We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dinah Hampson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dinah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So who is Dinah Hampson and how did she create the Pivot “Dinah-sty”? I did not grow up with much opportunity handed to me and I mention this because I believe that growing up in a life that was challenging taught resiliency and creativity.
I got into the Physical Therapy industry because I was interested in science, activity, travel, and the security of a job. I became an expert in Physical Therapy because I didn’t love the ways others ran their departments/clinics and I thought that if other people were going to work for me than I needed to achieve the highest level of post graduate certification in all aspects of the profession. I strive to be a mentor in my leadership and can’t do this without completing all the steps to the highest levels first. Becoming a true expert opened opportunities for me to speak at conferences and provide care for high performance athletes at the highest levels. These experiences begat other experiences and ticked the “Dinah likes to travel” boxes. Travelling gave me the opportunity to meet so many more people in my industry from other cultures to widen my perspectives and bring evolving methodology back to Pivot.
Entrepreneurship is hard work, success doesn’t happen quickly and it doesn’t stay without constant growth and attention. I add this because building Pivot while being incredibly difficult, is incredibly rewarding. When new Physical Therapists tell me they want to be where I am, they are often saying “now” at the same time. I honestly don’t think that’s how a lasting and rewarding career is built. I do think resiliency and enduring hardship in the past is critical for creating something lasting and worthwhile in the present.
I am incredibly proud of the Pivot brand branches. Pivot Dancer in particular because having the physical Pivot close due to pandemic mandates was terrifying personally, professionally, and financially. Learning to effectively operate, market, and grow an on-line branch of Pivot was foreign territory. I affectionately giggle and say I discovered the internet at that time. I learned how to run mastermind groups, operate scheduling apps, zoom platforms, grow social media channels, connect with compete strangers remotely, and ultimately create a valuable product in a completely different environment that upheld the Pivot mission statement.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media does not come naturally to me and was not a part of my existence other than wishing someone I peripherally knew a happy birthday. So I had to learn how to do it effectively and enjoyably. I have to say that there are some really useful tutorials on YouTube. I watched a lot of them. There are also some very informative webinars and discussion groups that were useful to consolidate the technology with my intended purpose. Through these webinars I discovered some very helpful applications to make social media less cumbersome and more effective. There are tutorials for each of these applications too. Turns out there is probably a tutorial for anything now!

The most entertaining method I used to learn social media was that I created a fake cooking show durning the COVID closures. I used creating the episodes as opportunities to learn how to use my own social media channels to then create better content for my business channels. I still have 25 episodes of “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah” on my IG if you’d like to cook with me. The added bonus was that I ran these as livestream videos and there is opportunity for audience interaction with a livestream which enhanced my community contact in a pandemic safe way. Community brought me back some of the meaning and purpose that had been taken away without my usual work life.

So my advice would be to have fun with social media. If someone doesn’t enjoy your content, that’s ok. Think of it like a buffet. People will watch what they like and pass over what they don’t. Feel free to explore what feels natural and awesome to you. You’ll sing your brand much more effectively when you’re having fun doing it.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Pivot Dancer stemmed from my own experience in dance. I studied ballet at a very high level throughout my formative years and found that as a Physical Therapist working in orthopaedics (very movement based science) and with high performance athletes in sport, I was able to use my dancers eye for movement to efficiently assess people. When I started to branch Pivot Dancer, I was already working with dancers of all levels. I understand the language of dance, the culture of dance, and the barriers within dance. I would say that incorporating the things in life that you know well or enjoy passionately are the best way to connect authentically within the market you are trying to reach.

Contact Info:

• Website: dinahhampson.com pivotsmo.com pivotdancer.com
• Instagram: @dinahhampson @pivotsport @pivotdancer
• Facebook: @dinahhampson @pivotsport @pivotdancer
• Linkedin: Dinah Hampson Pivot Sport Medicine Pivot Dancer

Image Credits
Kimal Phillip @klloydphillip Nathalie Allan @pictonatbrandingcreative Lindsey Hirschler @lindseynicole_photo