Category Archives: Uncategorized

How to Win as a Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice Athlete

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balance beam athlete

Like the Olympic athletes, as a chiropractor or practice owner, you have begun a venture few dare. Where you go, there is no hiding or coasting. You are immediately rewarded or penalized based on your and the entire team’s performance. There is no guaranteed tenure in your job or assurance that you’ll have business next month. It is all up to you and each member of the team.

Read Ed’s weekly newsletter to find out how to:

  1. DEVELOP A CHAMPION’S MINDSET.
  2. BUILD YOUR SUPPORT TEAM.
  3. CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE.
  4. CELEBRATE THE WINS!

Read More[LINK]

Are All Things Created Twice?

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goal driven young girl holding up a house design dreaming of what it will look likeMidyear Checkup for Chiropractic Healthcare Practices

It’s Halftime.

2024 is half over.

How’s it going? Are you closer or farther away from your goals?

Here’s a fast tip:

Stephen Covey says:

“All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation and a physical or second creation of all things.”

If you are behind in achieving your goals for 2024 in the real world, you may need to recreate them mentally.

Great performers and coaches encourage us to visit our goals and vision often.

Lou Holtz was a college football coach. Per statistics, possibly the best college football coach ever. He was the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 15 rankings. *

Mr. Holtz said a book by Dave Schwartz called The Magic of Think Big was his favorite book. The following is from Schwartz’s book:

“Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present”

“Belief, strong belief, triggers the mind to figure ways and means and how-to.”

I don’t think it ever stops – the importance of staying connected to your vision, your meaningful goals as well as the practical ones.

But what the heck? Go for it! And even if you don’t achieve all your goals, you will have at least played the game and had an adventure!

As Eckhart Tolle says:

“Life is an adventure, it’s not a package tour.”

Happy summer and happy times with your team, helping others achieve their goals!

Ed

P.S. Our Practice MBA is just 60 days away.

Think BIG! Our Practice MBA is back, and it’s updated and tailored for your practice manager and Big Thinkers like you.

Here’s what you need to know:

** Start Date: September 9th

** Registration ends August 30th or when the class is full

**Duration: 12 weekly classes

**Waiting List: Sign up now for exclusive program details!

Already on our list? Stay tuned—I’ll send more specifics soon. I’ll also set up times to chat with you and answer all your questions.

Our last Practice MBA was a big success. The new managers in chiropractic and other practices have effectively improved their practices and the stats show it. Our latest version is even better, and I can’t wait to get it started with you!

Ed

References:

Steven Covey: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Eckhard Tolle — www.brainyquote.com

David Schwartz – The Magic of Thinking Big

Lou Holtz – Wikipedia

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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 book, The Goal Driven Business.

goal driven business www.goaldriven.com
The Goal Driven Business
By Edward Petty
goal driven business buy now button

What Makes You and Your Chiropractic Healthcare Practice Special?

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statue of liberty in a display of fireworks, life, liberty and happiness, petty, michel, goal driven

Celebrating Health and Business Freedom

JULY 2nd

1776, Philadelphia.

The weather was cooler than usual, with intermittent rain showers. Some 50 members of the 2nd Continental Congress met at Independence Hall and finally agreed, after months of discussion,

“That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States…”

We celebrate this declaration on July 4th in the USA as our Independence Day.

Aside from the summer cookouts, barbecues, parades, and festivities, we celebrate freedom – freedom from tyranny and freedom to pursue “Happiness.”

= = =

It could be said that multinational investment corporations, along with Bill Gates — whom Google Search offers up as the most powerful doctor in the U.S.*, have colonized the healthcare system in the U.S.

You and your team are independent chiropractic and healthcare businesses. You are not a colony of Big Pharma, Medicine, or Food. They have fought and marginalized you, but you have won and remain free. (**)

And it is not too big of a leap to point out that this is what you do for others: you help your patients and clients to become freer from pain, discomfort, and dysfunction. You help them become more independent from drugs and the toxic influences of our world.

As the July 4th celebration is for American Independence, I invite you to see this time as also a celebration for independent businesses and health care providers — like you.

= = =

Freedom is never free, and each of us at Petty, Michel & Associates appreciates your efforts to maintain and grow your business and help your patients and clients seek happiness.

So, THANK YOU!

Thank you for staying free and helping others do the same.

Ed and Dave, and all of us at Petty, Michel, & Associates

References:

* Screen capture of Google: “First search result when asked: “Who is the most powerful doctor in the U.S.”

** Contain and Eliminate, Howard Holinsky

Most powerful doctor according to Google.

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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 book, The Goal Driven Business.

goal driven business www.goaldriven.com
The Goal Driven Business
By Edward Petty
goal driven business buy now button

Summer Chiropractic and Healthcare Marketing. Get Outside!

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Edward Petty Sheldon Wasserman 4th July parade www.goaldriven.com

Eighty percent of success is showing up

Summer is a great time to promote your chiropractic and healthcare services. Winter hibernation is over, as is the enforced isolation from COVID, and people are out and about.

Communities are coming alive with farmer’s markets, bicycle riding clubs, coffee shop meetups, parades, art shows, and fairs of all kinds. You got yer Lions Club pancake breakfasts, church barbeques, donation drives, and 5-Ks.

Online social networking is fine, but it is extra powerful if backed up or done in conjunction with people and events locally in your community. In Real Life!

You can just show up and meet people. Let them meet you like an elected official when they run for office. (It is an election year!) You can also get a picture taken of the event and then use this in your internal promotions. That’s me in the photo above a few years back when I jumped into our local 4th of July parade and had my picture taken with our state representative, Sheldon Wasserman, M.D. (He told me his mom sees a chiropractor, and I didn’t care about what political party he was part of.)

You can get a list of upcoming community events from the Chamber of Commerce and schedule a screening, talk, or information booth, or volunteer your help in a charity drive. You can also just show up. Be neighborly.

There is often a run or walk as part of a donation program during the summer months where you and your staff can participate. We have seen offices proudly wear their office t-shirts and recruit many patients to do the same. Encourage and support your team members to participate on their own.

