The Sports Physical Therapy Podcast

Transitioning from Pro Sports to Your Own Practice with Tim Vidale - Episode 18

September 20, 2022 Mike Reinold
The Sports Physical Therapy Podcast
Transitioning from Pro Sports to Your Own Practice with Tim Vidale - Episode 18
Show Notes Transcript

Working in the pro sports model can teach you a lot about teamwork and providing an exceptional service to the athlete. That's why PT's that make the transition from working within professional sports often do well in their own private practice.

In this episode of the Sports PT Podcast, Tim Vidale shares his experience and some of the things that made him successful.

Tim is also the chair of the DEI committee of the AASPT, so we also talk about the objectives of the committee and his vision on the future of our profession.

Full show notes: https://mikereinold.com/transitioning-from-pro-sports-to-your-own-practice

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Introduction:

On this episode of the sports physical therapy podcast, I'm joined by Tim Doll. Tim is the owner and CEO of momentous sports medicine, a cash based practice in Washington, DC. In this episode, we talk about his transition out of pro sports and into his own practice. And some of the things he did to build his successful performance-based Tim is also the chair of our DEI committee of the American academy of sports, physical therapy. So I also wanted to talk to him about the committee and how he sees our profession moving forward.

Mike:

Hey Tim. Welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for taking some time out to join us today.

Tim:

Hey Mike, thanks for having me, man. I'm really happy to be doing this with you.

Mike:

I'm excited for this conversation because obviously you're somebody that, over the years I've been chatting with and I, it, it was fun to see your progression from professional sports. Right. I remember, I think we first met when you were, um, working with the twins and, uh, in major league baseball and, um, as rehab coordinator for the twins. But, um, I, I remember, I think we, you and I might even chatted at like a CSM or something like that at, uh, at the time. And I remember, you were starting to make that transition into the private practice setting and, and what that was gonna look like. And, and it's really awesome to see you grow that and to see how well. Um, you've done with Momentus in Washington, DC. Obviously you're doing a great job. So really looking forward to talking about all that stuff with you today.

Tim:

Yeah. Thank you, man. I appreciate those sentiments, you know, it's definitely been a, a journey, so that.

Mike:

And, and I that's the point, right? I mean, it's been a journey, right? So if, if, if you and I can help others with their journey, right. By learning from your journey, I think that's what this is all about. So, you know, great. That's a great way of saying it, right?

Tim:

Yeah. Wholeheartedly agree, man. I wholeheartedly agree.

Mike:

Awesome. All right. Well, so, I mean, you made the move, you opened up your own practice after you worked in pro sports. I think a lot of people, um, everybody wants to work in pro sports, right. Or a lot of people wanna work in pro sports. They say that you and I both got out and went into our own private practice settings. Right. So I don't know what

Tim:

says something right?

Mike:

uh, you know, but, but like what, what made you wanna make that switch and go it on your own? What, what started that process for.

Tim:

Well, I think the biggest thing was like getting out of pro sports first and I, and the, the re no, cause you know, like you said, everybody wants to do it. Right? So every for a lot of people, like that's the dream job, like this is what I'm working towards and here it is, I'm here. Right. But getting out of it for me was really, um, Like because of my family, you know, I had, um, you know, married with two young daughters and at the time, uh, my daughter had just turned one and then the next day after her birthday party, I left to go be with the twins. And, you know, I was just missing a lot with my kids and, you know, my marriage struggled, you know, because I was gone. So, you know, making the decision to move back home for family and, um, like be present for that was really important. And then after that, it was like, okay, now what.

Mike:

yeah, exactly. Yeah. Right. You're like, oh crap. What am I gonna do now?

