Associate to Owner: A Covid Shutdown Story

Dr. Joseph Esposito: Hello, welcome to this episode of line your practice. This is Dr. Joe Esposito. And I'm excited to have Dr. Matt Lawrence on the podcast today, Doc, how you doing?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: Yeah, I'm excited. We I've known you for a while. I feel like I, I was there when you grew up in chiropractic at the at Joe Clarino. And that surrounds clinic. What we're going to talk about associate shift to ownership and that transition. All all you told me before the call is it's a seamless, easy, Trent. It's easiest thing you've ever done.

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Challenges and nothing. Yeah. My assault is in the podcast. It's just,

Dr. Joseph Esposito: yeah, yeah, no reason to talk about it. Um, so let's talk about that you let's you started and I'll frame it out a little bit, you start at one of some of my best friends, Dr. Joe Clarino, in depth surrounds their practice, which is to me, probably one of the best places I know to do an associate shipborne internship. And then you open through a world pandemic COVID, and that you can't prepare for that. So let's go back to your your associate ship. And inside of align life clinic systems, the structure, how did that feel? And the framing out and the foundation of what you built, just started that?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Yeah. So end of school might, you know, the peak internship at life University, I did it at Sugar Hill, with Dr. Joe and Dr. Deb. And, you know, I saw Dr. Joe talk at one of the classes before we did peak, and I was just amazed with it, I went out and saw the clinic, it's about a 45 minute to an hour drive to the clinic. So you really have to dedicate yourself. Like if you're going to be going there every single day, you got to love it. And I was blown away with the systems and the patient interaction, the energy in the office, the flow like it was a no brainer, once I got out there that that's what I wanted to do. So I did my internship there six months, and then they offered me an associate position, associate position at the end of my internship, which, you know, I definitely wanted to do it. And the whole goal was Dr. Joe Clarino, was getting into coaching with the line life. And I got to experience a seminar with a line life. And I knew that's what I wanted to do. And this was a great way to continue to learn and grow and be in an amazing environment with great doctors and, and good experience, all with the goal of opening my own office, which I opened with my fiancee, Marian. But that was always the goal. And we just wanted to learn from the best. And so we started out there. And we were I was there as a sociate for two years. And then right at the end of 2019, like the day before 2020 It was like New Year's I moved up to North Carolina, we had a lease setup. And we were ready to go. And we were planning to open in February, I believe it was February at first and that kind of was like more like April with the build out. And then like you mentioned, great timing. COVID just slapped us in the face. We went from all of these marketing events like we had started doing networking, visiting, just kind of preparing, visiting some different BNI groups, we were going to events at night meeting people as meeting all the people in like our shopping center and around the area had all of these events laid out. And then you know the world closed down. And not only did that happen, all of our build out every all our supplies, everything got delayed all of the equipment I'd come we'd come in and check the office every day. And nothing had been done. It seemed like and then a call and we're waiting on this. Every event we had set up cancelled every night. We're like every marketing event, our whole plan has literally just shot down from the beginning.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: So what you learn what you learn is in business, you know, Adversity is just an expectation. It's not. It's not a shocker when you have adversity and you got the biggest adversity because it wasn't like a little recession or they blocked one of the roads going to your clinic that had traffic issues, or your software wasn't working. It was like you couldn't engage with community and you're opening a brand new practice. I mean, that is I want to go over the feelings of that. But I want to backtrack just a second. Two things. Would you recommend an associate ship number one of a student coming out I went over my own practice. Do you think that was a smart move? Would you say now I should have went straight into practice? Or what would advice you give a student that's graduating right now from what your experience?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: From my experience on I would 100% recommend doing some type of internship or associate ship, and a great practice that you feel that's something you would like to do as well, I definitely recommend the associate ship, it's like, all of the training, all of the experience, the things that you don't even know, you don't know, you pick up being in that environment, and you really build as a doctor as a person. I mean, you get to lean on the shoulders of other people that have done it. Just for me, like within my clinic, every day I we get to the huddle, I get to see Dr. Deb give her experience and leadership and like just basically insightfulness to start the day on a right note, I'm learning on how to be a good leader, I'm learning on how to work through cases, you are getting to basically practice on someone else's dime. You're you're growing and growing. And then all of this, you should also be preparing on the side for how are you going to do it and your own. So

