You can be David versus Goliath in your medical practice

I get excited when I run into entrepreneurial thinking in a physician, so I smiled gleefully when I read Dr. Richard Schoor's recent post in his Independent Urologist Blog.

As a solo practitioner "fighting the good fight", he writes that there are competitive advantages to being the small practice in a sea of big groups, and these include:

1: Flexibility — you can be flexible, adaptive, and change-ready. These are important characteristics to possess in the face of shifting reimbursements schemes, regulations, and managed care rules on top of major advances in communications and health information technologies.

His other points are (you can read the rest of the post here):

2: Cream-skimming.

3: Tech-savvy.

4: Alternative delivery methods.

5: Patient preference.

6: Regulatory changes.

To this list I would add:

• Avoid the overhead bloat
• Find and exploit a key point of differentiation (e.g. "the physician who grew up in the neighborhood and chose to come back", "The practice where your time is more important than ours" etc.)
• Act big, with an active informative website/blog that attracts not only the attention of your patient market, but that also interests and excites your local media -- PR is the BEST form of free advertising.

Good entrepreneurial analysis, Dr. Schoor!

Make the web your physician business friend

A three day weekend devoted to Information Marketing ("the business of packing and selling valuable information" - my definition!) and an article today called "Combining Internet With Office Visits Cut Heart Attack Risks" have sensitized me even further to the role a carefully delineated Internet strategy can play in an entrepreneurially-minded physician practice or service business.

The Web is a great place to "advertise" your wares -- remember, my opinion is that the BEST advertising strategy is to position yourself as a knowledgeable and generous Expert with a whole lot to share with the right Target market! It's NOT about being found in the White or Yellow pages.

But increasingly, the Internet is a wonderful tool for delivering at least part of your services, as in the Temple University School of Medicine study's example -

"The telemedicine patients also used an Internet-based health reporting system to regularly transmit their blood pressure, weight and exercise data to cardiologists, who used the same system to provide feedback and educational information."

In what ways are you willing to take advantage of this highly flexible ubiquitous medium to get your message AND your offering out? I challenge you to get your creative juices flowing!

The beauty of blogging for your physician business

One of the pleasures of a conference is catching up with some of the "names' in your industry. For several years, I've been a devotee of The Blog Squad -- Denise Wakeman and Pasy Krakoff. So it was exciting to meet them in person at the InfoProfit Intensive weekend put on by my coach, Adam Urbanski.

Their presentation reiterated all the benefits I have come to appreciate of having a blog to promote and reinforce my brand and my business.

Let me remind you of the key opportunities having a blog represents:

• getting found quickly by the search engines - blogs are search engine magnets!
• being found by the media - the vast major of media writers turn to the blogosphere to find the experts to interview and quote
• your content is organized by category and available to be found on the Internet forever
• you have the opportunity to create a real conversation with your audience and learn from them

Their secrets to a winning blog -- Pay attention to 4 things:

• Content - make sure you use this platform to position yourself as an Expert, and provide education and resources to the prospective audience you want to reach
• Outreach - engage others with a conversational dialog-encouraging style -- this is not the place to pontificate. Also work on creating relationships with other bloggers who are likely to reciprocate by sending traffic in your direction
• Design - not hugely important, but don't forget that this is yet another way to create perception in the minds of or audience. Look professional; you're not an amateur.
• Action - Get your audience to take action as a result of reading your blog. Decide on your strategic purpose for the blog and then make it happen!

And here is a brief interview with the Blogging Stars themselves (one of the advantages of having my nifty Flip Video on hand)

The 8 simple secrets of success for a physician business

I'm enjoying a few days of out-of-the-office learning time -- I'm attending my coach's 3-day InfoProfit Intensive workshop and flourishing in an atmosphere of learning and collegiality. My classmates, from a variety of industries, are all focused on learning how to package their expertise in response to the wants and struggles of their target market, and then to connect with them via the Internet. There's a lot of smokin' heads in the room!

I will have plenty to share over the next few days, but will you indulge me first?  I found an almost 4-minute video that encapsulates what you'll want to remind yourself of as you build your entrepreneurial physician businesses and practices, and that I thought would egg you on.

(BTW, if you are reading this in your Feedblitz email, you'll need to click on the post title to be able to see the video on my website)

Your business and professional success may depend on the attention you pay to these 8 words!

When "transition" strikes -- 5 tips for thriving during change

The topics of Change and Transition surface frequently in coaching, as most clients are self-selecting to deliberately consider altering their status quo.

Change is a provocateur - shimmering and glossy one moment, dark and threatening the next. Its attraction differs from one person to the next.

I thrive on change, eager to discover the new, deeply curious about what is next, and restless with most forms of predictability (I DO however like to be able to predict that my family will be gathering for dinner at night!). I go for the shimmer.

My husband personifies resistance to change. He is a stable and solid, and likes things to be just so. Change is murky and scary to him (and he has had to hang on, with what I've put him though!). He serves as my reminder that most people in the world are probably nowhere near as futuristic and flighty as I am. And as my greatest steadying influence, he helps me celebrate the power of the present.

So if you are grappling with transition, here are my 5 suggestions for managing the thrill ride:

1. Give yourself permission TO NOT KNOW the answers right away.
I met with a client today who is truly willing to not force a decision about her best "next professional direction". Instead, she is allowing herself to continue earning from her prosperous practice, while she accepts invitations to work with different groups of clients that catch her interest and attention. She is voluntarily engaging in transition without immediate clear answers.

2. Carve out mini-retreat times with yourself.
What would you do with a day, or even an afternoon, devoted entirely to self-reflection? Away from the office or home - with a blank sheet of paper or unsullied document on your laptop in a coffee shop, or a towel and a thinking cap on the beach.

Here are three Kinder Questions (from financial guru George Kinder) to ask yourself, as you survey your life and profession from the navel-gazing position under a tree:

Question 1
Imagine that you have enough money to take care of your needs, now and in the future. How would you live your life? Would you change anything?

Question 2
Imagine that your doctor says you have only five to 10 years to live. You won't feel sick, but you'll never know when death will come. What will you do? Will you change your life? How?

Question 3
Now imagine that your doctor says you have only one day left to live. Ask yourself: What did I miss? What did I not get to be or do?

3. Tell the Judge he/she needs to take an overdue vacation.
Change affords a field day opportunity for your Inner Critic to indulge in self-doubt, "Who do you think you are?" questioning and "How dare you believe you'll succeed" censure.
It's time to give the Judge a few days off -- just gently let him or her know that you are not available right now for any debate. And then tune him or her out if you hear The Voice. 

4. Give your right brain some real "air time".
Last weekend, I watched one of the most fascinating short and compelling presentations ever, on what life is like living with right brain dominance. I urge you to watch this 18-minute affecting presentation by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor as she describes her experience during and after her stroke!
Then you will understand what I mean by giving your right brain air time - she describes it way better than I could!

5. Know that very few decisions are forever.
As an adolescent or young adult deciding your college majors or your graduate course of action, don't you recall being overwhelmed by the sense of permanence of your choice?
Well, I'm here to reassure you (through deep personal experience, with a career that has waltzed all over the ballroom) that none of your career options are etched in copper. You can afford to question whether to stay put or move on. You are not stuck with your future selections -- no matter what the naysayers opine.

How do you cope with change?