Aiming For Your Target In The Market with Amy Stein

Hi, welcome to the Pelby Biz Podcast. Are you a pelvic health PT or ot struggling to start your own practice? This podcast helps pelvic health PTs and OTs get out of debt, gain the income they desire, be able to treat patients without insurance restraints, and learn how to create time freedom for yourself and your family. I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Alhui, founder of Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy, Pelvic health business grower and Pelvi Biz. Over the last two years, I went from a solo entrepreneur to a seven person team in counting. I'm here to help provide a clear path to grow your pelvic health business as fast as possible so that you can gain the time freedom, decrease debt, increase income and live the life that you desire. Before we get started today, make sure you click the link in our bio to grab your ticket for Pelvi Biz.

Now let's get into today's episode. All right guys, welcome to Pelviz. I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Elihui, founder of Orthopelic Physical therapy and pelvic health business grower. Today I'm super, super excited to have Amy Stein on here from Beyond Basics in New York City. She's written couple books, she has a new CBD company called well by Nature. So super excited to hear about this. Amy, I'm going to go ahead and give you the mic and introduce yourself and let us know how you kind of got into this product world and pelvic health and we would love to hear about it.

Sure. So yeah, I'm Amy Stein. I am founder of Beyond Basics Physical Therapy in New York City. I opened one practice in 2003, so a while ago, and then the other one I have a co owner and that was open in 2018 and lots of tips and tricks for business owners for sure. And then during the peak of COVID I was feeling like I felt so bad for our patients. You know, everyone heard what was happening in New York City and it was just like it was a ghost town. It was really spooky. And I had been speaking to a medical marijuana physician just trying to figure out how else to help patients. And he talked to me about this suppository study of CBD and I was really intrigued by what he was saying. We had been talking for years about it, but I was like, oh, well, this is something we could actually send to our patients and they can have at home. And so he mentioned a place in upstate New York and I went to visit with fully masked and everything else. And I was really impressed by the facility because it was as organic and green as you could be. And then I was also inspired by the chemist who mixes the products. And I told her, like, the patient population that we see. And she helped work with me on specific products for our patient population. So that's another end of the business that I'm happy to speak on. The books, too, you mentioned. Those have been also labor. Labor of love. I'm actually not a great writer. I had great editors. And what the editor say was, just write like you're speaking to a patient. And then I was like, all right, I got that. I got that. Right?

Yeah. Amy, I'm curious to see, like. Yeah. How long did it take you to write those books? Because a lot of us aren't. A lot of times, PTs aren't really great writers. So what was that process like? And how long did it really take those books to really come out into the public? And they were ready to go.

So the first book, I actually have him here.

Perfect. We love to see them.

The first book heal pelvic pain, that was inspired a patient, it really encouraged me. She asked me the month before my wedding, so I was like, can we just hold that thought for one more month? Which I highly recommend. If you have big commitments coming up, like a child or a marriage or anything, then I definitely suggest pausing for a bit or just giving yourself time. The thing with both books was we did end up getting a publisher. So then the publisher gives you deadlines, and I'm sure you go outside of the deadlines, but with the editors that we worked with, we really stuck to the deadlines. And so it took. So 2000. End of 2006 was when I started this, let's say, and it came into summer of 2008. So it took about a year and a half. And same with the beading Endo.

Yep.

Also took about a year and a half. So it was about nine months of writing, three or four months of editing, back and forth and back and forth.

Wow.

Because you have like three. You have like the very fine tune editor. Then you also have the. Like, just let me scan through everything. It was a lot of editing. And then. Yeah. And then when it comes out, you're like, oh, my gosh. But it's helped so many people that. That's the inspiration.

That's awesome. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's so awesome that you can. These. These books, guys can be used for tools, especially at home to take. I know. Even we're in Virginia, and I Know, even some of my patients have brought these in. When I was in California, you know, I even heard I was, you know, hearing about the books from some of the patients. So it's awesome. The impact that you can have. And you don't have to directly be in front of them to make that impact. So that's what's cool about products like these books.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I also. I made this dvd. Now DVD is out of style, so put it into digital download a couple years ago. That also was a lot of work. And then your acting skills have to come out. So not a shock. I'm good one on one in front of a camera. I've gotten better with the zoom interview interviews and interviewing because years ago, also not my strength. Stick to physical therapy is what I always.

