Are you considering bringing on a Chiropractic Associate to your practice?
Have you really thought through all the reasons to make sure it’s a smart financial decision for your practice, and a smart time investment for yourself?
If you’re considering hiring an associate… watch this video:
One of the most common questions I get asked in my coaching business is “How do I create more leverage so I can step away from the practice and spend more time with my family?”
It’s very common for docs who have been in practice for 5, 10, 20 years and they love what they do but they also work too damn hard and long for their money. They also know that their office isn’t being fully utilized in terms of hours per day or days of the week.
They also may recognize that there are more ways to service their community but they’re nervous about hiring a chiropractic associate. They don’t teach us how to recruit a great Associate at University…
I’ve heard hundreds of horror stories from chiropractic coaching clients, friends and conferences about the Associates from hell. The stories that end with docs never making any money off their Associate, they cost the doc MORE of the precious time they were hired to save… and in my case, they turn around and set up shop halfway down the street with half of your client base. No good!
The reason that Associate/Partner relationships don’t work is that the senior doc goes into it with some bad intention. If you find somebody to be your workaholic slave then this is not a good reason to hire an Associate.
If you want somebody to just make money for you without anything in return, not a good reason.
Now if you’re someone who wants better work-life balance to spend more time with your family or on your hobbies then this is a good reason to hire an Associate.
If you’d like to offer more service to your community then this is a good reason.
If you’d like to create some leverage in your work so that you can find a way to get paid for what you know and not just what you do by teaching, mentoring and guiding an associate to serve your practice members then that is a good reason.
There’s nothing wrong with creating some income from an Associate, but you will have to consider what you want to give in exchange…
Are you willing to mentor, guide and train?
Then they can become better versions of themselves and extensions of yourself.
If you’re hoping to create a succession plan so that you can pass on the torch for all the knowledge and experience you have then this is also a good reason to bring on an Associate.
Intent is everything when you are considering hiring an Associate. If your intent is to create more work-life balance, leverage, freedom or impact in your community these are all amazing reasons to bring on an Associate.
As long as you make sure you are comfortable knowing in advance that it is in an investment in time, energy and money to train them to be great associates. The key to this working out, is to know exactly how comfortable you are LOSING money until you break even and start to enjoy the fruits of this labour.
Once you’ve decided you’re hiring an associate for good, sustainable reasons, then the first step is to do the financial projections to see what an associate will cost your practice.
We’ve made the Associate Doc Decision Maker available to you for FREE as an introduction into our Associate Doc Recruiting Program. Just click here to start your free trial and unlock the financial calculation spreadsheet.