Secrets to Scaling Smart & Saving Big in Multi-Location Healthcare with Kayla and Tone

Foreign.

Welcome back to the Willpower podcast, guys. Today's episode is a awesome one. We have Caleb Pollock and Tony Williams, both from Virtual Rockstar, talking about virtual assistants. So if you're a multi location private practice owner, this is your primary episode because we're going to talk about models that work and the differences of owners of private practices that implement virtual assistants. Well, that scale the dozens or those who just have a couple or those who don't really fit the model at all. It's a very entertaining discussion and it was so cool listening to Kayla and Tony just talk about all that they've learned over the last two years to help people do it right. Enjoy the show. Well, welcome to Willpower podcast. I'm so excited to have Tony Williams, who's our VP of growth over at Virtual Rockstar, as well as Kayla, our VP of operations at Virtual Rockstar. Guys, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Thank you, Will. We're super stoked. Yeah.

And we're super excited about today's episode because this is gonna be all about virtual assistants in multi location private practices in healthcare. We've been doing this now for quite a bit. How many people have we hired over the last year and a half, two years?

Oh my gosh.

We have a hundred total VAs.

Current active.

We're at 160 virtual assistants within our company right now.

Yeah, yeah. We have well over 100. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, all medical private practices in our industry. How many do we have?

Yeah. Partners. We have 110, I think so right around 110.

Yeah, it's been great. And I think one of the things that we were talking about that we wanted to focus on in this episode is the difference that we've seen when we're working with a large multi location, you know, private practice versus a small individual one. So what are like. Right. When I say differences, what would be some of the glaring differences that you see from a virtual assistant perspective from a large company to a small company?

Team. Like working with a team rather than shouldering everything themselves, coming in and trying to figure it out. Like you're doing it with a team and you have a support system and you're all learning the same systems and software and things like that. That's what I would. The first thing that would glare out.

At me because instead of hiring one person, you're hiring, you're hiring a team. I see. Very cool. Kayla, what can you do?

Yeah. And I just think with larger scale partners of ours, they just have more capacity and bandwidth to put into Training, onboarding their va, making sure that they set themselves and the VA up for success. So it's hard when you're a single practice owner to have that bandwidth to invest in your va, and that's where we kind of see things go a little awry. Oftentimes they can figure it out and work through those growing pains. But there's definitely some growing pains initially when you are trying to invest in your VA and it's just everything's kind of on your shoulders.

Yeah, I love that. Tony, what would you describe as, like, someone who shouldn't hire a virtual assistant regardless of size? Like, who's the person that you're like? No, they're just not a fit if they come across a call, you know.

It'S not a fit when they just have. You know, they're. They feel very scatterbrained. They don't know how they. They're like, I can figure it out. I'll figure out how to train somebody. But they don't even have anything, like, written out or any processes in place. Like, whenever you don't have anything organized or you're not quite sure how you would be even training someone in person, I would say that you're not ready. I usually will sit and have a conversation with that person and help them kind of gather their thoughts on what they're looking for and where they do need to be freed up. And it's like, okay, let's start here and start making lists of things that need to be taken off your plate. And then go step by step on what you need to do so that you can start taking. Hitting that one by one rather than trying to do it all at once, because that's when you'll make strides. Is whenever you do things one at a time, one thing at a time? Yeah.

These are smaller practices. Maybe people who've never really hired and trained before is what you're referring to. Because there is a difference between someone who's never worked with a virtual assistant not knowing how to bring them on versus someone who just doesn't know how to hire and train at all. And I think that's the delineation, because everyone who's starting with virtual assistants have to start somewhere, and that's where we support them.

Right? Absolutely. And I want to be clear, because I want. Go back to what, you know, Kayla said there are some private practice owners that come and get one VA with us, and they start out. They are. They might be a little bit scattered, but they're like, I need to do it Because I don't have any other help. Right. I'm going to figure this out. But they are the person that will fit. They figure it out. Right. There are a few of those people that come in there, like, tell me what to do and I'm going to do, like, I'll figure it out.

They're trainable, they're coachable.

Absolutely. Absolutely. But if you're coming in and it's something that you maybe you don't have your hands on and you're not quite sure if you want to adjust or.

