Working with clinic owners for over ten years, I see a common trait of ‘analysis paralysis’ when it comes to clinic development.
That is a tendency amongst some to believe they need to know everything before they start something new.
In the business of working in a clinic, thoughts bounce around inside heads and the thought “I must do this” or “I must get round to doing that” prevail.
And then it’s back on the tools treating patients and months, even years go by.
I notice this in many areas.
The decision to take on a clinic or business coach is a classic one. Who to choose, is it worth it, what if it doesn’t work, what if I can’t do it.
The decision to expand with an associate.
What sort of person, what fee split / salary, where to recruit, I just need to get a few more patients and then …
The decision to invest in technology, IDD Therapy, Shockwave, Laser, Rehab. What kit, what if it doesn’t work, what if I lose money, what if it’s not as good as I think, how shall I market it.
The decision to do more marketing
What sort of marketing, marketing doesn’t work, I’ll just lose money, word of mouth is best isn’t it ….? I must get round to getting a new website …
I spend my days meeting clinic owners, talking to clinic owners and looking at clinics online.
I get to know which clinics are growing, thriving with energy and which are staying the same.
The ones moving forward make a decision, act and then get to work on the thing. Those that stay the same tend to think a lot, think about taking a decision but never get round to it.
Staying the same is absolutely fine of course. A good work life balance, a healthy set of patients and referrals, happy days.
But many clinic owners, especially as they get older, do have a desire to get more from their practice.
To have a clinic which is less dependent on them.
They think a lot about what to do and often think they need to get a detailed plan.
There is of course a lot of choice, many options and it is overwhelming.
But that uncertainty creates inertia and inertia leads to stagnation.
That is why many clinic owners are earning pretty much what they earned the year before, and the year before that, despite growing in experience and skills.
Sometimes necessity is the mother of action.
You get arthritis in your hands, now what? You need to take time off to care for a loved one, now what?
You have three kids going to uni starting in five years time and you can’t work more hours, how will you pay for that?
You want to retire or cut your hours down, now what?
Having a plan of action doesn’t need to be minutely detailed.
Like deciding to get fit or lose weight, you just decide. Go for your first walk and choose to have a sweet potato instead of chips … From there you develop things and the detail comes.
Momentum builds from taking action. Stagnation sets in from inertia.
Whatever the thing is that you think you need to be doing, is usually the thing you need to be doing.
You need a coach, pick one and call them. (You don’t have to sign up forever!)
You want to do some adwords or facebook advertising, ask around for recommendations,
You’re thinking of investing in equipment, see how much it costs, what comes with it and do you your numbers, Talk to people already using the thing you’re interested in.
Need an associate? look on indeed or ask in the facebook groups for salaries and job descriptions and put out an ad (and make it compelling because very clinic is trying to recruit as there aren’t enough good candidates it would seem)
Need time to work ON your business? Block your diary on Wednesday morning so you’re not doing it at the weekend when you should be reviving.
And if that means you lose some income, yes it’s a step back but chances are you’ll come up with a plan, implement it and take three steps forward.
(After all, for every half day you want to take off, on average you just need one associate to work a full day to have the same money. Then you can start taking more time off and build your business, feel less overwhelm and have a clinic business not dependent on you etc.)
Of course I write this in part because I see how clinic owners really like the idea of IDD Therapy spinal decompression, but they think they need to do this, that and everything.
From all my experience, if you have the basics of a clinic and some underused space, the decision to move is ALWAYS the first step and things fall into place after that decision.
Whether IDD or something else, the decision not to move forward to where you want to go is the decision to stay the same as last year.
They say leap and the net will appear. That is invariably the case.
Food for thought I hope.
Webinar
If you want to grow your practice and get better results for back pain patients, you might like to watch this webinar I put on which will give you an overview of IDD Therapy spinal decompression.
It starts 15 minutes after you register.
You can copy the link to your diary to watch it in the evening or at the weekend. Relevant to any clinic anywhere. See you shortly!
Steve Small