10 Mistakes I Made In Practice (That You Don’t Have To!)
I had something else planned for you this week, but today is my first baby’s birthday and I’m feeling quite introspective.
The first few years of her life, I missed out on a LOT. I’m so thankful that I have now designed our lives in such a way that allows me to be a much different mom to her now.
My daughter was such a big part of why I left my steady paycheck at Logan with several weeks of paid time off each year—a job that I truly loved. Just a few short months after she came along, I knew that I wasn’t willing to do my job as Assistant Director of Sports and Rehab (which required working nights, weekends, long hours, and lots of travel) the same as I had before this girl made me a mom.
So I ventured out into private practice on my own. I didn’t have a clear plan on how I was going to build my practice. I just knew that I was a very hard worker, loved marketing, and had a lot of faith that everything would be ok.
While it’s true that everything has been ok, it has sure felt hard sometimes. This journey of life and practice as a mama chiropractor…
It’s become my mission now to help more women who are both chiropractors and moms hopefully have an easier experience in creating a practice that’s right for them and their families so that they can have a long, healthy and happy career in this great profession of ours.
So, as I’m feeling all introspective today on my baby girl’s birthday, here are all the mistakes* I made in practice. I share them with you so that maybe you can avoid making the same mistakes* I did.
1. I hoped that in 7 years, I’d be able to work less (because that was what I had heard so many people say to expect).
2. I leaned on my husband far too much for help with my business.
3. I made myself available at almost any time on any day for any patient.
4. I was in an area of town that I wouldn’t have ever gone to, if my business wasn’t there.
5. I let practically anyone who had a spine and was breathing become a patient in my office (sometimes without regard for whether they could even afford to pay for their care).
6. I let my business run my life instead of designing it to support my life.
7. I put way too much pressure on myself to make everything happen RIGHT. NOW.
8. I didn’t stop to ask myself WHY I was doing things the way I was.
9. I spent money on advertisements in local papers (and far too much of it).
10. I took care of everyone else first. And myself, rarely (perhaps never).
I’m sure there are plenty more things that I could list here that I did wrong* in my first practice. I am, afterall, my own worst critic.
The one thing I can say for sure I did right? I somehow managed to grow my practice to 60+ office visits in the first year, despite not having any specific practice goals or marketing plan. The only thing that I can say for sure worked to grow my practice back then was taking great care of my patients, treating them like family and helping people feel better fast.
It’s honestly still hard for me to think back to what practice felt like in those first few years on my own. I rarely saw my baby girl awake. How ironic considering I left the safety and security of my job at Logan for the “freedom” of private practice yet felt confined and constrained by my business.
I’m grateful to now be practicing in a way that’s right for me and my family—in a way that looks much different than what I’ve described above. And I’m extremely grateful to be guiding other mama chiropractors in creating practices that are right for them and their families, too.
If you’d like to learn more about how I started a practice that’s right for me and my family and better yet made a profit in my practice in the first 90 days, be sure to join me live this Thursday for Aligned Women’s very first masterclass at 12:30pm central time. See you in class!
*Note: I use the words “mistakes” and “wrong” above loosely. I don’t believe that any of my journey in life has been a mistake or wrong. I believe God has always been guiding me to and through exactly what I needed to experience and learn from each step of the way.