The Downwardly Mobile Chiropractor
You’ve got a diploma that used to almost guarantee a fabulous income and a life of purpose and fun…what happened? The dream, the passion you had became a distant memory. Your office, your staff and your practice members have lost their sheen and excitement. You don’t enjoy your hobbies like you used to. The freedom and opportunity of owning your own practice is turning into just a ‘job’. You are in the grip of the downwardly mobile spiral. Your debt is mounting, while your income is dropping fast, your eyes fixated on every commercial for debt consolidation and bankruptcy. How did this happen?
The downwardly mobile Chiropractor keeps a dirty little secret that sometimes even their spouses/significant other don’t know…they’re broke. They must keep up appearances so they still have the two high end cars (they make the minimum payments), they have yanked all the home equity they could out of the house (pre-recession days) and now must pay the piper with a devalued house and must pay back the home equity loan. How’s that for double jeopardy? Being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and making peanuts is the reality for the downwardly mobile Chiropractor.
They carry less than $50 cash in their wallets…they graze at the ATM machine that dolls them out their money in increments of less than $200. The new economy has spoken and the Chiropractor without a unique identity is in deep trouble. They will drive across town to save a nickel in gas price per gallon and never give a thought to investing in an upgrade of their own skills. How did this downward spiral happen? The emphasis went off relationships and patient education and on to giving patients whatever they want, whenever they want. An air of desperation began to creep in. Even though the unsuspecting DC never thought this would happen…it was inevitable.
To combat skepticism and a lack of identity and patient education, DC’s continually marched in new pieces of equipment and gimmicks becoming a jack- of-all -trades and an expert at none. This is an outdated, unsustainable, inefficient model that will eat its young. These new who do’s and who dats are expensive and raise the overhead of the DC to points of no return. In addition to lowering the net profit, purpose and passion to record lows, it also confuses the patients. They don’t know who you are and what you stand for.
Remember you learned in school subluxation has no age. Yet in your practice, you only see adults with short-term conditions that need a quick fix. You are violating universal law here because you don’t have a system that educates your people to who you are, what you stand for, and what relevancy does Chiropractic have for me. You tried patient education in your town once, and it didn’t work so you abandoned your unique factor (kids) and ‘settled’ on being a common back doctor with a downwardly mobile income to match. You may have enjoyed the pre-recession years outside of a recession, because there was no concern because you could make an ok income with acute, adult care. The new economy has spoken and if you don’t have a unique factor, you are replaceable…and vulnerable.
In case you didn’t learn this in school, there is no recession when it comes to kids. Parents will do whatever it takes to get the job done. Once they understand who you are, what Chiropractic is and what you stand for, coming in for adult ‘conditions’ won’t do the trick. They won’t stick around, they question you, hassle you, negotiate with you and something inside you dies each time another one walks out the door without understanding what Chiropractic is. Parents will drive for hours and pass dozens of ‘common’ DC’s on the way to an uncommon DC. The penalty for abandoning your true roots is financial and social turmoil…otherwise known as the downwardly mobile DC.
There are however some brave DC’s that refuse to join the ranks of the downwardly mobile DC. Their battle cry is relationship, retention, compliance, referral and patient education, not continually getting in more low quality, demanding, complaining new patients only to use them up in a few forced visits. Having a system in place that proudly communicates, articulates and demonstrates to the patient who you are and what you stand for. It portrays you as an expert along with all the rights, privileges and income pertaining to of an expert, deservedly so.
Have you had enough of being downwardly mobile, or do you wish to make it a permanent lifestyle? You didn’t go to school to be paid like a physical therapist. Act like a DC and get paid like a DC. Purpose, passion and oh yeah, prosperity.
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