This Owner Doubled Their Number of Clinics After a Successful Transition
Kelly McFarland of Premier Rehab Physical Therapy talks with Paul about why she partnered with Empower Physical Therapy, how she told her long-tenured team, and how she has kept growing since the transition.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of Paul Martin's Crucial Conversations. We're excited to have all of you and we are also excited today to have with us Kelly McFarland from Premier Rehab Physical Therapy. Kelly, welcome. Thank you. So happy to be here with you, Paul. And it's great to have you back. Premiere is a six clinic physical therapy business that is located in the Dallas Fort Worth market in Texas. And Kelly was a former client of Martin Healthcare Advisors and significant successfully partnered Premier with Empower Physical Therapy back in March of 2020, right before COVID took over the country.
And Kelly has since added to clinics under management, five additional clinics in Texas and she will be adding three more by the summer. So you are now a for will become a 14 clinic business operator. Kelly, how does that feel? Yes, it's super exciting. You know, it was one of my goals always to just continue to grow and do the things that I love to do and we are in fact doing that and so super exciting for sure. Yes. Yeah. And it's a testament to you know empower as well as to yourself to you know really have because you know many times when people sell transition their company they slow down it's kind of time to slow down but you have ignited and really are doing some great things for empower and for any of you out there empower is a private equity-backed company based out of Phoenix Arizona with 50 plus clinics located in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, and California.
And we have talked to the CEO, Steve Dipaola, of that company many times. So, Kelly, today I want to explore with you some things that a part of your journey that would take you back before you actually entered into a sale process and a transition process. Do you remember when it first hit you that it was time to transfer, sell, partner with a larger company? When did it first hit you? I think it first hit me when I knew the market was changing slightly. I knew that some bigger companies were coming to the marketplace.
I knew that I wasn't finished building my practice. I wasn't ready to stop. I wanted to continue to be or at least have an impact on the private practice footprint. So when I felt some pressure being a single owner with six clinics that comes with some financial responsibility that comes with some market changing finance responsibility and then the competition rising in our area and doing that alone but not wanting to stop. I felt like there's probably another level that I need to get to. Whether that's another level of management within my company that can help me do it or partnering with the right company.
That was my moment and deciding factor that something had to change. Really interesting. It's as though Kelly again you kind of took a look at the external market and you saw what was happening there and then what I'm hearing is when you looked internally you said I can do more I can be larger I can continue to serve more people and the decision was as I as I understand that then to have a bigger company and to join a bigger company enabled you to take those steps.
Of continuing to grow Premiere. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So, do you remember any of the moments kind of along that path, you know, that decision path? And was there ever a time that you said, "Oo, not sure I really I'm not sure I'm really ready for this." and how did you get through those times, you know? When I decided to look at the market and see if there was a partner for me, I think I never went back on that decision. I wanted to continue to move forward to see if there was a partner that would fit my mindset, my goal, my vision.
So, that goal never changed. I think my goal could have changed had I not found a partner that would have fit my vision and mission. And there are many companies out there and I spoke to many of them and are familiar with many of them. And had there not been a right fit, I think that would have been my pivotal moment to maybe make a decision to not move further into the market with anyone else. But then to try to make a change within my company on my own, but luckily we found a great partnership with empower.
So we can I continue to move through that process. What were some of the steps that you took kind of along this path to make sure that Prem Premiere was able to find the right partner in w with empower? What were some of those steps that you took to get there? Well, are you talking about when I was overall evaluating my business or when I actually was visiting with potential from the start of the idea of I want to do this to picked empower? What were some of the steps that you took along that path that led you to the final decision of you and empower going to get married?
Right. Right. So before I went to the market as an independent owner with Six Clinics, I'm the only owner. I don't have a partner. I don't have a board. I don't have an investor. So for me by myself, I felt like my business was doing really well. But I wanted to make sure that my business was doing really well compared to the market. I only know what I knew and I only knew what I look like today compared to where I started 17 years ago prior to going to the market.
So obviously from one clinic to six clinics I was doing something right. So there was success that I could measure for sure but I wanted to know from another person's perspective in my market is what we're doing right? Are we on the right path? Are we where we should be in the market? Are we generating the revenue we should generate? Am I collecting what I should be collecting? Are there some processes that I don't know about? And I'd been a private practice section member of the APA for 16 years, had been a presenter, served on committees, served as committee chairs.
So I've been in it meeting colleagues and doing wonderful things. But for me, I wanted an advisory company to look at my business for me, to advise me, to let me know where I stand within the market. Am I on track? Am I doing the right things? Am I generating enough revenue? Am I collecting what I should be collecting and then make changes as I need to so that I could be valuable whether I stayed alone as premier and continued to grow on my own or if I did go to the market.
So that was pivotal in that I was able to partner with your group, Paul, that was able to partner with me over at least a year's time where they could teach me and coach me and mold me and show me and be able to tell me, well, Kelly, within the market, this is where you stand or within the market, this is where you should be. So it was amazing and I think we had a great relationship that anyone who knows me I like to go super fast at 200 miles per hour in anything that I do and working alongside your group they would advise me on things and I would do it and so it was successful it was wonderful so then I was guided to the market with your group met with many different people and face toface meetings are super important phone meetings were super important.
