Dr. Shanté Cofield, The Movement Maestro is a physical therapist turned entrepreneur, who teaches health and fitness professionals how to build profitable online personal brands, with a focus on brand strategy and development in the ever-growing digital marketplace.
What’s covered in this episode?
- How a career in Physical Therapy can evolve from clinical practice to continuing education and online courses
- How changing your environment can impact your productivity and quality of life
- How switching careers later in life can inform the direction you take, and better inform your decision making process, making you more open to unconventional possibilities
- How skills developed in PT school and early years as a clinician, such as problem solving, identifying patterns, listening and teaching skills, transfer over to other business and life endeavors, even if someone ultimately decides not to practice as a physical therapy clinician
- How business coaching can help maximize the skills you already possess from experiences in the clinic or with other coaching expertise and apply to personal brand development and business growth
- Find out more about Dr. Shanté Cofield on instagram @themovementmaestro
Episode Transcript
Caitlin: Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. I’m your host, Caitlin Casella. I have a few quick updates for you before we get started with my interview with Shante Cofield, the movement maestro. One of them is a big update on my running for those that have been following along. Long story short, I just signed up to run a Brooklyn half marathon in April 2024. I cannot believe it, I am both excited and terrified. As some of you know, my running journey started at the age of 40. I just celebrated my 42nd birthday. So it’s been about two years now that I have been gradually working up to running, to being able to tolerate really any amount of running.
I used to hate running in the past. I would have laughed in your face if you said that I would be running at this point in my life, but here I am. Not only am I doing it, I am enjoying it. I’m craving it. It has been a beautiful way for me to connect with the change of season here in the fall in New York City.
I’m hooked. I am totally hooked. I had decided to mark my 42nd birthday by running a 5k. It would have been my first ever running race. Unfortunately, the 5k component of that race was canceled a couple weeks out. And, I decided to turn that disappointment into an opportunity to do this for myself. I woke up on the morning of my birthday and I decided to go out and run my 5K and time it.
My goal had been simple, to run it in under 30 minutes. I went out and I ran that 5K in 26 minutes and 33 seconds, smashed that goal. Two days later, I didn’t even think I was going to run and I decided to go out into Central Park. Cause I wanted to, I wanted to get out, it was a beautiful day, I went into Central Park and I ran 4.6 miles, which is the longest I’ve ever run in my life. So those two experiences stacked up on top of each other, the, just kind of the thrill of it and the exhilaration of it convinced me that I could do this, that I could sign up, um. to run a half marathon, train for it. I’ve got a great foundation being in a place where I can already run a 5k very easily.
I’m just building up some longer runs on the weekends to six to eight miles or so and start officially training for that about eight to ten weeks out from the race in the spring. I have a goal. I have a plan. This is actually happening and It is all thanks to the brilliance of physiological [ adaptation as a physical therapist, a clinician.
This is my work. This is how I treat with movement and exercise. And in my running journey, it is like my own. Observation of my body is a mini laboratory where I have seen and kind of stood in awe of the way that the body adapts to new stimulus. I have built up my running very slowly and gradually over two years, and I feel great. I found that my body is super resilient to running, but that also I think speaks to the fact that I have built this up so consistently and so slowly. And it really goes to show that with steady effort, uh, anything is possible. Things that seem completely out of reach are completely unattainable.
When effort is applied slowly and gradually and consistently over time, we can really surprise ourselves in what we’re able to accomplish. So, I feel pretty proud of where I’ve come so far with my running and, I look forward to keeping you updated on how it goes as I build up towards, I can’t even say, Believe I’m saying the words honestly, but build up towards a half marathon, half marathon in 2024.
So stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted on some of that. some of the students who took the relearn how to jump course with me and that’s my online jumping course. for people who have never jumped or haven’t jumped in a really, really long time. They have asked for a beginner running course, potentially, in the spring of 2024.
So, uh, I might build something out like that for folks who are interested, uh, like me. Folks at any age who haven’t had any exposure to jumping or impact exercise. I have maybe dreamed of, uh, someday getting out and running a little bit, learning ways to do that, in a way that feels comfortable and safe and, and attainable, really accessible.
