242 Scarcity Thinking

Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.  

This week’s topic:  How a lack of abundant thinking can damage your practice?

The KC CHIROpulse Podcast is designed for Chiropractic professionals ready to elevate their practice to new heights.  This week, the show is hosted by Kats Consultants’ coaches Dr Michael Perusich and Dr Troy Fox, seasoned experts in Chiropractic business management.  This podcast provides invaluable insights and actionable strategies to help you create a flourishing and sustainable Chiropractic business.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How you can’t drive profits if you see everything as an expense 
• Why having an abundant mindset helps you see there’s always more
• How what we think about turns out to be true whether good or bad
• Why changing your mindset is the number one driver of success
• …and so much more…

In each episode of KC CHIROpulse, we delve into crucial aspects of building a successful Chiropractic practice, covering topics such as establishing a strong foundation, adopting a patient-centric approach, mastering marketing techniques, achieving financial fitness, fostering effective team building and leadership, integrating technology and innovation, and navigating common challenges in the field.

Whether you're a seasoned chiropractor or just starting your practice, the KC CHIROpulse Podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and personalized practical advice to help you navigate the intricate world of Chiropractic business. Join us on this journey as we explore proven strategies, share success stories, and connect with industry experts to empower you in your pursuit of building a thriving Chiropractic practice.

Don't miss out on the latest insights and expert guidance. Subscribe now and unlock the secrets to taking your Chiropractic practice to the next level. Your success is our priority at Kats Chiropractic Business Advisors.

DISCLAIMER:  The information presented in this broadcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to offer legal, investment, accounting, or medical advice, and represents the opinions of the speakers.  Seek the consultation of a professional for advice in those areas. And remember…your results using this information may be different than described.

Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the Kats Consultants CHIROPulse Podcast
When you are ready we can help.

• Free Resource: Download What's Your Practice Worth?
• Let's Chat -30-minute chat about your practice
• Attend a Virtual Seminar
• Join the new subscription program Path to Prosper

KC CHIROpulse Podcast. Helping Chiropractors keep their pulse on success. Thanks for listening.

Chapters

• 0:14 Abundant vs. Scarcity Mindset
• 1:16 Overcoming Scarcity Thinking
• 4:32 Creating an Abundant Practice Environment
• 12:17 Final Thoughts

Transcript

242 Scarcity thinking

Introduction and Hosts

[00:00:00] 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Doctors, do you have an abundant or a scarcity thinking mindset? Hi everybody. Welcome to the KC ChiroPulse Podcast, brought to you by Kats Consultants and Chiro Health USA. We are your hosts. I'm Dr. Michael Perusich, and this is Dr. Troy Fox. 

Abundant vs. Scarcity Mindset

Dr. Michael Perusich: Troy, are you abundant or are you an abundant thinker or a scarcity thinker?

I know the answer, but I. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Oh, I'm very abundant. I thought you were talking about my weight when we first started. I'm like, well, I did have a few extra snacks during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's this year. But yeah, I'm definitely an abundant thinker. Um. I'm also the guy as, as we get into this that says, if you don't think it, it can't happen.

So if you have, you know, what, what do they always say about stinking thinking? Right? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Stinking thinking. Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. Stinking thinking sucks. If you think that you, uh, can't do it some. I'm also a big manifestation guy. That says, if you don't talk about it and you don't tell yourself and you don't have positive thoughts about it, it can't happen.

So [00:01:00] there you go. Exactly. Here's my 2 cents. Thanks for everybody coming today. That's all you really need to know. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: That's all you need. Yeah. I'm gonna add one thing to that. Quit putting teases on the end of words. Like, I can't, can't, yeah, I won't. I won't. Yeah. I hear this all the time. This drives me nuts. 

Overcoming Scarcity Thinking

Dr. Michael Perusich: I hear doctors cubbyhole themselves into this.

We'll call it stinking thinking in into the scarcity mindset where everything's an expense. I can never see more than 25 people a day. Um, I, I can only get two people to utilize my laser every week. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: I, it, it's all these tees. It's, I can't, I won't it, it won't happen. It can't happen. That can't happen in my area.

That won't work in my area. You and I were talking about that just a little while ago. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: That, that is scarcity thinking. Um, and we've gotta start thinking abundantly because you're right. If we don't think it, what you think about comes about. Yeah. I can't remember who [00:02:00] said that, but, um, it's a very famous line.

