How Do You Make More Money With Nathan Shields And Adam Robin

[00:00:00] We talk to owners a lot and they get to this place where their schedule is full,

[00:00:04] maybe it's them and another therapist, their schedules are full, they're super busy,

[00:00:09] they have no time to work on their business. And it's like, I'm too broke to hire somebody.

[00:00:14] It was like, I'm too rich to quit, but too broke to hire somebody.

[00:00:18] Right, right, right.

[00:00:18] Right? And they have this paralyzing mentality of like, I just can't hire anybody.

[00:00:24] Welcome. You've entered the Physical Therapy Owners Club podcast, where your host, Nathan Shields

[00:00:32] and other successful PT owners and leaders share their experience and insights on how to build

[00:00:37] successful PT businesses. They'll share the stories of their paths to success and show you

[00:00:42] 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.

[00:00:52] There's plenty of room for you as well, so come on in and join the club.

[00:00:59] Hello and welcome to the Physical Therapy Owners Club podcast. I'm Nathan Shields

[00:01:03] and I've got my partner in crime, Adam Robin again with me today. How are you doing?

[00:01:08] I'm really good, man. Wednesdays are good days.

[00:01:10] Yeah.

[00:01:11] Wednesdays are high energy days. Monday's and Wednesdays. So yeah, I'm rocking today.

[00:01:16] Mondays too, huh? Impressive.

[00:01:17] Yeah.

[00:01:19] Way to leverage Mondays, dude.

[00:01:20] Mondays I'm charged, man. Tuesdays I'm a little down and Wednesdays I come back up.

[00:01:24] There you go.

[00:01:25] Come back on the top.

[00:01:26] I gotcha, cool.

[00:01:30] All right. So we're going to get just do some straight to the point conversation here

[00:01:36] that is Adam, how do I make more money?

[00:01:40] Man, legally.

[00:01:43] Legally.

[00:01:44] Yeah, let's qualify that. How do I make more money? Because we could do a lot

[00:01:48] by just changing things around a little bit in an illegal fashion.

[00:01:53] I mean, people always told me in my clinic like, dude, if you had a happy hour,

[00:01:58] this place would be rocking. Come to physical therapy, get a little tipsy.

[00:02:05] The pain would be eased for sure.

[00:02:07] Yeah. There's a lot of research behind the alcohol.

[00:02:10] Hey, management.

[00:02:11] It's a social situation anyways. I mean, people loved coming to my clinics because

[00:02:15] all the patients probably like your clinics, but all the patients were just getting on the

[00:02:19] conversations and joke around with each other. Just make it social happy hour that would have,

[00:02:25] we would have really crushed. But so how do I make more money?

[00:02:30] Man, I think so like we were having a good conversation before this group,

[00:02:34] we started pressing record. Just like I thought, like as you start asking that question,

[00:02:38] I have so many freaking thoughts and ideas around it.

[00:02:41] But I'm going to give you the nontraditional answer. I think the first thing

[00:02:45] you have to do is establish that it's important. It's your responsibility.

[00:02:51] It doesn't come naturally, right? Like it is your responsibility to realize that making money

[00:02:58] is just as important as patient care and it's just as important as

[00:03:05] how happy and comfortable your team is. They're equally as important.

[00:03:09] All right. So like I haven't developed it, but as I've done thinking about like how I like to

[00:03:14] establish frameworks and make decisions around my business, I've got this framework of like

[00:03:19] there's three pillars in your business and you have to understand that all three of them are

[00:03:24] just as important, right? If you have a three-legged stool, they're all the same.

[00:03:29] Number one is money in the bank. Number two is happy patients and number three is a happy

[00:03:34] team. So I think that's step one, admitting that it's important and also getting your team

[00:03:40] bought into that belief as well. So that's step one.

[00:03:44] I've interviewed Eric Miller a ton because I respect his insight. I like what he proposes and

[00:03:49] one of his sayings that really hit me, that really cut to the quick was you have to demand

[00:03:58] profit from your company. Yes. Now that you mentioned that, we talked about that in our group

[00:04:02] call today. I remember Eric mentioning that, but like it's so true. You can't sit back passively

[00:04:11] expecting the money to just flow, right? If you are not intentional and if you are not

[00:04:18] particular about where your money is being spent and how and why, then money falls through

[00:04:25] the cracks and people will let money fall through the cracks unless you have systems

[00:04:31] in place around your cash flows. And so you have to demand the profit from your company.

