122 - Reconnecting With Your Purpose Changes Everything in Practice with Dr. Andrew Alekna

[00:00:00] There's this saying in CrossFit that if you're the strongest and the fittest in your gym, you're in the wrong gym. And when you're a principal chiropractor and you're always the energy powerhouse of your practice, you've got to go to these live events where people are at least on the same energy level with you, if not higher, so that you can recharge your own chiropractic batteries.

[00:00:30] Hello and welcome to Build Your Remarkable Practice podcast. This podcast is dedicated to chiropractors who are in the seasons of launching and building their practice. Join myself, Dr. Lona, and my co-host, Dr. Bobby, as we have conversations each week as it relates to building the practice of your dreams. And remember, you can have a remarkable practice as part of a remarkable life, not instead of one. We are here to lead you on the way.

[00:01:01] All right. Welcome back to the Build Your Remarkable Practice podcast. And I am here with soon to be my new co-host. I think we're going to do quite a number of podcasts together, as well as he's going to be interviewing some people across the world that are amazing chiropractors. So welcome, Dr. Andrew Alekna. I just had the good fortune of being in physical space with you less than two weeks ago at the Innate Summit.

[00:01:27] And we got to spitball a little bit about chiropractic and be in the presence of some amazing chiropractors there. So I'm excited to learn from you today and to get to know you even better. It's good to be on the show. I don't know about you. I missed a fair bit of the Innate Summit because people kept grabbing me and being like, can I get an adjustment? Can I get an adjustment? And it was funny because you go to a chiropractic seminar and there's people just lying on the tables. There's speakers.

[00:01:56] Actually, I think you were the only speaker because you kicked it off and you were amazing, where I don't think anybody was on the tables while you were speaking. And then as soon as the tables were up, they were busy the whole time. Yeah, that's true. And that's how you know it's a great chiropractic seminar, too, because there's multiple tables set up for that purpose. You know, like I think even from stage, Dr. Sam said, get adjusted a few times this week and make sure that you're getting the care that you need while you're here with all these amazing chiropractors.

[00:02:26] So I think I had three for the weekend. So that was good. Three times a week. Bam on a weekend. I got to tell you, this is one of those things. So, you know, the weekend was all about principal chiropractic, amazing chiropractors. And it started even before we got to the innate summit, which was in Perth, that there were these weird serendipitous events. Like I was in Sydney on my way to Perth, ran into Jim Chester on a deserted beach who was one of the speakers.

[00:02:56] Right. Halfway across the world, not in the city of the actual seminar. How does that happen? Right. And then we went to dinner and my son was with me. And then we come into Perth and we are doing the tourist thing. And so we go to your rottenest island. And the very first person I see on the bike trail, Tim Young, one of the others. OK, everyone wants to say the Glockers. Yes, it was great. It was great. But here's the thing.

[00:03:23] So then we ended up traveling back to London and I'm about to go to my flight at Heathrow 30 minutes before we're leaving to get in the Uber. And I see a woman standing with a spine as I'm exiting the elevator. And I said, are you a chiropractor? And she says, yeah. And I'm like, is there a seminar here? And she's like, yeah. And I said, well, which one is it? And she's like, Centropy. And I'm like, no crap. Like, this is crazy.

[00:03:50] And so I had just talked to Patrick, who leads Centropy the week before. And so I walked onto floor two, waved from the back of the room halfway across the world. There's another chiropractor. I got a great adjustment, got on my flight. And I just thought I love principled chiropractic and energetics and just the family worldwide we have of people who love this truth. Right. It's like a cool little club and you don't know it exists until you're in it. And then you're instantly like, hey.

[00:04:20] And it's just a big reunion for me at, you know, I had a few coaching clients there, which was awesome. But also just people I went to uni with that have moved all over the place. And it was just like this little reunion where, where it was like, I had this really great moment with one of my good friends, Dr. Toby Slee. And he's practicing about three hours away from Perth. And we were standing there and like we had our arms around each other at the end of the seminar. And we were just like, can you believe it?

