Greg Todd [00:00:00]:
So I say that because I'm just thinking one person right now, they were working with women, and they're working with women in their thirties. They were trying to do that five years ago. Today they actually do a documentation platform that they're making about $50 to $60,000 a month off of. That has nothing to do with women. You know, that they're helping with fitness and wellness. There's another person that I'm thinking of right now that was on our call yesterday where when she started in my world five years ago, she was working with female basketball players. Today she's doing scoliosis. It's going from the exploration phase, and the exploration should lead to conversations with people.
Greg Todd [00:00:49]:
Those conversations you're having at the y, those conversations you're having at a group classes, these conversations you're having with the neurology, you know, center. Those conversations then lead to clarity. And that is what you eventually realize. These are going to be the people that I'm going to end up serving and the people that are going to basically fund my business. And in return, I serve them at a high level with the gifts and skills that I have. This is secrets. Welcome to the Seekers for Success podcast. I'm your host, Greg Todd.
Greg Todd [00:01:24]:
Thank you, as always, for joining me today. I have a guest on. It's someone that has been in my world for the last year, a wonderful human being. And I think she has a lot of value that she's going to be able to bring to you today. I would like to welcome Michelle Walker to the podcast.
Michelle Walker [00:01:42]:
Hello. Nice to be here. Thank you.
Greg Todd [00:01:44]:
Fantastic. Fantastic. So, Michelle, why don't you just share with the people a little bit about who you are, kind of your journey, and let's take it from there, and I'll kind of interject every once in a while. Okay.
Michelle Walker [00:01:58]:
So I've been a physical therapist for 30 years, 30 years, 30 of which have been in home care, home physical therapy. And, you know, I was trudging along. I'm hating my job a little bit more every year and not the people, you know, just the extra junk work. And then I had to be off for a few months for my own knee surgery and started realizing, wow, this is really nice not to have to do paperwork every night. So I started to use the time to see my options and started getting into the world of cash pt and what it all involved. And, you know, I've just kind of made my way to you to help me grow this business. So at this point, I am a PRN employee for the job as I work on building this business.
Greg Todd [00:03:00]:
Okay, so I have a couple questions for you. You've been a therapist for 30 years, and you said you were trudging along. What was the moment? Or was there even a moment? But when was it where you're like, okay, enough is enough? I always like to hear this from people, like, what was your moment?
Michelle Walker [00:03:25]:
There wasn't like a single moment, but a Yde passage of time. With my second husband, which was basically the last ten years, I started hearing more and more of, you know, you're not with me. You're always doing paperwork. I don't have your full attention, those kinds of things. And so they start, you know, planting seeds in my head that this is not. Not the way I want to live my life.
Greg Todd [00:04:00]:
Yeah. Mmm. Wow.
Michelle Walker [00:04:02]:
Taking away from family, you know?
Greg Todd [00:04:04]:
Yeah. You know, it's so funny when I say funny. It's not. It's not funny, but it's. But it's real. When I became a physical therapist, so I became a PT in 2000, and when I decided I was going to sign up to go on the physical therapy path, Michelle, I was looking at physical therapy, but before that, I was looking at orthopedic surgery, and my mom worked for an orthopedic surgeon. His name was Paul Hinenberg, and my mom wanted me to be an orthopedic surgeon. Right.
Greg Todd [00:04:43]:
You know, it's like, be a doctor, right, whatever. And so she set up a day, it was in my senior year of high school, she set up a time for doctor Henneberg to talk with me, and she was hoping that doctor Henneberg was going to tell me everything that I need to do in order for me to be an orthopedic surgeon. Well, he was in a pissy mood that day, Michelle. So I went to the office, you know, I'm 17 years old, and he basically says, I would never do what I do. He's like, I don't know my kids. I'm on my third wife. Da da da da da. My daughter is getting married.
Greg Todd [00:05:20]:
I don't even know her husband. And he was just, like. He was just angry, and I knew that at that time, I didn't want that for my life. Right. And. And then he finished a conversation, by the way, that 30 minutes time was like. Ended up being like, two minutes. And he finished the conversation, Michelle, by saying, I do what those people do.
