Nichole: Don't fear the unknown.

In this episode, Kristin sits down with Nichole (she/her), founder of Success on the Spectrum—the first autism treatment franchise in the U.S.—to talk about building a business that truly changes lives. What began as a personal mission to support her daughter grew into a nationwide network serving thousands of families, after Nichole saw firsthand how few spaces existed for children with autism to truly belong.

Together, they explore the intersection of purpose and profit, and what it means to build something meaningful without having it all figured out. Nichole shares how she scaled her work through franchising, empowering others to start purpose-driven businesses of their own.

This episode is a reminder that care and courage often go hand in hand. Sometimes the most impactful thing you can do is try something new and build what doesn’t yet exist.

How to get in touch:

• Success on the Spectrum
• SOS Francising

Transcript

Kristin 0:03

Welcome to Everything Counts But Nothing Is Real, a podcast about careers, detours, and the absurdity of work. Here we explore the twists, the pivots, and the tiny choices that shape our work lives with humor, feminism, and honesty. I'm your host, Kristen. Let's get into it. Hello, and welcome to Everything Counts But Nothing Is Real. Today's guest is Nicole Sheher, the founder of Success on the Spectrum, the first autism treatment franchise in the U.S. Nicole helps aspiring entrepreneurs to open their own purposeful business and build something that truly matters. For Nicole, this isn't just about building clinics. It's about building a future where more children are seen, more parents are supported, and more entrepreneurs find purpose in the process. Welcome, Nicole. Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to have you. This is so interesting. Like, what an interesting model. I can't wait to talk about your work that you currently do. But I want to know what you tell people you do.

Nichole 1:06

Well, what I do has changed over the last 10 years because in the beginning, I opened my own autism clinic and I was there in the clinic every day watching the kids get their treatment and teaching them to talk and potty training and getting hugs. And now it's changed where I now teach people to open and run their own clinics. So I guess nowadays the joy that I get is from helping entrepreneurs start their dream business and accomplish all the successes that I did in the past.

Kristin 1:40

I want to dig into all of the twists and turns, but first I want to ask you how did you make the decision to sort of pivot into helping others find their purpose?

Nichole 1:50

Honestly, I don't think I made the decision. I think the decision made me. It was so wild because I had a career in nuclear medicine. Total, like my degree is is totally irrelevant to all of this. But when I got married to a man with a child with autism, I became mama to this little girl who needed me and who needed help. And when the system failed her, I didn't start out to help other people. It began with just wanting to help her and it grew out of control.

Kristin 2:22

I mean, it's such a like a beautiful thing to grow out of control. I think that's incredible. Yeah.

Nichole 2:26

What a happy accident.

Kristin 2:27

You're right. Exactly. I like to kick off the interviews usually with like a little reflection on our backgrounds. So I'm so interested in, you know, how you grow up, your siblings, your family, your astrology, if that's a thing that you do. What are the things from childhood that really set you on this path?

Nichole 2:45

I grew up in a little itty-bitty small town. I always wanted something bigger for my own life. Both of my parents were entrepreneurs. They both had their own businesses, but they didn't always go well. But watching their failures taught me how to avoid them. And I think, you know, my first job, of course, was, you know, it as any child who has a parent who owns their own business. I was free labor for my mother at her business. And being the owner's daughter, the other employees thought that if I made all the decisions in her absence, that I wouldn't get in trouble. So I was basically treated as a manager from 16 years old.

Kristin 3:29

Wow.

Nichole 3:30

And having to make big decisions quickly with the business in mind, but also helping the customer get what they need to be happy. I think that really helped me grow into a person that wasn't afraid of taking that leadership position and taking on that responsibility. And I think fear is what stops most people from advancing in their careers or branching off into something that belongs to them.

Kristin 3:54

Wow. I mean, that's an incredible start to the working world. Okay, so I want to go into your early adulthood after studying in college. Where did you land?

