Why Mentorship and Coaching Is Your Personal Time Machine Dr. Buddy Touchinsky

Hello, friends, and welcome to Perfect Practice. Today I am honored to have a conversation with a colleague, a friend, somebody who I would also consider a mentor of mine, Dr. Buddy Kishinsky. Buddy, thanks for joining me today.

Always a pleasure to have a chat with you, Sachin. Thank you.

We have a ton in common. We went to chiropractic school together. So we bleed chiropractic and believe in the innate power and wisdom of our body's own healing capacity. We also are functional medicine practitioners and entrepreneurs trying to innovate in the healthcare space. So always great to have conversations with you on a regular basis in our mentorship. But now what I wanted to do is have a conversation and kind of have our listeners be a fly on the wall in terms of what you've learned over the years and what wisdom you could share with people moving forward. You know, I titled this conversation how mentorship and coaching is kind of a personal time machine for people where they can learn from the experiences, from the challenges, from the investments of other individuals. And of course, these individuals have to be willing to pour into them in order to share their wisdom and knowledge and experience. And I wanted to dive into that topic. I know that you've got quite an extensive background in the healthcare space. You've got a background in coaching others and mentoring others. But I also know based on our conversations that at first you're kind of skeptical of getting coaching. And maybe your skepticism stems from knowing what you need to do, but maybe not putting it into action and then realizing the benefits of having that accountability. So why don't we start there? What were your initial impressions on asking for help? Because I think that's something that we all kind of struggle with.

Yeah. So it's something that you talk about a lot. It's not knowing what you don't know. And that was certainly me coming out of chiropractic college. And I felt like I knew. Knew what I had to do, kind of. And coaching to me, or back then, I guess I knew of it more as like, practice management. And. And that was something that was pretty prevalent in the chiropractic profession at the time, and I guess still is. But we heard all of these negative things about practice management companies and how they charge you a bunch of money just to tell you what you should do. Anyway, so I kind of came out with this negative perception in my mind of like, if I hire someone to help guide me or help coach me, Coaching wasn't even part of my vernacular then. So coaching or mentorship wasn't it. Wasn't even that at all. It was more or less this image of just company that would come in and kind of set up some rules for you to follow. And then you'd have your calls once or twice a month to make sure that you were following their rules, their system. And the whole reason I became a chiropractor myself was to kind of break the mold and not have to work for anyone. And I wanted to work for myself. So, yeah, a combination of that negative perception of practice management companies and the desire to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, I just really shied away from getting any sort of help like that.

Yeah, I think that's a common thing, right. Like, even when I first started out in practice, I'm like, oh, I'm going to figure this out. And some of us are rebellious in that way. I find that the mavericks, generally speaking, are the ones that kind of want to do things their own way or feel like, you know, they know what they need to do. But they're. You know, there's probably even. In my case, I would say I can speak for myself, some childhood trauma around asking for help and almost it being seen as a sign of weakness. So I wonder how much of that can play into people's inability to ask for help because they feel like they should know everything. I remember growing up, my mom just assumed that I would know how to do everything right. So she assumed I knew how to fix cars. She assumed that I knew how to do home renovations. She assumed I knew how to do xyz. And I think that helped me because her belief in me was quite powerful. Right. And sometimes just having someone believe in you gives you a new set of skills or new capabilities. But, you know, that also traumatized me because I grew up thinking I should know everything. And the more educated you are, the more you think you should know. But that may not always be the case. And of course, we don't know what we don't know. And when times are changing, you know, practice is our practice and health and knowledge and all those things are evolving. It's always great to get help from people who are probably just a few steps ahead of us. So, you know, in practice, I remember, you know, this name might ring a bell for some people. I Remember I hired Dr. David Singer and went to one of his trainings, and, you know, we're just kind of hooked on the idea of being held accountable because I knew I had a strong work ethic. I knew that given the right amount of direction and accountability, that I would Thrive. And that's what happened. If it wasn't for one of his trainings on how to charge for a package of care, I might still be charging visit by visit. So that one tool really transformed my belief in myself. And I still remember selling my first package to a friend of mine, John, and it was a patient of mine rather at the time. And it was just like this huge epiphany for me. I'm like, oh my God, I've been doing it this way all along. And now there's a new way of doing this and this new capability that I've acquired. So what's your first memory of practice coaching.

