E458 | Amanda Fultineer

Today's episode is my chat with PT Biz Mastermind member, Amanda Fultineer! Amanda is the owner of Balanced Physical Therapy & Sports Performance.

Amanda was born and raised in Lancaster, PA. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences in 2008 from The Ohio State University. While at OSU, she competed on the Varsity Women's Gymnastics team. She then attended Temple University and graduated in 2011 with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. We talk all things cash-based physical therapy! Enjoy!

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Podcast Transcript

Danny: [00:00:00] So one of the best ways to improve your customer experience, which we know will dramatically improve your business, is to have clear lines of communication with your clients. And that's something that can be really hard with these multiple channels between email and text. And what you really need is to centralize that in one place.

And that's something that we've been able to do as we switched over to PT everywhere within our client's accounts. We can actually message right back and forth with them. They can manage their home exercise plan within there, and it allows us to really compartmentalize the communi. That we have with those clients, instead of losing an email in the inbox or missing a text and then you're, it's very hard to dig yourself outta that hole because they feel like you're not very responsive, with them.

And for us, it's made a really big difference. It helps make our staff more efficient. It helps us not miss things as much with the volume of people that we're working with. And it's a really smart way of really compartmentalizing your communication with your clients so it doesn't interfere with the rest of the channels.

You have communication with family and friends and things like that. So I think it'd. Huge for your practice to centralize it the way we have. Head over to pt [00:01:00] everywhere.com. Check out what our friends are doing over there. I think it's really cool and I think you really. So here's the question. How do physical therapists like us who don't wanna see 30 patients a day, who don't wanna work home health and have real student loans create a career and life for ourselves that we've always dreamed about?

This is the question, and this podcast is the answer. My name's Danny Mate, and welcome to the PT Entrepreneur Podcast.

What's up guys? Dr. Danny here, the PT Entrepreneur podcast, and we got Amanda Ful on. She's the owner of Balanced Physical Therapy and Sports Performance in a great town, Raleigh, North Carolina. Love it there, by the way. Super excited to, to have her on. She's got a really cool story and for her to share her entrepreneurial journey.

Amanda, how's everything? Great.

Amanda: Great. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Danny: How did you, how'd you guys end up in Raleigh? Because aren't you're from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, [00:02:00] right? Yeah,

Amanda: so my husband and I are actually both from Lancaster. We grew up together, so I've known him since I was like 12, but we never dated, like ever.

And Oh wow. He actually moved down here after he graduated college for a job at GlaxoSmith Klein. And then we ran into each other. We were both in Lancaster over Christmas break. I was in PT school, he was living here, and we started talking and connected again. And then when I was finishing up PT school, I was in Philly and G s K has a big hub in Philadelphia.

And he's do you want me to transfer to the Philly office? And I was like, no way. Absolutely not. Like we're moving. I'm moving to Raleigh. So I moved down here and. That's how it started. This is home. This is where we got married. It's where we had our kids. So this is more home now than.

Danny: And I think didn't, is it Apple is like building their East Coast headquarters there, I think is

Amanda: yeah.

A big apple. And Amazon's building a bunch of stuff here too now. So yeah, the housing market here, just like everywhere else, but I think more so [00:03:00] here, it's just Outta control right now. Bananas,

Danny: right? No that's that's cool. I listen to a really interesting podcast. I'm drawing a blank on the name of this, but it's about the N NBA betting scandal with refs and how they were like manipulating games.

And what they said was interesting was, it's some crazy percentage of of refs come from Delaware County, Pennsylvania. And is that close to Lancaster?

Amanda: I don't even know. That's terrible. I think

Danny: it is. I'm pretty sure it's like in, in the same area, but they all say water a very specific way.

Oh yeah. I feel like I've, yeah, I feel like I've heard you say the same thing. So it's the dead giveaway of the certain area. Yeah. But yeah. Wanna

Amanda: Pennsylvania Dutch in there? I guess in the dialect, maybe.

Danny: That's it. My sister-in-law does the same thing, but I'm super excited to chat with you today, and get into it and we skipped forward to you getting married and moving down in to Raleigh.

But I'm always interested like, cuz physical therapy, it's a it's such an interesting profession. It's a profession where we get to help people or we get to, really be a part of their journey from being. Injured back to being a back [00:04:00] to whatever they wanna do.

And it's such a personally rewarding profession, but everybody has, their own reason about why they got into it. So for you, like what was it about the profession that drove you to wanna become a physical therapist?

Amanda: So I did gymnastics growing up. I started gymnastics when I was probably like nine.

And like many gymnasts I had a lot of injuries and so I was like, I guess they called a lifer at pt. Yeah, I was always in and out for different things. And I had a super cool PT from the time I was like 12 to 18. And that I was like, you know what, this would be a cool job. And so I did a lot of shadowing with him and anytime we had to do career day, I was always doing it with him.

But I was literally the kid who was like 12 years old I wanna be a PT when I grow up. And everyone's what the hell's that? Like I don't even know what that is. So yeah, so I got, I went to undergrad at Ohio State and I was gonna do athletic training, but I did gymnastics. The time they weren't, you couldn't do both, you had to pick.

So I just picked a generic undergrad degree cuz I knew I wanted to go to PT school, so

Danny: Yeah. So you couldn't do athletic training [00:05:00] and a sport. I guess that makes sense, right? Cause you have two times, like

Amanda: Exactly. A lot of the, I think at the time, and maybe they could have made it work, I don't know, but they were like, you can't be on the sidelines as an athletic trainer and a gymnast at the same time, essentially.