Nichole 4:04

I graduated with a bachelor's in nuclear medicine. And I wanted to move to the big city. So I moved states and I drove over to Houston, which is, you know, the biggest city in the South. And I started my career working in the hospital systems here. I did a lot of diagnostic imaging. I did a lot of cancer scans for the hospitals here. And that's where I met my first husband. He was a doctor. And it was a whirlwind type of thing. We were the scandal. It was so scandalous. The doctor asked the new girl out. It was kind of fun. And as I got to integrate in with his family and his children, that's when I was introduced into autism and meeting this little girl and really falling in love with his child way before I fell in love with him because of how innocent and sweet and beautiful she was. I fell in love with the idea of being a mom.

Kristin 5:03

And so you really committed from the start to her and her care.

Nichole 5:08

I don't think I had a choice. My heart was just in it. It wasn't even a decision. It was this is this is where I am now. And I would do, like any mother, you would do anything for your kid. You would die for your kid. You would care for your kid. You would do anything. And when a child has this diagnosis that requires them to have special help, you do anything to give that to them.

Kristin 5:28

Absolutely. A personal note is that I am actually in the middle of getting licensed to foster. And so I actually really love hearing these stories of like an immediate love and an immediate desire to move mountains. I think that's really beautiful.

Nichole 5:42

It's it's a biological drive that honestly, if you have it, you can't help it.

Kristin 5:47

Can you tell me about some of the things you witnessed in those early days? Maybe they were educational hurdles. What were the things that you started to see that made you start to think about opening a clinic?

Nichole 5:58

So it all starts out with where do you put a child with autism? Where do you put a child that's different? Because we got kicked out of, I can't even tell you how many daycares for, oh, she bit somebody, oh, she wouldn't listen, oh, she doesn't talk, or oh, she's not potty trained and she's smearing her poop everywhere. Um it felt like there was no place where she was accepted. She was always the trouble child in the group. Nobody wanted her, no one understood her. I wanted to find a place where she belonged. And what I didn't know at the time was how prevalent autism is. Every year, more and more kids get diagnosed. The CDC's most recent release of information, their data says that one in 31 children are diagnosed with autism before they turn eight. So it's two and a half percent of the population. And every year that rate gets higher and higher and higher. So more and more kids need help, but the number of clinics, the autism treatment clinics that exist, cannot keep up with that pace. And so there are wait lists to get into this place. Even in Houston, the quote unquote medical capital of the world, there are at least six-month waiting lists at every single ABA clinic in this city, even present day. And so when I tried to get her into an autism therapy clinic, we had to wait. And it took forever. And so these daycares and these preschools that were just kicking her out in the meantime, just floating her around, it breaks your heart. And you're like, she needs this, she needs this. It's heartbreaking, really. And when she finally got into the ABA clinic, oh my goodness, it rocked our world. She learned to talk, she potty trained, she started making eye contact. Her tantrums became less frequent and less intense. She was able to communicate, she learned how to write her name. She was interacting with other kids. But as a mama, you stopped getting those phone calls that say, you need to come pick her up because she's being bad today, or you need to pick her up because she bit somebody. She was just among other kids like her. She wasn't the troublemaker anymore. The people who worked there understood her. They accepted her and they helped her through those hard moments instead of rejecting her for it. And it was finally a place where she belonged.

Kristin 8:19

So you got to watch her start to thrive. What kind of work were you doing during this time, pre-launching your business?

