The Leap

Verilo

Welcome to The Leap, a new podcast from Verilo that celebrates bravery and shared experience amongst entrepreneurs and experts from the healthcare, medical and wellness sector. Each episode, we bring you honest conversations with people who have navigated the realities of buying, selling and owning businesses, sharing what they learned when they stepped into the unknown. We unpack the stories behind the decisions, the wins, the missteps, and the practical insight that only comes from experience. Because taking the leap is rarely simple, but with the right knowledge, perspective and support,

Episodes

  1. The "Chance Meeting at a Salad Bar" That Led to the Biggest Leap of Tom Jacobs' Career

    MAY 14

    The "Chance Meeting at a Salad Bar" That Led to the Biggest Leap of Tom Jacobs' Career

    In this episode of The Leap, Joshua speaks to Tom Jacobs, owner of Flex Health Hub, who is right in the middle of one of the biggest transitions of his career. After years working across orthopaedics, MSK rehabilitation and sports medicine in the NHS and elite sport, Tom made the leap into private practice ownership, steadily growing Flex Physio Practice from rented clinic rooms inside leisure centres and GP surgeries into a brand-new, purpose-built multidisciplinary facility in Oxfordshire. Now, with the launch of Flex Health Hub, Tom is bringing physiotherapy, fitness and wellbeing together under one roof, creating a model designed to serve both patients and practitioners in a more integrated way. And all thanks to a chance encounter at a salad bar. In this conversation, we discuss: Moving from NHS clinician to the "wild west" of private practice ownershipThe mistakes he made when buying a business, including remortgaging his own houseHow he instills a sense of worth, pride and value in the teams he managesWhy his belief that you "can't teach character" influences his attitudes towards culture and recruitmentHow a "chance meeting a salad bar" led to the creation of the Flex Health HubWhy he believes magic can only happen when you push yourself outside your comfort zoneHow he juggles all the different hats he has, between clinical, business, strategy, teaching, charity work and family lifeWhy he thinks mistakes are your biggest schoolmaster and how he wishes we were less risk-averse as a cultureThe realities of opening a purpose-built healthcare facility that had never been the original planThis is a practical and honest conversation about what it really takes to build something from the ground up in healthcare,  and the mindset required to take the leap into ownership. This is one discussion you're not going to want to miss. Produced by Savannah Media for Verilo.

    53 min

About

Welcome to The Leap, a new podcast from Verilo that celebrates bravery and shared experience amongst entrepreneurs and experts from the healthcare, medical and wellness sector. Each episode, we bring you honest conversations with people who have navigated the realities of buying, selling and owning businesses, sharing what they learned when they stepped into the unknown. We unpack the stories behind the decisions, the wins, the missteps, and the practical insight that only comes from experience. Because taking the leap is rarely simple, but with the right knowledge, perspective and support,