June 6, 2025 • 23 mins
The moment Brian Schultz purchased Amplify Health and Wellness in Colorado, he faced a pivotal realization—clinical expertise alone wasn't enough to build a thriving practice. As both owner and lead chiropractor, he quickly discovered the delicate balance between patient care and business operations that defines successful healthcare entrepreneurship.
Through candid conversation, Brian reveals his journey from student-loan-burdened practitioner to confident clinic owner. His refreshingly honest approach to business challenges offers wisdom for anyone navigating the complex healthcare landscape. "I'm one of those people that likes to learn by making a lot of mistakes," he admits, before sharing how those costly lessons transformed his practice approach.
What truly sets Brian's story apart is his commitment to authentic patient relationships. Rather than racing through appointments, he cultivates meaningful connections that position him as a trusted wellness advisor. "My goal is to be my patient's primary care physician," he explains, describing how this deeper engagement allows him to integrate emerging scientific understandings about gut health, metabolic conditions, and nutritional approaches into comprehensive treatment plans.
The conversation explores practical challenges that rarely make it into formal business education—from the reality of insurance billing headaches to the art of confidently discussing premium treatment packages with patients. Brian's innovative approach includes three-month prepaid care plans instead of one-off adjustments, demonstrating how conviction in your methods directly impacts patient compliance.
Perhaps most powerful is Brian's practice of beginning each day with intention. "Every morning in our huddle, I pray with my staff and ask for the ability to stay present for our patients in the moment," he shares. This commitment to presence has become their competitive advantage, reflected in reviews that mention feeling "like part of a family" more often than clinical outcomes. For healthcare practitioners drowning in administrative demands, this reminder to prioritize human connection might be the most valuable takeaway.
Whether you're an established healthcare provider or considering your first practice purchase, this conversation delivers actionable insights on building a business that honors both your clinical expertise and entrepreneurial vision.
🔗 Guest Contact & Social Links
- Guest: Dr. Brian Schulz
- Business: Amplify Health and Wellness
- Location: 8601 W Cross Dr, Unit A5, Littleton, CO 80123
- Phone: (720) 583-4686
- Role: Founder and Lead Chiropractor
- Website: https://www.amplifychiropractic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amplifyhealthnwellness/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-schulz-9051145b/
- Email: drbrian@amplifychiropractic.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Andrew Greenland (00:03):
So welcome back to Voices in Health and
Wellness.
This is the show where we diginto what's really happening
behind the scenes in today'scare-driven businesses.
I'm your host, Andrew Greenland, and today I'm joined by Brian
Schultz, the founder and leadchiropractor at Amplify Health
and Wellness.
Based in Littleton, Colorado,Brian has built a thriving
practice known for its patientfirst mindset and its
integrative approach tolong-term wellness.
(00:24):
What makes this conversationespecially timely is that
Brian's not just focused ontreating patients.
He's also deeply involved inmanaging the operations and
admin that keep the practicerunning.
So, Brian, thank you very muchfor your time and welcome to the
show.
Brian Schulz (00:36):
Thank you for having me.
Dr Andrew Greenland (00:38):
You're welcome, so maybe you could just
start off by telling us alittle bit about your role and
how Amplify came to be you tostart off by telling us a little
bit about your role and howAmplify came to be.
Brian Schulz (00:49):
Okay, so a little backstory.
I've been a chiropractor for 25years and the vast majority of
those years I worked for otherchiropractors and groups.
I did own my own practice for ashort period during those
periods as well, but recently Ifinally have gotten myself out
of my student loan debt and gotmyself in a position where I
could purchase an office.
This office was established in2017 by a couple, and they
needed to move closer to family.
(01:10):
They had some young kids andthe grandparents were in another
state, so they decided torelocate there and I purchased
the office from them.
So currently, I'm the ownermanager and sole chiropractor
for Amplify Health and Wellness,and our goal is to try and help
people to achieve the healththat they don't even know, that
they have the opportunity togain through lifestyle changes,
(01:33):
coaching, chiropractic care, adiet and exercise.
Dr Andrew Greenland (01:37):
Amazing.
So you are truly a one man band.
So what does a typical day looklike for you at the moment,
both clinically andoperationally?
Brian Schulz (01:44):
Well, clinically, we typically see anywhere from
35 to 55 patients in a day,depending on which day of the
week it is.
Some days are heavier thanothers.
We have a rotating scheduleearly two days a week and later
two days a week to try andmaximize the amount of times
available for my patients.
But obviously, since I'm notjust a chiropractor, I'm also
(02:06):
the owner of the office, I haveto manage all those other hats
too.
So some of the issues that I'vehad is trying to figure out
which hat I need to wear andwhich hat I need to delegate out
to other services, and that'ssome of the stuff that hopefully
we can touch on today.
Dr Andrew Greenland (02:21):
Okay, great , thank you.
And how has your role evolvedas the clinic has grown?
Brian Schulz (02:26):
I'm presuming, obviously since buying the
office and taking over theoperation how have things kind
of evolved for you Wellinitially there were some things
that the previous owners weredoing that I tried to do and
just didn't seem to be a goodmatch for me.
So there was some transitionperiods there where I had to
actually figure out what is itthat I really want to provide
(02:46):
for my patients so that I canfeel passionate about it and
make sure that when I'm tryingto educate them about what I
want them to do, that they cansee the passion behind it.
I've had much more success withpeople following through with
my recommendations when I'm 100%on board with those
recommendations myself.
So if there are treatments orprotocols that I'm not 100% sure
(03:10):
of, I either try to do theresearch necessary to get myself
on board 100% or move on and dosomething else that I do 100%
believe in.
So to me, that's the biggestthing that's been.
A challenge is trying to figureout exactly what it is that I
want this clinic to be, and Idon't know if that's the best
(03:31):
place to be when you've alreadypurchased an office, but that
was part of my journey.
