Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - 198. How To Scale Your Health & Wellness Practice

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

Bedros sits down with Dr. Ashley Lucas on this Empire Show Episode, to give you the viewers the deep dive on what a growing successful weight loss practice looks like from the inside! If you run an office whether it be medical, therapy, or any other physical practice, Dr. Ashley is a perfect example of what it looks like to take your existing practice, and expand into the online world, and to become the true authority in the industry. Dr. Ashley obviously has her specialized knowledge which separates her from the rest, but she reveals proven entrepreneurial implementations that help you service more and more people in a scalable way. THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU LICENSED PROFESSIONALS, DOCTORS, DIETITIANS, PHYSICAL THERAPISTS, ETC. 0:00 -  Intro of Dr. Ashley Lucas 02:05 - Why our population suffers with obesity, disease and addiction 05:27 - What happens metabolically that make us addicted to food 11:21 - How do you identify if being overweight is addiction or behavior  12:46 - How has our willingness and views changed over 2020 when it comes to weight loss and health 16:45 - What’s Dr. Ashley’s background and how did it lead her to helping people with weight loss 24:38 : How Dr. Ashley became the expert in the industry  27:52 Bedros asks Ashley to drop some insight on growing practices, offices undeserving more people 33:19 - What’re some marketing strategies a medical practice can use and implement today? 35:31 - The Communication process to get more appointments in your practice 43:01 - How you can raise your sales conversion in your initial consultation  47:20 - What are the goals in transitioning her practice online with PHD Weight Loss 52:12 - What would Dr. Ashley leave with an up and coming entrepreneur    Connect with Dr. Ashley Lucas    https://myphdweightloss.com https://www.instagram.com/phdweightloss/ https://www.instagram.com/dr_ashleylucas/?hl=en   Connect with Bedros Keuilian : Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bedroskeuilian/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bedroskeuilian/ Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/KeuilianInc Twitter -

We're not just in the field of weight loss, but in the field of addiction recovery. So understanding that, that it's about breaking the ties with the foods that we say we love that just aren't loving us back. Hey, friends, welcome to The Empire Show. My name is Bedros Kulian, and this is an inside look. And today we've got someone very special, someone who is not only a coaching client of mine, but also a friend, because I get to work with her and growing her business. And then we get to share with you how her brick and mortar business. are growing, the strategies that she's using, and then how we are pivoting her business model

to the online world to be able to help more people. So without any further ado, I would like to welcome Dr. Ashley Lucas to the show. Thanks, Bezos, for having me. Thank you for being here, Ashley. And before we get started on this, I guess we ought to tell folks, kind of tell us what you do, what the core of your business is, and then how you choose. chose to get started in it, especially coming from the background of, like, was it ballet, right? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so we focus on significant life change, just like you do, but from the basis of optimizing our health, dropping weight, and sustainably maintaining it. We have a really intensive approach, a different look at it. We really challenge the conventional

ways of thinking when it comes to nutrition and weight loss, looking at it from a behavioral approach as well, not just the science of when and what and how much to eat, that's definitely there. But understanding that 80% of any life change and dropping weight definitely classifies comes from the mind. So looking at individuals as a whole person, the mental, emotional, the habits and behaviors. I guess the truth is that we can go to YouTube or do a Google search and find what to eat and how to eat, whether it's macros or keto or, There's no shortage of what to eat and how to eat, to lose weight, or to build muscle, to burn fat. Yet when you look at the population that's overweight or morbidly overweight, I think collectively

it's like in the high 60s, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, about 72% of us are struggling with obesity or overweight. There you go. So 72% of the population is struggling with obesity and being overweight, yet the information is so readily available on how. how to do it, then clearly the how to isn't so much the problem. It's the operating system, the brain, the behaviors, the mindset, the emotions. And seems to me the way you've really grown the PhD weight loss, you have, is it four locations now? Five. Five, that's right. We just opened five. And you have five locations. And of course, we're pivoting to, which is something you had done

even earlier than the pandemic, I'm not mistaken, right? The online piece. But we really want to, in this coaching program that you're doing with me, we really want to take the online piece and just blow it up where we can serve exponentially more people. But in the process of helping people with the significant life change, what have you found? Is there two or three things that really contributes when you guys help them have these breakthroughs in these areas of life? And hopefully you'll tell me what they are. What are those areas of life where once we do this, then the reason is? results come and stick. Mm-hmm.

That's a great question. So I think that really we're not just in the field of weight loss, but in the field of addiction recovery. So understanding that, that it's about breaking the ties with the foods that we say we love that just aren't loving us back. It's like a bad relationship and recognizing that. I think the concept of just eat everything in moderation is really difficult and has caused a lot of pain for a lot of people because there are just some

foods that we are wired to not be able to eat in moderation. Give me an example. Well, like, ice cream for me. Okay. So, like, we all have favorite foods. We all have those things. You're a sweet person. I'm a salty person, for example.

I love pretzels. I even talk about it on my posts. Yeah, okay. So there's certain foods that we may not be wired to eat in moderation. So what do we do with that? Well, we have to let those foods go in a lot of senses. And put our big girl, big boy pants on and be like, okay, if I need to drop weight and be my best self, then I'm not going to have those foods in the house.

I'm just not going to be able to eat those. It's like telling an alcoholic that they can have one drink. Ooh. You can't do that. It's a slippery slope. And so understanding that. Also, I find teaching the body how to become fat-adapted is a really great tool for a lot of people. So yeah, so teaching the body how to burn fat for fuel.

