Meet Dr. Jeremy Gaynier of UPGRADE – Body Conditioning in Hillcrest

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jeremy Gaynier.

Dr. Gaynier, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Before moving to San Diego and starting UPGRADE, I had practiced in Illinois as an associate doctor at an amazing sports and rehabilitation clinic. At the start, I was so excited to begin my chiropractic journey and learn the ropes under a very talented and warm physician, Dr. Clark. The job started great! I loved my patients, colleagues, and knowledge I learned from an exceptional clinic. In addition to working at the clinic, I also was heavily involved within the Performance Arts Community. I had worked with Ballet Masters associated with the Joffrey Ballet, TV actors/actresses, and theater performers. I also worked with Navy Pier’s Chicago Shakespeare Theater as their Injury Prevention Doctor and treating Physician.

After some time, I found my motivation and drive begin to fall. My biggest supporter in life, my husband, saw my passion and love for life begin to dwindle as well. Dealing with the harsh Chicago weather, 3-4 hour commute to/from work, and no true long term goal set made me fall into a complete rut. I started to live each day on autopilot, always giving my best but never truly feeling satisfied. One day, my husband said, “let’s move to California.” I immediately felt he was crazy. I thought, “you want us to both quit our stable jobs with salaries, travel blindly across the country, distance ourself from family/friends, and move without a job lined up?” Yeah, I thought he lost his mind. However, my gut told me to trust him, and I told him I would think about it. He then continued to follow through with his plan and told his job he was giving his two-week notice. Luckily for us, his agency did not want to lose him, and they needed a remote worker on the west coast. I felt this was a sign that at least one of us would have a job, and I followed suit with his CRAZY plan. I quit my job, left family/friends, and moved across the country with absolutely no plan, only trust in my partner and hope. Once in California, I went back to my college job, traveling the country working for a dance competition and worked as a clinical reviewer for a worker’s comp company. Again, I started a passionless routine, working two jobs with no long term goals. Then one day, my husband and I drove past a new building called The Hive in Hillcrest, which consisted of health and beauty suites. My husband encouraged us to view the building and planted the seed of starting my own practice. Once again, I thought, “you are crazy!!” But then I began to entertain his idea. Why not? I can do this! With my husband’s support, I spent the next two days with my mind racing with ideas sparking a fire within. I finally started to feel the excitement in my heart and a drive I never felt before, then BAM! I signed the paperwork to rent a suite from the Hive (while literally crying to my husband in fear). Next… planning for UPGRADE began.

I started to think of the following questions: How did I want to run my practice? How was I going to be unique? How will I accomplish this? How can I start a practice without any business experience and without taking out any additional loans on top of my heavy student loans? What would make me keep my passion, motivation, and drive without going on autopilot?

I knew I didn’t want to be just another chiropractic office, always chasing people’s pain and returning patients back to their baseline. I wanted to be a practice that would enhance their mental and physical potential and ultimately UPGRADE their quality of life to something bigger and better than they thought them self! I wanted to push people to reach new higher goals, just like my husband did for me. To achieve this, I made a promise that I would listen, thoroughly exam, and provide an active plan for each patient that they could follow in and outside the office. Additionally, I wanted to spend more time with each patient and not conform to the 5min in/out adjustment norms that typical chiropractic offices follow.

The next thing to overcome was how I would afford this? I figured, START SMALL!! My first location at the Hive was only 99 sq/ft! I had to re-arrange the room with each visit by moving around my chiropractic table and massage table to accommodate the services I was providing. Luckily for me, I graduated both with a Chiropractic degree and Massage Therapy Degree. In the beginning, I planned to start as a one-man show, which allowed me to provide undivided attention to each and every patient. Given both degrees and the ease of an online booking system, I didn’t need to hire a receptionist or other staff. To keep paying the bills, I continued working for the dance competition and as a clinical reviewer. As expected, starting something from the very beginning was challenging since I knew nothing about running a business, I only knew how to provide exceptional treatment. I figured if I went beyond the standard of care and most importantly was kind and genuine, patients would continue to return. And it worked!

As patients began to refer friends/family and return with warm hearts and hugs, my passion continued to be fueled. I started to realize it was my passion all along to help upgrade people’s lives and provide an environment that was warm, loving, and inviting. Autopilot is no longer an option. When you see your dreams take life, it is hard not wanting to push further and harder.

UPGRADE has since outgrown the 99 sq/ft studio in the Hive and has moved to a larger location at the corner of Park Blvd and Lincoln Street. In addition to a larger space, I have been blessed to find an additional, talented, and warm Massage Therapist and Stretch Specialist to add on at UPGRADE. It has been amazing to look back on this journey when I opened day one with fear and hope until now with gratitude and overflowing passion.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall it has been a smooth road, but it definitely has been a difficult uphill battle. When starting a business, you have to put all your time and energy in to make it grow. In addition to working hard to grow a business, I had to work two additional jobs to pay the bills. Having no downtime can start to affect your emotional well being and relationships. Although I still struggle with it, it is very important to learn work/life balance, which I have improved on over the 2.5 years. The biggest struggle has been putting on the businessman hat. I can treat people all day with no apprehensions, but when it came to business decisions, I had no clue where to begin. Schools do not teach that aspect of the career, so I am constantly learning how to run a business; however, I am a believer that if you have great intent and lead with a kind heart, things will fall in place.

Please tell us about UPGRADE – Body Conditioning.
UPGRADE – Body Conditioning is a Wellness Membership Practice that consists of chiropractic, massage, body mechanics, rapid technology, corrective movement patterns, work ergonomics, active stretching, and kinesiotaping. Five membership options are offered. These membership rates are affordable and provide each patient with the ability to be more involved with their treatment. Every membership allows additional services to be added at discounted rates; therefore, you pay as you go and not in bulk.
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Our life is defined by the journeys, experiences, and relationships we seek. We must be physically and mentally “body conditioned” to allow the life we fantasize about become a reality. Body conditioning is important since what we do to our bodies now can influence the quality of life we live today and in the future. UPGRADE – Body Conditioning will not only help provide a supportive foundation physically, but it will also stimulate mental improvement to help reach goals that we limit ourself from succeeding.

What I specialize in:

Since I have trained as a professional dancer growing up, my specialties involve working with athletes, especially athletes that are flexible (dancers, gymnasts, figure skaters, etc.). I had difficulty finding chiropractors when I was younger that knew how to provide treatment given my increase in flexibility. It always seemed as if they were unable to provide effective suggestions for my advanced level of athleticism. Given my background, I perform functional movement assessments and address areas of muscle weakness, muscle inhibition, and/or functional movement pattern disturbances. Not only does each patient receive manual therapy and adjustments each visit, but they are also provided an online home exercise portal (which includes videos) for them to address their condition with an active form of treatment to perform at home/gym.

What I am most proud of:

I am the most proud that I have been able to build a business from 0 patients to over a hundred patients a week, and still maintain individualized treatment, integrity, and heart. Additionally, I have also been able to build a business without gimmicks, just great treatment, and my passion to truly help people!

Pricing:

• New Patient Chiropractic Exam Special $39
• First Stretch 20min Session $39
• First Stretch 45min Session $80
• Maintenance Chiropractic Memberships as low as $35/mo
• Massage Memberships as low as $75/mo

Contact Info:

• Address: 4009 Park Blvd. #30
  San Diego, CA 92103
  Front entrance located on Lincoln Street
• Website: www.upgradebodyconditioning.com
• Phone: 8586342505
• Email: drjeremy@upgradebodyconditioning.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upgradebodyconditioning/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UpgradeBodyConditioning/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/upgrade-body-conditioning-san-diego

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