E73 | Keep It Real #17: 2020 & What's Next

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On today's episode, Greg, Doug and Trevor #KeepItReal while talking 2020 & what's next.

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Episode Transcription: Welcome to the Resilient Performance Podcast. This is Keep It Real number 17. This is going to be like a 2020 year in review and sort of a look forward to what 2021 has to offer with what sort of things we would like to do goals that we have. Um, and, uh, we're happy to send a bid farewell the 2020, like most of you. So, you know, you guys want to take it and start it out. Yeah, I think this has just been, you know, for everybody, obviously 2020 has been like a difficult year in so many different ways. I just think for kind of reflecting on what this year has been and what I myself have learned from just like a business ownership standpoint. I think like, you know, there was that chunk of time where we were, we had signed our lease for the new space where Doug is kind of currently at and. You know, then the PA I mean, we literally signed the lease. I think 10 days before the pandemic, like, was officially declared a worldwide pandemic. So the timing of that was obviously not ideal for us and, you know, getting all the equipment in and moving to the space and all that stuff just really threw a wrench in and, uh, um, our plans for what we kind of envisioned 2020 to be. But I think for ourselves, like I've become more confident in terms of what we can do as a business, because we have. Uh, navigated this, I would say fairly well and, and, you know, uh, kind of kept, kept, kept alive, kept swimming the whole time, and then we've kind of come up what feels like we've come out. The other end of it, which is, uh, I would say has. It's kind of a relief, so to speak, but I think it's just been an interesting year that, you know, so many things don't always go according to plan and just being able to be adaptable, being able to be resilient and kind of like if you have something you believe in just the find a way to keep it going and keep pushing on. Yeah. I think it kind of speaks to the idea of like, you can't even like periodization where it's like, you're going to peak for this event. I think that this past year speaks to the fact that you can't, you can't really peak. I think that, um, like your preparation is the sum of everything that you've done up to that point in your life. Not just what you did last, you know, a couple of weeks or a couple of months, because like, for us, you know, we signed that lease right before COVID hit in New York. And at that point, like New York was the epicenter of the pandemic. So imagine signing a lease for a facility like two weeks before that that happened. Um, we weren't able to move into that facility until months later. We went like two and a half months without generating any revenue in New York. Um, and you know, like we, at the time we thought that was the, it was the perfect before code was the perfect time for us as a business to get our own facility, possibly bring on a new employee. And then we took, we took a big hit. And then on top of that, like we all had personal stuff. Like I went, my family had a child in the beginning of September, you know, we, when. I want it to go back into New York to kind of get the New York practice going again. And may, you know, like my wife had reservations about coming back to the city, which I understand. So like for the last couple of months of her pregnancy, we weren't, we weren't even living together. And then when we did come back to the city, I ended up having a back surgery, like a couple of weeks after my son was born. And then I had some more family. Health stuff. And so there's like never, obviously you don't want to be totally unprepared for things, but there's never going to be a perfect opportunity or a perfect time to do certain things because you can't predict all the unforeseen things that are going to happen that can just create all kinds of chaos in your life. And sometimes, especially in business just takes a leap of faith. You've got to trust kind of your, your preparation up to that point, but also recognize there's a lot of unknowns, a lot of uncertainties and, um, You know, you're, you're never going to feel a hundred percent confident in what you're doing. Yeah. And we're not necessarily the business experts. I think you guys would agree with us. We never really knew anything about business starting this thing, you know, a few years back. And, uh, I mean, I think we still have a lot to learn, and that's why we're part of a business mentorship group, which is extremely helpful. Um, but, uh, yeah, like you could have the perfect business setup and. Something can kind of blow it all up in your face. And was it like a Mike Tyson quote is like, everybody's got a game plan till you get punched in the mouth or something like that. And that's very true in, in, uh, in this situation with the pandemic, of course, but at the same time, we are very lucky that we are, we are healthcare providers. So a lot of the people listening to this aren't and they, they might've had to close their gym or had some, you know, lost their job or. Or something like that. So we're, we're, you know, we're, we're talking about our struggles, but it could actually be a lot worse than we're very lucky that we are healthcare providers. So we were legally allowed to stay open, um, for, you know, as comfortable as we were in our patients were while taking precautions. So, um, you know, like I said, I just think that we're, we're very lucky. That we were able to do those things. And then same thing for me. I also had, uh, my second child this year. Um, and it's the same thing. When you have, you have a young child or you have a