Client Of The Month With Tonya Fuller Of Dynamic Mobility And Balance Center

[00:00:00] Yeah, then you can utilize your time better through marketing, networking, doing those things, which is how my business exploded was just because of my networking with someone who retired. And I got all those referral sources, I got all of that business. And I think in a month's time, we gained like 50 visits in a month.

[00:00:23] 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.

[00:00:36] 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.

[00:00:43] That's what the PT Owners Club is all about, greater freedom and more profits.

[00:00:48] There's plenty of room for you as well. So come on in and join the club.

[00:00:54] Hello, and welcome to the Private Practice Owners Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Robin. Today, it's our Client Of The Month episode.

[00:01:02] Well, ex-client of the month. Miss Tonya's here. Tonya is in Colorado. She's a practice owner. She's been a practice owner for five years.

[00:01:08] Actually, in February will be five years. She is the owner of Dynamic Mobility And Balance Center.

[00:01:13] And today, we're just going to learn about Tonya, what her story is. She's done some incredible things over the past year.

[00:01:18] And we're going to try to get inside her brain and put it on a PowerPoint for everybody to steal. How about that? Tonya, how are you today?

[00:01:24] I'm good. I'm good. Thanks for having me on.

[00:01:27] So have you listened to the podcast?

[00:01:29] I have. Yes.

[00:01:30] Yeah. Isn't it crazy? Like listening to the podcast for so long and then now you're on the podcast?

[00:01:35] And now you're on it. Yeah. That seems a little crazy to me for sure.

[00:01:38] I have these conversations with people. I get on the phone with them, practice owners and stuff.

[00:01:42] A lot of them tell me, it's like I'm having a conversation with the podcast. The podcast is

[00:01:46] talking back to me because they listen to the podcast so much. And it's really cool because

[00:01:51] so many people that we've worked with have come from that podcast. They've been listening to

[00:01:57] the podcast for over a year. They knew they had to do something and they just kept listening and

[00:02:01] listening and listening. And then finally, they got on a call and that's all zero.

[00:02:05] Yeah. Great information.

[00:02:07] Yeah. I'd love to hear your story. If you don't mind, just kind of introduce yourself,

[00:02:10] tell people who you are, where you're from. And if you don't mind, just kind of tell me a

[00:02:14] little bit about what got you into PT and then what got you into business.

[00:02:18] Sure. Okay. So yeah, I actually graduated from PT school back in 2001. So I've been a long time PT

[00:02:25] now. I got into PT school because when I was in undergrad, I was dating a guy and I kind of was

[00:02:33] lost on what I wanted to do with my life and asked him one day, how did you know what you wanted to do?

[00:02:39] And he said, Oh, I've always loved airplanes, blah, blah, blah. Knew he wanted to go into aerospace

[00:02:44] engineering. He said, what do you like to do? I said, I love to run. I love to go to the gym. I love

[00:02:51] to play softball. And he said, you should be a PT. So I actually started looking into PT and my grades at

[00:02:57] the time weren't great enough to get in. It was really super competitive. And so I got my degree,

[00:03:04] decided I didn't want to go to PT school right then. I became a school teacher, took one year of

[00:03:09] teaching school for me to realize that was not the career for me. And so that's when I decided to start

[00:03:14] applying to PT schools. And luckily I got in. So graduated in 2001, worked for three years in a

[00:03:22] skilled nursing, did a little home health, went into a hospital based outpatient neuro practice,

[00:03:28] primarily because I wanted to do ortho. And I thought that would be a good way to get my foot

[00:03:33] in the door at this hospital system that had an amazing ortho group. And my first day at a contract

[00:03:38] job in the neuro outpatient, I sort of fell in love with neuro. And so that's been my world ever since

[00:03:43] and was there for nine years. They were a nonprofit partnered with a for-profit company,

[00:03:49] which kind of changed everything. A lot of people left and I got offered a job in Colorado.

[00:03:55] So that hospital system was in Dallas, lived there for most of my life, decided to take a chance at

[00:04:01] this job in Colorado, moved out here and started working for them. They closed most of their

[00:04:06] practices two years later. I kind of bounced around to a couple of other places and finally just decided

[00:04:11] that after 20 plus years of saying I will never open my own practice, decided that I would give it a try

[00:04:19] after talking to a friend of mine who owned a practice and yeah, opened my business in February,

[00:04:26] 2020.

[00:04:27] Yeah. Great timing, huh?

[00:04:28] Yeah. Six weeks before COVID shut the world down.

[00:04:32] Oh my gosh. Isn't that crazy?

[00:04:34] Yeah.

