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E194 | The Top 5 Lessons Learned From 5 Years In Business

Jun 04, 2019
cash based physical therapy, danny matta, physical therapy biz, ptbiz, cash-based practice, cash based, physical therapy

On episode 194, I am joined by my wife, Ashley, as we discuss the 5 lessons we have learned from running our own business.

We discuss how much we have learned and how little we knew about business.  One of the key takeaways from this episode is you constantly have to be evolving and willing to learn to be able to grow in business.

Ready to elevate your practice? Book a call at the link below with one of our expert consultants today and start your journey to delivering unparalleled physical therapy.

Episode Transcription:

All right, we're going to get this started a little different than we usually do.  Doc Danny here, I want to say, first of all, thanks so much for listening, but also, this is an extraordinary podcast for me. And the reason why is because my beautiful wife Ashley, has decided to come on the podcast for the second time in how many years have I had podcasts going now, including the Doc and Jock for years.

So here's the context behind this and the reason why she finally said yes. We are celebrating our fifth year in business.

Yep. There we go. We popped open a bottle of wine, and tomorrow we're having a fifth-anniversary party. And, We, w we want to talk about what we've learned over those, those five years. And I wrote a blog post on this as well, for ours. For our, our website for our company's website. And you can go and read that if you'd like.

But we're going to go through the five things that, that, that we've learned, we find most important over, those five years. And Ashley didn't write this with me, so yeah. So she's just going to stand here while I, while I talk and still probably say nothing cause that sound cool.

Perfect. No. So, we've learned a lot, and it's funny looking back. How much we just didn't know. Getting started into having our own business, and probably five years from now, as we look back and maybe we do ten-year podcasts or blog posts, we'll probably look back and think to ourselves, man, we didn't know what we were doing.

Maybe we'll do it from the moon. Maybe. Perhaps we'll do it from the moon. That's a perfect way to put it. Perhaps we'll be eating our food and pills, little pills, and yeah. By that point, we'll probably all be like the wall. The people. Yeah. In, in, in wheelchairs moving around. So I, I lost my train of thought.

Oh yeah. How much, how much we just didn't know. Right. I think about that. Imagine or not imagine, but just like to bring yourself back. June of 2014. How scared were you?

Ashley: [00:05:04] Well, I'll keep it real. I had some postpartum depression. I think I was in another space entirely.

Danny: [00:05:12] Wow.

Ashley: [00:05:13] I just thought, yeah, he'll be fine.

I've got other shit to worry about.

Danny: [00:05:16] Yeah, yeah. That was rough after Maggie. I mean like that lasted for quite a while, and as timing is just what like, I mean, there's no good time. It was funny when people were like, Oh, it's on time. Yet when I hear people that I'm talking to, it's like, dude, you think the time was right for us.

A good time wasn't good at all, and it's just a matter of. Deciding you're going to start something. You know we did, we did a coaching call with people that are in our blueprint program the other night, and it was on mindset. And so many people on that call hadn't even started, hadn't yet found a spot where they were going to start their practice.

And it's like, what are you waiting for? And honestly, they're just scared, you know? I mean, primarily they're just afraid of failure, rejection, not knowing what to do next and everyone would do it. Yeah. I think that's good. Where to put it. Right. So, so looking back, I mean, it's, it's funny how much, I feel like we've evolved and learned and we spent a lot of time learning about business.

Honestly. I mean, think about how much,

Ashley: [00:06:16] you can't just sit back and be comfortable, and you continuously have to be evolving.

Danny: [00:06:21] I feel like whenever things are comfortable, I get anxious.

Ashley: [00:06:24] Yeah. Not very comforting for me.

Danny: [00:06:28] It's kind of weird, isn't it? No. It's weird. Like for me, when, when I'm like, man, we're kind of cruising.

Something's wrong. Like why am I not, I need something to try to like learn or grow and, and that doesn't come from comfort. That comes from just discomfort and stress. Yeah. You know, and an enjoyable way. Let me put it that way because I think of it this way. If you'd go back and you could trade out me staying in the army for another five years, and you working for nonprofits and us bouncing around the country, you would, you do it.

I wouldn't do it at all. And I enjoyed my time in the army. I, you know, I like do both your military

Ashley: [00:07:08] spouse, I loved that we were both raised military brats, and our kids were going to be military brats, but I guess it's just. I don't know. I knew you had a calling.

Danny: [00:07:19] Yeah, I, I, I, I just don't know how I even function in an organization that big.

I looked back, and I think to myself, I was continually trying to rage against the machine from the inside. I was like continuously working to do something and then beg for forgiveness, and I realize that now I was probably tough to have as an employee. Yup. Right. Exactly. Cause like right now I'm your employee and I'm like the, Oh, it's like, do you want me to do something?

And I always had to fight this urge to want to do the exact opposite of that. And it's something, you know, we see it with our son is the same way at this point. So, so

Ashley: [00:07:54] let's get back to this. Yeah.

Danny: [00:07:56] Let's, let's dive into what we're, what we're talking about. And, and The first one that, that we'll get into is, is this, this idea of making decisions based on how you would want your family to be treated.

And this was this is a core tenant of what we believe in and how we make decisions with people in our practice. And a lot of it, I would say, came from my experience in the military. I've seen such lousy healthcare experiences, you know, I mean, you and I have both had our fair share of that, and I've been on the.

