Yurij Chewpa, DC
Practice Coach & Mentor
Co-Founder Warrior Coaching
Co-founder Chiropractors with Compassion
www.chiropractorswithcompassion.org
INTRODUCTION
If you took the time to hang out at most chiropractic seminars and conferences, and listened to the conversations in the hallways and restaurants of the hotel for long enough, you would come away with one common, two-part definition of success in practice: patient volume and practice income. Inherently, there is nothing wrong with volume and income as long as they are a byproduct of devoted service, or an indicator for the level of service the doctor is bringing to the community. However, most often the volume and income are the end point. They are not merely the indicator, they are the goal. There is likely a lot of cover up about the actual intent of the practice. There will be a nice mission statement on the wall stating that the mission is to save lives and change the world. Everybody on the staff is scripted to say the right things.
Unfortunately, you cannot fool the patients for long. They will quickly see through the charade. It doesn't take long to figure out that it's all about the Doctor and not about them. They will stop referring and they will stop coming in for care. This, of course, will sabotage the volume and income goals of the practice. This is the first failed practice scenario: missed goals, and chronically low volume and collections, will lead to mounting financial pressure and the doctor's dissatisfaction with practice.
But let's say that the doctor practices in a larger urban center, he has a good marketing program in place and he can continue to find enough new patients who don't yet know his true motives. He can continue to build his volume and income by attracting more new patients. This is where the second problem scenario kicks in. If it's just about the volume and income, the practice quickly becomes too difficult and too much work to maintain. Both scenarios, not enough volume and too little income, and too much volume and lots of income, both done for the wrong reason and with the wrong motive, lead to the same problem: a tired, frustrated and burned out doctor that is looking for an exit strategy. Whether driving the same old Pinto from college or a new Mercedes with DC plates, he just wants out.
DISCUSSION
How can you avoid this trap? In my 25 years of practice, and 10 years of coaching experience, I have come to the conclusion that there is only one solution, and that is to change the doctor's vision. To achieve significance, the doctor's vision needs to change from volume and income (leading to early retirement and an unfulfilled life) to one of service to the sick and lost in the community.
Doctor, it cannot be about making as much as you can in as short a time as possible so you can eventually stop practice and go do what you really love to do. If you really love something else, then go do that now, and you will be successful at it. Otherwise, decide that you are going to serve the people as a chiropractor for as long as you can remember their names and have the strength to accurately move the bone. If you make this decision, you will have more love, joy and peace in your life than you could ever imagine.
Changing Your Vision
Here are some of the benefits that you will experience if you change your vision for your chiropractic career to that of service to others over the long run:
- You will lessen the short-term pressure on your life. This will allow you to keep your priorities straight, which is putting family before practice and God before family.
- Patients will recognize that you are there to serve them. If you make them your number one priority they will thank you by following through on your recommendations.
- Your patients will stay long enough to get the results that they came for. This will exponentially raise the level of their experience in your practice and will increase your personal satisfaction in practice.
- Your patients will refer their family members. You will be able to serve families in a lifetime wellness model.
- Your patients will refer their friends. You will finally have that referral practice of which you always dreamed.
- Your patients will pay you a fair fee for your adjustments. You will be able to eliminate the insurance companies before they eliminate you, and have a cash practice.
- You will attract a great team, because people want to work for an organization that has a purpose beyond the bottom line. They, too, want to make a difference in people's lives.
- You will have much less stress, because a referral practice is much less stressful then a marketing practice.
- You will remain significant and become more and more valuable as you get older because of your experience and expertise.
- You will achieve much higher service goals, because we always underestimate how much we can get done in the long term and overestimate how much we can do in the short term.
- You don't have to worry about financing your retirement, because when your friends are retiring and dying you will be entering into the most productive and profitable years of your career.
SUMMARY
As you progress in your career during the decades ahead, you will be able to attract, train and mentor young doctors to work alongside you. This will allow you to focus on the things in practice that you really love to do and delegate everything else.
- When you go to sleep at night, you will have peace.
- You will have the resources, both human and monetary, to take time away from the practice to renew and rejuvenate your life.
- Your practice will carry on after you are gone, and your life will leave a legacy of service for future generations to model.
The above are just a few of the benefits of changing your vision. I could keep going but I think you get the point. Only you can decide which way you want to go. A shift in vision sounds simple but it will not be easy. It will require a willingness to change as well as stepping into fear, but in my opinion it's the most important thing that you could do. The stakes are high - your life depends on it!