Hiring Scaries! We All Have Them!

Welcome to Pelly biz podcast. I'm Dr. Kelly Alkui. 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 health care providers make more money and be healthy while doing it, especially in the pelvic health realm. For me today I'm going to talk about why we all have the scaries when it comes to hiring. So much to say on this topic. So much has happened over the past two years and there's a lot to unpack. But I'm going to kind of start with beliefs that I had on what kept me from hiring, especially in my first nine months in business. My first nine months in business, I did not hire and I saw up to 50 patients a week. It's insane. Ran the business, had no admin. I did it all. And what that led to was me getting really pale. Okay, I'm Lebanese. I should have like a little darker skin. Okay, But I got really pale. I looked so sick. I was in a basement that I didn't come out from. Basically from like 7:00am in the morning to 7:00 clock at night. I did laundry seven days a week for two to three hours when I would come home because I didn't have a washer and dryer in my unit. And I really didn't see sunlight because my belief around why I didn't hire, my first belief was, I cannot afford to pay myself, so how can I afford to pay someone else? And I kept repeating that to myself because I had years and years and years of time where I couldn't pay myself. I had to work multiple jobs, two to four jobs, to make ends meet. So why would I give away that money? Because I needed it to survive and run the company. So it was so scary to be not only now responsible to pay myself, but now I had to pay someone else. Like, are you kidding me? I just spent eight years trying to be able to pay myself. So it was very, very scary. And how I did it is I basically was like, all right, I'm going to save all this money seeing all these patients and be able to then say, okay, I feel confident enough to then be able to hire someone. But if I look back, that was kind of the poor mindset that I had. The reality is if I hired someone sooner, then that person should been able to take over more clients and be able to help me so that we can see more people without it feeling like such a Burden. So it was my own belief that kept me actually from growing faster than I actually did. And yes, I had fast growth, but it was my own belief from hiring that I can't afford them. That was my biggest belief. So I'm not going to hire them. And me telling myself that actually led to burnt out, tired, health problems, all the problems, not money problems, but health problems. And so what I realized, looking back on the situation, if Even I hired three months earlier, we could have grown Orthopelvic, probably by 2 or 3x of what it was already doing back then if I had the balls to hire sooner. And I just didn't because I didn't know what that looks like. I was so scared. So scared. Because, remember, my belief was I couldn't afford me. I couldn't afford me. But that was not helping me whatsoever. So if you guys are listening to this right now and you're like, hmm, should I hire? Seems like a lot of work. Here's your sign. You should, because here's the reality. And I learned this, too. I remember Jessica Drummond was my personal health coach. Okay? She's amazing. For those that know her, she's amazing. She said, kelly, what happens when you get sick? Because you're going to. She said that to me. And I was like, well, I haven't yet. Having all the confidence. And then, you know what happened one week later after she said that? Bam. I got hit with COVID I had no voice. I couldn't move for like a whole week. And I was just stuck downstairs in my basement. And I was like, crap. Jessica just said, what happens to your companies? Not even one company. What happens to your companies when you can't. When it can't be, you know, you doing the thing? And I was like, crap, here we go. I couldn't even talk to my clients. I couldn't talk to anyone. I couldn't communicate. I had no voice. I had nothing. I know strength. And I was like, oh, my God, this is what she's talking about. And then that was the light bulb moment where I was just like, oh, my gosh, if I don't have two people, I have zero. I need you guys to remember this. If you don't have two people, you have zero. Meaning there's not two of me. There is zero. Because if I go out, who is seeing the patients? Who's running the business? What happens? The patients don't get seen. Maybe now you have space. How are you going to pay that rent? Now you have more liability. I'm not trying to scare anyone here. But this is the reality. This is why you must hire, even though you don't think you need to hire, because maybe right now you're telling yourself, you know, I'm a mom. It's nice. I'm going to work, like, three days a week, and I'll just see clients when they need to be seen. And I'm making now, like, the same amount maybe, or maybe slightly less than what I was making when I was working somewhere else. And now I have more free time, so I feel good about it. But what happens when you have that facility and you gotta pay rent on it? What happens when these patients that you care so deeply about, they can't be seen because something happened to you? What happens when maybe, God forbid, a family member gets sick and you have to go move to a different state for a whole month to help them out? What happens? Maybe it's two months, maybe it's three months. You have zero security on that business, and there is still liability. Well, then you're like, well, Kelly, I'll just shut it down. Well, it's not so easy to shut things down when you have