Finding Non-Clinical Physical Therapy Roles
HOW I TURNED MY DPT DEGREE INTO A GRAPHIC DESIGN BUSINESS
About 5 years ago I was sitting on my computer searching “what else can I do with a DPT degree” getting the same handful of suggestions. I could get into medical sales, I could teach, I could become a director of rehab, or I could get into research. None of those options suited me. Nowhere on the internet did I find a site explaining how I could teach myself graphic design, freelance for a bit, and then start my own graphic design business. So I’m writing this blog to fill the void in case there’s someone else drowning in clinical care wondering what else is out there. .
TAKE TIME TO GET TO KNOW YOURSELF
Now if you’re positive you want to get into graphic design and just want to know how to do it you can skip ahead to the next section. But if you’re on the fence this next part is pretty important. The first thing I recommend to anyone considering leaving the field is to take a good look at what you want out of a career. I made the decision to become a PT when I was 16 and I figured since I had a good time as a patient that I would have a good time as a PT. I set a goal to get my DPT and spent my college and graduate years focused on achieving that goal, not considering what life looked like after hitting that milestone. Once I got that first job, I slowly realized it wasn’t what I had expected. I’m an introverted piece of shit so interacting with people for 10 hours a day was absolutely draining. I felt stuck with no escape because a DPT degree makes you good at treating people’s injuries and not much else. I realized that all of the lateral career options wouldn’t solve my issues and I had to do something drastic to pivot my career in the direction that I wanted. But the fear of making the same mistake paralyzed me. I had already made this giant life decision and fucked that up so who’s to say I wouldn’t do that again?
I spent a long time thinking about my next move. I recommend therapy to anyone looking to simply get to know themself better. The stigma around mental health has improved but it may seem strange to go for career advice. I viewed it like going to the gym for my physical health: why wouldn’t I want to strengthen my mental health? Getting to know myself better and learning better ways to cope, make decisions, and move forward was a huge step in my career transition. There I took a personality test that really gave me a different perspective on my strengths and weaknesses and I was challenged on what I truly wanted out of a career. Having someone help me through that process was a huge part in my decision process and it’s something I recommended to anyone that may be in a similar position. I can describe my path to graphic design in case it helps the person reading this but I can’t help you decide what’s best for you. If you’re not sure what your next step is, therapy might be the best thing to help you choose. Now that that’s out of the way….onto how I got here.
GET FAMILIAR WITH DESIGN PRINCIPLES
I’ll admit, I had a tiny leg up here so I may have skipped this step. Growing up my mom put me in art classes where I learned some basic design concepts like color theory and visual hierarchy. I already had a bit of an eye for design and spent time with drawing, painting, and photography. By no means am I an expert in any of them but this basic understanding is important when getting into design. If you’ve never had any exposure to art, this is a vital first step. Immerse yourself in whatever way feels best. Take a local painting class, go to a museum, buy a sketchpad and go crazy. There are some great books out there to get you started that are linked below:
BUY THE SOFTWARE
This will be your biggest investment. There are cheaper options like Canva or Procreate to get into design but if you want to get into true graphic design I would invest in Adobe software. You can purchase the entire Adobe Creative Cloud with access to all of their apps for $59/month or you can purchase each individually. If you’re not ready to commit, you need to at least start with Adobe Illustrator. It costs $23/month and comes with a bunch of free tutorials to get you started.
What’s important about Adobe Illustrator is that it’s a vector based platform, meaning you’re creating graphics on a giant grid and every point is an x,y coordinate. This will allow you to produce SVG files, Scalable Vector Graphics, which will enlarge without ever pixelating and you can edit them easily.
LEARN THE SKILLS
One of the main things that drew me to graphic design was that I could do it without going back to school. It means I’m probably not technically skilled enough to get hired by a design agency but I can start my own company and create great logos for my peers. There are paid options like Masterclass or Coursera but I was able to do everything through YouTube and Adobe. Begin with the tutorials on Adobe so you can learn simple skills like how to navigate the platform and use the pen tool. The interface will be really overwhelming and you’ll want to quit when you’re making some stupidly simple ramen bowl in a tutorial but I promise with time you’ll get better.
Once you get the basic understanding of how to use Illustrator, take advantage of free tutorials on YouTube. There’s an infinite array of accounts and videos that provide step-by-step guides on how to learn new skills and techniques. Plus there are sites that create interactive games out of skills you need to learn, like kerning, color method, and finessing the pen tool (I’ve mentioned the pen tool now because it’s an important tool…probably the one I use most but hated learning).
BUILD A PORTFOLIO
Here’s where I made my mistake…I assumed that once I learned the skills that I was good enough to start applying for jobs. I was wrong. No one wanted to hire the idiot who had taught herself graphic design with absolutely no portfolio to show for it. You need practice…both in honing your skill but also working with clients. Start with family members. I was at a point in my life where I made a lot of wedding invites and baby announcements for friends. I made my mom a knitting bag. I helped a friend make a logo for their blog. If you want to get better at design, you need to design things. And continue designing things until they get better. It’s inevitable that you’ll look back and cringe at some of your earliest design work so it’s better that it’s for your friend’s baby shower and not a logo for a company.
It’s also important to get feedback. Friends and family are probably going to be nice and supportive but you want someone to tell you when your shit looks like shit. There are design challenges out there where you can join and create a flyer, logo, or whatever the theme is for a fake business and then compare your design to others. It’s a great way to get ideas and feedback on your creations. Plus you’ll create things you’d never consider which will help build a diverse portfolio of work. If you need some portfolio inspiration, you can click through some of mine below:
PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE
Next you need to find jobs. Make yourself a portfolio, a LinkedIn account, and a social media page to advertise your skills. Find someone in the field who is looking for help but maybe can’t spend a ton of money. As a beginner freelancer, you probably can’t charge a ton but it works out because there are a ton of small businesses out there who can’t invest a ton. Again, I got a bit lucky because one of the PTs I met on a clinical happened to be starting a con ed business and he needed someone to create logos, a simple website, and content. My biggest break was creating content for Rehab Code. Here I honed skills, learned new ones like designing on Squarespace, and got practice working with a client.
There are unexpected skills you need to learn like how to price your services, how to communicate with clients, and how to translate their wants into a deliverable. Putting yourself out there and finding freelance jobs to finesse these skills are the only way you’ll get better at them.
FIGURE OUT YOUR NEXT STEPS
Here you have options. I went the route of starting my own business so I can freelance with a bit of safety behind an LLC. You could also find 2 or 3 consistent clients who need regular content creation. Or you could build a large enough portfolio to get hired by a design agency. One thing you’ll need is patience. It took almost 3 years between purchasing Adobe and opening my own business so the process of getting to where you want to get won’t be quick. It may take a second before you make enough to consider it your full time gig. It’s been 4 years now and I still find myself answering the “what do you do” question with “Oh I’m a physical therapist but I do some graphic design”. You’ll get hit with waves of imposter syndrome and frustration when the design is better in your head than your skills can execute but with time, you’ll be proud of what you create. It can help to talk with people in other fields or who pivoted from physical therapy so please feel free to ask a question below, email me, orr follow along with my journey on instagram.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
ERIN KELLY-SULLIVAN
When you bring someone in to help with your business you really want them to understand your needs. My time as a PT gives me that background to truly understand your business, your target audience, and the field. If you want to work with someone who gets you, my speciality is helping fellow physical therapists, strength coaches, and anyone in the health and performance field reach their branding goals.
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