Category Archives: chiropractic practice development

Your Patient as the Hero

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stick man bending over

How to help your patients on their health journey

Last week, we reviewed your journey as an entrepreneur, a doctor, and a support professional.

But what about your patient? What about their journey?

Are they making it all the way to better health, or do they leave after their symptoms subside?

Generally, most offices look at a patient’s journey, or pathway, covering three phases of care: Acute, Corrective, and Maintenance. I have seen other variations, but they are all similar.

The idea is that as patients make regular visits, they progress through their phases of care.

Patient Visits (for example):

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Acute ————> Corrective ———————————> Wellness

How to Improve Patient Retention?

First, it is NOT about improving retention. That is secondary. It IS about helping the patient achieve their health goals by getting through their Phases of Care and into Wellness/Maintenance.

  1. Make a list of key procedures for each visit.
    1. Break down what happens on each day, by each team member. Who does what?
    2. Make a list of key procedures done on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. Progress exam on Day 12? Good Patient Award after visit 12? Patient education on Day 8 and 14? Great Patient Award after visit 24? (You can download a sample. Link at end of article.)
  2. Practice – rehearse — these steps with your team.

Practicing Your Patient’s Journey

Below are simple steps for a fun team-building and practice improving drill. It WILL improve retention as a byproduct of helping your patient better achieve their health goals.

  1. Schedule extra time over lunch. Get your team together.
  2. You, or someone you delegate, act as the patient. (This is something I often do when I visit offices.)
  3. Each staff member, and the doctor, goes through their procedures for each day.
    1. On Day 1, for example, how did the Front Desk greet the patient and what did they say?
    2. How were they routed to the consultation room?
    3. What did the doctor say?
    4. Who did what for the rest of the exam and x-ray? Review it
    5. How were they routed back to the front desk, and how was the next appointment made?
    6. Day 2. – Same step by step. Practice it and then discuss it.

 

What you are looking for is:

  1. Procedures
    1. Were any procedures dropped out?
    2. Missing procedures.
    3. Redundant procedures.
    4. Unnecessary procedures.
  2. Application of procedures.
    1. Was the team member genuinely interested in the patient
    2. How well were the procedures communicated — with kindness, intention, and patience?
    3. Were the procedures correct – nothing left out, nothing extra included, everything correct?

The best teams practice.

Do this exercise at least once per quarter and be the best… and help your patients be heroes on their journey to their health goals.

And, of course, stay Goal Driven.

Ed

Download: Sample Patient Pathway and Flow Chart 2026

The Hero’s Journey – Your Journey in Chiropractic and Healthcare

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heros journey chiropractic journey

Moving from One Stage to the Next

You are reading this because you are on a journey.

And you are also a hero.

You see things differently—you left the institutions and their mandates and took a different path. Like pioneers. Most of you reading this are involved with an alternative path of service – of helping people – chiropractic, nutrition, biological dentistry, acupuncture, midwifery, and more.

To us at PM&A, your goals are noble, and you are on a hero’s journey!

For nearly 40 years, our singular goal has been to help you, and others like you, succeed on that path.

A few years back, I wrote a book called The Goal Driven Business, where I laid out the methodology we’ve used to help doctors of all types, chiropractors, medical, dental… and business owners navigate that journey.

Your Progress as a Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice Owner Unfolds in Stages

The goal for any business practice or career is to operate at a level where you can do your most, at your best, comfortably. We call this Stage Full Capacity.

When you begin your career or practice, you may not have fully defined your end goal—just a general sense that you want to be successful.

Operationally though, the real goal is to deliver services at your highest comfortable capacity. That’s the most logical and economical level, since expenses like your building, equipment, and staff are mostly fixed — and you’ve already invested serious time and money developing your skills.

Getting to this goal means passing through other Stages first. Each one demands its own unique strategy. Apply the right strategy for the Stage you’re in, and you move to the next one. Fail to, and you stay stuck — or slide back down.

In our Goal Driven System, we’ve mapped the journey to Full Capacity into 5 major stages. For details, read the book The Goal Driven Business or contact me!

  1. Stage 1. Beginning – You’re just starting out. (Well, sometimes, we crash and burn and need to start over!) The strategy: actively getting out with the message: “Get to know me, and here’s what I can do for you! ” (The Goal Driven Business, Page 75)
  2. Stage 2. Goals and Roles. You’ve generated interest and delivered services — now it’s time to clarify goals and roles: who does what, when, and why. Like a growing organism, this is your cell-differentiation phase. Set your blueprint here, while you keep growing promotions and services. (Page 101)
  3. Stage 3. Stability Stage. Here is where you strengthen your people and procedures. Stage 1’s efforts are still firing, and your goals and roles are defined. The driver now is management — take care of your people, refine your procedures, and keep improving without any big change. (Page 141)
  4. Stage 4. Acceleration Stage. In time, with the earlier stages in place, you are going to hit your Best Ever! This is the most dangerous Stage — most practices never make it past this level. They hit it, crash, and try again — sometimes for years — until they settle. Key drivers: lean management, professional discipline, and extraordinary customer service. (Page 175)
  5. Stage 5. Full Capacity – Team Leadership. This is the goal: in business and in your career. All pistons firing at maximum — but at a sustainable RPM. (Page 211)

Whether or not you reach Full Capacity, we applaud your courage and purpose — your refusal to fit into a system that doesn’t always put health or people first.

You, and everyone you work with, are heroes in our eyes. And you might be surprised to learn: you’re heroes to the people you serve, too.

Carry on — and stay Goal Driven.

Ed

P.S. And reach out if you need some guidance along the way.

Does Your Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice Structure Determine Your Practice Function?

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comparison of two buildings one with poor structure resulting in poor function and the other strong structure, strong function. similar to a chiropractic businessHow a few adjustments can improve performance!

Over the years, I have worked with many talented, intelligent, and dedicated chiropractors and doctors—both men and women who were compassionate and effective with their patients.

However, not all of them were successful in business.

The reason was that they lacked organization—and organizational discipline.

That is to say, they lacked the business structure that would support a strong practice function.

What is Chiropractic Business Structure?

It is showing up on time.

It is the routine consultation, history, and exam procedures you do with all patients on their first visit.

It is the standard re-exam visit.

It is keeping up with patient notes.

It is also the regular team meeting that follows a routine procedure.

It is your monthly marketing programs.

It is effective financial management.

And especially, your weekly and monthly management review and planning meetings with your team and coach – if you have one.

