"You can get past the dead end. You can break through the ceiling. I did and so have countless others."
In this episode, Justin sits down with a pediatric neurology nurse practitioner who is looking to start a women’s health and HRT practice without leaving her full-time job.
They walk through the key decisions behind getting started, including choosing a niche in a saturated market, why focusing locally can outperform a fully telemedicine approach, and how to keep startup costs low with just a few thousand dollars.
The conversation also breaks down a smarter growth strategy built on patience, community engagement, and adding just one to two new patients per week. No ads, no overwhelm, just consistent progress that can realistically grow into a ten to twenty thousand dollar per month practice over time.
For anyone trying to build something on the side without taking big risks or burning out, this episode shows what that path can actually look like.
Justin Allan Montgomery (00:02.282)
We are recording everyone today. We’ll be talking to Katie who is a family nurse practitioner currently She is functioning as a neurology nurse practitioner in a pediatric hospital She’s wanting to start a wellness practice where she will provide HRT and weight loss She’s needing assistance with the practice startup process and how to navigate a part-time business with a full-time job Hey, Katie. Are you?
Katie (00:22.994)
Hi, I’m great, how are you?
Justin Allan Montgomery (00:25.09)
Doing good. All right, let’s drop it on here. So tell us about yourself. I think I’ve talked to a neurology NP who does pediatrics.
Katie (00:26.541)
Good.
Katie (00:33.337)
Yeah, so I have about 20 years of experience as a registered nurse. I became an NP in 2013. Since then, I have actually worked in the ER for about two years. And then I went to a retail clinic for about two years. And then I had a lot of pediatric roots from my nursing career. So I went back to pediatrics for the last nine years. And I’ve been there.
Justin Allan Montgomery (00:59.35)
Interesting. How did you get into neurology?
Katie (01:03.457)
You know, one of my first jobs was on a rehab unit. And, you know, that’s kind of all interconnected with neurology, neurosurgery. And so they saw I had experience in that and I applied for the job and I got it. So here I am. Nine years. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (01:19.63)
Cool, all right. You been doing that for how long?
Nine years, wow, okay. So mean, you’re pretty much a neurologist.
Katie (01:30.017)
Basically, yeah. Yeah. You know, I love it. It is one of the most challenging, probably, areas to work in. But once you get the hang of it, it’s not so bad. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (01:42.476)
Yeah, yeah, okay, cool. So you are wanting to start your own practice. So, why do you want to start your own practice and kind of what do you want to do?
Katie (01:53.377)
Yeah, gosh, so I, you know.
getting a little bit older now. I have really started to, in the last few years, work on myself, really honing in on women’s health, how I can be healthier for myself, for my kids, my family. So really coming from more of like a personal standpoint, really digging into perimenopause. And I’ve really just been educating myself a lot about hormone replacement therapy, along with like the weight loss.
So this is just a really another interesting area for me. I’ve been following other women that talk about perimenopause, like Mary Claire Haver. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of her. Just really interested and fascinated about it. And then I found myself really educating everybody around me in my everyday life. And I’m like, why not make this something? I’m kind of already doing it and just kind of make it more formal.
Justin Allan Montgomery (02:56.078)
Got it, okay. guess my big question for you though is, I guess why do, I why focus on adults and HRT when you really know your pediatric stuff, I guess.
Katie (03:11.08)
well, I don’t, you I still, you know, I love my job. I love my pediatric patients. but you know, I still have a couple of years of loans that I still need to pay, off. and really just.
interested in that. I don’t think I’d be able to do both with my full-time job in that. So I’d have to pick something else that I liked as well. So that’s kind of where I’m going with that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (03:45.39)
Okay, fair enough. Plus pediatrics, mean, you gotta accept insurance.
Katie (03:53.144)
Yeah, totally. I thought about that too. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (03:57.23)
Yeah, you know, like pediatric cash based practice. It’s gonna be a lot more. It’s gonna be a lot difficult. I mean, it’s doable. mean, I do know some NPs who have done some pediatric cash based stuff and do very well because they’re just doing something that not a lot of people are doing. So it’s very niched, you know? So it was definitely an option, especially with your kind of experience. So I would say at least keep it as a thought.
Katie (04:03.768)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (04:10.017)
Yeah.
Katie (04:14.41)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (04:26.071)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (04:26.83)
Because going into HRT, HRT is fairly saturated, you know, so you gotta really separate yourself or be in an area where it’s not saturated. So just kinda keep that in mind as you begin this journey. Not to say that HRT can’t be profitable, I’m not saying that whatsoever. HRT can do very well, really can.
Katie (04:33.622)
No. Yeah.
Katie (04:42.794)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (04:53.838)
I mean, there’s still definitely a huge need for it, especially in areas where there’s not really a whole lot of it. And I don’t know what your area looks like in terms of that goes, but so yeah, just kind of keep that in mind. But if you do something more pediatric based in the right area, that’s cash based, could still do well, even telemed as well. So I don’t know, just keep that stuff in mind.
Katie (05:11.81)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Katie (05:20.312)
Yeah, think the biggest piece is just that, you know, I really am kind of, I don’t want to say tied, I am kind of tied to my full-time job now for at least the next couple years. I don’t know that I would want to leave, but.
to be an option, but then to yeah, have our own. I would love to do Peds in the future too potentially, but I don’t think, like I said, I think it would just be, I wouldn’t be able to do both with my full-time job and then do that on the side. It wouldn’t be an option. So it just kind of me in a rock and a hard place.
Justin Allan Montgomery (05:53.486)
Not competes and stuff. Yeah.
Katie (05:55.177)
Yes. Yeah. It’s toughy. It’s toughy.
Justin Allan Montgomery (05:59.24)
Fair enough.
