[Transcript starts at 2:26]
Hello friends. And thank you for joining me for yet another episode of Maestro on the Mic. As always, endlessly, endlessly grateful. So today's topic actually came from one of you guys, one of my Insta homies, and just as a little sidebar. When I ask you to write to me, or text me, or message me, whatever, I, I really mean it.
I love hearing from you, and I'm gonna guarantee that only a fraction of the people who you think message me, actually message me. So I think people are like, oh, you probably get so many messages, I don't want to send it, you won't get it. Lies, because everyone thinks that, and so because of that, I don't actually get that many.
Uh, I, I'm not gonna regret saying this, if I get bombarded, I get bombarded, so. Uh, one of you, thank you very much, you know who you are, reached out on Instagram and asked about, you know, for my two pennies and if I [00:02:00] do an episode on this. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to do an episode on it and I'm going to drop this this week.
Alright, she actually messaged me today. Today is Monday. This episode will go out on Thursday. And I was like, I talked to her first and gave her my, my two pennies. And then I was like, I'm also gonna make this an episode because this is phenomenal. So, basically, what she had asked was for physical therapists that are, you know, they were laid off.
And they're looking for employment now. Should they just be grateful to find any job? Is this a time to be negotiating? Or And I thought this was a phenomenal, phenomenal question. So full disclosure, I did not get laid off because I work for myself. Uh, so I can't, you know, speak from like, you know, being directly in your shoes, but I do have many, many thoughts.
And it all kind of circles back to that question that I posed in the little intro, if not now, [00:03:00] when, so as it relates to looking for a job now and kind of negotiating and talking to employers and things like that, I don't think that the, the focus should be on money. Um, now money is very important. I love money.
I love making money and I'm not saying like, Oh, it doesn't matter. But I think that right now. This time and I read an amazing article and I'll link it in the show notes called I don't know what it's called It was in medium and they refer to the time period right now as the great pause You know and I spoke about this in previous episodes where right now we have an opportunity to reflect it may be forced But it's an opportunity nonetheless to to reflect on how things were And how we want them to be.
And I'm going to so strongly encourage all of you, anyone who's listening to this, but for this episode of specifically, uh, my PTs, we are not going [00:04:00] backwards. We're going forwards. What's behind us is broken. That shitty fucking model where you're begging for insurance reimbursements. You're trying to like make friends with any doctor and like, Go put peanuts on their goddamn desk so they could like maybe send you a patient, even though it never happens.
That model is broken. It's behind us, we need to be looking forward. This could be one of the best things to ever happen to this profession. I will say as it stands, you know, up until now, I think the best thing to happen to this profession was that, that was that a personal trainers leveled up. And when they started leveling up, PTs were like, wait a minute, I better do something, I'm going to lose my, my patience.
People, they're not coming back to see me. Raising, you know, from the bottom, a rising tide raises all ships. So right now is a tremendous opportunity to think about what you hated [00:05:00] about your last job, and then talk to your perspective. employer about that. And now I'm not saying that you go and you just, you know, ask for all these things.
No, this is about creating opportunity and showing the value that you can bring. So this is kind of where I get like a little bit twisted up and salty with new grads. Cause they come out thinking like, I'm a new grad and you should pay me a million dollars. Cause I have a PT and I'm like, that means. All right.
So you need to understand, like, this is a business, so it's, it's an exchange here. It's not like, Oh, they, they just need you. And like, you don't need them clearly. You need each other. So what I would be doing is writing down the things that I didn't like about my last job and, you know, make a whole long list, but just write it all down.
Don't necessarily need to share all of them, but write it all down and write down you'd like to see in your ideal job. And I'm not just talking, again, about money. Like, salary is cool to think about, but real talk, guys, fucking P PTs make peanuts. Like, you guys are, like, [00:06:00] arguing over, like, uh, 2, 500 more, and I'm saying it in that voice, because at the end of the day, that doesn't even matter.
Like, per paycheck is, like, a penny. All right, if you're gonna try and negotiate a salary difference, then it should be something like I want 2, 500 instead of a raise, I want it as pure, uh, continuing ed money and uncontested continuing ed money, meaning it doesn't matter if I get reimbursed, excuse me, it doesn't matter if I get CEUs for it, it doesn't matter if I get CEUs for it.
Or if it's even PT related, if I think it's going to help me as a clinician, I want to be able to take this course and have the time off to be able to take it. Now that's something worth negotiating for. And I think you could also use as a leverage point to be like, this is what I bring, this is the value that I bring.
