#237 Hug Them at Check Out | Kristin Oja, CEO and Founder of STAT Wellness

A 51-year-old executive was about to be put on a stimulant for the first time in her life. She had spent a decade running things, and suddenly she couldn't focus. Her primary care doctor sent her to a psychiatrist. Instead, she went to STAT Wellness, ran a hormone panel, and found out she was in perimenopause. Nutrients, hormone replacement, a cleaner diet, and the brain fog was gone. No stimulant. She's a Doctor of Nursing Practice, family nurse practitioner, personal trainer, and founder of the nation's first functional medicine and movement practice, with eight locations across Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and two more coming by year's end. While everyone else scales telehealth, she's scaling brick and mortar. Her reason is simple: she wants to hug her patients at checkout.In this live session with Bart Berkey, Kristin talks about the "peace bubble" that keeps her steady while running three kids and ten locations, why her intake goes all the way back to her patient's mother's pregnancy, and the quote that named her podcast and her whole philosophy: little by little becomes a lot.Key Takeaways1. Keep the peace bubble. Kristin's answer to "what do you do that most people don't" wasn't about business. It was internal harmony. Three kids, ten locations coming, constant fires, and she stays aligned through breathing and a deliberate practice she calls her peace bubble. The external chaos is survivable because the internal state isn't.2. Scale the hug, not the app. Everyone is scaling tech and telehealth platforms. Kristin is scaling brick and mortar, on purpose, at 1,000%. She wants to meet her patients, hug them at checkout, and be their third space, the place that's neither work nor home. In a world optimizing for frictionless, she's optimizing for presence.This episode features Kristin Oja, Founder of STAT Wellness and host of the Little By Podcast. STAT Wellness offers telemedicine nationwide and complimentary 15-minute consultations. Learn more at www.statwellness.com, and connect with Kristin through the Little By Podcast.