Hello, and welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections. Welcome back to the show,
folks. I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and you're
listening to the podcast where networking is
more than just awkward handshakes and bad coffee.
It's an art and a talent. But here's the twist.
It's an art and talent you can actually learn.
Yes, even if you're the person hiding in the
corner at every event pretending to check emails.
Networking isn't just a nice skill to have. It's
a game changer. When you get good at it, you'll
wonder why you didn't start sooner. More connections,
more opportunities, more profits. It's like unlocking
a cheat code for life. So whether you're the
life of the party or the just let me stay at
home and text type, we've got something for you.
So stick around. Let's turn those awkward small
talk moments into big wins. I have today Dr.
Mandy Holland, and she's a chiropractor in Johns
Creek, Georgia, and she was born and raised in
Clearwater, Florida. She received her bachelor's
degree from Limestone College in Gaffney, South
Carolina, where she also played NCAA soccer for
all four years. Now, before I butcher her background
even more, let me introduce you to Dr. Mandy
Holland and let her fill you in. So welcome to
the show. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so I did
my undergrad at Langston College and then went
to Life University in Marietta, Georgia. That's
where I met and fell in love with my husband
and we started our own practice. Nothing too
exciting after that. If I remember correctly,
you started up under a different name and you
changed it? Yes. So we started up under a franchise.
Okay. That's what I thought. And then you just
moved it to your own and things have been, I'll
say, wonderful ever since. Yes, absolutely. Okay.
So let's go right into my networking questions.
How has networking played a role in growing your
chiropractic practice and spreading the vision
of a drug -free healthcare? So networking has
always been a very big and vital role to our
practice. We actually chose the location based
off of my husband's Business Networking International.
What got us over here? He was an independent
contractor originally before we opened up our
own practice. And he loved his B &I group so
much that he found a spot that was close enough
to where that would still work for him because
he still had clients. So they just transferred
over when we opened our doors. And that's how
we picked it. And then as soon as we opened,
we became a member of Chamber. And so that kind
of became my thing. And BNI was his thing. And
it has been fantastic and helped us grow. And
we always try and keep our networking up. And
obviously, with those networking meetings for
the chamber, half the people there have either
come to see you or have people come to see you.
So again, you must be doing something right.
Okay. In a field where people often see conventional
medical treatments, how do you use networking
to build trust and credibility for chiropractic
care? So it's a lot of just being really consistent
with networking is the biggest way that I build
trust, especially with Chamber. I've seen chiropractors
come and go. I've seen medical professionals
come and go from Chamber. And they're like, that
didn't really work for me. Great. I saw you like.
A handful of times, no one could really predict
when you were going to be there. And so I would
say that consistency has really helped us. That
and just talking to people. People will start
talking to you about their medical issues and
just giving them slight suggestions on maybe
adding a supplement. And then that works for
them. And so then they come back to you for more
advice. And then eventually it becomes they're
a new patient and they trust you with what's
going on. That's true. And back to the chamber,
consistency is the key. Consistency, because
as long as I've known the chamber, you've always
been there. And it's just a matter of me going
every single week. Now, I wasn't there today,
but consistency is the key. And that's true with
any networking event because the more people
see you, the more that they will trust you. And
as I've said before, over and over again, trust
is that crucial part of networking. What strategies
have you used to educate people about the benefits
of chiropractic care through networking? So we
have always done. like wine and wellnesses with
our office. We used to do those a long time ago.
We're looking at adding those back in where we
have educational sessions or workshops where
people can come in and learn on different topics.
I always try to make sure that I have a learning
component to whatever I'm talking about at chamber
or wherever I might be. I am, we are very big
in education. So we are always constantly like
this morning is national nutritional month. And
so I gave four tips on how to better your diet
and to make that a healthier consistency for
you. So always educating. I'll tell you one thing
that I believe sets you apart from other chiropractors
that I've known is your educational segments,
because you're always trying to educate. You're
never trying to push somebody, but you're always
educating them. And I think that also helps you
with the trust factor. And that helps you in
the networking and so on and so forth. So that's
very good. What types of professionals or industries
have been your most valuable networking connections
and how they help your business grow? I would
probably say. It's a very wide variety. You would
think that it'd be more so the medical community,
but it's probably more labor intensive jobs.
