Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aileda Lindal. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Aileda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

My defining moment and change in trajectory came just prior to the pandemic. I had been contracted by a group of Medical Practitioners in NYC to assess their businesses for areas of opportunities and growth. I was two months in on the project when Covid-19 hit at the locations in Brooklyn NY. Our practitioners went running straight into the ER’s to assist the masses. My team immediately started working 20 hour work days in unison with the brave medical teams to do massive build out! We took the internal medicine practice and shot all employees out to work remotely. We developed the systems in an ever changing now remote environment for them all to function and continue working. Including telehealth to keep everyone safely working. We managed ever rotating schedules for all staff doing behind the scenes operations for them. The Urgent care locations stayed open and we began designing and building field testing Covid teams and hiring additional medical staff to fill these needs. This decision was made after Governor Cuomo made it mandate for all Nursing home staff to be tested twice each week. We immediately hired, trained, routed, set up equipment, processes, procedures, scheduling to now have a large external workforce to serve Nursing home staff in their own place of business vs. staff having to walk into and test at Urgent Care locations twice each week. This allowed the patients and staff to have less exposure to the virus vs. all of them having to seek places to test twice each week at locations where people would clearly be infected and highly contagious. I then realized how horrifically the practices were being grotesquely taken advantage of by their contracted billing companies. This one company in particular had all control of the practices patients because the offices were functioning on the billing companies software. The billing company also harbored and seized all payments and funds on the practices behalf from all insurance providers. Their company statements and invoicing had no clear indication of what their accounting processes were and they on average were seizing and not paying to the Doctors over 30% of the doctors income that was coming in on a whole. This is devastating for any independent practice owners. After reviewing the contract we seized the opportunity to give the billing organization a 90 day notice to terminate business with them. We organized a data dump of all patient information after a long battle with this giant billing conglomerate so that I could gain control back of all assets for the practice owners. This was a massive undertaking especially at that time. I assembled an amazing team of billers. That is the defining moment when I decided to start my own billing company in the heat of the pandemic and in the heart of NY. We built the billing and consulting company from ground level up and by doing this major transition we managed to put millions back into the practice owners pockets at the end of it all. They were the ones in the war zone, in the trenches of the pandemic. They earned and are deserving of ever dollar that they received. It was one major whirlwind of a ride, ever changing, ever rotating, we had to be nimble, focused, consciously aware, and build with the determination of a hungry lion.
What made me do all of this? Why would I rise to the occasion and ensure the magic happened in all operational aspects in unison with my exceptional and small yet mighty team?
I consciously chose to do so because integrity and saving lives should go hand in hand. I am now the proud owner of a Medical Billing and consulting company called Artisans Integrity Management in Brooklyn NY. In times of adversity opportunity can arise if we are awake and open minded enough to realize it. Ever changing environments that require us to be nimble can also bring tremendous opportunity for growth in countless ways. This is especially true if all decisions and choices are made with integrity at the very heart and center of all of them!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always been a creative spirit! I went to a specialized art school after graduation. It was there that I met my future husband and we had our first child. When she was still very young I had the realization of how horribly incompatible we actually were. The young and dumb decisions that we can take in life without fully recognizing it. I made the decision to leave my relationship and my baby girl became my primary responsibility with full custody. There I stood, a new Mother, with an artistic background, in an industry that was in the process of transitioning from designs created by hand to now being created by technology instead. It felt as if my education was now useless to me and my need to establish a career and growth. I was blessed enough to be hired into a major corporation and I began my climb up the ladder. My climb didn’t take long in the sense of traditional time frames and terms because my will and determination to not only survive but to thrive was fierce from the onset. Failure for me was not an option. Fast forward now over 20 years into my career. Perception is everything! My artistic background that I had thought no longer served me has actually remained at the core and center of all that I do! My passions have grown into the sciences of quantum physics, epigenetic’s, and neuroscience. Throughout my entire career path and growth my artistic ability, my creativity and imagination have allowed me to envision, and accomplish things that most people don’t even perceive as possible! It was and remains one of my greatest gifts in my life. I learned that art and creativity don’t only apply to canvas and paper. To pencil, chalks, and paint.
In the world of quantum physics where there are endless possibilities I now know exactly how well my creative spirit has actually served me all along! It is my creativity, vision, and own self development that has allowed me to create and build many things in the world around me. Things that others are times do not even see as possible I know is possible. It is this core component that has undoubtedly become a staple as a magical and key ingredient to my overall success throughout my entire career. I consider myself to be one of the most creative business people that I know. Right brain and left brain working cohesively together to obtain, design, and build things that many would never dream possible. Honor your gifts, whatever they may be, and know that there is always more than one or two ways only to apply them. I have been successfully consulting businesses and owners for over 14 years now. I have given my business opinions at The White House on international trade agreements, raised two beautiful children as a single mother by choice, two beautiful grown entrepreneurs doing what they love to do, studied some of the most incredible sciences yet known, and at the end of the day I always find my balance and gratitude for all of it! Never underestimate yourself, never use negative words to describe yourself, and never lose your ability to unleash your own imagination! These critical things are game changers! My focus is now on humanity and applying my knowledge, wisdom, and creative action towards saving the world! Why not? My playing small does not serve anyone. We all have our unique abilities and talents. Hone your gifts and talents then shoot for infinity and beyond!