Tim:

right. So, and that's when the, the idea of started my practice, uh, came about, you know, so, so that's what it was. And then for me, like the, the whole impetus was to package everything, all of my experiences together in working in a clinic, in teaching and working in pro sports, working in Olympic sports and business and tying that together. You know, giving that to the world and giving that to, you know, the high school athlete or the college athlete that wants to have elite level care or the weekend warrior that wants to have elite level care that they can come to the clinic. And they might be right next to, you know, an NFL guy or an NBA guy, but to receive the same kind of care. And I think being able to give that to the public, um, Is is paramount, is a big deal for people to be able to have that. And, you know, as our company's grown, we've been able to stick, uh, stay true to, to kind of, to that, that, uh, mantra and, and keep that going, you

Mike:

Right. I, I, I like that too. I mean, you you've been through a unique experience. You've seen how the model works with the professional sport environment. Bring that to everybody else. Right. It's it's in, and I, I think that's, that's such a good way of saying it. I think family was a big reason for me as well, obviously. I mean, well, I know it was, I mean, family was. Big reason of why you get out of that, uh, environment. Um, but you go from like a very unique and probably rewarding, clientele, right? Like in what you're actually doing clinically each and every day. Um, but you know, other than just the family thing, I, I think the other thing that I missed was autonomy and being able to use like my creativity to build. Right. And you wanna talk about being a small player in a huge, game. I mean, that's, that's kind of what we are in the pro sports model. And it's, it's hard for us creative minds, right? If you start your own business, you probably have some creative energy. It was hard for me to do that. Um, you know, what do you, did you have that same feeling too? Where you just, the struggle of man? I, I wanna do it a certain way. I wanna build something.

Tim:

Yeah. There's so many like avenues of that, that I felt. So that definitely felt that because, um, this is gonna sound crazy and I don't think I've ever said this, like in a recording, right? but at some, at some points I actually felt under employed.

Mike:

Right,

Tim:

When I was working in pro sports because it was like, I have all of this knowledge and I have all of these things that I want to do. But when you're in the system, it's like, do this, this is your role. This is your job. And don't get outside the lines too much, you know? And, and that's really hard, like you said, for people like us, that, you know, our minds are always going and we're like, all right, I wanna try this. Or I wanna do this, or I wanna create this. And that's not really the place for that, you know? Um, so, so that was D. Um, and then the other thing was like, there's I have so many other interests and you just don't have the time for it, you know, when you're, when you're in, in the system. So, um, definitely I felt that, and that was a struggle.

Mike:

Yeah. Yeah. And that makes sense. Um, well tell us more about memento sports medicine. Right? Tell us, tell us, you know, it's in Washington, DC, how many, like locations do you have? Like what, what, what's the setting? What, what do you provide, like tell us a little bit more about your, your practice. I.

Tim:

Okay. Yeah, so we started in 2019. Um, we're currently at two, um, two locations. We have one in, uh, DC proper in downtown, and then we have one downtown, but that's in Maryland. Um, so operating two clinics in two in two states, uh, cash based. Based and, you know, focus heavily on the sports, uh, the sports demographic and the active demographic. So we'll see. Our typical population is 16 to 50. Um, so we'll see your high school college athlete. We'll see guys, you know, that are. Trying to get to the next level that are, you know, getting ready to try to go to the NFL, to the NBA, whatever they come to us, they're trained with us. They'll work. They'll, they'll get treated by us. Um, then we also have like your Olympians, you have guys that are in the league, um, some of those, and then we have your, your weekend warrior, you know, and I mean, we use that term and I, and I really don't like it because I have. People that they literally train more than they work,

Mike:

Right.

Tim:

you know? Like they go to work, they go to work, to pay for their training. Right. And I, I, yeah, I have a hard time calling that person the weekend warrior because you're up at 5:00 AM working out before you go to work, you work out on your lunch break and then you do something else after

Mike:

right.

Tim:

for a triathlon or something like that. And you know, that is definitely not the definition of a weekend warrior in my eyes. Um, and we get a lot of. You know, so, um, so we, we run a gambit of the active population, but definitely like between 16 and 50 is our sweet spot. That's where, you know, the, the vast majority of our patients are

Mike:

Yeah. You know, it's funny you say that too, because I never really thought about that, but you're right. Like a weekend warrior. Like we don't use that phrase that much as well either because it's just, it's it's not accurate anymore. Right? I mean, I, you, you could argue our. Our clientele is adult athletes. Right. I, I, I wouldn't even call'em anything else. I don't even know. Adult may, may sound a little bit weird, but we're the same way a champion it's, it's people, you know, they're, they're playing their own sports and they may be doing that more of course, more than just the weekends, but, um, yeah, that act of adult even sounds like you just take a walk, right? Like this is like, you know, like, like no, an active adult, like sounds like what, you know, our grandparents did 20 years ago. I, I, I, these are athletes, right?

