Thriving on Her Own Terms: How Dr. "Sassy" Weinstein Built a Direct Specialty Care Practice Blending Sports, Lifestyle, and Autonomy

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maryal Concepcion, MD (00:04):
Direct Primary care is an innovative
alternative path toinsurance-driven healthcare.
Typically, a patient pays theirdoctor a low monthly membership
and in return builds a lastingrelationship with their doctor
and has their doctor availableat their fingertips.
Welcome to the my DPC storypodcast, where each week.

(00:26):
You will hear the ever sorelatable stories shared by
physicians who have chosen topractice medicine in their
individual communities throughthe direct primary care model.
I'm your host, Marielleconception family physician,
DPC, owner, and former fee forService.
Doctor, I hope you enjoy today'sepisode and come away feeling
inspired about the future ofpatient care direct Primary

(00:49):
care.

Dr. Sassy Weinstein (00:53):
Why are you doing this, and what do you want
to get out of it?
And for me it was just taking astep back and realizing this is
not what I want to be doing, andI'm not happy and I'm not
satisfied doing this.
And remembering how valuableyou're worth and making sure
that you feel really good aboutwhat you're doing because.

(01:15):
Leaving is hard and totallystarting on a new path is really
hard, but it's so incrediblyrewarding when you finally get
to be working towards somethingthat you absolutely love doing
and that you are so passionateabout.
I'm Dr.
Sassy Weinstein of core sportsmedicine and lifestyle medicine,
and this is my direct specialtycare story.

Dr.
Sarah"Sassy" Weinstein, tripleboard certified in family
medicine, sports medicine, andlifestyle medicine, finished her
family medicine residency andthen headed to Colorado for a
sports medicine fellowship.
She then expanded her expertiseby becoming board certified in
lifestyle medicine, nowpracticing in Princeton, New
Jersey.
She blends advanced sportsmedicine techniques with
holistic lifestyle focused care,all within a direct specialty

(02:04):
care model that cuts outneedless insurance barriers.
Welcome to the podcast, Dr.
Weinstein.

Thank you so much for having me.
Really excited to be here withyou.

I think this is such a treat because you
started out as family medicine,however you then went on to be
triple board certified, so Ilove that we are going to be
delving into your journey andfamily medicine, sports medicine
and lifestyle medicine in a timewhere we see people asking for a
combination of those things,even in a family practice
clinic.
So I absolutely love that you'rejoining us today.

Yes, super excited.
I think it's one of the, thegreatest combos out there.
Obviously I'm very biased, butuh, yeah, I think the
combination of kind of what I dois super exciting and, I love
doing, it's what I'm mostpassionate about and I just love
talking to people about it.

I love it.
So I have definitely beentrolling in a good way.
The, the podcast feeds and whenit comes to hearing your story
and definitely it's, this is myDPC story.
I love to hear the backstory,but I, I mentioned to you,
before we start recording, Iwould hear things that other
interviewers would ask of you,and then I'm like, but I, I
wanna know more about that.
And one of the big things that Ireally picked up on is that you

(03:14):
said in one of your podcastinterviews, you don't know what
you don't know.
And that is so pertinent to ourmedical and personal, journeys
in life.
And you also mentioned that youhad a family doctor who, was, it
was an impressionable mentor inyour life.
What, what was it that youpicked up on from seeing your

(03:35):
family doctor but also decidingto go into medicine?

Yeah.
I mean, I think, yeah, I thinkyou don't know.
You don't know.
I feel like I am learning thatliterally every single day.
And I think when you start yourown practice and you're going
into something that is such anunknown and something that we
are not taught in medical schoolis just, figuring it out and
just trying to do your best andjust talking to as many people
as possible and learning as muchas you can.

(04:00):
And it's when you first startout in medical school, the, the,
the curve is like just learningso much at such a quick speed.
But yeah, I definitely had afamily doc growing up.
He also was the one that told menot to go into medicine.
I don't know if He was anincredible family physician and
obviously he was a, an olderfamily physician that.
Practiced in a time where it wasmedicine was different and they,

(04:24):
really was incredible specialty.
I still think it's.
Such an incredible specialty andI would do nothing else, besides
be a physician.
I feel so lucky to do that.
But he was, he was an incrediblediagnostician.
He really took the time withpeople.
He got to know them, he knew hispatients well.
He knew their stories.
I mean, we were good familyfriends with them, but I just

(04:45):
feel like how he approachedpatients was, it was special.
And he also diagnosed when I hadLyme's disease.
I, when I was in high school,obviously I grew up in New
Jersey, so in a place with a lotof ticks.
And I grew up on a farm and Ialso played sports year round.
And I started just having all ofthis different joint pain.

(05:06):
It was my ankles, it was myknees, it was my elbows, it was
my back.
And I was, I remember I was inhigh school and I kept going
back to my physiatrist at thetime, and he was like.
It's tendonitis here.
It's tendonitis there, right?
You play sports year round.
And I started my basketballseason that year wearing a brace

(05:28):
on my ankle, my knee, my elbow,my back.
And I got to a point where itjust hurt to walk.
And I'm like, I don't feel likethis is normal for somebody in
high school.
And I was definitely not readingso far into it, but it just hurt
every day.
And then went to my family docand tested and he was like, you

(05:48):
have Lyme.
And so, and it just hadprogressed to, the joint pain
part.
And so I remember that sospecifically that, it was just
listening to kind of the storyand also just knowing some of
the background and who I was.
Right.
And so I thought that was.
That taught me a lot that, youhave to go kind of beneath the
surface and, and when I look atpatients in sports medicine, and

(06:12):
this is where the lifestyle ofmedicine really comes in when
someone comes in with knee pain,right?
It's not just the knee thatwe're looking at.
It's, the joint above.
It's a joint below, but it'salso what's going on in their
life, right?
So is there a lot of stressthat's going on right now?
Are they, are they eating asuper ultra processed diet that

(06:32):
is really high and, you know,has a lot of high inflammatory
foods that's now affecting theirjoints?
Are they not sleeping at nightbecause you know, they have a
new baby?
And so the lack of sleep is justcausing more inflammation.
So there's so many other factorsthat go into what people are
presenting with, and I think youhave to really sit down and talk
to someone and listen to themand get to know them.

(06:54):
And treat them as more than justa joint or just a tendon issue.
Right.
And and I think that that's oneof the issues of working in a
bigger practice, kind of where Istarted off is you have 10
minutes per patient, right?
And so by the time that theyactually get roomed and the
medical assistant doeseverything they need to, it's
really like you have fiveminutes before you're supposed
to be with your next patient.
And you can't talk about any ofthat stuff.

(07:15):
You really are just like, okay,what's going on with your knee?
How can I make you feel better?
So it just, it taught me a lotabout kind of how to approach
patient care and what's reallyimportant to a patient, who's
going through all of this stuff.

