WEBVTT

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Welcome to another episode of No Prior Off. This

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week, I'm sitting down with Dennis. Dennis is

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a board -certified psychiatric mental health

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nurse practitioner, a disabled veteran, and the

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founder of D &Y Integrated Psychiatry in Monrovia,

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California. His path to private practice is unlike

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anything we've had on the show. He was born in

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Ukraine, immigrated to Seattle as a kid, enlisted

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in the Air Force right out of high school, got

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selected for the Air Force Academy, and became

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a captain and special agent in the Air Force

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office. of Special Investigations, the unit that

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investigates crime in the military. After 10

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years of service, he got an MBA from ASU, worked

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in management at Amazon, and then made a hard

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left into healthcare. He became an ER nurse at

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LAC and USC, one of the most intense trauma centers

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in the country, then completed a full year. of

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psychiatric residency at the VA in Los Angeles.

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In January of this year, 2026, he launched his

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own private practice, named it after himself

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and his wife, Yesenia, and built a panel of 60

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clients in four months. He speaks three languages,

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takes TRICARE and VA community care, and his

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Psychology Today bio reads, you're not broken,

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you are exhausted from surviving. If you ever

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wondered what it looks like to reinvent yourself

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five times and end up exactly where you belong,

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this one's for you. So let's get into it. Thank

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you so much for being here, Dennis. Yeah, happy

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to be here. Thank you, Lindsay. So tell us a

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little bit about what, like your path to becoming

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a psych NP. What kind of led to that? Oh my gosh,

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where do I start, right? I mean, if you kind

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of look back, as you mentioned, thank you for

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the warm introduction. I'm an immigrant by trade.

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I was born and raised in Ukraine, moved over

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here when I was a kid, enlisted, became an officer,

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became a manager later. So a lot of moving, shifting

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parts in my life in terms of kind of redefining

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my own career and kind of trying to realize what

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I want to do with my life, right? So, and I think

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it was kind of a combination of different things

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where previous life choices kind of led me to

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where I am now. And so through different experiences,

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I suppose, I eventually became, you know, a nurse

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and a nurse practitioner. And that led me to,

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you know, to open up my practice fairly recently,

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as you mentioned. So, yeah, I'm going to have

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to kind of dive into it and tell you a little

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bit more. Okay, awesome. How long have you been

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a psych NP? So let's see, I graduated from California

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State in Long Beach. That was back in 23, so

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about three years now. Three years. And what

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kind of setting were you working in before you

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launched this private practice? My experience

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essentially as a nurse, I started in psychiatry,

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inpatient science specific than psychiatry as

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a new grad. And I was working back in Pasadena

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here near Los Angeles. Then I made a switch.

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I stayed there for about a year and then made

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a switch to LACUC Medical Center, which is a

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trauma level one trauma center. So I was working

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for the ER emergency department down there for

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a couple of years. And then, so that was a great

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experience. One of the main reasons why I want

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to do that is to, I was always kind of aware

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that in psychiatry, we're not exposed to, you

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know, the medical background as much. So kind

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of like part of my, kind of back of my mind is

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thinking, you know, sure, you want to, well,

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advance yourself in terms of psychiatry and kind

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of become a nurse practitioner down the road.

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I already kind of knew, even nursing school,

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like that's the direction I want to go. But I

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was also very aware that I need to have the medical

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skill set too. So that, not to say that I want

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to be a medical expert, but by no means, but

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to have the medical knowledge so that if I do

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see medical emergency on the psychiatrist side,

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I'm able to at least recognize it and able to,

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you know, refer them out to the, you know, and

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make sure that they're all safe. person's life,

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essentially, which I've seen. In psychiatry,

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I've actually seen people who had, you know,

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strokes and things like that. So I'm very happy

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that I've gained that training in the emergency

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department. And following that, I did some travel

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assignments, and then I did the nursing practitioner

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school. And then after that, I did one year residency

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with the VA, which I can tell you a little bit

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more later. Yeah, I think, I mean, I know that's

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just a question that a lot of people have is

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like, is it hard to get into the residency at

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the VA? Is it worth it? So you did one in California,

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I'm assuming. And do you mind sharing a little

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bit about that experience and if it was hard

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to get? No, happy to tell you a little bit more.

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I'm open book when it comes down to talk about

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myself and really teaching others on kind of

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like lessons learned, kind of like don't make

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the same mistakes I made, right? I'm happy to

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share my knowledge, whatever, you know, that

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knowledge is. In terms of the VA, it is competitive

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to get accepted. The timeline, I believe, and

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this could be a little bit state dependent, but

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this is specific for California. The timeline,

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I believe, was to apply like back in February.

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So essentially, there's a lot of tuition you

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have to obtain. And the criteria is fairly strict.

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I believe about, don't quote me an exact number,

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but I believe the number is anywhere from 16

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to 20 of applicants. how many we had for that

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location cycle, and only three. So it's fairly

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competitive. Yeah. So I put the package together,

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I applied. In my case, I believe what kind of

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helped me a little bit potentially was the fact

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that I was former military. And the fact is,

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you know, I think that's looked favorably. There's

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a fairly rigorous, you know, interview process

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that you have to go through after you apply,

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where essentially you have to, you know, be able

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to explain your life story and why working for

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the B makes sense. which for me was a natural

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fit, given the fact that, you know, I was former

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military and I do strong passion to, you know,

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to serve veterans. And as you mentioned, even

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now in private practice, that is my niche specialty

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that I really gravitate towards serving military.

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So that was, I think, a factor, not don't factor,

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but definitely a factor that kind of. you know,

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maybe work to my advantage a little bit to be

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selected for the residency. And then more, they

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have to talk about, I guess, more in detail about

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the residency itself. Did you feel like it was

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a worthwhile experience, clinically speaking?

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Would you recommend it? Yeah, I would, honestly.

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Everything has pros and cons in life, right?

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So in terms of, you know, some, I guess, cons,

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what is the bad? The pay is very low. And this

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is, again, state of the art. California is one

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of the highest, probably, but still low. uh 89

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000 per year for np that's a good low salary

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where my you know new grad friends were making

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150 160 in california market that's kind of the

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average year so 89 was lower than my nursing

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salary essentially but i was willing to you know

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uh accept that knowing full well that first year

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is not about the money it's about the experience

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it's about the knowledge it's about you know

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i mean the mentorship you're surrounded with

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is phenomenal for a whole year into different

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clinical sites, you know, you start an outpatient,

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you know, clinic, essentially, my case was a

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homeless clinic. So essentially, you know, very

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difficult cases, they are very complex cases,

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with a lot of substance use mixed in there. So,

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you know, kind of toes off your guard a little

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bit as a new bride, and you're going to turn

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it immediately, you know, these are not your

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typical low acuity outpatient cases, you know.

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Part of that, you learn that, and then you kind

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of rotate every month or two. You rotate to different

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settings. Essentially, you do inpatient ER, which

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is an amazing experience. You do some substance

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use exposure. You do pretty extensive street

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medicine. You do what's called consult liaison,

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where you're out in a hospital setting, surrounding

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doctors and psychiatric residents, essentially,

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to around the medically complex patients that

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have psychiatric conditions as well. A lot of

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times, you know. intermediate for different things.

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So that's a very complex field that you learn.

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And that's exciting, you know, to learn as a

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new grad. Yeah. So you're very well rounded at

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the end of the residency, I feel. And your confidence

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in yourself, which let's be honest, a lot of

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us as new grads are not very confident. At least

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I wasn't when I finished my nutrition program.

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Afterwards, I felt so much more confident. I

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really felt, aside from a few things that maybe

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like, Addiction is not my strong element because,

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again, you have to kind of work the addiction

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field. But aside from that limitation, I feel

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pretty strongly that I can handle a lot of cases

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going my way. Yeah, that's fantastic. So do you

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mind me asking, what were you getting paid as

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an RN in California when you took that pay cut?

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Oh, my gosh. Well, so that depends. Are we talking

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about, you know, the contract I did in Riverside

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where I paid $4 ,400 a week? That was back in

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the COVID days. Oh, my gosh. So that was, I couldn't

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take up with that money. I mean, that's just

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phenomenal money. For my fellow nurse practitioners

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there, or nurses, I guess, you're not going to

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see that money anymore. You know, the contracts

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out there are dried up. I mean, I would say at

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most, I still kind of keep a pulse on that. At

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most, it pays like, you know, I mean, it was

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for three shifts, somewhere around $3 ,000 range

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in California, which is low compared to, you

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know. $4 ,000, $5 ,000 they used to pay. Per

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week? Per week. As an RN? As an RN. Okay. Just

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wanted to, yeah, because this is a topic too

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that people, especially my California mentees,

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struggle with because the pay is pretty good,

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you know, as working as an RN. And so I think

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it's interesting that you... made that decision

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to go, I'm okay to make, to have that pay cut

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for a year, to have this strong foundation. Because

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I know it's, it's controversial. Some people

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aren't of that mindset. And I, same as you, I

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wasn't super confident. And so I would have taken

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less pay for that experience. And I know, yeah,

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some people don't necessarily agree with that,

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but I have the same kind of mindset. Yeah, but

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yeah, exactly. And two, you know, full caveat,

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I'm talking about, travel pay, not usual rent

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pay. I don't want me sleepy thinking like, oh

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my gosh, come to California, you get paid $5

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,000 a week. No, no, no. That was basically when

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rates were blowing up, right now it's much lower.

