From Concept to Start-up
The original concept for U.P. Health & Performance started as a dream in 2010. At the time Jeremy, and his now-wife, Ashley, were discussing their life goals and plans, as Ashley was in the last year of undergrad to get her Bachelors of Art in Dance and Jeremy applying to schools to begin the 7 year process of becoming a physical therapist. With both our interests being in the health and wellness fields we discussed creating a business that would combine our chosen careers.
Over the years, the business concept has has gone through a few different iterations and there was one point that the idea of starting a physical therapy business was thrown out the window. In PT school professors and clinicians told me information that deterred starting a practice, such as lowering reimbursement rates, the need for a large loan to cover start up cost, being at the mercy of large healthcare systems to provide referrals, etc… The difficulties of entrepreneurship in healthcare seemed impossible, so the dream was thrown out of the window.
Around the time of graduation, I was seeking for opportunities when I came across a growing trend in the healthcare field, solely cash-based clinics. This concept intrigued me and I began reading articles, watching videos, and listening to podcasts all discussing this topic of becoming independent of insurance companies and marketing directly to the consumer for their health and wellness. This was the option to create the company that Ashley and I first envisioned 10 years ago.