pregnant wife, it's like, you have to prepare for the worst. Then you don't want to, you know, you, you weigh risk and reward with everything. And now more than ever, you have to be very risk averse. Um, like everything else that we try and do with our business. So. Um, that's been a big time hurdle and I'm very, very excited that, uh, this vaccine is happening. Um, two out of the three of us are scheduled currently. So the, uh, the other one is having a hard time actually getting onto a schedule. So for some reason, but, um, we're excited for that to happen potentially that can make people more comfortable with working with us in person. If that's something that people have reservations about, um, Because it's definitely been something where I've had a few patients who did, did stop coming. And definitely because of not because of themselves, but because of a grandmother they live with, or a mother, someone that's another family member that they live with who is at a high risk. So, um, it'd be great if we were able to kind of continue to provide for, for people who. Can then feel comfortable, um, and feel like they need our services. Um, but yes, I'm excited for 21, 2020 for you guys has this year made you more like overall from like a business then were more or less risk averse. Cause like for myself, I would say it's made me like that. I've never been someone that is very risk averse. And I would say it's almost made me even. More comfortable being, not very risk averse, just because like, I mean, that's normally at the beginning of pandemic, always like planning my schedule the week ahead of time or two weeks ahead of time and trying to like have a plan going ahead. And then you said Doug, it's like all of a sudden you can't plan for anything and you have no idea what the next two days, five days a week, two weeks month is going to really give you, it made me a lot more comfortable, like. Being like, whatever we want to do, we should do it now because you have no idea what is really going to be happening. Kind of coming down the line, which is why, um, like we said, you know, the timing of like sending the lease wasn't necessarily great timing, but I'm like very happy we did it. And thankfully it's worked out for us, but it's given us just, I think some of the flexibility that we've always wanted and it's still not where we were before the pandemic, but at least we're kind of climbing out of the hole. So I think it's been. No. I think one of the lessons that I've learned this year is just, it's kind of that, of like, if you want it, like you got to kind of just go for it because you really just don't know what is going to be happening down the line. Yeah. Yeah. I would, I would agree. Like, you know, I think we've always been a very lean business and tried to just kind of keep things, keep things simple and not too complex. And. Have them work easily, which is what's gotten us to where we are. And, um, I would agree that I think it's like, there's, there's never a good time to do things and, or maybe, you know, maybe there's good times, but there are, there's no perfect time. And then, you know, you keep, I keep seeing quotes pop up on social media about like, you know, you have to. You get, uh, or like you have to do things essentially, or there's all these different quotes. I can't think of them word for word, but like, you can't do something if you're just thinking about it, you have to be a doer and make it happen. Um, otherwise it'll just kind of sit in your brain forever. Um, and then I just keep thinking about that, that Michael Scott quote from him, uh, I think everybody probably knows what I'm talking about. I don't know if they do so maybe you should say it. Actually, I couldn't even verbatim tell you what it is. It's you miss 100% of the shots you don't take that when you don't pay. Yeah. There you go. Perfect. So, um, that's kind of, uh, I think the epitome of where we're at and we, uh, definitely want to keep pushing forward and. Uh, do what we're doing grow a little bit, like we have started to already with, with hiring, uh, another staff, physical therapist in new . So she's done an amazing job. I'm working part-time in our New York facility. Um, she's an unbelievable clinician and I mean, I know you guys kind of get to see it in action a little bit more or, or, I mean, I'm getting to see it, so I hope to be able to see it. Um, sooner than later, cause you guys are just raving about how well she's doing with the patients. So, um, yeah, definitely want to kind of go for it and do more things and take risks that are calculated, but essentially just not wait for the right time for things and just kind of just keep plugging away and doing things. I mean, anytime there's like chaos, there's also an opportunity. So there's a lot of opportunities now because the landscape of healthcare is changing and there's things that we're trying to do. That we were actually had in the works even before COVID, but are more relevant now. Um, but it's also, I mean, you mentioned Greg that like a lot of the distinctions between like what's considered essential and not essential as arbitrary. So we're lucky in that we were where we've always been healthcare providers. So even when we were working for those two and a half months, it was more like voluntary. I mean, we probably could have, I know a lot of PT clinics. In New York city were open and they weren't mandated to shut down. I mean, we, at the time, because we didn't know how severe things were, we didn't want to contribute to the spread. We kind of voluntarily shut down and there wasn't a huge demand at that time because of how tense New York city wants people to come in regardless. Um, but at the same time, you know, there, as we talk about frequently, there's a lot of carry over between what we do