Is Another Course Really the Answer? The Truth About Con Ed vs. Business Investment

What's up, guys? Welcome to Pelvibiz Podcast. I'm your host, Kelly Alhui. Today I'm going to talk about a Con Ed investment versus a business investment. So let's start with con Ed first. Coned. What is con Ed? It's called continuing education. Most of us at healthcare have to take some kind of continuing education to keep our license afloat. And we were taught in school that we need to continue our education because that's what makes us the best. And I actually 100% disagree with that. I don't believe Con Ed makes us the best. I believe repetition, repetition, repetition, over and over and over again with collaboration with other colleagues actually make us the best. And now with ChatGPT and everything out, you could probably go there and ask it any question and you don't need as much Con Ed. We also, I think what makes this even more profound is every single two years, we're required, depending on what state you're in, to have between 20 to 50 hours of continuing education. So it is a requirement that they're still kind of preaching to us that we need more Con Ed. And I really, really don't believe in it. Meaning, yes, I have taken, personally, I have taken many, many courses because when I came out of school, I was the eager one that said, yes, I'm going to take all this stuff, because that's what they said. And I remember I worked for a company and they were like, if you get your OCS or wcs, then will give you a raise. And I was like, oh, my God, okay, well, maybe I'll strive for that. Because that's what they preach in school. Like, that's the course I should be on. And so I get out of school, I. They first ask you if you want to do a residency. And by the way, residencies now are just popular because that's how people make money. That's just it. It's how they make money. I don't believe you need a residency. I need. I believe you just need to start working with patients, putting your hands on patients, talking to patients, and that will give you the best residency. Not from a textbook. That being said, residency, they want you to pay like $12,000. You're already like $230,000 in student loan debt. And it just doesn't make sense. What is the residency going to give me that school didn't teach me? And why didn't school teach me if school was so important? Like, I'm really questioning it. Why? And so I'm like, this doesn't make sense. And then I reflect on my own journey. And the best information that I ever received was through my mentor, was through one of my mentors, Julie Sartin. She was one of my mentors in Irvine and she was, she was the best. She provided me all the information I ever needed about pelvic health in a very short, condensed period of time because she has been practicing in this field for over 30 years and can just say, look, this is the nuts and bolts. This is, you know, how we kind of do stuff. And then of course I added my own twist and spin and whatever from my background because I have a fitness background. I've, I'm certified in every, Pilates, yoga, all the different things. So I make it my own. But I would say that to me was the best Con Ed, if you want to call it Con Ed, I call it mentorship. But that I ever received versus the class. Because a Con Ed class, it has to be very specific, especially because of the guidelines that are laid out to get approved by Con Ed. I don't know if you guys ever have built a Con Ed course. We have and we built it for therapists that want higher level exercises per different pelvic health diagnoses. And the requirements are insane to get things approved. And then it's only approved in one state. It's not approved like across the freaking us which again makes no sense. And so the way they make you lay out Con Ed, it's very rigid. It's like, well, you need to know, you know, well, why are you doing this? And then you need to have like 25 articles that back that up. And then you need to make sure that the hours are met. And then it's just very regimented. So that being said, they don't. It's not Con Ed's fault. It's just how the system, I'm blaming the system here, this how the system is set up. And I'm questioning the system because the system to me does not make sense. And they teach you very specific techniques for whatever their the topic is. And it's saying, okay, we're only going to focus on this. But here's what I think every Con Ed class misses out on. I truly believe they miss out on teaching you how to communicate with the patient or on why you're doing that technique and why it's going to be beneficial and how you're going to get the patient the result. Because this is the pathway that you're on. And this is like it lacks how to communicate what you are doing to the patient. Because most therapists, because we're in therapy, land over here, will say, well, I'm doing this because the ischial tuberosity and the blah, blah, blah, you know, do this because of this, this and this. Well, the patient has no clue what the ischial tuberosity is and why that impacts them. And so if maybe you are someone that creates con Ed courses, if you're listening to this, you know, I would just say let's start incorporating how to actually market it, how to actually communicate it to the patient, why this is beneficial to the patient and how it's going to get the patient result. I would say let's start talking about that in the con Ed courses rather than just strictly teaching, because that's what we were taught traditionally, is just to teach, teach, teach. Put as much information in there as possible, potentially probably to overwhelm you and then you leave. And then, I mean, I've been there, done it, I go back and I only do those techniques on the patients, like weeks and weeks after the course because I'm just so excited to have new stuff I could do with the patient that I believe is going to make them, you know, bring them over the edge. And the reality is that's just not the case. The stuff that I've done for years and years and years still really impacts the patient. And if anything, it's how I communicate and how I make the patient feel is actually what's most important rather than