Refined by Adversity: The Resilient Journey of Renée Balcom 

Refined by Adversity: The Resilient Journey of Renée Balcom 

About Renée Balcom

Renée Balcom turned pain into purpose. From financial and personal struggles to founding Scroll.Care, she transformed adversity into advocacy. Her story is one of faith, grit, and a mission to rebuild a broken care system with compassion.

Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Introduction

Good, beautiful day, beautiful, beautiful souls! This is Charla Anderson, host of the Charla Anderson Show~Collector & Connector of Fascinating People (& EVERYONE is Fascinating!), especially you.

You know, caregiving is one of the most stressful times of life. Imagine a care journey, advocacy, connecting families with trusted professionals in one place, trusted professionals in one place. Renee Balcom’s scroll.care is doing just that. And like having the Amazon of care at your fingertips. Listen up today. It’s going to be a great ride. 

…BUT FIRST…

We’re going to do our 22 second mini vacation, and we’re going to take seven seconds to breathe in some calm. We’re going to hold for four seconds, and we’re going to breathe out gratitude for 11 seconds. So here we go. Can you breathe in some calm with me? Here we go.

Hold. Relax, Release. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, here we are. This is an exciting day for me. I get to meet with Renee Balcom. She has created the most amazing service for those that are in the senior care, just that care advocacy. I’m so thrilled, I’m just amazed with her idea. So, Renee, you’re in California, I’m in Texas, let’s get this thing going. Tell us about who you are in this world and then we’ll talk about what you do and where we’re headed.

Thank you. Well, first of all, Charla, thank you for having me on your show. I’m so excited to be here with you and your audience and I love Texas. I’m a little envious because that’s where my grandkids are. So my heart belongs in Texas for sure. But as you mentioned, I am in Sacramento, California, and I am the president and founder of CEO. Um, I’m actually not the president and the CEO and founder of scroll.care.

And just to give your audience a little bit of background, I actually have spent the last 18 years as a professional healthcare advocate. And for those people who don’t know what that is, my company, myself and my health care advocates are kind of hired guns, right? We come alongside people, individuals, and families to help you navigate the healthcare system and the social benefits system. And I’ve been doing that for, as I mentioned, 18 years. And in that journey, I’ve been asked many times about, from families, how do I learn what you know? How do I learn your connections? How do I learn who to reach out to for certain services? And prior to being a healthcare advocate, I had been in tech. 

I spent 22 years in the technology industry. I was a CEO there. So my brain kept going back to technology and where is technology in this business called care? And lo and behold, I found technology really wasn’t heavily engaged in the business of care. So a few years ago, I started the journey of having an app developed called Scroll.Care. And the way we named it is a whole different show. But the idea was to have this tool right in the palm of our hands, right in these phones that we have on us, right? That you can go in and you can start looking for services, speaking to the phone, speaking through a platform, and the phone would start delivering you to vetted background check providers right within your geography. 

And so, you know, I did a lot of research and a lot of work trying to decide how this should look and feel and what it should be about. And one of the companies that I studied was Angie’s List. And Angie’s List was kind of the first company to really bring us this singular marketplace, right? They call those marketplaces. So Angie’s List was kind of that first company that did that. They gathered together contractors of all different sorts and variations and put them in a single marketplace that the consumer could access them, right? And so I was very excited to spend some time analyzing and doing some discovery on Angie’s List, but one of the things that I found in that discovery was that Angie’s List had overlooked the idea of background checking their service providers. And unfortunately, there was a terrible accident that occurred and they ended up being sued. 

And that was when Angie’s List, they shut down a part of the company, they rebranded, and that’s when Angie’s List became Angie’s. Remember when they made that big change, right? Well, that was the catalyst for that change. And consequently, now they background their providers. And so that that became one of the, you know, boxes, a tenant of scroll was that we would require everyone to be background check, even myself, my company is also background check as a provider on the scroll app. So another another thing that was important to me was the requirement for licensing of certain professional services, right? It’s not unheard of for, say, a financial advisor. They get their license, they have a requirement, and then they fall out of compliance with their licensing, but they’re still practicing their business. 

So it was also important to me, through the background work, that all of our providers were fully compliant with whatever the state or federal licensing requirements were. So that was a big challenge when I started working on the app, like how am I gonna do this background work? And we came across this company called Checkr, C-H-E-C-K-R, and Checkr, who is our background partner in the United States, they’re the guys who do Uber and Instacart and anybody, most people that are delivering services to your home, delivering packages to your home are backgrounded through Checkr. So what was cool was that Checker already understood each state requirements for all of these professions. So that was a challenge that I really wasn’t sure how I was going to get over that hurdle. But, you know, again, God is great, right? 

So he brought this resource right to my door and we now contract with Checker. And then we have two other contracts, international contracts that we work with as well in doing our background work. So we do thorough background work. I, you know, it’s not a perfect science because a lot of times bad guys don’t get caught. However, it definitely makes me feel more comfortable in sending someone into someone’s home or into their life, as we feel like we’ve done everything we possibly can to secure the right relationship for you. So

You’ve got 120 thus far, different categories of care providers on service providers. And I thought that was a lot. And I’m sure it’s growing too, because there’s so many, so many. different ways, and you know, we’re talking about the healthcare industry too, and I call it a sick care industry. I don’t feel like they’re very, you know, we believe the systems have been compromised a long time ago, and, you know, we’re not finding the accountability, so to speak, or, you know, so these 120 services, you know, can you give some examples of that? What is, what do you?

