Mary Kostka shares how she built a private practice called Ohana despite family doubt, logging 7,700 visits this year after 15 years in business. She recounts living in a school bus and building a house with friends to show that skepticism from others shouldn't stop you from pursuing what you want.
15 years
Approximately 7,700 visits (speaker said "almost 8,000 visits, 7,700 visits").
Hello, hello from Wintry Wonderland. It's snowing. I was on a walk when it wasn't snowing earlier today with my dog and my neighbor passed by and I had this flashback to, well, the point of this whole thing is don't let anybody underestimate your potential and what you can do. So I had this neighbor go by and Stan, and he remembers me teasing him about this. He had a long, he's a mountain man, long beard. And here's these two kids, 23 year olds living in a school bus heading into winter. And he's like, you're never gonna make it, never gonna make it. And well, he didn't know who we really were. And of course we made it. Not just one winner, but five winners camping and continued on to build this house. And we're still here 35 years later. But it also made me think about as I was walking, it made me think about when, when I was working in the schools, how I always strove for excellence. And especially two special ed directors say, you don't have to give them the Cadillac, just the Volkswagen. Just a little bit of progress is fine. And I'm like, hell no, that is not who I am. So move forward to have my private practice. And I can remember going to my first private practice workshop 2007, eight, something like that. And I had, I have some extended family in the medical profession and they were very discouraging about me opening my private practice because they had dealt with a lot of insurance stuff. They didn't think the future was very bright. And so, you know, of course they're trying to save me. I guess 15 years later, here we are still. Ohana is 15 years strong. We've already served this year. We've done almost 8,000 visits, 7,700 visits, and with my amazing staff. And so my point of all of this is do not let anybody underestimate what you can do. You know, when you are driven and you have a dream, just go for it.
