Client Of The Month With Kenny Holder

[00:00:00] There's Been A Change There. They Can See That Your Visions Can Come Into Reality Once You Kind Of Do Have The Time To Start Making That Happen. And Then They're More Involved Through All The Leadership Training And Stuff We've Done, Even Through That Conference, Like, Let's Help Me Get My Team More Involved In Helping Us Get Things Done. And Then They Buy In More. And It Creates A, You Know, Just The Atmosphere Becomes Better At That Point, Too.

[00:00:32] Welcome. You've entered the Physical Therapy Owners Club Podcast, where your host, Nathan Shields, and other successful PT owners and leaders share their experience and insights on how to build successful PT businesses. They'll share the stories of their paths to success and show you how you can also obtain greater freedom and more profits from your business. That's what the PT Owners Club is all about, greater freedom and more profits.

[00:00:57] There's plenty of room for you as well, so come on in and join the club.

[00:01:04] Hello, and welcome to the Private Practice Owners Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Robin. And today, we've got our client of the month, Mr. Kenny Holder. For those that remember a couple podcast episodes ago, we're going to start doing a series where once a month we interview one of our clients and we're just going to learn about them.

[00:01:23] What I've recognized through doing some of this over the last few years is everybody wins a little differently. We just interviewed Sam Jackson, and he's got his story in his way. And today, we're going to talk to Kenny. And he's winning, but he's using his own Kenny sauce to move the needle in his business and make progress in his practice. So I want to introduce you to Kenny. What's up, man? How are you?

[00:01:45] I'm good. How are you, Adam?

[00:01:47] I'm doing good, brother. Happy Thursday.

[00:01:49] Happy Thursday.

[00:01:50] How's your day today?

[00:01:52] It's been good. It's been busy, but that's a good thing.

[00:01:56] Yeah, I've been busy. What kind of stuff you've been busy doing?

[00:01:58] Well, today, I have been working on a lot of... We're still trying to get a lot of policy and stuff in place, changing some things up, more kind of guidance for our PTs, and kind of working on the way we change some of our billing up. So I've worked on most of that today.

[00:02:17] That's awesome. You know what I recognize whenever you say that is you're working on the business.

[00:02:22] Yeah, that's kind of what it's... I've gotten a lot more time to do that.

[00:02:26] Yeah. It's cool because you can start... You play more of the CEO role, right? Actually, identify the challenges that are in your business and move people in the right places, solve the right problems so that you can set your team free to help you grow the business.

[00:02:40] Yes. That's the goal.

[00:02:42] That's the goal. Yeah. If you don't mind, just tell me a little bit about you. I'd love to hear just a little bit about you and your family, where you're from, where you live.

[00:02:51] And then if you want to go into... Tell me a little more about why you got into private practice and what's really important to you about being a business owner these days. So tell me about you.

[00:03:01] So I am from Conway, Arkansas, which is in Central Arkansas. I've been here since college. So that's been about 15 years now. I have a wife and two boys. They're young.

[00:03:17] So I got into practice. We started in 2013 in a small town here in Central Arkansas, just working by myself and then eventually expanded in 2019, opened up a second clinic.

[00:03:34] So I kind of got into practice. A lot of it was I didn't really like the corporate world and kind of wanted to do my own thing and make my own rules per se. And then you kind of realize that you're still at the mercy of other people, even though you work for yourself.

[00:04:01] Mm-hmm.

[00:04:22] Since 2013. And now the goal is, is to keep expanding and open more practices.

[00:04:29] Love it. You said you don't like corporate. Tell me what you didn't like about corporate.

[00:04:33] I did a small stint in a hospital in a corporate system. I guess a lot of what I didn't like was the nitpicky rules that didn't really matter in our day-to-day operations was my biggest.

[00:04:45] And just you had to jump through hoops to get anything done or approved or this or that in a lot less flexibility.

[00:04:54] Yeah. It's different whenever you have a small practice and it's owned by PTs, ran by PTs, and everything's kind of looked through the lens of like being a PT.

[00:05:04] Yeah. I think people appreciate that. I've had employees now that are, they're like, well, the good thing about here is like, you're a PT. Like, you're not trying to tell me what to do through someone else's eyes. Like you understand what it's like.

[00:05:17] So got it. The other thing you mentioned is do my own thing. One thing about entrepreneurs is that we're not good employees.

[00:05:26] No. I tell people all the time, I follow all the rules except for the stupid ones.

[00:05:32] Yeah. I couldn't imagine at this point stepping back into, now some days it'd be nice to go to work and go home, not have to worry about it, but just stepping back into an employee role would be very difficult.

[00:05:45] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think it takes a little bit of a rebel to be an entrepreneur. I think that you have to be really, really solution oriented and too much restriction.

[00:05:56] We don't typically thrive when there's just too much restriction, when that's bottled up. Like we need to be free. We need to be creative.

