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Practice Startup Success

Information Advice Encouragement

February 11, 2008 ISSN 1934-3248

"The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.”
Hasidic saying

In this issue:

Confidence and Practice Management Companies
Chiropractors/Chiropractic Students on Second Life
Large “Training” Penalties in Associate Contracts
SBA 2008 Employer’s Calendar - Online

“What do you think of Such-and-Such Practice Management Company?” I am asked that question a lot and the question came up again today. Here is how I responded: If you don’t know who you are and what kind of practice you want, a practice management company will be a waste of your time and money. If you DO know who you are and what kind of practice you want, you’ll know whether you need a practice management company and what kind you need.

Most of them promise “more patients,” but that’s not all there is to being successful in practice. Do they teach you billing, hiring/training/motivating employees? Do they help you set up equipment or where to get the cheapest equipment? (Do you know what equipment you want?) Once you have determined what you want to do in practice, then you can shop around and see which company’s benefits fit with what you want and can help you get it. Of course, if you are confident in yourself and you know what kind of practice you want, why do you need a practice management company?

Here is a good article on self-confidence from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/selfconf.html

Are you in “Second Life”? Should you be? Second Life is a virtual reality world in which you (actually your online character or “avatar”) can interact with others, socializing and chatting and building your own world. It is also a place to buy and sell. You can set up an online business and do transactions in “Linden Dollars” (backed by a credit card. So why would you want to be on Second Life? Well, I’ll let the expert tell you. Simone Brunozzi runs a Second Life blog: Here is her post about chiropractic students: http://www.secondlifepros.com/chiropractic-students-do-they-need-a-second-life/

If you want to know more about Second Life, you might want to check out one of her video tutorials: http://www.secondlifepros.com/interesting-second-life-video-tutorials/

More on other social media in future issues.

Another Disturbing Feature of Contracts: Huge Penalties. Two employment contracts I read recently contained huge (like $75,000!) penalties if the associate left before the end of the contract. One doctor said he needed to be repaid for “training” the employee. What’s wrong with this?

1. Assuming (I don’t!) that the doctor was actually doing training, $75,000 is a heck of a lot of training!

2. You are a licensed chiropractor. What kind of training do you need that has a value of $75,000?!

3. If you leave for family or personal reasons, why should you have to pay a penalty?

One soon-to-be-grad said she was told that an associate who was leaving the practice was not required to pay the penalty. Then why put it in? Here is the real problem: She said several grads were competing for the job, and if she didn’t take it (including the penalty) someone else would. So stop taking such ridiculous contracts! (Can you tell I’m on my soapbox now?) If all of you refused to accept contracts with this kind of junk, the doctors will be forced to stop writing them. No wonder the expression about “chiropractors eating their young.” Enough soapbox. If you get such a contract, call me and I’ll give you a pep talk.

SBA 2008 Employer’s Tax Calendar. If you have employees, you need to know when to file and pay payroll taxes. This SBA Calendar: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=176080,00.html has an online version that can be downloaded into Outlook so you don’t forget a deadline.

Ask Dr. Jean Murray a question (email jean@dcpracticesuccess.com )
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