Mind Your OT Business

In this solo episode, I review my 2019 goals achieved, share my audacious goals for 2020, and go inside-the-books of my business finances for 2018 versus 2019. (Yep- my real numbers in my business bank account!)

Holistic entrepreneurship means that we bring our WHOLE selves to our businesses. Physical, spiritual, personal, relational, professional, educational goals are ALL relevant to our entrepreneurship. So I'm talking about them all in this episode. :)

Physical Goals Met:

Moved everyday! (minus 2 days when I was sick) Back squatted 106#!! :)

Spiritual Goals Met:

Journeying with my faith community, learning from the faiths of others.

Nature Connection Goals Met:

I really made a point of getting outdoors every single week into wild nature. At least once a week I went on a hike for exercise. I feel my body telling me when I need nature now!

Also went on TWO epic backpacking trips to beautiful places:

In April, I went to Havasupai Falls with my daughter for a mother-daughter backpacking trip. It was a highlight of my year. And yes, the water really is that blue! No filter!

The harrowing chains to get down the LOOONG and slippery descent to Mooney Falls. My smile is hiding my terror…or can you tell I'm nervous?!

Then in September: 55 miles in 5 days on the North Lake South Lake loop in the high sierras (John Muir Trail country) with my dear friend, Laura Joyce Davis. I had to control myself to only post 2 photos- seriously the most beautiful backpacking trip ever…and the best company. :)

Ok, back to my goals…

Relational/Family Goals Met:

Finally (after 2 years saving!) went on a "real" family vacation to the Caribbean with my sister and her family. SO fun.

Realized I need to prioritize daily time with family in 2020! (see below)

Business Goals Met:

• Wrote & published Therapy in the Great Outdoors- A Start-Up Guide to Nature-Based Pediatric Practice with 44 Kid-Tested Activities.

• Grew Outdoor Kids OT to one more employee (our first COTA!) and added one group per week for a total of 6 weekly groups going now.

• Held the first Therapy in the Great Outdoors Training Retreat in November; filled to capacity with a LOOONNG waitlist now for future trainings!

• Wrote the 100-page ConTiGO (Connection & Transformation in the Great Outdoors) Approach Training Manual for retreat attendees to implement the approach in their own practices.

• Became more active showing up personally on Instagram and Facebook (but still struggle!)

• Started the Mind Your OT Business Podcast in March and did 17 episodes this year. Will be outsourcing some editing and publishing in the coming year to save time!

• Grew my business coaching practice to 5 monthly clients and plan to add 1-2 more in the coming year.

Educational Goals Met:

• Took 25 PhD credits. (8 courses…this was too much!)

• Read A LOT of research about nature and children and OT!

• Continuing to see the PhD as a process of personal transformation and challenging my brain to think critically.

Physical:

• Move everyday!

• Back squat my body weight (~150#)

Spiritual:

• Read literature from other world religions to inform my own faith and learn from others.

Nature Connection:

• Solo backpacking trip. (Scared of this!)

• Backpacking trip to Trinity Alps in Northern CA.

• Wilderness Awareness course in Washington in April.

Relational:

• Continue weekly breakfast date with Jose.

• Make 1:1 time for family; BE AWARE OF WHEN WORK IS TAKING OVER! (this is very important for me cause I love my work)

Business:

• Promote Therapy in the Great Outdoors book more!

• Hold 2 more Therapy in the Great Outdoors Retreat Trainings in May and September 2020.

• Take on 1-2 more business coaching clients per month.

• Do at least 1 MYOTBiz podcast episode per month.

• Be more active on Instagram for OKOT, LinkedIn for promotion of business coaching for OTs and the podcast, be more present as a moderator for my FB group Therapy in the Great Outdoors- Nature-Based Therapy.

• OT Entrepreneurs Summit in May with Trish Williams!

• Create online course for Therapy in the Great Outdoors by August of 2020.

Educational

• Pass my qualifying exams in October of 2020.

• Start pilot research in spring 2020 with OTD students.

• Write article on nature-based therapy for publication.

• Present posters at AOTA. Come find me there and introduce yourself!

Be aware of the accrual vs. the cash-based method of accounting in your business books! I use cash-based. (listen to the longer story in the podcast)

All amounts have been averaged for ease of reporting.

