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Surviving the Side Hustle
Welcome to "Surviving the Side Hustle," the ultimate podcast for balancing the demands of entrepreneurship with maintaining mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Hosted by Coach Rob Tracz, an expert in helping driven professionals achieve 'personal development for professional success,' this show is more than just storytelling—it's a masterclass in thriving amidst the entrepreneurial grind. Each episode features candid conversations with leaders who are rewriting the rules of entrepreneurship, sharing their unique stories, the creative solutions they're offering, and the everyday challenges they’re overcoming.
Whether you’re a side hustler looking for your big break or an established entrepreneur seeking fresh perspectives, "Surviving the Side Hustle" provides valuable insights that resonate with the movers, the shakers, and everyone in between.
Feeling burnt out and sidelining your own health? This podcast empowers you to overcome stagnation, build resilience, and optimize your life and business. We dive deep into your goals, identify obstacles, and share strategies to boost your energy, improve your strength, and keep the entrepreneurial grind enjoyable.
Join us for inspiring stories, expert insights, and practical advice to help you look good, feel good, and do great things at every stage of your entrepreneurial journey. Let’s not just survive the side hustle—let's master it.
Surviving the Side Hustle
Embracing Risk for Reward with Dr. Nick Manente
Have you ever stood at the precipice of a life-altering decision and wondered what it takes to make the jump? Dr. Nick Manente did just that, transitioning from the security of a hospital job to the thrills of private practice. Our conversation with Nick peels back the layers of such a bold move, reveling in the mental gymnastics and practical hurdles faced along the way. From the hospital corridors to the dynamic streets of New York, we trace Nick's professional and personal metamorphosis, underscored by an injury that provoked deep introspection and a resolute leap into entrepreneurship alongside his wife.
This episode isn't just about career changes; it's a tapestry woven with the threads of mindset evolution and financial fortitude. We share our journeys, highlighting how sports, personal development, and insightful reads like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" have steered us toward our goals. Our foray into real estate investment isn't just a side hustle, it's a calculated move towards creating a life that balances professional passion with financial independence. Through anecdotes and shared experiences, we examine the subtle yet profound influence of adopting a growth-focused outlook on life's challenges.
As we wrap up, the discussion pivots to the future aspirations for our private practices and investment endeavors. We delve into the significance of building resilience through disciplined habits and strength training. The conversation also touches on the power of role models and personal growth, sharing how meeting the likes of Ed Mylett left an indelible mark. Join us as we navigate the multifaceted journey of professional growth, real estate ventures, and the relentless pursuit of helping our clients while carefully managing the expansion of our businesses.
What's going on? I got my buddy, Nick on today. Dude, we just met recently, but I feel like such a great connection with you we were talking just before we got started already have a lot of similarities and things. So what do you got going on today, man?
Speaker 2:Not much, man. I was excited for this call. I'm always looking to connect with like-minded people so, like you said, our talks beforehand just over the past couple of weeks, it just seems like you're a good person to meet. I was watching some of your content and you're asking all the questions that I have these conversations regularly. So this is awesome Just connect, humbled by it. Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1:Of course, dude, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day. I know we're right around the holiday at the time of this recording, so there's a lot of busy stuff. It's personal things, so again, I appreciate you taking the time to kind of hop on.
Speaker 2:No, my pleasure man.
Speaker 1:So would you mind giving a little background about yourself who it is you help, what it is you do kind of thing like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my name is Nick Monante. I am a physical therapist in New York, mostly work in the city in Manhattan. I just left my full-time job in November, which was at Mount Sinai Hospital. I was there for 11 years and over the course of those 11 years I was seeing patients privately in home and that started off as like a little side practice to supplement my income and my wife and I then friend, she was kind of doing the same thing, she worked at the hospital as well but then once we got together and actually got married she left the hospital and she was there for 13 years and then it kind of grew into this full-time practice gradually. So I just left and jumped ship from the hospital full-time back in November and now I'm full-time in the practice. So it is going well, thankfully going into the new year and we're looking to scale going forward.
Speaker 1:Nice man. I love that. Love to hear that. Congratulations on success so far and I'm looking forward to hearing a lot more. Now let me ask you so your wife left the hospital first, and then how long until you had left, because I know you left in November.
Speaker 2:You just said yeah, we had about a year and a half in between, almost two years for her.