[00:06:02] You know, that's just kind of the way that our brains work because we're good at identifying solutions and it's hard to identify solutions whenever you're put in a box.

[00:06:09] Yes. Yes. Right. And so you opened your practice in 2013 and then 2019 you opened a second clinic.

[00:06:18] Uh-huh.

[00:06:19] So how has up until, let's say over the last, from 2019 to 2024, have all your dreams come true or like how have things been?

[00:06:29] They've been good. So our first clinic, small town, it's always kind of done its own thing. Like it's been easy. It was very easy.

[00:06:37] If I could open up 10 of those that were that easy, I would do it tomorrow.

[00:06:41] Client number two, more competition. It's been a different just avenue trying to figure out.

[00:06:48] We went from small town with no competition, really didn't have to do a lot of marketing, word of mouth spread really fast,

[00:06:57] to actually having to focus more on, okay, how are we going to get this off the ground? What's the plan going to be?

[00:07:03] We're going to actually have to learn how to market and how to do things differently.

[00:07:08] You always relate it to in the small towns like that. When you go to the grocery store, everyone that goes to a grocery store knows 80% of people in that grocery store.

[00:07:18] And they all talk to each other. When you get into larger places, you go to the grocery store and you're just trying to avoid anybody that you might know.

[00:07:25] So even the word of mouth stuff is harder to spread in a larger area than it is those small towns.

[00:07:31] Yeah. And so when we met, I guess that's about a year ago or so, tell me a little bit about where you were at in your business then,

[00:07:39] like right when we met or just leading up to that.

[00:07:42] I thought I had things together more than I did.

[00:07:46] I didn't have real solid policy in place. I didn't have many procedures in place.

[00:07:51] Clinic number two was still struggling a little bit.

[00:07:55] And I also knew that I was going to have to do something in order to get to where I needed, where I wanted to be with the two clinics that I have,

[00:08:05] as well as just expanding from there.

[00:08:08] So, you know, I was looking to get out of treatment.

[00:08:13] I didn't really know what that looked like at the time.

[00:08:15] I didn't fully understand how to get there.

[00:08:18] I also didn't understand what world I was going to do once I did get out.

[00:08:23] And then I just didn't have a good idea of like where things were going.

[00:08:30] Yeah.

[00:08:31] So it kind of started just listening to, you know, listening to podcasts and getting ideas from that.

[00:08:38] And then I think you reached out to me somehow, some way after joining the Facebook group, maybe.

[00:08:44] I don't know.

[00:08:45] I remember our first call a little bit and I get on those types of calls and I ask people all the time, like,

[00:08:52] hey, what's your vision? Like, what do you want to do?

[00:08:54] And a lot of people will say like, hey, if I just had like two or three therapists working for me,

[00:08:58] that would be amazing.

[00:08:59] Like that would be fantastic.

[00:09:02] And what you said to me was, I'd like to open like five or six clinics.

[00:09:06] Yeah.

[00:09:07] And I was like, okay, we got us a guy.

[00:09:10] You know what I mean?

[00:09:11] We got us a guy.

[00:09:12] And not everybody has that vision, but it really does excite me whenever I hear that from other people.

[00:09:18] I had one guy tell me, I want to go nationwide.

[00:09:23] You know, it's like, okay, let's do it.

[00:09:25] You know what I mean?

[00:09:25] Like that's a mountain.

[00:09:26] So that's one thing that I remember from you.

[00:09:29] And if I can recall back, I remember you were treating like 40 hours a week, at least.

[00:09:35] You were in patient care.

[00:09:36] Yeah, pretty much.

[00:09:37] I think I was kind of in a transition, maybe getting a half a day off here and there.

[00:09:43] But it was still a solid 36 hours a week.

[00:09:47] I think that I was treating at that point.

[00:09:49] Yeah.

[00:09:49] I didn't have the staff not to.

[00:09:51] So let's talk about that because this is fun for me because I'm debriefing the last year with you and I'm remembering some of our calls.

[00:10:01] And you remember like we got stuck on recruiting for a while.

[00:10:03] For a while.

[00:10:04] Yes.

[00:10:05] Remember that?

[00:10:05] Yeah.

[00:10:06] I can't find a PT.

[00:10:08] Yeah.

[00:10:08] We were stuck there for a good minute.

[00:10:10] Yeah.

[00:10:10] And you were, you know, that's typically you were kind of in that stage three is what we call like the evolving leader where it's like you've got a business, you've got referrals coming in the door.

[00:10:21] Financially, you're doing OK.

[00:10:23] Systems are kind of like the house isn't burning down.

[00:10:26] Systems are there.

[00:10:27] But I'm having a hard time really flexing that leadership muscle and I'm having a hard time driving like recruiting, like getting people excited about coming to work with me.

[00:10:38] And whenever you solve those two problems, boom, you find yourself at a new capacity.

[00:10:42] So let's talk about recruiting.

[00:10:44] Right.

