Back To Basics Work smarter, not harder chiropractor in some way lessens chiropractic. Nothing could be further from the truth! The words optimum and abundance can apply to our income as well as our healing potential. W As a coach, my job includes helping my clients leverage their talents and current habits so that they can work smarter, not harder! To make a lasting impact on others, chiropractors need to start with our own lives fi rst, and be models for every essence of our chiropractic philosophy. Success is a part of our philosophy and this success can include a lucrative business. “Working smarter” moves my clients towards optimum living at much faster rates and with greater ease. It’s far more productive to uncover a chiropractor’s strengths and customize systems and procedures to those strengths versus trying to mould the DC to the system. The second approach – moulding a chiropractor to a system – does not honour “innate” whatsoever. Working smarter means looking at a simple system, such as consistently asking for referrals, and leveraging every part of it to increase yield. In order for a system to be successful, it must have the following four components: 1. It must be measure- able; 2. It must be innovative; 3. It must be reproducible and 4. It must eliminate discretion. The fourth point means that successful systems are not subjected to your emotions; that is, whether you feel like doing them or not. You must consistently do them because they’re the system, and because you’re a solid business owner. In the systems I coach, there are more than 20 ways to work smarter, not harder, when it comes to referrals. My experience has taught me that there are four basic reasons patients don’t refer: 1. They don’t know the way; 2. They don’t know the how; 3. They have no desire; 4. They haven’t been asked! Continued on Page 22 www.canadianchiropractor.ca CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | OCTOBER 2008 • 19 orking smarter is the way of the savvy entrepreneur. Leveraging every hour and habit to increase profi ts is the thrust of the best businesses. That may “rub some the wrong way” because of the notion that making money as a Dr. Barbara Sturm is the Head Coach and Dean of Achievement at Chirocollege.com. She and her team help chiropractors and their support staff,worldwide,to achieve their practice goals. Barbara Sturm, DC feature
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor October 08: Page 19
