OTP 22 - How to Innovate within Established OT Practices (AKA. Intrapreneurship)

How to Innovate within Established OT Practices (AKA. Intrapreneurship)

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:00:00]:

I'm pretty sure you've heard the term entrepreneur before, but have you heard the term intrepreneur yet? Today, I'm gonna be discussing a little bit more about intrepreneur and intrepreneurship, and what place it has in OT business. And just so you know, today's episode is an extra special episode for me that is dedicated to one of my good friends, fellow OT and passionate intra and entrepreneur. Are you thinking about starting an occupational therapy business, but don't even know where to begin? Whether you're starting something on the side or going full time in your business, the OTpreneur podcast is what you need. This show will help you get in the right mindset and give you actionable tips to go from just an idea to OTpreneur. I'm your host, Sarah Putt. And spoiler alert, there is no Jason today. Jason is out on vacation, gallivanting somewhere. And so I figured, I'm not on vacation.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:01:00]:

I'm still here. I'm still working. I figured I would come on and take this time to talk a little bit about intra preneurship. And I really want to emphasize the intra not entrepreneurship, but intrapreneurship. Like I mentioned in the intro, today's episode is dedicated to a very special person to me, and this might be a little bit of a difficult episode for me to get out, but bear with me. I am gonna try to get through the material and the content that I wanna share with you. But just know that there might be some emotions that come up as I start talking about this. But this episode is dedicated to my friend, colleague, and fellow OT preneur, Amelia Dewey, AKA the LYMP therapist.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:01:44]:

Amelia passed away a few months ago after a long battle with breast cancer. And quite honestly, it has taken me a long time to kind of gather my words and my thoughts and be able to put this episode together. I knew that I wanted to do an episode and dedicate it to her and, you know, her passion and her life and the impact that she had on on my life. But I just never could find the right words. And I don't I still don't know if I have the right words or, you know, if I'm going to remember everything that I wanna say, or talk about everything that I wanna bring up. But I'm here. I am gonna try my best, and, you know, I'm gonna show up today and just share a little bit about kind of what's been on my mind following the news of her passing. Just in case you don't know, I first met Amelia back in 2,007, which at the time of this recording, we're now in 2024.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:02:40]:

So I've known her for quite a long time at this point. We happen to be in the same master's OT master's program at USC. And I have to say that, like, she truly was one of the most amazing, passionate, and caring people that I have ever met in my entire life, and I truly, truly mean that. Amelia and I first connected because of our love of OT. You know? And if you've listened to me on this podcast or on the OT For Life podcast or any podcast that I've been on, or if you've met me in real life, you know that, like, I just, like, bleed OT. Like, I love talking about OT. And Amelia and I just really connected because we were both so passionate about occupational therapy. But we it it went kind of so much further than that and and deeper, I should say, because we both had a desire to really kinda do things differently.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:03:35]:

We had a desire to support our clients in the best way that we possibly could, and we also knew that we wanted to have a lasting impact on the profession as a whole. I can't tell you how many hours her and I spent either messaging on Instagram, talking on the phone, zoom calls, whatever it is. We spent so many hours talking about OT, the good, the bad, you know, the things that needed to be fixed, how we wanted to change it, and then, you know, really kind of realizing the things that we couldn't change and just trying to embrace all of that. Like, we talked about all the things all the things OT. And while I feel like Amelia is really mostly known for her work kind of within the lymphedema world, you know, of course, like, she's the lymph therapist. Like, that was her that was her pride and joy, and, you know, really specifically working with people who had cancer related lymphedema, and also, fun fact, and also her love of plungers as a treatment modality. If you know, you know. And if you don't know and you wanna know what I mean by that, go check out episode 76 of the OT For Life podcast.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:04:47]:

It's titled navigating life with cancer related lymphedema, and that is where I actually got the the opportunity to interview Emilia. And she shares so so many good things, so many gems in the episode, but she does talk about why she loves plungers as a treatment modality, within occupational therapy. So go check that out to learn a little bit more about the fun side of the plungers and Amelia. So Amelia is an OTpreneur at heart, and I swear she always had the most amazing ideas that she wanted to do to help people. And I wanna share with you that, like, even in the last few days of her life, she was building a community and an online course for other cancer thrivers. I was fortunate enough to be able to to be able to jump on a call with her literally within the last week or 2 of her life and hear about all the amazing stuff that she had been working on to support other people. I mean, that just goes to show just what type of person, you know, that what type of person that she was is that even when she was going through so much, she was still trying to she was still finding herself helping others and and giving back to others and, you know, sharing all of her insight, all of her expertise, and everything that she had been going through, and really just wanting to help everybody that was around her. She spent most of her career actually working in a major hospital system in Texas.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:06:21]:

And one of the things I mean, there's there's a lot. There's a lot of things that I loved about Emilia, But one of the things that I truly loved about her is that even though she was working in this big health system, you know, this I think it is one of or the biggest hospital system in Texas. And she really was kind of quote unquote that more, like, traditional employee role. Even though she was in this role, she was in a big health system, she was still fueled by this passion that she had for OT preneurship, and really this quest that she wanted to bring OT to the table, and she wanted to be able to help her clients in the best way possible. And really kind of what that looked like for her was that she took on additional roles within her department. She developed programs and resources. She trained and mentored students, volunteers, and staff. She somehow perfectly blended working within hospital had had a fellowship program for a decade or more, and the OT department did not have one.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:07:34]:

And so rather than just be like, well, that's too bad. OT doesn't have one. Okay. And continue, you know, about, like, her daily life. She showed up and said, let's start 1, and did created it, developed it, and got it off the ground. She was also a field work supervisor. She was a fellowship creator and educator, a program developer, as well as her kind of traditional role as the treating OT and evaluating OT within the limp lymphedema clinic within the hospital. So while she was all throughout the time that I knew her, while she was always working on something entrepreneurial on the side, She also never shied away from being an intrepreneur within her role at the hospital.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:08:24]:

So you might be wondering what actually is intrepreneurship? When we're talking about entrepreneurship, we're mainly talking about somebody that is starting their own business. Right? They're, they're going out on their own. They're, they're paving their own way and they are starting their own business. Whether that is a client care practice like what I have, an online business like what Jason has, and or this is something that like is full time or part time, but it's something that you are doing on your own. But with intrapreneurship, this is where it is actually working within an already existing company. So an intrapreneur is an internal entrepreneur who works within the structures of an established company already. So intrepreneurs kind of find ways to innovate, to improve their role or the roles of others, to increase the quality of the work, and sometimes, like, the entire business entity as a whole. So, really, it is working within a business that is already existing in in helping to either create, promote, strategize, organize, working within these roles within a company that's already been started.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:09:40]:

So I'm guessing now you might be wondering, like, why am I actually talking about entrepreneurship on an OT entrepreneur podcast? And to be honest with you, I feel like there are a lot of OT practitioners that are out there, and maybe this is even you that are that's listening, that are currently working within a system or or an established company at this very moment. And maybe you might not be able to start your own thing right now. Maybe you don't want to yet. Maybe you're not ready to leave where you're working right now to go start your own gig. Maybe some of those reasons are that you want to get more experience within a specific area, or you really need that steady income to pay off student loans, or maybe you just generally like where you work. You like who the people that you work with, and you're just not quite ready to leave. Whatever the reason is, it doesn't really matter. Whatever the reason is, there are many people that have dreams to become an OTpreneur one day, but that one day isn't right at this moment.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:10:49]:

And that's why I really wanted to kind of take some time to talk about entrepreneurship for those of you that feel that right now. And, actually, you know what I didn't even mention? Like, maybe you're an OT school or OTA school, and, again, you're just not quite there. You're not quite ready or think that you're ready. Right? I'm sure a lot of us are ready, but we don't think that we're ready to kind of take that step into entrepreneurship at this moment. So this is really where kind of entrepreneurship comes into play. You can still make an impact. You can still learn new skills, and you can still contribute to your current role without paving your own way and striking out on your own. Plus, you get to keep your steady paycheck, you get to keep your benefits, your cool coworkers, etcetera.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:11:35]:

You know, whatever the reason is that we were just talking about, which, you know, if you like where you work, this is a huge benefit to be able to keep all of that. So when I was a traditional employee, my first glimmer of becoming an entrepreneur actually really started through intrapreneurship. I started kinda noticing some inefficiencies and some, I guess, you could call them, like, major disruptions to the company that I was working for. Time and time and time again, I would see some of the office some of the office staff, the office manager, and they would always be working. You know, I could always tell that they were really busy and they were working. And I'd be like, oh, hey, guys. Like, what what are you doing today? And they're like, oh, we're working on billing. And then, you know, a few hours later, I come back.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:12:24]:

Hey. Like, what what are you up to? Oh, we're still working on billing. And then the next day and the next day and the next day. And they were constantly, you know, around the beginning end of the month, beginning of the month, they were always working on billing. And I was like, man, this is taking them a very, very long time, and it just seemed to be taking too long. Right? It it seemed it seemed like it there there there had to be an easier way to get this done. And what I come to find out is that they were doing it all by hand, and they were adding you know, they were doing all the all the math, all the numbers they were doing, all by hand. And I just realized that there was a lot of room for mistakes here.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:13:02]:

Right? Like, not saying they were doing anything wrong, but just human error and so much kind of data to process that I was like, man, they're probably they're probably making a lot of mistakes, and I'm not blaming them not blaming them. This is just how it had always been done at that company before. So, you know, I was talking to one of my husband about it, and and he's really kind of the the data analytical type person. And he's like, oh, there's a much better way. Like, I mean, this should really take minutes. You know? Like, maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour max, like, to get all of this done every month. So with the help of my hubby, we built out some spreadsheets and some system processes to really kind of help with this. And let me tell you, I not only saved the staff hours upon hours of time that they spent on this during their day that they could have been doing something else, I also helped the company make less errors with their billing, and therefore, that really kind of kept more money in the bank account.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:14:02]:

Right? They were they were able to bill for their correct amount and keep that money or make more money. Right? They weren't losing out on all this money because of billing errors. So that was kind of my first glimpse. And then from there, I actually built out an OT program at another company when I started doing some independent contracting work. They did not have OT there previously, but they wanted to bring on an OT to really kind of develop the program. And I happen to be that OT that got to be able to do that. So, you know, first it kind of started with the systems and the processes and and that, and then it went into more of, like, program development and what it would actually look like and and what you need and things that you need to start embedding in order to have occupational therapy within a company and within a system that had not had OT previously. And and all of this all of this, I was doing before I even thought before I even had that first thought of becoming an entrepreneur.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:15:10]:

Like, again, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know. Like, I never thought that I was going to be an entrepreneur. I never thought that I could be an entrepreneur. And so, like, all of all of what I just shared with you, like, all of that happened long, long before I actually jumped into the world of entrepreneurship. So then, fast forward to just actually a few months ago, I was talking to a previous volunteer of mine. She volunteered with my company, and then got into OT school, went completed OT school, and it's actually within her 1st year of practice as an OT. Shout out to Tess. So I was talking to Tess the other day, the other month, and this whole realm of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship came up again.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:15:56]:

You know, Tess is a new grad. She is wanting to gain as much experience working as an OT as she possibly can, but she also told me that she has a desire to start her own business one day. And, you know, she told me this way back way back in the beginning, like, when she was a volunteer with my company. But, you know, she just knows that where she is right now, she's like, I'm gaining great great experience, and I want to be able to continue to gain this experience while she, you know, figures out exactly how and when and and how she's going to start her entrepreneur journey later on in the future. And so, you know, we sat down and just kinda started talking about some different ways that she could assist her current company. We thought about different ways that she could maybe take some things off of maybe her manager or the owner's plates. And as a director and an owner myself, I know exactly just how beneficial this can actually be. We also kinda talked about how she can develop things for the company, for the practice that management maybe doesn't have time to do, or it's something they've been wanting to get around to and just haven't gotten around to it.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:17:09]:

You know, all of this to say that, like, she can create, she can develop, and she can learn all while continuing to support the company that she works for. And the icing on the the whole cake is continuing to get paid to do that, right, and have that steady income that I was talking about earlier on in the episode. And one thing that I would like to kind of point out here too is that if you are maybe you're already doing it or maybe this episode is inspiring you to pursue some entrepreneurial type things within your current role, don't be afraid to negotiate with your boss for a raise or a bonus or something for contributing to the company in ways outside of the role that you were hired to do, right, outside of that traditional OT treatment evaluation or whatever it is that you you know, that is your job title. That is your job role. Like, don't be afraid to be like, hey. I would love to do x, y, and z, and, you know, if I am bringing in this money, how can we make it where I can see some of it? Right? I'm gonna be helping your company out in developing programs, in bringing in new clients, in streamlining systems. How can I make a little bit more money out of this as well? So don't forget that piece, too, because you are going to be doing some other tasks, some other roles, some things that are outside of it. And maybe it will take time away from what you're doing, or maybe it's gonna be additional time.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:18:40]:

But, like, think about there are some kind of different ways that you can go about setting up your tasks and making sure that you're accomplishing everything that you need to get done. Right? But then some of these other things that you want to maybe start, learn, anything like that. If anybody has done this before, please reach out to me at OTpreneur@gmail.com and tell me a little bit more because I would love to hear about your experience, about what it is that you did. Did you like, were you able to negotiate for a raise or for a bonus or something like that? How did it help the company? Really curious to hear your experience and really kind of what you did as an intrepreneur for the company that you're working for. The next thing that I really wanted to bring up was that there are kind of 3 different types, or rather 3 different ways that you can contribute as an intrapreneur. So you can be that creator. So that person that is kind of always thinking about new things or coming up with new ideas. You could be the doer where you go from idea to action plan, you know, that step by step plan of what needs to get done, and you could be the implementer, that kind of big picture, execute the plan, and really accomplish the goal.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:19:58]:

