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
Creating a Culture of Expansion and Innovation with Avani Shah
Creating a Culture of Expansion and Innovation with Avani Shah
In this episode, Avani Shah, CEO of Therapy Smarts, shares her journey of expanding her rehabilitation practice with the opening of a second multidisciplinary therapy clinic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Avani provides valuable insights on setting growth goals, aligning expansion with core values, and the meticulous planning required to ensure success.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn how to recognize when it’s time to expand and align growth with your values.
- Discover the power of involving your team in the expansion process for a seamless transition.
- Build a culture that prioritizes listening, learning, and meeting the holistic needs of clients and staff.
- Gain insights into balancing profitability with impactful services that foster long-term success.
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rock stars. Today we're talking about expansion. We're talking about growth, the pitfalls, specifically, of opening multiple locations, which is huge because even if you haven't opened your first, this is a huge discussion to learn early on from our expert guest, avni Shah. Avni Shah is the CEO of Therapy Smarts. It's a multidisciplinary therapy clinic based in North Carolina. They just opened their second location and so she's a speech therapist my first on the show which I'm super excited about because you'll get a slightly different angle of private practice in a way that will serve us.
Speaker 1:And so Avni is growing, and she doesn't just do PTO, tslp for her pediatric company. She also provides ABA services and psychological evaluations, mental health. It's a full gamut. She talks about which groups that she's used to help her grow, but the main focus of this discussion is how to grow. What is the benefit and value of knowing when, how and where to grow? So guys sit back and enjoy the show. Where to grow? So guys sit back and enjoy the show. So, avni, I am so excited to talk to you today. You obviously are a successful private practice owner in the rehab space. You have a multi-discipline practice that we'll get into unpacking here in a minute, but you just recently expanded to your second location.
Speaker 2:Yes, we just opened our second location in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We opened our doors. We got the space on November 1st and we opened our doors November 18th.
Speaker 1:Congratulations. That is such a big moment. It's like going from one kid to two kids.
Speaker 2:It definitely is A little more challenging than that. Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1:People who've never owned a business don't know that, but it's very comparable to children and I think that you opening your second location is like when you have like. In our case, we have four boys. We had our second boys when we got outnumbered or equally numbered and it became intense. So how's that journey been for you as you've expanded?
Speaker 2:It's actually been very exciting. Yes, you know we've had moments of fear where you know we were worried can we do this? Should we do this now or not? But I mean, we had outgrown the space where we are currently and we know that we need more space so that we can help more children in our community. And this space, the new space that we have, is bigger than our current space and we're super excited to help more children in a newer area and are loving our space. We're about 75% of the space is ready to go and we've already started seeing children there. 25% is a gym space and that's still under construction.
Speaker 1:You brought up a lot. I'm so excited that you mentioned that. You hit upon a number of really important topics. As our listeners are thinking about expansion, I think it'd be really useful to kind of unpack a little bit of that journey so that people who have recently expanded or are planning to expand can learn from what you just did. First of all, what was the criteria for you to decide it was time to expand? How did you know it was time to open and expand to a second location?
Speaker 2:Okay, good question One is we had set our goals for 2024 that you know we are going to hit so many. You know we had set goals in terms of the number of children helped we will need and, with those goals set in mind, we knew that the space that we have is currently not big enough. We had started to meet our goals with the number of children that we had planned to help and the number of staff that we had wanted to hire. Space was the only thing that we didn't have and in August, this space fell in our. We had been looking for a space to expand, just the right kind of the building. Right, because we were looking for a space that is a standalone building that we can do modifications, a standalone building that we can do modifications we can build gym as well as it has some outdoor space for children to go out and enjoy the nature too. So you know it was hard to find the right space and this space just fell in our lap at the right time and we're very excited to be there.
Speaker 1:That is exciting. You know, rockstars Avni said a couple things that are very powerful. The first is that growth was a decision of aligning with her values. Oftentimes, I think as entrepreneurs, avni, we get kind of scarcity mindset about growth because it's like if we're not growing we're dying, and maybe we even have a vision of wanting to impact the world and we get over our skis a little bit of growth. But your first thing was like you had a set number of what your goals would be in order to impact the community. The number of children helped is how you set it. So I think that's beautiful, that the first thing you guys did was set a plan in place before you knew expansion even looked like to help more people. And then the second thing I noticed that you said was that you guys were pretty capped out on your space already. You didn't go expand a second location until that first location was fairly full. Do you know how busy or how full was your first location before you decided it was time to open a second?
