Creative Business Solutions

Episode 974: Creative Business Solutions, with Shane Foss

Creative business solutions, a podcast with Shane Foss. Meet the needs of an otherwise untapped market through creative business solutions.

Creative business solutions have the potential to create new opportunities and even disrupt entire industries. Our guest, Shane Foss, has used this for the healthcare insurance industry because he believes this is what it needs.

With over 20 years of tenure as an executive in the medical industry, Shane Foss became frustrated with how under-served Americans were with the current healthcare options. He set out to make a change and in 2018 achieved this goal through launching Hooray Health, an unconventional health insurance company dedicated to providing affordable basic and urgent health care alternatives to high-deductible health plans.

Through Hooray Health, Foss and his team focus on offering peace of mind to lower-income individuals and families who face medical challenges, while also providing business owners with an affordable way to reward and retain employees. Partnering with companies like Sedera, Ameritas, and Aflac, they have been able to add critical services and supplemental plans giving immense value to employers and individuals.

Throughout his professional experience, Foss has negotiated complex, multi-million-dollar contracts, worked in device sales management, created business strategies, implemented creative business solutions, and optimized P&L. He holds an MBA from Rice University’s Jones School of Business, a BS from the University of the Incarnate Word, and a Surgical Technologist Certificate from the United States Air Force.

What You Will Learn in this Episode About Creative Business Solutions:

• How Shane’s upbringing, experience in the U.S. Air Force, and career journey culminated in the launch of health insurance company Hooray Health
• Why starting out at the lowest level of healthcare gave Shane a unique perspective on the need for creative business solutions in the health insurance industry
• How Shane made the foray into the realm of health benefits, and how he recognized the opportunity to do things differently from the paradigm
• Why Shane believes that any life experience can offer valuable lessons that can be applied to future situations
• Why hearing the phrase “love the problem — not the solution” from the founder of Waze was a profound, watershed moment for Shane
• Why Shane created Hooray Health to address the real challenges and unmet needs of America’s uninsured workers
• How Hooray Health is structured differently from others in the health insurance industry, creating a better experience for members
• Why too many employees are forced to make difficult healthcare decisions based on their financial situations, and how Hooray Health is working to change that
• How Shane is using thought leadership to change perceptions and shine a light on the challenges people face in accessing basic healthcare
• How Shane first got started in thought leadership, and how he learned the importance of self-promotion and adding value

How to Connect with Shane Foss:

• Visit Hooray Health’s website for more information on how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry.
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shane-foss-083b823/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hoorayhealth/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/HoorayHealthcare/
• Twitter: @Hooray_Health

Additional Resources:

• Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13
• Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/
• Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan

 

 

Creative Business Solutions: Full Episode Transcript

 

Get ready to find your recipe for success and learn about creative business solutions from America’s top business owners here at Onward Nation with your host, Stephen Woessner. 

 

Good morning! I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation where I interview today’s top business owners so we can learn their recipe for success. How are they built, and how do they scale their business? In fact, my team at Predictive ROI, well, we’ve recently rebuilt, and we continue to expand our free resources section on PredictiveRoi.com. So you can download free practical and tactical guides for everything, from how to build out your own authority sales machine. Everything from how to create your ideal client avatar, how to create a value ladder and a sales funnel, and how to make sure your content strategy aligns with 10 truths to what makes someone in authority in their niche.

 

Just go to PredictiveROI.com/resources and it was always everything. Your requests, we will send it right to your inbox. Before we welcome today’s guest, I want to share some additional context around why when I asked Shane Foss to join us. When he said, yes, I was off the charts, excited Onward Nation in it. And here’s why, because you are going to hear Shane. And I talk about things like pivot, things like against the grain things, like how he took his 20 years in the healthcare industry. And then he was able to blend that with his passion for technology. And then he was able to put that into an improvement for health care operations and products.

