(upbeat music) - Hello, I'm Nido Qubein.

Welcome to Side by Side.

My guest today founded Mission Mobile Medical Group one week before COVID hit.

Her determination speaks volumes and is making waves in mobile healthcare.

Today we'll visit with Amanda Lefevre.

- Funding for Side by Side with Nido Qubein is made possible by: - Coca-Cola Consolidated makes and serves over 300 of the world's best brands and flavors to over 65 million consumers across 14 states and the District of Columbia.

With 17,000 purpose-driven teammates, we are Coca-Cola Consolidated.

- The Budd Group has been serving the Southeast for over 60 years.

Specializing in janitorial, landscape, and facility solutions, our trusted staff delivers exceptional customer satisfaction.

Comprehensive facility support with The Budd Group.

- Truist, we're here to help people, communities, and businesses thrive in North Carolina and beyond.

The commitment of our teammates makes the difference every day.

(upbeat music) - Amanda, welcome to Side by Side.

I am intrigued by the business that you and your husband, Travis Lefevre, started right here in North Carolina.

It's an amazing business.

It serves the needs of so many people in medical services.

Tell me what the business is and tell me what gave you the idea to start such a business.

- Yeah, so Mission Mobile Medical is a mobile healthcare company.

So we build and deploy mobile clinics all over the country.

- You build and deploy.

- We do.

And then run them logistically.

- What does that mean?

You build, what do you build?

- What do we build?

We build enrolling doctor's offices is a great way to say it.

- Really, like buses?

- Yes.

Yeah, so like a blood mobile that you would see, or even an RV that you would go camping in.

So we'll take one of those.

- You build them and then you deploy them in different places.

- Yep, we're in 42 states and Canada and Puerto Rico right now.

And so the mobile programs go out and then they serve rural America.

So they typically are stationed in one area and it's kind of a hub and spoke model.

And so the clinic will go out and it'll be at this one location on Monday and then it'll go out and it'll be at a different location on Tuesday and a different location on Wednesday.

And it's really taking the care to the people who need it the most.

- Wow, so I hear all the time about rural America struggles attracting MDs, medical doctors, attracting quality healthcare.

Sometimes they have to travel long distances.

Some people don't have the means to do that.

You literally take it to them.

- Yes, absolutely.

- And who operates these mobile units?

- It depends.

So we operate a lot of them actually.

And then there's a healthcare centers that are in the area that will as well.

There's some nonprofits that are very passionate about this work.

So there's a lot of people that are trying to solve the lack of access to care.

There's 46 million Americans right now that lack access to care.

- Really?

- Yes, it's insane.

- 46 million Americans lack access to quality healthcare.

- Yes, any type of quality healthcare.

Yes, even just primary care.

- Really?

So do you hire, I mean, it takes a professional to run those.

I can't go run one of your mobile units.

I'd be arrested and put in jail right away.

So you have to find qualified people who do that.

- We do.

- And who are these people?

The nurses, the doctors?

- Yeah, PAs or medical students.

We have all kinds of community healthcare workers that are out there and then operators, of course.

So there's someone that has to drive and move the clinic around and set it up as well.

So typically there's a few valiant souls who are out there boots on the ground every day.

- I'd say.

And you have to be regulated by state or licensed?

- Yeah, every state is different particularly, but for the most part, we partner with the community health centers.

And so their regulation comes, it's just another access point for them.

- I see.

- It's an extension of their already work in order.

- The licensing happens with the hospital or with the medical group, et cetera.

- Yeah.

- You work with them and through them to get these licenses.

What's the biggest challenge that you face?

- Oh my gosh.

There are a lot of challenges to be totally honest.

We have extreme growing pains right now.

We started in March of 2020, which was a whole adventure in itself.

And so we've just been growing like crazy ever since.

And it seems like this mission is so much bigger than us that we are unsure how to keep up with it.

So our biggest thing is growing pains.

- And it's owned by you and your husband, Travis and Amanda Lefevre.

You were born in Utah.

- That's correct.

- And then you moved to North Carolina because your husband is from North Carolina.

