Today we're replaying my coaching conversation with Dr. Jo Ann Beltre, the founder of Wander Caare Pediatrics in Epping, NH. Dr. Jo Ann is a pediatric DPC doctor with more than 20 years of experience across pediatrics, urgent care, and travel medicine, and she just made the leap from urgent care into full-time DPC. We talk about her career path from a National Health Service Corps scholarship through the New Hampshire pediatric practice she grew up in, why she left for urgent care, and what pushed her into DPC. Then we get into the coaching: how flexibility can actually confuse potential patients, why targeted ads work and boosted posts do not, and how to turn your Chamber of Commerce contacts and networking emails into a real follow-up sequence. If you're a pediatrician or a solo DPC doc in a smaller community, this one is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Leaving urgent care to go all-in on DPC while digging into savings and doing the honest math

• Why "flexible" can also read as "confusing" and how narrowing down actually brings more patients

• Home visits, medically fragile children, and finding a niche that is not oversaturated

• Meta ads vs boosting posts: the one that works and the one that just spends your money

• Turning Chamber of Commerce contacts and networking emails into an actual follow-up sequence

Practice: Wander CARE Pediatrics

Specialty: Pediatric DPC  ·  Urgent Care  ·  Travel Medicine

Opened: 2025 (mobile medicine + brick and mortar in Epping)

CONNECT WITH DR. BELTRE

Website: https://www.wandercarepediatrics.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wandercarenh/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wandercarenh

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-beltre-md/

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any pediatrician or urgent care doc thinking about DPC in a smaller community

• Subscribe so you don't miss the next check-in with Dr. Jo as WanderCARE keeps growing

🚀 Just launched or launching soon?

The Launch with Guidance, Systems and Strategies plan is the 12-week program I built for physicians who are just getting started. You get asynchronous coaching with me (one question a week, video response back) plus everything the Harmony Ops CRM does behind the scenes: automated email sequences, a website chat widget, voice AI that answers "do you take my insurance" 24/7, social media posting, forms, and surveys.

$99 per 28 days for your first three billing cycles, then $349. Only 5 spots a month, so if this is your season, grab yours.

Today we're replaying my conversation with Dr. Catherine Lok, the founder of now Well Woven Direct Primary Care. Catherine went straight from residency into DPC after eight weeks of soul searching in a wilderness survival school, and her first two years have been anything but a straight line. She had six weeks of zero patients when she first opened, then survived Hurricane Helene destroying her clinic and a life-threatening car accident right before her grand opening. What she has built out of all of that is one of the most inspiring practices in the DPC community. We talk about starting from scratch, networking, mutual aid, lab pricing, osteopathic manual therapy, and why women in DPC do things differently. If you're a resident, a med student, or a solo doc looking for a real community, this is the episode for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Going straight from residency into DPC out of a wilderness survival school in Maine

• Six weeks with zero patients, a hurricane that flooded the clinic, and a life-threatening car accident right before grand opening

• How networking through BNI, chambers, and integrative colleagues brought Catherine back from the brink

• Rupa Health, LabCorp GPO pricing, and why some DPCs are paying 20 times more for the exact same lab

• Starting the North Carolina DPC Women's Circle and why competition is the wrong mindset when 30% of NC patients don't have a primary care doctor

Practice: Well Woven Direct Primary Care (formerly RiverRock Clinic)

Location: Asheville, NC 28804

Specialty: Family Medicine (DO)  ·  Osteopathic Manual Therapy  ·  Integrative

Opened: December 2023

CONNECT WITH DR. LOK

New website: https://www.wellwovenmedical.com/

Facebook: Well Woven DPC

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any resident, med student, or new graduate thinking about DPC straight out of training

• Subscribe so you don't miss the next check-in with Catherine and the growing NC DPC community

🚀 Just launched or launching soon?

The Launch with Guidance, Systems and Strategies plan is the 12-week program I built for physicians who are just getting started. You get asynchronous coaching with me (one question a week, video response back) plus everything the Harmony Ops CRM does behind the scenes: automated email sequences, a website chat widget, voice AI that answers "do you take my insurance" 24/7, social media posting, forms, and surveys.

$99 per 28 days for your first three billing cycles, then $349. Only 5 spots a month, so if this is your season, grab yours.

