Greg :
When is it that you choose you? When is it that you're going to choose yourself? And we're constantly choosing our patients. And by choosing our patients, we're not choosing ourself. And it's actually making us not choose our future patients. This is secrets for success. Be live. Welcome to the secret sports Success podcast. I'm your host, Greg Tod. Today I have one of the most amazing people that I've met in 2023.
Greg :
Actually, I'd have to say, you know what, I'm going to say this again, the most amazing person that I've met in 2023. Your story is beyond inspirational. I felt an instant connection when I heard you share your story in March. And I'm honored when I tell you, I'm honored. I'm honored that you're on this podcast. Megan Stinson, thank you for being here.
Megan:
Thank you so much.
Greg :
So why don't you tell the people a little bit about who you are, your journey into traditional practice ownership, and then what happened to lead you to what you're doing now?
Megan:
Sure. So I'm Dr. Megan Stinson. I am a wife and a mother and a Christian. And when I was going through PT school and saw the typical model for insurance based care, I knew that I didn't necessarily want to work for somebody else because I still wanted to be able to treat the clients and the patients the way that I thought they needed to be treated. So I knew before the end of my PT school journey that I wanted to own a practice. I did work for an incredible company when I graduated and a wonderful mentor who I still speak with to this day. But I still knew that I wanted to move back home and I wanted to open something that was faith based, that I could serve my community that I came from because it's an underserved population and in the midst of that, bring glory to God through all of it.
Megan:
And so I moved back home and actually purchased a practice that my mother and two of her partners had opened because they were trying to get out of that practice. So bought that practice and honestly failed more times than I succeeded in so many different ways. And honestly, it came to kind of a breaking point because my kids lived below poverty level for like two years and I wasn't taking home any income. And my husband looked at me one day and he was like, I don't know what you're going to do or what we're going to do, but something has to change. And he said, I don't know what, but something's got to be different. And I said, okay. And so I prayed about it and God tugged on my heart and said, you're going to expand. And I was like, I can't even pay my bills now.
Megan:
I'm definitely not paying myself now I don't know what you're doing. So what happened is we'd made the decision we were either going to close or we were going to expand. And my husband was in favor of closing. And I knew that's not where God was leading me or leading our family. And he loves me enough to trust me. And so we went from an 800 square foot building into a 3000 square foot space. When we did that, our client numbers shot through the roof and I had to hire more staff and everything seemed to be going in the right direction. I still didn't really know how to run a practice.
Megan:
I definitely didn't know how to run a profitable one. And the solution that I had, because of low insurance reimbursements and high overhead, again, just because I didn't run it well, was to pack as many clients in the door as I could, to stay as many hours as I possibly could, and to never let one visit go, basically. So I found myself getting up at five in the morning to get things ready. I took the kids to either the babysitter or school. I got to my practice sometimes honestly, by six. And they stayed with me for an hour. And then I took them where they needed to go and then went back to work. Somebody else picked them up and brought them home.
Megan:
And I stayed until 10 11 midnight to try to get things done and to try to get people seen. So I was pretty much essentially working between 75 to 80 hours a week on a consistent basis. And I would get home, I would sleep a couple of hours and I would get up and do it all over again. And I did that for about eight years.
Greg :
Eight years.
Megan:
Eight years. And what I didn't realize at the time is that I was pushing my body and my staff so hard that I was literally killing myself and I didn't know it. Both of my kids were special needs and have grown into beautiful, wonderful kids at this point and doing so much better. And I give glory to God for that. But I was burning the candle at not both ends, but I had stuck one out the side and one diagonally and one on the other side looked kind of like a star. And I was trying to burn all those candles just to make some ends meet. And at our highest revenue point, we were actually generating seven figures. We were a million dollar practice.
