Welcome & Introduction

Matt 0:00

Hi all and welcome to the Alumni Legacy Series podcast, Adjusting the Mic. I'm your host, Dr Matt Sherson. I'm the Head of Department for Technique at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic. And today we are super lucky to speak to one of the most dynamic chiropractic personalities in the world, Dr Brad Glowacki. Now, we're just going to go through and talk about your achievements because the list is long. Sorry, so you're going to get a big head from this. Dr Glowacki, or Dr Glow, to his following, is an LACC graduate with over 27 years of practice experience. His honors include the 2012 Parker Seminars Chiropractor of the Year, the 2008 California Chiropractic Association Doctor of the Year, and was also named the 2009 CLA International Ambassador. He's taken care of Olympic athletes, sports professionals, and even rock stars. And he has over 10,000 hours of speaking engagements and runs the highly successful training program for chiropractors level up mentoring. Dr Glowacki, welcome to the podcast.

Early Lessons, Rebels, and Building Where You Stand

Brad 0:55

Thank you so much for having me, Matt.

Matt 0:56

Now we like to start these podcasts off by just getting to know you a bit, particularly your early days in practice. So Brad, could you take us through the early days when you set up your first practice in the beautiful Seal Beach? And I think that's still your same practice, right?

Brad 1:10

Yeah, Seal Beach, California.

Matt 1:11

And can you take us through any pivotal moments, any things in your early career that really shaped you in your practice today?

Brad 1:17

Yeah, I would just say when I realised I wasn't tall, dark, and handsome, it was going to be work to get it done. No, when when I first signed my lease, the the the real story is I sat down with a group of colleagues and a mastermind. I was only in practice for six months, and I was gonna go and open my own. And I signed a lease earlier that day, and then that night we went and had a meeting with just a bunch of friends, but we would sit around and take notes and share ideas. And I was the young buck and the young gun, and I looked up to these guys and valued what they shared and knew enough to keep my mouth closed. And as we sat in the circle of probably eight or nine other chiropractors, they said, Why did you sign a lease for your practice in a beach town? You can't pull new patients out of the ocean. That was a really bad move. And you can imagine the pit in my stomach was growing with all these wonderful ideas that they were sharing after I signed it. And so I was kind of freaked out. And I signed a lease in a little beach town called Seal Beach. It was right on Pacific Coast Highway, which is known as Route One. So the coastal drive, California one, that was my address. And I grew up shoveling snow in the middle of America in cold weather, and I that was my dream. I wanted a coastal address, Route One. I wanted palm trees. I was two blocks from the beach. I lived between my practice and the beach, and so it was one block away, and I had my dream, I thought. And then these friends kind of beat it out of me that night that it was a good idea. But what I did is I just went with it, and then the first event that we hosted, because that we were about to open the practice and get things going, and it was stuck in my head that, you know, I shouldn't have signed a lease there, and it was the wrong town. I should have gone one or two towns in that I could pull people from Seal Beach, but you can't pull new patients out of the ocean. And and long story short, the first event I did was a spinal screening on the beach for the Seal Beach Surf Contest, and I literally pulled my new patients out of the ocean. And I think for the listeners, the value is to be a good chiropractor, you got to be a bit of a rebel. And when they said you can't pull new patients out of the ocean, I thought, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. And from that point on, it was just kind of like, tell me what I can't do and watch me do it. Tell me what isn't possible with chiropractic and watch me show you that expect miracles isn't just a mantra. It's something BJ Palmer instilled in this. And I think of miracles the way BJ did, which is BJ described it as basically a miracle, something for which the man of medicine has no definition because they can't explain physiologically what's happening because chiropractic is different. And so when I say miracle, sometimes people are like, well, it's not a miracle. It's like, no, physiologically, we know what's happening, but to the rest of the world, it looks like miracles. And I thought, I'm just gonna stay in this lane. I'm gonna stay in this cool space of anything's possible. I'm gonna be a rebel. I've always believed that work is required, but struggle's not. You don't have to have this romantic, sad story. It's like, no, people need us, and it's a great profession, and we just got to get on with the show and and understand our place is outside of medicine. I don't want to be inside of medicine. We're separate and distinct and be proud of that. So to me, that was the early days, and then we went from 200 a week to 300 a week and kind of skipped 350 and went to 400 a week. And before long, I was between 750 and 850 visits a week. I had two CAs in the morning, three in the afternoon, and I did every adjustment. And I did that for over a decade and paid off houses and properties and some really cool stuff financially, to where it was like, hey, I choose to go see patients. I don't have to. I want to do this, I want to be adjusting for the rest of my life, and and I enjoy it. So, to me, the early days was just let's just get to it, you know. And it wasn't a big practice, it was about 10 meters by 12 meters, so not really huge, but if you can imagine serving over 800 people a week, it's a lot, and so I got really good at systems and small spaces and communication and short time frames, and then that kind of led to level up, which is the the mentoring and the coaching that I do, but it's all based out of my experience in practice, and I'll be quick to tell your listeners a lot of mistakes. So if they get to know me, I can show them bruises and scars. I have bite marks. I've done it wrong. And the point I think really is just that practice is meant to be that way. It's not meant to be perfect, it's meant to be a work in progress, and that's what we do.

