You Have Four Options: Which One Will You Choose?

Our current crisis will end at some point. How long will it last and how tough will it be, nobody knows, but it will end and we will be practicing again. So, the question is: what are you doing now to get ready for when we do go back to treating patients in a regular way?
I was recently reading Grant Cardone’s book, The 10 X rule. Grant is a self-made entrepreneur, businessman and he has only one speed: fast forward. Love him or hate him he certainly has inspired many entrepreneurs and small business owners to new heights.
The 10X Rule has many interesting concepts related to “success”, but with regard to the topic of business “options”, he states that you have four choices when it comes to growing your business: retreat, do nothing, take normal business actions and take massive business action. Let’s explore all of these.

The first one, “retreat”, isn’t something that any normal business owner would take. It would mean literally going backwards with your business which I couldn’t imagine anyone doing, so let’s go to the next option
If one were to truly “do nothing”, they would have to do something. This means firing the team and putting them on unemployment, putting the phone on voicemail with a message that someone will call them back when this was all over, handling just an emergency number and sitting at home basically taking a vacation until we get back. I don’t really know anybody doing this either. It’s an option, but it certainly can’t be helping your business.
I’d say that most orthodontist have been “taking normal business actions”. Handling the team (either firing them or keeping them on payroll or some combination), dealing with incoming calls and emails, reducing costs across the board, reducing advertising spends, handling emergencies, taking some CE, contacting scheduled patients, maybe some virtual exams, watch some webinars, read a book on growth or leadership here and there, Zoom meetings with the team once or twice a week, follow the PPP situation and hunker down for much needed time with the family or focus on their personal growth. Seems like a very fair and appropriate approach. It’ll mean that they’ll come out of this with probably the same footprint they went in.
What if you took “massive action”, though? What would that look like? Imagine all of the aforementioned actions from “normal business actions” and adding things like posting a daily youtube video for prospective patients, writing a blog article every day, connecting with existing patients in unique and interesting ways, massive number of social media postings, new patient virtual exams with a click funnel to drive patients there, significantly increased ad spends because the “per click” costs would be down these days, work on revamping the website for content and SEO, daily meetings with specific members of the team for marketing, growth and systems meetings, outreach to local community leaders and schools to help in any way possible, new technology testing to see how to make the practice experience easier and seamless, working on daily systems and policies with the team, having team members assigned specific tasks, webinars and reading topics specific to their jobs, take out a motivational billboard on a busy highway, and more.
You see, the idea is to go “massive” and most of it does not require a ton of capital. It’s about time. You have lots of that. There are 168 hours in every day. You sleep about 30% of the day, and spend another 30% with your family.  Maybe 10% of the week for fitness and eating. You can’t leave your house, so you have 30% of your week left for your business. That’s 50.4 hours a week leftover for your business. Sure, you can watch Tiger King or Hunters or some trending show, but remember, this isn’t a vacation and we are talking about “MASSIVE ACTION” here. So, you CAN do everything I mentioned above and more.
Yeah, it’s a lot of work, but imagine emerging from this with a stronger practice than you had before. That would be amazing, right? Less stress, more growth.
Like I said above, you have 4 options. Which one will you choose?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Wishing you the best,

If you want to be a part of a geographically exclusive Facebook group (OrthopreneursRD) where we come together to help each other build better practices and lower stress, please message me. To learn more about your region’s availability and what it’s all about, click HERE.

GLENN KRIEGER IS AN ORTHODONTIST WITH 20 YEARS OF RESTORATIVE AND COSMETIC DENTISTRY EXPERIENCE BEFORE HE RETURNED TO ORTHODONTIC RESIDENCY. DR. KRIEGER LEARNED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF WELL-DESIGNED PRACTICE POLICIES AND SYSTEMS DURING A YEAR AT THE SCHUSTER CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA, AND AN UNDERSTANDING OF GENERAL ACCOUNTING PRACTICES AND INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON GRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOL’S “DENTIST AS CEO” PROGRAM. HE IS THE HOST OF “THE ORTHOPRENEURS PODCAST”, MANAGES THE ORTHOPRENEURS FACEBOOK GROUP AND RUNS THE ANNUAL ORTHOPRENEURS SUMMIT.