Are you interested in starting a physical therapy practice or maybe aspire to becoming a physical therapy entrepreneur?
Even if you aren’t my guest today provides a great case study on how to make incremental improvements in your career by continually challenging yourself to do better.
Darryl Elliott is the founder of Elliott Physical Therapy based in eastern Massachusetts. Full disclosure, I was a client of his a couple of years ago. I immediately sensed it was a business that wanted to reinvent the consumer healthcare experience.
Darryl is one of those people who always knew what he wanted to do, he’s been a physical therapist for the past 30+ years in a variety of capacities as a practitioner, manager, business partner and now owner. His career is a series of mini-apprenticeships that helped him side-step his way into entrepreneurship.
A few lesson in our conversation include:
- The importance of trying lots of different things to find what you want to do.
- The pros and cons of business partnerships.
- The actions he took to start his own practice and how he pushed through his fears.
Life Skills That Matter In This Episode
- Self-directed learning.
How Darryl Works and Thinks
- Wake up time: Sunrise.
- Ideal work environment: Wherever he can focus. Sometimes that means working in a busy place or a quiet one.
- Definition of success: When everyone around him is enjoying what they do.
- Book recommendation: The E‑Myth by Michael Gerber and Traction by Gino Wickman
- 90-day goal: Opening another practice.
Inspirational Quotes
“If you can’t find what you love, try finding out what you don’t like.”
“The fear of working for yourself is always about failure.”
“If you are thinking about taking the next step in your career, all you need to do is think about the tools that are going to get you there.”
“If you keep you eye on the vision, the obstacles will disappear.”
“I don’t feel like I work, I just think of it as my lifestyle.”
Coaching Advice
If you spend most of your day hunched over a computer, Darryl shares this advice for how to move your body more in an office:
1) First ask yourself, “Do I have to be hunched over your computer as long as I am?” Take a break and move around. Use different types of desks like a stand-up desk, a treadmill desk etc.
2) Where can you incorporate more movement into your day? You can move while you are sitting and be aware of your posture.
Resources + Bonus Materials
How to Start a Physical Therapy Practice