Episode Summary

Doc Danny breaks down a major shift in the cash-based business model: moving from visit-based packages to outcome-based offers. After 10 months of testing across dozens of clinics, the data shows higher conversion rates, stronger continuity, and a significant increase in average visit value.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why traditional visit packages create drop-off and unused visits
• The difference between selling sessions and selling outcomes
• How outcome-based offers increased average visit value by 26%
• Why completion drives continuity and lifetime value
• How to align prognosis, biology, and patient goals into one clear offer
• What operational friction to expect when making the shift

Key Takeaway

Patients value outcomes and time saved, not session counts. When you sell duration and results instead of visits, compliance improves, continuity increases, and your business becomes more stable.

Technology Spotlight

Want to stay fully engaged with patients instead of buried in documentation? Try Claire free for 7 days and see how an AI scribe built for physical therapists removes the documentation burden instantly.

Free Resource

Ready to go from part-time to full-time in your cash practice? Join the free 5-Day Challenge.

Connect

• Physical Therapy Biz
• PT Entrepreneur Podcast

Episode Summary

Doc Danny shares the single most beneficial exercise PT Biz ran at their staff retreat: a team SWOT analysis. Learn how to use strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to uncover blind spots, improve hiring, and align your team around smarter decisions.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why documentation burnout is one of the biggest frustrations for clinicians
• How a movement-first retreat cadence improves focus, creativity, and team connection
• What a SWOT analysis is and how to run it with your staff
• Why you need team members who see the world differently than you do
• How to spot alignment themes your clinic should prioritize immediately
• How this exercise strengthens culture by making staff feel heard and valued

How to Run a SWOT Analysis With Your Team

1. Have everyone write down Strengths. Share answers, discuss differences, and note where there is strong agreement.
2. Repeat for Weaknesses. Look for blind spots, bottlenecks, and internal issues the owner may not see day to day.
3. Repeat for Opportunities. Identify growth plays, niche expansion, and improvements that could create leverage.
4. Repeat for Threats. Surface risks early so you can plan around them instead of reacting later.

Key Takeaway

A great team is not built by hiring people exactly like you. You need diverse perspectives to reduce blind spots, balance optimism with risk awareness, and make stronger decisions as you scale.

Technology Spotlight

Clinicians hate notes for a reason. Want to remove most of your documentation time? Try Claire free for 7 days and see how an AI scribe trained for physical therapists helps you stay present with patients and get your time back.

Free Resource

Want a clear plan to go from part-time to full-time in your cash practice? Join the free 5-Day Challenge.

Connect

• Physical Therapy Biz
• PT Entrepreneur Podcast

Episode Summary

In this episode, Doc Danny shares why cash-based physical therapy entrepreneurship is entering a powerful new phase. From his upcoming presentations at CSM to the broader evolution of the profession, Danny breaks down how business models have changed, why scalability is now real, and what this means for clinicians who want more autonomy, impact, and long-term opportunity.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why distraction during documentation hurts rapport and outcomes, and how AI scribes can fix it
• What Doc Danny is presenting at CSM and why cash-based models are gaining momentum
• How starting a clinic inside a gym can lower risk and accelerate early growth
• Why cash-based practices are more scalable today than ever before
• How entrepreneurship is becoming a larger part of the physical therapy profession
• Why specialization and niche expertise benefit both clinicians and patients
• What clinicians must nail in the early phase of business to build something sustainable
• How non-traditional career paths are opening new doors inside and outside the clinic

What's Changing in the Profession

Entrepreneurship in physical therapy is still a small percentage of the profession, but it's growing fast. More clinicians are choosing self-employment, niche practices, and performance-based models that prioritize one-on-one care, long-term outcomes, and lifestyle flexibility. According to Doc Danny, this shift isn't slowing down.

Why This Matters

Patients want personalized care. Clinicians want autonomy and fulfillment. Cash-based models sit at the intersection of both. This episode explains why now is a unique moment for physical therapists to build meaningful businesses that create real enterprise value.