[00:04:34] But we can do a whole podcast episode on that.

[00:04:37] That's nuts. So I'd like to ask you one clarifying question, just because I'm curious. Tell me,

[00:04:45] what was it about neuro that caused you to fall in love with it? What was it?

[00:04:49] Well, there are no protocols. And so you have to be really creative in your thinking.

[00:04:55] You really are looking at truly function, you know, and it's really rewarding when you get somebody

[00:05:02] who can't walk after a severe neurological injury and you get them walking again or you get them moving

[00:05:10] again. And I specialize in treating vestibular therapy and, you know, having patients who are

[00:05:16] dizzy for months on end and come in and then, you know, their dizziness is gone. And I just,

[00:05:21] I found it very, very rewarding for me. I still love doing a lot of athlete work, but ortho is just

[00:05:30] not my background anymore.

[00:05:32] Got it. And it's no protocols. That's like another way of saying there's no rules,

[00:05:36] right? And you strike me as a rule breaker, not a rule follower. So I'm wondering if obviously you

[00:05:45] love adventure, like you moved all the way from Texas to Colorado. You ain't scared to go on an

[00:05:49] adventure. We know each other well enough by now. Like I know, like you're kind of a go-getter.

[00:05:53] You'd like to jump in the deep end and start swimming. So it seems like that aligns with you

[00:05:56] really well. Like just the idea of like going on a journey with patients and just like, let me put on

[00:06:01] my creative brain and just like, we're going to figure this out.

[00:06:03] Yeah. You could have two people with a stroke in the exact same area of the brain and they'll

[00:06:08] present completely differently. And I think that's what was so interesting to me was really having to,

[00:06:15] you know, think, what am I going to do with this person? How do I get them better? And,

[00:06:19] and, you know, really diving into those skills and, and doing everything in your power to

[00:06:25] give this person the best life they can have.

[00:06:28] That's awesome. So then you said, well, you had this idea. I will never own my own company or my

[00:06:34] own practice. Why?

[00:06:36] Honestly, I just didn't want to deal with insurance. Still don't. I just, I thought it was a lot of

[00:06:42] work. In all honesty, it is a lot of work, but I think I was scared to be honest that I think probably

[00:06:49] a failure of that, you know, inability to make a living of it. So yeah, it was just something I

[00:06:56] honestly thought I would be a general therapist my whole life and never specialized too. So things

[00:07:02] change as you get this many years into practice.

[00:07:04] I definitely can resonate with that fear of failure. Sometimes it's just more comfortable,

[00:07:08] but you did not display that during our time working together. I mean, I would say that that,

[00:07:13] it might be perhaps one of the biggest reasons why, and I don't know if it's fear of failure,

[00:07:18] but like one of the finding characteristics between owners in our program that do well,

[00:07:23] that make progress and those that just kind of stagnate is they fear. Like, are you willing to

[00:07:29] lean into the fear or not? That's really like all of it's scary. Like opening the clinic, scary.

[00:07:35] Having to look at your numbers is scary. Having to hope that the money's there at the end of the

[00:07:39] month. That's scary. Having to hire people is scary. Having to invest is scary. Having to hold

[00:07:43] people accountable is scary. Having to delegate and let people go without micromanaging them is

[00:07:48] scary. It's all scary. And it's like those, these little wins, like all these little wins

[00:07:56] that add up because that's really the game. Like, how can I like lean into that fear and just be like,

[00:08:00] Hey, I'm going to try something different.

[00:08:02] Well, and I had a, you know, I'll say this. I have a friend who owns a PT practice and I remember

[00:08:07] going to him and saying, look, I think I'm going to do this. You know, what do I do? And, you know,

[00:08:12] he kind of helped me through and I said, well, what if it doesn't work? And he goes, well, what

[00:08:15] if it doesn't? What are you going to do? I was like, well, I'll have to go back to work. And he's

[00:08:19] like, right. You're going to be doing the same thing that you're doing right now. So what if it fails?

[00:08:23] You're just going to go back to where you are now. But what if it doesn't? And I think that was the

[00:08:27] other thing that to go to the coaching piece that when I got into coaching, it was, you know,

[00:08:33] that kind of push that it's okay to do this and it's okay to do that. And you're going to be okay

[00:08:38] if you hire another therapist, which was one of the first time I hired my first PT was just

[00:08:43] terrifying. I'm not going to have money to pay this poor person's salary. What am I going to do?

[00:08:48] You know, and I had a couple of front desk people that I just, I couldn't afford prior to that. But,

[00:08:54] you know, looking at the difference between a revenue generator and one that's not,

[00:08:58] once I took that leap, it was like the best thing I did.

