October 8, 2025 • 16 mins
Is social media really the key to building a thriving practice? Michael Lau and Adelle Smener of The Prehab Guys say not necessarily, even with 1.3 million followers of their own.
In this episode of Radio Front Desk, Denzil sits down with Michael — co-founder of The Prehab Guys — and his wife and clinic director, Adelle, to explore how three PT students turned Instagram exercise clips into a global platform, a direct-to-consumer app, and a brick-and-mortar clinic. Along the way, they share why patient trust comes from authenticity, not algorithms, and why you don’t need a million followers to grow your practice.
What You’ll Learn
- Why The Prehab Guys started online first — and how their mission shaped everything that followed
- The difference between social media for global platforms vs. local clinics
- Why patient autonomy is the foundation of lasting trust
- How referrals, community, and great care still outweigh follower counts for brick-and-mortar success
- Tips for showing up authentically online (and why you don’t have to “win” at social media)
Resources mentioned
Guest Bios
Michael Lau is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and one of the three co-founders of The Prehab Guys. While completing his doctorate at USC, Lau helped launch the platform to make evidence-based injury prevention and rehabilitation accessible to everyone. Today, he leads The Prehab Guys’ evolution into a global ecosystem spanning education, technology, and clinical care
Adelle Smener is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the Clinic Director at The Prehab Guys’ Los Angeles location. Also a USC PT graduate, Adelle was one of the early believers in The Prehab Guys’ vision, and helped shape its patient-centered, value-driven philosophy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Yeah, it was never to get clients, and we actually
(00:02):
get very few patients for socialmedia.
People will be surprised to getyou have a million followers,
you guys don't get patients fromthem?
No, most of our patients don'teven know our social media
exists.
SPEAKER_04 (00:12):
Welcome back to Radio Front Desk by JNApp.
I'm your host, Denzel Ford.
If you've ever searched for aquick mobility or pain relief
tip on Instagram or YouTube,chances are you've stumbled
across the prehab guys.
With over a million followers,they've built a digital presence
that cuts through the noise.
They don't chase trends.
(00:33):
Instead, they stay true to theirmission, which is redefining
access to physical therapy.
What started as three PTstudents filming exercise videos
has grown into something muchbigger: a global educational
platform, a direct-to-consumerapp, and a brick and mortar
clinic in California.
Along the way, they've had torethink what it means to build
(00:56):
trust with patients.
Today I'm joined by Michael Lau,one of the original prehab guys,
and his business partner, AdeleSmenner.
And here's the twist.
Michael and Adele say that youdon't actually need a massive
social media presence to buildyour practice.
In fact, what matters issomething much simpler.
(01:16):
Let's get into it.
Adele Michael, welcome to RadioFront Desk.
Thank you for having us.
Yeah, we're excited to be here.
You have a million Instagramfollowers.
1.3, right?
1.3.
Pardon me.
The last time we looked.
(01:38):
That's incredible.
Congratulations.
1.3.
1.3.
Pardon me.
SPEAKER_03 (01:45):
The last time we looked.
SPEAKER_04 (01:48):
That's incredible.
Congratulations.
Wonder if we can start by goingback to the very beginning.
Every idea has a starting point.
And for you, it sounds like itwas such an organic process.
So I'm wondering if you can tellme about the early days of the
prehab guys and how did it allcome together?
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
I can do that.
Very early on, so we were in PTschool as second year PT
students.
You learn all this really,really good orthopedic and
sports information in firstyear, at least at USC, and then
you go out on your firstrotations.
And we got on our firstrotation, and I realized, oh my
gosh, no one knows anythingabout PT.
Or I would go home and visit myfamily on winter break or spring
break, and my mom and dad justhave no idea like what I'm
(02:29):
studying, or even the thingsthat I'm learning as a
first-year student, how I canhelp them in their day-to-day
life go up and down the stairsbetter.
Okay, there's a problem here.
So then in the second year, allthe curriculum changes from
orthopedic and sports to likeinpatient acute care,
cardiocome, neuro.
And we wanted a way to continueto learn ourselves, the
(02:49):
orthopedic and sports, which iswhat we were interested in, and
have a way to advocate for theprofession to educate people.
Because there were so manypeople we saw on our rotation.
If you had just learned onething maybe three months ago,
maybe I you wouldn't be seeingme in the clinic.
And we just started organicallyputting out content both to help
people and to advocate for theprofession, but also selfishly
so we can learn as students.
(03:11):
We never had a master plan togrow to what it is today.
And it just kind of happenedorganically.
