Anne Russell-Bramlett

Combining the unique perspective of having a child with autism, an MS in Communicative Disorders, and a broad range of experience, Anne Russell-Bramlett founded the Speech and Language Services of North Texas in 2001. Her competencies include assessment, therapy and work with families to optimize generalization of communication skills. Clients include the pediatric population and young adults with physical and cognitive challenges as well as clients with more typical language disorders such as articulation and stuttering. Working with client families involves producing home training programs, hands on training of caregivers, and includes sharing information about support services available through state and local agencies.

Anne first visited the Collin SBDC in August, of 2001 where she received help in writing her business and marketing plans. Her greatest challenge initially was convincing lenders to give her a line of credit since the business had only generated approximately $20,000 the previous year (when she was working from home). She obtained $10K which was more than she needed at the time, but it helped her to run her business more efficiently.

Anne worked with the counselors at the center throughout her first couple years in business on marketing and internal processes. By January of 2002 she had expanded her office space and added a part-time therapist. At the time she had as many clients as she could handle in addition to her speaking engagements and volunteer work with the Autism Society of Collin County.

In February, of 2004 Anne again used the services provided by the SBDC to assess possible expansion into the Frisco area. After reviewing the demographic research and a thorough financial analysis of her current operations, she decided to move forward with the expansion. Anne now successfully runs two centers, East Side Speech Clinic in Plano and Stonebriar Pediatric Speech and Language Clinic in Frisco.

The greatest challenge that Anne has experienced with the growth of the clinics is the ability to maintain a supportive relationship with each of the therapists and staff and also make time to be available to talk with new and ongoing clients. The second greatest challenge has been creating and maintaining structure so that the needs of clients and staff are met while at the same time remaining profitable. The business currently is generating about $40K a month with 4 employees and 11 contract therapists.

Anne continues to work with the SBDC to make sure that her business processes are running smoothly at both offices, with plans to open a third clinic in McKinney in the near future.