What is TheK9PT Academy Business Accelerator?

This is a LIVE 9-week intensive business-focused course where you will work directly with me, Francisco. I will be teaching you foundational marketing strategies and tactics to help you identify WHO your target audience is and CREATE your specific messaging for your business. I will also be teaching you advanced level marketing strategies, how to create leads into PAID evaluations, and how to create LIFETIME clients. Not only that, we will dive deep into how to SELL your services charging an amount that works for you and helps you grow the business and live the life that you desire. 

Most importantly, TheK9PT Academy Business Accelerator teaches you EVERYTHING we have done to grow & scale TheK9PT into a seven-figure company and growing. You will learn how to leverage marketing & sales to build a business in canine rehabilitation that is PROFITABLE  and that allows you to have the WORK-LIFE BALANCE that you have been craving. 

Question: do you charge what you think you are worth for your services? Do you charge what you need to in order to have a business that serves you rather than the other way around? Are you afraid of getting pushback on your fees and be labeled as "greedy"?

I have coached, mentored, and consulted with 100+ canine rehabilitation business owners in different stages of their business, and I can tell you with confidence that the #1 reason they struggle is because of under charging for their services. Afterwards, how can your clinic be full and yet you are not seeing the money in the bank? How can you have a waitlist for new patients, and yet you never seem to generate enough revenue to pay the bills and most importantly, pay yourself a well-deserved salary?

If under charging is the #1 reason, you must be asking yourself what is the 2nd reason, right? The #2 reason is the inability to have a business that fulfills their lifestyle. They are working from open to close seeing patients all day and then having to use time at home to get caught up with everything (documentation, business stuff, etc). They feel like they are in a hamster wheel feeling good about helping more and more patients, while at the same time getting burnt out and spending less time with family.  Look, we are all different in what we want out of our business, and that is okay... But, I have yet to meet a business owner who doesn't tell me that they wish they had a better work-life balance. Is that you? Of course there are quite a few factors that affect that, but the main one is the fact that they feel that they can't afford to have the support staff that they need. Yes, we all need systems in the business in order to operate efficiently and effectively, but who is going to run those systems? It sure can't be you if you are already seeing patients for 40+ hours a week! You need PEOPLE, and yes, the only way you will afford them is by charging appropriately for your services! See how, most often than not, it comes down to money?

With that, let's talk about the #3 reason: Systems. Most people, even yours truly when I started, rely too much into what I call hustle marketing. That is the marketing that requires your attention and action 100% of the time. It can work, and it can be a focus when we are getting a business off the ground, but what happens when that strategy doesn't work and you fill your schedule with patients? You don't have time to focus on marketing and in return, 2-3 months from now you see a dip in the number of new patients and revenue. Then, you have time again to do hustle marketing and that cycle continues... creating a life of frustration and hustle that never serves us and our families because we never feel like we can take a break. 

That is why you need SYSTEMS. Both in marketing, so you can get new inquiries without having to keep hustling so much, and in sales so you can convert those inquiries into paying customers who will be happy to pay you what you are worth! We need to let go of the mindset that we can help everyone, and instead we need to focus on helping those who want to be helped and value us. So, do you see now how it all ties up to money? I know that is a topic that most of us despise and feel uncomfortable with, but I will help you with all that! That is what this program is all about!

Why are Marketing and Sales strategies important in our field? Can't I just be the best therapist around?

Here is a fact: many canine rehabilitation businesses have succeeded despite a complete lack of knowledge on how to grow a profitable successful business. Most of them are struggling now, and not due to COVID or anything like that, but because they were simply unable to keep up with the new age of technology. When they opened for business 10+ years ago they were the only ones in town providing rehabilitation for animals, but that is no longer the case. There are more providers now competing for the same market. General veterinary clinics now offering additional services like laser therapy and acupuncture, thus no longer referring out for those services. Large specialty animal hospitals now have a full rehabilitation department, thus keeping all of those cases in-house rather than referring out for rehabilitation. In the past those clinics thrived without any true marketing, but now that is no longer the case. So yes, COVID related challenges and the current economic landscape likely have not helped, but to be fair most of them were already in trouble prior to that and that only made things worse.

