Welcome to the Planning for Practice Success Newsletter

Practice Startup Success

Information Advice Encouragement

April 30, 2007                                                                                     ISSN 1934-3248

You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves. Take advantage of them, whether they're going to make you a lot of money or not. I did 30 Minute Meals for five years on local television, and I earned nothing the first two years. Then I earned $50 a segment. I spent more than that on gas and groceries, but I really enjoyed making the show and I loved going to a viewer's house each week. I knew I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it even though it cost me.

I've also learned that you can't be all things to all people. Whatever it is that you're successful at, that has to be the No. 1 goal. Decide what it is that you are and then stay true to that thing.  

Rachael Ray

Chef, Author, and Entrepreneur

Turn Your Passion into an Empire

In this issue:

Wisdom from Rachael Ray.  I’m the world’s worst chef.  Ask my husband and my kids.  My idea of a home-cooked gourmet meal is Lean Cuisine.  But I love Rachael Ray.  Her enthusiasm and friendliness are great.  I found the quote above recently and thought it was appropriate for anyone going into business.  There’s much to think about in what she says:

1. Be true to yourself.  Decide what kind of practice you want and don’t let yourself get talked out of it.

2. Take advantage of opportunities.  I see lots of new grads who a determined to go a certain way.  When another opportunity comes, they never consider it.  They might be missing something that’s perfect.  Be very open-minded and flexible as you go through the process of deciding where you want to be and what you want to do.

3. Follow your passion. Your passion (and a good dose of fear) will get you through those first difficult months.  You may spend the first few months making little money, but your passionate devotion to chiropractic, your charming personality, and your excellent skills will get you lots of patients and a fantastic practice.

Noridian Q&A Teleconference:  If you are in the Noridian contracting area, you might want to “attend” one of their teleconferences in which they have people to answer provider questions.  The website for dates and information is: https://www.noridianmedicare.com/lsredir.php?id=EEZZFupyZyZYdlbhrr&tmpl=part_b_viewnews&style=part_ab_viewnews

This might be a good way to get information about Medicare processing.  I’m guessing there will be lot of stuff that won’t apply to chiropractic, but you never know. Noridian states are: AK, AZ, CO, HI, IA, MT, ND, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA & WY

What makes a great web site – 6 top ideas:

1. Descriptive tag lines that are the first thing people see, and one that clearly communicates your USP – don’t leave people guessing.

2. Excellent content.  You can get anyone to visit a site once, but they will come back if you solve their problems.

3. Edited text.  Less is better.  Short paragraphs.  Short words (no chiropractic jargon).  Estimate the least amount of text on your site and cut that in half.

4. Simple design.  Don’t overuse colors, fonts, pr graphics.  Use a clean style to look more professional.  Take a lesson from Google, the best example of clean and simple.

5. Keep a consistent layout. If you have a shopping cart, make sure it looks the same as the rest of your site.

6. Maintain the site – keep changing content.  Include events, new information.

Another good way to make your site more interesting is to create a blog.  Use the blog to write about interesting cases (no names!) and how you were able to help people. Get patients to write testimonials in your blog.

SMART PLANS – “The Secret” to success.  I was reading a blog from a marketing guru who was talking about “The Secret” and how to get it to work for you.  “The Secret,” he said, is merely that what you focus on grows.  If you want your practice to grow, you have to focus on your plans to make it grow.  The secret (no quotes) is a SMART plan – Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time bound.

Specific – exactly what will your sales be? How many patients will you see?

Measurable – how will you know when you have reached your goals?

Assignable – who is responsible to make your plan happen? (probably you)

Realistic – what is a reasonable goal?

Time bound – when do you want to achieve this goal?

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