Always Outrageous with Dr. Gyl
Welcome to Always Outrageous with Dr. Gyl, where Dr. Gyl, a successful audiologist-turned-entrepreneur, shares her journey of building a thriving healthcare business from the ground up. From earning $5 an hour to navigating the challenges of securing loans, managing finances, and growing a practice, Dr. Gyl offers valuable insights for healthcare professionals and small business owners looking to make their mark.
In each episode, Dr. Gyl provides real-world advice on overcoming obstacles, making data-driven decisions, and running a business with family. Packed with actionable tips and motivational stories, Always Outrageous with Dr. Gyl is your go-to resource for turning professional expertise into entrepreneurial success. Ready to take your practice to the next level? Tune in and get inspired!
Always Outrageous with Dr. Gyl
Small Touches, Big Returns: Ownership Lessons You Can’t Ignore
From inheriting a thriving hearing healthcare practice to navigating the realities of ownership, Julie’s story is a masterclass in growing an already-successful business while keeping your team—and yourself—balanced and motivated.
When Julie took over a business doing ten times the revenue of the average practice, she didn’t just maintain it—she expanded it. Drawing from nearly a decade of working inside the practice before buying it, she reveals how knowing your numbers (like help rate, revenue per hour, and cost of goods) is the key to making smart decisions and protecting profitability.
Staffing challenges? Julie tackles them with a mix of strategy and creativity—from incentives and team recognition to comfy breakroom chairs, ice machines, and even “Christmas in July” surprises. She shares how small, thoughtful touches keep her team engaged, productive, and loyal, which directly translates to better patient care.
We also dive into marketing in today’s world, from AI-driven websites to car shows in the parking lot, and why sometimes the best way to reach new patients is to go where they already are. Julie doesn’t shy away from the hard truths of ownership—like holding people accountable to monthly goals, navigating debt, and setting boundaries when working with family—but she proves that with clear systems, a bit of innovation, and a focus on relationships, a small-town business can achieve big-time results.
Whether you’re stepping into a business you’ve worked in for years or buying one from the outside, this episode delivers practical advice on leadership, marketing, and building a workplace where people—and profits—can thrive.
Hi, welcome to the always outrageous Dr Jill podcast. I'm so excited to be bringing you some new information today. This is the number one podcast for hearing healthcare professionals. Our goal is to give you some tips for running a better business and making your life easier. You know, as the creator of a very large business in a small town, I want to tell you about some wonderful business tips, and it's not rocket science, it's just business and that's what we're going to share with you today. So today I want to welcome my guest, julie Dunsing.
Speaker 1:Julie is a new business owner Well, not really new. It's been what? Two and a half years already. Yeah, and so many people write to ask me what's it like to start a new business? And I've helped other people start businesses and they've done really well. But Julie's done exceptionally well because she came into, she'd been working in this business for quite a few years, but I mean, it was a big business doing 10 times that of an average practice, and she's even made it grow so well. You set me up for success. It was already successful.
Speaker 1:We weren't going to tell you that she walked into my business, but we're going to tell you now, surprise. We've known each other for a very long time. What has it been? I won't tell people how old you are, but that's how long I've known her, but she's done a great job with the business and she's had some obstacles but she's had a lot of opportunities. So, julie, first of all, tell everybody what they want to know.
Speaker 1:What's it like owning your own business? It's very satisfying, rewarding. It's a lot of work too. Yeah, so you worked in the business for almost 10 years 9 years, right, and so what's so different? Because so many people will ask you know you worked in the business. What's so different about owning it as versus managing it? You know, I can't honestly say there's a lot that feels different. I mean, you were so great in just giving me the opportunity to really experience so much of that and kind of where that weight felt and and set. At the end of the day, I'm not sure that that's the same for everybody. That's looking, you know, or that's going to purchase practice, but uh, there, I think that's part of what has worked well is so much of it is still the same and and consistent. I mean sure you know the business had been around a long time, right, and all the best practices. I mean all that is already in place, so that makes it so much easier.