Be able to learn new processes, to be able to bring someone in, usually you're not quite ready. You just need to step back and start organizing it. You might need a little bit of coaching, like a little coaching to get your work with a coach so that you can get things organized, to be able to take that step, to get the help that you need.

I love that. So, yeah, as we're focusing on this episode, more of multi location private practices. I think it was good just to highlight, hey, who's not a fit for virtual assistants in general. And then you have this delineation of the differences between small private practices that are doing well with their one to three virtual assistants versus your, like seven to 20 or larger private practices that have multiple locations and how they implement that. So I like that. Tony, you were talking about team being one of the main things that has delineated that. So let's talk a little bit about what that looks like. If someone's listening to this episode and they have multiple locations.

What do you guys tell them? Like, when they're just kind of exploring the space, what do you tell them that helps them understand and give an idea of what that could even look like? Like, what does it look like with some of your clients that have dozens of virtual assistants? Like, how does that look for them?

I don't know if this will necessarily answer your question, but I think where we've seen larger private practice teams be successful is they really hone in on specific skills for their VAs and kind of build a team around that. So instead of hiring somebody to handle a broad range of tasks that they may or may not be proficient in, I think where we've seen a lot of success with these larger teams is that they kind of put their teammates in silos and kind of given them specific responsibilities to handle and like, that's where they want them to be proficient and not trying to be kind of a jack of all trades.

Yeah. It's funny because I think a lot of times, you know, people forget that. It's just like hiring another human being. Like if I hired an American to come in my clinic and to be a little bit front desk and a little social media and a little bit of that, they are going to not succeed nearly as well as hiring specifically for one hat. What were you going to say?

Well, these VAs come in and they have expertise in a specific area like we have. Whenever we talk to clients and potential clients on our calls or on my discovery calls. It's like these are the five areas that, you know, we go and find these expertise in. Right. I would say I'm going to go back a little bit and talk a little bit about one other thing that's important to come in. Like, because it's going to touch on what Kayla just said. That won't work. Like people come in and they want someone that can do all of the things. Right. They want someone that can not only verify insurance, but they can do social media content creation and answer the phones.

And do a little bit of billing.

Yes. And billing, full cycle billing. That typically doesn't work because we don't find those unicorns often. Can you find someone that's really good at medical billing, has a knowledge of verification, that's trainable, that might be younger and want to help out and learn those things? Yeah, it's rare, but they have to be like, oh yes, I want to learn this. Or I can help you out with posting social media too as well. That's one other thing that we do have an issue with is people coming in expecting this unicorn to be found when we can't find that even here in the States. Right. So I have to be able to explain that to people that we are going to find experienced VAs in the main like daily tasks that you're looking for. So if again going back to those teams. So you may need help with your social media growing and your marketing to get your brand out there and get your private practice out there more. That's a va. That's one va. Right. And then having someone come in and work the front desk that's doing phones and verifications and you're training them up on authorization. That's another VA. Yeah, one of the main VAs.

Let's get that over because maybe someone who has 10 locations has never hired a single VA, so they might not even know what VAs can do. So what are the teams you talked about hiring in silos, you know, better said is like that, like specific role you guys hire for specific Roles. What are the most successful roles that you've hired VAs for, especially in multi location practices.

So one would be front desk. And we kind of group that together with like just answering phones, verifications, authorizations, usually. Yeah. Patient intake, patient, patient facing patients, all things. I mean we.

So patient facing and non patient facing both it sounds like.

Yes, for that one front desk role.

Correct.

And then there's the full cycle medical billing. So that person comes in with experience being able to, you know, do all things. Full cycle medical billing. They typically aren't ones that want to be patient facing.

I was just going to say those are two separate.

They are.

A lot of these medical billers are so used to just kind of being on the back end. Like they don't want to be patient facing.

Yeah. And isn't it true that the front desk roles are more of a sales position? You want that higher personality. How do you scan for that, Kayla? Like how do you. Because you're over ops, so you're the one who's overseeing all the like the details of finding this, the peeps. And you've got an incredible background of helping multi location practices directly before you join virtual rockstar. So like how do you find that ideal front desk role?

