Hard Work and Heart: Mark Savoie’s Vision for Healthcare Staffing

Intro  

Welcome to another edition of inspired stories where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes, how they’ve overcome adversity, and explore current challenges they’re facing.

Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guest is Marc Savoie, founder and co-owner of Nurses Direct, a family-owned business that provides nursing facilities, services directly to healthcare facilities in the state of Louisiana. In fact, they were one of the first nurse staffing agencies in Louisiana. They staff hospitals,

Mark Savoie (03:30.242)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Cotispodi and today’s guest is Mark Savoie, founder and co-owner of Nurses Direct, a family owned business that provides nursing facility services directly to healthcare facilities in the state of Louisiana. In fact, they were one of the first nurse staffing agencies in Louisiana. They staff hospitals.

Anthony Codispoti (03:58.488)
at home private duty locations and other healthcare facilities with nurses who provide a high quality of patient care. Their mission is to provide staffing services in a way that is tailored to the needs of each client and to do so in a manner that is personal, courteous and professional. You can find their website at nursesdirect.us. Now Mark himself worked in radio for 18 years with his own on air show and in 1979 became a licensed practical nurse and a respiratory therapist.

Mark Savoie (03:58.67)
at home private duty locations and other healthcare facilities with nurses who provide a high end quality of patient care. Their mission is to provide staff and services in a way that is tailored to the needs of each client and to do so in a manner that is personal, courteous and professional. You can find their website at nursesdirect.us. Now Mark himself worked in radio for 18 years with his own on air show and in 1979 became a licensed practical nurse and a respiratory therapist.

Anthony Codispoti (04:28.614)
we will hear about how hardship and necessity led him to start his first nursing agency in the eighties and get to hear about what that has grown into today. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, add back benefits agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cashflow.

Mark Savoie (04:28.867)
We will hear about how hardship and necessity led him to start his first nursing agency in the 80s. And get to hear about what that has grown into today. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our proprietary programs.

Anthony Codispoti (04:56.156)
by implementing one of our proprietary programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible. To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the founder and co-owner of Nurses Direct, Marc Savoie. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

Mark Savoie (04:58.478)
Results vary for each company and some organizations eligible. To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the founder and co-owner of Nurses Direct, Mark Saguag. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today. look, thank you, and I appreciate you inviting me. So before we get into the origin story of Nurses Direct, tell us in your own words, what does Nurses Direct do?

Anthony Codispoti (05:17.882)
So before we get into the origin story of Nurses Direct, tell us in your own words, what does Nurses Direct do?

Mark Savoie (05:26.99)
Like you said in the intro, I we staff hospitals. We, I first started off just doing in-home nursing care. That was, you when I first started the business, I wasn’t staffing hospitals or anything like that because the in-home, what we call private duty nursing care, you get a group of nurses that just stay in there. The business is more consistent because you know, you’re going to need that nurse again tomorrow. So we did it for people who

Otherwise would be in a hospital or a nursing home. We would put those nurse, we turn the house into a hospital or nursing home. And, you know, it’s very expensive, but some people had insurance to cover it. If you don’t have insurance, you know, to cover something like that. Most people won’t do it. I mean, it’s just, it’s not the cost of so much from my business, but it’s just the cost, what the nurses costs, you know, to do that type of care and everything. But you know, a lot of people.

towards the end of their life, you know, they, if you’re gonna die, most people want to die at home. And I mean, I hate to say it and be morbid about it like that, but that’s reality. And when you first started it, was that type of in-home care unusual? Not really. It wasn’t like it is today. I mean, you see advertising today from, you know, several companies, you know, to care for mom at home or, you know, help them get dressed in the morning.

Anthony Codispoti (06:31.154)
Mm.

Anthony Codispoti (06:36.368)
And when you first started it, was that type of in-home care unusual?

Mark Savoie (06:55.854)
whatever. It was there but it wasn’t as much as it is today. A lot of people didn’t even know they had that benefit in their insurance package. Yeah, less common back then. Less well known. And so what sets nurses direct apart from others in the spectrum? Well, number one, I’ve been doing it for 40 something years and

Anthony Codispoti (07:02.096)
you.

Anthony Codispoti (07:07.524)
Yeah, less common back then, less well known. And so what sets nurses direct apart from others in the space?

Mark Savoie (07:24.778)
It’s not just about the money to me. It’s about providing a good service to the facilities that we staff and the patients that we care for. like I tell everybody, look, there’s a lot of ways to make money fast and there are companies out there and I’m not, look, there are companies just as good as mine or better. So I’m not gonna say my company is the best by any means, but there’s a lot of ways to make a quick dollar and I don’t want the quick dollar.

to take my business girl it’s slow, do it right. I’m gonna make mistakes in life, we all do. I can fix an honest mistake, I can’t fix a lie. So I think that I’m not gonna cross the line to do something illegal, unethical or immoral. I’m just not gonna do it. My staff knows that, my business partner knows that, not that he would either, but I will not cross the line for a dollar.

Anthony Codispoti (08:04.561)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (08:23.344)
You’re not in it for a quick buck. You’re in it for the relationship and to do things the right way. Yeah. Okay. So let’s go back prior to the origin of nurses direct. Tell me a little bit about your 18 year radio career. How did that all come?

Mark Savoie (08:23.598)
You’re not in it for a quick buck. You’re in it for the relationship and to do things like that. Yes. Okay, so let’s go back prior to the origin of Nurses Direct. Tell me a little bit about your 18-year radio career. How did that all come about? Well, when I got into radio, just, that was kind of, I woke up one night, I don’t know, I was probably 17 years old and our local radio station was

Signing off the air and for some reason said man that sounds like a good job I want to get in the radio so the next day I went and applied at the radio station and my the manager and the owner of the radio station said look you need to practice reading because Your reading is not the best so he says go home and practice You know just read anything read the newspaper you said but put a pencil in your mouth bite on it and talk

And he says, it’s going to make you enunciate your words more clearly. And so I did that for two weeks religiously. And I went back and did another, you know, did another reading and I was hired. And from there I just fell in love with radio. The only reason I got out of it was the money is just, it’s not going to support a family of five kids that I have now, you know? And, you know, again, it’s not for the money, but

A lot of people think these radio announcers make a lot of money. If you got a syndicated program, absolutely, you’re to make good money. But trust me, my program was syndicated in about a 30 mile radius, you know, and that’s about it. And what kind of program was it? We had music, was it a talk show? We had a mixed format. We had talk show. had we played a variety of music. We played country. We played French because south Louisiana.

Anthony Codispoti (10:03.14)
And what kind of a program was it? Were you like playing music? Was it a talk show?

Mark Savoie (10:19.15)
has what we call Cajun music. So on certain nights there would be Cajun music. I tried to stay off of those nights because I can’t speak French, but every once in a while, you know, I was stuck doing a French program and not talking English, you know, and play the French music. And, you know, so certain times of the day we’d play country, then, you know, three o’clock in the afternoon we’d go to American Top 40. And then at night we’d go to country, you know, so that was a mixed format.

It really wasn’t that bad and then eventually the radio station went all country All country. Yeah, so if I were to listen to radio stations in South Louisiana today Am I finding any that are focusing on French broadcasting French? You can find some yeah Not many but you will find a few and if they’re not I won’t think you find one speak doing all the Broadcasting in French, but they’ll have some segments in there for the French speaking people

Anthony Codispoti (10:54.8)
All country. So if I were to listen to radio stations in South Louisiana today, am I finding any that are focusing on French broadcasting in French?

Mark Savoie (11:15.896)
The Cajun language is dying, another generation it’ll be gone. You it’s not the same French as, you know, from France or something like that. And my mom tried to teach me French when I was about 30 years old and I said, mom, it’s a little late. And our parents spoke French and didn’t want to teach their children because they didn’t want us to know what they were talking about. So they never taught us French, you know, and then they realized the error of their ways.

And so I mean, I tried to start taking French from my mom and I was taking, five years of Spanish. So what was ended up happening, I was speaking half the sentence in French and half in Spanish. I just couldn’t master it, you know? So I told mom, you know, let’s give up on the French teaching. So that was it, you know? I can relate to that. My father was born in Southern Italy and same kind of thing. Like him and his parents, that was sort of like their secret language. Yes.

