Staff PT to Cash PT | 4 Hacks to Transitioning From Working FOR Someone to Working For Yourself

The number one question asked by our Clinical Barbell Coaching Institute physical therapy, chiropractic, or barbell coaching students is “how do I combat the experience of being undervalued, underpaid, overworked, and having terrible hours at my current job?”

You aren't alone if you want to break free of the status quo.

So often, people feel forced to practice a certain way and handcuffed to the model of the company they work for. Whether that is people who are coaching for a corporate model, practicing clinicians at a mill-model clinic, or athletes looking to transition out of their day job to coaching.

In this episode of the PRS Podcast, Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC, explores how she went from a full-time, mill-model physical therapy clinic where she experienced immense burnout to successfully running Progressive Rehab & Strength, both online and in person.

In just 10-minutes she covers the four things you need while keeping your day job as you transition your side hustle to the career of your dreams:

First and foremost, MINDSET SHIFT - this is not the easy road out. You must be willing to be uncomfortable, to put in the work, and understand that this isn't going to be easy, but it will be worth it.
Creating expectations and boundaries with not only other people but also yourself and your time.
Overcome the scarcity mindset - the power of saying NO.
Work remotely - the more effective you are at coaching people, the quicker you can coach people remotely. The importance of having a systematic way of coaching, analyzing, and assessing movement through video analysis. As well as an effective way of communicating virtually with your clients. This ultimately frees up more time to invest in your business and reach more people.

So if you want to start coaching more effectively so that your side hustle isn't overwhelming, we've got two things for you.

The FREE Barbell Movement Masterclass where we go over the PRS four-phase approach to coaching movement, which also helps you improve your ability to coach people.
PRS Barbell Coaching & Movement Optimization course, if you're looking for an effective way to communicate with clients, take the time that you're trading for dollars in-person sessions that are exhausting and step over your time boundaries and your ability to enjoy your life while still working with people on the side and having a full-time job.

If you are listening to this after the live enrollment, don't worry! The link will automatically take you to the waitlist for the next time we run this Masterclass and the next cohort waitlist for Barbell Coaching and Movement and Optimization! So you will want to take advantage of this episode.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:12] Today is our Ten-Minute Tip episode. In these Ten-Minute Tips, we set a ten-minute timer and discuss questions and topics you guys bring up that you want us to talk about related to barbell training, rehabilitation, coaching businesses, and all that stuff. So I will start at ten, ten-minute tip timer and Alyssa. Go ahead. What are we talking about today?

Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:00:56] So today, we're going to talk about a question from one of our past Clinical Barbell Coaching Institute students. During our bonus Mastermind session, this student asked, "How do you balance being an effective coach with a day job to effectively transition to being a coach or clinical coach full-time? So we typically see people in three different scenarios when we're being asked this question or talking about this question. And the first scenario is the athlete with a non-coaching job who wants to become a coach. The personal trainer who wants to leave a corporate or barbell coaching gym and open their gym. And the clinician who is overworked, underpaid, and undervalued wants to leave their model practice. And you know, the problem that all of these people face in these scenarios is typically they're concerned about bills paying their loans and needing to maintain an income as they make this transition. And they can't just quit their day job cold turkey and pick up a coaching position on their own where they start with one client because that's not going to pay the bills.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:13] Exactly. And we wouldn't recommend that.

Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:16] Yeah, that's not that is not going to be effective for anybody to continue being able to take care of themselves or pay bills. So there has to be a transition period. And I was lucky enough to start with PRS right out of physical therapy school, so I didn't have to make that transition. I was very lucky. So, Rori, this is a better question for you. How do we do this? What tips do you have to effectively coach while working at a job and transition to being a full-time coach or clinical coach?

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:56] Such a great question. And this is one of the things that is a very common theme with all of the students who go through, well, not all of the students. We have a lot of students who come into our courses as just athletes wanting to learn more about their sport and clinicians who want to utilize these things in the practice they're already in. Or coaches who just want to be better in the situation that they're already in. But a large majority of our students come in and are looking to do this on their own and be their boss and leave working for someone. Or not be bound to other people's rules or schedules and do things the way they want to, in the manner they believe to be the best way possible. And that's what I did. That's how I that's how PRS came to be. I worked for physical therapy practice and started coaching people because I knew I didn't want to be there for the long term. I always wanted to be my boss, always liked to beat to my own drum, and do things my way, if you couldn't tell. So within a 1 to 2-year span, I transitioned from working full-time as a salaried physical therapist and personal trainer at a physical therapy practice that also had a gym. Full-time salary there undervalued, underpaid, overworked, terrible hours, denied a raise, asked to do more, etc.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:04:25] I left there through a transition process. And I think there are four things I would recommend to help you balance being an effective coach while still having a day job to support yourself. The biggest thing is the mindset shift. Suppose your goal, and we'll talk about this initially as your goal to transition from full-time somewhere else to work on your own. If your goal is to do this on your own and create a financial cushion so that you can leave your full-time position, you have to shift your mindset. It's going to be hard work. You're going to be working double time. You will be working at your job full-time and doing things on the side to start building your side business. That will eventually be so big that you must leave your full-time job. So, to get from point A to point B, and point B being a better situation, probably more money down the line. So, there's this very uncomfortable middle ground that you'll have to work your ass off, work harder and be comfortable being uncomfortable to get to the position you want.

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Web: https://www.progressiverehabandstrength.com

Email: podcast@progressiverehabandstrength.com

Rori IG: @rorimegan_prs

Alyssa IG: @alyssahope_prs