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I would say traditional rates, depending of course

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on experience and things like that, here in the

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local market as a traditional kind of W -2, anywhere

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from like 50 to 60 is what you would expect.

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on years of experience. In South, in the local

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market, Northern California is a lot higher,

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obviously. Yeah. But yeah, at a few point, I

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was very aware that I'm giving off a lot of money

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by doing the VA residency, but I was also aware

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that it's going to make the confidence boost,

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it's going to open more doors, and it did, which

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is my next follow -up was I worked at a TMS clinic.

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I can share a little bit more if you want. Yes,

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please do. You said at a TMS clinic? So an opportunity

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that came about from your exposure in the residency.

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Yeah. One interesting fact about VA, and this

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is a little bit unfortunate, but it had to do

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with the government cuts. So all of us, all the

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residents, this is psych residents, primary care

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residents, Giro residents, all the nurse practitioners

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who started with me in the same cohort, when

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we finished our one -year residency, the expectation

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was that VA is going to hire us, right? That

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was a big... to join the VA in the first place.

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And unfortunately, the reality is that just timing

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-wise, the government had budget cuts where they

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said, you know what, we just cannot bring residents

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on board at this time. And so all three psych

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residents, I was one of those three, were not

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hired. And moreover, we were in the first cohort

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ever in the West Los Angeles VA. So that's kind

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of cool. That's very cool. Yeah. Yeah, we set

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the path, so to speak. The interesting thing

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is second cohort, the one after us, and even

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third cohort, nobody got hired. So the budget

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cuts are still remaining in place, which is super

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unfortunate because people want to join because

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of the promise of after being a new grad and,

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you know, and you're going to sacrifice your

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pay a little bit. Now that we're going to bring

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you on board instead of 89, we're not going to

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bring you. $200 ,000 to $20 ,000 on board, which

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is a decent salary, right, after one year experience.

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And about primary care folks on board, but unfortunately,

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none of the psych people, which is very unfortunate.

00:12:52.690 --> 00:12:55.889
Gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, that is definitely

00:12:55.889 --> 00:13:00.669
a bummer. Okay, so private practice. When did

00:13:00.669 --> 00:13:03.750
you decide, I want to do private practice? At

00:13:03.750 --> 00:13:07.379
what point? After the VA, I essentially kind

00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:09.320
of like, you know, to your point, I was thinking

00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:11.120
about what's a logical kind of next step to do

00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.159
since VA is not hiring us. So I pivoted to look

00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:16.299
at different opportunities in the area. One of

00:13:16.299 --> 00:13:19.100
them came up, TMS clinic, which is an outpatient

00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:21.200
clinic. And again, you know, I don't know how

00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.139
much I guess our audience really knows about

00:13:23.139 --> 00:13:25.700
TMS. That stands for transcranial magnetic stimulation.

00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:27.899
Essentially, the way it really works is like

00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:30.659
this. It's a clinic. It's a fairly small clinic.

00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.240
Usually, there's one or two TMS machines in there.

00:13:33.529 --> 00:13:35.850
In TMS, actually, the way that kind of works,

00:13:35.889 --> 00:13:37.269
we're going to briefly, because that could be

00:13:37.269 --> 00:13:40.029
an hour -long explanation in itself. Yeah. They

00:13:40.029 --> 00:13:43.190
have 36 sessions. Each session is about 20 minutes.

00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:45.649
They have a big magnet that's placed over their

00:13:45.649 --> 00:13:48.330
head. It sends magnetic waves. And essentially,

00:13:48.470 --> 00:13:51.029
it's for treating resistant depression. So over

00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:53.149
time, the way I kind of think about it, it's

00:13:53.149 --> 00:13:54.429
kind of like physical therapy for the brain,

00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:57.409
where over time, you slowly give people a relief.

00:13:57.669 --> 00:13:59.509
That's really good for people who try two, three,

00:13:59.570 --> 00:14:03.139
maybe different depressants. working. So TMS

00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:04.779
is kind of like a last minute option. And it's

00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:07.480
pretty effective. I would say maybe 60, 70 %

00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:10.519
effective. Not 100%, but pretty effective. So

00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:12.879
what's our role as nurse practitioners in TMS

00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:15.340
clinic? Well, you're not going to do the TMS

00:14:15.340 --> 00:14:18.220
itself. That's because, again, the clinic is

00:14:18.220 --> 00:14:22.159
hiring you for the high yield. They want you

00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.220
to kind of maximize patient care, not run a machine

00:14:26.220 --> 00:14:30.289
that a $20 tech can run, right? cost -efficient

00:14:30.289 --> 00:14:32.350
for them to hire you for that role. Although,

00:14:32.450 --> 00:14:34.929
interestingly enough, I've seen some companies

00:14:34.929 --> 00:14:37.789
here in California who do partially use their

00:14:37.789 --> 00:14:40.769
own piece to run the TMS. It's very unusual to

00:14:40.769 --> 00:14:45.490
me. My clinic, though, they specifically use

00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:48.570
our service for initial and follow -up intakes.

00:14:48.690 --> 00:14:50.190
And then, of course, if something is appropriate

00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:52.549
for TMS, they will bring them on board. And then,

00:14:52.610 --> 00:14:54.450
you know, they will kind of hand off to them,

00:14:54.529 --> 00:14:56.990
to the TMS technician, to the doctor who does

00:14:56.990 --> 00:15:00.110
the... The TMS collaboration and sessions, the

00:15:00.110 --> 00:15:03.350
process that way. So we'll kind of get the folks

00:15:03.350 --> 00:15:05.350
in the door and then they get the TMS treatment

00:15:05.350 --> 00:15:09.129
after that. Okay. So that is like the main service

00:15:09.129 --> 00:15:11.289
line you were doing at that job, it sounds like,

00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:13.549
is TMS. You weren't like necessarily prescribing

00:15:13.549 --> 00:15:17.389
medications in that role, right? The way you're

00:15:17.389 --> 00:15:19.289
going to think about this is I would still, so

00:15:19.289 --> 00:15:21.429
someone would come in and say like, hey, I'm

00:15:21.429 --> 00:15:23.330
interested in potentially TMS. I've tried different

00:15:23.330 --> 00:15:26.029
medications. So your pronunciation would be.

00:15:26.409 --> 00:15:27.970
you know, would you like us to manage your medication

00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:31.549
for you while you're doing TMS? Oh, okay. But

00:15:31.549 --> 00:15:33.409
then the decision by the person will be yes or

00:15:33.409 --> 00:15:35.909
no. Some people, no, I have a psychiatrist on

00:15:35.909 --> 00:15:38.690
board. I'm just here just for TMS. And then great.

00:15:38.990 --> 00:15:41.049
We can still give you TMS on board while you

00:15:41.049 --> 00:15:43.129
have your medication managed by somebody else.

00:15:43.389 --> 00:15:45.169
Or a lot of times they'll be like, you know what,

00:15:45.230 --> 00:15:47.490
since I'm already here and, you know, why don't

00:15:47.490 --> 00:15:49.929
you take over my medication for me? So then I

00:15:49.929 --> 00:15:52.009
would manage the medication piece of it while

00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:54.289
still kind of monitoring how the TMS is going

00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:57.259
for them while, you know, They're being seen

00:15:57.259 --> 00:15:59.360
by the rest of the team for the TMS treatment

00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:04.179
itself. Okay, that makes sense. So when did you

00:16:04.179 --> 00:16:07.500
first start kind of making plans with your private

00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:12.360
practice? Yeah, so what happened is, so I stayed

00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:14.700
at my clinic, the TMS clinic, for about a year.

00:16:15.100 --> 00:16:17.879
And as I was kind of coming to a year point,

00:16:17.980 --> 00:16:21.559
I kind of knew down the road that I always kind

00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:23.759
of wanted to be my own boss, you know. And I

00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:27.039
was working for somebody else. Yes, the salary

00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:29.960
is decent. And yes, the benefits are decent.

00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:31.840
And it's a good working environment in terms

00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.460
of mentorship. And you're learning a lot, especially

00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:36.399
in your book. Yes, I knew nothing about KMS.

00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:38.399
So that was really cool to kind of learn about

00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:41.360
that aspect. Also, you're very aware that you're

00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.440
working for a large corporation, right? Meaning

00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:46.940
that your time is limited. Your vacation time

00:16:46.940 --> 00:16:49.539
is limited. Your sick time is limited. You have

00:16:49.539 --> 00:16:51.659
to, it's very difficult to get time off to do

00:16:51.659 --> 00:16:54.970
things, you know. If you have kids, if you got

00:16:54.970 --> 00:16:57.029
from bed, get sick, it's very difficult to get

00:16:57.029 --> 00:16:58.669
like a week off if you really need it, right?

