EPISODE 452: Growing Yourself and Your Money with Garrett Gunderson

Hey, chiropractors. We're ready for another Modern Chiropractic Marketing Show with Dr. Kevin Christie, where we discuss the latest in marketing strategies, contact marketing, direct response marketing, and business development with some of the leading experts in the industry. 

Dr. Kevin Christie: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Modern Chiropractic Mastery. Today I'm excited to bring back on Gary Gunderson. A lot of you probably know of him. Uh, he's done amazing things over the years and pretty well known in the financial world, and I actually had him on my podcast August 1st, 2018, so it was hard to believe when we had scheduled to have him on again.

That had been seven years since he was on, and that, and, and our podcast was only. About a year old back then, and now we're eight and a half, almost nine years into this. And it's been great to have him back on to discuss, uh, some of the financial strategies you should consider. Uh, our first episode, which again I recommend was Financial Strategies for Chiropractors.

That was back August 1st, 2018. You can just Google that. Frankly. That's what I did to remember what, what that last episode was, and, and Garrett's a dynamic. Personality speaker, uh, just a wealth of wisdom [00:01:00] for, uh, anybody really. But he's got a particular, uh, knowledge connection between the financial aspects and chiropractic, and he brings that in this episode, which is awesome, and to catch up.

What he's been doing over the last few years and some of the things we dive into. Um, I found this, this, uh, episode very fascinating 'cause we don't necessarily only dive into the, the minutia of money, talk a lot about psychology earning potential, a lot of things that, um, I think chiropractors struggle with.

And he's someone that, um, really has a. Has a beat on this stuff and it, uh, really, you know, obviously between the podcast recently, if you've been listening, uh, between the Cash Confident Chiropractor online course, we launched, uh, we've been diving into the money. Uh, this quarter, this kind of Q4 of 2025.

And, you know, every so often we do that, but we [00:02:00] really were diligent about it this time because I just see a lot of great chiropractors clinically and, you know, person, uh, they're just a great person. Like, just all that. And then there's this too many that are struggling financially and, uh, one of MCMs overarching goals is to make great.

Clinical chiropractors also, uh, thrive financially and do it in a way that is elegant and ethical, and Garrett personifies that. So I wanted to have him on again. Uh, and then, you know, after this one we're, we'll be moving on to a different theme within our podcast, but this was really a great. Kind of cherry on top here, and it's always excited to get the opportunity to, to speak to, uh, Garrett there.

So, uh, without further ado, here is my interview with Garrett Gunderson.

Alright, excited to have Garrett Gunderson on the call. Uh, you know, it's been seven years. I looked it up, uh, August 1st, 2018. I recommend people go [00:03:00] and listen to that first episode. Uh, that was a little over a year into the podcast. We're now eight and a half years into this and, and haven't missed a week.

And so welcome back to the show. What's, what's new in your world in the last seven years?

Garret Gunderson: Man a lot. I sold the company in 2021. I filmed a comedy special on the topic of money that's on Amazon Prime called the American Ream. I crazy enough, was in stage four kidney failure with polycystic kidney disease in 2023.

Oh, and I in a great spot now because I got the right. Support and I just did a a session this morning with my nutritionist and biofeedback and my adrenals are a little low, but I'm fully hydrated. I am eating extraordinarily well. I'm the leanest I've ever been. I just went on a hunt where I was keeping up with a 23-year-old the whole time, barely breaking a sweat.

So. Having that happen and then launched a, a business in July of 2024. I really spent a few years being like, what could I dedicate my life to and how could I, you know, 'cause like it was [00:04:00] fun to do comedy, but it isn't as fulfilling as helping people transform their lives. It's definitely integrated in the equation now, but yeah, still married 23 years, have a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old.

I think the most important update is that when I got introduced to chiropractic, my son was in a really tough spot. He had auditory processing issues. He had a really adverse reaction at 18 months to a vaccination, and he ultimately just was struggling. And I went to Total Solutions in 2008 as a guest.

Mm-hmm. And these chiropractors were like, we want to help. And one of 'em came to Utah, found a, a chiropractor for us. That person was instrumental. Then they introduced us to other people, to the point where we flew over the country to, to help him out. And he's at school right now in Miami. And like you would never know that.

I mean, there's a slight issue with language every now and again, but dude, he is just happy and thriving. And if it wasn't for these chiropractors being like, we'll figure this out, you know? Mm-hmm. Patrick and [00:05:00] Temple saying You gotta check out Brain Camp. And then my wife researching and finding My Mind's Eye Institute and Francis Murphy out of Dallas doing a specific adjustment that helped release a lot of stuff.

