By Laura Patrick, Kids Physio Group
Even before I applied for physio school I knew that I wanted to work with children. I was drawn to their energy, drive and irrepressible sense of fun. After graduation, I was ecstatic to be offered a position in the public system as a school therapist, and although it was incredibly rewarding work I couldn’t help but be frustrated by the limitations of what I was able to offer. Children needed more than the 3-4 visits per year I was able to offer them, and there were surprisingly few private options to refer them to. The final straw was having to tell the mother of a five-year old with cerebral palsy that there was no one I could refer her to for regular physiotherapy after her SDR surgery.
I couldn’t do it.
Instead I told the mother I was quitting my job and would treat her daughter, and other kids like her, myself. On that day, at least in my heart, my niche practice was born. I decided to create a space designed just for kids, a place where they could reach their maximum physical potential, called Kids Physio, no matter how hard it was or what risks I would have to face.
That was in 2006. Since then, I’ve become a mother, hired over 50 team members, overseen six clinic openings and three clinic expansions, and learned so much. Kids Physio became Kids Physio Group (or KPG), and our reach is greater than I ever could have imagined or accomplished on my own. I’ve witnessed a change in how people perceive and access physiotherapy for children in British Columbia, and I’m dedicated to bringing that change to the rest of Canada.
Read on to understand the five steps I think are crucial in growing your niche practice!
1.) Define your mission, vision, and values and yell them from the rooftop.
In my journey from sole proprietor; to owner/ physiotherapist; to CEO of Kids Physio Group Franchise Company, I’ve found that my most successful seasons come when I am clear and open about my mission, vision, and values. I have passed on a lot of roles at KPG, but still very much see myself as ‘the visionary’ and dedicate time to honing that vision every week.
It is SO important when you’re offering a specialized service that your staff and your clients understand your WHY… especially when they could go to a more generalized practice for a similar service (possibly for a lower cost). I’ve found that the best way to ‘yell it from the rooftops’ is to involve my team, and make them an integral part of our company culture.
Each year or so I sit down with a group of staff to review KPG’s mission, vision, and values (or “MVV”) as a company. I use this time to gauge what the team feels and believes about where we are headed, but also to share my own goals and sentiment. Once we have tweaked – or completely overhauled! – our MVV we roll them out to the rest of the team, which includes posting them in the clinics, reviewing them at 1:1 meetings and performance reviews, and incorporating them into any feedback, events, training, or workshops.
We have found that if everyone on our team is living our mission, vision, and values when they are at work, they become VERY clear to our clients. But just to be safe, we post them on our website as well ;)
2.) Invest in yourself…
In the beginning, it’s all about you. You need to be great for your clinic to succeed; you need to work hard, do every job, and do them all incredibly well. My advice during this time is to ask for help. Hire support staff as soon as you can afford them (they’re worth their weight in gold!), get a mentor (there are some great organizations, like the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs or Women’s Enterprise Centre that offer mentorship programs), and stay curious about what you need to learn rather than feeling overwhelmed. My go-to mantra in these days was “I don’t know how to do this… YET!”
As your company grows, though, your success will rely on you investing in others as well. To put it another way: your company can only scale if it’s not all about you. The problem with just investing in yourself is there is only one of you! You can only see so many clients in a week, answer so many phone calls, and submit so many invoices… so if you want to grow your niche practice, you will eventually have to train others to do those things.
And let me tell you, being a good leader is HARD. It takes practice and support (shoutout to my leadership coach, Kris Plachy) failure and work. But it’s work that pays off a thousand fold when you realize the impact you are able to make on the lives of your employees and clients;all because you chose to put your ego aside and grow your practice to be bigger than you.
3.) … and invest in your team even more.
If all goes well in scaling your business, you’ll one-day be able to pay people to do the work you were originally doing. They will be the ones interacting with your clients every day, creating your social media content, and answering the phones. They need to understand your brand and be really, really good at their jobs.
Kids Physio Group is only as successful as the team who provide our service, so we are dedicated to supporting them clinically, guiding them professionally, and cultivating a strong company culture every day.
Your people make your culture, so invest heavily in growing relationships with intention. That means investing in careful recruitment strategies, supportive on-boarding and training of new staff, and developing leaders.
We believe that by putting ourselves out there as a company that cares deeply about the success of our team, the right employees will – and have – consistently walk through the door to make Kids Physio Group to join the team. But we still vet extensively to ensure that all potential team members resonate with our mission, vision and values. From day one, our clear, values-based expectations allow us to not only hire staff who contribute positively to our culture, but also to redirect anyone who does not.
4.) Get clear about what success means to you, and in your niche industry.
Your definition of success has to be aligned with your values. Once you know what those are, you can set both objective and subjective tangible measures and track them regularly. Don’t be afraid to set specific targets for your company, your staff, and even yourself, and track those metrics every week or month to analyze whether you are moving in the right direction.
Most importantly though, be open to change. If you are creating a new niche, you really can’t compare yourself to anyone else, so it may take a while to create a good description of success for your industry. Be okay with that. If you’re in the black and providing a meaningful service that wasn’t previously available, you’re doing a good job… the rest is icing on the cake!
5.) Forget the ‘steps’.
Ok, maybe don’t actually forget the steps, but don’t depend on them. There is no loophole to succeeding in a niche industry. Being a clinic owner is hard to begin with, and at times you may feel foolish and wrong for limiting your scope by choosing to open a niche practice… but if there is a need for your services that drives your purpose, and you are investing in yourself, your team, and in connecting with your community; tracking meaningful metrics; and making decisions based on your values, you’ll be off to a great start.
ABOUT KIDS PHYSIO GROUP
At Kids Physio Group our vision is to set the standard for pediatric physiotherapy, and be renowned globally for making physio FUN! We are the largest physio-only franchise in Canada with our sixth location opening soon in Toronto, and are on track to continue successfully opening new clinics across the country.
We are always looking for incredible people to join our fast-growing company. If you enjoy working with people who are always supporting your growth, challenging you to be your best self, and genuinely bring you happiness coming into work each day please apply here!
It is my goal to make a career in pediatrics available to anyone who has a genuine passion for it. We are so proud to be able to offer a proprietary training program to new grads, so they can confidently start treating children right after graduation, and even more proud to help young entrepreneurs achieve their dream of owning a successful physiotherapy clinic!
If you would like to learn more about Kids Physio Group, please send Carly Waring, our Director of Growth and Operations, an email at grow@kidsphysio.ca.
We would also love for you to follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/kidsphysio
