All startups face an uphill battle.
You are no doubt familiar with the big names in management theory, like Peter Drucker and Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Their ideas have been adopted by the CEOs and executives of America’s largest companies. And in 1988, a new era emerged with the publication of The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, by Michael Gerber.1
This book showed how systematic business processes, codified by manuals and training, are replicable and teachable. From this point we began to see businesses turning into chains, stores becoming franchises, on a scale hitherto not seen. It was logical, because of the 500,000 new businesses with employees that launch every year, only half survive five years, and only a third see their 10-year anniversary.2
The allure of owning a franchise is the hope that the business being purchased is a successful and proven design.
At the same time, a successful company can grow only as large as its market. A store that sells paint, for example, is limited by the number of customers it can serve in a given area. Opening a branch of that store in a new location is the easiest way to double sales and profits.
As a chiropractic practice is very much a business, the decision to launch one must be made carefully. And as the E-Myth suggests, success is more likely if the practice enacts deliberate systems and processes, written procedures, structured training, and time-tested design.
Should the practice thrive and escape the dangers all startups encounter, eventually the owner can consider expanding with satellite clinics in new demographic areas. In this issue of Chiropractic Economics, we’ll show you how to put your best foot forward with a new startup, the finances of launching a satellite practice, and what goes into purchasing a franchise.
Whichever route you choose, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel; take advantage of others’ hard-won lessons.
To your success,
Daniel Sosnoski, editor-in-chief
Let me know what’s on your mind: Office: 904-567-1539 Fax: 904-285-9944 Email: dsosnoski@chiroeco.com
References
1 Gerber GE. (1988). The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. Pensacola, Fla.: Ballinger Publishing.
2 U.S. Small Business Administration. “Frequently Asked Questions.” https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/FAQ_Sept_2012.pdf. Published Sept. 2012. Accessed June 2015.
