Ray Rice and The American Pharisees

You all pretty much know the Bible Story. “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

Don't Let Tax Payments Weigh You Down: A Strategic Approach to Business Profitability

Let's face it, nobody enjoys writing a check to the IRS every year. As business owners, this payment to the taxman can feel like the most dreaded expense. We work hard to generate profits and grow our businesses, only to be hit with a hefty bill that needs to be paid, no matter what. It's frustrating, isn't it?

The Key Difference Between Management and Leadership: You Can't Delegate Leadership

In the world of business, there is often a struggle to understand the distinction between management and leadership. While management can be delegated, leadership is a more intrinsic quality that sets the tone, cadence, and direction of an organization. In this blog post, we will delve into the importance of leadership and how it impacts the success and growth of a business.

Are You a Business Owner Who Feels Trapped? Here's How to Break Free

Being a business owner can be a rewarding journey, but it can also feel overwhelming and suffocating at times. If you find yourself constantly trapped in your business, unable to take a break without fearing that everything will fall apart, then this blog post is for you. In this article, we will discuss the nine steps to systematize your business so that it can eventually run without you. By implementing these steps, you can transform your business from one that depends solely on you to one that operates smoothly and can even be sold in the future.

Enhance Your Medical Practice's Success with Patient Reactivation

As the owner of a chiropractic clinic, dental clinic, physical therapy firm, naturopathic practice, or any independent medical establishment, you understand the importance of attracting new patients. However, have you considered the benefits of reactivating your existing patients? In this email, I want to share with you the power of reactivation and provide three key steps to implementing an effective reactivation system.

The Costly Consequences of Trusting Your Gut in Hiring

As a business owner, have you ever hired an employee who seemed like a rock star during the interview process, only to turn out to be a total disappointment? If so, you're not alone. In fact, I have a confession to make - I've made the same mistake. Hiring the wrong person can cost you thousands of dollars and countless hours wasted. The problem is, relying on your gut instinct when making hiring decisions can often lead you astray. Let's explore why your gut is almost always wrong when it comes to hiring the right talent.

Find Out Why Chiropractors as Coaches Can Do More Harm than Good!

In this video transcription, we dive into a topic that may generate some controversy: whether or not chiropractors should be your go-to choice for business coaching. While there are many chiropractor coaches who excel in various aspects of practice management, it's essential to consider alternative options that can provide a fresh perspective and better align with your individual goals. Let's explore three key reasons why a non-chiropractor business coach might be a better fit for chiropractors who own their clinics.

What is GrowthCLUB? A Powerful Opportunity for Business Owners

If you're a business owner, you may have found yourself at a crossroads, wondering how to achieve consistent growth and success. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of GrowthCLUB, an innovative solution designed to help like-minded business owners come together and create a solid 90-day business plan. So, let's dive in and discover what GrowthCLUB is all about!

Why Don't Business Owners Develop Goals?

As a business owner, you understand the importance of setting goals for your business. However, it's surprising how many entrepreneurs fail to develop clear objectives. In this blog post, we'll explore the reasons behind this common phenomenon and explain why setting goals is crucial for business growth. We'll also provide valuable insights on how to create effective goals using the SMART process. So, if you're ready to take your business to the next level, keep reading!

The Dark Side of Ignoring Financials: Revealing the Hidden Dangers for Business Owners!

In the fast-paced world of business, it's not uncommon to come across owners who avoid looking at their financials. Today, we'll address this issue and explore the three primary reasons behind this behavior. By understanding these reasons, we can unlock the potential for growth and success in any business.

Want to Succeed in Business? You Need a 10-Year Plan. Here's Why.

As a business owner, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running your business. From production issues to financial struggles, it can feel like you're constantly putting out fires. However, if you don't take the time to look beyond the present, you may end up feeling burnt out and stagnant.

How to Develop Sales Scripts for Your Salespeople

Imagine an actor on a Hollywood movie set. He knows what the movie is about, who his character is, and what is the motivation of the character. Suddenly, while standing on the set, the camera is pointed at him and the Director screams out “ACTION.”. He freezes in place and says nothing or starts to babble incoherently. Why? He doesn’t have a script. It is the same way with your salespeople. Trying to get them to “Wing It” in delivering their sales presentation and process is a recipe for disaster. So how do you go about developing an excellent sales scripting process? 

