E199 | Focus On What You Can Control

On today's episode I want to answer an e-mail I got from a current student who is planning on opening a cash-based practice in a particular area.  He wanted to know how to deal with scarcity in real time and what to do about it.

Episode Transcription:

Today I want to answer a question for you guys from an email that I got from a student, and a lot of students listen to this podcast, which is fantastic. I, you guys are light years ahead of where. I was as a student if you're learning about, you know, your next steps in business and whatnot, when you get out of the, out of school, I was just trying not to fail, so congratulations.

You're, you know, more intelligent than me, and you've got a lot more shit figured out so. I do get a lot of questions from students, which I appreciate. And, and I enjoy being able to kind of give some mentorship there. You know, via email or, or on a Facebook or Instagram or something like that.

And, and, I got this, this email and I'm going to leave the person's name out of this and sort of location, and things cause it's, just, just to kind of give you a broad idea of what the question was so. As email, and it was that you know, this person listens to a podcast of mine that kind of struck a chord.

They were talking about this idea of waiting, and he's in school, and he has a place where he wants to open a, his cash-based practice. And in that city, he started noticing other people opening practices in particular. And having developing relationships with gyms that he was hoping to create a relationship with when he graduates in a, in about a year.

So he emails me in and just basically says like, man, how do you deal with the frustration of, you know, not being able to do the things that you want to do and seeing other people, start to do the things that you had, you have intentions to do whenever you, you graduate and know how do you deal with that?

How do you deal with this? A sort of scarcity versus abundance mentality in real-time, because I can tell you it's straightforward for people to say. You know, Oh, just have an abundance mentality. Like it's not ever, there's enough for everyone that the pie is big enough for everyone, and there the reality is that it is true.

Okay. So there's a lot of people out there. Then, the challenge is not necessarily how do we compete against each other. If you're competing against each other, you're competing for like the low hanging fruit. Maybe 20% of people that know they're hurt and know they need to see somebody, but it's not a lot of folks, the other 80% of people out there that have a problem.

That we can address, they don't even know about us. They don't even know how we can benefit them and why they should work with us. Right? So there's a, there's a, there is a vast amount of untapped people, that we can help. And there's a lot of potential for growth there, but when people just go on, and they fight over the 20% of people they know that need help, that's where, you know, there can be a lot of competition.

And it can feel like there's a lot of scarcity there. So, you know, dealing with this in real-time, I think she is, it's, it's challenging, and you can read a lot of books on, you know, abundance mentality, the scarcity mentality, all these things. You see, it's, it's cool. It's, it's great that you can have, you know, these resources or even listen to this podcast, but when it happens to you, how do you handle that, right?

Like, how do you handle seeing something like that and not getting frustrated? And I can tell you I've been in similar situations, you know, where I see somebody get into, you know, like a niche or a go a direction that I had intentions of wanting to go and, hadn't done at that point. And then it's sort of frustrating.

And, and being able to deal with that is, is challenging. And I think a lot of it is based on understanding what you can. You know what, you can focus on that you can change and what you can't. And I can't change the fact that somebody might open a practice close to me that's similar, you know, and I've had quite a bit of that happen, you know, in the last five years here in Atlanta, Tom, I mean, well over a dozen practices that I can think of have opened up.

You know, within close enough radiuses to where there's probably just like convenience people that we'll miss out on if, if, if all is the same, that that's, you know, something that might affect your business. But again, as you look at that at the moment, it's tough not to get competitive.

It's tough. Not, especially if you've played sports or, or you're competitive by nature. I'm super competitive by nature and I. Yeah, I see that as competition, and then I have to take a step back and realize, well, it's not because I can't focus on what that person is doing. I can't change what that person is doing.

I, and, and, and not only that, but you know what? A lot of these people that I know of open practice near us, I like these people. Like they're good people. You know, some people have families, some people have the right intentions for people that they're working with.

I enjoy being around these folks, and I want them to be successful. So when I look at it differently, I'm like, man, these people are like me. Like, why am I trying to compete against them versus, here's what I need and, and can do? I'm going to focus on how do we do our practice so. So good, so organized, have such a reputation and get such good results for people that we're able to start to convert a lot more of that 80 % of people that don't even know who you are because we're going to create such raving fans. We're going to have such right, you know, systems and marketing and understand the business side of it, that we insulate ourselves from the minor things that happened with this 20% of people that are.

You are primarily looking for help. And when you can do that, and you create, you know, there's this idea of like a, a red ocean, a blue ocean, a red beach is, there's a, there's a bunch of activity there. Sharks are eating a bunch of fish, and it's all. It's all blazing color, red ocean, a lot of competition. Well, a blue sea is where you know what you've created your own.

Space, you know, and there's, there's no competition. And, and that's from insulating yourself, from, from other, other businesses and making your practice so unique that people kind of view it as there's no other choice for them. You know, whether that be explicitly being good at one niche, you know, focusing on specific techniques that people are looking for.

