Epic Entrepreneurs

From Big Practice To Balanced Life with Christopher Wolcott

• Bill Gilliland

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0:00 | 22:26

What if the smartest way to grow is to do less, better? That question sits at the heart of our conversation with chiropractor and acupuncturist Christopher Wolcott, who left a bustling, insurance-heavy clinic in Chicago to build a focused, mornings-only, referral-powered practice in Asheville. His story is equal parts strategy and sanity: combining chiropractic, acupuncture, soft tissue work, and rehab into longer visits; setting firm boundaries around vacations and mental health; and trusting instincts to guide both clinical choices and business pivots.

We trace the decisions that shaped his new model, from selling everything and spending two years in an RV with his family to choosing Asheville for proximity to loved ones and a lifestyle that rewards presence over hustle. Chris breaks down the myths of being your own boss, explaining the real costs of no benefits and no paid time off, and why he now closes the clinic rather than running coverage roulette. He shares the hiring signals that matter—timeliness and genuine bedside manner—and how leading by example creates a resilient, low-drama culture. We also dig into his rebrand from Sunrise Wellness to Wolcott Wellness, why market habits should guide your schedule, and how honesty—turning away cases he can’t help—built a reputation that fuels consistent word-of-mouth.

Looking ahead, Chris sketches a practical vision for corporate wellness: on-site maintenance care, accessible acupuncture points, and quick adjustments for teams at craft manufacturers and blue-collar workplaces. It’s prevention-forward, relationship-rich, and an authentic extension of the approach that made his clinic thrive. If you’re craving sustainable growth, clearer priorities, and a business that truly fits your life, you’ll find hard-won insights and actionable steps here. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review—we love hearing what landed for you.

Guest contact info:

Drwolcott@gmail.com

www.wolcottwellness.com 

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/


SPEAKER_00:

All right, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I'm Cliff McCray, filling in for Bill Gillan with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners. I'm excited to have Christopher Wilcock with Sunrise Wellness as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Chris, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and what primary products and services you offer the community.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, well, thanks for having me. And I appreciate the opportunity to share. I'm Christopher Wolcott. I'm a chiropractor and acupuncturist. And I've been in practice since 2003. And uh I do a different approach to musculoskeletal health than some of my colleagues. I spend a lot of time with patients and combine acupuncture and chiropractic and soft tissue work and rehab. And uh my goal has always been try to get people uh better as quickly as possible. And uh when I do that, they uh then send people my way.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So majority of your your new business is from referrals? Is that what you're saying? Uh yes, all of my new businesses from referrals. Nice, nice. Okay. So yeah, Riv, really appreciate you interviewing that. So, yeah, if you had to start your business from square one, would you do anything differently?

SPEAKER_01:

And what would you do? Well, I kind of did, uh, to be honest, when I graduated chiropractic school in 2003, I bought a practice and it was a big practice with six rooms and three massage therapists and physical therapists and uh another Cairo uh as I uh went along and a front desk staff and we did insurance billing and I did that for 20 years and then I sold that practice and we left Chicago, my wife and I. And uh when I when we landed in Asheville, uh I wanted to do something different that was less stressful, lower volume. And so now I'm just a one-man show, and uh it's great. Um and I typically just work mornings now, and so I I I have kind of uh done it completely differently and shaped a life that's much more relaxing and much less stressful.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. So why Astral coming from Chicago?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh well I've we've got family in Virginia and Florida, and Chicago is far from both. And so once we had our daughter, we decided we wanted to um get closer to family uh within driving distance. And so um we sold everything. We had a condo and a house and my practice, and uh so we sold all of that and got rid of most of our stuff, and we live in an RB for two years, so that was quite an adventure. Um and we had our daughter with us and homeschooled kindergarten and first grade. So we had only planned for a year, but COVID hit uh right in the middle of our trip. So uh we decided, well, there's not a whole lot to go back to. So uh and I had been to Asheville, I grew up in the mountains in Virginia, and so I had been to Asheville as a kid, and so that was a destination that you know I definitely wanted my wife to see. She had never been. And on our third trip through Asheville, we just never left.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay, yeah, I hear that a lot. That's you know, Asheville's a a great area. So uh, so what have your biggest learnings been as an owner since you started your business?

