Your Problems are NOT Unique

[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

[00:00:18] sit back, chill out, and let's get into the show. Hey, welcome back to The Aaron LeBauer Show. I'm your host, Aaron LeBauer. By the way, if you don't know this about me, I love vintage scooters and vintage straight razors. One of my passions is

[00:00:38] old things, but also fixing things with my hands. So here's what I'm going to talk about today in this episode. It's just about problems and how they're not unique and some traits about successful people. But I just wanted to introduce a

[00:00:51] little story about me. If you've been listening only for the last few years, you can see I've got a beard. I've had a beard since 2018, but I think for about eight years before that, I shaved with a straight razor. Ten years before that, I

[00:01:06] shaved with a double-edged safety razor. I moved here to Greensboro in December 2004, or maybe it was right before Thanksgiving. And over the next year, I met this guy, Ken. And Ken was like, I'm shaving with a safety razor. So he

[00:01:25] wasn't saying it to me, but he had told someone else, one of my friends and my ex-wife. You knew I had always had some... I wouldn't shave that much because it would just irritate my skin. My skin's decently sensitive. I'm a redhead.

[00:01:37] Anyways, she was like, you got to talk to Ken. Ken was really interesting in a lot of other ways. And somehow I found out about double-edged safety razors from Ken. I started shaving with those and then realized, you know, there was a lot

[00:01:49] that I missed on good brushes and good soaps and, you know, shave with the grain, not against the grain, the way that Gillette really wants you to do it. And so there's also a lesson in here about marketing, and I'll tell you that in a

[00:02:01] second. I got a bunch off eBay and I restored them, and you know, I like working my hands because I'm a massage therapist, a physical therapist. I like doing my hands, but I want to do it in my free time as well. I also need sensory

[00:02:12] stimulation to calm down, you know. There's like a... I think that I learned at PT Squad this sensory processing thing where if I'm going fast, I'm calm and focused. If I'm using my hands, I can think. So I like moving my body. I get my

[00:02:24] best ideas when I work out. So I did this and then I was like, you know, I want a tattoo. And I think it was... I got my first tattoo my last year in PT school,

[00:02:34] right before my final clinical rotation. I got it in that summer, so that was in 2008. And I had been researching tattoos for a long time and couldn't figure out which one I wanted. When I was racing bikes, you know, there was one I

[00:02:47] wanted on my leg, but I didn't want to like scrape it off on the ground like a lot of my friends did when you crash. So I was researching the tattoo, you know, because I wanted to get a good picture for a tattoo artist. Remember

[00:02:58] at the time, you know, look it was 2000 and it was probably around 2004-2005. The internet was there, but there weren't a gajillion pictures on the internet of especially of tattoos. And so I had to go find like... Here's what I'm looking for. I

[00:03:13] had to go find a good picture of a peony and a straight razor and kind of like how do I put them together? Bring them to a tattoo artist and figure that out. And in the process of just looking for cool tattoos online or cool objects,

[00:03:26] I actually realized it's straight razors. I realized that there are all these forums for people shaving with straight razors. And I was like, oh this is interesting. I didn't realize this was still a thing. And so then I started

[00:03:39] shaving with a straight razor. And straight razors, while they take a little bit more maintenance and a little bit more care, they're actually cut you less than a double-edged razor. It's a much better shave. But now with a beard, I'll

[00:03:52] just like... You can't really feel where the razor stops, so I'll just slice off a chunk of my beard if I'm not paying attention. Like it doesn't hurt me, but it's just like I'll just cut too high. So I don't use them that much. But

[00:04:03] there's that and there's... I rode my scooter, my 1961 Lambretta scooter here to work. I just wanted to share these things with you. These are things about me that I do, that I don't always talk about. And I'm gonna go on a

[00:04:17] vacation in a few weeks to the Lambretta Jamboree in Bristol, Tennessee, which is gonna be awesome. I can talk more about that, but let me tell you the lesson in the whole Gillette model, if you haven't heard of this. This isn't

[00:04:29] even what the podcast is about, but I'm just gonna talk about it because I got ADD, you know? And I want to... There's a lesson in most things, right? So men were shaving with straight razors for a long time. And then I think the safety razor

[00:04:45] came out. And I'm not exactly sure why or what prompted it, but I think in World War One they gave them to everyone because you have to shave in the trench to put the gas mask on, so there's a good seal. And you're not gonna carry

[00:04:58] around a straight razor to do that. And you know, they take a lot more, you know, maintenance. And then I think what... So here's the Gillette model is... and you can see this today. It's... we sell you a thing or we give you a thing for free.

