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Are you a business owner? Or are you on the verge of taking that side hustle to the next level? Or curious about the world of entrepreneurship? Join Vivian Kvam, Co-Owner of Tandem Works, each week for a behind-the-scenes at small businesses and what it takes to succeed.
Each episode is full of inspiration, education, tips, and great conversation with people like you, people who are figuring it out. Take your business to the next level with insight from expert guests in business, leadership, and marketing.
Vivian Kvam (00:01)
All right. Well, welcome Dr. Nate Wichman and business partner and wife and marketing extraordinaire, Melissa, on the podcast. This is going to be a fun conversation because I love when we can have like dynamic duos come on, business partners and your life partners, too. So I think it's going to be a great conversation. But OK, owners of what? Right.
And we've got a lot to dive into today because these two have, I guess I'm going to just call you guys overcomers. I know that's not your whole story, but there's a big chunk of your story where you really overcame a ton in getting your business stood up and keeping it going and all of that. And so multiple challenges, right, that you've overcome that I think a lot of us can relate to. So anyway, welcome. So glad to have you guys. This is going to be fun.
Nate and Melissa (00:56)
Thanks for having us. Yep.
Vivian Kvam (00:58)
Yeah, absolutely. So I've gotten to know Melissa primarily, and I think Melissa and I met, I could be wrong, sometimes when there's multiple connections, I think we actually met in yoga class and got to know you a bit there and then like our paths just keep crossing in different places. And so I've gotten to know you, but Nate, I know you less, so I'm going to be learning all kinds of things about you as well. But super fun, our team got to do a marketing and communications roadmap.
Nate and Melissa (01:09)
Yes.
Vivian Kvam (01:27)
session with you both. And I got to learn so much as we were going through that and putting your plan together. And it's been fun to follow up and see how you guys are doing with that. So, but I'm excited to learn all the things. Okay, so we got to start off first with what's your background? Like how did you end up starting your own clinic? I've got to know like why starting your own clinic versus maybe joining another clinic. Melissa, how did you get like
Nate and Melissa (01:40)
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (01:55)
hold into all of this as a business partner doing marketing, kind of give us like the lay of the land. What's the history here?
Nate and Melissa (02:02)
So I just want to put a little ploy out for my wife. She also has a business called Floresco Marketing and with all her experience and strengths, she's done wonders for my business, running my, building my website, doing all my social media, and then she has clients like North Beatic Institute in Kansas City, does stuff for Nebraska Med. So I wouldn't be able to do all what I do without her for sure.
How did you? How did I get started?
Vivian Kvam (02:31)
That's awesome. So are you basically like, you're like a client in a way then too. Yeah. Just to add complication to it all. This is great. I love it. Client, business partner, wife, mother, all the things.
Nate and Melissa (02:37)
Yeah, somewhat. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yep. Client business partner for sure. Kind of a mix of all. Yeah, for sure. Um, so my background, I, uh, grew up just off of Kansas City and I was always interested in like health and wellness and was kind of a, was an athlete growing up and used chiropractic a little bit. My best friend's dad was a chiropractor.
and I was a personal trainer, or college athlete for a little bit, personal trainer at KU for a few years while I was studying and then just from my experience and some family influence and my buddy's dad, I kind of looked into chiropractic and it helped me and so that's ultimately why I chose chiropractic over like physical therapy. I was kind of like active, very active into lifestyle stuff and then...
From there, I went to school in Kansas City and then worked for my buddy's dad for, or with him for a year and made like, you know, with your doctorate, made like hardly any money and I'm just like, what am I doing here? You know, what's going on? A real big slap to the ego. And so we were dating at the time and I just, before I met her, I envisioned I would come up and work on the family farm in the summer with my uncle.
Vivian Kvam (03:46)
Thank you.
Nate and Melissa (04:00)
my grandpa a little bit got to know them and just kind of enjoyed that slower pace of life that I didn't grow up in and learned a lot and felt like there was more to learn about it. Before I met her even I was kind of like, yeah, I'd like to do that, start a small town clinic and then farm and ranch a little bit. So I moved up here after my first year of working as a chiropractor down in Kansas City and there was a guy at a clinic out in Oakland, Iowa that...
He did a few things wrong and kind of lost his license in the state and stuff. I didn't buy it or anything luckily, but there's a damage to the reputation that comes when you do things fraudulently that I just, young and naive, I didn't really think, oh, I'm a different person. It won't affect me, but it kind of can a little bit. Especially in a smaller rural community where that's the impression that they were given because that was the chiropractor in town.
Vivian Kvam (04:35)
Oh boy.
Yeah.
Right.
Nate and Melissa (05:01)
So that was the first, one of the first hurdles I think he had to overcome. So I was living out at the family farm for a couple of years and opened my clinic and doing long distance with her and then eventually she moved up and we kind of like expanded westward in the Council Bluffs because she was working in Omaha.
Vivian Kvam (05:19)
So when you say, okay, multiple questions already, right? When you say expanded, did you open a second location? Did you move locations? What did it look like at that point?
Nate and Melissa (05:23)
Yeah.
So I, we expanded, I expanded. We opened a second location. Second location, yeah, sorry. So you had a relationship with Strata Healthcare, is a direct primary care company. They have clinics throughout the Midwest and he kind of had a relationship with them and they had, hey, we have a couple rooms that.
we're not really utilizing if you want to subly some space from us, you know, and so that kind of opened the door to expand into council bluffs a couple of days a week. Um, but with, and you can kind of get into more your approach, but, um, he takes more of a functional movement approach to chiropractic. So, you know, there is value in having more space to actually allow your patients to move. And so
It just wasn't really enough space for his style and his approach to chiropractic. And then we had several hurdles that really just pointed that we needed to find another location for ourselves. But I would say I kind of encouraged you to look into Council Bluffs because it's where we live. And we kind of felt that calling to...
help those in our own community while we consider ourselves part of the Oakland and Riverside community, especially the residents there I would say have been super receptive and there's a really good benefit I think to serving rural communities because when they do see that there is authenticity there and that you are bringing value to the community, they really do kind of have your backs. And so we felt supported with...
you know, some of the things we went through, like with our daughter coming early and things like that. But.
Vivian Kvam (07:32)
Yeah, that's so interesting how different communities support in different ways. And so you started hinting out already, like there was a little bit of a reputation hurdle to overcome. And that was because there had been somebody else practicing who maybe hadn't done things well. Was it just a matter of people were thinking, oh, and they're kind of lumping you together? Or did you take over their practice? Or like, what was the relationship there and how did it affect you? And then how did you overcome that?
Nate and Melissa (07:48)
Mm-hmm.
Um, so I, uh, he was a previous chiropractor and he kind of popped around some of the rural towns on like the east side of Omaha Metro. And uh, he lived in Omaha, but he'd go out there and then he'd like have a clinic in one town a couple of days a week, then the other town a couple of days a week. And he kind of moved around a few areas. And I think patients liked his, he was a good adjuster, you know, like he was a good adjuster, but he was also, um,
He was kind of being fraudulent with the insurance building. And so that eventually caught up with him and the state took his license and then he fled to Alaska. It's kind of a story, but you know, I actually called the guy because it was close. It was like 15 minutes from the family farm. And that's kind of what, you know, I was thinking about expanding to another rural small town or eventually moving out there, but she worked in Omaha. She didn't really want to live out on the farm at the time. So
Vivian Kvam (08:43)
Hahaha.
