Episode 16: Keep Crazy Out Of Your Business

Kick out crazy, lock the down and windows behind it, and never let it back into your business! Today we talk about how crazy can be detrimental to your business. How it affects the culture of your business and the bottom line of your business. 

Do not miss these highlights:

01:02 We've all hired a person and come to realize they weren't who they said they were

02:41 If you want your business to grow and you want your business to survive - You got to keep crazy out!

03:15 What happens when crazy comes into your business 

04:32 There has to be a consistent experience for your patients

06:34  If crazy is in your building right now, you need to get that crazy out as quickly as possible - That crazy is going to make you crazy!

07:36 It is your fault as a leader if the expectation is not clear

07:54 The only way you are going to survive and grow your practice to a multimillion-dollar profitable practice is to have team players on your team

Transcription of Episode #16:

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. Deb has a wealth of knowledge and is 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 on how to manage money, taxes and patient care, she will discuss it all with you.

0:54
How many of you have let crazy into your building? Y'all know what I'm talking about. We've all hired that person that sat across from us at the table and told us all these great things about themselves, how they could help grow our practice, how they could help make us more efficient, how they had all of the skills that you needed, they could stick, they knew how to process blood, they knew how to schedule great. And then yet, got them in the office. They started their first day and their second day. And then you realized that they weren't who they said they were, they didn't have the ability to stick, they were missing five out of six of your patients that you had in the office. They didn't know how to use a computer. They answered the phone like they were a truck driver, no offense to anybody out there. But we've all had these people in our practice, right? We've all had the person that was able to con us and we believed them. Or you're like me, you felt sorry for them. And you thought that you could help them grow as a person. But ultimately, the only thing it helped us do is grow you because you had to learn patience. And I had to learn how to handle somebody that wasn't who they said they were and wasn't who I thought they were. And they sat across from the table for me, and then they cried when I had to fire them.

2:35
We've all had crazy in our building. I'm here to tell you that if you want your business to grow, you want your business to survive. You got to keep crazy out. And in once it gets through the door, lock that door behind you as hard and as tight as you possibly can to never let crazy back in. Because crazy in your building means crazy everywhere for your business and for your practice. Now, y'all know what I'm talking about when I'm saying this. It's not to be rude in any way, shape, or form. But when crazy comes into the building, all of a sudden you have drama everywhere. You have people that don't want to work with that. I had someone that worked for me one time, that was the best person that I could think of to protect me. She kept everybody away from me. She protected my time she protected my practice, she protected me. But by God she was meaner than snot doing it to the point where my sales people didn't want to come into the office anymore. Now when you have a salesperson that won't come in the office anymore, you know you have a problem in your business, because the salespeople are trained to get through anything. But when they've said enough is enough. That person you've got sitting across the desk from them, is not the person you want dealing with your patients, because they're not going to be any nicer to your patients than they were to the salespeople.

4:18
And when you have employees in your practice, that are only nice to the people they like that is a another big red flag. You can't have people in there that pick and choose who they're going to be nice too. There has to be a consistent experience for your patients. Now I say this, but it is one of the hardest things to do. Because the reality is we cannot control people. We can teach them we can train them. We can groom them, we can work with them. But they have to be the right people for you to invest your time, money and energy and grooming. If they're not and they're only doing things in front of you, but behind your back, they're like, don't do what she says we never do it, she says we just let her think that that is going to degrade your practice to a place that a nobody wants to work for you and be nobody wants to see you as a patient. And then you no longer have a business.

5:23
You have people seeing you in desperation, because maybe you're the only game in town. Or maybe you offer a service that nobody else does. But you're not bringing value to the table. Now, I made this mistake for many years, I kept making excuses for people that worked for me, because I felt like I couldn't find anybody better. And there was a time and we all know there's a time when employee shortages are so high, that you just take somebody because you need a body. But when you get that body of crazy into your practice into your building, there is nothing worth that. Nothing. There are ways to work around taking a body. There are services that can help answer your phone. There are ways to communicate with people from an electronic standpoint, there are temporary employees that you can try out. And yes, you're going to pay a little bit more money for them. But you can try them out before you get them going to see if they're going to work. There are many ways to prevent crazy in the building. And if crazy is in your building right now, you need to get crazy out as quick as you possibly can. Because that crazy is going to make you crazy, which means you're not focusing on what you need to be focusing on. And now you can't grow your business. Because crazies disrupting all of it.

6:54
There are enough things during the day in our practice, that can make us have drama, and stress, that we don't need to have it in our day to day experience with somebody that we pay to do the job for us. If you are paying somebody a salary to do a job, we expect them to work. Now I know that's the craziest thing that anybody has thought of it took me years to realize that we hire people, and they don't realize we're hiring them to do a job. Sometimes they think you're hiring them to just sit there, sometimes they think that they're being hired to sit on their phone. But that is not our expectation. And it is your fault as a leader if that expectation is not clear. And it is your fault as a leader just like it was my fault as a leader, when I allowed that to happen in my practice, you need to nip that in the bud. And if you can't nip it in the bud, then that person has no place on your team. Because the only way you are going to survive and the only way you are going to grow your practice to a multimillion dollar profitable practice is to have A-team players on your team. You need the A-team. Not the B team, not the C team. You need the A-team. And you need to work with that A-team grow that A-team teach that a team to be leaders to take responsibility to think outside the box and to do things for you that you would do in your own business. And you can't do that with crazy in the office. So I am encouraging you today to look around in your practices. And where you see crazy. You need to fix that. That needs to be number one activity that you take care of Monday morning. And I know it's hard. I know it's it's not fun. Sometimes we make friends with crazy, I've done it, which makes it harder for you to make a good business decision. But from a business perspective, you need to get that crazy out of your building, shut that door behind it, lock it as tight as you can, and don't ever let it back into your practice.

9:13
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 for 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.