037 - Fear as a Catalyst: Driving Growth in Your Chiropractic Practice

Fear is a good for me compass around things that I should be doing, the direction that I should be going in. And then over time, I noticed this change that occurred in me that if that if I wasn't experiencing fear for an extended period of time, it was actually a clue that I'm stuck in the same spot.

Hello and welcome to Build your Remarkable Practice podcast. This podcast is dedicated to chiropractors who are in the seasons of launching and building their practice. Join myself, Dr. Lona and my co host, Dr. Bobby as we have conversations each week as it relates to building the practice of your dreams. And remember, you can have a remarkable practice as part of a remarkable life, not instead of one. We are here to lead you on the way.

What's up, team? Welcome back to the Build your Remarkable Practice course podcast with the amazing Dr. Lona Cook and myself, Dr. Bobby Olajas. And I'm super excited for today's episode because we have got a topic or we've got a subject. I'm just going to jump straight into it. One of this time that I know is a subject that Lona, you first brought up and you said, you know in our pre show talk, hey, this is something that I've been facing a lot recently from coaching clients or people that have been on calls that I've been on calls with. As soon as I heard you say this, it immediately resonated with me because I was like, not only do I also hear that all the time on calls and masterminds that I'm on, but quite frankly, it's something that we all face and it's something really, really interesting because I've noticed this trend that people who are super successful, they face this challenge and they deal with it differently compared to people who maybe aren't achieving their dreams and their goals. And it's definitely a thing that I see in common with people. So, Lana, why don't you take us through what is that thing that we're going to be talking about today that I know everyone listening on this call right now has faced at some point in their life and their career, maybe, dare I even say most weeks, most days. What are we going to be talking about in today's episode?

Yes, the elephant in the room that we all have, even if you think someone doesn't have it, is fear that we're overcoming to grow to the next level. And so Bobby hits the nail on the head that I think in the beginning, most of us let that fear maybe derail us at times more than if we've got some momentum built on tackling our fears and pushing through where we know that we can keep doing that. We can keep seeing the thing that we think is scary and working through it. So fear is not unique to you. Everybody has it, but how we choose to work through it and see it as either like something we're going to learn from and move through versus stop us in our tracks are two very different ways of approaching it.

So what's been your experience with this? I know you talk to a lot of people, you speak a lot of stages. I know when we speak in stages, people always come after and talk to us and ask us right. About various different questions. What's been your experience with this? Do, do you find that most chiropractors, what's stopping them from going from the level they're at right now? So wherever you find yourself right now, what stops them and prevents them from moving to the next level is they have these elements of fear or these elements of mindset that somehow they've kind of cultivated and it's preventing them from taking the next step in one form or another. Is that what you've experienced?

Yeah, I think it is a mindset. I think it's a lack sometimes of vision. And I mean vision in the sense that we know what we know. We get used to a certain level of growth or comfort level in how we do our days and how we maybe think about ourselves as chiropractors or maybe don't think of ourselves as business people. And those ceilings also have a direct reflection of probably what our fears are at those levels. And so I think it is a mindset tweak of learning how to think about our quote unquote problems or our perceived problems from different angles and also get around people who've already worked through a lot of the problems that we perceive for ourself because we'll find out we're not unique. And I think that's the difference is like if you're isolated and you listen to your fears and you're in your a think tank of one yourself, it's very hard to see yourself out of that pattern. Right. Because nothing is going to be a pattern interrupt for you versus somebody that actively seeks out coaching or actively finds a group of mentors or people who've walked similar roads and professes, hey, this is a barrier I see, or this is what I'm scared of, or this is what I perceive I'm lacking and actually receives input into that to start to change their mindset and get past that. So I think a mindset shift is one of the things that holds most of our practices back as well as our profession.