Yeah.
Nate and Melissa (09:01)
I, we ended up, she ended up bringing me over to Council Bluffs, but I called the guy and he's like, yeah, I had a pretty good little business, it was pretty busy, you know, and it was well-recepted out in the San Juan community. But then he didn't, of course, didn't tell me that, oh yeah, I lost my license. I had to like go on the state website and find that out and hear about it from the landlord. And then just with that.
Vivian Kvam (09:21)
Ha ha ha.
Mm.
Nate and Melissa (09:31)
Yeah, basically it just was slower to catch on, you know, just from that experience of people that were like, yeah, I was getting these bills when I was out of town on vacation. And then all of a sudden, you know, anyways, it was that's sorry. That's fun. Cut this part and redo it because his aunt's phone was ringing in the background. Sorry.
Vivian Kvam (09:49)
Yeah, that's okay.
No worries.
These things happen. We have like, you know, we live in a real life world where sirens go off outside and all the things. So it's all good. It's all good. Down on the 100 block, it can get a little bit noisy sometimes.
Nate and Melissa (10:06)
Oh yeah, I bet. Yeah, where you guys? Put the gay runner on. Yeah, sorry, at least lost my train of thought. Yeah.
Sorry about that.
Vivian Kvam (10:19)
That's all right. Sometimes we just roll with it too. I mean, people get it. If you ever listened to like Gary Vee, one of the biggest podcasters ever, there's always sound stuff going on. Yeah. So question, yeah, question would be, there was, you guys had to overcome a little bit of a reputation thing, not because of anything you had done, but just being lumped together with.
Nate and Melissa (10:23)
Yeah.
Oh yeah, he's got some good stuff.
Vivian Kvam (10:45)
you know, another chiropractor who hadn't handled things well as far as, you know, it sounds like his practice was fine, but on the financial billing end of things, how did you help the community see you in a different way versus just kind of limping you together and having a bad taste about the industry?
Nate and Melissa (10:51)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
So I think just being more consistent, like sticking around, you know, whereas he was there for maybe a couple years and popped into the community, you know, I just had to stick it out. It was just a slower growth process over many years, you know, than you would have liked maybe. But eventually just kind of sticking around and just being authentic eventually catches up with you. And when they finally got to know you and they realized you weren't doing most.
same things. You weren't committing insurance fraud. You weren't taking advantage of them and you really did have their best interests, I think, at heart. You got a lot of word of mouth referrals that way because they saw you were authentic. And just, you know, even though my family wasn't like directly involved with that community a lot, more towards Atlantic is where my family kind of grew up. I think it helped, you know, that a little bit.
Being close enough to my dad grew up in a rural community kind of helped, I think, maybe a little bit.
Vivian Kvam (12:09)
Yeah, I can totally see that. I mean, reputation is huge, right? And it is interesting to think about, and I know we're gonna talk a little bit about just taking care of yourself as well as we're having this conversation, but I just think about, you know, not everyone's out committing fraud and things like that, but you know, if you're not taking care of yourself or you're not being able to conduct business in a way that has an authentic approach, people do sniff it out, right?
Nate and Melissa (12:26)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (12:36)
And it's not to say that you can't have down days or there can't be times where maybe you mishandle something a little bit. That can be a great opportunity too to go back and make it better, right? But gosh, how important our reputations are in the community. And I think people look to business owners as leaders, as examples, as inspiration, and we can either rise to the occasion or not. And I love how you're talking about sometimes it just takes time. Like people just have to get to know you.
Nate and Melissa (12:46)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Mm hmm. I think that's, I was just going to say, I think that's especially true in healthcare too, because we do look to, you know, healthcare leaders and healthcare providers as experts. And so if someone is taking advantage of that, um, I guess, respect or admiration or knowledge seeking opportunity, then you know,
Vivian Kvam (13:05)
That's so important. So why open it? Oh yeah, go ahead.
Oh yeah.
Nate and Melissa (13:33)
it can be harmful to the patient but when you see an opportunity where someone is truly caring about you then... And I think like Lisa, it's just a really interesting time to, like she said in healthcare especially like with technology and social media and all these marketing ploys and ads, I mean that's the way like to get market share quicker is to just utilize all these media, you know, TikTok. I don't know how many people are like, oh I...
Vivian Kvam (13:41)
That just be volumes.
Nate and Melissa (14:02)
saw this adjustment on TikTok or this doctor saying this on TikTok and it's just, and it's good like for me and us, like we need to leverage that probably more than we even do. But it's also tricky because there's always, you know, somebody's pitching something, selling some snake oil out there, you know, and then people kind of get taken advantage of or their results weren't quite what they thought it could be as well. So it's just kind of tough.
Vivian Kvam (14:18)
Mm.
How do you, I think this is so interesting. I wanna dive into this more because I know you talked about having some apprehension, right, through your roadmap session and conversations there through kind of free interview. You've had some apprehension about using social media, getting on video, and yet I think you found that it's been a really great tool. Talk to me a little bit about that hesitation piece and what changed for you and how do you make sure that you're putting out
Nate and Melissa (14:49)
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (14:58)
reputable information. How do you stay sharp with that?
Nate and Melissa (15:03)
Um, yeah, so I guess I'm just more kind of like introverted in general. I'm just more of like, you know, behind the scenes. Uh, I love to study and research. She'll tell you I'm always learning something new or reading a book or doing some courses that are maybe a little bit off the beaten path, you know? Um, and, um, so that's, and I've learned from people that have been using social media that seem authentic and don't have like this.
Vivian Kvam (15:04)
Lots of questions there.
Nate and Melissa (15:32)
cookie cutter approach like I call it like, oh, we're gonna do the same thing for everybody because It's a it's a clean system and it's you know, the easy thing It's the path of laser resistance is easier. Whereas whereas people I've learned from they're like no, I mean You can get some results But you know might feel a little bit better, but it's it can also be a placebo effect or whatnot but So I've learned from people that way so I'm like, you know, like there are people out there doing it that
that are kind of authentic and that don't have this cookie cutter approach for everybody doing the same thing for everybody and they're getting results, getting the word out there. So it was good to see that and learn from a few guys that have been doing that. I'm like, okay. And then I've studied a lot of the same things or have similar knowledge that I think people want to hear more of. They're seeking it out more. So anyway. Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (16:28)
What is your style and approach? And Melissa, I think you've influenced us a lot. Like, what's your style and approach when you do get on social media? What does feel authentic for you guys?
Nate and Melissa (16:39)
I'd say I'm more of like an educator. Instead of like selling like, you know, oh, we have these liner products and you know, this and that. I'm more of like an educating, I like the educator. It's hard, like the short snippets, but I think that's also a way just to kind of spark people's interest. And like, we're gonna, there's this foundation called West Indian Price Foundation I've been a part of for six or seven years. And there's just really good.
