Don’t Be A Mildly Competent Doctor

What is Worse than an Incompetent Chiropractor? A Mildly Competent One!

Do you want to know why? It’s simple. A mildly competent doctor is not engaged in their life or its true purpose.  They are complacent.  They seek comfort instead of growth and security instead of possibilities.

They sit on a whale and fish for minnows.

The truth is none of us became chiropractors or chiropractic technicians (assistants) to just get a paycheck. We got into it because we want to transform the world. So it comes down to a matter of scale. Do you want to impact your community or just be a mild aftershock? Are you willing to get your “WHY” on, get out of your mummy wrap, and become “wildly competent?”

What if you learned that the way you managed your practice and your patients was actually limiting your ability to help more people and is keeping you from enjoying the rewards of an affluent lifestyle? What if you learned that a lack of new patients IS NOT a marketing problem or that patient non-compliance IS NOT a patient education problem and that insurance reimbursement hassles IS NOT a paperwork problem? How soon would you want to know and more importantly, would you be willing to fix it?

Being a good doctor isn’t enough. Your business must be as competent as you are. Learning another technique, buying the next gadget or spending money on practice software will not close the gap between where your practice is now and where you want it to be.

If you intend to take your practice to the next (more secure) level, then you and your team will need training in soft skills and an upgrade in your business systems. You must go from mildly competent to being wildly competent.

Imagine a practice with a steady stream of new patients, patients who want to be there. Imagine what it could be like with less stress, more freedom, and more time to enjoy your life while you are building it.

We are here to help you bridge the gap between what science knows and chiropractors do. We exist to help you close the gap between where your practice is now and where you need it to be.

Are you ready to get your wild on?

Dr. Sovinsky Dr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor” Written February 2010

 

 

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Why Meeting Patients “half way” is not Nearly Far Enough

You no doubt feel the pressure that comes with being a primary health care provider. Patients have many expectations of you, your office and your service. I think that, in our reaction to this pressure, we have unconsciously built psychological walls of self preservation that add to our stress. These walls are built on a belief that in order to benefit from our care a patient must, in some way, reach out and demonstrate a willingness to change their core beliefs.

You may have heard others say or may even have said this yourself, “As long as a patient is willing to meet me half way I can help them”  This feels like the right attitude, but is it? I suppose we sometimes think that if we stand firmly on our ideals and extend ourselves half way that this will teach the patient to be more responsible for their health. I do my half, they do their half. Good intention, bad results.

Why half way is not enough

The emotional mind of the patient perceives this position as indifference.  They might even feel as if it is a power game of superiority and control. Not only will they not follow through with their care, they will tell as many as 12 people about you and how you made them feel. This is not the reputation you want.

In the town where I practiced there was a chiropractic office that had a prominent flight of stone steps leading up and into the clinic. The steps were wide and reminded me of the platform leading up and into a cathedral. As an eager, new practitioner hungry for success, this didn’t make sense to me; yet, the doctor was well known in the community so I had to ask him about it.

“Doctor, I know you don’t just see people with severe back pain, but seriously, how do you expect people to climb up those stairs and into your office?”

He replied quickly and in a stern tone said, “I want them to “step up” to chiropractic and realize that they have finally found the true way of health.”

His attitude was that he shouldn’t even meet the patient half way. The patient should abandon their old ways and embrace the new. Old school arrogance and an attitude of superiority carry over into our culture even today. Doctors tell me that they are willing to meet a patient half way and I tell them, “Half way is not nearly far enough.”

What does this mean?

What does meeting you half way look like? Well, it’s filled with your agendas and it would take a week or more to share all of the examples I have personally witnessed. Here are few common examples that produce common practices:

  • Meeting you half way means the patient must be willing to learn the things you are interested in teaching.
  • Meeting you half way means the patient must show up on time and NEVER miss an appointment
  • Meeting you half way means the patient must drop their old ways of eating, sleeping, exercising and just general “change -ING”

Barriers to your office are mostly behavioral and if you intend to out behave the competition you will want to look at your beliefs and attitudes. While these blocks are not blatant displays like the stone staircase, the result is the same. People stay away. And that big reputation in the community is not the one you want.

