REVELATION CHIROPRACTIC is based here in Fort Collins, and I had a chance recently to speak with the owner, Dr Chad McMahan. I met him a couple of years ago when he was starting out new.
As you can tell from the company name, he has a statement to make about combining his Christianity into his business. It’s out there front and center – literally. He picked the name because “revelation” means “to bring something to light which was hidden.”
It’s what he does.
I asked Dr Chad why he chooses to run a business this way. It’s because he learned about the miraculousness of the human body, and is impressed by the powerful combination of body, mind, and spirit. It’s a mission that he’s taken on, based upon his personal beliefs that it gives purpose to his entire life.
He believes in giving credit where it’s due, which in his case means a firm belief in God and Jesus. He’s not a bible-thumping evangelist by any means, but you can quickly tell that he doesn’t hide his foundation.
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| This saying is right there on the wall in his practice. |
Challenges
As you’d expect, being so “out there” with this message can be challenging. By some reports, only 16% of the local population self-identifies as Christian, so there’s a real potential of disenfranchising a large number of potential customers. Dr Chad has examples of people who chose not to return, because they felt uncomfortable with his approach.
But I’ll point out that there’s ALWAYS customers who are turned off by any approach at all – it could be due to his gender or southern accent.
Another challenge with building a business based on faith is … keeping the faith. Seriously. The Doc has bad days just like any of us, where he doubts his decisions and abilities. So he works hard on his foundational beliefs, always learning and growing. He’s connected with other Chiropractors across the country who are doing similar things – comparing notes and being a support network.
Opportunities
Let’s recognize the advantages which come from this type of approach. Most obviously, his approach stands out as distinct from the competition. Our local phone directory has 148 entries which mention Chiropractic, so presenting a different message can be challenging. Whether you like the message or not, it is relatively unique.
When I asked Dr Chad about the advantages of this business, his immediate response was about the joy and fun he has, and the ability to connect with his patients on a much deeper level. He treats body, mind, and spirit, and as a result creates a different kind of connection than people normally experience.
This generates powerful referrals, too. Patients typically have an experience with more impact.
Has he tried using this as a marketing tool to “break into” local churches as a target market? To a certain extent, but without stunning success so far. My guess is because he’s treating this as his entire life and mission, not as a marketing exercise. He’d rather be authentically healing people, whether they’re Christian or not.
Business goals
Finally, we talked about how he directs his business and measures its success. He doesn’t ignore the normal measures for this kind of practice: number of patients, repeat business, revenue, profit, and so on. Without those basics, he’s not going to be around for the long term.
But he has other initiatives and programs. His office area is actually structured so that it can be used for education – he’s held many classes there. This year he’s working on a way to bring Chiropractic services to the local homeless population, for people who could never imagine this kind of healing.
How incredibly cool is that?
Dr Chad’s deeper goal is around saving souls and helping people find the Kingdom. I had a bit of a chuckle over this, because clearly this is not a normal business metric, and in fact is quite unmeasurable. But he has the faith that this is what gives purpose to his life, and will be most important when he meets his eternal reward.
It gives him purpose. It give the business purpose.
Final question: Would he advise someone else to take this difficult road? “Absolutely. It’s definitely doable – God will provide.”
Dr Chad McMahan
Revelation Chiropractic
2721 S College Ave
Fort Collins CO
The Values-Based Business 
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