[00:10:44] Let's talk about that because we talked about recruiting for several, several months.

[00:10:51] Right.

[00:10:52] So tell me kind of like talk me through that journey.

[00:10:55] Talk to me about like why you felt like you were stuck with recruiting.

[00:10:59] Well, recruiting before was an indeed end.

[00:11:04] And I didn't really know what else to do.

[00:11:06] I mean, you know, I knew like I can call people that I know, but, you know, my network really wasn't that big as far as PTs that I know.

[00:11:16] And most of the ones that I did know were either in practice for themselves or lived off.

[00:11:22] So my recruiting strategy was an add on Indeed.

[00:11:27] And you just I did not get anything from Indeed ads.

[00:11:32] So I think our first step was working our way through that.

[00:11:36] Just getting through basically told me Indeed's not going to work.

[00:11:42] Like, you know, you need to expand your network and this and that.

[00:11:45] So it took a lot.

[00:11:47] It took time and it took quite a bit of effort and kind of learned that recruiting is a lot similar to marketing.

[00:11:54] I mean, you're just marketing yourself to a different group of people.

[00:11:57] But that, you know, it's the more places you touch.

[00:12:03] You're not going to hit one home run with an Indeed ad or a you might.

[00:12:08] But the chances of it are slim.

[00:12:10] But it's kind of a you touch a lot of small points and it eventually comes together.

[00:12:15] Nate likes to say hit some singles.

[00:12:17] Hit some singles.

[00:12:18] Mm hmm.

[00:12:19] Mm hmm.

[00:12:19] Yeah, buddy.

[00:12:21] Yeah.

[00:12:22] So there's a lot we can unpack there.

[00:12:26] And, you know, everybody kind of has a different viewpoint on how to move the needle.

[00:12:30] But in my opinion, I think all the best owners, people who can grow any business, they're really good at recruiting and they're really good at marketing.

[00:12:37] Like those are the two skills that they're just really good at.

[00:12:40] And my opinion is the first introduction into those worlds is you got to do way more stuff.

[00:12:46] Like you got to get way more volume, way more touch points, more phone calls, more text messages, more face to faces.

[00:12:53] You got to get into the schools, all the schools, go to all the creative events.

[00:12:56] Like you just got to get active.

[00:12:59] Yeah.

[00:12:59] That's the first like that's the first challenge.

[00:13:03] Right.

[00:13:03] And once you normalize that level of activity, it's kind of like you want to teach a kid to swim, throw them in the deep end.

[00:13:09] You know what I mean?

[00:13:10] You know what I mean?

[00:13:11] Like before you know it, they're like, OK, I'm up.

[00:13:14] I'm up.

[00:13:14] Right.

[00:13:15] And so, OK, now we can worry about like, OK, let's make our strokes a little bit more better.

[00:13:20] Let's strategize the rest breaks.

[00:13:21] Like we can build strategy around it.

[00:13:23] But the first thing is like you just got to jump in the fire.

[00:13:25] And I felt there was some hesitancy from you there.

[00:13:27] Like they were like, yeah, but I posted the job ad.

[00:13:31] Yeah.

[00:13:31] Yeah.

[00:13:32] But you got to get way, but you got to get louder.

[00:13:35] I've changed it every 30 days.

[00:13:38] Yeah.

[00:13:38] For us, I think like just reaching out enough was one of the big things.

[00:13:45] And then really when we got to went to a system where we could send text messages, like people responded to us a lot more through texting than they did through emails.

[00:13:56] Write this down, guys.

[00:13:58] Write it down.

[00:13:59] And then you start talking to people.

[00:14:02] And even now that I've hired, I've got a list of two or three that I think I could call back.

[00:14:10] And ready to go, huh?

[00:14:11] Yeah.

[00:14:11] I mean, it's kind of got a little bit of a pipeline, if not a lot more of a network of people that I can reach out to and touch base with.

[00:14:20] And you talk to a lot of people.

[00:14:23] It's kind of like, it's like sales, right?

[00:14:25] Like you talk to a lot of people and you have people that tell you no, but the more people you talk to, you'll eventually have those that they like where you're going and they commit to it.

[00:14:35] I love that, man.

[00:14:36] That's awesome.

[00:14:37] That's really cool.

[00:14:38] You jumped in there.

[00:14:39] You started figuring it out.

[00:14:40] And then you were like, oh, text messages are kind of working.

[00:14:42] Let me do more of that.

[00:14:43] And boom, there it was sitting there the whole time.

[00:14:47] It's been there for the last 10 years.

[00:14:49] We just had to find it.

[00:14:50] And so, God, I remember when we got that.

[00:14:53] I was like, yes, let's go.

[00:14:54] Let's freaking go.

[00:14:56] And then we had to decide, okay, how do we close the deal?

[00:14:58] You remember that?

[00:14:58] Then we were like, now we started doing interviews and you had candidates who were like, yeah, well, I might not stick around.

