Mental health has been such a hot topic during the recent years and with good reason! It is a serious matter that requires our society's attention. Mental illness, in its broadest sense, refers to any condition that interferes with your ability to function normally. It is a condition that can affect anyone at any age. The signs of mental illness are similar to those of physical illness and include the following: feeling anxious, sad, depressed or irritable, difficulty concentrating, abrupt mood changes, among others. Despite efforts being poured into the study of mental health and alleviation of such illnesses, there's still a huge gap that needs to be filled. The issue is that:• there's more to understand about mental health;• and there's a SHORTAGE of mental health services/professionals;• catering to the MULTITUDES AFFLICTED with mental illnesses! In that regard, Ellie Mental Health, a premier business franchise offering mental health services, has become one of the greatest gifts our society needs today! This franchise is being led by industry leaders, such as Chris Pash and Hallie Corbett, towards the direction of generating more awareness regarding mental health, and sufficiently catering to the demands for mental health care! Chris is a Co-Founder and SVP of Growth and Development for Ellie Mental Health. He has a personal connection to mental health, which drives his passion to make Ellie accessible to everyone. Hallie is the Chief Operating Officer for Ellie Mental Health. She is a fierce mental health advocate who is committed to providing an unparalleled experience for both clients and employees at Ellie, ensuring that Ellie becomes the best place for a client to receive care and also the best place for a clinician to work. At Ellie, their interests are focused on passion, community connection, entrepreneurial spirit, and ultimately client care! Where these interests can be genuinely fulfilled, business success follows! Looking to give back to society, provide for your family, and achieve the business success you’ve been dreaming of? Tune in to our Podcast to learn more about everything you WANT and NEED on franchising, investment, financing processes and options. This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future. https://www.facebook.com/lance.graulich https://ionfranchising.com/ https://eyeonfranchising.com
Mental health has been such a hot topic during the recent years and with good reason! It is a serious matter that requires our society's attention.
Mental illness, in its broadest sense, refers to any condition that interferes with your ability to function normally.
It is a condition that can affect anyone at any age. The signs of mental illness are similar to those of physical illness and include the following: feeling anxious, sad, depressed or irritable, difficulty concentrating, abrupt mood changes, among others.
Despite efforts being poured into the study of mental health and alleviation of such illnesses, there's still a huge gap that needs to be filled.
The issue is that:
• there's more to understand about mental health;
• and there's a SHORTAGE of mental health services/professionals;
• catering to the MULTITUDES AFFLICTED with mental illnesses!
In that regard, Ellie Mental Health, a premier business franchise offering mental health services, has become one of the greatest gifts our society needs today!
This franchise is being led by industry leaders, such as Chris Pash and Hallie Corbett, towards the direction of generating more awareness regarding mental health, and sufficiently catering to the demands for mental health care!
Chris is a Co-Founder and SVP of Growth and Development for Ellie Mental Health. He has a personal connection to mental health, which drives his passion to make Ellie accessible to everyone.
Hallie is the Chief Operating Officer for Ellie Mental Health. She is a fierce mental health advocate who is committed to providing an unparalleled experience for both clients and employees at Ellie, ensuring that Ellie becomes the best place for a client to receive care and also the best place for a clinician to work.
At Ellie, their interests are focused on passion, community connection, entrepreneurial spirit, and ultimately client care! Where these interests can be genuinely fulfilled, business success follows!
Looking to give back to society, provide for your family, and achieve the business success you’ve been dreaming of?
Tune in to our Podcast to learn more about everything you WANT and NEED on franchising, investment, financing processes and options.
This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future.
https://www.facebook.com/lance.graulich
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchisees, people, therapists, franchise, clients, le, business, franchising, chris, big, community, therapy, clinic, mental health, talk, important, brand, open, successful, signed
SPEAKERS
Lance, Chris, Hallie
Lance 00:02
Welcome to Eye on Franchising. Are you looking for business opportunities? Well, you are in the right place. We represent over 650 franchises and business opportunities. We will help you find your perfect franchise for free. We even have a free assessment on our website that will help us determine the best businesses for you based on your investment level, mindset, skillset, and life experiences. This is eye on franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise’s future. I'm your host Lance Graulich. Each week we will speak to fascinating folks from the world of franchising, franchisors and founders, franchise funders and franchisees, are you looking to find your perfect franchise? Or perhaps you are an independent business owner looking to grow and scale your business by setting up a franchise? Either way, our team can help you. Ion franchising where you will learn the A to Z's of a franchise. Hello everyone and welcome back to another great episode of ion franchising. I am your host, Lance Graulich. So today we have a very unique brand. I'm very excited. This is a subject actually pretty near and dear to my heart. There's a lot going on in the world of mental health today. So today, I have well number one Chris Pash, who is a co-founder of Le mental health crisis director with Best Buy for the last 20 3040 years. I'm kidding 20 years as a director from Best Buy. We'll talk about that and Hallie Corbett. Holly is the COO Chief Operating Officer. She's a big-time hockey player, although our knees are a little swollen right now. We might not have time to dive into that too. Boys married another Minnesota native Chris, I don't know if you are a Minnesota native or not through Minnesota native. Perfect. Well welcome, Hallie, and welcome, Chris to eye on franchising.
