Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Scott Gardner, FYZICAL® Therapy and Balance Centers of Delmarva
17 Plays2 months ago
In this episode, Steven sits down with Scott Gardner, co-owner of FYZICAL® Therapy and Balance Centers of Delmarva
Learn more about SaRA Health: https://www.sarahealth.com/
Check out FYZICAL® Therapy and Balance Centers of Delmarva: https://www.fyzical.com/ocean-pines-md
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of The Disruptors, where we're arming you with the tools you need to innovate within the physical therapy space by highlighting those who have come before you. I'm your host, Stephen Cohen. Now, let's get into it.
00:00:15
Speaker
Everyone, welcome back to another episode of The Disruptors, where we're highlighting the people that are innovating within physical therapy. Today, I'm blessed to be joined by Scott Gardner.
00:00:27
Speaker
Scott graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1996 with a master's in physical therapy and a doctorate in physical therapy from Drexel in 2008. He's the co-owner of Physical Therapy and Balance Centers Delmarva, formerly known as Apex Physical Therapy.
00:00:44
Speaker
He has been a board certified orthopedic specialist since 2003. The change in the practice name is a result of joining a network of independent physical therapists who want to provide the latest in physical therapy interventions, improve overall health and well-being of our community, as well as preventing falls in our population.
00:01:03
Speaker
He is excited about the future and the difference physical will make in his spare time. He is vice president of the American Physical Therapy Association's Maryland chapter and is the president of the Physical Franchise Council. So, ah Scott, I'm sure I missed it a couple of things. No, that's good.
00:01:20
Speaker
Thank you for the introduction. and I appreciate it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let's know, that's that's the the bio. Right. But I would love to learn from you.
00:01:31
Speaker
What's what's your why? Right. Like, how did you get here? it And maybe more even more importantly, why? Why did you get here? in And why the the passion for for physical therapy?
00:01:43
Speaker
So I'm 28 years of practicing as a PT and of about 14 years ago, I decided to go into practice on my own just because I wanted to be ah and entrepreneurial spirit and I also wanted to be my own boss and be able to grow a practice how I wanted to put the equipment in into a practice that I wanted to have.
00:02:03
Speaker
ah to be the latest and greatest clinic in the area technology-wise. And I think we've achieved that. ah you know We have two alter Gs. We have virtual reality. We have BFR. We have safety-oriented support systems. i want you know We go to physical therapy school. We get doctorate degrees.
00:02:19
Speaker
And we should be practicing in facilities to facilitate um our ability to treat our patients to the best of what we know. um so having all these um tools available for my therapist makes them enjoy their job a little bit easier, makes their job a little bit easier to perform.
00:02:36
Speaker
And the patients as well enjoy all the toys that we have to offer our practice. So got into practice with my own about 2011. I had a heart attack in 2015.
00:02:47
Speaker
fifteen And that really changed my perspective on life um and what I wanted to achieve in life. And I didn't want to be an independent practitioner all alone on island anymore.
00:03:00
Speaker
So that's how I got involved with physical, a network of physical therapists all geared toward providing the same type of care for their communities. So I joined physical in 2016. I've been a member since.
00:03:13
Speaker
Decided I wanted to get really involved in the the franchise model and and help grow the profession as well. um And that led me to the Franchise Advisory Council, which I am now president of.
00:03:23
Speaker
And we have a direct link to headquarters to help grow the profession ah with the people at headquarters to help expand what we offer. And then last year, with everything going on in physical therapy, ah with the cuts, the continued cuts and reimbursement, difficulty finding staff, burnout, I decided I wanted to get involved in my professional association to see if I could help create some change within that.
00:03:49
Speaker
The APTA itself is a great organization, but it's it's got a lot of people that are practicing that are involved in leadership positions. So you have a lot of people in academia that are 40 percent of the House of Delegates, which decides the direction of the profession um are in academia.
00:04:08
Speaker
But academia represents one percent of our profession. So there needs to be some equality within that part of the association so that the voices of the clinician are heard for the profession ah so we can get go to toward the right path in the future with payment reform, neutral site payments, things like that. so ah You know, this is a great profession. i love it. I've been doing it for 28 years.