So maybe I will build something out like that for you. If that is something that would interest you, uh, let me know if you’re on my email list. You can just reply to any of my emails or you can email me anytime at hello at practicehuman. com. I would love to hear from you.
One last thing before we get to the interview, a quick rundown of some exciting events that I have coming up at Practice Human in the new year. I can’t believe we’re talking about the new year already, but it is upon us. I am teaching two online workshops about sustaining robust activity with hip arthritis and with knee arthritis. So this is really geared toward folks in their new year. 50s, 60s, 70s who are motivated to maintain a very active lifestyle.
I will be dispelling some of the myths out there and some of the maybe people that you’ve heard from that say that, oh, you’re going to do damage, there’s going to be wear and tear, you’re going to put stress on your body if you’re exercising at a high level. These courses will be affirmation that you can exercise at a very high level. You can do robust activity with knee arthritis, with hip arthritis, some guidelines to watch out for, some ways to self assess, some ways to work through exercise so that you are increasing your function, decreasing your pain, and doing all the things you want to do despite having some symptoms from osteoarthritis.
So if that sounds like something you could benefit from, take a look at my website, practice human. com slash events. And I would love to see you there. Also, my good friend Laurel Beversdorf is coming to New York City to teach in person. We have a very limited number of spaces available in person for her Yoga with Resistance Bands teacher training that is in February.
And then two mentors of mine who’ve been pivotal in shaping my philosophy and my mindset as a clinician are coming to Practice Human in New York City to teach in person next year. I am super grateful and honored and excited to have Greg Lehman and Ben Cormack coming. Greg is coming in July with his course Reconciling Biomechanics with Pain Science.
And then Ben will be here later in September 2024 to teach Therapeutic Movement and Exercise Back Pain and beyond. These are courses that are not to be missed if you’re a clinician, a trainer, a coach, or anybody that works with exercise and therapeutic modalities. I’m saying this now, these are really far off, but I know some of y’all like to plan continuing education courses pretty far in advance.
So if you want to check out the details of these courses, they are up on the Practice Human website. You can go to practicehuman. com slash events, or just go to practicehuman.com, click on the events tab, and you can read a little bit more. If you’re an educator, if you have a continuing education course and you jive with my material and my community and you think that my audience would be a really good fit for what you want to present, please reach out to me.
I have space on the calendar for 2024. It has always been my dream that Practice Human will be a hub for education and multidisciplinary uh, exercise and movement. So reach out if you want to come, I would love to host you, and just tell me what you’re thinking about. hello@practicehuman.com, best way to reach us, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Dr. Chante Caulfield, the Movement Maestro, is a physical therapist turned entrepreneur. She teaches health and fitness professionals how to build profitable online personal brands with a focus on brand strategy and development in the ever growing digital marketplace. I am so honored that the maestro has joined me here on the podcast.
I really hope you enjoy this episode. And if you want to find out more about the Movement Maestro’s work, definitely check out her page, The Movement Maestro on Instagram.
Shante, Movement Maestro, I am so excited to have you here on my podcast today. Thank you so much for joining me.
Shante: Dude, I got to say for all you listening, well, for you specifically, thank you. And for all you listening. Homie did it up right. She was like, Hey, I know that you said you’d, you said yes, if there’s a scheduling link and she’s like, I got a scheduling link.
So thank you for having all of your stuff in order. It is just so refreshing. Like it makes the process so smooth and so easy. Just, it is, thank you for leading from the front.
Caitlin: Yeah, and thank you for going on my scheduling link and picking a time and making this happen because yeah it’s hard to make schedules sync up, but Agreed.
Shante: Exactly when it’s not like back and forth and playing tags so easy. And so just thank you for that
Caitlin: I’m really glad you’re here. I have followed your work for such a long time. I had mentioned to you when I sent you a little outline of our topics for this interview that I remember buying Breathing with a Maestro online, which I think is one of your first online courses that you, the first online course that you sold.