And I mean, you're the perfect example of entrepreneurs.

You had an idea, you took a risk, you employed and deployed capital.

And it must be very expensive to have a factory that actually builds those mobile units and then to staff them and to operate them.

You have to have a lot of capital.

Do you have like the Bezos of the world investing in your company?

- I wish we did.

Honestly, we bootstrapped from the very beginning.

So one, back in the day, Travis went and took a regular job at a specialty manufacturing company because we had a kid that was going to college and another one that was soon after gonna be in college as well.

And so he needed a steady job.

And one afternoon he came home and we heard the garage door open and my daughter just went running across the kitchen 'cause that always means that daddy's home, right?

And so she's like, "Daddy's home, daddy's home."

And sure enough, there he was, she's hanging off of his leg.

And I'm like, "This is a nice surprise.

Like, what are you doing here?"

And he said, "Well, I got fired, but it's okay.

But it's okay."

And I was like, "It's okay."

- Yes, can't be okay.

- That doesn't sound okay, especially if we need stability.

- Yes, with children and expenses and all that.

- Yes, and medical and college.

And so he said, "Do you remember Rachel?"

And I said, "No, no, I don't.

I'm not sure why we're talking about someone named Rachel right now, to be totally honest."

But he said, "Rachel was the nurse from Wake Forest that wanted to take a mobile clinic up into the mountains of rural North Carolina."

And he said, "She came to us and asked us at the specialty vehicle company to build her a mobile clinic so she could have like a ruling doctor's office up there and meet those people."

And the folks put together this beautiful proposal.

They slid it across the table to her.

It was for a million dollars.

It was gonna take 18 months.

And she laughed at them.

And she said, "I don't have a million dollars.

I have 250,000 and I need it by the end of the month.

I mean, by the end of the year."

And so they went back to the drawing board and they figured out a way to use an RV that you would go camping in and take out the consumer products, the beds and tables and the chairs, and then put in commercial grade products.

And they were able to do that in half the time for half the money.

And so Rachel was able to go up and serve that area, which is where Travis grew up.

And Travis was very excited about it, passionate actually, that they should continue to do that.

And so the very definition of division is two visions.

And so his vision was very different than the leadership's vision.

And so one day they sent him home with a box and he said, "We're gonna do it.

Like we're gonna go up and we're gonna make a difference.

- That's amazing.

- If they're not gonna do it, we're gonna do it."

- I mean, if there's ever an American spirit or an American dream, this is it.

You literally started in your driveway.

- We did, yes.

So it was insane.

After we decided that we were gonna do this, especially since his parents, he grew up in the mountains.

A lot of his family would say things like, "We don't trust the doctors and you can't go to the hospital.

That's where you go to die.

And if you see a doctor, then they'll find something wrong with you."

And so he started talking about what if there was a Rachel that my parents had known up in rural America, in rural, in the mountains.

And maybe that would have been different because both of them died prematurely and they had preventable diseases that were small, that turned into something chronic and then became catastrophic.

And it was really, I just knew it was personal.

And he was really passionate about it.

And then when he started talking about that, I was like, "Maybe our daughter would have met her grandpa."

Maybe he would have had a few more birthdays.

- It's a sense of purpose for you.

- Yeah, for sure.

And so we got started and I said, "Okay, let's do it."

And we drained our savings.

We borrowed $200,000 and then we bought a mobile clinic and then we incorporated on March 11th.

And the very next week everything shut down.

- And today is a multi-million dollar company growing so fast.

It's gonna be one of America's fastest growing entrepreneurial companies.

You know, Amanda, sometimes out of adversity can emerge abundance.

You got fired, saw an opportunity, had a personal connection.

And now you've found a tremendous opportunity to grow your business and make life even better than ever.

And you're not worried about kids in college and paying expenses, but you're focused on building a business.

You're the CFO of the business.

- I am, that's correct.

- And Travis is the CEO of the business.

So this is truly a family business.

Will your kids get involved in the business?

- So our older kids both speak science, I say.

