Everything I Know About Business I Learned Racing Bicycles

[00:00:05] Welcome to the Aaron LeBauer Show. This is the number one show for passionate physical therapy and healthcare entrepreneurs looking to level up their income and impact on the world. If that's you, then you're in the right place. So sit back, chill out, and let's get into the show.

[00:00:21] Hey what's up it's Aaron. Today I'm the guest and the host. We're gonna do something a little different or maybe it's the same, you never know. But what we're gonna talk about today is about how everything I learned about business

[00:00:39] I learned from racing bicycles. Maybe you didn't know that I used to race bicycles and actually had a dream to be a professional cyclist and race in the Tour de France. Did I really think I was gonna race in the Tour de France?

[00:00:53] I couldn't tell you that, but I knew I wanted to win bike races and I knew that racing a bike, riding a bike, gave me a feeling that I didn't get from anywhere else. So there's a couple interesting things about this. I've

[00:01:09] spoken to this about a few people lately, especially my brother who wants me to do a hundred mile gravel ride with him next year. I've grown up racing bikes and you may not know this about me, but bicycle racing got me into my

[00:01:24] healthcare career. I was on a guest on a podcast yesterday. I was like Aaron how'd you get into physical therapy? Well it all started with massage therapy. Well how'd I get into massage? Well it all started with me

[00:01:35] racing bikes. So when I was younger my brother, one of his tutors was a semi-pro cyclist. He actually went to the Olympic trials but had injured his knee and didn't really get selected for the Olympic event. But he was a big

[00:01:54] influence on my brother. My brother Dave. He's younger than me. He's like what 18 months younger than me? Maybe 20 months younger than me? So my brother Dave started racing bikes and we did some rides together. I worked at the bike

[00:02:07] shop but I really couldn't let my brother be better at something than me so I wanted to start racing bikes. I started in high school. When I got to college there was a Duke cycling team or club and I joined and raced

[00:02:22] bikes with my brother during the summer and did rides with my brother and a bunch of guys that were older than me. 30 years old. I don't know at that time I was like God you guys are ancient. But how did it get me into massage therapy? Well that

[00:02:36] summer I'd done a lot of training, a lot of riding and my legs hurt. I said to my mom, mom my just legs hurt every time I go ride it just doesn't feel good. I was

[00:02:45] probably over training a little bit but she suggested hey why don't you maybe you should get a massage. Why don't we get you a massage? So she got me a massage with someone locally who did sports massage and she worked on me and my legs

[00:03:00] never felt better. So that was one of the like big aha moments I had. Like wow my body feels so much better now that I had a massage. And then one of my other mentors racing over the next few years was big into getting massage after races.

[00:03:13] There was always generally someone there doing leg massages after races for like five bucks or something like that. So I'd get a couple he's like Aaron you need to get one. You need to spend your money on this. This is what's gonna help

[00:03:26] you. You know so that got me into it. So I started racing bicycles and I moved I moved to let's see when you go to Duke you're either gonna be a lawyer, a doctor right? And you're going to the physician or a like management consultant. Well

[00:03:45] clearly I wasn't gonna get through organic chemistry because I quit the after the first day. So I didn't want to do four hours of homework at night and I didn't know what I wanted to do. But I knew I wanted to ride bikes and so

[00:03:59] racing bikes was one of the things I wanted to do. So I moved out to California where bike racing in the US was like top-notch. And so if you don't know anything about bike racing when you ride road bikes we're talking about

[00:04:10] criteriums anywhere from 20 to you know 50 mile criteriums which are loops of a half a mile to a mile and a half or road races which are anywhere from 50 to 150 miles. As circuit races are more like a two to eight mile loop that you do over

[00:04:30] and over again. Those are the kind that's kind of bicycle racing I did not a lot of mountain biking and a little bit of track riding. But California is where you should be. I could take you mean three hours to go through the whole thing but I

[00:04:44] moved out there because I spent a summer in Berkeley loved it. I was like I got to go to California get out of here. So I graduated college and went to California tried to find a job did all a bunch of odd things ended up becoming a

[00:04:55] bike messenger. I couldn't afford to race bikes. I couldn't afford it because you had to pay for your hotel you had to pay for your entry fee and I was making like ten bucks an hour for 25 hours a week working at a restaurant and

[00:05:11] wasn't enough money. It was expensive to live out there. I could ride but I couldn't really do that and I ended up becoming a bike messenger. Well because I loved to ride and I made money riding bikes but I couldn't race. I couldn't

[00:05:26] push myself. I couldn't be competitive like I am competitive. I don't know about you but I'm fiercely competitive. Like I will prove you wrong and that's a big reason why I'm here is because you tell me I can't do something I'm gonna go out

[00:05:40] there and prove you wrong because I'm gonna beat you. I don't know where I get that from but I'm gonna go beat you no matter what it is. I mean to my limits right like you want to do a push-press competition or a snatch or red snatch

[00:05:54] competition with a barbell like I'm not gonna push myself to try to beat you because I know my limitations there but I'm gonna choose the movement that I can go as hard as I can and it wasn't soccer and it wasn't basketball when ball sports

