Many chiropractors step on the practice "growth accelerator" by increasing their marketing and referrals only to find out that when they get there, they can't handle the volume! It's a trap that can be easily fallen into and one that I call the "growth trap." This phenomenon occurs when a D.C. decides to grow his or her practice without having the proper systems and staff in place to support their growth.

Even with the best-laid plans, sometimes overloads or breakdowns can occur within our offices, but when there has been little to no true systems pre-planning, you will begin to lose your current patients as rapidly as you are bringing in the new ones.

Other signs and symptoms that you may be caught in this growth trap include not only loss of practice volume, but a mindset that if one more new patient walks through that door, you may just go right over the edge mentally, physically and emotionally.

Once you've fallen into the growth trap, staff members are sure to follow, unless you have the strong systems and procedures in place that will help support your stress-free growth. Without executing fail-safe systems, they will inevitably begin to see themselves getting busier and busier and slam on the breaks so as to avoid any additional stress or strain.

In effect, your team will become a visible or an invisible barrier to your patients committing to lifetime care or becoming involved with your practice in a meaningful way. And, honestly who could blame them?

Think about the way your practice systems and procedures are currently structured. Are there messes that are piling up? Then ask yourself, if you had the good fortune to double overnight with your current practice issues, would you end up doubling the amount of those messes?

Does it make sense to put yourself or your staff through this? Shouldn't practice growth be easy and spontaneous? The goal of growth should be to give you energy instead of take it away. Utlimately, the right kind of growth will give you what you truly crave...your freedom!

So, how do you avoid the growth trap and build your practice so that it actually gives way to freedom?

1. You must have good systems in place that you know will be effective at your new level of growth. When you set your practice goals, evaluate whether your current systems and procedures as they exist today will support you in where you want to be tomorrow. If the answer is "no," it's time to reinvent your systems.

If you find it easy now at your current volume to talk to people about chiropractic, and you double that, will you still be able achieve that with ease? Maybe it's time to delegate some of the things you do to a new system, a new procedure, a new form or a new person.

Trying one of these alternatives will enable you to grow without putting yourself into the trap of having to be "on" all the time and having your "personality" drive your practice growth. Your systems should do that instead. In fact, your systems are your stairway to freedom.

2. You must really understand the concept of what The Family Practice labels "ChiroTime." Essentially, your practice is divided up into prime, prep and play times. I love the excitement and relief that comes when chiropractors first become exposed to and finally embrace this system of time management.

As your practice grows, it's essential to focus your energy in either prime or prep times for maximum production and results.

Think about Michael Jordan. When an athlete of his ability is on the court, he is very focused on scoring points and helping his team win. When he's resting on the bench, he's not making calls to Nike or his broker, he's keeping his head in the game and staying focused so that when he does jump back on court, he'll still be in the flow of the game.

Even if you don't have patients coming in, don't utilize your prime time to handle "busy work" like answering phones or paying bills. Keep your focus in a prime time consciousness and then delegate those other activities to a prep day.

3. Keep yourself free. During prime time, all you should be doing is serving the people. During prep time, you should be delegating and building your systems by plugging the pieces into place that will help you become more efficient. While this may take an enormous amount of discipline in the beginning, it is what will keep you free. It is the only way you will ever dig your way out of the growth trap.

Remember to ask yourself, if my practice grows twice as large, will I have twice as many messes in my life, and are those messes worth twice the money? They are not! More importantly, you can't give excellent, quality care if your practice grows haphazardly.

Just because you've experienced some false starts along the path of your practice growth doesn't mean that you should back away from it. Seeing more patients is always something to strive for. Just be sure to implement proven strategies. Put the right supports in place before you go full steam.

Climb out of the growth trap. Learn to grow smart!