Executive Profile: Dee Dee and John Mesaros, Southland Pediatric Therapy

Who: Dee Dee and John Mesaros

Business: Southland Pediatric Therapy

Other business: John is also chief financial officer of Moore Industrial Supply.

Address: 1000 Eisenhower Drive, Suite H, Savannah, GA. 31406

Family: Twin sons Mark and Matthew, 32, and twin daughters Madeline and Mallory, 15.

Pet: One dog, Juliet, a terrier mix

Mission statement: To broaden the lives of every child we encounter through caring and exceptional therapeutic services.

What the business does: Serve children up to age 16 by providing speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy.

What do you do?

Dee Dee: I call myself director of operations. I work in the business—managing the services including hiring and marketing.

John: We share this. I do the finances and social media.

Years in Business?

John: Since 2006. That’s whe nthe business formed. We didn’t see our first patient until 2008. It was difficult to start in Georgia, to do therapy in the natural environment (in a home or daycare) and clinic-based (coming to the office). Our partners were familiar with South Carolina, so we started with our first therapist in Bluffton. We opened here (in Savannah) in 2012. We found there was a need. We were getting requests from patients in Savannah to be seen.

Dee Dee: We started out of our home.

John: Then we had an office. We outgrew that office in six months. We had about 25-30 patients a week.

Dee Dee: It quickly tripled when we moved here (to the office on Eisenhower).

John: We did have 1,000 square feet. Now we have 3,000 square feet. And we’re at capacity. We’re considering some satellite locations. We haven’t made any final decision yet.

Best professional achievement?

Dee Dee. Being recognized by the University of Georgia. That’s big for me. (Their business was listed 55th in UGA’s Bulldog 100, a list of the 100 fastest-growing businesses run by UGA alumni).

John: We’re both proud of it. I submitted our business metrics and out of 580 businesses, they picked us.

Are you both UGA graduates?

John: Yes. She was College of Agriculture and I was Terry College of Business. It’s done pretty good by me.

How many employees?

John: We have six full-time employees in office administration. We have 13 (contract) therapists in our Georgia clinic. and 27 (contract) therapists in South Carolina in 14 different counties.

How did the business begin?

Dee Dee: I majored in food science and worked in that for a short time. But I decided to change careers after our daughters were born.

John: Our partners had a similar business in Columbia. And we were looking for something for Dee Dee, something to own and run on a daily basis.

Dee Dee: And John always said he wanted to run his own business.

John: I have the entrepreneurial spirit and I said, “Sure. I could start something.”..At the time I was a practice administrator with Memorial and I was looking for something to do...I tried to come up with five business ideas. And this (Southland) was one of the ideas. It took a lot of hard work. We debated which comes first—advertising for the patients or hiring the therapist. Then we found a physical therapist.

Dee Dee: We quickly realized once we started talking that we had to go to doctors’ offices and tell them (about Southland). We needed to get our feelers out to pediatricians to see what they would need.

John: It’s a lot about relationships—and service. We want to be customer service focused--on both patients and physician’s offices that refer patients to us..

Why are you successful?

Dee Dee: I’m successful because I’m hard-headed. I don’t take no for an answer.

John: Because I’m a work addict. I’m going to work until I’m succes

What are the Future plans?

John: We want to grow cautiously. We don’t want to outpace what we’re working on.

Dee Dee: We have thought of growing west where populations are expanding. Also South Carolina. We’re still evaluating this.

What are some things to avoid?

John: Talking business after 9 p.m. That’s a rule we have.

Dee Dee: I don’t like to talk about it once I get home.

John: We do have monthly meetings. We go to breakfast, different places, and we talk about business. We talk about any issues.

What tips would you offer other businesses?

Dee Dee: You need to have an organizational plan. And a budget.

John: You need to have a long-term view. You need to have a budget and goals. And even if you don’t meet those goals, continue to pursue them over the next year… I actually love business strategy. I come up with ideas and she says no. She’s the rational one. She tempers our reality

Dee Dee: It’s re-visiting ideas again and again.

John: Maybe the first time she says no. And the next time she says no. And then the next time, she says yes.

Southland Pediatric Therapy

(912) 335-1650

www.southlandtherapy.com

info@southlandtherapy.com

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