E446 | Golf Niche For The Win With Russ Manalastas

Today, I chat with golf niche guru and Mastermind Member, Russ Manalastas, of MANA Performance Therapy! Dr. Russ started his company with the vision to provide care that far exceeds what athletes and people are getting in the traditional medical model.

In addition to his duties at MANA, he also is an adjunct professor in the Doctorate Of Physical Therapy program at Nazareth College and also the strength and conditioning coach for the Nazareth College Men’s and Women’s golf teams. Enjoy!

www.physicaltherapybiz.com/apply

PT Everywhere: https://pteverywhere.com/

Do you enjoy the podcast?  If so, leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and tell a friend to do the same!

Are you a member of our free PT Entrepreneur Facebook Group? Join today!

Podcast Transcript

Danny: [00:00:00] Hey, I've got a question for you. Do you know if you're tracking the right data, the right metrics to the right key performance indicators in your practice? This is something that's huge for us and really helps us make solid decisions within our business, but the prior software that we're using to run our practice made it really, really challenging.

To actually get that data out and use it in reports. Since we've switched to PPG everywhere, this has actually become way, way easier for us to be able to have the right data. We have a dashboard of all the things that we actually want to see, the metrics that we want to pull, and it makes our life a lot easier to pull the information that we need to make the right decisions within our business.

So if you're running blind and you're not tracking the right things, or you're. Hard time actually pulling everything together. I highly recommend you check out our friends at PT Everywhere and see what they've got going on with their software platform. It's what we use for our practice. It's been a game changer for us.

You can check 'em [email protected]. I think you really like it. So here's the question. How do physical therapists like us who don't wanna see 30 patients a [00:01:00] day, who don't wanna work home health and have real student. Create a career and life for ourselves that we've always dreamed about. This is the question, and this podcast is the answer.

My name's Danny Matt Mate, and welcome to the PT Entrepreneur Podcast.

Hey, entrepreneur podcast, Dr. Annie here, PT Entrepreneur, Facebook group as well. If you're watching us in the Facebook group, thanks for joining us. Uh, we're lucky we got my buddy Russ Manasas on owner of Man of Performance Therapy up in Rochester, New York. He's killing it up there. He's got a couple niches.

Uh, really does a great job with the golf niche and even educating, you know, other, uh, PTs in this area. So, really cool to be able to share, uh, share his story. Somebody we've had a chance to work with for a long time and been mean to be, do this for a long time. How, yeah, it's been a while. Not done this.

Russ: Right. I mean, I feel like, uh, we talked about it maybe pre pandemic and then all the stuff kind of just went down and I'm glad you chop it up a little bit. [00:02:00] For sure. I feel

Danny: like that's a good point. I feel like, uh, We've, like many things got lost in 2020. Uh, yeah. With other things that were going on and, uh, but you know, it is what it is.

We got a chance to do it now, which is great. Um, yeah. You know, we just saw each other last month in Dallas, which was cool. You guys got to do, uh, a little, uh, golf tournament, which was awesome. How many people did you guys have again, like 20.

Russ: We had 20, so, uh, we had four or five foursomes. And again, so this was, you know, again, just kind of impromptu, we didn't kind of really kinda know what to expect, but man, it was fun.

It was fun. It was fun to understand. Like we teed off at two 30 in the dead of heat in Dallas, like probably 95. 95, right? And so everyone's sweat already. Uh, it was fun. Listen, we had a great time and listen to be, it's kind of, uh, integrate and, and talk with other kind of business owners in a very, very non-formal setting.

It was really, really,

Danny: Yeah. You know, I, I think that's, uh, I never quite understood the idea of like, oh, I'm gonna do business on the golf course. Right. And, you know, you're a professional service, you're a realtor or whatever, but there's so much downtime and you're [00:03:00] in such a different setting. I totally get it.

You know, it's, this is cool to be able to be out there around other people and, and, you know, you're, you're, you're kind of, it's a, it's a game that's slow enough pace that it's, You know, you're, you're not having to focus on it the entire time. So it's cool. Uh, you know, for, for you though, let's, let's dive into kind of how you got where you are, man.

Um, why, why'd you be, why'd you go to PT school? What was it about that, that that kind of got you in the, in that profession?

Russ: Yeah, so I mean, I originally, um, my freshman year of college, Um, I was in athletic training school I was at at SUNY Cortland, uh, doing athletic training. Um, was a pretty mediocre, uh, baseball player.

Tried out there, walked on and made the team, and then got cut after fall ball. And, um, after that, um, the summer of that year, that was 2002, 2003, um, was supposed to play a Chase Stadium, right? Chase Stadium, all-Star game. Um, and the night before that I dislocated my elbow. Um, Freak accident. Uh, I was playing baseball, um, pouring rain probably games probably should have been canceled, but hit a ball in the gap as I was turning fir uh, as I was rounding first.

Uh, my freak kind of came [00:04:00] from underneath me. I landed around in my elbow and my elbow just popped right out. How so? Um, I'm, long story short, never got, uh, cleared to, uh, try out. I transferred out of, uh, Cortland went to University of Buffalo, um, was gonna try for the baseball team there. Ended up not doing that just cause my elbow didn't feel right and I got too busy with exercise science and then going into PT school.

But, um, you know, my, my mom's an an or nurse, um, you know, again, uh, been exposed to the healthcare field for a while. Um, you know, she, you know, she kind of instilled like this opportunity to kind of just kind of take care of people. Right. And, and my family again, um, a lot of, a lot of my, my, my aunts and uncles are in the healthcare field as well.

Um, I know I wanted to do something with health, but uh, just didn't kind of know what to do. And, um, at one point in time I thought about wanting to become like an orthopedic surgeon. Um, but then I realized how much schooling was involved and like, no, I'm all set there. So my PT was kind of the happy, happy medium for me, and I'm lucky that I was able to kind of find that kind of journey and, and kind of, you know, here I am now.

Listen, I graduated PT school and 11 years ago now, and I'm fortunate to be able to, uh, [00:05:00] have conversations like, like this and, and kind of educate people on what we're

Danny: doing. I feel like it's a really common. You know, scenario where it's somewhat okay, athlete gets hurt, goes through rehab. This is exactly what happened with me as well, but it's just so common.

It's like, I feel like the, the, the fee, you know, the pipeline for physical therapy school is, is like people getting hurt and then Right, right. Going through rehab and being like, yeah. Dude, this is pretty cool. Do you get paid to do this? You know, and I told us, for me, I, I thought the same thing. I Okay.

Orthopedic surgery route, my family's all medical. Yeah. Um, and what I noticed was I started spending time with those, those guys, they were fine. They all, they actually, they all seemed like totally cool. But they, they were on call all the time. And I remember taking a couple patients like that. They had to go, like, kind of follow them through their rehab process.