[00:04:38] That is, the reason why you set up your company was to benefit you and your household.

[00:04:45] And I think what people tend to have that those levels of priority reversed. They think

[00:04:52] the household is subservient to the clinic, right? That somehow I need to sacrifice my house

[00:04:58] so that the clinic survives. Whereas no, you need to do everything you can for the clinic.

[00:05:05] So your household is successful. When I say household, you and your families needs are met

[00:05:10] and not just needs your wants and your retirement is met. That comes first before everything else.

[00:05:15] And so you have to demand, you have to be intentional, you have to be purposeful

[00:05:19] about your money or you will let money fall through the cracks. Just listen to me a little

[00:05:24] bit. Please, if you're listening to this from a point of experience, I did not get my cash flow

[00:05:31] systems in place at my clinic until I was probably 12 years into business, at least a decade maybe

[00:05:38] more before I really figured out how to manage co-pays and deductibles and reconciliation

[00:05:44] of money and where it's being spent and watching my profit and loss statements with the help

[00:05:48] of my CPA and my taxes. I was just very free for all. I was just kind of like,

[00:05:53] it's all going to work out and I trust people and inappropriately so because I was like that and

[00:05:58] I was not intentional and purposeful and demanding of my company, I can honestly say I lost hundreds

[00:06:05] of thousands of dollars over the course of 12 years easily. Yeah. Very easily say that either

[00:06:11] through theft, mismanagement or just I let things get paid that need to get paid or bought

[00:06:18] inventory that wasn't necessary or you name it, I just wasn't on top of things or demanding

[00:06:24] production based on my KPIs. You're losing money because you're not forcing the profit from your

[00:06:31] company. So once I got a handle on it, I was like, I should be collecting. I should have been

[00:06:35] collecting a lot more for all this time. So just having that mindset of demanding profit

[00:06:41] from your company is a great place to start and I almost hate to say, yeah,

[00:06:46] just have a better mindset about it. But that's where it starts, right? And then start thinking

[00:06:52] about, well, if I want to be a million dollar clinic, the thing is about a million dollar clinic is

[00:06:57] you don't become a million dollar clinic. You don't start acting like a million dollar clinic

[00:07:01] when you reach a million dollars. So I would challenge my coaching clients sometimes like,

[00:07:06] okay, you want a million dollar clinic. That's a great goal. What would a million dollar

[00:07:10] clinic look like now as you're making $250,000 a year and start acting like it? Because if you

[00:07:16] start acting like a million dollar clinic, guess what? You'll eventually get there. But don't expect

[00:07:21] to say, oh, I'll do that when I'm bigger. No, you do it now. That's what real businesses do.

[00:07:28] I kind of took what you were saying and went off on my own little thing there, sorry, but

[00:07:32] yeah, I think it starts with having that mindset and making sure that this is what

[00:07:36] you demand. And it's okay to demand it. It's okay to want the money.

[00:07:43] Yeah, and I think vision is a big piece of how to achieve success in anything. And so having

[00:07:48] that vision of what would a million dollar business, how do we need to behave in order

[00:07:53] to represent a million dollar clinic? What do we need to believe in? What do we need to do?

[00:07:57] What type of habits do we need to have? And if you've been listening to this podcast any

[00:08:03] longer than six months, you could probably list three or four things,

[00:08:06] start collecting co-pays over the counter. Otherwise listening to this podcast is done,

[00:08:10] you know good. It's just wasted your time. Yeah, like you can get a handful of things that you

[00:08:15] need to do, right? And so, okay, now do it. You know what I mean? Like because doing part

[00:08:22] is the hard part. Getting it done is the hard part. And so like we had this conversation

[00:08:26] before this and it's like, it starts with the idea of it's important. Then by the way guys,

[00:08:33] I'm just kind of making this up off as I go. But then it's like you want more money? Do

[00:08:38] more hard stuff. Period. You want more money? Be under more pressure. Like average people do

[00:08:45] average things. And if you want above average things, you gotta do above average,

[00:08:51] you know what I mean? You have to do above average actions. So think of the things that

[00:08:55] are scary, that are hard, that you're fearful of and do more of those things and you will make more

[00:09:02] money. I love that you use the word fearful because we talked about it in our group coaching call today

[00:09:07] about the fear of money. I've got it big time. It's a huge button for me. The fear of losing money.