It's like an educational foundation. It's been around for many, many years. And so like, we're gonna start that, I think for Western Iowa. And like, it's just a way to educate people on, you know, like that's food farming and the healing arts, but I think I like that aspect, just educating, being more of an educational role instead of just like, selling these, you know, certain programs or whatever. Yeah, and I would say that social media was something I kind of had.
Vivian Kvam (17:10)
Uh-huh.
Nate and Melissa (17:35)
encouraged and pushed on him for a long time but like he said he's more of the introvert. I'm more of the extrovert but it's funny because I don't like to be the face of like our business and like the clinic because to me he's the chiropractor he's the healthcare provider but I've kind of tried to shift my mindset in that a little bit since my roadmap strategy with you guys but I was really encouraging of him like
you have a lot of knowledge to share and we got to get it out there so patients know. And then I think you also had a lot of patients that you were just sharing a lot of this information not in even a billable way. You were just sharing this free knowledge when they were coming for something else. And they're like, wow, like you got to get this out there. You need to start, you need to get on TikTok, which we're not on TikTok. But they're like, you need to do videos or something. And so...
Vivian Kvam (18:21)
Mm.
I'm going to go to bed.
Nate and Melissa (18:32)
you kept hearing that and then I think you heard enough from third parties. They're like, okay, maybe my wife is right. Maybe we should do it. But also there's nerves when it comes to being in front of a camera. And also that's not what you went to school for. Like you didn't go to school to perform or really learn business. Like they don't teach business really in chiropractic school. And so understanding
Vivian Kvam (18:40)
Hehehehe
Nate and Melissa (19:01)
and getting more comfortable in front of the camera. It's been fun as his wife to like see him evolve in front of the camera when we do videos and things because in the beginning, you know, I might've been more of like a director, like, okay, let's redo that. And now he just records the videos a lot of the time by himself at the clinic because where we're at this season of our lives, we have two young children at home. And so...
Vivian Kvam (19:16)
Hehehehe
Nate and Melissa (19:31)
I'm primarily at home with them doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes and he's really kind of grown in that and become interested in doing the videos on his own.
Vivian Kvam (19:44)
I love this whole topic. I mean, as you two know, we've talked about this before, we help a lot of businesses with their social media, whether it's helping coach them along and they're doing their own social media or whether they're engaging our social sidekick service where we actually create social media content for them. But this is like the big topic that comes up every time. And so I hope people are like listening, right? Especially those who are apprehensive about social media. I...
Nate and Melissa (19:52)
Mm-hmm.
Vivian Kvam (20:11)
I have a love-hate relationship with social media. Like a lot of people out there, there are things on social media that really bother me, you know? And there are times I feel like I have to shut it off. On the flip side, there are things I love about it, like the connection you can have, that you can get education out there and information. And as an introvert, so Nate, I wanted to connect with you on that for a minute. As an introvert, I've actually found it to be a really liberating platform because I can do it.
kind of at my own pace, my own time. I don't mind getting up in front of people and speaking. But when I have to go to like a networking event, oh my word, like no thank you, that's not my favorite. But gosh, I love to hop on and do a social media video. And so one of the things we talk to a lot of business owners about is find what works for you, right? And if it doesn't work for you, it's okay to ask for help, hire it out, lean into your.
your partner in this case, like you have Melissa you can lean into, which is awesome. But I love that. I love that you have found your way of doing things and you're being true to yourself because people sniff it out, right? Like we've been saying, like they just know when it's not real.
Nate and Melissa (21:22)
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (21:29)
What do you think was the turning point for you, Nate, and most of you both mentioned, it felt uncomfortable at first. When did it become comfortable? I think people always ask that, right? Well, how long do I have to go through the awkwardness? When does it get better?
Nate and Melissa (21:45)
Thank you.
Um...
You know, just being more consistent with it. I don't know. I'm still probably uncomfortable. I'm like, you know, recording multiple videos and sending them to my wife. And like, you know, she's the barrier of entry for social media. I would say like definitely the last year or two, you've gotten more comfortable. But prior to that, it was more, I felt like I was pulling teeth. Like, okay, we need to make a video or we need to, you know.
Vivian Kvam (22:06)
Thank you.
Nate and Melissa (22:22)
get something out there and my background is healthcare marketing and we actually ironically met when I was doing in-house marketing for a physical therapy company. So it's funny that he, you know, had initially kind of thought about going into that profession and so when we met, I was doing in-house marketing for a physical therapy company in Kansas City. He was finishing up chiropractic college and...
Vivian Kvam (22:34)
Perfect.
Nate and Melissa (22:51)
At first I was kind of like, oh, this isn't going to work. These are competitive industries. And I went to my boss at the time, who is a PT, and I was like, what are your views on chiropractic? And he's like, well, I think there's a need for them, just like any other health care professional in the industry. As long as we can work agreeably together, I think we can coexist. And I was like, cool, well, I think I'm dating one.
Vivian Kvam (22:56)
Um...
Yeah
Nate and Melissa (23:20)
I was able to use that experience, you know, working for a physical therapy company and doing events and education and social media for them to kind of apply that to his business when it was time to open up. But I think it just took some time with him getting comfortable with having those experiences himself to be where I think now I think you do a really good job.
of sharing that knowledge in a more comfortable and authentic way. And I think back to like what it took, you know, it definitely is getting more comfortable now but it's still, you know, I'm kind of like you, it's a love-hate relationship. Like I probably waste so much time on it, you know, looking at stuff. But I think just realizing it's like, man, you know, I was listening to these guys that have a platform and it's like, man, I've studied just as much or more than them or, you know, know everything they know plus more.
seeing what these people are charging people and what nots like oh my gosh but i think just also realizing like you know i've put my there's a book malcolm gladwall talks about outliers and talks about like you know your ten thousand hours to be an expert or whatever like you know i put my ten thousand hours in with all my study in for cairo school and this and that and probably all my reading of books nutrition stuff and then and just realizing you know like i know a lot i'm never gonna know what all
but also you're also kind of afraid of that criticism once you put yourself out on a social platform. It's like, oh, you're gonna start getting that maybe criticism, maybe not, whatever. But then just like Nick Saban says, if you wanna please everybody, don't be a leader or a coach or anything, sell ice cream. It's like you just kind of having that realization, like I've put my time in, I've suffered, I've sacrificed a lot, time and money to get my 10,000 hours and it's like.
just feeling more confident and comfortable that it's good, now's as good a time as any, if you're gonna get into the platform, educate people, and try to help them. Another turning point was just having some interactions with some of our friends, and hearing that they were spending boo-coos of money on things that he did, and we're like, wow, we haven't one been good friends to like...
share that some of these other services that he offers, they didn't know about specifically like in the functional medicine kind of realm. And then two, we're like, okay, if our friends don't know about this, then how many current or prospective patients don't know that he can do these things too? So I think that was definitely like the light bulb moment. We're like, okay, we got to get this out there. Almost like a moment of frustration kind of, you know, a little bit, but like, you know, I put in my time plus then.
Vivian Kvam (26:06)
Mm-hmm.
Nate and Melissa (26:09)
Anyways, but now we're kind of weeding through like, all right, how do we structure this? And like make it reasonable, because it's just wild what people charge out there for certain things, you know?
Vivian Kvam (26:19)
This is such a good conversation. I love how you've hit on something that is so important for people to know. And Melissa, I think you said it. It was like year this year or year two or something. I'm like, okay, did people, did you hear that? Like it has been years of doing this, right? Putting it out, putting it out, putting it out. It doesn't happen overnight friends, right? It doesn't happen overnight. You have to put the time in and.
I tell people all the time, like, nobody's paying attention at first, right? They're not. And you're, you're still putting it out. You're putting it out there. There's always that field of dreams. Um, my grandpa really loved that movie. So we watched a lot of kids and it's there's that whole line, right? If you build it, they will come. And I know this is so cynical, but I'm like, they're not coming. Um, you can build it, but they're not coming, you know?
Nate and Melissa (27:01)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (27:08)
Business owners get so frustrated with that, and it happens on social media as well. Like, hey, I keep building this thing, building and no one's coming. And it's like, well, it takes time for them to find you. You've got to build it, and you've got to build billboards and buses and roads and like help people find your field, right? And I'm like, sorry, grandpa, I still love that movie. It's great. And I still encourage you to like still build it, right? Don't take it as a downer. But I think that's so important. The 10,000 Hours, love that book.
good reminder of, sure, maybe you put your 10,000 hours in learning your craft, your trade, and now you've got to put your 10,000 hours in learning how to tell people about it or you can hire people. That's always an option. Some people think they have to do it all, and I'm one of those people, and I have to remind myself, I don't have to be an expert in everything. But it's good to know a little bit. So I love that. Love that so much.
Nate and Melissa (27:48)
Exactly.
Vivian Kvam (28:05)
Melissa, you talking about people not knowing, right? Like they don't know and what a disservice that is. I love how you mentioned that. You have a valuable service. It's important for you to share it with people. I love that so much. That's so good. So, okay, we've started dancing around this a little bit. I wanna make sure we get to talk about, Melissa, you know, you said how you were working in an agency, you're dating this guy, Nate. Maybe this is going somewhere.
but you transitioned out of the agency. And of course you guys did get married and you had a baby and the baby came early and there was pandemic stuff in the middle of it. I'd love for you just to kind of paint the picture of that whole time and just those challenges that you guys have faced beyond just, okay, we've got to figure social media out. We've got to figure this out and that out, right? What was that like for you guys? What did it look like?
Nate and Melissa (29:02)
So I was working at an ad agency in Omaha and kind of a mutual decision, but more or less was let go at the end of 2019, right? A few months before kind of the pandemic hit. And it had been for a few months or maybe a couple of years, even that you're like, you can go off on your own, like you could do this. And I think that kind of goes back to his more entrepreneur mindset. And I don't necessarily have that, but
It all worked out well because then at the time when the pandemic hit, everything was on lockdown and I essentially went into preterm labor and was put on bed rest and delivered our daughter about four days later and she spent 13 weeks in the NICU because she was 12 weeks early. I like to say that
you know, modern medicine is the reason she's here today. But also I believe that because he supplemented with his, you know, holistic knowledge, we were able to kind of.
be a good example of, hey, this is a positive outcome from what could have been a bad situation. But when all of that was going down, we were still subleasing space from Strata Healthcare. And there was a situation where we had like some temporary signage and it got knocked down in a really bad rainstorm. And long story short, a few months after.
We brought our daughter home from the NICU. We found out that we were no longer going to have space where we were subleasing because they were bringing in another provider into the area, but they just didn't wanna work with subleasers anymore. The landlord didn't wanna work with subleasers anymore. So we have a premature baby that we just brought home. We're on a essentially...
Vivian Kvam (30:58)
Uh huh.
Sure.
Nate and Melissa (31:09)
a one income salary. I mean, I had some freelance clients, luckily, but we were living on his salary and we were needing to find another place for our brick and mortar. Luckily, we had still the Oakland clinic, but there's not really a need for him to be there five days a week. And, you know, we still had those relationships that we'd been building in Council Bluffs and we didn't want to lose those patients.
Vivian Kvam (31:37)
Mm-hmm.
Nate and Melissa (31:41)
A patient of mine had some space that she's like, yeah, if you need month to month space for right now until you find a more long term solution, have at it. So luckily that was able to pull us through. And it turned out to be a better place for us because one, it's more centrally located, it's close to the 100 block. I feel like there's a really strong sense of community.
And you can probably attest to this too, because your business is on the 100 block, but I feel like there's a really strong sense of community, especially in that area of Council Blobs. And it was almost like a night and day difference going from where we were previously to moving more central of the 100 block. Other businesses, actually, I felt like they wanted to get to know us. They wanted to support us. They welcomed us in, where we didn't necessarily get that where we were before.
And what else really, I guess? But then, yeah, going through that with the pandemic stuff, you know, we, Lainey was born May 5th, and that's kind of like right when they were starting to close stuff down on her just prior, you know? And yeah, and then so we took, you know, good couple, three, four weeks off, figured, you know, with a newborn, and she's going to the hospital every day. And then...
Vivian Kvam (32:55)
That's right.
Nate and Melissa (33:06)
I ended up getting Epstein-Barr virus mono, like shortly after that, you know, and when I went back to work, whatever, it was just, yeah, it was just a really stressful... Looking back, you just, you know, you just kind of gut it out and just find a way, but like looking back, it's like, man, that was really a pretty rocky stressful road there for a little bit. He was really... Absolutely. Yeah. And that's why I think I got mono. You just get run down from the stress and, you know...
Vivian Kvam (33:25)
I mean that stress takes a toll on your bodies.
Nate and Melissa (33:35)
Yeah, she went every day to the NICU and had a healthy baby. Thank God. Luckily, like she said, NICU cares. It's life-saving. So we're very thankful for that, absolutely.
Vivian Kvam (33:51)
How do you, like, have you reflected back on it ever? Or maybe you're like, we just blank that part out, right? I'm not sure how you guys like to approach that, but business owners do go through crisis, right? And every business owner went through crisis through the pandemic. That's certainly been talked about a lot, but even if it's not at pandemic level, people go through crises where...
You know, it is a baby born early. They go through a divorce. They lose a loved one. They lose their lease, the flood, fire. I mean, there's so many different crisis moments that business owners can go through and it can feel like they stack up. How would you, if you were to give advice, I guess, to a business owner who's maybe sitting in crisis right now, what would that look like? What do you do? What do you lean into?
Nate and Melissa (34:49)
I mean I feel like I was in fight or flight mom zone tunnel vision of being a care provider so I feel like that's really a great question for you because you really had to be the rock in
person of stability in our home and for your business, because if you weren't there, we didn't have income. So yeah, how would you answer that really? Yeah, I mean, I think like you said Vivian, like the time, I didn't, you know, even now like we reflect a little bit on it, you know, just bringing it up now and stuff and think about that, but I don't know how deep we like, I've reflected on that really since that, just with, you know, having multiple kids and just like.
life goes on, you gotta just kind of roll with the tide. Like there, that's definitely what I did is just kind of like, just kind of put one foot in front of the other, you know, and just, you know, did some, with that too, it was slower naturally with the pandemic as well, and summer months can be a little slower in the clinic. So like, had a lot of, you know, alone time. So I definitely, you know, some prayer, meditation, just kind of like,
Vivian Kvam (35:37)
Mm-hmm.