I’d assign a staff member or two to find events and opportunities to join. Make it a team activity.

You can power up all your activities by partnering with other local businesses.

And take your cards. As the old timers told me, the old school technique of practice building was “WOC – Whip out Card!” It’s physics: you put out energy and communication, and it will return to you.

When you are networking, you get to know people. Be interested in them and their interests. Then you can hand out your cards. You can also hand out coupons for a screening or workshop at your office.

As Woody Allen is to have said:

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

You can’t lose. It’s Summer. Get Outside. Enjoy the freedom!

And seize the day!

Ed

—————————————————-

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 book, The Goal Driven Business.

goal driven business www.goaldriven.com

The Goal Driven Business
By Edward Petty

goal driven business buy now button

Goals for the Present

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Goals for the Present

Goals are about the future.

But sometimes, they are about the present – and respecting the past.

December is one of those times. There’s a distinct vibration that moves in this time of year, subtle waves of friendliness that sparkle like Christmas tree lights. Almost an instinct — whether connected to a Sunday service before the 25th, a Jolly Old Saint Nick, the candles of Hanukkah, or the winter solstice, we feel a sense of fellowship during this time of year.

With the traditions of other cultures over the millennia, people have gathered with a Spirit of compassion and celebration. People even take time to pause in war.

One example was the Christmas Truce of 1914 during World War I, when soldiers from opposing trenches laid down their weapons and initiated an unofficial ceasefire. The truce began on Christmas Eve and continued into Christmas Day, with soldiers exchanging seasonal greetings, singing carols, and even venturing into no man’s land to fraternize with the enemy. Troops from both sides shared food, tobacco, and souvenirs and engaged in impromptu soccer games.

I think this speaks to our fundamental nature, that we are supportive and kind when unprovoked by the agitations of those who might profit from our conflicts.

As a practice and business goal for your chiropractic and healthcare office, I suggest that this week and next, focus on the present and appreciate the many accomplishments of the past year. Consider your blessings – your patients, profession, teammates, and family.

The Future Can Wait

For now, take time for some gratitude and have a cup of kindness and good cheer.

And play some Christmas jazz. Man!

Below is a link to some mellow Christmas Jazz – 4-hour playlist. Christmas Jazz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbgx5ChU3ZM

Carpe Diem,

Ed

The Best Leadership for Your Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice

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Improving productivity through greater engagement.

I try to base all my practice and business recommendations on observations I have had and also on the research from those of others.

Dave Michel and I have an advantage: we are not doctors and therefore are not biased on any particular type of clinical practice. We are managers and not doctors, so we don’t advise that you do it “our way.” We look for what works and what is best for the patient, the practice, and the owner.

After viewing hundreds of practices, I distilled down the essential elements of what we saw that were most effective and least effective. I then integrated research from other business scientists and laid out a simple growth and practice development plan that was not based on any one doctor’s personality.

Jim Collins is one researcher whose information we incorporated into our work, Eliyahu Goldratt, Stephen Covey, and scores of others, including Michael Gerber.

MICHAEL GERBER

Gerber’s book, The E-Myth, states that, from his experience as a business consultant, people who start a business have three roles: the entrepreneur, the technician, and the manager. By his definition, the technician would be the doctor or health care provider who would also have the role of business owner or entrepreneur.

Most doctors focus on being doctors and making a living as business owners or entrepreneurs.

The manager role is short-changed. It is a difficult role to fulfill as who has time to manage and see a full load of patients. You are paid for providing service… not for managing. Right?

In a practice, the “manager” is really the CEO, or Clinic Director — whatever term you care to use.

This role breaks down into three major functions, all supporting the delivery of clinical services and generating income for the practice and business. These three functions are:

  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Marketing

A good portion of these functions can be delegated using the Goal Driven System, as discussed in the book, The Goal Driven Business.

I want to zero in on leadership.

LEADERSHIP

Gallup states that it has done extraordinarily comprehensive and long-term studies on leadership. They report, “The most effective leaders rally a broad group of people toward an organization’s goals, mission and objectives. They lead. People follow.”

In their studies, they have found that people need or seek the following from their leaders:

          • Trust
          • Compassion
          • Stability
          • Hope

This is what your team wants from you as their employer and Clinic Director.

One of the biggest challenges in all offices is a support team that loses its motivation and is no longer engaged. If you can develop these 4 feelings in your team, their motivation and production will improve.

The big challenge, which is not usually resolved in most practices, is how to be an effective leader and take care of a full caseload of patients.

MANAGEMENT

This is where the function of management comes into play.

The function of management is THE lever, THE Leverage Point (Principle 13 in The Goal Driven Business), that allows leadership to function and a practice to reach its full potential.

I will reveal new information about this next week, but for now, consider the 4 needs employees seek from you as their employer. Write them down on a piece of paper and consider them your goals in your role of Clinic Director.

Seize the Future through Trust, Compassion, Stability, and Hope.

Till next week,

Ed

Strengths Based Leadership – Gallup, 2008
E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber

Born in the USA

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born in the usa, chiropractic, chiropractor, 4thofjuly

On July 4, 1776, 13 colonies declared their independence from the tyrannical rule over them by Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was ratified on this day by the 2nd Continental Congress, establishing the United States of America.

Chiropractic was born in 1895. And like America, has been independent and free ever since, helping people become free from poor health and poor health solutions.

To each of you – chiropractors, support professionals, and other independent health care providers — I believe you all make a larger difference than you know.

Happy 4th to you all!

Ed

5 QUOTES

  • We never know how far reaching something we may think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow. B. J. Palmer
  • For you have been called to live in freedom. Use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13
  • With freedom comes responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one. Benjamin Franklin
  • Every generation inherits a world it never made; and, as it does so, it automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. In due course, each generation makes its own accounting to its children. Robert Kennedy
  •  “Let Freedom ring.” Martin Luther King

Ed

Independence Day Discount! Almost free!

For more freedom in your practice, seize my book The Goal Driven Business.

$8 now until July 12th. ($3 for Kindle version.)