00:16:59.230 --> 00:17:01.450
Right. Because essentially then they have to

00:17:01.450 --> 00:17:03.330
reschedule your patients for the day. And when

00:17:03.330 --> 00:17:05.190
you're seeing, you know, 18 to 20 patients a

00:17:05.190 --> 00:17:08.089
day, that's difficult. Right. For patients and

00:17:08.089 --> 00:17:11.029
for the clinic too. A lot of these are very lean

00:17:11.029 --> 00:17:13.190
because again, you don't have like, you know,

00:17:13.190 --> 00:17:15.670
two or three people back up. If you're out for

00:17:15.670 --> 00:17:17.849
the day, they just have to cancel all the patients

00:17:17.849 --> 00:17:20.910
for that day. So you're very aware that everything

00:17:20.910 --> 00:17:23.640
kind of rests on you. Really kind of down the

00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:25.240
road, I really knew that I kind of want to be

00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.259
more of a boss. Kind of like, well, I had the

00:17:27.259 --> 00:17:29.140
clinical know -how and I felt really confident

00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:31.119
that I was doing. And I was like, thinking to

00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.859
myself, you know what? I mean, I can do the same

00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:36.640
amount of work that I'm doing now, except to

00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:39.099
see patients a day. I could see, you know, eight

00:17:39.099 --> 00:17:41.559
to 10 patients a day and actually make more money.

00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:45.059
It financially made sense, but also on the flexibility

00:17:45.059 --> 00:17:47.680
side, it made a lot more sense to work on myself

00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.720
because. Yes, initially, you take a hit financially

00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.880
for, I would say, first six months. You're kind

00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:56.759
of rebuilding your caseload from zero to whatever

00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:00.559
the magic is. In my case, 100, where I feel comfortable.

00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.380
Right now, it's 65. But once you get to 100,

00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:04.940
you feel very comfortable. And, of course, the

00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:07.420
goal is about 300, 400 down the road because

00:18:07.420 --> 00:18:09.200
I want to be a big group practice, you know,

00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.400
employing at least four to five NPs and maybe

00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:13.849
three admin. This is like a three -year goal

00:18:13.849 --> 00:18:16.589
down the road. I'm only five months into my practice

00:18:16.589 --> 00:18:18.750
now. But that's really the short answer to your

00:18:18.750 --> 00:18:21.170
question is I kind of knew that I wanted to be

00:18:21.170 --> 00:18:23.869
more of a boss. And I had the clinical confidence

00:18:23.869 --> 00:18:28.170
to do my work. So I put an infrastructure in

00:18:28.170 --> 00:18:32.529
place so that I could leave my group practice

00:18:32.529 --> 00:18:36.069
and start working for myself day one. Yeah, that

00:18:36.069 --> 00:18:38.569
makes sense. What do you wish you had known?

00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.759
six months ago nine months ago when you when

00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:45.519
this was more in the ideation phase oh my gosh

00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.460
i wish someone told me that there's so many hats

00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:52.880
that you have to wear the easiest hat to wear

00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:56.099
my fellow indie friends clinical work is actually

00:18:56.099 --> 00:18:58.700
not to say it's easy it's not easy you're gonna

00:18:58.700 --> 00:19:00.740
have complex cases you're gonna have to consult

00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.119
with your collaborative doctor at least in california

00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:04.920
you have to because you were required to have

00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:07.839
a doctor here to have a practice So, but honestly,

00:19:07.980 --> 00:19:09.940
that part is not that bad for me because I feel

00:19:09.940 --> 00:19:12.920
pretty confident. If I truly get stuck, I just

00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:15.900
slow things down and I try to really do a deep

00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:18.039
dive of really understanding the clinical history

00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:21.259
before making a medication. But what's really

00:19:21.259 --> 00:19:24.539
tricky, I think at first is knowing that you

00:19:24.539 --> 00:19:27.000
have to wear the admin hat, right? The credential

00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.480
hat, unless you outsource that. The billing hat,

00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:32.940
unless you outsource that. The marketing is taking

00:19:32.940 --> 00:19:36.559
me. So much money and resources and time. It's

00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.660
kind of ridiculous. I'm always talking to people,

00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:41.059
trying to market myself because nobody teaches

00:19:41.059 --> 00:19:43.180
you how to market yourself effectively. So it's

00:19:43.180 --> 00:19:46.160
a lot of mistakes made along the way. Right.

00:19:46.539 --> 00:19:49.440
Speaking of marketing yourself, where have those

00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.619
patients come from? Those 65 patients, that's

00:19:51.619 --> 00:19:54.000
awesome that you've built your caseload up in

00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.579
these past four months. But yeah, where are they

00:19:56.579 --> 00:19:58.700
coming from? Yeah. Oh, boy. I could write you

00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:02.720
a book. I would not to do. I've spent an ungodly

00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.680
amount of money on things that don't work. Okay.

00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.700
I'll just briefly tell you so that hopefully

00:20:08.700 --> 00:20:10.839
our audience knows what not to do. Okay. Yeah.

00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:14.940
I've used the service of this guy who claimed

00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:17.200
to be a Google expert based on his LinkedIn presence

00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:19.240
and everything else. I'm not going to throw his

00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.220
name under the bus here, but that's not important.

00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.500
But what's important is, you know, he sold himself

00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:28.130
as an expert where, you know, $4 ,000 later,

00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:31.930
he promised me 20 leads a month, those are convertible.

00:20:32.109 --> 00:20:35.809
And I understand nothing is guaranteed, but ultimately,

00:20:35.990 --> 00:20:37.609
for that kind of money, you do expect results.

00:20:37.910 --> 00:20:41.930
And ultimately, that resulted in zero patients.

00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:45.829
After four months of working together, after

00:20:45.829 --> 00:20:49.150
$4 ,000 investment into this building infrastructure

00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:53.190
and everything else. And again, so I guess the

00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:56.109
lesson learned is, for our friends listening

00:20:56.109 --> 00:20:59.740
is, Whoever contractor you hire, really do a

00:20:59.740 --> 00:21:01.420
deep dive because people will promise you the

00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:04.500
world out there. And we don't know. We're not

00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:07.759
experts in Oracle. We don't know if they promise

00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.519
you what is going to work or not. And I understand

00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:13.940
nothing is guaranteed, but also that's a big

00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:16.470
mistake. Right. Cause you thought you were going

00:21:16.470 --> 00:21:18.930
to be getting that outcome of those 20 leads

00:21:18.930 --> 00:21:21.150
that were convertible type thing. Cause the last

00:21:21.150 --> 00:21:23.829
guest I had, she hired a marketing team from

00:21:23.829 --> 00:21:27.009
day one that was like a thousand a month and

00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:29.069
it like where they manage her social media and

00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:31.369
stuff. And she still uses them even a couple

00:21:31.369 --> 00:21:33.589
of years in. So I think that's a good piece of

00:21:33.589 --> 00:21:36.369
advice as far as just like really vetting what

00:21:36.369 --> 00:21:39.809
they're going to be doing for you and, and whatnot

00:21:39.809 --> 00:21:42.190
and have the expectations really clear. Okay.

00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:45.519
Money is a big topic when it comes to launching

00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:49.500
a private practice. How much have you spent in

00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:54.099
total so far? And on what? And what's been worth

00:21:54.099 --> 00:21:56.680
it? And what not so much? I've spent too much.

00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:03.140
I would say, gosh, I've spent at least... Initially,

00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:05.079
I would spend at least $10 ,000, if not more,

00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:09.279
right? I would say, you know, plan to have at

00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:11.180
least... depending on how far you want to be,

00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:13.700
plan to at least $5 ,000 to $10 ,000 in terms

00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:17.200
of everything to put in place. For example, the

00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.099
legal infrastructure to put in place. I suppose

00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:22.039
you can do it yourself. In California, which

00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:26.339
is very heavy on legalese forms, it made sense

00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:29.720
to me to hire somebody as a retainer for $7 ,000.

00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:35.279
But that offers you a lifetime service. So that

00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:38.799
made sense to me to use this person. It's also

00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.089
like... NP himself. So it kind of makes sense.

00:22:41.230 --> 00:22:43.450
He's a legal expert. He also knows my field pretty

00:22:43.450 --> 00:22:45.690
well. And it's for lifetime, which is something,

00:22:45.769 --> 00:22:48.529
you know, they'll be out on the road. The felon

00:22:48.529 --> 00:22:51.470
below are usually services. Is that Nick Webb

00:22:51.470 --> 00:22:55.109
by chance? That's right. Okay, cool. I know a

00:22:55.109 --> 00:22:57.230
lot. Some of my mentees have worked with him.

00:22:57.349 --> 00:23:01.029
And it sounds like, you know, because of the

00:23:01.029 --> 00:23:04.509
nuance in California and the laws, working with

00:23:04.509 --> 00:23:08.529
an attorney is. often worth it and whatnot. So

00:23:08.529 --> 00:23:10.869
that's good to know that you've had a good experience

00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:15.349
with that. What EHR did you go with? Yeah. So,

00:23:15.410 --> 00:23:16.950
oh my gosh, I made so many mistakes with this.

