Owner/President: Kathy Dodd Company: The Corridor Group Address: 6405 Metcalf, Ste. 108 Overland Park, KS 66202 Phone: (913) 263-3795 E-mail: Web Site: www.corridorgroup.com Type of Business: National home care and hospice consulting company Year Founded: 1989
The Corridor Group Inc. (TCG) is one of the nation’s leading providers of consulting services to the home care and hospice care industries. With nearly 20 employees and 60 independent professionals associated with it, TCG has made INC. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest growing companies three years in a row.
The Corridor Group uses business intelligence to materially improve the operations of its home care and hospice care clients, providing change-management services that include compliance and regulatory consulting, mergers and acquisitions, integration of home care entities into hospital systems, executive search and transitional management.
The company also provides educational resources, including home care and hospice care policies and procedures compliance manuals that industry experts say set the standard in meeting strict accreditation guidelines and Medicare Conditions of Participation. Most recently, The Corridor Group launched an Internet-based education product, CHEX.
I figured out early in my career that I wasn’t cut out to be a maintenance manager. I was restless. I liked to create new things and businesses for people. Instead of doing this for others, I decided to strike out on my own. The biggest challenge was trying to find a work/life balance. Also, being a woman-owned business was challenging in the late 1980s, when businesses still were mostly male-driven.
Personal Wealth Being a business owner has put me in better control of managing my personal financial health, and has given me a greater ability to closely manage my financial strategy for retirement. As a business owner, I am responsible for my employees, as well as for all of the expenses. I must sign a line of credit and am personally responsible for accepting the possibility of default. On the flip side, however, I have the benefit of financial windfall if the company performs well and meets budget.
In the beginning, I definitely worked a lot more. I ate, slept and breathed the business, working 60+ hours per week. It’s only been in the last year, at the 15-year mark, that I have given myself permission not to work 40+ hours per week.
TCG has evolved and now has more employees and good managers, so my goal as CEO is to work more on the business, and less in it. This allows me more time and flexibility to pursue other things, such as personal interests, family and community/civic involvement.
Community Wealth Through The Corridor Group, I employ 13 people in the Overland Park office, five in San Francisco and an additional 60 independent contractors across the country. Job creation, offering job security to employees and impacting taxes in Missouri, Kansas and California also contribute to community wealth. The Corridor Group also works with the United Way to support non-profits through deferrals.
Social Wealth I am the founder and president of Katy’s Place, which provides an annual weekend retreat for families affected by HIV and AIDS. I also am a 2005 co-chair of Women of Influence, the Kansas Women’s Business Center annual event. And I participate in fundraising events for various local non-profit organizations throughout the year.
After a career in nursing and directing hospital-based home health services, I founded The Corridor Group to address the operational issues of home care and work to help providers improve processes and performance.
Financing I personally financed the start-up of my business. I was lucky to have a client on the first day I started my business. With my business structure, I didn’t really need to borrow money and didn’t see the point in maintaining a relationship with a bank. However, I have become enlightened about how vitally important this relationship is because you never know when you’ll need access to cash. Around 1995, I started to develop a relationship with Missouri Bank & Trust. Now, I have a great working relationship with the bank—I think this is a must for any small business owner.
Support I have several sources of support as a woman business owner. For the past 10 years, I’ve been a member of The Executive Exchange, a group of 12 women business owners who meet regularly. I also am a former member of The Executive Committee, which supports CEOs of privately held companies. I have found The Kauffman Foundation to be great about pulling together women’s groups and resources to support business owners. Accomplishments My biggest accomplishment is the fact that The Corridor Group is still a viable, credible and successful organization after 15 years and all the changes in the economy and in the healthcare industry. Another significant milestone as a business owner was opening a business in Turkey, partnering with a company in a totally different country and culture to develop a home care system for its citizens.
I had been interested in exploring an international market for TCG’s services. I started due diligence and market research in 1999. I chose a Turkish company, Eczacibasi—which means “pharmacy” in Turkish—and pursued a partnership, which we formed in 2000. I saw it as an opportunity to extend their knowledge of home care and hospice care as consultants; however, the company was more interested in forming a true partnership, rather than working with consultants. They believed that the venture would be more successful as a partnership.
TCG has been in Turkey for five years. Now, there are a few healthcare companies looking to buy out TCG’s share of the partnership, but Eczacibasi still will look to TCG to serve on its board and be involved on a consultant level. I lived in Turkey for a year with a Turkish roommate. At first, I was there every two months for a couple weeks. Later, I was there every three months. Now, I go twice a year for board meetings and correspond a great deal by e-mail and monthly conference calls.
TCG was the first out-of-country service provider to have a joint venture as large as Eczacibasi, which is the fifth largest company in Turkey.
Challenges The greatest challenge in owning a business is keeping the business pipeline consistently full so that you’re able to operate with a substantial cash flow. To overcome that challenge, I work with a marketing/PR company. I continually seek new opportunities by going to key association shows, renting booth space and gaining visibility for my products and services. I also speak at workshops all over the country.
