Authors and philosophers alike have pondered the true meaning of success for centuries. Most have concluded that success is multi-faceted - you can make a good living, but it becomes empty if it comes at the expense of your happiness or fulfillment. The luckiest people find joy in whatever they choose to do with their lives and can also provide for their families and team members - who doesn’t want to make money doing what they love?
Ethan White, cofounder and CEO of EW Motion Therapy, considers himself to be one of those lucky few. Over the past two decades, he has built a successful business doing what he loves: providing a personalized physical therapy experience. I got to sit down with Ethan and discuss how his experiences running a physical therapy clinic make him a better practitioner - read on to learn from his life and career.
Ethan White, masters of physical therapy (MSPT)
As a young boy growing up in Texas, Ethan played multiple sports throughout high school and college. However, being a physical therapist was not initially on his radar—he had thought about going to med school, but not the physical therapy path specifically. As Ethan talked with physicians, he got the feeling that many of them were unhappy with their profession. There were some changes in the healthcare sphere then, and almost every physician Ethan spoke with told him to do something else.
While studying for his bachelor’s degree at Auburn University, Ethan began dating a girl named Kathy, who wanted to be a physical therapist. One day, he tagged along with her to observe a local physical therapist who worked with special needs children. That decision to go with Kathy to this observation would change his career forever.
“I met this lovely physical therapist. She was the first adult I had met who was in love with her job. And I said, wait a second, there’s something to this.”
After graduating from Auburn, Ethan proposed to Kathy, now his wife of 33 years. Then, they both started applying to physical therapy school.
“We were keeping our fingers crossed that we would get into the same place, which we had the good fortune of doing at UAB, just by luck. I think sometimes things are meant to be. Our claim to fame is that we were the second couple to ever start PT school married - we were the first to actually graduate still married.”
At this point in Ethan’s story, it’s impossible to continue without introducing someone else. While in PT school at UAB, Ethan hurt his knee during an intramural basketball game. His friends recommended he get checked out by a fellow student one year ahead of him named Mike Eskridge.
“Long story short, I had torn my ACL, and [Mike] had misdiagnosed it. That’s something I never forgave him for. I used to kid him about it all the time, that he’s the worst PT I knew.”
That misdiagnosis aside, this simple interaction was the beginning of a professional partnership and a lifelong friendship. After graduation, Ethan, Kathy, and Mike all went to work at Princeton Hospital, where they discovered common hobbies and became integral parts of each other’s lives.
“We all really became close friends, we did everything together. We mountain biked together, we rock climbed together, we went to the beach together, we had a great time. Mike became part of our family.”
As Mike and Ethan’s friendship grew, so did their passion for their careers, specifically their desire for more individualized, one-on-one patient care in the market. This desire would be the largest driving force behind their boldest career move yet.
Ethan White, CEO
By 1999, Ethan and Mike had made different moves professionally and weren’t working in the same place. But that year, they decided they were both ready for a change.
“The thing that always anchored us was our friendship and the activities we loved to do together. From that core friendship, we always talked about how great it would be to start a business together. We were both at a point professionally for various reasons that we were ready to take a leap of faith, so we did.”
Ethan and Mike opened the doors of Eskridge and White Physiotherapy in early 2000. Ethan mostly ran the business side of things, while Mike’s focus was patient relationships and developing staff. This split worked well, and the business grew. Ethan grew as a professional as he learned firsthand how to run a business, and he still feels immense gratitude for what he does to this day.
“The absolute coolest thing is this: we realized then what we realize now, that what we get to do professionally is a privilege. If you invest yourself in the person across from you, you really get to be part of their journey, and you really get to make a difference in someone else’s life. The sense of gratitude that you get from that is like nothing else, really - it’s genuine. That’s pretty cool.”
The business looks a little different over 20 years later - the company is called EW Motion Therapy now, and there are six clinics across the state with hundreds of employees. Ethan sees fewer patients than he used to - he only treats a core few now. With Mike’s passing in 2023, his mentorship and development roles are now filled mainly by our COO Jon Delk, with the clinic directors also serving in that role. But even with all the changes and the loss of a beloved friend, Ethan’s mission has not changed - EW will always maintain the highest standard of patient care, leaving egos at the door to ensure each patient is seen and heard.
“My legacy now is to develop people to continue to carry on what Mike and I started - that’s really what motivates me day after day.”
How do you open your own physical therapy clinic?
Many have looked at Ethan and Mike’s success over the past 20 years and thought about how wonderful it would be to have that success in their own venture. This is a common and logical response, but as Vaibhav Shah once said, “Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” It’s easy not to consider the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to not only open a business but continue to grow it for over two decades. Physical therapists have looked at Ethan in the past and had big dreams of opening their own practice as he did, but he is always very realistic with them about what they might be getting themselves into.
“We have a unique profession, and you can make a good living, but if you want to become an owner, you need to actually make sure that you have a passion, that foundationally you’re doing it for the right reason. You need to understand that if it’s about money, you better really be prepared to work night and day to make it happen.”
From the beginning of his career, Ethan knew that money was not everything. He chose physical therapy because the people he met in the industry found true joy and fulfillment in their jobs. However, success includes more than being happy and making money - to keep patients returning, a genuinely successful physical therapist must do a little more.
“The most important thing is that you really need to learn how to be a pro: in patient care, in marketing and sales, and finance. One does not exclude the other - they’re all three equally important. You have to understand that being a pro is more than just treating your patient - it’s understanding everything surrounding that, making sure that you can make enough money doing it that you can continue to deliver the care that needs to be delivered day in and day out.”
Ethan’s key takeaways
So, what can we learn from Ethan’s career? First, don’t be afraid to take a leap of faith. Ethan would never be where he is today if he and Mike had not gone in on a business together. While it was risky and could have failed, Mike and Ethan weren’t in it for the money. Their faith lay in what they were offering their patients: a personalized, one-on-one experience unparalleled in the physical therapy community. With anything in life, if you believe in it strongly enough, you already have a much higher chance of success than those who go after something for the wrong reasons.
Additionally, never go into an interaction with someone being unwilling to learn from them. Every person you meet has their own stories, beliefs, and struggles, and if you can put aside your ego and be a student of life, you’ll be surprised at what others teach you. Ethan emphasizes this to his new physical therapists daily - to be a successful clinician, you must never stop learning, be relentless about improvement, and leave your ego at the door.
“This is a profession that you get to meet a lot of really cool people, and what they give you is often of more value than what you give them. You get to spend so much time with people - you learn from them as they learn from you, and it’s a pretty cool relationship.”
Humility, passion, and hard work are the keys to success for physical therapists, business owners, and everyone in between. If you never stop learning, you will never stop growing, and success is sure to follow. Our clinicians at EW Motion Therapy are lifelong learners, always continuing their education to provide the best treatment possible for our clients’ needs. If you’re curious about how much your physical therapy might cost, click the button below to download our free pricing guide.
