Client Of The Month: Sam Jackson With Foundation PT
Private Practice Owners ClubOctober 15, 202400:29:5227.43 MB

Client Of The Month: Sam Jackson With Foundation PT

Feeling stuck in the day-to-day grind? Meet Sam Jackson, an owner who made the leap from being a full-time therapist to leading a successful physical therapy clinic.


This episode of The Private Practice Owners Club Podcast highlights Samโ€™s journey as our "Client of the Month," and shares how he transformed his business and life. He talks about the struggles of stepping out of treatment and learning to delegate so he could focus on growing his clinic.


Itโ€™s not just about hiring and expandingโ€”Sam learned the importance of staying true to his values, like accountability and gratitude, while growing his team.


Don't miss "Client of the Month: Sam Jackson with Foundation PT" โ€“ whether you're just starting or thinking about your next step in scaling your practice, this episode is packed with wisdom on leadership, business growth, and creating a healthy work-life balance.


Want to talk about how we can help you with your private practice, or have a question you want to ask? Book a call with Adam -https://calendly.com/adamrobin/dr-adam-s-30-minute-connection


Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!https://ppoclub.com

[00:00:00] It's been really cool to have the values and to use that as culture building and getting

[00:00:05] to have those to talk about them at team meetings and to even if there is something that's going

[00:00:13] on with one of my physical therapists, if something happens, it's cool to be able to fall back

[00:00:19] on those values and to be able to say, hey, that's not humility is the other one.

[00:00:26] Welcome, you've entered the Physical Therapy Owners Club podcast where your host Nathan

[00:00:31] Shields and other successful PT owners and leaders share their experience and insights

[00:00:36] on how to build successful PT businesses. They'll share the stories of their paths to success

[00:00:41] and show you how you can also obtain greater freedom and more profits from your business.

[00:00:47] That's what the PT Owners Club is all about, greater freedom and more profits. There's

[00:00:52] plenty of room for you as well. So come on in and join the club.

[00:00:57] Hello, and welcome to the Private Practice Owners Club podcast. I'm your host, Adam Robin. And

[00:01:03] today we have a special guest and we're starting a new series. It's going to be called Client

[00:01:09] Of The Month. Client Of The Month. And today I've got a guest. His name is Sam, Sam Jackson,

[00:01:14] and he's been working with me for about a year now. And today we're going to just learn a little

[00:01:18] bit about his story, learn a little bit about his company, some of his keys to success and

[00:01:23] kind of where he's going. And so he's got a lot of cool things to share. And Sam, welcome

[00:01:27] to the show.

[00:01:28] Yeah. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:29] How are you doing today, man?

[00:01:30] Yeah, doing well. It's funny being on the podcast because I've listened to it for such

[00:01:35] a long time. So it's kind of a full circle moment.

[00:01:39] Here we are.

[00:01:39] Yeah.

[00:01:40] Yeah. I remember I was right here in this spot when I recorded my first podcast with Nathan

[00:01:46] and we did the same thing. So it's like full circle for me too. I was one of Nathan's first

[00:01:51] coaching clients. You were one of my first coaching clients. So it's really cool. It's really cool

[00:01:55] to see us all grow.

[00:01:56] Absolutely.

[00:01:58] So tell me where you're from. Tell me your story. I want to hear more about kind of like you,

[00:02:02] where you're from, where you grew up, just you on the personal side. Tell me your story.

[00:02:07] Yeah. So I'm from Greenville, South Carolina originally, and kind of made my way through the

[00:02:13] state to school at University of South Carolina and then went to PT school at the Medical University

[00:02:20] of South Carolina, which is in Charleston. So I lived in Charleston for a couple of years,

[00:02:24] got married with my wife. We were there probably five years in total. And then we had a son

[00:02:29] and started thinking through what next steps would be for us. I had been a staff therapist

[00:02:35] for a couple of years and loved being a PT, but kind of wanted something more and was

[00:02:41] very interested in the business side of things. So I think once you have a kid, it can be

[00:02:45] a big motivator and you have to figure out a lot of things that I want to be about where

[00:02:50] what's next.

