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Welcome to Business School for the Rehab Chiropractor where we coach you on how to run the practice and business of your dreams. Your host is Justin Rabinowitz - a multiple Rehab Chiropractic practice business owner and investor. In addition to running his own locations, Justin works with Rehab Chiropractors across the US talking about everything from sales to marketing, and creating the business systems necessary to succeed.
Justin Rabinowitz:
So in August of 1991, I was five years old, my family, we had just come home that night from family vacation and we all went to bed. And in the middle of the night, somehow, no one knows, our house caught on fire. We all got out and we were all safe, thank God. But as you can imagine, for my family, life was never the same afterwards.
So that voice you heard at the top is obviously me. In this clip, I'm actually standing in front of 170 people at my live event in Orlando, Florida. And throughout this episode, I'll share some of the audio from my keynote address, but I'll share some of my thoughts with you now after the fact. The talk wasn't about marketing or tactics or strategy. It's about three words that kill more growth in business than any other. I'm not ready. More on that later in the episode. Now, if you want to hear about the next one of these live events, there's a link in the show notes where you can go and speak to my team to find the right information. And as always, I'm Justin Rabinowitz and this is Business School for the Rehab Chiropractor.
So in August of 1991, I was five years old. My family, we had just come home that night from family vacation and we all went to bed. And in the middle of the night, somehow, no one knows, our house got on fire. We all got out and we were all safe, thank God. But as you can imagine, for my family, life was never the same afterwards. Everything that we had gone. This is about the most that we've had left, completely gone. And I've never really told this story before and I've never really talked about it because the reality is I don't really remember most of it. I was so young and the memories that I have been told about. But the reason why it's important to me now is because I'm at an age, I'm going to be 40 in two months with two kids.
I'm now at the age that my parents were when this happened. And to think that today something like this could happen to us, how would I respond? Because it felt so foreign. It felt something that never really occurred. But now where I am in my life, it's like, what would I do if this happened? How would I respond? Would I be ready? But then I started to think about it. If you would have asked my parents the day before, we were packing up to travel home on vacation and you went up to them and said, "Are you guys ready for your house to burn down? Are you guys ready for your life to change? Are you guys ready to pull two kids out of a house before it burns down?" They would look at you like you're fucking crazy. The answer is of course not.
Of course they weren't ready. Ready was never a prerequisite. They couldn't be ready. Could you fathom being ready to deal with that? The day before it happens, the moment before it happens, there's no world in which they could have been ready ever, ever. But you know what I think they were? They were willing. That when life handed them something like this unexpected, they were willing to deal with it. They were willing to be parents. They were willing to take care of their family. They were willing to move down the street and around the corner and back there and rebuild and put the kids back in school. They were willing. They were willing. They weren't ready. And so for me, I learned something important from that. That feeling ready is never a prerequisite to do what needs to be done. And so the first time I learned about being ready, my family, my parents, they didn't have a choice.
So the reason I start off with this story about not being fully ready is because something I've seen in business is many times we put these false pretenses or these false blockades up against ourself. And when I look at people I've worked with or myself or in this case my family, most of us verbally would say we're not ready to do something, but when we have to be forced to being ready, we magically figure it out. And so the people that I work with, and if you're listening to this, you're one of those people, you've done a lot of really hard things. You've gone to high school and college and chiropractic school and you've opened a business and you may have hired employees and you've been told no. And there's been so many things that have gone that have been hard. And the thing that's made you successful is not that you have the most resources or that you might be the smartest, it's that you're resourceful.
Unfortunately, for many of us, we don't find out how to be resourceful until we absolutely have to. And so one thing I try to do with telling my stories is to force people to help recognize and understand that they have greatness inside of them, they have resourcefulness inside of them that they might not just be activating today. Here's my second story on the day.
So I opened this business in practice in July of 2015 and one of my first patients that I ever had was a guy named CJ Appenzeller. He would drive up on Sundays because it was the only day he didn't work in his gym and it was the only day I had the office at that time and he would come and see me. He would see me in this practice. And the more I got to know CJ, the more we started to get in conversation. And he started to tell me about he had a business coach. I don't know what that is. Business coach. When I signed that LLC, they didn't say you have to sign up for a coach. It doesn't work that way. It's not like going to school and they say, "All right, you're in second grade and this is your teacher, Mrs. Smith." There's no coach.
