Navigating Personal Hardships and Small Business Challenges with Dr. Rachel Daof of The Pelvic Model

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 Orthopelvic 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 pelvibiz. Now let's get into today's episode.

Welcome guys to Pelly Biz Podcast. I'm your host, Kelly Alhui. Today we have a very special guest. She's actually one of my mastermind students. Super pumped to have her on. She's going to drop some major knowledge today. So Rachel, go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us where your clinic's at.

Hi, my name is Rachel Dahlf. I'm a pelvic health physical therapist and I own the Pelvic model over at Pasadena, California which is the northeastern part of Los Angeles.

Awesome, Rachel, so tell us a little backstory here. Like how did you decide to go off on your own and have the courage for that? Because most of us know it is so hard to just even think about it, let alone do it. So what kind of gave you the momentum or courage and what inspired you to say, you know what, I am going to go out on my own and this is what I want to do?

Yeah, it's always been a thought on my mind. I never thought that I would actually do it. I just thought it would be like, oh, what if I do this thing? But it all did start during the pandemic when I had been furloughed and when everything stopped, I had a lot of time to think and actually reflect. Time that I didn't have when I was in the everyday grind. Actually when, when I did have that time, that break, that's when all my health issues started to reveal itself. I was having like daily panic attacks. I do suffer from endometriosis and that's when it started to get way worse. I that's like I had fainted from Endo before, but that's when it started to happen more regularly and I couldn't walk. That's when I started to not be able to walk from Endo. And then I thought I was like, okay, this has to do with not necessarily work in general, but just like my stress levels. And I knew that I couldn't get that under control unless I was in a place where I wanted to be geographically because I was working on the other side of la, where I wanted to live and I wanted to work on the other side and I wanted to take control over my time and health and do it in a way that, you know, that made me personally happy. And yeah, that's how it normally, that's how it started.

Yeah, that's. I mean, that's amazing that, you know, it's. It's amazing that fear. Not even fear. Well, kind of fear. Fear of I don't know if I can take care of my health. I mean, I've been in this situation too where you're like, I don't know if I can actually take care of my health, if I'm going at the same rate that I've been going. Because most of us have had one to two jobs even before starting our own companies because that's kind of how you make end. Meet. Ends meet. Right. And so fear of, if I continue to go and work at the same place that I was working at, I won't survive or I won't be able to take care of myself. And that fear is what drove you? Yeah, yeah. And yeah. And you're like, you know what? I am going to take control and get my, you know, health under control. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. And that's. So would you say, Rachel, that that is kind of your driving force behind, you know, you starting your practice and is that, is that what keeps you going or is there other things that keep you going?

I would say there was a lot of things keeping me going and I just did think like if, if we're talking about like my personal life too, I was working, like looking back at my schedule, I was waking up at 4:30 to get up to get to the gym by 5 because that was the only way I was going to make my commute right to get to work and then I would only I would get home at 8. So I was single at that time. I had it left zero room for dating. I was like heading toward my 30s. So that was also a driving force too. It's like I had, I needed A personal life, right? Yeah. So I needed a personal life. I wanted to get my health together, and I did. And I knew, like, at the bottom of this that this was going to make me a better clinician and it would make me be able to take care of people better because that's my job, you know, and it's like. And that's the core of what I do for work. If I can't take care of myself, like, it will trickle. And you. I feel it. Like, I. You. If it comes to the clinic as well, no matter how hard you try, like, I knew I was still doing my job well, but, you know, it's like, if I can do it better, like, this is the way for me.

She. She just nailed it. Hopefully you guys are listening to this. She just nailed it. Like, seriously, you have to be the model for your patients, and you have to model that behavior, and you have to actually go through it. And she's had endometriosis, which most of our patients have endometriosis. Right. So she's able to then take her struggles and say, look, I'm going to do it a different way. And the way that I'm doing it, then she's going to model that for the patients, and then the patients, indirectly, guys, are actually going to be getting better because she's actually been through it and she's done it. We were just doing this in my clinic. Literally, I was telling everyone that started the year, we're going to do heart rate monitoring, heart rate variability, all this health and wellness stuff. And literally one of my pts goes, well, I can't do that. And I said, why? She's like, well, I don't do it. And I was like, bingo. Here's the key. I have to get my whole staff to do it, understand it first. They have to model the behavior before we even start pushing it out on the patient. Yeah. So, yeah, it's like, it's really amazing that when you're right, when you start actually doing the behavior that, you know, you've never done yourself, but you start actually doing it, it starts to rub off on your patients and the outcomes become even better.

Yeah. Yeah. And it really does show you. You start to have, like, the more energy to. It really is true. You have to pour into your cup before you can pour into others, so you have more energy for that. And I. And I really like what you're doing with the heart rate. Very variability with your clinic. That's cool.

