We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie D’Amato and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
Thriving in organization, structure and stability. I often say “I thought I was an organized person until I started a business.” Being a business owner is a whole new level of organization and really challenges that habit. I think my natural tendency towards being an organized and fairly structured person in my day to day definitely helps me stay focused, on task and succeed in all areas of business and leading a balanced life. It gives me the ability to be flexible when I need or want to as well. One of my mottos in life and when I teach movement is that there needs to be stability before you can gain freedom.

What should our readers know about your business?
My business is called Balanced by Katie: Physical Therapy, Yoga & Wellness, Inc. What makes my business unique in my industry is that I travel to patients’ homes to provide undistracted, highly personalized care. I’ve been a Doctor of Physical Therapy for over 10 years and when working busy in sports medicine clinics, I found that I was pressured to see more patients and have less time with them. Many times I felt like our sessions were a complete waste of time on both ends. As a professional, to have a skill set and genuinely want to get to know people and help them but not have the proper environment to do so it was really frustrating. Currently, I provide one on one care for an hour at a time in the comfort of their own home so they can thrive. The patient also doesn’t have to worry about taking a lot of time out of their busy schedule commuting to a physical therapy office. Disrupting the traditional “system” of physical therapy practice was not easy but with patience, persistence, and a belief in what I offer it has been achievable. I’ve learned the value of being vulnerable and asking help from your resources. I would tell anyone going down this type of road to be open to learning, be able to ride the good waves and the bad waves, be grounded in your values, and treat everyone how you would want to be treated. It is amazing how many people will be there to help you succeed once you put your dreams and curiousity out there.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
I’ll take you through an ideal day I would spend with a friend visiting town for the first time. We would start the day with a coffee at Ironsmith Coffee in Encinitas, grab breakfast tacos at Good On Ya, walk through the meditation gardens at the Self Realization Fellowship and then check out the surf at Swami’s. Then we would drive down to Torrey Pines Reserve and run or hike through the trails for a few hours. At some point we would BBQ some Cardiff Crack from Seaside Market and then go out for a sunset surf to finish off the day.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m going to shout out a very good friend and catalyst in my journey towards starting my own business. Alisha Ochoa and I met becoming certified yoga teachers in 2015. It is safe to say we left those 3 months and 200 hours as different people than we were before we started. Together, during weekly sunrise coffee meetings, we began creatively pursuing endeavors we were more passionate about on the side while maintaining our “regular jobs.” These sunrise creative work sessions fueled by delicious coffee, accountability, encouragement, and friendship really helped us both move forwards towards more fulfilling careers. Alisha started an organization called Boss Babes Brunch Club which completely took off in North County San Diego. It was here that I listened to a lot of highly impressive accomplished women tell their genuine stories of overcoming obstacles and following their unique business pursuits. I really believe that with the weekly meetings with Alisha and the energy of the Boss Babes Brunch Club I was able to gain the confidence and support to take off and start my own business.

Website: www.balancedbykatie.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancedbykatie/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-d-amato-dpt-cyt-cafs-80834a12/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/balancedbykatie/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfedu_y7LGK5C9CwWXoIIg?view_as=subscriber

Image Credits
i still need to upload pictures, sorry