 

So back in 2018, he launched Hooray Health, which you’ll hear, is an unconventional health insurance company. And he wanted to make it simple. He wanted to make it accessible. He wanted to make it affordable for, well, obviously, that’s like music to everybody’s ears. But along that journey, along that path and journey Onward Nation, he also took the time like intentionality to plant his flag of authority and become a thought leader in the healthcare space. 

 

And you’ll hear that that’s super counterintuitive against like, the grain has others who are already in this space. So I am really looking forward to asking him questions about how and why he shares his knowledge because that takes a lot of time.

 

How does he do that? How does he share his expertise? How does he go to that audience and teach and how through that process, you will be able to build an audience of employers so that they can better understand what they need to put in place in order to reward and retain employees and how he can do that in an unconventional way. 

 

Visit this website to learn about  how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry

 

Creative Business Solutions: Shane Foss’s Introduction

 

So, without further ado, welcome to Onward Nation, Shane. Thanks for having me, Stephen, I’m looking forward to it.

 

Oh my gosh. It’s a pleasure to have you here in, thank you again for saying yes, my friend. So this is going to be such a great, great conversation, ah, in front of Onward, but before we dive into what creative business solutions is, I’m sure is going to feel like a barrage of questions that I’m going to be firing your way. Actually, take us behind the curtain he would ask and tell us a little bit more about your path and journey, as I mentioned in the introduction against the grain, because I know that that’s an element, that’s an ingredient to the path. So tell us a little bit more about your path and journey, and then we’ll dive in.

 

Yeah, sure. You know, I grew up in a small town in Northern Minnesota where, you know, my grandfather was one of my best friends. And so, it was always around adults. I had, you know, my mom had known when she was really young. And so I was always around my uncles, and they were kind of like my big brothers instead of my uncles. And, you know, it was a really good upbringing in the sense that I was taught from a very young age to talk to adults. And so, you know, I always worked, I’ve always been incredibly curious and I just had really good mentors growing up, whether, you know, starting with my grandfather who really just taught me to really be interested in everybody to understand their story and, be positive with people.

 

And then, you know, going to Larry to Caney, which was my first real formal job at, you know, the Sawyer store is a small town, you know, the store that everything happened to at this location. And so, you know, it was a great, great experience growing up. And I joined the military. I was in the Air Force, and that was where I got my introduction into healthcare and I was what they call a Surgical Technologist. So, I assisted surgeons during surgery. When we were at a level one trauma center and so I got an incredible experience. We had a residency program, so the faculty was always teaching well. So as they are teaching the residents, ya know, you could take the approach.

 

I’m just going to tune them out and just do my job, but I was listening and learning. And so, I decided, you know, that’s really, we’re kind of going against the grain started for me. And I worked weekend nights. I worked 40 hours over the weekend which will fall. And I went to school full time, 18 hours in credits. And I graduated right when I got out of the military. And, you know, it was, I didn’t have your typical college experience, which, you know, I didn’t get to, I didn’t join a fraternity. I didn’t get to do all the other fun stuff, but, you know, it was a great experience for me. And I really fell in love with health care. And so from there, I’d met my wife and my wife went to medical school.

 

And, I went to Jay. And Jay then started selling the orthopedic implants. And you know, it was funny. My kids always say mom passes gas cause she’s a Nancy geologist, my dad’s soul joints, you know, it was a funny story. But you know, we’ve been married 25 years now and couldn’t have a better partner, but you know, it was that journey really starting at the bottom and understanding healthcare at the lowest level, which is, and the most intimate level at which is understanding the people that they put so much trust into the system. That they come into the operating room and the surgeon, you know, they’re basically naked. They have a little thin sheet on them and you know, when they put all of their trust that you are going to take good care of ’em and you’re gonna do the right thing.