Speaker 1:You walked into a lot of policies and procedures, a lot of which you created yourself, so it wasn't like starting from scratch. So I know people used to ask me do you think you have to work in the business before you would buy a business? What would you tell somebody who's looking at buying a practice? You know, I don't think I mean. I think for me, being brand new to the industry, it was super important to be involved and you know work in it first. You know work in it first. I think if you're in the industry in some aspect I can think of you know somebody else, a friend of ours that was in the industry didn't work directly in that business and was very successful, but I do think it helped me personally to work in it and be involved and learn a lot of that. Well, don't you think too that if you're working in the business, you at least know something about how well the business is doing For sure?
Speaker 1:You know I've known several people who somebody wanted them to buy their business and they walked into it and if one of two things happened either A, they helped the business do a lot better and now the owner didn't want to sell it, which you know. They helped the business do a lot better and now the owner didn't want to sell it, which you know. It is hard to sell a business. If you've been in it for the long haul, it's hard to give that up. But also, some people walked into it really not knowing what to expect and it was so much different than what they expected. So are there any things that are a lot different than what you expected?
Speaker 1:You know, I think in business and this is certainly something that you drilled in me over and over is all about the numbers. I mean, that part doesn't lie. So once you know those numbers, you know what you're getting into. So I could see, because I've talked to other people as they get in there hey, what's your ASP, what's your? You know cost of goods, what's your? I don't know, I don't know, you know. I mean. So it's hard to know what you're getting into if you don't have somebody in that business. That's tracking that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you talk to people, do you think that most hearing healthcare professionals really track their numbers the way they should? Yeah, no, just at your WOW event when we asked some questions about that. You know, raise your hand if you know what your revenue per hour is. Or you know and very, very few people raise their hand so how you know, that's a very important. All those numbers are so important to how successful your business is and what you're getting yourself into. So, yeah, if you don't work in that business, you got to be able to make sure that you're getting at least good, reliable data to look at.
Speaker 1:So what would you recommend for people looking at buying a business? What are the, let's say, five key things that they should track? Well, certainly, from a professional standpoint, knowing what their help rate is right, because that lets you know where the opportunity is or what training or coaching needs to be done, and that is something that can vary by the month even. Or, if you see a dip, then you know where your opportunity is. So certainly you know that help rate, your cost of goods is extremely important to know if you're in line with. You know, and what your profitability, what my potential for your profitability is like, revenue per hour are important because it helps to show your efficiency and and how that you know somebody trying to say, and just how your team is working and where your opportunity is to work more efficiently.
Speaker 1:That's where you brought in, I'm sure, assistance. Oh yeah, make good use of, you know, time that doesn't require that professional's expertise. I brought in a fish because I lived in a small town trying to grow a business. I mean, I brought in assistance 35 years ago. I know it doesn't possibly look that I could be that old to bring in assistance and make sure that I go sideways and suck my gin up and suck my gin up, but yeah it is.
Speaker 1:It's so critical and you know, using assistants which you do and have we have for a long time, you know, has been so critical to productivity. You know now it's hard to find an audiologist, it's hard to find an HIS, and so have you found that staffing has gotten tougher for you, or how has that changed over the course of the last two and a half years since you've owned the business? You know, I don't know that it's necessarily changed. I think staffing has always been a kind of challenge but a critical piece, and certainly you know there's fewer people in the industry and so we really have to work to make them as efficient as possible, which is why we use the assistance but also why we need to. I mean, I find I spend a little more time just, or awareness, on making sure that the team has what they need, that they're trained, that they're engaged, that they're empowered, that they're satisfied, so that we can keep that core group and many of them have met with us for a number of years, which is so important.
Speaker 1:Otherwise, you know, as you're going to hire, you've got to find especially in a small business, you know you've got to find it is a small town and in a small town. You know you've got to find a small town and in a small town you've got to find the right people that are going to mesh with the rest of that team. And when they're taken care of, then they in turn take care of patients. You know that was interesting when you said that I have to smile because I don't think I'm as nice as you are. Well, actually I know I'm not as nice as you are, but you know I always would let the staff know where they're at and what I expected, and I certainly rewarded them monetarily, but I don't think I did as much as you've been doing to really nurture the relationship. So if you had to give some advice, because staffing is, you know, when you have to get rid of people and hire new people. There's more training, there's more time. It takes so much more work, which I just didn't like I got to tell you. But so tell everybody how you do that, how you nurture those relationships, and some of the things you've done that really have helped. You know you keep a staff longer have helped. You know you keep a staff longer.
