039 - From Practice Struggles to Growth Strategies: Insights from Dr. Travis Stewart

I realized very quickly that, you know, in order to sustain this business and grow this business, I needed to be a marketing strategist, a sales associate, an acting chiropractor, a customer service representative, a social media, you know, person. I had to do all of these things. I had to wear all of these tats, and I didn't really anticipate that.

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. 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.

All right, welcome back, you guys. We're back on Build you'd Remarkable Practice podcast and I am here with a guest today that I was already really enjoying our conversation pre recording. So I've got Dr. Travis Stewart here from Colorado. He has move chiropractic in Boulder, Colorado, and has a lot of wisdom to share from his journey in the last four years of building and scaling and growing and revisiting where he needs to go to go to the next level for his practice. So welcome, Dr. Travis. Excited. Excited to hear from you today.

Thanks, Dr. Lona. Thanks for having me. I think this is a. It's a great podcast. It's a great opportunity for docs that are in that build phase and looking to scale or maybe they've just scaled and they want to continue to revisit the fundamentals and. And like we mentioned previously, get con content and experience from other docs that are doing similar things. So thanks for having me.

Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for taking the time. I know you have a little one too. So on a Friday morning, you could be snuggling babies, right?

Yeah, yeah. It's been an exercise of time management, one that I've never been great at time management, and it's something that I'm having to prioritize now. So I'm getting better. But yeah, it's. It's certainly been a change. I won't say challenge. It has been a challenge, but a lot of change.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I, you know, I was just having this conversation with the younger doc of, you want to learn capacity, right? Like, what's your capacity?

Right.

Have a. Have a child start a practice. Like, these all push that envelope of what is my true capacity? How much energy do I have? Where does my focus need to Be, you know, that. That is an exercise for sure.

Yeah. What are my values? You know, what do I want to prioritize? Because I think at first it's. It's self sustainability. And, you know, I'm just. I'm just focused on the needs of the self and then the needs of my partner. And now we have this other organism that needs us to sustain life. And so all of these little projects that I was previously able to do, all of the little hobbies, all of those things, it's like they go up on a whiteboard, and I have to analyze and be like, all right, where. Where do I want to spend my time now? So it's a great exercise as an entrepreneur and a business owner as well, because you. You do truly have to hone your. Your time, your energy, your money, and all of your resources.

Yeah. Beautiful. Okay, well, let's jump in. So we would love to just hear your story a little bit because you've had a rapid growth and you. Four years ago in, you know, the midst of 2020, which, you know, quite a. Quite a year to open, I imagine. And so I'd love to just hear a little bit about your journey and tell. Tell our listeners about your last four years and kind of where you're at now and also what you're revisiting now. So.

Yeah, what we're working on. Yeah, I mean, you know, the story starts in 2020, as you mentioned. It was a really tough time. I didn't know how tough of a time it was going to be until we opened. Really. I didn't understand how much that kind of economic downturn was going to affect the service industry. And coming out as a student, I was really jazzed. You know, I had just had a lot of energy, a lot of life, a lot of vitality, a lot of zest for chiropractic. And so we decided to move to Boulder, which is a place that we had been one time when visiting to see if we wanted to live here, you know, and build a practice here. And we decided it was. We were both Texans. You know, we. We grew up. We're. We're born and raised in Texas and went off to the military, I did, at least into the Air Force and came back. And then I went to college in Texas and then went to chiropractic school at Park University in Texas.

Okay.

