January 26th, 2008 -- Posted in Article |
Freshly graduated chiropractors – think of them as rookies suddenly thrust into the big leagues – are soon overwhelmed with the complexity of running a clinic. Marketing, sales, office management, billing processes, and insurance companies all collide with delivering healthcare and meeting patient needs. Practice owners are powerless against huge insurance companies armed with sophisticated infrastructure and technology focused on minimizing provider payouts. To survive in this challenging environment, the new chiropractic practice needs the seasoned insight of a chiropractic coach, a trusted consultant who has “been there, done that” and acts as a mentor as the practice grows. But as challenging as opening a new practice can be, the obstacles faced by a coach seeking to grow his or her own business are just as formidable.
The inherent challenge is that coaching doesn’t always stick. And when it doesn’t, the result is not only sub-par practice performance, but also coaches who walk away shaking their heads. Coaches are frustrated by a small minority of “problem” students, which compromise their ability to focus on students who are getting it. Problem students lack discipline in terms of how they approach their patients, which care plans they prescribe, the selection and timing of the retail products they sell, how they document cases, how much they charge, and how much they manage to collect. In general, lips whatever reason, they aren’t listening to the “best practices” advice of the coach, thus defeating the purpose of the entire relationship, sucking the time and energy of the coach dry, before he or she even realizes there is a problem.
Coaches are hard-pressed to track the actual practice-effectiveness of their students, and because of this they are at arms-length from understanding just how well the trainee is doing. Current trainee monitoring solutions are error-prone, expensive, and slow. The process of aggregating and analyzing practice information is tedious and expensive, and the resulting data is outdated. The coach must rely on the student for both individual and aggregate patient information about office workflow, SOAP notes, charges, collections, marketing process, and retail product sales. But the student may provide delayed or inaccurate information due to a lack of understanding, or sometimes even intentionally if they feel the coach isn’t aligned with their own vision of how to run their business.
With the new chiropractor unequipped to expedite her learning curve in the playing field, it is incumbent upon the coach to call the plays. With an automated data collection system on their team, they can play to win. There is an obvious need for the chiropractic coach’s equivalent of a playbook, an automated CoachMate, to be able to see how every trainee is doing without wasting the time of all involved. Additionally, and more importantly, the coach must be able to see how all of the trainees in the program are doing collectively, so that adjustments can be implemented while facilitating an increase in trainee membership and revenues. Such a system would be centralized and scalable, monitoring every aspect of chiropractic office and patient management while storing information in a central repository, thus providing a single point of contact access via the Internet for both aggregate and individual patient information. CoachMate tracks and monitors all practice activities, aggregates them by product and by patient across the coach’s entire trainee population. It permits the coach to flag deviations and isolate the trainee who is most in need of coaching advice promptly, spa and efficiently.
Technology becomes a decisive weapon in the hands of the coach, allowing identification of those “problem students” while defining what aspects of the coaching experience aren’t working or where extra attention is required. With this information in hand, the enlightened coaches can manage their time more efficiently, and grow their business around students who are able to benefit from coaching.
Know any health care providers who complain about shrinking insurance payments and increasing audit risk? Help them learn winning Internet strategies for the modern payer-provider conflict by steering them to http://www.BillingPrecision.com – The CNS for the Chiropractic Office, home of “Practicing Profitability – Billing Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinics and Chiropractic Offices: Collections, Audit Risk, SOAP Notes, Scheduling, Care Plans, and Coding” book by Yuval Lirov, PhD and inventor of patents in artificial intelligence and computer security.
January 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Article |
Do you use any kind of writing exercises to help you write to your full potential? If not, you could be missing out on one of the top ways of becoming the best writer you can be.
Maybe the words “writing exercises” fill you with dread and images of being at school forced to write lines or struggling to write things you had absolutely no interest in?
But the kind of writing exercises we’re talking about here are different. We’re simply talking about techniques that give you new ways and new perspectives to write from, and encourage your creativity to come to the fore.
So here are 5 of the major reasons why using writing exercises can help you become a more accomplished writer:
1. You encourage your creativity to work harder. Faced with a blank page, most of us feel completely overwhelmed. Because there are so many things we COULD write, we can’t make a choice and end up writing nothing. Writing exercises give you a framework and a starting point, so your creativity can get stuck in right away. The more boundaries you have, the more creative you become within them.