Speaker 1:I think everybody likes, whether they believe it or say it or not. Obviously they are motivated by incentives, which you've always had a great program in place and we've just kept that carrying on. You know, certainly reward and recognition, but I've tried to look for the little things. You know people that don't leave the building for their lunch. Where do they take their lunch hour? They're sitting back at a table with a hard old chair. So we bought new furniture for the break room with a comfy chair. The weather is nice, they want to sit outside. We added, I mean, a little chair with an umbrella, so when they want to spend some time and kind of get away, a little chair with an umbrella, so when they want to spend some time and kind of get away, even though they really don't leave the office. They have a great place to sit with a nice umbrella if the weather's nice. I mean just little things that they may mention. I found out you know somebody, one of our team members loves ice and we don't have ice because our freezer is packed with cookies, but cookies that you pay. So we don't have room for ice, so we bought an ice machine. You would have thought they won the lottery. They absolutely love having an ice machine back there. So I just try to pay attention to the little things that may make a bigger difference in just how people are. You know they spend so much time. There should be a comfortable environment. They should have. You know the little things that Now you did something recently I thought was really creative and innovative the Christmas in July.
Speaker 1:Tell everybody about that. Right right, that was. Our team's been working really hard, as you know. You know we've had a shift in professionals. Somebody that you know, kind of retired, moved out of the area so we had new people in and, just as you know, the staffing has changed. Recognize because, again, that they've been working hard and doing above and beyond and kind of going doing more for patients, as well as you know each other.
Speaker 1:I felt less surprise them. I mean, we have still that same thing in place where we want them to do an act of kindness an outrageous act for a patient. So I thought I could just give them a bonus. But what fun is that? So we had Santa. That's just how people that might be, well, I know, but I mean it is, but it's still, you know, trying to do something outrageous for them, right, just like we ask for them to do for our patients. So we brought Santa in in July with a you know, a spot bag, he played music, he rang his bell and surprised everybody at one of our meetings and did Christmas in July and gave them gifts as well, as you know, a bonus. But it was just more the way that we gave it to them that made it a little extra. See, that's great. You don't have to do a lot, you just have to be creative and innovative and let them know you care.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember I did an exit interview quite a few years ago from a woman that was leaving and we were having too much turnover, and so I sent the exit interview to her and when I got it back it said a few words of praise go a long way, boy, did. I feel like my mother and I thought you know? And so I called her then and I apologized and said obviously, you know I'm so sorry that you left. I didn't handle things the way I should have and you know I appreciate your feedback because that helps make me better and helps make things better in the future. So thank you for sending that. And I mean she still talks to me, so I guess that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:Right, you know, and it is hard with staffing, and what do you do if they don't hit their goals are just kind of a reset to say, okay, yep, what am I doing differently, especially if help rate is off? Or you know referrals that's an easy category that we can track and monitor. Where are they coming from? What could we be doing differently? So it's always good to go back rather than just say nope, missed it. You know, try again next time. What do you need? What else do you need to help you be successful at that goal? And how long, you know? How long do you let that go before you finally have to say to the person hey, it's this. You know you've got to hit these goals. I've done everything I can. Then what? Yeah, I've done everything I can. Then what? Yeah, I mean we have a whole you know best practice in place to say you know, you start with, you know a verbal and a discussion and all of that's in the policy.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure you can let it go more than three months really, which is good, because you probably give them a three-month probationary period anyway. That's never the fun part, but you know, you know when they're not. I mean we had someone recently that it wasn't even three months because you know when you know, you know, and when you know you know why drag it on. Right, because it's such a negative to everybody else. It is, and everybody notices, right, they notice that that person's not doing their job.