Yeah, so I think it comes down to somebody that maybe does have some sales background in them or customer service. Oftentimes we'll look for people who have been like a CSR with other BPO companies.

Client relations specialist. Is that what that CS customer service rep?

Yeah. So they're coming in and they already have that ability to, you know, kind of diffuse, you know, situations to handle, you know, things with grace. So oftentimes like that's like the big thing that we're after if it's a patient facing position, is somebody who has great customer service, somebody who's got a great personality, very bubbly, very passionate about what they're doing. So that kind of fits, fits that mold.

The other three areas that we hire virtual assistants in. So we said front desk medical billing. We do bookkeeping. We actually have a few bookkeepers on stuff that just that are phenomenal with their clients. We do social media and marketing. So we've got a lot of VAs that have come in and worked with some of our partners that literally run and grow their social media.

That's been big for me. If I can jump in, for me having this podcast, for example, we're posting four short videos every day across every channel in addition to email marketing and all the things. Because like that to me is one of the least tapped in the private practice space. It's one of the least tapped opportunities that virtual assistants can just explode. They've been so big for us, haven't they?

Yeah, yeah. And then the final one is a personal or executive assistant which I think, and challenge me here if I'm wrong in this. I think that that executive and personal assistant can bleed into those other roles whereas the other ones can't bleed into to certain roles. So you can't do social media marketing with a front desk person because they're not going to be able to verify insurance and, and do social media at the same time because they're two completely different roles. But the executive and personal assistant can bleed into those other roles.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Oftentimes it's like administrative tasks kind of back end things. It's just talking to them and seeing their willingness to step in and kind of take on other responsibilities just to, to help streamline operations.

And someone that's truly an executive assistant and has experience being an executive assistant, they're used to coming in and flexing and doing whatever it is that the person that they are working for needs. Right.

That's probably the most significant like personal hire I've had over. Cause we worked. I hired over 50 medical billers for my old medical billing company directly overseas which is what started the foundation of Virtual Rockstar. But it wasn't until Kim came along and started managing my emails and my calendar that was such a personal thing because. And by the way, it elevates the brand when someone's reaching out to an owner and they have somebody as an intermediary there takes some training there that we provide. But it's one of those things that like having that in place is like the best secret that no one even knows that they need is a personal assistant who controls your calendar and your email.

That's actually one of the fastest growing calls that I've been working with lately is people coming to me wanting to be freed up. And I don't, I've actually heard yesterday, I don't ever want to touch or look at an email again. Like can you?

I haven't gotten to that point, but I will. I know I got from three hours to 30 minutes.

Thirty minutes.

That's what I said.

That's what I said. Well, what if I could get you down to maybe 30 minutes? Like they're like, I'll take it. I'll absolutely take it. So yeah, that's actually one of the fastest growing discovery and I'll challenge the.

Executive Assistant is one of the harder ones for us to be really successful with because, because they're so involved in, you know, the, the partner's daily lives and communication and it's, it's, it's a tough one to get right. And I think just our, our listeners, our potential partners just have to be understanding that like it may take a couple times to get it right but once you find your person, like once you find your Kim, I mean it will change, change your life.

Yeah. It reminds me of Avatar where you have like that person riding the horse and their hair connects to the like it's like you have to have that right match otherwise it doesn't fit. And that' like it's so funny when people are looking at virtual assistant companies and they're trying to like save money, they, they make the mistake of trying to go with the company that's paying the charges the least. You know that company that's charging anywhere between eight and $11, they're higher. That means they're paying people between one and three, maybe $5 an hour. Whereas you guys are paying your people anywhere between 6 and 10.

Actually 7 to 7.

Yeah, 7 to 9 or 10. So you guys are in that position. So tell me what does. So what's. Let's look at, let's look at the end in mind. You have a multi location practice that you're working with and you have a number that you work with currently. Let's start with like how do you start working with those owners on helping understand what that looks like when they're. What the vision is of hiring.

Truly, it honestly, it starts with that call the discovery call with me and I sit down and I find out what they're looking for and what their needs are and then that's where we collaborate with them. We find out, you know what, how they're set up right now. Like how are you currently set up? For instance, we have a current partner that has the largest number of VAs with us. They have six locations, hired 15 virtual assistants with us all at once.

