Signs You Are Ready to Exit Your Chiropractic Practice and Sell

These are all classic signs of what we call “Execution Exhaustion” and a big indicator that you need to think seriously about selling.  To put it simply, these chiropractors are tired of the grind and all it takes to run the business.

Chiropractors who fit into this category regularly say things like…

·         I don’t mind seeing the patients, it’s everything else that bothers me…

·         If I could only get someone to run the business-side, I’d be willing to stay and see patients…

·         I’m tired of trying to find new staff or fighting insurance companies to get paid – I just want to adjust patients.

Unfortunately, most smaller practices don’t have the financial resources to hire out all the duties they don’t like, so they are forced to wear many hats.  Even larger practices that may technically be able to afford an office manager or extra staff member to support the doctor, suffer from a lack of clear procedures that would enable the owner to get more off his or her plate.

As a result, chiropractors who push themselves or their practice beyond the point of this type of exhaustion will often attempt to alleviate their fatigue by taking their hands off the wheel.  Since they don’t have the energy, they stop (or slow down on) marketing or patient recalls.

After a while, these chiropractors will even “under-recommend” treatment and provide less care than the patient needs because they are looking for ways to avoid any friction.

As a final attempt to ease the overwhelm, these DCs will slow down their schedule which obviously then causes the practice income to drop and decrease the value of the business in the process. Keep this up and eventually, you won’t have a practice – all because you missed this critical sign that you are ready to exit your chiropractic practice and sell.

Do you feel “tied” to your practice and long for the freedom of a vacation or more time?

Are you frustrated because you have put vacation plans on hold once again because the business needs you right now and coverage docs always cause your practice to decline?  Are you sadly missing out on spending time with the grandkids because you can never get away from the practice for long?  Are your friends enjoying another fantastic day of golf while you’re stuck working?

Have you tried to get away by closing the office, only to feel the financial pinch when you do so?  Or worse, have you hired a vacation doc that underperforms and is overpaid to the degree that you have to pump the practice (and the revenues) back up when you return?

Doctors who fall into this trap feel that they can never escape the grind, take much time off or do things they need to feel mentally healthy.

These Chiropractors stay in practice (for a while). But they are usually miserable because they feel they are missing out on life.

If this goes for too long, many of these chiropractors either suddenly become fed up and want to quit – or they become frustrated and make similar mistakes as those who were in the category of “Execution Exhaustion.”

Did you have an exit strategy or succession plan that simply fell through? Were you planning to sell to your associate, only to find out they have no interest in buying?  Did your son’s decision to go “find himself” while backpacking the Himalayas put a wrench in your plans to transition the practice over to him?

Whatever plans have vanished, you are now left staring at the obvious: you have no exit strategy and no desire to go on practicing forever.

These chiropractors actually thought ahead and made a plan for what seemed like a good exit.  But, their ideas failed to include a “Plan B.”

DC’s in this category can frequently spiral into analysis paralysis and continually try to figure out where they went wrong in their planning.  This only causes further delay and often is accompanied by a practice decline because the news of their failed plan takes the wind out of their sales and they lose the desire to practice.

The solution? Recognize the plan A isn’t their exit strategy.   But also realize that the fact that you were gloriously looking forward to your transition out may also be a Signs You Are Ready to Exit Your Chiropractic Practice and Sell…with a Plan B strategy in place.

4.      Economically Entangled. Are your retirement plans tied to the sale of your business and you are getting tired of practice? Has the joy of practice left, but you are still in the building seeing patients because you need the money? Do you desire to slow down, but fear the consequences of what that will do to your business value?

Some chiropractors get near the end of their career to realize that a significant portion of their retirement plans are dependent on their practice sale proceeds.

Others never quite get this far in their financial planning, only to find out that the only way they are going to retire well is to sell their practice.

Recognizing this as a sign that you are ready to exit your chiropractic practice and sell is a key to hatching your successful sale in a timely manner that will coincide with your retirement plans.

Getting a practice valuation BEFORE you realize that there is a financial gap in your retirement plans is an even better idea, so that you may accurately forecast the economics of how long you may need to practice.