BAXTER — When Danielle and Seth Sazama were looking for the place to start their professional lives together they picked the Brainerd lakes area.

But just how they got here may be surprising. 

They didn’t throw a dart into a map. They didn’t stumble upon Brainerd and Baxter by chance. In fact, they had never been here before. 

They made a list based on what they were looking for in a place to live. They researched locales. They visited the top candidates.

Surprising for two people in their 20s? Perhaps. 

But Danielle Sazama, 26, and Seth Sazama, 27, set their goals early, put in the extra hours looking for all the input they could on starting their own business, and came up with that list of where they wanted to make a home. 

It started in central Nebraska where they grew up and attended competing high schools. They initially thought they wanted to live in Colorado someday. Young, energetic and upbeat, they wanted to be able to pursue an active lifestyle. When they went to college in Iowa they were exposed to a group of Midwesterners, including Minnesotans, and were introduced to the state. 

With the country open to them upon graduation, they made a list of 10 non-negotiable things they wanted in a place to call home. They wanted an area where they could be active winter and summer in order to stay healthy. They wanted a city with growth expectations, people their age and low crime. 

They went to findyourspot.com, which helped them decide just what they were looking for and made their top 10 list. From there they charted 15 Midwest cities that met their top-10 requirements. Using citydata.com they created an Excel spreadsheet of demographics, charting percentage of growth, population ratio, median age, median income and crime index. They looked for a place with things to do and events. They visited school websites and chambers of commerce for each city. They wanted a medium-sized city instead of a metro area. From the spreadsheet, they were able to whittle down the 15 cities to a top three. 

The top four? Brainerd-Baxter, Kearney, Neb., Sioux Falls, S.D. and Casper, Wyo. 

“We had a bunch of cities in Minnesota and we narrowed it down, if we were moving to Minnesota we were moving to Brainerd-Baxter,” Seth said. “We came up and visited and we absolutely fell in love — fell in love with the community, fell in love with the people. Everybody is so friendly. We just wanted to be in a community where we felt we could make a difference. Small enough to be involved, but large enough to have amenities and be able to go out and go shopping and find a place to eat and have a great school system. This was perfect for us.

“This was home for us when we found it.”

Their family wasn’t quite sure, but they won them over after family members visited the lakes area. 

“They love it,” Danielle said. “It’s a great place to raise a family.” 

Seth said the Brainerd Lakes Chamber’s website provided more information and was better than others they looked into, which indicated to them there was a strong business community in the lakes area. They visited the lakes area six times, camping once at Crow Wing State Park and staying once at Grand View. They went out to coffee shops and retail settings, went on road trips and observed the area to see if they would fit. 

The two grew up in Nebraska communities separated by 20 miles, Danielle in the larger Grand Island and Seth in smaller St. Paul. Danielle and Seth began dating in high school and then went to Palmer College of Chiropractic in  Davenport, Iowa together. 

“It was our dream to open a clinic together,” Seth said. 

To make that dream a reality, they worked with a team of advisers, such as Nate Grotzke at Close-Converse and Brainerd attorney Chris Robinson. They talked to John Gunstad at Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development Corp. and sought out the Small Business Development Center at Central Lakes College.  

They expect to build their practice by being active in the community, volunteering and building partnerships. But their work to establish their own business started years earlier when they were in school. 

In college, they talked to financial planners about what they’d need for a down payment, they attended business preparation courses and chiropractic offices. They gleaned pointers from established chiropractors about starting a practice, what went wrong and what worked. 

Their interest in pursuing a doctor of chiropractic degree also began early. Seth was a high school athlete and was treated by a chiropractor he said helped him with his asthma. He wanted to go into a profession that helped people through less invasive means. Danielle’s dad, worried about scoliosis, took her to a chiropractor as a child who served as a mentor.

In their overall practice, each has an emphasis. For Danielle, that involves children and pregnant women. For Seth, it’s working with athletes. They said they love working in a family practice because they enjoy working with geriatrics and took advance training in working with extremities. Friends they made in college, and who helped form a group that pushed each other to succeed, continue to be a resource for them as they start practices of their own. 

Now married two years and together for a decade, they are looking forward to starting a family of their own here. In business, they said they play off each other’s strengths. The best advice they received: Make the practice about the patient and it will grow from there and go where it feels like home. The advice they’d now pass on to others: Don’t give up, stay positive and go for the dream from the beginning. 

When they first looked at their Baxter clinic space on Forthun Road in they thought it might be something they could get into in five or 10 years. The  suite has two wings and room for expansion. They looked at the suite on one of their first checks for office space, but thought it may be too big and too much like their dream location too soon. But after trying to make other locations fit, they kept coming back to the idea of the office on Forthun Road near Home Depot. And they struck a lease with Close-Converse for the property. 

It leaves them room to grow, possibly add a massage therapist. They have a rehabilitation room with space to demonstrate exercises patients can do at home, a treatment table in an adjusting that can go verticle to allow patients easier access than bending to get down on it. 

They also have a flexion-distraction table. Basically, the bottom end of the table slowly drops away on hydraulics for better access of the lower back and an ability to treat people with disc issues. With two wings, they have the option for each to have a side of the practice. For now, they are juggling everything from the reception desk to treatments. 

Danielle said: “It’s our dream practice and that happened at the beginning.” 

RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.