Master motivator Zig Ziglar frequently told audiences in his lectures how to cook frogs. "If you throw them in hot water, they quickly jump out," he explained. "If you place them in warm water and slowly heat them with a small candle, they relax and get cooked."
Zig's lesson is a good one for business owners. Stay awake and don't get cooked! Approximately 95 percent of businesses go under in the first 10 years.1 In spite of all our training, chiropractic is not much different. Chiropractors are not immune to failing or quitting practice.
What can be done about it? Decide to learn from other people's failures. Once you do, it's easy to recognize the symptoms of a dying practice. You may suffer from one or more of these symptoms of complacency and not be aware of it. Keep reading and correct them.
Symptom #1: Poor Hygiene
I just finished consulting with an excellent chiropractor who is struggling to survive. When I met with him, he had just taken a shower; his hair was clean, but wet. His clothes, however, smelled, and his teeth were a wreck. I thought, Why would anyone want to see him, never mind let him touch them?
Needless to say, his practice was down, but he couldn't understand why. He was totally unaware of how he was choking his clinic to death!
Symptom #2: Poorly Aware
I'm always amazed at chiropractors who don't know their statistics. I think if you are the CEO of a company, you should know whether profits are up or down. Business never stays the same; like the stock market, it changes direction constantly.
Chiropractors who are not doing well are often unaware of how many people they are helping, services rendered, collections and overhead. When asked about specifics, they'll respond, "I don't know." This is insane.
Of course, a doctor's primary focus must be caring for patients, but to keep the lights on, pay for staff and stay in business, you must know these figures and more. To grow beyond the current level of service requires an understanding of what's going on and how to change a negative trend.
Symptom #3: Being Defensive
When asked how things are going, these same doctors will make defensive statements such as:
What's wrong with these explanations? They are not entirely true. For example, is business down everywhere? Isn't someone doing better? These stiff-necked, wrong-headed observations make failure less painful and don't pose questions that could actually address the problem:
Symptom #4: Resignation
The doctor I was helping had been failing for years. His once-thriving business had become an expensive hobby. He had to borrow money from his family to pay his taxes, and his credit cards were charged to the max. His clinic was dirty and disorganized.
What astounded me was he had no sense of urgency. If he were piloting an airplane diving toward disaster, he wouldn't bother pulling back on the stick. After years of commitment and study, endless financial sacrifices and hard work, he was done. He was less concerned than I was, and he owned the business and was about to lose everything. He had given up long ago. Shocking!
Symptom #5: Blind to Opportunity
This doctor confided in me that "no one" in his town had money or could afford care. I checked the demographics of his town to see if what he was saying had any merit. The median household income in his area was more than $100,000 a year, twice the national median (about $52,000 per year).2 The surrounding areas were even better off. His statements about the economy, etc., were nonsense, of course.
His fees were low, but he readily negotiated them downward if he sensed any reluctance on the part of his patients to start or continue care. He pointed out that although many people nearby were wealthy, there were also a lot of people hardly getting by.
Quoting the business magnate Lang Hancock, I said to this doctor, "The best way to help the poor is not to become one of them." I went on, "Accept reasonable pay for services rendered and donate to charity." Finally, I added, "Become so busy you need to hire staff and feed their hungry families." When it came to business, he was the Mother Theresa of chiropractic, but his clinic was definitely not in Calcutta.
Tips to Avoid Complacency
To be and stay successful, you must constantly raise your standards. Be concerned. Step up to the challenges, and handle problems quickly and fully as they appear. Ask the right questions to the right people, and decide to listen and act on solutions that allow you to help more people. Do whatever it takes.
Business is a moving target that requires constant adaptation to stay relevant and "vibrate" at the exact frequency of the people you serve. Wake up and stay awake. Refuse to settle. Find out how to improve and move.
If business is sluggish, make time to find out what your statistics are and answer the questions in this article. Here are more questions to help boom your business:
Just like the human body, a clinic is designed to thrive. Profit is a by-product of quality services rendered. Never be satisfied until your clinic prospers.
We all have blind spots. It's difficult to see what's holding us back, never mind do something about it. If your practice is not flourishing, take a look in the mirror. Make sure you haven't become complacent. Stay hungry.
References
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
