StudentDC Interactive

You have just received a contract to look at for an associate (read: employee) position.  You see that it is a two-year contract and that you cannot leave until the end of the contract.  If you leave, it says, you must pay substantial “penalties” for breaking the contract.  If you don’t want to renew, you must do so more than 60 days before the end of the contract. 

Ok, this sounds pretty ominous, but is it?  Take a deep breath and think about this:  The term of a contract is established for two reasons:

1.  So both parties have an opportunity to renegotiate terms (like pay/work)

2.  So both parties can decide if they want to continue with the relationship.

But there may be a thousand reasons that you might have for wanting or needing to leave the contract within the term.  A family emergency, your spouse’s illness, the realization that you don’t want to live in that town - all kinds of things could cause you to decide to leave.  So why should you be penalized?  You shouldn’t!  So why does the doctor want to penalize you for leaving?  He/she just wants to be sure that patients continue to be cared for, and he/she is not left treating all the patients.  If you give enough notice, or find a suitable substitute, you should be able to leave.

I hope you will not sign a contract that has an “early leave” penalty.  The doctor may tell you he won’t enforce it, but, like I always say, “If it’s not in writing it doesn’t exist.”

A soon-to-be grad brought me an interesting dilemma the other day.  Here is the choice he was given:

Pay Package #1.  Base plus 35 percent incentive on the monthly collections of the entire office.

Pay Package #2.  Base plus 50 percent incentive on his collections each month.

In other words, is it better to get a greater incentive based on your own work or a lower incentive, but based on the work of the entire office?

After quite a bit of thought, I figured out that it is a classic investment dilemma:  Are you willing to take more of risk for a higher reward or less risk for les of an award?  Another way to state it is:  Would you rather take the sure thing (getting paid based on the office as a whole), or take a chance (what if you can’t produce enough to get the incentive each month?)?

The risk, of course, is in what you think you can do to bring in patients on your own.  If you can bring in a lot of patients every month, you can do really well.  But if one month you are sick, or have a family issue that takes you away from the office or prevents you from marketing, you will only receive your base. 

There may be other considerations I am missing.  I would like to know what  you think - which would you take?  I will tell you what this doctor decided and why, in a later post.

It is a great time to be a chiropractor!  Not only are you in the position to lead patients to better health, but you can make a profit doing so.
Forbes Magazine has named chiropractors and other “alternative” health care providers as one of the 10 most profitable types of business.  Chiropractic (and the other related professions) came in as #5 with a 17.5 percent average pretax margin. 

Here is the article:  The Most Profitable Businesses to Start

It is not surprising to me that chiropractors are listed as more profitable than dentists.  As you look at the top businesses on the list, you’ll notice that most are professional firms (accountants and lawyers top the list) and many are in the health care field (doctor’s offices, dentists, medical services).  Having the professional background and business expertise to run a successful chiropractice practice is a path to success.

The answer is:  probably, but you will have to pay more to do this.  (In interest, I mean.)Here are some suggestions to work on to increase your credit rating: 

50 tips

Ways to increase your credit score

I was asked if putting your student loans into deferment or forbearance would have a negative effect on your credit rating.  As usual, I have to say “it depends.”  In this case, it seems to depend upon the lender, and the credit rating service. 

First, you will need to understand the difference between deferment and forbearance.

Deferment is a time when you can suspend payments on student loans.  This is the more common situation, and you can get a deferment for such reasons as being in school, graduate studies, and economic hardship.

Forbearance is another way to get your loan payments suspended, and it is usually reserved for situations when deferment cannot be granted.  Here is a good website which explains both situations in more detail:  http://studentloan.citibank.com/slcsite/repay/defer/1a6b.asp 

Be aware that, in both cases,  interest will continue to accrue on your loan, and it will need to be paid at some point.  So the amount of your loan will continue to increase, even if you are not making payments for a time.

If the credit bureau (Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion) sees that you are not making monthly payments on a loan, they may consider this a negative.  You would have to write the credit bureau and explain.  If you otherwise have good credit, it probably won’t affect it much.  If your credit score (FICO) is low, it would be another thing that would lower your score even more. 

Here is a good article from eHow with some suggestions:   http://www.ehow.com/how_2002591_avoid-loan-deferment.html

SCORE recently had some tips for new businesses. One tip stated you should “brand” yourself by getting a logo, business cards, and stationery. But your “brand” is a good deal more than your logo. A brand isn’t just words and pictures; it is what makes your practice unique.

Please take time to go through a process of thinking carefully about the image you want to convey about your practice. To create all of those “branding” materials, you will have to find a graphic artist to create the logo, business card, and stationery. This will cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

All of those materials you are creating might be pretty, but what if you create a brand and you change your mind a year later? You will have to completely rework all of those expensive materials and start over.

All I’m saying is that you need to spend time to really think about and plan your branding statement. It’s worth the time and money to do it right the first time.

Here is a great place to get a brand, logo, or website (or all of these) at a good price. It’s called “Design Contest.”  It works like this:  You set up a contest, and invite designers to create your logo or website.  You pay an “award” for the designer who creates the best logo.  This is a good way to look at potential logos and get some good designers to work for you.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Here is an online workshop from SCORE that walks you through questions relating to starting your practice.  Here are some thoughts on what I saw as I took the workshop:

1.  You will have to log in before you can access the workshop.

2.  Skip the home business example.

3.  Use the retail business example and modify it for a chiropractic practice.

4.  Note that the working capital example asks you first to estimate PERSONAL expenses, then you will be asked to estimate BUSINESS expenses.  Don’t confuse the two.  The personal expenses are what you will need to live on while you’re starting your practice. 

5.  The workshop takes you through startup expenses first, then working capital.  Read the information working capital; this is an important concept for startups.

Here is the website:  SCORE Online Workshop

If you are in the process of starting a new practice, or you have recently started a practice, I would love to talk with you.  We will be featuring new DC’s over the next year, to provide information to students and others just starting out.  Sharing stories is also a powerful incentive; others would benefit from hearing of your successes and your mistakes.  Email me at  jean@dcpracticesuccess.com or just comment on this blog if you are interested.  Give me a phone number and email address and I’ll get back to you right away.