Father and son makes it double the fun! Dr. Stuart Hoffman and Eric Hoffman are chiropractic warriors who have served the profession as a family for decades. Dr. Hoffman has been a chiropractor for 30+ years and a business owner of ChiroSecure Malpractice Insurance for 25+ years. Eric is the Executive Director of ChiroSecure and Founder of ChiroJobs. Together, they are changing the profession… for good!
In this episode of TechTalk Podcast, Brad Cost, Dr. Jay Greenstein, Dr. Stuart Hoffman and Eric Hoffman sit down to discuss:
The genesis of ChiroSecure and entrepreneurial lessons learned along the way.
The strength of the chiropractic hook.
What’s next for ChiroSecure & ChiroJobs.
SHOW NOTES:
6:12 – Private practice to ChiroSecure. [Stuart] "My oldest brother was setting up his practice in Michigan, and a lot of people I looked at as mentors were there, so I went to work with him for a while. I decided to stay somewhat local and set up practice in Michigan, where I had several offices. When Eric was four or five years old, we moved out to Arizona, but I didn't practice there. I decided to help other doctors get up and practice. Some as partnerships. Some as employees. I had a cluster of offices here in Arizona. At some point, ChiroSecure, which was a volunteer job once upon a time, needed somebody to take it over. That's when I turned it into a business structure and, here we are, 32 years later!"
7:56 – The Origin of ChiroSecure.
[Stuart] "ChiroSecure was formed about 32 years ago. Originally, Jim Gregg, the president of the ICA at the time, had the intent of creating a program that they can promote to our doctors. No one thought I would get it done. It was just a mission I was tasked with and all I really wanted to do was be the program chairman. He felt ChiroSecure was needed, so I agreed on the condition that I could run the program and I had two jobs –"
[Eric] "But it was because there were only two real competitors at the time and they weren't highly regarded, at least then, for your circle."
[Stuart] "Yeah, in our circle. Times change, and we have good competition today. In Michigan at that time, there was a more conservative attitude in the chiropractic world, and it would have been a no-no to think about NCMIC in those days. OUM was a brand-new carrier at that time, but we wanted something different. I made the right contacts - we had a select group of five of us that really put it together. It's been a trip. I love it. I love taking care of our doctors and Eric can definitely attest to that. He has two brothers in the business as well and that's a really meaningful thing for me."
13:45 – Growing up in the chiropractic space. [Eric] "As some of your listeners may relate, growing up in a chiropractic family means going to lots of seminars and talking to lots of chiropractors. For those people who remember DE seminars, that was essentially my childhood. I got to meet the Who's Who of the chiropractic world, which, when you're a kid, means nothing. It's just who's around. But in hindsight, it's quite interesting and wild to think back on shaking the hands of Sid Williams or Gerry Clum or any of those leaders in the profession that brought it to where we are today. As a kid, you get to have dinner with them or see them at a seminar. Those are the memories that come back as a child in the profession, so that's what I think back to when I was a kid. From my mid teenage years through college, I always said I'm never going to work at ChiroSecure because I want to do my own thing, build my own company. Lo and behold, as I was graduating, he needed some help, and I was the guy to do it. I came in right out of school, we worked together, and we built it to where it is today. It's been a fascinating journey, and I've learned a ton watching him."
15:28 – Staying in the field.
[Eric] "I had one thought of becoming a chiropractor maybe one time, but that quickly left. My dad can tell you about that, but it wasn't really my path. Maybe it's because I was in that world, and it was normal to me, but I wanted to do something different. I have always been fascinated with business in general. I wanted to create and build a business, to be in that world, to experience the entrepreneurship. Luckily, I get to! That's been my desire most of my life versus the healthcare path."
[Stuart] "You know, I've had opportunity to be asked that about my boys so many times. The fact of the matter is, I haven't practiced in over 30 years. When I was in practice, Eric's oldest brother, Jordan, was still a little kid. He would chase me around the office because he'd come and take care of people with me. Eric was in there every once and a while, but he was still too young and too little, and Brandon was just born. I think that if I had continued that path and they had been really dipped into that business, it may have been a different, but they're in the chiropractic lifestyle one way or another."
17:31 – The Chiropractic Hook. [Eric] "Yeah, I'll always have folks. I always say the profession itself has long and wide tentacles and it captures and keeps everybody in with at least with one foot, let alone two, sometimes three. I'll always be within the profession to some degree. I like to affect change everywhere that I can, because at the end of the day, growing the profession means healthier people. It means better results at the end of the day for patients and practitioners alike. Our goal, collectively, has always been to make the profession better and more efficient."
20:53 – Valuable entrepreneurial lessons. [Stuart] "First, know that you can be an instant success as long as you're prepared for taking 30 years of hard work. Everyone forgets about the actual work behind it. Secondly, I've always gone based on the concept of taking care of people the way you want to be taken care of. Even in our team here, we talk about, if a company gives you a bad or even neutral experience, it is so forgettable at best. It's the wow factor that you give to people that makes a difference. Lastly, I believe that a chiropractor's number one role isn't about adjusting or checking people's x-rays or this or that. A chiropractor's job is the same as anybody's job. It is to be an influencer. I know that word is used in social media, but I don't mean it specifically in that way. We have to influence people in a positive way, in a positive mindset, in a positive physical ability. When we do that, we change the community around us and become magnetic. David Singer, 40 years ago, taught me one phrase I never forget: outflow creates inflow. I live by that. Because you also can't out give the giver. It's always better to be humble in what you're doing, but at the same time be very generous in what you're doing. Generosity comes in many forms. It's not just money. You have your heart, your time, and your empathy to give to people. When you make that connection, you now have a relationship, and that relationship is what builds business."
32:08 – What’s Next for ChiroJobs. [Eric] "We're growing fast, and my focus right now is to get the colleges involved with our platform. Right now, we are working with three of them, Life West, Life University in Georgia, and Logan, to get them on board and bring their students into the fold. If we can get all of the colleges on board, it just brings the students into the fold so that employers can start recruiting and bringing them on earlier than normal. That's what a lot of these big employers are looking to do. If we can do that, then I think everything becomes more efficient and people are able to get higher paying jobs sooner and the whole economy gets bigger and better. That's my focus right now and that's what I'm looking forward to with the platform."
33:32 – The Future of ChiroSecure. [Stuart] "One of the keys to our success has been that we've been able to stay ahead of the trends in the profession, so that we can meet the new demands of our doctors. When we talk about COVID and when it first hit, we were fielding 400 to 500 phone calls a day of people asking, questions like what do we do and what is this. Things that happened on day one or two may have been a different story the next day because things were changing so rapidly. However, we were able to stay on top of it and to influence some things that were going on in some states to help our doctors. I want to see that type of thing continue. The trending number one issue that any malpractice carriers have, and will have for a while, is strokes. I want to have direct influence on fighting back hard enough that these attorneys stop thinking we're easy prey. Just because they went to the chiropractor doesn't mean there's a cause-and-effect. There's been a lot of success once this has been established, so I want to keep on that path."
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