Dr. Joseph Esposito: but if you if I had an Associate's if I could do and it was a different technique, it was a different energy, maybe there's personal injury and not subluxation based or maybe it was just a different style or as crisis caregivers wellness care. And I did that, that would not be as valuable, obviously, right? Compare. So my advice that I'm, you know, I'm coming to my finish my thought here is you got to be congruent to your own path, right? Because you could learn what you shouldn't do. But it's not as valuable as learning exactly how you should think speak, act, operate, behave with patience with staff with the business, right? You are learning actually, all aspects of the energetic connection, the communication, right? Because it was the exact type of practice you wanted. That's why it was a no brainer for you. But there's a lot of Doc's that just find an associate because it pays decent. Wouldn't you agree with me that don't just chase that dollar? Because if you're gonna go out on your own, you better learn the way you want to practice.

Dr. Matt Lawrence: So I would agree. So to rephrase my, my answer would be i 100%. Recommend and associate CIP. But not if it's an a practice that you don't align with, that's not congruent to you, because I feel like that can even almost set you further back than and propel you forward. So don't just accept anything it needs to be something where you could aspire to. And you see yourself growing in that same way. Yeah, that's a good point.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: So let's go back to the practice now. So you open the practice, you go through a COVID. I can't help but think it's total hopelessness, like you don't know where to ask what to do. You're brand new. Luckily, you weren't trying to figure out how to adjust because you had an associate. Lucky, you weren't figuring out how to speak to patients, you had all the framework out of your hair. So you weren't trying to figure out how to move a bone or have a conversation and have confidence. You had all that. Now, it was just like building a practice in this total crisis state. What happened with you and your wife? mindset? Was there hopelessness or was like, how did you navigate that point of practice?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Yeah, spot on. Like, we had the systems in place. It didn't wasn't like we needed more system training, we had the adjustments down, it was mindset. It was focusing on what we could control, not falling into that victim mindset. You know, it took, it took a while to get out of it, because this is all brand new, it seemed like everyone was falling into this. And we were just kind of going into that wave. We didn't really know what to expect. And we definitely found ourselves in that, you know, woe is me, like, okay, what are we going to do kind of fear victim mindset, and the biggest shift for us, which I can talk about more later, but was really just taking ownership and focusing on what we could control. Like, okay, we can't control how these people are doing what they're doing here. But we can focus on this and if we can just keep our mind right. Keep this positive energy and focus on what we control it changed everything for us.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: It's interesting because a lot of the podcasts I'm doing they always end up resonate not just my own regard but the the guest it's going back to mindset it seems like the energy in the consciousness of the groups of people that I'm surrounding myself with is this such a self awareness around mindset because you brought it up on your own right, but it's where this podcast has been moving. So it was it new systems aligned life gave you systems, Joe and dead gave you systems you had that user to mindset but my question to you was you're in that frustrated state in the victim state which I want to break down a little bit But was it a conversation with somebody, Joe or dad wasn't a patient or action? Was it a phone mindset change? Or was it something you had to continually work on with your wife? And then start to see, you know what? I'm getting a positive response from this new mindset. And we're growing? Or how did that sometimes it is boom and adversity where you flip. And sometimes it's like, you have to work at it. Like you literally have to work at it and see the mindset help. How was it for you and Miriam?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Yeah, so it wasn't instantaneous at all. I think it was a combination of a lot of things. It was the the coaching we had with our coaches that we met with every week, the doctors we spoke with in a line life that, you know, they were in a plateau and change their mindset, and all of a sudden, they were growing. So it just seemed like everybody that we were talking to we were looking for this like, golden ticket of like, what did you do to grow? Because we're stuck here. Okay, now we're stuck here. What did you do to grow? And they would always say, mindset. And it was just like, okay, yeah, I got the mindset, I get it. All right, but what else can I do? And then, and then anytime that we would get to the point where it just seemed like we were stuck, I think I don't remember, I believe we had a crucial conversation, me and my wife, just one night, just like, back and forth. Just really like, okay, hashing everything out of like, what can we be doing? How can we be