Hello and welcome back for another episode of the Future Ear Radio podcast!
For this week’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Lindsey Koble, Au.D. – Audiologist and Founder/Owner of Audiology Always.
During this episode, Lindsey and I discuss:
– Her backstory and path toward launching a private practice Audiology clinic, Audiology Always, in 2023
– Lessons learned from externing at an ENT clinic and then working as a hearing aid field rep (Signia)
– The value of garnering generalized experience and specialty expertise
– The decision to launch her private practice and the preparation involved
– How to begin attracting patients – high-level strategies and day-to-day tactics
– The evolution of private practice Audiology in today’s climate and how to navigate today’s challenges/opportunities
– The importance of support staff and upskilling staff into handling more and more of the patient load
I thoroughly enjoyed Lindsey’s story and think it’s very admirable what she’s achieved through the first year of launching her private practice! While there are certainly challenges associated with starting a business like Lindsey’s, she’s a testament of how to think through those challenges and be creative with how to solve those challenges.
Listen on Apple, Spotify or whichever platform you prefer!
-Thanks for Listening-
Dave
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Dave Kemp
All right, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Future Ear Radio Podcast. I’m thrilled to be joined today by Dr. Lindsey Koble. So, Lindsey, thanks so much for being here. How you doing today?
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Thanks, Dave. I’m good. Thanks for having me.
Dave Kemp
Awesome. Well wanted to have you on. I know that, as your background suggests, there, you have launched your own practice, Audiology Always. So I want to get to that point in your your journey. But go back to the beginning. And walk us through how did Lindsey Koble become involved in audiology? Where did where does this all begin with you and where you’re at now?
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Well, it’s actually a super interesting story. I’m not your typical speech pathology transferred audiology. So I actually started at Purdue, I knew I wanted to be a doctor was what I always knew, but I had no clue what I wanted to be. So when I went to Purdue, I was studying Pharmacy. Then that first semester, I was kind of like, oh, maybe physical therapy. And then you know, I was kind of like, oh, maybe optometry, I was just in like a pre med health science course. over Christmas break my freshman year, I had to have jaw surgery, because I played too many sports in high school headed to many soccer balls, and I had TMJ. So I got to a and had to have jaw surgery, and the surgeon accidentally poked a hole through my eardrum. So I had hearing loss there for a bit. So I had to go see an audiologist to see this temporary hearing loss and see if the hole was going to close on its own. Or if I was going to have to have surgery. And the hole ended up closing on its own. But during that process, I met with the same audiologist like two to three times to see how my audiogram was going to improve. And one time I was just like, What is your job? What is your title? And she was like, I’m an audiologist. And so then I went back to Purdue after Christmas break and changed my major who had Speech and Hearing Sciences a major so I changed my major. And like from the start, I knew that audiology was the route I wanted to go rather than speech. So I went to Purdue for my undergrad. And then I shifted and went to the University of Illinois, in Champaign for graduate school, which was a little further from home. Yeah, that was kind of how I got into audiology from the start.
Dave Kemp
That’s crazy. I did not know that. Yeah, you’re right. Like usually it’s I was going to be a speech language pathologist. And then I sort of took the back door and I ended up in audiology, or every now and then you hear something like this where somebody actually had a personal experience with an audiologist. So that’s really interesting that you had that what position in soccer did you play where you would have headers? Defense? Or that you were scoring a lot? Forward?
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah to score. Yeah, yeah, actually super interesting. This kind of comes full circle. Now that I’m just thinking about it. The surgeon who poked a hole through my eardrum, he I told him through the process, like, I really think I might go back to Purdue and change my major. And he was like, You know what, my neighbor is an audiologist, who owns a private practice in Fort Wayne, you should shadow his clinic. And so his neighbor is actually technically one of my competitors now, but a private practice owner here in Fort Wayne. And so during my time at Purdue in the summers, I would shadow this private practice owner and his staff. So yeah, it’s like things worked out for a reason.
Dave Kemp
That’s very serendipitous. Yeah, I you know, so. Okay, so you you go, you go to Champaign, you get your AUD there anything stand out from that period of time, any mentors, any form formative experiences that shaped to where you are, where you’re at now?
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
I think one thing that I want to mention for any students who are listening to this is, when you’re an undergrad, going to graduate school, you apply to all of these schools, and you rank them, you know, which schools the best for me, I applied to 10 schools because I was mortified that I wasn’t going to get in anywhere. And I actually got a couple of scholarship offers. And University of Illinois offered me a full ride scholarship and an opportunity to teach undergrad classes. And they were not one of my top choices, you know, just in ranking and what you’re thinking I want to stay close to home. But my dad sat me down and was like, You have no idea what this means for your financial future. You’re going to Illinois, if they’re going to offer you that. And so I think that whole story is just graduate school can be what you make it. And so during my time in graduate school, I loved our clinical faculty. But I made my own opportunities, I guess. So I went to school in Champaign, but I always knew I wanted to be in private practice. So I emailed a private practice owner in Lafayette, Indiana, which is where produced that and asked her if I could come do one of my clinical rotations at her A clinic. And I would drive two hours one direction Thursday nights, stay at her clinic on Fridays. And then I would either drive home or go back to school, it was kind of in the middle of home in school. And then there was another private practice owner in southern Indiana, that I did the same thing when so I would drive two hours, wake up in the morning, drive two hours to her clinic, Shadow her and then drive two hours back to the University of Illinois. And so it’s like, the universities offer you experiences, but if you know what you want to do, you kind of have to do a little bit of legwork yourself to get the opportunity. And I feel like those two experiences really stand out to me.
Dave Kemp
That’s yeah, you showed a lot of grit, a lot of perseverance there. Yeah.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Just figuring it out on your own a little bit.
Dave Kemp
So I was gonna ask, like, what was the reception to you just sort of almost cold calling these private practices where they like, yeah, we absolutely would want you or did you have to sell yourself in any way.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Um, one was Merica Kala, which is a very known name in Indiana, and kind of in the audiology world. And I think she just appreciated my grit. And I me reaching out and if private practice is what you want to do, you have to learn somehow. So come on. And Susan Talia is now the private practice owner of that practice. So also awesome. And I spent a ton of time with Susan. Thanks, Susan. And then Stephanie Nelson, down in Litchfield. Also awesome. She was kind of on the brink of retirement at the time, but just a really good experience to learn and see the business side of it, not just the audiology side of it. So it was a good combination while I was at University of Illinois.
Dave Kemp
Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, there is like, to your point, I think you can acquire a lot of the like, you know, textbook information, the clinical information from school itself, but I think that’s so important to be able to go and get the actual, like, how to run a successful business. I mean, you know, without jumping ahead to where you’re at now, when you think about those experiences, and you’re saying that I sort of was like acquiring that kind of information? What what did that actually look like on a on a day by day basis, when you’re in those private practices, this is just kind of seeing, here’s how much I’m billing for my services. And here’s how I manage all of my books. And you know, what kinds of things stand out to you in terms of
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
what I’ve been think at that point? I didn’t, I wish I would have had a different perspective. And I probably would have asked better questions then. But I think it was more so seeing their patient flow and how they being a small practice is very different than an e and t clinic or a hospital. So I feel like just being in their clinic, you see, how do they manage their time, like Stephanie Nelson, I know she took off Fridays, that was her admin time, she would still come in. But seeing that from the owners perspective of I manage my people, I have enough people to keep the business flowing. But I need Fridays to pay the bills and take the time off, to see what kind of testing they do and how they, as a practice owner, you really have the autonomy to make your own decisions, make your own test battery. And so I think it was good for me to see that and how, in a private practice, you can treat your patients and kind of make it your own their marketing, a little different, like, I know, Stephanie Nelson down in Southern Illinois, she did, like community outreach type things that was probably my first exposure to I know, there was one that was for farmers in Illinois. And it was like all these businesses that could help farmers in some capacity. And they did hearing screenings at that event. So I think that was probably my first exposure as a young audiologist to you really kind of gotta hustle and get your name out there in the community.
