Today we’d like to introduce you to Brett Penager.
Brett, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Brett Penager and I’m one of the original six founders of this organization. Ironically, I’m the only one who is not a Chiropractor. My involvement with the other founders began far before I met any of them. It started 36 years ago in 1982 when my best friend Dr. Ben Lerner and I would dream about doing something together that would change the world for the better in a magnificent way. At the time, we had no idea what it would be or how to do it; we just knew that we would and could do it.
After graduating from college, he became a Chiropractor and I became a wrestling coach. He built one of the most successful practices in history and I built one of the most successful Coaches Education Programs in history. As a result of my role and influence within the United States Olympic Committee through USA Wrestling, I pulled him into the Olympic movement as a Chiropractor. At the time, he was among the first to ever do so. After making a huge difference together in the Olympic movement, the opportunity presented itself to finally work together and build a company that would accomplish our childhood dream.
In the spring of 2000, I left my position with the Olympic Committee and moved to Orlando, FL to work with Ben. We started a company called Maximized Living and it exploded! While serving as both a partner and CEO, within only 2.5 years we built it into one of the largest chiropractic practice consulting firms in the profession. As the business grew… our friendship started to fall apart. At that time, our friendship was far more important than our business relationship so in the fall of 2002, we parted ways and I moved to Chicago.
As a chiropractic patient for life, I knew I needed to find a chiropractor to take care of me. Once in Chicago, I reached out to one of our very first clients with Maximized Living. His name is Dr. Mark Lagerkvist. Mark had a business partner by the name of Dr. Stuart Bernsen. They, in turn, were mentors to their proteges Dr. Sam Wang, Dr. Brian Rutecki, and Dr. Gary Roeben. While reconnecting and becoming Dr. Mark’s patient, based on my role and success in Maximized Living; he asked if I would be open to meeting with his partner and seeing if we may be able to work together. We met in May of 2003 and the rest is history.
Starting with a combined 12 offices in June of 2006 we grew to 80 offices in 3 states and created a business that had never before been seen in the history of the chiropractic profession. We won a slew of awards including 3X Inc. 500/5000 fastest growing companies in the nation, 3X Crain’s Chicago Business Fast 50, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, “Healthcare’s Hottest” by Modern Healthcare Magazine and many more.
My contribution has been being responsible for building the greatest chiropractic marketing team in history. Over the past 11 years, we’ve produced over 250,000 new patients into our Chiro One Wellness Centers and this has been one of the most critical aspects of our continued growth. Though the results produced thus far are extraordinary, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible worldwide.
Our Vision, “that all human beings discover their full potential” is derived from the simple fact that every human being on the planet needs what we have to offer. That’s a market of 7.5 Billion people and counting. The only reason they wouldn’t have a chiropractor as an integral part of their healthcare team is because they don’t know if its importance and simplicity. Once they do, it becomes self-evident by both logic and more importantly the results they achieve that it’s not just a good idea… it’s necessary.
As a result, all we have to do is educate the masses, remove the obstacles of knowledge, time and money, offer them the opportunity to find out for themselves, and WALA… we change the world for the better in a magnificent way; while accomplishing our Vision that All Human Beings discover their full potential.
Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not. My journey to today has been fraught with many challenges that typically stop most from enduring them and continuing on towards success. Prior to establishing Maximized Living in 2000, I successfully failed in 10 businesses prior to the 11th finally being successful. Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to accomplish three goals in which I had no idea ‘how’ I would do it, but figured if someone else had done it, “why not me?”. Those were as follows:
1. Own my own business
2. Positively impact the lives of millions of people
3. Make a ridiculous amount of money
Once I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1989, I went immediately into straight commission sales. I made $4,800 in my first year, got evicted from my apartment, moved in with my parents (before it was a “normal” thing to do), got my car repossessed and was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. I got a call from a wrestling colleague who asked me if I’d be interested in coaching and getting my graduate degree. Though I swore I’d never get into coaching because they didn’t make that much money, I decided to do it since I wasn’t doing anything else productively at the time.
Long story short, I succeeded greatly as a coach and failed miserably in my business ventures. From 1990-2000, a failed ad agency, travel agency, wrestling academy, and Amway business were included during the decade. Once 2000 came and I started with my best friend Dr. Ben Lerner, we failed at a consulting business, gym, and chiropractic product sales before Maximized Living took off.
In 2013 we swung big with Chiro One Wellness Centers and missed. We once had 80 offices in three states (IL, TX, and KY) with 600+ employees and had to close TX, KY, some offices here in IL and lay off 300+ employees. It was both the worst and the best thing that ever happened to us. We’ve since recovered and are stronger than ever and in growth mode all over again.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Chiro One Wellness Centers story. Tell us more about the business.
Chiro One Wellness Centers is a brand managed by TVG-Medulla, LLC. We provide all of the back office support to the chiropractic offices we manage. We are a privately owned company that specializes in delivering the gold standard of chiropractic services that covers all three stages of care which includes therapeutic, corrective and wellness.
Within the chiropractic profession, we have developed a company unlike any that has ever existed prior. We are the first privately owned company that allows the Doctor of Chiropractic to be the Doctor and put all of their attention to patient care. Medulla takes care of all the rest. We have departments to support our offices in Marketing, Human Resources, IT, Clinical Operations, Revenue Cycle, Facilities and Purchasing, and Finance and Accounting.
Most chiropractors have to do all of these functions themselves as sole proprietors or they can be a franchise and be provided the framework however they still have to do the work. We wanted to create an organization that allowed them to provide best of class care to patients without being encumbered in doing critical business functions that they are not trained in nor want to do. We are extremely proud that we’ve been able to accomplish this for DC’s with the patient being the biggest winner.
What sets us apart from others is our ability to educate the community on how chiropractic care can benefit their lives in ways they otherwise thought they had no other options. As a result of our marketing and education, it supports our DC’s in being able to transform the lives of patients in ways they never thought possible.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
We are now at the precipice of reaching a tipping point for the chiropractic profession. We’ve recently completed a partnership with a firm that is the first of its kind in the profession. The partnership allows us to have influence in key areas that chiropractic as a whole had been outsiders. These include the political infrastructure of Washington DC, BCBS leadership, Educational institutions, and critical financing necessary to scale nationally.
Within the next 5-10 years, you will see the transformation of our profession from mom and pop sole proprietors to privately owned groups that will start to emulate what we have done in standardizing the organization and delivery of care in the profession.
What this will in turn create, is more of the population utilizing chiropractic care for both addressing neck and back pain AND a multitude of health ailments that can be addressed with a properly functioning nervous system. All of this is done without drugs, surgery, or the sometimes debilitating side effects that often occur with the use of those two medical options.
The Opioid epidemic is bringing public attention to this in the same way tobacco was revealed to the public to be a significant health hazard in the late 80’s. With the numbers of people accessing chiropractic care increasing annually, it will be just a matter of time before it tips to become a normal part of our health and wellness regime.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2625 Butterfield Rd Ste 301N
Oak Brook, IL 60523 - Website: www.chiroone.net
- Phone: 855-424-4761
- Email: info@chiroone.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chiroone/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChiroOne/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chiroone
- Other: https://www.medullallc.com
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