.png)
Shine On Success
Shine on Success is a dynamic, story-driven podcast where extraordinary entrepreneurs, visionary leaders, and resilient change-makers share their journeys to success, revealing both the challenges and the strategies that led to their breakthroughs. Each episode offers a unique blend of inspiring personal stories, practical business insights, and actionable advice, allowing our guests to connect with an engaged, growth-oriented audience ready to be motivated and uplifted. By joining us, you’ll not only have the opportunity to showcase your expertise and inspire listeners but also to be part of a powerful platform that celebrates ambition, innovation, and the courage to turn dreams into reality.
Shine On Success
From Challenges to Breakthroughs: Redefining Healthcare and Leadership
In this inspiring episode of Shine on Success, host Dionne welcomes Nick Schwarzrock, a visionary entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in sales, marketing, and technology within the medical device industry. From navigating billion-dollar mergers to spearheading innovations in healthcare, Nick's journey is a masterclass in resilience and forward-thinking.
Nick shares insights on balancing work and family as an older parent, the power of embracing failure, and the critical role of innovation in building lasting success. Dive into the transformative impact of AI, telemedicine, and connected technologies in modern healthcare, and learn how these advancements are saving lives and reshaping patient care.
This episode is packed with lessons on persistence, leadership, and staying grounded in values—whether you're an entrepreneur, a leader, or simply someone seeking inspiration in tough times. Listen now to gain actionable wisdom and fresh perspectives from a true pioneer in healthcare innovation.
Listen, subscribe and share -
Connect with Nick here:
Website: www.advancedrecover.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nesrock11
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nesrock11/
Connect with Dionne Malush
- Instagram: @dionnerealtyonepgh
- LinkedIN: /in/dionnemalush
- Website: www.dionnemalush.com
- Facebook: /dmalush
- LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/dionnemalush
Welcome to Shine on Success. Today. We're thrilled to have Nick Schwarzrock with us. With over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and technical roles in the medical device industry, nick has been instrumental in driving growth, scaling startups and navigating major mergers and acquisitions, including deals totaling over $2.4 billion, with companies like SpineTech and Abbott Spine. Nick's expertise spans healthcare reimbursement, fda regulations and connected technologies, placing him at the forefront of healthcare innovation. Today, we'll explore Nick's journey, his lessons and his vision for the future of healthcare. Get ready to be inspired by his insights. Welcome, nick. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing wonderful. Thanks for having me, Dionne. I'm really excited about being here.
Speaker 1:Oh good, I'm so glad and you know we find people all across the world and just amazing the stories that we get out of these podcasts. So the very first question that I always like to ask is what is one thing you would like people to know about you?
Speaker 2:I'm, you know. I think that one of the places I like to start are the things that are most important, and so I'm a husband and father, I've got a beautiful one-year-old daughter that has changed my life for the better, and I'm a serial entrepreneur. So, you know, I'm one of these people that keeps going back into the trenches. No matter how many times I get hit in the head, I get back up and I keep going.
Speaker 1:So that's totally the point of this whole show is the people getting you know down and getting back up. And the thing is it happens to all of us that are entrepreneurial. Some people don't get back up, but obviously you do. So can you just share a little bit about your journey and how you got started in the medical device industry?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I kind of was interested in two things when I was trying to plan my career as much as one does. I was interested in technology and medical device. I grew up in a family of clinicians, really. My mother was a registered nurse and my father went to medical school, decided not to practice as a physician and went into the medical device and pharmaceutical arenas. So I had some, you know, day-to-day contact and that, I think, is what's pushed me over the edge. Little did I know, you know, further on in my career that technology and medical device would kind of come together for what I'm working on now. But that's kind of how I got started and you know, I think that the passion that really drove me in medical device was the ability to help patients and people and do something more than you know, the paycheck and the career advancement and the you know, the plaques on the wall.
Speaker 1:That sounds interesting. So you're doing this. Now you have a one-year-old and that's, that's a lot right? Totally different life. I don't have kids, but you know, my husband just had grandkids with his daughter, had twins. So I can't even imagine what that's like, but I know as a you know, working and having a, having a one-year-old, has to be challenging.
Speaker 2:It is. I think all of us strive for work-life harmony. I've found that work-life balance isn't a good word. What you want to say is like harmony or you know. So it doesn't necessarily have to balance, it just has to be harmonious, and I'm very blessed. My wife and I met each other later in life and we really wanted to have a child and we recently did, and so we're older parents, but we're thrilled to do it and I think it's a challenge but it's definitely worth it and very rewarding, and I come to work every day for them.