Plus, you will receive 10 practice-building tools to grow and develop your practice. If the information in the book is applied, you WILL increase your profit, improve your service… and achieve greater freedom. Buy a bunch and give them to your colleagues. Let’s help more people!

In Chiropractic and Health Care Clinics, Intention Makes the Difference

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The Goal INTENDED Practice

Coming back from a chiropractic seminar, the flight attendant got on the public address system and made a standard announcement about our arrival, and thanked us for choosing their airline.

I don’t think I have ever heard a more monotone announcement delivered with less interest. The speaker seemed more intent on getting to their next task than the one they were currently doing – speaking to the passengers.

INTENTION

It can happen. We can become busy with our techniques, procedures, and dialogues that we lose track of why we are doing them. Sometimes our drive, vision, and intention to do our jobs becomes diluted during the day.

And when this happens, for whatever reason, you will see it in your practice numbers the following week – sometimes sooner.

Lynne McTaggart has conducted numerous experiments and studies on the healing power of intention. She says:

“Intention appears to be something akin to a tuning fork, causing the tuning forks of other things in the universe to resonate at the same frequency.”*

If this is true, then the quality and intensity of your intention affects the rest of your teammates and patients, both active and inactive.

Elsewhere Ms. McTaggart says:

“We need to realize that we are observers and creators, and in every moment that we are observing our world, we’re constantly remaking it at every instant.” **

THE TRANSHUMANIST FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE

At the recent Parker chiropractic seminar, I listened to David Sinclair. A geneticist, he and others have researched different approaches to longevity. According to Sinclair, recent studies demonstrate slowing down and even reversing aging. This is accomplished with the use of lifestyle changes, vitamins, repurposed drugs, and new drugs that are being developed.

David Sinclair speaking at Parker chiropractic seminar in Orlando, Florida in June of 2023 attended by Ed Petty of Goal Driven Business.

Also at the seminar was Nita Farahany, who discussed new developments in neurotechnology. She discussed new technology used to eavesdrop on not just our brains but our thoughts.

Parker comes across as very conservative, unlike some of my conspiratorial friends! But between the lines, the potential for future mechanization of health and humans was evident. In Ms. Farahany’s book, she talks about Transhumanism.

“Transhumanism is a cultural movement aimed at solving the “tragedies” of the human condition – namely aging, our physical and physiological limitation, and suffering.” * As AI advances, the idea is to “upskill” humans to keep up through genetic and electronic manipulation.

While there may be positives to creating superhumans, the risk is losing our humanity and perhaps independence. I was impressed that Parker had these speakers.

THE VITALISTIC FUTURE OF INDEPENDENT HEALTH CARE

We will have to stay vigilant. Artificial intelligence can only produce a sequence of actions, but only a living person can have intention. This is why AI can never replace the role of the healer.

Healing requires intent. And this is your specialty – dealing with the vital power of life.

ACTION STEPS

So, what is intention? It is the decision that you will achieve a specific goal. It is your determination and drive to create the end you have in mind.

Here are a couple of action steps to help keep intention strong:

  • Discuss this with your team: What do you think when the phone rings or before seeing the next patient? “Oh boy, I get to talk to someone and make their day better.” Or, “Heck, another interruption.” This applies to everyone in the office – doctors and staff.
  • Morning Case Management Meeting. One method of supporting strong intentions is starting each morning by reviewing who is coming in and the plan of action, the intention, for each patient. This is a Case Management meeting 15 minutes before the day begins. You can also set realistic goals for new patients and office visits, goals that everyone sees and agrees to.

Then, enjoy your day.

With Intention, Carpe Futurum! (Seize the Future!)

Ed

A happy photo of Ed Petty, of www.Goaldriven.com and Petty, Michel and Associates, www.pmaworks.com, attending Parker Chiropractic seminar in Florida, in June, 2023.

 

References:

*www.azquotes.com

** www.azquotes.com

The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology, Nita A. Farahany

Hiring, Retaining, and Engaging Staff Post COVID

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The Goal Driven Practice by Gallup

I remember listening to Bruce Lipton talking in San Francisco at a Life West seminar about how chiropractic was so advanced that cellular biology, specifically epigenetics, was just starting to catch up. My thought listening to him was that, while chiropractic was perhaps ahead of its time, its management was still in the Industrial Age.

Michael Gerber of E-Myth fame and many other consultants emphasize the importance of procedures. Procedures, systems, and routine methods that bring about consistent results are the “best practices” businesses strive to achieve. This is the basis of the franchise model.

But while procedures are important, people are more important.

Therefore, the most vital procedures are those that you use to help your people become more competent and motivated. These are leadership and management procedures.

Leadership and management have always been important. But we are in the 2020’s now, long past the Industrial model of assembly-line procedural work. We are past the Information Age. And now, past COVID.

The world has changed, and how we run our practices must also change. The old model of the dominating doctor and his secretary, or “girls,” hasn’t worked well over the last 20 years. And now, we have seen many offices struggling to find, retain, and engage qualified employees and doctors.

Just as my book, The Goal Driven Business, was being published, I became aware of another book that Gallup just recently published called It’s the Manager. Not to brag, but much of what they explain is also covered in my book, especially for practices. What I like about Gallup, aside from validating my information, is the stats from the hundreds of studies they have completed.

It is now vital that you take on the role of Clinic Director or senior manager, which is different from doctor or business owner, and develop your leadership and management skills.

In short, you need to create a Goal Driven team of employees, doctors, and patients – all working together to achieve positive goals. This is a holistic, even futuristic, model of business.

We have been building new courses to train doctors and their managers in leadership, management, and marketing principles which we will pilot later this summer. (Replying to this email lets me know if you might be interested. I will keep you in the loop.)

But let’s start creating your Goal Driven Dream Team now.

Let’s begin with a recommendation from Gallup:

“Gallup recommends that organizations immediately change their culture from old will to new will. These are the six biggest changes that we discovered: [I only include the first change below.]