SPEAKER_01:

Hmm. Biggest learnings. Well, trusting my instincts uh is something that you know I've always questioned, but it seems like they're they're usually right. And so um now I've I'm I'm more inclined to trust my instincts uh than I ever have been, because when I armchair quarterback it and look back at my career, um, you know, when I when I had the feeling that something was fishy, it usually was. Um and uh when I had a feeling that there was a business opportunity that I either took or didn't take, uh it usually was. And of course, my instincts aren't always right. Um, but it's kind of that Malcolm Gladwell blink thing um where uh usually your gut is right. So uh so that's one big one for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business?

SPEAKER_01:

Would you say um well, I don't like to be cynical, but uh one of the common misconceptions I think is that uh people often say, oh, it must be nice to be your own boss. And uh that's true unless your boss is a tyrant. So um, you know, I I I take my practice very seriously. I get very invested in uh every single case, and you know, that can sometimes keep you up at night, but um but yeah, I think that the biggest misconception is that owning a small business is uh lots and lots of free time. Uh, and I I don't think that's the case for most small business owners. And they might even tell you um and probably have told you that um it takes a whole lot of time and commitment to run a small business. And you know, you I I I I also try not to look at the grass, you know, looking greener on the other side of the fence, but you know, it's tough to not have any benefits and uh you know no paid time off. And so every time you go on vacation, that's it's like a double whammy. So I guess those would be drawbacks.

SPEAKER_00:

From owning a business. Okay. So how do you handle taking vacations while running a business?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it's it's different now. Um, when I was in Chicago, I would hire somebody and eventually I had a colleague who would just cover the practice for me. Um, and I had some, you know, I had some friends and we would cover each other's practices. So uh, but I would never shut down. Um but you know, now I just shut down and and in this lower volume, and I see a different type of patient now. It's it's people that are mostly just trying to take care of themselves and coming in, you know, on a more routine basis. And so it's more flexible, but but now I just I just close the doors and you know that's a a week of lost revenue, but uh it's good, it's good for you and so uh and absolutely necessary to to stay mentally healthy.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay, and you do a good job of kind of shutting off and you know, not really taking those kind of calls and stuff like that while you're on vacation or much better now than I used to.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, you know, as you get older, you start to prioritize, or I don't know if everybody does, but you know, I've tried to prioritize, you know, time and time with my family and time with my friends um over, you know, financial success and business success. And fortunately, you know, I'm able to do that because I've I've experienced a lot of financial success already. So it makes it a little easier to to refocus my priorities.

unknown:

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So yes, now now I'm quite good at it.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, what have you attributed to your growth so far in your business?