And that looks different for each person, but when we can get the body into that state, then we find that cravings and hunger really drop down. So we're able to eat and make decisions that actually support our body's best health. Brilliant. So you brought up the word addiction. Is it, are you implying addiction to food or maybe other addictions that lead people to eating food for comfort? Both. Can we explain both to me?

So from an addiction to food standpoint. So here's what happens metabolically. This is a little bit of a long story. Is that okay? I'll take it. All right. So what happens in our lives is we have these triggers and these triggers change the way that we tolerate our food.

And so we can continue to eat the way we did before the trigger, but now it results in weight gain instead. We're thinking, you know, what the heck is going on? I haven't changed anything, but I'm starting to accumulate this fat. Trigger might be for a guy, it could be a major stress event, stress in the relationship, a divorce, stress in their job. a job change. General aging can be a trigger. For women, it might be menopause or pregnancy or some kind of stress event. And it just shifts how we can tolerate our food. And so now our metabolism tolerates differently. We put on this fat and when this fat goes in the belly,

it's a different beast. This belly fat, it's called visceral fat and it fills up the organs, it wraps around them and it squeezes them tight like a straight jacket. So after you've had this fat in there for a while, it actually grows its own blood vessels. It gets a little oxygen supply, and it secretes hormones at the tissue level. So what you have in the belly is this hungry, active fat mass that is addicted to food. It secretes hormones that make you hungry, make you crave, slow your metabolism so you can literally look at a piece of pizza and a beer and gain five pounds, and makes you lazy because the last thing, this hungry fat mass wants you to do. You know, do is go expend a ton of energy. I want you to think of it like a tumor and all it wants to do

is get fatter as fast as possible. Oh my God. And so that's what I mean from a metabolic situation that we're addicted to this food. We are hungry and we're starving inside. So I really believe that weight gain isn't our fault. It has nothing to do with you. It's not a flaw in willpower or a lack of discipline. It's all hormonally regulated by this hungry fat mass tumor that just wants to get fatter as fast as possible. So you know, it's interesting about that. Some 22, 25 years ago, when I was a personal trainer, had my gyms. I had four personal training gyms.

It's funny today these days we have hundreds of Fit Body Boot Camp locations worldwide, but I don't work in them. I'm furthest away from coaching clients, unfortunately, and I still love that. But I love what I do and help in terms of serving people, so that's my mission. But when I had my four gyms, in every one of my gyms, I had, you remember that five pounds of fat that you could buy? I have a few of those. All right, okay, I was going to ask you. And then there was like the pound of muscle that was like really dense and tight.

And there was a five pounds of fat. And I remember one day I was just really kind of just studying that five pounds of fat. And I noticed in it the thin little capillaries. Yeah. Right? It's got like, and I was very curious. So I got a pen. And I started kind of picking at it.

It was just like red whatever, like thread or fiber that they used. And then that led me to doing more research and exactly what you said, like how, first of all, I remember thinking, this is gross. The fact that this fat that's not supposed to be here has now grown capillaries to provide blood supply and oxygen and for the sole purpose to get bigger. That's right. And I never heard it used the term use like, see it as a tumor. Because it really is. I mean, we need some body fat on our bodies. But this excess that we have is a tumor, the equivalent of a tumor that's,

to say that it's like squeezing our organs, which automatically then tell me is our kidney, liver, our lungs, are these things functioning properly when they have, they don't have the room to function and move? Yeah, no. Our body is just inefficient, not working the way that it's supposed to. When we carry this fat in the belly, if you were to take a slice of your liver in that situation, it would look like a Kobe beefsteak. That's fatty liver, right?

That marbling that's in there. So it infiltrates everything. It's crazy. So it's not just visceral fat. At what point will it start kind of, I guess, for lack of a better term, bleeding into our organs like that? Yeah. I mean, that's going to differ according to each person and where they store the fat. I find that we drop weight in the opposite direction that we put it on.

So it just, it's different. Some people put it on in the belly first and it starts to just overflow, like a sink that's overflowing. Other people, they'll put it on in their legs first and when they don't have any more buckets, then it starts to pack in into the belly. Gotcha. Yeah. Got it. And then you burn it off in reverse.

So that last person you talked about would burn it off the belly first. Yeah, and they're lucky because that's not the usual pattern that I see. Yeah, usually it's the belly. Yes. Yeah, which is also the most dangerous being closest to the heart. Yeah, and that visceral fat, specifically, that fat in the belly is that active fat. It's different than the fat throughout the rest of the body. Yeah, yeah.

What have you guys found in terms of addiction? Because, I mean, with five locations now, I mean, you guys work with so many people. I want to lose weight. And they may come to you for a multitude of reasons. Hey, I want to lose weight because I'm on close to fit better. I want to lose weight because my doctor says I need to. Or I want to lose weight because I'm now diabetic or some other kind of health, like serious health problem. How do you guys identify if someone's got an addiction where they're using food as the comfort or emotional component?

Well, we do a lot of behavioral work. working through that aspect and having awareness, recognizing if they're eating truly out of hunger, or if they're eating out of some way to sabotage their best intentions, or if they're eating to cover other situations and appeasing their mind and increasing serotonin and those feel-good neurotransmitters in another way, just like why we might drink or do drugs or some other aspect. So helping them come to realize why they're eating, how they're eating. We have different modalities that we use too, specifically audio sessions that work with bineural beats to repat them in the neural pathways in the brain to change the way that we think and feel.