So they hired 15 virtual assistants in one go.

One go.

How long did it take for you guys to hire for that?

It was a few round of group interviews, but I think when all was said and done, it took us two to three weeks to.

Two to three weeks to hire 15 people.

Yeah.

Okay.

And this is where the success came in. This partner already they had their, how they wanted to train these people. They already knew how they were going to bring this team on. Right. And they're fully Virtual. They don't have any front desk team members, nobody in person.

So they were already using kiosks. They were already using kiosks for people to roam.

So they did have that aligned. So it was a very, I would say smooth, I don't want to say easy, but smooth sourcing process for us and for them. They already knew how they were going to be training. So even if you're not fully virtual, you can, like, have your SOPs all written up and know how you're going to train somebody. If you've got that written up, you're going to be way more successful and ready to go. And it's going to be a lot easier to bring a team on.

And I'm sure it wasn't perfectly dialed in, but they had some semblance of a structure that they were coming in going, okay, we know how to hire for these roles.

And with us going back to the avatar, where we want to find the right fit. Right. That's where this team was different during their hiring process as well. They wanted to make sure that each and every virtual assistant they brought on was going to be a culture fit for their team to make a difference with their patients at their clinics.

It was a completely different interview process than anything I'd ever done before because they asked a couple questions about their technical skills, but they really honed in on, like, is this person going to be a good culture fit for our team? Are they going to mesh well with our providers?

Yes.

And I just was, like, blown away by the way that they structured, like, their questions and how they engaged with the candidates. It was unbelievable.

Yeah. Because normally we help provide that gap. Right. You know, at Virtual Rockstar, you guys are in that process of filling in that gap, culturally speaking. So this is something I think is a lesson for anyone who's listening is that rock stars, if you're hiring a virtual assistant, you have to treat them like you'd hire any American. I think that's a big gap in people's understanding, is they're just people. They're just on a screen versus physically there. There's a very little difference otherwise. And when we hire for culture, we hire for success. We hire for mindset. We train on skill set. We are. What you guys do is so amazing because you find the best skill set, aligned people and even some cultural. But that's where the owners, I think, in this group, obviously, from what you're saying Kayla, did so well, is that they hired based on culture and screen them in that.

In that way, when you hire that way and you hire based on culture and you are focusing on finding a fit that matches with your team that you currently have longevity, like you're going to have longevity there. And those VAs that are on the other side of the world, you know, it helps them feel like they are a part of your team. So that I personally feel like is such a huge thing, especially working with us at Virtual Rockstar because we're so value oriented and we live by our values and these VAs represent us. We want them to be placed with partners that we're working with that feel the same way. That's what's a good fit for us.

That's amazing.

I think the other really neat thing that this particular partner did was they kind of grouped their teams together. Their teams of VAs. They grouped them together based on their personality. They took into consideration the personality of the providers at the particular clinic that they were working with, the patients that they would be engaging with. So they really went the extra mile to make sure that they were placing each of their VAs in a position to be successful and to really feel like they were a part of that team and feel like they fit in.

Awesome.

And they also did pods. So they had, they had the team that was front, you know, front desk, patient, patient facing, basically. So they were on the kiosks. They were the ones that are the teams in each location because they had four different pods. I, I believe it is for the six locations that they had that would be answering the check ins for all the patients and having fun getting to know, you know, their patients coming in. And then they had the teams that are verifications and authorizations. And then they had a team lead from the Philippines, which is a different.

Angle, I'm guessing because obviously when someone's hiring two or three, they're not looking at hiring a leader of a team. So they didn't just hire teams, Tony, they hired a leader for the team.

Absolutely. Yeah. So they do have a leader, which is also through us. And she helps manage the whole team just to make sure that efficiency things are flowing. If issues pop up or if someone's out sick, that team member steps in and helps out.

That must have been the biggest game changer from my perspective because that leader is in the position of like helping bridge the gap of this company learning how to. It's not a hard muscle, but it is a different muscle to develop, learning to work with vascular. So this when they're hiring that many, especially because this company had worked with VAs before having a leader, I'm sure was wonderful because not only were they hiring this person to oversee that team, but they were also kind of that, like, gap in that onboarding process of helping bridge for both sides. Hey, this is what we need in this slightly different scenario of being virtual.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

How did you guys find the leader?