I don’t know what state you’re in, but you know, some states are enforceable, some states are not. But yeah, it does definitely put you into a difficult position. Now, one thing you could consider, and then, you know, we’ll just leave it at this unless you want to talk about this, is that one thing you could consider is more of a coaching kind of a thing in the space. You could go the route of being a online content producer
Katie (06:16.738)
Yeah.
Katie (06:23.829)
Yeah, true.
Katie (06:32.12)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (06:32.398)
And by that I mean maybe you create a YouTube channel or whatever where you talk about specific, know, pediatric neurological problems. Talk about it from your experience and these sorts of things. And then you can develop more of a holistic coaching kind of a thing where you can guide parents through these processes, provide your recommendations on, I don’t know.
Katie (06:40.171)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (06:49.645)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (06:58.318)
some functional integrative stuff, potentially supplements or whatever, and maybe be a guide for them through the process or whatever. But it’s just strictly coaching. There’s no diagnosis with it. There’s no lab analysis, anything like that. Something like that could work, especially with something being very niched like this, like a pediatric neurology kind of thing. It’s probably not a lot of, not a lot, I yeah. So you would create a YouTube.
Katie (07:01.89)
Yeah.
Katie (07:09.108)
That’s great.
Yeah.
Katie (07:19.872)
Yeah. Yeah.
I never thought about that.
Justin Allan Montgomery (07:26.252)
Yeah, create a YouTube channel and just create videos about specific conditions and these kinds of things. People will watch them and over time you’ll start getting clients. Like there will be some people who will be like, you know what, I really would like to have Katie as my advocate or something like that. And you would slowly build up a clientele and that sort of a thing and really no liability associated with it. It’d be fairly fun to do, very rewarding. So something to think about.
Katie (07:29.176)
Yeah.
Katie (07:45.602)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. mean, that’s totally, I’ve thought about that before. I just think I just have to run it by being able to do this too with my current job and being able to do that without it being like any sort of conflict of interest or anything like that.
Justin Allan Montgomery (07:55.01)
Yeah, so.
Justin Allan Montgomery (08:11.564)
Right. Well, I mean, they pretty much only have jurisdiction within a 50 mile radius of where it is. They can’t tell you what you can’t do in Maine or Florida. have no jurisdiction over you. They don’t. None. Zero. Okay. Yeah. So I wouldn’t worry about it. Yeah. Just tell them, like, okay, well, I just won’t promote my stuff in this little 50 mile radius. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (08:17.503)
Mmm.
That’s it.
Katie (08:25.91)
Yeah, okay, yeah, good to know.
Katie (08:35.358)
Right. yeah. You know, and I know better than that, you know, and that’s fine. Definitely not trying to stick on toes here. just, you know, want, you know, I think the other thing too is like you talk about is some financial freedom too. You know, I mean, feeling like, you know, I have a little bit more control over things.
I was actually looking for a contingent position a couple years ago just to kind of help pay some things down. And wasn’t really finding anything that fit my schedule, my time, what I wanted to do. So then I think I actually may have stumbled across you. And then that’s kind of was like, well, maybe this is a route to take, you know. So that’s piece two.
Justin Allan Montgomery (09:13.249)
Yeah. Okay. All Well, anyways, just put that idea in the back of your head. Maybe it could be something that could be a little sidening later on. So now wellness practice. So you want to provide HRT, we’re providing weight loss, those sorts of things. Are you wanting to do this locally?
Katie (09:19.232)
Yeah, I love that.
Katie (09:31.424)
that was the thought. To maybe start out more like telehealth, potentially just to keep the overhead low, and then just kind of slowly grow from there, maybe more like word of mouth. You know, I think I was getting in my head too, like what if I grew too quick or something, which is a good problem to have, but my husband’s like, you don’t need to go there yet. So.
Justin Allan Montgomery (09:56.846)
Well, I will say this being being local tends to be Has a higher chance of success. Okay, then go in telemed Problem with telemed is that it’s just very difficult to be it’s difficult to be seen with telemed It’s hard for people to find you in telemed
Katie (10:05.4)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (10:15.053)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (10:20.01)
So, unless you have some sort of local plugin or something where you can start getting local patients and start getting word of mouth and you keep it telemed that way, that’s something you could do. But if you could just get like a really small office space somewhere and be more local or regional, the chances of success will probably be a little bit higher. so.
Katie (10:28.065)
Yeah.
Katie (10:33.791)
Yeah.
Katie (10:38.614)
Yeah. I did forget to tell you, I do have a girl that she does only aesthetics and she said that she has clients of hers ask for hormone replacement all the time. And she said, if you get started up, she’s like, I’d be more than happy to send them your way. So I had kind of forgot about that.
Justin Allan Montgomery (10:58.83)
Well, there you go. It could be a referral source, right? I mean, you definitely want to try to give me referral sources as you possibly can. That’s just one way, you know, it’s just one marketing strategy, essentially. So yeah, so definitely, you know, that could be something that could get you, you know, who knows, a couple dozen patients maybe. So, I mean, you don’t have to say where you’re at, but is it fairly populated? What’s the demographics of your area look like?
Katie (11:19.906)
Yeah.
Katie (11:26.05)
Gosh, I mean, I’m in Ohio, so gosh, in one of the major cities. So I mean, a lot, yeah. And where I’m at, I’m north of the city. I did actually look up some of the hormone replacement places around me. I mean, there’s a handful, but like none that I’d ever really heard of.
I mean, and I’m in the area all the time, and they weren’t very clearly marketed like hormone replacement therapy. Do you know what I’m saying? Like it was just kind of like wellness or health or, so I did notice that. I don’t know if that makes a difference.
Justin Allan Montgomery (12:09.664)
It does. If there isn’t a specific hormone replacement therapy clinic in your area for this, then why don’t you do that? Like, yeah.