SPEAKER_02 (03:16):
We actually met in PT school during that time.
Uh so I was there for like alongthe whole ride from from the
beginning.
And even when he told me aboutthe idea, I was like, Oh, this
is gonna I remember being like,this is going to be big, like
you can't do this alone.
And what was the idea?
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
What is the idea that like really just trying to
educate people on how they cantake care of themselves, but
utilizing social media?
I think this was at the timewhen Instagram is starting to
get really big.
And before this, I had started ablog.
And I remember I was writing allthe same things that we were
putting on social media, but theblog just wasn't getting any
traffic because it's not cool,it's not sexy, it's not top of
(03:52):
mind.
Instagram and social media, atleast at the time, was top of
mind.
So it's like, can we just takethe information we were writing
in a blog and but put it in aneasy-to-digest format that
people are already spendingtheir time on?
SPEAKER_04 (04:03):
And so what you've built since then is just
completely incredible.
So could you take us through alittle bit of the evolution?
SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
Yeah.
So it started very much as justcontent in social media for
about four years.
And then in 2018, all the videosthat we were filming online,
those same videos were likethose can be used as home
exercise programs for otherphysios if you're going to see a
physio and you need to doexercises from home.
So then we created a platformthat other physical therapists
(04:31):
can create their own programs,and then from there we started a
clinic.
So it's very like completelyopposite, I think, than most
people that start a clinic andthey say, Oh, I need to, I need
to do something on social, liketo scale or something.
And then they start social.
SPEAKER_04 (04:42):
Why do you have the videos on YouTube and in the
app?
SPEAKER_00 (04:45):
Completely different videos.
The the goal of all the freecontent that we put online is
again to educate people on howto take care of themselves and
give them the tools and theconfidence that they need to try
to make behavior change.
The app is then if someone wantsto take that next step of, okay,
I want to make that behaviorchange now.
How do I do it?
I need a plan.
And the app gives them thatyeah, it's more of a plan.
SPEAKER_02 (05:04):
Yeah, exactly.
I think when we think about likeour role as like physios, it's
not just so many people come,it's like, what's the best
exercise for like low back pain,right?
And that's kind of like what theYouTube and Instagram is.
It's like if you want like thatquick little tip or fix, that's
where you go for that.
But if you're someone who's alittle bit more invested and
you're like, I need a plan, aprogram, and like I'm invested
in my like health, my like, youknow, my injury, that's where
(05:26):
like the app comes in.
It's like something that buildsoff of, you know, that the free
content.
SPEAKER_04 (05:30):
What strikes me about your approach and
everything that you're saying isjust how patient-centered it is.
You're kind of creating thisworld where recovery is
something that people can ownthemselves a little bit rather
than rely on whatever they'regonna rely on.
You have this on-demandplatform, but how do you think
that that shift towards moreautonomy changes the
(05:50):
relationship between the patientand the practitioner?
SPEAKER_00 (05:54):
I think it demonstrates value.
Like we always say when it comesto patients and customers, we're
never gonna try to convince themor sell them on our value.
People should inherently valuetheir health already, and then
now they're they're coming inlooking for a solution.
So if we give patients theautonomy to and the tools to
take care of their body or torecover from their body, that
means they will inherently valuetheir body to some degree more.
(06:16):
So then they will now reach outto a specialist for a knee.
They will now reach out to amassage therapist, they will now
reach out to a mental healththerapist, but it has to be
driven by the patient, not thesystem saying, Oh, you need to
go to a doctor.
If the system's just tellingsomeone to go to the doctor, the
patient may not actually wantthat.
And then they're not bought intothe program.
Yeah.
Um, everything, at least withphysio or even therapy, the
(06:37):
patient has to believe that'sthe right thing for them.
SPEAKER_04 (06:40):
Let's flip back to the the digital side, the online
side.
Social media is a hard game tobe playing, and it's very
crowded and it's very noisy.
I know you've been at this for awhile, but I wonder if you could
help me understand what helpedyou cut through the noise and
build this following.
SPEAKER_00 (06:57):
Would you say cut through the noise as a consumer
looking at social media or cutthrough the noise as a producer,
creator?
SPEAKER_04 (07:05):
I think I'm kind of thinking, I mean, I think
they're both very related.
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (07:09):
Uh, but as a creator, you're just getting
started.
Yeah.
It almost seems like animpossible mountain to climb.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
I think some of the the tips I would say is you just
have to start.
That's the first thing.
Um, it's gonna seem like animpossible mountain if you say
it is, and then you just have tostart.