Work Without Struggle & Building the Dream Practice

Matt 5:24

Yeah. I think about what you just said, and it's a bit like that field of dreams movie, Kevin Costner. You build it and they will come.

Brad 5:30

Yeah, that's right. And it was just it, it was like build it and they will come. I walked to my practice, it took me six minutes to walk there. I could walk home for lunch, see my wife and kids, and then walk back, and I thought, I love this. I started wearing Hawaiian shirts, short-sleeved Hawaiian shirts, just because I could. I was like, what else could I do? And and really quickly, it was obvious you can do whatever you want in chiropractic. I mean, with proper intention and good skills, you can do whatever you want.

From Busy Practice to Teaching Others

Brad 5:54

Brad 5:54

Matt 5:54

So, you mentioned before that you pivoted into obviously educating chiropractors. Was there a moment where you said, look, I've got something special to share here?

Brad 6:02

I didn't think that. I was about five years in, and I had some good friends that had been in practice for 20 years, and they came in and they said, Your office is so little, how are you doing these numbers? And I had my skeptics. So two of them came and sat in for a day and they counted and they said, Dude, you saw like 189 in five hours of adjusting. How do you do that? And I go, Oh, well, I don't have a choice. I have to move quickly. You know what I mean? And my thought was, it wasn't 200 for the day. Like, dang. You know what I mean? It was just, I mean, it's just perspective, right? That's all it is. And so to me, I was a little bit disappointed to them. They were like, it's for real. And so one of my good buddies said, Listen, you're doing some pretty special stuff. And I said, I don't think so. I'm not at a thousand a week yet. You know, that was the number. So it was like, again, in my mind, very humble, just kind of like, no, I don't think I'm not there yet. I'll let you know when I get there. And they said, No, you you need to come share that. So I spoke at a philosophy night. And um, as they say, the rest is history, just because there was, I have two speeds, go and stop. You know, and when it's on, it's just full on. So it was just like, hey, this is what we're gonna do, and here's how you grow your practice. And people need us and stop pissing and moaning about your problems and your troubles, and just get on with it. When you go to your practice, it's not about you. And I wish more chiropractors knew that, it's about them. Yeah, the two most influential words are you and your.Y And that's what you should focus on saying in your practice every day. How can I help you? What are your problems? What are your pain points? What do you need from me? Like, it's not about me and I, it's you and your. And make that the emphasis of your communication.

Communication Creates Value

Brad 7:32

Matt 7:32

Awesome. I've heard you speak many times, and obviously you're just you are super high energy. I think Pat Gentempo had said you're like the master patient communicator. What's your secret to bringing the energy to in the communication? Because you always bring it 100%, and your vision for chiropractic is always 100%.