We have eight major categories. And we cover everything from pet care all the way through afterlife care. So pet care was important to us because as a health care advocate, I had clients that maybe needed a procedure, but they would refuse to have a procedure because someone needed to take care of their animal. So we felt like having reliable vetted pet care is very as important as our child care for most of us, right? So that’s and including large animal care because as you know from the great state of Texas, we have ranchers and people that have large animals that you know also need to have someone that can help care for those animals if they’re not available, right? 

So we have everything from pets to large animal care in that category. And then we go all the way across the spectrum of care. As you said, and I couldn’t agree more with you, I don’t call it health care. I call it treatment. Care, in my opinion, happens in your home. Care really happens at a very personal level. It does not happen in what we call, I use quotations, the health care system. Those are treatment systems. But if you really want care, you’re probably going to bring someone into your home, a family member, someone from your church, a loved one, or a professional that’s going to help you through that care process. 

And as healthcare advocates, it was always important to make certain that we had the right care providers coming into the home. So we have pet care, we have a category of women’s health because women’s health is very unique, specific to women. And oftentimes we’re overlooked in some of our care needs as women. So we have a whole system category of women’s health. And I think there’s about 14 different subcategories under that, you know.

I’m going to interrupt you just for a second. Now, we’re not talking about just seniors care advocacy. We’re talking about just having access to people that have been vetted that are trusted in your system, no matter what. So maybe gynecologists or, you know, like you just said, birth care. So it’s not only my mind was kind of going into this senior care advocacy. which I know you do, but it’s, it’s not just that that’s for all of us.

Yeah. And truthfully, I, when I started this journey, I was very focused on senior care, but what opened my eyes to, to broadening our care spectrum was the pandemic. As a healthcare advocate, my phone started exploding from families saying, Hey, I have this problem with my child. I, you know, I’m a, I’m working from home. I’m trying to educate my kids. I’m trying to take care of my parents. I’m trying to look after my neighbor. And I had all of these people that really needed care services that they didn’t know how to access them. And they were stuck in their home without any resource. 

So my phone just started exploding. Looking for these services. So that need really broadened my mind about care services from cradle to grave, right? There’s nothing worse. I’m a mother of two adult children in their 30s, but there’s nothing worse than having your 14-year-old go off the rails and you don’t know where to go from there, right? You’re Google searching at 2 a.m. know, crying in your crying your eyes out over your keyboard trying to find some answers, right? I was that mom, but we didn’t have Google. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

You and I are on the phone, looking through the phone book, and asking friends and associates. And yeah, and it just, you know, so so to be able to bring a service to that mother, that she can go into Scroll and look at services for our young one, for our youth, and find solutions and service providers. And I want to explain what happens with Scroll. So once

you’re on Scroll, and you start- So let’s define, I mean, let’s spell it. S-C-R-O-L-L dot(.) care. Just like scrolling on your phone, dot(.) care,

C-A-R-E. So, scroll.care is an app and I just want to get that so people can start seeing it when you say it.

And I want everyone to know too, it’s not, you’re not gonna go to the app store and pay for the app. It’s what we call a web-based app. So you can go onto your computer and do scroll.care, it’ll come right up on your computer. You can go onto your phone into your URL and put scroll.care and it’ll come right up on your phone and save it on your phone. And I did that by design, Charla, because as I was researching, you know, I’m a great learner, right? So I did a ton of research on this. 

And as I was researching, I realized that, you know, I wanted to make certain that we didn’t have to overcharge the consumer every time we use the app. In fact, we’re giving the app to the consumer. So between now and the end of the year, anybody that wants to jump on scroll as a consumer can do so for free. So feel free, I know we’re not in everyone’s neighborhood yet, but feel free to get on it, look at it, give me feedback, tell me what you think, and tell me where you live and we’ll start working in your neighborhood as soon as we can.

So currently it’s really the Sacramento area specifically, and the dream is to have a duplicatable system, a cookie cutter system that once you get this completely, you know, the kinks mostly worked out, then other cities, other neighborhoods, other communities will be able to create their own using your format or your template or your plan.

So, so we, we started in Sacramento. Um, we released our beta testing in Sacramento. Part of the beta test, which came back really surprising to me was, um, the younger people that were using the app that were looking for, um, services for themselves. And I, um, I had one young person call and tell me it was like a parenting app. Like they, you know, they’re in their twenties, they live on their own, but they’ve never, You know, they’ve never hired a mechanic. How do you choose a mechanic? They’ve never hired a doctor.

How do you choose your medical provider, or, you know, if you’re going to have a baby and you want to have a doula, what is that, right? So, I really found this interesting audience in this young group. And that opened a whole other vertical for us to scroll that we have, we have a vertical specific to young people that are coming up, it’s a kind of a parenting, it’s a it’s a mom part of the app, a vertical that know so you can just get advice and get services and find services that your mom would recommend for you um if she knew about them right so um and then we have we have pets we have health care we have uh women’s health we have mental health care and and mental health is not just the practice of of um you know, mental health therapy. 

