December 16, 2024 • 10 mins
Matt Jones, CPA serves as CEO of Affinity Whole Health. Founded in 2012, Affinity has assisted thousands of men and women with hormone therapy and injectable weight loss. Matt's career began in public accounting, he spent time in Fortune 500 sales and business operations. Matt is a life-long Clevelander and enjoys reading, exercise and spending time with his wife and two sons.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is iHeartRadio CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Keith Hotchkiss, and we all know health is important,
but modern medicine brings us opportunities that aren't easily embraced
by the mainstream media. That's the mission of Affinity Whole Health,
and we sat down with the CEO, Matt Jones to
learn more. So, Matt, there's a tremendous amount of noise
around healthcare in the United States, both private and public
health care and insurance. Let's talk about what Affinity Whole
(00:26):
Health does to sort of help people. It's both in
aging and for anybody, right.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
My experience before Affinity, I actually worked for a large
healthcare broker, and so I'm very familiar with how that
industry works, and unfortunately it doesn't help everybody with what
they always really need, you know, after a few years
of doing, you know, leading Affinity, I'm pretty familiar with
just speaking with our medical director and our providers, why
(00:54):
people come to us, what we do, how we help people,
and unfortunately, doctors kind of treat symptoms or treat people
when it gets really bad. And there's a lot of people,
myself included in you know, most of our patients who
rather than just waiting until things get bad, they'd like
to you know, improve things. You know, they're not okay with, Oh,
you're your testosterone level is three twenty five on a
(01:15):
normal range of three hundred to eleven hundred, and that's normal. Well, doc,
you know, I know it's not covered by insurance, but
maybe could we get me back up to a range
that's you know, more normal for somebody that's thirty five? Right. So,
a lot of those feelings that, you know, a lot
that we've had ourselves, we help with.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And isn't it fair to say that there's maybe a
stigma around some of these things because they're not necessarily
widely adopted by Cleveland Clinic in such areas. Sure, But
at the same time that doesn't need to be right, No,
there absolutely doesn't need to be a stigma, And a
lot of that's gone away. You know, when when the
company started in twenty twelve, a lot of it was
fighting through that, telling people like, hey, this is what
(01:54):
hormone replacement therapy is. And there's so much less of
that now.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Now people come to us and they know what it is,
and your example, you know, Cleveland Clinic, they just came
out with a huge study that kind of contradicted and
rebuffed some of those long held myths around you know,
hormone replacement therapy. It's you know, it's unhealthy. Well, no,
it actually is good for you. And you know, if
you've heard of doctor Peter A. Tiz very popular or
a best selling book called Outlive, and I think in
(02:20):
the first thirty chapters he talks about how much misinformation
there's been about hormone replacement therapy to the detriment of people,
you know, to really have a negative effect on their health.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, so, as someone who has had that replacement therapy before,
I am certainly one to understand. But I wanted to
know if you could talk a little bit about that
idea that if my opinion has always been like if
you have a headache, you take et cetera. Right, so
if you have low testostero and you could get low
(02:52):
testosterone replacement therapy, But can you help break some of
that stigma for some of our listeners.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I can try.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So it's important, you know, I used I used to
have a personal finance blog and I'd say, listen, I'm
a CPA, but I'm not your CPA. So I'm not
a doctor, I don't play one on TV. But what
I've seen is that for a lot of people, they
want to just know like, hey, it's okay, you know,
I feel sluggish. I don't have energy for me personally.
Like I mentioned, I got two little boys at home.
I work hard all day. I come home, I'd like
(03:18):
to have the energy to work, you know, have fun
with them, and then maybe work out before.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
After they go to bed. Yeah, and that's.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Totally normal, you know if you look at so what
I what I do know is that there's studies have
come out and they show that across the board, all people,
all men, their testosterone levels generationally are going down. Right,
So you and I have lower testosterone levels, as you know,
our generations, our generation than our ancestors. And that's not
you know, I'm not talking cave men. I'm talking our
grandparents or our parents, right, And so I can tell
(03:46):
you that is absolutely true across the board and in
affinity whole health. You don't just treat men, right, It's
true a situation where women are also getting their own
version hormone replacement, right, Can you talk a little bit
about that?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I woudentical hormone replacement therapy has gotten way more popular.
