A recent article in Entrepreneur, titled “Steve Jobs and the Seven Rules of Success” got me to thinking. We have just lost a true visionary, an entrepreneur who changed the world and left a legacy.  I’d like to see how the lessons from Steve Jobs can help save chiropractic.

Right now, our profession as we know it, is at a crossroads.  Will we go the way of the osteopaths, being swallowed up by medicine? Or will chiropractic remain a separate and distinct profession?  We must start taking action to save our profession immediately, and then start to embody Steve Job’s rules for success to have chiropractors be the recognized leaders of true health care and the wellness revolution.

To get in the mood for Steve Jobs Seven Rules of Success, if you have not seen the Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement speech, please watch before we begin.

1. Do What You Love.  Do you LOVE being a chiropractor?  If not, it’s time to move out of the profession and into something you do love, or do whatever it takes to fall in love with helping people get healthy, stay healthy and give them a chance at living the best life possible.

2. Put a Dent in the Universe. To do so, it is necessary to have a powerful vision.  Are you fixing low backs, or are you transforming people’s lives?  Do you truly understand the power of an adjustment, of clearing someone’s nerve system so that they can function and thrive at their optimum potential?  If you do not have a big vision, your practice and your ability to put a dent in the universe remains small.

3. Make Connections. While chiropractic hasn’t changed much since 1895, how can you evolve the profession? What connections can you make with the current global trends and how that might relate to a niche market? Are you connecting to your culture’s specific changing needs and wants?  We must connect a strong message of what people REALLY want to what chiropractic can REALLY do for them!

4. Say No to 1000 Things.  Much of our profession, in my opinion, has become a ‘jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none’.  Many office are chiropractic and and and….We must master the philosophy, science and art of chiropractic.  From Rosen Coaching’s perspective, a true wellness model of chiropractic means removing nerve interference AND showing them ways to not re-create their subluxations over and over again!  The public needs to understand what they can receive from a chiropractic service: remove nerve interference. Then whatever other techniques/approaches you do to help people to stop recreating nerve interference is up to you.  But we have to connect the dots so people ‘get’ what we can do for them.

5. Create Insanely Different Experiences.  What can you and your team to do make every interaction with your office an exceptional experience for your clients/customers/practice members/patients?  Are you giving them the Red Carpet VIP Experience?  If every interaction in with your office isn’t a WOW experience, we’ve got to improve it so it is.

6. Master the message.  Sadly, the chiropractic lifestyle is the best kept secret to getting healthy and staying healthy and having the best life possible!  We MUST as individual chiropractors and as a profession, learn how to communicate chiropractic if our profession is going to survive.  Our mission at Rosen Coaching is to help chiropractors become the recognized leaders of true health care worldwide!

7. Sell dreams, not products.  Get clear about who you want to serve, what their needs are and how you can help!  What is it they dream of? How big is your dream, for them, for your practice, for what legacy you want to leave in the world?

Tags: Apple, chiropractic, Entrepreneur, Rosen Chiropractic Coaching, rosen coaching, Steve Jobs, Success, vision

At Rosen Coaching, our goal is to help chiropractors get the Big Idea of chiropractic and help them become the recognized leaders of True Health Care and the Wellness Revolution!

Will you join us? Please join our online community! And let’s help first chiropractors, than the public understand what we really offer and how we can positively impact humanity!

Tags: chiropractic, Chiropractic Coaching, chiropractor, Facebook, Goals, practice goals, practice success, rosen coaching, successful, True Wellness Model

I’ve been overseas this past week, speaking at the UCA conference in England and visiting chiropractors in Spain.  And between my travels and coaching chiropractors all around the world, I’ve observed a distinction that needs to made clear about the answer to this question, “Can chiropractic help”?  It is a question that no matter where you practice, it  seems to be an important question; one that is dangerous if not answered well.

When a person asks this question, they want to know if chiropractic can help their specific symptom.  If we say “yes”, chiropractic now becomes a mechanistic and allopathic natural “treatment” for their problem. This is a lose-lose scenario.  If it gets better and they disappear satisfied, they never get to experience what wellness chiropractic can do for them.  If it doesen’t get better, they disappear frustrated that chiropractic didn’t work. And they tell 100 of their friends just that.