Speaker 1:And so you know, I've had a lot of people tell me recently, you know, with the changes in our government and some of the things happening in the country, they're really worried about business. You know, how do you feel about business right now? Do you feel like there's still lots of opportunities out there? I mean, how do you feel business is going right now? Yeah, I don't think. I mean, I think there's always things that are going to happen in the world and in the economy. I don't think that's this is anything new, right?
Speaker 1:I think sometimes, when we don't make our numbers, we always look for some kind of excuse oh it was an election year, oh, the weather was bad, or oh you know. But it just comes back down to I mean, I don't you probably know all the numbers. More specifically, I mean, look at how many more people are entering the market for hearing devices and what that inversion rate is. I mean, I just read something not that long ago. I thought it's down to like 16 or 17% of the people that have a hearing loss that actually do something about it. So there's opportunity, and that's why that help rate is so important, because if you finally get the people in your office that have waited maybe eight years, that's why it's so important to track the help rate and to help them improve it, because that is opportunity.
Speaker 1:That's so being wasted and nobody seems to talk about that. That's always been one of the things that made me crazy, you know now, um, do any of the staff get irritated by having to track stuff? Because that's the important thing, right is that you don't track it all. They have to track it and then bring it to you and get those incentives. Yep, um, I don't think they get irritated. I I think, you know, some days are busier than others, so some days they don't update it. And then I mean, I know what it's like on some of the things that I do. If I get behind, it's like, oh, it's so hard to dig out, so it's just doing it daily and making it just part of that process, and then you know, then they can see for themselves oh wow, I'm down a little bit in this category. So I got to pay attention to X, y or Z. So true, you know, I noticed that when I wouldn't track my help rate, I'd be all I'm doing okay, and then I'd look at and go, oh, my God, I'm better than this. I need to get back in, you know, in line.
Speaker 1:Now, what about marketing? How's the marketing been going and are there any innovative things you've been doing, or do you find that it's a challenge all the time? Marketing is like my least favorite. You remember my store? Yeah, you know. Yeah, I am. I know nothing about marketing, I don't, so I have to rely on Well, you've done it for how long I've done it, but that doesn't mean I love it, and it is ever evolving. So whatever worked 10 years ago isn't working now it's you know. So you have to pay attention and you have to use those resources and what worked six months ago might not work right now. Yeah Right, right. Or what works with one patient doesn't work with another. It's so frustrating.
Speaker 1:Have you found any companies that you just love that you have found to be really, really good in helping you with marketing? So certainly you know our manufacturer, starkey, does a great job in sharing you know what the latest is and you know all types of marketing ideas. They're great to bring that to the table. We recently switched back to CableSync to use them for marketing for our website and for, I mean, they've got a whole engagement piece for patients. I think what's fascinating is how they're now using AI to be able to adapt our website as based on what people are searching for, and they do that like ongoing and it's not like, oh, submit this request and change this topic. Their tools just automatically do that. So it is interesting, even just the Google ads and how that paid search works, and now how you're using that Google search and how AI is coming up with an answer.
Speaker 1:How you can, you know, formulate things from your website to be able to grab, because the other day I said I really need a new pair of golf shoes and all of a sudden I get this ad for this G4, you know, sale, and I ended up buying four pairs of golf shoes. I mean, do they really listen to you? You know, yeah for sure, really yes, oh, my gosh, that's fascinating. This can be good and bad, depending on what you're saying. And so have these new, what you're searching and what you're what modes of marketing really brought you more patience. So we are just switching over to all of that, but certainly from the data and the stats that we've seen, that's just. You know, that's where it's at.
Speaker 1:Do you still do traditional marketing, like print ads or open houses, direct mail? Do you still use that stuff? On occasion? I mean, we work to do some things directly with starkey in the way of a workshop, and that has always been our, you know, a very successful approach, and I think, because we don't do it monthly and we only do it quarterly, it tends to, you know, bring people out of the woodwork and we're happy for that. As a rule, though, we are doing less and less direct mail, because it does worst. And so now you talk about all these things you're doing with your staff, because I know most people, I know many people that feel so overwhelmed with I'm seeing patients, I'm managing staff, I'm doing marketing, I'm looking at numbers, and you have a family.