00:04:33
Speaker
My daughter is getting ready to start physical therapy school this fall and my alma mater at University Maryland Eastern Shore. I'm excited for her. I'm hoping that she'll join our practice. I would think she would um in three years. So we look forward to having her i as part of our team.
00:04:47
Speaker
And hopefully we can keep growing our footprint in our region and providing the care that the community has come to expect from us. i i I appreciate that. And there's there's so many different things in there. I think, ah you know, as a patient, right, your your focus on the tools to provide the best possible outcome for me as a patient. But I also like how you mentioned, like, make it more fun for the providers to write like direct this.
00:05:14
Speaker
This this can be fun, right? You can create that environment. And but it has to be I would actually love your your thoughts on your process for it Right. ah um I would imagine that doesn't happen by accident.
00:05:26
Speaker
Right. You don't have a fun environment by accident. So I'm curious, as you went start your own and create your own brand, your own experience for both patients and providers, ah what are.
00:05:39
Speaker
you Walk us through that process, right Because this is all about helping people who want to innovate with NPT understand that they don't have to, you know, get lightning in a bottle to be able to to change the world, right?
00:05:51
Speaker
It could be incremental. It can be easier than than they might think. Correct. So when I started, i had 14 years of practice working for other people. And as you do that, you start to realize what you like about certain practices and what you don't like about the way they do it.
00:06:08
Speaker
And when you're your own individual practitioner and in your own practice, you can decide what you want to do. So we decided to put money into innovation um because, you know, for example, balance. We have a safety overhead support system. They're not that expensive to put in, but not many clinics have it.
00:06:26
Speaker
Um, how is it different? I equate balance to learning to ride a bike if you have a child and and you're teaching him to ride a bike you're always holding on to the bike At some point, you have to let go so they can learn to ride the bike on their own.
00:06:41
Speaker
Well, in balance therapy, when you're trying to teach somebody to walk again, if you're holding them up by their belt buckle with a gate belt, you can't let them go because they can't fall. If they fall, there's going to be an injury.
00:06:54
Speaker
So the safety of our support system is like the training wheels. We let go. We're not there and they can walk over uneven surfaces. They can turn their head. They can do things to challenge their balance so that it improves. So ah when you're when you're looking to open up your own clinic, you can do whatever you want. and It doesn't have to be.
00:07:11
Speaker
state of the art right off the bat, you create the environment you want. We created a ah team approach in our practice where when I got out of school, I would realize I'd be working with patients and there'd be other providers working with me and they'd have a cancel.
00:07:25
Speaker
And meanwhile, I'm in the weeds and I'm, I'm, I'm backed up with patients and, and they were not willing to like jump in and say, Hey, can i give you a hand with this patient? And I saw that. And, you know, to be honest with you, we don't have a physical therapist office in our practice. Um,
00:07:39
Speaker
they work with a rolling card because if I'm a physical therapist, why am I in an office? Right? unless I'm an owner or or a manager, I don't really need an office. I need a place to call my own to do my documentation from. So I always want our therapists to be out front center, available to the patient, and they can do their things on their cart.
00:08:00
Speaker
I don't need them going to a back office to do documentation and leaving a patient by themselves. That's just what I saw over years of practice, and that's how I created my business. was fortunate enough to to get a facility where I could start implementing some of those those things I wanted to do and then also putting the technology in it. We were the first one to have an Alter-G, a first one to have safety over its support system.
00:08:19
Speaker
And when you're the first to do it in your community, guess what everybody remembers? You were the one that did it. It's like if you think of like ah of a cola brand, what's the first one that pops to mind?
00:08:31
Speaker
Coca-Cola. When you think of like a laundry detergent, what's the first one that pops to mind? Well, that's tight. It is usually tight. Right, exactly. type one so It's always if you're the first to do it, you're always the innovator.