They were actually already on our team, so they were a part of another client and they were in a position where they wanted to grow and wanted to be a leader. And she was phenomenal. She was one of our top VAs within the company.

So that was neat because you already had a proven leader of leaders that was vetted through the company. So you weren't finding an unknown entity.

Which makes a lot of sense. I love that idea because it provides obviously that virtual assistant growth paths within Virtual Rockstar. So they're not just like. But the only concern I have is like, how did that handle for the person who was, you know, I'm guessing that VA smaller practice that had that va, did that feel like a kick to them? Like, what was that like for them?

You know what, probably initially they were a little bit bummed, but at the same time we found them a kick butt replacement and she was fully happy.

The replacement that we hired was a referral from the VA she was losing.

Oh, so the person you had promoted found her own replacement. So that. That relation. Is that relationship still active?

It is and it's. That's great.

Oh my gosh. So what. So what a wonderful thing that there's this opportunity for growth and allowing the VAs to scale without causing any problems for this smaller class.

That is one thing that we. That I feel like we do a little bit differently at Virtual Rockstar. Our team is our family. Like they are our VAs. We love each and every one of them and they know that if they wanted, you know, bigger opportunities and to be able to grow and become a leader that as we bring on other partners and that have these larger. Have multiple clinics that are going to be hiring multiple VAs at once and they have the opportunity to interview for something like that if the partners agree to it.

Okay, this is awesome. Before we go into more implementation because I think multi location practices are listening really taking a lot out of this. Let's cut right to the end. That client, how long have they been. How are things going with that client? Like a current status update. How is that client doing now that they've been with the company for months and. And months?

The larger client, right?

Yes.

Okay.

The one we're using is kind of a case study.

Really, really. Well, you know, there's. There are always. Nothing's ever perfect. Nothing is ever like, this is a people business. So.

Right. Every single person who was hired initially is still on team.

The majority, yes. Like all of their patient. Patient facing team members are there. Like they. And they've done a wonderful job with them. We had to replace a few. We've had to replace a few on the verifications team, but it was all for the better.

And yeah, sometimes it was due to, like, performance issues, but. And sometimes it was just personal things where the VA had to. To step out.

So.

Yeah, I mean, that's gonna happen regardless if you're working with a VA or if you're working with somebody on site. It's just kind of part of. Part of the deal. And so. But it's never like, deterred them and, like, thought that they made a mistake and kind of going this direction, they understood and they're like, all right, let's just find our next VA and just move forward.

And the other thing is, we've spent so much time in the beginning getting to know the partners. We knew exactly what they were looking for. So the process to find a different VA for one that doesn't work out is much quicker at that point, because we know what they're looking for, we know what they want. We go out, we source and find a couple of rock stars that are amazing and Schedule 1 on ones with the partners. And it just. That's also efficient as well. And they're not having to spend as much time. They trust us because they know we know what they're looking for at that point.

Yeah, that's neat. You have such a broader or deeper relationship with these larger clients, so it makes it easier for you to pivot. It's interesting that you. I would have thought it would have been harder to hire that many VAs, but it was actually easier because it's about 80% of the lifting to get to one person than it does to get to 10. And, you know, not everyone starts this way, of course, and we'll talk about that, but let's continue to talk about, like, how things are going. Obviously, I'm interviewing both of you because you're. You guys are running, you know, virtual rockstar, but from his perspective, the owner of the company. Do you have an idea of how much money he's saving?

Oh, my gosh, I do.

That's the part of the business that I know. So he is saving over a quarter of a million Dollars a year. He's saving accordingly. And how are his results? Are they the same as having Americans worse or better?

Oh, better. They absolutely love their VAs. All of their patients like get to know each one of something cool that they do. They put bios up of all of their VAs for each one of the locations so their patients are involved.

This company was such a great company to do this with because they understand culture. They really brought these VAs in like and introduce them as equals and family members.

Yeah, yeah, it's very cool.