Technology Spotlight

Want to be fully present with your patients instead of stuck in your EMR? Try Claire free for 7 days and see how an AI scribe built specifically for physical therapists can reduce documentation time and improve patient outcomes.

Key Takeaway

You don't need to have your entire career figured out today. The skills you build as a clinician and business owner are transferable, powerful, and increasingly valuable. Focus on nailing the fundamentals, stay open to opportunity, and let the path evolve.

Free Resource

Thinking about going full-time in your cash practice? Join the free 5-Day Part-Time to Full-Time Challenge and build a clear, realistic plan to replace your income and take action.

Connect

• Physical Therapy Biz
• PT Entrepreneur Podcast

Episode Summary

In this episode, Doc Danny shares a conversation between Rainmaker coach Jaxie Meth and Mastermind member Holly Navarro. Holly walks through how she built a cash-based practice in a narrow niche (dance medicine), found her first treatment space, grew through community workshops, and scaled into hiring and a standalone clinic location.

Try Claire (AI Scribe for PTs)

Want to save your clinicians hours every week and increase capacity without burning them out? Start a free 7-day trial of Claire .

What You'll Learn

• How Holly built a real practice around a "small" niche and why narrow can scale
• What it looked like to start while life was chaotic and still keep momentum
• How she landed her first space through a simple conversation and community connection
• Why workshops and "captured audience" events worked to drive early patient volume
• How to build workshop follow-up so parents actually see the offer (waivers + email drip)
• When it makes sense to move from a borrowed space into your own standalone location
• What changed when she stopped thinking small and started building for a bigger life goal
• Hiring lessons, including why she hired a marketer first and then brought on two PTs

Key Highlights from Holly's Story

• Starting point: 10 years in a small private practice, built a dancer following, ran a side hustle for years, and reached a point of misalignment with leadership and direction.
• First space: A patient offered a gym space, which gave her a "good enough" setup to build traction without big overhead.
• Workshops as growth engine: Injury prevention workshops for studios, then more specific body-part workshops (ankle, turnout, etc). She charges studios for dance workshops and lets them decide whether to charge dancers.
• Parent follow-up system: Uses waivers to capture parent contact info, then an email drip sequence with a clear offer and reminders.
• Standalone clinic: Moved into a dedicated space once demand grew and the original setup capped expansion. Key lesson: don't think too small, you may outgrow a space faster than you expect.
• Hiring: Hired a marketer to help amplify hiring and awareness, then hired two PTs (including someone she trusted from a prior clinic).
• Programs: Rainmaker built the confidence and structure to start. Mastermind brought systems, hiring, and repeatable scale.

Workshop Pricing Notes (From the Conversation)

• Dance workshops: typically charged to the studio (example shared: $400 for 90 minutes)
• General workshops (for building a new clinician's schedule): may be free or low-cost to increase attendance and buy-in
• For youth: capture parent email via waiver and follow up automatically, because flyers rarely make it home

Free Resource

Want a clear plan to go from part-time to full-time in your cash practice? Join the free 5-Day Challenge.

Featured Guest

Holly Navarro Elevation Physical Therapy (Dance Medicine) — New Jersey Follow: @elevation.physical.therapy

Connect

• Physical Therapy Biz
• PT Entrepreneur Podcast

Episode Summary

Cash-based clinics live and die by clear communication, confidence, and value. In this episode, Doc Danny breaks down four red flags that your staff clinician has a money mindset problem and how it quietly crushes conversions, plan-of-care adherence, retention, and clinic revenue.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why money mindset issues are common in healthcare and how they show up in cash-based care
• How staff clinicians unknowingly make affordability decisions for patients
• The damage caused by apologizing for pricing and losing authority
• Why downgrading plans without clinical justification creates hidden revenue loss and burnout
• How "made-up stories" about a patient's finances sabotage recommendations and outcomes
• What to coach your staff on so they sell clinically appropriate plans with confidence