You are the leader, the care giver. You must let go of your need to receive respect and appreciation. You cannot expect to receive attention until and unless you give attention. Once you let go of your agenda and reach out you will receive more than you can imagine.

I know that you want an uncommon, extraordinary practice and achieving this is easier than you think. So here is what I want you to do with the next new patient; meet them half way then take three more steps forward.

A word of caution!  If you think you are already taking these steps and you are not attracting 30 or more new patients a month, then think again and make sure you have the right attitude when taking these steps.

The Steps

Step 1: Following the introductions ask the patient about their primary reason for seeking your help and let them talk (hold your tongue . . . literally bite it if you must)

E.g. “I understand that your most pressing concern right now is these headaches. Tell me about them.”

Step 2: Listen. Shut up and do not interrupt them until they signal you that they are through. Studies suggest that if we don’t distract them with our body language or words, on average they will only talk for 90 seconds. Try it. It works.

Step 3: Thank them for their disclosure and ask any clarifying questions you may have. Then, let them know how you intend to discover the chiropractic solution to those headaches and that if you think you can help you will let them know once you have done your examinations.

Meet them more than half way. You practice will thank you, your patients will thank you and you will no longer feel the pressure to perform or the stress associated with non-compliance. Remember, attitude leads behavior.

Dr. SovinskyDr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor”, written June 2011

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Dominate vs. Compete

Dominate vs. Compete… What’s the difference? Similar words; but, understanding the details will help you take steps towards accomplishing your goals espanolfarmacia.net. 

Dominate

To dominate you must have a commanding influence and exercise control. In order to dominate, you or your service must be the most important or conspicuous. To dominate means to be in a commanding position. Domination requires mastery, and it requires that you and your business offer more. To dominate means that you are in a league all by yourself. Your only competition is you!

Compete

To compete you must strive to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same. To compete means that you participate, try to keep up with, keep pace with, be in the same league, come near to or come close, and/or compare yourself with the other competitors.

The difference

To compete means spending time looking over your shoulder at your competition. To compete means doing the same things that everyone else is doing and just trying to get a little ahead of the next guy. To dominate means to press forward looking straight ahead giving it all you’ve got. To dominate means to race against yourself and consistently push past your “limits”.

When you begin to dominate people will ask how you operate at the level you do. Trust us, it’s a fun question to answer!

Dominate, and abundance is yours!  

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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Unleash the Underdog

Few things tug at the heartstrings of people quite like a good Underdog story.

March Madness glorifies the underdog story and creates moments that become must-see TV. The back against the wall, down to the last chance, “nobody puts baby in a corner” situation. It’s an identifiable feeling that invokes a feel-good moment we can all share.

At some point in your life you’ve been the underdog. Chances are you relished the opportunity. Our societal infatuation with the underdog makes me question two things:

“Why do we love the feeling of the underdog?”

“If we love the underdog feeling so much, how can we make that feeling a part of our daily lives?”

Here’s my three answers to both questions.

What is it that makes the underdog so loveable?

1. Hope/Faith
No one believes in themselves or their situation more than the underdog. People admire and fall in love with underdogs and begin to regain that same hope and faith in themselves. The “if they can do that, then certainly I can do this!” mentality gives people a renewed sense of motivation.

2. Perceived Injustice
Underdog stories give us the opportunity to remember the times when we felt slighted. The times when things weren’t fair and we had to persevere through the injustice. We’ve all been wronged before and the underdog reminds us of that time.

3. Redemption
The underdog allows us to vicariously live through them in the moment. The one moment where we can get even. David beats Goliath; even if it’s just for one night. The ultimate redemption story is achieved when the underdog triumphs against all odds.

