The Profitable Practice Podcast

How Video Can Change Your Biz: Interview with Julia Vorontsova - PPP: 033

Today's episode is focused on why you need to be using video in your business. This is actually where I started all of my marketing from which is the main reason I even found James Wedmore in the first place. I knew that YouTube was one of the best free sources for free advertising that we can monopolize on and now that YouTube and Google are linked, it also helps you rank better on Google. I created my naturopathic YouTube channel way back in 2011 and I try my best to put new videos out every week, but it's amazing how far video can go.

The most important thing I have to stress here, is that it's wonderful to get hundreds of likes or millions of views on a video, but if you're not converting those people to actually schedule time with you in your office or you're not creating a call to action then you're missing out on a big opportunity here.

Julia is THE woman when it comes to online marketing using videos. She's the founder of Kakadu Media and the SEO expert with over 7 years of experience in the industry. She currently teaches how to create effective marketing videos for a business and hosts regular workshops for business owners in the health and medical fields. She has learned video SEO from top industry experts in California and was awarded the Local Video Marketer Competition Prize as the most improved local video marketer in 2015. She has worked on projects in both China and Canada for small to medium sized businesses. 

Questions I Asked Julia:

1. Why do you think people aren't taking advantage of online marketing through video?
2. What were your client's businesses like before they started working with  you?
3. How have your client's businesses changed after working with you and creating videos?
4. What is it about video that converts so well compared to a blog or social media post?
5. Why don't some people find success in video marketing?

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

• Why you should be making videos to advertise and support your business practice. 
• How to craft an intro video.
• How to use keyword searching and SEO tools to drive traffic to your videos.
• What a call to action is and why you need one in every video.
• The benefits of using YouTube to share and market your videos. 

How to Create Your In-Office Program: Interview with Dr. Michele Summers, ND PPP: 032

You are going to love today's podcast. Where I find practitioners are failing in their business is not creating signature programs. We hear about personal trainers having these big high end programs and nutritionists offer higher end programs. While there are limitations to what we as practitioners can do, but that doesn't mean we can't create a program and by doing that you're going to find that your revenues will come much easier, your patients will be more satisfied, and you'll be able to extend the lifetime properties of every patient that comes into your office. The one thing that new patients love more than anything else is some type of challenge, a cleanse, a detox, or some form of a program so if you don't have one in your office, you are leaving serious money on the table.

Dr. Summers is going to break down exactly how she conducts her in office program (that she also offers online), but because it is basically nutrition and consulting based, there is not a lot of medical intervention involved it is definitely something you could incorporate into your own practice (staying within naturopathic regulations of course). Once a patient gets to a certain point and you just want to keep them on a maintenance  program, offering some type of lifestyle challenge is going to be really valuable to bring patients into your practice, and then as up sells you can definitely offer supplements or add value so you can raise your prices.

Download the checklist steps/to-do's when creating your program!

Maximizedbusiness.ca/officeprogram

Questions I Asked Michele:

1. What was the transition from school to practitioner like for you?
2. Is there a certain niche you market to?
3. What type of patients are more drawn to your practice?
4. Did it take you a long time to gain a referral system with other practitioners in your area?
5. How do you capture those initial leads?

Things You'll Learn From This Episode:

• What led Michele to change her practice into what it is today.
• Why Michele decided to focus on a specific market.
• What benefits Michele has found in creating programs for her patients.
• Why Michele believes it's so valuable for people to have some type of program you can offer.

Connect with Michele:

dr.michele.colon@gmail.com

www.drmichele.com

The Truth About Starting an Online Business: Interview with Dr. Erica Robinson, ND PPP: 031

Today's show is one of the most open and honest episodes I've had to date, with regards to investing in your business, investing in business coaching, leveraging your business, and why as a unit we should stop being so afraid to spread our message to a global community. Erica has been such a driving force all throughout her time in school: growing her practice quickly as soon as she graduated and now creating her online health coaching program. Erica is not afraid to tell it like it is and today she does just that. It's so important for us to not feel stifled or suppressed by fear of losing our license or fear of doing something wrong and to understand the more you invest in your business. It's so powerful to create those bigger goals for your practice!

 Questions I Asked Erica:

1.  What can someone in school do now to get their business growing?
2. Should someone wait until they're done with school to start working on their business?
3. Did you decide to have a polarized voice on your blog?
4. What steps did you take to create Baby Bloomers?