So I look at fear, it's funny, I've heard the acronym before that FEAR stands for False evidence Appearing Real. And whenever you're stuck on a level, if you dig deep enough, you'll see that there's some action steps that you should be taking that you probably know that you should be taking, but you're not doing because on some level you're fearful of it. Right? And it's funny because, you know, I've asked this question before and it's like, all right, you know, who here wants to grow their practice? Everyone's hands go up. And simultaneously you ask, yep, me too. My hands went up. And then you ask the question. Here's second part of this question. Learner. Okay. Who he wants to go to practice, learn to put her hand up. Second part of this question. You ready, learner? Are there activities that you know that you could be doing that you should, that you should be doing that you are not doing that you know, would actually grow your practice?

Yes.

See, I'm the same guys, I know right now that there's activities that I should be doing that I know will bear my practice. Why am I doing them? Okay. And then even going to the next level, like so transcending not going across a level in your growth, but going to the next level. Often there are things that you've got to do that are new for you. You haven't done them before. And so by nature, when anything is new, there's a fearful process that occurs with that. Right? And you just look at it as kids. I look at it, my 2 year old, almost 2 year old daughter, it's like when she does something new, oh, this is new. There's an element of caution, there's an element of fear that's false evidence appearing real. But then the people who get paralyzed by that fear and don't do something as a result of it, or spend months or years procrastinating as a result of it, don't move to the next level. And it's so interesting because in my career early on I used to kind of like also for a brief period of time until I learned this would avoid things that would cause me fear. But then what I actually recognized is fear is a good for me compass around things that I should be doing, the direction that I should be going in. And then over time, I noticed this change that occurred in me that if, that if I wasn't experiencing fear for an extended period of time. It was actually a clue that I'm stuck in the same spot and that I'm in the comfort zone.

That's so good. Yes.

That I'm in the comfort zone of complacency and what I'm used to. And I started to get fearful if I haven't experienced fear. Because, you know, in the early days when I was growing my practice, okay, first maybe two, three years learn, I was scared all the time, Right. I was scared from giving a day one properly to like, how do I meet and greet somebody, to how do you do a reporter findings to now I've got to give the schedule of care, which is a full schedule. Now we're talking about payment plans. Now I'm doing these progress reports. Now I'm doing resigned public speaking, getting on stages, leading a team, hiring team. I was scared bloody every day, okay. But it was the ability to be fearful and then to do that anyway that would lead to growth to the next level because it would shape and change you and how you behave and how you think.

So good, Bobby, what you said right there, I think everyone that's started a practice and grown it has gone through that phase where everything is brand new and you are taking it all in and it's all uncomfortable, right? That's beginning phase of practice for most of us, once we especially anyone, even if you're not running the business, like the first days in real practice are kind of scary because it's all new. Even if you saw people while you were a student, it's different. But put that on like, you know, drinking from the fire hose or drinking from the water hydrant, right? Like, the more we can lean into that and realize that this is what Bobbi said where when we not feeling that we've stepped off that growth curve, like now we're stagnating or worse, probably de evolving, right. And I, I know that that happens in practice too. So feeling some comfort in your discomfort actually becomes the thing that helps you lean into growing your practice into the next level is just knowing that you've got to seek that out and you've got to be pushing your edge as a leader, as a chiropractor, your conviction, all of that. And that helps you build the practice of your dreams by getting in that place where you're comfortably uncomfortable a hundred percent.