Speaker 2:So it was a transition. It was a tough transition for both of us because we, you know, you're part of this major hospital system, major corporation, safe, secure job and benefits and all that stuff. And then it's like when do you take that leap, when are you comfortable with what you have to actually make that decision to say you know what. I think it's time and it was a discussion for both of us to have, because you know, when I was still there, we have benefits because we're married right and that was a nice cushion for her as well. But then to make that adjustment, because it's just a numbers game, you have to be comfortable with your resources that you have and your referral sources. So making sure that we can have the current patients that we have on program and clients and as well as the referral sources that they're going to keep coming in and there's no loss of that. And then the scarcity mindset kind of creeps up on you, which is something we definitely had to push through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that you talked on scarcity mindset. I'd love to dive into that and in a little bit I'm just going to write a note for that. But I want to ask what was it kind of like? Because, yeah, you had to wait for the correct financial moment, but what about scheduling wise, like workload wise, because I imagine that you are juggling both, because you didn't just go straight from hospital into the private practice, right, but there had to have been some sort of a blend to kind of transition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of. What happened was I'm a big believer that everything happens for you rather than to you. So I actually hurt my shoulder. Back in I was training for the Spartan Ultra. It's a 31 mile race and we were renovating a house as well and between all that stuff it was just a lot of trauma to my shoulder. So I injured my shoulder and I was out of work from. I guess I went out around August 1st and it was just this. I couldn't work at the hospital because it was a lot of heavy lifting. I work with mostly. I specialize in spinal cord injury, so most of my patients are paralyzed in some way or another. A lot of heavy lifting you're transferring them out of bed and that became a very non feasible thing to patient population to work with in the acute stages. It kind of just showed me, because I was still able to work a little bit in my side job right, I could still see patients that were completely independent and just me telling them what to do rather than doing the heavy lifting.
Speaker 2:So I started transitioning to doing that a little bit more while I was out of work. And then I got a lot of time to reflect and I just said what am I doing here? And the hospital was in the point of making a major transition to relocating and I just was like you know, you're going to go back in, let's say, a couple of months after this injury is done with, and hopefully you'll be in tip top shape, you'll be ready to rock with them what like they're going to relocate. You don't, and I was never my intention to go to that new location. Just because it was a lateral move for me and I'm always I'm very much of a growth mindset person. I was always looking for like what's the next step from here?
Speaker 2:So it just for me it was about volume and before I got hurt I was struggling to keep up with my side business, which was my wife's full time business. I'm trying to help her out. And also it was just it was difficult because I can only see I'm at the hospital until like 3.30. So you can only you only have so much time after work before it's feasible for you. You want to get home, get dinner or whatever. So I only had like two or three hours to see people, so it could be anywhere from one client to three clients, and that's great. But it was just like you know, after a while you just get burned out. Like this isn't feasible to do long term.
Speaker 2:So once I got hurt, it was just like okay, now what? Can you schedule? Five or six clients a day? Can you? Can you do more? What's practical? What do you like? Feel it out. And as I started to learn that and that was like that was, as you refer to the transition, that was kind of the transition process for me, unintentionally, because it was just like this injury led to this knowledge of like this experience can teach you something Like what are you learning from this? And for me it was just a good reason to take the leap. It showed me that you know this is. I was talking to her and we said this is good, like why are you going to go back? If you're going to bet on yourself now? It's probably the best situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm sure a lot. I'm glad you made that leap. It sounds like you're happy about that. I'm sure a lot of your clients are also happy too, and you sound like you spent a good time thinking about that. Because it's not an easy decision and I want to ask you About, about your reflection and how, how, what kind of brought on to that? Because most people when they get injured, they just kind of chill out. They don't this, they're not necessarily looking forward into the next steps and getting back. They just most people just kind of chill out and wait until they're better and go back to work. But you were proactive, thinking ahead, like hey, is this an opportunity, how is things looking in the future? Want to just not ask you have you always been somebody who's who looks forward, like looks internally to look forward, kind of thing?
Speaker 2:Yes, I would say I'm more of. I have to slow myself down intentionally, and that's not something I'm good at doing. I'm always go, go, go. I'm constantly moving and that injury kind of forced me to take a step back Because I was. I was most of my my time was spent at the hospital.