and what, like, you know, people in the fitness space or the strength conditioning space do. But those places had to shut down for. You know, a lot more than two months. Um, and, but because we have this arbitrary PT license, we're considered essential. So it's easier for us to talk about like, you know, how we were, we're more comfortable with risk because we didn't have to sacrifice as much either. So, um, you know, there are opportunities and we're trying to take advantage of those. Um, and you know, it always comes down to like, you're, you're never, if you're totally risk averse, just like in rehab, you're not going to achieve the outcomes that you want, but you don't want to be. Cavalier either. And we're trying to find that a reasonable place between those extremes and I mean, it's a, it's a chaotic time and it kind of reminds me like the alternative is that we didn't have this. We weren't working for ourselves. We'd worked for somebody else where we'd probably be furloughed anyway. And we'd have, you know, other people dictating our, you know, basically the fate of our lives or at least the fate of the next couple of years. And so even though it's more stressful when. Something like this happens. And now, like the three of us are the ones that have to get ourselves out of it. I would rather, I would rather be responsible for getting myself out of it with people that I trust. Like you guys then working for probably a bigger organization that doesn't care about me that much. And then like, I don't really have much control over it. So I guess if the shit's going to hit the fan, then. I want to be, you know, I want to have some control over the fan. I a hundred percent agree with that. I think like it's, it's been, uh, we're fortunate, I think, to like, have gone through all this stuff together this year. Cause I would have probably been shitting my pants if I was like, if it was all completely alone, trying to figure out like what to do next and what was going to kind of be going on. So I think having both of you guys, like I said, people who I like fully, completely trust, like definitely may going through this process a lot easier and helped us all kind of. You know, figuring out these problems together. Yeah. And I mean, it was, it was scary, like, especially in New York, even just going to hover, we weren't sure if it even made sense to. Move into our new place. And then the reality was that the place we were working at went out of business. So if we had stayed there, then we'd have nowhere to work right now. Right. But it's not like we're out of the woods in New York. I mean, New York, you know, might not go back to what it was for a long time. I mean, we're, you know, we're getting by and it's, it's kind of like the, the antifragile, as long as you survive. You know, catastrophe, like you don't need to be, you don't need to always be thriving, but you have to survive and not go bust. And that's kind of where round, like let's just not go bust and then as long as you're in the game, then good things can happen. So, so we're trying to do absolutely. Definitely. And then 20, 21, um, what does it look like for resilient? Where, where do you guys want to do, what are we doing? I think, you know, obviously like we've kind of been talking out here. This whole conversation so far is continuing to grow New York and hopefully getting it back to kind of where we were, where we were pre pandemic pre COVID. Um, I think continuing to, to expand our online business, like we're going to be launching our next course, um, return to sport acceleration and agility, hopefully by the end of February, is, is the goal that we have for it. Um, so I think from that standpoint, from a business standpoint, continuing to grow. The online educational resources that we've been putting out there is definitely key because I really enjoyed the stuff that we've been sharing over the last, you know, I would say 18 months or so. And I think that's, uh, something that genuinely is like fun to, to produce it. It's fun to kind of get those conversations going. So just continuing to do more of that, I would say for myself, from like an. Personal professional development, education con ed standpoint. I hope to be able to take some actual courses in person this year. Um, just not being able to do that. I I'm trying to think. I don't know. The last time I went, you know, Whatever. It's been 10 months, 12 months without taking like a single kind of class in person. So it'll be hopefully nice to get some small groups together, like we've done in the past. And, um, you know, bringing some coaches, some other therapists and talk about what they do. I know one of the things that I've always wanted to take and I have not done yet. I know people that have taken, um, an in-person, uh, um, Anatomy dissection lab. Oh, I think it's in Colorado. I got to look up where it is. That's something that I've always been interested in doing and kind of like, you know, there is no time like the present anymore and not knowing when that comes up can happen again. So whenever that's available, that's something I would like to do. I just that's, uh, an area that I think I can always continue to make progress and it's just my, my understanding of anatomy. So that's one of the courses I would hopefully be able to take in person again. And then I also want to take some more of the, uh, spinal manipulation institutes courses as well. Cool. Yeah, I think, um, for me, things I'm working on, I want to do more, more programming, but not necessarily like for me personally, like I find that, you know, when people want individualized programs, a lot of the times it's not that individualized, like every, all of us, no matter what we say, we have a template from which we kind of operate and then we might individualize