I think that's one thing.
Um, I think the second thingthat is sometimes a little bit
misleading, especially when itcomes to in-person practices, is
like an in-person clinic thatdoesn't have any digital or
telehealth things, it's reallyhard to target those people in
(07:38):
that community.
Social media is probablyactually not the best way to do
it unless you're runningtargeted ads.
Um, so if you want an organicfollowing, meaning I post today,
someone in India could be seeingit.
Like it's just a it's a slightlydifferent microphone than I
guess more targeted Yelp ads orsomething, something that that
your local community is going touse.
So always start with why.
Like, why do you want to start?
SPEAKER_04 (07:57):
Was your intention from the beginning global?
SPEAKER_00 (07:59):
Yes, yeah.
It was never to get clients, andwe actually get very few
patients for social media.
People will be surprised to getyou have a million followers,
you guys don't get patients fromthem.
No, most of our patients don'teven know our social media
exists.
Yeah, because completelydifferent demographics.
SPEAKER_04 (08:11):
I love that you're calling that out because yeah,
there's so many misconceptionswhen you talk to people about
marketing clinics and the detailof where are you based, who how
is social media gonna help youwith the people who are actually
gonna come in the door in yourcommunity, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:25):
Very different.
I think, I mean, you'll probablytouch on it, but I think that
goes back to it's like thepurpose of social media maybe
for a brick and mortar is maybedifferent than what we do from
an online platform.
Like I think about like ourclinic, and the purpose of
social media is just to createlike a sense of authority in the
space, um, create a sense ofcommunity locally.
It's very different than like aneducational platform, right?
(08:46):
So, and a global platform.
They're two very differentthings.
So I think, yeah, a lot ofpeople like who have a clinic,
like look at the pre-up guys andthey're like, oh, like I want a
social media follow like that.
But also they don't realize thatwe're not actually that's not
for our clinic.
SPEAKER_04 (08:57):
That's for so how do you get people in the door?
What's your strategy there?
SPEAKER_00 (09:02):
Like referrals, it's it's your community, your
network.
Like that's everything when itcomes to service-based business.
You have to provide a goodservice, and then people will
talk about it.
If you focus on the service,everything else kind of follows.
SPEAKER_02 (09:15):
It's like that's where it's like I don't focus on
seeing people a lot.
I focus on making the most outof my time with them and getting
positive results.
And then that speaks volumes,right?
Especially in the populationthat I see.
Like, I if I can help that ACLerwho was in PT three times and
wasn't able to get better, guesswhat?
Now that surgeon is like, wow,like that clinic can actually
help these people, and then theystart to send us a bunch of
patients.
So yeah, just being a good PT.
(09:38):
Do you think do you think that'ssimple?
SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
Hey there, Christina here.
Just a quick moment to sharethat this episode is brought to
you by Jane.
We know how much heart you putinto building a practice you're
proud of, and that's why we'rehere, to make things like
scheduling, charting, andpayments run a little smoother.
If you'd like to take a peek,head to jane.app forward slash
pricing.
Because we love a good bonus,don't forget to use the code
RadioFrontdesk for a one-monthgrace period.
(10:04):
Okay, I'll keep it short andsweet.
Back to the episode.
SPEAKER_04 (10:08):
Do you think it always has to be separate?
Like, is there a case wheresocial media could help a
business grow?
SPEAKER_00 (10:15):
I think it definitely I think social media
can be it can serve one of twopurposes in the journey.
It can either be the first timesomeone's aware of something.
So they're already searching onsome other food truck vendor
thing, and you're there.
I don't know.
So you have an awareness piece,and then maybe you're you can be
top of mind because you're postper posting content, or you can
help with what we like to callconsideration.
(10:37):
You're you're now educating theperson on what your services
are, how you can help them, butyou have to get someone there
first.
And I think that's the hardestpart about social media is if
you're gonna help people in yourcommunity, it has to be people
in your like five to ten mileradius that see that.
And that's the hardest partabout it.
SPEAKER_04 (10:52):
I I love that you're calling that out.
There's an example that I havewhere it's actually a perfect
model for using social media togrow the business, and it's an
acupuncture clinic thatspecializes in like women's
care, reproductive care.
Because what do women do whenthey're looking to have a baby
or when they're havingchallenges having a baby?
(11:12):
They go online and they likeobsessively look at everything
they can possibly find.
And so in that case, it works sowell because the people are
there online looking, and thenyou can boil it down to the
number of people that are in thelocation, and that's how they
handle it.
Yeah.
