We’re firm believers that there comes a time when finding success means you need to work less at some things, not more. It’s counterintuitive, I know, but sometimes the most important things are.
Here’s are 6 reasons why cutting your hours might just take your practice to the next level:
During our sabbatical in Paraguay, we started a free clinic using donations from patients back home.
As word spread, it became a common sight to find people scattered about the various shady spots outside our makeshift clinic waiting for la doctora, and trying to get a some relief in a place where a dollar day wasn’t an uncommon wage.
“Money is in some respects life’s fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.”
-PT Barnum
We’re thrilled with our new clinic. We’ve been able to offer better (and more) services because of the extra space, and the goldfish effect really seems to be kicking in.
One of the small drawbacks, though, is that our patients have to pay for parking - ouch. It was one of those little things that didn’t sit well with me, and it didn’t seem to fit our vision for the clinic.
A few weeks ago we talked about how to increase professional referrals to your practice. Developing this referral source is essentially a networking exercise, but the point of the post was to provide a framework in which to do it without feeling weird, creepy, or uncomfortable.
I know there are a lot of alternative and complementary practitioners who are involved with networking groups like BNI. While I don’t generally promote those groups a great deal, I read a fantastic tidbit from Ivan Misener, the founder and CEO of BNI, in a piece on Entrepreneur.com: Read More
Like most of you, we’ve often been faced with tough decisions. Moving offices, adding new products or services, hiring staff, investing in a new marketing campaign - all these things can be overwhelming because of their cost, complexity, time commitment and level of change they bring to your personal and professional life.
We’ve had great success with our big decisions in the past by asking these six simple questions before making a leap. The questions fit just about any scenario, and are a great way to push through fear and small-picture distractions to what’s really important.
Reader B. writes in to ask about dealing with patients in multi-practitioner settings:
You decide to take a 2 week vacation…now, the client doesn’t want to see you as their primary practitioner anymore and has requested to switch to the other [practitioner]. What is the etiquette? How should the client be accommodated? How can this be prevented?
There are really two possible scenarios here: Read More
You’ll find this throughout the CAM/holistic professional community, particularly early in practice: the massage therapist trades a session for an adjustment from the chiropractor. The acupuncturist swaps time with the naturopath, who in turn trades a visit with a web designer. The homeopath exchanges treatments with the landscaping guy who cuts the grass in front of her office.
At first blush there’s nothing inherently wrong with this beyond the obvious tax-dodging implications. And for the practitioners just starting out who are time-rich and cash-poor, it allows them to get their hands on things they need.
Here’s a bit of wisdom for you:
Patients love having things done to them.
They do. They absolutely love it. Why? Partly because many are accustomed to prescriptive health care, and partly because it’s easy. Who wants to do all that hard work of lifestyle change?
Here’s the scenario: A new naturopath starts her practice. She’s fresh out of school, heavy in debt and a little freaked out by how much her time is worth. I hope people aren’t turned off by the price, she thinks.
Anxious to make sure she’s ‘worth it’ to her clients, her first patient visits are a blockbuster. Lots of face time, handouts, meal plans and recipes – a veritable rainforest of paper. Satisfied that she’s over-delivered, she sits back and waits for the return visit. Read More
