EP40: 25 Lessons 2025 Taught Me

As 2025 comes to a close, I wanted to do something different.

Instead of highlighting wins, numbers, or milestones, this episode is about the lessons that were earned the hard way. The ones that came from uncomfortable conversations, tightening systems, leading teams, protecting family time, and learning where growth actually comes from.

In this episode, I share 25 lessons 2025 taught me, spanning leadership, business, patient experience, systems, community, and personal growth. These aren’t theories. They’re reflections from a year of building Chiro180, leading multiple clinics, creating events, and being intentional about who and what gets my energy.

If you’re a business owner, leader, or someone who cares about doing meaningful work without losing yourself in the process, this episode is for you.

My hope is that one or two of these lessons land exactly when you need them and help you finish the year strong and step into 2026 with clarity, standards, and momentum.

Thanks for being part of the journey.

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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 is up? Everybody happy? We still have one more episode. I was gonna say happy last episode of 2025, but then I realized that actually we're gonna have one more, maybe two, who knows. But welcome to episode 40. I've got a great one today. And because I thought it was the last episode of the year. I decided to put together the top 25 things I learned in 2025. Now, before you go away, I'm telling you'cause you're thinking your brain, oh my gosh. If each one's a minute, this can take long. Promise. Listen, you know how I roll. I get a lot of information out in a short amount of time. I'm all about efficiency, and if things about me, you will know that I have an outline for every podcast that I do. I usually have, one through 10. Let's say if I'm doing 10 things and I just put a couple words next to it and then it tells me what I would need to go into next. So before I go there, listen. Happy Hanukkah. For those that celebrate right now, Merry Christmas. For those who celebrate that coming up, happy New Year. Happy Kwanza, whatever you celebrate. I love you. Enjoy it. Great time to reset, rejuvenate. And for me, right now I'm actually on vacation right now. I'm in Aruba right now with my family, and today what I was doing was just reflecting and that's usually what I do. I like to do that on vacation. Sit down in a lounge chair, just take some notes. Finish it, like looking at my goals, maybe editing some of them as well, looking into 2026 if they align with who I am and where I'm going for 2026. I can tell you right now my award for 2026 though is impact for sure, and for those that have been staying connected with me through social media and through my newsletter and through a lot of the different in 180 man by yeah. That, that is the word. And why I say that is because, growth Summit has been sold out now for about a month. Adventure Summit is coming up in August. For those that want to join and do Adventure Summit, you've gotta let me know soon. I can only take 16 guys with me. That is it. It's already over halfway full, so it is very limited spots. It will be life changing for you if you're somebody who is physically fit enough to be able to hike 40 miles through Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a great group of guys and then also do some whitewater rafting. It will be a core memory for your year. If I look back at my 2025, for example, and think of the biggest moments, one of them was being in the Grand Canyon with those guys that I suffer fested through for 40 miles, 20 hours. You're so present in the moment. It was one of the best experience in my life. My theory is that's kinda why I do Adventure Summit because for the guys that just keep coming back every year, after 20 years, they'll have 20 amazing experiences under their belt. And so for those that are looking into that, please let me know asap. Also for those that man, thank you to everyone who was on the call, by the way, our RNA growth call the other day. Wow. That was the largest call I think we've ever had. That was a massive those are the free calls I do for Chi 80 clients and 20 minutes of coaching and 40 minutes of q and a. Whatever it is they want. And I love it.'cause so many of you guys maybe 15 to 20% of our clients. You signed up for a subscription to software, but right now what you're doing is you're learning processes, you're building systems. But you're paying the 1 95 in order to get access to the information, and then you're telling me that in January you're gonna start utilizing the software. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. You're thinking five years in front of you, not five minutes in front of you. I love that. So kudos to you. And then I've got some really cool programs. I'm gonna be talking about. That is gonna be coming up in 2026 too, as well. Many of the Empire Program is sold out. That's my coaching program, but there are some other offers I'll be doing that's not like a recurring monthly subscription. It's like a one-time thing and that's it. But you'll be able to learn different things, whether that's marketing engines, whether that's building an automated practice with recurring revenue, whether that's building out different patient experience. Like you. It will be 90 minute calls weekly for eight weeks. These programs, and I'm telling you for those that have been affiliated with me through Growth Summit, adventure Summit, chiro 180, already in Empire, I overdeliver. Always, this is why my retention is really high with all my programs. This is why they sell out constantly. And I'm not saying that to brag. I'm just saying that because I've been burned like many of you in this profession by programs and different offers out there. And there are a bunch of scam artists. And I can tell you right now, like that is why I got into doing all these things because I wanted to break that mold down or break that mindset and. Basically some of the remorse that so many of you have been through. So I'm excited about all of that. And yeah, hopefully I can have some impact on your life in 2026. And by the way, even if that's just you listening to the podcast, great. Good. I love that. Now, today, like I said, I wanted to go through 25 lessons I learned in 2025. And if you asked me the start of 2025, what I thought this year would be about, I probably would've