If we say “no”, they are more than likely to turn their back on chiropractic care (no pun intended), because it’s not what they are looking for.  Again a lose-lose scenario.

If we tell them that chiropractors don’t care about symptoms and only want to correct subluxations, the person doesn’t feel like their needs are getting met. Yet another lose-lose scenario.

So what is the answer to the question?

It is our job to connect the dots so that people understand that their symptom could very well be related to a vertebral subluxation.  The good news is, if they have a subluxation, then we can help!  It is also our job to help them understand the bigger picture of a subluxation, how it relates to symptoms but more importantly how their lifestyle stress creates subluxations over and over again. And slowly, teach them under the radar, and stretch their consciousness to the big picture of chiropractic! Truly a win-win scenario.

If we are going to have a TRUE wellness practice, we must answer this question in a congruent way.  At Rosen Coaching, both Dr. Russ Rosen and Dr.Angie Meyer work with chiropractors on the foundation of their certainty, beliefs, philosophy and communication to do so!

Tags: Certainty, chiropractic, Chiropractic Coaching, communication, Dr. Angie Meyer, Dr. Russ Rosen, Philosophy, rosen coaching, Speaking, Subluxation, Symptoms, Treatment, True Wellness Practice

Here is a post from one of my heros, Seth Godin, an author, marketer and thought-leader, on the lifetime value of a customer.  Too often when we’re coaching chiropractors or when chiropractors are considering coaching, marketing or any other ‘cost’ to growing a practice it is seen as just that – a cost vs. an investment.

At year end, have a look at your retention (Patient Visit Average) for the year of 2009.  We consider 60 PVA a bare minimum for a wellness practice.  Then calculate how much a new person is worth to you.  Not because we see people as dollar signs, but so that you can make good decisions on investments to grow your practice.  If a new person is worth on average $2000, don’t you think it’s important to have your systems and communications wired so you don’t blow it when they come in?  How about ROI and marketing decisions?  Without this knowledge, as Seth Godin states below, $50 investment can seem expensive.

Enjoy the read!

Embracing lifetime value

Tags: chiropractic, Chiropractic Coach, chiropractic communication, Chiropractic Consultant, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Practice Success, chiropractic systems, Chiropractic Wellness Model, Lifetime Value, PVA, Retention, Rosen Chiropractic Coaching, rosen coaching, Seth Godin

September 18th, 2009 is chiropractic’s 114th birthday!  On that day, Daniel David Palmer made the connection between the spine, nervous system and overall health and well-being. And the trusting deaf  cleaner Harvey Lillard allowed DD to adjust him, which resulted in his hearing being restored.

We’ve come a long way since then: chiropractic is a household name, from the original Palmer Chiropractic schools there are now dozens around the world including Australia, New Zealand, U.K and most recently Barcelona Spain! We’ve done a great job getting our name out there.

But where we’ve failed miserably in chiropractic is letting the public know what we do. I dare you to go outside your practice and ask 100 people what chiropractic is. What would they say? Neck pain? Back pain? Check out this video of someone who braved the streets and dared to ask:

What about inside your practice?  If Dr. Rosen and I sat in your reception area and asked the next 100 people who came in, “What are you hear for?  What is chiropractic?” What would they say?  If you don’t like the answers you are hearing, it means they don’t get the whole story.  You might be educating them, but they way you are educating them isn’t working. If they can’t articulate the whole story themselves, we’re in trouble. Our practice and our profession.

We feel there is a communication crisis in that the public does not know what we do. And our profession is stuck at a minimal percentage of the population utilizing our services. And the ones who do don’t really know that we are health and wellness doctors. They think we ‘crack bones’ to help back pain.

So what can you do to celebrate chiropractic’s birthday? How about commit to yourself to clearly define your Certainty as a chiropractor?  How about learning how to communicate the simple chiropractic truths in a way that people ‘get it’ and stay, pay and refer?  It is time for chiropractors to become the leaders of TRUE healthcare.  If you’re interested, we can help!  We are committed to helping the profession grow to lead the wellness revolution and transform the way the public perceives chiropractic care. We want you to THRIVE in a TRUE wellness model!

