In this webinar‑style discussion, Kelly Alhooie (joined by Julia) argues that clinical expertise alone is no longer enough for physical therapists to thrive. They highlight a case where a PT student earned $4,000 by selling virtual sessions, illustrating the revenue potential of tele‑health. The speakers stress that the decisive factor is becoming the best marketer and salesperson—without visibility, even the best therapist cannot attract clients. They propose a shift from traditional one‑on‑one manual therapy to a group‑coaching model, which they claim can increase income, lower patient costs, and reduce therapist burnout by providing accountability, community, and scalable delivery. Julia adds that AI and rapid consumer expectations (e.g., instant delivery) will soon make “just enough” income unsustainable, urging clinicians to pivot now. Kelly reinforces that group coaching is the only solution that meets the three goals of higher therapist earnings, lower patient fees, and reclaimed therapist time, and emphasizes the need for coaching skills—asking the right questions, motivating clients, and fostering community—to succeed in the evolving market.
Chapters
And I can't tell you, to piggyback off this, guys, how many people over the last month have joined our program and they are students, they're PT students, and they don't even have a license. And they are like— we just had one PT student, she literally just sold $4,000 to one lady online, all virtual sessions. One person, she made $4,000 in PT school. Would you guys have liked to make $4,000 PT school? I would have thought I'm a millionaire if I did that. I didn't have that option. Wasn't on the table. Now it is. Okay? And people want it because it's convenient and they get their problem solved over the internet and they could pick now whoever across state lines, they could pick the best of the best. And by the way, it's not the best of the best of like who's the best therapist? It's the best marketer. This is what most of us also don't understand. You have to be the most amazing marketer. Not the best therapist. Okay, most amazing marketer wins because then people know you. If they don't know you, they can't buy anything from you. You can't treat them or even help you if you don't know how to market. And then you have to know how to sell, meaning not an old car salesman. You have to know how you're actually gonna get people to get out of their head and say you cost too much, or I can't afford you, or I don't have time, or whatever. You have to know how to handle that objection. So you have to be really good at those two things. And that's what, as PelviBiz, we teach that stuff because we know if we can teach you that, y'all can handle all the stuff on the back end with coaching them and teaching them and all that. We have no doubt about that. But we know that the gap is where you guys struggle with the most, is getting people to know who the— who the heck you are across the whole freaking US and the world. Why not? I'm saying, why not? Times have changed, you know? And I just think, I just think it's going to take a lot of switching of our brains to really understand what I just said, because it honestly— I know I'm really simplifying this, but it took me 3+ months every single day trying to figure out what is the best way to do this where y'all get more money, the patient has to pay less, and you also get your time back. It hits all 3 categories and it's group coaching.
I do want to throw in this as well there, guys, that Kelly has been thinking about this for actively for 3 months, but has been in her brain for a very long time. All while having a clinic who did have 500+ patients a month, 4+ therapists on board. So I know there's a lot of you who might not even be at that level and take that in consideration. If someone who is at that level is making that much money is, or knows that things are shifting, that they can't make it and sustain that. For everyone who's saying, I'm okay right now being solo, I'm comfortable, I have just enough. You won't have just enough. In the next couple of months. That's what we're really trying to let you know, is that once that train passes, you're going to be struggling to get back onto it, and it's not going to be just enough. This just enough phase in healthcare is only going to last for a little bit longer because AI technology and speed is there. All of you can relate to Amazon, 2-day shipping. We want it, we want it, want it now. And so take that into consideration as well as it, it's not always gonna be good enough.
Right. And people to go off that, I think that's a brilliant point, Julia, to go off that people are gonna be losing their jobs cuz of AI and people are not willing to pivot. And so they're just gonna be left behind, which means there's going to be a massive market that then is going to still need therapy. Okay. Um, but it's not at all— you guys think it's bad now, they're not at all going to be able to afford $250 a session or $250, whatever you charge. So how can you make it more affordable for them without making us crazy and us burnt out? The answer— I, like Julia said, she's right, I have been heavily in it for 3 months, but I've been thinking about this for a very long time. The only answer that I truly believe is it is group coaching. It hits all the boxes. I've racked my brain and brain over and over and over and over again, and that's it. And so y'all got to know how to do it, and you got to know it's different. It's not what they're teaching you in the con ed classes. It's not what they're teaching you in school because they're teaching you all the best manual techniques in these con ed classes. It isn't that. You have to know how to coach whether or not you're coding therapy or not. You have to coach, which means You got to ask the right questions. You have to actually know how to get people motivated to do the thing that you're asking them to do after the call, right? You have to have accountability. You have to have, like Julia said, community, because ultimately I all think that we're going to be really lonely behind our computer screens, and I believe community will win.
