How to Effectively Lead and Grow a 300-Employee Business

[0:00]  you know I always say that people don't leave companies they leave managers or or or leaders and you know you have to build relationships with people something that I worry about a lot you know we're using a lot of remote people these days we're losing a lot of you know I I'm a in the office kind of person I like to be in person um I think part of that is just being able to be around people and build those relationships but the reality is is that's not our world um so much anymore I feel like we are deep down yearning for work and the relationships that we have in work to fulfill some of those gaps that might be in our life and this is a real opportunity for leaders today to think about how does our organization fill some of those gaps by making people see feel seen validated and heard cuz I

[0:50]  feel like secretly we're yearning for that sense of connection but it's tougher than ever with distributive teams and remote teams all right guys welcome back to a brand new episode of the heart in Hustle podcast now today is an incredibly important episode because I'm sitting down with Aaron Stern the president and founder of steps Behavioral Health now today's conversation is all going to be about the grow growing demand for autism and Disability Services we're going to talk about her personal journey to being an amazing entrepreneur and founder of

[1:37]  this business I also want to intertwine some of the entrepreneurial spirit that maybe she got a little bit of inspiration from in her family we're going to talk about leadership we're going to talk about the process of growth through sometimes saying no we're going to talk about the role that Innovation and Technology play in this space and so much more Aaron welcome to the show thank you for having me I'm excited to be here so Aaron if you had to be described by someone else and work was not involved how would you hope that they describe you I would hope that they would describe me as somebody who was sympathetic and empathetic um somebody who was caring somebody who was kind somebody who wanted to help others I think that's a big part of your journey right I mean I know that you started out in the education space as a special education

[2:25]  teacher you came across some opportunities to think a little bit bigger um and we'll dive a little bit into that in the podcast but I want to know kind of who is your what is your origin story like who is the individual who's sitting across from me where do we grow up what type of influences do we have as a child let's talk a little bit about you for sure um well I always wanted to be a teacher I think education was kind of in me from the start it's interesting I found like a a kindergarten notebook that said you know who do you want to be when you grow up and it was you know a teacher so that was always kind of in me as I got older um you know I I ended up in a in a position at a at a job um at a camp that had a special needs program for and I was a swim instructor and ended up with

[3:15]  a group of I think it ended up being like six boys with um disabilities and I I was like okay they really ended up kind of changing my path that summer I one one cousin with ISM um and so you know it was something that I I knew about and you know he was a cousin you know somebody who I I knew and I cared about and loved and besides that that was that was really my my experience was this when you were like a teenager or this was in high school I was in high school I was either in my junior or senior year of high school and um I started working on the weekends Through The JCC the Jewish Community Center I I ran some like athletic programs for kids and some recreational programs for kids with

[4:02]  disabilities um there was a program called Sunday Funday where kids could come and the families could drop off their kids and I loved it so it really became you know a passion through college I you know I went straight through the the special needs um special education track I knew that's exactly what I wanted by that point I then was provided the opportunity at that camp to become a director of their special needs teen program I started a program for for teenagers there was a group of children that became you know kind of phas was phasing out of camp but they needed a place for them so um I started a camp program for them and that was a great opportunity um you know my father is an entrepreneur um he started a CPA firm and you know I watched him grow it and

[4:51]  develop it as I was a child and I learned a lot you know from watching that that was not an easy role for him and well it was an easy role for him because he loved what he did um what what wasn't easy is growing any business wasn't easy but we always talked about you know careers and jobs and and you know what my career path would be and I always knew education was one of them I didn't exactly know this was going to be where I was going to end up started teaching I loved it I taught for 10 years in um special UC ation in public schools um I taught in self-contained classrooms in special needs all specialed schools um I taught inclusion

[5:40]  I loved it I really really loved it I loved the families I loved the kids the politics got hard and it got hard to navigate and I felt like I wasn't able to provide the families and the children with the authentic services that I wanted to provide so um while I was in graduate school I learned about ABA I decided to become a behavior analyst a bcba board certified behavior analyst and um I remember meeting with his name is Dr Vincent Carbone and we I we did like a professional development with him and he um I I remember talking to him about graduate school and and ABA programs and he said to go to fit and go go um go that route so I did I signed up and you know that that started that

[6:26]  journey and I stayed with Howard County through that that certification process and I started steps and worked with some families after after school some teenagers some young adults I loved it again they were some of them were kids that I worked with at Camp so the families knew me I would go into their homes at night help them with their routines showering um just getting them some independent skills going out into the community with them and I absolutely loved it and then when I had my first child I decided let's give this a try and I became certified with insurance companies and panelled and credentialed and I decided to take the leap from the school system about a year and a half after that I met my business partner what an amazing journey yeah I uh I want to I want to take a couple steps back and talk about