And then. And then Covid hit and, you know, Texas was obviously, you know, struck with. With COVID as well, but we just didn't experience the same amount of regulation in lockdown and really, that's not something that we had anticipated experiencing in Colorado. And so we planted our flag here. We got open, and like I said, it was really challenging. It was challenging to do anything in person, you know, so those opportunities weren't available to us. And so it was trial by fire, you know, and so we had to. We had to learn really quickly. And I started to reach outside of the chiropractic industry, and I started to look for different marketing resources, sales resources, customer experience resources, all of those things, so that we could kind of piece together systems in order to build a practice that would sustain our business. And I will say, you know, starting out, I was very unaware of the discrepancy or the gap between being a chiropractor and the skill sets of being a chiropractor and the skill sets of being a business owner. And that was something that I learned very quickly. And I think that had to do with, like, the hardship that we were facing early on just due to the COVID regulation and the lockdown. I think that's something that chiropractors probably experience in the onset of their business anyway. But for us, I think it was amplified quite a bit. And so I realized very quickly that, you know, in order to sustain this business and grow this business, I needed to be a marketing strategist, a sales associate, an acting chiropractor, a customer service representative, a social media, you know, person. I. I had to do all of these things. I had to wear all of these tats, and I didn't really anticipate that, you know, like, coming out. I'd spent a lot of time learning how to adjust and learning how to detect and correct subluxation, and I felt like I was pretty good at communicating that. But I didn't know how to package it. I didn't know how to. How to communicate that, in layman's terminology, in a way that somebody off the street that had been conditioned by Western medicine and mainstream media in an attempt to have them see the big picture within just a few days. I didn't even know what, like, my day one and day two process should look like. I didn't know what type of exam metrics to be taking. I didn't know how to package that in a way that made sense to them, and then how to actually package my. My chiropractic offering in a way that was going to, yes, one, get them the results that they're looking for and hopefully turn them into, like, lifetime chiropractic patients. But obviously, you know, generate Some revenue in order to sustain the life and grow our business from the inside out. And so all of those things were very confusing, you know, and it was just happening at like hyperspeed. And so to be very transparent, we struggled a lot during our first few years and I struggled a lot personally. You know, I had a lot of emotional, spiritual and physical burnout that I experienced within the first 18 months of practice because of those things. It was already challenging enough to start a business as a chiropractor. And then you, you layer on top the, the COVID regulations and lockdowns and then not having this blue or this software that I could extract and plug in play that allowed me to run a proficient business and be a proficient chiropractor. It was just really tough on me. It was tough on me personally and it was tough on our relationship between Sarah and I.

So you hit some major things there that I think probably accentuated, obviously because of the circumstances in 2020, but that, you know, I think it is a common experience of like, I jumped in, I opened my doors, I'm planning for this, and I just realized I don't know how to do so many of the things I need to know how to do, you know, let alone. We could, we could argue sometimes that the newer docs haven't spent the time that you had to get proficient at communicating chiropractic and, and feeling like they could deliver the art well too, which is another hurdle, right?

Totally. Yeah. And that's something that I, I speak to quite frequently now. It's like once you decide to open up a business, you should be a proficient adjuster. You know, obviously with repetition and with time, you're, you're going to become a better chiropractor. That's just how the physical skill set works. However, you should spend as much extracurricular time training the art of detection and correction of subluxation as you can. Because as soon as you decide to open your doors and you register your LLC and you put all your, all of your life savings into this practice, you know, you, you have very little time to actually train and become a more proficient as a chiropractor, and you have to become proficient as a chiropractic business owner. And like we said, those are two different things.

And let me ask you this, Travis. Do you think, you know, you can feel like you, you walk through some hard stuff that first 18 months of being open and, and so, like, do you feel like you had always had this like, capacity to like, go deeper within? Like, okay, I Got to lean into this pain right now and figure it out. Or like, was that forged during that time?

You know, I think about that often, to be honest, and I think that I had certainly forged a lot of resilience just through my childhood. I would say that I had a challenging childhood. I think we all feel that way. But, you know, I had kind of a broken family from a young age, and so I was kind of bounced around. I never really, I was, I was pretty autonomous and self sustaining early on in life. I went into the military. I was a firefighter in the Air Force another four years. That really forge my resilience and mental fortitude. So coming out, I think I had a lot of that and I think that's what was so challenging for me is that I knew that I had acquired more fortitude based on my life experience than, than most other people, or at least that's how I felt. That may or may not be true. And so for me to be experiencing that much physical, spiritual and emotional burnout, it was really challenging. And I think that just speaks to the hardship that we were presented with, you know, and so that's why I'm so passionate now about being on podcasts like this and sharing this message with any young chiropractors that are either about to start a practice or just started a practice or currently building a practice, it's like, if I can, if I can share the mistakes that I made and the hurdles that I had to overcome in order to help, maybe not shortcut their path to success, but bring a little bit more ease and fluidity into those first few years, like, fully willing to do that.

Yes. So good. And you know, I, I, I usually say, like, there's a period and I think everybody's period lasts longer than others. Like there's different stories, obviously, but, like, where your middle name is Scrappy, right? Like, I gotta be Scrappy right now and figuring out how to build this practice and how to train my team and how to learn how to get better at marketing and communication and my technique and all of that, like, it is not a balanced point in your life, generally speaking, because it's like drinking from a fire hydrant. And, and with it also, you know, you really become someone different. And I think that's the part I agree with you. Like, if almost like you're holding space for the younger chiropractors or the new chiropractors of like, yep, I see you and it's hard. And, and the good news is some really good things are going to come out of it if you can, like, let you know yourself, become the diamond from the pressure, you know, but it's there and that's real. So in, in thinking back on that, what were some of the things that you feel like you did really well the last four years, because you haven't alluded to this, but for everyone, listen, he, you know, has scaled his practice, now has multiple practitioners. Like, he, he made it out of that place of feeling like, are we going to make a go of this? Right? Like, is this going to happen? And so what do you think were some of the things you guys did really well over the last four years?