And I think the great thing that you did is so Tony and even Will, I think initially did like weekly meetings with this team. Just like, just to make sure that they were comfortable with the new system and just making sure. Yeah. That they had our support and like we were there to jump in if they needed to pivot in any way. And so I think that was huge as well. Well, just to kind of build that relationship, that trust between the partner and virtual rockstar, our leadership team.

Let's talk about that. What was the onboarding differential between this multi location business compared to like a single location? So what additional things did you do or consider?

So we did weekly meetings with them for how long? Leading. And we're still doing meetings, but they're not weekly anymore, they're monthly. Just because we have such a wonderful relationship with them and it's more to say hi.

It's a lot more.

It's like personalized and that's me with them. Yes, yes. But initially we did weekly meetings all the way up until two months ago and it was check ins and some of them were just high and we would, we would all giggle on the phone and just like catch up because things were going, going great. And then other weeks like this little issue came up with our VOIP system or this issue came up with one of our team members and we would all collaborate. That's where we are different is where we're like, we're, we may not do all of the training for you. Right. But we are there to support and guide and help you talk through how to do it and what's the best way to do it with your va. You guys.

So it sounds like you guide in strategy, you guide in customer service on steroids. It's really a big difference I think. And you can provide that with those multi location businesses because you're effectively influencing dozens of virtual assistants through those discussions. So that half hour, it provides a lot of personal hands on that you just can't do otherwise.

Right. And one Other thing that we did that was different is we actually had someone fly out and help out with implementation.

Well, that's something. And that's something I'm happy to do. So, yeah, I love that the day that they launched this, they were concerned about messaging with their team. And so I had the great privilege of going to New Hampshire and oops. I can say that.

I can say that one part that's not too bad. But I flew out there and went clinic to clinic and introduced the company and the VAs and I did it in a really fun, connecting way. And I think that's, again, that's the kind of impact I know that Virtual Rockstar has always wanted to make is that deep impact. And it's. By the way, it's still there with smaller practices. But today's episode is just talking to differential between small one to three locations versus six to 60 is that you get to a scalability where the impact can be big. So, yeah, I love that experience and it personalized it. And to be honest, it allows me to have a more personal connection as well. I can text the individual and check on dozens of VAs versus having to reach out to dozens of partners for a dozen VAs.

Yeah. So not only though, these partners, do they love their VAs and are they saving a quarter of a million dollars a year going this way. But they have such huge hearts will like they are. They adore and love their team and they are pulling so many families out of poverty. And they know that and they're able to help all these families in the Philippines and these team members of theirs, they are a part of the family of that, that partner. I want to keep saying the name touching myself, but yes, they are. They feel like they're a part of that, that family. And these partners, they literally like, open. They have their arms wide open to them. So they don't make them feel like they're on the other side of the world.

Yeah, one neat thing that they've just started doing is doing like monthly recognitions for their va. So if a VA in the last month, it's gone above and beyond. They're now doing like public recognition of them. And we're sharing that with the rest of our team, our 160 virtual assistants. And so it's just nice for them to feel like they're appreciated and they are. They're just one of the team.

So, yeah, I love it. You know, last almost a year ago, I was in Africa with my family and I learned about the different types of poverty because there's financial poverty that we're all aware of, but there's social poverty, there's, there's leadership neglect, there's all these elements. And so I love that, that this has become a vehicle for private practice owners to impact people financially. I don't think they realize that is that. Well, I mean, a lot of companies that are paying their people three to five dollars an hour, they're helping, they're not really bringing them out of poverty. When we're two to three times that, these people cry when they get hired. It is such a big deal that this company, they saved a quarter of a million dollars of profit, by the way. That's profit in the owner's pocket per year for better results. But when you ask this individual, that's not what they care about.

No.

From a business perspective, they're like, yeah, that's logical. But what they love is the fact that the VAs that they're hiring, they're changing those lives in a dramatic way. And then the thing that I've heard from multiple people as well is they love how like people show up to work like it is life changing money. And it rises the tide of commitment and work ethic across the company with Americans and Filipinos. And so I love that you're, you're creating this movement mission. And just to be clear, there's multiple companies that you guys work with that have.