[00:02:51] So we started thinking through a lot of those questions like where do we want to settle

[00:02:54] down, thinking through wanting my wife to be able to stay home from work. So I was going

[00:03:00] to need a salary increase there. So just kind of figuring out all the different options and

[00:03:04] eventually ended up with the idea of moving back home to Greenville, being closer to family

[00:03:09] and then trying to start my own clinic.

[00:03:12] It's cool. I like how you talk about having kids because it does change you, doesn't it?

[00:03:18] Right. Because when you don't have kids, you're just a little bit more selfish.

[00:03:23] You know what I mean? Like life's a little bit more about you.

[00:03:26] Right. And kind of you don't really think about like the impact that you have on the world

[00:03:30] as much. But once you start having children and you start recognizing like, wow, like the degree

[00:03:36] in which you're going to impact this person's life, things change. Right. You start thinking

[00:03:40] about like, okay, like you mentioned, like, what am I all about? Like, what do I want

[00:03:43] to stand for? Like, how do I want to impact the world? Starts making you think a little

[00:03:48] differently.

[00:03:49] Yeah. Yeah. And I would say even that was, as we talked more about the business stuff,

[00:03:54] that was a big motivator. Like I said, having kids and it's also been kind of a helpful,

[00:03:59] like help keep me in check and probably help me have to learn to delegate more instead of

[00:04:04] just doing things all on my own. Because, you know, my wife and I, when we talked about

[00:04:07] it and when we're going to pursue this thing, it was like, yes, there might be some seasons

[00:04:11] where you're really going to have, I'm really going to have to work hard and stay up late and

[00:04:16] wake up early. And I've had those seasons, but the long-term goal has been to own a business,

[00:04:21] not to own a job that, that you have to do all this stuff, but to really own a company

[00:04:26] and a business to where you have a little bit more of that freedom. So that's been cool.

[00:04:30] And it probably helped me in the beginning when I'm, when your tendency is just to try to

[00:04:34] do everything, to get checked a little bit and be like, Hey, I'm doing this for my family

[00:04:38] and for my kids. So I can just be an absent father who works all the time and is stressed

[00:04:44] all the time. And so that's good. That was me for a while. And what I heard out of that,

[00:04:49] which is awesome. I heard that you just have your priorities straight. Like you knew what

[00:04:53] was most important and you stayed really true to that. And that helped you not only be a

[00:04:59] better father, but be a better business owner as well.

[00:05:02] Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I mean, I think part of it too, if you've listened to it for a while,

[00:05:06] you've heard from different owners and a lot of people have the same stories of they start

[00:05:10] working, they open, things start getting busy and then they kind of get consumed by

[00:05:14] their job and reach this point of burnout. And so I think I'm grateful to get to hear stories like

[00:05:21] yours and a lot of other owners. And you start to recognize some of those patterns of, Hey,

[00:05:26] when I stepped out of treatment, that's when everything changed. So I kind of went into

[00:05:30] ownership with, all right, everybody says you will eventually have to step out of treatment.

[00:05:34] And I know that's going to be hard, but you got to trust the process. You got to follow the

[00:05:39] path that's been laid. So that's been a helpful thing to get to learn from the mistakes or just

[00:05:44] from the wisdom of others.

[00:05:46] Yeah. Let's talk about that a little bit. And you mentioned that it was hard. Tell me about

[00:05:51] why it was hard. Like what were some of the things that you battled with, if you will,

[00:05:55] like internally, like knowing that you should step out of treatment, but like what was so hard about

[00:06:01] it? Like what was the battle that you were having about stepping out of treatment?

[00:06:03] Yeah. I think that probably specifically for stepping out of treatment is you've built this

[00:06:09] business. You've like, in my case, picked up my family, we moved, we made some huge financial

[00:06:16] commitments and a lot of different ways. And then just having to like, if I'm treating everybody

[00:06:21] and I'm doing everything, you feel that semblance of control, like it's going to stop with me.

[00:06:26] So I think just having to let go of that and having to trust the team and starting to realize that

[00:06:31] now the job isn't to do everything on your own, but you learn how to be a leader and learn how to help

[00:06:37] your team grow and like to trust them and maybe a little bit of a mindset shift on what my purpose

[00:06:44] was with the company.