2018: Gross revenue $82,000 - NET revenue $5,000 (6% of gross revenue)

My income 2018 (working very part-time while doing my PhD + teaching): $17,000 pay + $2000 profit first bonus = $19,000

Started using Profit First and You Need a Budget (ynab.com) in mid-2018, which made my income double in 2019…see numbers below!

2019: Gross revenue $161,000 - NET revenue $32,000 (20% of gross revenue)

THIS IS WHAT LOOKING AT YOUR NUMBERS CAN DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS! Almost double your income and increase profit by OVER 200% (12% profit would have been double- a 100% increase, 18% triple- a 200% increase…but we made it to 20%)!

My income 2019 (working part-time still doing PhD and teaching): $24,000 pay + $8000 profit first bonus = $32,000

My audacious income goal next year: $75,000 working part-time 20 hours per week and $200,000 gross revenue for the business.

Here's how we'll do it:

• Keep doing groups at current rates.

• More business coaching.

• 2 more retreats (maybe 3!)

• Income from the online course.

[I'm trying a new thing this episode and produced a full transcript. It is NOT perfectly edited but I am hoping to make the podcast accessible to more people through this format. Please tell me if you use it!]

*****FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*****

Online business ownership is rapidly expanding opportunities for OTs to share our expertise with the world. Meg Proctor, MS, OTR/L is an occupational therapist and autism specialist who has taken her passions and formed a successful online business: Learn Play Thrive. The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism helps occupational therapy practitioners (and others!) understand the unique learning styles of autistic people. (Listen to the podcast to learn why we say "autistic people" and not "people with autism" now! This is new language widely preferred by the autistic community to illustrate that being autistic is NOT a negative thing.)

Besides that, Meg and I discuss:

• How she got started and tested her ideas.

• The set-up and platform for offering online courses.

• Potential ways to structure your online course.

• Why freebies may be realistic to offer at first launch of a course.

• Why working with a business coach is essential (even at significant cost!).

• How she decides how to price her consultative services for therapists

• Social media management

• Working as a mother of 2 young children

• How becoming an expert in a specific niche will give you the ability to meet other practitioners' needs in your online course.

• How you can start small without breaking the bank or wasting a lot of time.

I loved this conversation with Meg and am so thankful for all she is doing for our profession!

You can find her business on Facebook

Or her FREE Facebook group.

Or follow her on Instagram: @learnplaythrive

She also has a special gift for you MYOTB listeners! Use code MYOTB35 to get $35 off her online course The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism during open enrollment in January 2020!

Trish Williams, BA, BHScOT(c) is the super-savvy CEO of Spring OT in Calgary in the province of Alberta, Canada. Spring OT is a multi-disciplinary practice in which OT is the lead service provider. In this LOOONNGG and value-packed conversation with Trish, we discuss and learn:

How she got started with small steps and quickly grew her business.

How we as OTs struggle with being the “lead” in a multi-disciplinary practice.

Business systems she had to put in place as the business grew. (Spoiler alert: TRELLO!)

What Trish did when someone wanted to buy her business

Why your business shouldn’t rely solely on YOU as the business owner.

Why you need to focus on the numbers and understand your business finances.

Why it is OK to charge a fair price for your services or products!

Having a strategic plan as a business owner.

How we can be strategic with our time in learning content to run our businesses and in our social media management as entrepreneurs.

How to get over your insecurity to put your face on your social media accounts (HINT: focus on serving others!)

How and why she started building online content.

How you can structure your business to impact the most people using an ascension model of service delivery, and why this helps you think differently about pricing and packaging services.

Is OT licensure limiting our profession’s reach in online service delivery?

RESOURCES from this episode:

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber*

Trello project management tool*

BizChix podcast episode on Strategic Planning

Katie Read’s blog

Melissa LaPointe’s business consulting and courses

Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller*

Meet Edgar social media scheduler*

MemberVault for online course delivery

*These are affiliate links- at no extra cost to you.

Here’s how to connect with Trish:

Website- www.springot.com

Spring OT on Instagram- @springot

Trish Williams, OT entrepreneur on Instagram- @willever

Follow Spring OT on Facebook

In this episode, I pull back the curtain on how we respond to constructive criticism as business owners, using my own honest reflections on the anonymous feedback I gathered after the Therapy in the Great Outdoors Training Retreat. You'll hear REAL feedback from attendees at the retreat…both the positive AND the negative, cause that's how I roll on this podcast (and in life and business in general). :)

This was my VERY FIRST time planning, hosting, and teaching an in-person retreat for therapists. Overall, the feedback was OVERWHELMINGLY positive. But in this podcast, I'm sharing a lot of the constructive criticism comments so you can hear my thought processes as I reflect on what to do differently next time!

