I was talking with one of my clients the other day. He told me that he thought I was selling my NEXT Step (NS) membership a little short. He’s a regular listener to my podcast, so he frequently hears me say that NS is great for chiropractors who are getting started.

While he agrees with that statement, he told me that my NS membership was extremely valuable to him even though he has been out of chiropractic college for over 15 years. He commented that just because a chiropractor has been able to keep their doors open for 10-15 years, that doesn’t mean they know what they are doing.

I agree. A lot of chiropractors survive for years without ever thriving. They can’t seem to get their practice to the level they want. They can’t seem to put together consistent practice success. It’s frustrating.

Over the years, when I speak to chiropractors like that, it’s obvious that they never mastered the basics of business/running a practice. For some reason, the average person assumes if they know how to do a job in the business they would automatically know how to run the business itself. Chiropractors are no different.

Chiropractors make a lot of assumptions. Many chiropractors assume if they know how to take care of patients, they will know how to run a practice. They assume if they do a good job of taking care of patients, they won’t have to worry about the business. Chiropractors assume that if they can just get through the 5-year mark or the 10-year mark in practice, they will be fine. Unfortunately, none of that is true.

If you are going to be a successful chiropractor, you are most likely going to have to own your practice. If you own your practice, you need to be a competent small-business owner in order to thrive.

No, you don’t have to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. You don’t have to know how to manage 25 different locations with 200 staff members. However, you do need to learn some small-business basics, and you need to develop some good small-business habits.

The future (more successful) you knows things that you don’t currently know and has habits that you don’t currently have.

Regardless of how many years you have been in practice as a chiropractor, if you want to help more people and make a good living doing it, you need to start with the basics. Be honest about your shortcomings. Start learning new things about running a practice. Develop better habits. Get help.

If you aren’t sure where to start, check out my NEXT Step program. It’s an incredible resource for chiropractors who are getting started and for chiropractors who have been out for a while but still feel stuck.

If NEXT Step isn’t a good fit for you, find something else that can help you. We live in an age where information is abundant. If you aren’t getting help it’s because you aren’t looking for it. That’s on you. It’s no one else’s fault.

The last thing I will say is this. There’s a Chinese proverb that states, “The best day to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best day to plant a tree is today.” If you have been out in practice for 10 years and you still aren’t where you want to be, you can’t do anything about the past.

Don’t let your pride get in the way of your future success. Be honest about your situation and start making changes today.

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