Hi.

Today we are celebrating Paul and my homes

of Enhanced Body in Dunedin, Florida.

So, hi

Paul.

Hi Maj.

Hello.

Hi.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you for having us.

You're so welcome.

So what is the origin

story of your business?

How did you guys start, Enhanced

Body and, and what is it?

You wanna take this one?

Sure.

So, so we started off

about three years ago.

Uh, uh, we took basically different

routes in our education and what

we did, um, uh, my worked, uh,

as a nurse in, uh, the hospitals.

Uh, I was a firefighter paramedic, uh,

for a couple different cities and we

had all these experiences with these

different medical practices and medical

institutions and EMS and we basically saw

holes and gaps where we thought people

needed services and more in depth and just

more caring aspect of their healthcare.

And we, we knew we could do that.

Um, and so we, uh, form an enhanced body.

Uh, it's been an ever-growing situation

for the last past three years.

We're always adding and looking for

new, different types of modality to

practice medicine, and we are just

a more comprehensive, all in one

healthcare that is designed more for

individual care outside of insurance

and standard practices of medicine.

That pretty much sums it

I see.

Okay.

Just looking to really give

people that personalized care.

I think that's really what we focus

on predominantly here, is that

nothing is cookie-cutter here.

You don't come in and, you know,

you get the same care as the person

before you every, we take our time

and really listen to our patients.

Okay, so did I hear you say functional

medicine or are you, is functional

medicine a core of what you do?

I.

So the way that I practice

is actually kind of a blend.

Integrative is more, what I like to call

it is I have a conventional background, so

I believe in conventional medicine , but

I also feel that it should not be the

first and the only thing that, the only

way practice, so I kind of combine both.

My goal is to treat people with

the least amount of medication as

possible and keep them off medication.

So in that case, I would, I integrate

the functional medicine part of that

and trying to get to root cause.

But if a patient does need medication,

I'm not against it, because there

is a time and place for everything.

So it's kind of more of integrative,

uh, versus one versus the other.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm glad you clarified that.

I wasn't, uh, I wasn't as clear

on the functional, I didn't,

think it was kind of either or.

Mm-Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A lot of practitioners

now are one or the other.

I.

And we're just seeing a more of a

need for integrative, where the most

patients don't swing one way or another.

They're more in the middle.

They want medicine if they need

it, but they also want to not have

it if they don't need it, and want

options onto how to avoid being

medicated if it's a possibility.

So, um, that's kind of where integrative

medicine comes in, into play.

I see.

Okay, cool.

Yeah, that uh, that resonates with us.

Yeah.

yeah, medication, you know, the idea of

getting on medication and you're gonna

be taking it for the rest of your life.

That's kind of kind of the way things

are, and a lot of practices, but, uh,

Yeah, that's the, that's

the last thing we want

as needed when needed.

have to come in and say, Hey,

you're gonna have to take this

pill for the rest of your life.

And just because a provider says that.

That's not necessarily true.

There's other factors why you didn't

have to take that medication from

the very first day you were born.

So let's figure out and get you

back to a younger, healthier you.

And that's always our goal.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you for your service.

We need more of you.

I think you mentioned you're, you

don't take insurance or you don't,

you work with patients that can

Yeah.

So how it, yeah, so how it works is

we're a self-pay self-pay clinic.

What does that mean?

And I think a lot of people

get confused on that.

Basically we don't take any insurance,

meaning my visits here are a set price.

But I do tell patients if you have

insurance, if I need to order you a

diagnostic test or a lab, lab work,

or if I do need to order a medication.

Patients can use their insurance for that.

, so it just, my visits, my time, I

don't put claims out to the

insurance companies for that.

Um, what that does is that

it allows me to practice.

Without having the restraints of what

the insurance company says I can and

cannot do, it also allows me to spend

the time that I need with my patients.

Most of my initial visits with

my patients are a minimum of an

hour long, so I get to really deep

dive into the, what's going on.

The backstory, I'm not at a, at 15 minute

time restraint, which most providers are.

Um, so that's, you know, that was

my big reason for wanting to do

a self-pay clinic, uh, because I

felt like the biggest complaint

I was hearing from patients was I

didn't felt like I was being heard.

I was in and out in, you know, 10 minutes.

Like I waited five minutes to be seen.

I was seen for less than 10 minutes,

and then, they were out the door.

I don't want my patients

to ever feel that way.

The only way to do that is to do it

as a self-pay provider because I

can charge that rate and give

them the time that they need.

Excellent.

Excellent.

And are you, are, you're an

MD Paul, are you also an MD?

I'm not an MD, I'm a nurse practitioner.