The 4 Signs Your Staff Clinician Has a Money Mindset Problem

1. They decide what a patient can afford instead of what the patient needs. Making assumptions based on someone's job, car, or appearance leads to under-prescribing care and poor outcomes. Start with the diagnosis and prognosis, then let the patient decide.
2. They apologize for pricing. If your clinician says "I know this is expensive," they've already surrendered authority. Your pricing should feel normal because the value is real. Confidence transfers.
3. They downgrade plans without clinical justification. Selling a smaller package and stretching it out usually means more unpaid work between visits, slower progress, lower clinic revenue, and higher clinician burnout. Recommend the right plan first.
4. They create stories about a patient's finances. "They have three kids, money must be tight" is not clinical reasoning. You don't know a patient's priorities, household income, or what they value most.

Technology Spotlight

Want your clinicians fully present with patients instead of clicking through notes? Try Claire free for 7 days and see how an AI scribe built for physical therapists can reduce documentation time and improve the patient experience.

Key Takeaway

Your clinician's job is to prescribe the plan that matches the diagnosis and prognosis, not to pre-negotiate on the patient's behalf. When staff confidence rises, conversions rise, retention rises, and the whole clinic scales faster.

Free Resource

Want to go from part-time to full-time in your cash practice with a clear plan? Join the free 5-Day Challenge.

Connect

• Physical Therapy Biz
• PT Entrepreneur Podcast

The $250,000 Asset Sitting in Your Clinic Right Now

Most clinic owners work nonstop to bring in new patients while completely ignoring the most valuable asset they already have. Their past patients.

In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Danny explains how past clients can quietly represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recurring revenue and why most clinics never tap into it.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why recurring revenue is the most valuable dollar in your clinic
• How past patients can generate predictable, stable income
• The math behind a $250,000 recurring revenue opportunity
• How one clinic built a six-figure program without ads
• What to offer past patients so they actually come back

Why Past Patients Are Your Hidden Asset

Most clinics have seen hundreds or even thousands of patients over the years. Many of those patients had great outcomes, trust the providers, and would happily return if given the right reason.

Yet most clinics never follow up unless someone gets injured again.

The Power of Recurring Revenue

Recurring revenue creates stability. It allows owners to plan staffing, manage overhead, and grow without constant stress.

Unlike the referral-eval-discharge model pushed by insurance, cash-based clinics can design ongoing services that fit patient needs and provider strengths.

A Real-World Example

Danny shares how one clinic launched a small group training and movement program by reaching out only to past patients.

The first cohort filled immediately. A second group followed shortly after. No ads. No cold outreach.

That single program now generates between $200,000 and $250,000 in gross revenue for one clinic, with members staying an average of nearly three years.

Why This Works

• Past patients already trust you
• They know your quality of care
• You understand their history and goals
• They are far easier to re-engage than new leads

What You Can Offer

Recurring services do not have to be complex. They might include:

• Small group training or movement classes
• Monthly check-ins or tune-ups
• Ongoing strength, mobility, or longevity programs
• Remote coaching or programming

The key is matching what you are good at with what your patients actually want.

Create the Time to Think Strategically

Many owners never build these programs because they are buried in documentation and admin work.

Claire helps remove that burden so you can focus on patients and business growth.

Try Claire free for 7 days

Next Steps

• Review your past patient list
• Identify patients who had strong outcomes
• Test one simple recurring offer
• Start with direct outreach before ads

If you are working toward going full time in your own practice, PT Biz offers a free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge.

Sign up here: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

How Big Clinical Months Can Quietly Wreck Your Cash Flow

Big months feel like a win. More patients, more prepaid packages, more cash hitting the account. But if you do not understand how to manage that cash, those same big months can put you in a financial bind later in the year.