I think what we did is that we highlighted and emphasized all of the hats that, you know, I kind of comedically ran through earlier. You know, the marketing, the sales, the team building, the hiring, the customer service, the astonishing customer experience, all of those things. And so we were really able to piece together some, some really great and proficient systems that allowed us to, to build a business, you know, and inside that business, our product was chiropractic. And I think that one thing that, that really helped us to survive and to make it through and something that I'm passionate about now is, is marketing and really getting the message of chiropractic across to a large percentage of the audience out there. And one, one thing that I'll say, and one thing that I'm proud of and a lot of other chiropractors may, you know, counter this argument is that I believe that, you know, we should sell them what they want and then give them what they need over time. And so we actually make our messaging intentionally kind of around symptoms and symptomatic expressions. And, and the reason why that we do that is, is because of what I mentioned previous. You know, people are so conditioned into this instant gratification world, and they're conditioned by the, the Western medical culture and mainstream media. And so if we can highlight some of the negative experiences and the pains that they're currently experiencing in their body and bring them into a chiropractic office, then we can show them a better way of life. You know, we can bring them into this holistic approach of, of purity and organic lifestyle that's toxic free, that's subluxation free. And that's really how we grew and developed our practice as quickly as we did. And that's how we were able to bring on a few associates. And now we have them doing very similar things. You know, we've, we've, we've gotten pretty good at our marketing Funnel systems, I would say. And then also just like doubling down on our chiropractic skill set and making sure that, like, when we place our hands on the people on the table, like, they feel something different. You know, whether they've experienced chiropractic before or whether this is their first time ever experiencing chiropractic, they feel safe, they trust us, and they feel like the impulse that we're putting into their system is exactly what they needed in the moment. Nothing more, nothing less. And I think, you know, it's weird because the more that I hear of really high level entrepreneurs, the more abstract and esoteric the things that kind of catalyze their growth becomes. And that's kind of where I am right now, you know, is.

Yeah, yeah.

It just, it feels like. It feels like those are the things that, that we did. Well, you know, not. I guess we just kind of dissolved our ego a little bit and swallowed our pride and began to meet people where they were and just know that if we could get them onto our home turf, that we could, we could always share the message of chiropractic in whatever dose necessary. You know, some people, it's on day one and they start breaking down and they're like, I've been looking for more. And I'm like, hey, here it is. Like, you're in the right place. And sometimes I just uncork it, you know, and I go off script and I just let them know, like, this is what we can facilitate in your life through the message and practice of chiropractic. And then some people, they come in and they're guarded up and they've got their arms crossed and, you know, they just want to know if you can get rid of their low back pain. And I'm like, hey, you're in the right place. We can, we can do that for you. And then we just spoon feed them over time. And so I think meeting people where they're at and really kind of adhering to a very large spectrum of the population has allowed us to grow to where we are.

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Whoever's listening, you should go back and listen to that last five minutes because there was a lot of gold there. And I think part of what I feel listening to you is just like how intentional you are as well as like how heart centered you have been about like the purpose that why do we exist as an organization? Why are we doing this? And it's true, right? Like it's not, it's not just about the money, it's not just about the business, it's not just about growth. It's like we are led by this desire to serve people and we're serving them through the art of chiropractic that we're doubling down on and our message is going to come meet them and walk them over to our side of the coin if that makes sense. Instead of like you know, thinking that oh, they didn't, they didn't get it and I put it out there this way and now that's just their fault, right? Like we were just having this conversation in our practice and it's talking about how, how much grace we also have to extend to people. Like whether they're in on day one or two and they understand their choices and sometimes the questions they ask is just like we forget, especially the longer we're in chiropractic. Like we're, you know, to know the things we know. How long has it taken us to get to this place where we know what we know, right? And so just because someone maybe doesn't understand or doesn't maybe want even what we have to offer the first or the second time they hear it, you know, like, let's just have some more grace for that. Right. Because there is a big journey ahead for them to cross that threshold from everything they've probably experienced in quote unquote, healthcare up until this point. And, and I think, you know, to your point, meeting them in the conversation they're having and knowing like, part of the art of chiropractic is like, who is sitting in front of me, what's the body language they're giving me, how much are they telling me, what are they not telling me? And how can I connect the dots for them to start to like, link arms and walk them on that journey? And it sounds like you guys have prioritized trying to do that very artfully.