I'm an independent nurse

practitioner here in Florida.

And Paul's a a firefighter

paramedic licensed.

Okay.

Okay, cool.

Very cool.

Do you guys know what an

independent nurse practitioner is?

She probably does, I'm not sure I do.

I'd be happy for you to it.

I, I, yeah.

I feel like people kind of don't, under,

like nurse practitioners have been around

for a long time, but the independence is

newer to Florida, so what that means is

that I don't have an MD or do above me.

I don't need a medical director because

I, I have an independent license.

There are some differences between

MD DO's and NP's, but basically it's

just the background of the schooling

and how, and, and what we're doing.

And I have a few restrictions that MD

and DO's don't, but overall I can,

assess, diagnose, and treat just the

same as a, um, as a physician would.

So, but yes, I am not so,

I don't call myself Dr.

Holmes because I don't have a doctorate.

I have, I'm a nurse, I'm a

family nurse practitioner.

I have a master's degree.

So, um, but I am independent.

Okay.

Okay, got it.

Very good.

Yeah, I did not know about

the independent either.

So our podcast is titled "Celebrating

Small Family Businesses",

so, we want to be sure we,

cover the family aspect of it.

So you guys are husband

and wife, I believe.

What do you...

We are husband and wife.

about working together?

What do you love most

about working together?

You start, babe?

Well, we are at times the

best combination of both.

I mean, I'm definitely

more of a risk taker.

She's definitely by-the-book, follow

the rules, no risks, no nothing.

And we basically, she holds me back

and I push her whenever she needs it.

And I think that that combination

of our personalities really has

helped us be as successful as we are.

Um, whenever we started this, I mean, she

was, had her super stable job working, you

know, 50 hours a week at a, at a clinic

and I was at the fire station full time.

But I really believe that

we could do this and I.

I said, Hey, I believe in you.

I believe in what we can do and you

can handle the, the practice side,

and I can handle the business side.

And, and she, it took a lot of

convincing, but I finally got

her to, to say, Hey, let's do it.

And um, I.

The same way, it's the same

way with everything we do

inside the office and at home.

We're very much the same way, saying,

Hey, I'm always like, Hey, let's do this.

And we always have, let's

knock down this wall.

And we always have something to talk

about because after 17 years of being

together, the business, it's, you know,

besides our children, obviously, this

is our other baby, so we are, it's, it.

It is definitely difficult

to work with a partner.

Um, but it is so gratifying to work

together towards the same goal.

And we've had our struggles for sure,

but I wouldn't change it for the world.

It's, uh, I get to go to work

and my husband gets to be

here and we get to spend time

together and, we are the guide.

We guide our future.

Like it's all in our hands.

So the harder we work together, the more

we, are a unit, the more we succeed.

And we're a family even beyond that

with the business, my, the, our

office manager actually is our niece.

Um, so we're very family

oriented, family oriented.

I mean, we've all three have,

we started this thing together

and we've all grown together.

I mean.

Tremendously.

Yeah.

I mean, she's grown exponentially

since she started in that role..

Grown like personal growth as well as

growth and skills or what, how would you,

Oh

what's an example?

So she is, she was a very shy,

introverted person and she, she has the

capabilities of, to do anything, it just.

Getting, she's very much like Maj.

She's like, I don't know.

And I'm like, you can do this.

You can do this.

And especially when it comes to

the patient care side, she was very

like, oh, I just wanna sit behind

the computer and, and do everything.

And I'm like, no, that's

not how it's gonna work.

This is a brand new business and

we're gonna all wear a lot of hats.

And I'm like, you're

gonna have to do stuff.

And I, and, and you know what?

She really took it by the horns and

she's just jumped right in there and

says, okay, I'm gonna be uncomfortable.

I'm gonna do it.

And we're gonna make this work.

And I mean, between these two girls, I

just, they had so much faith in me that we

could do this and the trust and them just

showing up and following the game plan.

It was just, it meant the world.

Yeah.

The support, the support that a

family brings you in a business is,

I think the really thing that really

drives the success or the failure.

Yes.

Yes, I agree.

Thank you for bringing that out.

Oh, absolutely.

We've worked in, in the family business

or around the family business our entire

career, uh, together, and we worked for

other family businesses and we've also,

yeah, worked in a couple other family

businesses, uh, for shorter times.

And, uh, and so we've got some, we've

seen some of the, we, we've seen both

sides, we've seen the challenges and

we've also that what you're talking

about, the strengths, you know, that when.

