Latest / The Heart-Led Business Show / Reimagining Mammograms Through Innovation with Dr. Ryan Polselli

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Reimagining Mammograms Through Innovation with Dr. Ryan Polselli · The Heart-Led Business Show

• 0:01
  Speaker: Welcome to The Heart-Led Business Show, where compassion meets commerce and leaders lead with love.
• 0:09
  Speaker: Join your host, Tom Jackobs, as he delves into the insightful conversations with visionary business leaders who defy the status quo, putting humanity first and profit second.
• 0:20
  Speaker: From heartfelt strategies to inspiring stories, this podcast is your compass in the world of conscious capitalism.
• 0:29
  Speaker: So buckle up and let your heart guide your business journey.
• 0:36
  Tom Jackobs: Today, we're shining the spotlight on the inspiring Dr.
• 0:40
  Tom Jackobs: Polselli, a board-certified breast radiologist who flipped the script on traditional care with innovative ideas brewing brighter than the morning coffee.
• 0:49
  Tom Jackobs: So Ryan bootstrapped Mammolink, ushering a new era of breast cancer screening with heart.
• 0:55
  Tom Jackobs: So join us as we dive into his journey of building not just a business, but a beacon of hope.
• 1:02
  Tom Jackobs: Let's get ready to explore the heart of entrepreneurship.
• 1:05
  Tom Jackobs: Ryan, welcome to the show.
• 1:07
  Ryan Polselli: Hey, thank you, Tom.
• 1:08
  Ryan Polselli: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 1:10
  Tom Jackobs: It's so good to have you here as well.
• 1:12
  Tom Jackobs: When you first approached me about the show, I was, at first I was like I'm not quite sure." But then once we had first initial conversation, I was like,"Yes, absolutely.
• 1:20
  Tom Jackobs: I have to have Ryan onto the show." Our listeners are gonna really enjoy, today's episode and, definitely your journey into entrepreneurship.
• 1:28
  Ryan Polselli: Happy to be here.
• 1:28
  Ryan Polselli: Happy to share.
• 1:29
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 1:30
  Tom Jackobs: Awesome.
• 1:30
  Tom Jackobs: Well, my first question always is, what's your definition of a heart-led business?
• 1:36
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 1:37
  Ryan Polselli: I love this question.
• 1:38
  Ryan Polselli: I've been thinking about it.
• 1:39
  Ryan Polselli: You hear everybody they have these different things that they say about their business, and I think they all kind of reflect what a heart-led business is, right?
• 1:46
  Ryan Polselli: Whether it's, you know, Steve Jobs,"Well, if you do what's right on the top line, the bottom line will follow," right?
• 1:51
  Ryan Polselli: So he's leading with the heart of the product and, and you hear all these various versions of it.
• 1:56
  Ryan Polselli: For me, the one that, that I think summarizes it is something I've said recently.
• 2:02
  Ryan Polselli: It just kinda came to me.
• 2:02
  Ryan Polselli: I said,"This is bigger than me." And so, so to me that's what we're building here is bigger than me, meaning that it doesn't matter what I think about, my free time or my profits or whatever the case may be.
• 2:16
  Ryan Polselli: This is something that needs to be done.
• 2:17
  Ryan Polselli: And the good thing about that too is if you think about it through that lens, doesn't matter if you fail either.
• 2:23
  Ryan Polselli: And so it gives you a freedom, that you can make decisions.
• 2:26
  Ryan Polselli: You're not worried about the failure.
• 2:27
  Ryan Polselli: You're just looking on what needs to be done, and I think that gives you a nice focus.
• 2:31
  Ryan Polselli: Um, but really that has to just come from the heart.
• 2:34
  Ryan Polselli: And so to me that's the definition.
• 2:37
  Tom Jackobs: Nice.
• 2:37
  Tom Jackobs: so how have you put that into practice?
• 2:40
  Ryan Polselli: Um, well, I think the first part was, being able to take on this project and'cause you, you first have to say,"Okay, well, there's a significant risk that this won't work, that I'm gonna lose a, a crap ton of money that I've worked so hard to..." That my wife is gonna be unhappy, and, it's gonna affect my children's savings, and all those things that you think about.
• 2:58
  Ryan Polselli: And but, you say, The mission is more important and so let's do it." And so that was the first thing, is actually enabling me to take the risk and to, and to go down this path.
• 3:08
  Ryan Polselli: then, of course there's other things that happen along the way that you have to do as part of your business that maybe you don't really like to do.
• 3:15
  Ryan Polselli: I'm not generally the most extroverted person in the world.
• 3:19
  Ryan Polselli: there's parts of this job which, educating the, the partners and, and, there's conferences and things that have to happen.
