Latest / DPC Life: Direct Primary Care Podcast / Explaining DPC Without Convincing: A Real-Time Coaching Session with Dr. Alisa Awtry

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Explaining DPC Without Convincing: A Real-Time Coaching Session with Dr. Alisa Awtry · DPC Life: Direct Primary Care Podcast

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And I just kind of had this. I came home from this one
0:01
meeting and I was like, I can't do it.
0:04
My husband was at a meeting for his work that night and without
0:08
telling him, I updated my resume and I sent it off to ADPC doc
0:12
about 30 minutes from here. I had to fight really hard for
0:15
that, but I was like, no, my contract says I can do this.
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Billy has an ear infection and I can swing by on my way home
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because it's half a mile away and just look in his ear and
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hand you a bottle of amoxicillin.
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I've realized I've always had so many people to blame things on
0:27
in corporate health care and I'm like, I have nobody to blame but
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myself. Welcome to DPC Life, the podcast
0:34
where independent doctors share real stories, bold ideas, and
0:38
the freedom of doing medicine on your own terms.
0:42
I'm your host, Doctor Anne Gonzalez, and together we'll
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explore the wins, the struggles, and everything in between.
0:50
Let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to DPC
0:55
Life, the podcast where we talk about all things DPC in the
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office and beyond. And I wanted to wish everyone a
1:02
very happy New Year. 2026 is already here.
1:07
Cannot believe it. I have some awesome news to
1:10
share with you. I'm very excited about this
1:13
year. There are some really great
1:15
podcast episodes that are coming up, including more coaching
1:19
episodes, and also we'll be talking with a few people
1:23
outside of the medical field that have some insights and
1:28
services that can help DPC doctors.
1:31
Also on February 21st, along with my partner Doctor Rachel
1:36
Kelly, we will be hosting a Mini Mastermind at our office in
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Hickory, NC. We're going to have a small
1:44
group of women physicians, a small gathering of women
1:49
physicians, mainly from North Carolina.
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But if there are any physicians that are about to launch their
1:58
DPCS in surrounding areas, if you're within a few hours drive
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of Hickory, you are also welcome to register and join us.
2:08
So that's coming up in February, and you can find more
2:13
information coming up soon. But today, my guest is Doctor
2:20
Alyssa Autry. She is a family physician.
2:23
I'm hoping that 2026 will bring a whole lot of change, but good
2:29
change to all of our listeners. And let's get into our episode
2:34
for today. Well, today, I'm welcoming my
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guest, Doctor Alyssa Autry. She is a direct primary care
2:40
doctor in Newberg, OR and she's opening her DPC in January.
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It's called Rooted Direct Primary Care.
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Thank you for being with me. Absolutely.
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For having me. So first we're going to go
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through what brought you to direct primary care.
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How did you find it? I actually was thinking about
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this laying in bed last night. I can't remember how I first
3:01
thought knew about it, but I've been fantasizing about it for a
3:04
long time. I thought this was a fairly new
3:06
idea in my head, only a couple of years.
3:08
And then one of my friends recently reminded me that we had
3:10
gone to Ethnex together in 2022 when I was between corporate
3:14
jobs. And I went to every single DPC
3:16
session that was there. And she was like, no, you were
3:18
totally obsessed at that point. But at that point, I also had a
3:21
newborn and was not in a brain space that I had the space to
3:25
think about it. And at that time in 2022, we
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moved from Northern California up to Oregon.
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And I was just totally overwhelmed.
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And I was like, I'll just get a corporate job, it'll be fine,
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just like the last one was fine. And so just put my head down and
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have been in this corporate job for 3 1/2 years.
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And as far as corporate jobs go, it was good enough.
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I was surviving. And then in April of this year,
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a bunch of new things happened at work where it was just you
3:50
need to see a lot more patients. You have a lot less support.
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You're not going to get paid any more money.
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Just do it and put your head down and keep going.
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And I just kind of had this. I came home from this one
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meeting and I was just like, I can't do it.
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My husband's was at a meeting for his work that night and
4:05
without telling him, I updated my resume and I sent it off to
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ADPC doc about 30 minutes from here.
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And I was like, I don't know if you're hiring but and he called
4:14
me like 8 minutes later. I'm looking for somebody.
4:16
We talked for an hour and within a week and 1/2 or so I had a job
4:20
offer. But as I went through the
4:22
process and his clinic is great and what he was offering was
4:25
wonderful. I just really felt this like no
4:28
Newburg or my people and I can't look at them to drive to this
4:32
much like higher socio Economic Community and take care of those
4:36
people. Like I just can't do that.
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But it felt really weird to say that to him and I did.
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And he was kind of like it's not a big deal.
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Like it's not that far. Your patients can drive if they
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like you will come. And it's like, you don't
4:45
understand Newburgh. Like these people don't want to
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leave me burn. We're here.
