Ignite Success showcases leaders who are going the extra mile each and every day. Ignite Success hosts interview team leads and the people they impact, exploring what motivates, engages and fulfills individuals and teams to be more productive, more effective, better at what they do, and happier to do it. See what’s really Igniting Success today. Today our hosts, Morgan Yonge spoke with Nathan Polete.
Nathan Polete
Owner President at Mobility City of Jacksonville
Website Address: jacksonvillefl.mobilitycity.com
Short company description:
Providing repair, rental, and sales for durable medical equipment services to the Northeast Florida area.
Tell me a time you failed forward and what you learned from the experience
I had a failed business partnership recently prior to this business adventure; however, it helped catapult the next transformation in life by making that first step to leave the corporate life.
What are your biggest obstacles and barriers to success?
Understanding what it takes to get to that next level of success and overcoming the financial challenges when starting a new business.
What is the proudest moment of your leadership career?
Starting my partnerships with area vocational rehabilitation agencies with hiring individuals with disabilities..
If a book was written about you and your life, what would it be about?
Yikes, tough question….being authentic in life; maybe how I put other people’s needs in front of my own in life and how I strived to ensure others were successful. Along with striving to connect others with each other to surround ourselves with people that look out for each other.
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Transcript:
Speaker 1
Welcome back to another episode of Buzzworthy Businesses, where we highlight those businesses around town and our leaders who are building buzz and exciting new ventures. I’m Morgan Yonge, joined today by Nathan Polete. Nathan’s lead with Mobility City of Jacksonville. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2
Thanks, Morgan. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1
Yes. So tell me about this new venture. You just got this, this amazing business. So tell me about how you got started.
Speaker 2
Oh, as I told you earlier, it’s a lot of dots connected, but, you know, coming from the corporate life after, 25 plus years, I’ve decided, we take that first step of leaving a corporate life and was, trolling some other adventures, for that next chapter. Because in my current life, I am only 52 and didn’t know I was going to, you know, last another ten years in that corporate world.
Speaker 2
So we always felt a dream of ours was to open our own business and that with the right connections, right. You know, networking of life. Some things fell in our lap and started out with actually partnering with somebody in a different industry, and it was working fine. It was, probably the riskier the two, the where we’re at today.
Speaker 2
But as that happened, it just didn’t work out right. It wasn’t a it was a still love the guy, just not the right partnership for us. And along those lines, I was still working in that corporate Indonesia as a parallel. And then this kind of through conversation with others in the franchise world, somebody based on our conversation said, I think you’d be a great fit for this because you seem like somebody that really wants to help the community.
Speaker 2
Yes. And I’m glad they caught that of me, because then I got connected with this industry, and it’s something we’re passionate about. And it has spiritual rewards, as I was saying before. And, instant gratification in that you actually see you’re helping somebody that moment in time. Yeah.
Speaker 1
So tell me about all the things that you offer to help people.
Speaker 2
Yeah. So number one we like to highlight is repair service first. Yeah, yeah. Next is rentals. We handle rentals and then sales. And we feel repairs is the most important because that’s what the industry lacks the most. We will repair anything, pretty much anything that’s a medical device. And we do mobile service, which we have so many folks that can’t get out of their homes.
Speaker 2
They may have family members that live in another state, so they can’t get out on their own until they have the family member or caregiver around. So we offer the mobile service to come to their homes and do the repairs there. And then we have people that you know, travel for holidays. We really, you know, as us being new, we just learned through the holidays or Thanksgiving, Christmas, how many people do come into this market and need a rental?
Speaker 2
And it could be a hospital bed for their father, a power chair for their mother. You know, any of those devices where they had it at home, they just couldn’t travel with it. So they reach out to us and we’re able to supply it. We get a lot of surgeries. People have surgeries. The Mayo Clinic is a popular place.
Speaker 2
They need lift chairs. People have shoulder surgeries, things that they can’t get up. So we provide those rentals, we deliver, pick out for them. So that’s the benefit. And then, you know, we have the other people that just want to scoot scooter, they want to go to Disney. You know, and it’s a lot cheaper to get a rental from us than going down to Disney and paying for a daily rate, and then they’ll take it with them.
Speaker 2
So we have travel scooters. And then the goal for us really is also to bring them into a showroom. Right. We have a nice showroom with a racetrack. Yes. We.
Speaker 1
Located.
Speaker 2
We’re at 295 and Blanding. So right at the cross right along Blanding. If I always say if anybody knows where Best Buy is. So I just gave Best Buy a plug across the street. We’re in the same plaza. Used to be LA fitness. They’re no longer there. And then guitar centers.