[00:09:14] I think people can relate that especially guys who feel like they have a responsibility to provide

[00:09:19] for their family. Like I feel like my value and my worth is dependent upon what's in my checking

[00:09:26] account. And I know that's not healthy, right? Like there is more to me than the value I bring

[00:09:31] to my family financially. And that's a different conversation with a different therapist.

[00:09:39] But handling the fear of money is a big thing as well. And so I want to tie it to what your

[00:09:45] point is. And that is doing the hard things is essentially answering the hard questions that

[00:09:54] you're not asking. And that sounds weird, but give me a second. So people in the group call today

[00:09:59] were talking about, well, how do I hire somebody? How do I know when I'm hiring too soon? Like

[00:10:05] I'm extending myself too much financially to hire that physical therapist. And so that is an

[00:10:10] appropriate fear, but that's the wrong question. The question should be what do I need to do in

[00:10:16] order to hire a physical therapist and give myself more time to work on the business? So

[00:10:22] what happens is people get that fear like what they let themselves judge the question and say,

[00:10:29] you know, if I hire that, what do I have to do to hire the person and do so? If I do it too

[00:10:33] soon, it's going to put me in a financial situation. They get in that fear mindset

[00:10:38] and then they don't do anything about it because the fear is there and they believe it's justified.

[00:10:43] So if they can just listen to the fear and put it off and say, and let's not think about that right

[00:10:48] now, that's the easy thing to do. The hard thing to do and to your point is to ask a different

[00:10:54] question. And that is what a coach will do for you if we work with you is like, well,

[00:11:00] you know, there's a way to, there are formulas where there are ways to hire people and not

[00:11:05] necessarily be overextended. And first of all, maintain a mentality that this is an investment

[00:11:11] and not an expense. Right. And if you thought your initial investment to open up the clinic was the

[00:11:16] end of your investments financially, then you were short-minded. You're myopic because any kind

[00:11:24] of growth you want to see in your company is going to require some kind of financial stretch.

[00:11:28] Right. And so that's not the end when you open your clinic. So you're going to have to make

[00:11:32] investments along the way to take the next steps up the ladder and to attain more.

[00:11:36] So get over that mentality, but then start asking different questions and not fall to the fear of

[00:11:43] money. And I'm saying this because I'm talking myself. Me too. You're talking to me too.

[00:11:48] Is that ask different questions. What do I need to do to get there? So, and it's explicit in

[00:11:53] Rich Dad and Poor Dad. One dad would say, I can't afford it. The other dad would say,

[00:11:58] what do we need to do in order to afford it? Right. It's just a change in question.

[00:12:04] Now you're open to possibilities. Yes. Now your mind can create, you can throw that question to

[00:12:09] your subconscious and it can start whirling and twirling and coming up with solutions while

[00:12:14] you're sleeping. Right. So ask people, think about it. Talk to your network. Ask them on

[00:12:21] Facebook group. Hire a coach. We'll guide you. We'll tell you what the formula is.

[00:12:26] And then work in that way. Instead of letting those fears of money be the end of the thought

[00:12:33] process and paralyze your progress because it's that fear that will paralyze. And so I think

[00:12:39] I really liked that you brought up the fearful point. People are fearful and afraid to do things

[00:12:44] that will paralyze them because they're not asking the right question. This is why, man,

[00:12:49] it's crazy how like everything always comes back to psychology. Like the way that you think

[00:12:53] about things. It's like your mindset is like thinking, grow rich. Right? It's like a really

[00:12:57] popular book. And it has been for a century because... You know what I mean? It's a great

[00:13:03] book. It all comes down to psychology and it's like the more you can get really critical about

[00:13:09] thinking about how you're thinking, the more that you can control your thoughts, therefore,

[00:13:12] the more that you can control your actions and outcomes. So I like the little slogan. It's

[00:13:17] like you're always going to find what you're looking for. You will always find what

[00:13:22] you're looking for. If you're looking for limitations, you will find them. And if you're

[00:13:26] looking for possibilities, you will find it. So what are you looking for? Right? So it's like

[00:13:31] find more possibilities. Choose to seek out more possibilities. And great leaders and great

[00:13:36] business owners are good at asking the right... Like you said, like asking the right questions,

[00:13:40] asking the questions that open up possibility and bringing that to their team and then their

[00:13:44] team are the people who have a lot of the answers. Right? So focus more on possibility

[00:13:49] and you'll find it. Yeah. I think there's... The default is... And I love that... I think it was

[00:13:55] Zach in our group meeting today. Zach Randolph, thanks for joining on the group meeting today.