Things You'll Learn From This Episode:

• Why Erica started blogging during school.
• Why it's ok to be vocal about who you do and do not want to work with.
• How Erica has created passive income in the online space.
• What steps Erica learned about being a naturopathic doctor online.

Blocking Time to Balance Your Life: Interview with Dr. Priya Prakash, ND PPP: 030

Today I'm talking to Priya Prakash who has been a colleague of mine since Naturopathic school, we graduated at the same time. She's always had this beautiful entrepreneurial spirit and it's been so wonderful to watch her business grow. She's created SmartND, her own online software with her husband, and she's a mother. We're going to have a really frank discussion around blocking your schedule properly so you can balance life and running a business. You need to have some sort of a balance between the two to lead a successful life. Today we'll help you figure out how to be 100% focused in whatever your doing in a given moment, whether it's working or being at home with your family. Check out the link below for a free worksheet you can use to map out your schedule.

Questions I Asked Priya:

1. Why did you decide to start your own business?
2. What sort of hiccups did you find when creating your business?
3. What sort of systems have you found work for your businesses?
4. How do you balance your multiple businesses, a practice, your husband, and your family?
   

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

• How Priya and her husband started working as partners in their businesses.
• What Priya and her husband did to fix mistakes they had made.
• Why she chose to get an accountant.
• Why Priya created SmartND.
  
• How important her business coach has been to her businesses. 

How to Leverage More Income in Your Practice: Interview with Jim Palmer PPP: 029

Today I have Jim Palmer on the show and he is a big marketing guy in the states. He's worked with naturopaths, chiropractors, other medical docs, and he's worked with some of us in Canada as well. The biggest thing we're talking about today is the importance of leveraging yourself on multiple social media and online platforms, as well as generating more revenue. Something you'll frequently hear from graduates, doctors, etc. is "I would love to have more patients," but more often than not, we don't actually want more patients. We want each patient to be more valuable to the practice because  we don't want to be giving up more of our time in order to make more revenue. So today we'll go into greater detail about some ideas you can start implementing to create more passive income. Jim will also touch on how you can use different social media platforms and why you have to nurture your patients before they become paying customers.

Questions I Asked Jim:

1. How did you get to where you are now?
2. What types of income streams have you seen drive success in businesses?
3. What were some revenue streams you have helped naturopaths create?
4. How can health practitioners find those leads we want?

What You'll Learn From this Episode:

• Why Jim decided he needed to create multiple streams of revenue.
• How you can make residual income.
• The difference in mindset in a small business owner and a entrepreneur.
• The benefits of financial independence.

MAXIMize Your Profits in 10min per week: Interview with James Burgess, Part 3 PPP: 028

Today I'm talking to James Burgess who has been on the show twice already and both episodes were fantastic. In the first episode we talked about the basics of creating a business plan and why that big 50 page business plan can just be thrown out the window because it's really not necessary to have to get the business you want. We also delved into the importance as well as the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement. In the second episode we talked about developing the action plan: literally getting your thoughts to paper and making those dreams happen. Today James is going to tell us how to sustain that business plan and here's the best part: it only takes 10 minutes per week!

What I Asked James:

1. How can we sustain this amazing business plan you helped us create?

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

• How to use your social media effectively for your business.
• Why you only need 10 minutes each week to get to where you want to get to in your business.
• James' 8 steps to sustain your business clients indefinitely.
• The importance of changing your business plan as your business changes and grows.
• Why you always need to celebrate for your accomplishments.

Persuasive Communication and Marketing: Interview with Dave Frees PPP:027

Today I wanted to bring someone onto the show who was going to really help us understand the dialogue and how to communicate with our patients. Dave Frees is the man! Dave is an attorney, author, entrepreneur and speaker who has lived a fascinating life that has taken him across the globe and has exposed him to master communicators, negotiators, and persuaders in hundreds of nations across many cultures. I know everyone listening will benefit from  what he's going to talk about. The six word question alone literally changed the way I'm approaching my dialogue with patients when it comes to getting deeper to the root cause of what's actually going on so I can help they get not only what they want, but what they really need. With that in mind, I created a really easy free worksheet for you to fill out that summarizes today's call and that also gives you something so as you're communicating and marketing to your target market and/or patients moving forward, you can use this worksheet every time you create a new marking piece or when you have a difficult patient. The link to that is below or go to www.maximizedbusiness.ca/persuasion

What I Asked Dave:

1. Why do you think, especially as practitioners, we're not very good at communicating?
2. Can you share some techniques we can use to become better communicators?
3.  How does a practitioner overcome the fear of saying no to a patient?
   

