Mastering the 4 Seasons of Chiropractic Practice for Growth with Dr. Stephen Franson

You want to make a bigger impact and a bigger income, but not at expense of your remarkable life, man. You got to learn about scalability and durability. This is a system. This is reproducible. And we now have hundreds of doctors doing it.

All right, everybody, and as promised, I am here with a friend, entrepreneur, business owner, chiropractor, you name it. Dr. Steven Fransen. Steven, thanks for taking the time to come on the evidence based chiropractor podcast today.

Dr. Jeff, I'm thrilled. It's really a privilege, always.

Well, I love what you've been up to, and we crossed paths a few years ago. Now we work together, a few projects, body signals, Cairo Matchmakers. But what I wanted to talk about with you is really a core piece of what you teach in the Remarkable Practice. And as everybody that's seen this episode, the title, the four seasons of Practice. Far too many docs, I don't think are even thinking about this at all. Never mind the steps, steps that they need to take, maybe the roadblocks that are encountered along the way. But before we get there, let's start with, what are the four seasons of Practice as you see it? And why is it so important for docs to start thinking about their career in that way?

Yeah, Jeff, thanks for asking that. I mean, this was literally us scratching our own itch. And when I say us, I mean the Remarkable Practice as a business, as a company. Because what we found was as we. We looked across the arc of the chiropractic career, there were notable differences. It was like these populations of chiropractors just based on where they were in their career. And each of the populations, they had their own very specific characteristics and they had their own challenges that were going on. Right. So issues, challenges, stuck for different reasons, whatever. In other words, there was a very specific conversation going on, and we wanted to organize our content, we wanted to organize our. Our specialists, our coaches, organize our clients, et cetera. So we came up with this construct called the four seasons of the chiropractic career.

Right.

So the four seasons, you can think of it as a chronology. And the big idea is that we want to take our doctors through this ascension across the arc of their career. But we also want to be able to help them sort of self identify when they come into our ecosystem, be able to say, actually, yeah, I'm in that second season of my career because I hear those characteristics, and those are exactly the challenges that. That I'm facing. So the four seasons are Launch, Build, Scale, and Exit. So you can see it in your mind so you understand the progression. It's almost like the four seasons of the four quarters of a football game. Launch is that first year out of practice. So the second year and on the season is called the build season. The third season, which I really want to put an asterisk on in this conversation, is called scale. And then the final, the fourth season is called exit.

Right.

So here's the interesting part of this, Jeff, is that there are four seasons that are available to every chiropractor, but most will not go through all four. All will go through three.

Right.

So the really, the interesting part of this conversation is what is that fourth season and why won't doctors go through it?

Right.

So, and let's talk that down because I think, you know, launch is pretty self explanatory. You're getting started that first year of practice. So let's start, let's talk a little bit of build and let's get into scale. How would somebody define the build phase or self identify as, hey, I'm in the build mode right now. What's going on if a doc is in that mode?

Yeah. This is where most chiropractors find themselves and really where most chiropractors unfortunately spend their entire career.

Right.

So most doctors will self identify as. Yeah, I am the primary caregiver in my office. In fact, I'm the only caregiver in my office.

Right.

I am the owner, operator, chiropractor that actually delivers the chiropractic care. And it's a glorious season of your career. Right. So I might add that this is one of my favorite parts of my career for sure, where this is where you're head down, bum up, and you're the one that's delivering the adjustments and delivering all the chiropractic care. You're the clinician that is giving, loving and serving, and you're in there. You love the job, but it's a job nonetheless. Because we know that the difference between having a job and having a business is jobs. Excuse me. Businesses are scalable, they're durable, and they're transferable. Right? So when you are the owner, operator, you're really exposed at this place.

Right?

So because God forbid anything ever happens to you, the whole place just grinds to a halt.

Right?

So as much as you may love this job.

Right.

It is a job nonetheless. You don't own a business.

Right?

So at this point, any growth is actually on your shoulders. You're shouldering the load, you're the person that's delivering all the care as we said. And you may be successful in this space, in this season. Many very successful in this season. But Jeff, too often it's at a too high of a price.

Right.

So they may be successful in their practice, which usually means a very busy practice, but that's usually at the expense of what's going on in their personal life. We've seen it before. Not only do you see people just exhausted or physically breaking down, but very often you'll see broken down relationships, whether it's your marriage or not knowing your kids, not taking vacations, what have you. Next thing you know, you start seeing stressed out, burnt out DCs who actually start to resent that business because it's competing with their remarkable life.

Yeah. I would ask everybody who's listening and watching right now to raise their hand if they're burnt out, but I don't want the sun to get blocked out. I've never heard of what kind of bright you get burnt out before. So I got a feeling, though, a lot of docs might think they're in scale because they're growing their patient visits. But define what scale is, what's that season, and what's the difference between scale and build? Because I think a lot of docs get confused on these two.

Absolutely right. So really it's the differentiation between owning a job and owning a business. So when you go from build to scale, you have actually made a leap.

Right.

So the first step in the threshold really is to bring in another professional, another bring in an associate doctor, or bring in a partner.

Right.