[00:06:46] Sam, how long have you been in business?

[00:06:47] Yeah. So I opened officially February of 2023. I guess I should have mentioned that.

[00:06:53] Yeah. So you're talking a year and a half. Does that sound right?

[00:06:56] Yeah. About a year and a half.

[00:06:58] And you're already talking about being a leader and all that stuff?

[00:07:01] Yeah.

[00:07:03] What are you nuts? That's amazing, man. Tell us about your company.

[00:07:06] So company's foundation, physical therapy in Greenville. I guess you kind of hit on it. So

[00:07:12] opened in February of 2023 and I guess how the company kind of my journey as an owner and in

[00:07:19] terms of hiring, different staff, everything, I pretty much did everything for the first five

[00:07:24] or six months. And probably July of 23, I hired part-time admin for a desk and that was amazing.

[00:07:32] That was like a no brainer. I just did not have to be the one who's doing all the paperwork and

[00:07:38] collecting all the payments and all that. That was a huge, huge boost to me. And then I got to the point

[00:07:43] where I knew I needed to hire another PT. That was actually when I reached out to you to get some

[00:07:49] coaching because I was like kind of in over my head when it comes to hiring a new PT and just

[00:07:55] a lot of different questions about that. So I hired my first PT in September. And then honestly,

[00:08:01] with some of your guidance, I was interviewing some different candidates and had a couple of good

[00:08:06] ones. And you're like, well, can you keep that one of the good ones on the line and see if she

[00:08:11] could start potentially later? I was like, seems like a good idea. Let's do it. So I talked with her

[00:08:17] and we talked about, hey, what about starting in a couple months from now? And she agreed. So

[00:08:22] she started at the very end of November. So that's when I hired my second PT in December.

[00:08:27] And my second son, my wife and I had our second son. So that was a crazy time. That was also a

[00:08:33] little deadline the whole first year of like moving, new baby, and then another new baby on the way.

[00:08:40] There was a lot of stress outside or a lot of stuff going on outside of work and inside of work.

[00:08:45] But after that, I had another PT on the line, one of my friends from PT school,

[00:08:51] and he kind of agreed to start in February. So third PT in February, fourth PT in July.

[00:08:58] And now pretty much every time I hired a PT, I try to step out of treatment a little bit more

[00:09:04] and a little bit more to where now I'm treating like three or four, three to five hours a week.

[00:09:09] And most of the time, it's patients I want to treat or if a doctor really needs to get somebody in,

[00:09:15] I'll try to see somebody.

[00:09:17] Amazing, man. It's freaking amazing. And so one of the more recent events that you... So tell me about

[00:09:23] like the space that you're in now and like where you're at as far as like being able to fill that

[00:09:30] space and then kind of what your plans are over the next like three to six months.

[00:09:34] Yeah. So right now in a good location, a good spot, it's... But we're essentially growing out

[00:09:40] of it. So square footage wise, it's probably good, but it's two stories and no elevator or anything.

[00:09:46] And it was just not really made for a PT clinic. So it gets really loud, really crowded. So I guess

[00:09:51] kind of get to the point where you're getting busy. And then I had to... My first instinct would have

[00:09:55] been, okay, it's time to go and look for another clinic to try to see about opening up that location.

[00:10:01] And I'm grateful for coaching for you and some of your advice, which was essentially as long as you

[00:10:07] can stay under one roof, like the better things can be. And I guess it's just one roof. Like,

[00:10:14] I still have a lot of stuff I need to do as an owner before I open another clinic. So the idea of

[00:10:18] opening another clinic is really scary. The idea of moving to a bigger clinic is actually exciting.

[00:10:23] And you can look at the numbers and you could see how things would improve. Like now,

[00:10:28] now that the company is already functioning. So right now started looking for new buildings and

[00:10:35] I'm in the process of trying to get under contract with bigger space that would double our square

[00:10:39] footage, be all one level, increase parking, solve a lot of problems from the clinical side of

[00:10:45] things. And yeah, that is something that is crazy is thinking about where I was before when I was in

[00:10:52] Charleston working full time and trying to figure out, am I going to rent? Am I going to buy? Where

[00:10:56] am I going to be? Can I even make it as a company to now when you're looking for a place and you just

[00:11:02] have a little bit more confidence in myself as a leader and as the business as a whole of like,

[00:11:08] hey, we're going to keep seeing people. I'd like to be looking to hire another PT right now.

