Economy, by Dr. Ogi Ressel

Wednesday, March 25th 2009

Warm hellos to everyone!

Ok......I've had it! ....And I'm really hot under the collar about this issue!
There has recently been a glut of doctors I've chatted with who feel:
"Woe is me. The Economy is bad. People don't have money. I don't have money.
No one has money. No one will ever have money. I will never have any money.
No one wants Chiropractic. People will not bring their children to see me.
No one wants to see me. This sucks. Woe is me."
Right.

Ok.....so there has been a temporary wrinkle in the fabric of Life with the
Economy, and a small and temporary slow-down.

So what?
•1.    Does that mean that everything is bad? Absolutely not!
•2.    Does it mean that everything you've worked so hard for was for
        nothing? Get a life! NOT!
•3.    Does it invalidate your years of training and schooling and practice?
        Again....NO!
•4.    Does that mean that people will somehow magically decide that
        you are no longer worth the money they spend on your care?
        I like this one! Think about it. If you answer "YES" to this question,
        it means that your patients pay you simply because they like you and/or
        enjoy giving their money away to you because you're a nice person and
        they feel sorry for you.
        Right! It means that people pay you not because you're worth it,
        but because they feel some moral obligation to support their local chiro.
        Bizarre thinking isn't it? ....but this is borne out of the concept that you
        are not worth what you charge. Ergo: Your patients pay you "just for the hell of it."

This thinking makes absolute sense to me. NOT!

So....let's look at this issue from the perspective of reality and not from
some mass inducedfear propagated by the media, shall we?

Think about this for a moment:
•1.    Stand on any street corner in your town and count all your future
        patients driving by in their BMWs, Mercedes, Porches, Infinities, Lexus, etc.
•2.    Take a good look at all the new construction sites for future office
        buildings, farms, homes, cottages, recreational properties, etc., in your area.
•3.    Take a good look at all the restaurants that are always jam-packed
        with people from your community.
•4.    Have a good look at your mall - and see all the people in your community
        struggle carting their bags out to their Mercedes.
•5.    Stand at any gas station and see people pumping Premium into their cars. And while

I'm on this, let me give you a dose or reality: The price for regular gas in
Venezuela is $.27/gallon. It is .45 in Iraq, 4.50 in the US, 5.67 in Canada,
and 8.00 in Europe.
It is estimated that it will be 8.00/gallon in Canada by the end of 2008 - t
he US will be close by. And people will still fill up their cars. Is this due to a shortage?

The Saudis assure it is not. It is caused by speculators falsely raising oil prices for
profit - nothing more. The point is that people will simply dig a little bit deeper
to get that which they want. That is all.

The point that I'm trying my hardest to make to you is that you are in
panic mode. In Lack.
And you see everything about you in that same light. Lack. But, you see,
that is not the case.

There is lots of money in your community. The problem is that you are
not seeing much of it.
The reason is simple - people do not value what you do. Any way you
slice and dice this, the result is the same: They see you as average - and
there is another chiropractor on every street corner of your town that does
what you do. A dime/dozen comes to mind.  So....if they can't get what
they want from you, they will just see the next chiro on the list.

So....how do you win this game?
Easy.

Here it is: You need to become better than everyone else.
You need to become the best.
You need to be so good that people talk about you everywhere.
You need to be so incredible that people fly in to see you from out of
state, or country. You see, what you reach that echelon, then it doesn't
matter what the economy is doing because people WANT to see you at
all cost. Yes...that is what I said, at all cost. And they WANT to pay you.
And they are not concerned about your fees. Or your waiting list, or the
fact that you do not take their insurance, or that your office is on the
10^th floor overlooking Mario's Bakery, and there's no elevator.
I've been there, and done that!

Listen...I've been trying to say this to you for some time now - it has
been the prevalent thought in my THOTS: You need to become the very
best your community has ever seen.
Ever. Period. There is no compromise on this point.

Not the best at marketing your brains out, not the best at fear tactics
executed brilliantly in the name of Christ, not the best at sales pitches
and glitz, and not the best at BS. NO!

The very best at being a doctor. There's a concept!
So, doctors, get on it! And if you do not know how, let me help
you get started:

Complete the Practice Health Mini-Check up on my website - it's on the home page,

I'll take it from there.

Warmest wishes,
Dr. Ogi Ressel