[00:15:05] I might want to move off.

[00:15:07] I'm not really sure what I want to do, right?

[00:15:08] So then you had to like, it turned into not a lead generation issue.

[00:15:14] It turned into a sales.

[00:15:16] I'm selling myself.

[00:15:17] I'm selling my culture.

[00:15:18] I'm selling who I am and I'm helping this person realize that maybe this is a good solution.

[00:15:23] So talk us through that.

[00:15:24] Like, what was your framework around that?

[00:15:26] It was a lot of follow-up phone calls, a little bit of luck.

[00:15:32] Really just trying to, I guess, provide the opportunity and sell the idea of growth, right?

[00:15:43] Like, this is where we're going.

[00:15:45] And there is potential for opportunity here versus just going and finding a travel job and traveling.

[00:15:54] You know, you may make more money in the beginning, but at the end of the day, like, you're actually setting some roots somewhere that has a future versus five years from now.

[00:16:05] You're just standing there, like, wondering what you're going to do next.

[00:16:08] And I think that did it more than anything.

[00:16:11] Yeah.

[00:16:12] Couldn't agree more.

[00:16:13] It sounds like you shared your vision.

[00:16:15] Yes.

[00:16:16] First of all, you had a vision.

[00:16:17] You were clear on the vision and you started getting more clear on, like, what your purpose was, what your values were, what you stood for, who you were and the type of people you really wanted to work with and what you were being called to build.

[00:16:28] Yeah.

[00:16:29] I mean, that's something we've definitely gotten more solid on in the last year is a lot more purpose and value driven than anything.

[00:16:36] And those are all leadership skills.

[00:16:38] That's why leadership is the bottleneck there, right?

[00:16:42] Yeah.

[00:16:42] That's exactly why, like, you don't need to focus on that if you're trying to get new patients in the door, right?

[00:16:48] Like, that's not really like your big bottleneck.

[00:16:50] It's important, but it's not the thing that you need to solve.

[00:16:57] Hey, everybody.

[00:16:58] We finally did it.

[00:17:00] Finally, we're doing our first in-person event, the Private Practice Owners Club first ever in-person conference, September 20th and 21st in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

[00:17:08] Adam and I are super excited.

[00:17:10] Really can't wait to finally meet you in person.

[00:17:12] This entire time I've been preaching, reach out, step out, network.

[00:17:16] And I can now provide that to you, not just virtually or via podcast, but in person.

[00:17:21] We'll have speakers that speak on leadership and growth.

[00:17:23] We'll answer questions to your current issues.

[00:17:26] We'll provide you opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and obviously gain inspiration and energy from being in the room with the same people.

[00:17:33] So you'll be able to literally reach out, step out, and network all in one weekend, September 20th and 21st at the Hyatt at Clearwater Beach, Florida.

[00:17:41] I would really love to see you there.

[00:17:42] In order to register, go to ppoclubevents.com.

[00:17:46] P-P-O-Club-Events.com.

[00:17:50] And register to sign up for the event.

[00:17:52] Also, early bird registration ends July 31st.

[00:17:55] So to get a discount on the registration fees, make sure you sign up, get your room between now and July 31st.

[00:18:01] Otherwise, prices will go up.

[00:18:03] So go to ppoclubevents.com.

[00:18:07] Thank you to all of you who have listened for so many years.

[00:18:09] I would love to finally meet you in person.

[00:18:26] Did I give you like a super secret formula to recruiting?

[00:18:29] No.

[00:18:30] I mean.

[00:18:31] Did I automate anything for you?

[00:18:32] Did I like tell you like, oh yeah, all you got to do is outspend some money on Indeed.

[00:18:36] Did I do any of that?

[00:18:37] No.

[00:18:38] No.

[00:18:38] What happened was Kenny Holder changed and he decided and he elevated himself and he created a new possibility.

[00:18:46] And that's the thing that moved the needle.

[00:18:48] Isn't that crazy?

[00:18:49] Yeah.

[00:18:49] That's awesome.

[00:18:51] It's freaking awesome, man.

[00:18:52] Like I've always said, like the bad news is you're the problem.

[00:18:56] The good news is you're also the solution.

[00:18:58] Yeah.

[00:18:58] You will not move the needle on recruiting until you become the person that you need to be to move the needle on recruiting.

[00:19:03] And once you were able to see yourself in that role, you were able to show up in a much more powerful way.

[00:19:08] Yeah.

[00:19:08] You had two PTs out of the deal.

[00:19:10] Yeah.

[00:19:11] So this knucklehead here, not only did he hire one, but you hired two, two PTs and you got people in the pipeline.

[00:19:19] Nuts.

[00:19:20] And I remember now we're getting into a little more recent conversations, right?

[00:19:24] I remember having the conversation of like, well, maybe I should just hire one.

[00:19:28] Yeah.

[00:19:29] Let's talk through that.

[00:19:30] I want to just hire one.