[00:09:01] Yeah. Fear of failure is big. Failure of failure is a big one.

[00:09:04] There is an exercise. Like the one thing that came to mind is like, for me, it's like the mindset

[00:09:11] shift for me has always been stop focusing on like, what if I don't achieve the outcome? And to me,

[00:09:17] what's more scary is like, what if you never truly live the life that you want it, that you really

[00:09:23] want to live? Like, what if you just stay a coward your whole life? You know what I mean? Like,

[00:09:27] screw that. You know what I mean? I feel like that's way worse. At the end of the day,

[00:09:33] like if you had to map it out, like if you're like entering the world and God's like,

[00:09:37] you can choose this life of adventure and you might fail, but you're going to like really go all in for

[00:09:42] what you really want. Or you can choose this life and you're just going to like play it safe and kind

[00:09:45] of like pretend like you don't really want it and tell people you don't really want it because you

[00:09:49] just want to preserve your comfort. Which one do you want to do? Like everybody would choose that

[00:09:53] one. You know what I mean? Like, so we know what we should, that's why I love the idea of coaching.

[00:09:57] Cause it's like, you know what you should do most of the time, but it's really just having that one

[00:10:03] person who's on the outside looking in saying like, no, wait a minute. Remember you wanted,

[00:10:08] you chose this, right? Like, like this totally aligns with your vision. So like you should go for it.

[00:10:14] And it's really that. And then you give yourself some tools and some clarity around some things and

[00:10:20] it's like, okay. And then you just take action. Right. Yeah. I mean, kind of going into the

[00:10:24] business side of things. I remember thinking, I don't like the way this person does this. I don't

[00:10:29] like the way this boss is. I don't like the way they do this. Can I do it better? You know, that kind

[00:10:35] of pushed me in that realm too. So, right. And I do, I don't know that I could ever go back to

[00:10:40] working for somebody. It would be hard. Not what you know now, you know, too much. Right.

[00:10:45] I've got that tunnel vision to retirement at this point.

[00:10:49] I'm so glad you did it because I feel like the world's a better place. You know, like you're doing

[00:10:54] exactly what you're supposed to be doing and you're helping these PTs find an amazing career.

[00:10:59] Right. Like, so there's like so many upsides to it. I do want to get back to the business stuff.

[00:11:03] You know, we mentioned that February will be five years. And when we met, that was a little over a

[00:11:09] year ago. We had our first phone call and I'm kind of remembering back then. And I remember,

[00:11:16] I think you had like a part-time front desk person and you were basically just working,

[00:11:22] you were doing all just treating full-time. Like you were working 40 hours a week and there was no

[00:11:25] other people on your team. Correct. I was treating full-time. I was doing the desk part-time.

[00:11:30] Yeah. I was pretty much doing everything. So tell us about you then. Like, what was the story around

[00:11:37] just the way you view things? Like how you were, what your day-to-day was like? Like what your

[00:11:41] strategy was then? What was that like? My strategy was just treat, treat, treat. You know,

[00:11:47] I knew I needed help. I knew I needed another therapist. And I had in my brain that I just needed

[00:11:52] to get a part-time therapist. Because when you look at your bank account, which is how I spent a

[00:11:58] lot of my first few years was basing all my decisions on the balance in my bank account. When

[00:12:02] you look at that and you're like, wow, I don't have the money to pay a salary of somebody full-time,

[00:12:07] you know, your brain goes to a totally different place. And so I was looking for a part-time

[00:12:11] therapist at that time. I can remember even trying to find somebody who was PRN, but full-time

[00:12:17] was never something that I would have considered at that point until we started talking. And you said,

[00:12:25] just do it. More or less, you know, you're not going to regret it. And I haven't, you know,

[00:12:30] as a matter of fact, I'm doing his one-year annual review this week.

[00:12:33] Good for you.

[00:12:34] I've hired a second PT now and, you know, same kind of situation. I look at my bank account and

[00:12:39] I think, wow, am I going to have enough money to pay this person? But then I know too that

[00:12:44] another PT is just going to bring in more patients. I'm going to have more people that can get on the

[00:12:49] schedule and, you know, they're revenue generators. So why wouldn't you?

[00:12:53] This is a really important topic because I would say the majority of our audience is

[00:12:58] smaller practice owners, you know, and here's the mistake we make. It's the same one you make,

[00:13:05] made. It's the same one I made. It's the same one Nathan made. It's that we think that when it's

[00:13:11] just us and a front desk person, we think our job is to make money so that we can, then we can decide

[00:13:17] what decisions we make. That's not the goal for a long time. You're not supposed to make money when

[00:13:22] you're by yourself and you have one front desk person and you haven't, you're not,

[00:13:25] I don't want you to make money. I want the business to have the money.