said growth. I've said more clinics, more systems, more momentum. But what's interesting is the year went along and I realized 2025 was actually not about adding more. It was about earning what I already had. So for me, my word for 2025 was clarity. Like I had to earn clarity, I had to earn peace, and I had to earn the right to scale without losing myself. My family and the culture. We've worked so hard to build a corrective chiropractic. So in. Instead of just doing recap of the wins, huh? I'm gonna share 25 lessons that 2012 taught me. The kind that you don't learn just from books or podcasts, like these are things you learn from getting it wrong when you're uncomfortable conversations and just you're stuck in work that's longer than feels convenient and things get really hard. That was it for me. So let's go through these 25 real quick. Now. Lesson one growth. The goal is not growth. It's growth you can carry. So there were moments this year where things were growing fast, but I felt very heavy with what I was carrying. And that was my signal. Like I've learned that if business expands, my margin disappears. That is not success. Growth has to come with structure or it will eventually become pressure. And I had to learn that as time would go on. And my margins were really thin, but I knew that in order to launch as we grew now, lesson two. My word of the year, clarity creates confidence, confusion creates churn. Early in my career, I thought, great. People would just figure it out, Hey, put'em into practice and they'll figure it out. This year reminded me that even great people can struggle in unclear environments. A players can still struggle in unclear environments, and once roll's expectations and standards were written down, everything shifted and that's what was our whole theme of our company retreat. The confidence went up and drama went down. Lesson three, systems don't kill culture. They actually protect it. I used to think culture was something you felt. Now what I know is culture is something you experience consistently. When the systems are clear, people don't feel micromanaged. They actually feel supported. Build clear systems. Lesson four. If it isn't written down, it is not real. I can count how many times I've said we've talked about that before. Don't you remember What I learned this year is that memory is not a system. Documentation is, if it matters, it has to live somewhere permanent. This is why we use business development dashboard in K 180 because it is our traction L 10 meeting that we utilize where that's where the quarterly goals are. That's what the to-dos are, and that's what the issues and everything is documented. Lesson five, the owner energy is not a sustainable energy. There were clinics that ran beautifully when I was around. But when I wasn't, they struggled and that was humbling. If things only work when I'm present, that is not leadership. I've done that person actually a disservice that is dependence on me. That is not good. They look to me for their, for leadership, but to make them better leaders, not to run their practice for them. They're the CEO of the clinic and they need to be treated as the CEO of the clinic because that's the role they signed up for and that's the goals that they want to achieve, and I wanna help them achieve that. So I gotta remove dependence. Lesson six. The best operations can feel boring. When systems started clicking, nothing felt dramatic. There were no fires, no adrenaline. It was just consistency. And that's when I knew that things were finally working. Lesson seven. A great day. One is never one moment. Patients don't commit because of a one sentence. You say In a day one, they commit because everything stacks. Here are the four things I want you to think about the tone, your testing. We use spinal health scores, as you probably know, confidence, clarity. Another reason why we use spinal health scores and a plan that feels like more of a path, not a pitch. This is why we have our path to performance. Lesson eight. Data doesn't fix problems. It reveals them this year. Data exposed areas I did not wanna look at. There were gaps in retention. There were gaps in our drop-offs, a lot of inconsistencies. But once the truth became visible, leadership became easier for me to my team. And if you're a chiro Navy subscriber, that's why all those reports got entered in recently. The value by referral source, the commit rate by doctor, all that is in there because of this exact reason. Lesson nine, the black hole is not about retention, it's about communication. When patients fell off, it wasn't because they didn't like us, obviously, it was because we didn't anchor the timeline clearly enough for the patient. People don't quit plans. They actually understand is what I've learned. Lesson 10. Delegation forces personal growth. Every time I let go of something I'd held onto for years, I felt exposed at first. Then I felt lighter. Delegation didn't weaken my leadership. It refined it. I used to always think delegation was telling somebody what to do. Not at all. I was building leaders lesson 11. Roles and responsibilities are love. This year reinforce something simple. Clear roles, give people permission to win. Ambiguity actually creates anxiety and clarity builds trust. Have you noticed how many times, by the way, I've used the word clarity today? That's why it was the word of 2025 for me, less. You'll hear the word impact from me. By the way, a lot next year on our podcast, lesson 12 meetings aren't bad. What are bad meetings? Once agendas got tighter and owners and people were clear, the meetings stopped draining energy and they actually started creating momentum. The structure gave us the freedom. Every meeting somebody goes into, whether that's a morning huddle, whether that's a L 10 meeting, that, whether that's a retreat, whether that's a quarterly meeting with a staff member, that's an annual performance review, we call one. The last 15 minutes of a shift for us is our final 15 structure. Structure. Structure creates freedom. Lesson 13, recurring revenue buys peace. There is something powerful about waking up on the first of the month knowing you are not starting from zero. Predictability will calm you, but calm leaders make better decisions. Recurring revenue. Recurring revenue. I cannot say that loud enough, and that is something I've reached out to a few of you recently, by the way. About being part of an initial cohort for me to learn how to build