Yeah, totally. I just simplistically, it's not about me, you know, it's about morphing myself into what they need in the moment and knowing that they're in the right place because they're in our office and that we, we have something that's going to improve their quality of life regardless of whether it's in the way that they came in seeking or not. You know, like, I don't know if you need to be adjusted, but I know you need to be checked or, you know, however people want to say that. And yeah, I think, I think that you're exactly right. And so that's something that we've done a really great job at. And I will kind of give some maybe tactical takeaways on things that I wish we would have done better. And the things that I wish we would have done better first off is I wish we would have started with more capital. Like, I think that we bootstrapped our practice from the get go. And so that made it really challenging on us and it load tested us from the early on onset because we started our practice with, you know, $30,000. And that was just enough money to feel like a lot of money invested into our practice, but it was too little to actually invest in growing the practice. So it just got us open. And I think that if we could have had a little bit more fuel early on in, in our practice, we could have grown much faster. We were just, you know, kind of operating on low fuel with a low, low fuel light on for, for several.

Several months whenever we first started out. And then I would have started with an X ray or an objective measurement, you know, such as cla or inside scans. That certainly would have helped us out. I think in the onset, your certainty and conviction is Built. It's a compounding force that's built through time and repetition. And we do know, especially through trp that like sales and conversion is a really important aspect of first off generating revenue and sustaining the business. But second of all, it's important to actually build a practice of people that are on your table. You know, if you can't, if you can't keep people on your chiropractic table, then we're not getting the results that we, we should be getting in chiropractic. And I think conversion is a big part of that. And so I think in the early stages of owning your own practice, you know, not having that certainty and conviction because you don't have the time and the repetition, having those objective measurements and a really, really great communication and conversion system built around that can help to offset those lack of skills initially.

And that was great compounding for. I love, I love that. And that's so true. It's like that conviction just builds, but you can go out and get some of it if you feel like you don't have it. So I would love also to double click on how you felt you have built that quickly besides just X ray and the cla.

Yeah. And, and you know, I, I would say again, I think I had some skill sets coming into chiropractic that were, were really helpful with, with obtaining the, the certainty and conviction and the, the communication necessary to, to influence and persuade. But also like I said, I was, I was really reaching outside of the chiropractic industry and I was taking in every resource that I could on sales and influence and persuasion and Robert Cialdini's influence and how to win friends and influence people and all of those things. And so I was able to extract a lot of those skills and implement them early on. But that was a means of survival, you know. And I think having yourself and Dr. Steven and the TRP system and, and the coaching group that you guys have, you, you guys have all now synthesized a just a very comprehensive resource that has a lot of this embedded in it. You know, and that's the third thing that certainly say that I wish I would have done better and that's run borrowed systems from a coach or mentor. You know, I, I went three years trying to Frankenstein our systems and having to having to go grab from all of those unknowing mentors. And like my bookshelf is full of books on influence and marketing and sales and, and all of those things. And I just wish I would have had a software that I could just Take and plug and play a blueprint, you know, and so that's certainly what TRP is and what it's become for us now. And we actually had a conversation before we pressed record and we're actually going to be going back to the remarkable build program as of January 6th. And we're going to start from square one and we're going to go back and leave no stone unturned and make sure that, you know, our fundamentals are dialed because those systems allow for leverage. And from what I've now learned from you guys, durability and durability is different, different from scalability. And durability is something that we don't have a lot of in our practice right now. So even, you know, throughout our growth process and, and throughout our scaling, like early this year, I had to have a call with, with Dr. Eric, who is my, my coach for the CEO program. And I was like, hey man, we're, our margins are shrinking and I have all of our stats here and I just need to get another set of eyes on this. And you know, we had a 20 minute phone call and in 20 minutes he was like, look, it seems like you have, all of your systems are dialed, your stats look good. This stat right here is telling me. And then this stat plus the story is telling me that you may have the wrong cognitive profiles, you know, operating within your practice. And so let's shift around some of the roles and responsibilities. How fast do you think you can implement that? I'll implement it by Monday. It was implemented by Monday and in 30 days our revenue had grown 30%.

