Transcript:

034: How to Grow Your Nutrition Practice with Dr. Jamie Arnold

Transcript

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Ronda Nelson: Well, hello, everyone. Welcome to The Clinical Entrepreneur podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Ronda Nelson. I’ve got somebody super awesome with me today. Dr. Jamie Arnold is here. Hi, Jamie.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Hi, Ronda.

 

Ronda Nelson: I’m so glad that you’re here with us. And really, all I wanted to do today was highlight someone that’s been in my community for a long, long time. We have an awesome Facebook group of clinicians on Mighty Networks. I’ll put the link to that in the show notes if you’d like to join us, but Jamie is always such a wealth of information inside there. I love seeing what she comments and posts because as a clinician, she’s pretty much a rock star, but her practice and her background are quite unique.

 

In fact, Jamie, I have to tell you, before I asked you to be on the podcast with me, I went and did a little snooping on you. I had to go check out a little more info about you and what you do. I mean, I knew what you did, but I wanted to just get a little more information. And I was quite excited about what I read on your website and on your about page about your family history. So, I would love for you to talk about that. Tell me about what it was like for you growing up in the environment that you did and how that shaped what you do today.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Well, Ronda, my grandfather was a chiropractor, and he was the only doctor that we saw for anything. It didn’t matter if you had a cold or if you broke your nose, didn’t matter. At the time in Kansas, chiropractors could deliver babies, and he delivered lots of my cousins. They nixed that law before I was born. So, we saw him for everything, and you were almost afraid to tell him what was wrong because sometimes the cure would be worse than the disease. But no, he did a lot of really great things.

 

So, he was a chiropractor, and that’s the only life that I knew growing up. I was raised on Standard Process. Our standards were Calcium Lactate, Congaplex, Cataplex A, C, P, B. We took Calcium Lactate like it was going out of style.

 

Ronda Nelson: As it should be.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yes, absolutely. We were raised on grass-fed beef, tried to avoid the chemicals, and just do all of that stuff. Actually, as a little kid, I would be on the bus going to school and every once in a while, there’d be a kid that would yell, “your grandpa’s a quack.” And I’d be just like, well, whatever.

 

Ronda Nelson: Well, we would all be so lucky to have a grandpa like that. I mean, we’re all jealous, but anyway, I love that.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yeah, it was really unique. I knew that somebody was going to have to take care of me and my kids, because my grandpa wasn’t going to be around forever. He retired probably in the mid-80s, I think. So, I decided in the fifth grade, I was going to be a chiropractor. And yeah, i have stayed on that course and went through college. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away when I was in chiropractic college.

 

Ronda Nelson: Oh, I’m so sorry.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: But I graduated exactly 50 years after he did. He graduated in ‘52, and I graduated in ’02.

 

Ronda Nelson: How cool is that?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Very! I didn’t know that chiropractors didn’t automatically use Standard Process until I got into school, and there were no classes on it. I just thought it was the same thing, but then I started getting the real information, the real brain nutrition learning.

 

Ronda Nelson: Right, right, right. So, you’re through with chiropractic school, how did you marry what you saw to be true over and over and over again as a child? You would go into Grandpa, and you saw the things that worked. I’m sure you saw other people getting better, better, better, better too, right?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yes.

 

Ronda Nelson: How did you marry that? Because when you come out of chiropractic school, to your point, the information is very structure function-based, which it should be. However, there’s that nutrition piece that I think so many times gets missed, and chiropractors go straight into just straight chiropractic. But really, that’s outside of that triad of chiropractic. We have that chemical, emotional structural, and how did you start to blend that after chiropractic school? Did you just do what’s the weird, crazy stuff that your grandpa did? How did you marry that?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Well, I started with that. And then I got in touch with my Standard Process rep, who was my grandfather’s rep when I was in chiropractic school, and he got me started on just learning. When I was in school he gave me my first clinical reference guide, and I started reading about the products that my grandfather had us taking. Then when I started in practice, I knew what to do if you had a cold. However, my grandfather was the generation that you do what I say and I’m not going to go into a big explanation why, because he was busy and grumpy and tired of being told he was a quack at that point, so I had to learn.

