As the blood saturates the cells with tryptophan after a delicious Thanksgiving gorge, the eerie silence in my new clinic is starting to bug me.
These startup days can be confusing. One day you'll be busy as ever and the next, there is absolutely nothing going on. If two or three days go by with no patients, it is hard to see the bigger picture. This is why you need advisers when opening a practice. They keep you from making stupid decisions that waste your resources when a few days pass that do not grow the practice.
The natural tendency is to try to buy your way into establishing a practice. This doesn't work. I know because I just wasted a lot of money advertising in the Boise Weekly. I had hoped to get the word out to the masses, that my clinic was trustworthy, modern and legitimate. Obviously, this effort didn't blossom into new patients or inquiries. You live and learn.
During times of silence I think it is important to focus on the basics. For me, it is important to keep consistent with physical activity. My sports provide me with solid connections into sports medicine patients and they help me stop worrying about growing a new practice. It's a win win situation.
For now, I will be using the silent times to focus on email marketing and making new connections in medicine. Interestingly, I met an MD the other day who told me that 80% of the patients who seek his care have severe back pain. That seems ridiculously high, but he said so and I trust that he is correct. Making connections like these are critical in establishing a medical practice.
I developed a new Winter Injury Prevention and Performance Program designed to reduce tight musculature and improve performance via activation of dormant muscle tissue. The intention is to provide a cost-effective way to help endurance athletes avoid injury and perform better. Hopefully this will take off and pave the way to the clinic's success!
Here's to good intentions and motivation!
All for now,
Dr. Spangler
Trailhead Chiropractic
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