Practice Owner’s Manual Series, Part 1 – Laying The Foundation With Adam Robin

[00:00:00] We use our values to drive decision-making in this organization. Our values drive your decisions and if your values are clear Your decisions will be clear. Your team's decisions will be clear. Your leadership team's decisions will be clear

[00:00:13] Right, so the degree that you can get really really clear on your values and how you want to behave will impact your culture tremendously Welcome you've entered the Physical Therapy Owners Club podcast where your host Nathan Shields and other successful PT owners and leaders

[00:00:33] 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

[00:00:45] That's what the PT owners club is all about greater freedom and more profits There's plenty of room for you as well. So come on in and join the club Hello everybody Adam and I were recently talking about the topics that we should discuss on the podcast

[00:01:04] And an idea came to mind that maybe we should do a series of podcast episodes a series of episodes specifically related to the development of a successful private practice Like where do we start? How about marketing? How about hiring? How about recruiting?

[00:01:23] But all laid out in a series so you don't have to jump around to different episodes that I've posted over the years but rather laid out from soup to nuts a to z a singular episode for every department of

[00:01:35] The business that you need to address and put it all together In a series of consecutive episodes So that you have the quintessential Bulletproof practice owners manual for success This manual these episodes

[00:01:55] Actually follow the blueprint of our coaching program coaching clients have access to what we call the vault Which is a library of digital resources That Adam has created to help

[00:02:07] Any owner that needs help in a particular aspect of their business to go there address it or learn about it address it appropriately and Implement it into their practices. We just decided that maybe we'd add to that and provide these podcast episodes on top of it

[00:02:22] The final product of this series of episodes will look like this We're gonna have podcasts in order of the proper development of your practice YouTube videos in order as well that go in line with the podcast series

[00:02:37] And at the very end a checklist of how to actually build a successful Practice out that will be posted on the Facebook group join if you haven't joined physical therapy owners club And also on our website when it's all completed PTO club calm the website is completed

[00:02:54] But the series of episodes once that's completed that would be posted there as well So look forward to that and in the meantime Enjoy this particular episode of our series of the practice owners manual for success

[00:03:09] Hello and welcome to the physical therapy owners club podcast. I'm your host Nathan Shields You got my buddy and partner Adam Robin on board. Thanks for joining me again today, man. Man. Happy Thursday. Glad to be here It's good to have you man

[00:03:25] It's been a little bit since we've come around to do some podcast interviews just between the two of us to talk about important things but really excited about this series of Podcast episodes that we're gonna create Because between this series of episodes

[00:03:42] It should provide a very stable foundation Off of which and structure off of which any physical therapists can build a successful physical therapy clinic

[00:03:51] Is that the same vision that you have? Yeah, I would say you can even just broaden it to like any body who wants to run a business Whether your occupational therapist speech therapists chiropractor physician

[00:04:04] Plumber electrician like we're gonna lay out the fundamental elements of what like every single section of your business and Give you some I guess like chapters to your owner's manual, right?

[00:04:18] So this is definitely a series of like you should have a pin out. You should have a piece of paper out Write these things down and if you plug these things into your business

[00:04:27] It's impossible for you not to have success with it. That was gonna be my next question How would you recommend people consume these episodes pen and paper for sure? But a lot of them might be driving so maybe you can listen to it initially

[00:04:39] But maybe come back around and listen to it again with pen and paper or make some notes when you stop How do you recommend people consume and make sure they implement? Yeah, so I would say

[00:04:50] You should like walk away with something that you're gonna commit to implementing every single episode at least one thing Right and if you implement these things each of these I think there's gonna be about 10 or 12 episodes

[00:05:03] But if you implement at least one thing from each episode, you will massively improve your business, right? so I would recommend pen and paper and then identify one key thing from each episode that's really just calling you and

[00:05:19] Implement the tendency for a lot of physical therapists because we tend to be perfectionists Is that I feel like and I do this plenty of times as I'm listening to podcasts or read self-help books is I've got to implement it