And, and gosh, what you guys are talking

about, , Paul is Connie, and, and

I'm Maj as far as, you know, Connie's

the one that, she the risk taker

and, and sees a bigger picture and,

and pushes me outta my comfort zone.

And I'm the one that's, you know,

sometimes dragged kicking and screaming.

Yep.

Yep.

totally understand that.

Yeah, and I'm, I'm glad you mentioned,

both the support of family because Yeah,

you've, a lot of family businesses have

got, all their chips on the table, right?

They're, they got it all invested.

so there's both, there's extra investment

there, which means there's extra

commitment, but there's also extra perce,

extra risk and perception of that risk.

And so stress and stress that,

whatever stress that comes with that.

So, we, we know, we do

But also extra drive!

Are there any.

Yeah.

Yes.

Mm-Hmm.

Yes.

We're gonna make this work.

Mm-Hmm.

Mm-Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What is a challenge that you, uh, what,

what is, you mentioned challenges.

What's an over a challenge that

you've overcome together in

your journey that other family

members might benefit from hearing

other?

When I say other, other families

might be listening to the podcast.

So, so for us, it was time and especially

my time, um, at, at the time of us

opening this, I was still working

full-time for the fire department.

So that's 24 hours on and 48 hours off.

So coming up to us opening,

I took two months, two months

off from the fire department.

Uh, not really.

I took a one month off completely

where I was off and we remodeled, did

a lot of painting and did a lot of.

Building myself and

getting everything ready.

And then once we opened, I still

would work every single day, but

at nighttime on the days that I had

to go into work, I'd go in at eight

o'clock at night, get off and then go.

Come right back.

'cause we didn't have any

employees and I worked as much

as I could to save on labor cost.

And that was a huge

stressor on both of us.

I mean, I, I think there was one

day, one stretch of time where I

literally worked 21 days straight

and didn't have a day off.

Me being gone at nighttime away

from her and she was still

working at her other clinic.

It was, it was a big hurdle that I think

the biggest hurdle, and the children, I

mean, 'cause we have two kids, two boys.

So, if it was just us without

that responsibility, but we

have, them relying on us.

And so whenever he was gone like

it was me, but then I was at the

other clinic and he was home.

So he's juggling here while

juggling the children.

And, their needs don't stop.

And they understand to a certain extent,

but, they can't fully understand, why

we're always gone or why, we're so

stressed out or tired because, , like you

said, he'd be up, at the fire department.

He'd work at nighttime and come home on.

And some nights were no sleep.

That was definitely a very

challenging part of our life.

And then you're also just

stressed about succeeding and

did we make the right choice?

Did we invest all, all this time, money,

and effort into something that might fail?

Small businesses are, you know,

they're harder and harder to

be successful in these days.

Big corporations tend to take over.

So it was definite.

And when we opened up, it was right

during, the beginning of Covid.

So we had that other thing kind of like

looming as to how is this gonna affect us?

Is this gonna make us thrive?

Is this gonna make it much more

difficult for us to succeed?

So we're just really thankful and

blessed that, we're still sitting

here three years later, thriving.

I think the biggest reason why we got

got over that hurdle is we learned, I

mean, even though we've been together

for 17 years, our communication with

each other has gotten so much better.

I think that was just the number one thing

saying, Hey, today I don't feel good.

And just letting the other person

know I feel this way today.

I need a little break today.

And just, and the other person, even

though they're super stressed out too,

they just didn't get to tell you that

they needed a break before you said it.

But them understanding and

them saying, Hey, I got you.

Let me take some of this off you.

That was the number one thing that

not only saved our business, but

saved our marriage at that time.

And we still practice.

We didn't lose that.

We're still practicing our

communication every day.

Mm-Hmm.

And still working on it

and trying to get better.

So we've become better.

Partners to each other, parents

to our kids and business owners.

Oh, that's great to hear.

That's great to hear.

I think that's in, in a lot of families

when they work in business together,

the family dynamics tend to sometimes

overshadow the needs of the work and

the family dynamics are more habitual and

they're more, they tend to be more taking

the other, taking other family members

for granted and, and not communicating

in that, , more open and respectful way.

And so kudos to you for, yeah.

For, bringing that level, leveling

up your communication to include that.

That's awesome.

Is there anything about being in

a family business working together

that you know now that you wish

you'd known when you started?

I got a lot of insight from from Mai

because her, her uncles and her dad

owned restaurants together and she said

family business is gonna be super hard.

Everything.

She...

right from the beginning.

She was very much into it.

But I'm very hardheaded and I

said, I know, but we can do this.

We can do this.

And just seeing the mistakes and

the relationships, hearing the

stories from her father, and how

their businesses and what happened

to them and what made them succeed.

