Dr Jonathan Leary Of Remedy Place On How To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur

An Interview with Fotis Georgiadis

Communication — No matter how hard it may be… the better you can improve your communication skills the easier life will be. Be vulnerable, be truthful and be present in your conversations and that will improve every interaction in your life.

Being a founder, entrepreneur, or a business owner can have many exciting and thrilling moments. But it is also punctuated with periods of doubt, slump, and anxiety. So how does one successfully and healthily ride the highs and lows of Entrepreneurship? In this series, called “How To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur” we are talking to successful entrepreneurs who can share stories from their experience. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jonathan Leary.

Dr. Jonathan Leary is the founder and CEO of Remedy Place, the world’s first social wellness club dedicated to bringing their guests back into balance. He graduated at the top of his class with a Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine that provided him with an extensive foundation in anatomy, physiology, neuroscience, clinical nutrition, and rehabilitation. Dr. Leary spent a decade researching and developing Remedy Place’s cutting-edge techniques that optimize the body’s natural ability to heal. Throughout his career, he has brought his professional expertise to a wide range of celebrities, professional and Olympic athletes, and patients from all walks of life.

As a pioneer in the holistic health and wellness space, Dr. Leary is paving the way for wide-scale transformation of the $10+ trillion healthcare industry, one of the sector’s that is most poised for disruption in the coming decade. His visionary leadership, deep network of industry professionals and capital, as well as years of clinical experience place him in the ideal position to see around corners and capitalize on the next wave of healthcare trends.

In addition to leading Remedy Place, Dr. Leary is a highly sought after global health and wellness speaker whose expertise has been featured in a wide range of prestigious media outlets, from Forbes and ABC to Vogue. He has given corporate wellness talks for Fortune 100 companies, such as Delta Airlines, as well as hosted retreats at the Cannes Film Festival and across the globe.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I feel like my life started once I moved to LA a little over ten years ago. I grew up in a small town in Rhode Island which was an incredible place to grow up, but I always knew that in order to fulfill my dreams and aspirations I had to move to a big city.

So the moment I got into my doctorate program after undergrad I moved across the country with very little money in my bank and without actually ever visiting the state of California. I just knew that it was where I had to be.

Throughout my studies I was a tutor to my colleagues, a trainer for a couple clients on the side and each Sunday I worked on my business plan for my dream practice. This practice was Remedy Place (Or actually … Remedy House at the time). After three and a half years of hard work and completing my doctorate I went to the bank with my 158 page business plan with the hopes to get a business loan. I quickly realized with student loan debt and a couple thousand dollars in the bank that was not a possibility. At that time I did not know business and I didn’t have any mentors that were guiding me. So I did what any entrepreneur would do and pivoted my plan. I opened up a concierge practice and in full transparency… I did that because it was the cheapest option to start my own company. Little did I know it was probably the most impactful unplanned change that set me up for the rest of my career to date.

I will save you all the details for the next five year, but in short it grew into a very successful practice that allowed me to work with people all over the world and fix their pains and save them from surgery. I worked with pro athletes, celebrities, corporate level executives, industry leaders and even some royal families. It was incredible! Over this time I got into consulting, speaking engagements, hosting retreats all over the world and of course constantly progressing and perfecting the Remedy Place business plan until it was ready to bring to life.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

The “aha moment” of creation was just a dream I had when I first moved to LA and heard about Soho House for the first time. However, real moment where I put Remedy Place back on the table and knew I had to do it was a very special story.

I was sitting with a patient at her home giving her your third treatment and when we finished she started to cry. She had been dealing with chronic pain for 10 years, tried everything and was struggling… but at that moment it was the first time she was pain free. She looked at me and said “Dr. Leary, how did I never know about treatments like this? Why doesn’t everyone know about this? And what do people do if they don’t have someone like you? I thought about it for a second and said, “they will most likely have to be on pain meds for a long time and that is a reason why there is an opioid crisis.” She then said, “What are you going to do about it?” and “How are you going to change healthcare if you are only seeing one patient at a time?” That is when I knew that I had to create a platform to educate the world on how to take care of themselves and truly regain their own health independence. From that day on I have not stopped with Remedy Place being my number priority to make this impact that I knew had to be done.

In your opinion, were you a natural born entrepreneur or did you develop that aptitude later on? Can you explain what you mean?

I think we are all born and develop half by nature and half by nurture. There are things that cannot be changed and then there are things that are produced by the environment that we are surrounded by.