I mean, the list kind of goes on, but I definitely have an affinity for this profession.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah, that's, that's cool to see. So he is not too far from me. I'm up in Palm Beach County. Uh, is he at the University of Miami down there?

Garret Gunderson: So we've, he's got these like intuitive gifts and my wife has been researching for two years and found like, uh, he can actually get a degree, but it's, you know, right now it's being hosted for eight straight days in a hotel room.

He's by far the youngest person in the class. You know, it's not, that's traditional college. Uh. By any means, he didn't do well in school, even though he had a really high iq. And so we found kind of a nice place for him. And, uh, yeah, it's right, it's like 20 minutes from the Miami airport. I don't really know the area very well.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Awesome. Yeah, no, it's a big area for sure. So, yeah. Um, yeah. So how was it, you know, kind of selling your, your business and that, you know, moving on, that's always everybody's dream, right? Is to build something, [00:06:00] sell it, be able to retire, uh, you know, put yourself in that place to be able to do it. How wa how was it for you?

Garret Gunderson: Uh, 75% of people that sell their business regret it. I was part of that. 75%. Yeah. Part of it was, if I'm really candid, is I just had a lack of leadership when I was creating the company and I didn't confront things that weren't ideal because I thought I was being a team player. And then we got to a place where we scaled to the point where I didn't even know the customer and it took away a lot of the like, soul of it for me.

And the connection and the value started to change as the leadership took over. And so. Had an offer in 2019, decided not to sell. And then in, you know, end of 2020, I was like, ah, I just had this like spiritual moment where I was like, it's time to sell. And it was hard because something I'd been building since 98, essentially.

And, uh, yeah, it took, uh, it took some time to recover from that and be like, what am I gonna do? What could I dedicate my life to? How would I do it differently? What would I need to do to trust myself moving forward, to be mature and to be a [00:07:00] leader and have confrontation in a compassionate way? It was, I, I wrote down 19 lessons from that experience and, uh, just barely been reviewing those.

But man, life is a lot better. Just being around the people that I love, working with the people that I love and just making it more affordable for people. We got to a a point where a program wasn't as effective and it wasn't as affordable. So those two things were like, just crushing me because I just felt so much angst about that.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Nah, that makes sense for sure. And then I guess over, you've been doing this for a while and you've seen all the different financial scenarios, whether it was oh eight or obviously COVID and inflation and, and the whole nine yards. Um, you know, now being 2025, what are some of the things you're seeing, um, maybe on the, the positive or the concerning side around people's, uh, financial situation?

Garret Gunderson: I think the thing that's still most concerning is people have kind of relegated and abdicated responsibility in their finances. They're afraid to look at it and face it, and they have this notion of, I'll just make more money. But if they [00:08:00] have a cash crunch or whatever, they don't have enough cash flow coming in, even if they don't show up to the office, or they don't have that extra, you know, staying power and competence and clarity and peace of mind.

And so ultimately they're putting their faith in a system instead of in themselves. And, and because of that, that's a really fragile situation that a 2008, a 2020, or a 2023 could be really disastrous because of anything from inflation to interest rate changes and economic turmoil. And so I'm really looking at, there's like four things that are imperative.

Number one. The doc has to focus on making more money because if they don't make enough money, then ultimately they don't have enough opportunity to tap into other people's resources, and it becomes taxing to them. They get exhausted, they feel overworked. Number two, learning how to keep more of what they make by being efficient, so that's saving on tax, saving on interest, saving on non-performing investment fees and designing insurances properly so that they, they actually have 10% or more of their income.

Coming into them and not being lost in institutions. Then the third thing, and this is where a lot of people [00:09:00] skip, they try to grow their money, but if they don't grow themselves first, if they don't get their financial house in order and become financially fit, then they try to grow their money and they get distracted and derailed by a lot of things that are very speculative and risky and hopes that it's gonna work out.

But then if it doesn't, it starts to really, it hurts their mindset and their business. And so I always think of it this way. The key is to always grow yourself, invest in yourself, grow your financial skills, your intelligence skills around communication and emotional intelligence, and you know, all those factors.

And then as that grows, grow your money with it so that it will stay. If you grow your money and you don't know why or how, or how to exit. It's pretty much not gonna stay. It's not gonna be sustainable because it's not understood. So that gap of growth of money without growth of self is what I would call risk.

So make more, keep more, grow your money with investor DNA, not by getting derailed or distracted and chasing the newest trend, but knowing who you are and investing accordingly and focusing before you diversify. Then [00:10:00] just always pouring into yourself and into your team. I think that's the two game changers.

