036 - Building Your Practice with Purpose and Connection: Dr. Devin Vrana's Journey

Just understand pain of any kind. And to me, the way home through the pain is chiropractic. But I have to. I've got to walk into their situation alongside so, you know, really getting empathetic and aware of what your particular avatar suffers with and learning how to walk into that with them so that you can lead them back out of it.

Hello.

Hello and welcome to Build you'd 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. Bobbi 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.

All right, welcome back to the Build your remarkable practice podcast. I am excited today. It's Dr. Lona Cook, and I'm bringing one of my greatest friends as well as just such an amazing human and chiropractor and mama and wife and so many other labels. But this doesn't sum her up. My great friend, Dr. Devin Farana. She practices in Wichita and she is here to share some gems in her season of build. So welcome. Devin, thanks for joining us today.

Always a pleasure, my friend. Chiropractic and Dr. Lona, that's like two of my favorite things in one place. So.

You're so sweet. So, Devin, you know, gosh, I. I just, like, know the force that you carry. And so when we were talking, Dr. Bobby and I of like, who should we interview that is involved with remarkable practice, but also, like, has quite a story, I'm sure from the season of Build. Devin has built an amazing practice, and you've likely seen her on so many stages throughout the United States and the world, preaching chiropractic, selling chiropractic, loving on chiropractic, sometimes giving chiropractors a spanking. I'll say, Devon, Veronica can give you a spanking. And you'll say thank you.

Because she has such a heart for chiropractic and chiropractors. So you likely have seen her on social media or heard from her, but if you haven't, go follow her because she is some of the medicine we need in chiropractic to get you right with yourself and your practice. So, Devin, tell us a little bit about who you are in chiropractic and, you know, maybe a bit of your journey early on in chiropractic that got you to opening your own doors and growing your own practice.

Yeah, that, that rewind, you know, comes in a couple of different forms. So very first practice was with my husband back in 2011. We opened doors. So we graduated in 2010. He did all the build out. I got pregnant with twins because that seemed like the best thing to do coming out of school, crazy in debt. But I really did, you know, I have that foresight of like, I'm always, I'm never going to be this level of busy. It only gets busier from here. And so for him it was this crippling, like, you want to have kids now? But for me, as a female chiropractor, I'm looking at the long game going. I have more time to give my body my babies now than I probably will from here on out. So I'm grateful that, you know, that was, I guess, innate's calling to get going on that. Also that season in all my nausea, to get all the, the things together. And we were just young kids, man. Like the hunger of that time right in that build. You don't know what you don't know you're in love. You like, you can't wait. The pressures on the student loan stuff's coming in. And so, you know, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. So we felt that weight of all this work we'd done and it was the fuel, you know. And what I would say in those days, and probably the theme that I will say throughout is I was obsessed with putting myself at the right table. So I was constantly seeking out who was where I wanted to be and sitting right next to them, not three doors down from them, right next to them. And you know, I think that I could maybe match myself up against some people that were in similar seasons that just, it didn't have that level of hunger of like, tell me, tell me, show me, show me. But how do you do that? But where do you do that? And I didn't want to read it in a book. I wanted to hear it, I wanted to feel it. I knew what their practice was seeing, I knew what it was collecting. I knew, you know, what type of lifestyle they were leading. So I very intentionally kind of saw those mentors and Joey and I, you know, we had babies. The game plan was five or 10 years we would open a separate location. And so I knew that that location, I was going to be more his supportive. But we just.

It turned out. So we always joke, you know, that we decided to split practices because we wanted to stay married because we love each other a lot. And if you find yourself, you know, and you're in that team dynamic and there's two CEOs and it's this two headed dragon that your staff, no one could get clear answers. And it kind of constantly feels like there's a fight with mom and dad going on that's not healthy. Right. So we, we had enough faith in chiropractic and really enough faith in ourselves to get centered and go, you know. Yes. We're gonna like basically bankroll everything we've built into a sec, a second location which makes not a ton of business sense. But we knew that our hands were the fire, we knew that our hearts couldn't fail. And because we've been really diligent at coming back to center with one another. And whether your significant other is a chiropractor or not, if you want a healthy marriage, if that's the long game for you, you want a healthy, vibrant, connected, you know, desire and passion filled marriage, you gotta be, you know, consistent in coming back to that center. Because I'm fire element and I want to sprint and I want to go fast, but if I don't come back to him first and we don't get square and really centered, I miss the opportunity for, for my fire to be multiplied because he has my back and because I have his. So if I'm going my way and he's going his, we're fractured instead of, you know, unified. And that's made all the difference for us, you know, and, and I think my ability in my season, when I opened that second and then built really fast where I was like, I think more than anything I knew who I wanted to serve. I had lived through a really traumatic birth and my baby was super colicky and healed, you know, exponentially once chiropractic came into my life and his life and I could hear his cry and, and record that.