And you can do kind of a combination of all of this. Right? I think the key here is sitting down, if you haven't done this yet, but sitting down, taking some time to think about the type of person that you are, what your strengths are, so you can really kind of align that with the tasks that you're taking on. I do wanna say that entrepreneurship is not only important, but it is necessary. Right? Like, I think some of the important things, the benefits of entrepreneurial work within a company is that it, a, helps a company remain relevant. It, b, encourages new ideas and perspectives. C, it addresses efficiency. Right? And can make a company more efficient. And d, it can implement useful and strategic innovation.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:20:51]:

And all of this is necessary for a business to be able to thrive and grow. I'm not sure if you've heard about it before, but Google has this 20, quote unquote, 20 percent time initiative that is actually a great example of how entrepreneurship can work with within a company that's already established, like Google. So what they do is that for 20% of the workday, the Google engineers will focus some time on their passion projects. And I bring this up because some of the things that have come out of this 20% time initiative are some of these household names that you've probably heard of before. AdSense, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, all of this came out of having some time for, you know, the employees to dive into some of these passion projects that they had. And now they are, you know, these kind of massive these massive things within the companies just because they had time allotted outside of their, you know, kind of traditional role that they had to do. So think about that. So many things have come from the opportunity to pursue other roles outside of your main job responsibilities.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:22:10]:

I mean, I have already used Gmail and Google Maps multiple times just today. Like, not talking about yesterday, not talking about the last month, like, literally just today. I've used both of those many, many times. So while we are very passionate here at OTpreneur, we're very passionate about OT entrepreneurship, right, and and starting OT businesses and and going out on your own. We also value the role that entrepreneurship has within the OT world. And we also know that many of us started with entrepreneurship before became an entrepreneur, And that, you know, many of you might be able to start with that entrepreneurship role within the company that you're working for, or maybe you're a field work student, maybe you're a volunteer at a company, doesn't matter where you are, you can still take on this entrepreneurial role. And that entrepreneurship might be the way to go when you're first starting out or not quite ready or whatever the reason is that you're not starting your own business yet yet. Keyword is yet.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:23:20]:

Right? Well, we'll get there. I think it's entrepreneurship is just a great way to start to dip your toes in the world of entrepreneurship while still working for somebody else, getting paid, and all that jazz. So I don't wanna deter you from starting your own OT business, but I also just want to offer other opportunities, other things that you can think about depending on where you are, what role you're in, where you are in life, where you are within your OT career, and and give you just something else to think about. Is there something that you could be doing that relates to entrepreneurship right now? Or maybe you're already working on it and didn't even realize that entrepreneurship was a thing. So that's why I kind of wanted to come on today and just talk a little bit more about being an entrepreneur while maybe potentially also on your way to becoming an entrepreneur. And to close out this episode, I just want to bring it back to Amelia for a minute. I was unable to attend her service, but I did submit some words to be read while while the service was happening. So I just wanted to read the words that I had written about her.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:24:34]:

There are some people in this world who are so special. They change lives more than they will ever know. They live life so fiercely and so passionately. They show up as their true authentic selves every day and don't even realize the impact they have on others. They are your biggest cheerleader. They are the first one to know when something is wrong before you have even had the chance to say something. They are the first one to congratulate you, and they're the first one to check-in on you. They are there no matter what.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:25:06]:

Amelia was that person. Amelia was a brilliant occupational therapist, an amazing person, and the most incredible friend. I had the honor to meet Amelia back in OT school, and I knew back then that she was going to change the lives of her patients, but little did I know how much she would change mine. Amelia, I am honored to have had the opportunity to know you and be forever changed because of you. Even though you are gone, your wisdom, your words, your passion, and your light will forever shine in this world. If you do want to hear Emilia's voice and passion for yourself, listen to episode 76 of the OT For Life podcast. I will link that in the show notes for you. As always, thank you so much for listening to today's episode.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:25:55]:

Thank you for bearing with me as I got these words out today. If you knew Amelia and wanted to share a few of your own words, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. You can leave us a voicemail. You can shoot us an email. Everything can be found over at 0tpreneur.com. And to end this episode, I wanna share a few of Emilia's words from the podcast episode I did with her back in 2020.

Emilia Dewi [00:26:18]:

You know, I think as OTs, we we need to stay our course. And OT entrepreneurship is great, and I would like to go there somewhere. But if you're in a hospital system, then please hold your place there and don't let your place and significance be diminished by what other people are doing because you're not speaking for yourself. I'm really passionate about OT because I think OT is a wonderful profession, but we do need to justify ourselves, right, a lot in the workplace. Right? Because otherwise, we're just becoming a blend of PTOT, and we're definitely bringing something different than our colleagues do. I love my PTs and my speech therapists. Don't get me wrong. But I think we bring something else to the table that they need also.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:26:59]:

We appreciate you listening to today's episode. Be the first to hear about any OTpreneur news and grab our free guide to OT business models atotpreneur.com. OTpreneur, it's where occupational therapy means business.