HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.
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HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.
"Why Not Us: Building a Movement in HTM with Mark L. Taylor"
In this inspiring episode of HTM On The Line, host Bryant “B-Hawk” Hawkins Sr. welcomes Mark L. Taylor. Co-founder of Renew Biomedical and Master Medical Equipment, for a powerful conversation about purpose, innovation, and the impact of believing in something bigger than yourself.
Mark shares how he and his wife, Jill Taylor, built not just successful companies, but a movement within the Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) industry. From facing staffing challenges to launching a Department of Labor-certified Biomed apprenticeship program, the Taylors turned obstacles into opportunities, with Jill’s vision playing a key role in creating the Renew Biomedical Training Academy and establishing pre-apprenticeship programs for local high school students.
This episode gets into leadership, legacy and the importance of building a business that feels like family. If you’re looking to be inspired by how real people are transforming the future of HTM, this one’s for you.
We are immensely grateful to our partners: College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, A.M. BICKFORD, INC., UptimeServices, PM BIOMEDICAL and Talent Exclusive—for their support in making this podcast possible. Their dedication to advancing the Healthcare Technology Management industry is truly commendable. For more information about their contributions and services, please visit their websites.
For more podcast episodes, motivational videos, blogs, and newsletters, make sure to visit our website at www.elevatehtm.com. We look forward to connecting with you.
Welcome back to HTM on the line. I'm your host, bryant Hawkins Sr. And today we've got a special guest, mark L Taylor. He's the co-founder of Renew Biomedical and Master Medical Equipment, a leader who turned challenges into opportunity and helped shape the future of HTM through training, innovation and passion. If you're ready to be inspired and reminded why this healthcare technology management industry matters, this one's for you. Let's get to it. We have a special guest with us today, mark L Taylor. How are you doing today, mark?
Mark L. Taylor:Good. How are you doing Brian? Be whole Everything good up there in New.
Bryant Hawkins:Orleans. Everything's great up there, man, actually really kind of chilly this morning. I was shocked we got a few more cool days left in there for us. All right things up there. Y'all survived that tornado I'm about to say hurricane yeah tornado they hit.
Mark L. Taylor:We're very fortunate. Just a little damage and some flooding here in Jackson, but a couple counties south of McMurray County got hit pretty hard. A lot of folks that were in the path of a tornado that touched down. But I think they're digging out. Our thoughts and prayers are with those folks. But good. Here in West Tennessee today it was actually a beautifully sunny day, about 65 degrees. A little cool this morning, but nice day here in West Tennessee.
Bryant Hawkins:Great, great. Well, Mark, before we get deep into this podcast, give us a little background about yourself. Tell us about you.
Mark L. Taylor:Well, that's a loaded question asking a salesperson to tell them about themselves. So my name is Mark Taylor. I'm born and raised here in Jackson, tennessee, went to high school here, went to college here for a little while, played football at Lambeth University here in town before transferring to Lipscomb University in Nashville. Finished up my degree there. I had a degree in finance and economics. I met my wife there Spring Break 95. She didn't like me to say that, but it was a long-term Spring Break hookup. Her name is Jill and she's, like I said, partners with me in Renew Biomedical and Master Medical Equipment and working in the family business in the restaurant at the time and had an opportunity to get into medical equipment sales with a friend of mine from high school and took that opportunity and, long story short, that's where I am today.
Mark L. Taylor:I'm still in Jackson, tennessee. We have Master Medical Equipment, renewable Medical, and me and my wife live here. We got our sons a sophomore at University of Tennessee and my daughter is a sophomore in high school, very fortunate to have my parents live just down the road from me. My dad was a local small business owner and kind of got my drive and entrepreneurial spirit and salesmanship from him, and his name is Lawrence Taylor. My mom normally lives right down the street, so I'm the only child.
Mark L. Taylor:So everybody always asks me like why did you base your businesses out of Jackson Tennessee? My first response is usually why not out of Jackson Tennessee? My first response is usually why not? And then, further than that, jackson in West Tennessee is a good place to have a business. We've been here our entire business career and it's a good community. We're pretty well situated in the middle of the country, about 45 miles from Memphis. So there's a little company in Memphis that does logistics named FedEx. So I tell everybody I say well, if FedEx decides Memphis is a good place for logistics, then why not Jackson Tennessee? So that's a little bit about me, bron.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, All that you said.
Mark L. Taylor:one thing stuck out to me man, your dad is Lawrence Taylor, that's right. That's right Not the one that played for the Giants. Those of us who've been around for a while it's back when I was growing up. People always said is your dad Lawrence Taylor? Like yeah, they said really yeah. And then of course, they look at me and oh, he's not the football player. I was like no, I got a good picture of my dad when the St Louis Cardinals football team was still in St Louis, got a picture of him and number 57, lawrence Taylor, with the Giants. It was a cool experience, it's 56, by the way too, man 56.
Mark L. Taylor:You're a bigger LT fan than I am.
Bryant Hawkins:Hey, man, just a sports fan. When you said that, lawrence Taylor, I said, wow, I know you heard that a lot throughout your lifetime. Oh yeah, well, you mentioned you and your wife are co-founders. How does that feel, working with the wife, man? Well, I don't know.