growing? And I think it always came back to, it's on me, like, I would want to blame why is this patient not following through? Why are they doing this? Why is the team not doing this? Why are we not showing up? Why is the energy in the office? Not good? It was just laying blame. And then just thinking, what if I just worked on myself, I change what I'm doing focus on what I can control back to that. And once I started working on myself, and just saying all of these things around me are probably a reflection of what I'm doing. So if I change that, well, guess what happened? We started to grow, we broke through a plateau. And then anytime we hit another, it's like, Okay, back to the drawing board. How can I show up better today? What was I doing when we were growing? Like, what have I gotten away from and just always back to center back to center, and it sounds cliche, you want it like with the mindset, and that's what it started with me is like, okay, I get the mindset, like, I'm driven, I'm there, but you really have to self reflect and bring it back.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: What when we really break that mindset is, is in a sense, consciousness and consciousness is the way you navigate through your external world. And it's the lens at which you see the world is the consciousness. So it's like, if you see the world through victimhood, that basically means your brain is processing interactions and your outcomes are simply an effect of an external influence. Think about that. So it's like, your brain is processing. I'm struggling financially, because of my external environment. My relationship is not as good because of my because of it's my spouse's fault. My patients are not staying because they have the wrong mindset. Our collections isn't good, because the economy, everything in the mind when you when you collect an adversity, and you shift it and pass it on to something else, you just take it from your brain and shove it to the economy. It's my wife's fault. It's my patients fault by this fault. You have your disempower, and what people don't realize about the victimhood is it, it feels good to be a victim because you let go with the problems are we have to realize is victimhood makes you powerless, because you have no control. You're an effect of an external influence. So to flip victimhood, which you what you did through mindset, and again, you're right, it's a cliche, oh, mindfulness mindset. It's like, yeah, yeah, let's get on, give me a new marketing thing. What we all want, give me the secret in a cave that some consultants said we should do? Well realize that when you took ownership and said, that patient left because of the way, my energy, or my communication, or my compassion, or whatever it is, you found something you could work on. And that's empowerment. So when we're frustrated, it's because the gap between our current reality where we want to go, we don't know the pathway to get there. That's burnout. That's frustration. You have probably the same stress as much or more than when you had all this mindset, frustration, but I bet you're more energetic, you're more inspired and you enjoy your day better, because you have momentous growth, but it's not like you eliminate a stress right? Would you agree with that?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: You're always going to be you're always gonna have stress. I mean, being an owner like from associate to owner, something, I'd go home and you know, I leave work at home. You're an owner, you bring it with you all the time. So there's always some level of stress but how you handle it definitely changes when Once you make that shift, and it doesn't weigh down on you as much, I'm less in a state of frustration, and more of just okay, this is happening, how can I improve it? Like, what do I need to do to take ownership of it and to overcome the hurdle? And just knowing like, the more you grow, the more stress probably more problems, but I think you'll have a better way of handling it. So it almost seems like the burden is lower. That makes sense.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: Yes, it does. And when you're in victimhood, and you're below blamer. Usually you're in crisis financially, you're in crisis with the practice. And usually when you're in victim mode, you're trying to solve, like paying rent today. What am I going to do today? Today? It's like current crisis. Have you noticed with the better mindset, you're forecasting the month or the quarter? Or you're not living in the crisis of today or yesterday, but you're actually planning for the future? Did you? Did you notice that as well, when you change the mindset?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Yeah, we definitely noticed that. I think that was one of the big reasons that helped us push over that plateau, we changed our mindset. We noticed when we actually plans, which we're going to talk about in the next podcast, but sitting down and really planning those goals and thinking ahead, when you don't have that lack or that fear mindset, it's easier to set those goals. Because some at first, when we did break through the mindset, and we went to goal set, it was always in the back of your mind, like, what if we don't hit this, things aren't going right. And once we change that, it's now what are we going to do to make it happen, and we would reverse engineer it, and we would meet our goals. So