That child, your firstborn, you had in prior to becoming a chiropractor in pre chiropractic school.

So I had him and he, you know, he had a really rough four set birth and didn't sleep for two years and cycled through ear infections, had a vaccine injury. I mean like I went down this road and, and I'm just trying to get through school. Single mom and I mean I was a year into chiropractic school before chiropractors said you should get him checked. And I look back on that and it's like what? Like, you know, like how did someone not grab a hold of me sooner? And so I had this angst of like, why didn't someone tell me I needed your help? Chiropractic, like, where were you? He was suffering. I was suffering. And so I had this chip on my shoulder of like, it won't be on my watch. That fueled me. I tapped into my own pain. I tapped into his of remembering what it felt like. And literally, my vision board in the back of my practice, on my cell phone, anywhere I could put was pictures of him as a baby and pictures of me that were not good pictures. These are the ones that I'm like, I look sick and he looks sick. And it be. It just became the mission. And then as different life things happened, and my uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed away very suddenly. And my mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed away relatively fast. I took all of those things and. And I added them to my why and just said, you know, I know I can't fix it. I know that, you know, it's not up to me to save the world, but when I meet my maker, I will be able to look at him and look at my mom and sit with Jesus and say, I did it. I did everything you called me to do, and I helped everyone I could help. And that, that. That depth of being able to feel into the pain and pull it into your practice and your why, I think is essential. And I think a lot of the subluxation is that guarded heart that a lot of chiropractors haven't really tapped into.

That could open up a whole lot of light for themselves and for the people they lay hands on.

Oh, everybody can just go back and re. Listen right there. You know, Devin, you said a couple of things that I want to double click on. First of all, if this is your first time listening to Devin, like, she means everything she said, as you can probably feel through that podcast, and knowing her for years and years at this point, like the conviction, the certainty she carries into this. This profession, this opportunity, whether you're sitting down with a new patient or you're on a stage, is with that heart. And I believe that is why she makes mountains move. Because the conviction that's there that you could feel. The other thing you said that I thought was great, if you're listening and you're in the midst of building your practice, is that word hunger. And there is a really important.

Phase of your practice anyways, where that hunger needs to drive you over your wanting to stay the same or wanting to stay comfortable because you are going to need to transform. And if you're hungry for you know, what could be possible enough to propel you into, like Devin said, sitting in certain rooms that she knew she was going to get fed. You also said something else. So there, where it's like, I asked the question, I asked the question, I asked the question. I wanted to see and I wanted to get the answers of like, how did you do that? How did you, how did that work? How did you know this happened is that I think so many times young chiropractors educatedly understand something there. Maybe they've conceptually gotten the material. But to actually visually go see it or be around somebody that's walking it out fully is a whole different ball game.

So yeah, I don't think when BJ Palmer said, you know, get the big idea, he meant an idea in your head. I think he meant like, go get it. Go get that big idea and put it in your body and put it in your hands and put it in your practice and put it in your life. Like, I think there's an, it's a, it's a get in a verb, not this like conceptual thing, which is very, very different, right? There's a, there's a tenacity there. And Napoleon Hill, Burning Desire, right? Like it's, it's in all the business books, right? You got to have that thing to build the life for you and your family, to serve the people. And it's got to drive, you know, past the fears, the doubts, the inadequacies, the complacencies. Like you just gotta stack those logs that make you burn in the face of, of the things that maybe whisper, you know, otherwise.

And Devin, what if someone's listening? Like, okay, I see how she used some of these like gut wrenching things to help build her conviction of like, I could do more or I could say something or I could help other people from suffering this much. What would you say to the young carburetor? Like, maybe I don'. H. I don't know if I have those stories. Like, how do I build that conviction?