[00:13:59] But he brought up 2X is easier... Or 10X is easier than 2X. Because once you get past that fear

[00:14:07] and say, okay, I'm going to grow, then it's easier to say, I'm going to double what I did last

[00:14:12] year. Yeah, man. Let's triple it. Let's double it. And the whole thing about 10X

[00:14:17] is easier than 2X is that a lot of times you can look at, let's double that next year. And

[00:14:22] if I just double my efforts, the same efforts that I did this year, then I'm going to get

[00:14:27] two times what I got this last year where 10X is easier than 2X is. 10X mentality is...

[00:14:35] Again, it's a different question. What would I have to do in my business to 10X this

[00:14:40] instead of 2X this? Now, I wish I could talk from experience on that. And maybe someday

[00:14:46] I will have a better experience to share with you guys. But I think I've seen versions of that

[00:14:51] through my life. Like when we sold our clinics, we sold for 4X what it should have been on the

[00:14:58] market instead of what we sold it for. So I think that I've seen versions of that.

[00:15:02] But that mindset shift again goes back to mindset like, what do you have to do differently?

[00:15:07] Because if it's just the 2X growth and that feels really comfortable,

[00:15:11] then maybe that's not enough. It's like a little carrot that's dangling out in front of you,

[00:15:19] but it's not quite far enough to make you change your habits or change what you're doing.

[00:15:25] I can still stay the same and just walk a little further, go a little harder,

[00:15:30] do a couple more evals. Add two more hours to my week or whatever.

[00:15:35] Correct. Yeah, so it's like you got to start thinking like way further out.

[00:15:41] You've got to stop treating and you've got to hire five therapists and they've got to stick

[00:15:47] around and stay. And so it's like thinking a lot bigger. And you can do it. You can totally do it.

[00:15:52] Well, and that's another thing too is, and here's what I experienced was I was at a point with

[00:15:59] my clinics where I was rather comfortable. Financially, I was doing okay, but I was at a

[00:16:04] burned out stage because I was treating full time and Will and I had our separate clinics and we

[00:16:10] had another one that we shared and just kind of getting burned out from all the treatment and then

[00:16:15] the management of the other clinic and their issues that come up nonstop and recycling

[00:16:20] the same issues over and over again. And it got to a point where I was like,

[00:16:25] something different needs to happen. And that's where we finally got some coaching, right?

[00:16:29] And I noticed that once I had a little bit of guidance from coach and spent some time on my

[00:16:36] business, but then it also had the accountability part of it. That's when things started to change.

[00:16:43] Right? It didn't take a lot of those ingredients to really start bearing fruit because the

[00:16:48] accountability portion for me is, and I see you as someone who's a little bit stronger willed

[00:16:53] than I am in that when I set goals, it's very easy for me to just maybe like keep them to myself. And

[00:16:59] if I didn't meet him, they're like, oh, well, maybe I'll try next quarter or next year.

[00:17:05] Or never. But the accountability pieces in there, that's why they always tell you to have some kind

[00:17:10] of external someone externally holding you accountable. And that's the beauty of a coaching

[00:17:16] thing is that where I was at financially was not painful enough to make a difference.

[00:17:23] Right? And then when I made the investment in myself by getting a coach and going through

[00:17:28] the coaching program, that's when I started to see significant differences because someone

[00:17:32] helped me accountable and held my handle. Hey, everybody, let me cut straight to the point

[00:17:40] with this one. If you're looking to sell your business, your clinics in any way over the

[00:17:43] next two to five years, you need to reach out to my friends at multiple exit. Will Humphries

[00:17:48] and Scott Fritz are uniquely positioned to help you get the most out of your business when it comes

[00:17:54] time to sell. And if you are looking to sell in the next two to five years, now is the time to prepare

[00:17:59] you need to reach out to them now. There are a number of things you need to consider.

[00:18:03] There are a number of things that you need to do to get the optimal value from your sale.

