Elevate Springfield featuring Dr. Bryne Willey: Elevating Through the Power of Persistence, Vision and Purpose, and Growth through an Exceptional Team

Summary

In this conversation, Robert Ferriell interviews Bryne Willey from Align Life Chiropractic and Natural Health Center. They discuss Bryne's journey into chiropractic, the challenges he faced in building his practice, and the importance of persistence and grit in entrepreneurship. Bryne shares innovative marketing strategies he employed to grow his practice, the significance of internal referrals, and how his purpose and vision guide his work. They also delve into the importance of stress management and the evolution of holistic health, concluding with an overview of the services offered at Align Life. 

Takeaways

• Persistence is key in entrepreneurship.
• Building relationships is crucial for practice growth.
• Chiropractic serves to regulate the nervous system.
• Stress management is essential for overall health.
• Innovative marketing can set you apart from competitors.
• Internal referrals are a sign of a successful practice.
• A clear purpose drives business success.
• Holistic health is becoming more accepted.
• Technology is changing how patients approach health.
• Collaboration among healthcare professionals enhances patient care. It's crucial to understand a patient's goals for effective treatment.
• Metabolic panels provide insight into health deficiencies and toxicities.
• Inflammation can manifest in various ways and is part of the healing process.
• Listening to patients is more important than talking.
• Deficiencies in nutrients like vitamin D are common and need addressing.
• Nutrient absorption is key; not all supplements are created equal.
• Community engagement through education can enhance health awareness.
• A strong team is essential for delivering quality patient care.
• Personal and professional life should be aligned with core values.
• Vision and intentional living are critical for success.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we will dive into strategies and stories that help you rise to your full potential. Each episode, we'll talk about how you can take intentional steps to elevate your life and your business while making a meaningful impact on those around you. Along the way, we're gonna bring in the change makers from our community that are already elevating. We'll bring the actionable strategies, you bring the discipline and follow through, and together we can elevate Springfield. Alright, let's go, Springfield. Time to 10X your life, your business, all of it. Time to crush those goals, time to get after it. Let's go. You are listening to the Elevate Springfield Podcast. Robert Farrell here, certified 10x coach, speaker, and mentor here to bring you actionable strategies. You bring the discipline and follow through. And together, we're going to Elevate Springfield. We're coming to you again from beautiful downtown Springfield in the Big Dog Construction Studio. Hey, we've got so much going on in Springfield right now. Make sure you are participating. Get out there, network with folks, be a part of the community, support local businesses, support local nonprofits, and let's go, we can all grow together. So, hey, another great episode for you today. We're gonna get right to our guest after the break. Hey, Springfield, when it comes to reliable, high-quality roofing, you don't want to leave things to chance. That's why you should reach out to Acosta Angeli Ruffing, your local roughing expert serving Springfield and surrounding communities. From quick dependable repairs to full replacement, from residential to commercial, they are your trusted pros. Call them today at 217-993-2748 or visit their website to book your free quote and inspection. Don't wait. A little leak now could lead to major damage later. Trust the local experts, protect your home, and get peace of mind with Acosta Angeli Roofing. All right, and we are back. Joining me in the studio now, Mr. Brian Willie from Align Life Chiropractic and Natural Health Center. Nailed it all right. Nailed it. There we go. Appreciate you coming down today, man. Thank you for having me. Excited to learn a little bit more about you and the business, man. Same. So before we get into the business stuff, let's let's learn about Brian.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Tell us about your background. Uh yeah. So I'm from Springfield, born and raised. Um went to Southeast High School, proud Spartan. Hey, there you go. Come on, go Spartans. Yeah, exactly. Go Spartans indeed. My wife is from Chatham. Uh, so we both uh all our families are here locally. Went to uh undergrad up in the Quad Cities, up in Rock Island at Olgastana College, and then uh did my chiropractic schooling down in uh Missouri at Logan College of Chiropractic.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Okay. Was that always the plan? Like when you were at Southeast, were you always like, yeah, I'm gonna go be a chiropractor?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

No. And no, it wasn't. I always have I had a passionate interest in health. But I mean, you know as well as I do. I mean, there's so many different facets in that. Um, so when I was in in undergrad, um, I had an amazing advisor. Um, and he was, you know, coaching me up through the the possibilities. And I just told him, like, I I don't really know. Like, I don't feel that conviction of what I need to do. And what he told me is you got to just go, you know, meet some people, start shadowing, get in the environments and see what it feels like. And um, my original plan was that I thought I was gonna be a dentist. And after shadowing in that space, I just realized it was just not the um high energy environment I wanted to be in. Sure. Um, they served a you know a great, awesome mission, but it just wasn't, you know, for me. And so then I just started shadowing a bunch of different um professions within you know healthcare and and wellness. And I had a family friend uh who I grew up down the street from as a chiropractor here in town, Dr. Ludastio, fantastic human being. And I spent one afternoon with him and it was it. I was like, this is it. I can clearly see that this is what I want to do. All right, awesome. So while you're at Southeast, sports or anything like that? Yeah, I played baseball and golf. Saying I was a golfer was not really much of an accomplishment. I would say I did it as something uh fun to do, but baseball, I mean, I played since I was a kid, since I was five, and I had the pleasure to play a couple years in college too. Um and then it was time to shift focus on to the studies. Okay. So you played at Augustana?