How to unleash the “Underdog” in your everyday life

1. Chase big dreams
No one celebrates the underdog for getting up on time in the morning or opening the lid on the pickle jar (even though that does feel really good!) The underdog feeling is only unleashed when dreams are realized. To feel that moment where the you’ve beat the doubts and stand victorious; you’ve got to chase the biggest dreams you’ve got.

2. Never give up
Millions of underdog stories are lost every single day. Anytime you give up on something; you lose your shot at your underdog moment. Everyone remembers the underdog for their one shining moment without ever acknowledging the amount of work that went unnoticed to ever reach that opportunity.

3. Acknowledge (and Embrace) reality.
The underdog doesn’t sugarcoat things or try to make themselves feel like they deserve to be where they are. The underdog takes pride in how far they’ve come and the path it took to get there.

Everyone has some underdog in them. Those who find ways to channel that emotion and desire are the ones we see celebrating the buzzer beaters and changing the world.

It’s time for you to unleash your underdog.

Let’s Ride!

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

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H3

There are three components you must understand to accomplish your goals and achieve your standards of success. 

Here at SIDECAR we are always pushing to be better than we were yesterday. Since you’ve signed on to join us we hope you have felt the atmosphere surrounding our company to be one of constantly trying to improve and deliver higher levels of value. An important lesson that comes with self-improvement and striving to be the best you can be is the concept of self-awareness. Being self-aware about what it is you do well and what it is that you don’t do well.

You might be aligning your mindset with revamping your business to expand to serve hundreds of more people per week. Some of you might be preparing to build a business that provides for your family far after you’re gone. Regardless of where your dreams are, the process it’s going to take to get there is going to be the same.

Before you set out to accomplish your goals, you need to become self-aware and downright practical in three different areas that we refer to as H3 — Heart, Hustle, and Humility.

You will create whatever you want to create in your life. What you need to understand is that there are levels to success. No level is right or wrong. We all have our own dreams. Your dreams may require a different level of success than mine do. My hustle is not your hustle and that is okay. We need to be honest with ourselves and self-aware about what it’s going to take in each of the H3 categories to reach that specific level of success.

Not everyone can see 500 patient visits per week or increase their patient volume by hundreds of patients. Accomplishing these feats would place you at a very high level of success. These are tremendous goals to have but they aren’t everyone’s goals. Regardless of what level your goals are on let’s examine how you are going to have to change and improve in different categories to achieve them.

Heart

Heart is about serving above yourself. It’s delivering truly great service by going above and beyond yourself to take care of the needs of others. It’s about possessing and displaying a servant heart. Everyone watching this segment right now has heart. You wouldn’t have gotten into this profession without it. Where you need to be honest with yourself is by examining where your heart truly is at this exact moment. Are you passionate about what you’re doing and do you wish to increase your reach and influence? Remember, passion is not a buzz word. True passion is something you’re willing to suffer for. Are you willing to suffer for your dreams?

Hustle

The hustle component is the one that’s going to require the most physical work. If you’re going to increase your level of success, your hustle is going to have to change in multiple different areas of your life. To serve more patients you’re going to have to physically change your body. Your energy levels are going to have to increase along with your physical conditioning if you want to physically be able to see more patients. You might need to hit the gym regularly for a month before your body will be capable of the increased physical stress that increased patient visits requires.

You’re also going to need to change your lifestyle habits that get in the way of you achieving the successes that you desire. Creating and operating a high volume, efficient, systems-based practice isn’t going to happen if you’re watching two hours of T.V. every night. It’s not going to happen if you’re only working twenty-four clinician hours during the week. Massive amounts of success are going to require massive amounts of action.

Additionally, your mindset is going to have to change. You will not be able to increase your future level of success by thinking at your current level. Big dreams stem from big thoughts and you’re going to need a lot of these if you want to see your dreams manifest into reality.