Right, right. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more. You kind of, you know, gave us insight about, like, you know, why you started this CBD products. But what products are you really, you know, what's really beneficial that you're finding with these products to patients? Is it suppositories? Is it more of a lubricant? Is it more, you know, give us more insight on that.

So it's a new area. I'm learning so much, which is fun. But even the wording, like how you word things with cbd, there's regulations and restrictions, so that's been a learning process too. Again, the inspiration was the patients that were, well, patients in general, but then Covid, like, amplified it, like, what else can we do for our patients? And I started with wanting to do a lubricant or something to help specifically with vestibulodynia or any type of pain in the perineum area, even rectal pain. It's called an intimacy oil because regulation against labeling it a lubricant. But it is very helpful. It's called wellness by nature.

Awesome.

You just use a little bit either at the vestibular area or I have patients that use it on the perennial. My male patients or those with male genitalia use it in the genital area. You really can use it even anywhere in your body. You could use it as well, but it was primarily thought of for pain with sexual activity. I work with a chemist on specifics. We know that cbd, or for those that don't know its components to it, helps with pain and inflammation. There's receptors that help with the body's endocannabinoid system. So it works with the endocannabinoid system, which we all have in our bodies. And it helps to regulate the endocannabinoid system, helps to regulate hormones and pain, inflammation and various things in the body. And CBD helps with that along with more local inflammation and pain. So when I worked with the company, the chemist helped me to figure out the lubricant has kava and willow bark, which help with nerve pain. So that was the intention for that. And then the salve, which you could put anywhere on the body. It has arnica, calendula and Solomon seal, which all have components for helping with pain and inflammation, as well as the CBD product. So, yeah, it's been a learning curve. And then the regulations behind it has also been just like anything else. But it's been exciting. It's definitely exciting, but it's a whole new area of business that I was like, okay, whoa. I mean, I know the foundations of a business, but, yeah, when it comes to retail, it's like, okay, yeah, that's.

That's a whole different beast. Yeah. And especially with the, you know, new regulations or the not regulations at different states, the federal, all that kind of stuff, it's completely new water that you're kind of treading. Going back, Amy, to your clinics, I know you have to. How did you. How did you make the jump from one clinic to two clinics? Like, what was your, you know, what did you kind of have to have in place? I know this is probably, you know, thinking back a little bit, but what did you have to have in place to make that jump? And, you know, what gave you confidence to open up a second location?

It was something that I've always wanted to do. There were a couple scenarios that came about that I almost did it, and then it didn't happen. This was a scenario where I. My co partner with the new office, new office, 2018, Corey Hazama, she came to work for me. I think it was 2015. And she has a certification in CFMT certified functional manual Therapy. And I was really impressed by the certification and how intense it was. And I know ortho, but not to the extent that when you get a cfmt, you know a lot. And I was really impressed by that, putting that together with pelvic health, because you can't do one without the other. And I. 100%, yeah, I knew that from day one, but also. But just learning the new techniques from her. And by the way, everyone is constantly learning. I know PTs are, like, amazing at this, that it's always learning. You're always learning new things. Yep. And it was that that inspired me. I Was really impressed by her background and we got along really well, which was great. She's a hard worker. So we took that leap. And we were really busting at the seams at the one office we couldn't fit any more patients in. So that was another thing that was like, okay, if I'm going to do it, now's the time.

Yeah.

And I actually live in downtown Manhattan and there's very few pelvic health pts in that area. In this area. So, yeah. So we were like, okay, we had thought about Brooklyn, but downtown is also saturated with buildings and new buildings and.

Right.

So it looked like a great opportunity. Just also with regard to population wise. Yeah. So, yeah. The mistake that we did make, which us agree upon, is we did go too big too fast.

Oh, you did?

Yeah. So we took the space in our midtown office, which I had grown since 2003. It started with three treatment rooms, then we expanded to five.

Wow.