Anthony Codispoti (12:03.046)
I can relate to that. My father was born in southern Italy and same kind of thing. him and his parents, that was sort of like their secret language. They could talk about how rotten the kids were being without us understanding it.

Mark Savoie (12:12.832)
of rotting the kids without us understanding it. Yep, and then that was it, you know, and then they realized, I mean, there’s very few people today around here that speak Cajun French and they tried to, and they still have some programs, what they call the French immersion. My daughter went through it for six years where in school, half the day, half their classes were taught in French and the other half was taught in English. And you could go all the way up through the 12th grade doing it.

And she did, but when you take it in school and you’re not using it every day in the public, you just, you know, you lose it. You’re not going to, it’s not going to be fluent to you. So Mark, let’s shift gears a little bit. Let’s talk about the financial hardship that led you to first starting in there. That was fun. I had opened up a children’s clothing store called bare necessities.

Anthony Codispoti (12:53.084)
So Mark, let’s shift gears a little bit and let’s talk about the financial hardship that led you to first starting a nursing agency.

Mark Savoie (13:07.962)
Just I wanted to you know do something on my own I was working at the radio station and I was working at the hospital and then I opened up Yes Yes, and What happened the children’s clothing store didn’t make it, you know, so when I shut down I still owe the bank a hundred and I think sixty something thousand dollars and Everybody said, you know, go ahead and declare bankruptcy. Yada. Yada. Yada said look, I’m not declaring bankruptcy

Anthony Codispoti (13:15.282)
Because by this point you had become an LPN and a respiratory therapist, okay?

Anthony Codispoti (13:23.943)
Hmm.

Mark Savoie (13:35.47)
I said, I borrowed the money, I owe it. So I went to the bank, know, I paid off all my, shut it down, had enough money to pay off all my small creditors, but I had that big note looming at the bank. So I told the bank, said, look, just turn it into a house note, you know? So they turned it into a 30 year house note, $5.58 a month. I remember that number so well. And after about three years, I said, I gotta do this for 27 more years. This is not gonna be fun.

Anthony Codispoti (13:59.973)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (14:01.794)
So one night I was working ICU and there was a nurse from the Philippines and she was actually an agency nurse and saying how much money she made. She had opened up her own agency and I said, man, I just need to make 160,000 to pay off that debt. So when she finally realized that I was trying to, I guess, pry more information about her business, she just clamped up. anyway, I opened up a nursing agency and, you know, praying it was gonna work and…

A year later, know, after about the first year, didn’t make any money. It was just getting started. I didn’t have any business. It was promoting the business. And then one of the nurses I worked with at the hospital called me and said, Mark, you still have your nursing agency? I said, yeah. She goes, I have two patients that need round the clock nursing care. She goes, are you interested? Because the insurance company don’t want the family to handle it anymore. They want an agency to take over.

So we got those first two cases and they were retired school teachers. So just on those two cases, I would say a year later, I went to the bank and wrote them a check for $160,000. Wow. And I paid off the debt. So let’s back up a little bit. I’m going to go to the bankruptcy part of this. OK. First of all, talk about the stress that this puts you through, right? You’re married at this point. Yes. Yes, I had two kids at that time. Two kids at that point. So you’re working.

Anthony Codispoti (15:11.602)
Wow. So let’s back up a little bit because I’m to go to the bankruptcy part of this. First of all, to talk about the stress that this puts you through. You’re married at this point. Do you have kids? Two kids at that point. So you’re working two jobs. You’re at the radio station. You’re at the hospitals and LPN and a respiratory therapist. And you try to start this business. was unsuccessful. Now you’ve got this huge debt looming over your head.

Mark Savoie (15:28.462)
two jobs, you’re at the radio station, you’re at the hospitals and LPM and respiratory therapists. And you try to start this business, it’s unsuccessful, now you’ve got this huge debt moving over your head. The easy button in that case is to declare bankruptcy. That’s what they were telling me. Pretty quickly wipe that debt out. Right. I think this says a lot about your character that you were like, nope, I owe that money.

Anthony Codispoti (15:40.614)
The easy button in that case is to declare bankruptcy. pretty quickly wipe that debt out. I think it says a lot about your character that you were like, nope, I owe that money. I made a commitment to pay that back. I’m not gonna hide under the protection of the bankruptcy and I’m gonna do whatever I can to pay it back. I what was that thought process?

Mark Savoie (15:56.334)
I made a commitment to pay that back. I’m not going to hide under the protection of the bankruptcy. And I’m going to do whatever I can to pay it back. would have bothered me more if I would have declared bankruptcy and walked away from that debt. Even though, know, they say you have to wait seven years and then your records clean again. I think just the fact knowing I took advantage of somebody because, you know, the money I borrowed from that bank, that was somebody’s money.

You know, it the bank’s money, it was somebody’s money. And I mean, you know, the bank had a business, but I just couldn’t bear that I was gonna do that to somebody because I owed it. I mean, we all take on responsibilities and, you know, just like I teach my kids, live up to them, you know, we all make mistakes, fix them and you’ll be okay. And then thank God I did, you know, because had I not had that debt.

I wouldn’t be talking to today about a nursing agency. You know, because I really, I wanted to go to school to be an attorney. And so was in college at the same time that I had three jobs basically. The radio station, the clothing store opened up, and the hospital, and I was going to college. And my initial goal was to pay off the debt and then go on to law school.

Anthony Codispoti (16:57.106)
Mm.

Anthony Codispoti (17:06.827)
Well, you had a lot going on.

Mark Savoie (17:26.369)
And the business did so well, said, why do I want to be a lawyer? And just, I mean, I stuck with it and I’m here today. So you got some information from this one nurse that was also working at the hospital. Right. Give me a little bit of idea, maybe how the industry work, maybe that there was an opportunity there. But.

Anthony Codispoti (17:37.884)
So you got some information from this one nurse that was also working at the hospital that had her own agency. So it gave you a little bit of idea, maybe how the industry worked, maybe that there was an opportunity there. But at some point she clams up. You decide you’re going to start this business. I I have to imagine you don’t really know what you’re doing when you first get started, do you?

Mark Savoie (17:53.42)
At some point she clams up. Yes. You decide you’re going to start this business. I I have to imagine you don’t really know what you’re doing when you first get started. No, I went in business with an attorney. Biggest mistake of my life, but one of the biggest because I knew there was going be a lot of contracts and things to do. And not to mention, I knew that just financing pain, the nurses was a

Anthony Codispoti (18:07.762)
Okay.

Mark Savoie (18:21.43)
a big issue. I he didn’t put up the money. We both went to the bank. We signed a note, but we never had to borrow any money. You know, I mean, despite what I say about the attorney, he was an excellent business person. He did manage money well. And, you know, to this day, very few times I had to borrow money from the bank to finance my business. today is a little different. We pay a lot of our nurses daily.

So if people want to realize the cost, you know, I have a lot of people, Mark, I can open up my own nursing agency. Go ahead. I mean, I’m not stopping you more than Marya, you know. When you’re paying a registered nurse $35, $40 an hour, they work in 12 hours, you got 10 nurses working. Imagine you payroll the next day. And that’s just every day. And you don’t get paid for 30, 60, 90 days down the road.

Anthony Codispoti (18:50.545)
Mm-hmm.

Mark Savoie (19:18.766)
So you got a lot to float and pay a role, not to mention your office staff and everything else. you know, I always said I could never work on commission. And I realized I’ve been working on commission for 40 something years because I own the business. If I’m the last one paid, you know, me and Mike are. And so, but it’s worked out well. We manage our money good. And we grow in, I think, seven states right now.

I really couldn’t tell you every state we’re in. know when Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, those three, when seven during COVID, I think we were in 15. COVID shot us up like, my God, it was scary. How many nurses they need and what they were willing to pay. And that helped get this business going a lot faster. Now, of course, a lot of that business backed off from

when COVID went away, but we did maintain some relationships and we’re still staffing some of those facilities in other states today. know, go ahead. that going into business with that attorney was a huge mistake. were some good things that he did. was a good businessman, helped with the contract, maybe helped with the bank. Yeah, the bad thing, one day he came after, you we were, we were successful. And I mean, I wasn’t, we wasn’t making, you know, a whole lot of money, but I was living pretty good.