[00:13:29] You know what I mean? Because you're not ready to pull the money from the business yet.

[00:13:33] So really the job for you in the beginning is to learn, is to learn. And really it's how do I

[00:13:40] create way more value, way more value for my patients and for my team and for my business?

[00:13:48] How do I turn my business into this machine, this operationally sound machine?

[00:13:53] And I work on the thing to bring the value of it up. Then I make money, right?

[00:14:01] Right.

[00:14:02] So that's the thing. And I very much recommend, and depending on what your vision is, like,

[00:14:06] like if your vision is to open 10 clinics, you're not going to make money for the first five.

[00:14:09] Your vision is to hire five therapists. You're not going to make money for the first two or three.

[00:14:14] Like it all goes back into the business. You're going to have a small salary. You're going to live

[00:14:18] very comfortably. You're not going to Disney world three times a year. So I'm hoping that maybe the

[00:14:24] listeners can just take that. It's like, that's not your money yet. It's the business.

[00:14:29] I think when you're by yourself, like I was the first two years because it was the middle of COVID,

[00:14:35] I had money, you know, because it was just me. I could, you know, there wasn't really that much

[00:14:40] expense. There wasn't very much at all. But also I knew that if I took a vacation, I don't make money.

[00:14:45] The business doesn't make money. And I know that for every time I needed to take three hours to work

[00:14:50] on the business, that there was no revenue coming into the business. And so that's where you start

[00:14:55] thinking about if I had a therapist working here, I could work on the business. They can work in the

[00:15:02] business. And then the business starts to see something. And you're right. I mean, profits,

[00:15:07] even five years coming in and my profits are still very low. But yeah, it's changing.

[00:15:13] My mindset is changing.

[00:15:15] Yeah. Like the first therapist pays the bills and the second therapist, you start to make some money.

[00:15:21] You know what I mean? Like you really need at least two, you know, to be honest, to have a

[00:15:25] comfortable and then you can work two or three days a week and have a very comfortable lifestyle at that

[00:15:29] point. But yeah, it's just a really good point. Like being able to create something that makes money

[00:15:35] for you while you're not there.

[00:15:36] Right.

[00:15:37] So you got into coaching.

[00:15:38] I did. Yes.

[00:15:39] You knew you needed some help. What were some of the reasons why you like,

[00:15:42] I know you might've hit it on some, but what were the top reasons why you felt like you needed,

[00:15:45] I just, I know I need some help.

[00:15:47] Well, you know, I'm, I'm trained as a clinician, not as a, somebody that knows anything about

[00:15:52] business. So my biggest thing was I needed direction. I needed to understand money and I

[00:15:59] needed to know like how to build it. That was the thing that I didn't feel like in my own brain,

[00:16:05] I had any direction on how a business is supposed to work. I just kind of was like, yeah, sure. I'll do

[00:16:12] this. Opened it up and just went with it. Like I said, I used to live by what my bank account

[00:16:18] balance was. And so, you know, you can't make business decisions that way.

[00:16:22] Yeah. And so that's why I always think that education is such a big component of any type

[00:16:29] of coaching program, whether it's books or online webinars or whatever, because when you educate

[00:16:34] and it's, it's an investment back in yourself, right? You're, you're deciding that like, Hey,

[00:16:38] I have to like step away and I have to block out some time to dedicate to pouring into myself.

[00:16:44] And that's the thing that gives you perspective. Like, Oh, I can see the lights are turning on.

[00:16:49] I can see the business a little cleaner. I'm starting to think a little differently about

[00:16:53] what might be possible for me. Right? So education is so important. And then once you became oriented,

[00:17:02] then you could start creating a vision. Then you can start seeing like, Oh, I can see where I'm going

[00:17:07] a little bit. So I can have some more clarity. And then it's really about, okay, like how do I

[00:17:11] overcome all the fears and all the insecurities that I have on the way? That's what the coach helps you

[00:17:14] with. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Hey, it's Q4 2024. It's time to put your foot on the gas.

