Joe Dunaway 0:02

Welcome to the VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory. One story at a time. What is up? Thank you for joining us today as we explore our latest purpose-driven journey, wealth alignment, where we learn about redefining the price of success, how to move from the hustle-to-all cost mentality to true wealth alignment, the importance of restoring personal health and faith during business crisis, and how to scale a practice that supports rather than depletes your life. We've all heard that if you work hard enough, you can buy your way out of any problem. But what happens when you work yourself into a corner where you have the revenue, but you've lost your health, marriage, and your faith in the process? Dr. Gregory Pursley, otherwise known as Dr. G, he's a chiropractor, CEO of PC Medical Centers, and the author of Fix Your BS. He's not just a business coach. He's a man who had to hit rock bottom in his own life to discover what wealthy actually means. Dr. G and I connected through Dan Martell's elite mastermind. He is the embodiment of the Vici mission. His story of moving from the state of financially salvation financial salvation seeking to holistic wealth alignment is a powerful narrative. He understands unique pressure medical practice owners face, the tendency to equate more work with more security. And his journey proves that you can scale a business without sacrificing your household. Today we're exploring wealth alignment. How do you rebuild a life and a business that is actually worth living? As always, we filtered Dr. G's journey through the Vici pillars faith, family, fitness, and finance. Dr. G, so excited to have you on, my man. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Greg Pursley 2:09

Thanks, Joe. I appreciate you. I love to be here. I'm happy to provide as much value as possible to your listeners.

Joe Dunaway 2:14

Well, we're going to extract every bit we can in the short amount of time we got. So let's jump right into the breakthrough from hustle to alignment. In 2008, you were handed a massive life challenge with your son's diagnosis, and your initial instinct was earn more money. Looking back at that version of yourself, what was the exact moment or breaking point where you realized that your definition of success was actually a liability to your family?

Joe 2:41

Wow.

Dr. Greg Pursley 2:42

That's a great question. Um, it really didn't come about until about 10 years later after um I finally looked up and came to and thought, am I really building the life I want to build? That was the moment where it was like, I've got to change how I'm doing this. Um, I remember coming home from from treating all day, and um my wife was like, Um, you know, what's going on? You seem unhappy. I said, I just I don't see how this is gonna build the life I want to build. We can't take vacations like I want to take. We can't, I can't leave the office like I want to leave. And it was simply I didn't understand how to build a business. And so um I made the decision right then and there that I was going to figure out how to build the business side so that way I could do those things and have more freedom to hang out with my family and do the things I want to do.

Joe Dunaway 3:28

Yeah, and we all get to that breaking point, right? Um, and then you have a book, uh Fix Your BS. It's titled, which I assume stands for more than just business strategy. What's the BS that holds most high performing practice owners back from scaling their revenue while simultaneously improving their quality of life?

Dr. Greg Pursley 3:49

So I wrote the book Fix Your BS, and it's a it's a play on words, but we talk about BS being belief systems and BS being business systems. So your belief systems and your business systems have to be aligned in order to actually achieve great results in your business. Um, it all came from the the 10 years. You talked about my son when he was born. He was born with dwarfism, uh, which is a random genetic change. We had no idea the day he was born, they said, Hey, guess what? Your son has achondroplasia. We already had a daughter that was about two and a half years old at the time. And um he ended up having a lot of medical complications. He had a trach and event put in and um helped to help him breathe. He was on oxygen, he had uh multiple different machines that helped him live, survive. And so for about eight years, that's what it was. It was survival. Um and I did a lot of work with Tony Robbins and and all the greats in that mental side of trying to figure out well, you know, how can I compute this and how can I turn this into a positive as opposed to a woe is me story. And so um, that's when it came came to that point where it was like, man, I've got to figure out how to correct my own belief systems and what's possible, and then also translate that over into my business systems so that way those two things can actually align and grow. Um, and and that's that's what ended up happening. So now um I'm a partner in a business. I've got multiple uh other businesses um that are doing very well, and it's because of that that understanding. And so what I teach people is not just the um strategies of the tactical side. Here's how to get more new patients and here's how to get more new leads, which is important, but more important is the owner's belief and the belief systems that run behind the owner's decisions and also the people within that company's decisions. So by talking about both of those things, we hit the strategic side and we hit the actual um thought process side, the emotional, the mental, the capacity of where you see that business going and how to translate that into the actual tactical side as well. So uh that that's what I came to terms with or come to come to learn um over the last seven years since I decided to put that book out and then also um you know build the business behind uh the actual, you know, my actual my actual brand and and what I'm doing.