[00:11:12] I don't think we get one in our current space. So that's been a cool thing.

[00:11:15] Awesome, man. Yeah. Cause we've been working together for about a year

[00:11:18] and I've just been amazed at your growth just personally, professionally, like your company.

[00:11:22] And I wasn't able to write all that down, but I think what I heard was you've hired four PTs this

[00:11:27] year. Does that sound right? Yeah. Yeah. Four PTs this year. You outgrown your space

[00:11:33] completely. 97% has stepped out of treatment, right? And you've got a new location that you're going to

[00:11:40] be moving into. Yeah. Yeah. And you had a baby. Yeah. And a baby in a house, lots of big stuff.

[00:11:47] Yeah. And it's just amazing, man. The first time we talked, even on our control call,

[00:11:51] you said you'll be shocked at how quickly things can grow. That it kind of seems like

[00:11:55] something that's easy to say, but I didn't know how much I believed you then. But now when I take

[00:12:01] the time to actually look back a year and yeah, within a year, five or four PTs, which is,

[00:12:05] it's crazy how exponential things can be. Yeah. Yeah. So right now you're at four PTs plus yourself

[00:12:11] and you have one admin, correct? And then a virtual assistant that you have on your team as well.

[00:12:17] Yeah. Just started with the virtual assistant.

[00:12:19] Yeah. So now we have a VA team. So you're like, you're gearing up for something really cool.

[00:12:22] I did want to get into your company purpose and values, but yeah. Tell me a little bit about that.

[00:12:27] Tell me about like the culture that you're trying to create a foundation and what your purpose is and

[00:12:33] the values. And tell me about how that's evolved over the last year.

[00:12:36] Yeah. I think it's definitely still evolving. And when I think about that in terms of coaching

[00:12:42] lenses and starting a program, something that was helpful was there's times when I would tell you,

[00:12:48] I think I need to get my purpose and values down. And you're like, not right now, not right now.

[00:12:52] And so I was like, okay, I want. And then I guess really when I started hiring people

[00:12:57] and maybe stepping out of treatment where you're like, you really need to hone in on that. So

[00:13:01] our purpose is to help others live life to the full. And then we have different values,

[00:13:07] excellence, gratitude, accountability. Sure. Sure. And I'm all down because I'm like,

[00:13:12] so I can think about it when I actually think about it. Grit.

[00:13:15] Let me put the pressure on.

[00:13:17] Yeah. Gratitude, accountability, grit. It's been really cool to have the values and to use that

[00:13:23] as culture building and getting to have those to like talk about them at team meetings and

[00:13:28] to even if there is something that that's going on with a physical, like with one of my physical

[00:13:35] therapists, if something happens or it's cool to be able to fall back on those values and to be able

[00:13:41] to say like, Hey, that's not humiliating the other one, putting others before ourselves. That's not

[00:13:45] being grateful for the opportunities we had. That's not really doing things with excellence.

[00:13:50] So let's get to the bottom. How can we solve that?

[00:13:53] So it's been a cool framework and maybe I've heard you guys say this too, but it allows you to kind of

[00:13:58] replicate yourself and my hopes for the clinic and my hopes for who we're treating.

[00:14:03] Because one thing I love about being in Greenville and a place where I grow up is you're getting to

[00:14:07] treat family and friends and my friends' parents and all that. But there's also an added burden

[00:14:13] of responsibility if you mess up or if one of my family members or friends' family members comes

[00:14:19] to PT and they don't have a good experience. And that's kind of my names on the owner. The book

[00:14:24] stops with me. So it's a cool way to try to continue to cultivate a culture.

[00:14:28] Yeah. You're responsible for that, man.

[00:14:35] Hey everybody. We finally did it. Finally, we're doing our first in-person event,

[00:14:40] the Private Practice Owners Club first ever in-person conference, September 20th and 21st in Clearwater

[00:14:45] Beach, Florida. Adam and I are super excited. Really can't wait to finally meet you in person.