[00:05:31] All in order to move on to the next thing, but you're saying hey just pick something that Either you're like yeah, I need to work on that or I even recommend if something looks like I know

[00:05:43] I need to do that but I'm kind of scared. That's probably the thing that you need to address And just focus on that one thing and focus on that not do all the three four five things Just take one thing focus on it move on to the next

[00:05:58] Otherwise you're just gonna get stuck bugged down burned out. You name it. That's right making traction Yeah, like if you want to run a marathon, you don't go out and run a marathon You go for a walk they want you go for a walk

[00:06:08] You know me and then the next day you go for a little longer walk And then the next day you go for a light jog and then you build it so

[00:06:15] Yeah, like find one little small wing you can have have some fun with it celebrate and then on to the next one and even Consider this that maybe this is in a library of episodes that you come back to

[00:06:28] Say in another six months. Well, that or maybe once a year you re-listen to it And that's hopefully that's how we're packaging it and presenting it to the listeners

[00:06:36] Is that these are timeless and that you can come back to them and find nuggets within it depending on the perspective The situation that you are in in your business. That's right. Love it great. Okay. Well, let's start off man What is number one?

[00:06:51] Number one chapter one of your owner's manual So you have a piece of paper right now everybody you have a piece of paper If there's a pin in your hand and at the top I want you to write owner's manual and underline it all caps

[00:07:04] Chapter one is building the foundation and so what we want to talk about today is Understanding your story understanding your purpose understanding the values of your company creating the identity of your company and

[00:07:17] This is gonna be one of those things where it's like, oh man. I don't want to do that. That sounds boring I just want to make some money. I want more new patients. Yeah, it's like Do you want to be an owner or not? Okay, listen to me

[00:07:31] This is something you're gonna have to commit to and it doesn't have to take a year like give me a couple weeks and Just focus on this build this out

[00:07:38] Share it with your team and start actually trying to live this and then you will actually like you'll definitely have a positive impact in your business You talked about story and maybe we're gonna talk about a little bit more in detail here

[00:07:50] But I always considered I looked at my story. I'm like my story is nothing special Why would I bother? Highlighting that why would I bother telling people that? Well, number one people love stories number two if they're working for you don't you your team

[00:08:05] Wants to know where you're coming from. Why did you do this? Did you have some hiccups along the way? Did you have an inspiration? Did you have an injury that you came back from was there a mentor? Was there someone you love that you thought man

[00:08:18] I want to do that with people because I saw my loved one get treated in an appropriate way and see significant gains Did you have an experience etc etc etc? Everyone has a unique story

[00:08:27] That led to their opening up of their business and it's imperative that their team knows that so that they know can understand your Inspiration, right? That's right. And so it doesn't have to be glamorous. It can be really simple

[00:08:41] Mine I would say I don't want to take the time to share it, but it's rather simple and it's not Life well it was life-changing to make the decision to go into business

[00:08:50] And maybe that's another reason why you need to share it because this is a life-changing event I Sacrifice a lot of time and money to build this business and this is where I'm coming from

[00:09:01] Yeah, I think one of the most powerful things I've ever done is share my story with my team And it's sometimes it gets emotional not everybody's story is so Happy right a lot of times your story comes from past pain, right?

[00:09:15] Right has a big challenge that you overcame You know so people's story from my experience people's story sounds something like Hey, I was happy and I was fulfilled with this thing and then I lost it all and then like

[00:09:31] Lost my identity. I lost my way. I was lost. I was overwhelmed. I was anxious. I was depressed I was not happy and then I met where I was then I experienced blank I met up the savior. I met the hero

[00:09:43] I met a person or I was exposed to my church right or my pastor and He pulled me out of the weeds and helped me overcome things and then now

[00:09:56] I'm super happy and I'm back on top of mountain and then your story is typically I want to help others Experience their version of that. I want them to help. I want to see others like overcome those challenges

[00:10:08] I want to help them in that way and it takes some reflection, right? A lot of times it takes the work of a coach to help you kind of pull that story out

[00:10:16] but sit down and just kind of reflect on your story and reflect on some of the painful things that you went through and along your journey and Reflect on how you overcome them who helped you overcome them and what new realizations did you have?