It used to be that females were maybe five percent
of our patients. Now they're probably a third, and a
lot of that has to do with again, those stigmas
are going away.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The understanding of this are going away.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Whereas doctors would just say, no, you don't need it,
now they're saying, you know, maybe I don't do that.
I don't specialize in that, But we get referrals from
doctors quite a bit for females. You know, I have
family members who have come to me and said, you know,
my doctors said maybe we should talk on this, and
so we've been able to help them. So again, those
stigmas are going away and we're able to help people.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
We're talking with Matt Jones, CEO of Affinity Whole Health.
Can you talk a little bit about the GLP one
shots that seems to be what is on a lot
of people's minds these days.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, most people know the name brands those those of
zempic wi goo v on Jarro medications.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
We naturally started offering those a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
You know, we focused on injectable testosterone for the last
twelve thirteen years and so it was natural a few
go for us to offer these injectable medications.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We understand them well.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We've had thousands of patients on them and probably you know,
I don't want to oversell it, but I would say
ninety percent of the patients that try them with us
get really significant results, right, not to you know, results
are not the same for everybody, but it's not unusual
for somebody to say, you have lost twenty thirty pounds
right out change my diet.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Well, and I think for folks especially who are victims
in some cases, and I hate to use the word victims,
that maybe part though of we're part and parcel just
to blame for how the meats processed, how the food
gets to us, right, and the delivery systems are supply
chains are part of how we eat right, And so
those shots probably came at the right time for healthy
(05:45):
folks in the United States. Can you talk a little
bit about you know, if someone comes to your office,
you know, what can they expect to experience? What does
that look like when they come to Affinity because you
have offices in Cleveland, but also Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Right, Yeah, that's right. We have.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
You know, we've perfected a three step process. It's pretty easy.
Somebody that's interested, they get a free evaluation by picking
up the phone, or somebody in the information on our website.
They talk with a patient care coordinator. Patient care coordinators
are your point of contact. It's unique to Affinity. Nobody
else has a patient care coordinator that you can call,
text email with issues on your program or questions, or
(06:20):
just want to schedule labs or questions. After that, you
come into the office if it seems to make sense.
After that conversation, you come in, you have your labs done,
You have a consultation with a medical provider, and they
review your lab result. It's your medical history form and
they say, yeah, this might help you, or no, this
isn't quite the right fit.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You know, we don't treat certain things.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Like thyroid issues or prostate issues, but it's you know,
sometimes we'll identify on somebody's labs that yeah, that's an issue,
should talk to your doctor about. I've had family members
actually experience that. And then the third step of the
process is it's delivered to your door in two days.
So two days later, the program shows up at your
door and again you can have support from it patient
care coordinator locally for any questions.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And it's medically supervised.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You have a physician on staff, your head physician, right.
Lots of doctors you know part of this team at
Affinity Whole Health. Can you talk a little bit about
Matt will transition to you know you personally. We like
to talk on CEOs. You should know of how folks
in these high stress jobs, you know, find themselves healthy. Yer,
(07:24):
But you took an atypical path, right. You weren't expecting
to run a health company, right, No, I've always wanted
to run a company.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
That's why I studied business at Miam University. So I
went down there studied accounting. After I realized that I
couldn't hack it in engineering, so I started in public
accounting here in town. Realized that if I was going
to run a business, not only did I have to
understand finance, I'd have to understand sales and operations. So
I took a fortune five hundred sales opportunity for about
(07:53):
four years, and then I met the owners of Affinity.
They started the company in twenty twelve and they were
looking for somebody new to grow the company and take
it to the next level.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Right, that's awesome they brought you on board. Could you
talk a little bit about then, about how you have
taken on this high stress responsibility with two young boys
and a wife and a family and trying to de stress.