Over and over and over – daily, weekly, monthly.

That is structure.

What is Chiropractic Business Function?

Ah… FUNCTION… this is the life of the practice!

It is getting to know your new patient as a unique person.

It is having a chuckle with one of your staff.

It is sincerely congratulating an established patient for a success in their life – and feeling happy for them.

It is cheerfully participating in an event promoting the good works of you and your team.

It is feeling pride at the end of the week with the care you and your team provided.

It is the structure of your business that allows the function of your practice to achieve its full potential.

Sound familiar!

How to Maintain Your Chiropractic Business Structure

THE HUMBLE CHECKLIST. I write about this almost quarterly. I don’t have to reiterate it here. There are some links below to earlier references.

But here’s the trick: you must put someone in charge of ensuring the checklists are getting done.

It’s a reminder role. And in all honesty, most of us need at least some reminding, nudging, even nagging…now and then, right? (How’s that exercise and workout program going for you…?)

Your practice manager should do this.

We went over this again and again in our MBA program.

So, there you have it.

A practice is like a body – its function depends on how well it is structured.

Make the adjustments as needed, and keep it aligned – and enjoy the full potential of your practice.

And stay – Goal Driven,

Ed

 

Why Are Group Practices – Chiropractic and Others — Growing?

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group of 4 chiropractors of a group practiceIs a Chiropractic Group Practice for You?

In 2014, roughly three out of four chiropractors owned their practice solo.

By 2024, that’s down to about half.

And the flip side of that decline is real growth: the share of chiropractors working in a multi-doctor or multidisciplinary setting has roughly doubled in ten years — from about 22% to about 48%.

Doubled. In ten years!

We’ve seen this happening in the field. But with better research tools, I was able to confirm it. Two separate industry surveys, from the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners and Chiropractic Economics, both show the same trend, year after year.

Why is this occurring

  1. Administrative demands keep piling up. Prior authorizations, OSHA compliance, personnel management, documentation requirements — it’s a full second job that doesn’t shrink just because your practice is small.
  2. Marketing has gotten harder and more expensive. With more providers, more provider types, and more channels to compete on — social media, review sites, paid search — its more than any solo doctor can keep up with alone.
  3. Overhead keeps climbing. Equipment, staff, and competitive wages all cost more than they used to, and they cost the same whether you’re splitting them one way or four.
  4. Third-party pay keeps shrinking. Medicare’s actual chiropractic payment rate has fallen roughly a third since 2001, adjusted for inflation. Commercial insurance pays better, but it comes with its own squeeze — visit caps, prior-authorization requirements, and tighter claim scrutiny every year.
  5. Succession has changed. Aging solo owners need someone to hand the practice to — retirement, sale, or simply relief. An associate who eventually buys in solves that. Staying solo to the finish line often doesn’t.

This is one of the reasons corporate chains like The Joint are growing — from about 309 clinics in 2016 to nearly 1,000 today. That’s roughly tripling in under a decade.

A group practice has many advantages:

  • Shared overhead — rent, equipment, and staff, split instead of carried alone.
  • Focused management to smoothly take on the increased administrative and marketing demands, and better support the doctors and staff.
  • Local market strength — a three-doctor practice out-competes both the franchise down the street and the lone operator across town.
  • Real vacation coverage — your practice doesn’t close when you do.
  • Camaraderie — a colleague to talk through hard cases and hard days.

But you don’t have to sell your name to get that. An independent group practice gets you the same advantages, minus the franchise fee, the corporate playbook, and institutionalization.

And the timing works in your favor: chiropractic use is climbing nationally, not shrinking. The demand is there. The only question is whether your practice is built to catch it.

Here’s what group practice owners already know — most independents don’t: none of this works without dedicated management. The practices that thrive as groups are built on a management structure that has a purpose.

That Shift — from a personality-based, one-doctor practice to a business built on goals and led by a team — is exactly what I cover in my book from 2001, The Goal Driven Business.

Ready to make the Shift? And if you already are part of a group practice — is it time to upgrade your management?

Read (and apply) The Goal Driven Business.

And stay Goal Driven,

Ed

Let me know you bought the book (email an image!), and I will send you another at no charge.

The Frog Doesn’t Notice

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How your practice can quietly erode.

There’s an old story about a frog dropped into boiling water — it jumps out immediately.

But put that same frog in cool water and slowly raise the heat, and it stays put. It never feels the moment it should have jumped.

Biologically, this isn’t actually true of frogs. It’s a fable.

But it’s true of practices.

No one decides one morning to lower their standards. You never wake up one day and say: “Patients are going to get just a bit less of me today.” Or, “the business performance will drop over the next month.”

It happens one degree at a time — an exam abbreviated and rote because the schedule was tight or a report of findings that never quite landed.

In an earlier newsletter, I wrote about “procedural atrophy” — how the steps that made something work are shortened until the quality quietly deteriorates. This can continue to occur until a “quality threshold” is reached. This is the point beyond which poor quality is obvious – in patient complaints and practice decline.

GRADUAL DECLINE IN PERFORMANCE IN YOUR CHIROPRACTIC AND HEALTHCARE BUSINESS

Procedural atrophy erodes not just what gets done, but the intention and care behind it.

The difficult truth about this is that — we agree to it. Not out loud. Not on purpose. But each small degradation gets accepted because nothing bad shows up right away. That acceptance becomes the new normal. The next shortcut looks small, too, because we’re measuring it against the last one, not against where we started.

This is the flip side of the elephant story I wrote about before*. The elephant never tests its ceiling — it’s held down by an old belief about what’s possible. Erosion is the opposite problem: a floor that quietly drops, with nobody really deciding to lower it.

To prevent this from happening, from slowly slip-sliding away:

Look at your numbers now and what they were in the past.

Check your purpose from years ago and what it is now.

Review your policies and successful procedures – and what is being missed now.

Review your patient successes.

Do this with your team.

When I have done this with chiropractic offices, we always unearth rusty old goals, policies and procedures.

“Oh yea, back when our numbers were higher, we would always call the new patient after the first adjustment to see how they were doing.”

It takes work, and comparisons can be uncomfortable. But it’s the only way to catch water that’s heating up too slowly to feel.

You must look at your business objectively – that is why we implement a fast and simple statistical management system for all our clients.

This is how you stay focused on your goals and what you’re actually capable of, instead of drifting toward whatever is easiest to accept.