“Millennials and Generations Z don’t just work for a paycheck — they want a purpose. Their work must have a meaning. In the past, baby boomers and other generations didn’t necessarily need meaning in their jobs. They just wanted a paycheck. Their mission and purpose were their families and communities. For millennials and Generation Z, compensation is important and must be fair, but it’s no longer their primary motivation. The emphasis for these generations has switched from paycheck to purpose – and so should your culture.”

Seize your future,

Ed

Do What You Do Best and Delegate All The Rest!

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Doctors doctor.

They care for patients and earn their trust. They get results and sweat the details.

It is upon your services as a caring and competent doctor that EVERYTHING ELSE in your office exists. The phones, the computers, the software, the supplies, the emails to you, and of course, the support team and all of the details they deal with — the whole operation is just there so you can see and take care of patients.

The office is there for you, your doctors, and providers to improve the health of your patients. We all know this, but sometimes, we can get lost in the forest of “Everything Else.”

Everything Else is all the administrative details and the confusion and conflicts that need to be sorted out each day. Everything Else is everything other than seeing your patients.

When you deal with administrative functions, the capacity for seeing your patients shrinks.

It costs your business thousands of dollars when you spend time on administrative details that someone else could be managing.

But, if you don’t take care of the administration, who will? Staff are helpful, however they don’t know as much as you, and probably aren’t as motivated. Your license, debt repayments, reputation, and livelihood are on the line.

Most doctors find themselves in a kind of a trap.

It is a nice slogan, To Do What You Do Best and Delegate All the Rest, but how do you do this? Whom can you delegate to? Which team member should you delegate work to, and when do you have the time to train them? When do they have the time to be trained? And on what are you going to train them?

How do you break out of this trap?

There are real reasons why this is difficult to do, and there are also fake reasons masquerading as real reasons.

Many of these reasons are hidden or even counter-intuitive, and so it is difficult to breakthrough and take your practice to the next level. But if you know what these barriers are and get some help, you can break out of the trap and build a business that is less dependent upon your management of administrative issues.

Here are just 3 suggestions that can help you.

Give It Up to Your Team. Your team wants to be empowered to do more. This fact comes from Self-Determination Theory. (I discuss this at length in my book, The Goal Driven Business.) They want their own sandbox to work, and once they have conquered that, they want to level up and somehow learn more and or do more. Just like you!

Your Lab. Part of the Goal Driven System includes the Lab. This is your Goals Laboratory. The Lab is where and when you work ON your business, not just in it. This is when you take the time for yourself, or with your team, or your coach or coaches and colleagues. This is where you will review, analyze, study, train, and recharge. Lab Time is time you take for improvement. Here you are not the DOCTOR. Here you are a coach for your team, a student for yourself, and the Clinic Director/CEO to review how your business is working.

The Vital Few and Pareto. Only a minor percentage of your work each day is vital. This is according to the Pareto Principle, which states that around 20% of what you do produces 80% of the important outcomes. The key is to recognize your 20%. With this principle in mind, don’t be fooled – you have the time to go to the Lab and work on improvement. Improving your business, like improving your patients, is part of the 20%.

If you feel that your practice growth is stuck, if you feel that your business can grow more, consider the three recommendations above. Read the book The Goal Driven Business, especially the Chapter You Can’t Get There From Here. You can also give me a call and we can talk. Maybe I can give you some tips that might help.

Let’s help more people!

Ed

PS I thoroughly cover how to get out of the Admin Trap in The Goal Driven Business.

Got a practice question? Interested in our upcoming management training program? Need help about something? Let’s talk.

BARC Basic Activity Recovery Cycle

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yoga helps chiropractic care and practice management

Otherwise known as taking a break

We need to take breaks.

Small breaks every few hours, longer breaks every week, even longer breaks every several weeks.

Our bodies and our minds require periodic interruptions from our work, according to the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle theory, as discussed by Loehr and Swartz in their book, The Power of Full Engagement. We need to take time away whether we agree to it or not, it seems.

The authors present evidence that supports this theory and explains this cycle as activity and then recovery.

They say:

“We can only push so hard for so long without breaking down and burning out. Stress hormones that circulate chronically in our bodies may be temporarily energizing, but over time they prompt symptoms such as hyperactivity, aggressiveness, impatience, irritability, anger, self-absorption and insensitivity to others.”

“We live in a world that celebrates work and activity, ignores renewal and recovery, and fails to recognize that both are necessary for sustained high performance.

“The simple, almost embarrassing reality is that we feel too busy to search for meaning.”

So take small breaks and then larger breaks to disengage so that you can better engage with your patients and with each other to provide better service.

And support your team to do the same.

I’m not promoting this so you can let up on your production goals or so that you can be nice to your team. Far from it.

Production goals (New patients, Visits, Collections) need to be balanced with organizational improvement goals. AND THESE need to be balanced with greater meaningful goals.

So take some time to surprise your kids with a fun adventure, have a long lunch date mid-week with your spouse, spend a day volunteering, or travel to Costa Rica to play in the waves and take in some yoga.

Like I’m doing now!

Carpe Futurum (Seize your Future)

Ed

How to improve performance by taking more breaks is thoroughly covered in my book The Goal Driven Business which you can purchase here.

Goal Driven Business

 

 

Individual Team Development Plans

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Tips on Creating a Goal Driven Chiropractic Practice

A Goal Driven team member training to create a Goal Driven Practice by Petty Michel Associates and Edward Petty

Helping your employees pursue their professional goals will help them also pursue the clinic’s goals.

How?

Think of yourself. If you are working on learning a new technique professionally, you might feel more energized.

Why? According to Self Determination Theory, each of us has an innate or intrinsic drive to achieve mastery and competence. We want to improve our ability to control the outcomes we produce to better achieve our goals.

I would also add that helping your team members pursue their personal goals will increase their energy to do the same for the clinic’s goals. So again, think of yourself. Looking forward to that hunting trip, that vacation with your kids to Europe, or getting in shape at the gym can give you more optimism, hope, and zest for doing your best at work.

As Vitktor Frankl says:

It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.

A Goal Driven clinic is systematized and motivated to achieve its goals. It achieves this partly because it takes into account different survival energies: the patients, the practice, and each employee.