Dave Kemp
That’s a really good way to put it. I mean, I would say that that’s like, the most common denominator that I come across, whenever I talk to people like you in terms of like, who are now either, like they have a private practice that they’ve launched, or they’ve just sort of gotten a wide variety of experiences that what I continue to hear time and time, again, is that you have to, you sort of have to take some initiative to just go out and seek that. It seems like it’s, if you’re willing to take the initiative to go and try to like, learn and be curious. There’s a lot of people in this industry that seemed like they’re really receptive and supportive of that I’m like, come on in, I would like to, they need help, right? They need manpower. And I think that there’s a, just like, I think there’s a lot of, of the feeling of like, they want the next generation to succeed and continue to carry things on. So I just feel like I keep hearing this is is that if you just go and you get your AUD, and you just sort of follow that trajectory, where you’re in bounds, you have to go in you have to complement that it seems like with things that really you only can kind of do by I don’t know, like seeking it out yourself.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah. And I would say I was always the student, I went to ADA as a student, I went to Audigy. As a student, I went to Starkey University, Oticon camp, all these things. It’s like they’re optional when you’re in graduate school, but the people that I met, and the friends that I made by doing those things, it’s like those people become mentors. And so you just have to kind of step out of your box, like, Dr. Alicia Spoor was my mentor when I was an ADA student. And so now it’s fun that I’m going to add next week, and we’re both private practice owners now. It’s like it’s come around. And so I feel like you have to put yourself out there a little bit and join the, you know, student AAA program. And it’s just, it’s all about networking. Really, unfortunately, it’s, it’s not about you know, it’s like who you know, but it’s true. I mean, who you know, can really help you get the information that you need. Yeah,
Dave Kemp
absolutely. I mean, I think that there’s so much that you can learn from somebody that’s been in a mile of, you know, that’s one mile in those shoes already. I mean, for you, as a private practice owner, now, I’m sure that you have all kinds of resources from people that you’ve met over the course of doing all this stuff. And, again, I guess that’s just sort of like an endorsement for, like, I personally feel that it’s really important to is uncomfortable as it might be. And maybe it’s like something where you, it’s hard to see the long term benefits of going to a networking function at these kinds of events. And hey, but like, the truth is, is that that’s where the value of those shows really lies is like, the networking and meeting people, and then those relationships, and you never really know how they’re going to pan out. But you know, that you’re just acquiring more confidence in people that you can turn to and say, like, Hey, I’m, I’m experiencing this issue that I can’t seem to really solve. Have you gone through that? What did you learn? Huh?
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah, I would, I would completely agree with that. And I would say the kind of along those same lines is like the group of mentors that I had to reach out to as I was starting my practice, and kind of kicking around the idea of, do I want to do this? How do I want to do this, that come from like a wide range like Cliff Olson, I went to graduate school with Cliff, he’s been super helpful, kind of off the cuff. Alex turban and Bill Roach, I met both of them at Ada as a student, Elizabeth Thompson and Erica person have both been super helpful. I met them when I was a rep at Signia. So it’s like, you just you meet these people, and they’re all over the country. And so it’s neat to have very different perspectives. And people are willing to share and all of those people that I mentioned, started their own private practice from the ground up. And so it’s like they they’ve been there, done that there for five, six years into it. And they want to see me succeed. Right? Oh, exactly.
Dave Kemp
Yeah, that’s, that’s the big part. And is that it is I mean, like, that’s, that’s one of the most reassuring things is that people don’t like for anybody that’s listening, that is wanting to try to build their own network, right is a lot of it really comes down to just having the really the courage to just reach out and say, and be a little vulnerable and say, Hey, I’m very interested in what you’re doing. And I would like to learn from you. Most people are pretty receptive to those kinds of
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
things. Yeah, yes, I think people want to share, I think the, the those of us who have a positive light on audiology, we want others to see that it really is a fun career and a fun field to be a part of. And so I think we’re willing to share with others who also kind of have the fire sale. So yeah, I agree.
Dave Kemp
So okay, so moving on your career trajectory. So you doe, you get your AUD, and then where did you end up as your first job out of school.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
And so I did my three years at the University of Illinois, and then I for my fourth year, I decided I wanted to get back closer to home. I view the fourth year as it’s smart to take that somewhere where you see your long term future because a lot of times those fourth years do turn into career opportunities. So I ended up doing my fourth year at Ear, Nose and Throat associates in Fort Wayne, which was like 15 to 20 minutes from home for me, a large EMT clinic, which was an awesome opportunity and a great place to land for a fourth year. Working with the EMTs seeing really difficult hearing losses or learning to mask heaven forbid all of those things like kids cochlear implants, balance testing. So being at a very well rounded fourth year was awesome for me and I would recommend anybody even if you think you know what path you’re gonna go. I think having that Medical Foundation early on is super crucial. Um, so that I ended up getting hired. And I stayed on there for another about year and a half and loved every second of it love my coworkers. Yeah,
Dave Kemp
I feel like that that’s another big theme, right is this idea of having both a generalized skill set that you can sort of at least have a, you have some sort of stake in that facet of audiology, you know, vestibular cochlear implants, whatever it might be, where, you know, even if you don’t have an offering, per se, that you have a good referral source or something like that, so that you’re still like a really good resource for the patient. But then it just seems like this. If I talked about this all the time, like if it were me, if I were in the shoes of somebody that was going and seeking a fourth year externship, or something like that, I think that the idea of specializing in and getting specialty experience makes you so much more valuable to the market, broadly speaking, I mean, if you’re, if you’re a generalist that has specialty experience in a specific facet, that just increases your value for the overall market. You’re hiring value all that. And so I I’m with you that I think that seeking somewhere where you can that might be one of the best things to I guess I try to be identifying is where can I really establish a specialty or gather a general understanding of all the specialties, knowing that that ultimately just makes you so much more attractive to a future employer? I agree with that on or even or even being able to then use that and translate that into your own offering with your own practice.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah, and I think even as a fourth year, student, early career, audiologists having those connections of people who, like there, they have cochlear implant audiologists. It’s like, even now, in my practice, if I had a question about cochlear implants, I have people that I can turn to who I know, are specialists of that, if I have a good connection with those EMTs. And so if I need an E and T type question. Yeah, I just feel like again, it’s like building your network of people. And then for people who like pediatrics, if you could go to a fourth year that you could get some really good pediatric experience, and then be able to relay that into your first job. Yeah, I think fourth year is really the time to explore your opportunities and really hone in on where you want your career to go.