Huge congratulations to Dr. Michelle Cooke, the 2026 DPC Physician of the Year. 💛 We are so proud, so inspired, and so grateful for the work she is doing at Sol Direct Primary Care in East Point, GA. This episode is a replay of our original conversation from last year, and it's a perfect look at the vision, courage, and community leadership that earned her this recognition.

Today we're replaying one of my favorite conversations from last year, and there could not be a better week to do it. Dr. Michelle Cooke of Sol Direct Primary Care in East Point, GA was just named the 2026 DPC Physician of the Year, and this episode is the exact conversation that showed me why. Michelle opened Sol DPC in May 2023 in a community that had just lost its hospital system. Instead of leaving, she doubled down and built the sacred space for Black women's health and wellness in southwest Atlanta. We get into her origin story, the moment she snapped in employed medicine, the boundaries work she teaches at the DPC Summit, and the reason niching down is the most powerful move a new DPC doc can make.

IN THIS EPISODE

• How a hospital system shutdown pushed Michelle into DPC (and freed her from her non-compete)

• Why boundaries in DPC are not about cutting off patients but about protecting the relationship

• The niching down decision that transformed Sol DPC into the sacred space for Black women's wellness

• Why speaking to everyone means speaking to no one (and how to find the population you were made to serve)

• Building community: the Atlanta DPC Mixer and why physician-to-physician support is everything

Practice: Sol Direct Primary Care (Sol DPC)

Location: East Point, GA (Southwest Atlanta)

Specialty: Family Medicine  ·  Menopause Society Certified Practitioner

Focus: Black women's health and wellness (all welcome)

Opened: May 2023

Recognition: 2026 DPC Physician of the Year

About Dr. Michelle Cooke: Michelle Cooke, MD is a board-certified family medicine physician, certified menopause practitioner, and founder of Sol Direct Primary Care in Atlanta. She is the author of What No One Told Us: The Black Woman's Guide to Menopause, written for the women who have been told their symptoms were stress, that they were too young, or handed a pamphlet when they deserved real answers. She also hosts Building DPC, a podcast documenting her first year in DPC.

📖 Get Michelle's book: https://a.co/d/03rUGvP5

CONNECT WITH DR. COOKE

Website: https://sol-dpc.org/

Podcast: Building DPC (on Spotify and all major platforms)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-cooke-md/

Instagram: Michelle Cooke, MD (@drmichellecooke)

Facebook: Dr. Michelle Cooke

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any DPC physician thinking about niching down or working on their boundaries

• Send Michelle a note of congratulations on being named the 2026 DPC Physician of the Year. She has earned every bit of it

🚀 Pre-launch or in your first year of DPC?

The Early Practice Plan is the HarmonyOps program I built for physicians who are still figuring out the systems, the messaging, and the day-to-day of running a new practice. You get help with your operations, your patient flow, your CRM, and the marketing foundation that carries you through year one.

Learn more and get started here:

https://bot.harmonyopsfordpc.com/earlypp-page

Huge congratulations to Dr. Wendy Molaska, who was recently honored with the inaugural DPC Physician of the Year Award at the DPC Summit. We could not be more proud of her leadership, her advocacy, and the DPC community she has helped shape. This episode is a replay of our original conversation, and it's a perfect look at the work that earned her this recognition.

Today's episode is a replay of one of my favorite conversations from last year, and I'm bringing it back for a reason. Dr. Wendy Molaska of Dedicated Family Care in Fitchburg, WI was just honored with the inaugural DPC Physician of the Year Award at the DPC Summit, and this conversation is exactly why. Wendy opened her practice in May 2021 out of a one-room micropractice, built a bilingual and trilingual team, and now serves one of the most diverse patient panels in DPC. She's also the past president of the Wisconsin Medical Society, testifies at the state legislature every year for DPC recognition, and somehow still runs a full-scope family medicine practice from womb to tomb.

