We can't do it alone. This statement applies to many facets of our lives – from running a business to knowing everything about how to care for our patients to the challenges of raising a family as a single parent.
Perhaps this "do it all yourself" mentality stems from the fast-paced society we live in; everyone feels we must do more, learn more, make more, just to keep up. Many women in my company speak of the internal struggle they feel to achieve more at work while also not letting their family lives suffer. They say they've been told that they can "have it all," yet feel they rarely achieve it all without guilt in at least one area.
While it is true that both women and men have more opportunities to do more than any other generation, being everything in all aspects of your life is not as easy as you've heard. It's a difficult balance and one that can't always be achieved, at least without help.
Something Bigger Than Ourselves
When starting your practice, I bet that you didn't do it alone. Help probably came from an outside source. This could be a loan to get the office up and running; it could be your spouse helping you through any periods of uncertainty; it could be a great office staff that took care of their jobs so you could focus on caring for your patients. The point is that even though you did the work in chiropractic college, you still benefited from others' support to achieve your goal.
The same is true for anyone, regardless of their career. For me as a business leader, there's no way my company could continue to grow without the hard work of our staff day in and day out, and the leadership of other managers to see that goals are set and attained. I know it really takes a team effort to change your business for the better.
This applies to your business as well. Just as my company is founded on the vision of helping others, so is your business. You recognize that being a part of the chiropractic family is about much more than just making profit. Clearly, you will need to be a smart businessperson to keep your doors open, but you know at the end of the day your job is to help people have a healthier life.
However, helping people can't change the tide of the negative public perception of chiropractic. There is more work to be done, and it can't be done only in your adjusting room or even solely in your office. The work requires a bolder, bigger plan to systematically rebuff attacks on our profession and to promote the truth of chiropractic to a worldwide audience. This work cannot be done by one person or only one chiropractic association. I believe chiropractic associations do amazing work. They make a huge impact on how chiropractors are allowed to practice, and how they are treated by the law and insurance companies. Each chiropractic association does a lot of good work on its own, but when they come together to achieve a goal, the results are even better.
The same is true for groups that have shined a national spotlight on issues that deserve our attention and research. The American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association are just two examples of groups whose goal is to bring awareness and change to health care conditions. They have support from millions of people and they are easily recognized for the work they do.
While you can have a local fundraiser to help cancer research, we can all agree that the American Cancer Society makes a bigger impact on cancer research because of its size, scope and support. We want chiropractors to see it the same way when it comes to changing the perception of your profession. You can make a difference by helping your patients and running an ethical practice, but that only affects your patients and some people in your local community. What about the rest of your community? The rest of your state? The rest of the country? The rest of the world?
Chiropractic is bigger than just your office. We need to look outside the four walls of our business/practice and see that the world is helped by chiropractic. The world needs to hear the good news of the positive benefits chiropractic has to offer. The world needs to see the truth to know that there is an alternative to the standard of medical health care. The world should be allowed to experience what chiropractic can do to help pain go away, improve athletes' performance and just help the average person live a happier, healthier lifestyle.
The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP) is working hard every day to spread that message not only to your community, but also to the world. We want everyone to know what chiropractic can do and to dispel any rumors or misinformation about our profession. The foundation is a team that is working hard to move public opinion on chiropractic by providing positive messaging on a local, national and international level. Here are a few of the most recent examples of its work:
- Positive ads about chiropractic in prominent publications, such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. This includes an ad comparing the costs of surgery versus chiropractic care for lower back conditions.
- In 2012, the F4CP will produce six new TV public-service announcements (PSAs) that will be distributed to more than 1,000 stations nationwide. It will also create four new radio PSAs that will be distributed to over 6,500 stations nationwide.
- During a trip to Washington, D.C., Retired Brigadier General (and foundation spokesperson) Becky Halstead was interviewed for more than 40 minutes by AP Television. AP serves as a feeder of news to more than 5,000 TV stations across the county. The interview was divided into segments and distributed to numerous states and Web sites.
An Additional $1 Million in Support for the Foundation
The F4CP is gaining momentum and has broken down some barriers, but there is still more to be done. However, the foundation can't do it without your support. I don't say this as a hollow call to action without asking the same of myself and my business. Foot Levelers matched the $81,000 of donations received at Parker Seminars in Las Vegas in January 2012 and pledged an additional $1 million to the foundation.
I believe in the work of the F4CP and I am doing more than just asking for your support. I support this cause and this group to make a change for chiropractic for the better. I urge you to join us. Together, we can make a bigger, bolder, stronger impact on the public's perception of chiropractic. Together we can do more than we could alone. Visit www.f4cp.com or call 866.901.F4CP (3427) to join today.
Click here for previous articles by Kent Greenawalt.