Katie (12:18.264)
I mean, that’s kind of my thought. really just honing in on that really and not adding in all the other fluff. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (12:23.214)
No, not necessary. Pick one thing and get really good at it. Right. Weight loss. You know, have it on your website. I was leaving that, you know, offer it to patients. Basically, that wouldn’t market it or advertise it. It’s really just not necessary. Weight loss is so saturated anymore. It’s.
Katie (12:30.099)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Katie (12:35.884)
Yeah, okay. Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (12:49.622)
It is a difficult thing to break into unless you’re just in an area where there isn’t any services, but if you’re in a major metropolitan area, can guarantee there’s probably a hundred weight loss clinics. Yeah.
Katie (12:55.512)
Yeah.
Katie (13:00.608)
Yes, I’m sure someone can find it around here. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (13:04.32)
Yeah, so yeah, so you just offer as a service. So, so you want to focus particularly on women then, correct?
Katie (13:07.672)
Thank
That would be my main service that I would really like market to. My husband would probably have some friends and like, I want to be able to do men’s, but I’m not going to market it to that. It’s going to be more of like the focusing on women and their health, menopause, perimenopause mainly, like hormone replacement, thyroid, like that kind of thing.
Justin Allan Montgomery (13:35.672)
So then yeah, just stick to that. You can treat, you know, women’s husbands or whatever, but just don’t really advertise it, right? Yeah. I mean, I have a men’s health clinic. It literally says men’s health clinic and I treat some women. Like, you know, it’s the wife of a patient, you know, that kind of thing. Sure. You know, I have, right, right, exactly. I mean, I have a dozen, couple dozen women, you know, a couple dozen women or whatever.
Katie (13:42.52)
Yeah, that was my thought. Yeah.
Katie (13:50.7)
Love it.
Katie (13:56.385)
Right. That was kind of my thought.
Katie (14:03.958)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (14:05.39)
Um, and you know, I treat them with testosterone. I don’t treat them with anything else and they’re happy. whatever. Um, so, um, yeah, like, don’t know. just, progesterone, estrogen, I don’t know. Like I just give them some testosterone and they feel great. I’m like, okay, cool. You know, and five, 10 milligrams a week or whatever injection or five, 10 milligrams daily topical.
Katie (14:11.766)
Yeah.
Katie (14:16.584)
I can give you testosterone.
Katie (14:22.774)
You
Hilarious. Hey. I mean, but that’s what I mean. Whatever works. These women feel better. They can take care of their kids, their families. So I’m very passionate about that too. And I have found in my pediatric neurology practice, I really do care about the moms and the dads and I want them to be healthy too. So I find myself kind of like coaching them in the same visit. I mean, I guess that’s part of your job.
Justin Allan Montgomery (14:33.198)
They feel fantastic. like, whatever.
Katie (14:56.086)
as pediatric neurology. But, you know, so I, yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (15:01.806)
Okay, so you want to do women’s health. So this definitely needs like the name of it should be something women’s HRT something like that. Okay, so figure out the name something women’s health HRT practice, you know, keep it keep it. I mean just keep it as Straightforward in your face as possible, right? Do not complicate this at all. All right, because like you said when you went on Google and you looked around no one really said that
Katie (15:14.924)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (15:31.392)
Right. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (15:31.864)
Right? And there are plenty of people looking for that. And if they see that there’s a practice name that’s like that, it’ll probably catch their eye versus the other ones. yeah, so just stick to that.
Katie (15:37.964)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (15:42.86)
Yeah.
I was just gonna say, I do also see when I’ve done my research, a lot of places also do aesthetics and that and that and all the things, which I think is great. But like I said, I think really just like for me focusing in on that and not having like the everything was my plan.
Justin Allan Montgomery (16:03.768)
Exactly. You can offer some other things, that’s fine. Offer some other things, complimentary services to the HRT. If you put aesthetics on your website or weight loss or whatever and someone calls looking for that, then okay, cool, but I would make that your focus. yeah, if there’s not whole lot of people in your area doing it, go for it.
Katie (16:12.938)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (16:22.08)
Right. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (16:32.238)
probably really won’t have to advertise it much if you’re local. So lots of women are looking for this. Like they’re actively looking for it. Therefore, make it just make yourself as easily found, findable as possible basically.
Katie (16:40.234)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (16:51.022)
Because they’re they’re gonna be looking for these services. So just put yourself out there and People will find you if you’re willing to go into it patiently. All right What’s your budget like here with this? Like how much money are you willing to put in on this business?
Katie (17:02.754)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (17:09.47)
Well, gosh, just start out trying to keep it really low overhead, like maybe a couple thousand to get the ball rolling and then slowly go from there. I guess that’s my thing too, is I work five days a week. I do tend to
be home earlier in the evening. Like I don’t work like 10, 12 hour days. I usually work about eight hour days. So this would have to be mainly on the weekends, the evenings, or if I like took a day of PTO, I would have to do this on that day. So I was a little nervous about that. But I do feel like my job is fairly flexible when it comes to that. I have a lot of PTO, which is nice. But yeah, so.
Justin Allan Montgomery (17:59.094)
Okay, so you’re probably gonna need at least…
Justin Allan Montgomery (18:05.518)
Put $5,000 aside, okay, for this. I think it needs to probably around five grand. You really are, you’re really gonna need to have a Google business listing. You’re gonna really need to figure out how people can find you locally, okay? If you do telemed only, it’s gonna be somewhat difficult for people to find you, because you’re not gonna be able to.
Katie (18:07.287)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (18:10.903)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (18:37.044)
Can you do it without you know an actual office or something? there are ways to do it. You use home address. You can use shared office spaces. Maybe potentially a virtual address in your local area. But Google tends to be one of those things where
Most people that I talk to who want to get a Google business address somewhere, mean, this listing somewhere, most people that I talk with who do telemed only have a hard time doing it. Even if get a virtual address or a shared office space or something and they use that address to get it, a lot of times it’ll kick back and say not a valid address or address already taken because someone else did the same thing you tried to do.