Nichole 8:26

I was still in nuclear medicine, of course, but I would attend the parent training classes that this autism therapy clinic put out every week. And I started to learn the in and outs of ABA therapy and the fundamentals behind behavior modification and how a nonverbal child can learn just as much as a verbal child as long as it's taught in a different way. And it, you know, I did a lot of psychology classes in college for the nuclear medicine degree, and everything kind of clicked in place. It's so functional, it's so real world. I fell in love with the process of if I want this child to learn this skill, how can I teach her without being able to sit down and talk to her and explain it because she doesn't maybe understand language. And it was, it was a cool experience. But the next problem, the next hurdle hit me like a ton of bricks. When she turned seven, they said, Oh, congrats. She's graduated from the program. You can put her in school now. And she wasn't ready for that. And I discovered that the majority, vast majority of autism therapy clinics throughout the country only accept children up through age six. And once you become school aged, they basically kick you out, and now you're the school district's problem. So we were again left with nothing, with no place where she belonged. And God bless Texas, but the school systems here are a dumpster fire. And I just could I could not subject her to that before she was ready. And that's when I decided to open my own ABA clinic, just a small little side hustle. I wasn't gonna quit my job. It was just gonna be a maybe two or three kid thing to help pay for the salary of an analyst. I knew I would take a loss, but it was gonna be a tax write-off, so it was fine. And it was gonna be this little private thing just for her and maybe a few other kids. And that's when I made my next surprising discovery. One discovery being that I enjoyed helping those other kids as much as I enjoyed helping mine. And two, oopsie daisies, this is actually profitable. Oh, that is a surprise. What I love about ABA therapy is the families that are so desperate for this help that are paying out of the bazoo to be kicked out of daycares or childcare facilities. ABA therapy is completely covered by health insurance. So I was able to help these kids without the financial burden and charging them all the money to do all this. I just charged their health insurance and make claims to their health insurance. And ABA therapy pays well. I get $10,000 a month per kid. Could you imagine having a daycare bill of $10,000 a month? Nobody could afford that. Yeah. But these families pay nothing. And we're able to give one-on-one instruction to all of these kids. And they come in not knowing how to talk, not potty training, not being able to eat mini foods, not understanding language, and they come out a completely new person. That is amazing.

Kristin 11:32

And you don't have to, to the point about insurance, you don't have to feel like you're exploiting. I think that there'd be like an amount of guilt of like I'm making these families pay so much to care for their child, but in fact, it's well supported.

Nichole 11:46

I love that part about it. I love that I'm giving them the help that they need and it's not costing them anything out of their pocket. And it surprised me that this little side business that was just going to be a tax start-off actually was profitable. And so I was able to expand. I was able to let more kids in. I had no limits. I took kids up to age 18. And there were so many mamas that were calling me, just crying, oh my God, nobody's taken him for years. We couldn't find a place for him for years. You took him, you have a place for him. Like just all the emotions that I went through, the anger, the grief, the negotiations, the all of that I just got from them. And I was able to help them through that emotional part of their life. The relief that I gave to these families to relive that through them just made me feel happy all over again, you know?

Kristin 12:39

Yeah. And there is something to be said about belonging for also the parents. This like soft landing space where not only is their child seen, but they're being seen.

Nichole 12:50

I agree. It's so hard and isolating to be a parent with autism because your kid doesn't get invited to the birthday parties. Yeah. And you're not going on vacations and having fun and play dates with your friends because your child does not interact with other children the way that a neurotypical child would. And so you don't get invited anywhere and you can't go places. And it the freedom and the mama moments that you always wanted, that you dreamed about when you were pregnant, flop flocking hand in hand through fields. Those moments don't always happen for parents with childs with special needs. So it's it's hard. But if you find your people, if you find your clan, other autism parents, and you hang out and you vent to each other and support each other and hang out together with the weird screams and the flapping of hands and the running in circles, that's okay. You find your village and you become happy as a parent too.

Kristin 13:46

At what point in this journey did you decide to quit your job?

Nichole 13:50

So the first clinic that I opened, I was still working part-time. I had someone else kind of answering the phones and running things on the ground when I wasn't there. And eventually we got to the point where we were full and we were declining. You know, people would call and ask to enroll, and we were declining them. And I was the bad guy on the phone telling them, no, we can't take your kid. And I hated that. And so I hired this music teacher to bring in a piano and teach the kids how to play simple little things on the piano. And we put that piano right next to the wall and we've cranked it up as loud as we could until the neighbors moved out. And then we rented their space and expanded.