IN THIS EPISODE

• How Wendy went from a one-room micropractice to a full team (three exam rooms, a bilingual RN, a trilingual office assistant, and a new associate physician)

• The hiring lesson she learned the hard way and why "hire slow, fire fast" isn't just a saying

• Building the most diverse patient panel in DPC (40% uninsured, 40% Latino, 20% BIPOC, 15% LGBTQ+)

• Chamber of Commerce networking that actually works, including the Latino, Black, and LGBTQ+ Chambers

• Advocacy at the state level and how to talk to both Republicans and Democrats about DPC

Practice: Dedicated Family Care

Location: Fitchburg, WI (Madison area)

Specialty: Family Medicine

Recognition: Inaugural DPC Physician of the Year Award, DPC Summit

Leadership: Past President, Wisconsin Medical Society

CONNECT WITH DR. MOLASKA

If you want to follow Wendy's work or reach out about advocacy, hiring, or building a diverse DPC panel, here's where to find her.

Website: https://familydpc.com/

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-molaska-md-faafp-990041154/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dedicatedfamilycare

Instagram: @dedicatedfamilycare

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any DPC doc thinking about hiring, advocacy work, or building a more diverse patient panel

• Send Wendy a note of congratulations on her DPC Physician of the Year Award. She has earned every bit of it

🚀 Pre-launch or in your first year of DPC? The Early Practice Plan is for you.

The Early Practice Plan is the HarmonyOps program I built for physicians who are still figuring out the systems, the messaging, and the day-to-day of running a new practice. You get help with your operations, your patient flow, your CRM, and the marketing foundation that carries you through year one. $99 per 28 days plus a one-time setup fee.

Learn more and get started here:https://bot.harmonyopsfordpc.com/earlypp-page

Today I'm coaching Dr. Maheswari Raja of Flower Mound, TX, an 18-year family physician who just walked away from her seventh job in corporate medicine and is opening Anchor Primary Care later this summer. Dr. Raja is doing what most physicians tell themselves they can't: self-funding her practice, working urgent care shifts twice a week to keep the pressure off, and building the practice she’s been dreaming about since residency. We work through her elevator pitch, the salesy feeling that keeps her from posting, her ideal patient (spoiler: it's her), and the free resources most new DPC docs have no idea exist. If you're pre-launch and trying to figure out how to talk about DPC without cringing, this coaching call is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why we sometimes feel salesy posting about our own practice, and how to reframe that as service

• The reason we're not actually posting for our family and friends, and who we should be talking to instead

• The elevator pitch formula: pain point + solution, plus a gym membership analogy that lands every time

• Building referral partnerships with pelvic PT, mental health, and nutrition without leading with the ask

• Two free business resources most new DPC docs don't know about (SBDC and SCORE)

Practice: Anchor Primary Care (opening late July / early August 2026)

Location: Flower Mound, TX (Dallas area)

Specialty: Family Medicine  ·  Obesity Medicine  ·  Menopause Care Certified

Experience: 18 years in practice, 7 jobs post-residency

CONNECT WITH DR. RAJA

Instagram: maheswari.raja.md 

Facebook:  Anchor Primary Care

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any family physician who is pre-launch and cringing at the thought of posting on social media

• Subscribe so you don't miss our six-month check-in with Dr. Raja after Anchor Primary Care opens

Just opening your DPC practice? Start with the right systems. 📋 Early Practice Plan is waiting for you. 👉 https://bot.harmonyopsfordpc.com/earlypp-page

Dr. Chelsea Johnson is back on the podcast, four months into her pediatric DPC in Liberty, MO. When we last talked, she was two weeks out from opening. Today, she's running her practice, doing weekend locums shifts, consulting for pediatric medical device companies, and prepping her teenage daughter to intern with her over the summer. We get into the surprises of the first four months, the marketing philosophy she's built (60% education about DPC, 40% about her clinic), and the brave clinical decision to take unvaccinated families that most pediatricians in her area refuse. If you're a pediatrician who has ever felt underpaid, undervalued, and stretched thin by corporate medicine, this conversation is your permission slip.