GROWTH MINDSET, PEOPLE!!!!!! It is easy to talk about, HARD to practice. But is the only way forward as a business owner. We NEED to ask our customers for their anonymous feedback, to tell us what they really feel, so we can respond and better serve them.

If you want to check out a great book about growth mindset, Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is the best resource. It is one of my top 10 recommended books for business owners.

And if you're interested in attending a future Therapy in the Great Outdoors Training Retreat, you can fill out the interest form here to be notified when we open registration for 2020 dates in May and September.

Outdoor Swing Activities

Happy fort builders. :)

Reflection time on the beach.

In this action-step filled episode of MYOTBiz, we learn SO MUCH from Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L about his consulting work and his business Rehab U Practice Solutions. Rafael is a true OT, a fount of wisdom about entrepreneurship, and an expert on how to make your business truly serve and KEEP your customers. Plus how your business should serve YOU!

We talk about:

• How he saw a need in the market to start his current business, then listened to the market to adjust as he went.

• How being open to new opportunities and networking on LinkedIn created a whole new side of his consulting work…and introduced him to his current business partners on a new endeavor.

• Creating a self-hosted learning platform for online courses that his business is developing. (I ask a bunch of questions about specifics of this…)

• How to make decisions about spending early in your business.

• How to KEEP customers (patients/clients/whoever you serve in your business!) and why that is EASIER than finding NEW ones!

• Why relationships are central to our lives as business owners.

• Process of care…what happens when a person enters your practice (or a customer engages with your business)?

• How to create conversations during your customer inquiry calls that actually transfer to paying customers)

• The 4 conversations happening on an inquiry call: probitive, qualifying, value, closing.

• Why you should have conversations with customers about their "desired future state."

• Working with a team of people when starting a business…start-up funding, collaboration, etc.

• Why ALL business owners should be considering online revenue streams!!!

• How you can create your business to serve YOU and the life you want as an entrepreneur. (Rather than the opposite: being a slave to your business.)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson

The Business of Expertise by David C. Baker

Win Without Pitching by Blair Enns

(Amazon affiliate links…I'll get like 50 cents or something if you buy through that link, at no extra cost to you.) 😂

Want to connect with Rafael? He has created special resources just for MYOTBiz listeners! Click here to get free resources & downloads plus Rafael's best articles about patient relationships and engagement. Best of all, there's also a link to a free 30-minute consult call with Rafael! These offers are only available through December 31, 2019!

Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us Rafael, for your generosity to our MYOTBiz listeners, and for all you are doing for our occupational therapy profession!

Here's how to connect with Rafi. Business website: https://rehabupracticesolutions.com Twitter handle: @RafaelSalazarII Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RehabUSolutions/ LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelsalazarii/

Check out Rafi's company's PODCAST launching mid-October! The Brighter Futures Podcast will be all about how to build brighter futures for people with developmental disabilities.

Erica Schuppe is the owner of Wild Roots Therapy in Billings, Montana. Her multi-disciplinary practice includes occupational therapists and a counselor who use a team-based approach to support families with children who have experienced trauma. In this episode, we learn how Wild Roots stays sustainable even with a clientele consisting of 80-90% Medicaid clients! Erica shares all about growing her practice and how she feeds her own soul as an OT entrepreneur. In this episode, Erica shares:

• How her experience as a foster and adoptive parent influenced her work as an occupational therapist

• Her training in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics by Dr. Bruce Perry of the Child Trauma Academy

• How she manages a practice taking 80-90% Medicaid clients.

• How you should research what Medicaid will reimburse in your state before you start a private practice.

• How Erica supplements her clinic-based income with presentations, assessments, and consulting.

• How she re-branded her business after many years in private practice as a solopreneur to a whole team under the new name: Wild Roots Therapy in 2018.

• How she chose the name for her business (always a fun story to hear from an entrepreneur!).

• How she doubled her space and her staff within 18 months of re-branding!!

• Communication in a multi-disciplinary office.

• How business coaching has played a role in her development as an entrepreneur.

• Keeping a growth mindset as a business owner.

• Erica's number one tip for getting un-stuck as an entrepreneur.