We started talking about it and I'm like, "Well, first of all, I don't have the money. I have no money." And so that's not even an option, but I never considered that that was even a thing that you do. Who would hire a coach? Especially not for a business. Again, didn't come with that, but then I started to think about it and the more he talked about it, I started looking back at my own life. I was recalling, well, you were born and you had parents take care of you and tell you what was right and wrong and they'd feed you and make sure you were safe. And then you went to school and you had teachers that would hold you accountable and make sure you did your work and teach you lessons and then you played sports and you had coaches at every level that helped you improve.
Why would business be any different? Interesting. It started to make sense to me. So CJ's coach, Kyle, even though I didn't have the money and even though I didn't even know what I was going to get out of it because the guy owned a gym and I owned a practice, I hired him and I worked with him for a few months. And if I'm being completely transparent, I don't even remember what I learned from the coach. In fact, I don't really think I learned anything. But looking back, the most important lesson that I learned in that was that the tactics and the lessons I learned when being coached was completely irrelevant. Because what I realized now looking back was that my life changed in that moment because the transformation that I had happened at the transaction. It happened when I decided to get a coach.
It happened when I decided that everything in my life I never got anywhere alone. Why now? Why today? Why with this? The thing that is going to be the biggest investment I'll ever make with my life and my family. The thing that is going to be the most important thing, the thing that eventually will turn into this why, how, would I think that I didn't need someone to guide me and show me along the way?
And so for most of us, the further that we go, we realize that the change occurs not after. When I started getting coaching, I would always say, "Hey, what am I going to get? What are you going to teach me?" And I stopped asking that question because I realized that this is true. The transformation that I was looking for is when I make the commitment. The transformation that I want happens at the transaction. That is when I decide, that is when I change my identity. That is when I become the person that I am supposed to be. And it was in that moment a decade later, I am here because of this from that first coach where I learned nothing.
So the thing I remember about the first coach was it was so much less about what he actually coached me to do. I do actually remember the one thing that he said was to make a postcard. And the reason why I remember it is because the postcard was terrible, but I remember when I finished it, I felt so accomplished. It was the first thing, the first physical thing that I ever created in business and the sense of pride I had to be able to put a project together that I had no idea how to do it. This was before AI, this is before anything like that.
The line I've heard is the work works on you more than you work on it. And I think that for many of us in business that just getting going with things and sometimes trying something or being coached to do something, even if it doesn't work, just the idea that you completed something gives us the confidence that we need going forward. And that was in 2015 and I still remember to this day, 11 years later, me accomplishing that project that was given to me by that coach and I never would have done it if he didn't tell me to do it. I think at the time for me, I realized I needed to move on was when this coach who was a business owner in the fitness space, he didn't understand my business nearly enough to push it forward, which is why for me when I coach chiropractors and physical therapists and in healthcare, I always tell them that I don't think I'm the best business coach in the world.
I don't think that our CRM product is the best CRM product in the world. I don't think that our sales or marketing are the best ones in the world. However, what I do genuinely believe, and I would go to my grave on it, is that for our specific niche of audience, our program and resources are absolutely positively the best there is. And so I don't claim to be all things to all people and I don't want to be that. But I think that first experience with the coach who was giving me good information, I just realized now that the people I'm working with, I just want to be the best option for them and that's what we try to do every single day at Rehab Chiro Coach. Head to the link in the show notes if you want to find out more.
The third time I learned that ready wasn't a prerequisite didn't have anything to do with business at all. So you saw in that video, we looked back to that first live event and you might think that I'm going to teach you about doing this first event and not feeling ready about this first event. This event happened in September of 2022. It's the first one ever. And you see my lovely wife there, she's got that big old belly because October 31st, 2022, just one month later, this happened. For any of the parents in the room or ones that aren't parents yet, I fucking promise you if you wait to feel ready when that baby comes into your arms, it's over, guys. You do not feel ready. When that baby gets put in your arms, what are you going to do? Throw it back? You will not feel ready. If you ask me, "Are you ready?" No. "Do you feel ready?" "No." "Are you going to be ready?" "No." Any parents in here felt ready?
