There’s nothing like attending a live event. You walk out with your chest high and the feelings of of having true super powers. Having just attended Congress 2018 in Montreal, i can clearly say that those clinic owners or people of influence who attended were treated to a 48 hours Boot Camp to kickass in Clinic Ops, Innovation and Entrepreneurial mindset. What I’m going to present to you is some key essential problems that each clinic owner suffers from and how attending this year’s congress blew those out of the water.
Learning from other successful clinic owners across the country
Your Network determines your Networth. You work on a full caseload, refine AR strategies, respond to messages, put out small fires amongst your personnel, attempt to create ideas for your next social campaign – all in a days work. This leaves little time for fitting time with your family, getting to the gym and not to mention getting a bite to eat at some point of the day. Time becomes your limiting factor to growth. So as you balance work both in and on the business how do you find the time to build a world class network? As most business coaches would say you are the product of the 5 closest influencers in your life. So how do you actually get that network, with no available time? And even worse if you live in an isolate town?
ENTER CPA’s Private Practice Division – This year the PPD decided to create a clinic owners and entrepreneurs meet up. A first ever meet up that mixed a social meet and greet with a hyper learning session that mixed clinic challenges with Cabernet. Attendees identified their most pressing challenge running their clinic. Each wore this as part of their name tag and whats next was next level knowledge translation. Enter PPD Special guest – International renown Physio and Podcaster Jimmy Mackey of PTPintCast. Jimmy started the event by selecting attendees to be on the hot seat and brainstorm their clinic issue with his business strategy and savvy all while recording his next live podcast!! Talk about pressure!!
After a series of attendees shared their vulnerabilities in clinic management – the room became lit up with conversations to conquer challenges through street tested strategies.
These were some of the problems
- Building effective systems
- Translating culture brought by owners into their associates and employees
- Building physio leaders and keeping them without opening their own clinic
- How to deal with market saturation
- How to get employees to work like owners
What came from this was conversation, connection and building of kinship in a room where we all struggled with Issues with clinic ops. The result was the start of network building from coast to coast.
As an aside i shared a delightful conversation with one of the attendees – Maureen Dwight. In conversations with Maureen I discovered she has owned a successful practice for the last 30 years. That’s mindblowing as some of you reading this weren’t even born yet. Here’s the few tips that have created her success over 3 decades
- Have fun
- Never compromise on your reputation
- Never let your clinics sole revenue be subject to the stroke of pen (insurance, legislation etc)
- Stay current on everything
- Don’t let yourself get fragmented – know what’s important. eg know how to read a balance sheet
- Be decisive – make surer you don’t have a fire
- Understand people – know what motivates them
- Quiet confidence doesn’t work – need to get out there so people know your a rockstar
- Hire people that want other things that yourself as an owner
Learning recruitment & retention strategies
Recruitment, how do you find the needle in the haystack aka Rockstar PT? Let’s face it trying to attract quality talent to your clinic is challenging. Finding that rockstar that can beef up your EBITDA is no easy task. One lesser know strategy to Recruiting Rockstar Therapists is by attending Congress. Yes I said Congress, although most believe it attracts academics. But what most people don’t realize there’s an underground network of tribes that meet to plan their upcoming year. These tribes are the divisions of the CPA and typically the ultra performing super achievers of the physio world are their executives. All of whom are attending Congress. This year CBI pulled out a brilliant recruitment /funnel strategy to get your contact info in exchange for an onsite professional head shot photography session. Yes that right a professional headshot session for the simple cost of your contact info! Absolutely brilliant – why because they know that only the creme de la creme is in attendance.
Learning how to influence change and team buyin
Getting stuck with measuring the same stuff or performance bench marks which do little to influence change and culture.
I was amazed at the influence of speakers brought in locally and internationally to Congress who turned my thought process upside down. KPI’s have always been king to our balance sheets but how do we actually know what changes we need to implement to innovate our practice. We need to start listening to what our clients are saying about the end user experience as a whole. Metrics on measuring client experience, loyalty and how that leads to promoting your brand and evolving your practice were all hashed out. If I can give you one quick tip, it’s that you need to Net Promoter Score and implement it in your practice
Learning to unplug from the business
We’re often so focused on business, family and everything in between the we leave little time for solitude – one of the best take aways from attending Congress is that it was hosted in a Uber cool city – Montreal. This city was full of art, culture, FoodPorn and a ”Jois de Vie” (joy of life) mentality. Montreal itself reminded me of the importance of truly unplugging and slowing down so that you can truly reflect. Starring at art pieces, savouring my artisan coffee while it was still hot and getting lost in streets with no timeline, no deadline truly added to reflecting on all the crazy ideas i had just picked up and how it could add go the richness of life itself . Finally Congress for me was about having fun and adding back to my peers. So thanks Montreal, CPA and Congress for reminding us we need to bankroll our Fun account so we old don’t get old, grey and just straight out boring. Word Hard, Play Hard, LOL Hard
Learning the latest trends in our industry
You only have enough time and funds to attend a course or seminar – so you want to make sure the agenda is packed with items that add value to your niche. Congress celebrates all things physio, so what might seem content light for your specific goals – is made up for in the true classrooms (in the hallways, the exhibit hall, the flavour nite, and the hotel suite parties). These spaces are where the most impactful convos, sharing of ideas, and innovations to your practice happen.
Outside of the obvious, going to Congress is like going to a Physio car show. Ever interested in Laser, Shockwave or cutting edge software. You get the opportunity to get hands on experience and cross compare. A moment of brilliance was getting first hand experience with Canadian made wearable clothing that diffused pain relieving medication to your skin as you wore it. So you could look sharp without smelling like A5-35 – Simply Genius
About Karim Meghji
Karim is the owner of YYC Rehab in Calgary AB. Karim has a degree in Behavioural Psychology from McMaster University and a Physical Therapy degree from the University of Toronto. Karim joins our team with advanced certifications in Manual therapy, Movement Analysis, Mechanical Diagnosis of Spinal Pain, and almost 2 decades of clinical experience. Karim has also been a trusted partner in physiotherapy & rehabilitation in Sundance and surrounding areas for the last 12 years. Imagine health welcomes not only Karim but brings to the clinic an asset to our community. His primary focus is on: Manual Therapy, Certified Gunn, IMS Practitioner, Dry Needling, Medical Acupuncture, Functional Movement Analysis, TMJ, Headache Management. You can follow Karim’s journey on instagram (click here)