My challenge as I opened TheK9PT in 2017 was the fact that I am not a veterinarian, therefore I was faced with some skepticism at times. It also did not help that I was “competing” against a clinic who had been around for 15+ years and the whole veterinary community in Chicago had been conditioned to just refer to them. The solution: figure out a way to bypass the veterinary community and speak directly to the pet parent. I went on a journey to figure that out and little by little was able to do so. We turned Google into our lead generation machine, both organically and through paid ads, which gave us the capability to grow and scale with something that I had full control over (hint: relying primarily on veterinary referrals is a dangerous way to grow a business - what if they stop referring to you?).

Then, over time people kept talking about us in the pet and veterinary community, leading to a natural grow on word of mouth referral. But, most importantly, now veterinarians had heard of us and were more willing to refer directly to us. That opened the doors to us implementing an incredibly successful Lunch & Learn strategy that has received tremendous feedback from them due to its focus on how we help them rather than what modalities we have to offer. Today, about 55% of our leads come from Google, making it is still our #1 referral source. However, we now get 30% of our leads directly from veterinary referrals! And, most of them from veterinarians who used to refer somewhere else or even from large specialty hospitals that have rehabilitation in-house! 😱

The results: a business that I started literally with no money in the bank and no loans or anything grew into a 1,300 square feet facility. As business continued to grow I realized we were going to outgrow that space, and we have now expanded into a 2,500 square feet facility employing 3 full-time physical therapists (in addition to myself), a veterinarian, and 5 administrative staff. Our model has created a sustainable way that allowed us to thrive, rather than just surviving, as a business through COVID and economic challenges. Our fee structure allows our therapists to spend a full hour with each patient, and a 2-hour full evaluation. A “busy” weekly schedule means 24-27 patients on their schedule, but because of our fee structure that is more than enough to grow and scale a successful and profitable business. Our results and customer service are unparalleled in our local market. Do you need proof? Then check out the google reviews for TheK9PT! Yes, clients are excited and happy to pay us what we are worth!

My goal and true calling: helping other canine rehab therapists achieve the same level of success! Yes, I am damn proud of what we have built with TheK9PT and look forward to showing the rehabilitation community that the traditional way of doing business is outdated. I make no apologies for any of it. But, where can I make the biggest impact? That was a question I found myself asking a couple of years ago which led me into starting TheK9PT Academy. In the beginning it was a side project, but we have already helped quite a few canine therapists get their dream business off the ground! Now, this is my focus! I will continue to be involved with TheK9PT but I have built the business in a way that I no longer have to spend all of my time in there. That has allowed me to have enough time to offer you this program: TheK9PT Academy Business Accelerator.

I know from the bottom of my heart that what I am going to teach you can be life changing. Why? Because it changed my life. I went from getting paid $19/hour as a “rehabilitation therapist” at a veterinary clinic to now owning a 7-figure business (and growing) in canine rehabilitation, and most importantly, a business that fits my lifestyle rather than the other way around. I have spent A LOT of time, energy, and money building out this business model. I learned, and continue to learn, from some great minds in business ownership and entrepreneurship. Then, I take that knowledge and apply it to our field, which can be similar to other fields but it definitely has its peculiarities. Now, I am packaging all of it into this program and taking you through this process step-by-step.

Now, this is a journey and I won't lie to you and tell you that in 9 weeks you will have the business of your dreams, but I will give you the blueprint to get there and help you prioritize what you need to work on. It took me a few years to build all of these systems and achieve this level of success, and along those years there was a lot of energy, time, and money spent into all of it. But, I know it works and now you can have access to something that works (not just for me but for my mentees as well) without having to go through all the headaches and failures that I endured. I truly hope to see you on week 1 so we can get started on your journey of success as well!

All the best,

Francisco Maia, PT, DPT, CCRT