Greg Todd [00:05:39]:
They seem like they have a life. And he had physical therapists, assistants that were working at his office. He had an in house PT that was how I got introduced to becoming in PT. And so. And so and so. I say that to you, Michelle, because I went into PT, I think very similar to you thinking that I was gonna have a really good work life balance, you know, and pretty well, yeah.
Michelle Walker [00:06:07]:
30 years ago, it wasn't the way it is now.
Greg Todd [00:06:09]:
It was. Yeah. So, so, so over the last ten years, what would you say has changed versus what it was in the first 20 years of you doing this?
Michelle Walker [00:06:19]:
I would say it has to do with insurance and the regulations and having to do so much more when I go in to see a client for home health, particularly the first visit. But even following visits, I'm expected to do a true head to toe assessment every time. Check their medications, make sure they haven't changed, checking all their vital signs, checking for skin issues, all these different things. And a fraction of the time is spent doing what I was truly trained to do. Not that those things are outside of my scope of practice. They're nothing. But that's not where I want to focus my attention.
Greg Todd [00:07:03]:
Right, right, right.
Michelle Walker [00:07:04]:
I don't feel like I'm getting results that I could get if I could truly focus on just the therapy part of things.
Greg Todd [00:07:12]:
As you all are listening to what Michelle is saying, I would love for you to let me know, you know, how to get in touch with me, either through IG or text me at 813-534-6453 if this resonates with you and. And Michelle, this is what I believe. And here I'm gonna ask you this question. I pretty much think I know the answer. But 30 years ago, when you became a physical therapist, was there any inclination that you were ever going to be an entrepreneur? Okay. And so, you know, there's this. This. This thing out there now where it's, you know, oh, you know, there's too many wannabe entrepreneurs or da da da da da this and that, whatever.
Greg Todd [00:07:59]:
Or I'm like, people don't understand. I never wanted to do this. I just wanted to be able to treat people the way that I wanted to treat people. I just wanted to be able to actually do physical therapy instead of doing insurance therapy, because that's literally what you're telling me you have to do. You've got to do insurance therapy. You're not doing physical therapy or occupational therapy or speech therapy. You're doing insurance based therapy. You're doing things to appease the third party payer.
Greg Todd [00:08:30]:
And it's not. It's not allowing you to actually do your craft. To do your craft. Well, would you agree correct. Yeah. You know, and I just think that. I just think that, like, as you guys are listening to this, this episode, I. And we haven't even got into what Michelle does.
Greg Todd [00:08:45]:
We'll get there, I promise. Okay? But as you're listening to this, understand that it's a whole new world. Okay? It's a whole new world. There was once upon a time when my dad. So my parents came here from Jamaica in 1978, right? We moved here in 78. I was a little, I was a baby. And when my dad became an entrepreneur in 83, that was a choice that he was making because he wanted to become an entrepreneur, okay? He wanted to go and create a better life than the newspaper company he was working for. And he was making good money.
Greg Todd [00:09:22]:
He was making fifty k a year in 84. That's some good money. Okay? Today, that's not the case. Like, I did not want to be an entrepreneur. Michelle does not want to be an entrepreneur. We just want to be able to do physical therapy. We just want to be able to use the skill sets that we have and not feel like we're handcuffed with our patients because we have to appease to a third party payer that has an intention of, how can we keep more of our clients money that they pay us in premiums and not give it back out for our client to use it, which hurts us. So I just think it's really important you, uh, you all, if you're thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, just understand that the majority of us today, we don't want to do this.
Greg Todd [00:10:13]:
We feel like we're cornered and we have to do it, and it's the only way that we're going to be able to stay within our profession and not absolutely dread every single day. So, anyways, I just felt like I needed to say that. And Michelle, thank you for confirming that as well. Very well. So now let's talk about kind of your journey now. So as long as you're like, okay, screw this. Like, I don't want to continue to do this every single day for the rest of my career. You know, I want to serve a different group of people, and you're kind of in the beginning stages of it, so why don't you talk about who you've decided to serve and, yeah, let's kind of take it from there.
