Latest / In Tune Podcast / 3. Dr. Ben Carvosso - Chiropractic changed my life
Transcript
- Nick Harvey: I've always wanted to know what sits underneath the work that people do, what shaped the way they think, what changed the way they practice, what they've built, what they believe, and the principles they keep coming back to when things get hard. So I sit down with chiropractors, healers, and people who've spent years figuring some of this out for themselves, and we get into all of it. I'm Dr. Nikave, and this is In Tune. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: My guest today is a chiropractor of 34 years. He's the owner of Mornington Peninsula Chiropractic. He's also a life and performance coach and the author of the Life CEO book. If you've had the pleasure of meeting this man, you'll likely Dr Ben Carvosso: Yeah, comment. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: remember him by his charisma. And he's also my father-in-law. Dr. Ben Carvoso, welcome to Intune. Dr Ben Carvosso: Hi Nick, mate, great to have you on in tune. I've been pumped about getting this done. So thanks for having me on. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: You're very welcome. Good to have you here. I'd love to start from the beginning of your journey, Ben. Obviously a a long history in chiropractic. take us back to the beginning of your chiropractic journey. Where where did it all start? Dr Ben Carvosso: It's a it's a pretty good story actually. I I was seventeen at the time. Mum and dad were regular chiropractic patients. mum had a full-on scoliosis she'd had for many, many years, obviously, and lots of different health conditions and her chiropractor was Max Joseph. Max is a pretty famous chiropractor, particularly in the Gonsted circles down here on the Mornington Peninsula. Really charismatic, really charismatic chiropractor. Used to kiss my mum. Every time she came in and gave her a hug, and just one of those really beautiful heart-to-heart sort of kairos with lots of conviction. So I'd had some sore knees, and mum and dad thought, I'll I'll take Ben down to see Max. Max might be able to do something with his knees. anyway, I arrived. Max didn't even look at my knees. Max took some x-rays, did some analysis, gonestead, and then adjusted my neck. And I can remember. I can still remember now getting in the car and driving home. It was an old Holden bench seat. and looking out the window as we drove home back to Bitten where we lived about a 30 minute trip. And the world was brighter. It was more colourful. And I got home and I I thought, like, wow. At that point I was seventeen. I wanted to be an electronics engineer. my god, can you imagine? Kill me now. lots of lava to the electronics engineers, but what a rookie mistake that would have been. But anyway, I wanted to be an electronics engineer, and I can remember the day where mum and dad were baking bread in the kitchen, and I came out and I said, I don't I don't want to be an electronics engineer anymore, I want to become a chiropractor. that was when I was 17, and from that moment on that's all I wanted to do. So that was year 11. I went and hung out with Max. used to put his x-rays away and file his x-rays because he'd pull x-rays with every patient. That'd be pulled and put on the view box. you know, I remember going to his place one day for morning tea and sitting with him in his house that overlooked the beach and the water and thought, wow, this lifestyle and you know, this kind of energy, I want to be part of that. And so that's where it all started. And so I applied to get into chiropractic and This was our RMIT or it was called PIT at the time, Preston Institute of Technology. And I actually I I had a funny journey through high school, so I actually didn't do the traditional path, I actually did TOP instead of HSC, for those that are old and remember the HSC. And so my scores didn't get automatically sent to the uni. So I'd applied, and they were waiting obviously on my scores to come through. Well, I didn't hear anything back, didn't hear anything back. And I had an awareness that there were interviews due, and all of a sudden it came around that interviews were due next week and I still hadn't heard back. So I called the uni and I can't think of the lady's name, but she'd been there for years, absolute years, working at the front desk. It's not going to come to me. I remember speaking to her on the phone, I said, Look, it's it's been Gabosso calling and I've applied and you know I I just haven't heard anything. She said, let me have a look. She goes, No, we've got no results through. She and she just said on the phone, like, what did you get? And I said, 336, which was the score. She said, Okay, well I can put you in Tuesday at ten o'clock. Do you want an interview? And of course I did the interview and before I knew it I got this letter in the mail. Back in the day it used to come as this car and copy thing, you'd tear off the sides and you'd open it up and there was just one word, and that was the course, whatever the course was you'd got into. And I tore it open, I remember standing on the front veranda and there was the word car. There was the word chiropractic. And And I wasn't meant to get emotional at that point. And that word in that letter changed my life forever. So that's and that was it, mate, and then and then I'm in. And obviously the next five years in chiropractic. And then it came to graduation time and a mate of mine, Paul Mudge, still practicing up in Wang. G'day Paul, if you're listening to the podcast, of course you are. Paul had some mates out at Tyrelgan, Bill McPherson, famous SOT chiropractor, old Billy Mack, and Darry Gary and Di Coleman were out there. We went out there for lunch one day. Again, great energetic chiropractors, really just amazing personalities and had this beautiful house out at Turelgan. And they said, I don't know whether you know, but Kim Borkhurst is selling his practice in Maui. So I thought, Mudge was heading up to buy a practice in Wang and and I thought, I I I I reckon I could buy a practice too. So One thing led to another and ended up buying Kim's practice six weeks before I graduated. And interest rate seventeen and a half percent of people that are worried about seven percent. That was seventeen and a half percent interest. And I bought his practice and that started my chiropractic journey six weeks before I graduated. and mate, the rest is you know, practiced there and built that practice. had an incredible, you know, fast learning whilst I was a Gonstead practitioner, this practice had a beautiful blend of Gonsted and SOT, which is a little bit weird. But cervical chair adjusting, but traditional SOT pelvic work and low back work and We just saw a stack of patients there and I built that practice. Eventually moved location and discovered CBP, chiropractic biophysics, CJ Mertz, who's currently still my coach, incredible man. Again, one of those people that changes your life. CJ completely changed my life in so many different ways. And so we built an open plan practice and built quite a big open plan practice, a busy open plan practice, number of associates, and had a great journey there. And then I'm not great on dates, but maybe 15 or so. years into practice, I had a an accident, I fell out of a palm tree and broke my foot in lots of places when I was in Fiji, as you do. And came back and thought, you know, this'll be great. I'll take three months off. I'll get a busy practice. The team will look after