We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marissa Rocheleau. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marissa below.

Alright, Marissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Is your team able to work remotely? If so, how have you made it work? What, if any, have been the pitfalls? What have been the non-obvious benefits?

Linguabilities has been working entirely remotely since 2017, so when COVID-19 hit, we were ready for the transition with welcome arms. We have made it our exclusive goal to make online therapy and special education accessible and high quality to all our clients, so we were happy to lead the pack in terms of guidelines for service delivery during shutdowns. Not all schools and clinics had this experience, as many of these hardworking therapists and educators were thrust into remote learning without any training, resources, or time to prepare. We realize the huge difference that experience in online education can make in terms of student outcomes, working relationships with staff, and even therapist morale. Quality over quantity, every day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started my first business in Chicago in 2014, just working part-time out of the trunk of my car, driving around to client’s homes as a speech pathologist. But in 2017, I moved and realized my real passion for providing teletherapy, or online services, to clients of all ages. That’s when I rebranded to Linguabilities to focus my energies on being the best at telepractice. As a small company, we compete with titans in the industry with bigger bankrolls, more employees, and larger contracts. But that doesn’t matter to us. We’re about quality over quantity in all aspects of what we do. We’d rather see a small number of clients well than have a large number we can’t adequately take care of. That’s the main thing I want people to know about me and my business. I sincerely care, and my employees care, about the well-being and progress of each of our clients.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

One of the things I really emphasize as a business owner is the quality of relationships I have with my clients. All my work is remote, but I make a point to have Zoom meetings when possible over just email. Part of my rationale is that putting a face with a name makes a huge difference in how people perceive you. It’s just more personal to make that connection with a face. Another issue with just emails and texts is that messages can often get misinterpreted or lost in the shuffle of other daily tasks. Meeting with people face-to-face allows you to real-time problem solve and show up for their concerns in the moment.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started extremely small with the little money in my own bank account and a loan for $1000 from my parents for start-up costs like forming an LLC. I made so little money in the beginning it was ridiculous, and I wasn’t working full-time in the business until several years later. Starting small allowed me to keep start-up costs low, however, so I was able to grow my resources, like expensive evaluation materials and online subscriptions, over time, thus lessening the beginning burden of starting a business. I also took on several roles as the owner, rarely outsourcing work until it was truly well past the point of sustainability. This may not be the wisest advice for potential burnout, but you can make it work bootstrap style if you’re thrifty and patient.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.linguabilities.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linguabilities
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissaartman/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Linguabilities