SPEAKER_02 4:25

I did, yeah, for two years. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Yeah. My undergrad is from from Millican. So familiar with Augustana, yeah. Familiar with them. Love it. Yeah. Cool. Very cool. So at Augustana, you're you're doing all this, you're uh shadowing all these different folks. What was your first uh role after you graduated, after you finished like chiropractic school and everything? Did you start out on your own or did you go with somebody else first?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, so uh here's what's interesting is that I always knew I was gonna I wanted to come home. Like Springfield is home, it always will be home. Um, you know, God willing. When I came home, there was no opportunity here. So I I had a counted out. There were 32 chiropractic clinics in Springfield and the surrounding areas. Okay. I printed off 32 resumes and I went door to door to door to door. Um, and there were zero opportunities, which is so wildly different now because the environment is completely the opposite. You know, so if there is, you know, a doc that wants to come back town, I would imagine there's multiple offices competing, you know, for you know, that doc to come onto their team. But at that time, it was just a different environment in terms of health and wellness. It was a different market, you know, it's 2011, so the job market was still not back to where it was. And I was, you know, frankly, um terrified, you know, about what you know prospects you know weren't there. I got one phone call back um from a chiropractor, and he said, I'm not you know looking to hire somebody. He said, quite frankly, I'm like one foot out the door. Um, but you know, I'd love to have you come in. And let me just tell you what I've learned along the way and the experiences I had. And I thought, like, man, what a servant heart of like a human being, but of a fellow chiropractor. And we spent probably three hours hamming it up and just jotting notes as he's talking and giving me insights, business insights, practice insights, things he's you know learned along the way. And then when there was no prospect for a job here, I started going on interviews in the surrounding areas in Lincoln and Bloomington and Peoria. And I went on an interview in Peoria. I thought I smashed it. I thought it did an awesome job. It was down to between me and one other person, and uh, they picked the other person. Uh but unbeyonced to me, there was another doc in the room during the interview process. There was probably like 10 people in the front of a room. And he said, I would love for you to come work with me in Bloomington. So I spent a year and a half driving back and forth to the Bloomington, sometimes six days a week, trying to build a practice in Bloomington. And I knew I always wanted to come back to Springfield. And so uh when I was looking for opportunities, you know, to come back to town, I was looking for practices to potentially buy or, you know, buildings to set in. And there was only one in Springfield. And uh, when you know it, the one that was selling was the guy that had called me. No way. Yeah. So uh within the first email I sent, I said, I think this is uh who who I think it is. Um, you know, I just hey you probably don't remember me, but blah, blah, blah. And from that initial email until we had an agreement in place, it was probably 30 days, Robert. And then it was just like one of those things, it's a god thing. You know what I mean? It's like just because it doesn't happen in the moment or the timing you think it does, you know, that gave me, you know, a year and a half to cut my teeth, you know, build confidence and certainty and conviction, watch how a business is run, watch how a practice goes so that I could, you know, hit the ground running right when it was time to open Springfield. So I love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

So those 32 places that you were at trying to get to here, how'd you how'd you push through that, man? Have the persistence to just keep going? Because yeah, I mean, that's a lot of that's a lot of no's when you start going out, especially when it's 32 of them here and all 32 of them are a no, man.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Yeah, so you use the right word, persistence. I I feel like uh I've heard your podcast a few times. Yeah, more than a few. Um I know you love that word. One of my favorite words. I love that word persistence, um, because that's what it takes. Um, and you have to have grit, you have to have resolve, you have to have hustle. Um, but you even deeper than that, like you have to have a purpose, like a calling, a purpose that pushes you. And we I tell my team all the time, you know, we're we're pushed by our purpose, but we're pulled by our vision. And you have to have just that purpose of like, I cannot be denied, you know, at this point. At that point, I was married. So, you know, now you have another person that you're responsible for. And and I don't mean to get into gender norms, but as a man, like I feel responsibility to provide, you know, for my wife and you know, my potential family. And so it was like, if I drive three hours, I'll drive three hours. Like there's just no way that this isn't gonna work because it has to work, you know what I mean? So that's what I love about entrepreneurs. I know this is you target audience as you know, entrepreneurs, and that's like a non-negotiable right. It is no doubt about it. You have to have that persistence.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

No doubt about it. So what year was that when you started?

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Yes, we opened in 2013, October of 2013. Yeah. And did it start out as a line life? Yeah, right out of the gates. Yeah, yeah. It's a line life. And um, we uh so when um I took over that practice, it was like you said, he was it was a small practice. He was uh getting very close to retire. There were probably a dozen active patients in the practice. So it was enough that I could keep adjusting, keep my skills up, but it created enough time freedom where I could get out and you know, get in the community and network and build relationships and um start to build a brand. Because uh that was a commitment I made in the beginning. I knew I was gonna be here and be here for a long time. I was not looking for the quick fix. I wasn't looking for the the fast score or, you know, the quick, you know, check or anything like that. I knew that this was a legacy play, it was a long-term play about building a pillared brand in in the community and doing it with you know relationships and and building, you know, networks of people was important then and I'm realizing now and reaping the and sowing the seeds, you know, from that as well.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Of all that relationship building early on, yeah. So let's dig into that a little bit more. What are some things you did early on to help? What didn't I do?

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Um I took uh I took chairs to uh quick loop shops and you know, oil change places. Um did you think of that? Go to the go to a quick loop shop. Honestly, uh you know you know that that quote, Jimmy Buffett, like you should be like aggressive when people are weary, you should be, you know, uh weary when people are aggressive. My mindset in business has always been zig when other people are zagging. And so, you know, looking for opportunities where somebody is that's too below them, or you know, that they hadn't thought of that aspect or hadn't made that connection. Um, I, you know, I'm a firm believer that, you know, I may not be everybody's chiropractor, but chiropractic is for everybody. And if I'm going to execute a big mission and be one of, you know, the doctors in this community who's helping change the landscape of healthcare in Springfield, it can't be about me, man. Like hang your ego on the shelf. Like, this is about the people you're serving. And regardless of where you go, there are people out there every single day that are praying for help. They're asking God, can you please find the right person to help me? So who am I to add interference into you know that environment? So at that quick loop shop, you just threw up a table and yeah, as people are getting their oil change, you say, Hey, I'm gonna give you 10 minutes on the table. So I have a you know degree in chiropractic, but I have a master's in sports rehab too. So I was like, let's do a trigger point massage, you know, let's see if, you know, and I would always do it in benefit of the business. So um I remember this specific one, I you know, had a whiteboard up and I said, you know, the compliments of such and such, you know, oil change place. So I wanted to edify the practice the business that said, yeah, you can come in here and do this. They were paying me, right? I'm just in there to network and and to meet people, but I wanted to put them on a pedestal of like, this is how they're serving the community. And at the same time, when they're there getting their world changed, they're there for 30 minutes. Like whether they want to listen to me or not, like I got them. Right. I mean, so here I go. Captive audience there. Tell me to shut up, or I'm just gonna keep talking and we're just gonna keep diving deep, you know. Not funny. Not on just, you know, what I want to talk about, but tell me about you. And that's where you get to you know make connections and and learn how to communicate with human beings, right? So it's not about like trying to close a new patient, it's making connections. Like, how can you relate? How can you communicate? How do you connect with human beings to be able to understand you know them better? Right. Well, I would imagine you got some new patients out of that. For sure. Yeah. Right. But I heard a lot of no's too, right? Oh yeah. So like that's so funny you say that because like, oh man, Robert, I can remember like I turned it into a game where I would like count the no's and I would see how many times I could hear the word no before I finally heard a yes. And at one point, my streak, the highest point of streak was 37. Oh, wow. So the weird thing in your brain is that like you just get so used to saying no, and you kind of make it a game of like there's 32, there's 33. When someone says yes, you're kind of like, wait, no, my streak's over. No, that's a good thing. Oh, that's a good thing. I'll take a streak. Yeah, start a new streak. Right. Yeah. So it's all mindset, right? It's like all about being able to, you know, present time consciousness and you being locked in with that one person that you get to talk to, or that 10 or that 100 you get to talk to on a stage, and just be locked in, present with them in that space.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