Sure. Um, some of the younger kids that had like a c l tears and. Yeah. And when I went to the pt, uh, uh, o like office in the hospitals, the military [00:06:00] hospital, uh, it was like down in the basement. They had no windows, right? It was like, it was a dungeon. And, but I walk in their break room and it's full of baked goods and I, I was like, what's up with all the baked goods?

You know, is is it somebody's birthday? They're like, no, that's all from patients. Like it's, they just said, but it's, that's the way it was. And I went to orthopedic surgery. It's like, there no. Brought them shit like they're nothing. Right. Right. So they, we, we were fortunate. We get to develop these relationships with folks.

We helped them through, you know, their, their recovery process and, um, good. Yeah, so I think that, I think that's pretty common, but, you know, it's, it's cool that you went that route, uh, cuz of where you guys are today in particular. So, te tell me this, like, you have a, you have your own practice, you've had your own practice for a couple years now.

Yeah. Um, you know, 11 years ago you graduate, but what was that inflection point, that tipping moment for you to where, you know, the traditional sort of career that we, we all kind of drive towards in most cases outta school? Where it just wasn't, wasn't the right thing to do. And you decided you wanted to do your own thing and, and a cash-based practice seemed to make sense.

Yeah, I, I

Russ: think, you know, the, [00:07:00] the journey kinda leading up to this point now, so our business has been open, uh, four years will be five years, uh, next year. And so, uh, leading up to that, you know, I was kind of the traditional outpatient private practice. Um, actually my first year out of PT school, my wife and I, well my, my fiance at the time and I, um, we did travel PT for the first.

So we did travel pt, went to a couple different places, ended up paying for our wedding, which is awesome. Um, and then, uh, once we did that, we settled down in Baltimore. Uh, worked for our company, a traditional practice there for a couple years. Um, and. You know, once we had our daughter in 2013, we moved back to Rochester.

Uh, my wife's family's kind of in the area. And so it was always the traditional route. Um, you know, high volume clinics. It was always based on how many, you know, your metrics were always based on how many visits you can see per week, per month, so on and so forth. And, you know, I think, um, I remember vividly.

You know, after a long week of, you know, documenting and, and seeing multiple people, I just got to the point where I didn't know if I wanted to do it anymore. Um, and when I got to that point, my wife's a PT as well, right? [00:08:00] So, uh, when I got to that point, um, my wife was like, Hey, like, something's gotta change.

Um, or if it, it doesn't change, it's, it's not gonna end. All right? And so, Uh, when I got to that point, um, you know, I thing one thing led to another, you know, we weren't really kind of looking actively for a space. Um, and then, you know, I was just kind of posting stuff on Instagram and, and, and Twitter and, uh, one of the local strength coaches kinda reached out.

He's like, Hey, I love what, love what you're doing. We'd love to kinda maybe chat a little bit more. And then we talked to the owner, uh, Nate Van Bury at Next level strength conditioning. And he's like, Hey, listen, we're looking for a potential, uh, PT to put it on site. Would you be interested? And then one thing led to another, and here we are four years later, kind of just, um, I think it just gives us an opportunity to make a, a true impact.

And I think, not to say that, you know, a traditional practice can't, can't have that, but I think the opportunities are much more limited because you can only spend so much time with people. And so, um, you know, it. It was challenging. You know, it, it's not easy. Um, and it's not for everyone, but at the same point in time, if you're really, really passionate about something, you'll figure it out.

Um, and at that point in time, my wife and [00:09:00] I, we had two young kids, um, we were kind of just kind of flying blindly at that point in time and we're like, let's just see what we can do to make it work. And um, my wife was super supportive of that, and I never forget that. And, and, you know, now we're in a position where now she's, she's back in school.

She's getting her master's in. Management and, and so to be in a position now where our business is, um, in a place where I can kind of maybe kind of step back a little bit and be able to support her, um, that means everything to me. And I wouldn't be able to do that if I was in a traditional practice, that's for sure.

Danny: Yeah. You know, that's really cool to hear that. And I think that I, I, I, I'm interested, you know, what, what, what did you find most frustrating about that environment? Because I think for, for certain people it's, it's different. It's different things. But what, what, what was it about the, the in-network model where you just.

Not, didn't feel fulfilled or challenged or whatever it was that, that you feel like. You know, if it could change, it would be one of the first things you would change.

Russ: I think the, the opportunity to just, you know, make an impact that, you know is, is actually long lasting, right? [00:10:00] Like, you know, I got to the point where when I was treating, I'm like, are are people truly getting better because of me, or are they getting better because of time?

Right. And when I, I'm like, is that just a regression to the mean because they've been here long enough and now all of a sudden they're feeling better because. They're, they're here, or am I actually making a difference? And when I, when I got to that point, I'm like, man, that is not a good place to be. Um, and so I felt like, uh, in order for me to kind of change my mindset and gimme some renewed energy, gimme a, a, a breath of fresh air, I needed to kind of get out of that.

Um, and you know, again, it wasn't easy, but at the same point in time, I would not change it one bit. Um, even all the struggles that we went through and all the stuff to kind of get it off the ground, um, I knew. Doing this was gonna be the best opportunity to really kind of make a difference, not only in in our lives personally, but also professionally from our, for our business as well.

Danny: So let's talk about the hard parts. Cause you, you brought these up and, and I feel like no one ever wants to talk about this. They just wanna talk about like the positives, but, uh, What, what, what do you feel like the hardest, you know, things were for [00:11:00] you as far as getting the practice up and running to a viable kind of point?

And also what strategy did you take? Was it, did you just go all in? Did you do part-time kind of job somewhere else? Or like what, what was your strategy for transition? Yeah.

Russ: So, um, when we opened up our practice, uh, I did a, uh, a pretium job doing healthcare, uh, home care on the side, uh, just to kind of, you know, pay the bills again.

We had two kids at the time and, and we added a third during that time, right. So, wow. Nice. We were like, you know, hey, we just need to kinda make things work, right? And so, Um, you know, my wife did everything she could on her end. She got a a, a new job, um, went from part-time to full-time. Um, that was huge because in a hospital system we had, she had full-time benefits.

Like we, we needed health insurance for our kids. Yeah. Um, and that was a big, big sticking point for us. And, you know, again, you know, it's just one of those things where, you know, there are things that are bigger than us, right? That, that just have a te have a tendency to kind of fall in place. And we're very, very grateful for that.

So, um, you know, the struggles were just, Hey, how can I still be a. Right. For young kids who, who need a dad, uh, at home, [00:12:00] but also be a business owner where I'm not just constantly focusing on the business and forgetting my family. Cause this is why we open business. The reason why we open the business is for our family to be able to have the autonomy over our schedule, have the autonomy over as to what we want to do.

