Episode 10: Becoming A PT Clinic Director A Midst The Pandemic
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Nate Reynolds 0:05
Welcome to this week's episode, I'm talking with Ryan Coye. Ryan is a physical therapist, and he's a clinic director at spear physical therapy, which is one of the top rated private physical therapy clinics in the country is located in New York City and in the New York downstate area. Welcome.
Ryan Coye 0:47
Thank you glad to be here.
Nate Reynolds 0:49
So Ryan, you just became a clinic director right before the pandemic hit. And so I kind of want to talk about, you know, what it's like to be a clinic director, and also what it was like to kind of navigate that pandemic, especially being in what someone say is ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ryan Coye 1:09
Yeah, I mean, it was a it was a crazy year. I feel like I'm just now learning what it means to be a, you know, clinical director and more normal times at the beginning. It was definitely not a typical experience at all, became clinical director. I was a staff therapist at the, at the clinic right out of school. And then about March 1 2020. I, I became clinical director, and then my second week, at about 90% of our patients cancel, I got COVID quickly recovered, which is fine. And then we had to quickly scramble to switch to telehealth, while my whole staff is working from home. It was just a crazy year. You know, we also, like you said, I'm in town, everything shut down. And it was just it was crazy. I ended up taking on a lot more responsibilities than just treating physical therapists, or clinical director, you know, I was doing all the admin work, just really just trying to keep the clinic afloat. That's why we were in survival mode for the entire summer, basically. But we made it through and now we're getting a lot more, a lot more not definitely not normally yet. Not in the city. But getting there for sure.
Nate Reynolds 2:27
Yeah, I feel like being in New York City, there's so many people that experience some really hardship that, you know, I couldn't imagine just, you know, your first or second week on the job, one getting COVID and being scared and not knowing what to expect. Because at that point, you know, you said early March, late March, you know, no one really knew what was going on.
Ryan Coye 2:49
I was basically patient zero.
Nate Reynolds 2:52
And the second part, you're like, Oh, I got this new job.I got to figure out how to do it. But let me not cough up on you.
Ryan Coye 2:59
Yeah, exactly. And not too bad. You know, I got it. I got tested a few days later, the results came back a few days after that. So then once that happened, and it was confirmed, then my whole staff had to quarantine. And I was able to go back to work before that, actually. So then I was like, by myself running everything. Waiting, just waiting for another one of my staff to get sick. Nobody did, fortunately. Yeah, it was it was crazy time. So working from home as a PT was pretty crazy. I only did that a couple days because I could still go and I was walking to work at the time. But yeah, it was crazy. Not to mention, there was a lot of other things that happened this past year, you know, where my clinics located about one block from Trump Tower. So there was 2000 people protests, right outside the doors. In a pandemic, that was just another another thing to deal with, for sure.
Nate Reynolds 3:55
Ryan, what would you say are like the job responsibilities of being a clinic director now that you kind of made it through the pandemic, and you've gotten the gist of being a clinic director?
Ryan Coye 4:07
Yeah, so you know, my, my job is just the, I'm responsible for the overall success of the clinic, both operationally financially and clinically. So, you know, that's, that includes the biggest part is, is development of my team, making sure that they have all the tools they need to succeed, removing barriers to their success, and just kind of like challenging them while also supporting them. So that they have everything they need to be successful in their, on their own, and then as a clinic, we're successful. But in addition to that, all the logistical supervision of just day to day operations, making sure all of our processes in the clinic are are running smoothly. And then payroll, hiring, scheduling of staff, all that good stuff.
Nate Reynolds 4:59
You do a lot of like professional development, how does that kind of work in your clinic?
Ryan Coye 5:05
Spear has this program called the spear Future Leaders Program where every year there's a different cohort of about 2530 people that I did go through a couple years ago, where, you know, we learn a bunch of leadership techniques from the founders, the owners, the company, as well as like the upper management. Like, in addition to that, I kind of have periodic one to ones with, with some of my, we call it like a player some of the top performing pts with that leadership potential, and just sitting down and having conversations problem solving with them, and and helping them come to their own conclusions about issues that they're having, whether it's with, with patients, difficult patients, or staff, or how to, you know, accomplish their goals.
