E158 | Theresa Larson On Corporate Wellness Programs and Being A Mom PT Entrepreneur

 

On Episode 158 I catch up with my close friend Theresa Larson to learn about how she's taking the stories of her adaptive athletes and building resilience in the corporate community.

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Episode Transcription:

Danny: [00:00:00] Welcome back to a good friend of ours for the second time. You're; actually, I think you're the only to repeat guests that I've had so far. How does that make you feel?

Theresa: [00:01:13]  It makes me feel very special. Danny, really over the internet.  It's a great way.

Danny: [00:01:33] Well, I'll, I'll be honest with you, I have to give you

credit early on, I feel like you guys were very, very instrumental and Ashley and I had been able to figure out some things within this, this kind of performance-based cash, physical therapy business, and I feel like you. Save us a ton of time, you know, gave us a lot of support, mentally, for some of the things we were going through.

And, and we, you know, appreciate you guys for taking the time out of your schedule is going forward. Cause I think you started your business, maybe six or 12 months before we started ours. Right.

Theresa: [00:01:56] Yeah. Not too much. I think it was just me. And then I brought pair on eventually cause I was like,

Danny: [00:02:02] yeah, right.

I know that same thing. I'm with Ashley, and you know, you need these sort of like systems driven. People are not assistance driven. Have you ever heard of the Birkman tests?

 So the Birkman test is sort of this, natural tendencies based on your personalities. Like when we were talking, you talked about, you know, you need a little bit more quiet time and a few more introverted.

This will tell you to like what kind of introvert-extrovert you are. So a lot of tech companies do help place people. But it's interesting because it'll let you know what your natural tendencies are and what your needs are. They can be different. For instance, you might be direct with people.

But yes, you may not respond well, and people are directed to you, and you can find that as rude. So this will tell you what people's needs and their, their tendencies are, and they don't always match up. So it's helped be helpful for us, for communication with our employees.

Theresa: [00:02:53] And

Danny: [00:02:54] it's an awesome,

Theresa: [00:02:55] I can see that.

I heard of, I heard of one. We do like Myers-Briggs. Yeah. A couple. Some personality tests are yearly retreats that we do with our team. Okay. But not, I haven't done that one yet. StrengthFinder is one that, that's what you're talking about. Tendencies versus like what, what was the other description you gave?

So

Danny: [00:03:18] she was like, what you tend to gravitate towards, but then how you, yeah. How you want to be communicated to. Like, that's what I thought was interesting about it.

Theresa: [00:03:27] That is interesting, actually helpful with like probably hiring people too.

Danny: [00:03:31] Yeah. Hiring, but also placing people in specific roles and giving them like coaching.

Yeah. Like I had to do, I sat down and did like an hour and a half review with all of our staff members this week. And so each one, it was a 90-minute review, and the way I spoke to each one of them was different based on how the Birkman said. And it was beneficial. So anyway, I think that stuff, I geek out on that stuff, and I find it fascinating because you know, that's the hardest part sometimes is like with employees is motivation, but also them see why certain things are essential, I think.

I think that it can be challenging.

Theresa: [00:04:05] Oh yeah. I would guess any business owner, I'm sort of service and hires people like you to realize real quick the right people matter, but how you get the right people. Right? Cause it's likely they didn't hire the right people initially and learned like, how can I prevent this?

So you got to do things like that. Yeah. Human relations, learning more about human relations. It's a thing.

Danny: [00:04:30] People are messy, man. So you know, for you, it's been cool to see your business evolve and your role in that business. Evolve along with it, you know, going from being a practitioner and seeing everybody to then starting to build a team and then taking yourself out of that business, writing a book, beginning to do work outside of that, associated with your writing.

And then, Hey, let's throw a kid into the mix, and let's see how that works. And, you know, it's, it's refreshing to sort of watch this evolution that you've gone through. And, I'd love to talk about what you've been able to do, which is really. As a healthcare practitioner, be able to remove yourself from as much of the day to day practitioner work as you want.

So why do you, first of all, why do you find that or why did you find that important to want to prioritize that, and how was that process for you?

Theresa: [00:05:21] Well, the, I needed to prioritize it because I was hitting walls. I was burning out. Even though I started my own business, it was like I grew fast one on one, and I realized, okay, I can do this.

I can grow a healthy practice—just me. But I got burnout, working one-on-one, even though I was in the environment like I had envisioned, it was everything I wanted. But yet at the end of like I was talking to you before, like the eight-hour seminars and the long five day weeks treating eight hours each one hour per patient burnt me out.

And so mentally, I was hitting walls. And so I was like, and then on top of it, so still having to manage the system on my own, like build my website and thinking of ways to make this system of outreach and scheduling easier. And Oh, by the way, like evaluation forms and soap notes and like ways to track progress.