Brad 7:50

So we just had the students an hour ago, and and I always feel like I need to leave one procedure, one nugget, one communication. It was only 10 minutes or 15 minutes, but it's just like I have to give them something they can use. Like that's my compelling mission. I just feel like when I leave, I need to leave them with a thing to do or a place to be better, and certainly work on who to be and and headspace, but like, and do this in practice or at student clinic or when you get out, do this thing. And to me, communication has been very obvious, the missing link, if you will. You know, it's the gap between where we are as a professional, where we could be. And certainly there's other variables, but I think if we're gonna close that gap, our communication's got to go way up. And then we can get around kind of the the way chiropractic's been disadvantaged, if you will, you know, outside of government paying systems and outside of insurance and those things. And again, that's by design. So the next best thing is communication to drive value because my dad told me on day one of practice, he said, in the absence of value, cost is the only consideration. And if we can't communicate our value, we're then stuck in this race to the bottom where chiropractors are dropping their fees. And I see this all over the globe. They drop their fees, they drop their fees. You could be high volume and high fee. You don't have to drop your fee to do that. However, if you can't communicate, then chiropractors commoditise their care and they compete on price. And that's not, I think, the way forward. The way forward is better communication, people understanding the value, and then we get paid in proportion or at least perception of the value created.

Matt 9:21

Yeah. It's a bit like Simon Sinek's start with why. You get into the air and actually you provide that value.

Brad 9:27

That's right.

Matt 9:28

Or explain that value, and then cost is not an option.

Brad 9:30

No, and and and most importantly for your listeners, do it in their terms. So in any country I teach in, the most like highly sought-after value drivers are activities of daily living. And I know you teach it here at school, it's the ADLs. And it might sound basic and mundane, but if somebody can't tie their shoes or pick up their kid or do the groceries, that's more important than can you run the marathon? You know, and it's the little things that drive big value. It's not the big things. And and it that took me a while to figure out in practice. Like I thought everybody wanted to run their proverbial marathon. And if I did that, that would be value. No, the truth was if they could go for a run, that was more value than the marathon because now they're on their way to the marathon. And so I think for a lot of people, too, the activities of daily living and how they quantify that is of major

Confidence, Community, and Defining Success

Brad 10:16

importance.

Matt 10:16

You mentioned there just talking about chiropractors and I often hear this major chiropractors aren't the reason they're not successful. And it's always a lot about this chiropractic inferiority complex, or you know, chiro is playing small. What do you suggest to someone as a starting point if they're a chiro that maybe isn't achieving their dreams, isn't actually getting where they need to go, or maybe they're in a slump, maybe they've gone down, they were doing well, and then they've dropped. What could you say to pick them up a bit?

Brad 10:43

I would say number one, success is a funny word. It's how you define it. So I'm just quick to say, look, what I'm doing and what I'm sharing openly in numbers doesn't mean that that's what you have to do. It doesn't mean you have to do something in that area to be successful. It's your own definition. And there's different techniques and there's different ways you can see people. So just really quickly, it's not like, oh, you're not up to my standard. It's what's your standard, you know? So number one, how do you define success? And then number two, realising that chiropractors get beat up. And they get knocked down. If you're here in New Zealand, you gotta show up to Lyceum. That's your once a year like dipping in, getting back into it. But as we would describe, it's a it's a flea bath from time to time. And we got to get the fleas and the ticks off. And the things that just slow us down. And the truth is we all have them, we get beat up. And so I think coming together and and having that community is really big for that, as well as just really kind of keeping your mind on what the why is. And and if things are really bad, get back into why you became a chiropractor. Like what got the excitement the flames started, go back to that from time to time. I'm a big fan of collecting testimonials, stories. And I know in some countries like Australia, they can't post them and do that stuff, but it doesn't mean you can't collect them. Doesn't mean you can't hear the good news, doesn't mean your team can't hear that. So I still believe in collecting testimonials. What pills and medications, asthma inhalers, nebulizers, whatever the thing is they came off of, celebrate that. That's a win for chiropractic. So to me, it's it's counting the wins. And I think community, being around some like-minded chiros that from time to time it's your turn to pick people up, and every now and then you're gonna need to be the one that gets picked up. So having a community is huge.

Matt 12:18

Perfect. Obviously, with chiros being the way that they are, we sometimes like to be isolated. We like to just, I'm doing my thing, you do your thing. How would you get someone to maybe connect apart from obviously Lyceum, which is a really amazing opportunity for people, say on a community level?