Megan:
But I still didn't pay myself enough because I didn't know how to run it. And all I was doing was just pushing more and more and more into the practice, right? So in 2018, I woke in the middle of the night and I was 37, and the right side of my face felt tingly, and my arm and my leg felt tingly. And I remember thinking to myself, you're having a stroke. And then I thought, you're 37. That's ridiculous. And I went back to sleep. When I woke the next morning, I tried to get out of my bed and I hit the floor because the whole right side of my body had been affected by the stroke. And it's going to make me tear up a little bit.
Megan:
It was terrifying. I knew that my brain processing speed was not right. I was slurring my words. I was having trouble coming up with words. So my husband was talking to me, and I was trying to answer him and couldn't get out the exact right words. I wanted, couldn't process, couldn't think about them fast. You know, he's like, megan, you need to go to the emergency room. And I'm like, no, I've got to take the kids to school and I've got to go to work.
Megan:
And so I got myself together. And unsafely, unfortunately, looking back on it now, at the time, it wasn't clear, but I drove my kids to their locations and I went to work.
Greg :
After you had a stroke?
Megan:
After I had a stroke, because the only thing I could think of was not letting my family down, not letting my patients down, and not letting my staff down, because I didn't want to have to let any of that.
Greg :
Just, there's so many components and so many layers to this story. I've heard Warren Buffett, and I'm going to paraphrase it, but he basically says that we have to be mindful not of how hard we're rowing the boat, but what type of boat we're in, that's for sure. And I guess the reason why I resonate so much with your story is because it's not the same. You're a mom, I'm a dad. But I had to make the decision of should I contract or should I grow? And I grew as well, right? We did high volume, and you put everybody else first.
Megan:
That's right.
Greg :
You put your patients first, you put your staff first, and everybody else except for yourself.
Megan:
And the problem, too, is I was seeing more patients than even the million dollar revenue because I gave away so much free care, right? So much free care.
Greg :
Yeah. And we believe that we're doing a valiant thing and we're doing a good thing. And I think also because you're faith based like myself and we're Christ followers, we just believe like, we're just supposed to serve everyone and we fail to take care of ourselves in a process.
Megan:
That's a huge mindset shift.
Greg :
It's a huge shift. Huge shift. And we think we're taking care of our family, but then something happens, and for you it was a stroke.
Megan:
That was the first thing.
Greg :
That was the first thing, yeah. And I know there's another one, which we're going to talk about, but basically what ends up happening is I don't even know. Did you realize how bad of a situation you were in at that time? You didn't realize it? Yeah.
Megan:
And I find this with many healthcare practitioners. They often think that's just the way it has to be.
Megan:
Because they don't know there's another way or a better way to do it. And that's where I was sitting. It's one of those, I can't see the forest for the trees because I had my tree and my tree was growing and the leaves were greener. But if I had looked at the tree next door or not next door, but the tree next to me and went, oh, that's a different tree, and it looks better and it's doing better than mine. So you get so focused on one way of doing things that you don't realize there's another way.
Greg :
Another way, yeah. So things didn't end with the stroke.
Megan:
Correct.
Greg :
Something else happened.
Greg :
A little bit later. Why don't you tell them about that?
Megan:
Sure. So I had the stroke. I waited for about two days and finally went and had an MRI, and it did confirm I'd had a deep lacuner infarct. And I continually had little tias and little mini events that happened after that. Eventually I started having more red flag symptoms, and it was one of those things where had I slowed down? It could have maybe been okay, but I'm not sure, to be honest with you, because, well, looking back on it now, I know that God had a plan, and I know he had to do something drastic to shift my mindset. And so I started having red flags. Numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, my arms and legs, significant headaches, honestly. And then being a little personal, I was having incontinence issues.
Megan:
I was falling constantly. I had a service dog because I couldn't bend over to pick things up. She had to pick things up for me. And she came to the clinic with me and all the things eventually, and I went to so many specialists to try to figure out what was wrong. And of course, it was what we see with our clients every day, which I honestly think gives me a little more compassion and insight into what they're going through, is there's nothing wrong with you. You're young, you're decently healthy, aside from that stroke you had. But look how well you've recovered, which on the outside, it's like a soft sign. On the outside, it looks okay, but on the inside, I can still tell a difference, right? So I went through probably five different specialists in my area, and they're, you know, we can just send you to the pain clinic.