First of all, bless your heart, right? It's not if, it's when because the storms hit all of us. And so, you know, don't, don't wish for that because I've literally had like the pain. They're like, I want to feel that type of pain. It's like, don't go looking for it. It will find you in your own, in your own timing. But I would go, you know, to your avatar, right? So let's talk babies and kids. Pediatrics is really big in chiropractic. Right now. So go to the hospital, to the NICU if you get a chance. Go to where the baby's hurt, Go to the places, you know, volunteer in some of the, you know, local places where there's the single moms that their kids are so sick and they don't have money to make ends meet. Like, go to where the pain is and just observe and feel. Because I think we get in our own heads in our own offices where we live in chiropractic, we live in alternate reality from the Matrix, so to speak. And so if it's elderly, go to the nursing homes. If it's moms, you know, get to know your doulas and your birth centers, go to the, go to the meetings, go serve them somewhere and figure out what their pain points are. Get hungry about that so that you, if chiropractic is the answer and it's the solution, why specifically to your avatar is chiropractic, you know, that sav that medicine. But I think you really got to get to know their pain. And because I had felt it then, when I'm sitting across from someone in, you know, a consult, I don't need to resonate with their exact story. I just understand pain of any kind. And to me, the way home through the pain is chiropractic. But I have to, I've got to walk into their situation alongside. So, you know, really getting empathetic and aware of what you're particular avatar suffers with and learning how to walk into that with them so that you can lead them back out of it.

So good. And in trp, you know, when we are talking about that process of meeting the new patient and bringing them through, like a day one process, a day two process, we say it's an emotional time. And part of it is like they made the effort to make the appointment and show up, and now it's our job to connect, which is what Devin is just offering is like connection is not just I listened. It is, yes, of course I listened, but did I feel? Did I see? What, what didn't I, what didn't I hear? All these things that allow you then to be like, okay, that's part of the conviction is also not just like, I'm certain about chiropractic, but I'm certain that like, you're in the right place. I felt you. And now let me give you the good news of what we do next, you know?

Yeah. And I, I mean the power potential in TRP and what I love as I'm watching those with the team is like, that. I. I love watching the cas go H. Like, you know, in the beginning, it's 80 them. We actually, like, if you've ever had a headache, if you've ever had a broken bone, you have a toothache, if the dentist is, like, talking to you about BJ Palmer or the history of chiropractic or how you can heal anything, I literally would probably walk out of there if I was in, like, an acute need like that. But if they're centered and they're just listening and they just see me and they just say. And they take it seriously, I think sometimes we get too excited. And this I would say to the build people, because in the beginning, I was, like, overly confident. I'm like, I got you. Like, this is it. Let's. Let's jump in. But I was high, and so I was jumping. And they're like, I mean, think about the mom that's been up and, yeah, I love your enthusiasm, lady. But, like, you don't hear me. You don't see me. You know, I was, like, too excited. And where I needed to be more serious, and it needed to be. I don't know what's going to be the right plan for you. And I needed to slow it all down so to meet them in their energy field so that again, I can help expand them back out. Because when they're in that, like, fear, pain, doubt, they've heard all these things about chiropractic. We come in hot, and it's 80% about us versus 80% about them. You're going to lose. They might stay for a while, but they're not going to stay through the long haul of your journey. And so build it to last. Build it, you know, slow and intentionally with thought and genuine care and compassion instead of, I got you. Can I sell you? Because that. That won't last. It'll burn out. And your churn is just going to wear you out in the long run.

So much gold there, too.

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I love that. Devin, thank you for offering all that. The 8020 is a good thing to keep in mind as well as matching the person in front of you and been in their body language, matching that body language. And we were just having this conversation with one of my team. We were talking about like many of us, not all of us, but many of us are so relationally oriented and empathetic that sometimes too we stay there too long where we don't move into like, and now what do you do about it? Right? Like, tell me what to do, doctor.

Right.

So that's some of it too is just to think about like, okay, who am I? Who do I need to be when I step into that room? Just like Devin offered, like, is it about me or is it about them? Right? And what, what's my mindset walking in here? Because they're trusting you based off of the certainty and conviction that you carry into that room.

And the ability to grab the gears comes with time, right? But in the beginning, this is where training is essential. So you know, when maybe I had 20 people on the books and my goal is to see a hundred, like we would literally do 80. We would take our little cards we had and we would walk the steps of 80 visits. And at the time, you know, I think I was really into.

