Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why does life often seem so unfair? And what does all that have to do with your chiropractic practice?
Those, and more, are questions “street scholar” Mark Matteson seeks to answer. In a time when chiropractic income is going down, expenses are rising, and chiropractors are facing a multitude of other issues, Mattesson gives chiropractors techniques they can use to reduce worry in their lives. That’s because, according to Matteson, author of the bestselling Freedom from Fear, worry isn’t only stressful. It’s a waste of time.
“Worry is a misuse of the imagination; it’s negative goal-setting,” says Matteson. “The analogy I like to use is fog. One square mile of fog is simply 12 ounces of water. But when we hit that fog when we’re driving, we either slow down or stop. And that’s what fear does. It shifts our focus onto the wrong side of the ledger. We just need to understand that worry is an illusion.”
Matteson says fear is a roadblock to success. Fortunately, though not easy, it is possible to get rid of worry.
“Worry is imagining what you don’t want to have happen, and it’s a habit,” he says. “The good news is, I can unlearn a habit. The question I like to ask is, where’s your focus? Is it on the things you want, or is it off the things you want?”
Because of his proven and practical techniques, Matteson is in great demand as a keynote speaker, seminar leader and management consultant. He says he attempts to take the best parts of his books, Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Fear Forever, and integrate them into each presentation–much as he’s planning to do at the International Chiropractic Appreciation Mega Event (ICAME) in Las Vegas in January.
Mark says he wants to inspire every audience to “raise the bar” and achieve higher levels of personal and professional performance. And, when it comes to Matteson’s advice, you can be sure it comes from experience. One example is self-confidence. Matteson recommends a kind of journaling to boost self-worth.
“When good things happen, write them down. I’ve been doing that for 15 years, and it’s dramatically changed my self-concept. At the risk of sounding arrogant, what’s it’s done is bolstered my self-worth,” says Matteson. “It’s built my confidence, and people buy that confidence. That’s no less true for speakers than it is for chiropractors.”
In fact, Matteson says self-confidence and self-esteem have a great deal to do with getting rid of worry and experiencing success in chiropractic offices.
“I believe personally that people buy you. In the chiropractic industry, you’re developing a relationship,” Matteson explains.
“It’s a relationship business, and you can’t give away something you don’t have.”
Anyone involved in the chiropractic industry can download Dr. Patrick Porter’s free podcasts through iTunes or by visiting http://www.ParkerVegas.com. You can view Dr. Porter’s chiropractic support program at www.newreality.com.
Most people don’t value their failures…but Bill Bartmann does. In fact, when it comes to failure and success, no one knows the ropes better than he does. If that seems a little exaggerated, it’s not. Among other life changes, Bartmann pulled himself from abject poverty to become the 25th wealthiest man in America.
“I’ve had a very interesting life,” Bartmann says. “I’ve gone from being unemployed and almost unemployable, to employing more than 10,000 people. I’ve gone from being a million dollars in the hole and bankrupt to being over a billion dollars to the good.”
And that’s just the beginning. Bartmann, who has earned recognition from numerous institutions, as well as a permanent place in the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History, says his mission is to share his success strategies with as many people as possible.
“I’ve seen both sides of success and failure, and I’ve seen both of them up close and personal,” says Bartmann. “It’s because I’ve seen them, and have learned some things during my journey, that I want to share the things I’ve learned with the hope that it will provide some value for the people in the audience.”
Because he’s known more than his share of hard times, Bartmann says he teaches people how to react to adversity in a way that makes their lives better.
“Most of us don’t know how to react to the things that happen to us. We go into shock,” he says. “We want to grab a bottle or grab a gun or grab a razor blade, because we fall into despair or despondency. I show people none of that stuff is necessary.”
Bartmann also says the way to dealing with adversity is deceptively simple.
“The simplest way to deal with adversity is to raise your self-confidence. If you can do that, then when things happen around you, you have the strength and the resolve to be able to deal with them honestly and straight-up,” Bartmann says.
While, Bartmann admits, he can’t fix everyone’s problems, he does want to help make their lives easier.
