Rachel Huston Traynor opened The Body Lab in 2020.
A year out of chiropractic school. Business loan signed. Lease signed. Then the pandemic hit.
She opened anyway — because she didn’t have a choice. The race had started.
Five years later, The Body Lab is a multidisciplinary wellness collective in Lincoln, Nebraska with a full patient book, 340+ five-star reviews, and a 24-hour recovery studio that runs on a flat monthly membership.
In this episode, Jake sits down with Rachel to talk about what “slow and steady” actually looks like in a healthcare practice — cash-pay model, word-of-mouth marketing, and the long, quiet work of getting reviews one personal ask at a time.
In Rachel’s words:
“I’ve tried the fast and furious thing and all it got me was intense, cellular-level burnout. Slow and steady, to me, means doing the foundational, often boring, things in your business that WORK, doing them well and often, and being really patient.”
Key Takeaways
- Word of mouth is 90% of the pie. Stop trying to win the other 10% at the expense of the core thing.
- “Medical purgatory” is real — and a cash-pay, flat-rate model is one way out of it.
- You don’t get 340 five-star reviews by hoping. You ask — one patient at a time, by name.
- Provide value for free. The people doing your stretches on Instagram are the ones who book when something actually hurts.
- Your website should make someone think “they understand my problem,” not “look at all their awards.”
- Get the right people on the bus. Rachel’s first PT hire found her — through an Instagram DM.
Episode at a Glance
Rachel opened The Body Lab in 2020 and built it into a multidisciplinary wellness collective — chiropractic, physical therapy, personal training, nutrition, and a 24-hour recovery studio — by doing the foundational work consistently for five years. No hacks. No viral moments. Just a clear problem to solve, a cash-pay model that removes friction, and a personal review ask that compounded into 340 five-star reviews and a fan-base of repeat customers.
Action step: Send a personal email to 10 of your best clients this week. Not a QR code on the wall. Not a mass email. Ten individual asks — by name — for a Google review, with the direct link pasted in.
Main idea: The most valuable marketing channel is usually the one already working. For The Body Lab, that’s word-of-mouth referrals from patients who trust them. Instead of chasing radio ads or Facebook campaigns to grow the other 10%, Rachel doubles down on giving the 90% a better experience — so they tell more friends.
Why it matters: Every small business has a version of this. A channel that consistently delivers the right kind of customer. The slow and steady move isn’t diversifying into every new channel — it’s getting dramatically better at the one that already works.
Quick tool: The personal review ask. Not a sign, not a QR code — an individual email with the patient’s name, a short note about their visit, and the direct link. That’s the whole system.
Listen & Subscribe
Podcast page: https://artillerymedia.com/podcast/
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slow-steady-a-podcast-by-artillery/id1840249614
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/37ZzVcI8N7xnEDqkap2vCW
Follow along:
Instagram: @artillery_media
Jake on X: @jakekramer15
Facebook: artillerymedia
Contact us: https://artillerymedia.com/contact/
About Rachel Huston Traynor
Rachel is the founder of The Body Lab, a multidisciplinary wellness collective in Lincoln, NE that brings together chiropractic care, physical therapy, personal training, nutrition services, and recovery amenities like infrared sauna and cold plunge — all under one roof. She’s passionate about creating a transparent, collaborative, and whole-person approach to healthcare that empowers people to feel and function their best.
- Opened The Body Lab in 2020 during the pandemic — on a business loan and a signed lease she couldn’t back out of
- Grew from solo practitioner to a multidisciplinary team of chiropractors, physical therapists, personal trainers, and a dietitian
- Built a cash-pay, flat-rate model with all pricing published on the website
- 340+ five-star Google reviews — driven by a personal, one-by-one ask system
- Launched a 24-hour self-service recovery studio with cold plunge and infrared sauna on a flat monthly membership
- Ranks #1 in Lincoln for “cold plunge” search
Her mantra:
“Doing the foundational, often boring things in your business that work, doing them well and often, and being really patient.”