Sons of Anarchy. So we had like the whole of of Sons of Anarchy coming in. Jacks come right in, you know, like, so we made it fun so it wasn't this tedious thing. I remember laughing with the team and it was like, but we were hungry. But we were also training our nervous systems to like do the steps so that my body knew the steps of a daily visit. My body knew the steps of a day one, a day two, so that like, my heart and soul could be fully present. Because my mind was like, I trained my machine, I trained my animal to walk the steps. So it was, it knew what to do at the pace I wanted to move. And I did that to 100, I did that to 200, I did that to 400, I did that beyond. Because I wanted to be ready. And, and not just me. You have to involve the team. Right. So if, if these are the things that don't come as natural to you. Like, I've sat with some people that are the most phenomenal adjusters, but their connection is junk, you know? And it's like, okay, this is your subluxation. You need to do 10 day ones in your office, sitting across, across from nothing until you can get yourself there. It's like practicing the free throws like Dispenza talks about. And if you're not practicing, I don't care what level you're at, if you're not training, you're not growing. That's not possible. So, you know, I mean, I think we never get out of this one. This one is, you know, we're committed to. As long as you're in practice, you're going to be training at some level.

Yeah. And in life, you're not growing unless you're expanding that container. So. Good. Yes. If you. Okay, so if you think back on some of those things you said, like I'm adjusting invisible, invisible bodies or the Sons of Anarchy. And, and like you, a mentor, gave me that. And I remember thinking like, this is the stuff that nobody does. Right. Because it's effort.

Right.

And discipline. What were some of those other pieces that were things like that, that stand out in your mind? That was like when I was volumetrically growing, like to a point where it was all on me, but I wanted to push my own container. What were some of the things that stood out?

So when we hit so up to a hundred, this is like, this advice changed my life. I'm somebody who's naturally busy, right. I like, I got lots of ideas. I want to try 15 different things. Some of the best advice that really, like helped me multiply was like, once you hit until 100, you do anything you got to do, business cards, you know, going to different events, networking, hosting events at your office. Go, go, go, go, go. Hit 100. Nothing external. I mean, he, he was just like, now you double down on your People, because if they're not referring, everybody they know that means that the gap is in your care, it's in your service. It's not in your marketing or quit marketing. Because even if 100 came in, you don't have the capacity. Because if you did, they would just be referring like crazy. So once I hit 100 and it was uncomfortable because I wanted to get busy on social media, and I look at today's generation who's coming up in social media, there's a lot of busy and it ain't productive. And I love your logos and I love your pictures and your reels are great. But if I come in your house, how many lives are you changing? So I would really, like, invite you to look at where, like, are you busy or are you productive? You hit a certain level, whatever that level is for you, stop the excess stuff for a while and just double down on your care and your internal referrals. You know, second to that people to.

Do them right, like. Or hire someone else to do it.

Yeah, eventually. Yeah, you got it. I mean, you just. If you chase two rabbits, you catch none. So if I'm playing this marketing game, then I'm not playing the caregiver game, and I want to play the caregiver game and then hire the marketing or hire another set of hands if I. If marketing is really my calling. But when you're in build you the. The tiny fractures that you do unto yourself can cost you hundreds of visits and thousands and thousands of dollars. And so I surrounded myself with people, and I'm really grateful in the beginning that it was. It was very lean overhead. It was, you know, less is more. All of my money did not go to market. Is this probably the second thing is like the put yourself at the table thing. I was. I mean, I was always at something, always where it's like, what could I go? You know, Is it Cal Jam?

Is it.

You know what? Within that group? And I. And I went straight to the ones that were, like, they were living the life they had, the practices. I knew it. You know, and then. Can I come shadow your practice? Because I can't again, I need to see it. I need to feel the tone. I took my staff everywhere. So it wasn't just about me. It was like, no energy bus. I can't just come back on fire. And you look at me like, cool. Good for you. Like, no, where we go one. Like, we're good. And. And you can see the difference in my seasons of practice, when I was doing that really well. And When I kind of went out on my own, it gets harder to bring it home and root it down. So then you're just what my mentor would call a motivated idiot. You know, where it's like, great do any good, you know, so, you know, you're really limiting your busyness and making those travels is stretching yourself. So I'm, I'm talking like, I spent 10 lots of money on Big Trap. So it's like when he would plan a, this was pinnacle. Steve Hayes, when he would plan something in New York City at, you know, the Waldorf. And I'm like, in my mind, all of my stories came up, but every time I was given an opportunity to stretch past that and leverage all my chips into it, even when I couldn't afford it, the universe proved to me over. I mean, when you get an opportunity to stretch financially, mindset wise, experience wise, and then I would, I would push yourself past the brink to prove that the universe has got your back and that it backfills because it multiplied every time.