Hey, if I, my kids gotta practice, or if my kid, I gotta pick my kid up from school, I can do that. Um, and that's a life that we. It's a life that we craved and, and after kind of going through all the, the, the hardships of just working all the time and maybe not seeing the results that we were kind of looking for.

So having a direct impact in our business and, and having it come to fruition and then transitioning away from home care to have it then be a full viable business like, um, You know, again, it's just, I'm very, very grateful for the op, for the opportunities to have all this stuff kind of fall in place. And I think it's just a testament to what we believe in, right?

If you believe in something and, and we get to do it, we don't have to do it, but we get to do it. I think the mindset shift in all that stuff becomes really important. And again, you know, um, I remember the first couple months I was kind of trying to do it on my own and, um, it was kind of a struggle. And so I remember I kind of came across [00:13:00] your, your G PT blueprint and, um, that's the first, you know, the, the first thing that kind.

Set us up for some from, for some success. You know, finding some structure, um, finding some opportunities to maybe have our different conversations than just, Hey, this is about pt. This is, this is about your lifestyle. This is about how, how can we change your life in, in a, in a meaningful way. And, you know, one thing, LEDs to another there, and we kind of snowballed and now we've got, um, we've got a, a client care coordinator, we've got a staff pt, we've got myself, and we're looking to continue to kind of grow and.

In a manner that's authentic to what our, our, hopefully our company is trying to kind of bring to the com bring to the community.

Danny: You know, I, I'm interested cuz the, the program you referenced, the GT Blueprint program, that's something that we, I don't even remember how many years ago that was. You were, you were early.

Yeah. You might have been number one. The, but the thing, the, the thing that I always find interesting is, uh, You know, good clinicians like yourself, it's, you've checked a box on that, right? And, uh, but there's like a, there's a different skillset [00:14:00] that has to be matched up. Uh, on the, on the business side, what did you feel like was for you, the, the, the thing that really was like, you know, uh, the, the linchpin skill that once you, you were like, oh, shit, I, I do this a little differently, or I, I add this in and then all of a sudden.

It's working better. Like was there something that you found that seemed to be, you know, really that opened it up a lot for you?

Russ: Yeah, I think the big one was just a, a shift in mindset from just talking strictly about PT and more about a person's lifestyle. What are they struggling with, what are their pain points that allows them to understand the investment in working with us and not so much just the cost of it.

Right? And so that was the biggest thing. It was the sales process is right. How could I have a conversation with a person that one resonates with them? And it's now less about how much they'd have to pay. It's more about what's the investment in order to get to back to doing X, y, or Z. And that was the biggest thing for us, right?

Like I think our, I felt pretty comfortable in my skillset set, felt pretty comfortable in, in managing all these different things, especially for, uh, [00:15:00] performance based standpoint. Like I was, I was pretty comfortable with that, right? I wore a lot. I wear a lot of multiple, I wear a lot of hats, right? And so, Um, but the biggest thing was again, and these things you don't learn in PT school, you just don't.

Right. Like, it, it's unfortunate. And, and then again, I'm, I'm, I'm a local professor at our, our college, and we talk about this all the time. It's like the stuff you learn in PT school doesn't even scratch the surface if you're looking to do business related type things, like, especially now, there's so much opportunity out there with social media and all these different platforms that you can leverage.

They don't know how to leverage it or students don't know how to leverage it cuz they don't know the business aspects of that. Right. And so I think for us, you know, investing in the G P T blueprint and, and changing our mindset about the sales process and figuring out how can we get people to not only commit for that initial evaluation, but then commit to, let's say a program moving forward.

That was the biggest game changer for us in our business. For sure.

Danny: I feel like that, you know, with the, the clinical rainmaker program that's took that place now where we get to like coach people, we get a lot more just time with them and develop, you know, a better [00:16:00] relationship as a, as a mentor and is, I think that's the linchpin that we see for many people is the ability to take.

The way in which, the way in which they already know how to communicate. This is what I always find so interesting. It's like clinically people are doing this in a subjective, no matter what, right? So they're, they already have the skill. It's just a matter of like slight, they're slightly reframing it and all of a sudden it's like the light bulb goes off and they're like, oh shit, this is, I already know how to do this right?

I just have to kind of get over. My discomfort with talking about money. Yes. Because I've never had to do that in an insurance based world. And if I can get over that, then I can use my, this skillset to help this person with this goal that we've already talked about. And they're off to the races, you know, in a lot of ways, as long as they're okay with like getting out and, and marketing themself, which I think is another challenge.

But you know, for you guys, you're at a point now. You have a staff clinician, so how has that process been for you to then, you know, take somebody that is seeing clients, you know, for the, for the business Yeah. And educate them on that same process. Yeah.

Russ: You know, I think, um, you know, when you look at [00:17:00] someone who, uh, maybe kind of fits the mold of what you're looking for from a, from a company standpoint, bring them on.

Especially, you know, again, Tyler's our, our staff pt, and I'm very, very fortunate to have Tyler on our, on our, on our side. Um, but he was coming from a traditional practice, right? And. Um, being able to kind of coach them up on some of the nuances that you maybe don't necessarily do in a traditional sense, um, was a struggle, right?

Like, and again, Mentoring and, and managing more now people than just managing, you know, clients in the business and stuff like that. It's, it's a different beast, right? And so, um, you know, again, you, you want people that are of the same mindset and of the, the framework to understand, hey, there is more to it than just pain.

There is more to it than just, okay, I need to get outta discomfort, like, How can we talk about sleep? How can we talk about nutrition? How can we talk about all these lifestyle things that you don't necessarily get to have a conversation with? And if you do, you maybe kind of, you know, graze on it a little bit and then you forget it because you're one of, you're, you're one PT to five other people, right?

And so, um, I think that was the biggest transition is, hey, How can we take your [00:18:00] skillset? Because he's got all the credentials in the world like that. That's not the issue. The issue is how can we improve his business acumen and I improve his business sense so that you know, it's more about the experience of the person and not so much about, oh, it has to be about pain.

It has to be over. PT has to be about all this stuff that we know already, right? And so that was the transition. And again, we did a lot of mentorship early on. We tried to kind of work on some different things. We worked on sales scripts. We worked on sales calls to figure out, hey, how comfortable you are with these conversations and if you're not comfortable with them, what can we do to make you more comfortable with someone?

You are approached with some of these different rebuttals where approach to some these different conversations, you know, best, how to navigate those and, and kind of handle.

Danny: Yeah. And, and again, I mean, it kind of comes back to what, what's interesting about any sort of advanced degree program, like what we went through.

You, you don't get through that without learning the skill of learning, like how to learn. Right. And you know, one of the things we, we do these. These, uh, you know, mock scenarios where we're doing practicals and you have somebody that's another student that is [00:19:00] essentially acting like their back hurts and they, they, they have it's role playing, right?