So if you're listening to this, guys, this is our encouragement to you to seek out activities that you find fearful. Literally before our call this morning, I've been on Half dozen calls already. And on those half dozen calls, as I'm now recalling, I've had challenges. People that are feeling stuck about, oh, I'm at capacity. My practice has exploded now. My marketing's doing well. I'm a little bit like, how do I do this associate thing? Fear. I've had someone that's like, oh, a space is getting a little bit cramped now. We're growing, we're doing amazing. We're getting proper training and systems doing good. I found this new, this new premise. Do I go through and execute it? Do I do a fit out? Do I buy it? Do I move spaces? Fear. I heard somebody else in a mastermind talking about, like on payment plan. So he insurance people have really good insurance here. And so I'm not sure, like, do I do soup bills or do I do, like in Australia, call them itemized receipts? Like how I deal with insurance without losing people. Fear. Right? What else have I had? I've had this morning about like, oh, I haven't done this marketing before. We're doing, we're looking at getting a new agencies started to like, make our way into, like, digital direct copy ads. Right? Direct response ads. Who's right? Coming to work with fear. Okay. And it's funny because, like, whenever you face fear, what I want you to hear, guys, and recognize is that that's actually a really, really good sign. So I have realized this over the years. It helped me understand what fear is because then it helped me understand, okay, how I should behave. Fear. Essentially, the way that we view the world is set up by two things. It's set up by past experiences that we've had and people that we've met. So that's something that I would definitely take note of. The way that you are programmed today and the way that you see the world is made up that way through past experiences that you've had and people that you've met. Let me give you an example. And you heard this one before, Lyna. I've had an associate before. Didn't work out. I don't want to do the associate thing again. You heard that before? Yep, yep. Let me give you another version of it. Yeah. My friend ryan, you know, 10 miles from here, he had a horrible experience with associate. That just sounds like headache, right? I just want to keep it simple and just be a model. Heard that one before.

Past experiences or people that you've met, they download it into your DNA and that's what shapes the way you're thinking. Okay. But also the way that I encourage you to think, guys, is like this, what about the future you? What about the you one year from now, three years from now, five years from now? Heck, what about the you from you one month from now? Because that person will also be shaped through the experiences. But the beautiful thing is you get to choose those experiences and choose those people. And when you feed something, you fear it because it's often. John demartini explained this to me once. Like this. He said, some people look at fear as like the body's alarm system trying to keep you safe. He goes, other people look at fear as my path leading me towards my destiny. In other words, seek out what you fear because that is the universe telling your high horse telling you that's your path to destiny. And he goes, I continue in my years of studying this subject. It's that second one that successful people generally tend to adopt, not the first one.

Yep, sounds so good. And you can learn how to be the second path if traditionally you haven't been. It's like what Bobby said, it's reformatting the mindset around that.

Exactly right. Exactly right. And you know you're going to be, you're going to bring people into your life through decisions that you make and you'll have experience that's going to shape you and you're going to turn to a better version of yourself. Or you, you could just keep doing the same thing and just do laps around the track doing the same. Groundhog Day. I think there was a movie made about this. Right? And you'll probably end up being a very similar version of yourself. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days from now.

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So I love learning through examples. I would love to hear from you a story because I know we talk about j that there's times when we've had fear and you know, maybe now when the audience hears this, they're like, oh, okay, you know, when were you people? Do you have a story for us? I know I've got one. I'm definitely going to share a story, right? But I want to say from you, do you have a story? Give us an example of when there was something in life that you were like, or in practice or in business. Right. That you were like, oh, I don't know, fearful around this. Right. And then you push through that somehow. Okay. And then on the back end of that, this massive breakthrough revelation happened because we're really going to be able to see an anatomy of how a breakthrough happens through stories. And then I'm going to share one as well.

I. I was thinking about that when we were talking in the pre show. I don't think there's been a stage of growth where I haven't had fear around what the next step was. And so you're right. Like that that doesn't go away. I still have fear. I was talking to you before the show about like a new problem that I perceive and that I have fear around stepping into the solution for it. So when I think about the beginning, you know, there was fear signing the first lease, right? There was fear hiring the first chiropractic assistant. Can I pay someone else? I'm barely paying myself, right?

Like every week, right. I've got to pay them every week. They can't have a break.

