Life By Design | The Podcast For Chiropractors

Have you ever wondered how can some people be so ridiculously productive? It's seems nearly impossible that they can accomplish all they do in such short time frames and still be happy, energized and excited to tackle more. That was until I met Dr. Mike Gibson. In the beginning I thought he was more alien than entrepreneur but once he revealed his secret ways and took me under his wing like a young Padawan...it all became clear. It wasn't a trick, there were no smoke and mirrors. In fact, I was kind of sad it was a simple system built on principles and habits that when applied consistently, yielded NASA level results.  It was sad for me because I realized Mike didn't have special powers and my lack of success in the realm of productivity was, well, my own darn fault. Fast forward 5 years later and I'm happy to say that more than any other area of growth, focusing on my productivity has, without exaggeration, revolutionized my life. This includes more profitability, happiness and impact. On today's episode of

At Life By Design we've been putting on "shows" since 2009.   Whether it be the podcasts, live events, web trainings, videos and more... we hope that you've been thoroughly entertained while at the same time, gathered immense value from all of the materials.    When I was "surfing" the web one day a few months ago, I came across a fellow showman touting the importance of a "show".   The fact is, he'd taken it many steps further into creating entire trainings and a community all in support of his concept...   "YOU NEED A SHOW!"   After personally engaging in his content, I knew he was a perfect to introduce to the Life By Design For Chiropractors community :)   On today's episode of LBDFC I interviewed long time radio host, podcaster and showman...Mark Kaye.   What we covered:   Why you need a show. Not a podcast, not a Youtube, Instagram or Facebook video, not even just plain old email...but a SHOW! The 3-step process thousands of people who make money online follow to make money online. This 100 year-old se

In past episodes we discussed the importance of a Core Curriculum (CC) for your practice. This CC would be a foundation to build your communication on and keep new members (and yourself) focused on the most important concepts... the concepts that would determine their ability to make the same decision you would regarding what's best for the health of their spine and nervous systems. In today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors, we unwrap the CC and share some of practice lessons we consider fundamental in our offices. What We Covered Are you disqualifying people by what you're saying? You may think you sound like a boss, but your prospect may very well think you're nuts. Regardless of how you disseminate the information from your CC, the BIG value is in thinking through the process and coming up with your own. Sure, there will be some crossover but knowing the why behind the what always pays. I introduce the concept of a Story Tree. Developing this single idea will produce more content and communic

Welcome to our first "Best of" episode of The Life By Design For Chiropractors Podcast! From time to time we revisit some of your favourite, most downloaded episodes as the material is still relevant and it obviously had struck a chord then and we know it will again. One of the cornerstones of Life By Design is the concept of requirements and strategies… A requirement is something that you (or in this case your practice) NEEDS… these are non-negotiable. An example would be oxygen… As a human you need oxygen to live. It’s required for life and no amount of wishing, hoping, and dreaming is going to change that. A strategy is a specific WAY in which you meet a requirement… there are many strategies. Let’s go back to our oxygen example. Oxygen is required BUT you can get oxygen in a variety of ways… breathing is one. But you can also use a respirator or you can get oxygen through an I.V. The point is simple… On today’s podcast we talk about the requirements for a successful practice and the most effective strateg

Are you considering reducing your practice hours to enhance your life enjoyment, personal free time, or to spend more of those precious moments with your family? One likely concern may be that working less will mean earning less and that's just not something you want or you can't have, given your current expenses. How do we solve this dilemma? Is working 60 hours a week in practice and on your business the only solution? Ask Dr. Rachelle Jug. Rachelle is a LBD Director, a mom, a wife and a chiropractor. Over the past year she's dramatically changed her model and approach to practice and the results have been, well..., exceptional! On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors I interview Rachelle about the challenges and solutions to maximizing profits during her switch into part-time practice. What We Covered Everything is a trade-off.  How do you avoid giving up something of higher value for lower and sacrificing your happiness? Can you have a happy life and be happy in practice?  With compressed

No one is going to debate whether having a great team is important to your success… Heck, we believe it’s one of the 4 requirements for a successful practice (along with systems, communication and leadership). What happens when you think everything is in place and you can just let one of the requirements, like team, take a backseat? It’s the same thing that happens when fitness, fuel or the brain-body connection doesn’t get fulfilled…you fail. In one case it’s your health and performance that will suffer, in the other it’s your practice and business that will begin to fall apart. That’s what started to happen when I shifted my attention elsewhere without ensuring this key requirement was being nurtured. Lesson learned! On this episode I share my story about the past 6 months at The Life By Design Centre during which we changed 6 of 16 team members and took a deep introspective look at our hiring, on-boarding and training systems. What We Covered You'll be surprised to know what the less obvious but very impo

I've known Dr. Steven Gall for close to 10 years. I've personally witnessed and had a ring side seat for many of the challenges, frustrations, hesitations, failures and now, I'm beyond ecstatic to say... successes, that Steven has experienced over his career. In so many ways, he is the avatar for the majority of good chiropractors who in their mind want to practice in a 3rd paradigm model, but struggle to make it a successful reality. You know deep down your practice could be better, much better. You know "some" of the tools and tactics to make it happen. You even have the willingness to work hard. But you keep getting in your own way. Sound familiar? On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we meet with Dr. Steven Gall from Lindenridge Family Chiropractic in Winnipeg, Canada. What We Covered What the struggle has truly been like for the past 27 years. Told in Steven's own words, his pain and difficulty in growing the practice of his dreams will very likely connect with your own. The ONE thing

As you scroll through your news feed, skim your newest 100 emails or get lost spiraling through Instagram, this is your lifeline... The HEADLINE. A show stopping statement, a message that sparks curiosity or even a graphic that simply shocks you. In each instance, your mindless consumption of information comes to a complete stop and you need to know more. That's the purpose of the headline! To stop the consumer and get them to pay attention to YOU in a sea of noise and clutter. Your business is just one of millions and as a chiropractor, it's highly likely it's one they are NOT searching for...at least not yet. On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors I'm joined by our marketing pro, Dr. Michael Gibson, and we go granular on headlines. We often discuss very high level ideas and concepts as they relate to your success in a Retention Based Practice but today we get into the nitty gritty of headlines. Are you making these headline mistakes? What We Covered What is a headline and what is its purpos

The new year is right around the corner and it’s approaching fast! As much as you’re probably tired and excited for an extended break (I sure hope you’re taking one), this is not the time to just shut down and shut off. I’m not saying you can’t take that path but come January, you’ll wish you didn’t. The new year is an incredible time for growth, with boundless opportunity and excitement. If you don’t use at least some of your free time wisely and plan ahead, you’ll be playing catch up from the start…again!  As with any extended pause, we can finally free some space in our mind to create and it’s this cyclical process of reflection, contemplation and only then, planning, that yields extraordinary results. On this Life By Design For Chiropractors podcast we share 12 things you must do to make this upcoming year great. It’s a mix of actions we’ve already been doing with some ideas we have yet to implement ourselves but think are wonderful concepts to put in play as soon as possible. What We Covered: The starti

Despite what you may have heard or believe, social media can be an amazing asset to creating the practice that you've always wanted however, it needs to be used properly. Properly, in this context, means creating and strengthening relationships over time. Think back to when you were young, or maybe this is still true today...your family had one person in every field that they went to because they trusted them. You had one doctor, you had one mechanic, you had a butcher, barber, dry cleaner, etc. I've never met a truly successful chiropractor that wasn't 'the gal' or 'the guy' for their community of people. How do you get that way? Trust! How do you build trust? Get to know the people who live in your community intimately. Before you would have had to meet everyone face to face, but now social media has made meeting people super simple and easy, just open up your phone and start connecting. What We Covered The 4 main reasons you're not killing it with your social media presence. Why you really need to spend l

If you're a Canadian chiropractor, you likely know about the recent hit piece regarding chiropractic in the Globe and Mail. It's just one of many over the past couple decades and it definitely won't be the last.  What that means to us at Life By Design For Chiropractors, is that lessons can be learned from these articles...lessons that can help us design our practice approach in ways that deliver the impeccable level of care we imagine and keep us from risky behaviour all at the same time. These are not mutually exclusive ideas. Many chiropractors think that to see enough new patients we need to liter social media with ads and offers for low price examinations or other hooks to lure potential prospects close enough to snatch them up! On one hand proponents would say "but they work!" and while I'd agree, I would also add in the caveat... "but at what expense?" Is a stream of new prospects worth risking your license? Your reputation? On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we explore the article

I received a special email in my inbox last week… It was an email I look forward to getting regularly and one I rarely, if ever delete without consuming. Most often this email is more than just a “good read”, it’s an email that instigates deep thought, introspection and in some cases a change or modified plan of action. You can thank marketer extraordinaire Dean Jackson for today’s podcast topic… What’s the type of practice most chiropractors are operating? If we’re honest (and I’ve seen the stats time and time again to prove it), most of the profession is aiming to see as many new patients as absolutely possible. Now that’s not a bad thing if you have the infrastructure to keep them and deliver an exceptional experience. Unfortunately, in most cases that’s absolutely not what’s happening! The majority NEED as many new patients as possible to make up for the lack of retention, the dilution of their fees and ongoing devaluation of their care process. Retention seems harder until you know more about what it tak

Now matter how wonderful you think your practice is, there's always room for improvement!  In some cases, you'd be very pleasantly surprised at how fixing, modifying or updating a deficient area of your business will massively impact your bottom line. Recently we made a staff change at the team leader position. It wasn't due to poor performance...it was a change we made to stay ahead of the growth curve.  We saw an opportunity that matched our values and quickly changed course. In the process of training our newest team member we started an audit of our systems and realized a few key areas were being missed...we made the necessary changes and without having to increase our new patient volume we saw a 10% growth in visits per week in less than 14 days! I was honestly shocked. Where did all these visits come from without having to attend a spinal screening or run an ad for the $27 exam? They came from our team holding patients accountable to the visit schedule we originally agreed to and the majority of the con

There’s an abundance of emphasis placed on delivering a strong day one experience and rightfully so… you only get one chance to make a first impression! What about day two? That’s the close right? Establishing a solid agreement on the second visit is a cornerstone to future retention and of course the obvious, if they don’t start there’s very little chance they become a lifetime client. But, as important as those first two major practice visits are, they pale in comparison to “The Second Buying Decision”. The review visit that occurs after the initial stage of care is the most important single visit for building your practice. At this visit, all the smoke and mirrors are gone, no more bells and whistles, just an understanding from the patient that any CORE PROBLEM with the spine and nervous system is a problem and spending time and resources addressing it is a valuable pursuit. On this week’s episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors, Dr. Kreso and I breakdown the highlights of the Life By Design framework

It rare to find someone that has worked their tail off (even when doing just about everything else incorrectly) for an extended period of time and not had some level of measurable success. Hard work is very often a missing ingredient and in the absence of knowing what to do, can be a replacement until the proper knowledge base is developed. Now, imagine if you worked ridiculously hard and nailed every requirement for success as well? That would be the ultimate success formula for every single area of life... (Time + Consistent Action) to the power of Correct Principles = Extraordinary Results. As a chiropractor we're told a successful practice comes down to "telling the story" and "delivering the goods". "You too can soon work 1 day and have 500 visit per week practice with only 8 hours." What is not often promoted is the incredible amount of effort it takes to truly excel. The jump from good to great is massive the gap between great to extraordinary is monumental. Hmm, that sounds like a lot of work. LOL. In

ABC. A - Always. B - Be. C - Closing. To paraphrase this famous scene from Glengarry Glen Ross..."Always be closing." The concept of closing haunts chiropractors for a long list of possible reasons from poor self-esteem to misunderstood semantics. It seems much easier, with far less stress and pressure to just "hope" for a working relationship to emerge from being a good doctor, "telling the story" or in many cases, good luck. The problem is, and I'll be as blunt as possible...it doesn't work. Aside from the reality that I tried it myself for many years with little success, the research on consumer psychology verifies people don't just fall into a purchase, it's a complex decision making process. If you want to the end result to be a win-win working relationship, you'd better be involved in helping your prospect make a choice that is in their best interest today and for their future. Instead of "closing" and all the negative attachment you may have to the word itself, go ahead and replace it with "getting an

It’s often assumed that once day two is complete and the agreement has been made, that you’re “in the clear.” You can finally stop with the stressful ongoing education and no more selling the benefit of future care is required. What a relief! Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth…in fact, in this instance it’s completely the opposite. Once you’ve build rapport and confirmed a strong agreement at your Review of Results, the long term communication strategy begins. This is what we like to call your Core Curriculum. It’s all the information a patient NEEDS to know in order to pass the tests at the end of each stage of your care and make a new decision going forward. In a past episode we discussed in general, what the components your core curriculum were and how to potentially implement them. On this episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we highlight in great detail, one very important strategy for sharing your core curriculum…email. What We Covered How having a core curriculum helps your

Communication is at the heart of everything from marketing to conversion and retention. There's really not a single interaction on or offline that isn't improved by strengthening your abilities to communicate. What I find interesting is that very few doctors actually practice this fundamental component to their practice success. Outside of some coaching that only 'sort of' gets implemented or on the Monday following a spizzed up weekend at a seminar, those notes with strategies for improvement all end up packed away collecting dust and your practice never changes. Today's episode is about the Feynman Technique for learning...  Dr. Feynman was a world-class, Nobel Prize winning Physicist but he was also famous as someone who was an expert in many different topics.  In his pursuit of knowledge, he was able to develop a method that was also developed into a technique for others to learn even the most complex of concepts as quickly as possible.  This is of obvious value to you, the chiropractor, as learning to si

I feel your pain. You get the dreaded reply to an appointment reminder, call or even Facebook message... "I need to stop my chiropractic care...." "How dare they!" "Don't they know how much time I've invested in them?" "Subluxation is bad, how will they survive?" "What did I do wrong?" You know exactly what I'm talking about and you know it's shortly after every dropout that you find yourself reinventing your practice. New forms, new coach, new website, new technique and none of them make a single lick of difference. What will make a huge impact is understanding why they left and what, if anything you can do to minimize the chances it happens again. On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we explore the mental side of practice dropouts and give you a system you can activate right away. What We Covered The number one, absolutely most important thing to remember that will ultimately set you free from the pain and struggle of new patient dropouts. Why a patient drops out and what part of the rati

The majority of business owners get excited about the thought of a thriving business… Success, personal growth, profits, freedom and all the other “stuff” that comes along for the ride. And it’s the fulfillment of the requirements of a successful business consistently over a relatively long time frame —> leadership, team, systems and communication that makes that success a reality. But what do you do when it actually works? When growth is happening right before your eyes? When growth begins to outstrip your ability to keep up. You’ll need to make the decision, “Am I happy with my practice the way it is or do I want to scale my practice.” That’s exactly what this episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors is all about – how to scale your practice! What We Covered Do you want to grow your business? It's a legitimate question and one you really need to answer prior to putting in the ridiculous amount of work it's going to take in order to see it through. What forms of scaling a business is there? It doesn't ju