Joe Dunaway 6:22

So um and that's the and that's the fix your BS philosophy right there. And it's closely aligned to like the Vici philosophy. You know, it's we we don't just say it in this order, that is the order. Faith has got to be number one, or your belief system, right? Your why, your purpose, it's gotta be number one, and then your family, right? You know, those two things go really hand in hand. Everything else falls into place, right? The woe is me phase of your life. If you can break away from that, you look back on that and be like, how limiting was that, right? It just so liberating once you've removed yourself from that. And then when bad things happen and challenges happen, you're just like you're just built differently once you've made that mindset shift. And I'm curious from an operational standpoint, how did you re-engineer your operations at PC medical centers to prioritize your presence at home?

Dr. Greg Pursley 7:20

Well, uh, number one, I changed my belief of I have to do everything to who can do everything. Um, instead of me tactically figuring out how to do something, I would say, well, who already knows how to do that? And how can I get the result that I'm after and utilize their time and their expertise and their um the understanding of whatever I'm trying to accomplish. Um then we we set clear expectations. You know, we use the SMART goals, uh, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely. We say, you know, when is this project going to be done? How, you know, what uh we go through that whole process. When, how, what resources do you need? What's the expectation? And we set those clear boundaries. Once we have that, then it becomes pretty simple. Um, then we have check-ins. And so I learned that that process, that strategy through my mentors. Um, and it's been, you know, very effective. Uh, and that'll also allowed me to set boundaries of what was important to me and say, look, I'm gonna leave at X amount of, you know, X amount of time during the day. I'm not gonna stay until seven. I'm gonna leave at five. I'm gonna go hang out with my wife, I'm gonna go to this thing with my kids or whatever. And just that one shift in my own perspective, what I learned was that I'm teaching people how to treat me in that process and what their expectations are of me. And that I was responsible for my own happiness and my own actions and my own schedule. And that my excuses that I was making that I was changing my schedule based on who else wanted me to have a schedule or what their schedule should be for me. Um, once I changed that perspective and took control of that, then guess what? I didn't uh I didn't have to live by everybody else's rules anymore.

Joe Dunaway 9:11

Yeah, so liberating. Let's let's uh let's dial in uh the finance pillar a little bit more. Many owners think they need more cash to fix their problems, but you argue that wealth is about cultivating a rich, balanced life. How do you help other doctors and entrepreneurs distinguish between chain chasing financial relief and building a sustainable asset?

Dr. Greg Pursley 9:36

Well, revenue in a company doesn't tell you the whole story because revenue is vanity, profit is sanity. So it's all about cash flow and profitability because I've been in situations where I've had zero money and negative cash flows, and it's terrifying, scary. It's you worry about stuff. Um, and if there's no consistency and you feel like everything is under your control or you're responsible for all the numbers, instead of delegating the responsibility to someone else and say, you are responsible for hitting these goals, ultimately I take responsibility for me and my actions. And that is an action is delegating that responsibility to someone else and saying, hey, you are in control of the marketing and you need to hit these parameters and these goals and these numbers, and then getting that agreement with them. Um, so really it it always comes back up to the CEO or the business owner, all the responsibility really does, but you are responsible in delegating those responsibilities to other people. And so if you allow people to push it back up the line to you, well, then guess what? You're gonna get stuck with all the stuff, and that's how people get bogged down. That's why most businesses in America either have um less than two or less than 12. So one to two employees or two to 12 employees. There's only 600,000 businesses that have more than 12 employees in America, and the reason why is most small businesses run on an individual that knows how to do a thing, and then they get other people to support them, not build a business. Um, two different mindsets, two different beliefs, two different strategies. Uh, so you have to take different actions with both of those. Um, so yeah, I don't know uh if that answered the original question, but that that's just kind of my perspective over the years of how it's evolved and um how I look at things differently.

Joe Dunaway 11:23

Well, and when you when you see those type of business owners, you know, burnout comes to mind. I know even in the medical community, that word is just a part of that community. When a client comes to you burned out and buried in their practice, what's the first alignment move you make?

