Will Power
Being a physical therapy entrepreneur can be unbelievably challenging at times. From patient care, to running the businesses, to balancing a family, it’s no wonder many entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed and burned out. Each Tuesday, join Will Humphreys, a retired private practice owner and medical entrepreneur, as he introduces game-changing leadership concepts and interviews other successful leaders in healthcare. If you want to start, scale, or sell your outpatient physical therapy business, this is for you. Together not only can we increase our income, impact and freedom, we can build the largest network of healthcare leaders in the world at the Will Power Podcast.
Will Power
Empowering Future Leaders in Physical Therapy with Heidi Jannenga
Empowering Future Leaders in Physical Therapy with Heidi Jannenga
In this episode, Heidi Jannenga, CEO and founder of WebPT, explores the intersection of technology and physical therapy, revealing how artificial intelligence is enhancing clinician efficiency while preserving the essential human touch. From improved documentation to personalized patient care, Heidi shares her vision of a tech-driven yet patient-centered future for the industry.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn how AI is streamlining clinician tasks and revolutionizing traditional care models.
- Discover how strategic data usage enhances marketing, insurance negotiations, and personalized patient care.
- Be inspired by Heidi’s journey from sports injury to tech innovator and community builder.
- Explore the Rising Tide Foundation’s efforts to empower first-time collegegoers through scholarships and mentorship.
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Welcome to Willpower Rockstars. Today we have Heidi Jananga, the CEO and founder of WebPT. Now listen, guys, this is going to be a very different interview. She's going to go into, initially, how technology is evolving at WebPT and some really cool aspects of how they're leveraging that to help make people's lives easier and better. Remember, they're the biggest EMR in the space right now and they're coming from a place of hyper-focusing on the future and changing things along with technology.
Speaker 1:But what's cool for me in this episode was listening to Heidi talk about her personal purpose. Guys, it's hard to put into words what that's like. She starts about halfway through the episode where she draws in from why she became a PT, why that led into WebPT, how it started a charity, and then there is gold to be mined regarding our discussion around this idea of mindset in physical therapy as owners going into leadership, as well as the beautiful arc of entrepreneurship learn, earn return. Enjoy the show. The beautiful arc of entrepreneurship Learn, earn return. Enjoy the show. Hey, rock stars, I am so excited for today's episode. A good friend of mine from WebPT, heidi Janenga, is with us today to be on the show to reconnect Heidi, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Good, how are you? I'm so excited to be here and so thankful that you've asked me to be a guest today. We are friends and have known each other for quite a while through the PT world, so really, really excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is a small world. I tell people it's a really small pond and so we have known the same people forever. You started with PT down the street from where I started my first practice and, like anyone else, we all know WebPT. But what's really cool is that you were a featured healthcare hero on my YouTube channel before I launched my podcast. So it was really neat because I only featured three people over those three years and your episode just so you know for me went viral into the low thousands of views, which is a lot for me. I used to get tens of views, so when I got a thousand with yours, I was like whoa, wow amazing yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:So I'm so grateful that you're spending time with us and let's get right into it, heidi, because I know the rock stars who are listening. They know you, they know your company at least, but probably know you. And, as everyone knows, webpt, the largest EMR in the industry, that was started in the early 2000s, is now in this state where technology is changing rapidly. Every minute, technology is evolving and changing and the big buzzword is AI. So let's talk about AI just right out of the gate, right there, because in our pre-call you were mentioning like yeah, maybe we should talk about just what that is. First of all, because I'm thinking I don't know about you, but like I talk to people and they oftentimes mention AI like it's one thing, like oh, I've got AI. You know, I've tried physical therapy, that kind of thing. So what do you say to people about AI in general who are maybe just learning about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it conjures up artificial intelligence, conjures up all kinds of images for people, right From, you know, robots taking over the world to those that might be a little bit more in the understanding of the large language models that, can, you know, compute things very quickly and solve problems, if you've tried chat, gpt and the sort of the chatbot model, and so, yeah, it is obviously taking every industry by storm, but I do think that it's important to understand that it is still in its infancy and although that it is, you know, starting to evolve very rapidly, you know, I don't think that it's going to take over health care and I definitely don't think it's going to take over physical therapy or replace physical therapists anytime in the near future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you're a PT you. You grew up in that world and you know what has been your experience with your clients. How are they is? Is artificial intelligence wildly being used, you know, by PT owners that you work with, or is that still kind of like this thing? They've heard of chat GPT and they kind of leave it at that.
