Catch Up With Dr. Jenny Chavez - Route To Recovery

Welcome to Pelby biz podcast. I'm Dr. Kelly Alhui. I have grown and established brick and mortar practice in Northern Virginia called Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy and also founded Pelvibiz, which is an online business consulting company that helps healthcare providers make more money and be healthy while doing it, especially in the pelvic health realm. So let's get into today's episode. Today I have a very special guest on Today. I'm super, super excited to have Jenny. She is on. And Jenny, go ahead and introduce yourself and who you are and your company.

Yes. Thank you, Kelly. I'm so excited to be here as well. Thank you for inviting me. I'm Dr. Jenny Chavez, physical therapist and founder of Routes Recovery. We are located in Houston, Texas.

That's amazing. Yes, guys. And you've got to go check her out. Her energy is like no one, no one else's. I'm telling you right now. She really is one of my favorite people to talk to just because the energy that she actually gives to you. So I cannot wait to get into it. Today we're going to talk about her journey, where she started, where she's at now. How is the process of that? I think you guys are really going to be able to relate to her. So, Jenny, let's go ahead and get into it. Where were you working before you decided to quit and do your own thing?

I was working for a hospital. I was working at Memorial Herman. I was working there for eight years. Eight long years.

So what made you stay for eight years?

So I'm not going to lie. When you first come out of PT school, you're super excited. I was very honored. Memorial Herman is well known. I got hired right after being a student at Memorial Herman. During my last clinical, I was super pumped. I was like, let's do this. I started off as a traveling physical therapist. I did that for a year, but still within the Memorial Herman clinics, but it was a certain region. Then after that first year, I was hired to work full time, just to stay in one location. So I was very excited again. I met new therapists. Working with the clients was amazing. I got exposed to a lot of diagnoses. A lot, A lot. So I'm very thankful for that. As the years went on, I learned you go to continuing education courses and things like that. So during the first five years, I felt like I was growing. I was moving up the ladder in the corporate world. But I think after the fifth or sixth year, I was starting to feel burnt out, you know, and I was like, is it worth me continuing to work for a hospital? Oh, because the other reason why I stayed is, Was because of my student loans. I was under a student repayment program for 10 years.

I mean, how many people can relate to that? Come on. I mean, so many people. You don't. I talk to so many people, and that's the number one reason why they stay at the hospital, is for the loan repayment. And sometimes it doesn't even happen, which is crazy.

Exactly. So, yeah, when I talked to you, I was like, yeah, I don't think it's worth it anymore. You know, I don't think my, my happiness is worth just staying here more years because, you know, sometimes I was paying them continually, but then there were times where I took a break, so it wasn't like I only needed two more years. I still, I was barely halfway through, so.

Right.

Yeah, that's what. Kevin, Years.

Isn't that crazy, guys? After eight years, barely halfway through those loan payments, I mean, really, it sucks. Your soul. I. I get it. Like, for eight years, for me, it took. I only was able to pay $50,000 off working for someone else. It's just nuts. So. So what you're saying is it's not worth it. Not worth it?

It's not worth it. It's not. It's not worth feeling trapped for a long time, you know, that you get, you're getting older, the years are passing by. It's just not worth it.

Okay, so then you're like, you know what? I feel trapped. I just. This isn't, this isn't for me. So then what made you even have the thought of, like, starting your business? And how did you even go about that? And where were you? Like, mobile? Were you not? Like, what did that look like?

Yeah. So I don't know. I've never been a business person, but I did have a vision in my head a couple of years back where I did want to have my own practice, but all I knew was a business where we did take insurance. That's all I knew. Right. But once I started finding out about cash based practices, I have two friends from, from physical therapy school in San Antonio, and I saw that they were doing so good with their cash based practices, so I would listen to their podcast, I would follow them on Instagram. I was like, they look very happy, you know, so I want to be like them. And we were very close friends. So I reached out to one of them. He's like, jenny, you can do it. So that thought stayed in my Head. So I started looking for a business coach. I found one. And then later, along the lines, that's when I found you. And I was like, okay, I'm doing the right thing.

Right? Right.

Because you question yourself a lot during this journey.

Like, 100%. Yes. And let's talk about that. I think that's so important. So, so many people. I was just talking to, Jenny before this, I said, so many people are scared to even just make that jump. Not only to have the thought of, maybe I can do this, but then there's the next thought of, wait, I'm going to try to do this. Like, what, What? So what's going through your head then? Like, tell us what's going through your head of like, should I do this? Can I do this? Like, what are you thinking?