[7:15]  the process of being a teenager right going to a summer camp and then realizing that you had a passion for working with kiddos with disabilities did you come home and tell your parents about this experience did you validate the experience against anybody cuz being that young and working with this specific demographic of people has to kind of seem a little bit I would say daunting but obviously you had a passion for it very early so what were some of those early Discovery conversations like I I never stopped talking about it I mean I loved it I loved it there was one little boy specifically that I talked about and I worked with and he was terrified of the pool and myself and another counselor worked with him and we we laugh you know now actually with some of the things that we did probably looking back we probably wouldn't have

[8:02]  done it the way that we did it because knowing what we didn't we wouldn't have done it the way that we did it but um long story short by the middle to a couple weeks into the summer camp he went under the water independently and the smile that came up after he went under the water and he he was almost independently Swimming by the end of the summer and it was it was life changing it was absolutely huge I still know this young man he's still somebody who I see out in the community I know his family um I know his parents I I talk to them it's you know he's now in his 30s so he was five you know when I knew him and when I worked with him so he was a little guy it it was life-changing I I I wrote my college entrance exam or

[8:50]  entrance essay excuse me on that experience so it was pretty life-changing from there I I think going into my senior year I started I was teaching at another swim club and I said to them I said put some ads out I will teach specialty swimming and I remember working with a couple of kids with some very significant Specialties they had a therapy tank at that pool and I used to take this kiddo off and I remember the lifeguards being terrified it was the same pool that Michael Phelps used to train at oh wow in in Baltimore at Meadowbrook and um so he was probably there training while I was there it wasn't he was only a couple years younger than me it was funny because the lifeguards would literally all turn their chairs because they were terrified that something would happen to in the

[9:37]  pool and I would just take him and we would walk and I would sing songs and just stretch his muscles in the water and it was so therapeutic and I loved it and I worked with several kids there and I just I loved it I loved it and then from there you know in college I started working with I don't know if this was actually in college or after I think this might have been after college I worked with a group of kids that was doing a an assisted ice hockey league for kids with autism and so we were you know teaching ice hockey not that I had much ice hockey experience but some brothers that played ice hockey so I'd hop on and help with communication and behavioral stuff on the on there and I just loved it it was just it was natural for me it was easy it was fun I felt that connection and I ran with it and you also had some

[10:27]  really close to home opportunities to lean into your dad I mean he's a guy who's an entrepreneur starts his own CPA and starts to help people what were some of the conversations that you guys had early on about like Hey Dad I want to start a business in this space this is near and dear to my heart because this is a conversation I have when I was 23 with my dad he was a successful entrepreneur I came home after a terrible day at a summer job working the heat all day and I said I want to be an entrepreneur like you how do I do it did you have some of those conversations we did I don't remember I want to say he started the job the conversation I think he was kind of like you're going to be a teacher and not that he looks down on teachers but I think he was worried that I wouldn't be able to be independent you know financially and that was something that really stressed him out um he wanted to ensure My independence and my

[11:16]  you know just just to be able to be you know successful that way that was really important to him and so he kept saying things like well what do you think about having like a practice and so we started talking about it and I was like yeah I would love that like what does that look like and so we started talking and that was really early on I was probably in my very early 20s and so I I really went into even when I started my first job as a teacher with that idea that I was going into teaching in order to get the knowledge and the background to grow my craft so that I could take it and run with it this is really important I want to talk about about this intentionally so often we think that when we kind of have a vision for the

[12:04]  future we often need to get into seasons of earning instead of seasons of learning and it sounds like you were very intentional about saying this is just a platform that I'm going to use to gain my skill set and my knowledge so I can do what I want to do correct yeah no no there was no season of earning with that um it it took a really long time it's like a very very long time there was you know no money to be earned for for years and years it wasn't about that um it's been always about learning the craft and doing you know kind of for for others and for for you know the families that I've tried to work for it's really I've been very motivated by that um to the point where

[12:53]  at some point my husband said to me like you're running a not you're not running a volunteer organization like you you need to to make some money at some point um but my hus I remember my father and I saying to me or my father saying to me you know like let's write a five-year plan and so like on the back of napkins we'd start writing volunteer I remember being in a socii restaurant and writing down A Five-Year Plan and writing like a mission statement and this is what we're going to do and then like walks on the beach every summer we go to the beach and you know he and I would talk about it and develop the idea a little bit more and then you know I'd get to grad school and and it would develop a little bit more and okay this is what you need to do next and in 2008 you

[13:42]  know I I created the LLC and it was just me at that time you know and I was working with just families oneon-one and that's what I was doing um and it wasn't until 2018 I met my partner U my business partner when um you know steps really started to to change in order for us to be able to build what we want right we have to come from experiences of what we don't want early in the conversation you had mentioned I can't give the I forget what word you said but like the attention and I didn't get the opportunity to do the things that I wanted to inside of the education environment can we kind of talk about some of that and then talk about how we went into steps sure so when you're in a school system there's you know the way that idea works the individuals with