I was doing that on my own. And so I brought my husband on board who's a businessman. And are there any methodical businessman? Nothing phases him too much, which was great. So he's like slow and steady wins. The race was able to help manage and take away kind of the things that, like the systems that helped create, you know, the website, scheduling system, even helped me build my forms, all that stuff.

But I learned to like, I. I want to work on the business. If it, if I'm doing, if I were this successful, how can I help others be as successful? And I didn't just want to be a one on one patient care PT. Like I got the Marine Corps, I was free. I want to do some cool shit with my time. And the last thing I want to use, staying at a gym, you know, eight hours a day, treating patients, because you know, I, I better, I'm around big thinkers.

They're in front of large rooms of people speaking about health and wellness or whatever their topic is. They're making a massive difference in those people's lives. Like, I can do that too. Oh, what about companies like companies, these wellness programs? Like what are those like? I want to be involved in that making decision, kind of what entrepreneurs do.

Getting. A little bit distracted during my one on, you know, those days where it was just me. But that distraction turned into thought months of thinking of how I can get myself out of the one-on-one, bring someone else in to take over this, and run it. You know, I was still working a little bit, but how can I start to build my company, so I'm reaching more people at one time?

And, It wasn't a natural shift though, because there's that need of like I have to see patients. I feel better about myself if I see more patients, the more people I have on my schedule, the better I think. I had to get over that pretty quickly. Like, no, I don't have to see more patients feel good about myself.

I'm worth every minute of it, every minute of their time, but like I can also use my skillset elsewhere.

There aren't a lot of teachers doing it, but I don't need that. I don't need it, and I don't need someone to pave it away from me. I can pay my way. So it was a lot of just like overcoming that self-esteem of I don't need one-on-one to feel good about myself. I'm a PT. I have the knowledge to help way more people and kind of just like throw myself into this new environment.

Well, relatively new, just more being in front of people. I'm speaking in front of larger rooms, talking to CEOs, and realizing like, I can do this. Build more confidence. But it wasn't like, oh, I feel confident immediately. This is going to work out. It was that theater of fact, I have to make this work and I will, I can do it.

I feel like a fraud sometimes because I'm a PT. I should be doing one on one. Fuck that. I'm going to do this and like, but I ended up finding the right people to help me build that one on one cause they, the PDs I found like wanting to do that, like that was. They loved it. Like they had no desire to be speaking in front of rooms.

They wanted to build a movement arts culture. So that was also like, it wasn't easy finding those people. It took a few years to find the right people, but through those years, it was like, yes, this is where I should be building the business. Being in these rooms with these different organizations and the PTs I've hired are not only supportive of that vision, but want to make the culture.

That we, we created, you know, six years ago.

Danny: [00:09:59] So what's your week look like? I'm interested. Like what, what do you, what do you, you know, usually look like?

Theresa: [00:10:07] So, by the way, just to emphasize it's, and that wasn't an easy process, like a lot of breakdowns, a lot of just like, what am I doing? I feel alone.

Yeah. Like, I don't want to get emotional here and cry with you, Danny. But it was, it's not easy. But I knew that, but we had a vision like my husband had an idea and we, it wasn't like money was just pouring in all this time. Yeah. But, but we, we've made it work. So my, my week now, looks it's.

Very new, new normalize. Very new normal. So compared to like patient care. So patient care, typical week. So I treat, I don't take on any new patients anymore. I treat twice a month. But an average Monday is a lot of cold outreach. I am working the channels I've created channels in my life, whether like the social media channel is one, right?

I kind of lumped that together, but I've got a speaking agent, and I've got a broker in the corporate realm. I've got brokers around the country that I work with who are putting feelers out to the community. So it's, it's me, reaching out to them and looking at the cold companies that we haven't called companies.

Maybe we haven't touched yet on companies that I want to reach out to and be in touch with. So I use these channels to help me get these leads. That makes sense. So it's like I feelers out into the world. And they, so that's a Monday, as my Monday, first four hours of my Mondays, just communicating with them and doing outreach, and having awkward conversations sometimes.

Yeah. They're like, cause I, cause one of the big, you know, honestly, one of the big things that are going floating around corporate America is mental health. And I'm like, yeah, I can talk all day about mental health and embodiment of it. But they're like, and you're a PT. And I'm like, so read my book. Do you want to talk about mental health?

Like this is something that people struggle with, and you don't need a psychotherapist to tell you to breathe better or to get out and move in nature. Like, I'll let you know why. So first of all, I was on my Mondays, like all cold stuff. I teach my adaptive class on Mondays. So I've got two great adaptive courses that go on in San Diego.

One on Mondays, one on Fridays. I coached the one on Mondays. I've got coaches that coach them, one on Fridays. That's a beautiful hour. It ends up being too, cause I like to take time after any on business. You can see it just. Hang out a little bit. Talk with the crew. It's fun for me. I am, it's kind of my laboratory of testing things too, in the adaptive community.

