Have you made your Summer Reading List yet? 

Every summer we were assigned five books to read before the start of the school year. Of course, in those days I did not enjoy reading as much as swimming, riding my bike or playing baseball. I waited until the last moment and crammed using the “Cliff Notes.”   While I got the key ideas, I realize now that I had cheated myself. The books were chosen to grow and prepare me to meet the next challenge of adolescence. There are no “Cliff Notes” for life.

This summer why not ‘think for a change.’ Right now, it is important that you choose books that are thought provocative and informative.  Provocative reading stretches you intellectually, challenges your current beliefs, poses possibilities and stimulates your imagination. You must read a minimum of 20 minutes a day. The point is to provoke thought, not reinforce emotional patterns.

Three more reasons to “re-wire your brain.”

1) If you can’t think, you are unable to understand your circumstances or make course corrections.

If we can’t think, how can we imagine or dream? If we are mud headed, how on earth can we make correct choices?  You must acquire the prowess to make solid decisions even when you lack sufficient data.  Study as if your livelihood depended upon it, because it does! Knowledge gives you the power to act with certainty and “mental force.”

2) When your mind is absorbed, it doesn’t wander.  If your mind is trained to focus, you will perform impeccably.

In every practice there are natural breaks in patient flow. The average doctor becomes fearful and anxious when their schedule is light. The mentally adroit doctor stays focused in between adjustments. Leaders who have developed mental powers of concentration and the ability to stop the emotional kidnapping always win.

3) Without knowledge, self-empowerment is impossible.

It is the key to reaching your goals, the immediate, as well as your long term vision.

So this is not the time to dangle your foot into the water and wait for the fish too jump into your boat. Wrap your head around a couple of books and be ready for a fall harvest!

Dr. SovinskyDr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor” Written July 2003 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Some of us learn from our experiences and some of us never recover.”
                                                                                                                  –Anonymous

The problem

As chiropractors, I think we can agree that our greatest enjoyment follows the experience we have when we witness firsthand the difference we make in a patient’s life. This is one of those positive experiences. Yet the reality is taking care of more people exposes us to even more potentially frustrating experiences. Over the life span of your career, it can either expand you or drown you in a cortisol swamp.

A new patient cancels her appointment after her first adjustment because she felt sore afterwards. You can shrug it off and say to yourself, “She doesn’t care about her health” or that “She doesn’t get it” or you could call her and try to convince her to give you another chance… Yuck!

A better, more honest approach, is to process this moment by getting feedback from a skilled mentor. This will help you respond to this emotional disabler instead of reacting to it, so that you can tune into the next patient with a clear head and open heart.

The key to your success is NOT outside. Our profession, while noble, is plagued by dangerous half-truths and total nonsense when it comes to the advice we get about being successful in practice. From new patient marketing gimmicks to hard sale scare tactics we are being seduced by charismatic snake oil salesman. This is killing our chances to fix a broken health care system and your chance to build that dream practice.

So, stop looking for the short cuts and just say no to the predators circling the troubled waters. The truth is that your ability to build healthy relationships with a diverse population will help you tell the story of your practice, a story that will set your patients free, emotionally and physically. No scan, x-ray or brochure will impact another human being the way authentic communication can. That ability is sitting inside, ready to be tapped. We call it EQ.

What is EQ?

EQ stands for Emotional Quotient. It is an assessment of your emotional intelligence. EQ is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power of emotions.

EQ is NOT a theoretical concept. It IS a physiological reality.

Emotions flood your brain and body with strong mind-altering drugs. They affect your decision making, the actions you take and the results you are getting. As chiropractors and business owners we know the pressure you face. We know how it feels when patients reject your care plan or drop out of care before they get the results they want. We have felt the anxiety that a lack of new patients brings. We know what it is like to have staff mentally quit, but never physically leave, or to be held hostage in your own office because you don’t know how to do the things they do.

We understand your frustration with insurance companies, your stress over taxes, student loans, potential litigation and mortgage payments. We get that a challenging and unforgiving economy leaves you no room for error.
That’s what our company, SIDECAR, is all about. It’s about hope, growth and establishing a real plan. And that’s why I am inviting you to take a tour of your mind, a look inside to see how emotionally prepared you are for going to the next level in practice.