Dave Kemp
So when you were at the at this en ti, did you? Did you naturally gravitate in any one direction, or were you more just kind of like a sponge and just trying to learn everything that you possibly could more like that generalist type of approach.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Um, I knew very quickly that adult hearing aids were kind of my thing. I took the time and each of the they kind of had it set up like you did an ABR rotation. You did a cochlear implant rotation. I kindly asked if I could end my ABR rotation early because I knew it’s just not my thing. I got the foundation and I understand it enough to refer when you know, when needed. I don’t see pediatrics here. But yeah, so I knew early on that I just I really enjoy hearing aids and so I wanted to spend as much time as I could, learning from the adult hearing aid audiologist and watch their consultation strategies, learn the different manufacturers and hearing aids, that was what kind of made me thrive. And then tinnitus was a kind of gap at that clinic. So from fourth year into my early career, there were a couple of us who kind of took on the tinnitus program and we were in the early phases of what does this look like and what is a tinnitus appointment look like? So yeah, that really adults were my thing and I knew that early on. Okay,
Dave Kemp
cool. So then you you do this stint at the end and then what love what comes next.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
So at the end it kind of like I was alluding to I was always the one I always wanted to know, every manufacturer coming out of grad school, you’re always kind of, you only know what you know, you’re alright, you only know what your preceptors know, and they all have their opinion of what’s best. So when I came out of graduate school, I really knew Phonak and Otakon. And at that end click we did a lot of phone x. So again, I had a lot of exposure to phone ACC and Otakon some resound, but I decided it was kind of around the time that Signia came out with OBP own voice processing and I thought, let’s learn about it. Everyone’s first complaint is that their own voice sounds weird. So what is this new technology being released by Signia? So I reached out to the Signia Indiana rep and asked him to come Come in and talk to us. So there were a couple of us from that practice who agreed to meet with Signia. We had never done any Signia before. And then it was shortly after that conversation that the Indiana rep was transitioning territories. And so he said, Hey, would you ever be open to being a rep? And it was early on in my career? And I was like, I don’t know it, can I do this? Do I even qualify? And so really, it was Duke panic. And John Pomerance were the ones who kind of gave me a chance. So I went through the interview process was Signia, and actually didn’t get the job. Right off the bat. They gave it to somebody else with much more sales experience. And then it was about six months later, that I got a call from Michael Gaiden, who is also been influential in my career. And he said, Hey, this position is open. Would you want to give it a chance. And so I did. I was super sad to leave the end clinic because I loved my coworkers. But it was one of those things where it’s like, this is a big opportunity that I need to take and try. I won’t know if I don’t try. And I probably the best career move I ever could have made, loved it and loved every second of my I spent almost four years there. So yeah, it was good.
Dave Kemp
So okay, when you say that when you were initially approached, and maybe you were having call it like an imposter syndrome or something like that, right? So what what was it in retrospect that you felt you weren’t qualified? Was it the sales experience? Yeah,
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
yeah, I feel like it was. I’d always looked at sales reps for these hearing aid manufacturers, as they know, sales, they know, marketing, they know, budgeting, you know, they know business in and out. And so I just felt like, geez, do I have the business background to be a sales rep, which is interesting, looking back that I had more in me than I thought I had, and more. Once I had the opportunity to let that come out. I actually knew more than I thought I did.
Dave Kemp
It’s kind of the there’s like a mystique around sales that is sort of unwarranted. I mean, and that’s not to say I’m a sales guy. So I’m yeah, there are varying degrees of like, you’ve come across people that are like, wow, that person is a really good salesperson. So it is not to say that there’s like no, you know, like level of sophistication when it comes to that. But I think that we all discredit how often we sell on a daily basis in or just completely unaware, because we don’t call it selling but it you know, in the in the line of just trying to be persuasive about something where and again, I think this is why private practice audiology in particular, such an interesting thing to me, because it is this union of clinical doc doctoral level understanding of the anatomy of the year and and of the science of of this whole thing, mixed with the treatment and the dominant treatment being hearing aids. So it’s like, on one hand, I think that there’s just this whole notion of like, you know, you’re not supposed to be selling in this in this space, because, you know, we’re treating patients kind of thing, but you are, in many ways, selling them, not necessarily on one device over another, but even just on the reasons why they should be treating their hearing loss, right. And so yeah, so much of that is, you know, a lot of the heavy lifting has been done by them coming through your doors, clearly they’ve recognized or a loved one has recognized the extent of the problem to where they need to seek a professional and address it. So some of the hard work has been done. But there is so much natural resistance here. And I think that’s what’s so interesting about the audiology sales perspective is that, in my eyes, I actually as someone that’s not an audiologist would feel that I’m actually operating at a disadvantage of a hearing aid sales rep that is an audiologist because of the fact that they can use that credential and use their experience to provide a an air of, of legitimacy that I think is like and I’d be curious to kind of get your thoughts on this. Because again, you were when you’re at Sydney, you’re selling to the professional, but I just find that to be a really interesting dichotomy of this whole the audiologist both as a doctor and as a salesperson, and how do you kind of square that in a way that it’s not unethical or anything like that, but it’s more of just the realism of, hey, we’re all kind of selling and it’s not a bad thing, per se.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
And that’s what I think. Once I got the job and got into the job and started Meeting the audiologist and hearing aid dispensers around the state of Indiana, I think I quickly realized that I kind of had a unique advantage. The guy who was in the territory before me was more sales focused. And so when I came in, I understood their day to day. And I understood their conversations with patients, because I had been there. And so I took more of a less of the sales approach. I came at it more from like, I understand you, and I understand the problems that are in front of you with patients. And here’s the solution that I have to solve it. And I think I also really enjoyed marketing. And so part of the job as a sales rep is talking about marketing and helping them get out into their communities or, you know, do you want to send a mailer? Or do you want to get on social media. And so I think I’ve always enjoyed that part of it. But I, again, think that coming from the standpoint of as an audiologist, who has treated patients in the clinic, who knows what patients are looking for, it was a little more of a tailored message when we were talking about what kind of marketing would be interesting to your patients. But then again, I think it was sales at the end of the day, it’s sales, and it isn’t competitive when you’re a sales rep. But I think I just got to the point where I was okay, I was a salesman, that’s what I was, and I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the competitive nature, I enjoyed the hustle. And I enjoyed that it got to a point two to three years. And once I’ve made connections with these different providers that I was kind of like a consultant to them, they felt comfortable calling me, hey, Lindsey, I have this idea. What do you think, aliens who are doing this, how can you help. And that was when it really became neat. And it was really a fun job that it was like, All right, kind of made it. Now your first year is like, I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s all a hustle, you got to just get out there and meet all of your customers and you figure it out. But then it comes around to where I know what you’re doing. You learn from your peers, again, in a sales rep role, you’re kind of usually broken into regions, and you learn from your peers who had been there much longer than you. And that’s the neat part is there’s sales, people who have sales background, and then you have some audiologists, and dispensers who have become sales reps. So it’s the fun combination of having both that it’s really different perspective sometimes. And that was Yeah, I think that was good for me. And to see that side of the sales perspective, I think is probably ultimately what helped me open my practice was having that sales background, right.