Tim:

Yeah. Yeah. I agree.

Mike:

and that's probably, part of your success, right? Is that you treat these people like athletes and you understand the unique needs of them being an athlete. That's different. Right. So, you know, I, I mean, to me, I think that's, that's an important part of it. You said you're a cash base. How many, how many PTs do you have.

Tim:

So we currently have three and we're we're quartering of four. Um, because, and, and I say quoting because I'm very selective with who we bring on. Um, and I think it's important to not only have the skill of a PT, but also to have the personality and kind of, and also, you know, the sales ability, um, because we are a cash base. So some of it is sales. To be comfortable in that. Um, so you, you kind of have to find the right mix of person to, to become part of the team as we continue to grow. And I think as we get bigger, some of those, uh, features tend to become less important because there other people to do it. But like, as we're growing, you know, I think everybody needs to have, have all of those.

Mike:

Right. And, and, and so, so I, that's an interesting way of phrasing it here. You talked about the ability, you know, the, the ability to, to somebody to be able to sell themselves in their services. Right. And you're right. It is cash based. So you have to, you know, you have to have that different thing. What, what type of qualities are you looking for specifically, like when, when you're hiring somebody? Uh, because, you know, I gotta admit, I mean, Three employees are built to before in a cash based model. That's awesome. Right. And like, you know, you'd be able, you've been able to scale that beyond yourself, which is challenging. Um, you know, what, what are those qualities that you are looking for for somebody that you think would do a really good job in this cash based environment?

Tim:

Yeah, the first thing is personality, you know, um, because I'm really big on culture. Um, like our clinic has gotten to a point where even the days that people don't work. They come in and they just kind of hang out, you know? And if you, you have a culture where people want to be there, even when they don't have to be, I think that's saying a lot. Um, and so personal is a big thing. Like they should, they should be able to mesh well with the team, um, and you know, kind of have more going on than just. All right. I come to work and I go home because as you start to relate to patients, you know, especially the patients that we see, you know, they're not just going to work and going home. They're, they're working out. They're part of, of communities. They're, they're part of different groups and they have stuff going on and you should be able to relate to those people. So personality and relatability is a big thing for me. Um, and then be being willing. To be part of the team, because I believe that in like really lifting up everybody that works with me and, you know, making them all leaders because I'm okay. If you come and work for my company and it's a stepping stone job for you because we've made you better and now other opportunities become available for you and the, the opportunity to be able to grow and groom somebody that way, I think is. But they have to be willing to rec receive that and be willing to, to continue to learn and to grow, even though some of that is hard. So, you know, finding that feature in a person as well, that quality in a person is, is really a big deal for us.

Mike:

Yeah, huge. Because if your culture sours right, then that's gonna have a reflection on both your, your employees as well as your clients. Right. And, and, you know, mental note to the people listening to this, right? Like notice how Tim didn't say anything about your clinical skills or your ability to assess a joint or what certifications you have. Right. like the, those, weren't the two things that he's looking for in his employees. So that. Tells you a lot about this is a service based industry, right? And you gotta understand that and, and see that together as a team, we can, we can conquer more, uh, and help serve than we can on our own. So, um, I love that. That was, that was really cool. I know momentous prides itself in being more than just physical therapy. Right. And I think that's why a lot of people look up to people like yourself that are doing this. You know, you, you know, you have a focus on more than that, you know, you have that, you know, performance based therapy that, you know, we talk about a lot, but also the training aspect of that, like what do you think makes this different? What do you think makes your model different than just a traditional orthopedic out outpatient?

