In this episode, Neil breaks down a distinction most practice owners have never heard: PR, marketing, and sales are three different things, and they work like a pyramid. PR is the foundation, your reviews, your reputation, what people say about you when you're not in the room. Marketing sits in the middle, your ads, your website, your direct mail. Sales is the tip, and it starts at your front desk, not just with your therapists.

In this episode:

• Why marketing is the first step in financial planning, not an afterthought. 
• The three-part pyramid: PR, marketing, and sales, and why most owners only focus on the top. 
• Why is the front desk one of the most critical hires in your practice? 
• What separates a marketing coordinator from a marketing director, and when to hire one. 
• Why does your website need a full rebuild every three years? 
• How Google Jobs is quietly becoming a recruiting tool most owners don't know exists. 
• The Grow, Hire, Profit framework for scaling past $1M, $3M, and $10M. 
• Where AI fits into modern practice marketing, and where it doesn't.

Will calls this one of the most transformative conversations of the entire CSM. By the end, you'll understand why.

About Neil Trickett: 

Founder of Practice Promotions, working with PT, OT, and speech practices ranging from solo clinics to 200+ location organizations. Author of Market to Grow. 

Website: The Premier Marketing Agency for Physical Therapy Clinics 

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Will sits down with Paul Cords, physical therapist, adjunct professor, and PRN clinical excellence rep, live at APTA CSM. The conversation centers on primary care physical therapy: the idea that PTs aren't just a referral stop after a doctor's visit. In states like Arizona, they can be the first call for a musculoskeletal emergency, ahead of the ER.

Paul and Will get into what's actually possible under current PT licensure (imaging referrals, differential diagnosis, same-day triage), why regulations differ so much state to state, and why PTs still don't own this authority in practice. They talk about the "seat at the table" problem: PTs are often left out of the referral and care-team conversations that happen naturally between physicians, and that has to change through both confidence and relationships, not just legislation.

In this episode, they cover:

• What primary care PT actually means, and why it's more than "skip the family doctor"
• How PTs in states like Arizona can already send patients for same-day imaging
• Why musculoskeletal cases might be triaged better by a PT than an ER
• The "seat at the table" problem, and why it's personal before it's professional
• A patient story: going from 100mg of daily Oxy to opioid-free in one month
• Why academia is starting to teach case ownership, not just documentation
• What it looks like when a PT is paid for wellness visits, not just injury visits
• Where Paul sees the profession heading, and what has to change to get there

Paul Cords is a physical therapist, adjunct professor at NAU, and clinical excellence rep with PRN. He also does nonprofit and leadership development work in Tanzania through Zoe Hope International.

Thanks to PRN for supporting this episode.

Lead with love. Never give up.

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Servant leadership gets dismissed as a soft skill. Vanessa Labadie and Christina Pagel run operations for Metro, a pediatric therapy company with 500 employees across 18 locations, and they treat it as a process, not a feeling.

In this episode:

• What servant leadership actually means, and what it isn't
• Vanessa's "5% rule" for leading people through stress
• Why letting your team make decisions builds trust faster than any policy
• The real difference between firing someone and "coaching them out"
• How Metro's team holds each other accountable, in both directions on the org chart
• Will's story of solving a coverage problem by handing it to the team instead of solving it alone

They also get into what changes when the team, not just the owner, gets to solve the company's hardest problems, and why Will believes the biggest surprise after selling his own practice wasn't the money. It was the team.

If you're a private practice owner trying to build a team that doesn't dread Sunday nights, this one is for you. Subscribe for more conversations on building practices that run on more than clinical excellence.

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This episode is not a straight line success story. Lori built a business, sold it to a competitor who lied about their culture, walked away, lost her company during COVID, and started over with 89 employees in 2020. Five years later she has close to 500.

Will and Lori get into what actually holds a culture together at scale. Weekly virtual training with clinic directors. A mentor role built specifically to protect new grads from burnout, including covering caseloads so a stressed therapist can catch up. Massage therapists brought into the clinics. A theme every year, from servant leadership to teamwork, that shapes training all the way down.

