Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Courtney Brandenburg.
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?
No one told me that opening a business from the ground up and immersing myself fully as an entrepreneur would be anything short of easy, but they did say it would be damn gratifying when you put in the work.
That is where this beautiful, challenging entrepreneurial story begins.
Hurricane Maria was a category 5 storm that quite literally changed the trajectory of my career and entire life. I was clueless as to how significantly that hurricane would course-correct every aspect of what I knew and was planning for the foreseeable future. Maria hit Puerto Rico on September 20th, 2017, a mere three months before I was to graduate from Chiropractic school in Los Angeles and move to Puerto Rico to practice with my (Chiropractor) ex-boyfriend at his office. We were not able to directly communicate for a week after the hurricane and the first words he said to me were “you have to figure out another option for when you graduate.” Less than three months before graduation, all of my plans for moving, working, and being with the love of my life, at the time, were completely shattered. I was shaken, terrified, and clueless as to what the heck I was going to do with this Doctor of Chiropractic degree now that all of Puerto Rico had been demolished. That’s when lesson #1 (of 2948239423…and that number continues to increase daily) of my entrepreneurial journey presented itself to me. Always have a plan A, B, C, D, E, and maybe even a plan F. You never know what will be thrown your way that will completely steer you clear of a potential disaster waiting to happen (more on that to come).
So, I got a plan B really quick. The fact that I didn’t fall in love with a tall, tan, muscular California guy shocked everyone who knew me, so there was really no point in staying on the left coast. My Pops always told me I had to “come back east of the Mississippi,” as my family had settled in North Carolina. So, beautiful Charleston, South Carolina it was! Close enough, but also far enough from home, by the ocean, up and coming on all cylinders, and always having a love for it in my heart…that was where I was planting my roots and becoming my own boss.
Dr. Courtney L. Brandenburg finally walked across the stage on December 20th, 2017 in Los Angeles, California as a Doctor of Chiropractic and was a resident of Charleston, South Carolina on February 4th, 2018. The “plan B journey,” if you will, had officially begun. That journey was no walk in the park…it was about to be the most insane ride of my life. My dominant, driven personality started putting in the work to open Connection of Life Chiropractic before I graduated because I wanted to fly out of those gates and serve as many people as possible…I was on fire!
A hurricane totally warped my plans and I picked up the pieces to move forward and kick ass…nothing else could possibly go wrong, right? HA! That’s precisely when the never-ending speed bumps in the road started showing up like wildfire…
The South Carolina Board of Chiropractic Examiners somehow lost my transcripts from Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and the University of Maryland, which delayed becoming licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic in South Carolina…how convenient!
The first office space I submitted a Loi for, I got denied…for reasons that I would rather not revisit.
One morning in March I woke up to an alert from Credit Karma saying that my credit score had gone down 136 points overnight! Came to find out, that someone had stolen my identity months prior and opened an account with my personal information linked to it. That sweet soul charged $5500+ of electronics to the card in my name and obviously never intended to pay for it. That folk is identity theft at its finest. Please be kind, don’t do it, it really screws innocent people’s lives up overnight for a lengthy period of time.
As a result of my identity being stolen, my credit was awful and I was unable to get a business loan until it was all settled through each of the credit bureaus. If you’ve dealt with any of the credit bureaus, you know that is a painstaking and highly unorganized process.
There was a myriad of other events that occurred over the course of those few months that caused my nervous system to be in a constant state of sympathetic overdrive. My adrenals were toast. I was exhausted. I was depressed. I was drained. I felt like I had been mentally and physically beaten to the ground, yet I hadn’t even technically started. More than anything, I did not understand why I was hitting all of these roadblocks. I was not only trying to get my practice off the ground but I was also committed daily to bettering myself on a personal level, eating well, getting adjusted, working out daily…doing all the things. What was I doing wrong? Why was Connection of Life Chiropractic not coming to fruition? Why, why, why?!
On April 28th, 2018, I received a call from my Pops while I was in Costa Rica saying my mother had a serious case of the flu and that I needed to come home to North Carolina immediately when I got back into the country. My Dad is a brilliant man and never in my life had I heard him speak with such urgency to come home besides when he told me my Mama had had a stroke a year prior. I was scared.
I will never forget walking into my house that day, my sweet Mama was gray. I knew it wasn’t the flu. Fast forward two days later I had already headed back to Charleston and I got a call from my dad that he had rushed her to the hospital. She was getting blood transfusions because her hemoglobin had drastically dropped and she was unable to walk.
They needed me home. I left the next morning before sunrise and received another call from my dad that she was on the oncology floor. It is the call that you never want to get and that rocks your world forever.
Seeing my Mama on the oncology floor at Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro was something that I wish on no one. Soul shattering. I received a phone call from my realtor that I finally got an offer on an office location. Amidst tears, I declined because my first and greatest patient was now my mother…my dreams of opening a practice were now on the back burner. She was diagnosed with the most aggressive and progressive form of blood cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
I now realized why I had hit so many roadblocks with starting my business. God and my family needed me to be my mother’s caregiver during this sacred time. My Dad had two practices, two of my brothers were still in college and another had a family, the caregiver role was on me and I accepted with gratitude.
Time was of the essence. The cancer had taken over her body. We decided to take the naturopathic route of healing and drove her to Scottsdale, Arizona to receive treatment as she was too weak to fly. A week after being there she had two seizures, was rushed to the ER four times, and then admitted to the oncology floor for 39 days. To say she is a warrior that beat the odds every single day is an understatement.
My life during 2018 and 2019 was spent between Scottsdale, Charleston, and Greensboro, caring for my mother and being the glue for my family.
Fast forward to the spring of 2019, my mother was stable and my dad gave me the push to follow through with opening my practice. On July 1st, 2019 I opened Connection Health Center in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. What a feat that was! The first week into opening my baby business my Mama was admitted to UNC Hospital and it was a downward spiral from there. On December 19th, 2019 she went dancing with Jesus. Most people with the disease she suffered from live three weeks to three months, we were blessed to have her for 19 months before her entrance into the gates of Heaven.
Within the first eight months of opening my business, I lost my mother and endured a pandemic. Those two challenges alone have taught me that I can truly do anything. Nothing is impossible and there is only greatness ahead.
I opened my dream office on January 25th, 2021 across from Hampton Park in downtown Charleston. What a journey it has been. I feel gratitude for the path I have been given and the hardships that I have endured. They have prepared me for business in a way I would have never imagined.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are here to help families restore health and live life to its’ fullest potential.
What sets our office apart from the rest is the extensive time spent training to serve you better as an individual, the use of state-of-the-art technology to hone in on what your body needs most, and the overall experience.
At Connection Health Center we look to fix the root cause through Chiropractic care We address what is limiting you from living your most optimal life. Chiropractic is a healing art that studies the relationship between the nervous system and overall health. It is dedicated to honoring the body’s innate healing power. The purpose of chiropractic care is not the treatment of conditions or diseases but rather the restoration of normal body function and optimal health. Doctors of Chiropractic utilize the spine in order to reach the nervous system, as it is the master control system of the entire body. The nervous system is comprised of the brain, spinal cord, and miles of nerves that communicate to every single cell, organ, and tissue in the body. These vital structures are protected by the spinal column and can be negatively affected due to physical, chemical, and emotional stressors.
We also offer nutrition counseling, supplementation, and food sensitivity testing.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Dad — biggest cheerleader and support system in life and business!
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@connectionhealthcenter.com
- Website: www.connectionhealthcenter.com
- Instagram: @drcourtbchiro | @connectionhealthcenter
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC84r8ov3ndpgA2XXxzQvgKA