Yeah. And there was fear when I hired my first associate. There was fear when there probably should have been more fear in certain places. And there wasn't. Because I could have done it better if I would have listened to some of that. But the point is, is when you realize, like also when you put so much energy behind fear too, I'll give you an Example, I try to really watch, like, almost intuitively, what's flowing and what's not flowing, because that gives me a lot of insights of, like, where do I want to move next? However, if I might, if my state has a lot of fear, I am likely going to create barriers to the flow on some level. So I'll give you an example. In 2015, I was renting space. I'm in my space that I was renting. We had a thousand square feet, and next door to us was a tenant that was a yoga studio. And she was. I had helped them fill this space a couple times, and I knew what they were paying in rent, and it was less than what I was paying in rent. And we had the same size square footage. And I got irritated after a while because I realized they're getting a break on rent. I'm the better tenant. I filled that space for them a couple times, and it's the same size space, and yet I'm the one that. My rent keeps going up and they're just taking whatever they can get in this other space. So that was, I think, the universe's way of making me uncomfortable enough, irritated enough to start to ask the questions about expansion. Meaning, what happens? This building's been for sale. Could I potentially buy this whole unit? Well, I've never considered that before. So I started to, like, talk to my banker and figure out, like, gosh, I don't know, do I want to buy real estate? Do I want to be someone's landlord? And there was enough experiences that happened over that next month or two. Meanwhile, I was pregnant, so it wasn't like, oh, this is the best time, like, buy a commercial building. But what happened next was like, I had to decide, right? And I had to decide, am I going to actually take on twice as much square footage and own a building because I'm committed to this vision that we're growing? Or am I going to just say, it's not the right time, but this opportunity is here, but it's not the right time, and I'm scared. And what if, you know, because. And I got moved into an uncomfortable position that it made me, forced me to choose. And when I chose, because I still had fear, one of the things I had to experience in that was that I actually had to kick a tenant out, and that person was my neighbor, and it was not a pleasant experience. I think if I could have just, like, let go of some of my fear of expansion, because that's really what was happening, that that discourse probably wouldn't have been the same way, but it was like the universe testing me, if you will, the energy testing me. Like, are you really committed or. Or because someone's mad that you're going to expand, Are you going to just, like, you know, come back down into, like the thousand square foot instead of going into 2,000 or 3,000 square feet? Right. I share that because I'm telling you guys, you. You have to get so clear on your vision that it pulls you through these experiences where you can either be scared and not move or like, oh, if someone doesn't love what I'm doing right now, I'm going to just shrink it back down. Right. That's. That's the test. Right. And the test forges you into a better entrepreneur, a better chiropractor, a better leader.

Yeah, that's massive. Absolutely. Because you said something key there where, you know, you had fear and you pushed through that fear. I had so funny, a similar experience where our space was growing, growing, growing. Probably as my first, maybe second year in practice, we had about 850 to 900 square feet and same thing. There was like the fear of, like, oh, well, there's two of us in here now. We just got our first team and the space next door becomes available, so. And the space next door becomes available for almost half of what our space was. And it's. It would allow us to more than double the size of the practice. So take the practice to just over 2,000 square foot and it's on the market for ages and ages. And I'm like, no, no fear now. I don't think we're ready. I don't think we're ready. I don't think we're ready. Okay. That space gets sold for, like, a really good deal in hindsight, a really good deal. Literally within like six months of that space getting sold, my team starts telling me and it's very obvious to me we're, like, outgrown this space. There's, like, people. We had 10 wobble stations in the educational waiting area. There would be every single shift, every chair would be taken. There'd be people in the corridors waiting to get adjusted. They'd be going down the stairs into the street. It's like we'd clearly outgrow in the space. You know, I'm looking around at that stage in this space, which was 800 odd square feet, 800, 900 square feet. You know, we're putting like 650, 680 visits a week through this space, and I look around, go, oh, that's a lot. Yeah. And I'm like, that space next door just sold. And I'm looking at it. And they moved in this wholesale travel agent there where they had four, four tables spaced in like a 1300, 1400 square foot office. Not even having any people coming in. They're just working all online. And I'm there busting at the scenes literally every single day. So what's the lesson in the end? I got that space, right. We've expanded into that space and gone take over another one. Right. But the lesson learned there is if you don't make a decision, though, here's the thing, and push through the fear, the universe will make one for you.