I know for a lot of listeners out
there, they listen on the EastCoast at around five o'clock in
the morning.
We see the, the spike in thedata as soon as the podcast
drops at 2:00 AM Pacific.
But I'm like, just hearing thisso far, this part of your
interview, you've talked aboutyour history as a patient.
You've talked about the, thepain that we all know isn't fee
for service.

(07:47):
With that quick, quick, quickturnaround, I wanna just take a
little side step back though.
When you mentioned that yourfamily doctor said that you
should not go into medicine,tell us more about that because
I have so many things to sayabout when people tell us what
we should and should not do, butI would love to hear, what was
it and what was your reaction?
Because, I, I see that as wedon't know what we don't know.

(08:10):
You have the entrepreneurial,the physician, entrepreneurial
spirit, and you continued on tothe point where we're talking
about your specialty care storytoday.

Yeah.
So I think when I heard that, Imean, I was still fairly young,
right?
I think I, I think I was eitherin high school or maybe early
college, and I didn't decide Iwanted to go to medical school
until I was a junior in college.
And honestly, I wasn't the onethat really thought about it.
I went into college and I waslike, I love everything,
fitness, nutrition, working out.

(09:15):
Maybe I'll be an athletictrainer.
Maybe I'll be a personaltrainer.
Maybe I'll be a physicianassistant.
Maybe I'll be a physicaltherapist, right?
And so I, and I studied, Imajored in exercise physiology
and exercise science.
And so I was exposed to all ofthose different things and in
that major with people who aregoing into all of those
programs.
And I finally just had thisconversation with my advisor

(09:37):
junior year, and he was like,you should just apply to medical
school.
And I was like, okay.
And I honestly didn't thinkabout it twice after that.
And he was like.
You have the mindset, you havethe discipline, you have, the
work ethic and everything.
Just you should apply to medicalschool.
And from that point forward, Iwas like, okay, so what do I
have to do?

(09:57):
I have to take all theseprerequisites, make sure I'm
hitting all that.
But yeah, so I think whether itwas high school or college, when
my family physician said that, Ikind of, I thought about it for
a second, but also I could tellhe was at this point in his
career where there was such achange in medicine.
And at that time I had no ideawhat that looked like from his

(10:18):
standpoint.
Right.
I could tell that.
He probably was not as happy inmedicine as he used to be.
He had his own practice, butthings were changing from a
reimbursement standpoint.
Things were changing from whatwas demanded and required of
him, how much he had to work,how much he was responsible for
the billing, all of that stuff.
And, but I had no idea of thatwhen, when he mentioned that, I

(10:41):
think it wasn't until laterwhere I sort of understood, and
from my standpoint, all I knewwas that he was not as happy in
medicine as he used to be.
And he wasn't treated the waythat he used to be as a
physician.
And it honestly didn't really,it stuck out in my mind because
of what he said.
But I, and I could tell thatthere was like a shift in his

(11:02):
practice, but it never deterredme.
Like it never, I knew that'skind of what I was going to do
and I just felt like I kind ofset along this path and I was
like, I'll figure it out.
And again, I was probably verynaive back then and.
Didn't know the nuances of whatwas actually affecting him, but
I was like, I'll figure it out.

(11:23):
Let's just see how it goes.

Amen.
And I am, and your patience areso glad, and I know you are glad
that you were just like.
Cool.
I'm moving on with my life.
Right.
And I will say for the listenersout there, what Dr.
Weinstein experienced, a lot ofus have had people tell us like,
oh, you shouldn't do, you can'tdo, and one Beyonce's who run
the World Girls is singing in myhead right now.

(11:46):
But also the fact that it's it'sprobably their problem and not
your problem.
That they're actually,commenting about.
So you eventually went to dotraining in Colorado, and not
only did you do training inColorado where sports are very
treasured, but also you went onto be part of the team taking
care of Division one athletes,the Denver Nuggets, and I think

(12:09):
about.
Your journey into medicine withthis description that you just
gave of like you had a kneebrace, a back brace, and all of
these things.
And I just think about, what wasit that you were bringing as
uniquely you to the table whenyou were with these athletes?
Because you are an athlete, youcontinue to teach private
classes in Princeton, which isamazing because only in direct

(12:32):
specialty care could you do thatas well as be a doctor.
That's right.
That's right.
But also you, I mean, you, youjust are going through your
entire career.
Maybe you don't know what youdon't know, but you sure as heck
know what it is like to be apatient and to not want to be in
a certain way when you'reshowing up on the court.

100%.
And I mean the, the Lyme story,that was just one, right?
And so I feel like my highschool career was, I was
sidelined a lot.
The first big injury I had wasa.
A traumatic brain injury fromplaying basketball.
And that kept me out for areally long time and I would say

(13:09):
changed me forever.
And so, I learned a lot abouthead injuries and I learned so
much more now, kind of lookingback on everything that I went
through when I was a patientfor, an incredibly long time and
still am.
Like I, I still feel like I amdealing with some of that.
And so being able to be on thisside, and that's why I chose

(13:31):
sports medicine is becausewhether it was the head injury
from sports, whether it was theLyme, whether it was, you know,
I had mono, I had, tons of otherthings that happened, but it
just showed me that being apatient, like it sucks being
sidelined and like that is somuch of who you are as a person
being.

(13:51):
Being a teammate, being on thefield.
And so, like, even in highschool, I just had to learn to
adapt and like be okay being onthe sideline when I was hurt or
sick or injured and, medicallysidelined.
And, I learned a lot about likecamaraderie and being a really
good teammate and making surethat I was still there for
people.
But it, it hurts.
Like it hurts mentally.

(14:11):
It hurts physically.
And so when I went intofellowship, you know how much of
an emotional and mental andphysical toll it takes on these
athletes when they can't do,especially at a D one level,
when you can't do that.
Like that's, that's so much ofyour identity.
And so being able to realizethat and like being there for

(14:33):
them in a different way and notjust talking about their injury,
but realizing there's so muchmore of their life that's
affected when they can't play.
And really making sure that theycan get through it and come out
the other side and persevere andknow it's gonna be okay is I
think it was a really, I mean itsucked going through it,
obviously, but it's a reallyimportant part and really showed

(14:56):
me how to be so much morecompassionate and be a better
physician.

Yeah.
And.
It really is a testament to now,fast forwarding your patients
want you as a physician becauseyou're bringing all of you to
the table, including yourhistory as, a person who has
dealt with doing sports while,taking care of other people to
prevent their injuries orhelping prevent their injuries
and taking care of your owninjuries.