Hallie 01:02 Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having us.
Lance 01:05 Absolutely. So let's dive into it. Le mental health, le mental health. So mental health today is I in my family and friends coming out of the pandemic, especially I think we're out of the pandemic, mental health is talked about in the news and in my family every single day. And when I knew le existed, and it wasn't even on my radar, you guys just started last year. So give me a background on how this came about. Obviously, we know there's an enormous need, as far as I know, this is the only brand like it and you guys are selling like crazy. So give me the backstory on this.
Chris 02:46
Yeah, absolutely. And again, thanks for having us. It's always fun to do these podcasts. This is one of the things that's new for us as we've gotten into this. These are podcasts and interviews and whatever. So hopefully we're okay, we'll see. But, at least started in 2015. Elena was born out of the frustration of two social workers, Aaron and Kyle, that were going to the community Government Center. And we're trapped in the typical community government center lifecycle of this, we've always done things just wait. Something we may we can do this. No, we can't. And the frustration, the frustration builds, they continue to see gaps in access to quality care, and just innovative access to approach to programming. So they quit. Right? Typical Millennials would do. And they started. Le right, they went we signed a lease in St. Paul, for three offices, they've got a friend beta who comes with them. And they opened led with the idea of let's just do what we want to do and provide therapy the way we provide therapy. Right. And this business, it really is almost b2b minded when you talk about quality outcomes begets more referrals, right? So where they started to deliver a good level of service, or get more referrals, as people started talking about the experience, employers want to come work there. And it kind of just snowballs from there. Right? So within six months, we knocked on the wall in our three office buildings and added six more offices. Right, then.
Lance 04:06
Let's talk about this. Let's talk about this early success. So how big was this original office? And how many? And where do you get these customers from? I know there's a need but how do you start that?
Chris 04:19
Yeah, it was about I think it was like 1200 square feet. It was three offices and a waiting room. And Aaron kind of both practices or private practice on the side while they're getting their master's degree or getting their licensure and doing the work with the county. So I had some clients that they were seeing, but they also had a network of people that they started to build out when they were at the county. So the county government refers people to access to services and so they were to get started, get referrals to gather for all network builds, right and more and more referrals come from that. Love it. But you knocked on the wall and six months, add more offices, then you fast forward, six and a half years and we've got 16 Minnesota locations open. Now and we started franchising last year and today we got seven deals in 191 units. And I'm talking to you about franchising, right. And it really is special for us because it just happens to be like the stars aligned with need access D stigmatization opportunity, right, like we've been around for a long time. We've talked about franchising or national growth for a long time. And it just happened to line up that we decided to franchise at the very beginning of last year and work through it. So when we launched, unfortunately, a pandemic exists, but now there's such decentralization and such a need for it that it is a very passionate topic for people. And we've been really excited about the level of the industry have seen so far.
Lance 05:38
So how did franchising come about? Because you're doing so well, at that point? I mean, I know every business owner gets to this point, you know, like, do we franchise? Do we do it on our own? So where did franchising come into play?
Chris 05:52
Yeah, there's really two, two reasons why we branch which was a franchise, and the first one is the reason we believe we're successful, because we're embedded in our community, right? Erin grew up in the city where we have a clinic or started a clinic with Dakota County where she lived. And so we're embedded in the community and granted the communities we don't have a lot of knowledge and we feel like we're giving back to the community. And so it'd be naive of us to think we could go open an LV in Austin, Texas, or in Dallas and know more about the community and someone that lives there. So giving that access and ability of someone to do that is powerful. And too there's the challenge is this the mental health care and how you can correct me if I'm wrong, you have people to get into private practice to do therapy. No, just gonna be therapists, right? They didn't go to school, the business owners. And as they start to be more successful in their business, they have to choose, we're going to be really good at therapy, we're going to manage their p&l, their business, and they they don't, they're not great, like, I'm not broad brushing, but in general, they're not great at both. And they choose and they start to get burned out and the thing that they don't have passion for, which is the business and they decide to exit or leave or stop. Right? When you think about entrepreneurs. That's what they do. They get excited about that kind of stuff. Right? So think about the balance.
Lance 07:07
So Chris, give me so tell me why franchising? Why did you guys pick that avenue?
