Episode 64 – John Zacharias

You have to find your passion with whatever it’s going to be. You know? Sometimes we sit there and we g- at least I believe we get into a path where we’re following what we’re supposed to be doing, or we’re told- Mm-hmm. we’re supposed to be doing. Right. And it’s not what you really want to do. You know? I, I have, uh, 2 kids in college right now. And I sit there and I tell them, “It doesn’t matter what degree you get, if you get a degree. What I want you to do is figure out what is your passion? And you go with that. Because no matter what that is, you’ll never have a job. “You went from triple time in school, as fast as I can get it done, 3 times as much classes I’m legally able to take at, at one time-to, “You know what? I’m going to take a break. “Like that, that, you were running as fast as you could down this path, and took a right turn immediately. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean, you’re, you’re sliding, you’re screeching around that corner. The coolest thing about COVID was being able to solve something in such a rapid way that was needed. You went from, like, ricochet all over the place to it all came together at the end, and really had a, a big boost. You know? And, and certain, you know, sometimes it’s timing, and sometimes it’s, you know, just being hard-headed and saying, “I’m not stopping. “Hey everybody. Welcome back to The Blueprint. Today I’ve got a old friend of mine, John Zacharias. He is a serial entrepreneur. He is CEO, owner, just about everything for Advantage Health Care Systems. He’s going to tell us a little bit about how to get into that, and, uh, how he took off, and, and what worked for him. So, uh, stay tuned. And do me a favor. If you guys can reach down there and hit that subscribe button, that’s gonna help us get a lot more stories out like this. And maybe one of those is something you relate to. So, that’s what it’s about. Love you. John, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate you. Ah, thanks for having me, man. Yeah, man. For sure. It’s been a long time coming. It has been. Sorry I’m, I, uh, had to cancel on that last one. Uh-huh. Had a family emergency. You know how that goes. Hey, I, I, I just wanted to get you on, to be quite honest. I mean, you got a really cool story. Uh, there’s, I think there’s a lot of people out there that can kind of resonate with some of the similarities that, that you have in your life. So, um, you know, just want to dig into this a little bit. You know, I know you’re in the health care systems now. You’ve been an, an entrepreneur basically your whole life? Pretty much. Okay. Pretty much. I mean, been self-employed my entire life. Okay. So, you know, growing up we sat there, my mom grew, uh, raised my 2 brothers and I- Okay. uh, by herself. So of course, we were always sitting there having to do something- Okay. you know, whether that’s take care of our brothers, or, you know, our sisters or whatnot. Um, but grew up in, uh, mainly in Flint, Michigan when I was young. Okay. And at the time, my grandfather was head of GM Security, and then when he retired, and then I think it was a year or 2 later, they shut the plant down. Wow. You know, and then, then all of Flint and, uh, pretty much all of Michigan just started going sideways. Okay. I don’t know if you remember all those. Mm-hmm. But, uh, you know, we, we grew up there all the way up until ’89. And it was pretty rough. I mean, you sit there, you, you go to school, and, you know, unemployment rate was through the roof, and- Mm-hmm. you know, you’re starting to get mugged every day for your lunch money and everything else. Mm-hmm. So, I guess it hardens you a little bit- Yeah’cause you sit there and you have to get in a few fights- Yeah. every week. Yeah. Um, but I had some good friends when I was there. And, you know, we sat there, we moved down to Texas. And, uh, I finished off high school in a little tiny town called Canton. Canton. Okay. Yeah. Or Cansaville. Little East Texas boys over here. It is. Yeah. I graduated with 98 people. Okay. Really big place. You went from Flint, Michigan, where some of the cleanest, purest water in the, in the country. It was back then. And, and got all the way to East Texas. Like, your family and everybody that this was, at what age you s- you switched over? I was 16 when we moved here. Okay. All right. And it was my brothers, my mom, uh, and then of course, um, my 2 little sisters came along. So. Your parents had split up early on, orVery early. Okay. I mean, I’d, I had probably when I was 4, I’d want to say. Okay. I don’t remember my dad being around back then. Okay. Um, he came back into my life when I was like 15. Okay. And, uh, but then we moved down here, and it was, it was off and going. So, you know. But I grew up, my mom’s, uh, second marriage was to a chiropractor. Mm-hmm. And, uh- Oh, that’s why you snap my neck every once in a while. I got you. So we sat there, h- the first clinic was up there in Holly, Michigan. And then they, when we moved down here, went to Canton. You know, and I didn’t know any different. I mean, I was, I can remember when, when I was up in Michigan and we had toBack in the day, x-rays as like today are digital. Mm-hmm. You take snapshots like a photo. Yeah. Back then, you would sit there and you’d have to hold this button that was like a generator. Yeah. And you’d be like, “Hold it for 3 seconds. “And you hear this errr, like that. Yeah. And then you get out and you grab these films and you have to start sticking them in chemicals. Real healthy, by the way. YeahYeah. You know? No gloves. And you have to count- Yeah. you know, in your head, 30 seconds, 45 seconds. Yeah. And then move them along. And then, you know, just like you would a normal film back in the day. Mm-hmm. And then hang them up and let them dry. So, you know, I can remember doing all that. Our, our first clinic was our first house, uh, with him. In the basement was the business office. Mm-hmm. And then the ground floor was the clinic, and the upstairs is where we lived. Okay. So when I say I grew up in it, I really grew up in it. You really did, yeah. You know, but, um, you know, after I graduated high school, I went and I was going to go be a chiropractor. I mean- Mm-hmm. what else are you gonna do? Yeah. So, but back then, and still today, I, I really did not like formal school. Okay. Um, actually couldn’t stand it. Did you do well in school? Uh, I passed. Okay. I think in high school I passed because I was really good at football. Okay. And, uhBut I got some scholarships andAnd I blew my knee out my last year in high school. Uh-huh. And I was like, “I’m not doing that. “I mean, forget it. So- What position did you play? Fullback and, uh, linebacker. Fullback and linebacker. All right. So, I mean, theynow that’s a story all on its own. Yeah. Well, hit me. So when I got down to, uhFrom Michigan to here, it was my junior year. I had long hair- Mm-hmm. an earring, and I ran up to the, to the school and I wanted to play football. And I was like, “Hey,” “how can I get on the team? “And the guy goes, “We don’t let girls play football. “Nice. And I drove away. I’m sitting there thinking, “What’s he mean by girls? “Uh-huh. It, it must be my r- long hair. I don’t know. Uh-huh. I called my mom, like, “He’s not letting me go!I’m going to a barber shop. “Went to the barber shop, got my hair cut real short, went back, and I’m like, “I really wanna play. “Yeah. He goes, “I told you, I don’t let girls play. “And he hits me in the chest. Yeah. And I go back to my mom and I’m like, “What does he mean, ‘girls’? “Uh-huh. She goes, “It’s probably your earring. “Oh, okay. So I took it out, sat there. Went back and he goes, “Well, just because y- it’s you, you’re playing JV, not varsity. “Now, at the time, I was 230 pounds. Yeah. And, uh, the biggestI was the second-largest in all of Canton for football. Mm-hmm. Okay. And so here I am on JV, carrying people that are 70 pounds on my back, having 3 or 4 of them- Yeah, yeah, yeah. running the ball down the field, you know? But when I became a senior, I sat there and I, I took some time off, and all I did was focus on strengthening, strengthening, strengthening- Mm-hmm. all summer. And came out of the gate and ended up with 9 scholarships, so they were just like, “Here you go. “That’s awesome. But I didn’t take any of them. Yeah. Um, mainly because I wanted to get through college as fast as I could. Okay. So, uh, back then, the colleges weren’t connected to each other, so they couldn’t tell what anybody was doing. Uh-huh. So I signed up for 3 different colleges and it took, like, 30 s- 30 hours a semester. Oh. Okay. And just started barreling through it. And finished, um, all my pre-reqs to go into chiropractic college. I was gonna go to Parker-which is there and, uh, by Irving. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I went to the first speech and they’re talking about how they’re going to cure cancer and this and that and everything else, and I was like, “That’sThis isn’t for me. “Yeah. I believe in chiropractic, you know that. Yeah. A- But, so, my ultimate goal was to be a physiatrist. Mm-hmm. Um, which is physical medicine and rehab. You were just saying wh- Just to go into that chiropractic part of a minute, you were saying they wereYou thought they were overpromising some things about what it could do with- Without a doubt. Okay. Yup. Snap your knee and it turns you into a-a superhero or something? Well, I’ve seen some miracles happen with chiropractic. Okay. I mean, we, we had a guy down in Mexia, um, he was blind in one eye. Mm-hmm. And he went down on the table to get adjusted, and, uh, Rock, which was my ex-stepfather, adjusted his neck. And the table is one that goes down with, uh, gears and a arm, then comes back up. And while he’s coming up, he starts f- somewhat freaking out, ’cause we had a window right when they come up so they can see outside. And he puts his hand over his left eye and he goes, “I can see. “And there was a nerve that was pinching to where he couldn’t see in his right eye. Wow. And so he adjusted his neck and his eyesight came back like that. Wow. He was blind in the right eye for apparently, like, 8 years. Wow. That’s crazy. So, I mean, I have seen some stuff that just makes you scratch your head, going, “Oh, my word. “Yeah. Um, so we still have chiropractors in our organization- Mm-hmm. and I totally believe in it. Yeah. Um, but, you knowBut when they sat there and started, I’d say, saying that they’re gonna cure cancer and this and that with an adjustment, I was like, “Maybe support the healing process. “Yeah. But I wanted to go become an MD at that point, so I went and did all my pre-reqs for that. And then when I was supposed to go, I was gonna go out to California, um, I decided to take a summer off. I was burnt out from school for a bit. I said, “Ah, let me just take a summer. “Never taken a break. Yeah. And- You still overlapping classes at this time? Oh, yeah. Okay. Absolutely. And I only had to drop 3 classes when I was doing that. That’s ’cause I couldn’t understand sociology. Mm-hmm. I don’t know why, but, you know, justAnyways, um, but I went out to Phoenix and, uh, that was supposed to be a summer, got a couple of jobs. I hadI was so bored, so I went out there, started working for a friend of my mom’s who had a travel agency, um, and his dad actually own- created Purdy Paint Brushes. Okay. If anybody’s ever gone to Home Depot and they’re looking inside- Yeah. the more expensive the brushes get, well, that’s Purdy. Yeah. And, um, and itBut this guy, he would, he, he would go to the dog races every single day. Uh-huh. And we’d be sitting there selling whatever- Paint brushes. travel. And then I got a job as a bartender, ’cause when I’d get home, I knew nobody. Yeah. What else you gonna do? Yeah. And I became a bartender. Loved it to death. It was in a, uh, part of town where, um, it was a female bar, more or less. Okay. And, um, I had the time of my life. Yeah. Needless to say. But, uh, um, then after that, I ended up, um, seeing the, the owner cash checks. People would bring their checks in. Mm-hmm. And one day, this guy turns around and he brings in a check and she cashed his check for $3,600. Uh-huh. So this was back in, think ’93. first check. I mean, 2 weeks worth. I was like, “Oh, my word. “I went up to him, I said, “Can I buy you a beer? “”I wanna buy you a beer, but you gotta tell me what you do. “I