[00:10:29] And if you can start getting clear on what that story is It could be a really powerful culture Culture builder for you and your team, right? You're definitely you're explaining the hero's journey And I'm trying to reflect on my own story and it doesn't

[00:10:44] Replicate that it was simply I had some peripheral experience with physical therapy seeing other people go through it and I was thinking about health care in general

[00:10:53] And then I did it volunteer like just observation had a couple of physical therapy clinics and every time I left I was Excited like adrenaline rush loved it. I'm like, well, maybe this is telling me something. I guess I'll pursue it

[00:11:05] And so it was rather simple then when it comes to opening up a business. That's a different story That's another story, but you would add that on top of it that got a mean to physical therapy This journey got me into ownership and so talking about that

[00:11:19] But one as you were talking one client story stood out as unique in that he got into physical therapy because he likes doing puzzles And he found that as he's working with patients

[00:11:28] They were like a puzzle just trying to figure them out with all the different special tests and Range motion measures and strength measures and trying to put all this together To find out the solution to their problem

[00:11:38] And thus he wanted to open up a physical therapy clinic and his goal. He wanted to see the hardest spine patients that were out there the most complicated patients

[00:11:49] Because those were the most complicated puzzles to solve, right? And like dude, that's your purpose. I mean, you got a Isn't that cool like so good into let your team know that why you want to see these patients

[00:12:02] I mean you're out there marketing to see these complicated back patients your team better know that you're marketing for complicated back patients If they're gonna be aligned to that kind of patient population and wanting to treat them

[00:12:14] But yeah, it can be simple things and it just took a little bit of work for us to have that conversation With him to pull out that story. He didn't see that connection before I was able to be a third party to it

[00:12:27] And share that with him. Yeah another way that It's been described to me as like sometimes your story can come from past pain Sometimes your story can come from what you stand for Right, it's like I took a stand or something

[00:12:41] Like I decided that I wanted to take a stand up like I was gonna help people solve their puzzle Right, I was gonna take a stand of what was important to me another way that can spark some brain juice

[00:12:52] To help you open up some clarity around this is what do you stand against? It's like I stand against blank. I will not tolerate blank. I will not be this right and that can help you Uncover what's really really important to you

[00:13:07] Right, so yeah good stuff. So and that doesn't have to take a lot of time I mean you share that you put it out Maybe put a little thought to it and just have a story

[00:13:16] But that's something that if it's a captivating story like Wil Humphreys has a captivating story but if it's captivating story you want to broadcast that all over the place and that because you will be remembered for that story and people will be drawn to you because of your

[00:13:30] Story and you want that you want people to be drawn to you You want to work with like-minded people if it ignited a spark in you and it ignites a spark in them

[00:13:40] More than likely you're gonna be aligned at a basic level and probably have some value alignment at least So to build off of so it's important to share so we got through the story. What's next purpose? Talk yeah, man. Your purpose is what you do, right?

[00:13:56] What do you do more specifically like? What are you committed to I just had a I'm gonna shout out Well, maybe I won't I just had a coaching client that I was working with earlier today We were talking about purpose. We've been talking about purpose for three weeks

[00:14:07] and I said what do you do it like what do you do here? What do you do with this company? And he's like well, we're trying to help people feel better and We're trying to help people experience fulfillment

[00:14:21] He kept on throwing some more so there was a lot of lack of clarity And he's like one thing that we do in the eval is we help people reach their ultimate goal

