To A Million And Beyond

#002: Active Chiropractic Meridian - The Gospel is Everything

• Matt Willis • Episode 2

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In this episode of 'To A Million and Beyond', Matt Willis of Wizard of Ads interviews Dr. Anthony Cutting, founder and owner of Active Chiropractic Meridian. With a history of growing a clinic from $100,000 in revenue to over $1.2 million in Eugene, Oregon, Dr. Cutting discusses his journey, including overcoming personal health struggles, the importance of faith, and his commitment to providing holistic healthcare. Learn how Dr. Cutting's clarity on his 'why' have led to rapid growth and meaningful community impact in his new clinic in Meridian, Idaho.

00:00 Introduction to the Clinic's Mission
00:22 Meet Dr. Anthony Cutting
01:08 Discovering Chiropractic: A Personal Journey
03:52 Chiropractic Care Beyond Bones and Joints
05:41 Challenges with Traditional Medicine
10:06 A Journey Through Health Struggles
19:28 Starting a Chiropractic Practice
22:32 Starting the First Practice
23:29 Challenges and Growth
24:53 Moving to Idaho
26:48 Key Moments in Business Growth
29:12 Finding the Right Coach
31:30 Faith in Practice
41:05 Balancing Life and Work
42:12 Final Thoughts and Advice

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Dr. Anthony Cutting:

The clinic itself in chiropractic is just the vessel that the Lord can use to impact the community around us for his kingdom. you get to open up conversations with people who don't know the Lord and they hopefully recognize something different about you and your office and your team, and then you get to know them They become, almost like family to me. I really care about each person that we serve and I love them.

Matt Willis:

Welcome to"To A Million and Beyond". This is Matt Willis, partner with Wizard of Ads. Today we're talking to Dr. Anthony Cutting, founder and owner of Active Chiropractic Meridian. He acquired a clinic in Eugene, Oregon and grew it from a hundred thousand in revenue to over 1.2 million before selling it and starting his current clinic in Meridian, Idaho. In this episode, you'll hear how clarity on and commitment to his why is leading him to rapid growth and deep impact on the community around him. I hope you enjoy.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

and I just thought that was just so amazing and just encouraging for my own faith.

Matt Willis:

So Anthony, where did your interest in chiropractic originally come from?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Original interest came from, how it helped my family and so my dad had a, a birth defect in his low back, his lumbar spine. One of the, the bones, the vertebrae didn't fully fuse. So as he got into being active with football and wrestling primarily started having these crippling low back episodes, you know, back would just completely go out on him. He be on the ground, just couldn't, couldn't walk. Awful pain. And so he discovered chiropractic and it helped him with, with those issues. as I started growing up doing sports, I had a number of sports injuries and so, uh, we went to the chiropractor first and I was able to get those taken care of and avoid surgery and keep playing, you know, and just enjoying my time with my buddies playing sports, so that's where the first interest came, uh, with chiropractic care.

Matt Willis:

So with your father, you just first identified chiropractic as a potential solution to a problem?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

That's when we first identified it was he started seeing other chiropractors, because of his back issue. And then so he discovered it first and then, once I was born and then started growing up and started having sports injuries, like that's, that was our go-to see the chiropractor first, and they were able to help me. But even if they couldn't, we figured then they would refer. Help if I need a surgery or something, but that never was the case. The chiropractic care was able to help me get past all those injuries. So that's where the interest came from and part of what steered me on this journey.

Matt Willis:

Sure.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah,

Matt Willis:

Any specific sports injuries of note that you experienced that kind of reaffirmed that you were on the right path?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah, so when I was in high school, the two big ones that chiropractic helped me with was I tore my, medial meniscus on the left knee. Was able to avoid surgery from that. And then I separated my left shoulder wrestling my sophomore year of high school, was able to avoid surgery. The biggest thing it helped me with was actually the bigger picture of chiropractic more of a holistic wellness sense. It helped rebuild my immune system from how it was, pretty much decimated, when I was young from traditional allopathic medicine, western medicine, which we can talk about. That was the big picture. And then also I had a number of concussions playing sports, and I dealt with long term ramifications of that, Chiropractic care was able to get me past that and get my life back on track, from a very dark place. And that steered my own personal journey of how I treat people in my clinic, that really has defined it, more so than original introduction,

Matt Willis:

So there's 15 different things that you just said that I want to dive into, the first one being meniscus tear

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

yeah.

