The Chiro Companion

Know Your Buying Power: Stacie Helton on What That Clinic Really Costs

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

You have $20,000 in the bank and the loan says 10 percent down, so you can buy a $200,000 clinic, right? Wrong, and that math mistake sinks buyers every year. Stacie Helton returns to go deep on buying power: the 12 percent rule that gets you close to true project cost, why banks demand working capital beyond your down payment, and the counterintuitive reason a $150,000 clinic can be harder to ramp up than a $500,000 one. If you are even thinking about browsing practice listings, listen to this first.

Guest: Stacie Helton, CEO, Alpha Omega Advisories
Link: https://aomegaadvisories.com

The Balanced Budget: 20 Years of Chiropractic Marketing with Patrick Hogg

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

The most common way chiropractors blow up their own marketing is not underspending. It is finding one thing that works, doubling down on it, and riding it until it stops. Patrick Hogg has spent 20 years at ChiroPlanet, an agency that has built and marketed for thousands of chiropractic practices, and he brings the receipts: the 8 percent minimum to maintain patient flow, the 10 to 15 percent range if you want to grow, the $1,500 a month starter budget for a new practice, and why he will not launch a single ad until a practice has a five star rating on Google. Also his surprisingly balanced take on AI tools and which ones are worth your money.

Guest: Patrick Hogg, ChiroPlanet
Link: https://www.chiroplanet.com

The Three Pillars: Big-Brand Marketing for a One-Doc Practice with Christine Casey

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Christine Casey markets some of the largest brands in the chiropractic industry, and her entire strategy rests on three pillars any solo practitioner can write on a sticky note: know your value, know your audience, and communicate that value where it counts. Christine translates the B2B playbook down to the local level, explains GEO (marketing for AI-driven search, the thing coming for your Google traffic), and makes the case for why your website, not your Instagram, is the modern-day business card. Her parting shot: marketing does not need a massive budget, it needs clarity and consistency.

Guest: Christine Casey, digital marketing account manager, Wellness Solutions

Your Brand Is Not Your Logo: Caitlin Smith on What Patients Actually See

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Most chiropractors think a brand is a logo they paid someone fifty bucks for. Brand strategist Caitlin Smith explains why that thinking quietly pushes patients to the competition. Marketing feeds you leads, but brand is what feeds the marketing, and it starts with your internal culture and the patient journey before anyone ever gets adjusted. Caitlin breaks down how her team mines 400 to 1,000 Google reviews per project to find what the market is actually saying about a practice, including the buried insight that boosted one client's revenue 23 percent in six weeks.

Guest: Caitlin Smith, brand strategist and experience designer, Outdoors 34
Link: https://outdoors34.com

Just Two Patients in Week One: Building a Practice That Lasts with Dr. Justin Cough

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Twelve years ago, Dr. Justin Cough opened his Oviedo practice and saw two patients his entire first week. Today patients drive three hours from Sarasota to see him. In this one, Justin gets honest about the unglamorous middle: teaching school for five years before chiropractic, forcing himself through business books between semesters because school would not cover it, getting told "we don't refer to chiropractors" and going back anyway. Plus how he evaluates new technology on the show floor, and why patient outcomes, not shiny equipment, are what actually drive the bottom line.

Guest: Dr. Justin Cough, founder, Oviedo Chiropractic
Link: https://chiropractorinoviedo.com

The Uh-Oh Aha Moment: Dr. Todd Sinett on Inventing the BackBridge

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Dr. Todd Sinett watched his father, a chiropractor seeing 100 patients a day, spend nine months bedridden with back pain no one could fix. The answer turned out to have nothing to do with his spine. That moment shaped a career spanning nine books, national media, and the invention of the BackBridge. Todd shares the origin story behind the product, why a Stanford study found emotional outlook is the number one predictor of back pain, and what students at FCA National should understand about treating the whole person, not just the structure.

Guest: Dr. Todd Sinett, chiropractor, author, and inventor of the BackBridge
Links: https://thebackbridge.com | https://www.drsinett.com

Own It, Don't Associate Forever: Stacie Helton on Funding Your Practice

Craig Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Private equity has figured out that chiropractic practices are moneymakers, and Stacie Helton thinks the doctors should be the ones buying them. With over a decade in business lending, Stacie lays out what it really takes to move from associate to owner: the three golden things banks want to see, why students have more qualifying experience than they think, how one wrong credit pull can cost you two months, and the lease mistake that can leave you personally liable for a business that never opened.

Guest: Stacie Helton, CEO, Alpha Omega Advisories
Link: https://aomegaadvisories.com

The Chiro Companion is Coming!

Craig Brooks — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Recorded for FCA National attendees, The Chiro Companion brings together the people chiropractors actually want answers from: practice owners, inventors, marketers, and lenders who have built real things in this profession. Host Craig Brooks of Clarity Creative Group digs into what actually grows a practice, from brand and web presence to buying power and patient outcomes. All seven episodes will be released on Wednesday, August 12 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.