Speaker 2:So if I'm waking up in the morning, I get up at 4 30. I'm in a cold plunge. I have this whole morning routine and then I work out and then I'm rushing to the hospital. I'm there 7 30 to 3 30 and then I'm non-stop in the afternoon. I'm on a city bike. I'm racing from client to client and it was just not stopped. So, having that chunk of the morning when I was like 7 30 to 3 30. I free now like, oh yeah, I could see one or two clients in there, but then, even if I do that, that's only, you know, two to three hours with transportation.
Speaker 2:So it gave me a lot of time to think about. Is this really what I want to do? Is this the risk I want to take? And Right now the answer is yes, and I said it then and right now it's. It hasn't changed. So I'm very happy that I did it going into the new year. It's not something that was easy for me. I had great relationships with the most amazing people there, and not only patients but Colleagues, friends, for years that I know these are friendships that will go forever, but eventually you know you have to make a decision for yourself and your family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so true, so true. Got to prioritize those and I want to dive into Talking a little more about the mindset. I know you had said scarcity mindset previously and it was kind of creeping in once you were on Full time with your, with the private practice. But then you also said you've always been a growth mind kind of person. So Explain to me how that kind of, how both of those kind of like worked simultaneously in your head and Explain a little bit on on that and you take on scarcity mindset sure.
Speaker 2:So scarcity mindset in my in my personal experience, was more so. I Didn't grow up from a Financially well-off family. I was. My family was lower middle class. They didn't have much financial education. I had the best childhood on the planet. Like I am so overwhelming, overwhelmingly grateful for what I did have. I had the best parents in the world. I still have the best parents in the world. I'm very grateful for them.
Speaker 2:But Finances weren't a thing that they were Introduced to in terms of financial management, so that became a very strong focus. My parents are actually divorced, but they're best friends and that became a very strong focus. Yeah, it's a very interesting dynamic, but it works. And they were divorced when I was like 12, so I just became hyper focused. It was around money was one of the main reasons I was told at that age. So I think I kind of focused on that as a kid is like oh, you know, I got to make money because then you know it's, it's up for you, not only your family, but you know whatever you want to get in life or goals, it just makes things easier. It's not the answer to everything, but it definitely makes things a lot easier, and I remember I was a waiter and I like I was going to PT school, I was Applying, rather and I was talking to a friend of mine and he's you know, come over for the weekend, I'm staying at my uncle's house, whatever.
Speaker 2:And I went up to our monk and I drove on to this property and I was just like when the hell am I? Like this was. It was a massive, like a state, and I didn't. I knew people who were wealthy, but I'm from I grew up in the Bronx, so, like my definition of wealth, it was very different with nice houses in the Bronx versus nice houses in our month there. There's a polar opposite difference there in terms of the amount of property. So I kind of drove on to this property. I was like there's two houses on this property and Massive houses, and I'm just looking around and I'm like where the hell am I? I was never saw anything like that in my life.
Speaker 2:So the next day I was working with my friend after we had a good time at his house, his pools, there's all this fancy stuff and I just said you know what? That where, where, like what your uncle do, and he's like a hedge fund guy or something like that and I said you know I'm thinking about my salary as a PT at the time like coming out like what you expected to make, and I was just like there's no way I'm gonna be able to afford any of that. Like you make like 60 grand coming out of school back when I was, when I graduated, and it just didn't make any sense to me. But that that's where scarcity mindset became a Thing of mine, because I was just like I gotta, I gotta, make more money. I'm not gonna have enough money, I'm not gonna have enough money.
Speaker 2:And then I read Um, rich dad, poor dad was one of the first books like that sounds cliche. If you, if you're a guys like you and I, you Hear podcasts like this all the time You're just like, oh yeah, rich dad, poor dad again. But that book really changed my whole outlook on money, on finances, on you know how to build a business and what building a business can really do for you, and it, just it set me in this whole rabbit hole of like reading finance books. And then that led to real estate books and how to build wealth and real estate and as I got older and that became a More of a goal of like really getting into the real estate aspect of things. That's kind of what we, that's our life plan now, to kind of take our income and invest in a real estate. And we started doing that already, which is fantastic for to do with your partner, obviously. But yeah, man, that's where scarcity mindset has led me more to an abundance mindset now. It really changed me. And then the other topic we said scarcity mindset versus. You asked me where the growth mindset came from. That definitely stemmed from the martial arts.