Chris 07:14
Yeah, there are really two reasons why we decided to franchise. One is the reason we're successful in Minnesota, we believe is because we're from the community in which we work. Right? Erin grew up in the Twin Cities in St. Paul, she went to school in Dakota County. So we're very connected in this in this community. And the belief that we could go to a different state, Austin, Texas, or Tulsa, Oklahoma, and know as much or more than someone that's lived there for a long time would be naive of us to do. So we wanted to have the opportunity for someone to give back to their community. So I think they're passionate about and more connected. That's number one. Number two, it really leads to the challenge that exists in mental health care today, I believe, which is people that went to school to be therapists, open a private practice with the idea of doing really, really good. And they start to get so busy, they have to start also running a business, right, and mom didn't go to school to do that business piece. As you start to get more successful, you have to balance those things. And you can't give 100% to both things. Right. And so they started out there because of burnout, people's had to leave the industry, etc. And so, think about entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, like all the business stuff right there, their investors are investing their own money they're doing whatever that is. And so you kind of combine these two things like the investment person that's passionate about mental health care that has the resources, passionate excited about the business, with a therapist who's passionate about making a difference in their community and making dibs on people's lives. But they both do what they're best at. And it becomes really, really magical in our opinion. And I think that's one of the big reasons why events are successful.
Hallie 08:42
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, when therapists graduate, and they're looking for their first job, they have this choice, right? They can go into private practice, and they can decide who they want to see, when they want to see them, they can have that flexibility, and then autonomy or they can go to a larger practice, where they've got a lot of support. So they have a billing team. They've got a scheduling team, but they don't have flexibility in their schedule, they don't have the flexibility to decide what types of clients are the best fit for me? Who do I want to see? How do I want to deliver care, right, so they have created the way that I deliver care? And so we talked about the LE difference, and that was really our making this a hybrid model, right? So we want to take those great things from private practice, the uncap, compensation, the creativity, the flexibility to be able to see who you want to see when you want to see them. But then also combine that with the support of a large organization, which means somebody to do your billing and scheduling for you. It means that you have camaraderie means that you have teammates, and a lot of times people who get into private practice, they love the uncapped, you know, earnings and they love the flexibility that they have. But they also spend so much time doing the things that bog therapists down which is scheduling, which is insurance credentialing, which is billing, all of these extra pieces that it's probably one hour for every client to see that they're spending doing things that really are kind of administrative burden when you're a therapist, and what you care about, is being able to deliver care to clients. And that's going to put you at the point of burnout really quickly. And so when we delivered our model, and we put it together, it was really intentional to take the best of both worlds, and create a place for therapists to work where they could feel really fulfilled and engaged in their work, which is also going to lead to the best therapeutic outcomes for their clients.
Lance 10:24
I love it. So the initial vision of Ali versus today is, you know, who was that? Who was the clientele initially versus as the franchising is truly begun, and you have so many sold and, you know, soon to be opened? Has that changed at all? As far as you know, were you looking to serve kids before? You know, now you're serving more adults? I'm just curious about that.
Chris 10:49
No, I think the target audience is exactly the same. I mean, Aaron and Kathy are very clear about our mission of filling the gap, right, and we fill the gap and access to quality health care, and you look around the country nationally, there's not a state that's different. The average wait time is over three weeks, again, to see a therapist, right. So we're finding access to people is a big deal so that the title clients we serve, and the way we serve them are no different. We're just scaling in a more broadway. Because I think we have a special and we can deliver some of the really cool to therapists, and some really cool to clients that people in the community.
Lance 11:25
So who is that client tell? Again, based on what you guys are doing today? Who is that clientele when you say you have to wait, on average, three weeks, you know, my wife is a school principal. And I've heard, she was just telling me and especially since the pandemic, then kid-related that is, of course, you know, kids are waiting weeks, some of them have serious issues going on, and they can't get into a mental health counselor. So and I don't know if I have that right mental health counselor, you know how you can straighten me out here with your master’s practitioner.
Hallie 11:58
It's all interchangeable, right? I mean, they are ultimately they're, they're looking to see someone who's either a licensed or pre-licensed therapist who's going to help them with their mental health. And you're right, kids are waiting way longer because they're waiting longer than adults. Because when you think about I mean, we have a shortage of therapists, we really do. There are not enough therapists for the number of people that need help and support. And then when you take that pool that's already small. And then you kind of whittle it down to those who have a specialty or a certification or are able to work with children, that number gets even smaller because it can be even more difficult. There's even more of a niche and even more kind of nuances and complexities that come with working with children. And so people are definitely waiting longer. One of the biggest things for us is we want to take a look at our waitlist, and we want to say who is on our waitlist because as we're hiring, we need to make sure that we are filling those gaps. And so if we've got 500 kids on our waitlist, that means we need to hire child therapists and that's what we're going to do. And that's we're going to set you to know, kind of our intention to on and be in, make sure that that's what we're doing. Right. So if we've got this many kids on the waitlist, we're gonna pause on adults, because we need to make sure that we can get therapists who can see these kiddos who are waiting way too long to be able to see someone and address their mental health needs.
Lance 13:17
Now, this is incredible. All right, let's dive into the franchise-specific stuff. So my listeners are typically I mean, they come from all over, but they're obviously interested in business ownership and might be into a franchise, definitely into a franchise. So So why le we know there's a huge need. But let's, who wants to go ahead and talk about the average investment, whatever's in the Franchise Disclosure Document, you know, what is that investment range? What is the size of the building overall within that? So whoever wants to take that could jump right in?