00:23:17.089 --> 00:23:21.250
I went, kids don't do what I did. I went with

00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:23.269
what I was familiar with, which is Dr. Connor

00:23:23.269 --> 00:23:27.150
EHR. Okay. The reason I did that is because I

00:23:27.150 --> 00:23:28.849
was extremely familiar with it because that's

00:23:28.849 --> 00:23:30.769
why I used my group practice, the one I just

00:23:30.769 --> 00:23:34.430
left. So I was very comfortable with it. Having

00:23:34.430 --> 00:23:37.950
said that. once I transitioned into it and started

00:23:37.950 --> 00:23:40.609
using it, I've realized a couple of major problems

00:23:40.609 --> 00:23:44.049
with it. So this is one of those HRs I do not

00:23:44.049 --> 00:23:46.769
recommend for a variety of reasons. One, you

00:23:46.769 --> 00:23:48.890
get locked to a contract at least a year or two

00:23:48.890 --> 00:23:51.269
years. Any system that requires your contract

00:23:51.269 --> 00:23:55.029
should be automatic no, honestly. Because if

00:23:55.029 --> 00:23:58.210
down the road you want to leave that system and

00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:01.130
go to something else, you can't. Those companies

00:24:01.130 --> 00:24:03.569
make it perfectly impossible to leave without

00:24:04.059 --> 00:24:05.400
you know, breaking a contract and essentially

00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:07.079
forcing you to pay the remainder of the money,

00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:09.680
which essentially what I end up doing, I end

00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:11.500
up being, you know, quite a bit of money back

00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:14.619
just to kind of leave before my contract was

00:24:14.619 --> 00:24:17.319
over, you know? So that's number one. I went

00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:20.420
with a very expensive system that was not fully

00:24:20.420 --> 00:24:23.400
integrated. And I could write a book about Dr.

00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:25.859
Korner being inefficient in different ways, how

00:24:25.859 --> 00:24:28.339
you had to buy all these add -ons to do an intake

00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:30.859
form, how the portal wasn't working, how... I

00:24:30.859 --> 00:24:33.700
mean, it's kind of insane once you go deep dive

00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:37.119
as a private practice owner on how inefficient

00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:39.779
that system is in order for us to do our work.

00:24:39.980 --> 00:24:42.480
So I'm actually this month switching to a practice

00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:44.740
queue based on the feedback. One, it's a lot

00:24:44.740 --> 00:24:47.259
cheaper. And two, everybody's using it. All my

00:24:47.259 --> 00:24:49.779
friends are using it. So I can, you know, balance

00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:51.680
them, ask them for advice in terms of, you know,

00:24:51.700 --> 00:24:54.819
here's how you integrate the system. A lot more

00:24:54.819 --> 00:24:56.700
automated, a lot more integrated, which is exactly

00:24:56.700 --> 00:24:58.460
what I'm looking for. And no contract, which

00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:01.000
is important. Right. Yeah, I also use practice

00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:03.200
queue. One of the things with practice queue

00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:06.859
is, you know, do you set it up yourself or do

00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:08.799
you pay somebody to set it up? What are you doing?

00:25:09.019 --> 00:25:11.880
So this week, I'm actually, great question. I'm

00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:13.400
actually addressing it this week because I'm

00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:16.000
switching this week. I'm going to try my best

00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:18.259
because I know there's companies out there that

00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:20.140
you can pay several thousand dollars and they

00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:22.339
kind of set it up for you. I'm going to do my

00:25:22.339 --> 00:25:24.099
best to set it up maybe for like a week or two

00:25:24.099 --> 00:25:28.599
myself. Yeah. And if I, I suppose if I struggle,

00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:32.500
Or if it thinks it's automated as I want, then

00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:35.180
I suppose maybe it makes sense to invest more

00:25:35.180 --> 00:25:38.019
money into somebody setting it up for me. But

00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:41.099
at the moment, I honestly don't know. I don't

00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:44.579
know how simple it is to set up. So I guess I'll

00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:48.440
find out shortly. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.

00:25:48.819 --> 00:25:52.720
Do you use an AI scribe or how are you utilizing

00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.160
AI right now? Or are you? I try different ones.

00:25:56.359 --> 00:25:57.920
I mean, I know there's like Beery's, there's

00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:01.240
a Pimagescope, Pimagescribe, which is, I believe

00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:03.859
Allison set it up. So good for her. That's one

00:26:03.859 --> 00:26:06.980
of your guests. Yeah. Great for her. I mean,

00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.619
it's a great tool. I might lean into that one,

00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.099
to be honest, just because I've looked into it.

00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:14.779
It kind of does it. And I like how you can customize

00:26:14.779 --> 00:26:17.539
it into making a template of something I want.

00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:20.920
You essentially lose focus and say, hey, this

00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:22.839
is kind of like the example of how I want the

00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:24.849
note to be. And then they customize it for you.

00:26:25.210 --> 00:26:29.589
So that piece is really nice for me. So that's

00:26:29.589 --> 00:26:31.049
kind of the direction I'm going to go because

00:26:31.049 --> 00:26:35.029
I think it is critical these days to really cut

00:26:35.029 --> 00:26:38.390
down on the time it takes for the notes to do

00:26:38.390 --> 00:26:41.250
your notes. So that's kind of the direction I'm

00:26:41.250 --> 00:26:44.869
going right now. Nice. When will you hire your

00:26:44.869 --> 00:26:49.049
first provider, your first psych NP? I'm already

00:26:49.049 --> 00:26:51.569
thinking about that. My first admin and my first

00:26:51.569 --> 00:26:55.099
NP. Okay. Yeah. This is a little tricky because

00:26:55.099 --> 00:26:57.359
this is uncharted territory for me. I screen

00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:59.059
the year and I'll tell you, let's learn, right?

00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.380
But my kind of rough estimate is that once I

00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:07.180
hit, I would say a hundred. So I'm at five now.

00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:10.380
Once I hit a hundred patients, that'll be a good

00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:13.220
estimate to get a VA board, virtual assistant

00:27:13.220 --> 00:27:16.400
board. And maybe once I get like 150, that will

00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:18.839
be a good kind of rough point to start thinking

00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:21.630
about hiring. In California, and I'm kind of

00:27:21.630 --> 00:27:23.349
learning this as I go, I was just talking to

00:27:23.349 --> 00:27:25.369
Nick, my lawyer, about this in terms of kind

00:27:25.369 --> 00:27:27.390
of like, how do you even hire somebody, whether

00:27:27.390 --> 00:27:30.009
it's a VA, whether it's NP, what's the legal

00:27:30.009 --> 00:27:32.309
kind of process to do that? And essentially what

00:27:32.309 --> 00:27:35.309
he was explaining to me is that NP cannot be

00:27:35.309 --> 00:27:39.069
1099, they have to be a W -2 employee. So again,

00:27:39.269 --> 00:27:41.009
kind of navigating those waters a little bit,

00:27:41.109 --> 00:27:44.289
trying to, I still have time before I have to

00:27:44.289 --> 00:27:47.309
make that switch and hire somebody, but ultimately

00:27:47.309 --> 00:27:50.119
I'm already trying to put that. framework in

00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:53.920
place now so that, you know, so I can kind of

00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:56.519
understand when the time comes. So I'm ready

00:27:56.519 --> 00:27:59.400
to go and ready to make that switch. But yeah,

00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:01.400
it's certainly happening 100%. It's just a matter

00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:04.319
of when do you really pull the switch? Yeah.

00:28:05.019 --> 00:28:08.759
How'd you find your collaborating position? And

00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:11.539
is that, would you recommend what you're using

00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:14.299
right now or who you're using? Oh my God. This

00:28:14.299 --> 00:28:16.660
was one of those interesting, you know, Dennis

00:28:16.660 --> 00:28:18.700
makes a lot of mistakes along the way. And then

00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:20.640
learn and kind of, and eventually find a way

00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:24.220
that works. I've really tried, and I think maybe

00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:25.960
you've seen it because I tried to share my lessons

00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:28.039
learned on Facebook and things like that. But

00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:29.559
kind of like, hey, here's what not to do kind

00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:31.559
of thing. I've tried, I want to say at least

00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:35.160
like six or seven different services where you

00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:37.779
can pay money and then you can get like an MD

00:28:37.779 --> 00:28:39.859
award. It doesn't mean I paid for it, but I've

00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:42.819
researched it, right? And so I've kind of narrowed

00:28:42.819 --> 00:28:45.480
down cost -wise, at least in California, is that

00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:47.339
most of those services weren't anywhere from,

00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:50.799
you know, $600, $700 to $1 ,000 or somewhere

00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:53.779
more than $1 ,000. So I've kind of learned that

00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:56.480
the cheapest way to do it is really through Indeed

00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.279
paid posting. So essentially you go to, there's

00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:02.160
a free version, there's an employee version.

00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:04.619
So you click on employee one, and then you essentially

00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:07.160
pay, I want to say $40, something like that,

00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:10.880
for a day to post your advertisement. And essentially

00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:13.079
in the post, you know, you title it psychiatrist.

00:29:13.900 --> 00:29:16.380
And I really had, I called them, Indeed people.

00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.259
I was like, hey, walk me through how to do this

00:29:18.259 --> 00:29:20.259
like the most efficient way. And they literally

00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:22.940
said, the title should be like psychiatry, just

00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:25.500
keep it short. You know, the body should be very

00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:27.619
simple. You can use like chat GPT to give you

00:29:27.619 --> 00:29:30.680
a quick, concise way to frame it. But essentially,

00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:33.180
you just explain what you're looking for. You

00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:35.740
put your price. In my case, it was $500. That's

00:29:35.740 --> 00:29:37.839
the price I wanted to pay. So that's what I put

00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:40.720
in there. Minimum supervision, like, you know.

00:29:41.049 --> 00:29:43.630
One, usually 30 minutes, 30 minutes to an hour.

00:29:43.690 --> 00:29:46.130
You can usually ask in California for a month

00:29:46.130 --> 00:29:48.849
and then usually maybe like occasional here and

00:29:48.849 --> 00:29:50.589
there phone call, like just quick phone calls.