And I’m interested in having you on my podcast because much of, much of what I cover on this podcast is people in transition and people going through evolutions and, and kind of changing. their work to fit their life and their life to fit their work and having it all sync up really nicely. And you are such an example of that for me in walking the talk in terms of how you, uh, represent yourself in business and in your work and also in your personal life, which you share quite a bit of on social media, or at least I’m interested in it because I have family out in South Bay and LA.
I love it. I love it. I love it. So I love seeing all of that as well. I have seen you go through a transition and it’s a transition that I see a lot of. physical therapist colleagues go through as well. Yes. And that is transferring skills over from a DPT degree, doctorate of physical therapy, to maybe work in the clinic for a little while, and then end up deciding that clinical treatment or patient care all day, every day maybe isn’t the thing that you really want to do.
Totally. And, you have mentioned other times on your podcast or other times I think maybe even in like yourInstagram intensive, other places where I’ve worked with you that those skills can be so transferable to life or to other careers. And I’ve never heard you really go deeply into that. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on, I mean, first kind of maybe a little bit of background for people who don’t know your work as well.
what took you from PT school, which I believe you were here on the East Coast in New York at NYU, right?
Shante: Yes, I was. I was. You were like the best host.
Caitlin: Well, I went to Hunter College here in New York. Yeah.
Shante: I’m like, anyone that’s listening to this again, that’s, you got to give Caitlyn mad props because to get into Hunter is incredibly difficult.
It is so, So, so, so, so competitive. I didn’t even apply to Hunter. I didn’t know about Hunter, but I didn’t apply and, you know, being in school and then hearing about Hunter afterwards, I’m like, I know people that were applying to NYU and applying to Hunter and like students then that came through and I’m like, that program is competitive as hell.
So, big props to you. It is. Big props to you. Yeah. So competitive. NYU, they’re like, oh, you want to pay money? Okay, we’ll take you. And I’m like, all right. Well, here I am.
Caitlin: We’ll take all the money. Literally. All the money. Literally. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate that. And, yeah. So I know we kind of have that in common, being in school here on the East Coast.
And then you As far as I know, you did quite a bit of clinical practice in a number of different settings. Eight years. Yeah. That’s a lot of clinical practice. Yeah. And you used to offer more clinically based education online and in person courses you were traveling around and teaching, and then all of that kind of shifted and pivoted at some point to the work that you do now, teaching health and fitness professionals to build out
I’m going to let you talk for a little bit just about what that evolution was like for you. Totally. And maybe how your, Yeah. move from the East to the West coast factored into that as well, so.
Shante: Totally. I’ve got it.
Caitlin: I’m glad to have you here.
Shante: I got it. I’m stoked to be here. And, and I love this, I love this topic and I’ll do the, you know, be able to dive deep into this.
because it’s real life. And I think that one of the things we see in, in our space is that people really lean into the sunk cost fallacy. And it’s. It’s interesting because they say sunk cost fallacy, and I think that they kind of, like, omit, mentally omit that last word, fallacy. I’m like, it’s not true, Ben.
They kind of say it, and they’re like, ah, I think it’s sunk cost fallacy, and I’m like, so you know it’s fake, or you’re just saying it too fast. Like, what’s going on there? I know, we spend a lot of money, many of us. Uh, definitely me going into NYU, spent a lot of money going to physical therapy school and people will stay with that career, that specific exact career because they’re like, well, I spent so much money and I have so much debt and I’m like, that’s a terrible reason to do something, right?
Like we, we are, we are. We’re all dying. I’m just going to say it. We’re all dying. And to be like, Oh, I’m just going to save this thing I don’t really love, that isn’t the way. So for me, my journey has largely been one of exclusion, meaning do the things that I like and look to cross off the things that I don’t like.
For me, it’s definitely easier to identify. I don’t like this. I don’t like this. I don’t like this. Cross it off. And then there’s room for things that maybe I didn’t even know that I liked. To fill in. And so that has been my journey. You, you really summarize it so well, where I went to PT school. I didn’t like being a PT.