Nate Reynolds 5:54
That's pretty interesting that your company has that built in leadership training, like my current company kind of has something similar to that. Because I think a lot of times, like we try so hard to grow as a clinician, but you know, I think there's plenty of people out there that would say that they're great clinicians, but they're not great leaders, and they're not great at managing people. And that's a much different skill set than being a physical therapist, or a healthcare provider.
Ryan Coye 6:25
Without a doubt, and and it's something that's not touched on even a little bit being in your seven years of education to get to being a physical therapist. So it is, it's something that you have to learn outside of school for sure. And always, always work on and develop.
Nate Reynolds 6:43
A couple of weeks ago, I had Dave Finkelstein on and we're talking about communication skills, and how to be a better communicator. And I think a lot of times being a leader is things that translate outside of the clinic. And I feel like if you grew up being in a leadership role, then it's probably a little bit easier, because you've developed those skill sets. It's much, much different when all the eyes are on you. And you got to figure out a problem and take extreme ownership of that problem. Even though you may not have been the one that puts you in it.
Ryan Coye 7:17
Absolutely, that's that's probably the biggest shift from going from staff PT to clinical director, it's, you know, everything you do is is under the microscope and is, you know, subject to scrutiny down to the way that you dress when you come to work to how you talk to a colleague or talk to a patient or just your attitude. When you walk in one day. It's everything's, everything's up for analysis on right place up.
Nate Reynolds 7:48
One of the things that you also kind of mentioned, you have to kind of lead the charge when it comes to like talking to physicians and doing all your outreach. Do you have any tips or tricks that you've kind of learned over the last year about being successful in that brown? Yeah,
Ryan Coye 8:04
You're talking about, like marketing, marketing to physicians and kind of growing that referral base?
Nate Reynolds 8:10
Yeah, cuz I think we're in Rochester, we have two hospital systems that are so strong. You know, you have University of Rochester near Rochester regional, and they pretty much have a stronghold of the market. And the doctors don't refer outside that very rarely. And so it's kind of when you when you get a good relationship with a doctor, you kind of you know, you got to hold on to it Really? well.
Ryan Coye 8:36
Absolutely. Absolutely. New York City is a little bit different, for sure, there's a ton of hospitals a ton of really good hospitals, and all of them do have their own physical therapy department. And especially during the pandemic, where PT as a whole took a hit. The doctors in those systems are definitely reluctant to refer outside of that hospital network. But it definitely does happen. Because you know, there's a lot of different reasons right there, it could be less convenient for patients. Patients could have already have a good experience with with spear, but when it comes down to is building that personal relationship with the doctor, getting face to face meetings is hugely important. You need to be able to talk to them. And honestly, if you can, if you can get to talk to them in a setting outside of work, grab a cup of coffee and grab a beer. That goes a long way. Because you can you know, at first, when you're first starting to kind of market yourself to doctors, it can seem kind of daunting, right? That you can hold them on a higher pedestal. But then quickly, you learn that they're just people too, and they're just trying to do their job trying to do the best for their patients as well. So once you find that common ground, and then find their pain points, things that they're, you know, finding problems that they need to solve maybe before they even Identify it, or it can identify themselves. But if you can provide a solution for that, whether that's a specific population that you're excellent at treating, or that somebody on your team is excellent at treating, or if it's communication, you know, if you're like, Listen, I will send you a report every two weeks, if you want, you know, text email call, whatever you want, just kind of showing your value, something that separates you from their traditional clinic that they're referring to.
Nate Reynolds 10:28
That's a great point about the communication aspect. Because I think, especially, you know, nowadays with like epic, if you're familiar with EMR system, but where I was at previously just transitioned to epic, and the ability to just communicate really efficiently with doctors and just send a quick message, and then getting back to you within like, you know, a few hours is a huge, huge barrier, if you're in private practice, and you're not in the hospital setting. And so I think what you're talking about is kind of have to step up your game, to kind of combat that. And on the flip side of like, kind of what I think about marketing is that it's very hard to break that bridge between physician and patient, like physician in the PT source, if you can develop that good connection with the patient, I feel like a patient is much more likely to break their connection with a physician than a physician is with the PT in and so I think it kind of comes back to what you're saying about with spirit having such a great reputation that you can kind of market more towards the patient and the doctor, and hopefully, kind of get that rapport there.