And everything was a great mentoring

situation where we learned a lot

prior to going into this to try

to not have those same pitfalls.

And with that, we still have a better

culture here in our office because

we say, Hey, even though you guys

are our employees, we're your family.

We want to help you in

your personal lives.

If you want us to.

If you say you have personal things

going on, we're gonna understand because

we are a family here and that means

we wanna treat you guys like a family.

We want to be treated like your family.

Mm-hmm.

Having that mindset and that culture,

I think is very important to not

just me and her, but everybody that's

in this building in including with

our patients a little bit too much

with our patients at sometimes.

Yeah, I mean, I would just say that

generally speaking, finding a mentor,

somebody that's a, and it doesn't

have to be the same type of business,

it would be beneficial for it to

be that, but reaching out to other

small business owners; sitting down,

having a conversation with them.

Having somebody like that to

lean on is, is very important.

And then to me I have a lot of other

providers or other nurse practitioners

that are looking into opening up their

own clinics and, and they're like,

well, I'll just kind of do this a

little bit here and then, and then I'll

still work here and I want, you know.

Opening up a business is all consuming.

It is.

It is 24/7.

There is no days off.

The first few years, it's like you

have to really make that commitment.

So if somebody's thinking about it

and they're not a hundred percent

sure that they're gonna jump in with

both feet, I'm like, then don't do it.

Wait till you can jump in with

both feet, because that's what

it's gonna take to succeed.

So, this whole kind of like,

"maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't."

To me, I was like, that's not, that's

a recipe for disaster because it

takes over your life for a while

until it kind of things are are

going and, and running smoothly.

And, you've had some successful years

under your belt and you have a routine

and your staff is good and all that.

So, that's my big thing when I, even when

I talk to other providers, I was like, if

you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it.

But understand, it's gonna take a lot

of time and it's gonna be stressful.

Uh, you're gonna have your good days,

bad days, good weeks, bad weeks.

Till this day we have a great week

where on a high, you have a week

where you're a little slower and you

know your heart's in the pit of your

stomach that whole week until things

pick up again because your paycheck

and your livelihood depends on it.

I guess that would be what I would

really, you know, want other small

business, um, potential small business

owners to know before venturing

into owning their own business.

Cool.

Cool.

Excellent.

Yes.

Mentor.

I think I heard you say that you actually

spoke to your father and your uncles

and got some feedback from them, asked

them some questions and had some hard

conversations rather than just depending

on remembering stories, from thepast.

Is that right?

Oh, that's

Absolutely.

We had actually multiple

sit downs with them.

Yeah.

I presented our business plan to

them to say, Hey, poke holes in this.

Tell me what you think.

Tell me what you see that I'm doing

wrong that I need to be doing.

Mm-Hmm.

That's amazing.

On all fronts 'cause uh,

Yeah.

Lots of lots planning.

Cool.

Well, and the restaurant business, that's

probably one of the tougher businesses.

Mm-Hmm.

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

We didn't even consider

opening a restaurant.

Yeah.

That that was a strong No, I

wouldn't have said any Yes to that.

I vowed as a child, I would never

a restaurant after my parents,

owned two and I was like, no way.

Won't do this, can't do it.

They loved it, but, it's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work.

And they're, yeah, restaurants are

very difficult to, to maintain and they

were successful, so we were blessed.

But, um, but yeah, it hard work.

Well, yeah, having a front row seat.

You, you got to see again the good,

the bad, and the ugly and, and, uh,

Absolutely.

Oh, she was in the pits.

I was, she wasn't in the front seat.

Yeah.

Well, and kudos to your parents

too, for being able to verbalize it.

And to share it.

Oops.

Yeah, my ear plugged.

I started.

Okay.

You go ahead.

So that we we're well micd,

we're using, Bluetooth earbuds

to be able to hear you guys.

Uh, you know, I think a lot of small

businesses, since we're talking,

we're doing video, we're talking a

little bit now about the technology.

Are you guys using video, in any way to

market your business and do you plan to?

You are the marketing guru.

What are we doing, babe?

So, we do put out videos, put

out, of course we put out social

media clips and stuff like that.

We just actually did a video.

She did a couple videos recently.

She did, an aesthetics video.

Then she also did, basically like a

talk on some of our nutrient products

that we sell in the store; some of

our vitamins and stuff like that.

So, we do do a lot of video,

not as much as I would like.

That's my fault.

I hate them.

But it's one of those things where

I don't want to do them either.

So I don't push her too much to do them.

So I just hate, they're

just, they're hard.

They're important.

So for anybody listening,

they're important.

