Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Ryckis
Hi CHELSEA, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been asked countless times to participate in golf events since starting Ethos Benefits, but never once by a woman. My wake-up call came when my husband, Donovan Ryckis, was invited to play at Pebble Beach Resorts. He had never played a full round, yet without hesitation, he said yes.
“Are you taking lessons? What if you embarrass yourself?” I asked. He didn’t care. He was going for it.
Three years ago, after dropping him off at the front gates of one of the Pebble Beach courses, I texted Jillian Johnson to ask if she needed a President for Orlando Ladies Executive Golf Society. She did.
Did I know how to golf? No. Did I have golf-world connections? Not a single one. But I was done missing opportunities to network and close deals.
With no experience in the game, I jumped headfirst into hashtag#LEGS with one goal: lifting women up on and off the course. By mid-2022, I had a venue, a board, and our first Nine & Wine event.
Fast forward to now:
In Year 1, we grew to 50+ members, the fastest-growing chapter nationwide. We rolled out a hashtag#leadership mastermind to all LEGS members globally called “Golf & Grit.” A special shout out to Delaina Baker for being the heart and soul of our community, running social media and becoming my co-president!
By Year 2, we’re nearly 100 strong, with initiatives like BALLS (Brothers Advocating for LEGS Ladies Society) spearheaded by the brilliant Aaron Paul and hosted our first co-ed event! We even had an incredible Board Chair step up and shine, Alexis Cook. I can’t thank you enough for all you did this year.
Most importantly, we’ve created a safe, empowering space for women to learn golf and build relationships.
Has my golf game improved? A little—I know when to stop talking and which club to use 😋
Did I close deals? Sure, but the best part has been building a network of 100 incredible women.
ETHOS BENEFITS:
On the business side, I became a partner of J Donovan Financial in 2018 and we rebranded to Ethos Benefits in 2022. We are an employee benefits consulting firm, specializing in bringing mid-large market employers nationwide transparent, sustainable, and high quality healthcare programs for their employees. Today, we are the premiere boutique insurance brokerage in the nation for innovative and data driven benefit programs. We won the top 3 awards in the benefits industry this year- Advisor of the Year by BenefitsPro, Most Innovative Healthcare Consultant of the Year by YouPowered Symposium, and our service team won the Luminary Award for Humanizing Benefits. We are currently nominated for the industry’s top podcast, The Ethos Effect. We recently produced a documentary called “It’s not Personal, It’s just Healthcare” that will hit streaming platforms next year and our companion book to the documentary is an Amazon Best Seller! We are shining a light on the fraud, waste and abuse in employer health plans and bringing high quality low cost care back to American workers- one employer at a time!
Originally from Canada, I came to the USA in 2009 on a DI Softball scholarship. In college I sustained a brain injury that changed the course of my life and set me on the mission I am on today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
PERSONAL:
My brain injury in college was my first interaction with American healthcare. At the time before the injury, I was the team captain, leading in HR and RBIs, and had a 4.0 pre-med accepted to med school. I was at the top of my academic and athletic pursuits. I was stuck in the head during practice by a ball that was overthrown over a fence and cleared to play a day later. I ended up with Post Concussion Syndrome, deferred medical school, and went back to Canada to complete a brain injury rehab program. I was 22 and could not handle noise, lights, an increased heart rate, reading, talking, every stimulus was too much. The medical bills followed me to Canada from my visit to an American hospital and I experienced with 1 in 12 americans do, medical debt. I got a job waitressing (with ear plugs in and a side of memory loss) to pay for my rehab. I could barely hear orders but could not handle the multiple conversations or the dishes clanking (but the tips were more than I could make elsewhere). That was one of the hardest things I have ever been through because it is an invisible injury that you can’t just “push” through.