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And actually right after I got off the phone with him, like 20
4:52
minutes later, I ran home and was taking my kids to soccer and
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my husband was in the car. As we were leaving our house,
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there were two cop cars parked outside of our house, which was
5:01
really weird or like across the street.
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And so I kind of rubbernecked and I saw that they were
5:06
standing next to this elderly lady.
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And so I looked a little bit closer and it was my patient who
5:11
has dementia and was in the middle of a manic episode.
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And she lives around the corner, but she's homebound.
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So then even though there are a bunch of neighbors there, nobody
5:18
recognized her. And I was able to jump out of
5:20
the car. My husband drove the kids to
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soccer. And I could say this is so.
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And so she lives around the corner.
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I called her daughter. I called her husband.
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And it was just one of those really sweet.
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I mean, it's like a terrible situation.
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But like, no, these are my people.
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These are my patients. Like I need to do this here.
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So for a little bit I thought, Oh well, I'm probably just stuck
5:38
working for the system because I'm certainly not going to open
5:40
my own practice. And then over the several months
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I was like, OK, I guess I can do this, I'll just go for it.
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Now here we are. It's wonderful to be working and
5:51
living in the same community. It's some people are afraid of
5:55
it, like they don't like it. But me personally, I don't mind
5:58
it, but it's, I guess it's just a personal preference.
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But I love that that you, you're tied there and you've lived
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there for how long? Just 3 1/2 years, but my, my
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husband's a pastor in the community.
6:08
Our kids go to school here. Like it's just when we moved
6:11
here, we kind of created our life of like we, we get to do
6:13
over. So we're going to do this all in
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a 2 mile radius in our life here.
6:17
So that's wonderful. Yeah, OK, great.
6:20
So you're opening very soon. Do you have a date?
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January 20th. I'm still currently employed
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until January 8th, so it's a pretty quick turn around.
6:30
Yeah yeah. Right now I'm doing 3 enrollment
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and doing meet and greets all day every day on my day off and
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then. So did you have a non compete?
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I don't have a non compete, Yeah.
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So that was something I like looked at pretty carefully
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because I knew there's no other game in town.
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So I do if I haven't on compete. I made this job forever.
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There was a clause or there is a clause that I couldn't tell my
6:52
patients where I was going unless I had direct written
6:54
consent of my practice, but that they weren't able to withhold
6:58
that if my request was reasonable.
7:00
So there was about a 45 day period of them withholding that,
7:03
but I finally was able to remind them of the terms of the
7:07
contract and they gave it to me. And actually my letter just
7:09
finally went out yesterday and it does.
7:12
That's been a little boost. Of interest.
7:14
That's great, yeah, some places don't even say.
7:18
It's like you just fall off the. Face I had to fight really hard
7:22
for that but I was like no, my contract says I can do this and.
7:26
What what things are you wanting to talk about as far as opening
7:31
your practice? What things do you need help
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with? I guess two things.
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One is I feel like my elevator pitch just changes every day.
7:40
And I don't know if that is because I really am like a
7:43
family doctor at the root. Like I don't have a single ideal
7:45
patient. If my panel ends up filled with
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all people who look the same, like that would be hard for me.
7:51
And so I feel like it changes based on who I'm trying to
7:53
recruit. But I feel also like my wording
7:56
around it's a membership based practice and we can see people
7:59
with any insurance because often turns people off.
8:02
Like when I have that full quick blurb in the exam room, they
8:06
just kind of shrivel back. Oh, it's one of those.
8:08
And so I'm hoping to just work on refining that verbiage.
8:13
And then I just I guess around like I'm doing, I just opened
8:18
pre enrollment a week ago and it's been pretty brisk, which is
8:21
a great problem to have. And I have many dozens of meet
8:25
and greet still to go, which is a good problem.
8:27
But I guess I would love your insight on like how many pre
8:30
enrollments is too many in the sense that I want people to have
8:34
a good experience with onboarding and how to help that
8:37
process be smooth these. Are good problems, yes.
8:42
It's true. I will say just for a piece of
8:45
context, I got a really lucky break in that the local we have
8:48
like a grassroots newspaper here.
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It's a one man show, kind of like the BPCO newspaper almost.
8:53
And he got wind of this in early November and asked to write a
8:57
story and that goes, it's a free newspaper that goes to like 6000
9:00
people. And that one drove a lot of
9:04
interest. But also I've noticed that the
9:06
people who read the article totally get it.
9:08
Like he just did a great job of explaining DPC and I'm like,
9:12
that was the best free advertising ever because not
9:15
only have they heard of it, but they like get it.
9:17
That's. Amazing.
9:18
I think you know how you're talking, just talking about when
9:21
you explain things to people and they kind of shrink up like
9:24
they're, they hear no entrance. You need people who who get it,
9:28
like you said, they just get it from the very beginning because
9:32
it's very hard. And I wouldn't say it's a
9:33
complete waste of your energy to try and explain it to people
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because there are some people who after a little bit, they're
9:39
like, oh, OK, I get it. But the ones who get it
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immediately, those are your kind of people.