So no, it's it's amazing. You have to be able to get through those no's because we were talking with Brandon Wellman the other day on podcast financial services, and we were just talking about the ability to be able to get through all those no's, to get through the yeses. And a lot of people underestimate, especially if they're in a sales environment, how many no's they have to get through to start getting consistent yeses and the persistence, like we talked about, to be able to keep going through all that.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

And then you're trying to determine like, is it that I'm not delivering this properly? Am I screwing something up, or am I doing this right? And it's just not the right opportunity, right? Because again, you can make it about you, but maybe it's maybe it's not a no. Maybe what they're saying is it's not right now, right? Or it's not no forever. It's just, you know, not at this point, you know. But you better believe, like, if you're an integrity with that person you're sitting across from and talking with, and you're coming from the right place and have the right intentions, even if they don't say yes then, maybe they say yes next month or next year or 10 years. And I'm telling you, we still have uh, you know, patients come in and they say, Yeah, I saw you. You came into my office and you did a lecture about um stress. And I was like, Yeah, or you know, the team will say, like, what business is it? And I like literally sit back, like, that had to been like seven years ago, eight years ago. But it lands and they just plant that seed. And that's that's always been, you know, my focus is it's not about trying to, you know, extract and close every deal. It's just like, man, like where's your value at? Like leave the room better than you know when you walked in there. And where are you delivering value to the people you know you're in front of and just making those deposits and in human beings? And I think that's that's the key to to long-term relationships. I agree. Building them.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

So yeah, no, I mean it's that in 10x we talk a lot, service overselling. Service overselling is like overselling, and that's that's what you're talking about, right? Is serving a client, serving a potential client rather than trying to sell them.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

So what we say in the practice is we're not selling, you're solving, right? Like it's not about you know, same concept, right? Like every business exists to solve a problem. So if this person has a problem and you can help them, like help them solve their problem. And so, yes, yeah, very similar concept.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Absolutely. So, how have things changed over the years in terms of how you're how you're marketing the business and how you get out to people? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

So, like initially it was it was all external, right? Like you can't build a practice inside your own four walls the way that I wanted to do it. Sure. And so in the beginning, it was all going out into the community, and then we saw a pretty dramatic shift after year two, where our practice was growing based on internal referrals, which I'm extremely proud of because happy patients refer other happy patients, right? So it's a good indication you're doing something right. You're helping people, you know, live healthier lives, and they're telling other people about you. And so I think the success of any business has to have some sort of internal referral culture that exists in it. And so from years like three until about when COVID hit, that was the primary driver of growth in our practice. And then just back to that same mindset when COVID hit and everybody ran into the digital space, that's when we leaned into the external. Like we were the weirdos outside, you know, and doing things and asking to come into businesses. And some were really, you know, uh leery of that. Some are like, please, we need for energy when something different. Somebody needs to come in here. So when everybody's fledging flooding digital, you know, we would do external. And when we were always trying to diversify, but you know, focus where other people aren't.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

So you said go outside. Did you mean physically outside at some of these companies too, or just actually just going outside your company? Quite literally, yeah. Sometimes literally outside.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

The six feet and the six foot and that and all that stuff. Absolutely. Uh we had to get creative in those days. Right. Um, and I know, I know, um, unfortunately, I know there were a lot of businesses that really you know suffered, you know, during that time and there were circumstances at play that they didn't have control over. Um, but our practice, you know, through that like two, two and a half years consistently grew double digit percentage points through COVID. And that I think is a testament to the culture that we built, but you know, the consistency or the persistence in which you're doing what you're doing and not letting circumstances change your, you know, um your purpose. What is your purpose? Yeah, how long much time you got? Uh long as you want, brother. I got 90-day visions, I got 12 month visions, I got three-year visions. Um, I would say to distill it down very simply, I we have a purpose statement in the practice, and that is to restore health, to experience greatness. Six words. So to restore health, you know, that's for our patients, to help patients restore their health to the level they want to get to so that they can experience greatness. Yeah. Because it's not my job to determine success for a patient. I my job is to clarify it and to ask really good questions so I understand it, but that's so that they can experience greatness in their life.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

So six words. Yeah. Absolutely love that. Yeah. No, when you talk about greatness, I don't know if anybody notices, but every time, right above my head, there's a you are greatness, don't fight it sign. I love that stuff, man. We need to slide that over just a little bit over here so everybody can see it. Yeah, uh might be a little bit in front of it, but yeah, you are greatness, don't fight it. That's one of my favorite sayings up there. So get after it, get after it. So a second ago, you said even on stages or in front of a hundred people. So you do a lot of speaking in front of large groups. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Uh, it's something that I never thought I would enjoy. Um, I love one of my favorite places to be is tableside, just like one-on-one with a patient. Um, and so I I did that for years and years and years. And then opportunities came up where this business would say, Yeah, can you know, will you come in and speak about this topic? And you know, sometimes it'd be three people and sometimes it would be 10. Um, and then it just evolves and changes. Uh last year I got to speak uh to a room full of chiropractors, and there's close to 100 people in the room. Oh, that's awesome. Talking about hospitality and culture and you know, things like that. So um it it it doesn't change how many people that you're talking to, as long as you're, you know, on purpose, right? In that moment and you're present with them and you could talk to one to one or one to many if your heart's right. Yeah, you can you can deliver anywhere. And the circumstances and how big the room is and all that um doesn't really change, right? Yeah, how many different talks do you have, or it's just like over a number of different things? I would say I've got like my favorite 12, yeah, like like our dirty dozen that we you know spend a lot of time on. So it's stress, it's gut health, it's ergonomics, it's um sleep habits, things like that, where there are pillars of you know wellness and health that people either want to know more about or understand in more depth or cut through the noise on you know Google searches and social media and understand it at a deeper level. Um, but that's never stopped me from you know, if they said, hey, we want to talk about this very specific thing of saying, all right, let's let's get into the weeds, like let's get into it. Um so um yeah, it can vary.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Okay. So the stress one, I would imagine companies call on you a lot for that one. That's probably a big hit, right? That is the number one. I wouldn't everybody wants to talk about that. Right when you said that, I was like, I bet you get a call a lot for that one.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Yeah, you know, because there's so many you know facets to it um in terms of people's understanding of it. Um I think the one thing that that I always try and convey on that specific topic as it relates to stress is that it's not something that you need to manage better. If you hear somebody say, like, you need to manage stress better, you should turn and run away. Stress is something that we can uh train our body to adapt better to. And when we understand what stress is doing to our body, like the consequences of those stressors, whether that's gut disturbances, sleep disturbances, hormone disruption, pain and inflammation, skin issues. I mean, there's just so many facets to it. Um, not just the consequences, but the causes, like where to look for it. And you know, you know, it's not just, you know, when you're stressed, I feel tension in my shoulders and my upper back. It's no, like this is creating, you know, disruption in your system. And the cool thing that most people don't realize is that chiropractic is it serves to regulate the nervous system. I think for the general population, they think chiropractors pop bones. Right. Like we're just pounding high spots in the spine, right? Yeah. It's all about the sound.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Uh, I don't think most people realize it's about helping the nervous system, you know, regulate. And there's two portions of your nervous system there's the fight or flight, and then there's the rest and recovery. And too many people live in the fight or flight and they don't vacillate into that rest and recovery. And so when the nervous system can function properly without interference, it can readily and easily adapt based on the environment. So they're not just stuck in stress mode, they can shift into recovery mode too.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Is that the sympathetic and parasympathetic? Amen, brother. I see done. There we go. Come on now. Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people, I think, hear that on podcasts now and stuff, and they might not know what that means, but the way you put it, I think was very beneficial for folks. It's like a teeter totter.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