Speaker 1:How do you do all that? You've got to find the balance. I mean, you just have to say to yourself you've got this much time, and what are you going to do in the day? Some stuff doesn't get done. I really try to make sure that well, because Jaden, my daughter's now working there, right, so I'm just doing a great job. She is, and she wants to call and talk at the end of the day about this, that and you know, or she'll come up with some great idea, but I try to let's talk about it at this time or that time, so it doesn't become. I mean, there's got to be a balance and there's got to be kind of a little bit of a barrier, or then it does seem like you're just always working.
Speaker 1:I know, since we're related, if some people don't recognize the wonderful family resemblance, that was one thing that you would say to me is when you went to a family event, you didn't want to talk about business. Right, it's a family event, and to me, you know, it's the same thing. My husband would say Jill, I've been with you all day Now not that we were really with each other all day, but I don't want to talk about business at night. We're married, we have a life. Well, to me, business was the life, you know, and it was hard for me. Well, I know everybody says I never let anything go, and that's probably true. Well, I know it's true.
Speaker 1:But you know, it was always hard for me because my mind was always 90 percent business. You know, it's not that I didn't like when you get texts at three in the morning and four in the morning, six in the morning, with all these ideas, and then you come in to work at eight in the morning and you have 12 emails with 12 different ideas. Yeah, and so in the balance, julie, uh, she would hate it if I called her first thing in the morning because I was always asking her about this. She would be like you know, I'm trying to get ready, I have kids to get ready and you're asking me questions about business before I even get there. So that was always hard, you know, and and and what's it like? Because I know a lot of women who work with their spouses or they work with a family member. So you know how challenging was that. You could just say it was harder than I expected, to be honest, because we were really good friends and we did so much stuff together. And then it was hard when we went working together all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I think for me, like you, I am not a creative person and you had all the ideas and everything that came out of your mouth was an idea and I thought I had to act on them. Oh, and you thought you had to act on all of them. So I did get this great piece of advice, which I don't even think I ever told you, oh God, from who? From which I don't even think I ever told you. Oh God, from who I don't know. I'm not going to tell. Oh, my God, I'm not going to tell you who. But they said Julie, when she mentions it three times, then you take action, but don't take action on it. When she calls at 5 am and says hey, I got this and we should go and do this. You know, like, you just file that and then when you hear it again, and when she says it the first time, you file it. Yes, well, that's because otherwise all I had to do was just project, project, project, project, all idea.
Speaker 1:And for somebody that's not an idea, monkey, that was a lot, you know. It's interesting because I talked to your sister this morning and you know she's very much like me. I mean, she comes with these great ideas, a lot, of, a lot of which don't get fulfilled. But she has a lot of them, you know, and I said you know, I, I. That's one thing about business that I always loved.
Speaker 1:My favorite time was waking up at three, and usually that's when my husband woke up to go to the bathroom. He'd come back and I'd go hey, as long as you're up, I got this idea. And he would say now, and I'd say is there a better time? So I know a lot of people that will just that are idea monkeys would just have a piece of paper by the bed and they would write that down. So they didn't forget. And but I got to tell you you know a lot of you know there were only a couple ideas that were really that we carried through, that were really dumb ideas, like the bus was one, how do you know? But you know. But most of the ideas were good ones and you know, and I know now. But what I see in you now is you have a lot more ideas now.
Speaker 1:But that is not me on my own, it is not. I mean, I channel that from from you, from others that are, oh, we did this or we, you know, tried this or no. I don't know how this is going to go, but we're doing a car show. So I know I wondered about that. But hey, we had a couple people that you know actually it was Jordan's idea saying, hey, if they can do it, why can't we?
Speaker 1:And as we went to some of these events, we're like nobody's dying to come in to have a hearing test. We're all at 8 am. Can I get in today for a hearing test? So how, if we're not reaching them through direct mail and you know we're not finding them through the newspaper or other sources we got to go out to them. So, as we've been to some of these other car shows, who's there in the car? The husband and the wife who's there, you know, consistently in our demographic. And then we, so we thought what the heck, let's just try it. And so I'll keep you posted how that goes.