[00:05:16] Like the handle of the razor is basically free. And then what they do is they sell you the blades and they sell you replacement blades. And so every time they upgrade it's, you know, two blades is better than one. A safety razor is

[00:05:32] better than... the plastic disposable is better than the old one. You know, the five blade razor is now better than the four blade razor. And they're always trying to upgrade you. And eventually they'll sell you a new handle because

[00:05:44] you got to buy that at some point. But Gillette makes money on sale of the blades, not of the actual handle of the razor, the thing that holds the blade. Where it used to be you bought a straight razor and that was a one-time

[00:05:57] purchase. And you could maintain that thing for years. I mean, I've got about 25 of them, maybe 30. The newest one is 15 years old. Pretty much every other one is 50 to 100 years old. And they still work just like new. You have to sharpen

[00:06:15] them. But if you're just buying it, I collect them. But if you're just buying it to shave, you really need one, maybe two. You know, maybe you need one to shave with while you're working on sharpening the other. Maybe it was two. Like I know

[00:06:29] my grandfather and that was the kind of idea for the tattoo was... I remember when I was a kid seeing his straight razor sitting in his bathroom and he had like three or four of them. But you didn't... these weren't like... this wasn't a monthly

[00:06:43] purchase, a yearly purchase. But now you buy blades and it's a monthly purchase. Whether you're shaving your legs, your armpits, your face, or whatever else you're shaving with it. You go through a lot of razors, a lot of blades. Okay? That's

[00:06:55] how they make a ton of money. And now they have these subscription boxes, you know, from competitors. And they're selling them to you. They're making a ton of money too. It's just a cheaper competitor and they're getting you on a

[00:07:06] monthly recurring subscription. So, as you grow your business, how can you give away the thing that people need? With the people want but sell them something that they need on a recurring basis? Oh my gosh! Like talk about a great

[00:07:21] business model. So anyways, that's initial lesson. And a little bit of story about who Aaron is. Remember I'm 50. I've been in business for 25 years. A little over 25 years. So here's the... here's the thing I want to talk about today and why I came

[00:07:34] on to talk about. Is that your problems are not unique. Whether these are your personal problems, your interpersonal problems, your business problems. Generally I'm here to talk about your business problems. Your problems are not unique.

[00:07:44] You know the way this shows up for a lot of people that I talked to is you sent me a message the other day. I think I need a... I need to get a big loan

[00:07:52] to start my business. I need to get my CSCS or OCS before I start a cash practice. How do you start a cash practice? You know in a place it's not fluent. I couldn't possibly charge X. Look I can tell you however you're feeling

[00:08:05] about your problems, there's someone else out there that feels the same way. I guarantee you that. At least one other person. But when you come with business problems and you're like, and Aaron this is really hard. You know I need... you know

[00:08:18] my... I've got a unique situation. You know I need your help. And really it's like I feel like I need it one-on-one. Like this is kind of like the false belief that I want you to understand. As your problems are not unique and I can absolutely help

[00:08:31] you solve them one-on-one. I mean I did that for a long time but then there were so many people asking me the same questions that that's when I started writing a blog and then I built a course and then you know people besides just

[00:08:44] information needed the insights and implementation and ongoing accountability. And not just me holding your hand but like you got to show up to do some work. You're coming to an event. You better be prepared. You come to

[00:08:56] Tuesday. Be prepared. Like but it's also let me give you bigger better problems like Sarah Martinez is seeing 30 people a week charging 300 bucks an hour making over 30k a month and she's like Aaron I'm so busy. You know how do I... we need

[00:09:12] to like... it's hard to find a PT right now so we're working on how do we get her free time. Create some boundaries and what do we where do we put the extra money? Like this is starting to become an issue. Do we buy the house or

[00:09:24] rent the house next door that's available to move our family there so the clinic can stay here? I mean these are the good problems but it's still not unique. It's unique to you and that's the thing is it's very... it's unique to

