Thanksgiving and Social Networking

What a great networking opportunity Thanksgiving represents!

Now, you may think this is somewhat cynical.  Just the idea of using a holiday gathering of family and friends SHOULD be an occasion free from businesses and sales pitches.  And of course, you are right, somewhat.

After everyone has gotten and given their hugs and everyone is caught up on “family business”, what do we do?  Well, there’s the meal, dessert, then football or conversation.  But, how many times have you gotten into conversations with friends and relatives about some of the challenges they might be having?  How many times in the past have you simply let the topic pass and never give it another thought?

If you are involved at all in “social networking” for your business, I want you to approach things differently this year.  Take your Rolodex with you!  Not (necessarily literally, but maybe) with you.  Instead of trying to sell your own business to your family and friends, try helping THEM by sharing your contacts with them!  What better way to give a gift than to help someone you know than to introduce them to someone else you trust.

What better way to give “Thanks” than by “Giving” your shared friendships to others in a way that helps everyone?  We sell best when we sell least.  People refer to people they like.  So, strive to be the kind of person people like.

In America, we have much for which to give thanks.  Thanksgiving is not as much about celebrating your faith as it is about celebrating life.  Take nothing for granted.  Life is too short and too precious to complain.  Look for the good in all things and in everything.  Remember, regardless of how bad our own situation may be there is always someone worse off.  In all things give thanks.

Gloom and Doom Are For Sissies!

Because of my banking and real estate background, I have an opportunity to consult with chiropractors about their business.

I was working with a particular chiropractor today on negotiating the lease for her new practice. The negotiations had gone well with some excellent concessions on the perfect location for her business. That’s when she started to doubt herself. Apparently, she had heard on the news that the economy was SO bad that there was a 12 month supply of empty office space on the market.  “Should I rethink even starting a practice now?”

While I’m aware of the state of the economy, you should be VERY leery of blanket statements about how bad things are. There is NEVER a better time to start a new business or make the right investment than in a recession, ESPECIALLY a deep recession like this one. Certainly, there are LOTS of empty buildings and space for lease and there are lots of folks going out of business and layoffs and lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! HOWEVER, in the midst of all the bad news there is lots of GOOD NEWS!

Sure, there IS plenty of empty space and folks are going out of business and there are layoffs. BUT, look at it from another perspective. For THIS particular chiropractor, there was only a FEW places that would work for her. The space we found was the PERFECT size in the PERFECT location with a MOTIVATED landlord and LOWER RENT than should EVER have been able to find just a year ago! Furthermore, there is an abundance of highly qualified folks willing to work for almost anything just to have some income.

So, before you buy into the gloom and doom of the recession, understand that it creates great opportunities for small businesses to flourish. So, get to work seeking, even creating great opportunities for yourself TODAY!

Kick BUT and Make Money!

Part of the problem with being a small business is that there always seems to be an excuse for not being able to accomplish what you want. Many times, it doesn’t matter whether there’s a good economy or bad, there is always an excuse. It might be the economy or the Government or our litigious society or the stock market or WHATEVER!

The TRUTH is that there will ALWAYS be challenges and obstacles to doing business. The key to winning is to ALWAYS get back up. My old football coach would say “Keep you head down and your feet moving! Drive! Drive! Drive! Don’t stop UNTIL you hear the whistle blow!” Obviously, what he was telling us was to keep going DESPITE what else might be happening.

One of the key congruences I’ve seen in every successful person I know has been the ability, even INTENT, to Kick BUT! Winners NEVER make excuses. They never need to. IF winners ever use the word “but” it’s to overcome an excuse to NOT do something.

Make a habit of “Kicking BUT” in your business and life. You’ll be amazed at your results.

Networking is about positive, affirmative relationships. Success is about making steady progress toward the realization of your goals and dreams. Invest in good, strong relationships.

SERVE DON’T SELL!

Say “Hello”
Get their card
Follow Up!
Say “Thank You!”
Tell. Don’t Sell
Refer
THEN Receive!

Remember, they don’t care how much you know UNTIL they know how much you care!

Why do customers leave or not refer? http://ping.fm/mRjAb

Chiropractic: Truth in Advertising

When I heard the call to become a chiropractor, it was NOT necessarily to fix backaches and strains. It was because I had seen lives literally saved, or at least changed, after all hope had been lost pursuing traditional approaches to their problem.  One in particular was a little girl who had suffered from seizures her entire life.

