Aaron LeBauer runs a cash-based physical therapy practice because insurance companies let non-clinicians decide patient care. He shares how to handle online trolls, then walks through launching his business while his wife worked and they had a newborn in April, juggling infant care with clinical work and marketing.
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Hey, what's up? My name is Aaron LeBauer with Labour Consulting in the CASH PT Nation. And what I'm going to talk about today is working for patients, having babies while you're starting and Internet trolls. So I work for my patients, not insurance companies. But this is the deal that I'm gonna bring the Internet trolls in even though I was gonna talk to them. I've had Internet trolls tell me that cash based physical therapy is unethical. Like what's unethical about it? To me, what's unethical is someone in Iowa deciding whether my patient gets physical therapy or not. To me, that's unethical. Someone who's not a healthcare provider, who looks and says, you know what, you just can't do two units of manual therapy. That patient, we're just not gonna pay. Or when the patient even calls and says I want to file a claim and they say, oh, we're not going to pay, like that's unethical. So I work for patients, I contract with my patients, my patients pay me directly and I market directly to patients. I have their best interests in mind. That's all I've ever wanted to do. That's all I've ever been taught. That's what my dad, who's a physician has taught me forever. You know, like, do what's right for the patients and everything is going to be fine. You'll get the money that you need if you do what's right for patients first. There's one thing that I've learned from him, it's that, and that got ingrained into me over and over and over again. Even when you come home at 8:30 at night, shoot 10 baskets in a row, give me the basketball bat, go and eat dinner standing up and go back to the emergency room, do what's right for patients. He did that to a fault. Hopefully I'm not doing that with my kids. However, he taught me to do what's right for patients. That's all I've ever done. That's what I think this model does, is it's not about cash, it's not about insurance, it's about doing what's right for our patients, contracting with them directly so they know exactly what they're gonna get because they're getting it directly from me. The more you put yourself out in public, the more Internet trolls you're going to have, the more people you just have to ignore and get a thick skin. Delete and block. Blow them out of your groups. Delete and block. Blow them out get them out of there, ignore it. Some comments, even though they're negative, they boost your post reach. You can just hey, thank you for the comment and, and then just boost your post reach. So if it's inappropriate, delete and block. If they're really bad, delete and block. If it's just one or two negative ones, don't worry about it. Because good press or bad press, they're all press. It's all good coverage, it's all helping you. It's just like in the Greatest Showman pt, Barnum was talking to the reporter at the end. The reporter says, I really liked what you were doing. And Barnum's basically like, that's okay. Good press or bad press, you know, I did pretty well. Okay. The other thing is someone posted about having a baby when they were starting and you know, I haven't personally have a baby, my wife had the baby. But I started my cash based practice right out of PT school with, without a safety net other than get another job. And my wife was the practice primary breadwinner while I was in PT school. I graduated in December. She did yoga massage through February. I started labour PT Feb 1. She stopped doing, I think one of them yoga, I think massage about a month early and then by March she had stopped altogether. So in February I basically was on my own other than she was working like four or five hours a week at that point. And March 1st I was the sole breadwinner and we had our baby on April 4. So it can definitely be done. You know, I know if you're a woman and you actually have the baby, you have to take some time away. But even just doing a webinar with Christine Walker, she was on bed rest for a few months. A few months or a few weeks? I mean it was a long time for both of her babies. And what she knew is she couldn't treat patients. She was working on her business, working on developing her website that attracts tons of brand new patients from the Internet. So there's always the positive thing. If you're sick, if you have a baby, if you have other things going on and you can't actually treat patients, there's always something you can work on to better yourself, to grow your business. So this is what I did. My shift was, you know, I'd come home from work, five o', clock, hang with the baby. My wife would take a nap. Where would she take a nap? Or she'd go to bed at like 7, you know, or 6:30 and then she was up and then it was me until like she would feed at 10 and then I had like 12 to 2. So I was basically with the baby until 2. And during that time, what I do, I set up my computer, I worked on my websites, I worked on my email campaigns. I was just hustling and grinding while holding the baby in one hand or having the baby sleeping in the crib or the. Somewhere else in the den while I was sitting on my computer doing work. And then I'd sleep, you know, for my five hours and then wake up early in the morning and let her sleep and then go to work. And it's just, I don't know, it's been, it's been nine years. I can't remember the exact schedule. And you know, you start fading that stuff out like the reality of it all. But. But that's awesome. And if you're a woman, a solo entrepreneur, even a single mom, like, dude. And you're running, rocking a business, dude, big props to you. Fist bumps, knuckles. Because that's intense. Like, I've got an amazing wife and we tag team this thing and it is so difficult that, you know, everyone's reality becomes, you know, the hard things. But, but I want to give you guys all a shout out because that's really, really awesome. So I just want to remind you guys, I am Cash pt. I think you are Cash PT too. If you work for patients, not insurance companies, you are Cash pt. You're part of the Cash PT nation. Always do what's right for your patients. Internet trolls, ignore them. Get a thick skin. Don't engage. Boot them, explode them, you know, from your life, get them out. You know, it's just the hit, you know, the delete, block. You know, you don't do the report thing. Just delete and block. They're gone. And if you've got things, if you, if you, if you have something in life that you feel like, oh, this might get in the way of me starting a business, don't let it. Because you actually don't have to let it get in your way. It can just be an addition. It can be strength, it can be ammunition. It can be part of your story because your story is powerful. And if you share your story with people, they're going to love, know, and trust you and want to do business with you.