 

And so it was a really humbling experience. And so, you know, as I continued to grow through Jay, and Jay then I was at striker orthopedics, which is really a wonderful place to learn. That’s where I really got the ability to challenge myself with really high-level people. I had, not only did I work with great people, I worked for great people, had great leaders in the organization that not only challenged me, but you know, I decided to go to graduate school while I was at Stryker and you know, my boss, who’s still one of my closest friends, you know, every other Friday, Saturday, I was completely out. I’m in the sense that had to go to school and you know, he did my job for me, basically those days he protected me and let me, you know, instead of traveling, which that was you’re usually traveling at those times, you know, he did my job for me.

 

And you know, I can’t tell you what an inspiration that was, to really make a sacrifice for him. And so, you know, I still owe him an incredible debt of gratitude for that. But you know, I always kind of push myself and nobody wants to work a day, come home, spend time with your family, put them to bed, and then stay up until one o’clock doing homework. But you know, you do it. And, you know, it’s really set me up for where I am today and I, you know, those experiences were incredibly valuable.

 

And so, you know, I leave Stryker. I start work, I’d buy my first business and then we turned that around and sell it. And then I’m now all of a sudden, I kind of get into the eye, get into the private equity world and I’m working for a different couple of different portfolio companies. We sell and then I ended up with my closest friend, he’s the CEO. He loves Stryker. He is a CTO of this organization, that is basically, he calls me up and says, I really need your help. Here we go there together. And we turned it around, then sold it in 11 months. Actually, that was my first entry into health benefits.

 

And so, and I really, you know, I just, there’s so many good people in health benefits, smart people doing a lot of amazing things. But I saw a huge opportunity because there’s still that herd mentality, you know, like thing where, you know, they’re just, they’re not considering new. It’s easier to keep it the same. And so I saw this opportunity to really challenge that paradigm and then go from there. And that’s where I started planning out creative business solutions. Okay.

 

Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan

 

Creative Business Solutions: Always Push Yourself

 

We are going to come back to the challenges of the Paradigm for just a second because that’s a really cool nugget. But what really stood out to me in your path and journey is, and you said these words, how you’re always pushing yourself into making creative business solutions. But even back to when you said a few minutes ago, understanding health care at the lowest level, it didn’t matter what your rank was, what your education level was, whatever you were always observing it, looking for, whether was your job or, not, you were observing and how that could be integrated into learning new things. Elevating within the organization or serving you today, because now you have all that context.Right.

 

And you know, when it was so funny because it served me so well. Even that basic knowledge when I went into surgery with, as a sales rep with, Jay and Jay, where I walk into the operating room. We were doing total knees, total hips, well, I had a completely different view than anybody that I worked with or any of my competitors because I have done all of that. So when we were sitting in the, or I could anticipate different things going on, and if there was any ever trouble, umm, I was able to get us out of it pretty quickly because I’d seen most of it.

 

Right. And that was a really good place for me because I kind of became that expert where I’d have people that didn’t even use me, use it, Jay and Jay, that they use our competitors, they would call me and say, hey, would you come to look at these x-rays and telling me what you think? Wow. So it was a really great M, you know, the, again, Air Force was a wonderful foundation for me and you know, in every place that I go. I think that life experience, no matter what you do, you know, it’s constantly taking and you can apply that to the next thing that you’re doing. And I’m yeah, it was really, really had a great opportunity to learn.

 

Visit this website to learn about  how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry

 

Creative Business Solutions: Love the Problem, Not the Solution

 

So I’m going to maybe make a stretch here, but you can tell me if I’m off base or not. When you talk about your grandfather, your uncles and uncles like brothers, you also mentioned a mentorship, and then it sounds like they really instilled this curiosity. As I’m looking back through my notes, you said that they were really good mentors. But you said that they encourage you to really understand a person’s story and really understand their point of view. So my guess is those lessons are still paying dividends today, that your intellectually curious. You wanna figure it out, but you’re also understanding the other person’s point of view perspective, and maybe that helps with collaboration, and finding new solutions.

 

Am I tracking with you on creative business solutions? I know, I think what you do is you put yourself in the position of, you know, who you’re talking to. So my grandfather growing up, he was M, I was teasing. Like he was in the mayor at Duluth. He knew about it, but everybody loved him because he was always asking them about, hey, how’s it going on at work? What do you have today? And then he would leave the conversation. And he would always lean over saying, boy, that you know, that Bob who’s the best janitor or in Duluth, he didn’t care what they did. It was always a positive. And so when, you know, fast forward today, when you know our business, Hooray, when we started Hooray, we were really looking at where’s the unmet need in health care.

 

And if you look at this gap between people who are going to afford major medical insurance and to have it through their employer and then people who cannot, this gap is widening, and it’s enormous. I think people really underestimate how many uninsured people there are in America today. And so when we were looking at that the founder of weighs, I was at a meeting one time, and I sat at his table, and he and I were talking, really interesting guy. I think he’s Dutch. And, and he said, love the problem, not the solution. And I thought it was the most profound thing that anybody has ever said to me because if you think about, you know, love the problem and understand the problem.

 

And then, you know, at that point, not all problems are worth starting a business for us especially when they don’t have creative business solutions in mind. I’ll preface that for your listeners, but your solution is going to evolve. But if you fall into that trap where my solution is the only solution, and, you know, I’m addressing these needs. And you’re gonna fall into that trap, and you are going to fail because you have to be able to adapt. But the problem really doesn’t change. And so now getting, you know, closing the loop on our conversation, I don’t relate with an hourly worker anymore. I haven’t been an hourly worker for, you know, 40 years now, or, 30 years. But when we have the conversation and I’m talking to people and, you know, you’re learning about what they’re doing.

 

You know, I am sitting in a Target and Target just raised their lowest paid person now to $15 an hour, which is significant. So kudos to Target. But when I’m talking to them and you’re saying, yeah, but if my child’s sick, I don’t really have a way to get them care and umm, or if I’m sick, I just don’t feel comfortable going to the doctor because of acts. And you know, you’re talking over 50% of the US population has less than a thousand dollars in their bank account. And I know for a fact that if I go into an urgent care or a build, an average build charge is going to be close to $600, no matter what service, right?

 

So you’ve got people making these decisions between eating and care. And so, you know, it’s really a tough position to be in. But if you’re not talking to people and putting yourself in that situation then you’re not going to ever really truly understand the real problem. A hundred percent agree.

 

Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan

 

Creative Business Solutions: Find People Who Are Willing to Take the Chance

 

Hey, Onward Nation I wanted to take a quick break from the episode on creative business solutions to share a practical and tactical resource with you. When we first released our book profitable podcasting, it became a number one new release on Amazon in less than 18 hours. Well, that was nearly three years ago and were still getting great feedback on. Helpful. The book has been two business owners, just like you are, as they launched a podcast to build their business. When I think of strategies that you could be applying right now during these challenging times, having your own show, which would be a conduit that you could use to teach and share your insights with your community, launching a podcast or growing your existing show really should be at the top of your list.

 

I want to help you get started by giving you access to a free chapter of my book. Just go to PredictiveROI.com/resources. And you’ll get to chapter where I show you how to confront, overcome your three biggest obstacles to success, PredictiveROI.com/resources. And we will send it right to your inbox. 

 

So, let me take this. I love what you said about creative business solutions, by the way, I was quick to write that down. Love the problem, not the solution that is very profound. I’d agree with you. So let’s take that into the, against the grain in because when you and I were talking in the green room, in the pre-interview, it is not a lot like, you know, going to like make a visualization. I know it was that this dramatic, but it sounded like there was a, like a gauntlet thrown down with respect to creating hooray.

 

It was the, you had so many people telling you where you can’t do that. You can’t do that. There’s no way that you can do that. And it sounded like you said something to the effect and I’ll ask you here for this story in a second. But it was like, Oh yeah, well we’ll just see about that. And that was another example if you are going against the grain. So take us into that story because that was a really interesting pivot. And in fact, I don’t even know if it was a pivot. It was just more of a, you don’t think I can watch us do it.

 

It’s people are creatures of habit, right? They don’t. To me that it probably the most depressing thing in, you know, today’s work environment. I don’t care what industry you are in. It’s the people that just stay with the status quo and they are satisfied with it. And then they challenge anything that’s different and not for a good reason, either. So when we first started, Hooray, you know, I started with this idea and started building it out and building the network. And first of all, I had people telling me, why are you doing that? That doesn’t make any sense. Nobody is going to buy this product. Right. And I had people telling me, you can’t do that.

 

Nobody’s gonna accept six payments and literally sign contractually, no balance bill. Nobody is going to do that. Well, I’m here to tell you, we got, you know, almost 4,000 providers. I do. Wow. You know, we have, then I was told, Oh, you can get an underwriter. The underwriter that, well, you know, you’ve just got to find out, if I were to if I woulda gone to 200 writers, 300 writers for a hundred writers. Yeah. Or maybe not, but I know you gotta go to the fifth to sixth, you gotta find people that are willing to take the chance. And then, because once you get there, then you got to convince them that it’s not. They’re not going to go broke because you’re making it too accessible for people.

 

Visit this website to learn about  how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry

 

Creative Business Solutions: It’s All About the Experience

 

Believe it or not. Insurance is hard to use for a reason, a lot of times. Right. So, okay. So tell us more about what you mean by that. 

 

So insurance, by definition, is the transfer of risk, right? Then, there must be risk involved. So that means if the value of the plan is $2 that I can’t charge $2 for the plan. There has to be a transfer of risk. So when we start walking through well, Hey look, people, we have a mobile app that we actually guide people to the provider, and we show them it’s a $25 copy, and that’s it. There’s no balance bill. Well, you’re making it too easy for them to go there and use the plan. Right. Morally. So we took a completely different route in the sense that if you’re not from insurance, we’ll make it very easy.

 

We actually have what’s called a fixed indemnity or a hospital indemnity plan as one of our creative business solutions, which means that it pays a fixed amount. And we have an accident policy, that is, we pay up to an annual amount if it’s an accident. Well, normally both of these plans are what you call a reimbursement plan. I go to the doctor, I get a bill and it’s going to be a huge bill. And I’m going to pay you a nominal amount for that bill. And then, you know, you pay the rest while my thought was a man, you know. That’s actually a great way to do it because what it does is it protects the insurance. But now I can protect the member, you know, the insured. And so I went out and said, okay, I want this fixed amount to reflect this amount. And then I went to my provider and said, will you accept this as payment in full?

 

Oh yeah, actually yes. So I worked with both sides, right? Got the right amount. And so what happens now is my members go into an urgent care or a provider. We push out when you call eligibility to the providers. They actually look at the ID card, just like it would be a major medical, is not a major medical by the way, for any compliance people that are listening. But, what happens then is they say, Oh, you have eligibility. I’ll send this bill too. Your third-party administrator. And then our third-party administrator says, Oh, there are contracted. You should take this amount. We take it out. And by the way, all you did was he paid $25 in, and we took care of everything on the back.

 

You don’t have to file a claim. You didn’t have to do anything if you have creative business solutions equipped. So again, it’s all about the experience. Well, of course, we were told forever, you can do that, making it too easy. You’re doing this. And they were so afraid that everybody would just go use the plan. And my theory all along was I don’t go to the doctor unless I’m sick, right? Where I have my annual wellness exam. So I’m not saying, Oh, I’ve got five visits left. I need to rush to use up all of the benefit. Right. So we’ve proved, you know, we’ve proved that, right. I go when you know I got it. When I’m sick, it’s a great experience where we’re, and it’s what’s called a first-dollar benefit. 