But, some of us, I'm a

behind the scene kind of girl.

I like to be with my patients.

I like one-on-ones.

I am, I'm not big on marketing.

It is just not the

provider in me, doesn't.

Doesn't understand that

whole aspect very well.

I've never had to, so marketing

is definitely difficult to me.

I have understood in the past three

months and realized how important

videos are as a tool for marketing.

I just have to get more

comfortable in front of the camera.

That's all.

But speaking as a new business

owner, that's the last thing that a

new business owner should focus on

There is there are the social media.

And that every, unless you're

in a business that is solely

around that word of mouth,

face-to-face and Google my business.

Way more important.

Yeah.

Find if

Yeah, networking.

I would agree with that.

Networking.

Yeah, networking is huge.

We spent so much time initially on like

social media and don't get me wrong,

there are probably certain businesses that

that is a great, avenue, but as a medical

clinic, people wanna know you personally.

If they're gonna refer to you, if they're

gonna come to you, they wanna know you.

And a social media clip

is just doesn't cut it.

It's very difficult for me to convey

how I am as a person in, during a,

primary care visit through a video.

Like how, it's difficult.

Social media and videos are

for people selling products.

When I say that, I mean if you have

something that you want to show

people, a physical thing that they can

get, that's a great avenue for them.

Mm-Hmm.

When you're talking about a

service, 'cause we're providing a

service, it's not really the best.

You really want the, the word of

mouth to be the number one thing.

'cause if you have one patient come

in here and they say they had a great

experience, they're gonna tell 10 people.

Same, same thing if they have a bad

experience, they're gonna, unfortunately

they're gonna tell a hundred people.

So you really wanna hone down

on your skills about your

in-person, "Hey, this is me.

This is what I do."

That's why in-person networking's

very important and reaching

people truly with yourself.

Not a ten second clip that you

posted on social media, but in

definitely in my experience, looking

at her numbers and everything.

And wasting so much time focusing on

getting this social media following

was, when I say Google My Business

is so much more important; near me.

Whatever someone's looking for, they're

gonna put near me and as a brick and

mortar service provider we want, that

should have been our focus from the

beginning and having a clean Google My

Business, making sure people are leaving

you reviews, you're replying to reviews.

And making sure all your stuff on

your Google business is the same

reflected in your website is..

As a new business.

Focus on that.

The social media will come way down

the line when you have more time

and more energy and more people

that can focus on that stuff.

Google My Business.

Great advice.

Absolutely great advice.

, I would also say, you know, you

guys we're doing this podcast,

you've done other podcasts.

I think of that as sort

of networking by proxy.

Because you're spending more time,

it's not a ten second clip, you

know, it's a 30 minute conversation.

Mm-hmm.

Then you get a chance to, to

kind of see how the person is.

And if you see 'em several

times, you feel like you know

'em even if you've never met him.

And so, I think that's where

you guys are doing also, doing

This is also, also a mentoring

thing, is letting people know, hey,

but like, hey, we are successful,

but we made these mistakes here.

Here are these pitfalls

that you can avoid.

If you take some of the advice

that we give you, like, don't

make these same mistakes and

you'll be way more successful.

We will share our blueprint of what, what

we've done, to whoever wants to listen.

Mm-Hmm.

If they say they're gonna open

up a clinic just like ours across

the street, we will help you.

We don't mind.

'cause there's no competition.

Everybody.

There's, and where we live, it's enough

populated where we just want people

to get the best care and we don't feel

like people are getting the best care

with the traditional medicine route.

So the more places that do the things

that we do, that do specialized testing,

that spend more time and effort with their

patients, the better everybody's gonna be.

And the more that those people

are gonna say, Hey, this is the

type of treatment I'm getting.

Go find a place like this.

Mm-Hmm.

Get these treatments, get

off all these long-term meds.

Get healthy and happy, and the whole

world will become better in that way.

Mm-Hmm.

Awesome.

What a vision.

I love it.

So how can people find you?

Where, where do, how do you

prefer people to contact you?

Well they like to call and make an

appointment with Maj, my beautiful wife.

You can call 727- 330-7769 and

talk to my beautiful niece Zoe.

Or they can find us at www

dot enhanced body ic.com

Okay.

Wonderful.

I'll make sure we that in the, notes and,

or they can put Enhanced Body into

Google and they'll definitely find us.

Cool!

Okay.

Well done.

Well, this has been a pleasure.

It's been a pleasure getting to know you.

Yes.

Maj, and, we'll look forward to, well,

we'll look forward to when, when this is

published and, and hearing the feedback,

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's been a pleasure.