IN THIS EPISODE

• The 60/40 marketing rule: why most of Chelsea's outreach is about DPC itself, not her clinic

• Why she chose to take unvaccinated families when most pediatricians won't

• The surprise of four months in: her practice is mostly teenagers with chronic conditions

• Building multiple income streams while running DPC (locums, telemedicine, medical device consulting)

• Why DPC might be the thing that saves pediatrics

Practice: KidzMD Direct Primary Care

Location: Liberty, MO (Kansas City area)

Specialty: Pediatrics (birth through young adult)

CONNECT WITH DR. JOHNSON

IG: kidzmd_dpc

Website: https://kidzmd.com/

Email:  [email protected]

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any pediatrician who is burned out on corporate medicine and wondering if DPC is possible for peds

• Subscribe so you don't miss Chelsea's next check-in in about six to eight months

Just opening your DPC practice? Start with the right systems. 📋 Early Practice Plan is waiting for you. 👉 https://bot.harmonyopsfordpc.com/earlypp-page

Six weeks ago, Dr. Brian Bost was a telemedicine-only doc with a soft launch and a long timeline. Today, he's standing in his brand new brick-and-mortar office in Denver, recording from a window seat inside a wellness practice with an acupuncturist next door and a balcony off the exam room. This is the second call in our Hospitalist to DPC series. We cover the office search, the elevator pitch he's still building, and the painting of “The Doctor” he picked out before anything else. If you're a hospitalist or specialist watching from the sidelines and wondering whether DPC is actually doable, this conversation is proof that you can do it. 

IN THIS EPISODE

• How Brian found a brick-and-mortar in weeks instead of months (and how he found it using USA Therapy Rooms)

• Why renting inside a wellness practice instead of a medical building changed the whole patient experience

• The painting of “The Doctor” that became the symbolic anchor for the practice

• Working through the elevator pitch and finding his ideal patient: "I'm lost in the system"

• The hospital-to-home transition program: soft launch July 1, and what's still holding it up

• DPC Summit Hospitalist meetup: open invitation to anyone making the leap

Practice: B2 Direct Care, Denver CO

Specialty: Med-Peds Hospitalist · DPC physician

Facebook Group: Hospitalist to DPC  ·  ~350 members and growing

CONNECT WITH DR. BRIAN BOST

Practice: B2 Direct Care, Denver CO

Website: https://b2directcare.com/

Facebook Group: Hospitalist to DPC (search on Facebook, NPI required to join)

Instagram: b2_direct_care

📍DPC Summit Happy Hour: Dr. Brian Bost will be hosting a happy hour during the DPC Summit on July 17. For the latest event details, please visit the Hospitalist to DPC Facebook Group .

ENJOYED THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any hospitalist, ER doc, or specialist who's been told DPC isn't for their background

• Subscribe so you don't miss the next coaching call with Dr. Bost in six weeks

📲 You keep meaning to post. You're not posting.

The Harmony Ops Social Media Sprint is the 14-day program I built to get DPC practices set up and posting consistently in their own voice. No blank screen, no cringe. You get the brand voice builder, two-weeks of content prompts, a calendar to set up automatic posts, and step-by-step video walkthroughs. $99 to join. Cohorts start together so you have a support community and a real finish line.

Join the next cohort starting July 6:

https://reach.harmonyopshealth.com/sprint-home

Today my guest is Dr. Shehzein Khan, a family medicine physician in Irvine, California who launched her practice, Solace Primary Care, during her maternity leave and never went back to her panel of 1,700 patients. Dr. Khan is part of a growing group of physicians choosing to start DPC with a telehealth-first model, keeping overhead lean while building slowly and intentionally around a life that actually fits. We talk about how she heard about DPC through Instagram, why she resigned mid-maternity leave, and what it takes to set up a HIPAA-compliant telehealth practice from scratch. She explains why she believes in doing the uncomfortable thing, whether that’s posting the cringey first video, cold calling a sublease space, or launching your practice postpartum when the timing makes no sense on paper. If you’re a physician wondering whether you need a physical space before you can start, this conversation is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Telehealth first: the three things you actually need to set up and why keeping it lean matters

• Malpractice insurance for a telehealth-only practice and what to ask before you commit to a carrier

• What a telehealth DPC membership covers and how to explain labs, imaging, and outside care to patients

• Scheduling around a 15-month-old and building a practice that bends around your life, not the other way around

• Finding sublease space through physician mom groups, Facebook, Threads, and cold calls to specialists

• Social media without the perfection: posting messy, using B-reels, and letting the algorithm find your people

Practice: Solace Primary Care

Location: Irvine, CA (Orange County)

Specialty: Family Medicine

Model: Telehealth DPC (transitioning to hybrid in-person)

CONNECT WITH DR. KHAN

Website: https://www.solaceprimarycare.com

Instagram: @dr.shehzeinkhan

Facebook: Shehzein Khan

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any physician, resident, or new parent who is wondering whether telehealth DPC is possible 

• Subscribe so you do not miss any future episodes focused on telehealth 

🛑 Stop staring at the blank screen.

