Doctors were never intended

to be businesspeople.

     Doctors teach  us every day how NOT to run a business. They are over-stressed, under-nourished, over their heads financially, and under the radar of best business practices. Sure there are exceptions. There are exceptions in every field of endeavor.

     But after 25 years  of working as a practice development business consultant and a personal and professional growth and development counselor to physicians and healthcare executives, I know whereof I speak.

     More than half  of the thousand-plus doctors I have known and worked with never wanted to be doctors in the first place. Many were pushed into it by well-intentioned parents who saw only the media-glorified healer earning big bucks… parents who pulled their buggy whips out of storage.

     I don’t know any longer,  but only a few short years ago, the average doctor only lived to be 58 years old. The stress of the work is literally inhuman. Medical schools and training, like military boot camps, breed and cultivate stress. Some good reasons, but mostly not.

     Ridiculous nonstop work shifts  that can only be maintained with easy-access sugar snacks and self-prescribed amphetamines carry over into reality as doctors face the need to juggle (and drum up) patients and referrals, manage staffs and offices or facilities, run businesses, comply with insurance dictates and every type of regulation imaginable, then cope with malpractice issues… oh, right, and maybe even have families. No thanks.

     Yeah, but think of the money.  I know of surgeons who take home close to two million dollars a year after taxes. Without exception, they are physical wrecks, with severely fractured family lives, if any, and have forgotten to laugh… and pray… and eat right… and sleep right… and exercise… and be happy!

     Many drink too much  or pop too many pills or live like zombies. So, yeah, think of the money.

     The bottom line is  that we need to give doctors a break. They don’t have any inventory to sell, or staff who can step up to let them take time off to rest or vacation more than a few days. They are devoted to delivering care to patients but won’t get paid by insurance companies if they spend too many minutes with each patient.

     Oh, and the insurance companies  often don’t pay the doctor until many months after patient care is delivered, and even then it’s typically a nightmare trying to collect what’s owed. Healthcare screw-ups are not because of doctors.

     And healthcare screw-ups  will NOT be solved by any kind of universal federal government mandates. A competitive business arena must exist if healthcare is in fact ever to be viable and available to all. And physicians must be allowed to be an integral part of the process. They deserve the opportunity to deliver quality care without politician interference. 

# # # 

Your Small Business

Management Methods 

Getting Stale? Try This.

     It’s already September.  If your business is going to survive the year, you’d better get on the stick! Counting holidays, you’ve only got about 70 business days left in the year! Now is the time to hustle your butt! With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Jewish holiday slowdown periods thrown in, you’re looking at super crunch time.

     This impending brain drain  is only going to be worse if you’re starting to feel like the economy has clobbered you into la-la land (and you don’t even live near Los Angeles!), and you and your business are getting stale.

     You’re trying? BS!  Stop trying and DO something about it! Hold a garage sale! You will get such a rude awakening by forcing yourself (and neighbors, if you’re the energetic type) to face up to the realities a garage sale produces:

• agreeing  with yourself to let go of prized possessions for a fraction of the prices you paid

• collecting  all these items together from every corner of your home

• pricing  and labeling each item

• picking  appropriate hours, obtaining necessary permits, and scheduling your life accordingly

• promoting  and advertising with posters, local newspaper ads, flyers and signs

• moving  your complete inventory into your driveway or yard or garage 

• making  sure you have enough change and single dollar bills on hand     

• displaying  your inventory in the most appealing manner (and, heartily recommended, writing an informative or enticing headline for each major piece you offer for sale

• dealing  with garage sale “professionals” who will come knocking at your door 30-60 minutes before your announced time — an interruption you can count on even if you advertise 6am; they’ll show up with flashlights; set your coffeemaker for 4:30am

• smiling  and greeting every visitor like a long lost cousin without being too pushy or too salesy

• moving  and rearranging items to keep most enticing-looking items up front and to keep table surfaces constantly filled

• accepting  that some people will rip you off by short-changing you and/or by outright stealing stuff when your back is turned — and that it’s generally best to bite the bullet and ignore these incidents by reminding yourself how desperate or deranged an individual has to be to be trying to make off with an extra dollar and a quarter’s worth of junk

• returning  unpurchased merchandise without feeling rejected

• inventorying  your sore feet and back, as you count up your meager profits

     If this experience  doesn’t turn you and your business attitude into a fresh new direction overnight, I’d be astonished. The experience of being the whole business and making all decisions and responding instantly and keeping positive customer relations as you make sales, is enlightening to say the least.

