Growing up as a child in a poor family of 13, Mary Gorder learned firsthand the impact that poverty makes on a family; familial relationships are put in jeopardy and also general health and well-being. Lacking even the most basic of essentials, Mary’s family often suffered from hunger and though her father was a law graduate and an army captain, he had trouble holding down a job.
When Mary was just 7 years old, she entered her first entrepreneurial venture out of necessity, when she began selling food items door-to-door with her siblings. Several years later, she worked cleaning homes helping to make sure her family had food on the table. While this helped alleviate some of the hunger, Mary’s family cold not afford healthcare, which directly resulted in the deaths of her father and sister. It was at this time that Mary’s social-oriented entrepreneurial spirit came alive and she vowed to do her part to make healthcare available to all.
Working from home, Mary set out to launch endeavors dedicated to improving people’s lives. Mary began her entrepreneurial dive into healthcare by establishing Sterlings Home Health Care Solutions, with multiple locations offering services to help older adults live safe, healthy, independent lives in their own homes.
But Mary didn’t stop there, she knew that there were far too many people who could not afford healthcare throughout the U.S. and beyond, even those who had insurance struggled to pay. Empowered by her spiritual faith, she set out to find a solution that would make healthcare more accessible and affordable to all. After intense research into Telehealth solutions, she began the development of Drs. On Calls, a telemedicine platform that provides House Medical Calls, Virtual Telemedicine Services and Concierge Medical Services. Users can access a network of experienced, licensed and board-certified healthcare professional who provide convenient medical consultations to people from the comfort of their own homes via the web or mobile app.
To get things off and running, Mary conducted detailed research and chose her business model. After conducting her due-diligence Mary concluded that her telehealth focus was best spent on remote physician visits, as well as chronic disease management; including “smart” monitoring wearable devices to enable patients’ vital signs to be monitored, such as blood pressure, sugar levels, and weight, and transferred to medical professionals electronically.
Working from home enabled Mary to save a significant amount of money and apply it to the development of the telehealth technology she required. She gathered a talented team of developers who were schooled in building HIPAA- compliant platforms that offer secure, real-time communication solutions using a computer or mobile device. The trickier aspect of choosing a development team was to find one capable of building and integrating the chronic disease management tools with functionality that can track, monitor and transfer patient data in real-time.
With all those pieces in place, Mary focused on offering value-based pricing models to the doctors and patients alike. To ensure that Drs. On Calls attracts top medical talent, she charges only $1 monthly to health professionals to sign on. Mary offers a variety of affordable monthly pricing packages to consumers with regular promotional offers to first-time users and the people who referred them to Drs. On Calls.
In order to spread the word and market her platform nationwide, Mary targeted health care facilities and associations who represented a team of medical professionals. She also directly marketed her services to the healthcare community, using social media channels and advertising. She paid special care to targeting the decision makers and the influencers in the industry.
In order to attract a robust consumer base, Mary focused on educating the public about the numerous benefits of Telehealth, and also to building a community around her brand. For this, she implemented a blend of social media marketing, Google and Facebook advertising, and public relations. In all cases, Mary developed consistent key messaging that clearly communicated the unique selling proposition (USP) of Drs. On Calls and ensure that all corporate messaging aligned with the brand.
Working from home jump-started Mary’s ability to scale her business almost immediately. With the ability to save on rent and the capacity to deduct home office space and a portion of household expenses, Mary was able to focus her financial resources on the development of her product.
Mary’s perseverance, passion and drive has led her to meet and exceed her goals. And she’s not stopping there, as due to demand, Mary has plans to take Drs. On Calls to a global scale. In addition to Drs. On Calls, Mary is the founder of United4Music, which is an independent nonprofit organization that provides FREE music lessons to underprivileged children while emphasizing community service involvement to help improve their well-being, realize their dreams, conviction about their own potential, and become productive members of society.
Life as a home-based entrepreneur has its challenges, as well as its opportunities. By having the passion and drive, we can all develop the strength and tenacity to get us through the toughest of times. By performing solid research, devising a strategic plan and mixing in some hard work and perseverance, we have the potential to take a business to never-imagined heights.
About Mary Gorder
Mary Gorder is the Founder and CEO of Drs. On Calls, a telemedicine platform that develops, markets and operates House Medical Calls, Virtual Telemedicine Service and Concierge Medical Services to a network of experienced, licensed and board-certified healthcare professionals, specially trained to provide highly encrypted, high quality, convenient medical consultations in the comfort of your own home via web and mobile app.
