A few years after her husband, Dr. Herman H. Eldridge, Jr. passed away, Patricia Eldridge knew she wanted to reopen his OBGYN medical practice to keep his name and legacy alive. In October 2022, she opened Eldridge MBS Wellness, a medical practice in Columbus, Georgia, providing OBGYN and wellness services for women of all ages.
With limited business knowledge and funds to keep the business on track, Eldridge reached out to Thomas Credle, business consultant at the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) in Columbus, for help. Today, she is adding more employees and service providers to handle the practice’s growing patient load.
“When I first opened, I was putting all my resources in the business, and nothing was happening. We were only seeing five patients per week with two providers, and I was paying the salaries and business expenses out of my pocket,” said Eldridge. “I needed to find a way to mindfully run my business and stay profitable.”
The first step was to get a better look at the finances of the business. Credle worked with Eldridge to set up QuickBooks and create a monthly budget to help her manage expenses. In addition, he helped her put together a business plan with financial projections to carefully identify her goals and a path to get there.
“We worked on improving accounting reporting. We set up budgets to see where we are, what we are making, making sure we are continuously growing in everything that we do so that we can be fruitful,” said Eldridge. “We want to make sure we are doing the right things for our employees and patients alike.”
Credle also worked with Eldridge to create an Excel model to figure out the number of patients that needed to be seen each week by the doctor and physician’s assistant for the practice to be profitable.
With those patient goals identified, Eldridge was ready to focus on marketing to achieve them. Credle and Eldridge discussed marketing proposals from local media outlets to identify which plan would bring the best return on investment.
Just a few weeks after the marketing campaign started, those investments proved fruitful, and Eldridge had to hire additional employees to handle the increasing patient volume.
Additionally, Eldridge established a relationship with Morehouse School of Medicine, which allows the school to provide a physician’s assistant and medical school student to work in the practice. She also helps train medical assistants from Columbus Technical College, allowing them to work in the practice to gain experience.
“I like to work with these programs because we can teach them the skills as they work at our practice,” said Eldridge. “It gives us a great pool of talent to hire from when the time arises.”
When she started the business in 2022, Eldridge was paying for everything out of her pocket. Now, in part because of the partnership with UGA SBDC, the business is turning a profit as well as adding employees and service providers to handle the growing patient load.
“Since we’ve started working together, I’ve seen an increase in Mrs. Eldridge’s comfort level when it comes to her business. Her ability to make business decisions and analyze the operations of her company is substantial,” said Credle.
“When you are looking for a partner, you can’t go wrong with the UGA SBDC. It’s really helped me grow on my walk through this business and helped me to make really good decisions. It doesn’t mean that I won’t falter, but at least now I look at things with a different lens. I really appreciate that opportunity to have had the resources the SBDC provides.”
All programs of the UGA SBDC are open to the public on a non-discriminatory basis. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance.
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The University of Georgia
Small Business Development Center
382 East Broad Street
Athens, GA 30602-5412
P: (706) 542-2762