People that are in the fields of heavy labor,
they typically are going to need more care and
more prevention. And so they are more apt to
want to come in. The medical community usually
doesn't like to play nice a lot of the times
because they're like, I can do that for you.
You don't need to go see someone else. And we
have big heads. think that we can fix every single
patient. So referring them out to another, it
doesn't work as well as a lot of people think,
but we do have a little bit of that as well,
but mainly the labor intensive jobs. I agree
with that wholeheartedly. And I would add on
to that, but that's going to leak into my next
question. So this is really going to play into
it. Chiropractic care often thrives on referrals.
What networking strategies have worked best for
generating high -quality patient referrals? Talking
about specifics. So a lot of people suffer from
headaches and migraines are really big in ours.
But instead of just doing a very generalized
topic with networking, we always want to try
and focus our energies and say, do you know someone
not suffering from headaches or migraines? Most
people do. It's not just about saying, do you
have a spine? You should get to check up. It's
more about the specifics because that's where
it. It has a light bulb go off for a lot of people.
And that's when they think, oh, my friend has
that. I need to give them your card versus, oh,
I know everyone has a spine. And then it falls
flat. So I would say more specifics is usually
more helpful for us to actually turn people into
referrals. That's great because I, listen, I'm
the networking guy. Okay. And I always say referrals
are golden. That's your golden goose for your
money. And everybody that I know that has met
you, they've always said, you have to go see
Dr. Mandy. You have to go because the office
is so welcoming because everything is customer
service. So when you go above and beyond customer
service, that's one thing. But when you have
good service, as well as good customer service,
that's a... a combination that you just can't
beat. Hats off to you. Have you encountered skepticism
about your approach to healthcare in networking
circles? Absolutely. We get a lot of people that
are like, oh, I don't believe in chiropractic
or everything. Even when I was. going to become
a chiropractor. I believe it was someone in the
family that was like, why doesn't she become
a real doctor? So it just really depends on people's
views. And you just have to accept it and learn.
I will say one of my favorite patients that came
into our practice, I met her through chamber.
And she immediately told me as soon as I told
her what I did, she said, Oh, I hate chiropractors.
And I said, Okay. No problem. And, but we saw
each other all the time. And then she had a question
about something that was going on with her. And
I gave her a supplement recommendation and that
worked for her. And so she started asking more
and she is actually one of our biggest raving
fans. She tells everyone about us and she loves
chiropractic and she loves coming in and getting
adjusted so much that she took us to New York
because we helped her just change her whole life.
And so she. is a testimony to just being really
consistent and just being there and meeting people
where they're at. But yes, we do get a lot of
that. It's just being steadfast in what you believe
in and what you know works and people will find
you and you just have to let some go that just
don't want to. And you brought up raving fans.
Do you know of the book Raving Fans by Clint?
Absolutely. Okay. We have all of our new hires
read it. Okay, perfect. When I was in the mortgage
industry, I used to give that book to every realtor
that I became associated with. And they said,
it's a little book. What do you mean? That book
is so jam -packed and it's spaced so much. I'm
like, this is like a 10 -minute read. Just read
it. Read the book because it tells you all about
customer service and just the fact that you have
all your new hires read. raving fans that makes
me a raving fan okay so that's beautiful how
do you handle the skepticism how do you turn
it into an opportunity for you for me i just
try to be nice to a lot of people i always i
used to get really upset over it like when we
would go do a an event and we had a table we
literally had people come up to our table and
they'd say I don't believe in that or, and I'm
like, okay, thanks. You came up to me, but all
right. And it used to upset me, but honestly.