Tags: chiropractic, Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Coaching, Chiropractic Consultant, Chiropractic Practice Management, chiropractic profession, chiropractor, communication, Leadership, Wellness Chiropractic, wellness re

We hear again and again that our profession has an identity crisis, but from our perspective, we have a communication crisis!

What chiropractors know (no matter if they practice in a pain-based model or a wellness-based model) is that we help people have better lives! We’ve surveyed hundreds and hundreds of chiropractors around the world, and no matter how they practice, they all recognize that we can not only help people with their pain and symptoms, but also with improved function and a better quality of life!

Our problem as a profession is that the message that we’ve communicated and marketed to the public isn’t unified or clear.  Not like the tequila marketing sign above.  The public thinks that we help with neck and back pain and we know we help people get healthy and stay healthy to essentially have a better life!

As a profession, what we’ve been doing for communicating the chiropractic message isn’t working. Otherwise, at this 114th birthday of chiropractic, we’d be seeing more than 8-10% of the population.  If people understood what we do, because our communication and marketing was working, we’d be a lot further along right now.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to communicate in a true wellness model, in a care vs. scare approach, we encourage you to check out our LAASR program and seek out the support of a coach.  Lecturing and telling people until you’re blue in the face isn’t working. We need to figure out what people really want and then show them how to get it.  Let’s find a better way and start to move our profession into the position of leadership in the wellness revolution we deserve.

Tags: chiropractic, chiropractic birthday, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Practice Success, chiropractic profession, communication, communication crisis, identity crisis, LAASR, Leadership, Wellness Chiropractors, wellness model, wellness revolution

Most people don’t want to know about their disappointed customers.  It scares them and it’s uncomfortable.  Especially if you are a chiropractor, serving with all your heart.  If you are taking care of people with world class excellence, doing your very best, it can really ruin your day to hear from someone who isn’t happy with your service.  In fact, it can start a downward spiral of self-abuse if you don’t get hold of your head space right away.

From the wise Seth Godin, a guru in marketing and leading tribes, he says these words about disappointed customers, “Don’t ignore them”.  

Find out if you can save the relationship and rectify the disappointment using LAASR communication we use in our coaching. Ask for more information to clarify the disappointment. Acknowledge their concerns/fears/feelings. Come up with a solution that works for both parties. And then knock their socks off! Really WOW them.

If they are out the door anyway and are the 10% of the population that will tell you they are disappointed (most will just disappear without a word), don’t hang your head in shame.  Have the guts to ask what they didn’t like about the service? What could we improve upon for next time? The more information you can extract from these people and then change your approach, the better your service will get.  Don’t hide from the hard stuff ~ get as much as you can get!

They key is to take their input not as criticism, but as feedback. It’s not a setback, but valuable information, a gift to evolve your practice, your procedures, your service.  Because we can’t always see how our service is perceived.  It is more important to extract this information from disappointed customers, than it is to ask why the happy ones like your service. Why? Because an unhappy customer tells 20, a happy customer tells 5.

Please share this blog with others if you are happy with it!  Please email me with feedback with what you’d like to see changed.  I value your input. Thank you for reading.

Tags: chiropractic, Chiropractic Coaching, Disappointed customers, Feedback, Happy customers, LAASR

As a chiropractor, do you know what your vision is? Do you know why you get up every day and do what you do?  Without a clear vision of where you are headed it can be hard to stay the course.  Just like a raft guide who doesn’t know where he’s headed, a chiropractor without a vision can get easily lost. If you can’t clearly articulate your vision, that is the first thing to master to have success in practice.  Because you are not just leading yourself, you are leading your team and the people you take care of.

Your mission is how you are going to accomplish your vision. What will it take to get there?  It answers the 5 W’s of who, what, where, when and why. Your vision and mission is what guides your everyday action and reduces the overwhelm of your To-Do list.  It is essential to start with the big picture in mind to have a successful wellness practice and life for that matter!

Like the raft guide, you are steering the raft of your office for the people you serve, your team, and the community.  Do you know which direction you are headed?  Are you padding upstream or with the current flow of the river of life? Your vision and mission are essential to being able to course correct with wellness practice management principles.  As a chiropractor, are you stepping up to the level of leadership required to save lives in your community?