Tim:

Uh, the biggest thing I think is bridging the gap, you know, and I think, you know, it's something that you do with something that people that, you know, in our realm do really well is when you go to a typical outpatient PT practice and you're an athlete, right? You injure something, you go there, they treat you and you get to a point they're like, Go out and try whatever it is that you do. Let us know how that goes when you come back. Right. and then we'll like, assess it from there, right. To me that, that doesn't make sense.

Mike:

Yeah. When you put it that way. That's yeah, that's crazy.

Tim:

that's what happens.

Mike:

yeah. Right,

Tim:

So what we do is bridge that gap, like. All of that is part of our treatment plan. So when we get you to a point of like, now we can start to do sport specific and return to sport things. We do that with you. We do that in the clinic, or we take you to the field or the quarter of the track or wherever that is, we just block the schedule appropriately. And when we go and we do that stuff, so that becomes part of your treatment. We can see in real time what's happening, where your faults or your deficits are, but just for them, then. And see how you do right then, right at that point. And if it's something that, okay, this is bigger than what we, than what we think, or you're still not ready to be out here. We know that right away. Right. So our next session, isn't back out here. Our next session is in the clinic and we, you know, adjust for that. And then, you know, maybe in a session or two, when you're ready, we go back out there. Or if you're doing well out, all of our sessions are out here now. Like we're not going back to the clinic, you know? So I think that's, that's really the biggest difference for us is that we, we get people back to whatever their sport is. Hitting the ground running. So you're not getting back out there. Like, uh, I don't know if I should jump this high. I don't know if I should cut or if I should make this play or I should do this because we already know you can do that. We've given you the confidence to do it because you, we did it with you. Um, so now when we discharge people and I use discharge loosely, cuz we don't really ever want to discharge people

Mike:

Yeah. Yeah. We, we, we don't use that word at champion nobody's D it's just, uh, we're we're gonna take a break from, uh, from, from sessions.

Tim:

Yeah, so, and, and that's the thing, right? So like what we do, we, we actually we've created an ecosystem. Um, so because we, we really want to keep people in the ecosystem. We don't necessarily want you to come see us because you're injured all the time and we haven't gotten you better. We want you to get better. But then, you know, we move you into like a membership or we move you into like our running club or we move you into something like that that keeps you in our ecosystem. So should anything else go wrong later? You're already here, right? Or you send your family to us, you send your friends or your coworkers to us because we're constantly in front of you. So from a business perspective, like that's something that we try to create as well. So I know that they're completely went off topic, but that that's just a big deal.

Mike:

but, but what you just described, right? There was an amazing resource that you're providing for those people. Right. And then you're, you're, you're, you're, it's almost like you're entering part of their family. Right? You you're their concierge, you're their you're you're that person that's helping them take care of things. And that's why people at our facilities don't go away. Right. They don't traditionally discharge. Because we're a resource for them in the future and they see us as that. Um, you know, and, and, you know, don't take that for granted. I know you don't, but, um, it like the service you're providing them, what you just explained right. There is outstanding. Right. And, and, and I think people see that. And I think, you know, when you, when you start thinking about the cash model and making the transition outside of insurance, it's. To make more money. Right. You know, you can actually argue we're leaving money on the table by not just packing people in and, and billing insurance it's to be able to provide better care, which will ultimately probably financially help you. But that, that's why you're doing that. I mean, think about what you just explained right there, how much better that is than just going to PT for three times a week for six weeks, and then going to the gym by he. Right. It just, it doesn't make sense. So, um, so, so that's awesome. You know, to me, I always, I always want to know what people think, um, was the key to their growth, right? Because I think growth is something that people get a little, um, scared of. Right? Is, are, are we gonna be able to grow? Are we gonna be able to scale this? You know, obviously I think what we just talked about was big part of it, but do you think there's anything else? Like what do you, think's been the big key for you guys successfully growing there at moment?