[00:17:28] It's busy season guys. And your goals are within reach. But if you're feeling unclear on what to do

[00:17:35] next, it's likely due to a lack of planning. Listen, if you want to be a great company,

[00:17:41] you have to do what great companies do. Host an annual strategic plan with your team,

[00:17:46] setting aside one to two days to map out the entire year ahead has been the single most impactful

[00:17:53] habit I've developed in my business. That's why Nathan and I are offering exclusive strategic

[00:17:59] planning sessions for practice owners ready to make 2025 their best year yet. We'll fly to your

[00:18:06] practice for two days and help you get crystal clear on your goals. So every day next year starts with

[00:18:13] purpose and focus. Imagine waking up knowing exactly what to do and how that clarity would

[00:18:20] impact your team and your work. We're only taking 10 businesses for 2025 and spots are first come,

[00:18:26] first serve. This promotion runs to the end of the year. So if you're serious about growing in 2025,

[00:18:32] check the show notes and claim your spot today. This could be the most important decision you make

[00:18:37] next year. Think about it. There was a lot that coaching helped me with in terms of taking time

[00:18:47] out of my schedule and, you know, spending time doing business work. And that was hard sometimes for

[00:18:54] the staff to understand that, Hey, Tuesdays, I don't see patients. You don't put anybody on my schedule.

[00:19:00] I'm working on Tuesdays. Um, and, and that was a hard concept for me to accept in the beginning. But

[00:19:09] then when I started doing it, you know, now, because, um, you know, I have a new PT starting,

[00:19:15] um, in two weeks or a week and a half, but, you know, up until this point, I've been,

[00:19:21] my schedule has been getting more and more full because we're so busy and it's, I, I'm just upset

[00:19:27] that I don't have that time now to get the work done. That's when you should start getting nervous.

[00:19:32] Right. That's when you should like get nervous when you're running out of time. You know what I mean?

[00:19:37] Because if you have time, you can make money. You just got to get, you know what I mean? Like

[00:19:40] you just need some time. Right. But I, yeah, I'm tired of like 5am wake up on the computer

[00:19:45] done at seven o'clock at night, an hour and a half with my spouse. And then I'm too tired to stay

[00:19:52] awake after eight 39 o'clock ready to go to bed. So, you know, it is, it's very hard to live that life.

[00:19:58] And that's, I can see where that's an easy burnout route. That's the road. That's the road to burnout.

[00:20:04] No doubt. No doubt. And we lie to ourselves and we think, oh, if I just keep on working,

[00:20:08] I'm going to save up some money and then I'm going to be ready. And then it's like this,

[00:20:13] it never happens. It just never happens. I wrote down time versus money. Have you read

[00:20:18] Dan Martel's book, buy back your time? I have started that book. I have not finished it.

[00:20:24] It's transformed the way I think about time. It's a fantastic book, but it just goes back to,

[00:20:30] there's never going to be a shortage of problems you have to solve in your business.

[00:20:32] You're always going to have a problem. If you didn't have problems, you wouldn't be in business

[00:20:36] because your business is there to solve problems. So like, yay, we have problems. You really have

[00:20:40] to decide what problem do you want to solve? Do you want to solve the problem of, I have no time,

[00:20:46] no life, no relationships, no health, no purpose, no fulfillment. Do you want to solve that problem

[00:20:53] so that you can just decide I'm going to solve the problem of how do I get this freaking clinic

[00:20:56] busier so I can make some more money? Like I'd much rather solve that problem and live a life

[00:21:01] that I love, then stick to this thing. And like, I'm going to try to make some money.

[00:21:07] It's just the wrong game to play. Yeah. And you make yourself crazy.

[00:21:10] That's right. It's really this game of like, how do I get more time? How do I create more structure,

[00:21:14] empower more people, create more organization, put the right people in the right place with the right

[00:21:18] culture so that I free myself up so that I can focus on growth.

[00:21:23] Yeah. And delegation.

[00:21:24] And then what happened? Like once you started getting some time, like your crew, right?

[00:21:28] Everybody got their schedule full.

[00:21:30] And it's amazing that even when you have time during the day, your time is still being used.

[00:21:36] I mean, you have things to do all the time. It's just that you're not having to do them first thing

[00:21:42] in the morning and at the end of the day. And you can actually get business done during business hours,

[00:21:47] even though we all work a little bit later and a little bit earlier. But yeah, then you can utilize

[00:21:51] your time better through marketing, networking, doing those things, which is how my business

[00:21:56] exploded was just because of my networking with someone who retired. And I got all those referral

[00:22:03] sources. I got all of that business. And I think in a month's time, we gained like 50 visits in a

[00:22:09] month. Yeah, that's awesome.

[00:22:11] After she retired. And that was awesome. It was. And I'm not complaining ever, but boy,

[00:22:16] that's been very overwhelming to go from being steady. And then suddenly now I've got 50 new visits

[00:22:22] and no PT to cover them, except me.

[00:22:24] Yeah. Back to solving that problem again. We've already solved this problem though.