I think it's a mindset shift and it's a big situation where we allow for more awareness and why we're acting the way that we are. Interesting. And one other question that I'm curious about that I bet our audience is curious about, and then we'll shift to, like, the business side of it, because I always love learning, like, what the product or service is, and then what's the business of that product or service? It's so neat to get a view behind the scenes. How did this pandemic affect people, if it even affected them in a different way? did you see any changes in your clients come into, whether in attitude or in mood or more body fat or fat being stored differently because of this? I'm just curious because the cross-section of people you guys get to see. Yeah. So we're busier than ever. And I think it's because we're recognizing as a community that we

have to take responsibility for our health. You know, we're recognizing that, you know, even the vaccination isn't working the way that we expected to. So what do we have? We only have our health. So they're stepping up more and taking action. And I think almost reframing this as an opportunity to do something that they've known they've wanted to do or should have done for a very long time. And now they have this perfect excuse to step up and just do something that might make them uncomfortable at the beginning.

And it's scary for some people because I think a lot of people come in with, wait, thinking that it's their fault, that there's shame and guilt and unworthiness associated with it. Well, we let go of all that. There is no shame or guilt associated with it at all. You know, I look at what we do just as hiring a coach. It is no different. I think the most successful people in the world probably have coaches. I agree. I mean, I have you. And I have a speaking coach currently because I want to become even better from the stage. Yeah. You've got to be coachable. Yeah. And there's no shame. or guilt about that, I can't think of one athlete who doesn't have a coach, recreational or elite,

right, any level. So there's no shame or guilt having someone to look from the outside and pinpoint what's going on. And just like you said, there's so many misconceptions associated with nutrition and weight loss. And I think everyone in their brother professes to be a nutrition expert. And it's daunting. It gets overwhelming because then you go, well, that person looks good and they're preaching this carnivore diet, that person looks good. They're vegan. They're vegan. And that person says, you know, keto, like, I want to look like all three of them, but what happened? But it's, it works for them, but it may not work for you. Or it may work for you, but you've got this barrier mentally, right? Or stressor that might be kind of altering your metabolism than

what you're storing fat. Yeah. And it's neat that you guys, you know, really dive deep on that. what we found at Fit Body Boot Camp is we kind of lure people in by saying, look, you know, just 30 minutes a day at a fit body boot camp, three to five days a week, and you're going to get amazing results. And we sell them on what they want, which is, you know, short workouts. 30 minutes a day, I can do 30 minutes a day, three to five days a week. But what they don't realize is they're completely buying into a mindset and nutrition program where when we add them to our private Facebook groups and when we start the education process,

when they're not in the gyms with us, it's the deep dive into, you know, emotional triggers, emotional eating, you know, willpower. Like, gee, we could all avoid that bagel and cream cheese in the morning, but in the, at the end of the day, that same bagel and cream cheese on the counter, somehow the willpower is not there. It wins out.

Yeah, right? And going back to what you said. And I think there were studies that said, when something's out of reach, you're two times less likely to eat it. When it's out of sight, you're seven times more likely to eat it. And when it's like not even in the house, you're not likely to eat it.

So it makes sense to not have the thing in the house that's going to trigger you to overeat it. And I have been known to go through a whole bag of dots pretzels. You really love those pretzels, huh? Oh, man, I haven't met a pretzel, soft pretzel, hard pretzel, pretzel bread, peanut butter-filled pretzels. I haven't met a pretzel, pretzel chips. I haven't met a pretzel that I don't like.

Yeah, that's a whole different pot, which I would do. So anyway, with that said, let's kind of shift gears into, you know, your background and why you chose to go into weight loss specifically and how you got into ballet. Just learn more about you. Yeah. And so I started training in ballet when I was a really young girl, three years old. My mom put me in it. And I was not good. I didn't have any natural talent.

I was always in the back row. But I didn't let it get me down. And instead, it just ignited this fire. Like, gosh, darn it, mediocracy or not being the best is not okay for me, at least in the front, you know. And so I pushed really hard and my body didn't conform easily. And so I was always injured. I think I performed in probably 600 nutcrackers. Wow.

And I had at least one stress fracture in one or both. I'd save for over half of them. When I was in high school, I had a really bad stress fracture in my back. And the doctor said that I had to wear this really long, big, thick, molded back brace. And I decided that I'd wear it. Sexy. Yeah, I know. I was really popular.

In high school, about the time where everyone's got to poke butt. At high school, yeah. So I was a really great place for people to play knock knock jokes, but I was not popular. But I just kept pushing through. And so I had a pretty successful career and I danced with companies across the country. And the accumulation of my career was when I was chosen to perform in New York. And I landed there, but instead of finding myself in the spotlight doing all of these once-in-a-lifetime performances, I found myself in the ER. I thought I was having a heart attack.

I didn't know what was going on. I was so fearful for my health. And the neurologist came back and said that I was simply underfed and over-exercised. Oh, wow. And I was just, my body broke down. Just shutting down. That's it. It just could not take it anymore, and I had to step away.