• 3:25
  Ryan Polselli: So you have to get up and speak do things like podcasts.
• 3:28
  Ryan Polselli: And so, even though it maybe isn't my first choice, again, this is bigger than me, so here we are.
• 3:32
  Ryan Polselli: And, and I think that helps you, have a good center and a good perspective, and it enables you to do all the things that you need to do to eventually be successful.
• 3:41
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 3:42
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, definitely.
• 3:44
  Tom Jackobs: what are the stats that, one in 10 businesses fail within the first year?
• 3:48
  Ryan Polselli: Oh, yeah.
• 3:49
  Tom Jackobs: Something like that.
• 3:49
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 3:49
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, it's definitely a upward battle, but I think you're right.
• 3:53
  Tom Jackobs: When you have that passion, when you have that purpose and you think about the greater good that you're doing with the business, it helps kind of alleviate some of those fears and, sometimes you gotta ignore the stats, right?
• 4:05
  Tom Jackobs: And just go for it.
• 4:07
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah, exactly.
• 4:07
  Ryan Polselli: You know what?
• 4:08
  Ryan Polselli: It doesn't matter.
• 4:09
  Ryan Polselli: This needs to be done.
• 4:10
  Ryan Polselli: And, most of the time you think you can do it but you're always aware of that, that super, um, present risk.
• 4:16
  Ryan Polselli: And so, yeah, it does.
• 4:17
  Ryan Polselli: It frees you up completely
• 4:19
  Tom Jackobs: That's awesome.
• 4:20
  Tom Jackobs: So tell us a little bit about the business first of all, and then your journey into the business
• 4:25
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 4:25
  Ryan Polselli: So while we are, uh, you know, the outward appearance is that we're a mobile mammogram company, which I think is a disservice to what we're actually doing.
• 4:34
  Ryan Polselli: we're a patient-centric company first, and the mobile is an extension of that.
• 4:38
  Ryan Polselli: So essentially, you know, being from the traditional healthcare system, what I was dealing with day in and day out, was a system that says,"We're the center.
• 4:48
  Ryan Polselli: You come to us.
• 4:50
  Ryan Polselli: You do everything that we say you need to do.
• 4:52
  Ryan Polselli: And if you do it right, we'll take care of you.
• 4:55
  Ryan Polselli: And if you don't, you're non-compliant.
• 4:57
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you're a bad patient.
• 5:00
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you know, why didn't you do this?" Uh, and I just-- it-- something about it rubbed me the wrong way, especially because, my specialty is breast cancer screening, which is supposed to be, you want people to come, you want to make it easy.
• 5:13
  Ryan Polselli: And so there was this, this huge conflict, and it was, it was obvious to me.
• 5:18
  Ryan Polselli: And, eventually I got to the point where, it's something I've always wanted to do, but you, you can't just jump in and do it if you don't have the money, you don't have the experience, you don't have the time.
• 5:27
  Ryan Polselli: So finally, I reached the point where I was like,"Okay, this is possible, and now's the time and, and we should do it." Um, you know, took the risk.
• 5:33
  Ryan Polselli: Um, everything was, was bootstrapped, so of course, you know, you tap into your savings and, you know, you have those, those moments of,"Oh my God, what have I just done?" But um, you know, you just keep trudging forward day after day and eventually try to build what it is that you think should have been built originally.
• 5:50
  Ryan Polselli: And so that's what we've been trying to do.
• 5:52
  Ryan Polselli: one by one, put the pieces together.
• 5:53
  Ryan Polselli: Look at this basically from the patient point of view.
• 5:57
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you know, if I was a patient, what would I want?
• 6:00
  Ryan Polselli: I'd want it easy.
• 6:01
  Ryan Polselli: I wouldn't want to have somebody say,"Well, we can't see you for three weeks." Or somebody to tell me,"Well, do you have a script?""Well, no.""Then why are you calling us?
• 6:08
  Ryan Polselli: Call back later when you do." Or,"Oh, you don't have your medical records?
• 6:12
  Ryan Polselli: Well, you go pick them up." Or, um, you know, whatever the case may be.
• 6:15
  Ryan Polselli: I call the, traditional system, it's-- there's a better term out there, but I've always just labeled it the pushback system because I feel like that's what it is to patients.
• 6:23
  Ryan Polselli: Um, and so, uh, so we're trying to do the opposite of that.
• 6:26
  Ryan Polselli: That's in a nutshell.
• 6:27
  Tom Jackobs: So at the core of it, the delivery mechanism is mobile mammogram screening.
• 6:33
  Ryan Polselli: Correct.