Don't Manage Your Employees, Coach Them

I recently completed reading the book “The Coaching Effect” by Bill Eckstrom and Sarah Wirht. In the book, Eckstrom and Wirth emphasized that real success in developing your team is not about “Managing” your employees, but instead “Coaching” them to improve their performance on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis. To many times we are “Managing” them to achieve results that they are not prepared to achieve. Instead, we need to find ways to teach, instruct, motivate, and perturbate them into performing at a higher level. So, what does that look like?

Is Servant Leadership Important for a Small Business Owner?

I’ve been asked on several occasions about the concept of “Servant Leadership.” and how does it apply to small business. To define the concept, servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that emphasizes the importance of serving others first. It is an approach to leadership that prioritizes the needs and well-being of the team and focuses on empowering and enabling them to achieve their full potential. This leadership style is particularly important for small business owners, like you, who are looking to create a positive and productive work environment.

Salespeople Need Professional Training

I once walked into Best Buy to buy a computer. I walked up to a salesperson and asked him “I’m interested in buying a computer, but I’m not sure what I need.” For the next 30 minutes he blabbered on about all things “Computer” to the degree that I was more confused by the time I left than when I walked in. Needless to say, I bought nothing that day.

7 Common Mistakes Your Salespeople Are Doing

Have you ever encountered a salesperson who said and did the dumbest things that eventually killed a sale? Was it embarrassing to watch? Here is a question…Does this person work for your business? OUCH!!  Let’s talk about the 7 biggest mistakes that your salespeople are making, but you probably don’t know that it’s happening.

Is It Time for A Membership Program in Your Business

One of the biggest movements in the past 10 years in business is the extensive use of Membership programs. Why is this the case? It’s because Membership programs have become a popular way for businesses to reward their customers and build long-lasting relationships. Basically, A membership program is a loyalty program where customers pay a fee to become a member and, in return, receive various benefits such as discounts, free products, or exclusive access to events.

Why it’s So Important to Have an Exit Plan

So you started your small business, got it up to speed, and now you are beginning to see real profits and real results. It feels great!!  However, you have to start asking yourself “I’m not going to live forever, so what is my off-ramp for my business?” That’s right, you have a 100% chance of exiting your business since the immortality pill is many years from being perfected. So, let’s start discussing your exit plan.

How to Stop Embezzlement in Your Business Before It Starts

f you are telling yourself right now “This can never happen to me” you are setting yourself up for a fall. According to the Insurance industry newsletter Embroker, annual employee theft is as high as $50 billion per year. Don’t let yourself become part of that statistics. Here’s how you can stop embezzlement in your business before it starts:

Why Business Coaching is Important

We know that the greatest athletes in the world rely on expert coaching to help them become world class at whatever they do. Likewise, business coaching is a rapidly growing industry and for good reason. It is becoming increasingly evident that businesses of all sizes, in all industries, can benefit greatly from working with a business coach. Whether you are the owner of a small startup or the CEO of a large corporation, business coaching can help you achieve greater success, reach your goals faster and operate your business with more ease and efficiency.

7 Steps to Systemize Your Business

Small business owners often struggle with finding the right balance between serving their customers and managing their operations effectively. Systemizing your business can help you streamline your processes and make your work more efficient, freeing up more time to focus on growth and customer satisfaction. Here are 7 steps you can take to systemize your small business:

The 7 Keys of Small Business Leadership

Small business leadership is the act of guiding and directing a small business to achieve its goals and objectives. It requires a unique set of skills and qualities, as small businesses face a range of challenges and obstacles that larger organizations may not. Here are 7 key traits and strategies that are important for small business leaders to cultivate:

How to Grow Your Chiropractic Business in 4 Easy Steps

Having worked with Chiropractors for almost 20 years, virtually every Chiropractor has a challenge with getting new patients. The problem I see with so many of these Chiropractors is that they’ve never put together a strategic plan on how to go out and get these new patients. To many of them get sucked in to paying for expensive marketing programs that do not get a good Return on Investment, or they get advice from their other Chiropractor friends and follow strategies that may have worked for their colleagues, but doesn’t work for them.