With that being said, I was always a big dreamer and a hustler. I knew from an early age I did not belong in a small town and I started working when I was in middle school. My best friend and I started a landscaping business in 6th grade and each summer we would do a decent amount of yards every week in the neighborhood. Then the moment I got my working permit at 15 I have always worked ever since. During my childhood, I also knew I was different in more ways than what is mentioned above. As a closeted gay man (boy) that was lost and struggled to always understand myslef and who I was, and most importantly learn to love myself… this really forced me to mature and find myself very early in life. I would say these struggles shaped and developed my relationship with myself, my work ethic, my confidence and me being authentic to myself.

As the time went on and I surrounded myself with people that I was inspired by, that looked up to, people that made me look at things and the world differently and hearing perspectives from all over the world it enhanced my potential and allowed me to grow even more.

Was there somebody in your life who inspired or helped you to start your journey with your business? Can you share a story with us?

One of my first patients that I took on was in a motorcycle accident and I did his rehab and care for a couple of years. Additionally, I also worked with his wife who was the former CMO of one of the biggest tech companies in the world and I really became part of their family. When you are with someone every day doing their rehab you really get to know someone. It turned into a lifelong friendship and something I will always cherish. Over the years as I was integrated into their lives I met and built strong relationships with some of the most incredible people in the world that I was introduced to by this couple. These relationships established so many friendships, patients, business opportunities and some that actually turned into business endeavors and investments.

This patient had an incredible recovery from an accident and I entered a world that changed my life.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Everything about it is unique and different. We are the world’s first social wellness club and I wanted to create and develop something that not only had a true purpose and a big mission, but I wanted to create something that was never done before.

I saw a couple things missing in the world and over the 5 years in my practice I listened to every patient, did my own clinical evidence and marketing research on exactly what was needed and what was missing. I used this evidence to perfect my business plan and create something that I knew would one day change healthcare.

This comes down to three things: Alternative medicine/preventative care, a healthy social life and an environment that is made to heal.

1. Seeing the results that I saw in my practice using holistic therapies was so powerful. I was always told that alternative medicine doctors were fake doctors (that is a whole story on its own) and I was blown away by how fast my patients were getting better. I quickly realized that outside of emergencies, using these remedies as the first line of intervention and focusing on the root cause was the best thing I could do for my patients. With Remedy Place the plan is to legitimize alternative & preventative medicine, show the science and the evidence and give it a platform to offer it to the world.
2. When putting the control back my patients hands and allowing them to learn heal themselves it required a lot of lifestyle changes. Over the 5 years in my practice I would always here, “Dr. Leary my health issue isi gone and I feel incredible, but my social life sucks.” It got a point where I saw it very isolating for my patients and I knew I had to make remedy place social (not sure how at the time) so that I could offer something that enhanced their health and social life at the same time.
3. The piggy back off one of the earlier questions on nature versus nurture, environment is everything and it shifts and makes who you are. Furthermore, the psychology of the design and research that has proven that your environment can have an impact on your health. There is a reason down to every detail of the club on why it was designed that way and how it puts your body in the best position possible so it can start healing itself.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Passion — You have to love what you do. Not only for your own fulfillment and happiness, but also to successfully build a company while staying sane/ feeling complete. Life is too short and if you are going to designate a large portion of your time to your career and it doesn’t enhance you then this will have a negative impact on your life whether you see it directly or indirectly.
2. Strong Work Ethic — It is strictly a numbers game and how bad you want it. Obviously the goal is to work smarter than harder, but BIG success happens when you work smarter and harder. I have up my entire 20s working a hundred hours or more a week. I didn’t come from money and I had big dreams… the only way to achieve those dreams was to work harder than every other person in the room. If most people work 40 hours a week at their full time job and I can effectively work 100 hours a week, I am able to accomplish 2.5x more than they did in the same amount of time. With that being said, as mentioned above you have to love it or you will burn out.
3. Self-Love — This is two fold. Self-love means that the more complete/happy you make yourself the better you can help others and do achieve your dreams. The brighter you shine the more you will attract and that is really the goal in life. Secondly, self-love means taking care of yourself and your health. The healthier you are the more you can grow and the higher the potential you can reach. I have seen that the more that I push the limits with my health the smarter, more clear, the more creative I get. Lastly, the more present I am and the more I love myself the more good things happen and fall into place.

Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?