Yeah, it's. It's really. I mean, even with My own health struggles. Right, guys? I mean, you guys, anyone that watches me pretty much knows that, you know, I've had my own health struggles, just like a lot of us have. And to get through that, boundaries are very hard. You have to set boundaries, and you have to be the model. Even for you guys, for coaching, I have to be the model. If I just said, guys, take care of yourself, and I'm over here, like, eating bonbon, sitting on the couch, like, that's not really. That's not really a good coach, you know? So you have to model the behavior that you actually want other people to be doing.

Yeah, yeah.

So. And health is huge because if you don't have your health, you're not taking care of those patients, no matter how much you think you're going to take care of them. Just, it's not happening. And a balance. You got to have a balance.

Yeah, that's true.

So that's good. I like. I like that Rachel brought up that she wanted more than just work, because a lot of us actually think that work is everything. And trust me, I've fallen into that trap, too. But you have to have a balance. If you actually have a different hobby than pelvic health. Okay. You're actually going to take those skills that you learn in your hobby and then bring them over into the pelvic health world and be a better provider.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's another. It's another good point.

Yeah.

All right, Rachel, so here's another question for you. What was through? So you got your clinic. So let's just go through the story here. So you start your clinic. How did you know, like, what location you wanted to put it in? Like, was it closest to your house? Was it, like, you know, you just thought, oh, this is a cool area. Like, let me put it here. Like, how did you decide that?

I feel like I base a lot of my decisions on what I want my life to look like.

Right.

And I always had my eye out on Pasadena for a lot of reasons. I have a lot of family not in Pasadena, but in the northeast Los Angeles region. And. And being close to them is very important to me. So. And I also didn't want to commute, so I was like, okay, so if I'm going to live in Pasadena. Pasadena, then I want to put my clinic, like, a mile away from where I want to live. So what I did first is I didn't know that I wanted to grow my. My business. I wanted to just do solopreneur. And so I was like, okay, Let me just look at. So every day after work I would go home and go search for mass rooms for rent or chiropractic rooms for rent, even like psychology centers where I ended up in it. I would just search room for rent in all different kinds of ways. And I happened to come across a really lovely, great location in Pasadena that did have one and multiple rooms to rent if I wanted to expand. So I knew that that was a good move for me.

Okay, that's awesome. And so then, so you got your, you got your clinic. Okay. So now you have this clinic. Okay. And now it's. It works for you because it's. I love that you put it right next to your house. That's perfect. Because that's why we build businesses to make it to where it creates the lifestyle that we want. So that's amazing. So now how did you go out and start getting patients? Like people that are listening to this right now are thinking, well that's great she got a location. But how did she even have confidence to do that? And where is she getting these patients coming from? Like, how did you even get people to come see you?

So for that I would like to thank it to. I don't know, I think I'm a little bit more tech savvy on the tech savvy side. So I built my website and I did it very, very early because I knew it takes time to get your SEO running. And I knew as soon as I got my location I need to get my Google up because Google is king. And then so from there it. I had, I just. And honestly my first, my first patient, I didn't. As soon as I put my website up and made my first little thing, someone contacted me the next day and I was so surprised. So after that, like just built. Building the SEO from there. And honestly after, like I think because I'm in a large metropolitan, I don't know, I'm not going to say it, metro area.

Yeah.

There I have a lot of people like to, to go filter into my website and just on Google alone, SEO alone. After the first month, I was pretty packed. Wow.

Wow, that's amazing. So technology really was on your side.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's awesome. So basically anyone that's starting out, your advice is to make sure they get their website up and running. And it does take some time, months. Guys, just so you know, like, just because you created a website doesn't mean that it's going to pop up on the first page of Google. It just doesn't work. Like that. And so you got to have your website up and going so that there's hits coming to it as well as if you want to get those Google reviews written, you've got to the more of those that are written as well. It will try to bring you up higher in the search engine. But you just got to make sure that you get all that set up ahead of time. It just doesn't like work like oh yeah, we just put this out there, it's going to happen. It takes a little bit of time for Google to recognize you as a real business. That could be months, just so people know. So that's good. That's a great tip, Rachel. That's a really, really good tip for everyone. Okay, so now you got your Google people are coming from that. Who do you typically like, like treating?

Well, it started off to be pelvic pain mainly because I knew how to treat it. I was seeing pelvic pain all day, every day. But now that I've built my practice, I really like a good mix of, of people. Like I like I. Right now I have a good mix of pregnancy, postpartum. I do love treating male, the male population. So I have a good mix of male pelvic floor and pelvic pain. I don't know, it's really hard to say right now. Right now I'm back into really loving treating pain and endo particularly just because of my own journey and where I'm at right now. But it, it really does fluctuate. Yeah.