Speaker 1:That's really great. So you've been involved in a lot of different major mergers and acquisitions. What was the experience like and what are some lessons that you took away from that?
Speaker 2:You know, I think every merger and acquisition that I've been a part of has been a little bit different and I've had, you know, in each acquisition. I've had greater responsibilities in some and closer to the deal. You know, I think that one of the lessons is just, you want to pick. If you're in a position to pick, you want to pick the people who are on your team and who are around you with your investment bankers and your attorneys and regulatory folks if you're in a regulated industry like medical device. And then communication. You know it's funny how many of these lessons really go back to some of the real basic things about business. So good communication is crucial in deals and building relationships while you're working through those deals.
Speaker 2:I've been a part of deals that have gone through and I've been a part of deals that fell apart and I think, universally it's those relationships and that communication that keeps them going. And you know, just like anything in life, you know people are when businesses are being bought, there's a lot of money that changes hands, there's a lot of pressure, there's a lot of work and you know cold feet is normal part of the process. And so you got to, you know, have the communication pathway to make sure that you can work through those things, to keep deals on the table, because a lot of times these deals, a lot of times, are once in a lifetime type things and usually they have a profound impact on the finances of the people that are involved. And so hire a good team and build those relationships and communication. Those are the crucial aspects in my mind. The rest of it is just numbers on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1:So we talk about deals not going through and then you put in a lot of work, right, and I mean, I know in real estate you know we don't get paid till it's over, right. So you're talking about kind of the same thing, in a way, but way bigger, way bigger. And so how do you get through that Like when there's something that you've worked so hard on and the deal doesn't come together? What inside of you happens to help you pick up the pieces and get back up?
Speaker 2:You know I can talk specifically about that, but from like sort of a macro sense. One of the things that I'm really passionate about is there's a word failure that in our country or in our society, has this very negative connotation to it, and I try and push all the teams that I'm a part of to embrace failure rather than be afraid of it. It's like a paint that gets on you and you can never wash it off. And I'm a big Elon Musk fan and one of his quotes and I'm going to butcher it here but the idea of it is that if you're not failing, you're not innovating enough, and I think that there is like a holy trinity of innovation, success and failure, and they are all tied together.
Speaker 1:And as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:To me, what you're really doing is innovation. Everything that I do, I'm trying to innovate business systems, the way we're approaching markets, products it's not limited to product development and so this concept of failure, I think it's. You can't be successful unless you're failing, and the only failures that are bad are the ones that you do over and over and don't learn from the lessons that each failure brings you. So, to circle back to your question, you know you need to learn from everything that happens. I was a part of a deal that was supposed to close right at the end of I think it was 2020 or 2021, right in the middle of COVID. It was supposed to close right before Christmas and the deal fell apart sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So we were a month from a deal. It was over $100 million and it really was poor communication. You know the relationships where they needed to be to sort of get through things and COVID was not a help. You know people.
Speaker 2:Medical Device historically has been an industry that is recession-proof or was viewed as recession-proof, and COVID really changed that, unless you were in some very specialized pieces of that market where you're doing ventilators or you know something that was directly related to treating COVID.
Speaker 2:But otherwise, you know, elective surgeries were down, hospital admissions were down, you know. So it's sort of the whole health medical device industry sort of slowed way down and in some places, you know, came to close to a halt and so cash that was coming in got tight for everybody. Sales started to change, economics of the deals start to look different and you know people start to get that cold feet and if you don't have the right team and the right communication and right relationships, sometimes those deals can unfortunately fall apart. And I know I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs who had deals that fell apart during COVID. It's a lesson to learn, you know, and nobody likes when something doesn't work out but you got to kind of pick up the pieces, dust yourself off and stand back up. I mean, business and entrepreneurialism is about persistence, hard work and dedication, you know, and get up early every day and you know, work till you can't work anymore and then go home.
Speaker 1:So as you're talking, I'm thinking about the industry changes that you're going through. That you went through, that we went through. You know we COVID was for us we couldn't work for three months, right, we couldn't even show a house, couldn't go in the house, we couldn't do anything. And we have about 200 agents in our company. So we had a lot of people. They were scared. It was really difficult to get through. But then we had the amazing three years of real estate since then.
Speaker 1:And now we're back to some bit of stability which is not good because they're used to three years of hey, a walk in a house list. It sells in three minutes and there's 20 other offers. Things have changed so much. So, in the time of change, how do you keep your team motivated and aligned during transformation?