Topics covered:

• Building a mentor layer that protects new clinicians instead of just supervising them
• Why Lori invested in leadership development instead of training all 500 employees the same way
• The decision to close her original private pay clinic during the 2008 recession
• What changed when she sold her business and saw a culture that only claimed to follow the golden rule
• Starting over in 2020 with under 100 employees and reaching 500 in five years
• Why she waited over a decade before doing formal strategic planning
• Reading body language as a core leadership skill

If you are trying to figure out how to scale a clinic without losing what made it feel human in the first place, this conversation gives you a real blueprint.

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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Recorded live at APTA CSM, this episode features JR Bonhomme, a recruiting leader at PRN Physical Therapy, a company operating across 275 locations in 17 states. JR pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to attract and keep great PTs in today's landscape, whether you are a student searching for your first job or an owner building a team that lasts.

Will and JR cover what students get wrong when researching employers, why most practice owners are losing great hires before they even respond, and what PRN does differently to stand out in a crowded market.

What you will hear in this episode:

• Why students need to look past the base salary number and what they should be evaluating instead. 
• How to research a company's culture using Glassdoor, Indeed, and even Google patient reviews. 
• Why speed is the single most important variable in modern recruiting and what 24 hours really means. 
• The daily sourcing habit JR uses before he opens a single email. 
• How being present at university career fairs gives smaller clinics a real recruiting edge.
• What PRN's Transition to Practice program does for new grad retention. 
• Why offering schedule flexibility keeps clinicians longer than raises alone. 
• What the book Mutiny on the Bounty taught JR about leadership and team management.
• The story of an eighth grade music teacher who changed the direction of JR's life.

This one is practical, honest, and full of specific moves you can use right now.

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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In this episode, Will sits down with Dan, Vice President of clinical services, live at APTA CSM to talk about the leadership philosophy that built something rare in private practice, a company where people actually want to stay, grow, and build a future.

Dan shares how losing his father at 26 shaped everything about how he leads. How a second grade teacher taught him the power of memorization and names. Why he gives the book "I Love It Here" by Clint Pulver to every new clinic director. And how knowing the names of his employees' kids is not a nice extra. It is the whole strategy.

This is an episode about what happens when you build around people instead of process. And what it looks like when retention is not a metric but a reflection of a culture where every person feels genuinely seen.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why knowing your team's why is the starting point for everything
• How JAG built programs like their 8 week new grad ramp by listening to what people actually needed
• The LinkedIn stat that says 88% of people leave a job because they could not see a future there, and how Dan flips that script from day one
• Why Dan still treats patients after all these years
• What it really means to build a company where people want to take your job

If you are a practice owner who is burned out or feeling like growth is just more weight on your shoulders, this one is for you.

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Jarom Woodbury is a professional MMA fighter turned physical therapist, regional director at OSR Physical Therapy, and a father of three. In this episode he breaks down how he built a "Warrior Code," a set of seven family values lived out through weekly meetings, daily habits, and hard conversations.

Will and Jarom unpack the Point Story Lesson behind real values. The point: a value is not a word on a wall, it is what you do daily. The story: Jarom's pro fight where he got caught in a chokehold, heard his "inner coward" tell him to tap out, and chose to fight back instead. The lesson: the only true failure is quitting, and every leader, parent, or business owner can build a system that turns belief into action.

They cover the inverted U principle and managing arousal under pressure, why accountability means clarity not just pressure, how to run a weekly values meeting with kids or a team, and why admitting imperfection builds more trust than pretending to have none.

Key Takeaways:

• Values are actions, not words. A value only counts if it shows up in daily habits. 
• The Woodbury Warrior Code. Jarom's family lives by seven values: Integrity, Honesty, Honor, Compassion, Courage, Loyalty, and Respect.
• Repetition makes values stick. Jarom calls it paramount. You can't set a value once and expect people to internalize it. 
• The inverted U principle. Performance rises with arousal up to a point, then declines. Too relaxed and you underperform, too keyed up and you make costly mistakes. 
• Accountability means clarity, not just pressure. It's not only checking someone's numbers. It's making sure expectations are clear, realistic, and understood, then helping people hit them.
• The inner coward. Mid-fight, choked from behind, Jarom heard a voice telling him to tap out and that no one would blame him. He calls that voice the inner coward, the part of all of us that wants the easy way out.
• The only true failure is quitting. Quitting is the only outcome that closes the door for good.
• Lead by example or it doesn't count. Waking up early, doing the hard thing, showing up consistently is the real teaching.
• Admitting imperfection builds trust. What matters is owning it, apologizing, and showing them how to ask for forgiveness.
• Gratitude rewires your mindset. A short nightly gratitude journal, just two to five minutes, helps program the subconscious toward noticing and seeking more success.