“I’m not a psychologist,” he stresses. “I’m not trying to cure all the ills of the world, but I do want to be able to talk to people one-on-one, to let them understand there is somebody out there who’s been through the stuff they’re going through, and there are some very simple things you can do that will make your life so much easier.”
“I’ve had more failures than anyone else I’ve met in my whole life, but I’ve also had more successes than most people, because I’ve learned how to deal with my failures,” Bartmann concludes. “That’s what I want to show people.”
Anyone involved in the chiropractic industry can download Dr. Patrick Porter’s free podcasts through iTunes or by visiting http://www.ParkerVegas.com. You can view Dr. Porter’s chiropractic support program at www.newreality.com.
In the wake of recent FDA advisories and warnings, patients are desperately searching for doctors who have real knowledge in the understanding and treatment of chronic muscle and joint pain. Greg Fors, DC, IBCN wants to make sure chiropractors can give those patients what they need.
“As a doctor of chiropractic and a board certified neurologist, I focused my practice on chronic pain disorders,” Fors shares. “Seeing that every day got me to look more deeply at the disorder and try to understand where it was coming from. More personally, my own daughter suffered with fibromyalgia, so it made it a personal quest to find why individuals develop these very disabling and chronic myofascial pain disorders.”
Because of that quest, Dr. Fors has since gained unparalleled expertise in the understanding of the underlying mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of myofascial pain disorders, as well as fibromyalgia.
“There’s a huge market out there of individuals who experience chronic myofascial pain that’s not being addressed,” states Fors.
Fors says the chiropractic profession’s focus on sports medicine and other specialties is often detrimental to chronic pain treatment. This is alarming, he says, because studies have shown that the majority of cases seen by chiropractors are everyday individuals plagued by some kind of recurrent pain disorder.
“The patients we’re seeing are typically in their fourth, fifth, even sixth decades,” Fors explains, “They’re sedentary. They’re not the elite athletes; they’re the typical American individuals who have this recurring pain problem. A lot of times those issues aren’t being addressed as specifically as they should be.”
It’s not necessarily the individual chiropractor’s fault, he adds. So far, there’s been a lack of education addressing the problem.
“As we look through our trade journals and see seminars being offered, there aren’t many showing us how to treat the individuals who are in their late 40s, work desk jobs, and have back pain, neck pain that’s been with them for ten years,” says Fors. “It is a whole different way of looking at the musculoskeletal system of that individual and addressing those specific underlying causes.”
The lack of education is something Fors hopes to change.
“I think it’s a really important thing for chiropractors to begin to focus on, because it’s a healthcare epidemic that is not being properly addressed, medically or in many other professions,” he says.
Not a moment too soon, either. Studies show that as many as 90 million Americans suffer some kind of chronic muscle and joint pain disorder. Ten million American adults are currently diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Not only that, but Fors says such disorders are connected to even more deadly health problems.
“It is something that is affecting our population in greater and greater numbers. But research also shows that the underlying metabolic causes for this development of myofascial pain are the same causes of the disorders that are actually killing us…degenerative diseases,” he stresses.
While some might see that as depressing, Fors sees even greater possibilities–if chiropractors start making ground with chronic pain.
“That’s what makes it so exciting,” Fors says. “If we start to address this, we become not only a real avenue for healing the pain of our patients, but also an avenue for real wellness in their lives.”
Anyone involved in the chiropractic industry can download Dr. Patrick Porter’s free podcasts through iTunes or by visiting http://www.ParkerVegas.com. You can view Dr. Porter’s chiropractic support program at www.newreality.com.
If you’re a chiropractor, you’ve dealt with insurance companies…and you know the drill. Rejected claims, delays, and unpaid bills are just the beginning. Still, is a cash practice right for you?
JJ Chatrousse, DC says it is. Even if you don’t want to dive into a cash-only practice, says this third-generation chiropractor, developing a cash aspect is possible for any doctor of chiropractic.
“Since the late 80s, the insurance companies have been more and more difficult to deal with, and pay less and less, whether it is in the chiropractic or the medical field. I want chiropractors to get an idea of what I call diversified income,” says Chatrousse.