Mark L. Taylor:We work together daily or y'all work Anybody who comes to visit our offices how closely we work I have. We're a true mom and pop. We have a facility in Jackson here. It's a pretty big facility, we have about 62,000 square foot. However, at the front of the facility I have my office and then we have a bathroom and in between, well, my office, jill's office and the bathroom in between, so we share a bathroom. So it doesn't get much more mom and pop than that. So we're fortunate we work together and we do have different roles and she has certain roles in Renew and me and I've got other roles and we actually have a couple other companies that we run out of that location. But we are a true mom and pop.
Bryant Hawkins:That's awesome. That's awesome. So, master medical equipment I heard you mention that in Renew Biomedical Services I'm familiar with. But before we get into Renew, tell me a little more about Master Medical.
Mark L. Taylor:Equipment, sure Master Medical Equipment. We started in 2011. I had been in another business and split from my partner with that and was looking for something to kind of start up here in Jackson. I actually started with a company called Master Fit Medical Supplies here in Jackson. It was already in the physician office supply space here in Jackson was already in the physician office supply space and the idea was for me to help them with supplies and they were going to help me sell equipment. Long story short, after a couple of years the equipment side was outpacing the supply side. So I bought those guys out and me and Jill started.
Mark L. Taylor:Master Medical Equipment shortened it and so in 2013, master Medical Equipment was focused mostly on selling capital medical equipment to basically either the pre-hospital market or post-acute market. So we concentrated on EMS and ambulance services as well as long-term care, snfs, surgery centers, anything outside the hospital. We sell defibrillators, vital signs monitors, anything outside the hospital. We sell defibrillators, vital signs monitors, ekgs, iv pumps, ventilators, all types of electronic medical equipment. We sell new and used medical equipment. We call it recertified.
Mark L. Taylor:So that was kind of the genesis of our business and so we used to outsource our service. So if we got a piece of used equipment and we need it checked out or tested or PMed, or we need some repair work done. We used to outsource it. Well, after, from 2011 to 2014,. We were doing so much outsourcing as our master medical equipment sales grew that we realized, oh well, you know, it's time for us to start a service company. Oh well, you know, it's time for us to start a service company. So that was the genesis of Renewable Medical really, just to start and help us with our existing recertification, pm and repair business that was basically selling master medical equipment, wow.
Bryant Hawkins:So let me ask you this question. I always ask people in the HTM industry when did you actually hear about the service side of medical equipment when you started selling it, or did you know before you got into this industry?
Mark L. Taylor:No, I didn't. So in 1999, when I first got into this business I mean it was just selling equipment. I'm a sales guy, I've been in the restaurant business, didn't know a whole lot about it, but very, very quickly I realized how indispensable biomass were because we were selling defibrillators life pack 10s, life pack nines. If you got one in and the, the old crt display wouldn't come on or the output it wouldn't, it wouldn't shock or wouldn't paste right. Um, we had to send it somebody and I like, who are these guys? And I realized, oh, they're the mechanics for medical equipment.
Mark L. Taylor:So I got very familiar with the HTM Biomed field at an early time in my career because it goes hand in hand. You can't sell used medical equipment if you don't have somebody that you know that can repair or diagnose what's going on. So I had a lot of respect back then I still do for the bio-med field. But back then it was, it was really, really you know, soldering boards and and putting stuff together. You know some of the stuff, some of the the older equipment was just, I mean it was I'm sure you you remember B-Hawk. I mean that stuff was was big, it was robust, it was not a lot of diagnostics to it. It was really open it up and figure out what's going on yeah, exactly, I mean it's.
Bryant Hawkins:They had the wb allen's and the radio shacks where you had to go get the resistors and capacitors. Now it's a different world, but but the need is still there. Now you talked about the two companies where one feeds the other and vice versa. If you had to say I mean your company, when you started out staffing challenges that seemed to be a big issue right now in our industry. Have you come across any staffing challenges and, if you have, what's your secret to maybe sustaining?
Mark L. Taylor:That's a good question. So so MME has always been fairly easy. We got warehouse workers, we got salespeople, you know we got account managers and you know a lot of people know what medical sales is and a lot of people want to get into a company for medical sales with their new. The challenge was when we started was not only hiring somebody, hiring somebody who understood how independent service organization works and what it means and how we're not doing work for a facility, we're doing work for a customer, and our customer could be an EMS, could be a hospital, could be, you know, a multitude of different types of health care facilities. So, that being said, in Jackson, tennessee, we have a hospital, hospital Wires, born Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. They had a biomed department, but other than those few guys that were in the basement that have worked, you know I'm pretty sure most everybody in the HTM world knows how it works. You know you get different contracts and these guys have been contracted by Horizons or CSA or Crawford or currently, agility. But other than that, you know, we hired one guy, we moved him here to Jackson and we kind of started on a whim. We didn't know what we're getting into. We knew we needed somebody who was able to work on our equipment. But as we, as we grew, the challenges of hiring more people were real. I mean, it was we tried to hire people in our community. We tried to bring people here that had a job with an OEM or another independent service organization and when we get them here, either they wouldn't like our area or they wouldn't understand how we work as an independent versus maybe they came from an OEM. So all these challenges we had with human resources kind of hit an inflection point in late 2019 and early 2020.