[00:06:07] it's not overhead Olympic weightlifting I'm six foot three the barbells got to go a long way but riding a bike man I can get on there and I can just crush you at it and I can crush you at business and I can crush you at bikes

[00:06:22] and I can crush you in endurance not a staring contest you know I can crush you at a ADD contest but anyways let me get back on track so but I couldn't race

[00:06:36] bikes right I couldn't race I could ride and I knew I wanted to be I had gone to college to be a physician right I was pre-med I knew I wanted to work with

[00:06:49] people I wanted to work with my hands I wanted to help people heal my dad and my uncles my grandfather hit my grandfather's brother were all physicians they were all healers I knew that was in there somewhere and I had an

[00:06:59] aha moment one day and you know my mom had helped me she was like you should you know maybe you should look into doing careers a massage therapist I was like mom that's not it but I also one of my yoga classes in college we got

[00:07:12] introduced to doing massage and like partner massage and relaxation and that kind of thing but I did have this aha moment I had looked into I was like well you know what if I become a massage therapist I can work four hours a day I

[00:07:26] could see four patients a day make 35 to 85 dollars an hour depending on whether I work for myself or someone else and I'll have time to race my bikes and I have enough money to afford to live in San Francisco and pay for the bike racing

[00:07:38] so I went to massage therapy school it cost me $9,000 is the best $9,000 I've ever spent I spent $900 on my massage table so here's a lesson right away is that I invested in myself $9,000 I knew that I was gonna get that money back and

[00:07:56] I bought a massage tables and $900 massage table it was like that cream of the crop it had been to that it was a night it was built hand-built for the 1996 Olympics and then it was refurbished so I actually got a deal on it but guess

[00:08:09] what that $900 has seen thousands of body work massage and bodywork sessions and PT sessions and it's still being used in our clinic today I've put new legs on it and you know little rubber feet it's not in perfect condition but

[00:08:24] it's still like the most comfortable best massage table we have it's an investment I made it was a stretch at the time but it's still here and I not made that investment I got a massage school I wouldn't be talking to you so

[00:08:38] when I went to massage school we did two semesters of school each semester one was a Western modalities the other was Eastern modalities if you don't know what Eastern modalities is more like shiatsu trigger point therapy like we

[00:08:55] learned meridians and mindfulness and that so in each semester we did a business class guess what I did not get a business class at Elon's DBT program we got a class in a little bit insurance and a little bit of building

[00:09:12] out a three thousand five thousand square foot facility for $250,000 loan that was not a business class that was a joke we didn't actually learn how to make money as physical therapists but I when I massage school I learned how to

[00:09:25] make money as a massage therapist that's lesson number one invested to learn how to make money to free up my time to do something different okay so but let's talk about racing bikes I could race bikes right and so if

[00:09:43] you race bikes there's categories it's five four three two one pro and then there's pro and then there's division three pro division two division one and then there's the guys that go to the Tour de France and then there's the guys

[00:09:56] that win like Lance Armstrong so if you don't know much about it you know maybe you played college basketball but did you ever play with Michael Jordan doubt it if you're listening and you played with the greatest of all time Michael

[00:10:11] Jordan the goat because LeBron James is not the goat it's Michael let me know I don't know do you get on a court with him ever at Duke I got pretty good at playing basketball and I never played on the there was like one court that was

[00:10:27] like the guys that were like the guys that played on the the main team and their friends who were good or the guys that had played a few years back and they'd come they play like you had to be like collegiate level to play on that

[00:10:39] court you know because that's where all the guys that graduated would come play and then there was another court over and I could play on that court I could hold my own I couldn't score at will I couldn't like defend like someone really

[00:10:53] well but I could hold my own and be a team player and I could and I could occasionally get a basket in but I couldn't get free to shoot a three pointer and make it no I wasn't that good okay in bicycle racing I was able to

[00:11:09] do I got to the level of racing and pro races in Europe and pro races in the United States did I belong in the race yeah I did because I deserved it was I

[00:11:19] competitive no I wasn't that good you know but I worked my ass to get there I worked hard to get there okay so some of the things that I've learned is you you've got to be around people that are better than you and you have to be

[00:11:36] persistent and success isn't winning its consistency so let me go through some of these things so like I said like this is about me because I know me I don't know you but if I can relate these stories to you in a way that was connect

[00:11:53] you to what is it that you can use in your past to help you succeed in your business right now because you may just be looking at your business right now as I'm a physical therapist and I need to have a business to get out of the job

[00:12:06] but I can't get patients to come in or I'm struggling to make money or hey even though I'm making $8,000 a month for the last three months I don't feel successful because nothing I'm trying is working okay guess what I started racing bikes

[00:12:23] when I was 18 I it took me when I was in college I I was able to go from a category 5 to a 4 in a year and then from a 4 to a 3 and I stayed a category

[00:12:36] 3 through college I got out of college and I couldn't really race for the first year out of college I spent in Israel because you know I had like a heart arrhythmia and right at my junior year in college it's a story for another day

[00:12:50] so I stopped racing bikes for a couple years and instead going to Europe to race bikes I said well I'm gonna go to Israel and do a service learning project I came back and I was healthy and I was like I want to ride bikes again and