If you're watching on the video, like you can't a teeter totter like this is broken, right? It's either like this or it's like this. Or for the podcast, people listen to the podcast. One end has to be up, one end has to be down. You can't be both up or both down. And a lot of our hinges on our teeter totter are rusted and stuck, and you're just in one position. Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yeah, I just find that a lot of the health and wellness podcasts sometimes they they use the terminology without actually explaining what some of that stuff is. And I just really like the way you with the way you put that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Sometimes it's fun to use big words, but yeah. Oh, yeah, you gotta know your audience. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Exactly, exactly. And I think I mean you mentioned earlier with back in like eleven and thirteen, you know, health and wellness wasn't quite as riding a wave as it is right now. Now, is it much more popular now for people to come and talk to you about that type of stuff now?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah, I think I think people are more open to the conversation around natural health and wellness now than ever. I'm extremely grateful that I get to practice in this time. But I when I started in practice, it wasn't that way. And so I have an appreciation of knowing the way that it was and and being on the phone with um, you know, medical doctors saying, I want you to stop lying to my patients. Like I had those conversations and they were hard in the beginning, you know, as a as a as a new doctor, because it can it can shake your conviction, it can shake your certainty and how you're helping people. But you know what's beautiful is that when you start to build relationships and start to make connections, we have an amazing referral network with medical doctors, an amazing referral network with physical therapists, an amazing referral network with a bunch of different health and wellness practitioners. And that's always been my goal is an integrative approach where perfect world, it could all be like a mayo where, you know, 10 doctors come in a room with different specialties, they evaluate every case. It may not be realistic now, maybe in the future, but at least having a referral network to say, you know, I think you could help in this regard. And I think you could see these two other people and let's work together to serve this patient, you know, in the best way that we can.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Yeah, no, I'm liking it. Just like I, you know, mentioned with all the different groups that we have in town, all the different networking ones, you know, we can all grow together if we all work together. And I, you know, in health and wellness, you know, holistic versus modern medicine, whatever you want to call it. So it shouldn't be a us versus them type of thing. It should be an integrative approach, like you said.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

We all deserve to, you know, be able to express health and live our healthiest life. And there are a myriad of things that get in the way or interfere with that. So to think that one specific discipline or specialty can solve every problem is silly. But it's certainly you're always going to benefit from a more cooperative approach. And the landscape in healthcare now is more conducive to that than than ever. Right. And um it's just, it's just different. The mindsets are different. People are more open. I'm speaking specifically buck professionals, like healthcare professionals, they're just more open to having conversations and dialogues. And I make it regular practice to send notes to people in the community, like, hey, I heard so-and-so told me, you know, you really helped them. You're really a big cheerleader for them in their health. That's awesome. Like, you know, please continue to do that. Like, I want to be the encourager and champion of people who are doing it that way so that that continues to grow and shift our mindset as it relates, you know, to health and that there's not one specialty that owns it. Like we should own it. It just should be something that we're doing in service of the person, the patient. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

So, what do you think is some of the biggest drivers of the holistic health and wellness kind of movement right now, getting that app back out into the forefront? What do you think is driving a lot of that?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

I think technology is helping dramatically and just access to information. That's a two-edged sword, right? Like, you know, you have to be discerning about who you're trusting with the information and where you're searching and what you're searching. But I think that is opening people's eyes because it's allowing them to take ownership in their health and not just trust their doctor with their entire health. And ownership is something that is critically important for our pay, you know, patients in our practice because in order for you to be able to address and correct an issue, like the patient has to own the problem. Like this is my problem. And there are things that I have influence over that I can do to impact that and change that. And, you know, we we tell every single patient who walks through our practice, this is a done with you, not a done for you process. We have a tremendously important role in it, but so do you as the patient. Right. So if they take ownership, meaning I understand what's going on with me and I want to understand why it's happening. And I want to understand what I am doing that's contributing to this problem. And what can I start doing or what can I stop doing to help you do what you do so I get better results faster? Like those um the access to technology is is closing that window and that gap. I I mentioned COVID earlier. I think the COVID crisis opened a lot of people's eyes. I think so too. Yeah. Not to get into political statements and go down that route. Uh, that's not my interest, or you know, I think it's at this point a waste of time, but more so it opened people's eyes to what health truly is. I think that the prior to COVID, we lived in a world where you were either healthy or you were sick. There's one of two cohorts. And then we identified this middle cohort that was not sick. Just because I look healthy or I feel healthy doesn't mean you're healthy. Right. And there's a lot of people who unfortunately were exposed, you know, when when we're um in a space where uh they were exposed and not being able to express health well. And so I think that opened a lot of people's eyes. Like I need to understand this more and stop blindly trusting what doctors are telling me and understand more about what are the ways that I can help my body heal from the inside out, the way it's hardwired, versus healing from the outside in, which is a totally different paradigm.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

No, I absolutely agree. So not getting too far down the political spectrum of it. But yeah, that COVID, and also, I mean, there's legislators out there and folks in in the government now that are actually talking about this type of stuff. So it really brings to the forefront.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, regardless of your political affiliation, let's just have the conversation, right? Like I want to hear one side, I want to hear the other side. Some of the favorite, you know, pieces of media and things that I consume are wildly different than my political views. But I want to understand the conversation and pressure test my belief systems and what I what I thought I believe is, you know, worth, you know, is it versus what I truly believe. You know, we gotta always be evaluating that. That's you know, that's the lifelong learner mindset. So to be able to vacillate and look at each side of the spectrum, I think is really important in health and life, you know, whatever that is. No doubt about it. Let's dig into align life a little bit. Tell us a little bit about what all you guys offer right now. Yeah. So we are a chiropractic and natural health center. So we incorporate holistic wellness. So for some people who are in pain, who are inflamed, whose joints are misaligned, we integrate you know, chiropractic. And for a lot of people, that is the case. We live in an unnaturally stressful world and we all lead unnaturally stressful lives. So those stressors need to be reconciled. And one of the ways we do that is with you know chiropractic.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Like you mentioned earlier with your 12 talks and stress, it seems like the rest of them that you had, if you handled the rest of them, the stress one might not be there. Amen, brother. Remove that. Everything falls back in line. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