Mark L. Taylor:We were really having a tough time getting people to come to our program, to want to work with Renew, and one of the early things we did is one of our technicians realized that a lot of people we were interviewing, even though they didn't understand really what a biomedical technician or HTM professional was, 2018, 2019, they would come in and say, oh yeah, I can fix anything, I'm very talented with my hands. And what we didn't know is everybody will say whatever they want you to hear to get a job. So you're like this. So one of my techs we're a small organization, two or three techs at the time Somebody would come in to interview and we work in pretty fast pace.
Mark L. Taylor:Our biggest market is EMS and they're always in high demand for getting their equipment back. So one day, unbeknownst to him, he was showing a guy how to do a coin cell test, just kind of showing them how we worked on equipment. I think it was a coin cell and an ECG or defibrillator, and he got called away from the phone and he just kind of left this guy there, you know, with a, with a unit opened up and, uh, and and, and a coin cell halfway, halfway repaired. So he gets back and the kid had done it, the guy had done it and he was like, wow, ok, and so he came to us and told us about it and I said, well, that's a great way to test. So one of our first tools for hiring is we call it the coin cell test and what we do is we bring somebody in and we would make up a phone call. Whoever, whichever one of our texts was doing the interview, would say oh, I got to grab this phone call See if you can figure out that coin cell. And if they can figure out that coin cell, which is a fairly simple repair, then we knew they weren't all phones. So that was, that was our early days of of of getting people in Cause. We I'll tell you what we made some bad hires. We had had a guy I'm not I'm not a mechanically minded guy at all. I can barely screw in a light bulb. But I have done my fair share of printer roller repairs, you know, changing out the LCDs and several things in in devices when I had to. But we found out not everybody can even unscrew light bulb. So so we kind of came up with this coin cell test as a way to kind of make sure we didn't hire some of these guys we'd hired that said they could fix anything and can't unscrew a light bulb. So that leads to 2019, 2020, late 2019, early 2020.
Mark L. Taylor:We were right at the precipice of what's now known as the COVID pandemic. We were really struggling. We got a couple of large contracts, I think at the time we had seven technicians and we were just really, really struggling with what to do to get more technicians that we knew were going to be needed as our business grew with Renew. So it was originally my wife's idea. Jill came up with the idea of let's look into starting a Renew Biomedical Training Academy and we will train kids and people in the community that want to learn about Biomed and HTM, and we're going to set out and we're going to have this venture that will help us grow our talent. And so the idea was great, jill had this, we had our facility redone, have a classroom put in.
Mark L. Taylor:We actually hired Richard Woods, which some of y'all may know. Richard has a heart and a passion for HTM. We call him our biomed professor at Renew. We hired him. He was retiring from at that time I think it was right before Julia took over our hospital. Anyway, he was ready to retire and I said no, let's try this and get you to teach some of our guys. So, long story short, after a month of having them on board and us just kind of scratching our heads, how do we come up with this curriculum? How do we kind of create this apprenticeship program that we want to create it's good, we're new by med training academy. You know how do we get people involved? And then, once we get them here, how do we? How do we teach them? So it was about about May of 2020.
Mark L. Taylor:So pandemic had just started really having tough time getting calls for a lot of service and, and the cool thing was is is is. We had this idea, but little did we know that there were people willing to help with it. So what we did is first thing I did was called Amy. So I called actually Danielle and Amy and I said hey, danielle, I know you're in education, I know you'll do a lot of Amy. I said we're really struggling. I said we have this idea of an apprenticeship program. It's called Renewed Biomedical Training Academy.
Mark L. Taylor:How in the world are we supposed to get a curriculum? Do you happen to know anybody that could help us with any kind of educational background? Or do you all have anybody on staff that would be able to help us with this? And the coolest thing ever, brian, she. I remember like it was yesterday. She said mark, you gotta be kidding. And I was like uh-oh, no, uh, you know, just, we're trying to get some help to get our program started. She said we have a curriculum that's rubber stamped by the us department of labor fora, biomed apprenticeship program. I said you gotta be've got to be kidding me, danielle. She said no. She said I said well, what do you need? She said we need an industry partner. And she said COVID's happened. And no, we can't get anybody interested to be an industry partner. So I was like, hello, that's what I'm here about, so everybody can look up online. We're very proud of the relationship we had with Amy. They helped us, they got us the curriculum US Department of Labor certified, tennessee Department of Labor certified. So once we got our curriculum we were able to then go and promote our Biomed Training Academy.
Mark L. Taylor:And Brian this is during COVID a lot of places were shut down.
Mark L. Taylor:You had some factories getting shut down. We were very, very, very fortunate that we had a huge first class eight folks that showed up. A huge first class eight folks that showed up. So with our apprenticeship program, not only do you come and you learn about HTM, you learn how to be a bomb at it. It's two days a week, two half days a week in class.
Mark L. Taylor:The rest of the time you're working at a desk on job training with another CBET journeyman and the cool thing is we're able to pay these folks to not only help us grow, renew, but they are learning HTM industry. I mean, it is what Richard Woods does in his class on those. Tuesdays and Thursdays are amazing. Every other week we have what they call the Renewed Knowledge Bowl and where anybody who's gone through the apprenticeship class can come and actually Richard quizzes them on questions that are going to be on the seabed exam. So it's just a really cool thing. So this whole genesis of the idea my wife came up with, renewed Biomed Training Academy is now a full-fledged apprenticeship program. Thanks to Amy, we've been certified for the last five years and have produced over 40 technicians man, that's amazing, I mean, it's the perfect example how COVID came in.