mean, I think I was making $1,100 pay period, if- Yeah. right? And I thought I was rolling with that. Yeah. He sat there and he told me, he goes, “I sold,” the, “I sell cars. “And I’m like, “You can make money selling cars? “Uh-huh. He goes, “Absolutely. “I said, “Where do you sell them? “He goes, “Right down the road. “And so I, next day, I ran down there and did an interview and they said, “Of course we’ll hire you, but we have a 2week training process. “Uh-huh. “You know, let’s take you through that and everything else. “So I went up and I still decided I was gonna bartend for a little bit while I was going through this, ’cause I had to support myself. And I went through the 2week, it was with a group called Larry Van Tuyl, and they, they had the most dealerships in the nation at the time. Mm-hmm. It was cool, it was a family. And so the dad owned everything east of Mississippi. Okay. The son owned everything west of Mississippi. Mm-hmm. And I think they had almost 800 dealerships. Okay. So, you know, it was cool, but I can remember, I got through my training and I got out there and got a, this guy that was supposed to be my manager and he was called the team lead, and he goes, “Well, there’s your first customer. “And he sees this woman dr- driving in, e- elderly lady- Yeah. driving into the lot. I’m like, “I got it. “Uh-huh. I run out there and I’m sitting there waiting and she’s taking forever to get out, right? Yeah. And finally she starts cracking the door and I’m like, “Can I help you? “I think she was like 80, 85. Yeah, yeah. She gets out and she goes, “You get away from me. “”Get away from me, saddie. I can find my own car. “And I’m like, and I s- look up inside the dealership- Uh-huh. and every one of the, the salesmen that were seasoned- Yeah. were laughing their rear ends off. Yeah. And I, I went inside and I’m like, “She doesn’t want my help. “And they’re like, “We knew that. “Uh-huh. “You gotta be careful. You let them come to you, you don’t go to them. “I’m like, “Why’d you send me out there? “He goes, “You gotta learn somehow. “Crazy man. Well, you know, it’s funny, like, y- uh, it seems so far as, as you’ve gone through your life to this point, it’s been kind of reactionary. It hasn’t been like, “Hey, here’s my plan, I’m sticking to this plan. “Because even though you, you know, came, got into football, thought football was your route, you hurt your knee, that changed, you went, uh, you had your family business into chiropractic, like you’re rolling through that, you’re taking classes double time, triple time to try to make sure that you can get ahead of schedule. And you hear something and that causes you to go a completely different direction as well, and it’s like, it’s almost ricochet. Yeah. Right? Like, there’s no real clear-cut path here. And like, okay, now I’ve got to get to Phoenix to take these other courses, right, or Scottsdale to take these other courses, and here I am, like, “Oh, I’m, I’m a bartender all of a sudden. “Like, w- what are weHo- give me the mindset on this. Like, I, I’m not quite following. Like, you seem so driven to a point, and then all of a sudden it’s like squirrel. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I think as, uh, I think what I realized, w- and even today I reflect on some of this stuff, is that you have to find your passion over whatever it’s gonna be. Right. You know, sometimes we sit there and we g- uh, at least I believe we get into a path where we’re following what we’re supposed to be doing- Mm-hmm. or we’re told we’re supposed to be doing. Right. And it’s not what you really want to do. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I have, uh, 2 kids in college right now and, you know, they, I sit there and I tell them, “It doesn’t matter what degree you get, if you get a degree. “”What I want you to do is figure out what is your passion. “Mm-hmm. “And you go with that, because no matter what that is, you’ll never have a job. “Yeah. You know? Now, I hope it’s enough to make them- A living. be able to take care of themselves. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, and e- even if it isn’t, then hopefully they can p- be a part of a nonprofit that can help- Yeah. make sure that happens, you know? Yeah, and, and even, that’s kind of what I was getting at as I, as I went through this was, you, you talked about like, “Here’s the things I want to do,” and all those, all those things are like, “I’m a doctor,” or, “I’m a chiropractor,” or, “I’m a football player. “Like, all those things are, like, really high-end moneymakers, right? And then you sub it in with, “I’m a bartender,” and now, “I’m selling cars,” and, uh, like-I mean, it’s a completely different direction. But I think a lot of times what we do is, we find the thing that’s closest to us or easiest to grab, and we try that, and then we try that, without having, like, this pure goal of, “I need to go from here to there,” right? And I think most people in general kind of ricochet around, but everyone thinks that, “I just did it wrong,” right? And if you ricochet enough, uh, before you give up, then you do find your passion, you know? You know, my brother, my older brother, um, who’s our COO, sat there and actually mentioned to me the other day, and it’s something that we reflect, I’m sure, probably every 3 or 4, 5 years, and that is, if you had to turn back time, would you? Mm-hmm. And he mentions to me, which I totally agree with, he sat there and he said, “Listen, would I have done some things differently in the past? “And he goes, “Oh, yeah. But would I want to turn back time and go change that? The answer is no. “Mm-hmm. “I grew from it. “Yeah. And I, I believe the same thing. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah. You wouldn’t go back, not one day? No. Hm, that’s interesting. I think it’s great, like, uh, people have asked me the same question, and I say, “There are benchmarks in my life that I don’t want to go any further than. “Like, when my children are born, I don’t want to go back past that, because what happens if a butterfly effect, something happens, and I never make it- Mm-hmm. to that point? I need them in my life, you know? And so, there are certain things that I go back, and there’s certain experiences that, not particularly my favorite, you know, that I’ve gone through. And if I could’ve fixed that, then cool, but again, maybe it didn’t turn out the way it is now, you know? And soYeah. You are, you are right. I- I’m a big firm believer in the butterfly effect, and changing one thing spins everything else out, you know? And so, it really does. Uh, so I’ve always thought, “Yeah, I wouldn’t go back any further than that for 100%,” but, you know, I- we’ve all got it pretty good at this point, you know, and so we’re living, we’re above ground, and um, you know, getting to do some things, like, I get to hear your story and talk to you, and you know, let everybody else hear it as well. And so I guess it’s, it’s, there’s worse places to be, you know? Yeah, I always thought, would I go back and change even the Flint time? You know, and nobody wants to be in a fight every other day. Mm-hmm. But I wouldn’t change it. Yeah. You know, there’s one, everyone, everyone from time to time asks me, “Well, why do you work so freaking hard? “Mm-hmm. And I have, my response is, “I’m not going back. “Yeah. You know, and I meant back to the time in the Flint era. yeah. You know? But it made me. Yeah. There’s many things. There’s ma- there’s, I’d say, a half a dozen things in this life so far, I’m 52, half a dozen things that I can tell you made me. Mm-hmm. You know, the, the very first time I got a check, and when I was selling cars, and I went and blew it all- Mm. on something very stupid. I had $50 for 2 weeks. Pinky ring, baby. Yeah, I, I would c- I could remember, or I could call my mom. She would have given me the money- Yeah. you know, to float whatever. But I made a decision that I’m the one that messed up. This is my responsibility, and you better do it. Yep. And so I turned around, sat there and said, “Forget it. “I went to the store, walked to the store, ’cause I- Yeah. couldn’t afford the fuel. Yeah. Went and got some, um, elbow noodles and some tomato paste, and I made what you call goulash. Mm. And I really don’t like goulash anymore. After eating it for 2 weeks straight- Yeah. I don’t like it very much at all, man. Yeah. But would I change that? Do you think you say you wouldn’t go, or you work so hard now because you’re fearful of that? Or is it just because it’s changed you? Um, I would probably say that, n- you know, if I’m not traveling, um, I, I actually enjoy it. ‘Cause every day that I walk into the business, I’m creating something. Yeah. And whether that’s helping create a automation process for one of the staff members so they can be 500 times more effective or something. Yeah. Or solving other problems that will do the same thing. So every day I’m creating something. Mm-hmm. And, uh, if I’m at home, I mean, we already sold our house, moved to a high-rise. We really don’t have anything else to do- Right. other than travel and do that- Right. and create, so I like it. Well, that’s, uh- Mm-hmm. That, that’s pretty, pretty, uh, good perspective on things. Do youCan we jump back to the car dealership for a minute? Mm-hmm. So you, you worked as a bartender in the interim while you were, you know, trying to get the, the training to be a car salesman. I’m not sure what kind of training that is, but- Um, you want to walk me through that a little bit? Yeah. So, I mean, um, Larry Van Tuyl, you had to go through a 2week formal, and that was just how to sell using 4 squares and negotiation and stuff like that, you know. And then when they put you on the lot, you know, I think that is, that training was really just more about being able to have stamina, because some p- some people want to negotiate with you for 6 hours. Yeah. Others don’t want to negotiate at all. Mm-hmm. You know? And I think that’s what it was, but it’s really about weeding out, um, who has the ability- Mm-hmm. to, I’d say, um, communicate with, I’m gonna say everybody- Mm-hmm. um, and who has the grit- Mm-hmm. to say, “I want more. “Mm-hmm. So after probably, I, I don’t know, probably a month, uh, from 2 weeks of training, 2 weeks of whatever type of training you want to call that, uh, I ended up quitting the bartending ’cause I, I realized I needed to work more hours. Mm-hmm. And at least back when I was selling cars, if you wanted to make good money, you had to work 18 hours a day. Usually 2 weeks on, 2 days off, 2 weeks on, 2 days off. Okay. Um, the guys that worked 6 to 8 hours a day or 8 to 10 hours, mediocre at best. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, unless they were seasoned and they had a- Roster? A roster. What’s happening to the school while you’re doing all of this? I, I had taken time off of school when I first moved there. Okay. And I’ve never gone back. Okay. You went from triple time in school, as fast as I can get it done, 3 times as much classes I’m legally able to take at, at one time, to, “You know what? I’m going to take a break. “Like, that, thatYou were running as fast as you could down this path and took a right turn immediately. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean, you’re, you’re sliding, you’re screeching around that corner. It was. You know, and, and I knew I wanted that summer off, and, of course, that summer turned into 5 years- Yeah. over there. I, you know, and I also did not want to get married, did not want to have kids. I was just going to sit there and make good money and travel the world. Yeah. That was my dream after I made that path. Mm-hmm. Um, so it took me probablyI, I think we were on a 2month draw, you know, where they would actually guarantee us money. After that, it’s commission only. Mm-hmm. And when I got switched over to commission only, they would give you $1,500 for the month, and then it was g- and then they’d deduct that off of your commission. That’s when I messed up and became a goulash man. Um, you know, and then the following, the following week, I, INormally I was only selling 4 or 5 cars. The following week, I sold 32. Wow. And- What was the difference? Uh, being persistent and actually giving rats. Okay. You know, it’s do or die. Yeah. What do you do? You know, you sit there, and you’re like, “Okay, let me just be better than everybody on this lot. “”Let me work longer than everybody on this lot. “Mm-hmm. “Let me hone my skills, become, you know, the best at the best. “And I was number one salesman for Larry Van Tuyl for 2 years. At Nationwide. Mm-hmm. And, um, you know, and then, then my life changed again. I was sitting there. I got off work, and I used to go back to where I bartended, which was also an Italian joint, too. Mm-hmm. And the owner would always let me go in the back and make my own subs or pizza or whatever, right? And so I went back there, and, um, she was sitting at the bar, and I sat next to her. And, uh, there was a new bartender- Mm-hmm. hot little girl, you know? Mm-hmm. And I was like, “Hey, babe, give me a beer, would you? “And she goes, “Uh, I’m not getting you anything as long as you call me babe. “I look over at the owner. Her name was Linda. I’m like, “Well, I guess I’m getting me one. “So I reached over the bar, grabbed a beer, and pulled it up. And, boy, that, that bartender got pissed at me, started screaming at me, “Don’t you ever do that? “Started screaming at, at, uh, the owner. Owner’s like, “Cool down. “”This is John. “Uh-huh. “Used to bartend here for a while. He’s a very good friend. “She goes, “I don’t care. I’m in charge of the bar. “Well, that was Cathy. Uh-huh. Okay. By the end of the night, I had her number, and I had a date. I was wondering where this was going ’cause you were like, “There’s this cute girl at the bar. “And I was like, “Well, okay, this is getting some territory that I don’t know if I want to air this yet. “”I’m going to edit this out real quick. “So, yeah. So, I mean, uh, we had a date the next day. I took her out, went out on the mountain. Absolutely fell in love with her. Mm-hmm. I think 3 days later, she w- moved in with me. Mm-hmm. And it’s been that way ever since. Wow. Um, again, I didn’t want to get married. But after dating her for 6 months, I was like, “WellNo brainer. “Yeah. And so I asked her to marry me. That night, she got pregnant. Wow. And she wasn’t supposed to be able to have kids. Okay. She had, like, 4 endometriosis surgeries. Mm-hmm. And I thought I was sterile. I don’t know why. Mm-hmm. But she ended up pregnant that night, and that was the first of 4 that we had. Yeah. But that also turned my life around. Wow. Or in a different phase. So I remember that Lizzie was 6 months old, and I missed her, um, crawling and rolling around for the first time. Mm-hmm. And it hit me like a brick. You know, I sat there when I was raised. I was raised in a house in the business. You know, I got to see my brother and my sisters, actually, in the drawer at the front desk. Mm-hmm. And that’s where we grew up. We grew up around the family the whole time. Mm-hmm. And so, that’s when I decided to make a call. And I called my mom ’cause I knew she was gonna close, like, one of the clinics. Mm-hmm. I said, “Hey, I’ll partner with you, and let’s go. Rock and roll. “Mm-hmm. She goes, “Come on. “I think we moved 2 weeks later. Mm-hmm. Came back to Texas, partnered with her, and took that clinic. And then from there, we just started expanding like crazy, there was another turning point. You know, it’s so crazy that you talk about, you know, meeting Kathy, you know, the, the pitch you had, called her babe, that didn’t really work out. And then 3 days later, you guys are living together. Had you told her? I, I’m trying to p- I’m trying to figure out what was the draw here. Did you tell her about the goulash? No, not at that time. Okay. Absolutely not. You know, I don’t know. It was just a spark. Yeah. You know, it was the only girl I’d ever dated that I literally was shaking before I kissed her. Hm. Only one. And I was like, “My God. “And is really the only one that ever fought me when I was da- trying to date them too. Yeah. And- You liked that pushback. I think we all have to have that pushback. Yeah. You know, y- we don’t want something just given to us. Yeah. And I think as a guy, you always want to sit there and be able to know you earned it. Mm-hmm. You know? You’ve got a wonderful studio here. I’m sure you feel happy that you earned it. Yeah, man. S- It wasn’t given, was it? No, sir. It was not. No. No. A lot of nights of staring at the ceiling, figuring out how we’re going to make bridge to bridge, but yeah, 100%. Yeah. So needless to say, that’s, uh, that’s what brought me back down to Texas, and that’s where we started. And, and you said you pitched it to her that, “I’ve got some family down here, and we can go do this. “Yeah. Sh- she was just in automatically? No questions asked? You had to p- you had to sell her on it? She was like, “Absolutely, let’s go. “She didn’t know I was gonna move her to Mexia, Texas. Do you know where that is? No. Oh, God. It is, um, an hour and 45 minutes south of Dallas. Okay. We’re of course- It’s about 35 miles south of Corsicana. Okay. In a little tiny town, um, there’s a famous girl that was picked up by a billionaire there at a chicken restaurant. I’ll think of it here in a second. Mm-hmm. But I would bet you the town was only 1,000 people. Hmm. You know, we had aMy Rottweiler at the time. We went and lived in Groesbeck, Texas, which is 45 minutes away from Waco, about 20 minutes away from Mexia. And I rented this house in the middle of nowhere. Mm-hmm. The only thing around it was cows. Yeah. And she literally s- Uh, the town in Groesbeck had, like, a very small Tom Thumb- Mm-hmm. and a Dairy Palace. Yeah. That was it. Mm-hmm. And she was born and raised in Phoenix, so- Yeah. that didn’t go very well. No. My next couple of moves had to go back up to Dallas. So how, how long did you guys stay in Mexia? One year. One year. One year. Was this negotiation the entire time of, “I need to be here at least”? No, actually it happened w- we lived in Groesbeck for a year. We had the clinic in Mexia for, I want to say 4 years. Mm-hmm. Um, but we lived in Groesbeck, and I get this call one time. I mean, we didn’t plan on moving, but- Hm. I had got this call. My Rottie had, umBecame good friends with a cow. Mm-hmm. And the owner of the cattle sat there ha- owned the house, was renting it to me, and would see other cows coming around this one cow that it likes, and then Rottie would go an- and pounce on its rear end and make it fall over. Mm-hmm. The one that’s picking on this other cow. So I got a 30-day eviction notice. Okay. Things happen, man. Things happen. I’m just like, “What? What are we talking about? “30-day eviction notice, so I was like, “What am I gonna do? “Uh-huh. At the time, we had a clinic in Canton, one in Mexia, one up in Plano. Uh-huh. So I was like, “Let’s f- pick some place in the middle. “Okay. “We’ll move there. It’ll be easier for everyone. “So I ran down, bought a house unseen. Yeah. Sight unseen. Yeah. And- Wait, you bought a house online at this time? Not online. They didn’t have internet. Photos? What, what wereWhat’d you get? No, I went driving around. Oh, you drove around it. Drove around and saw the For Sale sign, the people were still living there but they were moving in like, 2 years. What, what year are we talking about right now? It was ’98. Okay. Internet was still, like, a dongle. Right there. Yeah. You know? Where you just dial up andYeah. So, uh, I bought it. It was $74,000 and I financed the puppy but I had 8 grand to put down on it. Uh-huh. And, uh, you know, it was, it was quite interesting though ’cause we pull up with the U-Haul, um, I had, well, 24 hours where I couldn’t get into the house and I had to be out of the other one, right? Mm-hmm. And it was overlapping, so we loaded up the U-Haul. I went, I parked the U-Haul at this parking lot. Mm-hmm. And we sat there, we went and stayed at a hotel and then we went and we actually pulled into the house the next day, and we back it up. My brother, my brothers are there, and m- um, my mom and her husband and, uh, we open up the door and I’m sitting there thinking, “This is gonna be wonderful. “The house is like 1,100 square feet. Mm-hmm. You know? We walk in and the entire ceiling is black soot. Oh, no. Like they cooked pork or something, you know? Yeah, yeah. All of the time. And all the carpet looked like the black soot had hit the ground. Oh. And so I was like, “Oh my god!”I was like, “I don’t know what to do. “And then, of course, you know, the, the family is like, “Okay, let’s go to Home Depot,” and “You 2 stay here, start tearing all the carpet up. “They went and got primer, got carpet, got tile. We spent 48 hours redoing th- the entire inside of that house. Wow. And then was able to move in, but, uh, that was a good time. So sight unseen, you bought a house, packed your crap up, drove to the house-never being inside it, open the door. I mean, w- what? It, it was awful. I was like, “What? “You’re like, “Okay, let’s just redo the house in 48 hours- Blegh. and so I can move in. All my stuff’s still in the trailer. “Oh, it was so bad, man. I mean, I got a, a year and a half old daughter-you know, who loves crawling on the ground and walking around. Yeah. I was like, “She can’t do that here, man. “No, surely. “It just doesn’t happen,” you know? Yeah. So, it, it’s, it’s definitely a, you know, one of those moments. Would I change that? I was gonna say, would you go back and do that one different? Nope. Oh, that’s crazy. No. I, I actually have picturesIt’s funny ’cause IWe sat there one time and my daughter said that one of her dreams was to have a pool, and so we turned around and we went and got one of those blow up pools. Mm-hmm. Put it in the front yard. Yeah. And I, you know, I filled it up and I went inside, I said, “Honey, I got you a gift. “She goes, “What is it? “I said, “Come outside. “I realized this is in a subdivision- Yeah. with cars that drive by it all the time. Yeah. We did have a backyard. I justWho knows, right? I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t want to go through the house and this and that. She turned around and went and jumped into that pool right there. Yeah. She goes, “You have to join me. “Uh-huh. And Kathy starts coming out and she goes, “Come on, Vaughn. Jump in my pool. “It was just p-It’s, I don’t know, 6 by 6 or something. Uh-huh. So of course, we all go jump inside that pool. And there’s literally a picture of the house with that pool in front of it, and I pass by it every now and then in the house- Uh-huh. and, uh, I’m just like, “Oh my god. This is hilarious. “Uh-huh. I mean, w- what we would do- Yeah. when we didn’t have anything. Yeah. And what meant so much to people is crazy. Yeah. You know, it’s funny that you talk about the things that really are special to you, and I mean, I know how you’ve gotten to the place that you’ve gotten to now and you guys have done very well for yourself. But to see the emotion on your face when you talk about the blow up pool and the small things, like jumping in that with your family, and just the drive by and seeing that and remembering those, um, you can see that, you know, holding onto those things is what real- really what makes it, you know? Yeah. And from you having the perspective from the other side of, “I could get 10 billion of those things,” right? If I wanted to. But just that one was special for me and it made a mark in my life, you know? Mm-hmm. It has been. It’s actually very cool. I think itOur past makes us, you know? Some of us don’t experience what others experience, but our past definitely makes us. Mm-hmm. Do you thinkAnd I’ve had this conversation before. Do you think thatAnd then we’ll get back to your path again, but do you think that having nothing makes you wanna validate that you can have something? I think on speci- certain individuals. Yeah? Um, and do you think that having so much makes you want to hide the fact that you’ve had so much sometimes andUm, I’m not gonna say hide it. Maybe not flaunt it? Okay. You know? I- because I think you can also do a lot of good, umActually, I think you can do more good, the more you have. Mm-hmm. So, I don’t think hiding it is, is aprobably a good vat- good ver- good virtue of somebody. Um, but flaunting it, I think could be. sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Um, well, I just wanted to, you know, kind of hit on that, ’cause you talked about both sides of that coin, you know, and- and it really is kind of cool to have someone who’s been both sides of the coin. You know, generally you don’t see that, you know, go from one extreme to the other, and just be able to look through that looking glass to see, “I remember me on this side. And I see me