I receive questions via email about chiropractic schools and chiropractic salaries more than any other topic related to the field. I took the time to answer a particular question today (Doctrine Degree and Chiropractor Intoxication Manslaughter) but the reality is I have hundreds of questions remaining unanswered that are growing stagnant. I do hope to get more of the emails answered but I find it takes about 30 minutes per email to provide a good reply. It’s a losing battle when 10+ queries come in daily.

While looking for information on a question asked today, I found quite a few news and blog posts I had not organized, which may contain answers to some of the regular questions coming in. Consider this post a related posts starting point for various questions I’m receiving.

6 different chiropractors make suggestions on choosing a chiropractic school. I thought that was a good one, I like the idea of getting opinions from other chiropractors, so answers are not coming from me alone.

Sometimes it’s a straight question, Can You offer Advice about Chiropractic Schools? I’ve been answering some of these questions for years, but many of the basics have not changed, it’s worth a reread for those considering chiropractic as a career.

In most cases, the subject line received via email becomes the post title, in this particular case it was a… Question Concerning Chiropractic Schools. I reread that post myself, information still stands, research chiropractic schools and attend the one that most suits what you’ll be seeking in becoming a successful chiropractor.

How about some atlas vertebral art?

Sometimes I ask the questions, like… Did your Chiropractic College experience Suck? If your life sucks, I doubt chiropractic college is going to magically make things better. And anyways, you don’t have to had liked school in order to be successful in practice, at least not that I am aware of.

In 2006, an aspiring chiropractor named Melissa emailed me and she had several questions, I think I gave some pretty good answers (I especially like the 10 Year Chiropractic Success Plan).

Not many questions answered in the 10 Years After Chiropractors Graduation post but at least I’m getting closer to doing a 15 years after article. The reminder for myself here was keep in touch with old classmates, it can come in handy when you need someone to talk to in the later years. They have been there too, they know what you are going through.

Choosing to become a chiropractor is not an easy decision and in answering Questions About Practicing Chiropractic I mentioned I don’t think anyone should jump to the decision. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking chiropractic school is easy. Same goes for the advice that running the business is easy.

Not all students are 21 years old, some choose Chiropractic as a Mid Life Career Change. I did my best to answer based on what I’ve seen at chiropractic schools and the chiropractors I’ve met who entered the field as a 2nd or 3rd career.

Regardless if you are planning to work before going to chiropractic school, are planning to work during chiropractic school, or are going to load up all your debt until after graduation, please make serious plans towards paying off your chiropractic student loans. Don’t take it lightly and don’t just assume you’ll figure it out after you get into practice. No point going into business with a noose halfway tightened around your neck. You’ll have other things to be focusing on, so try and get the loan thing figured out in advance and do your best to keep debt to a minimum.

Finally, if you want to be successful, you have to get in the habit of Seeing Yourself as a Success. Nothing to do particularly with chiropractic schooling but I came across it today and thought it’s a mindset that would be beneficial to adopt.

I invite you non chiropractic business people to read this post, as I feel a lot of this stuff crosses into many types of small businesses.

About once a month I get a handwritten letter from some chiropractic practice management firm in Tustin, California. I believe they always include the same testimonial, from a chiropractic office in San Clemente, along with their handwritten cover letter inviting me to call for a free consultation.

In the past I’ve thrown the letters in the trash (gotta start recycling those) but they keep coming. I received one again this month, and I think there’s some good topics related to chiropractic salaries, so I decided to keep it (at least until this post is done).

The testimonial letter is from a chiropractor in San Clemente (Southern California) and it reads as follows… I have been a chiropractor in California for 15 years now. I have a beautiful wife and three small children. Life is busy, rewarding and great. In my practice, we see 250 patient visits per week and average in the $70,000 per month range for collections.

Next sentence reads… However, it hasn’t always been this way!

The letter continues (enters sounds of violin) with the story of this chiropractors struggle during the first four years in his practice. Things were so bad that he apparently considered quitting, until he joined this magical Management group. The letter goes on to espouse how great this management program is, and how it has taught this chiropractor to run his practice as a business.

I see letters like this appearing in my chiropractic office almost every day, and I have to say they are rather sickening. I have nothing wrong with business management, in fact, I think it’s critical to one’s business success. Of course it hasn’t always been this way, you have to start your practice somewhere. In most business situations, you start at zero, and work your way up. Waiting four years to take action on your business is pure lunacy, regardless of your industry. If more chiropractors would begin the planning stages while they were students, I believe we’d see less chiropractors failing in those first four years.