And then afterward, so because I'm, I, we're now in the federal BizOps game grant VA a VA grant game. I'm a con, and I'm on central ops looking for donations and federal contracts. So, that takes time cause it's filtering through a lot of crap. But the reason why I'm doing that is that that can provide, I work with the military now with my SIS, my company, with my program.

So. Like, if I want to reach more of the military than just San Diego, I need capital from the government and their backing. So I'm, you know, as opposed to, what am I, she working with the local Navy cause it's like, well if you want to reach the Navy on the East coast or the Navy in Guam, you're getting a federal contract to make that happen.

So that's, that's part of my Monday, two hours on my Monday afternoon. Let's just Monday, Tuesday is a treatment day. Typically. Or it's, continuing off of Monday, like doing meetings if I have to, I'm working more on the federal business stuff. Wednesday is a lot of movement RX stuff, so I work with my PTs that day.

We either do clinical development or a business meeting. We train together as a team on Wednesdays. That's important. You sweat together. Para and I have our business meeting, where we talk about all the lines, businesses, and channels. Okay. How they're doing financially. All of the things that you need to look at to see the company has been successful in the different lines that we have going.

And that leads, that's, that's a lot of our day. I have like maybe an hour to do some followups. Thursdays, mostly project management, whatever projects we've got going on in the country. I'm like working with the team member who's. Can it be an account manager and just making sure they're doing okay. They know what's going on.

There's, you know, how are the coaches doing well on the program? What's the feedback? Stuff like that. Maybe putting out some fires sometimes, you know. And then Friday is para. And I do a date morning as we go to breakfast because we have daycare. So we're like, why not use daycare time to do daytime?

And then, I'll do like some random stuff. If I haven't gotten it done during the week, or I take that Friday to do meetings, like meetups, like I'll have coffee with a business owner or go for a walk with someone. I always try to take, make meetings active. So like I meet with the CEO, and it's, let's go for a walk around Belle boa or around your co cement complex, you know?

So it's, that's I guess a typical leak. But. If Magnus is sick, my whole week is AFT, and I'm professionally, like in a personal way, to spend time with my son. More time. Yeah. So it's hard, but

Danny: [00:15:55] you know, I hope that anybody listening to this that is interested in starting their own business, doing their own thing.

I go back and relisten to the schedule of what the, like, that's a lot of shit, right? And the thing is, you know, you can't, you just can't make things work without a lot of effort. You see, it doesn't happen quickly otherwise. Like why wouldn't everybody do that? And, and it's, it's interesting, you know, the thing that I find most interesting is the cold leads.

That is a scary place to be. That's it. That is a, and It's, it's so easy to get like rejected and lose confidence in what you're doing. Like especially with a cold business that you know you, you can help, but then it's sort of like trying to get your ideas across to them. How, how have you done with dealing with that?

I guess I'm assuming like cold, you know, introductions or cold, no introduction and just cold leads. That's such a hard thing to develop, and there's a lot of just rejection. So how have you, have you dealt with that.

Theresa: [00:16:51] So I know you based on the rate, if I reached out to 10 people, I know one is going to take, it's, we'd have like a base, lots of percentage of one out of 10 is going to be one.

It's going to turn warm. So I know going in, there's going to be rejection. It's not easy, but it's like. You know, these people don't know me. I know that they're busy. Like I look at my time when someone reaches out to me and like, make it simple. What you want me to know versus painting me a vast story.

So I kind of, I, I know that you know, some of these larger companies I reach out to, they've got. They've got wellness programs, and they've got lots of things going for them. But what I do know is that they all need to hear my message. It's just, are they in a space and a time that they're willing to listen to it.

So I find that a lot of times when I, like I talked to, I went after Northrop Grumman, right? Like huge

Danny: [00:17:50] area.

Theresa: [00:17:51] No. Yeah, I call them, and they're like, you know, I, I call, one of their head HR directors here, on the East, the West coast. And they're like, so yeah, you're a PT, you're doing what? And I have 30 seconds to tell them what I do.

Cause once I get this lead and there's some warmth to it, send them over to our, one of our, our agents who are brokers working with us, so they can then like negotiate and figure out the details of the, how we're working with them. She said I would never, I was speaking to her, she's like, yeah, I got a meeting.

And he was like, I was admitted into the conversation of like. Yeah, she probably doesn't. That's just her excuse. But as I would do too, and I was like, listen, do you, do you have veterans that work for you? Do veterans with mental health issues that work for you? She's like, yeah, actually some stuff's come up over the holidays.

I'm like, yeah, I know you guys have any kind of organization to bring those guys and gals together. Cause that's what I do is I help to improve the culture in a company. And it's not just I'm throwing mobs at you. It's like, let's like to create a culture here of accountability. So I take on the military.