In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Danny breaks down why prepaid revenue creates false confidence, how owners accidentally drain their reserves, and the simple rule that keeps your clinic financially stable.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why prepaid services are not the same thing as earned revenue
• How reactivation campaigns can create future cash flow problems
• The most common mistake owners make after a big revenue month
• Why your clinic can look busy but feel broke
• The minimum cash buffer every clinic should hold

The Problem With Big Revenue Spikes

Danny walks through a common scenario. A clinic normally doing $20,000 per month runs a strong reactivation campaign or sees a surge in new patients. That month jumps to $50,000, much of it prepaid.

On paper, it looks like massive growth. In reality, much of that cash represents services that have not been delivered yet.

Why Owners Get Burned Later

The mistake happens when owners take large distributions during those spike months. As patients return to use prepaid visits, monthly collections drop. The clinic suddenly looks like it is underperforming, even though the schedule is full.

Danny shares that he made this exact mistake early on and had to move personal money back into the business to stabilize cash flow.

The Rule That Fixes This

Before distributing extra cash, clinics should hold at least three months of overhead in the business account.

If your overhead is $12,000 per month, that means keeping $36,000 in cash on hand. Some owners temporarily hold even more after large prepaid months until things normalize.

Prepaid Does Not Mean Earned

The mindset shift is simple but critical. Prepaid revenue is not truly earned until the visits happen.

When you treat prepaid cash like future obligations instead of profit, cash flow becomes predictable instead of stressful.

Why Time and Clarity Matter

Cash flow mistakes often come from overwhelm. When owners are buried in documentation and admin work, there is no space to think strategically.

Claire helps remove that burden so you can stay present with patients and actually manage your business.

Try Claire free for 7 days

Next Steps

• Review your last big month and identify prepaid revenue
• Calculate three months of overhead and protect that cash
• Stop tying distributions to single-month spikes
• Build systems that create clarity instead of chaos

If you are still working toward going full time in your own clinic, PT Biz offers a free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge to help you build a clear plan.

Sign up here: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

The 80/20 Principle of Running a Cash-Based PT Clinic

In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Dr. Danny Matta breaks down the 80/20 principle for cash-based clinic owners and simplifies what you should track if you want to grow past yourself. Instead of obsessing over dozens of metrics, Danny argues there are three "dollar productive" KPIs that drive almost all clinic growth. He also explains why provider schedules either snowball fast or stall for a year and how to shorten that ramp from 12+ months to around six months with the right focus.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• How Claire can save staff clinicians hours each week and translate that time into meaningful revenue
• What the 80/20 principle means inside a cash-based clinic
• The concept of "dollar productive activities" and why it matters
• The three KPIs Danny thinks drive the majority of clinic growth
• Why the owner should usually handle discovery calls during growth phases
• Benchmarks for conversion rates at different stages of scale
• Why recurring services are the "sneaky" variable that stabilizes schedules
• How to get a new provider productive faster so clinic growth compounds

Claire: Turn Saved Time Into Revenue Without Burning Out Your Team

Danny opens with a simple math breakdown clinic owners can understand quickly.

Time is valuable, for you and for your staff clinicians. PT Biz has found that Claire, their AI scribe, saves staff clinicians about six hours per week on average.

Even if you only reclaim half of that time and convert it into patient care, that is roughly three additional one-hour visits per week per clinician.

Example Danny gives:

• 3 extra visits per week
• $200 average visit rate
• $600 more per week per clinician
• Roughly $30,000 per year in additional revenue per clinician

The point is not to overload your team. The point is to use technology to remove the documentation burden so you can increase capacity without increasing burnout.

Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai

The 80/20 Principle in a Cash Practice

The 80/20 principle is the idea that 20% of your actions lead to 80% of your results. Danny applies this directly to clinic growth.

When your clinic is small, it is easy to get busy doing "everything" and tracking a long list of numbers. The problem is most of those activities do not move the business.

Instead, Danny recommends narrowing your focus to the most "dollar productive" activities. In other words, the actions and metrics that actually drive revenue and schedule utilization.

The Goal: Get a Provider Productive Fast

Danny frames the big objective clearly.