And so, like, so when, when we think about like our ability to learn and you need reps as well, but usually you do that first so that you have a better idea of what's going on and you can sort of, you can learn some of these skills without having to have a real person in front of you. And the same thing can be said for all these other ones, right?

So like your front desk. How do you answer inbound calls? Like how do you talk to a customer that's frustrated about something, right? Like, how do you talk to a patient that's not seeing results but is coming in to see you and is, has high expectations? Like these are all things that we can on the front end, you know, train people on.

Sure. Um, and, and, and really equip them in a way where they can be successful, you know, faster. And I know you, you, you just told me, uh, before we jumped on here, you guys did like a big planning session for 2022, right? Which is cool. So, For the dynamic of like your team, like how has it been, uh, different for you and like what have you really enjoyed more than anything about moving from, you know, sort of, uh, just by yourself to now you're like leading this company [00:20:00] that's growing.

Like what's, what's that been like?

Russ: Yeah, it's been exciting. You know, I think, um, we kind of envisioned what this might look like when we first opened the business, right? We kind of knew that we wanted to kind of maybe scale past ourselves and, and now that we're in this position to do so, um, it's exciting, you know, like to have people and, and have a vision.

Of what you kind of first started with and then have that vision kind of be exemplified through your company and through the people that work for you, um, or work with you. I think that's really cool. And so like, yeah, we had about a three and a half hour meeting prior to this talk and uh, we kind of talked about all the different things like, hey, these are some of the great successes we had in in 2021.

Here are some of the things that maybe we need to improvements on, and how can we shore up those backend systems to make sure that we then make. You know, you know, challenges, more successes, and then what are some things that they wanna work on? What are some personal goals that they have that we can help support them in?

Like, I think the important part for me as a business owner is how can I support the staff that I have to be able to achieve the goals that they want as well? Right? It's not just about me, right? Like, I, I always, I always kind of framed the business as we, and I remember [00:21:00] early on people were like, well, why do you always say we?

It's just you, right? I'm like, well, yeah, but there's so many other people that I. Me to this point where it can't just be me, right? And so now that we have a team we can call ourselves, we an our instead of I, like, I think that's really important. And like that, that doesn't, um, I don't lose sight of that.

And, and, and that's something that ultimately, like, I always kinda look back and reflect on a lot of these different things personally and say, Hey, the fact that we've got people. Working with us to, to work towards a common goal that we're trying to, trying to build out in the community. Like that's awesome.

And I'm like, like I told you before, I was super fired up about, uh, you know, coming on this podcast now cuz you know, we got to have this meeting. And then it just, it just gives you a new renewed sense of energy to kind of just continue to kind of push and fight the good fights so that people that are calling and, and not getting the results and are unhappy with their care and aren't, aren't in a good place, not only physically, but also mentally.

How can we reach those peoples to know that there are other options out there so that it doesn't have to just be, well, my doctor told me to go here, here, or here. Like, at some point in time, you need to [00:22:00] take, you need to take responsibility. You need to take accountability for your own health. Right? And if you're not willing to do that, um, then you're gonna, you're gonna fall to whatever the, the, the lowest hanging fruit is, which maybe going to a traditional practice or whatever it may be, right?

But if you're like, invested in getting better, you're gonna find people that you wanna work with. And that's what we're trying to.

Danny: I think it's cool just as far as building the culture goes too. I mean, it's like such a fun thing to have this little, you know, ecosystem of people. And like we said, like their, their, uh, feedback matters.

You know, like the things that they say you can, you can be nimble and you can make, you can make these changes, you know? And, and the, the culture and the people, I think. We, and oftentimes when you bring somebody on, it's like, oh, I have overhead, I have, you know, another person I have to manage. And it's the, you kind of look at it like there's a bit of a burden.

Sure. But in actuality it's like, it's what makes it, it really worth doing. And uh, like we just went to our third staff, uh, member wedding on Friday. So we've had three of our seven members get married. And it's always fun. What's always fun is like, it [00:23:00] sounds, sounds weird. To see other people's families and like know that person and like see what their parents are like, and like their brothers and their friends.

And it's, it's like, it just makes it more tangible. Like these are real people, you know, and they are living lives outside of just the office and like you're just supporting that in, in some way. So it's really cool to be a part of that and, and to be able to plan with them and, and do things. And I'm sure like they probably are excited to do that with you.

It's not like a staff meeting. Could you imagine, dude, if I had a three hour staff meeting in the. I would've been dreading it and now I've been drinking so much coffee trying to stay awake. But like, these are fun things to do. Like what? Like what did you guys go over? Give us an idea of what you spent three hours

Russ: on.

Yeah. Yeah. So I think you know too, and it went a lot faster than I thought, man, like I had a lot of this stuff kind of planned out agenda. I'm like, I couldn't get to like a quarter of it. Right? So we kinda just talked about know, like what are some big ticket items we wanna kinda focus on, right? Like, The, the people that we're serving, how can we continue to better serve them?

Is it through digital products? Is it through still in-person stuff? Is it like, how can we, um, nurture some of these relationships to, to [00:24:00] get them from a prospective client or prospective athlete to an actual client and athlete of ours so that we can help them, you know, however they, how are they see fit, how, however we see fit, right?

And so we kind of talked about some of that stuff. We talked about, hey, from a system standpoint, we talked about, um, Juliet Ette and, and Asana and all these different like backend systems to make sure. Hey, cuz again, let's, let's be honest, we're a very, very high touchpoint type of practice and we do that, um, intentionally and, and because we feel like when we do that we significantly separate ourselves from, from the crowd, right?

The fact that we can kind of reach out to people and feel like they we're a sounding board for them. Like that matters. And, and people like our retention rate because of that. Like people value that. Um, and so again, I always talk about like value is what a person perceives. Not much more what we, what we perceive it in terms of what we do.

Um, and so, you know, I think the important part is these meetings that we talked about. We talked about social media strategy. We talk all about all these things, like you have to be present. If you want people to find you, you have to be present somewhere, whether you're doing workshops in the community, [00:25:00] whether you've got a digital following, whether you're doing newsletters, blogs, whatever it may be.

People need to find you somehow. Right? And so if we're not going the traditional route of going to lunches with doctors or, or doing all these different things, How else are we gonna have people find us? And so that's where we kind of leverage our skillset in that manner and talk to people's, like discomfort, talk to people's issues with whatever, whatever's going on with them.

And if it can be relatable to them, they're like, oh, let's maybe have a conversation more about how best we can kind of work together. And that's what we're looking for, just to have a conversation. We know that there's gonna be people that maybe don't wanna work with us, and that's totally fine, right?

But if we can then direct them in, uh, a manner. Is best suited for what they wanna do long term, even if not working with us or not. That's someone we've impacted in the community that hopefully then takes more accountability with their own health. Um, and so, you know, I think it's, it's a, it's a fruitful mindset, right?

