E735 | Do You Want To Be An Entrepreneur Or An Intrapreneur?

The Entrepreneurial Dilemma for Physical Therapists: Finding Your True Path

In a recent episode, Dr. Danny dives deep into a compelling conversation with a physical therapist who is contemplating the highs and lows of starting her own practice. This discussion brings to light the pervasive sentiment among many physical therapists who feel stagnant in their careers and are yearning for greater control, flexibility, and earning potential. But the big question remains: Are they truly cut out for entrepreneurship, or is there a better option that aligns with their career aspirations?

Key Discussion Points

The Entrepreneurial Dilemma

Dr. Danny highlights the struggle many physical therapists face when considering leaving the safety of their jobs for the uncertainty of entrepreneurship. Reflecting on his own journey as a "reluctant entrepreneur," he shares how passion for business development can emerge once one takes the leap.

However, the journey is not without its challenges, and it requires a deep understanding of one’s own motivations and capacity for risk.

Types of Professionals

The episode categorizes physical therapists into two main groups:

1. The Entrepreneurs: These are individuals who thrive in the chaotic environment of running their own business. They relish the challenges and rewards that come with entrepreneurship.

2. The Flexibility Seekers: These professionals desire flexibility and autonomy but may not be suited for the full weight of business ownership. They may find themselves overwhelmed by the operational demands of running a practice.

Alternative Opportunities

For those hesitant about starting their own practice, Dr. Danny encourages seeking positions in fast-growing companies. These organizations can offer the autonomy, creativity, and earning potential that physical therapists seek—without the inherent risks of starting from scratch.

By finding companies that value innovative thinking and provide room for professional growth, physical therapists can achieve their career goals within an established structure.

Understanding Your Fit

The episode emphasizes the critical importance of self-awareness in determining whether one is suited for entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship.

Dr. Danny shares anecdotes of professionals who realized their strengths were better suited to established organizations that provide structure while still allowing for personal growth. Self-awareness helps in making informed decisions that align with one’s strengths, ultimately leading to greater job satisfaction.

Creating Win-Win Scenarios

Dr. Danny wraps up the discussion by outlining strategies for business owners to create environments that cater to both the entrepreneurial spirit and the need for support. By fostering a culture that values both innovation and stability, business owners can create a thriving workforce.

This approach not only benefits individual employees but also contributes to the overall success of the organization.

Takeaways

This episode provides valuable insights for physical therapists and professionals in similar fields who are at a career crossroads. It encourages listeners to reflect on their goals, assess their true passions, and consider whether entrepreneurship is the right path for them.

Whether contemplating starting your own practice or seeking growth within an existing organization, understanding your unique career aspirations is key to finding fulfillment in your professional journey.

Reflect and Decide

If you find yourself at a similar crossroads, take time for introspection. Evaluate your motivations, strengths, and long-term career goals. Entrepreneurship is not the only path to professional satisfaction and financial success.

By understanding your fit and exploring alternative opportunities, you can find a career path that truly aligns with your aspirations.

Final Thoughts

Dr. Danny's episode serves as a reminder that the journey to career fulfillment is unique for each individual. Whether you choose to embark on the entrepreneurial path or find your niche within an established organization, the key is to make informed decisions based on a deep understanding of yourself. In doing so, you can craft a professional life that is both fulfilling and aligned with your personal and career goals.

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Podcast Transcript

Danny: That's the kind of stuff that a lot of people don't want to deal with. And, rightfully it's not fun. It's not fun to not know what you're going to get paid. It's not fun to have a pandemic occur and your business gets shut down for extended periods of time.

And you're trying to figure out how you can pay staff. Like these are things that, Most people don't want to deal with, Hey, are you a physical therapist looking to leverage your skillset in a way that helps you create time and financial freedom for yourself and your family. If so, you're in the right spot.

My name's Danny Matay, and over the last 15 years I've done pretty much everything you can in the profession. I've been a staff, ut I've been an active duty military officer, physical therapist. I've started my own cash practice. I've sold that cash practice and to date, my company physical therapy business helped over a thousand clinicians start growing scale, their own cash practices.

So if this sounds like something you want to do, listen up because I'm here to help you.

Hey, what's going on? Dr. Danny here with the PT entrepreneur podcast. And today we're talking about whether you should or you shouldn't start a practice. And this is going to be, fairly quick. I'm going to give you my thoughts on a conversation I had recently with somebody I had a chance to meet at athletes potential who it's cool conversation.

This was somebody that is a physical therapist in the area that was hanging out for the day thinking about maybe working with athletes potential as a clinician works in the area and it's been at school for a while. It seems like a really, a great clinician, real smart individual.

And we had a, we had an interesting conversation about how. She almost started her own practice and there was some life stuff that popped up with someone she was looking to start practice with, but she ended up deciding not to do that. And and it, the reason why she was looking to go that route is very similar to many people.

They don't see the opportunity to progress. They don't see that there's opportunity to grow past where they're at. And they feel stagnant. They feel stuck. That's normal within our profession. And that frankly, it's frustrating. If you're the kind of person that really wants to continue to grow in many ways and in, in a lot of ways that could be in your in your career, clinician, but also maybe taking on more responsibility, having the opportunity to make more income and and really grow within a company, not necessarily just stay, where you're at with the same earning potential, same responsibilities and not as maybe as many challenges that are going to come your way.

So what I thought was interesting about this was that in my experience there's a, there's like a group of people and they know they have to do their own thing. I wouldn't put myself in this category initially because I actually didn't want to do my own thing. I just didn't have any other options.

It's very similar to this person which is, was interesting for me to, hear that perspective because I can relate. But once I got started. I realized that this is what I was supposed to do. Like this is the thing that I enjoy the most. It's the game of business that I love so much.