Katie (19:18.232)
Yeah.
Katie (19:29.943)
Yeah.
Katie (19:35.576)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (19:36.942)
Now sometimes some people do it and they get it and that’s that’s it and they have it for years like You’re never you just never know. There’s no rhyme or reason for it. It’s algorithm based You know, there’s no one approving these things on the back end. So
So just kind of keep that mind. might be difficult. So if you can get a shared space somewhere and have a physical presence where you can get a Google business listing, would highly advise it.
Katie (19:59.32)
Yeah.
Katie (20:07.224)
Yeah, I would rather do that. I mean, I would rather have like a brick and mortar or do a hybrid for sure would be my preference. I was just maybe thinking for the first couple of months maybe and then kind of seeing how things go and how everything is going. But it’s really right off the gate. think that’s, I can keep searching for a space.
Justin Allan Montgomery (20:23.362)
Yeah, that’s fine.
Justin Allan Montgomery (20:29.294)
I think that’s fine. I think that’s fine. If you want the first couple of months, it’s fine. If literally all you’re to do is tell them and if you cannot get a Google business address, you’re not going to have to spend a lot of money on this at all. Okay. You’re going to need a website. You’re going need an EMR. Create some accounts with some compounding pharmacies. Have a payment processor. That’s like.
Katie (20:39.468)
Yeah.
Katie (20:43.402)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Katie (20:49.025)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (21:00.078)
mean, that’s 90 % of it.
This really should cost you very, very little. mean, if you are tech savvy whatsoever, or can use an AI tool or something, you can build the website yourself. right? Okay. Okay. All right, there you go. Have your husband build your website for you. You could, in theory, really, I you could probably launch this for less than thousand bucks if your husband were to build the website for you, okay?
Katie (21:16.818)
have my husband do that. He works in IC.
Yeah.
Katie (21:32.844)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (21:35.79)
You know, form an LLC, and that’ll cost you a couple hundred bucks for using an LLC service. I don’t know about the process of forming an LLC in Ohio. I don’t know if Ohio requires an LLC or a PLLC, I don’t know. So you will need to look that up. Something tells me they require a PLLC for some reason.
Katie (21:42.008)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (21:55.82)
Yeah.
Katie (21:59.843)
I think it is. I’ve been down that rabbit hole. I was looking that up because I know you said you recommended to create the LLC in Wyoming or Nevada and then do your LLC if you’re going to have like an actual brick and mortar here in the state. Correct. Yeah. So I think it’s a PLLC if you have something very obvious like medical, but it’s just an LLC. think if it’s just says wellness or something like that.
Justin Allan Montgomery (22:15.682)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (22:27.746)
Yeah, if you’re providing a professional service, it’s PLLC. Yeah, you know, so, and if a professional owns it, I think, I mean, I think the rule’s pretty, it’s pretty cut and dry. If you are a professional providing your services, then you need to have a PLLC, okay? Could you do it out of an LLC? Sure, but…
Katie (22:33.015)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (22:46.262)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (22:54.49)
If, sir, for some reason someone caught wind of it with the secretary of state or something like that, you know, they could temporarily shut you down until you get it, you know? And that would just be a big pain in the ass. It’s not worth it. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I’m pretty sure you need a PLLC in Ohio. I think just from other MPs I’ve talked with, I remember that’s just, that’s just what’s coming to my head. So,
Katie (23:00.993)
Yeah.
Katie (23:05.58)
Got to. Yeah, no.
Justin Allan Montgomery (23:23.406)
So you’re going to get a PLC. Now the process of filing a PLC could be pretty straightforward. It usually is in most states. All right. You can go to the Secretary of State’s website and see that usually they have a portal or something where you log into to file for this. Usually it’s an online service and usually if you do it directly through the Secretary of State, usually it’s pretty cheap. 50 bucks. Take.
Katie (23:51.064)
Okay.
Justin Allan Montgomery (23:53.322)
So can do it yourself. If you don’t want to fool with it, then just look up an LLC creation service in Ohio and then just pay the couple hundred bucks and just get it done. Don’t use legal zoom.
Katie (24:02.753)
Yeah.
Katie (24:06.424)
Okay.
Justin Allan Montgomery (24:07.918)
Expensive and it takes forever Just go through like something that’s branded for Ohio. Okay a PLL see creation service and
Katie (24:10.658)
Okay.
Katie (24:18.412)
What about the registered agent? I was seeing something about that. You’d have a registered agent. Do you know what that is?
Justin Allan Montgomery (24:24.104)
Registered agent is just someone that you put on the registered agent could be your nephew
my nephews my registered agent for a few of my LLCs like seriously it’s just
Katie (24:35.155)
Okay, so you don’t have to like pay for that. That’s not something I have to like pay for.
Justin Allan Montgomery (24:39.04)
Yeah, there’s registered agent services online you can pay for. like 50 bucks a year or something like that. Yeah, if you want to use that independent third party, all registered agent is is a person with a different address than yours that someone can send something official to if they can’t get ahold of you. That’s all it is. That’s what I’m saying. Like, that’s why I use this. I use family members. Who cares? It doesn’t matter, you know?
Katie (24:52.344)
Got it. Okay. Makes sense. Okay. Yeah, this is the part I’m like, I don’t know this legal stuff. don’t
Justin Allan Montgomery (25:04.994)
Yeah, yeah. Most LLC creation services will provide you the registered agent as well for a year. super easy. Yeah, no problem whatsoever. Yeah, nothing to it. So yeah, just get that out of the way. That’s just, don’t lose sleep over it. It’s not that big of a deal. Just get the PLC and be done with it. Get it done, okay?
Katie (25:11.704)
Okay. Okay. Perfect. Okay.
Katie (25:27.896)
Yeah, agreed.
Justin Allan Montgomery (25:31.982)
But yeah, so I seriously think you could probably start this for less than thousand bucks probably, if your husband’s gonna build a website, if you wanna just be telemed only. Now, you need to figure out though.