[00:14:31] And I was like tell me about that. He said we use the language of like we help people reach their ultimate goal Which is we turn their dreams into? realities Like if they really have a dream of like I want to go for a walk with my dog

[00:14:44] Three days a week around the park we turn that into a reality and we call that the ultimate goal and I was like stop right there There's your purpose. That's your why that's your why right? It's like that's what you do

[00:14:58] We help people and I've got a written right here. We help people turn their dreams into possibilities Right So it's like has nothing to do with physical therapy

[00:15:10] It has nothing to do with right nothing to do is like what you do as far as like it's like it really cut the fun Nothing technical Right, right? And so it's typically related to how you want to impact the world

[00:15:24] How you want to be seen in the world what you want to be known for in the world? And this is something that you not only bring to your team to your patients, but bring to your families

[00:15:33] You bring to your community bring to your referral partners you bring to Your little kids little league soccer game and you're talking to the moms and dads that are sitting around you like you live that you live that purpose

[00:15:44] Mm-hmm when you can identify that you get that written down and you link that to your story Boom now you're starting to create an identity right you're trying to create an identity

[00:15:53] And that's gonna be the catalyst to your culture. Yeah, I was gonna say heaven forbid you start a culture No way This is where it starts I mean what you do right and it's so funny because when you're a singular practitioner

[00:16:09] You are like you and the business are one right? You're the sole provider You might have a tech a pta a front-dose person But you are the main thing you're the owner and provider and that is the culture it all revolves around you

[00:16:22] but if you have any hopes for growth and To build a culture a culture that you want and that you have some control of and that you're intentional about it starts with these items Right, and this is how you build a great team

[00:16:36] This through having a story and a purpose and we're gonna talk about values It's having these things in place off of which to attract like-minded people

[00:16:45] And so I used to send the Simon cynic video the Ted talk of Simon cynic that kind of I think it kind of catapulted him Was his talk about why the why and I probably sent it to you back in the day when before our first

[00:17:01] Coaching visit years ago, but watch the Simon cynic video the Ted talk about it starts with why and he'll explain to you exactly What this is the why and the purpose are essentially the same thing has nothing to do with what you do

[00:17:13] It has everything to do with why you're in existence And so typically if you you know if you have a good purpose Well, let's say this way You know if you have a bad purpose if it says anything about the therapy that you provide

[00:17:27] We provide the most hands-on care the most individualized Physical therapy in the community serving our clients. We provide a holistic approach to the care of the Yeah, that's what you do. That's not your why that's not your purpose. That's not why it exists a Purpose is your why?

[00:17:45] Such that people can say yeah, I can agree with that now. What do you do? So if people were like, hey, so it could be an elevator pitch meet someone in the elevator never none they're a stranger and

[00:17:57] They say so what do you do? Well back in the day our purpose was help others rise above we help others rise above What do you mean by that? Well? We are a physical therapy clinic that helps people rise above whether that's our patients or clients or vendors

[00:18:10] We don't care. We want to help others rise above throughout the community everyone we touch right and That gives people a picture it gives them a painting right of exactly who you are and what you're set out to do and

[00:18:23] It makes it really easy that after that point to Get other people in line with you love it man love it and the purpose And we'll talk about values here in a second, but your story or purpose your values

[00:18:37] It's a document that just keeps breathing it keeps growing it keeps evolving right as you grow and learn and evolve It's like as you expand the way that you think about how to serve people and who you want to be and your team grows

[00:18:50] And you start adding team members. It's like that grows with you, right? Well, yeah, I love that so right now You should have a piece of paper page one should say your story and you should write that down

[00:19:02] Put some language to it hundred word hundred to 200 words something you can share in about three minutes Turn the page over now. You're gonna start defining what your purpose is. What is your purpose?