The clinical side of that. And, you know, I remember talking to one of my bosses about customer service, and they're just like, this is a military clinic. Don't worry about that, you know? And that was the response, you know? So, what, what does that, what does that mean for you?

Ashley: [00:08:43] For me, I mean, I feel very comfortable telling anyone to come work at our clinic, work with any of our PTs, whether it's Jackie, Jacob, Ravi, Danny, if he's seeing patients anymore, I don't know.

I'll have to, and I'm going to have to check the schedule. But in all honesty, knowing that there's a place in the Atlanta area where I feel 100%. Comfortable sending my family and my brothers worked with our PT, so I just know that they're going to get the best quality care. And you can't say that for every clinic, and it makes me feel good knowing that we've created a facility like that for people.

Danny: [00:09:22] Yeah, I would say that. Yep. You're welcome. I would say that as well as, You know, us being able, when we tell somebody this is what we need, this is what we're going to do, and this is how long we expect to see you—and knowing that, like that decision is solely based on. What we feel is, is necessary for that individual.

And this isn't a cookie-cutter example. Like, this is based on what you're showing up as. And based on our experience, this is how long we expect to see you. And. Also, Hey, you're not the right fit for this clinic. You should probably go somewhere else, and this is where you should go. Like, you know, for, for us to this day, we still do not charge people for office visits.

If they come to see us and they're in the wrong spot like we try to weed this stuff out on the phone as much as we can, but if we feel like it's systemic. And it's not something that is in our wheelhouse or that needs to be referred out. We don't charge them for an office visit. They may be there for 30 to 60 minutes, and it's, we just don't do it because we don't feel like they're not in our wheelhouse.

They just deserve to go to the right place, and they didn't, they didn't get there, via talking to us beforehand or someone else refers them, refer them there. And that one. I guess that that one decision, and I made this with a lady that was having some contract or some complications with that. She's, she had changed out an antidepressant that she had, and it correlated with the time when she started to have the shoulder issue.

And I started seeing her, and it looked like it wasn't, had nothing to do their shoulder. And I sent her back to her primary care manager, and it turns out that's what it was. They changed medication, problem solved. And I didn't charge her for that. And this was like probably six months into starting our practice and trust me, and I needed to charge her for that.

Like I needed them. I needed the opposite visit. Revenue and I decided not to do that because I just didn't think it was, I didn't know it was a fair, honest, and I thought, man, would I want, if this was my mom. Is this what I wish to that person just to say like, okay, I don't think you're appropriate for this clinic.

I should have probably caught this talking on the phone before, and then now I've wasted your time and my time best. The kind of most appropriate thing I can do is just not charge you for it. And I didn't do that. But you know what? That lady eventually ended up sending her husband to see us. And you know, it's, it's just because we made a decision based on what's best long term.

And too often, people make these decisions based on. Short term, Oh, I have to make this much, whatever revenue or these number of visits, and they forget they're dealing with another human being and that that's going to remember that right.

Ashley: [00:11:44] And is that will pay off too. Like you don't know how many people we've seen, which we haven't seen a ton of people that we have not charged.

But then that is a, Oh, you've got to see athletes potential. They're great. It's just another customer service benefit to your business.

Danny: [00:11:59] Well, it also comes down to like the customer experience, and we talk a lot about this, especially over the last, like what year? Six, six to 12 months, and don't end to this.

And, you know, that's big for us too. Like we want these clear. Channels of communication. You know, Ashley and Claire have worked hard on this and making sure that they're communicating with people on a level that is based on. What they're having issues, what they're having problems with, what they have to avoid, and their injury history and have taken the time to listen to them.

And, that's, that's also really rare, right? Like you go into your normal like practice, and what happens?

Ashley: [00:12:34] You don't even go in, you just call them, I need physical therapy. Great. Give me your name, your address, and your birthday. Cool. We'll see you on Tuesday. You have, you've got no clue what or they have no clue what you're even being seen for.

They don't give a shit. Yeah.

Danny: [00:12:49] You can curse on this podcast, by the way. It's wonderful.

Ashley: [00:12:53] Why I can't listen to it with our children because you curse so much.

Danny: [00:12:56] Well, you dropped a curse word. I haven't done it yet. Yeah. So

Ashley: [00:12:59] the kids aren't going to eat

Danny: [00:13:00] right. So it doesn't matter what we say. But, anyway, back to this.

So is that that's big. It's not just, you know, how you deal with the patient, but also how, what's their front end experience with the company. And for us, we want it to be super ultra-transparent. I think transparency is probably like, that's the best word to describe what we're trying to accomplish. Like, I don't want any surprises.

When you show up, I want you to realize what, what. You and I are both deciding that you know, is best for you. What our practice looks like, the way we work with people. I know what you can expect with us longterm. Like we want full transparency, and we don't want any surprises that are so common in healthcare where people get these bills, you know, a month later, and we've been there.

You get a bill a month later for like a thousand dollar blood test, and you're thinking, what the hell?

Ashley: [00:13:39] Yeah,

Danny: [00:13:40] yeah. No, happen

Ashley: [00:13:43] to comparison is the thief of joy. What you mean, though?

Danny: [00:13:47] Wow. You just, you're, you're, you're taken, taken the lead. I feel like I'm in our practice, and I'm working for you now.