Raise your hand if you felt ready. Exactly. There's no checklist. There's no training manual. There's no guidebook. There's no system. The system is make sure the fucking kid doesn't die. Ready. But I can tell you what, in that moment when that little baby is placed in your arms, you know what I did feel? I felt responsible. And so I realized in that moment that feeling ready was not the prerequisite because when I had to take on responsibility, magically, I figured it out. Feeling ready is irrelevant. If you wait to feel ready in your life, you will be waiting forever. No one here this weekend, we're abandoning that. I don't feel ready. I'm not ready. It is not a prerequisite to doing what has to happen next.
So the reason I connect parenthood and being in a marriage to my practice is because I've done a ton of coaching in my life with my business and I've done coaching with a parenting coach and I did coaching. Now I have a coach with my marriage and what I realize every single time is that you can't live in a vacuum. You can't be the best leader of your team and then not figure out how to lead your household. You can't have business partners and be in that relationship and not be in a relationship at home. And so while some things are different, what I've realized is the better I am at business, the more I understand and the less emotional I can become and the better I can lead and not be scared. The better I am at home, the better I am as a dad and a parent.
And so the one thing I try to take lessons from whatever I'm learning, whether it's business or whether it's parenting or leadership and apply them across the board. And so for me, whether it's parenting or anything, I always tell our team, if we create better human beings, we will have a better business. And so when I coach other business owners, I tell them the same thing. If I can help you see the world differently and become a better version of you, it is an impossibility that your business doesn't grow as well.
This episode is brought to you by Jane, a practice management software and EMR built to support you in the day-to-day work of running your business. If you're a health or wellness practitioner, you already know. The care you provide starts well before your patient arrives and extends far beyond the treatment room. Jane is here to support every part of that experience. With online booking, your clients can book at a time that works for them and with features like wait list notifications, they'll even be able to grab last minute openings when they pop up. It's an easy way to keep your schedule full while getting your patients the care they need. During your appointment, Jane's AI powered documentation feature can help you thoughtfully take notes so you can stay present with the person in front of you.
And after appointments, you can end your time together on a healing note, not a transactional one, by charging the card on file. So guys, when Jane reached out to me to become an ambassador for them, it was a no-brainer. In my community Slack channel, we have 140 chiros, PTs, US, Canada, and all over the world and this is like the one piece of equipment software that consistently gets a 10 out of 10 rating. They talk about it all the time. They absolutely love it. And so when Jane reached out to me to help them and be an ambassador for their brand, it was an absolute no-brainer and I'm so excited to be able to work with them. To learn more about Jane, how they could support you and your patients, head to jane.app/demo. And one last thing. If you're ready to get started with Jane, you can use my code RehabChiro1MO for a one-month grace period on your new account.
I tricked all of you into coming here. I'm pretty good at marketing, so I know what attracts people here. We're going to learn workshops. I want to figure out how to get more leads. Let me see about getting new patients. Let me learn the system. It's all bullshit. We're going to give it to you. You're going to learn that. It's fucking easy. It's easy. I promise you that is easy. The hard part why you're really here, every single one of you is here to make a decision, to make a decision. Some of you guys in here, you need to make the decision to join this community. Some of you in here have to make the decision to open your business. Make the decision. Some of you in here, you need to make the decision to add a marketing channel. Some of you in here need to hire someone.
Some of you in here, the team members in here need to step the fuck up. Every one of you is here to make a decision. I tricked all of you. You came here to make a decision. If you leave here on Sunday and don't make a decision to change your life and change your business, I fucked up. And I'm going to get on here and I'm going to dance and I'm going to sing and I'll do whatever I can to just get your nervous system going to get you smiling, get you laughing, get you crying because I need you to change. I need all of us to change. Some of you need to become the CEO. Some of you need to stop being so scared of spending money. Some of you need to stop so scared of hiring the employee. Some of you need to stop being scared of having the hard conversation.