[14:32]  disabilities Education Act works is your job as an educator and working in a school system is is your job is to deliver an education and your role as a teacher is to ensure that you are um teaching the educational course standards the challenge that I struggled with was many of the students all of the students that I was working with were really needing life skills um activities of daily living um skills that were going to help them much more globally and I felt I remember being in a um conference with a family and I was so excited I had spent I don't even I can't even tell you

[15:19]  how long and I'd spent a really really long time on this um I think it was possibly the ti anic or maybe it was Charlotte's Web and I had taken the entire book it was a third grade book and I rewrote the book with core language so it was all language that they were learning and and it was very basic language and we worked on wh questions and all this like beginning middle and end all these like Educational Concepts and I was so proud because her daughter did awesome with it she did such a great job and I was really excited and really proud to tell this mom and this mom was like I that's great but like I'm so really thankful that you

[16:08]  taught her how to go to the bathroom you you potty trained her and I am so thankful for that but my daughter cannot put her pants on she is going into fourth grade and I was like you're right a refocus of priorities right value I guess that we can provide and I remember bringing that back to my supervisor at the county level and they were like but that's not your job that's the parents' responsibility and I remember thinking to myself if and I wasn't a parent at this time but I remember thinking to myself if her parents could have done that have already done that by fourth grade fourth grade you have a nine almost 10 year old and I was so frustrated I was like this is the problem right here it's a

[16:59]  problem like we're we're really messed up here doesn't matter that she understands Charlotte's whip yeah it just doesn't like I'm glad that she enjoyed the story that's great but like we could have spent this much time on that and this much time on opportunities out in the community where she could have gone swimming and practiced changing her clothes in a natural environment where she could have gotten all these life opportunities and at that point I was just like I got to figure out the next step so you know I had to I had to it took us still a couple years from there because I had to figure out how to get there but I mean this is something that I love about entrepreneurship in itself in in a previous conversation I'm just going to

[17:46]  put it on the table you said I don't consider myself an entrepreneur but from the journey that you've been on and what you're you've accomplished to get to here you are a part of this Brotherhood and this Sisterhood because we've all been through the experiences where we come from a system if that makes sense where they tell us to provide a certain service or value and then you go out into the marketplace and you present this service or this value proposition and say look what we did and then the customer on the other end says that's great but this isn't really what I need and that is almost like a aha moment of Enlightenment that says man maybe I've been participating in like a fraudulent environment if that makes sense and I need to change up the way in which I serve the people who I'm so passionate about meeting where they are so now we we get into the forming formulation of the LLC we're providing services to

[18:35]  individual families now we talk about meeting our business partner so what was the opportunity that the business partner brought to the relationship was it a different perspective was it what was it yeah so uh my partner Sam um he it it was interesting you know it was a cold call kind of situation he owns um and him and his wife owns the therapy spot in Baltimore which is a speech a Pediatric Speech OT and PT um company clinic and I drove past them their Clinic one day and I didn't know about them I didn't know who they were and I called them and I was like hey you know I'd like to meet with you this is what I do and um Sam was like come on in let's meet we did and um at that time they

[19:27]  weren't ready uh um to to really kind of explore ABA and I was like no problem you know it was nice meeting you a year later he called me back and he was like I'd really like to reat and I was like great I was about ready to have a baby I was like I'm not really sure this is the greatest time my husband said go back and talk to him so I did and um you know we just started talking about it and he was really open and I remember talking to my dad dad about it my dad said well why don't I come with you and have a conversation with him my dad's really a business guy he does mergers and Acquisitions that's he's a CPA he does he that is his background um and you know so my dad came with us to the

[20:14]  meeting he he was very very upfront with Sam my partner about who he my dad was and um you know over the next several months we spoke and we figured out you know our a part parnership agreement and how we would work we are partners and we work really well together he has um a brilliant business M he really understands how to grow a business um and understands like because he already had a you know a clinic and a Pediatric Therapy company it made for a very good referral business for me he also understood how um the back end of an office worked how Insurance worked how all that stuff that I really didn't have

[21:02]  the experience yet happened um and so he has been like a great mentor on that side for me and um you know I brought all the ABA experience um and you know we worked we've been now working together for almost seven oh my daughter's seven so seven years now and it's been great you know I ensure that you know clinically we are sound that is something that I made very very clear that I was not budging on and he ensures that that we are you know business-wise very healthy um and my father has continued to Mentor us um every single month he meets with us to do a strategy meeting and um it's been it's really we are I feel very blessed