Now, comparison's the thief of joy. That's a Teddy Roosevelt quote. And, I, I, I put this in here because I think this applies to so many things, but the being in business. Or especially early on, and I have to check myself from being from doing this now as well. But it's so easy, especially on social media to see what other people are doing or to listen to a podcast about what other people are doing, what technology they're using, what techniques they're using, all these different things or how their businesses doing and when they started their business and, and what revenue they're at now, or how many employees they have.

And, and it's so easy to sit there and compare where you're at in business. Or in your life, frankly, like on social media, you can make things look the way you want them to look. It doesn't necessarily mean that's actually how they are.

Ashley: [00:14:38] You can make your face look a certain way.

Danny: [00:14:41] Can you? Yeah. What do you mean?

Like just apps changes. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Ashley: [00:14:46] So yeah, you can make your business look,

Danny: [00:14:48] well, I don't know how to do any of that shit. So if you guys see me put a post up, no filter, hashtag no filter, always, I don't know how to do it. So, but when you start to take. Other people

Ashley: [00:15:00] when you're starting in the beginning,

Danny: [00:15:02] anytime, like even now, as I look at some of my friends that have, you know, eight nine-figure businesses, some of them, they're running these big businesses and.

Know, we sure to compare yourself to that nothing positive comes from, and all you're doing is you're wasting your energy on, you know, stressing out about something that you have no control over whatsoever. Instead of focusing your energy on trying to improve the thing that you do have control over.

And that is, that's the main focus that, yeah, you have to try to refocus on over and over and over again is what I can control? What am I chipping away at? What do I need to do this week? What's leading to the thing that I'm trying to accomplish this month, which is part of my yearly goal of achieving this thing and staying focused on you and your business or yourself, is personal development related.

Instead of, Oh, what's so-and-so doing? And it's so easy to go down that trail because working consistently on the things you can control is boring. Yeah. It's just, and it's annoying.

Ashley: [00:16:06] I just would say you have your own goals. Like we have our personal goals for Athlete's Potential. You don't know what the other person's business company is doing.

Like they could just be doing it for a hobby. So I just stay focused on you

Danny: [00:16:19] and your goals, knowing that you don't know if that other person is miserable. So, and, and assay and I are involved in this entrepreneur's group in Atlanta. And what's interesting is getting to meet these other business owners that are indifferent, different types of businesses.

And some of them I said to have very, very, big businesses. And I've met some people that have eight and nine-figure businesses that are utterly, utterly miserable to be around. Like they are. Unhappy people and all they have in their life that they focus on. The only thing. Is their business. And they w they work, and they work, and they work, and it's to distract

Ashley: [00:16:57] them.

Danny: [00:16:59] It distracts them from the reality that is everything else in their life sucks. So, you know, there's different things that and comparison. You compare a lot of stuff, right? But. How happy somebody, what's there over, what's their health like, you know, what's there, what's their actual like mind and body, you know?

And are they taking care of that? Or it's not just about the business or, you know, whatever else you might want to compare. But keep that in mind. There's nothing, nothing definite. And, and, and I wish that somebody would've told me this when I was much, much younger because I feel like, for most of my life, I would look at somebody that I thought, Oh, this person's better than me at this thing.

Like I need to work on these things to be better than them. And the reality is. And it wasn't always the right thing for me to work on. Do you know? And it's just, you can be competitive, and that's fine, but don't focus on other people. Focus on what you can control.

Ashley: [00:17:46] Don't let it sway you from your goals.

Danny: [00:17:48] Right. All right, go ahead. Show up

Ashley: [00:17:50] and listen.

Danny: [00:17:52] Go ahead. Do you want to lead?

Ashley: [00:17:55] No, I'm here to show up and listen.

Danny: [00:17:56] Oh, you're here too, Oh, you're here to do number three. So number three, show up and listen. So, I've learned this, if you can be punctual, that's very rare. If you can be on time and show up and do the if you do the things that you tell people you're going to do and you follow through on those, that's incredibly rare, and it shouldn't be. Oh, I have a story about this.

Ashley: [00:18:18] Yeah. So I talked to a guy, he called us up. And he wanted a sports psychologist for his son. And so he thought that that might be our wheelhouse. And so I started talking to him. And at first, I thought he was trying to tell me it was about an injury. So I was trying to figure out what it was and turns out it was a sports psychologist, which is what he needed.

So I reached out to a sports psychologist that we know well first I got his name and his phone number, and he's. Email and I told him that I would follow up with him, that we weren't the right fit for him. So I reached out to the sports psychologist that we know to see if she was taking new patients.

She was, I connected this guy and her. And then six months later, maybe more, he finally came back to us for himself, for physical therapy. And he came back because specifically of the care that I showed him initially, we never met in person. It was all over the phone from one phone. Call in one email. So little things like that, if you are taking the time, especially on the phone, and Claire does an excellent job of this as well.

Our front desk or our office manager. Figure out what's going on with them. If they're not the right fit for us, where they can't get in soon enough, we send them some videos that we think might be helpful after we check with the PTs—but just doing more than expected, which is also one of our core values.

So that from my perspective, the customer service aspect, that is where I think this is essential. And then I know that you have more to say from a patient. Standpoint,

Danny: [00:19:51] I'm just, I'm just standing here in awe of your beauty and intelligence, and only you crushed that. I mean, I, I don't know if it's like the light coming in from the window, but it's, or it's that you can see and hopefully it's obvious, like, why.

It's been so beneficial for Ashton. You'd be involved in this. It's fun. People are like, Oh, you've done all whatever within this business. That's not true. I, regularly, could screw this thing up if it wasn't for brassy, and you just got a chance to hear why, but she is an excellent example of, you know.