That little girl NEVER suffered a backache.  But, she DID suffer.  Her mother had NO INSURANCE.  And if she had to pay the same fee that folks with insurance coverage paid, she simply could not have afforded the care.  But, her chiropractor had a fee system that allowed her to get the care she needed at a price that was affordable and predictable.

Part of the problem people have with chiropractors is that they don’t always know what we do! Some try to fix back pain, while others sell supplements or various other devices.  Some wear white coats (some even drape a stethoscope over their neck) and exclaim, “We’re REAL doctors, too!”  Most claim that what we do can help you get and stay healthy.  But, FEW can (or will) tell you in a few words what it is we really do.

Here’s the truth about chiropractic! In it’s simplest form, chiropractic is the location and correction of a source of interference in how your body communicates with itself.  Specifically, we reduce stress on your central nervous system caused by slight misalignments of a bone (or bones) in your spine.  Because your nervous system runs your whole body and affects EVERY aspect of your life, that stress can affect your health, thinking and emotions.  When a chiropractor does what he/she is supposed to do, your body functions better. It simply can’t help BUT work better.

Most chiropractors will take your insurance.  But, when a doctor accepts your insurance it usually raises the cost of your care. There are many reasons why.  Just know it does.  I have an article on my blog about “The Case for Cash”.  Feel free to check it out.

At my practice, ALL we do is remove that stress that ONLY chiropractors are trained to find and correct. And because that’s all I do, it allows me to charge a fee that people can afford.  I also believe that if chiropractic is good for helping you GET BETTER it is also good for helping you STAY BETTER.  That’s why we encourage folks to include it in their lifestyle.

So, if I want you to include it in our lifestyle, shouldn’t I have a fee system that will allow you to do JUST that? Of course!  Isn’t THAT what they mean when they say “Put your money where your mouth is!”? A few years ago, I came up with the concept of “The Membership Practice” where you pay like you do for a health club membership.

We offer three (3) types of memberships. 1) Individual Visit Member: You pay a yearly fee of $100 and then you pay a reduced fee each time you come for a visit, a little more if you bring the rest of your family.  2) Monthly Practice Membership is a monthly investment that’s reasonable for almost any individual or family for unlimited care.  This plan is designed to help you fit routine chiropractic adjustments into your lifestyle without breaking the bank.  Yearly Practice Memberships work out to be about half of what the monthly plan would be and offers the same benefits as the monthly plan, only at a great savings.

Why would I offer my services at such a ridiculous value? I’m glad you asked.  At my office, we are dedicated to helping folks achieve their health goals in a way that saves them time, money and hassle.  My goal is to help as many people as I possibly can!  If I help you AND give you a great value, aren’t you more likely to tell someone else who could benefit from chiropractic?  Of course you are.

So, here’s what I’d like for you to do.  Please forward this post to a friend who could stand to feel better and be better TODAY!  The very best time to do something good for someone is when the idea pops into your mind. Thanks for taking time to read this message and for passing it on.

Recessions are GOOD! That’s When We Build MARKET SHARE!

Frankly, it’s easy to get discouraged if you listen to all the news.  And to be honest, the news is mostly BAD right now.  BUT, recessions are GOOD!  Recessions are the market’s pruning shears.  Sometimes, wild growth makes the vine less fruitful.  So, pruning actually helps it grow better, more orderly and more fruitful.  An old real estate speculator friend of mine once told me, “Buy on bad news.  Sell on good news.”  It took me a few minutes to understand fully what he was telling me.  Essentially, he was telling me that the VERY best time to invest is when everyone else is selling and the best time to sell is when everyone is buying.

The same hold true when you think about how you’ll do business through these rough economic times.  But, NOW is THE time to expand your market share.  Lower your price if you must.  Offer specials to get rid of stale inventory while attracting potential new customers.  You’ll have plenty of opportunities LATER to reap your rewards in terms of profits.

So, keep your strategies simple NOW.  KEEP your existing clients and GET new ones.  Be active in the market.  Be enthusiastic about your product or service.  Give people a REASON to do business with you NOW!

The View from Outside the Box: Economic Stimulus

In the midst of our current “economic crisis”, we’ve elected a new President and an activist Congress.  The question on everyone’s mind is “What will the Government do to stimulate the economy?”  The premise with the prevailing angst over the recession is that Government can help us out of this (or any) recession by extending jobless benefits, jobs programs and financial bailouts of failed institutions and industries.

Sadly, this premise can only prolong the suffering instead of correcting the problem.  If we’re going to spend AT LEAST a trillion dollars on trying to get the economy back on track, let’s consider some alternatives to the current thinking.  Here are some ideas to consider.