00:29:50.769 --> 00:29:52.609
Here, psychiatrists, they're not really looking

00:29:52.609 --> 00:29:54.670
for you to spend like hours and hours, you know,

00:29:54.690 --> 00:29:56.630
like on the phone to you about your case. They

00:29:56.630 --> 00:29:58.529
do expect that you know what you're doing. So

00:29:58.529 --> 00:30:00.630
that's kind of like my caveat to anybody who

00:30:00.630 --> 00:30:02.890
starts their prior practice. I've always cringed

00:30:02.890 --> 00:30:05.210
a little bit when I see new brides jumping straight

00:30:05.210 --> 00:30:07.930
into prior practice. It's not. It can be done.

00:30:08.089 --> 00:30:10.269
It's just that you don't know what you don't

00:30:10.269 --> 00:30:13.450
know as a new grad, right? I know for me, it

00:30:13.450 --> 00:30:16.029
was really important to be very comfortable before

00:30:16.029 --> 00:30:19.190
starting prior practice because I knew that psychiatrists

00:30:19.190 --> 00:30:21.309
are not going to be like, oh, Dennis, I will

00:30:21.309 --> 00:30:22.990
spend hours and hours telling you basic stuff

00:30:22.990 --> 00:30:26.890
that you should know by now, you know? So that's

00:30:26.890 --> 00:30:28.950
my little caveat, I suppose, to anybody who wants

00:30:28.950 --> 00:30:31.430
to open prior practice. Be confident in your

00:30:31.430 --> 00:30:33.670
skills. For some people, that'll be one, honestly.

00:30:34.170 --> 00:30:36.250
Some people come in guns blazing like, hey, I

00:30:36.250 --> 00:30:38.569
want to do this. I know, I really know my craft.

00:30:38.730 --> 00:30:41.789
Amazing. I wasn't like that. So, but for them,

00:30:41.910 --> 00:30:44.769
yeah, you were like me a little bit where you

00:30:44.769 --> 00:30:46.730
wanted to get more experience on your belt first.

00:30:46.869 --> 00:30:49.450
So, but some people, you know, need more time

00:30:49.450 --> 00:30:52.150
and that's fine. I, to your mark, I felt very

00:30:52.150 --> 00:30:57.599
confident. I was not confident. Yeah, I think

00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.700
there's something to be said because of how much

00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:04.259
there is to figure out and how much new stuff

00:31:04.259 --> 00:31:06.220
you're learning when you start private practice.

00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:10.440
If you're solid on the clinical front, it's like

00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:12.640
that's one, I don't want to say one less thing

00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:15.119
to worry about, but it's not like an active concern

00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:17.900
as opposed to like a lot of new grads are actively

00:31:17.900 --> 00:31:20.680
concerned about like knowing how to manage X,

00:31:20.759 --> 00:31:23.480
Y, and Z. So I totally understand what you're

00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:27.509
saying. So you offer, do you have an in -person

00:31:27.509 --> 00:31:31.869
space? I do. So in California, you have to, per

00:31:31.869 --> 00:31:35.529
DEA rules, you have to rent a building one day

00:31:35.529 --> 00:31:37.730
a month. Even if you're 100 % virtual, which

00:31:37.730 --> 00:31:40.109
I really am, I still have to maintain that space.

00:31:40.349 --> 00:31:43.589
So one day a month, I do offer patients to see

00:31:43.589 --> 00:31:47.230
me in person since I'm required to have a clinic

00:31:47.230 --> 00:31:50.630
open. Having said that, I try to downplay the

00:31:50.630 --> 00:31:53.200
fact that it's open because then... If everybody

00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:55.420
wants to come in every single day, that's a little

00:31:55.420 --> 00:31:57.740
bit inconvenient for me because I live, you know,

00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:00.579
45 minutes away from Monrovia. So driving every

00:32:00.579 --> 00:32:03.000
day would be, you know, would be pretty tricky

00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:04.740
for me because you have to deal with traffic

00:32:04.740 --> 00:32:07.539
or you have to. So now it's a little bit more

00:32:07.539 --> 00:32:09.619
inconvenient, I suppose, because virtual telehealth

00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:12.039
is so easy. But luckily for me, my patients are

00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:13.839
all over the place. I mean, Northern California,

00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:15.920
Southern California, all the way to San Diego.

00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:18.640
So kind of like in the middle, like Southern

00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:21.230
California part, obviously, Monrovia. So it's

00:32:21.230 --> 00:32:23.910
kind of nice because virtually people don't mind

00:32:23.910 --> 00:32:27.170
that. I would say most of them prefer it. And

00:32:27.170 --> 00:32:29.390
that's something I'm very open and transparent

00:32:29.390 --> 00:32:32.150
about. When somebody comes in first day and they

00:32:32.150 --> 00:32:35.069
kind of say, do you have on -site clinic visits?

00:32:35.289 --> 00:32:37.269
I say, I do, but it's usually one day a month.

00:32:37.390 --> 00:32:39.609
If you're kind of open with that, great. But

00:32:39.609 --> 00:32:41.170
if you're looking more like day -to -day, kind

00:32:41.170 --> 00:32:42.869
of like see me in person, I'm probably not the

00:32:42.869 --> 00:32:46.230
best provider for you. Right. Okay. So how did

00:32:46.230 --> 00:32:49.410
you find that space for one day a month and what's

00:32:49.410 --> 00:32:52.950
the cost for that? Yeah. I work with Alicia.

00:32:53.089 --> 00:32:55.029
So I joined Alicia. She's another practitioner

00:32:55.029 --> 00:32:57.549
here in California. She runs this mentorship

00:32:57.549 --> 00:33:00.690
program called Strong Roots. And so I joined

00:33:00.690 --> 00:33:04.490
that community that she built. And through that,

00:33:04.829 --> 00:33:08.210
she offers, you know, she subleases her building

00:33:08.210 --> 00:33:11.390
that she leases herself in Monrovia. So a lot

00:33:11.390 --> 00:33:13.309
of practitioners, it's a big, big two -story

00:33:13.309 --> 00:33:19.079
building. Oh, that's cool. I love Alicia. Yeah,

00:33:19.140 --> 00:33:22.059
yeah. I met her and we go to a lot of conferences

00:33:22.059 --> 00:33:23.619
together. We just run into each other all the

00:33:23.619 --> 00:33:26.400
time. Oh, I love that. That's cool. So you're

00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:31.240
in her like private practice group. For some

00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:35.859
reason, I thought that in that group, they help

00:33:35.859 --> 00:33:38.140
with the intake queue setup. Am I confused? Well,

00:33:38.380 --> 00:33:41.720
she offers, she has templates for intake queue

00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:44.730
as part of the mentorship program. I don't know

00:33:44.730 --> 00:33:47.609
if her team specifically sets it up for you.

00:33:47.750 --> 00:33:52.509
But then I believe you'll have to kind of yourself.

00:33:53.369 --> 00:33:58.049
Yeah. Okay. Okay. So let's talk about that for

00:33:58.049 --> 00:33:59.509
a second, though, like, because I think a lot

00:33:59.509 --> 00:34:02.869
of people are like, do I join a coaching program,

00:34:03.269 --> 00:34:06.950
fellowship, mentorship program? Do I join these

00:34:06.950 --> 00:34:09.550
Facebook groups? Do I go on LinkedIn? Like, where

00:34:09.550 --> 00:34:13.460
do I get my advice from? What have you like paid

00:34:13.460 --> 00:34:16.059
in mentorship and coaching versus like free advice?

00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:20.300
And what would you hindsight kind of recommend

00:34:20.300 --> 00:34:21.980
to people who are kind of just getting started

00:34:21.980 --> 00:34:24.360
and contemplating some of those things? Yeah,

00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:26.940
I mean, I personally think there's a lot of value

00:34:26.940 --> 00:34:29.300
in finding a mentor because whether you're a

00:34:29.300 --> 00:34:32.980
new grad or I'm actually looking for a mentor

00:34:32.980 --> 00:34:35.199
myself at the moment, somebody who could take

00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:38.920
me from a solo practice to a group practice owner

00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:43.139
mindset in terms of skill. Make sure the workflow

00:34:43.139 --> 00:34:46.440
process is in place to be scalable for the big

00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:49.880
group practice with five, six NPs on board and

00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:52.480
multiple admin on board. So I'm already thinking

00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:56.019
that level of influencing my own business down

00:34:56.019 --> 00:34:59.079
the road. I think Miguel was on your podcast

00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:02.219
earlier. He's one of my mentors that I talk to

00:35:02.219 --> 00:35:05.280
once a month about someone. and kind of learn

00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:07.420
from him because I see myself kind of like where

00:35:07.420 --> 00:35:09.539
he is, like down the road, obviously, but, you

00:35:09.539 --> 00:35:11.400
know, in terms of expanding my own business.