[00:04:48] It was 14 years ago that we like got out of that hell hole. Where you got permission to do the thing that we were meant to do. Yeah. Real learning. You're approved to play now. Yes. That's what I was asking you. It was like, how long have you been in practice? 14 years. I've been in practice 16 years. It is one of those things where you kind of blink and it goes so fast.

[00:05:11] And yet lifetimes have actually occurred in those 14 years of just practice, evolution of your vision, the depth of chiropractic and what you really get to experience. And then you think about, well, what's the next 14 or 16 years going to bring to. Right. I still catch, I don't know if you do this. I catch myself and I'm like, yeah, I'm like a recent grad. And then I'm like, oh, hang on a sec. One, two, three.

[00:05:37] You know, I've got teenage patients that I graduated before they were born. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Which is awesome. You start to see how you have such influence, like where you have patients who are having kids and you're like, but you were a kid when you started here. Yeah. And that's pretty amazing to start to get to see that. The other thing I like about not being brand new in it anymore is you have a little more perspective of like really, truly, it's not about you.

[00:06:06] And so we make up all these, I think, mistakes in our mind about control, how we control a patient, like if they didn't sign up or if we did something wrong or if we didn't say something right. And then when you start to have some years under your belt and you realize, well, that person left and they came back or they, you know, sent more people and they, you know, it just might not have been the right time for them instead of taking it so personally. I just feel like it gets easier to kind of hold the capacity without taking everything like it's a self-reflection essentially.

[00:06:36] Yeah. I think as you grow, you know, you get way more certainty in chiropractic, but I remember when I first graduated having the certainty, I had the certainty in chiropractors that I knew that were, you know, that were great chiropractors, but I had no certainty in my capacity to deliver great chiropractic. And like we talk about, you know, there's two sources of certainty and that's observation and experience. And you get some runs on the board and you go, actually, yeah, I can help these people.

[00:07:05] And then it becomes a conversation, not like, oh, you know, please. And I'm trying to convince you. It's like, look, this is your problem. This is what we do. This is how we fix it. If you want it, let's go. And if you're not ready, we'll be here when you're ready. Right? Yeah. Well, I literally said this to someone I know. I'm like, no stress, man. Like, this is, you know, we're here. This is the system. This is the system we know that works. He was worried about some financial concerns. And I'm like, it's an investment.

[00:07:34] And when you're ready to make the investment, that's the process. Beautiful. Yes. And, you know, that ability to recognize that in yourself, I think we all have areas where we brush up against our fears or we're not as confident or we're not as convicted.

[00:07:49] And offline, you and I are saying this, that this is the work first, I think, which is like fall in love with chiropractic, fall in love with your philosophy and your ability to deliver the art and your why behind the what of like, why am I doing this? And, you know, that's where getting into these seminars like the innate summit, which I thought was fantastic is, you know, that's how you launch yourself forward in so many ways because your conviction strengthens.

[00:08:19] You get around people who a mentor said to me, like, if you're a chiropractor and you get squeezed, chiropractic should come out, you know, just like an orange. Orange isn't making apple juice, right? So we need to get around people who speak and communicate chiropractic, who have that certainty so that we strengthen our own muscles so that when we go into our practice and challenging things come up or we ask ourselves, can I help this person? Like, do I really believe I can help this person? Like, we know that we can. Right.

[00:08:48] And I tell my younger associates a lot of times, like, whoever is on your table is meant for you. Like, I trust that they wouldn't be on your table if you weren't meant to serve them. You just have to know that. Yeah. I love that sort of, you know, there's a couple of things there that I love. The first one, we always, I've been doing CrossFit for a long time. Maybe that's why Dr. Steve loves me. We're both CrossFit fans. I've been to Madison not far from you for the CrossFit Games. So, you know. Yes.

[00:09:16] But there's this saying in CrossFit that if you're the strongest and the fittest in your gym, you're in the wrong gym. And, you know, when you're a principal chiropractor and you're always the, like, you're always the energy powerhouse of your practice, you've got to go to these live events where, like, people are at least on the same energy level with you, if not higher, so that you can recharge your own chiropractic batteries. Because it's tough to, like, keep grunting your practice forward off your energy. And people are like, what do we do?