00:08:44
Speaker
If you bring it to your community, everybody's goingnna remember you're the first one to have it. And others, ah the the most sincere compliment I get is when colleagues and call them colleagues, not competition, they're colleagues, where they have practices and they add that service.
00:08:59
Speaker
They add it because they see that we did it and it was successful and they're adding it because they want to have more success. And to me, that's the ultimate compliment. I don't look at anybody around me as competition.
00:09:10
Speaker
It's not. There's plenty of people that need our services. Let's just all do a great job taking care of our communities and it will all take care of itself. Thank you for listening to this episode.
00:09:21
Speaker
This would not be possible without sponsorship of Sarah Health. Sarah is the relationship operating system for physical therapy practices, driving better patient outcomes, improved arrival rate and improved financial margins.
00:09:35
Speaker
If you'd like to learn more, check them out at Sarah, S-A-R-A health dot com. sarahhealth.com. And if you'd be interested in advertising with us and helping us produce even more great stories, please let us know at steven at sarahhealth.com. Now back to the episode.
00:09:55
Speaker
I'll start with the competition piece and work way back because I mean, one, you could be more correct, right? If you look at what why Medicare came out with these remote therapeutic monitoring codes, right, is because they believe that only one percent, one percent of their members are actually completing a plan of care.
00:10:12
Speaker
Right. So they think that only 10 percent of of their membership actually goes to get physical therapy that should. And then of that 10 percent, only 10 percent are actually completing the full plan of care and getting to the outcome that they could be, ah you know, ah minimum in the outcome they could be and maybe even beyond. Right. So I couldn't agree with you more that there is such an untapped potential here.
00:10:34
Speaker
And then to say that there's competition, but then I have a six week wait list like. that is't That doesn't make sense, right? it's not that's not That's not logical ah to to me to to say those those two things. And the physical therapy community is is so unique in that way. And it's it's really awesome yeah to to work within it. And I like how you walked me through the safety overhead system, support system. Yeah.
00:11:03
Speaker
That makes so much sense. And I know there's, I can easily foresee, I see the the patient risk, right? And injury risk going going way down to to almost null.
00:11:14
Speaker
But also your provider risk too, right? Like catching somebody. They don't have to support a big patient. Yep. That's, I know when we were in the ah serving physical therapy groups, serving fire departments in particular, I think it was the state of Indiana, I want to say,
00:11:33
Speaker
Either 50 or 60% of all injuries to firefighters were from picking people up. Really? Yep. I believe Yep. And so, yeah, there's there's not only the patient safety aspect, but also the provider safety aspect, right, of of that. And I really appreciate how you've been invested in that, ah knowing that we can't afford to lose a single physical therapist for any reason, much less occupational injury.
00:11:59
Speaker
And one of the things about what we do is that you have to understand that we are a service-based industry. We just happen to be operating in the healthcare care realm. So it's all about the experience. So, Stephen, if you come into my practice, I want you to be greeted at the front desk with somebody with a smile.
00:12:16
Speaker
How are you, Stephen? Nice to meet you. ah got some paperwork for you. So the experience from the time you walk in to when you get to the therapist in the back to the facility itself, the cleanliness of it, the interaction with all the staff.
00:12:28
Speaker
So when you walk out, you're like, that was really good. like That's something I can't replicate at home. You know, I can do these exercises at home and they're a compliment to what my therapist is offering. But i see the value in coming into the clinic to be treated. And that's important. It's even from the phone call that you make in the interaction with phone call. So every member of the team.
00:12:50
Speaker
is as equally as important as the next. And I tell patients all the time is they'll come back and then finally get to me and they may like me as a therapist and say, well, the good thing is you liked everybody else leading up to me because if you didn't like people at the front, you would never get back to like me.
00:13:05
Speaker
So it's it's that's how you have to have that mindset. We are just a service-based industry operating in the healthcare realm. i I couldn't agree with that more. And to take that a step further, the way that we look at it, right, is in what these – what the codes that that we facilitate, right? ah but As I think about it, it's how can we – help practices provide concierge care, right? Like concierge level care within an insurance based environment.
