We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Wayne Gosbee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Wayne below.
Wayne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?
I hear about these heartwarming stories when customers contact me to let me know their stories. Over the past 6 years, Link2Labs has offered affordable, online direct-to-consumer labs. Most of our marketing is word of mouth from providers, nurses, and individuals telling their family/friends since they used our services.
The one that stands out to me is a few years ago a female customer called me crying. I asked how I could help and she told me her story. She just went to the Doctor for her young son and he needed all these lab tests to determine what was going on with him. The mother asked the Dr. how much these labs would be and he stated over $1,000 but less than $2,000. She gasped and started crying at this point and the Dr just left. His nurse came in and comforted/calmed the mother as she said she could not afford these labs at that price but knew he needed them. She mentioned to the nurse that she thought that the only way to get these labs would be to sell her vehicle. The nurse heard about Link2Labs and gave the mother our phone number & website. Prior to calling us, the mother looked up the labs her son needed from our website and was astonished by the price difference. She called just to confirm the price and just to make sure it wasn’t a scam, “too good to be true”, or any additional “hidden” prices. I confirmed everything was legit and said if she sent over the list of labs, I believe 12 or 15 in total, that I may be able to give a Bundle price (a little better discount than the 10% we give customers if they purchase 5+ labs). I designed a Bundle for her son and the total price was I believe around $115. She then started crying again. We hear this on a weekly bases from customers with cancer, hepatitis, etc.
When you are uninsured, underinsured, or self-pay the cost of labs can be enormous and when it comes to your children you will do anything to get them the care, labs, etc. She was willing to sacrifice to get those labs for her son but Link2Labs was able to offer a service that she didn’t have to make such a sacrifice and was within her means to afford.
Wayne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I worked in the Texas Medical Center for 22 years doing lung cancer research & liver/hepatitis work. I noticed in my last position as the Liver Outreach Coordinator at CHI St. Luke’s Hospital that a lot of the individuals that I was screening for viral hepatitis were uninsured, underinsured, or self-pay. Most could not afford the baseline labs (~$2,100 for 8 labs) in order to possibly get the free Hep C meds. In July 2015, I quit my job and started my first company, Linkage to Care Consultants, and shortly thereafter Link2Labs, to provide hepatitis resources, help individuals get treated for Hep C, and offer affordable labs. Our purpose is to help the uninsured, underinsured, & self-pay be able to afford lab tests so that they can possibly get their medication(s) for free and not break their bank or empty their wallets. We strive to offer the most affordable, online direct-to-consumer lab prices nationwide.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I started on my own in 2015 I was already on numerous Community Advisory Boards for some big pharmaceutical companies. Most of them applauded me for going out on my own but over the course of the next 2 years I sent numerous grants/proposals to them to fund the work I was doing and not one came through. The grants and the amounts were all fine but since I wasn’t connected to a hospital or provider now I was isolated. My intentions were to look for a new position in the Med Center.
So after my last grant got denied I took a week off to reflect on how I was going to make this work if at all. I couldn’t go back to my last position as it was going to be eliminated. So instead of focusing on grant & Foundation funding, I was going to focus on my forte which was assisting the uninsured, underinsured, and self-pay to obtain affordable labs and Hepatitis C. I built a HIPAA-compliant website and started emailing & calling my past contacts that worked in the healthcare field. Right after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in August 2017, I received a call from a rural clinic that I knew and they wanted to discuss our lab services. We got that contract in Oct 2017 and then we started getting more calls/emails from other clinics & providers because the Executive Director at that first clinic was telling others about Link2Labs (word of mouth is actually the best marketing tool in my opinion). We now have 32 clinics/providers that we offer lab services in addition to the Link2Labs.com website.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Find what works for you marketing-wise. Link2Labs has a lot of competitors out there and they spend a lot on marketing (ie: Google ads, banners, Facebook, etc.). I didn’t have capital investors or money to throw into marketing and when I finally saved up enough to try the digital marketing thing my ROI (return on investment) was pitiful.
Word of mouth has been big for us. The populations that we are trying to help are the uninsured, underinsured, and self-pay so kind of a community that listens to family, friends, and their Dr./provider. They are not looking for lab services on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We went “old school” and fax out our flyer to Doctor offices, providers, organizations, etc. The reason is that 5-20% of patients that visit their Dr./clinic do not have health insurance. We wanted to let these Dr.’s offices know that Link2Labs can be a resource for them & their patients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.link2labs.com/