Nate and Melissa (36:03)
There's different, you know, we all have probably different tastes of literature or podcasts or whatever, but leaned into some of that, you know, just listening to people that have gone through, you know, crisis in their life because everybody's gone through something or they're going through something or they're getting ready to go into something, you know. So just try to keep positive that way and just mostly support, be support her, just kind of like, you know.
Vivian Kvam (36:22)
Mm-hmm.
Nate and Melissa (36:32)
allow her, like I think she went every day to the NICU for like, you know, over three and a half months or something and just found a way, you know. And I think that was probably one of the first opportunities for us to really show our authentic selves and we were really vulnerable with our patient population. I mean, you know, we didn't tell them everything obviously, but...
They knew our daughter was born early. They knew she was in the NICU. And we felt supported by our existing patients at that time. So I think also just showing our vulnerability was also how we got through it, because then we were supported by the community. And we had great family support too. Luckily we had a great family support system that was there to help us too. And a church.
family who brought us meals and kind of made sure we were well fed during that time.
Vivian Kvam (37:31)
That's important. Like, hangry on top of everything else is never good, right? Nutrition. So this is so interesting. I feel like in a way you've almost, which I totally get, you've almost downplayed a really heroic thing that you did. You put one foot in front of the other, right? Not everyone does that. And it takes a lot of strength. I think sometimes we look for these like, okay, how am I gonna make it through this crisis? It's gonna be this big.
monumental, herculean moment, right? I'm gonna, I listen to my music and then I just race out the door and you know, sometimes it is a matter of you just put one foot in front of the other and you're not sure what's gonna happen next. And then that piece of like the support, oh my gosh, I love that of you had been doing the work of being authentic with your people and that allowed them to be authentic back with you, right? Whether that was your customer client base, your community.
Nate and Melissa (38:14)
Mm-hmm.
Vivian Kvam (38:30)
How easy is it, right? As business owners, we can get isolated and we can try and hide. Oh my gosh, I have like, I'm gonna raise my hand for a minute. I tried like early businesses to pretend that everything was fine all the time. And that did not go well. It didn't go well for me. It didn't go well for clients. It's not real. It's not true.
Nate and Melissa (38:51)
And that's, I think even a little bit during that time, I probably tried to like isolate because I'm just more like that way. And fortunately, you know, we were able to keep the doors open and, you know, keep things at home, copestetic. But I, when there is a challenge, like I will, you know, kind of go in and whether it's, you know, working out. Like I don't really, you know, everybody has different goals with the working out. I see it more of as a challenge.
It's obviously healthy, you know, and I just kind of see it as necessary just for body maintenance and also a challenge. And so like I would just kind of use that. It was just a way to exercise, get some of that stress release and then also, you know, find some minutes, do some meditations and prayer, just kind of go and hurdle and just because you know, everything in this life is temporary and just kind of just not that you want to downplay it, but like.
you're going to go through tough stuff. And it's just kind of, you know, it's all temporary. And luckily we had the health, you know, everybody was healthy and was able to pull through. So that's one thing I'd say, just, you know, try to find whatever it is that can recharge you. Cause that's what I would do. I would kind of go inward, isolate, to recharge a little bit in order to give it all to my family or, you know, to Melissa or my daughter and my patients even. But also, like you said, like patients would probably notice it and they would, you know.
the closer ones that I'd built close relationships with, they would pride, just kind of check in, see how you're doing. So that was definitely helpful.
Vivian Kvam (40:28)
That is good. It's a little bit of a shift here, but we haven't got to talk about your business whole lot. And I know something you had put in our pre-questionnaire, we would send a pre-questionnaire out just to get this kind of conversation going is sort of the myths that surround chiropractic care that you wish people understood a little bit more. Can you talk a little bit about that? And I think one of the interesting things about your business is how you have put in...
you have recognized the importance of differentiating your services, that chiropractors are not all the same. And this applies to any business, right? You don't be a chiropractor to differentiate your services. But I'd love to hear about that, practically speaking, in your business. Well, so you even mentioned, you're like, our friends didn't even know, right? Like what we do. Sometimes people think that chiropractors are just like cracking backs, right? So talk a little bit about that. What's that been like as a business owner? How have you differentiated?
and what impact has that had for you?
Nate and Melissa (41:30)
Um, yeah, it's tough. Like you said, we, I do plenty of that. I do plenty of adjusting, you know, um, and it's probably a different technique than other providers are out there, but just the kind of the, some of the stigma with chiropractic, you know, is all you, once you go, you gotta go forever and you gotta go twice a week for the rest of your life. Um, and that's not, I don't kind of do it that way. And it's not completely true. Some people actually like it though. And more power to them. If they.
If they derive benefit from them, who am I to say, no, you can't come every two weeks? But I find it's not completely necessary. I kind of like to, if I'm going to talk the talk, I'm going to walk it too. And so just kind of how I use it, I try to do a maintenance once a month or once every two months. Sometimes I need a little more and I need a little extra. Doing some acupuncture, some dry needling, doing some laser, some hyperbaric oxygen just to kind of speed up recovery and like nervous system regulation. So just.
I try to bring in everything that I've learned with all the time I've spent with gaining that 10,000 hours of functional movement stuff, nutrition, supplementation, supplementary therapies, and just try to provide that to the best of my ability. I'm kind of like you, Vivian. I kind of try to do it all myself or think I can, and I'm just like get overwhelmed sometimes because I'm only one person and it's hard to manage all that stuff.
That's where the education comes in about the different modalities that will speed up recovery. I like to educate also on things they can do outside of my office to either help with pain reduction, prevent it from coming back, and just other self-care techniques as well. Just being upfront with that and educating is the key.
I'm kind of more like, I don't want them to have to rely on me all the time for their own health. Because a lot of people make a lot more money than I probably do doing that. And that's a great business model, if they rely on you for everything. But that's not like, you're not going to get people well and increase everybody's health by doing that. You know what I mean? You really got to educate them and kind of be transparent with the steps it requires to get there.
Vivian Kvam (43:33)
Uh huh.
Yeah, you're in an interesting business, right? Where success for your type of business is that theoretically you don't have to see people ever again. Now, obviously that's not 100% true with what you're doing. You're not curing an illness that might go away. People will need adjustments and there's maintenance, like you said. But success is that they aren't in chronic pain all the time, right? That would be wonderful.
Nate and Melissa (44:16)
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (44:27)
Is it possible for everyone? Not always. Like you're saying, success for a business owner is to make money. And to stay open. And so, I mean, this comes up a lot in the healthcare industry, right? Like, are healthcare providers creating their own patients and just things like that? Gosh, how do you decide as a business owner?
Nate and Melissa (44:39)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (44:49)
I guess sort of the ethics of it, and have you brought on services with that in mind where you're like, this is just something we know that will always help people. So it's part of what we brought on because it's gonna help our bottom line as well. How are you juggling those decisions as business owners together?