Speaker 2:I started training in Japanese jiu-jitsu when I was 14 and I was young and it was all like the Traditional, not like right now. Jiu-jitsu is jiu-jitsu across the board, just noticed a gentle art and what Brazilian jiu-jitsu is now wasn't blown up back then. So the traditional styles, really the traditional training of training like three to four hours a day, and that's how it started. It really humbles you. But they really instill the idea of you know slow, gradual, process, fundamentals and how the martial arts are.
Speaker 2:What I'll never forget this phrase. My instructor always said the martial arts are a microcosm of life. So like whatever you do on the mat in terms of growing from you know a white belt to a black belt and that whole transition. Just it's really analogous to what happens in your life when you put in the effort and you put in the hard work on the mat. And I found that to be true and I think that really set up my foundation to tie in towards the the whole growth process of my career, because the martial arts led me to physical therapy, because I was so interested in anatomy and Then helping people and it all kind of tied together and it's funny where, where life takes you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I Again there's similarity I'd not martial arts but very likes sports. That's where I kind of got involved and really found myself in on to the beginning of the personal development kind of journey and then Connecting with teammates and things like that, and I got me interested in anatomy and then studying kinesiology or in grad school for exercise science and very similar path but slightly different trail, I would say yeah.
Speaker 2:One of my, my friends I don't know if you ever connected with Matt Ramos through through Sean, but great dude and he he was on a podcast recently and he just he talks about breadcrumbs Like life will leave you breadcrumbs and you just got to follow those breadcrumbs to. It sounds silly, right, because it's people like oh, breadcrumbs. Like it's the truth, like life will show you. The universe will show you different things. I mean very brief story what? The day I applied to PT school, I Was a waiter at Sam's Italian restaurant in Dobbshire. That's kind of like. I was there for 13 years. I worked my whole way through college there and my guidance counselor from high school I was in college, I just applied to PT school my guidance counselor from high school walks into the restaurant. I haven't seen him in years and he said Nick, what are you doing? What are you up to? I haven't seen you in years. How's everything? And I was like everything's great. I was like it's funny, I'm seeing you today. I was like I just applied to PT school and I was the irony of that, you know. And he just said oh, that's awesome. He goes.
Speaker 2:Where'd you apply in a similar medical college? In the hall he goes oh, I want you to meet somebody I'm with. Folks are sure he meets me. Introduce me. There's one, miriam, they sit down, she's all I work at the college goes. Yeah, yeah, and it's so funny. What are the odds? You know you're applying there, I worked there, whatever. So they sit down, they have their meal.
Speaker 2:I purposely didn't want to wait on the table because I don't want to be like overbearing and want to talk to him and interrupt their Conversation. And I remember at one point in the meal I just went over to see how they were doing and I remember I happen to remember all four of their names, all three of them but him plus the three people, and they were like, oh, you, remember you my name? Oh my god, blah, blah, blah. Like it was just they were, they were humbled by that when I was just part of my job I was a waiter as bartender like it was just good nature to do that. And I'm so sure they get up at the end of the meal and the woman, miriam, who I have met, said to me Nick, I just want to let you know I've been observing you through the evening interacting with your co-workers and your guests and I just want to let you know I'm the Dean of Admissions for New York Medical College and Actually in the in the School of Public Erasions, which is the PT school, and I was just like I was on an interview I didn't even know about, so it was wild.
Speaker 2:And she was like I'm personally gonna look at your Application on Monday and I was just blown away. I was dumbfounded. But it just goes to show you like the breadcrumbs in life, like he says, or just you never know what the universe is gonna show you. And that, for me, was so gratifying because I was just like I know for a fact I'm on the right path, like the, and I didn't know it then I was just like blown away. But as I got older I reflected on that and I was just like there's no doubt this is what I was supposed to do in terms of what, what, the, what path I'm supposed to be on. So it was really reassuring for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, that's crazy. It gave me goosebumps.
Speaker 2:So when you're saying that that's a wild man, well story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really great story too I do. I want to touch on Something that you were kind of talking about previously. I wanted to get your your take on it and kind of see where life is going, because you had mentioned a little bit about the real estate. But I wanted to recap so you, because you got into school and then you were working in the hospital and that was like your main focus and then your wife left and then you started working a little bit on the private practice as as like a side hustle, almost until the side hustle took priority and you moved on to that. And now you're kind of getting into some renovations in real estate world as like a side hustle, correct.