You invest in yourself to grow skills and you invest in your team to offload so that you do what you do best. And I mean, as simple as that is, I find a lot of doctors just get stuck in scarcity and they don't know how to do it.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah. That one point there where, uh, a lot of the doctors and, you know, I don't know if it's ego or it's scarcity of being able to replicate services, but they have a hard time letting go.

Yeah. Whether it's letting go of, um, some of the control of their practice and having someone manage it more, or if it's letting go and having. Assistant do some of the rehab exercises or the modality, whatever it may be. Yep. Or, or sometimes it's even letting go and, um, having another doctor. See some of your patients that you can grow.

Garret Gunderson: Right, and a lot of it is, there's a form of scarcity that says, well, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Yeah, I remember hearing that when I was a kid, and that's a form of scarcity. But the thing is, that's only true if you hire people that are inept or not fit for the job, or not [00:11:00] fit for the culture, or you don't have a hiring process.

And you just do it outta convenience. And then when it doesn't work out, you're like, see, I knew it wasn't gonna work out. Or it's just hard for sometimes people to part with their money temporarily to grow something bigger. Because if we put in a savings account, we see it. If we put it into a person, it takes time to pay off.

And that delay, if you become more expert at that delay and then have a measuring down the road. You're gonna see more exponential growth versus that limited linear growth that you have with the savings account. Yeah.

Dr. Kevin Christie: And that kind of goes to growing yourself that you mentioned. And, uh, you know, I, I always revert back to that term skill stacking.

I, I don't forget if it was Adam Grant that came up with that in one of his books, um, but it's just the idea of like, okay, you're a doctor, you got this clinical skillset that you've. Built. That's great. Now you gotta stack on maybe leadership skills, right? Or financial, uh, where wherewithal, maybe it is a hiring process in, in, in developing people and, and learning how to mentor them.

There's a lot of skills that you want to start working on, [00:12:00] uh, so that you can maybe overcome some of those hurdles that you have to get to step four.

Garret Gunderson: Yep. Absolutely.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah. Alright, perfect. I, I love that. And so, you know, it's just, it's just fascinating, um, you know, make more money. I think there's also, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

'cause I'm, I know you've worked with people of all kinds of professions. Doctors sometimes have this mindset where if they think, if they're thinking too much about the money, I'm not being a good doctor. Right? Like, I, uh, I gotta be a doctor, not worry about the money. And the reality of it is, is the way healthcare is now, and especially for chiropractors, uh, people just aren't throwing money at you anymore.

Right, right. Like it's maybe if you're a, you know, you're in LA and you're a top plastic surgeon. Yeah. Like margin is just there. But as a chiropractor, like you gotta really understand that if you provide a an amazing patient experience, you should be rewarded for that financially. Can you, can you speak to that kind of doctor dilemma there?

Garret Gunderson: Yeah, there's, there's [00:13:00] multiple layers to this. I love this point because if someone can heal this, they can really grow. First off, if we look at making money as a responsibility or duty to the patient's health, so if I don't make enough from one patient, I can't hire, I can't build infrastructure, I can't market.

Other people don't even know I exist. But if I can make that money, I can tap into the ability and resources of other people so that we can actually have more reach. An impact. So that's the first thing. The second thing thinking, well, I don't want to worry about money. I'm a doctor. That would be like a patient coming in and saying, well, I don't wanna worry about my health.

I'm not a doctor. It's like, no, like if you don't take, I can't care more about your health than you do. And if I do, you're never gonna get healthy. So it's the same thing, like all the principles of wellness are the same principles of wealth. And if we don't handle those, if we have a, a brain, you know, fart, if we have like.

A, a fracture in our mind that says, making money is bad, evil or wrong, it's dirty, filthy. It's stinking, it's, you know, it's deception, it's coercion, it's [00:14:00] greed. If any of those beliefs are there, instead of it's reward for value creation and that, what I find is people pay attention to that which they pay for.

So if the patient's paying for it, they're more likely to utilize it. If it's so inexpensive that it's not really top of mind, they might blow it off. Or they might think, or if it's free. Like I've done a lot of stuff where I'm giving stuff for free and you know, like nobody utilizes it and then you charge for it and all of a sudden they get a result.

Because I think that, you know, money is just a store of value. And if we can't store the value that we create, it evaporates and is lost. And since you brought up Adam Grant, I love his book Give and Take, where he talks about the givers are at the top and the bottom. The takers are in the middle, the givers at the bottom.