Tim:

some of it, I will say has been luck, um, because at times where some of my employees have like reached out and said, Hey, do you have anything for me? I didn't think I was necessarily ready to hire, but. What they were bringing to the table and what we talked about, again, going through that courting process, um, I was like, this is gonna help the company in the long run. Even if I think it might be tough in the short run, this is what we need to do. So some of that, um, so, so I, I think that's luck, um, because they, they, they came and reached out to me, uh, you know, at a time where I didn't think it was, it was ready. And the other thing is. Pure drive, man. Like I'm not going to fail. like, this is going to work, you know, because that's again. So like when I started this, like, I, I didn't have a job. I wasn't like working full time somewhere and doing this on the side or, you know, kind of doing it part-time for a while, until it picks up like this was a total burn, the ships, this is what we're doing, and this has to work. And I. You know, I've, I've tried to really maintain that, that, that mindset and that thought process all the way through this, despite many of the success that we've had, because it has to work, you know, and as, as, as necessity, you know, becomes a thing, then you, you really start to innovate and you start, it breeds ideas, you know, and then that's how we come up with a membership. We come up with a running club, but we come up with these different, you know, innovative ways, uh, to provide service for people. So I think that that was a big key.

Mike:

Yeah. And, and without that, I think that's, you know, you see a lot of businesses fail as they get started. It's it's probably because the founder doesn't doesn't have that. Right. Like, you're like, I think you said it perfectly, I love that. Like, you're not gonna let that fail. You don't have a choice. You can't fail. Right. So, so you're gonna do whatever it takes. Um, I love it. Um, you know, in the cash base environment, one thing I, uh, people often ask. How do you, how do you get new patients? How do you get new people in the doors? Like what, what kind of referrals? And I think it's just because traditionally our profession has been so tied to physicians and referrals, which, you know, is hilarious, but, you know, we can, we can talk about that for an hour, but, um, but you know, how does momentous do it? You know, what kind of, what kind of tips can you give people like, you know, other than providing an amazing service, like how do you guys grow and get new patients?

Tim:

Uh, I think being part of the community is a big deal. Like people say that all the time, but like, you really have to do it. Right. Um, for us, we market you name it, we do it. Um, but a big part of it is workshops. So we'll do one workshop a month. We'll go to different, you know, locations. So we'll go to across the gym, we'll go to a bar gym. Um, we'll go to a yoga studio. We'll go to a running club. You know, we'll go to a regular gym at jujitsu, you know, a boxing gym. What have you, and get in front of people that need our services. Like everything I just named people are getting banged up. And everything I just named people pay a membership to go to, right? So they care about exercising. They care about staying fit. They care about their bodies working. So we're getting in front of the people that need the services that we provide. And, you know, from a workshop we might have 10 people show. We might have 30 people show up, but if we get two or three evals out of. That's people coming through their door and that, and now we've been in front of them in their space. Right. Some people started coming to us. So now they're going to keep going back to their space, whatever clip they do. And when they get better. They're gonna talk about us in that space. So like now the ripple effect of that goes on for who knows how long, but we've done that. So every month we'll do one of those at a different place. Sometimes we'll host it at our own location. Um, but the goal is to get onto, into the community, to get in front of people that, that are active and people that need what we do and will find, um, value in what we do and, and, and showcase what we, what we're able, we're able to provide.

Mike:

Right. That's awesome. And, and such a great idea too, is, is finding those niche markets that you wanna work more with because you're either you're passionate about it, or, you know, you can provide an excellent service for that type of person. Why not just get in front of them and, and, and give right. Give time feedback, education, whatever it may be. Right. You're you're given to them. I think that's, that's a great start to a relationship. I love that. Um, What do you, has there been any, like drawbacks in your mind of being out of network and cash based there, there any negatives with that that you've experienced,

Tim:

Yeah, I think there's pros and cons to anything with this. You know, it's definitely a slower growth trajectory in the, in the beginning because people, society is just talked to in healthcare. We're gonna use our insurance, right. We, we want to pay our copay and we wanna. Use insurance for whatever. So like we have to essentially untrain people's minds to being open to something like this. So we're not, you know, using blue cross blue shield and Aetna and being on their, on their list and people just calling us all day, like, Hey, I need to get in. I need to get in. We don't have that. You know? So I think that's a drawback. Um, As far as being able to grow and scale, but, you know, with staying true to what we're about and who we want to serve, um, we're growing at the pace that we're supposed to grow, I think.