things. I'll wear the cast and after three months I'll take the cast off and it'll be just happy days. I'll go back to practice. Well I remember taking the cast off. In fact I was up at my mate's Paul Mudges that night after I'd had the cast off and it was pretty sad because I couldn't walk and the foot was not in great shape. In fact it stayed not in great shape for another six or so months. which led to some pretty tough times, I gotta say, Nick, actually. got in a pretty bad place for a while there. didn't want to practice anymore, didn't want to have anything to do with anything anymore. and then a mate came along and said, Benny, you got some time off. We're building a medical clinic and we're thinking about putting radiology in. You take x-rays. Do you want do you want to build a radiology clinic? and mate, I gotta tell you, within within 48 hours, maybe even 24, I completely snapped out of my misery state. And went, wow, this would be super cool. I'm going to build a radiology practice. And so I did. Over seven years we built four radiology clinics, comprehensive X-ray, ultrasound, CT, throughout southern Victoria. It was an incredible journey. Still practiced for a while, then I've actually sold my Gippsland practices. We moved back to the Mornington Peninsula. And it was just it was an incredible journey and it was great to see that side of the world. That side of healthcare, to use that term loosely, very loosely, and see how it operates. See what, you know, what goes on in traditional medicine and you know, be part of that world. And it was a really exciting time. Eventually I sold those practices and opened up actually took over a practice in Mornington, Mornington Peninsula Chiropractic, which we then moved and here I am now after that whole journey. practicing in Mornington part time with a great associate and just i in in moving into that next phase of my life, mate, which is just taking it a little bit easy. Only practicing nineteen hours a week and yeah, enjoying a mixture of life and practice. That's me. That was a long story. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: Beautiful. No, that that was awesome. And there's a lot to unpack within that too. there's lots of areas I I want to dive into, but just initially it really touched me too when you when you got quite emotional around your your chiropractic journey and and those those emotions you probably felt in that moment. And I I can only lead him to think the reason that came up is because of what chiropractic has done for you in your life and and that journey too. would you be able to speak on how that journey of chiropractic has has changed? You as a human and ultimately your life. Dr Ben Carvosso: Yeah. Mate, I was thinking about this on the weekend. I I was at a a an ACC event, Australian chiropractic college event on the weekend Neo, and thinking, you know, I'd like to speak at that. I'd like to I'd like to speak and what would you t what would you speak on? I was thinking to myself and I th I thought to myself, I'd just love to open up by letting everyone in the audience know just how lucky and it's not luck, but how blessed they are to be part of this profession. There is just no profession that I can imagine that's like it. I was talking to a patient this morning. She was asking me about her daughter, you know, and she's thinking about doing physio, and I just said, my god, don't do it to her, you know. Don't set her down that path. get her to become a chiropractor. And she said, why? I said, What are you kidding me? Look, how much fun do we have in practice? How much energy do we have in this practice? Have you seen the team? The the you know, the incredible work we do with patients. I mean, why wouldn't you want your daughter to be part of that? And and that's what I want to tell the profession, anyone that's listening, like, I know there's tough times and there's definitely days where I think, I'd just rather stay home and hang out and, you know, do something else, go flying or sit by the fire or But I've never come into work and regretted coming into work and and adjusting patience. And the and the profession, not only working in the profession. And getting to do what we do and get paid really well for it. I said that to the patient this morning. I said, I gotta tell you too, we get paid really well as chiropractors. As she went out to pay her bill. we we we j we do pretty well as chiropractors. And and we get to do it while just having a blast. now I know it's not all chiropractors. I know there's some chiropractors that are really doing it tough and they they're practicing it with some models. That I think don't serve them, don't serve the profession, don't serve their patients. and so they might have a different perspective on chiropractic. Talking to Dr. Ryan, my associate, who's epic, he was saying he's got some friends that have graduated with him two or three years ago and they don't practice anymore. In fact, talking to one of the chiropractors who's got a bit of an inside word, something like 56%. of chiropractors that graduate within five years and no longer practicing. That's that's pretty scary. And the only way that's possible is they didn't have the same experience that I had. And Yeah. I mean chiropractic is is it's been amazing. I've got a daughter, your future wife. Who's who's a chiropractor? my son is starting to become a chiropractor. My eldest daughter, Bella, is a nutritionist. we just live that lifestyle. it meant that we had home births, it meant that you guys had home births and a free birth recently with baby sage. it meant that you know, our kids aren't vaccinated. Our kids didn't see a drug until I were over the age of eighteen or nineteen, I think Bella had this ripper throat infection that just wouldn't clear and we're away on holiday and we took her to the doctor and he said, Look, I know you don't do drugs and you know, but of course of antibiotics, I think that was her first ever drug that she'd had in nineteen years. do you know like we're fit people, we're healthy, we're vibrant. That's all because of chiropractic. chiropractic's it's been an amazing process Profession. And I think you you would agree that the people that you meet, the chiropractors that you meet that are of our ilk, of our I don't want to use the word philosophy. Can't use that word. That are that are of our the practice, our principles. They're all having a great time. Do you know? They're all having a great time. So yeah, I've been really blessed to have chiropractic in my life. And that's that's why I got emotional about it, because man, imagine being an electronics engineer. Shit. Terrible. Terrible. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: I I can really resonate with with all that you've spoken about too and and the life that chiropractic's already given me in such a short time. I'm very very early in my journey, but I'm sure a lot of other chiropractors listening along can resonate. And if they're early in their journey, look look forward to it because the the good times are coming and it's it's a great profession with a lot to give. Dr Ben Carvosso: Mm. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: a part you got onto as well, which might go over a few heads, but you you purchased your first practice six weeks before you graduated. Which takes a lot of certainty and conviction. I d I don't know of a lot of other chiropractors doing that out there. Tell us what what that journey was like and and the early years in business and was it was it all a breeze or or did did it take a lot from you to get things running? Dr Ben Carvosso: It was an absolute breeze. Not. I've still got a picture somewhere, and it's me sitting on the floor with this baggy kind of red tracksuit on in the clinic when I took it over, and there were just these folders. I mean, I I when I graduated like 35 years ago, mate, everything was paper. You know, we had checks and we had like you added up things and you did bank slips and you paid in with like it was all paper. And there was these folders I was going through from the original owner and trying to make sense of it all and but it was but it was just fantastic and and I have an entrepreneurial spirit. I love that. I love creation and so I can I I just don't have any regrets, Nick, too. It's it's kind of a bit of a thing that I have. so it's hard for me to look back and try to remember some of the really tough times, and there were definitely tough times. You know, I can remember, you know, graduating and I was driving an old Fiat 132. I'd put this dodgy racing steering wheel on and It was just a great car, but you know, like it was definitely a student car. It was a real student car. it was rough and you know, exhaust was had holes in it and and I remember Michelle and I going out and taking over the practice and we were living in a unit and we had a futon, two director's chairs, and a little side table with an old click click click TV. There were push button TVs back in our day, but this was because we didn't have any money. And we just graduated, we just bought this practice and and then finishing the first day in practice. And back in those days, we were 90% cash, and I mean cash cash, like the paper cash. There were no electronic transactions. There were none. There was no FPOS. it was check or cash. And I can remember going home that night, the very first night, with this wad. This what? It was like something out of a movie. Like you needed the machine. You know, you put the cash in, it goes, you know, and it counts the counts the cash. I remember coming home and bouncing up and down on the futon. Well, actually didn't have a lot of bounce because it's a futon on floor, but jumping up and down on the futon, throwing the money in the air. It's like we just couldn't believe it. You know, after all these years of study, and we've like just barely maybe graduated. Maybe not graduated, but anyway. and like we've just been blessed to to do what we do, do what we love, and at the end of the day, there's all this money. I mean, it's it was just phenomenal. You know, there's some of the great, the great stories and memories. And then there's you know, the the y you know, getting someone like comes to the front desk and the girls go, excuse me, Ben. Dr. Ben, just before you see your next patient, there's someone at the front desk that wants to speak to you. And you walk out and the guy hands you a letter and says you've just been served, right? That you're getting sued by a third party, you know, around a patient interaction. And just, you know, there's those moments that are just but all part of it, just the incredible journey that's practice. And then mate, not even to mention, you know, I gotta say, just the incredible patience that we get to serve and the diversity. I've always said to my team that you know, we get to create our own little world in practice. When people step through that door, they they step into a different world, a different universe. and we get to see all the different personality types, the different ages, the different histories, the different socioeconomics. it all comes through the practice door. And so we get to serve such a diverse range of people. And be part of their world, part of their life. I've got patients right now that are coming in and Bella my oldest daughter's just got engaged and I had Mick in yesterday and Mick goes, I can't believe it. I remember Bella, she was just in a school uniform when I come used to come and see you. You know, she'd be wandering in after school when I'd be in for my afternoon appointment and she was just in school uniform with a school bag on. And here she is, not only nutritious with her a nutritionist with her own business, but now she's getting engaged. So, you know, to have Mick in and he's been a part of my world for Mate, Mick's been part of a world like fifteen years. And I've seen Mick every month for fifteen years. I've seen Mick more than Mick's mum's seen Mick. Isn't that incredible that we get to have that sort of relationship with patients? We see some of our patients more than they see their own family. And I mean that's just something that we again we need to r you know recognize just how blessed we are to have that as part of our world. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: I could not agree more. And and so many of us take it for granted. And we we have such a responsibility and such a gift to be able to take care of so many great people. And yeah, it it is it is a sacred trust, what we do, and and then the ability to take care of people on the level we do and the the intimateness of of the connection we get with our people is just like no other profession. I couldn't agree more. Dr Ben Carvosso: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: how important to you were your mentors in your early year of practice. N number one, who were your mentors? and two, what did they teach you and what did they leave you with? Dr Ben Carvosso: Yeah, mate, just so important. If you're a new grad listening to this, or you're a a student, you gotta just gotta get around the right people. I mean this is so important. when I was at uni, again, I was blessed and lucky, but also there was you know I had a little bit to do with it. I appointed myself seminar liaison coordinator. I think it was second year maybe, maybe third year. And I would coordinate between seminar providers and the students on campus in having them come and present to the students or promoting their seminars, their conferences, their workshops to the students in exchange for free tickets. And so for three-ish years while I was at uni, I was attending literally every conference, every you know, seminar that I possibly could get my hands on. And many of those were practice management seminars. And there's I I gotta say there's probably not a lot of that going on at the moment. There's a big technique focus I'm seeing in certainly in Australia, but there's not a lot of practice management. And so guys like Chuck Gibson, what a great name. Chuck Gibson was just this again, charismatic, incredible American guy. You know, one of the things I remember he'd talk about was he taught us how to shake hands with our patients. He said you you gotta shake hands with every single patient. and I still do that today. If I've got a patient laying on the table, I'll slip my hand just under the table and grab their hand and shake their hand and say, Hey Mick, good to see ya. Let's get you adjusted. Chuck Gibson, awesome. Guy Reichman, of course. just recently passed. Incredible, just again, one of my one of my founding mentors and inspiration in chiropractic. John Hinwood and Judy Hinwood. next level. Like, in fact, I would say they were the biggest influence that I had in my in my student days and after student days, because I ended up becoming a coaching client of John. John's coaching practice, powerful practices for some time after I graduated. Charlie Ward. Charlie Ward. incredible. CJ Mertz. Yeah, th