When was the last time you took a vacation?
If you want more freedom in your practice, then you need to recognize 1 thing.
The moment you opened your clinic, you stopped being a practitioner. You became a business owner.
In this guest blog, Chris Hicks, PT, founder of Foundation Therapy in Bridgeport, Texas, share about how thinking like a business owner will lead to more freedom, success, and fulfillment in your medical practice.
Chris, what is the biggest difference between being a therapist / provider and being a business owner?
School doesn’t teach business!
The owner has to think about so many other factors and still try to make patient care and well-being the number one priority, within the limitations of whatever payer you are working with.
Plus, you have to try to care for your staff however you can! You’ve gotta be ready to be a team leader and ready to build culture.
What is the 1 mindset shift that PTs need to make in order to be successful entrepreneurs?
SO MANY THINGS!!
1. Distinguish Between An Expense vs An Investment
One of my first hurdles was: what is an expense vs investment? Some things never have an ROI, but you have to consider what a friend of mine called ROV, Return on Value.
Marketing is something that isn’t an expense. It’s an investment. You should get the money you invest back OUT of it in revenue from new patients.
2. Get Rid of Your Bleeding Heart Mentality
You have to get rid of the bleeding heart mentality. At the beginning, I thought, “I’ve got to help everyone, no matter their ability to pay.”
But that doesn’t pay the bills.
Nothing wrong with giving and pro-bono work, but it has to be strategic.
3. Be Humble
Be ready to admit when you’ve made mistakes and change course. Prepare to be humbled!
4. Don’t Think You’re the Smartest in the Room
Don’t think you’re the smartest person in the room. Find people that can do things better than you, then give them the authority to go get things done and you’ll multiply yourself.
Chris, in your opinion, what is the #1 biggest problem that PTs and other practice owners face today?
Insurance isn’t looking for new ways to reimburse you more. But you need to get over it and start thinking about how you can make adjustments to maximize what insurance will pay, while also maximizing your schedule capacity.
Next, start looking at other ways to generate revenue.
- Basic items for sale in waiting area
- Wellness visits
- Cash based, modality services – especially the ones insurance isn’t paying for. For example, you could have a cash-based Blood Flow Restriction Therapy.
- Opening a second location. Consider shared expenses.
What motivates you to keep going with your clinic? What is your “purpose”? How can other owners articulate (or even find) their purpose?
1. Be Confident in Who You Are
You need to find who your identity is in yourself, first. If I’m not confident in who I am, I am susceptible to the ways of the world. If you lack confidence, battle anxiety, struggle with organization, don’t be afraid to consider counseling or a consultant. As Chris Duke Hurst says, “Counseling isn’t for the weak, it is for the wise.”
My job or career doesn’t define me. If I’m letting my job define who I am, I need to reconsider where I’m seeking my worth and where I am finding my worth.
2. Eliminate Self-Limiting Beliefs
We used to say, “We are in a small town. We just can’t grow like clinics in big towns.”
But now we HAVE grown!
3. Build a Support System
I have a HUGE support system that starts with several pastors through our church, several groups of friends that I know are rooting for me and also being intentional about checking in on me, but also praying for me. I have a smaller group of men that I know are going to call me out if they see me slipping up, but I also have a staff that I try to be transparent with, and they rally around me when I need them and they are the ones I try to serve when I come to work. They make it fun to come to work. I try to learn from them!
4. Have a Servant Leader Mentality
You need to have a servant leader mentality. You also need an attitude of gratitude. Foundation Therapy is simply my way to serve others and provide for my family.
How can practice owners train their teams to take responsibility / be proactive in their roles?
Here are a few tips…
- Schedule patients 1 month out. Have the front office learn to build out the schedule to include all visits, or at least 1 month out! It makes it easier to plug in patient visits in the holes for the rest of the staff.
- Stay in your lane. Avoid the temptation to try to wear every hat yourself.
- Start setting expectations in the hiring/interview process. Learn in the interview process how a prospective employee learns, reacts, communicates so that when they get on the job, everyone already has some idea of how things are going to go.
- Find the fit for each employee. If an employee doesn’t do a job correctly, maybe look at how they were trained. Maybe retraining needs to happen. If that employee is unable to change with the retraining, do you find a new seat on the bus? Or maybe just keep them on a smaller seat on that bus. FIND THE FIT for everyone.
What would you say to a Practice Owner who says they are just “doing okay”?
Tell me the one thing you do great, let’s make that even better, and make sure everyone knows about it! Then, what are you terrible at and let’s figure out how to give that away; whether it’s a different staff member or outsourcing that task/system. If you can find someone to do your job 75% as good as you, give it away!
You can learn something every day if you just pay attention, so shut your mouth and never miss an opportunity to listen to what is going on around you. Chances are, the answers you are looking for may show themselves to you in plain sight.
Answers can be simple, the struggle will be in having the skills to implement the solution. You need your team 100% on board so start building your team culture no matter what stage of business you are in.
What is 1 simple step that a practice owner can take TODAY to start acting more like a business owner?
If there is somewhere you are struggling, personally, financially, or organizationally – start looking for people doing things better than you and find ways to have relationships with those folks and truly learn from them. You might learn you can do something they are doing, or you might learn they are struggling just as much as you, and they are just faking it. If they are truly thriving, ask them ways they can teach you to do the same.
Andy Stanley says: “You are an average of your five closest influences.” Find some people to bring you up and make you better!
Any final words of advice to other practice owners?
Try to learn from other people’s mistakes before you make your own mistakes, maybe you won’t make as many. But don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you do, just recognize them and don’t look at them as a failure, look at them as a way to improve next time.
Prioritize staff meetings, weekly. Use that to communicate and celebrate.
You’ve been a Practice Promotions client since 2019. How has your experience with Practice Promotions’ marketing team been?
Word of mouth can only get you so far! We are in an area that is growing but still considered rural.
Our plan: The Ultimate Marketing Plan, which includes…
Practice Promotions Has Helped Us Grow Despite Competitors
We’ve had a PT clinic pop up 1 block away in the past couple of months. We had a chiropractor open up (and already closed) right across the street. They were great folks that we were actually rooting for, but they just simply didn’t have enough traffic in the parking lot. A very solid competitor has opened up just 10 miles away (very close by our standards!) and they are trying to mimic things we used to do. As they say, “Imitation is the best form of flattery.”
But we have consistently grown through all of that. Marketing has to be a part of the solution to getting your brand in front of people, especially the ones who don’t know who you are.
How can YOU feel more free in 2025?
For 20 years, Practice Promotions has helped physical therapy & chiropractic clinic owners grow their practices with powerful marketing systems.
When you invest in Practice Promotions’ marketing system, you will have the freedom & profit in your practice.
Here are your next steps:
- Watch an instant video demo of our marketing system.
- Schedule a live demo.
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When you have a marketing system that automatically fills your schedules…
- You feel relieved
- Your team knows exactly what to do
- You control your clinic growth
When you invest in Practice Promotions’ marketing system, you will have the freedom & profit in your practice. You will finally run the clinic you always dreamed of.
Watch an instant demo video of our services today!