00:13:36
Speaker
and And how can you thread that needle? ah Because the the owners that get it, like like you were like, that' that's it, right? Like how close can I get to having no handcuffs in terms of what I can do and the way I want to engage in the experience I want to provide, but do it within an insurance landscape. So that way you don't have to be worth, you know, a ton of zeros to be able to to come in.
00:14:02
Speaker
Right. And your platform that we just started using a few weeks ago, ah the engagement we've had from our patients is very high. um i think you're at 60 some percent engagement with with the text messaging.
00:14:13
Speaker
We have patients that actually go beyond the text of a yes, no, maybe. And we're able to respond to them in time. ah Even over the weekend, some of the therapists are responding to the patients. And I tell you, it goes back to the experience.
00:14:28
Speaker
It's just an extra layer of the experience they're getting by coming to see us that is just um just puts us over the top and makes us head and shoulders better than other providers in the air just because it's a customer service. All people want today's health care patient is rushed in and out of every place they go.
00:14:48
Speaker
yeahp um Everybody is overworked, understaffed um throughout health care. So when a patient comes in and they have people actually interacting with them, answering their test messages, responding to them, they they come back in and they are tickled pink. And they will go tell 200 their friends how much they love us.
00:15:12
Speaker
And it's like that rule of the wedding. you know Everybody knows 200 people. And how how do you know that? Because whenever you go to wedding, there's 200 people there. So they will tell a handful of people they like you, but they will tell all 200 if they don't.
00:15:26
Speaker
And that's just so it's all about customer service. Oh, there's there's there's there's so much there. um The i I love how there's just like that engagement, right? And and as a patient, I know in my experience, especially like if I go to see a primary care physician, right?
00:15:46
Speaker
if i I am lucky to be able to even talk about what I've experienced in the last 10 days that led me to create the appointment, right? Like maybe, maybe egg and everything else is lost.
00:15:56
Speaker
And I think the way that your ah that that you and in your staff are are interacting or giving it away to being able to not have the deluge of data, right? When you come in, like just your word vomit. um I don't know what's important as a patient. I'm just going to tell you everything, right?
00:16:15
Speaker
um And now it's, hey, you know, I see your confidence level is trending up. That's great. ah But you might be, you know your confidence level and where I think you are are different, right? One way or the other.
00:16:28
Speaker
But it gives you a really great way to have that conversation versus how confident are you feeling today? It's like, Well, that's that's today, right? It could be different yesterday. Not try chronologically, but anyway, not here to to talk about that. But ah we'll well we'll ah come but come back, come back.
00:16:47
Speaker
oh And so we we talked about, you know, your how you got here and your why behind what you're doing now. And so I want to take a a shift and ask you about your your two of your proudest achievements. So one ah that we'll start with is within PT and the other is outside. So yeah what would you say your're your proudest achievement in physical therapy is to date?
00:17:14
Speaker
Probably opening my practice to be honest with you to be able serve this community and then see it take off like it did um and for It never gets old when a patient comes to the front desk. I had it yesterday I was sitting there typing up some documentation and I think people know who I am i don't I don't see everybody anymore because we have so many patients we have nine providers ten providers But they all know I think who I am um and I don't know everybody's name but a gentleman was being discharged yesterday I've never met and walk by say, you have a great staff here.
00:17:45
Speaker
And thank you so much. actually It was his last day. And I said, thank you so much. I appreciate that, sir. um Those are the the moments that um that make me happy that I did this.
00:17:56
Speaker
um And then, of course, whenever you treat a patient, they get better. You you can you can appreciate that, too. but But it's just being able to provide a service for this community. um And we've expanded what we've offered.
00:18:07
Speaker
ah So now we have pelvic health, vestibular, balance, orthopedic, neurological, We're growing, growing, growing. you Our biggest barrier to growth is actually finding providers. yeah And that's every this barrier right now. we If we could find more providers, we could add more services. So ah it hopefully in the next few years, that'll change and we'll have more people um in the profession that we can utilize to help grow. But that's been my biggest. um Personally, my two kids and my wife, I couldn't do everything anything without them.