The Body Lab: https://thebodylablnk.com
The Body Lab on Instagram: @thebodylab_lincoln
The Body Lab Recovery on Instagram: @thebodylab_recovery
Highlights & Timestamps
00:00–03:30 — The Full Patient Book Problem
Rachel opens on an interesting position — her schedule is full enough that she’s taking a step back on new patients and shifting them to her team.
03:30–09:00 — Opening in 2020 (You Don’t Have a Choice)
The story of signing the lease and the loan right before the pandemic, and the phone call with her parents that made her open anyway.
09:00–14:30 — The Forced Pivot to Digital
Why COVID killed her original marketing plan (in-person events at CrossFit comps and 5Ks) — and how being forced onto Instagram and the website built skills that still compound today.
14:30–20:00 — The Marketing Pie Is 90% Word of Mouth
Why Rachel stopped trying to grow her radio-ad referrals and started doubling down on the thing already working.
20:00–25:30 — Medical Purgatory
The pattern Rachel writes about: the months-long loop of MDs, imaging, orthos, and cortisone shots that leaves patients frustrated and not better. And why a conservative-care-first approach usually gets better outcomes.
25:30–32:00 — The Cash Pay Case
Why flat-rate, no-insurance pricing is better for the patient and the provider — and how insurance contracts quietly change what care you’re willing to give.
32:00–38:00 — Building the Team (and Cellular Burnout)
The first 1.5 years doing everything alone. The Instagram DM that became her first PT hire. And why “right people on the bus” matters more than almost anything.
38:00–44:00 — 340 Five-Star Reviews, One Ask at a Time
The personal email system Rachel built — not a QR code, not a sign — and why asking by name still works.
44:00–End — The Website That Converts
Why The Body Lab’s website leads with “we understand your problem” instead of accolades, how StoryBrand shaped the copy, and what’s next for the practice.
Opening in 2020 Wasn’t a Strategy — It Was a Commitment
Rachel had the business plan written and the loan secured before anyone had heard the word “COVID.”
Then the pandemic hit. She remembers calling her parents.
“I was like, what do I do? And they’re like, you don’t have a choice. You got to go. You have your business loan. You signed your lease. You got to do it anyway.”
So she opened. In a physical-touch job. In a world where people were standing six feet apart.
“People voluntarily came to my clinic to be in my personal space.”
She doesn’t recommend opening during a pandemic. But she looks back on that first year with a kind of awe — at the patients who showed up, and at the accidental pivot that forced her marketing strategy onto Instagram and the website. Five years later, those are still the two channels (along with word of mouth) that drive the practice.
Sometimes the thing you didn’t plan becomes the thing that compounds.
The 90% You’re Ignoring
When Rachel and her team looked at where patients actually came from, the answer was almost uncomfortably clear.
90% word-of-mouth referral.
Not radio. Not Facebook ads. Not the events she originally planned. Friends telling friends.
“What’s beautiful about that is those are also usually better fits of clients than the people who hear about us on the radio. They’re the people who have a friend who already trusts us.”
Most businesses look at that data and ask: How do we grow the other 10%? Rachel flipped the question.
How do we grow the 90%?
Not through referral incentives or $5 gift cards. Through doing the work well enough that patients want to talk about it.
“I think it comes down to the number one way to increase your word-of-mouth referrals is to just do a really good job with the patients that you have and give them an excellent experience.”
This is slow and steady in a sentence. Get better at the thing already working.
Medical Purgatory and the Case for a Different Front Door
Rachel wrote a piece called Medical Purgatory. The premise is simple.
Someone’s back hurts. They go to their MD. They get an anti-inflammatory, maybe an X-ray, a referral to the ortho, another referral for imaging, a cortisone shot, a PT script. Three months later they’re still in pain.
“Your medical doctor is not, should not be your first stop for that.”