00:35:11.699 --> 00:35:14.199
So I think it's critical to have a mentor like

00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:16.260
that, whether you're a little bit more experienced

00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:18.380
like me or whether you're just brand new. I would

00:35:18.380 --> 00:35:20.480
say even more critical if you're brand new because

00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:22.880
you don't know what you don't know. So it's very

00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:25.320
easy to make mistakes when you're not even aware

00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:28.860
you're making mistakes, especially where, you

00:35:28.860 --> 00:35:31.019
know, with building a practice, there's so many

00:35:31.019 --> 00:35:34.610
moving parts to it. Right, right. So how did

00:35:34.610 --> 00:35:37.550
that come about, if I can ask? Because I think

00:35:37.550 --> 00:35:40.489
people are like, they don't know sometimes how

00:35:40.489 --> 00:35:42.710
to connect with someone like that. So like, how

00:35:42.710 --> 00:35:44.909
did you and Miguel connect? Is it like a paid

00:35:44.909 --> 00:35:49.090
service? Is it just like more pure stuff? If

00:35:49.090 --> 00:35:52.599
I can ask that. Yeah, no, of course. And I'm

00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:55.380
happy to share. I mean, I don't know if you want

00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:57.960
me to share, but I suppose I can share my part

00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:01.440
of it. So I pay him $150 and that's 30 minutes

00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:04.099
per month kind of mentorship. He offers a lot

00:36:04.099 --> 00:36:06.860
more in -depth services where I believe he charges

00:36:06.860 --> 00:36:10.179
more, where, you know, he can have up to an hour

00:36:10.179 --> 00:36:13.099
weekly service and he has it all walking down

00:36:13.099 --> 00:36:16.219
in terms of different layers of different mentors.

00:36:16.590 --> 00:36:20.289
provides but so that's his part but to your other

00:36:20.289 --> 00:36:23.489
question how do you find mentors i mean you could

00:36:23.489 --> 00:36:26.269
simply start by reaching out through facebook

00:36:26.269 --> 00:36:29.150
groups that we all kind of big part of and just

00:36:29.150 --> 00:36:31.329
simply ask a question hey you know here's my

00:36:31.329 --> 00:36:33.869
background here's my situation here's who i'm

00:36:33.869 --> 00:36:36.610
looking for a mentor with this type of you know

00:36:36.610 --> 00:36:39.150
approach and then people always come back and

00:36:39.150 --> 00:36:41.630
then you can interview them back and kind of

00:36:41.630 --> 00:36:43.670
have a you know like i would miguel i simply

00:36:43.670 --> 00:36:46.050
had a we chatted like on one -on -one kind of

00:36:46.050 --> 00:36:48.969
like a virtual coffee thing where I just kind

00:36:48.969 --> 00:36:51.090
of pick his brain a little bit about his mentorship

00:36:51.090 --> 00:36:54.170
philosophy, what he's doing to mentor. He's what

00:36:54.170 --> 00:36:56.449
I'm looking for. Make sure it's a kind of a match.

00:36:56.630 --> 00:36:58.429
That's what I recommend for anybody looking for

00:36:58.429 --> 00:37:01.030
a mentor. Really simply ask on Facebook and then

00:37:01.030 --> 00:37:03.210
just interview those people and find a good match

00:37:03.210 --> 00:37:06.000
for yourself. Yeah, I love that. And I love the

00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:09.099
virtual coffee chats for networking. I think

00:37:09.099 --> 00:37:11.940
it's just really smart to form those relationships

00:37:11.940 --> 00:37:15.280
as you can and spend time intentionally doing

00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:20.860
that. And then I think, are you also in another

00:37:20.860 --> 00:37:25.300
private practice group too, right? Or no? No,

00:37:25.380 --> 00:37:28.500
I mean, so I only run my own solo private practice.

00:37:28.739 --> 00:37:30.480
I used, like I said, I used to be in a group

00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:32.280
practice, but then I left and now I'm working

00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:34.940
just for myself. Sorry, I meant for the coaching

00:37:34.940 --> 00:37:41.199
aspect. Let me see. So Miguel is one. I'm actually

00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:44.019
interviewing this week. In fact, later today,

00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:47.800
another person who is kind of like a more, more

00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:49.739
like on a weekly basis, because Miguel is more

00:37:49.739 --> 00:37:52.840
like once a month. But this person is more like

00:37:52.840 --> 00:37:55.980
a weekly kind of follow up. And this week, I'm

00:37:55.980 --> 00:37:59.340
really looking more in terms of kind of like

00:37:59.340 --> 00:38:02.519
more nitty gritty of here's my workflow process.

00:38:03.099 --> 00:38:06.500
Let's break it down. How is it sustainable to

00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:09.000
build it up? Don't need to kind of fine tune

00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:11.619
it a bit. So it's more kind of a micromanagement

00:38:11.619 --> 00:38:13.960
kind of level where Miguel, I guess, has big

00:38:13.960 --> 00:38:18.079
ideas. Break down my process a little bit and

00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:20.139
rebuild it a little bit stronger. So they're

00:38:20.139 --> 00:38:22.320
moving forward. Like, for example, the biggest

00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:25.739
example I shared was I'm ditching Dr. Conner

00:38:25.739 --> 00:38:27.579
and going to Partiscule. So I'm kind of rebuilding

00:38:27.579 --> 00:38:30.059
that part of my workflow. So I really kind of

00:38:30.059 --> 00:38:33.019
want to. have this expert mentor take a kind

00:38:33.019 --> 00:38:35.599
of closer look at, here's my workload process

00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:39.440
in place, analyzing kind of, you know, identify

00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:42.539
weak points so I can make it longer as I kind

00:38:42.539 --> 00:38:45.199
of get more patient on board, more in peace on

00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:47.300
board. Because if you don't have infrastructure

00:38:47.300 --> 00:38:50.820
in place and you scale up in terms of volume,

00:38:51.099 --> 00:38:53.539
I mean, essentially your business will be very

00:38:53.539 --> 00:38:56.780
shaky, right? You need to have really fundamentals

00:38:56.780 --> 00:38:59.920
on board first before you can scale up. would

00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:02.980
be yeah yeah so this person that you're interviewing

00:39:02.980 --> 00:39:06.059
this afternoon is it something an established

00:39:06.059 --> 00:39:08.420
service that she offers or is this somebody like

00:39:08.420 --> 00:39:10.780
how did you kind of vet this person like what

00:39:10.780 --> 00:39:13.340
were you looking for yeah so and this was exactly

00:39:13.340 --> 00:39:15.340
how i described essentially post on facebook

00:39:15.340 --> 00:39:17.960
saying like hey here's what i'm looking for is

00:39:17.960 --> 00:39:20.039
essentially still ability from solo to group

00:39:20.039 --> 00:39:22.780
but i need something like more hands -on kind

00:39:22.780 --> 00:39:25.530
of look deep dive, and she was one of the people

00:39:25.530 --> 00:39:27.329
who responded. I think like five or six people

00:39:27.329 --> 00:39:29.610
responded, and I talked to briefly all of them,

00:39:29.630 --> 00:39:31.929
but she seemed to be the best fit. All right,

00:39:31.949 --> 00:39:33.610
essentially, we're going to kind of do a deeper

00:39:33.610 --> 00:39:35.989
dive in terms of her services. She sent me some

00:39:35.989 --> 00:39:38.530
information already, but ultimately, I kind of

00:39:38.530 --> 00:39:41.230
want to understand, does the cost align in terms

00:39:41.230 --> 00:39:43.030
of how much you need to pay her, but also her

00:39:43.030 --> 00:39:45.170
service on a weekly basis, does it kind of align

00:39:45.170 --> 00:39:47.429
what I'm looking for? And so far, everything

00:39:47.429 --> 00:39:49.570
she sent me does align, but again, better for

00:39:49.570 --> 00:39:51.250
a little bit. That's what I would recommend is

00:39:51.250 --> 00:39:53.820
always... Do your research and make sure it's

00:39:53.820 --> 00:39:57.599
a good fit. Yeah. Yeah. Are you also in Robbie

00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:00.980
Westerman's like Psych NP community too? I am.

00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:03.539
Yeah. Robbie. Good point. Yeah. He's another

00:40:03.539 --> 00:40:05.760
mentor. Although that's a little bit more, I

00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:08.460
guess, hands off, I would say, because he offers

00:40:08.460 --> 00:40:11.159
more like Saturday mentorship, which a lot of

00:40:11.159 --> 00:40:13.179
times I can't do because of my schedule. But

00:40:13.179 --> 00:40:16.519
I believe from the 3 p .m. to about 6 p .m. my

00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:19.750
time, he does mentorship. Once he'll jump on

00:40:19.750 --> 00:40:22.429
live calls and occasionally I'll be able to join

00:40:22.429 --> 00:40:25.190
so that I can ask, you know, more individual

00:40:25.190 --> 00:40:29.550
questions. So technically you can, you know,

00:40:29.570 --> 00:40:31.210
you can talk to him for like 30 minutes, not

00:40:31.210 --> 00:40:33.650
every week because, you know, like a schedule

00:40:33.650 --> 00:40:36.429
slots that he puts for certain people. Oh, it's

00:40:36.429 --> 00:40:38.429
at least a month. You're able to talk to him

00:40:38.429 --> 00:40:41.150
for 30 minutes and kind of deep dive with him

00:40:41.150 --> 00:40:44.389
on whatever's going on. So he's another for sure.

00:40:44.409 --> 00:40:46.650
That's very, very capable. He's very successful.

