ļ»æAnd I got a job as a clinic director, was making over 50 K a year. So I was able to fast track those 10 years by just making one decision and by going up in a higher level of value and being able to oversee people instead of just being the one that was doing the work.
This is secrets for success. Welcome to the secrets for success podcast. Greg Todd here. another solo episode for you guys, I want to kind of tell you, you know, my journey of, becoming a physical therapist. And when I started physical therapy school, some of the things that were going on in my mind, I want you to understand my premise for becoming a physical therapist.
Was for a few reasons. Number one is I wanted the most stable job there was out in the marketplace. Now, I remember when I made a decision that physical therapy was going to be it. it was because I read one of those magazines that talked about like top 20 most in demand jobs for the next 20 years.
There was nursing, there was,, there was, occupational therapy, there was physical therapy, there was pharmacy. And I knew, I didn't even understand what an occupational therapist was. I knew I didn't want to be a nurse. but I was like, all right, physical therapy, that sounds really cool. pharmacy, okay, that's not a bad option either.
The one I really want to do is physical therapy, but my concern was my stuttery. My concern was that as a physical therapist, I was going to have to talk to people all the time. And that could be a huge issue for me because I stuttered so much. I was so afraid of speaking, I was afraid of public speaking.
I couldn't get out my A's, and my E's, and my O's, and sometimes my C's, and I would, like, it's so funny, today I have four kids with the letter A. It's crazy, like, you'd think before, there's no way I'd be able to actually name my kids with the A, because I'd be like, anyways, so, I still stutter today, it's not as big of an issue as what it used to be, but that was the reason why I nearly didn't choose.
Physical therapy, and I nearly chose pharmacy. So it's funny today that I actually speak for the majority of what I do in business. And that's what people knew me for as a physical therapist, is being a speaker., so, I decided that I was going to become a physical therapist. And whether I chose physical therapy or pharmacy, it was all about stability for me.
And so, I'm going through physical therapy school. And as I'm going through school, again, I had that edge because... I remember the first day when we're doing our orientation and I'm meeting all these people, most of the people had some type of background, whether they were a physical therapist assistant, they worked at a hospital for years, they were a tech, they were this, that.
For me, I did. I think I did like 25 to 30 hours. You had to do a 20 hour minimum to get into physical therapy school. I did 25 hours. I didn't know much about anything. I really didn't. Besides the work that I did for my mom and I understood, like, I've heard the word femur and humerus and patella, like, I've never had any experience with any of that.
So I had a chip on my shoulder when I got into school.. But I knew I was going to do it because I knew that whatever I put my mind to, I can make it happen just like how I got straight A's for the first time in 15 years when I went into college because I was focused and I was intent on being there.
I got straight A's as well in physical therapy school because I had a chip on my shoulder because I felt like I didn't belong. And so. That's what happened. I got through physical therapy school and I went through all of the you know, different semesters and I Did my first internship and in that internship I created a great connection with the my CI That CI ended up giving me my first job and in my first job as a physical therapist I was making thirty nine thousand five hundred a year.
I was working between two locations traveling every day 11 o'clock I would start at one location. I would work until 1. They gave me a lunch break from 1 to 2. Took me 30 minutes to get to the next location. I would have my bagged sandwich. My, my, like, you know, bagged lunch that had my, my peanut butter sandwich and, you know, like a couple little treats, some little fruit cups or whatnot.
And I would have that on my way to the other clinic. And I would work at that other clinic till 8 p. m. And I would do that Monday through Friday. And then on Saturdays, I would work from 8 a. m. to 2 p. m. And, and I was totally cool with it. I was totally cool with it. I was making 39, 500. I had a dream and, and I had a plan.
And my strategy was, I'm going to get a 4 percent increase in pay every single year. And I'm going to get that for 10 years. And by year 10, my wife and I are going to be able to move out of our apartments that we have, and we're going to have our first home. And my plan seemed to be right on track until the end of year one, when I had to, get my review and I got my review from my boss.