Any advice for managing a team?

Teamwork makes the dreamwork undoubtedly and we have all heard this phrase plenty of times. The real question is how do you create and cultivate an organization and a company culture that harbors these key principles?

1) It starts with your hiring standards and process. You must develop and implement a standard hiring process. I recommend testing new hires for the key components and characteristics they will need to do their job and do it well.

Example: I do not advise you hire someone who is introverted by nature to work at your front desk and attempt to have them deliver service with a smile. It is proven that this personality type is typically not a great people person. This is not to say that they are rude or not extremely good at the skills required for the position; however, this will not be their strength. I have standard testing capability that I run my teams through and those of my client hires to ensure a quality hire from the onset.
I hire according to these 3 main things below:

A) Hire the Right person for the position.
Don’t rush hire because you need a warm body in place. It is best to suffer momentarily for a few weeks and tough it out while you or a recruiter find the right person! This will reduce turn over that will cost you more time, money, and unsatisfactory customer experience in the long run!

2) Onboard and Train your new hires through a system and process that has been developed. If you have not developed one this is one of the biggest and most monumental mistakes that any organization/owner/executive can make! If you want things done correctly you must have proper onboarding and training for your software systems, your policies and procedures, as well as key expectations of any role the candidate will serve within your organization. It is vital to any organizations overall success in any industry and I have consulted and coached team development in several industries over the span of my career. These principals for success apply to any and all industries.
If you do not have these things in place you will experience non stop chaos, gaps in all of your systems, dropped balls, and extensive suffering, costing you and the organization both time and money! There is absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

B) Candidates whom you invest time and energy to in the beginning will value and appreciate you for adding to their own growth, understanding, and expansion. It creates company loyalty, minimizing turn over, and it creates a roadmap and template of what the organizations expectations are from the beginning. This period of time established a lead by example component of what the company stands for, represents, and comes to work united to accomplish. This is the key to any organizations structure and it’s culture! I cannot emphasize this enough.

3) Establish and display at all times attitude expectations.
Example: Can they come to work carrying their frustrations from being stuck in traffic or bickering with a spouse? Are they expected to focus on the positive and find solutions or are they trained to stand around complaining, gossiping, and running you and your organization and one another into the ground? Gossip and poor attitude are a hard NO for me from the start. If you really want a team you must set standards and requirements for attitude from the beginning and require the team to maintain this amongst each other. I will hire people with the right attitude and spend extra time initially teaching them the skill set required for a position vs. hiring someone will all of the skills and a negative personality or attitude. Once again, these things should be flushed out in the interview process to avoid wasting time, money, and losing other team members or clients.

C) Once you have a team who is trained and required to maintain your key standards they will not tolerate a non team player. They will quickly identify and report to you any offenders of company standards or policies especially with regard to attitude because they have grown to value and love working together daily. The people on the team are the people they will spend eight plus hours with daily They want a healthy work environment as much or more than you do. When they do report a rotten apple to you quickly address the situation and take it seriously! Do not ignore the incessant complainer hoping it will stop or go away. Do not expect your team to tolerate these people either. If you do you will lose your teams trust and respect. Any good employee or team member will lose ambition, drive, and joy for their duties if you tolerate one bad apple. As the phrase goes, one bad apple will eventually ruin and cause rot in the entire cart.

4) Have accountability processes in place. Without accountability there is chaos and those who will break your teamwork model, structure, and deteriorate all that you and your existing team have worked to create. Without accountability none of your team will take their duties seriously nor will they do them with pride. If there is no accountability there is eventually no respect for their teammates or for your organization or you on a whole.