It’s things like wellness care, right? Just like we started with the breathing. It’s bringing in natural homeopathic wellness into people’s lives. And again, those services that they can access easily through the app and find a practitioner that can help them with natural services. So we really have covered, you know, we’re working to cover the full gamut of care specialists from cradle to grave. Oftentimes, people pass away, and there are a lot of things the family have to sort through, and they’re looking for professional help with that. So we have a family law attorneys and afterlife doulas that can help, bereavement specialists that can help families move through those processes as well.

They don’t all have to be local then, right? No, no. Okay. Cause I, I have a, one of my guests, one of my friends, uh, was, she does, she wrote a book called, um, while you can, that’s not the name of it, it’s a subtitle, but it’s really trying to get your life in order for those moments when, you know, the first question is, and one of her examples is someone, a young couple had, he went into a coma, and her first question when he came out, weeks later, what’s the password on the computer? You know, it’s like, so that’s another dynamic, 

but she’s an expert and has that offering, right? So there is, she just came to mind, there’s lots of people that come to mind, but, you know, so that is a service just, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t only.

you’ll have to get her name from me and we’ll talk to her about coming on the app because anybody that can practice virtually can come on the app at any time, right? And we’re happy and eager to have them on the app as providers. Another thing that the app does that was really very important to me was I wanted it to be multilingual and multicultural, right? So you can speak to the app in Spanish or we have 15 languages. and it will communicate back with you in Spanish or whatever your preferred language is. And part of the goal there is, um, 

I took care of my mother all the way through the end of her life. She lived with me for the last 10 years of her life. And my neighbor also took care of her mother. Now my neighbor’s East Indian. And I know that the care for her mother was different than the care for my mother. My mother was a Southern lady from Louisiana. And she had a very specific expectation about what her life and the end of her life would look like. And I know my neighbor’s mother had that expectation as well. And they were very, very different. So being a healthcare advocate, I have learned that it’s so important to bring culturally correct care into the home, just to keep the unity in the home, you know, especially for our aging and our seniors. 

They oftentimes don’t understand if you bring in someone that doesn’t speak their language or doesn’t understand their culture, they’re not as responsive to that person as they could be. And care for elders can be a very, very personal charter. So bringing culturally correct care to the home is very important to me. We’re well on our way to that, so that’s exciting. Yeah, and it’s again- Yeah,

that’s awesome. I’m just, what is your timeframe for getting it where you feel like it’s ready to go out and be a template to other communities? Because I think that it’s such a needed.

Thank you. Thank you. Well, that’s a great question. We released Scroll in January of this year. So we’re approaching our one year anniversary in the Sacramento market. My goal has been to get 500 providers on the app. And once we have 500 providers, and I have this mathematical equation as to why 500 makes sense in Sacramento. Once we get 500 on the app, then we’ll start scaling from here. We’re about halfway there right now. So I would say by the spring, we’ll start scaling the app to other cities. And part of that is, you know, the financial responsibility of the amount of money it takes to be able to scale. Once I hit a certain amount of providers, 

I’m going to probably bring in an equity partner to come in and help finance the scaling momentum that we’re going to need. So, you know, pray about that for me.

And the providers, they totally screened, and you will disprove, disapprove someone who doesn’t cross the background checks, I think. But that is a They provide a little fee to be in those apps. Okay. So that’s how it’s funded primarily. Correct.

Yeah. The revenue stream on the app comes through the providers. They buy a subscription and we don’t charge. We charge a one-time annual subscription fee. We don’t charge for referrals. We don’t charge any ancillary fees for that. just a one-time fee. And right now, we’re bringing in our early adopters and our preferred providers, the ones that jump in early. And for that group, we will lock in. We’ll do this in every city as we launch in every city. For the providers that jump in early in that city, we lock their price in forever. That’s one thing, one of the guarantees. The second guarantee is I guarantee 100% return on the investment of that subscription, or we will carry that provider for free until they get their return on their investment. And I’m happy to say that 100% of our providers have gotten a return on investment so far. So, yeah, so that’s- And they can

track it, that these people did come through the

app, that that’s trackable? Yeah, when you come on the app as a provider, you get a dashboard, and you get a profile, and you get a dashboard, and you can see all of the transactions that have been sent through the app to your company. And so it’s easy to see that return on investment through the backside of the lab. So that

leads to the next question is, how are people finding scroll.care? How do they know to find that? Is there advertising out there? It’s probably a lot of word of mouth, but

just. Well, one of the ways is through shows like yours, right? And having me on as a guest to talk about troll. Uh, we’re doing really almost all of the, uh, normal type of marketing. We’re doing print work. We’re sending out mailers. We do a lot of social media marketing. We’re out in community. You know, we do; there’s a community event, like last week’s Alzheimer’s walk here in Sacramento. So we had a booth there. And so we have a group of marketing people that participate. And then I have a group of sales people as well that just call, they do cold calling and do send out information and announcements to providers about the workers’ role. 

And my goal, I have a singular goal, and that is that the consumer can access care services differently than they are currently. Right now, people are going on a Google search engine and they’re trying to, you know, go through all that information and find the right provider. And with Scroll, we’re going to take you out of those big search engines, bring you directly into Scroll. You can start speaking into the app, and it will literally start directing you to those preferred providers right in your market. And it helps you build a care plan. So here’s an example. My oldest and best friend was just diagnosed with ALS. She’s still very highly functioning and doing fine. But she’s using the app to develop the long-term care plan. 