Well, you know, you're. You're. You feel secure, right? Secure. Quote, unquote. You feel secure at the hospital setting. You're getting paycheck every two weeks. You have your benefits, the insurance and all of that. But then I talked to someone like you, and you're like, jenny, like, give me a good reason why you should stay there. Right? And I. I couldn't. I was like, give me six months, Kelly. Give me six months. You're like, no, well, give me a good reason why. And I literally couldn't come up with a good reason of why to keep working, you know, at the hospital. And you're like, why not just take the jump now? So, yeah, it was just like from one day to another. I woke up and I was like, okay, I'm going to quit the day after Thanksgiving. And you're like, I'm going to write it down. So I felt the pressure. I felt the pressure, but in a good way. It was not in a bad way. And I told you, Kelly, hey, but that when I'm going to tell my manager is the day when we have our annual meeting and he's going to tell me about my raises, he's going to ask me about my goals for next year. So that's kind of awkward, you know, and it did go like that. He. They were telling me like, jenny, you're gonna get a good raise for next year. What are your goals? What are you thinking? I say, well, thank you so much for the raise, but I won't be working here, you know, after Thanksgiving. And so, yeah, that was very awkward, but I felt very good about it. Felt very good. And I was like, okay. It just freed up my time to do a lot of things that I couldn't do before.

Wow. I mean, I remember this and I really remember this. And guys, this takes balls. I mean, this takes balls. She's getting a raise, okay? She's getting a raise. And most, most of us are like, thank goodness because we never get raises in the healthcare world. Right? And she's then saying, thank you, but no thank you, I'm gonna go and do my own thing. I'm sure the boss was like, what the heck? I'm shocked.

Yeah. Because he was giving me the highest raise and I was like, I'm, I'm so thankful. So I, I only got to experience that raise for one paycheck.

Oh my God, that's amazing. That is so amazing. And, and back to when I was asking Jenny these questions, guys, I had her thinking because, you know, she also gave me, yeah, the insurance excuse, all that. And I was like, jenny, one to two patients, and this is for everyone too. One to two patients will be able to more than enough pay for your insurance, guys, I'm telling you. So even if they just came one time, even just two patients one time they came, that is your insurance right there for the month. So if insurance is holding you back from leaving, please let go, please. And there's no better time than now. Go ahead, Jenny.

No, I was gonna say, and the insurance thing, it's just a mindset shift, you know, because now I'm taking care of myself proactively versus thinking, oh, what if I have to go to the doctor? Like, no, I'm taking care of myself, healing my gut, you know, exercising more. I get to do a lot more things for my self care as an entrepreneur, which is crazy to think. Like you think you're not going to have time for yourself, but you have a lot of time.

Yeah, no, I think that's an amazing, amazing, amazing point to make that, yes, now you can invest in yourself. Just like Jenny invested herself to say, you know what, I'm going to learn more and I'm going to learn how to do this because I don't know how to do it. Most of us don't want. I didn't want to be an entrepreneur either, but she said, you know what, I'm going to actually take the time and invest in myself to understand how to actually do this thing. Not only did she invest business wise, but you also have to invest personally in yourself because if you as the machine running the actual business break down, it's game over. Especially if you just work for yourself and you don't have anyone supporting you.

I'm glad you Brought that up because I was breaking down. I was breaking apart. I was working full time, let's say from 8 to 5. And then there were late days where we did 10 to 7, but I would still come to my office and see patients for routes recovery. So there were times where I wasn't even eating dinner. I was rushing home from work because I already had a client waiting for me. It was crazy. You know, my stress levels were at an all time high. And now I feel like there is stress. Right. You can't avoid stress. But it's. It's a healthy. It's in a healthy way.

Yeah.

And I want to.

I want to stop there too, Jenny, and talk about this sacrifice. I think this is really important to make. I think most entrepreneurs that I talk to, they just are like, Kelly, I only want to work three hours and I want to get paid over $100,000. Okay, well, you have to have an amazing product. Okay. Or you have to have some sacrifice at first. And what you did, Jenny, and I don't know if you realize this or not, is she made sacrifices. You made, hey, I'm gonna. I have to have the salary coming in, so I gotta work this hospital job. And then you said, you know what? I'm making the sacrifice before and after. It's not gonna last forever before or after so that I can get my business going. And making that sacrifice is where most people are not willing to make. And right there, right there, it tells me I already knew it. But you are going to be an amazing entrepreneur. Okay. Because that's the step that most people get hung up on.

Yeah. You have to sacrifice some things. And at that time, I was. It's not good. I'm not proud of it. I'm sacrificing my time, my health, my family. You know, you just don't get us to do as much as you love to do, but it's worth it. And I know that if I keep going, there's going to be even a better payoff later on for sure.

Okay, so now let's go back to. So you told your boss he's giving you a raise, and you said, bye. Bye. So you then left. What happened? What did we do?

