Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Wolf.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Adam. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When asked why I became a physical therapist my answer is typical because I wanted to wear gym shoes, sweatpants, and not shave every day. Although not a joke, my reasons also include a desire to work intimately with people, to help and also make a difference in lives.
I’ve been a practicing clinician for over 11 years, and have worked for myself since 2009. Early on in my career as a PT, I realized I’d be better off working for myself for many reasons including not being able to wear gym shoes at work (as a PT!) and mainly not agreeing with the larger company’s ways of doing business. I simply couldn’t see how it could be about the patients when top-down decisions were designed to make as much money as possible, not that making money is a bad thing. However, it is often accomplished by reducing admin assistant help and increasing demands on the clinicians, often at the expense of patient experience, The thing is, most patients don’t even know there’s an alternative way of doing PT, and I feel lucky to have found my calling and have a passion to keep learning. I feel fortunate to have thought about what I actually want the daily routine of my life to feel like, and feel I’ve made it happen. It’s reflected in our business model and core principles from which we operate.
In 2015 I took on a business partner, a clinician of over 40 years named Bill Hitchcock, and we re-branded the business as its current incarnation, REAL pt Physical Therapy. Bill and I share a similar outlook on movement, therapy, and life, and he is good at a lot of the business stuff I struggle with. It’s exciting is to feel that for the first time in my career, I have the right team around me to support our vision, including the recent addition of a PhD athletic trainer who is our Director of Operations and Projects.
REAL pt’s favorite type of patients are the ones that have been to other places prior to us. We often hear from patients “nobody’s ever done this with me before”, to the point that we’ve made our unofficial motto “you don’t know real PT until you know REAL pt”.
Our model is based on one-on-one sessions performed by the therapist instead of assistants or aides. This is unique in the Chicago(land) outpatient PT market, which is known as one of the more competitive outpatient markets in the nation.
REAL pt has a number of differentiators, including a treatment paradigm where the site of pain isn’t the cause of pain, rather the pain site is doing too much because something above or below isn’t doing enough. I equate it to victims and criminals because victims scream and criminals remain silent. We’re good at catching the criminal (the why) and stopping the victim (the what) from crying. We also work from the perspective that the body knows motions, and how to control the forces presented to it, rather than muscles, which is a man-made construct.
What’s exciting is until recently I’ve literally never done a lick of marketing in my professional career, existing strictly on word of mouth business. Our focus in 2018, frankly for the first time, is to actively grow our business because we’ve proven to ourselves and others the model works and is unique. We are positioned really nicely to take advantage of the changes expected to the healthcare system and will continue to be selective in how we grow, recognizing it takes a certain type of clinician to work with us.
As a young clinician I was very eager to grow a business, but in retrospect, it was for the wrong reasons, and only now do I feel prepared to let more people know about what a great service we provide. I’ve obtained the proper experience, treated enough individuals, and have the right support structure around me, including an amazing business partner that compliments my strengths and it makes up the difference in my weaknesses. Before I didn’t have the right mentality or support structure before and I think it ultimately showed. I do now.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, I recognize some of what I would have done differently, but I would have done a lot exactly the same. The question makes me think of a larger theme I’m working on in my life, which is having more patience for things. I joke that I have a lot of patients with a “ts”, but not a lot of patience with a “ce”.
Early on it didn’t feel right to compromise my belief that people should get individualized care based on what they need, instead of dictated from above by managers and corporate. It still doesn’t, which contributed to less smoothness, but also made me aware of my desire for a bottom-up, grassroots business based on the needs and wants of the person rather than top-down metrics. Our business is designed around this core principle, and I believe different than what’s currently offered in my profession.
It was the major reason I decided to begin a practice after being a clinician for less than 2 years. Reflecting back, it would have made sense to wait a bit longer to start a business and learned more about systems and business, but as I said patience isn’t my strong suit and my early mistakes have influenced the model we have today. After starting my practice 9 years ago, I was content to let the business come to me, literally not doing any marketing, and has continued this way through this year, as we spent less than $1000 on marketing in 2017.
Not marketing and being a ‘lean and mean’ business necessitated a conscious effort to become the best clinician possible and also refine and become comfortable in an eat-what-I-kill mentality, which is necessary for a successful business and less common in my profession. Over the past 4 years, the process of professional and business growth has been slow and deliberate, partly because the first 3 years early on it grew too fast, for the wrong reasons and without a plan or the people to make it successful. It led to the next 3 years of not wanting that at all and working as the proverbial ‘Lone Wolf’, downsizing my business to be only me while focusing on life balance.