Speaker 2:So all our therapy rooms were used at all times. In regards to the admin staff, we were two, three people in one room working together and we were always fighting for a quiet time so that HR can get on an interview or I have to, you know, make a call. So it came to the point where, you know, one of us had to work from home on scheduled days so that we can finish our calls. Us had to work from home on scheduled days so that we can finish our calls. But you know, just to just what I said earlier, like it's important to like, you know, we set the goal with the with, with the thought of making a difference. So anybody like who's starting to get into doing the business, you know the important thing is don't start it with the thought of, like, just making money. You know, do it with the thought of making a difference and then, you know, everything else will fall in place.
Speaker 1:I think that's such a powerful comment, avni, because so many times again we can do the right thing from the wrong heart. Set Like a scarcity mindset would be. I have to be bigger to be validated as a leader, and so I now have to go, I make you know, I sign the lease, and then I have to go find people, and that's how people fail. But in our case, when we talk about wanting to increase our impact first, as you've done, then it becomes a lot more of a passion project. I can feel your excitement over this new location and what it means for your vision. If I can ask, what is your vision for your company?
Speaker 2:Our mission statement is turning challenges into triumphs for all children, and so, with that, our vision is to be the company of choice for all children that we can help with. And, as an employer, our vision is to be the company of choice for all children that we can help with, and, as an employer, our vision is to be the company of choice where they want to work.
Speaker 1:Yes. So how did you bring this news to your team? How did you roll this idea out to your existing team? Because I got a sense that it was time to expand, because everyone can feel it. You guys were cramped, all the rooms were taken, the admin team was fighting. So when you decided to open this location, how did you let your team know about that in a way that didn't overwhelm them?
Speaker 2:They were saying, hey, it's time to expand, it's time that we get new space, we need more offices.
Speaker 2:So we said yes, we have. This is our goal for this year, that we are going to add an additional location. So that's step one. Like preparing them way in advance even so, like letting them know your thoughts right, like it's. I also believe in a lot of manifestation. So, like I'm manifesting, I'm telling you that this is going to happen in future. I don't know the exact time and date, but this is going to happen in future. So we told them that.
Speaker 2:And then, as we started looking for office spaces, like, we started taking their feedback on you know what would what is an ideal location, like you know what would you look for. So they all had their. You know, the excitement was building because they all had a say in it. And then, finally, when we got this space, like the leaders, the executive team has, even before we put in the offer on any of the spaces, they came and saw the space and either loved it or said, nope, this is not the space for us. And after that, as a team, they work together to design the gym. Like the gym is beautiful. Once it's done and ready, it'll be very impressive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's brilliant how you handled that, because oftentimes I've coached owners in the private practice setting that just tell people they're doing it as it's like being opened. So I've seen owners like tell people just a few months in advance after the lease is signed. But what you did that I think is so great and rock stars pay attention is that any major change in our company, as much as we can, has to be pertained to or connected to a vision. And so when you created that vision as the visionary of your company, you announced it to your team early and you're like guys, I want to go up into practice. I don't know when or how, but this is what we're doing. And everyone's like cool, because then they can think about it from a place if it doesn't really hurt them.
Speaker 1:I've done this before where I've made big changes in my company and I tell them, hey, guys, we're rolling this out next month and I need your support. And they're like what the crap? Versus? Like, hey, one day I want to create this, or this year I want to do these things, and here's why. And people go. That makes sense because they can be open to it when they're not like super burned out, already thinking there's more work for them to do, because I'm guessing this new clinic probably created additional work for different people at different times. But when they knew it was coming and they knew why and they even got a chance to help create some of it right Like then it becomes this team effort thing. So I just think that's brilliant how you were able to help get them bought in early by sharing the vision before anything else started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they own it, they're excited about it. We also have therapist parents that show up at the new clinic to say, oh, my daughter helped design this space.
Speaker 1:Wait, say that again. So your people, some of your patients even helped.
