Empowering Women in Chiropractic - Mastering Success: Strategies for a Thriving Practice

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Hello everyone. This is Dr. Nathalie Beauchamp and welcome to the show Empowering Women in Chiropractic, which I'm co-hosting with amazing other female chiropractor. Today I have a guest. Her name is Dr. Danielle Warner. I've known Danielle for a few years now. She is practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and I thought we would chat with her to see what throughout the years made her so successful in practice.

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Because I think as chiropractors it's always nice and fun to hear about other. People's practice because we can always learn from each other. So Danielle, welcome to the show. Thank you. Cool. So Danielle, instead of reading your bio, I figured you have an interesting story with the chiropractic and how you became a chiropractor.

So I would let you share that story and then we'll jump right into some strategies. Okay, so my first introduction to chiropractic was through my mother. She suffered from pretty debilitating migraines and so when we were early teenagers, naturally she, her migraines were resolved through that and we started going, my sister and I, when we were teenagers.

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And then as I went through university I knew I wanted to get into. Health and wellness. And so that was something obviously that I looked into to become a chiropractor. And what actually happened is my mother went back to school as a mature student and so she actually graduated top of her class about 10 years prior to me.

So I remember her going through when my sister and I were teenagers. So very inspiring and then I. One of the, one of the things that I did, which I think really attributed to the trajectory of my career is I really wanted to get a clear vision before I started school. And so I found a doc that was doing what I wanted and I basically, I.

Followed her and I worked for her, and I absorbed myself in her vision. So much so that then it became my own. And so when I came out of chiropractic college, I did some locuming and then was given the opportunity to start on foster family chiropractics. From there, we worked in partnership for, I don't know, 14 years, and then now I am owning and running the clinic myself.

That. That's awesome. So I'm gonna ask you the questions, Danielle, because I think as you've been in practice 18 years, I'm on 27 and we reinvented ourselves many time in our own practice, let's face it. But I think. If someone asked me what were the three or four things that were like pivoting moments in term of growth in my practice, I know what they would be and I'd love for you to share what those could be mindsets.

It could be tactical or strategies that you implemented that really help your growth. And also building the clinic that of your dream, like the clinic. That is resonating with your own core values. So please share with us. Okay, so I alluded to a little bit. The first one is you don't need to reinvent the wheels.

Somebody is doing what you want, your vision, right? And so finding, taking the time to like work with the different chiropractors, they've done it right. The chiropractor that I started with, she had systems in place. She was successful herself. I loved her communication and so it. It was like I, I didn't have to do all of that hard work figuring it out and making those mistakes.

Someone's done it. I would say if you're starting out and you're listening to this, having that is for me, made a big difference and I think really allowed me to really focus on the adjusting focus, on getting clear on my communication and those things. All of the nitty gritty of running the office that I, we had those systems place, so that was huge.

'cause it freed up bandwidth for me to grow my skills and my communication. I hired somebody to do my social media and my emails for me. So I have a vision. I meet with her. By far that I think as far as running a practice and so much of what we do now is online and social media. It's not necessarily my personal love language.

However, it's very important in this day and age, and it's been a game changer. I, we have our plan, I send it to my gal, she posts it. She's great. So really finding someone to help you out with some of those things, that was huge for me as far as the pleasure that I. I am taking in running the practice because I do feel for me, if I had to sit down and come up with those things and do that all myself, that would be very energy draining.

I now have an exam. Sorry, not to cut you off, but I think it would be interesting to know part of your marketing money allowed for your, on your budget, what is the percentage that you're putting towards social media or having this person on board? Yeah. For me, it's not that much as far as social media. I had someone, she was a practice member, she's an ambassador for Lululemon.

She came to me and said, can I do some social media stuff for you so that I can put it on my resume? And I said. Absolutely. How about I pay you? How about I hire you? And so we've been developing this relationship for years, and it doesn't have to be that much because the younger generation, they enjoy it.

It comes naturally. They have access to, they're on the, they make the reels, they do all those things. And so it's, and it's really good experience for them. So finding somebody that. Is wanting that as experience. It doesn't it's not taking a draw. And then I am, I do mark it, I do put aside a little bit for my email campaigns.

So I'll sit and I'll meet with a company and we hash out the vision and we do three months in a row. And, but then it's done. It's done. And I approve it and it comes out and it's great if something changes. And so even that's not, it's not a significant amount. But it frees up as far as what time is worth and balance in my life.

It's two key points, right? Find someone on the disc profile that's an eye that's outgoing and love doing that stuff. And you're right, some people in the younger generation, it's, they're really fast and efficient. So it doesn't have to be as much as we would think it would cost and to have that, especially if not something that you enjoy.