 

Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan

 

Creative Business Solutions: The Importance of Insurance

 

So it was, and what you’re trying to avoid the tradeoff of, if somebody is sick or them not having access and decided to not go because they’re sick, that’s a different trade off. Then what you were saying is like, you’re not going to go to the doctor four or five times just to use, they’re not vacation.

 

Exactly. And I mean, the population we serve is really the part-time and full-time hourly. And that’s who needs our help. The most, you know, there was an article. I think it was last year or the year before and literally, the title of the article was, Am I a bad mother for not taking my daughter to the ER? And then the backstory: he was too much prior. She had taken her to the ER, which, if I don’t have insurance, a lot of times I ended up in the ER, right? Because I know they have to provide care. So I go to the ER, and she has, I think it was a $1,800 unpaid bill still. Now, that’s going against her credit. And she is going to be sent to collections for and all of these other issues. 

 

So now fast forward two months, and her daughter swallows. I think it was a bottle of drama. 

Me and her daughter. You got it. Yeah. Like maybe four. I think it was. So, what he does is instead of taking her to the ER, she calls poison control. So, take her to the ER right now. She needs to get her stomach pumped. She takes her to CVS by some efficacy. He gives her efficacy. She throws up in the parking lot, drives her to the parking lot of the ER, and is watching her to make sure she’s going to be okay. 

 

Oh my gosh. So in other words, the problem is if you understand how drugs work. You’re not going to understand the damage later to her liver, and her kidneys, depending on the drug. So this poor lady is making a very detrimental health decision based on a financial decision.

 

And I know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of physicians. This is not the intent of why they went to medical school. It’s part of the system. And we’ve really kind of bastardized system where, you know, lack of a better word. And, you know, we made it a perverted system that plays all of these different games and the problem is we’re stuck in the middle of it. And it’s just really unfortunate, and you know, look at my wife. We’ve been going to Guatemala for 15 years on a medical mission with a group of faith, a practice. And we go, every year we go, my wife actually leaves three trips for me, for anesthesia and ’em and I go on one trip and it’s the highlight of our year, right? Every, you know, it’s a big part of our life.

 

And when you go down there and see people that have been hit by a motorcycle and there are, let’s say they’re 30 years old and they’re limping. And they have this, what’s called the nonunion their bone to on the heel and they’re coming to us and saying, can you please, please fix me so I can go back to work, right? 

 

Visit this website to learn about  how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry

 

Creative Business Solutions: Giving People Access to Affordable Healthcare

 

We look at the different health systems, right? And you have the haves and you have the have-nots, at least in the United States, you can get care. But there’s a financial burden that we’re putting on Americans. As you know, this is really, really sad. And you know, I’m trying to convince people that we, you know, if I can’t afford major medical, that’s OK.

 

We’re here to do is help give them access to care for, you know, $80 a month or less, right? And where I can go see your doctor, and it’s not gonna cost me an arm and a leg giving them access for a $0 cost to telemedicine and prescription discount. You know, that’s the other thing we don’t even offer a, a drug plan. We offer a prescription discount, but you know, of the top 20 drugs, five of them are over the counter. The other 15, you know, 10 or 12 of them were getting less than 10 bucks. You know, three of them were getting less than 20 bucks, right? I mean, so it’s not the $150 when people just don’t understand that.

 

And we are trying to educate people. We’re trying to educate employers. A lot of employers that have 50, 100, or 200,000 part-time employees are offering no health benefits whatsoever. And there are they’re questioning. Should we offer something? Is it worth it? Are they going to take it? Are they, you know, and you know, my question is, I mean, for less than a dollar an hour or you can offer a health benefit that really is meaningful to them. And as you know, we’re fighting an uphill battle. We’re fighting a lot of people that, you know, they look at our plan and they’ll say, well, they’re buying it for themselves.

