Upgrade Your Overall Health & Well-being

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dr. Kurt Perkins, Owner of Dr. Kurt's Place, located in Colorado Springs, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is a non-traditional healthcare clinic that helps leaders and high-achievers regain their lost energy that is impacting their ability to be their best version. We primarily use modalities and interventions such as functional medicine, hyperbaric oxygen, and nutrition to help our clients regain their lost capacity.

Tell us about yourself

I grew up a sickly kid. I had chronic immune issues, obesity, and autoimmune conditions. My mom was a nurse, and my dad was a pastor of a small, aging congregation. When I was sick, I got medications. Each week I would hear prayer requests for these people's health conditions, but despite getting medications, they weren't getting better. I decided to head to undergrad to be a pharmacist and make sure people like them go with the correct meds.

After a major change (to biochemistry), I was performing experiments on cell cultures and quickly realized that if I didn't have the external conditions just right (lifestyle, environment, etc.), those cells would not proliferate (despite their DNA code). In other words, environment beat genetics. This led me on a path to find a healthcare profession that would give me the best avenue to intervene using lifestyle. This led me to chiropractic college after my undergrad was complete.

Fast forward four years, and as I started working in chiropractic clinics, not everyone was getting better despite the best efforts with structural care. There were other factors (how they ate, how they moved, relationships, toxins, etc.). Unless I addressed those issues, some people just wouldn't get better.

Thus, I discovered, studied, and implemented functional medicine, where we look at a person's health challenges through a lens of systems and sequences instead of just symptom management. Once we unravel what systems and sequences need support, we can use those other interventions of nutrition, chiropractic, hyperbaric oxygen, and other modalities to get their body to heal and regain capacity.

What motivates me every day is that as a husband and father of 4 boys if I'm not on my A game, I let a lot of people down. So I know there is a lot riding on the success of my client to get better. They have a lot of people depending on them too. Another motivation is that so many are getting disillusioned with traditional healthcare and just the covering of symptoms. They feel they aren't being heard, and when it's not a cut-and-dry diagnosis, the person is often dismissed as the problem "just being in their head."

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Honestly, staying in business. I never set out to run or own a clinic. I set out to help people. With no business training in my formal schooling, I've had to learn a lot on the fly and by trial by fire. Being in business for myself since 2009, I started a business during a recession, pushed through COVID, and now facing another potential recession; the learning never stops.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

I think the hardest thing about being a business owner is making sure my priorities are congruent with my values. Am I a business owner with a family? Or am I a family man with a business? It's a gut check every so often. My default mode of operation is to work. I enjoy working. As my family grows, I have to be ok with leaving the clinic knowing that there's still work to be done and I'll have to pick it back up tomorrow.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Find and identify your ideal client. As my staff has expanded, the feedback they get is that "You have the coolest clients. They are gracious, patient, and engaged in their care." I don't want to see my clinic schedule and dread having to interact with certain clients.
Just start small. Dream big but start small. Start with a small office space. Start with a small staff.
I take care of a lot of business owners and executives. Many have made the mistake of pursuing financial success at the expense of their personal health. That's not a sustainable trade. You want to provide for your family financially, but to sacrifice your ability to be present and available for them, no family wants that version of you.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.drkurtsplace.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrKurtDC
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkurt1/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkurtdc/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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