Brad 12:34

So I run coaching calls at our Zoom and we have docs. I make it a point to have docs from all over the world on the same call. So small groups, 12 people, but we make sure we mix up the countries because at first all they see are the differences, and then later all they find are the similarities. And it's the principle of chiropractic, the 33 principles. It's understanding the foundational premise that the nervous system controls every system, organ, cell in the body. It's understanding that each input, each impression that we have on the body leads to an expression. And so each adjustment going in affects the afferent loop to the brain, which then means people are acting and thinking differently and mood changes. And Heidi just did a study with sleep, and you know what I mean? Like three times a week for four weeks, and all of a sudden it's changing sleep patterns. Like we know that stuff, you know, and so getting back to that too and just really kind of connecting with the power of the adjustment,

Capacity, Systems, and Serving More People

Brad 13:25

I think that's massive.

Matt 13:26

So, Brad, say you're a chiro that maybe is in practice, they've been practicing for a while. They feel like they're maxing out, they feel like they've they're at capacity, I hear. So a lot of students, obviously, previous grads will come and see me and say, Hey, I feel like I'm maxed out, I need an associate. So we do a lot of associate things. I ask them how many they're seeing and what they're doing and their systems, basically, and it seems to be a throughput problem more than the need of an associate. I don't feel like most chiros actually need an associate at that point. They could grow bigger and then have more to give. How would you explode someone's practice?

Brad 14:01

So it's a great question. And number one, I love the question because it's coming from a place of service. And I know you to know that this is coming from how do we help more people. And that's I think important to start with. Like, what's the premise? Because you know, premise is a philosophy and a belief system. And if the belief system is how do I make more money, well then we're gonna have different answers, right? If the question is how do I serve more people, which I like, and I know that's what you're asking, then it's like, okay, we gotta get our we gotta get the why factor up a little bit. Why do I want to do this? Because I'm gonna help more people. What am I doing? I'm wasting time. There's too much fluff. And and the short answer with knowing nothing about the specifics is usually there's a lot of fluff. So I can give you some blind specifics that I know will work. And so there's over 200 named techniques in chiropractic. Some of them you have to start the patient supine. Most of them it doesn't matter. So my big thing, number one, blindly answering this question, which will be gold for your listeners, start people face down. And I mean all the stuff out of their pockets, their phones put away. And what we teach in my practice, and your listeners can use this, is if we start face down, the first step in your healing process is relaxation. When you relax, step two is then I can check you. Step three is then I'll adjust you. So it's relax, check, adjust. But Mary, since you're sitting in the chair and you're not laying face down, you're not relaxing. I'll come back when you're ready. It's a real polite way, and I'm kind of jumping in mid-stride with this, but it works. And what happens is people get quiet, yeah, and all of a sudden the office can buzz with adjustments and not buzz with chatter or talk. Because sitting in a chair looking at the chiropractor walking in the room, perfect speaking position. Face down, not good for talking, great for adjusting. Spines up, mouth is in the face paper, it's perfect. But honestly, starting people face down, but making that a process and then holding true to it usually opens up capacity big time. Number two, I would say spending time doing things like re-exams, which aren't super sexy for chiropractors and they skip them a lot. But holy smokes, is that important for your retention. The thing I'm probably known most for in the profession is getting people from any kind of an acute phase into true wellness care where they're asymptomatic. Like if the symptoms gone and the patient goes, let's just call it what it is, they're running a mechanistic model. No judgment, but don't don't kid yourself, right? Like if the pain's gone and the patient isn't, or their client or the practice member, whatever you call them, when the pain's gone but they're not, now you've done it right. And to me, that is the salutegenic model, that is the vitalistic model. And part of that means you do your re-exams, you check in because there's a huge component that chiropractors miss, which is we can discuss problems before we have a problem conversation. So if I can debom the problems in a re-exam before there's a problem conversation, well now it's a positive conversation. And so I think that's huge too, in opening capacity. And then the third thing I'll give you is just trying not to take everybody. And I know that's counterintuitive, but if someone's not right for your practice, you do them a huge disservice to try to keep them, and that comes from a lack mentality. But if you're coming from abundance, and in my office, if they have a foot problem and they've got an issue, I go, Great, I know a podiatrist. Yeah, I just don't do feet, they usually stink, and that stuff is contagious. And I want either in my practice, you know, no smelly feet and nothing. There's better ways to catch diseases. Come on, man. You know, it's just like it's crazy. So to me, I think if you understand there's people that you shouldn't probably have in your practice, and I mean that from a perspective of knowing your technique, then all of a sudden you're not wasting time with people that are energy vampires. And you're actually accepting the people that you're gonna get results with. And those three things, face down, doing your re-exams and accepting the right person for your style of practice would alleviate a lot of wasted time. And then all of a sudden, you may or may not need an associate, but you can certainly push up your volume. And again, I know the the theme around the school is be bold for the next few years. And I think part of being bold is have a bigger vision, bigger vision for your practice, volume, bigger vision for your collections, find things that you want to give to, and with your profitability and your takings, give to a cause. I hear NZ accepting money. Word on the street is you guys are taking donations. So, you know, if people don't like to talk about money, well then donate it to the school, you know. But but the truth is helping more people, it is the future of the profession. And that usually means eliminating some of the fluff and the stuff that we do in our day-to-day, but that isn't helping the patient. We're talking about the weather, we're talking about sports, and that's fine. But I think for your interactions, you gotta talk about health. So really just pulling it back into the basics is a big way to break through. And maybe then you need an associate, maybe you don't.