And I think that's somethingthat people really miss when
they're thinking of theirbusiness model and what growth
mechanisms they're gonna use, iskind of mismatching the mode
(11:36):
forward with the actual resultthat they're getting.
SPEAKER_02 (11:38):
So one thing that popped into mind too, as you
guys were just chatting through,is like because I think it's
different for a brick and mortarversus like an online business,
like not even just likesomething big like an app or a
product, but I think of likesome of the coaches that I know,
like ACL coaches, like they onlydo ACL, but like if they post on
social and it lands in someonein California season, they're
based in New York, they canstill help that person, right?
So I think it's much morechallenging when you're like a
(12:00):
need of physical location tohave that impact with social
media.
But if you don't have like anygeographical limitations, then
perhaps social media might giveyou a little bit more of an
edge.
SPEAKER_00 (12:09):
I think social media just has to be something that
you're not losing at.
I don't think you need to win atit for a brick and mortar.
If your competitors around youare all posting, they can post,
but you just need to exist.
You need to have it just existas a presence so that way if the
Gen Z person comes over andlooks on TikTok or Instagram,
you at least have a page.
You didn't like just disappearfrom their earth that was around
on social media.
SPEAKER_02 (12:30):
Oh my god, they don't have a page.
Yeah, yeah.
You just have to exist.
You kind of have to be there.
Just be there.
SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Yeah.
So you don't have to kill it.
You just have to be there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (12:38):
Uh imagine there somebody's listening and they
have a model where social mediacould really help them, but
they're nervous to putthemselves out there.
Let's talk about actuallygetting yourself and your
persona online.
What would you say to somebodywho's kind of nervous about it?
Haters gonna hate.
SPEAKER_03 (12:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:58):
And I would say you have to be yourself because if
you're if you're not yourself,you're gonna end up regretting
and just you're gonna end uphating all the time that you
spend on it if you're trying tobe someone that you're not.
SPEAKER_02 (13:09):
And you're gonna attract the wrong people.
SPEAKER_00 (13:10):
And you're gonna attract the wrong people.
And that does and if that if youdon't feel comfortable social
media, then don't do it.
It's like you don't don't feelthe need to do it.
You gotta be authentic toyourself or or yeah, it will not
last long.
You'll be able to start it, butyou won't be able to continue
with it.
SPEAKER_04 (13:24):
How does somebody find out who they really are and
think about it in a way wherethey could translate that into
content?
SPEAKER_00 (13:34):
I guess I'll share.
I started writing on a Substackrecently and I use Chat GPT a
ton.
So that was the first thing.
And then I'm writing for me.
So like when when I say forpeople to produce content, you
need to be selfish.
It's yes, it's for some greatervision or cause to help someone,
but unless you're like, well,what am I going to get out of
it?
And that you're allowed to beselfish.
Well, I want to learn.
For me, is I need a place to getmy thoughts out of it.
(13:56):
I started journaling.
It's like my self-therapy tolike write, to spend a couple
hours on a weekend and just getmy laptop and just start
writing.
It's for me.
And if it could help someone,great.
But like I'm doing it because ithelps me like calm my mind and
get my thoughts out.
SPEAKER_04 (14:10):
Yeah, I love that.
Okay, I don't want to forgotyour playbook.
One of the things you say in itis be you.
So we kind of went over that.
But what do you think that yourtone in all of your online
content?
What is the role of your tone inhaving it resonate with people?
So it's not the fact just thefact that you're putting
exercises up there.
I could go online right now.
(14:31):
I could ask ChatGPT, show mefive online resources for
physical therapy exercises, andI could find something else.
But yours really resonate.
SPEAKER_00 (14:39):
So I think it's staying true to why you do what
you do.
Everything has to boil down towhy.
And that's the same thing as whydo companies have values?
Well, they use those values tomake hiring decisions, to make
product roadmap decisions, tomake operational decisions.
Like you have to have someguiding truth.
Like I mean, that's for us, it'sit's our why.
Why do we exist as a company?
(15:00):
We're trying to redefine accessto physical therapy so people
can take better control of theirhealth.
If we are clear with our why, itmeans that how we accomplish
that why can can change as welearned.
Oh, we thought we should collecta credit card for an initial
evaluation.
Oh, but now collecting a creditcard, people are can't like not
booking as much.
But we can change that.
Okay, now we won't do it.
Or we can pivot on the what.
(15:21):
We can say, uh, we'll do aclinic in person, or we'll do a
mobile app, or we'll do contenton social media.