Katie (25:37.537)
Yeah.
Katie (25:41.816)
I would love a broken mortar. mean, I would love to like sit and be able to counsel my clients in person, you know, so that would be the goal. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (25:48.654)
Well then shop around. Shop around. You might be able to find something pretty cheap somewhere that’s like a shared office space kind of a thing or it’s just like a, it’s just a single room, like it’s just like single little offices that are 200 square feet or something. Costs $500 a month, you know? You have your own address, you know?
Katie (25:54.817)
you
Katie (26:05.154)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (26:13.464)
you’re in like a big office building or something, you should be able to find something pretty cheap if you look for it. Okay? Yeah. Just don’t be in the ghetto. Be somewhere halfway decent. My first practice was in the ghetto, literally. Yeah.
Katie (26:22.04)
I won’t. Don’t you worry.
Yeah. Okay. So mercy.
how did that happen? How did you come to that decision?
Justin Allan Montgomery (26:43.214)
I don’t know, just, it was cheap. I didn’t really think about it. I just didn’t think about it. Like, ah, whatever. Yeah, it’s kind of a old part of town, you know? And like, there’d be homeless people just like sleeping on the sidewalk out front and just walking around. And you’re just like, I was there for about a year, then we moved. But it worked. It worked. Yeah, yeah.
Katie (26:46.2)
you
Katie (27:01.656)
That’s so pretty. Love it. You’re like, just doing it. Doing it.
Justin Allan Montgomery (27:09.966)
But that was seven, eight years ago. It’s a lot worse now, you know, in most places anyways. Like, yeah, so, just find something pretty cheap and affordable in a decent area, okay? If you can do that, go that route 100%, like, I think that you should go that route. And then the majority of your expenses will just be that, like.
Katie (27:17.144)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (27:32.718)
those furniture in it or exam table or whatever, you know, like you can keep it very simple, very straightforward, streamline, you know, you can, I mean, if it’s just one room little office, you should be able to fully flush that thing out for less than 2000 bucks. You know, yeah. Might need a new coat of paint. You can just go in there and do it yourself on the weekend or something. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. There you go. Put them work. Yeah.
Katie (27:41.772)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (27:46.165)
Yeah.
Katie (27:49.696)
Yeah, okay. Okay.
Katie (27:55.664)
yeah, bring my 15 year old. can help. yeah, it’s good for him.
Justin Allan Montgomery (28:02.702)
So yeah, so I mean that’s just basic stuff, you know, I would say go that route if you did, you know, if you can. The biggest challenge is just getting patience. Like the biggest challenge just getting that volume. And so I don’t think you need to spend money advertising this practice. I really don’t. Okay. So I don’t want you to spend money advertising it. Instead, you need to spend the money and the time just making yourself
Katie (28:08.887)
Yeah.
Katie (28:12.405)
You
Mm-hmm.
Katie (28:20.088)
Okay.
Justin Allan Montgomery (28:32.034)
Like I said, easily findable, okay? So when you get an office space, a room or something, think to yourself, this is actually a marketing expense because now I have a local presence here with my Google business listing that I can associate it with and I’m making myself findable out there. I’m easily found now. So think about it as a marketing expense as well.
Katie (28:39.896)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (28:44.813)
Yeah.
Katie (28:50.753)
Yeah.
Katie (28:54.304)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, okay. That’s a good way to think that. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (29:02.86)
Yeah. And you you put your Google business listing up there, you have a decent website, get some reviews on there, you know, even if it’s just some family and friends you treat or whatever, them put up, you know, have them put a review up there for you. Prioritize getting as many reviews as you possibly can and people will call you and if you’re patient, this will, it will grow, okay? It will slowly grow. Now, the guest that I just had,
Katie (29:24.888)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (29:33.038)
She is just word of mouth only, okay? Her practice is doing close to $30,000 a month. And over two years. So it’s slow, nice slow growth kind of a thing, right?
Katie (29:36.696)
Hmm.
Katie (29:44.002)
Okay.
I mean, I think that’s what I’m kind of looking forward to, actually, just because I am still a couple years out from making any kind of decision about my current position. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (29:50.717)
Exactly.
Justin Allan Montgomery (29:56.494)
You’re working full time. Like you don’t have that much time to put towards this. So you don’t want a hundred patients banging on your door. You don’t want that. I mean, what do you do then? You know, so nice slow go kind of a thing. So what she did, and I’ve talked about this before in, in, other podcasts, episodes is community and engagement marketing and community engagement marketing is basically you.
Katie (30:09.684)
Yeah, yeah.
Katie (30:16.408)
okay.
Katie (30:23.768)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (30:24.45)
getting into some Facebook groups in your area, moms, older women, whatever you can think of that where your patients might be. And you get in there and you just answer people’s questions about stuff. Engage with that community. Don’t go in there and advertise your business. Don’t do that, okay? There might be times where it’s appropriate.
Katie (30:27.469)
Mmm.
Katie (30:34.263)
Yeah.
Katie (30:38.904)
Mmm.
Katie (30:47.23)
Mmm. Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (30:51.574)
Someone that says, well, are you accepting new patients? In fact, yes, I am. Here’s the link to my website. That’s okay. Don’t go in there and just post, hey, this is Katie. This is a new business I have. Come to my website. Like, don’t do that. No one’s gonna click. You know what mean? So just engage with the community, answer people’s questions, that sort of a thing, and you would be surprised. You will get patients from that, and it’s free. It just takes a little of your time.
Katie (30:56.362)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Katie (31:04.554)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (31:12.533)
Yeah.
Katie (31:17.044)
It was funny, I was in a mom’s group, I’m in one of the mom’s groups here and I noticed that someone had literally, one of the moms in one of the suburbs here just posted, does anyone know how to do HRT? And I showed my husband and I was like, look, you know.