Ryan Coye 11:41
Yeah, absolutely, you know, we do get a decent amount of direct access referrals, that is largely because of our presence in the city, as one of the foremost PT brands, but we are absolutely reliant on referrals from physicians, I'd say, at least 85% is of our new patients are coming from a doctor in some way or another. But speaking of direct access, that is a great way to build a relationship with a doctor, you know, if you have a patient who comes to you, you need to refer him out. And you can find a doctor that would be ideal for this patient. Not only is that going to help really strengthen your report with that patient, but it's also you know, you're getting, you're getting new business to that physician. And that's such a great talking point, you know, you have so many things you can you can build that relationship on just from that one patient, and then grow up from there.
Nate Reynolds 12:43
I met a doctor probably a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month ago. And I've just been waiting, I'm like, Alright, this patient, if I need to send them doctor, like, I'm going to send him his way. I'm just like, I'm just waiting to keep sending people his way. So that way, he can refer back to me or refer a different patients to me. Exactly. Because, unfortunately, you know, we can't solve every problem. And we need to have a doctor that is either non op or can funnel them into an OB doc. And because our ultimate goal should be to give that patient what they need. You and if it's not our skill set,
Ryan Coye 13:22
Absolutely. 100% and, you know, collaboration with the team is huge. We have our limitations, we can't do imaging. That's a huge part of it.
Nate Reynolds 13:33
What are some of the best ways that you've marketed not just a doctor's but outside that realm, to build your brand?
Ryan Coye 13:41
So marketing to doctors is definitely the biggest thing. That's my focus. But in the past, we've done we've tried to get outside the box a little bit to just market to the general public. You know, we've done different movement screens for you know, spirit as a company does a baseball screen youth baseball movement screen for like, like an injury prevention screening. And we've done that for dancers as well, we're trying to set one up for volleyball players, because one of my pts, the former doing volleyball player, but that's a great way to get, you know, young athletic people in the door, which is what I'm interested in treating. But it's also more than that, you know, it's it's the entire community if, if the community knows to go here for physical therapy, yeah, it's the whole team, but it's their parents, you know, it's their siblings, it's, it spreads a lot. We've also gone to, like health fairs at companies. You know, some of the bigger companies in the town, once a year might have a bunch of different healthcare vendors come in for one reason or another. And, you know, we'll set up a booth and and, you know, offer our services say, Oh, yeah, we're located all these different places. Oh, you're not bothering you. Yeah, we can help you with that. You know, take that information. See if you can get a some referrals out of that. And then it never really came to fruition. But I'm located right across the street from the flagship Apple Store in Manhattan, a giant Apple Store, obviously, with a lot of employees, and we started getting a couple employees in. And we thought, how can we capitalize on this? Like we thought about giving a presentation to them, you know, just what physical therapy is all about what what kind of things we can help with, but ran in some roadblocks, because we'd have to go through like the corporate Apple, which was a hoop that we did not want to jump through, at least I didn't want to jump through, but maybe down the road. But yeah, not not immediate future.
Nate Reynolds 15:40
Maybe maybe not in a pandemic, where it's not a high priority. But I think those are great ideas that they mentioned. My next question more is, you know, you became a client charter just a little under three years out of school. What were some like the hurdles that you faced being a young clinic director, only managing people that prior close your age, maybe a little bit older than you?