As long as the why staysconsistent in there, like all
the other things can change.
And if everyone in the companycan like really believe that
why, then it no longer has to bethe founders doing everything,
which will never scale that way.
Everyone believes that why,knows that why.
(15:43):
I mean, feel exude in all thework that we do as a team.
SPEAKER_04 (15:48):
That's it for today's episode of Radio Front
Desk.
Huge thanks to Michael and Adelefor sharing how they've built
the prehab guys and forreminding us that growing your
practice isn't about how manyfollowers you have, it's about
showing up authentically alongthe way.
If you'd like to check out theirresource on building an online
presence that feels like you,you'll find the link in our show
(16:08):
notes.
Thanks for tuning into RadioFront Desk.
I'm Denzel Ford, and we'll seeyou next time.
Yeah, it was never to get clients, and we actually
(00:02):
get very few patients for socialmedia.
People will be surprised to getyou have a million followers,
you guys don't get patients fromthem?
No, most of our patients don'teven know our social media
exists.
SPEAKER_04 (00:12):
Welcome back to Radio Front Desk by JNApp.
I'm your host, Denzel Ford.
If you've ever searched for aquick mobility or pain relief
tip on Instagram or YouTube,chances are you've stumbled
across the prehab guys.
With over a million followers,they've built a digital presence
that cuts through the noise.
They don't chase trends.
(00:33):
Instead, they stay true to theirmission, which is redefining
access to physical therapy.
What started as three PTstudents filming exercise videos
has grown into something muchbigger: a global educational
platform, a direct-to-consumerapp, and a brick and mortar
clinic in California.
Along the way, they've had torethink what it means to build
(00:56):
trust with patients.
Today I'm joined by Michael Lau,one of the original prehab guys,
and his business partner, AdeleSmenner.
And here's the twist.
Michael and Adele say that youdon't actually need a massive
social media presence to buildyour practice.
In fact, what matters issomething much simpler.
(01:16):
Let's get into it.
Adele Michael, welcome to RadioFront Desk.
Thank you for having us.
Yeah, we're excited to be here.
You have a million Instagramfollowers.
1.3, right?
1.3.
Pardon me.
The last time we looked.
(01:38):
That's incredible.
Congratulations.
1.3.
1.3.
Pardon me.
SPEAKER_03 (01:45):
The last time we looked.
SPEAKER_04 (01:48):
That's incredible.
Congratulations.
Wonder if we can start by goingback to the very beginning.
Every idea has a starting point.
And for you, it sounds like itwas such an organic process.
So I'm wondering if you can tellme about the early days of the
prehab guys and how did it allcome together?
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
I can do that.
Very early on, so we were in PTschool as second year PT
students.
You learn all this really,really good orthopedic and
sports information in firstyear, at least at USC, and then
you go out on your firstrotations.
And we got on our firstrotation, and I realized, oh my
gosh, no one knows anythingabout PT.
Or I would go home and visit myfamily on winter break or spring
break, and my mom and dad justhave no idea like what I'm
(02:29):
studying, or even the thingsthat I'm learning as a
first-year student, how I canhelp them in their day-to-day
life go up and down the stairsbetter.
Okay, there's a problem here.
So then in the second year, allthe curriculum changes from
orthopedic and sports to likeinpatient acute care,
cardiocome, neuro.
And we wanted a way to continueto learn ourselves, the
(02:49):
orthopedic and sports, which iswhat we were interested in, and
have a way to advocate for theprofession to educate people.
Because there were so manypeople we saw on our rotation.
If you had just learned onething maybe three months ago,
maybe I you wouldn't be seeingme in the clinic.
And we just started organicallyputting out content both to help
people and to advocate for theprofession, but also selfishly
so we can learn as students.
(03:11):
We never had a master plan togrow to what it is today.
And it just kind of happenedorganically.
SPEAKER_02 (03:16):
We actually met in PT school during that time.
Uh so I was there for like alongthe whole ride from from the
beginning.
And even when he told me aboutthe idea, I was like, Oh, this
is gonna I remember being like,this is going to be big, like
you can't do this alone.
And what was the idea?
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
What is the idea that like really just trying to
educate people on how they cantake care of themselves, but
utilizing social media?
I think this was at the timewhen Instagram is starting to
get really big.
And before this, I had started ablog.
And I remember I was writing allthe same things that we were
putting on social media, but theblog just wasn't getting any
traffic because it's not cool,it's not sexy, it's not top of
(03:52):
mind.
Instagram and social media, atleast at the time, was top of
mind.