[00:19:14] Personal purpose that you want to what's the impact that you want to make on the world? right and so Right underneath that we're gonna define the third pillar of your culture, which is your values Right and I'm not an expert on many things

[00:19:29] But the simple way that I kind of define the values is this is how we do it, right? Yeah, so the purpose is like this is what you do

[00:19:37] Purpose is why you do it. Oh, right. So why you do it? Yeah, and then the values are this is how you do it Right. This is how we conduct our business Right. And so these are gonna be three to five maybe seven Describers personality

[00:19:56] Describers that are gonna be used to define the perfect personality inside your business Like who are we called to be? How do we behave? How do we behave here? And so everybody's kind of seen values. You might be accountability or integrity or professionalism or

[00:20:13] Gratitude grit, right? There are some defining characteristics that are gonna trump all others and that's gonna determine a lot of things Including the people that you bring on your team must be value aligned higher based on these fire based on these

[00:20:29] You create your policies and procedures based on these you Market based on these So going back to the same client I was talking with today. I asked him a question I said, what was one thing you learned about yourself over the last two weeks?

[00:20:44] And he said I learned that the decisions that I make are gonna be directly The thing that directly grows the company. I said, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that My favorite word there is decisions. How do you define your decisions?

[00:21:01] How does that happen? Like how do you get to your decisions? And we peeled back the layers and it came down to like we use our values to this Drive decision-making in this organization our values drive your decisions

[00:21:12] And if your values are clear your decisions will be clear your team's decisions will be clear Your leadership teams decisions will be clear Right so the degree that you can get really really clear on your values and how you want to behave will impact your culture tremendously

[00:21:28] Yeah, again, I want to come back to people who are listening because you put it out there at the beginning I just want more new patients. I want to know how to deal with these employees who are

[00:21:40] Not acting appropriately. I want to drive productivity. My stats are going down The first step and this is something I learned from Eric Miller of econoled econologics

[00:21:49] The first step when you're in the middle of a cash flow crunch and numbers are going down and you're worried about cash is To revisit your purpose and values start there. Where are we going wrong?

[00:22:00] What are we not living up to that? We said that we would let's start there and that's a team-wide experience It's not just the owner the owner needs to self reflect as well But goes back to that let's focus on purpose and values

[00:22:15] Then we can start doing some digging after that, but this is the importance of this exercise It's not just set and done Starting my business. I do these things because Adam and Nathan said so put it on the shelf and now we're done

[00:22:28] No to go back to what you're talking about a value-driven company a Purpose and value-driven company is a company that has an intentional established culture that is replicable and Attracts like-minded individuals that will easily fit in that culture and be happy to produce right and so

[00:22:46] Building a culture like that brings on people who eventually love your company Like family and that's what you want. You want them to love what you've built because you love it

[00:22:57] So to start with values it can be daunting to think of well, how do I start with values? I mean I have some I think they're great words But the exercise that we went through was okay, what kind of companies do you?

[00:23:10] Respect what are they known for why do you visit them versus the other companies right? Why do you drive past five McDonald's to go to the Burger King? What does Burger King do that the five McDonald's don't? That's the idea. Why do I go to?

[00:23:25] Sprouts or Trader Joe's instead of the other grocery stores in town because they provide what what is that experience that they provide? What do they provide that you like that could be something there could be a value for you to find within that right?

[00:23:39] What are some of the characteristics you want to be known for? Maybe you don't exemplify them right now But you have mentors and idols and family members that you look up to that they have certain characteristics that you want to emulate and

[00:23:52] Okay, let's start writing these down some of these characteristics start writing down What do you want to be known for what do you like? See what do you see in other companies that you want to be like?