on this side now. “You know? and- But you guys are still holding onto each other, you know? Yeah. Kind of a, kind of a cool visual. Um, so you sold cars, you, you got down, you went to Mexia. Uh, you guys stayed there for a little bit, and, and let’s talk about the clinic part. When you said they, my family had a clinic down there, and I said I’d take one of these. Right? What does that clinic exist of? Like, what, what is happening inside this clinic? Is it just like a doc in a box who can come in and check your temperature, or, you know, be fixing bones, or what’s happ- I mean- Yeah. what, what’s happening with this place? So back then, the only thing my mom was involved in was chiropractic. Okay. So had a chiropractor there, and, and, um, that person was a b- was gonna move on, and move down, I think, like, an hour away. So I had to recruit another chiro, had to, you know, hire a s- s- one support staff. Um, my, my wife ended up going in- to work down next to my mom to help with billing and collection. So she’d drive to Canton every day, which is like an hour, and, um, you know, it was up to me to sit there and doUh, w- we would do health fairs, and, um, I’d say spinal checks on people. Some at Employers, some at Walmart. I mean, we’d go set up, and- Mm-hmm. you know, just do health checks, and if somebody needed it, they would come on in, and, you know, I- we would sit there, and I think we would get about, after starting all that, we’d get about 40 new patients a month- Mm-hmm. which is actually pretty good for a chiropractic clinic, especially a town of 1,000 people. Um, and, you know, got it to where it was seeing 50, 60 people a day. Mm-hmm. You know, and all we had was one doctor, and myself, and one staff. Mm-hmm. And so that was actually pretty darn good. Um, we did start one up in Plano, as well. That was more my mom’s, uh, because my little sister was a gymnast- Mm-hmm. so that’s where she went to training. Mm-hmm. So she wanted to be closer to her- Mm-hmm’and so she did that. Um, but then, shortly after that, when I moved to Ennis, we started integrating other practi- other disciplines into it. Okay. So our first d- um, first thing was a PT and an MD, and then we added counselors and psychs, um, and then we stayed like that for a while, turned all of them into it. Mm-hmm. Um, we’d alread- also started one in Oak Cliff at the time. Yeah. Um, and I had also moved up to Ovilla, closer to Dallas, ’cause the kids needed to go to school. Mm-hmm. We had, I think at that time, uh, when I moved to Ovilla, we were having our thirdNo, our second one. Our second kid. But either way, they were, they were about ready to start school, so she wanted them going to a Catholic school- Mm-hmm. so that’s where we enrolled them. Got closer there. Um, but with the clinics, we sat there and we, you know, we startedI mean, uh, it’s, it’s called a n- a multidisciplinary facility at that point. And we mainly tr- saw, um, car accidents and work injuries. Okay. That was our thing. Traumatic injuries. So you had a, you had a, you had a specialty that you’re, you were building this thing based upon the injury that was coming in, not just being a full service thing that could take anybody that came in. You were like, “There’s a certain type of injury that we’re looking for, and we need to model our business to be able to handle that person. “So that goes back to when I was gonna, wanted to be a physiatrist. Okay. So a physiatrist, his specialty is physical medicine rehab. Basically means that he, a physiatrist would treat your musculoskeletal and your neurological, and then there’s subcategories afterwards that they can get, whether that’s interventional pain or whatever. Um, so when I came back, the model I wanted to do was a division that HealthSouth, which was a large organization back in the day, um, had it where physiatrists ran the training program- Mm-hmm. and they integrated it into the hospital, where the residencies and stuff would rotate through. Mm-hmm. And they would teach them how to be an all-around provider for traumatic injuries. Mm-hmm. And that’s what I wanted us to do. I mean, to me, there’s, there’s something about a wellness practice that I think is great for people, but there’s something about when you have somebody coming on in that maybe thinks they could never walk again- Mm-hmm. or never be able to, uh, you know, cook their own meal for themselves again, or pick up their grandkid again- Mm-hmm. or their kids. Yeah. Um, when you can sit there and turn somebody’s life to where they are able to do what they thought was impossible- Mm-hmm. I think you’ve made an impact that lasts a lifetime. Mm. Um, at least it does for me. Yeah. And so that was the model that we were actually going for. And, you know, we ended up getting an accreditation called CARF Accreditation. Mm-hmm. It’s an international accreditation for multidisciplinary rehab centers, and, um, today, we’re the largest CARF-accredited centers in Texas that do what our type of practice does. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, we have the most centers there is, and probably have the most census of, of how many new patients that we actually pull in a- from those centers too. So, you know, we, we went that direction. And, you know, I’d say w- we, we probably practiced for 10 years. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, it was 15 years without changing anything. Okay. You know, at that time, once we got there, I- What, what time are we talking about right now? So 2000It was, uh, 2000 to 2015. And at the time, I stopped working inside the clinic. I actually moved out to do marketing, more or less, business development. And our entire practice changed. I mean, we w- we used to do, uh, we’d have boxes all around the town- Mm-hmm. whatever town that we were in. When you say boxes, you’re talking about? Have you ever seen those things where it says, “Give your name and number and email address and win a free meal? “Things like that. Mm-hmm. And so people would fill it out. And the ironic thing is that the one thing that they don’t tell you is everyone wins a meal. Okay. So everyone wins the meal, and then you ha- you have them come to, let’s say, a restaurant that has a, a private room, and they get the free meal, but they also have to listen to, uh, maybe a 20- Spiel. minute talk, spiel. And then you offer a free health check for the, before they leave. And it’s a spinal health check is how you do it. Yup. Um, but we went from doing that, which is so laborious, crazy- Mm-hmm. um, to I went out and started creating referral networks of people who actually would send us the stuff, send us new patients who met the criteria that we treat. Right. And now, I’d say 99% of all of our business still comes from that network. Okay. Um, and then I started getting bored in 2015, and we wanted to bring in traumatic brain injury. Mm-hmm. And- What do you mean you started to get bored? Well, I, I’ve al- well, at least the way my brain works, I always have to have, I have to be juggling enough. Okay. Um, you know, at one time, I think we had, gonna say 15 different companies doing different things. Mm-hmm. But, uh, but I wanted to bring something else into the practice. Mm-hmm. So both of my brothers, when they were younger, my older one, when I was graduating high school, um, I was supposed to go to Europe, go backpacking. I had bought my plane ticket, everything, right? Was gonna do that before I started college. We get a call, and my older brother was up in Colorado, and he got in a car accident and hit the side of the wall. Mm. Well, when he hit it, this was before they were enforcing all seat belts and everything else, right? Um, when he hit the wall, it literally sat there. His head hit the windshield and scalped his head, and he was in a coma. Mm-hmm. And they called and said, “We don’t think he’s gonna make it. “So, canceled the Europe trip, went up there, and, uh, we got up there within 24 hours, and he came to 24 hours after that. Mm. Um, but I mean, he got discharged. You know, he, he has a classic TBI, a traumatic brain injury. Mm-hmm. Um, and if you’ve never watched the movie Concussion, it’s definitely worth, worth a see. Okay. Because, you know, if people have multiple concussions or one big one, I mean, their whole life can change. They just might not know it for 10, 15, 20 years down the road. Mm-hmm. Tell me what can change specifically. So, um, when you get white matter in your brain, which means part of your brain is, is never gonna heal again. Okay. And that part of the brain- Is that like scar tissue or just dead area? No, it’s dead. Okay. And then what happens with that is you’ve got your neurons that, once those are dead, that they get fragmented, so now they aren’t firing together anymore. Mm-hmm. So when we talk about people with memory issues or we’re talking about people with TBIs that have a- anxiety or aggression or, you know, spousal abuse or things like that, it’s because their neurons are split like that and they aren’t communicating with each- with each other. Mm-hmm. So let’s say that somebody goes into an anger outburst, um, he might not e- remember doing what he’s doing. Hmm. And, you know, you have it to where a lot of people with TBIs can’t manage their money, they can’t manage their medications, you know, they have a hard time keeping up with a sentence or a conversation- Mm-hmm. or even finding the words. You know, there- there’s many, many, many aspects of it that can actually affectThere’s not one traumatic brain injury that’s the same as another. All of them are different. Mm-hmm. Because of all the areas of your body and your brain that you have. Yeah. Um, and so my little brother also got into aAlso had a TBI. He was driving his car in Canton, actually down the road, and a state trooper was training a horse. And while he was turning, the horse freaked out, jumped up and landed in his windshield and- Oh. all the legs were just beating the crap out of my brother. Oh my God. So he got care flighted to Tyler, um, from that, and he was out for like 6, 7 hours. Which i- you only have to be knocked out for less than 30 minutes and you could have a concussion and a traumatic brain injury. So 6, 7 hours is a long time. Mm-hmm. 2, 3 days is huge. Yeah. And I only needed to add a couple of things to our, our, um, clinics- Mm-hmm. and I could go full out doing traumatic brain injuries. And you could help your brothers. Help my brothers and everybody else. Mm-hmm. I mean, it’s, itThere wasn’t any other outpatient brain injury centers back then. Mm-hmm. And there still isn’t. Mm-hmm. You might see a center that calls themselves a brain injury center, but most likely, it’s just a neurologist- Mm-hmm. um, that doesn’t have all the things that it normally would, that would help people. So if you, if you have anybody or you get a traumatic brain injury and you have deficits from that, ideally, you would want to see a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, a psychiatrist, a neurologist, a physiatrist, a clinical psych, and a neuropsych. Those are 8 different things- Mm-hmm. and our practice has all of them. And the way that the treatment is put together is some, some people will come in 4 or 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, and they will get treatment from not all of them, but whatever their b- highest deficit is- Mm-hmm. or a combination of such. Mm-hmm. So if somebody has more physical and, uh, let’s say balance, orientation issues, um, or somebody has more cognitive i- issues or deficits, that’s the part that you focus on first. But you do it in a group setting, you know, with multiple people. And what you find today, still, is you’ll have people that go to a neurologist and then they send you over to this clinic and then that clinic. Mm-hmm. That’s about it. Yeah. And you’re going to 2 to 3 different centers, and- Mm-hmm. none of them are communicating with each other. Mm-mm. So, you know, that center might give you homework for an hour, and that one gives you homework for another hour, and that one’s soAnd it’s like they don’t know what the heck you’re doing. Right. So, that’s what we wanted to start. The problem that there was is there’s still no fee schedule set for brain injury. Mm-hmm. So we did it for a year and I almost sat there and wentI w- I almost had to shut the doors. Wow. A- A year later, I’m sitting there and we’re flying down to Houston, and I looked at my mom and my wife and I said, “Listen, ladies, you’ve got 30 more days, otherwise I have to cut it. “Mm-hmm. “And we need to get paid. “Yeah. And that was the year roughly around, so we can probably find the timeline on that, when the movie Concussion came out. My wife was talking to an adjuster that had a son that just had a TBI and ended up paying us. And turned around, the thing that you have to prove in, in Texas and in many other states that, there’s no fee schedule, they have to pay you usual and customary. Mm-hmm. So we redacted that explanation of benefits and sent it to, as an appeal with every single other bill that we ever got denied. We started getting paid. Wow. And I’d say it was a miracle. Things worked perfectly together. Just with that show coming out. Just with the show coming out. And now we have, we have, um, providers licensed in 48 states. Mm-hmm. You know, we’re treating people all over the US now. You know, we have bricks and mortar in Louisiana here, Missouri. Um, but we’re doing more and more telemed so that we’ll bring the catastrophic cases in- Mm-hmm. treat them in our bigger centers- Yeah. and then send them back and let them get the support via telemed. Mm-hmm. yeah. That’sSo you started to, you started to build it based upon some, some things that had, you’d seen up close and personal,Without a doubt. My family had this thing happen to them. What would it take for us to kind of get ourself in line where we could handle these types of injuries? Because now that I see this firsthand, I know that they’re few and far between, people that can handle this, right? We could do this. Mm-hmm. You start building it up. Almost go broke. A movie comes out. Saves the whole, saves the day, gives exposure to what’s happening for everyone. All of a sudden you start resubmitting your bills, and the bills start to get paid based upon a movie coming out. You get to the point where now things are starting to take off, and you’ve, you’re starting to explode, right? Pretty much. What, what year was this when, when it started to really turn? I mean, I guess probably around 2016, 2017. Which is right about the time that you and I met each other. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. So it’s just neat though how some things in your life turn your life. Yeah. How some things, you could say the universe or God or whoever gave it to you. Mm-hmm. Um, but that movie was definitely a gift. Mm-hmm. Definitely a gift. Yeah. And so you, you started, and did you have, and so that was in 2016 or ’17, and then you started to explode into other, other areas, right? LikeWell, yeah, I mean w- Was there another jump or another level that happened in between then and now? Because I knew, I knew when you and I talked beforehand, like, there was a pandemic that kind of went down, and you guys had an explosion kind of over after that as well, right? Yeah. You know, I would say that there was a lot going on. I mean, we used to be in surgical hardware too, and then, uh, stem cells and exosome treatments as well. And, um, but I also had my own software. And so one of my developers at the time, God rest his soul, um, his wife was from, uh, Wuhan. Mm-hmm. So his family was from Wuhan. Yep, yep. Yeah, yeah. We all know what happened in Wuhan. Yeah. But he was telling me back in November of n- 2019 about it. Mm-hmm. I don’t think they publicly announced it here till February of 2020. They h- sat there and started telling me about it. And her family was being locked down in the homes, the streets were beingI mean, you, we weren’t hearing this. Yeah. You know, reminded me of somewhat like the movie Rwanda. Yeah. You, we didn’t hear anything about that, right? Yeah. Not at the time it was happening. And, uh, so probably him telling me every other day, and I would try and find it, find the research on it, find what was going on, find everything. Finally started talking to the wife. And, um, I had a friend that had some, uh, manufacturing companies over in Hong Kong. Mm-hmm. And they mainly did clothes, but I was like, “Listen. Do you mind sending your people around and seeing if they’re actually making testing kits? “Mm-hmm. And so he went running around China and Hong Kong, and he goes, “Yeah. There’s 6 manufacturers making testing kits. “Mm-hmm. And, you know, I sat there and I was, I talked to him and said, “You want to partner up on me? Let’s make testing kits. “And he goes, “All right. “So, you know, we started creating testing kits, sent some over, did some testing on them, you know, just making sure they were all valid and everything else. We got it white-labeled for us, and then we were about ready to send a big shipment over. And then it was announced. And the whole world freaked out. Totally freaked out. The day it was announced, I also w- made a deal with a local lab, 0 of friends that owned it- Mm-hmm. and said, “Guys, get ready. Here we go. “Yeah. And then I t- went to my software division and I said, “We need to create a workflow that it makes it very easy for everybody to sign up, to come in, makes it easy for the clinics just to scan, scan, scan, and, and everything happens from start to finish, being the swab being sent to the lab to the results,” so on and so on. And I would tell you that in 3 weeks, we would have 500, 600 people lined up down the road every single day for the next year. Wow. At every center. And we also were wholesaling all the testing kits and y- selling, uh, leasing the software out to people and all that- Mm-hmm. sort of stuff that, you know, they were doing 10,000, 20,000 tests a day at the lab. And at that time, atOnce we got it smoothly running, they only had 3 employees. It was that automated. That’s wild. You know, and you look at it and it’s like, wow. But, um, that was probably the funnest time I’ve ever had in business. Yeah, I can imagine. I can imagine. The funnest. You’re drinking through a fire hose at this point. It wasYou know, my kids, it was funny ’cause during the summer, uh, during that summer, my kids worked for me, but we would goWe were still in the middleRight at the beginning of the summer, we’re still in the middle of automating a- every process. We’d worked with a couple of different labs and this and that. And th- they were getting paid 30, 40 hours of overtime. Mm-hmm. Helping me at home on the computers. We’d have 6 of them sitting around the table and- Yeah. you know, the r- the regular staff would just take off and they’re like, “No, we aren’t, we aren’t working past our timeline. “Yeah. You know, and you’re like, “Oh, it’s okay,” here you are s- sitting there doing it. And their little bank accounts filled up. Uh-huh. They’re atNot anymore though, but anyways. Uh, you know, I- I got to see a side of my kids I’ve never seen before. Mm-hmm. And, you know, when, uh, when tough times hit, whether that’s tough times or just, um, a time needed for s- for help- Mm-hmm. they stepped up. The rest of the family stepped up. I had providers in the clinic pissed at me. Yeah. “You’re bringing people to the clinic, they have COVID. “Yeah. Well, you don’t know if they have COVID. That’s what they want to know. Yeah. So we were testing everybody outside. Uh-huh. You know, out, out in the line. We had these tents and everything else. Mm-hmm. And some places were drive-throughs. You know, you name it. And, uh, but, I mean, m- the clinics and my providers were freaked out for probably a year. Yeah. Then after that they all calmed down. Yeah. You know, but it wasThat was a definitely a time I think it changed history, without a doubt. Mm-hmm. Changed history of how all of us look at each other. Mm-hmm. And how all of us, you know, look at disease. Yeah. You know, um, lost my grandfather during the COVID, unfortunately. Mm-hmm. That’s when they st- they put him in a nursing home and wouldn’t let anybody see him, anything else. And that was probably the worst thing that could’ve happened. Same thing happened to my grandmother. I’m still mad about it. So, you know, you look at it and it’s like, appreciate who you have around you today. No matter how long you have it with them. Yeah. Yeah, no, I, I totally feel that. You know, it’s like, I don’t know, I think people try to make the best call when they can at the time. Um, I’m still, still edgy when it comes to, to that, to that scenario. I remember though, early though on, uh, we were going somewhere and, and I was like, “Oh, I need to get tested if we’re gonna go. We’re all going”I think we were going to, like, Miami or something, right? And, uh, you were like, “Well, I’ve got kits over here. “And I was like, “For what? “You were like-“To get tested, make sure you go. “And so we all showed up at your place and you tested all of us. Yep. And you looked over at me and you were like, “Brandon, you, you don’t have it, but you have. “And I was like, “What? I don’tI’ve never felt bad a day in my life. What are you talking about? “I was justOr not in my life, but, you know, for this. And, and he was like, “Oh, I can see, here’s the antibodies here, and you can see they’re there, and they’re- You’re, you’re not alive anymore, but they’re there, so you’ve had it. “So it kind of reacted differently for everybody. But- Yeah. um, that was a big moment where we were just like, you hear about something, you hear about the worst or the worst of it, and then you see how it’s affected you personally, and you’re like, you knowca- it, it actually was real. It touched me. Mm-hmm. You know, several times, but it touched me, you know? And then at that point, you know, I still hadIt, it made it not a news story anymore. It made it real. Right. You know? Um, now it didn’t affect me the way it affected everybody else, or some people, but- Did you ever get the vaccination? Good. Did not. Did not. Took a lot of heat from that. Uh, had a lot of pressure to actually go out and get that, and, um, you know, I had, uh, I had to make a decision, ’cause we were going to New York for w- for business, and I had 2 weeks to go get it done before I had to go to this place. And, you know, my, my company at the time was, um, very nice to me about picking and choosing what direction I wanted to go with it. and I was kind of the only ones holding out, and I was like, “I don’t, I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t want to. “And, uh, that was a very big part of our job, was going to that, that opportunity in New York, and New York wouldn’t allow you in forIn, in, uh, for any, any reason if you didn’t have it, you know? And so, literally, 5 or 6 days before I was gonna have to get on a plane, they canceled the show, and so let me get out of it without having to make a career change or anything out of that just based on it. So, um, kind of felt good that I stuck to my guns on that thing, and IFor me, like I said, I’d already had it. I knew how it affected me. Mm-hmm. I didn’t need to, um, get something to protect myself from this, because I’d, I’d already seen how th- it reacted with me. They said that if I got it, it wouldn’t protect anybody else from getting it. So there was no need for me, you know, to go out and just do what everybody else said to do when I’d already seen how it affected me personally, and I wasn’t gonna save somebody else from getting infected by it if I did have it, right? Right. So, um, I decided not to. What about you? Well, I have another story. I’ll just be brief on this one, but it’s definitely for a different day, butSo when I was 2 years old, I got the MMR shot. Mm-hmm. And it killed me for almost 3 minutes. Mm-hmm. And then my mom grabbed me, threw me on her shoulders, started running, and I came back to. Mm-hmm. So I’m like the one in 20,000 that actually has an adverse side effect to any vaccinations. Yep. Not any of them, but specific ones. And they can’t pick and choose which ones they are. So I never had another vaccination in my life. My kids haven’t had vaccinations. Um, you know, ifI don’t needYou know, i- it wasn’t just about me dying for 3 minutes. It wasPost me getting that vaccine, I literally had every allergy under God’s green Earth for almost 15 years. Mm-hmm. I was allergic to grass, to so many different foods, to u- trees- Yeah. Had to go on an almond diet for almost 2 years. Mm-hmm. And then I was able to start making my way back into the normal world of eating and being around people, butNo, I didn’t get it, and ironically, when we were sitting there at the lab, of course, me sitting there liking, uh, to research data and all that sort of stuff. Mm-hmm. Um, the guy that w- we were partners with, he’s a very smart guy, and I was like, “Listen. I want to start tracking everybody that got re-infected,” and the majority of themWhen I say majority, I’m saying over 85% of them that gottested positive a second time were ones with vaccinations. Really? That’s crazy. I’m like, “Well, either people just aren’t testing like normal people, or-” Yeah. Yeah. ” the ones getting the vaccinations are truthfully tested more. “Yeah. I don’t know, it was crazy. Hmm. Interesting. So then that affected your business by just volume. Oh, it was huge. You know, everything we do, we have to wait to get paid. Yeah. Um, and this was all cash up front. Wow. You know? And it was huge. It was absolutely huge. It wasThe coolest thing about COVID was being able to solve something in such a rapid way, um, that was needed. Mm-hmm. So many people were scared of it. Yeah. Um, but to be able to jump into somethingI mean, it was the first time I ever spent money on social media. Mm-hmm. And I brought in a friend of mine named Brody, and he, he, uh, was partners with a guy that did social media, and they started doing ads. Mm-hmm. Facebook, Instagram, whatever. Um, and I got to watch how much it cost per appointment. Yeah. And i- for the longest time, it cost 7 cents per appointment, paid appointment. Wow. Wow, that’s a number. 7 cents. There you go. That’s crazy. And when it got up to be right about $29 per paid appointment, I cut it off. Okay. I was gonna say. I cut it off, but- Yeah. I mean, it was for months. It didn’t matter how much you spent. Yeah. I mean, it was $7 per paidAnd I would have them shut the, the advertising off when all my- Volume. sites were full. Yeah. Because there wasI had a capacity issue. Yeah. Um, but it was crazy, man. 7 cents lead. That’s- 7 cents-that’s bananas. a paid customer. And so tell me what caused it to start rising? Uh, IWell, everybody was over it. Mm-hmm. If you remember, I mean- Yeah. probably a year and a half afterwards, people were like, “I’m done. “Yeah. “I don’t care. “Yeah. You know? You might have COVID. You might not. Who knows? Yeah. But I’m not testing. Yeah. You know? I, I think I ended up with a few thousand extra tests, um, quick tests that you can do. Mm-hmm. And th- for that s- 6 months after, everyone’s just like, “Ah. “I still got calls every now and then from friends saying, “Hey, you still got those at-home testing kits? “Yeah. And like Yeah, you want some? How many do you want? I don’t care. You can have ’em. Get ’em out of my garage, but yeah. ‘Cause it mattered, not necessarily in the US as much- Yeah. uh, but traveling cross-borders. Like, I remember, ’cause you and I were on some car rallies together. Like, being able to go across into Canada, you know? You had to have proof of a lot of things, you know, and vaccines and tests and everything else. Or, went to the Bahamas one time and had to have negative tests to walk across the border. You know what I mean? So, um, yeah, that, that was a, that was a big time for us. It was less for us, but the world, outside of the world was still- Yeah. at levels of freaking out. Some were no and some were yes, you know? Um, and you and I know because we have, you know, been on these rallies with, like, people from all over the world. Mm-hmm. And it is funny that you say, like, as we get in these groups with these people, uh, and they’re all over the world, they tell a story from way they see it on their side. Like you said- Mm-hmm. “Oh, yeah, we, we’re freaking out. We’re on lockdown,” or whatever on this side, and nobody’s heard of anything, right? There’s been several instances of people in London or Australia or somewhere calling me, asking me about something that’s happened here that we don’t know about. Yeah. Right? And they’re like, “Well, this sort, this is coming out,” but things get nerfed, right? Or on the other side, you know, things get nerfed. And you think, you know, with, with who we are as a, as a, uh, global leader, you know, that we get purview to everything. But really, we’re- Every day. sometimes just as locked down as everybody else is, you know? Yeah. You and I h- have a friend in Australia. Mm-hmm. In March of 2020, I had a, or April, I had a, a trip planned to take the kids down to New Zealand. Mm-hmm. And he, he was gonna come over and visit. So I get down there, and we fly in, 24 hours flight, you know, being from here, LA- Mm-hmm. LA there. We get down there, we get to the hotel, and I, text him. I’m like, “Hey, man, don’t forget, we’re over here in New Zealand. “Mm-hmm. “Just showed up. Be here for a week. “And he calls me. He’s like, “Are you ridiculous? “Mm-hmm. “I mean, if I leave, I have to go in a hotel for 2 weeks. You are crazy, man. “He goes, “It’s a lockdown now. “Yeah. And I was like, ’cause it was just announced while I, I was on the plane. Oh, really? I had not heard it yet. So I turned around and called some people over here, you know, in the government, and they’re like, “Uh, yeah, we’re considering doing the same thing. “Yeah. I’m like, “Can, is considering like a high thing that you guys are considering, or is considering a, oh, it’s just an option? “He’s like, “We don’t know yet. “Yeah. I’m like, “Oh, boy. “So I turned around, changed the flights. I spent 48 hours of traveling. Mm-hmm. 36 hours in New Zealand. That was it. Yeah. That was it. Only fun thing we did when we were down there is, you know, remember when everybody was out of toilet paper? Mm-hmm. So we go to a store there in New Zealand, and they have walls of toilet paper. And my son Bryan turned around, he starts doing this video, I guess a live video or something. Yeah. He’s like, “Anybody want toilet paper? I can sell it to you for any amount. You can take it. “Uh-huh. “Just 20 bucks a roll, I don’t know. I got you. “Uh-huh. It was funny, though. Yeah. But yeah, that, the effects that peop- people across, across the waters took, man- Mm-hmm. is crazy in some aspectsMm-hmm. Yeah. And so anyway, so then you came out of that. I mean, obviously with the volume that you had, your company blossomed even more, right? Yeah, yeah. Um, and so was there a step that comes out of that? Of now I’ve had this influx, this thing went away that was completely generating so much volume- Uh, y- Did you build your infrastructure up now that you now have to change? Did you have to ricochet at this point? Definitely had to ricochet, man. Okay. I mean, I don’t think anybody expected it to slow down as fast, or as fast as it did. Mm-hmm. I mean, it was like going bullet train, to you’re on a ch- you’re on a small, little choo-choo. Yeah, okay. I mean, it was y- you c- I swear to God, within a 2week timeframe, 550 people in line to 3. You’re like,happened? “Right? Yeah. And, um, there was a couple of spikes after it, but it was nothing compared to w- what you had. And then even after that was, staffing was a bit difficult, uh, because if you did have, uh, increase in testing, you’d take it from your staff that’s helping the clinics and eh. So you, you really had to do a hard pivot. Um, and then after that, uh, you know, AI came out. Mm-hmm. And, or got available to us. Yeah. That’s the best way to put it, right? Yeah. It’s been out for a while. Just became available to us. Um, and that, of course, drastically, I think is changing everybody’s life. Mm-hmm. Everybody. Mm-hmm. In more aspect than most people could imagine. Mm-hmm. So- At rapid pace. At a pace people can’t even keep up with. Yeah. I mean, we built agents that sits there and actually does, helps with our pre-authorization. Mm-hmm. And big companies like HSA, I’m sure your wife knows who they are. Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, they started investing in, uh, AI, but they aren’t just investing in a small time AI. Mm-hmm. Most of us know Gemini and- Mm-hmm. you know, Microsoft Studios and Power Automation- Chat and Claude. and Groq and Manus. That’s nothing compared to what they’re invested. They’re invested in companies like Palantir. Mm-hmm. You know, and what, and Palantir pretty much has connected the entire US government together. Mm-hmm. Every single thing together. And then help them find Oba- Obanamosilaten and help them, they’re finding the narco terrorists- Mm-hmm. and doing this and doing that and doing everything. And so we built agents to sit there and assist us with the pre-authorization. Well, you can tell every 2 weeks, between 10 and 14 days, their agents on their end are just getting better and better and better. Mm-hmm. And we’re having to use, I’m gonna say inferior stuff that we don’t have access to- Mm-hmm. to try to improve ours to make sure- Yeah. it still beats them. Yeah. So it’s changing at such a rate- Mm-hmm. that, uh, I see people around in our, in, not in, not in my company, but other practitioners that are still ha- using paper charts. Well, how can you get your real-time data with paper charts? Right. They’re li- it’s literally within 2, 3 years, g- gonna let your neighbor, being business neighbor- Mm-hmm. that’s your competitor- Mm-hmm. take all the business away from you as fast as COVID went away. And you aren’t even gonna know what happened. You’re like, “What? “You know, it’s absolutely crazy. Mm-hmm. I have people quitting on me left and right because maybe they don’t want to support, you know, our agents and our AI that we’ve brought in. Mm-hmm. All it does is make them better. Yeah. Makes them be able to produce more. Mm-hmm. Makes the e- eh, the whole process quicker and faster and better and, you know, everything, right? And let’s say that there’s 2 people in a d- in a department. Mm-hmm. One of them wants to support it. The other one’s like, “Heck no. “I’m replacing myself. What ends up happening is one week, let’s say that this one normally would do 2, 100 task in a week. Mm-hmm. And this one would normally do 100 task. This one supports it. Next thing you know, every meeting on, on each week that come, and this one’s now doing 500 task. And this one’s only still doing 100. And out of the 500, let’s say that they need to get approved on those services. Mm-hmm. Or they need, some action needs to be taken. Well, they’re 98% success rate. Mm-hmm. This one’s 24% success rate. By the third week, they quit. Yeah. 1, they’re as embarrassed as can be ’cause they can’t keep up with the one that was as inferior. But it’s, it just blows my mind. How do you trust it completely though? I mean, especially when it comes to the medical field of this. Like, there, I, I know what I do for marketing, and I know what I do when the questions I ask, and sometimes the answers come back I know are bull, right? Yeah. So when it comes toBut there’s not life or death behind my answer, even if I have to go do more research. There’s money assigned to it, but not life or death, or medical decisions being made. How do you, how do you assign trust to an AI system? For example, um, knowing things that are coming out all the time, uh, I saw an AI, uh, an AI thing came out the other day and it said, “MIT comes out with this new gel that’s going to, that, uh, heals nerves and patches nerves. “well, I was told once a nerve’s dead, the nerve’s dead, right? But now they got something to grow it back. Is that real? Is it not real? Is this a made up something? Did somebody go into AI and make some nonsense thing to get people going a different direction? And now that it’s done that, is it now going out into the ether and the, and the world is now seeing that as information, and now it’s regurgitating against itself and causing a bigger lie thanBecause somebody seeded it. Yeah. You know what I mean? How do you know how to trust it? So in our scenario, um, we don’t allow it to use any knowledge that is outside of a box that we have. You know, I, when we first build the agents, of course, we use, um, I’m gonna say redacted stuff, and utilize some things like Manus and some of the other tools that are out there to help you build the agents. But once you finally get the agent built with the produ- the proper knowledge and instructions-you lock it down so it can’t sit there and go out on the web and actually do any work. So, it takes a little bit longer and more work for us, in a way, because let’s say that there’s 3 medical guidelines that we need to be following, and each guideline is, let’s say, 10,000 pages each. Mm-hmm. You have to literally insert those guidelines into the knowledge, and then you have to create the instructions that have to sp- explicitly follow a step from A to Z to give you your output. Mm-hmm. And then once it’s done, it’s done. Mm-hmm. I mean, it, knowSo there’s, there is ways to do that in a b- in a very good way. I mean, when we first started this, we didn’t know that you were supposed to start from fresh every single time you do an agent, you know? And so, this poor little agent, we never used the agent stuff, thank goodness, but this poor little agent, ever s- we, it, it did a, like, reviewed 20 medical charts. It mixed all 20 people up. All 20. Right. And you’re like, “Well, is it? “And then you had to go back, “Why is it doing it? “And it, it’s a whole training process. I mean- Yeah. I probably spend 3 hours a day- Mm-hmm. just learning. Mm-hmm. A lot in the morning and a lot in the afternoon. UmI mean, there was times there, dur- when AI first came out, and when COVID first came out, there was 2 sections of my life there. I was up at 3:00 in the morning, every single day. On with the developers, you know, or on with somebody sitting there, you know, buying or selling or whatever. And, uh, I remember w- when I was doing podcasts for, for COVID, just as educational purposes. I did it for 2 weeks, 2 hours a day. Mm-hmm. Started at 6 in the morning. I finally was like, “I’m not doing this anymore. “Hm. I mean, itI could help and benefit others at a much greater scale by doing other things than the podcast. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, uh, I mean, everybody was talking about it back then, soMm-hmm. But yeah, I think with AI, um, if somebody doesn’t have a lot of money to invest in it, um, they’re gonna get run over. Hm. That’s, to me, the truth. Like, how, how are you suggesting the investment comes in? Like, you’re saying if I don’t have any money to invest, or are you saying, like, the, the way my business is run, like, w- with the automations in my business, am I implementing AI through this? Or are you saying there are companies out there I should be investing my money into that are going to be generating cash? I’m not saying that you have to put money into it. Um, obviously, I think picking a platform of what you’re going to use is definitely important. Mm-hmm. Um, and sticking with that platform. Maybe not be scared to utilize a second platform to- Cross-reference? well, battle them- Okay. … is what I call it. You let them battle each other out and make him better. And, uh, b- but investing, I don’t care if it, you know, my son, he knows I want him to invest 2 to 3 hours a day of learning and practicing AI stuff. Mm-hmm. That’s a lot for people that have a full-time job. Mm-hmm. I’ve been doing it for many years. Mm-hmm. Um, but he knows this is what’s going to make him succeed- Mm-hmm. in our practice and our companies. Mm-hmm. Um, so investing time and money. I mean, when I say the money side, I mean, you either go all in on a ChatGBT model, or you go all in on Microsoft, using Copi- uh, power automation that also uses ChatGBT within it- Mm-hmm. you can call it copilot. You know, or invest in Google and using their whole platform and all that, because to mix them, to mix Microsoft, and let’s say that you’re using Microsoft Office 365 for your email and, you know- Mm-hmm. Word and Excel, that. To use Google is stupid. Mm-hmm. You know, ’cause then you’re mixing platforms, and it just, everything doesn’t work right. But if you’ve got somebody that’s somewhat techy, um, that can comprehend a little bit of how to put the coding together with AI and, and power automation. And y- you don’t have to be a full developer. I’m not a full developer, but I can do it. Mm-hmm. And if somebody watched enough videos, they should be able to do it too- Right. as long as they understand the workflow. Um, but that, I mean, when I say money, somebody could invest 500 bucks or 1,000 bucks a month there with a small business and pretty much automate almost every process in their company- Mm-hmm. and then utilize the staff that they have there to only grow their business. Mm-hmm. I mean, that’s, uh, to me, everyone’s scared they’re gonna lose all their jobs at our company, and that’s not the case. I mean, if we see 3,500 people this month, I’d rather see 9,500 people. And make sure everyone’s as happy as they could possibly be. Right. You know, I’ve, I’ve taken a step that’s probably the most complicated step in our company, which is front desk. Spent a lot of time and money into it for the last 3 months. And within the next 2 weeks, 95% of their job is gone, which means that they can be 10 times more efficient, more customer service oriented, maybe reposition some of the people you have to- Mm-hmm. other jobs- Mm-hmm. to help you do the same process, whether that might take a month or 3 months or 6 months, who cares? Yeah. But start promoting people in areas that they would shine- Mm-hmm. versus I have to have someone smart there. Yeah. I don’t need someone smart there in another few weeks. Mm-hmm. I just need somebody that loves people and is happy. Right. You know? So that’s, that’s what, that’s what I meant. You need, you need a face for your company. Mm-hmm. A relationship for your company when people come in and see who you are. Yep. Okay. So that’s what I mean by investing and spending time. So you, you wanna go in and, and try to find ways to, uh, lessen people’s job roles, lessen the, the weight they have in every position, and try to get it as, as slim as possible so they can either multiply themselves or do multiple roles? Yeah, it, well, I’m not saying I want to do that, but what I’m saying is if I don’t do that, my competition will just take me over. Right. You know, it’s, it’sAnd I think anybody’s business, I don’t care what business is it today with the exception of maybe, like, plumbing or- Mm-hmm. something of a nature like that, right? Mm-hmm. Where you don’t know which direction you’re gonna be going. Yeah. Um, but if it’s something that a human can sit there and do repetitively- Mm-hmm. Automated. It’s, it’s either gone or it will be gone. you have to. I mean, I mean, haHave you ever used Uber Eats? Uh, I actually have not because I live in the country, butDo you or have Amazon? 100%. Okay. Yeah. You know, I ha- used to hate shopping online. Mm-hmm. I mean, like, there was no way that was gonna happen. Right. And then, you know, here we are today. Mm-hmm. There’s 47 packages at your door today. 100%. But here we are. It’s so simple. Yeah. You know, and you, you, you ask yourself, is your company structured the same way? Yeah. Is it that simple? You know, can a, can a, a new client come on your site or find you on social media and become a client without ever talking to anybody here? Mm. Good point. Without ever even emailing anyone here. Yeah. Could they become a client and say, “Here’s my profile. Can you help me here? “Mm-hmm. “Here’s my stuff. “Da-da-da-da-da. I’ll take that challenge. That is a, that is a no for sure. Now, we use AI exclusively to strategize for you, um, to make sure that you’re getting the desired, uh, KPIs or deliverables- Mm-hmm. that you want, um, 100%. But can someone come on and join us as a client? first of all, I don’t know that I want everybody as a client, but, um, yeah, you’re right. If 90% of it’s automated. Then, yeah, then it would be amazing. I agree with you. I agree with you. Um- I can guarantee you Jeff Bezos isn’t sitting there advertising. I mean, he’s just got the trucks going, right? Yeah. He’s got this going, that going. There was a time, though. There was a time. Yeah. But that’s because he built a platform that he wanted everyone to get on, try it one time. Mm-hmm. And then it’s done. And- Mm-hmm. could somebody come and become a client in my business right now without either faxing us something or something? The answer is no. Mm-hmm. But it will be. It definitely will be. Mm-hmm. No, I’m not saying that’s a, a bad choice. I’m saying it’s not set up that way for us now. I know. Me either. But- Yeah. it’s where it’s going. Yeah. It’s where it has to go. Yeah. Yeah, I can remember, too, at, at Amazon back in the day, too, as a, someone who’s, who was selling through, you know, with one of the companies I was at, was selling through Amazon, it was very tough as a company to, to make a living through Amazon, right? Because there was these thresholds of you had to sell a product that was at least X befo- because of the points and the shipping and everything is the way it needed to be done that you just weren’t gonna make money. But now, I don’t know what’s happened in the last 3 or 4 years, but you can buy 25-cent knickknack- Yeah. and it’ll show up at your door, free shipping, in a day. And I’m like, uh, “Okay. “Where’s the gas behind that? Where’s the, the automation? Where’s the person? Where’s all that infrastructure that goes into that that can still allow that to get delivered? Yeah. You know? It’s crazy. You know, it used to be $7 shipping on everything- Yeah. or $8 shipping on everything. Then you got Prime, and it was free. Now everything’s free, right? It’s just, “We’ll see you tomorrow. Here’s your 15-cent something. “And it’s like, man, youI don’t know. The guy walking up to the door costs more than that. Yeah. You know? Um-But, uh, you’re right, like, it will be somewhere at some point that we will have to, uh, get ahead of the curve or push to that level to make sure that we do- Mm-hmm. think about those angles, you know what I mean? Yep. Well, that’s cool. So, so, y- your future is, is building into AI, making sure that you’re automating the systems, making sure that you’re staying ahead of your competition. Um, and so with that being said, are you starting to transition yourself out of day-to-day? Uh, I know you said that you’re, you’re in the, in the high rise now. Mm-hmm. And you want to do a lot more traveling, you know. Is that the goal for the next few years? Like, what’sHow much of this is work/life balance shifting on you at this moment? Mm. I still have a lot of work to do, um, because, uh, the potential’s too big for me not to sit there and help it. It’s just that sometimes people don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, so you have to be there showing ’em, “Go that way, go that way,” right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Um, but I think that I’m able to make an impact much faster now- Mm-hmm. um, utilizing some of the teammates, utilizing some of AI, utilizing, you know, experience. Uh, the ultimate goal, though, right now is to ensure that all patients that we get actually get offered at least every bit of care that would help them. Mm-hmm. I don’t want to drop the ball on that. Um, when it’s done manually, you, you h- you never can do that. Mm-hmm. Um, and, uh, when you bring on new providers, sometimes those providers have to sit there and actually learn what all can help patients and everything else- Mm-hmm. uh, within your system and whatand for that s- and for their condition. Mm-hmm. I mean, today, we can make it so that you could have a temp come in today, and they would do it just as good as your best person. Mm-hmm. Th- that’s my goal. Hm. My goal is to get it so that if something were to happen to your boys- Yeah. they come in, there is an algorithm that will tell them before they ever walk through the door things that can help them. Mm-hmm. And when they see a provider, provider’s gonna confirm a few things and sit there and actually reiterate almost identical to what they saw online. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then when they leave, they can sit there and do more. “Oh, so he did recommend these 4 out of 5, right? Let me-” Yeah. “go into the videos and see what’s that. “Mm-hmm. What i- what the benefit of getting that done would be. Mm-hmm. At least giving people the ability to, um, help themselves- Mm-hmm. um, even if they can’t afford it. ‘Cause there’s a lot of things people can do for free. Mm-hmm. And then there’s a lot of resources that’ll help pay for things. Right. You know, we’re starting our nonprofit next year- Mm-hmm. just to, because of that. We want to help the ones that can’t. Um, and there’s a lot of people that are catastrophically hurt so bad that they’ll get divorced, uh, people will leave them, this and that, everything else. We need to be able to help them. Mm-hmm. It wasn’t their fault. So, I think when I’m able to accomplish that, I’ll be able to step away for a little bit. Okay. Is there anything out there that the kid from Flint, Michigan is wanting to tackle personally outside of work? Oh, I definitely want toWhen Kathy and I got married, the only thing, before we got married, the only thing I wanted to do is see as many countries as possible. Mm-hmm. You know, last year, my kids were, went overseas for school, so we got to go 9 different countries, I want to say, which was cool. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, but, you know, truthfully, for me, if, if I could travel once a week, once, uh, or, or one, one week a month or 2 weeks a month, I’d be that, uh, that would be my bucket list. Okay. How close are we to that? Probably 3 years away, 4 years away. Okay. Well- How many countries you gotten to so far? 14. 14. 14. I don’t know. That’s nice. I could go to Europe and spend, uh, 2 weeks there, and- I was about to say, I’m n-hit 90I mean- I was gonna say, I’ve hit 36, but I spent a lot of time in Europe doing that stuff, soYeah. Um, yeah, I mean, honestly, like, I, I agree with you. I think travel is the root of all, um, uh, understanding of the rest of the world. You know, like, I think we get in our bubble, and we think that, we’ve got it figured out, or this is how the world works or doesn’t. And being able to see everything in a large scale really kind of helps us to, um, understand mankind, not just- Yeah. you know, the US or whatever, wherever we come from, right? So being able to get out and see the world and see how everybody else does is, you know, I, I think, to me, is, like, really what it’s about. And so if I get in deep discussions with people about politics, which I don’t like to do anyways-um, I’ll just first ask somebody, “Have you been anywhere outside of this country? “Yeah. And if their answer is no, then it’s like, then don’t tell me how- It’s gonna be a hard conversation. Then don’t tell me, you know, how bad we’ve got it if you don’t have any sca- if you don’t have any scope. Right? Well, and look at all the friends we have around the world too, man. Yeah. I mean, that’s something the car rally brought to us. Yeah. All over the world. Yeah. Even if you said, “I just wanted to go visit these people. “Mm-hmm. It’d ke- it’d keep us busy, you knowYeah, 100%. Do you plan on doing more car rallies? Oh, yeah. Yeah? Absolutely. Well, tell me about car rallies. What do you love so much about those? Uh, so primarily just Cannonballs!!!I’ve, I’ve been on and then Gold Rush, I was on. You know, I think with, um, Cannonball!, it’s a small enough group that everyone stays close. Mm-hmm. And that’s really, really neat. Normally, you have, like, a 20% newbie rate that’s coming in- Mm-hmm. and people ke- going out. Um, obviously, a car rally has to be fun. We know that. Mm-hmm. Uh, but it’s also the time that, the only time I stop thinking about work completely. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and everybody at the offices, all the fam- nobody bothers me. Yeah. You know, but they definitely want to hear all the stuff when you get back. Yeah. That’s cool. it’s, it’s a time, I’m not gonna say you can be different, ’cause it’s not being different. It’s just, uh, not worrying about work- Mm-hmm. and not worrying about the responsibility you have at home, the 3,500 people there depending on you- Yeah. you know, on growing your practices- Mm-hmm. you know, to making people better than who they are. Mm-hmm. Um, that’s the 10 days, and if I had those 10 days every month- Hmm. I think I would be one happy camper. You’d be fresh every day. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I get that. Has it turned you into a car enthusiast? I would, I, I would say itYes, I think it, I think everybody on rallies turn into that if they’ve gone to more than one. Yeah. You know, I was talking to, um, my brother about Argentina and doing dove hunting, and I went ni- 8 years down there. Does it turn you into a shooting enthusiast? Oh, yeah. Car enthusiast? Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, and does it turn you into a car owner? Yeah. I think the more rallies you do, the more you realize, okay, this is my set 0 whatever I like. Right. You know, these, no, probably wouldn’t do that as a daily- Uh-huh. you know, type scenario. Yeah. So, how about you? No, I mean, it’s, uh, you know, I’ve always liked cars. Um, s- I don’t, I don’t wanna say it’s a problem, but it’s a problem-because now I’m, now I’m thinking of turning my day-to-day car into, like, a rally car all the time. So I went and got, like, a s- super fast truck, you know-because I gotta carry my artwork around and stuff, you know. I’ve taken, you know, the TRX on a rally or 2, and, uh, that’s fun, but then all of a sudden, it’s like, what if we just got another little something, and then another- Yeah. little something, right? And it’s like, do I need those things? No, absolutely not, right? Absolutely, I do not need that for the month out of the year that I’m on different rallies. No, I don’t need that, right? Yeah. Sure do want it once you get in there and you feel the gas- Yeah. and you feel the, the excitement because it really does give you, like, I don’t know, like, like you said, it gives you a place to just kind of step away, because you never really turn it off- Right. you know? And if you just have, ’cause Kelly and I, we go, uh, I just go with my wife now on these rallies, and, and that’s all I really want to do, like, um. And so as I, as I go through, it just gives me the ability to turn it off with her, and not too many times in my life do I just get time, just me and her- Yeah. by ourselves. first off, we’re in the car together for 6 or 8 hours a day, driving. There’s a lot of conversations going on, right? Yep. And then besides that, like, now we’re going out to events at night, and I’m showing her different places around the world that she gets to see, and so would I say it’s turned me into a car enthusiast? Man, I, I love those, when I come back, every time I come back from a rally, I’m buying something new tomorrow. Yeah, you know. Right? I let a few days go by or a few weeks go by, and then it seems to drift off for me a little bit, but-um, it’s kind of hard not to love it. Yeah. You know, kind of hard not to get sucked in, for sure. There was an MC20 on the rally this past year, first one I’d seen other than one over in, uh, Spain. Yep. And, um, the one in Spain was a MC20 Stradale. Mm-hmm. I saw it over there, and I was like, there, there was 5 of them? Yeah. And they had, like, a little meeting there where we were. Uh-huh. I’m like, “Oh my God. “Yeah. Fell in love with it, but who knows, man, yes, it definitely does. Is there one that you got your eye on that you want? Oh my God. Yeah, that- Let’s get, let’s get one that’s, like, truly approachable. I know. I mean, I, I was gonna get a Roma before the rally. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and I’ve got the RS Q8, and then my wife wanted to bring the dog. So I go, “All right, well, we’re taking the family wagon, right? “Yeah, uh-huh. But, you know, it’s still such a fun freaking car to drive. Yeah. You know, you sit there, you, umThere’s not just one, man. Honestly, there has to, I would tell you that there’ll be one for each event. Yeah. You know, ’cause you can’t do a track in what I’ve got right now, right? Yeah, 100% Mm-hmm. Do I wanna drive a car that can do a track every day? No. No. Do I wanna get a car that I’m not gonna drive? No. No. If I get something, I’m gonna drive the darn thing. Yeah. So, yeah, youI don’t know. I’ll probably be that guy that finally gets a Ferrari and puts 50,000 miles on it in 2 years. Yeah. I don’t know. But that’s what you’re supposed to do. I mean, to me, I think that’s what needs to happen. Like, it’s just like finding someThere’s 2 things you can do. You can do something you can buy and for yourself, and you admire on a shelf. Yeah. I’m not that guy. Me either. I’m the guy that goes and gets the thing and takes it everywhere, right? Yeah. ‘Cause I just want to enjoy it. That’s part of, part of me having it is not me having it tucked away. Part of me having it is sitting in it and rolling through it and doing things that I’m doing with it. Yeah. Like, yeah, so. Um, I, I totally agree with you when it comes to, uh, the enjoyment and the, and there’s something for everything when it comes through there. Um, but man, I, yeah, it’s an addiction, for sure. And, uh, the, our cars have kind of leveled up as we’ve changed them each one, each time. Uh, I haven’t gone and truly got, like, a super sport car. Yeah. And I don’t think I’ll ever go that route. But I do like, you know, things that are, I don’t know, approachable, like, uh, I don’t know. Just- Well, even, even like aI won’t own another M- a M- McLaren. I mean, I’ve taken 4 of them on the rally. Mm-hmm. Every single one broke down. E- and all of them were different. Yeah. Every single one broke down. Yeah. And I spent a ton of money before they were out, like- Mm-hmm. to make sure they were perfect. Mm-hmm. And they still broke down. Yeah. Every single one. It- it’s like, you can get a McLaren GT for $140,000. 00. Mm-hmm. Even less, right? Mm-hmm. You can get a Ferrari Roma for a hundred and, about the same amount. Mm-hmm. And these are fun cars. Yeah. I mean, I think the McLarens are the funnest cars I’ve ever driven when they work. Yeah. It’s a rocket ship. But you better have a prayer every ti-every hour on the hour with that thing. I’ve had the same thing with Ferraris. They’re the same thing. Oh. I have never owned a Ferrari, just in case anybody’s thinking about that. I’ve never owned a Fe- but I’ve driven some of those on the rallies. Yeah. Ferraris have been the most temperamental vehicles that we’ve ever taken on a rally. It’s just, it’s like, man, you get it there, and you’re like, so excited to pull it out and show everybody, and they’re likeYeah. “No? No? All right. “Well, and then you have the unbeatable car, which is a Porsche, right? The, that can’t be killed. Mm-hmm. But half the people on the rally have them, so you’re like- There, yeah. “Okay. “”All right. “Yeah. I don’t know. It’ll probably be another family wagon next year, a different one. You know? Well, that, there’s nothing wrong with that too. You- Just as long as you have enough room and enough space-you know, to get in there. Yeah, put extra people in there with you. Uh, well, that’s cool. Well, I just want to say thank you so much for, you know, coming on this with us and, and talking a little bit about kind of your journey. It’s really kind of cool to see how this thing hasWell, first off, you went from, like, ricochet all over the place to it all came together at the end and really had a, a big boost, you know? And, and certain, you know, sometimes it’s timing, and sometimes it’s, you know, just being hard-headed and saying, “I’m not stopping,” you know? And so, uh, really proud of you. I really am for the things that you’ve done, and, uh, for coming from, you know, Flint, Michigan, and, uh, fighting through the things that you fought through to, to get where you’re at. truly, honestly, that’s, that’s pretty exciting to watch. Um, but, uh, is there anything that you want to tell these guys, where they can find you if they have any traumatic brain injuries-or anybody that, uh, that they need some help with in their family or anything? first, I, I’ll, let me say thank you for having me on. Truthfully, it’s always a pleasure spending time with you. We could probably talk for 4 days straight. Yeah, 100% So, but if, uh, anybody does have a concussion or a traumatic injury whatsoever, uh, we do have centers across Texas. It’s, uh, our website is advantagehcs. com. Um, you know, feel free to fill out the contact form if you just want to reach out and talk to somebody soon. Uh, if you’re l- local in Dallas or Fort Worth, San Antonio, you’re more than welcome to come by and take a tour and meet some of our wonderful teammates. Um, but, uh, no, yeah. it. And if we, if you aren’t in our area and you need help elsewhere, please reach out. We have over 5,000 people in our network that, uh, we should be able to help you close to your area. Appreciate it, guys. Well, I just want to say, I, I am super thankful that I was able to bring you, the original JZ today. Uh, Don, you’re always a great time, buddy, and love your heart, love your passion, love everything you got. Appreciate it, man. Cool. Until next time, that’s the blueprint.