Justin Allan Montgomery (31:33.57)
There you go. Exactly. You could have responded to that. I’m actually taking some patients. You’re interested. Right.
Katie (31:36.564)
I know. Yeah, I didn’t, but you know.
Justin Allan Montgomery (31:41.176)
Someone will ask that question again in time. Don’t worry. know, yeah. So, so anyways though, yeah, okay. Yeah, just do that. Yeah, that’s just community engagement rights free. You just take some of your time, okay? You do this, you will get patients, okay? And you will not be stressed out about it because you are on a limited schedule. You are on a limited budget. So,
Katie (31:42.552)
yeah, so. That’s great, okay.
Katie (31:50.882)
community and basic marketing.
Katie (31:55.896)
Okay.
Katie (32:09.516)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (32:10.774)
You don’t want to go balls the wall here and just open up and try to get as many people as you can. That’s not what you want to do. So, you you’re going to be seeing patients on what maybe a Saturday morning for a few hours, right? Or Thursday afternoon, if you can get off early or something, you know, one or two days a week. Right. So your goal is to be for it to be slow. Okay. So.
Katie (32:16.012)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Katie (32:22.857)
Yeah.
Katie (32:29.238)
Mm-hmm. That’s the plan. Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (32:37.431)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (32:38.986)
and just slowly, just builds, it builds by itself slowly. You were in a very, very powerful position when you were in a position like that because you’re not anxious about it, you’re not tied to it, you’re not relying on it, right? You can allow it to slowly do its thing. Most people out there, this is what happens, they get impatient.
Katie (32:54.392)
Right. Yeah.
Katie (33:00.972)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (33:07.318)
and they want their business to grow super fast and then they start wasting a bunch of money on a bunch of advertising stuff, right? And they end up just spending so much money on advertising, now their business is making no money. They’re spending their own money advertising their practice and they have some patients trickling in that are probably just finding them organically, okay? So.
Katie (33:16.844)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Katie (33:27.179)
Mmm.
Katie (33:33.708)
Right.
Justin Allan Montgomery (33:35.808)
You are in very, powerful position to where you can give this one to two years to just organically do its thing. All right? By doing that, it’ll put you in a position where two years from now, you can be like, you know, I’m working 10, 15, 20 hours a week doing this. I feel like I’m killing myself now, but I’m making $30,000.
Katie (33:40.768)
Yeah.
Katie (33:44.407)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (33:58.115)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (34:04.44)
month or whatever through this business. It’s just like, that’s when you cut part time with your job. Let’s put some more time into your business. Keep doing the same thing. Let’s continue to grow. And before you know it, three or four years goes by, you are well established now. Your business is a very well established business with lots of reviews, lots of word of mouth, lots of patience, and you just let it do its thing by being patient.
Katie (34:10.22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Katie (34:16.766)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Katie (34:23.06)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (34:32.437)
and now you have a business that’s doing very well and now can quit your job and go full in on it and focus on it. And you’ve taken no risk and you’ve put very little money into it. Yeah.
Katie (34:35.49)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (34:38.916)
Mm-hmm. Right. Right. That’s, yeah. Well, and there is an opportunity. I could go down to four days a week if I was making enough income to kind of replace what I would make on that fourth or that fifth day at my current job. So I could definitely do that at some point, depending. Yeah. So there’s options.
Justin Allan Montgomery (34:58.414)
Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, I would definitely take advantage of that, but it might take you six months to get there though. You know what mean? Yeah.
Katie (35:05.536)
Yeah, and that’s okay. That’s really okay. It’s fine.
Justin Allan Montgomery (35:09.858)
Yeah, yeah, okay. So any questions with, I guess, the startup process? I mean, you have our courses or one of our courses or whatever. You know, like the steps are there for you, know, that’s the steps. We don’t need to go over that kind of stuff. I want to talk more like high level stuff here. So do you have any like specific questions with that?
Katie (35:18.922)
Yeah, I do. Yeah.
Katie (35:33.782)
Nope, I think so. Let see what I had written down. I think we talked a lot about what I had questions for.
Yeah, no, I think that was it. And I’ve done a lot of, like I said, kind of digging through your courses already. And so I feel like that’s been a lot of really good information. All your links to preferred vendors, like all of that is just super helpful. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (35:59.544)
Yeah, okay. Yeah, so what about, you you said that you’re juggling, you know, a part-time business with a full-time job, and we’ve kind of already touched on this some, but do you have any specific questions or concerns there?
Katie (36:11.703)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (36:17.558)
I mean, I’m a little nervous that I’m going to be a little stressed out trying to do this, but I’m a hard worker and I find the open time that I can. And I feel like I do a good job of compartmentalizing this, this, and this. I think that’s the only thing I’m really worried about, but I’m really exciting about the material and just doing something new. It’s actually been pretty motivating for me.
Justin Allan Montgomery (36:47.406)
Yeah, it’s exciting, it is. It can be somewhat terrifying. It can be somewhat, you do something that you, I mean, it’s just like anything else. First time you do it, it’s kind of like, you’re scared about doing it and you know, but once you’re out there and you’re doing it, you’re like, what the hell is I scared of? You know, your mind can play tricks on you.
Katie (36:52.92)
Yeah.
Katie (37:01.517)
yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (37:12.438)
some reason it’ll make the, it’ll put the worst possible case scenario at the very forefront of your brain, which tends to be the most unlikely scenario to happen, but that’s kind how our brains are wired, Yeah, so don’t worry too much about it. I think that worst case scenario is it doesn’t do well. You’re out a few thousand bucks and some time. I mean, it’s not the end of the world, right? So,
Katie (37:19.487)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (37:25.943)
right.
Katie (37:36.6)
Right. Right. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (37:41.27)
Yeah, I think that one thing that you need to consider here is you want to be as specific as possible with what day you see patients. Very consistent, mean, like be very consistent. So you need to try to prioritize what day are you seeing patients and you make it happen.