Free Markets and Bailouts:   There should be NO Government bailout, whether for the financial or auto industries, or any other that will jump into the fray for that matter.  If a company won’t run its’ business in such a way as to be profitable while properly managing risks and preparing for financial calamity, then both the market and consumer are better off with that company giving way to companies that WILL.

Eliminate ALL income taxes, including corporate taxes.  Also, eliminate the IRS. Probably the single biggest impediment to job creation in the United States is our system of taxing away individual and corporate incentives to grow and prosper.  Eliminating the corporate income tax would make the United States a virtual tax haven for companies and investors from all over the world.  The influx of investment dollars would create more jobs than any Government program ever could.  It would also allow hundreds of billions of dollars (now wasted on compliance) to be spent on planning profitable and productive areas of growth and expansion.  As with investment, so too would jobs migrate back to the US.

Eliminating personal income taxes would also spur individual investment and savings.  It would also remove the fear many (most) Americans of the Internal Revenue Service.  It would also eliminate the possibility of Identity Theft at the hands of IRS employees (and private collection agencies) with access to personal information from tax returns.  Americans should not fear their Government.  That is not the case when it comes to taxation.

Adoption of a national retail sales tax could provide all the revenue necessary to run the Federal Government with no negative effect on the public.  A tax rebate (as suggested in HR 25, The Fair Tax)  would ensure that lower income households would not be penalized by the national sales tax.

Decentralize the banking system. Probably more than any single institution (other than the IRS) the Federal Reserve actually distorts and magnifies swings in the financial markets through politically motivated machinations of interest rates.  Milton Friedman advocated slow but steady growth of the money supply to ensure growth while minimizing inflationary pressures and wild swings in interest rates.  Interest rates fluctuate according to the market as a self-regulating mechanism.  Messing with that mechanism only causes problems.

Instead of bailing out huge banks that have in part cause this financial crisis, encourage the development of community banks.  Local banks are much better able to respond to local needs AND cause little or no impact if/when they fail.  Local banks also ensure better service at the consumer level.

Free Trade and Fair Trade. Free trade is good for the American consumer AND our economy.  Because American consumers can buy more with less because of cheaper imports, they have more to spend on their families or even to save for college, retirement or whatever.  However, when I think of “free trade” I assume there are no restrictions on either side and that everyone is playing on a level field.  Unfortunately, American manufacturers are generally held to a higher standard in compliance with various regulations.  Hold importers liable for the same safety and quality standards as American manufacturers and make sure that American exporters are allowed the same access to foreign markets as foreign importers have to our markets.

Greater Consumer Power and Freedom. Instead of giving a trillion dollars to poorly run and managed companies that should be allowed to fail, I would rather give that trillion dollars directly to American citizens.  This could be done in one of two ways.  The Government could just suspend collecting taxes until a trillion dollars is not collected.  This would benefit primarily taxPAYERS.  The other alternative would be to send every citizen a check for $3000.  Americans could decide for themselves how best to spend that money whether it be to pay bills, catch up on mortgage payments, put a down payment on a house or car or even invest it.  Either way, the money goes where it is both needed and can do the most good.

In the final analysis, it was Government that created this mess.  From the outside looking in, the only way to clean up the mess is to have the Government involved as little as possible.  Do I expect President Obama or this Congress to enact these suggestions?  Of course not.  BUT, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be considered.

How might the financial market crisis affect your healthcare?

Good question.  Probably NOT the first thing folks think about when they hear and read reports about the (almost $1 TRILLION) Government bailout of the financial industry.  However, this nonsense will ripple throughout our entire economic sytem with repercussions not yet considered by our “leaders”.

The real estate, banking, securities and insurance industries are all linked in a variety of ways.  In good times, insurance companies are flush with cash and invest heavily in the stock market and real estate.  Also during good times, bankers tend to get a little over-enthusiastic and get very aggressive in their lending.  As we have seen from this “bailout” madness, securities firms speculated on the value of real estae and bought and sold essentially worthless mortgage backed securities in astounding volumes.

As the market turned, all of these entities became less liquid and started pulling in their horns.  If it were just one bank, or securities firm or insurance company, there would be virtually no problem as a result.  However, everybody involved started pulling back at the same time and in a drastic way.  The result is what we are seeing right now,  a liquidity crisis throughout the financial industry.

So, just how will all this affect your healthcare?  Good question.  Specifically with insurance companies, I think you’ll see a few things happen.  As they try to improve their liquidity, I think you’ll see premiums increase while payouts are tightened.  In other words, t’s going to cost you more to have insurance AND it will pay you even less than before IF they pay, at all.  You can expect underwriting criteria to get insurance to get much toughr.  You may see your healthcare providers ask you to pay up front and have your insurance company reimburse ou directly.

