Why are Marketing and Sales strategies important in our field? Can't I just be the best therapist around?

Here is a fact: many canine rehabilitation businesses have succeeded despite a complete lack of knowledge on how to grow a profitable successful business. Most of them are struggling now, and not due to COVID or anything like that, but because they were simply unable to keep up with the new age of technology. When they opened for business 10+ years ago they were the only ones in town providing rehabilitation for animals, but that is no longer the case. There are more providers now competing for the same market. General veterinary clinics now offering additional services like laser therapy and acupuncture, thus no longer referring out for those services. Large specialty animal hospitals now have a full rehabilitation department, thus keeping all of those cases in-house rather than referring out for rehabilitation. In the past those clinics thrived without any true marketing, but now that is no longer the case. So yes, COVID related challenges and the current economic landscape likely have not helped, but to be fair most of them were already in trouble prior to that and that only made things worse.

My challenge as I opened TheK9PT in 2017 was the fact that I am not a veterinarian, therefore I was faced with some skepticism at times. It also did not help that I was “competing” against a clinic who had been around for 15+ years and the whole veterinary community in Chicago had been conditioned to just refer to them. The solution: figure out a way to bypass the veterinary community and speak directly to the pet parent. I went on a journey to figure that out and little by little was able to do so. During that journey I learned more about what I now call REAL MARKETING. We turned Google into our lead generation machine, both organically and through paid ads, which gave us the capability to grow and scale with something that I had full control over (hint: relying primarily on veterinary referrals is a dangerous way to grow a business - what if they stop referring to you?).

Then, over time people kept talking about us in the pet and veterinary community, leading to a natural grow on word of mouth referral. But, most importantly, now veterinarians had heard of us and were more willing to refer directly to us. That opened the doors to us implementing an incredibly successful Lunch & Learn strategy that has received tremendous feedback from them due to its focus on how we help them rather than what modalities we have to offer. Today, about 55% of our leads come from Google, making it is still our #1 referral source. However, we now get 30% of our leads directly from veterinary referrals! And, most of them from veterinarians who used to refer somewhere else or even from large specialty hospitals that have rehabilitation in-house! 😱

The results: a business that I started literally with no money in the bank and no loans or anything grew into a 1,300 square feet facility. As business continued to grow I realized we were going to outgrow that space, and we have now expanded into a 2,500 square feet facility employing 3 full-time physical therapists (in addition to myself), a veterinarian, and 5 administrative staff. Our model has created a sustainable way that allowed us to thrive, rather than just surviving, as a business through COVID and economic challenges. Our fee structure allows our therapists to spend a full hour with each patient, and a 2-hour full evaluation. A “busy” weekly schedule means 24-27 patients on their schedule, but because of our fee structure that is more than enough to grow and scale a successful and profitable business. Our results and customer service are unparalleled in our local market. Do you need proof? Then check out the google reviews for TheK9PT! Yes, clients are excited and happy to pay us what we are worth!

My goal and true calling: helping other canine rehab therapists achieve the same level of success! Yes, I am damn proud of what we have built with TheK9PT and look forward to showing the rehabilitation community that the traditional way of doing business is outdated. I make no apologies for any of it. But, where can I make the biggest impact? That was a question I found myself asking a couple of years ago which led me into starting TheK9PT Academy. In the beginning it was a side project, but we have already helped quite a few canine therapists get their dream business off the ground! Now, this is my focus! I will continue to be involved with TheK9PT but I have built the business in a way that I no longer have to spend all of my time in there. That has allowed me to have enough time to offer you this program: TheK9PT Academy Business Accelerator.

I know from the bottom of my heart that what I am going to teach you can be life changing. Why? Because it changed my life. I went from getting paid $19/hour as a “rehabilitation therapist” at a veterinary clinic to now owning a 7-figure business (and growing) in canine rehabilitation, and most importantly, a business that fits my lifestyle rather than the other way around. I have spent A LOT of time, energy, and money building out this business model. I learned, and continue to learn, from some great minds in business ownership and entrepreneurship. Then, I take that knowledge and apply it to our field, which can be similar to other fields but it definitely has its peculiarities. Now, I am packaging all of it into this program and taking you through this process step-by-step.

Now, this is a journey and I won't lie to you and tell you that in 9 weeks you will have the business of your dreams, but I will give you the blueprint to get there and help you prioritize what you need to work on. It took me a few years to build all of these systems and achieve this level of success, and along those years there was a lot of energy, time, and money spent into all of it. But, I know it works and now you can have access to something that works (not just for me but for my mentees as well) without having to go through all the headaches and failures that I endured. I truly hope to see you on week 1 so we can get started on your journey of success as well!