I didn’t like PT school. I thought it was too easy. Honestly, I had to work really hard in undergrad and I did well in undergrad, but I had to work really hard. And then I went to PT school and instead of just being like, Oh, this, maybe means you’re good at this. I was like, this is not hard enough, I think I made the wrong choice. Went to, you know, graduated, became a PT, did not like it. I was like, are people getting better or are they just not doing the thing that they love for six weeks and the pain goes away? And then they go back to the thing that they love and they’re like “It’s back!” So I was kind of disillusioned by the model. I actually went into pelvic floor physical therapy because I just wanted to learn more, and continue learning.
During that time, I had also found CrossFit. Uh, I basically, I found marathon training first, and then ran the marathon, and in running the marathon, kept running by the CrossFit box that was near my house, eventually went and started CrossFit, because a lot of people that I was treating were doing CrossFit, and I was like, well, let me see what this is all about.
And because of CrossFit, I found, I found, I was wanting to learn more about CrossFit, right? So this is in terms of the, like doing less of what I don’t like. I was just like, okay, I’m good with running. I don’t really want to run more. I didn’t really think I could run faster, but I was like, I can maybe run longer.
And may I kind of listen to some ultras, but I was like, I don’t really know if I want to do that. So as I’m phasing that out, CrossFit is filling in and as CrossFit filled in, then social media filled in, and that is where I found. RockTape. So I started following Perry Nicholson, was following Wodduck at the time, and they were both instructors for RockTape.
I was still treating runners, runners be using all the kinesiology tape. So I wanted to learn more about that. One of my classmates, one of my, he was a classmate actually. he was like, Hey, actually, RockTape is a, is a great company because it’s not just about taping. And I was like, Oh, cool. Went there because of his recommendation and also because Perry was teaching it.
Was this like, yo, I love this approach. I love that there’s more to movement. And also I was at a point where I was like, I am not loving treating as much. So what wound up happening there in terms of the fazing things I didn’t like was. I really leaned into rock tape, I got a job with them, social media really helped with that.
Got a job with them, which allowed me to treat less and pull away from, from treatment. As I was teaching, I was concurrently growing my, my social media presence and, you know, you’ve been there since the beginning, it’s like, I started this in like 2014, September 2014. Oh, okay. And, I’m growing this thing and pulling back on treatment, really doing a lot more teaching, traveling the country, building my brand.
Okay. And learning like, yeah, I don’t really want to be treating. So as I’m, I’m pulling back with, with, uh, with the treatment side of things, I’m also very aware that teaching in this capacity isn’t necessarily sustainable forever because I may lose relevancy because I don’t like treating. So I was like, I had that in mind and I was just like, I want to make sure that I’m delivering the best service for people, whether it was as a physical therapist, whether it was as a student, whether as a soccer coach, whether it’s, you know, as a business coach, whatever.
I want to deliver the best service. So cognizant that, Hey, I am not treating as much, so I can’t test this out in the same capacity. And it’s just in the back of my mind with that. And I’m also getting to a point, you know, I started teaching for rock tape 2015, and I’m getting to a point 20, this is like 2020 is rolling around 20, end of 2019, 2020 is starting.
I had also built my brand. I was teaching my own course in person and I was like, I don’t like. traveling that much anymore. Like it was great. I did it for five years. I did my clinical stuff. So just for those listening, I treated it in the clinic for five years. And then I did my own kind of cash based concierge stuff for three years.
And it was just a matter of like, I don’t like being in the clinic. I don’t like dealing with insurance. I don’t like. necessarily these kind of clients. And so taking those things away so that I could fill it in with things I did like. So as I’m like, I don’t want to travel much anymore. The universe was like, okay.
And then COVID happened and I didn’t have to travel anymore. So 2020 was the last time I taught for rock tape. And it was kind of like, I didn’t know it was going to be my last time teaching. I taught in Arizona at Exos. I taught my course in Florida and then COVID hit and I pulled it back from, from Rock Tape.
I actually left the company. they, the company had sold, uh, Allison, Allison Evans is like my self appointed mentor. She’s one of the head people and she left the company and I was just like, I told her when you leave, I’m leaving. So she left. I left Perry Nicholson left at that same time. And that really opened up my time to be doing more of the business coaching.