Chatrousse, always a firm proponent of cash practices, says there are multiple advantages to building a cash practice.
“One of the benefits is that you don’t have any accounts receivable. You don’t have to battle the insurance companies. You can have less staff, so less overhead. It’s less stressful,” he explains. “You develop a closer relationship with the patients, because they actually pay for what they’re getting. I believe they understand the value more because they have to pay for it themselves.”
Since leaving his own chiropractic practice, Dr. Chatrousse has been a consultant and international speaker, helping his clients learn how to establish fee structures for cash practices, educate patients, and determine how and when to present the cash concept.
“There is still a part that will be paid by the insurance companies,” explains Chatrousse. “But I teach how to get a patient to choose and, if he or she chooses to go into preventative care, how to make it affordable for them.”
Dr. Chatrousse says his experience consulting internationally has played a major role in helping him understand how well a cash practice can work.
“I have consulted with people in Italy, in France, in Spain. The issue there is that, up until a few years ago, chiropractic was still illegal in most of the countries in Europe. So, obviously, they were all dealing with cash practices,” says Chatrousse. “It gave me insight into how to get people to understand the value of chiropractic, which is what we have to convey. Education is the key–and to make it affordable for them to come to the practice.”
He also says there are more than enough patients willing to pay cash to support any chiropractic practice.
“A few years ago, people in [America] spent about 40 billion dollars on alternative healthcare…out of their own pockets!” Chatrousse exclaims. “I know the money is there. It’s just a matter of communicating with the public and educating them so they can make a more informed decision about how chiropractic could fit into their health and their life.”
Anyone involved in the chiropractic industry can download Dr. Patrick Porter’s free podcasts through iTunes or by visiting http://www.ParkerVegas.com. You can view Dr. Porter’s chiropractic support program at www.newreality.com.
As a chiropractor, you may have heard the term, “evidence based practice,” but what does it mean? According to Dwight Whynot, DC, it means the difference between getting paid and losing money…and maybe even the difference between keeping and losing your practice.
That’s because, in today’s tough economic environment, chiropractors everywhere are finding it more difficult to squeeze payments from reluctant insurance companies. If you want them to show you the money, you have to show them the proof. That’s where evidence based practice comes in.
“The health care system as it is, it’s getting harder and harder to get reimbursed for everything you do in your office,” says Whynot. “When I practice an evidence-based style of practice, I give the insurance companies the evidence they need to gather to show them the patient needs the care I’m giving.”
Whynot, who has a private practice in Johnson City, Tennessee, learned the hard way how difficult it is for chiropractors to make ends meet. Then, an invitation to a group called Center for Integrative Medicine opened his eyes.
“One of the things the medical doctors asked me was, ‘How do you know the patient’s getting better?’ I said, ‘Well, the patient tells me.’ There was no objective way I was doing at that time, to tell me whether or not the patient was getting better,” Dr. Whynot says. “There wasn’t any evidence I could give the medical doctor who referred the patient to me, to show them the patient was getting better.”
That realization started Whynot on a path of discovery that led him to develop his own evidence-based practice.
“I started looking, and I found range of motion studies, computerized muscle testing, pain pressure threshold testing, tests that prove whether people have a subluxation,” Dr. Whynot explains. “Then I can show them how well they’re doing. I can send reports to the medical doctor and say, ‘Yes, the patients you referred are getting better.’ I can show the insurance company whether or not the patient’s getting better. That’s why I like evidence-based chiropractic.”
Whynot says he wants to use the knowledge he’s gained to help other chiropractors.
“I want to change our profession,” concludes Dr. Whynot. “The biggest way to change our profession is by trying to reach as many people as possible. You need a lot of documentation to prove what you did helped the patient, and providing that documentation has really helped me out. I give people that information.”
Anyone involved in the chiropractic industry can download Dr. Patrick Porter’s free podcasts through iTunes or by visiting http://www.ParkerVegas.com. You can view Dr. Porter’s chiropractic support program at www.newreality.com.