And how old were you at this point? I was probably 24. Okay. And what's running through your head when the doctor's telling you this? Well, I just felt like, number one, a failure. You know, I had to step away from that career, which was my identity. And it might not seem like a big deal, but it was 20 plus years of my entire life of struggle and sacrifice and pain and passion. And I had no idea what I was going to do with myself.

So I was flown home. I'm sure depressed and anxious. I was used to dancing eight hours a day every day and all I thought about. Did you just have like a ravenous appetite? I mean, I imagine dancing eight hours a day. I just picture Michael Phelps at his peak. Uh-huh. If they said he would burn something like six or seven thousand calories a day.

We are a really unique population because we are required to have such aesthetic demands that I chronically restricted myself to try to meet the demands and I was still told I was fat countless times. Oh my God. I counted fat grams. I remember days where I would eat, you know, maybe five grams of fat in a day because I thought that if you eat fat, you get fat, which now we know isn't true. Right.

And I believe that's why I was chronically injured and why my body was just done. It was, there was just too much stress. And I'm leaner today than I ever was when I was dancing and I eat more and move less. But that's because I know what to do. You understand. Yeah. My gosh. And so, now here you are 24.

You're flying back. I know I would at that point be depressed, anxious, overwhelmed. What does my future look like? So how does that shift happen into kind of finding your path? Yeah, well, I looked around. I looked at dentistry and I was like falling asleep while I have no offense to any dentists. But it just wasn't for me. Three my coaching clients or dentists.

I'm sorry. I'm going to give me your number. Yeah. It's really techie. There's lots of equipment. I'm not a techie person. It just wasn't for me. I consider, you know, going to med school, but I don't deal well with really sick, sick

people like in in trauma traumatic states you know my husband is a physician and he can deal with broken bones and i'm more on the preventive right you know let's catch it before it gets to that that point and so i just understood how significantly nutrition or really lack thereof impacted my own sport performance so that's how i went in and got ended up earning my phd in sports nutrition and chronic disease okay okay so that's what happened next is sports nutrition and PhD in sports nutrition, chronic disease. And did you think at that point you're going to be a coach or a trainer, maybe dietitian kind of a deal?

Yeah, I thought, you know, I really liked the research. And what I wanted to learn was I wanted to learn what happens to all of us chronic dieters. There has to be a way that we can actually eat and maintain this lean body composition or whatever healthy body composition we need. And so what happens metabolically inside and how? How do we do this in a way that's healthy and supports our body? And then most importantly, we know mentally and emotionally, behaviorally, what do we need to do to create sustainable change?

And so that's what I studied. And I thought maybe I'd work with athletes. So that's why I focused on sports nutrition and the female athlete triad and all of these things. So I went on and taught at the Ohio State University for a while and recognized that I'm not very patient. And I have to see dramatic change in individuals pretty quickly. You know, I'm probably similar to you. You like to see people make wild transformations. Type A, tightly wound driver.

Yeah. Yeah, that's like you and every single one of my coaching clients and me. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what's funny is I thought I had, for all of you listening and watching this right now, and you hear Ashley say that, when you are this way and others around you aren't, you feel like maybe there's something wrong with me. Do I have OCD?

Am I, do I have some weird disorder? Am I neurotic? And then when I started, you know, 15 years ago, started taking on coaching clients and then found that, man, this athlete that I'm working with me is type A, tightly wound driver. Oh my gosh, look, I'm working with these Navy SEALs. I'm working with these Army Rangers. I'm working with these Marine Recong guys.

I'm working with these like jujitsu guys. And now I've got three doctors, three dentists, PhD. Oh, look at that. we're all cut from the same cloth, and when you see how much impact we make and how much, how short of a time, and it's never short enough for us, I realize, wait a minute, we're just a very different flock of birds. I like looking at it like that. Yeah, yeah.

We're unique, and I don't think many people can walk in our shoes. And I think that's just by design. I don't think many people should walk in our shoes. I don't believe I can go and knock down the door and kill ten bad guys and tell who the good guy is and not kill them. but I can in my world be very high-speed low-drag and you and your world. And once you find a similar flock of birds, you're like, oh, I'm not crazy. They're just, we're just endangered.

There's not a lot of us. We're endangered species. We really are. My wife always tells me, she goes, you know, you're an endangered species. I'm like, well, I know more of us. You know, I've always got to be in captivity or something, but we have to spread our wings and fly. I like that. Yeah.

So, so you realize. hey, I can't be this patient and this isn't for me. I'm guessing this is leading to. Maybe I have to be my own boss. Yeah. Well, I actually went back to school again. Okay. Yeah. I wanted that go back to school. And I went back to school because I just felt like I needed to be this true expert in the field of nutrition and weight management. So I went on, completed my dietic internship after I earned my PhD and became a registered dietitian. But there was a problem with everything I was learning, it was still all of the conventional wisdom, the calories in, calories out, have more willpower. And I knew that didn't work for me personally. And so I flipped

everything that I learned upside down, studied all this other stuff on the side, took my research and created this really unique protocol, which is part of the reason why I have so much fun, is because if it was the usual mantra, then I would be bored. And so we've, you know, just through all of this found this different approach that really, really works and creates profound change in people, and it's pretty simple. And so with that, you know, I started working a lot with athletes and found what had a significant impact on those individuals had a more profound impact on those of us struggling with excess weight and poor health. So I started off just with myself. I was in a very small town. We still have an office in Durango, Colorado, but I had,

I think it was 700 square feet, and I was fearful I wouldn't be able to pay the rent. My mother told me, she's like, if you can't pay this rent, then you just need to stay home. Yaza. And so I just did it, and I put a few ads on the radio, and I put my cell phone as the call to action on the radio. This was six years ago. Okay. So I was in Walmart. I had a two and a three and a half-year-old boy at the time. I was a stay-at-home mom. And I had my cell phone on the radio spots. And I remember being in Walmart and the phone ringing the first time like, boys, just go play in the toy aisle. And I'm going to answer this phone call. That's how it started. Good for you. Yeah. Good for you. So in what, six and a half years now you're, we just, you know, your new location opened up a couple months ago.

