Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeanmarie Loria.
Jeanmarie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
And vs. Or Fail Hard, Fail Fast, Fail Forward. I am so thankful for my family teaching me that it is perfectly alright to be an “AND” person rather than an “OR”…that I should never limit myself by picking one path but that I could try both. Rather than just growing up in one place, we lived in New York and Pennsylvania with lots of trips to Florida. As a child, I learned not to have attachment to one particular home but to experience and appreciate what is around me before I move on to the next place. This life lesson was such a beneficial habit during my early days as a “road warrior” consultant. I would fly to my client on a Monday and not get home until Friday; I would manage to enjoy work and fun while on the road. Fast forward to when I purchased my company and was the only sales person we had. I learned how to travel on the cheap. That meant taking a red-eye instead of a hotel because I could sleep on a plane. When I landed in whatever city for my meetings that day, I would take a yoga class and shower before going to my client.
Money
Growing up, I was taught the appreciation of a dollar and how to save and share it with people and things that mattered I collected bottles and cans and would spend hours and hours at the redemption machine for 5 cents each. At the end of the year, I would have saved a few hundred dollars and would donate it all to Jerry’s Kids for MDA research. I learned early on that although we didn’t have a lot of money, we should still share it with organizations that mattered. In 2015, when I bought my company, Advize, I did not have much money in the bank, I could not get a loan and had to get very creative in figuring out ways to pay the bills and make payroll. That meant pulling all-nighters at the client, working super hard on everything and figuring out how to finance my business through personal credit cards. Over the years, no matter how much Advize had or did not have in the bank, we always made time to support nonprofits. My team and I would paint a house, donate items, fundraise, visit a hospital, etc. We always made time to give back. My parents were the main investors in my company, and by main investors I mean time, talent and treasure (a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred dollars there), but most importantly thousands of hours of driving me to every meeting I needed to take while I worked on my laptop in the passenger seat. This made the difference for our sales. I was able to close sales in person without taking on a ridiculous expense of getting to the meeting (flying/rental car). I would be able to have a nice debrief dinner with my mother (Muber) or father (Duber) where we were able to talk about the meetings of the day and still have time to connect. Without their love and support, Advize would not have been able to get to where it is today.
Appreciation
I so appreciate my job and my team every day. Tampa and St. Pete have treated us so well over the years. We have enjoyed a wonderful network of healthcare professionals, IT security experts and great meeting spots! The path to our success has been difficult with many bumps along the way, however, we have not lost touch with who we are and we still take time for what is important and that is family. At Advize we thank our family for teaching us and supporting us. We look around at each other – working together for so long that we have also become each other’s family and that truly means something. We have worked so hard together and we have built strong relationships with our clients and the community that there is nothing but admiration, support and appreciation. We always help budding entrepreneurs and start-ups because we were there too and we hope that we can pass on the guidance we were lucky enough to receive and so many of our lessons learned.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There were so many struggles for me personally and for my company financially. Professionally as an Entrepreneur
My Grandmother used to say if you start out with good ingredients how bad can it come out. By applying that simple methodology beyond an Italian meal recipe to a recipe for life, I was not as afraid to try so many different strategies for Advize. I went in different angles with the company, and tried offering new services, revamping current services, responding to Requests For Proposals that had nothing to do with our core business. Every time we knew that I had a very good team that could pull off anything so I was not afraid. I started with a good team and always delivered a great project. Yes, any project manager knows the “What Could Go Wrongs” might pop up that you did not anticipate, but knowing how to handle it and transparently addressing it with the team and stakeholders is the way forward. Sometimes, the only way forward is straight and being able to breakthrough is where and when true growth happens.
I grew up with arthritis, which attacked my joints from the age of 5 on. I was in very bad pain all the time, mostly having to stay in bed doing homework. Sometimes the teacher would come to my house and sometimes I would sit in a wheelchair at the mall. The one constant was I didn’t feel well. I had so many doctors’ appointments and medications. My mom always went out of her way to tell me, “Look at that kid over there, one more brace than you.” Basically, she taught me there is always someone who has it worse than me and God wouldn’t give me anything I couldn’t handle. I am lucky to have gone through this experience. When you have pain and then have less pain, your brain forgets how bad it was. I can think back to not being able to move my head because my neck was so bad, or my legs hurt because of my back. I know how lucky I am to have my health now and go to regularly go to yoga classes. By growing up with pain that dictated my daily life, I learned how to work through it and this helped develop my work style now and my outlook. I often look at a problem, and realize that it is within our control, so it will be fine. We cannot do anything about the obstacles/challenges that happen to us but we can control how we react.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Advize began in Tampa almost 20 years ago and we have provided a full suite of services to healthcare organizations of all sizes, from government entities to commercial payers, group practices, hospitals, and clinics. Originally an audit company, we have expanded our service lines to include advisory practices around fraud, waste and abuse to support program integrity efforts as well as IT Security/Privacy Consulting. Advize is focused on reducing the cost of healthcare and improving the quality of delivery, our client approach is uniquely straightforward and effective. We hire and manage the subject matter experts (SMEs) to best serve clients without having the marked up price of our competitors. We have strong legal experience and are called upon to provide guidance on cases as well and transitional work such as Mergers and Acquisitions. Rather than hiring expensive resources, our clients have contracted with us to provide staff augmentation services to leverage our SMEs in a Part-time to Full-time capacity.
We are obsessed with the cost of healthcare and have found different ways to perform meaningful work to address this important hot topic. We volunteer our time and treasure to nonprofits that serve this space and we provide our talent to help fix this issue. We provide low cost, customized solutions for our clients so that every individual receives the right care at the right price with dignity and respect.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I do not gamble in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. I am not into the idea of losing money for which I have worked very hard. However, I do believe strongly in taking calculated risk. My first job had me performing financial analysis on large projects: $500k-$100M projects. I would run what are known as Monte Carlo simulations to predict the probability of different outcomes, and then present the financial impact to senior staff to help them make informed business decisions. Since then, I have bought and sold houses, cars, and businesses. I am told that my risk tolerance is quite high. However, I make calculated risks as often as possible. Mitigating at every turn and “stacking the deck” in my favor. I have gone “all in” with Advize several times financially, but it is because I have believed in my team, our business model, and our clients. What is “all in?” As an example, I took a loan on my mother’s car (the only material object I had ever emotionally purchased at that time), I re-mortgaged my house, I put everything on credit cards, and applied for a loan at a bank. As if that was not enough, I asked everyone I knew for $1,000 to help my company. We made it to the other side because the risk was calculated and mitigated. The best part was that everyone who I borrowed money from made their money back with interest. I love the negotiation around the deal and logic around the risk. I don’t get nervous because it isn’t health related but I do try my best to make the best decision for my team and those around me.
Contact Info:
- Email: jloria@advizehealth.com
- Website: advizehealth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeanmarie_loria
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/advizehealth