Matt 18:39

Yeah. Bring it back to the philosophy first.

Brad 18:41

Yeah, for sure.

Matt 18:42

I know definitely from my perspective of the people that we see, the ones that stay on purpose the whole time are the ones that are just blowing up.

Brad 18:52

And they're gonna crush it. And I think there's never been a better time to be a chiropractor than right now. It's just it's changing the conversations and health are changing, the fraud and the crimes is what they are from pharmaceutical companies are changing, it's being pulled into the light. And look, if you have billion dollar fines, you've done some pretty bad stuff. That's being exposed. And that's not our fight. But if people are losing trust in what has been the predominant sick care system, now they're actually asking questions looking for the healthcare system, and that is what we do. So there's momentum, there's definitely wind in our sails. Chiropractors have to harness it, and we have to get tight on specifically questions you're asking, which are great, start them face down. Let's make it chiropractic first. Let's not talk about them. It's raining outside, but what do you want me to do about that? You know, it's like it's not my problem. Your spine, that's my problem. So to me, I think just getting clear on what they're there for and then going for it.

Matt 19:42

Yeah. I think part of having your clients come in and are they right for your practice as well is really key. And if you do have a chiropractor down the road who practices perhaps more mechanistically and that's what they want, then a great way to build a connection with someone is to do a referral. Referral in house.

Brad 19:56

I always say you don't need to put down another chiropractor. We're not in competition with other chiropractors. It's you versus yourself and just and just get

Advice for New Graduates: Hard Easy vs Easy Hard

Brad 20:04

on with the show.

Matt 20:05

Totally. Awesome. What would some advice be for say a new grad, someone just starting out, just stepping into a practice, perhaps it's their first practice. What are some tools that you would say that they need to develop?

Brad 20:16

Yeah, good question. I would say because you don't have patients, you're starting out, you can work half days. You know, it's like you don't have a full docket of clients and patients set for the day. So it doesn't matter if you work the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours, but there's 24 hours in a day. Work half a day. That means 12 hour days. Do that six days a week for the first year. Kind of kidding, kind of not. Because really, if you put in that first year hardcore and really throttle down, it will set you up for the rest of your career. So it's either hard easy or easy hard. And so to me, if you go hard easy, like I do the hard stuff the first couple of years, it gets easy right after that. But if you're cruising and coasting and going easy and you're worried about your work-life balance, well, let me tell you later in life, it's gonna be all work. Right? If you work hard early, it gets easy later, and then you can enjoy it. But if you're just cruising, at some point you're gonna have to make up for it. The other thing is for new docs coming out, there's two pains in practice. And what's nice is you get to choose, but you'll have pain. It's either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. So either be disciplined to do the things that will grow your practice, or you'll have the pain of regret. And I unfortunately I've had the situation where I've had my taxi driver used to be a chiropractor. I've had people wait on me at restaurants that used to be chiropractors. You know, they went to chiro school, they graduated, they practiced for a little while, and then they dropped out for a number of different reasons. And now they're doing stuff that they cannot stand, but they gotta pay their bills. You know, so like a reluctant, I'm gonna say a yellow taxi, taxi cab driver. It wasn't even an Uber, it was just and it breaks my heart. It's like, where are you going? I'm going to a chiropractic centre. Oh my God, I'm a chiropractor. But wait, you're driving a taxi. You know, and it's like, dude, park the car, come on in. I did that with one of them. I said, park the car, I'll pay for it. Come on in. Like, this is the best profession. And so for the new grads, I think that's key, the pain of discipline, pain of regret, and then also understand the economy of energy.

