From One to 65 Locations: How to Independently Scale a Physical Therapy Practice with Ron Lombardi (#1)
Ron Lombardi left a successful corporate career at Cybex to take the entrepreneurial leap and start his own company. It is now more than 20 years since he founded Sportscare Physical Therapy, and with 65 locations across three different states, it’s safe to say that the risk has paid off. Ron’s practice is one of New Jersey’s largest providers and is the official partner and sponsor of the New York Rangers and the New York Red Bulls.
In this episode, I spoke with Ron to walk through his journey from entering the private practice sector to scaling his own practice to 65 locations. We touched on the hardships, big breaks, and his top recommendations for anyone looking to take the entrepreneurial leap.
Hope you enjoy this conversation with Ron and can use his insights to further your mission!
Topics
01:17 How did you get into private practice physical therapy and how did you open your first practice?
04:51 Was owning a business something you always wanted for yourself?
06:03 The risks associated with entrepreneurship and how to mitigate those risks
08:10 Once you hit your goal of 10 to 12 locations, what made you continue to grow versus sell?
09:10 The benefits of being one of the few privately-funded physical therapy groups without any external backers (private equity, etc)
10:31 When building your company, what characteristics were you looking for in the people that you were hiring to join your team?
12:36 What were some of the big milestones that you hit throughout the building process?
14:24 What do you think are some of the key characteristics necessary to be a successful entrepreneur, private practice owner, or executive in the industry?
15:54 What are one or two key things that you learned throughout this process that you think could help aspiring entrepreneurs and/or future healthcare leaders?
18:02 If I’m a young healthcare professional that wants to open up a private practice, what recommendations do you have?
19:16 Current standing and what is your team doing to be ahead of the competition in a competitive environment?
24:58 Where can we expect to see Sportscare in five years?
Responses