Joanna: Well, it’s a really long story.

Mike: How did you get into ownership? Let’s just start with that.

Joanna: You want the real story? This is unscripted right?

I was working at a community health clinic with another gal, who happens to be my business partner now, we were just working and literally, she was like, you know, I’ve been here for a long time. I think it’s just time for me to move on.

I’m like, Oh my God. I was literally just Googling about buying a practice. Want to do this together? Like literally that’s how it started. We had no intention. I didn’t think like, okay, I need to go find a partner. She needs to have this, this, this, literally, she was the first person that just turned around and opened the doors.

John: But you got along with her?

Joanna: Oh yeah. I mean, we got along great. But it was almost like… imagine going on a few dates and then deciding you’re going to get married. I honestly, I didn’t know if it was going to be a successful marriage.

I think a little bit of it was like, you know, it was by luck. And I think that was huge because, once we started getting into it and we’re like, okay, let’s figure out how we can make a partnership.  We had agreements and contracts and everywhere we turned, everybody was like, but man, 50% of all partnerships are going to fail. It’s hard to be in partnerships. Why are you doing it?

John: Well, I mean, Joanna, here’s a question, who was giving you that information? Like how did you find the people who were saying that? Was it your contractor? Was it a lawyer? Was it a equipment rep? Who was giving you the information that this thing’s going to fail right out of the gate?

Joanna: My Attorney first of all, our attorney for sure. He was writing our agreement, so I want those disclaimers always, and then our CPA brought it up as well. It was everybody! Contractors didn’t really get involved since our first practice was acquired.

We bought that one. Yeah. So that our first practice is in Everett, Washington and we bought it from two retiring doctors. And that was also another thing that we kind of just stumbled upon. I was just looking through different listings and I was like… “hey, you guys are retiring this eight operatory clinic”, it was the perfect setup for us.

So, it kind of just fell into place a little bit. But that’s kinda where it all began.

John: Okay. So here’s my question. You guys are still together as partners right? So you’re proving these people wrong, which is great! Send them holiday cards every year.

Mike: But Joanna, don’t give everybody the advice that partnerships work. Because you two are a special case. Everybody does say don’t do it for a reason!

Joanna: Colleagues of mine who have asked about it, a lot of them, they have fears and they’re like, “Oh, I can’t do this alone” (running a practice). I’m like, well, you know, it is possible, however, there is a lot of give and take. I always refer it back to being in a marriage. I feel like I spend more time with her (business partner), you know, then my own husband. A lot of what makes it work is like, what empowers us?

What drives us! It’s the fact that our egos are like, way down here.

John: Something that we talk about all the time. You have to check your ego. You have to have humility. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have humility, especially when they start a business or when their business starts to thrive.

That humility is one of the biggest pieces that actually makes a businesses grow quicker, and actually have more patient interaction and customer experience, in my mind.