I'm one of those people thatlikes to learn by making a lot
of mistakes, so hopefully I canprevent some of you out there
listening to this to not makethe same mistakes that I've had
to make and that cost me a lotof financial money to learn
those mistakes.
Dr Andrew Greenland (03:51):
That's one of the aims of this podcast.
We really want to sharelearning, not just of clinical
learning, but sort of businesslearning.
So that would be really, reallyhelpful.
So are there any parts of thebusiness side that you've come
to enjoy, or the other extremeyou've come to dread, Because
you know you've got many hatsthat you've come?
Brian Schulz (04:10):
to enjoy or, at the other extreme, you've come
to dread because you know you'vegot many hats that you wear.
They're probably some that youprefer to wear rather than
others.
What would those be?
Yeah, honestly, my favoritepart is actually the clinical
side.
I um initially bought thisoffice intending to just manage
it.
We had another associate thatwas working in the office and
they were doing the vastmajority of the adjusting and I
was expecting to just come inand manage the office.
Turns out that I actually don'tenjoy that.
I really enjoy the clinicalaspect and treating patients
(04:32):
much, much more so that's thepart that I'm really passionate
about is being in the trencheswith my patients, working with
them one-on-one.
the things that I don't like ismarketing, because I'm not
necessarily very good at that,and that's been a frustrating
part of office ownership, simplybecause that's one of the
(04:53):
things that drives profit, ofcourse is bringing in those new
clients, and so it's been alittle bit of a struggle trying
to figure out the right mix tomake sure that we're getting
those people in the door, and Ithink we've finally figured it
out to a good degree brilliant.
Dr Andrew Greenland (05:09):
Um.
What are you noticing in yoursector, your niche, in terms of
where things are going?
What are the major shifts thatyou're seeing in chiropractic
care in the industry right now?
Brian Schulz (05:19):
I'm not sure I've got my finger on the pulse of
the entire industry, but maybelocally and specifically in my
practice, a lot of my patientsare kind of looking more at the
nutritional side of things.
A lot of the research out thereis showing very good promise
with metabolic disorders andketogenic diets and carnivore
(05:43):
diets and all these differentthings that people can do to
kind of reset their system.
One of the big things that'sbeen huge in the last five to 10
years, of course, is the gutbiome and gut health and how
that plays with the gut brainaccess and how important it is
that we have the bacteria livinginside of us, the right mix of
(06:05):
them, because they actually docontrol our hunger signals to a
large degree, more so than justwhether or not our stomach is
full of food or not.
So I think that's kind of whereI'm seeing things going is more
towards looking a little bitcloser at the quality of our
food, the specific diets that wehave and ways to get ourselves
(06:25):
out of the metabolic diseasesthat we've developed because of
the poor food quality we have inthe united states over there in
europe a lot of those thingsare not allowed in your food
supply and unfortunately in theunited states there's 500 plus
chemicals that we allow that youall over air do not, so I'm
hoping I can educate some peopleabout that too and presumably
(06:46):
these are things that you canintegrate.
Dr Andrew Greenland (06:47):
You you have been integrating into your
practice this more holisticapproach and exploring these
sort of metabolic biome aspectsyeah, honestly, one of my goals
is to be my patient's primarycare physician.
Brian Schulz (07:00):
Now I don't know if I can be categorized that way
specifically, but in oftencases my patients will come to
me with any problems they havehealth-wise and they'll get
advice as to can we manage thisourselves and watch this
ourselves, or do I need to referthem to a practitioner to get
further testing or evaluation?
(07:20):
And so many of them developthat relationship with me
because I see them regularly soI get to know them as human
beings.
I'm not just running in towrite a prescription or write a
referral and in and out of theroom in 30 seconds.
I get some time with mypatients and get to know them,
and so they feel much morecomfortable sharing things with
me than they would, you know,their primary care in the
(07:41):
medical field, because they justdon't have the time got it.
Dr Andrew Greenland (07:45):
What about?
Um?
Obviously covid's been a bigdeal for us.
I don't know how you faredduring covid.
Um, I guess I don't know do youhave to sort of shut down or
truncate what you did?
Brian Schulz (07:56):
yeah, at the time of covid I was actually in the
state of kentucky and they werepretty harsh on us.
They shut us down for five weeks, um, and so the unfortunate
thing about that is I had twopatients who were pretty
significantly impaired andbecause of the inability for me
to see those patients for thosefive weeks, they ended up
needing surgery, and so I wasdevastated to not be able to
(08:20):
take care of my patients the waythat they needed to be taken
care of, because the governmentsaid you can't do it.
So that was tough.
Now in the United States theydid have a lot of programs out
there to help employers, notjust in the medical field but in
all the small business fields,like PPE loans and things like
that.
So on the business side ofthings, the United States fared
(08:42):
pretty well as far as thebusinesses.
Unfortunately, I think therewas a lot of fraud with it too,
so a lot of waste.
Unfortunately, people takingthat money that really didn't
need it, going on vacations andthings like that, instead of
actually keeping the employeeshappy that they were supposed to
use that money for were thereany changes in patient
expectations after covid?
Dr Andrew Greenland (09:03):
I mean, that was a major shift in the
way we had to live for a coupleof years, but has it changed
anything in terms of the waythat clients present and have
expectations now?
Brian Schulz (09:12):
I'm not sure I'm seeing a huge difference in that
, maybe an overall shift inawareness of how important
overall health is, because Ithink that's one of the things
that COVID really did show us isthat if you're overall not a
healthy person, those are thepeople that suffered the most
with COVID.
You know, if you were morbidlyobese, if you had other serious
(09:36):
health conditions, you were muchmore affected by COVID than
those who were healthy.