I started with the business coaching behind the scenes around, I would say 2018 early leaned in, but it was just behind the scenes. I was doing all stuff, front facing movement. Like you said, I put out, the breathing with the maestro course. I believe that was 2019. I put the very early 2019. and then Instagramming with the maestro came out in like the middle of 2019.
But 2020 really allowed me to, to pivot. And I was just like, I’m done with talking about hamstrings on Instagram. I don’t like it anymore. I’m done. I’m over it. I had seen that, you know, my digital presence and my digital online business was financially feasible. And I was like, I am ready to go in on this.
So I. Pulled back on the content that was, uh, more movement based. And I was like, if people don’t want to come with me, that’s fine. I’m going to lean in hard to this online business side of things. And COVID allowed me to do that because it, it forced everyone online. And I was like, I’ve been doing virtual consults and doing virtual work since 2015.
I can help you folks set this up and teach you how to do this. So that was really when the hard pivot happened. And now that is what I do. I do online business coaching full time. I help health and fitness professionals to establish and build profitable personal brands. And I live in the South Bay, that’s it.
Caitlin: In South bay, yeah. I have family. I think I mentioned to you that I have family in El Segundo, so I spend a lot of time around there.
Shante: The best. You actually asked about that with the move. The move was, was also, uh, a, uh, came from exclusion and excluding things. So I was in the city, New York City for nine years and I am grossly affected by the weather.
I’m like so affected. And I was just like, we had a big storm one year, a big snowstorm, and uh, people don’t think about this. When you live in New York City, you’re like, you’re not driving to work. You have to walk to the train station and with all the bad weather, you know. And so we had a snowstorm and I was like, I’m either buying a Canada Goose jacket or I’m buying a plane ticket.
And I bought a plane ticket and I came out to visit and I was like, I’m moving out here. And then it was like another, maybe two or three years, it took me to just get everything in order. But, I could at that point be anywhere because I was just traveling a town for rock tape and that was like my main, my main income.
And so I was like, I’d rather live near LAX than JFK. And so I made the move. I still did treat for about, uh, two years when I was out here. I had a space that was set up because of social media and connections I had made. And then like that, you know, ties into the story of before of just. Traveling more to teach and then eventually just getting rid of, of, treatment altogether.
Caitlin: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, and it seems like, yeah, it just seems to suit you so well. You’re the West coast life
Shante: here. It’s sunny, like, It’s just so, so, so good. And I think you kind of have a leg up if you come from the East Coast because you do have a little bit more of that. I don’t want to say work ethic, but like I think you’re a little bit faster paced.
So you’re just like, it’s cool that it’s really chill here because I can still get all my work done in just a shorter amount of time and I’m on pace with anybody else that’s out here that’s like from here that’s moving a little slower. So I love it. Love it.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. That sounds good. I wanted to ask you.
Let’s just delve a little bit deeper into how, how you feel that skills learned in PT school or like with a DPT degree or in clinical practice transfer over into other areas of life or kind of where you’ve seen that resonate into, into other areas because I’ve heard you say that. I believe that.
I think, there’s a, there’s a lot that is learned in working with people and working one on one with people and building relationships and those kind of areas that are really huge for kind of making a move into anything else after being a clinician.
Shante: Nailed it. I really do believe that, you know, PT is the physical therapy is the best first career.
I’ll die on that Hill for exactly what you said. You’re working with people and anything else that you’re going to go into, you are likely working with people in some way, shape, or form. And the skills that you get from that are just I think it’s twofold actually. It’s the skills that you get, but also likely the, the, your inherent skills and your inherent strengths that you have going in, which is why you became a physical therapist in the first place, right?
People don’t become PTs for money. Like we know this. You don’t do that. Like, can you make good money, especially if you like going the cash based route for sure. But I think that there is a certain type of person that is called to be a physical therapist and it’s that helper. They want to help people.
They probably have, you know. interest in movement in some capacity. They’re like problem solving. They’re really good at identifying patterns. They’re good at listening. They’re probably inherently somewhat good at teaching. And that’s why they’re, especially the people that stay in physical therapy, right?