Eight. And then. So then we took that whole scenario. We found a beautiful space which was also hard to let go of. It was too big. But we asked, can we get it reduced in size? Because we knew it was big.

Right, right.

Big for New York, by the way. That's rephrase, big. So we took the leap and we have the same amount of space with the eight treatment rooms, a small gym, but it took. Our most profitable or only profitable month was February 2020. We were like, woo hoo. We're getting there. We're there. Wow. And then Covid.

Wow.

No. Yeah.

Ye.

That was a little rough around the edges as a business owner.

Yeah.

And unfortunately, the landlords for a while were not willing to work with us.

They were not budging. I know for a lot of people in many different cities, they were like, you have to pay us. Yes. Yeah.

So it was. It was a rocky road, definitely. As business partners, it was a huge challenge. As a business owner in general, it's a challenge. But then when you have a partner. Do you have a partner? I forget.

I do not. No.

Oh, you don't. Okay. So it definitely creates like, you have different ideas and most of the time they do align, but sometimes you have to really work it out. But we did. And I have to say, I'm so glad we stuck with it because the last six months we've been really solid.

That's awesome. That is so awesome, Amy. It's so interesting because I actually had the opposite experience. I went too small and then quickly outgrew it. And I was in a bind because I immediately had to go and get another, you know, another clinic. And there was like nothing to be had. And this is during COVID times, which you think, oh, yeah, everyone, there's going to be tons of office space. But really speaking to my commercial realtor, she's like, no, no, no, kelly, anything under 3,000 square feet, which that's what our clinic is at. She's like, is actually like really in high demand. But anything that's like bigger than that is not as in high demand, but people still want office space. And I was shocked by this because I was like, oh, I'll get a good deal. But no, no, no, I did not. It was super hard to find and it was a buying. Yeah. So I couldn't grow anymore because I was limited because we only had a couple of treatment rooms and a gym, you know.

So, yeah, that's how I started. And a pearl of wisdom, do start smaller. I do agree with that. And if you have to wait a little while, try to make it work out where you extend your hours or work on weekends, because the last thing you do want is to feel like you're struggling constantly, which is what we felt. So it was totally two different scenarios for me, which was a growing experience. My first office. So I had worked for. I had worked for an ortho practice all in network. 15 minute, 15 minute treatments, sometimes even less. I had that experience already under my belt. And although I as I was actually, that was my first job and it was a great experience because I got to see every ortho, every in everything that exists. Granted, I didn't get the time to work with the patients, but I did get to see everything and I learned a lot during that period. Well, I started to see pelvic health just a year out of school.

Yep, me too. That's so funny.

Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah.

And then the company that I worked for, I said, I can't treat these patients for 15 minutes. I can't even treat them for 30. So it was a huge company, actually. Health South.

Yes. I work for them. You do them? Yes.

Oh, my gosh. Too funny.

Yes.

When did you work for them?

Oh, my gosh, like 12 years ago. It was like my. It was my first job. It was actually my first job coming out of school before because I don't think they exist anymore now. Yeah. So it was my first job and I worked for them for like a year. Oh my gosh, Same thing. I saw the patient for like 15 minutes and then I started to get into pelvic health because I was like, no one's doing this. I want to do this. And you know, you, you were before I was, Amy. But I'm sure when you started, no one was like, pelvic health, what the heck is that? You know? Yeah, what the heck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So small world.

So. So, yeah. So I started seeing patients with HealthSouth, but I was supported by a couple. You had like, I'm sure you had the same experience. I had like six bosses, so I had like the one up, the two up, the three up. So a couple of the, the managers supported, but the. One of the bigger managers didn't because she saw the, the profit loss. She saw that I went from seeing four to six patients an hour to seeing one every 45 minutes. And it was a whole new population, though. So I looked at it as like, I'm bringing in all this new business. Yes. I know that it's quite different to see 1.2 patients versus up to 6, but I saw it as an opportunity. And then because they weren't supportive, I was like, you know what? I'm going to go find my own space. And I did. And I would say 90% of the patients came with me and opened the doors. I did it all on my own. In the beginning. I was like answering the phone. I was working a lot of hours, as I'm sure you know. Yes, it's a big commitment. It's definitely a big commitment to own your own business. Another pearl that I'll just shoot out there right now is that you should figure out time for yourself always, because you do take the. When you own a business, you take it home with you a hundred percent.

