Starting a Practice

Starting a New Practice-Biggest Mistakes New Chiropractors Make:
When chiropractors graduate, most don’t know what type of practice situation is best for them.  Choosing between being an associate to an existing doctor, sharing office space with one or more doctors or opening a new practice can be a very difficult, confusing, daunting task.  I am known in many chiropractic communities for NOT being a “cookie-cutter consultant”.  Every individual is different and there is no set formula that works for everyone that is making this choice after graduation.  I have proven, tried and true methods that help determine all of this.  This is an important first step in becoming a chiropractor.

Most chiropractors don’t know how to “write the end before creating the beginning”, which is how most successful practices and businesses start.  Seeing the practice as it would exist as a successful, low-stress and high-performance practice as YOU see it is picturing the “end”.  Taking each small step and executing each one properly is a sure way to achieving your practice goals.  This process may sound difficult, but should be the most fun and exciting time of your life!  It is all about you, what you have achieved and who you want to become!
I see the same errors consistently in our profession.  Not doing enough research about your prospective location, not borrowing enough money, not doing a build-out with the future in mind, not setting up accountability for yourself and staff, not doing enough marketing, doing the wrong type of marketing for you and/or your area, not being sure about what type of practice you want to have and hiring the wrong personnel are all things I can help you with to ensure that you don’t experience the aftermath of making these errors.  My training videos will supplement the ongoing personal support I offer.

Starting a New Practice-Marketing:
Once you have established what type of practice you want, you need help choosing the proper area for your clinic location, whether associating, sharing office space or opening your new clinic.  Ask yourself, “Have I done this before?  Am I an expert?  Is this important?”  I would venture a guess that unless you have a family member or friend in a mega clinic willing to spend the time sharing their knowledge in these areas, you need to hire me and watch my training videos.
You need to know your competition, target market and be able to structure a budget that makes sense regarding the two subjects.  Once you establish your budget accurately, you can then assess a dollar figure to each category:  marketing, salaries, office overhead, and money that should be put back into the business.  There are formulas designed to make sure you’re not spending too little or too much in each of these areas.  That’s where the guidance I offer and the excellent training videos come in!
After assigning dollar amounts to the designated areas, you can come up with a “Killer Marketing Campaign”.  Having short and long term marketing plans are essential to creating and maintaining the size and type of practice you have chosen for yourself.  Successfully executing marketing plans and training you how to do it are one of the specialties my videos and I offer.

Starting a New Practice-Hiring Consulting Company and Staff:
Unfortunately, this subject is one of the hardest for chiropractors to conquer.  After all, you haven’t been trained in the necessities of Human Resource Management in chiropractic school, right?  Setting up office policies, employment contracts, training schedules and a fully streamlined front desk are something I see chiropractors struggling with on a daily basis.
The biggest, most heartbreaking mistake I think chiropractors make is answering their own phone-EVER.  Picture yourself as a new patient in any clinic.  Would you have faith in a doctor that answered their own phone?  Absolutely NOT!  The steps to hiring immediate staff are important.  If you do not do group interviews, review resumes, check references and do background checks on personnel on a regular basis, you need to watch my training videos.  Please, if you don’t do anything else, go through this part of the video training.
In a brand new practice, one staff person is necessary.  As you grow, there is an easy formula I teach that determines how much staff is necessary.  The formula is based on patient numbers and time required to process the different types of patients:  new, established, auto, Medicare, etc.  Once the formula is in place, you can be secure in knowing that you are always efficiently staffed.  The formula also helps you to know if all of your staff are properly trained and operating to their maximum efficiency.