It's a growth mindset, not scarcity, right? Like people always wanted, like I remember early on too, when I first started the practice, I'm like, man, I need to get people in the door. I need to get as many people in the door [00:26:00] as they can so that we can sustain this because, We've got kids to feed at home.

We've got, you know, we've got, we've got a family, right? And that was what our priority was, is to be able to take care of our family. And that still continues to be the priority. Right. And so, you know, it just, it just makes like our, it makes our mission that much more important to make sure we can kind of get it out to community.

Well, I

Danny: think you bring up something that's interesting too, is um, there's, there's the right kind of person for what we do, and then there's the wrong kind of person for what we do. Yeah. And early on it's just everybody, like, I'll work with anybody. Right. And what you sort of realize at a certain point when you're, you know, it, it, you're not just trying to just whatever, put food on the table.

Uh, and you have a, a business that is supporting you guys is. There's, there's the right kind of people that are just amazing to work with, and there's, there's the people that will just frustrate you and are better off going somewhere else, you know? And there there's this concept of like the, the red velvet rope policy Yep.

Of, you know, your business. And, you know, we kind of all understand that after we work with [00:27:00] people of what the avatar looks like and you know who they are, and, and again, like to your point, Where do they exist? You know, in a physical sense, where do they exist in the digital world? Where they're spending time, where, where are they consuming content?

Where are these things where we can start to build these relationships outside of just these physician visits, like lunch and learns with a physician and hoping they send us some referrals, like we have to be. A little different about how we're marketing these things Nice. And how we're having conversations.

Right. And, and, uh, cause it's, it's not, it's not the same model at all. And I think o one area you guys have done a really good job with is in the golf niche. So, you know, for, for you, like, how'd you get into that, uh, in the first place and, you know, where have you found the most success with the golf niche as far as getting golfers into the, in the practice?

Sure.

Russ: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, two years into, uh, us opening the practice, um, we had a client of ours, and again, so we, we do a lot of work and I think we would consider our niches to be hockey, golf, and then acls. Uh, acls relatively new, but we've had a massive influx there, and I think we can make a, a significant headway in that space.

Yeah. Um, [00:28:00] but with regards to, like we, we saw a lot of sport athletes, right. And golf just had a very, very strong correlation with hockey. Right. In terms of. No sports hip related issues, low back related issues. So it seemed to be a pretty, um, easy transition for us. But I had a client of mine who, uh, was a golfer, was having issues, uh, got him better feeling really, really good.

And he just basically said, Hey, listen, I think you should reach out to, uh, the fitness director in about, about eight or nine miles down the road. I think you guys would be a great fit. And so I, I met with him, um, at it, it's a local, uh, country club there, and it was private. And so we kind of got to talking and he is like, listen, I think you'd be a perfect person to kind of have here.

Right? And so I'm the. PT provider at a country club in a private, uh, country club in Rochester. And, uh, it's been really, really cool and it's given me a lot of opportunities, you know, uh, when the pandemic hit, I remember we, us talking about the podcast, right? So we've got a pain-free golf performance podcast.

And that podcast, um, actually landed me the strength conditioning job for the, the, the college att to teach at. Right? The, the head coach came on our podcast. He's like, Love what you do, would love you [00:29:00] to kind of actually work directly with our kids. And so that afforded me an opportunity that I never would've thought possible, right?

So now I'm a strength conditioning coach for, uh, the men's and women's golf team for, for Nas Worth College, right? So, you know, these are all things that, um, I never really kind of thought possible when we first kind of dipped our toes into it. And again, I play golf, I love golf. Um, did I think it was gonna be a niche of ours?

Um, maybe, but I didn't think it would happen that soon. And so it organically kind of happened, um, because of the relationship that we kind of built in the community. And so, uh, you know, we've got a lot of plans for our golfers, especially now in Rochester. Like it's 40 degrees here. Right. Let's, let's be honest, the, the offseason, the off season kicking is kicking in pretty fast.

So we've got a lot of plans for our golfers, and I think here's a problem with, uh, I see with a lot of golfers is that. You know, when you talk about paying to golfers, they don't care so much about discomfort or pain, right? They'll play through that all the time. Um, they care more about being out, driven by their buddy, or, or they care about, um, you know, someone hitting them, uh, a lot further.

Or let's say their driver is going as far as their seminar, right? So [00:30:00] like they care about more the performance side of stuff. Right. And so when, again, when you talk about the narrative and, and the, the language I need to use, yes, it can be about discomfort to an extent. But at the same point in time as, Hey, listen, if you're losing club head speed, if you're losing distance, those are the, the pain points that golfers struggle with, and those are the things that they want to kind of clean up before the season starts again.

And so that's what we've kind of, we've transitioned a little bit more, and I know again, a, a mastermind member in our group, Kevin O'Connor, he's a huge golfer, uh, you know, impact PT performance out in California and. So him and I can always kinda have these conversations about, Hey, how can we best kind of serve this clientele?

How can we serve him in a manner that makes the most sense? And is it always about pain? And so like when we kind of, you know, have um, kind of marketed or di did different things in terms of marketing, you know, pain didn't really hit very well. Um, but when you talked about, hey, if you're losing club head speed, if you're losing distance, Reach out to us that had a lot more of a attraction and that built more of a following and an opportunity to have conversations with people.

So I think a lot of times when you focus so much on discomfort and [00:31:00] pain, yeah, that can lead maybe to a, a, a conversation. But when you talk about performance, you talk about on, on the chorus, things like that, that is completely different. And golfers as well, you know, I know you started out with golf there too, doing personal training at some point in time with, with golfers, like I.

It comes down to I don't want to lose what I already have. Right. And if, if, if they're losing more of that, especially as they age, that doesn't sit well with a golfer and they'll do whatever it takes to get it.

Danny: That's, you know, that's just such good advice as far as verbiage goes because, You know, when, when we look at marketing, it's basically just like communicating what we can help people with, but Right, right.

If you can use the, the words, like the words and the phrases that the people you're using are actually telling you is that there's so much power to that, you know, in regards to, um, what you think they want to hear and what they actually. Want to hear. Right, right, right. You said it's, it has nothing necessary to do with pain as much as it does with performance or [00:32:00] longevity or the ability to, you know, still be competitive.

And, um, and, and for a lot of people, they don't realize that, like, they don't actually like talk to people or use any of that in their, in their own marketing. So I think that's really helpful. The, the other piece for this is like, I think for a lot of people with golf, they assume, number one, I, I, I've played golf for a long time.

I wouldn't say I'm like the most avid golfer. Sure. I just grew up, I just grew up on military bases and there were free golf clinics every summer. So my brother, sister and I all went to golf clinics by the time that we were, you know, seven basically. Um, but I do know that there's a, there's a certain lingo, there's a certain understanding of the game.

