Thinking about growing your PT business, or what comes after? The NEXTLEVEL Owner is a podcast for physical therapy business owners, hosted by Paul Martin, Founder and President of Martin Healthcare Advisors.

Paul grew his own PT business from three clinics to 21 and transitioned it to a larger company in 1996. He then founded Martin Healthcare Advisors in 1999 to help PT owners grow, prepare, and exit with the best partner and the best terms.

On the show, Paul talks with PT business owners and the leaders of the companies acquiring them. You’ll hear what buyers look for, the mistakes that cost owners the most, and how to make informed decisions early.

Follow The NEXTLEVEL Owner on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Learn more: martinhealthcareadvisors.com

Most PT business owners have heard the advice: build a business that can run without you. If you own multiple clinics, that's the wrong question. In most of today's larger transactions, the owner isn't going anywhere. Acquirers want you to stay three years or longer. So the real question is: when a partner walks in the door, do they have to build the leadership around you, or is it already there?In this episode, Paul Martin uses lessons from football, from Bill Walsh's 49ers to Nick Saban's coaching tree to the Steelers' three head coaches since 1969, to show how great organizations build leadership that wins year after year. Then he shares three steps to build that same leadership in your PT business: own the roles, write down your systems, and build your bench.

Chapters

0:00 The owner isn't going anywhere

1:40 The question acquirers really ask

2:20 Your business as a football team

3:53 Bill Walsh's Standard of Performance

5:00 Nick Saban and the coaching tree

6:00 Steelers: 3 coaches since 1969

6:50 Chiefs, Eagles and the best leadership

7:52 Takeaway 1: Own the roles8:24 Takeaway 2: Write down your systems

8:48 Takeaway 3: Build your bench

9:16 Keep it or partner, it pays off

Have a question about your leadership team or where your business stands today? Book a call with Paul: https://calendly.com/mhameetings/30min

Watch the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@martinhealthcareadvisors

Also on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nextlevel-owner/id6806039160

New episodes every Wednesday. Follow the show so you never miss one.

If you're only talking to private equity backed acquirers, you may be missing a new type of acquirer in physical therapy: the family office. One has done five transactions in about fifteen months, and it plays by very different rules. In this episode, I break down how a family office compares to a strategic partner backed by private equity, and the three questions that tell you which one fits your transition.0:00 The Acquirer Most Owners Don't Know About0:29 Why PE Backed Strategic Partners Still Work Well1:22 What Is A Family Office?2:25 Five Transactions In Fifteen Months3:45 Difference 1: Time Horizon4:31 Difference 2: Structure4:58 Difference 3: Fit5:34 More Types Of Acquirers Means A Better Outcome6:10 Which Partner Fits You?Wondering which type of partner fits you and your practice? Let's talk: https://calendly.com/mhameetings/30min

Can AI replace your advisor when you transition your PT practice? It's the biggest financial decision most owners will ever make, and too many walk into it as the only person at the table who has never done it before.

I joined Mikulas Zach on Consulting Rainmakers to talk about where AI is already changing PT clinics, how we use it at Martin Healthcare Advisors, and what it still can't do for you. We also cover the timing mistake that catches most owners off guard, and what I think could make a transaction move twice as fast.

If you're thinking about a transition in the next few years, this one's for you.

0:00 Introduction

0:55 From Gettysburg Football to 21 Clinics

2:54 Why MHA Serves Only Physical Therapy

3:57 The Biggest Mistake Owners Make When Selling

4:40 Investment Banker Meets Main Street Broker

8:08 How AI Is Changing PT Clinics

10:11 What Hosting a Podcast Teaches You

12:14 What Drives New Business: Conferences, Referrals, Video

14:17 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

18:11 Why Exit Planning Starts 7 to 10 Years Out

22:29 Goals for the Next 12 to 24 Months

24:45 Where to Find Paul

Book a call with me: https://calendly.com/mhameetings/30minWebsite: https://www.martinhealthcareadvisors.comLinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7501665222571687936Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@martinhealthcareadvisors

Two PT practices with the same earnings can end up with very different results: one gets a strong offer, the other gets none. The difference is almost always the quality of your EBITDA.

In this episode, Paul Martin, President of Martin Healthcare Advisors, explains how acquirers value a practice using two numbers, EBITDA and the multiple. On $1 million of EBITDA, the gap between a 4x and a 6x multiple is $2 million. What moves that multiple is how much an acquirer trusts your earnings to keep coming after you step back.