Dave Kemp
I mean, because again, I think that sometimes, like I could see how you could misinterpret, like how these things all are interrelated. So if you’re maybe a graduating audiologist or something like that, you might not realize how valuable the experience that you could gain working from a hearing aid manufacturer would be, or a later act in your career, both from the connections that you made, but to your point, just having a better understanding of what the sales side of things looks like. And because it’s all the thing was sales is it’s so translatable into other types of jobs, right. And so I’m sure that there was a lot that you took from the four years that you were at Signia, in the same way that you took the prior experience that you’d gained at the end. And at the university, it all compounds on itself is to the point to where you felt confident enough to Alright, I’m gonna start a practice. And
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
that’s what I think the side of Signia that I didn’t really think about until I really got into the nitty gritty of opening a practice. But like with Signia, you have you have a quota, you have a annual budget that you’re trying to meet a quota and then monthly you have to meet that quota. And you get this, you know, breakdown of numbers. And you have to get creative with how am I going to meet that quota. And I think that thinking has translated to audiology always and you do have to sell hearing aids to meet your goals to meet my financial goals with the business. And that’s a part that I wouldn’t have known that are known to break that down that way without my time at Signia. Right and you’ll learn it is a pleasure to learn it. Yeah, API’s but it’s just in my blood. Now I feel like after my three years of Signia, you know, you, we had to have a certain number of appointments every day. And so I feel like that my EMT experience gave me the clinical background. My Signia experience gave me the hustle and the knowledge and then now it’s my own practice and I have to do it my way. I
Dave Kemp
love that. Okay, so now walk me through the decision to actually do this and what But, and what did that feel like? It? Was it a oh shit like this is this is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken in my life
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
kind of thing. Yeah, kind of. So let’s, or one of the biggest art work we start, this was a big decision. Um, so I had a daughter. So I have a daughter, who is 20 months old now. And so I was, thanks, thanks, I was the I was always the one that I was like, I want to climb the corporate ladder. I want to be a regional director, I want to be the president of Signia be the CEO of all of wsa. You know, I had these like, big lofty dreams. And everyone was always like, Well, that’ll change when you have a daughter and I was like, or when you have a kid? And I’m like, No, well, I’m gonna climb the corporate ladder. And then it did shift a bit. My job where I live in Indiana, I’m in Fort Wayne, and my territory was the whole state. So Indianapolis is where most of my accounts were, and it’s two and a half hours away from home. So I would wake up at 6am 5am Leave my house at six, get down to nd for a 9am meeting. see three different offices get home at night. That way, I’m home by dinnertime. And so doing that for a bit, it got to be a lot. Yeah. Grind a bit of a grind. I stayed in hotels a lot pre having my daughter, but no, yeah, a lot of hotel points, good old Marriott. Go, Marissa,
Dave Kemp
go. Number two,
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
are you Marriott? Hilton people or whatever. But yeah, so then, like, once I had my daughter, it was the nights that I was in a hotel, I’m expecting my husband to be home with this six month old daughter, and he’s a trooper, and he would just do it. But then his job requires some travel too. So it kinda got to the point where it’s like, something’s gotta give here. And they were having a conversation about shifting around territories a little bit. And so I was either going to cover India or have like Fort Wayne, Northern Indiana into Chicago, some of Michigan or Indiana down into St. Louis, which would have would have been cool, because I could see you but so it’s like St. Louis is really far away from home. Yeah. So we were having this conversation of with my boss, Brian Pekka, who I adore and super influential in my career. So we would have this hard conversation. He’s like, you know, what do you want to do? Does either direction make more sense for you? We’re kind of moving things around. And I’m like, I don’t know, let me think about it, like in Chicago would have been a really great opportunity for me to make career wise, because again, it’s a huge city, I could have really worked hard to show my worth to the company to you know, maybe become a regional director someday. But then I was like, you know, the more I thought about it, I’m like, what’s really important in my life, and being away from home was getting to be harder and harder. And I saw the writing on the wall that the higher you go in a company like that, the more you’re away from home. And so it’s kind of like a really an introspective moment of what do I want to do here and I had a I’ll never forget it. I had a CEU event down in Indianapolis and Brian Pekka and I stayed awake till like, midnight that night, talking about what makes sense for me, and what’s best for me. And I told him like, maybe I opened my own practice, Brian, maybe this is the time. And then that weekend, Michael Gaiden, who’s the VP of sales at Signia. He knew I was super torn over the decision. And he came and met me at a Cracker Barrel. And we ate breakfast together at a Cracker Barrel and talked about what’s best for Lindsey was really what the conversation was. And I left that conversation like, I don’t know, Michael, I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but I am super torn. And then I drove home and like on my two and a half hour drive home, I’m like, I’m gonna start a business. Yeah, I’m gonna do this. I walked in the door when I got home and I told my husband, I decided to open in a private practice. And he was like, Alright, what do we do first? And I’m like, I have no idea. So it wasn’t like this, like, well thought out plan. Like, I’ve always kind of known I’ve had a note running in my cell phone since like, 2017 of like ideas, but it wasn’t like we hadn’t been talking for six months about we’re gonna open this practice in 2023. It was literally like drive home. I got a spur courage, you know, like, I’m gonna do this. So that was in November. And then my last day at Signia was December 31. So then, yeah,
Dave Kemp
awesome. a while, you know, they say some of the most consequential meetings in the world happened at at Cracker Barrels. And
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
never forget it. Never forget it. I had tears running down my eyes. I remember during that conversation, it was like, I was just feeling super torn about Yeah. It was one of those moments like, Where does my career go? Who was Lindsey really is it was like, I was doing my MBA, which I’m still doing my MBA, but it’s like, I wanted to climb that corporate ladder. So bad was my thought. But it was like, I can also be this business person and super successful and make my own way, from a private practice side to you don’t have to climb the corporate ladder and be away from home all the time. I can pick my daughter up from daycare every day and still be cool. Which is Yeah, I thought climbing the corporate ladder would be so yeah, it’s, but yeah, well, having
Dave Kemp
a kid will definitely change everything. As you know, as we’d hoped can attest, I have two of them. And yeah, it’s crazy to say the least now they’re walking. And now I’m like going in different directions. Oh, yeah. So I’m like, this is this is fun. No, it’s great. But, but that’s actually it’s, it’s really, you know, I can I can empathize with you that you had, you had kind of a notion in your mind of what you wanted in life, you know, and sort of throws a curveball at you. And then you just adapt. And I think it’s really cool, though. And it sounds like you had the full support of your employer. And I think that’s big. And again, I think that speaks to this nature of this industry. It’s so small, right? I mean, it’s not a big industry. And then again, I think that’s why, especially as young people, it’s so important to just start to put faces to names and introduce yourself and just develop those kinds of things. Because, like, I would imagine that you’re gonna have a, like, a long standing relationship with these guys long into the future. And it’s all because they treated you really well when you were at this crossroads in
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
life. And yeah, they gave me an opportunity and believed in me from the start super supportive and believed in me and pushed me to be better during all my time at Signia. And then they knew that like when that time ends, like, we support you, and it’s whatever’s best for lazy it’s now what’s best for signee at that point, at that point, I felt like a person and those conversations, and so yeah, we’ll hold our relationship forever.
Dave Kemp
Okay, so audiology always why buddy? Oh,
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
lost a lot of sleep over that one.
