I attended a speed reading course in New York City. In a span of 5 hours, attendees were able to increase reading speed by 30-40%.
Here’s some fascinating information:
30 years ago, the average reading speed for an adult was 350 words per minute (wpm).
Nowadays, it’s 250 wpm.
While the definitive cause isn’t known I’d venture to say it’s a direct result of information overload, stress and multi-media content. We read a lot less than we used to – we consume our content in audio, video and e-reader format. In fact, individuals who read on e-readers like Kindles, iPads may read up to 25% slower than physical books.
Seth Godin, the well known business author has alluded to the fact that physical books will be obsolete. In fact, he has made a decision to stop publishing physical books, period. Having grown up surrounded by books, this may be hard to believe. The fact is – we aren’t far away from an age in which children will be going to school with nothing more than an iPad, a cellphone and a lunch box. We are almost there.
Now, this poses a bigger question on marketing physical therapy business.
Is information alone the solution to the problems in any business (and that includes a physical therapy business private practice like yours)?
The answer is no.
Information is abundant. In fact, on this blog alone, you’ll find information to help you grow your practice, and it costs you nothing.
The key is mindset, combined with implementation.
I could give you the best strategies in the world to get new patients, hire more staff, increase more money and keep more of the money you have, but none of that will matter if you have a self imposed mental ceiling.
To some extent, we all have this mental limitation – I can’t do this. It won’t work for my practice. He can do it because he has certain capabilities that I don’t, and so on.
We have a flawed thinking process, negative mental programming when it comes to success in private practice. It’s because we aren’t taught how to build a practice when we are in school. In fact, we are taught to be better employees, more compliant staff members, keep your head down and do what everyone else is doing.
That’s great if you want to take home a paycheck. It’s not if you want to build and grow a private practice. Here are some examples of ‘negative programming’ in a private practice.
- We think it’s too tough when in fact, it’s easy with a system
- We think we need to copy our competitors instead of creating a ‘category defining’ practice.
- We think the best way to increase revenue is by working longer hours instead of hiring / providing more services / increasing revenue per client
- We don’t understand the importance of dedicating marketing dollars towards referral generation, and we try to spend the least amount of money to acquire a patient. We should, in fact, be spending as much as possible to acquire patients and increasing revenue per patient.
- We depend on a handful of physicians instead of diversifying our referral sources, forcing us into a precarious situation that can leave the practice tethering on the brink of collapse as a direct result of outside factors we have little control over.
At the end of the day, information is NOT the answer. You want to take the right information, be open to new ideas and most importantly, implement what you learn.
The solution for a private practice is the right mindset from the owner, which is triggered by the right information and consolidated with rapid implementation.
Have a great week!
Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT
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