• 6:33
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 6:34
  Ryan Polselli: I mean, we do have-- we have a, you know, we're, we're just launching our first brick-and-mortar.
• 6:38
  Ryan Polselli: Um, and the purpose of that is the continuity of care.
• 6:41
  Ryan Polselli: So the mobile screening solves a lot of things, but then what, what happens when the patient does have cancer?
• 6:46
  Ryan Polselli: Well, now they've got to see a surgeon.
• 6:48
  Ryan Polselli: They've got to...
• 6:48
  Ryan Polselli: So we're having that transition where we have, a unit which is in conjunction with a really good breast surgeon in the area.
• 6:54
  Ryan Polselli: So then they have that, what's the next step?
• 6:57
  Ryan Polselli: It's quick.
• 6:57
  Ryan Polselli: It's easy.
• 6:58
  Ryan Polselli: and so we've solved that problem.
• 7:00
  Ryan Polselli: But the original and the largest problem that we saw was just on the screening side, and the mobile really solved, a lot, a big piece of that, at least the geographic piece.
• 7:08
  Tom Jackobs: And And how long has the business been open?
• 7:11
  Ryan Polselli: So we're just about to enter our third year.
• 7:14
  Ryan Polselli: Uh, I mean, fourth year, sorry.
• 7:15
  Ryan Polselli: We're just finishing up our third year, just about to enter our fourth year.
• 7:17
  Ryan Polselli: Correct.
• 7:18
  Ryan Polselli: So, um, and not that long.
• 7:20
  Ryan Polselli: Um, I mean, in some ways it feels like ages, and then in other ways it feels like it was just yesterday.
• 7:26
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 7:26
  Tom Jackobs: That's great.
• 7:27
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 7:27
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah
• 7:28
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, kind of over the hump or kind of in that hump right now.
• 7:31
  Ryan Polselli: There's still a hump.
• 7:32
  Ryan Polselli: There's still things that we're getting over.
• 7:34
  Ryan Polselli: But, um, yeah, I mean, I feel like, um, especially in the last six months, we've just finally gotten over that hump of, uh, you know, and we're able to now worry less about surviving and look more towards, um, excelling and thriving.
• 7:48
  Tom Jackobs: is that scaling, is that a part of it as well as scaling up and banding?
• 7:53
  Ryan Polselli: Correct.
• 7:53
  Ryan Polselli: Yep.
• 7:53
  Ryan Polselli: Yep.
• 7:53
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 7:54
  Ryan Polselli: I mean, You know, what's weird is in the very beginning, and, you know, I look back now and I was like,"You probably were a little bit delusional," but I always had this idea that this could be nationwide and we could, we could have this and maybe worldwide.
• 8:06
  Ryan Polselli: And back then when I'd say things like that, people would laugh.
• 8:08
  Ryan Polselli: We built everything with the idea that we could scale, so that we're lucky in that way because, nowadays with modern technology, so we have a great technology base, a good layer, laid everything down as if this could be a huge company.
• 8:20
  Ryan Polselli: So we don't have to backtrack much, which is nice.
• 8:22
  Ryan Polselli: A lot of it's been paid forward.
• 8:23
  Ryan Polselli: But, the goal right now is to, systematize everything and then scale.
• 8:28
  Tom Jackobs: Nice.
• 8:29
  Tom Jackobs: And how many units do you have?
• 8:31
  Ryan Polselli: Five.
• 8:32
  Ryan Polselli: we're purchasing our sixth this week, maybe our seventh next week.
• 8:36
  Ryan Polselli: And then if we're lucky, yeah, so we applied to the Rural Health Transformation Program grant, which will be great'cause this will give us an opportunity to reach more people kind of in areas that are not traditionally, been able to reach.
• 8:47
  Ryan Polselli: We're waiting on the decision.
• 8:48
  Ryan Polselli: I think it's 50/50, but if that comes through, that's at three more, so we'd be at 10, hopefully.
• 8:53
  Ryan Polselli: Fingers crossed.
• 8:53
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah
• 8:54
  Tom Jackobs: And, forgive my ignorance.
• 8:56
  Tom Jackobs: Are these buses or are they truck.
• 8:58
  Ryan Polselli: I don't know what to call myself sometimes.
• 9:00
  Ryan Polselli: And you, do you call it a mobile unit, an RV, a bus?
• 9:02
  Ryan Polselli: Exactly.
• 9:03
  Ryan Polselli: Some people call them mammo vans.
• 9:05
  Ryan Polselli: yeah, I really wish we had a better, a better word for it, but, essentially these are medical grade, RVs that have been converted to, serve the purpose of medical treatment.
• 9:14
  Ryan Polselli: They're like maybe 40 feet.