[00:09:35] you and it feels like no one else has this. Likely because you've had other problems. Your experiences all combined are unique because you are unique. But in the end of the day, the business problem of I don't have enough money in the bank

[00:09:50] or I don't have enough clients. I don't have enough leads. I don't know what to do about you know do you take my insurance or people don't want to pay 150 bucks how could I possibly charge more? That's not a unique problem. It's not that doesn't

[00:10:01] require a unique solution. It's more about can I help you and 20 other people at the exact same time with the same answer all get better faster results? Yeah I absolutely can. You know what else happens is when I do that... so when we do

[00:10:18] that in like that's what that's why I have a group coaching model is because you know me doing you know like one-on-one it takes up a lot of my time and that's not a lifestyle business for me and I don't... if I'm not living a

[00:10:32] lifestyle business how can I teach you how to build a lifestyle business? But two, the results come so much faster because when you ask a question to me in a group setting in front of people whether it's you know in our Platinum

[00:10:44] Mastermind, whether it's in Cash PT Nation, in our PT Business Ignition group for our private coaching clients or at an event, on a webinar, workshop, something when you ask on a zoom when you ask a question in front of a group of people

[00:11:00] who are your peers? Number one generally a safe space. Sometimes there's not safety because then people need to be booted but number two now they get the answer to that problem so when they encounter that problem they already know how to

[00:11:13] solve it which now creates a problem for me because people go Aaron I I know everything I need to know. I know all these problems that are coming. I have all these things coming up down the road like I'm good and I'm like okay yeah I

[00:11:26] guess you are and then when you get to that problem there's a nuance that maybe it does take some like individual like kind of brainstorming but we do that we do that in front of a group because guess what that just helps

[00:11:41] people accelerate results so much faster. Helps you accelerate your results so much faster and you know it's not that people don't get one-on-one we're just like the model that I have isn't one-on-one in private. I mean I do have

[00:11:56] that you can absolutely you want that you can absolutely come and do a private VIP one day VIP day it's $10,000 to come sit with me for a day in the office here in Greensboro. I've got a year-long one-on-one mentorship program we meet

[00:12:12] once a month for an hour on zoom twice a year for four hours that's more of a $50,000 program so like I absolutely do those. I just most people who feel like they need that aren't really ready for that you most of the people who come

[00:12:28] through when you're starting a business growing it working on some of the marketing things like there is this level of the problems are very like to me like the surgeon right like their routine you know how you get upset when the

[00:12:42] surgeon tells your patient that it's routine surgery you just need you know and it's like they have a little bit of like back pain and the surgeons like not like you should go to physical therapy or you should walk or you should like do

[00:12:55] yoga oh we should just do some surgery it's totally routine I'm like routine surgery is not routine for my patient like like let's make it the last option well you know for you you're like the patient you're like this isn't routine

[00:13:09] this is brand new for Aaron the coach I've been coaching other people since 2000 I started actually I think made my first dollar coaching in 2011 or 2012 I sold my first online product in 2013 so it's been 12 13 years I've been coaching

[00:13:24] other people and it was a few years before that that I was helping people with their practice because people that's what I did is I just helped for free people asked to pay me for help I've been doing this for so long it's

[00:13:35] like I'm like the surgeon now these problems are routine for me I know how to solve them I probably have a training for them I might have you know a free resource for them but free didn't always get your results because you didn't

[00:13:46] invest anything in it so that's just like the point I want to make is that as you go through your business you know think about you get to a problem understand that there's some unique things about it like your location

[00:13:58] maybe maybe a lot maybe there's a law but look it's not unique to Aaron because I've had dozens of people from Pennsylvania hundreds of people from New York Texas you know where there's limited direct access doesn't like

[00:14:10] Mississippi is one I don't get a lot of people there but I got a client who lives there now that's a limited direct access you got dozens of people from there so you know I've already experienced a lot of those things I've

[00:14:21] done it my own business had these issues even people say you know can you help man I started going to people's homes when I started my business but so long ago that you might not see it and that's okay just understand the best way

[00:14:37] to solve a problem when you encounter one is to write it down and write down all the possible solutions and then you think about it for a minute but don't think about it for months or years you know or even like days I mean if you

[00:14:51] know I tell some my coaching clients if you've got a problem you don't know how to solve I mean you're thinking about it for you know 24 hours or more just pop the question in our Facebook group we'll get you some clarity you know it's

[00:15:04] it's also like you know I think three people said this to me recently you know because I reach out for help you know I've belonged to talking Moore's boardroom it's 4,800 bucks a month I paid almost 5,000 bucks a month for

[00:15:17] coaching and help and I don't get one-on-one help for that I've paid $50,000 a year to get one-on-one help with Baydress but you know I get a very different I'm paying basically the same thing to be in boardroom and but it's

[00:15:32] different I have a community of people the community is valuable to me the resources are different you know and the coaching is different you know but I can still get the help I need when you have a problem what you do is you just reach

[00:15:45] out and you get some help so one of the other members of boardroom was helping me and he even said this you know I was like hey thanks so much for the help you

[00:15:51] just they gave me a lot of clarity on this problem I'm having and he's like yeah sometimes you can't read the label when you're inside the jar you can't read the label you know it's like but there's like three other people said that to me

[00:16:03] or two other people said that to me in the last month it's it's the helicopters like I'm inside the jar you're inside the jar you can't read the label you need someone outside the problem and that's really you know what this is about too

[00:16:14] it's I'm outside the problem and I can see that the problem doesn't doesn't isn't as daunting as it feels when you're inside you know so the details may be different but at the heart of the problem the questions are the same

[00:16:29] and just because it's unique to you doesn't mean like one-on-one is gonna solve it like you have to have it it is something like and I'm reason I'm saying this is I've just seen so many people like almost like that's insistent that

[00:16:42] that's it and maybe it's an objection that I'm not handling well but I really feel like I think because we did one-on-one mentoring in in grad school because you know like we've done a lot of this it's like it feels like well my

[00:16:55] problem is unique I needed a unique solution you know the feeling of owning a business is isolating right you know like you own a business it's isolating I don't even want to I need someone to talk to yeah man absolutely you need

[00:17:06] some friends you need some people to talk to you need some colleagues you need people that aren't your competitors to talk to right that's what's really awesome about the masterminds that I belong to and what I hope I create in

[00:17:18] the ones that that I have right so here's how I handle this you know it feels like you're hitting a brick wall you know like I think what you need to do is write it out figure out say hey what's this okay who else has this

[00:17:31] problem who else has solved this problem already right and you know I think just go find that person and that may be it I it might be me it might not be me you know I haven't solved the problem of what haven't I thought about figuring

[00:17:47] out how to sell $10,000 traction plans you know for a chiropractic office not me I don't know what they'd sell this for these days and in the last thing I want to say about this piece before I talk about some successful traits and

[00:18:01] other things is PT business is PT business but it is not very different from an OT business it's not very different from massage therapy business it's not very different from a personal training business and it's not very different from Gillette it's not very different from McDonald's you can

[00:18:21] leverage it and use it the same way business is business you solve a big problem for people people will pay you know people will pay what it's worth to solve that problem you're solving like I'm hungry and I need food fast are you

[00:18:35] solving I'm hungry and I want it healthy so I'm willing to wait for it to be slower so it'll be more expensive and you know there's you know solutions to a lot of these things that you know the problems we think we have because it's

[00:18:48] physical therapy they're not just related to physical therapy I was working with a friend yesterday my friend will who spoke at our retreat a few weeks ago he is like a wealth advisor and he sells like real estate

[00:19:01] investments and some life insurance stuff and you know he's like doing it all from his phone and we sat down yesterday and I wrote him a couple or an email and a text and we loaded in his contacts into PT marketing machine and

[00:19:19] I was like you're ready to send this out and we tested it and we sent it out and right away he got a phone call from someone was like yeah I'm ready to do

[00:19:27] I've been meaning to call you I'm ready to do you know these and these other investments with you and you know I don't know what that did but then another person contacted and invested another 50k yesterday just from sending a couple

[00:19:42] emails and texts and look they had nothing to do with physical therapy but had everything to do with the marketing that I had to learn in order to get people to come to my cash practice when they could go down the street for a

[00:19:55] copay and that's the kind of marketing that I teach our clients I mean look I offered this service to my kids school I offered that to to the Greensboro Jewish Federation I was like hey let me write some emails to raise help raise some

