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!

I’m not talking about Medicine, any more!

I’m not talking about Medicine, any more! Medicine outside the ER is mostly ineffective and dangerous. Consumers ALREADY know this and are looking for something else. I’m a Principled ChirorpacTOR! I help people get and stay healthy. I’m not an alternative to their MD. I’m an alternative to sickness, disease, fear and worry. Send me folks who want to live a powerful life moving TOWARD what they DO want!

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  The shortest distance to healing is the nervous system.  Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care is the shortest distance to the Nervous System.  I AM an Upper Cervical Chiropractor!

My Thoughts on the Swine Flu

A friend asked me recently what I thought about the pending Swine Flu panic and the vaccine which has YET to be “developed”.

While I believe ANY vaccination should be a personal choice based on FULL informed consent, I do have  a personal opinion on the matter.  Here’s my feeling on it.

• First, the human body is a self-healing, self-regulating organism.   I think we’re designed to resist ANY and ALL pathogens. A healthy immune system needs no help from an experimental concoction.
• Second,  I was around during the LAST Swine Flu “panic” in the 70’s.  The shot killed more people than the flu!
• Third, I don’t trust the Government, PHARMA or the Medical Industrial Complex. Anytime the Government tries to work up a frenzy of fear to motivate the masses to action, I slow down, back up and usually turn and run.
• Fourth, we have never vaccinated our kids. I understand the vaccination dogma and simply don’t buy it. Our kids don’t buy it. We feel like we actually put our kids at greater risk by injecting them with both fear and who-knows-what in the vaccine.
• Fifth, as a chiropractor, I understand the concept of ADAPTABILITY. A single cell virus, supposedly THAT virile, will mutate very rapidly and ANY vaccine will be virtually worthless.
• Finally, I believe this thing (IF ITS real) will make several rounds through the populace. By being exposed to it early, we develop natural and stronger immunity.

In the end, whether you vaccinate or NOT has to be YOUR decision. But, just know that you were made in the likeness and image of the Creator of ALL life – strong, healty and powerful. Make a rational decision based on knowledge and principle NOT fear.

What I’ve Learned from My Emory Experience.

This is the 7th year I’ve participated in the National Youth Leadership Forum for Medicine.  While there are several of these forums across the country, my experience has been at the forum held at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

First, NYLF is a fantastic program.  It’s primary purpose is to expose aspiring young people considering careers in health care to various professions to help them hone in on exactly what direction they’d like to pursue OR if that’s really what they want to do.  I applaud the folks at NYLF for their efforts.

One of the most interesting things I’ve learned from talking with these young people about chiropractic is that very few of them have a clue what chiropractors do or what chiropractors believe about health and medicine.  BUT the more striking reality is that these young people who will be the doctors of the future are TOTALLY open-minded about what we chiropractors do and CAN DO!  I’ve heard from a few over the years that they actually decided to become a chiropractor instead of an MD because of what they heard in my talk.  Humbling, to say the least.

Of course, many of these young people only know what they have been TOLD about chiropractic.  Some of that information has been passed on by either parents, friends or MDs that know little if anything about chiropractic, whatsoever.  At the same time, I’ve been amazed at how many of these kids have been getting adjusted their entire life and love it AND communicate it better than many of us practicing chiropractors.

Another interesting aspect of my NYLF – Emory experience is the exposure to other health care professionals.  While never combative, I have encountered some negativity my a couple of my medical counterparts.  One tried to make me stumble by asking me about some esoteric aspect of spinal anatomy.  I answered his question and have not heard from him since.  But to my amazement, most of my contacts with medical practitioners has been VERY positive.  Maybe that’s because they work in an academic environment where folks are generally open to new perspectives or maybe just because our common purpose was to share with the kids and everyone was able to submit their prejudice to the greater good.

The most striking thing I’ve learned about MDs and their attitudes about chiropractic is their general ignorance about the chiropractic profession and the premise on which our profession is based.  Over the years, several MDs have asked me how it works.  Others have expressed their skepticism about chiropractors claiming to heal (or treat) disease.  I love it when an MD expresses this particular concern because it’s the perfect opportunity to dispel a significant misconception of chiropracTIC.

Imagine the look on an MDs face when I tell them that I accept ALL cases regardless of their disease, condition or diagnosis!  Heresy!  The shock factor alone makes it fun (in my own warped way) to amke that statement.  But, when I explain that I NEVER treat a disease but the person WITH the disease or condition, the doctor turns his ear to hear me better.  When most of them hear me talk about the autonomic nervous system (especially about the Vagus Nerve) they start to understand the neurological basis for chiropractic care.