Chris 13:51
Sure. Yeah, I could take that. So the average investment is between 161 and 334. The other spaces are, are relatively plain, right? It's pretty much an office building in a healthcare setting. Think about where dentists and chiropractors think about where those folks are, it's kind of the same concept, right? And the size of the clinic really, really is easy to try to get as many offices on the glass as you can eight to 10 in an office seems to work best for us. We don't need a large waiting room. We don't need a reception desk, we do everything virtually, and check your check-in digitally when you get to the clinic. So it really is a very small build-out and thinks about what needs to be done. There's no There's only a thing especially be done. If we can't soundproof usable sound machines right there. It really is a really easy build-out, in my opinion, you look about like real estate across the country. This space appears to be widely available as we look across the cities that we've gone to.
Lance 14:46
And the territories. So right now you've sold quite a few. What are the hot territories at this point? That is still available, I should say?
Chris 14:58
Yeah, that's a that's So really good question.
Lance 15:02
Three you really want to go to
Chris 15:05
The boy really wants to go to, man. The challenge is there's so much need. And this is where we've tried to balance where we want to be versus where our interest is. And we don't. We don't have to be picky and like we want to be in this market, right? I mean, there are places we want to be. But interest is being generated all over the place. We've got tons of folks in Texas, Houston, and Dallas, and Austin has been really, really hot for us. Denver has bet we have some really great franchises in Denver, our first franchise, is in Indiana, but Illinois is starting to pick up to me and think Chicago is a great city for us to be in Boston is a good city for us to be in.
Lance 15:39
I said, look up down the East Coast, Florida would be a good place for us to expand a little bit Florida and Texas seem to be incredibly hot, great places to do business. So for all franchises, it seems like you're gonna have plenty of interest in Florida and Texas. Sure. Correct. So let's talk about franchisees. Well, let's talk about your ideal franchisee I'm sure a lot of people are thinking. So who owns an LE, mental health franchise? Other investor types? I mean, obviously, there are people that are very passionate about this particular business.
Hallie 16:09
Yeah, Chris, and I talked about this because I think it's one way with both of us who are not therapists, it's a way that we can relate we talk about, we would be people to open up Valley franchises, right? If we weren't because we're people who care deeply about mental health, deeply about our community, if we're going to open up a business, it's a business that you want to be able to give back. Of course, it's always going to be profit-driven, we want everyone to be successful, and we want everyone to make money. But at the end of the day, there's so much more to it than that. And there are so many people that want to be in helping careers and that want to help people that don't have a medical degree or a therapy degree. And this is an opportunity for those people to be able to jump into this field and really give back to their community in a way that they probably never imagined that they would be able to without a therapy license, right or without, without being, you know, specific in the helping or medical field. And so we're really looking for people who are passionate, we're looking for people who have what a therapist feels compelled to work for them. Because we know that the secret to success is you know, you have happy therapists, you have happy clients and the culture is such a huge piece. So culture, the huge thing that we're looking at is, are they going to be able to kind of emulate and infuse the la culture at their clinics? Who are they going to attract to be that clinic director? Who's going to be recruiting therapists who are going to be recruiting clients? Do they have an entrepreneurial spirit? Because it's difficult, right? You're going in, you're recruiting in a field that maybe you don't have experience in? And so are they going to be able to jump in feet first, and build the relationships that are needed to make their clinic successful? So I think those are some of the big pieces that we're looking for. What do you think, Chris?
Chris 17:54
I think you nailed it exactly. I think the most important thing to us is someone who has a passionate connection to mental health. And if you think about our discovery days, our first couple were two or three. And they've been larger than sent via people that are meeting each other for the first time and crying, sharing their stories about how they've been impacted by mental health and why they're so passionate about it, right. And that passion is so important to us, right? Like, I get you to want to make money at the end of the day. But that is an outcome of passion, and great work, right? And we want them to passionately do great work, and they'll provide financially for themselves, whatever, but that passion is really important. And the thing that's important for me also is that entrepreneurial spirit, and I'm so impressed with the people that have signed up to date. We don't have item 19 for any franchise locations. We have zero franchise locations open.
Lance 18:44
I'm sure you have the ability to make a lot of money though, Chris. And that's why these people are jumping on board they know.
Chris 18:50
Yeah, right. I mean, they do know we do we provide them some access to information that would allow them to see insurance reimbursements with a penalty charge for a therapy session. But these folks are jumping on have that passion and belief that they know the numbers, build this thing out as it goes, right Ali has been successful, because we're really innovative, right? We take feedback from everywhere, all these places all the time. And people have signed on to already help us shape things and our FTD up to shape things in the model. And I'm just super impressed with their ability to jump on before it's all thing and be their willingness to provide feedback. And give us the grace to make sure this thing going the right way.
