In this video Aaron LeBauer explains why he prefers hiring brand‑new physical‑therapy graduates for his cash‑based clinic and outlines the ten specific traits he seeks in candidates. He argues that hiring new grads allows him to train therapists in a single, consistent treatment philosophy, avoiding the variability that can arise when experienced clinicians bring their own entrenched methods. The core of his hiring philosophy is to create a uniform patient experience while still allowing each therapist to inject their personality. The ten qualities he highlights are: (1) a strong willingness to learn, act, and implement new ideas; (2) the ability to follow directions; (3) comfort with making and learning from mistakes; (4) genuine passion for helping patients and alignment with the clinic’s mission and values; (5) a hunger for continuous learning and mentorship; (6) proactive initiative, demonstrated by self‑funded coursework before even being hired; (7) a personable bedside manner and relatable attitude; (8) a desire to work in a cash‑based environment without the burdens of ownership, with a long‑term commitment mindset; (9) comfort with sales and financial conversations because patients pay out‑of‑pocket; and (10) completion of his four‑step application process. He concludes with a call to action for both new grads seeking a supportive cash‑based practice and clinic owners who want to learn how to hire the right employees and scale their businesses.
Chapters
Foreign. My name is Aaron LeBauer and I help passionate physical therapists create successful businesses without relying on insurance. And these are the top five. But really 10 things that I'm looking for when hiring a new grad physical therapist to work in my cash based physical therapy practice. Are you concerned about hiring new grads? As I'll tell you guys this if you don't know it, I started my cash practice as a new grad and I want to hire new grads. And here's why. Before I give you my 10 things, here's why I want to hire a new grad, okay? And it's nothing against any of you who've been out for five or six years. The big thing is what I want is a consistent product coming out of labour physical therapy, okay? My good friend John Davidson is great. I love the way he practices physical therapy, but it's very different than me. So if someone came to see us and you know, and he was working for me, they're going to get two slightly different things. They're going to do, I think two really great things, but they're going to get two slightly different things. There are people John practices in a similar enough way to me that a long time ago I had even asked him and we had talked about him working with me, but we both realized that we were on different paths than that. But the reason, the other reason that I've interviewed some other PTs who've been out for seven years and they do different things like McKenzie and you know, they do things that, you know, there's other types of treatment and styles and thoughts and things that they have developed over their years of practicing and that may be very different than me, okay? And that's not bad. But for labour pt, I want my patients to have a unique experience, but I want them to have a very similar experience no matter what therapists are being seen. I want to train the new grads to think like me. I want to train the new grads to do similar treatment techniques to me so that someone's not saying, well, I got to go see Dr. Labourer because he does dry needling because Dr. Shelton doesn't. Or the MFR that Dr. Shelton does is better than Dr. I need to go do that. Like, I don't want that happening. I want everyone to be, you know, similarly trained so you get a similar experience. For instance, have you ever gone to, I can relate this to yoga. Most yoga studios, you've got beginner classes, you've got yoga 101, you've got level one, level two, advanced intermediate. Who knows what all these things are when you go to like hot yoga, like Bikram, it's the same poses, same thing all along. There's no teacher input. It's the same series Bikram. So some hot yoga styles now broke away from Bikram. But I practice a Baptiste yoga style and Baptiste yoga has an outline and it's up to the teacher to fill in the gaps. So that's what I want to provide, is to teach and provide an outline for my therapist so that they can fill in the gaps with their unique personality and skill sets. Here's the top 10 things that I'm looking for when hiring a new grad to work in my cash based practice. Number one, the willingness to learn, take action and implement the things that we talk about and that we do. Number two, the ability to follow directions and instructions. Very simple. Number three, not being afraid to make mistakes. Like I'm bringing you in, you can make mistakes on my dime, but you have to be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. Not to make mistakes over and over again, but make mistakes and learn from them. Number four, have a passion for helping people. Helping sick people, four and a half. This is probably another one itself to be in alignment with my mission, goals and values. You got to be in alignment with my mission, goals and values and my passion because if you're not aligned with my passion, you're not going to work hard for me. Number five, someone who's hungry for learning more, who wants to learn, who wants to work with a mentor and wants to continue to improve their skills. And that being said, someone who's not afraid to say, look, I just spent eight months learning this. You know what, let's learn a different way to do it because there might be better ways where maybe we'll take these things and put them together. So like I said, mentorship, like real mentorship, like you talk to me and we work on patient cases and problems, we treat each other, we get better and we work hard, you know, and it's, and it's if you get constant feedback, not like, hey, there's someone in another room that maybe they'll take a phone call. Number six, this is probably the most important one, a drive to take initiative. Even before becoming an employee, both Derek and Tyler said to me, what courses do you recommend that I take so I can become a better physical therapist? And they both signed up and registered for these courses on their own dime before we even entered negotiations for becoming an employee. Huge. That was huge. I think Tyler's taken seven courses in his first year out of PT school. Derek took three courses before he graduated and another two. At least another two or three in that next year. Seven. This is one of the most important, is great personality, attitude and demeanor. Like in bedside manner. Gotta be relatable. You know, that's one of the big things we hire is like your personality. Number eight, desire to work in an amazing facility to give patients what they need, to spend time with them, talking and strategizing and you know, to get all the other benefits of owning or working in a cash based practice but without the headaches of managing people, marketing, the uncertainty of where the income is coming from and hassles that come with owning a business and marketing to the public and our patients. So that's why I'm looking for someone that wants all the benefits but doesn't want the hassles. I don't want an employee who also wants to own a business and open up down the street and be, you know, well, competition but you know, to leave. I want an employee who's going to stay here for five years who will be interested in some profit sharing relationship down the road and have a vested interest in building our business together. Number nine, a genuine desire to help people by selling them what they want and delivering them or giving them what they need. Okay, so I need someone who's not allergic to sales and money because we're asking a lot of money from our patients. Number 10, they need to complete my four step application. If you're like, okay, I don't want the headaches of owning a practice and I want to go work with Aaron. I want to work in an amazing place. If you're a clinic owner, you, if you're a crash practice owner and you want to move from owning your own job to becoming an employer and multiplying your income impact and time that you have with your family. And you want to learn how to hire the right employees, you want to learn how to put together the systems that you need to hire the right employees so that you don't have to look at 700 applications, you only look at the three or four qualified people and you want to learn the mindset on how do I grow as a CEO of my own cash practice. I would love to work with you.