 

And they’re not thinking of the constituents, which is again, going back to listening and really getting in the trenches and talking to people, you know, they don’t have 50 bucks in our pocket to make it through the end of the week. Right. So if they need to go to the doctor, they’re not going to the doctor, or if they do, they go to the ER and just pray that they’re going to write it off as opposed to sending them to collections.

 

Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan

 

Creative Business Solutions: Serving An Underserved Community

 

Wow, this is such a healthy dose of perspective on creative business solutions. And I really appreciate you sharing that. Let’s go back to a phrase that you just set up a minute or two ago when you mentioned trying to convince and then fighting an uphill battle. The reason why I’m choosing those words is because one of the things that I think that you’ve done in this industry is that you’ve developed some real thought leadership and planted your flag of authority. 

 

You have gotten out there with your own time in generously sharing your expertise to teach and to share and so forth. So, let’s talk about that as part of your path and journey too. But first, why was there behind it? Why did you feel it was so important to try to convince, try to fight an uphill battle? Like, why did you want to teach and share? 

 

So I think the timing is right. We were in a row, you know, we’re in this society today that got this cancel society. You’ve got unrest, we’ve gotta love him or hate him. It doesn’t matter the precedent. That’s an interesting catch to say the least, right? Doing a lot of good things, but his tweets are really interesting, right? There’s nobody really bringing everybody together. And so what that does is they start to bring everybody really thinking about themselves and I go back to his, you know, you have to serve others.

 

You know, I said with our trips to Guatemala on my wife and I, you know, this is something that our family’s been, you know, our kids and our extended family. We all know about Guatemala with us. They all support us when we go and people need to start looking out and look. I did not start Hooray Health to lose money and, you know, yes we’re going to make money. And we were going to do this, but serving an underserved community is and bringing light too. It is, I think very valuable because their voice isn’t heard right now. And from a thought leadership standpoint, it’s you we’re challenging people and showing them, Hey, you can make money serving in this community. By the way, historically what people did was they just said, Hey, you know, they can’t afford to buy benefits.

 

They don’t need benefits. They don’t want benefits, they’re just kind of hay. You know, even employers kind of look at that population. Even though it may be the largest part of their population, but looking at it, kinda like, you know, I don’t want to deal with it. The other transient there, you know, they are in, and they are out of the system instead of asking the question, well, how do I get a part-time person in and get them to stay for five years, six years, right? Maybe it’s their second job. Maybe, you know, everybody has a different view on life. So I think, you know, why it’s important to me is let’s start bringing people together.

 

Visit this website to learn about  how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry

 

Creative Business Solutions: Offering People the Right Information

 

Let’s start looking at the real issues prior to creative business solutions. Let’s answer the real questions right that people need access to basic health care. Not everybody needs a major medical today. And I understand it, look, I’m a capitalist, but the reality is people need to challenge other people. But we also need to be there to offer them the right information, and to support them. And somebody needs to know and say, Hey, look, you need to offer more for a part-time employee. They need these benefits.

 

And so becoming the expert that understands the market, then from a leadership standpoint, when people look at, Hey, what’s really going on. And with this population, instead of making assumptions, I think that’s a really good place for us to be. And so that’s why I spend the time and energy trying to understand what’s going on in the space. And, you know, I think that we’re doing really good work. I think everybody who works at Hooray Health is in it for the same reason. I’ve got the best leadership team I’ve ever had in my now 30-year career. I mean, I’m just incredibly blessed every day to come to work with a great team.

 

That’s motivated me and wanting to do the right thing. But you know, again, we’ve got of self interest in this. We wanna see a win and everybody, you know, we have investors and we need to make money. But I think if you focus on the end goal, which is M, which is a win-win for everyone, I think you’re gonna win. I mean, I think that if there were winning, you’re winning, I guess, that’s kind of where I’m at.