So it's like, can we just takethe information we were writing
in a blog and but put it in aneasy-to-digest format that
people are already spendingtheir time on?
SPEAKER_04 (04:03):
And so what you've built since then is just
completely incredible.
So could you take us through alittle bit of the evolution?
SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
Yeah.
So it started very much as justcontent in social media for
about four years.
And then in 2018, all the videosthat we were filming online,
those same videos were likethose can be used as home
exercise programs for otherphysios if you're going to see a
physio and you need to doexercises from home.
So then we created a platformthat other physical therapists
(04:31):
can create their own programs,and then from there we started a
clinic.
So it's very like completelyopposite, I think, than most
people that start a clinic andthey say, Oh, I need to, I need
to do something on social, liketo scale or something.
And then they start social.
SPEAKER_04 (04:42):
Why do you have the videos on YouTube and in the
app?
SPEAKER_00 (04:45):
Completely different videos.
The the goal of all the freecontent that we put online is
again to educate people on howto take care of themselves and
give them the tools and theconfidence that they need to try
to make behavior change.
The app is then if someone wantsto take that next step of, okay,
I want to make that behaviorchange now.
How do I do it?
I need a plan.
And the app gives them thatyeah, it's more of a plan.
SPEAKER_02 (05:04):
Yeah, exactly.
I think when we think about likeour role as like physios, it's
not just so many people come,it's like, what's the best
exercise for like low back pain,right?
And that's kind of like what theYouTube and Instagram is.
It's like if you want like thatquick little tip or fix, that's
where you go for that.
But if you're someone who's alittle bit more invested and
you're like, I need a plan, aprogram, and like I'm invested
in my like health, my like, youknow, my injury, that's where
(05:26):
like the app comes in.
It's like something that buildsoff of, you know, that the free
content.
SPEAKER_04 (05:30):
What strikes me about your approach and
everything that you're saying isjust how patient-centered it is.
You're kind of creating thisworld where recovery is
something that people can ownthemselves a little bit rather
than rely on whatever they'regonna rely on.
You have this on-demandplatform, but how do you think
that that shift towards moreautonomy changes the
(05:50):
relationship between the patientand the practitioner?
SPEAKER_00 (05:54):
I think it demonstrates value.
Like we always say when it comesto patients and customers, we're
never gonna try to convince themor sell them on our value.
People should inherently valuetheir health already, and then
now they're they're coming inlooking for a solution.
So if we give patients theautonomy to and the tools to
take care of their body or torecover from their body, that
means they will inherently valuetheir body to some degree more.
(06:16):
So then they will now reach outto a specialist for a knee.
They will now reach out to amassage therapist, they will now
reach out to a mental healththerapist, but it has to be
driven by the patient, not thesystem saying, Oh, you need to
go to a doctor.
If the system's just tellingsomeone to go to the doctor, the
patient may not actually wantthat.
And then they're not bought intothe program.
Yeah.
Um, everything, at least withphysio or even therapy, the
(06:37):
patient has to believe that'sthe right thing for them.
SPEAKER_04 (06:40):
Let's flip back to the the digital side, the online
side.
Social media is a hard game tobe playing, and it's very
crowded and it's very noisy.
I know you've been at this for awhile, but I wonder if you could
help me understand what helpedyou cut through the noise and
build this following.
SPEAKER_00 (06:57):
Would you say cut through the noise as a consumer
looking at social media or cutthrough the noise as a producer,
creator?
SPEAKER_04 (07:05):
I think I'm kind of thinking, I mean, I think
they're both very related.
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (07:09):
Uh, but as a creator, you're just getting
started.
Yeah.
It almost seems like animpossible mountain to climb.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
I think some of the the tips I would say is you just
have to start.
That's the first thing.
Um, it's gonna seem like animpossible mountain if you say
it is, and then you just have tostart.
I think that's one thing.
Um, I think the second thingthat is sometimes a little bit
misleading, especially when itcomes to in-person practices, is
like an in-person clinic thatdoesn't have any digital or
telehealth things, it's reallyhard to target those people in
(07:38):
that community.
Social media is probablyactually not the best way to do
it unless you're runningtargeted ads.
Um, so if you want an organicfollowing, meaning I post today,
someone in India could be seeingit.
Like it's just a it's a slightlydifferent microphone than I
guess more targeted Yelp ads orsomething, something that that
your local community is going touse.
So always start with why.
Like, why do you want to start?
SPEAKER_04 (07:57):
Was your intention from the beginning global?
SPEAKER_00 (07:59):
Yes, yeah.