Dr. Greg Pursley 11:42

The first thing I ask is, what would you like it to be like? What's a perfect scenario for you? Because most people spend all their time focused on what they don't like instead of spending time focusing on what they do like. So if you ask yourself, and you're very honest with yourself, in a neutral emotional state, what do I want my practice to look like? What do I want my days to look like? And then start to build accordingly, um, then we can go, okay, well, that's the goal. That's the North Star, that's the mountaintop. Where are we at now? So, what can we do now to move you from here to there? So, this the tactical side, after we get what the ideal situation is, is I sit down with them and I go, okay, well, let's go through your marketing, your sales, your HR, your operations, your finances. Let's look at all five of those pillars. Most people come to me and go, I'm overworked. I need more quality new leads and more quality new patients. They think it's a marketing problem, but it's typically not a marketing problem. It's typically a systems problem. Um, after you market and get those leads, where do those leads go? How many of them are converting? What's the process there where we can maximize your marketing dollar? And that's actually where most people have the problem. They don't even know it. Um, I go through a process with them where they're leaking money. Um, there's three things that typically occur in a medical or a clinical setting where you're leaking money and don't even know it. And most people don't even know to look there. They're always looking forward to new leads, new clients, and new money. When I'm like, well, there's this big thing over here where you've already done the treatments and there's insurance leakage, and there's accounts receivable leakage, and there's upsell leakage, where they don't even look at those things. And so we do an analysis. So we get ideal scenario, where we currently are, and when we do an ideal analysis and figure out where you want to uh what steps you need to take to get there. It's funny because it's the same process as when you diagnose a human.

Joe 13:43

Right.

Dr. Greg Pursley 13:44

You figure out you figure out, okay, where's the pain point? What's the problem? And let's figure out the goal. Well, the goal is either to be out of pain or be able to do something. I want to move a certain way or I want to do a certain thing. And you're like, okay, here's the treatment plan to get there. It's the exact same process. It's just instead of for a human body, we use it for a business.

Joe Dunaway 14:03

Yeah. What a great approach. Um, let's talk about uh fitness and restoration. We're to get fun on this. We're gonna get away from the uh the debits and credits, and um, let's talk a little bit more about you know personal responsibility. You mentioned that a self that uh that self-neglect was crippling your family, your family life. In the fitness pillar, how do you manage your physical health today as a non-negotiable part of your CEO toolkit rather than something you sacrifice when your calendar gets full?

Dr. Greg Pursley 14:35

Well, it just goes back to your standards and what's most important. I can tell you I go through seasons with that. Um, I'm not as consistent as there are some people uh with that, but I do have a process where every month I take note. The first day of the month, every month I take note. I go, where am I at in my relationships? Where am I at with my health? Fitness is under that. Where am I at with my business? Where am I at with my finances? And where am I at with my faith? And that's also belief, faith and belief. I look at all of those things and and uh I reassess, and I just do a simple out of those five things. Um, I think Tony Robbins used to do something similar. He called it a life wheel. But basically, I take those five things and I rank them from zero to ten. First day of the month. My relationships with my wife, my kids, my staff, my team, the most important relationships to me, my immediately family members, zero to ten, where are they at? If it's less than ten, I ask myself, what could I do better this month? That would move me towards a 10. Um, then I do the that through each one. And wealth is one or health is one of those. Uh, wealth is another one. Um but it's just you can put, you know, it's so simple. You can put it on your phone, it's a reminder, it's just the responsibility for yourself to say, I'm gonna sit down and do this. Um, because you know, you you do get life gets busy, and especially during different seasons. Last fall I found myself in a situation I was in the middle of a lot of uh things going on and I let that slip. And notice I'm not saying other things allowed me to do that or other things um, you know, it was their fault, it was that fault of that that made me not work out. No, it was me. I allowed that to happen because I was focused on other stuff, and so I was one of the heaviest I've been last fall. And then once my alarm came up, it was December, I went, Well, this is unacceptable. I need to get back. So started lifting again, started getting back into the regular flow. But I basically said, How's my how's my health? And I went, I'm like a four. You know, it just was. And I was like, What am I doing? Okay. So then the question becomes, well, if I'm a four and I want to be a 10, what things am I currently doing that are moving me away from the goal? And what things I'm doing uh currently that are moving me toward the goal? Then I eliminate the things that are moving me away, things like uh eating out, snacking, not working out, um, uh drinking, whatever, whatever it is, you say, Hey, I gotta limit those or reduce those or eliminate those. And then I'm gonna double down on the things that are working. What was I doing at the time? Well, I had a treadmill and I was using it occasionally. Okay, what can I do more of on that? It's working, I shouldn't do more of it. And that's just the process. Um, and you get into a habit of doing it. So literally the first of the month, you know, it's like people, you know, look at the first of the month as a reset. It's a new month. Um, why not reset your own personal beliefs and responsibilities about what you're going to accomplish this next month and what you're focused on this next month?