[21:54]  you know to have both of them here to ensure that steps grows and we have I mean let's talk a little bit about growth so from an individual with an LLC creates a new partnership now to a team of nearly 300 employees serving and getting ready to serve three separate states which is incredible to think about the journey and the growth I want to I want to talk a little bit about why that growth was necessary because what a lot of people probably don't know who are tuning into the podcast is the immediate and necessity for services in the AB space so let's talk a little bit about the origin story of okay me and Sam are now Partners we create the business together we open up the business is there automatic demand that creates necessity for growth or what's

[22:41]  happening in those early days I mean it was wild I'm not gonna lie there's a lot you don't know there's a lot you figure out um you know you we had to figure out there was a ton to figure out you know you there is so much demand in the ABA World in terms of clients um but we were trying to navigate the insurance um rules and the Medicaid rules all of that part was completely new to me um I knew IEPs and I knew the educational system I did not necessarily know the medical model um so while I knew kids and autism and treatment plans and parent training and all of the ABA stuff

[23:29]  the medical model was very new to me um so there was a big learning curve there um you know because Sam had background with you know the therapy spot he was able to you know help and guide but he didn't know ABA and the rules had changed the laws were only this was in 2018 the laws for insurance and I think met uh Maryland accepting AB I think I think was started in 2014 so it ABA and insurance accepting ABA was is for was four years old um and so insurance companies didn't know who we were they didn't know what a bcba was they didn't know there was so much to learn um so it was wild isn't that frustrating though

[24:19]  when you have a service to provide now you have to deal with a regulatory board is how kind of put insurance labels right for this conversation it reminds me a lot of when we first started in 2014 the tella Health business we were trying to convince people that they could even use video because there were laws that were printed but the people who were making decisions on reimbursement didn't even know about the laws and so it's like how do I navigate this space of necessity while trying to also inform the people who are willing to pay for this stuff yeah it had to be a little bit frustrating you know it was frustrating but like I remember my mom saying at one point like just this is I don't know if this is appropriate to share but she just kept saying like thrst keep throwing against the wall and something will stick and I just kept doing it I just kept like going I I just did and you know we'd hire people

[25:09]  and I had a great our first RBT she was her name is Jess she was she started she was like a sophomore in college she worked so hard she was so young she was my first employee we worked super hard together and then you know we'd slowly bring on people and then Courtney um was one of my first bcbas I think she might have been my first bcba my friend Julia from the school system like she took on a part-time case Courtney took on a case and then Courtney came on full-time um and like we just started figuring it out we would slowly get cases and I was at that time I was treating I was a treating bcba and running so I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off we were not

[25:56]  doing T Health cuz we had no idea how to even go about that at that point um so yeah it was wild I mean it was wild um but we were we were doing it and um we just we just slowly did it and we slowly saw the hours were climbing and we brought on somebody to help with you know insurance and credentialing and HR and you know he started helping us grow and I remember like let's try and get to a th bable hours a month let's get to 10 clients you know now we're hitting like you know I think we're trying to hit like 11 to 12,000 hours a month like it's wild to think that you know for us you know that that was wild and there

[26:46]  were times throughout that Journey that I paused us you know I mean in seven years there was a there was a point in time that I remember just being like hold the brakes like we need to stop it's too much too many kids are calling because there is such a need every family so it feels like every family needs ABA but I felt like we I didn't have you know I was a Clinical Director I was overseeing the practice I had new bcbas under me that needed guidance I had new rbts and behavior technicians who needed guidance that was a lot of responsibility and then I had families who required fabulous therapy and needed therapy and my whole point of starting this was

[27:35]  ensuring that they were getting good therapy and I just felt like I couldn't do it all so um I remember somebody who I really trusted a mentor of mine saying to me like it's okay to stop taking clients and say like we need to just be where we are right now and so I did this is really important I want to talk on this for a second because this is something that a lot of younger entrepreneurs go through they think they need to scale and grow at all costs but scale often creates inefficiencies and bloat which often leads to a deterioration in the service that we're offering right and when you're talking about the reputation of an organization like steps you only get one shot to make a first impression and when it comes to

[28:23]  the trust that's involved with treating someone's loved one doubly important so how did you weigh the the element of saying other than the conversation with your Mentor we got to put the brakes on here so we can sh up all the bucket or the holes in the bucket maybe there was no question I I could not keep going I I I was so overwhelmed and I I knew that we couldn't provide the services that I wanted to and that has I have never veered off that course like I I it's why I started this it's just always been 100% my goal was to give really strong and good Clinical Services to kids like that was I have a