You want to get your own schedule full enough to hire someone. Then you want any provider you hire to get productive as fast as possible.

In PT Biz's world, once a provider reaches roughly 80 to 90 visits per month, it tends to snowball into 100+ pretty quickly. But getting to that point can take some clinics over a year.

If you can shorten that ramp to six months, your growth compounds. In a year, you might be able to hire two people instead of one, because each provider becomes profitable faster.

The Three Dollar-Productive KPIs

Danny says there are three key metrics that drive the majority of growth in a cash-based clinic. Each one represents a drop-off point that can either accelerate growth or quietly crush it.

1) New Patient Volume and Discovery Call Conversion

Many owners only track "how many evals we have." Danny says you need to go one step back and track conversion from lead to evaluation.

There is often a major drop-off between someone becoming a lead and actually booking an evaluation. This is usually happening on discovery calls.

Benchmarks Danny shares:

• During growth, aim for 8 to 10 new patients per provider per month
• Once stable, new patient volume can drop closer to 5 per month
• Discovery call to eval conversion should be 70%+

He also makes a strong recommendation: during growth phases, the owner should handle discovery calls.

Why? In many clinics, admins convert around 45% to 50%. Owners often convert 80% to 90% because they carry authority and can handle objections better.

Danny gives an example:

• 20 discovery calls at 50% conversion = 10 evals
• 20 discovery calls at 80% conversion = 16 evals

That gap can be the difference between a provider staying empty and a provider getting busy quickly.

He also points out that owners sometimes resist this because it feels like a step backward, but the time requirement is smaller than most people assume. If you have 20 calls at 20 minutes each, that is under 10 hours per month and it can dramatically impact growth.

2) Evaluation to Plan of Care Conversion

The second KPI is how many evaluations convert into a plan of care.

When people do not commit to a plan of care, Danny says many still come back a few times, often around three visits, until symptoms improve and then they disappear. That creates unpredictable revenue and inconsistent schedules.

Plan-of-care conversion makes volume and revenue more predictable.

Benchmarks Danny shares:

• Owner: 70% conversion from eval to plan of care
• Staff providers: 60% conversion is a strong benchmark at scale

He emphasizes that this requires quality control and training. Staff clinicians need to be comfortable with diagnosis, prognosis, and presenting a clear plan. Otherwise close rates drift and schedules stall.

3) Recurring Services After Plan of Care

Danny calls this the sneaky variable that people forget, but it can make the biggest difference in schedule stability.

Hiring a clinician is usually a net negative for the business at first. You are paying salary, taxes, and benefits while they are still ramping up.

What stabilizes and compounds a provider schedule is recurring volume. The goal is that roughly 40% of plan-of-care patients transition into some type of recurring service after discharge.

Why this matters:

• Recurring visits fill a predictable chunk of the schedule
• New patient volume no longer has to carry the whole load
• Providers get to work with people they enjoy long term
• It is mentally easier than constant evaluations

Danny also explains why this is often hard for staff clinicians.

• They may feel uncomfortable "selling" ongoing support because they never did it in insurance clinics
• They may not know what to do clinically once a plan of care ends

So this requires two things: education on the clinical delivery of recurring services and training on how to present it confidently.

Put It Together: How to Grow Faster Without Tracking Everything

Danny's bigger point is that clinic owners often get lost in too many tasks and too many numbers.

If you simplify down to these three KPIs and train your team around them, your odds of building provider schedules faster go up dramatically:

• Discovery call conversion (lead to eval)
• Eval to plan-of-care conversion
• Plan-of-care to recurring conversion

When those are strong, growth compounds. You hire faster, providers get productive faster, and you get to choose what you want the clinic to become instead of being stuck trying to "just get busy."