 

I started going to seminars, Standard Process seminars, and I did almost all my continuing ed hours. I have always continued learning Standard Process products and now the herbal lines for several years now. I just started reading about the things that I knew our family took. And then, learning, it was so exciting in seminars, when I would go. My mind would clikc and I would think, “oh he gave us this for this and this and this and this and this too.” So, that was always super exciting when I could say, “Oh, that’s what he was doing!!” I still have patients now that were his patients, and they will tell me what he gave them to take. And I even had to go back to my rep very early in practice and get the old names for products so I could convert to try to figure out what some of these old people were talking about.

 

Ronda Nelson: Oh, wow.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yeah, it was super exciting to figure out what he was doing and why he was doing it. Some things I still haven’t figured out why he did, I think it was just a random experiment.

 

Ronda Nelson: We would all kind of agree that sometimes that happens in practice. Sometimes, it is just an experiment, and you think, “Okay, well, if this works like this for this, then it might work like this for that.” So, sometimes we just price up, but the nice thing about that is that with Standard Process, because it is just largely food, nothing is ever going to really hurt anyone. We’re just going to feed and nourish and give the nutrients. But, wow, I wish that I’d have that background. I bet everyone who’s listening is like, “Dang, I wish I would have had all of that.”

 

Okay, so then you start in your practice, and you’re now using Standard Process. How did you come upon deciding that you wanted to specialize in pediatrics? Because that’s what you’re certified in is pediatric chiropractic, so how did that transition happen? Is that just because you were mom, and you decided that’s what you needed to do?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: I’ve always had a thing for kids. I’m the oldest of six, my youngest brother was born when I was a junior in high school. So, I got to try out a lot of parenting theories on my siblings.

 

Ronda Nelson: Oh, that’s funny.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: But yeah, so I love kids, and then my oldest was six months old when I started chiropractic school. It made perfect sense that I’ve got my own baby, I need to be pediatrics certified. And I have a huge heart for moms and babies, and grandmas too, but mostly moms who I started treating. And then, pretty soon they’re bringing their daughter in or they’re dragging their husband, or they’re sending their mom, and it just kind of goes from there.

 

Ronda Nelson: So, you really have– although your focus or your specialties so to speak is pediatric, but you do have like a whole family practice. You take care of the whole family.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yes.

 

Ronda Nelson: I love that because I think that is one of the best ways to really build a practice that not only is sustainable, but it also allows you to exit gracefully when the day comes that you want to either sell it, or you want to hand it over to another practitioner. You’ve already built this family practice where lots of people, lots of different dynamics within a family, male health, and female health, and children’s health, and hormones, and thyroid and all the things that we have to deal with. When you really see the whole family, do you require that everyone comes in at the same time? Or do you just pretty much start with the kids? How does your process work with your patients?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Usually, it’s the mom that’s coming to me first. She’s tired, she’s stressed, she’s burning the candle at both ends, and then we get mom going. And then, she’s like, “well, by the way, my daughter has this or my son has this” and they usually start with, “I don’t want to take a bunch of your time, and I’ll eventually bring them in once my health is better!” Which is a great plan, but sometimes, you can hit a home run. For example, a kid with allergies, and you’re like try some Antronex and see what that does for him.

 

Ronda Nelson: And then, when you get that home run with the kids, mom’s much more likely to come in with other kids, and then the husband’s like, dang, my wife, she’s so much better, my kids are better. And I love that, it’s really true, we do need to focus on what can we do that gets them that home run. What is it that gets that big flash in the pan, that big flash that they go, “Oh my gosh, there really is something to this wacky medicine that we all talk about?”

Now, tell everyone what makes your practice so unique. And I love this myself.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: When I was in chiropractic school, and my oldest was six months old, whenever I had to take him to daycare, I am just too soft-hearted and I would cry every single time. I said, “I am never taking kids to daycare again, I can’t do it.” I know there are lots of people that have to and need to, and it works great for them, but it did not work for me. Then when I got into practice, he was now four and when I opened my doors, he came with me. He was my office assistant until he started school. And now I’ve got a total of four boys, and they’ve all come with me until they’re at that age when they can start school. My youngest is currently four.