[00:19:31] Well, should I hire two, but I don't quite have the visits for two, right?

[00:19:36] All that stuff.

[00:19:37] Let's talk through that.

[00:19:38] Like, how did that come around?

[00:19:39] So we had in one clinic, like one office, we've been trying to hire PT for a year.

[00:19:45] I mean, we had an immediate need and it was now.

[00:19:48] Then I had through the recruiting efforts, I had ended up with two that were wanting to come to work.

[00:19:56] And so office two, we were kind of getting full, but not like still had some room.

[00:20:04] But I knew if we kept growing that I was going to need another PT.

[00:20:09] And I didn't want that to be what kept us from growth.

[00:20:14] Like, and I knew how hard it had been to hire the first one.

[00:20:18] So ended up, we sat down and did the math on what are the pros and the cons and what are the true costs of what it's going to take to hire the second guy.

[00:20:30] And so we just, I felt like it was, we could get there that we could do what it took to get the business, to get him hired and busy.

[00:20:39] I guess he started six weeks ago and I'm going to say we're 80% of the way to getting his schedule full.

[00:20:48] Yeah.

[00:20:49] I remember at the conference in Clearwater, we were sitting on the rooftop thing in the first day and we're having a couple beers and you were like, man, I'm stressed out.

[00:20:59] I've got these two PTs and I don't have the patients to see him.

[00:21:01] He's only treating like four patients a day.

[00:21:03] Like, oh my God.

[00:21:05] And it's so cool to see you overcome that.

[00:21:07] Yeah.

[00:21:08] I mean, we're already trying to figure out a PRN therapist right now because if it keeps going, he'll be, he should be full within the next month to two months completely.

[00:21:20] So you decided what I'm kind of hearing is as I'm thinking about your journey, it's like, pick your heart.

[00:21:28] Yeah.

[00:21:29] Do you want to stay stuck in treatment for the rest of your life and just do that?

[00:21:33] Or do you want to do the hard thing of like figuring out how to fill up this practice?

[00:21:37] Pick one and be, have the courage to go after what you really want.

[00:21:41] Yeah.

[00:21:42] Because what you're really doing is gambling on you, right?

[00:21:44] Yeah.

[00:21:45] If I give myself the space and I put these people in position and I go all in on fill this practice one-on-one, can I pull it off?

[00:21:52] And you surround yourself with a great team.

[00:21:54] You went to the conference.

[00:21:55] We did a lot of brainstorming around how we could do that.

[00:21:57] You've got a coach and you went all in on it.

[00:22:01] And that's all you needed.

[00:22:02] And that look at you, you solve the problem.

[00:22:04] And then once you fill this practice, guess what?

[00:22:06] There's going to be a new problem.

[00:22:07] All right.

[00:22:08] And then we're going to have to solve that one.

[00:22:09] You know, the good thing I'm down now to kind of transitioning out of seeing my last few patients.

[00:22:18] You know, I'm probably treating 10 hours a week and over the next month or so should be getting that down to.

[00:22:27] But what it's allowing me to do is I have the time and the ability to focus on those things without just running myself.

[00:22:36] Before, it was five minutes here, 10 minutes there.

[00:22:39] You know, you might get 20 minutes.

[00:22:41] And then you never could really get started on anything really well before it was time to go do something else.

[00:22:48] And then when you have more time to spend and focus on the things that matter, the things happen a lot faster.

[00:22:57] Isn't that crazy?

[00:22:58] Yeah.

[00:22:59] Yeah.

[00:23:00] There is no problem you can't solve.

[00:23:02] You just got to have the time.

[00:23:03] You have to be committed to the process of stepping out of treatment, educating yourself, right?

[00:23:09] Like you got to like get in the vault, study, study your numbers, play with it, figure it out.

[00:23:15] Talk about hiring.

[00:23:16] Talk about recruiting.

[00:23:16] You got to hang out with some people who challenge the way that you think, either some type of mentor or coach.

[00:23:21] And if you just commit to that, you will grow.

[00:23:24] You will get better every single day.

[00:23:26] And then your business will get better every day.

[00:23:30] And that's a scary thing to trust when you haven't experienced that because we're just so used to like, I got to hustle.

[00:23:37] I got to get out there and I got to pick up the wheelbarrow and I got to feel like I got to hustle.

[00:23:41] If I don't hustle, then we don't move.

[00:23:43] And it's really like, no, you got to evolve.

[00:23:45] Hustling is not going to get you that.

[00:23:46] You have to evolve, right?

[00:23:48] And once you evolve, then you'll move.

[00:23:50] And it's just really cool to see you just level up, man.

[00:23:53] It's awesome.

[00:23:54] It's really exciting.

[00:23:54] It's like, it gives me a lot of purpose because it's like, it's really what I live for.

[00:24:00] Like I live for that.

[00:24:02] Like I love seeing people win.

[00:24:04] So that's awesome.

