Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nicole DePalma, owner of NDoscopy Dysphagia Specialists, located in New York, NY, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is a serious medical condition that affects between 300,000 and 700,000 individuals in the United States each year. NDoscopy Dysphagia Specialists is a mobile business throughout the New York and New Jersey area, providing a flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) to patients with dysphagia. FEES is a specialized exam where a small scope with a camera is gently passed into the nose to view the throat while the patient eats and drinks. This exam views and records the patient's swallowing to be able to diagnose the reason for a patient's difficulty and how to help it.

Tell us about yourself

My background is as a speech-language pathologist. I actually was always interested in psychology and was learning about autism in one of my classes. I originally was thinking of going to school to work with children with autism. However, as I took more classes, I became more interested in the medical side of speech-language pathology. I took a job at a long-term acute care facility where many individuals with critically ill and were on mechanical ventilation with a tracheostomy. Most of these individuals had long-term means of nutrition, such as PEGs, and it was my job to help them to return to eating and drinking. It motivates me to have a patient's progress and especially when a patient has not eaten or drank in a long time and they make progress in returning to eating.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is the ability to provide my services in a range of different types of facilities such as skilled nursing, hospitals, physician offices, and even patient homes. Many of these patients would not be able to get these services.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

In the beginning, especially, I had to wear a lot of hats as the marketer, the scheduler, the bookkeeper, and the therapist. There's always more that can be done, and we only have so much time in the day. It can be easy to get caught up in the details. Figuring out what takes priority can sometimes be difficult in the beginning.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

I think everyone's journey is different. For me, I liked starting my business as a side job and growing it into a full-time position. Consider your costs of starting the business, the time commitment, and that everything worth doing is difficult! Most of all, make sure you do what you love!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.ndoscopy.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ndoscopy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ndoscopy/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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