In the military, not, and so she, then she's all year. She's like, Oh, tell me more. Let's, let's, let's, makes, you know, she's like, I'm not the person for you to talk to you about this, but I'm going to, for you to someone in our company, you can't because what you're talking about is needed. But it was like, okay.

Initially, I felt like my heart was just like, yeah, she's, she's not into this. And then all of a sudden she's not the one. To talk to, but she referred me to someone. So other people are like, yeah, who are you? What are you doing? Yeah, we already got that. We're good. Are you sure you got that?

I mean, do you feel like your digital programs are making a difference in your company? Well, sure. The analytics say that the ten people that committed were done well on it. Like ten people out of a thousand, let's, you know, so I try to, I try to do my, yes. Like, lead them down a road of referring me or saying, yeah, let me take a second look.

But I've had those. They're like, Nah, and you're, we're good. Thanks, you don't have what we need. I know you do. Like I help me do that as knowing I know I have what you need. You might just say no, but as I keep, I have a belief in myself that the message we have is essential.

I'm going to continue yelling from the mountaintops to tell people about it. Whether did they say no or yes.

Danny: [00:20:29] What is that mess? I mean, like at this point, you know, you have your company where you're doing, you know, work with active adults and athletes and staff in the San Diego area, w with the PT practice.

But you know, this is where it seems like most of your time and effort is directed towards. So what is it about this that you feel like, you know, you can make an impact on? A lot of different things. You have to kind of pick what you want to do. So it sounds like what, what is, what has had you gravitate towards this specific message?

And what are you trying to accomplish with it?

Theresa: [00:20:59]  Good question. So to simply put, as our vision as a company this year is just to reach 19,000 people in 2019. Right? We're going to do that through several different lines of business, the few that we have. But the big overall thing for the human is how do you take ownership of your health.

Right? Like just what is, what are you doing about it? Mental and physical. They go together, and mental health is a big topic now. And companies running around like morale, being able to boost the confidence of the company, and employee satisfaction. So whether I'm with a patient. Right. Almost a patient's more natural cause like you have their undivided attention.

They're coming to you, and they're paying cash. They're invested in you, and okay, you can tell them what they need to do, and most likely, they're going to do it. To some degree, they're like invested in you as a company. They don't know, but they need, yeah. Like they've got all these wellness solutions just being thrown at them that are like kind of pie in the sky.

This looks cool. This is the next bad. But like, what's going to make a difference. Like is someone logging into this digital program watching this digital yoga program? What's that doing for them? Like are they doing it? What did, that person is just so sedentary. It's like going from their sedentary life to that.

They're not going to do it, but out. They're not going to commit to this cool digital program. So like the ownership of health concept is a message. Cause I've done a couple of gigantic tickets speaking items last year that just really like the people in the the the, and this is kind of what helped build the confidence of this is the message American needs, is that the people in the audience like really resonated with straightforward tactics that I taught in a one hour.

A speaking endeavor. It was about breathing deeper. And using the breath to be the remote control for calming the physiology in a stressful situation. Things that I've had to learn. I'm struggling with what I did. Get it out of the military. My transition and struggle with mental health. I am learning how to be a little vulnerable.

Learning how to ask for help when you need it, but asking for help with the right people and learning how to be so vulnerable. You are learning how to like. You know, you are, if you're a mom or dad, you're a leader of a family, right? So leading yourself first, taking care of yourself before you can take care of others.

Like understanding that concept. People think it's so easy to call up and I've got my business, my employees, I'm like, kids are taken care of, but what about me? And. People don't think about themselves. And people literally would break down with me when I talked about that lead your first concept like especially moms who you know are busting their ass.

They're saying they're a lot cause they're, they're working for their kids. They have their kids to maybe husband or wife at home. And it's like. Yeah, it's just you forget to take care of yourself, and it doesn't take much. It only takes me taking more control of your time and how you spend your time. And, so I found that like, I could have the coolest fucking programs ever, but if I can't meet the person where they're at, then it's not going to get anywhere.

So like, I think, I believe that. This, like the kind of the warrior movement, are acts, ownership of health. Both of them speak to that one in a book, and one in a company is the message American needs. And it involves taking care of your mental health through the physical body, and people need that bit of like ass-kicking inspiration to get started.

I'm not looking for them to just be motivated in a Mo. Amen. So that's why I like doing a speaking devil is excellent. It's like, well, what are you doing after you're inspired? Now let's get you on a program and get you building consistency and discipline, and eventually, I have it. Yeah. Does that answer your question?

Danny: [00:25:07] Totally.  I think it's great. And I'm interested too, like from a logistical standpoint on the backside of that, like the, I guess the infrastructure in which you're utilizing to get the results. Right. It sounds like you're leveraging a digital program, in conjunction with some other things.

So, is that correct? Like how does that look with a group of a thousand people for you to work on self-care? Yeah.