[00:09:44] And they're drawing that energy out of you. And so, you know, if you're not at the immersions, the innate summits, all that kind of stuff, your candle burns down pretty quick. Yes. So that was great. And then, you know, the idea of, you know, whoever's on your table at the time is meant for you. Do you ever notice that when, you know, you do a seminar or something like that or you, one thing that I've always looked after really well is, like, sacroiliac instability.

[00:10:13] It's like a mini, like, specialty of mine because a lot of CrossFitters end up with sacroiliac instability. And it was just all of a sudden, I'm like, oh, my God, there's all these people with sacroiliac instability just, like, flocking to me. And it's like that universal intelligence is just like, yeah, Andrew's got it. Like, he knows what to do. And so here's 500 people with it. So enjoy it. And then you're like, all right, I'm done with that. Let's move on to something else. And then, bam, that shows up.

[00:10:42] And, you know, where your energy is and where your mind is is what shows up in practice. Sure. It's that resonance. And back to what I even said of, like, finding these chiropractors in random parts of the world. It's like it's not random, right? And that's part of our philosophy teaching that of that. There is, you know, this intelligence in all things all the time.

[00:11:03] And what I wish I could gift more, especially young chiropractors, is that it may feel like the philosophy feels like fluff. But if you actually let yourself wrestle with it and try and try to understand what it means to you, not dogmatically, you know, what someone else is telling you it needs to be. What does the philosophy mean to you?

[00:11:25] To me, that that foundational work that you do is going to forever be part of that ability to turn that energy source on for yourself. So that because practice can feel hard sometimes. You do get squeezed or building the practice and doing the business and learning all of those elements, too.

[00:11:45] If we don't have that conviction around why we're building a business in the first place of what we are going to serve, we're lacking sometimes that conviction and that energy source of like this is the purpose that I hold and this is why I want to grow my business. So I do think getting to places like the innate summit is like an investment that you, your team, your CAs, whoever can come with you, like it's just going to pay off major dividends.

[00:12:12] Without going down the business road, there's always like a return on investment when you can start getting your staff to these events, not just you. I still remember the first time we took our practice manager to an immersion and it was like I had an ally. And I was like, all of a sudden I've got someone in the practice with me that went, oh, and you should have seen her face. I think lunchtime on day one, she was like, whoa, this is a lot.

[00:12:39] And I was like, this is a lot, but it needs to be a lot because what we're doing is like way too important. Yes. And then she came back and she's like, Andrew was right. We've got to be doing this, this and this. And I kid you not, the quarter immediately after that immersion, I think we had a 30% bump. That's awesome. Right. So the most expensive thing would have been to not bring your staff, right? Yeah.

[00:13:07] You just, you know, you're leaving runs on the board or that's, sorry, that's an Australian cricket term. You're leaving money on the table. If you're not amping up your staff externally as well, then it's, you know, I had two CAs at the Innate Summit who were both chiropractic students. And their energy coming back into the practice on Monday was like everybody lifted. Everyone was like, whoa, you guys are on fire. And we were.

[00:13:34] So, well, and, and that's the thing, like, I think until you feel that desire to bring more with you, right? Like the, cause that starts with a vision for your team too, of realizing I don't want to be the only one getting fed at these places. I don't want to have to come home and feed my team. It's easier if I just bring them with, and we're all getting fed together and resonating together in the messages. And we're going to hear different things.

[00:13:58] And that's part of the value in it is that we're all going to pull away different speakers and different things. I think, you know, from this conversation you and I are having, if that's your one takeaway is to look at your next six month calendar and figure out what seminars are you going to and who should be coming with you. You know, whether that's one CA, maybe you're a team of two, right? And you're just be more intentional about bringing that person with.

[00:14:23] Or maybe it's like, Hey, I've got eight people on my team and I've never brought all of us together. And I'm going to go all in and bring everyone together. Push the chips into the middle of the table. You know, I think on that you can bring the people that are doing really well, but the best person to bring is the person that's struggling a little bit and just needs that little reminder of why we're doing this.

[00:14:46] And, you know, the back end of running a business, it has to be about business because if the lights aren't on, we can't help anyone. And if the front desk aren't paid, then we can't help anyone. But there always has to be that reconnection to why are we doing it?