Anthony Codispoti (20:24.326)
So you mentioned that going into business with that attorney was a huge mistake. There were some good things that he did. He was a good businessman. helped with the contracts, maybe helped with the bank.

Mark Savoie (20:45.538)
And he came to my house one night and probably sat on my couch and propped his foot up on another chair and he goes, you know, Mark, I’m an attorney and you’re just a nurse and I think I should make more money than you. And I laughed. I thought he was joking, you know? And I said, and then when I realized he wasn’t joking and I said, this is a nursing agency. I’m a nurse. You’re not, you’re an attorney, you know? But he was real arrogant in that sense.

that because he had the law degree, he should make more money than me. And that got us into a big tussle and we ended up splitting up. did you end up having to take a loan from the bank to get started or not? No. No. I mean, we just hold the money from your own pockets? From my pockets because when I first started, wasn’t, I didn’t have, you know, we just had two patients. And back then I was paying them weekly. So I still work.

Anthony Codispoti (21:20.818)
So did you end up having to take a loan from the bank to get started or not? No, okay. I mean, were you just pulling money from your own pockets to be able to float the…

Anthony Codispoti (21:37.746)
Okay. Okay.

Mark Savoie (21:42.302)
at the hospital and the nursing and the radio station and that check would go to help finance my nursing business because my wife’s the registered nurse. So, you we lived off her check. We didn’t have any house note or anything like that. We were very fortunate. My wife’s family gave us a house. So I never had a house note or anything like that. So I could use my check to help finance the payroll. And as the business started slowly growing,

Anthony Codispoti (21:57.948)
Gotcha.

Mark Savoie (22:10.222)
I just wouldn’t take out the money. I’d leave it in the business to be able to float the business, you know? And, you know, a lot of people, you know, what people don’t realize, most people don’t fail. People who fail in business, usually fail within the first five years and they don’t fail because they don’t have any business. They fail because they have too much business and don’t know how to handle it. And I think that’s why I went into business with the attorney in the beginning because I didn’t have that

You know, and if I would have had the opportunity, you know to bring home a quarter of a million dollars a year I’d spend it back then out of Instead of leaving it in the business. Hey, I’m working hard I want the money, you know, and he didn’t allow that and I and I’m grateful today for that You know, I really am you kind of learned some discipline Absolutely Yeah, so and what? And I should mention that your partner Darby we had on the podcast here

Anthony Codispoti (22:49.298)
you

Anthony Codispoti (22:55.686)
You kind of learned some discipline early on that has helped you down the road. Yeah. And so at what point did, and I should mention that your, your partner, like Darby, had on the podcast here a few weeks back. so once folks are done listening to this interview with Mark, I highly recommend that they go back and listen, get just a different perspective, you know, different kind of personality, but how was it that the two of you first met?

Mark Savoie (23:08.174)
a weeks back. so once folks are done listening to this interview with Mark, I highly recommend they go back and listen. It’s a different perspective, a different kind of personality. But how was it that the two of you first met? That’s weird. My stepfather was a barber and he was cutting Mike Darby’s grandfather’s hair on a regular basis. And they would talk and Mike’s grandfather said he had a

his grandson was a nurse and my stepdad said well my son’s a nurse you know he said they need to get together and that went on for a few months and finally Mike and I met I went and meet him and I asked Mike I said you know how would you like to come into business in a nursing agency and Mike said no I really don’t you know I don’t want to I worked agency before I said no I don’t want you to work as a nurse I want you to come into business and help manage it it’s a different you know position and

You know, I said, look, he goes, why am I lawn care business as a side business? You know, so Mike was working full time as a nurse and had a lawn care business and said, well, the big difference is you have to be there to go cut all those people’s grass. I said, you can’t cut grass in Peoria, Illinois. You know, I said, you’re just not going to do it. So I said, where the nursing agency, a lot of our work is done, you know, as far as the recruiting of the nurses and everything it’s done online. so.

They very seldom walk into your door. know, half the nurses, more than half, I probably never meet. so I said, I told Mike, said, you’ll come on in as a regional director and you’ll be paid a straight commission. And, you know, I told him all the numbers and everything. And he said, yeah, I’ll try it. I said, look, you have nothing to lose. I’m not asking you for any money. I put up all the money. If it don’t work, you lose nothing but your time. And Mike, you know, took the position and…

Anthony Codispoti (24:36.508)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (25:03.81)
That’s history. we, you know, we started getting some business and I helped him. gave him some business in the beginning that would otherwise been the companies, but I wanted Mike to get some business to entice him. And, once Mike got, yeah, once he tasted the success of it, he, stuck with it. And, here we are today and Mike was not an owner then, but eventually, you know, we brought him in as an owner and, we split up with other companies and now it’s just me and Mike and,

Anthony Codispoti (25:15.398)
Give them a little momentum.

Mark Savoie (25:33.932)
We said, you know, we don’t need any more partners. Mike and I, and look, we have our up and downs. Mike, you know, has differences, but I know exactly how Mike is gonna do something in a certain situation, and he knows what I’m gonna do. So we know each other well, and that’s because we think a lot alike as far as the business goes, you know? So we, you know, sometimes I’ll say do something, and Mike don’t wanna do it, and he ended up being right and vice versa.

You know, so we work well together. don’t, if we have a problem, we talk it out. Sometimes it’s yelling, you know, but hey, we eventually work it out. And that’s why we’re still here today. Well, and if both of you kind of have the same or similar, you know, more star, you know, that you’re trying to get to the same place, right? That’s the same value system. Sometimes in some relationships, a little bit of that friction is helpful. Yes, it is. It’s like, I’ve got an idea. No, I’ve got an idea. And

Anthony Codispoti (26:15.622)
Well, and if both of you kind of have the same or similar, you know, North star, you know, that you’re trying to get to the same place and you’ve got the same value system, sometimes in some relationships, a little bit of that friction is helpful because it’s like, I’ve got an idea. No, I’ve got an idea and okay, let’s rub together and let’s, let’s figure out where the best idea is. Yeah. And so what was behind the initial decision to invite Mike in as part.

Mark Savoie (26:32.31)
Okay, let’s work together and let’s figure out where the best idea is. Absolutely. Yeah. And so what was behind the initial decision to invite Mike in this part? Obviously he’s his drive. He’s doing well. His drive. He was Mike was very hungry in the sense of he went out, got the business, found new business and he hustled and he knew it was this business is 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Anthony Codispoti (26:44.122)
Obviously he’s an employee, he’s doing well.

Mark Savoie (27:01.11)
And Mike never complained about it. know, because when we first started off, know, we didn’t have all the technology we have today. We had pagers on the side. We didn’t have cell phones, you know. So if you got your pager went off, you had to stop somewhere if you were on the road and get a find a pay phone somewhere, make a call, you know. And Mike never complained. He just did the work. And I think that was a big part that what I saw in him, you know, I said, no, he needs to be an owner.

Anthony Codispoti (27:30.916)
Well, good on you to have that vision. Because I mean, it’s very natural for us to sort of want to hold on to and protect what’s ours, what we started. You know, this was mine. But to be able to have, I’m going to use the word generosity. I think that’s part of it. But I mean, obviously, it’s not just you doing it for charity. You saw it’s a strategic thing. He can be a great partner. We’re aligned. I can incentivize him even more. And the business is going to grow more as a result of bringing him in.

Mark Savoie (27:31.674)
good on you to have that vision. Because I mean, it’s very natural for us to sort of want to hold on to and protect what’s ours, what we started, how this would find. But to be able to have, I’m going to use the word generosity. I think that’s part of it. But I mean, obviously, it’s not just doing it for charity. You saw it’s a strategic thing. great partner, we’re aligned. I can incentivize them even more. And the business is going to grow more as a result of bringing in them. Yeah, and it took some of the work off my back.

You know, I didn’t have to be the only one bringing in business now. So with Mike there, Mike would bring in business. He would handle it. The company would grow. I benefit from it. I knew that and Mike would benefit. So I didn’t have to do all the work. You know, when I was business with the attorney, at night we had to take call, you know, after five o’clock, like I said, if a nurse called in, they, they had somebody, you know, they call the nurse, the answering service. And, if one of our nurses didn’t show up, we had to find another nurse.