So this is where you've introduced the characteristics that take you from a job to a business. Firstly, it's scalability, then it's durability, and third, it's transferability. So first, let's talk about scalability. Scalability means that you can give more, love more, serve more, make a bigger impact and make a bigger income, but it doesn't have to all be done by you. This is where you learn how to leverage. You leverage other people, systems, technology, et cetera. So that's scalability. Durability. Durability is when you can give more, love more, serve more, make a bigger impact and a bigger income, even in your absence. Which means, Jeff, you know as well as I do there's a big difference between getting to see patients and having to see patients. Right. Getting to go to the office on Monday and having to go to the office on Monday. Listen, we all love chiropractic, we all love taking great care of patients. But really, the true test of Whether you own a job or own a business is whether you have durability. If we take you out of the equation, does the machine grind to a halt or. Or does it still keep cranking business as usual?

Right?

So this is really the key component which creates the third characteristic, which is transferability. In other words, you've created an asset that's saleable, right? So somebody would want to come in and buy that practice. Here's the real painful part. Most doctors never make it into scale, right? They spend their whole careers in build, and as I said, they could experience great success in that. The problem is build does not exit well, okay? Because at this point, like I said, you don't own a business, you own a job, and nobody wants to buy your job.

You're 100% correct. And this is where it's, you know, and it's a, it's a travesty because you see so many docs that have taken care of tens of thousands of people. They've done well throughout their career, and at the end they're lucky to own the building. Right? And that's really the only thing maybe that they have, because as you've just very clearly defined, which I think is so impactful, they haven't actually gone from build to scale. Now, as far as that exit, that fourth piece, that fourth season, pretty self explanatory, but how would you break that down? What are some opportunities that you've seen with docs that have done it the right way and have been able to take advantage of working through all four seasons of practice?

Well, let's get back into scale before we look at exit. Because in order to really exit well, you have to scale well, Jeff, right? So some people are like, yep, tick that box. I hired an associate doctor. And to that doctor I say, so, how's it going? And after they finish crying on my shoulder and I give them a hug, I'm like, it's okay, let's get that thing back on the rails. Because there's a big difference between scaling and scaling well, right? So, because really, to scale well, there's two things that need to happen, right? So you gotta take that job and you've got to transform that into a business. That's one of the steps. But the second and more elusive step is you yourself have to make a transformation. You've got to make an ascension, really, Jeff, from the owner operator to the CEO, right? So when you become a CEO, this is an ascension, this is an identity shift. So when you make this identity shift, it changes you as a leader, your perspective changes, really, your choices change, your behaviors change, your habits change.

Right.

So big part of doing scale well is making sure that you do that second step, which is really making that shift from owner, operator, identity to a CEO identity. Now that's probably a story for a different day or maybe a different episode, but really becoming that CEO is what positions you to build the business that people will compete to buy.

Right.

So now you've created this business and you're getting ready for your exit and exit. Of course, we all want the same thing.

Right.

We all want to exit gracefully and profitably.

Right.

So most of us are just really concerned about being purpose driven and making sure that there's going to be somebody there to take care of our patients. Right. So I think it's tragic how many one generation chiropractic offices we have out there where the practice actually retires with the doctor. That's awful. That's tragic. It's terrible for the community, it's terrible for chiropractic, it's really terrible for the doctor.

Right.

So we want to make sure that there's a great successor, the right doctor that's going to be right there behind you to fill in that gap. Pick up right where you left off and it turns into the ultimate win, win, win.

Right.

So it has to be that win, win, win, where it's a win for you as the owner selling that practice to somebody who's going to pick that right up where you left off with the momentum. They're going to take that business that you've created and they're going to have a huge win.

Right.

Because they're going to have all that momentum, all that velo. Thirdly, it's a win for the team and for the patients, the community at large being committed to that win, win, win, so that the mission continues, it's business as usual, even as the doctor exits and moves into the next chapter of their life.

Yeah. I really appreciate how you broke down the scale component. I want to revisit that a little bit. So, so many docs, I feel like, have a challenge becoming that CEO in their practice. Why is that the case? What have you identified as really these challenge points, these internal objections, whatever it might be, where just so many chiropractors are unable to really take that jump, make that transformation and become the CEOs of their practice?

Oh, man, Jeff, you're hitting a bullseye right now.

Right.

So I've been coaching chiropractors for the last 15 years at the highest level for the last 10 years and really intensely. So I've got real eyes on what goes on in these spaces.

And.

And you're asking the million dollar question. By million, I mean a million dollars a year question.

Right.

So it comes down to this, the doctor's identity.

Right?

So they have experienced success and like I said, for many, great success as the owner, operator.

Right.

So now we're asking them to leave a place where they've experienced success. They've had so many laps around the track, Right. It's burned into their nervous system, really burned into their DNA. It's really scary to leave that and jump onto a new perch as a CEO. Like to leave something that you know so well and hand it off as when I say hand it off, becoming a better delegator.

Right.