Of course, there’s a great divide between medicine and chiropractic.  After all, we ARE two totally separate and distinct professions and ideologies.  I STILL want to help folks avoid getting trapped in what I call the “Medical Maze” and my medical counterparts want to make sure their patients are not denied medical care (that they deem important) by a dogmatic chiropractor.  I think to some degree that divide will ALWAYS exist.  It can’t help be exist.

The greatest lesson for me, though, is that there is much education to be done.  However, it has been made crystal clear to me that NOW more than ever, the public is OPEN to the message of self-healing and wholeness.

Let me ask you to do me one favor, please.  If you know of anyone or any group that is open to hearing more about this unique perspective on health and health care, please let me know.  I’ve dedicated my life to helping people KNOW they were designed to be healthy WITHOUT fear of sickness, disease and infirmity.

What can chiropractic mean to you? A personal Declaration of Independence!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” One of the most powerful statements ever uttered by Man are these few words found in our own Declaration of Independence.

In addition to its profound meaning for our nation and as the guidepost for freedom for all peoples of this planet, it’s also a reminder that we (you, me and all of Mankind) were Designed to be great, healthy, strong, free from fear and able to pursue happiness in your life in all its’ forms.

How sad that in a society of affluence and almost magical technology, way too many folks live in fear of sickness, disease and infirmity. In our so-called advanced society, we’ve created a disease for every drug. We’re taught to fear life itself! So, we begin early living life as though it were a virtual mine field. This causes that and that cause this. So-called “scientific” research validates drugs that kill thousands while offering limited relief for those grasping for even an ounce of hope.

BUT, there IS hope for a suffering and searching Mankind. Chiropractic, the profession hidden by many’s focus on back pain, has been offering freedom to millions of Americans and peoples around the world for over 110 years. In its purest form, the proper application of chiropractic principles helps your body function closer to your own God-given potential for health. Sometimes, it happens with a single adjustment. Sometimes, it happens in layers like removing husks from an ear of corn. Eventually, as you’ve pulled back all the husks, you find the fresh sweet goodness inside.

As we approach our country’s Independence Day, I urge you to declare your won independence from fear of sickness and infirmity. Start pulling back those husks and seeing God’s Glory manifest in your own life. Pursue your potential in strength, love and joy and you’ll find your fears falter and fall behind. Sooner than you can imagine, they’ll fade into the distant past.

May God bless you in all your trials and tribulations but also in His Glory manifested in YOUR life!

Time to Make My Stand

I want. No, I NEED your help and come to you boldly but with great humility. There’s a time in each of our lives when our number is called and we can either step forward or slink back in the crowd. My time has come.

I became a chiropractor because of a little girl whose life was restored because of a simple chiropractic adjustment.  The simplicity of that act and the faith of that little girl’s mother showed me the Power of an Idea whose time had come.  How could something SO simple have such profound effects on what had had teams of pediatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists, etc. confused and without anywhere to go and a hopeless prognosis?

It has never been my nature to jump in without first investigating.  You could say I’m an adventurous skeptic.  I’d always liked to think there were better ways to deal with complex problems, but had to be shown how and why something worked FIRST!  What I found astounded me!

Simply put, chiropractic works because of the simplicity of the premise on which it was founded.  That premise is that EVERYTHING in the Universe is organized.  It’s that organization that holds things together, keeps the planets aligned and holds matter together.  Further, that organization exists in ALL living things.  And, it’s that VERY organization that takes a single spermatazoa (out of 30,000,000) and forms a beautiful little baby in a matter of 9 months. 

That organization is responsible for the growth and development (mental, physical and emotional) of that little human life form and enables it to live and thrive under the most dire circumstances.  It provides immunity against diseases known or not yet discovered by scientists.  Left to its own devices, that organization enables that new life to thrive, prosper and contribute postiively to its own world and the world around him or her.

But, I’ve been frustrated with my chiropractic practice for some time.  I’ve allowed myself to practice in a schitzofrenic world.  My profession is split between trying to compete with medical doctors as we try to treat medical conditions only without drugs or surgery on one hand and trying to teach people how to live a holistic lifestyle directed by that innate wisdom already in them.  On top of that, we try to do both with a fee system beased on a failed healthcare system.  The result is that we either “treat” some until their insurance is used up or develop care plans designed to lock folks into long-term care plans.

Because of my initial exposure to the power of chiropractic in its truest form, I’ve always had a distaste for some of the business aspects of our profession.  Having been a banker, real estate broker and having a degree in Economics, I appreciate the free market and the concept of charging what the market will bear.  However, I also understand the concept of branding. And I think my profession has done a damned lousy job of branding itself.