Speaker 2:And you had said that that's kind of your longer term picture with your wife down the road right yeah, so Going through like the rich dad, poor dad theme to start, and then learning all the other finance stuff, I started reading in the real estate books. I don't know if you're familiar with bigger pockets it's a it's a real estate podcast but I basically started reading their whole publishing everything that they publish. I pretty much have read and I just wanted to learn and and what we, what? We ended up deciding on the fact that we would it would benefit to do Take all of our income and put it into real estate. It's just one of the best things, and all the clients that we were seeing a lot of their own real estate, so I was kind of learning from them and picking their brains. But, yeah, so my wife and I bought our first house actually when we were engaged. Well, just prior to being engaged, we, we got. We got the house in 2021 and it was a two family.
Speaker 2:And then we I couldn't swing a hammer. Before we bought a house, I couldn't do anything in terms of renovation or handy stuff. And then, fortunately, I have the best friend, some of the best friends in the world, and all of them are in trades. I was the only one that ended up in like healthcare and wellness and they. I was asking a million questions and just you know they're like Nick, you're so annoying man like you gotta do this, you gotta do that. You're a little in over your head here, or whatever. My wife is brilliant. My father-in-law is a retired engineer, so like Picking his brain and doing a lot of YouTubeing and a lot of borrowing tools in the beginning. But we just started with small projects and you know, breaking down a wall and my buddy's an iron worker he threw in a beam and watching and learning that process. And then we have. We had a finished basement in our in our current home that we found out after we bought it. There was another legal kitchen down there, so it wasn't there. We bought the house, we just put it back and now my best friend moved in downstairs. So we inherited a tenant upstairs. We live in the middle and then our best friend is downstairs. So it was just a nice Dynamic to start off in terms of what they call house hacking and that kind of really even Sprung our interest even more into the real estate world. And then we just recently closed on our second two family, which is in Takahoe that would that actually just got fully rented this month. So we renovated the whole thing over from May through November it was finished and then it was rented by December.
Speaker 2:But that that whole journey of we were sowing over our heads with that property, that it was like one thing Happened after the other, that we just had to learn how to Handle the adversity and manage through it, and make a million phone calls and who can fix this and Can you do it? We did all the work ourselves in the beginning, just all the demo and learning how to get all these tools and how to, exactly what to do with all the like, just something as hard as how to get rid of all the demolition from the construction. And you know because the sanitation department doesn't take stuff like that but like such a silly small problem how to manage that and seeing the result and problem solving, like the tile here and the hardwood floors, and going through the exact project management. My wife thank God we balance each other out because she's definitely the brains behind the operation. But it definitely. We are a good match and we are very compatible in that sense because we balance each other out really well. But it's been a wild ride, man.
Speaker 1:Sounds like you guys are a perfect team and it's great because I can tell you're so resourceful and I know you love learning I don't know if we were talking about it on the recording or just prior, but your big time reader trying to absorb as much content as possible. And that makes me want to ask other than like Robert Kiyosky from Rich Dad, poor Dad, who are some other kind of mentors of yours? Other than, like you said, your friends too, but who are some big people that you look up to, maybe in physical therapy world, real estate world or just in life general?
Speaker 2:In life in general, my personal life. My instructor in the martial arts was. His name is Phil Velofen. He is just an amazing human being overall but like he just threw things that he's taught me on and off the mat really kind of shaped my mindset in my personal life. Because teaching me that you have to be at peace with yourself before anything else Before he once said to me I was going through like a lot of different relationships and I wasn't really they weren't working out.
Speaker 2:And he said to me one day he was like you really have to be careful. You're a healer. You're a healer in your personal life and you have to also be able to heal yourself, because if you're not at peace with yourself and your mind, then you can't be with someone else that's going to be compatible. So that was like one little small journey I had to get through and after a bad breakup, and then I eventually ended up with my wife and it was the best advice I needed at that point in time.
Speaker 2:But other like business and authors I look up to I mean Andrew Huberman is somebody who I've grown to learn. If you listen to his podcast a lot, he is a fantastic resource that you can learn so much information from is just a wealth of knowledge. And then I did in terms of the mindset stuff like Ed Milet, inky Johnson, like all these people that preach just mindset and goals and overcoming adversity, because adversity is inevitable in life and I think that a lot of people try to avoid it and that really has changed my entire outlook on life, especially with something as simple as cold plunging. People make a joke about like, oh, you get cold water every morning, what do you have in your mind? And they don't see the benefit of it because they just think you're crazy and they just think like you're doing it to act like you could do something hard.