Speaker 1
Okay, fantastic. You said you have a racetrack. Tell me.
Speaker 2
We do the racetrack is, this.
Speaker 1
Is back in the wheelchair.
Speaker 2
I wish I had a picture of it to share. We have a couple of them. One kind of designed for the scooters, and it’s kind of, purposely designed a width of, like, a hallway. So somebody had to use it in their home. They can kind of, you know, take it from around. And we want to make sure everyone who does, you know, we want the right fit for them.
Speaker 2
We don’t want to leave without the right fit. We want to make sure it’s safe. Number one. So if they get in and they don’t feel right in it, yeah, it’s probably not the right scooter for them or a wheelchair power wheelchair. So we you know, we want to make sure they test it. Even with our walkers, our, we call them walking aids.
Speaker 2
They’re called rotators, wheelchairs. Let’s test it out. Let’s make sure you’re not leaving here because it’ll be on our conscience if you leave here and get hurt. And I think people really appreciate that when they. They can come in, touch it, feel it, you know? Amazon. Yes. You might find the best deal. Unfortunately, Animas, doesn’t not have good technical support.
Speaker 2
They don’t have parts available. Many of the companies that we’ve learned, people that we work on, they’ve went out of business. Or it might have just been a fast sale where, somebody bought this great deal, and then that business moved on. Right. And so they won’t support it. And that’s kind of where we’re trying to educate people as well.
Speaker 2
Come in and see it flies.
Speaker 1
Repair some of those equipment. We do, we do.
Speaker 2
They’re just hard to source parts. So we’ve had a couple very rare, but we’ve had times where we’ve had to tell someone, look, they don’t even this company doesn’t exist. We can’t even get a part for this. There are some universal parts that we’ve been able to, you know, work with, but overall, it’s we we would rather them come to us or any other durable medical facility in the area, because they do similar business and, you know, get it from them because then you’re much safer and you have the protection because they, you know, it’s like anything else moving parts, it’s batteries.
Speaker 2
They do wear out. Yeah.
Speaker 1
Over time. So what has been the most rewarding part of this new venture?
Speaker 2
Good question. I, I had a great example yesterday. Where where I did a vet install for, young lady, I like to say it, assisted living. And I got to she, she clearly was in the show business in her life, and, she did a song for me and everything else, and, she was so excited.
Speaker 2
Actually. Makes me.
Speaker 1
I love it.
Speaker 2
But she did, she let me videotape it, and, yeah, she did a song, and she loved her bed, and. And it was just like, those are the things you see. And, you know, the other side is, you know, that even surprises you is some of the things that I wasn’t prepared for as, like, you really go into some homes or some people have some rough conditions, you know, and it puts perspective in life.
Speaker 2
And the ones that I really enjoy when we can help the kids to children that are in mobile. Can’t walk maybe not speak you know, and you, you just feel for the parents that that’s 24 hour coverage for their children. And they’re doing everything they can and it’s such good. They all have such good attitudes about life.
Speaker 2
They look at life differently than any of us. And so I don’t take things for granted, you know, for granted, like I used to. I purposely bring my son to a couple jobs, so he. Oh, yeah. So he gets a feel for, like, see how good you had it. It’s not like that. And, you know, the real world for some others.
Speaker 2
So anyways, that’s been,
Speaker 1
Beautiful.
Speaker 2
It’s just, you know, again, people have a problem. We’re here to solve it. You know, that’s our goal.
Speaker 1
That’s amazing. So you can come into the store or on your website and, that website again.
Speaker 2
Is Jacksonville, Florida, FL, dot mobility sitcom.
Speaker 1
Okay. Fantastic. Yeah. I love it. You help all ages correct?
Speaker 2
Yeah. There’s no, you know, there’s it doesn’t matter your age when you, you need, you know, mobility stuff happens. I mean, unfortunately, some people have had some tragedies in their life, and, you know, we’re just here to support them and hopefully make them more mobile and feel a little more normal.
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for the great work that you’re doing. Thank you. Absolutely a buzz worthy business.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Appreciate.
Speaker 1
Let’s, get this shared out to everybody and have them share it as well to their social so that everyone knows you exist, because we just want to highlight you doing this great work for our community. So thank you so much.
Speaker 2
Thank you.
Speaker 1
Appreciate it. Absolutely. And viewers, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Buzzworthy Businesses. If you want more information on mobility, City of Jacksonville head on over to Daily News network.com. And we have it right there. We will see you in the next episode of Buzzworthy Businesses.
