1. Visualize Your Goals
There are seven formulas for your practice and business success. First, set a specific goal and visualize it as a reality. Seeing is believing. Play the picture of your goal as already realized on the screen of your mind repeatedly. Second, look for a problem you can solve in your practice with a high-quality product or service that is a good value, which is the basis of all successful businesses. Chiropractic and osteopathy provide a needed service. We are in the service business. Products such as decompression, laser, weight loss, and massage will bring people to your office for you to provide more service. Third, start small and learn your business thoroughly. Be patient. Invest time rather than just money. Be the best at what you do. Study hard, learn your craft, refine your skills, and add technologies. See the practice of your dreams, and then manifest your dream.
2. Bootstrap Your Business To Success
Do you remember when you started your practice? When I started mine, I had little money — actually, no money. I spent my days handing out cards, doing lectures, and shaking hands. I had no money to advertise and was having trouble paying rent. Today, we want to buy success, but you can‘t always buy success. No ad will make you successful. It is a state of mind, work ethic, and principle.
One of the best ways to build a business is to start off on a bootstrap, which means starting with very little money and growing your business with the money you earn rather than with outside financing, borrowing, etc. The key is to grow your practice without growing debt. Invest in your greatest asset — your practice. The first thing most doctors do is buy a new European car. They utilize their new profits to afford it and then buy a new or bigger house and more clothes, and sooner rather than later, they are deep in debt and cannot afford to market or add new equipment.
Don‘t kill or smother the goose that lays the eggs of your prosperity. Allocate a percentage of revenue for personal items (maybe 10%) but allow a percentage of revenue for marketing. One of my clients spent $6,000 last month running an infomercial. In return, he got 12 new patients, to which he sold packages ranging from $4,000 or more. Was that money well spent? Of course it was. What if he had spent nothing that month? Would his practice have grown? Of course not. Did he start there? Of course not. He started small and grew with success, which is how you do it. Don‘t overspend, but spend enough to come out of your comfort zone.
3. Test, Test, Test
Test every major move before you invest in it. Test, test, test. Don‘t plunge into technology or swiftly add anything new to your business. Move ahead carefully by taking one step at a time. Expand based on your successes and profits as you move along. In other words, only expand your business using money that you‘ve earned in the business, not on borrowed capital. One of my clients in Rhode Island tested the market by running an ad before buying equipment, and after 15 calls, he knew it was the right investment.
4. Pick Your Staff Carefully
Number four, carefully select the people to help you expand and grow your practice. The biggest mistakes you‘ll ever make will be in picking the wrong people with whom you work, so be careful when choosing who will work in your business. The right people will build your practice. I had three employees (Iris, Hope, and Laura), and they helped me grow to five offices at one time while operating profitably. They were good people who cared. None of them had any prior chiropractic experience, but they were good with people. I am forever indebted. Don‘t just fire employees — fire them up!
5. Use Leverage, but Don't Leverage Yourself
Use financial leverage. Financial leverage is business borrowing and lines of credit from the bank, which are based on the cash flow from your successful business. The aim of starting a business is to develop a consistent, predictable source of cash flow in excess of cost and expenses and hold to the money. Banks will lend you the money that you can service as debt with your cash flow.
6. Be the best
It doesn’t cost anything to be the best. It’s a matter of work ethic and dedication. We’re in the service business, so give the best service. When revenues are strong, your practice is in a growth mode after you tested your acquisition and product for success. Use leverage wisely and cautiously. We often must borrow to grow, but we can do that with our eye on the growth of our practice and not just buying toys for our private life.
7. Give 100% All of the Time
I‘ve often recommended that many doctors start with no money or little money and do whatever it takes. Go the extra mile, give lectures, do screenings, and pursue what interests and excites you. Model your practice after someone you know is successful. Be honest and honorable. Work hard because knowledge of this nature has a cost. I had an associate for three years — Dr. Perry Bard. He is now not a past employee but a best friend and partner. ’’The king of chiro-marketing!” Relationships can build and grow if your intentions are good and honorable. Working for someone successful is a great form of on-the-job training. Work on evenings or weekends, or work on your holidays, if you like. Remember, if you provide a service and love what you do, is it work? Sometimes practices that look big from the outside will look terrible once you start working there. Size does not equate to ethics. “There is no right way to do the wrong thing.” However, sometimes when you start working for a practice, you get a great understanding of how it works and gain insights on how you can improve it.
Learn what you need to Learn. Remember that most practices that fail do so because of incompetence, poor preparation, overwhelming debt, poor marketing, and little preparation. You were not born to fail, so go out there this week and grow your practice by 1%. If you saw 100 visits last week, see 101 this week. One percent per week means 52% per year. Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. If you want success, you must start by putting your plans into action today.
Dr. Eric Kaplan and Dr. Perry Bard, are business partners of over 32 years. They have developed Disc Centers of America & Concierge Coaches, now in the eleventh year, as well as the first and largest National Certification Program for Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression. Currently, they have over 150 clinics using their Disc Centers of America brand and lead ongoing success training events throughout the year. For more information on coaching, spinal decompression, or seminars, visit www.thechiroevent.com or www.decompressioncertified.org, or call the Chiropractic Q&A Hotline at 888-990-9660.