9:43
What you're saying is I shouldn't be spending too much
9:46
energy trying to get them to get it.
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They're either going to get it or not.
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Exactly. Yeah, if they get it
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immediately, fantastic. There's some people who you can
9:53
talk till you're blue in the face and they just like I have
9:55
my insurance and. That's good insurance.
9:59
Good insurance and so I'm not going to do pay more.
10:02
So yes, exactly that's what I'm trying to say I was.
10:07
Hoping for the magic. Hoping for the magic word.
10:10
That would going to be like, oh, I see.
10:12
It's a value. Yeah.
10:15
Yeah. We love you.
10:16
We're so sad. We don't want to lose you.
10:18
Are you sure you can't work here two days a week?
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And I'm like, it's so much better there, like.
10:22
Yeah, and that's a hard thing. It is because there are people
10:25
that we've seen for three years and but you don't want to leave
10:29
them. And there's a lot of kind of,
10:31
there's a lot of guilt feelings, I think.
10:34
And it's just something that you have to realize it's not for
10:37
everybody, right? And even though you do want to
10:40
take care of everyone, you really can't as a direct primary
10:42
care doctor. But your people are finding you,
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it sounds, and they will continue to find you.
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So you're still going to be serving your patients.
10:50
It may not be the same exact patients that you were before,
10:53
and some of them will follow you.
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I've gotten definitely have gotten people who followed I.
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Wrote down a few things. So we want to talk about the
11:00
elevator pitch and then kind of focusing on who is your ideal
11:05
patient and then also talking about onboarding, how to
11:10
basically how to onboard. It sounds like a lot of people
11:13
at once. You want to give everyone the
11:14
time, but you don't want to overwhelm yourself either.
11:18
Why don't we start with your elevator pitch and justice kind
11:22
of try it out. Let's hear it.
11:25
Yeah. So I feel like it always starts
11:28
with are you going to see people who take ex insurance?
11:31
And so I've changed it to say I can see people with any or no
11:34
insurance, but you aren't billed for any visits.
11:37
Instead, you pay a low monthly fee that covers any visits you
11:40
need. The membership then gets to use
11:41
direct access to me, your doctor.
11:43
You'll always see me longer visits and see your next day
11:46
access for acute needs. And that gives us time and space
11:50
to really develop a relationship that allows us not to address
11:52
what's going on, but also to develop strategies to prevent
11:56
issues before they. You've got really good points.
11:59
I'll probably try and shorten it a little bit.
12:02
So it really depends on who you're talking with, right?
12:06
So it try to feel out what is their pain point initially?
12:11
So is it they can't get in to see you or they see somebody
12:15
different every time or it's two weeks before they can see you,
12:19
things like that. So you can, if you can feel
12:22
people out and then tailor it to what their concern is.
12:26
And so most of the time it's going to be access, but they
12:30
can't get in to see you or they is, is the practice where you
12:33
are pretty big right now, Like, yeah, they can't either get in
12:36
to see you or they get in and they see someone different that
12:39
they've never seen before, right.
12:41
And then also sometimes people are focused on cost, right?
12:45
But if they have a high deductible, you can also explain
12:48
even if you have a high deductible and also that HSA is
12:51
this year. Yeah, are covered, Yeah.
12:54
Use that as another selling point, but I think really the
12:57
emotional kind of things are are probably the best way to get
13:03
people kind of invested and interested.
13:07
Yeah. What do you say to the?
13:09
I just. I don't see the doctor that
13:10
much. I don't know if it's worth.
13:12
I had a patient yesterday who is going to sign up for parent that
13:15
I take care of but then was like I only see you once a year and I
13:18
just. Do you have an annual visit
13:20
charge or? I can't imagine it's worth it to
13:22
pay every month. So sometimes what I'll do is
13:25
I'll say, even though you feel like you don't see the doctor,
13:28
you know, all the time, if you have small questions, you know,
13:32
what you're doing is you're probably saving it for your
13:34
annual and then by that time you've probably forgotten.
13:38
And then after the appointment, then you remember it.
13:41
So we're available to take care of those things.
13:44
And the reason why we like the membership is so that you have
13:48
the access and you don't feel like you have to wait.
13:53
And some of those people are the ones that you just will never
13:56
convince because if you if they're saying that after you've
13:59
already kind of given your spiel.
14:02
Giving them the, they don't see the value.
14:05
Right. And maybe after she enrolls her
14:08
mother and she sees how easy it is to get answers and how to get
14:13
in with you and get responses that might convince her, but it
14:19
may not be worth the energy. It's just one of those things
14:26
that it you kind of have to get used to it and, and realize
14:31
again, you know, it's just not for everybody.
14:33
Not everyone's going to get it and that's OK.
14:37
It's OK. I won't believe you.
