“You have to know what your strengths and your weaknesses are. You have to go in with eyes wide open…”

Interview by Kelsey Meyer of The League of Innovators
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This Interview was made possible by our friends at

The Bank of Missouri.

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MO:
Your extensive medical background prepared you for the medical side of Providence Urgent Care. What prepared you to run the business side?

Scott:
I’ve always kind of had an entrepreneurial spirit. Even in high school, I ran a small lawn care business, and took care of several people in my town. When I was in elementary school, I used to resell bubble gum to the kids. I always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but that doesn’t give you a good business acumen.

We, my partner and I, went to several conferences to look at just specifically on how to open these. We hired really intelligent people who had opened up several of these as consultants, so we had a lot of track record and history and knew what we were getting into financially before we started this. I think it’s really important to hire the professionals who know what they’re doing to kind of help guide you through that and hold your hand as you go through the business startup phase.

MO:
Your website has a feature that allows you to check-in and reserve your appointment before you arrive. Why is it important to stay on top of technology?

Scott:
Urgent Cares across the country are kind of pushing the boundaries of the traditional doctor-patient relationship. We’re making medicine more efficient, and as any businessman will tell you, that usually means a better business model. So we are always trying to adapt and stay ahead and be ahead of the curve on these things that are better for the patient and for the business.

MO:
Funding is a major obstacle in any new venture. How did you combat this obstacle?

Scott:
Funding right now is very difficult. We’re still in a time where money is tight. You have to have an excellent business plan. You have to have it written down on paper. You have to have a pro-forma that shows what you expect to happen. Again, that goes back to our consultants that we hired. We had a significant amount of help with that.

But I was the one who actually wrote the business plan from scratch. You have to know what your strengths and your weaknesses are. You have to go in with eyes wide open, and that requires it. We took that to The Bank of Missouri, and they actually tried to learn what our business was. They really listened to us and understood what we’re going to do and made sure that we had adequate funding. One of the big things, you never want to go into a business underfunded. It’s a death knell. We talked about how much funding that we needed to make sure that this became a successful business, and they listened.

MO:
Why is Columbia, MO the perfect place for Providence Urgent Care?

Scott:
Well, first off, it is where my partner and I, Jason Zerrer, live. We wouldn’t have done that if we didn’t think it would have been economically feasible though. All the demographic studies show that Columbia, Missouri was ripe for an urgent care center, a private urgent care center – the unemployment rate, the demographics, the amount of people that have private health insurance. On top of that, we have about 20% to 30% of our population is transient in nature and doesn’t necessarily have a primary care physician to go to. So we felt that all those were very important to us, and it turned out I was right.

MO:
Why do you believe it is important to have a good relationship with your banker?

Scott:
Actually knowing the bankers, because it is a partnership with the bank. They have a vested interest in you. You have a vested interest in them. Making sure you mesh with your bank, making sure you can go in and discuss potential issues and problems with them is really important. Being able to just walk in and they know you by your name, and you can discuss any problems that you may or may not be having. The Bank of Missouri is a small business itself. They’ve been through the startup phase. They can help you out. They understand the issues that small businesses face and can help walk you through some of the issues with that.

MO:
What advice can you give aspiring entrepreneurs?

Scott:
If you are going to become leveraged when you first open a business and having a significant amount of loans, make sure you have the professional ability standing behind you. Going out and paying for the knowledge that other people have is incredibly important. Trying to do this on your own is possible, but you’re going to end up wasting a lot more money than if you had gone out and hired a professional to help guide you through the startup phase.