Matt Willis:

the impression that chiropractic is primarily geared towards bones and joints, whereas when I think tearing a meniscus, that's more of a tendon, isn't it?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Right, meniscus is a soft tissue injury, right? It's more of a cartilaginous, tenderness type structure. So many people, it's misconception, think bones when they hear chiropractor and that's actually not what chiropractic is. Chiropractic the foundation of it is actually dealing with neurology balancing what's called the nervous system. And the nervous system is basically how our brain controls and coordinates everything in the body and how it communicates back and forth to the body. The nervous system literally controls everything we do from. Our alignment and our muscles and our mobility to our digestion, our heart rate, our lungs, it it controls every cell in our body. And so chiropractic removes interference from the nervous system so we can recover, we can heal, we can adapt and get back to the way God designed us to be Now downstream from that, since this nervous system controls everything. Chiropractic then helps with structural issues, which is what people mostly think about misalignment and the bones and the joints. And then it can help with functional issues, which is now looking at the soft tissue, the tendons, the ligaments, the muscles discs, and then also, looking at how do you correct posture problems and movement problems and deal with orthopedic type sports injuries in many cases, if you choose to be that style of chiropractor. Last thing I'll say is 150 different ways to practice chiropractic, which makes it very confusing for the average consumer. Do I see a chiropractor and what do they help with? And which type do I see? And so I've personally gone in more of that sports orthopedic world with my practice style.

Matt Willis:

Okay. That's really helpful to hear, thank you for that. you mentioned traditional medicine really wrecked your immune system and kind of. your body operated. Talk to me more about like the specifics of that and how your journey toward more of a holistic health started.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah. First off, I'll say there's definitely a time and a place for traditional medicine and medical doctors, don't get me wrong, but I feel that. Our society, we call it healthcare, but we really have sick care. And so it's very much a let's chase symptoms, let's bombard the body with pills and vaccines and surgeries and all these things to try to just annihilate the symptom. You almost like bombing, war, so to speak, where really true healthcare should be that we're working with our bodies and. Wisdom that God designed it with. Like in a normal balance state, God knows what he's doing when he created us. We are designed to be healthy and so healthcare should support that process. Now we live in a fallen world where sin has safe and its toll, so our bodies break down, and currently we live in a world that is unnaturally stressful and incredibly toxic. That's what we're battling against. But if we work. With our bodies to find ways to support the healing process, we can thrive and we can adapt, and we can heal well despite all the stresses and the toxins we're exposed to. With that background, to answer your question before we discovered chiropractic care my dad had started discovering a little bit with the back injury that we mentioned, but that was like the small box that we knew of was. Back pain, which is like what most people think of a chiropractic. So you know, my mom gets pregnant with me and during the pregnancy she didn't know much about nutrition and healthy lifestyle issues, so she didn't eat very well while she was pregnant. As a result of that, there potentially could have been some issues with my development in the womb even. But whatever the case may be, I'm born seemingly healthy. The doctor said to me, he does have small eustachian tubes in his ears, but other than that, I think he's pretty healthy. year. Those first four years of my life, I had chronic air infections. Have an ear infection. Again, we didn't know about chiropractic medicine and alternative medicine, so my parents did what they thought was best. They went to the pediatrician, traditional medical doctor, and he says, oh, here's some antibiotics for little Anthony, and that'll take care of the ear infection, hopefully. So we do the antibiotics. Ear infection clears up, but what happens is the antibiotics actually weaken your healthy gut. Bacteria, which we need healthy gut bacteria to strengthen our immune system. 80% or so of our immune system's actually in the gut. So when you wreck it with antibiotics, you're now weaker. So time goes on, they get another ear infection, go back to the pediatrician. Here's the more antibiotics. This cycle continues on and on. The more we do it, the more I weakening the immune system, the more infections, sinus troubles, colds I'm starting to get. So we found need to the point of. Four years old getting ready to go to preschool And they do that hearing test. When you put the headphones on, you're supposed app raise your hand with the beeps. I sat there and did nothing, so they said he's either autistic or he is deaf. And so my parents then were going into the ear, nose and throat doctor. Again, this is traditional medical doctor, not alternative. They say, oh, he's got enlarged tonsils and adenoids and they're closing off his small eustachian tubes, So we're gonna take the tonsils and the adenoids out and put tubes in the ears and then he'll be able to hear again. Again, that's backwards thinking. Our tonsils and our adenoids are a crucial part of your immune system, and they inflame when they're trying to help your body battle some immune issue, God put them there for a reason. When they're inflamed, it's not that you need to take them out, it's you need to, how do we help this immune system function? And then they can not be so inflamed, they'll shrink back down.