Bryant Hawkins:A lot of people was looking at it as a downtime, but you turned that around and motivated you to do something different. I mean, you can really understand when somebody said you build a movement literally behind the scenes. Biomed is behind the scenes and most people are in the hospital, but that's where the action and that's where you doing something. That's amazing. I've read about what you're doing over there, but I never heard the detailed story.
Mark L. Taylor:So Story and I mean it just shows you. I mean sometimes when people don't understand this, especially small business owners, and I encourage all of them, you know, no matter where and it's not just small business owners, anybody in business or in an organization sometimes you just got to reach out for help and we were able to reach out for help. And then not only did Robert and Danielle and all the great folks at Amy help us, we had other people. We had the US Department of Labor come in, we had Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development come in. They helped us.
Mark L. Taylor:Actually, there was some grant money for during that time for repurposing people who were laid off from their jobs, and so we got some money. We're able to pass that on to some of our apprentices. We had a little bit of a grant to help us with restructuring our facility for this classroom and it was amazing to see all the people when you started asking how can we help get the word out about HTM, about the apprenticeship program, about biomedical technicians and the incredible career opportunities there are. And, brian, we had so many people reach back out and want to help. It was amazing, absolutely amazing.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh man, that's the beauty of this industry, I mean, everybody will help everybody. And just listening to your voice, mark, I can hear the passion is deep and better than you and your wife, for that matter. So this question here is not really a HTM question, but Can you share what is the why behind what you do every day? I mean, you have to have a why, because you're not just doing this off instinct. There's something that drives you, and if you don't mind sharing that, what is it that?
Mark L. Taylor:makes you up. That's pretty good, it's funny. I send this video about Jim Rohn. He's a motivational speaker from the 80s and early 90s that I was, at the time, forced to listen to.
Mark L. Taylor:But my why is why not, you know, why not me? Why not us? Why not biomedical technicians? Why not, you know? So somebody is going to be out there doing it, and I have a passion for connection. I have a passion for anything I want to get into in life. I just feel like, if somebody is going to do it, why not me? So my wife's a little bit of the same way. So my why is why not?
Mark L. Taylor:You know, we're very, very fortunate to live in a great country like America that you can have the opportunity to, you know, do your own thing. You can start your own business. You can, you know, start a biomed organization. You can become, you know, htm person of the year. You can get involved with Amy, you can get involved with, you know, your local biomed association. Why not me? So I wake up every single morning, brian, and I'm very grateful that not only do we have these growing companies, but I've got a lot of folks around me that they're not employees, they're family. So my why is? Why not us? It's not just why not me, it's why not us. Why not build us an amazing organization that we can all be proud of, that we can, you know, share with others, and that we can do life together? Why not?
Bryant Hawkins:Yes, exactly Now. I was going to say this for later, but since we're talking about it, just it just popped in my head. You talk about why not in hydro business, business like a family. Now I go around speaking to a lot of kids about HTM and it seems like you're the same way. You share with anybody who want to know about HTM. You share it with them what you sit in the classroom right now. What would you tell some freshmen in high school about the HTM industry?
Mark L. Taylor:That's a good question. I would first off tell them I say you know, are you a person who enjoys working with your hands and your mind? I think I think what a lot of people forget and when they think about technicians is they're only thinking about the physical aspect and what. What I get from a lot of my guys and and we do a lot of interviews I like to talk to my team. I go around every single morning to the shop and I literally try to talk to as many of our technicians as we can. Some of them are young, some of them are late teens, early 20s, and some of them are my age or older, their 50s and 60s. And what was unique to me is the younger ones are so surprised that not only are they turning wrenches and getting knuckles deep in a device, but they're having to use their minds, they're having to think about repairs, they're having to approach customer service, and so what?
Mark L. Taylor:I think a lot of teenagers, especially ninth, tenth, eleventh grade in high school, they don't understand. You need to be challenged not only physically but mentally in your vocation. If somebody is looking for that and they said they are, then I tell them HTM is the career for you. I mean there's upward mobility. There's all different types of modalities of equipment you can work on. You can go in the private space, you can go in public space, you can go work for an OEM. I mean the opportunities are endless.
Bryant Hawkins:That's it man. See, now you ready to go talk to your first high school.
Mark L. Taylor:We're very fortunate so. So here in in in West Tennessee, we didn't even know this existed, so we started our apprenticeship program in 2020 to get some traction in 2021. Well, in 2022, we had one of our local high school teachers vo-tech teachers come to us and had worked with the same people we'd worked in. The girl's name has been very helpful. Her name is Holly Wood, just like the song you know, but her name is Holly. Last name Wood. She's fantastic.
Mark L. Taylor:But he was talking to her and she said you need to start a pre-apprenticeship program for your high school students with Renew Biomedicals Apprenticeship Program. So we are actually a state of Tennessee pre-apprenticeship program and right now we have three students two from South Gibson High School and one from Madison Academic here in our town that come to us and in three hours a week they are doing work that will actually go towards their apprenticeship. So it's called pre-apprenticeship. So my wife has an extreme passion for letting younger kids, specifically junior, high and high school kids, know about the opportunities there are in the HTM field. So we've been very fortunate Again. We reached out to some folks, they reached back out to us and now we have a pre-apprenticeship program for high school students.
Bryant Hawkins:Man, the more you talk about your wife. I think I like Jill man. We should have had Jill go here and study you.