Will's in his PhD program right now for biochemistry and Gracie's going into speech pathology at University of South Carolina.

But our daughter, London, she was with us through all of the years because she was being homeschooled because it was COVID.

And so she's in tons of pictures where we started like our first shop that was 5,000 square feet and we grew out of it in 30 days.

And she's at the kitchen table for all of the calls.

You'll see her like playing on her Nintendo Switch.

And so now she'll say like she's the junior CEO.

And that one day, one day- - There's a future there.

- Yeah, she'll be the real CEO.

- This is a succession plan.

- There is, for sure.

- So you started with a small factory.

How big is the factory now?

- We're at 75,000 square feet.

- 75,000 from 5,000, 75,000.

And you build these mobile units in that place.

North Carolina based company.

- That's correct.

- Led by a couple, including a female who was running it for now.

You have an MBA and you went to Weber University and go for it and so on.

What is it that you would say to a young person today who wanna start an entrepreneurial company?

It's an idea and would like to put it to work.

What would be your advice to them?

- Ooh, that's a really good question.

And I think sometimes I don't feel like I am qualified to give advice, but I can tell you some things that I've definitely learned over the years.

And one of those things, and it's very elementary, but it's to be patient.

- Be patient.

- Yes, and I am not a very patient person at all.

It's the opposite.

I want things done right now or yesterday.

And I've learned after years and years of just trying to grow this business and trying and failing and starting new things and doing something different and then having to pivot that all of that accumulates over time.

And that there's really not very many overnight successes, that there is a decade or so of someone that's been working on their craft or has been trying and doing different things.

And so I would say, be patient for sure.

But then the next piece is that you've gotta do your best, right?

It's you don't, every day you have to summon the best of who you are.

And it's a very intentional act.

And sometimes it is not something that you want to do and it can be very hard to do, but there'll be days that are more difficult than others.

But I have a 24 hour rule actually.

So I have a 24 hour rule that if something's really bad, I can get mad and I can be dramatic and I can cry in my car, in my closet.

Those are my two favorite places.

And then after 24 hours, I gotta get back to work.

- No more pity party.

- No more pity party.

And then even for celebrations, they're the same, right?

You know, that's a quality that a lot of great leaders have is that allow yourself a time to be upset, but then you must get rid of it.

You must move on.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- The sun rises in the East still the next day, whether you like it or not.

Speaking of being patient, one of the basic rules of entrepreneurship is that speed sometimes, oftentimes, is more important than accuracy.

What entrepreneurs discover is that if I have to wait till I have a perfect plan, I may never get started.

So I just have to get started, make some mistakes, it's okay.

There's something called productive failures.

I can learn from them and move on.

And that's how entrepreneurs are able to grow and so on.

And then the second piece that intrigues me about you is that, you know, you just said, I don't know if I'm qualified to give advice.

That's a strength entrepreneurs have is that they don't feel like they've arrived at a point of, you know, knowing everything, having all the knowledge and skill they need.

They understand that school is never out for the pro.

You know, learning is a process.

It is not a program.

And the program has a beginning and an end.

Process has a beginning, no end.

That's what impresses me about your work.

- Now you are imagining, Amanda, and your husband, Travis, you're imagining that this company is gonna explode.

- Oh, absolutely.

- It's beyond your desire to say, well, I wanna control it here or there.

It's just the demand is there.

There are trends in the marketplace that's causing that to happen.

What are some of those trends in the healthcare industry that is really giving you an opportunity?

- I think one of the things is actually taking the care to the people where they need it the most.

People are tired of going to the hospital and being treated like a number.

They very much want to have a relationship with their providers.

And so that is a huge trend.

And then another trend is that a lot of rural hospitals are being closed and shut down.

Like they just cannot support the overhead for them to be in those areas.

And so it's becoming even more difficult for people to get care whenever they need it because it's even farther away.

And so this model really presents a great opportunity for people to be able to get the care that they need, but also to support a doctor or a nurse or whatever, just one day a week would be great and can serve this community.

- So do you literally take the mobile unit and park it where?

- It could be anywhere.

