Ep955 | The First Pancake Always Sucks: Colleen Davis on Starting Before You're Ready

Colleen Davis never planned on becoming a clinic owner. What started as an adaptive fitness class inside a CrossFit gym eventually became GOAT Physical Therapy & Wellness, a team-based practice built around patient relationships, continuity, and community. In this episode, Colleen and Courtney Morse break down how GOAT evolved from a reluctant side project into a business where Colleen now sees only a handful of patients, her clinicians stay busy, and she has more time to focus on systems, marketing, leadership, and her family. In This Episode, You'll Learn How Colleen's background in neuro, vestibular, home health, and CrossFit shaped GOAT Why GOAT Physical Therapy & Wellness started almost by accident How an adaptive fitness class became a long-term continuity service Why some Functional Fitness members have stayed with GOAT since 2019 How continuity can create Recurring Revenue and a Stability Layer for the clinic Why long-term members can become some of your best referral sources How working 60 to 80 hours per week eventually forced Colleen to change her role Why the business improved when Colleen stepped away from a full patient schedule How getting out of treatment gave her time to build marketing, reactivation, and sales systems Why your best first admin may already be part of your patient community How hiring Sandy helped Colleen delegate the work that didn't fit her strengths Why systems don't need to be complicated to make a business more scalable What becoming a PT Biz coach taught Colleen about running her own practice How reducing her treatment schedule created more flexibility for community marketing and family Why Colleen would document systems much earlier if she started over What the "first pancake always sucks" can teach clinicians who are afraid to start Key Takeaway A clinic becomes more scalable when the owner stops keeping everything in their head and doing everything themselves. Colleen's biggest changes came from creating continuity, stepping back from treatment, hiring people whose strengths complemented hers, and documenting the systems that allowed GOAT to operate without depending on her for every decision. Technology Spotlight Documentation continues to be one of the biggest frustrations for physical therapists. Claire is an AI scribe built specifically for PTs that dramatically reduces documentation time, allowing clinicians to focus on patient care instead of paperwork. Try Claire free for 7 days. Free Resource Ready to take your cash practice from part-time to full-time? Join the free PT Biz Part-Time to Full-Time 5-Day Challenge. PT Biz Training YouTube Get more training on building, growing, and scaling a cash-based physical therapy practice on the PT Biz Training YouTube Channel. Connect GOAT Physical Therapy & Wellness GOAT Physical Therapy & Wellness on Instagram Physical Therapy Biz PT Entrepreneur Podcast