Anthony Codispoti (28:04.348)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (28:30.836)
And the attorney just, you know, just said, I can’t find one. He made me do it. You’ll find a nurse tomorrow. And so I taught him a lesson one day. I remember it was a Friday and he was on call and he goes, well, I’m going out and eat with my wife. You know, we’re going, we have a dinner reservation. And right then the phone rang and a nurse was calling in. I said, well, you’re on call handle. He said, no, you handle it. I said, well, you’re on call.

So we got an organist to stay right there. So I called a nurse, another nurse that would take the call in position. said, I’ll tell you what, I’ll pay you $100 an hour if you go in. She goes, I’ll do it, hung up the phone. The attorney went ballistic. I said, hey, you wanted me to take the call? I wasn’t gonna waste my time. Yeah, we losing some money, but I got the shift covered. And yeah, so he learned real fast. Don’t push it on me again.

Anthony Codispoti (29:12.412)
Ha ha.

Mark Savoie (29:23.502)
You know, and I wasn’t doing it just to be ugly. mean, I needed a nurse and I knew $100 an hour for an LPN would guarantee that nurse would go to work. Yeah. Well, two birds, one stone. Yes. And so when, when Mike first joined, what year is this? As a regional director, it’s sometimes I guess the early nineties and so somewhere’s around maybe late nineties, somewhere’s around there.

Anthony Codispoti (29:31.302)
Yeah, right. Well, two birds, one stone, it sounds like. And so when when Mike first joined, what year is this?

Anthony Codispoti (29:51.954)
Okay, because you made the point that, hey, you can’t cut lawns in Peoria, So that says to me that even in the early 90s, you had moved outside of just Louisiana for where you were doing staffing. Is that right?

Mark Savoie (29:52.15)
Okay, because you made the point that, hey, you can’t cut lawns in Peoria, Illinois. Right. So that says to me that even in the early 90s, you had moved outside of just Louisiana for where you were doing staff. Is that right? It was still mostly Louisiana, but it could have been New Orleans, know, north of Louisiana. I mean, it was just all over the state where a lot of nursing agencies or home health agencies are usually tied with the government to a 50 mile radius. They can’t.

handle business outside 50 miles. But since we don’t deal with Medicare and Medicaid, we’re not under those guidelines. So we could go out further than that 50 mile radius. And so that, you know, helped grow our business where if you were a licensed home health agency and did a lot of Medicare or Medicaid and got paid by the government, you were contained to that 50 mile radius. Why is it? Why is there that? I think they just want to make sure that you’re close enough.

Anthony Codispoti (30:44.42)
Why is there that kind of limitation in place?

Mark Savoie (30:51.182)
to be able to handle the work. Because it’s hard, like New Orleans from where we are right now is 150 miles from us. So sometimes it’s hard to find a nurse when you don’t have a local office there. And I think the government just wants to make sure that the home health agencies don’t try to take on more than, eat more than they can choose, so to speak. So how do you go about if your base is in

Anthony Codispoti (31:14.662)
Yeah. So how do you go about, your base is in Southern Louisiana, how do you go about finding nurses in right now seven different States? At one point during COVID it was 15 different States. Okay.

Mark Savoie (31:19.96)
Southern Louisiana, how do you go about finding nurses in right now seven different states at one point here in COVID-19? Yeah, we just advertise and then you know we have the internet site. We’ll also try and find key nurses from let’s say you know give you like Biloxi, Mississippi. I may bring in that nurse and pay that nurse a little bit more but that nurse works with other nurses so they can find nurses for us.

So it’s kind of a network thing we do. I’ll pay him a little bit more if they help me recruit the nurses. This is the strategy that you’ve used to grind all these different locations. Was this something, of, a strategy you stumbled upon? No, I just knew I couldn’t do it all. In the beginning, it was always me. know, even if I hired, you know, when I hired somebody in the office like a staffing director, if they had a problem, they’d call me.

Anthony Codispoti (31:54.982)
And this, is the strategy that you’ve used to grow into all these different locations. Was this something you sort of a strategy you stumbled upon? Did you try different things that didn’t work?

Mark Savoie (32:16.802)
You know, and many times I’ve gotten calls on, you know, two, three o’clock in the morning or Christmas day, whatever. I said, now I just can’t keep doing this all by myself. So that’s when I came up with the idea of regional director. I said, look, I’ll bring them on, give them a percentage of the business, not ownership, but pay them a percentage of the profits and they’ll work a lot harder. And then they know they have to staff either the hospital or take care of the private duty nurse or because if they don’t make money, they’re not getting paid.

Anthony Codispoti (32:46.46)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (32:46.574)
because I wasn’t paying them a salary. You they work strictly on commission, so they tend to work a little bit harder. So each of these new geographies you go into, one of the first things that you have to do is make sure you’ve got a good regional director. It helps. Yes, that is the first thing, because if you don’t, I’m fighting every other agency. And, you know, we’re all battling for the same nurse. There’s, know, like all the nurses that work for our company for Nurses Direct. Well, they may be signed on with four or five other nursing agencies.

Anthony Codispoti (32:52.626)
So each of these new geographies you go into, one of the first things that you have to do is make sure you’ve got a good regional director there. Yeah.

Mark Savoie (33:14.998)
at the same time. we’re all what happens is that a hospital call and say, look, I have a an ER shift tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. I need an ER nurse where they’re not just going to call me. They’re going to call all five nursing agencies. You know, I have a many they have. And then the first agency to call back that staffs it gets the shift. Now, there are a few hospitals that we do have what we call priorities, shift staffing.

where they’ll give me 24 hours advance notice over the other agencies because I’ve treated them well over the years. I sent them good nurses and I’ve taken care of my business. So they’ll call me first and give me 24 hours advance notice. And if I can’t staff it, then they’ll blast it out to the other nursing agencies. Okay. So you’ve got a hospital who’s contacting five different nurse staffing agencies with the same goal. Right. And those five nurse staffing agencies may have

Anthony Codispoti (34:01.138)
Okay, so you’ve got a hospital who’s contacting five different nurse staffing agencies with the same opening. And those five nurse staffing agencies may have some of the same nurses that they’re contacting. And so what’s the secret to Nurses Direct getting that nurse to agree to your placement to that location rather than one of your competitors?

Mark Savoie (34:12.59)
some of the same nurses. Correct. Contacted. Yep. And so what’s the secret to Nurses Direct getting that nurse to agree to your placement to that location rather than one of your competitors? Sometimes I make less money because it’s funny you ask that a lot of times they’ll have two phones and you hear you know because we’ll call at the same time you know for the ones that we don’t have that priority shift staffing.

Anthony Codispoti (34:36.23)
Mm-hmm.

Mark Savoie (34:40.084)
And they’ll say, well, nurses direct, how much you paying for this shift? Hold on, advantage. How much you paying for this shift? Okay. And I’m, know, so I’ll ask them what advantage offered you, you know, they offered me this an hour. Okay. I’ll give you a dollar an hour more. Okay. Done. Yeah, it’s, it’s crazy, but you know, and like I tell the hospitals and said, you know, if you have five core dealerships and they all selling Mercedes Benz, what’s going to happen? mean, if they all give good service,

Anthony Codispoti (34:42.79)
Mm.

Mark Savoie (35:09.024)
you’re going to go buy that Mercedes Benz or Toyota, whatever it is, whoever’s going to give you the best price. Okay. With nursing agencies, it’s completely opposite. The more agencies you allow win, the higher that cost goes. Because now, like I said, you got nurses knowing that, you know, they work for several agencies and they can drive up the cost just by saying, Hey, advantage will pay me this. How much you pay. And I’m not going to lose that shift.

You know, so sometimes I’ll pay exactly what we’re billing and I’ll lose money, but I get that shift staff. So I just build a better report. well, nurses wreck you all much faster than ABC agency and get the shift staff. So then they’ll call us first. You know, sometimes they can give me a five minute head start and that’s enough. So on the nurses side, why?

Anthony Codispoti (35:53.671)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (35:58.77)
So on the nurses side, why do they choose to work with an agency like yours or multiple agencies like yours rather than establishing like a full-time job with one of these hospitals?