So sorry, go ahead. Oh, that's a press the perfect point. But we also, like I said, we we look at a holistic approach. So we do, you know, metabolic, you know, consultations. So we look at metabolic panels, we do hormone testing, we do food sensitivity testing to look and see if there are other offenders, you know, things that are driving inflammation or creating disruption in the system that are going to interfere with people's ability to heal and heal as fast as it should. Um, then we have you know adject services like acupuncture to be able to serve patients uh in that way as well. So it's all about figuring out one, if we can help the patient, two, what are their goals? What are the things they have to do that they want to be able to do and get back to doing? And then is our approach right for them? And if it is, let's go to work. And if it's not, then let's find you the right provider from there.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

So the metabolic panel, what does that show? Yeah, so it'd be a blood test. So, like most people when they go to see their, you know, doctor for their annual visit, they'll run a blood test, like a metabolic panel. So it should have a CBC in there, it should have a lipid profile in there. So you're looking at cholesterol, triglycerides, you know, the good and bad cholesterols from there. Should have, you know, things you're looking at, um, just basic nutrient levels of vitamin D, vitamin B, magnesium, iron, levels of inflammation like homocysteine or C reactive proteins. They're a very strong indicator where there could be gaps in people's health. The way that I try to explain it to patients is if you have a crisis in your health, like you're not as healthy as you want to be, more often there's either a toxicity or a deficiency, or both, right? A toxicity. There's something there that should not be there that needs to be removed, or a deficiency. There's something that's not there that should be there, or some combination of both. So labs and you know, integrating those gives us insight to where there could be toxicities or deficiencies, in addition to you know, neurological and structural, you know, issues as well.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Right. So you mentioned inflammation. That's another big buzzword that people use on podcasts all the time. And inflammation this and inflammation that. And I think sometimes people don't know what they're talking about when they say inflammations. Tell us a little bit about what inflammation is.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah, I mean, inflammation can go all the way down to a cellular level, right? Uh and it can express itself in many different ways. And there could be many different causes of it. Your body is hardwired to heal. It's brilliantly hardwired to heal. And the system that regulates that is your nervous system. And then when it can express health and when it can regulate systems like your immune system to function properly, you can repair and get rid of that inflammation. You can think of inflammation synonymous with pain. It's not always going to show up as a pain. But if you think about it in those terms, when inflammation shows up or that pain is there, that's not necessarily a bad thing. And one challenge that I often, you know, throw at our patients or when I get a chance to speak is that symptoms in general aren't a bad thing. I think symptoms are awesome. There are our body's way of talking to telling you. Our body's communicating, our body's saying, hey, you're throwing more stress at me than I can adapt to on my own. I need help. Like, stop doing those things. And it's its way of talking to us. So if you can not just stop for a second and listen to those body signals, but understand the things that you may be doing or not doing that are creating that. And then having the specific integration or the specific testing or imaging protocols to identify what's causing it or where it's showing up or how it's affecting certain areas in your body, then you can be super strategic about going to address it.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

You mentioned a minute ago about the uh all the data that's out there. And, you know, you got to be discerning. So nowadays, as the doctor, do you have more folks coming to you with a lot more opinions and a lot more ideas of what should be going on than they used to?

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yes. Yeah. But again, like my job is to listen. Yeah. Right. Like so when somebody comes in, like and we do an initial assessment, or even if I'm doing a consult, it's like a pre-consultation before they come in the office. Um, I always feel like I should be listening way more than I'm talking. My job is to hear what they're saying and understand what they're saying. Because you know, they may have read something and they're like spouting off a term, but is that really the problem? Or is it something they're experiencing or that they're dealing with that I need to jot down and make a note of and you know, double back on? So in the beginning, yeah, whether they think they have the solution or they've identified or diagnosed it properly is neither here nor there. I just gotta listen. You spend 90% of the time listening, 10% of the time talking, and just figuring out like what makes them tick. Right. I think that was the one of the biggest unlocks for me going from like early in practice into, you know, um, you know, now over a decade is that no patient wants to learn everything about chiropractor they never wanted to know. Right. Like that's not my job is to spew information to them. My job is to figure out how is the problem screwing up their life, right? Is it not allowing them to do something they have to do, that their daily routine acquires, their job, their enroll in a family, something like that, or what are the things that they want to be able to do? Because then you can start to identify and trace that back to what they heard that triggered the thought that made them want to pursue it, right? Because at the end of the day, like it's not about making symptoms go away. Most patients think that's what it is, but it's making the symptoms go away so that they can be the person they want to be. Right. And that goes back to our purpose statement, right? It's like to ex, you know, to restore health to experience greatness. Like, how do you restore health so they can experience, you know, what greatness is in their health?

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Absolutely. So you said deficiencies a minute ago. You you find more often than not, folks are deficient in something like vitamin D or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yeah, it can go, it can go micro like that. Yeah. Uh you mentioned vitamin D. I can't tell you the last time I looked in a metabolic panel where somebody's vitamin D levels were optimal. And I didn't say thin normal ranges, I'm talking optimal. And even if you're like looking at your lab, one thing that you know people should be aware if they're listening and they're having their you know tests done regularly is that when you look at a lab and it has your value and then it has the range that you should be at, the normal range. The normal range compares you against the average person, your age, your gender in America, which that person, the average person, is terribly unhealthy. That's what I was gonna say. That's not who you want to go up against, really necessary. The range that's designed to avoid disease, not to reach optimal health. So, like you mentioned the vitamin D example. Most, most of the labs I look at, the D rating or the what it should be is between 30 and 60. And when I teach our patients is baseline of 50, 50 to 90 is where you want to be living. And, you know, coming out of winter right now where we're all inside and we're covering our skin up, we're not exposing ourselves to as much, you know, bright light. If you're not, you know, intentionally supplementing with vitamin D, which most people should be, uh, it's gonna drive a deficiency in that specific example. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Yeah. Now we've talked about supplementation a lot on the show with various folks. Do you have a certain uh recommendation, not for a particular type of vitamin, but vitamins or supplements in general?

