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Are You a Rich Surgeon or Poor Surgeon?

Are You a Rich Surgeon or Poor Surgeon?

In his bestselling book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, Robert Kiyosaki presented the “Cash Flow Quadrant“.

Using this quadrant, Mr. Kiyosaki explains clearly why some people make a lot of money AND have time to enjoy their riches, while others are stuck in the rat race.

As you can see, “the rich” have either businesses in which PEOPLE are working hard for them, or they have MONEY working hard for them while they enjoy a good life. The good life as a plastic surgeon is whatever it means to you such as:

– Working only 4 days per week and taking Fridays off to do what YOU want to do
– Having dinner every night with your wife and kids
– Taking 6 weeks of vacation each year while..
– Enjoying the freedom and PEACE OF MIND to retire today if you felt like it

As a plastic surgeon, which quadrant are YOU in?

Sadly, most plastic surgeons are stuck in the “self-employed” quadrant. Yes, you work for yourself (and Uncle Sam), but most probably you cannot take a 6-week vacation without a severe negative impact on your business and your income.

If you want to become wealthy AND enjoy life, you need to move to the right side of the quadrant.

But let’s be honest: Do you have a team of superstars that work hard for YOU?

Can you leave your practice for a few weeks, come back and find your practice in better shape that before you left?

In order to move to the upper right quadrant of financial and time freedom, you need to focus on the following:

The Team Supporting Your Plastic Surgeon Practice

You can’t do this alone and you can’t be the only revenue generator in your practice. That leaves you vulnerable. If you’re not working, no money is coming in. So you either are always there keeping the cash flowing or you’re not there but, then you’re worrying and/or feeling guilty for not being there. You can’t win with this business model.

A better way is to find other revenue-generators and supporting staff that take the pressure off you and build their own revenue streams. For example, if you’re currently producing 95% of all revenues in your practice, a goal is to get that down to 75% and then 50% and even 30%.

BUT that doesn’t happen quick and easy. Finding the right team players takes a lot of effort upfront, but it is essential when building a sustainable business/practice.

For starters, WHO would you bring on? Another surgeon, nurse injectors, laser techs, aestheticians, experienced coordinators who know how to convert?

Figure that out first and then be extremely clear with them about your vision and expectations as well as….

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Implement SYSTEMS for Clarity and Consistency

Money loves clarity and so do your team members. You can’t expect excellence from your team until they understand your definition of it. Be clear HOW you want things done. Each team member needs to map out their processes and step-by-step processes. They can use google docs to write it out and/or do screen capture videos explain what exactly they do to accomplish their tasks.

Here’s a great way to test their skill in explaining things. Give their how-to materials to another team member and have them do it. If they can complete the task, you’re good. If they can’t, improve it until they can.

Why are we doing this? Because this is exactly what happens when someone on your team goes on vacation, has an accident and is out for a month or suddenly quits. When you are set up correctly, it’s a little annoyance rather than a major breakdown because your systems have your back.

Hold Your Team Accountable

Are you a Rich Surgeon or a poor surgeon oftentimes hinges on this….

The majority of surgeons I’ve worked with have trouble letting go of control…..UNTIL they see they can and their practice doesn’t fall apart. Most likely you too, have experienced toxic staff, patient complaints about your service or even embezzlement. That’s what makes you hold on tight.

While its understandable, it’s not necessary once you hold each team member accountable for their own actions, behaviors and results.

Because this isn’t about abdicating. It’s about empowering your team to step up, have your back, do their job and report back to you regularly.

Now you have the peace of mind knowing things are working well or there are issues to address but it’s no longer guesswork or hoping everyone is doing what they are paid to do. It’s a system to know everyone is on their game and you know the health of your practice on any given day.

There is a lot more to running your practice like a business so its a well-oiled machine that can run without YOU but this will get you started.

Of course, let me know if I can help.