Matt Willis:

Yeah.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Let's support the system rather than hack and cut things out, So I went through that surgery and again, on the surface they said, oh, look at that. He can hear again. And I actually, in fact, I remember being freaked out how loud the world was. Like, it was very scary for me at first until I got used to hearing so well. So I lived that way, from age four to 15, I'd be seemingly a healthy kid. I started getting into sports and school, then normal life. But I would have these episodes a few times a year where I would get what I call sick. I, It would start with this vertigo where the world starts spinning outta control, and then I'd get tingles throughout my body. I all of a sudden start throwing up violently. I thought that's what happened when everybody got sick and I didn't know that was not really everyone's experience. So it would usually last for 24, 48 hours and I'd be back on track as far as I knew. And that was my pattern for a while. Meanwhile, again, we. Didn't eat very well as a family. No, just traditional standard American diet. But then again, as I start getting into chiropractic care for my own sports injuries and things like that, and my dad keeps going, then my mom starts going and my sister, and then, these chiropractors start educating, Hey, it's not just neck pain, back pain. Sports injuries, which a new, as you said, even a new to us at first. Wow. They can take care of knee problems and shoulder problems. And then they're like, actually we're balancing this nervous system which controls everything. And we have a lot of information on like healthy nutrition and stuff, women's and other ways to support your bodies, health and healing. And this starts opening up this world for us to learn more. So we start changing the diet and making healthier choices, which was great. Despite all that, when I was 15, I ended up losing my hearing in my left ear.

Matt Willis:

Hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Seems like it happened pretty suddenly, as far as I can recall. But it might've been gradual. I just didn't notice it. But whatever the case may be I lost that. And so I lived that way with, I was a healthy guy with one ear that functioned properly. I lived that way for another six years, and then at age 21 my health really started falling apart. literally months after I get married to my lovely wife, Brenna, she thinks she's married this pretty healthy guy, even a hearing impairment, but good otherwise, Poor thing. Then we start on this 11 year journey where I was getting sicker and sicker. Anything from migraines the vertigo episodes would get worse

Matt Willis:

Hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

I have, fluctuating hearing loss the right side Would go away for periods at a time and I'd get this intense pressure in my ears. And this ringing, it's called tinnitus. That could be soft or it could be just like maddeningly loud and no one can hear it but me. and just driving me crazy, I would have muscle pain and joint pain throughout my whole body. Digestive issues, food sensitivity to

Matt Willis:

Hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

just started to become a much brain fog Just really hurting and it would ebb and flow. I would've good days and bad days. But as time went on, I started having more and more of the bad times, less and less of the good. So as I'm doing this, I went through my undergraduate studies, human physiology, and University of Oregon that led me into chiropractic school. I'm on this mission trying to become a chiropractor, help people, trying to figure out what in the world's wrong with me. And chiropractic was helping. Here and there. I tried acupuncture, I did physical therapy. I did just every diet you could think of, supplements. I went on this huge journey of trying to figure things out. Also, it's a big spiritual journey, which we can talk about. I ultimately grew my faith. I see God's wisdom in his hand of sovereignty over everything, but very dark places in the midst of that. it was on this journey that just diving into my own story, my own health, and trying to figure it out that. It gave me more and more tools to heal, thankfully Lord, with because of God's grace. Mostly healed from those issues. Something I still manage, but way better now. From the things I've learned, the journey I've been on. And it allowed me also to then mold my practice into a way of serving people in a more holistic way and just really give me that, connection and that empathy for people, even if it's not the same thing I dealt with, I can totally understand when somebody is just in a really rough place, health wise, a lot of pain and it just helps me hopefully connect with them and love on them more and serve them.

Matt Willis:

Yeah. You have many varied experiences all tied into the one time that I would imagine that, 80% of the people who walk through your doors, you have some capacity to relate to their story. And even if not, can empathize with them because you've experienced chronic pain, you've experienced poor health over a significant period of time That's really neat and I feel like that is reflected in the reviews for your practice You guys have five stars out of hundreds and hundreds of reviews. the care and empathy that you guys are, trying to show is absolutely coming through, it seems

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

thank you.

