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

Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve taken a lot of risks in life. The funny thing about risks is that the more of them you take, the more comfortable you are taking ‘riskier’ risks. It’s almost as though you build muscle-memory in your head as you go. You know it will be difficult, but you become more confident throughout the process and you increase your tolerance for anxiety and uncertainty.

A recent risk I took was adding another physical therapist to our practice before we were “ready.” In truth, you’re never ready, but in business there are some metrics you use that can guide these decisions. When it comes to expanding our team, I’m looking to make sure our current caseload has been at least 80% for 3 consecutive months and that we have 3 months business expenses in our emergency fund. I’m also looking at the upcoming few months. Physical therapy has ebbs and flows (injuries can’t compete with Christmas for the kiddos), so I’m also assessing how the next few months will likely play out when making hiring decisions.

In June, I was connected with a physical therapist whose skillset was significantly above average. After a couple interviews, it became clear he also fit our culture. From hiring before, I knew it was rare to find both of these traits together. However, we weren’t exactly where we should be in terms of metrics. And, we were heading into Q4, which is typically our worst quarter of the year. The numbers said I shouldn’t make the hire, but my intuition said yes.

So, I did it. And, it truly couldn’t have been better timing. What I didn’t know when I made the decision at the beginning of September and is that my mother would be diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and I would be traveling out of state frequently to help with treatment. I also had some personal things I had been working on need extra attention throughout October-December. If I hadn’t of made the hire, I would have had to cut my own schedule back significantly, which would have hampered business growth. Instead, we were able to shift clients. Not only did I have the time to attend to things that needed attention, but our new PT’s schedule grew – much quicker than it did with my first hire.

Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows. As a business owner, the most profitable income you make is the income you directly produce because you don’t have to pay payroll on it. I took a significant pay cut for myself during these months, but the business continued to grow – without me – which will set us up for 2024 better than I could have imagined.

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

Hi, I am Sarah Sawall. I’m a past semi-professional speedskater, dog mom, current fitness and travel enthusiast, and owner of Resilience RX. At Resilience, we help active individuals and athletes do what they love – without pain or incontinence.

I started Resilience with the goal of providing the physical therapy care that I did not receive – but desperately wanted – when I was a speedskater. While I competed at the National level, and still hold 10 state records in Michigan, I battled a lot of injuries. Eventually, these injuries forced me to step away from the sport I loved. While I have grown a lot since then, at 17 years old, this was a huge mental and identity shift. At that time in my life, it was the most profound loss I had experienced. Knowing what I know now, if I would have had the care that we provide at Resilience back in the 2000s, I wouldn’t have had to stop skating.

What makes Resilience unique is how we bring a combination of personal and professional experience to the treatment table. We treat CrossFitters, but we also CrossFit ourselves. One of our physical therapists is a mom who struggled with pelvic floor symptoms after delivering her kiddos. She now treats moms who struggle with pelvic floor symptoms. At a foundational and relational level, we are able to connect in ways that you can only connect with shared personal experience, while delivering exceptional clinical care.

Together, our clinicians have over 1,000 hours of continuing education. I truly believe we are some of the best physical therapists in the profession and practicing at the top of our game. Everyone on our staff loves learning, seeks to be better – as a human and as a clinician – and genuinely care about the individuals they treat.

Beyond just connecting to individuals and providing top-notch care, we strive to make the entire healthcare experience transformational. We are the polar opposite of traditional healthcare that you’ll find in a chain clinic or outpatient hospital. People are seen one person at a time, there is blocked time between appointments in case something takes longer than expected, and we have slotted emergency appointments for the “oops” moments in life.

Resilience is structured to serve people. Because of that, we are not in-network with insurance companies. There’s no surprise bill in the mail. We are upfront and honest about the financial investment that is related to choosing exceptional healthcare. Because we are directly accountable to clients, we can – and do – offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If a client isn’t satisfied with the care we provide, their money will be refunded.

To sum it up, Resilience is a combination of an exceptional customer experience and exceptional clinical skills. If you want your injury to heal, we are the people to see.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

For me, the most effective strategy has been to play the long game. This means delivering exceptional service and results, being honest and upfront when I am not the best solution, and consistently being involved in the local community. On a bigger level, I have learned that the more I grow and develop as a person, the more my business grows and develops alongside me. Doing the difficult work of honestly looking at yourself – and your business – and then working through what you found, has made the biggest difference.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I would not. Don’t get me wrong, having knowledge of how the healthcare system works is incredibly helpful when you need to navigate it or have injuries yourself. But, it also gave me knowledge of how the healthcare system works. At a basic level, most know that it is corrupt. However, when your bonuses are based on billing more (so clients have larger bills than they should), when you watch hospital infrastructure routinely make decisions that are best for their pocketbooks instead of patients, and when you advocate to insurance companies that refuse to pay for medically necessary care and play dirty in the process, it makes doing your job much less rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://resiliencerxpt.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/resiliencerx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/resiliencerx/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@resiliencerx

Image Credits
Megan Sawall Photography