[00:14:50] This entire time I've been preaching, reach out, step out, network. And I can now provide that to

[00:14:56] you, not just virtually or via podcast, but in person. We'll have speakers that speak on leadership

[00:15:01] and growth. We'll answer questions to your current issues. We'll provide you opportunity to network

[00:15:05] with like-minded individuals and obviously gain inspiration and energy from being in the room with

[00:15:10] the same people. You'll be able to literally reach out, step out, and network all in one weekend,

[00:15:16] September 20th and 21st at the Hyatt at Clearwater Beach, Florida. I would really love to see you

[00:15:20] there. In order to register, go to ppoclubevents.com, p-p-o-club-events.com and register to sign up for

[00:15:29] the event. Also, early bird registration ends July 31st. So to get a discount on the registration

[00:15:35] fees, make sure you sign up, get your room between now and July 31st. Otherwise, prices will go up.

[00:15:41] So go to ppoclubevents.com. Thank you to all of you who have listened for so many years.

[00:15:47] I would love to find me to in person. You've just done so much. What are some of the things

[00:16:07] that you feel like you've learned? Like what were some of the biggest lessons or the biggest

[00:16:13] just kind of insights and ahas that you've had over the last year that you feel like really

[00:16:17] led to some of the success you've been having? I think even if I took it back to before we were

[00:16:23] coaching together, I was actually working with another coach who was the first time that I worked

[00:16:29] with a coach. And he was more of a productivity coach, but was working on me with some business

[00:16:34] things. And I think it was like a Gary Keller example. But to summarize it was kind of like,

[00:16:40] if you follow a plan, if you follow the path, like you can complete, you can reach goals.

[00:16:45] And one of the examples is like, think about the people you know who run a marathon.

[00:16:49] And I think we've all probably had patients that get to be 60 years old and they run a marathon

[00:16:54] are 50 years old. I'm thinking of one right now. And it's like, how do they do that? It's

[00:17:00] because they follow the plan. Week one, you run one mile. Week two, you slowly bump it up.

[00:17:06] And like you just do the little things every day that you're supposed to be doing. And then

[00:17:11] you look back and you see all the progress you've made. And I feel like that's kind of what I've done.

[00:17:15] I don't really look at the last year and think that I've done something amazing or incredible.

[00:17:20] But it was kind of that idea of following the path, follow the plan, maybe a little

[00:17:25] productivity. Like you just plot along, you do the next right thing. And then you can look back and

[00:17:31] see all the progress you've made. I think that's beautiful. I think that that's the secret that

[00:17:37] people have a hard time. Like that's not an exciting thing. Follow the plan. You know what I mean?

[00:17:43] Like follow the plan and then you'll be successful. And it's like, yeah, but what's the secret?

[00:17:47] You know what I mean? It's like, there is no secret. There's no secret. Like the way that I

[00:17:54] experience you and the clients that do really well with us is like, they just follow this framework

[00:17:59] of they step out of treatment and they work on the business. They delegate. They have a team meeting.

[00:18:04] They work on their marketing process. They work on their onboarding process. They train their team,

[00:18:09] right? They track their metrics. They meet with their biller. They meet with their account.

[00:18:12] And there's a few other ones. But like, if you just do all those things consistently,

[00:18:16] and it's like, I tend to use inflammatory language, but like, I'm not worried about your

[00:18:20] feelings. I'm not worried about what's convenient. Just follow the plan anyway, and just do the

[00:18:26] boring things and make them the priority. And then before you know it, you have four therapists

[00:18:33] and your clinic is full of patients, right? Like you and I, we've worked together. We haven't really

[00:18:39] put together. I mean, I know you've done a lot of work, but it's not like,

[00:18:42] oh, we just implemented Adam's four-step marketing plan and it got all the patients.

[00:18:49] Or we just implemented Adam's two-step recruiting system and all the PTs came flocking. It's like,

[00:18:56] you just did the little things and everything kind of like lines up. So I think that's beautiful.

[00:19:01] Yeah.

[00:19:01] That's amazing.