Dr. Joseph Esposito: that's what I want our listeners or viewers to grasp is that when you change mindset, it changes your language, and it changes the way you operate. So when you change the mindset, you go from scarcity to abundance, where you see abundance, you see people suffering everywhere you see people in need, you're not trying to get patients, you're not trying to like grab them and work hard. You're just trying to serve people in need. So you go from scarcity to abundance, you go from crisis to planning, right? It just changes the way your operating system and your brain is and the language that you use. And I like the discussion, we're going to have you you agree to do another podcast, and we're going to talk about, you know, opening business with a spouse to chiropractors. I mean, that could be that's a double edged sword, that can be the greatest thing, the worst thing, it depends on the way you navigate this, this entity, this energy between your intimate personal relationship and your business relationship. And you had some of the best mentors in the field of chiropractic, which I'm excited for you to talk about on the next podcast. But that's a way to end this podcast, I think you'd agree with me that in a small business, your relationship is good, the business is good, your relationship is bad, the business is bad. So our mindset in our personal life, finance, family, kids, parents, whatever it is, is a mindset that carries through which you probably agree with that right?

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Oh, yeah. So I'm glad we're doing that topic, because I'll dive deeper into it. But definitely the reflection of what's going on. If you carry it with you, it's going to roll over into your regular life, it's going to roll over into your job, it's going to roll over into what the patients may even catch on to it or notice it. So back to like when you pick your associate ship is you got to find someone that's congruent with you I knew is a husband, wife, team, and that was our goal to be there. So why not learn from one of the best in the business? To try to emulate them and learn, you know, where did they? What hurdles did they have? How did they jump through it? And then try to implement that in our business. So yeah,

Dr. Joseph Esposito: so it's a close up, Matt. You're over the hump of opening, you're starting to scale things are moving faster, you're ready to hire more staff, you're, you're now looking forward at the vision of where this practice is going. It's moving now. So what do you see 36 months from now? Is it another doctors and another clinic? Is it the same clinic more volume? Is a work life balance? I know you have a young family what do you see? What is 36 months look like from today? Do you have that vision or no? Yeah, we

Dr. Matt Lawrence: can have it. Okay. Our vision is keeping this practice keeping this clinic going. Opening a second clinic hiring more staff here hiring another doctor here. Getting that second clinic going on a different area of town that we know we can reach some people over there. There's a big need. And at this point, you know, we're still thinking of like, okay, we're going to kind of bounce between the clinics where like I spend the day here in a day there and then have like the main dogs in each one like We're still playing with that. But the vision right now is a second clinic. Keeping the one we have, we have a great establishment, where we're at now good retention, getting really well known in this area for for health and wellness. So just expanding, opening another practice dialing in our team's spinning, you know, time training, both offices bringing them together, where we can go to trainings together, and we can dedicate weekends to just grow. But that's our vision right now is another office. And

Dr. Joseph Esposito: it's great because when you're training doctors, you're you're you're improving and getting mastery training is the best as you can learn from your mentor, Dr. Joe, Dr. Deb, when you train, you get mastery, this is in front of me every day, to teach us to learn. I don't even see it that way, but to teach us to learn twice. So you're basically relearning how to master your craft, which is chiropractic. So all right, well, that was that was great. I know you gave some great insight to people that are going to go through the hopelessness of an adversity and practice how to get you talked about associate ship, make sure it's congruent with what you want when you get an associate. And it's time well spent. Don't think it's just a stepping stone. It's one of the best experiences you can have if it's congruent to your own vision of how you see your practice. So excited for the next talk we have on opening a spouse, practice with your spouse. Thanks, doctor.

Dr. Matt Lawrence: Make sure you stay tuned for that.

Dr. Joseph Esposito: Yes