[00:20:12] money and they're like no people don't really like emails you don't really want to do that I mean all Will's clients were like 50 50 and over I don't know maybe there are a couple they're younger but the guys people that called him

[00:20:23] yesterday were like you know in their in their 60s and 50s and they answered the text and they answered the email and this stuff is so powerful I mean that already paid for his you know first year of PT marketing machine and he's

[00:20:40] not even a PT but it's because Derek and I have set him up with an account and there's so many features he doesn't even need to use but it's just these two features loading in contacts sending out an email and sending out a text message

[00:20:54] broadcast got him a ton of business and so that's really the other lesson is is the business strategies they can be used in a lot of different ways and we just have to kind of get out of this like my situation my problems my profession this

[00:21:10] is all unique it's not so unique I really if you go into it I think that's just a part of your brain maybe that's you know the other version of you protecting you from harm by taking a risk and and moving forward and trying

[00:21:23] something new it's like my problem is unique no one else is gonna understand them I can't actually take action but if you can get rid of that voice inside your head and just understand that like I've got a business problem or a life problem

[00:21:34] there's someone out there that knows the answer let me go ask for help and get the answer and move past this problem because the problems aren't the things that define you it's your actions and how you handle the problems how do you

[00:21:46] handle this hard-ass shit right like be that person that people look up to him like man they handle that like a boss what I want you to do is take a minute

[00:21:56] to write down like your aha your insight I don't want you to share it with me I want you to you know write it down and I want you to look at this and go hey what

[00:22:06] did I learn today what am I gonna do about it what are the three next steps and then I want you to go take action I want you to do the work ask for help you

[00:22:16] know analyze your problem and go who do I who can I get some help with from this about this to solve it and move forward faster okay and then you know if you'd

[00:22:26] like to hop on a call and brainstorm some ideas and see if working with us is the right fit then reach out to me you know shoot me a message on Instagram you

[00:22:35] know you can set me with the word I'm gonna say send me a message with the word private which is funny because you know like if you do want one-on-one you know we can absolutely do that but just send me a word private the Autobot will

[00:22:49] reply to you and say hey thanks for your message I'm excited you're interested you know tell me more about your business but I know that that one works so do that and we can hop on a quick 15-minute call it's free I'm not gonna

[00:23:04] sell anything on that one I just want to see can I help do you have a problem I can solve or is there a problem for someone else in our for you somewhere

[00:23:09] else if we can help you and you like feel good about it then we can book in another time to talk about how and what that looks like and all the details but

[00:23:19] you can do that just send me a DM on Instagram or go to call with Aaron comm book in a time check out the videos there and then in the meantime if it's a

[00:23:28] few days or a few years before I chat with you look out for the next show I got some really cool stuff coming up some really good things happening starting to send I mean sending more my one of my goals this month is to send

[00:23:43] more personal email updates about like lessons of life and things like this so maybe if you're listening to podcast you're not on the email list you know figure out how to get on there by you know you can go to Aaron LaBauer comm and

[00:23:54] opt into one of the things and you'll get you know updates on email I got some other things coming out I think we'll probably do like a text messaging like updates list I haven't I've done it for my friend but not for myself yet there's

[00:24:06] some other things I got a bigger ship to move anyways those things are coming up so go out there get past this problem let's get you some really good problems and remember problems are part of the game so you know you're just gonna be

[00:24:20] solving problems and let's solve some big problems together we'll make some big money will help a lot of people and I'll see you on the next episode peace out hey what's up it's Aaron thank you so much for taking time out of your day

[00:24:34] to listen to the show whenever you're ready here are three ways I can help you grow your business one grab a free copy of my book it's the roadmap to launch grow and scale your physical therapy business just DM me the word book over

[00:24:45] on instagram at Aaron LaBauer or go to cash PT blueprint book calm number two you could join our cash PT blueprint case study program we're putting together a new coaching case study group this month and if you'd like to work with us

[00:24:58] to launch a six-figure cash practice in just 90 days just send me a message on Instagram with the words blueprint or number three work with me and my team privately if you have an established business and would like to work directly

[00:25:10] with me and my team to take your business to multiple six or seven figures just send me a message over on Instagram with the words private and I'll get back to you with all the details thanks and I'll see you next week on the show