Difficult times make you lean back to appreciate what you have.  Over the past couple of years, Kristina and I have made some fairly savvy business decisions, from opening up our own practice, buying and selling a building in Arnold along with purchasing a practice in Minden.  With all that is going on in the world, it has made me step back to see everything that we have obtained and worked for.  I need to remember to be grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded the Spracklin family and the business.

When we purchased Wakefield Chiropractic in Minden roughly 4 years ago, I was told that I would be inheriting 2 secretaries, up to that point I had never had any employees.  Little did I know that Marty and Carol would be one of the best things to happen to me professionally. They have roughly 60 years of collective experience in the chiropractic profession and I always say that they are more my boss, the paychecks just come out of my account.  They truly are the rocks of the offices, they are more motherly figures to me at this point and I would do just about anything for them.  They have been my biggest cheerleaders the past 4 years along with the ability to bring me back to earth.  They are calming voices in my head during the rough times and I am and will forever be grateful for both of them.

Kristina and I are very lucky to have very supportive families on both sides. Our parents would be there at the drop of a hat if need be.  I have not had to lean on family and friends very much in the past financially but I have leaned on them for mental and emotional support.  I’m an over-thinker and can worry A LOT, but ultimately Kristina and I have made most of the big decisions ourselves with the emotional support from our parents.  You don’t think about these things all the time but I’m so very grateful to the family structure that Kristina and I have and for their support in all necessary times.

Having minimal debt at this point is crucial for the Spracklin family.  In the past year, I have been able to pay off my six figure student loan debt which is a huge relief off the plate. We do not carry any credit card debt and have no car payments.  That’s not to say that we are debt free but having minimal debt during a global pandemic is beneficial.  Having a solid business will hopefully allow me to ride this storm out without a lot of disruptions, it will hurt but I’m hoping to keep the hurt at a minimum.  I’m grateful to my brother-in-law (Kyle), numerous books and my family structure for encouraging us to eliminate debt ASAP.

I’m also grateful at this time that I have essentially everything that I need to continue to run the offices.  I don’t need any new equipment or new toys to help the offices.  What you see is what you get in our office, nothing fancy is needed in order to continue to provide quality care.  We recently were able to get our hands on more disinfecting/cleaning solution and hand sanitizer.  I did not do this on purpose, it was just time to reorder and I did roughly 2 weeks before everything went crazy, for having both offices stocked at this point, I’m grateful.

This COVID-19 crisis will eventually slow down or end and I’m hoping that the weeks after the major storm is over the practice will bounce back stronger than ever, with hopefully a summer bump.  There is going to be 4-8 weeks of hurt/boredom for us but that is okay because our health is the most important thing at this time.  We look forward to getting things back to normal as soon as possible but we will not jeopardize your or my health in order to speed up the process.  If you are skeptical about coming in, please stay home and come back in when you feel comfortable.

These are unprecedented times that no one around the world can really comprehend.  I could never have imagined having a 30-70% drop in business over the course of 1 week, but yet here we are struggling to figure out the next hour/day/week/month.  We don’t know what the future will hold for us, hopefully we are back and going full steam ahead in 4-6 weeks and we can pick up where we left off in January and February. I’m just going to sit back and be grateful for everything that I have in my life at this time: a loving wife, wild 19 month old son, supportive families, secretaries that encourage/help with the offices, minimal debt obligations, a reserve that hopefully will withstand this pandemic and most of all understanding/reasonable patients that have been nothing but supportive as well.  For all of these things, I’m so incredibly grateful.

Please keep up with Facebook for current statuses, we are currently planning on being open for the foreseeable future but that may change with state/federal mandates but ultimately we are day to day at this point and will keep Facebook current.