Yeah.

I wish I had more on point answer but I like.

No, that's great. A variety. I think a variety actually keeps our brain, you know, working and that's why a lot of us went into pelvic health. I went in pelvic health because it was challenging and I loved putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

Yeah.

You know, so that, that's great. So speaking of challenges, what challenges have you like has occurred during the time that you've been in business? You've been in business now what for two years, would you say?

Yeah, yeah, a little bit over two years. And I feel like the biggest. There was a lot of challenges, but the, I think if, if I'm looking personally, marketing is not my strong suit.

Okay.

Yeah, marketing and like, I know, I know I like to hide like as I said, I like to hide behind like a Google SEO doing all that stuff first. And I knew, I knew I had to go out there and talk to doctors, do more workshops like do things in the community which I really like, like doing. And I want to make those connections and have a home for those with pelvic floor dysfunction in Pasadena. And I knew I had to do it, and. But it's just scary.

Yeah. So let's speak to that because there are so many introverts that are listening to this that are going to be like, oh, my gosh, I 100% relate to her because I like to be behind the control computer screen, and it is scary. And. And this is. I. I love this. I love this question. So. Or this answer. So let's dive into it. Why is it scary?

I feel like for a lot of different reasons. The personal reason is, is that I know I look younger than I. Than I am, and. And sometimes the way I talk isn't the most professional. It's like, I usually talk to, like, like, more like you, but I feel like that is, like a personal barrier, and I feel like I had to be more, like, hold myself in a way that I'm not normally holding myself in other people. And that was a challenge for me. And I know now that I don't need to do that. I just needed to practice a few times to get my groove and do it the way that I wanted to do it.

Yeah. So you're kind of. It was uncomfortable for you because you're kind of acting this way of, like, well, this is what the perception is. So I need to live up to this perception. But the reality is the more you guys are actually yourself and unapologetic about being yourself, the more natural it's going to come across and the better the conversation and deeper conversation that you're going to have. Like, I say, like. And so, so many times, like, that's just how I talk. Okay. But I'm kind of unapologetic about it, you know, And I'm just like, this is me, right? Because I think this. I think people are scared for many different reasons, like you said. But I think a lot of it's rejection. I think a lot of it is, what are they going to think about me? Right. A lot of it is, you know, well, if they tell me no, does that mean that I can never get into this place again and my business is screwed and my business is to go down. So that's fear. I think there's a lot of that.

And I think a lot of it is the unknown. Like, what do I do next if they say no? Or, like, what's the process? That's. That's what I always think of, too. Right. Another one. But. But yeah. Yeah. I feel like a lot of it is what's not known. And I, like, before doing all of this on my own, I wanted everything to be nice and perfect and correct, and I wanted to say the perfect thing to capture the perfect whatever, which is just not like. No, like, you don't need to do that.

Yeah, so let's talk about that. So before. Because she was. Before Rachel joined Mastermind six months ago. So before Mastermind, what would you say that you were doing then, that now has changed to what you're doing now?

What I was doing then was I was still relying heavily on my SEO and I was just to connect with other people. I was just sending out emails and I. If I felt comfortable seeing a person because we had like a mutual connection, as in like a, like another physical therapist or a doctor or whatever, I would only feel comfortable in certain situations. But now I'm just more. I feel like I need. Like I needed the push to get over myself. Like, I feel like you helped me push. You pushed me to talk to more people one on one, without the fear of, I don't know, to just do it and to get those reps and.

Yeah, get those reps. It's huge. And just, you know, what if they tell me no, then kind of just get that mentality of great. They tell me no. Maybe they're not my person, or maybe they are my person, but maybe they're having a bad day and today is just not their day.

Yeah. And honestly, I've grown to like it a lot more than I thought I would. I mean, I still don't love it, but, like, I do. It's not like the worst part of my days.

What now, Rachel? Have you, like, grown to kind of like about it?

I. I do think that, like, I like in treating I like a variety, like, I do like. And I do like meeting people in the community and seeing what they're able to offer and seeing how they're able to help my patients too. And I really do think that, like, getting yourself out there and meeting all these people is beneficial to not just. It's not just me. It's not about me. It's never just about me. It's about the patient and. And being able to do that, like, of course for me, but for. Mainly for other people is just so important. And it's just really good meeting other people and seeing what they do because it does take a community to. To help our population. And that's just what I believe.