Momentum – Get it - Keep it - Protect it

Here in the Spokane, WA area, where I live, we have been in the process of building what we call the “North-South Freeway” which will be a 4-Lane highway that will go a long way in reducing the congestion we have of trucks on surface streets going to and from major Canadian markets such as Calgary and Edmonton. The concept for this project started in 1946 but did not start construction until 2001. And yes, 22 years later it’s still under construction, but is scheduled to be completed by 2028.

9 Lies Friends Like to Tell

Have you ever had a conversation with a friend and wondered to yourself “I wonder how much of what she told me was really true?”  Well here’s a list of the nine lies that friends like to tell.  What are those you ask?  Well I’ve been sworn by secrecy by the CIA, NSA, Mi6, and the Public Library not to reveal them, but for you, I will.  You just can’t leak this to my KGB contact.

Buying Patients: A New Way to Look at Marketing

As new dental materials are being developed and introduced, you can spend countless hours learning how to integrate these innovative breakthroughs into daily practice. Once you’re ready to offer these concepts to your patients, it is vital to market your new skills and attract new patients.

Dealing with Depression

Once again, we have arrived at the most joyous time of the year. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time where all is good, families come together, and for a moment in time all your troubles are whisked away in a sea of parties and fun. Or so it seems.

For many business owners, including myself, this is a time of stress. It’s a time of dealing with responsibilities and tasks that only you, the owner, can understand. I know for me, after 20+ years of doing what I love to do, the holidays are a culmination of so many things both positive and negative. You’re planning events, dealing with clients who are stressing themselves out with end of the year activities, attending multiple events, buying gifts, arranging travel, and so many other things. Honestly, there are times when I sit in my office and ask myself “Do I really want to do this anymore?”

What Small Business Owners Need to Focus on for 2023

With 2022 shortly coming to an end, we as small business owners need to start putting our plan together for 2023 and beyond. As any good plan needs to start with looking at the conditions that we face for the next 12+ months, it’s time to look at those conditions and evaluate what strategies need to be emphasized to maximize our effectiveness. What worked in 2022 may not work in 2023 and beyond. However, it’s easy to get caught up in the concept of “Lather, rinse, and repeat” when things have gone well and believe that everything will stay basically the same. So, let’s look at 3 conditions I believe will happen in 2023 and your strategy to adapt to these conditions.

Health Success and Business Success – They go Together

Many years ago, I had a client I was working with. He was struggling big time and could never seem to get on track. He started missing coaching sessions due to his multiple health ailments (most of them self-induced) so I gave him an ultimation; “You need to work on your health before we continue any coaching program. I won’t let you throw away good money if you can’t implement the program.”  I never saw him again. 

Bad Business Slogans

So, I’m driving on my way into the office today and I see a van on I-90 approaching downtown Spokane. It’s a Security Company I’m not familiar with and the tagline on the van says, “We make it happen.” What?! Make “what” happen? What a totally confusing and disjointed slogan.

Here are some other bad business slogans that have been put out there:

The Courage of Your Convictions

Your convictions are what drive you. Each one of us has a deep-seated values system that points us in the right direction. What you need to have with those convictions is courage. Courage to take a chance on something. Courage to make a hard decision. Courage to make an investment of your time, money, and resources with no guarantee of success.  

Take your deep seated convictions, and add a large dose of courage for you to overcome any challenge in your business and in your life. 

Steps to Creating an Organizational Chart

An organizational chart can have a profound impact on a small business more so than any other development step. An organizational chart should be developed around functions, not personalities. You want to develop something long lasting. It identifies who is accountable for what. 

What Have You Sacrificed for Your Business?

Previously I wrote about a client who had to fire an employee that was holding her business back. She was working 60-70 hours a week keeping the business afloat while her key employee was skating along and creating chaos in the team.  It was a perfect example of a business owner making a sacrifice to keep her business running even as obvious solutions were being ignored...

Your Telephone System-What it Says About Your Company

I was reviewing my American Express statement yesterday when I saw some charges from a particular company that was never authorized. Conveniently, their 800 number was on the statement, so instead of immediately calling American Express to dispute the charges, I called their number to resolve this issue. However, I was forced to go through a labyrinth of options, and in the end, I was told that their customer services reps were too busy, and that if I left a message they would call by the end of the day.  I left a message. They never called back. Needless to say, now they have American Express deal with, and they don’t play as nice as I do.