At the first of every year, besides setting clinic goals, the clinic director can meet individually with each team member for a goal-setting meeting regarding their career and professional goals. (Download sample Individual Development Plan forms)

Staff members might be interested in different subjects, such as anatomy, human behavior, customer service, or marketing. Perhaps there are certification programs for staff. Meet with your doctors as well: what areas do each want to explore and study?

Work out the goals, then discuss different approaches to achieve these. Then, check back in 6 months on their progress. The practice manager can ensure that this happens.

You can also discuss the personal development goals of each team member. For example, perhaps they wanted to try a new sport, take a unique vacation with their family, or learn a new language.

This holistic approach to leadership and management is part of what we call the Goal Driven System.

Help your people achieve their professional and personal goals, and they be more energized to do the same for the clinic to achieve its goals.

 

3 Effective Methods to Amp Up Your Team’s Motivation

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Do you sometimes feel that you are just reporting in on Mondays to work on the assembly line? Has the eagerness to achieve your goals been replaced by an attitude of “now I have to go to work.”

How about your team members? Do you suspect that they sometimes disengage from their work when you are not looking?

It happens.

Yet, the level of any team’s motivation directly affects its level of success.

Here are three keys to improving motivation:

1. GOAL ALIGNMENT

The outcomes of any job need to be matched with the mission of the job.
For example, let’s take the front desk. Many front desk new hires are trained on the appointment procedures for patients but omit teaching them on the mission of the front desk.

The mission of the front desk is to assist the patient in becoming healthier by helping them keep to their health and treatment plan. That would be its mission or higher-level goal. The lower-level, or practical, goals would include every patient keeping their appointment, or 100% kept appointments!

If the front desk is primarily busy working on insurance paperwork, their work is not in alignment with the mission of their job. This is a misalignment of goals.

“The psychologists Ken Sheldon and Tim Kasser have found that people who are mentally healthy and happy have a higher degree of ‘vertical coherence’ among their goals — that is, higher-level (long-term) goals and lower-level (immediate) goals all fit together well so that pursuing one’s short-term goals advances the pursuit of long-term goals”. (The Happiness Hypothesis – pg145)

In the Goal Driven System, we have found that everyone works more efficiently and with a better attitude if the mission of the job is connected to its outcomes.

You, as the doctor, come to the office to work with patients, yet much of your work involves getting administrative tasks completed. Your higher clinical goals as a doctor do not line up with all the admin chores needed.

Here is a sample chart showing higher-level goals and lower-level goals.

Action Step: Regularly review the mission for everyone’s job, including your own, with the outcomes it needs to produce. Keep higher-level and lower-level goals connected.

2. TEAM INCLUSION
Your employees will be more motivated if they are included in the progress and direction of the business in which they work.

“Motivation requires that people see a relationship between their behavior
and desired outcome…” (Edward L. Deci). (Why We Do What We Do, Deci, page 59)

Action Step. Keep your team updated on the progress towards your goals, as we discussed in our last newsletter.* Do this in regular staff meetings to monitor the progress in achieving lower-level and higher-level goals.

3. COACHING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Several studies indicate that people are more likely to achieve their goals with accountability and support.*

This is one reason why weight-loss programs do so well – there is someone you must answer up to who also guides you, supports you and keeps you on track to your goals.
There are many barriers that can cause us to lose our enthusiasm to achieve our goals and settle for substitutes. Owning and growing a business as a doctor is very challenging and sometimes a lonely endeavor.

Action step: The solution is to recruit trusted advisors – colleagues, and professionals for accounting, legal, and practice development (our specialty.)

Carpe Posterum (Seize the Future)

Ed

This is covered more thoroughly in my book, the Goal Driven Business. Buy it here.

*Last Goal Driven Newsletter: https://www.goaldriven.com/post/those-numbers-do-you-manage-by-emotions-or-by-goals

* Study on Accountability. Psychological Bulletin © 2015 American Psychological Association 2016, Vol. 142, No. 2, 198 –229 Does Monitoring Goal Progress Promote Goal Attainment?

The Cobbler’s Wife Has No Shoes

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bare feet in the snow

The Cobbler’s Wife Has No Shoes

And Your Team Members Have No Personal Health Programs

You have heard the old expression, “The cobbler’s wife has no shoes.” Sometimes it is also said: “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” Either way, the message is that the shoemaker, or cobbler, is often too busy with his work to spend any time making shoes for his wife and children.

The same can apply to your support team when it does not receive the health services you provide your patients.

Too frequently, I have seen employees not given a personal health program that is supervised by the doctors for whom they work and support. While this is an oversight, I feel it is also negligent. And it can be expensive.

Staff who are ill need to take time off to get well. I have heard about this more in the last year with the COVID protocols of quarantining. Employee absences can impair the quality and quantity of daily services to patients and clients. It can also create backlogs and add extra stress to the employees who try to cover for those who are ill.

There are no 100% solutions to prevent employee illness, of course. But perhaps there is more you could be doing. To start, ensure that each team member regularly receives the same services you also provide to your patients.

Then, I have seen many reports that say keeping Vitamin D levels up minimizes the risk of viral infections. Why not get your staff’s vitamin D levels checked if you haven’t already? It is easy to do and inexpensive. I list a source for testing vitamin D that I have used at the end of this article. (1)

Beyond Vitamin D, there are other supplements that can be taken to bolster defenses in winter against viral infections. The FLCCC (Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance) has a list of supplements they recommend. You can find a link to them at the end of the article.

And speaking of the FLCCC, if you have not been following them, I recommend you do. (Link at the end of the article.)(3) They are a group of medical doctors and other medical professionals that have spoken out on and advocated for other remedies for COVID other than vaccinations. Pierre Kory, who is the President of the FLCCC, once taught at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and worked at St. Luke’s Hospital here in Milwaukee. (4) (He recently spoke at a rally in D.C. this past Sunday. Link to see a clip of his speech at the end of this article.)

But back to your staff and their health.