Mark Savoie (36:03.128)
do they choose to work with an agency like yours or multiple agencies like yours rather than establishing like a full-time job with what these hospitals? The biggest advantage they can work where they want to work, they work when they want to work. They do get paid more money. They’re not in the politics of working and being an employee of that hospital where they have to work, you know, a such schedule or something like that. This way they can work at, you know,

five, six, seven different hospitals. And when they don’t wanna work, they’ll slip back and say, now I’m not interested, I’m taking a few weeks off or something. so that’s the biggest reason. And as far as the hospital side, the hospitals use us because their census fluctuates during the winter time or during COVID, instances like that. Their census shoots up real high. Well,

They need the nurses, but when their census goes back down, if these nurses were their actual employees, they still have that payroll. So then they have to start what we call flexing the nurse. And so, you you stay home today, well, they don’t get paid. You flex them enough, then they say, okay, I’m out of here. going, you know, I need to make money, so I’m going to work where I get paid and I got a guaranteed income. So that’s the biggest thing for hospitals. It’s not a fixed cost of their payroll.

Anthony Codispoti (37:11.601)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (37:26.946)
You know, when they don’t, it’s a love-hate relationship with us. know, they love us when they need us, but when they don’t, they hate us. And they think it’s us that’s driving up the cost. And it’s not really us, it’s the nurse. You know, we treat our nurses as employees. Some agencies treat them as independent contractors, which there are some issues about that. The IRS and the Department of Labor says that a nurse cannot be an independent contractor because they’re guided, they’re told what to do. And you know, if you read all the guidelines, what…

Anthony Codispoti (37:27.078)
That makes a lot of sense.

Anthony Codispoti (37:52.156)
Yay.

Mark Savoie (37:56.654)
an employee and an independent contractor is, it’s just, they’re just not part of their payroll and it helps them financially, even though they may use this for 10 years, you know, because they all want to get rid of nursing agencies. So a lot of hospitals have built up what they call their float pool. So they’ll pay them the same thing we’re paying them as a float nurse. In other words, we’ll call you only when we need you.

But that’s only one hospital. So what happens, that nurse may only work one or two times a month there. Whereas if they work for an agency, we have several different hospitals we can send them to work so they can still pay their bills. So you don’t really see it as a threat to your business? Not at all. Not at all. your nurses go into different hospitals, is there any sort of a culture clash? Are they seen as outsiders?

Anthony Codispoti (38:35.878)
Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (38:39.698)
So you don’t really see it as a threat to your business model.

When your nurses go into different hospitals, is there any sort of a culture clash? Are they seen as outsiders? they treated?

Mark Savoie (38:52.564)
Some of them are, and in the beginning they are, because the hospital nurses, employees know they’re making more money. So a lot of times they’ll give them the worst patients, the hardest patients, more patients than the other nurses have that are employees at the hospital. But once they get to know the nurse, they kind of back off and they treat them as one of their own. Because I mean, some of our nurses will work at a hospital that’s been there four or five years as an agency nurse.

and they just, they become one of theirs. You you don’t even know they are an agency nurse. And so you made the point that, you know, you really treat your nurses as employees. Yes, sir. Some of the others are treating them contractors. So what benefits does that afford the employee? Well, for the nursing agency in hospital, they get to charge less and pay the nurse more.

Anthony Codispoti (39:29.04)
And so you made the point that you really treat your nurses as employees, whereas some of the others are treating them as independent contractors. And so what benefits does that afford the employee? How does that show up differently for them?

Mark Savoie (39:50.028)
because I have all their FICA, I have to match their social security, all the taxes I have to take out and pay. So what an independent contractor agency, they can charge the hospital less money because they don’t have all those tax consequences and liabilities we have and pay the nurse a little bit more than we’re paying them. Again, because they don’t have all those liabilities. If they work 12 hours and they making $50 an hour, it’s easy to calculate their payroll and you just write them a check and then.

What ends up happening is at the end of the year, these nurses, majority of them didn’t save for taxes and they get popped. You you’re making some good money now as an agency nurse and you didn’t put away money for your taxes. You’re not having the payroll with full-lengths taken out to help you sort of budget that. You’re responsible for doing that on your own. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (40:35.09)
Because you’re not having the payroll withholdings taken out to help you sort of budget that. You’re responsible for doing that on your own and most employees aren’t accustomed to that.

Mark Savoie (40:43.374)
Yeah, and they’re not, they’ll get a $30,000 or $20,000 tax bill at the end of the year and they go, I can’t pay that. I said, well, if you work for us, we would pay that for you. They lose roughly about 8 % by working as an independent contractor, even though they pay you more. And they don’t pay them that much more. They only may pay a dollar an hour more than what we pay them as the independent contractors. But they’re losing.

that matching, have to pay all of their own social security, their, know, everything themselves. So actually they’re not getting paid more. And I mean, I’ve showed many nurses on paper, look, this is what they’re paying you and this is what we’re paying you. Even though it looks like we’re paying you less, we’re not because look at the percent you got to add on at the end of the year to pay your taxes. And they have to go through a full year to realize it because they just think I’m misleading them or, you know, whatever.

Anthony Codispoti (41:30.736)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (41:37.922)
But at the end of the year, they realize I’m not working as an independent contractor again. And not all of them. Some of do save, and they’ll learn to budget and put money aside to pay their taxes. You made the point with your clients, with the hospital facilities that you work with, that with some of those, you have a preferred agreement with them. Yes. Taking good care of them. So they come to you first. give you 24-hour window to fill that position.

Anthony Codispoti (41:42.448)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (41:49.33)
They made the point with your clients with the hospital facilities that you work with, that with some of those, you have a preferred agreement with them. You’ve taken good care of them. So they come to you first. They give you a 24 hour window to fill that position. Tell me what it looks like for you to take care of a customer. Like what are you doing better that the other companies didn’t do to make them want to give you this preferred status?

Mark Savoie (42:06.082)
Tell me what it looks like for you to take care of a customer. What are you doing better that the other companies didn’t do to make them want to give you this preferred status? Probably one of the biggest things is, well there’s two things. Number one, sending them a good qualified nurse. number two, I make sure that we staff them as fast as we can. Because usually it’s a

floor manager or unit supervisor that’s calling us, you know, for the need that they have. And a lot of times if the nursing agency doesn’t fulfill that need, that unit manager may have to work that shift and they’re usually salaried. So they don’t get paid any extra money. My wife was in that position. She was the head of labor and delivery. And a lot of times back then it was real hard to find nursing agency nurses that worked labor and delivery.

Anthony Codispoti (42:52.197)
Hmm.

Mark Savoie (43:03.022)
My wife was the unit manager and working 70, 80 hours a week. said, baby, you making half of what the nurses working underneath you are, you know? And I taught her real fast. showed her real fast. So when she resigned, her check went up, you know, because number one, I mean, she was making at one point like three, $4 an hour. said, this is ridiculous. So you can call yourself the boss. It’s not worth it.

Anthony Codispoti (43:12.764)
Mm.

Anthony Codispoti (43:27.472)
Yeah, right. So what do growth plans look like for Nurses Direct?

Mark Savoie (43:31.298)
What are growth plans look like for nurses? It’s looking good. We’re getting some contracts with some major, hospital facilities that are nationwide and, it’s harder to get into these big facilities, just because they are real stringent. I mean, you know, we don’t just send any nurse to a hospital and they’re okay. You know, this hospital called go to work once a nurse is, once we staff before we staff a hospital,

that nurse goes through a screening process from that hospital, you know, to see all their credentials, make sure everything’s legit, their nursing license valid, they CPR certified, and all the credentials that they say they have, they actually have, they’ll interview that nurse. Then they’ll go through orientation to learn that facility, you know, how they do business, so to speak, how they care for the patient, their charting system and everything. So that could be anywhere as, you know, from three to

five days of orientation that that nurse has to go before she’s able to work, or eat at that hospital. So it’s not a matter of just picking up the phone and sending in any nurse. I wish it was that easy. In the earlier days, it kind of was, but now with all the rules and regulations and everything out there, Louisiana now, you used to not have to be licensed by Louisiana to be a temp staffing agency.

Anthony Codispoti (44:32.837)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (45:00.502)
Now you have to go through some, you know, go through the, through the state, meet their requirements. And now we’re licensed by the state of Louisiana. So you mentioned some of these bigger national hospital systems being more stringent, more difficult to get into. What does that process look like? it’s just very hard because they have a lot of nursing agencies already staffing them.