And so hopefully thatparticular part of the pandemic
has hit home with enough people,hard enough, that they're
actually going to put the workin to change their lifestyle
habits, because oftentimes humanbeings, we don't want to change
unless it's more painful not tochange than it is to change,
(09:58):
and maybe for some people COVIDwas that impetus.
Dr Andrew Greenland (10:03):
Got it and I don't know how it is for the
US in chiropractic.
Obviously I'm UK based, buthave there been any sort of
local or national policy changesthat impact on your practice at
all, or have you pretty muchpracticed as you always have
done?
Brian Schulz (10:18):
uh, I'm not pretty much practiced the same way I
have at this point, you know,and obviously there was a period
of time where we had to do allof the um, the ppe or the, the
masks and the gloves and thingslike that, and we I think we had
to do that for gosh, like ninemonths before Kentucky let us
not wear masks and not weargloves, which was weird to me,
(10:40):
because in the state of Kentucky, if you were a massage
therapist, you could work onyour patients without wearing
gloves and you're touching themskin on skin, but a chiropractor
who's working through theclothing, we had to wear gloves.
Skin, but a chiropractor who'sworking through the clothing, we
had to wear gloves.
And just that was one of thefrustrating things about how it
was handled.
Here was so much conflictinginformation and rules and
(11:03):
regulations that didn't seem tomake much sense, and so
hopefully god forbid anythinglike this happens again, but if
it does, hopefully we're betterprepared for it yeah, and so is
what's working well for you inyour team?
Dr Andrew Greenland (11:18):
I don't actually you have a team.
Are you truly one man band?
Do you have any team members atall?
Brian Schulz (11:22):
right now I have two staff and we're getting
ready to hire a third.
Um, so the therapies that we'redoing are doing pretty well.
Uh, we do the red light therapyand then we do a therapy called
INDIBA I-N-D-I-B-A.
It's a radio frequencyelectronic stimulation device
and that particular device isrelatively new over in the
United States.
I think they got FDA clearancefor PT on that in about 2016.
(11:46):
But in Europe they've been usingit for 40 years and so that
particular machine I've hadgreat results with plantar
fasciitis, carpal tunnel,neuropathies, acute injuries
really helps them heal fasterand even chronic injuries it can
really make a big difference inreducing their overall pain
levels and spurring on thehealing process.
(12:08):
So that particular frequencythey've done studies on and it's
supposed to in vivo studieshave shown it increases stem
cell production, the metabolicactivity of the rates of the
cells we're working on, andincreases blood flow.
So that therapy has been apretty big game changer for me
as far as patient compliance andpatient satisfaction with the
(12:31):
speed with which it can providepeople the results they're
looking for interesting and, onthe other end of the spectrum,
what's been frustrating orholding you back?
Dr Andrew Greenland (12:42):
I know you kind of alluded to marketing
being a thing.
Is there anything else with allthe multiple hats that you wear
?
Is one of your bottlenecks orchallenges in the way that you
do things?
Brian Schulz (12:51):
yeah, well, uh, in colorado specifically, um,
trying to bill for insurance andusing insurance is not a very
easy or good thing forchiropractic I only accept a
couple of different insurances,and when I first bought the
office, we didn't accept anyinsurances, and so I was like,
well, I'm having troublefiguring out the marketing game,
(13:12):
let me try and get in on someinsurance action and see if
that'll help.
So we did get some extra volumefrom that, but it's just they
want in the united states lot ofthem are they want
pre-authorization.
The insurance company wants tobe in charge of what you get to
do and what you don't get to dowith your patients, and then
they don't want to pay me verywell either.
So probably one of thechallenges although I don't seem
(13:35):
to have that much trouble withit now because I've been doing
it more is selling the cost ofthe packages that I recommend.
So in our office we're not awalk-in clinic, we don't do
one-off adjustments, we do careplans, and the minimum care plan
is three months long, and soI'm asking people to pay before
(13:56):
they start their care, so theyhave to prepay for their care
here.
So oftentimes I'm sitting downin the report.
I'm asking them to give me 1500to 2500 and, um, obviously
that's sometimes it's somesticker shock to people and so
that can be a challenge.
But at the same time, becauseI've been doing it now for about
three years in the cash basedtype of a practice, I feel
(14:20):
comfortable doing it now.
So again for anybody that's outthere that's struggling with
anything.
As far as patient communicationis concerned, the first thing I
would look at is howcomfortable are you doctor?
If you're not 100% comfortablewith whatever it is you're
trying to educate the patientwith, you need to get there,
because if you're not a 100%,the patients are going to be
(14:41):
able to notice that, even on asubconscious level In some way,
it's just not going to feelright to them and they're going
to be more guarded.
So number one have 100% faith inwhatever it is you're trying to
sell to the patient, becauseyou know it works and with
experience, hopefully you guyshave all seen what we do works,
so know what you do works 100.
(15:03):
Believe that, then you're goingto be able to convey that to
the patients much easier got it?
Dr Andrew Greenland (15:10):
um, I mean, I've spoken to a number of
people in north america andthere's the.
The commonality is about thewhole insurance rebuilding thing
, so I'm getting that as a themeacross all the different niches
.
Have you what's your kind ofsecret sauce with cracking this?
Have you cracked it to the bestthat you can, with all the
limitations that you've saidaround?
I'm not wanting to pay youproperly and everything else.
What's your kind of advice onthis one?
(15:32):
Well, the way that I do.
Brian Schulz (15:34):
It is I don't try to maximize the amount of uh
insurance that I get.
I try to use insurance more asa way to kind of like a bridge
for patients who want to usetheir insurance.
I'm going to let them use theirinsurance, but I'm not going to
try and fight for every singlecent that that insurance is
going to give me.
So, for instance,UnitedHealthcare is a big one in
this particular state.
(15:55):
They require pre- authorization,and so when I get the
pre-authorization, they give meX number of visits.