Katie (37:51.65)
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Katie (37:59.385)
Okay.
Katie (38:06.946)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (38:08.888)
So you just stay, I’m gonna do it on Friday afternoon. I’m gonna make sure that I get off work at two o’clock and I will see patients from 2.30 to six o’clock. And that’s when I’m going to see patients and that’s it. And I’m done for the week. That’s all I do. I only see patients on that day at that time. Patients will work their schedule in to fit your schedule. They will, okay? Some of them won’t, but most will.
Katie (38:14.754)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (38:24.44)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (38:38.19)
Alright, okay. Weekends are usually a fairly safe bet, but the problem is, is that you’re giving away some of your, you know, your weekend time, your free time. You’re giving it away.
Katie (38:45.878)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Justin Allan Montgomery (38:50.572)
And that gets old quick. Yeah.
Katie (38:55.316)
Yeah, I could see that. What do you think about doing? I also thought about doing like definitely having like a group of hours set every week to see patients, but like also maybe offering like by appointment only like if I could do like one new patient like on a Monday evening or what do you think about that? Or should I still just stick to the that’s when I do it.
Justin Allan Montgomery (39:16.942)
Just be consistent. That’s all that matters, okay? Like, that’s it. It doesn’t really matter when or what day. It just, you’re consistent with it. That way, for you, it helps you stay organized because you just know, all right, it’s Monday evening. This is what I do for one or two hours. All right, it’s Thursday evening. This is what I do. That way, your husband and your kids and everyone can expect
Katie (39:20.17)
Okay. Okay.
Katie (39:28.578)
Okay.
Katie (39:38.071)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (39:41.494)
Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (39:45.806)
This is what mama does during this time. And this is what you do. It’s just, you know, in your mind, you can organize yourself this way. So just be consistent with it. But in the evenings after work, if you get off work at five o’clock and you go straight to your practice and work from five 30 to seven or something, and you just do that once or two or three times a week, that works. That’s fine. You know, that’ll be okay.
Katie (39:48.384)
Yeah.
Katie (39:52.738)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (39:59.523)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Katie (40:06.541)
Yeah.
Katie (40:10.701)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (40:14.99)
Most patients can see you during that time because most patients are not working. And so those evening hours tend to do pretty well actually. So, so that, you know, that could work. I would try to strive for a little earlier if you can. Just do it at home. like, yeah.
Katie (40:23.744)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (40:30.198)
Okay, yeah, I should be able to. I’m usually wrapped up by 4 p.m. most days, so… depends on the day, but…
Justin Allan Montgomery (40:37.71)
Okay, well then there you go. just, yeah, you start at five, then be done at 6.30 or something like that. You should be able to squeeze in. Listen, chances are, okay, like I’m just gonna be totally real with you here. This is an extremely part-time business and you’re not advertising, you’re not putting a shit ton of effort and time into it. That.
Katie (40:43.798)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katie (40:52.3)
Yeah, please.
Katie (41:00.972)
Okay, thanks.
Justin Allan Montgomery (41:05.774)
If you’re getting, if you have two new patients a week, you’re, you’re doing pretty good for something like this. Okay.
Katie (41:10.976)
Okay, two new patients a week. Aim for that. All right.
Justin Allan Montgomery (41:14.958)
two patients a week, two new patients a week for something that’s like, I mean, I’m not saying that you aren’t putting effort into this, you are, but your goal is to keep this very, very part time. So you’re not gonna be, you’re not putting the work into it to grow and scale this thing to a million dollar business in a year. You’re not doing that, right? So yeah, know, the amount of effort you’re putting into this is a lot less than what someone would be doing if they were doing that, right? So by not really advertising and by just keeping it very, very simple,
Katie (41:18.347)
Yeah.
Katie (41:32.012)
yeah, no, no, no, no, no, yeah.
Katie (41:39.04)
Yeah, right back.
Justin Allan Montgomery (41:45.108)
One to two new patients a week, okay, should probably be your goal. Three would be great, four would be fantastic. But when you start getting three or four or five new patients every single week, and you only have five or six hours a week to give this, when you start having to schedule follow-ups, that is when you start just being like, ugh, I don’t have enough time for like, ugh.
Katie (41:49.239)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Katie (41:57.837)
Yeah.
Katie (42:02.826)
Yeah.
Katie (42:12.224)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (42:13.538)
them to work a little later now. I’m gonna have to put another hour in here or there. And that’s when it starts turning into more of a grind. You know what I mean? That’s when it starts turning into burnout. yeah, so if you’re you stick to two or three patients a week, just through word of mouth alone, which is definitely possible, think about it this way. Okay, so let’s just call it two patients a week. That’s eight patients a month.
Katie (42:17.324)
Thank you.
Yeah, okay. Yeah.
Katie (42:26.602)
Yeah. Okay.
Katie (42:32.088)
Thank
Katie (42:35.799)
Yeah.
Katie (42:42.936)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (42:43.15)
Okay. Over one year, that is almost a hundred patients basically. Okay. In one year, that’s a hundred patients. Okay. If each patient, let’s say you do HRT and you go the subscription based model, which is what you should do, that’s the best model for this. Let’s just call it for simple math. Let’s just call it, women’s hormones tend to be a little bit more expensive than men. Let’s just call it $200 a month. Okay.
Katie (42:49.558)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Katie (43:03.0)
Mm-hmm.
Katie (43:07.392)
Okay.
Justin Allan Montgomery (43:10.766)
Do some research in your area to determine if that’s actually a good price or not, okay? So $200 a month, and you have 100 patients the first year, all right? That is totally possible without advertising, just letting, just being patient. That’s $20,000 a month.
Katie (43:24.352)
Mm-hmm. Over. Yeah.
Katie (43:33.912)
Mmm. Okay.