Joe Dunaway 17:42

Yeah. I mean, you're either getting closer or further away from your goals, right? You're either, you know, growing or stagnant. So that's a really simplified way of looking at things. And I I like that approach. And it's I like that you check in with yourself. You check in yourself, you rate yourself. Um, that's not something I've done. Uh, but it's a it's a good reminder that, and I and I wondered, you know, do you do you find yourself, is it is it practical to think that you're gonna be all tens, or or you know, or you go through where some things are better than the others and you just gotta adjust, right?

Dr. Greg Pursley 18:15

Yeah, yeah, it's just it's a self-awareness tool. You'll never be all tens. If you're all tens, then you are um mistaken. You're you're missing something because there's no way that every you're never, I mean, I'll never be all tens. Yeah, um, you know, there's always some place that you can improve and do something better. So you want to um constantly say and really be introspective in that and say, How can I improve? How can I do better? How can I be better? Um, and and that's once you do that enough times, it just becomes your mantra. Um, you know, if you forget, if you don't pay attention to it, then you've heard, you know, Tony Robbins says this a lot. I know I've quoted Tony Robbins a couple times, but it's just come up. But you know, where you focus, uh where your focus goes, energy flows. Well, right, if you're focusing on if you're not focusing on yourself, well then no energy is flowing toward it. And then how can you be your greatest for everybody else around you if you're not focusing on yourself? Um, and that sounds selfish, but it's really not. It's it's selfish of other people to expect you to be what they want you to be. Right. That's selfish on them. Yeah. So be selfish for yourself, be who you want to be and build the life you want to build.

Joe Dunaway 19:29

Well, and then you know, I think people pleasers really battle with that, right? Where they they give their all to other people and they're neglecting themselves, and then they're not the best version of themselves to actually help people. So it's uh roundabout way just doesn't work, right? It just it just it's a myth. So you gotta take care of yourself. And you know, speaking of being best for yourself and for other people, you know, you've been pretty public-facing with you know, navigating the health battle with your son and how that strained your marriage in terms of faith and family. How has the process of aligning your business with your values helped you become a better husband and father?

Dr. Greg Pursley 20:09

How has aligning my um values as business well, I mean, they they who you are as a business person or as a business owner um should be the same as who you are at home. Um that's the right answer, Doc. So if you're coming, if you're going into work and you're putting on a fake face and you're becoming somebody else, it'll just drain you because you're not being authentic. Authenticity is if you look at everything in this world vibrates. Um and they all have a you can all measure the vibration of everything. And humans have an ability to vibrate at higher or lower levels based on their emotional um state. Well, authenticity, when you are most authentic, that's when you are vibrating at the highest state. And the way to really say that is when you are most in spirit, which is when you are doing the things that you know you were put here to do and light you up and get you excited. The more you do of those things, the more in spirit you are, and the more inspired you become. And that's one of the things I talk about a lot. Um, because if you're in spirit and inspired, then you're more likely to do things that um are going to be, you know, are going to be great and light you up and get you uh excited.

Joe Dunaway 21:28

So and it's uh and it's a cycle. It it it it continues to improve the the longer you stick with that methodology. I love that. Um let's talk about leadership and legacy. You're now a philanthropist, investor, and coach. As you look at your legacy, what is the one thing that you want your children to remember about how you handled the curveball of 2028 versus the business you lead today?

