Chiropractic Students should Plagiarize: When starting a Chiropractic Practice

Have you’ve ever written anything?  If you’ve made it to Chiropractic School you have at some point, and you know how professors will hammer you for not sighting your sources. Plagiarizing can cost you your diploma or career if you publish someone else’s research as your own.

The great thing when starting your new chiropractic office is that copying a success is not only accepted it is one of the smartest moves you can make!  Don’t reinvent the wheel! Learn from the successes and failures of others, so you can avoid the pitfalls and errors others have experienced.

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Top Ten things I wish I knew as a Chiropractic Student: 3. Business Structure

What’s the best business structure for a new Chiropractic Practice?  That depends on the amount of taxes you want to pay.

**Disclaimer time, I’m no CPA or Attorney so blah, blah, blah do your own research**

I’m here to get you to think, not be your CPA.   So let’s keep this simple.

Here are your most common options for business structure:

  • Sole Proprietor – All income taxed @ highest rate & self employment tax (earned income)
  • LLC,LLP – Layer of personal liability, Flow through and taxed like sole proprietor (earned income)
  • C-corp. – Benefits larger companies, more write offs, fringe benefits,   Taxes more complex and dual tax
  • S-corp. – Flow through entity, friendly to use but requires organization, but much more tax friendly

I strongly suggest doing your home work.  Here’s a couple places to start:, My New Company, Incorporate Time & Legal Zoom. Now they’ll all try to sell you something, but they give good information and compares strengths and weakness for you.

You never want to evade taxes, that leads to jail.  What you do want to do is minimize your tax liability while using the tax codes the way they were designed, which actually contain many benefits the small business owner.

One of the biggest problems for the new doctors I work with is that they become so successful so fast that their CPAs rarely plan for their income the first year.   Then they get whacked with huge tax bills that they were not prepared for, and nearly go bankrupt while having a hugely successful practice.  I speak from experience, we got slapped with over a 30K tax bill my first year, all my accountant said was “oops, I didn’t expect you to do so well your first year” My intention is not to bash the accountants, we need them, but please be sure to find a wealthy one that utilizes and understands the chiropractic profession as well as corporate structures.  Had I been structured properly, my tax burden would have been 10-15K that first year.  There you go, I may have just saved you close to 20K with this post alone.

Question:  Who do you need on your “power team” to help you set up your business?  Go find them now!

If you need some help on this, I have some great suggestions for you!

Top Ten things I wish I knew as a Chiropractic Student: 2. Business Plan

I talk with chiropractic students and doctors from all over the country looking to open their offices. Without fail there are always a couple of questions they always asked about how to get their financing:

  • What kind of business plan do I need?
  • Where do I find financing?

Now, two or three years ago the economic climate was significantly different than today.  So, my recommendations on this subject have evolved and changed accordingly.

What kind of business plan do I need?

It’s simple, a great one. In years past, a good credit score and a logical plan was enough.  Today traditional lenders have changed the rules.  No longer does a good credit score account for much, even a better than average score doesn’t pull the weight it use to.  As a rule, chiropractic students coming out of school are over leveraged and undercapitalized which makes it challenging to get any kind traditional financing.  In order to have a shot with a lender today, you must take your business plan very seriously.  It’s going to take more than the mock one you put together in your stellar business class in Chiropractic College.  One surprising source for small businesses is actually the SBA, there are templates and some great information there for you.  Your business plan must be professional and presented that way, or lenders stop listening very quickly.

Where do I find financing?

The true answer is anywhere you can!  If you picked up the tone from the last question, it’s very difficult to secure traditional financing for a small business start up, let alone a chiropractic practice.  Now is the time to start thinking of other sources for your startup capital.  As students it means minimizing expense increasing savings, part time jobs, conserving those student loans, family contacts, building equity in homes, etc.  If you put together a proper business plan it then becomes much easier to go to non-traditional lenders.  With a thorough plan,  asking friends or family for financing becomes much easier.  Believe it or not, there is still plenty of dollars out there to get your chiropractic office open, it just takes more effort , determination and a don’t quit attitude.

Recently I heard the story of the publishing of Chicken Soup for the Soul.  Jack Canfield went to 35 or so publishers, who said no, but it only took one to say yes, and you know the rest of the story.

Don’t Ever Quit!

Question:  Are you a currently working on your plan to finance your dream?

“If you do what you ought to do when you ought to do it, there will come a time when you can do what you want to do when you want to do it” – Zig Ziggler