Speaker 2:No, I really think that there is a lot of usage of chat GPT. It's really revolutionized how we think about just a lot of things, not even just, you know, documentation or writing, whether it's blog posts or generating content for your website, things like that. I think that it's widely being used to understand and implement more of the use of some of our data into being able to leverage that for our clinicians with regard to their documentation and making that more efficient. One of the biggest pieces that we're utilizing when it comes to AI is the machine learning components, in which we, since we have been around since the early 2000s, you know our differentiator amongst any of the other EMRs out there is that our data set is larger, and so that the ability for putting our large data set into AI to be able to create more predictions and decision-making, as well as automating some of the experiences behind the scenes to enable tasks to become easier for our clinicians, is a lot of what we're working on today. Really, it's all about efficiency.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so cool and so Rockstars. As you're listening to this, one of the things that Heidi punched that's really big. She talked about how, what makes WebPT so significantly different is her data set. She's talking about, as it sounds, all the data, all that metrics, every piece of information that your clinics have worked with over the now decades is now compiled, and it's interesting because that sounds important. But I have just recently learned, heidi, how valuable data is, so like. Take Tesla, for example. They've got those self-driving cars out there. I was talking to a friend of mine who works there and he was saying how the future for them is the data that they're aggregating, Because some companies now are trying to do these self-driving cars, but what they have is billions of data points across the country now, across the world, so that as they develop their cars, like these new cyber taxis that they're developing, their goal is to start selling real estate around the car. It's just because the data is so valuable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what AI has enabled is the acceleration now of I mean, it's been 17 years of collecting data and, while we've been able to do a few things with it, it's the now acceleration of the value of that data, as you put it, but also how to put that data into action right, and that's what's been accelerated through these large language models and AI being able to create and problem solve with the data, to learn as it collects and compares a lot of these different data sets from different diagnoses, and it's one of the things that we knew early on was going to be important.
Speaker 2:It's why we don't get it in PT so much, because we love the narrative format of being able to just type out a note. But having these discrete data elements that can then be taken in and analyzed is something that we knew would be important even back in the day, and so it's why we created WebPT early on in a different sort of format than others were doing, where you're just sort of typing in a you know a Word document, if you will, today. Now there's also the ability to, you know, ingest some of that data through natural language processing, where you can analyze those words off the page to be meaningful. But that takes a little bit more time than already having this sort of discrete data set. So it's going to be exciting future here, rapidly changing, as you mentioned, how we think about documentation, how we think about the business side of PT and being able to apply some of these newer technologies into lots of different areas that today are either manually based or, you know, we're kind of guessing as we go along.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exciting. Tell me a little bit. If you could share with the rock stars as well a little bit of how you guys are leveraging technology AI whatever it is currently, that's maybe a little bit newer and if you could maybe even preview a little bit of whatever you can share about where you guys are going.
Speaker 2:You have a diagnosis of a patient, you've created plans of care with specific treatment options, whether it be exercises or therapeutic activity, manual therapy treatments.
Speaker 2:So now it's taking all of that information and being able to say these specific plans of care with treatment associated with it created the best outcomes.
Speaker 2:So we're going to be able to truly say and have a better understanding of how many visits does it take on average across the US with this type of treatment associated with it for these types of patients, these demographics, these specific comorbidities, to be much more.
Speaker 2:I think we have some gross data around this, but now being much more in depth and detailed, with being able to do a little bit of predicting but, more importantly, helping the therapist to guide them. I love the term that is utilized now and a lot with programming is a co-pilot, and so how I see WebPT in the future is really the co-pilot to the physical therapist, where you're not driving but you're really assisting, providing the data real time and that computation of the information that's being entered or has already been entered, based on what we know from previous patients that look very similar to the patient that might be in front of you to help guide them into creating home exercise programs based on the exercise that you, specifically, as an individual, like to prescribe for this particular patient, of this diagnosis, in this comorbidity? Yes, it's just as an example.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that because it feels the way you're describing that, heidi, as an evolution for WebPT, going from being an online tool that was way more efficient than Word docs, which is a side note.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you know this, but I was one of your earliest adapters back in 2007.