[tweet_box design="default"]"If you believe you have what's right for a patient, you're doing them a disservice by not making the benefits clear to them." - Dave Frees[/tweet_box]

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

• Multiple techniques you can use to communicate better. 
• The benefits you will see from properly listening and communicating with patients. 
• A few ways to negotiate correctly to see the results you want.
• What the "6 word question" is.  
• How to guide your patient toward the solution they really need. 

Listener Question Answered: Entrepreneur's Guilt PPP: 026

Today I wanted to address a really awesome listener question that I received that I think all of us at some point in time felt. Entrepreneurship guilt. It honestly doesn’t matter where you are in your business, just starting out, been at it for a couple of years, been at it for a decade. One of the best and worst things about starting a practice is that it is constantly evolving.

You have to stay on the pulse of what people want. How they are finding you. How you should attract new patients. How to keep your current audience interested and you top of mind. How to give your current patients the best care. How to re-engage inactive patients, etc. This, however, also can be very overwhelming and, as Ashley puts it, creates as feeling of being scattered and confused. Today I’m hoping to address the issue of entrepreneurship guilt and hopefully take away a little bit of the internal pressures you may be feeling as you work away at your business.

Here’s Ashley’s question:

“Is entrepreneurship guilt common? Sometimes I know I put off or hold back on doing things that could grow my business out of guilt that I'm not getting paid for this; I should be making money instead of testing out these ideas; I should get a job while this grows; there's no guarantee spending time on x,y,z will bring anything so am I wasting my time?

This also leads into feeling scattered and confused about where time is best spent should I be re-learning homeopathy since I don't use it a lot in practice, should I be researching my area of focus and taking new courses, should I be blogging and facebooking, should I be network marketing in my community, etc!  After having a positive day listening to your podcasts, I feel less of this, but I'm wondering if it's a common feeling and how people are overcoming that.”

So let’s answer the question – what is entrepreneurship guilt? Well, I think that’s up to you. For some of you, like Ashley, its putting energy and resources into her business instead of working for a “normal job” with steady pay cheques. For some of you, this guilt may be choosing work over spending time with your family. For some of you it may be failure to follow your healthy morals (healthy eating, regular exercise, healthy sleep) in order to make your dream practice a reality. Maybe you feel guilty that you’re not working hard enough for your patients – not learning enough, not investing in enough conferences, not treating them fast enough. Whatever it is for you, it’s the guilt that’s making you feel this way. The mere idea of guilt means that you feel you should be making other choices. That the choices you are making are wrong. Let’s take a step back from the guilt and address that maybe your perception of entrepreneurship that is bring on these feelings? And more importantly, who is making you feel this way?

As an entrepreneur, already you’re going against the grain. People with regular jobs will never understand the demands of creating a new business from scratch. Yet, they are taking advantage of the hard work of the people that created their job security. It’s thinking like this that makes me so furious when I hear about employees going on strike or complaining about their job. In my mind, they should be happy they even have a job, steady income. If they don’t like it, they can start their own business and really see the value of a dollar earned.

That being said, there’s a lot of people that think entrepreneurship is “the dream scenario”. You work harder in the beginning to get the big houses and the dream vacations later on down the road. That is not going to be a reality for most of us. For most of us, we hopefully will not have to work as many hours and as diligently once the practice is established, but make no mistake, you still need to work hard, adapt, continue to learn and grow with your business if you want to stay successful. I will promise you now though, the harder you work at it now, without letting the guilt slow you down, the easier your life will be later on. Because let’s face it, we all want our practice to pay the bills, but if you want it to do more than just pay the bills, you have to earn it. That’s the struggle with entrepreneurship. But that struggle should not make you feel guilty.

The second statement in Ashley’s question is the most concerning for me, and the mindset that a lot of new NDs have “should I be making money instead of testing out these ideas; I should get a  job while this grows”. Have you ever watched Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den. What people always get the deal and what people don’t? The people that always get the deal are the one’s that are ALL IN. They execute with a no plan b approach. In Lori Kennedy’s interview, we talk a lot about the no plan b approach and how pivotal it is to your success as an ND-entrepreneur.