So the person that’s called to it, the person that’s like, yeah, I actually do like doing this. And the person that does it for a bit, they likely have all of those strengths going into it. People that come into the profession and they leave very quickly, they probably didn’t have some of those inherent strengths and they thought maybe it would be cool.
It wasn’t what they thought. It was going to be, and then they leave. But if you’re listening to this or someone that’s like been in it for a bit, you probably already have these strengths and these skills. And then you got to just like amplify them by seeing patients and actually interacting with people.
So you get these people skills, you get time management skills, especially if you’re in the city, because you’re working in a regular clinic. I would see 24 people sometimes in a day. And I’m like, I don’t advocate for that model, but also there’s a lot to be learned from being in that model. So, you know.
Take it. Yeah. You learn the time management. You learn about prioritizing things like what actually needs to happen in the session. You learn about like what actually needs to happen in terms of. Is it this exercise or is it listening to this person and just making them feel safe and seen and heard? You learn, you know, how to explain things in a way that people care.
You learn how to truly listen and look, look at someone and be like, this person don’t care about that. I should move on. Like these are tremendous skills that then you can go and take and go into whatever other profession, it doesn’t matter, like you get to pick them what your next thing is, but you can take all of those skills and utilize them.
In whatever it is because they’re inherent to you and then also you sharpen them with your, you know, 7, 15 years of, of clinical practice. So, just, I think it is, it is, and I think, I know it is the best first career.
Caitlin: Yeah, yeah. Well, and that, that list you gave too, I think is, powerful. And, it’s, it’s a little bit of what I saw you bringing out of, Entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, clinicians, when I took your Instagram intensive, kind of this, this way of, helping people who maybe feel a little bit insecure about how to present themselves in social media or in their emails, their email lists.
see that they really do have expertise in a huge, huge way. And, and, and I think you found in your business coaching really potent ways to help draw that out of people. So like maybe take, take the areas where they feel more confident. And maximize that into the areas where they feel not as confident, if that makes sense.
Shante: Dude, you have nailed it. And I feel super seen. Like, to me, that is like also one of my strengths, like, and this is, and I strategically use that word strengths. Like I’m a big person, a big, uh, proponent of CliftonStrengthsRiders. Like I think that, If everyone, if anyone’s looking for language to capture what they are good at and what they’re, you know, what their inherent talents are, go take the Clifton Transfinders because it’ll give it to you and be like, yeah, this is, this is what you’re good at.
And you’re like, oh yeah, that is me. So some of the, one of the strengths of just like. Seeing people, seeing what their, their special unique thing is like, that is something that just comes very naturally to me. And so in, you know, my business coaching, I looked to do that. I did the same thing in physical therapy.
Like all these things are just vehicles, right? So physical therapy, movement, weightlifting, that’s a vehicle for people becoming their best selves. Instagram. Online business, social media is a vehicle for people becoming and leading to their best selves and, and creating their best life. And that was largely, that is largely what I look to do with, you know, the specific business coaching that I do and looking at people and showing, you know, holding up the mirror.
And like you said, Helping them realize like you do have, not only do you have a skill set that is so, that is very valuable, and part of people not realizing that is that physical therapists, let’s say you’re hanging out with other physical therapists, or you only, you only follow other physical therapists online, you’re like, everybody knows this.
Nobody knows it. Actually, nobody knows the stuff you’re talking about. It’s not the second nature to people. They didn’t go to school for this. They haven’t seen a zillion patients like they actually don’t know this. So, you know, uh, direct, uh, example from my own life and you know, that kind of shows where people, where people are and also why physical therapy is the best first career.
I hurt my knee basically a year ago playing, playing beach volleyball. And one of the questions, not even one, a question that kept coming up would from people or was. Are you going to go to the doctor? And I was like, I am the doctor, actually. That was my response. Like, this is a musculoskeletal issue. I am the doctor.