It could be at a YMCA or a church or-- - And how do the people know about it?

- So usually we work with a community health worker there and the community health center.

So they're the ones that have the trust.

- What is a community health center?

- A community health center, so there are over 1900 community health centers around the country and there are safety net health providers.

And so they're there for the folks that cannot afford to go to the doctor and they're able to go and get care from them.

Yes, so they used to be called-- - It's a nonprofit organization.

- It's a federally qualified health center.

So it used to be called that and now it's called a community health center.

- I see, I see.

- And so they're a staple in the community and so we partner with them and they know where to go and the people to see.

And so it's really-- - They announce it and let people know.

- Yes, absolutely.

Because us just coming in like hot and heavy is not a good option in a community.

No, we have to build relationships and so for it to be successful.

- What are some of the exams or medical issues that you solve in a mobile unit?

- Mobile clinic.

- Can I have an MRI in a mobile unit?

- You can have, you can get a mammogram in a mobile unit.

- Mammogram, okay.

I mean, I don't need a mammogram.

- Yeah, no, you don't.

(laughing) - I understand your point.

- Somebody else can.

Yes, and they're working to get CT scanning in them right now.

- At least I don't think men do mammograms.

- I don't think so either.

- Okay, yes.

- But I can look that up.

(laughing) - But you can have like primary doctor visits.

- Primary care, yep.

So medical, dental, behavioral health.

- What about pediatrics, for example?

- Yes, absolutely.

So one very strong component for mobile clinics is the school-based health.

And so they'll bring a mobile clinic to the schools that do not have nurses or anybody on staff.

And they're able to come in and they can do medical exams.

They can come in and they can do dentist appointments.

They'll come in, there'll be another one for behavioral health, which is a real issue in our country right now.

And so there's a lot of utility and use cases for these specifically for children and adults and the elderly population as well.

- It's really a work of stewardship.

- It is.

- I mean, it's a business, but it's a business that meets the basic needs of humanity and in areas that if you didn't do it, would get neglected, really.

- Right, yeah.

The whole person care is a big deal.

- How do hospitals and medical groups look upon your work?

Do they look upon you as a great partner?

They look upon you as a competitor?

- Well, originally they didn't look at us all.

And a lot of them-- - They ignored you.

- They ignored us completely.

- They thought you're not going anywhere.

- Yeah, they're like, this is not a real thing.

And even the competitors in the market, like nobody took us seriously.

The associations would take our money, but they would not let us participate.

- I see.

- And so we were really just like the outcasts in the industry for a really long time.

And we had tons of people telling us that it wasn't gonna work and that it couldn't be done.

And these mobile clinics had to be indestructible and that nobody would ever buy them from us.

And so plenty of them would ignore us, but eventually they couldn't ignore our results.

And so now we've partnered with universities, we've partnered with healthcare systems, we've just grown significantly because there is such a need for it out there.

- Yes, absolutely.

Your view of healthcare in America as a whole is what?

- It's awful.

I think it's-- - Awful in what sense?

- I think it's awful in a lot of different ways.

It's extremely expensive.

It doesn't seem to be catering towards the individual person anymore.

And I don't think that we can solve the healthcare issue, but I definitely feel like we can put a dent in the issue itself.

- You're talking about Mission Mobile Medical now.

- Yes, yes, absolutely.

- You're helping in your own way.

Doesn't matter how small it is in the genre of totality, it's still meaningful and impactful.

And where do you guys wanna take this business?

- Oh man, so-- - I mean, you're in 42 states now.

- We are, yep.

There's 285 clinics that we've touched in the United States right now.

And then in 42 states, but we have big plans.

This is gonna be our best year ever.

We've grown significantly from my first $5,000 check or deposit in my very kitchen to we're 156 million in revenue at this point.

And I just think that we're getting started.

Like it's been training season, but there's 3,143 counties and parishes in the United States.

And we believe that we can get a mobile program into every single one of those.

- Is somebody competing with you?

Is there another group or two coming on and saying, let's do the same thing by golly.

- Yes, absolutely.