a company. There's a lot of things you have to pay on the back end when you want to shut down a business. And there's still taxes, by the way, you still have to pay. So for those that are solopreneurs right now, I'm really talking to you because most of us don't realize that what we've created, we need to make an asset, not another job for ourselves. Right now, if you're a solopreneur, you have a job. You've just created a job. Meaning you are replacing every hour with another hour to see a patient. And it's all reliant on you. Meaning if you can't do the work, you don't get paid. If you don't do the work, you don't. Patients can't make outcomes or get the best outcomes they want. If you don't do the work because of family issues or maybe even yourself, you're not going to be in business. So we need to think of how to bulletproof the business. And I get it. I get how scary it is. It took me nine months, nine months to hire because I was so freaking scared. But when I did, it was like, oh, my God, light bulb moment. This is it. You need people. You need people to make everything go. And you don't need one, you have to have two. You don't have two, you have zero. So if you're thinking, I don't want to do that just seems overwhelming because that's what I thought, too. I don't have any systems in place. And is this person going to like me? Is this person going to come on and feel welcome? I don't even know how to train this person. Don't worry. This is why you then get a mentor that has all the answers, that has everything built out, that has all the modules and stuff that you need to train someone. And it's easy to do. You just have to commit to it. You have to commit to saying, okay, I'm going to take on an employee so that I can basically buy back your time. That's exactly what happens if it's the right employee. Now, if it's the wrong employee, we got other things to talk about because they will drain you. They will take all your money, and it will be a hot mess. But if you learn how to actually hire the right people for your company, the sky is the limit. And then it actually becomes fun. But when it's the wrong people, it becomes a nightmare. And I encourage you guys to actually hire so that you now have an asset. Some of you guys may think, well, I don't want them to quit on me. Let me tell you a little story here. My first ever hire, when I finally got up the courage, hire this pt, she comes in very green. And I was like, no problem. I'll teach her whatever. Well, she's like, how, Kelly? How are you gonna pay me? Well, I was like, okay, 1099, I guess. I don't. I don't know what those words meant. Like, for real, I'm not kidding. And she was mad because we didn't talk about it up front. Well, I didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know. No one told me how to do a business. So she's like, no, you need to put me as W2. And I was like, what's a W2? And long story short, I didn't provide her guidance because I was too busy seeing 50 patients a week. And she ended up quitting on me two months later after I, you know, tried to train her, tried to get things going. It's because I had no systems in place. So if you guys are like, there's no way I can hire. I'm a mom of three. I don't have time for that. Well, great, then let me know, because guess what? I got all the systems already built out for you. You don't have to go through all the pain that I went through. The systems are already there. They're already in place so that you plug and play and the trainings are there on what they need to be doing on every single diagnosis, all that we got, all of it, how things should operate, all the things. And then you just make tweaks based on your liking. So if you're considering hiring, you're like, oh my God, this is so freaking overwhelming. Don't do it the hard way. Get a mentor. They've been there, they've done it. Their systems are probably really amazing and can get you there a lot faster with a lot less pain. So it is possible. You just have to say, you know, is it going to be worth it? And what do I truly ultimately want? And if you want a life where you have time to yourself and you're not worried about, oh my God, if I get sick, my family member gets sick, whatever, like, what happens then? You need to hire. You need to hire. But if you're like, eh, it's okay if my business shuts down, it's all good, I still have to owe taxes on it and still gotta pay people out and all that kind of stuff, or pay things out, like the space or whatever else, then maybe don't hire. But if you're like, man, it's really just me you gotta hire, really? Okay, here's my other belief I had. Because I'm a hard worker for those that know me. I work pretty hard. I was like, well, people don't work as hard as me, so why would I hire someone? That was my belief. I was like, well, I can do it. Like, I'll take it on. I can do it. And even to this day, at the level that I'm at, I'm like, well, I can do it, I'll just do it. But the reality is you should not do that. By the way, you should hire experts in your field. If there's one thing I learned after this past year, do not hire someone just to hire them because they breathe. Hire people that have done the task already, that are able to come in and that they teach you when they're able to teach you, that's your people. But if you have to start with them from the ground up, it is like pulling teeth. And trust me, we've all done it because we all want to be cheap because we don't have money. So we're like, okay, let's just hire the cheapest person that's breathing. Come on in. I mean, I'm talking to myself, by the way. Okay, been