Overcoming the Humble Gene

I finished reading Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestly. In the book he talks about being a “Key Person of Influence” and the concept that, in many cases, a personal brand is much more powerful than a generic brand. This means that if you are a business owner and you want to grow your business you will need to promote yourself and “Be” the brand of your business.

The Gold Mine You Are Missing in Your Dental Practice

Having worked with Dental Practice for 15 of the past 20 years in my coaching practice, I notice that many of them fail to exploit an obvious source of extra revenue that sits right under their proverbial noses.

3 Areas in Your Business That Stop You From Growing

It’s very rare that a business owner does not want to grow their business. Sure, some are resistant to growth as it scares them, but when I ask a business owner if they would like to double their profits over the next several years they always say “Yes.” That “Yes” involves growth. And yet so many business owners who want growth just can’t seem to push the needle forward, and their growth stalls out, or never happens...

Reactivation Goldmine – Getting Your Chiropractic Patients Back Under Care

A few years ago, I was working with a chiropractic clinic owner who was struggling to grow their clinic.  They had developed some excellent patient lead generation strategies and were doing a decent job at attracting new patients.  However, they just could not make the financial breakthrough they were seeking....

5 Reasons You Are Losing Business

So, you are a business owner and you’ve had a successful business for the past number of years, but now it seems like things have slowed down. You are not getting enough new customers in your business, and your current customers are just not coming back as often as you would like. You tell yourself “Maybe the economy is slowing down” and yes, you are partially correct. But it’s more likely that you are the cause of your business slow-down. Here are 5 reasons that you may be losing business.

Chiropractors, Are You Measuring Multiple Conversation Rates?

I’m working with a Chiropractor who is using Facebook ads to help boost their number of leads coming into the clinic. In looking at their numbers we quickly figured out that the costs per new patient, although high, was acceptable. However, it was quickly apparent that the large number of leads they were getting was not resulting in a significant growth of new patients.  When I looked at their data, I could see how many appointments they were getting from the leads, and how many new patients, but nothing else. What about the conversation rate from lead to direct contact?

7 Reasons You Are Not Retaining Great Employees

You’re a business owner and one of your best employees comes into your office to submit their 2-week notice. Your thought is “Here we go again” as this isn’t the first time this has happened in very recent history. Immediately you think to yourself “What is going on with employees these days, maybe Millennials and Gen Z types just are not as loyal and hard-working as us Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers.”...

How Much Does Coaching Cost?

In your business, your prospects are asking you, “What does your service or product cost?” They have two good reasons:  1) They don't know what else to ask, and 2) they want to know if they can afford your service or your product. Our business is the same.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Isn't Growing

You started your business several years ago, and it was growing for a while. However, over the past number of years it has plateaued, and you just don’t know why you can’t get your business to expand beyond where you have it now. So, what is the problem? Here are 5 reasons why your business may not be growing at the rate you believe it should grow.

7 Best Ways to Grow Profits in Your Dental Practice

In our book How to Create a Healthy Dental Business, Dr. Traci Lennemann and I outline a comprehensive process on how to overcome pressing challenges you may have in your dental practice. However, if the main thing you want to accomplish is additional profits in your dental business in a post-Covid world, let’s look at the 7 best ways you can grow the profits in your dental business.

7 Best Ways to Increase Profitability in Your Chiropractic Office in a Post Covid World

It must feel great that you now can have patients enter your clinic without masks (if you so choose) and not feel like you are either spreading infection around or waiting for the State Department of Health to write you a ticket and potentially shut you down.

10 Ways You Are Destroying Your Business

After 14 plus years of Business Coaching and evaluating literally thousands of businesses, I have been witness to some of the most insane things that business owners have done that turn a business from a semi-successful enterprise into one that...

Arrogance and Incompetence -

The Deadly Elixir of Poor Performance

The Peter Principle tells us that a person will rise to their level of incompetence. This may be true in all sorts of endeavors. However most individuals, when they reach this level, will willingly ask for assistance or will be demoted or...

Is Your Head Trash Putting you into the Business Emergency Room?

In my book ‘First Aid For a Wounded Business,’ I address many of the causes and cures for a business that is in serious trouble and needs to be saved.  Many of the problems are financial related, others are customer service related, and others are ...