You know, what do I need now? What am I going to need in six months? What am I going to need in a year? And Scroll is starting to introduce her to providers that can help her on her journey with this disease, right? And it’s been, in fact, her name is Debbie. And so I named a helper on the app. We have a bot helper, and the bot helper’s name is Debbie, and so in her honor. And so it’s such great satisfaction for me to know that Debbie can go on the app tell it, we’re using a front-end AI on the app, tell it I have just been diagnosed with ALS, and I wanna know what this journey looks like, and I wanna know what kind of services I’m gonna need, and who should I contact? 

And then Scroll starts building up that care plan for her all along the way. And then she has a folder in her own folder in the app that she can access those providers whenever she chooses to. We do not sell any of our, consumers’ information, we’re simply a matching system, right? You have a need and you tell the app you have a need and it’s going to match you to providers that you can then select who you want to work with. So

that’s, you just mentioned, I think you just answered something else I was going to ask. So it’s, you can, there may be seven or eight or 10 providers, physicians, you know, in the same genre. You know, you don’t have, it’s not exclusive, exclusivity, which is great because, you know, not everybody, you know, fits with somebody else. So I like that

a lot. Each of our providers have a profile. So the consumer can look at the providers and say, and maybe, you know, maybe you prefer a female over a male. Maybe you prefer, you know, maybe it’s a cost concern. For example, we have our providers with dollar signs, indicating that this is a more expensive provider. This is a less expensive provider. Maybe you want someone that’s close by, you know, within five miles or 10 miles of where you live. So there’s all these criteria that you can tell the app And the app just keeps narrowing you to those chosen providers. 

And then you get to decide and, you reach out to them. So you can email them. Yeah, go ahead. You can email them or text them. And, and I want the control of the contact to be in the hands of the consumer. We don’t blast out your information. So you’ve got 30 people calling you. We want to give you the information so you can call who you want to call. Again, as a healthcare advocate, I had so many clients that they would use certain companies like A Place for Mom, and the next thing you know, their phones are being blown up, and they’re being solicited like crazy for services, and they don’t even know what to do, right? So that was, again, one of the tenets of Squirrel, was that the control is in the hands of the consumer. The consumer decides. I love that. Yeah, the consumer decides who they want to talk to and when.

they want to talk to them. Don’t ever fill out a I want an insurance quote. No, no,

no,

never, never, never. Because now, for the rest of your life, you’re going to be getting did you ever, you know?

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I’ve, I’ve worked with families, you know, they’re in crisis, they’re in trouble, they’re trying to figure things out, and their phone is blowing up. by these providers that are just trying to sell them something. I’ve always found it so offensive that you think you’re going to access one or two people and the next thing you know, you’ve got hundreds of people contacting you for a simple task and how offensive that is,

right? I do not totally agree. I’m just, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Thank you. We want the control in your hands. Thank you. So I want to take just a mini moment, if you don’t mind, to take a little commercial break for my most wonderful, Omega-3 oil, Zinzino, charlaanderson.com/Zinzino. It’s my little, you take a little blood test to find out if your cells are crunchy or squishy, and you take a little blood test, and it comes back, and 99% of Americans are out of balance. And it tests for your inflammation, and so 99% of us are out of balance, and one second shot of oil a day, Wow. So you drink it? A little one second shot of oil. It’s a 20 year old company that’s just entered North America. 

And the reason I’m talking that brought it to mind, I do this every time, but the reason I wanted to bring it now is because there’s a lot of evidence of people getting their cells back in order within four months. They send you a free blood test. And you get the second one every fourth month, you’re going to our fifth month, 120 days, you’re going to get another blood test to make sure that you are in balance. And doing that one thing has changed everything for so many people, because three to one omegas three to one is in balance, six omega six to make a three. 

And most people in America, North America are 22 to one and higher. 55 to one, and four months later down in the single digits. So, it’s miraculous and because it’s a Norwegian company that’s been around for 20 years, nobody knows about it. So, we’re going to take one second here to, I’ll insert a little, my little, I do a little commercial with that, are your cells crunchy or squishy?

So yeah, so I’m going to insert a little commercial here and then we’ll be right back with Renee Balcom. Alrighty then, thanks so much for listening to my little silly commercial about charlaanderson.com/Zinzino. Please connect with me. We want to get ourselves in good shape and six cans of sardines a day would help. I like sardines, but not that much. 

So anyway, we’re back with Renee Balcom and we’re going to spell R-E-N-E-E-B-A-L-C-O-M, Renee Balcom. Is it, and you have a, that’s where they can find you. We’re going to, we can find you on social media and LinkedIn and then. And

you can email to me directly at Renee, R-E-N-E-E, at scroll, S-C-R-O-L-L dot care. And that’s my direct

email. And Renee is spelled multiple ways, so that’s the reason so many people listen instead of watch. So R-E-N-E-E, that’s scroll dot(.) care. So that’s, we’re back with this and I find it a fascinating, I am so grateful. I don’t believe in getting sick. I don’t get sick. I haven’t been to a doctor in over 20 years. I know I’m different. By the way, I’ll just say that. I don’t say that with arrogance. I say with humility and authority, authority. Jesus said we can do what he did, and even more, which is not about religion to me. You are, I know you’re a faith-based person and that so much of this is based on integrity. 

