Gabe Wong’s story about launching his own physiotherapy clinic starts out very depressing. He was trapped in environments of overworked teams and overbooked schedules, administrative tasks, and not enough patient breakthroughs. After just a few years, he was ready to burn out.
But that’s when the story takes an unexpected turn.
Gabe now owns two clinics with a staff of 20 and growing. He’s helping patients get better. Seeing results. Making an impact for them and in his own life.
Read Gabe’s interview and see how he’s learned to balance all this growth while maintaining a healthy personal life for him and his family, which includes two young children. As you read, you’ll notice one theme consistently emerging that has been instrumental in helping Gabe expand his business – mentorship.
Gabe is always learning how to improve his business and practice, and wants people on his team who share that passion for personal and professional growth.
Here’s Gabe’s interview:
1.What inspired you to open your clinic?
I worked at a large chain when I first graduated. I spent my early mornings seeing a handful of private clients, followed by the remainder of the mornings running a work condition program, followed by afternoons seeing an additional 20-25 private clients. Sometimes I had to work with four to six patients at the same time. Working in those conditions burnt me out after only a year and a half.
At that point, my experience as a physio was negative and I felt jaded about the profession as a whole. It wasn’t what I envisioned physiotherapy to look like. I was ready to call it quits. And then, things got even worse. I ended up taking an administrative position at a hospital, something I had sworn to myself that I would never do. Now, I was buried in paperwork and felt like I wasn’t making any impact in people’s lives.
But then, something happened. I worked with a multidisciplinary team including a group of nurses and social workers. They would always be telling me how sore and stiff they were. Since I was still a physio, I offered to help one of them with her neck pain. I spent an hour with her in the park across the street, doing a combination of manual therapy and exercise using only a mat on the ground and the grass field.
Afterward, she told me it was the best physiotherapy she had ever experienced. She especially appreciated that I took the time to explain what I thought was going on with her neck and answered her questions. I also watched her perform each exercises, rep by rep, her so I could correct her form and make the necessary changes on the fly.
That experience led her to tell the rest of my team, and word spread like wildfire. Pretty soon, I was running my own physio practice on the side, out of my garage. Eventually I had to find some space and hire some help. It wasn’t anything I had planned for, but it snowballed to the point where I eventually left the hospital and decided it was better to work for myself.
Two short years after graduating from physio school, I started Westcoast SCI and incorporated in 2010. We now have two clinics, a staff of 20+, and growth in mind. We operate on the principle of helping people make smart-choice investments in their health to live happier, stronger, longer, healthier lives.
Our vision is to create a space for physios and patients to really thrive. Our treatment sessions are typically 45 to 60 minutes to allow rapport to flourish with our clients. We have an open concept space to include both private treatment rooms as well as a large gym area (many of our clients are surprised when they walk in to our clinics as they look like gyms).
We attract clinicians who want to grow both from a physiotherapy point of view, but also in a leadership/management role, and eventually even in clinic ownership.
2. What do you do to build culture at your clinic?
To build culture, we ensure our staff, customers, and community partners feel valued and heard. We let their passions shine. We ask our staff what they value outside of just physiotherapy. As healthcare practitioners, we are always looking for ways to help people. We have started an initiative where we are teaming up with a global cause. We are planning to donate money from each product we sell to a charity which aligns with our values. That way, we are not only helping our clients, we are also contributing to a better world for everyone.
3. What is your biggest business accomplishment in the past year?
This past year has been a year of tremendous growth. Our staff has grown by a third in the past four months. We’ve introduced several new service offerings including kinesiology, concussion management, running assessments, and an OA lab.
I’m so grateful for our committed team working with whom I work with currently: great competencies, highly motivated and committed to delivering the best service to best serve their clients’ and our communities’ needs.
4. What is your biggest mistake and lessons learned in owning a clinic?
Our biggest mistake so far was not having effective clear communication with the team members. This has been rectified since bringing on a community manager.
Other mistakes include not being prepared enough, thinking only one step ahead, and not having the staff in place before launching a new marketing campaign. It’s also a challenge to find physiotherapists who are ready, willing, able, motivated, passionate, and why-driven.
5. What’s something you’ve recently learned that you’re really excited to implement?
I started this venture on my own, not knowing where it was going. It snowballed so quickly, and I didn’t have a chance early on to talk to a mentor or find a partner. I’ve recently begun working with a coaching and mentoring team, and they are opening my eyes to becoming a business owner, not a business operator.
WWith my mentor’s help, I was able to give up carrying a caseload. Now, we’re mapping out our company’s organizational structure. We’ve appointed clinic directors atat each or our clinics, a community director, a marketing manager, a marketing student, and a patient experience supervisor.
Establishing a clinic director is particularly exciting for me. It will allow me to give someone I trust and admire the reins to lead and grow the clinic and showcase their skills and talent, and free up my time to scale the company.
Finding a good coach/mentor will have an enormous impact on your growth. I’m really excited for the next 12 months and beyond.