Speaker 2:And it's not to prove like once you do it a couple of times and it becomes a practice. It's not about I do do it because it's hard, right, but I don't do it just to tell other people that I do it. I do it because of the way it makes me feel and the way it sets my mind for the day, because it's literally to do something that difficult every day and you stay and force yourself to be uncomfortable when something does happen in life. That is adversity that you didn't expect you're gonna be able to manage that and the anxieties that come along with that event. You're gonna be able to manage it much easier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that man. That's like pure gold. Because I do very similar stuff. I cold plunge as much as I can and I love the challenge of it, not just not to go around and tell everybody that I'm Mr Tough Guy and I do all these hard, difficult things, but because I wanna prove to myself that I can do it and I wanna own that being able to challenge myself and get better at it. And I don't do it every day. I cold plunge in the Long Island sound on the weekends and I finish off my showers with cold blasts towards the end. But if you're doing it every single day, don't you eventually need to progress and get a little bit harder? What's? How do you take that to the next level?
Speaker 2:I do it five to seven days a week and we I have a good crew of friends that also are in it, especially two of my close friends, including Sean, who connected us. They've really got into it as a daily practice and that also helps me, cause you know, when it's 4 30 in the morning and you're outside and it's freezing in New York, at least in Connecticut, like in the East Coast in general, the Northeast you don't have to try in the winter, you don't have to go out and buy ice and do that. It's just cold, like it's just ridiculous. But now, when you have the thermometer in there every morning and it's like 31 degrees in the water and you're looking at this and you progress, it's so funny what you're, what it teaches about your mind and the resilience of it.
Speaker 2:Because when I'm looking at that thermometer and or I'm thinking about it when I wake up oh, I got to jump in there is not a single day that I am like I know I want, I'm going to feel phenomenal after, but that procrastination and what your mind will do to avoid the discomfort, and that's exactly what we do in everything else that we don't wanna do in life. It's the same exact thing. So it's really like for me how do I progress it? The progress is in the consistency, because if you can continue to do that as a daily practice or five days a week, whatever your goal may be, but at a frequency that is feasible and practical for you, that you notice a difference that is so practical to life. Because, going back to that discomfort thing, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse. I'm sorry, I just can't get over that. It's so powerful to me that once you force yourself to do something uncomfortable, everything is in life gets a lot easier when those adversities come.
Speaker 1:Dude, that's like preaching to the choir. That's what I believe in. It's literally the first step with coaching with my clients. Get them training, get them out of their comfort zone. They gotta do some difficult things. Cold plunge is definitely one of them. I'm a big fan of waking up early. Nobody likes getting up out of bed when they don't need to at such an early hour, but I do wanna see you at 3.30. Just keep going and get my things. Yeah, you see it.
Speaker 2:I see those 3.30 pros and I'm just like dude. This guy gets it, man, because I read the 5AM Club is one of my favorite books and Robin Sharma I don't know if you've ever read it, but he basically takes the benefits of waking up at 5AM and puts it into a nice short story narrative that makes it powerful and really teaches you those principles and how they are applicable to life and why they'll make you better. And I did 75 hard once. I'm sure you're familiar with that program. But those two reading that book and doing 75 hard literally changed my entire lifestyle, because it was just doing difficult things and to do it for that consistency, it changed how much I drank, or how little I drank, I should say, from now and it just made me feel better overall as a person.