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I I think my my from the very get-go, I wanted to provide a quality product. And fortunately, it's it, you know, it turns out that I'm I'm good at what I do. Um and in this particular business, you've either got to be a really good business person or you've got to be really good clinically and have at least some business sense. And I think I fall into that second category where I, you know, I provide a really good product and you know, I had a database of 6,000 patients, and I know that anytime any of them uh had any issues, or if they knew, you know, had friends or family with any issues, uh, they were given my card, knowing that I would, you know, uh treat that person well and try to get them better as fast as possible, and certainly not try to take advantage of them financially. Um, in addition, you know, I I'll turn away cases too. If I don't think I can help, I'm completely transparent and honest. Um, and that, you know, being genuine with people, I think, uh, you know, is a successful model, but it takes longer um than you know some other models, but but it works in the long run. So now I'm in my midway through my fourth year um in Asheville, and you know, that's when it really starts to gain some momentum, is um, you know, when I've had my hands on people for the last three years. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean it says a lot about your business. You know, obviously that you know you said all of your new business comes from referrals. You know, what do you uh I mean obviously that attributes to something that you're doing, and obviously you're making a good relationship with these people. Is that correct? Yes, totally correct. Yep. Okay. So how do you balance your personal life with the demands of running your business?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um, I think setting my schedule. Um, I think I mentioned already that uh I try to get out of here at one every day. And you know, actually my my business is being rebranded. It's technically sunrise wellness, but uh I rebranded it as Wokout Wellness, and it's officially changing. Uh, and it's a funny story that you can edit out uh if you if you want. But when I was trying to name my business, you know, I I think a business name is an important. And uh so I kicked around some ideas and I came up with sunrise wellness thinking, well, I'll work seven to one. Um, but I never really liked sunrise wellness. Um and uh for the the primary reason that I I I thought it sounded a bit like a retirement home and or a rehab center. Um, but when I polled people, uh people liked it. And so uh I ended up going with sunrise wellness. And you know, and when I checked with the state, there wasn't a sunrise wellness anywhere in North Carolina, and so I I launched it as sunrise wellness. But as it turns out, uh Ashvillians uh aren't prone to uh getting up that early. You know, that concept uh didn't really pan out that well. And you you you know the uh Westgate shopping center where the the Earth fair is. Yes, uh sure enough, man. It wasn't three months after I launched my business that Sunrise Rehabilitation Center opened in Westgate, and so all of a sudden the whole state had no sunrise wellness, and uh now there's two. There's a sunrise wellness rehabilitation center and a uh sunrise wellness, which is mine. So I'm officially rebranding to walk out wellness.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, yeah, and going back to what you were saying about about uh you know Asheville and not getting up too early. I mean, I bet you that's a big difference from Chicago, correct?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I would say the majority I'd see the majority of my patients from seven to nine, and then again from like five to seven, but it's because every you know, we were on the north side near Wrigley Field, and you know, everybody was taking the train downtown to work, and so um yeah, so I I thought that would work here, but I think Ashville has a lot of people who work from home, and so yeah, no, no, you're right, you're right.

SPEAKER_00:

So uh what I mean, you know, I know you said you don't have any employees currently, but when you were back in Chicago and you did have some employees, you are you potential employees, what did you look for anything in particular, like any special qualities that they had or personality traits?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that evolves, you know. I I I had no managerial experience, and so um, so yes, I I you know, as I as I got better at hiring people, I would certainly look for, you know, um uh things like timeliness, um, which really you know, I'm pretty laid back um at the end of the day. Um, but but you know, in the interview, I would say, yeah, especially to therapists, you know, you you can't be late no matter what, you just can't be late because it throws a wrench in the entire day. Um, you know, because we were seeing 40 or 50 people in a day. And um, you know, if a massage therapist had six or seven, you know, clients on the on the docket back to back to back to back, if they were late to work, uh the whole day gets, you know, uh thrown out of whack. And so uh so I would try to filter for that um in the hiring process. Um, you know, and then there's that there's that adage that you can you can teach skills, but you can't teach personality. And so um I don't I would always try to hire friendly people uh with good bedside manner. Um, because you don't want, you know, especially in a small business, you you you certainly don't want any toxicity because it can really ruin a uh, you know, when there's five, six, seven people under one roof and a thousand square feet. Uh that's not a lot of space to breathe. So uh you want everybody to get along well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. So you said you're pretty laid back as far as your style. So how do you use that to foster a positive and productive work environment? You do anything in particular?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think I would uh you know, I I think I would always try to give positive feedback. And even if it was critic critical feedback, you know, I I I would try to shape it into something, you know, positive and fall forward and fail forward. Um if if we could, you know, and uh and and I always approach it as a team, you know, we we we're a team. Um, so you know, things like at the end of the day, you know, I'm gonna grab a broom, I'm gonna grab the trash, like we're we're we're all gonna try to get out of the office. Um I don't just finish with my patient and then out I go. So, you know, try to, you know, try to foster a team environment as much as I can. But but again, you know, I I don't I don't know if I was a good manager. I know I've certainly made some bad decisions as a manager. Um, and so because of that, I you know, I kind of wasn't sure I wanted to manage people again. But I did have loyalty. Um you know, one of one two of the people that I had, I think in the late, like maybe 2010, they're still at the practice. So um so that that seems like an indicator that it wasn't wasn't all bad.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're showing some loyalty, so that's good. Um all right, yeah. So I appreciate that. So now we're going ahead into the quick fire round. So basically, what's going to happen here is I'm going to say one word, and um, and I just want you to answer it best you can as to how it how that one word fosters into running your business. Your answer doesn't have to be one word, but I'm just gonna give you one word and how it and how it uh fits with your business. So first word is education.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh education. Well, I'm an educator um by nature. I taught anatomy and physiology, and I worked in the research department for 10 years uh and was on faculty. And I think that probably lends itself to me rambling too much in front of patients and uh telling them too much about what's going on, then they probably even care to know.