Whether you are hitting it out of the park or you haven’t a clue where the park is, our assessment will give you the honest feedback you need.

There is no tenure and no formal security for Chiropractic Entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter if you have been in practice 18 months or 18 years. Length of service is not rewarded in the real world. Your chances for success in the next few years will be determined by your level of EQ. Your security rests solely upon your ability to shoulder challenges and to learn from them. The key to success is you!

EQ defines YOU!

“POWER from you vs. POWER granted you”

Words are important symbols and they can add to or detract from this message. When I use the word power I am referring to its literal definition. Power is the ability to do or act, to inspire and sustain.

Control

CONTROL is personal power “coming from you” and projected outwards. Its agenda is the complete and successful direction or manipulation of people. It is leadership “DOING.” The underlying philosophy of this leadership style is that the “ends justify the means.” This is a stressful game of domination, of outmaneuvering intellectually and emotionally those under your perceived control. It focuses on changing people to be what you want them to be.

Influence

By stark contrast, INFLUENCE is a personal and unofficial power “coming to you” from others. It is a natural response to your character, ability and station in life. Your INFLUENCE may be exerted unconsciously or may operate through persuasion. This leadership style attracts respect, cooperation and inspires people. There is a volitional yielding to your opinions. It focuses on meeting people where they are and leading them to where you are. It is leadership “BEING.”

The difference

So what happens when a patient escapes your control? How can you handle the loss? You can’t. Yet if you come from the perspective that you never HAD them you can never lose them. Patients are never yours. It is simply your turn to lead them, your turn to serve them by helping them eliminate problems and obstacles to their sense of well being, your turn to inspire them to become everything they are destined to be.

Realize that you are exchanging your time and energy in order to create a business that works for you. And there is finiteness to both of these personal resources. Your anxious practice moments are an urgent message that, if ignored, seal your fate. What kind of a leader will you become? Make the decision right here right now to STOP DOING the things that don’t work like controlling and possessing people and START BEING the leader who influences people.

Dr. Sovinsky Dr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor”, Written August 2005 

Clearly the fast track to explosive growth in your practice is right in front of you. It’s not out there on a billboard, in a spinal screening or in a “not-working” meeting (aka networking).  It is bringing your “A-game” to the adjustment.  You have the power to take a stalled practice and kick it into a higher gear or take a growing practice and make it legendary.

Nowhere else in patient care does the mirror of reality show up so patently. The adjusting experience highlights your systems, staff training and your soft skill prowess.

While it is true that health and healing are processes that require time, planning and effort, the truth for the patient is that the moment on the adjusting table is all that matters. The patient is looking for a distinctive marker that will reinforce his belief that his decision to proceed with care was the right one. This marker can be a physical release, an emotional connection or an intellectual shift in perspective. Simple, focused attention produces these distinctive markers.

You have, through personal experience and study, arrived at some very profound conclusions concerning the nature of health, healing and dis-ease, yet most of your patients have reached other conclusions.  So you will need to be patient with them and provide tangible platforms to help them reach new, more useful conclusions.

You did not come to these conclusions in a vacuum of self study and reflection. Someone or some event influenced you and shifted your perspective. Look with a “beginners mind” and get back in touch with your “A-HA” moments. Strive to find new ways to demonstrate and explain to other beginners the logical reasons and experiences that helped you arrive at your conclusion.

Instead of doing paperwork, do people work:

  1. Go through the files of your active patients. Research their physical history and get a clear understanding and appreciation of their motivations.
  2. Look at the person in the patient file.
  3. Who are they?
  4. Why are they in your care?
  5. What is your promise to that particular patient?
  6. What are the chances you can help them?

Remember, hard work doesn’t pay off. It’s working hard on the right things that pay off.

Dr. Sovinsky Dr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor”, written January 2010

“Whether we like it or not, our lives will leave a mark on the universe.  Each person’s birth makes ripples that expand in our social environments: parents, siblings, relatives and friends are affected by us and as we grow up our actions leave a myriad of consequences, some intended most not”.      