In full transparency I have never done anything that went against my gut feeling or that I would take back. Every action, outcome, experience has shifted me to the man I am today. Of course there are good and bad things that happen along the way, but I feel like they all had a purpose and I was able to learn and grow from them all.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them create a work culture in which employees thrive and do not “burn out” or get overwhelmed?

• Lead by example. Show up and be the person that you expect them to be. People mirror people.
• Find ways to help them improve their health — health club memberships, gyms, healthy food / options at the office.
• Switch the corporate gatherings or outings from something toxic (nights out/overeating) to something healthy. Group workouts, meditations a day at Remedy Place.
• Listen and care. People want to be heard.
• Be present in your conversations with them.
• Teach them to understand there is no reason to stress. 90% of our stressors are things we cannot control or things in the past. So if they can focus on the 10% they have control over they will be a lot more efficient with their time. It is important to feel every emotion, but sitting there stressing about stress is wasting time.

What would you advise other business leaders to do in order to build trust, credibility, and Authority in their industry?

Practice what they preach. In order to establish trust and create authentic connections you have to lead by example. On top of that, showing up as the best version of yourself and shining bright… It is captivating and people will want to be around you. If you make people feel good, happier, inspired, etc. they will want to do the same for you!

Can you help articulate why doing that is essential today?

Because not only will this make you more complete and happy, but it will also ripple success into every aspect of your life. Keep pursuing your own self-growth, use human connection to amplify it and there is nothing that will stop you.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

1. I still see a lot of people still doing it for the money. Although money will make life easier that doesn’t mean that it will make you happy. You have to find your passion and work hard towards that.
2. They have the wrong people around them. Personally and professionally. Look at who you are surrounded by and make sure they amplify you and the company. Your environment and connections will have a huge impact on the direction of your life.
3. The more they work the less they prioritize their health and take care of themselves. A regular self-care regimen to offset the stress and a good workout routine/nutrition regimen will have a positive correlation between your success and happiness. The healthier you are the better you will be able to be.
4. Lack consistency or have improper time management skills. Time is your most valuable asset outside of your health and you have to find ways to maximize your time.
5. Not being present and enjoying the journey along the way. You commonly hear when I achieve this I will be happy or when I get there that will mean I am successful and this never ends. It is so important to really enjoy the process and be grateful every step of the way.
6. Too controlling and don’t properly delatage — You cannot do everything by yourself and you are stronger as a team. You have to trust the people you hired and if you don’t they might not be a right fit.

Ok fantastic. Thank you for those excellent insights. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about How to Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur. The journey of an entrepreneur is never easy, and is filled with challenges, failures, setbacks, as well as joys, thrills and celebrations. This might be intuitive, but I think it will be very useful to specifically articulate it. Can you describe to our readers why no matter how successful you are as an entrepreneur, you will always have fairly dramatic highs and lows? Particularly, can you help explain why this is different from someone with a “regular job”?

In simple terms, being an entrepreneur is just controlled chaos. Constant change and continually being uncomfortable is what makes you grow. It is supposed to be hard and that is why there is so much more reward. In order to be a successful entrepreneur you have to continually grow and innovate or you will fail. Lastly, we have all heard that nothing worth having comes easy and that is true.

Do you feel comfortable sharing a story from your own experience about how you felt unusually high and excited as a result of your business? We would love to hear it.

Every day being in Remedy Place I am submerged in an environment that was not only once a dream, but I am surrounded by a team and guests that are all happy. Our promise is that every guest will leave feeling better when they walk in and the fact that the club is their safe place and makes them feel better brings a certain energy to the club. I am not kidding when I saw there is not a day that goes by that isn’t a pinch me moment. And to elaborate for the past 7 years of my life it has gotten continually better and better. There is a crazy flow state to the company and a weird magnetic pull to all of these things being drawn to the business and that is why I know it is meant to be. And everytime I think to myself wow this cannot get better it does. This constant loop of reassurance and watching my biggest dream come true is a high that I cannot even put into words.

Do you feel comfortable sharing a story from your own experience about how you felt unusually low, and vulnerable as a result of your business? We would love to hear it.

We opened up our club and it instantly was magic. Two months later we closed down because of Covid. I spent 9 years dreaming and working my ass off to bring this to life and there was a point that I honestly didn’t know if we were going to make it. It scared me to death and even though I worked so hard to figure it out, there was a month or so that I was hopeless and had no one to lean on. I had to stay strong from my team, the company, investors, my friends/family and for the first time in my life I did not know what to do and found myself alone.

Based on your experience can you tell us what you did to bounce back?