Stay Goal Driven,

Ed

* Increase Your Capacity

Goal Driven Metrics Program for Your Office

Accountability Can Create a Goal Driven Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice

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Practice owner overseeing a goal driven chiropractic business

From Personality-Driven to Goal-Driven

I don’t recall a single doctor — chiropractor, dentist, or podiatrist — telling me they wanted to be chained to their practice so they could never leave it.

Nearly every doctor I’ve worked with wanted a business that was not entirely dependent upon their daily production or constant supervision.

Michael Gerber (The E-Myth) wrote about the system-driven business. Others talk about team-driven practice. I talk about a Goal Driven Practice.

In every case, the objective is the same:

The business should not depend on the personality of the owner.

I make a clear distinction between a Personality-Driven Practice and a Goal-Driven Practice:

An essential difference is accountability.

HOW ACCOUNTABILITY TRANSFORMS A PRACTICE

In a Personality-Driven Practice, results rise and fall with the owner’s energy and oversight. They are the driver of everything.

But a structured accountability system changes this.

A Goal-Driven Practice operates like a team sport. There’s a scoreboard. There are defined positions. Everyone knows their role, and everyone can see the score.

The numbers provide objective feedback. Roles clarify ownership. Goals define what winning means. Regular review keeps the team aligned and improving.

There is a great deal of science, actually, on how accountability improves performance. (See below)

THREE DRIVERS OF A GOAL DRIVEN CHIROPRACTIC PRACTICE

1. Clear Ownership of Outcomes

Every role should have one or two numbers that answer: “What results am I responsible for?”

These are the practical goals that need to be achieved each month.

2. Regular Review and Supportive Feedback

Numbers must be:

  • Reviewed consistently (Monthly, weekly)
  • Shown in trends, not just totals
  • Discussed openly, without blame
  • Action plans and coaching for improvement

We don’t always face, as Jim Collins says in his book, Good to Great, the “Brutal Facts.” Just facing up to them each month is a step forward.

For example, you can look at your bank account at the end of each month. Is the trend going up, or down? Discuss this with your spouse and consider what actions to take to improve what you see. Do this regularly!

3. Clear Purpose

Numbers without purpose become mechanical and soulless.

It is what the numbers represent that counts. When people understand why their role matters and how their outcomes serve patients, performance becomes meaningful.

The purpose is the higher level goal that gives you the reason for everything you do.

A SIMPLE EXAMPLE of CREATING A GOAL DRIVEN CHIROPRACTIC PRACTICE

At a monthly team meeting, each team member reports on their key numbers.

“Cheryl, how did we do at the front desk this month?”

“We beat our goal — 91% kept appointments, up from 88% last month. Visits increased from 1150 to 1204.”

The doctor acknowledges the wins and may ask what was done to improve performance. Then, the next team member gives their report. After everyone is through, the doctor asks each person about their goals for the new month.

Lastly, the chiropractor-CEO discusses some version of the purpose of the clinic. Perhaps with a story or testimonial and ends the meeting.

This process done over and over can help create a goal driven chiropractic practice.

I think the funny thing is… that we are all on scoreboards, we just don’t know it! (Lol) Maybe we look at our numbers now and then, but not on a regular basis! Or get our teams to do the same.

Read this newsletter/article again and put it to work. You’ll see your numbers improve!

And, as always, stay …Goal Driven,

Ed

P.S. If you have questions or would like some help transforming your practice into a Goal Driven business, please contact me. (Ed at goaldriven dot com.)

**References

Goal-Setting and Feedback
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002).
Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation.
American Psychologist.

Key finding:
Specific goals combined with feedback produce significantly higher performance than vague goals or no feedback.

Feedback Loops Improve Performance
Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996).
The effects of feedback interventions on performance.

Key finding:
Performance improves when feedback is frequent, task-focused, and tied to clear standards. Poorly designed feedback harms performance; structured accountability improves it.

. Scorecards and Visibility
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996).
The Balanced Scorecard.

Key contribution:
Organizations that use visible performance metrics aligned to strategy outperform those that rely on financial results alone.

Thoughts on The Goal Driven Business

I WISH I WOULD’VE HAD THIS BOOK 30 YEARS AGO!

Mr. Ed Petty takes his reader on an entrepreneurial safari, complete with a roadmap for success. This is a relatable, actionable business or practice guide for conquering the challenges that come along with business ownership or private practice. I have personally worked with Mr. Petty for years as he has helped me to convert my extremely personality-driven practice to a goal-driven practice. I am so grateful our paths crossed when they did. I wish I would’ve had this book 30 years ago! What an amazing compilation of the process of building a solid, goal-driven business. The author takes you through literally every “phase” of business practice and “chunks” it up into actionable steps. If you own a business, you need to read “The Goal Driven Business.”!!

Ann Metzler, D.C. Group Practice Owner ( 2 offices, 5 doctors) [LINK]

Hobby, Practice, Business. Which is it for You as a Chiropractic Doctor?

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The 3 Phases of Practice Evolution

Is your work as a doctor a hobby, a practice, a business—or simply a job? Let’s explore.

1. HOBBY

Every practice begins as a hobby—or at least, it should. Early in your career, you’re driven by fascination with the science, philosophy, art, and technique of chiropractic. Your passion keeps you going, while business operations take a back seat.

2. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

The next phase is building a true professional practice. This stage is entrepreneurial and personality-driven, fueled by your presence and commitment. You create strong patient relationships and build loyalty through consistent care and connection.

3. PROFESSIONAL SERVICE BUSINESS

Finally comes the service business stage. Here, your practice is structured, systematized, and able to operate independently of your constant management. You may step into a CEO role or scale back to part-time patient care, but either way, the business runs on clear goals and proven systems. This is what people call “scaling.”

DIFFERENT PATHS, DIFFERENT GOALS

Not every doctor wants to build a business. I once knew a chiropractor who loved nothing more than adjusting patients. He wasn’t concerned with scaling or management systems. His secretary kept the office running, his patients were happy, and so was he. That was enough.

Most doctors, though, do want to grow—to serve more people, expand their caseloads, and run a strong practice while still enjoying their profession.

Then there are the entrepreneurial doctors who aim to scale beyond themselves. By setting goals and creating reliable systems, they can expand without adding more hours or overwhelming overhead.

But many who try to scale fall into what I call the Practice Roller Coaster. The excitement of practice gets buried under stress, inconsistency, and management struggles. What once felt like a calling begins to feel like just another job.

BREAKING THE ROLLER COASTER CYCLE

There are exceptions—many doctors do successfully build thriving service businesses. I’ve helped dozens achieve exactly that.