Nate and Melissa (45:06)
Yeah, for sure. You're exactly right. It's a fine line between ethics and morals and then business. And then this is also where I've kind of struggled. I'm almost learning from other docs. I've probably under-treated because of that. I'm trying to be super ethical or whatever. I don't want to feel like I'm...
because I wasn't trained as like a salesman kind of saying you're a doctor, but you're also kind of selling yourself too and your knowledge and your services. So is every other provider and even more so nowadays with social media. So it's just a really, you know, you have those patients that will just flop around to every other guy looking for something new and that's okay. Some people just need that or just seekers and searchers and they'll probably never find exactly what they want. But just being transparent.
what their goals are, you know, like what's your goal here? Do we want to, you know, depending on, and then there's a continuum of, you know, of healthcare of, you know, of symptoms, more severe, less severe, more chronic, you know, more chronic diseases, so that you just be transparent that it's going to, you know, take longer. It's not a directly linear progression. It takes time. There's ups and downs. And you might need more.
adjunctive services, hence why I got the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. There's all kinds of benefits with head trauma research for concussions, wound healing, or post-surgical to perfuse oxygen in the tissue to speed up recovery process. But even I have patients that I treat with Lyme disease that have gotten diagnosed and the allopathic, their primary care physician just doesn't have really good options for that. And they keep...
regressing and one of my patients was in a wheelchair, literally, like probably a month ago. 30 something year old woman, mom of two, and we'll just have these episodes, the Lyme disease will spark up, she'll be wheelchair bound, and she was just getting tired of it. Went to a clinic somewhere for a week, they did a ton of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and found crazy awesome benefits. Like she walked into my clinic a week after and then she...
Because she found it, because she saw the e-wop. Yes, because we used that and we're just feeling exponentially better with some different supplementation. So just seeing the power of some of these modalities, that's kind of why I chose to pick them and add them to people that need them versus everybody has to do this, everybody needs it. I'm just more strategic or selective of people that actually really do need it according to their conditions.
Vivian Kvam (47:56)
I love it. It's kind of like a Swiss army knife. Like, you know, you can pull out the tool for the right person. And the more tools you have in your tool belt, the more successful your business can be is kind of what I'm picking up here, right? Like rather than focusing on one thing and everyone has to do this, you've really differentiated by having lots of tools available so you can quickly customize and be kind of on your feet. Very nimble with it. That's cool.
Nate and Melissa (47:59)
Yeah
Yeah.
Exactly. That's the kind of the goal. But like you said, I'm one guy and it's kind of tough as well, you know, to balance it all and Jack of all trades, you know, there's an old saying Jack of all trades master of none, but I mean, I don't think that's necessarily true with like with that and all these modalities and health care, but I just Yeah, I just I try to find what I think the most benefit of and that has some good research and stuff that I've used I usually like I said, if I have it I've done that stuff, you know
Vivian Kvam (48:29)
Mm-hmm.
Nate and Melissa (48:50)
And I think you have a strong moral code and so as a provider like you talked about ethics and things but that really drives you to really have the patient's best interests at heart and so when you have these offerings, several, to draw from then you can really provide a personal experience for that patient and what he or she needs in that moment and not just back to what you said earlier a cookie cutter approach giving every patient the same
thing which may help three of the twelve or you know.
Vivian Kvam (49:25)
Totally, and you know, this is something that Michaela and I talk about. We're not in the healthcare industry, so we don't have, we're not carrying people's health in our hands, right, in that regard. So thank goodness. That seems like a lot of pressure. But we do have clients who come to us, and that's one of the things really committed to is even if we offer a service, we don't offer that service to everyone. Not in a we're withholding it way, but not everyone needs it.
And it's one of the things that came up in your marketing and communications roadmap. We knew that you have Melissa. So we're not going to offer the services that maybe somebody who doesn't have a Melissa, right, and push those and be pressuring on that. We often will pass clients off to another vendor because we know that it's the right fit for them. And we've never had that backfire. Like, could we have?
taking their money and charge them for something and kind of convince them they sort of needed it. Would have it had some impact, maybe a little bit, but we know that their dollars would go further with a different vendor who really specializes in something that we think is gonna move the needle for them. And I know some people have looked at our model that way and they've just been like, well, why would you do that? What do you mean that you might have clients come to you and you send them somewhere else? Well, we just feel like it serves them well. And
We've never had that backfire. We've always had people appreciate that, come back when they're ready, refer us. It has always played out well, even if we don't have a check in the door right then. So it's been good. Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned, okay, you've mentioned this a couple times, Nate, and we'll suppose like you're a small team, right? There's the two of you. Nate, you're the service provider. Melissa, you're helping with a lot of behind the scenes, but those two worlds collide, right? They've got to work together.
Nate and Melissa (51:01)
Yep.
Vivian Kvam (51:19)
And you've mentioned before like some of your productivity hacks and tools that have been game changers for your business. Um, and you had mentioned the scheduling piece. I would love to have you talk about that. I know it's kind of like nitty gritty down specific, but, uh, this is a brilliant one and I'd like to hear more. Like how did you start embracing some of those technology tools and what has it done for your business?
Nate and Melissa (51:43)
Yeah, no, it's just because my business phone, some patients will start to text me and I don't recommend that or like it as much, but it is what it is. So I'd do a book every once in a while and then if I wasn't by my scheduler, penciling them in or whatnot, so she's been on me like, hey, you got to figure something out here. And so luckily the EHR system I used, they had online scheduling. So we kind of sat down and...
went over it and implemented that. It's one of the best things I've done. It enables me to kind of keep doing most of the stuff myself just because patients can go online, like, hey, yeah, here's a link. They can go on and put their intake information, all their address and email and all that, and then pick a time and services they want for that time as well. And so it's really kind of opened up time and less stress on me for that, for sure.
It's almost like we have an admin even though we don't have an admin. Kind of like chat GPT, right? If you like the pro version of it, it's like you're paying for like a colleague or a employee, but having this, um, online scheduling tool is like having an admin because we can send text or email reminders to patients. And then that in turn has drastically.
Vivian Kvam (52:44)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Nate and Melissa (53:08)
decrease the amount of no-call no-shows that we have. It's also just helpful for the patients because they're getting that reminder. And then, like he said, less of a double booking situation. So it's like we have an employee through technology, basically. Yeah, and like for, you know, insurance information if they have it, and I think it covers it. So like it is, it's kind of like an extra admin that kind of takes that off my plate a little bit. So it's opened up a little more time for other.
Vivian Kvam (53:28)
We love that.
Nate and Melissa (53:38)
I can focus time other places as well.
Vivian Kvam (53:42)
It's huge. And I remember when schedulers first started coming out and there's a number of different ones out there. There's third party ones. There's some that are integrated sometimes in with your CRM or with your email clients, et cetera. But man, what a difference it makes, right? You're so right. It's like having an admin and we pair it together now where we have automated scheduling.
types of options. I think you guys actually scheduled your podcast that way. You know, we sent out a calendar. Here's when we're available. At the same time, we did hire as well. We hired, um, Jenny. We love to talk about Jenny. Jenny's amazing. Everyone needs a Jenny. We say, but it was a great stair step before we were ready to hire on somebody to just bring in some of those automated tools.
Nate and Melissa (54:12)
Yeah.
BLEH
Vivian Kvam (54:30)
And early on, some of the first, like I'm air quoting here, automations I did was just having templates that I could copy and paste. And then over time, as technology grew and everything, you could save those templates. And then it was easy to pull them up. But here's the thing, the kicker, I think. And I'm curious if this was true for you too. So often, people will not embrace the technology that will make their lives so much easier because there's the setup period, right? Where it's like,
Nate and Melissa (54:58)
Yep.