Humility

Finally, the humility component is going to be the biggest modifier that will provide the most scale for your success in either direction. Your ability to be humble and accept the need to change are going to directly increase or decrease your level of success. Understand that you’re not the smartest guy in the room, nor should you be. If you are open to coaching.. things will change for the better. If you are unable to get out of your comfort zone and be pushed to new things you are going to stay on the same level.

This is just the truth of what it takes to be ridiculously successful. “Overnight” success stories do not exist and there is no magic pill that is going to turn your practice around or elevate it to the next level. However, if you’re truly committed and I mean truly committed to improving your business, your life, and the lives of those around you, you can reach the levels you dream about.

It’s going to hurt. At times, it’s not going to be fun. If you’re pushing hard enough you are going to come to a point where you will want to quit. You might have to say goodbye to some people in your life that are holding you back. You will have to meet new people and expand yourself in your community. Operating at the levels of affluence you dream of is going to increase the chaos of your life. This can be controlled but not all of it. If you’ve got the desire and do truly want the dreams that dance through your head at night, then you can do it and, in fact, you will do it. And that’s where SIDECAR can help.

Your Reality

Some of you reading this today might be hovering around a number of patient visits that allows you to live comfortably. You haven’t quite reached the level of affluence that you desire or that you thought you would when you first began your career as a chiropractic entrepreneur, but you’re able to live a nice life with a nice salary and provide nicely for your family. You have achieved a certain level of success that you can and deserve to be happy with. But if you were truly happy with where you were, and viewed yourself as being as successful as you set out to be, you wouldn’t be here. So let’s find the areas where you can improve, become more efficient, tweak your mindset and start to change your current reality to give you and your business that boost you desire.

Some of you might be struggling. You may find yourself scraping to get by or even falling in the wrong direction. You’ve tried and failed and are looking for options to turn your business around. You’ve got no choice but to seek change and be hungry for improvement. You need to be obsessed, you’ve got everything on the line! What you need to realize is that there is something about you that is directly responsible for the levels you have been operating at. Understand that you not only have the desire to change and improve, but that you need to. It’s time to put your nose down and grind to turn this ship around. Understand that as soon as you commit, there is no going back. True commitment leaves no room for failure.

Honestly, starting from the bottom is going to make your success even sweeter. I myself only started to really grow when I reached my rock bottom. I had no choice! Many of the truly successful individuals in the world started from places that were much worse off than where you are now. Ghandi was in prison and Steve Jobs was fired from his own company! If you’re at this position, the humble component should take care of itself and all that’s left is checking where your heart is and hustling to get it done!

Some of you might be just starting out or may be in the preparation and planning stages of crafting your business. You have high aspirations and are ready to achieve your dreams. Understand that it’s going to take more work than you think to achieve your goals. It always does! If you easily achieve your goals, they were never goals in the first place!

Take a hard look in the mirror and align your dreams with the level of work you really want to put in. Understand that increasing your level of success is a multi-faceted process and accept that things may have to get worse before they get better. We want nothing more than to see you achieve your dreams. Celebrating breakthroughs with doctors is our favorite part of the job. So let’s get started on making your dreams a reality.

Let’s Ride,

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

Inspired and looking to commit to the H3 principles? Reach out for a free gift! 

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Cleaning Closets

Are you struggling to turn the dial forward in your business? You may be spending too much time cleaning your closets!

Every now and again, you may find your closets getting a little unorganized, your desk a little messy, or your e-mail inbox a little full. These tasks require you to do some cleaning and organizing to get things back to how they should be. These tasks sound like good things to accomplish and to an extent they are! We like to get things back in order! But, in the end, what have you really accomplished?

“Cleaning Closets” is a concept we use to describe accomplishing tasks with little reward. The hidden danger of cleaning closets is you may feel like you’re busy but in reality; you’re not being productive! While it is true that some action is better than no action; you’re not going to be able to accomplish the goals you have set by spending a significant amount of your time cleaning closets!