Yeah. I was like, I for that makes sense.

Danny: No that, that makes total sense. I I feel that's a brutal sport for sure, like physically and it's a great niche as well. Do you work with a lot of gymnasts at this point?

I

Amanda: do, yeah. I started I guess about four years ago, there's a gym it's about 45 minutes from my house.

And I started working with their gymnasts there. So I go down there once a week. I'm there Mondays from 12 to four, and I just treat their gymnasts and I love it. Yeah. Gymnastics was a huge part of my life. Forever. It always will be. I could just talk gymnastics all day long.

Danny: Oh, I, my daughter's super into it.

Really I'm taking her to gymnastics tonight. She's there twice a week for three hours or something, and she's, yeah. Constantly practicing her back bends or. Telling me how I'm not flexible enough. Which is which is pretty funny cause she's [00:06:00] super flexible. But it, it is such a good way, I feel to get strong and especially with the Olympics just being on, like we were, obviously we're super into it.

Jim Gymnasts is one of those fun things to watch, but I really feel like, nope, people do not understand how difficult that actually is. And one thing you know, for me with CrossFit, there's gymnastics movements. Whenever I got into CrossFit, I was like, wow, these are really hard. Like a handstand. Who knew how hard that would be.

In the Olympics, they make it look so easy. And I think what they need, and this would make I think for the viewership better, is they need like an average person just off the street to try to do the exact same thing and just show everybody just how hard it is because they make it look so easy.

Amanda: Yeah.

I think that's a definitely a big thing is because that's the only time people watch gymnastics for the most part, is the Olympics. And if you're competing at that level, they're perfect, a lot of the times. Yeah. And so it does, it looks incredibly easy. And Simone Biles. She does these skills that men can't do and people are like, is it really that hard?

And I'm like, if you only knew it's so hard what she's

Danny: doing. Yeah. She does like three flips in the air when she jumps off like [00:07:00] the vault, right? Like she's I don't know if anybody else it's a female's ever done that. No.

Amanda: No they haven't. And I doubt very many men can actually do that either, it's incredible. And she's four foot, I don't know what, she's so tiny. I don't know how she explodes so high in the air. That's amazing. It's crazy.

Danny: No, it's really cool. And so for you. With your PT career, coming back this, how long did you work in a traditional setting and what did that look like before you decided to go to your own thing?

Amanda: So I got outta school and I got a job at an outpatient clinic here in Raleigh. It was smaller, I think at the time. I was helping them open up their fourth office. Yeah. And then probably about three or four years into that, they were part of this big merger. And so it quickly became, Corporate America and the numbers and the, high volume of patients.

And at the time my kids were I think maybe five and two and I was super burnout. So I found another job here in town, outpatient clinic, standalone practice, super good people that own it. A [00:08:00] lot of experienced clinicians and they were super big on one-on-one care. So I was, in my head, I was like, this is it.

This is what I need. This is gonna be perfect. And I switched over there. I guess it was probably about six years into my career, and right after I started there, I found out I was positive for the BRCA gene mutation. Which for those people who don't know, is the gene mutation that is associated with high risk of breast cancer.

So was in and out of a lot of doctor's appointments and after a year of being there elected to have a prophylactic mastectomy with reconstruction. So was down and out for the first time in my life ever, I had to like just sit around and do nothing, which I'm terrible at doing. Wow. But they were great.

They took good care of me, but at that time I started to do a lot of just like personal development and growth cuz I didn't have anything else to do. I literally was like, doing nothing. Yeah. And I started listening to a pod, a lot of podcasts, and [00:09:00] that's when I started to listen to the PT Entrepreneur podcast.

A lot of Tim Ferriss and a lot of movement maestro. And I was like I don't know that just because this is one-on-one care, this is gonna be it. This is gonna be like the change that I was looking for. So I went back and I went back to work for about a year after I had my surgery. And I just feel like my perspective on things was a lot different.

I valued my time a lot more when I was sitting there with somebody who clearly didn't wanna be there, they were just coming to get their PT so they could move along the next step to go get their pills or whatever. I was like, I could be with my kids right now. My kids are growing up.

I could be with them. And I think about that time is when your book came out. And I read your book and I was sitting on our front porch. I'll never forget it. I was on our porch swing reading and my husband came home from work and he is like, Hey, how was your day? And I was like, Hey, I'm gonna quit my job and open a cash practice.

And he was like Okay. A lot of questions. But [00:10:00] luckily my husband is a saint and he supports everything that I do. He did have a lot of questions. He's a number guy but that was in probably, I guess maybe April of 2019. And then I opened my practice at the very end of October, 2019.

So just ripped the bandaid. I. I didn't wanna do the PRN stuff. I was just like, I'm just going for it. I'm gonna do it.

Danny: I love it. That's so funny, man. That book is dangerous. I know. There, I, it's so interesting to hear anybody that's even read it surprises me to be honest with you.

And the fact that. What meant enough to you to want to go and do your own thing with, with your own business is just awesome to hear. I did not know that. A about like how you got started. I feel like the support is huge. And for a lot of people, that's a, they may have that they, they may not.

Your husband with the numbers guy, like, when did he come to the conclusion that hey, this is actually gonna work. Was there a month you had where there was a certain. Revenue that you brought in [00:11:00] or with numbers it's pretty clear it's either profitable or not.

Cause what was that transition like with him? Because I'm assuming, he probably was a little bit skeptical too, that there's a, some guy that wrote a book with profanity on the cover somehow convinced you to do your own thing.

