Developing Scaffolding for Your Practice

The challenges of trying to be a clinician, business owner, and have some semblance of personal life can be daunting. It is hard enough to treat patients, get your notes completed, and do the basic operations of a small business, let alone work on your business, implement marketing, and get involved in the community.

Everyone is in different seasons of life, and we aren't or won't always be in our 20's, single, and full of time to do everything. Even then, intentional time is at a premium. This is why the WhoNotHow concept from Strategic Coach has been transformational for myself and others.

The concept was recently released as a book of the same name, and it provides multiple ideas and case studies of big thinkers doing great things………..by not doing many things. Yes, I said that right.

Let me explain the WhoNotHow concept in its simplest form. The next time you think to yourself, "how can I do this x,y,x task or project." Instead of asking how you should be asking yourself who can do it for you.

I appreciate that it can cost money to have enough "whos" around you to get everything accomplished. You need to take a long-term view of this process and start to chip away at it as you can afford to invest in yourself and your business appropriately.

In 2013 I listened to a book that I can't recall the title and author, but it discussed having a scaffolding around your business like a building does when it is being built. We've all seen buildings being erected and the construction scaffolding around them. That is also what your business needs to be built and sustained efficiently. You can't do it all yourself, and you won't have the finances to hire it all in-house.

The ultimate goal is to be functioning in your Unique Abilities® for the vast majority of your work activities. You need to home in on 2-3 things you are unique at and fasciate and motivate you. Maybe it is patient care and educating your community through videos. Perhaps it is not patient care, and it is running the business side of things. Maybe it is being the rainmaker for your practice, and you bring in all of the business, and you have associates who handle the clinical aspect. Whatever fascinates and motivates needs to become your guiding light, and the vast majority of everything else needs to be automated, delegated, and optimized. This is how you continually grow and avoid the dreaded burnout many chiropractors face.

The Automate, Delegate, Optimize Process

Step 1: Can you Automate it?

If you can, great, do that!

Step 2: If you can't fully automate it, can you delegate it to a team member?

If you can, great, read how to delegate strategically below!

Step 3: If you don't have a team member who can accomplish the task, can you afford to outsource it?

If you can, great, find that person!

Step 4: If you can't automate or delegate it, you need to optimize It.

Optimizing it entails making sure that you have every step of that task systematized and functioning effectively. Systems and expectations need to be documented and followed consistently by all team members.

Let's now get back to the scaffolding concept and what that means for your chiropractic business. I categorize the scaffolding of my business into five key categories. You may discover there are more for your business.

1.      Operations

2.      Financial

3.      Marketing/Content

4.      Education/Professional Development

5.      Automation

The following is my "Who" team that provides my business's scaffolding and is categorized by the above groups. In this blog, I will not dive into the details of each, but in this podcast episode, I discuss it in more detail. I have also provided you with links to help you gain more insights into each.

Operations

·        Delegate Solutions as my virtual assistant team.

·        Physiotec for our home exercise programming.

·        Scheduling Institute for our front desk training and optimization.

·        Kaizenovate App for our own branded app that serves multiple purposes for our patients and clinic.

Financial

·        Accountant

·        Bookkeeper

·        Medical Billing (Could be in Operations)

·        Christine Odle as my business manager.

·        Financial Planner/Advisor

Marketing/Content

·        Propel SEO for our website SEO and online search rankings.

·        ChiroUp for patient education and content curation.

·        Avanmed Digital Marketing for our social media and Google Ad campaigns.

·        Get Clear Sites for our website.

·        The Smart Chiropractor for social media posting and marketing campaigns.

·        Copywriter for our blog and condition page writing.

Education/Professional Development

·        Strategic Coach for my entrepreneurial growth

·        The Chiropractic Success Academy for my chiropractic growth and accountability.

·        The Modern Chiropractic Marketing Group for our content marketing strategy.

·        RRS Education is the backbone of our research and evidence-based practice.

Automation

·        Review Wave for google reviews, two-way texting, and online scheduling.

·        The Smart Chiropractor/ChiroUp for Social Media automated posting

·        Zapier for connecting our internet platforms

·        Google My Business for new patient generation.

·        Rev.com for transcribing our show notes.

·        Mailchimp New Patient Email Automation

There are more outsourced contractors and capabilities out there, but that is what we are doing in our practice currently. I would welcome your commenting or posting in our closed FB Group any great scaffolding for your practice.

Remember, this is a process of building your practice, and it doesn't happen overnight. It would help if you had a financial plan that services your personal life and your professional growth. You may have to hold off on the country club membership a bit longer so you can add some scaffolding to your business first. 

What will be the first “Who” you will add to move the needle on achieving a self-managing practice?