We are proud to bring you the story of Dr. CJ Castellano & Dr. Nicole Pleggenkuhle of “True North Chiropractic”, located in Onalaska, Wisconsin! All of us in the AMPED community wish them the best of luck.
Q. What are your roles at the practice?
A. We are both Chiropractors/Owners.
Q. How long have you been open?
A. We have been open for 3.5 weeks.
Q. How many patients do you see per week?
A. 75-80 averaging right now.
Q. What is your focus or specialty?
A. We are a TRT office, with a passion to serve families and more specifically pediatrics and pregnant women.
Q. What would you like to tell us about your practice adventure?
A. Our opening and practice adventure has been the epitome of a rollercoaster ride. Our journey started back in October, and our original timeline for opening up was us shooting for the end of March, 2020. That obviously did not happen. From financing falling through to not being able to find a good space it pushed our opening timeline from March to the end of May. We just started to market ourselves and go B2B when covid hit, which stopped everything and set our new opening day to the end of July. That alone was one of the most difficult and frustrating obstacles to overcome because there were very few things that we could do in the meantime.
We focused ourselves on being the most prepared that we could possibly be when we did end up opening up. We focused on our scripts, systems and procedures, handouts, paperwork, atmosphere, themes, and all the other little things that added up to bigger things. We focused on creating that Disney Experience for every single practice member that walked through our doors, and really focusing on our conversion rate from Day 1 to Day 2 to committing to care. Not being able to go B2B, do screenings, or even network occasionally allowed us to dedicate our focus and attention elsewhere.
We have been blessed to have had a weekly farmer’s market that we screened at every single week, and now we were persistent (relentlessly annoying) enough that we were able to get into another farmer’s market that is every Friday/Saturday through September. With that one weekly event (along with FB ads) we were able to get 74 new practice members scheduled prior to opening, and from then we are driving home our referral program right now to continue that momentum! We were able to meet our overhead in the first 2 weeks open, and it’s because our conversion rates are as high as they are due to us focusing on them prior to opening.
Q. Where can we find out more about you?
Website: www.truenorthlax.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laxtruenorth/
Q. How has AMPED helped you?
A. There isn’t a single aspect of our practice that AMPED hasn’t touched. From the systems and procedures to the atmosphere and energy in the practice, AMPED has played such a huge role in everything that we are doing. The Jumpstart program alone has brought us guidance on what we SHOULD be doing, but it also allows us to see the limits of what we CAN get to with persistence and grit. The best part of AMPED is that nothing will happen unless you put the work in yourself, and that is exactly what our mentors in AMPED have told us and prepared us for mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Q. Do you have advice for fellow AMPED members?
A. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. The AMPED systems and procedures work, even during a pandemic they work. Find what meshes the best with you, master that, and then grind until you can’t grind anymore. It will pay off.
Q. What would you say to anyone considering joining AMPED?
A. Why wait? What could you possibly lose by jumping all in? Go all in for 1 year, and if you aren’t 100% blown away by the camaraderie, passion, and guidance from the AMPED community then you’ll know it isn’t for you.