The Economy of Energy

Brad 22:06

Just where are you putting your energy to get growth in your practice? And if there's not growth, then we got to talk about that because it's a quantifiable thing. It's not an energy thing. It's not like, oh, I'm just feeling good. I'm in a good mood. New patients will show up. To a degree, but like let's have something a little more tactical and understand that. Are you getting the results for the effort you put in? Whether it's talks or screenings or corporate lectures and you're trying to pull new patients, that is a quantifiable metric. That is not an emotion. Too many people do things like I did a talk and it felt good. How many new patients? None. Well, then that isn't a marketing event. That's a feel-good event. You know, something totally different. So being clear, when you're marketing, count it, quantify it. And if you can't calculate the success, then you're not having any. So be harsh in terms of how you're growing.

Matt 22:55

Record keepers and record

Building a Sustainable, Congruent Practice

Matt 22:56

breakers.

Brad 22:56

That's it.

Matt 22:56

So I suppose from some advice that I would give a student as well is also find a mentor. Find someone that can advise you, who's been there, walked down their own road, had the scars. Obviously, that's something that you do. From your perspective, were there mentors in your life that you now draw on information and wisdom that they've given you that now you pass down?

Brad 23:17

For sure. And I'm quick to quote people. Like if I learned it from someone else, I don't think you give your power. I learned this here and I heard this here. You know, and sometimes it it's an upgrade. If it's not coming from me, it must be good, you know? And so this idea that, you know, where did you get the info? And again, looking at this from a mentoring perspective, you tell me, Matt, is it important that who they start with is a good match for their technique and for their style? Because it's been my experience where whoever you start with, whether you like them or not, you practice a lot like them. So even if you dislike the experience, 60% of how you're going to practice, you're going to absorb their traits and behaviors, maybe their intake forms, the paperwork, the office flow, whether it's open adjusting, closed room, colors of tables, kinds of tails. I mean, even if you're like, this was awful. And then what students do is they go and they recreate it. And so who you start with is super important. Just to just to have that good match. And a great place to start, I think, is technique. It isn't even geography, it's technique. If you're really going to learn, you could leave the country and come back. But go learn from someone who's going to be a true guru and a mentor and going to look after you.

Matt 24:25

Yeah, totally. It's one of those things, technique's a really good thing. Obviously, I'm biased running the technique department here. But if you are going into a practice, go and experience different practices. Everyone has their first chiro that they've seen. And part of that is you tend to act like them or assess like them. It really does shape you. They imprint on you almost.

Brad 24:45

It's a huge imprint on your DNA, and it's this unshakable thing that even if you disliked it, you practice like them. Now, the good news is if you get with a good mentor, you can have years of wisdom that you didn't earn. You're borrowing it from a good mentor who teaches you all these lessons. And even that word wisdom, I mean, that's such a valuable tool because it where those two words come from to make one, it's wise and dumb. It makes wisdom. So if you have wisdom, you've done some wise stuff, you've done some dumb stuff, and that's how you have wisdom, which again, you and I come back to bruises and scars and bite marks. That's wisdom too, because I've done it wrong and that hurts. I've done it right, and this feels good. So let me just give you this short recipe. You don't have to make mistakes. Look, failure is too expensive. If you can learn the lessons from someone else, it makes a lot of sense to me to do that.

Matt 25:31

So if you were going to go into say a practice group, a bit like Level Up, and how would you advise a grad to say, I want to choose something like the programme that you created or a different one, whatever it is, how would you help them to choose the type of programme that will work for them?