Speaker 1:I think, oh, it's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I sold the company, but you know, like, but the that you're going from this like advanced tool set to being an extension of the therapist, like it's.
Speaker 1:So it feels like it's more like this uh, appendage in in the clinical sense and from a business owner perspective, because the use cases of what you just described one of the ones I thought of that's kind of low-hanging fruit, but just was like, yeah, when I was talking to therapists who used to work for me, who weren't really getting buy-in from their patients, you know some of the excuses were, well, they're discharging in three days because I'm so good, it's like, well, no, they're not showing up after three days and that's not the same as being discharged. And look at this data set of national averages. Like you're saying, there's just so many applications that we could use, both on the clinical set as well as a business owner set. So I'd love to hear that and I love that you guys are building partnerships in with Prediction Health. What are some of those partnerships that you guys have integrated or are currently integrating to help continue this extension of the clinician or owner's arm?
Speaker 2:from the marketing side, of being able to reach patients who either have not come in yet or that you potentially could reach to, whether it's direct access or physician groups. So a lot on the marketing side. And then, as we talked about about earlier just now, with Prediction Health, but also in terms of the insurance verification process, we're partnering with groups on the credit card processing to make that easier. To make that easier Similar to us having this larger data set because we are the largest in the industry and have the largest base of membership, as we call it, members of our community and our customers we have been able to leverage that to provide opportunities for our members to have pricing options that they couldn't get. So it's the group buying power, if you will, that we're now able to leverage. So being able to do the credit card processing for significantly less than you could get just going out as a small business on your own to try to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is really neat. I love how you guys are to try to do that. Yeah, that is really neat. I love how you guys are working to develop other companies that are specializing in niche aspects of this technology to help bring them in and bring it to your people at a lower cost as well. That's cool. Yeah, that's neat.
Speaker 1:So, as you look forward, as WebPT looks forward, and as you're in that role as the visionary which, by the way, my favorite thing about you has always been not the web PT, which I love, the PT is I love the leadership that you bring Cause you're what I did an interview set at that, that healthcare hero YouTube video. I interviewed a handful of your employees and the big thing they said was your kindness and your visionary. So, as you're, I can imagine that you're starting to get a clearer picture of the future for WebPT. Maybe you already answered this question, heidi, with the extension of it being automated, but what do you see, maybe for WebPT's growth and maybe bigger impacts and those types of things that you see for the company?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really continuing to utilize or leverage our data set in different ways, whether that's working with payers to improve our ability to show value and hopefully negotiate or assist our companies and clinicians with negotiating better rates with insurance companies, with negotiating better rates with insurance companies, whether it's on the marketing side of really promoting and being able to utilize direct access to their maximum capacity that they can of getting it out there, the value of PT getting out there to more and more folks.
Speaker 2:The other piece is, just as a technology company is really about our interoperability pieces, pieces just as a technology company is really about our interoperability pieces, so being able to connect with other technology platforms to enable a better and improved patient experience across multiple healthcare disciplines.
Speaker 2:Right, pt is a part of a plan of care that you know may include physicians, may include massage therapists, may include, you know, a case manager, for example, and so how can we get that sort of data being able to flow fairly seamlessly to follow that patient throughout their entire episode of care?
Speaker 2:That's needed to get them in a better place, whether it's back to work or, you know, back hugging their grandkid, like, whatever their sort of goal is like being an integral part of that, and this is what you're seeing in the greater sort of healthcare experience is that interoperability being a big piece of that. And then the other piece, I would say, is really around a more personalized care model and this is where AI is going to come in a little bit as well is really understanding who is that person sitting in front of you and how can you have a little bit, rather than sort of just a broad sort of sweep that we do want standardization of care, but how do you make that standard be a little more personalized to that particular person that's sitting in front of you? And so some of those AMI and predictive models I think is going to really help with whether we focus on early intervention or prevention or specifically to that person in front of us post-injury. I think that's really going to be helpful in the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's beautiful how the data set ends up making the experience something very impersonal, like data is making the experience more personal. We can leverage that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Increase the connection, because that's why all of us came into physical therapy was more on the human connection, kind of total left field a little bit. Why did you become a PT?