I had seen 3. 1 patients every single hour average for an entire year. No tech, no physical therapist assistant, no help. 3. 1 patients an hour and they gave me a 1. 5 percent increase in my pay. And now I had just cracked 40K a year. The problem is, is that I told my newlywed that I was going to make, I was going to be able to buy us a home in 10 years.
I said, the only way I'm going to be able to do this is if I get a 4 percent increase in pay and I'm going to do everything that they want me to do at my JOB in order for that to happen. And I remember telling my boss, I can't go home to my wife because I just married her and I told her this is going to happen and now I feel like I'm a liar.
And she said, well, you just have to get a different setup. And I was like, well, what am I supposed to do? She's like, well, become a clinic director because that's what pays more money. And so that's basically what I did. And I was like, can I get a clinic director here? She goes, no, because that's my job. So I ended up leaving that job a month and a half later.
And we moved up to Tampa Bay, Florida, and I got a job as a clinic director, and it gave me an increase in my pay beyond 50, 000 a year. And that's basically how it happened. And I became a clinic director for a company called Kessler Rehabilitation. My wife and I left all of our family in South Florida, and we came up here and we started a life on our own.
Now, I tell you all that because this is the Secrets for Success podcast. And I'm going to tell y'all that one of the biggest reasons for my success is because of that one decision. It was that decision to break away. It was that decision to say, we're going to create our own life. And we're going to do whatever it takes for us to be able to build an amazing life for ourselves.
When I really think about it, one of the first, you know, decisions that I had to make was I got to go here or there was, do I want to stay with all my family, my friends, and stay in the area that I grew up in? And be around all those people, or am I going to truly put my family, my new family first, which is myself and Keri.
And so I made that decision, and I left everyone. I knew nobody up here in Tampa except for, I had one friend, Chris, and we had a distant uncle of my wife's that lived, about an hour from our house. And we did it, and showed us and taught us how to rely on each other. How to take full ownership. Not rely on our parents, not rely on anybody else.
But how are we going to make that happen? And that was probably one of the biggest game changers for us. We no longer had to worry about what our parents wanted, what our aunts wanted, what our uncles wanted. It was all about us. Nobody was going to come to save us. We had to go and figure this out. And so that's what I did.
And I got a job as a clinic director. I was making over 50K a year. So I was able to fast track those 10 years by just making one decision. And by going up in a higher level of value and being able to oversee people instead of just being the one that was doing the work. And so that's what I did. And within a year and a half, Carrie and I were able to have our first home.
And we had a beautiful home. Honestly, it was like a dream home and the reason why that happened was because I was working at a higher level of value. I was now managing people and treating instead of just treating patients. So I want y'all to take that away from this. I think that's a really important thing.
Now as I was doing that,I started to realize that with me just managing people, I was now going to be capped. I was going to be capped. There is only so far I can go with just managing clients. So, the first thing I did is I made a lateral move and I left that job, Kessel Rehabilitation, and went to another company called Cora Rehabilitation.
And here's an interesting thing that happened. I got the job at Cora because of something that I did at my first job. My first job, there were four physical therapists that worked at this facility. And there was an opportunity for one of us to be able to work with tennis players. Here was the issue, the issue was that...
There was no additional pay. It was just additional hours. It was offered to the three physical therapists because they had seniority over me. And every single one of them denied the opportunity. And I took the opportunity. I took the opportunity because I was like, wow, I'm going to get experience working with athletes.
So I was like, this is going to be cool. And they were kids, 8 to 14 years old. but I took that opportunity. Would you believe That two and a half years later, because I took that opportunity, someone saw on my resume that I worked with professional tennis players. And that one opportunity that I took that didn't pay me any money at the time, ended up allowing me to work with the top professional tennis players in the world.
My first ever tennis client that I had outside of that place that I worked with in Pepper Pines was working with the number one female tennis player in the world. And it was only because of that free opportunity that I did two and a half years earlier. And so that opportunity set me up for building my confidence.
And it was like, Hey, if I'm working with the number one tennis player in the world, shouldn't I be considered one of the top physical therapists in the world? Or at least so I thought. And so,, it started to open up my mind. That maybe I could break out of working for people. Maybe I could actually go do my own thing.