Mark L. Taylor:Hey, she's just as passionate about it. I give her all the credit for Renewed Biomed Training Academy.
Bryant Hawkins:And I have no problem Part two and have Jill come on here and talk about this stuff. She's got going on. So wait a minute. This pre-apprentice I mean let's slow down, let's peel back the layers a little bit. Pre-apprentice means what? Just to make it clear.
Mark L. Taylor:So it's basically they get some school credit and there's some things required by the local, by the high school, but it is actually and it's our state does does this program where they actually can get high school credit if they sign up for a pre-apprenticeship program and they complete the terms of the program. So basically the teachers come in they say hey, we're going to send these three students to you. My technicians kind of give them some stuff to do and it's literally like our apprenticeship program, but in smaller bites, because it's usually three, two, three hours a day, a couple of days a week, and if they were put complete those requirements they have, they have that but they can go on their transcript and actually gives them high school credit for towards their grades.
Bryant Hawkins:Wow, I wonder if that's something. I guess if you can do it there, you can do it everywhere.
Mark L. Taylor:I don't know. Like I said, we're very fortunate we had we had Hollywood from our local workforce development board, that that she she's been a rock star and that's I encourage anybody who's looking at doing anything for education, either high school, college apprenticeship program Reach out to your local. Every state has a workforce and labor development folks. We have another one, roderick Wood, who actually spoke with us last week. He's out of Memphis but he covers all of West Tennessee. We just have been very, very blessed to have some good people that they want to help. I mean, their entire job is to create more jobs in our states and communities. So I'm pretty sure everybody that is interested in a program like this, if you start asking around your state has somebody to help.
Bryant Hawkins:You got to connect me with Hollywood after this man so I can ask her some questions. She's great, she's fantastic. That'll be a great initiative, because I know some schools would love to start something. You know, because when I go speak to the kids, a lot of them never heard of it, of course, and just think you can get some high school credit for just letting them learn how to work on some equipment is amazing. Oh, it's fantastic. Yeah, that's great, geez. Now, man, you do a lot, dude. You've covered so much. Two companies working with the kids, working with your school. You got it remodeled COVID.
Bryant Hawkins:Where do I want to go next with you? Renewal let's take a renewal biomedical. You mentioned how you have a culture that you built there and it's a family culture and that's amazing. Now, I don't know if I'm just going to pick your mindset a little. When times get tough, you know whether it's business, and it seems like you mentioned family, so y'all probably have a lot of personal relationships. What mindset, I guess principle keeps you grounded? You know, because when things get tough, sometimes things just go haywire. What keeps you focused, despite the tough times might come about.
Mark L. Taylor:I think it's my faith and my gratitude. I had to be honest with you. We had a pretty tough day today at work, had a lot of stuff going on, a lot of external stuff that we can't control. You know, and it's going to be, everybody knows this it's going to be a crazy year with a global economy and stock markets crashing. Stock market's crashing. But I have had a talk today with somebody who's going through a lot rougher time than I could ever imagine, both with family illness and some business issues, and I think my faith in God and my gratitude of the daily gratitude of what we get to get up and experience and do gets you through some tough times. You know perspective, understanding that, yes, it's tough. Anybody who's out there as an independent biomed small operators, you know it never gets much easier. No, life's easy. But I think the way you frame it and the perspective you take, take and if you have faith and understanding and gratitude, you know you can. You can face any obstacle.
Bryant Hawkins:Absolutely.
Mark L. Taylor:Great answer.
Bryant Hawkins:Now, let's recall this the misconceptions in our industry. One misconception is they think that HTM is just about fixing equipment. Now, yeah, see, a lot of people may think that we just repair equipment. But what would you say to someone who doesn't understand the full scope and the impact of this profession? You know somebody, oh, you just fix equipment. You know what could you tell him and make him understand that there's more to us than just fixing equipment?
Mark L. Taylor:Well, people don't realize. They really don't realize. Like I said, our, our, our model, one of our texts, came up with years ago and we still use it today. We're saving the lives of life saving equipment. I can't tell you how many times we've gotten a call literally at the last minute, for you know we're big in repair and in the EMS field and we've literally had a helicopter land that was having an ECG port failure on a patient flying over our facility and us have to literally repair it on the fly. And you know what? People don't understand that at the end of the day, healthcare professionals, without their tools, there's not much they can do. You know there's not much they can do. And who makes sure these tools are working? Who makes sure at the critical time when that baby's in an incubator, when somebody's having a heart attack, when a person is in surgery and is bleeding out, who makes sure that those devices, those life-saving, life-sustaining devices, are working not only properly but effectively? And I think a lot of people don't realize oh, they just sit in the bottom of the hospital or they sit in their shop somewhere and somebody ships it in and they just tinker on it or replace a cosmetic piece or a part. I don't think they truly realize that most of the biomeds that I know have spent a good amount of time either in the field or under the gun or both, and what's at stake is a piece of equipment that could save somebody's life or sustain somebody's life, and I think people don't realize the gravity of that.
Mark L. Taylor:I had a little State of the Union address to my entire Renew Biomedical staff. So everybody from front of the house accounting to back of the house, you know shipping and receiving, and every technician, every manager last week and I told them I said I said I think we've gotten. We've gotten big. We're very fortunate. You know, we've got over a hundred folks that work for us now and and I think I was getting frustrated because some of what I was hearing was internal argument bickering. You know your typical things in large organizations. You get larger.
