In this monologue, Aaron LeBauer challenges the common belief that credit cards are universally harmful and argues that, for aspiring physical‑therapy entrepreneurs, credit cards can be a powerful financing tool when used strategically. He differentiates between "good" debt (investments that generate revenue) and "bad" debt (consumer spending that erodes cash flow). LeBauer shares personal anecdotes—including a $150k student‑loan burden, a $43k credit‑card debt from bike racing, and a $25k coaching fee paid with a Marriott rewards card—to illustrate how leveraging credit cards can fund business‑critical purchases (e.g., a portable massage table, an iPhone for content creation) and be repaid quickly through new patient revenue. He highlights a concrete case where a single idea generated $30k, covering his coaching cost and more. The video offers practical advice on selecting business credit cards (e.g., American Express cash‑back, category‑specific rewards) and cautions against consumer misuse that leads to high fees and unmanageable balances. LeBauer contrasts credit‑card financing with traditional bank loans, emphasizing speed, lower barriers, and reduced personal risk. The overall message encourages clinicians to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, view certain credit‑card expenses as investments, and avoid the blanket advice to eliminate all debt before starting a business.
Chapters
Credit cards suck. Like, you should never use a credit card ever again. Never. Don't ever use a credit card. Only use the cash in the bank. Said no business coach ever. You've been taught that business cards are bad because parents mismanage their credit. Friends mismanaged their credit. Friends went bankrupt. People went bankrupt. Maybe you went bankrupt before or mismanaged your credit. So you can only grow your business on cash, which is bullshit. Okay, let's go. I got student loans. I got $150,000 in debt. There's no way I'm going into debt for anything else. Okay, great. Don't start a business. You can build a job, slowly start a business. The media tells you not to go into debt. Debt is bad. That's what they want you to think. Guess what? Merck, Pfizer, Blue Cross, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, they're all in debt up to their gizzards. And they're earning tons of money. Banks go into debt every day. Biggest businesses in the world in debt. It's not bad debt. It's good debt. There's two different things. There's good debt and bad debt. Okay, like I said, I've got a coaching call with my coach, Bedros, in about 45 minutes or so. I paid Bedros $25,000 a year for coaching. I didn't have the cash in the bank. I got a Marriott rewards card. Coaching and consulting business, Visa, coaching and consulting business. American Express, Cash Back Clinic, Marriott. It was SPG. Now it's Marriott Bonvoy credit. I've got, like, 400,000 points, and it cost me 25 to 35,000 points to stay a free night somewhere in, like, New York City. Okay? So Bedros says, okay, it's gonna be $25,000. I said, are you great? Might need to split it onto two different credit cards. Boom. Guess what? Not only has bedrooms helped me grow my business, there was one idea he had for me this year that I implemented, executed on. I did it, and I generated $30,000. So one idea in a whole year paid for his coaching for last year, plus 5,000. So what if I get $300 worth of fees on my credit card? Because it took me three months to pay it off, I got more than 300 back. Let's go back to why everyone's afraid of credit. That's because, oh, there's 25% fees. So what? So what? Well, if you go out and you buy a TV. Well, remember, TVs used to be expensive, right? So what do you do now? All right, I've got a job as a PT. I'm making $55,000 in outpatient ortho, and I'm going to go get an iPhone 10. $1,500. That might be half your paycheck. You put it on your credit card, you can't pay it back. Now, next month you get a fee, and then the next month you get a fee, and damn, that thing cost you $2,000. And you go out to dinner, you go get a new ride, you know, you go get. Put get a $350, $500 a month BMW. I'm saying you would do that at $55,000 a year. You might. You go leverage and you don't own a business, and you know, you've leveraged yourself on your credit card, and you've got tons of 10,000, $20,000 worth of debt on your credit card, and you can't pay it back because you ain't making shit because your boss can't pay you enough because UnitedHealthcare or Aetna only pays him $32 or pays her $32 visit no matter what you do. That's bad debt. But what is good debt? Okay, I want to run a business. I need to buy a massage table, a portable massage table. I want to buy a good one. So I'm going to spend 900 bucks. I'm going to put on my credit card, and with one new patient, I'm going to pay it off. What else? I'm going to get a phone because my business is online. I'm a media company. I listen to Gary Vee and I have a media company. I need to get an iPhone X because I'm doing Facebook lives every day. I'm doing educational videos for my patients. I'm using it for social media, and I take videos of my patients when