(15:23):
I just think about even yourwebsite, like you have
concussion as one of the thingsthat you treat on the bottom of
that, the above the fold.
And it's I, I love these littledetails on people's websites and
just their practice because weput our personality and our
history into our practices.
So you then got lifestylemedicine certified tell us about
that journey because definitelylifestyle medicine, I was, I was

(15:45):
talking with somebody about,what do people want lifestyle
medicine or family practice?
And I'm like, in direct primarycare, whether we are primary
care focused or doing directprimary care as a business
model, like in your caselifestyle medicine is very easy
to incorporate because we havetime with our patients and we
have time over time with ourpatients.
And so for you, what was itthat, drove you to add lifestyle

(16:09):
medicine certification,especially to your sports
medicine and family medicine?
Certifications.

Yeah.
It was actually when I was on myfirst, I was on my first
maternity leave when I was, youjust have some extra time,
especially with your first babyand, I was like, all right,
great.
What's this next step?
And.
I grew up and my mom was anaturopath and I just grew up
kind of being exposed to all ofthis different stuff.

(16:36):
I grew up on a farm, so we hadlots of fresh fruits and veggies
and, exposure to, natural airand was just outside all the
time.
And so it was something I wasalways so passionate about.
I actually did a month longrotation in integrative medicine
when I was in medical school myfourth year at the Andrew Weil
Institute in Arizona.
And, that was an incredibleexperience.

(16:57):
And so I was like.
I knew I wanted to do somethingelse because it was stuff that I
talked about to patients all thetime anyway.
So I was like, do I decide, youknow, integrative medicine?
Do I do functional medicine?
Do I do?
And so I was like looking at allthese different things and I had
not even heard of lifestylemedicine at the time, but until
my research, I came across itand I was like, this is exactly

(17:21):
what I want to do.
It's, it's evidence-based.
It is, it's, and it's everythingI talk about anyways, and it
makes perfect sense.
So ever since kind of findingout about it, I was like, all
right, well let's just start,looking at the certification,
what does that look like?
And I started it while I was onmaternity leave and just kind of
continued on it while I was atmy first practice and got the

(17:42):
board certification.
And again, it almost felt like Iwasn't.
Being forced to do anythingbecause I was just learning
stuff.
And now just like learning thestudies and the research and the
evidence behind all of thesethings that I talk about to just
feel even more confident talkingabout it to patients.
Not that I had the time on myfirst practice, but you know,

(18:03):
that's why I do what I do now.

With that lifestyle medicine and your
other two board certifications,you were in a practice for three
years really going hardcore inproviding amazing orthopedic
care to people.
So talk to us about how as afamily physician and lifestyle
medicine physician and sportsMedicine fellowship trained you,

(18:25):
you just went wild in theorthopedic world because I, I, I
love, when, when we get to dowhat we want to do in direct
specialty care, direct primarycare because like I, I think
about the people who are familymedicine physicians and they
still wanna do deliveries after,and they're like, oh, I can't do
that in direct primary care.
I'm like, yeah, you could.
We did a whole conference with,with flexed staff on how you

(18:47):
could do locums and how youcould do, direct contracting.
So don't say no until youactually try.
Right.
So how did you though, go crazylike a kid in a candy store when
you were.
Surrounded by people doing orthoall the time.

Yeah, I mean, I love the ortho world.
When I was in residency and eventowards the end of medical
school, like sports medicine is,is what I wanted to do.
And I, I even, I got towards theend of family medicine residency
and I probably like a lot ofother family physicians going
through residency, I feltsomewhat burnt out even just
from, straight primary care.

(19:24):
And I really did not like beingin the hospital and I still
don't.
And I was like, I just, at thatpoint my vision was I was going
to fellowship and I was like,yes, I get to finally be doing
like what I absolutely lovedoing.
And I get to do that all thetime, aside from a little bit of
family medicine that I didduring fellowship, but.
So my, I, it felt like a naturalnext step for me, and I knew I

(19:49):
kind of grew up, not grew up,but in, in medical school, my
mentors were from where Istarted my first job.
And so I kind of started talkingto them at towards the end of
fellowship and which happened tobe right as COVID started.
And so took a, I took a job withthem and then they went on a
hiring freeze.
I ended up starting just a fewmonths after that.

(20:09):
But to me, I was like, okay,great.
And I, I knew in my head thatworking there was not going to
be my last job.
And, but I also knew I'm a new,felt like I'm a new graduate,
I'm a new attending and I, thisis a great place to start
because I'll be surrounded byincredibly smart colleagues and

(20:29):
I can curbside people, which isexactly what I did.
And I was just surrounded bypeople who were so health, like
all of these ortho surgeons, allof these PMM and R docs.
So helpful.
I mean, I would go up to'em inthe beginning and be like, does
this x-ray look fine?
And you're a new attending, soyou wanna make sure you're
nervous.
And I think being in thatcommunity and having that

(20:51):
support was so helpful.
And so, I really enjoyed itthere, aside from not, having
the time to really talk topatients about what I wanted,
but but it was such a great wayto start and start seeing like a
higher volume of patients, justget more comfortable being in a
practice and being out on my ownand having the resources there

(21:11):
to help me.
So it just seemed like a, areally logical next step for me.

I love that.
And especially when we talkabout resources, like I am of
the generation where we didn'thave pocus during training.
And so I've had to take classesafter to incorporate POCUS in,
but it's again, just referringto your website, like you're
there with your ultrasoundmachine on the lady's knee, and
it's it's fantastic that youhave this, it's just a part of
how you practice.
You have all of these tools thatyou're able to pull from

(21:37):
knowledge, you're able to pullfrom experience, you're able to
pull from.
When it comes to job offeringshad you looked at.
A, a, a bigger corporate groupcompared to the one that you
eventually stayed on with forthe first three years as an
attending, because I, I thinkabout those golden handcuffs are
really pretty, lots of money,lots of benefits, 401k match,

(21:59):
all the things, but it's likeyou didn't necessarily go to a
big, a corporate model where youhad to work in hospital.

The group I worked with was a big corporate
model in the, in the orthoworld.
It's the probably one of thebiggest groups out there.
And so they started in pa reallyin Philly, was kind of their,
their main hub site and thenexpanded into New Jersey, have
expanded a little bit intoFlorida.
So the group that I joinedactually was, was a small group

(22:30):
that actually got acquired bythe larger group.
And so it was actually kind ofnice because where I am in New
Jersey, it almost felt like.
I wasn't working for like thelarge business and I almost felt
like I was, able to still dokind of what I wanted to do
because I was in this smallercohort and that was actually
really nice.