That’s not a shot at MDs. It’s a clarity move. MDs are trained to diagnose and prescribe — not to sit with you through ten exercises and the manual work of fixing a musculoskeletal issue.
“There’s so much research that supports conservative care — chiropractic, physical therapy. If that’s your first stop with back pain or joint pain, your outcomes are way better. You spend way less money. It resolves way quicker. And the chances of it coming back are way lower.”
The Body Lab exists to be that first stop. A clear positioning statement, backed by research, delivered without throwing shade at anyone else in the system.
That’s what good positioning looks like. Name the broken thing. Offer the alternative. Stay out of the turf war.
Why Cash Pay Actually Helps the Patient
Most of Rachel’s peers take insurance. She doesn’t. And when you hear the story, the why lands fast.
At the practice where she worked before opening The Body Lab, Rachel would spend an hour with a patient — adjust, dry needle, exercises, at-home plan. She’d submit the codes. Weeks later, the insurance company would come back and say: that’s nice that you dry-needled, but we don’t recognize that as reimbursable. We’ll pay you $15 for that appointment.
“It almost incentivizes you negatively as a provider to be like, well, I know I don’t get paid for dry-needling, so I’m not going to. It makes it so that you are not incentivized to do what’s best for your patient. It makes you do what’s best for your finances.”
Flat-rate cash pay removes that entirely. Same price no matter what’s in the session. No patient asking “how much extra for that?” No provider deciding what care to give based on what gets reimbursed.
“It just takes all of the extra crap out of the equation and allows us to have a lot of flexibility in our care.”
Jake called it a build-your-own-adventure. Same meal price regardless of what you order. The whole model is designed so that “what’s best for the patient” and “what’s best for the practice” point the same direction.
340 Five-Star Reviews Is Not an Accident
When Rachel started, she figured reviews would just happen. A great experience would naturally generate public proof.
It didn’t.
“I guess I got to ask. I guess I just have to ask, which kind of felt weird at first.”
So she started. Not a QR code on the wall. Not a generic follow-up email. A personal message to each patient by name with the direct Google review link pasted in. Two minutes of their time. A specific reference to their experience.
“I started noticing with those personal asks, I was getting reviews left and right. People were happy to do it. But unless I asked, it wasn’t happening.”
That ask system is still running today. Five years later, The Body Lab has 340+ five-star reviews — most of them with the specific keywords patients are searching (cold plunge, Lincoln chiropractor, dry needling). Those reviews don’t just build trust. They quietly feed SEO. Real humans using real keywords back to you.
“Number one, people do what you ask. Number two, if you know your craft and provide an experience that’s more than what they expected, they want to give you something.”
Stop waiting for reviews. Ask by name.
The Website That Says “We Understand Your Problem”
When Rachel rebuilt The Body Lab’s website with ARTILLERY and Brittany Downey, the framing was intentional.
Not “we have all these accolades.” Not “look at our awards.”
“Hey, we understand your problem. We’re here to fix it. This is what we do. Here’s how we do it.”
That’s StoryBrand in plain English. The patient is the hero. The Body Lab is the guide. The website exists to help the hero take the next step — a book appointment button that’s impossible to miss, paired with blogs and FAQs for the people who aren’t quite ready yet.
And it works because the website isn’t trying to be everything. It’s trying to do one thing well — move someone from uncertain to booked. Every piece of copy points there. Every client-story slide shows a face they might already know in Lincoln. Every blog post provides value up front, before anyone has paid a dollar.
“All they care about is: can you help me, have you seen this before, and is this a good fit for me?”
Your website isn’t an award case. It’s a bridge.
Call to Action
Want help building a website that earns trust, ranks for the right keywords, and turns visitors into booked appointments?
Start here.
Show Credits
Hosts: Jake Kramer
Guest: Dr. Rachel Huston Traynor (The Body Lab)
Produced by: ARTILLERY, Lincoln, Nebraska
Slow & Steady — A Podcast by ARTILLERY
https://artillerymedia.com/podcast/