[00:13:01] that's why I went to San Francisco I couldn't race I was able to ride I became a messenger I finally became a massage therapist I could start racing bikes again that took five years okay then I started racing as category 3 and

[00:13:14] I was pretty good but not great I wouldn't win everything but I was really strong and determined and I trained and I trained myself and I went on group rides and I rode with guys that were better than me I did these weekly or

[00:13:27] bi-weekly kind of training criteriums and the local pro guys would show up there are guys that you know we're not as good as me would show up and guys on my team and we pushed each other right and then I got to a point where I

[00:13:41] thought it was good enough I went to Belgium and I raced over there and I was in over my head racing bikes in Belgium I went there as a category 3 everyone told me Aaron you're not going to don't expect to finish your first race or any

[00:13:57] races at all I finished my third race there and actually made some money which is amazing and then I didn't finish the next two races and I had a rule that if I had to finish at least half the race in order to get a hamburger at the

[00:14:13] hamburger stand but but I was in there racing these guys grow up it's like baseball in America or basketball here like over there bicycle racing is the number one sport and then there's football or soccer right in Belgium like

[00:14:32] Belgium is like bicycle racing heartland like these guys are so fast you're like that guy doesn't look fast and you just crush you so I spent two and a half months over there doing that and I the one of the lessons is you have to get

[00:14:46] out of your comfort zone in order to grow if you don't get out of your comfort zone you will never grow so what did I do at the time there the internet this was night this is 2000 the internet was there but it wasn't like it is today

[00:15:00] I had to I made friends with the pro I was a massage therapist contracted with the Jelly Belly team to work with them for a couple of the pro races in Northern California I said I'll work with you you just pay for my entry fee

[00:15:15] so I did the category 2 race and I worked with these guys I did the category 3 category 3 race I did the category 3 race and then and then worked with them and one of the guys was friendly enough and asked like hey I want to go to Europe

[00:15:29] I want to get better and he said call this guy Staff Boone but you can't talk to staff you have to talk to his son Eve and you got to call him late at night

[00:15:38] here's the phone number and I did just there was not an internet email it was I had to pick up the phone and call this guy and talk to him he's like well how

[00:15:48] old are you I'm like I'm 26 he's like well you're a little too old I'm like no I'm not he's like why do you want to come here is like because I want to be a pro

[00:15:55] I want to race bikes in Europe I mean they stood to make money from me you know because I paid rent for them and they took us to races but I got completely out of my comfort zone to go do something brand new I had no idea

[00:16:08] what it was gonna be like I got on I got a did I get a one-way ticket I think I probably got a I think I got a student ticket or some kind of like young travelers ticket for you know $800 maybe it was $1,500 I have no idea

[00:16:25] I took off from San Francisco and I flew into like New York City and then we flew to I got a flute it like London and then I landed in Ghent something like that or

[00:16:39] maybe it was to Paris and then Ghent I don't know but I did just call them from a payphone when I landed and I didn't have I didn't have Belgian francs

[00:16:47] I had a card I had to figure out how to do that and I call him but because I was traveling with a bicycle in a bag and it actually had the Motorola team logo

[00:16:59] on it because I got it secondhand I got so much respect and help from everyone there but I still didn't speak the language and I'd call him be like hey I'm finally here and they rolled up in the Peugeot put my stuff in the trunk

[00:17:10] took me in like here's where you're staying you know I don't think I'd paid him ahead of time like I'd sent a check overseas ahead of time for the rent it was crazy okay but it was something I really wanted let me ask you this are

[00:17:24] you doing something like that right now have you done something like that before in your life are there any experiences that you've had so far in your life that you can pull from to help you in your business because I know this that

[00:17:41] success in business doesn't come overnight it doesn't come just because you buy a course it doesn't come just because you get a coach it comes because you do the work it comes because you put in the work and you put in the time

[00:17:52] and effort the time under tension to get shit done it comes because you trust yourself that you know that you're gonna be okay at the end of the journey and you're not gonna let yourself down no matter what right but if you don't have

[00:18:06] that trust you don't have that ability to go with your gut and just see what happens like you're never gonna reach the level of success that you actually want you should if you don't have the ability to get uncomfortable just go and

[00:18:20] get a job doing home health make some money pay off your loans and then find some job that you love right you have to be persistent and you've got to be around people that are better than you so what I do I went there and I'm riding

[00:18:35] with these guys that are in the top class and like Great Britain New Zealand Australia these guys are like in pro races at home like we weren't pros we weren't contracted but over in Europe you're either contracted or not

[00:18:53] contracted and we were in the non-contracted races these guys were so much better than me like the way that they rode the way that they talked I mean not just the way that I couldn't understand a lot of their English but the

[00:19:07] way they talked about racing their mindset around what they ate how they took care of themselves it just all rubbed off like I was where I needed to be right remember I was there as a category 3 like I was probably there a

[00:19:18] year too early but I was there at the year at the right time and I came back from that trip and I went to a three-week race in the United States for a category 3 and I was one of the top 10 guys that dominated did I win every race