Was joining your mentorship back? I guess it's been what, four, maybe almost five years now. Where. And it was centered around the same thing, the concept of charging a package fee. And instead of going visit, the visits I'd already failed at doing the visit to visit. It was a nightmare to track. It was hard to get people to have that buy in to stick with it. And I think packages, hopefully for everyone listening, are prevalent enough to where we kind of understand the benefits of having a package or at least an initial upfront buy in that's big enough to get that commitment. But I didn't know anything about that back then and I was charging as little as possible upfront just to try to get people exposed to what I would, what I was doing at the time. And I figured, wow, so much that they would stay on the back end. But it attracted the wrong type of people and they didn't have that commitment. So when I heard what you were doing, it's like, I'm going to give this a try. And I wouldn't say I had my doubts, but it was a big, just a big mindset block where it was like, oh my God, I got to charge. I think you said to charge 3,000. I said, well, let's try 2000 first or 1997 or something like that. And it was, it was really hard to, to have that conversation in that, that discovery call with people. But I had some success. And not everyone said yes. And it might have been less than half people initially that said yes, but I had some success there. And then I saw, okay, this is a really high quality type of patient. They really listen, they really have some buy in, they want to get better and the results would be great. I'd be happy because they were easier to deal with. So yeah, that was my first aha moment in terms of something new that I've learned through coaching.

Awesome. Yeah. I mean, for me, that was like a big milestone, right? Just being able to attract the right person who is investing in themselves, most importantly, and then also trusting and investing in you to get them to where they want to go with their health. I want to backtrack a little bit because all of us who are functional medicine practitioners have our functional medicine story as to what got us into this space. So I'd love to hear what your functional medicine story is. What inspired you to, you know, you know, take that next step and become a practitioner.

Sure. As you know, in chiropractic college, we get a pretty strong foundation in root cause. And a lot of people would say, dc, doctor of chiropractic really also means doctor of cause. And that really resonated with me when I was in school. So I came out of school still not quite. Not quite interested in the whole, like, nutrition and stuff like that. I was more sports injury, just spinal manipulation, back injuries, stuff like that mindset. But pretty quickly I learned that that's usually at least of the person's problems or they have back pain. They have chronic back pain, chronic muscle and joint pain, because they have a whole lot of other issues, metabolic issues, nutritional issues, lifestyle issues. So I started to dabble here and there in functional medicine back then. I don't think that the term existed, or at least in my. In my mind it didn't. I wasn't exposed to it, but I came across a book by Alex Vasquez. I think it was like, Integrative Therapeutics for Orthopedics or Pain or something like that. And I mean, he's a dc, I think an nd and now he might be even a DO nowadays. But I started reading a lot of, like, the heavy, the hardcore science part of it, and that's something that, That I was really interested back then is like, oh, is there scientific basis for this stuff? And if not, then it's something that I wasn't really confident in because I didn't have the experience yet. So I needed to hang my hat on something. But still, I wasn't quite convinced yet, and I really didn't practice it much. And then I realized like three, four, five years in the practice that I was like 30, 40 pounds heavier than I am now. I felt like crap. I was just not ambitious at all. And I needed to do something, and I did something. What we all now know is the metabolic reset kind of in a. In an earlier form or iteration of it. And in 21 days, I lost 21 pounds. But not only that, like I was sleeping better. I had tons of energy. I was thinking more clearly. I was now getting my files done on time instead of letting them pile up for the week.

And the bane of our existence.

Yeah, this file. I mean, I still use the paper files, too, so that the stat would stack up for my chiropractic patients. So I just couldn't hit copy and then modify things like you can ehrs now. So now we're kind of spoiled. But I let them pile up. And then Friday afternoon when I was done, my last patient, I usually tried to end early afternoon. I would just pour myself a big coffee and power through it. But I made those changes. I started feeling better. And I'm like, I'm going to. I'm still not quite convinced yet. I'm going to try this with some people. I had like a small cohort of like, five people that I put on a program, and they all got great results, too. And that's a few years before I started with you. I just knew something had to happen. I needed to get this to more people. I needed to teach more people. I need to affect more lives. And this is the way to do it. So then I dove deep into functional medicine, signed up for FMU with Dr. Rangrasanti, and I got halfway through that, and I'm like, I'm getting the nuts and bolts of functional medicine. I'm learning how to treat patients, but still, how do I spread my influence? How do I get this to the masses? And that was the missing piece. And then I saw an old classmate of mine who I didn't really know that well when I was in school because I transferred in late, and then I went to my internship in Long Island. I think you stayed on campus in Seneca Falls. And I'm like, I've seen you more and more, and you're talking about all the things that I wanted to hear about and that people needed to hear. So, yeah, that's when I learned more about what you were doing. And that's when I joined this group that I'm still an active part of to this day.

Well, I'm so grateful that our paths crossed again. Right. The miracle of the Internet and, you know, us putting our message out there, it's. It's cool how it. It attracts the right people at the right time. And, you know, since then, not only have you been a member of our community, very active and contributory member, but you're also a coach. So it's kind of like coming full circle, right? Like, at first kind of questioning the value of having a coach and now pouring into others because others have poured into you. And I know that I can't take all the credit for your growth and success because it does require you taking action. So I want to honor you for that. And you've had other people help you along the way. So let's. Let's bring some of those people into this conversation, and maybe we could talk about some of the other coaches that you've had that have helped you or maybe even groups that you belong to that have helped you in your. In your journey.