(22:51):
Rather than, I think myexperience would've been really
different had I been working atone of their main sites that's,
insanely busy and just seeing somany people.
There's so many docs there, butI think, there's two, there's
200 plus probably more at thispoint.
Docs in the group kind of acrossthe three states and obviously

(23:12):
tons of physician assistants andeverybody else.
So I, that's kind of why I knewthat long term, this is probably
not going to be where I end upbecause.
For me, being in a model thatkind of looks like that and that
is, productivity based for me,I'm just like, that model
doesn't do much for me because Idon't want to work like that and

(23:33):
I'm not going to I wasn't evenreally enticed to, right.
I, and so I think I just knewfrom the get go and honestly my
partners kind of knew that aboutme and I, I kind of told them I
need 20 minutes for a newpatient with which now looking
at, I mean now I have an hourright for my initial patients
and, but I kind of just toldthem what I needed and there

(23:56):
would still be things that fallthrough, you're working for a
bigger group.
But honestly I felt like myexperience there was amazing and
I still get a lot of referralsfrom them and I still have
really good relationships withall the surgeons there.
And I felt like it was a reallygood first step for me and I
probably would've stayed longer,had another opportunity not come

(24:16):
up.
But I knew, I knew at some pointit was probably not my long
term.

Got it.
And when you talk about that,the, even the 20 minutes was not
ideal.
I'm wondering,'cause we, wedefinitely are familiar with
that.
All of us who've been in fee forservice through residency, even
medical school, and then asattendings a lot of us, most of
us have been through that aswell.
What was it that you wanted todeliver to your patients that

(24:43):
you were struggling to do withinthose 20 minutes?
Because I think that that wouldbe helpful for the audience to
hear because these are thethings where, you know,'cause I
think about when you have the 20minutes or 15 or eight minutes,
whatever it is, and you are sogoing through the motions of
okay, I gotta ask thesequestions, I gotta at least ask
these questions.

(25:04):
And then if I get to anythingelse it's a great day.
But for you, what did you, whatwere you longing to deliver that
wasn't being allotted for inthose, short patient visits?

Yeah.
I, I think it's the lifestylemedicine care, right?
And I think it's, it's gettingto know your patient and getting
to know them, who they are,what's going on in their life,
what else is affecting.
Their story, right?
What's, what can't they dobecause they have pain?
What are their goals?
What do they wanna be doing?
And, and everything else thatgoes into it.

(25:36):
But, and even with theultrasound, right?
Like ideally if somebody comeswith knee pain, shoulder pain, I
wanna put the ultrasound onevery person that comes in just
so I can take a quick look and,have a diagnostic baseline.
But when you're working in thisquick pace, it's, you're almost
like, I don't have the time todo it.
And you're like, if you wannacome in for an injection, we'll

(25:57):
make sure it's ultrasoundguided, but you don't have the
time to do that.
So you like just listening andlistening to them.
Right.
And I, I feel like in mypractice now, the feedback that
I get and what I really feellike I can do is listen to
patients and listen to theirstory.
And I feel like that is.
Half the battle with patients,and when they find a provider

(26:20):
that is listening to them andthey feel supported and they
feel like someone's on theirside and actually getting to
know them and actually cares,they already feel so much
better.
Right?
You're not just coming in for aquick cortisone shot, you're on
your way, so you back in threemonths, right?
I wanna have the conversation,why is this really not the best
thing to be doing consistently?

(27:10):
Let's talk about what else wecan, what else we can do to
target this instead of justthese, these quick fixes.
There's just so much else to itthat I wanna talk to'em about.

And tell us about your next career pivot,
because you went on to be partof a, a different type of group
where you were the medicaldirector and I, I, I would love
to hear not only if you can tellthe audience what was that group
like, but also what was it thatwas just not vibing with your
life that did not encourage youto stay.

Yeah, so the, my pivot was an opportunity
came up where I could start the,as you said, the medical side of
a multidisciplinary group, whichis predominantly pt, but also
ot, chiropractic, acupuncture,which to me I was like, wow,
what better way than to havethis, one stop shop where

(28:02):
everything is just connected.
You have this, direct,discussion and conversation with
all the other providers.
Everyone's on the same pagetreating the patient, which I
still think is obviously thebest way to do it, right?
Because everyone's just on boardand you can talk to each other,
and I think that gives thepatient the best outcomes.
So, yeah, and it, it taught me alot because it was starting a

(28:24):
medical practice from the groundup and the guy who started there
was no other physicians there,and so I had to.
Bring my knowledge of what do weneed from a medical standpoint
down to what supplies do I need?
Right?
And what, what does the officeneed to look like?
What other equipment do I need?
Which is stuff that I never hadto think about.
Because when you work in a biggroup and you just walk into

(28:47):
these amazing resources, like anultrasound already being there,
and you know your supplies areordered for you, you just tell
someone, oh, I think we needmore, 18 gauge needles, and you
snap your fingers and they'rethere, in 20 seconds.
Now it's oh my gosh, where do Istart with this?
I very clearly remember my firstpatient that I gave an injection
to, and I, I had, I hadeverything.

(29:10):
And then I got to the end.
I was like, do we have bandaids?
And luckily somebody at thefront had a bandaid, but I was
like.
So add this to this, right?
And it's just like you, youfigure it out.
And so that part was reallygood.
I learned marketing, right?
I never had to market before.
When you're in a big group, yougo out, you meet people, but the

(29:31):
patients come to you, they'recome to you because they, this
group is really well known andthey're gonna see you anyway if
not referred from somebody elsewithin the system.
But this is now a whole newthing where you have to go out
into the community and tellpeople who you are, what you're
doing, what you're a part of,what your goals are.
And so that was really new to metoo, which obviously was an

(29:52):
invaluable experience for whatI'm doing now.
And it just turned out that kindof, the, the vibe there was not
for me, and I didn't.
I didn't end up having theautonomy that I was promised,
whether that was with patients,whether that was just with my
personal life.
And I got to a point where, andI, and I also just didn't feel

(30:15):
super well respected, and I gotto a point where I was like,
this, I don't need to do thisanymore.
Right?
Like I, I know that I'm betterthan this and I value myself so
much more than this, and I justhave to figure out a next step.
And I had no idea what that nextstep was going to be.
I, I was like, I can go back tothe group that I came from

(30:37):
because I know that they haven'thired another non-operative doc
yet.
And they would, they'd be happyto have me back.
I know exactly what it wouldentail.
Or I can take a lot of what Ilearned and go out on my own and
actually do what I really wannado.
And.
Practice the way I want to, theway that I feel like patients
deserve the, have the schedulethat I need.

(31:00):
I have two really young kids andI'm just kind of figuring out
what worked for me and obviouslyI chose the latter and which is
how I got to where I am now.

I think about different people have
shared, what was their breakingpoint and how did they find out
about DPC drug specialty care inyour case?
And I just think about that.
There's listeners out there thatare thinking thoughts like you
are who have stumbled acrossyour story.
And this is real, like thisvoice of I want to practice

(31:30):
differently is a thing.
And so I love that, you, youpaid attention to what you know
was inside.
I mean, that is, that issomething I, you said, you
valued yourself, which Iabsolutely love.
And that's something that isreally hard sometimes for us in
the patriarchal system of,residency and training.

