We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Johnny Nguyen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Johnny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Do you know anyone who jumped headfirst in starting a business after all their friends and family said not to? Yeah, that’s me.
After my first year of chiropractic college, I had committed to opening a clinic as soon as I graduated. Some may think that is a but ridiculous due to the “lack of experience” or “training.” That’s because traditionally, most chiropractors work as an associate (work with an experienced doctor) right out of school, in order to gain more knowledge about patient treatments and the systems of running a business. In my situation, I was told it was a better idea to work for one of my family members, who ran a highly successful personal injury clinic in Houston, Tx.

When I was in high school, my parents decided to open a nail shop business after many years of my mother working in the nail industry. They had partnered up with a man who came from California and was convinced he could help run it. A couple months later, my parents realized they made a mistake because he was very inexperienced and lacked work ethic. In the end, my parents decided to sell the business. Because of this, my parents thought it would be easier to work with family in an established business rather than start from scratch. I knew my parents were just trying to look out for me.

However, throughout my time in college, I attended countless seminars, workshops, and mission trips to further my chiropractic and business knowledge. I was mentored by many doctors across the United States, who had thriving businesses. My parents didn’t know the extra miles I was going in order to make sure I had a successful business. They only saw how successful the Houston clinic became and that I could become part of that network. I get it.

By the time I graduated, I was confident enough to provide high quality care to patients, but I couldn’t have done that without opening a clinic. The reason for opening my own clinic was due to no other chiropractors that practiced the Gonstead System in the city of Fort Worth! Side note: The Gonstead System is a systematic approach in analyzing and correcting subluxations (structural shifts) of the spine, which results to cleared communication pathways of the nervous system to the rest of the body.

After graduation, I knew it was time to get to work and prepare to open the chiropractic clinic. Three months later… Thrive chiropractic came into fruition, and we saw our first patient! As any business, we faced many ups and downs. Some months were great while others weren’t, but we kept on going. The grind and hustle never stopped.

After about a year, Dr. Stephany Uc, my fiancé (soon to be wife), had graduated and joined Thrive Chiropractic as the female chiropractor in the office. We grew out of the smaller office and moved into our new space in October 2021 during the pandemic. Now we are rocking it out with two new front office staff who are amazing!

Dr. Johnny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The chiropractic world was very new to me until I met a new family member who had his own clinic in Houston. I remember vividly when he showed me an insurance reimbursement check; that made my eyes open wide! In my head, this was a profession that made great money, so I was all in! As a young person in high school with no job, who wouldn’t have wanted that for themselves!? However, I knew very little of what chiropractors could actually do and how it helped people.

Fast forward to chiropractic school, my horizon opened for the chiropractic profession and it was life changing. It wasn’t about the paycheck anymore, but the fulfilment of seeing transformation in someone’s wellbeing. It was the hope they gained on their journey to health. It was the joy their family got to experience because they were no longer dealing with these health issues. It was the life they got back when other healthcare providers said they (the patient) will live with their condition forever.

Thrive Chiropractic (“Thrive”) is the home for these families. The hope and healing that we can provide is what Thrive represents and people travel from all over the DFW metroplex to receive that. Thrive would not be what it is today without utilizing the world-renowned chiropractic system of analyzing and correcting the spine: The Gonstead System.

The Gonstead Chiropractor goes beyond what many chiropractors consider a spinal assessment by conducting a thorough analysis of your spine using five criteria to detect the presence of the vertebral subluxation complex.

Visualization — Visualization is a way to cross reference all the other findings. Your chiropractor is an expert in looking for subtle changes in your posture and movement (gait, spinal movement) which could indicate any problems.

Instrumentation — The instrument of choice in the Gonstead System is the Nervoscope. The Nervoscope detects uneven distributions of heat along the spine which can be indicative of inflammation and nerve pressure. This instrument is guided down the length of your back and feels like two fingers gliding down each side of your spine.

Static Palpation — This is simply the process of feeling (or palpating) your spine in a stationary (or static) position. Your chiropractor will feel for the presence of swelling (or edema), tenderness and any abnormal texture or tightness in the muscles and other tissues of your back.

Motion Palpation — This process involves feeling the spine while moving and bending it at various angles. This enables the chiropractor to determine how easily or difficult each segment in your spine moves in different directions.

X-Ray Analysis — X-ray films enable your doctor to visualize the entire structure of your spine. This is helpful in evaluating posture, joint and disc integrity, vertebral misalignments and ruling out any pathologies, or recent fractures that may be present or contributing to the patient’s condition. These full-spine radiographs are taken in the standing, weight-bearing position to fully substantiate the examination findings.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

How you position and brand yourself/company determines how your prospective client will value your service or goods. This is what set the trajectory of our reputation not only within our local community but all throughout the DFW metroplex. When we go out meeting other individuals, we don’t center the conversation about ourselves. We focus on the individual who we are speaking with. We have found this to be effective, as individuals realize that and then starts to ask questions about our practice and what we do.

We don’t talk about back or neck pain because that limits what we do. Instead, we speak about the many testimonies that leave our office. For example, we have patients entering our practice with painful and irregular to no period and leaving the office with regulated and pain-free menstrual cycles. We also have patients living migraine-free after being under care, patients decreasing the dosage in thyroid and/or hypertension medication, increased levels of testosterone and reproductive system function, infertility issues being corrected and are now fertile (giving us news of their surprise pregnancy after trying for years), etc. In our office, our primary goal is to get the body to function at its maximum potential and not just getting someone out of pain. We don’t treat these issues, but when patients have the right and specific care for their spine, these are the positive outcomes.

As healthcare providers and business owners, we pride ourselves in delivering the highest quality customer service and providing extraordinary patient care. In terms of patient care, we utilize a method/system called Gonstead. What has helped tremendously is that there are only 3 Gonstead chiropractors in the Fort Worth area and 2 of them are at Thrive! Since there is a male and a female chiropractor in the office, patients can choose who they feel comfortable with and receive the same level of care. This was a huge advantage because we have found some individuals preferred male doctors while others preferred female. It is the best of both worlds regardless of who you sought care with because of the consistent system of analysis and correction of the spine.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

By far the most effective strategy that worked for us was our social media platform: www.instagram.com/thrivechirodfw.

Everyone is on social media now and most of our target audience is within that network. With one post or one video, it can reach thousands to millions of people within minutes. When people start to find us, they can see a glimpse of what we offer, the culture that we have created, and the care that we can provide.

We have heard from many business owners that “tried” social media marketing, but it just never worked for them. When I followed up and looked on their Instagram, I often see stock pictures or videos that had little to do with their business or was not personable to the audience. We found that you can still have an informative post and be engaging with your audience, without losing your credibility as a professional.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thrivechirodfw.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/thrivechirodfw
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thrivechirodfw

Image Credits
Maria Alarcon