                                                                                – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Read that quote again. It is deep (pun intended). Now imagine just for a moment that you are standing on the shore of Lake Tahoe with me. It’s perfectly clear today and the water is cobalt blue. I hand you a smooth, perfectly weighted stone and you throw it as far as you can. Can you see the ripples? Can you see them grow in the distance? I think that is what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is talking about in the above quote. You are the stone thrower, you have power and all of your actions have impact. Some intended, others not.

I was looking at some of my “notes to self” the other day and I came across this quote from Michael Gerber.

Every business is a family business.”

Do you get how profound this perspective is? Your passion, your career aspirations and your reaction to the wins and challenges you face in business have a ripple effect on those in your circle and beyond it. You’ve probably noticed that many Chiropractors use the phrase, “Family Wellness” in the name of their business. As a coach it makes me ask the question, “Whose family?”

Did you know that as a business owner you have stakeholders who have a vested financial, emotional and, on some level, a spiritual connection to your success? It’s easy to see that your spouse and children are inextricably tethered to your results but what about your staff and their families and your patients? Your staff is interested in how your business fulfills them as human beings. The people who work alongside you want to grow and thrive and they want economic certainty. They want to know if your business will be around five years from today even if you are not. Your patients want to know if your practice will be there, ready to respond when they need you, not just when you are in the mood or it’s convenient for you. They want security that their experience will be remarkable and consistent.  There are other family stakeholders. What about the banker who loaned you the money to start your practice and the vendors you buy from and yes even the coaches you hire?

You see, what you do has meaning to others. It affects them. This practice is not about you! Do you get that? Good.

Now go to work.

Dr. Sovinsky “The E-Myth Chiropractor”, Dr. Frank Sovinsky, written March 2010

 

What is Worse than an Incompetent Chiropractor? A Mildly Competent One!

Do you want to know why? It’s simple. A mildly competent doctor is not engaged in their life or its true purpose.  They are complacent.  They seek comfort instead of growth and security instead of possibilities.

They sit on a whale and fish for minnows.

The truth is none of us became chiropractors or chiropractic technicians (assistants) to just get a paycheck. We got into it because we want to transform the world. So it comes down to a matter of scale. Do you want to impact your community or just be a mild aftershock? Are you willing to get your “WHY” on, get out of your mummy wrap, and become “wildly competent?”

What if you learned that the way you managed your practice and your patients was actually limiting your ability to help more people and is keeping you from enjoying the rewards of an affluent lifestyle? What if you learned that a lack of new patients IS NOT a marketing problem or that patient non-compliance IS NOT a patient education problem and that insurance reimbursement hassles IS NOT a paperwork problem? How soon would you want to know and more importantly, would you be willing to fix it?

Being a good doctor isn’t enough. Your business must be as competent as you are. Learning another technique, buying the next gadget or spending money on practice software will not close the gap between where your practice is now and where you want it to be.

If you intend to take your practice to the next (more secure) level, then you and your team will need training in soft skills and an upgrade in your business systems. You must go from mildly competent to being wildly competent.

Imagine a practice with a steady stream of new patients, patients who want to be there. Imagine what it could be like with less stress, more freedom, and more time to enjoy your life while you are building it.

We are here to help you bridge the gap between what science knows and chiropractors do. We exist to help you close the gap between where your practice is now and where you need it to be.

Are you ready to get your wild on?

Dr. Sovinsky Dr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor” Written February 2010

 

 

You no doubt feel the pressure that comes with being a primary health care provider. Patients have many expectations of you, your office and your service. I think that, in our reaction to this pressure, we have unconsciously built psychological walls of self preservation that add to our stress. These walls are built on a belief that in order to benefit from our care a patient must, in some way, reach out and demonstrate a willingness to change their core beliefs.

You may have heard others say or may even have said this yourself, “As long as a patient is willing to meet me half way I can help them”  This feels like the right attitude, but is it? I suppose we sometimes think that if we stand firmly on our ideals and extend ourselves half way that this will teach the patient to be more responsible for their health. I do my half, they do their half. Good intention, bad results.