Speaker 2:So I have a similar story than many. I was an athlete in college. I was a basketball player. I played at UC Davis in Northern California, was actually pre-med and went down with a knee injury my junior year in college and had an MRI. It was inconclusive but I thought I had partially torn my ACL but didn't want to do surgery. So I got sent to a physical therapist who totally rocked my world and changed my whole trajectory of my profession. Moving forward, I was able to play that year with a brace and then worked really hard with her all summer and played my senior year with no brace and even set a couple of scoring records and whatnot that year. So I'm forever indebted and never looked back and went on to get my master's at St Augustine and then my doctorate from EIM and after 17 years of practice in sports medicine, decided to dabble in this whole technology thing. Why?
Speaker 1:not, Because back then, literally I remember when my PT came out, Heidi, I was literally documenting on Word. I don't even think I was doing it.
Speaker 2:That was high. That was the problem that we're trying to solve.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was funny because I will tell you, a lot of my patients tolerated treatment well Objectively. When you just look at the flow sheet and the typical soap, the quick and dirty soap notes sea plant of care, like just boom, like that kind of thing. Those days are gone gratefully. I think there's an improvement there. But yeah, it's interesting how you made that pivot. I just kind of going back to the therapist that inspired you, what was it that rocked your world about it?
Speaker 2:When you're an athlete, you want to be back on the court, and it was really the outcome and the encouragement along the way.
Speaker 2:That really was what was inspiring.
Speaker 2:When I went to see the physician, they kind of were very objective about the whole thing and my therapist gave me hope.
Speaker 2:And not only did she give me hope, but she, she gave me goals, um, and helped me get there, uh, and that was really at the end of the day and then and then together achieve those goals, right, um, and so I I had sort of you know, thought that well, maybe I'm never going to play again, um, and not only did I play, like I had a stellar career for you know, another, another year and a half, and so that's really what sort of wowed me, that, oh my gosh, if she was able to do this to me, for me, like I want to be able to do this for other people, right, I, in terms of new knowing that I wanted to go into healthcare, that sort of helping gene was already part of me. And also the difference that we all know now is just the difference in a physical therapist being able to see the patient build that relationship over multiple visits versus kind of the one-in one-out that a physician sort of has to have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the connection part of your story. It's it's interesting. I mean, when you heard the first part of this episode, it's like obviously there's a technology master understanding the market and doing what you've done in this space, but really what drives it for you is that creation of hope, right, like something that was very initial for you. So what, what was it that had you pivot into WebPT? Like, what was it about that for you? I know I know your general background story so I mean you're happy to share the details but, like the what was the part that was like wow, that really speaks to me.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that it was all about problem solving, like, at the end of the day, we're all problem solvers and how we approach each patient that sits in front of us and we listen and you know we we hopefully create solutions. You know, when we first started building WebPT, I honestly was skeptical. I didn't, I was a paper writer too and that was quick and it was fast and it was efficient and it was what you knew, right. And so pivoting to something totally different, uh, with technology, which was very foreign to me. I was not, you know, the iPhone carrier or whatever. At that point in time, like I, I was a little technology obtuse, if I'll be honest. What really sort of triggered the all-in was after we started using it and the positive feedback and, again, practice. But then the lightning, quick adoption that were with 10 other therapists in my area and clinics in my area who were so willing to try it and were giving us positive feedback and encouraging us to keep going. That's when we really recognized and thought, oh my gosh, we probably stumbled onto something here, and the piece for me was again that helping Jean. And when it finally clicked for me, because leaving patient care was extremely emotional and hard, totally.