Brad 25:47

I think a lot of it is technique, like how do you want to practice? And you're allowed to change your technique over time or in your career, but in the beginning, what do you want to do that? Because if somebody's using an instrument and I'm adjusting by hand, there's a limited amount I'm gonna show them. So, like those kinds of things I think are really foundational. And then understanding that. How you set up your practice is ultimately either gonna be a limitation or it's gonna help you have a breakthrough. And, you know, we take at least eight weeks family vacation and holiday. I think last year we took 12 weeks. And I'm proud of that because I have a practice I can step out of or step back into, and that helps you stay fresh too. And I think that's good for new grads to learn. Is like I could step away from my business, it can still run, be profitable, and I can come back to it, and that's gonna help you avoid burnout. Like that's gonna keep you fresh. And so if you're learning that recipe, that's pretty fun because there's no end to chiropractic. It's a thing you get to do forever because you're fresh from all these breaks that you're taking. But in the US at least, it's really common for people to take a break early July. It's our Independence Day, and then at the holidays, and they take one week in July, and they take one week in December, and that's it. And it's really sad because they're they're burning out because they're working 50 weeks a year. There's a better way to do this.

Matt 27:05

Yeah. Obviously have we have a lot of grads come back and chat about those sort of things. I've advised a couple of them that they need to book in those breaks, put in those holidays at the start. And then work 110% for the rest of the time, and those breaks will come and they'll be there before they need them, not after.

Brad 27:24

That's right. You have to have it where it's a preemptive, preventative. You know, as much as we talk about that with our patients, you have to live it. You know, that's called congruence, and the level of destruction is going to be equal to the level of incongruence, and that's Ayn Rand philosophy 101, right? If you're incongruent, there's gonna be destruction. The size of it is how incongruent. You know what I mean? And so to me, like living a congruent lifestyle is really a big part of being chiropractor. And coincidentally, we all have incongruences from time to time, but clean that stuff up and watch the happy factor go up in your in your life.

The Talk That Changed Everything

Brad 27:57

Matt 27:57

Is there one event in your practice life where you would just you constantly refer back to it and go, that's a pivotal moment for me. It's something that's really shaped how I do things.

Brad 28:08

It's a great question. It was probably my first 10-minute talk because I was doing Saturday screenings. My wife just had our second child, and I was trying to balance being at home, keep growing the practice, but also I needed to do the marketing. And this is, you know, people can't see us if they're listening to this, but I'm an old dog at this point. And this is before social media, which crazy enough is only 12 or 13 years ago, right? So, but 25 years ago, we didn't we didn't have social media. So, this idea of Facebook ads or Google ads, there's this crazy thing that used to happen, and maybe you're old enough to remember where there's a device on the wall called a phone, it would ring and people would pick it up blindly.

Matt 28:47

Sometimes you'd dial it.

Brad 28:48

That's right. And they wouldn't even know who was on the other end, they would just pick it up and be like, hello? You know, it was like completely wild times, right? But there was telemarketing. They would call and say, Would you like to go get a free spinal check? And then there's spinal screening. So we had all these different things that you would go and do, but now I think it's gotten even easier with social media and ads and those things. But for my era, and certainly still true today, I did my first 10-minute talk and I think we signed up like 47 new patients. Now, what I quickly did is I put that in terms of how many Saturdays would I have to be spinal screening, and it was probably a full month's worth. If I was getting 12 new patients on a Saturday and I did that four in a row, that's 48. It was just like, wait a minute, I just did a 10-minute talk. 47 people booked in, made appointments, and in the US, we can have them pay some money in the room. So they were they were gonna show up. And that to me was massive. When I did a talk, I went one on many instead of one-on-one. That was a big shift. And then for me, it created problems of how do we get all these people through? Which I think is a good question to ask because it was like, well, if I can't get a lot of people through, then I have growth issues. So I had to revamp my systems. We call it the pig in a python, where you get a huge amount of new patients through your practice, but you just tweak your procedures, you change it. And to me, that's the fun part about being in practice and teaching is I've lived these experiences. You know, the most new patients we've processed in the morning is 17.

Matt 30:10

Wow.

Systems, Momentum, and Growth

Matt 30:11

Brad 30:11

It's a lot. So, how do you tweak your systems to do that? Well, you got to make your reasons bigger than your problems. And my reasons are I want to help people get off pills, drugs, and medications, and so I'll fix the problem. And so we tweak systems, we change things, and you just have fun with it. But yeah, that was a big one for me. My first 10-minute talk when we signed up 47 new patients. I knew I didn't have to always be at screenings. We were still raising a family. We have four children now, so there's more babies coming. And I was like, hey, this makes sense. I'm around on the weekends, but at lunch on a Wednesday, I can go send up 15, 20 new patients. Yeah, that's a good recipe for sure.

Matt 30:46

Perfect. Yeah, it's basically return on investment for your time.

Brad 30:49

Yeah, for sure.

Matt 30:50

The other part I was obviously thinking about where you're speaking was those are the people that you booked in straight away. And you never know that those little drops of information in that ocean, all of a sudden, three weeks later, the person goes, actually, there was a guy that was talking about this, and then they pop in.

Brad 31:05

100%. There's always that second wave of referrals as new patients. So if you have 30 on the first wave, you might have 10 on the next, right? Like not everybody refers, but let's call it what it is. There is another wave coming. So you're right, there's that passive growth as well. And that's just that's the fun part about being a chiropractor is once you have momentum, it's really easy to keep a practice growth. And it's for a simple rule momentum cures everything. If you don't have momentum, and that's my fear of hard easy or easy hard, is if new grads are going easy with it, you don't have momentum. It's really hard when you show up to the practice after your golf game every morning. But if you go hard easy and I work hard my first year, then I've got momentum. And then those passive things like the drops in the ocean of education, and all of a sudden the referrals are coming in, you didn't do anything. It's because you set your practice up right.

Matt 31:55

It's a it's the snowball picking up snow, right?

Brad 31:58

Yeah, for sure.

One Simple Change That Boosts Retention

Brad 31:59

Tons of momentum.

Matt 31:59

Now, obviously, we're coming to the the end today. So I'd I'd just like to know is there something specific you could get that you could recommend to a chiro to do Monday morning that they're not doing now, most of the people that you know that aren't doing it that would make a change to their practice immediately. Just one simple thing.

Brad 32:18

Yeah, let's do this. Let's go back to start people face down and then let's start with a closed-ended table talk. Good to see you, John. And then the second statement would be let me see what's better. So closed-ended and positive. Hey, John, good to see you. I didn't ask how John was. I'm not an open-ended question. How was your weekend? Well, you better pull up a chair, Doc. Right? But so closed-ended statement, good to see you. Let me see what's better is a positive, closed-ended statement. I'm an authority, and then I go real quiet. And my open adjusting area is like a library. It's just real quiet. It's real peaceful. We can see a lot of people because it's not noisy and frenetic. And people think open adjusting is frenetic. It's not. So if you number one, start people face down, do a closed-ended greeting, followed by a step three, which would be an affirmative, let me see what's better. The assumption is your body's healing. Chiropractic's a process, it's not an event. So through principle number six, healing takes time. We're going to expect to see some changes, but I'm also expecting they're going to be positive and one adjustment builds on the next. So I think for the listeners, starting them face down, empty the pockets, get rid of the cell phones, have a no-cell phone policy, turn them off. And then your table talk, if it's real brief, and and you make what I call caveman noises, hmm, uh, mm-mm, as I'm checking, then they know your intention's right there. And this is the last thing I'll say on this topic because it's huge. Intention plus attention equals retention. So if my intent is there and I start my table talk that way, and then I give them attention with these noises. Yeah, nope, I don't like that. That's not moving. Let me see. And you're just kind of talking it through, that shows they have all of your attention that leads to retention because people know they're getting the care they get. But if I'm checking someone and yelling to somebody else across my practice, that's the opposite of intention and attention, right? They're getting neither. So it's a little thing, but all the listeners have to do is decide. I'm gonna start everyone face down. I'll do a closed-ended greeting. Good to see you. That's it. And John, let me see what's better. Mary, let me see what's better. And those three things, I think they're adjusting will be quieter, quicker, cleaner, and you have the potential to serve more people, which is what it's all about.

Matt 34:29

That's what it's all about.

Brad 34:29

I think they did a really good job picking the person to do this podcast. You did an excellent job. Good question. So, yeah, if anybody comes for your position, you let me know.

Matt 34:39

Thanks, Brad. That's awesome.

Brad 34:41

Matt, you're awesome.