• How Kate Northrup's book "Do Less" inspired her work.

• Time being your most valuable commodity…and why you should hire people to help you!

• How the intake process works at her practice.

• The benefits and caveats of electronic medical records (EMRs)

• Why you should get your finances in place the second you start your business.

• Why hiring the right people is key in managing a business.

• How to have good boundaries and open-hearted communication with your staff.

• Why being a fieldwork supervisor can generate some of the best employees for your business.

• How you can use the Enneagram to build and balance your team in your business.

You can check out Erica's practice at www.wildrootstherapy.org, follow Wild Roots Therapy on Facebook, or connect with her on Instagram @wildrootstherapy

Thanks for coming on the show Erica and sharing all your wisdom with the MYOTBiz listeners!

This rock-star occupational therapy business owner is building an empire! :)

Kelly Beins is an occupational therapist and owner of Occupational Therapy Consulting, LLC in Frederick, Maryland, and the author of the Ovis the Sheep books that make learning about sensory processing FUN for children and families. She's also working on designing telehealth opportunities for clients and developing online courses in the future too! Kelly shares so much wisdom in this episode about starting and growing her business. Grab your pen and paper, or be prepared to take notes on your phone! We cover the following topics:

• Starting small and being fiscally responsible as you get started

• The importance of personal connections and relationships in business…how Kelly found a publisher for her first book.

• How her idea for her book grew out of her practice and how it solves a problem for parents.

• How her practice always includes parents in their child's treatment sessions in a "parent partnership" model.

• Kelly's expert tips for managing a treatment session with the parent present along with the child and how to manage parent expectations about therapy.

• Kelly's succinct and clear approach to conducting a client intake call that is efficient and effective in booking clients…and how to regain control of an intake call when it is going way too long. :)

• How she rents clinic space for additional revenue.

• What other business ideas she's working on…

• Kelly's wisdom on how to grow your business sustainably (this is around the 50 min mark)

• What Kelly's work week looks like as a successful clinic owner (hint: she block schedules!!! and has structured her schedule to have very minimal direct service responsibilities)

• Kelly's favorite business podcasts and books:

  • The Life Coach School Podcast (love/hate relationship with this one) :)

  • Small Business Boss Podcast

  • Biz Chicks Podcast

  • Anything by John Maxwell for mindset

  • Book: Start with Why by Simon Sinek

  • Book: Good to Great by Jim Collins

  • Book: This I Know by Terry O'Reilly

  • Book: You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

  • Anything by Brene Brown

• The biggest fail-learn Kelly's experienced in her business and how it caused cash flow to suffer and caused stress and what she learned from it.

• Kelly's advice about hiring a good team. Surround yourself with good people!

Thanks for coming on the show and sharing your wisdom with OT business owners, Kelly!

Kelly's clinic website, Occupational Therapy Consulting, LLC: https://www.kellybeins.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OTCfrederick/

Kelly's Instagram: @kbeinsOT

Ovis' webpage: https://www.otc-frederick.com/ovis-the-sheep/

Ovis' facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OvisHasTrouble/

This was my first impromptu solo episode where I share an epiphany I had in a random conversation with my sister about sacrificing as an entrepreneur in order to grow your business.

Delaying immediate gratification does NOT have to feel like a sacrifice if you keep the end goal in mind! Mindset matters.

Cheers to your growth and success as an entrepreneur!

BRADLEY WILLIAMS: ADVENTURING INTO NATURE-BASED THERAPY

Bradley Williams is an occupational therapist in Adelaide, Australia. His fabulous business, Naturally Gathered, offers pop-up nature playgroups for children and families. Brad is also venturing into offering nature-based occupational therapy services for children, and he had some questions he wanted to ask me about business start-up of a nature-based OT practice. So OF COURSE I asked him to come on the podcast! And he graciously agreed. You'll hear about Brad's nature-based practice, and then we turned the tables and he asked me a bunch of questions. I hope our conversation may help all of YOU who are interested in nature-based therapy!

Here's the rundown of some of what we covered!

• The three goals of Brad's nature-based business, Naturally Gathered

• How to slowly start your business on the side of your current work

• How to focus in your nature-based therapy work

• Why you need a theoretical framework for nature-based therapy

• Tips for screening kids for group placement in nature-based therapy groups

• Why a mix of kids with different needs in a group is best. (Look up Pamela Wolfberg's research on Integrated Playgroups for children with autism.)