[00:19:31] no but I was definitely one of the strongest and my racing style is a little different I don't sprint at the end and when you're in category 3 is a lot of races and in sprints guys are strong enough to chase you down but they won't

[00:19:44] attack you did I win some races yeah I totally did I came back I was flying upgraded category 2 but guess what I started racing as a category 2 that next year and I was like holy shit like what am I in so when you're a category 2 in

[00:20:00] the United States it's most at 80 90% of the races are pro ones and twos and you're racing with the pros and I knew I needed a coach I knew I could get better if I had a coach I just couldn't find the right one and I eventually did and

[00:20:12] guess what it took me how many years it take me to go from 3 to 2 it took me like 6 or 7 years once I became a category 2 and I got a coach it took me a little

[00:20:23] over a year to become a category 1 okay I got a coach and it's what do we do he put me on a training regimen so I knew exactly how to train every day and I

[00:20:33] took Mondays and Fridays off the bike to rest I had a winter workout like a workout program over the winter to develop strength and stability in places that I needed it if I look back now as a physical therapist knowing what I know I

[00:20:47] would do things differently in the winter but at the time like this is the this was it that my coach guess what my coach was a pro I had a Ashley Powell he

[00:20:58] was a pro he was a self-funded pro back when you could be a pro on a team of one like this is the guy he was independent pro like he had beat me in races when I

[00:21:08] was a few years before when I was younger and Ashley was up there he won some really big races in the US and I was like dude I need a I need a coach

[00:21:16] and we talked every week he gave me a plan did I need to talk to him every week no but we did a but I did he gave me a plan we talked strategy mostly how

[00:21:26] are you feeling okay here's what we're gonna do this week here's what we're gonna adjust your plan this week and within within a year and a half it was like 18 months or so I was able to upgrade category 1 did I upgrade to

[00:21:38] category 1 by winning every race no I didn't this is one of my things that success isn't winning one other thing is success is consistency you don't have to win everything everything you don't have to get everything perfect you just have

[00:21:54] to be consistent and do it so I was able to get up there and move up so to go from three to two you have to get like I don't know 20 points and point start you

[00:22:07] know like first place through seventh and it's like seven five four three two one something like that maybe it's five point five places for bigger events it goes down to ten when you're in category 2 now I'm competing with pros and I get

[00:22:22] get 30 points to move from two to one the difference between one and pro is someone actually signs a contract with you and pays you some dollars there's not really a minimum I think the minimum is like 500 bucks or something like that or

[00:22:33] at least it was at the time I was still you know as a bike messenger making more than my friends making more than my coach when I was a bike messenger riding bikes and he did racing but I wanted to race not work as a bike messenger

[00:22:44] success isn't winning its consistency consistency getting out there every day riding and training no matter whether it's raining it's cold I mean 80 80 percent of the days that I trained in San Francisco it was anywhere between 45

[00:23:00] and 55 degrees and it was wet probably 80 days 80% of the days that I trained it was wet at some point in the ride whether it was wet in my neighborhood in the mission or over in the marina on the way to the bridge and then it would be

[00:23:18] sunny in Marin or it was sunny in San Francisco and get 100 miles up into Marin and it started raining on you on the way home its consistency and getting out there and doing things that you don't want to do because you have a goal

[00:23:32] are you doing things that you don't want to do right now or you avoiding the discomfort do you have a goal in mind maybe your goals not strong enough if you're not willing to do the hard shit maybe you just don't have a good goal

[00:23:47] you have a clear goal an idea a vision of what you want for yourself your business your life and your career I had a very clear vision and it's something that got me to I wouldn't at

[00:23:58] this time I wasn't waking up early I would wake up at 9 I go ride from 10 to 2 I come home and eat lunch take a shower go do massage from 4 to 9 p.m. come home

[00:24:10] and eat dinner and then in the winter I go work out at 10 p.m. right consistency doing the things that you don't want to do getting uncomfortable like I don't go ride when it's 45 degrees and raining right now but I did

[00:24:28] I did when I was training I wanted to be a pro that's what I want you to understand is that you've got to pull from these places like but why did I do that

[00:24:41] guess you know why when I was in Belgium staff Boone's son Eve told me I was too young I was too old he said you're too old you're 26 what are you doing over here

[00:24:50] why are you here well guess what Eve didn't make it as a pro either and he was a sore bitter scarcity mindset man at that time I mean I didn't know how to call him that at the time I was like don't tell me that I'm too old

[00:25:06] 20 26 or 27 well guess what after I was a category 1 I was the best person my team I spent a year helping my teammates upgrade from category 2 to category 1 I I sacrificed my own results for my teammates results that didn't do me any

[00:25:25] favors you know why because the next year when when our team moved from an amateur team to a pro team we had so we had sponsors I'd spent like a lot of my time working as a temp and doing whatever building our team and getting

[00:25:44] sponsorships like I got $20,000 worth of sponsorships for our team to race bikes free bikes free discounted equipment free uniforms and clothing I had to have like I'd have five sets of everything because I couldn't do my laundry every

[00:25:58] day at least five I passed it off to these other guys we're not you know when I upgraded category 1 because I was like I just don't have time I need to train