Kristin 14:29

Oh my God, brilliant.

Nichole 14:32

It's very passive aggressive. But we did it. So we got that extra space. And when we expanded, I said, I don't even want to go back to work anymore. This is where I want to be. And so I finally quit. I was in the office every day. Eventually, that expansion, which allowed us to take more kids, that became full. So I opened another clinic, a second one on the opposite side of town. And I said, Ha, I'm gonna fix this problem. It's gonna be twice as big as the first. That way we don't have to kick the neighbors out. And I rented the biggest space I could think of. It was, it was like 6,500 square feet, and that clinic became full in six months.

Kristin 15:10

Wow.

Nichole 15:11

That is just, I mean, stunning. I knew that this problem was bigger than what one person could fix. I knew that I could have opened three, four, five clinics and spread myself so thin that I wouldn't have time to be a mom anymore. But that's not what I wanted. And I didn't want to fix a problem just in my little corner of the world. Eventually, someone, and I can't remember who, but someone joked, ha ha, you should franchise the business. And I went, maybe I will. Yeah. And that's what I did. I franchised, I figured it out, I read books, I watched YouTube videos, I talked to a bunch of different lawyers on how to do it. I couldn't afford a lot of things. I couldn't afford a trademark attorney. I watched YouTube videos and trademarked it myself with no attorney. And it got approved. And I was like, look how good I am at this time. I can do anything. Um, it was great. And so the business structure was there. And the very first two franchisees were actually people I knew, people who had worked for me and wanted to expand on everything we were doing. And it started from there. And after the website went up, people from different states started calling and saying, This is a good business model. Can you teach us how to do this? We don't know anything about it. And present day, it's March 2026. We have 88 locations open and running across 19 different states, and we have 30 more in the pipeline. And by my count, we have served collectively over 5,000 families.

Kristin 16:46

That is amazing. That is congratulations.

Nichole 16:49

Thank you.

Kristin 16:50

One of my questions was going to be how do people find you to become franchisees? But it seems like, you know, they're finding you.

Nichole 16:57

They're finding me. We have the website, of course, and we do advertise a little bit at franchise shows. People who are shopping for businesses can go to these franchise shows and there's little booths, and you walk around and you look at all these business ideas and see what you want to do. But most of our franchisees are from corporate America, that they're tired of making their boss rich, they're tired of their opinions not mattering. You know, in corporate America, everything is not very efficient. And they're like, hey, there's a better way to do this that'll save the company money. And they're like, oh no, no, we're doing it this way because that's the protocol. And, you know, people who who are working hard but not enjoying the spoils of that or they want to make a difference, those are the people that usually find us. And even if they have no experience with autism or kids or ABA at all, that's okay. I teach them how to do everything. And we hire the autism professionals to work for us to actually work with the kids themselves. But the CEOs handle the business side, the payroll, the bookkeeping, the taxes, the hiring, the firing, all the administrative work is what the CEO will do. And then these people get to be profitable while helping all these families and seeing these kids say their first words or making eye contact with their mom or asking for a hug for the first time. It is a very rewarding business to be in.

Kristin 18:19

I think that's, you know, what a lot of people are searching for when it comes to work is the ability to make money because we have to, and also like feeling good about it at the end of the day. And so you've really found this perfect sweet spot that also really helps children and families.

Nichole 18:35

It checks all the boxes. I think most people think that a purposeful business needs to be a nonprofit or a charity. And for the most part, that's true because you can't exploit people that you're trying to help. But in this particular industry, you are able to make profit with a purpose.

Kristin 18:53

That's so good. Do you mind if we transition to the lightning round? Let's do it. Okay, it is a little lighthearted, but I'm looking forward to your answers. Um, and you kind of already answered the first question, but we're gonna go back to it. And that is what was the very first job you ever had and what did it teach you about work?