[00:24:05] Yeah, it's been a great journey so far.

[00:24:08] And I feel like it's just getting started.

[00:24:10] We still have plenty of things to work on.

[00:24:11] But now you've helped me get to the point of like, I have more and more than I know what

[00:24:17] I'm going to do whenever, as I don't treat patients.

[00:24:22] Like instead of, I guess it's given me a lot more clarity in my role as an owner versus

[00:24:28] a therapist.

[00:24:29] And my team can see it.

[00:24:33] Like there's been a change there.

[00:24:36] They can see that your visions can come into reality once you kind of do have the time

[00:24:42] to start making that happen.

[00:24:44] And then they're more involved through all the leadership training and stuff we've done

[00:24:49] even through that conference.

[00:24:51] Like let's help me get my team more involved in helping us get things done.

[00:24:55] And then they buy in more and it creates a, you know, just the atmosphere becomes better

[00:25:01] at that point too.

[00:25:03] And then you can't lose.

[00:25:04] It's hard to lose when you got that.

[00:25:06] You got people just really committed to that.

[00:25:09] So I talk to not just practice owners, but I talk to vendors, digital marketing agencies,

[00:25:14] EMRs, and I network with a lot of those people.

[00:25:16] They talk to their clients and they're all practice owners.

[00:25:19] And so it's not, this isn't just coming from me.

[00:25:21] This is coming from everybody in the industry who communicates with practice owners.

[00:25:24] They're all struggling.

[00:25:26] They're all struggling.

[00:25:27] They're all stuck in the business, burnout, not all of them, but a big majority of them.

[00:25:32] And why wouldn't they be?

[00:25:33] It's hard.

[00:25:34] Reimbursements are declining.

[00:25:35] It's hard to recruit, hard to market.

[00:25:37] There's a lot of fears and insecurities and I don't know what to do.

[00:25:40] And a lot of that stuff, like we've never been taught how to run a business in school,

[00:25:44] right?

[00:25:44] Yeah.

[00:25:45] So if you can kind of put yourself like the old Kenny back in the day before you are now,

[00:25:50] like what type of advice would you give him or her if that person's kind of stuck in their

[00:25:55] business and like what the bullet points you'd give them?

[00:25:57] Well, A, I would have started coaching back whenever I just started opening my practice up.

[00:26:02] Have you seen Zach Randolph's progress?

[00:26:04] Yes.

[00:26:05] The guy is freaking, I'm jealous.

[00:26:10] Yeah.

[00:26:10] He started with me like three months before his clinic.

[00:26:13] The guy, it's unreal.

[00:26:16] So yeah, start coaching.

[00:26:17] What else?

[00:26:18] That, you know, like Sam.

[00:26:21] Sam's killing it.

[00:26:22] But I would have started coaching a lot sooner.

[00:26:25] I would have definitely, so I spent probably the first, I don't know, seven years.

[00:26:35] Just, you know, like I knew I wanted to grow.

[00:26:38] I knew what I wanted to do, but it was just like, there was no real vision as to how to

[00:26:45] do it.

[00:26:45] You know, it was just treat patients.

[00:26:49] Let's try to get busier.

[00:26:50] We'll hire more therapists as we need to.

[00:26:54] But there was no actual path on how we were going to get there.

[00:26:58] I think if I would have started that path a long time ago, then I'd probably be at five

[00:27:06] or six clinics by now anyways.

[00:27:08] Yeah.

[00:27:09] And I think I spent too much time spinning my wheels and just treat patients, do this,

[00:27:15] do that.

[00:27:16] And then not focusing on the actual business as a business.

[00:27:19] It took me a long time to realize that like, this isn't just a therapy practice where I'm

[00:27:24] a, I don't want to have just a therapy practice where I treat patients and that's where it goes.

[00:27:30] That there's going to have to be some effort made to create an actual business around this.

[00:27:36] Yeah.

[00:27:37] I remember thinking, I'm just going to work my fingers to the bone until I have enough money

[00:27:42] and then I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it.

[00:27:44] Yeah.

[00:27:45] That was basically the business strategy.

[00:27:48] And what happened was you just kept working and working and working and working and working.

[00:27:52] And the money never quite came.

[00:27:54] Yeah.

[00:27:55] And you just get stuck in that repetitive lie to yourself.

[00:27:57] Like, it's like you're addicted to that thing.

[00:28:00] That's never going to come true.

[00:28:02] Yeah.

[00:28:02] And I spent a long time, like I was scared to death to spend any money.

[00:28:06] Like, and it took a work and doing some things with a friend of mine, even on advertising

[00:28:11] and marketing.

[00:28:12] He started to change my mindset on like, all right, well, if you, even if it costs you

[00:28:18] 10,000, if you're going to make 15,000, it's an extra $5,000.

[00:28:22] You didn't have in the first place.

[00:28:24] So you're started having some mindset shifts around that kind of thing.