Ryan Coye 16:10
Yeah, so I, I worked at this clinic right out of school, I was actually a student at this clinic. And then I am definitely a beneficiary of right place, right time, the clinical director before me, opened a different clinic within spear. And so she left and I was, you know, next up, basically, so I, I was the the person they selected to take over, which was, obviously I'm very gracious for but definitely accelerated that a little bit. But the biggest challenge definitely was going from colleague with my staff, close personal friends with them, to them be all of a sudden becoming their superior, and being able to manage that, that change in the relationship without really changing the relationship that much. Because it's, it could really go both ways, you know, they could start to resent me if I'm too hard on them, or they could really start to take advantage and like, Oh, that's just our our pal, Ryan. You know, he's a pushover. So that was definitely something that I had to make an effort of. But to be perfectly honest, I think the the pandemic may have helped to that, because I was the point person making a lot of decisions of how we're going to do things, it separated me to that that leadership position, kind of automatically.
Nate Reynolds 17:30
Yeah, that's probably a good segue, unfortunately, had to be because of a pandemic. But we need to kind of talk about trying to have that kind of division. I know that my previous Boss, I think that was one of his biggest issues, when he became a client director, was that fact that it was very hard for people to view him as the boss now. And you want to earn the respect and you want to go through the process, but you know, sometimes people like you said, or kind of take advantage of you. And they kind of test the waters. And you're like, no, like, this is how things can be wrong. This is how you have to view me and sometimes you kind of have to separate yourself from them. Like you're not as buddy, buddy, as you were. But I think that's just a casualty of being in a leadership position. Yeah, exactly.
Ryan Coye 18:20
And, you know, it's, it's not for everyone, but you have to be you can't be afraid of conflict. You can't be afraid to confront people when they're wrong. Or when you know, something needs to be addressed. And I think doing so in a respectful yet assertive manner is how you get that, that respect. And then you, you know, the main goal is cooperation, not obedience.
Nate Reynolds 18:46
Yeah, that was one thing that I was reading a book, I think was, it was Extreme Ownership, or it was another leadership thing. And it was talking about how millennials don't want to be told what to do. They just want to be guided, right? Like you, you have to let them make some of the decisions on their own in like, you can't really micromanage. And I don't know if you've experienced that, but it kind of like made sense to me. I feel like us millennials, we want more autonomy, and you want to be like, Okay, this is your job, go figure it out. And then we'll talk about after instead of having that micromanagement.
Ryan Coye 19:22
Yeah, it's, it's more like, here's, here's your goal, here's what your expectation is, you do it in your own way, and become successful. The best example is, the PTS at spear are for the most part responsible for their own schedule. You know, they should be scheduling out the vast majority of their patients obviously, you know, support staff helps out with people calling up and occasionally in the clinic, but you know, you it's, it's made clear from day one that like you own your schedule, that is your schedule, and you know, it's your job, to, you know, get patients in and everybody has different scheduling practice. Is everybody has tricked different treatment practices? So it's definitely important to recognize that early on and have people build on, you know what's going well with their strategies, as opposed to saying no, you have to do it this way.
Nate Reynolds 20:15
That makes sense. That's kind of it's funny, you mentioned that because the director of the company I work for came from spear actually, then yeah, and so we're very kind of run the same way. Whereas we do all the scheduling the client coordinators to CSS is what we call them. You know, they do more of the insurance stuff. But, you know, making sure that we have blocks in our schedule for you, Val's making sure people are scheduled out appropriately, and that being overbooked. If they're Medicare, you know, it's all on us. And I think you do have that that ownership mentality, that this is how I want things done, this is how I know I can do them well, because with me, especially me being someone that is not the best multitasker. Like I know I need a little bit more time. And I can't just have people coming in every 15 minutes, you know, I need 45 minutes blocks for patients. I can have two at once. But you know, that's just how I know I work best. Where I can give the quality of care that I that I know I can do. So I think that's we your mentality that you're talking about is like giving people ownership of their success is huge. I feel like it also kind of weeds out the underperformers.