[29:13]  reput I have a reputation but I have a responsibility to these families and when I couldn't support everybody in the way that I wanted to and I felt like we were just spinning our circles and spinning our Wheels I said we need pause I talked to you know my partner he was in agreement and and in support of it um and I said we just need to put some infrastructure into place and we need to figure out our processes and our systems and and and and do this and um you know we did and we you know I don't remember exactly when that that timeline is I feel like Co went in there it almost happened we almost stopped for too long because it did ultimately end up hurting us for a little bit so we had to do some some

[29:58]  recovery um but what was excellent about it was it helped us Define um roles it helped us Define process um what was working what wasn't working and get those things that we really needed to get back of it helps Define like my role was changing and that's something that has happened the reality is is that that has happened and I think I think you know you come into something and you're a teacher here's your job description here's your role when you come in and you're the entrepreneur you're the president of the company it's like what is your job it changes everything right it changes every day like the job description is I mean some days I'm like

[30:46]  fixing light bulbs and you know I'll I I don't care I'll change a diaper I don't I just don't care I'll help with anything to you know meeting with the marketing team and you know making decisions on you know who the Clinical Director is I heard a really beautiful frame around this idea and it was used talking about like what is the role of a CEO of a founder of a president right and often we think of being an executive officer or leader of the executive team right but I heard a reframe which was you are the chief constraint officer your job is to identify constraints in the business and give your full attention towards those things so you can help the team grow in scale um what did you do in those early days of

[31:35]  realizing that we came from the space of being an educator with a job description now we're an entrepreneur so we traded in our 9 to5 for a 365 247 right and now we have to do things like encourage others build team culture be able to put people's in positions to win coach them up how did you kind of deal with that realization of like okay I really have to pour all of myself into the team which wasn't really what maybe we expected when we kind of got into this Venture so I'll tell you I think I have two answers um first of all the mentorship the leadership part was pretty easy for me um I was a teacher so as a teacher you like to do those things um I was also a mentor teacher I worked with talson University as a mentor teacher I always had student teachers

[32:22]  under me um so I liked I like do I liked and I like still doing that um and helping people you know now I don't have a class of you know four or five or six you know children with disabilities I have a staff of 300 that I'm mentoring and supervising and supporting and helping them grow their their careers um but that comes with a lot of you know sometimes I'm putting on my social worker hat sometimes I'm putting on my educator hat so I'm put putting on my parenting hat like there's a lot of hats that you know I wear on on a very regular basis um and that part for me I liked I did have to really work on

[33:11]  boundaries you know you can't work every day of your life um I had to learn you know what was important for now and what could we um and I'll tell you my my my partner and my dad were were really and my husband also were they were really really really um helpful in helping me with the my partner is outstanding at figuring out like these are the things we need to focus on this person needs to go into that position like he he has a great brain for that like that is an operator he's he's excellent at that that's really something that he um I've learned a lot from him um in that I don't think I was so

[34:00]  natural at that I I was on the clinical side I could I could see that clinically but in terms of business side you know figuring out like a director of operations and when it was time to excuse me get a recruiter or some of the things on the on a the business side that in the beginning I was way out of my league there I had no idea so thank goodness for him um my dad also very much was was helpful and always lended a an ear and you know an opinion and you know helped with that um but you know you do you're working a lot there's a lot of sleepless nights and you know Co threw a crazy wrench in all of it cuz you know you were living and

[34:48]  breathing at home all the time um we did start telea Health in the middle at the beginning of Co which was something that we were ready getting ready to do but we decided like this is we have to got get it so ready go then we'll set um and and so that was fun um but we did it and we didn't really miss a beat Co and we ended up growing during Co and this is an interesting dynamic as well when you're a part of a a business sector right that has overwhelming demand for services what are some of the challenges that come along with that because everybody else who's listening to this starting a tech company or something like that is like we are fighting tooth and nail to be able to build our business and get customers but you guys aren't dealing with that so what's the

[35:35]  challenges that come along with that for us I think the biggest challenge was um Staffing Staffing was hu has been huge um you know trying to find the right staff staff that are really interested in what we do felt held the same values and um understood what it takes to do what we do every day um wasn't just wanting to be there to collect a paycheck um and wanted to really work with children and work hard and um had the same dedication and passion that I did that's hard that's hard to find what do you do in a scenario when somebody is not a cultural fit I talked to a leader from a health system in Western Kentucky eastern

[36:24]  Kentucky and he talked about although we are underneath stress to find more nurses and Healthcare professionals I also have to be a steward of the culture here so what happens when we bring in somebody out of necessity but they're not a good fit for the culture and they don't have those aligning passions like that it's so hard um it's something that I struggle with a lot um I find that I then have to take back when I find that our personalities don't align and I I take I pull back and I look at skill set and do they have the skill set and the ability to make decisions about the client the clinical

[37:15]  decisions that are going to put the child first and the family first and if I feel like they are going to make those decisions then I'm fine with it when that isn't the case then I can't do it so if if I feel like um if I feel like they will represent steps in a way that is ultimately going to be positive they are going to provide good sound clinical ethical um services and therapy to our our children and their families I'm I'm okay with it we don't have to see eye to eye on everything nobody's going to have

[38:01]  the same you know people aren't going to come from my same background so you can't expect everything to be the same that's okay families aren't the same as my family that I'm okay with that I actually love that diversity but you have to you the skill set um or the interest in collaborating to learn must be there Curiosity is how I would put this right the Curiosity and the openness to and the humbleness right if you're not humble that's problem this is an interesting concept I like to bring into the conversation when appropriate I called this the instant gratification trap so because of all the ways in which we engage with different types of systems and services and just consumer

[38:48]  Behavior today everything is instant and I worry about generations of people who are coming out of school and they expect to have that instant gratification from their career now the other side of the instant gratification trap also happens in leadership because often we don't have as Leaders maybe the patience that it takes to invest into people to help them become the next generational leader of our business does that make sense what do you think about that trap yeah it's it's a big one I think that i' I've had this with some of our leadership team you know wanting that next person and I'm like okay well have you try this strategy I think as a special educator I'm used to um patience you know and and providing strategies so

[39:38]  I try and help my leadership team like find some strategies but at the same time some of them have helped me being like okay but there needs to be a timeline because we're a business and we need to to move forward so I think that there's a balance there right um and and you know having people need time to learn and need time to grow and need benchmarks and feedback and you need to be able to provide that those benchmarks and those feed that feedback um and figure out what are they motivated for what's their what's their why what's their motivation um and if they're not getting there you know is there something that we can provide them or is there something that is it just not a fit um there have been

[40:26]  certain IND individuals within the company that they're in a position where the position isn't right and I've been able to put them in other positions and they've th thrived um and I've had other people that I've put in positions and I've put them in different positions and it's just it's just not the right we're not the right space for them um and that's okay that it is what it is this level of intentionality is what I think more leaders need to lean into because often we hire for a job description right but one of the things that I recognize is you can hire for character and attitude you can train for skills and a lot of the times we I love that a lot of the

[41:14]  times we can lean into the element of taking the time as a leader to say Aaron what do you want out of this job where do you want to go and how can we use this business as an opportunity to take you there it's almost like train them so good that they won't leave or train them so good that they can leave and treat them so good that they don't I don't feel like we get a lot of that holistic approach in leadership today and I feel like a lot of leaders are focused on the results rather than helping the team grow which then as a lagging indicator creates the results if that makes sense yeah for sure I mean I you know I always say that people don't leave companies they lead managers or or or leaders and you know you have to build relationships with people um the idea idea you know something that I worry about a lot you know we're using a lot of remote people

[42:01]  these days we're losing a lot of you know I I'm a in the office kind of person I like to be in person um I think part of that is just being able to be around people and build those relationships but the reality is is that's not our world um so much anymore um I think that taking that time to build those relationships that were really really important so I want to say in 2022 right there was the Surgeon General came onto a national broadcast and talk about the biggest threat to society was isolation and loneliness now I have a macro theory that because so many people feel alone because of lack of connection on social media I'm pointing to my phone over here for everybody's watching um lack of

[42:49]  connection in our social lives right I feel like we are deep down yearning for work and the relationships we have in work to fulfill some of those gaps that might be in our life and this is a real opportunity for leaders today to think about how does our organization fill some of those gaps by making people see feel seen validated and heard because I feel like secretly we're yearning for that sense of connection but it's tougher than ever with distributive teams and remote teams yeah it's really hard it's really really hard um I I it's something I worry about I I really really do I think that trying to be purposeful with reaching out to people um I I'm still trying to get a grasp of it you know we we really it's we're very

[43:36]  new on our administrative team to having remote employees and I try and you know we have some group threads and chats and stuff going on and we try and send little things out to try and make it exciting and fun but it's hard um you know I just realized I was on a a meeting two meeting this week with two new employees that I haven't actually had a one-on-one conversation with and I cannot understand that um so that to me is like something that I need to like make sure I set up some one-on-one meetings with these two new employees because not used to that I'm used to knowing every single person and I know that at some point we're going to get to the point where I might not know every single person but I know that I can still walk into the clinics both we have two clinics um we have a we have two clinics that um kids can go to in

[44:25]  Maryland and we're hoping to open up with third but I still walk into those clinics and and the staff know me the kids I know the kids um and you know we're still at a point where you know we've for sure grown but I try and make myself seen and and I don't you know it's one of the things you know when we talk about growth and getting into you know other spaces that that keeps me up at night um because I still have my fingerprint on on steps and I want to ensure that that doesn't I was talking to a CEO named Gino from an organization in Connecticut earlier in the week maybe last week and part of our conversation he brought an interesting Theory called Walking leadership so what he likes to do as a