[00:19:02] Yeah. I mean, I think that's really good. And like you mentioned the team meeting

[00:19:05] where there's a lot of simple things like that, that I was like, okay, Adam's successful. He's

[00:19:11] worked with successful owners. And if this is what successful owners do, then we need to do a team

[00:19:16] meeting and just trying to start off on the right foot. And then afterwards I started saying, man,

[00:19:21] like this is really important. I can't imagine not having that team meeting now and that the time

[00:19:26] at the staff and get to work on stuff. So that was maybe like just me recognizing,

[00:19:32] I don't know it all. And I want to follow some wise counsel from people who have done things before

[00:19:37] me and actually follow it for a minute. So that's amazing, man. That's amazing. So keys to success.

[00:19:43] What I'm hearing for you is you mentioned delegate more, right? Step out of treatment. That was a big

[00:19:50] one that you mentioned, which I agree with both of those. And then do the little things, i.e. like

[00:19:56] create the plan and just follow the plan and like not your feelings, not your emotions,

[00:20:00] just follow the plan. Right. Yeah. It's amazing. So what do you do for fun?

[00:20:06] What I do for fun? I love spending time with my family, love spending time. I mean, to be fair,

[00:20:12] the past year has been pretty crazy. So I've had a ton of time for fun. I kind of hit on it earlier,

[00:20:19] but I really did try to prioritize family, church, like those things that are really important,

[00:20:25] but had a whole lot of time for fun. But as things are kind of stepping down, yeah, I just love spending

[00:20:33] time with people playing pickleball, traveling, South Carolina football. Oh, yeah. Fantasy football.

[00:20:40] Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. And so we're going to be approaching Q4 soon, right? So how do you see

[00:20:48] your company ending out the rest of the year? And then have you started thinking about like,

[00:20:54] man, like what does your company look like next year? Like if you start thinking about what your

[00:20:57] vision is? Probably not yet. Not too much yet. So, I mean, I think the plan right now is to see if

[00:21:04] we can close on this new location and that would be a big part. So that would probably be transitioning

[00:21:10] there in early 2025 or if it's not there trying to find another space that we can continue to grow

[00:21:17] into. And I think other things that I guess, because I have thought about this, but building

[00:21:25] out like a clinic director role to right now, I'm still the clinic director, even though I don't treat

[00:21:30] that much, but build like delegating that to somebody working on processes and procedures,

[00:21:37] onboarding. There's lots of stuff I can be working on, which is always funny when people are like,

[00:21:41] if you're not treating, what do you do? And I'm like, there's a lot of a lot to do. So yeah,

[00:21:47] I guess that's ending this year is just finishing the year strong. It's kind of cool because now,

[00:21:52] probably just now is like the time where every time, like basically just investing back into the

[00:21:59] business, back into the business, back into the business. And now looking at profit and loss

[00:22:04] statements at the end of the month, it's like, oh, now there's actually some profit there.

[00:22:07] I actually can see some of the fruit of all the hard work. So probably just making some money for

[00:22:13] the rest of the year and then going and investing that immediately into the new building again.

[00:22:19] Yeah. It's cool that I love the stage you're in. It's like you kind of get most things pretty good

[00:22:26] in your company. Decent little marketing plan, little sales process, team meetings, onboardings,

[00:22:31] kind of built out, getting some policies and procedures. Everything's still a little chaotic,

[00:22:35] but it's there. And then once you commit to putting a director in place and being like,

[00:22:42] hey, here's what I've built. It's not all perfect, but it's good enough for now. And then you're able

[00:22:48] to not only delegate patient care, but delegate like all of the day-to-day things to where you not

[00:22:53] only have objective time, but you have like mental capacity to really like dive in deep to ensure your

[00:23:01] purpose and values. Like let's go all the way back to the beginning and like go deeper into the purpose

[00:23:06] and values, go deeper into the sales process, deeper into the marketing plan, deeper into the

[00:23:11] onboarding process and like bulletproof it. And then once you kind of get through that and you build a

[00:23:17] VA team behind you, now you can get into the place where you're ready to scale. Like if you wanted to

[00:23:21] open up another location or anything like that, like you've got a company that's really, really ready.

[00:23:25] So that's exciting. That's super exciting. And not only like as you're diving deeper into each

[00:23:31] department of your company, you can train Forrest. Forrest, right? Is that his name?

[00:23:35] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:36] Yeah. You train Forrest, your new director. So really, really exciting stuff, man.

[00:23:40] Quick bullet points. Like if you had a practice owner, let's say somebody who just opened a clinic

[00:23:47] or was thinking about opening a clinic, what would be like the one, two, three pieces of advice

[00:23:54] you'd give them? Like if you had to just break it down to like three little bullet points, what would

[00:23:57] it be?

[00:23:58] Probably the first thing is you just got to think a little bit about what's the end goal and

[00:24:03] what's the starting with the end in mind. So I think that's, especially when you talk about

[00:24:07] starting with like new practice owners. And I know I was this way some too, where you might be,

[00:24:12] oh, do I start a mobile practice and keep my overhead low? Do I do cash? Do I do insurance?

[00:24:18] And so kind of figuring out what you want a little bit there, figuring out what you want in the

[00:24:22] beginning is obviously really important for what you want to do long-term. So I guess beginning with

[00:24:27] the end in mind and getting some sort of a vision of what you want and why you're opening the practice.

[00:24:32] Number two, I definitely would recommend finding some sort of business coach, somebody to hold you

[00:24:38] accountable, somebody that's not emotional, that can look into your problems and give you some

[00:24:43] guidance and wisdom. I think it's very, very helpful. And then really, maybe the other thing is

[00:24:48] it's just not trying to bootstrap everything and trying to delegate as much as you can,

[00:24:53] especially in the beginning when it comes to making a website. There's so much stuff that

[00:24:57] feels overwhelming and it's a lot to open a new clinic, but that's where the productivity

[00:25:03] comes along where if you're thinking, oh, I got to build a website. And sometimes we go like,

[00:25:07] I have to figure out how to make a website and all that. So you don't, you just have to call

[00:25:11] somebody who knows how to make a website. Call it straight and he will help you out.

[00:25:16] Same thing for the building where I was like freaking out because I got to the point of

[00:25:19] starting a clinic. I'm like, the next stage is I need a building so I can start getting

[00:25:23] credentialed and open an LLC and blah, blah, blah, whatever I had to do. It seemed really

[00:25:30] intimidating to find a building, but I was like, I can pick up the phone and call the realtor

[00:25:33] and have them help me find a building. And so, yeah, just taking those baby steps, but finding

[00:25:39] the people who can help you out, not thinking you have to do it all yourself.

[00:25:42] So networking to talking with people who have done it is really important.

[00:25:47] You know, I listened to Alex Harmozy and one time he said the most dangerous entrepreneur

[00:25:54] is the lazy entrepreneur is the one that sees what needs to be done, but tries to identify

[00:26:02] how can I get this done without me having to do it? How can I stay at home and say it's still

[00:26:06] good time? You see how there's like a degree of separation there. And the quicker that we

[00:26:12] can get into that mindset and learn that skill of number one, understanding what needs to be

[00:26:19] done and prioritizing it. And then number two, finding out how to get things done through

[00:26:24] others, not in like a dictator type of way, but like an empowering way so that you can stay

[00:26:30] more free to focus on the vision and the plan. And you can be more of the big picture thinker

[00:26:35] instead of the doer, right? You kind of get sucked down into the business and you can't see,

[00:26:40] right? Like if you think you're like, you're digging a ditch and you're kind of looking down

[00:26:43] at the ground the whole time and you're just keeping your head down, you might look up and

[00:26:47] you might realize like, oh man, I'm not digging the ditch in the right direction. Like I'm,

[00:26:51] I'm supposed to be going the other way. Right. And then Sam, you know, you're kind of

[00:26:56] standing outside the ditch, kind of keeping people in line, setting the cones up. You're

[00:27:00] going to make more progress that way. And that's the CEO skill that that's hard to learn. It's just

[00:27:04] amazing that you just seem to naturally have that knack to where you seem to not let emotions like

[00:27:12] get entangled into your decision-making process. Like you just follow the guidance and you just

[00:27:17] follow the plan. And that's just the key to your success. I'm actually super impressed with you,

[00:27:21] man. Like you've been killing it.