If you find yourself not making progress or struggling to make changes in your business; you need to become self-aware. If you’re busy all the time but not achieving results, you’re not doing anything to improve your situation! You’re playing things safe and taking very little risk.

One way to increase your self-awareness is by examining the level of risk you are taking. If the decision has little to no risk involved, you’re more than likely cleaning closets! Accomplishing anything significant requires risk. You’re going to have to invest something that you could potentially lose. If you do end up losing it, it’s going to hurt! You may upset some people or not have everyone like you! But, with little risk, comes little reward. Fear is a part of every decision we make. Fear needs to motivate you, not paralyze you.

Re-examine your daily schedule and identify how much time you are spending cleaning closets. Gaining this self-awareness will allow you to increase your productivity and even decrease the amount of time you spend feeling “busy”.

At the end of the day, your actions need to push you towards your ultimate goal. Remember, change is difficult in the beginning, messy in the middle, and beautiful in the end!

Let’s Ride!

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

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Smile!

“A man without a smiling face must never open a shop.”

                                                          – Ancient Chinese Proverb

It’s as simple as it sounds. You need to smile in your workplace. Your team needs to wear a smile as part of their uniform.

I took my son to get a haircut recently. We walked in and were immediately asked “Phone number?”, “Last name?” with no smile and very little eye contact. Now, these were the right questions that needed to be asked. What was missing? A smile.

A smile is a big deal. Remind yourself and your team that regardless of what task you may be faced with, you’re never too busy for eye contact and a smile. What if your business is the only establishment that customer encounters a smiling face in that day?

You’ve probably experienced a time where you were treated like a number instead of a person. Someone was too busy staring at a computer to recognize you standing there. Employees may have been too busy talking with one another to serve you. This subtle detail is missed so much in business.

A smile is a little thing that goes along way. Ensuring your business consists of happy employees with smiling faces is another step in the right direction.

The bottom line – if you’re happy, tell your face!

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

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The Stupid Tax

Are you still experiencing the consequences of a poor business decision?

The reality of owning and operating any small business involves making decisions every single day.

These decisions range in size from every day operational duties to long-term goal setting and planning.

Unless you’re perfect, you’ve probably messed up one or two of these decisions. You may have not even “messed up!” In business, situations and circumstances continually evolve and change. A decision that appeared to be correct at the time might end up haunting you in the future.

Old business decisions can lead to a phenomenon that we refer to as the “Stupid Tax.”

Let’s use a story to further highlight this concept:

The Shoe Maker

You’re a shoe maker fresh out of the shoe making academy. You’re eager to serve the world and get everyone in a pair of your shoes. You decide the best way to accomplish this is to offer a “Monthly Shoe Program.” Customers who sign up for this program receive a new pair of custom made shoes every month for only $5. Your shoes are worth much more than $5, but you want to hit the ground running and make a name for yourself!

The program is a huge hit! Soon, customers are flocking to your door and lining up for their own $5 shoe program. Quickly, your little shop becomes saturated and the pressure of small profit margins begins to constrain your efforts.

You decide the best thing to do is to discontinue the $5 shoe program and continue to offer your high-quality shoes for a more justifiable price.

The transition isn’t easy. A few new customers looking for the $5 program voice their displeasure and leave forever.

However, word continues to get around about your high-quality shoes and, eventually, business picks back up. Your new business model is a success!

Meanwhile, the old $5 model still has a following and continues to “plague” your business. Being a good businessman, you continue to honor this commitment to your existing customer base.. and feel it in your gut and wallet every time!”

The Stupid Tax

Our official definition of the Stupid Tax is “something you did once upon a time only to realize later it was not a good idea or fit with your new model.”

How do you deal with Stupid Tax? You honor your obligation; however, you do not start any new people on this program.