Mark L. Taylor:I said, guys, we've lost our focus. I said we got to remember. We got to always remember. We're arguing and fighting. We're talking about a piece of equipment that could be saving or sustaining somebody's life, and it's something I take very seriously. So we have a lot of fun in our culture. We make sure everybody's included, but at the end of the day, I told everybody. I said we are not only taking care of our customers. Our customers are taking care of patients in their time of most vulnerability, of most stress they probably ever had and at a time in their life where they need this device to help, to help them, to keep them alive, to, you know, sustain their life. And again, it's something I take very, very, very seriously. I'm very passionate about making sure my team understands that yeah, and that's perfect.
Bryant Hawkins:And another thing I try to tell individuals you live in this community, so the equipment you're working on could be the same exact equipment you could be on tonight, or it could be me, it could be my mom, it could be my kids it could be my best friend.
Mark L. Taylor:You don't know. I tell people that all the time I said you. You just don't know.
Bryant Hawkins:Another misconception there's no real career path or growth. You know some people believe HTM Rose. You know we're just jobs, but I'm always saying it's not a job, it's a career. Now can you possibly share what advancements can look like in this industry? How can someone build a long-term career?
Mark L. Taylor:I'll give you a perfect example. So Josh Weatherford. Josh Weatherford came to us five years ago. It was when we were trying to hire a bunch of folks for our growth post-COVID. And Josh Weatherford previously had been a nurse tech, been to some nursing school, had been an automotive tech, ASC certified mechanic, had worked at a factory. Him and his wife were expecting their first child and didn't want to work at third shift in a factory.
Mark L. Taylor:Anyway, long story short, he goes to our apprenticeship program. Right, and this is right when we were working with Amy. So literally Josh Weatherford is the very first biomed apprentice in the country, so he's the first one when the Department of Labor we got that stamp. He's the very first one. So pretty cool. He's a great technician, great work. Well, after two years of working for us he was just such good work, ethic, such good communication skills he got promoted to assistant manager. So he works as assistant manager for a couple of years.
Mark L. Taylor:Again, such a good person as far as not only doing his work but teaching others and mentoring and being a good manager. After he became assistant manager he is now our depot manager for all of Jackson, everything that happens in our 30,000 square foot depot, and oversees all the technicians there. There's over 40 technicians here in Jackson. So that's just a small example of somebody who got into our industry and has not only gotten in and gotten their apprenticeship, got their C-bet, but has continued to take opportunities for advancement in our business.
Mark L. Taylor:So I know of other examples too, of people who get in the business. Next thing you know, they progress through the ranks of a large organization like Agility or Traumatics. I know of others that get in the HTM field on a whim and they go from, say, being a bed repair tech to, next thing you know, they're flying around and servicing high-end MRI equipment. People don't realize that there's so much opportunity in the HTM field, whether it's actually being a technician and rising through the ranks of specialized technician or just rising through the ranks of the business you're in becoming a manager or assistant manager, supervisor. So much opportunity, yes, he's on the head there.
Bryant Hawkins:Now soft skills. You mentioned how your technician had to become a. He became a supervisor or a leader. Now to become those things, how important are soft skills.
Mark L. Taylor:That's a good question. A little bit of a loaded question, so I'll be honest with you. So one of the things that we look for when we're hiring technicians so we have we have some technicians that are very, very technical, very good with their hands, love the hands-on work, they love being in the depot. They don't particularly love interaction with people, and there's nothing wrong with that Not as outgoing, not more introverted, so there's nothing wrong with that. And this is a great career for somebody who wants to come in and learn and not have to worry about being a salesperson or soft skills. However, that being said, everybody has to have some type of soft skills, no matter where you work. As long as you're working with other people, you have to. But what we look for is when we're interviewing candidates for a new HTM biomed technician. Technician position is if they do have soft skills and they do excel in communication and they are good with understanding, you know, and working with other people.
Mark L. Taylor:Um, those are the people we usually put in a more customer facing role like field service. So not only do we have our depot in Jackson, we have a depot in uh Louisville uh Louisville, kentucky. A depot in Chicago, illinois, soon to be opening in Tampa, florida, and we got a place in Atlanta, georgia. The people that work in these places are in the field a whole lot, so we make sure that they have the soft skills needed to talk to a nurse, to talk to a doctor, from time to time to talk to somebody that's in logistics and materials maintenance. When you go to a facility to repair on behalf of a manufacturer, on behalf of another ISO, you have to have these soft skills. So one of the things that we try to do is we try to make sure when people come in for whatever position that they're interviewing for, if soft skills are necessary, we make sure not only do they have them but they're comfortable using. So very important, especially in customer facing roles.
Bryant Hawkins:I got a question for you, mr Entrepreneur, now, in this industry, that's also a way you can go as far as owning your own business, because there's a need for that also.
Mark L. Taylor:Absolutely, and you definitely need soft skills If you're going to open a business, because then you got to hire people, you got to deal with customers, you got to deal with all kinds of communication.
Bryant Hawkins:Now let me ask you this question what are some key lessons that you probably learned opening up not one, but two businesses that you can share with a young person who's trying to maybe start a business in the HTM industry? What are some key lessons you learned you may be able to share?