Following through on that too often, people would just say, Oh, you know, we're not the right fit for you. Good luck with that. Yeah, but for us taking the time like, no, we know a perfect sports psychologist. Let us connect her with you. It'd be good for her. So you get some business out of it. You're right for you.

This is what you're looking for. Solve the problem. We get nothing out of it. We asked for nothing in return. We're just trying to facilitate. You reached out for help, and we want to help you. We're just not the right fit for that, and we don't want you to waste our time coming in here either. Right? So like, let's get you to the right.

The right person. So that's huge. And that really could fall into, you know, following through. So show up and listen. So why are people calling? Why, why are people talking to you? Why are people in your office? You know, be quiet and let them tell their story. There, they're probably very frustrated.

Ashley: [00:21:05] One of our PTs, Jackie, is notorious for getting people to cry on her. And so yeah, we kind of have a running tally every couple of weeks about how many people have cried on.

Danny: [00:21:15] A lot. And I think people crying in your office is a perfect sign.

Ashley: [00:21:19] It means you're

Danny: [00:21:20] listening. Yeah. It means you're listening.

And it means that they are at least comfortable enough to express something that's been like really stressing them out and bothering them and, and look, we all know, yeah, okay. Some, they're coming in because of a musculoskeletal injury, but we're, we're very aware of that. You know the mental side of it, the chronic pain, research, in particular, looking at the way that.

The brain has such a powerful effect on the way the body feels. Then just being able to offload some of that stuff is just so beneficial from them moving towards the right direction, of getting, getting better. The last piece of this, and this is something that I'm very, very, and I'm a, I'm a big stickler for this is.

When we say show up and listen, we mean show up early beyond time and value other people's time. And there's, there's another provider that, that was in a cash-based practice right around the same time that we were in Atlanta early on. And we've probably seen, I don't know, ten patients from this person. It was people that were working with this person, and then she would renege on them.

And not show up or call them last minute that they couldn't be seen. And then next thing you know, they would reach out to us and we would, we never do that. Never, ever, ever do that. And it's because when you are late, or you abuse someone's time, you're showing them that you. You find your time more valuable than are you, and you are not respectful of their time.

And if somebody did that to me and I had to like find a babysitter for my kids or I cancel something else, I would be pissed, you know? So we look at that as, you know, that's something that you can control being on time and following through on the things that you say you're going to do. They just take some effort but can inconsistency, but you have to do them.

Ashley: [00:23:03] And if you, for whatever reason, can't show up. Better from a customer service aspect to make that up to that customer, whether that's a comm to visit, getting them in with another provider as soon as possible, like make it worth their while,

Danny: [00:23:17] even when it's not our fricking fault. Like thinking about this, people would show up at the wrong office.

Yeah. And we would comp them that session, even if they would, it's 100% their fault. Like we've got emails, you know, and, and they've, they've, yeah, like they know that they have a visit and they just go to the wrong place, or they show up at the wrong time. And we always, even if it's our fault, or also if it's 100% their responsibility, we still comp that session because it's just, it's, it's the utilization of their time that has been wasted.

Even though we tried everything we could, we could have done better. You know, we could have done something more. So anyway, art, show up and listen. Number four,

Ashley: [00:23:54] focus on the whole person, not just the engine.

Danny: [00:23:59] repeat it.

Ashley: [00:24:00] No.

Danny: [00:24:00] Okay. Focus on the whole person, not just the injury. This is, this is a big one, and this is, this is something that, from a clinical standpoint.

You can take this, you know, from a couple of different angles. Number one, it can be the front desk. So calling in, Hey, you know, all right, well, do you mind if I ask you what's going on? How long has that been bothering you? Like, what's that? What do you have to avoid, you know, what other areas is this affecting?

Who else have you seen for this? Like just trying to get a better idea of the injury, but like, this is a perfect example of, man, it was, I forget her name. But it was a lady that, that Jake worked with that was, it came in, and we would get very few people that actually like walk into our office to set up an appointment.

This lady had done that. She shows up, and her knee is bothering her. So she's standing there, and I started talking to her and, she's like, yeah, my knee hurts when I run. And I was like, okay, cool. Well, why are you running? She's like, well, I do orange theory and, and orange theory

.  And I was like, Oh, cool. So like, what do you have like a. Fitness goal like you're trying to achieve with a going to orange theory. And she's like, yeah, I'm getting married. This isn't, I think December, she's getting married in April and she wanted to try to get a two sizes smaller inner dress. And she goes, these are pictures that I'm going to see the rest of my life.

So I'm, I'm like busting my butt to the gym to look as good as I can. Cause I know these pictures are going to be there forever. Right. And so the difference between. Hey, we're working with this person for their knee, and Hey, we're working with this person. So they can look as good as that, and as they possibly can feel confident on their wedding day and look at those pictures and like forever, look back and remember that, remember that day, and have this goal she's achieved.

That's a whole different conversation and the level at which we can explain. What we needed her to do from a compliance standpoint is, is there, as well as commitment from what we're going to need from her in terms of seeing us enough times to accomplish this goal. So, you know, we talk about focus on the whole person, not just the injury.

That's one example on the front end. Now, on, from a clinical standpoint. The same thing happens too often. People come in, and they get so fixated on, Oh, okay, it's your, it's your, your butt. Okay, it's your butt. Remember we had that one lady that came in because she had butt implants and she, she, she remember, she knows, showed she supposed to work with Jackie.