14:41
It's OK. There's people that you don't
14:42
really. You're like, oh, they're fine.
14:44
I don't really want to see them anyway.
14:46
Yeah, I know. Those are just new, Doctor.
14:49
It's, it's OK, A lot of it is kind of just self discovery and
14:53
understanding and trying to it's growth.
14:56
It's a whole growth journey, right?
14:57
Because all of it is new. So I, yeah, I've always been, my
15:03
parents were small business owners.
15:04
And so my take away from that was like, I will never do this
15:07
because I will sell myself a demand to have a paycheck every
15:09
other Friday. And so to sign up for something
15:12
where I'm not getting a paycheck from Fridays in January, Yeah,
15:16
it's a lot of self discovery. It is so.
15:18
It'll get better as you go along.
15:20
It gets better, but it is a lot of learning and just adjusting
15:24
and kind of that mindset shifting.
15:27
So elevator pitch, it will vary. It depends on who you're talking
15:30
to. Now there is, I tell people this
15:33
all the time because it is really easy, especially if you
15:36
don't know somebody you don't like, if you're someone that
15:38
you're just meeting to make it really, really short.
15:42
It's my formula that I use when I talk to people.
15:45
So I say it's three parts. It's, you know when you call
15:51
your doctor and you can't, you may have heard this already, but
15:54
you know when you call your doctor and you can't get in and
15:57
they're like, Oh yeah, I can never, yeah, that's a pain in
16:00
the butt. It's really annoying.
16:02
Then you say, well, at my practice, we have same day or
16:05
next day appointments and we can see you when you need us.
16:09
It's super short. That can be, that can be
16:13
adjusted. When you go to the doctor, you
16:14
get 5 minutes and you don't get to talk about what you want to
16:17
talk about because they're always talking about the
16:19
screenings or what just whatever.
16:21
But that's the idea. You can't get enough time with
16:25
your doctor. At our practice, we have 30 to
16:28
60 minute visits. So you get to really get to the
16:31
root of the problem or what you want to discuss.
16:34
When you have it shorter, it's just a lot easier.
16:37
You just want to kind of get the attention and then kind of go
16:40
from there. And I understand, like our
16:43
website, when we first, when we first opened, it was just like
16:48
we were just out, me and me. I was trying to cram so much
16:51
into it and it was just too much.
16:55
And we had to, we had we switched and the people who
16:59
redesigned it like took so much away.
17:04
And afterwards I was. A friend helped me with my
17:06
website and she did so much of that.
17:08
I was like, Nope. You think your bio is great and
17:09
it needs to be half as like, like just yeah.
17:12
Yeah. So, yeah, that's it was it was a
17:15
lesson for me to stop. Just make it very, very simple.
17:19
OK. So that's something to work on
17:21
the elevator pitch trying to make it simple and short, catch
17:25
their interest and then you can kind of go from there.
17:28
OK, so then what about your ideal patient?
17:33
This is really hard for me because I really am a family
17:36
doc. I've I like it all, almost all,
17:40
but I would be sad. My husband made a really wise
17:42
observation when I was kind of first starting the ideas around
17:46
this practice. That was every time.
17:47
I've limited my scope in my career up to this point.
17:52
I used to do OB and when I cut that off I used to have a really
17:55
HIV heavy practice and here just doesn't have the community to
17:58
support it. It's really decreased my joy and
18:01
work. And so I'm trying that to heart
18:03
that like I really just regret and so and also like I love
18:09
geriatrics, complex geriatrics and my price point cannot
18:12
support a panel full of complex geriatrics.
18:15
So I'm hoping to have some of those that I'm like really just
18:18
basically charity care. Like it won't pay for itself,
18:21
but I enjoy it and I feel like it's meaningful work to me.
18:24
When I built the practice, I feel like I was envisioning like
18:29
in terms of the access to these sorts of things and like having
18:32
meds on site and being able to do a home visit if I need.
18:35
The young family of working parents with a bunch of kids who
18:40
like Billy has an ear infection and I can swing by on my way
18:43
home because it's half a mile away and just look in his ear
18:46
and hand you a bottle of amoxicillin.
18:47
Like, and I'm not advertising that because I've listened to
18:50
all the advice That's terrible. But like that to me, terrible
18:54
for like life and fitting it all in.
18:56
But that to me is like the pinnacle of what I didn't have
19:00
that I would have loved. I'm doing it like 4th trimester
19:02
package of all in home care again, just because that sounds
19:06
streamy to me. Can I do that?
19:08
Can I have lots of those people? No, but hopefully that will
19:10
drive some babies in my practice.
19:12
But, you know, I'm also, like, work out with a bunch of
19:15
perimenopausal moms who are, like, my ideal patient of, like,
19:17
having time and space to talk about bone health and dementia
19:21
for all the things that get ignored at this stage, that this
19:24
is the time to talk about it. And I would be sad if I didn't
19:26
have a good chunk of those, too. So that's where I it's hard for
19:29
me to define who my patient is because I just want them all and
19:32
not all of them, but I want some of all of them, Yeah.