2. You experience a wider range of writing techniques. However talented a writer you are, you can benefit marriage having an expansive range of writing experience. By using creative writing exercises, you get to sample a selection of techniques. It’s like going into a sweet shop and tasting one of each sweet before you decide to buy a bagful of one type you really love. Plus, however many new ones you try, you’ll always return to your favourites and appreciate them even more.
3. You train yourself to invent new techniques. The more you use a range of writing exercises, the more your creativity gets used to, well, being creative! As you practice more, it becomes natural to be curious about tweaking and adjusting the exercises you try, to make them even more effective for yourself. Then you’ll find you’re inventing your own new techniques as you go, without even thinking.
4. You give yourself permission to create. If you write in the same style most of the time, you may start to feel more like a photocopier than a truly creative writer. When you regularly use different writing exercises, you’re sending your creativity the strong message that it has permission to be creative, that you’re someone who’s keen to develop, open to new ideas and techniques.
5. You enjoy your writing more. Whatever you’ve written in the past, there are new exercises and techniques that you’ve not come across. Once you adopt the attitude that writing is a series of pleasurable adventures, then you can embrace new exercises just for this purpose. Your focus changes from needing an “end product” to actually enjoying the writing and the creative process.
These are 5 of the top reasons why creative writing exercises can enhance your writing.
And if you’d like to get started with some great creative writing exercises right away, sign up for your FREE 5 marriages abroad creative writing ecourse at http://www.YouAreACreativeWriter.com
From Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin
January 12th, 2008 -- Posted in Article |
Thank you for your curiosity about what the six steps are to your life as a Property Investing. As an active investor I know it’s not about the property itself, it’s about the dream. Property is just the express bus to financial independence, to wealth and to creating a lifestyle full of freedom, choice and the ability to do what you love.
Have you actually taken the time to ask yourself what financial freedom means to you? Is it having enough money to pay for a fabulous lifestyle, is it having enough income producing assets so you never have to worry about money again? Is it having enough money so you can quit your job, so you too have the time to discover your divine purpose, do what you love for a living and contribute your message, your cause.
For me it’s empowering women in their finances, which is a catalyst for empowerment in all other areas of their lives. So they too can become financially free, to take of the mask they wear every day and to stand in their feminine energy, become authentic and inspired to share their unique message, their gift, their purpose with the world.
There are so many great property programs in the market place today from successful investors teaching people how to invest, yet only 10% of people who invest time and money in these programs will take action and actually buy a property. Why is that? I realised that 80% of investing is psychology or the right mindset and only 20% is the actual investing. This is why the market has created a need for Property Empowerment.
After going through the process myself for a third time, it occurred to me that buying an investment property can be a very daunting, costly and time consuming process, when navigating it alone. It’s no wonder that only approx 5% of property investors buy more one or two properties and only a staggering 1% retire financially free on with more than five.
It also occurred to me that many women, regardless of how committed they are, might be put off by the uncertainty and the contradictory information available. They give in to the fear of making a mistake and allow themselves to be swayed by the well meaning dream stealers to not only give up the challenge, but all the dreams that go with it.
So to make your venture into property investing by following my six step program. It’s about creating the right environment and the right mastermind team of active investors who specialise in swimwear property investing. Leveraging against their combined experience and knowledge to help you on your journey to property wealth and success.
Whilst you engage a team of experts, you must however, always remain ‘in charge’ of your property investing business. Lay a solid foundation for success by empowering your mindset as the most vital first step, then educate yourself in the basics of property, finance, tax and structure. Once you have a sound knowledge of the above, you can leverage against the knowledge and resources of relevant experts to make it happen quickly and efficiently.
The 6 Step Property Program Includes:
Step 1: Creating an Empowered Investor Mindset
Step 2: Education and Information
Step 3: Finance Strategy
Step 4: Portfolio Structure
Step 5: Property Purchase
Step 6: Property Conveyancing
Step 1. Creating an Empowered Investor Mindset
The first and most vital step in becoming a successful property investor is having the right mindset. Successful investing is 80% mindset or psychology and only 20% strategy, which in our case is residential properties. The market proves this to be true over and over again with all the failed property investors who thought it was just about buying a house.
The Oxford Dictionary defines “mindset” as a habitual way of thinking. designers has also been described as an attitude, disposition or mood; an intention or inclination. I think this is a very fair description. Having the right attitude about property investing or any other aspect of your life to the point where it becomes a “habit” or behaviour is vital for your consistency, determination and eventual success.