It was never to get clients, andwe actually get very few
patients for social media.
People will be surprised to getyou have a million followers,
you guys don't get patients fromthem.
No, most of our patients don'teven know our social media
exists.
Yeah, because completelydifferent demographics.
SPEAKER_04 (08:11):
I love that you're calling that out because yeah,
there's so many misconceptionswhen you talk to people about
marketing clinics and the detailof where are you based, who how
is social media gonna help youwith the people who are actually
gonna come in the door in yourcommunity, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:25):
Very different.
I think, I mean, you'll probablytouch on it, but I think that
goes back to it's like thepurpose of social media maybe
for a brick and mortar is maybedifferent than what we do from
an online platform.
Like I think about like ourclinic, and the purpose of
social media is just to createlike a sense of authority in the
space, um, create a sense ofcommunity locally.
It's very different than like aneducational platform, right?
(08:46):
So, and a global platform.
They're two very differentthings.
So I think, yeah, a lot ofpeople like who have a clinic,
like look at the pre-up guys andthey're like, oh, like I want a
social media follow like that.
But also they don't realize thatwe're not actually that's not
for our clinic.
SPEAKER_04 (08:57):
That's for so how do you get people in the door?
What's your strategy there?
SPEAKER_00 (09:02):
Like referrals, it's it's your community, your
network.
Like that's everything when itcomes to service-based business.
You have to provide a goodservice, and then people will
talk about it.
If you focus on the service,everything else kind of follows.
SPEAKER_02 (09:15):
It's like that's where it's like I don't focus on
seeing people a lot.
I focus on making the most outof my time with them and getting
positive results.
And then that speaks volumes,right?
Especially in the populationthat I see.
Like, I if I can help that ACLerwho was in PT three times and
wasn't able to get better, guesswhat?
Now that surgeon is like, wow,like that clinic can actually
help these people, and then theystart to send us a bunch of
patients.
So yeah, just being a good PT.
(09:38):
Do you think do you think that'ssimple?
SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
Hey there, Christina here.
Just a quick moment to sharethat this episode is brought to
you by Jane.
We know how much heart you putinto building a practice you're
proud of, and that's why we'rehere, to make things like
scheduling, charting, andpayments run a little smoother.
If you'd like to take a peek,head to jane.app forward slash
pricing.
Because we love a good bonus,don't forget to use the code
RadioFrontdesk for a one-monthgrace period.
(10:04):
Okay, I'll keep it short andsweet.
Back to the episode.
SPEAKER_04 (10:08):
Do you think it always has to be separate?
Like, is there a case wheresocial media could help a
business grow?
SPEAKER_00 (10:15):
I think it definitely I think social media
can be it can serve one of twopurposes in the journey.
It can either be the first timesomeone's aware of something.
So they're already searching onsome other food truck vendor
thing, and you're there.
I don't know.
So you have an awareness piece,and then maybe you're you can be
top of mind because you're postper posting content, or you can
help with what we like to callconsideration.
(10:37):
You're you're now educating theperson on what your services
are, how you can help them, butyou have to get someone there
first.
And I think that's the hardestpart about social media is if
you're gonna help people in yourcommunity, it has to be people
in your like five to ten mileradius that see that.
And that's the hardest partabout it.
SPEAKER_04 (10:52):
I I love that you're calling that out.
There's an example that I havewhere it's actually a perfect
model for using social media togrow the business, and it's an
acupuncture clinic thatspecializes in like women's
care, reproductive care.
Because what do women do whenthey're looking to have a baby
or when they're havingchallenges having a baby?
(11:12):
They go online and they likeobsessively look at everything
they can possibly find.
And so in that case, it works sowell because the people are
there online looking, and thenyou can boil it down to the
number of people that are in thelocation, and that's how they
handle it.
Yeah.
And I think that's somethingthat people really miss when
they're thinking of theirbusiness model and what growth
mechanisms they're gonna use, iskind of mismatching the mode
(11:36):
forward with the actual resultthat they're getting.
SPEAKER_02 (11:38):
So one thing that popped into mind too, as you
guys were just chatting through,is like because I think it's
different for a brick and mortarversus like an online business,
like not even just likesomething big like an app or a
product, but I think of likesome of the coaches that I know,
like ACL coaches, like they onlydo ACL, but like if they post on
social and it lands in someonein California season, they're
based in New York, they canstill help that person, right?
So I think it's much morechallenging when you're like a
(12:00):
need of physical location tohave that impact with social
media.
But if you don't have like anygeographical limitations, then
perhaps social media might giveyou a little bit more of an
edge.
