One of our toughest things are employees. How do we get them to do what we need and want? How do we run a smooth business? Dr. Deb shares a shocking factor on how to get this to work!
Do not miss these highlights:
04:22 How will you know that the problem is YOU and not your employees nor your business
06:51 When you start to look at people differently in your business, it will help grow your business
08:36 Small businesses are both an art and a science
09:26 We need a process and a practice by which to obtain the information or a method to create good business productivity
10:40 If you can't recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, you're never going to figure out exactly how to make the business better, and how to build a business that is successful without you
11:20 We cannot wear all of those hats all of the time, as we're scaling our business
11:42 There are people out there that are better than we are at certain things, we need to learn to let go of some things
14:22 You can’t create that four-hour workweek if you're doing everything by yourself
Resources Mentioned
Join Us in the FMBI Mastermind Group on Facebook. You can find the Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/5461914567153276/
Transcript of Episode #26:
0:01
You're listening to the Functional Medicine Business Podcast featuring Dr. Deb, one of the most creative functional medicine business practitioners in her industry. She shares the wisdom and knowledge that she has gained over 25 years of functional medicine, a pioneer in functional medicine, scheduling, leadership and Practice Management. Dr. Devin has a wealth of knowledge and he's eager to share to help functional medicine become more productive, and for the practitioners and patients to live better lives. Our podcast shares the good and the bad of our industry because Dr. Deb knows the pain you live every day building a functional medicine practice with practical tools of how to manage money, taxes and patient care. She will discuss it all with you.
0:54
Hello, hello. Welcome back to FMBI podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Deb. And today I want to talk to you about what is the real problem of your business.
1:04
At FMBI we understand how it feels created by medical professionals for medical professionals, are you racing from one patient to the next, skipping lunch and not sure how you're going to show up to your kids events? Not quite sure what that p&l sheet really means to your practice? And are you struggling to find the right partners in your business? Our program is based on the values of efficiency organization and prioritization. The FM bei 15k a day program will help you discover how to run an efficient operation and introduce health generating therapies for more income. Our business roadmap will help you scale your functional medicine practice using proven business approaches. We would like to invite you today to book a free discovery call with our founder Dr. Deb. Simply go to our website at functionalmbi.com/book-free-call and schedule your time today.
2:10
So how many times do you ask yourself, "How can I get my people to work? But without my constant interference without me having to constantly tell them? What to do? How to do it and how to think?" Now I know that's a loaded question for some of you and if you're listening, you're gonna be like, Yes, she's right on I get this one. I'm so tired of it. But hold your horses here a little bit. It's not going to be all what you think it's going to be. Now also, in our last episode, we talked about creating a document that that explains everything that you do and how you do it. It's called Systemising. How can I systemize systemize my business in such a way that it could be replicated 200, 300, 400 times and it would run as smoothly as the first time. So if you missed that podcast episode, go back and check that out because it talks a lot about how we can systemize things so that we're not having to constantly repeat ourselves with things that we're doing.
3:18
Now, the other question I want you to think of today is how can I own my business, and still be free from it all? Now isn't that the total life dream, right? Like, we want to own this business, we want tons of money coming into us. But we don't have want to have to be there. Hence the reason The Four Hour Workweek book, it was so popular, because people want to know how they can earn money without having to work a lot of hours without having to deal with a lot of the pressure or the stress from running a business. And how can I spend time doing the work I love to do rather than the work I have to do. That's always a problem for entrepreneurs and business owners is we get stuck having to do things that we don't really like so we put them off we procrastinate until we absolutely have to do it. And then that creates more stress and more problems and more complications for us. Now, I want you to really kind of sink in and dig deep into these questions that I asked you. Because the reality is, when you come face to face with the real problem, that you don't know the answers to these questions, or you think you know the answers to these questions. That's been the problem all along, right. If we don't know how to get people to do what we need them to do this is called Leadership. If you don't have leadership skills, you don't know how to get people to do what you want them to do on a regular consistent basis. That's a problem. But if you know that you don't know the answers, and you're ready to look at the problem, right head on it The reality is the problem isn't your business, it never has been your business. It's always been you. Ouch, that hurts, doesn't it? I remember the first time I was in business conference. And I was learning how to run my business and learning how to add people to my business. And the instructor looked at me and said, Your employees aren't the problem, you're the problem. And I was taken aback and thought, you're crazy. Screw you. I'm not the problem. I work my ass off. And I could go on and on and on with my rant. But it was when I got really comfortable and deep with the question and the answer that I realized and had to admit, unfortunately, that he was right. It wasn't my business that was the problem. It wasn't necessarily my employees that were the problem. The problem was me. I was hiring ill fitting employees, I was hiring the wrong employees for what I was trying to accomplish. I was leading my team in the wrong direction.