Resources Mentioned

• Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai
• Talk with a PT Biz advisor: https://vip.physicaltherapybiz.com/discovery-call
• Join the free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

Longevity, Cash PT, and Skating Where the Puck Is Going

In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Doc Danny talks about why he keeps coming back to one big theme: longevity. He looks at how the market around proactive health, functional medicine, and long-term performance is exploding and why cash-based clinics are perfectly positioned to play a major role. If you want to move beyond "fix the injury and discharge" and build an ongoing longevity offer, this episode lays out the opportunity and the mindset behind it.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why patient experience is a competitive edge in cash-based practices
• How Claire gives you an operational advantage your patients can actually feel
• Why Danny has always tried to "skate where the puck is going" in healthcare
• How cash-based PT went from rare to common in a decade
• Why functional medicine and longevity clinics are booming
• The role PTs can play as movement-focused, accountability-driven "quarterbacks"
• How one training partner's transformation turned into a walking case study
• Why generational health change makes this work bigger than a single patient
• Ways to start building or partnering into a longevity offer inside your clinic

Claire: The Patient-Experience Edge in a Cash Practice

Danny opens by talking about what really matters in a cash-based clinic: patient experience. When people are paying out of pocket, they notice everything.

He makes a simple comparison:

• While your competitors step out mid-session to catch up on notes, you stay fully engaged.
• While they stay late at the clinic finishing documentation, you are following up with patients and planning their next visits.

That is the competitive edge Claire gives you. Claire is PT Biz's AI scribe, trained specifically for physical therapists. It handles your documentation instantly in the background, so your time and attention stay on your patient, not on your EMR.

The result:

• Better in-room experience
• Better retention and follow-up
• Smoother, more efficient operations

Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai

Skating Where the Puck Is Going

Danny has always tried to pay attention to where health and wellness are headed, not just where they are today.

Back in 2014, when he and his wife opened Athlete's Potential in Atlanta, cash-based PT clinics were rare. He only knew of one other in the city, but he saw more and more of them popping up on the West Coast, especially in California. That was his signal that a trend was forming.

Fast forward more than a decade and there are now dozens of cash-based clinics in Atlanta alone. Many of them are true businesses with teams, multiple locations, and the kind of systems that support seven-figure revenue and even sales to private equity or hospital groups.

That bet — skating to where the puck was going — paid off.

The Next Wave: Longevity and Proactive Health

Now, Danny sees a similar wave building around longevity and proactive healthcare.

He shares the story of a training partner he has worked out with for the past couple of years. Together they have tracked:

• Blood panels year over year
• Body composition with tools like InBody
• Sleep and recovery data using wearables like Whoop

The changes in that friend's biomarkers, physical capacity, and day-to-day energy have been dramatic. Friends who have known him for years almost do not recognize how much healthier and more capable he is.

That kind of transformation is exactly what more people are starting to want. And the broader market is responding.

Functional Medicine and Longevity Are Booming

Danny points to the rapid growth of functional medicine, lifestyle medicine, and longevity-focused services as a sign this is not a fad.

He has seen:

• Naturopathic and functional medicine clinics expanding quickly
• Providers leaving hospital systems to start proactive, integrative practices
• High-end gyms and programs charging tens of thousands per year for bundled health, testing, training, and recovery

When he first looked for a functional medicine provider in Atlanta, there was one very expensive option. Today there are multiple. Even family members of his who were deeply rooted in traditional medical systems have shifted into functional and lifestyle medicine because they want to help people earlier, not just when they show up critically ill.

The PT's Role in the Longevity Ecosystem

Danny is clear: he is not saying physical therapists should try to become functional medicine doctors.

Instead, he sees a natural lane where PTs can win:

• Movement and musculoskeletal health experts
• Accountability partners who help people actually implement changes
• Educators who can translate research and trends into safe, practical steps

He has already tested this in small ways at Athlete's Potential — reviewing blood panels, talking through sleep data, adjusting training, and updating exercise programs over months and years as patients move from "out of pain" to "performing and staying healthy."

For some people, that relationship has lasted for years, shifting from acute rehab to long-term physical and lifestyle coaching.