[00:15:04] That's one thing I don't know about you, but when it comes to the quarterly board meetings and even the staff meetings, I think probably the one of the most powerful things I learned at a team immersion before I started coaching was heart, head, hands, feet in terms of like how to construct a training for your team. And it's bam, reconnecting with why we're actually doing it, getting the heart right. Like Dr. Sonia Floriani at the Australian Business Immersion.

[00:15:32] I wish that everyone could have been there like to hear her. She was phenomenal. And she'd done an aid trip to India and it put me back to 2011 when I did an aid trip to India. And just I had this woman and she was like this little tea picker. So, you know, she honestly wouldn't have been five foot. So probably about your height, Lana. Yeah, great.

[00:15:59] You know, these tea pickers, they put their tea, their bag on the strap across their head and it sits behind their back. You know, I think in 14, almost 14 years of practice, I've probably seen maybe like two cases of cervical myelopathy. And in India, I think I saw five in two weeks. And most of them were tea pickers. But she'd actually come in with sciatic pain. And I remember, you know, I'm terrified. Am I supposed to adjust these people? Because, you know, I'm still a uni student.

[00:16:28] And the clinician who was a real chiropractor was like, yeah, that's your thing. You adjust them. So I adjusted her. And I remember her straight leg raise, you know, do a straight leg raise. And she's like clutching her lower back. And then I adjust her and her leg goes up. And she nearly fell off the table in shock. And I nearly like, you know, fainted in shock because I'm like, oh, shit. Am I supposed to swear? And we do it too much. We'll just get a little mixed up. But other than that, okay.

[00:16:56] I'm like, wow, this actually works. And then I said to her, okay, come back in like two days. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just making it up. And so the interpreter, because we had interpreters, and she's there talking back and forward. And the interpreter turns to me. And he goes, can she come back tomorrow? Because she walked three days to get here. And she's got to start walking back home tomorrow.

[00:17:22] And I like, I nearly cried because, and every time I think about that, I get emotional because I'm like, I'm just this little student. I don't really know what I'm doing. And this person believed in me so much. They walked three days to see me. And every time I'm like, this is tough. And the energy's flat. But yeah, I think back to like those little miracles.

[00:17:49] And even when Dr. Sonia was bringing her India trip up and in the audience was one of my clients who I was in India with. And we went, we actually in the break, we went through our old photos on Facebook and we're like, dude, remember this? Oh man. And we were like, we were so amped up. And then for the seminar to go, okay, well, this is how you run a business. So you can look after people better was, yeah.

[00:18:16] Starting with the heart and remembering is like, and reconnecting with why you have to run a successful business is the ultimate. That's why we're in here. Right. That's such a good story. And your story, like the powerful, like it's like, who took more away from that? Well, she obviously had an amazing adjustment and could notice a difference and felt the value of walking three days to get that couple adjustments, of course. But then like the transformation for you. Yeah. The certainty as well.

[00:18:47] Yes. Yes. I love that. Oh yeah. No, I a hundred percent agree that a lot of shepherding the mission is reminding everyone, including yourself, like, why are we doing this in the first place? And that the quarterly board meeting should be that place where everyone is re-rallied, if not just more and more convicted of like, okay, here's where the vision goes next. And here's why we're doing it.

[00:19:13] And I do feel that stats and left brain and system, all of that's so important. But if we lack the other part of it, what are we doing? Right. You just get lost and it doesn't become fun anymore. And the energy goes down and then your adjustments suffer because your patients are there for your energy, not for the, wow, this business runs really smoothly. They're there for the power of what goes on in that practice. Yes.

[00:19:43] Yes. Interesting too. I had a similar experience. So I've gone on Peter Morgan's mission trips four or five times to Haiti. And each time I always felt like I felt I left with more than I gave, which was an interesting thing because you think it's going to be the opposite sort of. But in one of them, you know, my first one was more just like shock and awe of just how people live in this hemisphere and the poverty levels.