It's more about trying to meet people where they're
at, just giving them little tidbits like I did
this morning, talking about little tips that
you can do to improve your health. And they were
very simple things from our dietician saying
30 to 40 grams of protein per meal and making
sure that you're getting at least 80 ounces of
water per day, less than 30 grams of sugar and
averaging two cups of coffee or less per day.
And then when people start to implement it, that's
when that trust begins, but you can't really
force it. You just have to keep giving them different
things. And when they hear, as you've been to
chamber, I do tend to get a lot of shout outs.
And so when they hear other people shouting out,
then they start to trust more and they go, okay,
maybe there's something to this. So it's just
a matter of trying to meet people where they're
at. All right. Very good. You hit something.
It's real. And so it's so important about a networking
event. OK, you have to always look to give, not
receive. And that's what it seems like that you
based your whole business on, that if you give
enough, you're going to receive just as much.
What goes around does come around. But you have
to realize that you have to just look at it as
giving and not receiving. Here's a famous little
line. People love to buy, but they hate to be
sold to. So you know what? If you keep that in
mind, and if you're always giving and not receiving,
then all of that will work for you. Okay. How
has public speaking, workshops, or online networking
helped you position yourself as a thought leader
in chiropractic care? I would say it has helped
me to come out of my shell. I am actually more
of an introverted person. And I never enjoyed
speaking in front of people. Now, since being
in chamber, since doing doctor talks, I forced
myself to start actually while I was still in
school. My mom was doing a program with high
school students that have never been to college
or no one in their family has been to college.
They'd be first generation and they would do
classes. And so she would have me do health talks.
And that's where I started. it was just a lot
of practicing and just really getting confident
in speaking in front of people has made a huge
difference in how I hold myself how I present
myself and I've learned to just have fun with
it and just let my personality come out and if
people like that personality then they will come
to you because the tracks like and so we tend
to find a lot of people that are very similar
minded and want to have fun in our office. We
are joking all the time. We never take ourselves
seriously, but we always take our work seriously.
So we always want to make sure that we are pulling
in those, that same kind of energy. Not standing.
Okay. So now one thing, now what I got out of
that was repetition. Because once you know your
stuff, as I'm sure you do, you know your stuff.
But the more that you talk about it, the more
that you repeat it, the more comfortable you
are in repeating it. And every time you say something,
or if you gave the same speech to somebody four
different times, by the fourth time, you would
be so good at it, you wouldn't have to think
about it, but it's repetition. And that I think
is the most important factor. Okay, with the
rise of digital platforms, what balance do you
strike between online networking, social media,
webinars, so on and so forth, and in -person
networking events? I have not found a great balance
on that yet. Social media is a thorn in my side.
I am really good in person. I love in -person
networking. That is always my favorite. Online,
you put a camera in my face and all of a sudden
I can't talk. I'm trying to get better at that.
We have gotten it to where we are constantly
trying to do social media posts and videos. We're
getting back into educational videos in our practice.
We used to do them all the time. We're trying
to do fun videos to show our personality because
that's what people, and I think that's why I
like in -person. Cause I feel like my personality
comes out better, but just like we were talking
about before, it's all about practice. So getting
in front of cameras and being comfortable in
front of them is going to be really key for us
to implement that as well. But we do a lot of
blogs now and we're getting that back up as well.
Okay. Now, would you mind a little advice for
me? Yes. A little bit. Okay. Start with just
a minute or two, a video. Okay. And call it.
Dr. Mandy speaks, Dr. Mandy talks or something
like that. And those, let's say those four things
that you brought up today, pick one and just
talk about it for a minute, just for a minute.
And that's it. And do that three times a week.