Michelle Walker [00:10:53]:
So my niche basically is people with Parkinson's disease, but I also work with other seniors who have issues getting around, and I'm really trying to address the people because I'm starting to almost narrow my focus even more as I've gone through different things with you and interacting with the clients I do have. So I'm narrowing it down to those people who have been told by physical therapists that I've done all I can do, or you're doing great, but the person themselves says, no, but I'm not doing great. I have this rigidity, or I have trouble moving, but the therapist says I'm too good or they can't do any more with me. And I'm thinking, well, let me help you, because there is so much more we can do. And then I have these clients who say, oh, yeah, the doctor says I'm walking great. Really? When I'm seeing all this kind of movement. No. No, you're really not.
Michelle Walker [00:12:00]:
But the doctors wait too long to send them to therapy.
Greg Todd [00:12:05]:
Gotcha.
Michelle Walker [00:12:06]:
So I've narrowed it down to those people. And right now I do have one class of my own business that I offered for Parkinson's specific exercises. And then my other avenues of treating people are through classes like at the YMCA, where I teach a tai chi class just for Parkinson's. And I'm sort of meeting a lot of people that way. And that's how I'm getting a lot of the information about what they need.
Greg Todd [00:12:41]:
Okay.
Michelle Walker [00:12:42]:
And then I'm also contracting with a neurology clinic. They're the only movement disorder specialist in this town.
Greg Todd [00:12:51]:
Okay.
Michelle Walker [00:12:52]:
And they are sending me their young onset Parkinson's because they don't want to be in a class with the older people.
Greg Todd [00:13:00]:
Right, right.
Michelle Walker [00:13:00]:
It's depressing to them.
Greg Todd [00:13:01]:
Yeah.
Michelle Walker [00:13:01]:
You know, they don't want to see, oh, that's how I'm going to be.
Greg Todd [00:13:05]:
Right, right.
Michelle Walker [00:13:06]:
So we keep them separate. So I'm kind of working with them in that way as well.
Greg Todd [00:13:11]:
Okay. I think there's a couple things that we need to hit here that's really important. Where you're at right now is where a lot of people are at. It is what I call the exploration phase. Okay. I'm going to give you a couple people that, you know that are in. So Michelle is in our platinum community, and there are some of the big names and people in our community that are doing pretty big things. I think a lot of times people don't know their full story.
Greg Todd [00:13:44]:
And as you were saying that, and I'm like, michelle's in the exploration phase right now, and she's learning so much about who she's actually going to be serving and who's going to be paying her money and who is going to be who she's going to be serving at a very high level just by being in an exploration phase. So for those of you that are listening to the podcast, michelle, I'm going to coach you here as well. Here. I want you all to write this down. Exploration leads to conversations. Conversations lead to clarity. Okay? Exploration leads to conversations. Conversations lead to clarity.
Greg Todd [00:14:21]:
I think a lot of times people want to come out the gate and they want to know exactly who their niche is, who they're going to serve. This is how it's going to work. These are the people that are going to pay me money. These are the people that I'm going to serve at a high level. And I need to know that from the get go. Where does that come from? Well, I believe that that comes from how we've been trained and indoctrinated. From us leaving high school, going into college. We are forced to declare something right away.
Greg Todd [00:14:46]:
We're forced to declare a major, right? Okay. And not only are we gonna declare it, but then we're gonna basically get all these loans and this is what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. Right? So whatever you wanna decide at 1718 years old, that's what you're going to do until you're 65. Okay? All right? And so we feel this need that we have to know our niche, we have to know exactly what we're going to do, and we have to know what we're going to do from the get go. But that's not really how it works. So when I think of some of our biggest success stories inside of our program right now, when they went through the exploration phase, a lot of them went through the exploration phase five, six years ago. And what they thought they were going to do, they ended up not doing. There wasn't a big enough market.
Greg Todd [00:15:31]:
There wasn't this, there wasn't that. And they spent maybe three months, four months, five months, a year, a year and a half realizing that this is not going to be the audience that I'm going to be able to serve and serve at a high level because they're not willing to commit and pay for it. Okay? So I say that because I'm just thinking one person right now, they were working with women, and they're working with women in their thirties. They were trying to do that five years ago. Today they actually do a documentation platform that they're making about $50 to $60,000 a month off of. That has nothing to do with women. You know, that they're helping with fitness and wellness. There's another person that I'm thinking of right now that was on our call yesterday where, when she started in my world five years ago, she was working with female basketball players.