Speaker 1:Well, you know the thing is. So now we're going to have it in our parking lot and the office as you built it is unlike anything else. So how do we get people to come in and see that and experience it and have the wife say I've been trying to get him in here, you know. So we'll see. I mean, hopefully we'll have a few hundred people in a parking lot for three hours. I mean, and if you, if they have to sign up for something, some of those will come back for hearing test, right, definitely.
Speaker 1:And now they kind of trust you more because you're doing something they really enjoyed and they see you are thinking out of the box and you're catering to their interest. Most importantly, you know, because as you get a little older, I mean, people have more and more interest. You know they're very busy. I mean, look how many people have retired and they're busier than before. And the other thing about this car show is if people can afford a fancy car, they can afford hearing aids. You know what I mean, and boy, if you're driving I've done that now in Florida If you're driving around in a fancy and you know a classic car, it's not easy to hear Because they're not as quite as quiet, right, and a lot of them are convertibles. But hey, it's a great idea. You'll have to tell people how it works and you know how many ages sold off of it and all that. So in the two and a half years that you've owned the business and you've done such a great job with it and the business has grown it we're talking about a business here that does 10 times the business of a typical practice in a small town of what? 12,000 people. So keep growing it to those many millions.
Speaker 1:So you took this on and it was. I know it was a push for you in some ways. Oh, it was, and and so what kind of advice would you give with someone Cause you took on debt and anybody was going to start a practice or take one over it's going to take on some kind. What kind of advice would you give with someone Because you took on debt and anybody who's going to start a practice or take one over is going to take on some kind of debt? I mean, it's not free to start a business. So what kind of advice would you give to people about that?
Speaker 1:Well, the first thing I would say is, if you're working in the business, probably in hindsight I should have been saying stuff to you more earlier on, rather than like, yeah, I want to. I remember you saying come and be my succession plan. Perfect, yeah, that sounds great. Well, what does that actually look like? And what does that mean? Because I probably would have saved. Different plan, different. You know, and really you know, the plan was always that we should have started building up incentives for you that went towards that, so you didn't have to take on as much debt as you did, right? But?
Speaker 1:And the other thing I think is that you know I'm such a strong personality I know that's surprising to many, probably not to Julie, since she's my niece, but you know it's hard to kind of. You know we should have sat down and said let's outline it specifically because and let's outline what you want it to look like and what I want it to look like, so we're on the same page, because we weren't always on the same page, right, right, and then you muddy it with accountants and attorneys and it was just. That's the worst part. Isn't that the worst part? I mean, some of the things they wanted were just ridiculous.
Speaker 1:And so you know, I think, because we did know each other so well, you know you trusted me to do some of the negotiation and you know I would have never let things get out of hand that I knew you couldn't handle, because you know when you sell a business, you want it to go on and be even more successful than what it was. You want it to be a legacy that you built up, just like you'll want if Jaden stays in the business. You will want that to be successful. You would never want to do things so somebody didn't succeed, right.
Speaker 1:And so I think when you know somebody so well, you know if you can trust them for that or not, right? That's why it's good to have it all in writing and written down and deal with it an attorney in the beginning, so there's no questions, right? Yeah, right, and I think we did pretty well with that. We didn't really have have any knock-down drive-outs. I mean, I just think, like for me and the financing part of it, it swung from one way to another to another way. Right, the timing of when it was going to happen. Yeah, and what you have to do, you know, to talk to the small business agency, and what they requested was just ridiculous and undoable, right. And so, yeah, it's worked out great and you've been very successful at it, and so I know that we'll continue and I try not to walk in too much because I know I'm a bit of a disruption, especially when I know a lot of the people that come in and out of there.
Speaker 1:But so we just want to thank you for sharing your expertise and we'll make sure we share your email so that people can reach out to you. Is that all right? Yes, they want to. And I want to thank all my listeners, because this is Dr Jill's always outrageous podcast. I'm going to be bringing you more and more outrageous topics because I see so much on the internet and so much of that is just junk and not true. So you can always count on Dr Jill to bring you the truth, and I'll be sharing with you who some of my next guests are going to be. And I want to thank Julie for doing such a great job and sharing all of her expertise on this podcast. So, thanks, and please keep watching and share it with your friends. Thank you, thank you.