The Stupid Tax is a not-so-friendly reminder of past decisions made. It can be frustrating, especially during a transition period but it also serves as a great reminder of the progress and growth you and your business have made! Now, just like regular taxes, the Stupid Tax must be paid. There’s no avoiding it. With time, the Stupid Tax should become minimal and eventually fade away.

In the chiropractic world stupid taxes are commonly suffered when recovering from:

  • Failed business partnerships
  • Consequences of Practice Management agreements
  • Poorly structured patient care plans and payment agreements

As frustrating as these challenges are, they will pass.  Until you reach that point, chalk up the Stupid Tax to the consequences of improving your business. Remember, a tax is only applied when one obtains something of value.

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

 

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Decision Making: The 5 Second Rule

Learn how to improve your decision making in just five seconds!

Decision Making is a skillset that too many of us struggle with daily. We get stuck and can’t take the next step.

What is preventing you from taking that next step? Is it fear? Anxiety? Risk? Are you worried about making the wrong decision? Are there outside parties involved that may or may not agree with your decision?

Regardless of the external circumstances, you are going to have to make the decision.

One key to improving your decision making is to provide yourself and others grace when the outcome isn’t perfect. Decision making doesn’t operate as an all-or-nothing principle. The most important aspect of decision making doesn’t lie in the initial decision, but the ability to follow up by pivoting, adapting, and making adjustments. Think of decision making as a wheel that keeps on turning getting you closer to your goal. After you make the first decision, make another one, then another one – each one improving and building upon the next.

The 5 Second Rule

I read a great book that impacted and increased my ability to make decisions immediately. The book is called the “5 Second Rule” written by Mel Robbins. She also has a TED Talk on the subject. The gist of the book is this: when faced with a decision count down from 5 and decide.

“5,4,3,2,1 DECIDE!”

It sounds simple but the effects are profound.

My family and I implemented the 5 Second Rule when we took a vacation to Phoenix, Arizona. That one weekend we used the 5 Second Rule to make every decision we were faced with. 90% of the time we were happy with the outcomes and 10% of the time we had to make better follow up decisions.

Decision making is such a life skill and the 5 Second Rule is a quick, tangible way to help you improve in that area.

Read the book, and decide!

Let’s Ride,

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

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The Fearful Patient

All new patients share one common characteristic: fear. 

When you think of a new patient that comes in to your office, what words come to mind? Opportunity, relief, change, improvement? As a skilled and experienced doctor it’s natural to think of all the positivity that surrounds a new patient visit, but have you considered that initial visit from the patient’s perspective?

Think about the last time you searched for a new healthcare provider. How did you find information? Did you search online? Seek out recommendations from friends or family? When you think like a consumer you start to see how the dynamic can change.

The concept we want to focus on today is fear. Fear of the unknown is a common human response that occurs whenever something new arises. All new patients will exhibit some level of fear when they present in your office for the first time. This fear can either be cleared up or exacerbated depending on your business’s level of customer service. A cheerful greeting during the initial phone call, a business that is conveniently located and easy to find, or being greeted by name upon arriving in the office are all ways to suppress new patient fear.

A new patient will have several questions, but none bigger than this:

“Can you help me?”

The chiropractic profession has survived and thrived since its existence by helping people that couldn’t get help anywhere else. When a new patient chooses your office, odds are that he or she has been seen by two or three other providers. The patient has probably been told that there is nothing wrong or that there is no solution for their condition. You may be that patient’s last resort.

We need to be hope merchants to the people that have never had hope before. Be careful not to be cavalier in your delivery. We expect our patients to get better, but it’s a whole different experience for each patient. Patients need realistic expectations and clear communication. More importantly they need a doctor with a caring heart and a listening ear.

Focus on meeting your new patients wherever they are. Find out what their problem really is and identify where that fear base may be coming from.

 

Dr. SeaDr. Douglas Sea, CTO, SIDECAR

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