Around 2 years of being on my own, I started feeling like a plumber or lawyer in that the more I worked the more I made, and when I didn’t work I didn’t make (I also often feel like a plumber because I often push fluid around the body, recognizing that stagnancy creates a cascade of effects on the person that aren’t good). With this realization, I began thinking about what was important to me professionally and began the process of making it happen.
My business partner and I began talking about REAL pt about 3 years ago, and since then we’ve been working to strategically and deliberately realize our vision through a multi-phase logical process to grow our business.
Another strength and also struggle is my ability to synthesize and extrapolate different information and make it into a workable format. I’ve demonstrated this in various professional ways, including publishing a book and in treatment and business practice philosophy. It’s made me a gifted clinician and influences the direction of our physical therapy business, and at the same time, a weakness because when something excites me, I try and figure out a way to make it work.
Said differently, in the past, I haven’t said no to things that detract from our core direction, which is less of a problem now because Bill doesn’t have that problem. He and I share a common movement background and overall philosophy, are good friends, and he believes in my vision. He has helped me to shape and refine our model to the point we feel ready and excited to grow. I hadn’t felt ready or excited about the prospect for a while.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with REAL pt Physical Therapy – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
About Us – What we do specialize in:
We are a physical therapy company that is known for one-on-one care based on the want and needs of the individual. Our favorite type of patient is the one in pain that has been to other places first because we often hear “nobody has ever done this before”. We are known as out of the box thinkers that get people better quickly and do it in a fun, friendly and comfortable environment. We are based on individual grassroot solutions, rather than top-down, metric-driven approaches driven solely by profit, focusing on where you want to take YOUR health and assess YOUR current thresholds in order to create a plan geared towards achieving YOUR goals. Everything is customized based on YOUR NEEDS, and unless doctor specified, we utilize no protocols.
What are we most proud of?:
I’m most proud of the treatment we provide to those we are fortunate to work with. I’m proud of being able to do it in a way that feels good for me and my business partner and is equally if not more effective than the standard way of PT care. I’m proud of not compromising my work and having a business and partner I’m proud of and believe in. I’m proud that we provide one-on-one individualized service when most others don’t.
What sets us apart from others?:
1. We get people better quicker. Recognizing the site of the injury isn’t often the cause of the injury. I think about ‘what’s vs. why’s, or said differently, victims and criminals. The “wha”’ (or victim) is the painful body part, ie, your knee, while the ”why” or criminal is somewhere above or below, likely your foot or hip. We stop the victim from crying and also catch the criminal. Others typically only stop the victim from crying, as this is what is taught in our educational institutions. We are in the process of demonstrating we get people better based on standardized outcome measurements.
2. Treatment approach. Everything is one-on-one. We use no techs or PT aids. We have advanced manual and movement certifications, which will be required as a minimum of standards for any clinician that works for us as we begin to grow.
3. Business model. Our model is based on working with other movement disciplines and being part of an interdisciplinary team, recognizing we aren’t an island to ourselves. REAL pt is found in spaces where there are other movement professionals including in personal training/fitness facilities, rather than as a stand-alone PT box. Unlike the big box PT facilities, we don’t beg doctors for business and instead work to establish grassroot relationships with both patients and selective physicians that understand what REAL pt is about.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are beginning to try and strategically grow. Up until this point, we have chosen not to, and have worked on developing our vision for growth with a number of trusted business minds. It’s there, we’re set and 2018 is about taking the next steps towards realizing our vision. It includes some traditional marketing pieces and mainly grassroots outreach and connecting with those we’re fortunate to try and help, in addition to finding some gifted clinicians that share our energy and vision.
We’ve also been developing and beginning implementation of a strategy where we can work directly with companies to help reduce the risk of musculoskeletal pain and decrease the cost of insurance recordable, which is a huge expense for companies. This includes a multi-step plan that will allow us to work with local and national companies while being consistent with our core principles. We will help companies get to the “why” of a problem instead of simply reacting to the “what”. It includes a tool to identify emerging musculoskeletal issues before they become recorded problems, and will be quite valuable for us as the healthcare market continues to change and companies are looking for out of the box ways to save money and improve the comfort and performance of its most valuable asset (it’s employees).
Contact Info:
- Address:2001 S State St, Chicago
2731 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago
71 S Wacker, Chicago
200 West Adams, Chicago - Website:REALmovementPT.com
- Phone:312-489-8579
- Email:adam@realmovementpt.com
- Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/adamwolfpt/
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/notBSpt/
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/adamwolfPT/
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