Vivian Kvam (54:58)
but my paper and pencil have been working just fine, Vivian. And I feel like I've mentored so many businesses where I'm like, yes, you're gonna set aside eight hours, 10 hours, sometimes it's only an hour, right? And I'm like, okay, come on. And it saves you hundreds of hours, but we just won't do it, dang it. We just won't do it.
Nate and Melissa (55:01)
Yeah.
And if it's broke, don't fix it, some people like to say, but like, you know, like, absolutely. That was the best thing we've, one of the best things we've done, just like taking that off my shoulders and stuff and just, you know, going through that setup period and just fighting the bullet. Cause I'm stubborn that way. I would be that guy. I was that guy. You were that guy. Yeah. So, I'm still pulling for us to get a Jenny someday though. So it's a nice step in film. So.
Vivian Kvam (55:38)
I love that.
Yeah, and you know what's interesting is, Jenny is really great about embracing those tools as well and maximizing her time, right, which makes her 10 times as valuable. And she's a valuable person regardless. But when you just look at the efficiency piece, she was really good at maximizing her time and making herself templates and utilizing technologies.
Nate and Melissa (55:57)
Right.
Vivian Kvam (56:09)
and not being afraid that it's putting her out of a job, it doesn't by any means. It makes her incredibly more valuable because she's finding tools and helping integrate them in a really great way, which is so great. So I think you need both, right? OK, we've got to start wrapping up here, even though I could ask so many more questions. If there was a couple of pieces of advice, let's say,
Nate and Melissa (56:14)
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (56:38)
two to three-ish things that you were to tell another business owner who's maybe journeying into healthcare, maybe they're opening their own clinic, they're thinking about striking out on their own. What would be a couple of your tips for them? If you got one shot to tell them a couple things, what might that be?
Nate and Melissa (56:57)
I have a couple. Do you want to go first? Sure. Yeah, go for it. And then you can add. I would say don't be afraid to embrace technology if there are opportunities.
for you to do that in your business. I think especially as a writer, that's my background by trade. I was apprehensive, for example, to bring on chat GPT for our social media component, but we're the only two people. And so that combined with juggling being a primary stay at home parent, I needed another tool. And so that was something that actually you and Michaela encouraged us to utilize. And
In addition to the online scheduling, I've used chat GPT to help kind of at least give me some ideas for content and it's really streamlined our content development process. Also I would say that as a small business owner, you don't have to do it all. And so it is just the two of us right now, but like we reached out to you and Michaela and
Vivian Kvam (57:56)
Hmm.
Nate and Melissa (58:10)
use you guys for a marketing strategy roadmap session. And so we got a lot of help there of, hey, these are things you guys are doing well, and these are some things that you guys could do better, and these are some things you're not doing yet and you should look into. And I'm not a designer, so we have a friend of mine who designs a lot of our content. Some of it I can build in Canva, but I can't do it all myself. And so...
My two big tips would be don't be afraid of technology where you can use it and don't feel like you have to do everything because you can outsource a few things here and there.
Vivian Kvam (58:50)
I love that. Those are good.
Nate and Melissa (58:52)
Yeah, and then for me, kind of piggyback a little bit on technology, but just like any business owner, you know, find strengths and weaknesses. And maybe that takes, you know, a spouse that can be really honest with you or a friend if you don't have a spouse or somebody that you can trust that can be honest with you and say, hey, yeah, you're kind of, you know, these are, you know, yeah, I would agree these are your strengths, but here's some weaknesses. And then try to
export or get help with that. Like she said, you don't have to do it all. Focus on your strengths. Hire out your weaknesses to get you going initially, for sure. And then also something that recharges you. For me, I'm kind of introvert. I like to have my alone time to recharge. Maybe somebody is an extrovert and they need to go out in the community or do something to recharge.
It's different for everybody, but as you're kind of going through the process of, you probably heard it too, Vivian, everybody's like, oh, five years or seven years to get a business really going and started. That's a long time. There's a lot of ups and downs and a lot of doubts and stressful situations along the way. So figure out some kind of healthy release for that. Whether it's a physical exertion of something or whatever, it'll be different for everybody.
Vivian Kvam (1:00:02)
Mm-hmm.
Nate and Melissa (1:00:22)
recharge throughout that whole process.
Vivian Kvam (1:00:26)
That is really good. All good pieces of advice for sure. And it's kind of, you know, those things you look back and you're like, gosh, I wish I'd known this. I wish somebody had said, or sometimes I wish I'd listened. Maybe we did hear it somewhere along the way, but those are so good. When people start businesses too, like you said, it does take time. And so you've got to be able to stick with it, right? And we were talking about that earlier, kind of full circle, stick with it.
But when you look at the grand scheme of things, five years out of 20, 30, 40, quite small, right? And I love how you guys had that perspective, even going through those really difficult times, which is huge. I mean, when you have a child in the hospital and for that length of time, it's huge, it's catastrophic. And yet, in the grand scheme of her lifetime,
it's small in comparison to the whole life, right? And so I love how you guys have focused on that and been able to keep that perspective because that's what sustains people, is being able to have perspective, right? Like this is terrible and difficult and hard, and yet I'm having good perspective with it at the same time. Kind of have to like both and, right? I love to wrap up with, Melissa, you've listened to a couple of these podcasts, so maybe you'll be a little ahead of the game here.
Nate and Melissa (1:01:38)
Mm-hmm.
Vivian Kvam (1:01:49)
But just some fun, kind of rapid fire questions, just off the top of your head. I have a couple questions for you guys, okay?
Nate and Melissa (1:01:58)
Okay.
Vivian Kvam (1:01:58)
Okay, here we go. So what do you think is the biggest misconception about owning a business?
Nate and Melissa (1:02:12)
Oh, I have to get away. Oh, everybody's flexibility. If I'm my own boss, I can be more flexible and open up time for all this extra stuff that looks fun and exciting. You can, but also that's going to take away from building your business, especially when you're newer. You know what I mean and all that stuff. It's not always the greener grass to have all this extra time on your hands.
Vivian Kvam (1:02:37)
It's hard to put 10,000 hours in on the beach, huh? Ha ha ha.
Nate and Melissa (1:02:39)
Yeah. And also if he's not there, we don't get paid. So I think sometimes there's a misconception that if we are on vacation, they're like, Oh, well, do you have another chiropractor filling in for you? Right? No, we don't have any one.
Vivian Kvam (1:02:56)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. What is something you would tell your 18 or younger self about anything, life, business, knowing what you know now?
Nate and Melissa (1:03:14)
Um.
My aunt always jokingly said, you're probably not going to use your journalism degree. And I was like, I'm going to prove her wrong. I am going to use my journalism degree. And yeah, I'm not, you know, writing for print media, but I did, you know, take an emphasis in Stratcom and I am utilizing my journalism degree in a way as the wife of a health care provider and a small business owner.
you know, doing advertising and social media content for him in a way. So I guess I would tell my 18 year old self, hey, you will act you could actually use that degree in a roundabout way.
