In this episode, we’re joined by my awesome partner, Dr. Rachel Kelly, to take you behind the scenes of building our DPC practice, without a business plan, without a roadmap, and with plenty of trial and error. Together, we share the lessons we’ve learned in resilience, and the realization that valuing our time might be the most important shift of all.

We talk about…

• Why “90% of what we’ve done has not worked, and 10% has been successful”

• The challenges of opening a DPC without a business plan

• How aesthetics fit into (and sometimes complicate) the DPC model

• The mindset shift of realizing our time is worth something

This conversation is honest, unpolished, and packed with wisdom from our real experience. It’s a reminder that the DPC journey isn’t about perfection; it’s about staying committed, learning along the way, and building a practice that truly serves our patients, our families, and ourselves.

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with a friend. Reviews help more doctors discover these conversations.

Have an idea for a future topic or guest? Email us at anne@crescendooperations.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Building your own DPC practice?

• HarmonyOps helps you streamline operations and automate the tasks that eat up your time.

• DPC Ads in Minutes shows you how to get simple, effective ads running without the overwhelm.

Both are built by a DPC doc (me!), for DPC docs.

Episode 5: Dr. Angela Andrews

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Angela Andrews of Seeds of Health DPC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She shares her leap from the system into DPC, how mentorship and faith shaped her journey, and the ways she’s building community - from rebranding her practice to leading Walk with a Doc. Dr. Andrew’s story is full of courage, practical wisdom, and the reminder that DPC gives us back time for patients, family, and ourselves.

Resources & Mentions

• Seeds of Health Direct Primary Care – sohdpc.com

• Direct Primary Care West Michigan (rebrand launching Nov 1)

• DPC West Michigan (founded by Dr. Amat)

• DPC Alliance – resources for direct primary care physicians

• Walk with a Doc – walkwithadoc.org

• Lifestyle MD Podcast – Dr. Andrews’ podcast on lifestyle medicine & patient education
  

Instagram: @AngelaLifestyleMD and @SeedsOfHealthDPC

👉 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with a friend. Reviews really help more doctors discover these conversations.

💡 Have an idea for a future topic or guest? Email me at anne@crescendooperations.com— I’d love to hear from you.

✨ Building your own DPC practice?

• ⁠HarmonyOps helps you streamline operations and automate the tasks that eat up your time.⁠

• ⁠DPC Ads in Minutes ⁠shows you how to get simple, effective ads running without the overwhelm.

They’re both built by a DPC doc (me!), for DPC docs.

Here's a sneak peek of Episode 5 with Dr. Angela Andrews. Episode 5 available on Tuesday, 9/16/25!

Please follow, share and write a review!

Dr. Heather Doty’s DPC Journey

In this episode of DPC Life, I talk with Dr. Heather Doty of Crossroads Health and Wellness about her unexpected twists and triumphs in Direct Primary Care. Heather shares how she launched her practice in North Carolina—only to be called to move her family (and start all over again) in Florida just a month later.

Heather is a family physician, pastor’s wife, and mom of six in a beautifully blended family, including two adopted teens from Ukraine. She opens up about:

• Building her DPC without debt, starting with house calls and a “go bag”

• The challenge of balancing motherhood, homeschooling, and practice ownership

• Protecting boundaries with patients, scheduling, and family life

• The loneliness and discouragement she felt in year one—and how mentorship helped her push through

• Why she added hormone consults to her practice, and how that work has become both fun and deeply rewarding

• Her best advice for moms (and all doctors) thinking about the leap into DPC
  

Dr. Doty reminds us that DPC is a “different kind of hard”—but the hardest day in DPC is still better than the hardest day in fee-for-service medicine. Her encouragement is heartfelt: lean on the community, find a mentor, and don’t give up.

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Click here to get your Free Lesson on running Facebook & Instagram Traffic ads!

• Crossroads Health and Wellness – Dr. Doty’s practice in Florida and North Carolina

• DPC Women’s Facebook Group – community support for female physicians in DPC (This is a hidden group and you need an invite to get in, so reach out to me if you want to join the group.)

• Heather Hirsch MD / Menopause & Midlife Health Academy – hormone and midlife health training
  

👉 If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. It helps more doctors discover these stories.

💡 Have ideas or questions for a future episode? Reach out! I’d love to hear from you.

✨ Building your own DPC practice?

• HarmonyOps helps you streamline operations and automate the tasks that eat up your time.
  

• DPC Ads in Minutes shows you how to get simple, effective ads running without the overwhelm.

They’re both built by a DPC doc (me!), for DPC docs.

Thanks for listening!

Episode 4: Dr. Erin Kallock

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Erin Kallock, founder of Focus Health DPC in Tacoma, Washington. Dr. Kallock shares her journey from corporate medicine to direct primary care, including what finally pushed her to make the leap, and how she built her practice while raising three kids.

We get into:

• How COVID and family life influenced her decision to step out of the system

• The reality of leaving OB behind for better balance

• Growing slowly and learning without a formal business plan

• Creative starts (including a sprinter van that didn’t quite work out as planned!)

• Why “keep going” is her best advice for new DPC docs

• Practical ways she sets boundaries with patients while still offering personalized care

Her honesty about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, and the importance of flexibility, is both refreshing and encouraging.

Resources mentioned:

• DPC mentors & books: Julie Gunther, Shane Purcell, Doug Farrago, Paul Thomas

• Communication tools: Spruce (send-later feature), EHR options like Cerbo, Akute, and Atlas

📩 Connect with Dr. Kallock: erinmd@focushealthdpc.com
🌐 Website: Focus Health DPC (site update in progress)

👉 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with a friend. Reviews really help more doctors discover these conversations.
💡 Have an idea for a future topic or guest? Email me at anne@crescendooperations.com— I’d love to hear from you.

✨ Building your own DPC practice?

• HarmonyOps helps you streamline operations and automate the tasks that eat up your time.

• DPC Ads in Minutes shows you how to get simple, effective ads running without the overwhelm.

They’re both built by a DPC doc, for DPC docs.

Welcome to the very first episode of DPC Life! I’m Dr. Anne Gonzalez—a family medicine physician, wife, mom, and now podcaster. In this episode, I sit down with my DPC partner, Dr. Rachel Kelly, to share the story of how we went from working as employed physicians in the traditional system to opening our own Direct Primary Care practice.

We talk about:

• How we first met and became practice partners

• Why the hospital system left us drained and undervalued

• The leap from “golden handcuffs” to building something better

• What we didn’t know (and had to learn fast) when starting a DPC practice

• Setting boundaries with patients and starting as you want to finish

This is our origin story - the honest truth about how scary, yet ultimately rewarding it was to make the jump.

Resources & Mentions:

• Spruce Health – for patient messaging and urgent vs. routine contact management

• DPC Ads in Minutes – helping independent doctors grow their practices

• Harmony Ops Health – tools and systems to support DPC clinics

Welcome to DPC Life ! The podcast that pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to leave the broken fee-for-service system and build a practice that fits your life.

You’ll hear stories from regular doctors who took the leap into Direct Primary Care—plus practical tips, tools, and candid conversations about what happens after you walk away from the insurance hamster wheel.

Even if you’ve already opened your DPC or you're still stuck in a system that’s burning you out, this show is here to help you take the next steps.

🎁 Want behind-the-scenes updates, bonus resources, and early access to new episodes?
👉 Click here to join our email list.

New episodes drop weekly. Hit follow to stay in the loop.

And wherever you are on the journey—your DPC family’s got your back.