What I Wish I Knew as a Chiropractic Student

Key Points:

• Using student loans to their fullest potential and saving as much money as you can during school will set you up for post-grad success if you have plans to open a chiropractic practice immediately after graduation.
• In my opinion, a high volume clinic is the only way to run a successful chiropractic practice.
• Your patient’s diagnosis doesn’t matter as much as simply whether or not you’re cleared to adjust them. 

After almost a decade of being a practice owner and learning a lot of lessons the hard way, there’s a few things I would tell my younger self as a chiropractic student. As I often say, I’m a born entrepreneur in a chiropractor’s body — I love our profession and helping people with chiropractic adjustments, but my business is my true passion. So, these lessons I would impart to my younger self, or to chiropractic students today, are all centered around the goal of starting a successful practice after graduation. 

Still interested? Then let’s talk about three things I wish I knew as a chiropractic student to set myself up for success as a chiropractic practice owner. 

Do You Want to Open Your Own Practice After You Graduate?

Before we dive in, here’s the first question you need to ask yourself. Once you have your doctor of chiropractic degree and chiropractic license, do you want to start your own practice? 

Do you want to be the one in charge, making hiring decisions, treating patients but also leading your team, creating a healthy workplace culture from the ground up? If that sounds like your dream, great, then you’re in the right place. If that sounds like a lot of work to you and you’d rather show up to work, treat patients, and go home at the end of the day, that’s great too. This particular advice just isn’t going to be as helpful to you (but I think you’ll still find a useful nugget or two). 

Borrow and Save: Max Out Federal Student Loans and Get a Job During School

As you well know, chiropractic school costs a chunk of change, and so does starting up your own practice after you graduate. That means you have to use all of your financial resources wisely, even as a chiropractic student. 

Federal Student Loans

Most of us need student loans to pay for school, so it’s important that you take advantage of federal student loans as much as possible. Federal student loans have the lowest interest rate you’ll find of any loans you can get, even a small business loan (SBA loan). Current interest rates for federal graduate loans are currently between 8-9%. While these rates are higher than they were when I was in chiropractic school, they are still lower than any other available type of credit available. If at any point you’re stretched thin and need to defer those federal loans or transfer to a different payment plan, you can do that too. You’ll never have this option with any other type of loan. There’s also a slim chance that student loans may be cancelled in the future, so why not take advantage of them now? 

I was able to use some of the money from my Grad PLUS loan leftover after graduation to start my practice, and it was a small but helpful piece of the puzzle in my finances at the time. 

Working During Chiropractic School

Student loans were great, but my real savings unquestionably came from working a job while attending school. I worked 40 hours a week as a waitress and bartender at a local outdoor seafood restaurant in Port Orange, Florida, and it turned out to be one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had. I essentially went to school in the morning and early afternoon, and then worked second shift at the restaurant, often well into the night. 

Now, could I do this today, as an adult well into my 30s? Maybe not, but as a 20 something it was a blast. And I was able to make enough money over those years to save, bring home with me, and start my practice. I essentially used those savings over the first two years of my practice to pay myself a small salary, since my business couldn’t afford to pay me yet. 

It might seem like a lot of work to have a full-time job on top of going to school, and it was. But, I found a job I loved, I had a great time, and I had a clear goal in mind of what I wanted to do with that money. So that made it possible. 

You Need a High Volume Practice to Be Successful

As a practice owner, you must know that the only way to be successful is to run a high volume practice. Of course, everyone has different definitions of success, but in this case I mean running a clinic that financially supports you, a competent team including other doctors, and serves as much of your community as possible. Having a great team means that I no longer have to spend all of my time in the treatment room, which translates to the freedom to work ON my business instead of IN my business. This is the ultimate measure of success for me. 

It might be romanticized to spend upwards of a half an hour with each of your patients, but the simple fact is that there is a ceiling on your time and you can only charge so much per appointment. You must see as many patients in a day as possible, and that means spending less time with each patient. It might sound greedy on the surface, but it’s simple math. As the clinic owner, you’re responsible for your employee’s livelihoods and you have operational costs you must cover, so you have to see more patients to cover those expenses. 

In our clinic, each of our doctors typically spend 8-10 minutes adjusting and talking to each patient. Honestly, our patients appreciate it too, because they get in, get their adjustment, and get out and on with their day quickly and efficiently. If anything, I have to keep myself to a schedule so that I don’t chat too long with my patients, many of whom I have been seeing for years at this point. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have a friendly relationship with your patients, but you have to keep things moving.

On another note, if you’re graduating from school and looking for a job in a chiropractic office, make sure they’re so busy they can’t handle the volume of patients they currently have. If they’re not overflowing with patients, they can’t afford you; a high volume clinic is what it takes to support multiple doctors on staff. As long as the clinic is busy and efficient with patient care, you’ll continue to have a job. 

Diagnoses Don’t Matter as Much as You Think

I think this one might sound the most controversial, but your patients’ diagnoses don’t matter as much as you think. What you really need to know is: are you cleared to adjust this patient or not? Does their condition prevent you from performing a certain kind of adjustment, should you make modifications, or can you bring the body back into alignment as you see fit? 

At the end of the day, what we’re doing is restoring alignment and balance to the body to help it heal itself, so the specific issue doesn’t matter as much. Your patient has osteoarthritis? You’re going to adjust them according to what their body needs, what you feel is out of alignment. Your patient has degenerative disc disease? You’re going to adjust them according to what their body needs. Your patient has migraines? Still adjusting them according to what their body needs.

You still need to know a patient’s history, and you should listen to their concerns. But ultimately, their condition doesn’t always translate to the treatment. The point is, don’t get too caught up in diagnosis. In practice, you’re putting motion in the spine where there isn’t motion. Taking pressure off spinal nerves translates to better health for the whole body. Keep it simple and know you’re offering an important part of your patient’s healthcare no matter what their diagnosis is. 

If You’re a Chiropractic Student, Start Thinking About the Future Now

These are the three main things I wish I knew as a chiropractic student for my future as a chiropractic practice owner. I hope you found these tips helpful, and if you want to hear more from me about being a chiropractor, owning a successful practice, and scaling my business to $1M+ and a team of rockstar employees, make sure to check out Million Dollar Chiro: The Podcast for Chiropractic Practice Owners.

Looking for professional mentorship? Here are two ways you can work with me:

• Six or twelve-month one-on-one coaching packages: If you’re a chiropractor looking to grow your business and aiming to reach seven-figure revenues or more, then consider applying for private one-on-one coaching with me.
• Owning a Chiropractic Practice online course: Not quite ready for one-on-one support? Learn all about the business side of running and owning a chiropractic practice in my online course.