Justin Allan Montgomery (43:36.652)
Yes, snowballs, snowballs quick. Yeah. Some of those people will fall off, you know, I mean, you know, so I’m just, I’m going with two patients of like two patients a week. You’re very, very low.
Katie (43:37.88)
crazy. Yeah, yeah, okay.
Katie (43:46.007)
right.
Katie (43:50.829)
Okay, I mean that’s definitely doable and total, yeah. So I definitely feel like that’s very manageable. And then finagling things from there. Like I said, there’s some opportunity to cut back if I would need to, if I was feeling the burnout, it’s not like I have to continue, you know what I mean? So, exactly, exactly. We can only hope.
Justin Allan Montgomery (44:10.402)
Yeah, that’s a good problem to have. Let’s hope you do. Like, you know what I mean? I hope you do. Like, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think that just, just go into that like that. I’d say just don’t waste your money on marketing. Just go into it, just be patient. Like, is that, like, does that vibe with you?
Katie (44:27.724)
Okay, yeah.
Oh yeah, no, this was great. Really helpful. I was kind of getting ahead of myself, think, in my head a couple weeks ago, but since then I’ve really become a little more low-headed. So this is very helpful.
Justin Allan Montgomery (44:43.374)
Yeah. Okay. $5,000. Keep it simple as hell and just be patient. And I seriously think this could turn into something that could easily be popping off $10,000, $15,000 a month by the end of the year. Easy. Yeah. So, okay.
Katie (44:58.9)
Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, no, that’d be great. And then dumping all that back into whatever I need to to to keep things going well, so
Justin Allan Montgomery (45:07.958)
Right. And then if you can drop down to four days a week, you have a full day now. Then, then that’s, that’s when you put the real effort into it. That’s when you put the real time into it. Yeah.
Katie (45:11.28)
yeah. mean, that’s my ultimate goal. Yeah. That’s of my goal right now is to kind of get this up and going to the point where I can at least go down to four days a week and then then go from there. That’s the ultimate like short term goal to some extent. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (45:29.794)
I think in six to 12 months, that’s definitely, I think that’s feasible. think that’s definitely realistic, especially if you’re doing that community engagement, really trying to hunt down some patients because word of mouth typically takes three to six months to really start, to really start, right? So, so yeah, anyways, right. Any other questions?
Katie (45:34.615)
Okay.
Katie (45:39.041)
Yeah.
Katie (45:44.247)
Okay. Cool. I don’t think so. Yeah, I think that’s it. That was really helpful. Yeah, that’s it.
Justin Allan Montgomery (46:01.26)
Okay. I like the end of episode with you asking me a question. You have a question for me, a curiosity or just a question for me.
Katie (46:07.488)
Yeah, I was gonna ask you actually like do you have like a favorite? Podcaster or anyone that you like listen to and you’re like wow I just I’m just obsessed with them. They’re so great. I also know a lot of podcasts, so that’s why I was asking
Justin Allan Montgomery (46:23.532)
What kind of podcast first? I listen to a lot of different podcasts.
Katie (46:27.384)
So do I. Really anything to be honest. I can give you one of mine hobbies that I’m like into that is kind of off this a little bit, I’m traveling on credit card points. And learning how to utilize that for travel.
Justin Allan Montgomery (46:42.446)
Hey.
Justin Allan Montgomery (46:46.926)
Well, I just here’s a here’s a quick tip. Make sure that you make sure you get a business card and you put everything on that business card because miles add up really quick with a business real quick. Terms of podcasts go when I you know someone that I just like listen to that I really you know.
Katie (46:54.104)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know.
Justin Allan Montgomery (47:07.788)
I really get a lot of
Modern Wisdom podcast. Yeah, I think his name is Chris Williamson. It’s just, it’s one of those, it’s, it’s one of those podcasts that is very in the social philosophy kind of realm, you know? It’s not really business, it’s not finance or anything. It’s just like how to become a whole person, you know? Topics like that. I get a lot of value out of that podcast.
Katie (47:26.934)
Hmm, yeah.
Katie (47:34.25)
Hmm. Yeah. Love that. Mm-hmm.
Justin Allan Montgomery (47:41.088)
And then I would say probably, I really like the rest is history podcast. If you’re kind of a history dork, I am. So that’s a, that’s a fun podcast. It’s two British guys and they talk about like a topic for like four to six episodes. And like, I just listened to the, the fall of the ink and empire over six episodes. And I was just like, holy shit.
Katie (47:49.304)
I do like history.
Yeah.
Katie (48:01.248)
Katie (48:09.896)
I’ll need it.
Justin Allan Montgomery (48:10.197)
Like, I had no idea the Spanish were this savage. My lord. Like, yeah. Interesting.
Katie (48:14.2)
I
interesting. The rest is history you said?
Justin Allan Montgomery (48:20.718)
The rest is history. It’s a good podcast. Yeah. If you’re into that kind of thing. Yeah.
Katie (48:22.424)
Ah, yeah. Oh yeah, I like history. mean, right now I’m kind of listening to all the medical stuff, but it’s a good break, you know? Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (48:34.028)
good break. Yeah, you know, you diversify yourself like, especially in medicine and business, like there’s like, you can get stuck listening to nothing but business podcasts, nothing but medical podcasts, and it just, it’s not good for you.
Katie (48:37.479)
yeah.
Yes.
Katie (48:46.176)
Right? It gets… Yeah, like I can only do it so much, you know? So yeah, no, those sound great. Perfect. Love it.
Justin Allan Montgomery (48:55.224)
Cool. All right. Hope this was helpful. So if you want to do a follow up anytime, let me know.
Katie (48:58.008)
Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah.
Justin Allan Montgomery (49:02.466)
Cool. Thanks.
Katie (49:03.129)
All right, well, thank you. Have a good rest of your night. Bye.
Justin Allan Montgomery (49:06.606)
All right.
