From Online Business to Brick and Mortar
Something I love about the day and age we are in is anyone can be an entrepreneur. You can have your phone in your pocket and call yourself a business owner. For us, this is how it started. In 2014, Drew and I began our coaching company just before I graduated from physical therapy school. This was around the time business began to use social media outlets and the self-made biz owner era began to flourish around the world. Though this opportunity has been wonderful, you can’t be a physical therapist from your couch. I also got to a point where the new era of physical therapy simply just didn’t work for me anymore.
Calculated Risks
It had been a long, hectic 5 years of working full-time as a physical therapist and working on our side project of coaching triathlon through Crew Racing. My runway was clear; I wanted to eventually combine my two passions of physical therapy and coaching but I wasn’t sure how to get there. I remember sitting in a business meeting in September of 2018 and saying so clearly what I wanted with my career. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but frankly, I was left without a choice when the job I loved no longer existed.
With the help of my supportive husband, we had gotten our side project up to the point where my current income was. It was also requiring more work and more hours than my full-time job. I am a wife, daughter, and sister before anything, and my ethics were being challenged from all angles while working more hours than I’d like to admit. I kept focused on the long-term plan of creating a career to allow time freedom and the ability to practice as a physical therapist in the way I wanted. Though it was a risk to quit my job and open my own office, the risks were strategic and calculated.
Exit Velocity
Exit velocity can be defined as the amount of professional and entrepreneurial momentum you have when quitting your job and starting a new venture. Momentum can come from a variety of sources: investment, capital, experience, anchor clients, industry knowledge, and connections. This is probably where the journey got the hardest. I was working in physical therapy, coaching on the side, taking care of business tasks, etc to essentially build up revenue until the day I left my job. I was overwhelmed and overworked, but the exit strategy was in place and I was confident in our plan.
Shifting Gears
I mentioned earlier the job I loved no longer existed. Well, unfortunately, the privately owned practice I was working for underwent a corporate buy out on August 31, 2018. A lot had changed since then and for months I mourned the loss of a job I loved so much. I was still an employee and never lost my job, but the new ownership was really challenging. Granted, the people and staff I had the privilege of working with, even for such a short time, were wonderful. I met some really great people and have stayed in contact with some of them since leaving the company.
Proof of Concept
In November of 2018, I wanted to see if the self-pay model of physical therapy would work in Youngstown, Ohio. I started off with a very small, reasonably priced office space of 350 sq ft. I was willing to fail as much as I was willing to try. I instantly fell in love with this new business model and haven’t turned back since. August 1, 2019 we moved into a newly renovated 850 sq ft office.
I hope this write-up gives the reader an update on our business, Crew Racing and Rehab. Better yet, maybe our story from strictly an online business to brick and mortar success will motivate someone to take the next steps in their journey to entrepreneurship.