Megan:
I'm like, listen, guys, I have my doctorate. I know something is wrong. And so eventually I went to a geneticist who found out that our whole little family has Ehler Stanlow syndrome, which is a connective tissue disorder. And then from that, she sent me to a specialist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And the specialist there, they honestly initially had thought I had an Arnold Chiari malformation that had just been unnoticed and had gotten worse because of my EDS. But what had actually occurred is I had a congenital stenosis of my neck, around my brain stem, and all the way down. And as I have aged, the Ehlers Danlow syndrome had progressively gotten a little bit worse and had caused that to be more of an issue. And what they found was that the congenital stenosis, number one, was encroaching on my brainstem, which was a portion of the reason I was having strokes, but also my blood pressure on top of that, because I didn't sleep, I didn't eat well, I was working constantly, completely under stress, made everything, like, a compounded effect.
Megan:
And so in 2019, and I also had a bone tumor. We've never even talked about that, and that was a little earlier. But all of these things, God was trying to tell me to slow down or to do it differently, and I just didn't listen. But in 2019, I had a massive, massive spinal cord surgery. I had a disc at c four that was bisecting my cord. So that, combined with the narrowing around my cord, had basically pinched my spinal cord almost in half in areas, and that's why I was having all the red flag symptoms.
Greg :
Right, wow.
Greg :
So now you get to that point where you're like, all right, I've got to make a massive change, and you decided to go and say, I'm not going to do my business. The way that I have done it, where it's basically stressing my body.
Greg :
And.
Greg :
It'S just something that's not sustainable. So you decided to go in a different direction. Tell us a little bit about that.
Megan:
Right. So I left my practice, which was one of the hardest things I've ever done because it was a portion of my identity, and I always said it was my child. So I had my first son, and then I had the business, and then I had Ethan, my second son. And so I walked away from that because I knew that my family had to be a priority because I almost got to the point to where they couldn't be anymore.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
I was told that I wouldn't walk without an assistive device and that I would never be able to work again. They had filled out the disability paperwork for me. I couldn't lift more than 25 pounds, which is what we always hear people tell our clients and thank the Lord. And I mean that in all seriousness, that's not the plan he had, and it was definitely not the direction I wanted to go. And so I stepped away from my practice and worked off my non compete in other areas. I did school system, I did home health for two years, and then some other things for a year. And my former employee and I decided to open a cash based practice.
Greg :
Okay, before you get into the journey of cash base, can we talk about all the people that you were serving at the clinic that you had when you realized that your body couldn't do this anymore? And at this point, you're really making a decision between you're choosing your life and to basically keep things going in as best of a way as you can for your two sons and your husband.
Greg :
Right.
Greg :
Or you're going to choose your patience.
Megan:
Right.
Greg :
Okay.
Greg :
So you ended up choosing your life and saying, I'm going to slow down. I'm going to listen to the whispers that God is whispering, or maybe the yell at this one, and you're like, I'm going to choose my life and I'm going to leave these patients. So can I ask you a question?
Megan:
Sure.
Greg :
Those patients, where are they now?
Megan:
Dispersed throughout multiple different agencies.
Greg :
Okay.
Greg :
Yeah. Do you have a lot of relationships with them today?
Megan:
A lot of them, yes, I do.
Greg :
You do? Okay.
Megan:
Not necessarily professional, but yeah. You know this about me. I sincerely love everybody.
Greg :
You love people. I know. I think the reason why I bring this up is because there's a lot of people that are listening to this right now and they can resonate with you.
Megan:
Sure.
Greg :
I did a five day challenge this time last year, it was in October of last year, and there was someone. Her name was Carol. She was on the challenge, right? And she was in vip, so in vip, they all get to ask questions and this and that. And it was the last day of the challenge, and she got to ask her question. It was time for her to speak. And she said she just started crying. Like, she was crying. And she basically was telling me about.
Greg :
She works at a hospital. This lady Carol works at a hospital. And one of her best friends who's been there for, like, 20 something years, had never really taken off for a vacation in her 20 years. And so Carol. And she was struggling. I mean, just the same stories of what me and you were saying. We just serve our patients so much. And she says, for the.
Greg :
Of the 20 years, I think 18 years, Carol worked with her. And Carol was just like, you got.
Megan:
To take your vacation.
Greg :
You got to take time off. She's like, I can't leave my patients.
Megan:
I can't leave our patients. I can't leave our patients.
Greg :
Right.
Greg :
Anyways, she wasn't feeling well, and it was her first day off in, like, three years, and she died two days later. Just died. And Carol said when she was at the funeral, none of those people, all the people that she chose over herself weren't there, and she just started bawling. So she was, like, literally telling us, you have to choose yourself.
Megan:
You do.
Greg :
You've got to choose yourself.
Megan:
That's true.
Greg :
And I'm like, you realize I can't just do the professional. It has to be a little personal as well.
Megan:
Personal. But that does make it harder to say no.
Greg :
It does make it harder to say no. And I think that's our kryptonite sometimes truth.
Megan:
And I've lost people and friends because now I do.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
I have boundaries in place now that I never had before.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
But that's also a testament to the story that I came from and the mindset shift that I've had to have to survive.
Greg :
Right.
Greg :
I think this part right here is speaking to so many people right now. When is it that you choose you? When is it that you're going to choose yourself? And we're constantly choosing our patients, and by choosing our patients, we're not choosing ourself. And it's actually making us not choose our future patients.
Megan:
Well, and it makes you unsustainable.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And that's what I tell the people that I coach and the people that come into my office, is that you can either try to treat everybody and tell everybody yes. And you can be unsustainable, or you can choose to start telling people no, shift your mindset, treat the right people instead of every person.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And continue to serve instead of serving nobody.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
So you can either serve nobody or you can serve the right people.
Greg :
Right.
Greg :
You heard me talk in our private group about living in abundance. But in order to live in abundance, you actually have to do abundant based activities.
Greg :
Yes.
Greg :
And that right there is an abundant based activity. It's me understanding that I just need to serve the right people.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
And the right people are people that understand my boundaries.
Megan:
That's exactly.
Greg :
They understand that I'm going to choose my provider, I'm going to choose my God, and I'm going to choose myself first.
Megan:
Yes.
Greg :
And then I will take care of everyone else after. And those that can't abide to those boundaries are not my people.
Megan:
It's like when you get on an airplane, right? If you don't put your oxygen mask on first, you can't save the kid that's next to you that you love next to you.
Greg :
You got it.
Megan:
The same thing.
Greg :
You got it. I hope that's speaking to you all, whoever you all is. You know who you are anyways.
Megan:
I guarantee it. Whether you want to admit it or not. You know who you are.
Greg :
Yeah.
Greg :
You know who you are. Yeah. So now you decided to go into business with a former employee, and you now start your practice.
Megan:
Correct.
Greg :
And so kind of bring us through the journey of where that started, where it is now, and then now the shift that we're making to helping other people.
Megan:
Okay. So we started our cash based practice in 2021, right after the pandemic. And really and truly, by all rights, a lot of people would have said it was crazy. But we knew, number one, without a shadow of a doubt, that God had led us to that. There was another, larger clinic who's also in your inner circle that opened two months before we did, which was great and wonderful because I love that they're there. I really do. They serve a lot of people. And then, number three, we're in a very rural area, and people across the nation have messaged me out of the blue to tell me that a cash based practice would never work in a rural area.
Megan:
And I don't know, some of the business coaches talk about Snowflake syndrome some. And where, oh, well, my situation is very different. It would never work here because of X, Y, and z. And I get to look at people and say, you know what? I'm here. And my situation is X, Y, and z. And it's still beautiful, and it still works, and it still provides. So we started our practice in 2021. We are fully ministry based.
Megan:
We are open about our faith there. And I do believe that that's what drives a lot of our customers to come see us. A couple of things is that, number one, cash based practice is not like insurance based practice. You cannot run it the same way. You have to learn how to sell your services ethically. And when I say ethically, you know what that means. But for everybody else listening, that means that you have to learn to sell. But you're selling because you know you can help that person.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And it's not just selling to make money, because that's not what it's about. At least that's not what it should be about.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
So you have to sell ethically. You have to work for people to walk in your door, you have to get out there, and you have to pound the pavement, you have to generate the leads, because people don't just walk in with a doctor's script, because nine times out of ten, the physicians that we went to talk to when we were learning to do this practice also said the same thing everybody else did. Cash based practice. Good luck with that.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And so doors shutting in a million different directions. So we had to learn to market to the clients and the patients and not to the physicians, which is typically what you would do in an insurance based practice.
Greg :
100%, yes.
Megan:
And then we learned that we also had to get people into a conversation, like you teach all the time in all of your things, if you can get into a conversation with them, and then you can show them the value that you provide, that's different than the insurance practice.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
So the cash based practice for us is one on one care all the time. It helps me do better. It helps our staff see the clients more fully, so their attention is not divided. It's kind of like a boutique or a concierge type service. It is not for everybody. But I will tell you that what we have found is that people will pay for what their priorities are.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And we don't sell physical therapy, because you can get physical therapy a million places in town. Not really a million, like three. But what we sell is the end result, that we can get you faster because of the one on one specialized care.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And the other thing that was hard for me, and this was a good ego check and a pride check for me. But I thought, hey, you know what? I've won best pt in my town for the last seven years running, all these people, as soon as I open this practice, they're going to flood my doors and it's going to be amazing, and we're going to have all this stuff, and we're going to outgrow this clinic, and they all know me and they all love me, and they're all going to come, and that is not the case.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
So the people that we see in our cash based practice are not the same people we saw when we did insurance.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
But that's not always a bad thing, because what we find is our conversion rates. As far as people actually going into a full plan of carry and staying there, the people who are compliant with their exercise programs, the people who keep their appointments, we have got a significantly low cancellation rate, like maybe 10%.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
But the reason that is, is because the people are investing their money up front into our practice, and they are the people who really want to be there and who really want to get better.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
They're more of a joy to serve because, you know, at the end of the day, when I send you home with an exercise program, I can see them one time a week and get them better faster than a lot of the insurance based clinics that are seeing them three times a week. But that is because we frame it in the very beginning. Look, your money and your time is valuable. My time is valuable. You are here because you want to be. If you do your exercises, I see you once a week, we get the most out of your visits. If you don't do your exercises, you're going to end up paying me more money. So the choice is yours.
Megan:
And so I have a total knee who was scheduled for 18 visits at a different provider's office, called me, spoke with her. We were done in six visits for less than, what, her copays, plus the bill at the end would have been in the other provider.
Greg :
Well.
Greg :
It'S so fascinating because as someone who has had an insurance based practice and for me, been quite successful with that, and then also running cash based businesses now, and been very successful with that, I realized that there is a market for everyone.
Megan:
There is, absolutely.
Greg :
But what you must understand is how to do business in whatever business it is that you're doing.
Megan:
You have to be good at what you're doing.
Greg :
You have to be good at what you're doing. So, ironically, I think of even your area, there is someone that is in our program.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
That. By the way, do you know when I started working with him? Did he tell you? So, in 2015, when I decided that my staff told me, Greg, you really need to help people out there. Da, da, da. I started doing these YouTube videos because they just put the camera in front of my face, their iPhones, and they started posting it to YouTube. And then I started in 2015. I said, all right, I'll just talk to people. I was working two days a week in my clinics at that point, so I had three days where I can just have conversations with people. I had, like, 150 phone conversations that year.
Megan:
Wow.
Greg :
And that guy was a student.
Megan:
That's awesome.
Greg :
And I would talk to him once every month.
Megan:
If only I could have found you years ago. Yeah, well, isn't that, what, the sales thing at the end, though, right? The only problem is you didn't know about me sooner.
Greg :
Know about me sooner. So he came out of school and he was like, GT, I've learned a lot from you. I don't think I can work for this guy anymore. And then I said, well, go open up your own thing. But I'm only three months out. I said, well, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. So he went, and now he's got 90 employees. But here's the thing.
Megan:
Amazing.
Greg :
It's crazy. But here's the thing. It's like, if you understand the business, because here we are, we're thinking, you guys are listening, and I want this to be very clear, and I believe you're going to agree with me with this. If you run a cash based practice wrong, it's going to destroy you.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
If you run an insurance based practice wrong, it's going to destroy you.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
That guy is running his insurance based practice. Very volume based.
Megan:
Yeah, it is.
Greg :
But he's running it. He's running the business in a way where he's doing about 7 million.
Megan:
He's on track.
Greg :
7 million this year. Right. But you can also run it, and it can kill you like what it killed. It nearly killed you, and it never killed you.
Megan:
And I admitted to that. I told you I ran it wrong.
Greg :
Right.
Greg :
And I think this is so important. And now, even with the clinics that I had, I no longer run them. And be honest with you, they're being run to the ground now. It's a sad sight to see, and.
Megan:
It can happen fast.
Greg :
And it can happen so fast. And so what I want you all to take from what Megan is saying is that you need to know how to do business in whatever businesses it is that you're doing now. Megan, it was in her best interest, with everything that was going on in her life, circumstances that she did what she did.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
And so now today you're helping a lot of people who want to get into business because you've invested in yourself.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
And you have really learned business over this last two years, right? Last year and a half.
Megan:
Two years, right. Really and truly, yeah.
Greg :
And I want to say this well.
Megan:
Over twelve years I learned a lot of ways to do it wrong.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And there are a lot of ways to do it right based on what I did wrong, which makes you one.
Greg :
Of the best coaches.
Megan:
Yeah, I've got twelve years of that private practice, eight years of running it the wrong way, and then now we have this.
Greg :
So let's talk now about what you're helping people with. With all the trials or tribulations that you've gone through throughout your two businesses. Very few people have been in a cash based business and an insurance based business. And even with your insurance based business, very few people have ever hit seven figures and you have been able to have a certain amount of success in both of them. And so can you quickly tell people about what you're doing now?
Megan:
Sure. Absolutely. So I have founded a coaching company because you told me to, that's called direct impact business solutions and it's kind of twofold. So the first focus is to help medical practitioners, not just pts. But I see this trend everywhere. So medical practitioners who are getting burned out, I almost left the profession more than once and some of the very best who run themselves in the ground because they want to serve are doing that.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
So my goal is to help those people be aware and learn how to do it a different way.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
So taking people from that insurance based model, whether it's a practice they own or they've just been working in it, I got a lot of people that reach out and say, hey, I've been working in this practice forever. Their productivity standards are killing me. I don't feel like I'm doing justice to the clients. Giving, seeing 22, 24 a day, doing an aval and a reaval and a treatment at the same time. Can you help me? Like, hey, yeah, let's start your own thing, right? Let's do it cash based. The whole point of cash based, not the whole point, but one of the benefits is again, serving quality client leads instead of high volume. So you have to see less. I feel like I give better care, right.
