Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Artman.
Marissa, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2014, I opened my first business – Second City Speech – with the dream of providing quality, comprehensive outpatient care to both children and adults in the Chicagoland area. I saw a great need for individualized treatment and quality time spent with individuals rather than what my clients referred to the “cattle call” feel of some of the bigger institutions. For three years, I enjoyed working with a variety of clients including children in schools, adults seeking accent modification, children working on reading and writing, and a new aspect of speech pathology: teletherapy.
In 2017, I was given the opportunity to expand my practice to the Virgin Islands and hone my focus to provide more teletherapy services to those in Chicago and around the country. This has allowed me to reach a greater number and variety of people who may otherwise not have access to speech therapy services. Second City Speech became Linguabilities, and the company continues to grow!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been a very difficult road getting here, for sure. The state of Illinois does not make it easy or affordable for small business owners to get started with expensive, time-consuming paperwork to get up and running. Additionally, finding a regular client base in a saturated market like Chicago was also difficult. That’s the double-edged sword of a great city like Chicago. There are so many opportunities and options, but also so much competition.
Please tell us about Linguabilities.
Linguabilities specializes in outpatient speech therapy services for both children and adults. We are now virtually based, housed out of the Virgin Islands, which allows us to focus on high-quality teletherapy services for clients. This is a great service delivery model for those clients far away from clinics, with transportation issues, homebound clients, or simply those who don’t want to deal with traffic. It allows us to provide services to a greater number of people, especially those who may not have access to speech therapy otherwise.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have done more upfront footwork making connections with referral sources while also keeping a part-time job. Making the leap into full-time private practice is a scary one, and you need to be sure that you’re ready for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.linguabilities.com
- Phone: 317-225-8349
- Email: info@linguabilities.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linguabilities
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Linguabilities1
Image Credit:
Marissa Artman
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