Mike:

Right. Yeah, it is a good way of saying it too. And you're also getting the clients that you're supposed to get, right. That you wanna get, that you can deliver the most value to, instead of just having this big open, you know, we'll take anybody approach. Right. So, you know, I, in the end, you're right. It's probably a slow growth, but it's, it's a win-win and, and I bet, you know, you've been doing, this is, you know, year three now we're almost at 10 years now at champion. We're a little bit ahead of you. The growth becomes exponential, right. It's not linear. So you'll, you'll start to see the, the snowball effect as it, as it keeps growing. It, it, it, the growth accelerates a little bit faster, so, uh, I'm sure that's, that's coming for you. So, um,

Tim:

good to know.

Mike:

Yeah. well, we'll see, let's talk in, let's talk in, in five years and make sure that was true, but

Tim:

Yeah.

Mike:

but, um, but yeah, no, I, no, I agree. Um, you know, Tim, the other big thing I wanted to talk to you about obviously is, you know, now that I'm, um, president of the American academy of sports, physical therapy, you know, you're a big.

Tim:

on that,

Mike:

Yeah, thanks. I think, but yeah. Um, yes, uh, no, I'm excited. Um, you know, it's, we've, you know, we got a lot of work to do as an academy and, and keep building it and I'm really excited about it. Um, Tim is a leader, right? He's a big part of our academy in, in doing so many things, to be honest with you, you know, you're a leader to us all, but one of the big things that you're you've been doing recently is that you're chair of our DEI C. Right. Which obviously is, is really important and something that we've been trying to build out. But tell us a little bit about this committee and maybe like what some of your goals are, what the objectives are, and, and just in general, like where, where do you see our profession in the future in relation to this stuff?

Tim:

Thanks for giving me the most loaded question all day. Uh

Mike:

I, I, I right. I IAC. Exactly. But yeah, but you know, I know you can handle it because we've, we've talked. Right. And I know you have, you have, you know, you have very achievable goals that I think, you know, we can get to together, but, uh, but anyway, yeah. Sorry, I'll let you, I'll let you go tell us a little bit more about the committee.

Tim:

Yeah. So, you know, as we all know, like, you know, during the pandemic 2020, you have the whole George Floyd incident. Um, and that really drew a lot of attention to race relations in this country. Um, and I think really it was because. Everybody was at home and everybody was in front of their TVs and everybody had to see that. Right. Um, so that changed a lot in the country. One thing. And I, and I point that out because I want to give kudos to the academy because this DEI concept started. A year prior to that. Right? So this is something that we were looking at even before the rest of the world was looking at it before it became trendy to do you know. So, um, it was something that, that, that we were looking at already. And, um, it just so happened that when the task force became a committee was, you know, months before this. Um, so right before, uh, George Floyd occurred. Um, I got asked to be the chair of, of the committee and at the time I didn't, um, I didn't really want to accept it because with DEI. So I was like, all right, who's the black guy in the room. Who's a black woman in the room. Pick them, let them do this, let them handle this. Right. And it kind of felt like that to me at first. Um, but then it was like, all right, this is an opportunity for me. To lead and make a difference. And I'm being called upon to step up and take this role, um, to be able to make that difference. And so ultimately I decided to accept it into, to move into the chair position to, to really take this around with it. Because at that time there was no infrastructure. There was no structure at all on like what this was or what we wanted it to be, or how much influence we were gonna be able to have or any of that. So, you know, it became. All right, make something, you know, build a structure. What do you want to do with this? So it, the task force, the majority of the task force became the committee, the first committee, um, in the academy. And we put our heads together on like, alright, what, what do we want? What's important. And, um, you know, a big shout out to, to Eric Merri, he was really, uh, instrumental in, in a lot of this because he did a lot of the heavy lifting as far as doing the research of white. Who's in front of us. Right. So, um, we were looking at TCC at the time and looking at CSM, like who are our presenters? Right. Uh, I think. We were down either at zero or 4% of the, the, the presenters were not white. Right. um, and I think the highest was like the year prior, we were up at 16% that were not white. Um, and that says a lot, like that's who we're putting in front of the membership. Right. And then who are leaders at the time? Zero were non-white.