[00:24:01] Because the values are not just how we do things. They're also what we are known for Right, we are known for these things So Will and I initially did this the first time I was surprising how fun the experience was because it was just the two of us

[00:24:15] And we just we had conversations about all these and so we came up with list of about 20 words and after that We'd go one by so we get the list of 20 25 after that we go one by one and just say do we really want this one or

[00:24:30] Is that rolled up in another word that we said is a duplicitous And we cross off one or the other and so we pine it down Pair it down to about maybe eight to ten values and then at that point it was a conversation

[00:24:45] Like okay, let's have a serious conversation. Which values do we prioritize over the others and why? and What are some of our definitions for these values? Because even though you say the word the definition could be different between the two of us

[00:25:00] You could be envisioning one definition where I envision another so you need to get clear on what the definitions of those are and After doing that for a little bit then you might have to have some serious dialogue

[00:25:11] And I don't know what would you say it takes maybe about an hour? Maybe yeah, yeah, I mean too if you involve maybe a group I was gonna say it's to me. It's helpful to have another member of your team like co-create this with somebody on your team

[00:25:27] The best cultures are co-creators right and so and then yeah, definitely opens up more conversation And in my opinion you get there a little bit quicker I work better that way as opposed to just kind of staring at a blank piece of paper

[00:25:39] Yeah, because what you don't want to do is create the atom show Right. Yeah, you want to create the atom show You don't want to create the Nathan show you want to create the your physical therapy your company show and in order to do that

[00:25:49] You need to have input from people in your company Well, you know what the cool thing is about involving other people on your team is that they might call out

[00:25:57] Values that don't readily come to mind just because you're living in them all the time like it when I say what are you known for? My team would be able to say blank right away. I'm like, oh, that's how you guys see me

[00:26:10] And so it's nice to have that third party perspective. That's like, oh, yeah, you don't see that Nathan That's what you do all day long. Yeah, okay. I guess that's one of our values Let's throw it up on the board and then have a discussion about it

[00:26:23] So it is good to have that kind of input from people on your team because some of the values they easily see Love it man So at this point for the listeners we've got our story written out

[00:26:37] Page two is we've got our purpose and then underneath that we've got Our values with maybe some defining like some definitions behind them that define like who we are And what we want to be known for at that point you've got a strong foundation

[00:26:51] Right documented. It's in your owner's manual, right? It's gotta be documented Can I say something really quick? For sure It was one thing us to find the values the second part of that that you said was related to definitions

[00:27:04] It became much more powerful once we defined the words and we had a standard definition And we tried to make it as easy to remember as possible just like a single sentence So if I can give an example

[00:27:18] Professionalism do what we say what we're going to do when we say we're going to do it Right, so well, am I getting that one mixed up with another one? But nonetheless you get the idea Correct

[00:27:28] So we wanted it such that when if a stranger came into our clinic And picked anybody at random and said what are the values of your company? They'd be able to rattle off professionalism accountability growth and empathy

[00:27:41] They should know them by heart. Well, what do you mean by professionalism? And they'd say do what you say that you're going to do when you say you're going to do it And what about accountability blankety blank growth blankety blank, right?

[00:27:52] So that took our culture just another notch up is when people both knew the values and knew their definitions so that they were clear on what we were talking And that that would create a little bit broader conversation

[00:28:06] I mean people might want to stew in the values that you decide upon before you come back next time Decide what the definitions are But I think that was a valuable experience for us for sure and To me as I grow and evolve as a person

[00:28:21] And I'm getting involved in new things and doing the coaching thing and it's like I continue to find deeper and deeper appreciations for purpose and values. It's like it's It continues to show up Over and over and over right so

[00:28:36] Especially recruiting if you're hiring recruiting hiring all of its sales Negotiations, it's all there and what I've also found Nathan is As my company has grown I have spent more and more time on my purpose and values. I've spent more time and focus on it like

[00:28:57] We talk about values every week in our meetings at least every single week And like I'm continuously redefining not necessarily redefining but digging digging more to get more clarity on like who we are And what we want to be known for and that's the CEO's job

[00:29:14] That's their job Right your job one of the if there's three things that you do one of them is definitely culture Like that's your job That you are the tip of the spear there and you're the very tip like so like it's really really important

[00:29:27] Got a few other things I want to share about purpose and values I have made the mistake So let me back up The game is If you want to separate yourself from your competition if you want to be

[00:29:43] A beacon of light in your community if you want to practice that attracts patients referrals Employees if you want everything you want you want freedom and more money focus less on What you do and focus more on who you are focus more on

[00:30:00] Who your company is focus more on your culture? And that will be the thing that separates you that creates your identity, right? And there's nobody in the world who's going to be better at your identity than you

[00:30:13] Nobody nobody in the world. So you instantly create a niche that nobody can replicate So the clearer you can get on your identity the more The more you're going to stand out, right?