 

So, they start coming with me. Usually, for most of the boys, I took about three weeks off after having a baby and then started back part-time and then slowly worked back up. And they’re just with me from day one. People will say, “oh my gosh, your little guy, he just behaved so well.” And he doesn’t know any different. I really try to plan– when they’re little, you can plan around nap time and fussy time, and you generally schedule somebody there, but most of these people that are coming are moms and they have kids and they have to bring their kids and so they totally get it. And if somebody doesn’t want to have to talk with my four-year-old while they’re waiting for their turn, this wasn’t the right place for them.

 

Ronda Nelson: Oh, if I could go through the computer and kiss you, I would kiss you. I love that you said that, because it’s so true that what your values are. For you as a mom and bringing your kids to work with you, those values, you have to be authentic to yourself, you got to stay in your own lane and do you. And when you’re really authentically you, you’re going to attract the people, love that part of you. They love that authentic you because it resonates with a part of them. If you were to leave your kids at home and let’s say they were at daycare, do you think you would have the same practice?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Oh, absolutely not.

 

Ronda Nelson: What would be different about it?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: First of all, I’d be a nervous wreck, because I’d be like, what are they feeding my kid? I left them a list, but nobody pays attention to the list, but I mean, I’d have to really stop and think how it would be different, but it wouldn’t be fulfilling to me, I would feel like that I was only doing half of what I was supposed to be doing.

 

Ronda Nelson: And so, it’s such a good point, because the lesson here is that we want to be able to stay true to who we are, but know that your practice can still grow. There’s one practitioner that I know, that’s in the northern part of Florida, and he brings his dogs with him. And everybody knows the dogs are there. Well, if you’re not a dog person, he’s not your person, and it’s okay. He has a screamingly successful practice and he brings his dogs with him. The dog people love the dogs.

 

So, it’s the same for you. You have kids in the office and the people that resonate with that are mamas and they’ve got babies, they appreciate that about you. I think it also lends credibility to you because your kids are there and they know that you are a family practice. And so, you’re practicing what you preach, basically.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yeah, I’ve got patients who get mad at me if my son’s not here, like if my husband has the day off and he’s not here. They’re like where is he? Why didn’t you tell me on the phone when I scheduled that he wasn’t going to be here today? I talked to him yesterday.

 

Ronda Nelson: I love that. Okay, next question. What does your practice look like moving forward? What would you do differently, if anything? And how do you think you can take it to the next level? Or is it at the place that you’re really happy and it’s working great for you right now?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: So given the current situation, out of my four boys, I’m actually also homeschooling two of them. As far as my workday goes, I am pretty full as far as what I can handle and give good attention to both things. However, as my youngest gets older, I would really like to continue growing my virtual practice. I think my semi-retirement plan is to be 100% virtual, and then I can travel and do other things.

 

Ronda Nelson: Yeah. And that’s such a great thing to think about, like, what’s next on the horizon? Where are we going to go next? Otherwise, we get stuck in the rat of the same old, same old, same old, same old, everything is the same, but really, everything changes, nothing ever stays the same. It’s when we’re able to really look forward and think, what do I want? What do I want in the future? So, for you, looking at doing more of that virtual work, and maybe working from home or having an associate in that’s doing part of the chiropractic and then you’re taking some of that functional nutrition piece home with you to carry on grandpa’s legacy, Dr. Phil, we’ll call him. I love that.

 

Now, I’m going to ask you, if you’re going to make a book recommendation, what’s your favorite book that you would tell someone you got to read this book? What would it be?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: For me, one of my absolute favorites sounds like it would be so dry, but it’s the Collection of Vitamin News by Royal Lee.

 

Ronda Nelson: Really, you love that?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: I love that. If you really want to understand how food works and what happened to it, he wrote a lot of that as it was happening. And then you’re like, “Oh, that’s why grains are so bad and that’s why this doesn’t work or this.” And I like that, I love that it’s indexed, because you can go topic by topic, or you could sit down and be in a rabbit hole and just flip and flip and flip and see how all this is connected.

