The BIGGEST Mistake I Made In Recruiting Employees & How To Fix It - Solo

 A Journey of Mindset Transformation and Building a Thriving Practice

What if the biggest mistake you’ve made could become your greatest lesson? Join us as we unravel the story of transforming recruitment challenges into triumphs within a physical therapy practice. I’ll take you through my journey of launching a practice in a remote Arizona town, battling an overwhelming workload, and the desperation of trying to attract the right talent. Learn how hiring a seasoned business coach from the oil rig industry reshaped my approach to recruitment, teaching me that the true role of a leader is to create more leaders and help them find their best fit. This shift in mindset was nothing short of revolutionary, and it can be for you too.

Key Takeaways:

• Transforming mistakes into powerful learning experiences
• The role of leadership in creating and nurturing future leaders
• The impact of hiring a coach from outside your industry
• Treating potential hires with the same care as patients
• The importance of a possibility-oriented mindset in recruitment
• Leveraging your network to find and place the right talent
• Building a strong healthcare network for sustainable success
• Vision for creating the largest community of medical entrepreneurs and leaders

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Chapters

• 0:04 The Art of Talent Recruitment
• 8:38 The Power of Mindset in Recruiting
• 17:00 Building a Healthcare Network

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome back to another episode, rockstar. Thank you so much for tuning in. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you the greatest mistake that I made in learning how to recruit talent, so that you don't have to make it, and I will tell you, after coaching now into the hundreds of PT practices, that this is a common mistake. This is the number one mistake that all private practice owners make I would say any business owner makes when they're learning how to attract and retain talent. And so, to give you a little background on this mistake, I want you to understand my circumstance as a PT owner.

Speaker 1: 0:38

I started my practice in 2003, halfway between Florence it was in Florence, arizona, but halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, so that's like an hour between both of those cities, and it was just surrounded by desert. As a matter of fact, the town itself isn't much to look at when you're driving through. The one thing you do notice are the 18 prisons that are in that area. So when I went out there, it felt like home to me, because I was born and raised in El Paso, texas, so this was a very wonderful community, spanish speaking, I speak Spanish. It was this really cool connection and I loved it because I didn't have to worry about new patients. There were tons of new patients. As a matter of fact, I had nightmares about all the patients in my gym that were surrounding me that needed my help, that I couldn't get to. But the problem was is that most physical therapists lived an hour away and in order to come work for me, they would have to drive through desert maybe not the most pleasant looking desert past numerous jobs to come work for this young PT in the middle of nowhere, and so it was really, really challenging for me to recruit physical therapists in particular, but even any other team member was really challenging. The first person I ever hired we'll call her Tammy, and she had a resume that had the least number of misspelled words. Tammy, and she had a resume that had the least number of misspelled words, and so that's why I picked her. And so you know, as I was hiring, I just remember the desperation. I remember the desperation and the pain because I was treating honestly, probably two to three full loads of care compared to today's standards.

Speaker 1: 2:21

I was working seven days a week, I was leaving in the dark, coming home in the dark, and I remember this one time. I share this a lot, but I remember this one time when I was driving home at night and my car alarm wouldn't stop beeping because the passenger seat thought there was a human being sitting in that chair because of the weight of the number of notes I had to do at home that night. There were so many patient charts that it was like the weight of a human being and for me this was recruiting. It was really challenging. I didn't know what to do I mean, no one ever teaches us these things and so I started hiring coaches. This was my approach.

Speaker 1: 2:57

I was going to walk away from my business. I told my wife one day I was done and I was going to walk away, but she recommended that I started hiring these business coaches that she'd heard things about. I don't know how she heard it, but she did. She started recommending that I find business coaches, and that's what changed the game. And what I found was you can hire coaches for anything like anything. And this was clearly my biggest struggle, because the way it worked is that if I could convince someone to come work for me Because the way it worked is that if I could convince someone to come work for me, my experience was that I was always underwhelmed in their production and even their dedication to the company.

Speaker 1: 3:33

I knew I had to hold that relationship personally and tightly in order for it to succeed, and so I was burning all this extra energy just trying to keep them right and doing twice the amount of work, three times the amount of work they were doing, only to have them quit within a year. And I've gotten the Friday night email quit after all of that work, the disrespect of just the hey, I'm out, see you later, you're on your own. And so I hired various coaches, but this one coach I'm gonna share with you. He was a recruiting expert and he learned how to recruit and retain talent working for the oil rig industry, and the reason that's so significant is because it made my situation in Florence, arizona, seem like I was in paradise.