Dave Kemp
You know, other than it’s a great name.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Hey, thanks. I’m glad you like it. Glad you like it. I was kicking around like northeast Indiana audiology, and then it’s like, okay, well, Ohio was like 20 miles. Michigan is like 30 miles. So I’m like, what if I want to open a satellite clinic? I can’t be called northeast Indiana audiology that makes no sense out of man. I thought like Auburn audiology, and then I can’t do that because it’s like one town. And then I kicked around like, Okay, do I mix audiology and just be like, you know, hearing aid specialist or something. But then I was like, you know, audiology is kind of a buzzword right now. Like people I think, knowledge is getting out there that there is a difference in care. Between audiology and over the counter or whatever, you know, I think people who are seeking out audiology, like they’re going to know what that word means. I was a little hesitant about do people even know what audiology means, which some don’t. But that’s fine. I explained to them. And then I was going to be always audiology. And when I was looking up the URL, always audiology was not available. So I’m like, okay, is audiology on we squatty? I don’t know. Like does audiology always make sense? And I’m like, so I went with it. Yeah. And it’s like my thought twin behind the always is. I do have kind of a I’m open to like whatever comes in audiology. So my thought is like, if somebody wants to buy an over the counter hearing aid, I will support you and I will help you through that. Because like at my core is best practice audiology. Yeah. If you want to buy a hearing aid online, and then come see me. Audiology will always be at the core of what I do. And so it’s kind of like things just I kept circling back to like always audiology, audiology always and so that’s where the name came from.
Dave Kemp
I love it. Okay, and then how about like, how did you decide upon the location? And what was the process like of getting it ready to see patients because you guys really run out of it and all that. Yeah,
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
yeah. Wow. Um, so let’s see. I’m from Garrett. So Garrett is a small town as 5000 people in it. And Garrett is like 10 minutes down the road from where I’m at right now. So when we were looking at where do we want to open this practice? It’s like we’re north of Fort Wayne, like 20 minutes north of Fort Wayne, and then it’s super rule. Like there’s no other big towns around But I was like you gotta be in a location that people are willing to come to. And my town of Garrett, like people from Garrett, come to Auburn. So I’m in Auburn is the town that I’m located in. That’s where people go to Walmart. That’s when people go to Taco Bell. That’s where people’s doctor’s offices are. So, Mike, people from Garrett go to Auburn. People from Auburn, don’t come to Garrett don’t have a reason. And so then we started looking in Auburn. And it was kind of like, where do we want to be? Do we want to be in a medical building? Do we want to be, you know, like in the hospital? And so we just started driving around looking at like, Are there buildings for sale? Are there what types of locations are there and so we’re in like a strip location. So right beside me is booths mobile. And right here is subway. So we’re in like a retail type strip. And we work with a broker, we call the number on the door, and we’re like, Hey, we’re interested in this property. Is it for sale for rent? And he was like, yeah, it’s vacant. It used to be hungry Howie’s which is like a pizza place. And so it was a like cement slab when we started. And it was one of those they’re like, if you want to renovate it comes out of your pocket, but do whatever you want. But
Dave Kemp
you ever do you ever have anybody coming in be like, Oh, I thought this was hungry. How he’s
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
no, but when we tell them we’re located, we’re hungry. I always was like, oh, okay, yeah, we’ll be there. I’ll be there.
Dave Kemp
Where they’re open to Howie’s
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
yeah yeah, I don’t know some some bad app and it’s not a the main road like the main highway that goes through this town is right out my front window. And so like Dairy Queen is across the road Autozone has crossed the road like we are on the main busy strip, which was important to me that I don’t I just want it to be visible. I think sometimes when your business isn’t visible or it’s tucked back into like I don’t know like a bunch of little offices and by the insurance agent you know, we’re down in the coldest sack I just want it to be like front and center audiology is important. Here we are you see it right when you come through town. And it’s it’s worked for us. So then to getting walls and paint. So then when we started like I said it was a cement slab and the landlord said Do whatever you want but you’re paying for all over the build out. And I just the glory of working at Signia and seeing a ton of offices was I kind of had an idea like alright, this is my footprint. I have 1500 square feet, what do I want in there and I we would come in here with blue painters tape and we would tape off the rooms and I would like stand in the room and be like is this big enough for a sound booth and then we take off like a six by six sound booth and okay, am I on my irrigator in the corner and is this big enough for a dispensing room and we redid it like 10 times and then like do a weird I went the whole way how wide do I want the hallway how big of a waiting room do I need? But I like loved that part lost a lot of sleep over that. But I am really happy with where we landed. So then it was like okay, we have the space now we need somebody to build the wall. So you got to find a contractor to build the walls. Which was like step one build the walls and then we had to get a drywall or in a guy who came in did the muddy. We had to get flooring. Do you want carpet? Do you want hardwood floor? We painted ourselves picking out the paint color lost a lot of sleep over that one. snowdrop? Sharon Williams, it’s a good one. A light light blue. Really nice. But yeah, you know, it’s like, and it was just from the beginning. I loved that entire process. And we had a lot of fun. It was super late nights, a lot of work. A lot of just like it’s like bringing everything together and picking out colors and furniture and Okay, now we have walls and now we need to furnish this place. Everything we bought was from Amazon, everything, front desk, the chairs, the coffeemaker everything. And so like figuring out, I would like take snips of images on Amazon and put them into PowerPoint and call it like room one does this table on this mirror and this clock and this little table do they match? Is that like a good flow. And so that’s how I kind of did my rooms to see what looks good together. Yeah, it was it was a fun process. But it was one of those took longer than we expected. I would tell people we’re hoping to open March 1 And our first day was April 7, so it’s like things happen.
Dave Kemp
Yep. So April 7, was that day, like
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
who April 7 So the weekly Leading up to April 7, like the day before April 7 was we were still putting together furniture. We had like a pile of furniture in here. But then April 7 came and I had a old patient of mine who was actually a pediatric dentist here in Auburn. Her and her mother in law were our first patients. And so the mother in law had a third party benefit plan. And then the pediatric dentists had no insurance. So myself and my Amanda, my receptionist got to practice with making the call to check benefits. And we only saw two patients on the first day. But it, it was good. And we like we were all set up, you know, ready to bring him in. But very nerve wracking because it’s like, are we ready? Is my council you’re set up appropriately. And I take money. So yeah, it was it was my gravity thing gonna work, you know, my credit card swiper. So it was like it was nerve racking. But that’s why we started with two and a fellow business owner and so super kind of her to offer to be the first patient that’s kind of took off from there.
Dave Kemp
And then so from that, that day until today, like what what’s been your go to market strategy? How are you soliciting patients like without giving too much, you know, Intel to your competitors. I’m just curious of like, This, for me is so fascinating of okay, you’ve, you’re qualified to have a private practice, you have all this prior experience. You’ve got the build out, it looks great. You’re ready to go. Now how do you get patients to come through the door? Right, like that’s kind of like,
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
it’s a scary part.
