unknown 0:00

All right.

Timothy Zercher 0:00

Well, good morning, Roel. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you taking time. So I always like to ask my guests to start off. Tell me how you got into behavior analysis.

Ruel Dixon 0:09

Right around 2008, when the market crashed, I was working in a case management. And then a fraternity brother of mine, he was working at a resque called ACES. And he gave me the job opportunity to kind of starting out as an individual aide. So I started out as an individual aide, then I went to an aide slash bus driver in that company. Then I matriculated to becoming a BT. And then I moved to still working for the company, but being outsourced to a public school district. And through that process, working on their BCBA, I went through the ranks and became a BCBA because at that point in time I was working in schools, also in home. So I was getting a real bust experience as a BCBA. And I was like, you know, okay, I understand this. It's kind of practical, it's common sense. I'm getting some of that practical knowledge and experience. How about I tie this up with an actual degree? And you know, with some good mentorship, I said, okay. And then I looked at a market and I'm like, all right, this is what a starting BCB starts out at. I think I'm gonna have to really, really, really take this into consideration.

Timothy Zercher 1:28

And that's how it happened for me. That's cool. Everybody has a unique story of how they end up here. I think a lot of people, very few, are like, I just saw the job and I said I want to be that someday. Well, it's not like astronaut or firefighter that everyone's like, ooh, I want to do that since they were six years old, you know? My undergrad is in marketing. No kidding. That's awesome. That's awesome. Those are my degrees too. So that is really cool. Well, so you've worked both in school districts and private practice. What are some of the biggest differences that you've noticed in delivering care in those very different environments?

Ruel Dixon 2:00

It's the laws, the red tape that's surrounding it, things you can do, things you can't do in regards to the school district and the private practice, right? So currently I still will do both. And you know, with a school district, we follow IDA, you follow FAB, you follow all these laws that you have to abide by. And, you know, you have to answer to someone else who is a special education director. Well, when I'm working in a private practice, you know, everything starts with me and ends with me. Now that brings on a little bit more risk because you have to be a lot smarter, a lot more well-rounded in order to get the job done without breaking any laws and doing it ethically and morally, right? And doing what you could do that's going to be beneficial to the business and for the clients. I think the main thing as a difference is that the red tape, the rules and the laws that you have to follow, because in private practice, if that person's not ethical, they could fudge and have those conundrums become more of a thing. And if you're not smart about it, then those unethical practices become a part of your practice. And that's where a lot of small businesses get jammed up with that. But it's known how to walk that fine line and doing what's the best for your client on a day-to-day basis.

Timothy Zercher 3:20

That's well, I mean, and balancing the red tape and restrictions versus what actually is gonna create results for your client is always, I think, a challenge, almost no matter what. Yeah. So, what inspired you to start your own company? And has that changed your approach and how you actually help cameras?

Ruel Dixon 3:37

What inspired me to start my own company was I was working with a BCBA and getting that experience in the public school, getting experience in home services, and I kind of think, okay, what's gonna be the next step for us? Because when you're in a public school, especially in Connecticut, and I don't know where you are right now, but in Connecticut, as a BCBA and you're working with that district, there's only a certain level that you could go to. Because if you don't have a teaching certification or something like that, with just a straight BACB certification, you cannot be assistant principal, you cannot be a principal. And I was at the point where okay, now you're climbing, and you're at that point, you hit that ceiling. So now what is going to be next? And when I thought about it, I'm like, okay, I want to grow, I want to grow professionally, and I want something else that's gonna be challenging. So I started looking at it, and I actually had my LLC for years before I even put it into use, right? So I got an LLC and I sat on it for a couple of years, and I was thinking clinic, I was thinking home services, I was thinking in different ways, OBM, everything. And then when I dissected all of that and see what's gonna be beneficial for me, where I'm at in my life, the other things that I'm involved with, and with my family, I'm like, okay, you know what? Home services may be the right step for me right now. But is the ability to bring applied behavior analysis or even say that you own something and being able to speak to all the systems that are in place, you know. I mean, how you treat and how you deal with employees because a lot of times when you're working for a company, wrong or right reasons, they don't normally necessarily take their employees into consideration when they're making decisions. The decision is always on that dollar and that buck. So it's being able to have the autonomy to do these things within reason and that all bottled up together, like, all right, you know what? I need to go out here and start my company. When you in it, when you're in it and you start looking on the other side now, you're like, okay, I don't agree with a lot of the things that these companies did, but you understood why they did it.

Timothy Zercher 5:55

Absolutely. Yeah, once you're in those shoes, all of a sudden some decisions make a little bit more sense. Yes, they do. Well, so we are a marketing agency that specializes in this space. So I always ask these two questions. First, what works best right now outside of word of mouth, because that should always be the best thing in terms of gaining new clients for your organization.

Ruel Dixon 6:13

So, yep, word of mouth. One of the things for me is I have company shirts that most small companies don't, and my staff has to wear company shirts, right? So when they're out in a community, um it says Connecticut Behavioral Services here, and on the back is all the contact information. So that works out for me in terms of marketing. And then also is just having a good network with insurance companies because they always have a caseload of people in different areas that they're looking to be served. So oftentimes I'll get a referral from someone to see my company, being on a website, or I get may get a referral by the insurance company contacting me and asking me if I have space, or me contacting them and asking if they have a client in that community. But I think the big thing for me, what worked in marketing, is that I've been in that district and that area for so long that the minute that it was put out there that I have a company, you have families of like, okay, we've known you for 10 plus years, and you have your private company now. Okay, we want to work with you.

Timothy Zercher 7:19

Yeah, well, I mean, having an established reputation before you start a company is always ideal, right? That works way better for sure. And then last kind of more marketing question, um, what is one marketing tactic, either out in the marketplace right now, or that you are just considering that you guys are looking at?

Ruel Dixon 7:37

I'm considering how to utilize that, you know, social media AI platform, like putting all that together and you know to make our company look a lot more attractive. And while I'm looking at it, I just also know that that's something that I would have to probably pay someone to do because the the time with you being the clinical director, the HR payroll, and everything is just a lot. But how do I use that AI and that social media realm as a marketing tool? Because, you know, I think one of the things that we have to be aware of and just accept that these things are here, everything happens on the internet right now. So, you know, how to use that to my benefit, right? And while I'm using it to my benefit, how do I not overextend myself and kind of start rolling down that hill and growing faster than I want to grow?

Timothy Zercher 8:30

Absolutely. So that's a good way to think about it. I think a lot of especially smaller business owners forget the value of their own baller or the value of their own hour. Your hourly rate is the absolute most money that you could make per hour, right? And if you can break that, if you can make $200 an hour as a BCBA, then that's the rate that you're paying every time you spend an hour trying to figure out how to change the color on your website font. You're wasting time on things like that. It can really add up fast. Yes, it can. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate having you on. We appreciate some of the great work that you're doing for your communities and some of the families that work with you. So thank you. Thank you, Tim, for having me. Absolutely.