• 9:16
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 9:16
  Ryan Polselli: Pop outs, everyone has about five air conditioners, that kind of thing.
• 9:20
  Tom Jackobs: Oh yeah.
• 9:20
  Tom Jackobs: And the power to.
• 9:21
  Ryan Polselli: Oh my gosh.
• 9:23
  Tom Jackobs: Has to be incredible.
• 9:24
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 9:25
  Ryan Polselli: And the cost of diesel right now.
• 9:28
  Tom Jackobs: That's right.
• 9:29
  Tom Jackobs: yeah, the logistics, I mean, that adds another layer of complexity to it.
• 9:33
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah, that was, that was something that, that, we spent a lot of time on in the very beginning was the logistic.
• 9:38
  Ryan Polselli: Just working out the logistics.
• 9:40
  Ryan Polselli: That's been the hard part of it.
• 9:41
  Ryan Polselli: how do you get images?
• 9:43
  Ryan Polselli: And, mammo is some of the, the largest images in all of mammography.
• 9:46
  Ryan Polselli: A lot of people don't know that.
• 9:47
  Ryan Polselli: But how do you get them off the bus when you have a cellular connection?
• 9:50
  Ryan Polselli: Just little things like that that people don't think about.
• 9:53
  Tom Jackobs: Oh.
• 9:53
  Ryan Polselli: Don't tap into Wi-Fi or plug in an ethernet cord, so, So we've had to, look around, shop, learn, educate, get some creative systems going and stuff.
• 10:01
  Ryan Polselli: But, yeah, that was a large part of what we spent most of our time for the first year to two years doing.
• 10:08
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, wow.
• 10:08
  Tom Jackobs: Probably like five Starlink units on the top.
• 10:11
  Ryan Polselli: We did.
• 10:11
  Ryan Polselli: We had a combo.
• 10:12
  Ryan Polselli: We had Starlink at one point.
• 10:13
  Ryan Polselli: The problem was we...
• 10:14
  Ryan Polselli: You know, this is, this is, you know, you learn by, by failure and, and trial and error.
• 10:18
  Ryan Polselli: And it's still a great idea, but, but a lot of the places we would serve, they had trees, buildings downtown, right?
• 10:23
  Ryan Polselli: And so Starlink was, was-- didn't help us much there.
• 10:26
  Ryan Polselli: But, uh, we tried.
• 10:27
  Tom Jackobs: It's funny.
• 10:29
  Tom Jackobs: So going back before you started the business, you were in traditional, medical care.
• 10:35
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah
• 10:35
  Tom Jackobs: What was the transition like coming out of that and then going into your own business?
• 10:40
  Ryan Polselli: Um, yeah hard.
• 10:44
  Ryan Polselli: But freeing and liberating at the same time.
• 10:46
  Ryan Polselli: I got to finally break a lot of the rules that I thought needed to be broken and, um, you know, so it felt good in a way.
• 10:52
  Ryan Polselli: But at the same time, you know, um, there's a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of worry, there's a lot of fear.
• 10:56
  Ryan Polselli: I left something that was comfortable.
• 10:59
  Ryan Polselli: To be in this area of unknown territory and uncertainty, um, all the time, all around you.
• 11:04
  Ryan Polselli: I heard a really good quote.
• 11:06
  Ryan Polselli: I forget who it was.
• 11:07
  Ryan Polselli: I should wish I could give her credit now.
• 11:08
  Ryan Polselli: But, um, anyway, and she was saying, you know,"Until you've sat in the room at night with your head in your hands, uh, basically, you know, crying about what you've done, uh, you can't really say that, um, you've experienced true entrepreneurship." And I think that's true'cause, I mean, there are nights that you're just like,"Gosh, what have I done?
• 11:25
  Ryan Polselli: This is horrible.
• 11:26
  Ryan Polselli: I should go back," et cetera.
• 11:27
  Ryan Polselli: But the problem is you're already in.
• 11:29
  Ryan Polselli: You can't go back.
• 11:31
  Ryan Polselli: And so there's only one path, and that's forward.
• 11:33
  Ryan Polselli: And so that's also a, a good thing too, I think, is because, if you can just keep going forward, then you eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is where we are
• 11:40
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 11:40
  Tom Jackobs: Well, and especially like we were talking before the show, like that passion and that purpose when it is so crystal clear.
• 11:48
  Tom Jackobs: Those days, crying yourself to sleep, know, I've had many of those nights as well.
• 11:54
  Tom Jackobs: Makes it worth it.
• 11:54
  Tom Jackobs: Like you wake up the next day and you're like,"Okay, you know, pity party's done..