I know if I need to go and be like, I’m gonna need a surgery on this. Like, no, I’m not going to a different doctor because I am the doctor. And so people don’t actually know how much we know. Right? And we assume or like, Oh, this skill set that we have is incredible, incredible. So for me, it was like, Hey, let me highlight that for me, you know, highlight that for my clients.
And then also let me teach them the things that they don’t know, which is how to do business and how to market and how to talk about those skills. And part of that is having the confidence to, to lean into that. and then part of that is just the actual skill and strategy of. Online business because they don’t know that.
They were never taught that. And you’re like, why would you know that?
Caitlin: Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, and I think too, like, it’s important for people who, like you said with the kind of, sunken, sunken cost fallacy in the beginning, I think it’s important for people to come to a place where they can see that the things.
Like the, the journey that has brought them here is important, even if, you know, even if it’s like, you’re not using, cause I mean, some people, myself included, and colleagues of mine from PT school just felt so disillusioned at a certain point after that it’s like, Do I keep doing this? Do I do something else?
And like it it can feel like kind of going down a few rungs or something or losing something of yourself if you Don’t continue to like drive forward, but there I don’t know It’s like it’s not a like a down or up or forward or back. It’s like just a kind of lateral shift of transferability if you can really see the kind of skills that you’re describing.
Shante: I think it also, people need to realize it is. And another reason why it is the best first career is that you will always have a safety net. People are always going to need physical therapy, whether you’re like, uh, going to go work at a hospital. Maybe you don’t want to do that, but guess what? You could, and you could make money and have that, like money is a resource to me.
It’s a resource and it gives you options. That’s it. Sometimes you just need to do things. You don’t really love them, but like it gives you this resource. So. To me, all of these years that you spent, you know, in this profession, even if you go in a completely different direction, that means that you have set yourself up with such a phenomenal safety net that if you go into this other career and you’re like, actually, I hate that.
Okay. You can go to physical therapy. Or if you go into another career and you’re like, I have to go to school. Cool for this thing, or like, I need training time for this thing. Cool. You could do part time physical therapy. You could do home health, physical therapy. You can do, you have a skillset that people will pay for that gives you money and gives you a resource while you go in that new direction.
And that is so rare. So many people don’t have that. All right. So I think, yes, maybe you’re not using this skill exactly, or the way that you’re making money, whatever, isn’t going to be the exact same, but guess what, you’ve built a safety net that is fricking priceless to me.
Caitlin: Yeah, I agree and I think that’s something that you’ve talked about quite a bit too is you know Just this idea of like putting in the work plugging along doing maybe doing some stuff for a while while someone else gives you a paycheck While you quietly in the background start to build and and you know all the other things that will eventually take you to where you Want to be so yeah, and I think a lot of people don’t realize how many areas
Shante: I don’t think so. I don’t think they realize.
Caitlin: And I’ve known PTs that have gone from like, peds, to geriatric home care, to acute care, to outpatient clinics, and just have bounced around over decades across different specialties within physical therapy that are, you know, wildly different in the types of treatment you’re doing, the populations you’re working with and the setting, like the environment that you’re working in.
So there’s so much of that too.
Shante: There’s so much. I mean, I think that there’s like built in longevity because of that. Right. So when people are like, I don’t want to do this anymore. My first question is what don’t you want to do? I think that for a clinician to say that it’s the same as a client, a patient being like physical therapy doesn’t work.
And you’re like, you cannot put the whole. Profession in the blanket statement. Like that physical therapist that you had didn’t help you achieve your goals, but you cannot say physical therapy doesn’t work. Same, same. You can’t be like, I don’t like this. I don’t like physical therapy. I’m like, okay, but like, what is it?
Is it the setting? Is it who you work with? Is it your hours? Is it the fact that you feel like you’re not actually helping people? Is it the treatments need to be longer? Is it where you live? Is it your boss? Is it the writing of notes? Like, is it insurance? What is it? Let’s say maybe it’s a lot of those things, but like, let’s start to write it out.
Identify it. Can we cross those things out and figure out how to change that? Cause that could absolutely buy you more time in this profession while you’re figuring out what is it that I actually want to be doing? Maybe it isn’t this, but you can still not be miserable while you’re working to figure out what it is that you want to do.