Speaker 2:So one of the things that I beat my drum to is just this concept of constant innovation, and one of the reasons I really like it is, to me, it's part of my belief of how you are successful as a small business or an entrepreneur, but also it keeps your teams used to that change and nothing is standing still, and I think there's a lot of things about what Jim Collins has written in Good to Great that I really like. But that concept of the good is the enemy of great. I really, you know, is something that I've embraced and to me, even if you achieve greatness, if you don't continue to innovate and iterate, you aren't going to stay great, so you've got to keep changing, and so, to me, if you keep your team used to changing constantly, when big changes do happen, they aren't surprising and that's nothing new. But you know, I think that one of the things that I like to talk to people about, when they're fearful of change or major things are just unseating underneath them and they're wondering what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:I always try and remind people that the bad times always seem like they're going to last forever, and they don't. And the good times, when they're coming, they always seem to be fleeting and never long enough. And it's just part of a cycle. Everything goes through cycles. You got to just take the good times with the bad, adapt, and to me, working hard usually is the difference maker between the good and the great. And so just if you put in your reps and put in your time, you're going to get good results over the long term.
Speaker 1:I agree with you 100%. There's always something positive at the end of it and sometimes it's absolutely amazing. It's just pushing through and you know, I think that's part of being an entrepreneur. We go through a lot and I've been through a lot in my whole life and personally, professionally, it's been. You know, it's been crazy and some days I think the same like is this good stuff going to last? Because it just hasn't been here too often. But when it comes, it does come and it's always so much better and you start to forget how bad the bad was. Right. You start to forget.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about technology and healthcare, because I think that's so interesting to me. My husband was sick and he was in the hospital the other day and I saw something that they were doing and I thought, oh, it took so long for them to create that, I wonder. You know, I always am a believer that if you take something existing and make it better, that you can become super successful. And I always use something as simple as a thermostat right, remember that old little box thermostat, and now they have this really cool one that you walk up to and it turns on for you and then you can change it, like the person that made the first one probably did.
Speaker 2:Ok, but the person that made the second one is probably a multimillionaire.
Speaker 1:So what in healthcare have you seen? That's kind of like that where they've taken something that was existing and made it that much better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. I can speak a little bit to some of the stuff that we're doing here. We take two different approaches to bringing products to the market that we're doing here. We take two different approaches to bringing products to the market. We have evolutionary products and revolutionary products. So evolutionary is taking something that's out there and saying we think we can make it better and making a better version. And then revolutionary is like bringing something totally brand new to the market. That just everybody, just it changes everything.
Speaker 2:And one of the interesting things that's going on inside medicine right now is medicine in at least in the United States, seems to sort of be a little bit behind the curve when it comes to consumer goods. So almost like the Internet of Things, technology is hitting healthcare now, whereas it just took longer so a decade or two decades ago. All this stuff that was coming to consumer electronics is now finally coming into medicine. And part of that is just this medicine is a little bit, is heavily regulated and the timelines and the bureaucracy that everything has to work through it just takes longer. And then, of course, the security protocols and everything to be HIPAA compliant and FedRAMP compliant and stuff like that. You know it just raises the bar on what needs to be done.
Speaker 2:But the great thing is is that by all this running around with these little computers in our pockets that we call smartphones right, it's brought down the price of all of those little widgets and gizmos that are inside of it tremendously, and that, combined with the change that's happened inside the software industries, where what Fortune 500 companies used to be the only ones to be able to afford these highly customized platforms that work for their business environments, now companies like Oracle with their NetSuite package, has really brought a fully customizable ERP platform to small businesses that are affordable.
Speaker 2:So when you combine the hardware availability with the software availability and the reduction in costs and all that stuff, there's some really exciting stuff happening with real-time monitoring of patients and getting able to get information to your providers in literally an instant and being able to use artificial intelligence in the form of large data models to have some predictive algorithms built in that can help avoid bad outcomes. So there's just a lot of really exciting stuff happening in the medical space right now with technology and this push to value based medicine that was brought by the Affordable Care Act.
Speaker 1:So you just said something about AI, and I love AI for real estate and for my life is it has affected me so much. I use it daily, multiple times a day, in fact, one day it was something wasn't working. I'm like I don't know how I'm going to get through this day because I depend on it now, because it's I mean, it's given me such time freedom. What is one area in the medical device industry where AI has really helped?