[00:18:08] So reach out to my friend Will Humphries, co-owner of multiple exit,

[00:18:12] to maximize your future sale. Email him at will at unlockhba.com, that's will at unlockh

[00:18:20] heismboya.com or call text him even at 480-248-519. If you're looking to sell your clinics,

[00:18:31] now is the time to prepare. Reach out to them now.

[00:18:34] I want to go back to creating the demand because at the end of the day, it's like we can have dreams

[00:18:48] and visions and aspirations. But at the end of the day, we've got to have money in the bank. We

[00:18:51] have to take action doing stuff. So we talk to owners a lot and they get to this place where

[00:18:57] their schedule is full. Maybe it's them and another therapist, their schedules are full.

[00:19:02] They're super busy. They have no time to work on their business. And it's like,

[00:19:07] I'm too broke to hire somebody. It was like, I'm too rich to quit, but too broke to hire somebody.

[00:19:14] They have this paralyzing mentality of like, I just can't hire anybody because I can't afford

[00:19:20] it or like we don't have enough referrals. And it's like that mindset will keep you there

[00:19:25] forever. You will never get out of that. You're never going to wake up one day and be like,

[00:19:30] now I have enough. It never happens. What will happen or should happen, the only

[00:19:36] is you'll wake up one day and say, I've had enough and you're going to have to decide

[00:19:41] to do something different. Right? So creating that demand. It's like, I talk to practice owners

[00:19:47] or people who want to open a clinic. They come to me and they're like, yeah, I've done the

[00:19:50] market research. I found this brick and mortar place. This is what I'm going to call it.

[00:19:54] I've got my accountant. I've got some equipment sitting in storage. Like, I'm ready to go. I've

[00:19:59] got all these ideas like, okay, like I want to make sure I've got everything in place.

[00:20:04] What should I do next? And it's like sign the lease. Yeah. I love that. Sign the lease.

[00:20:10] Because what happens when you sign the lease? Demand. You're committed. Demand. Exactly.

[00:20:16] Like you create that demand with yourself and like now when you wake up and your feet

[00:20:19] at the floor, there's a different level of focus and intensity around what you need to do

[00:20:24] instantly. You get real clear on what's important. This sucker needs to get up and going now.

[00:20:30] Exactly. Exactly. Okay. So then you get, you open your clinic and then your schedule gets full

[00:20:36] and you get a front desk person. Or how about your schedule gets full and you don't have a

[00:20:40] front desk person? Okay. As you're just full, you don't have a front person. Whatever. Right?

[00:20:44] You're working 80 hours a week. Yeah. Guess what? Got to create demand.

[00:20:49] Hire a therapist. And you're going to give them all your patience. And guess what?

[00:20:53] It's going to be scary. And you're going to wake up the next morning, your feet are going to hit

[00:20:57] the ground. And guess what? You're going to get real clear on what you need to be doing to get

[00:21:01] your business. How do I get these patients moved over? How do I get more patients to

[00:21:06] fill my schedule again? Got to get more, maybe I can increase my frequency. We got

[00:21:09] to get something. I got to talk about it. Right? It's like your mind is rolling with

[00:21:12] ideas and ways to charge up your practice. And it's not because you like created this super

[00:21:19] secret system. It's because you had the guts to create the demand. And like you bet on yourself.

[00:21:26] Right? So I love that thought of if you want to grow, you have to create the demand.

[00:21:32] You can't wait it out. The waiting, you tried that didn't you try it for 12 years.

[00:21:37] Yeah. Someone pointed it out the other day as I was listening to a talk,

[00:21:41] like I was living the same year over and over again. Same problems, same victim hood mentality.

[00:21:48] There's just same problems. And it reflected in my gross revenues flat

[00:21:53] in that clinic year over year. I felt like I was running hard. It was groundhog day every year

[00:21:58] and did that for a number of years straight before I was finally like, okay, I came up

[00:22:02] with the demand like I'm done with the hamster wheel. What do I need to do differently?

[00:22:07] And that's when we finally reached out. So you can either do that, you can live the same year

[00:22:12] over and over and over again, or you can like make growth happen and make this year better than last

[00:22:20] year and next year better than this year. Right? And that's the way to progress. That's the way

[00:22:26] to make money. That's the way to make money. That's what I wanted to come back to, like

[00:22:31] be out over your skis a little, don't get comfortable. Don't be predictable. Don't try to

[00:22:36] calculate how you're going to make this work. And it's all going to be super easy because it's not

[00:22:40] like the side that you want to step into the arena and fight the good fight, right? And go for it.