Nichole 19:10

I worked for my mom at a fitness gym, and it taught me to make leadership decisions. It taught me my work ethic, of course, and it just gave me leadership skills.

Kristin 19:23

You were young, so were you ever like, oh, I'm a leader? Like just kind of immediately internalized to that?

Nichole 19:29

I think it just internalized. No one ever called me a leader, and I there certainly didn't call myself a leader, but they're like, hey, we can't reach your mom and this person is mad. What do we do? And I'm like, I'll just take care of it. And you just you just jump in there and you you get it done, you know?

Kristin 19:43

It's so empowering. I was a you know, I was a kid that loved to be in charge of shit, and I would have loved a pretty bossy role.

Nichole 19:50

Gotta say, gotta say.

Kristin 19:53

Um, what is the best or worst piece of advice you've ever received?

Nichole 19:57

Oh, so when I started SOS and I was thinking about franchising, one of my husband's friends was a lawyer. So I tried to get free advice from him. And I told him that I wanted to do this. And he looked at me, you know, little doctor's wife. I was 29 years old. And he was like, You can't do this. He's like, This is difficult. There's a lot of laws in place. You don't know what you're doing. Like, why don't you just open a little Etsy shop? I could have slapped him in the face. Oh my God. Honestly, it just like made me more resolved on what I was going to do. But yeah, the advice he gave me was basically to give up. I hope he thinks about that day.

Kristin 20:37

I hope, I hope he knows how successful. I hope he knows. Um, what is your most embarrassing work story? Okay. I hope this is okay to say on your podcast. I'm sure that it is. Whatever it is.

Nichole 20:51

We had this six-year-old boy that enrolled into my clinic, and he had never spoken a word before, a word, six years old. And I really, really wanted his first words to be, I love you, mom. And so we started this program where we said it in front of him. And even if he imitated certain sounds, we would reward him and give him high fives and hugs, and we wanted to associate these words with like feel-good stuff for him. We were working so hard with this kid. And one day I bought this new trampoline because mom said that he loved trampolines. So I bought a trampoline for him, and I went into the playroom and I was setting everything up and putting everything together with this stupid screwdriver, and I'm on the floor and I'm irritated. And this kid walks by the hall with his therapist, and he sees what I'm doing, and he looks at that trampoline and he said, Oh shit. So then I had to explain to his mom that his first word was a bad four letter word, but I swear that I wasn't the one that taught it to him. But it was in context, like, good job. Yes, that's such a win. I was a little embarrassed to tell his mom that his first word was shit.

Kristin 22:00

You're like, we're doing great work over here and also Right.

Nichole 22:05

But also swear we weren't teaching him this.

Kristin 22:08

I mean, that I think though that that's such a win because of the context and because knowing how to curse is such an advanced language skill. What is your socially acceptable work vice?

Nichole 22:25

So it can't be all work. It's gotta be fun too. And I don't have many hobbies because work takes up so much of my time, but I do use the business a little bit to sponsor my hobbies. So I guess that's a vice. I use company funds or marketing funds, I guess, to fund my hobby, which is I love to race cars. So I bought a BMW and I tricked it out and I slapped the logo on the side of it, and that is my work advertising expense. And any frustration I had at work or if my mind is just too busy, I will get in that race car and I will just drive it as fast as I can and I will blow tires and I will run off of the track into the dirt. And I did hit a tire wall once. That was not fun. But I love it, I love it so much. So I I cheat a little bit to enjoy my hobby.

Kristin 23:20

I mean, that's it's so it's so perfect. What a great combo. What's something about your job that sounds impressive but isn't actually that glamorous?

Nichole 23:30

When I meet a new person and they're like, what do you do? And I just have to stand here and be like, oh, I run a national autism therapy franchise. I'm the CEO of the very first ABA franchise in existence. And it sounds very glamorous, right? But I'm like, I just do a bunch of Zoom calls and I talk to people a lot. It's not like I'm in private jets or anything. You know what I mean? But that's what people imagine.