[00:30:24] So if you have three pt clinics in a row, it's going to be like clinic number ones Oh, we do dry needling and massage clinic number two is like yeah, we do massage too, but it's better than their massage Right, and we also do dry needling

[00:30:37] Sometimes we do better. Yeah, and it's clinic number three is like We're a group of leaders and we're committed to helping people rise above It's like wow. Oh, that's different Wow Tell me more about that. You know what I mean? Tell me more about that

[00:30:53] So the other two has just commoditized themselves Exactly exactly. So focus more on who you are instead of what you do and when I say Focus on who you are. I don't mean from nine to five

[00:31:06] I mean at home on the weekends with your kids with your spouse at church Everywhere you're living your purpose everywhere And the degree in which you can live that and align with that very very good

[00:31:21] Like at a level that most people can't that will be the thing that drives success in your business Decisions get more clear more quick. You stand out more you hire more people your marketing improves everything improves

[00:31:33] When you get clear on who you are as a company what your identity is and you live it like unapologetically So big big point there that was a huge win for me And it was a point in my business career in which things really pivoted

[00:31:47] Was reading business books never touched a business book for about 10 years business ownership And then decided to I don't know how I came across good to great first business book I read Blown away by the first sense

[00:32:00] Good is the enemy of great. Right. I read that and I was like Mind blown. Yes, that's me. I need more of this and I need to do better, right So I was ready to go and that definitely changed my trajectory

[00:32:15] Implemented a lot of things that I read about improved my life That also led me to read some south health books that was influential Because tell me the line at which you leave everything at the door and once you cross into your clinic

[00:32:27] I mean, do you really drop everything that's going on in your personal life? Forget everything and then walk no threshold and you're like, I'm a different person now You shouldn't and you shouldn't expect that out of your team

[00:32:38] They bring their lives with them into the clinic and that's okay As long as they're valued aligned In their actions, but I mean there's going to be ups and downs or you're going to be emotional things that you bring in across the

[00:32:51] I mean doesn't just get wiped away clean Same thing can be said for what you're learning your attitude your capabilities your ability what you're talking about who you are Doesn't stop at the door. So you need to improve that like you said

[00:33:04] Not just during work hours, but throughout your life Yeah, not just when it's convenient either Yeah Even when it's hard even when like you want to grow a business Get crazy about your purpose and values and your identity and live it

[00:33:19] Live it hard live it like it's the most important thing And people will be blown away by you people will want to work with you right Recruiting I mean is a topic that everybody in our program is hiring therapists

[00:33:33] There's not a single person in our program who has a recruiting problem at this point How many times have you heard well therapists all these new grads these days? They just want a bunch of money and they don't want to work hard

[00:33:44] It's like no, you don't know what your culture is You know what I mean like you don't know your purpose and values and you haven't articulated it You don't have a vision. You don't have a compelling story. People don't want to follow you

[00:33:58] Right all those problems are mitigated by culture work. Yeah getting clear on exactly what you're selling Getting clear what you're selling right? It's like I mean Listen, I'm learning. I got a nugget from you because earlier you said

[00:34:13] People tell you how they perceive you and that's eye-opening to you I had the same experience recently About how I'm perceived and what I'm learning is people perceive me as

[00:34:22] Somebody with a lot of energy and somebody that just goes all the time and I was like, oh, well, that's super Like thank you. Like that's super helpful And so like I'm very clear that not everybody wants to listen to what I have to say

[00:34:35] And I'm okay with that. I'm not talking to you You know what I feel like I love you and I wish you nothing but best but like I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to my people, you know what I mean?