00:18:35
Speaker
ah They're they're like getting motivated every day. i couldn't do what I'm doing without them. I can't wait for my daughter to be a physical therapist. I'm excited for I know she's excited to do it. um And that'll be in 27. So hopefully she'll join her practice then.
00:18:50
Speaker
And but that's my proudest achievement. And as I'm sure you can attest to, too, as you have a little one through the apple of your eye. And even though mine are 21 and 18, they're still ah the most important things in my life um with my wife. So I yeah, couldn't agree more, even though. ah Yeah, I'm closer to it's at those numbers in months, not years.
00:19:12
Speaker
but it'll go by quick It'll go by really quick. Oh, so fast. Right. It feels like it was a blink of an eye when he held his bottle for the first time. Right. And boom. Right. That was 15 months ago.
00:19:25
Speaker
um Yeah, you're you're 100% corrected. It does go quick. And as someone who also well, I guess I'll put it out of the world now as someone who also worked for their dad, um it is.
00:19:37
Speaker
It it it's special. It really special. um Now, he and I had a relationship that it was during high school and college is the oil fields of southeast Kansas.
00:19:50
Speaker
um And so I was boss's boy in the oil fields, which is not necessarily the title that you want. Right. ah And to top it off, he said, I'm going to be the hardest boss you've ever had. And ah he was right up until I started this company. And now I report to myself and he's second place now. ah But um I appreciate so much all the lessons and you get a...
00:20:15
Speaker
At least in my experience, and and I would imagine your your daughter will have a a very similar experience, should that be the route, is you get ah insight into actually how to run the business, too, not just do your right your day job.
00:20:28
Speaker
and And that is a level of insight and knowledge that I've learned. been blessed to have since i was 18, much less, you know, 38. thirty eight ah And able to have that was extremely helpful ah for me. so it's ah it's ah it's a gift in multiple ways, I think, as as you'll, you know, again, hopefully come to.
00:20:49
Speaker
I never realized how much i've I've gotten to know about the field of physical therapy and how to run a business until I interact with others. And I realized like, wow, I do know a lot about this profession, running a business. But it's like, it's just, it's second nature because I do it every day. But yeah um it's a lot it's a lot to take in. It's been absorbed over ah you know a dozen years.
00:21:08
Speaker
So it's kind of hard just to write it all down and say, this is how you do it. You have to live it. And and I've been through, believe me, just starting the business up. I had lots of mistakes. I learned from my mistakes. um and you And you correct it. and and it But it's it's frustrating. and it's It's hard to navigate this field of health care.
00:21:23
Speaker
With clearing houses, with credentialing, and it's it's a nightmare. um So there's a I learned it all the hard way. I like i would just keep up like, whoops, that's the wrong form. That's the form I need to fill out. That's the wrong form.
00:21:37
Speaker
So but yeah, it's it's not easy, but so I'm i'm eager for her to come join. going to have to practice for a couple of years first just to get good at being a physical therapist first. And then hopefully by the time I'm pushing 60, she'll be able to start, so you know, segueing into taking over running the day to day operation. That's our goal.
00:21:56
Speaker
So. I love it. I love it. Make family owned business that stood that way I love that. I love that. and You know you mentioned credentialing and clearing houses and um yeah know we've talked about a couple other challenges, both you already on on this time together, but also when when I was there a couple of weeks ago. youve got And so now I get some one but one of my favorite questions, which is you had a magic wand, right? You got to fix one thing within physical therapy.
00:22:26
Speaker
what would you fix?
00:22:30
Speaker
Well, I think most people would say that the the payment, um the lack of payment, that's a big problem for providers. But honestly, if you if if I could fix one thing, I would level the playing field. um there is There is not neutral site payment.
00:22:45
Speaker
ah So the services I perform in my clinic ah behind me right here, ah Will be reimbursed at about a third of the price or the reimbursement of those services performed in an outpatient setting in a hospital.