Theresa: [00:25:30] So the way it looks, typically a company, let's say a company of a thousand people, not everyone, the company isn't going to invest in everyone to go on the program, right? So what they're going to do is they're going to create a cohort or a group.

They're going to put marketing out to their company, and they're going to say who's interested in this with ours.

So of the thousand let's say on average, we'll get 200 so a good, the right amount of them, but that good amount. So that amount of people, what we do is we always lead it off with whatever program they're doing. We have a basic. Commit to five days kind of application. Commit to five minutes a day. Just teaching fun skillsets like breathwork, movement, nutrition, and then we have programs that are a little bit heftier that require an hour, four days a week, but they involve downregulation stuff.

It's not just like. Fitness. It's kind working out. I'm moving out, moving well, and your workout. So whatever program they're on, they always go through a seminar. And for some companies, they want to do virtually. So that's where we do the full zoom to get. People in a room, conference room, the ones that we might have to do phases depending on how big their space is.

So I've been up to three of the same seminars for a company virtually, where I'm up there, and I'm talking about the program and, and showing them how it works and, you know, asking them, about their most significant faults that they see their struggles, telling them a little bit about my story because it permits them to feel like.

Oh, she's not this perfect fitness, whatever. People think. They're like, Oh, well, you're up pure dance now. You must have things your shit together. Well, yeah, for now, but like I haven't before, and then they're immediately like excited about it. But in that seminar, we pick out team leaders. Just like in the military, you're a fire team leader, right?

We get, and we pick out the fire team leaders, and then they have a group of four people around them that, while they go through the program, they're checking in with them every day of the program. That makes sense. Or they're rallying them to go to the workout and do the exercise together. So that's been helpful.

There's always a reward at the end. That they, the fire team leaders are challenged to reach out, to meet every fire team leader, reaches out to me the account managers for every company. So that account manager is in charge of keeping in touch with the fire team leaders so she can see him, she or he can see what's going on during the program.

But this is all done virtually. Like we're not there. Some companies will have us be in Perth, either in person, but most of it's almost. But after this initial seminar, there's like a, and we don't want to just put them on a program without assessing, right? Like we want to get data, like programs like this is the funny thing in corporate wellness.

A CEO doesn't know what to do with data. They're like, Oh, someone's like more mobile. Okay. How is that tied to retention? Right? They want to see, see that? So we've started tying, in their health with, we find from energy and times we have a power and time questionnaire. We have a couple of other ones.

And then, like, you take them through a fundamental assessment that we can do virtually. You know, is it the most effective? It works. And, but we tied into employee satisfaction because employee satisfaction if an employee feels taken care of, feels they're getting better, they're getting happier with their company, therefore stay longer.

So like, that's an easier sell. But they get an assessment. They go on the program, you know, Ford, eight weeks later we reassessed, and we do a closing ceremony, and we talk about their results. And that's that. That's

Danny: [00:29:24] really cool. About this more than anything is the fact that, you know, I think people go to school, and school is a place to learn how to pass a test so you can become, you know, credentialed as a provider.

But we have these unique skillsets that can be leveraged into things besides just direct patient care, you know, and, what you're doing is something that is. Is unique in terms of the utilization of our skillset. Right. And, and leveraging your current experiences with that. And I think it's fantastic.

I just think that you know, more people and more people to get involved as an entrepreneur, start to have time then and be able to see problems that they can solve. You know, like this, this problem in particular, like I'm interested in how you first started noticing like. Corporate America. This is weird, having never actually functioned in corporate America.

Theresa: [00:30:23] So that's funny, as an odd question. Cause we, the first corporate account we ever had, was the Navy, a guy, one of the heads of swarm Acme maintenance.

He was like two days of corporate wellness services. And the PT at the time didn't know cause we had just like started building like our online platform, and we had no idea what it would turn into. So the guy friends where Mike West ended up emailing me. It was like, do you guys have corporate wellness programs?

And I was like, yes. Even though I didn't know that, I'm not going to lie like it's, it's a, I just finished the book, lean in by Cheryl strayed and what was so great about it, I was telling my husband is like she was saying like, a lot of women will not say yes to anything if they aren't a hundred percent sure they can do it.

And I'm like the opposite. Like, I'll, I'll figure it out. Yep. We do. We have, we have cover wellness. We got it. A lot of dudes, a lot of guys, will do that, though. Like they'll say yes, and then they'll figure out a way to like. Get that next job. Maybe that was just being raised by men. It'd be the Marine Corps.

I don't know. But I was like, yep, we got it. Low back, a little back program. And so that was our first like the thing we went in, and it was like, it was like corporate, maybe like people who sit at desks, you know, like sitting at a desk, working on a gun or a computer, but they're very sedentary. Actually.