Here’s why ‘WHY’ is such a profit-making marketing trigger.
“Stop taking two and three plates of food,” my mother said to me angrily.
I was at a wedding and seven years old. Back then, at a lot of the weddings we used to go to, the food would be pre-served on a plate. I could never get enough of those calorie-ridden platters. Waylaying different waiters, (so I would not be recognised), I’d polish 3-4 plates without blinking an eye.
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Mum wasn’t impressed, and told me to stop and desist.
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“Why?” I’d ask. Her stock reply was always, “It’s bad manners to do that.” This Dustbin Hoffman act obviously got her goat, but it left me unfazed. It must have bugged her more than I expected though, because in a short while Dad was peering down at my food-stuffed face.
My question remained unchanged. “WHY?”
“If you invite a hundred people to a wedding, how many would you cater for?” he asked. “A hundred,” I answered, proud of my analytical genius. “If you ate four plates,” he continued, “how many would remain?” He prompted quickly, “Ninety-six right?” I nodded vigorously. “That means some people don’t eat. If you’re so hungry, we can go out after the wedding and get something to eat, but don’t deprive others.”
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Dad Made Sense. Do You?
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Dad understood psychology. He had to sell my brain an idea that my rumbling stomach didn’t want to understand. And he did it by answering the question, ‘WHY?’ How many of us ignore this powerful trigger in our marketing because it seems too obvious, almost too simple?
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Why ‘Why?’ Puts Elvis’ Shaking and Moving to Shame
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Let’s examine the six honest men. What, How, When, Where, Who and Why. Which one of these is the most powerful psychological movers of them all? This would be better answered with an example.
Let’s assume you needed to go to the supermarket. All the other triggers (how, when, where, who and what) would make absolutely no difference if you didn’t know ‘WHY’ you were headed there. Everything else would be totally irrelevant. Once you know WHY you’re doing something, everything else is just a matter of logistics.
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Why Does 90% of Advertising and Marketing Communication Go Down the Drain?
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Simple. Look for the WHY in advertising and scarcity pops up instantly. All the fancy layouts and the smart headlines can’t quite compensate for the niggling question that goes unanswered. All your customers want to know is, Why should I choose you? Why should I take this decision? Why should I spend this money? Why should I look at your website? Why should I read your brochure?’ Why should I listen to your speech? ‘Why? Why? Why?’
Dump the cotton woolly fluff. Get your customer’s brain to go scrambling like an over-enthusiastic pup after a Frisbee. Once you have enough WHY factor built into what you’re selling, everything else is just clip, clop, fall in place stuff.
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Be an Accountant, Do an Audit
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Look at your communication. Like reeeeeeeaaaaally look at it! What about your website? Does it answer the question WHY straight up? And does it do it on the first page? How about your brochure? Does its headline make it a cinch for dustbin land? What about your speech? Do you have enough beds to compensate for your lack of WHY?
I could go on, but I suspect you get the message.
Be merciless. If the WHYs don’t stack up, dump the communication. Or chop and change it till it does.
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Finding the Right Level of Why Power
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If you noticed, Mum actually answered my WHY question. She just didn’t answer it to my satisfaction like Dad did. Herein lies a subtle, yet formidable difference.
It’s not enough to simply have the WHY question answered. It’s got to be the most ‘Rambo in your face’ answer, or it will bounce higher than a defaulting cheque. Let your WHYs loose on each other, and let only the one with the most testosterone come out shining.
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Aristotle — Man, Was he Smart or What?
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All communication must lead to change.
That’s what the old wise man said over 2300 years ago. Not some or most communication.
All.
Yet we are dealing with customers that inherently detest change. WHY is the only motivator that allows them to make that shift. Change is still a scary word, but at least the justification sits nicely in their cranium.
In fact, if you look closely, even a WHAT question like, What’s in it for me?, is really a “WHY” issue. All it is saying is ‘Why should I pay attention?’ Give your customers the WHY factor and their buying sprees will reflect nicely in your growing bank account.