You can go to www.maximizedbusiness.ca/5 and listen to it there.

Yes, starting a practice does take some capital to start, of course it does. But if you’re going to go for and make it happen, because you have no other option, then that capital will be paid back in no time. On average you’re looking for about $10K-$15K to start your business off comfortably. A business line of credit is the perfect way to get this capital going, and, it’s always nice to have a line of credit as a back up for any big future investments that may come your way.

I can’t tell you how many times I zero’d out my line of credit and then wracked it back up again because I wanted to write a book, I wanted to get a microscope for live blood, because I wanted to start a podcast. The key is, working super hard to make that investment work for you. Put that money to work right away. Do not hold back on TAKING ACTION, as I’m always saying.

Please please please, if you’re listening to this podcast and you’re thinking about getting a second or third job to make your practice work, DON’T. If you’re already working part-time as a healthfood store clerk, or a server at a restaurant, quit. So long as you have some steady income coming in, you will NEVER have the fear of the No Plan B approach motivating you towards nothing but success.

There’s also something else that’s really magical that happens when you do this. You start betting BIG on yourself. You start believing more in your potential. You start pushing yourself to be better. Then suddenly, you couldn’t imagine entrepreneurship not being what you do. The idea of working for someone else's business, someone else's hours, someone else's rules becomes the most repulsive thing to you because you are grabbing life by the balls, you are seizing every opportunity, and you’re doing it without a safety net. You are not ALL IN.

Because Ashley is 100% right – there are no guarantees. Tony Robbins has a great explanation about the Six Human Needs: First on the list, “Certainty: the assurance that you can avoid pain and gain pleasure.” He goes on to say that Certainty isn’t a feeling, it’s a habit. You need to start focusing on what you can control and what you want to make happen. Tell me this, when a patient walks into your office do you ever tell them, with absolute 100% certainty that you can cure them of their ailments, No. That would be completely unjustified and quite frankly a complete false advertisement of your abilities. Instead, you ask them to trust you that you will make them better, and little by little get them closer and closer to long-term success.

It is hypocritical that you would ask this of your patients but not of yourself and you capabilities as a business owner. As an entrepreneur. This is another comment from Tony that I love: “Just when it seems impossible, when it seems like nothing is going to work, you’re usually just a few millimeters away from making it happen.” What If your guaranteed success in this industry is only a small adjustment away? Just one small actions step? Just one phone call with a business coach? Just one coffee with an ND you admire. The more you walk, talk and carry yourself like a shining success, that more success you will see!

So again, if society or boyfriends or girlfriends or family members are bringing on these feelings of guilt, you have to put your ear plugs in and keep going. You’re feeling like you’re not being a good partner… You’re feeling like you’re being a good enough parent. If you take time away from the business you feel guilty that you’re not working hard enough. There is no such thing as work-life balance, but what there is, is focus, drive and determination AND boundary setting. When I’m focused on work, I’m focused. Even if it means I have my laptop in bed with me as my husband and I watch Suits or Game of Thrones, I will multitask.

If I’m out with my family, I am 100% focused on them. Engaged in the family memories and the laughter. And when I’m tired, I sleep. I promised myself after CCNM that I would never sacrifice sleep again to achieve my goals. I rarely have a night where I don’t get 8-9 hours of sleep. That’s what allows me to hit Beast Mode during the day and make shit happen.

So when it comes to “best time spent” learning this modality, or doing this social media campaign, there is no right answer. I always recommend to do what you know your ideal patients want you to do and nothing more. If your ideal patients hate acupuncture and love botanicals, do NOT take a course on acupuncture for X conditions. If they want more support on PMS and you invest in an expensive convention on cancer therapy, then your personal wants and your business needs are NOT in alignment.

Let’s also face facts. Not everyone is the entrepreneurial type. As Mark Cuban says, there’s entrepreneurs and “want”-repreneurs. The entrepreneur world is not for everyone. The financial and relationship stressors happen. The strategizing and the focus needed is insane sometimes. The concept of a successful, thriving, fully- booked practice is a wonderful aspiration, but for many it remains a wonderful idea, without taking any action towards pursuing it.