Kristin 23:58

Oh, yeah. You hear the word CEO and you're like, oh, so that's fancy.

Nichole 24:02

They're like, she has a closet full of suits and she has private planes. And nope, nope, I I drive a Lexus. It's fine.

Kristin 24:09

Like you're like, I wear soft pants.

Nichole 24:12

Yeah, I'm just in here in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Kristin 24:15

Yep. Do you fix typos in casual communication?

Nichole 24:20

Absolutely. So, especially in business, I'll use that speech to text feature a lot. And it will certainly just screw up everything that you're trying to say. And so to edit those type, oh yes, absolutely. Well, I probably edit everything I I send out.

Kristin 24:37

I do think that the wildest typos come from talk to text. It really does. It makes it look stupid sometimes. Like you're having a stroke or something. It's like, oh wow. The last question is what would your advice be to someone who feels off track right now?

Nichole 24:56

If you're feeling off track, that is destiny calling you to say you're not where you're supposed to be. And like I said before, fear of the unknown is really what stops people from trying something new that potentially they could be really successful at? You can always learn things. And I think people are afraid to learn new things. They stick with the familiar. If they want to open a business, they go with the Pizza Hut because they're familiar with Pizza Hut and they love pizza and everybody eats pizza. But does it make you feel excited to wake up in the morning? Are you brave enough to start something new that you know nothing about and figure it out as you go and ask questions as you go and watch YouTube videos as you go and get it done? So yeah, I think anybody could do anything if they got over that fear of the unknown. That's an excellent place to leave this. How can folks find you? If you're interested in opening your own ABA therapy clinic or learning more, you can find information on our website, SOSfranchising.com. But if you are a mother or a father of a child with autism that's looking for high quality services, you can learn more about our ABA clinics at successonthespectrum.com.

Kristin 26:10

Beautiful. Perfect. I will include those links in the show notes to make it easy. And I really, really appreciate your time today.

Nichole 26:17

Thank you so much. And for you guys listening out there, please give Kristen five stars on whatever platform you're listening on. She comes up with the best questions. These lightning rounds are so much fun. She really researches and understands the host before we even come on. And she deserves that applause.

Kristin 26:36

Oh my gosh. I'm gonna cut that and put it somewhere. That's fantastic. Thank you. That's so nice.

Nichole 26:42

You're welcome. You deserve it.

Kristin 26:44

Oh, I appreciate it, and I appreciate you. So thank you. Okay, so fun fact. This is my first interview to publish with a stranger. And what like a really fun one to start with. I think that she is such a ray of sunshine and such an amazing blend of everything we talk about here, which is like mission driven, meets, you know, making money because we gotta meets having like a real philosophy. And so I really was inspired by Nicole. I think there's something really powerful about choosing to build something that helps people, especially when it's for uh, you know, children who can't advocate for themselves yet. I know that that work takes a lot of patience and empathy. But what I was really struck by is that this conversation is not only about care. It was about being willing to try something new and to take a risk. She was like, hey, I'm gonna try this thing. It's necessary. And then it turned out to be successful. But the thing I want to really like put a pin in, put a star on. What I really, what I really want to emphasize is that she took the risk. She didn't actually know if this would be successful. It was just something she knew she had to try. And so now she encourages folks to try things. And I think it's just a really important lesson to think about how trying something new isn't necessarily separate from caring. Oftentimes it's the thing that allows us to expand our care. And so, in her words, don't be afraid to try it. Nicole already did my little plea for reviews and engagement, which was so nice. So we can check that off. Yay! But do come find us, do come say hi. And as always, thank you, thank you, thank you for listening. Thanks for listening to everything counts, but nothing is real. Remember, even when nothing feels real, everything you do counts. Capitalism may be absurd, but so are we. And on that note, well, it's been real. Don't forget to subscribe. I'm Kristen. See you next time.