Yeah, and it's. It's a. It's a big group, and I probably miss several if I tried to list everyone. But I'll just say it ranges from local groups around me. When I got out of school, it probably took me a few years to start to spread my wings a little bit and get the confidence to go to some of these meetings. But I went to Rotary Club meetings. My uncle had been part of those, and he said, hey, I'll introduce you to the. Whatever, the local chapter in your area and be a good club for you to join to get to know people. And just having those conversations and going to the. What I thought was these boiled, boring old lunch meetings with these. These kind of old guys. Old guys, which was most of the club was probably like 75 or above. But I started going to these meetings twice a month and the conversations you would have and what you would learn from people. Like the one guy in particular, he used to carry around note card, and I'd see him pull it out every once in a while and jot something down. And the one day I said, he got there, what are you doing there? He's like, well, he's like, my memory ain't what it used to be. And he's like, I want to learn some, like, very specific things about people that are important. So, like when you mentioned your wife's name, Susie, and you have a daughter, Megan, I jot that down. And that's something that. It helps jog my memory. And then I'll look at that a little bit later on. Then I commit it to memory. So next time I see you, I can say, hey, how's Megan and Susie doing? So it was like little tricks like that that I learned, ranging from that to a local men's group that I joined about a year and a half ago now, all different industries. And this group's nice with perfect practice because we're all doing about the same thing with functional medicine. We're all in health care. But there's something to be said about seeing what people in other industries are doing and understanding that all the problems that they have are all the problems that we have. And we all work through these things. And pretty soon you realize, well, everyone kind of has the same stuff going on, or at least similar stuff, or everyone has something going on, I'll put it that way. And there's a great lesson I learned last year about this time. Gentleman. He's probably. I don't know what he's making exactly, but he's really well off, and he does very, very well. Super successful business. But he went through some personal stuff, and all the stuff that I feel like, well, I got this headspace stuff, and I lack his confidence. Imposter syndrome. You get down in the dumps. You don't know. Like, some days you forget why you're doing this thing. And he was kind of having all of that, and he was sharing it with us. And not that I like to see him suffering, but it was like, well, hell, there's like, that's something that I would go through. I wouldn't expect someone in his position at his stage in life. So he's nearing retirement, and he's kind of at the pinnacle of his industry. It was almost comforting to know, like, hey, we all got our own stuff going on, and we all work through it, and we're all okay on the other end. So, yeah, just being able to be a different part of those, different groups and learn and private groups, too. So Lions Club, you're at a luncheon, so you get to talk to people one on one there. And then in this private mentorship group, the smaller group, we do zoom meetings, and there's six of us that meet twice a month and talk about things, and you start to learn about stuff that you don't see on social media. So you see all the good stuff on social media, all the smiles and all the wins and stuff like that. So it's nice to see that nobody's perfect and we all work through our stuff, and we all do okay.

Yeah. I think that's powerful because it's important for us to know. Like, one thing I learned being part of Genius Network is similar to that. Right? It's people who are in, you know, experiencing success, at least in their business. And we have to remember that there is more to somebody's life than their business. That's just one facet of the diamond. Right. We have, you know, of course, our community. We have our family. We have personal relationships. We have all these things that make up the quality of our life. And just because we're successful in our business, it doesn't mean those other pieces have fallen into place. And so it's always, always like a great reminder that we all go through stuff. When I go to even my genius network meetings and what you're describing, the meetings that you're going to because it reminds you that everyone's human, everyone goes through things. But you know, that takes me to another point, which is we should, it's okay to struggle. It's just never okay to struggle on your own and suffer on your own. If you can surround yourself with like minded people who are on a similar path and trajectory of personal growth and development and they're willing to support and help you, knowing that either at some point they'll go through this, so it helps them in some way prepare for that, or they've gone through it and that experience has shaped and molded them and positioned them to provide you with, you know, great advice for you to tap into. So, you know, an invitation to everyone here is never struggle alone, right? Whether you join a community like ours or another community of like minded people who are, you know, on the same growth trajectory as you are, you know, really tap into that because it's so much more powerful than we might think. And it's, it's not even, it's, it's difficult for, even for us to conceptualize how powerful it is for us to be able to tap into a network like that. I think of a mentorship or a coaching program like a time machine. Because let's say you go into this group that you're talking about, six, six other business owners that you're connecting with. Well, each of them, let's say their average age is 30 years, just to lowball it. So you've got 180 years of life experience and thousands upon thousands of experiences that these people have been through. And so you're tapping into that. So you ask a question, you're not asking a person to answer that question, you're asking all of the time that they've traveled through to answer that question for you, right? And then you combine that with all the other people that are in that group and all the other people that have poured into them. I mean, the reservoir of knowledge and wisdom is essentially infinite. So but if you were just trying to figure it on your own, then it's just you, right? It's just your singular experiences that you've had that you can tap into. So it's I think it's really valuable for, for people to, you know, find local communities. I would definitely say that's valuable because then you get to meet people within your community that you can connect with, collaborate with, and network with, but then also virtually because, you know, as a functional medicine practitioner, there's probably not too many people in your town that you know, you could speak this language to. So then immersing yourself in, you know, in a community where people do speak your language and truly understand the challenges that you might be facing because you might be able to ask these people business questions, but you can't ask them patient centered questions. Right. Or specific challenges that you might be facing, or specific tools that you need to look into to solve specific challenges that your business might have. So, yeah, I think definitely agree with you that that's important to have that tell us a little bit more about how your business has evolved over the years. So you mentioned started off as chiropractic. I know you had a health food store at one point as well. Is that still up and running?