And I asked earlier about your, you know, the providers and you’ve had a few that have been turned down from the background check. Is that something you want to share a story

about? I’ll tell you, when I first started exploring Skrull, and I mentioned that I had done some work looking at Angie’s list, and then I started looking at other companies. And I realized that all too often, the background check opportunity is left in the hands of the consumer. The responsibility for that is left in the hands of the consumer. know, again, I think what makes me different than a lot of technology people, Charla, is I have spent 18 years as a healthcare advocate. I have been right next to families in crisis, and I’ve seen suffering. So I’m not a tech person trying to bring technology to consumers. I’m a healthcare advocate trying to bring technology to consumers. 

So And I really, really aspire to a solution that can make your life better and improve your circumstance and not make it more difficult, right? So I tried to kind of analyze and check all the boxes as we were developing this app that would do that very thing. And one of them was making certain that we were sending someone safely into your life. And I’ll tell you a story. My husband was working with a young man who looked at Scroll, he’s 26 years old, he looked at Scroll and he started to cry. And I was like, Ryan, what’s, why, what’s going on? Are you okay? And he told the story, his grandmother had hired, his grandmother needed some trees trimmed and she had contacted him and wanted him to come and trim trees. 

And, you know, he was a young man who just met his, now wife and you know they were dating and he was working and had a lot going on so he did not make himself available to his grandmother. Consequently she hired a tree service who she thought was a reputable service and they sent someone into their home two men to her home to cut the trees down and they did that and then came back that night and robbed her and killed her. And, right. And so that really, that story resonated with me, that not only was it important that we know the companies we’re dealing with, the companies are willing to background their employees that anyone that’s going to come into contact with my clients are going to be as thoroughly checked as possible and that my company will will certify that as will the company that you’re hiring will certify that. 

Right? So because it’s just so important to me that we will honor your safety and your privacy as best as we can as a consumer. So that was really, really important. And in the work we’ve done, we’ve had three events where we had to decline providers because things came up on their background check that didn’t clear. And one of them was even someone associated with the Taliban. So we think in the United States, you know, listen, it’s no secret how many immigrants have come into this country in the last five years, right? And we have a lot of people here that are using false identities and are here for nefarious purposes. 

And we need to be careful about who we allow into our ecosystem and into our life. And as a business, it was very, very important to me to make certain that we did the best that we could to secure your safety and your well-being. So, and again, it’s not a perfect science. We can’t, we can’t guarantee that everyone’s perfect, but we can do the best that we can to guarantee that. So, and I feel like we do, I feel like we are.

So you want to, so as you grow, when we talked about next spring, which would be 2026 spring, because these things sometimes live on, and you know, if somebody, is listening and down the road and they’re like, how can I have this in my community? I want to be the spearhead. What can I do to get this type of service in my community? Do you expect that you’re going to have like a lead man or somebody to come in and consult with each with the driver? Is it going to be like a franchise system where somebody comes in and becomes a scroll.care slash Fort Worth, you know? Yeah, great

question.

Do you see how that can play out? So

every community has a community of care, right? A care system, whether it’s senior care or child care, there’s a care system within the community. So we will come into your community and we’ll have representatives that work first of all, that start infiltrating that community and bringing the, selecting those key providers and bringing them into the app, right? One of the networks that we’re using to enable us to do this is the insurance broker industry. So insurance brokers, that’s our primary sales channel. So insurance brokers are the first people that we call when we’ve had a big life event, right? I’m buying a house, I need insurance.

I bought a new car, I need insurance. My mom fell and we need to look at her insurance, right? I may need long-term insurance. I mean, we’re having a baby. Like all of these big life events, We contact our insurance broker, number one. Number two, as business owners, if we need E&O insurance or, you know, general insurance liability coverage, right? We contact our insurance brokers. So our insurance brokers really have a pull, their finger on the pulse of a lot of what we’re doing. So I see them as a very viable channel to get the word out in the marketplace about scroll. both to the consumer as well as the providers, the businesses that are actually providing care. 

So I have sat for the last three years on the board of directors for the California Association of Professional Insurance Brokers. I’m a keynote speaker next year at Medicarians in Las Vegas to speak to the insurance brokerage industry about Skoll. And I really see them as a key distribution channel for this product. in the given markets that they’re serving. So that’s how we’re going to try to satisfy that question.

That’s interesting. I call insurance is like a necessary evil. It’s not something most

of

us wish we had to deal with. But I hear what you’re saying. I mean, that is the truth.

And I have to tell you, that’s an industry that’s in a big state of change right now, right? So insurance agents are finding themselves. looking for solutions for their clients, right? They can’t just write policy anymore. They need to be able to offer you a solution outside of an insurance policy because that’s what you need, right? So we’re seeing insurance brokers stepping in and doing a lot more advocacy work for their clients and showing them different resources, right? I don’t know if you may or may not

hear I didn’t.

Yeah, they’re so they’re, you know, they’re not getting paid commissions on on a lot of Medicare policies anymore. So, so they’re losing their income basis on policy, and they’re being required to find ancillary services for their clients. And that’s what really sparked my interest in that in that sales channel was we have some, you know, listen, we have their insurance brokers that just write policy. 

And then we have insurance brokers that really step out and care about their clients and reach out and say, hey, you know, you know, I I know that you’re gonna need a new roof in the next couple of years, and let’s talk about that, right? So I see them as a viable channel for selling scroll for sure, especially as that industry changes.