Speaker 2:Even today, when someone asks me like what do you do, like what's your profession? And I still come out with I'm a physical therapist. That's the first thing that I say. The thing that clicked for me was I am helping this many patients right with what I'm doing as a physical therapist. But, wow, if we really do what we think we can do with WebPT, how many more patients can be affected by this piece of technology that could empower therapists to see one more patient, or two more patients in a day, or in a day, or you know however many in a month? How much more impact could we have with this profession? And that was the big light bulb that went off for me in triggering that helping gene to be even have more of an effect than what I was doing within my own practice.
Speaker 1:So it's interesting. I've noticed Heidi, thank you for saying that I've noticed how, for almost all the entrepreneurs who are listening, all the rockstar entrepreneurs who are owning it, their self-identity as a therapist, the initial passion that brings them into the profession, becomes a limitation for them as they evolve If their evolution does not involve patient care. I know I went through that. I've coached many people through that piece because there is such a draw, not draw. It is the fulfillment of our purpose.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a real way and, like in your case, there's a different flavor with everyone. What I would just kind of throw out there is your flavor of it, is this idea of how physical therapy to you was, this hope through hard work and goal setting to create a new freedom for yourself. And that's what you found the connection in WebPT. The way I heard it was wow, there's this problem, it's a limitation, it's hard. I can create a freedom through goal setting and having people have hope to grow their practices and not be a slave. We had no idea when we were doing our practices, heidi, when we were treating, how complicated the insurance documentation was going to get. Oh, my gosh, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's even gotten more complicated over the years.
Speaker 1:Oh, and it's like and, by the way, it's so funny, we're filming this the day after an election that, like you, can't say very much without polarizing people these days. But you can say insurance companies are bad and everyone goes yeah, like I don't care if you're red, blue or some shade in between, you are just like it's universal. So it's interesting, as companies like yours are taking a stand against that, how they're leveraging technology, but really it's about that human connection for them. And yeah, I'm so glad that you overcame your mindset of, like I'm a Pete, but I do the same thing. I honestly got my haircut recently, in case you can't tell, and I literally the lady's like, so what do you do? I'm like I'm a physical therapist, cause I just told her it's so much, it's honestly also easier, but I love saying that and they go oh, so you help people. There's this cool I am so proud of I still have my name tag when I was a technician my first tech job ever back in Intermountain Healthcare when I was 18.
Speaker 1:And so that's never left you, that's never left you All of this, I mean for me it's a little surprising, just because you've achieved a height that I don't know anyone else that has, like that still hasn't left you.
Speaker 2:I don't know what it is. It's that connection, but it's also sort of the foundation to understand, because I have stayed in the profession and in the industry, you know. So even when I go and I speak at entrepreneurial conferences and they say that you give your bio and I always start with I'm a physical therapist by trade and I happen to have now also started, and I think part of it is this importance, and especially as we think about building technology, is the subject matter expertise. That has been one of our differentiators through all of our different rounds of funding, from venture capital to private equity and so on. It's about the subject matter expertise and those companies that have it and start with it, because you truly know the problem and you can tangibly understand what the solutions will be or might be right. If you're living the problem, you're going to have so much more passion about solving it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so you've never let it go because it's an extension of what you've always been, and I would validate that for the rock stars that are listening who are struggling with stepping into leadership full-time. Not stopping treating is that it's an extension. I haven't treated a patient and gotten reimbursed in over a decade. I have evolved through different companies to what I'm doing now and I only feel like I'm doing more of the same thing Now. I don't get the cookies. I miss the cookies.
Speaker 1:I miss the treats, you know, and the awkward you know old person hugs at the end oh yeah, I gotta go, but like, but apart from that, it's, it's a beautiful realization of your purpose and our validation comes so much in living that purpose Right.
Speaker 2:And I'll just say again that that moment of light bulb was that epiphany that you and, I think, a lot of clinic owners finally get to this, that if you can put a little more time into your business, then it enables you. The business is getting better and running more efficiently and driving more revenue. Well, guess what? You can hire another therapist, you can expand your reach, you can have more patients, right, you can do all of these other things. But it just takes a little bit of time where you can't do it all. Right, you need a team.