She had bought implants, and somebody had told her she had scar tissue that was causing all this pain down her legs. And, I got her scheduled, and now it's just like, I can't wait to hear this story. And she ended up not showing up. Do you remember that lady?

Ashley: [00:26:32] Wow. Well, he did a shitty job on the front end.

Danny: [00:26:34] Well, apparently, yeah, I could have done much better. That's a good point. But anyway, lesson learned. Yeah. But if they come in and it's like, okay, yeah, my, my, your, I think you have rotator cuff tendonitis, right. And we pigeonholed or that right shoulder rotator cuff tendonitis river's like, Whoa, that guy's arm hurts.

Cause he's trying to throw a baseball with his kid. You know, like he's trying to coach his sons. Kid pitch team, so what's more important? His shoulder is not hurting or being able to throw a ball with his son. Why are they there on a human level, not just a musculoskeletal level. Focus on that. Yeah. That's

Ashley: [00:27:07] also get into, it's not just that you guys get into sleep and nutrition like you guys take a whole-body approach to it.

Danny: [00:27:15] That's great, that's a high point. You're right. So we, we, there are four variables. We talk about this—half the time. We don't even touch anybody, like from a manual therapy standpoint, day one, and we're not trying to do anything like that. We're trying to decide what these levers are that we need to pull to improve their overall health and wellness.

So sleep, stress, nutrition, and movement. And more often than not, people come in thinking they have a movement problem but then realizing. Dude, you've been sleeping four hours a night, and then now you've just gotten back in the gym, and no wonder everything hurts. Like you're just not healing. So let's talk about sleep.

This, this happened with one of my patients. And I'd seen him before, and he came back for a completely separate issue. His hip was killing him so much so that he had to like, use his hands to get his leg, in and out of his car, causing his hip, his hip flexor was so irritated, and so he comes in to see me, and he had just taken a new job.

And he's like a new sales position. They were having some issues with like their, their youngest daughter, like not sleeping. His oldest son was having some problems at school like all this stuff was compiling, and he was trying to work out at like four 30 in the morning so we could sneak it in before it works.

So if he was, wasn't sleeping much at all and he was super stressed out with his new job, his boss would call meetings that would last from like 7:00 PM until 11 p.m. And so super stressed. And I, we sat there with him, and I was like, dude, I think much of your problem is this volume, and you're in a stress state with no sleep.

So here's what I want you to focus on. And we mapped out like sleep density, improving him, being able to sleep better at night with like blackout shades and cooler temperature and ambient background noise and not getting on a screen before going to bed and all these things that we know improve it.

And we saw him the next week, we gave him like two little home exercise things to do, and he comes back in and like 90% of his pain is gone. And we didn't even really do anything to the actual hip. Right. But it's these other variables that are so far you clap. Does this lookup? Yeah. So, focused on these additional variables is significant, and it's all something that we can work with people on longterm that were, doesn't have to be hurt.

Like you can come back and work with us, and we can work on optimizing these things on a proactive level, which we can avoid many of these injuries that we see, and it's perfect for your business, and it's ideal for that person.

Ashley: [00:29:30] Right. And I kind of feel like that one. Especially as part of the whole reason of Athlete's Potential.

Yeah. Like where you're not just coming in to fix a rotator cuff like you want to live a better, healthier life. You might even say movement as medicine.

Danny: [00:29:48] You could say that. Yeah. But think about the VA. It's a vague name on purpose, right? So like, we felt like people were not using their bodies in a manner where they were achieving the potential they had with it.

And that can mean a lot of different things for different people. But here's, here's a good example. My grandfather is 94 years old. I talked to him on the phone today. He starts asking me about how many minutes you should spend on the rower. The gym that he's going to get

Ashley: [00:30:16] this man on some steroids.

Danny: [00:30:18] Dude, he's such a hard man.

And you know, this is somebody, he's 94. He fell an escalator ten years ago, and we thought he was done for, but he's just so damn robust, and he's like, grew up on a farm. I mean, he just is an exciting guy, but like, he's still at this age trying to improve himself, you know, at 94. So I think that's amazing.

And that's the kind of people we want to work with are people that want more out of their, their life, more to their physical. Nobody then, then the status quo of just being sedentary. Right. You know, and they want to experience the world in a way that they need a healthy body to do that, a healthy mind.

So that is a critical selling factor from a business standpoint as well. Okay.

Ashley: [00:30:58] Surround yourself with amazing people.

Danny: [00:31:01] So yeah, doing it right now, you and may look at us and going strong for 12 years. So, okay, let's talk about, I mean this in two different ways. Number one is the patients that we've had a chance to work with.

And number two is the people that are involved in our company that we have had a chance to, you know, bring into, into our team.

Ashley: [00:31:22] So I'm going to cut you off. I felt like we were fortunate. We did some business coaching before we ever brought. Anybody on any staff on, and her point was known your business, understand your core values before you hire anyone.

Without that, you are not, and you're going to make wrong decisions when hiring. And I think that she was right. We never have, we've never had a bad hire. We've lucked out so far. Knock on wood,

Danny: [00:31:52] we did the work.

Ashley: [00:31:52] Exactly. Well, that's true. Yeah. So we put a shit ton of time and to figure out like.

