Class 111 - this is to be the last posting for the term. Thanks to everyone for all your hard work and positive attitude. Plans are due in hard copy on my desk no later than Feb 4, 2011 at 4pm CST. Please make sure your email and phone are on your resume in case I need to contact you for any questions.
The topics for this week are:
What did you like or get most out of this class?
What topics would you have liked to have covered but we did not? or more depth to a topic?
What advice can you share with your class mates?
Last, what successes are you currently having? I have heard from 5 in your class who have been approved for business loans. Great Job.
I will gladly keep this blog open for your class to continue to use as a communication tool for 6 mos. Thanks and best of luck...keep in touch. Alexis
As a group we really appreciated the opportunity of this blogging session because it was a very convenient way to gather information and opinions from other students. We as a group were very satisfied with the material covered in class but we thought possibly that if we had more guest speakers in class pertaining to the specifics of the material whether it be budgeting, advertising, marketing would have been nice. The advice as a group that we want to share is that we know that running a chiropractic business will not be easy so it is very important not to get down on yourself and continue to work hard and never give up. The most important success as a group we are having is that we are about to graduate here soon and our group members plan to associateship to get more experience and gather some income to help start up our future practice.
ReplyDeleteTeam 30- Andrew, Sampson, Thad, Brett
The thing we got most out of this class were ideas for things that we had not thought of, and interesting perspectives for running practices different ways. There really is no one-size-fits-all way to handle business.
ReplyDeleteThe material in class was really well thought out and planned. You can really only cover so much in 4 months, but we gained tools to figure out HOW to get information, and that is more helpful than just getting random information that may not pertain to us specifically.
We networked well with our business plan and now have an interview to present our plan with the president of commercial lending (the guy above the guy for lending) at one of the banks in our hometown!
Whether you're having ups or downs, remember, this too shall pass... Best of luck to everyone!
Team 12
ReplyDeleteWhat we really liked about the class was the fact that we learned different places to find information. We especially like the youtube videos. We thought they were very informative and well done. We had never thought to look for videos about business on youtube, so that was very useful. It definitely gave another perspective on how to look at and approach how to do things. We also liked how each week we focused on some part of the business plan. This break down made it less overwhelming and gave us good ideas that we may have never thought of individually.
ReplyDeleteAll the topics were covered fairly well, however, if we had to make a suggestion, we think it would have been a good idea to instead of just having a weekly blog to discuss the weeks assignment, it would be a good idea to have each section of the business plan due on a weekly basis. That way things got looked over and turned in along the way instead of all at once.
The only advice we can share with our class mates is good luck to everyone and keep in touch!
Team 18
ReplyDeleteWhat we really liked about the class was the differant sources of information that we can use as we continue with our careers. It is also very useful to have some plan of action going forward. It is a difficult decision what to do when you graduate and running one's own business will not be easy. We think the more specific you are about what exactly you want your practice to be like, the better. One thing that may have improved the class would have been to have seen differant practice styles in the Quad Cities community (Insurance VS. Cash, High vol. Vs Low Vol. etc.). Having a mentor is absolutely crucial. Our advice to any of our class mates who are going right into ownership is to invest in a practice management group, if you don't have a chiropractic mentor to help you through the initial start up.
ReplyDeleteTeam 8
ReplyDeleteI liked writing the business plan for this class because it helped me to visualize how my future practice will look and that has been hard for me until now. I would have liked to have a few names of dealers/suppliers of chiropractic equipment so that I could have researched some pricing on equipment and supplies more thorough. I have met with a lot of doctors who have shared advice with me and the continuing theme is just believe in what you do and everything will fall into place if you work at it and don’t give up. Also first create a system that is easy to duplicate and then execute, execute, execute!!! I have been successful at finding a location and some mentors who are helping me and I am meeting with a banker on Tuesday wish me luck.
Team 22
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned by previous groups, our group liked seeing all the different opinions and all the information that different students found and that was posted on the class website. It's hard to find one central location that can point you in so many differenct directions. It was also interesting to see the wide variety of ideas that the groups have or to get a general concensus of what new emerging chiropractors are thinking/doing. Like many other groups, several of the members in our group were working on busniess plans during this trimester on their own, so it was nice to kind of share that project with our whole class and have a place to bounce ideas with people who understand. Over all, I think it was a great experience.
Hey everybody, I was in Alexis' office this past week turning in my business plan and sharing my experiences regarding business start-up and obtaining financing. So, this may seem a little off topic but she asked if I would be willing to share what I thought to be an important topic/tip with my classmates, and of course I said yes because I want to help where I can. So, to start with a simple question. Ask yourself, where is the first place you would turn to to obtain financing? Your first thought would be a bank, right? This a perfectly good answer and for some of you this may be the only place you may have to turn to when obtaining financing for your practice. But, for a lot of people, the bank may only want to finance a certain amount of your total costs and if this is the case they are probably only willing to finance items which can be liquidated like equipment. We are then faced with a problem, where do we find the appropriate "gap financing?" Before you start to panic get creative, especially if you live in a smaller populated area. Most of these smaller populated areas have trouble attracting and obtaining businesses so the city, county and a variety of other foundations may have funds available for young business owners such as ourselves. The easiest place to start is by researching economic delopment departments of the city and county. Once you have learned a little bit about what they have to offer you should set-up a meeting with the department director where you can present your business and financial plan. Be prepared, a lot of times these alterantive forms of financing can only give so much. Solution? don't be afraid to ask them if them know of or are associated with other orgainzations in the area with opportunities to receive finding. You may be wondering if this is typical? when I asked the question, "is this typical for a business to have multiple forms of financing?" the answer was an overwheling "yes." The reason some people may have to have multiple partners to meet financial requirements is due to our low debt to income ratio. But, before I start to ramble I will wrap things up by giving a few tips of advice. Be prepared with your business and finacial plan. Be prepared to fill out applications. Don't be afraid to ask questions, as chiropractors we've been dooped into thinking we know everything, we dont! Finally, be patient. I hope this helped!
