In my last article I wrote that in order to evolve your business you must carefully avoid being stuck in unyielding theoretical frameworks or rigid business routines. Due to our well-established need for security, stasis is an ever-present tendency and must be watched for vigilantly. Is there a way to circumvent this basic part of our nature and promote good risk-taking?
It may help to cultivate the attitude of never being completely satisfied with your present situation. Think of the apparent safety of familiarity as a pernicious threat. I revisit my grandest fantasy on a regular basis. Several years ago Laura Lee and I visited Chile. There was a spot south of Santiago that we loved. We extended our stay, erasing the time buffer we usually give ourselves to reenter our routines. Remarkable. While there we hatched plans that are still in active development. It was a beautiful, tranquil, inspiring place unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
Nestled between the Andes and Chiles’ coastal range, overlooking vast vineyards, napping in the hammock just off our casita’s beautiful redwood deck, I knew I had come home again. I had that feeling when first in Chicago. It is still with me. I don’t want to live anywhere else, yet I yearn to go to that Chilean heaven as often as possible. One problem is that I make my living tied to my psychiatric practice, which I have loved for almost 30 years. Before the awakening of the desire for a change I assumed I would live out the rest of my life happily practicing psychiatry in Chicago full time.
As I continue my gratifying clinical work I am nearing the launch of ClearLifePath Consulting. Considerable thought has gone into the design of this business entity. Writing Core Business Competencies of Concierge Psychiatry, A Primer is helping to map out all the parts of this kind of practice. It is very close to finished. I will use it as a workbook in coaching other clinicians in establishing and growing their own concierge practices. Then I will focus on another piece of this business – offering reasonably priced websites that are easy for the owner to update and maintain. Then I will aggressively promote this new business. As I draw closer to launch of the new business I am already imaging expanding the service into businesses beyond psychiatry.
I don’t know if it will take me to Chile but that is my ultimate goal. I am convinced that having salient, big-picture plans for our businesses energizes us, inspires us to work hard and imagine grander things. It may seem strange to you but I believe that the best way for you to grow your practice is for it to be a part of a bigger plan. To have your clinical work not be the end – but a steppingstone for what comes next.
How to you grow your practice? I’d love to know. Please tell us by writing a comment below.