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In this episode, Neil Trickett sits down with Will Humphreys, former physical therapist turned serial entrepreneur and founder of Virtual Rockstar, the fastest-growing virtual staffing partner for private healthcare practices in the U.S. Will shares the hard-won lessons from building and selling a five-location PT practice, why the front desk is really a sales position, and how Filipino virtual assistants are transforming clinic operations while saving owners an average of $20,000 in profit per hire.

Whether you're drowning in admin work, struggling to hire reliable staff, or just curious about what a VA could actually do in your practice, this episode is packed with clarity and actionable insight.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why the biggest operational mistake PT owners make isn't working too hard, it's not knowing how to hire
• Why your front desk is a sales position (and why paying $15–$17/hour for it is costing you a fortune)
• The hidden revenue leak most practice owners never see coming (and how AI call tracking is exposing it)
• How virtual assistants are used across front desk support, insurance verification, authorizations, billing, marketing, and personal assistance
• The "give your team the gift of a VA" approach and how to pilot it without disrupting culture
• How Filipino VAs are raising the work ethic bar for entire teams
• HIPAA compliance, training, and the 30-day pilot model
• When NOT to hire a VA, and the honest truth about the 15% of placements that don't work out
• What Virtual Rockstar's group interview process looks like (and why it's only 90 minutes total risk)

Connect & Resources:

• Virtual Rockstar: virtualrockstar.com
• Will Humphreys on LinkedIn
• Practice Promotions: practicepromotions.net
• Subscribe to the Practice Marketing Podcast on
  • Buzzsprout
  • Apple Podcast
  • Spotify

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In this episode of the Willpower Podcast, recorded live at the Growth Code Conference, Will sits down with Sarah Bootcheck, Account Manager and Speech Language Pathologist at Raintree, to talk about one of the most important shifts happening in rehab right now: artificial intelligence transforming the way therapy practices operate from the inside out.

Sarah brings a rare perspective to this conversation. She is both a clinician who has worked in the trenches of pediatric speech therapy and a technology professional who now helps practice owners understand and leverage the tools that can change the trajectory of their business. That combination makes her one of the most credible voices in this space.

Together, Will and Sarah break down exactly how Raintree, one of the most experienced EMR platforms in the therapy space, made a bold decision to evolve or risk becoming irrelevant. After hearing directly from their largest clients that change was non-negotiable, Raintree acquired Yumi, an AI company that had already developed one of the first AI scribes built specifically for physical therapists. That acquisition became the foundation for ten new products and enhancements rolled out across 2025.

In this episode you will learn:

• ScribeIQ and AI documentation in rehab
• NoteIQ clinical insights and patient progress tracking
• SchedulerIQ and the future of front office automation
• AI versus AI in medical billing and RCM
• Why therapists are the most underprotected professionals in healthcare
• How virtual assistants and AI work together to protect revenue
• The 29% effective revenue loss hitting every outpatient practice

Subscribe to the Willpower Podcast for weekly conversations with OT, PT, and SLP owners sharing what is working right now.

• Connect with Sarah Bootcheck on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Raintree EMR at https://www.raintreeinc.com/ 
• Learn more about Virtual Rockstar at virtualrockstar.com

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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Eric Boles is a former NFL wide receiver turned executive coach, keynote speaker, and founder of The Game Changers Inc. In this episode, Will and Eric go deep on the real reason teams fail and it's not talent, motivation, or attitude. It's alignment, clarity, and the courage to have direct conversations.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, and Jon Gruden taught Eric about running an elite organization
• Why most team problems are awareness problems, not attitude problems
• The difference between "what I want from you" and "what I want for you"  and why both matter
• How to set up "pre-success" instead of doing endless post-mortems
• Why withholding hard feedback is actually the selfish choice
• The 80/20 principle applied to relationships, leadership, and life
• How to use AI as a thought partner (not just a task automator)
• Why culture is dictated by what's tolerated, not by how happy everyone is

Connect with Eric:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-boles/
• Instagram: @ericboles_
• Facebook: @ericboles
• Company: https://thegamechangersinc.com/

Book mentioned:

• The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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Subscribe here to our completely free Stress-Free PT Newsletter for your weekly dose of joy.