Megan:
I'm a lot more hands on. The treatments are a lot more specific.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
I mean, it's just like you and me, if we're having a coaching call and you're addressing my specific concerns, not that the group calls aren't great because I still get so much value, but it's specific to what I need, and it pushes me forward faster.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
And so I'm helping practitioners of all medical backgrounds swap from an insurance based system and model to a cash based system and model to give them more freedom from insurance restrictions, less productivity standards, more freedom over their time, and honestly, a better client population right now. I'll tell you, when you do that, it is really hard to tell the people who want to use their insurance that you've loved forever. This is the way we do it now.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
But at the end of the day, and I'll tell you this, too, the first thing I do with my coaching clients is I have them create their vision board because I want them to be clear as to why they're doing what they're doing, because that allows you, if you know the vision you're working toward, it allows you to say no a whole lot easier to the things that don't push you toward that.
Greg :
Right.
Greg :
I absolutely love this. And I have to tell you all, as someone that's been on both sides, if I had to do it over, I would go cash from the get go. I want people to understand that you can win in insurance, but it's a whole different ballgame.
Megan:
It is.
Greg :
And you can't do insurance being small. No, I just want everybody to understand that. So right now, if you're listening, before we finish, if you're listening and you want to work for yourself and you're struggling with insurance, I highly advise you to reach out to Dr. Megan Simpson. She's going to give you her information in a second and find out how you can make that transition. Or if you are someone that's like, I want to get into business. I want to do this, and I need to get started. As someone that you listen to, as the authority here, I'm telling you, if you want to go smaller and you want to have a business that has the highest probability of surviving, you need to have a business that has low capital expenses and as small of overhead as possible so that you can be profitable.
Greg :
And when you're profitable, then you can scale, you can invest in yourself, you can invest in advisory, you can invest in marketing, and that's how you can grow.
Megan:
Within a year and a half, our cash based business had about 60% profit.
Greg :
Yeah.
Greg :
That's ridiculous.
Megan:
It is.
Greg :
That's ridiculous.
Megan:
But again, we also had help from other coaches.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
If I can mention Aaron Lebauer, of course, I love Aaron Labauer.
Greg :
Yeah.
Megan:
And here's the thing. Just like the company, that's like your inner circle guy who's amazing, everybody flocks to different coaches for different reasons, and there are plenty of people to go around.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
Aaron was amazing for us. He helped me change my mindset a little bit more and helped us figure out our rates better. But honestly, again, if I were looking at most businesses fail within the first one to five years, and we're 60% profitable within a year and a half.
Greg :
Right.
Megan:
That's insane.
Greg :
Right?
Greg :
It's crazy.
Megan:
It's insane. But exactly what you said. It's low overhead and low capital on the front end and then just making the right choices along the way.
Greg :
Right? Yeah.
Greg :
I think it's so key to put yourself in a position where if you are to work hard and you do the right things, you can succeed.
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
The stressful thing is a lot of people are working hard, but they never actually created the proper business model. Right.
Megan:
That's where I was.
Greg :
Right. And you're running, but you're running up a slippery slope, and it's just really hard to get to the top.
Megan:
That's right.
Greg :
So, can I say something before we finish?
Megan:
Absolutely.
Greg :
I want to honor you. You are such a servant, and I can just tell you this. I'm just hoping that as you are in my world, that I can just let you just encourage you to continue to go. I truly believe that you are going to be one of the most impactful coaches.
Megan:
Thank you.
Greg :
And one of the most impactful consultants in business, period. I'm not just talking about healthcare in business, period. You have a heart of gold. You've gone through a lot of things that basically just allow people to connect with you.
Megan:
Sure.
Greg :
I don't think I've ever connected with any clinician as fast as I connected with you. I just knew that after 35 minutes of listening to your story, 35 minutes listening to your story, I just said, I want her in my world. That's it. And so that's just because of everything you've gone through. So I say that to you because everything that you have gone through is going to bless so many people. It's blessed me, and I'm just thankful and honored that you're in my sphere in some way.
Megan:
I'm honored to be in your sphere, and I'm honored that you're in mine.
Greg :
It's been amazing. So, anyways, thank you, Megan. I appreciate you so much.
Megan:
Thank you so much.