Ryan Coye 21:36
Yeah, well, it makes it glaringly obvious who who are the under performers to, you know, if you have, if you have support staff, scheduling every single patient, and then, you know, they just show up and treat. Maybe it's a little easier to hide like that you're just getting by, you know, it's your caseload, and you should be in full control of it, you know, your patients, you know, which ones need a little bit more time, you know, maybe you can mitigate the schedule a little bit so that they gain a little bit more time, one on one time, you know, maybe you can't have these two patients at the same time, because they, it wouldn't work well that the treatment session wouldn't work well. overlapping with them. So that's why that's why we do it that way. And I think it works out well. And so talking about ownership and kind of talking about how pts have kind of been underneath you have you had to fire or hire any pts. Yeah, so I've been a director a little over a year, I did have to fire one of one of my pts by the end of summer. And then I did hire a PT couple months later. You know, definitely not easy to do to fire somebody. This is this is somebody that I was working with before I became a director. But it had to be done, they were way too comfortable doing the absolute bare minimum in a time where like I said earlier, you know, we were fighting to survive, he was definitely impacting our culture to us definitely had potential to bring other people down to his level and prevent a culture of, you know, being hungry, trying to grow. And I definitely didn't want that had to be done. It was actually a long time coming. But it had to be done and was not easy, but it went as bad as well as it could have gone. You just got to be upfront with them in. And it is what it is.
Nate Reynolds 23:39
Yeah, I think that's probably good that you kind of nip that in the bud early on coming out of the pandemic, because you don't really have much time. We are who we surround ourselves with. And so you there's 100 houses were like great people. And even though you feel like you're kind of not at that level, and eventually you'll raise to their level. Or if you surround yourself with poor people, poor quality people, then you're going to lower yourself to their standard. And so I think that's a good learning experience for you early on as a clinic director, because, you know, I think a lot of people do get comfortable. And we do just want to do, you know, sometimes we show up for a paycheck and, you know, we don't realize that we're here to get people better. And sometimes that's a grind. And yeah, in a pandemic, it's it's a huge grind, because people don't value PT as much as we want them to, to begin with. And each patient is like a lifeline.
Ryan Coye 24:38
Absolutely, absolutely. Especially in the midst of the pandemic, when you know every patient is very important. So if he was he was not caring about certain parts of the job. Patient Care was what was going to come next so certainly can't have that happening.
Nate Reynolds 24:56
And so, flipside what was hiring someone like?
Ryan Coye 25:03
It was weird, because it was all via zoom. This was at a time where, you know, we weren't trying to have extra bodies in the clinic. So I did have a couple, a couple zoom calls, I had a regular phone call and a zoom call with, you know, this, a couple of PT candidates, but I, you know, made a decision she had been laid off, she was working at another great clinic in New York City, he she unfortunately got laid off and was was looking for a new place, we had a need, and we brought her on, definitely didn't go as smoothly as planned, we did have to, we did push her start date back three or four times, I think just because of, you know, there wasn't enough demand to bring on a new full time PT. But we got creative, you know, she ended up working at at my clinic and another clinic for a little bit to start. Now she's over here full time. With that transition, communication was hugely important, being fully transparent with her. And just letting her know we we absolutely wanted her to start. But at the time, it wouldn't have made sense for everybody to just come on over 40 hours a week right away. And she understood then she's really thriving right now.
Nate Reynolds 26:13
I think that's a great like success story. Because a lot of times when you're because like when I was interviewing at clinics, you know, there's always you want people to be as transparent as possible. I took the leap down to Rochester, because the clinic said like, we don't need you just yet, but we want you and so we're going to take you early, because that fits your timeline. And so it's kind of like that whole transparency and feeling wanted, people are going to wait you out, if need be, and feel valued versus just be like, okay, we've just added a body.
Ryan Coye 26:50
Yeah. And you need to make that known, right, you, I guess you can't put all your cards on the table and say, you know, we're desperate for you. Because then you know, that sends the wrong message. But you can't be afraid to say, when you get a good candidate, that you land them hook, line, and sinker, you gotta, you gotta fight for them. And even if it's not the ideal time, based on based on demand that it's still worth bringing them on, in some capacity for sure. If she decided to take a job elsewhere, I would have felt very, very disappointed at a missed opportunity.
Nate Reynolds 27:28
So it sounds like you want it from firing someone that could potentially be a detriment to the clan culture, to hire someone that can be a huge asset. And so just and you know, a six month timeframe, you're talking about how a clinic culture could change a lot?