Dave Kemp
Yeah, that’s the scary part. And then I
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
do think that there’s definitely a unique advantage of opening close to home for me this my family has been in this town in this area forever. And so what I did, I’ll never forget, I’ve read. Yeah, a lot of friends and family. A lot of people who know my family cut know my name. But I’ll never forget it. It was right around Christmas time. So I was still working for Signia at the time, but I told my husband, I’m like, You know what, people are going to be sitting around the Christmas table talking. I feel like I need to post a post that I’m opening my own practice just to people are going to be talking about hearing aids and Grandpa can’t hear so I feel it’s a
Dave Kemp
great holiday. Took me discussion fathers is basically talking about how deaf your grandpa is now.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah, did you hear Lindsey is open into practice, like don’t get hearing aids until she’s open. So it was like, I think it was December like 21st I posted a post, like making a career change, follow audiology always on Facebook. And it was like 490 times and it was shared 100 times viral. That was before I even opened. And that’s just like, you know, these little people in my community. So it’s all recently, which was awesome. But so that’s like, that’s my philosophy. And that’s how I started was with a on a whim Facebook posts that I thought maybe people would talk about. But then in February, there’s a assisted living facility, like right down the road, two minutes down the road. And I reached out to them and just said, Hi, I’m opening my own audiology practice. If there’s anything that I can help you guys with, do you have a provider who currently comes in and they’re like, come to our health fair, we’re having a DeKalb County Senior Health Fair. So I went there in February before I even opened at that health fair. I met people who run the community centers of my county and the next county north. So that’s like the senior community where people go to get their nails painted and they play cards and they learn about Medicare insurance and they have luncheons so then there I set up a that’s when I came up with doughnuts with Dr. Lindsey. So I set up with doughnuts with Dr. Lindsey at both of these senior communities. And it started with like 10 people at each of them. And then it turned into one shes and I just did a lunch with one of those senior communities. And there were 30 people there. And I spent $0 on this. They tell their people posted on the calendar is an event and they come and they learn and then they tell their friends. It’s incredible. Yeah, it’s a lot of like, I went before I even opened I went and gave brochures and business cards to like the physicians and like the surrounding to counties, like local family doctors and just introduce myself. And then just a couple weeks ago, so kind of like the six month mark, I typed up a one pager of like these are things that I can help you with. One was like if somebody calls about sudden sensorineural hearing loss, send them to me, I will do a tympanic gram, I will do the audio and I will send them right back or I will call you with the results. If you need wax removal and you don’t have time to do it. I charged $30 which is not much but that’s what a lot of people pay is their office copay. So it’s like coming to me it’s easier than going there. Takes me 10 minutes if that So it was like five different things of everyone should have a hearing test over age 50. This is why. And we’ve even that has kicked up more referrals just from the local physicians. So I think just staying in front of people, we had a little booth at the fair. So at the fair, I paid like $600, to have a little booth in this tent where people could walk past and me and Amanda stood there, and our audiology always shirts, and I did custom ear molds on the spot if somebody was around noise exposure. So really, we’ve sent out one mailer with one of the manufacturers about tinnitus. So I’m not really I’m kind of staying away from like, just blast mailers with like, $600 off or $1,000 off. I’m more like word of mouth education, kind of taking a different angle of it of let me be your partner in this.
Dave Kemp
Let me be your doctor of audiology. Yeah, let
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
me be the expert in this field. And let me be the expert in this community, not like a discount option. And people notice that and they feel the difference. I think even the doctors and physicians and senior communities like they feel that and they sense that and they like it. That’s
Dave Kemp
really cool. It’s very impressive. I mean, I think, again, it just ties into like, you are, you are really, you’re a go getter and you take the initiative. And but there’s so much to be said about that. I mean, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to somebody where they say, I went to this thing, and it like turned into three new opportunities. And it never would have happened if I hadn’t put myself in that position. So doing these sort of out of the box things, you’re just increasing the surface area of the potential walk that yeah, you might run into the serendipity, right, like meeting these different people. But it’s all about putting yourself out there. And I think that like, especially as you’re getting started, that’s amazing that you were able to, like get these inroads early. So that you could tell the story of like, why these people and what makes you different, I mean, again, like not to just completely be repetitive, but the I love like the name to, you know, audiology, always including audiology, front and center. Because again, if you’re an audiologist, that’s your weapon like you shouldn’t use that as a significant differentiator in your own market. And I think that what we’re seeing right now in the market is this emergence of what is a commodity market indices and, you know, these like real budget level options where you just completely scaled down the service part of it. That’s great. Whatever there there is a place for that there’s a market for that. And but it’s different. Nothing audiologist and I think that like you kind of alluded to this early on in the conversation, which is it’s, it’s almost as if that has actually encouraged more people to seek out your services is because they see that as like, sure there’s this Do It Yourself option that I could go down. But truthfully, I’m willing to pay a premium to go to the expert. And it’s about establishing yourself as the expert in your area.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah, and I that’s exactly what we were kind of talking about earlier is I do find that there are kind of two, what I’m seeing in my mark is there’s kind of two different types of consumers. There are people who want affordability as their driver, they want a hearing aid that is affordable and within their budget. And then there’s this other group of people who want the best they want Dr. Lindsey? Oh, how do I get an appointment with Dr. Lindsey? And they’re willing to pay for it, no matter regardless if they have an insurance plan or not. They want the best service and they want to tell everybody about it. And so I and part of my practice in what is working for me is I do see both of those people, I understand the practices who choose to you know, go all private pay. But for me, it’s so far it’s working, seeing both of those patient populations. Yes.
Dave Kemp
Right and third parties, and then you know, the insurance benefits. I mean, I’m sure even based on your time with Signia leading into this like that that’s become a really it’s a new element in this industry is the third party managed care benefits and just like the pervasiveness of benefits. Have you have you been able it sounds like you’ve got a nice system in place where you have the more profitable private pay people that are coming to you because they’re associating you as a justifiable premium. And then you have these people that like you said, they’re very budget conscious and so they’re looking but but again, I think it’s interesting that they’re still coming to you with a benefit, but they’re still perceiving there to be value of this being administered by a professional so like what’s, what’s that? Unlike have this mix, are you? Is it a 5050 mix? Like what’s the what’s that look like? And
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
then, and that’s where kind of alluding back to the marketing is, I as a rep, I saw some offices who were very dependent upon those third party referrals. And, you know, when insurance conversations would be happening, or things would be changing with the government, they would those referrals would slow down, and it would really kind of squeeze their practice. And so I said, from the start, I am not ever going to depend on these third party referrals to be the way that I make money. And so that’s why I do a lot of outbound, I actually need to look at my split between the people who are actually referred to me versus the people that I’m actually referring in, it’s considerably more, me making the referral because they have their UnitedHealthcare card and I refer in, but our product split are are whatever, my guess the word would be like whether they’re coming from third party or private pay is, like 70% of our units are third party units. 30% are private pay units, and then our revenue split is 5050. And it’s like, right down the middle 5050. So it’s like we’re definitely fitting way more third party units. But we do have some private pay, it is still out there. And then revenue is 5050. So do
Dave Kemp