Speaker 2:No, not patients like therapist moms right.
Speaker 1:Oh, family of employees Got it.
Speaker 2:Family of employees will show up at the clinic and say I heard so-and-so told me that she helped design the space, and so they're very proud of like. I heard so-and-so told me that she helped design the space and so they're very proud of like. You know that it's their vision that's coming true right, like they are putting in all this work that you are acknowledging, validating and that you really value their feedback.
Speaker 1:Yes, and you're involving the whole family, which is this really cool cultural component of how you've leveraged your company culture to grow and get their buy-in early. I think that's phenomenal. I'm sure people, as they're listening to this, are like I want to go work for Avni. That's such a cool way of, because either we're growing or dying, and if we do it right, it becomes fun and engaging and provides growth opportunities for our other team members as well. So let me ask you this, avni what are some of the challenges that you're currently facing as you're expanding?
Speaker 2:What are the current challenges that we're facing? Hiring is one of them.
Speaker 1:Hiring.
Speaker 2:Yes, Everyone.
Speaker 1:I think in the private practice space is going amen.
Speaker 2:Exactly Hiring. It is so hard to find. You know, of course there's a lot of shortage. There's a lot of need out there, a lot of job opportunities available and the number of people that are graduating is less Since COVID that has reduced. A lot of the people have retired. So hiring is our biggest challenge and hiring the person that aligns with our values and our mission is even more challenging. Again, you know, as an entrepreneur I have learned this the hard way. You know it is hard to find people and so when you have somebody applying, you want to almost hire everybody that has the degree. Amen, oh, she has the degree, she'll be, she can do it. You know we can train her teacher, but I've learned it the hard way that you know that's not the way to do it. You know, hire slow, fire fast if it does not work for your team.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think you obviously have lots of experience in this. I can always tell when I'm talking to a successful, seasoned leader, because that's the biggest lesson I think we learn. Avni is the people. At first we don't know how to screen or get a feel for people. But even in those stages I look back. I kind of knew the nightmare people before I hired them. I kind of could sense and I pushed past that just because I doubted what I my instinct. I mean, who was I to know? How have you dealt with that?
Speaker 2:Well, it's not only that. It's like you know we want to help these families. And then so, even though your instinct is saying that, no, this might not be the right fit, you're like we'll just make it work. You know it will all be fine. You know you just want to do it right. Like you feel like, okay, it's all going to be all right till they come on. And then all the reality comes out. So, yes, I agree, it is. You know it's important to spend to have the children wait on the wait list versus hiring and having to go through transitions. Often You're going to lose those children and those families if you constantly have a revolving door of therapist.
Speaker 1:Man, it's such a balancing act, like you said. I think when we make the mistake of hiring the wrong fit, it's not because we're bad owners. We want to make it work for our clients, we want to help more people and, to be honest, we're probably a little bit burned out, like we don't want to do more work ourselves because we've already done more than most. So we make that mistake of bringing people on and so it's a. It's a, like you said. If we do that, we open that revolving door and you know people just come and go and I get a sense, avni, that your, your team culture is phenomenal. I already know this based on some of the things that you're mentioning, as I've worked, if I interview all these people. So in your case, do you use your team at all in the recruiting process to help you vet your people? Or how does your existing amazing company help you when you're recruiting? How do you use them?
Speaker 2:First is when we're ready to hire our HR, we'll send out emails to the current staff saying, hey, we have these so-and-so open positions, so if they have any friends or family members in the field that are looking, they would refer them. Second would be when we have a process of interviewing where the HR talks to them, then we bring them on site and the lead will meet with them and then they do a working interview where they've been given the goals of the child and then they jump in to see how they're working with that child right, and so it's like three to four people meet with them before they even finally meet with me.