Speaker 2:So I think one of the areas that things are really are on the cusp of either in the process of being developed, rolled out or just on the market is using AI, specifically with large data models for patients after you leave the hospital, right? So let's say, you, we've got somebody that is in their 60s. They've got you, know they need a total knee and they have a surgery, and they go home, know they need a total knee and they have a surgery, and they go home. The doctor sends them home with, you know, maybe a brace and some cold therapy and some dressings and some other things to utilize. There's the time after the surgery where they're recovering, supposed to be doing these range of motion exercises and then starting physical therapy and working through those as well as you know, taking your medications when you need them, but not taking them to excess when it comes to things like narcotics and then just keeping track of that patient while they're working their way through.
Speaker 2:There's tremendous areas of opportunity there in collecting data in real time, running that data against larger data models and saying, okay, xyz is happening and this looks like these other patients who had perhaps like an infection, right, and it looks like this person's going down that same track, let's intervene, let's get them in to see their doctor, let's have them take a look at it and maybe let's schedule them to have it washed out, so that or their antibiotics or something like that, or maybe an antibiotic injection, so that we don't have to go down a road of okay, it becomes an infection. Now we need to take the implants out, we have to wait until the infection is resolved, and then we got to go put new implants in, which is a huge cost to the healthcare system. And when you're talking about it from a macro perspective, honestly, there's only so many healthcare dollars for everybody, and so when we utilize them efficiently, it means that there's more healthcare dollars for somebody else.
Speaker 1:That sounds amazing and it's so helpful. So tell me about telemedicine and mHealth. What does mHealth mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so mHealth, mobile health and telehealth, all this stuff. Mhealth really started in cardiology, where we were taking things like Holter monitors and event monitors that were like a little box with a printer that almost looked like a receipt printer and it would just spool it up.
Speaker 2:You'd bring it into your doctor and they'd look through it and go, oh, you know, here's a spot we want to look at, and then they'd sort of make diagnostic decisions based on the tape that they were looking at. Well, because of the critical nature of cardiology, right, you could, you know, die, right. So it's very critical and urgent, along with just the technology that was there. It was very easy for mHealth to sort of start there and you saw big moves with Holter and event monitors, where they basically have a cellular chip in a little computer and it takes all those readings and they go directly to the doctor and the computers flag it. If there's something that's out of whack, it gets flagged and it's like a stoplight red, yellow, green, right, red somebody's looking at right away.
Speaker 2:So that's sort of where that mHealth started and you can understand why. And it's moved to diabetes care and now it's moving into orthopedics, pain management, which is part of the exciting stuff that we're involved in and one of the I'll be one of the first people to say one of the nice things that came out of COVID was this telehealth. Acceptance and boom of people started to do these. You know, zoom calls, if you will with their doctors and it's extremely efficient. If you've never done one, I highly recommend doing it. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:It's amazing and you can see each other, you talk to each other, it's, it's effective the time you don't have to drive there. I think honestly, I think as bad as it was going through that as a, as a world, I think the good things that came out of it again we talked about that right, the bad and then the good that came from it and like, just like this, like Zoom calls I thing really.
Speaker 1:I mean they did it, but it wasn't like it. I mean I literally can sit in this chair all day long and meet people all over the world and have conversations, and you know it's been incredible. But you know, listening to you talk it's so exciting to me. My dad had a heart attack at 48. And so he was a young guy and I remember him carrying that home. It's just so different. And now it's life changing what you're talking about. Literally, you could save someone's life from that little machine that they carried with them. Yeah, I love this. I think it's so exciting and I can see the passion in you when you talk about it. So let's talk about what is one of your favorite things, about what you do every day. What makes you keep going, nick? I mean what?
Speaker 2:is it so? You know, I touched on this a little bit earlier is just the patient and helping people. You know, one of the things that I talk about with my peers is this concept of eventually you're the patient, or your parents are patient, or your grandparents are the patient, and if you treat everybody that way, you know it really sets a good standard. And one of the things that I like to talk about I do a lot of mentoring and speaking to entrepreneurs and small business. I'm just really like a gung-ho entrepreneur. I love small business. I'm just really a like a gung-ho entrepreneur. I love small business. I love to mentor people and help and encourage people to move into the space. I think it's the lifeblood of our country. I lost track of the question. I apologize.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's okay, we were just I mean, I actually I was so excited listening to you talk about what you love about this business. What do you love about what you do every day? It took me a minute to sit there thinking about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so one of the things that I like to talk about are core values, and one of our core values, which is directly related to your question, is we've got a core value of putting the patient first in everything that we do.