An entrepreur is always taking action on a leap of faith. They do what they say they’re going to do. They are willing to sacrifice time doing the “fun stuff on weekend” and having money in the bank initially to get their projects done so the business can start growing. Wantrepreners talk a big talk, but never accomplish what they say they “want” to do. Investing time and money is a major struggle for an wantrepreneur because they don’t want to deal with any risks. Worry and Fear controls them. To an entrepreneur, this type of action is second nature as we mark our successes by accomplishment and profits.

The final statement that I want to make on this podcast is that a lot of the fear in Ashley’s question is coming back to that good old green elephant in the room. Money. The lack of guarantee, the need to have a second “regular” job, the fear of wasting time due to lack of profits. I will not beat around the bush and as I’ve already mentioned, you need money to start your practice. You spend money to make money, as they say. BUT if you’re mindset is focused on the money. If it’s focused on having that multi-million dollar clinic one day. Is focused on striking it rich with every patient. Then I suggest you either give your head a shake or get out now while you can.

Every successful practice owner will tell you that their main focus is bring the best, quality care to their patients and the profits that ensue are just icing on the cake. They will continue to re-invest their money into their clinic, to expand, to make a new i.v. suite, to create a therapeutic space, to offer new services and techniques, without even blinking an eye. They will take a nail from one hole and put it into another. Their motivation is their clinic community, not their bottom line. Do not get so focused on the bank account, which I know for some of you is a tremendous stressor, but you can’t let that cloud your vision for clinical and therapeutic success.

Instead, make the goal about living the dream and feeling rich and fulfilled in all aspects of your life. If you are listening to this and you’re feeling inspired to take a new course, to turn that extra millimeter to the left or to the right. To take on that No Plan B approach, but want a little extra guidance, do not hesitate to contact me on the website, and/or book in with me a 30min strategy call.

I also wanted to let all new grads or anyone who’s struggling to make their practice work for them, that I am currently in the pre-launch of my step-by- step MAXIMize Your Clinic online course that will help you create that strong foundation, and take away a lot of the worries and the stresses of what to do next, what to do when, etc. If that course sounds perfect for you, please sign up to my Sexy MAXIMizers Facebook group by going to the website and signing up with the pop-up. You can also go the the Leadpages Tab on the

MaximMovement FB page too!

You Mean, You Don't Have a Business Coach? Interview with Jennifer Haessler PPP: 025

The number one question I get from students studying naturopathy is: where do I go? They want to know if they should set up in a big town or a small town, if they should open a big clinic or a small clinic, etc. Today I'm talking to Jennifer Haessler who has been in practice since 2003 and co-owns a multi-disciplinary practice and we're going to go over all of those questions. Jennifer is going to share mistakes she's made and things she wished she knew when she started.

What I Asked Jennifer:

1. When you started, what helped you make the decision to start a practice in a small town?
2. What made you decide to open a multi-disciplinary practice?
3. What's it like having a business partner?
4. How did you go about hiring associates?
5. What are some of the "mistakes" that you want to share with people? 

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

• Some differences between having a practice in a small town vs. a big city.
• What Jennifer did to market her practice in her small town.
• How Jennifer has found success in co-owning a clinic.
• Why Jennifer and her partner decided to hire a business coach.
• What Jennifer's experience was working with her business while she was pregnant and had children.

How to Connect with Jennifer:

Clinical Website:www.mapleshores.ca

Personal Website: www.haesslernaturopathic.com

Facebook Page

Facebook Group

Other Episodes You Might Enjoy:

Take Massive Action with No Plan B
Streamline Your Business
Providing Value to Patients & Practitioners

My $1000 Launch That Cost Me ZERO To Create PPP: 024

It's Andrea Maxim here and I'm going to discuss today how my $1000 launch cost me $0 to create!

Back in February James Wedmore sent an email to his list (which I'm on) and this email said one thing: "I want to mentor you for free."

Being mentored by James who has made 7 figures from online courses and numerous other amazing things caught my attention, but there was one catch... you had to submit a YouTube video explaining who you were, why you wanted to be mentored by him and why you wanted to join his group.

I didn't hesitate, I knew I had to do this so I set up my laptop, hit record and submitted it on YouTube.

After he told us he got over 350 responses, I didn't think I would really get into the group, but to my surprise I got an email from him saying I got into the program!

This story relates to what I'm going to talk about today, I'm going to talking about my first online launch story and the value of how business coaching got me there.

Today I'm going to walk you through the exact steps so that you too can create an online launch for your email list, for your  current patients, and hopefully excite some of your inactive patients to get them excited about a new program your offering at your practice.