Reason #21: Invest in YOU
Reason #21: Invest in YOU
Coaching. Investing in coaching. I’ve been holding back on this post for about a month now.
Why?
Well there are several reasons that come to mind — the race of back to school, playing catch-up, getting the online course build, client work.
Maybe I just needed to build up the courage to talk about my own struggles, acceptance and need for coaching in my own life.
Yes, after 8+ years of college + graduate/professional school and at least $250,000 in student loans, I needed to invest in myself once more…
It’s true: Chiro School doesn’t teach you how to start or run a successful business. They teach you the minimum competency to safely evaluate and treat patients… but that is far from mastery.
I had the upper hand in having some accounting, insurance and medical billing background before entering the chiropractic career. I worked as a receptionist and biller in a busy medical practice through college, and did plenty of shadowing of other DCs offices on my school breaks. I learned a lot from my “mentors” — both of who have now passed on, and even more from their office operations, staff and management structures. So I knew enough to be able to confidently open a practice and start with training our staff on handling insurance claim work. I took on the bookkeeping myself after finding an amazing local CPA (who we still work with 10 years later!) — and we started to chug away at business (practicing with my DC spouse).
However, we did seek help and support through a chiropractic “management” company to help us with the start-up process. We quickly realized this was not a right fit. We weren’t matched right with our “coach” — who solidly gave us illegal advice, and we were chastised when a certain marketing approach wasn’t something that fit well within our values. The answer was always if you want results you have to do it our way. Well, my husband and I had run businesses before — and we knew what impact we wanted to have in our community… and talking from scripts, delivering corny presentations and ridiculously unhealthy sheetcakes (yes, CAKE) wasn’t going to cut it for us.
But guess what? The business did grow. We hit “break-even” by month 5 and didn’t even touch our line of credit funding. But we were still dodging calls from that management company… so we had to bite the bullet of a $10,000 buyout of our contract later that year.
Can you see how we were a bit jaded from the whole idea of “business coaching” from that point on??? Yeah, just a little.
Plus…. how on earth could we spend any MORE money on “investing” in ourselves after having all this school, certification, licensure, etc?
Well — we wanted to be successful. Not struggle. Have someone else to guide us on the path to sustainability, fulfillment and a purpose-driven impact on our community.
Fast forward a few years… becoming active within our network of successful DCs in our state, continuing to stay current & involved in chiro leadership and our local community.. things were moving right along business wise. Oh yeah, I also had a couple babies during that time. Things were different after that. For me, justifying the whole “return to work” and “be a great mom” was a tough transition. Especially since I practiced with my spouse.
Thankfully a coach emerged… who was just for me. Another “mama chiro” that felt passionate about helping other moms who are chiropractors build their business around their life, not the other way around. I needed someone else who could listen, empathize and help to guide me on the big picture we envisioned for our life and business. Through her growth as a coach, she launched an online community, where I met my “biz besties” — and I realized we really are in this together!! And, there is a better way. A better way than the hustle, hustle, work work work model — that “eats our young” and burns out women in this profession every day.
So the journey continued. Doing my own work on personal and professional growth. It’s through this experience I “found” Profit First. And it just clicked (more on my story here). I came back around to my roots so to speak. I’ve always LOVED numbers. I love solving problems.. finding little pockets were we can improve efficiency or see things in a different light.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t intuitive to “most” people. But it is attainable with the right help — support and accountability.
You can do whatever you want in this profession. That is what is so amazing about it.
I can practice AND have a great home life. I can work AND be present for my kids. I can be a doctor AND a business coach that knows exactly what my clients are going through.
I give you permission to Invest in yourself. Again. Over, and over again. Invest in coaching.
How to work together…
Schedule a FREE Discovery Call (click to access my schedule)!
If I help you pay yourself more next year, is it worth it?
Dr. Holly has been coaching and mentoring chiropractors in implementing Profit First since first implementing it in her practice in 2017. With an extensive background in health care administration, experience as a small business owner and clinician, she provides accountability and support in a simple way.
Dr. Holly, Business Coach ChiroNumbers.com
Visit BeyondYourBooks.com for Profit First Accounting & Bookkeeping services