This is simple, down to earth advice. Yet it represents one of the most powerful psychological triggers why people buy. WHY on earth would you ignore it?
Wouldn’t you love to stumble upon a secret library of small business ideas? Find simple, yet electrifying ideas onmarketing strategy,psychological tactics and branding. Head down to http://www.psychotactics.com#smallbusinessideas today and judge for yourself.
Not too long ago, a friend of mine mentioned that one of his coworkers recently recovered his stolen identity. I asked how long the process took. “Only two years” he replied.
Compared to my business partner’s six year nightmare “only” maybe appropriate but like most victims of identity theft, he probably thought “when”. As in, “when will I get my life back?”
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer nonprofit organization, reported that victims spend on average 175 hours trying to recover their identity, often over a period of years. Factor in out of pocket expenses, (usually over $1,500 according to the FTC) and recovery gets painfully magnified.
What are the steps to identity restoration? It starts with obtaining a police report. That report doesn’t mean other law enforcement agencies have been contacted. Yet you must do a complete search of local and federal law enforcement databases too find out if anything else, including criminal activity exists on your identity.
You’re also going to need the police report to contact the many and I mean many different agencies and organizations, including the Social Security Administration, The Federal Trade Commission, all of your financial institutions, the 3 major credit bureaus, the Passport Office,The Department of Motor Vehicles, the Post Office, as well as the Medical Information Bureau . All of these places must be sent a fraud notification alert. Concerning your financial institutions, get them to cancel your credit cards and close your bank accounts. Find out from your bank about any suspicious activity, such as accounts tampered with or opened fraudulently. Reopen new bank accounts with password verification.
Know your rights. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1992, you must be told not only what’s in your file but if that information is being used against you. The Federal Trade Commission recently expanded the rights available to victims of identity theft, including your right to get negative information due to fraud blocked from your records.
This brings us to the credit bureaus. Make sure your credit report reflects the identity theft and gets flagged with a fraud alert. Many victims have received assurances that the matter would be resolved, however months and sometimes years later, the credit bureaus have not cleared their records. This without a doubt ranks as THE biggest headache for identity theft victims.
Once a negative gets put on your record, it seems the credit bureaus refuse to remove it, in spite of the countless documentation you provide to them. This can affect you well into the future when buying a house, car or any other big ticket item. If you are going to do this by yourself, constant follow up is critical. That goes for all the organizations but especially the credit bureaus. Be diligent until the matter gets resolved. Getting a lawyer wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Stay Away from “credit repair companies”. No matter what they advertise, there’s usually nothing they can do to help you with identity theft. Some of them even offer to help you apply for credit under a new identity. Hello? When trying to eliminate fraud from your record you don’t want to create more fraud!
Advise the utility companies. It’s not just bank accounts and credit cards. Many identity thieves commit fraud by opening telephone accounts, purchasing cable television or establishing credit with the gas & electric companies, in the hopes it will go unnoticed for as long as possible.
If necessary get counseling. Identity theft can be a shattering experience mentally and emotionally. Victims and family members often feel violated. It’s not their fault of course but the feelings remain. A network of support groups and counselors exists if you need it.
The road back from identity theft can take years, cost a lot of money,and cause much stress and pain . But with follow up, support and belief that the nightmare will end…the nightmare WILL end.
Daryl Campbell is a writer and home business owner. What it took you years to build, Identity thieves can take and destroy within hours. Get the professionals on your side to watch your back 24/7. http://digbig.com/4fcpt
“I got bad credit I’m not worried”
“It happened to a friend of a friend”
“I’ve got other priorities now”
“All it takes is guarding your Social Security number”
“I can trust the people around me”
These quotes are all too common regarding identity theft. The problem is the Federal Trade Commission, various law enforcement agencies and identity theft experts have stated there are no 100% guarantees and the numbers for identity theft keep getting worse
“I got bad credit so I’m not worried”
Just recently KFLY TV in Lafayette Louisiana reported that 2 men were arrested for stealing the identity of 2500 people. Identity thieves don’t run credit checks before they steal your identity. All they need to do damage is a little bit of your personal information
“It happened to a friend of a friend”
This one should really alert people. The reason ? Everybody now knows somebody who’s been victimized. That alone tells you what an epidemic identity theft has become. Last year 10 million people had their identities stolen. Many experts think that number will double this year. They also fear the 10 million figure is too low. Why? Many victims don’t report the crime.