Yeah, yeah, I can really speak to that, Amy, that. Yeah, especially when you're starting out. I mean, you are doing all the calls. I mean, I would be call. I started on mobile, so I would do calls at stoplights. I would take my iPad in the car and just schedule people at a stoplight. I don't recommend doing this. I'm just saying that that's just, that's just what it took to, like, get the business up and running and you start to put yourself last because you don't think you don't have time. But in reality, if you only put in more effort into yourself, the more energy you can actually propel into your business.

Yeah, exactly.

I agree.

So, yeah, so then I slowly just started to build up and it was, fortunately, with the first office, it was success. It sounds like for you too, it was successful right off the bat because I had so many Patients. The difference between our second office was that we didn't have a following downtown Manhattan, but we did take some of the patients from our midtown. So one, the, the older one is in midtown Manhattan, newer ones downtown. We did take some patients from the midtown office and then there was some back and forth with. If, if a patient called, we would say, do you prefer our midtown location or our downtown location?

Right.

So it does help both. Both offices in that respect. But it was, it was definitely harder because again, we went a little too big in size with too many expenses right off the bat.

Yeah. Is there any like one? I know there's probably not one, but is there something that like a really good like marketing tip of how you are able to, you know, let's just say over the last six months be able to really get that clinic up and going? The second clinic, that's downtown, you know, is there something that you feel like really helped you guys in getting.

I would say, I think from a marketing perspective, it's definitely multiple. Multiple things. One thing that has been wonderful through Covid, if you could say. Wonderful.

Yeah.

Is that our downtown location. Fortunately all the PTs stayed, whereas our mid lounge location, we had people moving and doing different things. That helped because that helped the strength of the office. A lot of patients came back. We did continue to do telehealth. We still do. But I would say the majority of our practice is back to in person.

It is.

And then the team that you have is really important. So I've gone through the growing pains with website, social media, SEO, so search engine optimization, search engine and marketing. I've gone through one, the learning of it. Because when I first started, the Internet was just starting.

Right. Myself. That's okay.

And then social media was not even a problem.

Right.

So I have to say that's been a learning curve too because everyone now makes fun of me. But we used to send out newsletters, we used to email everything. And I used to go around to offices to new practices, meet physicians and other healthcare providers. When I first started, there was very little competition, but there was also very little known about pelvic health. Right. So it was an advantage and disadvantage there. Now there's more known about pelvic health, but there is more competition. So I would say you have to keep learning. Just like with PT learning, you have to. With marketing, you have to keep up with the times. So we recently, about seven months ago, we got a new website host.

Okay.

They help with SEO and they're really strong granite. It's more expensive. So get what you pay for and. But I'm also at the point in my career. Well, I'm definitely. I still work almost the same hours as they used to prior to. In the beginning I definitely worked like the 80, 90.

Right. You have to. I mean, that's just what it takes. Yeah.

I do have kids now, which definitely takes away from the. Some of that time, but I'm still working just as many hours. I think it's just more that it's. It's different now. I used to do so much marketing in the beginning and I also love marketing too.

Right.

So that's another thing. Know your strengths, you do what you love too. That's another. That's a very important thing. Like if you don't like marketing, which my. That my co partner downtown actually doesn't. So I'm like, that's all right.

I got it. So the same way. I absolutely love marketing. I will take it on any day. I love it. Yeah.

Yeah. So we balance each other because loves teaching and I like teaching, but I don't do it all the time. And she was already like a CI. I was training new pelvic floor PTs, but I was never a CI because I was always training new PTs. So technically, yeah. But then as I grew, I gave them the opportunity to be CIs and I just kept up more with the upper management. Upper training.

Yeah.

But I think I went off on a tangent, so that's okay.

So now.

Oh, also books and podcasts and if you can write articles, those are all. Everything adds together. So the book is still helping. The one from 2008, still.