What do you do to keep yourself healthy and grounded? Oh, man, Keith,
that's the million dollar question. How do you how do
you find balance? It's it's tough. You know, we were
(08:24):
talking before we started this. You know, when they get older,
you get a little.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
More sleep, So sleep is probably the first thing that
it gets cut.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It helps to have a resource myself.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I get to be the guinea pig sometimes, right for
things that we're thinking about offering, whether I think, you know,
I'm really feeling low energy, or maybe my hair is
thinning out a bit. Yeah, I get to get some
of those treatments and so on. I've been on hormone
replacement therapy myself and it is probably my secret weapon.
And the thing that's always interesting is that more and
more I recognize the names of patients and you talk
(08:56):
to people about, hey, you know, how do you keep
up with all that?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And more often than not, some version of this like
hormone replacement therapy is their secret weapon. Like before I
took the job, I was talking with my uncle. He's
been an entrepreneur his whole life, one of the most
successful that I know, and really a mentor to me.
And I told him I'm thinking about taking this job
with with his health company, with his affinity whole health.
And he is not only is he super successful in business,
(09:21):
but he's in great shape. He's six four, two forties,
almost seventy years old. He's in great shape.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
And I said, Uncle Dan, what do you think about
hormone replacement therapy? He goes, Matt, I've been on destosterone
injections for twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
How do you think I look like this? Mm hmm. Yeah,
so's it's more widespread than you know.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And for women, you know, feeling more like themselves, they're
younger versions of their selves are there? I guess I
should say the best version of themselves. You guys offer
the hormone replacement and now the GLP one shots from
men and women. I think there's a lot of opportunities
for people to better themselves with a little bit of
an assist from modern medicine. Right even if it may
have not initially been embraced by the quote unquote traditional
(09:59):
medical community. The growth opportunities for Affinity Whole Health are
large because people do need and like these products and
these information.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So what is the website that people can go to?
Affinity Wholehealth dot com. If you're in Cleveland, it's Feel
Great Cleveland dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Matt Joe and CEO of Affinity Whole Health, we appreciate
being on the show today.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Thanks Keith, this was great and this.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know today's show is
produced by Bob COATESID.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I'm Keith Hotchkiss. We'll see you next time.
This is iHeartRadio CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Keith Hotchkiss, and we all know health is important,
but modern medicine brings us opportunities that aren't easily embraced
by the mainstream media. That's the mission of Affinity Whole Health,
and we sat down with the CEO, Matt Jones to
learn more. So, Matt, there's a tremendous amount of noise
around healthcare in the United States, both private and public
health care and insurance. Let's talk about what Affinity Whole
(00:26):
Health does to sort of help people. It's both in
aging and for anybody, right.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
My experience before Affinity, I actually worked for a large
healthcare broker, and so I'm very familiar with how that
industry works, and unfortunately it doesn't help everybody with what
they always really need, you know, after a few years
of doing, you know, leading Affinity, I'm pretty familiar with
just speaking with our medical director and our providers, why
(00:54):
people come to us, what we do, how we help people,
and unfortunately, doctors kind of treat symptoms or treat people
when it gets really bad. And there's a lot of people,
myself included in you know, most of our patients who
rather than just waiting until things get bad, they'd like
to you know, improve things. You know, they're not okay with, Oh,
you're your testosterone level is three twenty five on a
(01:15):
normal range of three hundred to eleven hundred, and that's normal. Well, doc,
you know, I know it's not covered by insurance, but
maybe could we get me back up to a range
that's you know, more normal for somebody that's thirty five? Right. So,
a lot of those feelings that, you know, a lot
that we've had ourselves, we help with.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And isn't it fair to say that there's maybe a
stigma around some of these things because they're not necessarily
widely adopted by Cleveland Clinic in such areas. Sure, But
at the same time that doesn't need to be right, No,
there absolutely doesn't need to be a stigma, And a
lot of that's gone away. You know, when when the
company started in twenty twelve, a lot of it was
fighting through that, telling people like, hey, this is what
(01:54):
hormone replacement therapy is. And there's so much less of
that now.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Now people come to us and they know what it is,