Yep, that's located next to our chiropractic practice. We sell the health food store.

Okay, awesome. So that's great. So serial entrepreneur and I know you've done group programs with your metabolic, you know, and lifestyle reset. And now you're also shifting into a direct primary care practice. So tell us about that evolution and you know what, what's inspired you to kind of go back into the, you know, clinical setting and, you know, maybe you can even talk about some of the ups and downs of building that out and leaving us some breadcrumbs as far as what you learned along the way.

Sure, yeah. So started with a traditional chiropractic practice, neck pain, back pain, stuff like that. Then as we talked about, move more into functional medicine. And the health food store kind of popped up along the way there because we needed, I'm in a rural area, so we needed the products and we needed the foods, organic foods, easily accessible to our patients. So it made sense to open that business as well. And had a couple of gyms along the way, which that was a mistake. And that was kind of a shiny object object syndrome thing. Just because, like to do something doesn't mean you should like to or need to run a business that does that thing that you like. But anyway, so now we're back to the functional medicine, chiropractic. And then the pandemic hit. So of course in person stuff kind of took a major hit and we went on quarantine here for a Few weeks, pretty, pretty hardcore. Shut down 100%. And then after that, it was opening up slowly. But the plus side was it gave us more time, gave me more time to think about, well, what are the alternative ways of helping people if you can't see them in person? At the time, we had in person only the Metabolic Reset program. So they would meet with our health coach once a week, meet with them. In the beginning, there'd be phone calls, but for the most part it was in person and one on one, there was no group component to it. Then in our circle, we all started talking about, what can we do? There's groups. So James Maskell released his book called the Community Cure. Listened to that one day during the pandemic when I was out gardening, and that really resonated with me. And I said, you know what? That makes a ton of sense. And so we tested. We had our little beta group on Memorial Day of 2020, and it was the first time I really leveraged my full mailing list. And it was. We hit it just right. And I hesitate to say this number because I don't want others to compare against it, but there are a lot of factors that made this work out just right. It was many years in practice, building a large list, building a following, and then hitting it just right. In the pandemic, what we started with, I think was 97 people in that first beta group. We also kept the cost pretty low because we wanted to get in as many people as possible. And that really showed us that groups are really, really powerful. And there was a lot of benefits in again, up Shout out here and a plug for James Maskell book. He talks about why groups work so well. And a lot of it was just building that community at a time when the community was kind of splintered because we had all this isolation and social distancing. And even before that, in health care, we had this. All this stuff about HIPAA and patient privacy and, yeah, us as providers can't talk about your private information with others, but it almost gets to the point where it's repeated so much that you don't want to share your information with others, even though you might want to and even though you might benefit from it. So it was nice bringing those people together to talk about things and talk about mentorship and coaching. We were able to fast forward results that they wouldn't have been able to see unless they went through all of the training that we do. So fast forward now, what, two more years. And I miss people, so I want to get More back in person. And also we saw an opportunity in our community since COVID kind of exposed a lot of weaknesses and a lot of kind of weak points in the medical system that people weren't getting the care they needed, they weren't getting the individual intention. It's all really reactive care. So you get sick and like, okay, then we'll respond and we'll try to do something. There really wasn't a lot of support, especially in my area. So let's build a family practice that's kind of centered around all of the great concepts that we learn with functional medicine centers around community, centers around proactive care, wellness type care, building healthy habits, eating good foods and participating in community events and shopping local and finding your farmers, knowing your farmers. So try to put all that together in one practice and giving people a way to learn about all this stuff and things like blue blocker, lenses, aura rings, all that good stuff. And it's really hard to help people learn all that by just going live on Facebook and teaching the community. But when they're a member of your practice and they join your practice and they're looking to you for advice, well, now you have a more captive audience. And now we can do this thing right. So we can give them programs that help teach them and help support them through implementing all of this cool, innovative stuff that we talk about, along with the basics that, that, that's been there all along that people have just forgotten about.

