Ultimate Practice Building Techniques

Dr. David Zahaluk, author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book, has helped many physicians and other professionals turn their practices around by using the methods he learned from experience. After losing his own business and drowning in frustration and doubt, Dr. Zahaluk took the bull by the horns and transformed his loss into a learning experience that he shares with others through his book and one-on-one consultations.

Professionals aren't necessarily trained to manage an office and financial affairs, and can suddenly find themselves in a huge dilemma. Zahaluk made it his mission to teach others how to take control of their businesses and their lives. It takes more than hanging up a shingle to run a business successfully. You've got to know how to increase your client base (make money) and how to handle your staff so that it runs like a well-oiled machine.

The Ultimate Practice Building Book contains formulas for the financial health of your business and how to incorporate inexpensive retention and profitable joint ventures that you can promote in your town or city. Dr. Zahaluk's premise is that just because you're highly successful in your field doesn't mean that you'll be successful in business.

Success is a process that you learn by focusing on a business plan as much as you focus on your clients. The business plan for opening your practice must be based on a system that your staff can follow easily, taking the burden off the professional so that he or she can get back to his expertise.

The joy and excitement of setting up your own practice and welcoming clients can be overshadowed by a poorly run office and a staff that lacks proper training. You can also lose out by lacking marketing skills. The Ultimate Practice Building Book is a prime resource for learning how to make your practice stand out and realize success.

The author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book, David Zahaluk, M.D., explains that no matter what your profession, you can learn to create a practice that overshadows the others. The key is knowing how to set up your practice so that it runs efficiently without you being there constantly.

Interacting with the community and other professionals is also a big part of the pie. The Ultimate Practice Building Book guides you gently through the maze of establishing your practice and producing positive and profitable results while attracting clients who will recommend you to others and help you grow.

Most physicians and other busy professionals lose control of their practices or businesses because they're so caught up in what they were ultimately trained to do. As a result, the business parts of their offices suffer, clients slowly dwindle, the staff becomes confused and disgruntled -- and eventually, cash flow becomes a mere trickle into your coffers.

The Ultimate Practice Building Book teaches you how to balance your time and energies to create a system that flows smoothly and supportively. With Zahaluk's plan, the professional can rest easy knowing that his office environment is creating a reputation that clearly surpasses other practices.

In 1997, Dr. David Zahaluk eagerly opened his medical practice and sat back to reap the rewards of spending years studying his field of practice. A while later he watched everything he'd worked for succumb to failure because of financial difficulties. Translated, that means he didn't know how to run the business part of his practice.

"It was the toughest time of my life," says Dr. Zahaluk, "a mixture of exhaustion, adrenaline, confusion and hope." It was an extremely emotional time for Dr. Zahaluk, but out of misery and confusion came a desire to help others before they, too, experienced failure. His book, The Ultimate Practice Building Book is a summary of what he learned during the process of re-building his practice and his life.

Dr. Zahaluk spent seven years committed to learning what he didn't know the first time - the best and most profitable way to run a business. The Ultimate Practice Building Book is a guide for medical doctors and others who have a practice or are beginning one. Zahaluk lays down the rules for finding a strategic vision and putting together a marketing plan. He also gives advice for staff development pearls and principles for coding and documentation.

Besides being a practicing physician, Zahaluk has been writing a column for Podiatry Management magazine since 2007. He's also the founder of "Maximum Income for Physicians," a coaching and consulting group. The Ultimate Practice Building Book is Dr. Zahaluk's first book and should be read by anyone who runs a business.

You have already accomplished what most of your high school classmates were unable to pull off - you completed medical school and residency. Congratulations. You are exceptional.

The only problem is, what the heck are you supposed to do now? If you have started your own practice, you are now the owner operator of a small business. And 80% of all small businesses fail in the first 3 years and another 80% of the survivors will fail over the subsequent 7 years.

What? Nobody told you that? Sorry, the person who was supposed to tell you that was out sick apparently. Our bad.

Hey, didn't you hear somewhere that doctors are rich fat cats that drive Porsches and vacation in Aspen and Cannes? Is there some kind of secret ceremony where you get a special blazer or something? You know, how do you go about joining the celebrated success circle that is the legal birthright of all doctors?

I hope my sarcasm offends you . I hope it makes your blood boil. Get mad. Please don't let this be just banter or rhetoric. Don't let it be another sound bite.

What you have to do now is learn the path to entrepreneurship. You have to learn leadership, negotiation, marketing, staff development and accounting. You have to learn how to put together a dream team of key resource people and train, develop and trust them to support your operation.

Even more important, you have to stay on top of them as they move their strategic and tactical initiatives forward. You have to learn which metrics to pay attention to as the business of your practice expands. You have to understand what your key people do well enough to guide them in the accomplishment of their duties.

The worst part is that most physicians learn how to do this doing it. No strategic help, no seasoned pro guiding the development of the inner entrepreneur. No "business residency" for self-employed doctors.

And as you can imagine the results match the overall plan - bad. Many doctors start their own practices and fail. They lose the money they invested into the practice. They lose their credit they pledged with their practice loans. They lose their marriages as they neglect their spouse to fight a constant and overwhelming uphill battle. They lose their health to the same kind of neglect directed inward, sometimes manifesting as an addiction or chronic illness.

They also lose their freedom when they sign up with big MSOs and group practices that kindly offer the siren song of taking away all these problems and complexities. Yes, big brother will watch out for you. Trust him with your personal and financial best interest. Don't worry, he won't leave you stuck in a soul-wrenching situation.

Again, sorry for the overuse of sarcasm. But you have to save yourself. How to do that?

You have two good things working in your favor - I suggest you use them. They are:

1. Your inner entrepreneur. The ability to create and run an amazing practice is innate within you but it is raw, unrefined and needs a lot of work. But you can trust it. Trust your gut as you develop your practice and your business acumen simultaneously.

2. The right consultant or coach. There are people who can help you develop your practice and your inner entrepreneur. Find them, use them, embrace them. They need you and you need them.

How do you know if you have the right business coach or consultant? Here are a couple of clues. Do they have experience specific to what you are doing? A lot of MBA and CPA types get into the business of coaching and consulting. They often mean well but don't have an appreciation for the clinical side of things. You can't let them derail your vision or your clinical accountability to patients. Check references and evaluate the results they have had working with like kind practices before you commit to using them.

The focus needs to be on educating and empowering you to ultimately take the full reigns. If your coach or consultant is directing you but continually eroding your autonomy, watch out. The best one to protect your best interests is you.