This is what I'm looking to do within this company. This is how I'm looking to help you. You have to. To set this up and position yourself as bringing something to the table, right? This is, [00:07:00] I actually just recorded an episode with Amanda Berlin. She's amazing. She is a former corporate publicity strategist, something like that, right?
So she got strategy, excuse me, she got publicity for like all the big companies. And she's since turned her powers for good. I'm really excited for that episode to come out. But that's one of the first things is like, this has to be like an equal exchange. Like, what are you bringing to the table? You can't just be like, I will come there and please pay me.
Like, I guess that's a good start, but that's also highly reminiscent of the broken ass system that we're trying to leave behind. So sit down. And write down and I would love it if you shared with me, I would like literally love it because when you share with me, I can share with others. Like I want to use these platforms.
Like I have a lot of eyes and ears listening and watching, and I would love to share this message and share your ideas and really kind of unite people and help people out because one of the things I saw. You know, when I first graduated, it was like, no one talked about money. It was the first thing. And that's why [00:08:00] PTs don't make any fucking money because they're like, I'm not telling you what I make.
I'm not telling you what I make. I'm like, what? This is stupid. We should all tell everyone. One of my classmates actually, um, I'm totally blanking on her name right now. Uh, Frances, she actually sent out an email and was like, we should start a An Excel sheet of, you know, what people are being offered for their, because when we just graduated and it was like crickets and I was like, this is brilliant and you know, no surprise.
She was a second career student. So she like had some, you know, common sense. We don't talk about things. And then we wonder why we have no like lobbying power group power. Cause we're all. Fractioned and divided. So please share with me, email me, DM me, text me. That number is real. Some of you tried it. You see, it is real.
3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5 DM me, message me, text me, whatever. Let me know. What your thoughts are. What are the things that you didn't like about your last job? What are the things that you'd like to see in your next job? [00:09:00] Because, again, I have polled you guys and my email list and such and, you know, it takes all kind for, for things to work.
And while there are people like me who don't like treating, there are plenty of people who really do like treating. And right now, they're feeling kind of put out because they're like, I miss being in contact with my people. I miss being in The place in the space with my people. So let's like make this place better for you guys.
But you don't have to go back to the same shitty shittiness that it was before. I don't know if you can tell, I'm like kind of fired up about this episode. We are literally like on the brink of, of change of like the potential for change. And I'm, as I'm sitting here saying this, like the, the, the phrase keeps coming into my mind, the scariest thing.
sentence or the scariest phrase in the, in the English languages, it's always been done that way before. We cannot fall back to the model that it was before. It's broken. It doesn't work. You guys messaged me [00:10:00] all the time about how much you hate it. And in reality, if you were to write this down, I think many of you would see you don't hate being a physical therapist.
You hate the conditions in which you're working. So let's change that. Right. And it's not just about going and complaining. It's about going. And then saying this is what it was like before, this is what I'd like to see it as, and this is my plan to help it get there. This is how I see myself fitting in, this is where I'd like to take us, this is what I'd like to see.
And then asking the employer, like, what is your vision for things? Because maybe they're just trying to get people in and people out and run a mill, and Honestly, then, you probably shouldn't work there. So one of the, you know, one of the things that the young lady who DM'd me said, you know, kind of sticking out in my mind here is like, should we just be grateful that, you know, they're offering us a job?
And it's like, I get that because like, we do need to eat and such, but I'm really going to ask you guys to one, read [00:11:00] that article, and two, just understand like, You don't have to be going paycheck to paycheck. You don't have to fucking hate your job. Like there's a better way to do things. And if it's about money, let me tell you straight up, you will make way more money not working for one of those big companies.
Like way, I make way more money now than I ever would have in those companies. Like when you're in a, in a regular PT role, six figures is like, Oh my God. If I could just make six figures, that'd be amazing. And yet you have to work like a thousand hours to do it, and you don't even get to like, enjoy any of it.
You go work for yourself, you do other things, it's, it's a very easy number to hit, I'm gonna tell you that right now. So, I don't want you to make it about the money and scrambling to get back to a broken model so that you're like, living paycheck to paycheck, you can't save, you can't really live in the place you want, you can't live how you want, you're just worried about your student loan debt every single day, like, there's a [00:12:00] better way, guys.