You must empower your mindset with specific regard to your values, decisions and beliefs around money and investing. Work with an coach to identify and work with your unconscious values in quite some detail to ascertain whether creating wealth is something you value and whether you are motivated toward a desire for abundance or away from your fear of scarcity and lack. If creating wealth is not a an unconscious value, no matter how hard your consciously try, you will not succeed.
Work with a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach who specialises in finance or wealth creation and with their many tools, identify and eradicate any deeply held decisions and limiting beliefs that have unknowingly held you back in the past. Then instil new, more empowering beliefs and lock them all into place using targeted goal setting and visualisations.
I am so grateful to Christopher Howard’s Breakthrough to Success weekend and his subsequent Fast Track trainings for introducing me to the tools that changed not only my life, but the lives of my family and now my clients. Now, I don’t want you to start blaming me if when you make these changes in your thoughts about money and wealth, how you also start to notice changes in attitudes and improvements in other areas of your life, like your health, career or relationships 
Step 2. Education and Information
Once you have the success mindset of champions it’s time to head into the classroom to learn about Property, Structure and Finance. Although this is when you will leverage the time, knowledge and expertise of many experts throughout the program, it is essential that YOU remain in charge of our property investing business.
You need to treat every investment property, with its income and expenses, as though it were a stand-alone business with you as the Director. You don’t need to be an expert in all aspects of investing, but it is important to be educated and well informed.
You must understand the basic concepts of property, finance and structure so you can both understand and communicate with the experts in these specific areas of your investing. Get educated in such topics as property basics including property selection criteria and the Wealth Creation Strategy. Look into the basic principles of company and trust structures and which is best suited to your personal circumstances. Look into the multitude of investment mortgage options, the principals of each and shortlist which will suit your current financial and investing situation best.
Researching and becoming informed will not only increase your financial and property vocabulary but will give you a very sound understanding of property investing, saving you time and money when eventually dealing with the relevant experts. Do not however, use the excuse of lack of knowledge and not knowing enough, to get stuck in analysis paralysis, know when to say enough is enough and get started. You never stop learning about investing, so expect that you will learn along the way.
Step 3. Finance Strategy
Now that you have a successful investor mindset and a good basic understanding of property, structure and finance it’s time to look in detail at your overall finance strategy which can make or break your success as an investor. With the expert guidance and advice of a finance broker who specialises in investing, not mum and dad mortgages, firstly review the mortgage on your existing home (if any) with the aim of refinancing and releasing equity to be used as a deposit and a buffer for your first investment property.
Then with your shortlist, look at the best option according to your particular financial situation for financing your new investment property. Once you have chosen the best option, formally gain pre-approval or approval in principal for your future investment property, before moving to the next step.
Step 4. Portfolio Structure
Now that you have your finance in order it’s time to look at what structure you are going to purchase your investment property in. This is the step that most people skip or don’t even realise they need until after they have 3 or 4 properties and it’s all getting very messy and complicated with the tax office. Here is where you will rely on the property and tax accountant to determine the right structure for you specifically. Whether you should buy in your name, multiple names, in the name of a company or a trust or a combination of both.
The structure for your portfolio is as important as the concrete foundation under your investment property. It needs to be just as strong and it needs to be laid first, or like the actual foundation, it becomes very difficult and costly to fix any problems after you have built your home on top. Did you know that if you decided to transfer a property from your own name into a trust you would in effect have to “sell” the property to your own trust which incurs all the normal legal and buying and selling costs including having to repay the stamp duty.. ouch!
Step 5. Property Purchase
Now that you have our investor mindset, your sound knowledge, your finance strategy and your structure in place, it’s time to finally go property shopping… Yahoo!! This is contrary to a novice investor who at an open house is lured by glossy brochures, the smell of an open fire, baking bread and percolating coffee, falls in love with a property first and then worries about the rest later. As a professional investor, you buy with logic not with emotion.
In all areas of my own professional investing I assign each task to companies who are specialists in that area. Their teams are so committed and so passionate about their specialty that they spend all their resources sharpening their knowledge, skills and expertise, thereby becoming industry leaders in their field.
Think of it this way; if you want a haircut you go to a hairdresser, if your pipes are blocked you call a plumber, to service your car you go to a mechanic and these are all relatively minor expenses. Even when selling a home, people engage the services of a local real estate agent they trust. So I don’t understand, when spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, people insist they are more qualified to find, select and negotiate on a quality residential investment property than a specialist buyers agent. Unless you are an expert this can be risky and extremely time consuming as you spend 12 months searching for a property. Not to mention expensive as the market keeps going up and up as you search, requiring a bigger deposit.