July. Yeah, July, which is your fifth location. And when you look at that, you're at a clip of like about one every nine months. About so. Right? Mm-hmm. Or no, I'm sorry. About one every year. Every year.

Yeah, slightly over year. Yeah. Like 14 years or so. Yeah. We, I stayed with for a little bit of time deciding what did I want to do and would I be happy just with with these two offices and I felt this moral obligation to serve more people. I just wasn't satisfied. I felt like I could do more.

and that it was just something that I had to do to serve more people. And so we actually, that was the toughest decision, I would say, of a big decision of our lives. We had two boys and then I was 36 weeks pregnant with our third child. And we had built our dream house in Colorado and we decided to move so that we could build and serve more people. So that was a big choice. Okay. Let's talk about that. When you're looking to open up a location, and it doesn't matter really what the person is.

If you're listening to this and you're a trainer, you want to open up a gym, you're a dentist, you're, you know, you want to open any kind of an office. What are the kind of things you're looking for, Ashley, in terms of maybe geography, in terms of population, in terms of demographics, income, and then kind of venturing into signing a lease, et cetera. What are some of the hints that you can drop that would help? Yeah, that's a great question because we've had a big variety, actually. We knew that we had and still have great success in Durango, Colorado, which is, you know, 16,000 people, very small community. And so we decided that we wanted to be in a little bit of a larger community. We also looked at it from a selfish point of view.

Where would we like to raise our three kids? And where would be a good quality of life? But in those areas, people who have the desire to change. We also require a specific demographic who can afford our services. So looking at that. And if it's in an area where people invest in their health. And so that's generally where we have searched out. So you're looking for places where health, fitness, wellness is accepted or popular.

That's right. So Asheville, North Carolina, for example, people are out river doing the river rafting and mountain biking. There's kind of skiing out there, lots of hiking. And so people are really invested in their health and well-being. And when you're looking for a lease to sign, like what are the things that you try and negotiate into a lease that would be in your favor? Well, T.I. allowance. So trying to have the landlord or the, the, the, leaser, put some kind of money in toward the uplift. Yeah, so T.I. Guys and Gals watching a listening is tenant improvement and it's really a cool

thing where you can say, look, I will sign a five-year lease instead of a three-year lease if you're willing to help me build out the inside of this place to suit me. Because ultimately, after the five-year lease, if you leave, it's not like you're taking that with you. And so it's theirs anyway. And so, you're... you're always in for TI allowance. Yep, a lot of landlords want 10 year or seven year leases and we would always talk them down to five. Gotcha.

With the TI allowance in there. Got it. And then there are different things that they add to the rent like CAM and such. So trying to get that down as much as possible is what we would go. The CAM is kind of like the parking lot, cleanup, the association things and which they do, had the rent through the camp. So it is very negotiable.

In some contracts, it'll be also known as a triple net. That's right. Yeah, very good point. And what about do you ever try and get me free, couple of free months? Yeah, that's great. On the front end in terms of build out. So we'll either ask for,

we've done it differently each time, but either maybe once we open two months of no rent, or the build out, maybe we'll say six months, no rent, we get the bill down in four months, so it allows us to have two months of free rent. Perfect. Perfect. Any other kind of hints in terms of negotiating a lease or dues and don'ts of a lease that you would? I think that's primarily it.

Signage, I think, is really, really important. So just looking at that and adding that as a part of the lease, because oftentimes they'll just knock that out. And you won't have any kind of monument signs there, which I find for drive-by's is important for us. Gotcha. So signage on the building is a given signage on the monument out there in the front of the complex, you've got to really work it in there because they might have, whatever, 50 stores, but on the monument they only have a spot for 20 signs that can put up. Yeah, so that does have to be worked into there. And then looking at the bigger aspects like AC or HVAC, sometimes if you sign the lease, it's as is. and the AC or H-back, it could be 15 years old and you get there and it breaks down.

So making sure that you have someone take a look at it and tell you what the status is. So you can potentially work that in there. That is a really good point because when I bought this building, I bought this building four years ago, up on the roof, I think there is eight units to air condition this whole building. And we had a company come out and look at it. They said, hey, these are old units. And historically, it might kind of break down in the next three years. You might eke out another three years out of it inefficiently.

And so I was able to get a discount off the purchase price of the building. Right. They went towards that. Should it break down? And true enough, actually, within a year, they broke down. Did it? We spent the money. So that's a very good point there.

And you can do that, whether you're leasing or purchasing. seeing a building. Yeah, absolutely. So in terms of now, okay, you've leased a building, you've got it, it's being built out. How do you start, what are all the marketing funnels or marketing poles that you put in the water? Yeah, so for us, we're a little unique and we found great benefit from radio. So we do radio advertising everywhere. And usually we'll start by having some radio celebrity is what I like to call them, start working with us. We have a lot of integrity built into anyone who talks about what we do, and I want them to experience some kind of change in their work with us. So we don't have any kind of endorser who's not actually working with us.