There's. They sit a lot. So it was our first like a trip into hell this, this is sedentary America, but this isn't Sedentary America cause then we went into a call center shortly after that who reached out to us around the same time. And I was like, yep, we got a corporate wellness program, went into their call center and were blown away by the level of fitness or lack thereof.

But the message that I was talking about through ownership of health and like kiddie I've, I've struggled. But that doesn't mean I have to fight forever, right? Like I've used these simple tools to help myself, the act of storytelling, and then providing them some value in the backend. Like they appreciated it, and I was like, I like this because this person is pre-diabetic, or possibly already diabetic.

And they want to make a change in their life and are, this person hasn't worked for 15 years and is getting after it. You know, this person is stoked that they can squat well now. Like it just, there's a huge, I guess dopamine boost of, I feel perfect working with this group that I never, I kind of like.

Oh, those people know that I'm only working with that ass. We can warrior CrossFitters. You know, people like myself who just don't make excuses. Well, hello, I've made excuses, too—ego check. I made a lot of reasons. I'm no different. Like I've just made the best decisions possible, and I want to show them how to as well.

So, I mean, you think about it like my brothers, one of them was in corporate America. He could utilize it, and he's. Relatively fit compared to the people he's around, but needs help.

Danny: [00:33:53] Yeah. Well, it's enormous, you know. Initiative to be able to scale things like that. And I know, you know, I, I've, it's been fun for me to see sort of the start of where you guys are at with moving our racks and, and, you know, having a chance to set up, you know, talk with you and pair, you know, along the way and, and see how things are going and be able to bounce ideas off each other.

And, you know, I know. Life changed for you with the addition of, you know, a kid who had the light to his life. And you know, that comes with its own unique,

 

you know, positives and negatives, like the difficulties and just like a lot of really positive things. Like, not to say that it's not a great thing, but from a business standpoint, it can be extremely challenging for the mom in particular.

So how have you, how have you? Dealt with the frustrations of being a mom entrepreneur and, you know, juggling those roles because we, you know, like pair, and I have it easy compared to you and Ashley. Like we just don't have, the same demands, you know, with. And, so how have you found, you know, success with being able to juggle that.

Theresa: [00:34:59] well, success has come to a lot of failures.

Danny: [00:35:02] It's relative, I guess, right?

Theresa: [00:35:03] Yeah. Just with the struggles of, I mean, I'm, I'm so like, I'm very passionate about what I do. So having a kid, it was like, there's a shift in energy. Like, I wanted to spend time with this little one. However, I also wanted to grow still, and a friend of mine gave me this advice.

You run a business, and she's like, you know, you're going to have to put your career on hold for like five years. You, the baby gets bigger. And I'm like, I can't afford to do that. I don't want to do that. But I'll tell you, I'll be honest, like during my time of pregnancy, cause Magnus.

This, it was like two years of just kind of this, a lot of changes in my company. That one forced me to think about who the who. And then the what. So like when I was pregnant with Magnus, there was a substantial stressful period where I didn't know if Magnus would be born alive. Like he was actually at the 20-week checkup, he was told he didn't have a Corpus callosum.

And which is kind of a big deal and potentially could be born as stillborn, and they were like, you can terminate if you like. That was like the first thing out of the peri intelligence now, and I was like, you can end the, I can terminate this pregnancy. Like, wait, we just went from.

Then have this case drawn, but here's a choice for you. And so that was a really, so my thing was, okay, well let's take more tests. Like maybe he's just the late developer. Let's, let's give it a month. Let's, can I get an MRI? Yes, I'm going to get an MRI. And other things, another tech, like another ultrasound.

But that month of just waiting, it was stressful. I'm here, and I like a lot of tears, a lot of like. Like you just don't like, I'm a new mom. I didn't know what I was like to be a have a kid yet. It was just, and I couldn't imagine like losing this little one or having to deal with this decision. But during that time, I had to fire one of my PTs too.

Just someone who ethically wasn't working for us and that was a partnership. With that. And so that was hard because dealing with the struggle of like all business owners make weak partnerships, but we kind of jumped into something a little too quickly. Pull too much trust in someone that didn't necessarily deserve it all while dealing with this.

What if. So after that. So after we found out Magnus was going to be okay, you never really know, but we were relieved. Had him and started building out our fire cause the fire department, was interested in working with us. And that was like we had to create this proposal the first two months of Magnus, his life.

So here I am interviewing people, breastfeeding, and people on the other line are like, what's that noise? And I just, now that I wanted to do that, but it was like, I'm, I'm in survival mode a little bit. I've got PTs that are doing the PT work. But I'm also growing this other entity in my business. And I was the critical clinical person to be interviewing certain people and I had to do it during business hours.

And so that was hard. Like, here I am managing just feeding. And then not let alone really not sleeping too much. Cause I'm, I'll alert every couple of hours, but I'm also sitting there feeding him. And the PT is also that it worked for me didn't understand the processes that we were going through to build this fire contract.