the best manual technique. I really believe this because I've seen it over and over and over again. And I've. I've trained over 22 therapists that have come into my clinic, and they all have had zero pelvic health experience. And I've been able to get them from zero pelvic health experience to be expert hurts. And I believe I was able to do that because of all the training we have. But also teaching them how to communicate effectively with the patient is key. And I believe that most people need that. And so that's kind of the Con Ed way, like, of how that kind of operates. Now let's talk about investing in business, investing in yourself. Okay? When you invest in yourself, there's a massive return that you can make. And there's also you can make nothing too, when you invest in yourself. I truly believe you are saying, I am point blank committed to this. So let me give you an example for those that I think you guys know. I moved from Virginia to California recently when I came here. For me it was like a fresh start of, like, really taking care of myself and putting a lot of energy back into myself. And I had to make a commitment of. There's a gym across the street so I don't have to drive. It's great. It's a big performance gym. Absolutely. Love it, love going there. But I had to make a commitment. And it was a $700 commitment to invest in going to that gym. And before then, and I was here for a week, I didn't do anything. I didn't go to the gym. I kept telling myself, I'm going to do this. I was thinking about it for two months straight, and I did nothing. It wasn't until I put down the $700 that I was like, okay, I'm committed. When I physically paid them is when the commitment started, because I put down that $700, I was like, okay, this is it. You better wake yourself up every single morning. And we. I had a nutritionist on board. I have a personal trainer. You know, I have the gym membership. We have the sauna, the cold plunges. We got. We got it all. We even tried the hbot, the hydro. Hydrobaric chamber. That didn't work because I got tubes in my ears. And y'. All. I don't even know if you guys know this, but if you go on one of those things, it. It kills your ears. It's like in an airplane times 10 because of the pressure. So I couldn't do it, but I wish I could have. But, you know, it has all the stuff. And ever since that day when I put down that 700, I have not missed the gym one day, seven days a week. Haven't missed it, been committed, been on my eating plan. It's the first time ever, first time ever, I've been truly committed like this, like. And actually stayed more than two weeks. So when you talk about investments, that's just one way to invest, is truly in yourself. The other way is to invest in yourself financially. So some people could say, well, why invest in myself? And that's why I get Botox. Okay, great. Good for them. Some people say, well, I invest in myself because I do business training, and it helps me grow my business. And I was on an actual Zoom call yesterday with a potential client, and I was telling her about different ways to invest. When we look at houses, you may get. I mean, the housing market right now is kind of up in the air, but you may get anywhere between maybe 20k of an investment back to maybe, let's say, 150k investment back depending on how long you keep the property. Right. If you invest in the stock market right now you may be getting a 5% return. If you invest in a money market, well then you might get a 5% return. If you invest in an office space, you might get anywhere between a 5 to 8% return. If you invest it like do you see how I say small. But these investments are small. But yes, they do build up over time. Sure. Now when you take time to invest in yourself, you get a 20 to 30 to 40x return if you are willing to do the work. Only if you're willing to do the work and you have pain behind it. I absolutely love people that have pain because I'm one of them and I know the pain will drive massive success. They just got to know the roadmap and that's why when I come into play is like giving you all the roadmap so you can do the thing. But the pain is a driver of what's going to make them get out of the situation that they're currently in. And when they put down the investment to invest in themselves, like let's say they came into a coaching program more like CAP or Power Circle or maybe even the Mastermind or maybe an event. Right. When they come into our world and they put down that investment, it's game freaking on. I always say game on because they have chosen to invest in themselves and that is the biggest return that you can get. We have so many people that come into our lowest program, which is cap, it's for beginners and within three months they're making 3K to 11K. That is what we see in three months. And they may have never even dreamed. They couldn't even get past 10k ever. Because we know that if they work for an insurance based company that you guys are capped. They cannot give you more money. You cannot gain more money from working at an insurance based company because the reimbursement right now, depending on what your state you're in, is anywhere between $90 to $120. A company cannot survive making that amount of money with profit and you need profit to reinvest in the business. And how the heck are they supposed to pay you anymore? They can't because they don't have any more money coming in. So if y' all are listening to this right now and you work for an insurance based company, it, it will, it is going to get worse. I can see it, I know it and it's happening. And I don't want the Therapist to feel that they are blindsided by it. Because it is coming. I truly believe it's coming. And I believe cash 100% is the way to go and. And be able to keep practicing the way you want. Because the reimbursements are going down well, then we know then you're going to see more patients, and then you have to your notes at home. And it's just a whole. It's a spiraling effect, right? It's all because of the system. It's not the place's fault. It's because the system of how it's set up. It's set up to fail. So if you don't want to fail, I always say bet on yourself. Freaking