19:34
You have a lot of favourites. I know it's really bad.
19:39
It's. Not that smart.
19:40
I'm a family doctor. Like it's not bad.
19:43
I pay for it all. Like I want to use it OK.
19:45
So she paid for it all. I was like, well.
19:51
You did. Pay for it too.
19:52
You did they all. Did pay for it all, Yeah.
19:55
You paid a lot for it. All of that.
20:00
So one thing is right now, like try to think of your favorite
20:08
patient, like when you see them on your schedule, like, oh
20:12
great, I'm so excited I get to see X today.
20:16
Like who is that person? It's it's a multi generational
20:20
family for sure. It is like the mom of the multi
20:24
family where I know all the pieces of the puzzle and it's
20:29
like stressed out and overwhelmed and just needs a
20:32
safe place that is hers in that moment.
20:36
So it sounds like you probably want more of them.
20:39
People like people like her. That's and and that would be an
20:43
enjoyable practice, I think, especially since it's not just
20:47
one type because you said it's kind of a multi generational
20:50
family. Where do you find these people?
20:54
Where do they hang out? Yeah, so I mean, I think I have
20:57
good access to them, right, because of already at school,
21:00
like I take care of lots of my kids as classmates and their
21:03
parents and their teachers and our church is full of my
21:07
patients, our fields, Newburgh. I feel like it's pretty because
21:10
places people are, yeah, a lot of places that they're like
21:14
organic. The, the gym where I work out is
21:16
full of these people. It's been hard.
21:19
And so people are starting to hear about it from the article
21:22
and from just word of mouth. I'm doing a the Community Center
21:25
where I work out, they do a like fitness sampler in early January
21:29
for New Year's where like all the classes have back-to-back
21:31
and they have a little health fair.
21:32
So I'm like going to do a table there.
21:34
It's been hard to, like, find in a professional sense how to get
21:37
to these people. I've been doing mainly like the
21:40
chamber and those sorts of things.
21:42
And those are not, I mean, they'd be fine, but they're not
21:45
like this patient that brings me a lot of joy.
21:48
Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know, other
21:49
than like the health fair and just conversing.
21:52
And now I have a lot excited. The person who did my website,
21:55
she is a mom from my kid school who this summer I kind of like
21:59
we were out to brunch and I mentioned like, I don't know,
22:01
I'm thinking about this, but I'm really unsure.
22:03
And she's like, we need this, Newburgh needs this.
22:05
Like what do I need to do to make this happen?
22:07
Because I need this in my life. I'll make you a website, you
22:10
know? And she just kind of, and she's
22:12
tells everybody about it and we work out together.
22:15
And so she gets the word out. So I feel like that organic
22:18
piece is happening, but I don't know if there's other ways more
22:20
formally and like professionally to target those people.
22:26
Yeah, definitely. The like the gym for example,
22:31
you know you're going to do the healthcare, would they be open
22:35
to maybe before or after your class?
22:37
Like just a 5 minute you talk about your practice.
22:43
My teacher is of one of the class that I do multiple times a
22:47
week. I should be there right now.
22:49
She's a physician and my patients and loves me and tells
22:53
everybody about me. So like it happens organically,
22:55
but I intentionally haven't asked for that formal thing just
22:58
because I don't know. It feels weird in a yeah.
23:00
Why does it? Feel weird I.
23:05
Don't. I don't know because it's like a
23:07
private enterprise coming into a, but maybe that OK is that.
23:12
Should that happen it it does, I guess, but you know why?
23:15
Like who's telling you it's weird?
23:20
That's a great point. I don't know, I guess I.
23:24
Understand, I mean, I I kind of get it, but also if you ask and
23:27
they say no. Then great, you know, well, OK,
23:35
fair. And if there are other places,
23:37
so let's see. So that's one place.
23:40
You said you've been to the Chamber.
23:42
Do they do any, do they sponsor any kind of talks or?
23:45
Yeah, so they have like greeters Friday morning where and you can
23:49
like make announcements. You can also like sponsor a
23:53
whole talk. I'm going to do an open house in
23:56
January and advertise it to them.
23:58
So I'm hoping I'll get some of those.
23:59
I get some of those people, yeah.
24:01
But other than like your 30 seconds or minutes, you ask for
24:04
an advertisement, you can do kind of like a minute spiel.
24:07
It has to be something more of like a whole event to put on
24:10
through the. Chamber.
24:11
Do they have a directory where you can reach out to people in
24:15
the chamber? Yeah.
24:16
They do. And in the Chamber, are there
24:19
any businesses that would cater to the people that you want in
24:24
your practice? For sure.
24:27
Yeah. I've been meeting with some like
24:29
physical therapist and a chiropractor and I'm meeting
24:32
with a naturopath, I don't know, sometimes too.