There, done it. But a lot of times those people don't work out because it's not really what we're looking for. So, you know, go for the person that's been there and done it and can come in with a strategy that's going to be leading the company. For instance, we just hired a marketing coordinator. Call our marketing coordinator. And she came in and I was like, yeah, we really should promote, like, this is a good example. I was like, we really should promote like ortho pelvic and explain the meaning behind orthopelvic. And she literally goes, this is my first day meeting her. She like, she. She literally goes, no, we shouldn't. I was like, okay, what should we do? She's like, in PT land and provider land, like, that's what you should promote it to. But we should not promote that. No one knows what ortho pelvic is. Kelly. That is too long of a word. You have to be like, you know, the vag doc. People are going to remember that. They're not going to remember orthopelvic. And I was like, shit, she's right. And I was like, you're hired. You are hired. Because she's right. She's 100% right. And she just taught me something and I feel like I'm very good at marketing, but she's good at it too. So let the people hire the experts because they really should be able to move the business forward. And if they're not moved moving the business forward, you give them a certain time period and you're like, look. Or even if you're hiring on like an admin per se, let's just say you start with an admin and I recommend starting with an admin because they can do a lot of. They can do a lot to help you if you are. If that admin is not paying for themselves in the first month to a month and a half, you should get rid of them. They should be bringing you money in the door, not cost you money. If they are costing you money, they have to go, bye, bye. That's how you know if they're worth it to stay on or not. And so. And don't be afraid of that. I know it's. It sucks. Trust me, it really does suck to let people go. But when things aren't working, you have to make a change. And the faster you can make a change, the quicker the problem is solved and the less head banging you do when it comes to the problems that you're trying to solve. So that's what I would say about, you know, hiring. And I would say the last thing is, like, I don't have money to hire. I mean, I get it. I said the same thing. I don't have money. But like I said, if it is the right person, they should be bringing you money, not taking money from the company. If it is not the right person, they are going to be the takers of the company. And those people, like I said, you just have to get out. And so it's all learning about peopling. And this is why we have a hiring course and all that kind of stuff, because we know this is very, very challenging. Over the last year, I have done so much studying and hiring and people and leadership and management and learning people, and I'm a very people person. But man, oh man, I had a lot to learn and different personalities. I mean, we probably. I can't even tell you how many PTs and PTs, OTs. We've interviewed, chiropractors, PTAs, male pelvic floor therapists. I mean, we've hit the whole gamma. We really have. And learning all that and how to integrate it and what's that look like and all of that. So when it comes to hiring, I feel like we really are the experts at it. Because I've been through a lot with it. I've just learned a lot. So if you are super scared of it, let me know because I probably have a scenario or a story for you that we've been through that could help you out and try to get you over that hump of like, oh, my God, there's no way I can get past this. There is. There is. And so the biggest thing with hiring is build a team that wants to do amazing things and wants to help you and reminding yourself that if you don't have two, you have zero. And that's the biggest reason why you need to hire, so that you can have something that sustains without you. Because it may not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow. But there will be a time that you get sick or a family member gets sick and you will have to take care of them. And you'll be like, oh, I'm tied to this company right now. I cannot leave because now I have all these responsibilities and it can get a little painful. So I would recommend preparing now and trying to get someone in there to help you. All right, guys, hopefully this was helpful. And please, please don't be scared about hiring. It's the best decision that you can make. Sometimes it is a little painful and has its ups and downs, but overall that's how you actually build a company. So let's get after it. Bye guys. Thank you guys so much for listening to the podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Jane. They are the people that are going to have amazing scheduling system for your patients. They're going to provide you with a super bill. They're going to make templates for for you. They're going to provide you with the best customer service and because of that they allowed us to have a code for one free month for those that are wanting to try Jane for their scheduling, checking out super bills, telehealth, all the different options. That code is Kobe biz1mo we'll put in the show notes but hobby biz1mo that is the code for Jane. And thank you so much Jane for for sponsoring this podcast. If you guys want more information and want to learn how that you can keep bettering yourselves, go ahead, click the link down below and make sure that you book a call. And we love to provide any clarity questions on any follow ups. Bye guys.