Next, what does it take to have a successful wellness chiropractic practice? Have you got what you need and are you implementing the strategies to do so? Just like the raft guide has to pack meticulously to have the correct rations of food, tools, supplies and emergency necessities, do you know exactly what you need to run a wellness practice and in the correct amounts?  Or does it feel like you are flying by the seat of your pants (or hanging on to your life jacket)?  May I suggest that you start to look at your practice as if you were a raft guide, who is responsible for the lives, the well-being, the nourishment, and the enjoyment of yourself and others on your journey.  Nothing can be left to chance in the wilderness ~ have a vision, make a plan, have what you need and course correct to be in the flow of life and success! But don’t wing it… your happiness and the health of your community depends on it.

Tags: chiropractic, Leadership, mission, Practice Management, Success, vision, wellness, wellness chiropractic practice management

It is time for our chiropractic profession to shift.  It is time to tell the truth to the world and to ourselves.  It is time to stop fitting in to a medical infrastructure and practice model and to stop selling ourselves short by selling ‘pain relief’.  Aspirin or Tylenol is way cheaper than your services.

Here’s to the crazy ones ~ the chiropractors who want to push back against the status quo.  The ones who are standing their ground, practicing wellness chiropractic and not the treatment of symptoms, sickness and disease.  The ones who are becoming leaders in the wellness revolution, the shift that is unstoppable.

The medical system in many countries around the world is on the verge of collapse with regards to the percentage of GDP spent on health care and the increasing statistics of disease and death.  Ready to burst at the seams as soon as the baby boomers are ripe.  It’s a faulty premise to use sick care as health care and it’s not working.  

And people want something different.  They just need to know that chiropractic is a better way.  And that you are the one who will care for them with honest, loving, authentic service.  You’ve got to have enough value for your service, enough confidence in your skills and the communication level to share the truth… and the guts to do so.  

From my favorite ad campaign of all time… Apple in the late 1990′s called ‘Think Different’.  It is time to inspire yourself and the people in your community to Think Different about health.  Are you willing to be the ‘Crazy One’ in your community?

“Here’s to the crazy ones.

   The misfits.
    The rebels.
     The troublemakers. 
      The round pegs in the square holes. 
The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules.
   And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, 
  disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. 
    Because they change things.

They invent.    They imagine.     They heal.

 They explore.     They create.    They inspire.
      They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,
    we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think
    they can change the world, are the ones who do”.

Tags: Apple, Better, chiropractic, Choice, Crazy Ones, Different, Different Way, Disease, Health Care, Medical System, Medicine, Pain Relief, Service, Shift, Sickness, Status Quo, Symptoms, Think Different, wellness revolution

Welcome to Rosen Coaching’s Blog!  This blog is dedicated to connecting the chiropractic community around the world looking to practice in a true wellness model.  I seek to inspire chiropractors to create the practice and life of their dreams.  I am committed to making this blog informative, inspiring and provocative.  It is my desire to support and challenge you to become the greatest person you can be, so that you can be a more successful chiropractor and change more lives.

My mission is to transform lives around the world, to allow people to realize and achieve their full potential.  How do I do that?  By assisting chiropractors to become leaders in their community and build successful practices!  This way they can serve more people at the highest level I know ~ through clearing their Nerve System and showing them a new philosophy for living.

Who am I?  I am you.  I am a chiropractor just like you.  I have practiced a true wellness model family practice and I have had the challenges you have had.  My wish is that through this blog, through our website  and for some, through coaching, that I may help you become the greatest person and chiropractor you were meant to be.  And in doing so, help you transform the lives of your community.  If my insight or experience may somehow make your progress faster, your thoughts clearer, your focused more refined and your mistakes less frequent, than I have succeeded.  If I help one chiropractor help more people, then I am happy.

My desire is that you will share this blog.  Pass it onto all of your friends and colleagues.  Do it for the profession, as it is time that we take the leadership position in the Wellness Revolution.  The stronger we can builld a community of like-minded chiropractors, the more sharing and comments are made, the faster we can change the world.  With technology it is easier than you think.  So pass it on and pay it forward.

Here’s to changing the world, one life at a time.  Are you in?

Tags: change the world, chiropractic, Leadership, transform, wellness revolution