They give with no return. And I know doctors that give with no return, which actually robs from other patients' health because now that doctor's more stressed, more frantic, has to focus too much on cash flow, and even though they don't wanna worry about money, they are worried [00:15:00] about it because they weren't a steward over it.

So it's absolutely a responsibility, just like our health is a responsibility, if we don't take that responsibility, it evaporates.

Dr. Kevin Christie: I think it's such a key thing and, and I, and I don't think enough chiropractors understand that part. Like it's really hard for you to show up into that treatment room or for that patient when you are stressed out chronically fi from finance.

Totally. Yeah. There's gonna be some things up and down here, but if it's a chronic thing and you just can't get it sorted out, whether you're thinking about, I'm not set up for retirement or cash flow's an issue, or you know, you name it, you cannot be. The best version of that doctor for that patient. And it's a, it's a real, it's a huge

Garret Gunderson: point

Dr. Kevin Christie: conundrum that I think a lot of chiropractors have.

Garret Gunderson: Yeah, you said it well, it really is a conundrum. You know, it's, it's like. If we have a faulty belief, I call it a dilemma where we're damned if we do or damned if we don't, right? And so this dilemma that sometimes people feel [00:16:00] like money is the root of all evil, even though they're leaving out the context of the love of money is the root of all evil.

Meaning when we love money and we use people versus use money and love people, that's where we get into trouble. And so if money's just a byproduct of value. There's nothing evil or wrong about value. It's the very essence of how we serve others solve problems. So when we can start to understand that and stop looking at money as what happened with Epstein, or what happened with Wall Street, or what happened with Soros, or all these other figures that might be using it to abuse power.

Versus serve. We can't lump everyone into that and go, that's what money is. No. It's just a byproduct of value creation. And value creation is not evil, bad or wrong. It's actually one of the most significant things that we could do as human beings. So get rewarded for it so that you could then tap into other people providing value for you, because what I find is.

Some of these chiropractors are amazing at serving. They're actually really helpful. I think about that with my son and how they went over the top and made the [00:17:00] phone calls and checked in on him. It's like a loving, like, nobody goes, you know, I wanna be filthy rich. I'm gonna be a chiropractor. Nobody go. I want help.

I wanna heal. Yep. And so you can do that better if you have more money. If you don't have money, then you know you have stress. When you have stress, you're gonna have poor health. When you have poor health, you're not really gonna exonify what your patients are looking for. And ultimately those levels of cortisol start to show up around the belly.

They start to, you know, disrupt sleep. They start to have people become short-tempered and frustrated and grumpy. Like it's just, life is better when you've got cash flow. It just gives that peace of mind so you can focus on what is most important. 'cause money's like air. When there's plenty of it around you, don't think about it.

When it's gone, it's extraordinarily suffocating and it's all you think about. So, you know, it's, it's about mastering this instead of being enslaved by it.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah. And you mentioned a couple things there. Um, I believe you're, you're, uh, you know Joe Polish, I believe, right? We're

Garret Gunderson: very good friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've traveled with him. He is, I've stayed at his houses and he stayed at mine, so yeah, we're good friends.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah, he has one of my favorite videos that he put out there. And you mentioned [00:18:00] the word evil, and he has that one that's, uh, and people can YouTube it is selling evil and obviously selling great video.

Selling is gonna be a massive component of obviously increasing revenue. And I think what this audience has to understand is, is they are great chiropractors, they're great doctors. They, they believe in what they are doing and what they're offering. And if that's the case.

Then you should feel really good about selling that to the person. It's not like you're selling snake oil, like you're, you're really selling something that is gonna benefit people. , People need to Google that is selling Evil Joe Polish and it's just really good about why selling is not evil.

Right. And it

Garret Gunderson: Yeah. That's a great, great recommendation. I love that video.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah, I think I saw that maybe when he first, 10 years ago or, or so. Yeah. And it just really flipped a switch for me, and it made me realize too, it was like, yeah, sometimes I got myself in a situation where. I wasn't selling something that I believed in, you know, it [00:19:00] wasn't a bad thing or whatever.

I just hadn't sold myself on it yet. And so I had a hard time, uh, having conviction around that for patients. And then ultimately it didn't produce the, the cash flow that either, that, uh, that service, uh, or, or product, uh, would have if I believed in it more. And that's something I think, uh, our audience needs to, to, to pay attention to.

Yeah, absolutely. So, um, what are some positives that you're, you're seeing out there with some, um, with people and, and their finances that you're, uh, that you want to just spotlight for a minute so that uh, people can say, yeah, there's some things out there, you know, like that there's some, some, I know there's struggles, there's always struggles, you know, it's like,

Garret Gunderson: look, I, you know, I took a, I was working.

In the chiropractic profession for basically 12 years, right? Just mm-hmm. Certain. We were one of the biggest financial providers, and then I've taken a break and come back and what I'm finding is the [00:20:00] chiropractors have the courage to face their finances. Um, and they're, they're willing to admit like, Hey, in some ways I'm an accidental tourist to being in business or finance, and they're just willing to handle it in a way that most people won't.

And so I see this like willingness to face and have the courage and to deliver it. And I think that's part of the nature and the DNA of a chiropractor because they're swimming upstream. They're talking about something different than what the world is being indoctrinated with, with pharma. Like, so there's like this nature of them going, yeah, like of course I've gotta handle this.

Where, you know, sometimes with an MD they have an unfortunate God complex, considering that they're basically customer service reps for pharma. It's like sometimes they're hard to get through to, um, I don't even try where chiropractors are very open-minded and they're very mu much willing to learn and adopt.

And, you know, I, I've, I've talked to some that we worked with. 10, 15 years ago, and like I was just at this event in Dallas and someone says, Hey, when I met you, we were at a million dollars net worth. We're at 10 million now. And then I had someone else that said, Hey, we had one commercial property, we have [00:21:00] 15 and multiple locations.

And you know, the tax strategy saved hundreds of thousands. Like just hearing these stories of people implementing because philosophically it just resonates and aligns. And so because there's that alignment. They're willing to do something about it. And so it's the number one market we're serving again at this point.

And it just seems like it's a wealthier market than last time around, so it seems like, oh, that's good. You know, I, I see more people doing well than before. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah. You know, we have a, a mastermind group of chiropractors, and these are mostly a. Uh, these are high level chiropractors that, that aren't just trying to figure it out.

I mean, we're all trying to figure it out, but they've got good practices and stuff. And we have a few, uh, 61 and older in the 70. And last year we did a little wisdom session with a couple of them and. Uh, you know, they've, they're still got the passion for it. They've done very well for themselves, which is awesome to see.

They're in a really awesome place, uh, financially in their life, and that was cool. And we, uh, peppered them with some questions of, you know, like, how do we do this for 40 years? Like, what would you [00:22:00] say to the 30 5-year-old in here who you know, is getting started? And each one of them had a, a moment. You know, one was a.com bubble, you know, disaster.

The other was a fire that happened in their, that, that built that, that literally burned down their practice and they, they both overcame it and have done well. Uh, what would you say? 'cause there's always gonna be. Like that, maybe that one event or that obstacle, uh, to, to the chiropractor, whether it's in their personal finances, professional finances, or whatever the economy gets 'em.

What do you say about like, yeah, look, it's, it's never too late to recover from something that's set you back. Or if they're in that place now and they don't feel like they can get out of it.

Garret Gunderson: I mean, like, look, I, I sell my company in 2021. I had 400,000 people in that database. Then I went to zero. Yeah. And here I am, you know, where, you know, I'm just rebuilding.

But what I had was all the mental capital that I could always take with me and all the relationship capital. That I could turn around and ask for help. And so I think it's the person sometimes [00:23:00] that is the most resourceful, not the one with the most resources. 'cause resourcefulness means you tap into relationship capital and allow other people to help you, you, you leverage and, and utilize your mental capital to serve more people.

So because you already have that, you're not starting from scratch or you're not having that setback, you know, you just have to be resilient enough. And what I find is you just gotta be willing to be open about it to the right people so that peers or mentors can help you through those difficult times.

Because we all have those moments where our mind is in scarcity, or we think something feels a bit overwhelming, and here's the adjustment. You've gotta go and say. Can I make my vision bigger than any problem that I have? Because if my vision's bigger than my problem, I'll see a way through which includes being willing to make phone calls, ask for support, do whatever it takes.

And I think that that's the deal. You have that mentality of I'll do whatever it takes instead of did my best, did my best, is isolate and alone, do whatever it takes as a coordinated, cooperative, you know, co-creation, collaboration, effort. And so I, I mean, I don't know anyone that doesn't just go through this [00:24:00] when I was 29.

I went from being at 28 worth $8 million and at 29 being worth zero because I was over leveraging real estate and I actually met with Dan Sullivan, a strategic coach, we're both speaking at the same event and I was like, took him to coffee and I was like, Hey man, like I'm struggling. And he is like, how old are you?

I'm like, I'm 29. And I told him what's going on? He is like, oh cool, you just got here early. Most people go through this in their mid thirties, maybe early forties. This is an early, everyone goes through it. You're gonna earn your stripes. Just focus on a few things like customer service, one thing at a time.

