Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rai’an Harris-Klaus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Rai’an, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
I didn’t go to Chiropractic school expecting to be an entrepreneur. In fact, I thought just the opposite. I would likely work for someone, somewhere, perhaps even a hospital. Eventually, I would buy out another practice or become a partner, you know, the normal type of ways that people come into ownership. About halfway through graduate school, I saw that vision changing. I thought, “what better way to change the world than to create a wonderful practice of my own. Focus on saving my part of the world”. So I had laid out all of my plans and began working on my office. Before I graduated, I had already registered my business with the state, had my logo and branding work done, created my website, and already had a schedule going to get seeing prospective clients. All that was left was to graduate, pass my boards, and get licensed.
I did eventually do all of those things, as well as move to a new city. As soon as my (then) boyfriend and I felt like we were ready to get started opening our practice, I quit my job, moved again, and we hit the ground running. Days after I put in my notice, I found out that I was pregnant. So here I was, a fresh graduate, that had never owned a business before, building a business from scratch, whilst building a human from scratch. It was absolutely insane. Luckily, a few summers prior, I worked for a start-up company and learned all about grassroots marketing and just getting our boots on the ground. It was chaos, but taught me so many valuable lessons. So I used those and got to work on Skyline Chiropractic (my other baby).
Building a business and a baby was easily the most challenging experience I had until that point. I nearly passed out at a networking from being dehydrated. I was constantly met with tons of “really? A business, now” type of expressions. I was even challenged by close friends and family members.
My boyfriend proposed, the business was coming together, we were training, we had a building, and everything was coming together. We even had over 50 people scheduled before we were ready to open in January. So with our baby’s due date approaching, we focused on birth and our family.
My daughter’s birth was and is now the hardest thing I ever had to endure. I was in pre-labor for 10 days, and on that final day, our conditions turned emergent and I was rushed to an emergency c-section. My baby was born completely pale, not breathing, and seizing. 3 days later we were told that her condition was likely terminal and that her doctors had no idea whether we would be able to bring our baby home from the hospital. Our ribbon cutting was scheduled a week later. Being a pediatric chiropractor, I did everything I could for my baby in the hospital. I used all of my training and instincts to help my daughter’s body heal. And just like we thought it would, it did. She came off of machines left and right and started breathing on her own. She was able to eat on her own, and eventually there was no need for her to continue being in the NICU and we were discharged.
Living in real time what I had always envisioned helping our community with was empowering. While my daughter was in the NICU, I continued planning our ribbon cutting and our official grand opening. It was one of the only certainties I had to hold on to. I had plenty of hope for my daughter, but the business was the one thing that was totally in my control, so I latched on to that security.
Developing a business during that time took grit, guts, and perseverance. Obviously we hit so many roadblocks along the way. There were so many times that it felt like doors were slamming in our faces. I had to go to over 10 banks to finally find financing. Securing a building without experience was difficult. Having your baby and then being away from her as she was in the care of another was gut-wrenching. But I knew what I wanted, and I knew that ultimately nothing would get in my way of achieving it.
It’s so important to be passionate about what you are doing. Many of my mentors will say, if its not hard enough to make you want to quit daily or weekly, you’re not doing something right. I love what I do and I love the community that I do it for and that makes it worth it every single day.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Rai’an Harris DC and I am the owner and Chiropractor at Skyline Chiropractic. We are a preconception, prenatal, and pediatric focused office in Chattanooga, TN where we have been serving our community for over 5 years! We help families navigate their healthcare so that we as a community never have to hear the phrase “I wish I would have known” I am most proud of the work that we do because we are literally shaping the next generation. We are extremely focused on keeping the children not yet thought of, and those already born functioning at their highest neurological capacity by making sure their nervous system is free of interference.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
I know that I was absolutely put on this earth to see the people that I see. When I see their lives change from experiencing care in our office, I can’t even explain how good it feels to impact your community like that. I have no words for the feeling! I would encourage anyone reading to be open to change. I never wanted to serve kids. I never thought that would be my favorite part of practice until I was faced with it, and then I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. For reference, my undergraduate degree in in sports medicine. I thought I was going to be an orthopedic surgeon and my path changed so much that I became a chiropractor that works with fertility and kids! All of the doors that had to open and close to wind up here feel like divine intervention now, from turning down a medical school acceptance to only applying to one chiropractic school, the doors that opened really felt like I was called to be there.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start?
Funding is something that I LOVE talking about. So many people are scared to start their business because they don’t know where they are going to get the funds or how to apply to use other people’s money. I went to OVER 10 banks. Imagine if I would have given up when a couple of people told me no, there would be no Skyline Chiropractic right now! Its all about doing your research and then just getting out there and not being afraid to be told no. I didn’t even make an appointment with the right person at the first bank I went to. At another I was told that my vision and loan were too SMALL and that loans my size (6 figures of an ask) didn’t make sense for them. I didn’t even know that this was an option, for someone to say that I wasn’t asking for enough money.
I went to another bank that liked my business plan but only lent to experienced businesses, and another that helped startups but only in things like retail and e-commerce. All of those no’s were learned experiences. No one taught me these things, I learned from each time I went to a bank, what kinds of questions to ask the next bank to not waste either of each others’ time.
Eventually one of my no’s introduced me to the bank that ultimately said YES. The banker was great (and ultimately became a patient of mine), said that my business plan was excellent and that he would be happy to lend me the money, except that they were only working with a minimum loan amount of $1 million at the moment. So he gave me two options, rework my business plan to fit their parameters or go see his friend that would likely think that same thing about my business plan and tended to work with lenders that needed less. I went with the second option and formed an amazing relationship with this smaller bank that we still use to this day!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.GoSkyChi.com
- Instagram: @SkyChiChatt
- Facebook: @SkyChiChatt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rai-harris-7b1a7b25?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Image Credits
Formerly Amour by Paisley Lemons and now Worker Bee Photography