What you think about comes about. Dr. Kats always used to say this, what you think about comes about, and. We, we've gotta think about success. And success is born out of what it's born out of. Having an abundant mindset. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: You have to think there's always room for another patient. There's always room for another profit center.

As long as we utilize it correctly and price it correctly, there's always time for something. And, and I, I was talking to a client the other day, um. Actually not a client, somebody who, who called about becoming a client. Um, and I said, what's your number one problem? I don't have enough time in the day.

Okay. That sounds like an organizational issue, but what do you mean? Well, you know, my gosh, I see 30 patients a day, and I'm thinking to myself, Hmm, that wouldn't have even been a good morning for [00:03:00] Troy and I. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Let alone a a an entire day correct. And thinking, where, where does all your time go? And so we, we get this stuff in our, in our mind that really blocks our ability to succeed.

And we have to get past that and get into this abundant mindset. And I wanna, wanna unpack this a little bit more. Um, we need to hear a quick word from our sponsors. So, um, hang in there. Everybody we're talking about the abundant mindset versus the scarcity mindset. We'll be right back.

In today's economy, every dollar counts. Families are facing tough choices, having to reconsider what was once essential to them, but close to healthcare, no one should have to compromise on their wellbeing because of financial constraints. That's where power, health, USA steps in the solution for your practice.

We understand the financial pressures families are under. Whether they're insured on Medicare or paying out of pocket for treatment. By offering discounts on care, you can ensure that your [00:04:00] patients can still afford the treatment they need. At Power Health USA, we're committed to making sure no family has to sacrifice their health due to financial hardship.

We will work with you to create a game plan that keeps your waiting room full and your practice thriving. And here's the best part, offering affordable care not only benefits your patients, but also positively impacts your bottom line. So why wait? Join Power Health USA Today and join the ranks of the most successful practices because when you put your patients first, everyone wins.

Creating an Abundant Practice Environment

Dr. Michael Perusich: Okay, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. We are talking about the abundant mindset versus the scarcity mindset. Um, Troy, before the break, I was talking about how some doctors see everything as an expense, and that's all they think about is how much am I spending, how much is going out the door? How much did this cost?

How much does that cost? And I watch them nickel and dime themselves into a lack of profitability because that's all they're thinking about. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Right. [00:05:00] It's kind of the, the really the comparison between look at an old mom and pop shop versus a lot of times what we see as a franchise look. Right? Right.

What's a franchise look? It's always clean, it's crisp. The graphics are nice, everything looks good. It's shiny in a box. Right. Right, and that's a franchise. Look, the mom and pop look a lot of times cut corners. Maybe their countertop is, is made out of plywood. Maybe, you know, the chairs in their front room are not very nice, but it didn't cost 'em anymore, and they were able to just nickel.

But what they didn't realize is people walked through the door, didn't feel welcome, didn't feel like it's like, oh. What in the world, what have I gotten myself into, right? You know this, as my son would say, this looks a little sketch. And when that happens, people don't come back. Right. And they may like you as a doctor, but they get [00:06:00] invited by a friend of theirs to come down to another office that they believe does exactly what you do, right?

And they walk in the front door, and it's my office. They walk in the front door. There's a brand new coffee maker, there's a welcome center. There's waters. There's a full length couch. There's a TV with a fireplace below it. It welcomes you from the moment you walk in the door. Yep. I'm waving you in with what I got.

And then I got essential oils going in the background and I got some soothing music going, and all of a sudden this person goes, oh my gosh, I could sit here for hours. Yeah. Which office do they want to go to? Especially when they come back and they go, you know what? You're a pretty darn good Chiropractor

I hear that every once in a while. Not all the time. I'm not everybody's bag. Right. But if you're a, if you're a darn good Chiropractor, and I believe that most of you are, if you have that kind of experience, where do I wanna go? As a car, as a Chiropractic patient? Yeah, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: exactly. 

Dr. Troy Fox: So when you look at that [00:07:00] and you start cutting corners on everything.