Speaker 2:And if that's what you want to do because I'll also say, like I always celebrate, like it's not always about growth and I really celebrate a lot of the small businesses out there in lots of just different industries, because that's really what drives this country right. I mean, we're built on small business and so it's not always about aspiring to be the hundred clinic practice. I mean, if that's what you want, go for it. But there's a lot to be said about, you know, local businesses who are in their communities and helping the local residents in a certain area, that you are the go-to PT for that city. You know I'm in that town, I love that and I think that's so important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I think that's hard because growth is organic in the sense that when you are very passionate and good, it becomes a need to start learning how to hire, which is a new skill set, and then you start maxing your physical space so you either expand or open another location. That opens up a whole new door of like neat, you know, learning, opportunity and challenge. But I remember at one point we had five locations and I remember thinking, man, not just like fulfillment-wise personally, but profitability-wise, that single location was arguably the best stage of my business. So the stage of a business does not indicate impact necessarily. It's how much we live our purpose. Like you're saying I love that, well said, oh, I was just rephrasing what you said, so that's great. I're saying I love that, well said, oh, I was just rephrasing what you said, so that's great. I am so glad to hear that.
Speaker 1:Now the one thing I will say is a nice little segue here is that when you do stretch, maybe in a stage of business and you go Heidi's route and you start taking on something that becomes what it is it's got its own challenges, for sure, and rewards I what it is. It's got its own challenges for sure and rewards. I think what's cool is that, in the way that you live, your physical therapist heart is how you've leveraged the growth of YPT to then create the Rising Tide Foundation, which is something that, if you know again, like it's not better or worse, it's just different, but like, when we're small, that impact is there and when you're big, there's opportunities to do things like the rising tide foundation. So can you tell the audience about that foundation that you started in 2020?
Speaker 2:First I'll just say back to sort of your purpose, um, you know, I'm a product of two immigrant parents who part of our values growing up was always about paying it forward, right they want.
Speaker 2:They for sure were doing everything possible for me to have more opportunity than they had.
Speaker 2:And so having that innately inside of me and being inspired by that was part of the foundation of Rising Tide, which is a scholarship program specifically for students pursuing their doctorate of physical therapy as well as residents, all of which are from underrepresented backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, and so it sort of spawned out of us doing WPT, doing our state of rehab therapy industry report every year, and we always talk about the demographics and there's a lot of conversation about the lack of diversity within our profession or, for sure, not even coming close to mirroring the general population of the United States, and yet those numbers over multiple, multiple years just weren't changing.
Speaker 2:And so, as I dug into the problem, one of the biggest areas of concern was really around the cost of education. And while many ask, well, why didn't you just challenge that? Like that's such a behemoth of a, of a thing to try to attack, helping these students who the number one reason that students of color drop out was a fear of student debt, accumulation of student debt, and they don't even apply because they think it's going to be too expensive, and so sort of taking down that barrier through our scholarship program was really what we were trying to accomplish, and it's just been even more than I had ever anticipated in terms of impact and reward.
Speaker 1:Would you be okay if I share a little bit of that impact? I don't want to embarrass you, but I think it's important for people to hear. I'm going to come over here because I didn't have this memorized, but I loved how this looks. So the Rising Tide Foundation rising with a Z, by the way, I love that Since it started in 2020, has raised $1.5 million. I got chills. $1.5 million in financial support to 54 aspiring physical therapists. Financial support to 54 aspiring physical therapists, ensuring, as it says here, ensuring, that ethnicity or socioeconomic background does not hinder their pursuit or education and success. If I could just say things correctly, that would sound better, but I love how that is. Just this idea from your investigation of what's needed and wanted resulted in an idea. Investigation of what's needed and wanted resulted in an idea. So, again, taking that third step. You know you're an injured college athlete. You're set back. You see a problem. You go to work on the problem. I mean, if there's a tattoo that you should have on your back, it's. I work the problem.
Speaker 2:I'm a problem solver. Exactly, I'm a problem solver. I might be better.
Speaker 1:And then you go, you wentpt, and now the rising tide foundation yeah, and will.