[00:27:23] Yeah. Thanks, man. Wouldn't be where I am without you. Thanks, brother.

[00:27:27] I'd say that the other thing I thought about as we're talking about that is,

[00:27:30] and I know you see it all the time, but it's just how like PTs, we really do not have any sort

[00:27:37] of like investment kind of mindset. It's like, I'm the same way, but it's like, we're all kind

[00:27:43] of on the not wanting to delegate. It's just like, there's tons and tons of like money fears

[00:27:48] and not wanting to make that higher, not wanting to outsource something like, and I think that would

[00:27:54] be something that I would tell people was like, you have to start viewing things as investments.

[00:27:59] Hiring another PT is an investment. Hiring a front desk is an investment. It's not gonna,

[00:28:04] like if you can stay out of that realm of where you're like checking your own bank account and just

[00:28:09] focus on building the business, I think that could be really helpful. I was able to do that because we

[00:28:14] moved back in with my parents and we sold our house in Charleston and rode the COVID wave up.

[00:28:20] And so I'm probably naturally a more conservative guy, but in my head, it was like, all right,

[00:28:25] I'm gonna give it a year where I'm just not really gonna worry too much about that and just invest.

[00:28:31] And then once you get some of the tools like the pro forma and you start seeing how much if you

[00:28:36] invest, if I go from just myself and another PT to four PTs, how much more you can make and profit

[00:28:42] margin and how your profit margin goes up, then you start feeling confident to make those decisions

[00:28:48] to invest in another PT, to invest in a full-time patient care coordinator.

[00:28:53] So yeah, it makes you get more excited about it, right? Instead of like fearful, like, oh,

[00:28:59] this is gonna take all my money. And it's like, no, this is gonna give you so much more, right?

[00:29:04] Yeah. And so what I took away from that, Sam, is number one, like if you're gonna open up a

[00:29:10] practice or if you're gonna try to grow a practice, you gotta be willing to cut down on some of the

[00:29:14] personal expenses, like move in with your parents. Like if you don't need an $80,000 truck, like get a

[00:29:20] used vehicle, paid it all, like get things back down to like really, really manageable. And when you

[00:29:27] start to see a little bit of profit margin in your practice, don't take it, like keep it in the

[00:29:33] business, reinvest it back into the business until you can grow something that can give you the income

[00:29:40] that you're looking for. But if you're an owner where you're at like one and a half FTEs and you're

[00:29:45] like, you're making like five or $6,000 a month in profit, that's not enough. It's like, it's not

[00:29:50] enough. Like you gotta keep going. Like you gotta get to $20,000, $30,000 a month in profit. You know what I mean?

[00:29:55] So yeah, I think the biggest mistake that I see owners make when they kind of hit that tipping

[00:29:59] point is they get to one or two FTEs in their practice and they think it's like, oh, I've made

[00:30:04] it. Like this is it. And they turn off that investment mode and they kind of get into saving

[00:30:09] mode. And it's like, no, you gotta keep going. You're almost there, but you gotta keep going.

[00:30:13] There's probably going to be an owner or two who's going to be really inspired by your story.

[00:30:19] Like what you're doing is amazing. So if somebody who's listening to this wanted to just like shoot

[00:30:25] you a DM or shoot you an email, like how would they get in touch with you?

[00:30:30] Yeah, you could, you could email me, uh, Sam at foundation dash PT.com. Email me there.

[00:30:39] I guess find me on LinkedIn and we can connect and connect for a phone call. I really enjoy

[00:30:43] talking with people. It's funny you asked that about a new owner because I actually talked

[00:30:47] with a guy earlier today who's thinking about starting up. So that was good practice for the

[00:30:52] podcast, but yeah, anybody can reach out. They want to hear, hear more about my experience

[00:30:57] or want to connect in any way. Happy to.

[00:31:02] Thanks for joining us today in the physical therapy owners club, the resource for stability

[00:31:07] and freedom in your PT practice, reach out and join the network today. Subscribe to our podcast,

[00:31:13] get links to social media and access all of our episodes with show notes at ptoclub.com.