you feel that? Are there residual benefits with third party in like, for example, if you’re seeing a significant amount of people, right, the way I’ve always sort of interpreted that is that it’s less profitable, but it’s higher volume. So you’re seeing more people. So by residual benefits, I mean, word of mouth marketing and referral sources, people that you know what I mean? Like, are these people helping to even if they’re not the most profitable patient, per se, especially as you’re getting off the ground? It seems like it would still be, it would be a really positive indicator, if you’re seeing there be additional value with those people coming in, because they’re speaking highly of your services, or maybe they’re buying additional services or something like that.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah. I mean, for example, a patient that we had this morning, he has been to a couple other clinics in town, who are telling him hearing aids are $6,000. And he actually talked to a friend who had been here and bought private pay hearing aids from me. But he added true hearing benefit. So when he came in had his Humana card, or like you have a true hearing benefit, let’s add you to the portal. I told him, You even have a flex card, you actually get another $1,000 off using your Humana discount flex card. And the guy was over the moon, his wife put her phone number in her phone immediately to tell all of her friends, they took like a stack of cards, and they’re like a well known person in the next town over Yeah. And so it’s like, yes, that guy could have afforded $6,000 hearing aids, but because I let him use his insurance benefit that he pays for and that he wanted to utilize. He’s going to tell his friends and bring in to fold room, it’s going to be worth the word of mouth of go see Dr. Lindsey, she will be transparent with you. She’ll help you understand that hearing aid options in your insurance benefits. So it’s it’s working for now. I can see where my long term thought, as a new business, you have the capacity to see all of these people want to get a nice, yeah, I have the bandwidth to have a packed schedule of consults and fits. Yeah, I can see where it’s going to get a little dicey, like year two to three when my patient load is just more. But that’s where Amanda, my receptionist from the day I hired her. I’ve trained her to be more of an audiology assistant and a receptionist. So those $45 visits that they’re going to come in next year. Most of them are going to be with Amanda, you need your wax trap changed, you need your receivers dead, whatever manda can help you with that if you need a programming change, sure. But we’ve been open six months, and people seem to be doing well. Pro, you know, if you do really are off the bat and you fit them well. They’re going to need their annual hearing test or biannual every two year hearing test. And if we need to reprogram we will. But I just feel like there’s a little bit I’m not seeing people back every three months every six months, if they want to by all means but most people are like call you when I need you. I have a year of services or private pay they get the whole three years with their warranty. I’ll call you when I need you. And so I don’t know we have a man to do an outbound calls to check on people. So every three months after their fifth Amanda runs a list of people and calls them to say, hey, it’s Amanda with audiology always just calling to see how your hearing aids are doing. Like I’m great. Yeah, it’s like we’re not like totally losing touch with them. But I’m also not packing my calendar with follow ups that are like, Hey, I blocked 30 minutes in my schedule, and you’re doing great. And you love us. Crap. I just wasted 30 minutes. Yeah,
Dave Kemp
totally. Yeah. And again, I think that like for me, in a lot of these conversations I’ve had on the podcast and off the podcast is that I really, I don’t know how the the third party managed care and like the benefit third party companies, I don’t know how that’s going to shake out. But I think that it’s probably pretty undeniable that just like you’re going to see more and more insurance coverage for this stuff, right. So it’s not going to go away. And it looks to me that, again, it’s more of a business model change that I think it’s precipitating. In the past, a hearing aid clinic, for the most part could operate by not seeing a whole lot of people because it’s so profitable. And so like, you don’t have to necessarily solicit and all of that being said, now that it seems to sort of be inverting where it’s not as profitable per patient, but you have so much more interest and demand for it. It seems like it’s more about how do you how do you completely adjust for that, for that inversion, where you’re seeing like a whole lot more people in for me, it’s a business model, change that’s necessary, you need to have, like you’re doing you need to have some sort of like, front office system or something that you can start to get better about managing the patient mode, just to your point, like the days of I think, just having these the status quo, but being like, I’m going to just book like a 30 minute follow up appointment, you need to do that. Can you do it through something like this? You know, yeah, on Zoom or something like that? And can it be administered by an assistant? And what does that look like in terms of getting somebody trained up? How do you hire somebody like that? So again, it’s like it for me, this is so interesting to talk to somebody that is I, I find private practice to be really interesting as is but to start a private practice in today’s climate is particularly interesting, because these are the kinds of like visceral things that you’re facing on a daily basis that we talked about, you know, all of the shared experiences and learning from previous generations. Well, these are examples of where you maybe don’t have a guide. And so you have to literally just learn by failing and the process of iteration within.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
And that’s what I like when it when I was deciding, okay, I’m gonna open a practice. It was like, do I want to buy an existing practice? Or do I want to start from scratch this was part of my thinking was, if I start from scratch, I’m going to be able to make it my own from the start. People have no preconceived notion of how it’s supposed to work. It’s like how Lindsey wants it to work. And so from the start, I have introduced Amanda as my audiology assistant. When you come back for your follow ups, Amanda can do most things right here at the front desk, you don’t need to get on my schedule. If it’s just your hearing aids dead, she can probably figure it out at the front desk. And so I’ve always said, I see our industry changing to more of like a dentist model and optometrists model, and I’ve said that for years, and I’m trying myself to kind of implement that thinking. And Amanda and I have talked about, you know, I’m trying to grow her in her position and in her career, but as an audiologist, if a patient walks in here with true hearing, say they have three options on their plan, they don’t get a pic brand. It’s just this is what it is. I could do the hearing test. And then Amanda could go over there three different options. So I spend maybe 30 minutes with them, send them to Amanda, she goes over their options and does that sale. And then the when they come back, I do the fitting for 30 minutes and she does the 30 minutes of here’s how you put it in, right. Here’s red and blue. Here’s how to charge currently I’m doing all of that myself because I can but I see how that could change. You know if your private pay and you got no world of options of hearing aids. Maybe I do that whole appointment, but for third parties. I don’t need to be the one telling you do you want your UnitedHealthcare relate? Or do you want a name brand? It’s really what can you afford? What what do you do you know Are you active? Do you what are your listening needs? And I can teach somebody else how to have that conversation. I
Dave Kemp
mean imagine going to get your teeth cleaned at the dentist and the dentist him or herself is literally cleaning you Your teeth, it’s such a foreign concept. Hang out, you know, they come in and they look at your teeth for like a minute and they’re like, Yeah, everything looks good to hear. I’m gonna pass you back off to the hygienists. Yeah. Ya know, so you still you still see all of the patients. But again, it’s a time management thing.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Yeah. And that’s what I’m, I’m like grooming My people from the start of. Yes, I am. Dr. Lindsey, I will help you and you have a big need but I don’t need to be the one doing everything. I will train my people and so like Amanda from the start, she did the Nicole Kingdom audiology assistant course. So and so yeah, I paid for the boilers, former
Dave Kemp
guest on the podcast. Yeah. And So Amanda,
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
I paid for it, she went through it, I gave her a raise at the end, like, thank you for doing that. Now you can be you know, you can provide more support for the practice, you’re more, you know, helping me save me Don’t blame.
Dave Kemp
I think that that’s, that’s great. And I like I think that that is a blueprint, because let’s face it, it’s not gonna get any easier, I think, to hire audiologists, and there’s just, they’re few and far between. And so I think that there is a huge imperative and like, shout out to Nicole and all the other folks that are like, really attacking this at the core and at the root, which is we I think, I think as a as an industry need to be elevating support roles. Yeah, do you know, more and more, because to your point like you, you can use your your time is so sacred as the audiologists that you have to like you’re your number one imperative is to manage that time as efficiently as possible. And so I think that if you to your to the point is like in the old days, pre three pas, and when it was like, less interested in
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
20, hearing aids a month, exactly.