Speaker 2:The, the, the through line, through. All of it is also similar in culture and um community. So you know we call our webpt customers members on purpose. We did that from the beginning because we always thought about it as a as a web community. If you're part of it, the same thing is what we're creating in Rising Tide with our scholars and all of the applicants. Actually, we have over a thousand people now in our database who we connect with on a regular basis. So we're wrapping these scholars not only with scholarship funding, but we meet with them every quarter in their fleets, as we call them, their cohorts, and we bring in speakers.
Speaker 2:I'd love to have you be a speaker at some point. You know rock stars from the industry. So anybody out there all of you rock stars we would love to potentially have you as a speaker or a mentor. We would love to potentially have you as a speaker or a mentor. You can sign up on our website if you're at all interested. It's just R-I-Z-I-N-G-tidecom. And yeah, we're really trying to allow these students to have access to folks that are inspiring and really help to allow them to see what's possible in this industry.
Speaker 1:So beautiful and it's a wonderful throwback to our podcast that we're on.
Speaker 1:The whole point of this show is to help people find power in their network, because the greatest lesson I've ever learned was that my network is my net worth, which I don't even love that phrase because it sounds like a financial thing, which it can be, but it's very much an emotional net worth.
Speaker 1:It's like finding a mentor. I've never not had a coach or a mentor in the last 15 years, because I learned that people helping people is the best way to grow and it's part of that entrepreneurial journey, right, heidi? That's right. It's learn, earn, return, right. And so all these wonderful PTs if they're listening and it calls to you at all, please, rock stars, go to the website, because it's been a surprise to me that I've realized what one of my mentors told me, which is that when I am returning and like helping somebody else, I actually learned so much more at that level for myself than I ever could have imagined than when I was being mentored. So, heidi, I think that's so cool that you have created this platform that is now connecting PT owners to help a population that would benefit greatly.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, 90% of our scholars are first-time collegegoers, and so when you talk about networking their network, is this small right? Their parents may not even be the ones that are helping them in how they get through PT school, let alone just this college path that they've decided to pursue. So it's really again wrapping them with other people, exposing them, connecting them, getting them sort of this soft landing into our profession, to where they really have a network to fall back onto, and so that's really again what the Rising Tide community is all about, and I just I couldn't be prouder of the scholars who have been through our program, those amazing students that we've met, but also just all of the volunteers who have helped us. We have a group we call our beachcombers.
Speaker 2:We kind of have this nautical theme going on with Rising Tide, but just some folks who have just been there from the beginning, helping to mentor and support me through the process of learning how to run a nonprofit and, you know, develop this whole academic side of my knowledge base, which wasn't there prior to doing this. And wow, have I learned a lot about our academic system of becoming a DPT and even the residency programs now. So there's just so much to learn, and I know part of what you and I have talked about in the past is that you never stop learning right, you never stop sort of being a sponge to new things around you and hopefully you never do right, because if you, I don't know what is it that's saying, if when you stop learning, you're dying or something like that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about and I remember it less than you do, but I remember I remember the main point was because I was actually at a conference where this guy, Peter Diamantes, he's like this healthcare guru, he's got like top-.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I saw him.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I saw him too. Oh, it was at EO. I saw you at the EO event that we yeah yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I'm just realizing that we were both at that conference and I'm referencing and I saw you briefly as we were passing and that's a totally non-PT specific network. Because, guys, heidi, you'll learn this is that as you build your network, the networks start interacting and overlapping and then the world that seems so big becomes so small and then it becomes more enjoyable because you have people to share it with. So we're at that thing. And he was talking about the drivers that cause death, and one of them was a lack of learning. You know, one of them is loneliness, but one of them was like you just stopped learning. So these ideas of learn earn return. They're not siloed. It's this evolution. So, as Heidi is, rockstar says, heidi was developing the rising tide. She had to learn about it from a mentor, ironically, because she was building something to return to people that had to return, to people who were needing her help. So it's kind of like the Lion King. It's the cycle of life and it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:The cycle of life. I love it, the cycle of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the cycle of entrepreneurship. Have you written a book yet?
Speaker 2:I have not, but you are like the third person that's asked me that this year, so I might have to put that on my bucket list.
