Exploring Life & Business with Aaron May of May Family Chiropractic

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron May.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I never received chiropractic care growing up. It wasn’t until I was serving my church mission in my early 20s that I received my first chiropractic adjustment. It felt AMAZING! I knew I wanted to help others feel what I felt.

After my mission, I married my wife Natalie, and began my educational journey. If you would have told my teenage self that I would grow up to earn a doctorate, I never would have believed you. I graduated high school and didn’t plan on attending college. It wasn’t until I returned home from my church mission that I thought about going to college.

I did my undergrad in Rexburg Idaho and graduate school in St. Louis Missouri. Traveling from St. Louis to my parent’s new home in South Carolina, my family was drawn to the East TN/North Carolina area. It is beautiful here. As graduation was coming, I started to look more closely into either opening my clinic or buying an existing one. Coleman Family Chiropractic was in the beginning stages of listing their practice for sale when I started my hunt. I came out and shadow the clinic, visited the area, and I was sold. The people in East TN are heartwarming and down to earth. I knew it was a great place to raise my (then) family of 6. This was how May Family Chiropractic came to be in East TN.

The business started rocky. I had a lot to learn about running a business, having employees, and the demand for a full doctor’s schedule. Thankfully, I knew I didn’t know it all and I’ve used a wonderful business management company, Integrity Doctors, since before I owned my practice. They help advise me, but I ultimately get to choose how to run my practice. We had some learning curves and I’m still learning. Things to not do and things that work. The first 2-3 years of our practice were scary, but I’m grateful for everything I have learned. Since then we have grown our practice 4times over. We have a great office culture now and strive to always put our patients first.

We also have our “Give Back Movement” where we donate our first-day fee to a local charity. The charities we choose are generally children’s needs-based. They are the rising generation and we want to make sure to help them to better the future of our communities and Nation. We have donated to places like Kingswood Home for Children, Food on Foot, Isaiah 117 House, Daily Bread, MATS, Central Services, our local schools, our local K-9 division, and more.

I’m grateful to say we just opened our second practice in April of this year, 2023, in Jefferson City. We hope to open our third clinic in 2025.

Why do we want to grow? We want to end the opioid epidemic. It is heartbreaking to see these individuals get prescribed opioids for their back and neck pain when Chiropractic can help them without getting them addicted to substances. 59% of opioids that are prescribed are written for back and neck pain. We want more people to know chiropractic can help them. We don’t want them addicted to opioids. It’s heartbreaking to see how addiction destroys their life and their families’ lives. It is a large problem and it continues into other drugs. Over 74% of heroin addicts say that they started with prescribed opioid medication.

Our dream is to end the opioid epidemic by opening up 5 more clinics by the end of 2028. We want people to know chiropractic care can help them and we want them to receive the best chiropractic care imaginable.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been smooth, but worth it. Some of the struggles were my pride. I wasn’t willing to make certain changes that I needed to make. I thought I just needed to be an amazing chiropractor and people would come. That’s not how business works. There are a lot of amazing adjusting chiropractors who are starving.

Things we had to learn were staffing. How to find the right kind of people and how to train those people to give great care to our patients. Another thing was coming up with systems and procedures so every patient receives constant great care that is also personalized. Then we have to hold our team accountable for these things.

I had to learn to be a great leader, not a boss. I also had to learn to hire people to make up for what I lacked.

As you know, we’re big fans of May Family Chiropractic. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We strive to give a 5start service to every patient. We want them to feel heard and seen. We specialize in chiropractic care, specifically the Cox Flexion/Distraction technique. This is amazing for low back pain and as far as we know, we are the only chiropractic company in East TN that offers it.

We are known for our personable, happy service. One of our Google reviews said …”it feels like Cheers when you enter there”. We are also known for our donations back to our local charities. We are proud to serve our patients and our community. We want to lift it and help it be better.

Our first-day services include consultation, initial exams, and an x-ray (if needed) all for only $40. We then donate this $40 to a local charity as part of our “Give Back Movement.” The first visit with us is all about evaluation because the doctors want to figure out where the patient’s health is so we can move forward swiftly and safely.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Integrity Doctors (management company): they have helped me learn and grow as a business person. They help me see holes I need to fill or pride I need to get over. They help identify possibilities that I might not have thought of on my own.

My wife, Natalie. I hold down the fort in patient care, but she helps to run all other aspects of the business. From payroll, accounting, office culture, HR, advertising, growth, and expansion…she does it all. Our business wouldn’t be where it is now without her.

My team. Without every one of our amazing employees, we wouldn’t have gotten this far. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. I give my employees tools to be successful and thankfully they chose to use them and become their best selves.

Pricing:

• $40- first visit
• Discount to self-pay (no insurance) patients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.maychiropractictenn.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mayfamilychiropractic AND https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091503587050

Image Credits
Ashley Lodge Photography