Mark L. Taylor:If you're like me and you like to talk a lot, you also have to have time to listen, and I think some of the most important lessons are when you're actually listening to your customer. Your customer will tell you what you want. Sometimes you just got to listen. So me, being a talker and being a sales guy, it's sometimes hard for me to shut up, believe it or not, but I have found the most valuable aspects of communication, especially when you're dealing with somebody that you're trying to do business with or hoping to become your customer. You just have to listen, and it's a lost art. I think in these days, everybody wants to be heard, but not everybody wants to listen.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, exactly Now. I remember in the beginning you mentioned that you started out in sales of medical equipment, Then you started doing service Now in the HTM world sales and operations. They kind of sometimes pump heads. Yeah, yes, they kind of sometimes pump heads.
Mark L. Taylor:Yeah, yes, they do.
Bryant Hawkins:Sales will make that promise that operations can't handle.
Mark L. Taylor:I have sales reps and operation people that I come between every single day in my organization.
Bryant Hawkins:I was about to ask you how do you tell them that, look, we fuel each other? How do you, as a growing company? How do you view the relationship between the two?
Mark L. Taylor:Oh, it's symbiotic, they have to work together. But I hear both sides. I hear operations say hey, this sales problem, this salesperson just over-promised and under-delivered. They said we could get this fixed and back to them today, that's impossible, we don't have the parts. Then I also hear the sales guys telling me the operation guys, hey, they're dragging their feet, they just don't want to get it out today. They don't really care. So at the end of the day, back to what I said with my complaints and what I had told my team last week is just in our state of the union is hey, guys, at the end of the day, let's don't talk about whether I'm right, you're right, she's right, he's right. Let's talk about what the customer thinks and at the end of the day, if you let that guide your communication between each other, you get to a solution instead of dwelling on each other's problems.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, you touched on what you mentioned about arts indirectly with servicing. Today's healthcare environment, as you know, is changing. It used to be yearly, it looks like it's changing monthly. That's cool. How do you, at Renewal, respond to this rapidly changing need of the hospitals, the clinics, service providers? How do you continue to pivot and be able to be to respond to these changes?
Mark L. Taylor:And, to be honest with you, it's getting more challenging. Last year, the ventilator market, which we're heavily involved with, there were three different companies. One went bankrupt by air and one pulled out of the market Medtronic just totally pulled out of the market. You got Philips, who had some issues and pulled out of the US market. You have to be nimble, you have to be. Also, you've got to read, you've got to go. I suggest people you know look at online, get on LinkedIn following people like yourself you know, get information on your industry. Understand what's going on around. You. Understand what's important for I mean tariffs, I mean I don't know what this is going to do to medical equipment parts. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm trying to read up. What does this mean for my customers?
Bryant Hawkins:So I think the biggest, the biggest challenge is is just to, in order to stay ahead of the game, you have to be vigilant and and you have to reach out to others, you have to communicate and you have to read. That's it, man. I tell people all the time just because you clocked out at work doesn't mean you clock out. You'll have to continue learning, because some things you can't learn at work, you have to take a little time at home to stay ahead, because it's changing, just like AI is coming into the industry at a high speed. Matt Beck, what's your thoughts about AI?
Mark L. Taylor:How you feeling about it. Well, we have our own asset management program, which is really our own homegrown program for CMMS, because we couldn't find a limited service organization. And you know a lot of people know the big players, nivolo and whatnot but they're made for you know more for hospital work order management and hospital asset management. So us, as an independent service organization, it does field service, it does depot work. That also I wanted. We've always had the desire for our customers to see what's going on with their assets, to see what's being repaired when the next repair is. So a few years ago, about three years ago, we started our own CMMS literally from scratch, because we kept buying things out of the box and trying to tweak it. So it's called RAMS Renew Asset Management System. The cool thing about RAMS we're starting RAMS 3.0 right now and it's funny, I had a talk with Jeff Shaw from TriMedx about this when he was down a few weeks ago and I was showing him our system and everybody's integrated. Some way we're going to have a piece of AI integrated that, if you use our RAM software and your customer buyers, we're not only going to show you what we've done to your equipment, we're going to tell you what the true cost of ownership is of your equipment when the next PM is due, what's the percentage factors for this piece of equipment breaking down the next year, two years, three years? And all of this is made possible by AI.
Mark L. Taylor:And it's interesting, I read an article in 24-7 yesterday, the day before just. Is all AI in our industry going to be good or bad? I still think I'm a positive guy, brian. I'm really positive. I think it's going to be positive, but I think there could be some things that AI does that we need to monitor. So I'm cautiously optimistic that AI is going to make healthcare technology management not only jobs easier, but hopefully more efficient and also more precise. So I'm hopeful, because everybody knows this. Everybody in our industry knows there's an issue where people are aging out. There's not enough people coming into the field. We need more technicians, and one way to get around the need for more technicians is hopefully a good technology like AI that can help us better solve the issues and repairs that we're facing.
Mark L. Taylor:I'll give you a perfect example. So one of the first things we did with our AI and RAMS was to take a service manuals of every device that we had service manuals for in our entire shop, and we're talking hundreds of devices. So we fed all these service manuals in, scanned them in, put them into the AI and now when and this is about two months ago now when one of our techs queries in our RAM software a repair, not only will it read the service manual and tell what is needed, it will also, based on our service history, tell you what parts and what tools you're going to need for the repair. I mean, how cool is that? Wow, that's pretty cool. So, rams, right now my technicians are typing in, you know whatever repair it is, and the AI will respond back for this repair. Estimated time 30 minutes You're going to need two wrenches and a you know whatever nut driver and you're going to need, you know, this thermal print head and this board and that's it, isn't that?
