Two Years On: Tech Nerd Has Entrepreneurial Episode, Starts Functional Medicine Practice

March 11, 2016

Run a blood test, find low levels of a hormone. Prescribe synthetic version of said hormone. Two weeks later your patient is back with a slightly different set of symptoms. Run another blood test, prescribe another hormone. If there's too much, block it, if there isn't enough, just add more. Rinse and repeat for hypothalamic pituitary adrenal, thyroid and gonadal axes. Refer out to a gastroenterologist for chronic diarrhoea. Gastroenterologist diagnosis is “irritable bowel syndrome”, says it’s nothing to do with diet, suggests colonoscopy, anti-inflammatory drugs, possible surgery.

This sounds like a parody.

But this is what happened to me, and it’s still happening to other athletes. Finding a better solution inspired me to quit my day job as a computer programmer at a hedge fund and start a new business with my wife (a food scientist) and a medical doctor.

2015 was our first full year in practice.

At the time of recording, we’ve helped over 600 athletes with their diet and lifestyle. We’ve gotten great results and get tremendous satisfaction from each and every success story that we receive. Our success has been in large part due to the significant research and development efforts of our new Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tommy Wood, and by the tireless efforts of our single employee and registered nurse, Amelia Luker.

Our gross revenue was nearly $500,000.

Unfortunately, Julia and I only took home $90,000 of that as profit, and that’s with both of us working full-time. If I hired two members of staff to replace us at the going market rate, we’d be making a significant loss. Health coaching is hard because not only do you have to be a great practitioner, you must also be a good business person and marketing expert.

On the plus side.

Quitting my job has enabled us to move from a condo on a busy main road in Oakland, to a small house amongst the trees in a town called Bonny Doon, not far from Santa Cruz, in California. I get a quarterly email from the recruiter at Google, but if I were to go down that route I’d be leaving to commute to an office before my daughter got up in the morning, and I’d be lucky to get home before she went to bed at night.

I don’t wish to be mean but…

I could train a monkey to run a blood test and prescribe a hormone. Doctors are being made prisoner to a system that prevents them from making proper use of their education and spending an appropriate amount time with their patients. People don’t even know how much their health insurance costs and half the time it doesn’t cover what they need. I’m still slightly angry about the current standard of care, and I’m looking forward to being made redundant; I rather miss computer programming.

Are you a financially successful health coach?

Please let me know in the comments section below.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Julia Kelly:

0:01:09    Was it fun?

0:01:33    It was a shock to the system.

0:02:04    The sudden changes are stressful.

0:02:48    We were living in Oakland.

0:03:04    Quitting my job enabled us to move to Scotts Valley.

0:03:44    We've bought a house in Bonny Doon.

0:04:10    Ours is the only WiFi signal.

0:04:46    We can grow our own food.

0:04:57    Starting a business is a double edged sword.

0:05:27    Looking after a 2 year is hard!

0:05:46    Cheating at parenting.

0:06:29    Working at home I get to see my daughter all day long.

0:07:29    I'm still slightly angry.

0:07:50    I've stopped doing free consultations now, but you can still do one with Amelia.

0:08:25    Run a blood test, find low hormone, prescribe the hormone, rinse, repeat.

0:08:44    Nobody is doing the proper investigation.

0:09:38    The low hormones are symptoms.

0:10:55    We're waiting to be replaced.

0:11:14    Julie feels the same about saturated fat.

0:11:58    Tommy is planning on doing another residency.

0:12:21    Tommy is now our Chief Medical Officer.

0:12:55    We hope that the people we help go on to spread the word.

0:13:54    All diseases are complex with many underlying causes.

0:14:41    One over the treatment is not necessarily the cause.

0:15:42    Julie doesn't do diet plans, instead she teaches.

0:16:33    Everyone else wants to hold the cards close to their chest.

0:17:09    You can check your own blood glucose.

0:17:24    By now you should have done a Google search for 8-Oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine.

0:18:15    Is this working?

0:19:13    We have more follow-up calls then we have time to publish.

0:19:56    Of course it worked!

0:20:43    We don't have a magic formula yet.

0:20:59    We've tested 605 athletes as of yesterday.

0:21:42    At this point, our programs don't resemble anything we've been trained in.

0:22:21    Social isolation with Bryan Walsh.

0:22:35    Our gross revenue for 2015 was nearly $500,000.

0:23:11    Mark Newman of Precision Analytical.

0:23:44    There's almost no markup on our tests, we're passing those on at cost.

0:23:59    Most of our money comes from selling our time.

0:24:20    We do make some money from selling supplements.

0:24:54    Amelia ships all the supplements.

0:25:20    Making money selling supplements requires the economy of scale.

0:25:52    Bob Rountree talked about NiaCell® (nicotinamide riboside).

0:26:17    Between the two of us we took home $90,000 before tax.

0:26:54    In a way, we have achieved the four-hour work week.

0:27:26    I should have a master's degree by now.

0:28:05    If you really want to get better as a practitioner you must continue your education.

0:28:35    My education is problem driven.

0:28:47    I'm racing pro again this year.

0:29:06    Computer programmers are lazy.

0:29:54    I take the same approach with my training.

0:30:46    Necessity is fantastic teacher.

0:31:17    I won the series points competition at our local cyclocross races in the elite men category.

0:32:13    The Colnago days.

0:32:57    NorCal cross is bumpy.

0:33:25    Now I can sleep after a bike race.

0:33:41    The sugar monster has slayed.

0:34:08    Tommy is a big fan of carb cycling.

0:34:42    The average power in cross is meaningless.

0:35:05    I've been supplementing with exogenous ketones.

0:35:24    Volek showed no difference in glycogen.

0:35:48    Carb cycling made no difference to me.

0:36:38    My path is becoming a theme.

0:37:17    Know who you want to help!

0:37:29    The Practitioner Liberation Project.

0:38:00    I haven't done all of the course.

0:38:10    The most important lesson is be specific.

0:39:14    The people we work with are exactly like me!

0:40:41    We haven't borrowed any money.

0:41:18    Our Concierge Clinical Coaching group.

0:42:12    Now I can answer questions without going bankrupt.

0:42:59    My education is now available for $99 a month.

0:43:55    Please let me know if you found this helpful in the comments section below.