Amanda: It was weird because when I started, it was November, 2019 and we did have a timeline where I think I had A six month buffer where he was like, if you're not making, if you're not replacing your income by this time, like you have to go do PRN in a nursing home.

Which he knew that was like enough fire to light underneath me. Yeah. Then of course fast forward to March, 2019. Yeah. Everything went out the window. With Covid, my son. First grade, he was home. All of a sudden, my daughter, who was four, was at daycare. We brought her home.

Cause of course, like everyone else, we didn't know what was going on. Yep. And at first he naturally was the one who was like, what are we gonna do? We have this business. And naturally I was like, it's fine. It's gonna [00:12:00] be fine. We'll just be positive. Everything will be fine. But it worked out because we really.

At that time, I needed to transition more to mom mode and be there more for the family. So I was still working, I was still treating patients. But my son came to work with me every day for, I don't know, however many months which was interesting. And it had his challenges, we just tried to make the best of it.

I got to have lunch with him every day and take him to the park and do things we went normally get to do. So it probably wasn't until. I guess it would've been in, I'm trying to think when I had the call with you to join the mastermind, but that was probably when things settled down enough where we could be like, okay, I really need to focus on the business now that I have time.

I don't have a tiny person in my back office coming out crying with his laptop about his Zoom call dropping. So I would've been March of this year is when I really and we were steadily growing, but I knew, I was like, I need [00:13:00] to devote more time to the business.

Danny: Yeah. Yeah.

And that's right around when we had the event in Charleston as well, right? Yeah. Because I remember. And I remember talking to you and learning about your chickens and, and just learning a little more about your life and also just knowing, just like how much potential, was there with your background and the area you were in.

And to see the growth you've had is like pretty impressive even from, from March. So what do you think, what do you think the biggest difference has been, since. Since we saw each other in Charleston to now, in terms of the growth you've seen, because it's been pretty, it's pr it's been quite a lot.

Amanda: Yeah. So much. I think so many things have been helpful. I think the accountability calls are huge for me. I don't, I just. Because we make that this is what I'm gonna work on this month, and I know there's gonna be a group of people that are gonna hold me accountable to it. I think a big thing for me too was getting my price point right.

It was, so low. And I think when you're in the insurance world for a [00:14:00] while, You know what you get reimbursed, so you just assume that's like what our time is worth. Which is ridiculous, so I think getting the prices where they need to be, but also just everything laid out with the systems and processes.

I didn't really have a lot of that. It was just like I had some of it in my mind but nothing was consistent. And now then I am, I've got a marketing plan and I have. Some of those things just in order that I do consistently, it's allowed for the business to grow to a point where I'm like, I, we were on our call whenever it was last week, and I was like, I'm, I have too many people on my schedule right now.

I'm too, I need less people. Yeah. That's so funny. Yeah, so it, everything is just been so helpful. And it is funny to look back at the numbers cause I'm like to see the changes it's made. It's every. My revenue is higher than the last which my husband definitely appreciates.

Danny: No, I'm sure he does.

What was the difference between [00:15:00] your price point when you started with us and now, like what is the, like the actual amount you were at per hour or per procession, whatever, and then where you are now?

Amanda: When I first opened my practice, I think I was charging a hundred dollars an hour and I had these.

Tiny bumps along the way cuz I wasn't in the Mastermind, but I listened to the podcast enough to be like, I need to be raising my prices. But yeah, those prices sound crazy. They're scary, or whatever it was. And so now my last price increase, I just bumped up to 180 5. Yeah. And it, and every single time I, go to do the increase, it's I'm always worried about it.

Nobody cares. Everyone's yeah, you're worth, yeah. Nobody ever cares,

Danny: ever. So it's always like that, it's so interesting. I think at a certain point, like there's obviously a threshold if you're like, Hey, it's $10,000 a visit, right? You're gonna alienate the vast majority of the population.

But I think that a lot of that really it does come from conditioning, I think that we get within, in network in terms of not [00:16:00] really understanding our value or tying that to what an insurance company says you're worth. But that also really is predicated on you actually even understanding what reimbursement is what that is.

And very few staff clinicians in particular really even know what that clinic is getting back. But I think the vast majority of it comes from Our own backgrounds. There's a really it's a really good book that I read recently. It's called The Psychology of Money. And it talks about the way people view it and how it's reflected based off of your upbringing and the people that are around you and what they talked about or the way they viewed money.

And then it's just the way that you view it and our kids are gonna be the same way. So that's why I'm actually. Aware of the way I speak to my kids about money to where hopefully they have a healthy relationship and they view it for what it is instead of this scarce thing. You never get enough of, so I'm interested with you are there certain things you've had to work through as far as money mindset goes with I, I guess not necessarily convincing yourself, but coming to the realization that you are like really valuable and you should charge what you're worth.

Amanda: Yeah, for sure. And I think that [00:17:00] was one. I love everything about being in the mastermind. Everything is still helpful, but the things that are in there that are more of like personal development are by far my favorite. And doing the one activity where it was the money mindset was for sure. I grew up, I wouldn't say we were poor, but we didn't have all this, money.

And it was definitely like, I got a lot of money doesn't grow on trees kind of thing. And so Yeah. There's definitely, I think some. To fix with that for sure. And then also, yeah, just me personally being like, I have a doctorate degree. You spend an hour with these people, how many people have I, sent to the doctor and they found out they got cancer, or they've had heart issues and got surgery, then didn't have a heart attack.

And it's just so I, I definitely think it, some of it was my upbringing but some of it was just, like I said, just personally like valuing what we do as a profession.