Usually it's six or eightvisits is what they're going to
approve initially, and thenafter that they generally give
me three to six more, and thenafter that I don't apply for
more.
At that point I'm like yourinsurance is done paying.
We're going to switch you overto a cash basis now.
So here's what your insuranceis going to cover.
(16:17):
That's going to reduce yourcost by X amount.
After that, they're done withtheir portion.
Now it's up to you, and youneed to take responsibility for
your health here, and so that'skind of how I handle that is, I
don't try to.
I try to move people from thethought of I need to use my
insurance for this to this issomething that's so important
(16:37):
that I'm going to pay for it,whether insurance is going to or
not.
Dr Andrew Greenland (16:41):
Good advice .
So if you were to name onesystem or process that eats up
most of your time, what would itbe?
Would it be the whole insurancething or the other things that
are a drain for you?
Brian Schulz (16:52):
Well, I would say it would be a combination of
insurance and documentation.
Ok, if I didn't do anyinsurance, the documentation
that I would have to do would beat a different level, because
the documentation I need is fornumber one.
So I know what I did so that ifanything ever happens I can say
(17:13):
this is exactly what we didthis day.
So for two reasons number oneI've had patients come in on a
visit and they're like whateveryou did last visit, doc, do it
again.
I feel so much better.
And then if you look at yournotes and you're like I don't
know what I did different thatday, that's a problem.
So your notes need to bedetailed enough so that you know
if you did a little subtle,different adjustment that day.
(17:37):
You can look at that note andgo that's what I did different
today.
Let's make sure we do thatagain.
So that's the first thing.
But the other thing, of course,is to protect ourselves.
We all have malpracticeinsurance because we all need it
, because there's always achance in any medical profession
of a patient suing you, whetherit's your fault or not, and so
the notes need to be adequate toprotect you there.
(17:58):
But above that, the insurancesrequire a bunch of stuff that
you wouldn't need to satisfythose two other requirements.
So, because I do insurance, mydocumentation takes longer.
Does that make sense, matt?
Dr Andrew Greenland (18:11):
BONGIOVILE Got it.
Yeah, I completely understand.
So how do you, with all thehats, how do you balance being
present with patients whilemanaging all these
behind-the-scenes tasks?
What is the secret here?
Brian Schulz (18:23):
the number one thing I would say is every
morning in our morning huddle.
I'm a christian, I pray with mystaff every morning and I ask
for the ability for all of us tostay present for our patients
in the moment, and so everymorning I'm reminding myself and
my staff to be 100 present inthe moment with the patient.
(18:44):
let's not worry about what we'redoing after work.
Let's not worry about whatwe're doing this weekend.
Let's not worry about whateverstuff's going on in our life
right now.
Let's focus on who's in frontof us.
Let's 100% listen to them.
Let's not be thinking aboutwhat we're going to say next,
because that's what oftentimespeople are doing when they're
listening, they're not actuallylistening.
They're waiting for an openingto say what they want to say
(19:06):
next.
So you know, we do a lot oftraining on that.
As far as staying present, and,honestly, that's one of the
biggest things in my reviewsthat stands out is most of my
patients that are giving usreviews.
It's not just necessarily aboutI feel better, it's the staff
is amazing.
I feel like I'm a part of afamily, I feel like I'm being
listened to, and it's just notme.
Dr Andrew Greenland (19:30):
It's the whole team.
That's really really goodadvice, Thank you.
So where would you like to bein six to 12 months with Amplify
?
What's the kind of direction oftravel for you and the clinic?
Brian Schulz (19:38):
Well, right now we're staffing up because we're
getting busier, we're startingto figure out that marketing mix
, so we're getting those newpatients in the door, so we have
to get more staff to handlethat volume, specifically with
making sure that we can handlethe therapy volume, because I
need enough staff to be able todo one can be in therapy.
I still need somebody up frontdoing the front desk.
(19:59):
And then another thing I'mlooking at potentially is having
a virtual front desk so thatway I don't need somebody
listening from the phone.
If the phone rings more thantwice, it goes to a call center
that I have trained.
They get a bunch of differentscripts and a bunch of different
stuff that is specific to myclinic so they know how to
answer questions.
They can handle any phone callsthat come through that we can't
(20:21):
get on ring two, so that I don'tneed to hire another staff just
to man phones.
So that's a way that if you'rekind of worried about well, I'm
in between, like I kind of needmore staff, but I'm really not
in a place where I need it yetthat can be a stepping stone
between hiring another staff isto look for companies that will
(20:41):
answer those phones, a virtualfront desk type of a company.
So that's something that we'regonna be implementing as well.
But over the next 12 months Iwant to hire another uh
associate and then probablyanother year.
After that we're going to belooking at hiring a physical
therapist in the office as wellokay, I hope that all goes well.
Dr Andrew Greenland (21:01):
Finally, if you could wave a magic wand and
fix one part of the businesstomorrow, what would that be?
Brian Schulz (21:06):
uh again.
Um, having all my new patientsappointments full, that's really
the only thing that, honestly,I struggle with at all in
practice.
If that's just not my my forte,even, you know, doing
screenings and those sorts ofthings, I'm just not good at it,
you know, and it's reallyimportant guys and gals out
there to know what you're notgood at.
(21:28):
Okay and it's okay, we're allgoing to have things we're not
good at.
Be okay with that.
Figure it out what you're notgood at, because if you can
figure that out, you candelegate that to other people
who are good at it, and so thattook me a little bit of time.
Um, early in my career I kindof had a big ego, thought I
could do everything myself,thought I knew, knew everything,
and honestly, that got me inmore trouble than anything else
(21:50):
in life.
So have some humility.
People Know that you're not Godand that you need some help too
, and ask for help when you needit.
You know and have your staffand other people mentors.
Have a mentor.