Paul covers the five drivers that raise or lower your multiple, why a quality of earnings review is the moment every weak spot shows up, and how to get your numbers ready well before you go to market.

Want to talk through what drives your practice's value? Book a call with Paul: https://calendly.com/mhameetings/30min

Chapters:
0:00 Same earnings, different offers

0:38 EBITDA in plain English

1:30 The multiple: a $2M difference

2:34 What quality of earnings means

3:42 1. Clean, accurate financials

5:26 2. Adjustments you can defend

6:34 3. How much it depends on you

8:34 4. Concentration and bus risk

9:26 5. Predictability and growth

10:42 Getting ready before you go to market

Most PT owners add both owner salaries back to the bottom line and call it profit. An acquirer adds them back, then subtracts what it costs to replace those people, and the number gets a lot smaller. That gap is the first uncomfortable truth Paul Martin puts in front of owners.

Paul is President of Martin Healthcare Advisors and a physical therapist who built a company from three clinics to 21 in three years. In this conversation with Jimmy McKay on PT Pintcast: why a transition is a process rather than an event, the audit he calls a living autopsy, the three levers that move what a practice is worth, the 30-day test, and how many years out the work really starts.

Book a call with Paul: https://calendly.com/mhameetings/30min
More at martinhealthcareadvisors.com

0:00 The mistake

2:07 Process, not an event

8:53 The living autopsy

12:08 The three levers

16:48 The 30-day test

18:10 When to start

30:50 The Parting Shot

Who should represent you when you transition your physical therapy practice? Paul Martin's answer comes from both sides of the table. In 1996 he and two partners sold the company they had built from 3 clinics to 21 clinics in three years, and the specialist they hired taught him something he has built on ever since: who represents you determines your outcome. He then spent a year inside an acquirer's acquisition department, working on more than 17 transactions and over $500 million in volume in twelve months.

In this episode Paul breaks down the three ways a PT owner can be represented, what each one actually does well, and why he built Martin Healthcare Advisors to combine them.

0:00 Don't be the only one at the table who has never done this

0:35 1996: three partners, 21 clinics, and one specialist

1:20 Who represents you determines your outcome

1:55 Inside an acquirer: 17 transactions in a single year

2:30 The credentials that changed how he sees the process

3:00 What Main Street business brokers do better than anyone

4:00 What large investment banking firms bring

5:05 Building the hybrid: bankers, CPAs, and people who care about the outcome

5:55 The piece nobody else has: five PTs who have already been through it

6:55 Different teams for different sized companies

7:45 Why acquirers respect the process

8:20 Whatever you do, don't go through it alone

Your practice is likely the largest business asset you will ever own. Going it alone means no leverage, higher risk of a confidentiality break, and the acquirer holding the steering wheel.

Martin Healthcare Advisors represents physical therapy owners, never acquirers. Learn more at martinhealthcareadvisors.com.

Most PT practice owners think of PTAs as a clinical resource, not a growth lever. In this episode, Paul Martin, President of Martin Healthcare Advisors, sits down with Katie Sutton, PTA, MA, host of the PTA+ Podcast, to make the case for team-based care, and show exactly how one practice grew from 3 clinics to 21 in six years.

In this episode:

Why PTAs are one of the most underused levers in a growing PT practice

How to bring a skeptical owner around to a team-based model

The metrics that separate practices that grow well from ones that don't

What actually drives PT practice valuation, and what tanks it

Why billing accurately protects your practice, not just your patients

Timestamps:

00:00 Cold open

00:32 Meet Paul Martin and today's topic

01:57 Why PTAs need to think beyond their title03:19 Where PTAs fit in a healthy, growing PT business

04:33 How to pitch PTA integration to a skeptical owner

06:36 Inside a team-based, metrics-driven clinic

08:30 Leadership vs. followership

10:48 Scaling from 3 clinics to 18 in three years

13:12 The first thing that breaks when you grow too fast

14:39 Why frontline clinicians need to understand the business

17:32 Three things every clinician should know about business

20:58 The truth about cash-based PT, and where PTAs fit in

25:50 Bill for what you actually do (the therapeutic exercise story)

31:53 What actually makes a PT practice valuable

35:15 Choosing a location: the 10-step market check

37:33 Recruiting and retaining PTs and PTAs (ABR)

41:28 Why clinical internships are a hidden retention tool

45:34 Paul's Plus Point, and where to find him

Learn more about Martin Healthcare Advisors: martinhealthcareadvisors.com