Sometimes the most powerful thing a coach or consultant can do is simply listen. By listening closely to the owners I have worked with over the past 20 years, I have learned more than in any course I have ever taken.  Their real-life challenges and solutions often bring to light things one would not have envisioned when left to their own accord. So, this week I chose to open up and share with everyone some of the most successful ways to think about leadership and practice ownership and how to communicate with your staff to bring about agreement.  Episode at a glance: Value yourself as the executive/CEO and believe in yourself as the person who is taking all the risk to provide the opportunity to your staff members. Owners in practice today are not there to be providing the financial needs of their employees. They are there to provide the right individuals - who get the big picture - opportunities for both personal and professional development. Greater levels of exchange come from commitment and follow through with their primary intention being to benefit the group as a whole, not themselves. Embrace your entrepreneurial personality.  The most successful people get the concept that they win only after the group is winning. Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice    

This week we’re chatting with our Director of Remote Management Services, Abby Keyton, PT. Abby is a physical therapist and started working with Brian as a travel therapist at his clinic in Maryland. During her time in the clinic, she worked her way up to clinical director followed by COO. For the past three years, she’s been working with MEG first as a practice coach and then managing offices remotely and working with owners throughout the country. In this episode, she’s sharing some real life experiences that she’s had running clinics around the nation as well as some solid tips for how to be an effective and successful clinical director. Episode at a glance: When you are interviewing and hiring, hire staff members based on a person’s beingness not on the resume bullet points. You can always train and enhance their skills if they are the right person. Be committed to the mission, vision, and goals of the practice. Get your team on board by being willing (and able) to break down the process to achieve those goals. You have to have a career development training system. Put time and money into key personnel if you want them to operate at the highest level. As a leader, you have to be willing to say what you don’t know and be willing to recognize and seek out opportunities to gain more knowledge. If you notice things aren’t right with a staff member, approach them based out of care to find out what's going on. This is a great rule of thumb with any sort of conflict resolution.  

As we pay more attention to the innovative leaders within our profession, it’s easy to see that we need to break out of the mold we have been working in over the past 4 decades and be revolutionary about how to operate in 2020. We all know that being a great clinician does not equate to you being successful at running a physical therapy private practice. You have to obtain the skills and continue to grow both personally and professionally. Successful business leaders will tell you that when you are looking to dismantle and restructure any operating basis, you must pilot the new model while continuing to run the existing model until you get the new model de-bugged and dialed in before you abandon the old. This week, we’re breaking down where we are today in private practice, and what we have to do now to succeed in 2020 and beyond.  Episode at a glance: Educate your team on any system or structural changes.  Create an element of giving for you and your team to take pride in that promotes the purpose of your practice within your community. Run an end of the year summary report and then use that base your upcoming year BSP on so that you have real numbers set for a 15% growth (min).  You need a form of career development training within your practice that is promoted and used with the sole purpose of enhancing skills both personally and professionally. 

What is your purpose? In this podcast, Brian explores how to stay causative over your career and the attributes necessary to own and run a successful private practice. He inspires his audience to not shy away from risks and challenges and to color outside the lines in this game of life. He implores his listeners to take a closer look at themselves and to ask “why” instead of “how.” Check it out to learn how to evolve into the best executive you can be. Episode at a glance: The difference between patient care advocacy, versus “customer service” at front desk - don't script your team but listen to how they advocate and care for the patients.  There are three important attributes to being a successful practice owner People and communication are crucial to building a successful clinical team - "you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with." A good executive can observe, decide, and act.  All great business leaders learn more about people than they do mechanics.  Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice 

Let’s face it, not many people in this world get very far without making some money. In this podcast, Brian shares his successful actions and tips on how to make more of it! So, be a “go-getter” and learn how to make better money so as to improve your quality of life, live more comfortably, and get the most out of doing what you love.  Episode at a glance: SBA loans are great options when opening your practice. They usually fund about 80% of what you ask for. Success is considered making 16 cents for every dollar (16% net revenue) though ideally, 20 cents on the dollar. Don't continue marketing activities that don't bring in a 200% return on investment. Master your internal AND external marketing so that 60% of your evals are from return business. When it comes to managing your expenses break it down so that 10% goes to your operation costs, rent should be less than 10% of gross income, and payroll should be 50% or less. Make the most out of your money by writing off expenses, reducing taxable income, giving yourself a base salary and then taking distributions. Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice   

This week we’re talking about partnerships. Partnerships are often formed because there is some aspect of business that you don’t want to confront. In general, we don’t recommend opening a practice with a partnership (with few exceptions). This episode, Brian dives into the challenges that business partnerships face, and how to overcome and confront that which you don’t know. Episode at a glance: 50+% of all marriages (the most common partnership) end in divorce. However, that number has been dropping thanks to the millennials who are getting married later. The two biggest reasons for partnership feuds are time and money. Don't seek out a partner because there are areas of business you don't want to confront. Don't tie yourself up with tasks that are not physical therapy related that you can outsource - such as billing. You can always hire team members with knowledge and skills in areas you are weaker in. Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice   

This week, we’re sharing an interview with Erik Hums, DPT. We’re a little off topic from our usual practice management strategies and a bit more clinical today. Erik is talking with us about new strategies to enhance your toolbox clinically. If you’re going to have a great practice, you need to have great products. In order to have great products, you have to be doing something better than they were in 1995. Patients suffering low back pain are a multi-million dollar industry so knowing how to best serve these patients is a great benefit. Erik himself is a fellow with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists and Regional Manager for Profysio Physical Therapy in New Jersey. Episode at a glance: It's about proper diagnostics and proper testing.  There are new innovative testing that can be done to properly diagnose the SI Joint dysfunction - download the information referenced here. Best practice for a minimally invasive SI fusion can be done by SI Bone's iFuse implant system.  

Every office we’ve worked with that has an Human Resources professional on staff, we’ve noticed a culture of fear among the staff. The overwhelming majority of these offices are mom and pop offices. In this podcast, Brian strives to bring these truths to light on how to confront them in his usual no-nonsense and honest fashion. Episode at a glance: The information needed to have effective and legitimate HR policies is available to you, or have someone on retainer to consult when you absolutely need this information.  Attend conferences such as PPS and CSM, take good notes, and study and you will get the information that you need. Have a systematic and consistent onboarding program, as well as a compliance officer. There has to be accountability and consequences for insubordination. Have solid systems of acknowledgement and validation.  Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice   

When you think about toxic employees, you have to first consider how they become a problem in your clinic. This week, Brian talks about the red flags to spot toxic employees as well as how to avoid hiring them in the first place with our five phase hiring system. Episode at a glance: Understand how to recruit and hire the best with the five phase hiring program - starting with the ad that you write, reviewing resumes and screening each candidate with a phone screen to learn about them - don't sell them on the position. Your role as the CEO is to lead, educate, and motivate. Toxic clinical employees can be spotted when they start talking about money, or when they step outside their lane. The status sheet establishes the package for employees as well as the what the performance expectations are for them to provide. 10 minute meetings with your staff each month helps to ensure they feel enriched, validated and acknowledged. Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice   

If you’re wondering when you should open your first practice, the answer is now. Now is the best time. Why? Well, the fourth quarter is a great time to get the ball rolling because quarter 2 is when most areas around the nation have the greatest upswing. Plus, when you have the mindset to jump in, just go for it. Your purpose and your value is measured by your ability to follow-through. Keep those promises to yourself. This week, we’re talking about what it takes to set your self up for success and how to create on the vision you have for your own private practice.  Episode at a glance: It takes about 90 days to get your practice opened - 95% of the startups that we work with break even in the first 90 days. The number one challenge in business is managing personnel - learn the power of acknowledgement and validation.  Effective communication is not just getting your thoughts out as much as it is bringing about total understanding through listening and duplicating. Know the expectations of others, setting the statistics that measure the expectations and how to measure them each week.  Find a mentor to help you - the best professional athletes all have coaches to help them be successful. Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice   

This week, we’re chatting with Heidi Jannenga, PT, DPT – co-founder and president of WebPT. She’s talking with Brian about changes in the Physical Therapy industry and challenges that outpatient rehabilitation therapists face and why understanding the regulatory changes is so important. Brian and Heidi also talk about how owners can remain competitive in private practice as well as why being forward-thinking and transparent is essential to great leadership. Listen in for a great discussion!  Episode at a glance: Why private practice owners need to know who their real competition is and how to acquire patients based on the market and regulatory environment.   Owners need to stop chasing what others have done and be forward-thinking.  Really hard decisions are often the right decision  Heidi shares a few statistics that show the change in access to care and how technology plays into this.  Why avoiding burnout among clinicians and owners is so important to protecting and changing the future of the Physical Therapy industry. Learn more about how we can get you to the top 10% in physical therapy private practice   

As you know, if you’ve been listening to our podcast for a while, you know that one of our main purposes is to enhance and support the APTA/PPS to bring about more positive change for the wellbeing of our profession. This week, we’re talking with a special guest discussing how (and why) you should get involved with PPS/APTA. Cristina Faucheux, PT is vice president/co-owner of Moreau Physical Therapy in Lousiana. She has been involved in the LAPTA as state government affairs chair since 2012 and was involved in the campaign to achieve direct access in Lousiana. This week, Brian and Cristina talk about the importance of advocating for the profession, how to get involved and what some of the important things PPS and the APTA do for private practice owners. Episode at a glance: What the Government Affairs Committee does for PPS and how they make recommendations for how issues private practice owners and their patients. Key contacts are crucial to helping educate legislators and their staff members on how issues impact private practice owners/the physical therapy profession. When you have meetings or make calls, or write letters, talk about the real people that these cuts impact.  More owners are getting more patients from direct access, it's important to learn how to market direct to consumer because of this trend. How to Get Involved with PPS PPS Conference Information WebPT Webinar on Medicare Compliance What is a Patient Care Representative  

Do you know the cost of doing business? If you don’t, you are the effect of what you don’t know. No, you didn’t go to finance school, but the finance lines are still the most important division in your practice. By knowing the cost of doing business we mean, the profit margins, the cost per visit, etc… This week Jon Repka from Paro is joining us to talk about finance lines and about what you don’t know. Paro is a financial services firm that has highly vetted financial professionals in an amazon-style fashion with a specific division that works with private practice owners like yourselves.   Episode at a glance: Step one is understanding per unit economics - profitability per service/per hour. If you don’t know this, chances are your financial systems weren’t set up correctly.  Bookkeeping should also drive the front end of your strategy - the services and marketing of said services and who you market to.  In bookkeeping - variance, P&L (profit & lost statement) and balance sheet are the three most important reports  If you evolve into the hybrid model, you need to have the ability to look at in-network versus out of network business and look at everything on a consolidated basis, a solid bookkeeper can do that in their sleep.  

This week we’re talking with three leading women in private practice. Jacqui Broering, PT, MPT, owner of Performance Physical Therapy in Ohio; Jennifer Schneiders, PT owner of Outbound Physical Therapy in Jefferson City, MO; and Angie McGilvrey, PT owner of Apex Physical Therapy in Fort Myers, Florida.  We were thrilled to chat with these three incredible owners to round out our women in business series and hear about their experiences, what led them to practice ownership and how they overcame challenges in conquering the unknown. Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

This week we’re talking about what is going on with these routine cuts in reimbursement against our profession as physical therapists. Take a non-bias view of our political climate and you can see, clear as day, that many are set on government-run universal health care. According to the Advisory Board – an organization of 350 health care professionals with a network of 4,400 members – health care spending will become greater than 20% of the US GDP by 2025, topping more than $5.5 trillion annually. The government could raise billions, if not trillions, of dollars each year in fees and taxes by wedging themselves into this sector of the market.  What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice  

How did I come up with the four keys to private practice success? Well, after hitting rock bottom in my own practice, I invested in becoming the best owner that I could be by learning everything I needed to know. This led me to consulting where I learned, after working with hundreds of practices, that there was a sequence to follow and key elements that needed to be in place to be successful. The better one followed them, the more successful they became. The four keys to success are:  Environment Structure and Organization Personnel Management Systems of Operation/SOP’s So many practice owners who talk to us are focused on doing, doing, doing. But that is not going to make you a better owner, nor is teaching your staff. Training advances skills, teaching just educates. Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice  

This week, we’re having a chat about women in business – part two of our three part series of women in physical therapy. Brian touched on this topic recently, but we wanted to bring in the women who inspired the original podcast. We brought on three executives from our team, Denise Muncie, CEO; Abby Keyton, DPT, Director of Remote Management Services; Nicole Walzcak, PT, Chief Development Officer who talk about rising through the ranks as women, how to be successful while balancing the mental load, and how to stop self-doubting to make the leap in your career, or in some cases, into private practice. Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

I learned long ago that the more knowledge I had, the better able I was to control those things that challenged me in life. The more “in control” I was, the less I got knocked around and became the effect of others or my environment. Think about how you feel being a passenger in a car versus being the driver of that car. You’re likely most comfortable holding onto the steering wheel. I am and I believe most entrepreneurs are as well. Entrepreneurs are leaders who strive to develop themselves by taking on bigger and better challenges to grow both personally and a professionally. When you think about it, chances are some of the greatest moments of your life occurred after you’ve pushed yourself out of your comfort zone. Entrepreneurs, leaders and executives alike are not seeking a lazy-boy chair to sit in and ride out in comfort. They are constantly pursuing greater goals – they know this will call them to dig deep and rise to meet the challenge. This is the game of life. While some are more comfortable wearing the jersey and just sitting on the bench as a part of the team, playing when called upon and being content with just that. Others want to lead. They have ideas on new plays, training strategies, and tactics to try. Their game is not only playing, but also improving. These are the Physical Therapy Private Practice owners who wear the hats of an entrepreneur, manager, and executive to bring about greater personal development for themselves and those around them Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation  

Recently in a webinar, I was asked the question: “How do I get my clinicians to be more efficient when I already have a bonus system and none of them ever make bonus?” I get that problem. But maybe there’s other listeners who are struggling with this as well? Are you looking to increase the clinical effectiveness/efficiency of your staff?  Learn about our game and key strategies in this week’s podcast. Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

How much time do you need for an effective marketing campaign for your new office? This week, Brian is giving his top 3 actions to market a new practice that will yield the greatest return on investment of time (and money). You want to make an impression that is effective but not salesy. You want actions that are effective for the market demographic, the specialities you’re offering in your clinic, and your location in the country. All of these factors impact the effectiveness of your marketing actions. After working with many startups over recent weeks, we knew we had to talk about the successful marketing actions to really hit the ground running. So give this podcast a listen for the top three strategies to market your new practice. Here's your guide to acquire, retain and manage patients effectively - Marketing Strategies Toolkit  

Earlier this week in a meeting with my management team, I was looking at the Zoom screen and noticed how I’m surrounded by such accomplished, talented women. I mentioned this to them and how I felt that this was such a positive advantage for our company. We started talking about the US Women’s National Soccer team and realized it’s about having a platform. That’s how change gets started. This is about having an opportunity to look at your female colleagues and empower them by giving them the opportunities and investing in them so they can maximize their own potential. This week we’re talking about looking at those around and empower people without any preconceived notions. Invest in those people so they can flourish and prosper to the greatest level of their ability. Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation

A few clients have recently been asking us about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) we decided to do a podcast chatting about the basics. SEO – search engine optimization – is all about how your clinic gets found online. Think about how you last searched for a specialist or a restaurant. You likely searched for “Best XYZ near me,” right? This is local search. So, even though you may have a solid list of referring doctors, you have to assume that patients are still searching online for you even before they pick up the phone to schedule an appointment. How, or if, you show up on Google searches matters to attracting new patients – if you’re not showing up at all that’s a huge problem and is damaging your bottom line given what we know about consumer behavior and our digital age.  It can be daunting and overwhelming to those not trained in marketing, but there are a number of minor things your marketing staff can do to improve how well your practice shows up online and in local searches. So this week we’re talk about some basic SEO tips you can share with your team, and if you do choose to work with an outsourced marketing team, some tips for success for working with ANY outsourced partner.  Here's your guide to acquire, retain and manage patients effectively - Marketing Strategies Toolkit

It doesn’t take long before you hear a label tossed around within any group or profession these days. Labels lead to subdivisions which per the definition of the word itself results in dividing us.  For those of us who have gone from employee to employer, it’s a bit unfair that we have to contend with new grads who have been given the impression from academia that it’s “buyer beware” when accepting an out-patient physical therapy position. The impression sometimes given off from academia is that being a private practice owner is sometimes motivated by greed contributing to the willingness to bend the rules by imposing unethical standards or productivity goals that encourage unethical behavior. This has not been my experience.  Here’s how to fix this within your practice: you have to share a common message with your staff. You are a therapist too. You went to Physical Therapy School. You care as much about your patients. But you didn’t settle, you wanted more, and that is why you went into owning your own clinic. Share your “why” with your staff. They need to understand why you risked time and money to open your private practice. When your staff gets your purpose and your motivations, they’ll connect with that. Today we’re talking about a PT in Motion article about a survey that states that too much focus on productivity, increases the risk of unethical behavior. Listen to learn about why this is misleading and how researchers got it wrong and why we need to bridge the gap between employers and employees. Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

Have you ever trusted someone only to find out that they never had your best interests in mind? Did this result in you feeling as if you had been taken advantage of?  The definition of betrayal is the violation of a person’s trust or confidence. These experiences can stack up and have long-lasting effects on you, oftentimes altering who you are and how you trust others. This operating basis can be devastating to you on multiple levels leading to problems not only at work but also in your personal life. Many of us have been betrayed or experienced what we consider betrayal at one point or another in life, and the people and situations that contribute to this happening are not going to go away, ever. How you choose to deal with them makes all the difference in the world in terms of overall happiness, stress reduction and practice management.   Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

No matter where you are, who you are, or what it is you want to do – you can have it all. All you need to know is your purpose, and have a 100% commitment to persevere. The biggest characteristic that leverages you for success is the beingness. However, in order to execute successfully you have to have the knowledge and the actual doingness to succeed. The most common and biggest barrier to everyone’s success is themself.  In order to be good at solving problems one must first understand the anatomy of what makes up a problem. All problems are two opposing forces of the equal magnitude without a concrete decision. Or, more simplistically, intention faced with counter intention. I would argue that the opposite of having problems is having agreement. So, the better able you are to bring about agreement with yourself, others, and groups the fewer problems you will have and the happier your life will be.  What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice  

A lot has been said about what it takes to be a great executive. Too often, the most important key element gets overlooked. I believe this is the element of having some expertise in the area that you oversee. In order to execute effectively, you must have an equal balance between knowledge and experience. Expertise in any field or area has been said to be made up from one’s knowledge and experiences in that field or area. Think about it, Tiger Woods has a coach to enhance his skills, he doesn’t just read about golf. It takes repetition and consistent training to enhance your skills as a professional athlete OR as a leader and executive. In the fourth episode of our series on how to be the best private practice owner, we’re talking this week about the doingness of being an executive. Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

Leadership skills are not something that I believe most of us a born with. Therefore, I truly believe that they need to be developed.  Some of us may have been fortunate to grow up with a parent or grandparent who exhibited leadership skills for us to model, thus giving some a more natural ability to lead groups than others. Either way, true leadership comes from training and experience. Drilling down to develop these five leadership skills will prove to be effective for private practice owners who want to build a company culture with high morale and a well-organized structure for people to follow. Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation  

Every physical therapy practice owner has most likely been lead to this point in their career by a burning passion to own their own practice because it is part of their vision to treat patients in the manner in which they agree with professionally. Unfortunately, not all practice owners I’ve met can say that. Some owners went into private practice because of an offer they couldn’t refuse. Others sought to make more money. Or, they opened a clinic because they were darn good therapists and got talked into opening a clinic, or they went in with a partner who they felt complimented what they brought to the table.  Whatever that spark was that triggered the next step in your professional career toward ownership, it doesn’t really matter since you are now trying to figure it all out to be successful in private practice. Listen for the second in our series on ownership and leadership and how to win at both.  What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice  

Being the best at anything takes commitment to one’s purpose, the ability to confront what is in front of you, and the toughness to remain dedicated regardless of the obstacles you will have to face. For many of us, failure in these areas is self-induced and the rest are simply other considerations that we went along with. In this episode, I want to address YOU as the key element in this equation – you are by far the most important and all the other identifying elements of you as the physical therapy owner, leader, and executive are all built off of: the real YOU, the true YOU, and the once uninhibited YOU (hopefully some of you still are).  The real YOU has NO self-doubt. The real YOU makes decisions without public opinion. The real YOU knows what’s right and what’s wrong in your HEART. Remember this: having self-confidence is built on keeping small promises to yourself and not breaking them.   Once upon a time, I was that owner. I thought it was a good idea to run my practice as a democracy and took popular opinion as the path to follow. So many others that I have worked with have fallen into this trap as well over the years. We do this as an attempt to be liked or admired, rather than choosing to do what is right. Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

As I started planning out this week’s episode, I wondered if in my 28 years of physical therapy and Practice Management experience, have I ever specifically targeted trying to hire a veteran physical therapist for any of my offices? After thinking about this for a while, not once did I actively recruit a veteran therapist. Here I am, a veteran therapist myself; there’s nothing wrong with me nor do I think there’s anything wrong with ANY veteran therapist I’ve ever met. I just never intentionally went out on the recruiting lines to attract a veteran therapist. I’m sure many of you have, in which case I would love to hear about your experience doing so. I’ve always just taken the approach of seeking to teach or train somebody something new as opposed to having to retrain somebody and something old.  Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

I believe that if you’re a high-quality practice owner, one of the priority areas of your concern will be how to create that ideal company culture, much like a baker who is constantly focusing on how to make that ideal pie by working with only the best ingredients. The same thing goes for the physical therapy practice owner who is only looking to hire, train, and retain the best most highly motivated personnel available. Unlike baking, where you can purchase the best ingredients; when it comes to the personnel, they need to be homegrown in order to be the best. In today’s labor market, it is unlikely that you will hire somebody “off the shelf” who comes in with the attitude, skills, and motivation that will complement your company culture. Therefore, the burden falls on you the owner/manager to understand the science of personnel development and have the professional skills to effectively communicate and enhance the ability of those around you.  This means that before you can go out looking for your next advanced therapist, you’re going to have to look inside yourself first in order to challenge your own abilities as an executive and leader. In part two of our three-part series, we’ll discuss how to recruit, hire, and train. Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit

There are three types of clinicians. These clinicians are categorized based on experience: New grad, the advanced therapist, and the veteran therapist. Today we’re focusing on the new grad. The new grad is defined as a physical therapist who is 1-3 years out of school. They come out of school still high on the learning and high on the mentoring curve and are really focused on wanting to become the best therapist they can be. They’re seeking professional growth through continuing education outside the office and professional enhancement inside the office, therefore, a continuing education program is simply not enough these days. The top private practices across the country already know this and have solved this by creating internal mentorship programs for their new grad hires. This week we’re talking about how to best hire, train and retain the new grad therapists. But, this is only part one of a three-part series of podcasts in which we’ll be discussing all three of these different types of therapists and how best to hire, train and retain them. Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

There is a lot of noise in the digital marketing space. It’s going to take 7 touches from your physical therapy practice for people to remember your brand. While many practice owners we talk to know the importance of marketing and know the concept of marketing is important, they lack the management of marketing to really be successful. Meaning, the lack of accountability and management over this area is going to hold your practice back and hold YOU back from the living the life you dreamed of when you opened your practice. So what can YOU do about this? How can you differentiate your practice? We’re talking with MEG Marketing Director, Heidi Schmidt and MEG Regional Marketing Manager Scott McCutcheon about some marketing strategies that will help your practice get found and win in the digital marketing space that will benefit both your internal and external marketing efforts. Here's your guide to acquire, retain and manage patients effectively - Marketing Strategies Toolkit  

Have you ever felt like you were walking on eggshells around your staff? Or, maybe you felt like you needed to think twice about what you wanted to say to a staff member for fear of upsetting them, or worse that they might quit? These are all symptoms of a bigger problem. They show a lack of leadership and lack of confront. There are only two ways you can be and only one of them can exist at any one time. You can either be in control and be at cause over what is going on and what is being done by you. Or, you can be the effect of others and what is going on to you.    Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

Fact: it doesn’t take more money to build a better physical therapy practice. All it takes is better people. When I say better people, I mean you and me as owners and leaders of our groups. When asked, just about everyone will say that he or she can be better than what they are today. If this is true, then they would immediately understand that they have deficiencies and lack of capabilities.   More significantly, I want to bring your attention to the fact that real success in any business is dependent on one’s abilities to bring about understanding amongst your team. The keyword here is “ability.” The only way your skills are going to grow in the field of private practice management is if you realize that you have deficiencies. If you acknowledge that you don’t know all there is to know about this field of practice. Let’s face it; physical therapy school did not sufficiently train us for the challenges that we face every day in the world of private practice. So, before we go criticizing the shortcomings of our staff and feel like we are adult babysitting, maybe it’s because we have not been sufficiently trained ourselves on how to be the best: recruiting director, personnel manager, billing director, clinical director, office administrator, marketing director, therapist and CEO for our business to begin with.  This week, we’re talking about how a lack of proper personnel management has placed owners in tough situations when all they factor in is money and justifying salaries.   Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit

My daughter is about to graduate college. She’s moving on into the field of acting out in California and I have every confidence that she’ll be a big success. However, as we learn about this industry – there’s so much criticism and counter intentions out there causing headwind to her success. As a result, I can understand now why aspiring actors and actresses need an agent before anything else when they are coming out of school. The agent is there to help protect them against making bad decisions and going astray down a path of unlikely success. Yet, an agent is still not enough. She will still need an acting coach to further enhance her skills and push her to learn new things and operate outside of her comfort zone. Looking back on when I was a new practice owner, I realize that that was exactly what I wanted and I would have paid anything to get. To have someone who had the knowledge and experience to help me stay away from making foolish mistakes and coach me on all that I needed to know but never got while I was in physical therapy school. This would have made all the difference in the world for me as a new business owner. Instead, I worked with three different companies – mostly consultants. And every time I talked to them, it felt like I was being sold. In today’s world, people simply do not want to be sold, they want to be helped. This week, I’m answering the most pressing questions from owners just like you from around the country who are in private practice ownership covering the topics of environment, structure, personnel, and systems of operations. What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice  

I’ve been working with both new and existing owners now for almost two decades. When I think back to what I went through when I opened my first office in 1999, it’s a world of difference. I actually recall putting my head in my hands saying to myself: “I would pay anyone anything they wanted if they would just sit down with me and show me what it is that I needed to do first, second and third in order to build a successful practice.” Unfortunately, at the time, all that was available were business consultants who either didn’t know physical therapy or were more interested in selling me stuff rather than actually helping me. I knew then that someday I would create a company that physical therapy owners could trust would have their best interest in mind and provide them with the knowledge and support necessary to their success.   A private practice’s success begins with the owner knowing what they need to do and when they need to do it. There is no time in business where your actions as an owner are more critical than when you open your first office or expanding into your next location. MEG Academy was built with 14 comprehensive programs to enable owners to operate in every area of private practice with complete certainty. This begins with our “startup accelerator program” and the “expansion program” specifically designed to ensure one’s success with growth. In this week’s podcast, I cover the four most important factors to consider when successfully expanding into your next location. Maintaining viability while experiencing steady growth is what makes for a successful practice and less stressed owner. Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation  

Our employees are people and as we all know; people, in general, are resistant to change. I read an article last week about how more now than ever before people are being labeled with having Neophobia. Defined as “the fear of anything new, and it can be an especially persistent and abnormal fear. In its milder form, it can manifest as the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine.” How do you get your staff on board to make necessary changes in your private practice when they’re afraid of change?  Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

After having spoken with hundreds of practice owners over the years, it’s what they don’t know that’s typically holding them back from the success they desire. When you went into physical therapy, you went in to be a clinician, not a lawyer, or an accountant, or a bookkeeper. We tell physical therapy owners time and again to stop wasting time and mental attention on tasks that you can outsource to others. This week, we have a panel discussion with Jon Repka, VP of Sales from Paro – an accounting and bookkeeping service company, and Denise Muncie, COO of MEG Billing Solutions who manage their respective outsourced services to physical therapy practice owners across the country.  These outsourced solutions allow practice owners to stop wasting time and mental energy on tasks that they aren’t trained to do so they can focus on what really matters when it comes to being an executive. Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Take our Billing Stress Test to check the pulse of your PT private practice  

If I had to say what the top three reasons are that people call me it would be: marketing, personnel, and billing related issues. Almost everybody believes that they can do better in business if they have more new patients. Unfortunately, these people don’t know that almost all problems associated with the practice can be traced back to lack of leadership, lack of knowledge in that area, and/or the inability to confront others.  In podcast episode 49, I laid out the four types of owners and made the case that how you approach your practice and the people associated with your practice is what will have the greatest impact on your practice’s success. Every successful practice owner that I’ve ever met understands that they have four main responsibilities and everything else outside of that is simply a distraction.  Consider outsourcing your accounting services, legal services, and billing services so that you have more time and attention to spend on the four key elements to running a successful practice. Getting stuck in the weeds of billing and collections, tax write-offs and deductions when you can hire somebody else to do that for you take your eye off of all of what’s truly important. That is creating the ideal practice for your staff, patients, referral sources, and the community at large.  Here's your guide to acquire, retain and manage patients effectively - Marketing Strategies Toolkit  

Knowing when it’s time to hire additional physical therapy staff is a challenge we hear about a lot from the practices we work with.  If it’s not well thought out, you could wind up paying more in payroll than you are getting in return for the services being delivered. This is especially true when you are a new startup practice just starting out; you cannot afford to spend more money than you make. To combat this, you need a proven hiring system that tells you when and who you should hire based on the numbers. You should never be guessing or hoping that your new patient numbers will sustain the new physical therapist you just hired. You should be driving those numbers and hiring based off a sequential plan of growth that you are in control of. This week, we’ll dive into the strategy to know when to hire the next therapist that your practice can sustain that will contribute to the growth of your practice.  Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

In order to become a private practice among the top 10%, there are several factors that need to be met. These key factors of success cannot be attained without the right mindset.  This week, Brian is talking about the factors that make the top 10% of practices and what YOU as the physical therapy owner can do to reach those goals.   Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation  

Regardless of your industry, there are always challenges to overcome. As a Physical Therapy Private Practice owner, there are four common challenges that we see more often than the rest. One in particular is rarely confronted. Unfortunately this is often the root cause of all the other problems. Lack of leadership and what that means to your staff, yourself and your practice. This week on the podcast we’re talking about how to approach and conquer these challenges so that you never fall the effect of them again.  Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation  

How many times have you said to yourself: “there just aren’t enough hours in the day.” Or, wondered as 5pm rolls up, “where has the time gone?!” Turning our focus inward to ourselves, allows us to take greater responsibility for our group by first taking more responsibility for our own actions. It’s easy to blame others for missteps and inconveniences, but they are the ones that you chose to work with, trained and allowed their actions to exist. If you place more time on being a better boss and CEO first, and then put forth well-thought out policies and procedures to train others on, then it comes down to holding them accountable. Unfortunately, too many physical therapy practices are so busy running the day to day functions of being productive and getting work done, that they are not proficient at working on their practice policies and procedures or on standardizing systems of operations. This gives your team better clarity and certainty so they can get their jobs done. Giving this direction and confidence to others goes a long way towards building your team and company culture. What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice  

If you want to be a successful startup, we always recommend starting with an office manager. Front desk is a huge gateway to your practice and the office manager should run that show (consider the front desk and office manager the gate keepers) and be the core of your front desk management system.  This week in our podcast, Brian discusses the benefits of this for your startup, but also how to create a culture of US for your practice, and how the front desk contributes to that.   Grab one of our top resources, the Physical Therapy Personnel Toolkit  

Whether you have multiple offices or just one, it’s important to recognize that every successful small business grows through three distinct phases of business development. Most private practice owners are unaware of these phases and what is required to efficiently progress smoothly through each phase for successful business growth and development. It is quite common for unknowing owners to find themselves falling further behind and becoming more and more frustrated with the way things are going due to lack of structure, and lack of standard operating procedures that match their current state of business size and development. These challenges are largely due to a lack of knowledge and lack of available processes to handle staffing and operating needs. While it is the CEO and executive that has the larger vision, they also need to set into motion the structure and systems of operation necessary for individuals to gain clarity from so they can be successful in their roles and responsibilities. What took Brian years to learn, develop and implement can now be mastered in a few months if not weeks should the owner set aside just two hours a week for their own professional enhancement. In order for that to happen, owners must consider that we don’t have all the answers and that a coach can help develop us into the owner we want to be – recently Brian shared the four types of common PT Owners, but this week he’s sharing how to build your own ideal practice. Check out our NEW Packages & Pricing in MEG Academy!   Are you ready for growth? Request your free private practice expansion evaluation  

Did you know that there are four types of private practice owners? Each type of owner has their own characteristics. Once you identify which type of owner you are, then you can identify your strengths and weaknesses in order to optimize your abilities. All too often, physical therapy private practice owners struggle to succeed in private practice not because of external influences, but because of internal. In this podcast you will learn how to project your efforts toward pro-survival actions that enable you to achieve your ideal scene across six vital key elements necessary for true success. Download our CEO Toolkit for a clear and organized breakdown of the hat and responsibilities of a CEO  

Are you living the life that you’ve always envisioned for yourself? This week we’re interviewing Quinn Worden of PT United. Quinn shares how his father (a physical therapy private practice owner) influenced him starting PT United and helping the world of physical therapy. As he grew to understand the private practice world, he wanted to collaborate with owners to improve their business performance. Some of the benefits PT United offers to the private practice world are sourcing supplies – from therabands to PT Tables at a better value than anyone else. In addition, practice owners can support and become LLC partners by paying a fee and enjoying the benefits of buying together as a coop with a full transparency. What's missing from your private practice? Check out our Physical Therapy Guide to Optimizing your Private Practice