[00:20:10] And then also like, yeah, like the trust of just people laying on tables with people. They don't even, we don't even speak the same language and then just service. Right. Right. But the second trip I went on, I was a doctor already. So I had a group of two or three students with us. We got dropped off in a little area. I'll just say. And it was a church area.

[00:20:35] And this gentleman came up and there's a communication gap. And through the interpreter, we learned he had had a stroke. He was in a wheelchair. He had like his hands all curled in and he couldn't stand up. And the student that was going to check him was really nervous because, of course, in school, we learn, you know. Don't touch. Don't touch. Yes. And, you know, I had to kind of give her a perspective of just like, do you think he has any other options?

[00:21:03] Like, do you think anyone else is going to help him anytime soon? Like, let's look around and just really pay attention to what's happening in this environment right now. She's like, no. And like, well, then let's at least do him the service of just checking him. I'm not even saying you have to adjust him. Let's just like do our analysis and see what we find, you know. And I'm sure, of course, he had like major upper cervical issues. And so I said, well, let's just start gentle. We ended up, he got adjusted and we noticed his hand opened up, right?

[00:21:33] One hand started to open up. And so then I was like, well, he, like you, it's like, well, we're not going to be back here tomorrow, right? Like we were leaving eventually. So we just had him rest for like 30 or 40 minutes. And then we checked him again. We ended up checking him four times throughout that afternoon. And he got adjusted each time and he could stand up out of the wheelchair after the end of that afternoon. Right. And I just remember, first of all, for me, I was like, holy smokes. Right.

[00:21:59] But then I was thinking like, this is one of her first clinical experiences, the student I was working with. Right. And like to see someone who came in in a wheelchair who you have been taught to like fear to then having humanity where you're like, I can do this. I'm not going to cause any harm. I'm just going to check him. And I'm going to have reverence for this person. And then to see what like literally like four hours later, he's standing up out of this wheelchair and he can lift his arms out. I was like, I'm done.

[00:22:29] This is the most amazing experience. And I think there's that element of we get in our day to day and we stop maybe having that amount of like curiosity or excitement over just service to people. And that I think sometimes is where the limitation first starts is that we don't necessarily walk into day one with that level of curiosity or like, wow, what could happen today? I'm in a new environment.

[00:22:58] And so that's part of where we get out of our comfort zones, going to seminars, going to mission trips, going to, you know, just something that gets you to vibrate a little differently, bring that into practice. And all of a sudden, like the ripple effects are just tenfold, you know? Yeah. And you learn like, oh, maybe we'll do this occiput lift, like just a little bit differently. And then you have somebody in there like, oh, wow, that's amazing. And like, I'm a trier. I'll give something a go.

[00:23:26] I'll see something and I'll learn it and I'll be like, I can do that. And I'll do it. And you know what? Touch wood. Yeah. Hasn't let me down yet, you know? So when I come back from a seminar and I see something and I'm like, oh, I think I can do that. And then the first patient comes in and they always have that exact problem. I'll be like, no, no, I won't go ham on this.

[00:23:55] And the first patient will come in and they have that exact problem. And I'm like, I guess we're doing it. And like you said, whoever's on your table is meant for you. And it's just, it's always the 745 on a Monday morning. That's my first patient time slot. That 745 patient has got exactly whatever I learned on the weekend. And yeah, you book three across or whatever. And it's always the first person on the table. It doesn't matter who else is on that line. It's that guy.

[00:24:25] And then you're like, are you here for me or am I here for you? I'm not exactly. Yeah, let's have a good exchange here. I'll be honest. I just learned this. Let's see how it goes. But I think that that's why, again, that's why going to these things and learning and always progressing your skills helps you maintain that curiosity and that excitement. Because if you're not curious about how you can help someone, I remember Dr.

[00:24:52] Pete saying that at an immersion and I was watching it on video, obviously, because I wasn't in the States. And he's like, you've got to be curious. You've got to be curious about who's in front of you and how you can help them. And that's stuck with me ever since. It's like, if you and for the guys out there that struggle to hit that empathy point and that empathetic connection, the curiosity side of things will pull your empathy into it, I find.

