Associate Dr, Hiring and Training, Practice Growth -
New Rhino University EP 11: Scale Your Office
Hi Rhinos,
Dr. FJ here with your next episode of Rhino University.
I’m really excited about this episode – we’re going to talk about Scaling your Office. How do you scale it and in turn create more freedom for yourself?
For most of the Chiropractic profession the doctor is the doctor, the owner, the operator and in order to make more you needed to see more. See more, see more, see more – but eventually you get tired, you get older and you start seeing a decline.
I don’t want that. I want my office to grow forever, for my office to perpetually grow. I also want a Self-Propelled office that I don’t have to micromanage.
That takes skills and time to develop - but the thinking we have in our profession that hasn’t changed yet is the old-school factory model – get lots of associates in and pay them hardly anything just to keep your own profits high so you can go out and buy a Fararri, even when you're not into cars.
What car you drive doesn’t matter, the brand of clothes you have don't matter. You don’t need a 20,000 square foot house.
Now if you reward yourself in a certain way because you love cars then that’s fine cause you truly value it – don’t do it to keep up with the Jones. Do it because you love it - if no one ever saw it, no one ever knew about it and it wouldn’t matter because you love it. The end result is the same but the experience is different.
But we got to get rid of the old-school factory based model, praying on the young, paying them nothing, working them to death and using them as screening slaves – and you wonder why some of the “self proclaimed” leaders in our profession have no past employees that have anything good to say about them, because they just get worked to death for nothing. It’s ridiculous.
Instead, you need a SKILL based model.
Good quality people, pay them well, take care of them, give them plenty of time off and you’re going to win because they’re going to win, your patients are going to win- it’s good for everyone. So stop the old thinking. Update it - because the old model doesn’t work, it’s short term thinking vs long term thinking.
We need to take care of our young doctors, so treat them well. There are a lot of great people out there who don’t want to deal with the business side of things and they shouldn’t be punished for that. They should be rewarded – like “hey, you come into my office. I’ll take great care of you and you take great care of my patients” we all win then.
I love running the business. LOVE IT. But a lot of people don’t want to deal with it. I want to make sure the great people that want to take CARE of people have great places to work. This allows our profession to grow, and this is how we can change the profession. Time to quit this old school thinking.
How do you scale your business?
First you have to hire and attract QUALITY, Intelligent, Talented people. Don’t do it the way that most teach it - Don’t try and hire people that are just like you – don’t do that.
Hire people that have strengths and talents that are different than you and that compliment your strengths. So if you’re not uber detailed get someone who IS detailed. Different talents to bring to your office.
The first associate I hired – I wanted someone that was great with children and pregnant women, I wanted someone who also knew soft tissue, because I didn’t like doing it but I knew there was value in it and that there was a need to provide this service for our patients and I didn’t want those people going elsewhere. Those things are great, I just didn’t want to do them. So I wanted someone who enjoyed doing it and wanted to because now you don’t have to micromanage it – they’re going to do a great job because they enjoy it.
For my next associate I wanted someone that was obsessed with NUCCA and knew all the subtle details - and that’s what I got.
I’m always looking for people with strengths and skills that compliment my own. Now the office can grow and my work level is getting less. The first 10 years I worked my butt off - but now, every time I’ve hired on people that compliment my strengths, my office grows and I get to work less, get to have fun doing what I LOVE and spend more time with my family.
Next, it's the biggest secret. I can't believe I'm sharing it! ----
TAKE CARE OF THEM.
It’s so simple, so easy and yet, no one does it.
Too often our profession works them to death, pay them nothing, screening every weekend, taking them away from THEIR family, but it doesn’t matter cause it’s all about them and the money that’s coming to them. Then the associate leaves unhappy and has nothing good to say about these “leaders” and what’s changed?
It shouldn’t be this way. There are so many people that need us. Marketing and storytelling is not enough, our skills need to get better and we need to take care of our young doctors. Come on, let’s be better than what we’ve been. It’s time to Break the Cycle and take our profession to the next level!
Listen to the video - it's made a huge impact on my office growth and it'll propel yours too!
Keep Charging!
