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Show Notes
In this episode of Tim Talks: Behavioral Health, host Timothy A. Zercher sits down with Josh Nelson, CXO and co-founder of ABA Impact, to talk about building ABA businesses that are ethical, compliant, and scalable – without sacrificing clinical values.
Josh unpacks what he’s learned from tens of thousands of conversations with clinician-entrepreneurs: the common mistakes, the real compliance traps, and why success in ABA business has more to do with mindset than margins.
Whether you’re thinking about launching a new ABA agency or refining one you’ve already built, this episode offers candid, no-fluff insights into growing with purpose.
Episode Overview
Timothy A. Zercher (00:00)
All right, thanks so much for joining us, Josh. We really appreciate having you on the podcast…
Josh Nelson (00:08)
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Timothy A. Zercher (00:10)
How do you go about gaining new partners in this space, especially knowing that ABA leaders are so busy?
Josh Nelson (00:21)
It really stems from us creating a community…
Timothy A. Zercher (01:07)
So, what have you found is the hardest part of scaling or launching new ABA locations?
Josh Nelson (01:53)
The two main challenges we’ve found are recruiting and lack of organizational strategy…
Timothy A. Zercher (02:48)
What was the moment you realized entrepreneurship can be trained and isn’t just natural?
Josh Nelson (03:03)
There’s a book called The E-Myth…
Timothy A. Zercher (03:59)
How do you help clinicians go from burnout to clarity while staying true to their clinical values?
Josh Nelson (04:12)
It ties back into going from the technician mindset to the owner mindset…
Timothy A. Zercher (05:00)
If there was one regular compliance issue that ABA groups run into, what would that be?
Josh Nelson (05:03)
The biggest issue is misunderstanding HIPAA compliance…
Timothy A. Zercher (07:29)
Your Facebook community has grown massively—what’s one conversation that really stood out to you?
Josh Nelson (07:37)
One that stood out was a BCBA thinking of starting a business for higher pay…
Timothy A. Zercher (09:31)
If you don’t have your business together, it doesn’t matter how good your clinicians are…
Josh Nelson (10:01)
Yeah, and I hear profit guilt a lot. We try to reframe it: profit is fuel to help more people…
Timothy A. Zercher (10:17)
Absolutely… You can invest that back into the business…
Josh Nelson (10:25)
Exactly.