Don't take on too many projects, get focused, ask for support. Make sure you know, like this conversation we're having here right now is helpful. And so like that made me feel immensely better because I felt really embarrassed and shamed about it, that I went from this, you know, over one year working my ass off just to lose money, you know?

But I also then discovered my greatest content investor, DNA. Financial independence, what financial fitness and, and health looks like, and how you protect the downside. I, I learned by going through it, not avoiding it. And so that's another piece. [00:25:00]

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah. That's awesome. Uh, Dan Sullivan definitely, um, wears it like a badge of honor that he, uh, says he went through a divorce and a bankruptcy same week, right?

On the same Yeah, same day, same week, same day. Yeah. And uh, and that would've been like, I think he was probably 35 or something. He called it

Garret Gunderson: Extreme Market Research.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Exactly. And if anybody who doesn't know Dan Sullivan, he's the founder of Strategic Coach and he's done very well for himself. Brilliant man.

And, and, uh, yeah, you can overcome anything, which is great. I wanna touch on one more thing. I know this could be a whole even kidney

Garret Gunderson: disease man, like being in kidney disease, right? Like, and honestly, if it wasn't for chiropractors, introdu introducing my son to people, I wouldn't have met the person. That helped me get through that because honestly, I, I met with one of my best friends who, you know, he does a lot of like stem cell and peptide work, and he looked at my blood work and I, I was with him in person.

He just looked at me. He is like, dude, you're in trouble, man, like this, this is concerning. I was like, all right. So he got me on a peptide to lower my blood pressure, but then I completely changed my food. I thought I ate fairly healthy, but [00:26:00] then it was like, no, I'm, I've been dialed in since April of 2024.

I'm the leanest I've been, I'm strong in the gym. I, you know, I'm sleeping well, which by the way, I had insomnia 'cause my adrenal fatigue because the adrenals are right there by the kidneys. And that was really an insane moment. Like when you're not sleeping, I just don't think really clearly. And you know, it was kind of feeling like crashing in the afternoon and just the right person.

This woman Deborah, was like, here, we're gonna hook you up to this biofeedback, which I might have little bumps on my forehead from it this morning. And told me what to eat, what to do, and within a week I was sleeping. And then my blood work all of a sudden was drastically better, which seemed like crazy 'cause my mom had a kidney transplant, my grandfather, my two of my aunts.

So it's like, wow. I, you know, I had already learned about epigenetics versus genetics from chiropractors and, you know, had heard biology belief from Guy Reikman telling me to read the book. Like just all like, I look at my health journey and so much of chiropractic was like. Go here, do this, read this.

Have you thought about that? And it just gave me the confidence that I wasn't condemned to this condition. Yeah. [00:27:00]

Dr. Kevin Christie: Well, yeah. And you segued perfect for me. 'cause I was gonna bring up, you had mentioned earlier about protecting the downside and, and, and as the reality of it is for you obviously was the kidney thing as a chiropractor, uh, obviously you could have a lot of things happen, but we always are, um, at risk of physical injury from what we do and Totally.

Um, uh, what are some of your just, you know, overarching ideas on protecting the downside. Obviously we can't dive into all the details, but they can reach out to you at the end here.

Garret Gunderson: Yeah, so, and I could give them, you know, if they go to garrett gunderson.com/one question, the number one, just the, not the, don't spell it, just one question.

They can take a financial health assessment and that financial health assessment will tell them where they're set, where they're not set, and where they have blind spots and it'll lead 'em down. It'll be, it's fantastic. And if they want additional support, there's support they can ask for at the end, um, to get.

But like the first thing is I want people to be financially fit, which means your financial house in order. So we want to transfer risk. How do we transfer risk? Well, that could be through [00:28:00] the right disability insurance. It's a little bit tougher as a chiropractor to get really good coverage anymore because they, they're, they're trying to be profitable as a company and they've continued to make it worse and worse for the doctor.

So with that being the case, financial independence is key. Financial independence is when we have enough recurring revenue from assets to cover our expenses, which means every time you're actively working as a chiropractor, you could buy more assets because that income isn't required to cover your lifestyle.

So lay your assets, cover your lifestyle, let your business grow your assets, which will increase your lifestyle. That's a completely different methodology than people that just save 10% of their income, chase a 10% rate of return and wait for 30 years. So financial independence is the key factor, and you know, there's really three ways to do it.

One is you build a business that isn't as dependent upon you, so you might be able to go in work in it, but if you could have it work when you're not there. Like I went to Italy for 63 days and my business grew. 'cause we had the marketing team had to learn to run ads without me there. They had to run an event without me.