Ryan Coye 27:44
Huge impact.
Nate Reynolds 27:46
And so the last thing that I kind of want to talk about some of the positives that you've experienced, being a clinic director, and what kind of has been like the rewarding part of it?
Ryan Coye 27:58
You know, it's definitely a lot of work, for sure. It's a lot more work. But it's way more rewarding, because it's, it's your clinic, yes, I work for a company, but I have extreme ownership over everything about that clinic. And would that be common as a lot of independence and autonomy, which is something that suits my personality, you wouldn't think it was ideal timing, to become director before the pandemic, but I'm very glad it happened. Because I would much rather be in the driver's seat than just, you know, sitting in waiting for information with with all the changes that that were made. Not to mention, you know, it's obviously a fantastic experience in running a clinic. If I ever want to open my own thing down the road or move on in my career, it's a fantastic experience that I'm fortunate to get early on in my career. And not to mention, it's definitely a challenge. And it's very difficult, at least at my stage to be like, I'm standing still feel like I'm stagnating. Just because I am always there's always new challenges put on my plate.
Nate Reynolds 29:07
I mean, I think that's kind of what you want. And like a leader, you want someone that always wants to take a step forward, and always kind of moving, moving forward, always saying like a new goal. Even though you're probably a young contractor, you're prior, a good clinic director, because you're always trapped, probably trying to figure out how can we improve this? How can we do this better? How can I make this PT a better clinician, so then the overall care elevates, you know, because I think it comes down to like, you really are as good as like, you're probably your worst PT, because those are the ones that unfortunately, those patients are the ones that are probably leaving, like the poor reviews, and then that kind of spreads. It's I think I read something where it's like, probably 50% of the patients that you have, you don't have to worry about 20% they're gonna have a good experience. 10% they're gonna have like a great experience, and you're gonna have 10% of people that are probably not gonna have a great experience. And that's probably just how the city looks breakdown. I don't think that adds up to 100%. Don't do the math for me.
Ryan Coye 30:06
But I get the point.
Nate Reynolds 30:08
Yeah. But it's always like that, that 10%, that small percentage that you kind of have to worry about, because that's how, you know, news travels. And you know, whether it's an Amazon review, or a Yelp review, you know, there's, there's a certain type of person that just kind of wants their voice to be heard and leave a negative review.
Ryan Coye 30:30
Unfortunately, we don't get too many reviews on Amazon, but Google and Yelp for sure.
Nate Reynolds 30:35
You know, we are like the Amazon generation, like we use review, to solidify our choices. And so those Google reviews are so crucial. And unfortunately, it's kind of like pulling teeth to get down sometimes. But you know, you just want to tell people like, hey, like, like, when I'm in Rochester, we're just moving here, I'm like, hey, like this is, I really rely on word of mouth and these Google reviews to kind of establish my credentials, if you could, if you just leave me a review, if you had a great experience, please do it.
Ryan Coye 31:05
That's, you know, that's a huge skill that I definitely need to work on. But somehow I've, you know, I've been blessed that, you know, one of my pts, and now another one, the, you know, the reason hire, just have a knack for getting the patients to leave reviews, you know, they straight up ask them for it, but they get they get it every single time. You know, it's a five star, thorough, perfect review. But I think it's important to, to be able to be vulnerable, and be able to ask that, you know, you're not asking, you're not trying to scam them, right, you're you're trying to, you're asking patients who have had a positive experience with you, to help another person have a positive experience, you know, it doesn't have to just be an online review to it saying, you know, hey, you know, think of, you know, a friend or family who, who's hurting right now, see, if you can send them my way, I'd love to help them out. Love to get them back on track. And I think that can be huge for being able to communicate with your patients, but also that's going to going to help grow your grow your personal brand, for sure.