D) The accountability process that I enjoy, use, and have taught to countless supervisors and managers is the “write up’” process. This does not have to become a bad or dreaded process. No one likes the challenging conversations; however, when they are approached properly they can become game changers in peoples lives and careers. The first one is actually to be viewed as a coaching and detailed training opportunity. It happens one on one or in a group setting of a few people pending the severity of the employee offense and if a witness is required. It is to immediately address something the employee did incorrectly that warrants having it brought to their attention in a serious manner. The first time is merely an opportunity for any company personnel to learn and grow. You give tips, tricks, advice and one on one coach them during this first meeting. If a member of your team has three write ups for the same offense it means the person is no longer qualified to be on the team or to continue working for you or with your organization. It is grounds for a properly documented termination.

5) Be, lead, and always represent to your team what you expect from them. This establishes trust, respect, loyalty, and motivation for all to follow.

Example: You ask an employee to sweep the floor and they roll their eyes at you or discredit your request. Be willing to grab the broom from them, sweep it yourself, and write them up immediately. Never tolerate a bad attitude, defiance, or unwillingness to be trained. Take matters into your own hands and they will all fall into order with respect quickly.

E) Be fair and equitable during this process, do not show frustration or anger. Remain calm and guide your team, do not let them see you sweat over such things. Once a write up is delivered and you have made your expectations clear assume the best of your team and assume that they will learn and grow dropping the matter entirely unless they commit the same or similar offense again. Let your company become a safe place for all to express themselves, to learn, and grow.

Develop a unified team and you all will have quality of life and a lot of fun working togetherr daily! You will all experience an atmosphere of getting the job done while also having fun! This inevitably spills out into your entire environment and becomes the reason why people will seek to do business with you or your company specifically. People feel, sense, know, appreciate, and truly love going into a business that functions with this kind of cohesive efficiency and joy factor! Team cultivation is the number one thing that will make you money, deliver efficiency, and bring everyone happiness! If not done properly it will bring you chaos, cost you time, and more money than you can begin to comprehend. Everyone in the organization will feel drained of energy as will any clients who opt to come into your dreary place of business. Choose your people wisely and set them up for success! They will extend their gratitude by bringing it all back to you in profound and monumental ways! It is worth every initial penny that you invest in their hiring, onboarding, training, and accountability/growth process.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for building and establishing clientele or growing a business is cultivated by taking ownership in who you are!

The more authentic that a person becomes, the more they have to share with the rest of the world! People can quickly identify a subject matter expert in any field. They can sense it within moments of one conversation or watching an educational video that you or your team have put together. An individual whom is passionate and knowledgeable about what they do and who executes these things with integrity will always be or become one of the best in their field of expertise or specialty. This is inevitable!
You must share who you are and your knowledge with your target demographic. Identify who these people are.

Educate individuals and organizations and share who you are, why you are passionate about what you do, and why you are the best in the specific industry to work with. Do not shy away from these things, these are woven within the very fabric of who you are. Be willing to share your story with others.
People of all cultures, backgrounds, and perceptions can sense a genuine, passionate, and compassionate person. They see it, feel it, and they subconsciously know it despite all potential language or communication barriers. People easily understand kindness, joy, wisdom, and love, when it is radiating out from another person. These are the things that break through any perceived limitations or barriers.

I will also recommend sharing your knowledge and career passions whenever possible. This is a catalyst that allows others to gravitate towards you. and experience who you are. The majority of my clients come through referral or after watching my social media material and finding value in the resources that I have shared.

Bring the spirit of who you are into every encounter and your tribe will grow! Know your demographic. Speak your truth with passion and determination. Share your wisdom and they will come to you vs. you having to chase them.

Consider hiring sub contractors to assist you with marketing and branding. There are times when these individuals or organizations will become an extension of your team. They can identify things about you or your demographic’s wants and needs that you may have overlooked or haven’t had the time to contemplate properly. Know your expertise and your limitations, and hire accordingly. Always hire the best that you can possibly afford! In the long run it will save you tons of time and it will absolutely make you more money!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.askaileda.com and www.artisansintegritymanagement
• Instagram: askaileda and aim2claim
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artisansintegritymanagement and askaileda
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ask-aileda-neuroscience-quantum-physics-epigenetic’s-1152638
• Youtube: askaileda

Image Credits
image credits @heyitszotti.com