certain pieces of it based on like taking history and someone's athletic background. And, and their goals, but a lot of people, especially in sports, kind of have the same goals. Like they want to get, they want to get faster, they want to change direction better. They want to jump higher. Um, and then they want to be conditioned for their sport. And there's a lot of overlap in the field sports. So, you know, I think that there's been a much more of an emphasis throughout healthcare, on like, you know, um, digit digital, like tele-health and stuff like that. But I think that. You can even scale better by, you know, I don't know if tele-health is a great substitute for in-person, but I think there's a lot of things that people can do before they see a provider in person. And I think even we would all agree that like a lot of people that we see in our own practice there's things that they could have done on the front end, even probably not need to come and see us. And I personally like would enjoy the clinical experience a lot more. Like if I really reserved it for the, like the more challenging cases and not just like, Hey. Your, your knee hurts. I'm going to show you a quad stretch that I've showed like 10 other people today. And so if there's a way to kind of deliver that information to people and make it more accessible so that maybe like they've tried certain things. And now when they want to come in and see a healthcare provider, it's really a case where like, again, I think this whole COVID thing has forced all of us healthcare providers to figure out like, what, what truly needs to be done in person. It can't be done, you know, uh, done remotely and, um, I think, I think delivering like high quality, you know, physical therapy, uh, at scale remotely, digitally, but not necessarily saying this is individualized care, but like, here's more of like a triage mechanism to determine like if you need in person care. And I think that a lot of people with the right digital platform, I think it could save the healthcare system a lot of money and frankly, save individuals time and money as well. I mean, because a lot of times like third-parties pay for healthcare transactions. We don't see the cost, but there is a cost to whether it's like an employer or the government. Um, and then it's time to, I mean, just, I know for me personally, especially since having a kid, like, I, I love the idea of going to a kind of course in person, but I can't imagine being able to like take an entire weekend. To do that. So same thing with going to, you know, like any kind of medical provider. I mean, if somebody told me like, Hey, you've got to find their three hours during your week to go get physical therapy or some other thing, like, I don't know if I'd be able to manufacture that unless it was like a really necessary or an emergency. So trying to deliver, you know, like. What we do in person, but at a much lower price point and make it more accessible to other people. And then even doing some, like some programming where, you know, for example, I work with a lot of, um, military, you know, folks who want to go to like different selection programs. Like I, but I've never actually sat down and written out. Like, here's what I think people need for various programs. I would like to do that. And even maybe create, you know, kind of to piggyback on what you're doing, Trevor, like. Even some off season programming for various field sport athletes and incorporating some of the work that you have with some of like the, the, you know, some, some conditioning stuff. So like my, my emphasis lately for con ed has been mostly track and field based kind of the far end of that return to sport continuum. Um, I just signed up for all this just released kind of like more of an endurance based course. I'm curious to see, you know, how, like how they program for their endurance events and just some of their, like, Technical considerations for, for distance running, because a lot of those military selection programs are very distance running based. I just took the, um, just went through the, and I'll make sure I'm pronouncing it correctly. The, uh, track and field consortium, uh, you know, Tony holler and Chris Corpus course, I've been doing that for the last couple of years and the most recent one, I mean, because it's been virtual, like they've had so many top level people, so I think that's one of the better content values. For the price point. I just took an online course with Mike Young. And then, um, what else? Um, I've ordered a bunch of, you know, one of our most recent podcasts gets guests, uh, key or one them flats. I've learned his like tempo, um, running template and his grappling and agility change of direction templates. So going through that, and then just right now, I'm kind of like trying to devour as much. Educational materials. I can just kind of get some inspiration to, you know, to do, to create a little bit more programming. Like I have things, but I'm in a little bit of a rut where I want to kind of get out of my own way of doing things, expose myself to new ideas, to hopefully have more, um, you know, creative content to be putting out in the future. That's freaking awesome. Um, but yeah, going back to what you said about times, uh, time is definitely something. Uh, that is of the essence. Uh, it's hard to, um, measure how much time I can actually spend on doing things that I really want to do, having two children, um, and having to prioritize certain things, especially during a pandemic, um, where we're, you know, we wouldn't have like family members over to help us care for our children, which then puts more, you know, added. At a time onto to taking care of our own children. So, uh, self care has kind of been in the dumps these days, but that's definitely