Matt Willis:

Yeah.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

I.

Matt Willis:

Do you feel like that dark season set in while you were in school, or was that when you were a practicing chiropractor? Was that when you had your clinic? At what phase of life did that ensue?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

My condition had just progressively been getting worse for many years. And then here I am. We started having children. I had a couple small boys at home and I'm trying to run a practice and serve people with chiropractic care, support my family as a sole income provider, There's days when I can't hear a word my wife or my children say to me me, my patients were saying to me and just dragging myself through the day and mustering up anything I had to serve the patients. And then I've got nothing left for when I get home, and so it just. Yeah. So if that was the darkest season, early in my career as a chiropractor and a young father and a husband, and, trying to be there for everybody, but feeling, I'm just failing in every sense of the word. And so just having to desperately cry out to God, dive into him and wrestle with some but God is so gracious he knows everything about us and he's not surprised when I'm. Be having these dark moments of wrestling with him just like the Book of Job, if you read that it a similar story I've read that quite a bit during those years. And just going back to who God is and just having to press into him.

Matt Willis:

Yeah. How long did that season last and did it you to doubt whether you were on the right track with chiropractic or did it reaffirm that you were on the right track?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

I would say there were both of those. There were times I definitely have doubted and thought, man, this isn't all it's cracked up to be. but then I finally found some solutions that helped me come out of that place and like I said before, manage it a lot better. So on the one hand, it affirmed it, but it also helped bring it into perspective where in chiropractic there's two different. I would say into the spectrum. There's some guys that are just, or gals that are just like, Hey, I'm just only neck and back pain, or maybe even sports injuries. I'm gonna stick with that. other docs you, I'm gonna adjust everything under the sun. If you have cancer, I'm gonna cure your cancer. If I'm adjusting you, I've landed somewhere in the middle and I say chiropractic is very powerful. The as clear, the nervous system, there's so much we can do with a healthier lifestyle, but at the same time, I'm not God and God's. Will and, in sovereignty, overrules all, and there's things I'm never gonna understand in this present world or that, God knows the bigger picture that I'm not gonna see. And so it's not that I'm going to heal every single person or my own self. maybe it's not God's will for me to be a hundred percent healed and perfect, but he knows why. And that's greater. There's a greater purpose with that. Then also there is still so much that we can do naturally that people need to know about. We're not doomed to just suffer. We don't have to just live on the pills and go the traditional allopathic western route That I think leaves people more sick and broken than it helps in many cases. So there's a lot you can do. Long story short, but I'm gonna go out there and claim to be. God, and that I'm gonna heal every single thing a hundred percent of the time and I have all the answers'cause I don't. And so on the one sense, that affirms my faith and strengthened it tremendously. But the other side, it also I, it gave me realistic perspective on health and healing.

Matt Willis:

do you feel like when patients come through the door and when they leave the door, does helping them feel personal to you? Does it feel like every person that you help through a health challenge is what you wish someone had been able to do earlier in your life?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Absolutely that drives my passion for. Trying to help children at the youngest age possible. We see, three day old babies sometimes in our clinic. And I love when parents are, that health conscious and aware and get their kids started early because I fully believe that if I could have had chiropractic care from the get go, I would've not had so many of these struggles. But like I said, I'm not going back and. Trying to change what I can't change in the past, and I know that God worked it all out for a greater purpose, and it's driven this passion. But as you said, if I can get so many families served and help them avoid going through what I went through or something similar, that just, that means big to me.

Matt Willis:

Incredible.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah.