But every single person in this room, you are here to make a decision. I want everyone to take their notebooks out. I want you to write down what is one thing that you said you would do that you haven't. Once you've put it down on paper, I want you to stare at it and I want you to think and be truthful. I want you to think. What's the reason why you haven't done it? And the first thought that you're all going to have is something very logical, something that makes a ton of sense. Something that you've been able to trick a lot of people in your life, including yourself. Why? Because you're very smart. I don't have the money. I don't have the space. I don't understand marketing. I have to fix this first. When I hire this person, when I get out of the contract, when the build out occurs, when my kid is born, when my kid goes to school, it's all a very logical next step.
And I want to ask all of you to have me in your brain in the most respectful, loving, kind way ever. And all I want you to look at that, all the excuses and say, "It's bullshit. All of them are bullshit." You see my friends? What we have to do in our businesses and in our life, we have to live by this mantra. You have to make the decision and then you have to make it right. You have to make the decision and then you make it right. Your ducks ain't going to be in a row. You make a decision and then you get your ducks in a row. Go back to every example I shared. The decision was made that we're going to make sure the family is okay and then we made it right. I made the decision to pay for a coach when I had no money.
And you know what I did next? I made it right. We were going to start a family. We made the decision and when that baby arrived in my arms, we made it right. The reverse order is never true. You see, the secret to business isn't being the smartest. And if I can give you proof of that, I will show you my board scores. If there's any difference between me being able to do this and everyone else, it is because I did the thing that I'm telling you. I made the decision first to hire the employee, to run the paid ads, to put on the event, to book the venue, to start the second business, to bring on employees before I had the money. At every level of you look at how did you get here? You know the fucking answer now. I made the decision. And then what'd you do after that? I made it right.
And for every single one of you in here, you have that in your life because it's crazy for me. It's one of my favorite conversations I had. There might be people in this room I had that same conversation with in the DMs. Like, "Oh, I don't have the money yet to join your program." It's like, "Okay, let me ask you, how did you go to chiropractic school? Oh, I took out loans. Oh, so you were saying that you didn't have the money for that either, but you decided to go, right?" Yeah. So you made the decision and then you made it right. Yeah. Okay, right. And then when you got to school and you got to semester two and they put the histology things on the thing and you're like, "What the fuck is this? I came to crack backs." And you're like, "Well, I made the decision to be here. I'm going to fucking figure it out."
Why? Because you made the decision to be there and you had decided when you started that you were going to walk across that stage to get that piece of paper and then whatever you needed to do to get there, you need to hire a tutor, if you needed to cheat, if you needed to steal, if you needed to copy off your friend, you would do it because you made the decision to get there and you were going to walk across there with the fucking piece of paper and then you made it right. Every single one of you has done this in their life, every single one of you, maybe it's you ran a marathon, maybe it's having a family, you made the decision and then you make it right. Every single success that you've had in your life, you've done it in that order.
And so wherever you are stuck right now, it's because you've tried to flip it. You are all here to make a decision. Every single person in here, you are here to make the next decision. You have to make the decision and then you will make it right. My hope for this weekend is pretty simple. I've never worked harder to put one of these events on. Never in my life ever. I've never done more. I've thought about this talk for fucking a month and a half and I tell you that because I decided that when I got up here that I was going to make an impact on one person to go and change themselves, to change their business, change their lives because I decided that that was going to be the outcome. And when I made that decision, I then had to figure out how to make it right and so can each one of you.
So my call to action for you this weekend is you do not leave here Sunday, 5:00 PM without committing and making a decision. That is my ask. That is my ask. If you want to pay me back for anything that I've helped you with, that is my ask, that you leave here and have made a decision. I need every single one of you to commit to that. How many of you are willing to commit to making a decision?
If you want to find out how to go to more talks like this one, go to the link in the show notes. We'd be happy to help you. Don't forget to follow the podcast. Leave a rating or a review and comment wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Justin Rabinowitz and this has been Business School for the Rehab Chiropractor.