• 11:58
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 11:59
  Tom Jackobs: Let's move on,"
• 12:00
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 12:01
  Ryan Polselli: That's exactly right.
• 12:02
  Ryan Polselli: Yep.
• 12:02
  Ryan Polselli: And then you feel good throughout the day and until the next bout comes.
• 12:05
  Ryan Polselli: Yep.
• 12:06
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, of course.
• 12:07
  Tom Jackobs: Tell me, how long of a transition did you give yourself, or runway did you give yourself from, you know, you had the idea to build the business while you were still employed.
• 12:19
  Tom Jackobs: So how long did it take yeah finally say that.
• 12:22
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 12:22
  Ryan Polselli: I wasn't very sophisticated in terms of planning.
• 12:25
  Ryan Polselli: It was kind of, fly by the seat of your pants thing.
• 12:28
  Ryan Polselli: took it just one month at a time.
• 12:30
  Ryan Polselli: And I said,"You know, well, however long it takes is how long it takes, as long as we're making forward progress every day." And so I guess that would, in one way, was probably pretty good because I didn't put any significant expectations on myself to say, you know,"We haven't reached the milestone.
• 12:44
  Ryan Polselli: This is failure." for us, yeah, that's, that's essentially what it was.
• 12:48
  Ryan Polselli: And, and really it was just-- it started off as a very small idea, which was just make it better for the patients.
• 12:53
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you know, one bus, make it better for the patients, do what we can do.
• 12:57
  Ryan Polselli: Uh, and then as, you know, it progressed, you know, we saw, okay, other opportunities.
• 13:01
  Ryan Polselli: This could be this, uh, a little bit bigger in terms of, of our reach, and we can do more here.
• 13:06
  Ryan Polselli: And so then it just kind of grew out of that.
• 13:08
  Ryan Polselli: And I still think that, that's kind of the process that's happening right now.
• 13:11
  Ryan Polselli: Every day there's something new.
• 13:12
  Ryan Polselli: "Oh my God, we could do this."
• 13:13
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah
• 13:13
  Ryan Polselli: I actually have to slow down the ideas'cause the, the staff is like,"You know, stop.
• 13:18
  Ryan Polselli: You're overwhelming us."
• 13:22
  Tom Jackobs: That's a really good indication that you need a good COO to kind of operate for you.
• 13:27
  Tom Jackobs: 'Cause, I'm the same way.
• 13:29
  Tom Jackobs: Like my staff just gets like,"Okay, like is this important?" Or you...
• 13:34
  Tom Jackobs: Now they've gotten to the point where like,"Okay, so, so you're just brainstorming right now, right?"
• 13:38
  Ryan Polselli: Right.
• 13:39
  Tom Jackobs: Of course I'm brainstorming."
• 13:40
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 13:41
  Tom Jackobs: I don't want you to do this right now.""Why wouldn't we do this?" Like,"we should do this, and this." And they're like,"Ugh."
• 13:46
  Ryan Polselli: it's torture though to keep it inside, isn't it?
• 13:49
  Ryan Polselli: Because you have all the...
• 13:50
  Ryan Polselli: And you just wanna go and act on it.
• 13:51
  Ryan Polselli: And so I've had to dial that back in just so I don't create confusion with them and it's terrible.
• 13:58
  Ryan Polselli: So I have to have an outlet, so I'll put it on a list or I'll write it down, or so it's just a growing list and I try not to overwhelm them, but it's hard not to.
• 14:06
  Tom Jackobs: Like an entrepreneurial group that understand what you're going through so that, you can just pick up the phone and it's like,"Dude, this is going on in my business right now.
• 14:14
  Tom Jackobs: what's-- what do you think I should do?"
• 14:16
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 14:16
  Ryan Polselli: That's a really good point.
• 14:17
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 14:18
  Ryan Polselli: And I think that's why Instagram Reels now, like, right, all the, the startups and the people talking about their struggles and everything, it's therapy for me.
• 14:25
  Ryan Polselli: You know, 30 minutes at night listening to founders' stories and stuff.
• 14:29
  Ryan Polselli: it's refreshing.
• 14:30
  Ryan Polselli: Oh, okay, I'm not alone.
• 14:31
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 14:32
  Tom Jackobs: The Doom Scroll Of Founders doom, right?
• 14:34
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 14:36
  Ryan Polselli: And they found me.
• 14:37
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 14:38
  Tom Jackobs: That's great.
• 14:39
  Tom Jackobs: so long did it take you to transition?
• 14:41
  Ryan Polselli: I consider now I'm still transitioning, so, every day.
• 14:44
  Ryan Polselli: But, I kept one foot in, all right?