Speaker 2:And one of the things I talk to entrepreneurs about is core values are only core values if you put them ahead of the revenue line.
Speaker 2:We regularly and I regularly make decisions that sometimes aren't in our best interest from a revenue or a profit perspective, but are in the best interest of the patient, and by doing that, it really that core value really keeps us honed into that patient and making sure that their experience is the best.
Speaker 2:And we've made a decision that if we make a decision that we think is in the best interest of the patient, we can never make a mistake. We might have people that are unhappy, but we've never made a mistake and I think what keeps me going is the patience, the good interactions where you really help somebody, you really make a change in their life for them or their loved ones, and you know you get these really amazing stories and these really amazing outcomes. They lift me up and carry me through the more challenging times and I always go home knowing that we've helped people and that we're you know, at the end of the day we've done more good than harm. For me, that's the piece that about medicine that is really special and it's one of those things that keeps me going.
Speaker 1:I love that and the fact that you like to help entrepreneurs and that's amazing. So do you do coaching or training or speaking?
Speaker 2:I do. I've done all of that. I'm sort of gearing up to do some more speaking again. I've been doing some podcasts and stuff to sort of hone my skills a little bit. But I do mentoring, I do coaching. Most of it is fairly informal. I connect with entrepreneurs who are starting businesses and because I've done this a few different times, I find that sometimes I have some knowledge that can be passed along that might help somebody skip a couple of the hurdles and roadblocks that I ran into. So I'm just always I'm very passionate about it. So I'm always always like engaging with people who are working hard to try and, you know, plant their own flag.
Speaker 1:You just said something before about having the best interest of the patient. That's really important. So for me, I just instantly clicked in my head where I have this if I have the best interest for our agents and that's what I do they're not always going to be happy, right, it doesn't matter. But if I know that I went in doing the best that I could, that's all that I can expect. I am listening to you because it made so much sense to me, and sometimes you know when they're upset.
Speaker 1:I think I get upset because I don't want them to be, upset and the end of the day is I did my very best that I could, and it's always about them for me. So I see that you have the same feelings, and so you've had a big journey of doing this. And how many years have you been in the medical device industry?
Speaker 2:Over 20 years at this point and really enjoying it, Always find new challenges, new opportunities as the industry changes, and I've done a lot of different things in my career in medicine and I think I've got a lot of journeys left and a lot of valuable lessons to learn and difficulties to overcome and hopefully again more than my fair share of successes are left in the cards for me.
Speaker 1:So let's end our last question at what advice would you give to someone currently facing a tough period in their life, either career related or personal?
Speaker 2:Good question I would say you know, never give up. Sometimes it can be humbling, but ask for help. One of the things I've found is that good people are overwhelmingly ready to help anyone that they can if they just ask. And I think sometimes pride has gotten in the way for me when you need help and you don't want to ask. It can be hard, but humility is an attribute, so you know it's something to practice and know when to ask for help, but also never give up.
Speaker 2:I've been through more than my fair share of challenges being an entrepreneur. You're kind of choosing that life, I think, and I'm always surprised. I've been in a number of situations where I didn't think that I could get through and I did. And even looking back, there are some things that I've gone through that I think, wow, I could never do that again. I can't believe I made it.
Speaker 2:And you know it's breaking down difficult challenges into manageable pieces right, step by step, inch by inch. Whatever you have to break it down in, break it down, just do one thing Get up every day. One of my mentors, early on, told me one of the secrets to being successful is when you're working for yourself is get out of your house every day before 8 am and when, even if you're done, you know your day winds up at three, four o'clock, make a couple more calls, a couple more sales calls, a couple more things, because it isn't much in the day in the moment. But when you start to multiply that out, month by month, year by year, the aggregate is huge and everything in life is about momentum and so it's just pushing that ball forward. One more push before you call it a day. Instead of going home early, make those extra sales calls or do that extra work, because that momentum builds on itself and over time the aggregate is humongous.
Speaker 1:It's huge. So where can our listeners get a hold of you?
Speaker 2:So I am on social media LinkedIn. Our company website is advancedrecovercom. My name Nick Schwartzrock. I'm on LinkedIn, twitter, facebook and Instagram. Our company is Advanced Recovery on all social media platforms and the website is advancedrecoverycom.
Speaker 1:Great. Well, thank you so much for being here today, and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and your entrepreneurial spirit with me. I think that has been amazing and for everyone out there. If we can help just one person with this podcast, it's a success today. So thank you again and I will see you soon, nick.