Dr. Greg Pursley 21:54

Yeah, so 2008 was when uh when the curveball of uh my son came around. Well, there's been many curveballs along the way. I mean, the legacy I want to leave for anybody is that um there's always a way to figure it out. There's always a way to figure it out. And um as long as you never give up, then failure is impossible. Failure, the only failure, is giving up. So if you stay rooted in your faith, if you stay rooted in who you are, in in your authenticity as much as possible, then um there will always be a way to figure out whatever challenge you're facing. I look at challenges as just a um growth opportunity. So if you look at it that way, then you say, well, what can I, what resources do I have to overcome this challenge? What's available? Doesn't mean I'm like perfect and I never get emotionally charged and you know, don't freak out sometimes, because sometimes you do, especially when unexpected things happen. But I always revert back to what resources do I have? What's the worst thing that could possibly happen with this? What's the best thing that could possibly happen with this? And um, what are the best solutions uh that I can come up with or the best options that I can come up with that make the most sense. And if you start really working through it logically, the emotional charge kind of goes away. Uh, because most of the time you'll find that your emotional charge comes from you telling yourself stories of of what could potentially happen. Um, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen. What could potentially happen is not necessarily what's going to happen. Only one thing will happen. And so if you uh if you never give up, stay authentic as much as you possibly can, then you know the whole point of your life is to enjoy and be in an emotional state that is enjoyable for most of it as much as possible. Uh and uh if you learn how to do that and be intentional about it, then guess what? You are in control of the quality of your own life. Yeah.

Joe Dunaway 23:58

Great legacy. I love that. All right, we're we're ready for the breakthrough uh uh rapid fire round here, Dr. G. All right, quick. The most dangerous lie medical entrepreneurs tell themselves.

Dr. Greg Pursley 24:11

If I just see more people, I will make more money. What is one see more people?

Joe Dunaway 24:17

Go ahead. Yeah, right, more revenue, more people, more patients. What is one daily habit that keeps you aligned with your core purpose?

Dr. Greg Pursley 24:25

Morning, my morning routine, being aligned. Um, looking at my goal sheet every single day. Um, I have a laminated sheet that is uh has all my goals for the year of what I'm working towards. And I read that um at least once a day, but most of the time twice a day.

Joe Dunaway 24:42

Love it. And then uh sometimes we refer to Vici as victory. What does victory look like for Dr. G in 2026?

Dr. Greg Pursley 24:52

Victory is just constant movement towards the goals um and enjoying the ride and being as emotionally um present and positive as I possibly can. Not fake. I mean in control of my emotions and doing things that light me up and get me excited and being authentic. That's consistent victory across the board, really forever. Um, it's never necessarily a monetary uh goal. That's not victory. I mean, yes, we have those, but it's mostly how can I enjoy my time while I'm here and make an impact with other people while I'm here.

Joe Dunaway 25:30

I mean, with that mindset, you know, that's daily victory. So I love that. Right. Okay. Um just to recap, wealth is a comprehensive state, not a bank balance. True leadership is your alignment, not just escalation. If you're a practice owner ready to scale with without burnout, or a business owner outside of the healthcare industry, visit drgregpalsey.com or pick up a copy of Fix Your BS. Those links are gonna be in the show notes, uh, as well as Instagram, LinkedIn. There, you're gonna be able to uh have access to Dr. Greg. Dr. Greg, anything else you want to leave our uh audience with?

Dr. Greg Pursley 26:10

Yeah, if you're interested in anything that I said or you want to um have more information, you can DM me on Instagram. That's generally the best way to get a hold of me and my team. Um just direct message me that you saw us on Vici and that you um that you had a question. Uh, you know, I'm I'm here as an open book. Watch my uh content. I really spend a lot of time and energy spent sending uh information out to people uh to to help them improve. And really, I am an open book and I'm very candid, can't candid about the things that I've dealt with in my own life and the mistakes that I've made um and how I can help other people. So um that's ultimately the goal. I thanks, you know, appreciate you for having me on here, Joe. And um, and uh if there's anything I can do for you or your uh listeners, I'm I'm happy to uh to do that. Um last, I guess the last thing would be uh one of the goals that I have for people is I have an owner out method. So the owner out method is working with individuals in order to um help the owner that owns the business um create an exitable uh enterprise value. So an actual business that runs uh without them as much as possible, and that they can do what they love to do with all these things I just talked about. Um so if they're interested in that, they can direct message me on Instagram.

Joe Dunaway 27:26

Well, that sounds like a good deal. I think we all would uh appreciate some help in that area. Um well, that's it. Prioritize your alignment, protect your family, and remember that real wealth is a life lived on purpose. We'll see you all in the next episode of the Vici Code. Cheers. Thanks for tuning in to the Vici Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels a fight, and your comeback is already in progress.