Man, Healthcare Costs Hurt | Episode #010

Why Running a Business is Harder Than You Think: Healthcare Costs & Hidden Charges

Some days you wake up and the business just steals your peace. Today was one of those days.

Got hit with a massive healthcare premium increase and a cluster of retroactive charges that nobody warned us about. $2,400 per month per family for coverage. No invoice. No explanation. Just charges hitting the account while we're trying to figure out if we're bleeding cash or if this is just the new reality.

In this episode, Mike and I get real about the hidden costs of providing benefits to your team when you're bootstrapped. We're talking high deductible vs low deductible strategies, why PEOs are essential even though they can surprise you, and the stuff nobody tells you about being a business owner until you're in it.

What we cover:

The real cost of providing healthcare benefits (and why employees don't see it as a raise)

How to actually navigate high deductible health plans and HSA accounts

Why only the owner can handle certain business problems, no matter how big you get

The importance of tracking every single dollar when you're building without outside money

How venture backed companies make benefits look easy (spoiler: it's someone else's money)

If you're a bootstrap founder, agency owner, or thinking about starting a business, this is the reality nobody talks about. It's not sexy. It's not a growth hack. It's just the day to day grind of keeping the doors open and people employed.

Also mentioned: FinForecasting is launching February 1st. Built this tool because of exactly the problems we're discussing in this episode. If you need help tracking expenses against contractor, employee, and project revenue to protect your margin, stay tuned.

This is what building transparently looks like. Forward to Extraordinary.

Timestamps coming soon

Links:

FinForecasting: finforecasting.com

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Strictly From Nowhere Newsletter

#Bootstrapped #AgencyLife #Entrepreneurship #HealthcareCosts #SmallBusiness #BusinessOwner #StartupReality #BuildingInPublic