So this is the key to it, right? So you want to make sure that you systematize everything, surround yourself with a players only delegate to those a players become a master trainer, but also create systems of reporting systems and meeting rhythms. The reporting systems give us the visibility that we desire and the meeting rhythms create the accountability that we desire. Because at the end of the day, Jeff, we're all just control freaks. As a recovering control freak right now, I'll tell you right now, my old identity was this Clydesdale, control freak, perfectionist, chiropractor, which is a terrible combination. And it left me at a place where I wanted my hands on everything. I was happy to do everything. I got a big engine, just let me do it. And as much as that gave me all of the return, meaning I got all the reward, the financial reward, all of the recognition, et cetera, and all the fulfillment and satisfaction that came with that in that place. The problem was it was not sustainable and it definitely was not scalable, it wasn't by definition durable, and God knows it wasn't transferable. So I had to make that shift. I had to make that leap to that scary place to become the CEO and assume a new identity.

Yeah, it's growth outside the comfort zone, right? It's, you know that it's victim of your own success. Growth outside the comfort zone. It's all of those cliches ring true, especially for the docs out there, as you've said, that have been able to launch a practice, they've been able to build a practice, and you can make a lot of money building a practice. You can serve a ton of people, you can be very, very successful. But then taking that next little bit, going into scale, and then in that process also becoming that CEO I think for so docs, you get tripped up because it is just the nature of us. As many of us as chiropractors are healers. We like delivering care. And sort of breaking that chain can be excruciating. Even though when we first get started, it's the dichotomy. Right. Go for it.

Yeah.

So let me clarify that because I.

Want to make sure. Because people very often hear that when you become the CEO, you stop being a chiropractor. And don't get me wrong at all, right? So you can see as many patients as you choose to see. That's the word, right? So you could say I spend 80% of my time seeing patients, and the other 20% of my time I'm doing my CEO roles. That's fine, but that's all by choice. Some of you listening right now are like, yeah, that's exactly how I'd like to do it. We can show you exactly how to do that. Right. This is a system to follow. Some of you are like, actually, I prefer just to have 20% of my time seeing patients and 80% of my time doing attraction and conversion. Maybe some marketing and some conversion of patients. I may be team training and developing my team. Maybe I want to spend more time as the CEO running and growing the business. Or maybe it's like, yeah, you know what? I'd like to spend more time with my family, go on more vacations, get back to the gym, start surfing and skiing again. Whatever it is, what you're doing is you are freeing yourself up. And that's ultimately what this is about, is it's creating the time freedom, right? We have four limited resources. Time, energy, focus, and money. This is all about creating freedom around those four limited resources and teaching you how to master those four things. Because, Jeff, as much as it feels scary having somebody else work with your patients or trusting them to do report of findings, process new patients, take care of people, whatever you start thinking about, man, I'm spending money that I could be in there delivering the care myself. Trust me, when you start scaling and our doctors are 2, 3, 4 associate doctors, some of them, you know, some of them have 2, 3, 4, 5, 15 clinics. Now, however big you want to take this, the key to this of scale, man, it creates extraordinary return. You want to make a bigger impact and a bigger income, but not at expense of your remarkable life, man. You got to learn about scalability and durability. This is a system. This is reproducible. And we now have hundreds of doctors doing it.

Thank you for Breaking that down because yeah, definitely I want to bring that point home that it's not better to do one or the other. It really is the difference, as you said initially, difference between being able, getting to see patients versus having to see patients. And that just is such a critical difference. No matter which way you want to tilt that scale more towards one, more towards the other CEO versus in there on the patient care aspect of things, it really is the opportunity to do so. The understanding and as you said, the systems and the tools and I can say I went to a remarkable practice event last year, world class event, the coaching, the training. I think clearly it comes through with everybody listening that you know your stuff and this is about systems, it's about processes and it's about learning from docs like you who have not only done it yourself but you've worked with hundreds of others and you have that team in place to be able to help guide docs, work with them throughout those four seasons. And on that, where can docs learn more about you, the remarkable practice and how you can help guide them through those four seasons in a way that helps get them to where they want to go.

So you can find us@theremarkablepractice.com so theremarkablepractice.com also on Facebook we have a very robust private forum that's a free private forum. You can join the private forum and we've got thousands of doctors in there that are like minded on purpose and driven and just delivering excellent work, excellent care. So just go to the remarkable practice group on Facebook. You can join it right there. What a great way to get to know us and get to know our community. We've got all kinds of great content going out there right now into that community. So if you're listening to this sometime around the election, you definitely want to get in there right now because we're having a ton of fun in there and you can learn more about the energy that we're bringing to these practices and really harnessing this conversation that's happening around at least in the United States, I think really around the world. What's going on with this presidential election?

Stephen, I greatly appreciate it's been way too long to not have you on here, so I appreciate you taking the time to come on docs. If you're listening and or watching, I'll drop those links that Steven brought up down below, head over, get engaged with the group. I'm going to encourage you to learn as much as you can about the Merkel practice, the content that they put out can help you regardless of what season you are in. If you are a launch doc, if you are a build doc, if you are a scale doc, or if you are a getting towards exit, check out the markable practice everything that Steven and his entire team of fantastic coaches has going on. Steven, I'll be talking to you offline soon and thanks for coming on man.

Thanks guys. God bless everybody.

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