In its simplest form, chiropractic removes or reduces a significant source of stress on one’s nervous system, THE system in the body that executes that innate organization of which I spoke earlier.  THAT’S IT!  In fact, if done properly, a person will genreally see significant results from chiropractic within a relatively FEW visits.  After that, routine visits can help maintain or improve your health as you move into the future.

My exposure to chiropractic was from the standpoint that chiropractors can help you get (and stay) better for less money and in less time.  One of the great benefits I saw in the application of chiropractic was that it not only freed up people’s health, but their wallet and time, as well.  So, it literally makes me SICK when someone says they can’t afford chiropractic care because they either don’t have “health” insurance or their policy doesn’t cover it.  In fact, many “health” insurance policies have such high deductibles that a person SHOULD be able to get the chiropractic care they need WITHOUT ever exceeding their decuctible.

So, I’ve decided to take a stand.  I’m tired of selling chiropractic from the medical perspective of SCARING people into getting chiropractic care.  Do I think an unresolved chiropractic problem can lead to your death?  OF COURSE I DO!  But, the death message hasn’t stopped people from smoking cigarettes or drinking or taking drugs, whether pushed or prescribed.  So, I’m just not going to do that!  I WANT yu to get adjusted BECAUSE it will make you BETTER and HEALTHIER!  Period!  I am going to have a FEE SYTEM that MAKES SENSE, not necessarily from my associates’ perspective, BUT from the CONSUMER’S!  “Health” insurance has NOTHING to do with health.  Insurance is designed for catastrophic, crisis situations NOT long-term investments in health and wellness.

If you want to build WEALTH, you INVEST on a regular basis. Of course you have insurance, but that’s to protect you from catstrophic loss.  Insurance doesn’t grow your wealth only help protect it from loss.  It’s the same way with Medicine and insurance.  Their job is to keep you from dying or losing everything because of a catastrophic health problem.  There’s a HUGE difference.  I’m not trained for the Emergency Room where Medicine shines.  I’m trained to help you BUILD a powerful life AND KEEP YOU OUT OF THE HOSPITAL by keeping your Master Control System free and clear.

HERE’S WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO! I want to reach at least 200 individuals over the next 90 days.  I have adjusted my fees to make it EASY for virtually ANY family to afford routine chiropractic care REGARDLESS of their insurance coverage.

HERE A SOME WAYS YOU CAN HELP:
1)  Forward this message to anyone you know WHO’S DEALING WITH A CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEM!
2) CALL ME WITH SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES WITH ANY GROUP YOU KNOW that might be interested in this NEW perspective on chiropractic and health.
3) SEND YOUR GOOD ENERGY (thaat means thoughts and prayers) toward me and those folks who are dying for a little bit of hope for health and healing.
4) Plan on joinng me for a giant celebration after we’ve achieved this great accomplishment!
5) If you’re a chiropractic friend and you have any POSITIVE thoughts and suggestions, feel free to send me an e-mail, post on my FB wall or give me a call.

PLEASE NOTE: If you just want to bitch because you think I’m devaluing chiropractic, don’t bother. The world needs what I (we) have to offer. THEY are more important that what someone thinks about my fees.

Spread the word!

Keep the faith! Turn the crank! TESTIFY!

Dr. Tim Langley to Address National Youth Leadership Forum for Medicine for 7th Consecutive Year

Dr. Tim Langley has been invited to participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum for Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, GA for the 7th consecutive year. Dr. Langley is family chiropractor in Marietta, GA and a graduate of Life University. “I always enjoy sharing the message of Principled Chiropractic with these future health care professionals. Some have chosen to become chiropractors. Some have gone on to practice Medicine but with a greater understanding of both chiropractic and the body’s design for health and performance.”

The National Youth Leadership Forum is a non-profit organization that conducts programs on the campus of Emory University for high-achieving high school juniors and seniors interested in a career involved in medicine.

NYLF/MED is an extraordinary 10-day program offering an intense and stimulating exploration of the field of medicine. Held each summer at renowned medical centers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston-Galveston, Los Angeles, Phoenix-Tucson, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., it is the nation’s foremost program in pre-medical education for high school students. First held in 1993, this year approximately 8,200 students will attend 22 NYLF/MED programs.

During various small group seminar sessions, NYLF/MED participants explore some of today’s leading medical issues and gain insights into the medical field and different medical professions as it is today and as it promises to be in the future.. In small groups, students meet with physicians and other professionals to discuss subjects such as “life as a resident,” “a personal perspective of patient care” and various medical specialties.

If you’d like to know more about Principled Chiropractic and how it can positively affect your own health, that of your family, company and community, call Dr. Langley at 770-289-9711 or e-mail him at drtim02@yahoo.com.

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!