6:20
I knew how to deal with patients. And I was great at that. I wasn't so great at leading a team, I just assumed that everyone knew what I knew, I expected them to know what I know, I expected them to handle things the way I would handle them. And I didn't feel like I should have to get in the middle of that and talk to them or teach them or show them how to do that. And that was wrong. I was the problem in my business about eight years ago. And until I fixed me, my business didn't change until I realized that I was the problem. And I was the one that needed the work. And I was the one that needed to change my attitude, my outlook, my ideas, my beliefs on the business. And I had to change my perspective on how the business actually worked and how my employees worked and what their thoughts were, the business wasn't going to change, I was going to continue to come in and continue to have conflict continue to deal with employees that didn't show up, continue to deal with all of their issues until I changed. And it took a lot of work for me to change. And for me to learn about this, and how to change and what to do differently. But once I did, it was amazing how good my business started to transition. Once I started to look at people differently in my business that helped me grow my business, things changed. And I was lucky enough that a couple of key people stuck it out with me and went through this transition with me. Because the reality is I don't know that I would have stayed with myself during this transition, I was really not very nice, and had a really shitty attitude about things. Until I had the perspective that I was not the only one. In this bad place. I was not the only one struggling. And once I realized that my employees were struggling, I was struggling, we were all in the same boat. It made all the difference in the world when I started transitioning things around. So you know, it's really important for you to understand that a small business like ours, like we own, both have an art and a science to them. The science part is not just the medical part of it, business actually has a science to it as well. And how we run that business and how we make that business successful. And who we put in that place of business is a science. And it's also an art. It also takes finesse, it also takes time. And it takes details. And it takes knowing what you're doing and who you're working with and how to work with people and how to read people to make it right. For a business to be successful. And to develop a true serious business. We need a process and a practice by which to obtain the information or a method with which to put information to use to create good business productivity. And in this method, it follows a program to port a pre programmed approach to learning what needs to be learned about your business in order to climb that ladder and to scale that business to the level that you're looking for it to do. Now, I think it's really important In for us to look at and describe what our businesses are like, where are our strengths? Where are our weaknesses within our business? And then I would turn around and reflect that on to ourselves and see, as a person, where are our strengths and our weaknesses as entrepreneurs? What are we lacking? What are we needing? What do we need to learn more about?
10:29
What is it that, that we're contributing to the problems and to the successes of our business. You see, if we can't recognize our own strengths and weaknesses, and how they reflect into an onto the business, we're never going to be able to figure out exactly how to make the business better, and how to build a business that is successful without us. Otherwise, every single thing we do is going to depend on us, we're always going to think we're the best at answering the phone, we're the best at doing the billing, we're the best at seeing the clients, we're the best at marketing, we're the best at the web design. And, and you can't do all of those things, we cannot wear all of those hats, all of the time, as we're scaling our business. If we do that, what ends up ultimately happening is you squelch your ability to grow, you squelch your ability to have people come onto your team, that are better at things than you. And yes, that is true. There are people out there that are better than we are at certain things. And I know that so hard for entrepreneurs to admit that we could be or someone could be better at something than we are very hard for us to admit. But that is the truth. And that is the reality. And we need to learn to let go of some things. So that if we let go, we can actually grow if we give something to someone else that they're really great at and passionate at, say for instance, your social media, because I know most of us are not great at social media, we don't like it, we don't care. It's not our forte, but there are people out there who just live for doing social media, they could really make your social media channel, something of importance, something that draws people in something that makes people want to see you. And then that becomes the vehicle for you to gain clients from now, that's a much better use of your social media, then you just posting a happy puppy or Happy Monday, or have a great weekend, that stuff in social media is not going to get you anywhere. So I'm gonna get you clients, people don't care, they don't want to see that stuff. They want the nuts and bolts, the meat and potatoes of things. So if you have somebody that can do that, and attract and bring those clients in-voila! You've got a great marketing channel moving for you. So think about that. Write down a list of the things that you're really good at, that you love doing. And write down a list that you're not good at, let's admit it, you're not good at some things. And who do you have in your ecosystem that's better at these things than you are that maybe you could partner with maybe you could pay for some time or buy some time somewhere. And really, just let them take that piece over for you. Take that stress, take that strain off of you, and really get things moving in the right direction for you. So make a list of these kinds of things, write them down and start to create an idea of business that doesn't necessarily involve you. And if it does involve you, then go ahead and figure out how over time, it can not be done by you. Because that's when you truly have a business is when you're not doing everything. You're not the chief cook and bottle washer in your practice. Because that is as you've heard me say it before. That's a job, not a business. And we want to create businesses here. We want to create that four hour workweek for you. But we can't do that if you're doing everything for yourself. And you have nobody that can help you and nobody that can do what you do. So we need to start looking at it differently. Look at yourself, look at the problems you create within your own business. And how can we unwind those problems that you've created? How do we change you to be that entrepreneur to be that person that is going to be a leader that's going to guide your employees and help them be the best they can be so that they can perform at their highest level for you. When you get Your employees performing for you at your at their highest level, you don't have to perform quite so much at your highest level in everything that you do, because they're going to take on that space that lack that you can't possibly do. And before you know it, you will have a team of people that are outperforming you and get ready for that. Because when your people outperform you, it's a little humbling. But at the same time, it's an amazing feeling to be know to know that you're not needed for absolutely every single thing that happens in your office, you can take a vacation without having to check your voicemail or your EHR, you can take time off and go someplace where they don't have internet service, and know that they're going to take care of everything for you. And they didn't burn it all down when you were gone. They had it perfectly and watch your bank account grow because when you come back, and you see your income is the same as it was when you left. That is even the most icing on the cake of this whole business-generating factor. That's when you get that four-hour workweek. So I hope this episode was important for you.
16:11
Please remember to do the exercises. It's so important to help you grow. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode for you guys. Take care.
16:20
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others. post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. To catch all the latest from me. You can follow me on Facebook at FMBI, join our free group where we support one another and share our struggles. Thanks again and I'll see you next time.