EP. 316 Are You Running Your Business Like an Elite Athlete?

Picture yourself as a professional athlete with your entire season taped to the locker room wall. You’ve got 16 games on the schedule, and one has a big red circle around it because you lost badly.

That loss doesn’t erase the other 15 games. The dates are still there. The opponents are still waiting. Your next game is still on the schedule.

But I see hands-on therapists treat business setbacks very differently. One sales conversation feels awkward. One person says no. A client questions your price. You make an offer and hear almost nothing back. Suddenly, you start making decisions as though the season is over.

An elite athlete doesn’t have that option. After a bad performance, they evaluate what happened, make an adjustment, train, and return for the next competition. I want you to start approaching your business the same way.

Because the question isn’t whether you’ll have uncomfortable moments while building your practice. You will. The question is whether you’ll evaluate what happened and take another rep, or let that discomfort keep you out of the next game.

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What Does It Mean to Run Your Business Like an Elite Athlete?

Running your business like an elite athlete means treating a difficult performance as information you can use to improve your next attempt.

When an athlete has a rough game, they can’t make “never play again” their performance strategy. Another competition is coming. So they evaluate what happened, adjust what needs to change, train, and return. The cycle is simple: perform, evaluate, adjust, go again.

Your practice gives you opportunities to follow that same cycle. A sales conversation feels awkward. Someone says no. A client pushes back on your price. An offer gets almost no response. Those moments give you something to evaluate, but only if you’re willing to stay in the season and take the next rep.

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Are You Being Careful, or Are You Avoiding the Next Rep?

Avoidance keeps you away from the next business opportunity because you expect another uncomfortable outcome, and the relief you feel afterward makes avoiding the next rep even easier.

Maybe you stop making offers after someone says no. You lower your price after a client questions it. You stop following up, wait a while before mentioning your program again, or retreat into your treatment room because clinical work is where you feel most competent. You may tell yourself you’re being careful, waiting until you’re ready, or rethinking your offer. But if the real goal is to avoid rejection, criticism, awkwardness, or discomfort, you’ve entered the avoidance loop.

An athlete’s loop is perform → evaluate → adjust → go again. The avoidance loop is perform → feel discomfort → avoid → feel relief. That relief can keep you from getting the repetitions you need to evaluate your performance, make an adjustment, and find out whether that adjustment works. So when you find yourself pulling away after a difficult business moment, ask yourself: Am I being careful, or am I avoiding being in the next game?

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What Does Resilience Look Like in a Therapy Practice?

Resilience in your therapy practice means evaluating what you think, feel, and do when adversity shows up, then adapting your approach and continuing to perform.

A price objection, an awkward offer, or a client saying no doesn’t automatically mean something has gone wrong. These moments are part of owning a business. The difference comes from what you do next. A cautious mindset says, “I made a mistake, so I need to make sure that never happens again.” A performance mindset says, “I made a mistake, so I need to understand what happened because I have another game coming up.”

That distinction changes how you evaluate yourself. Instead of creating a rule like, “I’m never bringing up my program on the first visit again,” you create an experiment: “Next time, I’m going to ask one more question before I make the recommendation.” You’re using what happened to decide what you’ll try next, then giving yourself another opportunity to test it.

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What Happens When You Stay Curious Instead of Ending the Conversation?

Staying curious during an uncomfortable sales conversation keeps you in the conversation long enough to understand what your client actually needs instead of letting your discomfort make the decision.

I see this pattern with my students. One student recommended a six-session plan to a new client who clearly needed consistent work. When the client said she wanted to book one more session and see how it went, my student quickly said, “Of course, no problem.” She never asked what the hesitation meant. Was it money? Time? Doubt that treatment would work? She didn’t know. That one uncomfortable moment then turned into three weeks without making another offer.

One of my students, Gwen, made a different choice when a client wanted to discharge himself after three sessions. Instead of immediately agreeing, she got curious and asked why he wanted to stop, even though those questions felt uncomfortable. He ultimately purchased three more sessions, but I want you to notice that the first win happened before the sale. The first win was staying in the game. Gwen felt the discomfort and chose to keep asking questions rather than letting that feeling end the conversation.

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How Do You Review Your Own “Game Film”?

Reviewing your own game film means evaluating a difficult business moment for information you can use in your next attempt rather than using it as a reason to stop trying.

After a sales conversation, offer, post, or follow-up that feels rough, I want you to ask yourself three questions:

1. What went well? Keep that in your game plan.
2. What didn’t go well? Study what happened and get curious rather than critical.
3. What will I try differently next time? Choose one adjustment you can test when you take another rep.

That third question matters because it assumes there will be a next time. When you ask what you’ll do differently next time, you’ve already decided that one uncomfortable conversation, one no, or one quiet offer isn’t going to end your season. You’re going to evaluate, adjust,

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Ready to Get Fully Booked?

The Get Fully Booked Challenge is coming November 9th through the 13th, and we’re spending five days working on how you run your hands-on business.

I’ll walk you through a clear path toward keeping your calendar booked, leading your clients with confidence, and making real money doing the work you love. If you’re building a practice, close to starting one, or already booked and ready to build something stronger, this challenge is for you.

Block off November 9th through the 13th on your calendar and make sure you’re on my email list so you’ll be the first to know when it’s time to grab your seat.

Join my mailing list: themfrcoach.com/mailing-list 

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