So, how might you deal with this scenario?  One alternative might be to purchase a higher deductible insurance policy.  Another would be to think twice about even using your insurance.  Isn’t THAT a heck of a note?  Pay out the nose for insurance and not be able to use it.  Still another might be to seek out providers that operate on a cash basis and offer reasonable fees based on what YOU need instead of what your insurance policy might pay.

However you decide to deal with this situation in the banking and finance industry, you should keep your debt down and try to manage your expenses as much as possible.  Stay healthy and on the job.  If you need to find a good chiropractor to help you stay healthy and on the job, just let me know.  I have friends that can help you stay on the job AND save money while doing so.  Best wishes.

Panic, fear and the financial bailout. Just say “NO!”

Here we sit on the eve of another vote by the U.S. Senate on the $700 BILLION bailout of the financial industry.  We’re told that if this bailout plan is not passed immediately (virtually WITHOUT review) that we could be headed for another Great Depression and that people retirement accounts will vanish into thin air.  As for me, I say “STOP!”

If a problem that has taken AT LEAST a decade (probably two) to manifest itself, how can we expect it to be restored with ONE fell swoop of the Congress.  And worse, how can we expect any different results when the VERY same people who allowed this debacle to be in charge of doling out the money?

The collective wisdom of a HUGE majority of Americans are skeptical (at best) about the validity of doomsday predictions if the Paulson Plan fails to pass.  Most Americans STILL oppose the bailout.  Yet, despite the will of the majority of Americans, arrogant politicians apparently feel that you are simply stupid and can’t possibly understand the complexities of the issues at hand.  However, those politicians don’t seem to understand that what the electorate DOES understand is that If business is allowed to profit from such careless practices, then businesses should be allowed to FAIL when those practices cause them financial calamity.

This whole scenario is akin to going to the doctor when you have a cold only to be told you MUST check in TODAY for emergency surgery WITHOUT fully explaining to you what is wrong, what are the procedures being recommended and why, and what are your chances of recovering or even dying on the operatiing table while TELLING you to sign a waiver “just in case” something goes wrong.  Who wins in THAT scenario?  Certainly not you, the patient, who will pay the bill and deal with the consequences?  In that scenario don’t you AT LEAST deserve a full explanation, including your alternatives, of what is being proposed?  And shouldn’t you KNOW the risks involved?

This bailout of the financial industry is simply wrong.  Our economy is essentially strong.  And, just like your body is designed to absorb dead and dying cells and use them for good and eliminate any waste, so would a free market do with these failed institutions.  In fact, just look at the Washington Mutual and Wachovia situations.  Both banks assets were acquired without hurting anybody but their stockholders.  As a result of their failure, another bank will be able to expand and provide better service than what existing customers may have been able to expect from a struggling bank.

Do NOT be swayed by fear and panic.  As the old saying goes “Haste makes waste”.  Allow the free market to deal with this mess.  It really is the best way to get through this with the least harm to the most people.  And the next time someone tries to scare you into acting out of fear, simply tell them “NO!”

Teach a man to fish. . .

We’ve all heard the old saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime”.  Nothing could be more true about most things in life.

In the health care business, we tend to simply identify a problem and tell the patient what to do.  Then, we wait around until their next crisis pops up, identify the problem, fix it and wait for the next problem.  But, it just seems that something is wrong with that picture.  Granted, it might be great for the long-term income potential of a the healthcare provider, the drug companies and hospital groups.  But, is it really an effective way for the health consumer to spend his/her time or money?  Obviously not.

One of the things I enjoy about my practice is that I try to help people understand WHY they’re having some of the problems they’re having and show them HOW they can prevent the problem from coming back.  As they become responsible for understanding how their own body works and how to build health, they have less need for doctors of all types, including me.

Ironically, as my clients’ understanding of what health is, where it comes from and how it can be built and maintained, they become long-term wellness clients with fewer and fewer health crises.  Their medical bills tend to shrink over time and their life improves dramatically.

Funny thing is, that once these folks commit to coming in on a regular basis, they need less, their visits are shorter and they refer people that want better lives instead of just getting through the day.

If you or someone you know has been looking for a better approach to getting and staying healthy, subscribe to my blog or better yet find a good wellness chiropractor and get started.  If you’re in the northwest metro Atlanta area, I’d love to help you.  If you’re not, I’ll help you find someone.

Good luck!