And is it going to like, pop right up? Immediately, no. Are you going to have to put in a shit ton of work? Yes. Is it going to be uncomfortable? Probably. Might you stumble and fall and have to like go backwards a little bit? Maybe. But, uh, you know, what's behind us is broken and we kind of cling to it. And this is like, I talked about this in another episode, I think it's like pain science, right?
We, we are fearful about pain because it's unknown. It's uncertain. We don't know what's causing it. Sometimes you don't know what's going to come back. You don't know how bad it's going to be, how long it's going to last. Same thing about, you know, what's going on right now. There's so much uncertainty that we're like, and you know, maybe we're not like some of it.
I know that some of you aren't like this, which I'm like, you are my people. But that article also mentions this, that media is going to sooner or later, probably sooner start being like, just get it back to the way it was just, you know, go back to the way it was. What's happening is like, what happened was fake.
You [00:13:00] know, quote unquote fake or you know, they're just going to basically try to do whatever you can to get things back to how they were and back to how they were even though that's familiar and therefore seems safe. It's not safe. If this time period right now, this catastrophe teaches you nothing else.
And I'm going to steal a quote directly from Seth Godin. Playing it safe is risky. One more time for the folks in the back. Playing it safe is risky. Being, you know, a cog in the wheel, not really just, you know, I don't want to say not being important in your job, but just like being another number in your job that's, that's expendable, that is risky.
Because when shit like this happens, Look what happens. You get fired people like me. And I'm not trying to like be like, look at me. I do it so well, but you know, I was talking to Danny Matei about this and I'm actually going to hop on a podcast with him tomorrow, uh, his podcast and talk about this, like when you're in control [00:14:00] of things.
Your own, you know, your hours, how much you work, how much you make, uh, while it may seem riskier because there's no guaranteed paycheck, it's not as risky in my opinion, cause you are in control and you can pivot and you can change and you can, it's, you're a lot leaner cause it's just you. And you have a lot more, you have a lot more autonomy and you're in control of things there.
So I'm going to encourage you guys, sit down and by my no means, by telling you everyone should be an entrepreneur and everyone should have their own PT practice. No, absolutely not. But I am saying that everyone should think about bringing and or stating and stating and bringing, I guess I'm going to say value To the table, like going and speaking to your protect, you know, perspective for potential employer and being like, this is Where I'd like to see things go.
And this is how I would like to contribute to that. You know, if you're, if you're wanting to work from [00:15:00] home or whatever, you have, you can't just be like, I want to work from home, right? There's that, that, even though we're seeing right now that it's very feasible, right, your employer may have some of, you know, other kinds of think ways of thinking, and so you have to lay out a plan.
You have to show your value. You have to state your why. And not like, Oh, I just, I deserve this, but like put it in like financial terms, put it in actual business terms, put it in strategy, in words and things, numbers that that person that you're trying to negotiate with can understand. So I've been rambling, but I'm actually really happy how this episode is turning out.
Um, I'm mindful of the time here, so I should be wrapped. I should wrap it up. But the big take home, if not now, when? Meaning if you're not going to ask. For those things. If you're not going to ask those questions now, if you're not going to try and change things, if not now, when? Now is the time. If you want something to be different, [00:16:00] make it different.
If you want something to be better, make it better. If you need help, if you have questions, reach out to me. I would love to help you. I want nothing more in life than to help people live and create. Their best and happiest life and I promise you, you can do that, especially so many of you reaching out, you know, you're young, you're single, or maybe you, at least you don't have kids because I know that's a whole nother boat there.
But even if you do. These are things to be thinking about right down that list. What was good about my last job? What was bad about my last job? What would I want to change? How do I want to change it? What would my role be? How could I make this new thing succeed? How can I make it successful and viable for my employer?
Think about these things. Ask these things. Say these things. Do these things. Let me know about these things. Because guys, I really hope that it doesn't go back to how it was. That [00:17:00] model is so broken, and we have An opportunity right now. This is literally, it's in our frickin hands right now. To change things.
We can make them better. So, if not now, when? Alright, I should be wrapping this up. Not gonna ask for any likes or anything like that, but I will ask that if you enjoyed this epi ep ep epinestode, what am I saying? If you enjoyed this episode, if it resonated with you, if you think someone else could benefit from it, Please, share it with them.
We're not going backwards, my friend. We're going forward. Eyes forward. Ask the questions, do the things. If not, now, when. Alrighty, friends. Until next time, friends, Maestro, out.
Read the Medium article I mention in this episode: Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting
Check out the transcript for this episode here
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