Why half way is not enough

The emotional mind of the patient perceives this position as indifference.  They might even feel as if it is a power game of superiority and control. Not only will they not follow through with their care, they will tell as many as 12 people about you and how you made them feel. This is not the reputation you want.

In the town where I practiced there was a chiropractic office that had a prominent flight of stone steps leading up and into the clinic. The steps were wide and reminded me of the platform leading up and into a cathedral. As an eager, new practitioner hungry for success, this didn’t make sense to me; yet, the doctor was well known in the community so I had to ask him about it.

“Doctor, I know you don’t just see people with severe back pain, but seriously, how do you expect people to climb up those stairs and into your office?”

He replied quickly and in a stern tone said, “I want them to “step up” to chiropractic and realize that they have finally found the true way of health.”

His attitude was that he shouldn’t even meet the patient half way. The patient should abandon their old ways and embrace the new. Old school arrogance and an attitude of superiority carry over into our culture even today. Doctors tell me that they are willing to meet a patient half way and I tell them, “Half way is not nearly far enough.”

What does this mean?

What does meeting you half way look like? Well, it’s filled with your agendas and it would take a week or more to share all of the examples I have personally witnessed. Here are few common examples that produce common practices:

  • Meeting you half way means the patient must be willing to learn the things you are interested in teaching.
  • Meeting you half way means the patient must show up on time and NEVER miss an appointment
  • Meeting you half way means the patient must drop their old ways of eating, sleeping, exercising and just general “change -ING”

Barriers to your office are mostly behavioral and if you intend to out behave the competition you will want to look at your beliefs and attitudes. While these blocks are not blatant displays like the stone staircase, the result is the same. People stay away. And that big reputation in the community is not the one you want.

You are the leader, the care giver. You must let go of your need to receive respect and appreciation. You cannot expect to receive attention until and unless you give attention. Once you let go of your agenda and reach out you will receive more than you can imagine.

I know that you want an uncommon, extraordinary practice and achieving this is easier than you think. So here is what I want you to do with the next new patient; meet them half way then take three more steps forward.

A word of caution!  If you think you are already taking these steps and you are not attracting 30 or more new patients a month, then think again and make sure you have the right attitude when taking these steps.

The Steps

Step 1: Following the introductions ask the patient about their primary reason for seeking your help and let them talk (hold your tongue . . . literally bite it if you must)

E.g. “I understand that your most pressing concern right now is these headaches. Tell me about them.”

Step 2: Listen. Shut up and do not interrupt them until they signal you that they are through. Studies suggest that if we don’t distract them with our body language or words, on average they will only talk for 90 seconds. Try it. It works.

Step 3: Thank them for their disclosure and ask any clarifying questions you may have. Then, let them know how you intend to discover the chiropractic solution to those headaches and that if you think you can help you will let them know once you have done your examinations.

Meet them more than half way. You practice will thank you, your patients will thank you and you will no longer feel the pressure to perform or the stress associated with non-compliance. Remember, attitude leads behavior.

Dr. SovinskyDr. Frank Sovinsky, “The E-Myth Chiropractor”, written June 2011

Dominate vs. Compete… What’s the difference? Similar words; but, understanding the details will help you take steps towards accomplishing your goals espanolfarmacia.net

Dominate

To dominate you must have a commanding influence and exercise control. In order to dominate, you or your service must be the most important or conspicuous. To dominate means to be in a commanding position. Domination requires mastery, and it requires that you and your business offer more. To dominate means that you are in a league all by yourself. Your only competition is you!

Compete

To compete you must strive to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same. To compete means that you participate, try to keep up with, keep pace with, be in the same league, come near to or come close, and/or compare yourself with the other competitors.

The difference

To compete means spending time looking over your shoulder at your competition. To compete means doing the same things that everyone else is doing and just trying to get a little ahead of the next guy. To dominate means to press forward looking straight ahead giving it all you’ve got. To dominate means to race against yourself and consistently push past your “limits”.

When you begin to dominate people will ask how you operate at the level you do. Trust us, it’s a fun question to answer!

Dominate, and abundance is yours!  

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

Few things tug at the heartstrings of people quite like a good Underdog story.