That's really important to me. So we'll have them start with us maybe six weeks before, maybe two months before, because we want to see them make change and witness, you know, change within themselves before they start talking about what we do. And then maybe four weeks before they start to go on air, mention our grand opening and such. And so you're running radio campaigns, radio ads. The best case scenario is that the host of, let's say, whether, and most of them are talk radio, correct?

Most or sports. Okay, talk or sports. And in the best case scenario, because there's two types of radio ads. There's radio ads where they go, hey, okay, now we're going to take a little break and hear from our sponsors and you'll just hear an ad. But then you always hear those ones where the host themselves go, hey, have you considered doing this? If you have, you might want to consider so and so because I've lost 14 pounds there. That's right. I got my LASICs there.

Yeah. There's a place out here in Montclair called Cunning Dental and there's a radio station I listened to and the host says, you know, he goes, hey I got all dental implants. He goes, so I just had horrible teeth, and I got dental implants. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. Like, as long as he's willing to share it, like, I don't need dental implants. My teeth are fine. But I was like, you know what? I like this host.

And if I ever wanted to go to a dentist to get dental implants, like, that's the place I'd go to because I really value this guy's opinion and what he does. And so that's clever. So what is the ads kind of call to action mechanism? Is it to go to a website, to give a call? So for us, it's all about calling in. And so we might direct them to go to the website, but then our phone number is everywhere. Sometimes we'll just cut to the chase, which we've found lately actually works really well, is to just put the phone number.

You want to have a direct call to action, so if we want them to call, we're just going to put the phone number there and direct them to call us. And that's been helpful in the last few months, actually. Perfect. So they call you. And of course, when they're calling, I guess depending on where they're at, does it go directly to a person at that location? It does. And do you have set people or just someone randomly picks up the phone? All of our team are trained to pick up the phone.

And I'm obsessed with that. And how we train and role play and do all of these things so that our team feels confident. Yeah. We also track the calls in and what percentage them are booking. And if they're not booking, why is that? So we really look at those numbers. So when we say booking, are we looking for a two-step? And like I know the answer, but obviously I'm speaking on behalf of the audience here. So bear with me. Are we looking for a two-step, meaning we book them for a face-to-face consultation? Yes. And what percentage of the people that call do you find end up booking? for a face-to-face. About 98%.

98%. People listening to this and are like, holy crap, that is nuts. What exactly happens on that phone call where you get such a, because I had never heard of such a high booking rate. And we know that not everyone shows up to the consultation. That's right. That's a given. But a 98% booking rate is just bananas.

That's through the roof. What do you do that's unique or special? Well. Because what's really crazy is it's not just you doing it. Like, this is replicated across five locations. So you're not even picking up the phone yourself. Yeah. Other humans.

So, well, just the speak that we use, the physiology, I think, the tone of voice is really important. Understanding for a lot of our clients, it takes maybe six months for someone to work up the courage to give us a call just because of what we do. Sure. And so that person, the voice over the phone, making them feel comforted and well. welcomed is really important. I think more than what we're saying is that. And then we just are really good at establishing value. Right now, we don't say what the cost is over the phone. It's different for each person anyway. And so we just really encourage them and let them know that they're going to get a lot of great information, even if they're not ready to get started to give us a call.

We give them dual appointment options and guide them in the direction that we want to see them head. So, you know, would, you know, how about tomorrow at either 10 or 3 o'clock? What, what time would that? You know, which of those would work best for you? And so just our speak is really specific in guiding them to actually come in and see us. So there's a lot to unpack here. So I'm going to, I'm going to help our audience unpack this. Number one, one, you don't tell them the price over the phone because, and it's not on the website. Because the moment you tell them the price, they begin to judge you on price and not on the value. Yeah, you can't really establish value over a quick call.

Exactly. So what happens if someone goes, yeah, but I just want to know what you guys cost? So we would say, you know, we totally respect that, but the cost of the program is truly customized to you. We're not going to be able to understand what your goals are, what your needs are until you come on in. And so, you know, we promise you that you'll get a lot of great information and you will walk away knowing exactly how long your program is and what the total cost is at that point. Brilliant. So guys, there's your answer to that. Because I hear that often. It's like, Bezos, you always say, don't put your prices on your website. And when people call, don't give me your prices, there's what you say. It's like, it's a custom program. We need to figure out what your needs and

wants are. And when we do, we promise you that you're going to get a ton of great information, even if you choose not to do it. And that piece is called risk reversal because they know that there's a risk to them coming in. You might pressure me into buying this thing and you might make me feel like I'm a jerk for not buying it. And your tonality and the way you guys show up in terms of how you care over the phone, plus the fact that you say even if you choose not to commit to the decision today, it gives them a way out. It reverses the risk. And they go, you know what do I have to lose? They're going to tell me what a custom program would be. And if it works for me, I'll do it. And so now you've got that.

And the third piece I wanted to unpack was to always guide them towards the outcome you want while given them the perception of control. And that is that, oh, great. Well, listen, let me give some options when you can come in. How about tomorrow, either 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. You know that you have those two appointment times open, but you gave them two options, which gives them the, element or the feeling of control. If they choose five, it was their decision. Right? Or if they say, no, that won't work.

