The Doctor is In
My to-do list for starting a new business was a long one, and at times felt overwhelming. In the preceding months, no task felt more cumbersome than finding an office space and finalizing a lease. At one point, sitting in my garage in a chair designed for drawing blood that I had purchased from a retired local doctor, I looked around and thought “well, I could do it in here I guess,” zoning be damned! The Direct Primary Care world is rife with stories of DPC doctors who started their businesses doing house calls and working out of cars; my father had a medical office in our home while I grew up so why, then, shouldn’t I?
Well, I really wanted an office. Or at least a room dedicated to my new practice in some office building. I wanted a place to practice in - to do procedures, run IVs, take blood, do body comp scans, and plan for the future. The home that I love is full of distractions; entrepreneurship in general seems to involve a minefield of multitasking that is best navigated with dedicated time and, for me, space. An office space that is not a residence is required to purchase wholesale medical supplies from some suppliers and wholesale medication for an on-site pharmacy - both of which add to the value proposition of the thing I am offering: a one-stop-shop for 90% of my patients’ medical needs, the thing that makes Direct Primary Care such a no-brainer.
But the world of commercial real estate is not taught in medical school. Everything about my training was devoted to the science and craft of medicine, precious little to the business. For this task, I had to find a broker, and then he talked to all the other brokers. They talked to the building owners and, when I found a space, the owner and I each had a lawyer to look over the lease and negotiate the final changes. Delays held up my malpractice application, my business loan application. Some spaces were giant 2000 square foot “white boxes” which would need $50,000 build outs to become functioning medical offices. Others were already built but in weird parts of town or creepy buildings, down stairs in damp basements, or tucked behind strip malls in hastily erected shared spaces with fresh drywall.
In the end the office I found was actually the first one I had looked at. I checked it out in January and thought “nice, now I know what’s out there, I will keep looking.” Turns out, nothing else “out there” came even close to suiting me quite so well. It’s a newly remodeled former dentist’s office next door to a Ramen restaurant. There are two treatment rooms, a lab, tons of storage, a private office with an en suite bathroom, a reception/vitaling area, a customer bathroom, and a shared waiting room maintained by the building owner, who runs a dental practice in the building that, it turns out, services some of my current patients and co-workers. Best of all? It’s a five minute walk from my house.
Fun aside - the broker that I worked with graduated high school with the lead singer of the band I was in in 1999. There are no accidents in this universe, people.
With seconds to spare before the close of business on Friday May 1, we had a signed and notarized lease, I had business insurance, and I was Zelling my new landlord and calling her for instructions on how to get the keys. We agreed that this had been a convoluted and excruciatingly stressful process that we never want to do again.
For the next five years, at Metronome Family Medicine, the Doctor is In - at 2929 17th Ave, Suite 101, in Longmont Colorado!
If you want to be one of the first patients to walk through that door, founding spots are still open. Begin the conversation and set up a free 10 minute call to apply.