They had to start thinking before 18 months. I went like, what could we do to [00:29:00] create more, you know, education that's more one to many. And so we figured it out and that made the business more valuable. So how do you make a business where you could work in it, but you don't have to. By the way, why sell a business that's in that situation?

If it's healthy with cash flow, you have influence over it. It's a tax advantage for you. You're helping people with their health. Like if you sell it, who are you gonna sell it to? Like if you sell it to venture capital plan on it becoming a terrible organization, that isn't gonna create health for anyone.

But if you sell it to maybe an associate. There are ways to do that if that's really what you wanna do, but build the business that can run without you so that when you are there, you get to do the things that you do best that you wanna do. The second thing is real estate, but a lot of people have to be careful with real estate because it could derail or distract you from your business.

And you have to go, is this really what I wanna do in the, you know, from 2000 to 2008, I acquired over a hundred real estate properties and it was the worst work I've ever done. I talked to attorneys, I talked to bankers, I talked to property managers, I talked to maintenance people, and no one wrote me a card or gave me a hug that was a tenant.

They didn't care. And so I didn't enjoy it. It might be the right thing for the [00:30:00] right person. Or the third thing is intellectual property. You've done well with intellectual property, you've got a mastermind, you've got this podcast, so it's where you teach other people the very thing that you did. So that you can improve the entire profession.

So really those are the big three. If you can create cashflow generator from one of those in a big way, maybe a secondary, then what's gonna happen is your business is less dependent upon you. You have financial independence, and if something does happen when you physically break down, you already have the associates.

You already have the infrastructure. You already have the system.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Mm-hmm. Ah, I love it. That's, that's important. And I think, um, it just, you know, it's just a big part of. That financial peace of mind. Right? Yeah. So obviously we talked about cash flow. That's really nice. That just gives you a lot of confidence.

Uh, obviously you need to have some, you know, uh, cash on hand, some liquidity there. And, and then obviously having these things that protect you in case something happens is just gonna give you that, uh, momentum to just go to work every day and enjoy what you're doing. Yep. Um, so tell me, uh, let us know a little bit about how you [00:31:00] are now, uh, helping chiropractors out.

What, what are we, um, doing to, to solve and enhance, right? Yeah. Some people have to solve some problems and some people have to enhance an awesome situation, right?

Garret Gunderson: So there's really three things that I'm doing. Number one is I finally, at 10 years too late, decided to really go all in on social media. So I had a radio show before podcasts existed, and it was two hours a day, five days a week, and it just burned me out.

We just started to do like live casting of it and I was like, you know, I don't wanna do this. Podcasts became popular, so I kind of missed the boat. I do have a long form on YouTube at Garrett Gunderson tv or Garrett Live and internet browser, and then I'm posting once a day at least. Sometimes twice on Instagram.

So those people that have more time than money, they can still get the insight. It's a way to serve, it's a way to get reach and reputation. The second thing is a lot of people might not be ready for our services. So we've, I've partnered with someone, uh, Matt and Js, who I've worked with since 2014, and they built an AI platform for people to analyze every [00:32:00] aspect of their finances.

It'll, they could plug in their estate plan, it'll tell 'em the issues. They could plug in their taxes. It'll tell 'em what they're overpaying. You can show 'em what their economic independence number is. It's extraordinarily affordable. Or the third layer is we have a program called Multiplier, where I teach every week on either Make more money, keep your Money, grow your money, grow yourself.

That's the format in one to many. They have one-on-one results facilitators that walk them through every aspect of finance. And we have a lot of accounting firms, legal firms, investment advisors to help them. Get the comprehensive nature of what wealthy people do for the people on their way up. I'm not here to serve the people worth a hundred million dollars.

I've done it. It's very exhausting. I just have great people I can refer them to. I'm here to serve the people that were, like I was, I first generation wealth, you know, didn't have a, a robust network and I love helping people grow and keep that money. I just want 'em to get their financial house in order.

I want them to be financially free from a mindset and I want 'em be financially independent from their cash flow. And so I love working with people like you in your communities because. You guys are masterful at showing people how to make more money, have more [00:33:00] purpose, you know, collaborate. So I come in and go, let me help you keep a lot more of what you've just made.

So it actually starts to turn your business wealth into personal wealth.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Do you guys dive into a little bit on, you know, I would say for me, I've been fortunate 45 years old now. I feel really good about where I'm at. Uh, for the long haul. There's always still things that go awry with the finances, but um, I think the thing that I had to really work on over the years was just the psychology around money and some of the thought process.