You notice some of the things that I said didn't cost much. A coffee pod doesn't cost me much, right? And I, I have a young lady that comes into my practice once a month to get adjusted. She needs to be in there about every couple of weeks, but financially, she says I can only come in once a month. As evidenced by the fact that every time she comes in, she grabs two coffee pods and puts them in her purse.

And then comes back and gets adjusted. So I 

Dr. Michael Perusich: love it. 

Dr. Troy Fox: She obviously needs a couple coffee pods and an adjustment, but the girls told me, you do realize that so and so is taking two coffee pods. Every time they come in, she doesn't get a coffee, she takes 'em home. And I'm like, good for her. She's figured out the system, right?

Sure. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Why not? That's 

Dr. Troy Fox: that's, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: shouldn't have to drink them here. 

Dr. Troy Fox: No, that's a small thing. Essential oils are a small thing. Music is a small thing. You can do a paid or unpaid subscription. So there's several small things and a couple of big things that I threw in there. [00:08:00] So when we talk about, well, I can't afford this, I can't afford that.

I think in a lot of cases, guys and gals, because you can't do what it shows on this website that you looked at with this big fancy, I see fancy Chiropractic offices all the time on, you know, that come down. You know, Hey, we'll rebuild your office and make it look like this and Right. You know, and it's only $15,000 down.

Oh my gosh. What's it cost me to actually get it done? Right. So I'm like, you know what? Sometimes we just get paralyzed and sometimes we just get stuck and are stinking thinking that, you know what? What I got's fine. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: People are still coming in here. Right, right. So I think we get stuck a little bit in that we don't realize what we're leaving on the table when we have the old look.

Because you're losing patients that I would call are quiet, quitting you to go to the, to, to the Starbucks looking office. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, 

Dr. Troy Fox: exactly. They don't, they don't have the best coffee at that, at, at that office. They have crappy coffee. Right. And [00:09:00] sorry, Starbucks. But the truth of matter is your coffee tastes burnt.

So it's my, it's my opinion. But, you know, so here's the thing. I may not be a big fan of Starbucks coffee. I like the coffee I make at home that doesn't taste. Like it's been heated too much, or the one in my office, I got a really cool coffee maker in my office. So my thing about that is when you go and you go get the coffee, I don't have the best coffee, but I have the best ambiance.

So people are gonna come to me. Starbucks doesn't have the best coffee, but hey, have some pretty cool ambiance. I mean, where did you ever go before Starbucks arrived? That you could go in and just kick back in a lounge chair and pull out your phone or your laptop and work from right there with their free wifi.

So all of a sudden they got me, but they don't have the best product. So we're on to something there. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Caveat to, uh, to Starbucks. That is just our opinion 

Dr. Troy Fox: a hundred percent 

Dr. Michael Perusich: that that's not been lab tested or anything anyway. [00:10:00] Um, yeah, and, and what you're talking about is the abundant mindset. I'm going to do things to my office to make us look better, to help with that attraction component of, of patient acquisition and retention.

Um. Which all goes back to the experience. What experience are you giving people? Are you giving people an abundant experience or are you giving 'em a scarcity experience? Is your office minimalistic? And if you do it right, that may be great there. There may be plenty of people out there that wanna minimalistic environment, but are you trying to attract those that don't?

So, you know, you've really gotta match up with not only your community, but we. We've gotta get out of this scarcity mindset. And I, I think, I think we have this in the entire profession in some ways, and we, we see it with this race to the bottom on pricing. You know, for $9, you guys have heard me say this a million times.

For $9, you can get [00:11:00] a consultation and an adjustment, a set of x-rays, an exam, uh, a posture evaluation, you can get, uh, uh. A gait scan, you can get an hour of rehab, you can get a full one hour massage and two therapies and an adjustment for $9. Mm-hmm. That's a scarcity mindset. Your, your value is so much more than that.

Now, if you need a burst of new patient's once in a while, I guess it's okay to do some of that, but I, I, I just see this. Small minded, scarcity minded race to the bottom so much in the profession. And we don't need to do that. We don't need to do that. We've gotta have this abundant mindset. So we gotta take another quick break.

We'll come back and, um, I wanna talk a little bit about how we pigeonhole ourselves into thinking too much about what things cost. So we'll be right back.

