December Q&A — Blogging, Instagram Growth, Pre-PT Advice, & More - The Curly Clinician

You guys were ON it with the questions this month! A lot of you wanted to know more about blogging and working with brands as an influencer, so I am sharing a few tips and more about my journey/experience in this post! If you haven’t read last month’s Q&A, click here to catch up! As usual, I have organized the questions by topic: Life, Physical Therapy, and Blogging/Content Creation!

Lifestyle

Can we get that skincare routine though? #alwaysglowing

Aww thank you so much! Here are the products I use:

I RARELY wear makeup, so I think that is also a huge factor!

Physical Therapy

How do you research what to do as a pre-PT without getting too overwhelemd?

I think the key is to make sure that you are also taking the time to do other things you enjoy; don’t let the pre-PT process consume your entire life. Finding a mentor or someone that has already gone through the process is another way to stay calm, and make the process less scary!

What advice do you have for studying for the GRE? I am a bad standardized test-taker.

You’re in luck my friend, I have TWO entire blog posts dedicated to studying for the GRE!

PTCAS: The GRE (Part 1)

PTCAS: The GRE (Part 2)

How did you decide on a PT school?

When I was deciding what schools to apply to, I knew that I only wanted to apply to programs in my home state of NC. Big reasons I chose Duke’s program:

I have wanted to attend Duke since I was a child
It is only 35 minutes from my family
It is a larger program (my class has 79 students)
Team-based learning and the STEPs experience
Good graduate/NPTE exam pass rates
Connected to a large hospital system
Large alumni network
Great faculty & professors
They value diversity and inclusion

I expand more on “why Duke?” in this post. For more help, check out this post to find out the 12 factors I think you should consider when choosing programs to apply to!

How did you find opportunities to shadow PTs in different settings in high school?

Google is a great place to start when looking for shadowing experiences. Once you’ve found a clinic you’d like to shadow at, you can either call, email, or visit. I would suggest visiting the clinic if possible, as this will show that you are very interested in volunteering. If you are unable to visit, then calling or emailing will be totally fine! I honestly emailed every setting I observed at, but I made sure to tell them a little about myself, and my goals for the future. In addition, you can ask classmates or family members if they know of any places/physical therapists that you could shadow. In high school my mom worked in a physical therapy clinic, so she helped me set up my first shadowing experience!

How was your first clinical?

I really enjoyed my first clinical, and it definitely confirmed my passion for women’s health/pelvic floor PT. Here are 5 IMPORTANT things I learned during that rotation:

ASK QUESTIONS: There is no such thing as a “dumb” question. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know! I like to ask as many questions as possible so that I can learn as much as I can. Thankfully my CI was a good teacher and did a great job at explaining things.
SAY “YES”: Anytime your CI asks you if you want to do something, SAY YES. Practice is how you improve, and your CI will appreciate you taking initiative. Volunteer to do things, even if it may be your first time! I know for me especially with manual techniques, you have to do them a bunch and feel so many different body types to figure out what is “normal/typical”. Get your hands dirty!
GET ENOUGH SLEEP: The worst thing to be is tired in the clinic…not a good look friends! During this rotation, I had to be at the clinic by 7AM most days, and I had a 30-minute commute. That meant that I was waking up at 5:30 to have enough time to do everything I needed to do in the morning (get dressed, make breakfast, make coffee/tea, etc.). I was usually in bed most nights by 7:45/8PM, and asleep by 9:30PM. I am the type of person that needs AT LEAST 8-hours of sleep, so I make that a priority. My lunch break was an hour, so on my long (11-hour) days I sometimes even took a quick power nap in my car.
DON’T TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY: You are still a student, so sometimes patients don’t want you sitting in or treating them during their session (I found this especially common while being in a pelvic floor/women’s health setting). Sometimes patients aren’t comfortable with extra eyes and bodies, so don’t take it to heart if they don’t want you in the room. A good thing to do after the session is to have your CI fill you in on what went on, so that you are still learning from the experience.
GET COMFORTABLE WITH FAILURE AND UNCERTAINTY: You won’t know everything, and you aren’t expected to! This is your time to make mistakes and learn from them. This also relates to the last tip, but don’t take it to heart if you say the wrong answer or don’t know something. The more experience you get during your rotations, the better clinician you will be in the future!

Did your program help you feel prepared to start working independently as a PT?

Thankfully, I feel very prepared by Duke to began working as a licensed PT after graduation. It is impossible to know everything, and regardless it will take you a few years to “find your footing” in the clinic. You can also always act others for help if you are struggling as a new-graduate. Knowing this, the idea of practicing independently seems way less daunting!

Are you excited to graduate PT school this year?

I am BEYOND excited! I’ve been working toward my goal of becoming a Doctor of Physical Therapy since high school, so this has been a long time coming. It’s wild that in a few short months this HUGE goal of mine will finally be achieved—only ~15 weeks of clinical rotations and passing boards standing between me and my DPT degree!

Advice you would give yourself as a pre-PT?

Find out how YOU study best and create SOLID study habits prior to beginning PT school
Try not to compare yourself to other applicants. At the end of the day, everyone’s story is different. Just because you don’t have a 4.0 GPA or 500 shadowing hours, doesn’t mean you won’t get into PT school. Every school weighs application materials differently, so don’t feel discouraged if you are lacking in one area.
Make time for things you love outside of school

How do you maintain a good work-life balance?

Time management and my planner are EVERYTHING when it comes to a good work-life balance. Remember the importance of rest!

Did you get to gain experience in other healthcare professions before choosing PT?

I personally only got experience in athletic training, but I recommend you try to explore as many other healthcare professions s possible before deciding on one!

How do you decide on a specialty? I’m a 1st-year student and I already have to decide clinicals!