Do you guys dive into some of that stuff?

Garret Gunderson: I, I at least once a month, one of my sessions is more like money therapy. Um, you know, and, and we're going through like the layers of a money story. Like the first layer is what people will say, and it's usually protective and limited. Then there's what they won't say, but they say to themselves, which usually holds them back, and we help them feel safe to share it so it doesn't hold them back.

Then it gets 'em to the third level. What they can't say, what's been the blind spot that's been holding them back and they can't explain. And when they're free from that. All of a sudden they produce a whole lot more. So yeah, that's, that's why I like to teach every week so I can do those kind of things [00:34:00] because my guys can make sure that someone saves taxes or they can make sure that someone has asset protection or that they improve their cash flow.

But I'm more like, how do I help the individual and how they view money and heal that relationship with money? You know, my newest book, money On Mass really helps people understand the very thing we're talking about and ultimately. If people, you know, they could do a discovery session with my guys and a report of findings, and that gives them a comprehensive report that they can take to their existing financial team or hire us either way.

But I have a full-time person just building the report of findings that are robust, they're substantial. We spend as much time on that as we do on the phone with someone, and so now they know exactly where they're at and what to do about it. Yeah. And so I think that's like a unique thing that we've really built over the last little while.

Dr. Kevin Christie: That's great. You know, I still, whenever I get into a, a pitfall of it, it's usually just the, the psychology around the money, you know? Yep. And it's, it's fascinating. It's, uh, and it, and sometimes you can't outpace the psychology of money by making more, uh, it definitely helps to [00:35:00] make more, as you know.

Right, right. Uh, but you, you can, uh, outspend that as well. And so, uh, I think everybody's gotta figure out where their weak link is there, and that's pretty cool that you help with that as well. I

Garret Gunderson: had two years where I wasn't really in control of the outcome of my income. I had a licensing deal. It was seven figures, but I didn't really have influence over it.

And that's why I think a lot of retirees feel, they're like, okay, now I'm retired, but I can't control interest rates. I can't control inflation. I don't know what's gonna happen with taxes. And they become very fearful, even though it was supposed to be this amazing situation. So I want them to have a lot more control and options and choice, and that's gonna help them with the psychology so they feel more free.

Because a lot of I, my comedy specialist called the American Ream. Because most people think the dream is retirement, but it's kind of a ream because they get there. Like, what about all the memories you missed along the way? What about the fact that now you're just living off your interest while the institutions get to have the lion's share of your money and they're, they're making ma, ma major profits.

So I just get frustrated. So I was like, I'll just make fun of it and then we can all laugh about it and then hopefully [00:36:00] make better choices.

Dr. Kevin Christie: I'll if they check that out. American Reem, Amazon Prime.

Garret Gunderson: Amazon Prime. Although everyone always says Netflix. Uh, not my kids. When I got on Amazon Prime, I was stoked.

I'm like, oh my God, this is awesome. I wanna get on a streaming service than my youngest is like, why not Netflix? I'm like, dude, come on, man. I'm like, first off, Amazon's a bigger company, even though the streaming service might not be, I'll take it, you know?

Dr. Kevin Christie: Oh yeah. Absolutely. That's cool, man. Now, I know you mentioned a couple times, but how can our audience find out more about what you got going on?

And

Garret Gunderson: I think that that, uh, garrett gunderson.com is my main website. Perfect. Garrett b Gunderson, middle initial, B as in boy on Instagram as a handle. And then Garrett live in an internet browser. I'll take you to my YouTube channel and you know, we're, we're responsive in the dms. Not always quick 'cause there's a lot that it's kind of coming in.

We just had a lot of traction. I got, I think it's, uh, 2.9 million views in the last 28 days on YouTube. So I'm finally doing the work that I should have Kevin, when I first talked to you. Uh, but it's, it's kind of fun because. I, I, I really turned pro in comedy and I'm looking at [00:37:00] that same process and going, what if I did that for media to really help people?

'cause it's not what I know, it's who knows it and can implement what I know that really matters. And so I feel really compelled to serve in that way and, and grow it. Where before I was just like. I don't wanna take pictures of my food. Screw social media. I just had a bad thinking about it, you know? I was like, there's so much bad about it, but you know, if it's gonna be there, why not put some good into it?

Dr. Kevin Christie: Yeah, absolutely. Love it. Well, Garrett, this has been a pleasure again, uh, hopefully it won't be seven years between now and the next time I have you on, and then hopefully we can run into each other in person.

Garret Gunderson: Yeah. Thanks for the work you're doing out there and thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

Dr. Kevin Christie: Same to you. Have a good one.