And as I started to work with that company, it started to realize that there's a lot of things that I'm never going to be able to have. I'm never going to be able to have the freedom that I want. it started to just be seeded in my mind and my older brother started to seed some of that as well and say, great, there's a lot of things that you could do.
That you're not doing by working for somebody else, but I was like, ah, no, no, no, you know, I don't, you know, I'm, I'm not sure if I want to really do that, but, but I started to at least consider it. I was just considering it. I want to fast forward to about about 11 months after working with this company, a couple things.
We're happening. I was working with professional tennis players, which was awesome, I was making pretty decent money, which is good But I was working really hard and I was working probably about 60 to 70 hours a week for that company I was then working with tennis players on a side and probably doing another 10 to 15 hours a week with them and It was starting to put a huge fracture in my marriage.
My wife was frustrated that I was leaving Work at to go to work at like 6 6 30 in the morning And there were some nights when I was working with professional tennis players that I wasn't coming home till 11 o'clock to midnight. And,, it started to create a lot of tension, a lot of friction in our marriage.
She was pregnant with our second child and she kind of gave me an ultimatum. And she said, listen, I'm not going to have an absent father in my kid's life. And you're going to have to figure this out. You're going to have to figure this out or I'm going to have to make moves. And she didn't say she wanted to leave but...
It was inferred that she was not going to be there anymore. And so I went to my boss and said to my boss, I'll, I need one day off a week. Because I need to reconnect with my wife, I need to be more present. She's pregnant with my second child and I was an awesome boss, but he said, no, we can't do that. You know, we can't do that.
And I realized at that point that my time, even though I was making good money, my time with working for other people had come to an end. I realized that the only way I was ever going to get time flexibility, because I is, is by working for myself. I didn't have a job where if I was sick, I could take off the day.
It didn't work like that. I didn't have a job where if something was going on with my wife or my kids, I could take off the day. It didn't work like that. I was a physical therapist. I had a schedule of clients. I didn't have a backup physical therapist. You had to show up every single day. No matter if you're sick, it did not matter.
And if you didn't and the people canceled, well, you were going to be responsible for... Them not showing up, and if the company wasn't making money, they were going to fire you. So there was none of this option of, oh, I want to take off today for,, mental health, or I'll take off this, or I, my kid is sick.
There was, that was not an option. And so I realized that the only way I was going to ever get that option, is if I had a job that created that option for me. And the only way that was going to happen was if I had my own gig. And so when Al told me that, I realized that I had to leave. And... I realized I had to leave, but now I was making that choice to leave.
So I went home and I told my wife, he said, no. And I started thinking of the things that my brother had told me. I started thinking of my reasons of not leaving and my reasons to leave. And I realized what was on the line. And the next day I put in my notice. And that was the start of my entrepreneur journey.
And I think it's just really important for you guys to understand that in life, You're going to get options, you're going to get opportunities, and you have to decide, is it worth it? You know, is it worth it? For me, I put out 180, 000 and I put a line of credit on my house to be able to play a new game, which is a time game.
Was it worth it? Well, is 180, 000 worth it to keep your marriage? I mean, I would say so, you know, is 180, 000 worth it for you to be able to have a day off if you're actually sick and to be able to put yourself first? I'd say it's worth it. You know, is 180, 000 worth it for you to have the opportunity that if the business goes well, it could potentially make you much more than 180, 000.
Yeah, I'd say it's worth it. As long as you have 8, 000, it's worth it for you to be in a situation to where you can be free in your speech, be free in what you believe. I would say so for me it is and so that's how I got into entrepreneurship and, that's how I was able to break away from core rehabilitation and start my journey with renewal rehab.
And so I hope that helps you guys. I hope that kind of serves you and lets you know that your journey is your journey and you need to honor your journey. But there will come a point where it will get painful. It will get painful enough. That you realize that you have to make a decision and things might not be ideal.
And it might not be right. And it wasn't ideal for me to leave a job and not have insurance when your wife is four months pregnant with your second child, and you don't have the money to be able to take care of this kid. Like it's not ideal, but you know, most times it's never going to be ideal. So that's what we did.
Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. I hope you got something from it. We'll talk to you on the next one.