Matt Willis:

the difficulties in our own life to shape how he wants us to make Earth a little bit more like heaven the present. So what led you to acquiring your first practice back in Oregon?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

I had worked well. So I, when I first graduated 2012 from chiropractic school I started working in another doctor's office. But I was running my own clinic. I shared his office and I was an independent contractor. I tried to, from the get go, have my own thing. Unfortunately, I don't teach too much about business in chiropractic school, and so I didn't know what I was doing. and this doctor, he had been in practice for a long time, but. He of just happened to make it through trial and error, and he still, 20 years into his career, wasn't that great of a businessman either. So it was essentially the blind leading the blind when I would try to ask for advice. And so I, we were struggling and I had my first son, Ezekiel, with a newborn, and try to support this family. My health still wasn't quite as bad at that point, but I was having troubles with it. But yeah, I, we weren't doing too well, we did that for about four months and then just so happened I had connected with another chiropractor throughout, those first months, a local guy in town and didn't think much of it. I just met and I always try to pick people's brain and learn, and how can I. Do things. but his wife called me up four months into my career and she's just frantic on the phone saying, oh, my husband, he's in the hospital emergency. We don't know what's wrong with him. And basically we have no one to run this clinic, no one to take care of our patients. Will you come over and work for us and save our clinic essentially? I said, okay. Yeah. So I went over there and I became an employee for them. And, got their clinic saved and not having to shut the turns out he had a rare form stomach cancer that thankfully he recovered from. But, he couldn't practice for a long time. So I stepped in and I was working for them, got a lot of clinical experience, got to see an office that was established and how they ran things. And they did some things was helpful and I also saw a lot of things not to do. didn't practice very ethically, turns out and yeah, didn't treat their employees very well either. So definitely learned things not to do, but it was an experience. So I worked for that office for about a year and a half. it was very, toxic environment, that they had created there and, they didn't pay myself or the other employees very much. I was essentially. Living on food stamps, maxed out all our credit cards just to pay for groceries and gas. still struggling even though I saw a ton of people a week. So I got to this point where I was like, I gotta make a decision like this isn't working. And I've seen enough. I think I've learned enough, I can try my own clinic and I can't be doing any worse than I'm doing now financially. If so, I've been praying, considering, where do we go? We were in Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. I even. took a trip with my wife back into Arizona where I grew up. Say, Hey, should I move back to Arizona? Start a clinic here, purchase a clinic there? What can I do? So as I'm doing all these things, I had a friend of mine, another guy in Eugene, Oregon, a buddy that I knew. He had a small, very small clinic. He had opened up two years prior and he calls me up and says, Hey, you want to buy my clinic? I have to move back to Minnesota for some family stuff. And I said, absolutely I can do It was small, so it was very inexpensive, which was good for me'cause I didn't have any money. And then we had to get created with the financing through the bank. And I got these, gifts from my in-laws and my parents that, you're supposed to not pay back. But I did eventually pay them back just because there's no way I'm taking their money. my in-laws were kind enough to literally drain their retirement fund to give me this money to help. Get the loan for the practice. So I absolutely paid them back eventually. But anyways, the Lord worked it out to where I was able to. Purchased this small practice for my buddy. So we started that in 2014, and then it was a one man show. I did everything. I did the scheduling, I did the treatments, took the payments, all of it. And as we went, start seeing more people, helping more people, the Lord's blessing us, were able to then expand the team bit by bit. and we grew it over the next seven and a half years from there. So that's how I got started with the first practice.

Matt Willis:

That's really neat. And if I'm not mistaken, you were able to, by God's grace, grow that one too.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

the year that we sold,

Matt Willis:

ahead.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

the year that we sold we had brought in 1.25 million. and then we took home, it was about 550,000, I think,

Matt Willis:

That's wonderful.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah.

Matt Willis:

curious how that felt, that's not all that long you guys were, racking up credit card debt, just trying to make the bills happen sell that clinic. Did that feel a sense of, it was worth it. I feel a sense of yeah, it all worked out.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Oh, absolutely. Really what it It just strengthened my faith in the Lord and just I felt so humbled and just grateful how God allowed us to prosper and grow that clinic and serve so many people. And this all, despite what we mentioned earlier, during that seven year period of owning this clinic, my health was ultimately worse and worse for. I'd say the first five years. and then things turned around. Those last couple years, I started getting healthier again with the things I had discovered. To grow from when I purchased from him, it was making 165,000 a year, then to 1.25 million and having all these health struggles it's all God's hand in his providence and his blessing. It's not me. No way.

Matt Willis:

That's remarkable.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah.