Dave Kemp
You can have a 30 minute consultation, you can have these just really generic calendars have like, this is how it’s gonna go. And I’m not going to be as sensitive to how much time I’m allocating for all these things, but that’s what’s changed so much. So that’s why I think it’s like really interesting to learn about, how do you organically? How do you nurture someone that starts as your front office assistant into somebody that can do as much as is legally possible, you know, without it being something that’s outside of the rules and regulations, right.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
And that’s what I think like, you know, coming from the e and t clinic that I was at, they as that role was so hard to fill the receptionist role. And all I saw was you answer the phone, you schedule an appointment, you know, you do appointment reminders. And from the start, I knew, I am not going to be able to do this by myself. And like the first couple days, I was the one opening the box of hearing aids as we got a new order and writing down the serial numbers. And I’m like, one week in I’m like, I don’t have the capacity to do this, I will be here till 10pm every night. And so I taught Amanda, when the UPS man comes, you open that package up, you get the hearing aids charging, this is how you turn them on. And this is how you turn them off. This is right and left this how you indicate them. It’s like it’s not rocket science, you just have to give somebody the confidence in the training to do it. And so now I don’t even think twice when a hearing aid comes in, she checks it in, she charges it she fills out a purchase agreement form. The next day, she unplugs it she shuts it off, she puts it in the audiology always bag with her name on it, and it goes on the shelf. And so it’s like, I if I was the one doing that, I would be working all hours of the raid to give her the autonomy. I think the next thing I’m going to teach her is test box, I don’t need to be the one checking in hearing aids on the test box. And she’s motivated to learn it after her audiology assistant course. And so I just think that that job is what you make it he’s ready to I mean, she changes wax traps or ear the front desk. So she does all of my insurance calling she adds people to these third party portals. So it’s like an invaluable position that I have allowed her to really grow in, it’s like I’m not limiting you. And once she gets more confident, it’s like alright, Amanda, then you might have your own schedule as an audiology assistant. And then we need to hire somebody else and groom them up to be another assistant. And so I think that’s kind of the model that I’m morphing towards.
Dave Kemp
It’s so cool. It really is. I mean, I think it’s because again, it’s like you hear all about and I don’t it’s very case by case of why make people make certain decisions about you know, whether or not they want to accept insurance or whatever and somebody barring just like totally different situations where maybe they don’t even need to go down that route. But I think that if, if the idea is like, This is killing me, I think it needs to be looked at through the lens of Is it killing you because your practice is still designed to it’s it’s really only conducive to the out of pocket pay model? And do you need to redesign it in a way where you’re leveraging these kinds of things where it’s like everything we’re talking about, which is, how do you just like completely remove the audiologist as much as possible? You know, again, where it doesn’t diminish the value, because they’re seeing it as it’s the total value of coming into the doors of your practice. Right. But I just think that that is like this macro trend that we’re seeing right now, that is a direct response to the shift in the, you know, how pervasive third party benefits are.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
And like you said, I think it’s, it’s the message from the start that you sent, I mean, people feel the importance of Amanda in my office, they don’t view her as like, oh, I don’t get Lindsey. It’s like, nope, Lindsey has trained Amanda. And she is going to do things just like Dr. Lindsey does. And so I think people like recognize that and to your point, the one thing I have recognized, even for my Signia days is every practice is so different, I completely understand why some people don’t take third parties. And then some people only see third parties, and I can see where those offices, if you’re totally reliant on these third party referrals coming in, and you’re seeing the same number of people you saw six years ago, it doesn’t work. Every single day, I’m looking at my profitability and my revenue per hour. And I know how much money I need to make per hour. If that starts slipping. It’s like, why is that slipping? What do we need to do to bring in more patients. And so it’s like the business model, it is a business. And that’s where I have audiology, always, I’m all about helping people hear better. But at the end of the day, what I lose sleep over is running the business and making money. And it’s okay to have lofty goals to make really good money being an audiologist. And it’s possible, it
Dave Kemp
allows for you, I think that it’s like if you want to design something, where you’re like, you know, providing this altruistic or this, you know, something that’s just comes from the bottom of your heart like you, you just the whole idea is you want to help people and all that, well, yes, of course. But that, you know, you need to be able to have a business that allows for you to facilitate all that right. And I think that that’s a, it’s a great encapsulation of your whole story, which is that all of these stops, sort of along the way that have led toward your private practice, have provided such a valuable portion of what you now rely on on a daily basis, whether it’s the business acumen, or if it’s the clinical experience, or if it’s all of the relationships that you’ve built. I mean, all of that really has sort of like enabled you to be successful.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Every every single part of it, like you said, it’s like from the e and t clinic and those the education that I got from my old co workers who are even still working there, their knowledge and expertise to the business side of Signia. And getting the passion to pursue my MBA while I was at Signia. And I’m still pursuing to the connections that I’ve met, like those mentors that I mentioned, who are all over the country, it’s like it just, it’s come full circle. And it’s just it’s really kind of fun to see, like we’ve mentioned before, it’s like, I’ve been open for six months. And it feels like it’s been 10 years from the decisions that I’ve had to make in the loss of sleepless nights. But it’s been it’s also been fun. And it’s yeah, for Adeje in the decisions behind it that I thrive off of and that are it’s fun. It’s made out to
Dave Kemp
be really puzzling. Yeah, yeah, it’s a puzzle. In the end, it’s just sort of like one thing leads to another and so you never know where it’s going to turn. But it’s, thank you so much for coming on and talking about this, because I’ve just really enjoyed again, I’ve known you for a few years now. And it’s really cool to see like you make the jump from Signia. And you did something that was really ambitious, you started your own clinic, you built it from scratch and to just hear that you’re having as much success as you are in the way that you’re having that success is so encouraging because I think that it really is it is such a testament of like, prioritize as an audiologist prioritize the audiology piece and make that make that The thing that differentiates you in your market, because like, again, I think that what we’re, I think that we’re really seeing is that there is a ton of demand for the knowledge and the expertise. And I think that what we’re kind of experiencing right now is a commoditization. But I think all of that is all it’s doing is it’s emphasizing and highlighting that there is a premium offering, that is administered through a professional. And hence, here are the benefits of that. And here is the reasons why you should come and you should see me I think that you’re like a poster child for
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
that. Thanks to foster child, big word for, like, I think what I would tell other audiologists thinking like should I go into private practice, should I not, I think I’m a testament of it’s a lot of hard work, it’s a heavy lift to get off the ground. But now six months in, I see the opportunity, it could go so many different directions. And in my community, I’m like listening to the needs. I’ve been asked to take pediatric hearing aid patients I’ve been asked to take on adult cochlear implant patients. People ask me all the time, if I do balance, tinnitus is a big, you know, always the big need. And so it’s like, I could partner with a physical therapist and do balance and incorporate balance into my clinic, I could bring on a pediatric audiologist, who works with the local schools. And so it’s like, once you get the nuts and bolts of a clinic, you’re like, dreams are endless, of what direction you want to go. It’s not. It’s not just hearing aids, like, currently, I am selling hearing aids, but I also do custom ear mold impressions for kids who swim for people who work in noise. And that’s like another marketing Avenue kind of that I do. And so it’s like, yes, hearing aids are the nuts and bolts, but the opportunities it’ll be, I feel like I’m positioning myself to be open to what’s to come. Yeah, you know, is it third parties, grow, grow, grow? Is it over the counter in virtual and telehealth starts to explode? And I feel like I’m the younger generation, I think is open to it. And I’m positioning myself in a profitable way to be able to take what comes and be agile with it. And so, yeah, I think I’m a testament to say it’s, it’s possible and don’t be scared of private practice. Just get the right people in your court to ask the right questions to and yeah, it can work.
Dave Kemp
That’s so cool. Well, thank you so much for anybody that wants to connect with you and you know, ask questions or become your friend. What’s the best way to link up?
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
You can email me my email is just Dr. Dr. Lindsey at audiology. always.com. Of course, you can follow audiology always on Facebook. You can find me on LinkedIn, Lindsey Koble. Sometimes I put out funny things of business things that I learned. But yeah, reach out to me. Anyway, I’m more than happy to be that mentor answer questions.
Dave Kemp
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for everybody who tuned in here to the end. We will chat with you next time. Cheers.
Lindsey Koble, Au.D.
Thanks, Dave.