So, yeah, I talked to you and I said, all right, Kelly, I'm scared because next month is December. People are going to be traveling. I don't know why I'm doing this or how I'm going to do it. But you really, you know, you gave me an example of your experience. You're like, Jenny, December has been one of my biggest months. Don't be scared. Do this, do this, do this. And I did. And it was my best month just yet. So I was super happy about that. January came along and you know, December was good. January came and you kind of slowed down and I was like, okay, was a little bit of fear there. I told my family, hey guys, pray for the business. You know, things are going good. I know that it's just a season right now and it came back up in February. So, you know, just so people know it, it, there are ups and downs, but you got to be able to ride the roller coaster and it is scary. But what you did, you helped me get things in line, you gave me numbers. And that really helps like a goal to reach a certain amount of patients per month and then break it down per week. And then that just gives you an ease of mind. It was very, very helpful.

Right? A clear path. Basically taking. Yeah, basically taking, hey, Jenny, we gotta hit this. And you know, if we hit this, then we're all good. Right? And instead of it being super non digestible where it's like you got to see 100 patients a month, it's like, wow, that sounds crazy. But breaking it down, and that's what I like to do is break it down so it's digestible and doable and saying, hey, Jenny, I need you to go and I need you to do this today, I need you to go and do this tomorrow. And really just kind of walking you through is so, so important. And that's what you did. You invested, you got guidance. And because you saw guidance, then it was more digestible. It's still scary, right? So scary. But it was more digestible for you. So that you're able to take, keep taking the steps and just every single day, one step at a time, like, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know. This crazy lady's guiding me. But I just. One step at a time. I can do this, right?

Yeah. And it was December was pretty consistent. I was very happy. Let's say I was seeing maybe five patients a week, right? So that's about 20, 25. It kind of ranged. I can't remember exactly the numbers, but just last month I text you like, kelly, I reached my goal and that was. Yeah. Yes. So I'm over 40 patients a month now and super happy about that. Super thankful to you, you know, because I just follow what you tell me and I'm just like, Kelly, you know, any, any question that I have, I text you and you respond. So that's very helpful.

Yeah, no, that's amazing. And that's why, guys, if you really want to, you know, really make it in the entrepreneur world, you got to ask questions, you got to have guidance. You got to be able to just do uncomfortable things and be willing to do it. You got to go out on a limb, and it's not always going to be cookie cutter. And you got to believe Jenny. You have belief in yourself. Jenny has lots of belief in herself, which is amazing. That's what you have to have. No matter if it's the high, the low, whatever, Jenny believes that she can do it. Okay? And that's what gets her through.

You got to know your deep why, like, what. What is it that's going to keep you going every day? Right. Like today I woke up a little bit under the weather, but I had this to look forward to and my patients later on. So you have to know why you're doing it. If you don't, you're just gonna stop one day and be like, I can't do this anymore. You're just gonna give up on yourself.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's not easy. There's always things to do, you know, Always something to do. The to do list never, never goes away.

It's so true. There is always something to do, but it's in a different way than when you worked for someone else. I. It's hard to explain, but it's just like, you're doing it for you.

Yeah. And the pleasure is so much better because when I was working at the hospital, I would get more emails from the manager about things that were going wrong versus things that we were doing right. You know, there was not a lot of positive reinforcement. It was like, you guys need to stop doing this. You guys need to stop doing that. I was like, I need to stop waiting around. And it's not that I want attention from people or anything like that. It's just everyone wants to feel appreciated. Right. In some sort of way. And so I felt like I was being a great therapist despite, like, all the obstacles that I was facing at the hospital with insurance and having to see two people at one time. There was a point where the therapist, they would call me a witch. They're like, jenny, how do you do an eval in 30 minutes? You know, you're so productive. You're just different, you know, from the rest. Because I could see people with my eyes closed. It was just I was getting too comfortable, you know, and not in a bad way, but I was like, I need to be challenged more. So I would see a patient in 15 minutes to the eval. My notes were all done. During my lunch break. I would go out for lunch while the other therapists were sitting down doing their notes. It was five o', clock, and I was out the door, you know, and they were like, how do you do that? I was just like, I don't know. This is not hard for me. Like, I'm. And I was doing good. Like, I even had a therapist confess, like, hey, Jenny, you know, when you first started, you left, and we were like, is she really done? So what they did is they looked at my documentation, and they were like, you are very thorough. Like, how did you do that? I was like, I'm not sure. I thought that's how you're supposed to work.