[00:34:48] And when I can step into that place of like really speaking to my people like I know who I am and I know what I stand for I know what my story is I know what my values are and I speak it boldly and

[00:34:58] Unapologetically the people who are right for me come are running They come out the woodworks, right employees referrals everybody. So It's a topic that I'm really passionate about. That's why I go on those little tangents

[00:35:10] But all that to say you could probably make a little money without some purpose and values, but you can't grow a business It's hard to expand. Yeah, really hard. Really hard to create Yeah, that's true

[00:35:23] It's like the john. I think it's a john maxwell quote and I don't want to misappropriate brunette brown shares in daring greatly Is uh culture eats strategy for breakfast. Yeah Culture trumps it love it. Love it man at that point. I feel like What a foundation

[00:35:42] Beautiful something that you could share with your team something that actually means something Something that will allow them to get connected To like the heartbeat of you so that it's not just about another unit or another visit or another 40 hours of work and

[00:35:59] It's about something bigger and that will be the thing that Keeps them there. That'll be the thing that's like man. I will run through a wall for nathan shields I love that guy. I just believe in him man. He's inspiring

[00:36:11] So you have your own on his manual now. This is my challenge to you chapter one Don't skip this And if you have this pull it back out If you've done this even done this in a while like pull it back out like redefine it

[00:36:24] Maybe you haven't fully committed to a few of them. Maybe you knew your team hasn't fully committed to Some of the values maybe they need to be revisited. Maybe some of them are no longer applicable

[00:36:33] Maybe you knew to change them, but I would challenge you to really really Prioritize this get clear on what this is and plug this into your business. You I promise you you will not regret it

[00:36:43] Yeah, it's worth once you have them and if you do have them is worth revisiting and say Are we living up to these like if you feel like your purpose is pretty clear according to what we laid out It's a wise statement

[00:36:55] Just like simon cynic would have described and you feel like you have some values Okay, now are we living up to these values and how could we improve them? That's worth an annual exercise Right. How can we bring this to our families? How can we bring this to

[00:37:11] Our teams families like the tech the other ot and the other clinic like how can we help her bring this to their family? Like let's go big with it like focus on that. It's important

[00:37:22] All right, cool. Man. Do you want to give a little bit of a snapshot of what we might be talking about next chapter? Yeah, yeah, so next week We're going to be talking about I promise we're going to talk about business stuff

[00:37:36] We're going to be talking about a little bit. We're going to touch on time and attention Mastery we're going to talk about some habits that you need to develop in your work routine as a CEO

[00:37:44] Some time management some time management pieces. So after that we're going to start talking about some financials Mm-hmm, right and then we're going to go get into marketing sales front desk Practice management recruiting you do all kinds of fun stuff. Nice. I'm looking forward to it, bro Yep

[00:38:00] Yeah, and if you want to reach out to either one of us questions about this episode or others Nathan at ptoclub.com at them at ptoclub.com or check out the website ptoclub.com to see what we're offering You'll find the podcasts there

[00:38:12] You'll find a little snapshot of what we're doing as far as coaching and you can book a call with us To talk about your business as well. So feel free to reach out to us or

[00:38:24] Send us a or check out our website. We also have a facebook group. Don't forget the facebook group Sign up for that at physical therapy owners club. All right. Thanks for your time, man

[00:38:33] Thanks, brother. Appreciate it man. Great place to start. Yep. Yep. I'll be in touch until next time Sounds good. See you man Thanks for joining us today in the physical therapy owners club the resource for stability and freedom in your pt practice

[00:38:50] Reach out and join the network today Subscribe to our podcast get links to social media and access all of our episodes with show notes at ptoclub.com