Podiatry Hive Member Profile – Rebecca Healey

  • Member Profile

    Name: Rebecca Healey

    Name of Clinic: Your Foot Doctor

    Where do you operate: Nuriootpa in the beautiful Barossa Valley SA

  • How long have you been in business?

    Sole practitioner for 12 years and employer for three years

rebecca-healey

  • What attracted you to Podiatry?

    Firstly, I’m a healer. I get a kick out of making someone feel better. I love the diversity of our profession. We could be performing surgery on a toenail in the morning, casting for orthotics next, biomechanic examinations the next… using manual therapies and end the day with the messy work of grinding in the lab. Not many professions are that adaptable.

  • What are the 3 crucial elements to your success?

    1. Persistence whether it be with a patient, a referrer or with myself. Persistence pays off in the end. Keep getting back on the bike!
    2. Education I’m passionate about education. I actually thought about leaving the profession about 7 years ago. I was tired of constantly cutting nails and removing corns. Due to the huge increase in professional development events available in our state combined with a need to change what I was I doing, I took the plunge into mobilising and dry needling as a basis for my practice. The continuing education of myself and my practitioners means we are able to provide the most up to date treatments for our patients.
    3. Organisation until I began with the BlackBelt program, I had a whole heap of dreams and no way to achieve them. I now have a great plan that is constantly evolving as I work, in an organised manner, step by step to achieve my goals. Goal setting and clarity are amazing elements!

  • What‘s your philosophy on WHY you’re in business?

    I am in business to solve problems. I love the investigation and following the trail to the ultimate cause of a problem and then sourcing the best solution, whether it be in the treatment room, staff room or board room.

  • What has been your biggest OOPS! moment?:

    I think I most regret not building my business before I had children. I’m now 40.something (ahem… ) and only just sorting myself out financially. If I had my time again, I would definitely work to build the business to a level where it was able to be managed by me whilst I took time to look after my children.

  • What has been your biggest A-HA! moment?

    … My a-ha moment is what happens when I actually clarify what I want and make a plan to get it and then take those steps. It’s so much easier when my head is not full of what ifs. It’s so much easier to take the seemingly hard steps when you know exactly what you want and how you will deal with the steps afterwards.

  • Can you you share one or two marketing elements or methods you’ve used in your practice, that have been successful, and have provided growth?

    I love the business card approach. I found that handing out business cards to current patients at their appointment a little different but all of my patients were very happy to pass the cards on to people they think we can help.

    Networking with GP’s and local allied health practitioners. I’ve found that they are more likely to refer the tricky cases to us now. Previously they thought that podiatrists were just used for nails cuts, diabetic assessments or orthotics. Most had no idea of the scope of our practice. We started our networking by visiting every GP practice in the area and many of the Physios and Chiropractors as well. Lots of referrals came in for specific and complicated problems after these visits…then by sending a letter to the GP after every new patient, and increasing our letters overall. We also have organised professional development events that include the GP’s and Allied Health practitioners.

  • If you had your time over again, what would you do differently?

    I’d work smarter earlier! I’d not be afraid of change and back myself and my decisions.

  • Other than being a fabulous Podiatrist, what do you do outside of Podiatry?

    I’m a single mum of three children that takes up a huge amount of time. I also love strength training with my personal trainer. I’ve been working on being healthy so that I’m better able to utilise my time at work and at home.

    Being in the Barossa, I love to visit the odd winery, usually on a day when they have live music and concerts.

  • You are a Podiatry Hive BlackBelt Mastermind Member, can you explain what you have learned from BlackBelt and your 3 biggest achievements / wins since joining BlackBelt:

    Again it’s the clarity of goals, organisation of the steps to get me there and the consistent – I have your back feeling that I get from the great group of people we work with in our BlackBelt group.

    1. Hiring a podiatrist! I was petrified of doing this. I think it was the loss of control over my patients that I feared the most. Following the Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly approach and using the candidate scoring tools in the Hive helped make the process so much easier. Being able to be clear with the candidates as to my goals and vision for them was a big bonus. I love having someone to bounce treatment plans off and someone else who finds a rare or interesting condition and gets just as excited as me and yells quick, have a look at this, this is really cool!
    2. Changing my eating habits and increasing my fitness regime. The great thing about the BlackBelt program is that it not only works with you on your business but it forces you to stop and look at your personal goals as well. My favourite saying from the RESET Event would be – The fish smells from the head down ; if I’m not well, then my business is not well.
    3. Building my relationships with local GP’s and Allied Health. I’m loving the connections we are making and really enjoy the follow on benefits for my patients.