SPEAKER_00 (12:09):
I think social media just has to be something that
you're not losing at.
I don't think you need to win atit for a brick and mortar.
If your competitors around youare all posting, they can post,
but you just need to exist.
You need to have it just existas a presence so that way if the
Gen Z person comes over andlooks on TikTok or Instagram,
you at least have a page.
You didn't like just disappearfrom their earth that was around
on social media.
SPEAKER_02 (12:30):
Oh my god, they don't have a page.
Yeah, yeah.
You just have to exist.
You kind of have to be there.
Just be there.
SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Yeah.
So you don't have to kill it.
You just have to be there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (12:38):
Uh imagine there somebody's listening and they
have a model where social mediacould really help them, but
they're nervous to putthemselves out there.
Let's talk about actuallygetting yourself and your
persona online.
What would you say to somebodywho's kind of nervous about it?
Haters gonna hate.
SPEAKER_03 (12:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:58):
And I would say you have to be yourself because if
you're if you're not yourself,you're gonna end up regretting
and just you're gonna end uphating all the time that you
spend on it if you're trying tobe someone that you're not.
SPEAKER_02 (13:09):
And you're gonna attract the wrong people.
SPEAKER_00 (13:10):
And you're gonna attract the wrong people.
And that does and if that if youdon't feel comfortable social
media, then don't do it.
It's like you don't don't feelthe need to do it.
You gotta be authentic toyourself or or yeah, it will not
last long.
You'll be able to start it, butyou won't be able to continue
with it.
SPEAKER_04 (13:24):
How does somebody find out who they really are and
think about it in a way wherethey could translate that into
content?
SPEAKER_00 (13:34):
I guess I'll share.
I started writing on a Substackrecently and I use Chat GPT a
ton.
So that was the first thing.
And then I'm writing for me.
So like when when I say forpeople to produce content, you
need to be selfish.
It's yes, it's for some greatervision or cause to help someone,
but unless you're like, well,what am I going to get out of
it?
And that you're allowed to beselfish.
Well, I want to learn.
For me, is I need a place to getmy thoughts out of it.
(13:56):
I started journaling.
It's like my self-therapy tolike write, to spend a couple
hours on a weekend and just getmy laptop and just start
writing.
It's for me.
And if it could help someone,great.
But like I'm doing it because ithelps me like calm my mind and
get my thoughts out.
SPEAKER_04 (14:10):
Yeah, I love that.
Okay, I don't want to forgotyour playbook.
One of the things you say in itis be you.
So we kind of went over that.
But what do you think that yourtone in all of your online
content?
What is the role of your tone inhaving it resonate with people?
So it's not the fact just thefact that you're putting
exercises up there.
I could go online right now.
(14:31):
I could ask ChatGPT, show mefive online resources for
physical therapy exercises, andI could find something else.
But yours really resonate.
SPEAKER_00 (14:39):
So I think it's staying true to why you do what
you do.
Everything has to boil down towhy.
And that's the same thing as whydo companies have values?
Well, they use those values tomake hiring decisions, to make
product roadmap decisions, tomake operational decisions.
Like you have to have someguiding truth.
Like I mean, that's for us, it'sit's our why.
Why do we exist as a company?
(15:00):
We're trying to redefine accessto physical therapy so people
can take better control of theirhealth.
If we are clear with our why, itmeans that how we accomplish
that why can can change as welearned.
Oh, we thought we should collecta credit card for an initial
evaluation.
Oh, but now collecting a creditcard, people are can't like not
booking as much.
But we can change that.
Okay, now we won't do it.
Or we can pivot on the what.
(15:21):
We can say, uh, we'll do aclinic in person, or we'll do a
mobile app, or we'll do contenton social media.
As long as the why staysconsistent in there, like all
the other things can change.
And if everyone in the companycan like really believe that
why, then it no longer has to bethe founders doing everything,
which will never scale that way.
Everyone believes that why,knows that why.
(15:43):
I mean, feel exude in all thework that we do as a team.
SPEAKER_04 (15:48):
That's it for today's episode of Radio Front
Desk.
Huge thanks to Michael and Adelefor sharing how they've built
the prehab guys and forreminding us that growing your
practice isn't about how manyfollowers you have, it's about
showing up authentically alongthe way.
If you'd like to check out theirresource on building an online
presence that feels like you,you'll find the link in our show
(16:08):
notes.
Thanks for tuning into RadioFront Desk.
I'm Denzel Ford, and we'll seeyou next time.
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