Vivian Kvam (1:03:56)
I love that.
Nate and Melissa (1:03:58)
I would have told myself probably, don't take for granted some of your strengths or weaknesses or strengths at the time. I think I was young and kind of stubborn and just didn't fully engage some of the opportunities that I had even at that point. So I would just say, don't be so nonchalant with opportunities, whatever they might be.
Vivian Kvam (1:04:21)
Love it. When you guys are relaxing and you're hanging out and whatnot, do you have a favorite go-to beverage?
Nate and Melissa (1:04:32)
I feel like we drink tea a lot especially just you know being health minded and knowing some benefits of some herbs and things and we drink tea a lot and then if I'm gonna have a
An adult beverage. I like, my go-to is Pacifico, Pacifico beer with lime. That's kind of my MO. I've done it for, I don't even know, 15 years, whatever, since I was 21, 22. Yeah.
Vivian Kvam (1:04:59)
Oh yeah.
fun. I'm a tea drinker too. I like tea as well. Is there a song, book, or podcast that's just kind of inspiring you right now?
Nate and Melissa (1:05:15)
Mm. So.
I've been listening to your podcast a lot, leading up to this especially. So that's it, inspiring me from the entrepreneurial small business mindset. But also, I'm a big podcast listener. I like to listen while I work out or while I take the girls for walks or while I'm driving in the car. Another favorite of mine is Red Pillar Health Cast. It's very health and wellness minded.
Vivian Kvam (1:05:22)
Oh yeah!
Nate and Melissa (1:05:49)
It's led by a chiropractor who does a lot of the same things as Nate. And then the cohost is a nurse who has a background, you know, in the healthcare hospital setting and kind of reoriented her mindset. Um, those are my two big ones. And then I also really love, um, just for fun, um, D influenced with Danny Austin and her husband. I appreciate it as like
husband and wife kind of like battery life lightheartedness podcasts and then they talk about some real life and pop culture things. I've been on a kick for music right now with the stick figure I don't know if you've ever heard of them or heard of them they got some good songs this is once again called In This Love it's a good one and then I've been reading a few books
Vivian Kvam (1:06:37)
Nice.
Nate and Melissa (1:06:45)
One of them that inspired me right now, it's called the anthroposophical approach to medicine. So it's kind of an older, he was an MD, he's kind of going over some content from an older fellow that I've kind of found and learned a lot from and it's kind of pretty interesting to me.
Vivian Kvam (1:07:03)
Nate, you're not a nerd at all, are you? What is something, speaking of, right? What's something people often get wrong about you guys?
Nate and Melissa (1:07:06)
No. Arrgh.
I don't know. Yeah, that's a good question.
Do you know first? Are you thinking about it? I have no idea.
Vivian Kvam (1:07:34)
Are you guys healthy all the time?
Nate and Melissa (1:07:37)
Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. Not all the time, but, you know, like we love baked goods. Okay, that's our thing. We love baked goods, like a cinnamon roll on a Saturday or whatever. It's definitely our weekend thing. And sometimes it goes into the week a little bit. I definitely have a sweet tooth. Yeah. We try to practice like, you know, this is the 80-20 rule, you know, where 20% of your, you know, patients provide 80% of or your clients provide 80% of your turn or whatever. I flip it on the other side.
Vivian Kvam (1:07:46)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
Nate and Melissa (1:08:06)
80-20 like 80% of the time I'm pretty good. I would say 20% we're probably even more than 80-20 really like We actually do love to eat healthy though. Like we love to cook our own food We love to source our own ingredients and then kind of back to the Comment I made earlier from a small business perspective, but within the home I've also had to realize I don't have to do it all and so I used to make sourdough. For example, well I let that
Vivian Kvam (1:08:09)
Hehehe
Nate and Melissa (1:08:36)
die when I got pregnant with our second child because I was like I can't keep a living toddler alive grow a human and grow a starter all at the same time so I mean I've we found some good community to like buy locally sourced eggs local beef and local sourdough and if this lady happens to also make really great baked goods so we don't have to feel so bad when we indulge on them but we're not perfect we
Vivian Kvam (1:09:00)
Yeah.
I love that.
Nate and Melissa (1:09:06)
We like our ice cream and our treats. And maybe that we, you know, like in the health and wellness, whatever, the exerciseaholics or whatever, like we definitely, I mean, we live it, right? We do that stuff, but we don't do it like every, even every day. You know what I mean? Like, I have patients that work out a lot more than me. And it's just the balance. Like, what's the goal? You know, like is it just working out to be vain? And at a certain point, as we age, your body has a harder time building up.
You become more catabolic, we call it, as we get older and older to where it's harder on the body if you're exercising all the time, especially strenuous weightlifting unless you're pharmaceutically enhanced. Some people are, and that's all good, but everybody's got a free will. They can do what they want, I guess, a little bit, between measure. But anyway. Those would probably be the two misconceptions. People probably think we eat healthy all the time and that we work out all the time. In fact, when we went to dinner with some friends over Christmas.
holiday, we were the only two who ordered dessert at this table and one of his best friends goes, of course, the two healthiest people are the ones who ordered the dessert. So we live, we live life.
Vivian Kvam (1:10:10)
Hehehe
Yeah, I love that.
Speaking of living life, what do you think are things that business owners can do as they're living their life and running their business that really makes the world a better place?
Nate and Melissa (1:10:32)
I think it's important as a small business owner to really be involved in the community and connect yourself with the community. That's not just as like a healthcare provider, but just any type of small business. I think that's how you're going to see what your community needs and the opportunities where you can kind of fill in some gaps. And also it's an opportunity to really show your authentic self.
Yeah, I would agree with that. Just kind of being involved in the community, letting people know what you do. You know, I probably took too long to really let people know what I do for many years just because I would rather, I'm kind of introverted and would rather read a book or go work on a family farm or do something on my own, you know what I mean? But being better about that would have definitely been a positive thing.
Vivian Kvam (1:11:31)
I love that. It's good. I mean, you have so much to bring to the world and when you pour your heart and soul into a business, sometimes it's easy to forget or to be too modest, right? Like you really do have a gift to bring to the world and you need to bring it. Because if you don't, who is? No one else can bring it the way you do. So, and now I sound like a motivational poster, but it's true. Like you've got to bring your gifts to the world. It's really important. So.
Nate and Melissa (1:11:51)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Vivian Kvam (1:11:58)
Well, thank you both for hopping on. This is fun. And I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedules, your practice, being a mom, doing all the marketing, running your other business too, Melissa. So it's just really, it's really special to me that people are willing to get on and share their stories because it does have such an impact on people. So thank you so much and for your encouragement. And again, I mean, I said at the beginning, like you have such a story of overcoming that I think is really important for people to hear. So I appreciate you talking about that.
Nate and Melissa (1:12:09)
Mm-hmm.
Thank you. And we appreciate what you're doing and trying to help get the word out for other small businesses and encouraging those who want to be entrepreneurs or haven't maybe taken that leap yet. So thank you.
Vivian Kvam (1:12:42)
Yeah, I love new businesses. It's like one of my favorite things. So, all right guys, well thanks for hopping on.
Nate and Melissa (1:12:48)
Yep. Thank you.