SPEAKER_01 35:02

I would say just going 30,000 foot conversation. It's not what you take, it's what you absorb. Right. It's the forms, it's where they're sourced from. Unfortunately, nutrients in this country are not regulated. Marketing is a powerful tool on the front of the bottle, as are prices. When a lot of people shop on marketing and what it looks like and how cheap it is. So if if you're looking at nutrients and you're buying them at the grocery store and they're cheaper, there's probably a reason for it. Most of the time, you mentioned the vitamin D example. So, like, I'll give you an example. The best vitamin D supplements out there are bound with K2 because it helps drive absorption of the D where you want it to be, like in the bone tissue and not where you don't want it to be, like in I cells, for example. So the K2 is the uh is the protector, it's the shuttle to make sure it goes where it goes. The K2 is the most expensive ingredient in the supplement. It's not the vitamin D. Right. So when you're looking at and you're cost comparing and you're looking at it like, well, that one has an extra K2. That's a lot more money. I don't need that. You should be saying vitamin D K2, like all in one word. So I would just say, in general, it's not what you take, it's what you absorb. Um so we have a form that we give out um to our patients uh that shows them, you know, high absorptive forms of certain nutrients and low absorptive forms. So if it's magnesium, you don't want to be taking magox. You want to be taking magnesium citrate or glycinate. And there's a host of you know different nutrients from there. So it's one of those instances you get what you pay for. Um I wouldn't always buy the most expensive thing just because it is the most expensive, but if you're trying to make a decision and you think that the more expensive one is the better quality, trust your instincts. Right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're not gonna get much quality for the$7.99 multiple. It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

There are ways to save money in your health. That ain't one of what I would recommend. Absolutely not. So so going back to the the talks that you give, uh, you know, I've seen on your socials out at different businesses and everything, like doing lunch and learn type of things. It's so much fun. Yeah. But how does a business get involved in something like that if they want to do that with you?

SPEAKER_01 36:56

With us? Yeah. Um, it's really simple. Uh they just raise their hand. Right. So we pay for the lunch, we buy the lunch, and we go into and we ask them what they want us to talk about, and we go in and do it. And some people would say, like, well, why, you know, why would you buy them lunch or why you leave in the practice? And the patients who go do this, it's because my mission is bigger than me, right? So there are times when we need to be out networking and educating. There are times when we need to be table side serving patients. There's times when we need to be resting. Tell you a perfect example, Robert. Right now, we have three doctors on our team. One doctor sitting in the seat right now, networking and teaching people about chiropractic, you know. One doctor is in the clinic right now, delivering care, taking care and loving on our patients. One doctor's on vacation. He's in Florida right now on the beach. All of us are promoting, protecting health and wellness in chiropractic, right? Right. It's just different stages of it. It's like, how am I teaching people how to live the right way? How are we delivering care so that they can express health properly? How am I modeling what living a healthy life looks like and showing people it's okay for me to take a break and rest and restore and recover so that I can serve, you know, in a bigger, you know, better mindset? And our target audience is like mostly entrepreneurs, right? And, you know, I love the saying that, you know, entrepreneurs don't starve, they drown because they just put more on their plates. They tell themselves, I'll do more with an extra hour of time and a pound of my flesh, throw it on my back, I'll deadlift it, I'll just find a way to do it. And that will serve you for a season until you get to burnout. So that mindset is not the same as persistence. Like those are two different things. You can be very persistent in rest and recovery. You can be very persistent in your spiritual life. You can be very persistent in your diligence with how you're protecting your finances or how you're pouring into relationships or how you're having fun and you know, leisure, how you're parenting and loving on your spouse. Like persistence applies to all facets, but I love the ability to be able to do all these different things. And if that means that I end up buying lunch to go into somebody's business to make them the hero, like this is the business that cares enough about you as employees that they're gonna bring people in to tell you how to express self better, how to live your healthiest and most successful life, then the business that brings us in wins. But I get to serve my mission, and that's to teach and educate and help people understand those unlocks in order to reach that. Because it's like we've talked about, it's not about me. It's about the mission, you know, and it's about your purpose and how you know strong your purpose is in pushing you, but at the same time, how clear your vision is, you know, that's pulling you forward too. And I I love your podcast about you know vision and mindset too. I think that's just as important uh as the purpose because the purpose can take you so far, but purpose can push you into burnout. Okay. And you have to have crystal clarity and a very line of sight, you know, tight focus on your vision too, that's pulling you forward.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Love it. Love it. No, servant's heart, man. Everything you just said a second ago with the persistence and all those different areas in 10x. We call it the 10x super life. When you become extraordinary in all those different areas, are there specific criteria that are in you know, in spiritual and in your financial life and your professional life? All of them, your family, everything. So you're striving for the 10x super life when you and becoming extraordinary in all those areas. You don't have to go down in one just to be up in the other one. They don't have to compete with each other, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:08

It just requires intention and focus. Yeah. And persistence. Yeah. Yeah. No, it makes yeah, that's cool. That's cool that you live that life too.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Yeah, no doubt about it. So over the past what, now 13 years or almost 13 years, what are you most proud of of building the business, man? My team.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah. Yeah, that's the easy answer. Um, I I get to work uh on a team of nine of dynamic, brilliant, purposeful, servant-hearted people. Um, we have you know, core values in our practice, they exude every single one of them to a T. And getting to do this with them is really cool because I went through a season where I it was all me. And I hate to admit this, but it was the Brian Willie show. You know, it's I'm doing everything because I can do everything and nobody can do it as good as I can do it. And you can be on purpose with that mindset, but it's the wrong mindset, right? And it took me getting to burnout stages at multiple times in my career to know and to recognize you're not serving the patient the best when you slept six hours and when you're drinking coffee until three o'clock in the afternoon and you had way too many drinks the night before, and you're not exercising as much as you should. And all of a sudden, these things that you're doing in order to serve, you know, they're waylaying your life. And I had to have recognition like, if if you're gonna talk a big game, Willie, if you're gonna say you're gonna serve a big mission, you can't do it alone. Like, you need to do it with a big dynamic team. And so being able to recognize that, but identify the roles, find these people who are hardwired to be successful in the roles and watch them grow through it, um, that's that's been the most fun because it allows the mission to carry on, it allows the vision to be executed, but it doesn't all rely on me and it's not all about me and helping um our team step in and shine in their unique genius. And quite frankly, the patient is the hero in the journey. None of none of us are on the team, but and everybody understands and knows that. So to see how this team has been built out and to have our patients like watch it, because most of our patients have been in the practice for years and years. So for them to watch it and for them to say, man, that person is amazing. Don't screw this up, Brian. Do not let them leave. You know, like that kind of stuff. Right. That's when you know you're like, man, like this is this is cool. This is bigger than me. And gives you excitement about building a bigger and bigger, bigger team. I always joke about it, us being like a battleship. Um, build a bigger battleship to make a bigger impact.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Yeah, absolutely. That's the only way you're gonna get to those big massive targets is if you grow through people like that. Yeah. Scale through people like that. Absolutely. Love it. Did you start at your current location, 13, or have you moved since so we moved, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