This nonsense that there are no new patients out there is totally bogus hogwash. I speak with successful chiropractors frequently, and they believe people in their community are choosing chiropractic more than ever.

Research statistics from Internet searches suggest this as well, as the number of people seeking out health information online and specific information about chiropractic is just staggering. I’ve been at this a long time, and Planet Chiropractic has been gathering search log files for nearly 10 years. Those files include every word ever searched for on the web site. And that’s just the information and from one web site.

It’s my experience that the flow of new patients into chiropractic offices (in the United States) is like a rising river. When the river rises in your neck of the woods, you had better be prepared.

Business training shouldn’t be the result of some sort of epiphany, where you woke up and decided to go to work. Business should involve common sense everyday planning and action. In chiropractic, and every other service industry, you had also better develop some personal skills on how to successfully interact with others.

That’s me in the photo with my chiropractor, Dr. Don Trepany.

For those of you that are planning on going to chiropractic school, and those of you just graduating, take your business planning seriously. Find some people in your area that can act as mentors, get some business training, develop your personal skills, and don’t bitch and moan when you could be working on your plan for success.

Speaking of successful and local chiropractors, here are some that come to mind who are rocking their communities, and taking care of masses of people with great passion and dedication to service… Dr. Ram Parikh of Discover Chiropractic in Butler Pennsylvania. Dr. Ken Gee Ehrlich of the Good Chiropractor, and Dr. Luke Cohen from Innate Chiropractic Center in Pacific Palisades, California. There’s Dr. Adam Church at Atlas Chiropractic in East Haven Connecticut and Dr. Alok Trivedi of Delta Chiropractic in Algonquin, Illinois (Lake in the Hills).

And you, successful chiropractor, I didn’t leave you off the list, just done for the night.

I thought this would provide some good information for those asking questions about chiropractic salaries, as this is an area of chiropractic practice that I find is rarely discussed online.

This is in no way to boast about chiropractors and their cash incomes, I’m just providing the information I received. As I have stated in previous posts, incomes range from around zero into six figure monthly incomes.

All data is related to DCs in California (except one) but I’m getting similar reports from chiropractors across the US. I’ll sit down with some at upcoming conferences and see about getting some tips on video, which will be posted here.

I believe these numbers are from 2006.

A Cambell Chiropractor reports collecting over $51,000 in cash for a one month period.

A Santa Cruz Chiropractor reports collecting in excess of $44,000.00 per month, cash.

Here is one for the state of Washington, a chiropractor reporting an average of $103,000 per month in cash collections, in the city of Port Orchard.

As far as I know these are all single DC offices, meaning there is one chiropractor on staff. That’s not much info but it gives you something to think about.

I was at breakfast with a group of friends last Saturday and a conversation came up regarding success stories in the music industry. First, this is no ordinary group of guys talking about music. Second, I had my laptop. You may be asking yourself “what kind of a nerd brings a computer to breakfast” …that would be me.

The guys were talking about consumer behavior, monetizing music, artists that make money versus those that don’t, and success stories in the industry. For me, it’s hard not to listen to any conversation related to business and not think about comparisons in the world of chiropractic (and other fields of business).

The guys were just going along having their conversation and I was making some notes when Bob Ezrin said “there are four steps to success” in music. For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Bob Ezrin is a mega record producer (often referred to as the Francis Ford Coppola of record producers). He produced Pink Floyd’s The Wall, about eight Alice Cooper records (including Billion-Dollar Babies and Welcome to My Nightmare), three records from Kiss (including Destroyer & Revenge), records by Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Kansas, Jane’s Addiction, and others. When someone like Bob says there are four steps to anything you bet I’m taking notes.

While what he said was intended for those in the music industry, I certainly felt that these steps could be applied to the profession of chiropractic, and many other professions as well. I don’t intend to hack what he said, just going off of my notes and adding some information as it was interpreted by me.

4 Steps to Success [insert name of your business here] – Ezrins tips on making a living

Step 1: Check Self – look in the mirror. Ask yourself, “will I die if I don’t do this?” If your answer is YES go to step two.

Step 2: Do it Well – Bob said that you’d better practice, you’d better train, you had better be the best you could possibly be. There’s no time for crying and there’s no time for whining. Get in and go to work on developing what ever skills it is you need to develop.

Step 3: Go out and find a bunch of people that love what you do.