• I again mention Occupational Adaptation theory...my favorite OT theory because it applies to all of LIFE!

• The assessment and intake process at Outdoor Kids OT

• Why you need to focus on 1-2 goals for children who are in nature-based OT small-groups

• Goal-attainment scaling- why it helps you focus on the ONE most important thing you're addressing in therapy

• Liability insurance for nature-based therapy (it's a "community setting" everyone!)

• How to help parents understand healthy risk-taking in nature play

• Why training is valuable when starting out in nature-based therapy

• How to get awesome, engaged volunteers to help you with your nature-based therapy groups

• Brad recommends Seth Godin's books on marketing- focusing on the customer and offering VALUE to them. (Why it isn't bad to make money while serving people!)

• Last tip: I highly recommend Meet Edgar for social media management. It frees up SO much time as a business owner, especially in the early days of managing it all on your own! Use this referral link to get $10 off of Meet Edgar.

Go learn about Naturally Gathered and read Brad's blog- good stuff there! www.naturallygathered.com.au

You can also connect with Brad on Facebook and Instagram @naturallygathered

OT Entrepreneurs! This was the BEST interview. Sooooo many great business tips from Mandy Chamberlain of Seniors Flourish and the Learning Lab! I simply can't list how much I learned from this rock-star online OT business owner.

Here's a run-down of what we discussed:

5:00 The start-up story of Seniors Flourish

6:20 Mandy dispels the online business myth of "if you build it, they will come!"

7:10 How building a relationship online and supporting others can boost your business…and possibly make you start podcasting. Don't be afraid to just try! Everyone has doubt in new endeavors!

10:45 Why you must figure out who your audience is, speak to them, and know where they hang out on social media.

13:40 Amy Porterfield's trainings were helpful.

16:50 How Mandy started the membership site by focusing on connections, building an email list, and SERVING OTHERS. LISTEN to the questions your customers are asking when you are first starting out! Be open to feedback, growth, and change.

23:40 Pricing- why she decided to price her membership site at a low rate for the extremely high value it offers her customers. [Laura oohs and aahs over the site at this point and encourages everyone to go check it out. Crazy deal for the value she offers. Unbelievable!]

29:00 She built her own website!!!!!!! Mapped it out on paper first and then taught herself to code and used Wordpress plug-ins to design what she wanted.

31:09 "The Membership Guys" podcast was helpful.

32:20 How you can build your business by thinking about who you're serving and what THEY want.

35:00 Why doing online business is STILL WORK (ie, not "passive" income).

36:15 How Mandy organizes her time and tasks each week.

37:14 Why entrepreneurs truly love working and have a tendency to over-work.

39:00 Mandy spills the beans that she hates marketing. [Laura's comment: What?? But she's SO good at it!]

40:00 Mandy's marketing: email lists, free webinar with an offer at the end, FB lives, "challenges", Instagram. (Focus on connection!)

42:15 The webinar that didn't go as planned…and what Mandy learned from it.

45:06 Discussion about email funnels

48:15 Mandy gives tips for doing Facebook Live.

50:25 Why you should let people see behind the scenes of your business on social media. Get outside of your comfort zone!

51:45 Tips for scheduling Facebook Live [Laura's comment: I gotta start doing these!]

53:45 Why you may not need a super pretty logo and website…

56:40 Why you should take one small step and just do it!

57:45 Why you should listen to your customer and hold your own ideas loosely.

59:45 The one thing that most improved Mandy's effectiveness as a business owner.

My favorite quote from the interview: "It's those connections with people that get lost sometimes because we're in business mode…it really comes down to serving from the heart…really trying to be a good businesswoman…serving my clients…and being true to myself."

I love Mandy. I was a fan of hers before this interview but now I just feel connected to the heart behind her business. Don't you?! After the interview I found out she has like 13,000 followers on Instagram. So now I feel like I need to have her back on to do another episode JUST about Instagram and OT business!

Connect with Mandy at www.seniorsflourish.com and check out the Learning Lab! You can also find her on Instagram @seniorsflourish and Facebook.

Pick an action item from this episode! I'm going to try a FB Live (am terrified but I'm going to do it!)…what small step are you going to take? Comment below in one sentence or less!

P.S. If you're looking for information about the Therapy in the Great Outdoors retreat that I announced at the end of this episode, click here.