something I want to get back to. And self part of self-care is continuing your education for sure. It's just a on the back burner right now for me. And, um, I like the idea of doing some more in-person things again, but like you say, Doug is, it's hard to have to spend a weekend away from your family when you've got. One kid. And I can't, you know, there's plenty of plenty of people out there who do it and have multiple kids. So, uh, you know, having the second kid, I'm like, I don't know how anybody has more than one child. Um, but, uh, I'm looking forward to being able to have people come, come, come into our home and, and, uh, help us take care of our children again, to kind of free up some more time to do some other things like con ed. And I wanna look more into, um, you know, I was asked by. A a, a physician, the assistant of a physician to potentially do some research. So there might be some room to do some research on some of the things that I do. And it kind of just makes me wonder about some of the things I do. Cause there's not a lot of research on some of the things that I'm doing with a lot of my baseball players. So just kind of gets me interested in looking more into, into that, uh, which could be some very different, we don't do research. We're not researchers. Um, so that could potentially be something different that I find interesting. Um, I think doing, getting more into some of the spinal manipulation stuff would be interesting as well. Like, like Trevor said, and then, um, yeah, I mean, growing this online, um, platform for us is one of my jobs for us. Uh, the part-time some jobs for me and I definitely think there's there's room for us to put out more birds brands. Templates, um, you know, some like easy to access content from us that we put together based on our experience, based on things we've learned from other people, um, other providers, other coaches, and then kind of how do we package it with our under our context and in our setting with the athletes, with the individuals that we work with. Um, um, and then just in general, just creating more content. Um, that's something that. I think is very important to put out and can continue to consume, like you said, Doug, and then, um, yeah, just putting out more content for people to see what we do and, and share the things that we're doing and that we're interested in. Um, yeah. And then building up that garage gym, just like Trevor's started today. That's the next step, man. That's my next step here. Gotta clean that out, clean out the garage a little bit and then put some floor down, but then one step at a time. There you go, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Yeah. I forgot. I do want to get more into Andy Rutland's contact prep stuff, and some of the other content and courses he's put out through USA football. Um, I've looked at just briefly looked at some of the other tackling certifications and stuff that he's done. And it's, I find that so fascinating, you know, from growing up playing football from third grade through college is, you know, that kind of. Uh, collision and context stuff has always interested me. And I'm really excited to kind of spend more time actually going through what Andy has already put out. Cause I think there's so much place in that in terms of some of the athletic population that we've worked with and, and not even necessarily in collision and context sports like football and things like that. But even with my basketball players, I think there's so much physicality that people don't see in sport. And I think being able to grade that, um, with the context prep, prep, stuff that, that. He's been doing is, is something I'm really looking forward to diving into more in 2021. That's probably been, what's changed the most for me in the last year. Um, was some of the stuff that he put out and actually just created from our accounts about it. Sandy, Sandy tweeted something like. What, uh, you know, what what's changed the most for you as a coach in the last year. And I responded and said, like listening to you more fully. Um, and he, he was, you know, you've made some funny comments about it being, being false, but, um, I'm definitely doing a lot of, some of the more, the more of that contact prep stuff like I've spoken about on here or in a blog post that I wrote for our mailing list. Um, Uh, just about kind of, how do we implement some of these contact prep things. And it does make sense for me to use it with other populations that aren't necessarily making contacts like a baseball player thrower. Um, so yeah. Thank you to Andy. And definitely, I think there's information it's going to be pretty useful for us. He's the man too. He's just a great guy. Super honest, authentic about what he does. So we always appreciate people like Andy, who just put out great content. Yeah. And I think, um, here's grappling and agility. Um, resource has a lot of that contact prep stuff. So very cool. I'm looking forward to going through that. And then I think, I think Andy's influences will be pretty apparent checking that out. Yeah, right. We just want to share the stuff that we genuinely appreciate and value of a different knowledge and educational resources. That's why, like we talk about lead tasks all the time, and so many other Indera cans and all these other coaches that have been such awesome resources for us and given us so much of their time to really educate us and that stuff that we just want to kind of continue to pass forward. Exactly. And thank everybody for their support, with the podcast and all the different content that we've put out. We hope you guys enjoyed it. We really appreciate all the feedback that we get from you guys. So, uh, that's it for this week's episode and we look forward to having you again. Thanks everybody. Thank you.