00:22:59
Speaker
um So it's the same exact care. I would very much just say that mine might be even better, but I'm biased because it's my business. But the same product or service is triple the value when it's attached to a hospital or part of the hospital chain. So we need neutral site payment reform. That'll level the playing field across the the um everything.
00:23:23
Speaker
And then that will, like, competition be the driving force to what succeeds. um So i'm I'm all for that. If we can get that, I think that'd be great. And with that will come payment reform at the same time.
00:23:34
Speaker
If I could go back in time, I'd probably say we didn't need to get a doctorate in this field with the way things have gone. I don't don't dislike having a doctorate. I think it's great, but we never got the payment reform and the autonomy that I think our professional is looking for.
00:23:49
Speaker
back in like the late 90s when they decided to go for the DPT. So here we are 25, 26 years later, and these these um these students come out of college with immense debt.
00:24:01
Speaker
um And it makes it very difficult for them to get out of it when they're coming out of school with $200,000 in debt as a physical therapist. So um there's a lot. I don't know, like we talked about before, maybe I'd want more wishes than one. Yeah. But I think if we can just level our playing field and let competition speak for itself, and you know that would be the best thing for us. and And that would actually save a lot of money in the health care system as well.
00:24:26
Speaker
um So there's a lot of things that need to be addressed, and hopefully somebody will work toward it. That's one of the reasons I got involved in the ah APTA, and I am running for the board of directors for the APTA in 24.
00:24:37
Speaker
um Just to have, ah you know, ah financial oversight of the association in terms of how they spend their money and also just to try to bring work clinicians to the fold so we can speak up. Because if you sit there and you just complain about the issues, but you never actively do anything,
00:24:52
Speaker
Nothing gets accomplished. It reminds me of when I did Little League and I volunteer my services that people would be on the sideline. Their kids would be playing. They complain about the umpires. They could complain about the fields not looking good. I'm like, well, you know everything's volunteer.
00:25:07
Speaker
if you want to make a change, then you got to help. I'm too busy. My life's too busy. I'm like, it's not that busy. You just don't want to do it. So it's like you have to get involved. It doesn't pay anything.
00:25:17
Speaker
don't get paid to be the VP of Maryland. I'm going to get paid to this stuff, but I'm doing it because like my profession and I want to see it succeed in the future. that's why I do it. but You know, one of the the things I like to ask too, and ah is, is advice to, to those who are looking to innovate within that the PT world.
00:25:38
Speaker
um And just a couple of pieces ah of tactical, a couple tactical pieces of advice. And I guess one of the right is, is just be the change that you want to see. ah It doesn't have to be dramatic.
00:25:50
Speaker
doesn't have to be a, you you you don't have to climb Mount Everest, right? But to your point on the the Little League, right? Like, ah you don't like how the field looks? Like, what is that? An extra 15 minutes and just breaking?
00:26:02
Speaker
ah And all of a sudden, would the infield looks 10 times better, maybe even more. To your point, that's not... hey it's It's the excuses just being comfortable with just complaining about it should be a. It's easier to complain.
00:26:20
Speaker
It's easier to complain to actually do something. So it's like be a part of the solution. um That's what we want you to be. and that's what I'm trying to get people to do is and I created a Facebook page a page of physical therapy advocates for change.
00:26:33
Speaker
We have like 700 members now started in like December and like minded people getting together. And I'm trying to get those people to get involved APTA, join the APTA, be the voice, ah speak up for yourself and tell me when ah you want something.
00:26:46
Speaker
You want to see some changes in what you want. But, you know, we can't let other people decide for us what what the path forward is. You have to, even though you're busy as a clinician, you still have to find time to carve out to do what you want to achieve.
00:26:59
Speaker
So. I, well. I don't know if it'll make sense you know in my home in Kansas City, but I'm happy to put a Gardner 2024 on. Hopefully it'll help. I mean, it's ah and I'm a long shot to win because it's only my first year there.
00:27:15
Speaker
So you have to, think, get to know the different delegates. But I told everybody I was going to run. I've got the nominating committee. They just sent out a form I had to fill out, get my resume, answer some questions of why I'd be a good candidate. And we'll see where it takes us.