(31:50):
And you're a first year, you'resecond year, you're a third
year, you're an attending, likeyou have a pecking order, but
to.
Recognize that one, you're doingthis for the longevity of your
career, but two, you, like youjust said, you have two little
kids that you're like, man, Igotta do what I have to do in
order to also be like a rolemodel, whether it be something

(32:11):
that they recognize now or lateron because you're showing them
how life can be andentrepreneurship is sure as heck
not easy.
But I wanna ask here, when youopened what was the timeline
that you opened under from,saying I definitely have to
leave the role that you were into opening your own business?

Yeah, so I think I gave notice, I had to
give three months notice.
I think I gave notice in, let'ssee, July July probably.
June or probably June or Julyand I opened in November.
So I, I stopped, I stopped at mylast job in September and then I

(32:56):
officially opened doors inNovember.

And then I'm a cheating a little bit
'cause I heard this from youryour other podcast interview,
but I would love to talk'causeit's been a while since someone
talked about a virtual address.
So, can you tell us aboutopening a practice but not yet
necessarily having a physicalspace?
How did the magic happen?

Yeah, I mean, and those are the things
that you just have no idea whereto start, right?
And so as I was kind of thinkingabout it, I was like, I don't
have an address, but I need toapply for an LLC and I need, I
need to apply for my employeeidentification number and.
So I was just looking at thedifferent options and I think
New Jersey is probably similarto some other states.

(33:38):
You can't use a PO Box as anactual address.
So I learned about, I thinkprobably one of my other
colleagues was like, you can,there are these virtual
addresses, they're actuallyphysical locations that you can
go to where you have a tinylittle mailbox there, but you
can use that as your mailingaddress.
And I was like, all right, wellI think that's my only option
because I have no idea where I'mgoing to end up.

(34:01):
I, I didn't wanna use my homeaddress and so I just started
searching.
I went on the website of,wherever I needed to go, and
started searching of placesclose to me that had these
virtual mailbox options and justset that up so I could use it as
my address for the LLC and fromthe IRS and everything else.
And I am still working on tryingto figure out how to switch all

(34:23):
that stuff with the with thegovernment to make sure
everything is good.
But I used it actually for thefirst.
I mean, until, until where I'mat now, because I just, I was
like, it'll just be easier justto have that and, nobody really
sends me things in the mailanyway, so I just needed, I
needed a mailbox to, fordocumentation, but nobody's

(34:44):
sending me anything.
Anybody's like sending mesomething in the mail.
They're going to either call meor email me.
Also.

when it comes to New Jersey in
particular, you are only thethird, so we need more New
Jersey doctors on the podcastfor sure.
Do you have any tips forlisteners who are wanting to
practice in New Jersey, whetherthat be physically or remotely,
that when it comes to thingsthat are unique to opening a
clinic in New Jersey inparticular.

I think the virtual address thing was the
only thing I really had tolearn.
But really just knowing thatthat's an option is important.
I mean, I think in terms ofeverything else, and I, I talked
to my lawyer, I talked to my,accountant and I was like, what
else do I need to do to makesure I'm legit?
Because I think that's still athought that goes through my
head, once a month is, someone'sgonna be like, is this practice

(35:31):
really legit?
And so, yeah, so the lawyer justhelped me get everything
situated for the LLC and, then Ihad to get the employee
identification number and madesure that kind of, I had all of
that stuff in order.
I don't know if there's anythingelse really specific to.
New Jersey, aside from, normalbusiness stuff that you would
need anywhere the malpracticeand the general liability

(35:52):
insurance and other things thatyou'll need coverage for.
But I don't think, I mean,unless again, you don't know
what you don't know, right?
So maybe one of your otherpeople will know something.
But nothing that I have comeacross that's super specific to
New Jersey.

Awesome.
Love it and super helpful.
I, I, I've shared on in myjourney that like we legit
needed to publish a newspaper adfor four weeks before we could
get our county business license.
I mean, and we're talking, I didnot open up in 1821.
I opened up in 2021 and yet westill needed a newspaper.
That's wild.
Really uhhuh.

(36:29):
Yeah.
So that is that is somethingthat I love to ask specifically
for people looking to practicein particular states.
And I will say also that it isimportant to note that Dr.
Weinstein saying that she's anLLC in places like California,
you cannot open a medicalpractice as an LLC.
So definitely talk to, the otherdirect specialty care, direct
primary care doctors around youto see what are the restrictions

(36:50):
within your locale, where you'relooking to practice when it
comes to you having experiencein so many different clinics in
different specialty type ofclinics.
When you then thought aboutopening core sports medicine and
you thought about okay, now I'mgonna get to do this my way,
have the autonomy that I want.

(37:12):
What were some of the thingsthat you were like, these are
total deal breakers that I musthave or else I will not be able
to progress in my own clinic?

Yeah, I mean, I think though, I think
thinking about what you want,and I think some of the biggest
questions, I did a I did alecture for actually my
fellowship about starting yourown clinic and some of the
things that you have to thinkabout, and I think one of the
big questions is to acceptinsurance or to not accept
insurance.
Right.
That is, that's.
One of the biggest things youhave to think about with your

(37:40):
practice and how it's going torun, how much staff you're going
to need, what else is going tohave to be part of that.
And so I really went back andforth a lot and I talked to a
lot of people, pretty mucheveryone that I could find that
was doing, something similar.
Someone who was doing more of anout of network cash pay, direct
care versus other models.
And I just decided, and I knewin my gut that I would not be

(38:04):
happy in an insurance model.
And I also didn't wanna have tohire a staff right away.
And I didn't wanna have to fightwith insurance for.
Reimbursement for every lastclaim.
I knew that that was just goingto affect the way that I
practiced.
And I, I know that that's abarrier for some people.
And, that's why I, I still liketo volunteer at a clinic and,

(38:25):
provide care and do other thingsfor the community.
But I knew that in terms of mypractice, I couldn't provide the
value that I wanted to andreally practiced the way that I
wanted to, while under insurancemodel.
So I think that was really oneof the biggest things that I
thought about.

And when it comes to the patient
experience how did you open yourclinic in terms of, did you
think about, okay, if I'm gonnasee, a particular patient for
any new patient visit, I won'twant this amount of time.
How did you design your workflowas you started, and has that
changed over time?