That's super important Somebodyyou can bounce ideas off of and
they can go.
You're a knucklehead.
That's just dumb.
(22:13):
You know somebody who can bethat blunt with you and you're
not going to get upset becausethey they popped your bubble.
You know somebody you canreally trust because they've got
the experience that will saveyou more money than anything
else and it's worth the money.
If you have to pay a coach, itreally is worth the money to do
that.
You end up spending way moremoney.
Take it from a guy who decidedI don't want to pay for the
coach.
I paid for a coach 10 timesover through experience.
So give yourself shortcut getthe coach there's a saying isn't
(22:37):
there.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:37):
You either pay with time or money, and
absolutely money is kind of theshortcut because you've
basically taken experienceunfortunately some of us.
Brian Schulz (22:44):
They got the money , so you just have to have to
struggle through until you dofigure it out.
But you'll get there.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:51):
On that note, Brian, thank you so much
for your time this afternoon.
Really interesting conversation, Really interesting to hear
about you, your business andyour presence in the business,
which I really really value.
So thank you very much for yourtime, Really appreciate it.
Brian Schulz (23:02):
Again, thanks for having me on, Andrew.
It's been a pleasure, thank you.
So welcome back to Voices in Health and
Wellness.
This is the show where we diginto what's really happening
behind the scenes in today'scare-driven businesses.
I'm your host, Andrew Greenland, and today I'm joined by Brian
Schultz, the founder and leadchiropractor at Amplify Health
and Wellness.
Based in Littleton, Colorado,Brian has built a thriving
practice known for its patientfirst mindset and its
integrative approach tolong-term wellness.
(00:24):
What makes this conversationespecially timely is that
Brian's not just focused ontreating patients.
He's also deeply involved inmanaging the operations and
admin that keep the practicerunning.
So, Brian, thank you very muchfor your time and welcome to the
show.
Brian Schulz (00:36):
Thank you for having me.
Dr Andrew Greenland (00:38):
You're welcome, so maybe you could just
start off by telling us alittle bit about your role and
how Amplify came to be you tostart off by telling us a little
bit about your role and howAmplify came to be.
Brian Schulz (00:49):
Okay, so a little backstory.
I've been a chiropractor for 25years and the vast majority of
those years I worked for otherchiropractors and groups.
I did own my own practice for ashort period during those
periods as well, but recently Ifinally have gotten myself out
of my student loan debt and gotmyself in a position where I
could purchase an office.
This office was established in2017 by a couple, and they
needed to move closer to family.
(01:10):
They had some young kids andthe grandparents were in another
state, so they decided torelocate there and I purchased
the office from them.
So currently, I'm the ownermanager and sole chiropractor
for Amplify Health and Wellness,and our goal is to try and help
people to achieve the healththat they don't even know, that
they have the opportunity togain through lifestyle changes,
(01:33):
coaching, chiropractic care, adiet and exercise.
Dr Andrew Greenland (01:37):
Amazing.
So you are truly a one man band.
So what does a typical day looklike for you at the moment,
both clinically andoperationally?
Brian Schulz (01:44):
Well, clinically, we typically see anywhere from
35 to 55 patients in a day,depending on which day of the
week it is.
Some days are heavier thanothers.
We have a rotating scheduleearly two days a week and later
two days a week to try andmaximize the amount of times
available for my patients.
But obviously, since I'm notjust a chiropractor, I'm also
(02:06):
the owner of the office, I haveto manage all those other hats
too.
So some of the issues that I'vehad is trying to figure out
which hat I need to wear andwhich hat I need to delegate out
to other services, and that'ssome of the stuff that hopefully
we can touch on today.
Dr Andrew Greenland (02:21):
Okay, great , thank you.
And how has your role evolvedas the clinic has grown?
Brian Schulz (02:26):
I'm presuming, obviously since buying the
office and taking over theoperation how have things kind
of evolved for you Wellinitially there were some things
that the previous owners weredoing that I tried to do and
just didn't seem to be a goodmatch for me.
So there was some transitionperiods there where I had to
actually figure out what is itthat I really want to provide
(02:46):
for my patients so that I canfeel passionate about it and
make sure that when I'm tryingto educate them about what I
want them to do, that they cansee the passion behind it.
I've had much more success withpeople following through with
my recommendations when I'm 100%on board with those
recommendations myself.
So if there are treatments orprotocols that I'm not 100% sure
(03:10):
of, I either try to do theresearch necessary to get myself
on board 100% or move on and dosomething else that I do 100%
believe in.
So to me, that's the biggestthing that's been.
A challenge is trying to figureout exactly what it is that I
want this clinic to be, and Idon't know if that's the best
(03:31):
place to be when you've alreadypurchased an office, but that
was part of my journey.
I'm one of those people thatlikes to learn by making a lot
of mistakes, so hopefully I canprevent some of you out there
listening to this to not makethe same mistakes that I've had
to make and that cost me a lotof financial money to learn
those mistakes.
Dr Andrew Greenland (03:51):
That's one of the aims of this podcast.
We really want to sharelearning, not just of clinical
learning, but sort of businesslearning.
So that would be really, reallyhelpful.
So are there any parts of thebusiness side that you've come
to enjoy, or the other extremeyou've come to dread, Because
you know you've got many hatsthat you've come?
Brian Schulz (04:10):
to enjoy or, at the other extreme, you've come
to dread because you know you'vegot many hats that you wear.
They're probably some that youprefer to wear rather than
others.
What would those be?
Yeah, honestly, my favoritepart is actually the clinical
side.
I um initially bought thisoffice intending to just manage
it.
We had another associate thatwas working in the office and
they were doing the vastmajority of the adjusting and I
was expecting to just come inand manage the office.
Turns out that I actually don'tenjoy that.