Blue Ocean: Ongoing Longevity Coaching for the Right People

Danny describes this longevity space as a "blue ocean" for the right clinics:

• There are more and more people who want proactive help with their health.
• There are relatively few trustworthy, movement-focused providers offering it in a structured way.

He draws a line between evidence-based functional and lifestyle medicine providers and more fringe offerings that are heavy on hype and light on science. A clinical background, understanding of research, and experience with musculoskeletal care give PTs a strong foundation to cut through the noise for their patients.

And you do not have to do it alone. You can:

• Build your own longevity-style continuity offer inside your clinic, or
• Partner with functional medicine or lifestyle medicine providers and stay focused on movement, strength, and physical capacity.

Generational Health Change

One of the most powerful parts of Danny's story is the ripple effect he has seen in his training partner's life.

By changing his own habits — training, sleep, stress management, nutrition — that friend has also influenced his entire family and friend group. Kids see what their parents do and assume it is normal. Friends see what someone has done for their health and start asking questions.

Danny calls this "generational health change." You are not just helping one person feel better. You are changing what feels normal for the people around them, including their kids.

From "Your Knee Feels Better" to "What Do You Want Life to Look Like at 80?"

So what does this look like in a practical way inside your clinic?

Danny suggests starting with a simple shift in conversation once an injury is under control:

• Talk about how long they want to be functional and independent.
• Ask what they want life to look like in their 70s and 80s.
• Use the older adults you have seen on both ends of the spectrum as examples.

From there, you can start to build ongoing support — programming, check-ins, movement testing, and education — that helps them move toward that long-term vision instead of just away from short-term pain.

Is Longevity a Fit for Your Clinic?

Danny is not saying every clinic has to add a longevity offer. If you like what you are doing now and your business is healthy, that is okay.

But he does believe this is where a big part of the market is heading. People are more aware, more curious, and more willing to invest in staying capable longer. For clinics that want to play in that space, now is the time to start paying attention and experimenting.

Resources Mentioned

• Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai
• Talk with a PT Biz advisor about your clinic and offers: https://vip.physicaltherapybiz.com/discovery-call
• Join the free PT Biz Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

The One Thing Filter: How to Make Better Decisions as Your Clinic Grows

In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Doc Danny shares a simple but powerful idea for clinic owners: pick one core outcome your business exists to create and use it as a filter for every major decision. As your team grows, choices get more complex — what to say yes to, what to ignore, who to hire, what projects to start. Danny breaks down how to choose your "one thing," why money has to be part of it, and how aligning your team around that filter makes leadership easier and your business more stable.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why documentation is the #1 satisfaction killer for many clinicians — and how Claire can remove most of it
• Why early-stage goals are simple (replace your income) and what changes once you get past survival
• The "what race are you running?" analogy and how it exposes mismatched decisions
• How to decide what you actually want your business to look like long term
• Why "no money, no mission" matters, even for mission-driven clinic owners
• How PT Biz landed on its own "one thing": helping clients make more money in their clinics
• How to use a single filter to decide on hires, con-ed, software, space, and new projects
• How to get your whole team making decisions through the same lens instead of waiting on you

Claire: Stop Letting Notes Crush Your Day

Danny opens by talking about satisfaction surveys in our profession. Over and over, clinicians say the same thing: they hate writing notes. It is the part of the day that makes them want to quit, and it is the last thing they want to do when they get home.

Claire is the AI scribe PT Biz built specifically for physical therapists. Think of it like having a meticulous student in the corner, capturing the details and drafting your notes so you can stay locked in on your patient.

• Trained on physical therapy workflows and language
• Drafts notes for you so you are not catching up after hours
• Helps you remove most of your documentation time and get your evenings back

Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai

From Survival Mode to Strategy

Early on, business decisions are simple. Your goal is clear: replace your job income so you can safely support yourself and your family. You are willing to work long hours and say yes to almost anything that moves revenue in the right direction.

Once that need is met, the decisions get harder. Do you stay small? Do you grow? How big? What kind of life are you actually trying to build around this business?