I’m really excited to hear that that industry is moving into a little bit more friendly.

Yeah, service. Yeah, I would agree. they need to provide more service instead of just writing policy. And I encourage the consumers to look for brokers that actually do provide ancillary services and not just write policy. Because we’ve all had that insurance person that writes a policy and we never hear from them again, right? And then even if we have an issue with the policy, we go looking for them and they never return our calls, right? Or they don’t have any answers. The brokers that rise out of that and really become sales people that are bringing solutions to their stakeholders, they’re the ones that are going to be successful in the coming years for sure.

I believe so many things. You’re so, something I say a lot is like, if you don’t do the right thing in your business, if you’re a business that does not honor its word, does not have integrity, if you oversell and under deliver, you won’t survive in the coming. Competition is not, we’re going into a more collaborative world.

And

with eight billion people, there’s enough for everybody. So I like to hear what you’re saying as, you know, maybe that is going to happen because, you know, it’s, you know, the lawyers and the insurance people and the professionals and those kinds of industries, you’re like, I don’t wanna have to deal with them ever, right? So- Yeah,

yeah. And here’s what’s gonna happen. For the ones that are just checking boxes and writing policy, they’re gonna be replaced by AI because AI can do it for them. So these big carriers don’t have to pay commissions. They can put an AI bot, put someone on the phone, put someone in a camera, just like we are. It looks like you and I, and they’re taking information and they can write those policies and it costs them nothing, right? So the live broker, that’s really going to bring value, the live lawyer or accountant that’s really going to bring value, they’re the ones that are going to have to up their game and really figure out how to bring value to their clients. And that’s why we’re going to see that collaboration change.

Authenticity and really having human compassion and heart is the differentiator. It’s already the differentiator, but moving forward, I think, you know, this is a whole different topic. But

truly,

if you’re you’re kind of you, Renee, and scroll.care are part of the movement, then you’re part of the, the draw to have advocacy for that. So yeah, that’s, that’s really great.

And

by the way, you mentioned the tree trimmer thing, you’re talking, we’re thinking I’m thinking you’re talking mostly about caregiving But it is also home care services as part of it too, because that would be, you know, I need a plumber and I need it,

you

know, you want to be, find the best of the best, the cream of the crop too. So I wasn’t sure about that until that came to mind that maybe you are not just healthcare,

it’s services. Yeah, no, it’s anybody that’s going to, think of it as Amazon for care, right? So if you go onto Amazon and you’re gonna buy whatever, right? If you go into Scroll and you’re looking for a plumber and you’re within your region, Scroll should direct you to vetted plumbers, right, within your environment, right, within your geography. With Scroll, you can say, I want someone within a mile, five miles, 10 miles, 100 miles, Or you can say virtual, I don’t care, depending on what services you’re looking for. Virtual plumber. Yeah, well, you know.

Sometimes someone might have a good YouTube video and just say, hey, instead of me charging $300 an hour, I just hired a plumber. Gosh, they’re so expensive, right? And again, because there’s a limited amount of them now, there’s a shortage of plumbers. So they’re getting top dollar. But if they can say, go to a YouTube video and spend five minutes on the video and you can fix your own problem, and I’m going to charge you $19.99 for that service, I would pay that, right? So there’s some things we can do ourselves. We just need to be taught how to do it or instructed

by almost everything. You can find almost everything on YouTube. Yeah, yeah. I like I do all kinds of stuff, but it never would occur to me to try and have a little camera going around trying to show somebody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta love

it. So yeah, well, this is a this is an age of information, right? If we know how to seek it out and how to use it and how to sort through it, then we can, we should be able to navigate reasonably successfully. Right. And so, um, but, but what I have found is when people are sick or they’re afraid, um, or they’re tired, um, it becomes more difficult. And so that’s when they really are looking for strong service providers to come alongside of them and help them. So, um, so we, you know, my hope, I tell you, I have been asked, I taught healthcare advocacy, 

I wrote the curriculum for healthcare advocacy for Sacramento State University for their medical group. And I taught there for two years. And people would ask me all the time, how do I learn what you know? And the only answer I could come up with was through technology. I knew that I could take what I understood and what I’ve known as a career and build a technology that can help someone inexpensively navigate a system and put together their own care plan and their own service providers and really bring people around them that can help them. So that was what kind of led me on the path to get school started was the consumer just asking, how do I learn this?

So, this is pretty fascinating to me. I mean, it’s not what I would call an exciting topic until you look at it as a, the blessing we’re doing, your group, what you’re providing for humanity in the future, and like collaboration like you said, connection, connection, finding people that we can know, like and trust through technology, right? So that’s the connection point.

Yeah, I don’t want to replace people for people. I don’t want to replace technology with people or people with technology. I want to use technology as a tool to connect people to good people, right? Almost like a dating service for care. So, but a reliable dating service, right? Or a reliable tool. We also have a big educational component in scrolls. So here’s an example. Every industry has its own language, right? And the care industry is no different. So I know when I first came into the care industry, you know, we would hear about palliative care and we would hear about hospice care. Well, what’s the difference, right? Most people have no idea. So we have what we call master classes in Skoll that you can take a five minute, 10 minute class. 