• 14:46
  Ryan Polselli: In terms of making sure I had the income.
• 14:48
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you know, a lot of people say burn the boats so you don't have a choice.
• 14:52
  Ryan Polselli: I don't think that's the right thing to do.
• 14:54
  Ryan Polselli: And, and had I done that, we probably would have failed because I needed the income from what I was doing.
• 14:59
  Ryan Polselli: And that was hard too, because you're working in one and doing another, and there's competing interests and, and even people that know what you're doing, they're like,"Wait, you're working here and now you're competing against us," and raised a whole nother level of issues.
• 15:11
  Ryan Polselli: But I was lucky enough to be able to navigate that and, keep one foot in.
• 15:15
  Ryan Polselli: And I still have, one foot, in there.
• 15:17
  Ryan Polselli: And so I still have another source of income, which is in the traditional reading, just to make sure that, God forbid there's any kind of, difficulty, diesel prices go any higher, something happens.
• 15:26
  Ryan Polselli: You just never know.
• 15:27
  Ryan Polselli: It's your responsibility now because I got people that depend on us, right?
• 15:30
  Ryan Polselli: To pay their bills and for their kids and everything else.
• 15:32
  Ryan Polselli: And so, I wanna make sure that, that's always there for them.
• 15:35
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 15:35
  Tom Jackobs: No, that, that's smart.
• 15:37
  Tom Jackobs: So I was in corporate for 10 years, 12 years, and when I transitioned out, I took a good year to do that transsition.
• 15:45
  Tom Jackobs: And was like, you, one foot in, on both and long days.
• 15:50
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 15:51
  Ryan Polselli: It's a real thing.
• 15:52
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 15:52
  Tom Jackobs: That's the more what I consider more responsible because if you go out and you don't, one, you don't have the backing or you're bootstrapping things, that stress of not knowing where your next paycheck is gonna come from.
• 16:05
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 16:06
  Tom Jackobs: Or that next deal, that can make you make bad decisions.
• 16:10
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 16:11
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 16:12
  Ryan Polselli: Very good point.
• 16:13
  Ryan Polselli: Very good point.
• 16:14
  Tom Jackobs: That when things like that happen?
• 16:16
  Tom Jackobs: Like in terms of decision-making when under stress
• 16:22
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 16:22
  Ryan Polselli: That comes up, actually comes up a lot, especially the, the financial decisions that need to be made.
• 16:28
  Ryan Polselli: I don't think there's any easy way to do it.
• 16:29
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you know, uh, and I think that, um, I think having a good center and a good focus on what you know needs to be done and you just have to have a lot of faith and you have to be willing to take the risk and just suck it up and go for it.
• 16:43
  Ryan Polselli: And that's what we do.
• 16:45
  Ryan Polselli: And then you just hope that, down the road it's, it's less risk and less worry each time.
• 16:50
  Ryan Polselli: And, uh, you know, slowly we're getting there'cause, you know, the bigger you get the more opportunities you have for, pedal of support to be knocked out from under you and, and still survive.
• 16:57
  Ryan Polselli: So, it's more work and it's more complicated, but at the same time it, it gives you that stability and, and honestly, the work isn't the hard part.
• 17:03
  Ryan Polselli: It's the worry, the anxiety, the knowing that...
• 17:06
  Ryan Polselli: the uncertainty that for me at least, that's the hard part, you know?
• 17:09
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 17:09
  Tom Jackobs: Well, for most people, I think is that, that uncertainty.
• 17:12
  Tom Jackobs: And I think that's what drives a lot of entrepreneurs is that uncertainty, it takes its toll at the same time.
• 17:20
  Ryan Polselli: It does.
• 17:22
  Ryan Polselli: It does.
• 17:22
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 17:22
  Ryan Polselli: My hair is a lot whiter than it used to be.
• 17:24
  Ryan Polselli: Went quick.
• 17:26
  Tom Jackobs: Yes.
• 17:27
  Tom Jackobs: Well,
• 17:27
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah, exactly.
• 17:29
  Ryan Polselli: I mean, I think there's a reason why you see, presidents, they look really good, and they get in the presidency, and two years later they're completely gray.
• 17:35
  Tom Jackobs: Oh, yeah.
• 17:36
  Ryan Polselli: If they're not color- Yeah
• 17:38
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 17:39
  Tom Jackobs: Exactly.
• 17:40
  Tom Jackobs: Cool.
• 17:40
  Tom Jackobs: So when you're, going through and you're three years into it,
• 17:45
  Ryan Polselli: Mm-hmm.
• 17:45
  Tom Jackobs: what are the big plans then, that keep you driving towards, your ultimate goals?