So don't think that it's a case of just like, oh, I fear. Look, I'll just wait. By waiting, you're leaving it to the universe to make a decision for you. That's what happens.

Because things, it is a decision, right? It is a decision in action.

Mm. 100%. So I love that story. Right. Let me share a story with you as well, because I think this is helpful, people to see how mindset works behind pushing through things. People now see me as this person who speaks learning. You do a lot of speaking right. On stages. And they go, A common comment I hear is, yeah, you're just a natural speaker. I'm like, when I first learned that I should public speak to grow my practice and to grow my reach and influence in my community, I would have like a visceral response like speaking, nah, nah, no, thank you. Right. And then I heard about this idea about there's these dinner workshops that you can run. And I, I toyed on this idea for like 12 months. I was like, oh, in a workshop. That's so corny. I don't know what I hire at a restaurant. Right. You know, I was in, I'm in Australia. Like, there was a part of me, I was like, yeah, that might work in America, but that's not going to work here. All these limiting beliefs.

Yeah.

And then other people also say to me when I'd explain to other cars, look, there's this idea of a dinner workshop. Invite all these people, you can speak, speak, Right? And a lot of cars here would send me, oh, yeah. I don't know, maybe in America, but here in Australia. So people that I met, that I associated with and experiences that I had. Right. I'm like, no, no, no. Then one late night, it was like 11pm at night. I w. Should have been in bed and I'm playing around with My email list, right? And there was this template that I had. And the template was like a video VSL video, which is basically just a video talking about, you know, this condition of ulcerative colitis and you know, how closely that can be linked to stress of the body and adaptive, adaptive response. And anyway, I was like, oh, what is this? So it's a pre populated template. So I clicked on next just to kind of see what the next page would look like. And it took me to this page, which wasn't very apparent to me what it was. I was like, okay, too late at night, shut this down, I'll look at it tomorrow, right? So the next morning I wake up and I'm driving into work and I get a message from my team members and she goes to me, hey, did you send an email out to our database yesterday about some, some kind of gut workshop that's going on, colitis? And I'm like, no, what are you talking about? And she goes, well, we've had, I think it was 37 people overnight respond and say, yes, that they're coming to a workshop that we're doing. Apparently not next Wednesday, but Wednesday week on like osteoclitics, automune gut disorder hours, like, and these people like now think they're coming to a workshop. So what had happened? It forced me to do my first dinner workshops. I was like, we need to find space. I need to find presentation slides, everything. By the end of that day, she, of those 37 had confirmed 33, 34 people, like, with partners and friends. I'm like, I guess we're doing the workshop now. So I kind of by default had to push through that fear. And you know what? That first workshop that we did, we ended up with, we ended up packing out restaurant. So we had capacity for 43 in that restaurant. We ended up with 48, 49, 50 people in there. I'll never forget it. We signed up 35 new patients, right? And since that day, I would say thousands upon thousands of people have come into our practice as a result of dinner workshops themselves, and probably tens of thousands of people into our offices through public speaking on some level. But had I not have pushed to the fear of that first one by default, who knows? Would that have ever happened? And would that be the version of me that I find myself with right now?

That's powerful. Especially knowing you and all the likes, like the teaching and the speaking and the building the practice that you do now. Like, that's crazy.

That was the first one. That's how it Happened. Right. So I was fearful. I want you guys to know I procrastinated for, like, close to 12 months, I would say, at that stage where I was like. And in the end, the universe just made me go through it. And you know what I realized? I didn't die. I didn't, like, nothing hurt me. I was like, oh, my goodness. So that fear that I felt really was just my gut telling me, this is something that you should do.