There's a couple fast followers that have come on board, but we have a really unique model and we're a little bit ahead of everybody else.

And so-- - How is it unique?

In what sense?

- The uniqueness is most people just build the equipment and then give it to whoever buys it.

- I see.

- And we're not that, we're a partner.

And so we can of course build it for you, but we want to make sure that you're up and running.

And so we provide service and warranties and then we also do advising and then, or we can do it all if you want a clinic and you don't want to have to go through the growing-- - You can bring the staff and everything.

- We can do all of those things.

- It's a total service.

- Yeah, well Amanda, you have the spirit of entrepreneurship and you have a sparkle about you when you speak about it.

You really believe in what you're doing.

Someone said, "Beliefs lead to behaviors, "behaviors lead to results."

And it all begins with the belief system that you believe you can do something good and you go do it.

I'm fascinated by the fact that you're a young woman in North Carolina, a very important part of the business as your husband will proclaim and claim loudly.

You are a very dynamic part of this business and you together with faithful courage started it and are doing it and are helping a lot of people.

And that's fascinating to me because America was built on the backbones of small businesses, right?

And these small businesses have met the needs that goes more often than not unmet and therefore hurt people in all kinds of ways.

So about North Carolina for a moment.

You are in North Carolina.

- We are, yep.

- And how many counties in North Carolina?

- Ooh, that's a great question.

I'm not 100% sure to be honest.

- But you're in several, right?

- But we are in several, yes.

North Carolina is one of our main states that we're in.

We're in the highest number of clinics is in North Carolina.

- I see.

- As one would expect 'cause you started here.

- And it's local and people can come to us.

We can go to them very easily.

- And Travis grew up in a rural area.

- He did, yes.

He grew up in Wilkes County.

So his family was dirt floor poor and chicken farmers.

And so he relates very much to all of the folks that are in rural America and skeptical of the healthcare system.

- And he understands the needs that they have.

- He does.

- And the challenges they're in.

- Absolutely.

- What would keep you from exploding this business?

Is it capital?

Is it competition?

Is it a recession?

What would be some of the threats that you have in your business?

- I think right now, the biggest thing is us not being able to grow it as quickly as it needs to grow.

For us, it's the leadership and having the shops to be able to do that and to attract the talent.

So far, we have the most incredible team of high performers and we've been very fortunate to attract some really great people.

But it's still hard to find folks that can help the mission, especially when we want to 10X.

So that is our goal is to 10X in the next five years.

- To grow it 10 times bigger.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Which some people think that's crazy because I said 3,143 counties and parishes, but there's 18,300 Starbucks in the United States.

I don't know if you knew that or not.

- Yeah, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

- I don't know, but I just know that like for every six Starbucks, we could have one mobile health program serving a community.

And I just don't think that that's too crazy, you haven't asked.

- Yeah, I don't think it is at all.

I think the greed for the need for healthcare is only growing, not diminishing.

And certainly the need in rural areas is gonna continue to be at the highest level.

And you're right, attracting the right people while you maintain the right culture, while you grow in a very intentionally congruent manner, these are great demands placed on a business and leadership.

But I have no doubt that you and Travis and your executive team will continue to do that and continue to do it with excellence.

Amanda, I honor you for what you're doing because you're making good things happen.

And I congratulate you for being successful, especially right here in the Tar Heel State.

- That's right.

Thank you, it's been wonderful.

- Thank you for being here.

(upbeat music) ♪ - Funding for Side by Side with Nido Qubein is made possible by: - Coca-Cola Consolidated makes and serves over 300 of the world's best brands and flavors to over 65 million consumers across 14 states and the District of Columbia.

With 17,000 purpose-driven teammates, we are Coca-Cola Consolidated.

- The Budd Group has been serving the Southeast for over 60 years.

Specializing in janitorial, landscape, and facility solutions, our trusted staff delivers exceptional customer satisfaction.

Comprehensive facility support with The Budd Group.

- Truist, we're here to help people, communities, and businesses thrive in North Carolina and beyond.

The commitment of our teammates makes the difference every day.