Danny: Yeah. And you, you brought up valuing your time as well, right? With working with people that maybe,[00:18:00] they didn't really care if they got better or it was just a stepping stone to the next thing.

I know that's really frustrating for people, and honestly, I feel like it's one of the best parts about a cash practice is that people are just, they have skin in the game, they're bought in. Do you feel like. The value of your, the way you perceive your time at this point and the value you put on it has changed now that you are, charging what you're you're worth in your area instead of just, like working with somebody that was put on your schedule that maybe doesn't want to be there.

Amanda: Yeah, for sure. Because I think, like I said, before I'd gotten to the point where, You know, and I, a big part of my why is my family and being, able to spend time with my kids and watch them grow up. So I definitely value when I'm away with them, like it better be worth my time to be away from my children and my husband to do what I do.

And yeah, for sure, I would say a lot of that has changed. Just because I know, I think part of when I've done a [00:19:00] lot of personal development, you find what's important. You, like I said, and I don't wanna miss a swim meet or meet the teacher or whatever it may be. So if I'm with a patient, it better be, worth my time to be away from them.

Danny: Yeah. It sounds like the common theme is family. Like the. The time flexibility that you've created, even though, we work really hard and it's not like these things are easy or guaranteed, but the trade out is, say over where you're at when you're there.

And I, if you never made a dollar more than you make now let's say you just are stuck where you're at for the rest of your career, but you have that time freedom, would you take that exchange? 100%. Yeah. I think, it's hard to explain, I think for, until people are in a position where they have say over what they do which there's pros and cons because you're also your own boss, which you're essentially working for a crazy person that will work like 80 hours and, burn through all these personal development podcasts and books and things like that.

And [00:20:00] understanding how to create some boundaries for yourself can be really hard, but, the time side of it, I've always found is kinda be the best part as well. What has been the hardest part about starting your practice or growing your practice? I

Amanda: think exactly what you just said is that normally when you're doing this, you're gonna be somebody who just works works.

And that's 100% how I am. I think my dad has a small business and I. Grew up watching him, just working nonstop. And so I've, that's something I'm always working on, I feel like, is setting boundaries where it's this is when I work, this is when I'm not working. Cuz it is. When you have your own business, it's very easy to always be checking emails or there's just always something you could be doing.

So I think that's been the hardest part for me, is just making sure that I'm not doing too much. Because, my husband early on, would remind me like, Hey, remember you wanted to have your own business to have freedom and work less [00:21:00] and be with their family. And then I'd be like over sitting at the kitchen table like frantically typing on my computer.

Yeah, so that's definitely the, and it's something I think I'll probably just always be working on cuz it's just my nature. This is just how I.

Danny: Yeah. I think what people don't realize too, most people. They don't, I don't think that they really enjoy their work. I think that they maybe like their work setting and they get some, that personal satisfaction out of the work that they're doing.

It's not necessarily something they would choose to do if they could do like maybe a hobby that they really enjoy in place of that. But from what I've seen, people that, at least in our profession, cuz that's where I have most of my experience working with businesses. They just like absolutely love the business that they have, the opportunity, that they have the excitement of growing a team and a, a business past themself that your occupation and your hobby, they blend.

And they they're one and the same. And so like the amount of work you're putting in, I think [00:22:00] out the outside, person is like, why are you working so hard? And, but if they actually. Understood just how much you enjoy what you're working on, then maybe they would view that a little bit differently.

I don't know if that makes sense.

Amanda: No, I think so, and that's exactly how I feel. I've always loved being a pt even when it was not in, when he, even when I'm seeing 20 patients a day, I've always loved being a pt. I love my interaction with my patients, but I've. I've actually really loved the business side of things way more than I, I thought I would.

I don't know why I didn't think I would, but yeah, so I love all aspects of it. So I can see that, I love what I do and yeah, I think that makes sense. What

Danny: do you feel like, okay, so if somebody's just starting they're just like, all right, I'm just getting, I'm just getting going.

My husband has given me a six month ultimatum to where I have to be at a prn at a nursing home, or something like that. What, whatever it was that yeah, which I think is fair. You gotta give people like what is it, the carrot and the sticks? Sometimes. It depends. It depends how you're motivating somebody.

But I think that for somebody just starting out, like what would you say the most [00:23:00] important things would be for them to to learn skill-wise or to work on, if you're just getting going.

Amanda: I think sales was a big thing for me. Just learning how I don't, I, because I never had to do that, I've always worked in practices where it was like patients were funneled to me.

Doing that. Knowing how to get out and market in the community, which is actually one of my favorite things. I love doing that. I think those are probably the big things, but also not forgetting the basics, like having, like I said, the system's in processes in place. Cuz I think it's, it makes, if you have that in place and set from the beginning, it makes everything else easier, I think as you.

Danny: Yeah. Yeah. Sales and marketing basically solves all problems until you get to a point of growing past yourself, and it's interesting because we go from essentially hustling to leaders which is a difficult transition, I think for people to make from just like getting out, grinding, doing everything themself, to then all of a sudden empowering [00:24:00] other people.

And I know for you that's a stage. You're going through right now. So what have you found in terms of growing into more of a business owner versus a self-employed, pt? What, what about that transition has been the most challenging for you?

Amanda: For me, I think the hardest part was just Not micromanaging, not that I think I'm a micromanager, but I think because you've, I've grown this business, it's like my baby.

It's like my third child. And I've built it from the ground up and so to just let go of some of that and just be like, Hey, you do this, and And not be like let me read over that or let me check, let me check over. That kind of thing has been the hardest part, but I'm definitely, now that I see the time freedom it gives me, I'm like, okay, whatever.