And it gives you a clear definition from experts about this is what palliative care is in here. This is what you can expect from hospice care, right? Who’s paying the bill, how it gets paid, who you should expect, the cadence of care, what that should actually look like, right? why one is different from the other. So I just thought it was important that we also empower people with knowledge so that they can make educated decisions about what avenue they wanted to go down, right? So what’s the difference between a psychiatrist and a therapist? Most people have no idea. 

They assume they’re the same. You know, one can prescribe medication and another cannot. And most people have no idea about that. So So I wanted to make certain that we built out an educational system that someone could find value in going in and just looking, oh, you know what? I think I need, I think I want to choose palliative care. Now, how do I find a good palliative care provider? And then you just start asking the app and it starts directing you to that person. So that’s very

key in the app. had this dream and this vision and you’ve really pulled together. You’ve got to have had some, I mean, it sounds like you’ve got employees or you’ve got at least a community that is supporting you and working with you and I guess you’re paying them. You know, so my show often is about overcoming and about hope and how did you get here and how are you, you know, what’s the hope of the future? So, you know, and I know you said you cared for your mom and that had a lot to do with some of this evolution of this program. So what is it you are we just got a few more minutes. So what is it that you want to leave? How did you get here? Where are you going? And what is your biggest need? What do you want to leave us with?

Well, thank you. First of all, it’s a privilege to be here with you. And I want you to know it has been a journey. Scroll is the culmination of my life. I mentioned I was a CEO in the tech industry. I did that for 20 years. I worked on the Palm Pilot in tech back in the day. And through a series of life events, I found myself in the care industry. And in that industry, it just kept, tech just kept coming back to me. And I think my message, I love your mission of delivering hope and purpose, right? My message to everyone is life will cue you, right? And in the moments that you think, I always like the phrase, you know, I’m going through something. Because through implies you’re going to get on the other side. So that’s a positive, right? So if we’re going through it, that means we’re going to get on the other side of it. And that’s something we cling to. 

But also in that journey, there is cueing that says, here’s part of where you’re going to and part of what’s coming to you, right? And if we pay attention, life will deliver to us exactly what we need. even in the worst of times. And I know this for sure because it did with me. And scrolls started coming to me because of a really, you know, serious journey that I took and big life altering events that happened in my life. And, and, but, but what was interesting was it went full circle. 

And that led me right back to an industry that I love to work that I love, but with a human element, right? With putting humanity first in front of technology. And so I will say that Skoll is the culmination of my life’s journey. It will be my life’s work. You know, my intention is to change the way people access care and care services. And my heart’s desire is that you will see me on the cover of Forbes magazine inside of two years because of that change, right?

I want to be, an example to everyone in our age group and beyond, that we don’t age out of this life, right? We participate until our last breath. And as long as you’re churning ideas and effort and time, you can make it happen. And I know that for sure. I do have a staff. I have a president of school. I have people that help me. But at the end of the day, it’s my vision and my heart support. And everyone knows that. My staff say, like, you are the heart of this work. And that’s true. That’s for sure. I am.

So it’s your legacy, which is huge. A big word in my world is legacy. And so just asking, there’s a lot of businesses that are so reliant, are a lot of people that they’re the sole person in their group. So do you have the the exit plan, what happens when you are no, if something happens and you’re no longer driving it, do you have that next step? Do you have the input position that someone else is going to step in and, and continue your, your vision? Yes,

I have, I have a succession plan. Um, I’m 68 years old. So, and you know, no matter what your age is, anything can happen. Um, I do have a very, very committed and competent president in the company. We’re sitting a board of directors right now, and I feel good about the governing board to be able to take this vision to the next step if something happened to me, and I’m gonna rely on them even if I’m present, right? I have a business coach that I work with that is grounded in faith fundamentals, and so she is a key part of the succession plan Is

that Brenda Byers?

Yes, it is.

Okay, so I want to, I typically try to mention, usually in the beginning, how we know each other, and it is through PROSPER leadership, PROSPER membership, right? Brenda Byers, and she is a very committed and very forward-thinking Christian, mostly for women business owners, and how to run business with business, with strategy, and with Bible, biblical principles. And she’s so gifted. So I always want to give her

applause. She’s going to accept a seat on our board of directors. So she will be our faith advisor and our principal advisor as far as integrity and really keeping focused on our focus for humanity first. I never, ever, ever want technology to take away from the human beings that we’re serving. So Brenda will be key in making certain that that charter is fulfilled. And so I feel good

about the team. I feel good about it. Well, you can’t, I’m very excited about hearing about Brenda Byers, B-Y-E-R-S. So you guys, anybody listening that wants to have that kind of she’s just gifted. Yeah. I’ve never seen coaching done so well, over delivering, over delivering, over delivering all the time. Yeah, brilliant, brilliant. So, well, and she’s wonderful. She wrote a wonderful book called we might as well plug her book. Here’s total. So prosperity. I have my copy. I’m plugged in. I have my copy here too. So I’m very, inspired by Brenda and her works. And so obviously you are too. So thank you for joining me. You have a quote, I’m going to say this, and then the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Sounds to me like those that put the shoes on and the gloves on to do the work. That’s where the credit belongs. So that’s what you’re doing.