So that gentleman that I told you that uh stepped out and retired, and he owned the building and he uh entrepreneurs, are you listening right now? He offered me a five-year lease and I said, I want a 10-year lease. Because I just thought after five years, he's gonna kick me out and I didn't know where to go. That was a bad decision of mine. So I was stuck in this 10-year lease. And uh I mean, we we outgrew that space at like year seven. Um trying to figure out do we remodel this current location? And then I'm looking at different locations. Long story short, it was another guy thing, uh, my insurance agent. They were getting ready to close their their um like central Illinois um like meeting spot. It was where I'd went to BI meetings for like years and years and years. And he's like, hey, by the way, this guy's getting ready to sell the building. I'm looking around, like, it's two blocks away from where I currently was. I could literally just walk the boxes, you know, down the road to the new office. Uh it's almost double the size. Um, it was just like, you know, formatted just like fell right in the lap at the right time. Um, yeah, we closed on it in like July and we were in there the next August. So uh and so now we're on Mott Vale Drive. Um, so still right there on the west side. Um, but it's just it's funny. Like, you know, I had 10 years to think about every intentional square inch of the office I was in that I that didn't work, that was a choke point, that Was, you know, um limiting efficiency, limiting productivity. Team members are frustrated to go buy it. And so I'm like just filing things away. And so every once in a while I'll be walking around the practice and just know like every you know square inch of this place is intentional based on pain and trauma and frustration and lessons learned and all that stuff. And then But how great is that to look back on all that? Dude, it's amazing. It's it's such a blessing. But then the entrepreneurial mind doesn't stay there very long. And you know, we've been there like I mean we moved there in 23. So this is going on our third year. We're already like, okay, we need to remodel. Uh, this has got to go, this wall's got to come down. Can we go up in the ceiling? Like, can we cut out some rafters and like put some offices up there? I mean, like, we joke about that as a team, but they've been around long enough to know that I'm only half joking. Like, like we always need to be thinking, I think you mentioned the vision stories not just 90 days out and 12 months out, but three years out. Like, what's the iteration of this practice a year from now or three years from now or 10 years from now? We got to be thinking along those lines.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

All of us as business owners, as entrepreneurs. Onward and upward. So, do you have anything like that in mind? Any big plans for the future here, what you're planning on doing? I mean, I don't have anything concrete.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

I got a lot of ideas. Yeah. And I think most entrepreneurs do. They got a lot of ideas. Uh, it's it's it's slowing down and discerning what the right move is and what the right time is, um, and not rushing just to get it done, but to figure out how does it align with those visions as well. Because it, you know, that owner operator mindset where just I'll do it, just tell me to do it, I'll do it as fast as possible, it can stifle growth for sure. So being clear about a vision and what you're trying to accomplish and execute, and then making sure you have a team in place to execute the vision, and then making sure you have the capacity to be able to serve it, like those those three balls are like things you're juggling. It's constantly moving. And just when you think, I've got the team right, then something happens, you know. Maybe somebody has to move or somebody gets pregnant, or you know, that that's that's the dynamics of a business. It's like, okay, that's I gotta start, you know, paying attention to that ball. And then, you know, it's always changing. So I try to be fluid with it. Visions are fluid, but at the same time, I'm always filing away ideas and always prospecting for potential opportunities to invest and to create ahead of the growth because I I've been through those seasons where you're bursting at the seams, and that'll stifle growth. You know, it won't just keep you stagnant, you'll contract, you'll shrink either in mindset or your team will pump the brakes, or your customers or patients will start to decide that you know you're too big for them and it's just more convenient for them to go somewhere else. And you always got to be aware of that too. And that's that's a tough place to live as a business owner, is you're always investing in your business. But it is one of the greatest investments, especially in your team and and your and your business.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Certainly. Well, a lot of great stuff business wise. Let's pop over to the personal side. Yeah. What are some ways you elevate your life personally? There's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

I would say one of the most important ones beyond you know my relationship spiritually, on my relationship with God, is my wife. Like she keeps me so grounded. And when I'm living in the clouds, she's bringing me back into reality. We're such a good blend in that aspect together. My kids are very humbling as well. I have four kids. They don't care about your grand visions. They don't care about um how many. Actually, they do care how many patients we care of. I my kids, my daughters especially. How many patients did you get to see? They always ask that. But that's cool. I mean, they don't care about the business and all that stuff. Um, all they care about is their dad. They just see you as this human being that is their dad. So they pull me out of that high-in-the-sky mindset sometimes, which is good. Be aware, because that's a a certain gap and weakness for me is um stopping and just pausing and not always looking into the future. You can be present time conscious, but not live in the present. I think that's something I'm I struggle with. Um, so they're good, they're amazing at that. Um, but also just having tools in place to do self-check-ins. So, like you were mentioning those pillars, like I've got this wheel of alignment. It's got these different, you know, facets of your life, whether it's fun or romance or family relationships and you know, money and leisure and recreation and health and that kind of stuff. And I'm always doing a self-assessment, you know, one to 10. Where are you at this month? And then that gauges my focus. Like, well, I'm I'm not focusing enough here. I need to put more intention there. And it's like the rocks conversation. You just can't you're never, there's never no rocks. It's just where is your greatest you know, focus need to be in this moment? And then once you get that to where you want to be, something's competing with it, and then you try and pick that up too. I mean, balance is baloney. There is no balance. Right. I'm just constantly seeking alignment, you know. There has to be a wax and wane and a give and a take. And as long as you're aware of it and you're intentional with how to, you know, give and take with that, I think that's the key. But having having a partner like Kelly, like my wife, there's no way I could do it, you know, without her. So love it.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

No, the kids certainly have a way to put it into perspective, don't they? That's I mean, you got two of your own, right? Yeah, two of my own. Yep, 15 and 12. So my older daughter, anybody that watches the show has seen her here recently. So I do my every Tuesday episode with her. And I just Ellie, right? Yeah, Ellie. Yeah, love doing the back and forth with her. It's just so fun. It's great. I got three girls of my own, and they're uh yeah, they're just they're amazing. It's it's it's different with the girls. It is, it is. Yeah, we're we're doing, she just finished Driver's Ed not too long ago, so we're doing all the behind-the-wheel stuff right now. Oh, nice. How's that going? It's going it's going good. You love it or are you like terrified? So I I love it right now, but I know I'm gonna be terrified the day that I actually hand the keys over and say see in a few hours, and I'm not actually in the car with her any anymore. That's when I'll be terrified, and I know I will be. Are you like pumping the floorboard on the other side? Right. Yeah. I mean, she's a pretty defensive driver, so she's doing a good job with all that. But yeah, I know I'm I'm not looking forward to the day where it's see in a few hours. Right now it's just fun because we're spending some extra time together, going out and doing all the driving and everything. But yeah, that is cool.