Hallie 19:28
Yeah, so we're always welcoming that feedback because we know how to operate a mental health clinic, right? We've done that successfully. But then we have these franchisees who have been really successful in marketing or really successful in real estate or in all these other areas where we're so excited to soak in and absorb their knowledge to be able to help us continue to bring Ali forward. We are not afraid of change. I think that's one of the things that's really helped us continue to grow is that when something's thrown our way we're not afraid to pivot and shift to meet the needs of our communities or our therapists and so on. It's been cool to have people come in with these different skill sets and say, Hey, maybe we should think about doing it like this. And we're like, maybe we should wait to work with you.
Lance 20:09
You know, that's how he hit on something so important because that is the magic of franchising is you get all these really smart people that did other things that are buying into your dream to your vision to build this brand. And they become an intricate part of it. You know, I always tell everybody in McDonald's, you know, the fillet of fish and the Big Mac was invented by franchisees. And, you know, so that collaboration and those best practices are enormous down the road. But it sounds like my next question was going to be so of all of the people that have signed on thus far to be franchisees, including the franchisees they're open. Is there anything in common, of course, the passion for mental health, but as far as industry, are their teachers? Are they marketing people? Are they attorneys? Where are they coming from?
Chris 21:00
Yes, there are all those things. I think I was looking at the list earlier today. And there's you have people that are urban CMOS, or CFOs, or publicly traded companies that have signed on as franchisees, yep, doctors that have signed out as franchisees you have, we have four or five veterans that have signed on as franchisees. So there is a wide breadth of people that have joined, and they all have that passion and purpose in common. So as now we've targeted a certain industry or career type, there's, there's some we've had like just the upper edge, and we have consultants, we have one of our someone from our sales demo company, that is a franchisee. So there are just all walks of life that join the family, and we couldn't be more proud.
Lance 21:42
So one thing I want to make sure we address and I think, Callie, you were talking about this, when it comes to let's say medspas or the IV infusion brands that I represent quite a few of as well, you need a medical director. So it doesn't sound like you need any kind of medical director, specifically here in any state,
Hallie 22:02
You need a clinic director, your clinic director has to be a licensed therapist in are specific state. And I think Chris can maybe go into it a little bit more in detail. But the corporate practice of medicine does still play a part in the entire kind of opening process and laying out what that ownership structure looks like. So there are a few nuances with the corporate practice of medicine in some of our states.
Lance 22:26
Yeah, so the clinic director, like, in a way I was suggesting with the medical director within franchising, I know and Chris, we don't necessarily need you to hammer through all of those states. But we know states like California, for example, tend to be pretty stringent. In fact, that's the only state to my recollection, you have to actually like you have to be a doctor to own, you know, an IV infusion brand in the state of California, I think they might change it, but that's how it was so any. So I'm sure that's not exactly a challenge. There are plenty of people you get in place to assist with that.
Chris 23:04
Yeah, it's been it's, it's worth a great law firm to kind of just kind of get to the concept of it's not a matter of if it's a matter of how right and they give them a consultation help them set up their business structure. In Texas, it's a little more difficult than in Florida, obviously. But there's the law firm that we use that really helps people kind of get to that get that balance. And again, it's we've had no one have a problem, right? It's not if it's hot.
Lance 23:27
Yeah. So let's talk about the support overall, you know, the the two, the two of the most important things besides having a solid roadmap and blueprint to follow as a franchisee is, you know, let's, let's kind of go in order go with your, your, your training, let's just say so somebody comes on board, or if you want how you could back it up all the way to the process, and how you know, the franchisee is right? Whether you have a Meet the Team day discovery day, how you doing that process all the way through, let's say training.
Hallie 23:59
Well, Chris, do you want to talk about it through discovery day, and then I'll kind of talk about training and once they've
Chris 24:03
Perfect, yeah, that's great. So we early on partnered with someone who branched out and is smarter than us. So we use the rep on the group, Nick Sheehan, Rob, Kim bruising, and Jason Ryan, I really helped us kind of define the sales process, the operational process, and all the stuff that gets people to open successfully. But the revenue team helps us filter through leads, we do a really extensive like four or five different call or meeting situations. We let franchisees talk to our clinicians, right because we know that's the product they can ask questions about the system, their experience, whatever we do unit economics call we do a founders call with Aaron Kyle and me and then they come to Minnesota for a decision day or discovery day. We spend 24 hours really a day and a half. Really learning about the brand each other we work really hard on personal connection relationship because again, I think there's so much more about that for us than is anything else. It is really important for us to spend that time I'm Dana half Tuesday and Wednesday, and then they leave Wednesday. And then the team gets together we sit, we sit down, we kind of just talking about people's personality. I mean, we it's a lot of therapists, right? So by and semi decision, they've got like 15 therapists at all their perspectives and opinion on the people that are just in town. So we sit down in a group or we just go through folks on the screen and read their bios again and make sure we feel good and give me yes or no understanding the geography or the number of units, etc. And then they sign right, we say we approve them, they decide they want to be a franchisee they sign and then they get turned over Halley's team got it.