they were the probably the highlight guys while I was going through uni and then after university as well. I can remember back in the f in that when I on the year I first graduated I spent fifteen thousand, which is a lot of money back thirty-five years ago. I can say that. That's probably equivalent to, I don't know, forty or fifty grand now. fifty grand in my first year attending seminars. So you gotta get around good people, there's no doubt. And then I I pretty much had John Hinwood as a coach for quite a lot of years. And then and then I found CJ Mertz and joined WLP, the waiting list practice, it was called back then. It's now called Accelerate. and coached with CJ, and that again took my practice to a to a totally different level around I think really around the quality of the service that we provided, the impact that we made with patients, I think definitely increased. revenue, you know, definitely increased. my energy definitely increased when I coached with CJ. So yeah, he's been a he'd been a huge influence. And then I stopped getting coached when I started the radiology company. That was a period where I wasn't getting coached at all. because I wasn't practicing either. and And it was actually during that phase after I sold my chiropractic radiology practice that someone actually reached out to me and wanted some advice. And my wife Michelle has always said, you know, like stop giving your advice for free. You've done all the work. You spent the fifty grand in your first year in practice. So I'm giving your advice for free. And this guy rang me and said, we're looking at open new radiology clinic, you know, we'd like some advice. And I said, mate, yeah, we probably need a couple of hours so I could do something on Monday. And you know, I'm a hundred and fifty mm not so yeah. And then he went, Yeah, great. Okay, Monday. And I remember racing into Michelle and saying, Guess what? I'm gonna get paid to give advice. And so that started my coaching journey. So for the next kind of seven years to ten-ish years, quite intensively, I moved into coaching, coaching generally successful business owners that were doing somewhere between a half a mil to five mil. That were in kind of that midlife ish phase, which I'd you know, I'd actually put a bracket from thirty-five to fifty-five years of age and was super successful in so many ways, but failing in other ways as well. So, so I ended up coaching, which was which was incredible and an amazing journey. And then I ended up back in practice and And then not long after I was back in practice, I was not in practice again. I'd opened up a second radiology, second chiropractic clinic and had a team. Anyway, one thing led to another, you bought my rosebud practice. So I had heaps of free time, and I thought maybe I'll go back into practice. But if I'm gonna go back into practice, I want to coach again. So I reached back out to CJ and just again pumped to be coaching with him, he's An absolute legend. You know, we've had a a history together for like at least twenty years. which is incredible. And he he still offers just so much wisdom. So I don't know what w what your question was originally, mate, but I'd have to say if you're a student, get mentors and coaches. If you graduated, get mentors and coaches. And if you've been graduated for thirty five years like I have, get yourself some mentors and coaches. Super important. Nick Harvey: Hey guys, I just quickly wanted to let you know, if you're a chiropractor and you want to get better with your hands, your certainty, and the way you actually deliver an adjustment, that's what inflow artistry is about. I'm running seminars in Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, and New Zealand, and there are still super early bird and early bird tickets available for selected events. They're hands-on weekends where we go deep into the art of the adjustment, technique, connection, adaptability, body mechanics. And learning how to make the adjustment your own. You can find all the dates and tickets at inflowartistry.com.au. All right, back into it. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: I love it. I love it. And I I could not agree more with with what you're talking about. And just the sheer fact you've spent so much and done so much extensive coaching, you're also a life coach yourself. I'm sure you'd agree. We're a health coach as a chiropractor. We give people advice. We tell them to take responsibility over their health. And that's what we do. If someone is on this and they're they're looking for their next mentor, their next coach, what should they be looking for? And You know, another way of phrasing this too is is what what are the most important things a coach can actually do for their clients? Dr Ben Carvosso: I think from my experience as a coach, what people are wanting is they're wanting you to be able to see the truth is help them see what they're not seeing. They want that. So you want a coach who's going to help you see what you're not seeing. and then once you've seen what you haven't been able to see, but you now see, to have agency around it and take action. Cause so often we have moments of insight. like I just I was just at like I said at NEO on the weekend ACC and I always when I take notes I take notes on the right page of my famous red folders. But on the left side I always is the left side is always action items, things that I need to do when I get back home. And wow, if I'd only done ten percent of all those things that are on my to-do list, I I don't you know, I'm in a pretty good position now, but I'd be in a way better position. Right? If I'd just done ten percent of them. And so we all often have these insights, but it's the agency to take action around it. And and that's what I think's really powerful about a good coach is they will give you agency, whether it's through through some level of accountability. You know, we know quite clearly that people perform better when they are being watched. If you ever trained at a gym by yourself, or you've trained at the gym by yourself with a guy standing next to you counting to 10, they're called personal trainers. you lift heavier when the personal trainer is standing beside you watching you lift, counting to ten. Like what's with that? Your muscles hurt more at the end of the session with a guy just watching you. We know that people perform better when they're being watched. So a good coach watches or makes you feel like you're being watched to get to help get the agency that sometimes we need and we fail to take. So they're probably the two big things. You want a coach that's gonna help you see what you can't see and and help you have agency around taking action. on those insights. And I think too, r versus coaching versus mentorship. a coach gets the goodness out of you versus a a mentor tends to give you advice, really good advice, sage advice, advice of age or wisdom or experience. You want a coach that's experienced as well. You want to know like who are they and what have they done? Have they just read it in a book or have they really done what they're asking you to do. And so I think you you're after a coach and or andor a mentor. Someone that's gonna just give you advice. They're gonna say, mate, it's great what you're doing and stop doing it. Just do this. Trust me, do this and life will change. They don't need to muck around with trying to get the the right idea out of you. They just give you the idea. So Find yourself a coach slash mentor. I think that's important. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: Hmm. Powerful words. Powerful words. And I think one of the things that inspired me about you most upon meeting you was the the balance you've created in your life. The family, the business, the health, the wealth. You know, you you really have nurtured all areas of the garden. And that that's something I really admire. And I'm sure a lot of people will look up and admire too. And you spoke before about you coach people who've achieved success in other other areas, but they've lost parts of themselves and and you know, whether it can be family, relationships, health, those other aspects too. Can you can you speak to some of the young crowd and the upcoming people about how they can keep and hold that balance, you know, wh while in practice and in in all the endeavors of life? Dr Ben Carvosso: Hmm. Yeah, I mean I think there's two layers to question, Nick, and it's a great question because the the if if I was to give you the overall frame, it's don't create balance, create alignment. I talk about this in the book, Life CO, how to take charge, do your life's work, not your busy work. It's available on Amazon, $29.95, get yourself a copy. I talk about life alignment. Everyone's often trying to balance work versus play. And they're constantly juggling between these two things. Versus align them. So that when you're working on your business, your marriage is better. When your marriage is better, you're healthier. When you're healthier, you're making more money. When you're making more money, you're a better dad. When you're a better dad, your business is better. That because everything's in alignment. They're all pulling in the same direction. There's a real force there. And so rather than trying to balance things, create alignment. And the only way that you can do that is if you've got the overall vision of where you want your life to head. So each of these aspects that I just mentioned, then whether it's health or being a father or a husband or a business owner or a chiropractor, these are all missions that we have in the in life. that help us fulfill whatever their overall purpose is, if they're in alignment, there's no friction. Like it doesn't mean life is not sometimes Hard, it doesn't mean that life is easy, but there is an ease, there is a sense of ease when you're working on one thing because you know the other things are improving at the same time rather than one pull against the other. So spending the time, and it requires quite time, it requires reflection to really think about where you want your life to head and where you want it to head in your 20s as a new graduate is different to your 30s and your 40s and your 50s and your sixties. Because you don't know What life's gonna be like in your forties. You only know what it's like right now. And so your vision of your life is gonna evolve over time. Subtle. It doesn't change a lot, but it's a subtle change. And so recognizing that it will change, that wherever you are, if you're a new graduate and you're your twenties, make sure you're clear on what your vision is. Make sure you take those roles and make sure that they're aligned, that they're working all working for the same vision in the same direction. 'Cause as you said, you know, I'd have clients come in and they've got a full bank account, but the rest of their life is empty. Their health account is empty. They're morbidly obese. They drink a lot. Th they can't walk up, you know, a flight of stairs to save themselves. they're on their second marriage. they don't speak to half of their kids. you know, like it's just the rest of their life's a disaster, but they got a full bank account. And that's because they didn't align their missions. and have a really strong sense of purpose and where they are heading. So that's the first thing I'd say is do the work and get really clear around your different missions. And then secondly, recognise that What you want in your twenties is different to your fifties. And so if you ask a fifty-eight-year-old, me, what you should do when you're in your twenties, I'm gonna give you fifty-eight-year-old advice. Someone asked me for advice the other day, a mate of ours, who's in his forties, he rang me and said, Mate, I want some advice. And I said, Mate, I've got to tell you, I'm about to give you fifty-eight-year-old advice. That might not be appropriate for a 40-year-old, but through fifty-eight-year-old eyes this is what I think you should do. So do what's right for you at your age. Think that's really important. And here's the other thing that I think is really important, and I'm gonna recommend a book, and it's called It's by Morgan Hussaal and it's called I don't know. That's not what it's called. But Morgan Hussaal, it's his most recent book-ish, Psychology of Money, was one of them. And there's another one. It's definitely worth a read. Small little tiny chapters, but nuggets of gold. Anyway, he talks about this in the book that often we see people's lives and we think, I want that. And we try and pursue it being who we be, but we fail to recognise is there's another part of that person's life that we don't want. And you can't have part A without having part B. So, you know, Elon Musk, for example, I mean, the guy's special, and I mean in the weird way, right? but because he's special in the weird way, he's a trillionaire. So I I just can't be special in the weird way. Well, certainly his weird way. I'm not willing to be that. I'm not willing to have whatever wives he's got and how many kids he's got and you know all the other weirdness about Elon Musk. I'm not willing to be that. So therefore, I can't be a trillionaire like Elon Musk. So we've just got to be aware of comparing ourselves and thinking. you know that we want that person's life but we've got to recognise that we're not really willing to have all of their life. And I think that's a really important thing, particularly for young people. And I also think I've got to say this when I was talking to someone about this recently, particularly in the Cairo profession, our people, Nick, I grew up and made that that fiat that I talked about, the 132, Mate, it lasted less than four weeks before I bought a brand new Saab Turbo Aero with the leather and the latest new car mobile phone in it. And you know, our profession, it's got a bit of a thing about getting the look. And so I I'd just like to say to the youngies out there Just be be wary of that trap that I think I fell into as a new graduate. fancy car, the fancy clothes, the big holidays. great. There's no I no regrets, man. Like no regrets. I'd a hundred percent do those cars again and the holidays and etc. again. but just be aware of sometimes the sides of things that you that you don't really want. I've gone on a bit of a tangent and answer your question, but Life alignment, it's not easy. But but I do work at it and Michelle, my my wife, works at it as well. Here's the other thing I'd say too on that. the journey through life is not meant to be something we do alone. it doesn't mean you need to necessarily have be married and have a a wife or a husband, but I think it's pretty cool if you do. And What I think really works when I see that at work in couples, and and I've done a lot of coaching with clients around this, is that they're on the same mission, they're on the same purpose, they've got the same purpose, they want the same thing out of life, so they're heading in the same direction, but they're two different people. So the beauty is, you know, if you can see my hands, is they're two different people, but they fill each other's gaps because of the differences. Whilst they're different people, they're still heading in the same direction. So they can be really a force to be reckoned with. And I look at some of the power couples that that are in the current breaking profession, people like Gary and Di Coleman, John and Judy Hinwood, you know, I've talked about these people before. CJ Mertz and his wife Andrea, Mark and Julie Lacey. Kim and Mikey Furnes, Carly and Kathy Rash. You know, these are real, real power couples that actually got the two the two in the cup the two couples are quite different people. Quite different people. But they're aligned in where they want to head. So wait again when on tangent. I could talk about everything forever. Warning. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: There's a lot of powerful wisdom in that and I love it. Thank you so much for sharing. And you touched on an interesting point of you you spoke about this this is a 58-year-old's advice and and perspective. And the way I look at that is that that's your signature. That's who you are. And that's that's your wisdom you can offer to people Dr Ben Carvosso: And In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: is is your perspective. A great man, Dr. Tim Young, talks about the adjustment being our signature, our signature that we deliver to people, we deliver the goods. And I I really love how that looks too. So I'd love to get your take on how different adjustments from different people affect Dr Ben Carvosso: Okay. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: different lives. And then also if you could, Dr Ben Carvosso: Mm-hmm. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: any of the great miracle stories you've had over the years through your signature adjustments. Dr Ben Carvosso: I think our adjustment is It's more than just the hands on the spine. Cracking the joint. It's how you put your hands on the spine. Before that, it's it's how you approach the patient that was laying on the table. Before that, it was the words you said as you entered the room. Before that, it was how you showed up at the new patient consultation. Before that, it was how the CAs greeted them at the front desk when they came in as a new client. Our adjustment is is more than just the physical laying of our hands on the spine. Mine is, and I think yours is, and you do yours in your unique way, and I do mine in my unique way. And I think that's the bit that's sometimes missed. People go, show me where where's your contact hand? You know, like where what you how you tell you know, sure that's part of it, but there's something else that we do in our kind of chiropractor, our ilk of chiropractors. We do something that's not always tangible and it's unique to us as individuals. And that uniqueness, by the way, Is what's has, you know, 80% of the patients that eventually that come in love me and continue to see me, and 20% don't because of my uniqueness. But that 20% go to someone else and they resonate with their uniqueness. So again, for the car operators who are out there, don't try and copy someone. You know, be unique, be you. I think that's really important. So for me, mate, the adjustment is more than just. the force that I apply to the joint, there's something there's something else that goes on in my interactions with patients. You know, it's like, you know, they sit up and for me I do a lot of sitting neck adjusting. And you know, I'll just I'll finish the adjustment, I'll I'll kind of give them a tap on the front of the chest. I'll say, great adjustment today. Really good. And I know this something happens. I feel something happen to them when I touch them. And I got great adjustment today. That's part of what we do. That's part of the healing process. So when you talk about an adjustment, I think there's you know, as I can't think who it was. Maybe Alex Jeffers Jeffers, an old Cairo. Used to say, you know, like all the the conversation was around you know an adjustment from the neck up. You know, I think we through who we be, we adjust them at at a real central nerve system perspective. We adjust them through their eyes and through their ears and through their senses. So my miracle adjusting, you know, I can't do tears anymore. I've just had some Black. Wow moments. And I gotta say, probably the the biggest wows aren't the acute disc that comes in antalgic. That you adjust and they come back the next appointment and they're not antalgic anymore and the leg pain's gone. That's great. But I can't say they're my highlights, right? The highlight is you know the patients, and I had another one that actually said almost identical things. The other day to me, she said, You know, I've been under counselors and psychologists for 20 years. I see one almost weekly. And I she said, In the three months I've been coming, I've had more improvement in my mental health, my sense of self worth, my confidence than 20 years of seeing a psych daily or weekly. You know, that's that that's just a beautiful story. The patient that, you know, that wanted to kill themselves and you adjust them and they no longer want to kill themselves. Patients that can't have kids and they get adjusted and they come in one day and say, you know, I'm pregnant. Patients are saying just like do without this. They don't say, you know, every time I come on my headache goes, or you know, I haven't had back pain since I come in. They don't say that, they just say I can't do without this. Because one of one of my favorite parts of the month is coming and getting my adjustment. You know, they're the they're some of the big, but it's the little miracles, the daily ones. You know, if we had to wait for the big one, the guy that can walk again after it, you know. Have not having walked for 10 years and they get an adjustment, they walk again. You know, mate, they happen, but it's the little miracles that that happen literally every day in practice. And mate, the ones we don't see, the ones we never get to hear about, the ones that are never credited to chiropractic, the ones that the miracle of the guy that doesn't get cancer because they were getting adjusted. The patient. You know, the young kid that never develops asthma because they were a chiropractic patient, we just never know the impact that we make. So for me it's those it's those little miracles and maybe the miracles that we just never get to know about. I remember, you know, this is this is an adjustment too, right? So we we we don't do it anymore and we I'd love to get back to it. we used to send out birthday cards. It was a thing, you know, car breaking practices always would send out birthday cards. Back in my day when we would hit it, they were handwritten with a stamp. You know, you'd put the stamp on the birthday card, I'd handwrite the girls at the end of every week, I'd say, Here's your thirty birthday cards you gotta write for next week. I'd write out, Hey Mick, happy birthday. Love having you as a patient. Best of health in nineteen ninety eight. Cheers. Doctor Ben. We'd handwrite them. I remember sending out birthday card and the patient came in for his his checkup was about a week or so after his birthday and I can picture his face but I can't think of his name. Lee, I think it was. Lee comes in, he goes, mate, look, thanks for the birthday card. I said, no worries. He said, I just gotta let you know that you're the only person