Many of you know that Tara and I spend last winter doing volunteer health care and economic development work in Paraguay, SA. It really was an incredible experience - the positive impact on our health and family was remarkable.
The real bonus benefit was that our practice was profitable while we were away, and ran like clockwork. The outlook since we’ve returned has been even rosier: the practice is making more than it would have had we never left, we’re working less, and patients are getting better results. In short, taking time away = more health and more wealth. Counterintuitive? Perhaps, but true nonetheless.
We’re off for a two week break. It’s an annual summer getaway for us - no phones, TV, or internet. In fact, there’s no power. The place is off the grid, and runs on solar juice.
We’ll be back in a couple of weeks, so if we don’t get to your practice questions right away, hang in there.
CAM practitioners seem to have a real challenge in leaving their practices for a decent vacation. The Too-Busy can’t seem to make the time, and the Not-Busy-Enough are afraid to leave, or don’t feel they can afford to.
Here’s the thing: vacation time is a like money. You need to manage it, or it’ll manage you. So regardless of why you may not be getting away (fear, cash flow, overbooking etc.), here’s a trick that’ll work every time: book the whole year now.
I got a few questions after the recent series on Leaving Your Practice. One of the best was:
“How much should I pay the person who looks after my practice?”
Great question. There are several ways you can consider compensating the person who fills your shoes while you’re on sabbatical, vacation, maternity leave, or any other type of time off. For consistency, I’ll use the term “practitioner” to describe the health care professional who owns the practice, and “locum” to describe the person filling in, even thought they’re both likely practitioners.
In many ways, the practical aspects of leaving your practice for a sabbatical – locums, money management, etc. – are, believe it or not, the easiest. What can be incredibly challenging is the emotional roller coaster ride of walking away from something you’ve worked so hard to build, and then trying to remain sane while you’re gone. Given our recent transition, here are a few tips for you:
Stay Big Picture
From 40,000 feet, the big picture of leaving your practice (assuming you don’t shut your doors) looks like this: patients show up, consume products and services, and happily pay. It’s a system for exchanging services for money. In the past, you may have been the main engine of that service, but now it’s time to pass the torch.
Whether it’s a sabbatical, an illness, a new baby or just a break, there are times in your practice where you may need to be away for an extended period of time. We’ve just arrived in Paraguay for a five month medical mission, so I thought I’d share some ideas on how you can take time away, and still return to a thriving practice.
Find a Locum
You’ll need someone with your qualifications and skill set to fill at least part of your shoes. Start early, and don’t take the first thing that comes along – the right person can take time to find.
The early life cycle of a CAM practice is usually dedicated to generating a client base, and figuring out how to manage the process of getting them to your office, helping them, and accepting their money. Not a bad model, and one that’s been in use almost as long as commerce has.
After a few years, though, the busy acupuncturist realizes that they’re…well, busy. They see patients all day, sometimes on weekends. The chiropractor stays late to do the bookkeeping, pay the bills. The naturopath gets emergency calls at home.
A doctor once told me this great piece of wisdom: “Don’t set any office hours you don’t want to keep forever.”
It’s tempting when you start up to open weekends, nights, early mornings – anything that will get new patients in the door. Although offering this flexibility to your clients seems like a good idea, it presents a few challenges:
It’s hard on you
Working all those hours is a lot of…well, work. It means you’re seeing patients all the time (if your practice is booked solid), or you’re at the office all the time, but not generating revenue. If you’ve got friends or a family – hell, even if you’ve got a parakeet – it becomes draining. You have no life. And if, like most CAM practitioners, you promote life balance as a means of creating health, then you’re not practicing what you preach.