Matt Willis:

what led you to Idaho?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

So it really came down to Oregon, just sadly fell apart. It always was a liberal leaning college town. They always say Oregon's one of the most unchurched states in the nation. So that was always that. Vibe, but really around 2016 ish, I would say 2017, somewhere around there. Things drastically changed and a number of factors behind this, and we've seen this across our nation in general. The spiritual warfare is really, the enemy is really just getting more overt in his attacks and the. declining morality in our nation as a whole. You see it with so many of these movements going on. Oregon was a hotbed for that. So that's one thing. The lack of morality and the town will naturally decline as a result. So a lot of drugs, a lot of crime, a lot of homelessness, human trafficking things that did not fit our values. Just a ton of darkness. Also, I think legalization of marijuanas opened the door to, then they made hardcore drugs, recreational drugs, legal, and easily accessible for people. So it just drew in so much darkness and dangerous people.

Matt Willis:

Yeah.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

So having two young boys at the time and we prayed about should we be staying here, be a light, should we leave? And then Covid hit and the way they handled it out on the west coast, it was just awful. Everything shut down and things just accelerated even more and more. So we got to the point where we felt God calling us to make the change for the family and the quality of life. So he sell this business. Start over from scratch. Go to Idaho. So here we are. We just tried to be obedient.

Matt Willis:

That's wonderful. So backing up to the clinic that. You grew from just over a hundred thousand to just over, 1.1 or 1.2. what were some of the key moments in that helped you level up?'cause there are plenty of chiropractic offices that just stay at the a hundred thousand dollars mark or just stay at the$500,000 mark.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah, some of the key moments would be 2016. I connected with a business consultant who worked with chiropractors, and he came in, did an audit of our clinic and said here's some things you're doing well, but here's a whole bunch of things that you can improve on. And he gave us resources on how to level up on the business side of it and get wiser and smarter with that. then he also had connections with other chiropractors and people in the world of chiropractic and alternative medicine that I was able to then bring them in as. Coaches and mentors and learn what these super successful million dollar plus offices were doing and incorporate some of that into our own clinic. So I got started with that and then as I get to meet more people there, I came across another doctor who he was a chiropractor, but he retired from active chiropractic hands-on care and was consulting and coaching these, again, very successful, high level, high performing chiropractors. he became my primary coach

Matt Willis:

Hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

that was 2018. Also in 2017, end of 2017, I met another doctor who helped me on the clinical side of it. So Dr. Peter Goldman taught me what's called the zone technique, and that is my foundation of the chiropractic approach I take that helped my body heal and turn that corner. And the results that we get with it for patients is like nothing else I've ever seen in chiropractic. So you get the improvement on the business side of it. And then you get the clinical results that are better and combine that together. And then of course, God's blessing all the way through and just, it's all about him. And so that's where that really came. And then I was say the last turning point was actually 2020 with Covid when it hit. He'd also taught me to be a smarter, more savvy business owner. So we trimmed off some of the fat, so to speak, the things that we were having too high of overhead that we really could do without, and that helped our profitability. Even though numbers were technically down in 2020 because of all the shutdowns, we actually have better profitability and turn the corner towards the end there.

Matt Willis:

Talk to me about how you went about finding good coach.'cause there's plenty of people who say that they can coach who can't. And there are plenty of people who have had successful chiropractic clinics or are proficient at whatever kind of skill who just because they can do it doesn't mean they can teach it. how did you go about finding. a solid coach

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

So just, yeah. I'm always gonna go back to just. The Lord's hand leading it. He just opened up these connections and these doors. And so the first gentleman I met in 2016, say, it turns out, and he has said good things. I know that was helpful at the time, but ultimately not as strong of a coach or a mentor figure. He kinda opened the door. And I met some people, but the people he was connecting with initially did not exactly match my, Philosophy, my style of how I wanted to operate. But it got the ball rolling and then so it got me realizing like, Hey, there, there's some people out there that know what they're doing and I need help. I need a mentor. I need a coach. Like anything in life, right? Sports or spiritual walk. it helped me realize I need to look for somebody and so I started doing my own research, praying about it of course, and vetting different chiropractic coaches out there. I interviewed a ton of'em and looked into their programs and took a good long while before I found the one doctor I worked with for a while. I was in with Dr. Josh Wagner. And just the way he taught, the way he talked about your patient interactions and your creating that experience for people really just resonated with me it felt congruent. And so I worked with him and he was a big help. And say the one thing though, with Dr. Wagner, why I don't work with him any longer. Because as I grew in my spiritual walk, he's not a believer, and that's not a requirement necessarily, but some the things he teaches beyond just the business didn't quite mesh with me being a believer. And as I matured in my faith, I believe said, you know what? Next step here I want to be all in with the Lord. I don't want to be, Combining any light with a darkness. And so I parted ways of him for that sense. and now the Lord has connected me with a more recent couple coaches that I work with that are Christian fellow believers.