That's amazing. That's so awesome to like get your name out there. So, you know, to sum it up, the books, the podcast, the blog posts that connect to your website, that also helps drive people to your website.

The SEO just got a new social media crew at the same time that we got new website also, again, you get what you pay for. We were paying for bare minimum of both for years and each year we started to add a little bit more and it does pay off. But you do have to know the roi, the rate of investment on what you're doing and try to keep track of that as best as possible so that you could see where the patients are coming in from. So what we still see, we still get patients direct from physician referral. That's still our top. But I have to.

That's so interesting. Yeah, yeah, that is so interesting. Yeah.

But it has shifted because when I first started again, website was like this Big. Of course, there was no social media, so it was mostly referred.

It was all physicians. Yeah, it was all physicians referring. Yep, exactly.

And now. Yeah, now it shifted. Now I would say it's about 60% physician and other healthcare providers. So we do reach out to acupuncturists, integrative medicine, nutritionists, and mental health care providers. So we definitely have a variety there as well as, again, the website, social media, general community outreach also is really important. So a lot of things. And again, I think you just have to really find what you're passionate with and go with that, but also keep track of where your patients are coming from.

Yeah, I think that's so huge. Is really having. What Amy is saying is really make sure you keep track of that and.

Keep up with having a strong team. So, again, if you. Like I said in the beginning, I did all the marketing and I loved it. So it took me a while to. I started slowly giving that some of that responsibility away. And as you know, I'm work. You were helping me with Janelle. Janelle is our community liaison and she helps with a lot of the marketing. So she and I now work together on it. Instead of me. Just do it. I was doing it all myself for at least probably 15 years.

Yeah. I always say you have to have a target so you know where to aim. Otherwise you're going to be, you know, wasting your time and money trying to put it in every single avenue. Because these days we all know you kind of actually have to be everywhere in every place. Right. And. And for us, it's really hard as humans because we have lives too. Right. So a lot of times different systems and having different systems in place can really help you be in all these different places. Like what Amy's saying, as your practice grows, you start to develop these systems that understand, you know, what if I put a little bit more here, then what is my return on investment? That's what she's talking about. So what does that give me in return? And where are these people coming from? If you don't study where these people are coming from, then you're really are shooting in the dark and you can really go downhill fast and waste a lot of time and a lot of money aiming in the dark. So that's why you got to have a target. You got to track it.

Yep. Agreed.

Agreed. Yeah. It's so huge. So, yeah, Amy, well, this has been awesome. It's been super insightful. Hopefully, you know, all the listeners are getting something out of this as well, because, you know, you're you're kind of the original of starting your clinic. Super. You know what, 20 years ago was it 20 years ago, right?

Yeah, almost 20 years ago. Yeah.

Which is crazy because no one even knew really what pelvic health was then. So that's awesome. We, you know, we look up to you, you inspire a lot of us. So we really appreciate your time and thank you so much for coming on. Can you go ahead and give a shout out to any links or anything that people can find you and find these products that you're talking about?

Sure. So our website is beyond basics physical therapy. Our social media handles are beyond basics pt. And by the way, sorry, going back a little bit, also find in your. Within your practice, if you do have other pts like you do, see what their interests are, see what their strengths are too, because that can help. I have some people that are interested in the TikTok, which I agree.

Not me. I know, not me.

But then some people are more interested in teaching or doing a community outreach lecture. So definitely also find within your company if you do have other people, what they like to do and what their strengths are and utilize that because they also like the variety too. That keeps them more, more interested. So yeah, sorry, Pearls.

No, that's fantastic. Pearls. Yes.

So beyond basic pt. Follow us for sure. And then my products again are wellness by nature. I know the I. So again, I'm learning. I do need to increase the size of my, my labeling but great products. I also have a tonic that you drop that you can have orally which is supposed to help enhance the effects of the stab and the lubricant against again, something that I'm learning along the way. So a lot of great things out there as well. And the books obviously heal pelvic pain and beating. Endo awesome.

Amy, thank you so much for your time and all your wisdom and all your little pearls. We love them. It's been a pleasure. So thank you.

Thank you. Have a great day everyone.

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