Just do the Instagram post or write the newsletter. But at first I will say I felt I was like, oh gosh, I'm, this is my baby and I'm, letting somebody else take charge of it kind of thing.

Danny: It's so true. It's I think it's natural. You're so personally tied to it.

I, it's very freeing to be able to delegate [00:25:00] something and somebody actually do it, and at least as close to as good as you would do sometimes significantly better. What were the first couple things that you were. Off my schedule. What? What? What'd you give away first?

Amanda: Oh, all the social media stuff. I'm just like a grandma when it comes to social media and I hired this fantastic, Young, fresh outta PT school, and she does all these things in four seconds. And I'm like, I don't know what you did, but it looks fan. And that was when I like, saw like one thing she did and I was like, okay, I clearly don't know what I'm doing and you do.

So I don't need to look over this anymore.

Danny: That's the key. I have a friend that has a social media marketing company mainly for like restaurants and like breweries and it is that, that sort of, kind of niche and. They, everybody that works there is like right outta college female, and they kill it on social media.

They understand social media so well. And that's a very smart move by the way to let somebody else take that on. I'm interested, on the new patient side for you, for where you [00:26:00] guys are at and what you're putting your effort towards. This is a question we get constantly and it's people are always just like, how do I get more new patients?

How do I get more new patients? Which I think never really goes away. It's every. Obviously wants like an unlimited stream of highly qualified customers, but it's not necessarily the easiest thing to do. What do you guys find where are you guys finding the most success with with what you're doing to generate new clients in the Raleigh area?

Amanda: So we've just been getting in a lot of gyms, I don't know how it is in Atlanta, but I feel like we have these like chain gyms opening up everywhere, whether it's like F 45 or Orange Theory, or we have a rock box open up down the street. And now there's one called Spanga, which I'd never heard of, but it's Spin Strength and Yoga.

In an hour. So they do 20, 20 20. And just trying to connect with those, local business owners and getting out and doing workshops. I've been really lucky with workshops. I've had a lot of new patients come from them and I think. I'm like super passionate about what I do and I think as long as I get in, yeah, my PT [00:27:00] two.

So you get in front of people and they can see how passionate you are about it, and they're like, yeah, I wanna go to that place. I wanna go to that place where that girl's like super excited to teach me how to spot properly.

Danny: So true. It's I feel like half the battle is just being enthusiastic about what you're trying to teach people.

And I think everybody can relate to a professor that they had maybe that made something. Interesting. That really wasn't that interesting. Yeah, I had a neuroscience professor that was just like, It was his favorite thing in the world. Like he just would nerd out. He would get so excited while he was like teaching us things.

And I always thought, I was just like, man, this is so much better than somebody that's obviously bored by his own material. So I think that's good. Do you have to get yourself in a certain state to get all excited about it or are you always excited about teaching people how to

Amanda: squat?

No, I'm always, if anything I have to make sure I don't get too excited. You'll tone it down a little bit so people aren't like, this girl's crazy. That's yeah. No, I don't know. I just, like I said, I just love what I do and so I think you're right though. Like people can sense that, I have I see my eye doctor and she's the same way.

[00:28:00] I, she walked in the room for the first time. I'm like, this woman loves her job. And guess what? I send everyone I know to her cuz I'm like, She loves her job, she's gonna take care of your eyes. And so people can just sense

Danny: that it's so true. I worked with a guy, he was like a computer coder and he got into metalworking, like blacksmithing as a hobby and eventually l left his job as a as a computer coder and just started working full-time as a blacksmith, which I didn't even know that existed anymore.

I thought that was like, phased out from the days of people making spears or whatever they were doing. And I, he, of course, he had an elbow problem right when I saw him and was working with him. And every time he was like my favorite person to work with because every time he would come in, I was so fascinated with what he was doing because he was so interested in it.

And. I never thought I would be interested in blacksmithing or how, whatever metals, like temperature [00:29:00] they need to get at, get to, to be able to, manipulate how they're shaped and things. And he was just so into it, I think. I think the key is to find something that you want to just try to be the best in the world at and.

And I find that fascinating and I think other people do too, right? People are fascinated by people that are fascinated at something else, right? And that they're sharing their enthusiasm for it. And for you, teaching people how to, move better is is huge. I think local relationships, it sounds like for you is another area they do really well.

So what have you found from local relationship standpoint that, excuse me, has worked really well for you in, in the Raleigh area? Like how do you build those relationships? I

Amanda: got really lucky. We have a gym in our neighborhood. It's literally a mile from my house and. At the time I needed a gym to go to, and so I joined the gym there.

So I think just being in the community and, people are just with you and they see you. But also going to other places too, I think. I think a big part of it is just being active in your [00:30:00] community. Can't just go in and be like, Hey, I'm Amanda. Do you want me to do a workshop? You need to be in there with the people.

I think they love that cause they know what, you know the exercises that they're doing, the workouts that you're, they're doing. And you just become friends with all these people and you just wanna help them get better,

Danny: yeah. So you made that sound really easy. You're like, yeah, just be friends with people and so I think what you're saying is that in order to develop those relationships, you found, if you're part of the community, Works a lot

Amanda: better.

100%. Yeah, absolutely. And I've actually really liked that. Like I said, I never, like at first and I was like, workshops, that sounds scary. I need to get up and talk in front of a bunch of people because as much as I love to talk about. Physical therapy and I get excited. I'm definitely more of an introvert because when I'm in my office and I'm like, oh, let's talk about things, this is like my comfort zone, this is my home.