• 17:52
  Tom Jackobs: And what's driving you there?
• 17:54
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 17:54
  Ryan Polselli: Um, I think about it less and less because it's just kind of taken over, but it's still that mission.
• 17:59
  Ryan Polselli: It's still the belief that this can be, um, really big and transformative.
• 18:03
  Ryan Polselli: Now, that's kind of the-- I've stepped back a, a lot and now I'm looking at this more, more globally, you know, in terms of, you know, well, we could actually have the opportunity to change the system.
• 18:14
  Ryan Polselli: So now I'm thinking in terms of lives, right?
• 18:16
  Ryan Polselli: And so, I guess 30.
• 18:18
  Ryan Polselli: It's debatable, 30, 35 million women a year don't get screened annually.
• 18:22
  Ryan Polselli: 40,000 women a year still dying of a disease that is largely preventable with good screening.
• 18:28
  Ryan Polselli: So there's a long way to go.
• 18:29
  Ryan Polselli: And so I'm thinking about those numbers now, and I'm thinking about how this could actually really significantly cut down on that if we can do it.
• 18:37
  Ryan Polselli: so that's what's keeping me motivated at this point.
• 18:40
  Tom Jackobs: That is 30 million do not get Screened.
• 18:43
  Ryan Polselli: Isn't that crazy?
• 18:44
  Ryan Polselli: You're over 300 million, but it's a lie.
• 18:45
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 18:46
  Ryan Polselli: I mean, some studies Estimate you could...
• 18:48
  Ryan Polselli: here's the thing, it's misleading.
• 18:49
  Ryan Polselli: If you go to the government studies, they're gonna show you that the compliance is like 80, 90%, but they're looking at a 27-month compliance rate and, you know, that's not enough to, say annual screening.
• 18:58
  Ryan Polselli: So, a lot of them are just getting into the 27th month just to make the measure to get the reimbursement and the subsidies from the government.
• 19:06
  Tom Jackobs: Okay.
• 19:06
  Tom Jackobs: So, so they're counting the 27 months as an annual goal?
• 19:10
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah, it's...
• 19:11
  Ryan Polselli: You know how it is.
• 19:12
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, exactly.
• 19:14
  Tom Jackobs: Awesome.
• 19:15
  Tom Jackobs: So what's next for you in terms of the growth of the business?
• 19:19
  Ryan Polselli: Um, hopefully, you know, another state.
• 19:22
  Ryan Polselli: That's our next one.
• 19:23
  Ryan Polselli: And hopefully if the bus comes through like we're thinking in the next week or two, then, um, that'll be our first, um, move into another state.
• 19:30
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah, I think we've proven everything works in Florida.
• 19:33
  Ryan Polselli: So, now we get to test other areas.
• 19:35
  Ryan Polselli: So we're gonna find places that are favorable and get a foothold.
• 19:38
  Ryan Polselli: The concept is to seed, so find a, a few big cities around that we can actually, plant this and then reproduce the model.
• 19:45
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 19:46
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 19:46
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah.
• 19:47
  Tom Jackobs: Does the licensure, does that cause any type of complication?
• 19:51
  Ryan Polselli: Licensure in every state for the physicians that read for you is like, I'll have to, you know, there's, there's not...
• 19:56
  Ryan Polselli: Well, there is, but it's not really universal or widely accepted yet.
• 19:59
  Ryan Polselli: A system where if you're a licensed physician in Florida, you can work in other states.
• 20:03
  Ryan Polselli: It's not really that well, accepted yet.
• 20:05
  Ryan Polselli: So generally that, and then also too, you gotta get brand new insurance contracts everywhere you go, every state.
• 20:11
  Ryan Polselli: So, and that's the big one.
• 20:12
  Ryan Polselli: That's the biggest one.
• 20:14
  Ryan Polselli: There's some-- In some states they're closed, and if they're closed, you just don't...
• 20:17
  Ryan Polselli: We struggled with that in Florida.
• 20:19
  Ryan Polselli: They were closed for, you know, some of them for, you know, we, we were trying to get insurance contracts for like five years.
• 20:24
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 20:24
  Ryan Polselli: Horrible.
• 20:25
  Ryan Polselli: Um, yeah, the last couple was a, a letter to the board and a lobbyist on, in the, uh, the capital here in Florida.
• 20:34
  Ryan Polselli: So yeah, I mean, that's the kind of effort it took to finally get in.
• 20:37
  Tom Jackobs: Wow.
• 20:38
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 20:39
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah, it'll be a big deal.
• 20:40
  Ryan Polselli: Big pain in the butt, but.
