Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Bryant.
Nick, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Like most ideas, HoustonCaseManagers.com was created out of necessity.
Working as a counselor in my day job, I’m tasked with connecting clients to various resources around the city. Most of these resources are related to medical care although simply linking a client to a doctor to treat an illness doesn’t always solve their medical problems. Some medical problems are made worse due to a lack of transportation to get to the doctor’s office. Another example is someone living in an apartment full of mold who has asthma. Even if this person has a doctor and they visit them on a regular basis there is still a chance that their asthma flares up due to continued exposure to the mold.
Long story short, to stay healthy you need more than just a good doctor. You need luck as well as LOTS of circumstances to go right in your life. My job is to help link clients to every resource needed (medical or not) to give them the best opportunity to live a healthy life.
Each week, when you are working with 40 different clients, with 40 different sets of needs speed and efficiency is key. For these reasons, I created HoustonCaseManagers.com to help me save time searching for community resources.
The website offers easy to understand instructions on connecting clients to Houston community resources. Everyone from case managers, medical professionals, teachers, and regular citizens can benefit from the information on my site.
I started the site in 2017 as a means of making my own workday less chaotic, but since then, word of mouth in the Houston medical community has helped to grow the site to roughly 4,000 visits each month.
Has it been a smooth road?
Learning WordPress has been by far the biggest obstacle.
My wife Brittany will tell you I hate spending money so if I avoid paying someone else to do a job I can I most certainly will!
Being the cheapskate that I am, I took on the task of creating every aspect of HoustonCaseManagers.com. From the design, colors, logo, articles ranking in Google, email integration, etc.
Learning all of this on my own took months and was extremely stressful at times, especially on days that the site would crash. There would be weeknights where I wouldn’t get sleep until 2 am because I had to fix problems on the site.
Despite the stress, lack of sleep and missing out on social outings, it’s all worth it to me because I get a chance to help fellow colleagues looking for resources and anyone in the general public who desperately needs the help.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the HoustonCaseManagers.com story. Tell us more about the business.
HoustonCaseManagers.com is a hobby at this point although I still take the work I do seriously.
On the site, I create guides that help case managers, medical professionals or regular citizens connect to Houston community resources. Whether it’s explaining what the “Gold Card” is, talking about options for low-income housing in Houston or finding rent assistance, I break down each of these topics and more.
While there are other resource sites out there I try to give mine more of a personal feel. When searching for resources you need more than just a phone number. You need context on how you use that phone number. You need understanding on what you should be asking to give you the best chance of obtaining utility assistance, childcare or whatever your need is. In each guide, I provide you with a basic understanding of what the resource is, who will likely qualify, and insider tips to better help you obtain the resource.
The most rewarding experience in creating this site would have to be a simple thank you card I received from a reader. She was able to land a job in the court system based on a recommendation she read on my guide to Houston staffing agencies. Helping readers to connect to free services is one thing, but linking someone to a job that can potentially allow them to raise the standing of everyone in their family is a good feeling.
In addition to the resource site, I am also working on a site called HoustonMedicareHelp.com, which will help seniors avoid the pitfalls of Medicare. That site will be completed later this year.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
With job security becoming a thing of the past there will be an even greater need for social services in the future. Many of the problems that I see on a daily basis are due to a lack of money. A lack of money for healthcare. A lack of money for housing. A lack of money for food. A lack of money at nonprofit agencies to support the community.
While there are times where we all need assistance, the thing I try to push on every client is to find a career or job training as fast as you can. A career is longterm thinking, something that is admittedly hard to do when you have a need for housing or food RIGHT NOW. Because of this, I think it’s important for those of us who work in the community to help clients to really think about long term goals and then put people on a path to achieving those goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: HoustonCaseManagers.com
- Email: Houbusy@gmail.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/houstoncasemanagers
- Other: Youtube – http://bit.ly/houstoncasemanagers
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