Hallie 25:34
And we've been really lucky. We've built such a solid operations team here in Minnesota with our 16 clinics that we currently have operating, that we've been able to pull some of that talent over to really help with franchising. And so the biggest thing for us is that we make sure that people feel connection and support from the get-go. And so as soon as somebody signs on in the next week or two, after they say they're going to have a kickoff call with our operations, opening manager who's going to walk them through, okay, here's day one, but this is what this process is going to look like. And here's the support we're going to provide to you. We have a robust checklist in which we are walking people through every single step of the way. We have our subject matter experts that they're connecting with to talk about real estate, filled out contracting, credentialing, hiring, outreach, marketing, all of those steps until they're getting prepared to open. We're really excited because we've recently hired we're calling them territory coaches, and essentially, based on geography, it's actually a clinical leader who's going to be assigned to each franchisee, who is going to be their point of contact through the opening. So there'll be able to not only help them from an operational perspective, but also from a clinical perspective because not all of our franchise owners have experience in the therapy space. And so they're going to be able to help them with selecting their space, they're going to be able to help them with recruiting and sitting in and looking at resumes and saying who's going to be the best fit for your clinic? How are we going to compensate them, going through all of those different steps with them, while also having access to all of our different kinds of subject matter experts, we call them here at our headquarters in Minnesota who can help troubleshoot any barriers that they might be running into? We have a really robust, we're calling it le Academy. It's our kind of boot camp, where people will come to Minnesota about a month before or two months before they open. And they're not in the wintertime, right? It was kind of always wintertime here. So yes, it is great, well keep them really warm and entertained. So don't worry.
Lance 27:29
A university sounds fabulous, with lots of teaching.
Hallie 27:32
Lots of lots to teach. And then once people become operational, there's going to be a hand up from the territory coach to their operations coach who's going to help them pull reports, who's going to help them with KPIs will be the liaison between our scheduling team, the franchisee, the billing team, and the franchisee to make sure that we're covering and able to help them with all areas of their business, helping them set goals, helping them achieve those goals. And really making sure that there's clear communication, they have all the information that they need to run a successful business.
Lance 28:01
Well, I was going to ask you how you're going to handle all of this amazing growth. And I think you sort of answered that you're already hiring territory coaches. And I love that. I mean, that's what huge brands do in preparation for this monstrous growth. But it sounds like you guys have the systems but speak a little bit about the growth. I mean, you have to be over the moon with the success you've seen so far.
Hallie 28:26
We're over the moon. Absolutely. And I think the biggest thing is making sure that we're providing our franchisees with the amount of support that they need to be successful, right with the amount of support that they need to open their doors. This is a unique industry, there are a lot of different things that kind of depend on each other. So for instance, once you've found a site, you can't start your credentialing process with insurance until you have an address. And you also can't start that process until you have a clinic director whose name is on that application. And so there are all these variables in the very beginning that are really dependent on each other. And so that's where we want to be super heavy on the support, in the beginning, to make sure that people can really meet the timelines that they're wanting to meet in order to get their doors open. So that part's huge to us. We also were doing all the scheduling, we're doing all the insurance, billing, and contracting to credential for our franchisees. And so we've had this experience in Minnesota where we've scaled and we have 16 locations with actually four more that will be opened in the next two months, which is super exciting. So we know how many schedulers we need. We know how many billers we need, right, so we've been able to look at some of those different ratios and make sure that we're prepared ahead of time for our franchisees so that when their doors open, we've got robust support systems ready for them.
Lance 29:44
It's incredible what you guys are doing. I mean, you're handling everything with the insurance claims.
Hallie 29:48
We are we using
Lance 29:51
Chris were we gonna say I'm sorry.
Chris 29:52
Yeah, I think the thing that we're most proud of is the way we've kind of built this post open support structure. I like the selfie. done the front I think is fantastic too, but worked really hard to get our fee structure. Correct. So the franchisees are helping us as we grow. We're hiring people in a just-in-time mindset, right, Holly said, we understand how many calls they can take, how many claims they can bill. And the methodology allows us to have someone hired and trained and they're ready to go when they need it. Not we hired someone when we're ready, and they take six months to get trained and staff or whatever, right? I mean, we could support franchisees today, we have no liquor just open we could support branches you today with our current staff, and we've hired I probably culture and all our ability to get people set up. And the other thing like I run the growth like we are very intentional about like, is it too fast? Or is it too many? How many can we do like we are very clear, like, we're not just trying to race to a number, right? Because to us, it's really important for people to get open and get to be successful. Because what's important, like bad therapy is worse than no therapy. In my opinion, if you have people have open or they're not successful, I find the right the wrong people. It's gonna be really bad for those clients, those who care about the end of the day. So we're very in tune with and in touch with and have a lot of honest conversations with Mikael Aaron pally about how are we doing? pulse check, can we keep going? Should we stop? Should we slow down whatever that is? And at every turn, we felt really comfortable saying, Oh, we're good.