Mike:

Right,

Tim:

Yeah. Um, so. Those are two visible areas that we can try to make a difference in, give more opportunities to people to present. That's that's a lower hanging fruit and then put some, um, some structure behind that because you don't wanna just throw somebody up there again, because they're black or in the inner Chinese, um, and say, all right, go present because you're different, right. When they don't have the experience or know what they're doing. So we wanted to put some, some coaching behind that, to where. We mentored people, you know, so we'd have, like, the idea was to have four people on a, on. Presentation panel. Right? And then there's one really, really seasoned person, like one mid-level career person, and then two younger people that can get coached and brought along by the more seasoned people in presenting and teaching and how to put together a presentation for 30 minutes or 40 minutes or an hour, or what have you. And. Having that as like the microsystem of like how we coach along, are you our young talent and giving people opportunity at every level? Right? So you're giving somebody that season that might have done a lot of present presenting outside of, you know, outside of the academy or, or otherwise that has the experience that just hasn't had the opportunity within the academy. Like you get a shot, all right. Then you have the mid-level person that, you know, you may or may not have experienced, but you have somebody that's, you know, done. Right there with you that can help. And then you're giving the younger people a shot and you know, a lot of the time, um, if you are, and I'm just gonna use this example, if you're young and black, like you're not getting a shot. Right. so, because nobody's even looking at you, right. So if we're giving we're, we're encouraging more people to. Put their, their ideas forward and, you know, put in to try to present, um, that they're actually gonna get a shot. Not, not because they're not white, but because you know, this is really a good idea and, you know, and on top of it, like we get to give somebody different opportunity. So that was one of the, one of the big things. One of the big pushes we wanted to do was to really, um, showcase. You know, a lot more of the, the population of the academy and give more people opportunities so that we continue to grow and continue to groom our future leaders, um, in presenting. And then as far as the actual leadership elected positions, right? What are we doing for that? And that was okay. Let's give people opportunities at leadership was lower stakes, right. You know, get involved more into SIGs, um, you know, be a vice. Right. And, you know, alright, these are your responsibilities for that. These are your responsibilities for this, and really give them opportunities to get used to leading. Is this something I even want to do? Am I good at it? Am I not good at where can I get better? And, you know, again, continue to, to, to groom that so that. Later on when it's like, okay, now I wanna run for secretary. I wanna run for treasurer, president. Um, I have experience now, especially with the academy of doing this stuff. Um, and again, you walk into any room at an PTA function. If you're black or Indian or whatever, you look around the room. And everybody's white, right? So it's like, alright, do I feel comfortable enough in my own skin to stay in this room? Or do I walk out and go to the bar across the street where I have a couple colleagues that look like me,

Mike:

Which, yeah. Which,

Tim:

which happens a lot.

Mike:

yeah, which is, which is which, which thinks that that's the situation, but you know, you, I, I like how you said at the beginning, you were kind of reluctant. At the beginning to like take that. But, you know, one thing that I always talk about, um, that I got from the book, the talent code is the concept of ignition. Right. And getting igniting somebody. Right. Um, we, you need to have somebody that you can see right. And say, I wanna do what he's doing. I wanna do that. I, I want, I wanna be him. And that's why it's so important. Like where people like yourselves, you know, step up because you've been successful at this. And even if you don't consider yourself a good leader leader, which I know you are, but even if you didn't, it's just the concept of being able to ignite that in the next generation, which is so important, right? We have, they have to everybody, no matter, no matter what needs to be able to say. I see myself having a path where I can get to these positions. And I think that's, to me, the most exciting part of what you guys are doing with that is we're helping the, me, our members, and we're helping people kind of navigate that success path and see that they have opportunities in the future. We just gotta get there. Right. You know? So, um, so that's really good. You we've had some really good events at some of our functions where hopefully, like you said, you know, you don't walk in a room and feel like this isn't a place for you because. That's you know, that stinks. It's disappointing. Nobody wants that. Right. So, um, that's awesome. So, I mean, I mean, what, what do you, what's the, what's the future for our profession? Because you know, our profession is very little minorities, just in general as a profession. Like what, what, what, how, how do we make that better? What do you, what a loaded question. Like I get like, like, like we have a direct effect, but like, but still, I mean, everybody wants to know, everybody wants to make things better for the future. Like, like what are, what, what do you think.