ReplyDeletepeace and health
Jeff Leno
It was a great experience to be able to write a business plan while still in school, because it gives you the opportunity to still ask questions about certain topics while you can. Although I will not be needing to use my business plan just yet, as is the case with many, it still gets you thinking in the right direction and thinking about your vision for your future practice. If I could give any advice, it would be to have a vision for what you want and do it. Find a mentor and learn everything you possibly can from them. After graduation is where the real learning starts!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to all!
Alex Phillips
Group 20
Overall it was a great experience. I was able to take this finished plan to just three banks and got my business loan. For all those who have not been approved for their loans dont give up. I have herd of people going to 20+ banks and finally getting their loans. Keep your head up
ReplyDeleteGood Luck and see you all at graduation.
Eric Eickhorst
Team 28
ReplyDeleteI think the obvious thing most of us learned was simply what is involved in writing a business plan. I would have never guessed the detail and effort it takes to complete that process. I do think it was difficult for some of us that perhaps don't ever plan on opening our own practice...I know we may be the minority, but this was a definite stretch for me considering I have no desire to even think about starting my own business. I don't know if this would be in the scope of this class or another, but one thing that would have been helpful to learn while in school is how to negotiate contracts and how to determine what is a good offer or bad offer from a prospective employee. I have had several offers for associate, IC, etc. and am finding it very difficult not to get taken advantage of. Contracts are severely one-sided and we were never taught how to read or interpret them. We will soon see...
Brittany Bankson
team 26
ReplyDeleteWhat our group got from this class is learning new ideas and perspectives when it comes to running a practice. overall this class has been a very good and educational experience.Our group would have liked to have learned more on budgeting.The only advice our group can give is to treat each patient in the manner that you would like to be treated. Good luck everyone
Team 24 (Nate, Dustin, Joe, Justin and Craig)
ReplyDeleteWhat we got most out of this class was an understanding that running a small business is more complex and difficult than one may think. Working with the financial template in excel really underscores the importance of bringing in new patients as much as possible because there can be a large amount of money being tied up in operating costs.
We would have liked to have a more in depth talk about how chiropractors make sense of the small business end. Perhaps by having a chiropractor or two who own their own small clinic come in and talk about the little things of running a business that we wouldnt even expect to be difficult but actually are.
Our best advice to our classmates is to take your time, make smart decisions and do your research before deciding on anything. Ask around to see what others are doing to be successful so that we do not keep re-inventing the wheel.
As for our successes, three of our five group members have quality associateship positions lined up. Good luck to all and keep in touch.
Team 6
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good class to have in the curriculum. Most of us do not have a business back ground or have the slightest clue about starting a business. Going through the process of writing a business plan, even if it is just going through the motions, is a valuable experience. It forces you to at least think about most of the aspects of running a business. I feel this experience is valuable even if you plan on associating. When you are negotiating that contract, you can have more of an appreciation of what the hiring doctor has gone through to set up and get their practice running.
A valuable resource that I have found is the NCMIC website. They have detailed instructions to writing a business plan as well as some financial templates.
What my group liked about this class is we have been given the opportunity to work on a business plan with assistance. This will be able to help many of us in our future careers as chiropractors and also business owners. The sources that were available and also the books and websites we have been introduced to us will hopefully help everyone of us. I know that even though we might not all be opening our own clinic right away hopefully after writing a business plan we can appreciate what the doctors we are working for have done to open the clinic.
ReplyDeleteAdvice we would give is to be positive and hope for the best. Nothing worth doing is easy!
Team 4
TEAM 2
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Brandon...most of us did not come to this school with a business background. And this class provided all of us with plenty of direction! We covered the different aspects of a business plan and being able to blog with our classmates was very interesting. It was helpful seeing all of the different resources that each team came up for a specific assignment.
I really enjoyed Jeff's blog about requesting funds from economic development agencies. I had personally never thought of that, but it is, in theory, a perfect fit.
I already had a bit of information prepared for my business plan from one of your undergrad classes, but I do also think that it would have been helpful to actually have the different parts of the plan due each week so as to ensure that every was correct. All in all, this is one class that I wish we would have had to build on back in 7th trimester.
Thank you and good luck to all of our colleagues!
Team 10. I enjoyed many parts of this class. I feel like the class prepared us to obtain funding with relative ease. I think it would have helped to discuss some aspects of business insurance. Knowing some of the key issues would prove helpful when shopping around. I found the SCORE website to be especially helpful with all parts of planning my practice. So far I have presented my plan to two banks and have positive encounters with both. I will have proposals to consider from both of them this week so I can pick which is the best for me.
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