 

Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan

 

Creative Business Solutions: Building An Audience Will Build Your Business

 

Amen to that. So if you were to think of your journey, as it relates to thought leadership, so many of our Onward Nation business owners are hearing you right now, Shane, and thinking, OK, that is awesome. That is where he’s at today. We can hear the generosity in his words, and we can feel his heart in his words. Where did you decide to start? You thought, Hmm, I’m going to really teach and share. And it’s because I think it’s important and also we can build an audience and that can help build our business. Great. So, where did you start on that path? I mean, I know you guest on podcasts, obviously, we’re having this conference, but where did you start?

 

Probably not. And my time was a striker. So my boss at the time that I told you about, always was a thought leader in our organization and really pushed us to be the thought leaders in the striker organization. And we always led the way. And so from that point, everywhere I’ve ever been, it was always, how do we get our unfair share of resources if I’m in a company? How do I get my unfair share of my investors? Time and energy and focus to help us grow? And how do you know? And the other thing is how we influence other people by sharing our information and our experiences.

 

And I get people that call me on a weekly basis that I don’t know if they really expect me to answer the phone and to give them my perspective or help them with somebody or make an introduction but I do. And I think that it’s always just really been in, you know. Ever since my first day at Stryker, it has kind of been in our blood and our mentality that you need to sell, promote, we need to add value. You need to provide but you need to. Mot everything is about you. Right? And so we get other businesses that, you know, I get people that literally work for me at Stryker or, you know, 20 years ago now almost that call me up at him.

 

I’m interviewing for this manager job. Where can I, you know, what do you think of this? Will you look at my resume and I’ll call him and I’ll give him full notes on their resumes. I’ll tell ’em, Hey, if your meeting with this person, and this is what they are going to really focus on, let’s do this. So, and by doing that, your, you know, your, your building, your, your sphere of influence. And I think that people forget that that’s a really important place to be in. And especially now, when you’re looking at COVID, a lot of people out at work, a lot of people not understanding what’s going to happen. You know, I’ve got a million people I can call and ask a question, or as a support or, you know anything. And they’ll take my call. 

 

And I think that’s what’s really important. And, you know, the other thing is, you know, from a customer standpoint, a lot of times they don’t have a lot of time to do all the research that you’re doing. And by offering that information for free, it looks sometimes they work with you, sometimes they don’t, but offering that information for free and as long as they feel comfortable, that you’re the expert, that’s a great place to be.

 

Visit this website to learn about  how Shane and his team have innovated creative business solutions in the health insurance industry

 

Creative Business Solutions: Last Bit of Advice from Shane

 

But it absolutely is a great conversation. Shane, I knew that it would be. Thank you for being so generous. I know that we’ve covered a lot, but just in case any final advice, or recommendations that you’d like to share, and then please do tell Onward Nation of business owners the best way to connect with you.

 

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know what I always like to just lead people with it is I take all of your mistakes as an opportunity. Everything’s a learning opportunity and just continue to build and build and be patient. I know you’ll find your opportunity. But you’ve got to be consistent and you’ll end up winning. If you wanted to get ahold of us, we’re at hoorayhealthcare.com. I’m on LinkedIn and I’m open on LinkedIn. So if you want to ping me all, I’ll get back with you. But you know, good luck to everybody.

 

And I hope I really appreciate the opportunity to, you know, be here. Awesome. Well, thank you, sir, for being here in Onward Nation. No matter how many notes you took or how often you go back and relisten to Shane’s words of wisdom, which I sure hope that you do. The key is to take what he so generously shared with you about creative business solutions and apply it and accelerate your results. 

 

And Shane, we all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day. And I am grateful again. You said yes to come onto the show to be our mentor and guide. You got some great mentorship along the way. You did that for us today. So to help us move our businesses onward to that next level. Thank you so much, my friend. Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed it.

 

This episode is complete. So head over to OnwardNation.com for show notes and more. If you, your ambition continued to find your recipe for success here at Onward Nation.

 

Check out some creative business solutions and examples with Graeme Strachan