• 20:42
  Tom Jackobs: You would think, but the insurance companies, they would want more access so that, later down the road they're not paying them a million dollars for cancer treatment
• 20:52
  Ryan Polselli: That is a conundrum.
• 20:55
  Ryan Polselli: So you're absolutely right, and, it took me a long time to realize why this was happening.
• 20:59
  Ryan Polselli: And generally, though, we do have an easier job with the insurance companies because I do think they, they do understand that and they get that.
• 21:06
  Ryan Polselli: Uh, but, you know, things are so bureaucratic now.
• 21:08
  Ryan Polselli: There's so many, many departments and everything, so-- And, and one part doesn't talk to the other and, Really, we're most successful the higher you go up the chain of command.
• 21:17
  Ryan Polselli: And so if you reach somebody that's at a higher level, they're like,"Yep, makes sense.
• 21:20
  Ryan Polselli: Let's go ahead and do it." But if you're trying to do it at the lower levels where the entry level, where the things come in, it just-- you just get blocked.
• 21:26
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah
• 21:27
  Ryan Polselli: And another piece of that is, the average person only stays with an insurance company a, a few years.
• 21:32
  Ryan Polselli: And so, the long-term savings comes from your-- or I guess the savings from, from screening is more of a long-term benefit.
• 21:41
  Ryan Polselli: So why invest all the money for a turnover that's gonna happen in two years?
• 21:44
  Ryan Polselli: We're not gonna reap it.
• 21:45
  Ryan Polselli: And so we almost have to say, make it a collective thing, and then it makes sense to everybody.
• 21:49
  Ryan Polselli: But yeah.
• 21:50
  Tom Jackobs: Now when they have their own board and their own president that's making, you know.
• 21:54
  Ryan Polselli: Exactly.
• 21:56
  Ryan Polselli: Yep.
• 21:56
  Ryan Polselli: Yep.
• 21:57
  Tom Jackobs: That could be a whole another show actually.
• 21:58
  Ryan Polselli: It could be, yeah.
• 22:00
  Tom Jackobs: But no, Ryan, this is, your journey, like I said at the beginning of the show, is just absolutely fascinating.
• 22:06
  Tom Jackobs: I'm so glad that you've been on the show as, today as well.
• 22:09
  Tom Jackobs: But tell us, how can people learn more about your company and you and the great work that you're doing?
• 22:14
  Ryan Polselli: Um, you know, the easiest way is, um, Ryan Polselli, just my name.
• 22:19
  Ryan Polselli: I'm on, uh, social media now, um, you know, LinkedIn, Instagram, uh, Facebook or mammolink.com.
• 22:27
  Ryan Polselli: It's easy, just one word, which is our, our company's name.
• 22:30
  Ryan Polselli: And, uh, and from there you'll see plenty of opportunities to connect, email, whatever the case may be.
• 22:35
  Ryan Polselli: I think my phone number's out there somewhere.
• 22:38
  Tom Jackobs: Yeah, probably.
• 22:39
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 22:40
  Tom Jackobs: Awesome.
• 22:41
  Tom Jackobs: I'll all that in the show notes as well so sure can, get a hold of you and click away and look at the website.
• 22:47
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 22:48
  Tom Jackobs: If they need some help, they can, uh, contact.
• 22:50
  Tom Jackobs: That's awesome.
• 22:51
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 22:51
  Ryan Polselli: Thank you, Tom.
• 22:52
  Tom Jackobs: Thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your journey and your transformation.
• 22:56
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 22:56
  Tom Jackobs: I really do appreciate it.
• 22:57
  Ryan Polselli: Yeah.
• 22:57
  Ryan Polselli: This has been great, Tom.
• 22:58
  Ryan Polselli: Thank you so much.
• 23:00
  Tom Jackobs: Awesome.
• 23:00
  Tom Jackobs: Thank you.
• 23:01
  Tom Jackobs: Thank you show listeners for tuning in today.
• 23:03
  Tom Jackobs: We really do appreciate you.
• 23:05
  Tom Jackobs: And, uh, make sure you're checking out everything that Ryan's doing.
• 23:08
  Tom Jackobs: We're gonna put all that down into the show notes and, uh, all the links and all that good stuff, so make sure you're checking that out.
• 23:14
  Tom Jackobs: And if you could do a solid for us here at the show, If you could just give the show a good rating and review, I'd really appreciate that.
• 23:21
  Tom Jackobs: Just help spread the word about more entrepreneurs that are putting heart into their business, and we definitely need more of that in this world today.
• 23:29
  Tom Jackobs: So until next time, lead with your heart.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to The Heart-Led Business Show, hosted by Tom Jackobs.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Join us next time for another inspiring journey into the heart of business.