So again, like as we were built, we didn't do it the right way initially. I don't think like we started building this digital stuff and building these more corporate-focused programs. But we didn't bring our other team involved, like ours, their team was like digital, what? Corporate what? Like we don't understand because we weren't in touch with them.

Like we let them kind of run their schedules and Vanessa, para and I, because we were new parents and it was now going through a lot of stress, like we didn't communicate well with our team, so, therefore. That team. We had to shift gears entirely after the first year of Magnus. His life, it was like, this is where we want to focus.

The digital side is where we want to focus on. PT side. Yes, a little bit, but the people we had in place on the PT side just weren't, there was a lot of pulling teeth like digital. Yes. This is the way to go. We were speaking in front of more groups. But you have to have someone that believes in the vision. So we had to shift gears again with our company, found the right people.

Right, right. People helped to help run the PT side, and so now I can run with the corporate vision. The PTs are all about being a part of it, whereas before, that wasn't the case. It was like, I want more patients. Like I don't want to be coaching at the Navy. I don't want to be.

Account managing that all comes down to the business owner. I'll take full responsibility for communicating the vision and the changes. But it wasn't easy. That was all done while I had a kid, permanently losing a kid, but learning how to raise a kid at the same time is like growing this new entity of my business with a vision change.

So yeah, there was a lot of ups and downs, but paradigm resilient people, we were like. No, we're, we're doing this. We can do it. And there's always, and there's still someone out there who's going to listen. Like one PT doesn't work out. Finding the right people at this point matters. And we've learned that, and we've worked with some perfect ones that are off doing great things, but to grow a vision that doesn't look normal or kind of paving your way, you've got to find.

The right people. And that goes for any business, whether you're traditional or not. It's like, so. It was a year, a couple of years, and I kind of look back. You have to look back on those and say like, there was so much growth. Like I wouldn't have learned about how to communicate effectively. The team had I not gone through this like it was like a slap in the face or I wouldn't have known that I didn't want just to grow up brick and mortar had I not gone through trying, you know, working, getting a big studio and like focusing there and realizing no, there's a bigger world out there.

Like. I want to focus my efforts elsewhere because I feel like my message resonates. They need it more. Well, I

Danny: [00:42:02] think there's also some, you know, if you look at like the family mom, entrepreneur, I guess difficulties associated with that. There are also some inherent positives related to the flexibility of your schedule.

Like you may work a lot, but you can kind of choice in some ways when you want to work a lot. So what have you found with, with Magnus that you know you're able to do that you enjoy that maybe like people that are employed by somebody else and have a little bit more strict schedule, are able or unable to

Theresa: [00:42:33] do.

Well, first of all, a kid also is the best reminder of return on investment of time. I can easily say no. No. No reason why. I just know I'm, I don't have time cause by, so Magnus is in daycare more. He's a daycare full time now. But I, the beauty of it, is I can pull them out early on Friday or whatever. I want.

And we are taking them to do things. So like Fridays, we'll go, when it's not inclement in San Diego, cause you know, it's super in here. Usually, under the beach, we'll get ice cream. Like Fridays is our day to hang out, go to the park. Mmm. I can take him to every doctor's appointment with pear. Like we can be present at every single one during the middle of a workweek.

If he's sick and I need to come to get him another day, everything else stops. Like I can just have other people handle whatever's going on. So that's the beauty of it. And Magnus and I, so my husband and I traveled to India in October. We moved all of the months, and Magnus came with us. And it was awesome.

We still were able to manage our business from there. You know, we always do check in with our team, but we're able to enjoy just time as a family traveling and being together while things were still running and growing. Yeah, and that's something too, like you have to have a team that believes enough in the vision and wants to be part of it also, and believe in you as a leader to say, that's awesome.

That's amazing. I want to do it. Oh, any private company does that.

Danny: [00:44:16] That's amazing. Do you know? And, and I think that that flexibility comes after you're able to build infrastructure. You know, like, I mean, we, we both remember the days where it was. A patient care, patient care, patient care, follow up with people that were interested in working with us.

You know, shooting emails off to cold leads to teach places. Like it's a, it's a grind, but it's also a risk. And I sometimes think people that end up joining your team. Maybe then we'll get to see that and or have or have respect for that because they haven't gone through it. And that's challenging.

And sometimes they, you know, they look at your role as like, Oh, they don't even do anything. You know, versus what you're doing, is now totally different because you've laid the groundwork for everybody else to be able to benefit from the brand you've developed. So how do you get that across your team?

I'm interested. Like how do you manage like, Oh, parent, you know, Theresa or just like hanging out in India? Would there. You know, with Magnus for a month while we're over here, like Ryan in it out for, how do you, how do you manage that?

Theresa: [00:45:17] that's a good question cause we haven't always managed it that well.