Yeah, so pretty much all initial patients
I have an hour long consultwith, or at least, I, I save an
hour of my time set aside forthem, whether it's sports,
whether it's lifestyle.
I will tell you that when Ifirst started, I separated the
two and, the sports versus thelifestyle because, I was used to
a model where sports medicine,great, I can see somebody in a

(39:24):
quicker amount of time.
And whereas lifestyle medicine,like I'm really trying to learn
more about, the six pillarsreally ask them a lot about
themselves.
And I got to a point and I like,probably like maybe two months
in and I was like, why am Iseparating these two?
My care doesn't change, right?
And it shouldn't change.
And that's the whole thing thatI wanna be doing here is

(39:47):
incorporating the lifestyle intothe sports and talking about
stress and how that is affectingeverything else in your life
right now.
Because when somebody comes in.
They often don't want to justtalk about one thing and other
things are going to come up.
And I noted, the first place Iworked at it was, you couldn't
even talk about two differentjoints on the same day, so you

(40:09):
couldn't have shoulder pain andknee pain.
Right.
You had to pick one.
And so, I even recently had a, apatient call who was like, I, do
you see more than one joint andone visit?
And I was like, of course.
We have, we have an hour.
She's because I, I did have anappointment with another place
that accepted my insurance, butthey told me I can only choose

(40:29):
one and so I'd have to makeanother visit.
And so I'm like, talk about,convenience.
And so, yeah, so I got to thepoint where I was like, I'm not
changing the way that I care forthese patients and I want it to
all be the same.
And so that definitely changedin terms of my model and kind of
how I thought about it because Ididn't like having the two
separate in my head.
They're not, they're notseparate and I wanted to make

(40:49):
sure they were the same.
So that, that definitely changedin terms of my mindset.
Timing wise, I mean, it's stillbeen pretty much the same.
I just try to give patientstime.
If someone runs a little bitover, I'm also at a point where
I'm not, slammed and I don'tever want to be totally slammed,
but if somebody's there for anextra five minutes, that's fine.

(41:11):
Right.
And, and so I, I just to figureit out and it's, and it's worth
it.

Yeah.
I definitely will say, it islovely when, the, the times when
you do run over and you do havea patient who's actually using
your waiting room for waiting,which I, I'm laughing at that
because in direct primary carein, in our world, we, we laugh
at the waiting room is notsupposed to be used for waiting.
It's to play and to, have kidscolor and whatnot.
But yes, when you do go overyour patients just like you're,

(41:39):
describing your patients arelike, sometimes it's hard for us
to remember that our patientsare just like the one you
mentioned.
They were like, oh, I know thatI get to see Dr.
Weinstein for the things I needto see Dr.
Weinstein for not the one jointthat's bothering me the most
today.
And they don't get as pissed offor stressed out as they did in
fee for service.
And I know that there's peopleshaking their heads like we are

(42:01):
on, on the call here.
When it comes to flow, I'mwondering about if you can tell
us what are your office hoursand how do you run your flow in
terms of if there's someone withan acute issue versus someone
who's a new patient versussomeone who's coming in for a
follow-up.
How do you run your practice?

Yeah.
So I just try to kind of stackthem appropriately.
I try to get people in as soonas possible, so, and I think
people are, patients are stillshocked by that because I,
especially somebody coming infor a sports issue, they're used
to not being able to get in fora month or six weeks, right?
When at that point something'susually feeling better.

(42:39):
So if somebody, especially iscalling for something acute, I
try to get them, especially ifI'm still at the office that
day.
I try to either get them in sameday or next day.
Like I had a patient yesterdaytext me or call me and, wanting
to get her son in because theirknees have been bothering them.
And I'm like, okay, well whatabout tomorrow afternoon?
And so I think that goes reallyfar, but I just try to.

(43:01):
I try to be really accessible topatients, but also have my
boundaries, right?
And so I take my kids to schoolevery morning and I, with my new
office now, it's so much closer.
And so the commute is so muchbetter.
So I just, I come straight afterthat.
So I'm usually here by, youknow, 8 45 or so.
And, I start seeing patientsthen, or whenever available, and

(43:23):
I usually cut off around four.
But that being said, if somebodyis, needs to come in later, then
I figure that out with them.
And so I have hours, I wouldsay, but I'm also, if I can be
flexible to help the patient outand see them when it's more
convenient for them, then I dothat.

(43:44):
But but otherwise, I, I try tostick to my schedule and get
everybody in in a timely manner.
I wouldn't say I have, at myfirst practice, it's like you
have a block for a new patient,block for a follow.
I just schedule people as theycome.
There's, and just whenever thetime is available and I just try
to kind of stack'em closetogether so the flow is a little
bit better for me.

(44:05):
But then always, leaving,leaving a little time here and
there for me to catch up onthings.

Awesome.
And when it comes to theonboarding for a, a new patient
in particular, what are somethings that you include in your
onboarding, whether it bethrough a prefilled,
questionnaire before they getthere or when you're talking
with them because you're comingat them from, from family
medicine, sports medicine andlifestyle medicine perspectives

(44:31):
all in one doctor.

Yeah.
So the, the onboarding process,I would say has changed a little
bit.
The forms that they fill outhave not changed, but I hired my
first virtual assistant probablyback in, I guess end of August
or so, which has been a totalgame changer.
So instead of it just being meon the phone with every patient,
I actually have my virtualassistant call them.

(44:56):
She kind of knows exactly what Isay to them, talks about, how
long the visit's going to be,and then obviously the question
always comes up, do you acceptmy insurance?
If, if somebody's gettingreferred to me, they know kind
of how I operate.
But if it's just a new patientwho's questioning and just saw
my website.
She kind of goes through thatwhole spiel about how we
provide, we wanna provide thevalue for them and not, and make

(45:18):
sure they're getting everythinganswered that they want to and
making sure that they have agame plan in place.
And some patients are like,great, others are like, I'm
gonna go with my insurance andthat's fine.
Right?
And I, going into this, I thinkevery D-P-C-D-S-C doc knows that
this model's not for everyone,right?
But it's, the patients that docome, they're incredible.

(45:39):
So they kind of get that wholespiel and then essentially they,
we send out an email that is,tells them, what time their
appointment is, gives them thelink to the forms to fill out,
which is through my EMR.
And that all then just getsuploaded directly into my EMR.
So it establishes them as apatient and then just gives them

(46:00):
directions on how to get to theoffice.
And that's it.

Love it.
And even on your website,something that I was like, Ooh,
I gotta add this to my website,was it was like, find directions
and it led the person to aGoogle link so they could look
up your directions.
I was like, that's awesome.
See, I mean, this is likeliterally doesn't matter how
long you've been open, you learnnew things every day.
Yeah.
Our fellow physicianentrepreneurs, I wanted to ask
you here, because this actuallyhappened to me yesterday and I
was like, oh my gosh.

(46:24):
I'm so excited to talk to Dr.
Weinstein today because I'mgonna ask her.
I have been taking care of apatient for probably close to 10
years now, and I'm like.
How have we never talked abouttrocanter bursitis?
Like I, I watch my patients whenthey, get out of their cars when
they're walking down thehallway.
I'm definitely, I know mypatients well enough that I'm
like, you're walking a littledifferent today or we're not.