Yeah. You know, it's kind of like a book club. Right. So there's a thousand, you know, tens of thousands of different books at the library. But when you get a group of people reading the same book, and in this case, you know, learning the same information, then there is meaningful discussions that take place, there's interpretations that some people might receive and share that others may not. Right. And so you get multiple different vantage points. And of course, people bring their own experiences to the community as well. In fact, what's really fascinating about community is that it's actually very desirable because we always say never struggle alone. And many people in a one on one setting feel like they're the only one that's going through this problem. So you're actually creating and cultivating an environment for people to not feel alone anymore, to improve their quality of life because of the emotional health that improves and the hope that improves. When they see other people getting results, when they see their own life transformation taking place, when they're able to, you know, take that information and share it with others, that fills their cup. It's kind of like very unique. Like pouring into others also fills your cup as well. And you're a contributing member to the conversation. And interestingly enough, community actually increases lifespan and quality of life. So, you know, being alone is actually worse for you than smoking cigarettes is. So it's actually, you know, quite fascinating that it actually is a modality. The fact that these people are in a community is a modality. Just like healthy sleep and healthy nutrition and healthy breathing and all the other things that we talk about as a modality for their healing to take place. So, so that, you know, it was beautiful to witness. Like, I know you worked towards creating a program, creating a nice environment and community, getting amazing results with clients, and I know that that kind of has, you know, transpired into now moving into a direct primary care practice. So tell us a little bit more about that. Like what's that journey been like?

So, yeah, it's, it's bits hasn't always been easy. So we're sort of starting something new and it's kind of a new model as well. And we hired, kind of following the successes of hiring past consultants and coaches and mentors, I hired a consultant specifically for the direct primary care business model. And they've been help helpful in getting this, that set up. But when we're trying to incorporate functional medicine and chiropractic, that's something that's, that's not quite in their wheelhouse. So when it comes to conventional stuff, they understand that they can teach it and they have a model for us. But we're still kind of out here again, I guess it's my tendency, like you said, a maverick tendency, wanting to kind of create our own thing. We're out here on the side trying to create our own thing. And it's, and it hasn't always been easy. And I've shared with you in private and I've shared with other members of our council group that I'm just thankful for the work that I put in myself in the past several years. So everything that we talked about just now, up until this point, how having a coach, having mentors, being a part of these different groups, along with all the stuff we learn in functional medicine, like self care, like using the sauna on a regular basis, going to the gym. I've been going three days a week now for the past six months. And I wasn't always so perfect with it. But it's all of those things, the self care, all of it, working together to allow me to make it through some really tough points in the past month or so, when things in the business didn't always go as planned. And when you're sitting here and I've sat here at this computer right here, just staring at the screen, staring at spreadsheets, trying to figure out, well, how am I going to pay my people and how am I going to pay for the overhead? When this big thing changed, and if it wasn't for all the work that I put in myself, who knows? I probably wouldn't have made it through. And maybe I just would have said, forget it. You know what? It's not worth it. I can't do it. I wouldn't have had the kind of the mental fortitude to make it through. That me physically, just the stress would have crushed me. So I'm just thankful that I put in that work. And I feel like now I feel like it's just more of like, okay, that was kind of like, won't be my final test, I'm sure. But it was a big test and it built a muscle that wasn't there before, wasn't as strong before. So now I can move forward and move on to bigger and better things and continue to grow, to practice and just keep my eye on the prize, know what my ultimate vision is, and keep working, keep working towards that.

Yeah, you know, it's amazing to see that. And I think, like, the visual that's coming up for me is kind of like when you have a personal trainer and they're spotting you, right? So you still gotta do the work, you still gotta lift the weight, but they're there to kind of lift, Give you the. Give you that 10% lift that you need or that 5% lift to get the weight off your chest or to really get it through its full range of motion. And that's where the hypertrophy and the growth takes place, Right. Is. Is knowing that you can carry a bigger load because you have that spot. Right. And in this case, it's more of a. An emotional spot. Right. Or a knowing that, hey, there's people here that can. That can help me and support me. And I know there's some great connections that you built to this community as well that have, you know, played out in this journey as well. So.

And I want to. Sorry to cut you off. I want to emphasize point because you said it before and you kind of referenced it again. The big difference maker was I could have went two ways during that tough time. I could have, to use the personal trainer analogy, I could have just went and worked out in my basement and Maybe tried that heavyweight anyway and got crushed underneath it. Or as you mentioned earlier in this conversation, you got to continue showing up. And that's one thing I said I was going to do. Between our group here and the other men's group I'm in. I'm going to show up, I'm going to share, I'm going to be vulnerable, and I'm going to lean on the wisdom of the entire group and the support of the entire group to get through it. And that made. I believe that made all the difference in the world, because if I would have. And this happens at times. We see this in our. In our. In our wellness programs with our functional medicine patients. Someone disappears, and, you know, it's because they're not doing well and they feel ashamed or they feel. Whatever they feel, they don't show up and they don't get the benefit of getting all that support, making it through. So, yeah, there's one thing that I could say to anyone out there watching is when times get the toughest, that's when you need to show up for yourself and show up with the support of others the most, even though you don't want to. It's the last thing you want to do is admit failure, perhaps, or admit things are tough. Because we try to be positive. You know, the whole world tries to be positive in these groups. We try to share our wins, but I think it's important to share the struggles as well.