[45:12]  CEO is he likes to walk the campus of their organization and he likes to have one-on-one conversations but he said it's more difficult than ever to do that because of conflicting time schedules and everything else like that so he's always trying to be curious about how does he use things like technology right and Innovation to help spread his message so he can engage in one-on-one video chat with people or one-on-one messages of encouragement or a pat on the shoulder when they're having a tough day we have to be curious enough as Leaders to think about how are we going to be able to create connection at scale right and that's where I feel like technology can kind of play a role in this space speaking of Technology how are you thinking about technology in steps because you guys have to do more

[46:00]  with less out of necessity to meet the demand of the clients and the families so what's kind of your strategy when it comes to using and adopting technology so obviously we use a ton of Technology um our our each staff member has um in in our clinics each staff member gets a an iPad where they can collect data um for the children um some of our kids get iPads in for communication um devices for AAC devices um you know our staff we utilize you know communication boards um we use a service called monday.com for you know management team and services which is

[46:47]  phenomenal we love it um we use you know a ton of different Technologies um and we're always trying to see you know what else is out there to see how you know we can make life a little bit better and a little bit easier you know for us um you know I pay some attention to some of the AI stuff that's out there um to see how that can help and you know it's interesting because our rethink is what we use for our um practice management and they're starting to come out with some tools to help with you know writing session notes and I haven't I have to see something just came out about writing session notes which I'm curious about about um I have a feeling treatment plan some treatment plan writing will be coming I have some I'm I'm curiously optimistic but also a

[47:39]  little bit concerned about it um I worry that it's going to cause people to be a little lazy um and I want to make sure that you know treatment plans are written intentionally and individually um and not you know mass-produced and done slopp so it's something that I'm really cautious about I I like the idea for for I think you know reasons that are you know pretty clear but you know it it I'm I'm I'm a little worried about it also I mean and this is only natural right coming from this space now when I first got into the game of healthcare back in 2014 we were in the huge my migration towards electronic health

[48:28]  records so I would go in a hospital system and they'd be like hey we've got a lot going on we're migrating to an EHR and I was like what is that involved they said you see those 20 folder those 20 um file cabinets over there that's all of our patient records that we need to turn digital and so it's a trans so happy that all of mine's digital like I will never have that file room it's crazy I mean but um I think we once again have to think about there's an element of critical thinking right that comes into this because one of the biggest issues that we see with artificial intelligence or people who use it often is they take the output as the gospel they say this system can do no wrong correct and so when we talk about individualized care plans we talk about documentation I do get worried that everybody's like let me skim

[49:15]  through this looks good to me send it you know what I mean and like what are the ramifications and outcomes later down the road so we have to be critical thinkers in order to make sure that that information is correct yeah it's really something I'm worried about about I mean I you know I talked to my sister-in-law's a a high school social studies and psychology teacher you know we talk about these kids turning in papers that are you know AI written they can spot them with you know the drop of a hat these teachers and and we all can we can all spot I we've gotten some some letters from young college students that are you know maybe behavioral texts with us and we're like you okay so Chad wrote this you know for you and you know it it's you got to be careful um I think it it can be an

[50:05]  interesting first draft of something but you you know to bounce something off of but you really need to use your brain but if it's using vocabulary that you normally don't use then that's a dead giveaway as well like your vocabulary increased by 20 points what's going on here overnight as well um the last thing that I want to talk about is kind of some elements of fulfillment okay so one of the scariest parts about being a entrepreneur is some of the chasing of Finish Lines okay one of the things that I've personally recognized is often it's easy for people who are in this Brotherhood and Sisterhood to imagine a life that is going to give us fulfillment and then we obtain all of the things that we said were going to

[50:52]  make us happy and we realize that it couldn't be more fault how many times are we willing to make that mistake have you ever come across the element of saying when I get to here like you said earlier a th000 hours 10,000 12,000 hours something's going to be different but maybe it didn't align with kind of your true self interior it's interesting you know I kept saying like you know my my my partner has asked me like you know a couple times like is this still like what you want is this do you still like this do you still and I'm still having fun so for me like still enjoying it I'm still having a good time it's still like I still want to come to work every day

[51:39]  so yeah for me it's worth it it's you know it's we're finally at a point where like financially it's starting to become worth it um which is you know very helpful from a you know logistical standpoint I can like support my family great that makes my husband very happy um you know and I I'm enjoying it I feel like I'm really helping the community I'm helping a lot of children in Maryland I'm hoping in time to be helping a lot of children in other states which is really important but I'm also helping I think about my staff and my employees helping a lot of lot of families a lot