they move, and I share it with them. $1,500, no big deal. That's a business expense. And all I got to do is come get one new patient and pays for that phone. If you have a job or if you own a job, you can't afford it. If you think like an entrepreneur, which you need to start thinking like, credit cards are easy. If you have a business and you do not have a business credit card, when you get off this video, go get a business credit card. I don't care which one it is, just go get one. You know, probably I would recommend the American Express cash back. It has no fee and you get like 3% cash back. You do you can choose one category for 4 or 5%. And I choose Facebook ads because I do a lot of Facebook ads. But if it was just my clinic, I might choose something slightly different. But I'm doing plenty of Facebook ads in the clinic, you know, so we get a lot back, and I connect Verizon to it, and I get 5% cash back. Cash back is the easiest, best thing you could do. People don't believe that credit cards can be used for good, that they believe that they're irresponsible, and they don't believe in investing themselves. So why would they want leverage credit from somewhere? And then at the same time, they're like, well, I need to get an investor. I need to go to the bank to get a business loan, but I won't get a credit card. Maybe the percentage is lower, but you have to risk your whole personal livelihood to get a business loan when you don't even have a business. You might have a house, so you got to leverage your house. You put your house up for credit for the business fund. You know, that's not any better. Maybe it's 7%, but it takes you months. You got to disclose all your finances. You got to go through a process, and a lot of times they'll say, nope, rejected. But you sat on your hands for three months or more. You could have just gotten a credit card and run a couple things on it, and you're up and running. You're generating income right away. You pay it back. Like, I've been okay. I had some bad debt myself. I wouldn't call it bad debt. It was life debt. I was $43,000 in debt on my credit cards, racing bicycles. You know, I didn't get paid to race bikes. I won some money here and there. Prize money in Northern California was like 20 bucks and a T shirt when you won. Third place was like $5 in a T shirt. There are times when I won a couple hundred bucks. A hotel was still $45 a night. Entry fees were $50, sometimes $25. And we all had equipment. And bikes aren't even half as expensive then as they are now. And so I paid it off because I worked. I saw it as an investment in my life, life experience. I had so many life experiences from that time in my life, it was absolutely worth it. Could I have gone bankrupt maybe? I never even considered it. I knew I was going to pay it off because one day I was going to earn more than $70,000 a year, whatever a starting salary PT is. And that was one of the reasons that I had trouble getting out of PT school, going, why am I going to earn $40 an hour doing. Doing PT when I was doing $85 an hour doing massage therapy? Which is a lot less skill, takes a lot less brain power. A business credit card is your best friend. So when someone says, so likelihood. When I hear from people, oh, well, I don't have a credit card, or I'm maxed out on my credit card, you know, maybe they've made bad choices and they're not willing and they're afraid to make a bad choice, and they just don't have the right answer. At the same time, like, if I get on the phone with you, or, you know, you're asking me about a course and you're like, I don't have. I can't use my credit card. You know, can you finance me? I'm like, look, I'm not a bank. I can't finance you. I do have payment plans, but that's what credit cards are for. And people are like, oh, I can't do credit cards. Well, you know what? You're not in entrepreneur mode yet. Entrepreneurs leverage credit cards. Grant Cardone, the entrepreneur's entrepreneur, the businessman's businessman, the salesman. Salesman. What's up? James loves his credit cards. He's got videos on it. If someone out there is telling you that you need to pay down all your debt first before you start a business, like, what are the guys name these, these student loan debt people. They're like, oh, pay off all your debt, your debts, a liability. They're wrong. They're wrong because they are not talking to you. Knowing that you want to start a business. If you just want a career treating patients and you want to travel and do everything else, but you want to work for yourself, you want to make 60 to 80 thousand dollars a year, you know what? Listen to those guys because they're right for you. But if you want to start a business and help more people and grow your business and get more free time out of it, you can't not listen to those people. Debt is not a liability. Your student loans are not a liability. Credit card debt is not a liability. Because the only things you're really going to put on credit cards are things that you know you're going to get a return on your investment. It might not be this month, but it'll be next month or next year. I.