Defining who you are, who you help, and the people realize that they're an ideal fit for you, for your practice. So if any of you are dealing with something similar to this and you're seeing other people doing things that you want, maybe you're not in school, perhaps you're just like working for somebody else, and you start noticing like, Oh man, I want to do that.

And so-and-so did it. And now I can't. Well, not necessarily, I mean, somebody else doing it means there's a market for it. And, especially if they're successful, it means there's a market for it. It means that cool. They've already tested that. And often being the first person is not necessarily the best because there's so much education and there's so much groundwork that needs to be laid for that.

You know, five years ago in Atlanta, there was probably one, maybe two others. Cash-based practices that I could find. And you know, the education that we had to put in on the front end for people even to understand why they might want to come and work with us was a lot of work. And now, five years later, not all, you know, from us, obviously just changes in the healthcare landscape, but some of it is, is from us, you know, getting out and educating.

And we've taught—hundreds of events all around Atlanta at different locations. And I know I've been in front of lots of people and reframing the way that they look at, utilizing their insurance or what their insurance covers and why they might want to look at, you know, going out of network or a cash basis.

For their care. So, you know, we had to do a lot of that, that groundwork. And it's challenging to do that. So, you know, flip the script on this and take a different angle in terms of how you're looking at it and say, cool, now we've got somebody that's going to do the education. They're going to lay the groundwork, they're going to do the hard work, and yet they may have an advantage because they're first to market in some capacity.

But. That's also, and there's an advantage for you because when you start your practice in this area, you're going to have, you know, people that are educated on this type of treatment or variation of how to be treated, that you're not going to have to teach. People will be more aware of it. So that will become better for you, where customers are going to become more comfortable to be converted into the style that you want to see them in.

So I know it's tough and I hate waiting for things. I. I hate waiting for things to, to a fault, you know, I'll be quick to rush into doing something and not think it through and then shoot myself in the foot. I've gotten a lot better at that permanently because my wife checks me on things like that.

When I did, I'm laughing cause she did it yesterday with something that we're looking at incorporating into our practice. And she's like, you cannot do anything with this until like. October and I were like, God dang it. That is so long. I don't know if I can wait that long. And it really, it's only a couple of months.

So anyway, I hear you. If you're, if you're stuck in school, when you're waiting, and you feel like people are doing these things that you want to do, I know that is frustrating. You know, and, and think about the things you can do right now that are going to help you out as well. So maybe it's content, perhaps it's starting to put out content, relevant content for the target audience that you want to work with.

Videos, you know, starting to build relationships with people in the area that you're trying to go to. You know, how can you tee yourself up, even though you are in school, to be able to, you know, have that, that groundwork that you need infrastructure to springboard your business into a better start, right?

So don't focus so much on the competition. Focus on the things you can do right now. And, even though waiting to dormer school kind of sucks, but patients are, patients are essential. You know, like. The patients are incredibly important. And I'm, I, it's not something that I'm naturally very good at, but, this is a perfect opportunity for any of you that are in a similar situation, to work on being patient, to focus on the things that you can, you know, achieve and. You can, and you can work on instead of focusing on the other people around you, that will put you in a terrible place.

You know, I, this stuff like this used to bother me for days. I would be very. A difficult person to be around when I would start to see things that maybe I perceived as not going my way. And, you know, even something like this, I had, not this PR in particular, but we had a little, a little setback and some stuff we're working on.

Just the other day it was, what night was it? Oh, it was, it was Tuesday. And you know, for me, I know now, like I put my phone away, I focused on spending time with our kids, and I asked my daughter, I was like, okay, all right, Maggie, what do you want to do tonight? And cause asking, and a and Jack were off at a swim meet.

And, she said, okay, well I want to help you cook dinner. And I want to eat dinner on the front porch. Then I want to wrestle, and after that, I want to watch, nailed it, which is like a cooking show, on Netflix where they take people that are terrible bakers and have them try to bake these ridiculous like cakes.

It's kind of funny. My kids think it's hilarious, but that's what she says you want to do. And that's what we did, and I didn't focus on anything, but it's been, you know, some relaxed time with, with Maggie. And, I didn't even think about this, this problem once. And it's because I focused on what was most important to me.

And that time is what matters, you know, and what other people are doing. I can't change. So focus on what you can control, focus on what's important and, and, and don't focus so much on what other people are doing. Because one of my favorite quotes is, you know, the comparison is the thief of joy.

So Teddy Roosevelt quote, and just thinking about that comparison is the thief of joy. And when you go to compare yourself to other people, as I think about every time I'm comparing myself in any capacity, I'm like, fuck Teddy Roosevelt. So right. This sucks. I feel like crap right now. You know, comparing myself to where other people are, and you don't see the context of any of that stuff, you know, thoroughly.

So be aware of that. Don't forget comparison is the thief of joy. Focus on what you can control.

Do you want more cash, PT, biz help? If so, get a copy of my book. Fuck Insurance. It's your playbook—so successful performance, PT practice, and never having to deal with insurance again. You can get a free copy at Finsurancebook.com. Inside this book, you'll learn the direct techniques that we've used to become one of the fastest 100% cash PT practices in the country.