[00:28:29] And then you said, I just said, and then I think that was around the time I probably

[00:28:33] started listening to Nathan's podcast and it really kind of started shifting me toward,

[00:28:40] all right, I have to do something.

[00:28:42] Can't keep, I was so burnt out.

[00:28:44] Yeah.

[00:28:46] I'm coming home now.

[00:28:47] I told my wife, like, man, I actually, I had a good day today.

[00:28:51] Isn't that fun?

[00:28:54] Isn't that awesome?

[00:28:56] Yeah.

[00:28:56] I tell people all the time, like the best fulfillment lives whenever you can be, I cuss a little

[00:29:02] bit y'all, when you can work your ass off, but still have so much fun, you know, like you're

[00:29:07] actually having fun.

[00:29:08] Yeah.

[00:29:09] Like the conversations are flowing.

[00:29:11] I'm clear on my vision.

[00:29:12] I feel good about my work.

[00:29:14] I'm connected to my purpose.

[00:29:15] I'm enrolling people into my practice.

[00:29:17] I'm spending time with my family.

[00:29:19] You know, it's like, you're having fun.

[00:29:21] That's good.

[00:29:22] That's what I live for.

[00:29:23] Like, that's the golden trophy for me.

[00:29:25] Yeah.

[00:29:25] I mean, before we started together, I mean, I was really to the point of, I was trying

[00:29:30] to figure out how to get out of physical therapy.

[00:29:33] Yeah.

[00:29:33] Like, I was like, I just can't keep doing this.

[00:29:37] Like, I've got to find something else, some other business, something I've got to find

[00:29:41] something else I can do that will give me more fulfillment.

[00:29:46] And not that I didn't like treating patients.

[00:29:48] I enjoyed it.

[00:29:49] But I think it got to the point to where you can't focus your time on that.

[00:29:53] So the whole time you're treating patients, you're thinking about what else you need to

[00:29:56] be doing.

[00:29:57] And it just, I think that's what burns you out more than anything.

[00:30:00] I don't think any of us lose the love for actually helping people and treating patients.

[00:30:05] And it's the grind behind the scenes that while you're, you can't just do that.

[00:30:11] You're having to think about all the other things at the same time.

[00:30:15] And it just becomes overwhelming.

[00:30:16] So there's two things I'd like to bring up.

[00:30:18] Number one, I had a mentor of mine tell me your problems are going to be waiting for you

[00:30:22] on the other side of the fence too, right?

[00:30:24] So like what happens is we grow this business, a business.

[00:30:28] And when we grow and things get complex, the business starts to demand.

[00:30:33] There's a new boss that we got to beat, right?

[00:30:36] And we can't beat them because we don't know how to beat them.

[00:30:38] And so what we decide is, you know what?

[00:30:40] I'm on level three, right?

[00:30:41] I got to beat level three boss.

[00:30:42] You know what?

[00:30:42] I'm going to go over here and start back over on level one and this other industry.

[00:30:46] And then I'm going to go level two, level three, boom, same boss.

[00:30:50] So your problems are just going to be sitting there waiting for you.

[00:30:58] Clarity or any framework that you might get from that, that's useful for me.

[00:31:01] The path is always through, not around.

[00:31:04] Always through.

[00:31:05] And so the other thing is you mentioned that you were burnout and you mentioned that you're

[00:31:14] treating patients, but you got all this other stuff kind of in the back of your head that

[00:31:18] that's calling you and it's kind of pulling your attention, right?

[00:31:21] That is the first sign that it's time for you to step away from treatment.

[00:31:27] Whenever you are working on somebody's piriformis with one hand and then on the other hand,

[00:31:31] you got a cell phone and you're checking your emails.

[00:31:33] We all done it.

[00:31:35] We've all done it.

[00:31:36] At that point, what's happening is your purpose, you are no longer aligned with your purpose.

[00:31:43] You are no longer aligned with your true purpose.

[00:31:47] There is a bigger purpose calling you and you're not committing to it.

[00:31:51] And people get burned out whenever their day-to-day routine, their day-to-day work

[00:31:55] is not aligned with their true purpose because it takes courage to go after it, right?

[00:32:01] So when you recognize like, no matter how scary it is, no matter if I don't know what the outcome

[00:32:05] is going to be, no matter if anybody tells me I'm stupid, I'm just going to go all in on what

[00:32:11] I really want to do.

[00:32:12] Even if it's scary, radical, weird, doesn't make sense, I'm going all in and win that game.

[00:32:17] When we start winning that game, our life moves in the direction that we want.

[00:32:21] Business starts growing, start making more money, like everything moves, right?

[00:32:24] Start surrounding yourself with people that want to help you, right?

[00:32:28] So that's awesome, bro.

[00:32:30] So what I wrote down is number one, get into coaching quick.

[00:32:34] Yes.

[00:32:34] Number two, we got to work on the vision, clarity on the vision.

[00:32:38] Yeah, it's more clear on how to get to where you want to get to.