It's, it's like CrossFit, right? It's like understanding if, if you don't do CrossFit, it's very hard for you to understand how to like, evaluate somebody doing an Olympic lifts. Absolutely. Um, and, and if you don't play golf, uh, I think it's hard for. Getting that niche and, and even though it might be a, a viable niche in your area course, uh, if so, so if somebody isn't necessarily like the most avid golfer and they wanna learn more about [00:33:00] it, it seems like the TPI route is where a lot will go.

You've been through some of it. How, how would you, you know, explain that? Would you recommend that people go through that, uh, as well? And do you see much value to it?

Russ: Yeah. And mean, I think, you know, with regards to, and again, obviously you talk about these different certification certifications that are out there, like TPI is, in terms of like the golf niche, it's, it's pretty well known, right?

There's other things that are out there, but everyone relatively knows the highest performance institute, right? And so I'm actually doing my, my last track of, uh, so they have different tracks, right? Everyone takes level one and then they go fitness, golf or, or medical, right? And so, um, they have three different tracks.

So I did medical two, I'm doing medical three actually. The, the, here's the beauty about this, the mastermind group that we're in. Right, right. When I go out to California, I'm gonna hang out with Dave PKIs. Yeah. Dad Duel and Kevin O'Connor. Right. Like, so that we're all kind of meeting together when I'm out there because, you know, we've, we've had that relationship with the mastermind group, which is, which is, uh, again, another maybe for another podcast.

But, um, I think TPI I is definitely a good place to go. And again, level one now. Because of this whole Covid pandemic, they've, they've changed it to [00:34:00] more virtual and digital. Um, so the access to it is that much even more accessible, right? So I definitely think if you're looking to get into golf, like, no.

Again, don't get me wrong, if you're like your, you know, uh, uh, s scs, stuff like that, like that, that can go well. But I think a lot of times you have to talk to language of a golfer, right? Like if, if, let's say your, your niche is CrossFit, and then all of a sudden you wanna get into golf. Like who, like what's the lingo you need to use to make sure that like, like people will see right through you if you're not talking the language that you, you need to be talking.

Right? So, um, I think that becomes really important. It's like understand the game, understand what goes into the game in terms of a, Hey, listen, if I'm coming over the top or if I'm early extending or if I'm sliding or sweat, like you need to know that terminology. So that golfers can relate that to you as well, because if you don't relate that to them, then all of a sudden, like they don't feel like that, that connection is as strong and they might not be able to work with you long term.

Right. So I definitely think t b I is a good place to go. Um, that's usually kind of what I recommend to students that are looking to kind of get into the golf niche. There's no question about it. Um, and then from there like just continue to kind of just. [00:35:00] At the end of the day, it's still an orthopedic issue, right?

So, um, yes. You know, like we could talk about performance, but at some point in time they'll probably bring up their shoulder discomfort. They'll probably bring up their rights at a low back discomfort because they, they kind of swear a slide because they're lacking lead, hip turn rotation or whatever it may be, right?

So, You know, still understand like, yes, we're talking about performance, we're talking about golf. At the same point in time, they still have orthopedic issues that can be managed just by being in that performance-based model. So, um, I definitely think TPI is a good place to go, but still understand like you still need a, a good skill set in, in terms of managing people, but also managing orthopedic issues too.

Danny: Yeah. Um, You know, to not, not to switch gears in psoriatic golf, but you, what you brought up with the Mastermind, I think is interesting that, you know, I, I, I, uh, I wanna touch on for a second, and it's just the, the p the, the power of, of a network of people. Sure. You know, that, uh, that, that you can tap into and, and you bring up just going into a ConEd course and all of a sudden you're gonna go probably get some great tacos with everybody.

Right? Right. Like, that's a, every time I see Dave, [00:36:00] we eat amazing tacos and. It, it's, it's just, maybe it's the area, but Dave's a Taco Ninja. So I think that like, when you look at that, and it's something that I, I absolutely didn't put much, um, of an emphasis on early on whenever I was in, uh, in, in practice.

When I went into business for myself, I had this idea. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna grind this out. I'm, you know, I'm gonna suffer in silence. I'm gonna just do all these things and figure it out. I feel like asking for help or, or, or like investing in what I didn't know and trying to build my sort of skillsets and network, it was almost like, um, You know, it was almost like I was like giving in to some degree and really it was just like ego was what drove me from that.

Right. And at this point, I've been in a handful of different business groups, been in coaching, and I have, I have friends from that kind of all over the country. Not as well as just the mastermind group that, that we run. Sure. Um, What, what, what do you feel like the, the power of that is? Aside from obviously, you know, the business side and you, you know, you [00:37:00] seeing results and improvements Yeah.

In, in those aspects as far as revenue goes, but, you know, what do you feel like the, the, the non sort of hard metric benefits are from actually being involved with a group of people that are kind of going through the same thing?

Russ: Yeah, I mean, I think when you look at the, the private pay model, like it's, it's a low, a road less travel, right?

So, I remember when I first started the company, I don't think there was anyone in Rochester that was doing like a private pay model. And so, um, you know, again, you have a lot of people that are kind of naysayers and they're like, eh, I'm not sure that's gonna work. People aren't willing, gonna pay more than the copay, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And so sometimes you need to kind of tune that out. But then if you're on an island by yourself and then you're like, I have no one else to kind of bounce ideas off of who are going through the same thing. Stuff like that. Like that is where the value lies. In terms of this mastermind group, you know, Dave, um, Dave was the, the one who uh, first kind of told me like, Hey, I think you should maybe be considering this.

And so, um, I remember joining and then once I joined, I taught to Z and z. I'm like, Hey man, you should [00:38:00] probably join this. And then, you know, so like, it's just funny. When you're surrounded by the right type of people that have the same type of vision as you do, as motivated as you are to change the culture of what's going on in pt, um, or in healthcare in general.

Um, that's really powerful. And so, you know, again, you know, Kevin, uh, Dave and Z and I, we've had this Vox, ongoing Vox and we always, we always kind of talk about who has the longest boxer and we just have the competition now. Um, but it's, it's, it's an ongoing conversation that we've had now for three years.

You know, I've been the mastermind group now for three years. Um, I wouldn't trade it for the world. There's no question about it. Like, having these people and, and that are in your community, that understand what you're going through and are living it with you. Like, there's, you can't, you can't replace that.

And as much as, you know, you maybe kind of talk to people outside of the healthcare industry and stuff like that, when you have people that are doing exactly what you're doing, it makes a huge difference in terms of one, your mental fortitude to continue to kind of just kind of push and push and push to kind of see what works.

Um, but just make sure that. [00:39:00] One, you can also also check in with these people and make sure they're good too. Right? And that, that's, that's really powerful for me. And that's why again, the mastermind group that we've been in, um, it's been invaluable, like the Dallas Mastermind event and Atlanta, but prior to that and Charleston, like, these are all events that you get an opportunity to kind of sit in the same room with people that have the same vision as you do.