[00:12:00] 

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Dr. Michael Perusich: All right, Dr. Troy, we are back. We are live and wired and thinking abundantly today. So we've been talking a lot about abundant mindset versus the scarcity mindset. You know, I started. This topic off at the very beginning with the idea that I see a lot of doctors thinking so much about their expense side of the ledger in their business, that they forget how to build profitability into the practice.

And we, we see this all the time. We, we drive consulting and coaching by statistics. And when I look at doctor statistics, we so oftentimes see that. Every patient walking in the door, you might as well hand 'em a a $10 bill because that's [00:13:00] what you're losing or more every time they walk in the door. And it's because we're not focused on the profit side of the practice, we're focused on the expense side of the practice.

And that's, in my opinion, that's a scarcity mindset because it's holding you back. What are expenses? They're the weight of a business. Any business, are you gonna look at it so much that it just buries you, that it just holds you down, holds you underwater, or are we gonna just know it's there and look at the abundance side of the practice, the profit side of the practice, and really try to grow it?

What you think about comes about. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Thousand percent on that one. And the thing is, if we don't know what our services cost is, it's very easy to get in a downward SPI downward spiral. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. 

Dr. Troy Fox: And then all of a sudden we start comparing our prices to whoever else is in our area. Yep. And if someone else have a PO has a poverty complex, you're in a chess match to the bottom.

Because what [00:14:00] happens is you go down. Then they go, well, I need a group of new patients and we're at the same price as Office B down the street, so we're gonna drop our price again. And that's how we end up in the race to the bottom, down to $9. And then eventually somebody zeroes it out. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. 

Dr. Troy Fox: They go down to zero, zero cost for everything.

The first day. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It's pretty. Which, 

Dr. Troy Fox: which to me, when I look at that. Not only does that create a a, a really bad look for you, a, it's not an abundance mindset. It's a huge scarcity mindset and it's a zero value mindset. But the other thing that it does to your patients is it creates a situation where they realize that you don't have an abundance mindset.

You're completely devalued down to the point where you're like, my stuff isn't worth anything. Yeah. I wouldn't charge $0 for day one. Yeah. And if I do and, and if I do somehow think that maybe you do have a value to services, I think you're baiting switching me now. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: That's 

Dr. Michael Perusich: really [00:15:00] 

Dr. Troy Fox: not, not where you want to be.

It's not 

Dr. Michael Perusich: where you wanna be and it's, and. So we see a lot of burnout in the profession, and invariably that's almost always where it comes from. Mm-hmm. That doctor first started thinking with a scarcity mindset, started thinking about expenses, didn't think about profitability, watch the Chiropractic to the west lower their prices, so they had to catch up and lower their and, and pretty soon the burnout.

Then we hear, well, you can't, you can't make it in Chiropractic anymore. Folks, I'm here to tell you that I don't think there's ever, and I'm not gonna tell you how long I've been around, but I've been around a while. There hasn't ever been a time that's better for Chiropractic than right now. And the good news is we don't have to depend on insurance reimbursement anymore either.

Mm-hmm. You have value start thinking abundantly. You always have room for one more patient. You can always grow your practice. I can walk into any [00:16:00] practice and I can grow your revenue in a week. Just, just let me see your numbers and let me see what you're doing and we can, I, I promise you, I can grow any practice in a week.

Dr. Troy Fox: It's amazing how I've walked into four different practices and made every one of them profitable in a very short period of time. And this last one I walked into had a decent revenue stream when I came in and I bumped that revenue stream. Uh, what did I bump? But I I, I bumped it by about 50% over the first year and a half.

Yeah. So an a 50% increase. So you guys, do you guys do the math if, if you're a 50% increase on 200,000, where are you at? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: 300,000 

Dr. Troy Fox: g Gee, that, and, and, and it wasn't hard to get. There's, so it's not, if we take, if we take a hundred thousand and we break that to divided by 12, okay, what is that? Uh, 8,000 a month or 8,000, yeah, 8,000 a month, right?

Mm-hmm. What is that per [00:17:00] week? Hey, you're a math guy. You're a finance guy. How much is that per week? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It's 2000 per week. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Two grand. What is that divided by? Five. What is that a day? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: $400 a day? 

Dr. Troy Fox: $400 a day, which is the equivalent of my average charge is over 40. But let's, let's say, let's say my average charge was 40 is five patients.