Yeah, no, you know how to work. Guys, she has hustle, okay? Jenny has hustle. If you don't know her, she has hustle, okay? She. She is very authentic, which is great. She's teachable, which is fabulous. You've got to be teachable and have an open mind. And she wanted more for herself. Most people are. Okay, Jenny being what you just described, most people. I mean, my husband's one of them. He just left for his 9 to 5 job at the hospital. Um, no, you know, and I get it. People are that way. That's fine. I'm not hating on him. But, you know, people, he's comfortable just doing the same task over and over again. You wanted more for yourself. So for people that are listening to this podcast that really want more for themselves, use Jenny's story as an example that you can have. I mean, Jenny, let's talk about where you're at, because, you know, people want to know, like, what does your, you know, overall date look like? Who are you seeing? Are you mobile? Do you have your space? Like, let's. Let's talk about that so people understand where you started. So you started with seeing people before and after your job at work and basically wasn't eating, tired, burnt out, all the different things to now. Where are you at?

Yeah, so now, like I said, I'm taking care of myself more. And so I wake up, I'll drink my gut health drink, which I love. It gives me energy and makes me feel good, like I already did something productive for the day.

Yeah.

As I'm doing that, I go for a walk around the neighborhood or I ride my bike at home. So I get it, you know, workout, and then I get ready, you know, take a Shower, get ready for my clients. So on an average day, I'll see about three to four clients per day. So that's about 10 to 12 patients per week. That's what I'm seeing. Each visit is about an hour long. I try to get, you know, at least 10, 15 to 30 minutes in between each patient. So I'm not rushing through. I have time for paperwork, the documentation. I mean, that's not hard at all because we're not dealing with any insurances. All of that is super smooth. But, yeah. And then at the end of the day, I get to wrap it, wrap things up and make plans to have dinner, you know, like a normal person. I get to have dinner, eat healthier, because back then it was like whatever was on the way home, like fast food. So I'm implementing more nutritious meals into myself, into my body. On Sundays, I'm able to go to church and do those things where before I was just feeling like, like I said, oh, very overwhelmed. Yeah, I'm very happy now. We've implemented a lot more holistic approaches into the route to recovery. So it's not just physical therapy. There's a lot of wellness things. We have vibration plate, red light therapy. We do cupping, and then we also recommend some supplements based on people's antioxidant levels.

No, I love that. I. And I see you do all the new skin stuff too, which I love. I have the thing for my face. What is it called?

The Loomy Spa. I just used it this morning.

Oh, it's fat. I use it all the time. Even though you probably can't tell because of this stupid thing. But I love. I love that thing. By the way, I didn't know you.

Had the Lumi Spa.

Yes.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I have two of them. One for travel and one. One for my home. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I love that. But, yeah, no, and I think, guys, speaking of that, I really believe where Jenny's going is, what is the next path for therapists? You've got to be holistic. Chiropractors do this really well. You've got to be well rounded. You have to be able to be diverse and not just hit it from purely. Just the musculoskeletal piece. You've got to hit it from the herbal, the supplement, the psychology component, the pain science approach, the light therapy. Sure. All that recovery stuff is super, super important when it comes to treatment and being able to treat the whole body. So I love that. I love it. I love it. Yeah. I couldn't say enough Jenny, it's been amazing to see your journey, where you're at and you know how far you've been able to come. So just super cool to have you on here. And would you like to tell everyone how they could find you and where they can find your company and look you up? All right, guys, so let me just say to find Jenny, it's called Route to Recovery pt. That is her company. They're in Texas, and. And she's an amazing pt. We will put in the show notes below her company and can't wait to have this release so that everyone could be inspired by Jenny's story. Thanks so much, guys, for joining. Till next time. Bye, guys.

Okay, you froze and then I was kicked out.

I kept talking. So what we'll do here is I'll have my editor. I'll make sure. I said, go ahead, Jenny, tell us where people can find you. Whatever else, because I saw that the thing was freezing, so I just talking. But yeah, why don't you tell everyone where they can find you, where you're located and then that way at least we can throw that in there. I'll throw it in the show notes too.

Okay. Yes. So Route to Recovery is located in Houston, Texas. We have two offices, one in southeast Houston and then the other in the northeast part of town. You can find us on Instagram @routesrecovery pt and also on Facebook as Routes Recovery Physical Therapy.

Great. Thank you so much, Jenny, for joining and thanks for sharing your story with us. It's seriously amazing. Let me ask you one more thing before we go. What's next? What's next for Route to Recovery?

I did recently hire an admin manager. I forgot to mention that. So that's taken a lot of. I wouldn't say stress, but we work well together and so we are able to do a lot more as a team. What's next is I plan to hire a PT, hopefully within the next. Next six months or so. You will probably say three months, but we'll see.

Of course I will. Yeah. Three months. Why not?

Yeah.

So we're already at 10 to 12 patients a week. We had 15. We're there. So, yeah, it's happening in three months. I would say.

Yeah, so we'll see. But I do want a strong team. I want at least three physical therapists working for ROT's recovery, hopefully within the next year or so. And then we go from there.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much again for sharing your journey and can't wait for everyone to hear it. So thank you again.

Thank you, Kelly. Have a great day.

Okay. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye.

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