SPEAKER_01 49:49

I didn't think about that, like the extra time spent together. My oldest is 12 right now, so I'm not in that role, but she's just starting to get that age where like she doesn't want to do with anything. Like she's in a room and I gotta like drag her out. Like, can you please talk to us? Come play a game with us, like, can we do something together? Um, so that's cool. That I'll have to file that away.

SPEAKER_02 50:06

Because it's 50 hours. So you have to drive with them for 50 hours before they go back and and drive with their instructor to actually go take their test and everything. So, yeah, that's 50 extra hours of time that I mean may or may not have you know made it happen. Facilitated.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

We're back to the old train screen. You got I got you now. You're stuck with me. You're stuck with me.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

We're gonna talk. So yeah, no, it's it's been fun. So that's cool. Well, so much great stuff today. Had a phenomenal time. I was a great time with you, man. This is fun, man. We're gonna have to do it again. So bring you back on the Friday segment. Yeah. So I always uh like to close with these last couple of things. You uh say listen to the show, so you probably know what's coming, man. Personal and professional, right? You know it. Let's give a always want to be prepared, man.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

I don't like walking in a room unprepared. So let's hear them. Yeah. So here's the here's what I would say personally. Uh you every person has to understand their core values. There are three to five core principles that shape the decisions that they make. When when I was able to clearly define those, the hardest, toughest decisions got super easy. You know, either align with them or they don't. And the second thing is a vision. You have to have a vision for your personal life, you have to have a lot of vision for your professional life of where you want to go this year and in 10 years and three decades. And then your behaviors have to align with it too. And when life is the best, and I feel like I'm the most successful, and I'm not talking monetarily, I'm talking just like successful in life and the most content. It's when my core values, my behaviors and my vision are all aligned together at the same time. So being intentional and identifying that, I think is key. Professional, I mentioned my team earlier, just surround yourself with great people. I heard it said once that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. And that was really convicting for me. It's like, whoa, okay. Like I need to be very careful about the people that I'm either bringing into my business or I'm spending time with. And um, you know, your business, I always, you know, tell my team, my business is my team and my team is my business. Like the team is so influential in that. And greatness is in the agency of others. You want to experience greatness, you got to do it with people if you want to make a big impact. So I would say those are the the two big personal and professional things that have really made a huge, huge uh difference in my life.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

Greatness is in the agency of others. Yeah, love that. And is there anything we can do community-wide to help all of us here elevate Springfield and the surrounding communities?

SPEAKER_01 52:28

I think you're doing it right now. And that's listening. And it's listening and it's it's creating space for others to listen. I I I think podcasts are an amazing medium. And I know we would all benefit from just listening to each other better, like more intently, more often. And I think if we're listening to each other, we're gonna understand each other better, and then we're gonna serve each other better. And that's not just unique to Springfield, I understand, but I think that's a heck of a place to start. And I appreciate you and the role you're playing in that. Congratulations, by the way, on your one-year anniversary. Thank you. Yeah, it's been fun, man. And now you're going daily, like that's that's a lot, man. That's a I don't even know the half. That's a lot of work. So I I would say I would like to speak for Springfield in general and just say, like, thanks for showing up and doing this. Isn't really if you don't do it, you know, who will? Like, who's gonna step into that space and and give audience to the amazing people in our community that give and serve and and probably give and serve more than they get because they have a big you know purpose. And so thanks for that, man. Appreciate you for that.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

Absolutely. No, that was the original intent of the show is to is to spotlight folks that are already elevating the community. They're already doing great things. We've got so many great people around here, so many people that are impacting so many folks and impacting the community on the whole. And I want to be able to help tell that story, man.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

I think there's there's a podcast where you get interviewed, I think. Yeah, you gotta bring Ellie in, and then she flips it, and she sits there, and you sit here, and then she interviews you for an hour. She did. Did she really? Yeah, she did. All right, I missed that one.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Well, it's been a few months. It was the first time I ever did it. But yeah, we did that exact same thing. Oh man, that's before. Yeah, before we started with the every Tuesday episode with her, that was how we kind of kicked it off. So, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna go to the the guest chair for the first time. That's fantastic. And because I've had a couple other people ask me, hey, can I interview? Like, well, yeah, we can, but I'm doing my daughter, I'm letting my daughter do it first. I when I go to the guest chair, the first time is gonna be Ellie interviewing. That's super cool. And then after that, we can we can do some other things. I bet it was hilarious. I bet she had some like questions that you were like, Oh, okay. All right, yeah. And I think she does a nice job in this chair too. She, you know, driving the bus on that. So that's cool. Oh man, that's awesome. I'm gonna go find that one now. Find it. I'll I'll look back, but it's been a few months now. Okay. If they want to come out and do some work with you, you be there, chiropractor, get some health and wellness, whatever's with you, where do they go?

SPEAKER_01 54:48

Uh, we're on the west side of town. We're on Montvale Drive, uh, or they can find us on socials. So it's Align Life. If they search Align Life Springfield, they'll they'll find us on Facebook, social media, and Instagram and all the other uh spaces and you know, Google, the website, all that. We have stuff up every single day. Uh trying to chase you. You're going every day with podcasts, we're trying to put content on every day. Let's get it. Yeah, but omnipresence, man. Just keep pushing.

SPEAKER_02 55:12

Persistence. That's right. Get it. We're everywhere. All right. Well, appreciate you coming in with me today, man. We're gonna do it again. Yes, this was fun. All right. Well, we're gonna let Dr. Brian Willie get back to Elevate in Springfield. But for the rest of y'all, we'll be right back. Looking for expert tree care with hometown integrity, look no further than Sangamon Tree Service. They're your trusted local pros, delivering quality workmanship, exceptional customer service, and fair, honest pricing. Every time. Whether it's trimming, removal, or storm cleanup, their team brings professionalism and care to every job, big or small. Call the name your neighbors trust, Sangman Tree Service, or visit them today at SangmanTreeService.com. Sangman Tree Service, rooted in quality, built on trust.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

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SPEAKER_02 56:31

Well, thank you for joining us today, everybody. Appreciate you making us a part of your day. Hey, don't forget while you're out on social, check ours out. You can check my personal one out at RobertFarrell at everywhere. Check out those Elevate Springfield pages, those big dog business coaching pages as well. Check us out over on YouTube. Give us a subscribe, give us a like or a follow on any of those channels. We would certainly appreciate it. So, hey, take what you learned today. You bring the discipline and follow through and together, as right, y'all. We're gonna elevate Springfield. Be great. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent is here to help you protect what matters most: your family, your home, and your dreams. Whether it's auto, home, life, business, David and his team are proud to serve the Springfield community with trusted advice and reliable coverage. Local service, real relationships, peace of mind. Call today or stop by their office. They can build your dream protection plan together. Call 217 726 6343.