this in that eight weeks, I encourage you to take me up on that because that will be monster. Lesson 14, patient experience compounds, tiny moments matter, being on time, remembering names, following up, all those different things, right? So for example, we like to do something when a patient walks in. Hey John, thanks so much for filling out the paperwork. By the way, I see you're into running. Where's your favorite trail to run?'cause what are they expecting? License and insurance. We want to throw them for, we wanna throw them off there a little bit. And we want to have them expect the unexpected in our clinic, because we overdeliver on moments. Those moments become what Loyalty. Number 15, you don't rise to the goal, you fall to the standards. What we tolerate becomes normal, and many of you are tolerating a horrible culture because you've created that culture because the normal has become the culture. Raising standards is not about being harder, but is about being clear. Lesson 16, hard conversations are rent. Every tough conversation I delayed cost me more. Later, 10 minutes of courage now beats months of frustration later. 17. Operational excellence is the best marketing. The smoothest clinics grew the fastest, not because of ads, but because patients felt the difference. Lesson 18. Sometimes growth comes from subtraction, which is where we're going in 2026. So for example, for us, like there's a clinic that we just need to shut down to subtract, to add cutting unnecessary complexity. Brought us back into the fundamentals again. And what the fundamentals they, what they always win. If there's any sports team that's out there that's deviating away from fundamentals and just trying to do trick shots and focusing on external things that don't provide energy for them internally. They just gotta go back to the fundamentals again. That's all it is. Go back to free throws, go back to layups, go back to, basic ca like it's all about the fundamentals. Number 19, being like is not the same thing as being trusted. This year I chose. I chose trust over approval more than once. Leadership got quieter, but you know what? It did. It also got stronger, and I know for young docs it's very easy to choose approval over trust. Focus on being respected, not liked. I'm telling you right now, that will get you very far. It would be dishonest for me to lie to my team just so I can get their likes. It would be very. Honest and respectful for me to tell them the truth because they've entrusted me to be their leader. And it the reason they've trusted me, because I'll always be honest with them, sharing with them opportunities for growth. Now, if they don't wanna listen, that's on them. But the point is always being always being trusted. 20 teams don't need heroes. They need standards. So consistency constantly will always be what intensity. Showing up, calm, prepared, steady. That's what gives the team the confidence to rise up rather than just grind, focusing actually on the consistency of the standards that you've set for the clinic. Number 21 community is an asset, and this is something we've learned over the last few years, just being more selective who you report your business, but what they're gonna do is also expand the business. And so really focusing deep on. Who those business partners are in our communities has been something that we've poured into hard. That's actually gonna be one of the programs and offerings we're gonna be talking about next year, is building an entire community partnership where you have business partner emails, business development campaigns where you're able to build relationships with every single person in your community. You're essentially becoming the mayor of your town. Number 22. The last ten second rule applies everywhere. For example, I always talk about how, you know the different gyms I go to, their clock is always counting down, usually. So if it's a 10 minute workout, it counts down. And what ends up happening is the last 10 seconds. Most people, what do they do when the teacher says 10 seconds? Most people just stop. And what does that mean, right? If they finish workouts, how they showed up, that wouldn't look too good. But if they finished workouts, how they started workouts. And they finish stronger than they finished. That's where everybody wins. Now I always say if I'm running a 5K mile, three has gotta be the fastest. If I'm supposed to do 4,000 meters of a swim and I get to 3,500 and I start justifying why I need to stop those last 500 meters and just be like, ah, whatever. Like I've already done 3,500, like that's good enough. Then it's not good enough actually.'cause it's like where else showing up weak lesson 24. Momentum builds. Motivation. Motivation. What over time, guys, we all know this. It fades, and I've talked about this so many times. You know how, different seminars I've been to in the past and different workshops and different coaches, they focus so much a motivation and it's nah, I'm good. What doesn't fade though is systems. Routines more than moods. That's really, that's the focus is building good structure and building good routines. Next one is, success is only meaningful if it creates freedom to serve. And this one kinda was more late in the year, but more clinics, more software, more events, like none of it matters if it doesn't lead to more impact and more opportunity for others. And a life you're proud of behind the scenes. So the real win in 2025 was not about scale, it was actually more about alignment. So thinking more about like the business I'm building, the leader I'm becoming and how you wanna be remembered. So that's the filter I'm carrying into 2026. So short, sweet takeaway of this is if 2025 taught me anything, clarity is the word, which compounds standards create freedom. And finishing what you start changes who you become so grateful for the lessons, even the comfortable ones, but more so the uncomfortable ones. And for those, like I said earlier, who are looking for something uncomfortable, that's where Adventure Summit comes into play. It is a very uncomfortable situation to start a hike at two in the morning, knowing it's gonna take about 18 to 22 to 23 hours. But that's why we do it. So it's a great experience. Thank you for sticking around for those that stuck around to listen to the top 25 things in 2025. And we will chat again next week to finish the year together. Take care. Okay. 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.