So at first I was like, I don't know about these workshops. I gotta get in front of a bunch of strangers and talk. And I never thought like [00:31:00] teaching would be something I would enjoy in my career, but I love like getting out and doing workshops like we're doing one on Sunday and I'm like pumped, like mobility and mechanics.

Like I can't wait.

Danny: What's your go-to gimme your top two workshops? Man if I have to get people in the door, these are the two things that I do.

Amanda: I think probably the most successful one I did was like Women's health Workshop. I don't do any internal work. My new therapist will be, but just teaching women how to find their core after they have babies.

Yeah. Because it's we don't do that here. We're like, Hey, go have a baby and lose all your weight and then keep that tiny human alive. And we don't really care if you're peeing yourself or your back hurts. Yeah, so that was probably. Most successful one. And then just like basic stuff, I'm a very I think probably, I don't know if it's my gymnastics background.

I'm really, I was big into basics with gymnastics, but I think I'm like that as a PT too. Like people just don't know the basics of mobility and foam rolling. And I think for the general populations, you can [00:32:00] go through a lot of that stuff and it's like life changing for them. Yeah. So yeah, probably that kind of stuff.

Danny: That's so true. I feel like you've. In a nutshell, sum summarize Kelly t's work. It's it's not groundbreaking at all. No. No offense to Kelly. Like he's my boy. It's to the. The average clinician, they're like, yeah, that's, don't, doesn't everybody know that? No, they don't.

That's the thing, like they're not, they're accountants or they, they're school teachers. They don't know, that the calf crosses the knee and maybe that the reason that they're back of their knee hearts is cuz something's wrong with their calf. That's like mind blowing to the average person.

And, so I think that we try to get too fancy with this, from what I've seen with workshops that, that bomb, it's usually with people that are, that come in and they wanna describe they wanna describe some sort of like rip ribbon, so as correlation with somebody's left foot and some sort of p r I approach or whatever, which can be great in the office.

But trying to explain that to like the average person at a CrossFit gym. [00:33:00] It's just not the right place. This is not the right context. Versus, Hey, this is your ankle, this is what it does, this is how we can improve it. And then test, re test so they can see what they're doing. The basic seems to just go so, so much better.

So that, that's cool. And I think, the other thing is getting out there and sharpening that skill is huge, right? For you, I would. Comfort level with public speaking has probably gotten a lot better just because you're so used to being able to teach in front of people.

Amanda: Yeah, for sure.

I remember the first workshop I did, and I think there was like two people there. There was like nobody there. Yeah. And I was like sweating, like probably just a disaster, and there was like two people there. And now, the last workshop I did at my gym, it was the women's health one.

We actually did two back to. Workshops because there were so many, we had to cap the size Wow. With Covid and no, granted there were some mimosas involved, so I did have a little liquid courage. But no, it was great and it was really sweet. There was a woman at my gym who [00:34:00] I've known. And she came up to me afterwards and she was like, you have found your calling.

This was what you were meant to do. And it was like the best compliment I could ever get in my entire life. That's super cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Danny: So it was good. I think that if you can mix in yeah. So something fun with that, like Yeah, of course. Mimosas in mobility or whatever you're, you were doing for that workshop.

It's something that is more entertaining, they're gonna remember it a little bit more. Yeah, like part of it is for sure you want them to learn things, but also to, enjoy themself. That's half of it, to be honest with you. And I think that I mean we used to do a lot of B Y O B or bring a bottle of wine or whatever.

Although you had a one time like. There's definitely a lot of like binge drinking that's gone on at at workshops before where be like, okay, I gotta go. Yeah. I can't hang with you guys here while they're breaking out like a shot ski in the corner or something like that. Oh my. And but doing something fun like that or in engineering little tests in there where people have to try to do things, that are control related or mobility related, and just seeing [00:35:00] who can and who can't.

It's always you, it's always fun. So I think that's one of the best ways, if I had to choose to, if I move somewhere new and I needed to, start a practice again to be able to. Feed my family, I would be doing as many damn workshops as I possibly could, anywhere I could go. Because the power of them is not just that you're gonna get patients directly from it, but like for instance, the lady that.

Came up to you and she's Hey this is great. You found your calling. Who knows who she knows, right? And you get a couple people in a room that are in the marketing terms, they call these people spewers. It's a weird name. I don't know why they do this, but basically they spew their opinion of.

People positively or negatively on everybody around them. They're just, they're the people that are constantly telling you about the new restaurant or constantly telling you about whatever it might be. You get a couple of those people on your side and they're just word of mouth ninjas, right?

They're just constantly talking you up and you don't know who they are. So it, it could be anybody at any workshop, even if there's two people, and sometimes the smallest workshops, they tend to return the most because you get so much individual, [00:36:00] attention with people.

For you, At this point you're at a place where proof of concept is there, you don't have to work for somebody the rest of your life. Is there one thing you can say that's just man, this is absolutely like the best part of of me going through all this hard work and getting to the stage that you're at now?

Amanda: Yeah, I think the time I've gotten to spend this summer with my kids more, way more, we've gone on more vacations. But I know I sent you a message the other week. My son is eight and he sees our life coach. Slash therapist, whatever you wanna call her. And he had a session with her the other week and I, asked her how he was doing and she said he's doing great.

He really, he says, my mommy has her own business and because of that, she can spend extra time with us that she didn't used to be able to do. And like to me, I was like, oh. Like that was everything to me. Like my kid is old enough to realize, that was my goal when I started, was to have this practice where I [00:37:00] could do what I love so much, but also have the flexibility to see my kids grow up and for the, for him to be at the age where he like literally sees that and verbalize that to somebody else.

