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Site: www.physiciansresource.net Company: The Physician’s Resource, Inc. Location: Mountain Top, Pennsylvania Industry: Medical Results Achieved with AccountEdge Network Edition:
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The Physician’s Resource
Mike Filchak first started The Physician’s Resource, Inc. in 1994 working from his 2-bedroom apartment in Yonkers, New York. Ten years later, the business’s new address is Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, a rural suburb of Wilkes-Barre. The Physician’s Resource, Inc. runs efficiently from Mike’s newly added office suite and renovated biomedical laboratory. Mike works with his wife, Karen, and his four other employees. Amidst the hammering of construction workers as they refurbish his home and office, and ringing phones with customers on the other end calling for various equipment and parts, Mike takes some time to talk about his success and the importance a good accounting program has to any business.
The Physician’s Resource, Inc., which started as a "part-time experiment," steadily grew into a multi-million dollar company much in part due to Mike’s business savvy approach to running a small business. "If you’re going to start a business, whatever business it is, it has to be something that you’re very passionate about," says Mike. "If you lose that passion, it’s definitely going to reflect in your sales and your bottom line."
Mike’s passion for medical electronics has fueled his business for over a decade. The Physician’s Resource, Inc. specializes in cardiology, respiratory, OB/GYN, and surgical equipment and supplies. EKG machines, defibrillators, stress test equipment, and OR exam lights and tables are the stock in trade. "Not only are we doing the sales, but we’re also servicing the equipment – myself and two other employees who work here are biomedical engineers. It’s more of a sales service, plus we also have the supplies that go with the equipment that we sell," explains Mike.
The Physician’s Resource, Inc.’s thriving success has produced a subdivision, EMS Resources, which caters to the needs of the Emergency Medical Services. Mike and his team service the equipment that is carried out into the field by paramedics, firemen, and policemen, such as defibrillators and portable monitors.
"When you build a company, you can’t take huge leaps and bounds," says Mike. "You have to build the foundation first and make sure it’s really strong and then you take the next step. You have to build a reputation and with that reputation, you get a following and repeat business. We’ve been in business for a while and we’ve grown slowly, and in that slow growth you build strength and that’s the way you do it."
Results Achieved with MYOB
Before Mike started The Physician’s Resource, Inc., he worked in a hospital for a Fortune 500 company that involved biomedical engineering. The idea to start his own business evolved out of the aspiration to make more money. He knew that if he wanted to start his own business, he’d have to get first-class accounting software. "The first thing I bought was Peachtree. I took one look at it and thought, ‘Oh man, this is not going to be easy.’" Mike returned the software and decided to purchase MYOB after seeing it in a MacMall magazine. "I’ve been using MYOB right from the start. It’s such a nice, tight package," says Mike. He learned about the accounting process mostly through trial and error and if he had a question or didn’t understand something, he’d call MYOB software support. "They’ve been really, really helpful," he says.
The Physician’s Resource, Inc. evolved as MYOB software evolved. "Every year as we learned and grew and needed new features, MYOB would add those things in – it was nice," says Mike. He has found AccountEdge Network Edition to be most useful for his business because now he can run an efficient network. "When you’ve got two people working simultaneously in the company files, you need speed and consistency. It was a big investment in learning more, but it’s going to pay off."
Many of the changes made to AccountEdge have been very advantageous for Mike, particularly the ability to bring up purchase orders numerically by date, vendor, or amount. "I don’t find myself searching for particular orders. You can look it up any way you want," says Mike. He also utilizes the reports and appreciates being able to track inventory, client and vendor histories, how much he buys of something in one year, and what he paid for it.
Mike is able to track customer and vendor performance by using the comments section to edit their logs to see what his collection history has been with them in the past. When Mike buys products for inventory, he can check what his average price is for purchasing products. He uses that as a basis to try and negotiate a better price. Mike deals with a couple hundred vendors, but AccountEdge easily allows him to keep track of where he’s buying the product. "I’ll attach a vendor’s name to the product as my first-choice person to buy from. It helps facilitate the whole purchasing process – it’s great to be able to keep track of everything that we do," says Mike.
The most important feature to Mike is the MYOB Merchant Account Service. Mike says that the ability to process credit cards is essential to his business because many companies won’t do business with you unless you have that ability and some people choose to pay by credit card only. "It makes us feel a little better because I know I have approval and something is in the system for them," says Mike. He also likes the fact that credit card security codes are asked for because it protects both himself and his customers, and his customers appreciate that.
"You can’t run a successful, active business without having a good accounting program backing you up. It’s not going to happen – there are too many variables," Mike says. "MYOB has been very tailorable to our specialty and we’ve been able to mold it right into what we do," says Mike.
"Without MYOB," Mike laughs, "we’d still be running a Mom & Pop show here."
The Physician’s Resource, Inc. continues to grow. Mike predicts that their current setup will satisfy their needs for another five years or so, and then they plan to transfer to an expansive, open lot right off Interstate 80. "The dream is to relocate and build a large warehouse on that property, and then eventually, an office in front of that," says Mike. "And we’ll be taking our MYOB software with us."