That's crazy. Amazing. The speed of implementation also for you is like, sure, right?

That's, I think that's everything. You know, having, having a set of eyes and, and the wisdom that you guys have to be able to analyze and, and detect. I mean, that's subluxation in my practice. Right. Like, that's exactly what that was. And he was able to assess the nervous system and do his palpatory analysis and, and you know, determine that there's a subluxation right here. And like this is the adjustment that can correct that subluxation. And you may experience some relief immediately. But this, this also could be a long term healing process. And I was, I was open to that. But we, we immediately saw a change in our numbers and 30% increase in revenue is huge for some prep. That's the difference between, you know, sinking or swimming.

Yeah, that's amazing. That's, that's, I love that story too because one of the hardest things I think is to get out of your own head. Right. And so to like ask the question like, hey, please help me. I'm going to be vulnerable here. I'm going to show you everything, right. And then actually receive the information of like, hey, let's look at this. Like, do you have. You have the right people, but they're in the wrong seats. And let's make a switch. Right. And. And that also speaks to your leadership too, that your team can trust enough to make some of these switches. Switches for the betterment of like the entire organization. Right.

I mean, to that I think the team already knew, you know, getting out of my own way. Yeah. It's like I, I think a lot of times the organism and those acting within the organism are aware of things maybe before you as a leader are, you know, I mean, they're the ones that are in there carrying out these roles and responsibility and they know what feels right to them and what doesn't. You know, they know where they're being challenged in a healthy way. And maybe being challenged in a way that is causing a lack of confidence, you know, and certainty and conviction. And it feels like they're becoming a friction point in the business and nobody wants to feel that way.

Right.

And I think that that gets in the way of their service as a chiropractor as well. And so that's exactly what was happening in my practice and unbeknownst to me, you know, so Dr. Eric was able to see my blind spot and reveal that to me. And I think that's where these systems are, are just really, really shine.

Amazing. Okay, well, I do know we should wrap this up in a few minutes here. So I would love if you just think back, right. Someone that's. Maybe they've launched, they're building and you were telling them, like, well, how did I learn to become so good at implementing? Because I think a lot of people self, you know, maybe second guess when they get advice or think like, oh, that sounds like a lot of work. How do. How did you become someone that can like hear something, sit with it for a moment and then actually like, like put it into action and start to make change. Because that is a unique skill set to learn how to build that muscle as well.

I would say reflection, thorough reflection and analysis on missed opportunities. I think that, you know, again, we just keep going back to that compounding force of like time and repetition. But I think whenever. So my. One of my current mentors and now my business partner, Dr. Mike lynch, he calls It Lodi, which is the law of diminishing intent. And so whenever you first have, like, this initial hit or this thought that you need to change something, you have this, like, excitatory response. And. And that's the best time to actually take action and to implement. And then as time passes, it's the law of diminishing intent, where, you know, the days and the weeks rack up and you're like, man, I meant to do that one thing. I'm meant to do that one thing. And then over time, you know, it never happens. And so I guess just multiple times of actually seeing that happen in my practice and in my. And then looking back and be like, man, where would we be if I would have done that? Yeah, as. As soon as I realized that that needed to be done, you know, because now I'm 12 months after the fact, and I didn't implement that one change in my practice that could have changed the trajectory of everything.

And amazing. I. You shared so many pearls this. This morning, so thank you for that. I've never heard of Lodi before, but I love how you explain that. And so true. And I think if you haven't built that momentum to trust that innate instinct of, like, this is a yes for me and I need to capitalize on it. Right? Like, that's something that I. I just implore you to, like, you know, when. When Travis said, like, you know, some of this becomes esoteric and, like, kind of woo, woo. It's like, there's an element also of, like, intuitively knowing, like, that is for me, and I need to execute on it versus, like, waiting a day or waiting six months, you know, so. So that's beautiful. Well, thank you so much for your time. If people want to reach out to you and connect, I'm sure you're open to that as well. They can find probably on Instagram. Where can they find you?

Yeah, Instagram. That's the easiest way. It's my personal Instagram handles at Travis Underscore, the Chiropractor. So you can follow me there. Send a dm. It's. It's become more of my personal lifestyle page now with. With the baby. But yeah, reach out if you ever, you know, have any questions or want to connect. I'm. I'm always open to that.

Awesome. Well, I'm excited to see what you do in 2025, and thank you for sharing your wisdom.

Yeah, thanks, Dr. Lona. Appreciate you.

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.