Roughly a year ago, Kristina and I were perfectly content working in Kearney and traveling to Arnold one day a week.  Heck we had just moved offices in Kearney and were just settling in there. We were in the process of putting new floors in our house and we received a phone call from Roy Wakefield on a Sunday afternoon.

I had known Roy for about five years since I started practicing in Kearney and would always tell him that if he ever needed to get out of practice and retire, to let me know.  I would say this half-jokingly because I never in my wildest dream would have imagined that we would buy a practice.

I walked out into the driveway to tell Kristina that Roy had just called, we kind of chuckled and said…ah, hell lets run down to Minden real quick and talk to Roy as we did not have any floors or any television in the house at the time, so we had nothing better to do at the moment.  So we loaded up the dog and decided to take a little drive and this is where our lives change in a matter of about 20 minutes.

Now, I had known that Roy’s office had animal heads in the waiting room and trees outside, so I kind of knew what I was walking into but Kristina, I believe was a little in awe of the office.

So we walk into the office of Wakefield Chiropractic with an open mind and are interested in seeing what the details were, not that we were all that interested at the moment.  Wakefield Chiropractic was one of the most established and recognizable practices in Central Nebraska for some time so I knew that the office had a reputation of being well respected.

As I have stated in the past, I am very much a numbers person, we started to get into the numbers and then the wheels really started to turn in my mind.

I knew what the Kearney and Arnold offices was capable of but this was a whole different animal in our minds.  I had never had any type of employee, payroll, work comp. insurance and all of the other aspects that come along with operating a business on this level.  I had always just been a single person office that would answer my own phone and take the day as it comes. 

I don’t think we were even out of Minden, when Kristina and I looked at each other and said we have to do this and take advantage of it.  As many people know, I tend to overthink things, but this decision just felt right. Our main hang up was the schedule and how to make the money work until things got established enough.  Kristina and I had a few connections in Minden, a few phone calls were made to see if we were crazy or not. 

Probably 4 hours after leaving the Minden office for the first time, I called Roy and said that we were going to do this.  He kind of laughed and said “you may need to sleep on this and give it a week to let it sink in.”  Kristina and I were heading to Chicago for a friend’s wedding, we drove out there, so we had plenty of time to mull over this decision. 

After numerous conversations with friends and family, it only solidified our decision to take the plunge to Minden.  I started to meet with people and ironing out the details with Dr. Wakefield.  One last wrinkle, I would need to start working in roughly 2 weeks.  Details were coming at us fast and furious. 

Another issue, I was inheriting two secretaries that had been to the office for over 25 years a piece and had yet to meet them.  I headed to Minden on a Friday afternoon and started to get a mental grasp around what exactly I was taking over, the girls seemed to be open to everything that I was hoping to do with the practice. 

The first couple of weeks were a little strange for me as I was trying to figure out a daily routine that would work for everyone involved in the picture, me, Kristina and the girls, just to make sure everyone was comfortable with the situation.  I was working on tables that I was not accustomed to and providing services that the girls had never heard of.  We had a few bumps in the road but for the most part is was smooth sailing.

We are a little over a year into the Minden office and things are starting to click along nicely.  I told myself it was going to take a while to get everything in place and allow patients to be comfortable with my techniques and ways of operating.  In the past year, we have replaced the carpet, painted the entire interior of the building, brand new tables, added therapies and services and most recently the outside of the building was redone and painted.

The purchase of the Wakefield Chiropractic allowed the business to grow and prosper throughout the last year and we do not regret the decision for one minute.  We hope to continue to grow the Minden office through by introducing the community to services that I offer and through continued quality chiropractic care.  DOT Physicals and acupuncture have always been a niche part of my practice and I hope to continue to allow patients to experience the benefit of these services.

We cannot thank the community of Minden enough and look forward to continuing a prosperous business for many years to come.