With 7 FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers in Florida, Sanjeev Joseph Capitalizes on the Demand for Physical Therapy Services
For Sanjeev Joseph, making the move from physical therapist to entrepreneur was a natural progression, and he opened his first FYZICAL franchise eight-plus years ago. He now owns seven FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers in Florida that recorded revenue of $2.1 million last year.
Happily for Joseph, the demand for physical therapy services services is exploding. The U.S. physical therapy services market was valued at $44.8 billion in 2022 and was expected to post a compound growth rate of 3.56% annually through 2030, Grandview Research projected. Some of this boom relates to health insurance companies’ willingness to cover therapy costs, growing awareness of therapy benefits, prevalence of sports injuries, and the aging population. According to America’s Health Rankings, nearly 58 million Americans were 65 and older in 2022. The Population Reference Bureau expects the number of U.S. seniors to hit 82 million by 2050.
A Perfect Fit
Joseph’s education and experience meshed perfectly with the brand. “I started my physical therapy career in 2007. I decided to hone my skills in outpatient physical therapy because I felt it was a perfect fit for me. After many years working as director of clinical operations for a well-known outpatient physical therapy company, I decided to start my own business. I was confident in my therapy and management skills, but business ownership was not something I had done.”
So he sought outside advice. “I considered many ideas, such as bootstrapping, partnerships and hiring consultants. I discussed these options with my banker, Bryan Boudreaux at Bank of Tampa. He advised me to meet with the folks at FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, which is based in Sarasota, just 15 minutes from where I was located.
“After meeting with Frank Dieckman, an existing franchisee, and Keefe Fugleberg, one of the founders of FYZICAL and also a franchisee, I was sold on the concept. I liked the idea that while I would be the sole owner of the franchise, I had tremendous support from FYZICAL.”
Physical Therapy Franchise
Joseph saw several advantages in the FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers franchise. “It’s the world’s largest physical therapy franchise. It is the only business that allows business owners and entrepreneurs to leverage business fundamentals with physical therapy expertise. With the FYZICAL Balance Paradigm developed by Brian Werner, one of the world’s premier balance therapists, business owners can deliver the most consistent and best results available for patients with vestibular and balance disorders. In addition, training is provided to all physical therapists within the franchise in the field of orthopedics and pelvic health.”
Beyond that “lies the backbone of the franchise, the business know-how to build a thriving business in any area. The franchisor provides marketing, business management, and financial and accounting education to business owners so they can ensure their business grows in the challenging health care environment.”
Early Challenges and Operational Excellence
As a beginning franchisee, Joseph said the huge, initial challenge was attracting patients to a de novo clinic, a new one with zero clients. “This required steady marketing to develop initial patient flow. The real reward came when our patients’ experience led to more referrals. This resulted from a heavy focus on quality and patient experience through operations.”
Once the business grew, “we experienced a new challenge,” Joseph says. “This was human resources. Focusing on quality personnel and a company culture of quality helped us to reap the rewards of attracting top-tier talent to help the business maintain the highest-quality physical therapy within the communities we serve.”
As Joseph’s portfolio expanded to seven clinics, he realized that “the overriding lesson is that when scaling, operational excellence is the most important driver of success. Without it, scaling is very difficult. Our first three locations were all de novo. Because of this, scaling was slow but predictable.”
The next four locations were acquisitions, “with changes happening quickly and in unpredictable ways.” The acquisitions taught Joseph a lot, he says, and “while this road has been vastly more difficult, we have learned a great deal. We feel we are now stronger than ever, and scaling further looks more achievable and with more potential than previously expected.”
Hands-On Business Ownership
Perhaps surprisingly, Joseph still sees a few patients. “Today, my clinical role is limited to friends and family. And from time to time, I may fill in.” Pulling back gives him more time for his wife and two children, traveling, and activities such as golfing, hiking, socializing with friends, and going to the beach.
But Joseph still wants to stay somewhat hands-on to maintain and expand his clinical knowledge as well as address the ever-changing needs of his franchises. When he performs therapy, “the focus is more on passion than on revenue generation. I still love seeing changes in patients by utilizing world-class treatment techniques, and I love changing people’s perceptions of health, lifestyle, longevity, physical fitness, diet and movement. Ultimately, I want to see people’s quality of life improve whether it is me or my staff delivering it.”
For people who have caught the bug of entrepreneurship, Joseph advises that “your business is only as good as your people. If you have a great team, you will have great results. It’s a concept that is easy to say but extremely difficult to execute. There are many companies competing for talented employees, and many of them can pay higher wages than we can.”
But Joseph recruits and keeps stellar workers “because of our commitment to patient and employee satisfaction. I am extremely grateful to my staff for helping this business to grow to where it is today, and I look forward to our future growth as a team.”
FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers Franchise
FYZICAL has four types of franchisees: entrepreneurs with limited experience in the physical therapy industry, clinicians who want to open their own practices, clinicians who want to convert their practices to FYZICAL units, and owners of practices who want to expand their services. Corporate provides help with site selection, clinic layout and setup, comprehensive training, and marketing and advertising support. Clinics typically open about 240 days after the franchise is awarded.
Founded in 2012, the FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers cater to the growing demand for physical therapy services. It has 550 locations in 46 states, with more territories available. To learn more about the FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers franchise, visit www.fyzicalfranchise.com.