Bryant Hawkins:amazing. Yeah, like I tell people, ai is Googling on steroids. It searches the internet to get this information, whether it's accurate or not. That's where you come in.
Mark L. Taylor:Exactly, and that's what we see in the mess Garbage in garbage out, you know so. It is. It is a hundred percent, but I'm very optimistic on the future of AI and its positive impact on the HTM world Very very confident.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh, it will have to me. I'm like you. I'm always thinking positive. I think it's going to be a great, huge impact. You're going to be able to work more efficient. They're even starting to hire chief AI officers to run companies like GE has one, and a few other large companies have a chief AI officer. So it's not going anywhere. It's changing. I mean, every time you look up there's a new app. So they got like 30 of them right now, I think. So it's not going anywhere. It's incredible, isn't it? Oh, my God, I love it. I love it. I love playing with it. I got one question I'd like to ask all of my folks that's on the show the HTM world is listening to us what advice? It's going to be a two-fold question. What advice would you give first to a young person that's new in this industry? You went through that stage where almost all of your employees sound like. What advice would you give a B-man one first day on a job? What advice would you give him? Or?
Mark L. Taylor:her. I would say to this person, him or her, I would say listen, this is an incredible field if you're willing to learn and put the time in and listen to those who went before you. So we're very fortunate. We have a lot of young kids that come in, new to the field. Be met ones. Maybe they were successful as an auto mechanic, maybe they weren't successful at trade school or whatever it was, and you know, young folks are usually pretty bold and pretty confident.
Mark L. Taylor:Htm is the type of field, though, that you have to be precise, and I would encourage everyone coming in the field, young or old, to listen to those who, like yourself, have had experience, who have been there, who have understood the challenges of device repair, of preventative maintenance, of dealing with field service actions and recalls. There's so much to be learned and, unfortunately, I think it has to go both ways. I think the young have to listen to the old and the old have to listen to the young. So, overall, I'd tell whoever's coming in and say, hey, this is an incredible career, but you got to look at what's been shown to you by those who've been in it for a minute, and they have to understand that. And I think. With that attitude and your eyes open and willingness to learn that you know a B-Met, one could be the CEO of a TriMedx.
Bryant Hawkins:You never know. Oh, sir, now I'm not gonna ask you what advice would you give to someone who's been in the industry forever? I want you to talk to that middle, that sweet spot, that five to 10 year old guy, because that's where it gets kind of challenging for a B-Med. You got past the B-Med one. Now you're a B-Med two. Getting to B-Med three is not as easy as getting to B-Man 2. So what advice would you give that B-Man 2 who wants to get to that next level man, that's a good one.
Mark L. Taylor:I'd say get involved with Amy. Go to Amy Exchange, go to, you know, md Expo, get involved. I think there's so many people that get so used to their vocation to I mean you talked about this earlier B-Hawk. You know they turn it off when they clock out. You know they clocked out, they're done. That's not their job, you know. And I'm not saying you have to live HTM, I'm just saying be aware and be active.
Mark L. Taylor:If this is a career that you want to advance in say you've been in it five to 10 years you get a little burned out, get a little challenged by the environment. Seek out other opportunities, not just at your job or for another job, but in this space. I mean, there's such a good community and I see people all the time that get fulfillment from not only reaching out and seeing what else there is to offer for a job, but also what other resources there are and how you can learn from those in other areas. And a great way to do it Amy Exchange, md Expo. Go to your local Biomed Association meetings there's just get involved. And I think when people get in a rut they tend to want to draw inwards and I want to encourage them to go outwards, to go seek those who who have, you know, a lot to offer. You know, at these places, at these meetings, at these expos.
Bryant Hawkins:I mean, that's some great advice. You ever thought about being a motivational speaker, Mark?
Mark L. Taylor:I can barely motivate my kids to do their own laundry. So I don't know, I don't know how effective I'd be, can barely motivate my kids to do their own laundry.
Bryant Hawkins:So I don't know. I don't know how effective I'd be. Well, mark, I really, really appreciate spending this time with you, man. I mean felt like I learned a whole lot, but I'm more than sure there's much more inside you. So you're welcome to come back whenever you feel like, and I'm glad to have you back on and I appreciate the great things you're doing with your companies. Y'all are much needed and you are very necessary.
Mark L. Taylor:Well, b-hawk, let me tell you this One, I'd be glad for you to have my wife on anytime she loves. She's probably more passionate about the industry than I am. And two, I want to say I really appreciate what you're doing the book for the kids, the involvement at a, you know, at high school and elementary school, all the way up to what you're doing with this podcast. It's amazing for our industry. Love seeing you at Amy Exchange and all the places I love seeing you post online. I think it's very, very much needed and I just appreciate all you do for our industry.
Bryant Hawkins:I appreciate you too, brother. What a powerful conversation with Mark L Taylor. He reminded us HTM is more than a job, it's a calling. It's about purpose, growth and showing up for the lives that depend on us. Whether you're just getting started or decades in, remember this field needs leaders like you. Stay focused, stay motivated and, as always, htm is on the line. Y'all be safe out there.