Speaker 1:See and I knew you had something baked in the way you said that and I think that what's powerful about that, rockstars, is that if we can do multiple layers of interviews, we get two chances. Number one we get different eyes on the people to see if all the existing trusted team members are seeing this person as a fit. But then, secondly, what's really cool is that, from a recruiting perspective, a lot of these therapists they've got like 30 different jobs, so they're getting mostly that ma and pa one interview. Do you want to join Versus? Like those layers that you create, multiple team members can tell the same story, which creates conversion for people. They go wow, what a wonderful culture. I want to be a part of this, and so, yeah, I think that's powerful. You know, one of the things I know about your culture as well is that it's very diverse. You have a diverse culture. Would you mind speaking a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yes, we have a diverse group of people that work in our team. We also we are located in the Raleigh-Durham Triangle. The triad is very famous for having a diverse group of families living here, so our team definitely is able to work with families with varied cultural backgrounds and it definitely brings, like perspective, you know, wealth of ideas, insights and solutions that enrich the therapeutic experience for every family we serve.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so your community is diverse, so your team is diverse and that helps you create solutions. Can you give an example or an experience where maybe the diverse team helped you create a solution?
Speaker 2:Sure. So, for example, like a lot of you know it just as a diverse team, like if I had and I'm working with an Indian family and I've never worked with an Indian family before I don't know what to expect. What is normal in their life For many children, just because of the complexity of the Indian food, families feed their kids up till a certain age, right, and so as an outsider, I may think, oh she, you know, this parent still feeds their child, but it's as a if I knew that that it is normal and they are doing it because they you know a lot of the families. One are vegetarian. Two, the food is complex.
Speaker 2:You know, you have the roti, you have the dal, you have the sabji, you have three, the roti, you have the dal, you have the sabji. You have three, four things that you have to mix together to make sure that, one, they're getting their veggies in. Two, they're getting their protein in. Uh, so you know it just gives the more you know, the more you know about other cultures. It gives you that acceptance and then that way you are, you know you form a good relationship with the family. They know that you're understanding them and then that way you are. You know you form a good relationship with the family. They know that you're understanding them, and then they are able to listen to your suggestions better.
Speaker 1:Yes, that makes a lot of sense and it's interesting because you know you might some of our listeners might be in a small rural town where there's not a lot of diversity per se in their minds of their patient clientele, but I think it's really powerful. What you just said around how we could leverage diversity within our own team to create a greater knowledge base of how to help. I love that, and it's one thing I really get about your company too, avni, is that you guys are really big on going a mile deep with people. So, like this diversity team, this diverse team that you have helping this diverse population helps you understand what's needed and wanted. But above and beyond that, you have a different model. Like you obviously have PT, ot and SLP for PEDS, but you have a lot of other services too. Could you share a little bit about those other services that help your company, help people, like all the way down in those patients core?
Speaker 2:Yes, we are a multidisciplinary team. We do speech PTOT, as you said. In addition to that, we also offer ABA services. This is for children on the autism spectrum. The children are in the building anywhere between seven to eight hours a week, so they're getting intensive.
Speaker 1:Whoa.
Speaker 2:We also provide mental health service, mental health therapy, as well as do psychological evaluations for autism, adhd and other needs.
Speaker 1:Unreal. So you know, obviously I've seen the link a little bit in the past between mental health and outpatient rehab needs, but you've really put it all together into this one formula. I can only imagine what that's like for your families. Do you find that it's? I mean, are these mostly for the children, or are you helping the parents too in this process? Like, what does that look like from a parental support? I'm not in the PEDS world, so what does that look like?
Speaker 2:And so this whole ABA and mental health was started with parents' requests. We've been in practice now for eight years. A year ago, with the trust that the families have placed in us, they kept coming to me and asking when are you going to start ABA? They were hustling their children from school to another service, to another service, from one you know in different locations, and they kept coming and saying, hey, when will you add ABA? And so there are standalone ABA providers that are just ABA and we have.
Speaker 2:We used to go to ABA buildings to provide services speech and OT.
Speaker 2:However, the collaboration never happened between the speech and the OT Like we did what we wanted, we thought was appropriate, they did what they thought was appropriate and you know, everybody was in all in different directions versus working on one thing for the child, right.