Greg Todd [00:16:27]:
Today she's doing scoliosis. It's going from the exploration phase, and the exploration should lead to conversations with people. Those conversations you're having at the Y, those conversations you're having at a group classes, those conversations you're having with the neurology center, those conversations then lead to clarity. And that is what you eventually realize. These are going to be the people that I'm going to end up serving and the people that are going to basically fund my business. And in return, I serve them at a high level with the gifts and skills that I have. I think that's a really important thing for every single one of you that's listening to understand that you might be in that phase. Okay? There is no way in hell you could have told me I was going to be working with healthcare providers all throughout.
Greg Todd [00:17:14]:
I didn't know that. Okay. When I started SSPT, I just feel like this is so important to talk about. When I started SSPT, I started sSpt. It was smart success for physical therapists, and it was set up for me to be able to help physical therapists become better employees. I was teaching people how to gain the skills that I had as a consultant for 15 companies where my consulting income matched and eventually replaced what I was making in my clinics, which was a good amount of income as well. And so what I realized after 17 years of being a therapist, that these skills were as valuable or even more valuable than my clinical skills. So I figured, okay, can I give these skills to new grad therapists so that they can be more valuable to their employer? Because I was being contracted to work for their employer as.
Greg Todd [00:18:23]:
As a consultant. And so I had no idea it was going to turn into this. I had no idea I was going to help people start cash based practices and work at Parkinson's patients or have people start online businesses and people do this and do that and become consultants and speak on stage and all this other stuff. It's exploration leads to conversations. The conversations then lead to clarity on who I'm serving. So, hopefully a good reminder to you and a good reminder to everyone else and just understanding, Michelle, that what you're doing right now with people is you're having these conversations and now you're figuring out, oh, oh, I'm going to be working with Parkinson's. Oh, wait, there's two groups of Parkinson's. There's the older Parkinson's, and there's a younger Parkinson's.
Greg Todd [00:19:07]:
I got to keep them separate. Oh, wait a minute. There's a lot of people that even don't have Parkinson's, but they're seniors and they're being given a death sentence. And you're like, oh, hell no. No, you can do this. You can do that. This is all part of developing the business and just going through this expiration phase. So I congratulate you for that.
Michelle Walker [00:19:26]:
Thank you.
Greg Todd [00:19:26]:
Yeah. So, yes. Yes, it is. All right, now, let's talk about this. Let's talk about one too many, because you said that you're doing some things at the y. You're doing group classes. Can you explain to the audience, like, how do you set those up? Because a lot of people think this is so complicated. And.
Greg Todd [00:19:46]:
And I would just like to know, like, what do you do?
Michelle Walker [00:19:48]:
And all different things. The. The one at the y, I just went there and started talking to her. I explained, I'm a physical therapist. You know, I can do this. And this I have this to offer, because they already had a cycling class for Parkinson's, so I knew I had a little in. And so it took several times for me to go back and talk to her and remind her and whatnot. But I was finally allowed to speak with the group that's already there.
Michelle Walker [00:20:21]:
And we set up a tai chi class just for them. And they are, gosh, they're very committed, and they come every week, and they love it. So that's how I set that one up. And then I had already had a private client with Parkinson's, and he hooked me up, kind of introduced me to another gentleman, kind of on the same level of him, working class people who had Parkinson's. So I thought, well, I want to do a class. So I got with them, and they were all aboard. So I found a place and rented, and so I started that class. And then the last one, I just started, the one for young onset, I have been going to Parkinson support groups and different things that are led by the hospital system around here.
Michelle Walker [00:21:23]:
They oversee it. And so I've kind of gotten my name in there. And I was introduced to the disorder specialist, and she had a dinner. She invited us all to dinner, all the different therapists and professionals who helped the Parkinson's community. So I'm start. I started getting into that world, you know, networking with the other professionals, the doctor. And so they approached me and said, would you like to lead this group for the young onset Parkinson's? So, of course, I said, yes. So I'm really trying to branch out and network with others.
Michelle Walker [00:22:06]:
I'm now working on a local foundation. They do everything. 95% of the money they earn goes to the Parkinson's community. They pay for their classes, support them in whatever they need. And so I am working with them so that once my clinic is built, they will support some of my Parkinson's classes, too.