Five years ago, I wrote The Goal Driven Business after observing this cycle of burnout. In the book, I explain the hidden barriers to growth and outline the step-by-step process for building a scalable, independent practice.

If you find yourself on the Roller Coaster, here’s how to reset:

  1. Hobby – Fall back in love with chiropractic. Make practicing fun again.
  2. Professional Practice – Build and enjoy your patient community while earning a solid living.
  3. Professional Service Business – If you’re ready to scale:
    • Read The Goal Driven Business for a complete roadmap.
    • Or, reach out to me directly through our Goal Driven Consulting program for hands-on help building a profitable, self-sustaining business.

Take back your future. Build a business that runs without depending on your daily management.

Stay Goal Driven,

Ed

 

Preventing Procedural Atrophy in Your Practice

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eroded asphalt highway

In any business, routines and procedures can slowly be shortened, skipped, or abandoned. When this happens, quality slips, and the practice begins to decline. I call this Procedural Atrophy, a key concept from The Goal Driven Business.

When results falter, doctors often try new approaches. These may work temporarily, but without consistent systems, the same decline sets in again. This creates the Practice Roller Coaster—a cycle driven more by personality than by clear goals and structure.

Think back to what you did when your practice was thriving. Did you call new patients after their first visit? Hold morning team huddles? Run patient education classes, progress exams, or referral drives? Chances are, when numbers dip, it’s because those proven actions have slipped away. The solution is often simple: return to what worked before.

 Solution 1: Set the Standard – Quality

Stand out in a noisy world by being consistent and excellent. Define exactly what a successful patient outcome looks like—for example, a patient who pays, stays, refers, feels healthier, understands their care, and is happy with their results.

Then, create brief checklists that outline the essential procedures needed to achieve this. Examples include:

  • Day 1, Day 2, and ongoing patient steps
  • Collections
  • Internal and external marketing
  • Team communication and coordination
  • Leadership and management

These checklists keep your practice systematic, repeatable, and reliable.

 Solution 2: Accountability Reviews

Consistency requires feedback. Use monthly statistics, chart trends, and review them with your team or a coach. This ensures everyone stays focused and motivated. Just like in life, accountability keeps us on track.

—

Bottom line: What you provide for your patients, team, and community is valuable. Don’t let your practice erode through neglect of the basics. Stay consistent, keep improving, and remain Goal Driven.

Ed

Should Old Acquaintances Be Forgotten in Your Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice?

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Tips for Your Patient Newsletter

Your healthcare practice is built on relationships, sustained through service and communication. Without ongoing patient engagement—active or inactive—your practice may struggle. A newsletter is a powerful, affordable way to maintain these connections, extending your office’s warmth, excellent care, and positive outcomes to patients’ homes.

A well-crafted newsletter keeps the doctor-patient dialogue alive, portraying your office as a friendly, health-focused space. It drives retention, encourages referrals, and serves as a low-cost marketing tool. While often overlooked or outsourced to generic pamphlet companies, a newsletter’s impact lies in its authenticity and simplicity.

Crafting a great newsletter requires some skill, but the key is to just do it! Here are practical tips to make it effective:

  • Keep it concise: Aim for under 600 words. Include a brief doctor’s note, a health tip, a simple recipe, and a promotion.
  • Make it personal: Write as if chatting with a patient during a visit. Share a story, case success, or health advice like recommending a lumbar cushion. Have a staff member transcribe your thoughts, then edit for clarity.
  • Stay informal: Think of it as a casual check-in, like catching up with a friend or neighbor. Share what’s happening at the office in a warm, relatable tone.
  • Show genuine interest: Highlight your passion for chiropractic care through patient success stories or testimonials. Include family and friends in your outreach to broaden the connection.
  • Be authentic: Avoid generic or overly polished content. Patients value real, heartfelt communication over artificial or spammy material.
  • Frequency: Send monthly, though more often is fine if manageable.
  • Assign a coordinator: Delegate newsletter management to a staff member to ensure consistency.

Newsletter Checklist:

  1. Doctor’s Letter: A friendly note with a photo, written to one patient, tying into a case, event, or health tip.
  2. Office News: Share updates like new equipment, staff achievements, or recent seminars.
  3. Upcoming Events: Promote events like Patient Appreciation Day or a community 5K to show your office is vibrant.
  4. Patient Testimonial: Include a written or video success story.
  5. Recipe: Share a healthy, relatable recipe with a personal touch, like a family favorite.
  6. Health Tip (Optional): Offer a simple, relevant health suggestion.
  7. Use an Email Service: Avoid sending from personal email clients for professionalism.

Keep communicating with your patients to foster a thriving practice. Stay goal-driven!

Ed

Momentum Magic: How the Flywheel Effect Boosts Your Chiropractic Practice and Service Business

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flywheel effect

What separates good businesses from great ones?

It’s momentum—created by doing what works consistently and improving it over time. In business, especially in healthcare services like chiropractic, success often comes not from radical change but from steady, thoughtful progress.

Avoid the Trap of Constant Change

Healthcare entrepreneurs often seek out the next big thing—new therapies, machines, or procedures. While innovation can be beneficial, abrupt changes to proven systems can disrupt staff and confuse patients. A smarter approach is to test new ideas first, and only implement them if they complement what’s already working.

“If something works—fix it, refine it, but don’t toss it.”

The Flywheel Analogy

Jim Collins, in Good to Great, uses the image of a massive flywheel to illustrate how lasting success is built. At first, it takes immense effort to turn. But with consistent effort in the same direction, the wheel picks up speed and begins to turn on its own—powered by its own momentum.

The key lesson: there’s no single breakthrough moment—just consistent, focused effort over time.

How This Applies to Your Practice

  • Identify what’s working—and keep doing it.
  • Make small, strategic improvements over time.
  • Adapt to market changes gradually and intentionally.
  • Build systems that generate results with less effort over time.

By steadily turning your business flywheel, you’ll transform your practice from good to great—creating a self-sustaining engine of growth.

Keep building. Keep refining. Momentum will do the rest.

Ed

Master Your Craft First: The Key to Success in Chiropractic, Healthcare, and Service Businesses

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chef Jiro Ono, mastering the skill of making sushi

Marketing Starts with Service Quality

A chiropractic clinic once asked for help boosting patient numbers and improving their marketing. While we did touch on marketing strategies, the real game-changer was getting back to the basics—refining the way they practiced.

Each visit, we reviewed patient interactions, discussed specific cases, and role-played challenging scenarios. This hands-on, continuous learning approach helped the doctors improve their confidence and communication. The result? Within a few months, new patient numbers nearly doubled, and total visits increased by 50%, driven by better retention and reactivations.

When Business Slows Down, Go Back to the Fundamentals

If your numbers are dipping, the first step isn’t better marketing—it’s better service. Start with yourself and your team. Are you genuinely present with each patient? Do you “really” listen and connect?

One of the most successful doctors I worked with approached every patient with deep empathy and curiosity. She didn’t rush into treatment—she listened, observed, and connected both emotionally and physically. Her retention and referrals were outstanding.

On the other hand, her associate, while friendly, lacked that same depth of connection. As a result, her performance—and the clinic’s growth—suffered. Unfortunately, without proper training or mentorship, her skills never reached the necessary level.

Excellence Is Contagious

Great service isn’t just about the doctor. Every team member needs to be aligned in delivering exceptional care. It’s a group effort.

Consider sushi master “Jiro Ono”, whose small Tokyo restaurant had a waitlist over a year long. He dedicated his life to perfecting every element of sushi, constantly refining and improving. His commitment to excellence became his best marketing tool.

As Jiro said: “You must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. That’s the secret of success.”

The Takeaway

Before pouring energy into marketing tactics, ask yourself: “Have I mastered my craft? Are my team and I truly delivering top-tier care?”

A good business, like a good restaurant, eventually fills itself up—because mastery, presence, and consistent quality attract people naturally.

Keep mastering your skill

Ed

The Next Generation of Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice Development: Growing Your Practice from the Inside Out

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it's the manager book cover by clifton and harter

To grow a successful chiropractic practice, there are four key principles that can help improve both your practice and business. These principles are based on years of experience working with doctors and staff in the field.

1. Practice Success Depends on Two Key Factors

  • Quality clinical outcomes: Delivering effective results for your patients.
  • Quality support: Ensuring your practice has the infrastructure and administrative help to maintain and grow.

While excellent results are critical, support is equally important. As your practice grows, administrative demands increase, and these are often overlooked. The key is balancing patient care with behind-the-scenes tasks like scheduling, billing, staff management, marketing, and more. Without proper support, your clinical focus can be distracted.

Remember: It’s not chiropractic that slows you down—it’s everything else!

2. Better Support Leads to More and Better Services, Resulting in Increased Revenue

The equation is simple:  Improving the support for your practice will enhance both the quality and quantity of services provided. With increased and improved services, your revenue will naturally rise. It’s a logical and proven cycle.

3. Better Management Leads to Stronger Practice Performance

Studies show that the most successful practices often have someone in a managerial role, even if they’re not fully trained. These offices tend to have higher and more stable production. The best business owners understand the importance of having a manager, even if they’re still training them.

4. Gallup’s Insight: Management is Key to Long-Term Success

Gallup, a global analytics company, confirms the importance of good management. In their book *It’s the Manager*, they state that **the quality of managers and team leaders is the single most important factor in long-term organizational success. This underscores how critical it is to invest in strong management.

Enter the Goal-Driven Practice MBA

Based on these insights, a new program was created to train chiropractic managers: the Goal-Driven Practice MBA. This program focuses on improving the support system within your practice to enhance both patient care and practice performance. If you’re interested in a personalized training program for your practice, the next session starts in April. Only 10 offices are accepted, ensuring a highly tailored experience.

If you’re interested, contact Linda, the program coordinator, to discuss whether it’s the right fit for your practice.

Seize the Future: Take action now to elevate your practice.

Ed

What Gets Measured — Gets Managed in Your Chiropractic and Service Business

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bus driver with the dashboard in front of him guiding him where to go.

ED shares how chiropractic business owners can effectively manage their practice as it grows by using key performance statistics. Initially, managing both patient care and business operations is feasible when a practice is at 50-60% capacity. However, as the practice grows, the increasing demand for management and staff coordination can lead to stress and “growing pains.” To overcome this, the article introduces the Fast Flow CEO system, which helps doctors manage their businesses effectively by dedicating just a few hours a month to business operations.

Key to this system is the use of performance statistics, which help track progress and identify areas for improvement. The article outlines essential components for tracking performance, including:

  • Key statistics: New patients, paid visits, charges, and collections.
  • Time period comparisons: Weekly, monthly, and yearly comparisons.
  • Same-month comparisons: Analyzing ratios like Visits/New Patients or Charges/Collections.
  • New patient tracking: Monitoring where new patients come from, especially for practices investing in marketing.
  • Marketing expenses: Tracking cost per new patient to optimize marketing spending.
  • Visual tools: Graphs and charts to help visualize trends and results.

The article emphasizes that these numbers represent outcomes, not just data. The goal is to improve patient care and practice efficiency, not simply to increase the numbers. Displaying these metrics in team meetings and using them as a “dashboard” helps everyone stay aligned with the practice’s goals.

The overall message is that managing a growing chiropractic practice requires smart use of data to drive decisions, improve outcomes, and continue progressing toward long-term goals.

Read the full article here: https://www.goaldriven.com/post/what-gets-measured-gets-managed

 

The Flywheel Theory of Practice Marketing For Chiropractic Practice Marketing and Health Businesses

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kids on merry-go-round

More marketing for less effort in your chiropractic practice

There is good marketing, better marketing, and best marketing.

There is only one kind of bad practice marketing.

That is … NO marketing.

Unfortunately, “no marketing” is too common. The typical scenario in many chiropractic and health offices is this: “Numbers are down. Let’s do some marketing.” After a great effort and expense is made, the numbers go up. Then what happens?

Everyone becomes so busy that there is no time for marketing, and marketing gets tossed aside like an old pair of worn socks.

This contributes to the Practice Roller Coaster. First, there is some marketing. Then there isn’t. Then there is, then there isn’t. Up and down.

Good marketing requires regular attention and action. Like making a cake or cooking a steak, you must pay attention and make adjustments. You can’t turn on the oven, then turn it off to watch your cable program, then turn on the oven again.

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND FLYWHEEL

Remember those merry-go-rounds on playgrounds? Everyone would get on, and one person would push. With the same amount of force applied consistently, the wheel’s speed would increase. Just using an even push, the wheel moved faster and faster until kids started screaming and falling off. Great fun!

What would have happened if the person pushed the wheel a few times and then let it stop? Then pushed it and got it going again. And then let it stop.

All the momentum that accumulated would disappear. Then, getting it going again would require more force. What a waste of energy! And how exhausting to start it up again!

Of course, once it is moving, it doesn’t take much to keep it going or even get it to move faster just by steadily applying force.

Effective chiropractic and practice marketing is just the same. The merry-go-round is like a flywheel. A flywheel is a “mechanical device designed to store angular kinetic energy in a rotating mass.” (Wikipedia) It is used in various engines and has several uses, but primarily, it keeps the momentum, or the energy, going.

Jim Collins refers to the Flywheel effect in his book, Good to Great. “Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of effort.”

HOW TO KEEP YOUR MARKETING FLYWHEEL GOING IN YOUR PRACTICE

  1. Make a list. With your team, make a list of key marketing activities that you have done that have worked. Keep it simple.
  2. Marketing assistant. Then, assign someone to keep track of these activities. They assume the role of marketing assistant. 1-2 hours per week. They essentially are project managers who ensure all marketing actions occur.
  3. Keep to a schedule. The time allotted to do the marketing must be maintained and not get hijacked by “urgencies.” The temptation will be there. Whatever time is scheduled, don’t allow this position to collapse into other departments.
  4. Monthly review and push. Every month, you can assess what actions seem to be working. Don’t be too eager to discontinue a procedure — some marketing takes time. Gradually, you can add more activities that are working. Keep pushing the flywheel!

We plan on offering a course on the Marketing Manager System for your marketing assistant later this year to help you achieve your practice goals.

GOOD TO GREAT – IN CHIROPRACTIC AND OTHER HEALTH PRACTICES

From Jim Collins: “Good to great comes about by a cumulative process—step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel—that adds up to sustained and spectacular results.”

Keeping the momentum going,

Ed

(c) 2024 Edward Petty

—————————————————-

If your practice building efforts aren’t taking you to your goals,

there are reasons — many of which are hidden from you.

Find out what they are and how to sail to your next level by getting and implementing my new book, The Goal Driven Business.

goal driven business book for CEO and Office Managers by Edward W Petty.

The Goal Driven Business, By Edward Petty

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The Generosity of Service

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How to be happier and more prosperous

One of the unique characteristics of Petty, Michel & Associates is that we visit offices and provide on-site coaching based on what we see.

I remember one doctor whom we worked with for several years. When I visited his office, as soon as he saw me, and the minute he was free, he’d say, “Ed, come on over here, let me check you.”

He didn’t ask permission.

He saw many patients in the morning and the afternoon and always took time over lunch for a workout.

He was focused on adjusting anyone in his sight. Patient after a patient. And because he was so focused, he communicated with certainty and authority and earned the trust of his patients.

If you can strip away from your mind all the administrative tasks, worries, and challenges and just focus on seeing patients, you’ll be happier and see more people.
All the “other stuff” slows down doctors, the administrative tasks that seem to multiply exponentially. Your mind can be either dominated by business concerns — or by the joy of giving and serving.

You have the skill and ability to help others, which must be honored and given full reign to be expressed to its total capacity. It shouldn’t be withheld or hoarded.

A well-trained team and a practice manager are vital. They allow you, and the other providers, to practice your art while they care for everything else.

I have talked to many doctors who visit third-world countries and flat-out adjust 100-200 people in a day. No admin interruptions, just individual after individual, courageously providing service and practicing their craft without concern about reimbursement. They have told me that they would get into a “Zone,” or into a flow… and experience an intense kind of present-time consciousness that they don’t experience in their offices.

Dr. Sid Williams, who founded Life Chiropractic University in Georgia, promoted the idea of “Lasting Purpose,” which was defined as “to give, to love, to serve in abundance without expecting anything in return.”

Being generous doesn’t mean giving your services away. Generousness is a mindset of abundance. It is not withholding your gift and craft but practicing your art freely and abundantly.

To do so, train your staff to take care of everything else and delegate the admin tasks to them. We can help with this. But it first starts by committing to a value of service generosity. In our company, Petty, Michel, & Associates, one of our core values is delivering services in “Abbondanza,” Italian for abundance.

In physics, every action has a reaction. This is also expressed in ancient texts: the more you give, the more you receive. You’re persuaded each day to get lost in admin concerns. Don’t. Get “lost in service.” Admin details need to be tended to, but only during non-patient time, and most should be delegated to your team.

Be a Giver and be generous. Educate, care for, and help more people. Take on this attitude, and you’ll have more fun and be more prosperous.

Ed

*Sid Williams quote: https://lifewest.edu/dr-sid-williams-honored-in-life-wests-sid-square/

Those Numbers: Do You Manage by Emotions or by Goals?

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scoreboard for statistics

It’s Monday morning. The staff is getting the office ready for the new day. And while doing so, they are wondering… “How is the boss’s mood going to be today?”

They are taking their cues on how the day will transpire based upon, at least in part, your emotional state.

Your team, as well, will often be tempted to manage their roles in the office emotionally, based on the circumstances in their personal lives.

There is nothing wrong with positive emotion. Emotion is a feeling “a mental reaction subjectively experienced” (Merriam-Webster). Some are more positive than others, such as joy, delight, cheerfulness, and others are more negative, such as anger, grief, and fear.

But emotion is reactive. Setting your sights and working for goals is proactive.

Your Scoreboard

Your practice numbers show you if you are headed towards your goals or away from them.

They can predict what needs to be done to improve your business and achieve your goals. They also keep everyone on your team informed on the status of the practice and included in its management.

There is a right and wrong way to use your numbers to help you achieve your goals.

There is, in fact, an entire methodology on how to use statistics to improve business performance.

Large companies use analytics to manage and improve their production in formal processes such as Kaizen, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management.

In the Goal Driven System, we use a simplified version called GAP, the Goals Achievement Process, which works just fine.

At the beginning of each month:

  1. Review. Review your key numbers monthly at staff meetings. (This can also be done weekly to check on your progress.)
  2. Notice and support. Notice where the numbers went up. Then, plan a couple of action steps to support the areas that went up.
  3. Notice and fix. Notice where the numbers went down. Then, plan a few action steps to fix the areas that were down.

Remember that numbers by themselves are nothing. They are symptoms or representations of the quality and quantity of your outcomes. Don’t get so caught up with the “stats” that you lose sight of what the numbers represent. Expecting the numbers to improve without confronting and enhancing the factors causing the numbers is at best ineffective and, at worst, can be abusive.

But numbers can assist you and each team member to stay focused on the goals: your office mission, its values, and its outcomes.