What does our business mean to us? Cause that was when that was like a year into our business. So it was just chaos. But anyways, from our first hire with Claire, I mean, she just, she fits. Our core values so well, and we've only continued to build on that with each hire. So that is a huge, huge thing that I tell everyone that starting a business if you don't know why you're in business, how can you expect to hire someone that will turn around and help your business, encourage your business, recommend people to your business if they don't believe in what you've got, cause they don't know what it means and what, what's your point?

Danny: [00:32:38] They talk about this kind of. You have a bus, and you're getting people on the bus, but they need to know where they're going, right? They need to know what they're getting on the bus for. And that's an essential thing to know. And the other thing I would say is you brought up the business coaching that we did, and I.

I get so frustrated with people that I talk to that, especially when it comes to like the mastermind group that we have that they want to try to figure things out, like, like for them to say, all right, well let me give it six months and see if I can figure this stuff out. And if I can't, then I'll tell you.

Ashley: [00:33:12] So, okay. That's me. This is where we work well together because when he told me, he wanted to do business coaching a year into our business. I had just started working alongside him. I was like, yeah, no. No, we're not doing that. We can't afford that. And that was just, and it was absolutely the best

Danny: [00:33:35] decision.

Couldn't afford to do it. Do you know what I mean? Like, and this is, this is one of the reasons why I do get, I get really frustrated with people that they take that approach of, okay, well let me, here, let me, let me try to figure this out on my own. And then if I need your help, I'll tell you. Do you redo, you realize.

You in the process and this is no exaggeration, and you can put yourself out of business. This is not a. This isn't a game. This is a game, but it has significant implications. And if you have people that you have to support, why would you not want to know exactly what you're supposed to do?

Ashley: [00:34:09] I wish someone had told us what to do.

We figured so much out on our own

Danny: [00:34:14], and we are so slow. It was quiet, and it was so time-consuming, and it's so hard to explain that to somebody, especially when they look at it like, Oh, well yeah, you just want me to join this thing, right? Because it's a, it's a business. Look. In some capacity. Yeah. We wish to, you know, to, to be able to grow the other company that we have, but we also don't need the revenue from that, you know?

And the thing is like when I tell people like, we can support you on this, you don't even know what you don't know. You know, and, and that's a dangerous place to be, to think that you're going to be able to figure it all out and, and miraculously come to this state where you've got everything, you know, line up for your business is just not right.

And for us, if we hadn't done that with, with Jackie, or we hadn't done that before, we hired Claire and Jackie, we, we, if we would've made the wrong hire, the turnover associated with having to get a new person. The money,

Ashley: [00:35:04] hours and hours.

Danny: [00:35:05] We may not have even had the business today because I mean, I know people that they go through that process, especially scaling to another person or bringing in an immediate administrative person on and they do such a lousy job of it.

They get frustrated, and they think. Okay. I just, I'm not going to do this again. And then they just stay tiny. Then they get burned out, and then they go back and something else. So that it's dangerous not to know what you should do next. And you know, it's almost like cheat codes to business when you get help.

So we were quick to want to use that. And to this day, we still do work where we're learning about how to improve our business from people that have already done things that we're trying to do. So yes, we want to surround yourself with amazing people, but you need to know what. You know those people look like, like who are those people?

What are their attributes? Do they align with you? Like Claire is like the poster child for our, for our core values. You know, half the times you can't even remember that. But she lives

Ashley: [00:35:54], though, I should say. So if you own a business, and especially if you have employees. We do a weekly staff meeting every Thursday.

It's two hours long, and it's well worth the time. And we start every meeting off by everyone goes through and names one of the core values and how they have implemented that during the week. So some weeks it can be hard and like, ah, I don't freak know. But for the most part, it keeps us really in touch with it.

These are the people that we want to help. This is how we're going to help them. These are the core values we have to make sure that we're doing the best we can to provide these people with great care. So that is all I've got. Well,

Danny: [00:36:35] look, and, and a big shout out to the people that, you know, the work is so clear, Jackie, Jake, Ravi, I mean these, these are people that were just very, very.

 

Ashley: [00:36:44] they've taken a chance on us too.

Danny: [00:36:46] They have, yeah, that's very true. They've taken a chance on a, a small practice with a very vague name that they decided they wanted to, you know, go the direction to work with us. Instead of going in another direction and work with another practice or wherever it might be like, these are, these are.

Incredibly smart people that can be successful doing so many other things. But because we have this vision and this desire to want to have this incredible practice and work with people uniquely, we're able to attract people like that, you know? And, and I think that's the other thing that I want to bring up too, with this is with amazing people.

But it's not just the people that work with us, but the people we get to work with. I mean, there were so many, some really

Ashley: [00:37:27] awesome people. There is a business.

Danny: [00:37:31] They are. I used to rarely have a patient where I would think, man, I could be friends with that person, that old

Ashley: [00:37:38] couple and new Braunfels that brought you the food?

The German couple.

Danny: [00:37:42] Oh yeah. The one that they would tell me to put her on the stretcher. I had a, and I had a German car. It was a new Braunfels. Texas is like a. A German retirement community. It looks like a little German village. Very Bavarian. And I had this, an elderly couple would come in, and the guy would come in in a suit with a bow tie and, it looked like he should be coming in the water hose.

And he was very German and his wife. Was also incredibly German. And she had back pain, and we had her on traction, and she would come in, and she would tell me to put her on the stretcher while her husband went over and did a, he would do like bicep curls with like the little pink, Arnold's with the choppa pink weights man.