The Harmony Ops Social Media Sprint is the 14-day program I built to get DPC practices set up and posting consistently in their own voice. No blank screen, no wondering what to say.

Join the 14-day Social Media Sprint and get posting in your own voice.

Episode #2 in the DPC Series: From Resident to DPC Practice Owner - The Real Costs & Strategy with Dr. Claire Russell

Today my guest is Dr. Claire Russell, a family medicine resident in Hendersonville, NC who is weeks away from graduation and getting ready to open Clinic by the Sea in Morehead City, NC. Dr. Russell is part of a growing wave of new physicians choosing to step straight from residency into DPC, and she's building her practice from the ground up in a small coastal community. We talk about her childhood dreams of being a country doc, why she chose a rural family medicine residency on purpose, the messaging she's writing for her clinic, and why one should do things even if you don’t feel ready. If you're a resident, a student, or anyone wondering whether you have to wait years before you start, this conversation is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Going straight from residency into DPC and why more new graduates are choosing this path

• Why Claire picked a rural family medicine residency to get the broad scope DPC requires

• The brand voice behind Clinic by the Sea: hanging your shingle and being a family doctor again

• Enrollment fee or no enrollment fee, and the timing of opening the wait list

• "Do it scared": why your landing page does not need to be perfect to go live

Practice: Clinic by the Sea (opening October 2026)

Location: Morehead City, NC (Carteret County)

Specialty: Family Medicine 

Residency: MAHEC Hendersonville (graduating June 2026)

Wait List Opens: July 2026

CONNECT WITH DR. RUSSELL

Website: https://www.clinicbytheseadpc.com launching summer 2026 

Instagram: @clinicbytheseadpc 

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any resident, med student, or new graduate considering DPC straight out of training

• Subscribe so you don't miss Dr. Russell's next check-in once Clinic by the Sea opens its doors

📲 Stop staring at the blank screen. 

The Harmony Ops Social Media Sprint is the 14-day program I built to get DPC practices set up and posting consistently in their own voice. No blank screen, no cringe. 

Join the 14-day Social Media Sprint and get posting in your own voice. 

I'm coaching Dr. Shikha Joshi of Bloom Direct Primary Care in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Joshi is four months into her DPC after nine years as a hospitalist, and she's doing what most early-stage DPC docs are doing: showing up at vendor events, talking to anyone who will listen, and wondering why it isn't converting faster. We dig into her elevator pitch and rebuild it from scratch around patient pain points, then work through the follow-up rhythm, the messaging on her social media, and how to spot which of her referral partners is actually her best one. If you're early stage and the marketing piece is the part keeping you up at night, this coaching call is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

• How to rebuild your DPC elevator pitch around patient pain points instead of features

• The cocktail party formula: "You know when... well, at my practice..." and why it works

• Why the fortune really is in the follow-up, and how often is actually too often

• Niching down as a generalist: speaking to one ideal patient without excluding everyone else

• How to figure out which of your referral partners is your strongest, and what to do with that

Practice: Bloom Direct Primary Care, Buffalo NY

Specialty: Internal Medicine (also Lifestyle Medicine and Obesity Medicine certified)

Background: 9 years as a Hospitalist

Launched: January 2026

CONNECT WITH DR. JOSHI

If you live in the Buffalo area and want to learn more about Bloom Direct Primary Care, or if you're a fellow DPC physician who wants to follow her work, here's where to find her.

Website: https://www.bloomdirectpc.com/

Instagram: @shikhajoshimd

https://instagram.com/shikhajoshimd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583881385029

ENJOY THIS EPISODE?

• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Share with any DPC doc who is still rewriting their elevator pitch in the car on the way to a networking event

• Subscribe so you don't miss the next coaching call or guest conversation

𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤.

Get started with the 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻.