EP35: The Biggest Trap Chiropractors Fall Into

In this episode, I open up about something I wish I learned a lot earlier in my career. I talk about the biggest trap chiropractors fall into… chasing shiny objects instead of strengthening the business that’s already working. I share the mistakes I made investing in gyms, yoga studios, PI clinics, and franchises, and how all of them pulled me away from the one thing that was actually producing seventy five percent of my income.

I walk through the moment everything changed for me, how I built a vertically integrated flywheel, and why every program I run today — Growth Summit, Chiro180, Adventure Summit, Empire — all work together instead of pulling me in different directions.

You’ll hear practical examples of how chiropractors can tighten their systems, elevate patient retention, increase revenue, and build new opportunities that actually support their core business rather than distract from it.

If you’ve ever felt stretched thin, burned out, or tempted by the next big idea, this episode is going to hit home. It’s a reminder that your biggest breakthrough is probably already inside your practice… you just need the structure to let it grow.

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Transcript

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This is the Austin Cohen Podcast where we talk real strategies for chiropractors ready to grow beyond the adjustment. If you're building a business, developing your leadership, and trying to build wealth without burning out, you are in the right place. Let's get to work What's up everybody? Welcome to episode 35, man. Crazy to think. I really feel like I just started podcasting not that long ago. And to see where episode 35 is it's pretty wild. Hey, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, man. We are now in December. Does anybody else feel like December is about to fly? What are we in December 2nd when this is getting released? And I just feel like in my brain that this month is about to be the fastest month ever. Really making sure we're intentional with that in our company, making sure that we take time to as well, to be with our families, making sure that we also don't slow down too much where we start January slow and we can actually build momentum going into January and have an accelerated start. And so all of these things are really just going through our minds at corrective chiropractic right now and making sure that we do this the right way. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. That's actually my favorite holiday. For those that don't know. Why it's my favorite holiday is one, it's just, it's not about gifts. There's no gifting involved with Thanksgiving, and it's really all about gratitude. Being with family, eating good food, getting to slow down. For me, it's great because all my team is also on break, and usually when I'm on a break and other people aren't breaks, there's always things that happen. Unfortunately my breaks don't turn into integrated breaks. I don't get full break. So it was nice to have a full break shut down and be ready to launch into the last month of 2025. And with the last month of 2025 comes something cool. Growth Summit is officially sold out, ladies and gentlemen. Really excited to say that. So now all I can focus on is purely the event itself. We ran$0 on ads for this, by the way. I don't even think we promoted this online, but it was all through word of mouth, through Cone 80 subscribers through the podcast, through the newsletter, through social media, my Instagram page, and yeah, we are like more than two months away and we are sold out, which is and the caliber of people. Oh my gosh. I was going through this with my team earlier today and we were just talking about going through who's this person, who's that person? Whoa heavy hitters and I love that. It's interesting to me, it's like some of the heaviest hitters are the ones that know they need the most growth. They're like, they're still the ones in learning phases asking the most questions. These are a million dollar clinics that are asking some very fundamental questions where, I can't even get$250,000 a year clinics even as these kind of questions yet, they actually need it more than the million dollar clinic. And so it's really interesting to see like this type of level of person, the character of this person, the wanting to learn of this type of person. How great they are just about asking questions is which probably got them to where they are because people want to help and people wanna support. And man, I'm just really excited to do this. Our speaker, which was announced today in our private channel is Charlie Rocket. Charlie Jale from Man. He goes, he and I go back in the back in time from when he was managing two chains to some other heavy hitters too as well in the hip hop industry. To then getting diagnosed with a brain tumor, to then starting a foundation to becoming a Nike athlete. He has built an unbelievable personal brand of over 1 million Instagram followers, but a really good community. And that's what I'm gonna have him be teaching on Saturday afternoon. It's something that I've learned in the last year about his personal brand.'cause every single person has a brand. Everyone has a reputation. E everybody has a belief systems that people have about them. Everyone has something that they could teach other people and people other people could learn from. It's really a matter of getting that out there if that's something they're looking to do. And whether that's with them at an individual level or whether that's them at a clinic level, there's just a huge opportunity for that. So really excited to bring Charlie I announced this today too, as well, that we are doing a private VIP dinner on Saturday at 5:30 PM at Growth Summit. It's$130 a ticket. It includes all of your food, but Charlie's gonna be talking about foundations and leading with purpose. And that's just, you're getting just a great opportunity to be with somebody who's done some really big things for a very low ticket. You're just covering the cost of your food. And he's gonna be sharing a lot about his foundation too, as well. So that is gonna be coming up a growth summit, but, gosh, growth Summit is gonna be I don't know if anybody who's coming has looked at the agenda yet, like the agenda wasn't even done before we sold it out. But I just love that everyone had trust in knowing this event was gonna be what it's gonna be, and it is gonna be. Fricking rocking. Just two years ago, less than two years ago, we did the first one in 2024 that sold out of only 25 people. Then we capped it at 50 people for 20, 25 this year, and now we're moving to 75, which is actually the max capacity we will ever be able to hold in that room. So let's go. But today I wanted to really talk about something and a problem I'm seeing as I work with my Empire Program people. My Chi 180 people, when I talk to the Adventure Summit people, growth Summit people, and my corrective chiropractic people, and it's a disease, it's a syndrome. SOS, anybody know what OS means before I say it? Shiny object syndrome. And if I look at my life, I was thinking about just the other day about how much time and energy I've completely wasted on living with SOS. I'm not saying that from a I'm not saying it from a place of regret because every single one of the decisions taught me something and got me to where I am. But if I'm honest, there were seasons where I was investing in everything except the thing that actually worked. I invested in a gym, CrossFit gym. I actually started a yoga studio that served bulletproof coffee and kombucha and did stretch therapy. I opened a PI clinic. I invested in a, I invested in a business that was like a hospitality hotel business that went under. I explored the franchise world and every time I convinced myself I was doing something smart. Looking back, not one of those things connected to the real engine of my life, and if this is something that I can teach to those who don't have to make the same mistakes as what I've made, because I'm gonna give you a lot of examples today on lessons that I've learned and how you can implement that into your practice. This could save you thousands if not millions of dollars. Just alone on the distraction of implementing Whoop into our practice. That was a hundred thousand dollars loss. Now, it did some positive things for our practice'cause we raised our fees from that, but the whoop itself didn't work at all. And if I look at corrective chiropractic, it's about 75% of my income. The other 25% of it comes from real estate. So those are my buckets and those are my strengths. Yet what I was doing was I was moving some of the percent of if I have a pie of a hundred percent of a pie, what I was doing is I'm moving percentages into areas that don't serve me well, 20% here, 10% there, hoping that something would hit. But every time all it did was pull my attention away from my core. And if this is resonating with you right now, I really suggest you listen all the way through. Because it's really gonna hit you when I actually start talking about some of the examples and some of the lessons I've learned.'cause what I didn't understand, and this was the question that now guides almost everything I do is this, how can I vertically integrate the things I'm already great at so that what one area wins, they all win. Lemme repeat that for you'cause this is my guiding question. How can I vertically integrate the things I'm already great at? So when one area wins, they all win. And I had to be intentional with this because I'm somebody who pulls triggers fast, and I move very quick. And in my past I would justify why I would think something was great and how it could help me win in all areas. But if I peel back and go into the details of it and actually talk to an integrator, I realize how much it could actually make me fail. And once I finally understood that question and that concept, really everything started to change my life. So for example, like that's when Gross Summit was born in 2024. I was so frustrated with the seminars in our profession, same content, same sides, same speakers, the same people teaching theory instead of teaching from what they've actually built. And I wanted an event that was grounded in real action. I wanted real leadership, real business like I've always lived by a simple rule. We test it, then teach it. If I haven't lived it inside a very successful company, I'm not teaching it to anybody else. And honestly, that approach has forced me to tighten up corrective chiropractic even more. It's held me more accountable. And if I'm gonna get on stage and talk about something, especially at Growth Summit in a couple months, it better be something we're doing at a high level in our offices. Growth Summit became a byproduct of vertical integration, not a shiny object. And at Growth Summit, all the teachings that happen are teachings from experience of things that have been working really well in our practice. The same thing happened with CHI 180, right? Like we used it for five years internally before we released it. We literally couldn't run our clinics without it. Today, the reporting, the plan builders for the care plans. The spinal health scores, the business development tools, the accountability metrics, the reporting inside of it, like it's not a side project. Chiro 180 is an extension of the same mission we've always had helping patients get better and helping chiropractors grow. And it's a vertical integration piece. The Better Chi does, the Better Growth Summit does. The Better Growth Summit does, the better Corrective Chiropractic does. And the flywheel continues, right? Adventure Summit. Same pattern. Like every year I choose a personal challenge that pushes me physically and mentally, whether that's an Ironman, seal fit, ultra marathons whatever it is. These are not business decisions. These are life decisions. And one day I realized I could help bring people with me, and that's why I just, a month ago, 16 guys said yes to the opportunity to go out to the Grand Canyon, do this 40 plus mile hike between 16 to 20 hours, and now it's become a brotherhood. It still ties back to the values. At Corrective, we grow, we challenge ourselves and we lead accept the challenge, set the standard as that Core Value Empire program built that exact same way. I only took six clients from my high level coaching program. It's high touch, it's high accountability, and when they grow their clinics. Corrective. Chiropractic will also get sharper. Chiro 80 will also get better, and the entire ecosystem becomes stronger. That is the flywheel. Everything vertical, everything aligned with everything. Building momentum, and this is where chiropractors are getting stuck. They're constantly chasing the next thing. And by the way, I get the same Instagram and social media ads that all of you do too, as well, right? Hey, you can make$20,000 using this. You can make$10,000 doing this. You have a friend that says something to you about some stupid multi-level marketing thing that used to be very popular back in the days in this profession. And it's easy to get distracted. Like I'm a chiropractor too. I live this, I live the exact same like world as all of you do. And meanwhile, when you're getting distracted, the core business, the one that feeds them, your family's, your team gets the leftovers. So let me give you a few ways that chiropractors can start vertically integrating right now without adding chaos or distraction. And these are just some of the areas that we did. Now, what I was sharing earlier was more of the B2B side of my life now, which is, the Chiron 80 Grow Summit Adventure Summit Empire Program, and some of the other programs that we're gonna be launching in 2026 to help clinics, but right, this is the B2C side, business to consumer side, which is, as a clinician, your day-to-day with your patient base. Which I would assume is most of the people listening to this podcast right now. So one is dude, strengthen your core care plans. Most chiropractors are, I'm learning, are under building their plans. You tighten day one, day two in your progress exams, and your core gets solid, then revenue becomes predictable. Now, I assume that people listening to this podcast believe that people should be adjusted the rest of their lives. I feel that way, I'll get adjusted the rest of my lives. My kids hopefully will get adjusted the rest of their lives. It's a belief system I have, which is why I felt that for us at Corrective Chiropractic, our plans are average, let's say around six months. Because to me, that's a good starting point for somebody to go through an initial intensive plan to move them into the corrective phases and then to start some of their maintenance care with us too as well, which will be an easy transition. Into the, into their, lifetime maintenance phase. So just tighten up the core care plans a bit. I'm seeing people doing these, like one month ones, these two month ones. I just don't feel like it's enough to educate a patient to understand the value of what you do. And we'll talk about programs and processes at Growth Summit, but just tighten these up, make'em a little bit better for the patient from a longevity standpoint. The second thing is add in a decompression or another aligned service, aligned with your values, not just random services, deeper solutions to the problems you already have. So one of our problems was we would have patients come in and we'd be adjusting them only, and we noticed that they weren't getting better. And what would happen is they'd have to go to the orthopedist and they would end up going down. They would say they have a disc herniation or a bulging disc, so then they would end up doing cortisone shots, eventually leading to surgery. Long term. So what we decided to do was implement decompression. Why? Because now if somebody's not getting better, we refer'em to a cash-based MRI facility. But we know that we have results that we can get for the patient by them bringing that MRI report so they can, we can be like the direct source for them rather than having to go down the medical rabbit hole. They can come directly to us and we can usually get them really good results. And we've saved so many people from different cortisone shots and surgery and medical intervention. Because we built an aligned service as a good vertically integrating piece for our practice. The other thing is, hey, host your own branded workshops and events, mobility classes, disc healing workshop, back to school Posture Day. These are the things in your practice that can build trust, credibility, but they're also gonna be new patients. And it's all inside of your own wheelhouse. But once again, it's like you would want to brand these things. You would want to name these things, come up with. Your own name for these, and these are just core value based on it. Like for those of you guys that have Chiro 180, you know that you're gonna be having the feature pretty soon where you can customize exercises. Great. Why don't you customize a workshop and add, upload it in there? There's so much opportunity to do that, and that's a vertically integrated piece, and who knows what that could turn into long term, by the way, but that aligns