Luckily at that time we got the PPP loan and it at least took a portion of the financial stress away. You cannot run a business when you run out of money so this revitalized us. Next, I had to find a way to pick myself up and everyone around me. I found that it was too much to handle to try to help everyone and myself at the same time, but I learned that instead of trying to fix everyone else’s problems and focusing on fixing myself first and showing up at the brightest light in the room that everyone tended to follow. It is such a powerful thing in human nature and understanding the psychology of human interaction. The key to fixing any situation is always to look inwards first.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Things You Need To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur”? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Communication — No matter how hard it may be… the better you can improve your communication skills the easier life will be. Be vulnerable, be truthful and be present in your conversations and that will improve every interaction in your life.
2. Human Connection — Surround yourself with people that make you better. Everyone needs a strong connection with others in order to amplify their own potential.
3. Things as simple as a hug have been clinically proven to lower your cortisol (Stress hormone) levels.
4. Furthermore, being around people that are at similar stages/paths in your life that understand where you are coming from and being able to help each other through it because you can both relate to each other is extremely powerful.
5. Lastly, having people that you look up to, that you inspire you and that you can learn from is something that will also help amplify and speed up your potential.
6. Improve Your Health — The healthier you are the more successful you will be navigating through the controlled chaos of being an entrepreneur. Your health is your number one asset and without it you are just working against yourself. I promise you that improving your health will positively ripple into every aspect of your life.
7. Attract, don’t chase. This is one of the biggest things I have followed over the years. Be the brightest light in the room and in every conversation and you will become a magnet. Things will just fall in line and happen. It is a crazy phenomenon, but this is real.
8. Travel — This is not only to give yourself a break, but it is to be around new people and new cultures. This will change your perception on life and make you more well rounded. Furthermore, it will lead to more human connections, a larger network and you never know who will meet that may change your life.
9. Find comfort in being uncomfortable — The moment you realize that being uncomfortable is a sign of growth and you push into that it is a snowball effect that won’t stop.

We are living during challenging times and resilience is critical during times like these. How would you define resilience? What do you believe are the characteristics or traits of resilient people?

Being able to maintain balance while progressing. The top traits of resilient people I would say are those who are present, logical, have high emotional intelligence, and prioritize their own self-growth. Additionally, people that prioritize their health and live healthy lifestyles tend to have better mental health and that allows you to enhance the traits that I listed above.

Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Would you mind sharing a story?

100%. As mentioned in the nature versus nurture question above. I had to mature and figure out myself at a very early age by myself. These “struggles” at that time eventually led to my strong independence and internal strengths. That is why I feel so strongly about challenges and being uncomfortable because the more you have to go through in life the more resilient you will be.

In your opinion, do you tend to keep a positive attitude during difficult situations? What helps you to do so?

Always. It is the only way to be. However, the old me thought that staying positive was only being happy and excited and then as I got older I learned that all emotions are positive and by suppressing any emotion that can lead to a negative outcomes. So my rule of thumb is always to feel whatever emotion arises, process it and then react in a genuine/caring way.

It is always important to think about why you feel something and your reaction before reflecting or pushing something on others. At the end of the day we just need to have good intentions, try our best to be considerate, and overly communicate and that will help every outcome.

Can you help articulate why a leader’s positive attitude can have a positive impact both on their clients and their team? Please share a story or example if you can.

I have mentioned this multiple times in the article, but people mirror other people. If you are in a conversation and talk loudly the person you talk to will talk louder, if you talk quieter they will talk quieter, if you cross your arms they will most likely cross their arms. It is just something that we subconsciously do as humans.

This applies the same way with our attitude, our work ethic, our happiness. This doesn’t mean that every person will instantly follow your lead but over time they will start to develop the same habits/actions. This is why working on yourself and showing up the best that you can has the biggest impact on the people around you.

Ok. Super. We are nearly done. What is your favorite inspirational quote that motivates you to pursue greatness? Can you share a story about how it was relevant to you in your own life?

This is a tough one, but it is between these two:

“Attract, dont chase.”

“Watch your thoughts;

They become words.

Watch your words;

They become actions.

Watch your actions;

They become habits.

Watch your habits;

They become character;

Watch your character;

For it becomes your destiny.”

Lao Tzu

I love both of these because they both imply that we are in control of our own destiny. I know I have mentioned this throughout the entire article but the key to success is you.

How can our readers further follow you online?

IG: @drjonathanleary

Or via Remedy Place:

@remedyplace

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

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Dr Jonathan Leary Of Remedy Place On How To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.