Bridges in Business: Are You Completing Yours?
Andrea Maxim, ND
As healthpreneurs – entrepreneurs in the healthcare industry – we are a creative bunch. We have to be! Our business is certainly not going to create itself. You are the creator, the executor, the boss, the CEO, the CFO… you get the point.
One thing that I know all of us are getting hung up on is taking that complete journey from conception to reality. While you’re in the shower, you get the most brilliant idea for a new program to offer your patients. I personally get all my best business ideas either on the toilet, in the shower, or in the first 5 minutes after I wake up in the morning. You’re so pumped about this new program idea! You rush off to work and start writing down your ideas. “This is going to be so great!” you tell yourself. “I’m going to tell all of my patients about it, and they’re all going to love it; it’s going to be a massive hit. With all that extra revenue, I can afford to go on that amazing trip to Europe that I’ve always dreamed of. My bank account is going to be in the black and I’m going to be so stress-free!”
A couple of days go by, and that sheet you scribbled all of your ideas onto is now at the bottom of a pile of invoices and paperwork. You’re conducting work as usual. That amazing program that was going to be a serious game-changer in your business is nothing but a dream written on a piece of paper, which now has become 1 of many in a big pile on your desk.
How many of those dreams do you think you have written down somewhere in your office right now?
Or, how many courses have you invested in? You sit there for hours, soaking in the amazing information. New protocols. New business-building practices. New supplements for those patients with whom you’ve been struggling to get results. You’re frantically writing notes while you’re at the course. You’re feeling so inspired by all the changes that you’re going to make on Monday when you’re back into the office. You return home on Sunday with all of these great intentions. You put your conference notes down on your desk, excitedly waiting for tomorrow. What happens on Monday?… business as usual. No new protocols. No new supplements. No new business-building practices. “I will get to it later!” you say. Later unfortunately never comes.
You’re Not Completing Your Bridges
You might be like I was 6 months ago, when I had a lot of bridges in my practice. A lot of amazing ideas that I wanted to execute. Some completely ready to go, but with no idea how to launch. Some that were still written down on paper, but getting no further than that. Out of 10 great ideas, I may have completed 1 or 2 and executed them in my practice.
What if one of those bridges was your golden ticket to Dream Island? What if one of those bridges – assuming you completed it 100% – gave you the financial freedom you’ve been dreaming of? What if that bridge was the door that was going to open up so many options for your business and was the gateway to achieving all of your major goals?
We get so caught up in doing our everyday work and forget about the tasks that we should be prioritizing in our business.
Choose Your Bridges
Here are a few examples of the bridges you might have right now:
- A Blog: New content every day
- A YouTube Channel: New video every day
- A Facebook Group: New posts every single day to engage the group
- An Instagram account: New pictures posted daily, with engaging copy
- A New Protocol: One you’ve been dying to use on your patients
Then someone says, “Well, you have to write an e-book if you want to capture more patients,” so you start writing that. Then someone says, “You should also be doing webinars with your list every month,” so you start looking into that.
In the end, you’re left with a whole lot of great ideas, and a lot of hustle behind them. A lot of projects are on your plate, but not 1 of them is reaching completion, your dream island. You’ve been keeping really busy. You’ve been letting those creative juices flow, but with nothing to show for it in the end.
Then you’re left asking yourself, “Well, why aren’t I getting what I want out of my practice when I’m working so damn hard?”
The answer: Too many bridges. What you’re actually doing by going from project to project is decreasing your overall productivity. More and more of your energy is being wasted as you switch from 1 project to another. The more you switch, the less productive you are, and the quality of your work will show it.
Simplify!
What I encourage you to do next is to write out ONE, only one, bridge that you want to put all of your efforts into, and make it happen. Choose the one that will get you to Dream Island the fastest. Choose the one that you believe in the most, the one that will seriously make a difference in your practice, and complete that one.
Once you have completed that pivotal bridge, make sure that you have created a system to keep it going, and let that bridge fuel your ability to complete the next bridge. You must commit yourself and focus on no more than 1 bridge at a time.
While you’re looking at all of your bridges, also be committed to burning some down. These are the ideas that you don’t really have passion for, the ideas that you know you don’t really want to put any extra effort into. Burn them to the ground and save your best energy for the bridges that matter.
When you do this, I promise you that you will feel more accomplished and the results that you will achieve in your practice will reward you for it.
Dr. Andrea Maxim, ND knows first hand how difficult it can be to stand out in a crowd of your competitors. Early in her career as a naturopathic doctor she realized what it takes to get ahead and get noticed. In her first year, she generated almost six-figures in revenue and has continued to climb every year since.
Keeping her pitbull-like focus, Dr. Andrea quickly developed a reputation with not only her patients but people in her field. She is now successfully running 3 practices, from Haldimand County to Burlington, and has written and released her first published book, MAXIMized Health: A New, Intelligent System for Optimal Digestion and Hormones.
Dr. Andrea has been interviewed by people like Sean Croxton, Danny Lennon, Mike Mutzel, has been a feature in multiple online summits, has been on many local television shows and has had editorials written about her in multiple publications. In 2014, Dr. Andrea won the coveted Top 40 Under 40 award as well as the Female Entrepreneur Award.
Now, Dr. Andrea wants to help you achieve the same success in a fraction of the time. If you’re interested in how I can help you MAXIMize Your Practice, please check out her podcast, Profitable Practice on iTunes and her online course at www.MAXIMizeYourClinic.com