TESTIMONIALS

5/5
"Catherine outlined a plan that put key metrics in place, gave us a clear plan to follow throughout the year and trained our staff to increase their conversions by at least 10%. Since engaging with Catherine, I’m happy to report that revenues are up 15% over the last three months - 22% in the last month alone! I highly recommend Catherine’s consulting services to any practice looking for “best practice” additions to their operation."
Robert Sigal, MD
Robert Sigal, MD
"I have finally tapped into the most efficient way to grow my cosmetic practice and that is to “fish in the pond of my own patients”. When patients return to my practice, over 85% will purchase another service, product, or procedure. Not only was it worth over $200,000 in revenues this past year, it also reminds my patients I’m still around so they don’t wander off to my competitors. Catherine’s group has far exceeded our expectations and goals we had set up for them to achieve."
Victor Ferrari, MD
Victor Ferrari, MD
"Our consult conversions were running at 40-50%. Then we attended Catherine’s online training and implemented her strategies. They immediately increased conversion rates to 75-80%."
Anthony Corrado, MD
Anthony Corrado, MD
"I know how to run a profitable practice; however, it was not without major staff issues, inefficiencies and unproductive drama. With Catherine's guidance, I reorganized staff, set up processes for them to carry more of the workload and hold them accountable so I have more time to focus on patient care. The changes we put in place and the staff training to convert more callers and consultations will easily increase my revenues by 15% as well as save us time, money and costly mistakes. "
Evan Sorokin, MD
Evan Sorokin, MD
"Working with Catherine and her team has been very profitable. We’re only half way through the year and I’m up $200K and I’m booked out for the next 2 months even though we typically go into our slow summer months now. Her recent promotion brought in an extra $63,782 with more surgeries scheduled. I never realized how much money was sitting in my patient list but I’m a believer now!"
Robert Langdon, MD
Robert Langdon, MD
"Catherine Maley has one of the best Marketing Minds in the aesthetic industry, bar none. She understands the aesthetic patient and she also understands the challenges and frustrations we face as aesthetic surgeons. You will benefit from Catherine's tools whether you are new in practice or a seasoned professional.Turn to Catherine for guidance - she knows what she's talking about."
Edwin Williams, MD
Edwin Williams, MD
“Catherine’s Cosmetic Patient Marketing Service has been a great addition to our practice-building overall plan. While we still invest in our online presence, we also found immense value in the internal marketing efforts. We especially like that all results are tracked so we know we are getting a great return ... last year it was 1,148% and no staff time was used. That’s a much easier way to grow my cosmetic practice.”
Mark Mason, MD
Mark Mason, MD
"Catherine Maley turned our practice around. We converted more consultations in one week than we did in an entire month. Our practice went from a painful 50% no show rate to a remarkable 85% show rate. Even more impressive was our close ratio - from 35% to 80% and still increasing. We would recommend her to any practice that’s looking to not only increase their profits today, but sustain a healthy flow of income for many years to come. Thanks Catherine!"
Sam Assassa, MD
Sam Assassa, MD
"Catherine found me the best patient care coordinator I could have asked for. She worked out a payment plan that was fair to me and motivating to my coordinator. She also provided training tools to help my coordinator convert better, even though she was already experienced. The results have been phenomenal. So good, in fact, that my income increased 250% and I’m booked out for 3 months. Don’t waste any more time or money doing it yourself. Outsource to someone you trust!"
Andrew Lofman, MD
Andrew Lofman, MD
"Since we’ve been working with Catherine and her team for the past 5 months, we’ve brought in $79K in surgeries and have booked an additional 17 surgical procedures and 20 non-invasive body procedures since then. This does not include the additional new patient referrals and revenues we are seeing from the on-going nurturing of my current patient database."
Verne Weisberg, MD
Verne Weisberg, MD
"I had given my staff the goal to convert at least $35K per week in surgeries AND I gave them the tools to help which was Catherine’s Online Learning Center at More Patients Academy. They watched Catherine’s modules and implemented her strategies and converted $80K! That equaled a 2,550% ROI. Nice!"
Adam Stein, MD
Adam Stein, MD
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Catherine Maley

Catherine Maley

Catherine is a business/marketing consultant to plastic surgeons. She speaks at medical conferences all over the world on practice building, marketing and the business side of plastic surgery. Get a Free Copy of her popular book, Your Aesthetic Practice: What Your Patients Are Saying View Author Profile.

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