Tim:

Yeah. I mean, I think that. We have a great profession. And a lot of people don't know what it is, you know, even if you go and ask anybody on the street now, Hey, do you know what a physical therapist does? Uh, I think my grandma used to see one of those or you guys do massages. Right.

Mike:

Right.

Tim:

You know? And so the, you know, the common person doesn't even know what it is that we do or who we are, but if somebody gets hurt, you know, there's you think I should see a chiropractor, you know, How did they do that? Right? how

Mike:

Yeah, exactly.

Tim:

marketing job that people think back. Right. Um, and I think that's a big part of it for us. Like we need to, whether it's rebrand or like, you know, do a big push of like, this is who we are, this is what we do. And, and so society knows that is one, but because people don't know what we do, the youth don't even. This is an option of something they want to do. You know, you, you always hear the same things. Doctor, lawyer, teacher fireman, right. Um, nobody says I wanna be a physical therapist, right. So we we really need to do better at getting two people younger because by the time somebody gets to college and you know, is. You know, they're trying to figure out what they can do to graduate and doing, getting a degree. So you could go get another degree to be able to work doesn't necessarily seem like, you know, a, a successful proposition at that point in time. So we, we wanna get people in middle school and high school, you know, exposed to our profession. And get them excited about it. Like, yeah, this is something I want to do. You know, I want to work with neurological, you know, uh, problems like people have brain injuries. I think that's really cool. I want to go work with that. Or I wanna work with athletes or whatever it is like in PT, there's so much you can do with this degree within physical therapy. And, you know, we have to really showcase that to the younger people and expose them to that so that it becomes, you know, something that people choose early on that they're going to college. You know, just people go to college for pre-med you go to college for pre-physical therapy. Um, so I think that, that at that grassroots level, I think that's the, the biggest thing that's gonna make the biggest difference in the, shall I say the color of our, of our profession?

Mike:

Yeah. Well, well, I mean, I mean, it starts, I, you know, a lot of people get into physical therapy because they were an athlete that got hurt. Right. I think that, especially the sports aspect of, of PT, which is what, you know, we talk about on this podcast, but you know, a lot of athletes will get hurt. They'll get rehabilitation by sports PT. Um, so you're right. As we continue to evolve, you know, and hopefully we have more di opportunities with higher education and stuff like that. Like over the years we'll get more and more people that can say, I, I can do this. Like, I, I can be one of them. Um, I see myself in this person's shoes, uh, you know, to me, hopefully, you know, that's, that's the future. So you get, you gotta lead by example and people like you have to be thrusted into these positions, whether you like it or not. So.

Tim:

Yeah.

Mike:

Right. Because, I mean, because I mean, you, you have to show people that like, look, you know, we, we got this right. And then, and then we continue to build. So, um, yeah, if you're a member of the academy and you, you know, you need help with this, Tim and the DEI committee is doing a great job of trying to gather this community of people. Be, you know, feeling like they belong. So, um, if, if you ever walked into a room and felt like this isn't the place for you, then we we're working on making that better. So Tim's gonna, you know, do that, get involved with the DEI committee, participate in some of their networking events that they do. And, and hopefully you see that, you know, the future is gonna be bright for us. I think that's, you know, that's that optimism down the road. But, um, but yeah, but awesome stuff, Tim, this, this is amazing. I feel like we could talk about this for another hour or so, but I, I really appreciate it. Um, you coming on and, and taking your time out, you know, as a business owner, you know, a leader in our, our profession, you know, taking time out to do a podcast like this really means a lot. So thank you so much for your efforts

Tim:

I appreciate this, man. I, I always enjoy these conversations and, you know, to be able to sit and talk to you for this time is, is pretty cool for me too, you know? So I, I definitely appreciate the invite and the, you know, the opportunity to be on here.