Welcome to the Planning for Practice Success Newsletter

Practice Startup Success

Information Advice Encouragement

November 12, 2007                                                                            ISSN 1934-3248

  "The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. “
Professor Randy Pausch
A Dying Professor's Last Lecture.

In this issue:

Free PR Guide.  The folks at StartupNation have created an online guide called “7 Steps to Successful Public Relations” to walk you through the process of creating a PR campaign for your practice.  This guide is pretty simple, but it’s easy to follow and gives you a start on creating PR (publicity/public relations) campaigns.  It’s worth a look.  Here’s the link:  http://www.startupnation.com/steps/77/steps-successful-public-relations.htm

Backing up your practice data.  If you are not worried about backing up your practice data, you should be.  Go to my blog (www.professionalpracticesuccess.com ) for more information on how and when to do backups. 

SBA making more loans in 2007.  The SBA has approved more loans in 2007, primarily through its 7(a) business loan program.  “It’s good that we’re reaching a lot of smaller businesses,” said SBA Administrator Steven Preston.  “A lot of them have challenges getting capital.”  No kidding.  The amounts of the government-guaranteed loans have declined this year, but I don’t see that as much of a problem for new practices, since the amounts you borrow are typically smaller.  So if you need an SBA guarantee on a loan, maybe you will have an easier time getting it.  Let me know what you find out. 

Conversation with a new DC- Spending time vs. Spending money.  I talked with a new DC who is starting up a practice.  She was determined to start out with a minimum amount of money, but this meant she had to spend a lot of time seeking out low cost alternatives.  For her office furniture, she went to consignment shops and used office furniture stores.  She did the same with most of her equipment, buying new only when she couldn’t find used.  Yes, this took a lot of time, but she was able to start with a minimum investment of money.  The trade-off between time and money is one we encounter often in business, and in life.  If you’re willing to spend your time, you often don’t have to spend the money.  For example, if you mow your own lawn, you don’t have to pay someone else to do it, thus saving money (I’m not figuring the cost of the lawn mower here). 

This new DC has some advice she wanted me to pass along:

1.      Stay organized.  Keep lists.  There are so many things to do, you’ll forget if you don’t keep those lists going.

2.      Call the major industries in your town and find out what insurance they have. 

3.      Don’t get an x-ray machine; find a local hospital or clinic and send people there.  You can always buy an x-ray machine later, when you can afford it.

4.      Get a billing service, so you don’t have to worry about getting paid, and you don’t have to worry about HIPAA security (the service will take care of that).

My new Blog:  I’m blogging for Chiropractic Economics on their StudentDC website.  The blog is called StudentDC Interactive.  Check it out when you get a chance:  http://www.studentdc.com/studentdc-blog/  _________________________________________________________________________

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