[00:25:19] If you're curious about how you can help someone and you stay curious, and even when they get to that R4 and they're through that initial intensive phase of care and you're like, okay, I'm really curious about what your next goal is and how we can move that forward and how we can progress through corrective care. That curiosity saves the mundane for you on a day-to-day basis, but also saves the patient from feeling like they're just a number, that they're not getting that same loving services

[00:25:49] when they first walk through the door. You know, we've gone all sorts of places today, but like, if the take home is, guys, stay curious about your patients and keep connecting with what their goals are and keep staying curious about their life, then I think we're winning. Yes. And get yourself some good seminars coming up, whether they're the immersions with TRP, or maybe if you're in the States, like Mile High or Focus OKC or the next Innate Summit in Australia, like these are great things too.

[00:26:19] Back in Perth, another one in Perth. I know. You guys are great. I had so much fun with you. It was a great experience to be there. And I messaged Sam and I was like, so when is the Innate Summit coming to the US? You know, we could have, you know, halfway around the world, but over here also, right? Right. I'm sure we'll get a huge turnout. So if the Innate guys are listening. Yeah. Let's get this going. But let's leave it in Perth for at least another year. Yeah, sounds good. Super convenient for me.

[00:26:49] Awesome. Well, Andrew, you're amazing. Thanks for jumping on today. I'm excited for us to record some more. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. I do too. It'll be great. All right. Hey, everyone. Please listen in for this next bonus interview of one of our remarkable success partners. They all help us help more people find the benefits of chiropractic. So listen on. All right. Dr. Pete here. And I'm in the studio today with J.R. Marse from Blue Ridge.

[00:27:18] And this is not a new partnership for me. I want to tell a little story, J.R., if that's cool. So one of the guys that works with you, his name is Hans, is somebody that we worked with over the years. And he just really impressed me with his just knowledge of x-ray and radiology and his ability to solve problems and help our doctors who have worked with him. And so when he told me that he was with Blue Ridge, I was like, oh, tell me more.

[00:27:47] And so he started telling me about your company and how proud he was to be a part of your organization. And so, number one, we're just excited to I'm happy to be in this conversation with you today. And number two, just thankful for the work that you guys do helping chiropractors help more people. We like to say that our success partners help the doctors who we serve be more successful in their work, help them make a bigger impact, help them make a bigger income. And that's what this is about. So thanks for taking the time to meet with me today. And I'm looking forward to our conversation. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:28:14] So tell us a little bit about you, J.R., a little bit about your company, just at a high level. We'll introduce yourself to anyone who might not know who you are. Yeah, no, thank you, Dr. Pete, for the time today. And again, as you said, my name is J.R. Marcy with Blue Ridge Imaging. We are a national footprint company. We specifically focus on x-ray for all different medical markets, specifically for your market will be the chiropractic. The company has been around for over 40 years. It's owned by two.

[00:28:43] One, an administrator in his past, and one was a service engineer in his past as well. And they built Blue Ridge Imaging over the years and have truly focused on what they can do, as you said earlier, to give a better solution. And whether that's in chiropractic or in hospitals or in veterinarian practices, whatever that may be. So we pride ourselves on being able to do that. And I've been doing it for a good while. My background in x-ray is I actually went to x-ray school as an x-ray technologist.

[00:29:12] I was in that for a little while. I actually met my wife in x-ray school tool, a funny thing there. And I did x-ray for a handful of years. I got an MRI, did CT, became an administrator in a hospital, and then was introduced into the OEM space with a serum company that was out of Germany for about nine years. And then just continued to flow through the OEM space. Have found myself here at Blue Ridge for the past three and a half years. I'm the VP of sales, business development, and operations.

[00:29:41] So we carry a lot of hats with Blue Ridge and are proud of the company of what they built. And we have a bright future ahead of ourselves. And again, you mentioned Hans, and Hans is a great asset to our team. I was very lucky to run across him. And I knew Hans from the past, but was happy to see him on the market and we could grab him. So he's a great asset to us. Awesome. Well, I did not know all that about you. So that's cool. You met your wife in school. A lot of chiropractors meet their spouses when they're in chiropractic school. So you carry that in common with many of our listeners.