 

Ronda Nelson: Vitamin News by Royal Lee. I’ll put the link in the show notes for anyone who wants to get it. And full disclosure, Jamie and I both love using them and taking Standard Process.

 

Second question, if I were to go look in your refrigerator, what is the one food in your refrigerator right now that you would never be out of? It will always be in your refrigerator. No matter what time of year.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Gosh, that’s pretty tough. There are several of them. Probably eggs and carrots.

 

Ronda Nelson: Okay, so eggs. I know eggs are a staple at our house. We have eggs every day. And why carrots?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Because you can eat them raw or cook them. They’re great in the winter, they’re great in the summer. The kids will eat them. My youngest loves sweet potato fries. And the other day, somebody had cut carrot sticks, and I threw those in the air fryer, and he ate those just as good as sweet potato fries that he didn’t even have to cut.

 

Ronda Nelson: There you go. That’s awesome. I always say in my refrigerator, it would be blueberries.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Really?

 

Ronda Nelson: Like unless the store is out of them, I will always have blueberries in my refrigerator. I love blueberries.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Our part of the country, winter is the worst because everything is not fresh. And so, if you want blueberries here this time of year, you better go frozen, because they’re just…

 

Ronda Nelson: Yeah, on the West Coast, we can get them all the time.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Yeah, you guys are lucky.

 

Ronda Nelson: I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up, probably a sore subject, especially in the wintertime.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Right. The West Coast, the only thing I really envy about them is you guys have good produce. So, that’s where I get food envy.

 

Ronda Nelson: We do have good produce here around, we can pretty much get anything so that does make it nice even in the winter. But okay, I won’t talk about that, because you’re locked down in Kansas. 

However, I just want you to know how much I so have loved chatting with you. And you can see, for everyone who’s listening, you can see why I just have so much respect for Jamie and what she’s done in her practice because she’s been true to herself. She built and created a practice that worked for her. She brought her kids. She created a family practice because that was near and dear to her heart. She carried on the legacy of her grandfather because that was near and dear to her heart. And I love the integrity and the authenticity, and I know that in practice, that comes out, it will always come out because you are able to live and breathe and love what you do. And that happens so authentically.

 

So, Jamie, thank you so much for joining me. I have loved having you with us. If anyone wants to get a hold of you, where’s the best place for them to connect with you?

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Probably my website, I’ve got links all over that you can email me, and that’s the most reliable way, I think.

 

Ronda Nelson: Okay, I will link to your website. I’ll make sure that it’s in the show notes below. So again, to everyone, thanks for listening. And, Jamie, thank you so much for joining me.

 

Dr. Jamie Arnold: Well, thanks for having me, Ronda. It was a real honor to be asked.

 

Ronda Nelson: You’re welcome.

 

[CLOSING]

 

Ronda Nelson: Well, that was such a fun interview I had with my friend Dr. Jamie Arnold. She is really a remarkable practitioner. Not only is she amazing at the clinical nutrition side, but she’s also in her own right, not only carrying on that tradition from her grandfather, but she just is so passionate about what she does, which I love. I think that’s so awesome. So, for you, my friend, if you haven’t quite found your groove yet, and you’re not quite sure where your niches, like who your people are, check out the show notes. I will link a couple of the podcasts in the show notes for you to be able to review one of them, you can find by going to RondaNelson.com/4, and that is all about how to identify your niche.

 

I’ve got a few that I think you might be interested in, I’ll link them in the show notes, but otherwise, my friend, stay true to you, stay true to what’s important to you. And if you want to bring your kids to your practice, and you have a practice that’s built around families, then that’s a good fit, but be authentically you, because you will attract the people, the patients that naturally resonate with your message, your voice, your passion, those are the people you want. You don’t want the people that don’t resonate with your message, and it’s okay, because there is a practitioner for every person.

 

Life’s too short, way too short. We get to do what we love to do and be so happy when we do it. Part of that is making sure that we find the right niche or right group of people that we can serve, that lights us up and makes us just smile every day all day long, while we’re working with people. So, thanks for joining me on The Clinical Entrepreneur podcast. My name is Ronda Nelson. I’m your host. I will see you back next week.

 

 [END]

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