Speaker 2:And you mentioned I just wanna comment on this you said that's how you start with all your clients in terms of doing something uncomfortable. And then strength training, besides what we do in our respective careers, obviously like strength training is a part of our thing, but for the average person in this country as a whole, like strength training is just like absent. It is just not a thing that people wanna do. And again, that goes back to that whole thing about it. It's very uncomfortable to do, especially consistently, and to do it well. It's just not an easy thing to do and everybody tries to avoid that. So you're just constantly kicking the ball down the road and it's really. That's another thing that just taught me so much Just consistently. Strength training, and I was always into working out, but I was never as aggressive about it and so disciplined about it. But now I've kinda made shorter, like even talking about it. It's just so powerful with other people trying to spread that you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and strength training is. It's double discomfort I'd like to kind of think about, because one, it's uncomfortable, moving your body in different ways that you're maybe not used to. You get sore as hell when you first started out. But then also the psychological discomfort like getting into the gym seeing other people like not 100% sure you know what you're doing. You don't wanna look like a fool or hurt yourself. So just even just going to the gym and just starting something is pays in dividends because it builds you on that mental resiliency and then also that physical resiliency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no question. And for me I mean, like I think I mentioned before, I work with a very unique population, especially when I was at Sinai like most of my patients are paralyzed in some way or another. So for me, hearing them and working with them, all these people wanna do is move more. So yeah, too, when you have, I think, when something like that happens and you've met someone that has gone through an adversity like that like true adversity, physical limitations and this traumatic injury that has changed their life indefinitely, they're looking to strength train and they wanna move and they just wanna move their body in whatever capacity.
Speaker 2:And I think it humbled me so much and you take life for granted because your patients teach you and your clients, I'm sure, teach you so much. And for me they not only taught me the aspect of what true resilience is, just by overcoming their injuries, but it's just even more humbling. Like I can go ahead and do a regular workout, like as an able-bodied person, but other people need modifications and adaptations and that to me is true perseverance when they're able to actually do that and overcome that adversity through exercise, essentially, and getting stronger. So it was really like kind of full circle for me because it all that strength training and resilience training that I did was also applicable to the patient population I work with primarily.
Speaker 1:So yeah, man, it sounds like a great cycle. You got there with motivation, inspiration from your clients, and you got a circle of just progress moving forward. I love it, it's good stuff. And so, circling back a little bit, I started to kind of get into asking, but then I think I kind of veered off a little bit. But as you're going and now you're kind of getting into more of the real estate world and the renovations, as you're kind of growing the private practice, what does the future kind of goals look like? Are you looking to grow the practice and then hire a bunch of other PTs under you and go more full time into real estate and growing that side of things? Or are you looking to eventually build up a new branch of something else, another side hustle, or what's on the horizon for you guys?
Speaker 2:We currently have a couple of PTs that work with us as independent contractors. We're kind of scaling that gradually. We are really being very specific about who we work with, because we want the best clinicians to offer our current patients as well as new patients. And also you're going into someone's home Like I'm not gonna send somebody that isn't competent and doesn't really have the skillset needed to work with that person. So we do have a couple of PTs and we're working on scaling that to include OTs and speech therapists. Down the road we're actually talking to our returning and things like that now to kind of restructure our current business. But I'd say the goal, the goal isn't to work more actively, the goal is to set systems in place so that we can, as we age, we can start to scale back and work because we want to and not work because we have to. So I'd say real estate is really the long-term goal. So right now, if it was 75% in the PTs side of things and 25% real estate, I would say we try to reverse that going years down the road.
Speaker 2:Excuse me, I love what I do. I love being a PT. It's just I've realized that the traditional model of PT of the nine to five just doesn't gradually build wealth unless you're just investing in the stock market constantly and you're good at it. But for me, for my goals and the desire to spend more time with my family and my wife and it's just for me my goals are very different. I want that time in the future and I may want that time now, but I'm willing to sacrifice some of that time now to have more later. So we are both big believers that that happens with the power of real estate and the math makes sense. If you study it. It makes sense. And that's where our goals are right now. And who knows that that's always changing, but that's what we're looking at going into 2024.
Speaker 1:Love it and I know we touched on a little bit about books and I'd like to ask you just picked up the hidden potential book too, right Recently.
Speaker 2:Yes, I picked up hidden potential. I have not dug into that yet. I just picked up Morgan Housel's book Same as Ever, which is good. I'm also reading the Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, which is very applicable to all the things that we are talking about right now, because the essential principle of it is like people are so comfortable and when adversity strikes, it's like they don't know how to handle it or the anxieties that come with that. They just don't know how to manage that. So those are definitely two books. I would recommend so for Morgan.
Speaker 2:Housel's book the first book I loved called the Psychology of Money. That is a phenomenal book. I actually have a copy of it here, but this is this is phenomenal. I highly recommend this book.
Speaker 1:Nice, have you read the Power of One More by Ed Milet? I know you mentioned his name earlier.