[00:30:11] And then I love that you were in this space for actually a bunch of years. Sounds like you were in different positions. You're actually in a hospital. You had roles in a hospital. Just so any of our listeners don't know, because you use language like OEM, help us understand that, what that is, just so all of our listeners can understand. Yeah, for sure. So OEM is basically the manufacturer that's making a product. So I work directly for a manufacturer and did sales for them, did clinical applications for them, a couple of different ones.

[00:30:40] And then now I'm on what you call a dealer side, which means we buy product that OEM, the manufacturer produces, and we buy it and we resell it and we service and support that product. And that's what Blue Ridge Imaging does. I love it. All right, that was helpful. All right. So, you know, we teach that every business exists to solve a problem. I think I know what the problem is that you solve, but I'm going to let you kind of talk that one out. Like help us understand, like, what is it that you do? I mean, you just basically summarize what you're doing.

[00:31:10] But help me understand. I'm a chiropractor. I have a practice or I have multiple practices. You know, what is it that when I look at Blue Ridge Imaging and why they're on my team, because I look at you guys as a part of my team, right? We should look at you guys that way. Walk us through, like, what are you guys, what problems are you solving right now? You know, the biggest problem I think that we solve for a chiropractic, new doctor or existing doctor that maybe they're moving their practice, whatever it may be, is that we're a turnkey solution. So we know contractors.

[00:31:40] We know where to buy your lead for the lead walls. We're able to get you accessories to protect yourself lead. And then we're also from the equipment side. We take it from it's a shell of a room or even not even a room yet. And we walk you through drawings, physicists, inspections. We show you the equipment. We can take you to equipment so that you can see it. We can give you demos, whatever that may be. And then we walk you through the process of getting that installed, working with a contractor. You might use your own contractor. That's perfectly fine.

[00:32:08] If not, we're able to supply that as well. So and then we walk you through getting the equipment installed by our team that are certified in this space. And we help you get with physicists to make sure that they check the system, make sure it's producing what it should. And then we train you on how to use it. And then we are able to offer you after your warranty is up, after everything is working perfectly fine, we're able to give you warranty service agreements on that. Or as in this space, people typically don't buy service agreements, but we do time and material.

[00:32:37] If you want something's wrong or the system just needs a preventative maintenance, which means, hey, we just want to come out once a year to make sure everything is running exactly the way that the manufacturer says that it should. We do that and we can offer that all over the United States. I love it. But, you know, you've watched, I mean, you've been in this, how, so, but from the time you went to school to where you are now, how long have you been in this space? 25 years. 25 years. So you've seen the evolution of chiropractic. I mean, when I started my chiropractic practice, I was doing plain film.

[00:33:04] I had a, I was processing in a, in a, in a little closet, you know, like, and I was doing, I did a lot of x-rays because I took a lot of, I saw a lot of people and I took x-rays as part of my, my chiropractic model. Right. So, so I'm just thinking about, man, how far has this place, how far has this industry evolved over this, the last two decades that I've been in this space?

[00:33:22] So one of the questions I like to ask whenever I meet with partners and people like you is, so with all the changes that have happened, as you look ahead in the next, let's say one to three years, how do you see what's evolving, influence, infiltrating into my profession, our profession of chiropractic? Just based on what you're seeing, like, what are you kind of foreseeing? Yeah. What's that going to look like in the chiro space? Just what are you kind of seeing? What, if you could predict, what would you say would have, is happening?

[00:33:50] You know, I think from a prediction standpoint, it's kind of already taken place now of where I think it's going to go further. You know, AI is the biggest thing and all that. So we'll, we'll just kind of go a little further into what AI really is. So when you take an image and you have a full spine and, you know, you have to do a lot of work now as a, as a physician, as a doctor, you've got to go in and look at the spacing. You've got to see the alignment. You have to do things with tools that are offered on your, your screen.

[00:34:16] I mean, the AI tool that most are trying to get perfected these days is that instead of you having to spend hours to, to align the spine and to see the spacing and then airing or whatever it may be, is that it automatically puts that output there for you. And you're able to go and just check behind it. So that's kind of taken place now, but it hasn't been perfected. So I see that happening probably within the next year or so that it's actually done well.

