T oday's economic picture is one oe uncertainty. Markets rise and markets fall. The daily news only reports doom and gloom with an occasional hint of a turnaround that never comes. Consequently, as a practicing chiropractor, the media's message isn't reassuring. Everything from the housing market collapse to financial institution instability leaves chiropractors paralyzed with fear on how those market changes will affect their practices. Matter of fact, fear becomes the catalyst for poor decisions and even poorer outcomes from those decisions. For example, many chiropractors in time of desperation shoot from the hip, throw the latest marketing lad against the wall, and then scratch their heads wondering why it didn't stick. Instead of enjoying a self-sustaining, referral-based practice, they build a mineral oil practice, one where patients come in the front door and go out the back! Furthermore, surviving in today's economy without a plan is not only a challenge but practice suicide. Plus, if you don't have a solid plan, you can forget about any practice success because it'll only be a dream. However, if you stop and analyze the road that put you into practice, you'll understand that you weren't equipped to succeed. Now don't misunderstand me. Chiropractic colleges do an okay job educating chiropractors on how to become competent doctors. However, they fail miserably when it comes to developing chiropractors into truly successful entrepreneurs. What? You didn't realize that when you graduated from chiropractic school that you were considered an entrepreneur? Yeah, neither did your ambitious classmates! They, like yourself, probably thought that upon graduation all that they'd have to do was to jump in their car, drive until it ran out of gas, hang a shingle with their sign proclaiming their doctorate status, and then embrace the flood of new patients that would eagerly beat a path to their front door! So, welcome to the club! The majority of new graduates are in the same boat. Unlike the medical profession that provides a system for doctors to tap into upon graduation, chiropractors must blaze a path on their own to get started in practice. Because of this, many chiropractors fail miserably because they don't understand what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. Yes, being an entrepreneur takes tenacity, creativity, and focus. But, without an efficient system built upon solid procedures and protocols, the boat you're in gets tossed to and fro in the waves of reality. So, if you want to get out of that boat and onto solid ground, then you need to find an efficient system to build your practice upon. Truth be told, there are hundreds if not thousands of different business systems out there in the marketplace today. However, you need to find one that provides a large enough foundation that'll produce financial stability no matter what winds of change come down the pike. If you're interested in finding out more about a system that's stood the test of time for over fifty years, then let us know. Whether insurance is available or not, the system we speak of was developed before insurance was even in existence. In closing, if you currently are in active practice, I challenge you to take a closer look at your system by answering the following questions: *Has it provided you with a self-sustaining, referral-based practice? *Are you having fun serving patients? *Does it free up your time to allow Innate to operate to its fullest? *And, does its efficiency allow you to LOVE what you do 24/7/365? *If not, why are you using it? Tom Owen 111, President of AMC, lectures extensively from coast-to-coast to thousands of chiropractors and students annually. He is the author oj Chiropractic from a Business Man's Perspective, and has spent the last 25 years in the day-to-day trenches of the chiropractic profession. He lives by his quote that "In the end, all that is left are the lives we 've touched and to what extent they were changed. " Dr. Todd Osborne, a 1989 graduate of Palmer College, ran a successful high volume multiple doctor practice, and is currently Vice President of AMC, Inc., as well as an author and lecturer. Visit www.amcfamily.com or call (877) AMC-7II7for more information. UU