[00:22:46] So put yourself in that pressure, put yourself in those difficult times and

[00:22:50] that will create the demand for you to grow your business.

[00:22:54] Yeah, it's very similar to I remember talking to going to a new gym one time and someone

[00:22:59] selling me on a program. And he said, listen, I'll tell you what, the guys that come in

[00:23:03] here and want the $20 a month package for access to the gym, we've done the studies. Like how often

[00:23:10] do they come in less than three times a month? But the people that actually pay the $120 a month

[00:23:15] to go to the gym, guess how much they come? Well, they know they've got some pressure

[00:23:20] and they're betting on themselves and they've made a commitment. They actually show up three

[00:23:24] times a week instead of three times a month. And so you mentioned it. They bet on themselves

[00:23:30] and they made a commitment. And the people who scoff and go for it at the cost of coaching,

[00:23:36] like, yeah, you don't understand. Yeah, we're not talking to you. We're talking to the other people.

[00:23:44] Because you're not in a position where you're willing to make the investment and make a

[00:23:47] commitment. You want the free crap that you can do on your own time and maybe someday it'll get

[00:23:52] better through osmosis without any accountability. Yeah, don't bother calling this at that point.

[00:23:58] Right. If you want to actually commit to growth and commit to yourself,

[00:24:04] you actually have to do the work. You have to sign the dotted line at the bottom

[00:24:08] and make an investment. And so people who do it themselves, more power to them. But I've been

[00:24:13] doing this podcast for, I think I'm going on seven years in June, 99.95% of people I've

[00:24:21] interviewed have at some point gotten coaching to be successful physical therapy owners. And

[00:24:26] that's typically who I have on the podcast is people who've been successful in the PT realm.

[00:24:31] So they have received coaching at some time. And so I mentioned it earlier, there are formulas

[00:24:38] to progress. There are formulas to make money and it's reaching out, getting help and networking.

[00:24:44] It's stepping out and working on your business, not in your business, all the tried and

[00:24:48] true tropes, but they are formulas. And to say, oh, I can't afford it. I can't do that.

[00:24:53] I'm scared. What about this? What about that? Yeah, then be okay with where you're at.

[00:24:57] You know, just get comfortable where you're at and you won't make one money. And fine.

[00:25:01] We have we've seen new clients come in now who are like, I just did an interview with one of our

[00:25:05] clients 90 day check-in a couple of weeks ago. And he's like, within three months,

[00:25:10] I'm making more money than I ever had in the past three years of my clinic.

[00:25:14] And I'm kind of blown away. I'm like, what are we doing? And he's like, well, you guys

[00:25:19] are like telling me where to put my focus and you're holding my feet to the fire and

[00:25:23] telling me what's a distraction and what's a priority. And I'm putting systems in place

[00:25:28] and I'm making a ton more money. I'm like, cool, great. And that's pretty much the experience

[00:25:34] all the time. But it's because he made a commitment and he put an investment in himself

[00:25:39] to get that far. And that's how you make money. It's not unique to physical therapy.

[00:25:44] The Steve Jobs of the world, the Bill Gates of the world, they've got coaches,

[00:25:49] they've got people that coach them. They invested in themselves. They invest in their business all

[00:25:54] the time with many more zeros than we use, but they invest in that stuff. And that's how they

[00:26:00] invest in their business. They put the investment in expecting a return hiring a physical therapist.

[00:26:04] It's just like an investment this Bill Gates might make in Microsoft to open up a new branch.

[00:26:09] That's the same thing as us hiring another physical therapist. Maybe it's getting a PTA.

[00:26:13] Maybe it's getting another front desk person, all that kind of stuff. It's just that mentality,

[00:26:19] the commitment, the accountability all go hand in hand.

[00:26:22] Steve Jobs I do want to kind of circle back because we chatted about the three pillars.

[00:26:28] Steve Jobs Happy patients, happy team, money in the bank. Gotta have it. You will never

[00:26:34] have a life worth living if you don't have all three of those, right? Like you gotta have

[00:26:37] all three. But the thing that I've realized is that when you improve one, you improve all of them.

[00:26:44] Right? So like if you invest in your team, your bank account grows.

[00:26:48] Right? If you invest in your financial management, your patients get happier.

[00:26:51] So it's like what's good for the business is good for your bank.