(46:46):
But I, I was like, have Inoticed any, and I, I probably
see this patient every maybethree or four months and I'm
like, I have not noticed anydifficulties getting in and out
of chairs needing to use the,the handrails on the chair.
But I'm just, I, I think aboutwhen, we've, we've talked about
you don't know what you don'tknow.

(47:06):
How do you evaluate yourpatients in terms of not
necessarily like wanting to findprocedures to do, but like I did
both.
I, I did two titis injectionsyesterday, but I'm like, the
whole time I'm doing that, I'mlike, how did you not see this?
And so I'm just wondering interms of your patients do you do
you have certain questions thatyou will prompt a person with?

(47:30):
Again, not to get a procedureout of it, but just to be
holistic about their carebecause, if they're a certain
age, if they have a diagnosis ofosteoporosis, if they have a
previous knee injury, I justwonder like how you, how you,
with the time that you have inyour practice now, how do you go
about finding out as much as youcan about the patient, even when

(47:52):
they're not necessarilyforthcoming with, oh, by the
way, I am having issues.

Right.
Yeah.
So I think, I think having thetime to talk to them really
helps.
And it depends if they're comingin with an acute issue, like if
somebody's coming inspecifically for the hip, then
obviously we're gonna talk aboutthat and ask all the standard
questions.
But I also really want to alwaysmake sure that I know what is
somebody, is there somethingthat they're being limited by

(48:20):
that they can't necessarily do?
Right.
And that might be something.
In their day-to-day life, thatmight be something workout
related, right?
They might say, my shouldersactually always bother me and I
feel like I actually can't do apushup, or I can't do a plank,
or I can't do an overhead pressbecause it just has always
bothered me, but I just chalkedit up to getting older and, but

(48:42):
it's something that clearly haslimited them or they, they, if
their shoulders hurt orsomething like that and they
say, I, it's hard for me to walkup and down the stairs with, my
baby.
Or it's like a grandparent,right?
And they say, I wanna be able tosit down on the floor and play
with my grandkids.
Right?
There's, you always have to askpeople what it is that they

(49:05):
wanna be doing.
What is their ideal life looklike and what is stopping them?
And because sometimes people whohave been in pain for a really
long time.
They just live with it and theydon't realize that they don't
have to be in pain and that theycan live differently.
And it's, and I see that so muchnow with my practice because

(49:26):
it's these people who haven'tnecessarily gotten answers from,
the traditional system or fromother providers and they just
learn to live with it.
And.
When you actually start tofigure things out and talk to, a
physician or a provider who asksthe right questions, who does
the right things, you're like,oh my gosh, there's hope.

(49:47):
Right?
And that, that to me is bringingthat hope back to people's lives
and being like, I don't have tolive like this, or I can, I can
get out of this pain, I think isone of the most rewarding
things.
And I have a patient that comesto top of mind and she is really
active, like an avid runnerworks out all the time.

(50:07):
She's young, she's super fit,and, but she had pain, in her
whole body for so long that wejust started targeting little by
little, just talking abouteverything else going on.
And I just, she left me avoicemail the other day just
almost in tears, just saying, I,I can't even begin where to
start.
Like, I don't even know where tostart because I can't remember

(50:29):
ever feeling like this in, insuch a long time.
And so.
I think just listening and alsojust seeing what's missing out
of people's lives, right?
What do they want to be doing?
What are their goals?
What do they love doing for fun?
And asking these things so youcan see what are the limitations
and what might you be missing.

Love that.
And very different than I gottaask you if you wear your
seatbelt today, I can't listen,can't touch you.
But you know, I gotta ask you ifyou wear your seatbelt today.
Yeah.
Because that's covered.
Yeah.
Done.
So, th thank you.
That is an amazing answer.
And I, I'm just, I'm totallygoing to listen to your
interview and incorporate whatyou said also, and just the way,
like four plus years into ourpractice.

(51:10):
I, I kept thinking about like,how did I miss this with a
patient?
And we all miss stuff, but Ilove what you said and I'm gonna
incorporate what, the, thequestioning that you just
mentioned into our practice.
I love it.
So thank you for that.
When it comes to people openingwho want to do pocus, who want
to do, sports, medicine relatedprocedures and even lifestyle

(51:30):
medicine.
What are your tips for opening aclinic with, because like you
have your ultrasound, but Idon't know, like, how did you
come to get your ultrasound ifyou had connections?
But, I, I was talking withsomebody yesterday who's there
is this doctor wanting to sellan ophthalmology machine and
it's$28,000.
And I'm like, dude, a personopens a practice with less than

(51:50):
$28,000.
So how is someone going toafford a, a machine like that?
So what are your tips on thingsto have when you're opening a
clinic like yours?

Yeah, and I think I learned from, a lot of
the lecturers, the podcast, thepeople that I talked to, I was
trying to keep it as slim aspossible.
And there's so many people thatwill say, don't overbuy in the
beginning, right?
Just get what you definitelyneed and work with that.

(52:20):
And then you'll see kind of whatelse comes along.
And so for me.
Ultrasound's a big part of mypractice.
Obviously I do every singleinjection under ultrasound.
I do a lot of, lookingdiagnostically to see what's
going on.
And so I knew I needed anultrasound and equipment wise,
that was, there was, there'sother things that I want for
sure, and I've now gotten someof them.
And I just, purchased another,but I was trying to keep things

(52:43):
as streamlined and, slim, Ididn't have any other staff for
eight months nine months.
And so I think that piece ofadvice was really important is
just think about what youabsolutely need.
And for me it was an ultrasound.
And so then I started lookinginto different ultrasound
machines, right?
There were the ones that I hadworked on at the past two

(53:04):
places.
And I had gotten, actually, Ihad gotten used to talking to
reps and things like that when Iwas at my second job, because
that was, there was no one elsethat was going to do that.
And I only, I had knew thequestions to ask and I had to be
the one to demo all of thesethings out.
And so.
I was just looking at a lot ofdifferent products, talked to a
lot of different reps, talked toa lot of different people,
posted in different groups.

(53:25):
And ultimately I ended up goingwith an ultrasound, a portable
like wireless ultrasound that Iabsolutely love.
Is it going to be the lastultrasound I have, probably not,
but for me, at the price pointthat it was at, and actually at
the resolution that I get on it,it's probably better than what I
was working with at my past twojobs, which were using, 12, 15

(53:48):
old machines.
And even though it was likeprobably better quality back
then, now what I'm using is, isso much better and I can
accomplish really everythingthat I'm doing.
Is it the most high definition,amazing ultrasound.
No, but I knew that this is, Icould get by with this.
And for the price point I waslike, I'm, I'm doing this.
I'm gonna try it out.