No, I 100 couldn't agree with you. More collaboration. It is so key, especially going into 2023, that we have got to be collaborating with each other. And when you collaborate, you provide more value to your patients. So whether or not that you're hooking on with a massage therapist providing value as well as, you know, physical therapy or ot, or you can provide more value by just having a referral list and being like, hey, I've actually worked with these providers. You don't have to go to Dr. Google and search all this stuff. I'm going to save you time. Here's the referral list that. These are providers that we actually trust and have worked with, and these are the results that we have gotten. And I think people appreciate that a lot.

Yeah, yeah, it's important.

So definitely, I think. And you can't. You're right, Rachel, you can't do that on Google. Sure, you can search on Google, but it doesn't really tell you, like, how is this person's bedside manner? Like, how does this person treat this way? Like, you have to really go in person and start connecting with these people.

Yeah. And you, you asked, like, what makes it a little bit better for me is like, in my eyes, that's sometimes like, ooh, now I get to have acupuncture today. Or it's like, oh, let's try this new modality. I think that's like, it, it mixes things up and like, it helps me in my, my health. And then, I don't know, just, I feel like it helps everybody, helps everyone.

All the way around. Yeah.

Yeah.

You couldn't have said it better. That's great. So let me ask you this. What do you feel like 2023 looks like for you and your company? Like, what's the vision? Where do you see yourself going? Is there anything like new, exciting, fun coming up that you're like, ah, I can't wait for the new year to launch this or do this.

Yeah. I have such big dreams for 2023.

Let's hear them. So.

So I want to expand my business. I'm currently hiring a new pelvic floor physical therapist.

Reach out, guys. You gotta reach out to Rachel. Yeah.

The pelvic model in Pasadena. Contact me info atthe pelvic model.com.

Perfect. Perfect.

Okay, so I'm trying to hire another pelvic floor physical therapist in that I want to expand, get a new location, a bigger location so that we can not just another treatment room, hopefully, like, it might not be in the cards, but hopefully like a bigger exercise area some place, something that I Can, like, host events itself. And hopefully, if all things go correctly, by the end of next year, I'm going to try and hire another physical therapist. But that's just, you know, let's see. Let's see what happens.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, that's. That, that's amazing. I'm trying to think of what else. Any other advice or tips that you would give to someone that you know is trying to be in your shoes. They're at a job they absolutely hate, they want to leave, they don't have the confidence yet to make that leap. Is there some advice that you would tell the audience of, hey, you know, is there anything that you would give a pearl or a tip of wisdom that we haven't talked about yet?

Yeah, I mean, I feel like the theme of this is. A lot of this experience is trying to see what works specifically for me and my life. And sometimes working for somebody else is. Works for them. But you need to ask yourself, like, what works for you specifically? Is it, is it, I don't know, less hours, being able to go to your own appointments? Is that what you're looking for? Or is it, is it spending more time for loved one with loved ones, trying to expand, like, your relationships, just really thinking what works for you and then asking yourself, is this leap gonna make it possible? And, and then if it does, I honestly don't think that you're gonna have a problem making the leap.

I love that.

To trust yourself and go for it.

Yeah, that's amazing because she's. What she's saying is audit your current situation, figure out what you personally want. Like, dive deep. Don't just say, oh, yeah, I want this, like, really, truly, what do you want in your personal life and business life and relationship? Like, all the things. And they all guys, they all actually go together. So once, like Rachel's saying, once her health starts improving, well, then guess what, her business starts improving. Once our health was kind of bad, well, guess what? She wasn't really able to do much in her business because she wasn't feeling well. So all this stuff goes together and it's really. Would be really good to sit down with yourself and just say, okay, where am I at right now? What things do I not like about my current situation? And if I could make things better, what would it look like? And if I then say, okay, if this is what I want, does, like Rachel said, doesn't mean that I need to leave my job. Maybe it doesn't mean you need to leave your job. Maybe you just reduce your hours or maybe it means you have to leave your job. And maybe it means, hey, I need to create something that actually works for me. And then you start making your.

Your.

Your business off of you. Just like Rachel said, she put her location right by her house, so she wasn't now making that commute. And. And she probably got back, what, two hours at least of your day.

Yeah, I feel. At least. At least. Yeah.

So now she can do other things, focus on relationships and actually have a better, well rounded overall life instead of it just being about pelvic health and patience. And that's so key, especially when you're trying to heal, you know, from anything. So thank you. Thank you so much, Rachel, for coming on here. Can you go ahead and give everyone tips and tricks, or can you go ahead and just say where you're located and where people can find you and, you know how. Where they can follow you on Instagram and all the things?

Yeah. So I'm in Pasadena, California, Northeast Los Angeles. My company is called the Pelvic Model, and you can find me at the pelvic model.com or my Instagram handle is the Pelvic Model.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate everything you've given us today, so thank you.

Thank you, Kelly.

If you are ready to change your life, click the link in the show notes to get your ticket to Pelby Biz.

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