Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Theresa Osmer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dr. Theresa, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

FLOW Chiropractic opened its doors in 2016, working out of a room in a co-working space. Owning your own business is an incredible risk and a leap of faith. Faith that you have what it takes to wear all the hats and also know when it is time to let someone else wear some of those hats. As the practice grew, we brought on an office coordinator towards the end of 2019 and my husband, who is also a chiropractor, joined the practice in 2021. Now it was our joint income that depended on the success of our business. After 6 months, we decided to take an even bigger risk and purchase our own building. There were a lot of sleepless night going through the process of obtaining a commercial mortgage and planning for all the unexpected things that happen when you own a property. When I think back on all the risks that have lead our business to its current place, they don’t seem as frightening as they once did. Maybe it’s because we have tackled larger challenges since those early days in the one room office, but I also believe surrounding yourself with a good team and support system is the magic.

Dr. Theresa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to tell our readers how you came to your profession? 

Chiropractic was not on my radar until I was randomly talking about careers with an old friend at a holiday meet up in my home town. I was done with college and trying to figure out my next steps. I was so intrigued by this aspect of healthcare and the more I researched it, the more I discovered that there was an art to this healing practice. Being fairly artistic in my life, this really appealed to me, so I pursued my DC (Doctorate of Chiropractic) from National University of Health Sciences, outside of Chicago. While there, I met my now husband who is also a Chiropractor. We opened our practice, FLOW Chiropractic, in 2016 to provide well rounded Chiropractic care to our community. My husband specializes in functional movement through adjustments, restorative exercise, and manual therapy techniques to support athletes at every skill, shape, and size. My side of the practice focuses on women’s health and pediatrics through chiropractic, nutrition, lifestyle modification, supportive movement, and functional testing. Together, we are able to serve the many families and individuals who enter through our doors.

Can you open up about how you managed the initial funding?

When we opened in 2016, we kept it lean and mean with expenses. We are lucky in our profession that we do not have much overhead and were able to get started on a $5,000 personal loan from our account to cover initial start up costs. The following 5 years showed growth in our business and allowed us to save up. My dream was to buy a building so that we could make it our own and have something to sell someday when we are ready to retire. We were lucky enough to obtain a commercial loan through Mercantile Community Bank here in West Michigan with partial Small Business Administration funding which only required 10% down as opposed to the usual 20%. We partially funded this project with the savings in our business, but we decided to refinance our home when interest rates were lower, and used the money from that to fund our downpayment. That way, we were able to hold on to the money in the business to use for surprise expenses that always pop up when you purchase a property! Going through the purchasing process was incredibly challenging but so rewarding at the same time. It forced us to get creative and do a lot of research about something we were very inexperienced with!

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

There is a Buddhist concept of “the hungry ghost – forever famished and never full”. I apply this concept to myself when I get stuck in the cycle of needing more and more knowledge, training, or information. Of course having a strong foundation is important, but if you don’t get out of this cycle, you can’t do what you were put on this earth to do. For me, that is to help people. Within healthcare, what is more impactful than having all of the right answers is your compassion and being able to care about someone you don’t know on a day to day level. Creating a smooth and easy patient experience as well as paying attention to the details through truly listening, especially to a patient’s goals, allows you to be an effective provider in the healthcare field.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flowchiro.com
• Instagram: @dr.theresaosmer | @flowchirogr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flowchiro
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flow-chiropractic