[52:28]  of families and that's a big deal to me um so I love that I I really love that and um maybe when it stops being fun I don't know I I I I really love what we do I'm really proud of it um I still have some things that I want to do I feel like you know we're not we've got things to do still there's a saying um it is having things isn't fulfilling getting them is the process of the journey is so important and that's something I've tried to consistently create a reframe in my mind of I very transparently have put Finish Lines on the amount of monthly Revenue

[53:16]  the amount of customers the amount of things that I can purchase the vehicle all this kind of stuff and the scariest experience that I've come across is obtaining those things and realizing that nothing changes and so I'm constantly in the battle as an entrepreneur and trying to refocus myself to be able to recognize that it's the trajectory yeah that I'm on is more important than the mountain tops that I've touched along the journey if that makes sense I you know it's interesting I don't I'm much more of an experienced person than a a material person um so I don't necessarily care about that stuff there's things that I want to be able to do um there's things for my kids I want them to be able to do so if I could have that freedom to be able to do those things

[54:03]  great um the stuff I I just don't care about I really don't care I understand that I want to close with a moment of um gratitude so this week I was walking on the treadmill in the morning at the gym and I had been reflecting on kind of the Journey of being an entrepreneur so I started my bu business in 2014 in July and I just crossed 10 years and as I was sitting there walking I was thinking about all the hardships and all the things that I've overcome to get to where I'm at now and it made me reflect on all the times when I thought we weren't going to be able to pull it off all the stressful moments when I doubted my journey all the times when I wanted to fold but then I said you know what I'll just give it a little bit longer and 10 years later I'm

[54:50]  standing here do you ever get time to pause seriously and reflect on how many lives you've impacted and the team that you've been able to build and the business as an entrepreneur that you've been able to grow a little bit I I think recently I have stopped and thought about it um and and and sometimes throughout the way I've thought about it you know it is hard to take that pause and think about the the number of kids I've worked with and the number of kids that steps has worked with um that I've you know clearly had a hand in or we they wouldn't have had the service um it's a lot and it's impressive and it's exciting um and I'm I'm grateful to have had that opportunity you know you you I

[55:38]  think we're constantly worried that you know did we do enough did we help enough did we help the the the staff enough you know you have staff members that come you have staff members that leave and you know they leave for whatever reason and you know I have helped a lot of Staff members or at least tried to help a lot of staff St members um in various states of being and you know and people are coming I think in this time and this this at this time you know with a variety of mental health issues and challenges and just life challenges and we see all of that and you know it's something that you know we take

[56:26]  seriously here um and I've always tried to help people through and I I I hope that you know when they've been here at steps or if they are still at steps you know I have many people who' have been here for really long time um that you know that they're appreciative and that they you know have you know gotten something from that so that's my hope well I know that you're doing an amazing job as we kind of land the plane here I want to give give you the opportunity Aaron to kind of call your shot right like Babe Ruth what's the future going to look like with steps over the next let's say two years you know our goal is to keep doing um really strong work um my hope is to get ourselves

[57:16]  into a couple different states and really up and running in those States possibly a couple clinics um in those States and just continue to grow and help more families um with autism get the services that they need um I'm really excited I I don't think I've talked about steps University but it's a program for um rbts who are becoming working towards their um Masters in ABA to become hopefully bcbas and um we've been we've successfully graduated a couple of students and um set their careers forward and um we're excited for a couple a couple of um steps University people to be starting with steps soon they are working on their uh exams

[58:05]  actually as we speak one just passed so that's really exciting um so we're excited and and I I hope to like I said continue to help new people in their career just become you know Professionals in the in the industry so that we can just keep helping more and more people well that's amazing absolutely well as we as we kind of close our episode here we've got a tradition where our previous guest wanted to ask you a question their question was what is one skill that you wish you started developing one to three years ago delegation being delegate better um I I think that if I always used to say oh it'll just take me a few minutes I think I'm help and I always thought it was helping somebody um if I would just do it for

[58:54]  them oh they always have so much on their plate let me just help and now let me do it and I think that delegating back or giving the feedback to this is how you need to do it even if it would take them longer is the way to go because it helps build their skill set and it all of those little tasks just made more work for me so I didn't necessarily get to do the thing some of the things that I needed to do or and and I just think that that is it's just a skill that's so important um and I feel like I'm finally getting there um it's still something that I'm not 100% with but it's something that is extremely important there is an element which is the highest form of compassion is delegation allowing people to make mistakes right so they can learn so they

[59:43]  can be self-sufficient so they can be empowered and that was a lesson that I learned from a previous guest as well and I thought that was beautiful well everybody who's been tuning in today I just want to give a huge thanks to Aaron Stern for all of love the work that she does seriously steps is an amazing organization you guys are having a huge impact and for everybody who's tuning in watching and listening that was amazing thank you so much for being on the show I really appreciate it thanks for having you there we go that's a wrap