I really enjoy the clinicalaspect and treating patients
(04:32):
much, much more so that's thepart that I'm really passionate
about is being in the trencheswith my patients, working with
them one-on-one.
the things that I don't like ismarketing, because I'm not
necessarily very good at that,and that's been a frustrating
part of office ownership, simplybecause that's one of the
(04:53):
things that drives profit, ofcourse is bringing in those new
clients, and so it's been alittle bit of a struggle trying
to figure out the right mix tomake sure that we're getting
those people in the door, and Ithink we've finally figured it
out to a good degree brilliant.
Dr Andrew Greenland (05:09):
Um.
What are you noticing in yoursector, your niche, in terms of
where things are going?
What are the major shifts thatyou're seeing in chiropractic
care in the industry right now?
Brian Schulz (05:19):
I'm not sure I've got my finger on the pulse of
the entire industry, but maybelocally and specifically in my
practice, a lot of my patientsare kind of looking more at the
nutritional side of things.
A lot of the research out thereis showing very good promise
with metabolic disorders andketogenic diets and carnivore
(05:43):
diets and all these differentthings that people can do to
kind of reset their system.
One of the big things that'sbeen huge in the last five to 10
years, of course, is the gutbiome and gut health and how
that plays with the gut brainaccess and how important it is
that we have the bacteria livinginside of us, the right mix of
(06:05):
them, because they actually docontrol our hunger signals to a
large degree, more so than justwhether or not our stomach is
full of food or not.
So I think that's kind of whereI'm seeing things going is more
towards looking a little bitcloser at the quality of our
food, the specific diets that wehave and ways to get ourselves
(06:25):
out of the metabolic diseasesthat we've developed because of
the poor food quality we have inthe united states over there in
europe a lot of those thingsare not allowed in your food
supply and unfortunately in theunited states there's 500 plus
chemicals that we allow that youall over air do not, so I'm
hoping I can educate some peopleabout that too and presumably
(06:46):
these are things that you canintegrate.
Dr Andrew Greenland (06:47):
You you have been integrating into your
practice this more holisticapproach and exploring these
sort of metabolic biome aspectsyeah, honestly, one of my goals
is to be my patient's primarycare physician.
Brian Schulz (07:00):
Now I don't know if I can be categorized that way
specifically, but in oftencases my patients will come to
me with any problems they havehealth-wise and they'll get
advice as to can we manage thisourselves and watch this
ourselves, or do I need to referthem to a practitioner to get
further testing or evaluation?
(07:20):
And so many of them developthat relationship with me
because I see them regularly soI get to know them as human
beings.
I'm not just running in towrite a prescription or write a
referral and in and out of theroom in 30 seconds.
I get some time with mypatients and get to know them,
and so they feel much morecomfortable sharing things with
me than they would, you know,their primary care in the
(07:41):
medical field, because they justdon't have the time got it.
Dr Andrew Greenland (07:45):
What about?
Um?
Obviously covid's been a bigdeal for us.
I don't know how you faredduring covid.
Um, I guess I don't know do youhave to sort of shut down or
truncate what you did?
Brian Schulz (07:56):
yeah, at the time of covid I was actually in the
state of kentucky and they werepretty harsh on us.
They shut us down for five weeks, um, and so the unfortunate
thing about that is I had twopatients who were pretty
significantly impaired andbecause of the inability for me
to see those patients for thosefive weeks, they ended up
needing surgery, and so I wasdevastated to not be able to
(08:20):
take care of my patients the waythat they needed to be taken
care of, because the governmentsaid you can't do it.
So that was tough.
Now in the United States theydid have a lot of programs out
there to help employers, notjust in the medical field but in
all the small business fields,like PPE loans and things like
that.
So on the business side ofthings, the United States fared
(08:42):
pretty well as far as thebusinesses.
Unfortunately, I think therewas a lot of fraud with it too,
so a lot of waste.
Unfortunately, people takingthat money that really didn't
need it, going on vacations andthings like that, instead of
actually keeping the employeeshappy that they were supposed to
use that money for were thereany changes in patient
expectations after covid?
Dr Andrew Greenland (09:03):
I mean, that was a major shift in the
way we had to live for a coupleof years, but has it changed
anything in terms of the waythat clients present and have
expectations now?
Brian Schulz (09:12):
I'm not sure I'm seeing a huge difference in that
, maybe an overall shift inawareness of how important
overall health is, because Ithink that's one of the things
that COVID really did show us isthat if you're overall not a
healthy person, those are thepeople that suffered the most
with COVID.
You know, if you were morbidlyobese, if you had other serious
(09:36):
health conditions, you were muchmore affected by COVID than
those who were healthy.
And so hopefully thatparticular part of the pandemic
has hit home with enough people,hard enough, that they're
actually going to put the workin to change their lifestyle
habits, because oftentimes humanbeings, we don't want to change
unless it's more painful not tochange than it is to change,
(09:58):
and maybe for some people COVIDwas that impetus.
Dr Andrew Greenland (10:03):
Got it and I don't know how it is for the
US in chiropractic.
Obviously I'm UK based, buthave there been any sort of
local or national policy changesthat impact on your practice at
all, or have you pretty muchpracticed as you always have
done?
Brian Schulz (10:18):
uh, I'm not pretty much practiced the same way I
have at this point, you know,and obviously there was a period
of time where we had to do allof the um, the ppe or the, the
masks and the gloves and thingslike that, and we I think we had
to do that for gosh, like ninemonths before Kentucky let us
not wear masks and not weargloves, which was weird to me,
(10:40):
because in the state of Kentucky, if you were a massage
therapist, you could work onyour patients without wearing
gloves and you're touching themskin on skin, but a chiropractor
who's working through theclothing, we had to wear gloves.
Skin, but a chiropractor who'sworking through the clothing, we
had to wear gloves.
And just that was one of thefrustrating things about how it
was handled.