24:34
And so kind of meeting with some of those sorts of people.
24:38
And that has actually been pretty helpful.
24:39
I've had a few patients through those referrals already find me
24:43
and, and sign up. Yeah.
24:46
And then there's another woman who works for the hospital in
24:49
the next city over who's been very helpful in kind of getting
24:52
me connected with people that I emerged.
24:56
Are communicating with them. How often are you talking to
24:59
your referral sources? Probably not enough.
25:02
I like to met them all for coffee and then I like see them
25:04
at chamber events and try to, you know, Yeah, but I'm not
25:08
nothing formal. It may be worth it to like every
25:12
one to two weeks just send out an e-mail or a text say hey how
25:15
you doing just checking in can I do anything for you?
25:18
Not necessarily, You're asking. Some of them are doing that to
25:21
me because they're on it. Yeah, I should probably probably
25:27
do the same. Yeah, it's again, it's like
25:29
that. That feels weird.
25:30
But is it really? I mean, yeah.
25:35
Yeah, they've been super supportive.
25:37
It's been really amazing. So yeah, I should be a little
25:40
more intentional about those relationships.
25:42
I feel like I've just been like, oh, I have them, they have my
25:44
business cards. They know the spiel, they know
25:46
what which of them would be a good fit done.
25:49
But I should probably make sure that I'm they do know it.
25:51
But it's you just have to keep reminding them and particularly,
25:55
I mean, you can say like if you have any patients who are moms
25:58
in the blah, blah, blah age and they got families.
26:00
Those are perfect. I love treating families like
26:03
that. Next time they see somebody,
26:04
they're like, did you know Doctor Autry?
26:08
So some just trying to to just kind of reach out, nurture those
26:12
relationships so that it's just automatic that when they see
26:15
somebody that would fit in your practice, they've been they can
26:18
tell them and identify. It you know.
26:21
So, yeah, so just go through your chamber directory and even
26:24
if there's people that you haven't reached out to, it's a
26:28
good thing to just say, hey, if you've met them before, like
26:32
just in passing at the chamber. Nice to meet you.
26:34
Let me tell you a little bit about practice.
26:36
It's it is a lot. It's a lot of work.
26:38
I mean, the whole thing is a lot of work.
26:43
I think I've been giving myself a pass because I'm still working
26:46
my full time job of like, I'll do that stuff later.
26:48
And also, like, especially with, like, the article that went out,
26:52
I feel like everybody kind of got aware of this and now I need
26:55
some. Yeah.
26:56
So the person who wrote the article are Do you know them?
27:00
I I mean, I met him on the phone for an hour when he interviewed
27:04
me and then I came out to take my photo.
27:06
Have you talked to him much about like kind of the response
27:09
that the article got? Like has anyone reached out to
27:12
him about it? That's a great question.
27:14
I mean I like thanked him for it and but happens.
27:18
No, not not widely. It may be worth to see kind of
27:22
what response he got, Like what if people responded and said,
27:25
oh, this really resonated with me.
27:27
Oh, that's great seeing what people liked about it.
27:31
And then also just keeping in touch with him because he's
27:34
obviously a big supporter and maybe he can do a follow up or
27:38
just like a little blurb just to say, hey, January 20th practice
27:44
is opening. Still, he posted it in Instagram
27:48
and there were like some pretty great conversations in the
27:50
comments of just so many people. You know, my letter hadn't gone
27:52
out by that point. So like a lot of my patients
27:53
being like, wait, this is she's leaving for evidence.
27:55
But she's such a great doctor. But also just a lot of people
27:57
being like, I read about this and this, you know, 'cause
28:00
there's nothing like this nearby.
28:01
Like our community has needed this for so long.
28:03
And it was the encouraging little conversation, which
28:06
that's awesome. That's.
28:07
Great. So those people who did post on
28:10
Facebook and commented, they may be people that you can just
28:15
reach out to say, hey, thanks for your comment.
28:16
I appreciate your support. Can I tell you more or because
28:20
they sound like they would be really good supporters.
28:23
And social media obviously is a huge thing when you're trying to
28:27
spread the word about a practice like this, that trying to reach
28:30
out to people who might be like you're raving fans, because then
28:34
they will post about it on other groups and spread the word that
28:37
way. So you can just, I mean just
28:39
personally. The ones who are my patients
28:41
I've like followed up with but not they're like random just
28:43
like oh this was a good idea. But yeah, it's outside my
28:45
comfort zone. But totally might be a good it
28:47
is all. All of it is outside our comfort
28:49
zones. We don't learn those stuff is
28:51
but yeah, just to I was. Not even on social media before
28:55
this. So it's all very.
28:56
Yeah, it's it's a lot, but yeah, so just DM ING them saying hey,
29:01
thanks for your support. I saw that you were interested
29:04
in some kind of introduction, like can I tell you more about
29:08
it or do you have any questions something like that?