Speaker 1:Look, I'm not telling a lot of things, but I know when someone needs to write a book and you know I'm just saying it on air lives that everyone's listening to this so that they'll bug you as well and be like, hey. So on the podcast I heard you might write a book one day and so just to build that pressure, because I think there's something beautiful there to be said, and I'm so grateful to have had you on the podcast. It's been a joy to connect with you again. I think it'd be really fun to have maybe, if it works to have someone from the Rising Tide one of the not the co Scholars.
Speaker 1:Scholars, what was you called them in the groups? What do you call them when they're in a group or pack?
Speaker 2:Oh, a fleet.
Speaker 1:A fleet. I love that, like someone from the fleet, if they can come over with you or on their own, I don't know it'd be kind of fun to just talk about the same concept from the other side so that they can. So people can hear that and understand the connection piece. Because as we I will say this as we step in different stages of business, as entrepreneurs, it does become sometimes harder to get validation in our efforts, which is why I like the cookies. I think the cookies had nothing to do with as much as I love cookies. It was. Wow, what I'm doing is impacting, and so sometimes we feel like we're alone as we go into leadership, and having that feedback loop close is important because it allows us to remember oh yeah, I am living my purpose. That does matter. It's like a kiss from heaven. This little moment of like this is going the way it's supposed to, and I think it'd be cool to have that. If you're open to that, that'd be fun.
Speaker 2:We would love that and I'll just say it is so inspiring and and it is obvious that the future is bright in PT when you, when you listen and get to know these amazing students, I think it's also important just again to you know, put our listening hats on, because a lot of these students, in understanding why they became into the profession and then, unfortunately, what they're met with, with the reality of what it means to be in this profession, right, and so having a better understanding about that, to where we can sort of hopefully meet them halfway and I know you had Tim Spooner on recently who is one of my healthcare heroes, and so I would, I would just he's I know he talked a lot about this about the difference between you know what we come out of PT school believing that we are going to do and then what actually is the reality of when we actually start practice, right, and so I guess understanding where students are coming from, what new grads are really thinking and looking for in their first job I think is going to be, could be really interesting.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because there's a big discussion with that.
Speaker 1:I was having that discussion with a guy named Steve DePaula, who you know well from physical therapy here, who loves you Like we all do.
Speaker 1:It's just one of those things where, like we were talking about how the industry is evolving and how it's it's challenging, but there's so much opportunity. I like to, like Tim said, this is the best time to get into physical therapy. We're evolving in a way. The demand is endless, our knowledge and talent is endless, in that we are the masters in this musculoskeletal $600 billion industry, and so if we could find a way, as you like to do and I'm sure you'll probably solve it for us we can then grow the industry and impact people in a way that we never thought was possible, but starting with those clinicians that we're bringing in. So, yeah, let's definitely put that on the calendar. But, heidi, I just want to officially thank you again for being on the show. You're an amazing human being, a great leader, and just love the care and heart that you put into everything you do. Thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, Will, and likewise back at you and the heart and soul that you put into it and all of your rock stars out there. So thanks for having me and please continue to drive impact, not only with what you're doing, but also throughout your big rock star group.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. If people want to get a hold of you or if they want to learn more about I think you mentioned the website, guys. I'll put that in the notes, but is there anything else that you'd like to leave as a call to action? If people wanted to learn more about WebPT or you or anything else?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any further questions, or, for sure, webptcom. We actually have a little podcast as well, and so, yes, just stay tuned. Lots of change is happening, so it's a really important time in our industry and so, yeah, just so happy to be a part of it and again paying it forward to this next generation of amazing rock stars who are going to have a lot of impact as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, All right, Heidi. Thanks so much for being on the show. A lot of impact as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, All right, Heidi thanks so much for being on the show. I appreciate you. Thank you Bye. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode. As a thank you, I have a gift. In today's show notes there's a link for you to join the Stress-Free PT newsletter. This is a comedy newsletter for anyone who works in healthcare and of course we're going to have comedy bits. We're going to have inspirational stories, leadership bits. It's going to be a weekly newsletter just to lighten your week, to help you do what you love with more passion. So click that link below and join that newsletter and we'll see you in our next episode.