What's another day? You might say, well, I've got Wednesday at 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. Right. We always want to kind of. There's always two options. And for what we do, as close to the time as they call in. Because again, from an addiction recovery standpoint, anything can sabotage at any time. Right. So we really look at us as like a day of a walk-in clinic.

Bingo. So let me add to that real quick just because my OCD locks on because I just want to coach the world if I can for a moment. Guys, when someone calls you, emails you, DMs you, shows interest. Recency frequency monetary is what matters. The monetary piece I'm not going to talk about right now, but recency frequency is what matters, meaning how quickly can you answer the phone? If you can get to them in the next 10 minutes, that is when they're hottest. If you're like, yeah, but I'm busy, training, coaching, doing whatever. So I get to them at the end. of the day by that point when someone's like i'm looking for a nutrition coach a diet coach or fitness coach a mindset coach or money coach they're not just calling you they just you maybe heard your ad and called you but if they left a voicemail they're probably doing a google search somewhere and

saying who else does weight loss and they're calling the next person the next person the next person so recency meaning how quickly you could pick up the phone my best case scenario is the phone rings you pick it up versus they leave a voicemail and you answer or they either you email comes in and you're responding within minutes, not hours, minutes. And then the frequency is, if you missed them, how frequently you can follow up with enthusiasm, passion, and excitement, because as Ashley said, they are hottest right then and there, and every minute the passes, they're getting colder and colder and colder, or they're seeking out another solution, which may not be yours, in which case, if you really feel

you're the best of what you do, you've got a duty and a moral obligation. to persist with passion, just chase them down and get them to become clients and customers. So let's say we'd get them into your location now, Ashley. What percentage actually show up of the 98% of the book? You know, that's a great question. And we do have those statistics, but I would just be shooting off the top of my head.

Let's say we have also email campaigns that go out to help encourage them. So I would say still, probably 80% of clients show up to their appointment. Got it. So when they show up, is there, and I know there's a lot of like specific assessment, probably digging in into what they want, what made them want to do this now, et cetera. But is there any strategies that you found that when used across your five locations really increase the odds of sales conversion?

There's so much that goes into what we do in our initial consultation. The biggest thing, again, is the consultant's tone of voice in physiology and being charismatic and truly wanting to go in and make sick people well. Having a passion and with their whole being of serving people because they see these transformations that we're doing every day with hundreds of people. And so I think the person is really important, how they can connect and how they can bring out the honest truth and the client that they're sitting with is the biggest deal. We have script. We have specific protocol to follow. But that and just hearing the person and believing in what we do, I think, is the number one most important thing. And to that point, I'm a thousand percent with you. And I'm going through that process right now as the potential customer. So there's this custom auto maker in Texas and a specific vehicle that I want. And I want this vehicle in a very specific way.

And then I want them to do very specific things to the engine and then flatbed it out to me. I love vehicles. And so I emailed them. I've never purchased one from them. I've purchased from other auction sites, et cetera, or tuners. and the guy, so even though I want it, I have the money, like I know I'm going to get it, whether through them or someone else, when I emailed through the website,

the guy just kind of came off, for lack of a better word, he seemed rushed in his email. He seemed to be pressuring me, like, kind of, hey, you know what, there is one of those vehicles we can get and then bring into our garage to tune up for you exactly that you want. And ironically, there's only one spot left in our garage. So, like, you need to make a decision. It's like, we haven't gotten on the phone yet, man.

Like, don't. And I've got the money. Like, I can pay them full, right? But I found myself already kind of on my heels. Yeah. And I'm like, all right, man, what are you feeling right now? And I realized as much, like, I know I'm going to get this vehicle no matter what. And I'd rather get it through them because they're very reputable in terms of their tuners.

And I get it. This guy's a sales guy. and he's going to make a lot of money on this big transaction. But his approach made me just kind of take a pause. And I was like, well, do I just call and maybe just ask for the owner and maybe deal with that guy? Where if he had come up with the, if he had like, man, you want to get that particular vehicle and have our team do that? Well, shoot. You know, we've done three of those and I've got the test drive in one or something.

And he just talked to me like two guys would talk about cars. Yeah. It would be a very different thing. Excited for you. Yes. excited for me, happy for me, like, you're making the right decision. Versus there's only one spot left in the tuner's garage and because we've got 90 other cars working on.

I'm like, come on, don't do that, you know? So that is a very big thing. And that's just a fun novelty thing that I'm buying. When someone's really thinking about their health and they're going to trust you with their body, like they better have that connection, the care, mentality, enthusiasm, and not seem like a sale is being made, right? Yeah. Yeah, good for you guys. And so in terms of this next evolution of really taking the PhD weight loss and going online, what are the goals that we're shooting for? Interestingly enough, right after this episode, we're going to go upstairs and do your

half-day coaching session, and so we'll break it down. But this is a question I was going to ask upstairs anyway, like in 12 months, what is the outcome that we want from the PhD weight loss online component? Yeah, that's a great question. So right now, we're probably seeing about 25 clients a month nationwide. I think it would be great to double that in the next six months or so, because I know that we have the capacity and there's a way to do that, but that's, I have to figure out the how. Right now, again, we're doing nationally syndicated radio for that. And we're getting better and better at those spots and how to tackle those individuals from a logistical avenue, because it's lots of different logistics going on with nationwide at home. There's shipping,