Yeah. Let's call it 10. Let's call it 10 if you wanna, if you wanna, you know, so four times five is 200. You do the math on it. So all of a sudden I just took what seemed insurmountable and I added 50% to that practice overnight. And I did it by adding five to 10 patients a day. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, 

Dr. Troy Fox: five to 10 a day. That's all I did.

Really simple to do that. So if you have your ducks in a row and you have your math in order, guess what? If you dream it and you believe it, it'll happen. Yeah. So if you walk in and go, I'm gonna see five more patients a day, and here's how I'm gonna do it, you'll do it. If you need a [00:18:00] roadmap, you need to be, you'll do 

Dr. Michael Perusich: it.

Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: You, you have to be disciplined when you 

do 

Dr. Michael Perusich: it, but I'm not, I, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell the whole story, but a lot of you have heard my story about how we went from 44 patients to past 88 patients. How we doubled the practice more than doubled in a very short period of time in three and a half months.

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: In a nutshell, I walked in one day, I was sick and tired of being stuck at 44, and I told my staff, I want us to double that. And they looked at me like I lost my head. But we sat down at lunch that day and put together a plan of how incrementally we were gonna grow each day and each week and three and a half months later, Marissa came by and said, Hey, I don't think we're gonna make the 88.

And I said, oh, you gotta be kidding me. We work so hard. And she said, we blew past it earlier in the week. We're at 108. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: That's per day, folks, 108 per day. And we stayed there. So you can grow your [00:19:00] practice and, and here I'm gonna give everybody a little bit of math lesson here. Get out of pencil and paper unless you're driving.

Don't get out pencil and paper if you're driving. Okay? Keep your eyes on the road. Write this down. 4 0 7 3 0 8 5 5 9 0. Now, don't add all those up. That's our phone number. If you are serious about growing your practice, give us a call. Let's chat about it. Let's find out if you've really got the Moxie to grow your practice.

If you do, Kats Consultants might be able to help you and help you in some big, big ways. So give us a call or go check us out @katsconsultants.com. It's Kats with a K. Everybody knows that we've been around a long time, so, um. It is 2026. Let's get off our duffs and let's make something of our business and get rid of the burnout.

Get rid of the, the poor profitability or negative [00:20:00] profitability. Maybe let's get that abundant mindset going in this, in this beautiful year that it's gonna be. 

Dr. Troy Fox: It's gonna be, and I think that's a fantastic plan, right at the beginning of the year. Rock and roll. Get loaded from the beginning and know where you need to go, but do it.

Break it down so you know where you're going. Give us a call with anything you may need, because. We do have a trick or two up our sleeves. We haven't been somewhat successful at this multiple times over, and I think once you do it 2, 3, 4 times or do the, or do the doubling thing, I mean, all the different things that you and I have done, I think that we have a little bit of knowledge of how to get there.

It's a really simple roadmap. It's kinda like. Any other profession. There are masters of the profession and there are those that are trying to get there. And when you listen to somebody that's gotten there before, they make it sound so easy. It's like it can't be that easy. Yeah, it can 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And, and lemme tell you guys something, we're not just another consulting or coaching company [00:21:00] out there.

We're not gonna. Come in and tell you and change your practice and tell you to do it our way. That's not how we work. We work to find the points that you need help with so that you can have the practice of your dreams, not of our dreams. Of your dreams. Mm-hmm. So we help you with all kinds of things, whether it's getting your pricing, uh, your fee structure put together correctly, um, helping you with retention, profitability, you name it, we'll come in and help you fix it.

So give us a call. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Unless you're an activator practice, in which case I'm gonna try to switch you to diversified. Best technique ever. No. Now I say that jokingly activator guys. 'cause you do know Dr. Perus was an activator practice. No. Yep. Very, very lovingly. No, we, we wanna help you where you're at. We don't want change you at all.

We just wanna change a few things you're doing. Clean it up and super fuel you so you can jam into 26 with bigger numbers. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Love it. All right everybody, I think we're gonna jump [00:22:00] outta here. On behalf of all of us at Kats Consultants and we thank Chiro Health, USA, for being our sponsor as well.

From all of us here, get profitable. It's time. We'll see you next time. 

Dr. Troy Fox: He's pointing his finger at you. Get it Boys and girls.