Startup Adventures of a Business Nerd

Today I signed my first insurance provider agreement. It was exciting, and made me want to hurry up and get started, but I still have so much to do. This is a long waiting game, and waiting is not one of my strengths. While I wait there are still a few things I need to do: The Website My website is in the final stages of completion, once I get those last bits of copy completed it can be finalized. Then I can get my domain transferred. Once I have a functional website, I need a few more things people often expect from a professional company of any type. I have a professional logo, so that's complete. I don;t think there is any need for business cards yet, or any printed materials. Professional Phone Number I am using a Google Voice Number that I have had for a few years. I have used it to communicate with clients since before the pandemic. I still have not really figured out telecommunications, but will likely go with a voip account from Ring Central for $35 a month. It includes cal...

Getting credentialed with insurance companies is a pain in the neck, to put it politely. So far as I can tell, there are four options for working with insurance: Work for someone else who has a billing department Sign up for a company like Alma or Headway and be dependently credentialed Do everything yourself, get independently credentialed, and work on your own Hire an outside billing company to do insurance credentialing for you I suppose the 5th option would be to not take insurance, but I do. The advantages are obvious. So let's explore the four ways to accomplish this. First, we could just work for someone else. This does not necessarily mean being an employee, but that is an option. There are many businesses out there who would gladly hire an independently licensed counselor. We are in high demand. We can bill at a high rate than entry level clinicians in many cases. Clinics like that. The other option is that I could join a group practice. This would eat into my bottom line,...

Hello friends, Erv the business nerd here. I have sifted through all the confusion, and made this long journey into entrepreneurship. It has been a wild ride. I feel I have done all I can do at this point. It is just a waiting game. I am hoping the companies I have hired can do good work. Let me explain. I spent much time looking for someone to get me credentialed with insurance companies. In lay terms, this means that I will be able to take private insurance. The process is long and arduous, and it is not something most people can do on their own. It will cost me money, but I am going to contract with the same company to process my billing claims, so they are giving me a break on the up front costs. This process takes at least a month or two, maybe more in some cases. It is now just a waiting game as this small company gets around to processing my paperwork. They will require me to work with a company called Simple Practice, which will be a whole other blog post. It will take my custo...

I arrive at the end of each workday confused and not knowing what to do, but each day I press on with the hope that I will figure things out. I am starting a mental health private practice. I am trying to figure out insurance. there are more than a few options for taking insurance from clients. I feel like I am suffering from information overload. The first option is that I could simply NOT take insurance. Nobody wants to deal with it, but it seems like it is a necessary evil. The process is called "getting credentialled" and it is lengthy and complex. The second option is that I could take insurance, and do the credentialling myself, but I have heard nightmare stories about people getting tied up in the paperwork for months. The third option seems like the best one. There are third party billing companies that I could contract with online. These companies would credential me under their company’s provider number. I would then bill clients through them, allowing them to h...

Starting a business is so puzzling!!! Hello everyone! Happy Monday! I began this blog to share my journey of starting my own business as a mental health counselor. It's not easy; it's like trying to solve a really tough puzzle. I just got my website up and running, and my goal is to share at least four blog posts every week. To do this, I'm using two tools: one's called ChatGPT, and another one is a thing called a plugin, named AIPRM . These tools help me work smarter, not harder. I'm also trying to figure out how to work with insurance companies. I don't really want to work with Medicaid, but I might have to at the beginning. Medicaid likes to control things too much, like telling me how to do my job, and it can get in the way of helping my clients. Working with private insurance is almost the same. Last Friday, I hit a roadblock: I found out that I need something called liability insurance to start. I know it's important, but it's also expensive, and ...

Starting a new business is a challenge. I am frustrated, and my head is spinning. There is so much to do. I decided to create an LLC in my home state. It turned out to be something I was able to do on my own. Now I am just waiting for the state to approve me, so I can move forward with the next steps I have been told to do. I hate waiting. In the meanwhile, I am working on social media designs, planning my first month worth of posts. I had Chat GPS list the optimal media sizes for various social media, and this is what it spat out. I am posting it here, more for my use, but for everyone else as well. I have had problems in the past cross posting the same image to multiple sites, and need to avoid the extra work. I need to find an image that is suitable for all social media sites. Oh, don't buy a domain through Google to use with Google Workspace and email... Everything is screwed up. I was wanting to use Workspaces for email, since it comes with tons of extra google services. I opt...