Notes from Chris

Episode 453

Tadd Weese is the Director of Operations at Senior Living Community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He’s an “in-the-trenches” kind of guy, always up-to-date with the latest in the long-term healthcare industry. He’s respected among his peers, and he knows the daily and long-term challenges of facilities like his.

Weese’s idea was based around a hugely inconvenient problem for these facilities: there was no simple, consistent, and non-boring way to provide emergency situation training for employees and report it to the government. Presentations were often dreadfully dull, rarely that practical, and reporting the training to regulatory bodies had to be done manually. There were 3rd party companies providing these trainings in-person already, but they were very costly.

Weese believed that he could create a virtual platform to host thousands of randomized emergency scenarios in an interactive—almost gamified—way. Then, instead of crazy boring presentations, teams of long-term healthcare facilities could work on the required training together, at a time that’s best for the team, and in an engaging way.

Tadd needed help to make this happen, so he turned to his friend, Kyle Golding, a business consultant. At any given time, he’s juggling ten or more businesses that need his skills and expertise. But when Tadd came along with a fresh idea, Kyle knew he had to make time for one more.

Kyle and his team of consultants agreed: this could be a pretty winning idea.

After hitting some snags trying to develop their software, Tadd and Kyle purchased a license for 3rd party software and created a reference product that a more experienced programmer could use to as an MVP (minimum viable product) as inspiration. However, this out of the box software actually worked so well that the pair decided to use it as their launch version for VORTTX.

The team found some healthcare facilities that volunteered to beta test the product for free in exchange for some feedback. This wasn’t difficult since Tadd Weese was so well-connected. These early beta testers provided invaluable feedback over the next few months.

They gave feedback on the user experience, the scenarios themselves, and even the pricing. Since there was no direct competitor, Kyle and Tadd didn’t really even have a ballpark estimate of what their SAAS should cost. The feedback said that they should charge per number of employees and offer discounts to multi-facility businesses.

In 2018, after nearly two years of business, VORTTX has over 3,000 training scenarios—and clients love them. These days, Kyle and Tadd expect between ten and fifteen sales per month, with an average of about $1,250 per sale. Most day-to-day tasks are automated. Targeted ads get VORTTX in front of professionals, referrals bring in long-lasting clients, and the software runs on its own.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• VORTTX: Learn more about how Tadd and Kyle are upgrading corporate training over on their website

SEE ALSO:

• Entrepreneur | 6 Tangible Steps to Launch an MVP Product: As we always say on Side Hustle School, you should launch before you're ready. Here are some steps to follow if you'd like to launch a minimum viable product
• Teachers Join Forces To Launch Nerd Summer Camp: Three teachers create an alternative camp for kids who aren’t interested in sports. The school keeps the profits the first year, but they get creative and find a way to pay themselves in year two
• Resourceful College Dropout Earns Two Paychecks from One Employer: A corporate employee takes charge over a new branch of the company he works at and ends up creating a second income for himself. Don’t fire your boss… get them to pay you twice!

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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