Okay. So that one talk you had today could take
you literally for almost two weeks. So if you
were to do that, do a simple. One minute, one
and a half minute video. Dr. Mandy speaks, come
up with some graphic or something, and you can
just be yourself. That's the whole key to networking
is to just be yourself. And when you have those
reels, you never know who's going to see it because
every time they see it, oh, look, I have to,
oh, I have to tell someone they're going to share
it. Now, Facebook is good. You can. Put it on
all your platforms. But Instagram is good for
those reels. So if you want to do Instagram and
Facebook, that's all right too. I personally
use LinkedIn as a business platform. Every podcast
that I either go on or I'm a guest on or I host,
I have a piece of software called Otis Clips.
And it divides it up into... 100 different clips.
And I post two to four clips per day on all the
platforms. It takes me three minutes. Awesome.
Okay. But that keeps my face, as much as they
may not want to see it, it keeps my face in front
of them. And pretty soon, the algorithms for
all of these platforms will say, oh, look, Mandy's
posting. every day or every other day. Let's
expand her a little bit. They will do it on their
own. If you just, consistency is the key. You
have to do a consistency consistently. So that's
my only piece of advice. Okay. So what advice
would you give to other healthcare professionals
who want to build a referral -based business
through strategic networking? I would say one
is to be very truthful and make sure that you're
presenting yourself the way that you are. Otherwise,
it can come off as that's not really you. And
then that actually goes against you on that trust
factor. That and I can't say it enough, but consistency.
Plan around the marketing as well, because and
that's where we fall short on like the social
media is that we don't have set days and times
to do those versus I have set out and I blocked
my schedule for chamber. My husband has blocked
his schedule for BNI, but making sure that you
block those times and don't let anything encroach
on that. So that time management to make sure
that you're staying up on your marketing, to
stay up on your networking is really key. I try
to look at the chamber website about a month
in advance and see when the different events
are. And I go in and I try and block my schedule
right then and there so that I can make as many
events as I can. can. Patients can schedule around
that and that's perfectly fine. We have a little
bit more of an advantage because there's two
of us. So Dr. Austin can stay here and run the
practice while I go out and market. And that's
how we've set up our office. But even if it's
a front staff member that's going to the marketing,
block out their schedule to where maybe if they're
the ones that do the new patients, then you're
sending them to go market. But being consistent
is about making sure that you work it into your
schedule consistently. That's great. And that
falls into, I always say, there's a networking
mantra. If they know you, if they like you and
trust you, they'll do business with you. And
by you going out, blocking out your time and
going to all these events, they're going to know
you. They're going to say, oh, I know her. That's
Dr. Mandy. I've seen her before. So everybody
will know you. Like you will. That narrows the
field down because, listen, everybody's not going
to like you for whatever reason, right? But know
you, like you, and then trust you. That trust
factor, again, is so crucial and critical. That's
what you're building. And through consistency,
you're building that trust factor. Even without
you knowing it, even without them being your
client, you're building that trust factor. Okay,
let me say, how do you see networking shaping
the future of drug -free healthcare and what
role do you want to play in that movement? I
see it getting more information out to just the
general population. A lot of chiropractors do
a lot of educational workshops that other people
aren't doing. This morning, networking, I had
shared in our two -minute breakout. that not
a whole lot of MDs, DOs, they don't get a whole
lot of nutrition. Since it's National Nutritional
Month, that's what I was talking about. They
don't get a whole lot of nutritional education.
And sharing that piece of advice gets people
to start looking into it themselves because they
think, oh, if my doctor's not looking at it,
maybe I need to. So it at least gets people a
little bit more curious. So I think that's going
to help people take a little bit more empowering
them to take control of their own health. There's
a lot of information going out there. Those quick
videos that you're talking about that I need
to get better at, those are going to be really
awesome because we can get even more information
out. I remember when we first opened, man, we
had to set up tables everywhere and it was awful.