“I’ve got other priorities now”
Once your identity is stolen there is only one priority: Getting it back. On average it can take 175 hours and out of pocket expenses totaling 15,000 dollars according to the FTC
“All it takes is guarding your Social Security number”
In February of this year Bank of America announced that 1.2 million federal employee credit card accounts may have been exposed to identity theft. In June, Visa and MasterCard announced that 40 million cardholders maybe at risk when the database of their third party processor was broken into. Many of these people no doubt guarded their Social Security number faithfully but thru no fault of their own they’re now at risk.
“I can trust the people around me”
This one hits home and may hurts the worst. 50% of all identity thieves are known by the victim. Family members, friends and neighbors do more damage than total strangers.
There are other reasons people give. Yes it may never happen to you but identity theft is now a full blown epidemic that affects everyone.
Daryl Campbell is a writer and home business owner. What it took you years to build, Identity thieves can take and destroy within hours. Get the professionals on your side to watch your back 24/7. http://digbig.com/4fcpt
Someone once said, “The best time to start thinking about your retirement is BEFORE your boss does!” Sage advice, wouldn’t you agree? Yet, it is estimated that seven out of ten closely held business owners spend little or no time thinking about the value of one of their largest retirement assets: Their business!
Regardless of the number of years in business, whether you are the only employee, or you have hundreds of employees; one thing is true for all business owners. You will exit your business someday. Will your years of invested time and money return a significant financial reward at the time of your exit? The answer to that question depends upon whether or not you are paying attention to some very important aspects of your business right now.
I have read articles suggesting that between now and the year 2015, an estimated three trillion dollars will change hands as the torches of business ownership are passed to the next generation of entrepreneurs. How much of that three trillion dollars will belong to you? Ask yourself another very important question: “Is my business positioned to adequately provide for my family and me if I need to leave the business unexpectedly during the next year?” Will you control the circumstances of your exit? Or, will the circumstances of your exit control you?
How do you go about preparing your business for sale-and keep it ready for sale? A great question for which there is no single solution. Here are some good points with which you should become familiar:
It’s been said that knowledge is power. While that’s true to an extent, it isn’t the whole truth. Knowledge without action is almost useless. It doesn’t help to be a genius if you never do anything with the knowledge. I tend to think of knowledge as ammunition and action as a gun. (It’s a typical guy thought, I know but it works for me.) Think about it. If you have bullets and no gun, they’re pretty much useless. If you have a gun and no bullets, the best you can do is throw (action) the gun at the target. Not as useless as the bullets (knowledge) since action without knowledge is more productive than knowledge without action
The reason I’ve been thinking about this lately is that I’ve been reading article after article about how to make money, get high search engine ranking, find customers & prospects, motivate myself and others and several other subjects and realized that regardless of how much info I’ve gained, it’s worthless if I don’t act on the knowledge. And it’s the same for everyone. It wouldn’t matter if you had a PhD in Quantum Physics if you worked at McDonalds, or a library full of books and never used the knowledge within, now would it? I’ve met some really intelligent homeless people and some stupid millionaires and the biggest difference is action. Let me say this again, ACTION. Action makes people successful to a certain degree. Not to say that any action will make people successful. Jumping up and down or changing channels will not do it, but action of any kind that propels you toward your target goal will get you they eventually.
Another way to think of it is like having a map. I could give you a map to a lost treasure, but if you never left your house, it wouldn’t do much good would it?
So here’s a question; what action will you do today, to reach your goal? Reading a book will only take you so far.
Brian Baldwin has been a professional network marketer for over 5 years
and a Cognigen agent for more
than 2 years. To find out more about Brian Baldwin and receive a free
subscription to his Proven MLM Training Newsletter, visit
http://www.brianbaldwin.com