[00:22:28] We already know what we got to do to solve this problem. We've already done it once.

[00:22:31] And so then it's like, okay, how do I solve it, but never have to come back to this again?

[00:22:37] So like now we solve it just a little better this time. And then you start creating some layers

[00:22:42] between you. Maybe you have a PRN list or I have a PTA on the side that works part-time that can float

[00:22:47] because eventually the little bit of extra payroll expense is worth the stability of your time

[00:22:53] because you could focus on just like driving revenue, which is what you want to be, right?

[00:22:57] You're the revenue.

[00:22:58] Well, and I think, you know, I'll go back to the coaching and then at the private practice

[00:23:02] owners conference that was just recently and talking about hiring. You know, the one thing that you

[00:23:08] guys had taught me that I had never thought about was you should continually hire instead of hiring

[00:23:15] somebody. And then that's it. The job description goes out the door. I'm not going to worry about it

[00:23:20] until suddenly now I need a new PT or a new therapist. And you guys were talking about,

[00:23:26] you should just constantly build that network of therapists out there that want to work for you.

[00:23:31] And so that when you do need something, then you have this list that you can start going into

[00:23:37] and, you know, trying to find somebody that's interested in coming in before it gets to the

[00:23:43] point where we were. It was suddenly now we have 50 visits and no PT. And so that's my mind is

[00:23:48] completely different in looking at hiring in that I do. I keep this list of people that

[00:23:54] potentially could be employees at some point.

[00:23:56] Yeah. And it's just relationships. I think we get stuck in like, it's a transactional thing

[00:24:02] with employees. Like you work for me and I pay you a check and you go home, but it shouldn't be

[00:24:06] that. It should be like, we're colleagues and we support each other. So like your interview process

[00:24:11] doesn't have to be like, all right, tell me what your biggest weakness is. You know, like that stuff's

[00:24:17] old, like an outdated, like it could just be like, Hey Tanya, what's up? Like, how are you?

[00:24:21] Like, tell me more about you. Like, let's just get to know each other. What are your goals?

[00:24:27] Like, it's really nice to meet you. We should collaborate on some things, you know, like,

[00:24:31] let's be friends, you know? And if you can get like 30 of those, you know, when it's time to

[00:24:37] hire people, you have a network to dive into to be like, Hey, I don't have to generate a bunch of

[00:24:42] leads from just a cold audience anymore. Like I've got these warmed up people who already know,

[00:24:47] like, and trust me, who know me. I know their goals. I know what they're into. There's a lot of

[00:24:53] trust built already. So like they're ready to go, you know? So that's fantastic. And, and the other

[00:24:59] thing is just to give you another thing to think about is like, there are different levels of

[00:25:06] aggression with recruiting, right? So like, if I need a PT right now, I need a PT right now protocol,

[00:25:12] right? But if I don't need a PT right now, but I do need a little few more people on the bench,

[00:25:17] then maybe the protocol is a little different, right? Maybe we don't do as many interviews,

[00:25:20] but we do some phone screens and we do some zoom calls, but we don't do the full onboarding process.

[00:25:28] And you kind of keep that running on a low level. That takes a little bit of time just to kind of

[00:25:32] keep things primed. That's awesome. So you hired your PT. Now we had some issues with Andrew,

[00:25:37] not with Andrew specifically, but like that was your first time hiring a PT, right?

[00:25:40] Right.

[00:25:41] And you had to delegate some patients and you had to teach them some stuff and like,

[00:25:45] you had to let go of some things and talk to us about that. Like what were some of the

[00:25:49] challenges you had there?

[00:25:50] Yeah. Well, you know, one of the biggest challenges whenever you are cutting back on

[00:25:55] your schedule is that all the patients are like, wait, I only want to see you. I only want to see

[00:26:00] you. And I had to literally start going out to doctors who were referring to Tanya Fuller and tell

[00:26:06] them like, I need you to refer to my clinic and not refer to me as a person because then everybody's

[00:26:12] always asking for me. So that was a challenge in the beginning and just getting people. And he's,

[00:26:18] he was a new grad. He'd only been out of school for about six months. And I put that on the website,

[00:26:24] which if, you know, if you're a business owner and you have your team on the website with their

[00:26:29] graduation dates, a lot of people get bothered by that too. Like, oh, I want the one with the most

[00:26:34] experience, you know? And so.

[00:26:36] Yeah. With the third 20 years of experience.

