Client Spotlight: Align Wellness Center

Bookkeeping help from a professional financial expert can work wonders for the health of a small business. Align Wellness Center—one of My Small Business Pro’s valued clients—is one such business. Its mission for the 13 years it’s been in business is to help as many people as possible achieve optimal health and well-being through natural means, focusing on postural chiropractic care. In addition to providing top care to their clients, the business has endured when similar businesses have faded by showing smart business sense.

We talked to owner Dr. Gregg Gerstin about the organization’s philosophy, keys to success and goals for the future.

Please tell us about Align Wellness Center—the services you provide, the audience you serve, and the talented people that make up the staff.

Dr. Gregg Gerstin

We focus on postural correction of the spine, utilizing spinal remodeling and a unique process called Chiropractic Biophysics. It looks at spinal curves to understand how well or poorly your body is working. This explains most of the chronic issues that you’ve had and helps to develop a plan so that patients don’t continue to suffer. We’ve got a small team of about five: Sarah takes care of all administrative stuff. Sonja helps us with reaching out to the community, to help educate more people about what chiropractic is. We’ve got two massage therapists, Chris and Ruby, who are amazing. Our patients are 30 to 65 years of age and have usually had a change in their life—a child or a grandchild, or their kids have moved out or are in college. They’re looking to get back to the activities they did before, but time away from those activities has made them difficult and they’re not feeling as good as they used to. They may have neck pain, headaches, migraines, shoulder pain, numbness or tingling in their hands, lower back pain, or numbness, tingling or weakness in their legs. We use a unique approach to assessing, detecting and finding out what’s causing these, and then develop a plan to help them get back to life, and get engaged in what they want to do.

Why is a business like yours needed at a time like this?

I’ve found out practicing over the last 13 years that the sooner that people get introduced to a spinal care plan, the longer they live and the more enjoyable their life is. We work with patients as young as two days old—actually, I adjusted my daughter when she was born, in the delivery room—and our oldest patient right now is 95 years old. All these people have one thing in common: they want to live better, whether they’re in pain and have problems that are limiting them from doing the things they want. We also work with a lot of businesses, doing onsite employee wellness programs like chair massages, lunch-and-learns, health screenings, or posture exams—things that help employees understand where they are and allow them to begin a process of developing their health and moving toward better health. That’s why we’re needed.

What sets Align apart from other chiropractic centers, wellness specialists, or other similar businesses?

A lot of wellness professionals pop in and pop out. They find it to be a hobby; they don’t find it to be a calling or a profession. We’ve been in practice for 13 years, we work with all insurance companies and are a provider for most. We us a specific and unique protocol to assess where you are, understand what problems have caused you to get to this point, and then we have special plans and processes to work on unraveling those problems. We use the most state-of-the-art equipment, including digital x-ray, to take images with the least amount of radiation so that you and our employees can be as safe as we can.

Before MSBP, what was your financial situation, and what were some of your finance-related challenges?

I had a bookkeeper, and she was okay, but she required a room in my office that she would come to twice a month and occupy, and if it wasn’t in order the way she wanted, she got very frustrated. My old bookkeeper fired me. She didn’t really tell me why, but I think it was because her room wasn’t available the day that she came. As a small biz we don’t keep extra rooms—we use every single space in our office to do the main thing that we do, and she was upset, so she fired me. Working with Daliah has been a big difference. She works mostly remotely and has been able to get the information I need extremely promptly. She logs in and takes care of our bookkeeping, logging all our transactions seamlessly—I’ve been really happy with the shift, and it goes along well. She also gives me feedback on how I’m doing in previous years and well as current, and she helps me be aware of road bumps I might be running into.

In the years you’ve been working with the company, in what ways has MSBP’s bookkeeping help contributed to changing your business for the better?

They get me my numbers on time, and they help me when I have questions and am not clear on things. They work with my accountant to make sure that he has what he needs and when they’re not sure about something, they’re able to connect with him. When the year end comes, he needs very little from me. He has all the information, he’s able to hop on and give guidance as to where are taxes are and how they look very easily.

What are your plans for the future?

We’ve been off the ground for a very long time, so it’s been a while since I’ve run into those obstacles to get us off the ground. One of the things I’m looking forward to in the next 10 years of practice is helping more doctors have ease in success. In the 13 years that I’ve been in practice on our street, there’s probably been about 10 chiropractors that have come and gone. Practice is tough—it’s hard to start a business, and to develop a practice. I want to guide and coach young doctors, to develop practices of their dreams like I have–helping other docs understand what’s going on in a practice, and how to have a successful practice so that they can enjoy they want. You do have to work hard.

What would you say to a small business professional who hasn’t yet engaged with MSBP?

I think that Daliah is outstanding. She does great work. If you’re looking for someone who can easily incorporate into your bookkeeping process and give you great suggestions and ideas on how to streamline the process, make it more effective, and save you money in the process, she’s been really great with that. There’s no question—MSBP has helped us in managing our books and has done a great job.

We’d love to add your business to our roster of long-standing clients. Contact me at Daliah@MySmallBusinessPro to learn more about how our bookkeeping help can work for you.