March Madness glorifies the underdog story and creates moments that become must-see TV. The back against the wall, down to the last chance, “nobody puts baby in a corner” situation. It’s an identifiable feeling that invokes a feel-good moment we can all share.

At some point in your life you’ve been the underdog. Chances are you relished the opportunity. Our societal infatuation with the underdog makes me question two things:

“Why do we love the feeling of the underdog?”

“If we love the underdog feeling so much, how can we make that feeling a part of our daily lives?”

Here’s my three answers to both questions.

What is it that makes the underdog so loveable?

1. Hope/Faith
No one believes in themselves or their situation more than the underdog. People admire and fall in love with underdogs and begin to regain that same hope and faith in themselves. The “if they can do that, then certainly I can do this!” mentality gives people a renewed sense of motivation.

2. Perceived Injustice
Underdog stories give us the opportunity to remember the times when we felt slighted. The times when things weren’t fair and we had to persevere through the injustice. We’ve all been wronged before and the underdog reminds us of that time.

3. Redemption
The underdog allows us to vicariously live through them in the moment. The one moment where we can get even. David beats Goliath; even if it’s just for one night. The ultimate redemption story is achieved when the underdog triumphs against all odds.

How to unleash the “Underdog” in your everyday life

1. Chase big dreams
No one celebrates the underdog for getting up on time in the morning or opening the lid on the pickle jar (even though that does feel really good!) The underdog feeling is only unleashed when dreams are realized. To feel that moment where the you’ve beat the doubts and stand victorious; you’ve got to chase the biggest dreams you’ve got.

2. Never give up
Millions of underdog stories are lost every single day. Anytime you give up on something; you lose your shot at your underdog moment. Everyone remembers the underdog for their one shining moment without ever acknowledging the amount of work that went unnoticed to ever reach that opportunity.

3. Acknowledge (and Embrace) reality.
The underdog doesn’t sugarcoat things or try to make themselves feel like they deserve to be where they are. The underdog takes pride in how far they’ve come and the path it took to get there.

Everyone has some underdog in them. Those who find ways to channel that emotion and desire are the ones we see celebrating the buzzer beaters and changing the world.

It’s time for you to unleash your underdog.

Let’s Ride!

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

There are three components you must understand to accomplish your goals and achieve your standards of success. 

Here at SIDECAR we are always pushing to be better than we were yesterday. Since you’ve signed on to join us we hope you have felt the atmosphere surrounding our company to be one of constantly trying to improve and deliver higher levels of value. An important lesson that comes with self-improvement and striving to be the best you can be is the concept of self-awareness. Being self-aware about what it is you do well and what it is that you don’t do well.

You might be aligning your mindset with revamping your business to expand to serve hundreds of more people per week. Some of you might be preparing to build a business that provides for your family far after you’re gone. Regardless of where your dreams are, the process it’s going to take to get there is going to be the same.

Before you set out to accomplish your goals, you need to become self-aware and downright practical in three different areas that we refer to as H3Heart, Hustle, and Humility.

You will create whatever you want to create in your life. What you need to understand is that there are levels to success. No level is right or wrong. We all have our own dreams. Your dreams may require a different level of success than mine do. My hustle is not your hustle and that is okay. We need to be honest with ourselves and self-aware about what it’s going to take in each of the H3 categories to reach that specific level of success.

Not everyone can see 500 patient visits per week or increase their patient volume by hundreds of patients. Accomplishing these feats would place you at a very high level of success. These are tremendous goals to have but they aren’t everyone’s goals. Regardless of what level your goals are on let’s examine how you are going to have to change and improve in different categories to achieve them.

Heart

Heart is about serving above yourself. It’s delivering truly great service by going above and beyond yourself to take care of the needs of others. It’s about possessing and displaying a servant heart. Everyone watching this segment right now has heart. You wouldn’t have gotten into this profession without it. Where you need to be honest with yourself is by examining where your heart truly is at this exact moment. Are you passionate about what you’re doing and do you wish to increase your reach and influence? Remember, passion is not a buzz word. True passion is something you’re willing to suffer for. Are you willing to suffer for your dreams?