We all get busy. I get it. Front and center are the urgent and important matters of our practice which we must deal with directly. But some matters are very important that do not seem urgent. For example, taking care of the health of our staff and ourselves is important, but because it does not seem urgent, it often gets put on the back burner.

Working ON the business is important even though it may not be urgent. And working on the business includes working to improve the health and education of your team members that support you and the patients.

So, keep this in mind: for fewer sick days, fewer quarantines (!?!), and fewer service interruptions, see that each team member is seen regularly by you or by one of the doctors at your practice, and ensure that they are on a health program. And help them follow it. This is no guarantee of less sick days, but it can certainly help.

Having a mission to help people become healthier and relieved of pain is a noble goal. But remember that it applies not only to your patients but to your support team, your family, and yourself as well.

In all ways, try to stay true to your goals!

Goal Driven — Faster to a Better Future!

Carpe Posterum (Seize the future.)

Ed

Get the book The Goal Driven Business and apply it. It will help you achieve your goals including better service, more profit, and…more freedom. Be a Health Rebel and grow your practice. Fight Back! The Goal Driven Business

(1) Vitamin D testing
(2) List of supplements recommended by the FLCCC
(3) FLCCC
(4) Pierre Kory, MD, speaking at a rally at Washington DC, Sunday, Jan 23. (Here he is talking last Sunday at a rally in Washington D.C. (Another link to the same clip.)

SPECIAL PROMOTION – The Kindle version of the Goal Driven Business is FREE Oct 21st – 25th.

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the goal driven businessSPECIAL PROMOTION
National Chiropractic Month
The Kindle version of the Goal Driven Business is FREE
from Thursday, October 21 to Monday, October 25
= = =
What’s in the book? To give you an idea of some of the subjects covered in the Goal Driven Business, I put together a list which you can find below. You can also access this on the website, GoalDriven.com
In addition to the Free Kindle version, when you also sign up for our
Goal Driver’s newsletter with tips you won’t find anywhere else, you will receive 10 Powerful Goal Driven Tools FREE to build and develop your practice.
or go directly to Amazon and get the Goal Driven Business book only, in hard copy or Kindle download
I truly recommend you get the free Kindle version of the Goal Driven Business book. I also encourage you to pick up a hard copy. It is valuable information which we have used over the years to improve offices, just like yours. A hard copy book is nice to read, and re-read, like Dr. Peter Heffernan mentions:
“Ed has nailed it, with all his years of experience, in this book!
Read it and reread it, it is that valuable.”
J. Peter Heffernan D.C. DPhCS.
= = =
The Goal Driven Business –
A New Business-Building Methodology
List of subjects and key concepts
Part 1. Your Road, A Hero’s Journey.5
We Can’t Get There from Here.7
The Practice Roller Coaster and What Causes It10
Symptoms Of a Personality Practice12
16 Attributes of A Successful Business and Practice13
The 3 Goals Of “To Live Better.”19
First 2 Goals and The Eisenhower Matrix20
Goal 3: Your Greater Purposes23
Applying the 3 Goals to Improve Business Performance 24
The Synergy of the 3 Goals 33
The Hidden Barriers to Practice Success35
The E-Myth and Michael Gerber39
Your First Big Shift to Your Goals: The Goals Lab Where You Work on Your Business.43
Pareto Principle and How to Add More Time to Work ON Your Business. 47
Parkinson’s Law of Time 52
Edwards Deming and Kaizen54
Goals Achievement Process (Kaizen for Practice and Business Improvement.)54
The Coaching Review for Team Member Improvement 56
Your Practice Development Map: The Stages in Developing Your Business61
The 5 Engines That Drive Your Business to Its Goals66
The 20 Big Shifts You Will Need to Make to Achieve Your Goals67
Self-Study and Review of Part 170
Part 2: The Map and Manual to Your Goals72
Stage 1. Launching or Relaunching Your business. The Marketing Stage75
Peter Drucker and the Purpose of Business79
What Is Marketing79
Becoming a Marketing Evangelist 80
Simon Sinek and Your Why82
8 Successful Marketing Attitudes83
Overcoming Fear of Marketing Using The 8 Marketing Attitudes and WOC
86
Direct Marketing Versus Indirect Marketing 89
Unique Selling Proposition and Your SOB92
Marketing Boosters and Fast Action Marketing Tactics 93
Stage 1 Study Review99
 Stage 2 Blueprinting Your New Business. New Roles, Goals, & Flows 101
Moving Past the Personality Driven Practice103
Servant Leadership: Your New Role – Coach And CEO.105
Goal Driven Team Members – Characteristics and Key Training Elements109
The Goal Driven Manager – A New Role Than Leverages The CEO Role112
Your Marketing Coordinator and Other Key Roles in Your Business114
New Goals: Determining Your Higher Goals and Calculating Your Financial Goals116
Tony Hsieh and Your Core Values123
New Service Flows: More Efficiency for Better Service 126
How To Find Bottlenecks, Eliyahu Goldratt and The Theory of Constraint
127
Creating Your Systematized Marketing Machine129
Marketing Mix Chart for Each Stage of Your Growth 132
Time And Money Charts to Showing How Much to Spend on Your Marketing at Each Stage. 134
Study Guide Review on Stage 2  136
Stage 3 – People and Procedures: Implementing the Blueprint141
Why Employees Are Disengaged: The Assembly-Line Mindset144
Hierarchy Of the Boss and Employees as “The Girls”146
Summary Of the Old Practice Management Model149
Big Shift #12: The Employee as A Goal Driven Expert and Team Member
150
Self-Determination Theory and Edward Deci: Secrets to Employee Motivation152
Daniel Pink: And Greater Purposes and What Motivates Us154
9 Steps to Making Goal Driven Expert Employees155
Hiring The Right People – Jim Collins157
Let My People Go Surfing – Yvonne Chouinard 159
Goal Driven Procedures: Faster and More Effective159
The Humble Checklist162
The Checklist Manifesto – Atul Gawande 163
Simplicity And 80/20 Principle – Richard Koch163
A Sample Checklist165
Big Shift #14: Goal Driven Continuous Improvement – the Engine Within Your Business. 166
The Learning Organization – Peter Senge168
Study Guide Review on Stage 3 172
Stage 4 – Using Lean Management to Improve Customer Service and Personal Power175
How To Deal With 5 Common Challenges When You Are Winning178
Lean Management: How to Get More for Less180
Why Your Service Needs to Be World Class 183
Your Replacement Is Being Shipped: The Dismantling of The Professions — Susskind & Susskind185
7 Barriers to Extraordinary Service187
9 Components to Delivering Goal Driven Outstanding Customer Service190
Ken Blanchard and Raving Fans190
Become The Best Like Pablo Casals, Jiro Ono, Clarence Gonstead191
19 Steps to Create Extraordinary Customer Experience194
Freeing Your Personal Power201
Ben Franklin and His Practical List of Virtues202
Martin Seligman And Virtues in Action203
The 3 Goals and Your Personal Power205
Study Guide Review on Stage 4 207
Stage 5 – Total Team Leadership – Your Goal Driven Business211
Managing The Groundhog Day Syndrome to Avoid Burnout214
Creating Team Leadership Is Now Possible. Here Is How:215
Integrating Your Greater Goals for a More Powerful Business220
The Golden Gate Bridge Again – and Your NEXT New Game.224
Study Review on Stage 5  226
Part 3: The Reason for Everything: The Heart of the Goal Driven Business228
Getting Out of The Box. How Quantum Physics Can Help You to Your Goals. Sheldrake, Frankl 231
Conclusion – Liberty 237
Part 4. The 23 Principles of the Goal Driven Business238
1.      Power of Choice 241
2.      Constant Improvement 244
3.      Goals 245
4.      Self-Determinism and Drive 247
5.      Reality – Confronting the Brutal Facts 248
6.      Communication 247
7.      Collaboration and Self-Organization Works Better 251
8.      The Bridge to Your Goals: Procedures and Policies 253
9.      The Vital Few and 80/20 254
10.  Keep It Simple, Make It Simpler 255
11.  Log Jams 256
12.  Leverage Points 257
13.  Newton’s Laws 259
14.  Be A Farmer – Grow Your Business and Your Customers 260
15.  Be A Hunter – Direct Your Unique Selling Proposition to You Target Market 261
16.  Goals, Games, Groundhog Day 262
17.  Deliver the Goods – Abbondanza! 264
18.  Roles 265
19.  Getting Away 266
20.  Training and Coaching Make an Expert Team 268
21.  Network Effects 269
22.  Our Thoughts Affect Our Business and Life 270
23.  The Golden Rule 272