Lance 31:14
Yeah, we're good. No. And it certainly sounds like you are one of the questions. I just want to kind of go back to a little bit when we're talking about all this insurance. Is there? Is there a percentage of customers that self-pay?
Hallie 31:27
Yeah. It'll depend on the market, that's it's going to really largely depend on the market. Insurance companies will pay different rates for therapy in different states. Your ability to get a contract might vary state by state, but we know we have a lot of franchisees we're doing super in-depth research before they even come to a decision day. So we already are prepared for here's what your market looks like, here's the percentage of cash pay versus insurance. Here's what your rates might look like so that they can those rates into their pro forma and figure out what they want their structure to look like. Then when we submit their insurance contracts, we determine if this rate going to be viable for you to operate your clinic? Do you want to go for this contract? Or do we wait later, and try to negotiate based on our success, and based on our client’s research and data in that area? And so we were super intentional about what is what's kind of current common trends in this market? And then how do we make sure that your business model fits and will be successful in this market?
Lance 32:26
You know, one of the things that really dawns on me, as you're talking about that is, I represent quite a few restoration brands, and especially, you know, the thunderstorm damage and things like that, that happens. These brands, these franchisors, just like you have done their homework, and there are certain areas they're not as interested in going in, and there's the majority that they already can predict. They can't actually give that information to a prospective franchisee, but they can predict, wow, there's a lot going on in this particular city. And it sounds like you guys got that figured out as well. That's not as much of a mystery to you guys anymore. As to what kind of business you're really going to have?
Chris 33:11
No, it's been really, we've been really impressed with our team or on how we've said, Hey, here's what we think it's going to be, as we've had franchisees get contracts or whatever we've been, like, right on. So we feel really good about our understanding of the business. Another thing to think about is like, think about industry disruptors and why we go somewhere, like the disrupter for us is not like, we'll take all insurances and whatever rate it's going to be, and whatever, like, the disrupter for us, is the employment therapists experience, really believe that full cup allows them to provide great therapy, which is really the disrupter. But it's really the employee experience for us the things we offer them to provide the things that I talked about earlier, there really make the difference resume go to market. So it's less about, here's the offer, and it's going to get the competition, whatever it's going to be like it is really about the therapist experience to make sure they're there apart from a full cup.
Lance 34:01
Yeah. And it's amazing. I'm glad you're talking about that. And both of you have emphasized the customer service or the overall experience because that's one thing I found in the most successful franchises that I represent today. Customer Service has everything to do with and I'm hearing more about net promoter scores and such that I haven't ever heard before. So it's pretty incredible.
Chris 34:23
Yeah, we don't do net-promoter scores in our field at all. No, no, no. When it came from where it came from, it was a big thing. But really, for us, like really believe that experience that that client experience is so important because there's a lot of things that happen with a bad experience in therapy, right? Like, if you had a bad experience at a retail store, when I go back there, right? Understand that. If you have a bad experience in therapy, you might not ever go back. And you might have other challenges that come from that. Or you could be in a situation where you need that access. We need that care, right. So we feel really, really strong about that cloud experience. Really good.
Lance 34:54
Right? Absolutely. Hardly anything to add to any of that.
Hallie 34:59
No, I mean, we look at our client satisfaction surveys, we're always asking our clients how we're doing. So I think to just piggyback on what Chris said is, that's, that's the most important piece for us. At the end of the day, as you said, you have an adverse experience in therapy and might never go back to therapy. And that's why even so we went back and forthright about do we have a centralized call center? Or does each franchisee have kind of their own receptionist? But one of the biggest pieces for us in terms of what makes le so successful is that we pride ourselves on making the best mats first, between the client and the therapist. So it is not, you know, who's the first therapist who has availability, where you live, it's who's going to actually be the best fit for you based on the ages, they see the diagnosis, they see the issues, they work on their treatment competencies, different identities that might be important for you, right, and your therapist. And so our client access team is trained really specifically on making sure that when they're scheduling a client fit comes first. And so I think that's, that's part of the reason we knew that providing that centralized call center was huge for us, because there's so much research that supports client outcomes, when matched with a therapist who's the best fit. And client outcomes ultimately, are going to be the biggest, you know, a predictor of continued success. And what's been so cool about LA is people get referred to a therapist, by their teachers, by their primary care doctors, by, you know, other medical professionals. But le we hear so many people who are referred by a family or friend, because of what we're doing to break down the stigma around mental health. And so we've got these clients having these amazing experiences. And then they call and they say, Yep, my brother's you, the therapist there, and he loves it. And I've worked in mental health, prior to La my whole career. And I haven't heard those same stories be shared in the way that people are just openly talking about mental health and how they talk with their family and talk with their friends about it. And that's really special for us.