Here was so much conflictinginformation and rules and
(11:03):
regulations that didn't seem tomake much sense, and so
hopefully god forbid anythinglike this happens again, but if
it does, hopefully we're betterprepared for it yeah, and so is
what's working well for you inyour team?
Dr Andrew Greenland (11:18):
I don't actually you have a team.
Are you truly one man band?
Do you have any team members atall?
Brian Schulz (11:22):
right now I have two staff and we're getting
ready to hire a third.
Um, so the therapies that we'redoing are doing pretty well.
Uh, we do the red light therapyand then we do a therapy called
INDIBA I-N-D-I-B-A.
It's a radio frequencyelectronic stimulation device
and that particular device isrelatively new over in the
United States.
I think they got FDA clearancefor PT on that in about 2016.
(11:46):
But in Europe they've been usingit for 40 years and so that
particular machine I've hadgreat results with plantar
fasciitis, carpal tunnel,neuropathies, acute injuries
really helps them heal fasterand even chronic injuries it can
really make a big difference inreducing their overall pain
levels and spurring on thehealing process.
(12:08):
So that particular frequencythey've done studies on and it's
supposed to in vivo studieshave shown it increases stem
cell production, the metabolicactivity of the rates of the
cells we're working on, andincreases blood flow.
So that therapy has been apretty big game changer for me
as far as patient compliance andpatient satisfaction with the
(12:31):
speed with which it can providepeople the results they're
looking for interesting and, onthe other end of the spectrum,
what's been frustrating orholding you back?
Dr Andrew Greenland (12:42):
I know you kind of alluded to marketing
being a thing.
Is there anything else with allthe multiple hats that you wear
?
Is one of your bottlenecks orchallenges in the way that you
do things?
Brian Schulz (12:51):
yeah, well, uh, in colorado specifically, um,
trying to bill for insurance andusing insurance is not a very
easy or good thing forchiropractic I only accept a
couple of different insurances,and when I first bought the
office, we didn't accept anyinsurances, and so I was like,
well, I'm having troublefiguring out the marketing game,
(13:12):
let me try and get in on someinsurance action and see if
that'll help.
So we did get some extra volumefrom that, but it's just they
want in the united states lot ofthem are they want
pre-authorization.
The insurance company wants tobe in charge of what you get to
do and what you don't get to dowith your patients, and then
they don't want to pay me verywell either.
So probably one of thechallenges although I don't seem
(13:35):
to have that much trouble withit now because I've been doing
it more is selling the cost ofthe packages that I recommend.
So in our office we're not awalk-in clinic, we don't do
one-off adjustments, we do careplans, and the minimum care plan
is three months long, and soI'm asking people to pay before
(13:56):
they start their care, so theyhave to prepay for their care
here.
So oftentimes I'm sitting downin the report.
I'm asking them to give me 1500to 2500 and, um, obviously
that's sometimes it's somesticker shock to people and so
that can be a challenge.
But at the same time, becauseI've been doing it now for about
three years in the cash basedtype of a practice, I feel
(14:20):
comfortable doing it now.
So again for anybody that's outthere that's struggling with
anything.
As far as patient communicationis concerned, the first thing I
would look at is howcomfortable are you doctor?
If you're not 100% comfortablewith whatever it is you're
trying to educate the patientwith, you need to get there,
because if you're not a 100%,the patients are going to be
(14:41):
able to notice that, even on asubconscious level In some way,
it's just not going to feelright to them and they're going
to be more guarded.
So number one have 100% faith inwhatever it is you're trying to
sell to the patient, becauseyou know it works and with
experience, hopefully you guyshave all seen what we do works,
so know what you do works 100.
(15:03):
Believe that, then you're goingto be able to convey that to
the patients much easier got it?
Dr Andrew Greenland (15:10):
um, I mean, I've spoken to a number of
people in north america andthere's the.
The commonality is about thewhole insurance rebuilding thing
, so I'm getting that as a themeacross all the different niches
.
Have you what's your kind ofsecret sauce with cracking this?
Have you cracked it to the bestthat you can, with all the
limitations that you've saidaround?
I'm not wanting to pay youproperly and everything else.
What's your kind of advice onthis one?
(15:32):
Well, the way that I do.
Brian Schulz (15:34):
It is I don't try to maximize the amount of uh
insurance that I get.
I try to use insurance more asa way to kind of like a bridge
for patients who want to usetheir insurance.
I'm going to let them use theirinsurance, but I'm not going to
try and fight for every singlecent that that insurance is
going to give me.
So, for instance,UnitedHealthcare is a big one in
this particular state.
(15:55):
They require pre- authorization,and so when I get the
pre-authorization, they give meX number of visits.
Usually it's six or eightvisits is what they're going to
approve initially, and thenafter that they generally give
me three to six more, and thenafter that I don't apply for
more.
At that point I'm like yourinsurance is done paying.
We're going to switch you overto a cash basis now.
So here's what your insuranceis going to cover.
(16:17):
That's going to reduce yourcost by X amount.
After that, they're done withtheir portion.
Now it's up to you, and youneed to take responsibility for
your health here, and so that'skind of how I handle that is, I
don't try to.
I try to move people from thethought of I need to use my
insurance for this to this issomething that's so important
(16:37):
that I'm going to pay for it,whether insurance is going to or
not.
Dr Andrew Greenland (16:41):
Good advice .
So if you were to name onesystem or process that eats up
most of your time, what would itbe?
Would it be the whole insurancething or the other things that
are a drain for you?
Brian Schulz (16:52):
Well, I would say it would be a combination of
insurance and documentation.
Ok, if I didn't do anyinsurance, the documentation
that I would have to do would beat a different level, because
the documentation I need is fornumber one.
So I know what I did so that ifanything ever happens I can say
(17:13):
this is exactly what we didthis day.