00:40:47.400 --> 00:40:52.119
Okay. Yeah. So it sounds like what, like hindsight's

00:40:52.119 --> 00:40:55.480
20, 20 again, like, and because people are here,

00:40:55.659 --> 00:40:58.059
like comparing these types of programs, should

00:40:58.059 --> 00:41:02.219
I join them? Like, would you have spent, I know

00:41:02.219 --> 00:41:05.559
Alicia's programs like closer to, I think, I

00:41:05.559 --> 00:41:10.840
don't know, six or 7 ,000, right? Would you go

00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:14.480
back and like still invest in those programs

00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:18.260
and whatnot? I mean, I suppose the answer is

00:41:18.260 --> 00:41:21.179
it depends. It depends on what you're looking

00:41:21.179 --> 00:41:24.780
for. Yeah. What I was looking for is, you know,

00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:28.179
more guidance in terms of, you know, have a community

00:41:28.179 --> 00:41:30.579
where you can ask questions and people respond

00:41:30.579 --> 00:41:32.920
back to you. So from that sense, her community

00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:36.280
is amazing because as opposed to asking somebody

00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:38.719
on Facebook who may or may not know what they're

00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:41.780
talking about, right? Now, in Alicia Strongwood's

00:41:41.780 --> 00:41:45.280
network, you essentially have a community of...

00:41:45.469 --> 00:41:49.710
like -minded individuals who don't either open

00:41:49.710 --> 00:41:51.409
prayer practice or in the middle of opening prayer

00:41:51.409 --> 00:41:54.730
practice. So these are people who are living

00:41:54.730 --> 00:41:57.610
and breathing exactly what you're doing. So in

00:41:57.610 --> 00:42:01.429
that sense, it's very helpful to me personally.

00:42:01.550 --> 00:42:03.389
And that trial could be very helpful too. I try

00:42:03.389 --> 00:42:05.150
to be very active in that community to answer

00:42:05.150 --> 00:42:07.550
other people's questions. Kind of like, hey,

00:42:07.590 --> 00:42:09.449
here's what I learned. So this is kind of like

00:42:09.449 --> 00:42:11.750
my way to kind of give back to people who are

00:42:11.750 --> 00:42:14.929
just starting to perform prayer practice. give

00:42:14.929 --> 00:42:18.309
and take in that sense so yeah i think my short

00:42:18.309 --> 00:42:20.869
answer to that question would be find the right

00:42:20.869 --> 00:42:23.469
mentor for you in terms of the community yeah

00:42:23.469 --> 00:42:26.349
and i believe you offer one as well if you can

00:42:26.349 --> 00:42:28.230
i don't know too much because i didn't do yours

00:42:28.230 --> 00:42:31.369
obviously but um i hear great things about your

00:42:31.369 --> 00:42:33.690
your mentorship too right like i don't know i

00:42:33.690 --> 00:42:37.150
appreciate that yeah tell them about like your

00:42:37.150 --> 00:42:41.300
your service i have a A boot camp and a fellowship,

00:42:41.519 --> 00:42:46.500
it's evolved a lot over the years. So I think,

00:42:46.500 --> 00:42:49.840
you know, people who joined at varying points

00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:55.260
of where the program was at. had different experiences,

00:42:55.340 --> 00:42:57.460
I'm sure. You know what I mean? But that makes

00:42:57.460 --> 00:42:58.900
me happy to hear you're hearing good things.

00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:01.900
I love doing it. I love mentorship. It really

00:43:01.900 --> 00:43:05.079
just like reignites the passion that I have for

00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:08.000
our profession, you know? So the fellowship,

00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:10.860
now the bootcamp is self -paced completely. Before

00:43:10.860 --> 00:43:14.820
there was a live coaching component, but we found

00:43:14.820 --> 00:43:18.360
that people wanted to join earlier and they wanted

00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:20.940
something more self -paced and at a... more accessible

00:43:20.940 --> 00:43:23.800
price point before committing to something like

00:43:23.800 --> 00:43:27.159
the fellowship that's more structured. You get

00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:31.460
75 contact hours, 25 of which are psychopharmacology.

00:43:31.539 --> 00:43:33.699
We have an in -person intensive, so there's that

00:43:33.699 --> 00:43:39.000
networking benefit with speakers. Debbie Granik.

00:43:39.099 --> 00:43:41.260
I don't know if you know her, but she's well

00:43:41.260 --> 00:43:43.599
known in the brief psychotherapy space, thought

00:43:43.599 --> 00:43:47.699
leader in that area. So yeah, it's evolved. It's

00:43:47.699 --> 00:43:50.400
changed a lot. It always is. I'm trying to always

00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:52.519
listen to the people who are in my community,

00:43:52.780 --> 00:43:54.699
what they're looking for, what kind of support

00:43:54.699 --> 00:43:57.960
they want and help and go from there. You know

00:43:57.960 --> 00:44:01.059
what I mean? So it's something I really am passionate

00:44:01.059 --> 00:44:03.500
about, though, and love. I have a coaching group

00:44:03.500 --> 00:44:06.389
this afternoon, actually. I wish I found you

00:44:06.389 --> 00:44:08.710
two years ago when I was a new grad, you know?

00:44:08.789 --> 00:44:11.150
Yeah, because we do have those case consult groups.

00:44:11.250 --> 00:44:15.989
And it's definitely like it was initially made

00:44:15.989 --> 00:44:18.070
to like help people with clinical confidence.

00:44:18.190 --> 00:44:20.070
You know what I mean? And now there's like other

00:44:20.070 --> 00:44:22.929
types of support, too. But like we're going to

00:44:22.929 --> 00:44:25.170
have a monthly private practice group that's

00:44:25.170 --> 00:44:27.949
more of a peer support situation. But yeah, for

00:44:27.949 --> 00:44:29.849
sure, clinical confidence has been kind of the.

00:44:30.559 --> 00:44:33.179
the meat and potatoes of the program. It's so

00:44:33.179 --> 00:44:35.880
different state to state, honestly, and situation

00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:38.159
to situation with private practice. That's part

00:44:38.159 --> 00:44:40.679
of that's not the whole purpose of this podcast.

00:44:40.739 --> 00:44:43.880
But I did want to get private practice owners

00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:48.199
at various stages on to kind of share what they

00:44:48.199 --> 00:44:50.460
wish they had known. Yeah, six months ago kind

00:44:50.460 --> 00:44:52.719
of thing just to help help people out because

00:44:52.719 --> 00:44:55.480
I think that it's stressful, as you know, to

00:44:55.480 --> 00:44:57.960
be on the Facebook forums and not knowing like.

00:44:58.489 --> 00:45:00.650
who to listen to, what decisions to make, what

00:45:00.650 --> 00:45:03.349
to invest in. So yeah, we really like appreciate

00:45:03.349 --> 00:45:06.809
you taking that time with us to share more. I

00:45:06.809 --> 00:45:09.969
have two questions left, I think. I guess the

00:45:09.969 --> 00:45:13.590
second to last would be, is there anything else

00:45:13.590 --> 00:45:16.510
that you would say to our fellow psych NPs out

00:45:16.510 --> 00:45:21.869
there who are, you know, considering what their

00:45:21.869 --> 00:45:25.670
next move is? I suppose it depends on what their

00:45:25.670 --> 00:45:27.489
personal goals are, what they're trying to achieve.

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:30.239
Some people, you know, want to jump into prior

00:45:30.239 --> 00:45:32.539
practice, but they're not really ready for it.

00:45:32.659 --> 00:45:36.079
And so I suppose that, you know, follow your

00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:38.739
own passion and whatever you're pursuing, because

00:45:38.739 --> 00:45:41.119
prior practice is amazing, but it's also not

00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:46.000
for everybody, right? Who I'll reach out to them

00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:47.940
and I'll be like, hey, I'm building this amazing

00:45:47.940 --> 00:45:49.980
prior practice. Are you interested potentially

00:45:49.980 --> 00:45:52.659
either joining in down the road or maybe start

00:45:52.659 --> 00:45:54.940
your own? And they're like, no, I'm perfectly

00:45:54.940 --> 00:45:58.440
happy. Just do my own thing. clock in, clock

00:45:58.440 --> 00:46:00.539
out. I don't need the headache. And I was like,

00:46:00.579 --> 00:46:02.460
at first I was kind of taken back. I was like,

00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:04.599
really? Like, why does everybody like me want

00:46:04.599 --> 00:46:07.199
to like be your boss and have like this amazing

00:46:07.199 --> 00:46:09.920
like career, like, you know, just build up your

00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:13.039
own financial attendance. And then I kind of

00:46:13.039 --> 00:46:16.039
learned it's okay. Like not everybody wants the

00:46:16.039 --> 00:46:17.840
headache of power practice. And I think that's

00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:19.340
important to highlight that just the other day

00:46:19.340 --> 00:46:23.039
I was on Instagram and this one person, you know,

00:46:23.039 --> 00:46:25.079
stated something that I just didn't like because

00:46:25.079 --> 00:46:27.650
essentially she said, hey, you know, I just have

00:46:27.650 --> 00:46:30.010
in one month, I have 300 patients immediately

00:46:30.010 --> 00:46:32.750
and it's amazing. So chiropractic is so easy.

