Welcome to the latest #FemaleFridays episode! My guest this week on the Female emPOWERED podcast is Jackie Fenton, physical therapist and owner of Bright Heart Yoga Studio in the Bay Area of California. Currently, Bright Heart Yoga Studio offers yoga classes and PT services in private and group settings completely online.

Bright Heart Yoga Studio, pre- and post-pandemic

Yoga made a deep impact on Jackie’s life. It’s affected how she moves and how she deals with pain. Jackie wanted to create a cash-based practice that offered the healing powers of both physical therapy and yoga to other people.

Enter Bright Heart Yoga Studio. At their initial brick-and-mortar location, Jackie hosted several small yoga classes per day and provided cash-based physical therapy services between classes. Now, Bright Heart is completely virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jackie hopes to have a new physical studio space by January 2022.

One of the topics we discussed is working in a cash-based practice rather than an insurance-based clinic. Why do physical therapists and other practitioners favor cash-based services? Here’s how the experience differs between the two for patients. 

At an insurance-based clinic, your time and options are limited. You may not be able to choose your provider, and you’d only get about 15 to 30 minutes with the physical therapist. You’d also likely work with an aide while your PT helps another patient in the same room. 

At a cash-based practice like Bright Heart Yoga Studio, you can work directly with your chosen physical therapist for longer periods. That’s about 45 minutes with Jackie, which lets her get to know you better and help you heal more quickly.

Jackie and I cover a lot of great topics, including her challenges as a business owner, what the future of Bright Heart Yoga Studio will look like, how growing her team has helped her and the business, and much more. Tune in to the full episode to hear it all!

In this episode we discuss:

• What Bright Heart Yoga Studio looked like prior to the pandemic and the difference between insurance-based and cash-based practices
• Jackie’s caseload and experiences working in a traditional insurance-based clinic (and how draining paperwork can be)
• What Jackie found challenging or surprising while running her own business before COVID-19, including delegating to others
• How Bright Heart Yoga Studio evolved during the pandemic and how it will change to prepare for life after the pandemic
• Creating processes and batching tasks to organize and streamline time
• Who Jackie brought onto the team and how it’s impacted her running the business
• How changes to the business have affected Jackie’s personal life and what wins she’s most proud of
• Rapid-fire question time! Plus, where you can find Jackie and Bright Heart Yoga Studio online

Follow Jackie on Instagram and Facebook at @brightheartyogastudio!

Looking for advice and resources to help you market and grow your clinic or client based business? Visit my website or follow me on Instagram!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Bright Heart Yoga Studio

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Interested in being a guest on a future Female Friday episode? Email me at [email protected]!