I think it's key. There's definitely some gold in that recommendation. I. And you can even get a co-op student. You could research, okay, what's the, what are the programs that are doing these things? It's valuable, right? And it's a win situation. And yeah, it was, I've been doing this now with her for five years and I.

Every time I just send her a quick note and she makes these beautiful reels. I am just, it's amazing and really it's not a lot as far as the impact on payroll, so that was huge. The other one thing that I did as far as allowing me to see the volume that I'm seeing and connect with each individual way I want to is an exam doc.

I have somebody that comes in and she does a lot of the, I guess she does the exams, the reassessments, those kinds of things, and she's excellent at it. Everybody loves working with her. And then that allows me to adjust at the volume that I'm adjusting and. I do put a time aside for the communication piece to go over and do the reviews, but it's amazing.

And then all of the stuff is done. It's as, even as far as charting and stuff like that. And that's just actually more recently I've implemented that and it's huge. It's huge. And I would say, and this goes back to that first one, I'm getting a clear vision. Start practicing the way you want to practice. So know what that looks like.

How much time, what do you need to communicate efficiently? What is it that you, the pace, the flow that needs to start at the beginning? 'cause I think as we, we start and then we're figuring it out and it's hard to pull back, right? Repetition, hard wiring in the nervous system. Take the time at the beginning and then you fine tune it.

And I think that's, that was huge for me as far as that, being able to sustain the volume once I got there. I didn't. I wasn't behind. I was running efficiently 'cause I was always running efficiently. So that was a really big one. Another thing I'll say as far as just overall success, and I'm realizing now more than ever, the relationship you have with your front desk, your team is so important.

It's worth putting the time in to create. Culture and to ensure that your front desk trusts you as a doc and as a good human because at the end of the day, their relationship with the patients. It, they have a real big impact and oftentimes patients won't necessarily tell me something and then they'll go tell them or whatever.

It happens even after 18 years. Sometimes there's miscommunication or sometimes there's this, and to know that my front desk trust where I'm coming from in my heart with patients, and they will back, back me up. And they're willing to learn and they love chiropractic. I don't think you could sustain success without a really good front team, and that is where I put most of my investments as far right.

It's really important to me to make sure that. My front desk they feel heard, they feel they have a role, they're properly compensated. So that's another really big one. Yeah, and I think I'd add to that too, because in 27 years I've had a lot of front desk, and one thing that is huge is that. They are under chiropractic care themselves, right?

If I look back and take a, an inventory in my head of the staff that really were strong at the front were people that were probably even under chiropractic care, either with me or with another chiropractor. Of course we educate them and so forth, but I. Thinking now my staff gets adjusted on a regular basis.

They know what's going on the chiropractic table. So I think that's important too. But I could not agree more with the culture. And I myself hire a lot of students, university students. And right now I wish I could freeze. Time because I have such a great team. They're in school, they're, some of them are doing their masters, but still working in the clinic and so forth.

This is how great of a culture we've created that I know they look forward to come to their shift. And I get goosebumps saying that, and I'm serious that I wish I could freeze time and keep them all, but they're all studying in health, but in different degrees. So I could not agree more with that, to, to spend a lot of time and energy into that.

And not to say I remember myself. I don't know. Do you do weekly training with your staff? Do you have a set time to do. That is very important too. And one drawback of for myself to have many students is that it's a little bit harder, but it has its pros and cons and I think an exam doctor or somebody doing your scans and your intake has been one of my pivotal moments, and you're right to say, go on the pace that you want to be at.

You spend X amount of time with a patient, even if we're not busy, really try to stay within your system and. I found, what would be the number you'd say to look into getting an exam doctor or someone doing the exam when you're over a hundred? I think if it's starting to be a volume that you could look at that, and I know at first I was a bit scared to have a back person.

Oh, it's gonna be costly, but like you, oh my God, the difference that it made is huge. Yeah. And in your time afterwards there's, we always have paperwork and this, that stuff, right? So it, I think you're more energetic in practice. If you could just do your art and. I don't know. It's made a, it's made a big difference.

I just, I love the days that she's there. 'cause I know that I can, things are gonna run very smoothly and yeah, it's a beautiful thing for sure. It took me a while. It did, it took me a long time, but I was just like, I can't, it's a lot. And if you intend to practice at a higher volume, then that's the other thing is to really, you gotta manage your energy.

When I serve, you extend. But I think if you can focus on really being respectful of your time so that you can serve. It's huge. Yeah. And the last thing I would say, sorry, go ahead. No. Go ahead, please. No, the last thing I would say that really made a difference, and this is just like an aha moment with my, how I communicate chiropractic and the nervous system just.