It's why I have been talking about it for a decade. And, and I'm still fascinated by all these elements of it. Very similar to how I was with the human body as I was, as I, went down the path of becoming a clinician and I just fell in love with it. And so I would classify myself as a reluctant entrepreneur.

I didn't mean to go that direction or I didn't really want to go that way, that direction. And I come from a military family background. It's just you get a job, you work for the government for. 20 to 50 years and then, and then you retire and that's it. That's the path forward.

That's what, that's generations of my family. That's what we do. That's what we've seen. That's the example. No one in my family was an entrepreneur aside from, some second cousin outside the family not direct family. That, that we knew well. And so it wasn't something that I really was familiar with.

But once I started, I was like, man. This is it. This is what I'm supposed to do. But there's people that are apprehensive about going that direction because they don't really want to do it. They're not really fascinated with business. They're not interested in the challenge of whether they can make it work.

They just want more of an opportunity. They want more say over what they're doing on a daily basis. They want more say over how their schedule is set up. They want more say over, how they could potentially earn more income. And those kinds of people can be great where we consider more entrepreneurs, people that are able to have, some flexibility and have creativity and how they're doing things and setting things up and growing things, but do so in, in the structure of a organization that supports them where they don't have to figure out, sales, marketing, people, process, finance, taxes, compliance, they don't have to deal with all the shit that comes along with starting a business because it's a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff, like even when every year when tax season rolls around, I'm just like, Oh my God, why do I do this to myself? Like it kills me just because of the complexity of a business.

And. That's the kind of stuff that a lot of people don't want to deal with and, rightfully it's not fun. It's not fun to not know what you're gonna get paid. It's not fun to have a pandemic occur and your business gets shut down for extended periods of time and you're trying to figure out how you can pay staff.

These are things that most people don't want to deal with, and that's fair. That's totally fine. And there's a lot of people like this. So if you're listening to this and you're a business owner, if you want to attract. People like this, you have to be creative enough to figure out how you can create win situations for them.

And not everybody is like this person, by the way, not everybody is it's almost like they're this sort of hybrid individual, they can function as a W2. They want more than that, but they don't necessarily want to go the full step to start their own thing, but they have these sort of like unique skills and interest that.

They could be a great asset to a company if you know how to handle that correctly, like a real a player, someone that can really drive a business forward. And if you can create a win situation for them, where they have, some creativity and some say of what they're doing.

And that makes a lot of people feel really good, by the way, like when you just micromanage somebody and you're stopping them from doing anything different, you're not listening to them, the ideas that they have if you want to stifle someone's creativity, Growth in your company. If you want to drive somebody away, dismiss them, don't listen to them.

Say that their ideas are bad. Don't take don't take them seriously at all. Have them do the same thing day in and day out. And just expect them to be there forever. That's a great way to, to drive somebody like that away from your business. But if you can, work with them on things and maybe it's not, you do everything that they say, obviously that's not.

Always going to be the case, but if you can find a way to where you can collaborate and they feel like they have some say in how things are going to go forward, or maybe how things change for the better, or like tweaks they can make to things or whatever, or to build a, an office and grow an office and take point on that.

And to have a win situation for them, both from from. Being part of that and the actual like work of it, but also the potential financial success of that as well. What a great way to get amazing people to want to work with you on your company. And that's really what it's all about.

If you want to grow a big company, you've got to have people like this. If you want to have a small practice and never grow past that, then you can, you don't need people like that. And you really should let those people go because they're not going to be That steady sort of B player that's going to come in and they're good.

They're not amazing. They're not, and they do it, you ask them to, but they don't really do more and no desire to do more. Like you can have a great small business employing people like that. If you want to really grow a big company, fast growing company, one is like the culture is that of excellence.

They're that. People want to see, that grow and you're attracting more of those folks. Like you gotta be able to find ways to make it work with people like this and create a culture and leadership style that attracts them and retains them. And that's a tricky thing to do.

And that is the fun of trying to grow a big business as well. So anyway. Interesting conversation I had this person, I think is, going to be great no matter what they end up doing, really enjoy chatting with them. And it's cool. It's cool to, to be able to hear, you know, firsthand some of the things that people were thinking about why they were deciding to do, Certain things and not others, the frustrations that they're seeing, in real time, working with other clinics and not that they're completely dissatisfied, but like just looking for something different, looking for something more.

And I think there's a lot of people like that are out there, but if you're listening to this and you're not, I got to do this, I've got to start a business. Maybe your best bet is to find a fast growing company, like an athlete's potential, like where I was at. When I was here this morning and that it's actively growing to try to look for people like this to give them opportunities that they maybe don't have other places with other, their employers, if you don't feel a strong desire to do your own thing you maybe you shouldn't, I guess it is a hard, it is a hard game.

It is a challenging thing. And you really got to love the game. You got to love the business side of things you can't just be a great clinician that's fed up with where they're at and business is okay maybe I'll figure that out. It doesn't work that way. You got to commit and go, dive headfirst into business.

And if you don't want to do that's fine, but you should know that before you decide to go that direction, because if you can find a better fit with somebody else and be more entrepreneurial. Then maybe that's really what you want and a better option for you versus maybe you go a path that you don't want to do.

And then you have to do a 180 and go back and try to find a job. And I've seen this happen. I've seen this happen dozens of times where people that we've had a chance to even work with, they realize, man, this is not for me. This doesn't match up. And they, I've seen people that we work with get.

Brought on and hired by other people that we work with because they realize I'm not an entrepreneur. I thought I wanted to be but i'm not but this person is I like what they're doing and they give them a Co opportunity and now they absorb them basically and that's that happens. So you really got to be, honest with yourself Is this really what you want to do?

Do you want to be an entrepreneur or do you want to be an entrepreneur?

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