Yeah, I think we mentioned this in a call we did last week, which is vulnerability is a superpower. And, you know, there's so many different things and areas that we could ask for help in, but we don't, you know, and we almost feel like we've got to have it all together in order for us to even be able to help others. But, you know, that next level of growth takes place with vulnerability. It's actually the stepping stone to that next level of, you know, your personal character development as well. And, you know, I remember even having a conversation with our council members where my shoulder was bothering me. And it was amazing, you know, something that was bothering me for about 10 days at that point. And just really relentless and didn't seem like it would ever get better by simply sharing with our community of this. I think during that call is about seven people just sharing and getting suggestions and ideas and knowing that people actually care. Like, I truly believe that that healed my shoulder. And within two days, I was out skiing and it was like it never happened. And since then, my shoulder feels better than even before. This, you know, kind of strange, weird incident occurred. So it truly is a superpower for us to heal physically, for us to heal spiritually, and of course, for us to heal emotionally. And when we have that vulnerability, it allows for others to pour into us. Right. It's almost like when you're not vulnerable, it's like sitting with your hand on top of your coffee cup. Nobody can pour into it, and if they do, you're going to get burned. But if you just simply get your hand off, be vulnerable, then people can pour into that cup for you. And here's the thing that's interesting. I saw this presentation, or I guess it was a talk that Simon Sinek was giving and this was at the Mindshare community and they shared a little video blurb and he was talking about vulnerability. And he said, you will be shocked at who and how many people will come to your rescue if you simply ask for help. So many people are waiting in, you know, in the woodwork, so to speak, to jump in and be supportive and helpful to others. And that's human nature. Right? Is that way. But if we feel like, or if we feel like we have to show up and have everything buttoned up and everything's going perfect, then it's actually intimidating. It makes us less relatable to other people. It makes us less, you know, it almost makes us less inspiring because, you know, people don't aspire to be perfect. They aspire to be human and have a human experience. And vulnerability is, I believe, part of that experience.

Yeah, I think about it from, like, we're all practitioners, healthcare practitioners. Imagine that person sitting there suffering like, or struggling for whatever reason. And say you find out about it from a friend of theirs. Oh, so, and so is struggling. She doesn't know what to do. She's lost in your program. Like, that would kill you on the inside. Because all you would want to do is help that person. You would much rather that person come to you and say, hey, I need help and we're all helpers. Like I said, it's a human nature. It's probably not just healthcare professionals. Everyone wants to be helpful. I mean, share a problem on Facebook and ask for like, you can't find a mechanic and you'll get 50 recommendations for a mechanic. People just want to help. So like you said, be vulnerable. Allow people a chance to help and get the help that you need, and it's a win, win for everyone. Then people get to help you. They feel good and you get the help that you need when you need it most.

Yeah. Were there. Without naming names, perhaps, but was there anyone that shocked you or surprised you that kind of came to, I don't want to say your rescue, but to your side to help you?

I wouldn't say there was. Yeah, I wouldn't say there was any shock. There were. There were some just knowing that I was going through the tough stuff. There were a few just very, very heartfelt, like, reach out, like, hey, I see what you're going through and you're doing great. And it was. Some people were involved with our new practice and it was probably one of the three times I cried in the past 20 years since I'm an adult, and twice out of, like, despair and frustration because of what happened, and then once or twice out of gratitude and just being super appreciative of that. But, yeah, if I was closed off and took the attitude that, hey, I'm just going to put up a shield and put on a face and say, everything's great, I can handle it, I wouldn't have gotten that type of support.

So, you know, somebody who's sitting here listening, maybe struggling, feeling alone, feeling unsupported, what are maybe two or three pieces of advice that you want to give that person?