Matt Willis:

That's amazing. So in your current practice, how does your faith factor into how you conduct your clinic?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

It is the foundation of everything. Um, so yeah. Um, the, the clinic itself in chiropractic is just the vessel that the Lord can use to impact the community around us for his kingdom. You know, whether that's, you get to open up conversations with people who don't know the Lord and they hopefully recognize something different about you and your office and your team, and then you get to know them and, and. They become, you know, almost like family to me. I really care about each person that we serve and I love them. Um, and so if, if it's an opportunity we can share the gospel with them and. You know, impact them, not just physically, but spiritually, then that's, huge. Or if I am working with fellow believers, just one more way that we can hopefully encourage and build up one another when they come in for their appointments and we just love on them. But then also they encourage me as, as we're just speaking the word to one another, praying together. Many times we pray in our office with our staff and our, our patients, um, and just yeah, encouraging each other in the midst of the. You know, the world and the darkness and the, and the, the mission. God has called each one of us too. So I really see this as that's the greater picture. Our faith is everything as the foundation.

Matt Willis:

That's really neat and hearkens back to the first. Practice that you were at in Oregon, because it seems like though there's been seasons of a dark season for the soul, your faith has remained of utmost importance to you. And so when you've been in environments where that's been tapped down, you haven't been able to really thrive. And now that by God's grace you have. A clinic that he's entrusted to you, you see it as an opportunity to use it fully for his glory. I'm curious, you say that your practice is an overtly Christian practice? And by that question, I'm not saying you don't accept patients who aren't Christians, but do all of your employees know that you're a Christian and do you let potential new hires know ahead of time? Do your patients all know that you guys are believers?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Absolutely. Yeah. That, that is in every interaction we have. You. You're not gonna be around us long without knowing that we are

Matt Willis:

hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Christ followers. Every new hire knows that coming in, we pray. We have a staff meeting every Wednesday, we pray to open up each staff meeting and so everyone knows. So that's definitely the integral part of our practice in our lives. But then to your point, That does not mean, this is a common misconception right now our nation where people think Christians are intolerant, bigots, and we hate people that are not Christians. That is absolutely not true. That is the opposite of the gospel, right? Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and it was the sick that needed a physician and that's why Jesus hung around, you know what they called the sinners of the day. And he wasn't condoning them staying and saying he was showing them the light in a better way and loving on them and saying, go and sin no more. Here's the truth. And the truth will set you free.

Matt Willis:

Yeah.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

we welcome everybody into our clinic, As far as any religion or belief system, but they're gonna know that it, we are Christians and we stand on the authoritative truth of God's word to guide every aspect of our lives. And as a Christian, we are reaching out to them because we love them tremendously just as God does. So yes, everyone is welcome, but we are a fishing company.

Matt Willis:

you mentioned every last one of my patients who come through the door. I love them. And just that kind of emotional connection to those that you serve, I feel is so uncommon not just in the medical world, but in business like the, it's it's transactional. It's, I'm doing this to, I'm working for the weekend And that's not what you're talking about right now. What you're talking about is I love my patients, I love my employees. I'm doing this to serve them out of the blessing that God has given me. your passion, it sounds like, is I want to share the love of Christ with other people, which then means out of the overflowing of God's love for me, love these people.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Absolutely.

Matt Willis:

That's amazing. I love that you wear your faith on your sleeve and that you have the goal of Kingdom Impact. So how has it been with your current clinic growing from,'cause you've only been in Idaho for a few years now, you're already up to, if I'm not mistaken, around 700,000 in revenue. How did that happen?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

And again, I might say it's only by God's grace and his provision, he's taking care of every step of the way. But more practically speaking, when I first got into town, I tried to just meet as many people as possible, right? We got plugged into a church very quickly, that's necessary. But then joining business networking groups in chamber of commerce, just going out meeting whoever I can. Then, trying to really focus on social media, leveraging Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, our primary channels for social media. I realize that's just huge these days. And try to also reach out some of the local influencers with that to

Matt Willis:

Hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

hopefully expand our reach. And that's been good. And then, me, you alluded to this earlier with Google reviews. Just if someone has a good experience, ask them if they'd willing to share that so that other people can see it and we can serve and love them too. And that's been the biggest thing. And then I will say lastly, even though we hit about 700 revenue last year, as far as the gross production, a lot of it is not much profit or early on yet. It sounds like a lot. But overhead was high, starting a new clinic, and we built a, very nice clinic. One I, Lord willing, will be able to stay in long term and not have to keep shifting around locations. And we built it, very higher end and just to create a healing space for people. And so it, it's been expensive to create, but well worth it. Now we're starting to see some of the fruits of those initial investments come out.