And that, um, within itself is really powerful. I couldn't ask for more in terms of all these little like side kind of, you know, groups that we've had from the mastermind group. It's been really, really.

Danny: Yeah, it's, it's something that, um, you know, I wish it, I wish we would've had something like this whenever I was, uh, the, the first few years in Sure.

In practicing. I mean, we, we kind of like, you know, one of my mentors are like, look, if you, if you can't, if it's not there, you might have to build it. Right? Like, and that's kinda, it's kinda what happened. And, um, but, but what's, what I find, you know, kind of interesting and just kind of being a part of this, obviously I'm very biased, but the, the ability to connect with other performance-based clinicians, um, You know, that are [00:40:00] also in business for themself Yeah.

Is, it's just such a narrow group of people that it, you know, at least for me, like if I go to like an p t a event or something like that, I kind of just don't really feel like I'm in the right spot. Sure. And if I go to a, like an N S C A conference, I, I still, I still feel that way. Sure. I don't really feel like I'm.

Around the right group of people, you know? Right. And, and, uh, and then I go, you know, I'm in, I'm in other masterminds myself as a member, and I go there and it's like, these are all my entrepreneur friends, but I can't really talk like, they're not necessarily into the same thing as me. So, sure. It's just been fun for me, honestly.

Like I get so much enjoyment out of getting together with all of you guys. Like, it's like, it's, it's probably. My wife thinks it's weird how much I enjoy going to, you know, these work events that are like, I get so excited about 'em because it's just like the right people in the right place and the amount of benefit that comes from that.

And I, I, I would, you know, really encourage anybody that's trying to do something on their own, isn't it? She have to be our community. But like trying to find a community of people that [00:41:00] is both, um, optimistic, positive, but also. Hold you accountable for shit that you are gonna make up. Because like, that's the other big part of it is, is if you, if everybody, it's, everything is hard.

And if you want to make excuses about why this hasn't happened or why somebody's further ahead of you or what, or like really the, the score is so arbitrary too. It's like who knows what winning is. It just depends on what you qualify that as. But like, define a group of people that's supportive but also.

In a positive way stops you from just making shit up that, of, of, of excuses of why things aren't going your way. Like that's just, it's just hard to find and it's so, so helpful. Yeah,

Russ: no question. It's the account, the accountability piece. Um, In the right manner I think is important. Right? Right. So like there, there are people that like will hold you accountable and then maybe kind of, you know, you know, break you down a little bit.

And then there are people that hold you accountable, but obviously have a, have some optimism and positivity to it. And that is what it's always about. Right? And so, um, like I [00:42:00] said, I, that, that piece of it that I've been able to experience over these last couple of years, being in this group, um, has been huge and massive.

Not only for me personally, but also professionally too. It just gives me an opportunity to not feel sorry for. Like, Hey, listen, there are other people that, um, you, it could always be worse, right? And so when you are in it and you're struggling a little bit, know that you're doing it for a, a bigger cause, bigger than yourself and, you know, start soon.

I think that's the, the hard part too. People just continue to kind of just draw things out. I'm not ready, uh, I'm not sure if I can take the plunge like, Just do it. Honestly, I probably would've, looking back at it, you know, I probably would've started sooner now, now that we're, we're, and again, obviously understanding the struggles and the hardships, like I still will do it all over again.

Yeah. Right. Because it's, it's, it's ours, right? We, we are doing what we think is really impactful for our community and so, Uh, I definitely think starting sooner than later, and I know a lot of people in this group are like, Hey, well, you know, uh, I don't know. Maybe you're not, you know, they're doing it as a side hustle.

So like, sometimes you just need to go all in. And by [00:43:00] doing that, it puts the pressure on you to then perform. Right. And, and when you do that, when you ha don't have a security blanket, you don't have a netting to, to kind of catch you. If, if something kind of slips up, you gotta get it. Right. Right. Yeah. And that's why having a community to hold you accountable, have some structure, have a framework to kind of work off of that becomes really.

Danny: Well, fear's a strong motivator as, as weird as that might sound like, it will definitely drive you, especially if you have a family. I mean, I remember like that's a, that is a real thing. Like you come home and. You know, you, you maybe took the easy path on something you know, you should have done differently and, and you got a couple reasons that are staring back at you as to why you should have done what you're supposed to do.

You know? And, and, uh, so I, I think that's, um, I think that's huge. And, and, you know, for you also, I just kinda wanna highlight what your practice has been able to help you guys do. And I know that, you know, the, the path to eradicating your student loan debt has been something you guys have been on for a while.

And I believe the last time we talked, I think you guys were on track to have everything paid off the end of this year. Is that,

Russ: And this [00:44:00] year? Yeah. So we started, uh, we did the old Dave Ramsey kind of financial peace university thing, uh, I think two and a half years ago now. And. Um, at the beginning I think we had around $160,000 of student loan debt.

Um, and yeah, based on our metrics, we're going to be done with it in December. Um, and so what's what's crazy too is, you know, a lot of people are like, well, why? You know, like, well, listen, everything's paused 0%. And like, like, like, I'm like, no, now's the time to do it. Like, get it done now before all of a sudden the interest rates come in and it becomes a nightmare.

Like you can never rely on the government to, to do anything for you. Right? So, sure. Um, we took it upon ourselves to kind of really be all in. Uh, again, I thank my wife for that cause she was like, listen, we need to kind of change this in order to build generational wealth. Uh, we can't have all this debt just kinda hanging over our head.

And I know a lot of student PT students, like even the college that I teach at, like people are coming out with a massive amount of student loan debt and really the job market either locally or in the New York area, it doesn't reflect what you can do to potentially pay all that stuff off. Right? And so maybe that's even across the country too.

[00:45:00] So, you know, what are you doing to make sure that you can live a life that you want and. I think, you know, if you spent seven years in PT school or six years in PT school, like you want to be, you want to reap the, the fruits of your labor, right? And, and if you're not able to do that, because your market is saying you can only do this in a traditional setting, then like you said, you gotta create it, right?

If it's not there currently, you gotta create it and you gotta make the most of it, right? So, Uh, yeah, we're really, I mean, we're pumped like, like our, we have like this dead snowman, our kids color in every time we go pay off a student loan, right? So now we've got one left and the kids know, like, when that thing goes, like we're gonna have a big old celebration, right?

So, um, again, it's impactful for our family. It's impactful for our business. Our business is What has been the X factor though? Like, right. Again, the opportunity to grow this business and have it be in a place, place where we can now. Really kind of build, you know, some of the, the wealth that we want to kind of build for our family and moving forward.