Yeah, same. And I, I think you said something else there. You brought, you were intentionally bringing your team with you, which a lot of chiropractors that I've noticed, like, kind of have. I'll just say, like, ask backwards thinking on that where it's like, oh, well, if I bring everyone, it's going to cost me $8,000 or $6,000 or whatever cost me, right? Versus like, this is an investment in the potentiality of what this practice is going to produce because they are now more rooted, more grounded, more focused, etc, right?

So this is, and it's not your money, it's God's money. It's your practice's money. I think we align ourselves. Our identity becomes our practice, which it's like, well, I can't take them. It's like they're building it like it's theirs too. And if you, if you have that level of hierarchy and this identity that this money in this thing is mine, you're out of right relationship, in my opinion. You know, like, you got to pay yourself as a doctor and take disbursements, maybe as a CEO, but then the money in the, in the kitty, so to speak, is what God's abundance is giving you to spend back into the machine. So it can, it's the golden goose, right? It's just like you gotta love on it so that it can love you back. Which I think takes, you know, overcoming your own money mindset issues. Because that, that was, that was big. I mean, that's the first Decade of my professional career is breaking down walls inside my own mind.

So good. So good. All right, Devin, there's so many gold nuggets here that you've already shared us. But if you think about looking back now, now you're scaling, you've got more doctors. Like what would you share with your younger self in, in like that season of build knowing now what you know coming into, like adding more doctors into the practice. Is there a lesson you would share with yourself?

You know, and this is where TRP has just been.

Such a, like an amazing and.

Painful in a good way experience because it, it always comes back to vision, right? So work on your manual, work on your SOPs. In a day of AI, if you make a list of all of your procedures and you turn on loom a couple times a week, it kind of goes back to what I said about kids. You're never going to be less busy. There's always going to be more on your plate. So the more you can get in there so that when you're ready to bring on another doctor or if a ca that's been with you for a really long time decides she's going to go a different way in life or you know, mine's staying home with her kids now that was a huge hit because I didn't, I, I. It was personality based. Personality on me, personality on her versus building these systems that go with your vision to where it's replicatable. You build it strong first. I built it fast first and then I had to come back and build it strong.

I'm grateful because I know how to get back to fast. I know it's possible, but I wish that I would have been more diligent in building it strong systems wise and that I did see it as this entity that could breathe without me. Right. If that's the. And I think that just comes back to the foresight. I don't think enough chiropractors probably out of either someone not letting them know that it's a possibility or not enough time, whatever it is, like they don't spend enough time in the vision. I'm talking 10, 15, 20 year vision. And we're so here and now, which is our gift because we are super rooted in the now moment, which is so powerful, but we're not thinking, you know, So I. It took me losing my mom, having a second set of twins with an emergency C section at the tail end of that and a Blue Cross audit. I mean it took a year that almost killed me to slow me down out of fast and into. I don't want to do it like this forever, you know, and it. I don't want it to take other chiropractors going through pain like that because I don't, you know, it just doesn't have to get there. You can. You can do it different.

So good. Devin, you're such a breath of fresh air amongst like a revive for so many people that maybe are like, okay, Like, I know that I'm feeling some of this pain right now, and I maybe could actually use this to help me instead of being the thing that's stops me in my tracks. And I think if you're listening to this, you can relate also, you know, if you can ever go and hear Devon speak for any length of time and bring your team for the record, it's fantastic. So, Devon, thank you for your pearls of wisdom today. Is there anything you want to leave the tribe with as we close?

Yeah, I mean, I. I've done it multiple times and I, you know, it's you that said, hey, you should come to trp. Hey, you should come to trp. And I think you've said it for months before. I was finally like, like, okay, you know, you're a good friend. I'll do it. I remember signing up, getting in the vault, seeing all the information and being like, I don't have time for this. I'm gonna give it a month because I love lona, and then I'm quitting out of here, you know, because I was. I can do it. And I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I can do it all by myself. And if we as chiropractors can one by one get rid of that story and start trying to go together and expanding each other, I mean, the entire field for humanity changes. So I think we got to stop playing the I think I can game and get together and have each other's back and hold each other to higher standards. And I'm just. I'm grateful that a friend, ntrp, came in my life when it did. And so I guess my call is to, you know, those wild hearts, those, you know, I can do it by myself. The go getters that have that mentality, there's more. There's more out there. There's more in here. And you can only really get there being in a really powerful community. So just don't try to do it all by yourself.

Wise words. All right, find her on social media. Follow her up. Obviously share this podcast with any of your chiro friends that need to hear that too, because she dropped some major nuggets there. And we will see you guys on the next remarkable podcast. We'll see then.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Build you'd 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.