29:11
Just leave it open and then OK. And not everyone will answer,
29:14
but some will. So we were talking about your
29:17
ideal patient is what we when we started.
29:23
Yeah. So I think that if you can, that
29:26
mom, the multi generational family, trying to really just
29:30
kind of think about other places where you can meet them or you
29:33
can interact with them, that would be good.
29:36
And then trying to kind of just keep coming back to that
29:39
particular thing and looking for more people who might fit.
29:44
And just remember, how many people are you trying to get?
29:46
I mean, how many? What's your goal?
29:49
Yeah, 250 to 300, it's a nice. It's a really nice number.
29:53
I think for moms in particular, like it's that's good.
29:59
I think that's a really good space.
30:01
OK. And then we talked about how to
30:04
do the meet and greets and how to give everyone time.
30:07
It's hard, especially it's just you, right?
30:09
You don't have any anyone. Yeah.
30:12
Are some of them your patients already though?
30:14
Right. OK.
30:16
Yeah, so. Those are.
30:17
Those are. Easy.
30:18
So one thing that somebody did mention, it's Doctor Adame.
30:22
She's a pediatrician. She's doing group meet and
30:25
greets which I thought was amazing.
30:29
Oh, I did read, I read this somewhere because like today I
30:34
have 12 back-to-back to back-to-back, which is what I
30:36
mean, a great problem. And also like I'm going to be,
30:41
yeah, I did like 8 last week and I was like, oh, how am I going
30:45
to do 12? But here we are.
30:47
Yeah, wow. Some groups might be a.
30:50
Group would be nice. So and maybe, yeah, I feel like
30:55
I'm like, I'm already scheduled like through the end of January,
30:59
but maybe then once I'm open just doing like every day at
31:04
noon, you have this thing. And then another thing is you
31:07
can do, you can advertise it on Facebook and Instagram or just
31:12
social posts, not necessarily paid, but if you wanted to do
31:17
like a Zoom call or some kind of webinar and then you record that
31:21
and. Then you post.
31:22
It on your website, OK, Or if you want to have a YouTube
31:26
channel, I mean, you don't even have to have a lot on there, but
31:28
you can just post it on YouTube someplace where people can
31:30
access it because that's another easy way.
31:34
That way you're not one-on-one and it's accessible anytime.
31:39
If it's 12:00 midnight, people want to watch it, they can.
31:44
So that's an easy one too. I've been a little bit hesitant
31:49
just because like, you know, I want the vetting to go both
31:52
ways. And so I like the idea of the
31:55
one-on-one. There's a chance just to feel
31:57
them out and me out. Yeah.
31:59
And so I'd be curious in the group setting if you could still
32:03
get that by. That would be harder.
32:04
Or you can call it more of an informational group call and
32:08
then still because that will weed out some people if they
32:12
hear. More and it's.
32:14
Not for me. But I think yeah, then I'm if
32:19
they go to the next one, then they're going to have right?
32:21
So that you can still. Do kind of a just a real quick
32:23
meet and greet and you may want to be able to schedule them.
32:27
So if they've already gone through that kind of one initial
32:31
kind of group call that you could easily convert it if you
32:35
decided, OK, we're good fit. Yeah, let's do it.
32:39
Yeah. So.
32:40
You can schedule it a. Little bit more time so that if
32:44
it works, great, if it doesn't, OK.
32:48
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think that would be
32:52
an easier thing for you because that's a lot 12 Oh gosh, yeah.
33:00
The onboarding, I think at least for your people that you already
33:02
know, if you just and you're almost done anyway, but just
33:06
kind of like tuck them away for a little bit and then you can
33:08
bring them back in another couple months when you know when
33:11
they need you. Yeah.
33:13
But I would try to encourage them to.
33:16
Yeah, I try to encourage them to sign up, though not to wait
33:21
until two or three months. Yeah, I guess that's it.
33:25
It's like I have this like, oh, if you're enrolled, you need an
33:27
appointment right away. But maybe, yeah, for these
33:29
people that like I've been seeing regularly and they don't
33:31
have any acute issue, like I don't necessarily want you to
33:35
see them, yeah. So the ones that are your
33:38
patients that are coming with you, some may feel like I don't
33:43
need you for three months, I'm not going to sign up for three
33:46
months. But what if they do need you,
33:48
right, They will sign up then. But what I would say is probably
33:52
giving them some kind of incentive to sign up now.
33:57
So do you have an enrollment fee?
34:00
You don't. OK.
34:01
I don't, Yeah, no, yeah. So I don't have that.
34:04
Hear it too. Yeah, or you could say something
34:07
like, well, your first month is 50% off or something for your
34:11
previous and and privately. Saying so that.
34:13
Not everyone knows. It.
34:15
But at least they'll say, oh, OK, well, it might work.
34:19
I don't know. You don't know to try it.
34:22
And that's the great thing about having your own business.
34:24
It's like. It doesn't.