Matt Willis:

Yeah, starting a business, there's oftentimes a high upfront capital expense, and so it takes time to pay all of that off and to grow in profitability. why is the gospel so important to you?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

That's life. I am a degenerate sinner. I born into sin. I've missed the mark I make mistakes every single day, and that's what separates us from God, right? Being able to be in his presence for eternity. And so the gospel message that Jesus. Saved me and defeated death and rose again, and then I am now securing him and I will see God face to face again and for eternity and perfection. That's just everything that saved my life. Literally saved my life. And so how could I not? Speak about that. We are commanded to, with the great commission and the gospel of Matthew, that God says, go and share with others. Spread it to all the nation. So that's what I gotta do.

Matt Willis:

Yeah.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

If you've got, some people have a deadly illness and you've got the cure in your pocket, why would you not share that?

Matt Willis:

Yeah,

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

So I have to.

Matt Willis:

it sounds like it's, and maybe I'm reading into this, but if we go back to your story, the dark season, like you just mentioned, he quite literally saved my life, and I'm sure that in part you mean that in a spiritual sense, But I almost wonder, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, if there's also a actual physical health sense in which you feel like by God's grace, he has taken you from, chronic illness, struggling to even be able to hear the voice of your children, to now you're doing so much better. And so there's a sense in which like, how could I not serve my king? has blessed me so tremendously and saved my life.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Amen to that.

Matt Willis:

impact do you want to have on this world and on this community?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

I would just say that if people were to say that I reflected Jesus that they saw him in me and that many lives could be reached for God's kingdom, whether that doesn't always mean that, I can say, oh. I personally know that 150 people gave their hearts to Christ in front of me. That because of what I did, no, it's not because of what I did. No matter what, it's God's working on their heart. He says, plant the seeds. But if that means me, however many I find out someday. and when I see the Lord face to face and paradise he tells me at that point, Hey, you a hand in that and look at all these people that are now also saved. That's huge. Gets me emotional because it means everything. our children, that's our biggest

Matt Willis:

Hmm.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

And if my kids love the Lord and know him well, That's

Matt Willis:

How do you have time to manage a team and to pour so much into your church and family? Like how do you structure your life?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Yeah, that's a great question. I would say I'm a planner. Now kids sometimes make it to where you can't plan everything out, I I try my best to have, Outline for each day, and okay, at this time I'm going to do this and then this. So I write everything down. I have to do lists but I also have that flexibility. Know that things aren't always gonna happen as I expect them to. So a little wiggle room there. But yeah, I just try find everything out. And about to is huge for me.

Matt Willis:

Yeah,

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

And then also knowing what to say no to. There's a concept of essentialism, right? Where. If you say yes to too many things, your energy and your time is scattered everywhere and you're not achieving very much. But if you pick the say, top three or four most important things to say yes to, and you can put your time and energy into that, and you can really produce bigger results on the things that matter most, and you just have to naturally say no to a lot of other things, and that's okay. And that's important.

Matt Willis:

Yeah. What advice you give to yourself at the start of your career?

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

I would say trust the Lord and his plan, and work hard, but make sure you also don't miss out on those moments with your kids when they're young. Have the wisdom to play the long game and don't just have to push so hard to try to be the top level success right now. It's a marathon, not a sprint. and God will take care of you if you leave it up to him and his plan and just surrender to what he has in store for you.

Matt Willis:

Wise words, my friend Dr. Anthony. Cutting. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been truly a pleasure to be able to connect with you. For anyone interested. His clinic can be found ActiveChiropracticMeridian.com. You can check out the reviews. It's honestly, it's just encouraging to read them and realize that there is some good in this world. ActiveChiropracticMeridian.com Dr. Anthony Cutting. Thank you.

Dr. Anthony Cutting:

Thank you so much, Matt.