So one is just step back and look at the big picture. And when times got really tough, I just had to step back. And actually, it wasn't a conscious thing. It was. I had to go to work and see some patients. And it was a chiropractic patient that I'd helped in the past using our functional medicine programs. And they had said something that, wow, if it wasn't for this. Oh, it was a person that came down with the big bad virus from the past couple of years. And it just so happened that they were part of our Memorial Day group and lost over £100 in 2020-2021. Well, mid-2021, they. They got sick and they were in the hospital and. And they mentioned to their providers there, like, hey, I would if I was another a hundred pounds heavier. And they said, you probably wouldn't made it. So it's stuff like that and it's stuff that just almost on a weekly basis I hear from people that they need help and they're not getting it anywhere else. And so when I hear those things, it's like, oh, this is why I'm doing this. And then I come home and I see my family and it's like, oh, this is why I'm doing this. So it makes all those little things, those decisions that don't go your way, it makes them a lot smaller and a lot easier to deal with when you see what you're looking at doing within the big picture. And this is a book that you recommended and I did a little exercise with vivid vision. And there's definitely some other things. Here's another one that I use on that tough day. What the heck is eos? And it has you do like a three year, one year, then it breaks it down from there. But yeah, the harder things to get and the worse, the further into the weed you get. That's when you need to take a step back and look at the big picture and then work backwards from there. Then it doesn't seem so bad. So that's definitely one thing that I've done. Another is just to, as we already talked about, just keep showing up and keep plugging into the groups that you're involved in and get help. Because if you don't let people know that you're struggling and that you need help, you're not going to get that help. And as we talked about before too, you get that wisdom of the entire group because you don't know who's been through something like that before or what book they can recommend or what they can tell you to do, what strategy to use to help you pull yourself out of it. And then the third thing is just to self care and keep investing in yourself, keep working. If I would have stopped going to the gym, stopped the sauna work, stopped doing some of the other stuff, I probably would have been a lot worse off because physically I felt the pressure and if I wasn't in decent shape and doing all that stuff, it would have been that much tougher.

Yeah, you beat me to it. I was going to ask you what your self care practices are. You said the sauna, you said exercise. Are there any other self care tools that you found helpful?

Yeah. So a couple non negotiables are sleep. I've always been a night owl my entire life and go to bed 11 o', clock, maybe fall asleep by midnight because once I hit that point there's like a point of no return where I'm just up and I'd listen to YouTube videos or podcasts and then it would be. And it could be good stuff too. And I thought I was lying to myself when I said, oh, I'm learning something. Well no, 11 to 12 o' clock midnight is not the time to learn something. It's the time to get rest and restorative sleep. So one thing I do is I lay down around 9, 9:15. Yeah, I'll still mess around and read a few things or look at a few things, but I almost always get my eyes shut by 10 o'.

Clock.

So that's. Sleep's the one big thing. Hydration, just drinking, plenty of water. Diet not always perfect, of course, but a lot better than I was three years ago. Five years ago, 10 years ago for sure. Hitting the gym those three times a week, doing the sauna work. Yeah, those are my kind of my big things.

You said sauna, so I just want to be specific here. You've got a portable sauna. Do you use any other type of sauna?

Yes, I got the same sauna that you have, the personal sauna. I do a lot of. I have a nice bathtub with these jets and sometimes I'll get more work done in there than I do sitting at my computer. So I'll answer emails, I'll follow up and I turn it up really hot. So I get the benefit of the heat therapy there. At our local gym we have a. Just so happens we have a, a dry sauna in there. So after our workouts, me and my workout partner will go in there and we'll, we'll try to get 20 minutes and sometimes it's like 215 degrees or something. So it's not always possible to get the full 20 minutes, but we try to get it there. And also been mixing in some cold plunging as well. So there's a creek down the road here. We jump in. It's around 40 degrees over the winter this time of year. And I've also done some cold shower stuff. Even though I like my hot showers, I don't like the cold so much. So I'm still working on getting better at the cold therapy.

Yeah, you know, I've up to this point, I've taken I guess like 120 cold showers this year. So every day from the beginning of the year. And what's. I find I still dread it every single time I crank the water all the way cold, I still dread it, but I feel good afterwards. So it's kind of one of those senses of accomplishment that you feel. And what I practice when I'm doing the cold shower is slow, steady breathing. So I practice some box breathing. And this might be helpful if you want to kind of try it as I rotate. So I'll do four seconds of an inhale, maybe the water is hitting my chest and then I'll hold for four seconds and then I'll rotate. So I'm like a Kind of rotisserie human being, like in the cold. And I find that that helps kind of break it up a little bit. So you're still getting that cold exposure, building that, that muscle, because if you can stay calm under something stressful like that, it kind of builds that resilience up. And I know you know that, but maybe that's helpful for you. Uh, I love this. I love this. I'd love to know, like, what are some of your personal, you know, goals and objectives over the next few years and what are some of your professional objectives that you hope to accomplish?