Music for Monday

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Each Monday in June, I’ll be presenting an upbeat musical piece with a link below.

Click the link and listen while you go to the office or while at the office.  Sing or hum it. Listen to it with your team before you start your day.  Play it while you see patients.

Play music during the week. Take a break, go out back, and dance like no one is watching. Don’t get too serious!

We are all part of a big family – you and your team, your patients, and your community. Nothing unties us more than music.

Good vibes to you,

Ed

JUNE 1 ––  Starting the month off with musicians from around the world.

The Weight,  

JUNE 8 — Let your patients — and community —  know that you will stand by them. Let your team that you will do the same for them.

Stand by Me

JUNE 15- Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.  Dalai Lama (Azquotes.com)

We don’t always have to make a splash to cause ripples – sometimes our thoughts alone can make a difference.

Ripple

JUNE 22 – First Monday of Summer!! Just fun music:

Island in the Sun by Weezer

Supplemental tune, a little Country with some drama but uplifting all the same.

It’s a Great Day to Be Alive by Travis Tritt

JUNE 29 Independence Day Week! (in U.S.A.)

Pick one, pick all them, get happy feet and have a great week!

Only in America Brooks and Dunn

This Land Is Your Land Woodie Guthrie

Born Free Kid Rock

This is the last Monday Music for a while.  It’s been fun. Perhaps we’ll do it again sometime. 🙂

Start Preparing NOW – New Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers to be Assigned Your Patients

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Beginning in April 2018, through April 2019, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will re assign all Medicare Beneficiary Identification (MBI) Numbers, and re-issue cards to your Medicare patients and Medicare Railroad retired patients. Social security numbers will no longer be used. Instead, a grouping of numeric-alpha characters, such as 1EG4 TE5-MK72, will be assigned.

Things to Keep in Mind:

  • The new cards will not change your patient coverage or benefits.
  • New patients who start on Medicare in April and beyond will be assigned only the new number.
  • Correct patient addresses are critical for getting claims processed and getting you paid. The patients’ mailing addresses you have on file MUST match the addresses the Social Security office has on file.

We have put together a simple, quick ready checklist to keep you ahead of the game.
Email us at services@pmaworks.com
for your FREE copy today!

If you have any further questions, we’re here to help make sure you get reimbursed in a timely manner. These changes are coming. Give us a call!

Happy New Year!
~Lisa

Lisa Barnett
Services Consultant/Coach
920-334-4561
lisa@pmaworks.com
www.pmaworks.com

 

Vaxxed – The Movie and Questioning Authority

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I just watched Vaxxed, a new movie about the relationship between vaccinations and autism, the CDC (a federal agency, the Center for Disease Control and Protection), and Big Pharma. It has limited showing across the U.S. and is currently playing in Milwaukee until today (June 30th). (Downer Theater)

Most of the film quotes M.D.’s and PH.D’s, except for a few stories by the parents of vaccine injured kids. Some of the clips show M.D.’s over time as they discover a link for themselves.

A key element in the film centers around an admission of the key research scientist, Dr. William Thompson who, after working for the CDC, claims that he is now a whistleblower. He says that data was manipulated and evidence was destroyed to cover-up a direct link between certain vaccination protocols and autism. “I have a boss who is asking me to lie… The higher ups wanted to do certain things and I went along with it…” [paraphrased]

After the movie I did a fast Google and found: “Autism rates soar, now affects 1 in 68 children…” from USA Today, 2014.   It occurs 4-5 times more in boys than in girls, according to Wikipedia. In 1995 it was 1 in 500, and back in 1975 it was 1 in 5000. (autismspeaks.org)

Vaccine rates have also soared – 49 doses of 14 vaccines before age 6. CDC schedule. 2 With both numbers soaring, there is at least a correlation.

