We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Nelson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I think as parents our goal is to parent better than we were parented. Growing up, my mom was the best cheerleader and my dad was the toughest coach. We had a family rule: finish the season and then you can decide if you want to try another sport or hobby. This instilled characteristics such as focus, perseverance, willpower, goal-setting, and loyalty into my siblings and I. As an adult, it has served me in many areas of growth and has also hindered me in areas of divergence. I had to learn to hone the “never quit” mentality into certain aspects of life like school, business, career, and training while dismissing this characteristic in areas like relationships and networks that didn’t serve the greater goal, business decisions that would hinder growth, and daily habits that no longer brought success. Within the drive mentality, we learned to be routine, set goals and accomplish them, sportsmanship and competition, and pushing against self-perceived limitations. My parents did a fantastic job of modeling hard work and dedication to a goal in their own lives, as well as balancing pushing and driving with celebrating accomplishments.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
If you have seen a chiropractor before, you know there is a large spectrum in which chiropractors treat their patients. Each person is an individual with unique needs, whether or not the diagnosis is the same as the last patient. We take a conscious effort to assess the needs and goals of the person in front of us using their experiences, studied techniques, and successfully trialed clinical techniques. We are able to discern that the patient may need an adjustment and some soft tissue massage, a referral to a specialist, a set of functional labs regarding a sleeping complaint or chronic joint pain complaint, diet and exercise recommendations for weight loss, or may just need an ear to listen because they haven’t felt heard by past providers. We pride ourselves in working outside the grain to provide our patients everything they need to live a healthy life, doing the things they love doing. We are extremely lucky to work closely with physical therapists and massage therapists in which we can create a trusted team to support our patient’s needs.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Have you ever gone to the doctor and left wondering if they heard a word you said? They couldn’t wait to give you that prescription or finish that quick adjustment? It happens too often in all medical fields. When people feel bad or are experiencing pain, the one thing they want is for someone to listen and care. I find that the patients I see that feel heard and feel cared about, in all aspects of their humanity, resolve their complaint quickly and return to the things they love to do with more applicable knowledge and improvement in their overall health, They feel fully supported as we work all aspects of their complaint: the physical, mental, physiological, and social components. Knowledge is power, but connection and trust are key.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Reflecting on the last 3 years of my life, I wouldn’t recommend any student to follow my lead. I moved my practice twice in the Bay Area due to an opportunity to work with Google that I couldn’t pass up. I became pregnant in 2018 and decided to move home. With very little time, we did not have a chance to sell the business, so we packed up our things and made the move with experience gained and empty pockets. During our drive home from San Jose to San Diego, a family member reached out about her chiropractor in my home town closing his doors. We jumped on the opportunity, bought the patient base, renovated the clinic during Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2018 and opened back up after the New Year. I was laying floor tiles and painting walls at 7 months pregnant. My daughter blessed us with an early arrival in February and my maternity leave was only set for 5 weeks. I returned to treatment, sleep-deprived and managing postpartum depression while trying to grow my new business. The COVD lockdowns came around exactly a year later and attempted to wipe us out. At this point, I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, so I closed my doors in El Cajon and moved my practice into a large physical therapy company in La Mesa. In two years I have gained a new location, tripled our revenue, hired an associate and office manager, and set on a journey to work with law enforcement. I learned resiliency as a teenager, and through these trials, was reminded of the power resiliency has when confronted with a seemingly endless set of obstacles.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.maverickchiropracticclinic.com
- Instagram: drjen_dc
- Facebook: Dr. Jen Nelson
- Youtube: Dr Jen DC