Hustle

The hustle component is the one that’s going to require the most physical work. If you’re going to increase your level of success, your hustle is going to have to change in multiple different areas of your life. To serve more patients you’re going to have to physically change your body. Your energy levels are going to have to increase along with your physical conditioning if you want to physically be able to see more patients. You might need to hit the gym regularly for a month before your body will be capable of the increased physical stress that increased patient visits requires.

You’re also going to need to change your lifestyle habits that get in the way of you achieving the successes that you desire. Creating and operating a high volume, efficient, systems-based practice isn’t going to happen if you’re watching two hours of T.V. every night. It’s not going to happen if you’re only working twenty-four clinician hours during the week. Massive amounts of success are going to require massive amounts of action.

Additionally, your mindset is going to have to change. You will not be able to increase your future level of success by thinking at your current level. Big dreams stem from big thoughts and you’re going to need a lot of these if you want to see your dreams manifest into reality.

Humility

Finally, the humility component is going to be the biggest modifier that will provide the most scale for your success in either direction. Your ability to be humble and accept the need to change are going to directly increase or decrease your level of success. Understand that you’re not the smartest guy in the room, nor should you be. If you are open to coaching.. things will change for the better. If you are unable to get out of your comfort zone and be pushed to new things you are going to stay on the same level.

This is just the truth of what it takes to be ridiculously successful. “Overnight” success stories do not exist and there is no magic pill that is going to turn your practice around or elevate it to the next level. However, if you’re truly committed and I mean truly committed to improving your business, your life, and the lives of those around you, you can reach the levels you dream about.

It’s going to hurt. At times, it’s not going to be fun. If you’re pushing hard enough you are going to come to a point where you will want to quit. You might have to say goodbye to some people in your life that are holding you back. You will have to meet new people and expand yourself in your community. Operating at the levels of affluence you dream of is going to increase the chaos of your life. This can be controlled but not all of it. If you’ve got the desire and do truly want the dreams that dance through your head at night, then you can do it and, in fact, you will do it. And that’s where SIDECAR can help.

Your Reality

Some of you reading this today might be hovering around a number of patient visits that allows you to live comfortably. You haven’t quite reached the level of affluence that you desire or that you thought you would when you first began your career as a chiropractic entrepreneur, but you’re able to live a nice life with a nice salary and provide nicely for your family. You have achieved a certain level of success that you can and deserve to be happy with. But if you were truly happy with where you were, and viewed yourself as being as successful as you set out to be, you wouldn’t be here. So let’s find the areas where you can improve, become more efficient, tweak your mindset and start to change your current reality to give you and your business that boost you desire.

Some of you might be struggling. You may find yourself scraping to get by or even falling in the wrong direction. You’ve tried and failed and are looking for options to turn your business around. You’ve got no choice but to seek change and be hungry for improvement. You need to be obsessed, you’ve got everything on the line! What you need to realize is that there is something about you that is directly responsible for the levels you have been operating at. Understand that you not only have the desire to change and improve, but that you need to. It’s time to put your nose down and grind to turn this ship around. Understand that as soon as you commit, there is no going back. True commitment leaves no room for failure.

Honestly, starting from the bottom is going to make your success even sweeter. I myself only started to really grow when I reached my rock bottom. I had no choice! Many of the truly successful individuals in the world started from places that were much worse off than where you are now. Ghandi was in prison and Steve Jobs was fired from his own company! If you’re at this position, the humble component should take care of itself and all that’s left is checking where your heart is and hustling to get it done!

Some of you might be just starting out or may be in the preparation and planning stages of crafting your business. You have high aspirations and are ready to achieve your dreams. Understand that it’s going to take more work than you think to achieve your goals. It always does! If you easily achieve your goals, they were never goals in the first place!

Take a hard look in the mirror and align your dreams with the level of work you really want to put in. Understand that increasing your level of success is a multi-faceted process and accept that things may have to get worse before they get better. We want nothing more than to see you achieve your dreams. Celebrating breakthroughs with doctors is our favorite part of the job. So let’s get started on making your dreams a reality.

Let’s Ride,

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

Inspired and looking to commit to the H3 principles? Reach out for a free gift!