And like you said, you could switch to all these different settings because. The delivery of the service, like the skillset, you can learn that. But the, the, uh, you know, soft, we call ’em. I hate calling ’em soft skills. We’re gonna just call it skills. I know that, right? The soft skills, you already have ’em.
So whether you’re like, I’m in peds, I’m in neuro, I’m in ortho, I’m in inpatient, I’m in acute care, I’m in wound care, whatever. You still dealing with people. So you have that skillset and then you can learn the, like on the job training of like, how do I debride this wound? Or like, what do I do about this spasticity?
Like you can go learn that. That’s fine. So there’s so much that you can do to buy time to actually figure out what you don’t like So that you can cross those things out make room for things that you do like and maybe it’s that you end up in a Completely different thing outside of physical therapy or maybe it’s that it’s a different setting.
Who knows?
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah I agree with you on the soft skills. I want the soft skills to be called the bedrock
Shante: Oh, I like that. Right? That’s a completely different name. But it, yeah.
Caitlin: It’s so much better. It’s like the foundation of all of it. It is.
Shante: I love that.
Caitlin: just inter, interpersonal, relational.
Shante: I love that.
Caitlin: It’s huge.
Shante: Bedrock skills. I love that.
Caitlin: The bedrock. So awesome. Well, there’s also me, uh, New Yorker through and through. So good. I don’t know. I think in bedrock. but, uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love that. Um. I love that. Well, thank you so much. So much. I, unless there’s anything else you want to add, I think you got really to the heart of what I wanted to hear about, the transferability of these skills.
And, for everybody listening, if you haven’t delved into the Movement Maestro’s work, definitely check out Instagram, the Movement Maestro, Maestro the podcast. Yes. And then your online business programs, which I know you work in, in cohorts of different sizes, group, group of cohorts, and also one on one coaching.
And I just wanted to see if you had any suggestions for people who are brand new to your work, how you think, like, where’s the best access point for them to start learning about your work and learning from you.
Shante: Totally. I would say Instagram is always the best. That’s where I put all the things out. If you’re like, podcast is probably the next best.
And if you’re like, I don’t like podcasts, then you could go on to the email list and just, you know, you will learn the most on the podcast and on social media. And then if you’re just like, hey, I just want to like. Just stay connected. I want to be in the ecosystem. Then email is, works as well. But all of those things can be found on my, on my website, movementmaestro.com. They can also be accessed from Instagram, which is TheMovementMaestro. So consistent branding across the board.
Caitlin: All of it. The Movement Maestro. Thank you so much.
Shante: Dude, you’re so good. Caitlin, I got a question for you real quick. have you brought on Meredith Kasten? Do you know Meredith Kasten?
Caitlin: I’ve, I know the name because I think I’ve heard you say the name Meredith Kasten before.
Shante: I will connect you as well, but Meredith Caston, uh, is the founder of the non clinical PT. And this is literally what she does is she has a whole network and I don’t know, model that she’s built out that helps people find non clinical jobs.
So folks that were in the clinic and they want to take their skill set and maybe they go into more of the admin side or they’re going to the research side, just literally everything outside of purely clinical. jobs. she does that and has a phenomenal program for that. She has resources for that and that’s what she does.
So I will definitely connect you, but if you folks listening, want to check that out. I believe she’s the nonclinical PT on Instagram and the website should be the same. It’s a phenomenal resource.
Caitlin: Great. Well, I will definitely look her up. Oh, thank you for that.
Shante: Yeah, for sure. I’m here to help. Always here to help.
Caitlin: Well, thanks for your time. It was really good to chat with you.
Shante: Thank you so much. This was phenomenal. Truly, truly appreciate you.
Caitlin: Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed my interview with The Maestro. Again, check out Shante’s work at The Movement Maestro on Instagram. And if you have any questions or observations to share or requests for future episodes, Please feel free to reach out at hello@practicehuman.com. And if you learn something here, if you’re enjoying listening to the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you leave us a reading and a review. It will help the conversation grow.