So for two reasons number oneI've had patients come in on a
visit and they're like whateveryou did last visit, doc, do it
again.
I feel so much better.
And then if you look at yournotes and you're like I don't
know what I did different thatday, that's a problem.
So your notes need to bedetailed enough so that you know
if you did a little subtle,different adjustment that day.
(17:37):
You can look at that note andgo that's what I did different
today.
Let's make sure we do thatagain.
So that's the first thing.
But the other thing, of course,is to protect ourselves.
We all have malpracticeinsurance because we all need it
, because there's always achance in any medical profession
of a patient suing you, whetherit's your fault or not, and so
the notes need to be adequate toprotect you there.
(17:58):
But above that, the insurancesrequire a bunch of stuff that
you wouldn't need to satisfythose two other requirements.
So, because I do insurance, mydocumentation takes longer.
Does that make sense, matt?
Dr Andrew Greenland (18:11):
BONGIOVILE Got it.
Yeah, I completely understand.
So how do you, with all thehats, how do you balance being
present with patients whilemanaging all these
behind-the-scenes tasks?
What is the secret here?
Brian Schulz (18:23):
the number one thing I would say is every
morning in our morning huddle.
I'm a christian, I pray with mystaff every morning and I ask
for the ability for all of us tostay present for our patients
in the moment, and so everymorning I'm reminding myself and
my staff to be 100 present inthe moment with the patient.
(18:44):
let's not worry about what we'redoing after work.
Let's not worry about whatwe're doing this weekend.
Let's not worry about whateverstuff's going on in our life
right now.
Let's focus on who's in frontof us.
Let's 100% listen to them.
Let's not be thinking aboutwhat we're going to say next,
because that's what oftentimespeople are doing when they're
listening, they're not actuallylistening.
They're waiting for an openingto say what they want to say
(19:06):
next.
So you know, we do a lot oftraining on that.
As far as staying present, and,honestly, that's one of the
biggest things in my reviewsthat stands out is most of my
patients that are giving usreviews.
It's not just necessarily aboutI feel better, it's the staff
is amazing.
I feel like I'm a part of afamily, I feel like I'm being
listened to, and it's just notme.
Dr Andrew Greenland (19:30):
It's the whole team.
That's really really goodadvice, Thank you.
So where would you like to bein six to 12 months with Amplify
?
What's the kind of direction oftravel for you and the clinic?
Brian Schulz (19:38):
Well, right now we're staffing up because we're
getting busier, we're startingto figure out that marketing mix
, so we're getting those newpatients in the door, so we have
to get more staff to handlethat volume, specifically with
making sure that we can handlethe therapy volume, because I
need enough staff to be able todo one can be in therapy.
I still need somebody up frontdoing the front desk.
(19:59):
And then another thing I'mlooking at potentially is having
a virtual front desk so thatway I don't need somebody
listening from the phone.
If the phone rings more thantwice, it goes to a call center
that I have trained.
They get a bunch of differentscripts and a bunch of different
stuff that is specific to myclinic so they know how to
answer questions.
They can handle any phone callsthat come through that we can't
(20:21):
get on ring two, so that I don'tneed to hire another staff just
to man phones.
So that's a way that if you'rekind of worried about well, I'm
in between, like I kind of needmore staff, but I'm really not
in a place where I need it yetthat can be a stepping stone
between hiring another staff isto look for companies that will
(20:41):
answer those phones, a virtualfront desk type of a company.
So that's something that we'regonna be implementing as well.
But over the next 12 months Iwant to hire another uh
associate and then probablyanother year.
After that we're going to belooking at hiring a physical
therapist in the office as wellokay, I hope that all goes well.
Dr Andrew Greenland (21:01):
Finally, if you could wave a magic wand and
fix one part of the businesstomorrow, what would that be?
Brian Schulz (21:06):
uh again.
Um, having all my new patientsappointments full, that's really
the only thing that, honestly,I struggle with at all in
practice.
If that's just not my my forte,even, you know, doing
screenings and those sorts ofthings, I'm just not good at it,
you know, and it's reallyimportant guys and gals out
there to know what you're notgood at.
(21:28):
Okay and it's okay, we're allgoing to have things we're not
good at.
Be okay with that.
Figure it out what you're notgood at, because if you can
figure that out, you candelegate that to other people
who are good at it, and so thattook me a little bit of time.
Um, early in my career I kindof had a big ego, thought I
could do everything myself,thought I knew, knew everything,
and honestly, that got me inmore trouble than anything else
(21:50):
in life.
So have some humility.
People Know that you're not Godand that you need some help too
, and ask for help when you needit.
You know and have your staffand other people mentors.
Have a mentor.
That's super important Somebodyyou can bounce ideas off of and
they can go.
You're a knucklehead.
That's just dumb.
(22:13):
You know somebody who can bethat blunt with you and you're
not going to get upset becausethey they popped your bubble.
You know somebody you canreally trust because they've got
the experience that will saveyou more money than anything
else and it's worth the money.
If you have to pay a coach, itreally is worth the money to do
that.
You end up spending way moremoney.
Take it from a guy who decidedI don't want to pay for the
coach.
I paid for a coach 10 timesover through experience.
So give yourself shortcut getthe coach there's a saying isn't
(22:37):
there.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:37):
You either pay with time or money, and
absolutely money is kind of theshortcut because you've
basically taken experienceunfortunately some of us.
Brian Schulz (22:44):
They got the money , so you just have to have to
struggle through until you dofigure it out.
But you'll get there.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:51):
On that note, Brian, thank you so much
for your time this afternoon.
Really interesting conversation, Really interesting to hear
about you, your business andyour presence in the business,
which I really really value.
So thank you very much for yourtime, Really appreciate it.
Brian Schulz (23:02):
Again, thanks for having me on, Andrew.
It's been a pleasure, thank you.
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