Lance 36:51
I love it breaking basically breaking down the stigma, you know, it's not some scary place you have to be so nervous about. So I have two sorts of final directions. I want to take this one. What is the average age for your typical customer? I mentioned, that I kept talking about kids, but there are plenty of adults, what is the average age of an elderly customer? Or client? I should say?
Hallie 37:17
That's a hard question. I mean, we are really, we see everybody we really do, I would say like our biggest demographic is probably like 16 to 50. And I know that's a wide range. But truly, I mean, we're, we're really seeing a huge variety,
Lance 37:34
I figured it can certainly be across the spectrum. And the last big piece, we talked a lot in general about marketing. So it sounds like you're getting an enormous amount of referrals. So if somebody becomes a franchisee in a new city, you're already through insurance and local agencies, when they hear you're coming, I would imagine you essentially can, can potentially have a big opening, a big grand opening Is that fair to say?
Hallie 38:04
That's absolutely the goal. Everything that we're doing with marketing right now is to increase the national brand recognition that's really important to us. But another facet of marketing. For us, what’s just as important as any print or any digital marketing is the community outreach and engagement that we're doing. So actually each franchisee when they come on board with Le they're not just getting the marketing efforts that we're putting out there in their market. They're getting an outreach playbook and an outreach visit from our National Director of Outreach, who is showing them how to do it, who's popping up attending a table with them and talking with, you know, potential clients, potential referral sources, potential clinicians at different conferences or community events about le and really modeling that alleyway who's giving them a list of here's all the people to network within your community, here's how you can help each other, here's what that script might look like. So really empowering people to build relationships, and then also maintain those relationships is really part of the core of kind of their preopening success. And so we want to make sure that when people are getting ready to their to open their doors, the other primary care clinics, the hospitals in town, the schools already know about le not because they signed just because they saw an ad online, but because we went and visited with them and we had a conversation about what are the issues that your students or your clients or your patients are dealing with? And what do they need, right in the order in order to be helped in order to have help for their mental health we hope that when we open our doors people will remember those experiences and that in-person human to human connection that we made, and those relationships that will continue to nourish as we continue to grow. I mean
Chris 39:38
Lancers are really something there's really the interesting part of this also is we posted on our website coming soon, right? And the work that our team is doing is amazing, right, and Maryland's fantastic and it's really really important. At the same time we said coming soon to the cities we have we have clients calling from these cities already asking him to get on the waitlist. So if we're open, right so talk about The need that exists, we just said coming soon. And we have calls coming into the call centers, I want to open all weights, whatever I do like it, there's really a need, right. And so I think about that, and the work that the team is doing like there's potential people open a really strong way really, really quickly, which is great for the clients and the community.
Lance 40:18
It's incredible what you guys are doing. This has been absolutely fantastic. Alright, final words of wisdom from both of you for today.
Chris 40:28
Final Thoughts call it wisdom only.
Lance 40:31
Chris, I don't need to pressure you. Just final thoughts. That's totally fine. You've already dropped a lot of wisdom, both of you.
Chris 40:37
Yeah, I think for me, there are a couple of things. One is its immense gratitude for the way people have received the brand. And to just kind of reminder of the people that were interested in, right. Like, we're interested in that that passion, that community connection, the entrepreneurial spirit, some of the talks about the net, net, and profit, like those things, like make our eyes spin and our like, drip off, right? We want to talk about client care. And at the end of the day, that begets profit, right? Like those things, all work together. So hey,
Lance 41:03
That was Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is the one that was super famous for saying that is, you know, the profits will follow. You got to have that passion first. 100%. Love it.
Hallie 41:16
I think I would say to, to add to that is absolutely I mean, if you're looking for an experience to be an entrepreneur, but you want it to mean something, Ellie's a place where it can mean something else is also based where you get to be your authentic self. I don't know how many people get to go to a franchise discovery day and say, Hey, I'm here, because I had a kid who was really struggling with depression that couldn't get help. Or that could say, I lost a family member to suicide, or, you know, could actually be able to go and share those types of things at one of these decision day type events, we welcome that. And we're here for those people, right to sit with you and walk through it with you and to be able to let you share that story in a really true authentic way to again, continue breaking down the stigma. I think it's huge that people can come to LA and say, This is why I'm here and be empowered to tell their story in hopes that it will help somebody else.
Lance 42:10
Well, and that was just an amazing wrap-up. I really thank you both for being here. Le mental health franchise. That's our group. That's our franchise special for today. Today. Boy was those horrible guys, edit the hell out of that. Anyway, Chris and Holly, I really appreciate you both being here. This was absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing everything about Ellie.
Chris 42:35
Thanks for having us. I really appreciate it.
Lance 42:38
Thank you very much for listening today. Please like follow and subscribe so you don't miss anything here at eye on franchising? Visit our website at Ion franchising.com Eye on franchising.com and complete our free assessments so we can assist you in finding your perfect franchise. This is Lance Graulich. Until next time.