Speaker 1: 4:19

This guy had the responsibility of finding people to go live on oil rigs in the middle of the ocean so that they could make a ton of money, but there's like a 5% mortality rate. Like five out of every hundred people he hired never came home right, and so he had the responsibility of hiring people to go live in miserable conditions without friends or family, for up to a year at a time. The money was amazing, but everything else was really dangerous. So I remember talking to him and he gave me a whole bunch of strategies that I'm going to share with you. Rock stars, like this is just part of you being a listener, so please make sure you're downloading these episodes because I'm going to share with you, step-by-step, how to recruit.

Speaker 1: 5:01

But this is by far the biggest mistake that he pointed out to me. And he looked at me and he said man, will, you don't get what your job is in recruiting. And this is the mistake. He said your mistake is you think when you're hiring people, your job is to hire people. And I looked at him like he was insane. I'm like, well, yeah, that's the job. My job as an owner is to hire people. He said no, your job as a leader is to make more leaders. He goes you don't know until you're working with people whether or not they're going to be a good fit for your company. He goes your job is to help them find the best fit possible, whether it's you or somebody else.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Rockstars, this was a revelation, because the biggest mistake I made was having the wrong mindset around recruiting. The mindset around recruiting is what predicts the ultimate result. One of the things I commonly hear with all my clients is that they say recruiting is hard. Well, I said that to this coach as well and he told me Will, it's not hard if you know how to do it. But you're making it hard because you need to know that when you fail, it's not your fault because there's so few PTs in the industry, because you're in the middle of Florence industry, because you're in the middle of Florence. He said you can recruit because if I can do it in the middle of the ocean on oil rigs, anyone can do it. He says you just need to know how to do it, and it starts with the mindset shift.

Speaker 1: 6:34

So, rock stars, here's the thing I want you to consider when you're hiring your job, and this will change the way you approach your relationships. Your job and this will change the way you approach your relationships your job is to help each person you meet any one of them. You're going to serve all these people, and here's what's great about this. You're already really good at it. You wouldn't be a healthcare provider, especially not a business owner, if you weren't really extra good at helping human beings achieve their goals. You do it day in and day out. People bring you cookies. If you do have a team that likes you and you're pretty okay at this already you have people who will follow you off a cliff. Take a bullet for you, at least a non-lethal one, like, wherever you are in this, you're a great helper. So this will be natural for you to change your mindset and go into this space and consider the possibility, rockstar, that your job is to help each human being find where they're meant to go.

Speaker 1: 7:30

Think of yourself as a coach, a mentor, an expert, and even though you beat yourself up sometimes about being a horrible business owner, because we all do like I don't care who's listening to this you have days where it's like, man, I'm crap at this Because you are, because I am, but it doesn't mean we're not great as well. It's yes, and we're able to do all the things. And so, when it comes to this thing called helping others, you're going to find it very natural to step into this space, be with this other person and tell them listen. My job here today is to help you find your next job, whether it's with me or somebody else, and if I'm not a fit for you. You can count on me to tell you where you could be a better fit. You can also count on me. I'm telling you, if I think you are a good fit for us, that I'll be bold and tell you that this is the place that will make you the happiest. That kind of language became almost a repeat for me in every interview, and I was later told that was the single most impactful thing that I would tell them in the interview was that my job was to help them find their next job, whether it was with me or somebody else.

Speaker 1: 8:38

But rock stars, you can't just say it, you've got to mean it. We have to be in the heart set of being with human beings. So think of them as patients. You're already a master at diagnosing, evaluating, creating plans of care, implementing treatments. This is what you're doing with each person you meet when you recruit. You're coming in as a master helper. You're going to go in there and diagnose what their needs are, where they want to go long-term. You start asking questions that get to the core of what you want. What does this person really want and need? Do they even know what they want and need? What is it that you can do to help them find their best fit, and the whole time you're looking at your company as a viable option, but not the only one.

Speaker 1: 9:22

I had one instance where I was recruiting a physical therapist. I was in desperation. So this particular physical therapist was sitting down. She was in desperation, she needed a job quickly and I was talking to her and it was going to be an easy one, of those few easy hires. But I'll never forget being with her and talking to her about her passion. Like what is it that you're passionate about? And she went on and on to explain how she loved, how her. What she got her into physical therapy was this physical therapist that she loved, that taught her family how to deal with her dad's brain aneurysm.

Speaker 1: 9:57

As I talked to her more and more it became really clear she was. She was meant to be a specialist in a neuro setting. Like that was where she was meant to go. It was. It was like writing on the wall for me and I asked her. I said have you ever thought about becoming a neurotherapist? And she goes oh, that's my dream. I just don't know how to get that type of job. She goes no-transcript. And she started crying. She's like you're right. What do I do? So I did a little bit of research, reached out to my network and I found another center through a common connection my network. Right, your network is your net worth. I think the thing we forget, rock stars, is that our network is our net worth because it serves others. I say that at the beginning of every episode and it implies it's for our net worth. It's true, but the greatest gift is leveraging our connections that we've built over years to serve other people. And she ended up working for this neuro place. She ended up sending me this beautiful note saying thank you so much. And rock stars, through that connection, I am convinced that one of the most amazing people I've ever worked with probably showed up around that time frame.