[00:32:42] It's having a vision, but then also working on what are the steps you need to take to

[00:32:47] get to that point.

[00:32:49] Yeah.

[00:32:49] Don't be lazy with the vision.

[00:32:50] Don't say, I want to put some systems in place.

[00:32:53] Okay.

[00:32:54] What systems?

[00:32:55] Why?

[00:32:56] How?

[00:32:57] What's the product of that system?

[00:32:59] What do you need in place?

[00:33:00] How many people do you need to hire?

[00:33:01] A lot of things you got to figure out before you just start throwing blanket statements out,

[00:33:05] right?

[00:33:06] Yeah.

[00:33:06] I think that's where I started.

[00:33:07] Even looking back, like when we first started, I was like, all right, I got to get more systems

[00:33:11] in place.

[00:33:12] Like, I had no idea what-

[00:33:13] Welcome to the club.

[00:33:14] Everybody does.

[00:33:16] I didn't know what those systems were.

[00:33:18] I was like, I know I need it, but I don't know what to do.

[00:33:21] And now, like, I mean, it's still a work in progress, but like, I have a whole list of

[00:33:26] like, I know exactly what I'm going to, I know what we need and what's going to make

[00:33:31] us as a company better versus just knowing that I need something.

[00:33:36] Mm-hmm.

[00:33:36] Build the company, then you can make some money.

[00:33:38] Not make some money so you can build the company, right?

[00:33:40] Right.

[00:33:41] And then the third thing was, I think that was it.

[00:33:44] That was pretty much it, right?

[00:33:45] You mentioned you just weren't really aligned with your purpose, right?

[00:33:48] Yeah.

[00:33:49] If you feel yourself being pulled to something else, like it's probably time for you to

[00:33:52] start spending more time there.

[00:33:54] Yeah.

[00:33:54] Yeah.

[00:33:55] That, you know, just taking action versus just-

[00:33:58] Thinking about it.

[00:33:59] Yeah.

[00:34:00] Yeah.

[00:34:01] Cool, man.

[00:34:01] So, last thing, we're getting into Q4, right?

[00:34:08] So, how has your vision expanded going into the rest of the year?

[00:34:13] And then like, have you started thinking about 2025, what that might could look like for you?

[00:34:18] Kind of, what are some of the big things that are on your plate that excite you?

[00:34:21] I think the biggest thing is developing more leadership roles within our organization as it is, which that shift has already started.

[00:34:32] But, I'm kind of getting more clear on how that looks.

[00:34:39] Like, we did an annual strategic plan last year.

[00:34:44] And it was, and I think you even told me this, like, just start somewhere.

[00:34:47] It doesn't even matter.

[00:34:48] It doesn't have to be perfect.

[00:34:49] Just, you need to start it.

[00:34:51] I've already been thinking about that for this year.

[00:34:53] And it's going to look completely different.

[00:34:55] And completely, I mean, it's going to have a lot more purpose this time than it did last.

[00:35:00] There you go.

[00:35:01] You debrief it, you learn.

[00:35:02] It's better.

[00:35:03] Every year it gets better.

[00:35:04] So, really kind of more leadership development within our structure.

[00:35:09] And then my goal is 2025 is to, that's whenever we're going to start expanding as well.

[00:35:17] Start looking into client number three.

[00:35:19] Yeah.

[00:35:20] That's fun.

[00:35:21] It will be fun.

[00:35:22] That's fun, man.

[00:35:23] I'm on board.

[00:35:24] I think that's great.

[00:35:25] Yeah, that's the goal.

[00:35:26] All right, brother.

[00:35:27] So, there's probably going to be some people who are inspired by your story and who are

[00:35:32] listening to this.

[00:35:33] I know you're on Facebook.

[00:35:34] You're in the Facebook group.

[00:35:35] So, would you mind if people like found you?

[00:35:37] His name's Kenny Holder.

[00:35:38] You can find him and shoot him a DM.

[00:35:40] Yeah, we'll go and talk to anybody.

[00:35:42] Like, how would anybody else get in touch with you if they had any questions about?

[00:35:45] None of that or an email.

[00:35:47] My email is Kenny, K-E-N-N-Y at EliteTherapyPT.com.

[00:35:55] Sounds like a winner, man.

[00:35:56] If anybody has any questions, holler at Kenny.

[00:35:58] Kenny, let's do this again in like a year.

[00:36:01] Let's see where we're at.

[00:36:02] It would probably be pretty interesting.

[00:36:04] Yeah.

[00:36:05] All right, brother.

[00:36:05] Be good.

[00:36:06] Talk soon.

[00:36:07] All right.

[00:36:07] Thank you.

[00:36:07] I appreciate it.

[00:36:11] Thanks for joining us today in the Physical Therapy Owners Club, the resource for stability

[00:36:16] and freedom in your PT practice.

[00:36:18] Reach out and join the network today.

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