Anthony Codispoti (45:11.26)
So you mentioned some of these bigger national hospital systems being more stringent, more difficult to get into. What does that process look like for you?

Mark Savoie (45:24.876)
you know, and you why would they pick us because the other facilities aren’t meeting their needs. That’s the only reason. That’s what it comes down to. Yes. And, you know, so we really strive on, you know, once a nurse is able to work at that facility and we get a call and we have a need, we make sure that we start that shift as fast as we can. And then we’ll talk to the hospital, you know, after that nurse has worked a couple of shifts one.

Anthony Codispoti (45:30.502)
That’s what it comes down to.

Mark Savoie (45:52.718)
They’ll say, look, we really like that nurse. Well, instead of you calling me every day, why don’t you put them on like a 13 week contract? So we’ll put them on the contract. And that way they don’t have to call us every day. And it’s good for all of us. It’s good for the nurses, good for us. And it’s good for the facility. Because now they’re guaranteed 36 hours a week or whatever that contract says. And they work just like their own employee. They own a schedule.

And again, the nurse will work it because they only tied that facility for, you know, six, eight, 13 weeks at the most. One of the questions I like to ask business owners is running business, right? You to keep your eye on the bottom line, profit or loss. Yes, sir. Not run a charity, right? You got to make sure that you’re turning the profit. And as business owners, we’ve got sort of two giant levers. Let’s put them into these two buckets. You know, one is how do I increase sales? The other one is how do I decrease it?

Anthony Codispoti (46:27.838)
Mark, one of the questions I like to ask business owners is running a business, right? You’ve got to keep your eye on the bottom line, profit and loss. You’ve not run a charity, right? You’ve to make sure that you’re turning to profit. And as business owners, we’ve got sort two giant levers. I’ll just put them into sort of these two buckets. One is how do I increase sales? The other one is how do I decrease expenses? As you think about your career, are there any creative things that you’ve done to…

Mark Savoie (46:48.96)
As you think about your career, are there any creative things that you’ve done to pull either one of those levers in a certain direction?

Anthony Codispoti (46:55.452)
pull either one of those levers in a certain direction.

Mark Savoie (47:00.514)
I’m sure I have, just can’t think of any right off hand. I mean, I had to because it’s just, we’re all the same. again, I think it just goes back to having a good staff in-house that can vet our nurses and not, because we spend a lot of money when we.

Anthony Codispoti (47:02.33)
Nah, I’ll put you on the spot. Fair enough.

Mark Savoie (47:26.24)
look at a nurse to come and work for us. We have to have a background check. We have to do drug screens. We have to check all their credentials and all of that is not free. So we’ve learned over the years, I guess, what to do first because if a nurse comes back, if we call a nurse for, okay, we send up a drug screen for you for Wednesday, you know, I can’t make it then. Okay, well then let me look. Okay, I got one for you the next Monday. I can’t make it. Or then they’ll make it.

They’ll say they’ll take it and then that day or the day before the drug screen, they’ll call in. There’s a reason they’re calling in and not going to that drug screen because they’re taking something. So you make the drug screening at the front end of the process so can weed them out more. Yeah. If you’re not going to the drug screen, I don’t need you then, you know, you’re not going to do it because the first thing that’s going to happen if, if, if a hospital is missing narcotics or any type of medication, any nurse that day working on that floor.

Anthony Codispoti (48:04.85)
So you make the drug screening at the front end of the process so you can weed them out more quickly and don’t have to do the other expensive steps.

Mark Savoie (48:24.664)
they will be drug screened immediately. And look, I’m not saying every nurse is taking drugs, okay? But if you keep refusing to take a drug screen, there’s a reason. I just say, pass on that nurse, let’s move on to someone who’s going to do the drug screen. Yes. So we’ve learned over the years to look at little things like that. You come back with a bad background check. Well, what’s a bad background check?

Anthony Codispoti (48:42.364)
What are some other red flags that you see that you look out for? What are some others?

Mark Savoie (48:53.098)
Okay, she has four speeding tickets or whatever, know. Look, we all make mistakes. Some people just like to drive with a heavy foot. But if you have elder abuse, child abuse or something like that, that’s all, you’re not working for us. Because a lot of times we’ll send nurses to nursing homes too. And if you have a charge for elder abuse, I send you into a nursing home and then all of a sudden something happens to that patient. Even though it’s not our nurse that did it, we’re gonna be looked at.

Anthony Codispoti (49:21.35)
No. No.

Mark Savoie (49:23.02)
very, very closely, you know, so we won’t even take that risk. what’s a particular challenge, personal or professional, that you’ve gone through, overcome, lessons learned coming through the other side? Getting married at a very young age. What do you mean by very young? My wife was 15. I was 18. Yes, it was one of those things. You know, she got pregnant and we did get married and

Anthony Codispoti (49:28.592)
Mark, what’s a particular challenge, personal or professional, that you’ve gone through, overcome, lessons learned coming through the other side?

Anthony Codispoti (49:40.859)
What do mean by very young?

Mark Savoie (49:53.102)
48 years next July. And we’re still married. We have five children, three grandchildren. You know, she went to college, I went to college, we both went to school. It was hard, you know, doing that because in the beginning, she was at a nurse, she was going to nursing school. I was working at the, I was a nurse a few years before her. So I was working as a nurse.

Anthony Codispoti (49:55.858)
Okay.

Mark Savoie (50:19.406)
and working at the radio station. So I had to constantly work two jobs. And it’s not fun. I mean, I’m not the only one in the world that does that, you know? And so I made sure that while she went to nursing school that, you know, I pulled all the overtime I could because I knew in the three years that it took her to finish that nursing degree, she’d make a lot more money, you know, and it would change our financial situation. She actually wanted to be a veterinarian.

And for some reason that didn’t work out. So she told the nursing instructor, she said, well, if I can’t take care of the four legged animals, I guess I’ll take care of the two legged animals. And she became a nurse and my wife is a very good nurse and she’s actually working in the company now. My wife and Mike’s wife, we brought them in the company because if something happens to Mike or myself, they own, you know, their owners as well. So I wanted them to know the business.

So in the event when something happens to us, you know, they can just keep on and going with the business. They don’t have to worry about in the corporate side. Yes, they are. They making decisions early on. She was a nurse that you were using to staff at client locations. Yeah. And now both your wife and Mike’s wife, they’re both corporate. Yeah. And Mike’s wife is a teacher and she’s very good at what she does. You know, she comes in, she’s doing the business side and

Anthony Codispoti (51:26.578)
So they’re involved in the corporate side. They’re not, yeah. Because I think with your wife early on, she was a nurse that you were using to staff at client locations. Is that right? Yeah. But now both your wife and Mike’s wife, they’re involved in the corporate side of things. Yeah.

Mark Savoie (51:48.578)
So as a teacher, she was very structured. So I think she helped structure us a lot more, just in-house and done a great job. And then my wife being a nurse, we can tell, because I’m a nurse, Mike’s a nurse, my wife’s a nurse, my directors are nurses like Calvin Orrin and stuff. So when we tell a nurse, go to this hospital, it’s not that bad, we know because we are nurses. We’ve been there.

Anthony Codispoti (51:51.217)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (52:17.07)
We know exactly what they have to do. If you never worked as a nurse, it’s kind of hard to tell somebody how it’s going to be at that facility when you never worked it, you or you never had, you don’t know what nursing is about. So, and you know, I think that gives us a little benefit over the, you know, the others. So kind of going back to this challenge, your wife and you got married very young. Right. Your parents as teenagers, right? Yep.

Anthony Codispoti (52:31.122)
You don’t know what it’s like.

Anthony Codispoti (52:37.374)
So kind of going back to this challenge, your wife and you get married very young, your parents as teenagers, You’re working slash going to school slash working two jobs. I mean, you’ve got a lot going on at a very young age. It makes you either like fall apart or grow up quickly.

