I’m going to address a few questions that I get all the time and reply to them with as much honesty as I can in this post:

Have you ever considered adding more services to the practice?

Decompression, Laser and even drug testing get asked about.  The reason that I try to keep things as simple as I can is that when you add a new therapy to the office you have to justify the cost.  If I were to purchase a decompression table or a laser for the offices, I would then have to use it on the current patient base.  This would be an added cost to the patient, as the equipment is not going to pay for itself just sitting the back room.  Your average visit would jump roughly $20 a visit and most people don’t need the therapy.  I feel that whether I meant to or not you would start to use the new techniques on everyone whether it would be needed or not just to try to cover the equipment cost.

If you would have asked me this when I graduated, I would have thought you were crazy.  I always thought that the more services you have to offer, the bigger and busier your practice would be.  I have found over the years that keeping things really simple, adjustments and a few therapies that cover roughly 90-95% of the patients that come in the door will suffice just fine.  Keeping your fee schedule fair and don’t overdue the therapies will get the same if not more efficient results than if multiple therapies are performed every visit.

Scrubs and tennis shoes; must be nice to get to wear that to work every day.

Why yes it is, but I actually just switched to wearing them in the past year.  I used to wear dress pants and nice shoes every day, which I really did enjoy wearing but the fact that I am constantly bending and twisting myself into awkward positions and I was ripping the back end of the dress pants faster than I could buy them.  So I made the decisions to wear something with much more flexibility and cost effectiveness.  So yes, I do wear scrub pants and tennis shoes to work, not out of fashion but out of comfort and practicality.  On the plus side, it allows me to buys some pretty cool tennis shoes.

Have you ever considered hiring an associate?

Yes and no, is the answer to that question.  The answer always comes back to a pretty definitive no….I don’t like to be the boss of people.  Yes, I have two secretaries, but as they would tell you they are pretty much engrained in the woodwork in Minden.  They know exactly what to do and have been working in the chiropractic profession for about as long as I have been alive, no I’m not exaggerating that.  I have no intention to micro manage them and I am very fortunate to have them.  If I were to ever bring someone else into the practice, they would need to think and work like me.  A grinder and a self motivator, not just there to collect a pay check.  I have put way to much sweat equity and money into building the practice into what it is at this point to have someone come in and for them to care as much as I do.  That’s not to say that the person won’t care and maybe my mind will change as the years go but right now I have no desire to bring anyone else into the practice.

In ending, if I add a therapy I am doing it because there is enough demand and it is a cost effective choice in treating numerous conditions.  I will never bring in another therapy as another revenue generator, there are too many gimmicks out there but tried and true chiropractic works for the majority of people that are going to be coming in to the offices.  An associate is probably not coming in the near future, but if there is someone out there that can try and convince me otherwise my email is always open.  Lastly, scrubs and tennis shoes are really comfortable to wear every day