Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Annalise Dusell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Annalise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

I am still in the early days of starting my own practice. When I decided to be a physical therapist I never wanted to own my own practice. I wanted to show up, treat patients, and go home. I didn’t want to deal with all the business side of things and politics that can happen within a practice. As I’ve gone through my years as a therapist, things changed. I wasn’t happy at the clinic I was working at. I didn’t always like the direction the clinics were going in. I didn’t feel supported and didn’t want to continue putting money in people’s pockets who I didn’t feel supported me so I decided to open my own practice. Currently I am still working for another company while I continue to build my own practice.
After making the decision to open my own place, I decided that it was really important to me to start with setting things up to succeed. To me this meant hiring good people around me to help with marketing, media, bookkeeping, tax assistance, and coaching (the things that are not in my skill set). Add into the mix of these now teammates, the support they are constantly giving me in reaching my goals and it’s something I would always recommend. Find those people around you that can help with the things you aren’t good at to get to where you want to go and hire them as you can.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist. I graduated from the University of Miami, FL in 2009 with my doctorate in physical therapy. Throughout my career I have worked in many different states and clinics as I have done two multiple year stints as a traveling therapist. This has lead to seeing all the ways different clinics work as well as seeing how different and similar people are around our country. Having this more expansive experience in my world of physical therapy helps me be able to connect to all the different people I treat.

I got into physical therapy as a profession after going as a young kid for rehabbing ankle injuries and then continuing with going to physical therapy preventatively for shoulder issues with being a softball pitcher for many years. When I was a patient as a kid I thought it’d be fun to do. I love the sports realm of it and also how it was different every single day. After this decision it was just figuring out how to make these dreams a reality.

Since opening my own clinic, I’ve loved the flexibility of moving in and out of training versus physical therapy without having to deal with insurance telling us that the patient no longer needs the services provided. I love showing people how strong they are and how much stronger they can become. Having the freedom to work with my patients towards whatever goal they want is a privilege.

Taking the time to dig deep with the questions during the first session and each subsequent session is really important. This gives me a glimpse into all the other factors that can affect the injury, healing process, and which direction is most important to start with when coming up with a plan for the patient.

I am most proud of my desire to constantly be learning in my field and being open to changing my beliefs about what I have learned in the past. We are all constantly changing and I think it is really important to be flexible in this and in what we know. I hope to always have and be able to find my desire to keep learning. This greatly benefits my patients with the ability to share with them the new developments I’ve learned and the flexibility to adjust as they need.

My deepest desire with my business is to be an option for people to come into for assistance with dealing with injuries/pain or just wanting to learn how to get stronger while providing them with the help they came in looking for as well as taking the time to making sure they feel heard in whatever they showed up with that day. I want to work with my patients on what they want to work on and towards the things that bring joy and happiness into their lives while also working towards living their best lives.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Oh man. Where to start on this one. I’ve had to pivot multiple times in my career. I always thought I’d start at one clinic after PT school and work there forever. That first time lasted about 3 years. There were many ups and downs and it finally came to a point when I had to ask my parents for help in not letting me stay where I was at even if it was going really good. The downs were too much and weren’t healthy for me to consistently be a part of.
With this first pivot I had no idea where I wanted to live again so I settled on traveling therapy for a few years. This got old after a few years and I decided to pivot again after feeling very strongly that I wanted to have a community and feel like I belonged somewhere. So I settled again. Again after a few years some things were happening in the company that I didn’t align with and didn’t want to be a part of anymore. Having a plan in place this time to work on moving to Canada, I started traveling again while working on getting into Canada.
After a few years and still struggling to get accepted to take the boards for Canada I had to pivot again. I knew I couldn’t keep traveling and decided to settle again.
Once again my plan was to move to Portland and stay at one job for the rest of my career. A year and a half in we pivoted again and I decided to open my own clinic. And here we are, building my business brick by brick and learning so much about who I want to be and what impact I want to have on my community.
With all these pivots in my career I feel like I am constantly working on building to what I want and being open to whatever else life brings.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

There are a few things that I think are most helpful for succeeding in my business. The number one is having faith and trust in myself and the process and constantly working towards my goals.
Number two is honestly making connections with people without only doing it for referrals and to increase your bottom line. I’ve learned this the hard way through my years and maybe it holds me back some in popping up my bottom line but the true connections I have made with people throughout the years have brought way more into my life than any amount of money could.
Number three is always asking for help. In whatever way I need it. For me I don’t enjoy the marketing/media stuff too much and it’s definitely not my skill set so I started off asking for help and hiring this part out. Whatever skills you don’t have or aren’t interested in learning about, hire it out if you can. There’s no point in adding more stress in areas you don’t need to have it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.e3physiopdx.com
• Instagram: @e3physiopdx
• Facebook: E3 Physio
• Linkedin: E3 Physio

Image Credits

GMS Media Video Production