with your values and it aligns with your mission. You're not just randomly speaking on something that doesn't align with you talking about, horseback riding, right? Or something along those lines or something random. Now you're talking about something that lines with your business, which is eventually gonna lead to other things, right?'cause you could do that and then you could take clips and you could use that for social media, which you eventually could go into your newsletters and then you could get corporate workshops done. Fourth thing is like brand your re-exams. I think progress exams are the most, one of the most underrated things in this profession. Along with progress reports, milestone assessments, performance updates, just change the way that patients engage with their care. When you create branding, branding creates meaning. And what does meaning do? It builds retention. So start thinking of how could you create that better identity for different experiences in your office? Use technology that supports your core, so like measure compliance of patient compliance in your office. Track your black holes, know what your re-sign rate is. Data is actual vertical integration. It reinforces the heart. Of your business. So think of what are the tools or the technology pieces you could use, whether that's CHI 80 Yes. Whether that's Lu Grow. Hey there's so many that are out there. I don't, whatever anybody wants to use it, but make sure you do the work. I, I don't think it's gonna be one of these things where you just think you plug and play, right? Like you just set it up and it automatically does the work. No. You as the CEO need to be intentional when you're implementing softwares into your practice. Like you wanna implement KI 180. Yeah. Do the work to maximize the benefit for you, and then train your team so that way all you need to do is just look at the pulse of it. If you're using LeRose, same thing. Like you can't just plug and play, you gotta study the data and then use the data to build the perfect p and ls. There's, when it comes to technology, it's not as simple as it sounds, but it can be because you simplify the process as you build the systems. The next one is. Use techno offer a protection or wellness memberships, like that's how you build your ecosystem long-term. I shared earlier, start with core care plans. Great. Then what? Wellness memberships, protection plans, whatever you want. Maintenance plans, it doesn't matter. Call'em, whatever you wanna call'em, but just have an ecosystem in your practice where you build long-term patient care, build aligned community relationships and partnerships. So like gyms. Cryotherapy, running stores, golf centers. These are things that feed your brand and your mission, but they don't distract you from it. Where, a lot of people start seeing these traps is when they start looking outside of things that don't create alignment for them in that practice. And so those are all places and partnerships where there could be really good alignment and crossover symmetry for them. Create a simple retail corner like cervical pillows, lumbar supports, molding tools, heel lifts, like this is not a full storefront, but it's a, the essentials that support your care plans. And so if they ever run out or they need to get something new it's already built in there for you. Or maybe you have an Amazon store that people order everything from where you guys get kickbacks from, it aligns. And then you're doing workshops by the way, where you're promoting your Amazon store that now it's a vertically integrated piece. You start to see how I'm doing this now. What about a prehab area? Like you're already teaching exercise to your patients, but what about something that can create structure and flow and actually have really good results? I love a good warmup before I work out, but if there was a good prehab area that had a structure in place where there was different levels to it that I graduated through, that would be helpful for me. I would wanna know that as a consumer. So all of these things stack. They all create momentum, but they don't distract you, and that is the key. For years, I was personally chasing things outside of my lane. And the moment I started building inside my lane was what is where I was meant to be. It's like everything in my life got better. Revenue climbed my stress levels significantly dropped, alignment increased, and burnout basically faded away from me. So hopefully you can learn a lot of these lessons from me.'cause vertical integrations have saved me probably a decade of spinning my wheels. It can save every chiropractor listening to this right now, a whole lot of frustration. The goal is not to build more things. The goal is to build the right things in the right order inside the lane you're already great at. Many of you are great at chiropractic. Start building things in that lane that things that create alignment for you. The moment you do that, everything starts working together, so that way when one area wins, they all win. Hope you guys enjoyed listening to this, some of the lessons that I've learned along the way and some of the hardships I've had, but how that could hopefully help you not deal with SOS, keep you in your lane and build a flywheel that serves you, helps you grow your life, and helps you grow your practice. I can't wait to see so many of you in a couple months at Growth Summit. Have a great day guys. thanks for listening to the Austin Cohen podcast. If this episode helped you grow, share it with another chiropractor who's ready to go beyond the adjustment, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about building your business, leadership, and life on purpose, visit chiro one eighty.com or follow Austin on Instagram at Dr. Austin Cohen.