We recently connected with JD Allbright and have shared our conversation below.
JD, appreciate you joining 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 worked in the corporate healthcare world as a director of rehabilitation and had been chasing advancement in that model for most of my career. In 2020, COVID was wreaking havoc on our healthcare community. I was running a rehab department that was the only one in the area accepting COVID patients. In order to protect my staff and help manage the demands of this undertaking, I chose to handle the daily workload of seeing the active COVID patients myself. After about 3-4 weeks of working on the COVID unit, I got sick and had to stay home for the required 14 days. My employer wouldn’t cover my pay for that time off and expected me to use all my vacation time to cover my pay. I realized then that I was only valuable to them if I was making them money, so I decided to take control of my situation for myself and my 2 amazing children (Savannah and Dane). In those 14 days off, I got a business license, built a website, designed my own marketing tools, and created my business plan. I gave my 30 day notice when I returned to work and started my own full time concierge practice. I also worked full time for a local home health company while I built my clientele base. I am now fully independent in my practice and have more flexibility to treat patients the way they want and how I chose based on their needs, instead of based on what insurance agrees to reimburse. I have the flexibility to spend more quality time with my kids. I also make more than double in income compared to my previous positions. It was by far the best choice I could have made. I am able develop long term meaningful relationships with my clients, and I enjoy my day to day routine so much more. My biggest fear obviously was that I wouldn’t develop enough of a client base to sustain independently. I never could have imagined the response I have gotten from all my clients. My only real regret is not pursuing this much sooner. My advice to anyone out there reading this is don’t make decisions based on time or fear. Pursue your dreams/goals fully, and set a daily plan to ensure that you achieve them. Life is too short to waste the valuable time we have doing things that make us consistently unhappy or leave us feeling unfulfilled. I also offer consulting/mentoring for healthcare professionals looking to make the jump into concierge/cash based practice. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you are reading this and wondering if you can make this work for you.
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Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I developed my business around the idea that people want convenience as well as direct 1 on 1 interaction. The traditional PT model ignores both of those basic principles. I spend time (usually 1-2 hours) with clients 1 on 1 in their homes or in community settings that meet the goals of our session. I built my services around human needs (nutrition, fitness, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and a focus on mental health to compliment physical health). I also have an online platform (evolutionphysicaltherapy.online)
that allows me to connect with clients via video sessions if they aren’t in my local area or are traveling away from home. I work with all ages and all types of clients, whether it is someone trying to recover from an acute medical event or someone looking to improve their overall health and wellness or an athlete looking to enhance their performance. Breaking free from the restrictive traditional insurance model has allowed me to utilize my knowledge and experience to help people across many more areas of life.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
It seems like an obvious statement for healthcare professionals but having compassion and a desire to see others improve/succeed is critical in this field. Coming from a corporate healthcare background before starting my own business opened my eyes to the reality that more often than not, people in this profession are simply doing a task and lack connection to the people they are serving. This is a service profession and having that mindset when you approach your patient/client will change their experience and your own.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Life is a constant pivot in response to events that occur. Personal and professional alike. I went through a divorce in 2016-2017. I tore my ACL in my right knee in 2018 and had to have it surgically repaired. I opened my own business in the uncertain times of COVID in 2020. I have been balancing being a single dad and a business owner, and have faced many other challenges in life before that and will face many more along the way. Being resilient and adaptable to change is a skill that we have to develop. It is a critical part of success. I teach my kids this daily and I work this into my sessions with clients when it is appropriate. The world owes us nothing and if we aren’t able to face the challenges thrown at us and make daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly changes in response to the world around us then we will fail.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://evolutionphysicaltherapy.online
- Instagram: drjdthept
- Facebook: JD Allbright
- Linkedin: JD Allbright