[00:26:55] Right? And so, you know, I can recall still to this day, I know and I've done a lot of

[00:27:02] that self work where I can start to become a lot more aware when I'm hesitant about making decisions.

[00:27:08] I'm hesitating and I kind of feel that discomfort, that fear around making decisions.

[00:27:12] And almost every time it comes back to my insecurities about spending money,

[00:27:18] almost every time, right? And there's a lot of people who are out there wired that way.

[00:27:23] And so just so you know, like that's normal. And the thing that has gotten me through is

[00:27:28] realizing that what's good for the business is good for your bank. So just focus on building

[00:27:35] your business. Like if is your business going to be better with another PT on your team? Yes or no?

[00:27:41] Money aside, yes or no? If the answer is yes, make the hire. The money will follow.

[00:27:46] Is your business going to be better if you've hired a coach? Yes or no? Yes.

[00:27:54] Then hey, the money and your money will, it will all come back to you. And what we do is we get

[00:28:00] stuck in this mindset of like, well, I got to figure out how to make that work financially.

[00:28:03] And it's like, no, you've got to take a risk. You got to take a gamble on yourself and just focus

[00:28:08] on supporting the business and nurturing it like a newborn baby and just taking care of it.

[00:28:13] And that's how you make money. Right? Yeah, great example was the interview that I just

[00:28:16] did with Christie Plunk about collecting copays at the time of service. She got to a point

[00:28:21] where cancellation rates were high. Money was, the revenues were decreasing for some reason or

[00:28:27] another compared to previous years. And she looked back at her policies and procedures and was like,

[00:28:32] what do we need to change? What can we do to improve this? And one of those, which was best

[00:28:37] for the business, like you said, was we're going to keep credit cards on file. We're going to

[00:28:41] charge the cancellation fee to the credit card. We're going to collect copays, coinsurance as

[00:28:45] the deductibles at the time of service. We're going to add 3% merchant services fee

[00:28:50] to every credit card swipe. And then we're going to charge the balance of the patient,

[00:28:55] the patient's balance to the credit card at the end of each month. So of course,

[00:29:00] the initial thoughts from the peace core mentality that physical therapists have is

[00:29:04] what she called it. We have this peace core gene within us that we want to spread love and peace

[00:29:09] and wellness throughout the world without charge. Which isn't a bad thing.

[00:29:13] Which is well, at our sacrifice. Right. But it can be very bad.

[00:29:18] Yeah. At our financial detriment, the initial pushback is like, what are the patients going to

[00:29:22] think? They're not going to prove they're not going to like this. She's had like 1% of her

[00:29:27] patient population pushed back at all. And she said, we're not the place for you. You just

[00:29:32] have to go somewhere else. 1%, like maybe less than five people had an issue with keeping

[00:29:37] the credit card on file and the policies that they implemented. And guess what? What's good

[00:29:42] for the business? They ended up making more money and increasing her revenues substantially.

[00:29:47] Right. And so that's just an example of what can happen. Right. Or hey, you make that commitment

[00:29:54] to hire a physical therapist appropriately so at a time when your utilization rates are high.

[00:30:00] Right. There's the formula that we're talking about. There's a formula to it.

[00:30:04] You hire them at that time. Well, guess what? That's going to cause you.

[00:30:08] It's going to give you a little bit of pressure and cause you to number one,

[00:30:11] learn how to transfer patients over from you to another provider. But it also is going to

[00:30:15] cause you to guess what? Go market, improve your relationships, invest in your marketing strategy.

[00:30:21] Do a little bit more here or there to get patient referrals up. That'd be good for the business,

[00:30:27] right? And that's also good for you and makes more money. So that little bit of pressure

[00:30:31] and doing what's good for the business can definitely do change into what's best for

[00:30:35] the owners. And you make more money than you can invest in your team.

[00:30:38] That's right. Right.

[00:30:39] That's right. Yeah, man. I think that's amazing. I mean, I think that pretty much

[00:30:43] freaking hits the nail on the head. I wrote down how to make more money. Number one,

[00:30:48] you got to believe that is important and that it's worthy for, it's worth fighting for,

[00:30:51] just as important as patients and team. Number two, gotta be willing to do more hard things

[00:30:56] more often, not physically hard always. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:01] Clear some mental hurdles.

[00:31:02] Yeah. It's like the difference between digging a ditch and solving a Rubik's cube.