00:27:29
Speaker
I'm excited. It's fun. I enjoy it. And if I get elected, That's awesome. If I don't, I'll try it again next year. It's not that big a deal. I'll just keep trying. I'll eventually probably win.
00:27:40
Speaker
It might not be until 26, 27, but I'll eventually get on board. You can't keep me out for forever. right it's how im ru you now I'll keep applying and I'll keep running.
00:27:52
Speaker
And I'll eventually get there. but think I think that might be the the other piece of taxable advice, right? is is not give up that yeah Failures is typically never not an option.
00:28:03
Speaker
Right. It's not an option. No. And when you run a private practice, there are a lot of obstacles in your way to success. um For example, if you had changed health care as your clearinghouse, and I have two friends of mine that have them, they have not been paid in a month.
00:28:21
Speaker
for seeing patients and they are running old fumes so you have to be very strong and you know and just keep fighting through it realizing that your money is dwindling to nothing but you know it's going to eventually be paid take out loans at the bank to make your payroll don't pay yourself it's tough it's tough i'm fortunate i do not have changed health care um if i did i would be finding back ways of trying to you know make things work to pay my staff, not pay me, and keep them paid while I work through this stuff, whether it's a loan at the local bank for payroll. Those are just stressful things you have to deal with as an owner.
00:29:03
Speaker
And a lot of people don't realize that um when you get into it, it's it's not easy. It's not easy. No, it's not. And although our businesses are are very different, right, in our model and and everything else, ah those those stresses and those activities hold hold true. Right. And the very not fun conversation to have is, hey, honey, ah payroll is it going to hit us this, ah you know, this week, this month. Right.
00:29:33
Speaker
um And ah if if there's a a piece of advice that that I'll put in, it's when you decide to find that that life partner, like choose wisely.
00:29:45
Speaker
Yes. I was extremely wisely on that um because I I don't know where this business would be if it wasn't for my wife, but I know it's not where it is today. And it's um it is in a worse place with without her.
00:30:01
Speaker
a hundred percent i 100%. Easy. Easy. I agree 100%. My wife has been supportive since day one of doing this. Never doubt it. me in a ah day.
00:30:12
Speaker
Even if I had doubts, she wouldn't doubt me. And matter of fact, she's ah she's a physical therapist as well, but she's actually overseeing front end operations right now to make sure things are running smooth. um But i I can't do without her. She's she's my rock.
00:30:25
Speaker
So she's always there for me. And and you're 100% right on that. 100%. It makes the the dark days so much better. I mean, survivable, right? Might be a good word for it. And having someone to celebrate with there is is worth its weight and goal uh on the good days uh so so yeah i think those are are three really really good pieces right so you know find that that partner uh that that's gonna be if you choose to go down that route find the one that's gonna be supportive uh and also has a iron clad stomach If can, then failure is is is temporary.
00:31:10
Speaker
Right. And in trying and failing is is better than than nothing, ah which I love. There's a book by Brian Johnson called Arate. ah And it his his his ah mantra is, did you win or did you learn?
00:31:25
Speaker
And I love that. I think that is a great way to look at it. um And then the last is is be the change you want to see. Right. You're right. It is so easy to be in the you'll be in the crowd and throw in tomatoes. Right.
00:31:43
Speaker
It's much more difficult to be willing to put yourself on stage and actually try to make the change that that you want to see. But. I'll argue that the pain that you won't have if you choose to get on stage is a pain of regret.
00:31:58
Speaker
And that is that is much worse than a tomato or two. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I agree with you. Perfect. Perfect.
00:32:09
Speaker
Well, Scott, I think, uh, That's all. That's all. I want to say thank you so much for for spending 30 minutes with with me and and our listeners. That's fun. Thank you.
00:32:22
Speaker
Take care, buddy. Thank you for listening to another episode of The Disruptors. I hope that you were able to take one or two things away that you can apply immediately to your own innovation journey. As always, I'm your host, Stephen Cohen, sponsored by Sarah Health.
00:32:37
Speaker
Let's keep moving.