UPFRONT | Columnist BUSINESS TALK Old school: hard work and sacrifice A What associates need to hear BY ANTHONY LOMBARDI ANTHONY LOMBARDI, DC, is a private consultant to athletes in the NFL, CFL and NHL, and founder of the Hamilton Back Clinic, a multidisciplinary clinic. He teaches his fundamental EXSTORE Assessment System and practice building workshops to various health professionals. For more information, visit www.exstore.ca. 6 Canadian Chiropractor June 2019 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Photo: Adobe Stock ssociate doctors have to realize that if they are not committed to learn-ing the system and are not focused on growing their patient base, their future will essentially be uncertain. When you are focused and committed to the job, you will be successful. But hard work and sacrifice are non-negotiable ingredi-ents in the recipe for rewards. Recently, I was reading an article by strategicdc.com and I was surprised at the advice they were dispensing to new graduates: “Chiropractic jobs that offer an asso-ciate position with no salary and pay a percentage split only are a ticking time bomb. To be blunt, this bomb is going to explode eventually. The real question is whether the owner or the “associate” will be impacted first. The chiropractor who agrees to work for no pay and who has no patients to start must hustle to create an income so that they can eat with little to no cushion to begin their adventure. This is remarkably like starting your own practice, except that you are going to give a percentage of your income to the owner and be subject to their rules, sec-ond-hand treatment by their staff and all the limitations of working for someone else (without the steady paycheck).” Clearly, I disagree with this state-ment because if you are an associate, you should be treating the opportu-nity as if it was your own practice. If you are not, then you will not be an associate for long – anywhere. The key to being a good associate is to work hard and make yourself indispensable, while at the same time learn the ropes, develop your skills, and earn some money. No sugar coating Let’s say the clinic owner DC sees four patients an hour at $50 per visit, while the associate doctor sees two patients in an hour at $50 each. If the clinic receives 50 per cent of the as-sociate’s fees, then the clinic makes $50 an hour with two patients. What happens if the clinic owner realizes they can make that $50 per hour by seeing one more patient per hour simply by improving their clinical assessment and treatment systems? Associates need to demonstrate they are needed. This means they have to bring an element that the owner cannot reproduce without them. From a business perspective, most clinic owners will make changes if they see an opportunity to make them. If they realize they can be as successful without you, they will make the change. An associate cannot be missing work. If an associate misses work or cancels often, then the clinic owner discovers ways they can succeed with-out them. In 2001, an abdominal in-jury forced New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe to miss several games. He was replaced by an inexperienced young man. Well, Drew Bledsoe is long retired in part because the man who replaced him (Tom Brady) is still playing. This is why it is so important not to miss work and to be as valuable as possible. You must do as much as you can to build your practice and this in-cludes working as many hours as pos-sible for as long as possible – until you make an unchangeable impression. 5 keys to becoming a valua-ble associate 1. Do not miss work Take it from Drew Bledsoe. He regrets missing time due to injury and in retrospect he probably would not have missed so much time if he knew his replacement would play so well. If you miss work often, you give the clinic
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