Are You a Rich Surgeon or Poor Surgeon? (Ep.169)

Are You a Rich Surgeon or Poor Surgeon?

Announcer: Welcome to Beauty and the Biz. Discover how to grow your practice with effective cosmetic patient attraction, conversion and retention advice from author, speaker, trainer, and cosmetic practice, business and marketing coach. Catherine Maley, MBA.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Well, hello and welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we talk about the business and marketing side of plastic surgery, and if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon. I’m your host, Catherine Maley; author of Your Aesthetic Practice — What your patients are saying, as well as consultant to plastic surgeons, to get them more patients and more profits. Now today’s episode is called, Are you a rich surgeon or poor surgeon?

So, when his best-selling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki presented the cash flow quadrant, where he breaks it down into four scenarios that will help us decipher the question: are you a rich surgeon or a poor surgeon?

Now the first scenario on discovering if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon is the employed where you exchange your time and effort for an income. So, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Now the next scenario for understanding if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon is the self-employed where you work for yourself, but can you take weeks off and your business keeps on going without.

Now, the next scenario on figuring out if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon is big business, and this is when you have other people working hard for you to generate your income. And then the last scenario on whether or now you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon is investor, where you have money working hard for you, so you can play golf and have a good life.

So, using this cash flow quadrant on if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon, Mr. Kiyosaki clearly explains why some people make a lot of money and have time to enjoy their riches while others are stuck in the rat.

He says the rich have either businesses in which people are working hard for them, or they have money working hard for them while they enjoy good life. And the good life as a plastic surgeon is whatever it means to you. For example, maybe it’s working only three or four hours per week and taking the rest of the time to do what you want to do, or maybe it’s having dinner every night with your wife and kids or taking six weeks of vacation each year.

While enjoying the freedom and peace of mind to retire today, if you felt like, depending on if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon. So as a plastic surgeon, which quadrant are you in now? Most surgeons are stuck in the self-employed quadrant. Yes. You work for yourself and uncle Sam, but most probably you cannot take a six-week vacation without a severe or negative impact on your practice and your income.

Now, if you want to become wealthy and enjoy life, you need to move to the right side of the quadrant on if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon, which is big business, where you have people working for you that produce your income and investor, where you have your money working for you. 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 than before you left. Now in order to move to the upper right quadrant of financial and time freedom, it’s essential to focus on the following. Number one, the team supporting your practice. You can’t do this alone and you can’t be the only revenue generator in your practice.

That leaves you vulnerable and then you can’t choose if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon. Now, 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. Now a better way is to find other revenue, generators and supporting staff that can take the pressure off of you and build their own revenue stream.

For example, if you’re currently producing 95% of all revenues in your practice, a goal is to get it 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 front, but it’s essential when building a sustainable practice for starters, who would you bring on?

I mean, would it be another surgeon, nurse injectors, laser techs, estheticians 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 number two. Implement systems for clarity and consistency, money loves clarity so you can choose whether you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon.

And so do your team members, you can’t expect excellence from your team until they understand your definition of it. So be clear how you want things done. Then have each team member map out their step-by-step processes. Now they can use Google docs to write out checklists and do screen capture videos, explaining what exactly they do to accomplish their tasks.

Now 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, your systems are good if they can’t improve it until they can. So why are you 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’re set up correctly. It’s an annoyance rather than a major breakdown in your practice because your systems have your back. And then number three, hold your team accountable. You being a rich surgeon or a poor surgeon, oftentimes hinges on.

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, which forces them into one of the quadrants on if they will be a rich surgeon or poor surgeon. Now, most likely you too have experienced toxic staff. Patients complaining about your service or even embezzlement. That’s what makes you hold on so tight while it’s completely 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 your responsibility. It’s about empowering your team to step up, have your back, do their job and report back to you, so that you can choose whether you’re a rich surgeon or a poor surgeon. Regular. Now you have peace of mind knowing things are working well, and there are issues to address, but it’s no longer guesswork or hoping everyone is doing what they’re 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, it’s a well-oiled machine that can run without you, but this will get you started. Of course, let me know if I can help you to figure out if you are a rich surgeon or poor surgeon. Just leave me a message at www.CatherineMaley.com and we can set up a time to talk.

Okay. Thanks everybody. We are going to wrap it up now for Beauty and the Biz on the topic of are you a rich surgeon or a poor surgeon.

And if you have any questions or feedback for me, you can go ahead and leave them at my website at www.CatherineMaley.com, or you can certainly DM me on Instagram @CatherineMaleyMBA.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode on Beauty and the Biz, please head over to Apple Podcasts and give me a review and subscribe to Beauty and the Biz so you don’t miss any episodes. And of course, please share this with your staff and colleagues.

And we will talk to you again soon. Take care.

Announcer: We hope you’ve found a valuable insight on this episode of Beauty and the Biz. For more episode’s tools and Catherine’s free book. Visit www.CatherineMaley.com. That’s www.CatherineMaley.com and be sure to subscribe, to get the latest practice building strategies delivered to you.

And don’t forget to share this Beauty and the Biz podcast with your staff and colleagues.

-End transcript for the “Are You a Rich Surgeon or Poor Surgeon” Podcast.