LEGS
I genuinely thought no one would show up to our first event. We had close to 50 ladies attend! The hardest part was not recruiting members as I had anticipated, it was actually securing a venue. Believe it or not, many local golf courses don’t love the idea of hosting 50+ women with varied skill levels. There is still a big gap for women in golf and that became very apparent to me in the course search. Eventually, a private club, Orange Tree Golf Club in Dr Phillips saw the value in our mission to empower women on and off the course and we created an incredible partnership. Thank you to OTGC for taking a chance on us!
ETHOS BENEFITS
In my early years as a co-founder with my husband, Donovan Ryckis, we didn’t understand the importance of managing processes, not people. We thought the right talent should be able to execute our vision. That is true only when they have the right tech infrastructure, processes, and tools to do so. After rapid growth the first 3 years of our business, we quickly needed to focus on the service foundation side of the business and ultimately, the talent executing the mission. Hiring the wrong people can be devastating for a new business and we learned the hard way the importance of hiring for values and for having a clearly defined process that can protect you from making emotional hiring decisions.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Ethos Benefits is the opposite of 99% of the insurance brokerages out there. From day 1, we intentionally sought to do business the exact opposite way that most brokers do. Why? Because there is inherent conflicts of interest in the traditional business model that contribute to the healthcare crisis employers are facing.
We can all agree that American healthcare is a mess. 180 million Americans rely on their employers for access to healthcare. Most employers will agree that health insurance is a top 2 or 3 business expense, second usually only to payroll. Every year the cost goes up, while the benefits go down. Employers know the inflation is unsustainable and employees become more and more disgruntled each year. It’s a dilemma that employers know too well and have ultimately decided there is nothing they can do to fix.
Well, the truth is, there IS something they can do to fix it but the people they rely on for guidance profit immensely from them believing this lie. It’s truly the greatest lie to plague American businesses.
Think about it, every part of the health insurance supply chain makes more money when employers believe this lie.
Brokers- they are paid a commission, when premium goes up, so does their compensation.
Insurance carriers- what employers call premium, carriers call revenue. They are responsible to their shareholders to increase revenue, not decrease it.
Hospitals- Hospitals charge private insurers (carriers) significantly higher prices than they charge government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Employers who provide health insurance bear these inflated costs, as insurers pass them along in premiums.
Pharmacy Benefit managers-PBMs charge employers or health plans more for a drug than they reimburse the pharmacy that dispenses it. The difference, known as “spread pricing,” becomes profit for the PBM. The higher the cost of the drug, the bigger the spread.
No one is INCENTIVIZED in the status quo model to LOWER costs and protect employers from the fraud, waste, and abuse. We created Ethos Benefits with one mission: to bring a FIDUCIARY approach to meaningful benefits, to shine a light on the corruption and show employers a way out. We do not take a commission, we work for a set fee. We only design plans that give employers access to their data and ultimately, power to control costs. We only work with transparent vendors who do not profit when employers pay more. We have a systematic approach to lower costs 30-40% for employers using a multi year strategy that focuses on transparency in pharmacy and the cost of claims. The best part? Employees get access to free imaging, free cancer treatment, free surgeries, free specialty medications and have text message access to an advocate on our team 24/7.
Win-win’s do exist in healthcare, you just have to work with vendors who are aligned with you.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
ETHOS: Our employees were all hired because of ONE shared value.
If something can be done better, it should be.
They all believe that however big or small, personal or professional, that consistently being excellent requires consistently improving.
LEGS: I am terrible at golf. Even after 2 years of LEGS, I am suprisingly bad. This is no reflection on the LEGS instructors, it’s purely me and my muscle memory softball swing. 🙂
PERSONAL: I have a twin brother who is truly my better half back in Canada.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://WWW.ETHOSBENEFITS.COM
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benefitsboss_/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EthosBenefits
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvpXAjo2vMA7_T1GmwvSpyQ
- Other: https://WWW.ETHOSEFFECTPODCAST.COM
Image Credits
ASHLEY MAISO – red dress photos