Step 4: Ask your audience for help. – He used the rock ‘n roll band KISS as an example of artists that were revolutionary in asking their fans for help. While other rock ‘n roll bands were too busy being rock stars, KISS went to their fans, shook their hands, and asked them to help. The result was the creation of the KISS ARMY, a group founded by fans that pushed for radio stations in the United States to air KISS music.

I was a member of the Kiss Army and I remember having a patch sewed onto my jean jacket. Thirty something years later, KISS has apparently sold more merchandise than all other rock ‘n roll bands combined, including the Beatles. How’s that for success?

Like I said, I think you can apply these principles to any business, including the practice of chiropractic. Here’s my chiropractic version of Bob’s four steps to success…

1. Check self – look in the mirror – will I die if I don’t do this? (this one’s universal)
2. Do it well – be the best chiropractor you can possibly be – practice adjusting technique – develop your speaking skills – exercise – meditate
3. Go out and find a bunch of people that love what you do (those are the people that come to your chiropractic practice)
4. Ask your audience for help (create a chiropractic army in your community, ask the people that love you to help)

Thanks Bob!

I am currently enrolled in a chiropractic program at the University of Bridgeport, which I will be starting in August. Now as that day is approaching, I am becoming more and more nervous and am hoping that I am making the right decision. I am surprised at how many people have negative things to say to me about being a chiropractor, all of which have never seen a chiropractor. So if you have any inspiring words about that, I would much appreciate it. I am also concerned about salary. Do you think that the salary a chiropractor makes is enough to pay back the student loans I will have collected?

No one is going to be able to inspire you, but you. Get that in your head! I can tell you I had two people tell me just before I was entering school that I would fail. One said I would fail because I did not have the intelligence to do anything (except work for him). The other said his brother or friend or something was a chiropractor and they were going down the drain. He offered me a job and suggested I drop from the program before I even started. I’d say I heard similar stories about 100 times before I started school, then it quadrupled until about the time I was graduating.

I did not listen, probably too stupid! And now I have this so-called “miserable” life, was in the office 4 hours today, after a sun-filled day on the beach. I’ll “work” almost 27 hours this week, by the time I am done tomorrow evening (three hour lunch). Was off 5 days last week staying in a penthouse suite at a swanky hotel, that was almost too much to take!

If you need help getting talked out of it, look around the internet. I’m certain you can find some saintly savior who will bring you to salvation and save you from the perils I and so many other chiropractors are living with today. Don’t worry, the saviors will tell you all about the boogie man and secret plots chiropractic schools are in on to rid you of all your loan money, leaving you penniless, and selling your body on the street to pay for your corn chips. They may even complain about my spelling / grammer and say I shouldn’t have any right to be a chiropractor because I made it unfair for them. I, and the rest of my cult, caused their misery!

What I think about salary is not important. What is YOUR plan? Do you have a 7 year financial plan for success? If not, get started now. I address salaries in more detail here chiropractor salaries but you have to get your head wrapped around the idea that NO ONE can cause your failure but YOU. Are there failures? You bet there are, just like there is in every single competitive business market on the planet. It would be no fun if nobody lost.

Can I make enough to pay back loans? I’d be careful with that kind of thinking. Trust me, I used to think like that myself. READ the salary article again. Set some goals, long term goals. Where do you want to be in 6 months, 6 years, 16 years, 60 years? Read the articles here… chiropractic news archives

You could read an article a day and you would not be done before you graduated. Don’t just read the articles here! Research, visit chiropractic offices, challenge those that try bringing you down with their misery and nay saying. They are very VERY important to your success as you will always know where to find the mind drainers when you need a reminder of what non-action and blame will get you.

Read through this again and don’t take anything I say as the Word. You have your own ideas of what you want. Most important of all…. THINK!

After a few months of e-mailing back and forth with people I’ve decided to create at least two sections in this blog area that will be dedicated to posing questions, answering questions, and hosting discussions related to the subject of chiropractic salaries and chiropractic schooling.

In some ways the two categories will be related but in many ways they are not. Someone in active practice really doesn’t care about school since they’ve already graduated, taken national and state boards, and have other things on their mind. The e-mails I get from people that have not entered school yet involve different subjects and questions from those that have been in the field for several years.

I will be selecting from the content from e-mails I receive and expand upon it here. If you have anything to offer or want to participate you can either register so that you can post comments to this blog or get in touch with me via e-mail.