bet on yourself. Because when you bet on yourself and you go all in and you make that freaking commitment, when you make that commitment, there's no going back. It's like, I'm committed. I'm not questioning it. I'm not indecision, overwhelm. I'm just going for it. And I'm not looking over here, over up there, over here. I'm not doing any of that. I'm just strictly going for it. And when you focus and go for it, you'll be unstoppable. There's no way. You cannot get back your investment and. And some and be able to be like a rocket ship. There's no way because you're committed. And most of us these days don't want to commit. You don't want to commit. It's like the dating apps, Tinder or whatever, right? I'm not on them, but you know where people are swiping and they're like, yeah. And then people get ghosted. Well, no one wants to commit. People have commitment issues. People have commitment issues. Please don't be that person. Commit. That's what makes you unique. And investing in yourself, whether or not that's through fitness, whether or not that's to make you feel better, whether or not that's in business to help your family life and in your life, invest in yourself. I promise you it's going to be the biggest return you've ever made in your entire life of the return that you're going to get when you believe in yourself and put all the money on you, I would say that's huge. So to summarize here is most of us want to invest in Con Ed. And by the way, Con Ed courses are about $1,000 each. They do. They're about $1,000 each, which is fine. Okay? But Con Ed is Not going to get you a return necessarily on your investment. Meaning, yes, you can feel more confident that now maybe you know a new technique, but that doesn't 100% guarantee that the patient then is going to have the outcomes that you think you're going to get them to. Because, you know this new technique, and I know this is probably very controversial for many therapists because we've just been trained this way. I believe that investing in yourself, and I have heavily, heavily invested in myself. I'm not just saying this, and I'm not just a coach being like, you know, invest. Invest in yourself. I practice what I preach. I heavily invest every single month with different coaches, with different people, so that I get different ideas and I think outside the box. And I continuously do that so I can keep moving you guys, because everything changes. Everything changes. So just because you learn this thing here doesn't mean that it's going to stay that way. And so you have to constantly be changing to keep up with everything. And so investing in yourself honestly gives the biggest return because you're happier, you're healthier, you're more knowledgeable, and then you're able to use that with the right investment, able to use that to be able to grow in your life, if that's what you want. And. And if that isn't what you want, well, then that's fine, too. That's okay. Just know that you will be left behind, and you're going to be thinking, years from now, like, I should have done that thing. I should have done it, but I was too scared. I think that's the other point here, is most people are so freaking scared to invest because maybe they don't have the money. I didn't have the money. When I made my first, first big investment of 3K, I was terrified. I was crying in my bed. My husband and I got a massive fight. He walked out on me, and I thought that was it. I thought that was, we're over, because I just thought, I'm going to do this. Like, something inside of me said, you have to do this. And I'm so thankful. I listened to my gut and did it and didn't listen to him and just went for it. I'm so thankful because that was the launch of a very successful pelvic health practice, and that was a launch of pelvis as well, learning how to do business. You know, I came from a background where I didn't have any entrepreneurs. My parents worked four, four different jobs. Like, I came from a very humble upbringing, and there was no entrepreneurship. I didn't even know what a bank account was when I started orthopubic, like for real. So, you know, I believe everyone has it in them if they want to do something amazing. And I believe everyone can do something amazing. It just depends on how bad you want it. And how bad you want it is depending on how much you are willing to invest. That's it. And for me personally, it's like I don't want to just be average. I want to be the best. And I, I always strive for that. I don't strive for perfection, let me tell you that because I'm not a perfectionist kind of person. I'm a get shit done kind of person. But I just want to always try my best. I want to give my best, I want to do my best. And I always want to stay with a curiosity that keeps leaving me hungry to want more and more and more. Some people will say, well then you're not satisfied. Yes, I am. Okay, I just want, I want more, I want it all. And I want to show you guys through investment how you can have it all. But you have to be willing to be brave enough to not be scared and make an investment in you, in actually you, that then will in the right investment that will then move the needle forward. Rather than thinking the Con Ed is going to solve all the problems, the Con Ed is not going to solve the problem. It's going to give you more knowledge just about that one thing which overall then builds your confidence. But it doesn't necessarily mean that your life is going to change because of that. Comparatively, when you invest in yourself, like yourself, whether or not it's health, business, life, whatever, then it will bring you a return on your investment. And it just how big of an investment return it will bring is up to you. It's up to you on how bad you actually want it. And that's kind of the difference between Con Ed investment and business investment. Guys, so hopefully you enjoyed today's episode and learn to invest. I promise you it's scary as hell, but it will highly pay off for you. So keep investing in yourself, keep believing in yourself and don't be scared to just do something that most people wouldn't do, because that's where the magic happens. All right guys, have a great day.