     The awareness’s  and perspectives you gain will shed new light on your business and freshen up the approach you’re taking to make the rest of this year work FOR you! 

# # #

  FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Has your brain been

thunder-struck?

     We’ve all heard  and probably used the term “Brainstorming” a few times, but when did you last use a formalized “Brainstorming” process? Did you know that the more rigidly structured approach you use, the more free-flowing and better the brainstorming results?

     I’ve probably  run 500 formal brainstorming sessions, and all have produced great results. Here’s my version of a “recipe” I follow. Print it out. Use it. It works!

[Adapted from the Pfeiffer and Jones University Associates Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training, Volume III (Revised)].  

     THE GOALS: 

     1)  To generate an extensive number of innovative thoughts or ideas, or solutions to a problem, by suspending criticism and judgment and evaluation.

     2)  To develop skills in creative thinking and problem-solving.

     Group Size:  Any number of small groups (best if composed of 5-6 participants each). Time Required:  Approximately one hour total. Materials:  White board or newsprint pad with markers for each group; stopwatch; bell. Physical Setting:  Movable chairs for all participants. Warm-up Activity:  In 2 minutes –without talking– make something out of one double newspaper page, or one lump of modeling clay; follow with quick show ‘n tell.

     THE PROCESS: 

     1)  The facilitator has each group form a circle and select a secretary, then provides each secretary with markers and board or newsprint pad, and asks each to record every idea generated by the group.

     2)  The facilitator states the following rules: 

• A)  There will be NO criticism, no judgments, and no evaluations during the brainstorming phase of the activity.
• B)  Far-fetched ideas are encouraged because they often trigger more practical ones.
• C)  Many ideas are desirable.

     3)  The facilitator announces that participants are to imagine being cast ashore on a desert island with absolutely nothing but a belt, then tells the group they have 15 minutes by the stopwatch to come up with as many ideas as they can in answer to the question: What can be done with the belt? (Other objects can be substituted– a flashlight / a rope / an oar / a corkscrew– and props, e.g., an actual belt, can often enhance the discussion)

     4)  After 15 minutes, the facilitator rings the bell, and tells the group(s) that the ban on criticism / judgments / evaluations is over, and directs the group(s) to evaluate their ideas and select the best –most feasible– ones. With multiple groups, each group’s “best” list can be shared, then all involved can explore ways to combine “best” ideas. The final (combined) list is posted and participants are asked to rank-order them for practical usefulness.

REPEAT THE ENTIRE PROCESS WITH A REAL BUSINESS PROBLEM OR NEED SITUATION. This can be done on-the-spot, the next day, next week, or periodically. The more disciplined the facilitator is in requiring adherence to guidelines, the better the results that can be expected.  So go beat your brains in, if the storm didn’t already get to you! 

# # #  

When paper planes

fly like the wind…

     This is NOT  about being on one knee with a ring in your pocket in front of the girl of your dreams! This is NOT  about responding to some ridiculous government or academialand RFP, where you’re dealing with people who –and I don’t mean this arrogantly; it’s just a fact– have no clue about the real world of business.

     This is NOT  about adhering to RFP rules and restrictions (that only those with enormous self-restraint and no imagination will succeed at accommodating). This is about  my contention that most proposals worth their salt will fly best as a single-page paper plane!

     You’re not so sure?  When’s the last time you got a 10 or 20 or 30-page proposal to lift off? It was a nose dive into the floor, right? This is a BlackBerry/TXTMSG/WIFI/IPOD world we’re in. Twitter Tweeters do it in 140 characters!