Yeah, great, great question. Um, so professionally, I want to prove that there is a model for health care that is fun and exciting and maybe relaxing for the professionals, for the providers that also benefits the patients and the clients as well. In this direct primary care model, it's cash based, it's a membership fee, and everyone pays into the practice, essentially, and then you receive the services that are included for that. And for us, it's. It's primary care services, it's acute sick visits, it's chiropractic care, it's group health coaching, and then also even principles of functional medicine and have those. Teach about the oil ring, teach about the blue blocker glasses, all of that stuff, and then do it in a way where we don't have to rely on insurance. I think people are addicted to medical insurance, and that's probably true whether it's a single payer, a government payer, like what you have up there in Canada or something here in America, where we have private health insurers. To me, it's still the same problem. Someone else is paying for your care, someone else is the boss of your healthcare, and there's a lot of pitfalls that go along with that, which we could talk about for a whole hour on its own. But I want to prove the model works and I want to prove that providers can have their own practices and not have to go work for and serve a greater master, whether it's a large hospital system or a private healthcare system, because that comes with its pitfalls as well. And I want to show that we can build community and we can do it the right way and we can spend time with our patients. So start here in my little town of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, here, about an hour and a half outside of Philly, up here in the mountains, prove that I can work here, and then, who knows, maybe we have other locations that pop up later on down the road, and then we can help other providers kind of leave the system Save them from the conventional system. Because the one thing, since I've opened this practice, I've had probably a dozen different providers, whether psychologists, other physicians, RNs, PAs, NPs, call and say, hey, are you hiring? Because I'm, I'm. This system is killing me. I can't do this much longer. And so, yeah, I'd like to be able to offer as many of them jobs as possible or at least show them, like, hey, here's how to do it. And they can go and do it on their own and work for themselves. And personally, I don't know. I don't, I don't think about that quite as much. But I want to set these practices up in a way where I have plenty of time for my family and myself. Personally, I'd love to travel a whole lot more. We're going to Italy in two weeks, me, my wife and friends, and it's the first time we're traveling to Europe. And I want to be able to do that more often and spend and invest more money in experiences versus material things. I mean, we live pretty frugally here. And I know you joke around being Indian, that you like to save money and not overspend or not spend too much. And I'm kind of the same way where it's, it's. I don't like a lot of the extravagant things, but with that said, I want to be able to, to invest in my family and do things that will just benefit. Benefit us as, as, as us. So, yeah, that's about it.

Awesome. Well, it's already happening. You're already making an impact, and it's showing, especially when practitioners are reaching out to you. You're already sending the, you know, the tempo of increased travel. So it's, it's manifesting and it's coming to fruition. And I'm excited to see what the next few years have in store for you and your community and of course, your family as well. Buddy, I want to say thank you for your time today and thank you for being such a wonderful member of our mentorship community. As a member, but also as a council member and coach, you're, you know, an aspiration to so many. And I love the energy that you bring and I love the contribution that you have within our community. And I love what you're doing. I love your.

Why.

To prove that it is possible, right, to have a healthcare system that practitioners actually want to be part of and patients actually want to be part of. And I see it happening already, and I'm excited to See where that takes you and, and your mission over the next few years. So thank you once again. And if there's anything you'd like to share in closing, the stage is yours.

Thank you. As well. And to kind of bring this full circle, like none of this would be possible without seeing what others out there are doing before me. And I grew up in a blue collar family. My grandfather was a coal miner, owned a bar room and tavern, and my dad was a welder and worked in that field all of his career. So there was like the ceiling there, which that's what I knew and that's really all I knew. And being able to be part of these different groups, being part of the mentorship, seeing what people like mind share and some of the other networks you're in are doing, it's like, this stuff is possible now. It's within the realm of possibility for me. Whereas before I just had no model for that. It's like, how do you get from there to here? And it was always like, well, they must have been born into that or they must have just gotten lucky. But now being parts of these groups and hearing these people talk like, the gentleman I mentioned before was going through a rough time, but he's super successful. You see like what their journey looks like and okay, I can see myself doing this now. I see the different steps involved and yeah, just plugging into groups like this, mentorships, coaching, consultants. It's every time I have joined something else and invested my time and money into these groups, I've just grown that much more. And after a while it's like, okay, what can I look to next? And, and where can I grow? What areas do I need to grow in? And it has to be fun after a while and then the possibilities open up. It's like opening up a new door each time you meet a new group of people or join a new group.

Yeah. I think a good question is to ask ourselves in general, who do we have to become so that when we encounter that next level of growth or opportunity, we're walking into it instead of stumbling or tripping into it. Because when we're ready, because of the work that we've done and the people we've surrounded ourselves with and the networks that we have to solve whatever challenges we face, we have so much more confidence and certainty and also capability. So thank you for being such a great role model of that and sharing with us today. And I want to leave with this. So the word luck is. I've come up with an acronym for it. That I think is helpful for people. So luck is leveraging and understanding critical knowledge. So if you can leverage and understand critical knowledge, then we're all lucky. So it's available to us. We just have to surround ourselves with the right people and be willing to be poured into and be willing to grow so that, again, we can walk through the door of opportunity. All right, my friend. Well, thank you. I'll let you get back to your day and your family, and I guess I'll see you later this week. I appreciate you. And here's to continued growth and success for you.

Thank you.