Like it's been really, it's

Danny: been huge. Well, I, you know, I get this question a lot from students, um, about student debt, right? And, and they're [00:46:00] like, how do I pay this off faster? You know? And, um, I, there really, there's only a couple options. It's either. Basically spend as minimal money as possible, right? So, you know, if you, if you want to go as far as the envelope Dave Ramsey system, you know, like, just make sure you're, you, you got a sound relationship before you go that route.

I'd that for, for quite some time in San Antonio. And that's a difficult thing to follow. But, but say, let's say you're fiscally responsible. But the fastest way, honestly, to pay off debt is to be physically responsible, but make a shit load more money. Like, correct. That's it, right? So if you wanna eradicate debt quickly, you have to make more money that you can then throw at this, that, you know, debt that you have to get rid of it as fast as possible.

I mean, that's, that's really. The fastest way that we've seen, and some people that we, we work with even within the Mastermind, and they're coming out two, $300,000 in debt and they almost don't have a choice but to start a business and make it successful in order to get [00:47:00] out from underneath that because it's such a massive amount of debt to start their, their career out with.

You know, and I, I, I just can't imagine, man, I, I had student loans from undergrad, but then, you know, I went, I went to school in the Army, so I didn't have debt from un uh, from grad school. I. Time debt that I owed the Army, which is a slightly different thing, but Sure. It, it, once that was done, it was, it was done.

And I'm, you know, I'm really, uh, glad that we, that we went that direction from, just, just in that aspect many other ways too. But I think that what you guys have done has just proved that, you know, fiscal responsibility, three kids, you know, like, and then, and then a practice that. Putting you in a place where you're able to, to bring home more money, but put that towards the things you're gonna set you up and now you guys are gonna have, when that's done, like the, the, the super cool part about this, when that's gone, you know, you guys, number one.

Can do some, you should take your kiss to Disney and do something super frequent. Right? Right. But that may be one month of what you're used to saving. You spend on a trip and now every month you have this excess of [00:48:00] income. Yeah. That goes directly towards things that are gonna work for you and build long-term generational wealth, which is very, very rare in our profession, frankly, because the income level's just not there.

So I think that's,

Russ: Yeah, I think, um, you know, again, hasn't been easy, right? But understanding where, where your resources are and being responsible, knowing what your budget is so that you can kind of plan around that. Like, people always say like, well, you know, my budget doesn't work. I'm like, well, who is that a, is that a, is that a me problem or is that a you problem?

Right? So having a budget's important so that you know what you can actually spend money on. And then outside of that, you're throwing all the money towards whatever, like student loan debt or whatever that may be, right? So, yeah, like I think, um, Listen, we weren't overly responsible about our student loan debts early on in our careers, but now with, with three kids and having to, you know, looking at college tuition and all these different things, like, that's, that's, that's wearing on us, right?

And so we wanna make sure that we can be able to be in a position to help support our kids. And, um, that's what it's all about. It's what's always been about from the, from the get-go, right? So the fact that we're in this [00:49:00] position, like, like, we're right here and like, it's, it's been a long haul, but at the same point in time, like it's, it's gonna be really, really, uh, it's gonna be awesome once we're done with it.

Yeah.

Danny: That's amazing. It's huge. Um, Russ, this has been, this has been a lot of fun, man. I feel like we could talk for forever. I know you, you've got plenty of things to do and I wanna be respectful of your time. Uh, where can people find out more about you if they're interested in kinda, you know, reaching out, maybe they're, you know, if they're in the area and they got a, an uncle that wants to get their shoulder checked out or something like that.

Or, or maybe they're interested in learning more and, and potentially coming to work with, uh, you know, with the company. So where can they reach out to you?

Russ: Yeah, so you can find us on Instagram. That's where we're probably most active. It's, uh, at man and performance. Um, you can just email me too if you want.

It's just ross minute performance therapy.com. Um, again, you know, I think young clinicians, students that are in, like, you gotta start thinking about what your plan is. And if you're not thinking about it yet, um, then you need to start, you know, there's plenty of ways to leverage your skillset and, and.

Outside of just the traditional practice, um, especially now more than ever. [00:50:00] Right. So I definitely think, um, if you have any questions about any of that stuff, I would love, I mean, again, I, I wore a lot of different hats. You know, I did fantasy football, injury analysis, I did all these different things just to make things work, right?

And so if you put yourself in that position where maybe you're a little vulnerable, but ultimately you, you get your name out there, that's a big opportunity for you, right? So, um, I definitely would love to kind of, you. Talk with anyone that needs maybe some guidance and, and, and figuring things out for sure.

Cool.

Danny: That's it, man. Generous for your time. Thank you so much for doing that. Uh, thanks for your, for your time today. I know you come off a three hour meeting, you roll right into this doesn't even seem like you're tired, man. Great. Great.

Russ: No worries.

Danny: Well, it's all good. So, well guys, thank you so much for listening as always, and uh, we'll catch you next week.

Thanks, Russ. Got him in.

Hey, Pete, entrepreneurs. We have big, exciting news, a new program that we just came out with that is our PT Biz part-time to full-time, five day challenge. Over the course of five days, we get you [00:51:00] crystal clear on exactly how much money you need to replace by getting you a. Ultra clear on how much you're actually spending.

We get you crystal clear on the number of people you're getting to see, and the average visit rate you're going to need to have in order to replace your income to be able to go full-time. We go through three different strategies that you can take to go from part-time to full-time, and you can pick the one that's the best for you based on your current situation.

Then we share with you the sales and marketing systems that we use within our mastermind that you need to have as well. If you wanna go full-time in your own practice. And then finally we help you create a. Page business plan. That's right. Not these 15 day business plans. You wanna take the Small Business Association, a one day business plan that's gonna help you get very clear on exactly what you need to do and when you're gonna do it to take action.

If you're interested and sign up for this challenges, totally free. Head to physical therapy biz.com/challenge. Get signed up there. Please enjoy. We put a lot of energy into this. It's totally free. It's something I think is gonna help you tremendously, as long as you're willing to do the work. If you're doing, [00:52:00] doing the work and you're.

Information put down and getting yourself ready to take action in a very organized way, you will have success, which is what we want. So head to physical therapy biz.com/challenge and get signed up today. Hey, real quick before you go, I just wanna say thank you so much for listening to this podcast, and I would love it if you got involved in the conversation.

So this is a one one-way channel. I'd love to hear back from you. I'd love to get you. Into the group that we have formed on Facebook. Our PT Entrepreneurs Facebook group has about 4,000 clinicians in there that are literally changing the face of our profession. I'd love for you to join the conversation, get connect with other clinicians all over the country.

I do live trainings in there with Eve Gigi every single week, and we share resources that we don't share anywhere else outside of that group.

So if you're serious about being a PT entrepreneur, a clinical rainmaker, head to that group. Get signed up. Go to facebook.com/groups/ptentrepreneur, or go to Facebook and just search for PT Entrepreneur. And we're gonna be the only group that pops up under that.