A Personal Note: Lessons From a Year in Business 🥂
First, a HUGE thank you to all my clients, friends and colleagues who have supported me in so many ways throughout my first year in business! You all are the reason Natasha Fett, DPT thrives!! ♥️ “A Personal Note” will be a monthly series this year. I hope you all enjoy!
A year ago today I started my own cash-based Physical Therapy practice in Salt Lake City, UT.
I started my business at the beginning of the year, still in a global pandemic, seeing clients from the corner of the living room/kitchen of our rental house.
Friends, 2021 brought so many things that are joyful… and at the same time highly uncertain to our lives. At the end of July, Dan and I found out we’re having a baby! In August I moved my business from our living room to a real office! And in October, we bought our very first home!! So much joy… and lots of anxiety too (the two can exist together, I assure you). I will get into some of those things in a later post. But, in this “A Personal Note,” I want to tell you all about my first year in business and some lessons I have learned (am still learning) along the way.
I will start by sharing my “why’s.” Why did I want to start a cash-based Physical Therapy business?
I went into business for myself because I had a vision of how I wanted a clinic to run. I wanted to build a space and practice created from my own values. I wanted to practice physical therapy in a way that feels true to those values. I wanted to work, live and practice my way. Does this mean I have all the answers and that I won’t need help/coaching/mentoring along the way, absolutely not! However, I have had to remind myself of these “why’s” over and over throughout the year when our good old friend, imposter syndrome, has shown up. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it is used when our insecurities pop up and tell us we are not qualified, worthy or enough to do what it is that we are doing and folks are going to find out we’ve been hosing them (in so many words).
A few ways insecurity and imposter syndrome have shown up for me this year as an entrepreneur:
Comparison: “I am not where I should be in my business/success, based on my peers (or their social media),” or “Why should I put out this content? Everyone already knows this, everyone is already saying it…”
Negative self-talk: “I am not good enough,” “I don’t know what I am doing, “AM I even qualified/ am I even helping?”
I suck! Help! Take all my money!: I have found that, for me, this is one of the most insidious ways imposter syndrome shows up, and it happened often, especially in those first months. Basically, it is allowing myself to believe I must pay someone thousands of dollars to tell me what to do so I don’t screw it all up.
Here are some ways I am dealing with all that comes with being a cashed-based physical therapy practice owner:
Unplug to overcome comparison: We all know we need to do this in some capacity, don’t we? Well, for the past month or so, I have been pretty successful at it. I took social media platforms off of my phone so I can’t mindlessly scroll. This not only frees up time to do work on my mental health, my business, etc., but it also removes the urge to compare where I am to others. Sure, we can get inspired by our peers and what we see on social media, but sometimes the other perspective, comparison, creeps in before we know it. And for me, that is what happened and frankly, it was halting my efforts to produce anything to help my business grow. So, I chose to step away so I can focus and be productive. So that everyone knows I am no monk, I do allow myself some checkout time on social media, usually on Sundays when I have Netflix and a chill day. Turning off the brain is good for us sometimes, especially when done in an intentional way. And I find I really only look at the stuff I want to see that actually does inspire me. My goal is, when I get back to posting content, I will do only that most days vs mindless scrolling.
Curiosity to overcome negative self-talk: Negative self-talk is challenging to overcome, but here are things that I think are helping. I try to allow time for deep study (this is SO hard for most people in healthcare, I get that… hence another reason I am my own boss). I stay in the moment with my clients and try to listen more than answer. Most of all I try to remain curious. Curiosity has become my answer to so many things over the past few years, including dealing with some ramped-up anxiety. It helps to keep us open to possibilities, be ok and admit we do not know right now and keeps us open to finding answers. I wish all people in helping professions would adopt curiosity as a goal/value/mindset. I think we would all be better off.
Remembering my “why’s” to overcome imposter syndrome: Most of these coaches are well-intentioned and really want to help, but they are just like me in that they started a business, not knowing all there is to know about starting a business, made mistakes, figured shit out, made more mistakes, etc., and now want to help all of us not make those same mistakes… good intentions… but, for me personally, I had to keep reminding myself over and over of my “why’s” and that I WANT to do this my way and further, as crazy as it may seem, I WANT to make the mistakes and figure shit out. Isn’t this how my business will grow and stay authentically “me”? I am by no means suggesting that we never get coaching or mentorship along the way. What I am suggesting (shaking your shoulders and yelling) is that we stop seeking it out from a place of fear, scarcity and insecurity! Instead, what if we deal with those dumb voices, remind ourselves why we are doing this, and seek out the coaches when we literally find ourselves at a point where we cannot grow anymore without some real guidance.
In being a little more still and allowing less chatter into my life, I feel like I have been more able to stay in my truth and remember my “why’s” of starting my own thing. As a result, I am remembering that running things from exactly where I am, whatever that life-season is, is how my business and practice will remain authentically to me and my values. If you feel so inclined, I would love to hear any lessons you have learned over the past year or in business.
To another year my friends!
xoxo, Natasha