Speaker 2:Love Ed Milet. Yeah, yeah, that is. I mean, I was copying and pasting quotes from that book the whole time I was reading it. Man, that book is so powerful. I like it a lot. Some people he's a little too intense for Like he felt my wife's like. Why is he yelling at me?
Speaker 2:Why is he yelling at me and I'm just like, yeah, she's intense, but the principles they get through. You know, it's just, it's very powerful. The messages that he sends and he has interviewed a couple of spinal cord patients and the general Eric LeBrand from Rutgers like he was on his show and a lot of that stuff resonates with me Very powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love Ed. I met him down in North Carolina last year. He said I was a pretty attractive looking dude and he gave me a good thumbs up.
Speaker 2:That's always a plus Funny little story yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. So I do want to be courteous of time. I know we're kind of getting through there. What do you got working on other than the renovations and stuff like that, any big projects or anything you?
Speaker 2:know we just finished this one renovation and my buddy, I have a lot of tools now from doing all that stuff and then my buddy was like, can I borrow this, Can I borrow that? And I was like, listen, we don't plan on doing anything in DIY for like the next four to six months. We want to just take a break and do that. We are going to focus on just taking probably a couple of weeks and just we're actually going out to Whistler to go skiing for a little bit and then we're going to take the next go into the new year, make a nice transition, but in terms of projects, we're definitely looking for the next property.
Speaker 2:But that's why I want to take a little bit of a breather before we do that, because we know it's going to be just another tie up of our time, plus with trying to scale the business and we're looking for referral sources and more patients always and like Westchester and New York, so, where the goal is to help more people, period to be able to and I'm not trying to sound like the good Samaritan, because you know, obviously we are a business but the more people we help, the money kind of comes right.
Speaker 2:That's just the way karma works. So if we're able to provide that service and to help more people with various orthopedic and neurological issues, then that's what we want to do. So, whether it's us working with that person personally or whether it's one of our you know great therapists that we have, you know we are putting together an amazing team and we're very proud of that team and we value each and every one of them. So if that can continue to grow and get bigger as we grow, without getting out of control, and the goal is to not grow too fast either, right, you want to be humble and grow together and also just learn along the way, because that's the most important part.
Speaker 1:Nice and, just to be clear, you work in with all kinds of patients who are in the physical therapy world. It doesn't need to just be the individuals who are paralyzed or suffered spinal injuries, or is that your specialty?
Speaker 2:That is definitely something we specialize. I specialize in spinal cord injury, my wife specializes in brain injury and stroke, but a lot of our current patients have a variety of orthopedic ailments. I mean, we treat so many joint replacements Somebody had a total knee replacement and they're looking for somebody to come to their house Hip replacement, same thing, Low back surgery, whatever it may be. You know, from the most general of surgeries that are elective in nature to you know, traumatic injuries that people are trying to recover from and just get better and move better and become more independent.
Speaker 1:Cool, so wide range of people there. That's awesome, dude, and so if people are interested in reaching out and seeking some of your help, how do they find you or how do they get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:You can email me nickmanente n-i-c-k-m-a-n-e-n-t-e dot d-p-t at gmailcom. You can find me on Instagram, too, at nickdbt. Pretty simple, you can shoot me at the end.
Speaker 1:Boom Makes it, make it nice and easy for everybody.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Before I let you go again, I appreciate you taking the time. I know you got a lot of things going on right now and it's awesome to connect with such cool people and it's a great conversation. I really love this. But before you go, I got to ask you if you were to boil it all down, all the information that you know, and you were to give one piece of advice to help somebody survive the side hustle. What would that one piece be?
Speaker 2:If I had to sum it down in one sentence, I would say always remain humble, stay true to yourself and have faith that the process is going to just come to fruition. It's going to lead to the goal. That comes to fruition because so many people are going to tell you so many different things and you're not going to do this. You can't do that. You're going to burn yourself out. You're going to do it. You just have to take that with a grain of salt and just believe in whatever your ultimate goal is, because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what anybody thinks. It matters what works for you and what you prove to yourself.
Speaker 1:Oh man, so true, so true. Dude. Again, thank you so much. I appreciate it and looking forward to connecting more with you in the future and hopefully have you on the podcast again down the road for a second episode.
Speaker 2:Likewise brother. Thank you so much, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1:I man. We'll talk to you later. Peace, peace, peace. Okay, brother.