Gina Blean and Kelly Heysinger first became friends while working together in a therapy clinic in Maquoketa. Their vision of creating a team-oriented, holistic approach to therapy led to the opening of their pediatric outpatient therapy facility, which offers physical, occupational, and speech language therapy services.

It took Gina and Kelly nine months from their initial contact with the Northeast Iowa Small Business Development Center in Dubuque to the opening of their business, Unified Therapy Services. The partners enrolled in the SBDC’s Smart Start class in July 2005, where they started learning the skills necessary to develop a business plan and cash flow statements. Through a number of one-on-one counseling sessions, e-mails and phone calls with SBDC Regional Director Terry Sullivan, the partners perfected their professional business plan and cash flow projections for presentation to three banks. A major challenge in projecting the business’s cash flow was predicting the timeline of payments from insurance companies; this continues to be a challenge and requires constant monitoring.

Kelly and Gina started Unified Therapy Services with three therapists and one office support person in a 4,000 square foot facility. Several months after opening they had to expand due to their quickly increasing client load—in April 2006, they had three patients; in April 2007 they had 120 patients. By the end of 2007 they had seven full-time and four part-time employees and had increased their office space to 5,700 square feet.

In the first year of business, Unified Therapy Services contributed significantly to the economy of the City of Dubuque, the State of Iowa, and the federal government. Eleven jobs were created, with a payroll in excess of $250,000; state withholding taxes in excess of $15,000 and federal taxes in excess of $45,000 were paid. Gina and Kelly also moved to Dubuque and supported the economy by purchasing homes. The partners have a business loan for build out, equipment and working capital, and invested $25,000 of their own capital.

2008 was the year of permanent commitment for Gina and Kelly. The business continued to grow and they found they needed additional space because they had more patients, which meant hiring more employees, and they needed help to either buy the building they were in or purchase another facility. Through careful planning and number crunching they decided to purchase the building next to their existing location and build it out to suit their needs. This was an extremely tactical move because their current clients would not have to search for their new facilities, and they could monitor the build-out with little disruption to their daily routine.

With help again from the SBDC, Gina and Kelly revised their original business plan, completed new cash flow projections, and obtained a loan to purchase the building next door. At the end of 2008 they employed eleven full-time and six part-time employees while continuing to renovate their new facilities.

Gina and Kelly explain why they’re so very thankful for the SBDC, "The Small Business Development Center assisted us in making our dreams a reality. From attending the Smart Start class to all of our private meetings with the director, we learned to ask ourselves the tough questions. Through analyzing every component of our business and the statistical information of our small business and the Dubuque area, we successfully completed our business plan and ventured forward with our dream. The knowledge we gained from the private meetings enabled us to appropriately lay the foundation of what our business would be built on. The director was a great resource and someone we look up to and continue to lean on for guidance with various stages of our business growth. Without the support of the SBDC our small business would not be what it is today—a thriving and growing part of the Dubuque community."