Danny points out that most owners never slow down to answer those questions. They are "jumping out of the plane and building the parachute on the way down," chasing whatever looks like opportunity without checking if it fits the life they want.

What Race Are You Actually Running?

To explain the problem, Danny uses an endurance analogy.

• Training for a 5k is very different from training for a marathon.
• Training for a 100-mile race is different again — in volume, intensity, nutrition, and time.

A lot of owners, he says, are making decisions like they are running a 5k — short-term, fast payoff, quick bursts — when in reality they are trying to run a very long, very hard race. Their decisions and their true goals do not match.

Get Clear on the Life You Want First

Before you can pick a filter, you have to be honest about what you actually want.

• What do you want your business to look like 5–10 years from now?
• How big does it really need to be to support the life you want?
• What matters more to you: growth, time freedom, leadership, selling someday, or staying clinical?

Danny suggests sitting down by yourself, and with your spouse or family if you have one, and talking through the kind of life you are trying to build. You might realize you do not need as big of a practice as you assumed — or that you are thinking too small for what you actually want.

No Money, No Mission

As mission-driven as PTs are, money still matters.

Danny shares a lesson from when his wife ran a military nonprofit in Hawaii. Her boss used to repeat a simple phrase: "No money, no mission." If there is no revenue, there is no staff, no programs, no impact.

Your clinic is a for-profit business, but the same rule applies. Without healthy revenue, you:

• Cannot provide for yourself or your family safely
• Cannot create good jobs with fair pay and benefits
• Cannot support your community or give back meaningfully

Money is simply an exchange of value and trust. You have to get comfortable with it if you want your mission to survive.

PT Biz's "One Thing" Filter

At a recent planning retreat, the PT Biz leadership team spent hours wrestling with a single question:

"What is the most important thing we do for our clients?"

They help people with work–life balance, health, relationships, and dealing with the emotional weight of entrepreneurship. Those things matter. But when they drilled down to the one outcome everything else depends on, the answer was simple:

The purpose of PT Biz is to help clients make more money in their clinics.

When their clients make more money:

• They can hire better, pay better, and create low-volume environments
• They can offer true lateral transfers from hospital or corporate jobs
• They can reduce burnout and build careers that last

So now every major decision runs through one filter:

"Does this help our clients make more money in their clinics?"

How a Single Filter Guides Decisions

Once that filter was clear, decisions got easier. Examples Danny gives:

• Hiring: Does this role help clients grow their revenue or improve their business directly? If not, it is probably a no.
• Education and con-ed: Does this topic help clients run better businesses and increase revenue? If not, it is lower priority.
• Events and guest speakers: Do they add to clients' ability to build stronger practices, not just feel inspired?
• New resources and tools: Do they point back to revenue-producing activities or critical business skills?

Instead of chasing every interesting idea, the team now says no to anything that does not connect back to helping clients make more money.

Give Your Team the Same Decision Filter

As your clinic grows, you cannot be the only person making decisions. Front-desk staff, clinicians, and leaders all have to make calls every day.

If they know the filter, they can ask themselves:

• Does this software, course, hire, or project support our "one thing"?
• If not, why are we spending time or money on it?

When they make a call that is off, you can go back to the filter and see if it is a training gap or a culture issue. Over time, everyone gets better at choosing in the same direction without you micromanaging every move.

Your Challenge: Choose Your "One Thing"

Danny closes with a challenge for clinic owners:

• Decide on the single most important outcome your business exists to create.
• Make sure it is big enough to support the life you want and honest enough to include money.
• Share it with your team and use it as part of your weekly meetings and training.
• Run every major decision through that filter so saying "no" and "yes" gets simpler.

When everyone knows the race you are running and the "one thing" that matters most, your decisions get clearer, your team gets more aligned, and your business is far more likely to move in the direction you actually want.

Resources Mentioned

• Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai
• Book a call with a PT Biz advisor: https://vip.physicaltherapybiz.com/discovery-call
• Join the free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge