244 The Excuse Train

Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.  

This week’s topic:  If you ride the excuse train, your practice will head nowhere!

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 Marisa Mateja, 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 excuses put you on a path to self-sabotage
• Why your lack of success is directly related to what you complain about
• Why you have to remove “can’t” to be happy in practice
• How excuses undermine your leadership credibility and team engagement 
• …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.

Transcript

244 Excuse Train

[00:00:00] 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Doctors. Are you on board? The excuse train? Hi everybody. Welcome to the KC ChiroPulse Podcast, brought to you by Kats Consultants and Chiro Health USA. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Perusich, and my guest host today, or co-host I should say not guest, is Marisa Mateja. Marisa, this is, this is a great. 

Topic because we hear so many excuses why my practice is down, why I can't make changes, why I can't change my fees, why I can't do this, why I can't manage staff, and it's just nothing but a bunch of excuses because everything in your practice is changeable.

Yeah. For the better. Yes. So, yes, 

Marisa Mateja: and it's, it's kind of a cycle sometimes of self-sabotage that you don't even realize you're in. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Marisa Mateja: So I, I think it's important that people know that you can do the things that you're trying to do. You know, maybe you just need a different approach or different verbiage or whatever it may be.

But most of the time we're preventing our own progress. [00:01:00] 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. You know, and I'll give you a great example. I talked to a doctor just the other day and the whole conversation was born around I can't change my fees because how would I talk to my patients about it? How would I ever, how would I ever explain that I raised my fees by $2 and, and oh, that service never really should have been bundled in with everything else you were supposed to pay for it.

You know, it was just I'm kind of mixing up several conversations together. Yeah, 

Marisa Mateja: yeah, yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It was just kind of this crazy. Mantra of excuses of why you can't do something, even though I'm telling them we do this with doctors all the time. 

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. We have the verbiage for you. It's not as hard as you think it is.

I, I think that's part of self-sabotage, is you create a mountain out of a mole hill, really, and most of the time. Yeah, most of the time our, especially for fees, our patients probably aren't gonna say a word. They know prices are are going up. We know we're having inflationary times, [00:02:00] we're not, not affected by the inflationary times, you know, so it's just one of those things that you have to, you have to realize the reality is.

It's not gonna be as bad as you think. Yeah, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: exactly. And so doctors, if you're, if you're listening and, and you can do this right now, write down, I want you to write down this word, why? WHY? And that's what you should ask yourself every time you come, come up with an excuse. Why? Why can't I go out and market?

Why can't I change my fees? Why can't I train and develop my staff? Why? Why can't I do something? And let's get the word can't out of our vocabulary because I can, we can tell you for sure that over and over again, we see doctors who successfully make major changes in their practice. What happens when they're done, Marisa, they're more profitable.

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And much 

Marisa Mateja: and happy. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, 

Marisa Mateja: it's like, and happier. I mean, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: yeah. 

Marisa Mateja: That's one of the biggest things is we want that for all of our clients, obviously, and for all of you listening, it's [00:03:00] to be happy. Enjoy what you do. Love the people that are coming in to see your, see you and have a successful practice.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. So Marisa, when we, we need to take a quick break, but when we come back, I wanna talk about some of the common excuses that we hear and, uh, maybe a little insight into how some of those can be overcome. So we're talking about the excuse train and hopefully you're not on it because it's nothing but self-sabotage.

So we'll be right back.

Marisa Mateja: 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 patients can still afford the treatment they need. At Power Health USA, we're committed to [00:04:00] 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.

Dr. Michael Perusich: All right, everybody. Welcome back to the KC ChiroPulse podcast. We're talking about the excuse train, and, uh, this is not a train you wanna be on because it's a train to nothing but self-sabotage. So, Mar let's just talk briefly. Uh, I don't know if we can do this briefly or not, 'cause there's so many, right, right, right.

What, what are some of the common excuses that we hear? 

Marisa Mateja: So let, yeah, let's just get through the list. Uh, I would say number one is my area is saturated with chiropractors. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Marisa Mateja: I can't [00:05:00] grow because there's too many other chiropractors in my area. I hear that a lot. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Marisa Mateja: And I think it's interesting because the reality is, here's a statistic, you know me in numbers, I like them.

Um, in 2022. Only 11 to 14% of the population were seeing Chiropractic physicians. I feel like there's 85% more people out there that potentially could be coming to see you. No. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Why do we have to only see the ones that are already seeing a Chiropractor? 

Marisa Mateja: Yeah, I mean, I think that's part of the thing is, is that, you know, there's still people to be seen.

Are you getting in front of them? That might be a bigger question. Where are you going? Where are your people that your demographics meet match up with? Where are they? Are you there too? I think that's probably the biggest hiccup for people when they have that excuse is the [00:06:00] reality is maybe we're just not putting ourselves in the position to find those people.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. And so. That's gonna be coupled with another thing. I can't get outta my office to do any community involvement. How are you gonna meet those other 85% of the people if you don't get out in the community? Because if they're not seeing a Chiropractor, guess what? They're not walking into your office yet.

So we gotta go out and meet 'em. So we gotta go out and build our reputation. We gotta go out and let people get to know us a little bit and get to know our personality. I spent years in our practice doing that, even after we didn't need new patients anymore. I was still doing it because it, it just got to be fun.

Um, 

Marisa Mateja: yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: But you, you know, you have to go out there and here's another stat. I know you and I both love stats, and then I'll let you run. With this, but according to, I can't remember if it's CD, C or NIH and they're kind of the same, but approximately only 20% of the population has back pain at any given time.

Okay. And what are we all marketing to people who have back pain? [00:07:00] Pain? What about the other 80% that don't have pain? Yeah. You know, we have another story to tell. You don't have to just enter the ChiroPulse clinic in pain. How about they enter through the wellness store? That's an option. Instead, we always wanna wait until the end of acute care to, oh, by the way, we have this big secret.

Chiropractors are great at wellness care. Let's get you in here once a month or periodically. Why do we wait? Go out and tell that story now. 

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. I mean, how great would it be is if you had a practice full of those people that are just coming in for wellness. Boy, your life would be easy, right? Yeah. Take great care of 'em, adjust 'em, give them some health and wellness tips and see you next month.

I mean, wow. Yeah, that's, that's a way easier process than talking to 'em about their pain or trying to get 'em out of that mindset even of pain, which comes along with everything. Right? So I think that's huge, I hear that a lot. The, I don't have time to market. I don't have time to grow my practice.

I don't [00:08:00] have, I don't have time. I'm just too busy. I'm too busy. I say it's a non-negotiable for training. Number one, it's a non-negotiable for marketing. Okay? Those two things have to happen in our practices, period, end of story. So delegate it and schedule it. Why does that have to be a factor? That's a stumbling block for you, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: right?

Marisa Mateja: Schedule it, schedule it, schedule it. When you are on a schedule. And I think of our patients when I'm gonna say this too, right? But if you are on someone's schedule and you are going to go meet with them or whatever, the majority of the time you make it right? The majority of the time you go to that meeting or that you know, yeah, 

you don't miss 

it appointment, you don't miss it, you go to it.

So schedule it, put it on your calendar every single month, and probably weekly obviously, but. Break out how many hours a week you [00:09:00] need for marketing. Break it apart. Get outta your practice. Yeah, go see some people. You can use your lunchtime. Most of us break somewhere in the lunch hour. And from what I see, most offices break for a couple hours.

Well, are you using your time wisely? Wow. What a great time to go see, uh, another business. Introduce yourself, talk to 'em. Ask 'em if you can do a lunch and learn. I'm gonna bring you lunch. I just wanna tell you a little bit about me. And oh, by the way, I wanna know more about you and your business and how we can help support each other.

Make it educational, right? It doesn't have to be sales. I think that's also part of what trips a lot of us up and is in another excuse builder, is that. I'm not a business person. I'm not a salesperson, I'm not a marketer. I'm a Chiropractor. Wrong. You're an entrepreneur. So you're all of those things. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep.

So might as well get used to it. That's what [00:10:00] you are. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. You are all those, that's how 

Dr. Michael Perusich: you 

Marisa Mateja: feel to 

Dr. Michael Perusich: practice, 

Marisa Mateja: And so I think it's important to get out and see people and talk to 'em and, and be in front of 'em. You know? I mean, and if you're not a great business person. Shocker. That's what we do.

We help you with the business side, right? Um, we've got motivation, we've got the training. We go through book studies. All of these things are great along with your coaching, so that helps you build your entrepreneurial skills. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. Some 

Marisa Mateja: of us aren't true business people by nature. It's a learned thing.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Sure, of course it is. Yeah, of course it is. Now, you know, some of us have business degrees like you and I, um Right. Some of us have bus, other business experience like, like our team does, but it's all business and it all translates and you know, when you are in this profession. You have to be [00:11:00] prepared to wear the hat both ways.

You have to wear the business hat, sometimes you have to wear the, the doctor hat sometimes. And so you just, you just have to get used to it. And like I've always said, just, just go out and have fun with it. It's, it's not that big of a deal. And you know, right now one of the other excuses that we hear a lot is the economy's bad.

Mm-hmm. I'm hearing on the news that the economy's bad. Well, hopefully you'll listen to, I think it was last week's podcast. I can never remember I about our conversation that Dr. Fox and I had about the economy. I'm telling you, in my opinion, and I've been doing this a long time, I don't think there's ever probably been a time when that the environment for what we do has been better.

The pandemic teed us up to move up the totem pole of healthcare. We are the wellness doctors and everybody's looking for wellness, and now insurance is all messed up. And, and ChiroPulse is never gonna fit in the insurance model to begin with, especially [00:12:00] $90 copays. So there's never been a better time, in my opinion, to have a highly successful and profitable Chiropractic practice.

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. So that's absolutely, that's my 

Dr. Michael Perusich: excuse. 

Marisa Mateja: That leads into another excuse that I hear a lot a little bit here is I can't afford to invest in marketing. I'm gonna, I'm here to tell you there's a hundred ways to market yourself without spending much money at all. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. 

Marisa Mateja: You can reframe marketing, the marketing word to education.

Yep. 

Get out and educate people about you, your business and Chiropracatic. 

Yeah, 

it, you don't have to call it marketing and put dollars to it. There are ways to get in front of people to just educate them. Right. Let 'em know about you. I watched you do that a hundred million times going into churches and just doing health talks.

You weren't marketing our business there. No. You were just number one, [00:13:00] you were building your credibility in the community. You were also building your doctor authority. So with those two coupled in, people naturally gravitated to want to come in and be your patient. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, and they were easy. 

Marisa Mateja: Education 

Dr. Michael Perusich: and they're easy and fun.

And I met a lot of great people. 

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. And I've seen you do that all over the place. You know, different health groups or different, not even health groups, but community civic groups, you know, it doesn't matter. They're all looking for speakers most of the time, or people to come in and talk to 'em chambers.

I mean, I could go on and on with that. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: I would talk, talk to a herd of scare crows on the street corner. 

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. I mean you could even build that within your practice. Have a class that you do once every other week that you invite all your patients to. New patients are great to come to that, right? Tell 'em, come in.

I wanna go over a few things that you could be doing at home. I need you to bring a partner with you and we're gonna talk about some [00:14:00] things that you can do to make your life easier at home. How easy is that? Yeah. Now you brought somebody else in who now has been in front of you. They've learned who you are, and when they have an issue or maybe right, then they want to sign up.

Wow. 

Marisa Mateja: Exactly. 

Easy. And again, low cost, not a lot of effort put into that. You know, it, it's something that. You can do, and then you can track your return on investment on these events and see, and over time, you're probably gonna be amazed at how many people you've been in front of, and I would track that as a KPI.

Yep. How many people were there? How many people have I been in front of? How many people are now coming to see me? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: I don't think we spent a hundred dollars a month on anything related to marketing in our practice. 

Marisa Mateja: No, I mean, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It was all just getting out in the community, getting involved in things.

I got on a couple of different boards. I was visible at athletic events. I did health [00:15:00] talks. I did, we did in-office talks, we did health talks at all kinds of different organizations and, and so forth. Ask your patients, what are they involved in? What community? Civic groups are you involved in? Who's you, you work for a big company.

Who's the HR manager? Can you introduce me? I'd love to talk about how great Chiropractic Care is for keeping employees on the job and productive. 

Marisa Mateja: Tie it back to. Why they need you in there, you know? Yeah, exactly. How do you benefit their business? It's not a difficult process. I think we mentally, this goes back to the self-sabotage and all that we started with.

I think we mentally make things harder than they need to be. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. Yep. I agree. So we need to take another quick break. Um, when we come back, maybe we can talk about how do we get off the self-sabotage excuse train. So we'll be right back.

Marisa Mateja: Patient numbers, dipping staff overwhelmed, and another marketing idea, promising the world, but delivering nothing. [00:16:00] These pressures feel familiar to nearly every ChiroPulse clinic today across the country. Chiropractors work hard, yet many find themselves stuck balancing patient care with the nonstop demands of running a business.

That's where the real strain begins. Most clinics face the same set of hurdles. Inconsistent new patient flow, operational bottlenecks, and the constant challenge of staying visible in an overcrowded digital space. National reports show that over 60% of clinics struggle with scheduling efficiency alone and even more lack of clear marketing strategy that reliably converts.

But the good news, these challenges aren't roadblocks. They're signals with the right procedures, smarter outreach and guidance built specifically for ChiroPulse practices, clinics can turn daily stress into sustainable growth. Stronger clinics start with smarter strategies. Grow your practice with confidence.

Book your strategy session with [00:17:00] Katz Consultants.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Okay, welcome back. We are talking about the excuse train in Chiropracitc, and we've gone through a litany of things today, Marisa, but, uh, you know, how do we help doctors get off of the excuse train? 

Marisa Mateja: Unfortunately, I think it's a victim mindset. True. So we need to flip it in our own our own brain, right?

So we need to stop asking, why did this happen to me? Why can't I do this? Right? Take camp out of your vocabulary and what can I do now? What is my next step? You know, make it easy for yourself and just implement one thing a week. Just try one new thing a week. Don't make it hard. Rarely have I ever seen someone who has tried everything.

That's 

Dr. Michael Perusich: impossible. 

Marisa Mateja: That's impossible. So I, because everything hasn't 

Dr. Michael Perusich: been invented yet. 

Marisa Mateja: Right. Exactly. Um, I hear a lot of that, but I will tell you, I'm gonna guess most people haven't tried at all. So we've [00:18:00] talked about. Plethora of different examples just today. But setting boundaries, putting stuff on schedules, making it happen, right?

Making it part of your routine. I think that's the biggest thing, right? Is creating a schedule that makes it routine for you to, A, get in front of people. C your community, make things happen for yourself. And I think that will turn that mindset quite a bit. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Put at least one in-Office Health Talk on your schedule a month.

Just start with that. Those are super easy to do. They don't really take much prep time because you have. Excuse me, all the knowledge in your head already. 

Marisa Mateja: Yep. Two things with that. Put it on Facebook and create a small little invite for patients. Done. Hand it, have your front desk, hand it to the newer patients in your practice or maybe some of your older PRA people that maybe have come back to see you or something like that.

Hand those and say, I want you to come to [00:19:00] this. Bring somebody with you. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. Exactly. So doctors, I think the mindset shift is no more excuses. It's 2026. That rhymes with no more excuses. 

Marisa Mateja: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Well, not really, but that's the whole idea is no more excuses. 

Marisa Mateja: I think 

Dr. Michael Perusich: going forward, 

Marisa Mateja: 2026 should be the year of yeses.

Dr. Michael Perusich: The year of Yes, the year of, yes. So you wrote down earlier a word on a piece of paper. Hopefully. Why? If you hear yourself saying, I can't do something, ask why it's 2026. It's the year of yeses. Get off the excuse train and start making your practice, the practice that you've been dreaming about, the practice you've been waiting for.

And you know at Kats consultants, this is the kind of stuff we do to help doctors. Get to that next level of profitability and simplicity, to be honest with you. And, uh, really getting back to enjoying PR practice again. So if you're caught in that mold, if you're caught in that excuse mindset, call us.

Let's get [00:20:00] you off that train and on the right path. Mar 

Marisa Mateja: anything. We'd love to be your accountability partner. That's what coaching's all about. It's helping develop different business skills. It's helping you to get out in the community. It's helping you build your practice, be more profitable, and having someone alongside to take that journey with you.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. Exactly. So make sure you tune in every week, 'cause we're bringing you impactful, insightful, and powerful business tools to really make your practice as profitable as you want. And sky's the limit.

Marisa Mateja: Yep. What can you do today? Ask yourself, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: what can you do today? Yep. Yep. So here's what you can do today.

You can go to Kats consultants.com, you can check out what we're doing. Um, there's some free downloads and things on there. Be sure to subscribe and share our podcast with everybody. We're growing like crazy, and that's because of