But my attention is on the money. It is no secret how many Big Pharma lobbyists work in Washington (about 2 to 1 for every member of Congress) – or how profitable the pharmaceutical industry is, or how much they spend to influence government, doctors, and the public.

And it is also not an odd coincidence that the head of the CDC when Dr. Thompson was doing research on vaccinations, Julie Gerberding, gets hired by Merck. She was put in charge of Merck’s vaccine division. Big surprise!  Merck had or has 12 vaccines on the market, including Gardasil – a vaccine India is suing Merck for in the deaths of girls. It is hard to tell how much she is making, but one report shows that she just cashed in Merck stock for over 2 million dollars.

You may remember Merck, the company that produced Vioxx that killed 38,000 Americans, maybe more. Merck finally pulled the drug in the early 2000’s. And there were cover-ups and whistleblowers back then too. Dr. David Graham who worked in the FDA, (Food and Drug Administration) testified that “Nearly 60,000 people may have died.”  After his testimony, Graham was publicly criticized by the FDA. He later sought help from a whistleblower protection organization. It is dangerous to be a whistleblower or to go against powerful interests!

But you don’t need to be a whistleblower to connect the dots. From cigarettes to finally aspartame, people are gradually seeing that what is popular is not always what is healthy or in their best interest.

Yet, with enough money, consent can be manufactured through Big Data and Big Marketing. It can do it subtly and in a thousand different ways.  Public Relations is a science and is becoming more sophisticated every day and unless you do your homework and have an open mind, and QUESTION AUTHORITY and CONVENTION,  you may be like someone who supported invading Iraq because Sadam Hussien caused 9/11. ( Even two years after 9/11: “Nearly seven in 10 Americans believe it is likely that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 attacks…” USA today, 9/6/2003)

So, yes,  I recommend the movie Vaxxed and draw your own conclusion, but more importantly and always… question authority.

“You don’t need a weatherman –  To know which way the wind blows.”  Bob Dylan

What is Phyllis up to now? …and Parker Seminar, Chicago, June

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Some of you in the PM&A community have been asking about Phyllis Frase. Where is she? Did she move? Why?

Ok Ok.. Here’s the story for those of you interested:

Phyllis is always on the go. She has worked with PM&A as a coach for the last 8 years or so and has done an excellent job while at the same time giving presentations at various venues across the country.

For the last 15-20 or so years, she has been a Parker Team Teacher for the Parker seminars.  We have long been a supporter of the Parker Seminars as they provide good basic info on chiropractic practice management.

In April, she moved to Texas to work more intensively with the Parker team.  She will continue to coach with us part time.

You can still reach her at her email, below, and also on our PM&A Facebook page.

Like you, me, and the rest of us, she is still in the game working hard to help others get healthier through chiropractic.

We wish the best to Phyllis and we’ll be seeing her at upcoming Parker seminars.

And that leads me to this…

the NEXT Parker Seminar is in Chicago  June 5-7.

Phyllis says:
“Early registration ends May 1st for the most incredible seminar in chiropractic profession #ParkerChicago June 5-7, 2015.  We have a great lineup of speakers for everyone. Use discount code, CHISPKRDISC25, for a $50 dollar discount on registration. Ignite your passion and transform lives!!!!!”

If you have not yet registered and would like to take advantage of this offer, Simply… visit the  Parker Seminar-Chicago web-site and when registering enter the following code.   CHISPKRDISC25

So there you have it.

More news to follow….

Carpe Diem…

-Ed

Phyllis@pmaworks.com

Cal Jam Chiropractic Conference, 2015, Costa Mesa, California

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Different people. Run to new opportunities
(Spring Equinox, Northern Hemisphere – 2015)

Cal Jam is not like your father’s seminar.
It is a celebration of health and chiropractic.
It is a music festival.
It is a science briefing.
It is a par-tay!

It goes beyond simple sayings about positive mental attitudes and marketing tactics of many seminars.  While these things can be useful, there is a bigger picture of which the chiropractor stands as a leader. There is a bigger purpose.

Cal Jam is about the revolution…one that must happen and is, in fact, happening.

There is an assault on our health: our bodies, our environment, and perhaps our minds and even our souls. Are we to submit to the dictates of corporate pharmaceutical medicine, be fed from factory farms and frankencows, beholding to monopolies that own franken-seeds and food – and perhaps soon our water?  Is our health owned and controlled by the corporate state?

There is a small but growing band of independent minded health oriented and highly educated people that are becoming radicalized around the threat of a totalitarian state held in place through our food and water supply, and “health” care.

Is this extreme?

Perhaps, but there are many more MDs, scientists, and very educated mothers who believe this to be the case and are taking action than are reported in the corporate owned media. Just to look at the soaring statistics of organic food consumption over the last ten years – this must indicate something about a concern over the toxins in our food supply.

This goes beyond politics and race. These are just soap operas designed to keep us bickering amongst ourselves as the real maneuvers take place.

For those of you in the health profession, the choice is yours to make: play along… or do not go quietly into this smack zoned pen we are being herded into. One holistic MD I talked to recently told me that most MDs were lemmings.

I chose and have stayed in this profession, not because I am a chiropractor, because I am not. I consider myself, at my best, someone who has helped the helpers provide true health. But I have done so in part as an act of defiance against those who would profit on the bad health of others.  I have my personal story, as do you. But on my better days I am in the fight along with you.

Chiropractors have always been revolutionaries. Reggie Gold, Jim Sigafoose, Sid Williams, Chester Wilk… the list goes on and on, to B.J and D.D. Palmer. Used to be you weren’t an experienced D.C. until you spent your time in jail for “practicing without a license.” It actually goes down the ages… the fight against tyranny.

Cal Jam is not necessarily better than other chiropractic health conferences, but I’d say that it is the most revolutionary… and fun.

Hope to see you there.

Ed

Link to CAL JAM