Well, and I have to, I want to explain the reason that I cleave to that quote. at a time right now where we have a lot of keyboard warriors that have great opinions on things that have never been out experiencing and creating an environment where they’re actually making things happen. And having spent the last 10 years, you know, in the arena in a difficult, difficult time, 

And I know that I have people that are criticizing me or looking at me or thinking they could do it differently or easier or faster, whatever they’re thinking, right? And I applaud anybody that wants to jump into the deep end of the pool because the water’s fine. But it’s really those of us that are out here putting our face forward and getting things done. That’s where the credit belongs. And we’re giving way too much credit as a culture to people that are just keyboard warriors, right? And let’s get behind the people that are actually doing the work, really

doing the work. They’ve got the scars. They’re being Jesus with skin on. They’ve got the scars. They’re doing something and serving fellow man. And that’s the best we can do with our worlds and our lives. Just let those in front of us. That’s who

we are. That quote was from Roosevelt. And it’s a beautiful for your listeners. You know, if you go back and look at the man in the arena, It’s a beautiful, beautiful quote. And it’s just true. And we need to just really start cleaving to that and expecting that from each other today, instead of just hearing people that have opinions that really don’t have any idea about what they’re talking about.

And maybe

just some shut off

some noise and do the work. Exactly. I like that. Maybe I’ll take that. Shut off the noise and do the work. That’s good. True Texan. You betcha boy. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I have just thoroughly enjoyed getting to this. I wasn’t really over familiar with what you were doing, but I think this is an incredibly important piece to our future. And let’s get you on Forbes for sure. Yeah,

thank you. Thank you. Well,

I

hope to see you soon. And thank you again for having me and to all of your listeners. Thank you for your time today. Well,

And always, always, always remember to choose joy.

Important Links

• Website:  www.Scroll.Care 
• Facebook-    Scroll.Care
  https://www.facebook.com/Scroll.Care 
• LinkedIn-  Scroll.Care
  https://www.linkedin.com/company/scrollcare/posts/?feedView=all

 

About Charla:

I’d REALLY appreciate it if you will Like and Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. ​ Thank You! 

https://www.youtube.com/@CharlaAndersonShow

​Charla’s Choices (ASK!):

>>TEXITCoin:  

Please let me help you get started building generational wealth! VERY limited time to become a Miner.  AT LEAST buy some TXC on Dextrade, Bitmart, and now others.

Videos:  https://tinyurl.com/3eemhxy5

 >>ZINZINO:  

What is your ‘Critical Health Score?’

‘Test-Based Personalized Nutrition’ ​on the cellular level:

Are YOU in the Safe Zone?

Inflammation = Dis-ease!

100% of people & pets on the planet CAN take it. 

97%-99% te​sted SHOULD take it. 

Are YOU in the Safe Zone?​  

HOT STOCK TIP: ZNZNF on NASDAQ

(2 min) Art​ Jonak’s Omega Hands Demo:

https://vimeo.com/1025220219

(5 min)​ Dr Rik’s Intro video:

(1 min) My Commercial:  

email:  Charla@CharlaAnderson.com.  Reach out. 

NOTE:  Some links may provide a small commission to Charla Anderson if purchased without affecting the purchaser.

Best-Selling Author of​:

  ‘Candy Bar Hugs~It Doesn’t Take Much to Make a Difference‘ ​;

​  ‘Split-Second Transformation~Change Your Words, Change Your Life: 31 Daily Practices‘ & 

​  ‘The Change​~Insights Into Self Empowerment‘ Book Series #21 with Les Brown  (ASK about the credibility factor of being in a book like this!)

TV​/Podcast HOST:

‘The Charla Anderson Show~Collector & Connector of Fascinating People (and EVERYONE is Fascinating!)’.

Replays of my prior shows:  https://charlaanderson.com/podcast/

Connect with Charla Anderson:

For more insights and to follow Charla’s creative journey, check out her website and her other projects:

---

About  Renée Balcom

Scroll.care functions as the “Amazon of care,” providing a seamless digital gateway for those seeking in-home, elder, and wellness services. Renée’s journey into advocacy began as a personal one—serving as the primary caregiver for her late mother. That experience ignited a passion to help others navigate the complex, often overwhelming healthcare system. In 2011, she founded Renée & Co., a consultancy dedicated to professional healthcare advocacy and guidance.

Her public service includes a governor-appointed role on the Oregon Health Authority’s Traditional Health Worker Commission and a founding seat on the Curry Community Health Board. She is currently the DEI Chair for the CAHIP-Northern California Board of Directors, where she champions policies that prioritize people over process and protect the vulnerable.

—

Let’s jump on a discovery call and get to know each other. Find all things Charla at CharlaAnderson.com/links.

On The Charla Anderson Show, We discuss Mindset, How much Your WORDS matter, Princess to Queen energy, mantras, HOPE, Faith, Miracles, Overcoming, and much, much more, including learning from amazing guests.

Everything Charla: https://CharlaAnderson.com/links/

All replays are on my website, https://CharlaAnderson.com/tv-shows/

Build your own website with amazing support: https://CoursePlatformAcademy.com/cpacharla/

Nutrition, Energy, Health, Vitality, Focus, Collagen, Brain Health: https://www.Zurvita.com/charla/en/us/

CBD: https://www.ZBlendsHemp.com/charla/en/us/

Charla@CharlaAnderson.com

NOTE: Some links may provide a small Commission to Charla Anderson, if purchased.