6. If you had to spend $500 marketing this month to get new patients, how would you spend it?
If I had $500 for marketing, I would join the local Chamber of Commerce. Building connections with local businesses and civic leadership has been tremendous! I was recently nominated as the 2018 Business Leader of the Year, and the company was nominated as Business of the Year in Port Coquitlam. Unfortunately, I didn’t win, but it was nice to be noticed by the community, even though we were not Chamber members.
It has provided a lot of exposure and bit of notoriety amongst the community locally and online (they have 900+ members). Their motto is “Strong business. Strong communities”.
7. Are you currently using Google Ads? If not, what is stopping you?
I’m not using Google Ads because I have tried in the past and didn’t get a single new client from the campaign. Perhaps it’s time to try again as it’s been several years and I know more now than I did then. I do know that content and placement is a big part of succeeding in that realm.
8. What is stopping you from doubling your profit in the next 12 months?
The biggest thing holding me back is lack of clinicians. From the beginning, one of my biggest challenges has been recruiting talent. Hiring the right fit for my team takes a lot of time and effort. There’s no lack of applicants, but sifting through the resumes and interviewing the short list takes a lot of time.
We now have a brand to align with and I have been working with my marketing team to help me establish the culture, values, vision, and mission of our brand. Each therapist is an expert in an area and we need to continue to grow and support them as our clinic gains more exposure. We are hoping to set the new standard of physiotherapy in BC and hopefully across Canada and beyond.
We are always hiring and growing our team, and looking for people to join our elite group of therapists.
9. What do you do to learn more about business and leadership?
As an entrepreneur and business owner, finding work/life balance continues to be a challenge. Luckily with the help of my coaching team and great clinicians and therapists that I trust and love, I’ve developed some rules around optimizing my calendar to prioritize my time.
I think starting with changing your mindset around the importance of self is a good place to start. It’s so easy to get caught up in running a business, and you need to remember that you can’t do everything. You need time to recover. If you have a family, you better make time for them because at the end of the day, they’re all you’ve got. Being successful in business doesn’t mean much unless you have someone to share it with.
10. How many hours do you work each week?
Since I stopped carrying a caseload, my time has become a lot more flexible. Over the past year, I was working about 20-25 hours a week. However, since taking on a business mentor (probably the best decision I’ve made in a long time and something I wish I did years ago), I’ve probably started working 30+ hours a week.
Before my business mentor, I was running the two clinics and not thinking in terms of growth. Now, I’m compiling and fine-tuning my systems, getting things written down, promoting leaders within my organization and looking at scaling.
Once I’ve got a grasp on the foundation, I’ll be able to cut back my hours because I’ll have the people in place to run the day-to-day operations, so I can focus on growth and scale.
11. What is your daily morning ritual that gets you energized to go to work?
I’ve got two young children, so I spend every morning getting them up and ready for school. As any parent knows, some days are more difficult than others, but there’s a satisfaction that comes from being a parent. No matter how difficult it can be to raise children, even the most challenging kid can make you laugh.
In addition, if I’ve done a good job organizing my calendar, I’ll slot in time before I start my work day to go to the gym. A good workout is a great way to get my mind ready for the day. While I have a great gym space in my clinics, there’s no way I can get a good workout there because people will want to talk to me and I won’t get the exercise/mental break I need.
12. What is the book you’ve most often gifted to other people?
The book that’s really resonated with me recently is “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek. The message is so simple, yet so profound. So many people know what to do and how to do it, but hardly any know WHY we do it on a deeper level. I think finding this out for yourself will not only give you meaning, but will also keep the fire going when times get tough and you want to give up. I’ve given this book to more people than I can remember.
13. Best advice for yourself in your 30s
The best advice I’d give to the 30-year old me would be to get a business coach early (or find an experienced business mentor). So many of the golden nuggets of advice I’ve learned would have been so helpful when I was first starting out. However, there’s solace in the saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”.
Key Takeaways from Gabe’s Story
1) Pay attention to people more than tasks – this is what led to Gabe starting his business
2) Leverage expertise, whether that’s a coach, a mentor, or people on your staff who know more than you about a particular area of the business
3) Hire well
4) Set smart goals
See more of Gabe’s story and his clinics:
WestCoast SCI Instagram page
WestCoast SCI website
If you found something else in Gabe’s story particularly inspiring or helpful, share it in the comments below!
ABOUT GABRIEL WONG
Gabriel Wong obtained his BSc.at the University of Victoria and his MSc. from the University of Alberta. His extensive experience includes working with patients in orthopedics and sports, occupational rehabilitation and paediatrics. He has worked with babies less than a month old to elite athletes such as the Edmonton Eskimos and seniors. His commitment to strong and engaged community practice fuels his desire to learn and grow as a business leader bringing a style that embraces a multifaceted treatment approach. His passion for his family, his community of practice and the natural environment is central to his values and the approach he takes to his work.