SPEAKER_00:

Planning.

SPEAKER_01:

Planning, I'm not a great planner. I am a great procrastinator, though, and uh so I'll put things off as much as possible. But um my wife travels a lot for work, and so that has forced me to become a better planner, especially with kids and dog and um you know managing my work schedule.

SPEAKER_00:

So inspiration.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I do like inspirational things like coaching. Um, I love uh self-help books, things like emyth and atomic habits and seven habits of highly affected people, and um so I do like inspiration.

SPEAKER_00:

Commitment.

SPEAKER_01:

Another for commitment, commitment, commitment to providing uh quality care no matter what.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Well, I appreciate that. That's the end of the quick fire round. So uh just a couple last questions here to wrap things up. What words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh business owners looking to grow. Um I don't know if I'm the one to be giving advice since I've kind of downsized the business instead of growing the business.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I mean, how'd you get there? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's true. Um, yeah, when we're in a growth phase, um you've got to keep you know expectations realistic. I think, you know, I I've I've I've seen a lot of people get almost too gung-ho. Um, you know, they'll they'll set very lofty expectations. And um I I think setting achievable goals and focusing more on the process for how to achieve those goals, um, and not on the goal itself. Like, what are you gonna do uh each and every day uh to to get to that goal uh rather than looking months down the road uh and you know looking at the goal, uh trying to do something every day, you know, maybe you know, first thing in the morning and then again, you know, before you leave work, you know, what are you doing to achieve those goals every single day on an incremental uh level rather than from a from a macro view?

SPEAKER_00:

And what's the next big thing for Wolcott Wellness? Retirement, I hope. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I don't know if this business model um you know, I don't know if this is a type of business model that could be scaled uh very well, although I have uh kicked the kicked around that idea. Um so but uh a a goal I do have for this business is I'd like to I'd like to take it on a corporate level. I'd like to find some, you know, you know larger small companies or mid-sized companies that I could bring a corporate wellness model to the workspace um and you know just do like maintenance care, um, where I I go there and you know maybe do some uh easily accessible acupuncture points and or you know uh quick adjustments for anybody that uh is interested, you know, and then if if people need more intensive care, then I could, you know, invite them back to the clinic uh for that. So uh but I think that'd be a lot of fun for me personally. Um and I don't I don't know if that's gonna be a a growth model for me, but I think it'd be a fun way to practice, like you know, I I think of places like New Belgium or Sierra Nevada or um, you know, or Eagle's Nest Outfitters, you know, but places like that, l local businesses that are cool and you know have kind of a blue collar workforce that. I can provide a service, but also, you know, diversify what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And lastly, what's the best way for someone to find you or get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh well, I'm all over the internet. Um, sometimes it's misleading because you'll find a lot of Chicago, but um uh but my web address, walkoutwellness.com, pretty easy to remember.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect, perfect. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, thank you so much for being a part of the community and for all that you're doing. We certainly wish you continued success in 2026.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, thanks for having me. This was fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, thank you very much. Appreciate your time.