SurvivalStrategies.com: Your Practice or Your Life, Part 1
By Harvey Schmiedeke | On April 17, 2008 | In Small-Business | Rated 
You are the hero of your practice. What is your quest? In this article series, we’ll put that in perspective so you can recognize and overcome the villains that lay in wait for you on your way to success.
The more obvious villains looming over the healthcare practice owner today are as large as dragons and more obnoxious than Snidely Whiplash. They are managed care and insurance greed; drug companies who spend billions convincing patients and referral sources that the first solution to any malady is a drug; huge corporate interests that offer “fake and bake” therapy; unfair competition and referral for profit. I’m sure you can add your own concerns to the list.
And then there are the less obvious, but more threatening enemies within. The primary enemy within? Personal lack of know-how in skills needed for business success. Without marketing and management weapons, you are powerless to fight any external enemy.
Beaten down too often or too long by external sources of suppression, one can become apathetic about doing anything. One can refuse to recognize that they just don’t know and so never get on with the business of finding out. Internal discontent within a practice, partnership disagreements or financial chaos only increases the need to learn and use marketing or management weapons to survive in the jungle that is healthcare today.
Happiness and prosperity are a part of being your own boss. By deciding to strike forth in a private practice, or as a team member in this quest, you are already a cut above the average. You have the heart and focus of a tiger. What you need now is the exact technology and strategic applications to survive in this adventure.
An early step in this process is for you to formulate and acknowledge your personal purpose in pursuing private practice.
Purpose and Motivation
Say it with me—not “healthcare”: but “health care.”
Feedback from thousands of clients shows that caring, a desire to help and to change lives for the better, is an underlying purpose which brings us to private practice. Why is this so important?
Ask yourself a couple questions. Do you feel you can sense when someone is only after your money? Can you usually tell when someone has your genuine best interests at heart? Right. So can your patients and referral sources.
We’ll be covering new territory for many practitioners: Promotion. We’ll talk about sales. Don’t like the word selling? Then call it helping. It can mean the same thing when your personal motivation is high enough to help a patient commit to full corrective care.
This is a critical factor in the success of strategies aimed at referral development, cash-based programs and many other successful strategies. So, let’s take a look.
Here are some examples of the four things that motivate people:
“In it for the Money.” The salesman you wanted to strangle who didn’t hear a word you said. The insurance carrier who delays and “loses” claims, denying you reimbursement.
“Motivated by What Will Help Self.” The reason you joined that health club. What most of your patients have in common in seeking your help. Why you do continuing education courses.
“Driven by Personal Conviction.” Why you feel your own profession and skills are better than the competition’s. Your political beliefs. Treating the way you are trained and know is best for a patient.
The “Help” Motivation. The reason New York’s finest rushed into the Towers on 9/11 despite personal danger or probable death. Possibly why you feel compelled to help people.
What would you do if a loved one needed an operation to save their life? Would you start shopping for the “best deal” (money motivation) or would you move mountains to get the best possible surgeon?
If your primary motivation hovers from personal conviction to duty, you have a vital ingredient to your success. Certainly you want to improve yourself, but you won’t survive for very long or expand if you don’t make money. However, if money or personal gain is all that interests you, this isn’t the article for you.
Look back to when you first decided to go into your profession. What was your primary motivation?
Now establish your goal and take a look at what you really want out of life.
Imagine for a moment that you are at the end, the fulfillment of your career. Picture yourself sitting in an easy chair, feet up, grandchildren around you in front of the fireplace.
What is it you intend to have accomplished with your life? What would make you totally fulfilled and satisfied on a personal level, in terms of your family and relationships, in terms of your impact on health care and the community, for all you have touched?
You may never intend to sit in front of the fireplace for very long. Perhaps you will be off pursuing another goal in teaching, writing, consulting, or some aesthetic interest.
In part two of this articles series, we will focus on your current practice and career. I will cover how to have the Power of Choice over your goals and how a good exit strategy needs a good entrance strategy.
Mr. Schmiedeke is the nation’s foremost authority in the development of professional referrals, private practice management and marketing. As co-founder of Survival Strategies, Inc. (http://www.survivalstrategies.com), a consulting company for private practice health care professionals, located in Burbank, CA, he has helped more than 4,000 clients achieve real independence, flexibility, and the freedom to make their own decisions—the very qualities that attracted them to the business in the first place. He is the author of the book “Keys To Private Practice Success—Marketing and Management Skills They Didn’t Teach You In College”, http://www.survivalstrategies.com/email/kpps_book_promo.htm, the “Owner’s Manual” for private practice owners and other training materials.
The more obvious villains looming over the healthcare practice owner today are as large as dragons and more obnoxious than Snidely Whiplash. They are managed care and insurance greed; drug companies who spend billions convincing patients and referral sources that the first solution to any malady is a drug; huge corporate interests that offer “fake and bake” therapy; unfair competition and referral for profit. I’m sure you can add your own concerns to the list.
And then there are the less obvious, but more threatening enemies within. The primary enemy within? Personal lack of know-how in skills needed for business success. Without marketing and management weapons, you are powerless to fight any external enemy.
Beaten down too often or too long by external sources of suppression, one can become apathetic about doing anything. One can refuse to recognize that they just don’t know and so never get on with the business of finding out. Internal discontent within a practice, partnership disagreements or financial chaos only increases the need to learn and use marketing or management weapons to survive in the jungle that is healthcare today.
Happiness and prosperity are a part of being your own boss. By deciding to strike forth in a private practice, or as a team member in this quest, you are already a cut above the average. You have the heart and focus of a tiger. What you need now is the exact technology and strategic applications to survive in this adventure.
An early step in this process is for you to formulate and acknowledge your personal purpose in pursuing private practice.
Purpose and Motivation
Say it with me—not “healthcare”: but “health care.”
Feedback from thousands of clients shows that caring, a desire to help and to change lives for the better, is an underlying purpose which brings us to private practice. Why is this so important?
Ask yourself a couple questions. Do you feel you can sense when someone is only after your money? Can you usually tell when someone has your genuine best interests at heart? Right. So can your patients and referral sources.
We’ll be covering new territory for many practitioners: Promotion. We’ll talk about sales. Don’t like the word selling? Then call it helping. It can mean the same thing when your personal motivation is high enough to help a patient commit to full corrective care.
This is a critical factor in the success of strategies aimed at referral development, cash-based programs and many other successful strategies. So, let’s take a look.
Here are some examples of the four things that motivate people:
“In it for the Money.” The salesman you wanted to strangle who didn’t hear a word you said. The insurance carrier who delays and “loses” claims, denying you reimbursement.
“Motivated by What Will Help Self.” The reason you joined that health club. What most of your patients have in common in seeking your help. Why you do continuing education courses.
“Driven by Personal Conviction.” Why you feel your own profession and skills are better than the competition’s. Your political beliefs. Treating the way you are trained and know is best for a patient.
The “Help” Motivation. The reason New York’s finest rushed into the Towers on 9/11 despite personal danger or probable death. Possibly why you feel compelled to help people.
What would you do if a loved one needed an operation to save their life? Would you start shopping for the “best deal” (money motivation) or would you move mountains to get the best possible surgeon?
If your primary motivation hovers from personal conviction to duty, you have a vital ingredient to your success. Certainly you want to improve yourself, but you won’t survive for very long or expand if you don’t make money. However, if money or personal gain is all that interests you, this isn’t the article for you.
Look back to when you first decided to go into your profession. What was your primary motivation?
Now establish your goal and take a look at what you really want out of life.
Imagine for a moment that you are at the end, the fulfillment of your career. Picture yourself sitting in an easy chair, feet up, grandchildren around you in front of the fireplace.
What is it you intend to have accomplished with your life? What would make you totally fulfilled and satisfied on a personal level, in terms of your family and relationships, in terms of your impact on health care and the community, for all you have touched?
You may never intend to sit in front of the fireplace for very long. Perhaps you will be off pursuing another goal in teaching, writing, consulting, or some aesthetic interest.
In part two of this articles series, we will focus on your current practice and career. I will cover how to have the Power of Choice over your goals and how a good exit strategy needs a good entrance strategy.
Mr. Schmiedeke is the nation’s foremost authority in the development of professional referrals, private practice management and marketing. As co-founder of Survival Strategies, Inc. (http://www.survivalstrategies.com), a consulting company for private practice health care professionals, located in Burbank, CA, he has helped more than 4,000 clients achieve real independence, flexibility, and the freedom to make their own decisions—the very qualities that attracted them to the business in the first place. He is the author of the book “Keys To Private Practice Success—Marketing and Management Skills They Didn’t Teach You In College”, http://www.survivalstrategies.com/email/kpps_book_promo.htm, the “Owner’s Manual” for private practice owners and other training materials.