Meeting with the groups, meeting the people on their team, having real conversations with them about what really matters currently and future and just making sure as you say that marriage that we are looking for the same thing because we're all getting to where we think we've kind of figured out what our specialty is or what our niche is or what our specialty area is. We want to continue to master that. And so with Empower and their team and I meeting, it just made perfect sense that we in fact were looking to move the same direction.
Yeah. And and Kelly, you thrived through the process and now we're seeing you again. You're thriving now that you're through and with Empower. And it gives us such pleasure to see how you are thriving and continuing to march forward. You know, many business owners out there have the fear of telling their staff. And I'm not sure, I think we had some conversations about, you know, what what's going to happen when you tell your staff, but walk us through how you told your staff and what their reaction and feedback was on this new partnership and maybe what you feared their reaction might be.
Sure. So, I have a staff that has the majority of my staff has been with me a very long time. So, I the young lady who started with me at my front desk on day one is still with me to today. And I have a clinic director who's been with me 18 years, another one 16, another one 15, another one 12, another one 10. And it goes down from there just because we've recently added clinics, right? So, the majority of my team has been with me through the duration of it.
And the success of Premiere highly depends on the success of my team. It wasn't just all me. And I've always shared that success with them and talked about that. So it was very important to me for my team when I made this decision and made this transition. It was very important that the team understand why and what it meant and where we're going. One of the big challenges for me as an independent owner, small physical therapy company, six clinics, was that I had so many team members who had come and stayed that we were running out of opportunities for our team.
New grads were coming to join us and they wanted something more and my clinic directors weren't going anywhere. So we were running out of opportunities for growth for our team and that was another big challenge that I was looking for in a partner where my team could be utilized in their talents or at least have opportunity to learn more or explore more. So I was just truthfully honest and with those leaders I met with each of them one each of them one- on- one and explained that to them that they know that we've hit a position where our team is limited in their growth.
We're looking to keep our place in the market. So it just was a true heart-to-heart talk and a heart-to-heart goal discussion that I shared with them and they understood and they were very heartfelt conversations. Some of us cried, some of us laughed, but they're all with me still today. We haven't lost anybody because of moving and joining to empower and they've all found ways to be involved. So, it's really been a wonderful transition for sure. So, Kelly, that's been almost two years now. Yes. And so from those conversations that you had with them, you know, it sounds to me like you shared with them, you know, we're doing this because we want to expand, we want to grow, we want to become better.
Yes. If I had them all on the call today, how would they say that has panned out from that discussion to where they are today? Would they I mean, they're all still on board. Would they all agree that what you talked about two years is actually now coming to fruition? Oh, I believe so. They all each We have been exposed to more programs than we ever had before and everyone's engaging in something and finding leadership roles in new ways in addition to what they've done before.
So I know that they would agree that we well and we're opening three new clinics this summer. So we are continuing to grow. We are continuing to expand and offer opportunities to our team. So yes, I think they would agree and say the same. Yeah. And it, you know, again, I find, especially folks like you, when they've had a staff that has followed them and has trusted them, that when they go into something new and different, yes, it's scary, and yes, it may be intimidating at first, but you're going to follow your lead.
And it sounds like they have followed your lead. Yes. I think that's funny that you say that because one specifically said to me, Kelly, I trust you. I've trusted you this whole time and I trust you now. And then another one said, "You're not going anywhere, right?" And I said, "No, I'm not going anywhere." So, so yes, those are all normal and natural questions, right, that your team's going to want to know. And as long as I was prepared to have those discussions and the honest truth was in everyone's best interest, it just worked out beautifully, I think.
Yeah. Yeah. So you have now absolutely been through an integration process. Yes. And that's a process that many business owners out there, they dread. You know, the acquirer comes in and things are going to change. What advice would you have for owners that are contemplating a partnership in 2022 to best help them prepare for eventually that integration process with an acquirer? I think the new business really should, if not already, have a plan on how that integration process will go. They typically have some sort of timeline or list of importance what that integration process would look like.
And I think that's very important to discuss if that is heavy weighing on somebody's mind or their heart before making that decision. The company should be able to explain that and draw out some sort of timeline or goal and give some direction or ideas of what that looks like to help because I think with every company that's probably different. Of course, with Empower it was perfectly wonderful. I mean, I don't have any complaints. So, you know, our executive team is filled by physical therapists. So, we're private practice owners.
We pretty much think all the same and have the same vision which is what's so wonderful about us and just growing our footprint of the private practiceminded sector. So for us and me it was it was completely appropriate. So does any story come to mind that kind of cemented that they were kind of on the same page as you were and they think the way you do? Any story that comes to mind from going through that experience? Maybe not any one particular story, but it is interesting that when we talk about a topic, they say and explain things almost exactly how I would say and explain things.
And you can tell when people come from the same cloth or the same background or the same vision. I just think because our leaders are physical therapists who have owned their own practice, we all kind of speak the same. So that's been really nice. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Kelly, once again, I really appreciate you coming and joining us and I think you've given the folks and the listeners here today. Just a lot of great information on again kind of when this first started for you and it's just great to hear what success you have had.
We had no doubts that you would be successful wherever you landed. We had absolutely no doubts. And I really appreciate you taking the time and coming on with us today. Yes. Thank you so much. Love to see you guys out in the market. I think you do great things for great people. So, thank you. Thank you. And for all of you who have joined us today, if you have any questions about the conversation that I had with Kelly today, just click below and let's talk. Thank you and have a great day.
Want to talk about your own business?
Marlton, NJ 08053