I was like, done, like gold met.

Danny: That's so cool. They see everything, I think it's I don't know at what age. Like they're just so perceptive and they're aware of differences and positives and negatives or whatever. Maybe they don't really even understand what's going on.

But how cool is that? That's just so freaking cool for your kid to be aware of that and bring that up independently, with with somebody else. And you're setting an example. For them, as they get older. Not, it's not that everybody, I don't think everybody is or should be an entrepreneur cause I just think it's a difficult path.

It's something that if you feel like that's the direction you're supposed to go, you probably should. And if you. Never ever thought, you're like, [00:38:00] I just don't want to do this at all. I have no desire. The no big deal find a job that you love with a company that you love and be a part of that and get a lot of satisfaction out of that.

But, for some of us, there's just no other way, and kids, I think you see it early, right? Where they're like, man, I'm over here selling lemonade or whatever, and they just, they find freedom in the ability to make their own money to. Do what they want with it, right? Not have to ask you if they wanna buy a pack of gum or whatever they're trying to do.

So it's cool to see that in, in kids and for them to be aware of what you're doing because it's so much work involved and there's so much stress, especially early on. And for him to be able to, be as proud of you as he is, like that's really cool.

Amanda: Yeah. Yeah, it was awesome. And it's funny cuz I never wanted to, I never thought I would open my own practice and I think I had.

Very negative connotation with it from my dad. Cause my dad has his own small business. Yeah. Now his situation was a little bit different. He was a single dad with three kids. But I always just saw him working like he was always [00:39:00] working. I don't know that the man's ever been on like a full week vacation in his entire life still.

Wow. And that's partly because he just works, works, works. But I think when I was a kid, I would've never been like, yeah, when I have my own business, I would've been like, that sounds awful.

Danny: Yeah. It's so interesting because I feel like that is, that's how a lot of businesses run. The, in, in my experience with.

Businesses outside of the, the clinical world. The vast majority of business owners are not really business owners. They're self-employed, and if you take them out of the equation, they don't actually have a business or they find this sense of comfort in being busy and they never really They never really elevate the skillset that they're working on or the work that they're doing to where it decreases the total amount of time, but the dollar, cost per hour tasks go up, right?

And being more strategic and leading people more and growing a team. And some people maybe don't even want to do that, right? They may just literally like what they do. They like to work hard, [00:40:00] they find something that works and that's that's what they do. I think that for most people, Entrepreneurship is self-employment and self-employment and being a business owner are very different things because one leads to time and financial freedom and the other one probably leads to some amount of financial freedom, but definitely not time freedom.

And I think, for you and I both and most people the trade out, I'll take less money for more time freedom. Any day. Unless it's obviously I can't support my family off of whatever that amount is, but it just, it's just so much more meaningful. So sometimes yeah that I guess, Role model, you're probably like, that's exactly what I don't wanna do.

Yeah. And there's a different way,

Amanda: yeah, for sure. I would've never thought, if you would've asked me probably four years ago if I would've opened my own practice, I'd be like, no. That sounds like too much work. Yeah.

Danny: No I totally agree. Last question I have for you, and then, be respectful of your time.

I know you've got lots of patience to get to for us you've been involved in the Mastermind for a little bit now. I'd love to know, like if people are, kinda working on their business by themselves, they're trying to figure everything out, with a cash practice, especially [00:41:00] like a performance based cash practice where they're working with active adults or in a niche where they're getting people back to something, sport related or movement related.

What would you tell them? The importance of investing in yourself and really getting around the right group of people and support on the business side.

Amanda: I think it's just been a such a game changer for me, to be honest and. Like I said, I've always been super enthusiastic and love what I've done.

And I remember when I went to Charleston, I was like, these are where all the damn PTs I've been, these are where I've been looking for these people. Where have these people been the past 10 years? The people are so excited about their job. Just like me. I thought I was like, a unicorn or something.

I was like, nobody existed. But but it has been huge and We, I know we had our call and I told you, my husband, yeah. I talked to my husband about investing in the Mastermind and we talk about it all the time. I was like, this is like the best money I've ever spent in my life.

Because it's already made up for itself. I don't even know how many fold. With just, the group of people and the [00:42:00] ability to vox someone and ask a question about, I have a new hire I'll, send anyone a message with a question. And just all the stuff online, like the courses and the modules.

I was gonna send you a message cuz I did the life mission statement the other day, which was like, yeah. Amazing. I love that. So it's one of those where I definitely wish I would've done it sooner for sure. Probably would've saved a lot of time sitting in my back office, like staring at the wall, being like, shit, how am I gonna pay my rent this month?

So yeah. So it's. I definitely had to change my mindset with it cuz it was like, oh, I was just looking at it as oh, this is so much money I'm spending, but then seeing how much I've gotten in return is incredible.

Danny: Yeah. It's, I went through the exact same thing myself. It's with for years, I'm very stubborn.

And I don't like to perceive like I'm asking for help. I think that's where people like, it's not like you can. Join a a group or buy a program or hire a mentor, and the problem is solved, right? Like [00:43:00] it's, and the perception I think is oh, I gotta figure this out on my own. There's still a lot of work to be done.

It's just a matter of pointing you in the right direction more often than the, than you point yourself in the wrong direction. In, in, in most cases. And I, I obviously agree with you. I'm very biased, but the room of people is hard to describe. It's. I think people like you and I do not necessarily fit into the traditional PT mold.