Greg Todd [00:22:31]:
Wow, this is awesome. Okay, guys, let's talk about this. In every single business, there are three different ways that you can go from irrelevant to people actually knowing that there is something that you can serve the community with. Okay? Here are the three ways. You can do it through partnerships. You can do it through organic content, which is actually partnering with social media platforms if your audience is there. And then you could do it through paid traffic. Okay, so let's look at what Michelle has done.
Greg Todd [00:23:05]:
Which one has she picked? She's picked partnership. Okay? And she's done partnerships through a few different ways. She said, I'm going to do partnerships and I'm going to do it with another business. What's that business? One of the ways she did it was through the YMCA, okay? And she teamed up with the why. And how she was able to get in there by is by looking and saying, wait a minute, they're already doing classes in a different way. Cycling. But they're doing classes for this group of people. Here's what I'm going to do.
Greg Todd [00:23:34]:
I'm going to create a. Just a different variation of that, and I'm going to present it to them that way, okay? And all it takes is for one. For one person to say yes. That's all it takes. And by the way, that one that says yes does more for Michelle's confidence than anybody else. Right? So now it's like, wait a minute, I've got proof. Wow, this actually works. People like it.
Greg Todd [00:23:55]:
They find value with it. And then now we go to another person. Okay? Now, Michelle has a client. She has a client that she's worked with. And then another group spawned off of that, and then another group spawns off of that. So what ends up happening when you have two, three, four groups? Again, this is an in person one to many. But what happens is a couple things, you guys. Number one, it allows her to leverage herself, okay? Number two, it allows her to be able to have those exploration moments, which leads to conversations, because, yes, she joins a class, but then she's doing a class, and there's conversations that are happening before the class.
Greg Todd [00:24:32]:
There's conversations that are happening after the class, okay? And over time, this is building your network. Okay. And then the big thing is, if you guys want to be able to make money, you have to be known as the perceived best. And the perceived best is not the person that's actually the best. And I'm not saying you're not the best, Michelle. I'm sure you are. But it's a person that is the best, the most known. And so what? This is what it takes if you're going to build a brick and mortar practice.
Greg Todd [00:25:05]:
And what I love about this, you guys, and this really is a true masterclass. And how you actually get started. Okay. What I love is that Michelle's clinic is not done. It's not done. How far are we out from it being done now?
Michelle Walker [00:25:19]:
Really depends on finances, Greg.
Greg Todd [00:25:21]:
Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Michelle Walker [00:25:23]:
I am dried in. So I'm actually. I'm having a couple guys come over this Wednesday for a normal Wednesday class that I normally do in a. In a room.
Greg Todd [00:25:34]:
Yeah.
Michelle Walker [00:25:34]:
But because the weather's gonna be nice, it won't be too hot. We can handle being in my space without ace. And just because I want to.
Greg Todd [00:25:44]:
You want to be there? Yeah. Okay. So. So this is a big thing, though. You know, it's getting the eyeballs and getting the people before your space is actually open. So many people think that this glorified space, once it's opened, and we are paying money. I know you still got to pay money to finish out the space, but when we've got the space, all of a sudden, everybody's going to come. That is not how it works.
Greg Todd [00:26:10]:
The way that it works is what you're doing right now is what's going to allow you that. Whether it's that space or wherever you're at, that's what's going to get people to come. It's serving them right now. Wherever you can serve them, whether that's at the y, whether that's in a parking lot, whether that's anywhere, it's building your brand and your reputation is becoming known as the go to person for people that are older adults. And that I can help you. I can help you live your best life. That's it. And so I just feel like what you're doing, I just want to give you confirmation.
Greg Todd [00:26:45]:
This is what you need to continue doing. And it's mucky, it's messy, but that's what you gotta do. So, guys, this is generating a lot.
Michelle Walker [00:26:54]:
Of interest, which is good, because people will come to me in addition to the tai Chi things that I do, I mean, the Parkinson's things that I do. I also teach classes at the Y for seniors, just regular seniors. And those are big classes. We're talking 30, 35 people.
Greg Todd [00:27:10]:
Yeah. That's awesome.
Michelle Walker [00:27:12]:
So it never fails. People will come to me after because most of them know I'm a physical therapist, so they'll ask me questions. Just the other day, one of them said, you know, I'd really. I'm really trying to do different things. I tried yoga, but, you know, they don't modify things for me. I have arthritis in my hands. I have da da da da. So it's really hard.