Mark Savoie (52:47.637)
You’re working slash going to school slash working two jobs. mean, you’ve a lot going on at a very young age. That makes you either like fall apart or grow it quickly. Well, when you’re young, you can do it. I couldn’t do it today. You know, I’m 65 years old today. When you’re young, you have that drive and you have that ambition and you have the energy. You know, today the drive is there. I just don’t have the energy anymore. So

That’s why I hire a lot of people. We have a big staff here and I can do any job this staff does in-house. It may take me a little bit longer, but Mike and I created the payroll system we have and stuff like that. I brought on my nephew who went to law school and he’s really our… He helps us not so much on the legal side, but he’s great with IT and he looks at our contracts. He does a lot.

And Matt is just, you met Matt, you know? Matt was a big help in getting our interviews set up. Yes, and Matt, could not. They say everybody’s replaceable. Yes, that’s true, but it’d be hard to replace Matt. It’d be really hard. He’s just versatile doing so many things. He really is. And I like to reward the people that, like Delaine you met. Delaine…

Anthony Codispoti (53:51.238)
Matt was a big help in getting our interview set up here, He’s sharp as a whip.

Mark Savoie (54:14.75)
It’s just an asset that this company took on she’s the one that got us on with one of the biggest hospital systems in the United States and She’s the one get us in there said really, you know, everybody talks. Let’s see you do it and she did it. So she is just She’s excellent. She’s a workhorse. I don’t know if I can keep up with her. That’s terrific I’m glad we had the opportunity to shout out to a couple of your value team members there. Yes

Anthony Codispoti (54:36.028)
That’s terrific. I’m glad we had the opportunity to give a shout out to a couple of your valued team members there. We don’t always take the time to do that on this show. It’s reminder to me to open that door.

Mark Savoie (54:43.246)
take the time to do that on the show. It’s a reminder to me to open that door. Yeah, our staff, took us a while to get what we have. mean, it’s not just them, our entire staff right now, I think we found what we needed. You know, when Mike and I left, one of the attorneys that we’re in business with, with this company, he was hiring everybody. The business was in his law office, so he had everybody devoted to him.

the employees and they wouldn’t listen to anything Mike and I said and it caused a lot of problems so you know we got them out the company and now it’s just me and Mike so the staff listens to us and it just took us a while we had to know we fire people that weren’t two days and we said now you’re not going to make it you know and so but now you know our staffing directors our staffers they’re just

They’re all excellent in my opinion. I couldn’t have a better staff right now. And I think that’s going to help us reach that next level. know, going from 30 employees to 100 employees is not that hard. We’re roughly at 1,000 employees right now. And they’re not all full time. But to go from 1,000 to 10,000, it gets a lot harder. And my CPA told me, says, right now is going to be the hardest time.

Anthony Codispoti (55:43.068)
That’s awesome.

Anthony Codispoti (56:03.474)
you

Mark Savoie (56:08.63)
in your business career. And I said, why? says, you’re like a teenager. You’re not a mom and pop operation anymore, but you’re not one of the big boys. So you’re stuck in the middle. Like when we try to get on with certain software companies to say, well, we really like to have 5,000 employees. And we don’t have 5,000. well, we’re not interested in doing business with you. So we call another company. you got 1,000? that’s too much. We can’t handle that.

So you always fight and trying to find that balance. So what he said, you’re like a teenager growing up and now understand what he meant. So aside from finding the right software partner fits, as you think through sort of, I don’t know, structurally, what kind of changes do you think needs to be thought about as you go through this next phase of Because clearly, as you think about when you first started,

Anthony Codispoti (56:46.012)
So aside from finding the right software partner fits, as you think through sort of, I don’t know, structurally, like what kind of changes do you think need to be thought about as you go through this next phase of growth? Because clearly, as you think about when you first started the business decades ago, right? And you’re doing everything, you’re putting your hands on everything, you’re involved in every part of the business. It’s much different now. You’ve had to remove yourself, you’ve had to put, you know, layers in place, you’ve had to hire people. What do you think?

Mark Savoie (57:03.47)
Decades ago, right? And you’re doing everything. You’re putting your hands on everything. You’re involved in every part of the business. It’s much different now. You had to remove yourself. You had to put, you know, layers in place. You had to hire people. Wouldn’t you think that evolution of that process looks like as you head into this next year? Like I said, I think I think it looks good because the simple fact that the staff that we have understand what we’re trying to do and they they know the goals that we’re trying to obtain and reach.

Anthony Codispoti (57:16.112)
that evolution of that process looks like as you head into this next stage.

Mark Savoie (57:35.263)
they know how to do it and they will not slack on their job. I think that’s gonna be, that’s why I gave, I put so much emphasis on promoting and giving credit to my staff because they’re the ones that’s gonna get us there. It’s not me, it’s not Mike, it’s all of us as a team and we work well as a team together. Mark, any folks or mentors you wanna call out that have been helpful to you?

Anthony Codispoti (57:56.698)
Mark, any books or mentors you want to call out that have been helpful to you?

Mark Savoie (58:03.662)
I really, you know, can’t say I have. don’t read surprisingly that much or anything. You know, I get on the internet and you get on the internet and you see all the, you know, you can decipher these crazy people real fast. But, you know, to say, look, I admire, you know, Bill Gates or, you know, which I do don’t get me wrong because Bill Gates started Microsoft at the same time I got into the nursing business.

Anthony Codispoti (58:08.412)
Okay, fair enough. Yeah.

Mark Savoie (58:32.204)
Yeah, look what Bill Gates is at, look where I’m at, you know? Of course, it’s different business and everything, you know, I just, look, I lived in the housing projects when I was young. When I went to school, I went to a private school and I paid my own tuition. My parents couldn’t afford it. I knew that.

I needed to work harder to achieve the goals that I wanted. living in the housing projects, was just one of those things. My parents didn’t make that much money. And I wanted out. You went to school, and if you raised your hand because you lived in the housing projects, you got free lunch. And so at the beginning of the year, they’d say, who’s low income family or something?

never raise my hand, I’ll pay for my lunch. I’m not getting it free. I was too embarrassed, you know, and that was just me. I’m not saying you have to be embarrassed because you lived in the housing projects or something like that. Look, everybody has it rough at one point in their life. You know, even the wealthiest people, they weren’t born that way. You know, most of them weren’t. And, you know, my kids are gonna, you know, inherit everything I have, but I promise you one thing, they still gonna work.

Anthony Codispoti (59:28.038)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mark Savoie (59:54.22)
because I’m not just giving them something for nothing. If they’re gonna inherit what I have and they think they’re gonna sit back and drink, and none of my kids do all of that, I’m gonna have some rules and stipulations on that inheritance. I think that’s so important. Yeah, I just want them to be successful and be proud of what they do. Let it work for them, but I’m not gonna have them just sit back and do nothing. They’ve gotta find something that drives themselves.

Anthony Codispoti (01:00:11.346)
I think that’s so important. Yeah.

Anthony Codispoti (01:00:21.138)
They’ve got to find something that drives themselves. Right. And you had that growing up in the projects. I don’t want to be here. I want a different life for myself. You, you, had that, that push, that drive somebody who got a chance to grow up in a, you know, a different, more comfortable environment. Right. It’s, it’s, it’s a little more difficult for the parent to kind of instill that same sense of drive. Any, any suggestions you would have for parents in that similar situation? We’re listening. How do you instill that sense of drive, that sense of go get it like get up.

Mark Savoie (01:00:23.822)
Yeah, and you had that growing up in the project. I don’t want to be here. I want to write You you had that that push that drive somebody who got a chance to grow up in a you know a different more comfortable environment Right. It’s it’s it’s a little more difficult for the parent to kind of instill that same sense of drive It is any suggestions you would have for parents in that similar situation or listening How do you instill that sense of drive that sense of go get it like get up and yeah?

Anthony Codispoti (01:00:51.053)
and make something of yourself.

Mark Savoie (01:00:52.802)
I think your children see it in you. They saw me getting up at 3 o’clock in the morning. They heard me leaving the house to go to the office. They seen during Christmas Day I had to leave and go do stuff for staffership. So it’s not so much me telling them. I think they saw everything I did and how hard I worked to get where I’m at today. So I really didn’t have to tell them. They saw it.

They come to me and none of my children are in business with me. I can’t say I would let them. My daughter’s my youngest daughter. She got her biology degree, graduated now. She’s going back to be a nurse. She goes up, they call me Pop. She goes, Pop, I want to work for your company. And the other day she said, I don’t know if I want to work for your company. I said, well, that’s a good idea. Get out, make it on your own. And when you’re ready, you can come into the company.

