Many a practitioner has dreamed the fantasy of the ideal practice: The perfect location in a totally visible and attractive main street building, that you own, with tons of parking, a beautiful/comfortable/pristine decor, where your patients or clients will love to come and they will brag about it to their friends and family thus referring them all to you, the perfect marketing plan that drives in loads of new patients who are lovingly cared for by your perfect staff who never have a bad day, and you never have to tell them what to do because they are all over it before you even think of something you want done, and you just come in and do your work and then go home at 4 p.m. to spend a relaxing evening with your family.
If you had such a fantasy but it has turned dark and dismal or dim, and your practice is not living up to your dream, why? Does it have to be that way? Cannot the fantasy become real?
Fantasy or Reality?
Actually, the above description is not a fantasy per se. It is actually the description of someone’s ideal scene for their practice. However, many practitioners, in creating their practice, have not sat down and worked out what exactly would their ideal scene look like. And if you don’t do that, well there is a saying: You can’t get there from here. In other words, if you don’t know where you want to arrive at as a pinnacle, then you can’t and won’t get there.
Assess the Scene
In order to take your practice from where it is now to the fantasy/ideal scene, you need to take the first two basic steps:
- Dream or fantasize what your perfect practice would be like and write it down in extreme detail.
- Now ruthlessly assess the existing scene of your practice against that ideal scene and see every part that does not match up to your expectations.
Close the Gap
Now that you see where the gaps are between fantasy and reality, you need to make a plan how to improve each point that does not fit your dream. This may not be easy as you may hate your location and your lease is up next year and you’re going to move, so there is no point in doing a big reno job. Maybe you don’t have enough funds available to buy your own building yet (but maybe you do if you want it badly enough – miracles do happen if you work towards them).
Make a plan with sequences laid out in which you are going to accomplish the metamorphosis. What time lines do you need or want to achieve the completion of each step? Who can help you with this project? Can you get your staff on board with you in the achieving of your ideal scene? You definitely need a team! Do you want it badly enough to push through all the barriers to getting it done?
Push Yourself
Don’t sit on your fantasy bemoaning the fact that it has all turned dark and hopeless. It can be achieved, but you have to MAKE it happen. And you CAN do it if you decide to. So jump on it!