If we go to an A P T A conference, it's not really our people. And in our mastermind, when we get a chance to get together when we go to Dallas in September, we'll have probably 120 people there. And it's just so easy. Like the relationships are so easy. It's, there's so much synergy that is just really.

That common in the profession? I think it can frustrate people that they fall in this, I don't know, out outlier kind of area of wanting to have a cash practice, wanting to work with people more on the performance side. Not necessarily wanting to [00:44:00] wear khaki pants and tuck their.

Polo shirt into it and that like they they just don't like, Hey, I got a degree. If you wanna look at it, it's on the wall, but I don't have to dress like that in order for you to get, respect what I'm gonna tell you. And that, that is what we have, and it's cool to be around people like that in the right room of people really can compound your your ability to grow not just from the business side, but frankly the business side.

And I'm sure it's, you're very into personal development. Most people are not. They, you drag them into it and they don't realize that it's actually like Im more important. But the ability to help people. And not just make more money, like the money's fine, for you to spend more time with your family, for you to be able to work on your health, mental, physical health relationships outside of that, all these things that we really try to make sure that we're.

Engaging people on, which are not easy conversations to have, and very few people want to have them. Cause it's much easier to avoid those types of conversations. That is, in my opinion, the best part to have open-minded people that are willing to not just work on their business, but to work on [00:45:00] themself.

And the compounding effect of that outside of the business, the roi, I don't even know how to quantify that. It's just, it's the best part in my opinion. Yeah, we're excited to get back together. It's always super fun to get together a couple times.

Amanda: Yeah, I would agree.

I think that's been one of my favorite parts is just all the personal development with it because it's, it's something I've always worked on, but. Wasn't anticipating as much personal growth from being in the Mastermind as what's come to be. It's definitely, it's something I, I don't honestly enjoy cuz it's painful at times to do, like you said, it's not easy work to do.

I come with a lot of baggage. But it's been my favorite part is just growing as a person and being a better human and being a better wife and being a better mom and being a better pt. Is to me way more important. And I've taken that so much and then it's oh, but also my revenue's going up, which is like an added bonus to me.

It's just

Danny: it's so funny. You have to sell, like we, we have to sell. There has to be an r o ROI [00:46:00] financially. There has to be. But it's also what gets somebody in the door to then show them that, really the thing that's gonna limit you in terms of. The growth you wanna see within your business.

The growth you wanna see within your family with within your relationships that are important to you is not how much money you make. Yeah. And you're gonna make a hell of a lot more money when you have fixed a lot of your own shit, because if you don't, it's always going to rear its head as you get exposed to things that you're not really that capable of handling.

Whether we like it or not, we're always the bottleneck, as the person that started that business, the person that is leading that business. If you have issues with trust and delegating things and handing things off to people, you're always gonna be small. You're always gonna be micromanaging people and wonder why you have turnover.

Right? And it's be, it's not because you're bad at hiring people, it's because you're a shitty leader and you haven't, you do not know how to actually empower [00:47:00] people to let. Be smart and do their job in a really good way with the parameters of what your systems are, but, Nitpicking and micromanaging every little thing, right?

And it always comes back to us. It always comes back to personal development. But if we, if you try to talk to somebody about that when all they really care about is like making twice as much per month, like you're never you're never even convinced 'em that is part of it, right? They're just like, gimme the tactics.

And the tactics are important, but they mean very little if there's not a corresponding. Growth of that individual at the same time which really compounds more than anything. And it's just so funny cuz it's hard to describe until you've gone through. Obviously you've seen it yourself.

And his wife's such a big fan. But, it's it is, it's just the truth. It's the truth. And I wish it was, I wish I could just give everybody a Facebook ad and it would fix all the problems, but it doesn't work that way.

Amanda: No. Unfortunately not. It's a lot of hours of, a lot of not fun things for personal development.

But I think you're right though. I. As a business owner, a [00:48:00] lot of it, it'll come out eventually, and it's, you're either gonna fix it or your business probably isn't gonna do that. Yeah. Whatever aspect that may be.

Danny: Yeah, for sure. Amanda, where can people find out more about your your business and see what you guys got going on in the Raleigh

Amanda: area?

Yeah, so we're on Instagram is just balanced physical therapy. My personal one's, Amanda Fulk. But you'll probably just see a lot of pictures of my kids and my chickens on there. So this age

Danny: that's good. You gotta bring, next time we go to Charleston, you're gonna bring some eggs. I gotta try some of these.

Farm fresh eggs from Raleigh.

Amanda: I will bring some, we have more eggs than we know what to do with. That's good.

Danny: That's a good problem to have. I really I really do appreciate your time today. I really appreciate your just willingness to be, open and honest about the good and bad parts of running a business.

I think it's just so easy for people to just posture and be like, I'll make this much money, and I, whatever. And it's dude it's not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes this shit isn't easy, it's, it there's amazing parts that we get to do, but there's also a lot of stuff that we have to work through that's challenging.

And it's just like a it's nice to have a, a real [00:49:00] conversation about our profession and being an entrepreneur, within that. And it's so cool to see your success and, super happy just for the business side, but also. Much more so of the personal side, honestly.

I know how meaningful that is. And for me it's where a lot of the the best parts are there for myself as well. So I'm excited to see you in September. And again, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah,

Amanda: no, thank you for having me. And thank you guys for all of the help.

Like I said, it means so much to us and our family, just all the things and the growth in the business, which I definitely, we wouldn't have been done it without.

Danny: We appreciate that and appreciate the opportunity to get a chance to work with people like yourself. So guys, as always, thanks so much for listening and we'll catch you next week.

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