Nate Reynolds 32:11
I think being vulnerable in showing that in to your patients that you're human is huge, you know, you you want the patient to know that, like, you're listening to them, and then they kind of get to know you. And I think that kind of helps sell yourself because sometimes, you know, they, you know, the doctors that like have no bedside manner. And those are the patients that come to you. And they're like, Yeah, he said this, this and they just loved it, you know, you don't want to be that person. But you also don't want to be so vulnerable, where every patient knows about your bad breakup. But I think we talked about, you know, just being vulnerable enough to get people to leave a good review and send people your way. Because being a private practice, I think that's one of the biggest challenges is, is getting a referral source. And the the best referral source is word of mouth.
Ryan Coye 33:03
100%. 100%. That's, that's something that we look at, actually. We track it, we call it our referral ratio, it's, it's what percentage of initial evaluations, new patients are specifically requesting, you know, a given PT. And that's a direct product of marketing to doctors. So the doctors are saying, hey, you need to go see this PT, or friends and family, saying, I had a great experience sending my brother to you, as well as getting online reviews that specifically mentioned you. So that's definitely something that that we keep track of, because I think that's a huge indicator of people who are, are really making a difference in the community and making an impact on their patients.
Nate Reynolds 33:44
Yeah, I think that's perfectly said. And I think that's something that when you find someone that specifically asked for you, you're just like, Yes, I'm fine doing my job, right.
Ryan Coye 33:53
And you're, you know, you're that much more motivated to to get them better and to prove right, whatever they heard about you.
Nate Reynolds 34:00
The last thing, which is kind of like how I like to leave the podcast episodes are just kind of putting on the hot seat just asking a few questions, kind of seeing what your answers are. It's not a very hot seat. It's it's lukewarm, these aren't that tough. But so give one piece of advice to a new clinic director,
Ryan Coye 34:17
it will get better, you're going to be overwhelmed at first, without a doubt, it gets better you start to figure it out. But you need to lead by example, for sure. And I think the best piece of advice that I got early on is you know, no job too small. You're going to lead by example, by wiping down that table. You know, picking up that piece of garbage, doing something little for your patient that you could easily have a tech Do you know showing that you're in the trenches with them? Lead by example is huge.
Nate Reynolds 34:51
The next question, one piece of advice to a new grad and how to interview well
Ryan Coye 34:58
Seats getting hotter, Nate. But I would say just just become talk about what separates yourself from the pack and what you can bring to the company. Yes, clinically, but also, you know, personality wise, culture wise, what makes you you, and how you could fit well within a team? Basically.
Nate Reynolds 35:23
I think that's a great point. I think most times, you know, people want to talk about like, the clinical skills, but any new grad doesn't know anything. You know, as much as you want to believe that, you know, a lot going on. There's so much that first year is so important to learn. And I think you have to treat your first year out of school as if you're still in school, and just learn all the time learn every weekend, and it's just going to speed up your learning curve and just make your life easier down the line. Another question, one person that are alive, you would have dinner with or a beer with?
Ryan Coye 35:58
I would go with, I'm gonna go with the Notorious BIG, just, you know, sit down have a nice meal with him. Just just to see what that would be like. I don't think we'd get along super well, but I think that would be a how the experience, but I think you'd have a lot to say. I think he was genuinely hilarious, too. So I think a fun dinner for sure. You know, that same question.
Nate Reynolds 36:26
That definitely surprised me. My question. You're turning this on me? Yeah. Oh, mine is sentimental. Oh, it's a real tear jerker. Yeah, so both my grandfather's died before I was born. So I think it'd be kind of cool. I've heard a lot of stories about my grandma, or my grandpa, my dad on my mom's side of my dad's side. So one of them. I think that'd be kind of a cool experience.
Ryan Coye 36:52
Yeah, so we had like the same answer.
Nate Reynolds 36:54
Yeah. Notorious BIG ad. My my grandparents my grandpa's. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, totally. Totally same response. You know, they're, you know, they're probably hanging out and having right now, you know, just kicking it back. Yeah, they're SPI Geez, you know, rapping while my grandpa's are playing golf.
Ryan Coye 37:16
It's perfect. You can be rockin, yeah.
Nate Reynolds 37:19
So, Ryan, thanks for coming on. It was a pleasure talking to you.
Ryan Coye 37:23
Absolutely. Appreciate it.