Why I Started a Substack

I have a confession to make: I hate social media. 

One of the most frequent arguments (debates? discussions?) I get into with my wife is over her use of TikTok. She sees it for the good - new recipes! Restaurants to try! Travel destinations! And I’ll admit we have picked up our fair share of great tips from it. 

Yet, I cannot ignore the impact social media has on our society. Just look at this quick list of side effects:

• polarization

• loneliness

• anxiety (and a ‘double anxiety whammy’)

• depression and sleep disturbances

….the overwhelming effect is a strongly negative one. Not to mention the outright rudeness when someone is on their phone in front of you during the middle of a conversation.

Even in the physical therapy industry, it seems like people often use social media for shameless self promotion to drive the appearance of expertise, even if they have no true substance to back up their claims. 

So when it came to starting a Substack, I dug deep to ask myself: why do I want to start one? Is this just a shameless act of self promotion? Do I have actual value to share? 

Here’s where I landed, why, and what my hopes are for the future…

Idea Promotion > Self Promotion.

The concept of starting a Substack had been on my mind for a while, but it still felt too self aggrandizing for my midwestern roots. 

And then I came across this concept from Adam Grant (yes, on social media) in which he said:

“There's a difference between promoting yourself and promoting your work.

Promoting yourself is flaunting what you achieve in an effort to get attention.
"I'm amazing!"

Promoting your work is sharing what you create in an effort to make a contribution.
"I hope this adds value.”

Idea Promotion over Self Promotion. Now that’s something I can get behind.

For starters, I hope this Substack can be a place to share ideas, start collaborations, and discuss topics important to the future of our industry and organizations.  

Substack also allows for more depth, pitching complex topics in the necessary context and nuance it takes to fully understand them, learn from them, and grow together. 

Earned + Added Value 

Once I got past the hurdle of feeling selfish / like I was self promoting, the next mental challenge to get through was answering the question: 

Can I truly offer value? 

When I was a student and new professional, I was active in the national social media and industry discourse. From serving as a Student Assembly President and writing newsletters that went to 25,000 students, to taking a motion through APTA Student Assembly’s 500-person House of Delegates, I had no qualms sharing my thoughts and opinions. 

Yet when I graduated I felt the need to put my head down and achieve something; I felt that I had to earn the right to contribute. 

That fire for positive impact led to co-founding PT Day of Service and building clinics in Guatemala through the co-founding of Move Together, before settling into my role as co-founder and CEO of MovementX. 

Since then, we have grown MovementX across the nation, with over 50 physical therapists and a growing subset of personal trainers, and are on track to surpass $5 million in revenue this year. Certainly we are small compared to many other organizations in the industry, but we are proud of the noise we are creating, the values we espouse, and the culture we are building. 

The past 10 years have been an entrepreneurial journey for me, complete with plenty of failure, success, and everything in between. Much has been learned, and I’m eager to share. 

Not to mention, I’ve also realized some of the most valuable contributions from our team come from the individuals on the proverbial front lines. In a sense, I regret not writing more to document my thoughts, feelings, and opinions, when I was a treating clinician with 100% of my time. 

Finding My Why

With a focus on idea promotion and the belief I have value to share, my final step in deciding to start this Substack was identifying what I hope to be a central focus in my writing. 

After much reflection, here’s what I uncovered. 

I hope this Substack helps us:

build organizations that embrace, love, and nourish their people.

As MovementX has grown, I have gotten a glimpse behind the scenes into why most organizations are shaped the way they are. Too often, the focus is on financial results and shareholder value above all else. 

I aim to be part of a movement that reprioritizes and refocuses organizations on its people and its mission- on why they exist in the first place. 

To do so, we’ll need effective leadership, compassionate and supportive cultures, and a robust discourse that stays steadfast and focused on the right thing to do (rather than the easy thing to do, or the most profitable thing to do). 

While it might be challenging, and will certainly be complex, I fundamentally believe it's possible, especially when the right minds come together. 

What Comes Next 

With the central focus of building people driven cultures, there are a number of articles I’m planning to write. 

Most will focus on lessons learned as I continue to strive in transforming our organizations for the better. 

Through it all, I’d love to hear from you, and make this an ongoing dialogue and iterative process for those with shared interests. 

And maybe through it all we can learn, grow, and evolve together, a small part of the good that comes from social media, reframing it for others along the way.