Michelle Walker [00:27:34]:
I said, oh, well, actually, I'm a yoga therapist as well, so if you hang tight, I will be offering those classes. So I was able to get her contact information, try to gather all those as I can. And every week I send a newsletter to people so that I update them on what's happening. They. Most of them know about my clinic. I share photographs, so they all ask me what's happening with it. They're gonna follow me. So I'm just trying to get that excitement in them, which helps me as well.
Greg Todd [00:28:08]:
Yeah, no, that's fantastic. I mean, you know, I know everybody wants the fast track to, how do you go from 00:30 days? Like, I mean, well, listen, I'm not. I don't got time for that. I'm too old for that nonsense and trying to trick people. Look, this is how it's done. The way you do it is by doing what you're doing now. Have lots of conversations. It's probably in your best interest to have those conversations in a one to many format.
Greg Todd [00:28:33]:
It might not pay. Absolutely incredible, but that's not the point. The point is to get your name out there, to build your brand, to start serving people in whatever way you can. And through the serving, it's going to lead to more conversations and then it's going to lead to clarity. So what you're doing is fantastic. I'm proud of you. Can you tell people you're actually on Instagram? Can you tell them where they can find out more about what you're doing? And so some of these therapists can stalk you.
Michelle Walker [00:29:04]:
My handle is proactive therapy and wellness. Because I'm proactive. I want to get people better. So, yeah, I do post on Instagram and Facebook. I can't say I get any traction from those, but people see it. So, yay. One day, maybe.
Greg Todd [00:29:22]:
No, you know, here. Here's what I will tell you. I think a lot of times people look at these platforms and say, what's my numbers look like? You have to have vision on what, a year from now, not even a year from now, six months from now, eight months from now, ten months from now, twelve months from now. You have to understand that you're working with potential buyers and people are only going to pay you money if there is trust. People don't trust themselves. Please understand this. If you're working with a provider, understand that the customer does not trust themselves. The majority of people don't follow through with anything.
Greg Todd [00:30:04]:
There's a reason why most people are where they're at in life is because they lack discipline. So when people are trying to make the decision of if they're going to pay you, they want to see if they can trust you more than they can trust themselves. So every single post that you put up, every single interview that you do, every single time that you show up and it's showing consistency, you have to think, 6812 1618 months from now, when they go to your page, are they seeing somebody that gets excited for a week and then they drop off for six? I can't trust you. I don't trust me. I sure as hell can't trust you. But if they see someone that has, wow, this person has shown up over and over and over again, they don't care about the views this, that they're consistent, then they know that, yeah, you're gonna take their money, but you're not gonna leave them. That's why you show up. Okay? That's why you show up.
Greg Todd [00:30:57]:
I know for me, I know that today people can make the decision when they're actually now deciding if they want to work with me, I can make that decision very easy on them by them just seeing the consistency that I show up with on a day to day basis. And now you've worked with me and you see I'm pretty darn consistent. Right? So that's it. And you have to understand that. And you got to start that before the people come. The people ain't coming yet. You haven't earned that right yet. Okay? But they see you showing up for the classes, they see you showing up on social, they see you showing up just consistently.
Greg Todd [00:31:32]:
You don't have to be crazy, but just showing there's consistent consistency in your behavior, that's what you show up for, not for the 75 likes or whatever the hell it is. Okay. All right. Anyways, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being on. We appreciate you. And let's do a part two.
Greg Todd [00:31:50]:
How about that? We'll see where you're at in six months. Cool. Nice. All right. Awesome. Okay. Thank you.
Michelle Walker [00:31:55]:
Thanks.
Greg Todd [00:31:58]:
You hear it? Okay. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you. Good job. Good job. Good job.
Michelle Walker [00:32:04]:
Thank you.
Greg Todd [00:32:05]:
Appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was fantastic. Fantastic. When will we get the episode out? Maybe a week, two or something like that.
Michelle Walker [00:32:11]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:32:12]:
Okay. So what we'll do is when we have the episode ready, we will give you a couple sound bites from it, and then you could put it on your. Your platform as well. And, yeah, we should be good. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate.
