Introducing the First CYOP Sponsor: Stride Health
If there's one thing I've learned about striking out on my own as an independent creative, it's that the business side of being in business for yourself is hard. Period. The contracts, the accounting, the health coverage—none of it is what I'd consider fun and, quite frankly, very little of it falls into my area of expertise.
Luckily, I'm learning to get better with contracts, my CPA is amazing and my husband's health coverage is pretty stellar. However, when it comes to health coverage, specifically, I know not everyone has the same luxury. I've spoken to many freelancers and independent contractors who have had to dive right in to the murky waters that make up the current health care system in the U.S.
Let's just say it's not pretty.
So when the team behind Stride Health reached out about partnering with me on the CYOP Road Trip, I couldn't wait to find out more and see how we could work together. As many of you know, Creating Your Own Path is focused on sharing stories about individuals doing creative work and Stride Health helps creatives do what they do best by supporting them in figuring out the health care system.
ABOUT STRIDE HEALTH
Stride Health is a data-driven recommendation engine for those who, like many of my creative friends out there, need to get themselves and/or their families covered, but don't know where to start.
Not only that, the site uses some seriously impressive data sets to help predict what a household's annual health care costs might be and then walks each individual through the process of signing up for health care, step-by-step, once open enrollment begins.
But I haven't mentioned the coolest part: there are people you can call when you have questions. Actual people. Once you sign up with Stride Health, you can call about anything—from which health care costs are tax deductible and how to save money on prescriptions to which preventative services are free and why your health care provider is refusing to cover a specific service.
ABOUT THE SPONSORSHIP:
As you can see, I was really impressed with the mission of the company. Not only is their business model pretty genius (we can all appreciate that, right?), but they've also jumped at the chance to help creatives navigate a necessary task that I've often heard described as "painful" and "problematic."
While I don't use Stride Health's services thanks to my husband's incredible health coverage, I couldn't help wanting to share their message with my listeners and readers—many of whom are freelancers, independent contractors and small business owners.
So, you'll be seeing more of Stride Health popping up throughout the rest of Season 2 of Creating Your Own Path. You'll be hearing from the company's CEO about why he started Stride Health, along with helpful information about the heath care system, what open enrollment means for you and more about the company's mission.
Note: This is my first podcast sponsor, so be prepared—the episodes with ads will sound a bit different and you'll be seeing messaging across all of my platforms. That said, my sole focus is to continue to create engaging content and that includes ad content! I'm working closely with Stride Health's team to make sure any messaging I share is both useful and interesting. Just know that the sponsors I work with on the show will always fit my mission to bring you stories about creativity, adventure and everything in between.
If you'd like to get a sneak peek at my partnership with Stride, you can head over to stridehealth.com to learn more. And stay tuned—the first CYOP Road Trip episode launches this Thursday!