and your example, you know, Cleveland Clinic, they just came
out with a huge study that kind of contradicted and
rebuffed some of those long held myths around you know,
hormone replacement therapy. It's you know, it's unhealthy. Well, no,
it actually is good for you. And you know, if
you've heard of doctor Peter A. Tiz very popular or
a best selling book called Outlive, and I think in
(02:20):
the first thirty chapters he talks about how much misinformation
there's been about hormone replacement therapy to the detriment of people,
you know, to really have a negative effect on their health.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, so, as someone who has had that replacement therapy before,
I am certainly one to understand. But I wanted to
know if you could talk a little bit about that
idea that if my opinion has always been like if
you have a headache, you take et cetera. Right, so
if you have low testostero and you could get low
(02:52):
testosterone replacement therapy, But can you help break some of
that stigma for some of our listeners.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I can try.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So it's important, you know, I used I used to
have a personal finance blog and I'd say, listen, I'm
a CPA, but I'm not your CPA. So I'm not
a doctor, I don't play one on TV. But what
I've seen is that for a lot of people, they
want to just know like, hey, it's okay, you know,
I feel sluggish. I don't have energy for me personally.
Like I mentioned, I got two little boys at home.
I work hard all day. I come home, I'd like
(03:18):
to have the energy to work, you know, have fun
with them, and then maybe work out before.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
After they go to bed. Yeah, and that's.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Totally normal, you know if you look at so what
I what I do know is that there's studies have
come out and they show that across the board, all people,
all men, their testosterone levels generationally are going down. Right,
So you and I have lower testosterone levels, as you know,
our generations, our generation than our ancestors. And that's not
you know, I'm not talking cave men. I'm talking our
grandparents or our parents, right, And so I can tell
(03:46):
you that is absolutely true across the board and in
affinity whole health. You don't just treat men, right, It's
true a situation where women are also getting their own
version hormone replacement, right, Can you talk a little bit
about that?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I woudentical hormone replacement therapy has gotten way more popular.
It used to be that females were maybe five percent
of our patients. Now they're probably a third, and a
lot of that has to do with again, those stigmas
are going away.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The understanding of this are going away.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Whereas doctors would just say, no, you don't need it,
now they're saying, you know, maybe I don't do that.
I don't specialize in that, But we get referrals from
doctors quite a bit for females. You know, I have
family members who have come to me and said, you know,
my doctors said maybe we should talk on this, and
so we've been able to help them. So again, those
stigmas are going away and we're able to help people.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
We're talking with Matt Jones, CEO of Affinity Whole Health.
Can you talk a little bit about the GLP one
shots that seems to be what is on a lot
of people's minds these days.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, most people know the name brands those those of
zempic wi goo v on Jarro medications.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
We naturally started offering those a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
You know, we focused on injectable testosterone for the last
twelve thirteen years and so it was natural a few
go for us to offer these injectable medications.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We understand them well.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We've had thousands of patients on them and probably you know,
I don't want to oversell it, but I would say
ninety percent of the patients that try them with us
get really significant results, right, not to you know, results
are not the same for everybody, but it's not unusual
for somebody to say, you have lost twenty thirty pounds
right out change my diet.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Well, and I think for folks especially who are victims
in some cases, and I hate to use the word victims,
that maybe part though of we're part and parcel just
to blame for how the meats processed, how the food
gets to us, right, and the delivery systems are supply
chains are part of how we eat right, And so
those shots probably came at the right time for healthy
(05:45):
folks in the United States. Can you talk a little
bit about you know, if someone comes to your office,
you know, what can they expect to experience? What does
that look like when they come to Affinity because you
have offices in Cleveland, but also Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Right, Yeah, that's right. We have.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
You know, we've perfected a three step process. It's pretty easy.
Somebody that's interested, they get a free evaluation by picking
up the phone, or somebody in the information on our website.