     So stop  re-writing War & Peace to answer every request and pose an offer to every prospect!

     Let me  roll my sleeves up and put it this way (and, yes, I know it’s not a real word!):

CONCISER IS BETTER!

     Three or four one-page  proposals of some kind every week will land you more and better quality clients, jobs, accounts, projects, sales, interviews, than one 8-10 page proposal every two weeks.

     Leave the fancy binder  and tabs and Introductions and Addendum and Exhibit 2a-3 junk for the floundering corporate giant managers and lawyers and investor solicitations and business plans and R&D studies and ROI assessments.  

     You’re a small business  seeking new customers, clients, patients, associates, referrers, sales reps, suppliers, product or service sales, increased website traffic, locations, business or branding launch… seek it in one page!

     David Balasco,  the famous theatre producer, used to tell sales reps to write what they wanted on the back of a business card and if he was interested, they could meet with him. Nearly no one ever rose to the occasion.

     Of course in those days,  people didn’t think in headlines, but the point is that WHEN you can get to the point promptly, you will increase your odds for success. If you own or manage a small business, don’t try to act too big! Keep your proposals short and sweet. If prospects are reputable and want to know more, they’ll ask! If they don’t, they’re not worth your time.

     And time,  after all, is all you really have, and you have less every minute of each day.

# # #  

Are You Juggling Seagulls?

     With the economy  nipping at your hindquarters, if it’s beginning to feel like there simply are not enough hours in the day, you’re probably not on the verge of the nervous breakdown you’re thinking you’re on. You’re probably just juggling seagulls!

     Oh, right,  well that makes everything okay now, doesn’t it? I mean anyone can do that little trick if she just puts her mind to it. Seagulls are, after all, very cooperative creatures and will surely do whatever you might ask of them. “Roll over, Jonathan!”

     Serious,  we already know that time and tide wait for no man. One of our parents said that once. So (the other parent probably said) time marches on. What this means is that since you can’t change time, you CAN change two things that use it up: Tasks and Takers.

     Tasks.  The simple answer here is to delegate. You’re worried that no one else will do the tasks the way you do them? Guess what? You’ve no doubt heard that SOME things never change?

     Well, others not doing stuff the way you do stuff  is one of those things that never changes. Extract your ego! Accept the fact that if others do things differently than you, the world will not end, and that getting the tasks done is what’s important. 

     On the more complicated front,  when you just can’t bite the proverbial bullet (which certainly has to hurt one’s teeth), then accept the fact that EVERYthing you do doesn’t have to be letter perfect (unless you’re an editor!), and make your mind up that getting the task done is what’s important. (Hmmm, did I say that before?)

     Okay, you’ve got the time deal  and the tasking functions covered, so there’s just one more nasty little seagull to catch up with and confront: Takers! These are people who have no regard for your time or sense of urgency and will–consciously or unconsciously– take every conceivable minute of your time up, if you let them.

     Aha,  therein lies the complete juggling trick! Yeah. Don’t let them. Period. But that’s hard, you say, especially when one of them’s your mother-in-law. Yeah, well, spit happens you know. The bottom line is that people will not take advantage of your time if you make an active choice to not allow it.

     “Excuse me,  but I need to be on my phone (in my office, at a meeting, working on a speech, visiting the bathroom) right this minute. Perhaps you can catch me a week from Thursday when I’m on the road; just call my cell phone (which will certainly be on it’s last charge bar by then).”

     If you are getting stressed  from juggling seagulls, either give up juggling, or move farther inland.   

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # #

This blog free via list-protected email: click RSS Feed above…$1.99/mo on  AMAZON Kindle. Creative? Add your own 7 words to the 315-day 7-Word Story (under RSS) We’re making it up as we go!  GET Hal Alpiar short story in Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING Amazon, B&N, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication $22.45 total check only (includes s&h), payable & mail to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include continental US ship-to address. 9/13 is Grandparent’s Day!