[00:31:07] Digging a ditch is physically hard, but it's super predictable.

[00:31:10] Takes a different type of hard to solve a Rubik's cube. Right? Number three,

[00:31:14] create demand and embrace fear. And then the fourth thing I wrote down is bet on yourself.

[00:31:21] If you do those four things, you're going to consistently, you'll make more money.

[00:31:26] Yeah. Pretty much.

[00:31:27] I told you this would be a good episode.

[00:31:28] Yeah. Unfortunately, what we hear about making money, especially with the rates of

[00:31:34] Bitcoin rising right now in March of 2024, the stories that we hear are the people that

[00:31:40] bought Bitcoin back when it was $200 and now it's $70,000. Right? Those are the stories we're

[00:31:45] going to hear. That's what's going to be portrayed in the media, but that's not the

[00:31:48] majority of people that make money. That's not how I did it.

[00:31:52] Yeah. So it takes a different mentality and that's how people are going to make

[00:31:56] money is if they really bet on themselves and do some self work.

[00:32:01] That's right, man.

[00:32:02] That's good stuff. I probably need to go back and listen to this one myself after we're done.

[00:32:07] Yes, sir.

[00:32:09] Get myself pumped up again.

[00:32:12] Hey, for those who are listening, I do want to make mention that we're starting a monthly free

[00:32:17] coaching call. It's going to be a call at the Physical Therapy Owners Club monthly in power

[00:32:22] call. It's going to be 100% free. It is not a sales call and don't be discouraged just because

[00:32:27] it's free doesn't mean we're not going to provide tremendous value on that call.

[00:32:31] But the only requirement is that you have to be a member of a Facebook group.

[00:32:35] Join the Facebook group. Even if you don't get active on there, you can find the link

[00:32:39] and you can join the monthly call. It's once a month for an hour. It's going to be me. I'm

[00:32:43] assuming Nathan and some of our other coaches are going to be on that call.

[00:32:46] Bring your questions and we want to help you find new possibilities for you and your business.

[00:32:50] Now, initially out of the gate, we're doing it a certain day in time each week, right?

[00:32:54] And I'm saying that that is what it is for now. So please give us the freedom to change

[00:32:58] that in the future and check into the Facebook group if we do change it. But for now,

[00:33:02] it's when like Wednesdays or? Yeah, I think it's the third Wednesday of every month at one o'clock

[00:33:07] PM central. That could change. Yeah, 2pm Eastern. What is that? I do central. I know you're central.

[00:33:16] Whatever it is. Yeah, that could change in the future. But the third Wednesday is a good

[00:33:20] one to remember and we'll keep you abreast of what's actually going on in the Facebook group

[00:33:25] if that's a call that you want to make. But it'll be great. What you're planning to do out

[00:33:29] believe is necessarily any type of presentation, but more of like a Q and A session.

[00:33:33] Yeah. So what we're going to do there is we're going to find out what's really most important to

[00:33:36] you and we're going to expect you to bring some questions, right? And we're going to get really

[00:33:42] clear on what those limiting beliefs are and what those fears are and what demand you need to create

[00:33:47] in your business. And we're going to help you find new possibilities there and then hold

[00:33:51] you accountable and see you take action. I promise you, you will get results free call

[00:33:56] once a month. You can't go wrong. I'm going to make a prediction. My prediction is that there's

[00:34:01] going to be a lot of questions about how to hire a PT. We got an interest for that too, but

[00:34:08] I don't know what it is, but that's like at the forefront of people's minds.

[00:34:13] But then when you tell them, well, it's going to take some work, they're like,

[00:34:15] oh, I thought there was an easier way. Sorry, there's not. Gotcha. Cool. Well,

[00:34:23] if you want to get ahold of us, you can check out the website, ptoclub.com. You can reach Adam

[00:34:28] directly at ptoclub.com. He's on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn, Nathan at ptoclub.com. If you want to

[00:34:34] email me and you can definitely find us through the Facebook group as well, but let's go make

[00:34:38] some more money. Let's do it man. Have a big year. See you man. Peace.

[00:34:46] Thanks for joining us today in the physical therapy owners club,

[00:34:50] the resource for stability and freedom in your PT practice. Reach out and join the network today.

[00:34:55] Subscribe to our podcast, get links to social media, and access all of our episodes with

[00:35:00] show notes at ptoclub.com.