And I think so we make this yearly retreat where we go over the vision. And Val and we learn about everyone else's goals. We're much stricter on our, so that's the right place. Like the retreat is a great place just to like to open up about where we're going, and do you still want to be part of this? You know your goals, we want to support you towards your goals.

But the other thing is I got perfect, or I've been better at the interview process. It's like. This is our vision, yes or no? There's no, maybe that sounds cool. I don't want you this to just be another job for you. So like there's gotten, there are some questions like you're not just going to be handed everything like you're going to have to hustle.

You know, I found there's a vast disconnect early on with, sometimes we do profit share depending on with the, with the PT, especially if they're growing, trying to build their own. We, you know, people trying to develop their private practice within a practice. Cause we know that the PT side isn't the focus.

But PTs want to work with us to learn. But the concept of profit share just whenever their head. So it's like there's a level of education on business in general, which we don't want to do. Like we want to focus on the bigger vision and are people interested in working with us to be part of it and have options duties outside of just one care.

Because when you get somebody just focused on feeding me hours, PV patients. Mmm. It's not going to work, especially in a company like ours. So the vision and like. Are you ready to coach in front of a group of 50 people in a corporate environment? Are you prepared to do practical assessments? Are you prepared to travel to Iowa to do some full day of assessments?

You know, are you, are you ready to do a couple of days of patient care, but do like account management on other days? And this is what account management looks like. The PDs we have now are yes like it's, they're gung ho about it. So the fact of us going to India, they were like, go, go. How fun.

We'll be here because we give them time. Like, one of our keys is going to Hawaii for a week and a half. She went to, and she's going to the Abudabi at some point. Like she's, they both, we give them whatever they want to take. They take because they work really and hard. So I, I think that's, I don't, I think it's just, we developed this path of there's no bullshit anymore.

It's like, here's what we're doing. Do you want to be a part of it? Show us, like, prove it to us. And, and that's who we have now. They've really like shown up, and it's like, I can tell them to do one, like our tactical business coordinator. I can, and I can just say, Hey, can you, can you coordinate this Coke next cohort with the divers and the Navy?

She's on it, everything and it's fantastic. Whereas for, I felt like I was pulling teeth too, you know, every step of the way with another individual. And it's like, when you when someone just wants it. Organized person. I mean, they had to learn from you initially, but like they run with it. Yeah. They make mistakes, but they're like willing to learn.

So yeah, it's been an easy process. I'll tell you that because my husband and I are different. Like he just puts his head down grind. I'm a high touch person. You have to have a high touch person in a company. But when I had Magnus and I was going through being mom, mm. Yeah. Just try to be present, right?

Shying away from the phone, extra stimulus. Unless I needed to work. Like the company's still needed high touch, but they weren't getting it, so just people had to go. I made a change. And I guess that's, that's the beauty of where we're at and now is it got us to the right people with a clear vision and a big dream with significant action.

Danny: [00:49:31] Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great point. I

Theresa: [00:49:32] mean,

Danny: [00:49:34] was he, I get the right people on the bus sometimes. If they're not the right person, the bus, you got to kick them off the bus, and you guys have figured that out. It's cool. And you know, I know. We're, we're, we're closing in our time, and now we've got some other things that, that, you know, you've got to get to, and you've already explained your week.

Theresa: [00:49:51] So

Danny: [00:49:54] I just want you to know, first of all, just thank you for jumping back on the podcast, but also give you an opportunity. Just, you know, if you want people to kind of learn more, or if they're interested in learning more about your business and things you guys have going on, like, you know, where can they find out a little bit more and, and maybe reach out to you guys if they're interested in, you know, maybe they do want to jump on your bus.

Theresa: [00:50:11] Yeah. Well, so if you want just to learn what other, what's out there besides just patient care, and something that's. The big vision of ours is looking at our website, movement-rx.com. That's got all of our online programs, access to our one-on-one. But more importantly, you'll see kind of the work you do in the community, and if you want to listen.

So I also have a podcast, and I dedicate to my adaptive, the first seasons devoted to this group of people I get to work with called the adaptive athletes. And. It's like I my way, and I just love this group. They teach me a lot about life and resilience and like, fuck it. Just keep going. Like there's no excuse.

Half the reason why I got through all the hard times I did it was this group. It sat on dr Teresa larson.com it's called my new normal and. Share it with someone you love. You probably know someone in a wheelchair, someone with a spinal cord injury, someone with cancer, someone with a missing limb, TBI, traumatic brain injury.

You know, someone listened to that pod, listen to some of the podcasts and share it. That's been a fun little side project that's turning into a message again, that corporate America needs resilience. How do you build it?

Danny: [00:51:30] Totally. No, that's awesome. You guys check her stuff out. Making some cool changes within the profession and, and, I just love to see that we can be creative and, and the things you're doing are sort of outside the box, but making a big impact.

So again, thanks so much for jumping on the podcast and guys, as always, stay tuned.