[00:26:07] and to work and eat rest and eat sleep and they did it but guess what they took our sponsor that I landed and got the sponsor to give us more money and help us

[00:26:18] turn into a pro team guess what I didn't get onto the pro team and they didn't tell me they didn't tell me in October November that Aaron we're not bringing you on the pro team like you should go find another team they just kind of led

[00:26:32] me on I went to training camp with them I did everything and by the time January comes around they're like Aaron you're not on the pro team and I'm like what like I've been to training camps and everything with you guys and they're

[00:26:42] like well and even the owner of the main sponsors like Aaron when you upgrade to category one we'll get you on the pro team like you don't know I've been a category one for a while I'd sacrificed my results for my teammates to help

[00:26:53] them upgrade and these guys are my friends and they're doing what's best for them right but they weren't like why isn't I don't know they weren't like why isn't Aaron on the pro team we're not moving onto the pro team unless

[00:27:04] Aaron comes maybe they assumed I was gonna be on there the team brought in three other guys who were older than me but they had been pros before and the thing is is when you're a division 3 pro team 60 or 70 percent of your riders

[00:27:17] have to be under the age of 26 because it's a developmental pro team and so in order to get a pro team at that level you have to have most of the guys under the age of 26 I was 28 haha right they brought in three guys who had already

[00:27:34] been on pro teams their stab one guy was established like US national criterion champion two other guys were great but guess what happened by March that year one of the guys had tested positive for like steroids it tested

[00:27:47] positive the year before but they found out until he got suspended and left the team in March in the summer the guy who had been a national champion was such an asshole he left the team and then there was the one guy left and at none

[00:27:59] of those times did they say hey Aaron now we have room for you on the team but guess what I did the year before I was nice I wanted my teammates to upgrade and

[00:28:07] I'm trying to be a team player but I sacrificed a lot of my own results for them and in business we're at war right you're like I can be friends with you know the owner of the business down the street guess what I still have a family

[00:28:21] to feed I have people I that depend on me for their income like I can't just be nice in business I can't just sit around and let people come into my group to cash PT nation who are also coaches and poach my clients I've spent way too much

[00:28:36] time building that thing like you don't come in there and start poaching clients and you don't come post up in front of my business physical therapy and try to post our clients like poach our clients you would never do that so and I'm not

[00:28:52] gonna let you but there was a time in business where I was a little bit like well I don't want to be mean to people I don't want to be I don't be rude but

[00:29:03] what I've realized is people don't know what they're doing and see you at a certain point you do have to look out for yourself you have to you can be nice and abundant at the same time you have to look out for yourself when I was

[00:29:18] racing bikes that last year's like I want to have fun and look out for my teammates but guess what I sacrifice too many of my results I didn't have the results that the team would look at me like aaron like dang you just won some

[00:29:30] of those races you just did really great like no I was trying to leave my teammates out to help them so they could get points an upgrade and we could you know all be in the same national level events because as a category one there's

[00:29:41] event I was going to my teammates couldn't go to okay so I think let's let's look at this thing about like yes I've got the stories and everything but I want you to understand like business is war you gotta go to war with your

[00:29:56] business not with your business with the other people like there's competition and there's plenty of people there's plenty of people out there who need our help this is also not like a hobby your business is your job your livelihood

[00:30:10] you gotta go in and look out for yourself and your team before we talk about like our competition that's one of the great reasons why coming to PT biz con every year in the spring is awesome because how many of you are hanging out

[00:30:23] with other cash PT practice owners in your town there may not be any but if there are like you hanging out with other clinic owners in town know because they've used competition I'm not hanging out with the owners of pretty

[00:30:35] much every PT clinic here in Greensboro there's one person that I hang out with John Davidson you know and GSO fit and he has a physical therapy practice and we're good friends but until John moved to town I can even told me he's like

[00:30:52] Aaron I was scared did you know come talk to you and introduce yourself because you would view me as competition it just it didn't happen but that's why going to someone like PT biz con it's great because or being in our platinum

[00:31:05] mastermind we can hang out and work with other people who do what we're doing and not feel that kind of like competition or regret for sharing information right and you just got to know that in your personal relationships

[00:31:19] you can absolutely be nice but in your business relationships you need to be a little bit cutthroat and I learned this the hard way from multiple places and I learned from racing bikes right okay there's a couple other things here that

[00:31:36] let's talk about like I've talked about age ages a number 26 is not too old 48 I just turned 48 yesterday 48 not too old right new I want you to know if you're a new grad or a student you're listening to this you can absolutely start a

[00:31:53] business right out of school I've helped I don't know hundreds of new grads launch cash practices right out of school I verified over 35 of them and then you know I know there's thousands of people that listen or been inspired

[00:32:07] or whatever I mean you know I can tell you Ben Baggy is one of the ones I've worked with the closest but also Derek Nielsen Tyler Shelton you know these guys are all making six and seven figures a year and they pretty much

[00:32:20] started out of PT school success comes at any age because there's also people that work for 20 years for someone else and finally we're like I got to start my own business and then they go and start their own business and then they

[00:32:33] you know go and make six and seven figures you can do it in any age you don't let your age define you don't let your age say oh well we didn't learn I didn't learn tick-tock growing up so I'm not gonna use tick-tock if you

[00:32:46] learned neuroanatomy you can go learn any social media you just gotta have the willingness to do it like my dad he's 85 he's probably still don't know how to turn on the VCR even though we don't have it anymore he just doesn't know but

[00:33:01] he could but you know what he used to do he used to put catheters in people's hearts talk about like like you got to be careful you got to know what you're doing he used to do cardiac catheterizations but yet he couldn't run

[00:33:14] the VCR he didn't want to run the VCR if he wants to do something he'll learn it if it's interesting to him he'll learn everything about it okay age isn't gonna thing that's going to define us or define you how long you've

[00:33:28] been in this field whether you've been doing it for 10 years or you just got started it's not going to define your success in business what defines your success in business is your willingness to make it work the consistency who you

[00:33:40] put yourself around how persistent you are and whether you want to get out of your comfort zone because you probably have a really comfortable job you could go back to it just might suck another one things I want to share with you is

[00:33:52] it time off is just as important as time under tension so I learned this racing bikes I had to I took more time off when I started working with a coach but I I worked harder in the time when it was under tension when my training days were

[00:34:04] harder more focused by time off the bike my time off during the week was more focused now as a business owner like entrepreneurship it's not take time off from the business it's a work-life mix but you gotta understand like you gotta

[00:34:20] get out and take some time off from vacation like I love what I do and even yesterday my birthday I went to work guess what Greg Todd sent me a message he's he's like happy birthday go work hard because you know that's what we

[00:34:31] love to do and it is it is what I love to do but I also in pre pandemic in 2019 I spent 81 days out of town with my family how can I do that it's because

[00:34:47] I've set up my business in a way that allows me to do that okay so you need to be able to set up your business that allows you to do that if you just have

[00:34:57] a job because it's just you and your cash back to center even if you're making six figures you just have a job if you go out of town and you don't make any money when you're out of town if if you have an online course or you have

[00:35:08] team members providing services in your clinic that generates money while you're not working when you've if you separate yourself from trading time for money then you have a business and you can take the time off to get to the next level

[00:35:24] okay you must be willing to invest and go into debt like who says you have to pay off all your student loans as fast as possible whoever's saying that you need to stop listening to them if you want to have a successful business if

[00:35:38] you want to make hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars of physical therapists you need to stop focusing on your debt and start focusing on leveraging investments and the difference is we've talked about this

[00:35:49] plenty debt is let me buy a BMW and pay $400 a month or whatever it costs now to lease it or to get a loan for something that you know like isn't gonna add value to your bank account it's gonna take from your bank account it's gonna go down

[00:36:06] in value but you must be willing to invest in the travel the coaching the entry fees like what are the entry fees in racing for business the entry fees are like paying for click funnels and Sam cart and PT email engine and proof

[00:36:24] and this and that and this and that like you have to be willing to invest in yourself in business to go into the course so are you gonna go to dry needling one weekend pay $1,500 but then go hey you know what I would never paid

[00:36:38] $1,500 to learn the step-by-step strategy to make six figures in a cash practice the problem is you don't want to make six figures in a cash practice you don't actually want to be in business you like the idea or you don't

[00:36:53] think that you'd be successful and you're scared right because if you just spent that $1,500 on the iPhone 13 Pro or the dry needling course but you're not gonna go spend it on growing your business because you can do it yourself

[00:37:06] you could learn dry needling yourself you absolutely can I had a classmate in school she didn't come to class she got A's on every test she just read the book

[00:37:17] she got A's and she got reprimanded for not being in class she's like I don't need to be in class to pass I was like I need to be in class to pass because I don't learn

[00:37:24] reading I learned doing and asking questions but you must be willing to invest and go into debt I went into like 45 $50,000 worth of debt racing bikes guess what I paid it off before I became a PT because it was worth it to me

[00:37:42] my biggest sponsors were Visa and MasterCard I put a lot of those travel expenses on credit cards okay I think the last one is you need to take care of your body and because taking care of your body and nutrition is key to your performance as

[00:37:59] a business owner you may remember seeing the post I put up yesterday on Instagram it's about me training with kettlebells so like right now I'm training to be a strong first kettlebell certified instructor it's been a goal of mine for

[00:38:13] about a year and a half but I know look I'm 6'3 I think like I've been swinging kettlebells for six years but you have to be really strong and kettlebells are a lot of strength and there's a lot of skill and there's a lot

[00:38:27] of technique so strength is one thing but the skill and technique is another so I'm taking care of my body my shoulders my neck feel better than they did when I was racing bikes so I'm working with a coach working with my

[00:38:38] physical therapist and working on and my nutrition my nutrition has been on point for about 10 years it's slid a lot during COVID because I just stay up at night need some popcorn or cookies because you know needed a little break

[00:38:52] from reality and my thing suffered for that I could tell if you focus on your on a goal so I would sit back to the goal 80d moment there if you focus back to the goal strong first kettlebell instructor by the time I'm 50 because

[00:39:10] after you after 50 when you're 51 you can do it with a 20 kilogram weight and I know that's I know that's possible for me the 24 kilogram weight that used to be an impossible goal right now it's not impossible well I can see it I just

[00:39:24] know it's coming down the road because you got to swing that thing overhead a hundred times in five minutes and so I'm working with a coach I'm working with the kettlebell coach Brett Jones he's awesome he's like the strong first like

[00:39:41] lead trainer he's great right I know I want to get a goal I want to get there faster I'm gonna go basically I'm not gonna buy can't buy my way to the top I

[00:39:52] can buy the knowledge in the training and the skills and work on it he knows I can get there before I'm 50 I'm just like I just want to get there before I age out of this weight right that's my that's my main goal I'll probably get

[00:40:07] there in the next year but why am I doing that because I know that when I can do that my body is at peak fitness it's I am stronger I move better than I did when I was racing bicycles because I was racing bicycles I wasn't training my

[00:40:19] whole body I wasn't training my core I wasn't doing yoga and I wasn't doing kettlebells I wasn't doing CrossFit I was doing like more traditional weight lifting leg presses quad extensions hamstring curls calf raises that was my

[00:40:35] winter strength training program and I would warm up with like a bar doing squats but God forbid I would ever go below parallel because that was dangerous for your knees right but that was also 20 years ago I also 20 years

[00:40:49] ago when I was racing we were sponsored by cliff bar and I had cliff bars coming out my ears and I would end every ride hungry even though I'd have one cliff bar an hour is 220 calories an hour so maybe I wasn't getting enough calories

[00:40:59] in per hour but those things were sweet when I trained about six or seven years ago to go climb Mount what's it called the tallest peak the east of the Mississippi I always forget the name of this oh there it is

[00:41:20] it's it's Mount Mitchell Mount Mitchell right so Greenville the top of Mount Mitchell was like a hundred and seven miles like flash 45 miles are all climbing it was the longest I ever spent on a bike I spent seven it took me 715

[00:41:35] minutes to do this ride I spent a lot of it by myself but guess what I was not hungry when I finished because I learned in training a few years ago that when

[00:41:45] we were doing the whole 30 is like how am I gonna ride bikes and do a whole 30 when I can't eat cliff bars and all these bars I had to make my own rice cakes and my own oatmeal bars and when I started eating nutrition on the bike I

[00:41:56] would finish and I wouldn't be hungry I'd actually be full and completely satisfied and I'd have extra food like wow I don't need to take all this no because I was eating real whole foods and so in riding bikes and racing bikes

[00:42:09] I learned looking back like my nutrition had I known now how do you know then what I know now like would have been even better would it have gotten me to the pro level no because I was still too old remember but I know that it would

[00:42:24] have helped me be at my peak even more but I just did I didn't have that information then we all didn't really because that was 2000 right but take right now I know that and so I'm not gonna you know diverge from that because

[00:42:40] if my body is in peak performance guess what I can show up at work feeling good I don't like I don't have to worry about my body hurting at work or my nutrition or my health suffering and keeping me from growing my business and going to

[00:42:55] that war we were talking about with our competition our war to help more people avoid expensive imaging and unnecessary surgery I know that it's not my body that's gonna keep me from doing that is my willingness to do it or my ability to

[00:43:08] say hey I want to go to work today because I love work I want to stay home and work on my scooters where I have something else I want to do like my choices keep me from going to work not my body yes there's some things out of

[00:43:20] my control like getting a getting a cold flu COVID or something like that haven't had COVID yet thank God but you know these some of these things aren't aren't in our control completely getting sick but what is in our control is the things

[00:43:34] I put in my mouth the exercise regimen that I've committed to like I'm working with Brett I pay him enough money a month to make me commit but it's not enough money that is gonna hurt my bank account but I'm gonna show up not

[00:43:50] because of the money but because of my commitment right I'm gonna commit having working with someone else helps me stay committed but I'm gonna show up every day part of my routine during the last year and a half 20 years is to get up at

[00:44:09] 530 and work out now it's cold and I go home and 11 when I get done with 12 and I get done with this recording I'm gonna go home and go work out because I'm committed to that taking care of your body and nutrition is key to performance

[00:44:20] in your business but guess what if you're a physical therapist or a health care provider you kind of walk the walk if you're talking the talk you can't just be like you know hey CrossFitters like you should come to my practice I'm

[00:44:32] great at CrossFit and you've never been to CrossFit or you don't look like you actually train doing something or you don't feel like you do something like I want to say like the physical look let me go backwards and say what you look like

[00:44:44] isn't really matter it's so don't take that out of context is that you don't create a feeling of confidence that you train and work out because you know what it's like because you're taking care of your body you have to be a leader an

[00:45:02] example of the actions you take every day if you want your patients to do the same you know what the trouble is I think a lot of us get stuck like overworking not enough time we don't make enough money you got to earn more I

[00:45:21] don't have time you know I'm gonna put my exercise and fitness on the backseat what just becomes a downward spiral and you know what like I get it but you got to make time for these things especially as a business owner and you may have to

[00:45:37] sacrifice them for a while but you can't let them go completely there may be times you're like I cannot absolutely do that like when COVID came through and I had to move PT BizCon from an in-person to a virtual event and then when it was

[00:45:49] done I had to make sure both my businesses in the clinic stayed alive like my fitness took a deep dive but I got back on it and it's been the thing that's helped me tremendously over the last 20 months stay focused because it's

[00:46:06] a great outlet but you can't let your fitness and nutrition go and you have to be an example to your patients and clients I think one of the lessons I've learned and I didn't learn this from racing bikes but I learned this from

[00:46:19] working with Jake who's the marketing Facebook sales guy that works with me that you may know Jake said people buy like they sell or actually they sell like they buy it's just like how are you gonna go sell a healthy fit lifestyle if

[00:46:35] you're not working on it yourself how are you gonna go sell physical therapy for $200 a visit if you wouldn't pay for it yourself you know I was a guest on a podcast yesterday with another person who's a nurse practitioner and he

[00:46:50] was talking about his primary care physician he goes to a direct primary care practice physician and actually he works in a DPC practice and guess what my physician is a DPC physician it actually cost me less to see him than my

[00:47:04] co-pay would be to see him so you have to like live up to what you have to live up to your own expectations that you want for your patients and your clients I hope that's making sense it's I don't talk about this very much and so the

[00:47:16] words may not come out exactly right but if you get what I'm saying I think you'll understand you know our fitness and nutrition is key to our performance in life and in our business in our health and our relationships and if you don't

[00:47:33] have the right balance it's not gonna be even but if you don't have the right mix or balance it's gonna be detrimental to your success as a business owner so hopefully you can see a little bit about you know how did I learn to become the

[00:47:48] business owner I am I did not have did not grow up with parents who are entrepreneurs I had to go out and find mentors and coaches and courses and mastermind programs to learn how to do this but I've been asked recently Aaron

[00:48:02] where'd this come from how'd you learn it well I spent 12 or 15 years racing bicycles I learned a ton out of that time racing bikes and you know there's a lot of other life experiences I have you may not even want to know about them

[00:48:17] it doesn't really matter but what I want you to know is that your life experiences are gonna shape you and you need to tap into what they are and what they told you and what they taught you in if you want to be successful but if

[00:48:30] you haven't had them and you can take anything from the life experiences I've had and adapt them it's gonna help you become even more successful you don't have to have gone through the same experiences I have for me to download

[00:48:42] that information those lessons to you if you just sit there and go trust hey Aaron had this Aaron did this you know other people not just Aaron other people had this experience other people have done this like why am I gonna wait to try to

[00:48:56] figure this out on my own let me just go do that now and guess what it's probably gonna work but if it doesn't work that doesn't mean it wasn't the right idea or the right strategy it just means it wasn't the right time the

[00:49:09] right idea for that time or the right strategy for you and that's okay it's just like saying physical therapy doesn't work just because you have one bad experience of physical therapy doesn't mean you failed physical therapy

[00:49:19] it means you need to see another physical therapist wouldn't you agree so one last thing let's do something fun if you love the podcast or guess what if anything on the podcast has ever helped you in your business or grow your PT business I

[00:49:33] would greatly appreciate you leave a five-star rating and review and as an ethical bribe because you know I want to give away some cool stuff one person who leaves a review between let's say now and the next episode in the next solo

[00:49:49] episode that I do is gonna win one of our 80% is good enough sweatshirts I don't know if you've seen them I'm actually not wearing one right now but it's a really dope blue sweatshirt and it says 80% is good enough on the back

[00:50:01] because remember 100% business is gonna kill your business 80% is good enough you do not need to get an A to make a million dollars or 10 million or a billion you just need to put in a lot of the effort and a lot of the lessons that you've

[00:50:16] learned today be consistent and you'll get there so if you leave a five-star rating review over on iTunes we're gonna pick I'll pick one person next time read out the reviews you probably need to leave your name and I'll read them

[00:50:31] out and you're gonna have to contact me and say hey that was me and send me a screenshot of some sort to prove it and I'll send you a sweatshirt I'll probably send you some other swag and a book and some stuff like that too so appreciate

[00:50:46] it and if it doesn't feel like that to you don't go do it just whatever but if you've got anything out of this I would greatly appreciate it because you know what I just love to get some feedback because I learn or I get feedback by

[00:50:59] verbal and and auditory cues I just love to know like is this helping you in any way and if it is a review helps me know that it helps me know what to talk more

[00:51:11] about so that you can learn more and on your journey to business success so that's not everything I learned from racing bikes but that's a whole hell of a lot of it and we'll see you on the next episode thanks hey what's up it's Aaron

[00:51:26] thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to listen to the show if you have an established PT business and you want to 10x your marketing time income impact and scale your business to multiple six or seven figures then I'd

[00:51:38] love to invite you to join me or someone on my team for a free strategy and scale session on this call will help you get clear on your goals identify the obstacles in your way uncover the hidden opportunities in your business and then

[00:51:49] we'll map out a three-step action plan so that you have more fun help even more people make even more money much quicker and you'll leave the session feeling clear confident and excited about taking your physical therapy

[00:52:00] business to the next level sound good if that's a yes just DM me the word call over on instagram at Aaron Labauer and I'll get back to you with all the details thanks so much and we'll see you next week on the show