there's inventory, because we provide 85% of the food for our clients. Right. Right. So there's all of that involved. So we've actually had to make our nationwide presence almost like a brick and mortar location. It's in one of our current brick and mortar locations, but we've had to structure it in the team and have a team leader. So we've really kind of pulled it out and made it its own thing so we can focus on it rather than it just be a part of something else. So I think even just with that shift of focus and that there's a space mentally for it, we'll see it take off. Yeah. And to that point, you said, well, you know, the next six months I'd like to double the number of people that we're serving. And I want to bring up the fact that two things, you charge a premium

for what you do. Like, it's not a $29 nutrition plan. No. Like, without having to throw it out, several thousand dollars, right? And it should be. It's a premium. You guys are the best at what you do. And the results in the before and after pictures are just phenomenal. So, you know, doubling 25 to 50 people, like that's a substantial increase in revenue, number one. And an impact. But the other piece is, and I hear this often, hey, Bedros, since I'm doing this online coaching, it should be cheaper, right, because it's not in person, it's not in my gym, it's not in my whatever the practice is. And I always go like, dude, aren't they still going to get the same results? Yeah. Why would you charge less? Yeah, we don't charge less.

Can you speak to that for a moment? Well, I mean, for us, actually, it's more expensive. because we have shipping included. That's true instead of just handing them the food when they get there. I actually think that it should be more. It's funny because one of my team members, we're actually global now because we have a client in Singapore. Look at you. I know. And so they were asking me, you know, shouldn't the cost be different?

And I was thinking they meant higher and I was like, you know, maybe it should be higher or different. It should be higher. And they're like, no, we managed to be less. I'm like, why would? I just don't understand. That's not of my mindset. What do you think that mindset comes from? It's a lack mindset.

It's a poverty complex. Yeah, I think it's a lack mindset. Yeah, it's a good way to say it. Yeah, a poverty complex. Because for some reason, the understanding is that if it's not personal, therefore it's not valuable. But there's a lot of things. For example, when I remember there's a time that I would go to a, Charles Schwab brick and mortar place.

And, you know, okay, I want to get those stocks and here's some money. And, you know, you got to get in your car and do that thing. Today, you know, whether I'm dropping another few hundred thousand dollars on cryptocurrency or whatever, I just log into a coinbase and click, click, click. And it's done. The convenience factor, as far as I'm concerned, they can charge the same amount that Charles Schwab was charging me. for the service fees because the convenience to me is worth it.

Yeah. I'm not saying, hey, because I'm not dealing with the human. In fact, the humans take longer because sometimes you go, hey, how's their day? And they tell you a long, drawn-out story. And now I'm sitting there in front of you, and I don't have time to sit there in front of you. I'd rather just Coinbase or whatever the platform is, do the thing for me. But yeah, it is a poverty mindset that will kind of get people to think that because it's online, it should be cheaper. Yeah, no, our services are exactly the same.

The results are exactly the same. So we keep the cost right where it is. And so, okay, so to that point, if you were to tell a up-and-coming, I always like to leave an up-and-coming entrepreneur with a piece of nugget because one thing we all tend to do when we draw out what our perfect business is going to be is we overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate how much we could achieve in five years. What would be that? you know, being where you are now, you've got five locations and the side of six years.

You've got PhD weight loss online now and you guys are technically global and we're really scaling your company. What's that piece of advice that you would tell a new entrepreneur on their path? I think that it's really easy to drop into a fear mindset and let fear just grab hold and paralyze you. And so I think being rational about where you're headed, but I don't know, this might sound cheesy, but just doing something that's daring, that's unreasonable, being courageous and getting out of your comfort zone and just trusting it, you know, if you have, if you can listen to your gut, and if it seems like it might be a right move just to dare and be. courageous and kind of shut that fear down. Dare be courageous and be willing to do something unreasonable. How often in life have we been told, instructed, and just maybe seen, modeled that,

you know, just be reasonable. Don't be reasonable because don't risk so much. Don't dare so much. And it's unfortunate because, and I know the people that say that around us have the best of intentions, whether it's parents, grandparents, school, teachers, the intentions are good, but the outcome puts us in a state of mediocrity where we feel this gnawing of greatness within, but we never really get to exercise it. And in our later years, we begin to feel a sense of regret, like what could I have done? How much more could I have

served? Because I do truly believe myself that the rent that we pay to be on this planet is the service to others. And if you feel like a sense of regret, I'm not, I haven't found my calling, I'm not doing my calling, I could be do more of my calling, you're really saying I'm not paying my share of my rent. I like that. Right? Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge and wisdom here with us, Ashley. If people want to find you or to be able to just follow you and learn from you, or to even, you know, work with PhD weight loss. Where did they go? Yeah, our website is my Ph.D. Weight Loss.com.

And we have Instagram, Facebook for PhD, just Ph.D. Weight Loss. And then I have my own personal Instagram, thanks to you, Betros. And it's Dr. D.R. underscore Ashley Lucas. Very well. Thank you so much for your time. Thanks for having me. And guys and gals, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode of the Empire Show and Inside Look.

and of course you know what to do. Leave us a five-star review on iTunes, leave some comments. Take some screenshots, and when you share this in your stories, be sure to tag Dr. Ashley Lucas and myself. And as always, have a great day, and don't forget to tell your old mama.