And every time he walked in. She would, like she would be, have her arm wrapped around his, he would hold the door for her. He would open the door for her. He's making me look bad. I wish I hadn't brought this up. He would, I mean, I have seen him one time like clean off the seat that she was sitting on like.

No, just it was dirty, and he didn't want to sit on a stained seat. Yeah. I was very, and I was very impressed. They were great men. And then she would always bring in a delicious German chocolate cake. But, but besides them, I didn't think like, yeah. Like I want another set of grandparents. I'd pick them, but.

The people that we get to work with. I mean, it runs the gamut. Young kids that are, you know, coming off of injuries, we get a chance to help get back to training people that are, you know, middle. They're still trying to stay active and. And they're outliers. You know, like, I had one patient tell me once that he played, played football in college, and he's in his early fifties now and, and he, every year his, he goes back to the university that he played football at. He meets up with his teammates from that, from the graduation year that.

That, that he was in and they tailgate and they, they, it's like an alumni game. And every year he said, I go up there, and they get unhealthier and unhealthier and unhealthier, and he's like, I just don't want to be like that, you know? And, and that's the kind of people we get a chance to work with the people that want more out of what they do.

I mean, think about even like somebody like Tim who rode across the Atlantic ocean in a single man boat to raise awareness for special operations, suicide prevention that. It's crazy.

Ashley: [00:39:50] Yeah. It's insane.

Danny: [00:39:51] You know? And that's just, that's only one example of all these different people that we've worked with and, and, and, and they've left a huge, it made a significant impression on us in a very positive way.

I feel like I've learned so much just for my patients because we get so much time with them. No. We get a chance to really kind of pick their brain about, well, their life, like, what, you know. What have you done? How did we get here? What do you find valuable when you're trying to do? And

Ashley: [00:40:15] it also allows us to connect people to, like, if anything, owning a business.

I just want to help people. And so if I know someone, that's what our patient, and I see another patient that can help that person with whatever that issue is, I'm more than happy to connect them. I don't think that there's anything better than. I am helping people without expecting anything in return.

Danny: [00:40:37] Yeah.

I mean, how many, I had the same thing of like patients in mind, like, Oh man, you're from this place, so is this person, you know, like you guys sound similar. Let me connect you guys, and I do, and next thing you know, they got a new BFF. Yeah,

there

Danny: [00:40:51] you go. That's awesome. That's cool. And just to be a part of the community, a part of a business in which we get an opportunity to do, to like.

Get a build a relationship with people. It sees them, see the transitions that they make and help them, not just in, in our clinic, but outside of that as well. With the resources and the relationships, we've been able to develop. Like that's such a cool thing, especially for you and I have, you know, we have relatively transient childhoods where we, we, we moved and come from military families and like that sort of like root system of, you know, knowing people and, and.

It just wasn't there, didn't exist, you know? And now we've established a lot of that. And that's been an enjoyable thing to be a part of. It's also weird. It kind of is funny because I'm sort of like not used to it. Well, I inherently don't really like being around people that much unless. No. It's fun.

It's like I sometimes, I think the older I get, the more I turned to my grandfather where I just don't care about people that much unless it's the people that I liked.

Ashley: [00:41:54] The pool. You were just shaking your hand in the finger. You look like a

Danny: [00:41:58] crazy older man. I was

Ashley: [00:41:59] yelling for no reason.

Danny: [00:42:01] I just, I, first of all, I hate small talk.

I can't stand small talk, you know? And if it's somebody that I don't have things in common with, it's not that I don't really. Well, I don't want to think too bad, anything terrible happened, but I don't give a fuck what they do, you know, like, or what happens to them, you know? It's just like, okay, let me move onto the next thing.

And, and that's a that's, that's a weird thing for somebody that owns a service business that's so ingrained in the community. But I also like that side of it too. So, anyway. Oh man, I haven't been recording. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Oh man, that's good. You guys should have seen her face. Okay, so that was number five. We have us, we have us, we have our fifth anniversary. Tomorrow we have 50 something people coming over. We have a bounce house. Oh. It's going to be awesome.

Ashley: [00:42:50] Barbecue. Yeah. Anna, one of our patients,

Danny: [00:42:53] if I can say that, I don't think you're supposed to say that, but you didn't say his last name.

Yeah, and there's may in, his name's probably not Matt, for all you know, either.

Ashley: [00:43:02] It's not.

Danny: [00:43:03] Yeah, and by the way, he's not fat.

Ashley: [00:43:07] I don't know.

Danny: [00:43:08] It's very deceiving. I don't think that's breaching it. If you say he's fat or not, I don't know.

Ashley: [00:43:14] Yeah. Anyways,

Danny: [00:43:15] let's stop talking. Yeah, let's stop it there. Just in case.

Ashley: [00:43:18] I just want to follow up and say what I said at the beginning. If this shit were easy, everyone would do it. If you don't have the determination, the flexibility to go with the flow, and like Danny said, an off and continuously be working towards a different goal, whatever, you will not succeed. I'm lucky that I have Danny in my life because I'm not cut out for this shit.

To be quite honest with you. I just like managing stuff. But

Danny: [00:43:48] that's not true.

Ashley: [00:43:49] No,

Danny: [00:43:50] no. I think that I think that what you're, what you're referencing is shingles. No, there's, there's a difference. There's a difference between. Somebody more of a, like quick to start things and somebody more of an integrator that is organizing and implementing and that same person can be, entrepreneurial in the same, right.