In a Goal Driven office, your team takes its cues from the office scoreboard.
There is an art and a method to capture, display, read your statistics and apply what they tell you. This is not adequately taught to most doctors in business – or to employees. Yet managing by numbers is a fast and very effective method to keep your business improving.

We are creating a short training course to remedy this called Goal Driven Analytics for the Chiropractic Practice. Subscribers to this newsletter (you!) will be the first to hear about it.

In the meantime, stay true to your goals, and use your scoreboard to help you do so.

Seize the Future

Ed

Everything Else: Why The Goal Driven Practice is More Profitable and More Fun

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What gets in the way of you growing your business?

What holds you back from your growth? From increased services and profits?

What keeps you from providing better services and improving your marketing results?

The government? Your childhood? Your neighbor’s cat?

One thing that is NOT holding you back is chiropractic or whatever services and skills you provide.

It is everything else.

When you are first growing your business, and let’s say you are barely at 40% of your full capacity, your practice may be performing well. You may have an assistant, but for the most part, you can see patients and generally oversee the operation of your practice. Life is good, and the future is … wide open.

But almost imperceptibly, as you start seeing more and more patients, the tide of administrative demands starts rising.

Eventually, you can look around your desk and see “undones” and “half-dones” and a hundred or so “to-dos” littering your office, smartphone, computer, and brain. You try to keep up, but there seems to be just too much to do.

So, what do you do? There seems to be only one solution – you settle. You settle into a comfort zone just to a point where you can earn enough to pay your bills.

Growth becomes a trap, and after many attempts to reach your goals, you finally settle.

Is there a way out?

Yes. But it has been hidden. And booby-trapped.

But you should know, after years of observation and analysis, what is holding you back is not your lack of effort. It is not chiropractic or your professional services.

The fact is, you can’t really get to where you want to go from where you are now. You can’t get there from here.

You need to make some major Big Shifts. 

To get to your goals, you have to start from a different place and build a newer version of your business. This is your next stage. Stage One is survival and entrepreneurial growth. It is a Personality practice.

Your next version is a fast, more advanced business that will take you to your goals and beyond.

The new version is called a Goal Driven Practice.

To achieve this requires making some significant changes or Big Shifts.

MANAGER OR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT (BIG SHIFT #7)

One of the solutions to breaking out of the trap and moving closer to your goals is assigning someone on your team to help you with…Everything Else.

This could be a manager or an administrative assistant. In either case, the role would probably only require 5-8 hours per week – at least at first.

One of their goals would be to remove everything from your desk, all your to-dos, all administrative traffic, sort it for you, and then work out with you what should be done with each item.

You would delegate, delay or dump each item.

This would help free you to increase your services as a doctor and give you time to expand the business as the CEO.

You can produce $500 to $1000 in services per hour as a provider if you are unfettered. As the CEO, you can direct your business to produce much more than this per hour. So, why are you spending time drowning in trying to do $20 or even $30 an hour jobs?

Everything Else gums up the works. It slows you down, confuses the staff, and the patients feel the confusion and notice the neglect, however slight.

This is why I came up with the Goal Driven System. It unmucks the gears of your business so that you can freely provide services and not be haunted by the looming demands of hundreds of to-dos.

This is covered in the book, The Goal Driven Business. If you can do this, you will be more productive and have more fun.

This is so valuable that I will be scheduling upcoming Zoominars on this subject for you and your manager. And stay tuned for upcoming programs on manager training, and training and even coaching on the Goal Driven System.

And just, just for fun, (I am smiling) don’t miss this future article:

The 2 Management Consultants from Petaluma California.

Seize the future

Ed

For more information on The Goal Driven System visit Goal Driven

Are Your “Engines” Driving Your Practice?

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A service business needs 5 different engines to become a Goal Driven Business

Five engines drive your business to its goals.

If these are installed and firing at 100%, practicing will be enjoyable and profitable. When these engines are not fully performing, the daily demands of running a business shift to, and fall upon, the owner.

These engines are functions and characteristics of a dynamic team that drive the practice toward its goals.

Many offices that seem to be doing well are driven by heroic owners fighting each day to grow their practices, and not by their engines. But this isn’t easy to sustain. At some point, it becomes too much, and they settle into a comfort zone below their abilities. As a result, their long-term goals remain unfulfilled.

This is the plight and path of the entrepreneur – brave, independent, but too often without a map on how to build a strong business that drives itself.

The five engines that drive a business to its goals are:

  1. Marketing
  2. Leadership
  3. Management
  4. Service
  5. Personal Integrity

I want to begin passing on tips on the marketing engine– what is working now and my best estimation of what will be working in the future. Marketing is vital, for without paying customers, the other engines won’t work and aren’t needed.

But before I do, I want to invite you to look at your business and gauge the health of each of your engines.

You can do this by reviewing how successful you are at achieving each engine’s outcomes (goals) and giving them a grade from one to five (1-5). 5 would be the point where the engine is achieving its goals.

  1. Marketing. Abundant new patients and goodwill with local allied businesses, organizations, and your community. A waiting list practice. (1—5: ___)
  2. Leadership. A business with clearly defined goals that are agreed upon and pursued happily. (1—5: ___)
  3. Management. Expert team members, acting as an expert team, implementing simple but effective procedures. (1—5: ___)
  4. Customer Service. Customers (patients, clients, customers) who are extraordinarily satisfied with the services they receive and their outcomes. (1—5: ___)
  5. Personal Integrity. Each team member is happy because of the positive and and responsible manner in which they manage their personal lives. (1—5: ___)

By grading each engine’s “output,” you can immediately see what needs the most work.

But these engines do not work independently. One affects the other so that there is a synergy created. As one improves, so do the others. The opposite is also true – the more one engine dies down, the more the other ones do as well.

It could be said that everything begins with leadership, and that may be true. But unless you are marketing your services, there will be no one to lead!

So next week, let’s look at a few effective marketing strategies and tactics that will help drive your business to its goals.

And by the way, how to achieve a 5 for all your business engines is described in The Goal Driven Business. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to do so.

A great new February to you all,

Ed

The Problem With Seminars

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the problem with seminars

I am all for seminars. Been to many myself. I know I have gotten useful information and, no doubt, have benefited from them.

But, their usefulness is often wasted.

I just talked to a business owner that came back from a seminar he and his doctors and staff attended. He told me that they have started hitting their best-ever weekly numbers. His office manager told me that everyone is excited.

For now.