They talk with a patient care coordinator. Patient care coordinators
are your point of contact. It's unique to Affinity. Nobody
else has a patient care coordinator that you can call,
text email with issues on your program or questions, or
(06:20):
just want to schedule labs or questions. After that, you
come into the office if it seems to make sense.
After that conversation, you come in, you have your labs done,
You have a consultation with a medical provider, and they
review your lab result. It's your medical history form and
they say, yeah, this might help you, or no, this
isn't quite the right fit.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You know, we don't treat certain things.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Like thyroid issues or prostate issues, but it's you know,
sometimes we'll identify on somebody's labs that yeah, that's an issue,
should talk to your doctor about. I've had family members
actually experience that. And then the third step of the
process is it's delivered to your door in two days.
So two days later, the program shows up at your
door and again you can have support from it patient
care coordinator locally for any questions.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And it's medically supervised.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You have a physician on staff, your head physician, right.
Lots of doctors you know part of this team at
Affinity Whole Health. Can you talk a little bit about
Matt will transition to you know you personally. We like
to talk on CEOs. You should know of how folks
in these high stress jobs, you know, find themselves healthy. Yer,
(07:24):
But you took an atypical path, right. You weren't expecting
to run a health company, right, No, I've always wanted
to run a company.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
That's why I studied business at Miam University. So I
went down there studied accounting. After I realized that I
couldn't hack it in engineering, so I started in public
accounting here in town. Realized that if I was going
to run a business, not only did I have to
understand finance, I'd have to understand sales and operations. So
I took a fortune five hundred sales opportunity for about
(07:53):
four years, and then I met the owners of Affinity.
They started the company in twenty twelve and they were
looking for somebody new to grow the company and take
it to the next level.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Right, that's awesome they brought you on board. Could you
talk a little bit about then, about how you have
taken on this high stress responsibility with two young boys
and a wife and a family and trying to de stress.
What do you do to keep yourself healthy and grounded? Oh, man, Keith,
that's the million dollar question. How do you how do
you find balance? It's it's tough. You know, we were
(08:24):
talking before we started this. You know, when they get older,
you get a little.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
More sleep, So sleep is probably the first thing that
it gets cut.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It helps to have a resource myself.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I get to be the guinea pig sometimes, right for
things that we're thinking about offering, whether I think, you know,
I'm really feeling low energy, or maybe my hair is
thinning out a bit. Yeah, I get to get some
of those treatments and so on. I've been on hormone
replacement therapy myself and it is probably my secret weapon.
And the thing that's always interesting is that more and
more I recognize the names of patients and you talk
(08:56):
to people about, hey, you know, how do you keep
up with all that?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And more often than not, some version of this like
hormone replacement therapy is their secret weapon. Like before I
took the job, I was talking with my uncle. He's
been an entrepreneur his whole life, one of the most
successful that I know, and really a mentor to me.
And I told him I'm thinking about taking this job
with with his health company, with his affinity whole health.
And he is not only is he super successful in business,
(09:21):
but he's in great shape. He's six four, two forties,
almost seventy years old. He's in great shape.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
And I said, Uncle Dan, what do you think about
hormone replacement therapy? He goes, Matt, I've been on destosterone
injections for twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
How do you think I look like this? Mm hmm. Yeah,
so's it's more widespread than you know.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And for women, you know, feeling more like themselves, they're
younger versions of their selves are there? I guess I
should say the best version of themselves. You guys offer
the hormone replacement and now the GLP one shots from
men and women. I think there's a lot of opportunities
for people to better themselves with a little bit of
an assist from modern medicine. Right even if it may
have not initially been embraced by the quote unquote traditional
(09:59):
medical community. The growth opportunities for Affinity Whole Health are
large because people do need and like these products and
these information.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So what is the website that people can go to?
Affinity Wholehealth dot com. If you're in Cleveland, it's Feel
Great Cleveland dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Matt Joe and CEO of Affinity Whole Health, we appreciate
being on the show today.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Thanks Keith, this was great and this.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know today's show is
produced by Bob COATESID.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I'm Keith Hotchkiss. We'll see you next time.
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