TNR Happenings July 8, 2019
DCME next weekend!
Yes, the rumors are true: we are having a special event Friday evening. You will think you are at an ancient Mayan ruin in Tulum, Mexico. You will get hot as well as wet. Bring appropriate clothing, towels, etc. This is a wonderful opportunity that 99.9% of DCs never get to participate in. It will have a real ceremony ‘feel’ to it. It’s a sacred ritual. Leave your problems, guilt, and worries behind. You will join all the past and present people who have participated in these ceremonies since the beginning of time.
During the DCME seminar participants should be prepared to talk about their DCME cases. You don’t really need all the paperwork and forms but do bring your Baseline Assessments. It is so important for the group to see members who are in the trenches with these difficult cases, saving lives, making a huge difference, and getting paid for this expertise. Don’t think for an instant that all DCs are willing or able to see such cases or produce these clinical results. They don’t call them miracles for nothing.
Less than 30 days until Boot Camp!
How does this happen every year? Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and then BOOM: it’s time for our annual journey to the Reservation to serve the kids. Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising is all so critical. We need all offices to finish strong. We are also seeking big fish donors who are able to write the big checks. Micro donors are the foundation of our efforts, but the macros put the icing on the cake!
Putting the H back into Chiropractic!
Being in TNR, you are well aware of what it stands for: Humanitarian, clinical results others can only marvel at, and economic levels that are 3,5,10x or more than other DCs. Sometimes DCs outside of TNR (and even some inside of TNR) forget about the Humanitarian dimension. It’s not just Love Has No Color. It’s about your connection to people, your best effort, and your willingness and ability to help others in need. It’s about putting up with the all of the BS that comes along with helping people. Just treating Chiropractic like a job or a way to earn money is not good enough. Being merely good gets in the way of being great.
Turning our backs collectively as a profession on seniors (Medicare hassles, audits, paperwork), children (no insurance coverage), difficult cases (can’t see them in 8 visits), and wellness is not the answer of creating a healthier planet. Relegating ‘tic’ to an adult musculoskeletal therapy is disturbing, appalling, and cowardly. There are so many near-sighted cures, solutions, etc. which are related to pain relief only at the expense of truly being healthy. The Chiropractic adjustment is taking a back seat to these other illusions to health. A criminal with less back pain can cause more crime. A politician can imprison more people with Below the Line thinking and near-sightedness rhetoric. All the pain relief in the world will not raise the consciousness of society. Being healthier can and does.
Practice tip of the week
The deadwood in your office must go. If you have medical weight scales, get rid of them. If you have resistive practice members that are constantly asking you the same questions over and over, are taking way too much time, and refuse to pay you, they must go. Even if you are just starting up and seeing a handful of people, it’s like a cancer, it metastasizes and prevents growth. You
don’t know this, but you are focusing more energy, time, and effort on these people. You must focus on the solution, not the problem. They don’t belong in your office. They must fall in line with the others who trust you and can follow the guidelines or they belong in another office. Have you ever noticed that when a troublemaker discontinues on their own, a collective sigh of relief is groaned in your office? Now don’t push people out the door, but your adjustment time is about creating relationships, clinical certainty, and health, not proving and convincing people who just aren’t going to change their minds.
A moment of silence
Last Monday, Dr. Julie’s mother, Carma Strang, passed away. For those members fortunate enough to know her, you knew an angel. It was truly a blessing to be her son-in-law. Years ago, she took her ailing daughter, the now Dr. Julie, across state lines to Ohio to a Chiropractor. Dr. Julie didn’t have back or neck pain, she had kidney dysfunction. The hospitals in Angola and Fort Wayne, Indiana said that they couldn’t help her and told her parents to prepare for the worst. The Chiropractor, Dr. Jon Blossom, had a landing strip for airplanes bringing out of town patients from all over the globe. Because of Dr. Jon, Dr. Julie survived and thrived.
When TNR seminars were based in Michigan, Carmie would host students who drove up from Life University. She spoiled theses students with hospitality and food. She had a gift for making people feel welcome. She and Dr. Julie’s dad, Glen, helped so many people during their lives. They never bragged or brought attention to themselves. They didn’t need the applause; they just did what was right. So much of Carmie lives on in Dr. Julie, another true angel.
DCME confidential
Question 1: I just got a tremendous testimonial from a practice member (DCME) who has recovered from a fearsome disease. Can I post this on social media platforms?
Answer: If you want to lose your license you can. I know social media is part of your life, but with high-level cases, it’s a recipe for disaster. You will be attacked in so many ways, by so many people, including the regulatory people. It would be similar to bragging about a crime on social media. Avoid the problem by staying away from social media with DCME cases.
Question 2: I have a DCME practice member who claims he doesn’t have a computer for the 21-Day DCME Video Program. What should I do?
Answer: Have them do it in your office, on their phone, or at the library. Don’t accept the excuse. It’s part of the DCME program and not to do it will jeopardize their care in your office.
Crazy Horse, Oglala Lakota Chief
“Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world.
A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations.
A world longing for light again.
I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again.
In that day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom.
I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells.
For when you are at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be one.”
From the mind of Miyagi
This is a look inside a Head-to-Head with me:
On a recent H2H, a new practitioner was getting very frustrated that his linear or analytical way of thinking was not getting him where he wanted to be. He asked, “What book do I have to read?” This was an incredibly gifted, brave, young DC who was facing a choice of moving from the linear, informational world of classification of illnesses and problems to becoming more sensitive, engaging, compassionate, and understanding, with more focus on solutions, not problems. Welcome to the non-linear world of TNR. He applies himself somewhat; however, when he is in front of practice members, it’s all over. He turtles and hides behind technical language and concepts to save face. I suggested he must learn to integrate the two worlds, not one or the other. He has to understand the relationship is far more important than the clinical aspects of the case.
He exclaimed loudly and with frustration, “That’s exactly the way it’s done in the A-Z Procedures Manual!” I pointed out that there was no feeling behind the words he speaks. He sounded like a script monkey where the words themselves have no inherent power to them. He knew the notes to the song, but he was not playing the song correctly.
This DC didn’t understand stewardship and the sacredness of Chiropractic. I made a promise to a dying old man that I wouldn’t let the song of Chiropractic get watered down, no matter how many times weak people tried to make weakness the new standard. By making weakness pass for strength, you aren’t doing anyone a favor. Seeing tiny numbers of people each week and using insurance coding leverage and BSOs to get to $16,000 a month is not in anyone’s best interest. It’s such a small, limiting view of Chiropractic, yourself, and the enormity of the task of being a warrior. Most people allow others to set their standards and obey expectations of others, including income.
What this means for us is understanding where the practice member is coming from, not just telling them what you are going to do that day. Become a leader, a better communicator, and have clear boundaries with practice members. When you have no feeling or emotion in your words, they trigger sales in the subconscious of the digital consumer and the practice member predictably will say I can’t afford it, I’ll have to ask my spouse, or does insurance cover it?
Becoming a once-in-a-lifetime DC is not for the faint of heart, the uncommitted, or the DC interested in mediocrity. The natural inclination of DCs is to ask for less and less commitment from his practice members in exchange for being liked. Don’t fall into that trap. Become the best version of yourself!