Speaker 2:And so then, after a lot of thought, we decided yes, we're going to start ABA and we love it. It's like magic for our kids. A speech therapist will introduce something and with the intensity of the services that the children get in the building, the ABA providers are able to carry that on throughout the day and within a span of a week to two weeks, the child has mastered that skill and you know we can now introduce something else. So it's like it's magical how much difference the children are making in a short time, because as a speech therapist and an occupational therapist, you only see the child one time, one to two times a week for 30 minutes to an hour. So with this intensity in the building itself and the collaboration that you know the team does, it's amazing. I mean, we've only been open, we've been doing ABA for almost a year year and we already have two graduates. So it's very exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know guys, rock stars, as you're listening, I hope you're getting inspired around what Avni and her team are doing to help impact their ideal client. I think one of the biggest mistakes we make when we're doing business is and I want to hear what you think some of the mistakes that maybe you've made you could share, avni, but what I was thinking in my case is, as an entrepreneur, I think we oftentimes get really excited about lots of options to do things, to grow Like I could open five locations, I could also do specialization in mental health, all these things. But what I have learned, and what you've done so beautifully and I want the rock stars to pay attention to, is this idea that your focus was creating maximum value for your ideal client. Sure, so instead of it being about what we can do to make money, it's how we could maximize the experience that patient has on reaching outcomes. My favorite book of all time is a book called the Speed of Trust by Stephen Coveney, and it's like the idea that when we can produce results for people, it's the quickest way to build trust and that's where growth comes from a company, which is what you've done.
Speaker 1:You looked at your ideal avatar, your pediatric patient. You create a mission statement around that individual. You build your services. You listen to your patients. The parents were saying, hey, we need help in these areas and you invested your time and resources to grow with their needs in mind. And now you've expanded to where you can't handle any more patients and so you've opened a second. Then you've opened a second location. I think we oftentimes get the cart before the horse on that. Until we've dialed in our offering, it's still in work, always in work. But until we get that offering dialed in, we can't really go expand to multiple locations. But now you can confidently, and obviously you've done that very well. So what are? If you were going to give advice to someone who's you know getting started in this journey or looking to expand, what's some advice that you'd give them, or even some mistakes you would tell them to avoid?
Speaker 2:Sure, you know, as I was saying earlier, as a startup, you always have to stay close to the core issues. Founders must focus on the critical needs and problems of their customers. You may have the best of the ideas, but if your customers don't want it, it's useless, right? So make sure that whatever service or product your customers that you are providing is solving the problem for your customers. So that's one of the things that I would highly, highly recommend. The other ideas would be to just, you know, get out of your.
Speaker 2:It's not easy. You know, when I started I'm a speech therapist when I hired my occupational therapist, it was not easy to decide who to hire, right, like so just getting out of your. Anything that you do new is to get out of your comfort zone. And only then, only when you get out of your comfort zone and go in your growth zone, that's when you are really going to be able to really grow. If you are always fearing things and, you know, worried about things then it's going to be hard to just take on the next step. So just take the leap of faith and trust the unknown.
Speaker 1:Ah, I think that's. I think that's very sound advice after people have really set their heart on doing what's best for that ideal client, like you said, being really clear on that.
Speaker 2:I think Will you had also asked me how does that help parents? So, like, one of the things our mental health therapist specializes in is called PCIT Parent-Child Interaction Training. So she basically trains the parents on working with their children and the children's behavior. So she sits outside the room, watches them through the camera and trains the parent over the phone saying, hey, now this has happened, this is how you do it Really. Parent are a big part of our success because they are learning these techniques to transition them every day at home.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's great, wonderful. I just love where you're going with this. Where are you going, avni? Do you have a dream of 10 locations or are you just doing it one thing at a time?
Speaker 2:No, we do have a dream.
Speaker 1:What's the dream? What is the? We do have a dream. What's the dream?
Speaker 2:What is the? Or? I have a dream moment for Avni. Okay. So our goal is one location each year. So again in 2025, august, september timeframe we will be doing this all over again. Wow, you know, every time we add a new location, you know there are so many ideas, there are so many things out there that we can and ways that we can help families right. So one of the other things that we had started to offer earlier this year was aquatic therapy, where we had partnered with a local swimming aquatic center to offer that services, where our therapist went in and provided the services. So there's so many I mean. So our goal is one center, one clinic every year in a new location where we can now help another service area in the community, and then also looking at the need of what is needed. So again, adding other disciplines and or services to help the community better.
