Empowering Entrepreneurs Jon Appino from Contract Diagnostics
Contract Diagnostics is a nationwide consulting company, not a law firm, and the ONLY company that specializes 100% in physician contract review.
Jon's team of contract review specialists has served many thousands of physicians in all specialties across all 50 states.
Contract Diagnostics was formed in 2011 and has been Jon’s passion ever since. He is dedicated to the education of physicians in the non-clinical (business) aspect of medicine.
Had you been an entrepreneur before? Growing up as a kid?
Oh, funny enough. So I started a stereo company Car Stereos when I was 17, not because I wanted to have a big company and make a lot of money. There were certain brands of stereo equipment that we wanted in Brookings, and there was one, one small stereo company, and they didn't have the good brands and we didn't feel like they gave the customer a good deal. And so my friend and I started a company at 17 just so we could get our brands, and it did well. It's still going successfully under separate ownership.
How did Contract Diagnostics start?
I was looking at this market, you know, 12 years ago or so, there really wasn't like there wasn't like a national brand. And I had lots of friends who were physicians who could kind of give me guidance. I said, Well, who'd you use for this service? And, you know, they didn't know they should, or they called some local attorney who didn't understand physicians and physician contracts.
But how do you sell a service or product to someone who doesn't even know they need it?
Now we have a new product that I feel hundreds of thousands of physicians need. And now we're back in the process of telling them, you know, teaching them that they do absolutely need this product. And I mentioned to my team all the time that I feel like we're trying to sell an iPhone in 1984, you know, and you should try it. You need this in your pocket. It's going to revolutionize the way you live. And people would say, What are you talking about? There's no way I need this thing, you know? So it's it's fun and challenging at the same time.
So what does your team do to help physicians?
So we've got great attorneys that work here, but we don't operate like a law firm, so we don't give legal advice. We're consultants if you will. So we understand the way that a physician should understand risk in a contract so we can go through it with him or her and really kind of explain it in plain English.
And what Jon sees as the "secret" to success...
It's still one of those things that, you know, you find something that you really enjoy. You put your heart soul into it and and you work it till you're blue in the face. And you don't give up and you provide good products and then and things happen.
In an unusual growth pattern, Jon hires his first employee for his "side gig" before he even left his corporate job. Why?
The business was strong and my time was was kind of capped. And I realized that it has to get bigger than just me.
Do you have any regrets or son of a moments that you wish you could do it over again, that you would have changed to get you where you are quicker?
Maybe the one thing that I would change was, is the the way that you that you prioritize initiatives. I think still 32 ideas on ways that we can make the company better. But I think I would have maybe started prioritizing that list maybe a little bit different years ago.
What's been key to Jon's growth is relationships. They have been the key to where he is today. No matter if it's been in his business and corporate, in and around that area, it seems like he's really been able to solidify, grow all the relationships that he has to in order to get to where he is today.
My team ensures physicians and their families get the best possible employment compensation through information, consulting, and coaching on their employment contracts.
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