34:26
Work. OK, well, let's change it.
34:30
That's good. I've been trying.
34:31
I don't know, I and this is again, like I just need to get
34:34
over it, but like all the gimmicky, like first whatever
34:36
free or this look, you're the first number of X like I just
34:40
I'm so off foot by that, but I've tried really hard to just
34:42
be like this is the price. This is the what I've just is
34:46
take it or leave it sort of thing.
34:47
I can see how that like sense of a little bit of urgency to get
34:51
people that they just know. And I've even said that
34:53
patience. I'm like, why am I saying that
34:54
when they're like, oh, I don't know.
34:55
And I was like, OK, well, if you decide next year, like makes
34:58
sense, I'll be there. Like why am I going to feel like
35:00
that? Like I'm just this commodity,
35:03
but it comes out of my mouth, so.
35:04
Well, I mean, there's nothing wrong with saying that.
35:06
I mean, yeah, but especially if that person is, like, not your
35:10
person if they're not. Yeah.
35:12
No, but I, I think it's, it's the people that are my people
35:16
that I like really the kind of people that I really enjoy
35:18
taking care of, but are the ones kind of the ones we were talking
35:21
about earlier who like, oh, I thought you'd be the one that
35:23
would be like, right on this and you're not.
35:25
And I then I feel some like, oh, well, I love it and it's true.
35:29
Like I would love to take care of a year from now.
35:31
Yeah. Some way to kind of get like if
35:33
you sign up now, it would be great for everybody, you know?
35:36
Well, definitely the people who you've talked to at your
35:38
practice and and then I guess I'm coming to see you trying
35:44
something to I. Feel like most of those people
35:48
have been are either have pre enrolled or have like
35:53
communicated to me that they're planning to pre enroll or
35:55
scheduled for a meet and greet because I have some questions
35:58
because I'm not requiring meet and greets for my prior
36:00
patients. So I feel like most of those are
36:03
just getting it but like this is just wiping up but it.
36:07
Sounds like you're on your way. This is amazing.
36:09
It's wonderful. Yeah, yeah.
36:11
Some people start with no patience, so this is great
36:13
you're ahead. Of the game a good problem to
36:17
have, I just want to do it right from here.
36:19
Right or wrong, Who's to say if it's right or wrong?
36:22
But again, if it doesn't work out, what?
36:27
Whatever process you're using, you can change it easily.
36:30
No, you're the boss. You get to do it.
36:32
So you don't have to ask anyone permission.
36:34
You don't have to ask anyone for permission.
36:37
If it seems like something else would work better, then you can
36:40
do it. It's a big leap.
36:42
It really is. It's so hard to to, I guess you,
36:46
a lot of us have never been the boss and there's always someone
36:49
else to look up to. And it's like kind of now you
36:51
have to like really adult. I realize I've always had so
36:56
many people to blame things on in corporate health care, and
36:59
I'm like, I have nobody to blame but myself, which is really
37:01
empowering and also really terrifying of like, who am I
37:04
going to point the finger at when something goes awry?
37:06
It's a learning experience and if it doesn't work out, just
37:11
pivot, adjust, try again. That's all you can do.
37:17
We'll do that. You're welcome.
37:18
I hope that was helpful. Good.
37:21
All right, so let's see. Tell us again how people can
37:26
find you if they did want to talk to you, if they're in
37:27
Oregon and maybe someone else is like I want to do DPC and they
37:31
will come to you and ask for help.
37:32
How can we find you? Yeah, the easiest way to do it
37:35
is my website has all my info on it redirectprimarycare.com.
37:39
Wonderful. Well, thank you, Alyssa.
37:41
I appreciate your time and thank you for being willing to share
37:46
because that's a hard thing. It's very hard to kind of just
37:50
lay it all out there. So I really appreciate you
37:53
coming on and sharing with other people.
37:55
And I know other people are going to learn from this, so
37:57
it's great. Thank you.
37:58
Thank you so much for having me. I'm sharing your wisdom with me.
38:01
I appreciate it. Welcome.
38:02
Thanks again for listening to DPC Life.
38:06
If you are thinking about opening up your own direct
38:10
primary care, please take a look at the five day confidence
38:14
course that you can get by going to Instagram and sending a DM
38:20
with the word course and we will send you the free Five Day DPC
38:26
Confidence course. It's a short set of emails that
38:29
gives you some small steps that you can do to help get you
38:33
closer to opening your direct primary care practice.
38:37
And also, like I said earlier, keep an eye out on the DPC Life
38:42
social media pages for information about the mini
38:47
mastermind that we'll be hosting in February.
38:52
Thanks again for listening and we'll see you at the next
38:55
episode. Thank you for listening to DPC
38:59
Life. If today's conversation inspired
39:02
you, hit follow. Leave a review and share it with
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a friend who's ready for change. Remember, wherever you are in
39:10
the journey, your DPC family has your back.
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39:19
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