I advocate using a professional Buyers Agent who wants to see you succeed. One who specialises in the specific area you are investing in, who has all the network and personal relationships required to find you a great investment, with any luck, under market value.
They will select a short list of properties with a history of good growth that fit within the selection criteria and then it’s a simple matter of making an informed choice. Depending on the property type, you can then organise to have your building, pest or strata inspections undertaken as necessary. Being a new investor, or if you are new to the particular buyer’s agent, I suggest you organise an independent valuation to confirm you are paying fair market value.
Once a property is chosen, the buyer’s agent will use his extensive negotiation skills to negotiate on your behalf for the best possible price and settlement conditions. If the offer is accepted you celebrate!! but if not, then you start over again.
Step 6. Property Conveyancing
Congratulations, your offer has been accepted, the 10% deposit has been exchanged, the champagne is flowing and you are now officially a property investor. You are on your way to financial freedom. So now it’s time to kick back, relax and watch the capital growth right? Well, not quite… There is still one very important step to go.
You now need to legally transfer the property from the vendors name into your name or the name of your trust. You can choose either a solicitor or a conveyancer to do this on your behalf. They will do all the necessary searches and checks required to ensure that the property you purchased is exactly as stated in the vendor’s section 32 or relevant contract in your country. They confirm that there are no structures that are not council approved, any unexpected water or electrical easements, caveats or any other nasty surprises.
They will also be responsible for coordinating settlement between you, the vendor, their solicitor and both lenders…Now that is no easy feat! Settlement, usually 30 to 90 days later is when your loan is fully drawn down and the balance of the purchase price and all associated finance and legal fees are paid.
To further protect yourself, this is also the time to review your insurances and estate planning and create or update your will to include your trust and portfolio. This will ensure that your specific wishes are respected with regard to your legacy that you have worked so hard to create.
So that’s it… a simple, accelerated 6 step process that you can follow, no matter what your level of property experience or what town or country you live in. Start your journey to wealth and empowerment through residential property, so you can become financially free, become authentic and free to create the life of your dreams. So what are you waiting for?
Luca Ricciardiello is the author and Director of Property Empowerment.
Her mission is to empower women to become financially independent by learning how to manage their money and invest for their future.
To find out more about Luca and her Financial Overhaul and Property Empowerment programs please visit http://www.propertyempowerment.com and subscribe to the Property Empowerment Newsletter
January 8th, 2008 -- Posted in Article |
As spring arrives many of us are left with a legacy from the short days and long nights of winter – a whole heap of extra pounds we could do without. And it’s not Abecita due to overeating during the festive season. It seems that whether we have lots of parties to attend or not, we are all programmed to eat more in winter.
It’s all to do with our brain chemistry and especially the feel-good hormone we produce called serotonin. This hormone helps us feel calm, balanced and in control of our emotions and without it we start to feel down and depressed. But levels of this hormone drop in the population as a whole in winter and as the nights draw in and the amount of daylight we all receive diminishes, we are increasingly attracted to eat sweet and starchy food in an attempt to raise serotonin levels.
Of course, a sudden intake of sweet or starchy food causes blood sugar and then insulin levels to peak and we actually experience a rapid drop in blood sugar as insulin does its work and reduces the glucose level in the blood. As a result, we crave sweet and starchy food even more!
Whereas all of us experience this drop in serotonin levels to some degree, some 5 to 10% of the population – those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (or SAD) – have an acute form of this problem and may lingerie anything up to 30lbs in weight each winter. It’s also thought that some 25% of the population suffer a milder form of the disorder. SAD affects not only your eating patterns but leaves you feeling depressed, lethargic and sleepy – none of which contribute to anyone maintaining their summer shape.
It’s all very well, knowing why we gain weight each winter, but what can you do about it?
During winter it’s important to maintain a balanced diet, keeping blood sugar on an even keel, even if you find you need to eat a bit more than in the rest of the year. If you choose your carbohydrates in the form of whole grains and vegetables and always eat some lean protein with every meal or snack you will take yourself out of the high-low blood sugar trap and will gain less weight.
You will probably also find that with the arrival of spring, the pounds drop off more easily because you will be less attracted to heavy winter foods and are happier to eat salads, fresh vegetables and lean proteins so the start of spring is a great time to lose weight for summer.
Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small
Janice Elizabeth Small is a health and wellness writer and slimming coach. She became interested in seasonal affective disorder after seeing the effects of winter on herself and her clients.
For more information about Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms, causes and treatment see her site at http://www.allaboutSAD.com