Speaker 1:I love the vision like a location a year. That's a very challenging but doable goal, because you're not saying five clinics next year and you're going one per year, giving yourself space to learn and grow. You said something about listening to what your clients want. How does that look for you? What do you guys do to gather feedback from your customers?
Speaker 2:We have Eliza on our team who does surveys very frequently, so we are frequently asking parents how else can we help them? And we're also doing a lot of research on other things that can be beneficial for the child. For example, as I started to talk about aquatic therapy and then I stopped, for certain children they do much better in water. Water is just a tool, but at the same time they do much better in water and we had a wait list of children that wanted aquatic therapy. So that's our next thought that, hey, you know, in our next clinic maybe we'll have a pool where we can offer aquatic therapy on site. So we're always looking to do better and improve on the offerings that can help children.
Speaker 1:So, rockstars, the thing that she said so many powerful things in this episode, the thing that Avni said that I want you to listen to is that she is building her company around what people are telling her to do, like the people who are paying the company, the people who are being clients. They're telling her what they want and she's listening. So instead of going after every possible solution, oftentimes I go to these conferences where there's vendors and they're like you should try this new red light system and you should try this and that. And it's all very exciting, because they'll tell you stories about clients who are making all this extra money and all they have to do is spend 20 grand. And you know everything that we do for our company is going to take a time investment and it's going to be a risk Like. But in your case, you're not so much sold on just the flashiness of growth as much as you're looking at it from a place of what do they want?
Speaker 1:And listen to what she said. She guys, rockstar, she talked about asking her clients frequently what else can we do to help you? So, obviously, not all the clients are going to know. Sometimes people don't even know what they need, right, but you are at least listening to the things that they said that they do need and then watch what she's doing. Guys, she's listening and watching as she grows. When they put in aquatics there was a wait list, oh, they like this. It was a pilot program for future growth. So I'm sure Avni, your clinic, your company, when it has 10 clinics, is going to look very different than what it does now because you're constantly evolving, but it will feel similar because you're doing it in the same way, which is really powerful. So, yeah, that's really exciting. What else do you see in terms of growth? You know you're listening to your clients, your your, those types of items. Do you have any other ideas for different programs and things you want to implement?
Speaker 2:Yes, and so another thing is the hippotherapy is something of consideration. We do have a lot of therapists. We do offer a lot of programs. So, in addition to the speech, ptot like our therapists are trained in doing the feeding therapy oh wow augmentative evaluations and placement of devices so various things we're already currently offering. However, we do have a lot of children with cerebral palsy and other motor delays coming to the clinic, so I've considered this Again. This is a goal for future. If parents wanted to even offer hypotherapy, so sky's the limit in the therapy world, right? Like you know, there are so many options out there. You just have to weigh what works best for the population that you're serving and you know what else can you do to accelerate that progress.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and what's cool about that, too, is that, I'm guessing, because you grow in this way, your team is on board, because you care about them so much and you involve them, even to their mothers and their fathers, it's like this is a real family company, but I'm guessing this is why you have such a magnetic culture as well. I'm wondering with all this growth that you're doing, have you found that it creates job opportunities for development within your own team? Is this something that you're you're able to use to help people grow in leadership or in other specializations?
Speaker 2:it does. It definitely does. I mean, I myself had to go out and learn all these things. You know, I'm a therapist at heart. I didn't know how to run a business. I did go out and seek advice on how to do this. You know, now we have an organization board. We have an org board and we have hierarchies in there where every five team members under a clinical mentor, and then certain number of clinical mentors under a lead, slp, and then so every under a lead, and so every role comes with the opportunity to grow and be able to teach the skills to your mentees.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. A recent LinkedIn study came out that showed that 88% of the people who quit their jobs in 2024 quit because they didn't see a future in the company for themselves. So a growing company like yours that's looking at creating additional training, certifications, leadership developments with an org board I think that's one of the keys to retention that I've seen in successful companies like yours that I just want to highlight for the people listening, because growing centric to our clients' needs but then using that growth as opportunities to help our team grow, is the magic formula. All we need is just more people Like that's a totally separate thing here. You can use it, of course, to recruit, but obviously, like in your case, that's going to be something I'm guessing you're going to be bumping up against as you continue to open locations is getting the right people involved to do that.