I have seen it time and time again… go to a seminar, get stoked, come back, numbers go up for a month or so, and then everything returns to how it always was. In essence, the seminar was only a short-term, “acute care” fix that addressed symptoms. Nothing was really improved or corrected.

There is a solution on how to benefit the most from seminars. I discuss it in my book, The Goal Driven Business, from which most of this article is quoted from. The following is a story related to me from a chiropractic staff member a few years back:

“Our office was really slowing down last year. So, the owner decided to take everyone out of town to a weekend business seminar. The speakers discussed new and efficient methods for doing our work. It was entertaining and informative. Plus, we also gained some great marketing ideas. It was a fun seminar, so we were all excited when we returned to work after the weekend.

“On Monday, we agreed to get together at lunch to discuss how to implement what we learned. Some staff members had to take care of urgent matters first, so our lunch meeting started 30 minutes late. Once we finally got together in the break room and started eating, we began a good meeting, but then customers begin arriving for their afternoon appointments. We had to call the meeting to an end without getting through very much of our agenda, but we agreed to continue the meeting the following week. Turns out, we never did meet again about the seminar.

“But we were still pretty motivated from the out of town trip to the seminar and, as I recall, we had one of our best months ever. It’s my job to clean the break room and, after a few months, I noticed that the binders of information we received at the seminar were never opened; so I stored them for future reference. Now it is almost a year later, and everything is pretty much back to the way it was before we went to the seminar. Some of us are a little burned out and I don’t think we ever did implement anything from that seminar.”

Sound familiar?

I bet it does. I have seen it play out almost exactly the same way countless times. Starting, and not following through. No management and marketing system is set up, and no time scheduled to ensure the system is followed, and no lasting improvement is realized.

And I am sure, for most of us, this phenomenon applies to our personal lives as well. For instance, how is your exercise program coming along? Hmm? You’ve set goals to work out more often and eat better, right? To work ON your body, not just in it. Yet, my guess is it’s been pretty hit and miss.

We want to improve, we make improvement goals, but what happens? Why can’t we achieve them? Consistently. Is it that we’re all too busy? Too lazy? There seems to be no solution, so we accept our condition and do our best.

Yet, there IS a solution, and it’ll seem like science fiction—but, it’s actually a science fact.

The Goal Driven System of Business Development covers 20 Big Shifts, or actual office adjustments, that need to be made to reach your goals — and stay there. It takes you out of the Practice Roller Coaster that forces you to finally “settle” and accept a lower level of success because the stress of the ups and downs becomes too much.

Here’s how to get the most out of seminars from The Goal Driven Business.

goals lab goaldriven.com “BIG SHIFT #1: Introducing the Goals Lab
You can’t improve your car while you’re speeding down the freeway. You must take it to a mechanic at a garage. Athletes and musicians alike spend time away from their audience to practice their game skills or their music, always improving their performance. Businesses need to do this as well. But where? And when?

 

The answer is you need to create a Goals Lab where you go to work on your business.

Your Goals Lab is a special place, a laboratory, an oasis for change. Here, you can think, study, learn, practice, become inspired, and have conversations. Here is where you go to reset your thinking and improve your actions—and the actions of others in your office as well.

I call it the Goals Lab, but you can give it another title, if you wish. Whatever you call it, this is the first Big Shift you’ll take on your journey to achieving your new goals.

Goals Lab to engineer your best route to your goals, Goalddriven.com

Why do you need a Goals Lab? Because you simply cannot focus on the other Big Shifts when you are in your office, juggling customers, staff, bills, phone calls, emails, vendors, and everything else that consumes your energy and brainpower.

Management companies and consultants may have advised you to work on your business, not just in it. While the idea of working on your business, as opposed to in it, is a clever and useful concept, I have rarely seen it applied consistently or comprehensively. Why? Because real business improvement can be more demanding than meets the eye. It is a separate activity that requires its own distinct time and place, and it has its own rules which must be followed to be effective.

I use the term Goals Lab because it is a virtual location that you visit to improve business performance. As an example, you spend most of your time with your car driving it. But you also take time to take your car to a special place where you let a mechanic work on it.

Not knowing about this place, this Goals Lab, its rules, and how it operates, is a fundamental reason why all your management books, marketing manuals, and practice improvement notes from seminars rarely get implemented.

Your Goals Lab has been mostly hidden from you. It almost has a fourth-dimensional location, which is outside the time and space continuum.”

Why don’t we spend more time on improving the business, not just working in it?

This is the real question, and it is answered in the book, The Goal Driven Business. You can read about it now, or wait for my next article where I explain WHY business improvement is so difficult and what to do about it.

Meanwhile, keep improving.

Ed

Learn more about book and get it here: https://www.GoalDriven.com

the goal driven business by edward petty

Tempus Fugit (time flies)

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As the ancient Greek reminds us, Time Flies — and July comes at us fast.

We are halfway through the year – 2021!

While enjoying the summer, I suggest you take a Half-Time Break and reassess, readjust, and recommit where needed. That is, reassess your progress so far this year.  Make any adjustments to your yearly plans. Recommit to your higher goals.

This is a team exercise. You can discuss with each team member first, but I would focus on the four categories below:

                What are the goals for the rest of the year?

  1. Yourself as a professional?
  2. The office as a whole?
  3. The quality of service/outcomes of your patients?
  4. Yourself personally.

You can reprint this and send it out to your team as a memo next week. Then, meet as a group in the following weeks to discuss.   Here are some tips you can pass on to the staff and doctors:

  1. Goals for yourself as a professional. How are you going to improve your level of competence as a support professional or doctor? What subjects do you want to study, or skills you want to improve, in anatomy, customer service, chiropractic, chiropractic history, marketing, health care in society, etc.
  2. Goals for the entire office. Review the mission, core values, and outcomes of our office, and from these, consider what improvement goals we could set for the next six months.
  3. Goals for the services we provide our patients? Consider such things as faster service, more complete outcomes, more fun for the patients, and more engagement with our mission.
  4. Goals for yourself personally. This is personal and can be private. It can be discussed, but that is optional. This might include such things as more time with nature, family, exercise, prayer, recreational reading, a new hobby, and travel.

Enjoy your summer but be PROactive and meet with your team to plan out the rest of the year. Keep it fun. You can meet at the lake, in the park, by the mountains or near the sea. Integrate health and an unquarantined life into your work meeting.

But remember… TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE.

Carpe Diem,

 Ed

ALSO, if you haven’t yet — buy my book now while it is still only $8. The Goal Driven Business.   It will help you achieve your goals.