I just got, I dropped the story that it was my responsibility, like I, I am going to, I'm doing it all right as far as I got really good at communicating and falling in love with the nervous system and helping people to understand and trust truly. How self-healing we are, how self-regulating we are and really bringing that to the table right at the beginning.

That one piece was huge because then it's a dual, like it's a joint endeavor, right? It's a contract. We're working together and that takes a lot of the load off of you as the chiropractor and that expectation that it's my job to heal you. And that's just a, that's just a subtle thing that if you can communicate that at the front when you're establishing your relationships with the people that are coming in.

It just, it's a be. It's a beautiful conversation from there. So that was the last thing. Yeah. I'm smiling because the newest addition to the clinic is I literally put on the ceiling, borrowing from the dentist here. Three posters and different picture. But do you know what it says? Healing takes time. Yeah.

And it's funny because patients that have been coming to the clinic for years, they'll look, Nathalie, when did you put this? Because they're not just noticing it and having the conversation about it I think is great for table talk. And just this last week, one of my patient had brain tumor. Just started care recently and you just understand I'm just there to optimize this nervous system.

But he asked me for if you could take a picture. I said, I'll do better than that. I'll send you the graphic. And he says, thank you. I'm gonna put that as on my board so I can focus on that daily. I'm like, wow. I didn't think doing that picture would have such a big impact, but just. Empowering even for me to know that people need to see this and obviously he needed to see that.

So cool. Lastly, and we haven't spoken about it, but I know last time we spoke you were heading to a retreat with Dr. Mo. Where is it that you went? It was in Costa Rica. Yeah. And the reason I'm bringing this up is that you talked about strategies in your practice, but what about us? What about us as human?

What about us to recharge our batteries? With like-minded people with things that are gonna make you grow as a human. So tell us more about that retreat, because it sounded fantastic. Yeah. So Dr. Mack and Dr. Mo from the Prana Foundation, it was exceptional. It was, first of all, they are exceptional women.

And to be, they really held a space and it was about those tiny little rituals to protect your yourself and your energy. They, you felt cared for. They just, they basically did everything for you and it was the most beautiful combination of rest and restoration. They were very. All this like free time, but in such a guarded space.

And then also having that conversation about the nervous system. It's like a combination of my love language and polyvagal theory, and there's this heady stuff. And it's interesting because there was, there were other women there from other different professions, but it was all, all relative. And the I just, you know what?

For me, it took me a bit to settle in because I'm not used to being served. I'm not used to. And I was like, oh, we take care of others. Yeah, that's right. And I took the time and I let it all go and I got, I just, the energy and capacity on the other end of it was amazing. And so I. Watching that as well.

I think as you're going through it was for me, and I don't recommend, it was probably 10 years, it's probably a decade before I started to do things other than seminars and different things. Super driven and stuff. And so just surround doing a retreat like that where you're with your people.

It's, it feels like a beautiful tribe and it was very protected and it makes a difference. You can do more. You can do more. You could be more when you do those things, and they were exceptional at it. It was all about the participants and their needs. Yeah. Yeah, it was very well done. That's awesome and another great piece of advice in terms of yes, going to seminars for tactical stuff, but to recharge your own battery.

I myself did something different that I never closed the office between Christmas and New Year's, but I did this year. I. And Wow. And I went away, so it was great. And I did feel recharged on the other end. So I think it's important that we take the time. Danielle, thank you so much. And leaving here, is there anything else that you would like to say to, let's say a younger chiropractor?

Just to recap on everything we talked about. I would say, you know what, it's all worth it. Keep trying. Work with mentors, work with coaches. Some things will work, some things won't. Some things will feel good and they won't, but it's all growth and it's never done. So managing your energy and supporting yourself along the way I think is really important because there's no, like, when I get there, I'm gonna whatever.

It's always evolving, and I think that's what's really beautiful. But if you want to stay feeling successful and inspired in practice, then there are so many wonderful people that you can work with. I've always had a coach and I would say. Some really resonated, some didn't. It was they were all beneficial in one way or the other.

And investing in mentorship is crucial. It's important. It's crucial. I've never not, so yeah. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much, Danielle. It's also great to catch up with you. I'm sure we'll see each other soon. Not soon enough, but soon enough. Hopefully. So this was Dr. Danielle Warner and Dr.

Nathalie Beauchamp for the show Empowering Women in Chiropractic, brought to you by ChiroSecure, which are putting together a series of educational videos like this on a variety of topics. I know that I'm all often tuning in myself to listen to what's going on in the world of chiropractic, so thank you very much.

I hope you enjoy today's show, that it inspired you and that it gave you some new ideas to incorporate in your practice.

Join us each week as we bring you the best in business growth, practice management, social media, marketing, networking, leadership, and lots more. If it's about women in practice and business, you'll hear it here.

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