00:46:32.889 --> 00:46:34.369
And I was like, oh my gosh, this is sending the

00:46:34.369 --> 00:46:37.730
wrong message, you know, because, you know, maybe

00:46:37.730 --> 00:46:40.769
the person, and I don't want to invalidate the

00:46:40.769 --> 00:46:43.030
personal experience. If that truly happened,

00:46:43.130 --> 00:46:45.690
amazing for that person. But also I don't want

00:46:45.690 --> 00:46:48.630
people to think that chiropractic is easy. It's

00:46:48.630 --> 00:46:52.530
anything but easy, right? I mean, there's so

00:46:52.530 --> 00:46:54.449
many days I get up at six in the morning and

00:46:54.449 --> 00:46:56.619
go to bed at 11 o 'clock. Not because I have

00:46:56.619 --> 00:46:58.840
to, but because there's so many layers to running

00:46:58.840 --> 00:47:01.300
prior practice. And it has nothing to do with

00:47:01.300 --> 00:47:03.639
clinical stuff. It's the admin part. It's the

00:47:03.639 --> 00:47:07.800
marketing. So many layers to it. And so that's

00:47:07.800 --> 00:47:09.820
kind of like my little caveat. I want to jump

00:47:09.820 --> 00:47:12.219
into the prior practice. Like just, it's a lot

00:47:12.219 --> 00:47:14.119
of hard work. I don't want you guys thinking

00:47:14.119 --> 00:47:16.880
like, oh my gosh, I jump in and like all these

00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:19.000
patients will be like showered upon me immediately.

00:47:19.199 --> 00:47:21.320
And my practice will blow up with thousands of

00:47:21.320 --> 00:47:23.809
patients. Because some of these Instagram influencers

00:47:23.809 --> 00:47:26.449
are sending the wrong message. That's what happens.

00:47:26.909 --> 00:47:29.949
Right. If that's truly what happens to them,

00:47:29.989 --> 00:47:33.130
I mean, I don't know their experience, but that

00:47:33.130 --> 00:47:36.809
wasn't my experience. Right. I don't think it's

00:47:36.809 --> 00:47:40.349
the vast majority of people's experiences that

00:47:40.349 --> 00:47:43.530
I talk to, you know. So I think that that is

00:47:43.530 --> 00:47:46.190
a very important point because, you know, a lot

00:47:46.190 --> 00:47:49.610
of people are puzzled by the fact that I haven't.

00:47:50.059 --> 00:47:52.559
kind of grown into more of a group practice and

00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:57.579
scaled my practice. And, you know, it's very,

00:47:58.019 --> 00:48:01.380
very time consuming to run a group practice and

00:48:01.380 --> 00:48:05.739
do it well. And it's very long hours a lot of

00:48:05.739 --> 00:48:08.579
times. And yeah, I think that people kind of

00:48:08.579 --> 00:48:10.940
underestimate the work that it's going to take.

00:48:11.099 --> 00:48:14.599
Thankfully, I was part of a practice where they

00:48:14.599 --> 00:48:17.059
scaled quickly. So I kind of got to see the process,

00:48:17.119 --> 00:48:19.860
but also like of how much boots -on -the -ground

00:48:19.860 --> 00:48:22.599
work that they were putting in, and then they

00:48:22.599 --> 00:48:24.920
ended up selling it in just a couple of years.

00:48:25.380 --> 00:48:28.800
But yeah, I think, you know, if you're in a phase

00:48:28.800 --> 00:48:30.739
of life where you're ready to do that, kind of

00:48:30.739 --> 00:48:33.920
live and breathe and really, you know, hustle,

00:48:34.139 --> 00:48:36.619
then I think it makes sense. But I would agree

00:48:36.619 --> 00:48:39.059
with you that it's not just like a walk in the

00:48:39.059 --> 00:48:41.780
park, scaling group practice. Well, and also,

00:48:41.820 --> 00:48:44.960
two points, agree, and two points. You know,

00:48:44.980 --> 00:48:47.659
your passion is in education. You really enjoy

00:48:47.659 --> 00:48:50.360
teaching. And I do as well. I just don't have

00:48:50.360 --> 00:48:53.380
a course. But to me, it's really fun to teach

00:48:53.380 --> 00:48:55.500
people, essentially be a mentor in a way, I guess.

00:48:55.800 --> 00:48:59.239
But, you know, your way, what you describe with

00:48:59.239 --> 00:49:01.019
your course and everything else, you're really

00:49:01.019 --> 00:49:04.019
taking somebody who is maybe brand new or maybe

00:49:04.019 --> 00:49:06.059
even more experienced and kind of teaching them

00:49:06.059 --> 00:49:09.920
things to make a more competent clinician. And

00:49:09.920 --> 00:49:13.960
so you don't need to. necessarily do other things

00:49:13.960 --> 00:49:15.900
if that's truly your passion and that's what

00:49:15.900 --> 00:49:19.639
gives you me joy and just it's fun for you because

00:49:19.639 --> 00:49:22.519
what i request is not for everybody you know

00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:26.340
it's not it's a lot of you know hard work in

00:49:26.340 --> 00:49:28.599
the sense that if it's not something greek gives

00:49:28.599 --> 00:49:31.380
you tons of meaning like why do it you know right

00:49:31.380 --> 00:49:35.019
yeah yeah exactly i think people need to really

00:49:35.019 --> 00:49:37.820
think about where they're at in their life personally

00:49:37.820 --> 00:49:41.030
and what's important to them at that phase of

00:49:41.030 --> 00:49:43.449
their life and the implications of their decisions.

00:49:43.590 --> 00:49:46.469
Because, yeah, I have a young kiddo. He just

00:49:46.469 --> 00:49:50.110
turned six. And, you know, I love flexibility.

00:49:50.849 --> 00:49:52.389
Flexibility is really important to me in this

00:49:52.389 --> 00:49:55.010
phase of my life. Right. So it's like, yeah,

00:49:55.070 --> 00:49:57.210
having an in -person location and scaling to

00:49:57.210 --> 00:49:59.409
a group practice is not where I'm at right now.

00:49:59.469 --> 00:50:01.550
You know, maybe down the line. Who knows? But

00:50:01.550 --> 00:50:03.369
I think it's important to kind of stay true to

00:50:03.369 --> 00:50:06.670
that and know kind of what is that priority and

00:50:06.670 --> 00:50:10.349
varying. phases and seasons of life. One of the

00:50:10.349 --> 00:50:14.570
questions I ask everyone is, what does the phrase

00:50:14.570 --> 00:50:19.329
no prior auth mean to you? No prior auth. Well,

00:50:19.449 --> 00:50:22.489
I would say it's the permission to build your

00:50:22.489 --> 00:50:25.130
own practice the way you want it without asking

00:50:25.130 --> 00:50:29.929
anybody permission. Yep. Yeah. I like that. Yeah,

00:50:29.969 --> 00:50:33.050
I was just talking to another... She has a private

00:50:33.050 --> 00:50:34.869
practice, but she does intensives, which I think

00:50:34.869 --> 00:50:36.429
is really interesting. She's also a psych MP.

00:50:36.789 --> 00:50:42.449
Yeah, like several day kind of experiences that

00:50:42.449 --> 00:50:44.449
she does with people. But she said something

00:50:44.449 --> 00:50:46.849
that she's like, I just I don't want to have

00:50:46.849 --> 00:50:49.289
to like, how did she say it? Something about

00:50:49.289 --> 00:50:51.789
like basically being told what to do by an organization.

00:50:52.090 --> 00:50:54.789
And I was like, I can resonate with that. I can

00:50:54.789 --> 00:50:58.550
resonate with that. Yeah, we've all had that.

00:50:58.650 --> 00:51:01.039
I'll give you an example. All the time. And this

00:51:01.039 --> 00:51:03.179
is a real life story. There was a time where

00:51:03.179 --> 00:51:07.000
it was a Christmas Eve and I was like, well,

00:51:07.059 --> 00:51:08.719
can I have this day off to spend with my family?

00:51:08.840 --> 00:51:11.960
And the answer back I got, you can, but you still

00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:13.760
need to work half day and then you can have the

00:51:13.760 --> 00:51:16.480
other half day off. And I was like, are you kidding

00:51:16.480 --> 00:51:19.559
me? I was like, this is the same thing I've ever

00:51:19.559 --> 00:51:22.539
heard in my life. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the moments

00:51:22.539 --> 00:51:26.300
like that where you kind of really reflect on,

00:51:26.420 --> 00:51:30.070
yeah, your goals. Thank you so much, Dennis,

00:51:30.190 --> 00:51:32.510
for being on today. We appreciate it. And I think

00:51:32.510 --> 00:51:33.809
this is going to help a lot of people. I'd love

00:51:33.809 --> 00:51:36.570
to have you back on down the road and we can

00:51:36.570 --> 00:51:38.710
hear the updates. Oh, I guess one other last

00:51:38.710 --> 00:51:44.030
minute question. Are you intending to scale a

00:51:44.030 --> 00:51:46.889
practice to sell it or do you see yourself kind

00:51:46.889 --> 00:51:50.250
of like working in it for, you know, like, and

00:51:50.250 --> 00:51:51.989
you're one of those people who's like, I'm never

00:51:51.989 --> 00:51:54.570
going to retire and I'm going to just be doing

00:51:54.570 --> 00:51:57.679
my practice. Lindsay, I'm an old guy. I'm almost

00:51:57.679 --> 00:52:00.780
50 this year. So I'm looking at 10 more years

00:52:00.780 --> 00:52:03.460
than possibly sell it after that. Okay. Okay,

00:52:03.539 --> 00:52:05.559
cool. I think people are just always curious

00:52:05.559 --> 00:52:07.739
about that too. So thank you for your transparency

00:52:07.739 --> 00:52:12.000
and have a great rest of your day. You too. Thank

00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:13.340
you. Thank you. Bye -bye.