Speaker 2:Agree. And you know putting those layers in helps you right Like. It takes away the toll of you needing to answer every question coming your way. Right it, you know it shows them that we're a team, that we're all speaking the same language. It helps manage more efficiently. So don't be afraid to promote somebody, give them more leadership skills. You know we are often as leaders, we think we do we. Nobody else can do something better than us. So well, we have to give an opportunity to everybody. Everybody has different strengths and just give them. Give them a chance to lead and they will do well.
Speaker 1:I love that. So let's talk about some resources that maybe you could recommend. Is there any coaching groups or books that you like anything at all that you could recommend to people that have helped you get to where you are?
Speaker 2:Sure. So coaching groups wise, I you know if you are a speech therapist there are. Again, a lot of my coaching or learning has come through networking. I ask other successful business owners what they are doing and you know, just like me, they're always happy to share what mistakes that they've made, what not to do and you know what how can you improve Right. So, so like meeting other people, like-minded people. They'll give you a lot of energy. You know it'll give you a vision. Oh wow, she's doing. She's doing this. You know so well. You know I can do it too. So that's one of the things.
Speaker 2:So forming that, finding those right people, reaching out to successful business owners that you idealize to be your mentors, would be one of the things that I would say as a speech therapist. I'm a part of a private practice organization called American Association of Speech-Language Pathologist it's called ASPA. I would highly recommend people to join that group. We often have roundtable once a quarter where we go through issues that we as business owners always face, and people are, you know other business owners are talking about how they've handled it. The other group that I really learned a lot from is Survival Strategies.
Speaker 1:Ah yes, I know them well.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Craig Fiera wonderful human being. I was just talking to somebody earlier today about that guy. He's the real deal.
Speaker 2:He is, I love him and I have to. And again, those are they are my consultants. I've done a few programs through them and I will say that I have, in the last one year of working with Survival Strategies, I've seen tremendous success. We've grown 40%.
Speaker 1:What Unbelievable. Well, and I think it's a combination of that technology and training combined with the beautiful foundation that you built. You're probably an ideal customer for them, just like your customers are ideal for you, because you had all those pieces. But I know Survival Strategies. I didn't work with them personally, but I worked with a similar company called Measurable Solutions when I was a PT practice owner and it was just phenomenal. Measurable Solutions still exists, but Survival Strategies is so owner and it was just phenomenal. Measurable solutions still exist, but survival strategies is so great and they're really heavy in the PEDS space right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, they are. They are heavy in the PEDS space and, again, you know the networking that you get out of all of this right. So they have trained and consulted so many of us private practice owners and it has helped us tremendously. You know, as an owner, you're always doubting yourself Is this the right decision? And once you have learned how to do things, it's like now you can just duplicate. You know, and they've taught us how to do it.
Speaker 1:so my gosh Any books that you've read that you recommend.
Speaker 2:You know, of course, my gosh, any books that you've read that you recommend. You know, of course, by Survival Strategies, a Private Practice Success Outside of the SLPPT. We do a lot of investments. So what is? I forget his name.
Speaker 1:You know I go through this anomic aphasia. I like the medical, I like that, you just so when I tell people I'm getting older and I can't remember. But what you said was anomic aphasia. I'm going to remember that every time I tell people I can't remember something.
Speaker 2:It's like just yet, I'm thinking of the name. It won't come out, but I can send you a list of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll put it in my show notes of investment support that you get. Exactly, avni, it's been so great having you on the show. I think you're phenomenal. I'd love to stay in touch and maybe have you back, if you're open to it, to help kind of just update people on your growth, and I'm sure there's a lot of people out there wanting to learn from you, whether it's a provider looking for a job or another business owner or future business owner who wants to network with you. How can they get a hold of you?
Speaker 2:They can definitely send me an email, avni Shah at TherapySmartsnet, and or call our office at 919-378-1340. We would love to connect and help.
Speaker 1:That is so great. Well, guys, you heard it here easily Avni is easily the single greatest SLP entrepreneur I've ever had on the show and yes, she's the first, but I will tell you that she is great regardless, and I am so pleased to have been able to spend a minute with you visiting today. So, avni, thank you again for being on the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1: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.