I took into account my interests, my long-term goals, and the types of patients that I enjoy working with. It is totally normal to not know what you want to specialize in as a 1st-year student; thankfully you have SO much time to make that decision! When it comes to choosing clinical rotations (in addition to your interests), try to keep in mind the area you may want to end up in, common material on boards, and settings you have yet to experience. Check out this post to read about my experience choosing clinical rotations as a 1st-year!

What specialty are you pursuing when you graduate PT school?

I plan on pursuing pelvic floor PT once I graduate! This specialty combines many of my passions:

Women’s health and empowerment
Patient education
Serving underserved populations
Manual therapy

My 1st clinical rotation definitely helped solidify this decision for me.

Blogging and Content Creation

How do you come up with the pictures for your posts?

Lately, I have been getting a lot of posing inspiration from some of my favorite bloggers/content creators on Instagram! I have an entire collection in my Instagram saves called “Posing” that I refer to often for new ideas. Pinterest is also a great place for photo inspiration!

Why did you create a separate Instagram instead of using your personal page?

I’ve had my personal Instagram for a while, and I wanted to “start fresh” with my blog Instagram (which was definitely harder than starting with an audience). I rarely post on my personal Instagram anyway, I just have it as a way to stay connected with old friends. I wanted to make sure that my audience was actually interested in my content, so creating a new account was the right choice for me. At the end of the day, I don’t think it really matters if you create a new account or use your personal one. If you do decide to use your personal account though, be prepared to lose followers as not everyone you know personally will be interested in your blog content.

Tips for growing your Instagram?

Disclaimer: There is no big “secret” to growing your Instagram account. At the end of the day, it just takes dedication and hard work!

POST CONSISTENTLY—this means that you need to be on Instagram EVERY day (even if it’s just your stories)
Use relevant hashtags, and change them up often
Engage with your audience: reply to all of your comments, invite your audience to share their story, reply to DMs, interact with other influencers in your niche
Make sure you are utilizing ALL of Instagram’s features (i.e. reels, stories, IG TV, etc.)
Have patience, it is going to take time to grow as most people don’t “blow up” overnight

When and why did you decide to start your blog?

Helping others excites me (one of the reasons why I chose the physical therapy profession!), so on a whim, I created this blog in November 2017 to guide, mentor, and motivate pre-PT/A students, current PT/A students, and students from other health professions! Information about the journey to becoming a physical therapist was not easy to find when I was applying, so I wanted to help fill this gap.

Over the years, The Curly Clinician has evolved into more than just a space where I share physical therapy tips. On this blog, you’ll find a little of everything: lifestyle (from relationships to my morning routine), fashion (from business casual to what I wear when I’m not in the clinic), wellness (including alllllll the body positivity), natural hair care, and even blogging tips! While I hope to connect with other students and healthcare providers while sharing my journey through PT school, I also want to share my life outside of medicine. Empowering health professionals to pursue their “non-traditional” dreams is my ultimate goal with my brand and blog!

How do I start a blog? I’d love to become an influencer in the future but I am lost on how!

Starting a blog can definitely feel overwhelming at first, especially if you don’t have any prior experience. I remember having to do a lot of research before I felt comfortable launching my blog (p.s. Google and Youtube are your best friends), especially when it came to paying for things. My BIGGEST piece of advice for those of you who want to start a blog but are not quite sure when to start or what to write about is to just go for it! You will learn and evolve as you go, so don’t let your fear continue to hold you back. I personally started out focusing on life as a PT student, and then branched out to sharing more lifestyle and fashion content from there. Your blog is YOURS though, so the best part is that you can focus on whatever YOU want!

You should probably pick a FEW topics to stick to when you begin building your audience though, so that you aren’t too overwhelmed/you aren’t overwhelming your audience (commonly referred to as “niching down”). If you try to talk to everyone, you’re essentially talking to no one. You will find YOUR people though, it just takes time…you’ve got this!

Check out these posts for more tips on starting a blog/becoming an influencer:

How did you know influencing was for you/at what point did you realize that you were an influencer? How do you feel about being one?

I don’t recall a specific moment where I realized that I was an influencer/that influencing was “for me”. I feel like it just happened over time, especially since I created my blog to serve others (I’m a helper)! I generally enjoy being an “influencer” and creating content. I have always had a creative side (I even used to make fashion videos on YouTube hehe), so having a blog came naturally to me (and is honestly something I had wanted to create for a while). I love being able to share my everyday life, tips, and advice with all of you!

How do you reach out to brands for partnerships?

This is still something I am working on improving! One of my business goals for the year is to reach out to/pitch at least five brands monthly (to meet my annual income goal). Here are a few tips for when you reach out to brands regarding a potential collaboration:

Introduce yourself and include a small bio (this shouldn’t be more than a FEW sentences—keep it concise)
Compliment the brand, and let them know WHY you love their product or company
Make sure you are offering them value…how can YOU help THEM? Remember that partnerships are not one-sided—they should be mutually beneficial!
Make sure you spell the contact’s name correctly and thank them for their time
Include your media kit (with your statistics, audience demographics, and relevant + current photos, previous partnerships, etc.)

How do you consistently produce content for your blog?

Setting a goal for how many posts you want to publish in a certain amount of time is a great start. Right now my goal is to publish ONE post every week. To reach this goal, I keep a running list of possible blog topics, and make sure to schedule time to actually plan and write. Planning in advance and constant organization are the major two things that help me remain consistent with blogging. I am not perfect, but having a schedule is definitely a game-changer!

And that’s it for the December Q&A; tune in for next month’s Q&A! Thanks for submitting such great questions 🙂

December Q&A — Blogging, Instagram Growth, Pre-PT Advice, & More