Speaker 1: 11:24

At the end of the day, learning how to be selfless in our recruiting efforts will free us from the scarcity mindset that sets us up for failure. Guys, I've hired people based on the fogged mirror rule, which means if a human being can fog a mirror, I would hire them if they were willing to come drive out to Florence. So that mindset of being a coach is the first step. The second mindset shift I want to encourage you to take is to recognize that you're limiting yourself by saying how hard it is. Change your language. The language is what programs the brain into action. So, for us, if we say it's hard and there's too many jobs for PTs and reimbursements are declining, you will never sell. You will never find those hopeful, game-changing PTs that are helping very many PT practices be wildly successful, by the way. So there's evidence that those thought processes have truth to them, but as a complete thought is incorrect. You can be successful, just like other practices, by being the coach and changing the language, by saying, yeah, it's currently challenging for me to find PTs, but I'm going to figure it out. And just keep saying that to yourself every time you hear yourself say it's hard. No, it's currently challenging, but I'm going to figure it out. You say that over and over and your brain will start to believe you and will start acting differently in these interviews. They'll start acting like the coach. You'll step in. You'll serve these human beings to go where they're meant to go.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Now, rock stars, listen. I know the majority of you who are struggling in recruiting talent. You have various levels of success. I know that there's other issues involved in that process. This is a multifaceted thing that we call recruiting, but it all starts with mindset. So I will talk in future episodes and please comment, let me know in the notes and in responses to this episode if this is what you want to hear more about, because this is my passion. To give you a little understanding how much of a passion it is.

Speaker 1: 13:26

I went from struggling to hire one PT to learning how the help of coaches, by the way, how to build a bench of physical therapists that were always just waiting for an opening in my practice in the middle of nowhere, arizona. I'll tell you right now. I ended up thinking and it became true they would be lucky to come work for my practice, with all of its imperfections like I'm not saying it was perfect. There was tons of things that were wrong because I was in church, but I also started to believe in the good things that I could do, the wonderful ways that my business could serve these people, because I kept building it for them. I built it for my perfect hire, my avatar, and then I got really picky on who I would bring on.

Speaker 1: 14:11

Which is the greatest way to sell. We sell using SUE, s-u-e, scarcity, exclusivity and urgency. So instead of saying, yeah, I really need a therapist as soon as possible. It's, I only have one position and we're only looking for people who dot dot, dot right very different language, same job, very different language, very different impact. But it can't be a tactic, it has to be a belief, it has to start with the heart, rockstar. So, listen, I share all this to give you hope, to help you recognize that, literally, if I can do it and that's the whole reason I started this show is that any success I've had has come through failure, through coaching, through self-education, like you're doing right now. And it's this journey that you and I are taking together right now that will lead you to a future that you can't even imagine.

Speaker 1: 15:05

My recruiting skill set was one of the most and is my favorite talent that I have now, and it built this company into at 1.5 locations. Later, I was in charge, with the help of a wonderful person you're going to meet in a future episode by the name of Tony Williams. She and I were in charge of recruiting for a company called Empower Physical Therapy. When I sold my practice, we merged our practices and we ended up being in charge of 26 locations, just her and me. Every position, every single position, and Rockstars. We never had more than a single opening because of the things that we learned and the things that I'm going to teach you.

Speaker 1: 15:44

So thank you for listening. I want to get you back to whatever you're doing, but just for this brief moment in time that you're with me, whether you're on a walk, you're driving, you're trying to do other things just listen to me just for a second. Thank you for what you're doing. What you do matters. When you're out there building a team or a practice, when you're taking those risks, when you're doing the scary thing, you're being brave, and the hard thing about what you're doing, in my mind, is that there's very little recognition. You might get some from your patients, you might even be lucky enough to get some from your team, but very few people can truly know what you struggle with, what keeps you up at night, what you worry about, from having enough money to having enough patience, and all those variables that seem to never end. It makes a difference and I can tell you it makes such a difference for your family, even though you might struggle with that. So thank you for the sacrifices you make, thank you for the impact you're leaving on all of these people who may not even be aware of your influence because it is behind this curtain called entrepreneurship Rockstars. Have a wonderful day. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Guys, thank you for taking time to listen to today's episode. If you found today's information to be useful, could you take a minute and help me? I would love it if you could leave a podcast review in your app so that other people who are looking for this information can find it. Plus, my dream is to have the largest network of medical entrepreneurs and leaders in the world so that together, we can change healthcare to make it better for all. So, in addition, if you can think of anyone that you can send this to, not only would that mean a lot to me personally, but it would build this network so that we can make healthcare the way that we want it.