4 .30 in the morning, we were at Orange Theory,
just trying to talk to people while they're doing
their five o 'clock class. catching people in
between and having a two second conversation
versus now we have platforms where we can actually
get that information out to other people on a
consistent basis or in chamber like I've done.
a spinal talk on how to keep your spine healthy
and things like that. There's different avenues
for that. Lunch and Learns with other businesses
when you meet them and say, hey, can I come talk
to your employees and I'll teach them things
that they can do to keep a healthier spine so
that way they're healthier. That's exactly right.
Do you see these workshops, these educational...
summits or I'll call it. Do you see them going
on video or in person? I prefer in person still.
My husband is the one that kind of takes over
the social and digital platforms. So he's the
one that is way more comfortable in front of
a camera. And he is the one that can talk a little
bit longer as well on each topic. You have to
decide. which one of you will do these minute
long reels? But my suggestion is to do it and
do it like within like soon so that people get
used to seeing it. So saying, Oh, I wonder what
they have to tell me today and look forward to
it. And as my last question, which I'd love to
ask is you are successful now. Okay. But I'm
sure getting to this point, you made a few mistakes.
Just give me a mistake that you made and how
you overcame it. I'd say in business in general
is putting maybe a little bit too much trust
in some people as well. Not knowing in the back
of my head, I don't really know about this and
not speaking about it. And again, that's that
comfortability. So speaking up now, I'm way more
comfortable about being like, I don't know that
this is a great fit for us because not everything's
going to be a great fit. So being able to speak
up about different things like that has really
helped because I would say that's probably the
biggest downfall that my husband and I both had
is we were like, we don't know. So we're just
going to trust you blindly thing. And now we
do a little bit more research into things before
we just blindly trust completely. And as a last
question, I know I said that before, but one
more question. Can you give me one tip that you
would give for any of my listeners that let's
say that they are just starting, whether it's
a chiropractor or not, they're just starting
in business. What's one networking tip that you
would give them? I would say find a chamber and
go all in. I've had people tell me before, don't
worry about going all in for chamber. It might
not help you that much. It is our second highest
referral source in our office. And had I just
dabbled, I don't know that it would be. Finding
that networking source and just give yourself
to it. Go support other chamber members. I know
I saw you at the Maximize Living. or that's not
what it's called we did that event yes yes with
greg and just going to support other members
in things that you can your support builds that
trust as well so build up others to build yourself
up as well givers gain right that's bni that's
it that's it i never stop learning i never stop
reading i never stop trying to i never i always
try to finish I always try to hone my craft.
And because I never think it's perfect, people
call me an expert in networking. And I always
say, please, just try to refrain from using that
word because I'm always getting better. I'm always
finding something that I did wrong or that I
can do better and right. I'm good at networking.
I'm your networking guy. But you know what? I'm
learning. I'm getting better. So that's the only
thing that I would say. Yeah. Okay. So listen.
If somebody wanted to get hold of you, how would
they get hold of you? Now, they may want chiropractic
care. They may want some health information,
some supplement information, whatever. What's
the best way for them to get hold of you? You
can either call my office or send me an email.
Email I do really well at or the office because
my cell phone is typically somewhere where I
don't remember where I put it because I'm all
in on something else. What is your website? It
is Cairo at the creek .com. Okay. Listen, Mandy,
this was a great, I had a great time. Okay. And
I look forward to seeing you again soon. Yeah,
absolutely. Next week at chamber. Well, hold
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-U -P -K -I -D -S .org. Well, that's a wrap,
folks. A huge thank you to our special guests
for sharing such incredible insights today. And
of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing
listeners, for tuning in and spending your time
with us. Remember, networking isn't about being
perfect. It's about being present. So take what
you've learned today, get out there and make
some meaningful connections. If you enjoyed this
episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us
a review and share it with someone who could
use a little networking inspiration. Let's keep
the conversation going. You can find me on Apple,
Spotify, YouTube or my website. Michael A. Foreman,
remember, until next time, keep practicing, keep
connecting, and keep building those relationships.
This is Michael A. Foreman signing off. Take
care and happy networking.