a great medical biller? And so I'm hoping to start that at the beginning of the month, and so that's the words that I want to get out there. 

Chris Baker

25:33

So, once you know your words, then the rest is going to be easy. So listening to other podcasts to help you create this podcast gave you another idea. It did so. 

Josh Fertel

25:44

there's so many ideas out now, but we belong to a group that talks about lifelong learning. Yes, we do Right. And I believe that if you and I've done this myself I don't listen to the radio anymore, I don't listen to music, I will listen to podcasts or I will try to read a book and no matter how old you are and I'm on the back nine you could always do something to improve yourself. And if you're that person, if you do one thing, if you take one class, you listen to one podcast, you read one book, you are making yourself a better person. You're constantly learning, constantly learning, because we don't know everything, Nobody knows everything, and we don't know what we don't know Right, they're laying. You never know where a bit like a amoeba of inspiration is going to come from. That gets you on a course. Wow, that's a great idea. 

Chris Baker

26:33

I look at it as all of these are stepping stones Right, and they're laid out for you in these other books because they've already been successful or they've already done it Right and you don't have to follow all of that Right. But it can maybe get you to the first one. 

Josh Fertel

26:49

That's it. 

Chris Baker

26:50

And then you're like oh, I can create this whole new path because I just got to that first one and that's all you need. It all starts with step one. It all just yeah, it starts somewhere and it just grows, it grows, that's it. Well, thank you so much for creating the Angry Biller. I'm looking forward to the next hundreds of episodes. 

Josh Fertel

27:09

We can keep going. Thank you and Momo for being partners in it, because there would be no Angry Biller without visuals by Momo. It would have been three episodes and I would have said oh nothing. But you guys keep me on track and you do such exceptional work, and I know that I'm not your only podcast. I know that you're doing this for many people and I appreciate the time that you spend with me, and let's just keep it going. 

Chris Baker

27:36

We appreciate you. Thank you so much. 

Josh Fertel

27:39

Thank you for listening today. Please follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn, and you can check us out at theangrybiller.com.