But I certainly wasn’t gonna just hand over a multi-million dollar business, my share, to one of my kids just because they became a nurse. That just wasn’t gonna happen. And my other children, one’s a police officer. My daughter-in-law’s a sheriff’s department K9 unit. My other son works in fraud prevention. Another son in IT. I mean, they’re all doing well for themselves. none of them are hurting. They all have their own houses. They’re living well.

Mark Savoie (01:02:21.673)
And they’re making it. And I think, like I said, it’s nothing that I had to tell them directly. It’s what they saw. From what I’m hearing you say. Yeah. They watched your life example. Yeah. And it was fun sometimes. mean, they knew when I missed one of their, we used to coach, my wife coached a lot of ice hockey in South Louisiana, believe it or not.

Anthony Codispoti (01:02:27.354)
You lived by example from what I’m hearing you say. They watched your life example.

Mark Savoie (01:02:45.902)
And you sometimes I wasn’t at all the games, but they understood why. Was it because I was, you know, playing golf or fishing or hunting or something like that? It was because I was working. Yeah. Mark, I just have one more question for you before I do it. want to do two things. Sure. for those listening today, if you like today’s content, please hit the like, share and subscribe button. And favorite podcast app. Mark, I just want let people know the best way to get in touch with people. And somebody needed to actually get in touch with me. mean, they can.

Anthony Codispoti (01:02:55.76)
Yeah. Mark, I just have one more question for you. Before I do it, I want to do two things. First of all, for those listening today, if you like today’s content, please hit the like, share, subscribe button on your favorite podcast app. Mark, I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch with you. What would that be?

Mark Savoie (01:03:16.366)
call my cell phone direct, I’m not afraid to give it out. it’s a… You sure? Yeah, I’m sure. know, it’s a bad number, I’ll block it. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s 337-351-4888. And yeah, mean, crazy people are gonna call me. I’ll figure them out real fast. You know, but if I can help somebody, you know, I’m glad to help somebody. It’s not a matter of, you know, somebody has to call me just…

Anthony Codispoti (01:03:19.387)
You sure?

Anthony Codispoti (01:03:38.46)
Fair enough.

Mark Savoie (01:03:46.988)
that is gonna benefit me as well. If I can help somebody become a better person, I’m more than willing to do that. Where does that come from? That sense of wanting to help others? I thank my father who was never around. My real father, he died and I still never shed a tear for him. My dog died, I cried for three months and I didn’t wanna be like my father. My stepfather was wonderful.

Anthony Codispoti (01:03:49.148)
in it.

Anthony Codispoti (01:03:55.002)
Where does that come from? That sense of wanting to help others.

Anthony Codispoti (01:04:03.223)
Mm hmm. Say more about that. Yeah.

Mark Savoie (01:04:17.166)
You know, mean, if I got it from anybody, would have been my stepfather. You know, my father’s the same way. Same kind of heart. yeah, absolutely. And my real father was just, you know, he just didn’t care about us. He had his own life. He disinherited us, everything. And, you know, I didn’t need his money, but I would never do that to my kids. And, you know, so if.

Anthony Codispoti (01:04:22.958)
Okay. He lived the same way. He had the same kind of heart.

Anthony Codispoti (01:04:43.601)
Yeah.

Mark Savoie (01:04:46.446)
And I want to help people because people are sometimes they don’t know how to get out of a bad situation they’re in and they just need somebody who’s looking at it from a different perspective. You know, and if I can help him, I help him. Not saying I’m giving them all kind of money or anything like that, you know, that that’s not how you help people by giving them things. Sometimes advice is worth a lot more. Absolutely. And so, yeah, but if somebody needs to talk to me, you know,

Anthony Codispoti (01:05:07.265)
Sometimes advice is worth a lot more than that.

Mark Savoie (01:05:14.83)
Like I said, I have five children, three grandchildren. My wife and I, we certainly had our battles and growing up and everything. But I love my wife more each day. Every day, you know, and a lot of people say, wow, that’s weird. What’s weird about it? You know, I mean, we’ve been married, you know, yeah, going on 48 years. you know, I asked my wife, said, why are you still with me? Because my wife probably looks.

Anthony Codispoti (01:05:26.29)
That’s terrific.

Anthony Codispoti (01:05:32.774)
the way it’s supposed to be.

Mark Savoie (01:05:41.834)
in forties and she’s sixty three years old if not late thirties okay you know and look at me you know i feel blessed to be married to her and i said why you stayed married to me you know and she goes well i’m waiting for you to become rich and i’m very patient you know and it was a joke you know know how much money you need baby tell me because i think we’re doing pretty good you know we don’t have any debt you know both of us could retire today with no problems

Anthony Codispoti (01:05:58.278)
Ha ha.

Mark Savoie (01:06:08.93)
And she goes, well, I married you for your last name. I love your last name. And that I truly believe. She loves my last name. I don’t know which is hers now. And that’s just, we stuck it out though. And that’s the main thing. Last question for you, Mark. Sure. How do you see your industry evolve in the next couple of years? You think the big changes are.

Anthony Codispoti (01:06:12.966)
Pretty cool name.

Anthony Codispoti (01:06:26.203)
Last question for you, Mark. How do you see your industry evolving in the next couple of years? What do you think the big changes are that are coming?

Mark Savoie (01:06:35.756)
I don’t see radical changes because this has been going on for so long. I think they’re going to start weeding out the smaller companies and it’s going to be definitely more software driven. I mean, we are software driven now with schedules and we put out a schedule and the nurse sees what shifts are open and they can pick it and stuff. I don’t see any drastic changes but.

Anthony Codispoti (01:06:46.002)
Hmm.

Mark Savoie (01:07:01.536)
I do see the industry tightening up a little bit to weed out some of the mom and pops that just can’t meet the standards that are out there today. And it’s just for the protection of the patient.

Anthony Codispoti (01:07:14.79)
Well, it sounds like that’ll be good for Nurses Direct. Yeah. And for the patients as well.

Mark Savoie (01:07:15.086)
Well, it sounds like that will be good for nurses to write. It will. It definitely will be. patients. Look, I certainly appreciate you inviting, you know, Mike and myself onto your show. And that means a lot. I miss radio. I’d go back in a New York second if somebody would hire me. I’ve worked for free. I’ve worked for free. to do that? Well, I almost bought the radio station I worked for.

Anthony Codispoti (01:07:34.33)
Yeah. Any plans? Any thoughts on how to do that?

Anthony Codispoti (01:07:41.636)
Okay.

Mark Savoie (01:07:41.952)
and for years and you know I signed all the non-disclosures and I could actually afford it back you know when I was gonna buy it and they had two main accounts that was supporting that station and I said man if these two accounts go away I’m stuck with this debt you know and I didn’t so I think I’m gonna do something online I have a dual residency I have a residence my domicile where I claim my residence is Gulf Reef, Florida

So have a house there, my driver’s license, everything. I vote in Florida, everything. So I’m working with the city to set up an online television backslash radio station, but online. And so I think I’m going to just have to get into it that way. And the city was really receptive because for some reason the city doesn’t have their own website. And I said, look, let me do something and we can do interviews. And then when y’all need to get out something, they’ll know where to go.

you know, so they’ll have a certain spot on the internet to find out the information that y’all want to get to the citizens of, you know, of the town. Well, we’re going to have to keep in touch. And when that happens, not if, but when that happens, y’all can let me know. it’s going to happen. Or we’ll do some sort of a cross-joint interview. think that would be a lot of fun. Certainly, we’ll let you know. All right.

Anthony Codispoti (01:08:48.166)
Well, we’re gonna have to keep in touch and when that happens, not if, but when that happens, you’ll have to let me know and we’ll have you back on the show or we’ll do some sort of a cross joint interview. I think that would be a lot of fun.

All right. Well, hey, Mark Savoie, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Mark Savoie (01:09:02.796)
Hey Mark, I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. really appreciate it. Look, I enjoyed giving it and hopefully somebody can learn from it. And again, I wish you all the success and thank you for inviting me. Absolutely. Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with

Anthony Codispoti (01:09:15.448)
Absolutely. Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.