in my life that remembered it was my birthday. My wife and kids forgot that it was my birthday. I was the only person. So, mate, they're the little miracles, you know, the difference that we make in people's lives. that it not just when we lay our hands on someone's spine and crack a joint. So and that's that's what's beautiful about practice. I think You know, CJ talks about when when we talk about chiropractic, sell principle first, practice second, practitioner third. You should always be selling principle, not practice, not not practitioner, but sell principle. And Chiropractic's more than what I do in this practice. Chiropractic's more than what Dr. Ryan does. It's what the practice does. And it's what drives our practice to do what it does, which is our underlying philosophy around health, around human beings, around communication, around valuing others. Those core philosophies, those core principles are. are what allow us to do what we do in practice. And I think it's really important for practices to recognise that and again for the new grads to recognise it's not whether you're just at L P on the right or R P on the left, whatever that means. it's it's more about what we do as a practice, what we do as a group, as a unit. So anyway, long answer again. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: No, it's powerful stuff. I know I wanna let you go. It's this is this is great. And I think the the big part that you touched on that I love is chiropractic is a process, not an event. You Dr Ben Carvosso: Mm. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: know, it's not it's not about just the adjustment, it's about the entire process of their care and and where they get to and the care never stops. And just because the the adjustment stops doesn't mean they're not integrating that adjustment for the next twelve, twenty four, forty eight, however long that takes in their life and As you said, to the unseen miracles, we we just don't know how deep this all goes, but we just come in with the right intention, we do the job and we we let innate intelligence take care of the rest. Dr Ben Carvosso: Mm. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: as someone with a lot of experience and you've seen a lot in chiropractic, where do you think chiropractic is heading over the next 10, 20, 30 years, in in your opinion, and obviously in Australia too? Dr Ben Carvosso: Yeah. Mate, to be honest I haven't really thought a lot about it. And I probably should given that you guys are coming up. You're the new you're the new profession. Logan is gonna graduate in three or so years. And I'm just I'm I I I wish I could give you a better answer, but I'm just really optimistic. I I just I just think it's gonna be great. you know, chiropractic is a principle that is 131 years old this month. 131 years. When chiropractic started, the X-ray machine was invented. And there's x-rays all around the world. Everyone gets an X-ray. That's when chiropractic started. The automobile. Ten or so years later, the aeroplane. You know, chiropractic was around 131 years ago when there was some really cool shit going on. And chiropractic, the principle of chiropractic hasn't changed. I think that's just as strong as it's ever been in our people, in our ilk. It's not all chiropractors. And that's true in medicine. It's true in radiology. I've been in there, I spent seven years in that world. It's no different to chiropractic from the mix of practitioners who are driven by different philosophies. It's the same. But our ilk. w we I think we're just getting stronger. I I think there's some beautiful chiropractors graduating that want to be part of our world and serve patients the way we serve patients. That wanna that don't want to be just in a mechanistic mechanistic model and and really want to Really want to make a mark and make a difference. I talked about this last night. I run a workshop every two weeks. I've been doing it for 35 years, spinal health optimization workshop. It pretty much hasn't changed much because you know chiropradic hasn't changed, and what's going on out in the outer world hasn't changed. You know, I still tell the same pretty much the stories, and they still apply now 35 years later. But I said to the audience, I said. The level of sickness and disease that we have in 2026 wasn't caused by what we're doing in 2026. It was caused from the last 20 or 30 years. Do you get that it takes that long for us to get to this level of health? Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, you know, whatever it is, obesity. It didn't happen this year, that's been brewing for a long period of time. And I said, that's scary because hands up, who thinks Twenty or thirty years ago we had a better lifestyle than we do now. And all the hands go up. Even the you know, the youngies that you know, mid to late twenty year olds go, you know, the childhood that they had, they feel was a better childhood than many kids are getting now. And I said, I agree. But that level, that what you're saying, that lifestyle that was better than what we've got now has led to this. What's going to happen if this lifestyle remains in 2026? Where are we going to be in 20 years from now? It's frightening. And I said, I I I run this workshop and it's it's we do it and we don't necessarily tell you the complete truth of why you're here. But I've got to tell you the truth of why you're here, I want you to become evangelists around shifting the health of our country and our planet. I want you to hear some of the things that we talk about tonight and hopefully they'll shift your thinking, they'll shift your behaviour in such a way that you'll be an impact to the people around you, to your children, to your sisters, to your brothers, to your parents, to your friends, and that will shift the health of the planet. There are a lot of chiropractors that are like that. They want to shift the health of our planet. And I I think chiropractors in really good hands, in those hands. we've been trying to unite chiropractic forever. Chiropractic's been split in Australia forever. We've had two camps. You know, back in the day we called them the Straits and the Mixes. Do you know about Straits and Mixes? Do you understand that language? In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: Yeah, I do. I do. Maybe for the listeners you could you could elaborate a bit more. Dr Ben Carvosso: Well the straits are the ones that just adjust spines. In fact, you're probably even a bit naughty if you adjust the pelvis, right? depends on how straight you are. But it was spine only. Hands only, spine only. And the mixers were the ones that maybe adjusted the spine, but you know, they'd give you a bit of ultrasound and some vitamins and a bit of a rub down and you know, they had a different approach. Anyway, there was always these straits versus the mixers. That still exists. And it's not just the technique that people use anymore, but it's the driving philosophy that divides us. And that's gotta be around forever. That's just not disappearing. But for the people that are our ilk, particularly what I saw at Neo on the weekend, the work that ACC are doing, I think our profession's in in really good hands. I think it's in really, really good hands. And I think, you know, to be honest too, you and I, you know, we do a bit of work with AI in our businesses. If you're just giving patients information Claude will do that better than you. Way better. If you're a physio giving a patient a list of exercises for their shoulder, mate, your days, like your day, like days, and not weeks, days are numbered. But if you're giving people inspiration rather than education, wow, mate, you're you're on the up and up. Our planet needs inspiration. They need hope. They need direction. And that can only come from people like you and I doing what we do. as I said, if you're just informational, your days are numbered. If you're an accountant, if you're a lawyer, it's just it's all over. It's over. But if you're our kind of chiropractor that hugs their patients, that shakes their hand, that sends them a birthday card. Man, you're you're in the right place. Chiropractic is positioned, I think, as we head into the end of this decade to to like just do super cool stuff. If you're our kind of people. Now, if you're not, you better jump ship and join us. Because if you don't. It's gonna be ugly. The mate, our people, our profession, it's in great hands. The people that I hang around with, that you hang around with, Carpeting's cool, epic. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: Could not agree more. And I I'm super optimistic for our future as well. And you know, the more the technology increases, the more that AI comes in, what we do is so separate and distinct. And it's just so focused on connection and and the energy we give our people. And if we if we continue to build our practices around that, and you've given me a lot to think about within this too, of things I can implement, and I'm sure a lot of listeners can relate. But if we continue to build our practices around connection. energy and building people up and inspiration, I think I think we're we're gonna become more popular than ever because that is a thing that is getting less and less unfortunately with with more automation and more easy technology and and things becoming more simple. You don't even get to look at anyone at the checkout anymore when you walk through at the supermarket. So I think with more automation creates a big gap in the market for us and there's a lot of excitement. Just before we finish up today, Dr. Ben, I'd love to touch a bit on your your legacy in the profession. I know this is a big question, but you know, how how would you like to be remembered in chiropractic? Dr Ben Carvosso: mate, my chair's going down. That's weird. would I like to be remembered? No, I might have got nothing on that. I I don't have a I don't have a feeling like I need to be remembered at all. So I hope no I don't hope I'm remembered at all. I I just hope that I've made a difference. I hope the pa that, you know, my patients that I've seen over the years that they're healthier and whether they remember that it was me that did it or not, I I don't really I don't really have an energy or a charge around that at all. The chiropractors that I've met, the associates that I've had, I hope they become great chiropractors and I don't really have an energy around whether I need to be remembered or not. I just I you know, if if it was to be I guess if you were to summarise it, I hope I inspired people. That's that's one of my underlying, you know, driving forces. That's one of my underlying purposes to leave insp leave people inspired. Whether it's the listeners on this podcast or whether it's patients or whether it's practice members, whether it's whether it's team members, I want people I want people if they've if they've connected with me to leave inspired, to leave with more hope, to leave with more optimism, to leave, you know, feeling more worthy, more capable, ability to have more agency. Hope that's what I do, not necessarily what I'm remembered for. Yeah. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: Yeah, I love it. It's a big question. I know I hit you on the spot. So I appreciate you you coming up with that. But I think that's something you'll definitely be remembered by. if people want to connect with you outside of this, how how can they connect with Dr. Ben? Dr Ben Carvosso: mate, just send me an email. You know, connect with the the practice, send me an email. can I check out Life CO? Like quite seriously. the book is worth, mate, I think it's worth reading. it's available on Amazon. Be delivered within, you know, 24 hours. it's a bit of a workbook too, so it's not just a read. You know, there's some stuff you can do in there if you want to get clear on purpose and clear on mission. You know, I talk about five principles in there in the book, and the five principles of purpose drives the plans we make, which drives the personality, which drives our productivity, which then leads to profit. And so get really clear on your purpose, your vision, your mission, so that you can make some crystal clear plans. So we go from heart space of purpose. to headspace of the plans we need to make, the tangible kind of stuff we need to start thinking about. And then we go back to heart and that is who do we need to be? If I'm gonna fulfil those plans, how do I need to show up as a person? And then once I'm showing up as that person, what do I actually need to do? How do I get stuff done? How do I actually change things? Cause those first three your purpose, your plans and your personality, you can do all that in the chair and nothing changes. It's all cool and it's really important, but eventually we've got start doing something. and then once we're doing stuff, if we're doing the right thing in the right direction at the right time, we end up with profit. And so a lot of my clients they they start with me in my coaching practice, say, what do need to do? What do I need to do? Like, I don't know what you need to do. But first of all, you gotta know why you'd do anything at all. And so I'd ask that if they want to connect with me, you can connect with me by all by all means, reach out. But read the book. Read the book. Get you know do a little bit of work about what your purpose is. And then maybe after you've done the purpose work, you go, yeah, I do want to connect with Ben or you do the planning work or you do the personality work. that you can do yourself. so made if to be honest, in the answer to your question, how to connect, get the book. I'm not here to sell books 'cause I don't make any money out of it In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: Thank you, thank you, Doctor Ben. No, no, no. It's it's a great book. I've I've I've read it myself and I would highly recommend. So Dr. Ben, I want to thank you for your time today and and all the inspiration you've left here on this podcast. hope you enjoy the rest of your day and and thank you for listening along if you got this far too. but yeah, thank you. Dr Ben Carvosso: What do you mean if they got this far, Nick? Of course they kept listening to the end. mate, it's been a pleasure too, by the way. A really great and I'm honored that you'd have me come on with some absolute legends that you've already had on. so you know, honored to be kind of put in that mix with that group. And this podcast, by the way, mate, is has got some really cool stuff, and I love that it doesn't have necessarily an engender. It's just bringing a a mixture of chiropractors from different backgrounds and different geography and different histories and different ages and having them just share whatever's kind of on their mind. And mate, so it's been an honor. really, really has. And I look forward to doing the next one. Part two. In Tune - Dr. Ben Carvosso: We we'll definitely have a number two. Awesome. Thank you, Benny. Dr Ben Carvosso: Thanks, Mike.