Right.

Right.

You know, something to think about with this, too, is whatever it is, whatever. The thing is that you're like, oh, like, I. I feel this. It keeps coming up. A tool I'd like to offer you is just to, like, reverse it. Right. Like, if the fear is like, gosh, what if I hired my first associate? Or, what if I hire another ca and like, oh, my overhead's even larger? Like, what if you do that? And now the practice grows so much that the new problem is, like, now we're hiring someone that much faster than we've ever hired before because of the expansion that came. Like, I like to play that game of, like, where is my limitation? Actually, I just reverse engineer and have a much better problem here just to play and be loose in my mind enough that I can get out of that thinking that keeps us contracted. Right. So, like, let's just have better problems.

Yep. Absolutely. 100%. And look, very few decisions are, like, fatal decisions for your business where it's, like, you overestimate their impact. Right. Where you think, oh, man, this could be really fatal to my business. But the reality is, even if it didn't turn out to be a good, calculated risk. Yeah. The downside, especially when you do your due diligence, is often less than we initially think that it is. Okay. But the upside is far bigger than also what you initially think that it is. Yeah.

Yep. And I. I do think some of the things that you that do happen, that perceive, you perceive them as, like, oh, my gosh, this is terrible. This is happening. Like, when you get on the other side of whatever that thing is, you're like, oh, that actually just. I needed to become that person that walked through that to do this next part of my vision. Right. So, like, just loosely holding experiences, they're not good, they're not bad. They're just. You're walking through it and you're experiencing it. You're growing from it.

Yeah. So here's my advice to you guys. Whatever, wherever this message finds you right now, whatever season in practice that you're in, I want you to Reflect in your mind right now and think, what is something right now that I should be doing that I know I could be doing to grow my practice? But on some level, I'm just feeling a little bit stuck. Do I hire that person? Do I start looking for an associate? Do I. What's the right contracts to set up? Right? Do I add that marketing event? Do I add another team? But do I put an office manager or a CEO in place? What is that thing in your mind right now that you're feeling stuck on? Because you can either let that fear slow you down and paralyze you for months and years, or I encourage you. And the message for today is we encourage you guys that look at that fear as most often. That's your path to destiny that you should be taking to break through to the next level. And if you need the canopy, if you need somebody to. Well, I'm just not sure I need to do my due diligence. Reach out, talk to us, right? It's very easy to get another perspective on it. But be careful the perspectives that you get, because if you get the perspective of mom, dad, brother, sister, colleague, good friend, which is often the perspective that we get, those people equally are trying to give you advice to protect you as well, thinking, oh, well, this could kind of. It's fearful. This could kind of lead you down a path that maybe we don't want to see you suffer through, but that's not how growth works.

That's great advice right there. Whoever is listening is like, make sure. Who do you let into the conversation of, like, what do you do? You know, if you're looking for business advice, don't talk to someone who never has owned a business and growing, which unfortunately many of us do while we're staying in our inner circle of people. So just get proper advice.

Yeah, exactly. Spot on. Awesome, Arla, pleasure as always. So fear is the topic of today. So whatever you're feeling right now, guys, I want you to sit down, put some conscious thought and effort into it. And I would almost guarantee that that's the thing that you should do to break through the next level. All right? Awesome.

Yeah.

You get stuck, let us know and we'll guide you through it. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much. That was awesome. Love chatting that down with you guys. If you're enjoying this, please, hey, click on the three dots, top right hand corner. Subscribe. Give us a five star review. We love getting your reviews, and it also helps us help more chiropractors and help more people through amazing chiropractic. As well. All right, guys, until next time. We'll see you soon.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Build you'd Remarkable Practice podcast. Remember, what the world needs now is chiropractic. And what chiropractic needs now is more successful chiropractors. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends, and leave us a review. And if you'd like to connect with us personally, please click the links in the show notes to schedule a call.