[00:34:41] And then abnormalities will be able to automatically be triggered and seen with AI tools. But taking a little bit further, I think that's going to happen. And I think that as a physician and as a healthcare person myself, you know, we like to talk to people. We like to ask them what's wrong so that we can help them, you know, find a solution for them. However, that's not always the case. And plus, the faster things can go through, the business benefits.

[00:35:09] I think that people are going to walk in the door and they're going to walk into an x-ray suite that they stand there. They are told to put their feet on the left and right feet spots and they're going to hold their hands to the side. And it's going to do a full body scan. And then you're going to be able to go and look at all the different dictations, if you will, as a physician. So I think it's going to get to that. It's almost like it's kind of how we are when we walk through the x-ray machine in the airports. So it's going to be very, very similar to that, I think, in the next probably 10 years.

[00:35:39] That's good. And do you foresee like that? Because you think about that kind of equipment and technology, you think all the expense. There's no way a small town chiro is going to have that in their office. You're saying, no, it's going to literally be in a local chiropractor's office. They're going to have this level of tech. Yeah, I think so. And honestly, it's not like it's a CT scan, a spiral scan that does all this. It's just a detector that you already are. Most chiropractors are buying anyway. It's just a movement of that that it needs. And then there's an algorithm and then there's software.

[00:36:10] All that's pretty cheap. So eventually it's going to get there, just like DR panels. If you remember 25 years ago when you bought a DR panel, it was $150,000. You can buy a panel now with a five-year warranty for less than $20,000. So yeah, it's going to get there. It's good. I love this. And I'm so happy because as a chiropractor who loves educating my patients and helping them understand what's going on, because we teach the four agreements, problem, goal, path, plan, and we go over the problem, we want the patient to understand.

[00:36:39] So we want to teach them in a way where they can look at their own findings. Particularly, I like using x-rays and radiographs. I think they're really powerful. It's not the only objective test that I use or we've used, but we definitely teach that. I love this because the level of insight somebody can have is going to increase their likelihood of understanding what their problem is and then wanting to get the help. And so being able to say yes to your recommendations for care. And then for you as a provider to be able to know exactly where things are and what's going on so I can do my best work so everybody wins.

[00:37:08] So I see this as a win-win-win. And like you said, buying back a lot of the doctor's time of the amount of time it takes for them to analyze the films and write reports, etc. And so much of that's going to be able to be done for them. And you could just come in behind that and say, okay, verify, verify, verify. I think that's, I love that. So I see this being able to help us grow our businesses, serve more people, do it more efficiently, more effectively, more compliantly, and all the things. So good stuff.

[00:37:36] So I know you're a nationwide company and we have people worldwide listening, but tell us a little bit more about how docs can get in contact with you, learn more. What could be a next step for some of our listeners? Yeah, absolutely. So Blue Ridge Imaging, we have our website, it's blueridgeimaging.com. Actually, if you type in blueridgexray.com, it'll bring you to us as well. The company has been around a long time, so we've kind of evolved into those two different staple of names. So if you go on our website, it's pretty intuitive.

[00:38:04] It'll walk you through getting in touch with an imaging specialist, which is depending on wherever you're located. In the United States will be an individual there locally, at least, that you could talk to, probably visit with. And then also, my name is JR. You can always call me. Beautiful. Well, JR, we appreciate you. Thank you for your partnership. Thank you for being a part of the Remarkable Practice family, helping our doctors help more people. I'm so grateful every time I see you guys, whether it's at our live events or even just running into you now,

[00:38:35] that we have someone like you and your organization as part of our organization and helping our docs with these needs because they're real. And when you need somebody, when you have an issue or a challenge or you want to grow and expand, having a resource like Blue Ridge Imaging is a huge win for us all. So thank you. Appreciate your time today. And for all of our listeners, thanks for tuning in. And remember to tune in next week for the next episode. Until then, take care. All right. Thank you.

[00:39:16] Thanks for listening to this episode of Build Your Remarkable Practice podcast. Remember, what the world needs now is chiropractic. And what chiropractic needs now is more successful chiropractors. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and leave us a review. And if you'd like to connect with us personally, please click the links in the show notes to schedule a call.