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

Melanie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I always knew that I would be in the medical field. I got my certification as a certified phlebotomist back in the 80s. That was my very first job working at Alexandria Hospital. I think I worked at pretty much every hospital in the area. In the early 90s I was a Cert Phlebotomist at LabCorp. those years I had enough bosses to decide what kind of boss I wanted to be whenever I start my own business. I took cues from bosses who were not good and thinking I know not to be like them and cues from bosses that I had good relationships with.. It’s funny 30 years down the road I circled back to LabCorp which is one of our larger clients now. I am still a certified phlebotomist. The only time I draw blood now is when we do the noninvasive for our clients. When I was a Cert phlebotomist way back then, I always knew anything about this field. I wanted to go into business for myself. but I never knew it would be this type of business. I never knew anything about DNA testing and how it worked back then. I just always knew one day I would be an entrepreneur.

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 background and context?

My name is Melanie Blythe and I’m the owner of J & M Paternity service LLC. I actually got into this business being a little old Certified Phlebotomist for years. we offer a variety of DNA testing. For Immigration, Child Support, SiblingShip, The grand parentage ,infidelity testing, non-invasive prenatal testing, prison collections, and home draws. We help our clients get the answers they need through DNA testing. A lot of our clients are alleged Fowlers who simply want to know if they are or are not the biological father of that child or children. We’ve been serving our community for 30 years.. what sets J & M apart from others is we offer mobile testing. If you are in the DC metropolitan area we literally come to you, or meet our clients in labor and delivery right when the baby is born. The other thing that says us apart is although I am the owner of the business, I answer the phone myself. I like to build rapport with my clients,, Allow them to ask me As many questions as they want . we don’t judge we just serve. Our clients can call us at 7:30-8 o’clock at night. If I’m not busy and if I am awake I will definitely text them when we get their results. I have reached out to clients as late as 1130pm (via text of course).. My thing is if I’m awake and not busy and your results come over you’re getting a text. I won’t call them but I will text them.. we have a lot of repeat business and word of mouth. I offer long-standing discounts for military clients. We offer Father’s Day specials Mother’s Day specials and the holidays. I also have an awesome team of the best Swab Tech Cert in the world who go out every day same location same time to perform the child support division cases for child support.. my daughter Hannah has been doing the payroll for my company since her freshman year in college. My motto is we go where the labs don’t. You cannot call a lab on a Saturday at 2 oclock and speak to someone and you certainly won’t be tested at that time. I look for different ways to be different than our competition. Our prices are lower, we serve our clients by building rapport and not treating them as a number. Yes it’s easy for me to give a fee sheet to a person pay them to answer the phone and give out the fees as requested but I’d rather talk to them myself because sometimes I can give a discount. Sometimes I can tell who really are struggling to pay the fee to get the test done. It’s pretty much a ministry

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Being in business for 30 years there have been a couple of times we had to change what we did as a model. The first time was changing from drawing blood for the testing to the buccal swab method. 30 years ago when I started this business all the labs were drawn blood for DNA testing. About 17 years ago all the labs switched over to what is called the buccal swab scrubbing the insides of your mouth. That was an easy change because we were going from drawing blood to swapping mouths. I always say that everyone has a mouth not everyone has a vein or at least a good thing. The second time I can remember was during Covid that was the first time in 30 years we ever shut down all of our clients shut down on March 16, 2020 1 by 1. We switched to strictly doing mobile testing which was pretty cool because we were able to come to our clients and serve them that way as opposed to them coming to one of our draw stations or labs. Seeing technology grow throughout the years has been really cool as well you end up just going with the flow and learning to still be better than your competition..

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

In my business we deal with a lot of people who need our services. When I speak to them, a lot of them feel ashamed of their story and the reason why they need a test and others feel embarrassed. We don’t judge. That’s why I like to talk to speak with the person that calls us first. What did you need and how can we help.? I’ve often prayed with clients, gave them discounts when I know it could help them get a test that they really need. Putting myself In other peoples shoes help as well. I always tell my staff, in this field you will get someone who may be irate, or disrespectful. You cannot match that attitude. We are about diffuseing the situation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fastpaternity.com

Image Credits
David Tan Hannah Blythe