[00:26:39] Exactly. I took everything about the team off of the website. And so, yeah, I mean,

[00:26:44] that was probably the biggest challenge is, is people being willing to let go of me as their

[00:26:49] therapist and training. He didn't know as much as he still doesn't know as much as I do in terms of

[00:26:54] experience and things like that. So, you know, ongoing training and things that, you know, being open for

[00:27:01] questions and, you know, sitting down and having these sessions where we talk about a particular

[00:27:06] diagnosis or a particular type of treatment and how would we take care of this? And so, you know,

[00:27:11] it's still a lot of work, but it's worth it in the end. Yeah. Those were the primary problems,

[00:27:17] I think, in the beginning.

[00:27:18] Yeah. As you grow your company and as you elevate yourself on the org board,

[00:27:23] it's fun to experience that transition to where like your patients are no longer your

[00:27:28] primary focus, like they're not your patients anymore. Your patients are really your team,

[00:27:34] right? Like now you're like, okay, like what's Andrew's plan of care and how do I help him

[00:27:38] create more value in his life? And the same energy, if you will, that you had towards those

[00:27:44] neuro patients and how you really wanted to transform their life. You just take that and

[00:27:47] you copy it and you paste it into Andrew and then you have a, you create a new purpose for people.

[00:27:52] That's when you really become more of a coach of your team. And that's really fun. That's where

[00:27:56] more and more of your time will be spent doing that. And then eventually you'll have leaders who

[00:28:01] will do that for you. But that's when it's really, really fun when you can start seeing that

[00:28:04] change in Andrew. It's really fun. Yeah. He's been great. I'm telling you,

[00:28:08] been a big transition in the year. So it's been good. Good for him. Good for him. Yeah.

[00:28:12] So you have filled up your clinic, you're full and you're ready to hire another PT.

[00:28:18] You're going in, 2025 is coming up. So what is your vision for 2025 now? Like what do you see

[00:28:27] coming down the pipe for you? So one thing that we are doing is we're moving to a bigger space.

[00:28:33] So, Oh wow. Good for you. Yeah. That's happening probably in February. It's the same

[00:28:39] landlord. So we're just moving into a different space with the same group, about a thousand square

[00:28:44] feet more. So I have this new therapist starting in a week and a half. So that would have me,

[00:28:50] I would have two therapists then. And I'm hoping that after the first of the year,

[00:28:53] I'll have a third therapist come on so that that will open more time for me to market and build.

[00:29:01] In 2025, I'm bringing in cash-based options for additional revenue because insurance is just,

[00:29:09] you can't build a business on insurance. Quite frankly, you're certainly not going to make any

[00:29:13] revenue. So we're bringing in some different cash-based options into the practice so that

[00:29:18] we can build that way. And then, you know, it won't be 2025, but somewhere down the line,

[00:29:24] I'd like to get one more practice. So personally, I don't want to build bigger than two. Maybe there

[00:29:28] will be three in my future, but, you know, I kind of see myself 10 years moving out.

[00:29:35] That's so awesome.

[00:29:37] So yeah, I got a 10-year plan.

[00:29:39] Definitely have a vision now. And it's just really rewarding to hear like where you've come.

[00:29:45] And it's like, you know, like being by yourself with a part-time to, you're going to have three

[00:29:50] PTs in a new building. It's just so awesome. And all because of you, you know what I mean? Like

[00:29:58] you just committed to yourself.

[00:30:00] Right. It's still kind of surreal for me to realize where I was a year ago and where I am now. There's

[00:30:06] so much more growth that can be.

[00:30:09] For sure. I also think you're, I mean, obviously, you know, I know your margins are thin and I think

[00:30:13] you're going to be in a much better financial position once you have that third PT start with

[00:30:19] you and you get that person full and you start, you're going to, you'll be there. Especially now

[00:30:24] that you know how to run a profitable model. The thing is like when you scale your business,

[00:30:28] your cost per visit will scale down because you don't have to pay two rents. You don't have to pay

[00:30:33] two, you'll have a good base to build off your cash pay stuff.

[00:30:36] Yeah. I did Nathan's PT profits program. And I think that also is something that was really

[00:30:43] beneficial for me in terms of, you know, looking at the finances and understanding what's affordable,

[00:30:50] what's not, and deciding like, where's the area that I can grow that revenue and things like that.

[00:30:57] And, you know, I think by doing that and getting everybody on board, which is, you know, a challenge

[00:31:03] in and of itself sometimes, I think that, yeah, you could see some really big change.

[00:31:08] So I've got two more questions. My first question is, I have probably like 10 conversations going

[00:31:16] on my phone of small practice owners who just need some advice, who want to grow their clinic,

[00:31:20] but not really quite ready for coaching or anything, but they just need some advice.

[00:31:24] One or two pieces of advice that you'd give them to really get the most out of their practice over

[00:31:27] the next year.

[00:31:28] Well, my number one piece of advice would be don't be afraid to take the chance.

[00:31:33] If it's something that you're thinking about, do it, especially when it comes to hiring.

[00:31:39] Like I said, I was that person that was like, I can't afford somebody full time and I only

[00:31:43] want part time and PRN. And it was the best thing I could have done to hire somebody full

[00:31:48] time. So that would be the one thing I would say, don't be afraid to take that chance and

[00:31:52] dream big. I'm a visionary. So I have in front of me on a whiteboard what my goals are.

[00:31:58] And I'm the person that doesn't do so well at doing all the details to get there,

[00:32:03] but be a visionary dream big and go for it. Just go for it.

[00:32:09] Yeah. I love that. It's hard to see what's possible, right? It's hard to see it because

[00:32:14] you've never been there before. You know what I mean? And I had a mentor of mine that said,

[00:32:19] if you want to start seeing what's really possible, you have to start hanging out around

[00:32:22] with people who have been there. Then you can start to see it. Once they can see it for you and they can

[00:32:26] speak it and show you like, look, it's right there. You see it. Then you can start to see it.

[00:32:30] And then you can be ready to go. You're going to have to take a leap. You know what I mean?

[00:32:34] You can't see it.

[00:32:36] You know, I'm a former long distance triathlete and I had a coach and I remember him when I did my first

[00:32:42] Ironman, he asked me what my expected time was. And I was like, oh, I just want to finish.

[00:32:47] And he's like, no, no, no, you have a time in mind. And I was like, no, no, no. I just want to

[00:32:50] finish. He goes, nope. Everybody has a time in mind. So I told him, you know, I would like to finish in this

[00:32:56] time. But I think him saying that to me kind of poured over into what I'm doing now in that,

[00:33:02] yeah, it is hard to see the future, but you have in your head when you start that business,

[00:33:09] an idea of what you want that business to look like. And I think if you take that desire of here's

[00:33:15] what I want my business to look like, and you put that on the board up in front of you, like I do my

[00:33:20] whiteboard. Just write it down, even if it's scary.

[00:33:23] In front of my desk.

[00:33:24] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:24] And you say to yourself, this is what I'm going to do. You've changed that mindset from,

[00:33:29] yeah, this is what I want to do, but to this is what I'm going to do. This is my goal and I'm

[00:33:34] going to go for it.

[00:33:35] I love that. I think that's awesome. I think that's great advice, by the way.

[00:33:39] I'm assuming you've read a few books over the last year.

[00:33:41] Well, yeah. I've at least started a few books. Yeah.

[00:33:45] So tell me one book recommendation, even if you haven't started it, what would be the one book or

[00:33:50] the one thing that you've read in a book that made the biggest impact for you over the last year?

[00:33:54] Probably traction. Yeah. Traction, it really does kind of break down the running of the business,

[00:33:59] like from start to finish and how everything should work. And I felt that was a really good

[00:34:04] direction book. Like it helped me start. Here's where the start is. Here's where your vision is.

[00:34:10] Here's the next step from there.

[00:34:12] Yeah. That's a really good, like, it's like a textbook.

[00:34:15] Yeah. It's kind of a book where it's like, read 10 pages, put it down, implement something. Read 10

[00:34:20] pages, put it down, implement something. And just do that for the whole book. It's not that long of a

[00:34:24] read. Yeah. That's a great book. Fantastic book. Tanya, I so appreciate you.

[00:34:29] Yeah. Thank you.

[00:34:30] I'm so happy for you. I'm so excited for you. I know you're in the Facebook group. I would love to

[00:34:34] see pictures of your new place. Oh, yeah.

[00:34:37] Post them in the Facebook group. We definitely want to see it. If somebody wanted to reach out to you,

[00:34:41] somebody might be inspired by your story, maybe a new grad wants to work for you, right? How would

[00:34:45] they get in touch with you?

[00:34:46] They can email me. That's probably the best way at Tanya, T-O-N-Y-A at dynamicmobilitypt.com.

[00:34:55] All right, Tanya. I really appreciate it. Let's do this again next year at this time.

[00:34:59] Yeah. Sounds great, Adam. I love it.

[00:35:01] Have a good one.

[00:35:02] All right. Thank you. Bye.

[00:35:06] Thanks for joining us today in the Physical Therapy Owners Club,

[00:35:09] the resource for stability and freedom in your PT practice.

[00:35:13] Reach out and join the network today. Subscribe to our podcast, get links to social media,

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