Just because

Ashley: [00:44:12] I'm not,

Danny: [00:44:13] but I mean, but of, some of my favorite entrepreneurs about met some of the most successful on firms I've met. They're like you. And they have to kind of work past that. Because they see this thing that they want to get in front of people or this idea they want to see come to fruition.

And in many cases, they end up partnering somebody like me who in my own right, would it be off starting all kinds of shit that never actually worked because I would get an entrepreneurial seizure and I would eventually like how many things do I tell you. And this is funny, I think I tell people this, but it's weird to hear your responsibility.

How many things do I come up with on a probably weekly basis where you shoot him down?

Ashley: [00:44:50] Yeah, a lot. And then our staff meeting is Danny shouting things again with the finger in the air, yelling and all of us are just like, yeah, no, we're not

Danny: [00:44:59] going to do that. I'm a, I am excitable and, whether good or bad, I think there are positives and negatives associated with that, but, it's, it's essential to have that, that check and balance to have.

Yeah, that sounds like a cool idea. But what about these other things that we're already working on? Because for somebody like myself, I'll just say, if somebody like myself, it's, it's something that I can get bored quickly and I can want, I can think that, Oh, I want to move off to this, this next thing. But in actuality, that's not the right thing to do for our business.

And that's taken me a while to realize that and be like focused on the right thing and let somebody like you who is much. Their skillset is much better at, Organizing, managing and helping grow something in a very systemized way versus somebody like me, like somebody like you probably wouldn't start it to begin with.

Exactly. I

Ashley: [00:45:45] think that's my point, right? Like I would never have started the business and just gone out and done it. So I feel like Danny, and I are fortunate. Like he is the ideas, man. He is the Don Draper too. I was don't know. I'll be here. Copy man, whoever that guy

Danny: [00:45:59] is, I forget his name.

Ashley: [00:46:01] He writes all the,

Danny: [00:46:02] art,

Ashley: [00:46:02] we'll, we'll, we'll watch it

Danny: [00:46:03] together.

Don Draper.

Ashley: [00:46:06] Damn. Yeah.

Danny: [00:46:09] I'll take that. What are you going to say? I can't say, can't say it on the podcast, on this podcast. Cancer. Jesus. People will lose a

Ashley: [00:46:18] baby. I'll just say that. Google it.

Danny: [00:46:21] Okay.

Ashley: [00:46:21] Urban dictionary.

Danny: [00:46:23] Wow.

Ashley: [00:46:23] anyway,

Danny: [00:46:25] yeah. We don't know. We've got them gone off. The topic here a little bit, but yes.

So if you're more like Ashley and you're a little more of an integrator, there's nothing wrong with that. It's a positive thing. You know, you just need to get past the anxiety. You probably have a fear of starting something and, and, and go after, go after that. Wow. That's good. And then, and then go into, you know, decide where I'm at.

Like you might be quick to start something, but also realize that. Eventually, that's, that is a that's kryptonite for you and it'll, it'll affect you as you start to get, bigger in your business and there's more complexity involved in

Ashley: [00:46:59] it. And this is where number two comes back into play. That comparison.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Stick to your goals, stick to your plans, and just really tough it out. It'll be hard, but it's super rewarding. I can't wait to have some of our patients ever to the house tomorrow. Just really relaxing, enjoy what we've done, what we've accomplished with them. So,

Danny: [00:47:21] and our staff, especially our team, out to them.

I know some of them. Listen to the podcast. Not clear. You're this, Claire, you talking about you on and off on this podcast, and you're never going to hear it. Oh, those might be the ones she listens to. That would be funny. Who sits in the office and you started laughing about it. Anyway, that's it, guys.

That's our top five. We had some interesting tangents. There were, let's talk about this wine. This is a Brunello right. Oh, it's not

Ashley: [00:47:53] Spanish one.

Danny: [00:47:54] Oh, well, we don't know much about wine, but we need to do know we like Brunello.

Ashley: [00:47:58] Oh, and the best from Costco.

Danny: [00:48:00] Oh yeah. Costco wine or trader Joe's. Vine wine is supposed to be good.

Hmm. No. Yeah. Costco. Costco. Okay. 

Ashley: [00:48:11] shut it down.

Danny: [00:48:12] Well, I thought you were going to do that.

Ashley: [00:48:14] Oh,

Danny: [00:48:16] that's the end. That's literally what the ending you'd use.

Ashley: [00:48:19] This is not my full-time job,

Danny: [00:48:21] man. Okay.

Ashley: [00:48:22] I've got kids to go.

Danny: [00:48:23] So that's the end of it. Top five lessons learned in five years in business. We made it to all you motherfuckers has said we wouldn't do it.

We're still here, you all. We're; nevertheless, we're still here. So how you like them apples?

Ashley: [00:48:37] Yeah. So if you're still with us, we had at least, I don't know our entire family tells us not to start a business and leave the military. Cause we're both military brat. So our parents are dads, especially, we're like, what.

Danny: [00:48:49] They said that when we told me we're getting married too.

Yeah, they did. They were Rog, about that too. God dang, man. We just don't, and we like proving people wrong. That's right. So that's the end of it, I think. And on that note, if I, five years from now, we'll do a number 10, and then, and then, from space. Yeah. From the moon. So that's it, guys. Thanks for listening.

Catch you next time.

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.

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