(54:08):
And it's been, it's been great.
And so I kind of went into itlike that.
I've now since purchased ashockwave unit, which has also
been amazing.
Much more expensive.
But again, you just have to kindof think about how you're going
to use it.
Is it going to be, worth it inthe beginning or is it just
going to, look pretty while it'ssitting there?
And so I think you just have tothink about what you really

(54:28):
want, what you really need tooperate and try to try to keep
it as little as possible.
Try to keep the overhead as lowas possible.
And I think that's, I mean,that's really how I started.
And I felt like that was helpfulbecause I wasn't stressing
myself out, trying to, do andbuy all this fancy stuff.
And I was just like, let's juststart, right?

(54:50):
You just, you have to startsomewhere and, and you'll grow
and you'll learn differentthings and you'll see different
stuff comes out and you'lldevelop different programs and,
but you just take it day by day.
And so that's, that's kinda howI started.

I love it.
And I just think about as you'respeaking there, that you had the
autonomy to make these decisionsand figure out what was gonna
work for you to reach that goalof keeping your overhead low and
then, adding things on, addingstuff on as you went forward.
So here I think about.
When you talk to people aboutlifestyle medicine, telling a
person all of the things isreally intimidating.

(55:25):
And so, helping people just takeone, to do one thing to start,
you can't eat an elephant all inone bite.
You got it to eat them.
Yeah.
Hopefully you're not actuallyeating elephants, but you know,
the, the metaphor one bite at atime.
For the listeners out there whoare especially wanting to open
up their own direct primarycare, direct specialty care

(55:45):
practice, what are some smallbites of information that you
would leave them with in termsof, if you're thinking about
opening your own practice, theseare the things to definitely
think about or do when you'restarting out.

Yeah, so I mean, I think some of the
biggest things are talk to asmany people as possible listen
to podcasts, read books.
Just really reach out to yourcommunity to people who are
doing the same thing.
Um, There were some really greatresources I know through like
the private practice playbook bySomi docs.

(56:22):
That to me was so helpful instarting my practice because
they, when they brought on allthese like different speakers,
it was physicians, it wasaccountant, it was lawyers, and
it was all of these things thatyou have to think about it.
And it almost gave me a to-dolist of what I needed to do and
brought to my attention all ofthese things that I would've

(56:43):
otherwise not thought about.
So I think that was reallyimportant.
Um, And I think just evenpicking one or two of these
resources gives you a place tostart, but not getting so
overwhelmed, right?
Don't listen to every singlepodcast that's out there, but
while you're still in thethought of opening, do try to
get as much information as youcan to think about what you

(57:07):
might need, right?
Like I reached out to othersports docs who started their
own practice and I'm like, whatsupplies do I need?
And it's such an amazingcommunity of people wanting to
help each other, who are goingout on their own.
And she was like.
I'll just send you our supplieslist.
And I was like, you don't evenknow how helpful these little
things are.
And so I feel like when otherdocs were thinking about doing

(57:27):
the same thing, reach out to me.
I'm like, of course I wanna helpyou.
Right?
Because I was in your shoes.
And if there's anything I can doto make it more helpful for you,
I just had another doc reach outlast week who was like, I'm
thinking about opening my ownpractice.
I'm pm and r would love to justchat with you.
And I think just having thatconversation with people is
like, okay, I'm not alone.
I can do this.
And like kind of thenestablishing your network, you

(57:49):
can always go back to thosepeople.
Right.
So I think really just reachingout to community members and
even joining some of theseFacebook groups although looking
at every post I think is reallyoverwhelming.
So.
I think even just like a few ofthese resources, like pick, one
to three of them and just kindof get after it.

(58:10):
Right?
And, and then it, try startestablishing a network of people
that you can reach out to for,questions here and there.
'cause I, I certainly still leanon and reach out to all the
people that, it helped me gethere.

The last thing I wanted to ask is about
your ability to be a doctor, bea mom, and also do fitness
classes.
So tell us about how that evenstarted, because it is so, I've
heard another podcast how that'sreally your, your core audience
of who you want to, your coreavatar of who you want to have,
join your practice as well.
And it's so, it's so differentand so awesome that people who

(58:46):
know you as the person who'slike helping them correct their
form in class is also the personwho can like, inject their knee
if they need it.
Yeah.

Yeah, it's awesome.
It is, it is so fun.
It started because I was outmarketing and my, again, the
people I wanna be marketing toare the people who are kind of
going to these local gyms whoare invested in their health,
but obviously might get injured,might have other stuff going on.
So I was just going outmarketing and I, would always
offer to these places, can I doa talk?

(59:15):
Can I do something like this?
And this one owner of a gym in,in downtown Princeton we started
talking and then I ended upmoving offices and I was like,
is, do you have any like spacethat I could rent that I could
work out of?
And this place is literally anold garage and he is like,
literally we don't have anyspace.
He is like, but on the offhand,do you have any interest in

(59:35):
teaching group classes?
And I was like, I do.
I was like, I don't really haveany experience.
I was like, that being said, ithas always been a dream of mine
to.
Teach a fitness class on thisside of being a physician.
Because when I was in med schoolI was living in Philly, the gym
I went to, one of my favoriteclasses was a physician who

(59:57):
worked at Penn.
And I was like, how cool isthis?
Right?
You get to be in thisatmosphere, like doing what you
love and being also around allthese other people.
And I was like, alright man,what do I need to do?
He is like, just, just start.
And he is like, you, mostimportantly, you just need say
if you fit in with the vibe.
And that was really it.

(01:00:18):
I mean, I, and I just startedsince then, so once a week I
teach a class.
It's now on Friday morning, soit was right before this.
And it is awesome.
I mean, this, this community, Imean they, some of them have
become such good friends, A lothave become patients.
But again, just being aroundthem in this different setting
is.

(01:00:39):
So much fun where we're justlike listening to music and
working out and sweating andit's just, it is so fun.
It's so rewarding.
It's like everything I, youknow, I love, I'm just so
passionate about working out andtalking about that.
What better way than just to beout in the community doing it
and meeting all these incrediblepeople.

Maryal Concepcion, MD (01:00:57):
Amazing.

Dr. Sassy Weinstein (01:00:58):
Thank you so much Dr.
Weinstein for joining us

today.

Dr. Sassy Weinstein (01:01:01):
Yeah, thank you

so much for having me on.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of my DBC story.
If you enjoyed it, please leavea five star review on your
favorite podcast platform.
It helps others find the show,have a question about direct
primary care.
Leave me a voicemail.
You might hear it answered in afuture episode.
Follow us on socials at thehandle at my D DPC story and

(01:01:23):
join DPC didactics our monthlydeep dive into your questions
and challenges.
Links are@mydpcstory.com forexclusive content you won't hear
anywhere else.
Join our Patreon.
Find the link in the show notesor search for my DPC story on
patreon.com for DPC news on thedaily.
Check out DPC news.com.
Until next week, this isMarielle conception.

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